Me too my back can't take it!
Misfire or something else??
- Thread starter Fordgirl01
- Start date
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OP
OP
Fordgirl01
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<<My own misfire experience turned out to be carbon build up in the combustion chamber, or so i'm told. I talked to a bud of mine who is a shop foreman at a Ford dealer. He told me to get the engine stinking hot before trying to crack the plugs loose. I bought the plugs,a can of seafoam, and filled up with Shell premium gas( no ethanol) and drove the truck hard for a few days. My misfire went away and I still have the plugs sitting in my toolbox. Mine is an 07 expy with 270,000 kms. Only in Canada eh!>>
I’m going to keep this in mind when I get to the 01 Navigator I picked up from someone who got discouraged when the dealer tried to tell her it needed a new motor. It’s low mileage for its year so I assume it had a lot of city driving (it got my attention because it’s from Arizona so it’s rust free-a rare find around here). I have a friend who was a service manager at a Chevy dealer who mentioned the carbon issue you ran into. He said he only saw it one time, but it’s something to think about.
I’ll be getting at that one soon. It also has a cylinder 8 misfire that remained after the dealer (supposedly) replaced plugs and coils on that side. First off I will test compression as was suggested on my original post about that vehicle.
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I’m going to keep this in mind when I get to the 01 Navigator I picked up from someone who got discouraged when the dealer tried to tell her it needed a new motor. It’s low mileage for its year so I assume it had a lot of city driving (it got my attention because it’s from Arizona so it’s rust free-a rare find around here). I have a friend who was a service manager at a Chevy dealer who mentioned the carbon issue you ran into. He said he only saw it one time, but it’s something to think about.
I’ll be getting at that one soon. It also has a cylinder 8 misfire that remained after the dealer (supposedly) replaced plugs and coils on that side. First off I will test compression as was suggested on my original post about that vehicle.
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Atman246
Full Access Members
Looking at that number 8 plug and the coils,looks like you've narrowed down the problem. Those coils look deformed from heat and the number 8 is really dirty on the porcelain,almost like the boot wasn't fully seated. Good luck.
Old Guy
Well-Known Member
I also would replace the coil and plug. I've had 2 expies and coils are a problem. Note: the NAPA gold coils are very good and 1/2 the price of the ford ones.
How to you use a timing light on a COP ?
Ah, the old mechanic telling you you need a new engine trick. I think I have had two maybe three vehicles now that the owners were told that. Bought a 94 Cavalier with a 4-cylinder for $350 and drove it for 5 years after replacing one spark plug wire. Had another 1990 Ford truck with a straight 6 300 in it that they told him it needed a new engine and wanted to thousand something dollars to put in there. I bought it for fifty bucks for eight or nine years even to Canada and back.
Another reason why I hate your ideas. Occasionally you will find one with a young guy or a new owner taking over who has decent Scruples. A lot of them had a great work ethic but not Scruples. However, I find that in a few short months to years they turn into the typical old mechanics like everyone else. They become indoctrinated into the theory of rebuilding every car to 2017 standards if it's 2019. They don't understand that a 2002 or 2003 doesn't need brakes, rotors, hoses, calipers, struts Etc to be as safe as it was last week before the break pads were through and ground on to the rotor or even just hit the chirper.
I absolutely do not understand them. I run a lawn mower repair shop and have for a good number of years. The longer I do it the less work I want to do. I want to do a simple but replacement get their motor running and send them on their way. I do not want to sharpen or change the blades, remove the deck, do the oil and filter and spark plugs blah blah blah blah. I don't want to do more to each one. I don't want to maximize the amount of money out of each customer. I have 50 of them here to fix and won't get caught up until November. I just want to get them out of here as quickly as possible. I know garage mechanics are not that busy but they have a steady stream of cars so I don't understand why they fall into this mentality. I refuse to ever allow my business to fall into that or to let my beliefs or practices slowly morph into something they are not. I have raised my prices over the years because I was doing things quite dirt-cheap before. I am still right at about half price or 60% of every other shop in town and I intend to keep it that way.
