OK - Mechanic is stumped. any ideas??

[BadMojo]

He told me that he all of a sudden got the ECU to spit out the MAFS code.

He said the knock sensor wasn't working, so he got another one.

Never experienced this personally, but I've heard it said that the ECU sometimes will spit out a phantom knock sensor code when it has other codes firing.

Having said that, your knock sensor was probably about due for replacement even if it wasn't throwing a real code. It's an old car and those knock sensors are pretty flimsy (and expensive) looking pieces of crap. $120 for a damn piezoelectric switch. You'd think the thing was magic for that price.

Anyway, I find the MAFs code interesting...

[Mustangs_Suck]

Never experienced this personally, but I've heard it said that the ECU sometimes will spit out a phantom knock sensor code when it has other codes firing.

Having said that, your knock sensor was probably about due for replacement even if it wasn't throwing a real code. It's an old car and those knock sensors are pretty flimsy (and expensive) looking pieces of crap. $120 for a damn piezoelectric switch. You'd think the thing was magic for that price.

Anyway, I find the MAFs code interesting...

heh...either way..if he even replaced it - that's fine..the more crap the better I guess...but I'm tired of it now...it needs to be resolved..6 weeks is completely unreasonable.

and that's not as bad as the $488 for a ****ing MAFS. I looked at a nissan/infinity warehouse website, and he wasn't lying about that - a new MAF from them is seriously $488.

[Akihisa]

I have a SOHC maf sensor for sale if you want it/

[virus77]

I think I have an s14 mafs if you need one.

[Kenrik]

I can sell you a working stock MAF for cheap

[Mustangs_Suck]

Thanks for all the offers guys. When I get the car back I'll inspect it and if I need one - I'll let you all know.

Car will be getting towed on Monday I hope..if not by Wednesday at the utmost latest.

[sunnys14]

you shoulda just paid and gotten it towed back sooner...

[Mustangs_Suck]

Jesus god my dad is a moron. He went to the shop today to see if it was driveable before calling for a tow...the mechanic proceeded to show him all the things he fixed and told him he has a MAF from a friend coming in tomorrow, and he's gonna swap mine out for it to see if it fixes the no exhaust problem or not. So my dad let him keep it there.

I just bitched at him for it and he hung up on me lol.

Oh well - he can cover this bill then and I'm not paying him back for it - his bad.

[onosqv]

Actually it's your bad.

Stop blaming other ppl for your problems.

YOU are the one who let this mechanic feed u his crap.

YOU are the one who let him keep it 6 weeks.

YOU are the one who let your dad go up there and take care of stuff when you know he doesn't know about cars as much as you do.

YOU are the one who decides you'd rather take a shower than go to the mechanic yourself the very last hour they are open.

If anyone is a moron, it is you. I'm sorry buddy, but it's about time you stepped up to the plate and admitted to your own mistakes.

Lastly, you should be a man and apologize to your dad for taking it out on him. And whatever bill you are stuck with, should be your responsibility. You don't deserve to own a car if you can't take care of it or pay for it yourself.

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

Now hurry up and get your car back so we can tell you 100 possibilities of what's wrong and make you pull your hair out, then realize it was something really small and simple and kick yourself in the nuts, then boost like a billion psi and have a big fat grin on your face .

[Mustangs_Suck]

Actually it's your bad.

Stop blaming other ppl for your problems.

YOU are the one who let this mechanic feed u his crap.

YOU are the one who let him keep it 6 weeks.

YOU are the one who let your dad go up there and take care of stuff when you know he doesn't know about cars as much as you do.

YOU are the one who decides you'd rather take a shower than go to the mechanic yourself the very last hour they are open.

If anyone is a moron, it is you. I'm sorry buddy, but it's about time you stepped up to the plate and admitted to your own mistakes.

Lastly, you should be a man and apologize to your dad for taking it out on him. And whatever bill you are stuck with, should be your responsibility. You don't deserve to own a car if you can't take care of it or pay for it yourself.

