Tag Archives: mercedes

Man Made

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A Man Made failure can be very hard to find. I get two or three a year that make me pull my hair out. Most of the time I know something is rotten, because it looks like some one has man handled the area in question.

A man-made failure is still a failure, but a man-made failure will cause many more issues during the diagnosis.

Someone caused the failure, it did not happen on its own.

What did they do or not do right…

Man made failures are not a normal condition related to age or heat. A man-made failure is caused by an owner doing DIY repairs or a junior mechanic working on the car the wrong way.

The part pictured above is from a Nissan. The Nissan was at a car wash for an engine detail and two days later it would not run correctly and set a lean code (P0171). Yes, the check engine light came on.

Issues after an engine detail are very common.

I have many car owners that have skills, and they bring the car to me when the job is outside what they can do. I am Ok with that. Doing your own repairs is fine, just do not bring it to me in a basket and expect it to be cheep to put back together.

The image above and just below are from a 6.0 V8 Chevy engine. The two Chevrolet knock sensors, live in a well under the intake manifold. The ash look on the sensors is due to an engine detail. The hot water under high pressure went into the well area and worked its way into the sensor. Boo Hoo, it set a code and it was only four days after the engine detail.

If your car is 8 years old or older, I would not recommend to do any high pressure washing around the engine and engine harness. The damage high pressure water will do, can cost you more trouble than its worth. I wash my engine bays with hot low pressure soap & water. Then I blow dry everything before re-starting the engine.

Car owners can cause more issues than a junior tech, because they just do not know any better. The next image below is just that case. The owner installed a fancy gauge kit on his Toyota Supra and then odd things started to happen about a month later.

Clients lie, yes I said it, they lie. It is just like a little kid getting in trouble, they did something that caused a problem, and now they need a bail out, but they do not want to admit they did it.

The normal story I hear often is a friend installed it for me or I had a shop install it and now it does not work.

With more Q&A you find out that they never had a friend or shop install it. Go figure.

I have worked with many junior technicians and every one of them had questions. I like it when they ask before they jump right into the fire. The image above is from a man-made failure that an 8 year tech made.

I worked with him for 4 months and never questioned his work. One day I had a Toyota Camry pop in that had an odd issue. It was running rich and had an odd flutter upon acceleration. I had never seen anything like this before.

After 2 hours of tests I had my answer. I did not like what I found. The cam shaft gear was touching the signal wire to the #1 injector. It was causing extra injection pulses, causing the rich fuel mixture and engine flutter.

The tech had just replaced the valve cover gasket the week before.

When I showed the tech the findings, he had a I don’t care response. When I asked him why he felt this way, he said, look at the car, it’s a P.O.S.

The tech quit that Friday.

It does not matter how old a car is or the condition the car is in. Every repair needs to have the same quality. Service above self. Doing your best every time not just some of the time.

P.O.S. defined:  pile of shit

 

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

 

P0171 & P0173

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Engine codes P0171 and P0173, a lean fuel system condition, the engine may miss fire or feel lazy. Modern cars and trucks have many sensors that send information to the engine computer. The engine computer looks at the information coming in from all the input sensors and then it makes changes to the, transmission operation, ignition timing and fuel injector delivery. The computer does this very fast, so fast most drivers will never feel the changes taking place.

The computer adjusts many outputs at the same time, every second.

The PCV hose pictured above, is for a 2009 Ford truck. The old hose went bad and caused two codes in the engine computer. P0171 and P0173 are codes for a lean condition inside the engine. The hose below failed, causing the codes to set in the engine computer.

When the C.E.L. (check engine light) comes on, it makes you wonder, is it critical or a minor issue. Plus now you have something new to fit into your budget, Great!

As long as your check engine light is not flashing at you, you can still drive your car, but should get it in for service as soon as possible. The light is on for a reason.

A lean condition can cause many issues. Fuel economy will become poor and the engine may even stall when coming to a stop. It will run rough when cold and lack power when warm. It needs attention, your ride is unhappy, and it’s time to make a repair.

Hose failure is the most common cause of a lean fuel system. Many parts on the engine can cause a lean code issue, so you should have a ASE certified shop look at your engine light issue. Free code checks at the auto parts store will not be 100%.

