Ughhhh the most dreaded work you can read on a repair order. The car has this issue
and it happens intermittently! Truth is folks you can not fix the car if you can't duplicate the symptom. This is not saying the car isn't broke but if you can't reproduce it, you CAN'T fix it! In some cases like this you can "try" a few things that are non invasive and come up with a strategy that may help you along in your diag waiting for the problem to become more prevalent or hoping the symptoms shows up and the car stays broke! It's the best we can do 🤷🏼♂️
-Enjoy!
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South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
and it happens intermittently! Truth is folks you can not fix the car if you can't duplicate the symptom. This is not saying the car isn't broke but if you can't reproduce it, you CAN'T fix it! In some cases like this you can "try" a few things that are non invasive and come up with a strategy that may help you along in your diag waiting for the problem to become more prevalent or hoping the symptoms shows up and the car stays broke! It's the best we can do 🤷🏼♂️
-Enjoy!
If an SMA Video has helped you out please consider giving using "Patreon" to help support us. The videos take real time to create and pull us away from real work that pays our bills. CLICK HERE: https://www.patreon.com/southmainauto
CHECK OUT OUR "SMA SWAG" STORE! Go on Teespring and get your very own SMA merch!
https://teespring.com/stores/the-sma-store
If you don't like Patreon feel free to use the "PayPal Me" link: https://www.paypal.me/SouthMainAuto
The South Main Auto Amazon Store:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/southmainautorepairavoca
AES Wave Automotive Diagnostic Tools: https://www.aeswave.com/cart.php?m=affiliate_go&affiliateID=2525b91fc8e906e8215984074c9d9e8f&go=https://www.aeswave.com/Miscellaneous-p9347.html
Thank you for all the continuing support!
--Eric & Vanessa O.
Feel like sending some swag to SMA because you love the videos but don't know where to send it?
Just ship it here:
South Main Auto Repair
47 S. Main St
PO Box 471
Avoca, NY 14809
Disclaimer:
Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, it cannot guarantee against unauthorized modifications of this information, or improper use of this information. South Main Auto Repair assumes no liability for property damage or injury incurred as a result of any of the information contained in this video. South Main Auto Repair recommends safe practices when working with power tools, automotive lifts, lifting tools, jack stands, electrical equipment, blunt instruments, chemicals, lubricants, or any other tools or equipment seen or implied in this video. Due to factors beyond the control of South Main Auto Repair, no information contained in this video shall create any express or implied warranty or guarantee of any particular result. Any injury, damage or loss that may result from improper use of these tools, equipment, or the information contained.
That Phillips Guys for 2014 Subaru That's got the big Two five. It's the Forester. It's not a Forester. It's an Outback And got a question For you folks, that question is the headphones here.
That's not a question, but this nut and bolt is not supposed to be here. This: FYI this should be a Christmas tree faster. But somebody, uh, put a nut in the bolt there. Um, my question is is, how does your shop handle intermittent? In the case of the Subaru, it's got about a buckle of nine on it, so pretty low mileage.
Um, one owner, two drivers, no kids driving the car before let's work. Um, their complaint is intermittent stalling or low idle. And typically it goes like this: they're driving along, they're having fun. They went to the Walmart So if that distance from us to the Walmart or any other store for that matter is about, you know, a solid 20 minute 25 minute drive.
And then when they come out, they go in. they do their thing. They go shopping and having fun. They come out, and then that's when they experience stalling.
They started up, they're going to take off, and then so after hot soap we'll call it. That's what you call the industry. they start experiencing this. You know, stalling issue intermittently doesn't do it every time.
Might be every you know, four or five trips to the Walmart or to the store might do it one of those times, but not the other four. So, but it's doing it enough now that they're starting to be concerned about it a little bit. I Want to have it looked at however, you know every time I've driven the vehicle, naturally it doesn't act up because when you go to the doctors, you're no longer sick, right? or so it seems. Anyways, so how do you handle this? Um, there's no, you know, no codes for direction.
It doesn't throw an engine light on the car, spits and coughs, and you know troubles down to an idle where he's got a two foot Drive the thing until you know eventually clear clears itself up so to speak. But having never experienced it myself, I'm just going based off what he tells me. Now there is a host of items on the vehicle that can do that, particularly after extended Cruise periods. So things that happen during extended cruises you know you've got high purge flow command from your purge valve wherever this goes.