I don't really know what the mentality is Behind These garages. Do they just need a lot more money? Are they greedy? Are they in it for the short haul because they figure in five or six years they won't really be the owners are won't be there? I don't get it. I have 95 reviews currently on Google. 93 of those are five star reviews one is a four-star and one is a one-star from someone who wasn't even a customer they just didn't like the fact that I didn't work on their brand equipment. Google just rounded my rating from a 4.9 up to a 5.0. Don't know how they do their math because that's a 4.946 and that doesn't round up to a 5.0. I'm over a full point ahead of the closest rank shop in town. Of auto garages in the area I don't think there's anyone with over a 3.2. You'll find lots of scathing reviews of people who say they were ripped off or tried to be ripped off by garages which is true.
I just hate car so much and can't stand working on them so I don't do any car repairs. I still do sometimes for people I know because I can't stand to see them spend three or four hundred dollars when we can do it for less than half that and I can still make huge money for doing it.
Just a crock of crap that we live in a world where there's hundreds of garages with an a 8 to 10 mile radius we got there all overpriced and most of them crooks. I absolutely wish the industry did not exist and everyone had to either fix their own vehicles from forums like this, get friends or family to help them fix them, find a backyard mechanic guy that did it at his home or simply sold the vehicles and bought a different one. It would be a much better world if this were the case.
It bothers me that I can't change the world in the auto repair but I just don't have that kind of time or patience or endurance to work on all the cars. I have however changed the entire mower industry in my area. Every shop out there knows my company's name and most of them probably don't like me. The funny part is I go to lots of their shops and actually buy parts in them and only two of them both of which have shut down in the past five years even knew that I was the one running that business.
They don't have to really worry too much or get pissed off though because everyone has so much business they can't stand it. 4 to 6 weeks to Simply get a quill screwed onto a lawn mower from the end of March until October.
Another reason why I hate your ideas. Occasionally you will find one with a young guy or a new owner taking over who has decent Scruples. A lot of them had a great work ethic but not Scruples. However, I find that in a few short months to years they turn into the typical old mechanics like everyone else. They become indoctrinated into the theory of rebuilding every car to 2017 standards if it's 2019. They don't understand that a 2002 or 2003 doesn't need brakes, rotors, hoses, calipers, struts Etc to be as safe as it was last week before the break pads were through and ground on to the rotor or even just hit the chirper.
I absolutely do not understand them. I run a lawn mower repair shop and have for a good number of years. The longer I do it the less work I want to do. I want to do a simple but replacement get their motor running and send them on their way. I do not want to sharpen or change the blades, remove the deck, do the oil and filter and spark plugs blah blah blah blah. I don't want to do more to each one. I don't want to maximize the amount of money out of each customer. I have 50 of them here to fix and won't get caught up until November. I just want to get them out of here as quickly as possible. I know garage mechanics are not that busy but they have a steady stream of cars so I don't understand why they fall into this mentality. I refuse to ever allow my business to fall into that or to let my beliefs or practices slowly morph into something they are not. I have raised my prices over the years because I was doing things quite dirt-cheap before. I am still right at about half price or 60% of every other shop in town and I intend to keep it that way.
I don't really know what the mentality is Behind These garages. Do they just need a lot more money? Are they greedy? Are they in it for the short haul because they figure in five or six years they won't really be the owners are won't be there? I don't get it. I have 95 reviews currently on Google. 93 of those are five star reviews one is a four-star and one is a one-star from someone who wasn't even a customer they just didn't like the fact that I didn't work on their brand equipment. Google just rounded my rating from a 4.9 up to a 5.0. Don't know how they do their math because that's a 4.946 and that doesn't round up to a 5.0. I'm over a full point ahead of the closest rank shop in town. Of auto garages in the area I don't think there's anyone with over a 3.2. You'll find lots of scathing reviews of people who say they were ripped off or tried to be ripped off by garages which is true.
I just hate car so much and can't stand working on them so I don't do any car repairs. I still do sometimes for people I know because I can't stand to see them spend three or four hundred dollars when we can do it for less than half that and I can still make huge money for doing it.
