OT: We have any car mechanics out there?

[dsm]

Cygnusia

I have to admire your determination. Also am pleased that you got so much useful help here vs the car forum

There really is a quite diverse bunch of folk here. Quite a resource.

Cheers


DSM

[Goofproof]

The bad news when using the dianostics, the first three thing it will tell you is bad are the O2 sensor, and the MAP sensor and the throttle position sensor. Kind of like Remstars always call for a bad Printed Circuit board, as the main cause of trouble. Jim

The good news, if you get it fixed for 3 months, it might be fixed. When this fancy method of controlling things works, it's better hands down over the older methods, but when trouble rears it's head, the fix is more costly and harder to come by the first time.

[Cygnusia]

Things are kind moot now. This morning it wouldn't start. It tried to turn over, but now all I get is a fast clicking noise when I turn the ignition.

So tired of this...

[Goofproof]

That can be fixed, it's out of electricy, to be expected when cars don't run right. also until the battery is up to snuff, nothing else will work correctly. Jim

[dsm]

Ok, here is another 0.2c thought

I had a problem with a car that started ok but ran poorly then within a few kms it would stop & not start again.
I got caught with it on a main road where it stopped at a set of lights & spluttered to a stop. I was bringing
the car home after having some work done on its body. I believed it was the battery so bought a new one and
fitted it but it still wouldn't start. 2 hrs later it would start - run poorly, then after about 10 kms same thing.

In the end it turned out to be the alternator. It seems there are some types of fault that can happen with them
where they don't charge the battery but also help to flatten it thus providing very weak power to the spark and
to the injector controller.

After fitting a replacement alternator the car was right back to normal.

Just another possibility.

DSM

[Cygnusia]

I most likely drained the battery while doing my "checkups" to see if the things I have been doing to it have had any effect. I need to jump it off and let it try to run for a bit... hopefully getting some juice into the battery again.

[Goofproof]

Using the car alt to recharge a battery is a poor way of recharging it. The alt even if it's good does not charge a battery fast, the extra load also trys to kill the alt, better and cheaper to use a battery charger to charge it. Jim

[Cygnusia]

The car's running again!

After I recharged the battery, either the Iso-Heet did its thing, or the cleaning of the MAF did. Or both. It's running for now, and I don't quite trust it yet, but it's already made one trip on the main street and back, while pulling the codes (only one, P0301, which is cylinder 1 misfiring... not that you could tell right now!) and getting back home.

It remains to be seen if it's fixed. I need to get a cold start out of it and see how it runs after it's sat for a while. I also need to reset the codes and see if it comes back.

[-SWS]

If it comes back you can make a note of whether the codes are always related to cylinder one---versus additional cylinders or even other parts of the car as well. If cylinder one is always the lone culprit, then you at least have the problem a little better localized than not having utilized OBDII codes at all.

An interesting P0301 troubleshooting journey: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_to_Fix_obd_code_p0301

And a few more: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp& ... 6be5292fd6

[Cygnusia]

I haven't reset the code yet, but I will be driving it to work tomorrow... a trial by fire, I guess. I will look into that WikiAnswers post at some point.

Who knows... maybe it was just watered gas...

[Rebecca R]

Did you look at the plugs? Dirty or old plugs can cause misfiring.

[Cygnusia]

Nope, those were replaced during the tune-up. It's had a few days on the interstate, and all is still well. It DOES sputter and and act up when it's cold, but that just tells me that there is still some underlying issue that does need to be tended to. The fuel gauge still no worky, but at least it looks like the fuel pump itself is running properly.

I need to wipe the codes that were left when I had it read and run it in morning when it's cold to see if it pops up again.