Wherever this line goes here for your Purge they can become stuck open. but typically we'll set you know Rich codes and correct purge flow codes. The other thing I think of is like your EGR your EGR is being commanded quite a bit. at that point they can hang open during a hot soak.
Uh, if they were, you know, stuck open when you parked the car and create issues. So EGR valves sticking uh, coked up throttle body still. So these are some things that I think of. So in this case you know I Spoke with the customer and says, well, we've driven it, We don't have a clue what's going on because we can't reproduce it.
So you can either tell the guy to pound sand and you know, let it be somebody else's problem or we can just try to do a couple things. I Suggested let's try some process of elimination. Let's clean our throttle body. Let's pull the EGR valve out and have a look and then you know he'll possibly quite have to go. You know, drive it again and see if anything has changed. So that was my suggestion and I'm looking for your suggestion as to how you guys handle intermittence. Of course the other thing is too here. Another way to handle it is to, you know, repair it based off previous experience.
So throttle body is super filthy. Now that's it. But it's something, uh and everything that we're gonna look at really isn't going to, you know, harm anything. It's not a complete waste of time.
Uh, I'm not gonna unhook the hoses from it. We're going to clean the throttle body right here. Um, we'll get a little tree to stick down here and we'll get their hosed out and then the EGR a little different on this one. it goes over here into the water manifold.
We're gonna unplug it. I'm gonna grab a light and see if we can't at least lift it up by there and have a little look-see So other things I've done in situations like this where I'd say you know we're suspicious this EGR valve is, you know, hanging up. Oh man, mother lover. Oh yeah baby.
um you'll say we're suspicious at it. you know, acting up what's something else you can do I'll give you a half a second to think about that. That's right. Unplug it.
Let them drive it with it unplugged standby, you know, so that's a possibility too. But your your customer would have to be comfortable with. you know, driving with the engine light on which most of my customers are pretty chill. They're pretty chill people my guy.
and that's something that I already discussed with this guy. so let's have a little look at it. This little stepper motor. no bi-directional control.
so I can't run it in and out with the scan tool because there isn't any bi-directional control at least on my scan tool which kind of sinks. it's a very expensive valve of course. I Don't think the ports down here should be camera that's a 170 valve from Subaru Yeah, these ports down here are really big so we don't really have to worry about that and they look great in there. but you know a little bit of Crut here? Yeah, we can clean it out.
Let me get a little pocket screwdriver. see? yeah? yeah! I don't know. Man, it's probably not a great guess unless it's getting hot and binding. I Mean it seems to move quite easily.
Before it's worth, we have it out. We'll clean the carbon and junk off it. Sure, it moves nice and smooth and then, like I said, if we still suspect it, you know, leave it unplugged. You suspect the purge valve.
Leave it unplugged. Uh, you know if this thing's acting up about once a week on them, let them drive it for a couple two, three weeks. If it acts up with each other valve unplugged or with the purge unplugged, well guess what? That's not your problem lady. Maybe Find something smaller. Well I don't have a smaller container so we're just gonna come back here with some diapers. These things are pretty absorbent these pigments. and then of course we always save the old pigments any of them that you use and aren't fully absorbed. So we'll stick a couple back here and that'll give us our absorption.
and we got some. Amsoil Power foam it's called never use this stuff I Don't know where it came from I Found the camera upstairs. powerful carburetor and induction system cleaner 2 for sure. Clean deposits, ethanol, degraded fuel, gum, varnishes.
maximizes horsepower. so let's see. Oh look at that. That's fun, huh? I Don't know if it works or not, but we're waiting here.
We're going to give the old EGR a full douche down too. We'll power it up on that baby. Damsoil stuff has a cult like following, so we'll see I Don't know what works in this regard. Maybe it's just what the doctor ordered here.
We'll give her a little twirl around here. Oh right in my face. doesn't taste very good. If this doesn't work, we'll go to the OG the Old Birkenbile two plus two.