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

Now hurry up and get your car back so we can tell you 100 possibilities of what's wrong and make you pull your hair out, then realize it was something really small and simple and kick yourself in the nuts, then boost like a billion psi and have a big fat grin on your face .

actually, no it isn't. this is my dad's "friend" he is the one that says what to the mechanic and is the one the mechanic calls when he finds things wrong. He also is the one that pays him - I just pay him it back through monthly payments.

My dad relayed all the info the mechanic said to me, I am the one who kept getting on his *** to make sure he was doing stuff to the car.

My dad lives 5 min. from him - I live an hr. I have a job. I go to school. I don't have the time to go up there all the god damn time and see wtf he is doing - my dad does.

He showed my dad a bunch of things he fixed..dad said they look good - all brand new parts. The mechanic's coworker (whom I trust, as he has been honest with how the main guy wasn't working on it when he said he was and whatnot) was also there showing him all these things they've done to it, to prove it hasn't just sat there. I guess there was a donut shaped thing that was cracked, that was making the ECU go haywire, he also showed him all the cracks he's fixed and all the exhaust leaks he's repaired - he showed him the new parts, and the bad/old parts off my car. He said if the MAF is the only thing wrong with it, it's going to run better than it ever has, and will be like a completely new car when I get it back.

I called my dad back and apologized - I told him tomorrow is the last day he can do this, and he agreed. He said if the MAF isn't brought in tomorrow, or it doesn't fix the car - it's gone. If it does fix it, we'll pay him for it, and drive it home, and from now on - I'll be doing the work regardless of this outcome.

[Mustangs_Suck]

Got the MAF in today, car runs much better. He just keeps on finding things wrong with it..little crap that can easily go un-noticed, and things that need replacing only like once in a car's lifetime...might as well get it all overwith now. Car is running better than it ever has right now, and has NO leaks finally.

It doesn't surprise me at all really, I'm sure the guy I bought it from didn't check anything on the car, since I've had so much problems with big things on it, all these little things aren't a surprise at all.

The only problem left right now is he said I'll probably need to get it re-tuned as it's running pretty rich after replacing all these things and getting all the leaks fixed.

Anyway I can lean it out a bit so it'll last me a month? That's about as long as I'll be able to drive it before the snow starts falling. This winter I'll get a Z32 MAF, and either rebuild the T25 or get a brand new turbo/manifold set up, and that's when I'll spend the money to get it re-tuned.

I have the SAFC - what settings are good for safe on the richer side tune, but not so rich that my plugs are getting fouled up and all that crap. I don't want to start leaning it out and then make my motor go pop..I'd just like to get it to a somewhat rich setting instead of an overly rich one as it is right now.

[SonyPete]

Umm don't think anyone can just say "hey put in these numbers" and have it work perfectly, unless they have the same exact setup and even then its gonna vary. Only way to set it is by watching you A/F ratio and its gonna be hard with a narrow band.

[C-Kwik]

actually, no it isn't. this is my dad's "friend" he is the one that says what to the mechanic and is the one the mechanic calls when he finds things wrong. He also is the one that pays him - I just pay him it back through monthly payments.

My dad relayed all the info the mechanic said to me, I am the one who kept getting on his *** to make sure he was doing stuff to the car.

My dad lives 5 min. from him - I live an hr. I have a job. I go to school. I don't have the time to go up there all the god damn time and see wtf he is doing - my dad does.

Actually, if it is your car, then it is your responsibility. This is something you need to take away from this experience, if nothing else. Owning a car IS a responsibility. To me, it sounds like your dad is trying to help. Personally, I'd love to see how much he would be willing to help if he saw this thread. If you can do better, than do it. If I know something needs to get done, I do it myself. If I absolutely must rely on someone else and it doesn't get done, I can only blame myself.

