Forum Replies Created
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Nice use of a scope for diagnostics.
I work on automotive sensors and we only use scopes never DMM. Scope plots give you a real time picture of what’s really happening.
How much was the picoscope?
I think you’re right, maybe they were bluffing and if she put up enough of a fight they would have done as you said- make her sign a disclaimer first.
I imagine that the technicians on this forum have seen a few cars that they really didn’t want to see back out on the road not wanting anyone to get hurt and I don’t blame anyone for taking some kind if effort to prevent a customer from driving into what they see as a deathtrap.
in Massachusetts, I talked to my in-law and she told me she brought the car to the dealer complaining about a burning smell and grind sound up front. Turns out one of the front bearings was seized and for that reason they refused to let her drive it away like that (its a 2002 CRV).
Admittedly she was trying to find the cheapest shop to do this work and I suspect she was trying to get a diagnoses from the dealer that she could take elsewhere for cheap labor.
There is usually a manual override to that power lock that is physically connected to the lock mechanism. I don’t know if every car has but every one of my cars had it.
Here is a picture showing the EGR, it’s easy to remove with nothing in the way- 2 nuts.
It’s probably not bad, if it was, you would have a CEL but it might be dirty as mine was.
Yes I was, exactly as you described while waiting at lights. I have a cheap elm327 usb scanner that I could track a parameter called “egr error” and I could see it there as well.
Try checking your EGR valve. It;s easy to get to.
I have 2008 Civic and lived with a rough idle for a long time and when I finally got a CEL for EGR valve issue I found it be be so gummed up that I gave up on cleaning up and just ordered a new one. Idle issue fixed after that.
What kind of bulbs did you put in and how recently? Because twice I had this issue in my 2000 Sienna when I installed “ultra bright bulbs” that blow in months and both times I lost both low beam bulbs at the same time.
Check the bulbs before you start tearing your van apart.
Installed cheap bulbs never had this issue again.
Try checking for leaks at the air intake where air could be sneaking into the engine that the computer doesn’t know about. It can be hard to find but Eric does have some videos showing some tricks to find leaks.
One clue is that it happened after backing up, if it isn’t a coincidence, the engine does move when shifting and this will flex the intake hose exposing a leak if it is compromised.
You should check the voltage with it plugged in, not unplugged. The reason is you could have a wiring issue that causes it to be highly resistive yet not completely open. In this case you would read 12V with it unplugged, but when you plug it in and try to draw the current, the voltage will drop to near 0 volts.
Did you rule out a loose connection yet? It doesn’t take much resistance to kill things. If possible, check the voltage right at the alternator from the pos stud to the frame of the alt at idle.
In 2008, I bought a new 2008 Honda Civic and a used 2000 Toyota Sienna that came from Florida. Today, over 7 years later, the 15 year old Sienna has no more rust than the newer Civic. I live in New England where rust is an issue so I think that the “rust clock” starts when the car starts to see salt through the winter months.
I think you should keep the car and fix it up as it is worth more to you knowing it’s history than it will be to a stranger.
Also, from experience, the excise taxes and insurance is far cheaper for the older Sienna compared to the newer Civic. The difference is thousands of dollars over the years.
BTW, my 2000 Sienna has 132,000 miles on it and I plan to keep it for much longer.