That stuff will pretty much eat through anything. I think it causes cancers in every state including California This stuff seems to be working pretty well actually because I'm I'm using a nylon Brush by the way. and no, just because I have this style brush does not mean I have AR-15 rifles. So for the record, it seems that see, apparently this is this brush is only used to clean AR-15s You can always give me thumbs up on having these brushes I bought them because they're on Amazon They come in a three pack and they're cheap.
If you want to know the truth, sell this power. Foam seems to be working quite well and it's not very pungent to be honest with you. I Guess hardly any older. For what it's worth, we're just going to clean off the throttle plate here.
mostly. The bore is what we're concerned about. See, it's still stuck to the plate here in several spots, so we're gonna whack some more here with some foam. It's really quite fun to use.
I'll do that. Let's see. Dr Valve clean Like I said, we may be totally wasting our time. kind of.
but not really. I guess outside of this Beltway it doesn't matter much. We're gonna be more concerned down inside here and around the kennel. more so than anything.
Let that soak some more foreign. We're going to get a lot of comments on whether or not you should push the throttle plate open If I'm telling you what to do. Uh, the answer is absolutely no. Never, ever push on the throttle plate.
It will ruin your throttle body. So that's what I'm supposed to tell you. And then the other thing I will tell you. Speaking from experience, Pushed open hundreds if not thousands of throttle body plates and I've never had one break. so definitely don't You know? Push open the throttle plate is what I would tell you. Make sure the edge of it. It's probably easier to get with our finger because that's where it closes. It's where the air bypasses.
make sure it's clean. both sides foreign I Say hooray to the power foam. To be honest with you, I'm not a big fan of using a product just because everybody loves it or think they love it with no proof, but something like this. this stuff works pretty well.
and by that I mean like some people will use a product simply because it's expensive, they don't know if it works, they just don't cost a lot. And they saw that on a race car. You know what I mean. All right, look at that.
We'll give it one final rinse of the power fold because it's very satisfying. I'm gonna squirt here I need y'all We're gonna finish cleaning our EGR valve. I'll get my little pocket screwdriver and we'll cycle this thing up and down. Of course, we can't do much inside of it other than let the power foam do what power foam does.
The more you put in there, the more horsepower you're going to end up with I don't know if that's a true statement you might want to contact Amsoil about that. All right, let me open that little sucker up. Oh, this is kind of like some kind of what they call sacrilege. We're going to use a BG screwdriver to open this up to use Amsoil product Oh Man, the world's probably going to stop turning because that would probably be one of their big competitors.
BG Makes a lot of the mechanic in the canned stuff too. you know, fuel system, treatments and things like that Throttle Body cleaners I don't even know where I would have gotten this screwdriver where I would have obtained it from. So we're gonna open and close this a few times here. So the other thing I found interesting about this car I think is worth mentioning is the EGR monitor was not completed on this car and I know this guy and he doesn't do any DIY stuff.
but I did see it has a relatively new battery this month, so I'm assuming that once the battery has been replaced that it just has not run the monitor yet. That's my, that's my big fat guess I see it's a brand new battery I might get another screwdriver. we're going to hold that valve open and just kind of Hose her out there. but look at the difference in that throttle body.
I'm using the Amsoil powerful I Think the whole throttle body looks clean, so make sure the board is 100 clean and it appears to be I am thoroughly impressed. That did quite a remarkable job. This had some pretty heavy coking on it where typically it would take a lot of cleaning, but this seemed to clean pretty effortlessly. Huh? I mean almost to the point like I would probably order some if I ever.
That's what it looks like. No idea if they still make it, no idea how long I had it and no idea where I eat them got it from? That's kind of weird I wonder it doesn't make it kind of difficult to rinse it so we'll leave it. Leave it at that hang out folks. I guess that's it shows over. We didn't really fix anything, but we're having fun to keep the throttle body a final rinse. Wow, what good stuff, huh? I'm pretty impressed I'm a little bit like Shania Twain that don't impress me much. you know what I mean stuff usually doesn't but that's this. stuff works remarkably well.
I Can't wait to see how much horsepower we've gain I don't know if that's it. Doesn't say how many horsepower per can that we're gonna. You know that we're gonna get from doing this. I'm thinking probably at least 15 horsepower total price.