I use dealer parts often. In this case, the PCV hose has been updated. When ever I have a chance to make a repair that will solve more than one issue I do it. The hose was updated to prevent PCV carbon build up and the rubber hose joints are made thicker. The part was less than $30.00. An investment vs just using a regular chunk of hose, but it will last. At Tony’s service center every repair we do comes with a 2 year 24,000 mile warranty.

Stop in for a visit today.

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

 

Check it!

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It’s Monday, and I see a Chevrolet truck on the lot that has not been in for about 5 months.

On its last visit, it was low on oil, it did not read on the oil dip stick at all. It was low due to, the engine burns oil. The engine has no oil leaks, it burns the oil inside the engine because of its age. It’s old and has 140,000 miles of hard use.

At the last L.O.F. service, I talked to the client about checking the oil every 30 days or stopping by so I could check the oil for him. It only takes a moment to prevent a failure!

Well the engine ran out of oil for the last time. The engine failed. Checking the oil in your car or truck only takes 2 minuets, so why wait till the engine is making noise or worse.

I talk to clients about checking the engine oil, engine coolant and tire pressure every 30 days, but I only have a hand full that do it regularly. It only takes a moment to stop by for us to check it.

So why wait, check it today!

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

 

WD40

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Spray penetrating oil; I like WD40. I have a use for it on every car that comes in for service. Door locks, hinges, hood latch’s. You name it I have a use for it.

Today I had a truck in for service that the rear door was not functioning correctly. The lock was not working. The client could not lock and unlock the door, plus the door latch’s hung up causing the door to not latch. The client has been slamming the door to close it, and now the doors metal frame was showing cracks near the latch.

After removing the doors inner panels. I sprayed down the latch’s and door lock. Now everything is happy, the lock turns and the door shuts easy.

The client was stunned, he said he sprayed lot’s of spray oil on the latch and lock and it never made them work well. The kicker was to spray the latch’s and lock from inside the door vs just from the outside.

 

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

 

 

Want a quickie?

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Every body want’s a quickie. Plastic head lamp lens polishing.

hazy plastic head lamp lens

This head lamp lens was very hazy. Both head lights looked the same way, hazy. The driver did not notice the lights being dim. Once I sold him on a quickie polish, he liked that the front of the truck looked new again. The next day he called me. He was in shock, he noticed right away, that the lights worked better.

Many of today’s head lamp lens’ are made of plastic. The plastic may become discolored and fade after many years of service. Hazy or yellowed head lamp lenses will reduce the light coming out of the head lamp fixture. The Hazy condition acts like a diffuser, making the light travel less distance down the road. A yellow lens condition will diffuse and change the color of the light. Both conditions will reduce the distance your head lamps can project down the road.

Hear at the shop, I have three levels of lens clean up.

2 Step Quick Polish: Clean the surface and polish the lens with a cleaning wax.

4 Step Polish: Clean the surface, polish with cutting paste and then fine polish plus apply a wax sealer.

8 Step Sand & Polish: Clean the surface, sand plastic in 3 steps, polish in 3 steps and then apply a wax sealer.

Most of the time a 2 step quick polish is all most cars need. The 4 step is for very heavy hazy and yellowing. The 8 step polish is for pitted and scratched lenses. Some times very deep damage will require lens replacement.

 

 

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

My tires are worn out? Why are they worn out?

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I just replaced my tires last month. Well, sort of.

The client in question, did replace the tires on this month, but it was 3 years ago this month. Time just zips by, and I have this happen to many clients, they lose track of when they last visited the shop. That is why we mail out reminders to clients, so they come in for service regularly.

I see 4 to 5 cars a week that need tires. So why do drivers wait till the tire fails? Why wait till you are on the side of the road.

I blame it on an old school idea, the myth is that Abraham Lincoln’s head is a good judge of tread depth. In the last couple years I have seen many automotive articles on tire wear and when it’s time to replace the worn out rubber.

Penny vs Quarter for checking tire depth
Penny @ 2/32″ of an inch vs a Quarter @ 4/32″ of an inch.

When you use a penny to judge the tread depth, you are waiting too long to replace your tires. Waiting till your tires are at 2/32″ of an inch to replace them puts you at risk of hydroplaning in wet conditions.

Hydroplaning; “Verb”  To slide uncontrollably on the wet surface of a road : a motorist whose car hydroplaned and crashed into a tree.

