what to look for in a repair shop

[DarkFox1]

I dont doubt it.... even the best shops can screw you over. all my bolt on crap I got from a local shop here, I wont list their name cos I dont want to give them a bad name.

They were VERY helpful when I 1st came to them., and gave me good service for about 3 years then.. one of the mechanics got up in the office.. and started making cracks about me being spoiled and how "I was thinking about just calling you and tellin you to mail us some more money" and telling me that my items weren't under warranty because of "neglect" (I wash my car at least once every 2 weeks, every time I use chrome polish and tire shine and wax and back to black and glass cleaner and meguiars leather whipes and odoban and 409 on the floor mats.. you get the picutre.. hes full of it) at any rate, this guy didn't stay up front very long until the manger saw it fit that he did not deal with the customers any more.

I still deal with th eplace, but I no longer let them install.. the last time they installed they didn't tighten the bolts all the way and broke my front neon tubes.. the manager was more than helpful and went way beyond his call to make sure I was happy with the job.. but.. no thanks, I'll do thatwork myself thankyou lol

 

[james t]

it's about d@mn time!
J/K. really, im just glad to see that youre starting to find solutions to some of your problems. just to clarify, when did you do the exhaust backpressure test? im also thinking with your gas mileage and a "fume smell" that your proly runnin' rich... also, you cant allways trust others' opinions on your trucks performance. chances are the shop guy doesnt have much seat-time behind the wheel of a 5.0X, and doesnt really have something in his memory to compare it to. also, you may still have a sensor operating out of or near the limits of parameters without ever throwing a code. always remember- dont put all your faith in the check engine light.

BTW... i still think your tranny is screwed up... might as well check it out too...

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by DarkFox1
I'll do thatwork myself thankyou lol

Thats a plan, my friend, Too many simply have some shop do their work. Getting your own hands dirty is a great way to learn. Enjoy.....

 

[DarkFox1]

actually.. I have the sheet for the computer diagnostic right here.. I'll scan it tonight.

he told me he thought it may be a bad or going bad MAF.. and gave me some documentation on this.. I read over it, it does have my symptoms, but suggests that the MAF voltage would be above 1.1 at idle.. mines at 1.08, it also suggests that the truckwould run LEAN at higher rpms.. but.. I think mines rich.. it smells, it gets bad mileage.. that doesn't sound lean to me heh

I was talking doing things myself like maintaining my neon, and guards and such, I dont feel like I know what I'm doing to risk working on this stuff myself.. HOWEVER.. if it is a MAF.. I could replcae this easily myself.

scratch what I asid about scanning it tonight.. here it is

www.redplanetsolutions.net/picdump/computer.jpg

 

[aldive]

You can indeed any of the stuff yourself. It just takes a dose of self confidence.

You mention that you can't aford things, we.., labor is what is expensive, Get those hands dirty and DIY.

I can afford having anyone do my work, but no, I rather do it myself, That way I know it was done right and I truly enjoy doing it.

Good luck.....

 

[james t]

if it truly is showing a bad MAF, i would definatly clean it before i ran out and bought a new one. there are alot of threads on how to do this. best part, it costs a couple of bucks. if its the MAF, figure a 90% chance it just needs cleaning, 10% chance it needs to be replaced.

 

[Robert]

Darkfox - If your MAF is dirty, your engine will run lean. What happens is when the MAF is dirty, it doesn't measure as much air as is going through the engine so it won't supply as much fuel as it should. This creates a lean condition. Try asking around and seeing if anyone near you has an OBD-II scanner. You really need to compare your performance to another similar one just to be sure you aren't expecting too much. If the numbers you posted are accurate then your performance isn't up to par. You need to use the scanner to look at the outputs from all of your sensors while you are driving it to see if any of them are operating outside of their normal range. When the shop checked the back pressure on your cats, did they check both banks?

 

[DarkFox1]

AAAH, stupid page, I had a reply all typed out and it had an error.. screw it..

no, its not running lean, no oppertunities to drive a 5.0 besides this one, no scanners

 

[aldive]

Are you telling us you don't have any friends with an Explorer you can drive? No friends with a scanner?

 

[Alec]

geez, get off the guy a bit!

5.0 Explorers are rare in the grand scheme of things, and not many people own OBD2 scanners.

 

[DarkFox1]

thats EXACTLY what I'm saying..

my friends all drive GMs.. and have 1/4 of the problems might I add...

