Gremlins in my F-150

When Ants Attack

I realize now that there are some things beyond even my awesome ability to predict. Normally, on a good day, that doesn't mean much but let's face facts:  my sanity is hanging by a thread. Practicing the Zen method of car repair helps me keep what little sanity is left to me.  

Ok, sermon over.  What has this to do with Ford F150's and ant?  Everything. As I was minding my own business, driving down the road in my 150, it shut off.  No engine lights, no sputtering, no misfires just a complete shutdown.  Coasting to the side of the road, I sat there baffled.  I realized that a multitude of problems could be the result of my truck's abrupt death but where to start.  Sitting there for a minute, I decided to try restarting it.  It started right up and off I went.  Got it back home and it dies in the parking lot. Great.

I checked the computer which showed no codes, and no real problems.  Even better. I went back to the basics and decided to check for fuel, spark and compression. Fuel being the easiest, Zen practice here, I checked the fuel pressure. Zero upon turning the key on. Bingo.  Turned the key and listened to the fuel pump and it didn't make a sound. There was my problem:  fuel pump dead.  I started making preparations to pull the tank and replace the fuel pump.  

Then it hit me.  There are other things besides a faulty fuel pump that can shut it off.  Just to be sure, I decided to check the fuel pump relay.  This is what I found:

Apparently, ants had gotten into my fuel pump relay and their bodies were making the contacts....um...not contact.  A simple matter of replacing the relay and my truck was as good as new.  The relay would make contact intermittently which is why it started up again but the ants were definitely ruining it. If I hadn't seen an ant going into the relay I might have missed out on a unique opportunity for Mother Nature to screw with my mind.  The real lesson for me here wasn't pest control (I'm sure you are all thinking that but forget it).  No, the real lesson here is that past knowledge is no guarantee that you wont be thrown a confusing situation by the uncontrollable universe of randomness we live in.   Keep your Zen mindset and try to stay calm if at all possible.  I mean if one of natures smallest creatures can stop a 2 ton truck, who am I to say that everything is under my control???

Rings around Saturns

Smokin and Misfires

The 1.9 liter Saturn engines from the early 90's to the late 90's was a success and failure in many ways.  However, its successes were marred by a couple of things.  One of these things is the constant usage of oil.  Every 1000 miles (1600 km) the engine will burn a quart (.9 liters) of oil.  The first thing you will go looking for is an oil leak.  There isn't one. You will also notice that the oil you just changed is dirty as heck.  If that doesn't push your meditation to achieve calmness nothing will.  

It turns out that the pistons on these cars was included without a proper oil scraper relief hole.  That being said, when the oil scraping rings wipe the cylinder, the oil has no where to go and gets burned.  Eventually, these rings get carbon build on them and they stop scraping oil all together causing a nice white smoke to come out of your tail pipe.  Here's a look at the piston:

As you can see, there is no hole through the piston for the oil rings to scrape oil through, only the holes on the side.   This is not enough to keep the rings from sticking and eventually burning oil like crazy.  Aside from replacing the rings and putting the engine back together, there is no real fix to this.  There are aftermarket pistons with the holes drilled for the oil available that will probably solve the problem though.  In the meantime, try not to worry about the oil burning.  Just keep topping it off and drive it normally.  

The other problem I have had with older Saturns involves the ignition system.  If you try to put in platinum spark plugs or change out the coils for better aftermarket ones, you will get a camshaft sensor code and your engine light will come on. Why???  Well, it turns out that these cars have a sensitive ignition system that only works with the original system.  Putting in advanced spark plugs will cause a misfire and an camshaft sensor code to pop up, even though there is no cam sensor!  Put in copper old school spark plugs, and original coil packs or you will be ripping out the last hair on your head trying to figure it out.  (And that aint good for your Zen) 

Rockin The Nissan Pathfinder

Pathfinder Death Sway

You are driving down the highway minding your own business in your 2002 Nissan Pathfinder when suddenly it starts to rock back and forth.......violently!  I don't know about you, but that is enough to make me need a clean pair of shorts.  The truth of the matter is that the Pathfinder has a fatal flaw in the rear suspension.  Bushings.

As the bushings wear out, they start to wiggle the rear axle back and forth. At highway speeds, this translates to a rocking motion that will scare the bull spit right out of you (unless you are a zen master in which case you will just need an underwear change).  If you have kids, they will love this new ride.   In any case, you have to address this problem so without further ado, I introduce the 2002 Nissan Pathfinder bushings of death:

As you can see from the above diagram, the bushings indicated by the red arrows are the culprits.  A good online company can sell you the bushings or the whole arms to put in for a relatively cheap price.  This will help get back most of the calm zen like attitude you lost when your Pathfinder gave you a Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  Don't forget to check the other bushings down under there while you are at it. The panhard rod, stabilizer links, and shocks could all be worn as well.  As soon as you are done, congratulate yourself on a job well done........then off to the store for new underwear that you now so sorely need. 

THE HYUNDAI GHOST (CRANKSHAFT SENSOR)

Ghost in the machine

From time to time there will come my way a car that has a no start condition.  That by itself is not unusual. What is unusual is the dead car with no code.  Car computers are getting pretty good at figuring out what is going wrong with an engine and alerting the driver by setting a code.  When this 2002 Hyundai Elantra showed up at my door with an engine that would stay running for 15 minutes and then die, my first thought was to look at the codes. There was a code for an malfunctioning MAP but nothing else.  

Hmmmmmm.  Something didn't seem right about that.  Normally a malfunctioning MAP wouldn't lead to the engine dying every 15 minutes.  Did I mention that it would start up again when the engine cooled?  No?  Well it would.  

Replacing the MAP, I sent my customer on their way.  They called back about 20  minutes later.  Engine died.  So, back it came.  