I know the situation is frustrating and it's easy to get angry at anyone involved. But getting it done is all a matter of looking towards the means to get it done. pointing fingers gets you nowhere. And if you want to see a great example of this, look no further than Congress and all the fingerpointing they do. Gotta love where our taxes are being spent.

[Mustangs_Suck]

Umm don't think anyone can just say "hey put in these numbers" and have it work perfectly, unless they have the same exact setup and even then its gonna vary. Only way to set it is by watching you A/F ratio and its gonna be hard with a narrow band.

I know that, I just know ppl on here know good starting out numbers to get it to a dyno tuner. Someone gave me the numbers before, and it worked good, but worked much better after I got it tuned. Wonder if I can find em on here through searching

[Mustangs_Suck]

Man...my car is a mess. I have hoses leading to nowhere, boots that torn that have been literally TAPED up, wires that are spliced into god knows what. This thing isn't going to be running for a long time.

But here's where I am at now...just taking this one step at a time.

There's a hose that goes from the intake manifold inside the firewall - well it's leaking into my interior, so something isn't connected there anymore. Does anyone know where that hose leads to?

Also - I can rev my car up to 7000 now, so that no-revving thing has been fixed, but I'm running so rich, the second I get on the road with it, the plugs foul up and black smoke comes out, and it just bogs out and makes it undriveable.

I guess when all the exhaust leaks were fixed, the mani was re-machined, and everything else that has been repaired, it's made quite a difference in the car's pressure and all of that. The FPR was off a few pounds, so that's been replaced - I have all new air/fuel things so I'm guessing I need it re-tuned again, but I'm not going to bother spending the money to have it tuned to just have it sit over winter..it's pointless.

[onosqv]

so the car's back in ur possession now and you're fixing it? Or where are we at here physically?

[Mustangs_Suck]

so the car's back in ur possession now and you're fixing it? Or where are we at here physically?

I've worked a deal with the mechanic and have signed a contract with him stating that he isn't going to charge me for all the 1203598120395 checks/tests he's done on it since they weren't needed. I will only be charged for the things he's fixed, period.

I went up to see my car and has shown me all the bad parts and the new parts and where they are located. He has also shown me all the problem areas as well, and this guy is not lying about all the things wrong...it is unbelievable.

I am giving him the Diagram on what color wires go where on the SAFC for the N3-b ECU harness.

I am also giving him a safe, somewhat rich tune to set the SAFC settings at to see if after replacing all these air/fuel parts it's just made it go crazy rich and undriveable.

I know many of you are going to go at this decision, but in all honesty I do not think this car will be running until after winter regardless - I might as well keep it at his shop, out of the snow and salt. Yes he's a bit crazy at times, and has made me not trust him on things, but after this contract has been signed, after seeing all the parts he's cleaned/fixed, and after showing me what else is a problem - I have decided that keeping it there would be for the best....this thing is a ****ing mess and it's going to take more than just me and some online chats to figure it out.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

theres 1

[Mustangs_Suck]

theres 1

oh well. it's easier on my life, my mom's life and my dad's life.

We have a 1 car garage since we live in a condo after my parents divorced. I'm not going to have my broken car sit in pieces outside, and will most definitley not have it sit and bear out the harsh winters. The body is 100% rustfree - I am going to keep it that way.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

what would foster say? certainly not just

[Mustangs_Suck]

what would foster say? certainly not just

*shrug* doesn't really matter as he isn't in my position in life.

this is the easiest way for all of my family including me, and the least stressful as well.

[fiznat]

what would foster say? certainly not just

lol.

I would first like to know how much the bill has been racked up to at this point. How much would you owe him RIGHT NOW if you were to just take your car, settle up, and leave? Total. If you dont know, you really need to find this out FIRST before you decide anything.