2 of them say I'm asking too much of it.. another doesn't really like to comment.. I haven't really aked the others..

correction.. 1 frined drives a ranger.. another a toyota.. they both have as many problems as I do.. but what bothers me really is the fact that they can FIND theirs lol

its not the MAF.. not if the MAF makes it run lean.. maybe some kind of ignition thing?

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by Alec
geez, get off the guy a bit!

5.0 Explorers are rare in the grand scheme of things, and not many people own OBD2 scanners.

I am not on the guy, I want to see his problems solved, everyone is not a rich kid, he obviously can't take it to be fixed.

Come on down to Florida and I will let you use my scanner and get you a drive/ride in many trucks.

Hang in there, my friend, it will get resolved.

 

[DarkFox1]

update again

I did it.. I went out today to a local dealer and test drove a 5.0

the dealer didn't know what he was talkin about, he 1st told me he had no 5.0s on the lot,m evne tho I drove through the lot the night before and sort of earmarked the 5.0 X with my eyes..

then he tried to tell me it had 246hp, then called it a 5.8 lol, he was stumbling.

at any rate.. it was a 2000 XLT 5.0 4 door, red with cloth interior, 2wd, 4r70w, 373 LSD rear, and all the options mine has. 34444 on the clock when I put it back in its parking place.

I have only 1 thing to say about the difference...

it was HUUUUUUGE

Acceleration for my truck that is a task and a half was trivial for this truck, it accelerated smooth and only broke 4k rpm when I gunned it, accelerating to 55 in the time that mine takes to reach 35. the truck had 347 miles on the trip meter and a 1/4 tank of gas. It shifted smooth, was VERY responsive, and very quiet, it had the a/c on max and on the highest fan speed the whole test drive.

Surley my cat-back and kkm are not CAUSING these problems are they? this truck was totally stock, and where it did have literally half my mileage, I do not think this is a signifigant factor here.

 

[james t]

well good. i am happy for you... not that your truck is screwed up, but more "now you know for sure" kind of thing. no, your catback and kkm have absolutely nothing to do with your issue, and unless yours has 200k miles, mileage wont be an issue either. now you can atleast start planning.

 

[DarkFox1]

not really.. I still dunno whats wrong..

 

[Robert]

How far are you from Jackson Mississippi? Jjue has a 2WD V8. Maybe he has an OBD-II scanner? I know Aldive does and he is in Florida. Maybe make a weekend out of it? There has to be someone in the Georgia area with a scanner. Maybe post a thread on the General board looking for someone in your area with a scanner.

 

[DarkFox1]

man, isn't that what the shop had? I have a link about 4 or 5 posts ago to a $65 computer diagnostic test..

I also had onna those free code check things from autozone, both of them pretty much said the same things. everything was "normal"

my bad, that was on the previous page.. I'll link it again

www.redplanetsolutions.net/picdump/computer.jpg

 

[Robert]

The scan was when your vehicle was sitting still. What needs to be done is hook the scanner up to your vehicle when you go for a drive and get on it.

The only thing I see that raises some concern though is your long term fuel trims should be 0%. Bank 1 was -2% and bank 2 was -4%. They are still well within their adjustable limits, however ideally they should be 0%. With the negative values, it means that your short term fuel trims were running rich so your computer adjusted your long term fuel trims towards the negative to try and compensate. It is just barely negative. If it gets to -20% it will throw a code. Mine have always ran 0% as well as every other vehicle I have monitored. If yours is running rich, that would account for the slightly negative results. Things to look at are fuel pressure regulator and leaking fuel injectors.

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by Robert
The scan was when your vehicle was sitting still. What needs to be done is hook the scanner up to your vehicle when you go for a drive and get on it.

Indeed, you need to see the data under actual driving conditions and under various loads to get any definative results.

You have got to get ahold of a scanner.

I will scan your truck here in Florida or can meet you in Atlanta on one of my trips to the ranch.

 

[DarkFox1]

ok, yes I can vouch for it running rich, since the cat test came back clean.. also, the poor mileage, the smell, now I've just got to figure out why its running rich

dave92X suggested that I change the plugs, well thats cheap and not TOO hard I suppose, so I'm about to go inspect and snap a picture of the easiest one to get to and get back on here

I have never heard of a plug firing weak.. we have 6 cars.. and every one of them has had the "if its not skipping, plugs are fine" rule to live by. .I guess I was wrong on that, but I've jnever had a problem like this on any of our other cars.