car service question
 

ok...we own a 2010 crossover. check engine light came on, didn't flash a code.....just on. few days later, it went off.
few weeks later it came on again. seemed to idle a bit rough, and then stalled once (tony always leaves car running when fueling) when tony opened gas cap.
so, take it to dealer. 1146 bucks later, it's 'fixed'. check engine light comes right back on. nothing different, still idling rough. back to dealer. 'oh, now its this, but we won't charge'. pick it up. day later, light back on. back a third time. told them to drive it a few days before we get it back (dealership is 2 hours away) and it seemed after 3-4 hours of driving it comes on. they brought it back yesterday, with a bill.
check engine light just came back on.


so, i am out qbout 15 hours going back and forth, and over a thou in 'repairs' that didn't do squat. anyone know what i should do next? call the car maker?

Buy a new car :D

yeah, haha.

i don't want to buy another, and after shelling out over 1k, i expect it to be fixed. and wasting my time along with my money and gas. very frustrating.

i almost wonder if theyre just disconnecting the battery, fiddling around...and of course taking off the battery resets the check enginr light. do they think they magically fixed it? surely they know it resets..

anyway, anyone been thru similar have helpful ideas?

^^^^^^

Hoping for Obama Executive Order to solve :D

My Mom's car did that and it ended up being a sensor that needed replaced.

have you recently had your oil changed then the light came on?

Usually the car dealers all have a main number to deal with technical issues/service issues. I would get the number for that and have a nice conversation with them. Also is there another dealer in the region to bring the car to?

My mechanic. who i would put against anyone.especially the dealers, told me not to worry about my check engine light being on. That was 20 k miles ago. He is right, no problems, just the light comes on, as someone said it is just a sensor ....
Why are you bringing your car to a dealer ? Unless you enjoy getting ripped off ?

took the car to the dealer because we weren't sure if it would be under warranty, and because they would give us a loaner. at the time, my daughter had my other car...so i had to have something. also, there's a distinct lack of decent mechanics in this area. i wouldn't have these area mechanics work on my lawn mower.
if it weren't for it idling rough, and the stall, i would have ignored it.
i keep going back now because they have my money that i paid, and i expect to have the damn thing fixed since i paid to have it fixed.

there's no way that other parts keep going bad, which tells me everything they've done so far was NOT what was wrong, that the engine light is coming back on due to it being enough days since reset, and they have not found the problem yet.
we will be calling them in the morning, guess i'll see what happens.

problem yesterday is that no one was available, it being sat. evening....

steve, not sure, but i'll found out how long ago that was done.

What comes up when they put a scan tool on it?

Couple months ago my truck was diagnosed and the gas cap was one of two codes that came up. Mechanic said to stop filling up with it running and put a new cap on at no cost. As someone said here earlier, it sounds like it may be an oxygen sensor. That or the fuel injectors.

Pray it's not foul fuel.

Those O2 sensors are insanely sensitive.

I would drive the car until its 5 miles away from empty, put some fuel injector cleaner in there and fill up a different place from the 'normal' gas station you go to.

Also, I would potentially stay away from getting work done at any dealer, their markup is close to 4 times what a mechanic with his own shop would charge. If its under warranty then sure, but otherwise, you'll get better work from a mechanic and also a more cost effective option.

$1150 for some sensors seems REALLY high unless it was a sensor that was buried and took a ton of labor to get to.

that's the thing, each time it goes back, then its a new thing they find. but i dont believe them at this point at all, since i have a hard time thinking new things keep going bad within days of them 'fixing' something. also, the first time they had it, they said they found something in thefuel system, and replaced it. they recommended a fuel system cleaning, so we did that. now i just feel ripped off.

Most auto parts stores will do a computer scan on your check engine light for free.

I would do what golfer said and get someone else to scan your car to see what codes are actually coming up.

will do that first thing.

we had a truck we drove for years with the engine light on. usually don't go to dealers, but felt it was our best option. yeah, we learned our lesson. this experience reminded us why we didn't go thru dealer service before. very, very disappointed and aggravated.

they have changed thing in the fuel system, just not sure why they keep changing out things, and getting nowhere. only difference is i am out money.

car service question
 

OK, as long as this thread is here, help me with this one:

Yesterday morning, my 2004 Ford Ranger truck overheated just a couple of miles from home and, by the time I limped into the driveway, ALL of the coolant was lost. Today, my son-in-law found the problem to be a cracked plastic part, called a heater control valve. He put a new one on, and the truck is now driveable. Only problem is I now have NO HEATER, and the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT is now on. Any ideas before I check it for any codes?

