No help from the dealer

[bollars]

We'll on the advice of Injuneer and Joe I towed my car to the dealer to get it diagnosed and they have no clue what's going on. I paid them $130 and received absolutely no answers. They did say there were 3 codes that came up but I didn't have time to get into it as I was very busy at work. However, the tech thinks it could be the opti so he wanted to take off all that crap and run some test. $300 more to do this . WTF I can get a new one for that or less, plus I replaced it two years ago and it was almost totally different symptoms. The day before I took it to the dealer I got it to run for about twenty minutes until I shut it off. The RPM's were all over the place 2500 then down to 400 and almost stalling then it would level off and idle normal before doing this again. My dad thinks I should take it to another shop that probably has a clue. See stalling post for a background on the problem. Any ideas or insight?

[raroZ28]

wow, 300 to test the opti. and take all what off? Testing it take 10 minutes.

[bollars]

you know water pump and all the other stuff in front of the opti.

[raroZ28]

you know water pump and all the other stuff in front of the opti.

You don't need to remove that to test it.

[Joe 1320]

Observing the parameters while it is running does more than just scanning for codes. Since they at least gave you those codes, list them and we can go from there.

As far as ideas......

The IAC (idle air control) is directly responsible for maintaining idle speed and quality once the throttle is closed. It should have no bearing on an ignition miss. A vacuum leak can cause the idle speed to wander, so can a faulty ECM.

The optispark malfunctions can cause a no start condition, or random spark loss on one or all cylinders, or even intermittant cold vs hot symptoms. It does not affect idle speed excepting the tendency to stall and that's not considered idle speed.

I would be interested in seeing if there were a random multiple misfire code.

[96FirebirdFormula]

wow, 300 to test the opti. and take all what off? Testing it take 10 minutes.

Why it's called stealership

[bollars]

Yeah Joe, I was thinking maybe the same thing or the TPS sensor. I have no clue what they are thinking. The car runs fine until it warms up and then goes into closed ? loop or whatever it does. That's why I'm thinking it has nothing to do with the opti. I haven't talked to them since yesterday but I don't think I will let them touch it again. Probably take it down the road. Can I get a printout of the diagnostic test?

[raroZ28]

Yeah Joe, I was thinking maybe the same thing or the TPS sensor. I have no clue what they are thinking. The car runs fine until it warms up and then goes into closed ? loop or whatever it does. That's why I'm thinking it has nothing to do with the opti. I haven't talked to them since yesterday but I don't think I will let them touch it again. Probably take it down the road. Can I get a printout of the diagnostic test?

Coolant temp sensor on waterpump. Takes 2 minutes to replace.

10 bucks at autozone. You don't need to drain the radiator, just be quick about replacing it and make sure the engine is cold.

Fill the reservoir with whatever amount spilled out.

I had the same problem. I would recommend a dealer sensor.

[raroZ28]

and a word from the wise, stay away from the dealers.

You said yourself you paid them 130 and received nothing in return but a scan you could have got for free at autozone. And AZ would have given you a printout as well.

They'll take as much money as you'll throw at them and do absolutely nothing. Another member here blew 3k at a dealer and still didn't have a good running car.

[Black97]

and a word from the wise, stay away from the dealers.

I've had various dealer ship experiences. Some ranged from very good to outright horrible. I guess you can call it hit or miss thing.

[Wild Willy]

My first advice would be: Run from that dealership! Then, find another one, if you insist on spending top dollars for "factory-trained technicians"

There are plenty of good, certified mechanics out there that don't have to hide behind a multi-million dollar operation- ask around, get some word-of-mouth from satisfied customers.

My first thought on your symptoms was vacuum leaks, but, if it is itnermittent, then it must be something else. You need a real-time scan, while it is running to see what sensors are outside of the correct ranges- otherwise, you are just playing a guessing game, throwing money at it-

If you had a similar car as a parts donor, you could swap stuff one at a time, until you found the problem- I will admit to doing that once-

Be sure to warn others of your less-than-satisfactory experience at that dealership, so other people won't waste their time and money there-

[Injuneer]

If there were three codes, go back and tell them you want them. That was the major part of the scan... to get the codes.

Then.... maybe Auto Zone could have scanned it, maybe they couldn't. From what I understand they only do OBD-II cars. What year is your car? You can't expect people to remember all the details from your previous posts. I know the board "signature" feature is screwed up, but it is possible to add a signature.... why not add one with basic info about your car?

[MunsonGTA]

Yeah Joe, I was thinking maybe the same thing or the TPS sensor. I have no clue what they are thinking. The car runs fine until it warms up and then goes into closed ? loop or whatever it does. That's why I'm thinking it has nothing to do with the opti. I haven't talked to them since yesterday but I don't think I will let them touch it again. Probably take it down the road. Can I get a printout of the diagnostic test?

i'll second either one of those. when i read the rpm's jumping around i thought 2 things, vac leak or bad TPS, could be the IAC though