Im not gonna give you the tisk face but c'mon man, you KNOW this guy is a sheister- you even said yourself that the car is a mess. I understand you want to keep your car out of the snow, but man-- even a pay-to-park place sounds cheaper than a sheister mechanic who is constantly throwing new parts at the car. This is really dissapointing to hear... I thought you were all pumped to get the car back and start fixing these things for yourself. From what youve said, mustang, I REALLY think this guy is feeding you lines and trying to drain your money. Leaving your car with him may sound like a good idea to keep it out of the snow, but I think its going to cost you more in the long run. Please dont do that, figure out some other option. Anything.

Oh, and also I agree with everyone else about the taking responsability for this mess.. I think that if you really want something good to happen out of all of this, you are going to have to make it happen by yourself.

[onosqv]

Yes, there are too many ppl involved in communication here....

Mechanic<->Dad's Friend/Dad<->Mustang<->online forum ppl

Ever play that game "Telephone"?

I know 80% of message is lost thru telephone (i.e. body language, etc), and 90% is lost through text (i.e. tone of voice, etc)... so please take all of what we write only based off what we can read...

Why are we being so blunt w/ you? Because this is an internet forum and you can't whack us in the head thousands of miles away... and vice versa.

Yes, it is your life and you can do what you feel is best... but keep in mind you asked, so we answer "Mechanic is stumped. any ideas??"

My own personal conclusion based solely on this thread and the information you have provided and the actions you have taken...

Both you and your mechanic are a little squirrelly in the brain.

You don't have time to deal with it... well, even at 1 hour a day - from getting off work/school/whatever at 3pm, and a few weekends probably would have gotten you further than leaving it there.

So there's snow... so there's salt... so there's a million excuses you could come up with, we've all been there - there's members on this board who hold 2 full time jobs, volunteer at 3 different organizations, have a family of 5 to feed, AND still make time to work on their car - garage or not, rain or shine, bare chested in below freezing weather. I'm sorry most of us cannot understand your situation in your life... we all have our own problems... where there's a will, there's a way. You clearly don't have the will.

I too am disappointed in you, or at least the Internet you that you present in this particular thread. You let this guy take advantage of you, and you don't follow through w/ your own plans, yet you expect other ppl to take care of your problem and get pissed when things don't turn out how you want it...

Why am I still following this thread then? It's like a bad train wreck that you don't want to watch but can't take your eyes away from.

Good luck...

The guy is just on a huge ego trip, and thinks he's the best of the best, and won't listen to anyone's suggestions on what is wrong because he thinks he knows it all and wouldn't make a mistake.

I'm just going to try to get the car somewhat driveable or some **** and get it back to my house and have some friends and I look at it/work on it...this guy isn't reliable anymore - he's sick and tired of working on it, and I want my ****ing car back..it's been over a god damn month now.

I seriously think he's a coke addict - he has CRAZY mood swings.

He's been a fair guy to me on price in the past, so maybe he'll be fair again with me and only charge me labor for the initial troubleshooting/testing he did on all turbo lines and whatnot, but not all the other hours of running the same tests and whatnot since we've now all found out it had nothing to do with the turbo.

I get out of work at 3:30pm. He closes at 5pm. he is a 1hr drive from home, and I'm not going up there without showering, I feel absolutely disgusting when I get out of that place.

I'm having him put the rest of my **** on, and I am driving it home. If it can't make it - I will pay for the tow. **** this guy..he's just confusing me to keep me from coming up here.

**** him.

should of never trusted him...damn it..oh well..you live and you learn.

I told my dad about what happened and he said "i've known him for a long time, and when he spits back **** at you like "no PDQ" (as he said when i talked to him) he's mocking you"

So **** him...when he gives me the bill, I'll mock him by saying "shove it up your ***"

My dad is talking with him now to tell him he's done and it's getting towed.

No more Mr. Nice guy for me or him.

And that's just a few of the quotes...

[Kenrik]

lol.

