Just Fed up with the work done on my car .

[Dan Muk]

Don't give up on it. Find a good Ford tuner. He can plug into your OBTll port with his diagnostic suite. He can monitor in real time what is happening with all your sensors. When I had the HP tuners in diagnostic suite I could go into the diagnostic suite and build a screen of all the gauges that were showing lifetime what was going on with each sensor. If the sensor is lazy or or showing some uncommon movement there on his data logging tables he can spot the problem.

My best friend sold his '99 SLP Camaro to another friend of mine that wanted me to build it up for $3,800 bucks. That car was worth $12,500 in book value at the time. The only reason he sold it was because when he nailed the throttle it fell off at 3,000 RPMs and would not accelerate. He took it to mini dealerships and they couldn't tell him what the problem was. I hooked up my HP tuners diagnostic suite and monitored everything that was going on with all the sensors and it showed that the MAF ( mass air flow sensor ) was taking a dive right before the car started to fall on its face. I swapped the MAF and that cured the problem. Less than an hour after I had the car I had to repaired with no other car dealership could. I told my friend that owned that car before he sold it to clean the mass air flow sensor and he didn't do it. He lost a ton of money on that deal.

Moral of story;

Find a good tuner and let them take a look at it. Moe's performance in Dallas if they're still there are excellent Ford mechanics and they build some high horsepower Ford machines. The fact they build high power machines doesn't mean they can't diagnose a problem on a stock car. Give them a call or someone like that a call and see if they can't help you out. And whatever you do don't give up on it if it's a good car it can be fixed and you just got to find the right guy.

I vouch for MO’s speed shop as they did my crown Vic.

 

[basstracker89]

My Mother in Law has an 03 Merc. It had a basket case of problems. The brother in law took it to a jack leg shop. I don't think they did all the things they charged for. Anyways, I had to just drive it till the engine light stayed on. It stalled and all kinds of things before that. Took like a year or more. When I can't figure it out or don't want to work on it, I take it to the dealer. I know. Anyways it took $1500 to fix all the issues. And 2 or 3 trips back and forth. Been running great for a year or two now. I still had to go through and do a few things. But once done, best $1500 spent

 

[greg vess]

My Mother in Law has an 03 Merc. It had a basket case of problems. The brother in law took it to a jack leg shop. I don't think they did all the things they charged for. Anyways, I had to just drive it till the engine light stayed on. It stalled and all kinds of things before that. Took like a year or more. When I can't figure it out or don't want to work on it, I take it to the dealer. I know. Anyways it took $1500 to fix all the issues. And 2 or 3 trips back and forth. Been running great for a year or two now. I still had to go through and do a few things. But once done, best $1500 spent

Well done!

People get way to down or angry about cars not running right. I know I was there. It had to be perfect or I couldn't stop. That's the way the main guy is at most speed Shop he won't give up it's just not in his DNA. I know that because he builds machines that are a complete nightmares to tune with all that performance equipment in it. He has the patience to sit there on the computer in tune and tune and tune until he gets it right and it won't go out unless it's right. Getting the power out of an engine like that is easy it's all about timing, air fuel ratio and zeroing out the torque tables in the transmission and motor. Tuning one for drivability with all that equipment it's where the skill comes in.

My best advice I can give you is that if you have another car to drive don't stress out about it. Take it to a repair person and let them test it and if they can't come up with anything then wait a little while and take it to the next. Eventually one slick mechanic will get the job done.

The guys at Mo's speed Shop will work on that thing until they are blue in the face. I helped him with GM tuning a little bit right at the beginning when he started doing GM cars. I'm an old man so I can't remember his name but the main guy there has the same mentality as I do. Find what the problem is no matter what! Not be like these slackers at these places that if they can't find it in the first half hour they give up. Lazy mechanics are the worst part about in the car industry.

The way it's set up is they have a book that tells them exactly how long it should take to perform each repair. If they go over that time they lose money because they can't get to the next repair. That's why a lot of the mechanics are going to put a little bit of time into it and then shove it aside.