Many tires may still have tread in the center, but may be worn at the edge, or worse. Your tires could be age cracked, or have cuts on the side wall from hitting curbs.   You must look at the condition of the entire tire, not just the thread thickness.

I know, I live in Arizona. It never rains in Arizona, right? Well the fact is, yes, it does rain in Arizona just not very often. But when it does rain, all the oil in the road rises to the top of the wet surface. That makes the road very slick. Any tire at 2/32″ of an inch will slip, slide and lose traction very easy in that type of wet condition.

So I like to use a Quarter, I keep one in my pocket to show clients how important thickness is when the road is wet. A Quarter will give you 4/32″ or 1/8 th of an inch of tread thickness. I use 4/32″ of an inch as a guideline for tire wear. Many tests have shown that tires worn to 4/32″ of an inch will still grip the wet road and bring your car to a safe stop.

The video below is showing a tire that is worn too much, it needs replacement now. If you look at the center of the tire you can see the tread is still thick enough that it could give the owner the idea the tire is still good. The client did not think the tread was that bad till I showed him up close how cracked and worn the tire was. In fact all 4 tires looked just like the one in the video clip. He only came in to get the fluids checked and the tires aired up because he was going on a trip in the morning.

So as your tire wears down below 4/32″ it will start to lose traction when the road is wet. Tests on tires looking at tire wear vs wet traction showed that at 3/32″ of an inch the wet stopping distances starts to increase by 15 to 50%.

At 2/32″ of an inch almost all the tires tested showed the cars using over double the amount of distance to stop. That is almost 100% more stopping distance needed when the road is wet. Replacing your tires at 4/32″ is a good idea. Think safety first.

By the way the client was very happy we found this before he had a break down. With 4 new tire an oil change and new wiper blades he was ready for his trip.

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

DTC P0300 Random Engine Miss Fire Condition

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DTC P0300 is a Random Engine Miss Fire Condition

An engine miss fire feels like a bumping sensation. Most of the time, this is noticed by the driver when accelerating. A miss fire condition may cause the Check Engine Light to turn on or start flashing at you.

Carbon tracking on a spark plug

This is a spark plug with carbon tracking. The dark black lines running left to right in the center of the image is a carbon trail caused by a faulty spark plug wire. This type of condition will cause a single cylinder miss fire.

If an engine miss fire condition is causing poor tail pipe emissions, the check engine light will start to flash on and off.

When you see the check engine light flashing at you, do not continue to drive the car. Get it in for repairs right away. The catalytic converter maybe damaged if you continue to drive the car with the check engine light flashing.

catalytic converter failure core melted

A Catalytic Converter damaged by a miss fire condition. A miss fire condition will melt down a converter very quickly.

A catalytic converter is not chump change. On a Nissan Pathfinder, I just replaced both front catalytic converters on the Nissan and it was related to a miss fire condition. It was over $1,400.00 just for the dealer cats.

Worn spark plugs, causing engine code P0300

This set of worn spark plugs was causing a DTC P0300 on a Ford 4.2 V6. The plugs are 8 years old with 102,000 miles of use. The engine needed more parts than just spark plugs. This set of plugs also shows oil build up, the engine was due for a valve job on top of all the other needs.

If the check engine light is flashing, get it in for repairs!

OBD2 cars today can store a code that will direct the mechanic to look at a specific area.

A good example of this is when you have a DTC P0302 miss fire detected on cylinder #2, you have a place to look (cylinder #2 has a miss fire). You just have to look at things that would affect cylinder #2.

Oil fouled spark plug

Oil fouled spark plug, this plug was causing a single cylinder miss fire. (DTC P0304)

On a DTC P0300, this is a random miss fire condition that could be caused by anything. Anything that changes the air/fuel mixture to all of the cylinders in the engine at the same time.

A dirty MAF sensor can cause this type of change to all the cylinders.

MAF: Mass Air Flow Sensor, is a sensor that takes reading of the incoming air into the engine and sends a signal to the computer. The signal is used to make fuel system, cam timing and ignition timing adjustments.

The driver may not feel the engine miss fire with a DTC P0300, but the driver should see the check engine light turn on. Other things the driver may notice. The engine may feel like it is not responding crisply or the driver may notice that the fuel economy has been poor.