I would first like to know how much the bill has been racked up to at this point. How much would you owe him RIGHT NOW if you were to just take your car, settle up, and leave? Total. If you dont know, you really need to find this out FIRST before you decide anything.

Im not gonna give you the tisk face but c'mon man, you KNOW this guy is a sheister- you even said yourself that the car is a mess. I understand you want to keep your car out of the snow, but man-- even a pay-to-park place sounds cheaper than a sheister mechanic who is constantly throwing new parts at the car. This is really dissapointing to hear... I thought you were all pumped to get the car back and start fixing these things for yourself. From what youve said, mustang, I REALLY think this guy is feeding you lines and trying to drain your money. Leaving your car with him may sound like a good idea to keep it out of the snow, but I think its going to cost you more in the long run. Please dont do that, figure out some other option. Anything.

Oh, and also I agree with everyone else about the taking responsability for this mess.. I think that if you really want something good to happen out of all of this, you are going to have to make it happen by yourself.

Well Said... this guy is going to hit you with a HUGE *** bill... More then the car and all the parts on it are worth most likely... And if you don't pay that crackhead has a new toy..

[Mustangs_Suck]

I'm going up there in a few hrs to change all my settings on the SAFC.

I'll ask him what he's considering for a bill.

[oneviaman]

check to see if the anti skid fuse is blown. i took it out cuz my starter fuse went and my car ran like ***. sputtering no idle and it didnt like to rev at all just a sugestion its a green 30 amp fuse in the engine bay. maybe that will help. i hope at least.

[Mustangs_Suck]

ROFL. I'm glad I went up there.

I'm sorry for disappointing you all - you were right, I was wrong. You're all gods, I'm a mere pawn. You are all sexy beasts, where I'm a hideous fish. - good enough? lol I hope so.

Bear with me here and read this funny story.

So ok. I called him and asked if he'd be up there. I said I'll be there in 30 min. and he asked where I was coming from. I told him, and he said - no way, you'll be here in 1hr at the quickest...so I said ok. He told me wouldn't be there - he'd be out getting some supplies, but he'll be back, so I can come up and he'll leave the keys in the car.

Well I got up there - exactly a half an hr. from when I talked to him. When he saw me pull up he had the "oh ****" face on...I could tell he was hurrying to try and get out of there before I arrived - his plan failed.

Well...he then shook my hand and we made small talk - no big deal. So I started up the car, it sputtered and died. I said "dave - you said this car was running perfect, just no boost for whatever reason, this thing runs like complete **** - worse than when I gave it to you". He said "yeah it's because the plugs are fouled up so bad". - whatever, it could be true..so I moved on. I looked under the hood and he said "looks good huh?" I said "where's all the new parts?" he just looked at me dumbfounded - he said "did you come up here to ***** at me or tune your car?" I said "I'm gonna ***** a bit dave, you've had this car for 8 weeks and I don't see anything different looking from when I gave it to you". He then proceeded to show me a few things - which I admit, were new parts...so ok, still not the tons of parts he's said in the past he's fixed, but at least I know he's done something. I noticed a ****ing GOLF TEE sticking in one of my hoses. I said "Dave what the **** is this?" He said "it's to prevent a vacuum leak", and I proceeded to chew him out saying that wasn't very professional at all, to which he just had no reply.

He then told me he'd be back soon and to go and set up those settings, and with that he left. He said he'd be back in 20 min. I set the settings, and nothing changed. I tried to drive the car, but when I pressed on the gas pedal it gave NO response, and the car just choked worse than ever. So I thought "ok there HAS to be something major here", and I popped the hood and went to inspect myself.

I found a few hoses leading to nowhere, a wire off my oil sender unit not connected (the other half was laying right next to it)...but nothing that would make a car run that ****ty. I then shook the IC piping..and on the pass. side it was solid, but on the driver's side it felt loose. I couldn't see where it went to, so I turned the pop-up lights on and looked underneath them - and sure enough. the piping wasn't even CLOSE to being connected.