Seven and a half horsepower here and another seven and a half horsepower here would be my guess if I could be wrong, but that's if I was guessing. that's what I would think. We want to make sure our o-ring looks good here in the throttle body and it does finer bolts. The other thing we're going to do, we're going to check the mass airflow sensor.
clean that off even though when I drove it when I was watching it. Fuel trims were spot on. The money, you know I didn't see any anomalies the entire time I drove it, but you never know. We're gonna give this guy his full hour and do a couple of things and ship her down the road.
So unplug that little fella because they have a look in the air box. Make sure there's no Rogue mice or anything in here. you never know there is. It's got sunflower seeds in it.
so let's go all the way. We're going all the way. Unhook your power steering line pocket screwdriver for down there. Undo this clip, push a little donger down one and then the other.
Take this off all the way. Foreign feeder. Get that junk out. I'm Gonna Knock The junk out of this pretty fair amount of stuff loose in there.
All right. So just reading the directions on that power foam because I See it mentioned something about mass airflow and it said don't get it on your mass airflow and according to the directions, it's supposed to be just consumed down the engines. It's used as an induction cleaner as as it states in its name induction system cleaner So you're supposed to spray it in just like you would use seafoam, right down the intake and then you shut it off, let it soak. I Don't know on this style mass airflow if we can even see the hot wire.
Some of these are pretty okay, so I know we can. We can see both of them there so they're right down inside this cavity here. They both look pretty clean. I'm going to give a little two of mass airflow sensor cleaner supposed to be on the safe side.
We'll stick it back together. Uh, why didn't I replace this? The guy does his own service work. Um, so I'm gonna let him go do that. He does his own oil changes in La He does a little bit of DIY just in that regard. So that's about it. So I'll tell him to you know, get a new air filter. Plus you know, as dirty as this is, this isn't going to cause our symptom. So I'm not gonna go just upselling the air filter.
You don't want to be that shop. Let's see, it's got an aftermarket frame. It's got I pretty much use. He must get his filters up at Walmart because I see it's got a Fram oil filter on it also.
So I need Subarus I find that a lot of aftermarket filters don't fit the Box very well. at least not as good as the OEM. So when I do these subies, typically I will use OEM air filters. They just seem to fit the Box much much better in my opinion.
I Know you guys have asked me before: how do I determine what I use OEM and what do I use aftermarket and this is one of the things I use OEM I get this over and slide it back in there nicely. There it goes. Wait, how do I determine that it comes from experience I Guess trying a couple different brand aftermarket air filters seeing that none of them fit very well and then I just default to OEM I think the Chevy Cobalt a couple of the other GMS like the tracks The Encore some of those I use OEM filters also because aftermarket again doesn't fit very well, at least in my experience. So there's that.
let's throw this thing back together. So no real point to this video. I Guess holding the van, hearing your thoughts and dreams of what you do. We'll put the front here that PCB hose on there in a minute.
but I am genuinely curious to see what you guys do. Some shops around here just do not do intermittents. That's just that's the Golden Rule We'll fix it if it's broke. If it's an intermittent, forget about it.
That's the way all of our dealers are. They spend no time on intermittents so there's some mouth turds up here. So I have to tell the guy I believe this car gets parked in the garage. so I'll pop some mouse traps that's for sure and we've got our little spring clamp.
I Try to deal with intermittents the best that I can. however, you know I can't be all day driving a vehicle to catch that one second glitch and then it's you know, trying to come up with a plan that can be super difficult. This should have a Christmas tree fasting up, but we're gonna put this thing back on there I Don't know if the customer did it or who did it I would have to assume. so.
kind of odd. Kind of a pain in the butt too hold all this stuff down there. So something like this, you know if the customer has a good good story. um you know some the data they could collect the best they could.
You know it does this. When I do this we can come up with a little bit of an assessment. That's what we think it might be. I won't tighten that too much and then you know, develop a plan like this.
Well, is any of this going to change it? You know. we clean the throttle body, we cleaned out the EGR we cleaned off the mass airflow, all viable options and then let them drive it. If he comes back and says no Eric it still does it once in a while. I'm going to unplug the perch. Let them take it. You know it comes back, not still doesn't. We're going to unplug the EGR Let them take it. You know.
