Heading for work one morning, my C5 Corvette (1997-2004) ran terrible. When I headed home, it behaved the same way. The next day it wouldn’t do anything but flash the dash lights when I attempted to start it. The car has a self diagnostic system that can be accessed by pushing the correct display buttons, but this didn't work either.
Fortunately, I knew about an Internet forum for Corvettes that's loaded with all kinds of information, especially on fixing problems.
This forum is very helpful for those owners who are far from large cities, since small dealerships don’t sell many Corvettes, and consequently, their service technicians are not experienced with these vehicles. The forum included several stories of technicians simply “throwing parts” at a problem, hoping that the bad component ended up getting replaced. Meanwhile, the owner pays for everything, and the replacement parts are very expensive.
There is one service technician who participates on the forum who has a great deal of experience with Corvettes. He suggested that I remove the ignition switch, take the unit apart, and look for bad electrical contacts inside. He also provided a link to a previous post of his in which he provided step-by-step disassembly instructions, a repair procedure, and photographs.
Sure enough, after I disassembled the switch, I found that two of the five electrical contacts were coated with a black substance, while a third was one-quarter coated. After careful “sanding” with 2000 grit paper and an alcohol cleaning, I re-assembled the switch and everything started and behaved as normal. So, what could have been a repair bill close to $1,000 was fixed at no cost, in an hour.
This entry was submitted by Bob Salter and edited by Rob Spiegel.
Bob Salter is a mechanical engineer who works for American Roller Bearing Company. He is also a dedicated do-it-yourselfer.
Tell us your experience in solving a knotty engineering problem. Send stories to Rob Spiegel for Sherlock Ohms.
If the Honda is not too old, it has an OBD II connector under the dash near the steering wheel (some '94 &'95 cars,all '96 and later). Big chain parts stores in my area will read those codes for free using their code reader, which may or may not help you, given the intermittent nature of the trouble light. If it doesn't show up on the parts store's reader, you could buy a bluetooth enabled dongle to read those codes and transmit them to a smart phone using a free or low cost app. Then you could leave the dongle attached and run the monitoring app while operating the car and see what codes, if any, the car's computer posts when the Check Engine light comes on. It's not a cure-all, since the diagnostic codes are sometimes misleading or point to something that's a long way from root cause, but it's an inexpensive thing to try. And you can use the app to reset the diagnostic codes once you have effected a repair. I bought a dongle for about $20 online, and I'm using the free version of an Android app to translate the signals. In addition to diagnostic codes, the app generates all kinds of related stats, incluing RPM, fuel economy, speed, acceleration (using the phone's accelerometer, I believe). But safety first -- let someone else drive while you look at all the goodies the phone spits out.
I originally took my Tacoma to a parts store and had them use their code reader when my check engine light came on -- O2 sensor. I bought the dongle to reset the codes after I replaced the O2 sensor, and to let me read the diagnostic codes should the light come on when I'm on the road in South Nowhere out of range of an open mechanic or parts store. I just put the dongle in a bag behind the seat to have it available when needed.
Ann: your story almost duplicates our experience with my wife's 96 Blazer. A "Service Engine" light comes and goes, sometimes for weeks at a time. I have had it in numerous garages with no change, so have adopted this rule. If the oil pressure is where it belongs and the temperature gauge is okay, forget it. So far that has worked and it is free.
It started to run rough, and not having time to look for the problem, I had my wife take it into the Nissan dealer to have it fixed.
The technician told her it had a bad injector, and needed to replace it, and to do it right, he wanted to replace all of the injectors at a price of $600 plus labor!
I told her no, and to bring the car back.
I played with the car for about a 1/2 hour and found that the only problem was a bad connection on the injector, sprayed contact cleaner on all injector plugs, wiggled and replaceed them and the car ran fine from then on!
It pays to know and analyze instead of letting an amateur do it, as I called the Nissan dealer back and talked to the service manager and told him what I found.
I have not taken any of my cars back to a dealer since.
rickgtoc, thanks for your detailed feedback. We've thought of going into the local chain store to get the code(s) read, but once you turn the engine off a time or two, the codes disappear. Your suggestions of how to DIY capturing them look intriguing. Otherwise, we have to be already at the store to catch it when it serendipitously happens. Since we're about 30 minutes away from the closest of one of those stores (we *live* in South Nowhere), this presents some logistical problems.
Tool_maker, we're inclined to use your rule. But since the car has 190,000 miles on it, there's a reasonable possibility that something actually is wrong with the engine. That's why we're contemplating spending more than $0.00.
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