For what it's worth, here are mine:

1. The thermostat was ruined when the truck redlined, and it will have to be replaced.

2. Andy (my son-in-law) may have installed the new part improperly.

3. Something happened to the vacuum line connection to that heater valve (again, possibly when the new part was installed).

you added coolant to replace what's lost? replaced t'stat?

car service question
 

Yes on the coolant; no on the thermostat. Are you in the camp of those who believe the thermostat needs replacing? My son-in-law didn't think so, but I kind of do.

I'll see what the codes come back tomorrow.

it would be worth doing. fairly cheap/easy fix. seems like it's the typical culprit when you have overheat issues...might not have 'opened'. if it sticks shut....you're going to overheat. i know when my sons g/f didnqt have a/c, and car was overheating it was the t/stat.

I'm not endorsing not to have you car checked. I am driving a 98 jeep, the check engine, air bag, oil, and about all other lights have been coming on for about 5 years, no problems so far. Initially had my mechanic, not a jeep dealer, check for problems, didn't find any show stoppers. Usually only 1 or 2 come on at a time, not every day.

When I changed the battery 2 years ago, no change in the lights coming on.

The best one was when the cruise control light came on, the jeep has no cruise control.

In most older cars, you can drive them for years with the check engine light on. It's when the light starts flashing that you have a problem that CAN'T be ignored. If it's an oxygen sensor, or a catalytic converter issue, you can reasonably ignore it. But it makes sense to find out what the problem is first.
I had a Mazda some years ago with the check engine light on for years. Finally, I decided to handle the issue with a well- placed piece of duct tape on the dashboard. Voila, problem solved!

we put a piece of electrical tape over the check engine light in the truck.

mike, typically if you unhook the battery cable, it will reset the check light for a few days, but then it comes back on.
and i have to wonder if the 'mechanics' working on my car know that. oh, hey, the light's off, we fixed it. but in fact, they just reset it when disconnecting the battery. and i know they're disconnecting it, because clock has to be reset each time we get it back.

None of the lights flash or blink yet, the airbag light concerns me the most
I really don't want to get air bagged at freeway speed, I'll be sure to watch
for any flashing, thanks for the heads up

I have 2001 Buick Regal. bout 138K miles..had it two years...low tire and service engine light stay on all the time...check coolant light came on couple months ago and goes off when i park and start up again..:zz:...car runs fine.
Hey dan, you ever listen to Car guys on NPR radio?,,guys are funny and have good advice..on sat from 1-2...right after Wait wait don't tell me show, also very funny..
Here's their facebook link and their phone number is there..check it out...

https://www.facebook.com/TheCarGuysRadioShow

car service question
 

I don't know about dan, but I listen to "Car Talk" every Saturday morning (it's on from 10-11 down here) on the local NPR station. Guys are hilarious; I love the puzzlers. My situation might not be a bad one to call in, but they seem to prefer talking to people whose cars are making funky sounds which they like to make them imitate. I've heard that's the surest way to get past their call screeners.

have heard them plenty of times.

also recommend watching top gear, the brit version.

I don't listen every week but when i do it seems the callers are all women..Maybe call them and give you name as Michele:D
Do you listen to Wait wait don't tell me?...also hiliarious and Peter Sagal is great.

they're coming to get the car in the morning. tony's taking care of it, was on the phone with both the service manager and with chevrolet.

Good on that, dan. Yes, big, I listen to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," which follows "Car Talk" at 11:00. Usually pretty funny stuff.

Great stuff!

the service manager told tony that he felt the stuff they did on trips one and two were unnecessary. that he put a different mechanic on it on the most recent visit, and that he feels he got the canister correct, but...

so, there will be discussion about making things right on that bill when all is said and done. we haven't paid another penny since the first visit.

right...so, they fetched the car. tony had told them about our battery terminal concerns, that corrosion probably was causing an issue.

well, guess what. they took it to shop, cleaned up terminals to get proper connection and hooked up the computer...

catalytic converter. explains, rough idle, stall, all of it. if they've got correct info this time...its covered under warranty.
so, a fixed car, and a refund for unnecessary repair ought to make everything ok.

Let us know how that works out:tro:

Lol.. Uh huh :D

based on conversations with both the service guy and the service manager, yeah, there will be a refund.

I have a '96 Explorer. In '98, I gave someone a jump and the light came on soon afterward.

The car ran fine, so I did the black electrical tape fix and it's been that way since. Have had other work done on it(brakes, hoses, belts etc.) and my mechanic never mentioned it.

I had some stalling and rough ride after an oil change, and I opened the hood and the oil guy checked the air filter and didn't seat the housing back properly so I reset it and no problems. Now I tell them not to check the air filter.

^^^^I read the first sentence, took it the wrong way, and thought Mortimer was back.






















thud!