Just a crock of crap that we live in a world where there's hundreds of garages with an a 8 to 10 mile radius we got there all overpriced and most of them crooks. I absolutely wish the industry did not exist and everyone had to either fix their own vehicles from forums like this, get friends or family to help them fix them, find a backyard mechanic guy that did it at his home or simply sold the vehicles and bought a different one. It would be a much better world if this were the case.
It bothers me that I can't change the world in the auto repair but I just don't have that kind of time or patience or endurance to work on all the cars. I have however changed the entire mower industry in my area. Every shop out there knows my company's name and most of them probably don't like me. The funny part is I go to lots of their shops and actually buy parts in them and only two of them both of which have shut down in the past five years even knew that I was the one running that business.
They don't have to really worry too much or get pissed off though because everyone has so much business they can't stand it. 4 to 6 weeks to Simply get a quill screwed onto a lawn mower from the end of March until October.
pitdexion
Active Member
Fix what it needs and ship it. Yes I am an honest mechanic. We ARE out there. 30 years and i'm tired of polishing turds. Polish all you want; it still smells like a turd.
But very very few of you out there. I know a guy or two that owns their own shop that are super busy and they are like me, they don't have time to do extra stuff they just fix it up as good as they can as quickly as possible and send it on its way. When you take care of the customer like that for a fair price you know there will be back the next time something breaks. You don't have to put $800 into the brake system right now perhaps they won't be back for for 5 years. You can throw some brake pads and a rotor on and get them by for a year-and-a-half and they're totally happy with that.
Most mechanics and techs make flat rate from book labor so they want as many jobs as possible but they can almost always do them faster than the book cost for if they've done a few of them so they want to do the extra services on the cars but they rush them so they can get as many done a
a day to make as much money as possible. If you're just getting paid by the hour you're just looking to get your day in.
I fixed 9 lawn mowers yesterday and that's a very high-volume day for me.
Some days I only get 1-3 done.
ManUpOrShutUp
Full Access Members
That approach works in the ghetto and you're right, people are happy with it ... in that type of area. The rest of us want it done right at a fair price (rather than done as quickly and cheaply as possible). If I have to go back in 1.5 years for the same problem because my mechanic half-assed it the first time to save time/money, I'm definitely not going back and most other people living in this area wouldn't either. Know your clientele and proceed accordingly.
Not as much area or ghetto as the year and condition of car.... which will vary to a degree along with area and ghettos but not entirely.
I guess in your area you are referring to many people don't drive 2000-2004 vehicles. They probably have ones 7 years old or less so it is expected.
Replacing worn out pads or pads and rotors if needed on an otherwise properly working brake system that simply evenly wore the pads out is NOT half assing a repair. They might get 1.5 years. They might get 3-4 until maybe a caliper pin boot splits and water gets in there and sticks and caliper stops sliding.
To replace calipers with the pads on a 2003 or so vehicle is completely silly and wastefull just so they might get to go a couple of more years without that area needing any more attention.
They might not have the car in 3-4 years.
Another customer might have a nicer 1990 Town Car they have had for 8 years and plan on keeping for many more and they want to do calipers hoses and everything so they won't have to deal with it for as long as possible.
Few mechanics can understand the different kinds of people or desires. Seems you may not either.
You just call anyone not wanting to "do it right" or best as living in a ghetto and probably call their car a heap or piece of crap.
People waste a RIDICULOUS amount of money and unneeded over the top repairs on cars because it makes them feel better or because they are scared or pusuaded mechanics.
I've always passed. No thank you.