Just take it to someone like I suggested. Someone that can take that out with the computer hooked up to the car while you are driving it and log the data. When he gets back to the shop he can look at all the data and see exactly what happened. If he says he can't find the problem then pay the diagnostic fee price and move on. You may have to spend a little money in the end. But ask yourself what is better buying a brand new car ( with payments for the next 6 or 7 years ) or spending what it takes and fixing the one you have that is a perfectly good vehicle. It may be a $30 sensor that takes 15 minutes to change. You just have to find one that won't quit until it's fixed. It's just a machine and like all machines they can be fixed. If they were built they can be disassembled and fixed. Period!

 

[basstracker89]

You're so right about the new ones. I absolutely can't stand them at this point. I knew back in the 70s this was coming. It took me 2yrs and $4k to get my F250 running as good as possible. They finally said, just drive it. I did have to advance time timing and raise the idle speed to keep it from stalling. The check engine light still comes on and off, but it doesn't effect anything. It's stalled like once in the last couple years. It cranked right back up. It runs pretty good. To replace that truck would be over $90k. It's still my daily driver. Has been for 32yrs. Still a good looking truck too

 

[Davers]

When the Shop changed the throttle body & replaced the computer , I assumed the would have cleaned the MAF , I did that myself 2 years ago & the idol just changed in the frequency of when the Idol bogged down ( while in gear ) at one point it did it every 13 seconds , then in the end it was every 3 seconds & you can feel the car shudder when it drops . It's not as severe now but after another $670 on top of the Tranny job it should not do it at all . IMO

Heck it went from " the Idol does not cause Transmission problems , to 2 months later , " that issue could have caused your Tranny to go bad " OK !!!! Heck I told the shop not to worry about the Idol issues ,/ just fix the jerky 1-2 2-1 shift .
Then
A 3+ weeks later , " oh we replaced that stuff " & you owe $670 but we did not charge labour " I said 'F' it and charged it hoping the issue would be resolved . After 2+ years of it , again my 2 diagnostic checks said the Idol was caused by a Bad Tranny . Cause the car was driven only 600 miles from March 2019 -Feb 2022 when I got it with 17,400 miles on it .

As for scanning , I asked in Mid July when I very first dropped the car off for a Transmission job " Do you have the best scanning equipment ? " I was hurriedly told "oh Yea we can figure anything out + I have worked on thousands of CV 's cause I fan a Taxi service in the past + It's a pretty large shop .

Again I'm over it , I picked it up last Friday & it drove 10 + miles in bad traffic "Perfectly " the BOOM , Bumpy starts & stops 5 min later at a light the idol dips . WTH!!!!!

What really sux is I disabled & that car is my wife's , Son's only way to work & back & my only way to the Dr or anywhere else I want to go . I don't even want to drive it cause , if I do all I do is yell & scream & my mood is ruined for the rest of the day . ( My fault I know but my OCD is that bad ) . I just need to be thankful it goes from A to B . But If I wanted to be jerked around everytime I drive , I would listen to porn hup & carry Vaseline everywhere .

Thank you for your respectful & helpful replies , they mean A-lot . More than you likely realize .

Thx Man
DJ

 

[Davers]

Well done!

People get way to down or angry about cars not running right. I know I was there. It had to be perfect or I couldn't stop. That's the way the main guy is at most speed Shop he won't give up it's just not in his DNA. I know that because he builds machines that are a complete nightmares to tune with all that performance equipment in it. He has the patience to sit there on the computer in tune and tune and tune until he gets it right and it won't go out unless it's right. Getting the power out of an engine like that is easy it's all about timing, air fuel ratio and zeroing out the torque tables in the transmission and motor. Tuning one for drivability with all that equipment it's where the skill comes in.

My best advice I can give you is that if you have another car to drive don't stress out about it. Take it to a repair person and let them test it and if they can't come up with anything then wait a little while and take it to the next. Eventually one slick mechanic will get the job done.

The guys at Mo's speed Shop will work on that thing until they are blue in the face. I helped him with GM tuning a little bit right at the beginning when he started doing GM cars. I'm an old man so I can't remember his name but the main guy there has the same mentality as I do. Find what the problem is no matter what! Not be like these slackers at these places that if they can't find it in the first half hour they give up. Lazy mechanics are the worst part about in the car industry.