I have solved my problem of why it runs like ***, and gets no boost. the IC isn't even hooked up.

I called my dad, fuming mad, and told him that I found out what was wrong in 10 minutes that the mechanic hasn't found yet in over 8 weeks. He tried to defend him and say "oh maybe it wasn't like that" I said "bull****, that pop I heard wasn't my turbo - it was that pipe". Things all started falling into their places now...I have spent so much time without my car and so much money on tiny little things - that the IC piping was overlooked, or known about, but ignored. I didn't even need a new turbo..the one I have blew too much oil out the intake, but it still worked.

so - I told my dad the car is being towed to my place tomorrow. I'll take the front bumper off, and re-clamp on the pipe. I will then try to find a welding shop not too far from here and see how much it'd be to get them welded together, and not just clamped on.

The mechanic knows nothing of this - I dropped the key back in his drop box so he'll suspect nothing until my dad (and possibly I if my dad starts getting shady with me again on the subject) shows up with the tow-truck.

I don't care what the bill is at this point - it's just money. I will never take my car back to a mechanic - I will do all the work myself, unless it's something HUGE and I don't mind paying gobs of labor costs simply because i CAN NOT do it...which really isn't anything but like mount tires and an engine rebuild.

So - once again - Sorry to all of you..I should have listened. I should have never taken it to him in the first place..all of these past 8 weeks was just a simple IC pipe..I can't believe it, but you live and learn...and all I can do is just laugh...as this is just ridiculous all the bs I have gone through for an IC pipe

Hopefully taking the front bumper off isn't too hard?

[onosqv]

BRAVO!!!! Congratulations man. It's always the little things that kill you. Now you can waste more money on tiny little things like tbolt clamps .

Seriously... I feel much better now that you fixed your car, or seems like so.

Taking front bumper off is piece of cake - just find all those bolts, hehe - take off the fender liner & look toward bumper.

I'm sorry for disappointing you all - you were right, I was wrong. You're all gods, I'm a mere pawn. You are all sexy beasts, where I'm a hideous fish. - good enough? lol I hope so.

YES, I'm a sexy beast, you know it baby, yyeeeaaaa.

[fiznat]

Nice man, Im really glad to hear .

Just, before we jump to conclusions, you still dont know for SURE that it was the pipe. Of course it is definitely causing you some problems, but dont be dissapointed if there other things causing problems as well.

Still, Im REALLY glad youve decided on this. Get the car to your house and dont look back

EDIT lol and reading back...

I'm thinking it is most likely a mistake on your mechanic's part. Issues with no boost are usually a boost leak before or in the intake manifold, or an exhaust leak before the turbo.

Since it's idling terribly, I'd have him check all the intake plumbing. It possible he forgot to tighten a clamp or something when re-installing the turbo. This could both cause a lack of boost and poor idle.

lol... live and learn, live and learn

[Mustangs_Suck]

BRAVO!!!! Congratulations man. It's always the little things that kill you. Now you can waste more money on tiny little things like tbolt clamps .

Seriously... I feel much better now that you fixed your car, or seems like so.

Taking front bumper off is piece of cake - just find all those bolts, hehe - take off the fender liner & look toward bumper.

YES, I'm a sexy beast, you know it baby, yyeeeaaaa.

hehe I wonder what he's gonna say when he finds out that's what it was. If I get him to say sorry and fix that, and give me a $200 bill, that'd be AWESOME, but I know it won't happen, so I'm not even gonna bother telling him why I'm towing it. I'm just gonna show up, take it out of his hands, and be on my way.

he HAD to of known that piping wasn't together, I mean damn...8 weeks and he couldn't notice something I did in 10 minutes, when he has his own intercooled/turbo car? Come on - it's pretty much common sense to check the IC piping. (Too bad I didn't have that common sense after it blew the 2 months ago )

and lol - you're dead sexy /fatbastard