I do all my own work and have had vehicles from classics like 79 Corvette, 67 GTO, 67 Lemans, 73 Century, 76 Lemans, 75 Electra 225, 79 F350 on 44 inch Super Swampers and hydraulic tilt bed, 86 Grand National, 89 Town Car limo, 83 chevy conversion van, 86 Grand Am(wife) 87 conv can, 93 Century, 92 Olds omega, 93 cavalier (wife), 93 Lumina, 89 conv can, 96 Sunbird convertible, 92 10 pass limo, 87 S10 blazer (wife), 90 gmc s15 Jimmy, 92 Pathfinder, 97 10 pass town car limo, 87 Grand National, 1947 Mack e90 fire engine, 77 Baja Bug VW, 90 F150 long bed, 90 Ram Charger, 91 Caddy sedan Deville, 96 grand Cherokee, 14ft aluminum bass boat with 65 merc ob, ol18 ft Thomson open bow with 165 "470" mercruiser, 96 pathfinder, Scat 2 hovercraft, 71 closed bow with 135 ib/on, 98 Durango on 38s with 5.5 susp and 6 inch body lifts, 96 cutlass, 97 Grand Am, 40 ft MCI party bus, 92 Lesabre, Excursion limo (2), E450 turtle top limo bus, 98 town car, 175 inch stretch town car limo, 99 silhouette minivan, 93 Z71 truck, 05 Saab 9-5 (son), 98 expedition (wife), 04 trailblazer, 03 navigator, + 10 different motorcycles, 2 dirt bikes, 3 four wheelers..
A good list of some of the cars I've had collected, or used for a short while and sold over the last 32 years.
I'm a bit of a car guy.
A lot of these have been show car quality and or nice paint jobs or restored.
The run of the mill normal ones were either dirt cheap deals that came my way or given to me by people I knew.
Rarely any newer ones. I think the newest I ever had was a 2001 purchased in 2007.
Going to keep it this way. I like nice cars with great bang for the buck. Especially ones that are no longer depreciating, but now appreciating.
People can keep buying the new or newer ones and pay to play all they want and keep paying garages for big repairs. I will have no part of it.
I waste money of food.... Eating out. It's one of my loves in life. I like my toys but never waste money and usually make money on them.
Muffler and brake shops used to advertise 69.00 per axle for brake pads.
If they would just do that and not lots more... They get their 80 repair and you come back in a few months to years and get more work later.
OP
OP
Fordgirl01
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I’d rather keep polishing my turds than drive something shiny with a fat payment book. That shiny thing will shortly be a turd driving in the salt around here and it will still have a payment book.
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Exactly! But some people have been so accustomed to a payment it's normal for them and they don't mind. I can understand if an older person gets their house paid for and we might actually come into a time here in a few years where some young people get in that situation might have it a little bit better off than us old folk did because the 15-year mortgage became so prevalent that these people are going to be paying off their houses before some of the old people that have 30 year mortgages. So if you're no longer making a house payment and you want to go buy a new vehicle and put $600-800 or more per month into a car payment or a new shiny Red Corvette , I guess that's your prerogative. But people who lease cars or buy new ones and end up buying a new one or even worse, trading in and rolling the amount into the next car loan is just a terrible cycle.
I refuse to pay for a brand new car. I bought this used 2001 Expedition directly from an owner with a bunch of issues for $1300, but I managed to fix it up myself. I even got the overhead console to turn back on. I wonder how long that's been out of order. Last major (knock on wood) repair is replacing the cats, and all codes will be wiped and it'll be running better than it has in probably a LONG time. But yeah, I would rather do a couple of big repairs per year if needed as opposed to being locked in to that new shiny car trap and an eternal payment.
That's what I do. What was wrong with your overhead console? We have one that went off for a little bit came back on and then once it went off the second time it's never come back on again. I've been too lazy to even check the fuse but it would be nice if it would come back on. What was the fix for yours?
If you take the actual console part out, there will more than likely be a fallen off resistor clankin' around in there if you give it a shake. It's either the 510's or 181's. It can be re-soldered onto the circuit board, carefully. It doesn't need much solder. A light clean with a qtip won't hurt either.
So once you find the fallen resistor, you'll easily be able to tell where it originally went. Chances are is that the resistor in yours was loose, until it finally gave out. Word has it that the temperature will do that to it overtime.
The resistors are very tiny, so be careful not to drop it on the way out. Once you do, get a pair of tweezers, and solder away. Easy stuff.
Now, if there aren't any resistors completely fallen off, chances are one or two of the resistors just aren't full connected. Check the connection and re-solder all of them. Pop it back in, and watch the magic happen.
Cool. Thanks. If I ever get a chance to take it off the ceiling I'll check that.
And some people take a turd and fix it up put a lot of time into it and turn it into an absolute gem of a treasure.
The project was about an hour or so long. There are a few tutorials on Youtube you can check out.
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