A couple other things that can cause a DTC P0300. Poor engine compression or an engine that is out of time due to a faulty timing belt or timing chain. A large centrally located vacuüm leak or a restricted exhaust system.

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DTC P0300 Defined: Random Cylinder Miss Fire, this condition could be caused by any parts attached to the engine or parts inside the engine. You have to look for any condition that will change the air/fuel mixture, spark or compression to all the cylinders at the same time.

DTC P0301 Defined: Miss Fire on cylinder #1 or any cylinder that the code lists. (P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304) The last number in the DTC is pointing to the cylinder that set the code.

 

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

Click, Click, Click

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It’s the sound no one want’s to hear.

Click, click, click, this sound could be caused by a faulty starter, a poor cable connection at the starter or battery, or it could be a worn out battery. It could be related to anything in the starting system.

The most common reason is a faulty battery. (about 75% of the time it is just a faulty battery) In Arizona I see most batteries last about 18 months. (1.5 years) The heat is a big killer of batteries. I test every battery in every car I look at, even if it is in for a small repair.

A battery does not normally fail suddenly, but can. The battery will show weakness many months before full failure. Yes, it may start the engine just fine, but the cells inside the battery may have a reduced capacity.

The best way to test for battery health is to place a fixed load on the battery and watch the voltage drop over a preset time. This places a dynamic load on the cells. This is an old school type of test.

The next best way is to use a capacity tester. This type of test checks the internal cell resistance. If the cells are weak, the tester will show (percentage remaining) or a (replace now) depending on how weak the cells are.

Do not wait till you hear click, click click to take action, stop in today so we can test your battery. We are always happy to see new clients and our regular clients know we take care of everything under the hood. Call us today to schedule an appointment.

At Tony’s Service Center we check your battery at every visit. If it is having any issues, you will know before it fails.

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

Chevy Truck Repairs, My engine runs rough.

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1997 Chevrolet truck with a 4.3 engine runs rough.

The owner has maintained the truck very well, but with 300,000+ miles on the clock you would think it would be all worn out, but it’s not. This is why maintenance is critical to the long life of your car or truck. This truck looks and drives great because the owner loves his ride. The rough running condition was not setting any codes.

(This was a No Code, Driveablity Condition) 

It was not related to the ignition system or engine compression. It was caused by a faulty fuel pressure regulator on the fuel injection unit. The only way to spot an issue like this is to know fuel delivery basics.

The failure was not computer related.

Some engine parts go bad slowly over time. The client did not know that anything was wrong. The client only said it felt rough at an idle and to check it out. This little monster below is the fuel injection unit from under the intake manifold. It is hidden from sight. So when it has a leak, you do not smell it or see it, but your fuel economy will drop when it is going bad.

The client may have noticed that the engine was using more fuel, but he does not check the fuel mileage regularly. The easy way to check fuel usage is to zero out your trip meter when you fill up the gas tank. Then at the next fill up, divide the miles traveled by the fuel used to re-fill the tank. Presto, you just found out what your fuel MPG is. Now, do this at every fill up and if you notice your mileage drop over 20% suddenly, you may need repairs or lighter feet.

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013

A/C Filter Maintenance

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A/C air filters get dirty quickly in Phoenix, AZ

The normal interval for a/c air filter replacement is once a year or every 15,000 miles. In Phoenix, AZ it is very dusty, so filter changes may be needed more often. Today I found a set of original equipment a/c filters in a 1994 Lexus LS400. The car only has 96,000 miles on it and the owner only drives twice a week at best, the owner is a snow bird and this is the winter car that just sits at the house during the summer.

The car has been serviced several times with us, but the owner visits other locations. The client did not have an issue with the a/c, but it’s March and warm out so I turned it on Max just to check it. I noticed the air flow was weak when the fan was set on MAX air. So I took a peek at the a/c air filters.

I was stunned to find OE original filters in place. Some-how it was not noticed on the other visits to the shop. Overall changing the cabin air filter regularly keeps incoming air cleaner and duct air flow at peak output. If you do not remember ever-changing the a/c filters in your car, stop in at the shop and we can take care of it for you.

It’s all good under the hood. Anthony Xavier ASE Master Technician

copyright: All rights reserved @ HeyAnthonyAZ.com 2013