The way it's set up is they have a book that tells them exactly how long it should take to perform each repair. If they go over that time they lose money because they can't get to the next repair. That's why a lot of the mechanics are going to put a little bit of time into it and then shove it aside.

Just take it to someone like I suggested. Someone that can take that out with the computer hooked up to the car while you are driving it and log the data. When he gets back to the shop he can look at all the data and see exactly what happened. If he says he can't find the problem then pay the diagnostic fee price and move on. You may have to spend a little money in the end. But ask yourself what is better buying a brand new car ( with payments for the next 6 or 7 years ) or spending what it takes and fixing the one you have that is a perfectly good vehicle. It may be a $30 sensor that takes 15 minutes to change. You just have to find one that won't quit until it's fixed. It's just a machine and like all machines they can be fixed. If they were built they can be disassembled and fixed. Period!

The beginning of this reply sounds just like me ( perfection or dang close to it esp, for my good $$$ ) .

At times , I have thought ' if Scotty Kilmer is in Nashville , I should hit him up & see if he wanted to diagnose my car and make a video .

I could go on & on about my last 3 months of Heck We have been through over this .

I will live tho . 👍

 

[jaxyaks]

The beginning of this reply sounds just like me ( perfection or dang close to it esp, for my good $$$ ) .

At times , I have thought ' if Scotty Kilmer is in Nashville , I should hit him up & see if he wanted to diagnose my car and make a video .

I could go on & on about my last 3 months of Heck We have been through over this .

I will live tho . 👍

Sounds simple but at any point did they change out all the coil packs? A bad coil pack or two in those Crown Vics of that vintage will produce exactly what you are describing and will feel like a transmission issue.

 

[Davers]

You're so right about the new ones. I absolutely can't stand them at this point. I knew back in the 70s this was coming. It took me 2yrs and $4k to get my F250 running as good as possible. They finally said, just drive it. I did have to advance time timing and raise the idle speed to keep it from stalling. The check engine light still comes on and off, but it doesn't effect anything. It's stalled like once in the last couple years. It cranked right back up. It runs pretty good. To replace that truck would be over $90k. It's still my daily driver. Has been for 32yrs. Still a good looking truck too

Sounds Awesome glad it has all worked out , most of the time patience pays off . I had a 65% nice Body , 132,000 mile 1982 S-10 Tahoe Long Bed V-6 , I got Jipped out of as part of a payment for my "repair" if you can call it that .

I likely never would have found the time to fix her up anyway + my 16 year old has 0 interest in Cars not even driving . ( that is a good thing tho in a $ and Worry way tho ) .

 

[Davers]

My Mother in Law has an 03 Merc. It had a basket case of problems. The brother in law took it to a jack leg shop. I don't think they did all the things they charged for. Anyways, I had to just drive it till the engine light stayed on. It stalled and all kinds of things before that. Took like a year or more. When I can't figure it out or don't want to work on it, I take it to the dealer. I know. Anyways it took $1500 to fix all the issues. And 2 or 3 trips back and forth. Been running great for a year or two now. I still had to go through and do a few things. But once done, best $1500 spent

I recall you stating this on my old thread & glad that has worked out as well .

Funny I never got a Light through all this , just the 'Wrench" light came on in heavy ATL traffic in 2023 but only once .

Then again 1 time in heavy traffic in 2024 .

Both times , I turned the car off , waited 5 min & it never came on again .

No other lights except low washer fluid & low gas . ???

Cool : I Guess LOL

 

[basstracker89]

The difference between my 94 truck and the 03 car is that I can manually adjust the idle and timing. You can't do that so easily with that 03. What it needed was injectors, plugs and wires. We had a 94 Merc. I could change all that stuff on. That equipment is underneath stuff on the 03. I treat the car as if it were mine. I do all the work I will do on it. But I ain't changing the plugs on that one. There were some other issues as well. Stuff that was supposed to be worked on by the independent shop. There were several things. I took it one place and let them do all the things needed to get it running right. That way they were solely responsible what ever the work needed. No he said, she said........When I got it back, I finished the service work. The car was involved in a couple wrecks. That has lead to some electrical issues. The ole car has been running great now for a while. The dealer is were I took it. I don't like dealing with a shade tree mechanic where I'm dealing with his personal problems as well