I'm going to try to kind of narrow it down like that and then in the meantime hope if this doesn't clear it up, hope that it gets worse or at least more persistent. which would be great because then we can then we can get it now. then we can tell. Here's what's going on.
Here's how your car is broke. We're gonna let it idle for a little while. Throttle: uh. Subarus when they're cold.
do have a high. It'll take them several minutes to calm down. Foreign. Hooked: When I was doing it, our idle is calm back down.
I'm going to take it for a shake again of course. Shouldn't have any codes in here. All right. I Went through the active tests and special functions to see if we had any control over EGR or Purge or anything.
and Subaru on aftermarket scan tools are not that great. Uh, almost to a frustrating point. You know what you can do what you can't do? That's Air Force working like I say when I drove it everything everything looked great. field trends, everything.
So that's it guys. We'll let you inside or baby. That's it folks. I Think that's all we can do on this car.
or at least it's the best that I can do with my abilities in my guessing. You know based on customer symptom you know seems to have the problem after a hot soak, what can some issues be and how can we track it down? So just kind of treading that out and being that it's so intermittent it makes a real pain which all intermittents are. Let's be honest. Um, so I'll be curious to your thoughts down there in the comments section.
how do you handle when customers come in? Do you send them shipping? or do you just try to use some logical guessing if it's not too horribly expensive? I don't know. I Think each case is different Case by cases is different. Um, you know we try to look at you know, pattern failures. You know we try to use all of our resources to you know to see what we can do.
but sometimes these are the toughest ones to solve. So I'll give it back to them and what I'll do is you know this video will come out before this thing's driven for weeks I assume. So maybe in like a month or however long it's been I'll update you or if it's uh, you know has acted up in the meantime. well we'll revisit it and we'll try something else and try to kind of keep in touch with uh, this guy and what's happening with the car and just see how lucky we got.
Do we did we guess good I don't know. but I'm gonna guess that you're done listening to me talk about nonsense and you're going to want to go in that comment section. You're going to want to leave the question in the comment. find us on the entity the Facebook You guys know where we're at and just remember viewers I Can do it. You can do it. Thanks for watching foreign.
"I'm lookin' for your suggestion as to how you guys handle intermittents"
Well, first thing I do is press the Easy Button and go to Youtube. There's a guy with a channel called "South Main Auto" who uhh, oh yeah, whoops…
Biggest thing is 100% transparency with the customer on these types of concerns. In all reality, driveability concerns can be hard as is to diagnose, especially if they are intermittent. This is where experience is a big factor in helping diagnosis. First thing we do is drive it and try to duplicate the concern, preferably with the scantool hooked up. Can't duplicate it? Let the customer know and tell them you'll begin with a basic overlook and verification of the various systems. Then usually look for TSBs, PIs etc. Even throw a Google search and a few fourm look throughs. If we still don't come up with anything obvious then we let the customer know we can begin more exploratory diagnosis like cleaning throttle body, checking EGR, purge solenoid valve etc. Always have to make sure they are comfortable paying extra for the diagnosis of a difficult diag
i work in a dealership and it depends on what kind of symptoms they are dealing with but generally they tell us not to spend to much time on it if it’s intermittent
I guess the fuel pressure regulator. The pressure is leaking down the the fuel above the engine boils.
I had a Civic that started intermittent rough running, stalling. Computer showed no faults and they couldn't find problem. It was their problem at the end of the lease.
i had to do plugs and wires and 2 coils on a 17 F250 not fun had to remove the wheel well covers to get to the lower plugs definitely an odd design
Before staring on an intermittent acting vehicle, I usually pull two or three hairs out of my head. That makes me focus and cuss less
Parts cannon!, jk…
Horsepower per can? You sell snake oil additive too? Great video thanks
I like your way of finding problems in vehicles… Nicely done in your troubleshooting… =)
It doesn't matter as long as you tried your best
When my wife and daughters were having car problems, I would end up driving it for several days until the problem would happen. Not a good deal for the professional mechanic. However, you will do a lot for the women in your life.
Stalls after battery replacement. No codes no skip. Disconnect battery for a minute. Reconnect. Turn ignition on engine off for ten seconds before starting. This resets minimum air rate. If it still stalls, replace air fuel ratio sensor and oxygen sensor. Both sensors!!!!! It will stop stalling and eating cats.