Not having any codes to go by, I did my homework, Zen style (trying to relax), and discovered about 40 things that cause a car to die.  Not helpful.  However, using the Sherlock Holmes method, that being the most obvious solution is usually the correct one, I decided to inspect the crankshaft sensor.  

Crankshaft sensors have a bad habit of cracking  and yet still working. Not having a scope to check the wave form of the sensor, I just removed it.  Here's what I found:

As you can see, the casing is cracked.  Oil was seeping into the electrical contacts from the engine block.  When the sensor was hot, it would stop working.  Cooling down, it would start working again. I had found my ghost.  So why didn't it set a code for a bad crankshaft sensor? My online homework did not discover the answer to that question, but 90% of the time it doesn't set a code.  

This is why the Zen meditation method of engine repair is so necessary.  It's this kind of thing that will push your already fragile mind over the edge of  sanity. Unless you have a wave form tool, you will be going crazy trying to find a misfiring or dead engine caused by a bad crankshaft sensor.  Remember also the Sherlock Holmes method. Most obvious causes should be checked before ripping apart the wiring to whatever particular "piece" you happen to be working on.

Cheers

Thank you Lexus.......well, not really

Lexus all have a good time

I will admit it.  Sometimes there are problems that come along that freak me out because I can't find a cause.  Enter the Lexus.......   A customer brought a 2000 Lexus ES300 to me because it wouldn't start and when I finally managed to get it to start (insert exasperation here) it died almost immediately.  Finding no obvious problems, I took a minute to find my Zen clear-thinking pose.  I decided to deal with the problem of the non-idling first.  What could cause it to not idle with no discernible engine problems?  Time for a Google search, or in this case, Youtube.  Here's what I found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c1YSic7ejs

It turns out that the idle air control valve gets plugged up with carbon after a while. This causes it not to move and the car will not idle.  Here's a  picture of the offending creature involved:

Take off the two screws you see here on the black part of the control valve.  Underneath you will see a small round piece of metal that will probably be stuck.  Turn this back and forth with your fingers several times until it moves freely.  When it is unstuck, put the cover back on and you are done.  This seems to happen a lot to the Toyota engine here so make it a plan to clean it once a year or so.  

It's quite possible that this could save you a ton of money as the control valve is quite expensive.  Once again proving that doing your homework can save you money.   

If anyone is interested, and I'm not saying you are but since its my blog, I did discover the problem with the Lexus involved.  One, the control valve was stuck. Two the starter on the Lexus was fried.  New starter and cleaned control valve and it ran perfect.  It was, however, difficult to explain to the customer that they had two problems, not just one.  I think that is where my Zen training really came into play..........

Focusing in on Ford Focus

If it seems like I'm picking on Fords..........I'm not.  Well, maybe a little.  But it is what it is, and the first rule of Zen Car Repair (along with the other ten first rules) is to accept what is and try not to fight it.  I mean if you bought a ford, that's that your problem not mine.  Ok, ok, I own one too but lets get to the helpful part of this story.  Put down our rocks, stop throwing stones and realize that people who live in glass ford cars shouldn't throw stones.

The Ford Focus comes in a couple of different engines but mostly it's the single overhead cam or double overhead cam versions.  The one I'm discussing is the single overhead model.  

If you find that your Focus is not idling well, or is dying when you turn on the A/C it's time to suspect a couple of different things.  One, the Idle Air Control Valve may be clogged with carbon or it may be sticking.  You don't necessarily have to replace it, but it might be a good idea to clean it out with some carb cleaner and stick it back on.  Two, you may have a PCV hose that has a hole in it.  As I discussed in a previous article, Fords require a hose that doesn't leak in order to idle properly.  Check all hose connections to the PCV  hose system and check for a crack or hole.  As a side note, these hoses are different on the various models so check to see which engine you have before going crazy.  Remember, part of zen car repair is doing your homework to keep your mind pure of suicidal thoughts.  

The third possibility is one that is rare but I have seen.  The power steering pump has a switch on it that raises the idle when you turn so the car doesn't die as more power steering pump action kicks in.  This switch comes in two different forms:  Blue dot, or Green or white dot.  They are very different switches so don't confuse them.  The switch will fail, causing the car to have a crazy idle which affects the rest of idle systems.  In my case, the switch started blowing fluid out the switch itself resulting in a pretty good leak of power steering fluid.  Replacement is easy though, so don't sweat it.  Just unscrew it and screw it back in.  Too bad it costs way more than it should.

Here is a few pictures of our Ford excursion through wonderland:

Power steering switch (green white dot)

 

Idle Air Control Valve (clean if dirty)

PCV NIGHTMARE 

Thank you Ford engineers for your wonderful design of the pcv valve elbow on most taurus'.  Yes my friends, this is a project that will live in infamy and is truly masterpiece.  If you are driving down the road and your ford taurus starts acting like it cant idle or dies at a stoplight (no prior warning at all of course), then you might have a problem with the pcv elbow.  It develops a small hole in it almost invisible to the eye and leaks an incredible amount of air into the intake manifold. A good way to diagnose this is to look at the fuel trims if you have a scan tool that will do this.  They will be way rich in order to compensate for the extra air being admitted into the intake manifold through the leak (+10 or more) and it will affect both banks 1 and 2.  An oxygen sensor code will probably be set as it is picking up too much oxygen as well.  Here is a picture of the offending creature I am expounding upon:

There are probably versions of his hose but they are all pretty much the same look and function.  The company Dorman sells a replacement to this and it works pretty good. 

Lesson here?  Check the pcv elbow if your Taurus is misbehaving.  Some mechanics will spend a ton of money replacing the wrong stuff for something simple like this (by the way, anyone can replace this).  Find your Zen mechanic mindset and avoid the stress of owning a ford taurus.