Comments on: The Service Engine Light: Your Mechanics Dirty Little Secret

By: Atif Aslam

Atif Aslam — Tue, 22 May 2012 23:52:40 +0000

Ric,

That is the best tip ever! Thanks a million!

By: STEVE

STEVE — Tue, 22 May 2012 22:51:24 +0000

ALTHOUGH MOST NEWER CARS HAVE OBD2 SELF DIAGNOSTICS THE CODE READERS AND SCAN TOOLS DONT TELL THE WHOLE STORY. THESE TOOLS DESPITE THEIR COST ONLY PROVIDE CODES BASED ON WHAT AN ENGINEER THOUGHT OF THEIR DESIGN , THESE SAME ENGINEERS WHO CLAIM THEIR PARTS DONT WEAR-OUT, WIRING HARNESS DONT FAIL ECT…. SO THE STRATAGIES USED TO TEST AND DEFINE CODES ARE ARE WRITTEN BY THESE SAME ENGINEERS—-THEY SAY THEIR DESIGNS SHOULD LAST AT LEAST 250,000 MILES WITH OUT FAILURES. IT IS UP TO A PROPERLY TRAINED MECHANIC TO TRACE THROUGH ALL POSSIBLE CAUSES AND ELIMINATE THEM ONE BY ONE. I’VE SEEN A FAILED WITH-IN RANGE OXYGEN SENSOR CAUSE AN EGR CODE ON A CHRYSLER PRODUCT THIS IS DUE TO THE TESTING STRATAGY USED TO TEST IF THE EGR IS FUNCTIONING—-THIS CAR CAME TO ME AFTER THE OWNER WENT TO A FREE SCAN CHECK PLACE AND BOUGHT A 200.00 EGR VALVE–I SAW THE BILL. I CHARGED 90.00 TO DIAGNOSE, 89.00 FOR THE SENSOR AND 90.00 TO INSTALL THE LIGHT NEVER CAME ON AGAIN, AND THE FUEL MILAGE WENT UP AS FOR THE EGR I WAS WASTED MONEY. THE OLD ONE WAS FINE AND THE STORE WOULD NOT TAKE BACK THE NEW ONE.

By: Salman Khan

Salman Khan — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:43:56 +0000

Thanks for that excellent tip. I had no idea that method even existed. For the past few years, I had been using Autoenginuity which I paid $200 for. But lately, it has refused to connect (its a PC based system with a USB adapter. Your tip came just at the right time.

By: Ric

Ric — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:32:46 +0000

Im using a generic one. I guess you can try a more expensive one off amazon.

By: G.E. Miller

G.E. Miller — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:38:20 +0000

Nice tip. What is a good quality OBD2?

By: Ric

Ric — Sat, 05 May 2012 09:06:26 +0000

You guys NEED to get an app for Android phones called Torque. It gives you the engine codes and clears them. The app cost 5 bucks and you will also need a bluetooth OBD2 connector for 20 bucks ( Ebay. ) I put my service on craigslist for 10 dollars to read and clear codes. I do about 30 a week. Not bad considering it takes 5 mins per car. I just saved you guys hundreds of dollars. You’re welcome.

By: koko

koko — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 23:44:17 +0000

I had my car scanned at autozone today, and while it’s a nice service, it gave me only an overall description of what was going wrong with my car (cylinder misfire) and a list of about seven things which may be causing that to happen. So to fix it myself, Id have to buy and replace all kinds of parts to figure out which one is faulty. Could get pricey…. what I’d like to know is, how much more sophisticated are scanners at the shop or dealership, and how do mechanics go about troubleshooting these kinds of problems? Is it all just a guessing game in the end?

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:25:48 +0000

You’re right on the money with your comments. Just getting a FREE trouble code check only tells you what kind of problem you have but not actually what exact problem you have. Trouble codes need to be PINPOINT TESTED to verify the exact problem. It is often a very complex procedure and time consuming. That is why most all repair shops charge for that time spent on your problem. Average price for this is usually around $80 to $120 depending on where you live. So just bite the bullet and pay these technicians to work on your car.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:18:57 +0000

I use to take in my old car to the shop all the time and it would cost me $40 for them to scan my engine light and an other $25 to turn it off a total of $65 for both. I got sick of it and found a person that started a business Scanning and turning off engine lights for $15 total for both in Coquitlam. He was half the price of what a shop would charge. He will give you the code and what is wrong with it. Try craigslist and you will find a few people that offer it.

If you wont to know more about it you can email me: coolman6963@yahoo.ca

By: Tara

Tara — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:53:10 +0000

O’ Riley’s does free diagnostic tests also.