What's up with the mesh/ grid in the intake manifold where the throttle body attatches? Never seen that before, I would never think anything that big for it to filter should be in there anyways with the regular air filter filtering it…. odd
Nice work
Confirmed: Cat tax was paid on this video.
I’d check the gas tank for sludge in the bottom and check the fuel pump filter in tank. Could be doing a vapour lock maybe
the way I would handle intermittent symptoms is I would take it to you.😀
Id le air valve if it has one , fuel pressure etc.oh yeah there always the Vulcan mind meld
I'll start by cleaning the throttle body and checking that it's holding resting fuel pressure. My experience with those engines is dirty TB. These cars typically are pretty reliable wirh double those miles.
Eric, I would not even begin to figure this thing out.
Strong fundamental & a very good understanding of basic systems. Use a multimeter, scope, check ground points & use a set of gauges (fuel, oil, vacuum, compression) plus experience. Look for the anomalies & ask the customer as many questions as possible about the fault & when it occurs. Or spend 3 days going round in a circle because the customer shrugs their shoulders & says it just breaks down, your the expert fix it. Be aware, the prize for fixing intermittent faults is more intermittent faults.
Def good cleanup,,interested in the follow up●
You mentioned the Foam not having a smell. Is your nose working again?
I hate intermittent problems as they can bea multitude of little ones & seems to take forever to find ( with a dose of murphys law)they are usually the last thing you try.Cheers.
No Mrs. O, but we got to see Luna.
Awesome job cuz I bet u made that customers day by even attempting to solve the problem cuz nothing is more frustrating then when ur vehicle isn't running right… you explained that you tried and it might not fix it but you at least tried instead of just telling em nothing is wrong with their vehicle and charging a diagnostic fee when they know something isn't right… you explain things so through way to go…
I hope that fixes the problem; but don't worry you'll get to see that engine again in the not too distant future when it needs head gaskets
Really no contact again,focus Eric focus.
It would be nice if manufacturers had a method to store some data that a driver could select during a problem.
I have a 2001 Lincoln Town Car, my problem was it would start fine cold, but didnt want to idle, I cleaned the IAC valve and it started running fine then it would start fine then run rough . I did get a code that said the number 1 cylinder intermittent misfire. So i replaced the coil and it fixed it. Now starts fine runs great .
Aren't there OBDII checkers that you can plug into the car, and go with the car and hopefully catch that intermittent problem. But if a code already doesn't get thrown maybe that wont work !??
Amsoil Power Foam is listed at $12.69 on their website.
At least you are willing to give it a shot. I am guessing you consider on a case by case bases which ones to tackle & how much time to invest in finding the problem. It can sometimes be something obvious to the trained/experienced eye, you never know until you check. I consider it good customer relations. An honest mechanic can sometimes be rare.
I had two Subaru's in the last 6 months. With intermittent stalling problems. Both times I cleaned the throttle bodies and was able to restore idle quality. I do the same on gm's and I perform a relearn procedure for the gm throttle bodies.
Well, as a "home mechanic," a comeback means my wife says "it's still doing it." 😊. Tried a lot to fix an intermittent misfire on my son's Ranger before we found a cracked coil pack! Thanks as always, Eric!
We used that same brush on everything we fired in the Marine Corps, 1989 -93.
If it aint broke then we cant fix it easily.
I go around tapping sensors with a screwdriver. It seems to work well with air flow meters.
What about after hours videos?
I really like your videos. I'm not a mechanic, but I try to do my own repairs . However, I know my limitations and will take it to a shop if I know I can't handle the repair. I've learned so much from you and want to thank you for all the videos. By the way, really miss your opening line " Hey There Viewers Welcome To The South Main Auto Channel" my eight year old daughter loves that.
Intermittent faults, you can drive it and keep it for a couple days, or tell the customer to drive it, and call you as soon as it comes back.
Sure you can guess at it.
But what if it was a fuel pump?
Would there be an option for the customer to buy or be supplied with a diag tool to monitor the performance at the time of the issue, preferably with the ability to record the car performance? Strange how cars have all of these computers and none record what they monitor or events. If the suspected issue is that the butterfly gets stuck, can a camera be mounted externally to record the position at the time of the event?
