Car Troubles & A Meme

[elfs]

Yesterday, while coming up the hill over SR509 that heads south from Seattle, we're driving along and the engine suddenly loses about a quarter of its power and the blinking "Service Engine Soon" light comes on. After a minute the light begins to steady and the car seems to be okay, but the power doesn't recover.

So I take it into the shop and they tell me that the electronic alternator is going, the oxygen sensor needs to be replaced, and I need a complete set of ignition coils and wires. Parts, labor, and diagnosis was outrageously expensive, but they'll let me put it up on a three-months, same-as-cash, have-a-discount plan. I guess we'll survive.

Bleah.

I'll buy this:

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Comments

car troubles?

[angelpdx.livejournal.com]

hey compared to replacing a head gasket, it can't be that bad. I know wires and ignition coil are simple take out the screws, unplug the wires, plug the new ones in and put the new ciol in with the new scres\ws... I'd get a manual and take a look before paying them outrageous sums of money. Better yet, have you got a garage to work in? cause it's cold outside... but honestly, the alternator I'd buy, but the rest? Sounds like crap to me... wires don't go out just like that, and neither does the coil. Usually you get a little notice with occasional tiny momentary loss of power. I'd get a second opinion from a place that does nothing but electrical repairs.

Re: car troubles?

[(Anonymous)]

Re angelpdx: Just be careful that you don't take the bad diagnosis of a bad repair shop and decide to "do those repairs yourself to save money." Not only is it kind of dishonest to use the repair shop's diagnosis for free to substitute for your own (lack of) diagnostic acumen; you might also find yourself doing completely the wrong repairs, failing to fix the car.

Re: car troubles?

[norman-hamer.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* not if you've paid them to do the diagnosis.

Re: car troubles?

[angelpdx.livejournal.com]

Besides which, even if you haven't paid them to diagnose. The truth is that they diagnose hoping to get business out of it. If you do your own work, and only take the difficult stuff to them, then they *are* getting your business, and their diagnosis got them good publicity.

Re: car troubles?

[gchpaco.livejournal.com]

I should note in my 1982 Accord, when I lost the alternator I called a bunch of guys up and one of them said "Oh, when that goes on those cars usually it takes out most of the wiring with it, you'll want to have that replaced." I thought "yeah, right", but it turns out the alternator had taken most of the wiring harness out with it. Alternators are not trivial things.

Which is not to say I would not support "yes, get a second opinion".

[(Anonymous)]

Tis the season. I just put over $400 into a new alternator [the part was over $300]. The car had warning lights and died similar to yours, requiring me also to - on my cell from the frigid street corner - renew my AAA membership.

Happy holidays, eh?

[(Anonymous)]

Nowadays you can borrow ($0 at some auto parts stores) or buy ($40-$200) electronic doohickeys that query the electronic systems in most cars and give you often decent clues about what might be wrong.

So, did your favorite shop take the car completely apart already before giving you a diagnosis? Or can you shop around for a second,third opinion like if you were thinking about getting surgery?

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

I know very little about the computer controlled engines which have oxygen sensors and such, but I do know those particular sensors fail. They're measuring the chemistry of the exhaust gases and feeding that back into the control computer. Losing that input seems a plausible cause. Ignition wiring is one of those routine things which shouldn't be terribly expensive in time and parts, likewise the alternator.

But the electronic diagnosis is one of those things which can give the authorised dealers a captive market. And, whatever the engine, you'll end up paying top price.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Well, I trust my mechanic-- he's not the best I've ever had (the best I've ever had was of the "I'm busy today, here's the manual, why don't you see if you can fix it, that one should be easy, bring the manual back on Monday" school of business)-- but he hasn't screwed me yet. And I know next to nothing about cars made after 1989-- all the computers and wires and stuff are beyond my ken.

I recall hearing that Congress was thinking about mandating standards for computer diagnoses, including the use of a standard IO port like USB for the diagnostic plug itself, to prevent that monopoly on excessively expensive "diagnostic computers" which are in some ways little more than 1950s movie sets with a laptop's worth of power in them, but lots of lights and bells. I wonder whatever came of that.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

I think there's been something in Europe about access to the information needed to do computer diagnosis. As for the physical interface, there is some sort of standard, the auto manufacturers do see some advantage in that, but it's one from the mainstream computer world. Probably not a bad thing to avoid standard computer connectors, considering the environment.

I know what you mean about the computerised test gear, and I've seen the same rather over-engineered style with other computer-controlled gear in a workshop. It's developed as part of a different line, going back to things like switching power to big electric motors. My grandfather was installing three-phase motors almost a century ago, and with that tradition in the family, we're sort of used to big boxes.