Fix it when it becomes non intermittent.
What about the green crusties on the ground wire near the throttle body.
Intermittent problems are literally the ONLY reason my car ever sees a mechanic….
I need someone with a higher knowledge/skill level than my own!
I am paying the mechanic to track down the problem, then I can make an informed decision as to whether it's worth fixing, replacing, or scrap the car!
I learned a long time ago you get what you pay for most of the time
I've been using power foam for about 20 years and it is the best product I've found. I also worked at a NAPA jobber for 20 years, and out of all the products I've seen over time power foam works the best. I also do a brake clean douche too for a rinse. I feel you used the product correctly so I hope your viewers find this helpful.
Driving along, they could either be having fun or go to Walmart. Not both
I spend 1 hr and charge for the 1 hr. If the symptoms don't appear i give the vehicle back. I use to spend more time and charge less but prices on everything has gone up tremendously. I use to try and help people out when I could but unfortunately I can't and stay afloat. I feel bad in some ways but also I'm running a business. I have a soft spot for VETS, helping there won't change.
Before the TB cleaning I would have monitored the sensor data after a hot soak looking for anomalies. But beyond that unplugging the other sensors one a a time is about all can be done without firing the parts canon.
I had similar symptoms on my GMC 1500, my mechanic said it was possibly the manifold manipulator.
Done exactly as l would have in my shop. Now you have a good basline if future diag required. Having an understanding customer is a plus. Document ro and ship it.
Several years ago my truck was doing the stalling thing at redlights. It only did this in the heat of the day and not mornings or later at night. Found it to be the fuel filter. Some reason the filter kept getting air in the lines and that air pocket would run and hit the injectors and poop. I don't know the complete details since my mechanic worked on it and found this but, needless to say when he replaced that $12 fuel filter it hasn't done it again. Guess it had a crack in it or something. Just don't know. And don't know why it only did that when it was higher temps outside. Guess it was just one of those weird things telling me I needed a new fuel filter…it was nasty in there..lol. Take care.
Being mobile, I always do intermittents on a case by case basis. Some of them i have to pass on and some i'll take on. I try to keep in mind what is gonna work out best for my customers in the end. I'll still check prodemand for bulletins, recalls, and common symptom fixes, but if i dont find anything i'll let it go just so im not changing parts without having concrete evidence. My policy is always, "test! Dont guess!"
Well done!
My ex wife hade an intermittent problem with not telling the truth, I fixed it with a divorce, looking back I think that industrial cleaner might have worked just as well.
You can only do what you can do when there is little to none of real data; it's a whole lot better than giving it the part cannon in the hundreds. Face it Eric, some people love being a critic and a troll.
Amsoil is currently out of stock of the power foam.
I need to do my throttle body on my Subaru the last time I did it I use regular carb cleaner and it just took forever.
All the grime that you removed, sure it is a logical move. Then disconnect one by one those suspicious engine items that you mentioned. Good luck warrior.
If I had an intermediate issue I would not bother a mechanic but would search out YouTube channels such as yours and do what you just did. That’s why I follow you. Like you said it may not fix but it’s good maintenance.
Clean the idle air control valve.
I know a guy "Stuntman" that can fix that. A few no mercy reverses, some Fabuloso and some neutral drops will clear it right up.😮
Intermitant stalling is usually caused by a faulty ignition coil. No codes ever showing it but when I removed the engine coil and wires and the terminals were burnt to a crisp causing shorts. I replaced the coil itself and never had the issue of stalling again. Just my 2 cents.
Deal with that a lot in hvac. Best approach I've seen is just educating your customer to the best of your ability. Make an educated guess and let them make the decision. Then, document everything because the customer usually forgets or doesn't follow directions.
Used to work in computers rather than cars and a wise instructor said about intermittent faults, 'always do something' – that way a part is eliminated even if you have to come back…
Looks like the BG guy paid you a visit a long time ago. After he left, "BG products stands for bogus garbage".
“We didn’t really fix anything but we’re having fun” is a way to describe many of my days in the shop
Not just AR-15 for that brush. I cleaned M-16s with them too. 😅
Eric. I own a 11 Forester 2.5 same problem. Did what you did. No change. Noticed engine used 6 quarts of oil in 1500 miles. Put new Subaru short block in. Problem solved.
Power foam for the win!!
joey calls them ar14
The problem with the AmSoil is you have to upgrade your transmission to handle all that extra horsepower.
Could also do a throttle body idle reset. There's a procedure for that somewhere.
Intermittent mechanical is something i could look at…intermittent electrical just makes me want to ave garlic at it and run away 😀
EO, laughing.
I use the Berrymans, stuff literally melts it off not much scrubbing required. Not sure if it’s safe but it does say for throttle body’s.
The foaming action might have been the solution to it all!!! (along with being fun to watch for some odd reason)
Bob Ross level of calm watching this video.
There's only 1 fix for intermittent problems…a full body off rebuild/replacement of every part of the car. Guaranteed to either fix the issue or make you look like a complete loon, the customer to for paying you to do it.
Gotta random misfire?
Randomly your wipers don't start?
Radio station doesn't come in crystal clear?
FULL body off rebuild/replacement guaranteed to screw up your budget while taking months to complete!
PSA: it might be cheaper to just buy another car, but hey, where's the fun in that!!!
Just like cleaning dentures! 😂👍
CND – Could Not Duplicate. Other than that, the same approach – go for low-cost, low-risk inspection & clean of the usual suspects, then send them out with instructions to report back if the problem is either no longer present or if the symptom has changed in frequency/intensity.
I love your thought process, honesty, integrity and just your damn good knowledge and attitude. If every business approached the consumer and their problems as you do. We would have the absolute most efficient, logic based system in the world! Oops forgot many businesses are run by money grubbing yahoos. Great video as always. Keep them coming. Thank you
Hey Eric O! I had that same heat soak issue with a 99 Jeep XJ. Turned out to be the spark plugs. Too far worn. New plugs and boom! Solved.
I don't have a shop. That said, the way I handle intermittent issues is I ask my mechanic what his favorite place to get lunch is, then I go buy a gift card to that place. After that I wash my car and clean the interior out and fill it up with gas. Then, with clean car and gift card in hand – I take my car to my mechanic and say, "Here, have lunch on me. Also, would you mind driving my car for a couple days as you run your regular errands. It's full of gas and has been cleaned, but it's got an intermittent issue." Then I hand him the keys and he drives it instead of his daily driver for a few days until it acts up and he can figure out what's wrong with it.
That's honestly all you can do to set a baseline of what it ain't.
Had a 2000ish Taurus come in with an intermittent drivability issue back in the day. No CEL, so clean the TB & maf, pulled a spark plug, looked like crap, so did plugs and wires (seemed the car had 150k on all the OEM stuff) and a fuel filter (seemed the fuel pressure wasn't where I'd preferred at first)
Obviously ran like new.
Nice to see you use logic and your knowledge on things that aren’t traceable ! , better than the parts cannon !
Here's the military lesson on intermittent failures (USAF: 34054 ground rat, late cold war.)
1) Physically grab and Shake *EVERY* part of the mechanism or wiring harness that might affect your symptom.
2) Apply heat i.e., a heat gun or blow dryer, to the same areas.
Oh Nose! You cross-contaminated them by dipping the brush in the puddle of foam in the throttle body and then scrubbing the EGR. Do you wash your chicken and your mayonaise with the same scrubber?
Can't a Bad PVC valve cause hard Hot soak starts?
Go to the basics, when in doubt. Eliminate the maintenance issues.
It's surprising to see a throttle body with so much buildup. For many vehicles, it's a very simple procedure to clean it, why not give it a cleaning each time you replace the air filter?
I do same thing. Start simple and work hard. What I don’t get why Chevy dealer does not recommend anything other than oil change over year from 90 k to 112 k
I first though was the tps I would begin with scoping the swept Thanks the old school guy.
I have this same issue on my Cadillac Seville 2001 with 85k miles, just ordered a fuel pump. Hoping that’s my issue, no check engine light.
If you put a AMSOIL sticker in the window after using that product. You're looking at a solid 25 ponies. Take it too the bank Mr. O
Please share a follow-up on this especially if the problem persists. I know you shared what your process will be… it would still be interesting & provide a little closure.
I would like to see your non AR-15 rifles….🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