Ask GTP About Your Car Problems/General Questions

XS
It's not the O2 sensor. The map sensor and PCM on Chryslers use info from O2 sensor 1 for timing and air/fuel mixture. Sensor 2 simply monitors the cat. Honestly it looks like whatever the problem is didn't throw a code at all. The sensors in question need to be checked with a break-out box. The fuel pressure needs checked when the problem is happening, or sortly thereafter to see eliminate the fuel pump as a problem. Which come to think of it, a hot and dying fuel pump will behave exactly as you have described, so that's defninitely a must to check out. It could alos be a faulty map sensor or throttle position sensor. I just woke up so I'm running out of ideas lol, but as a Dodge owner a couple times over I can tell you that this is pretty typical of a 10 year old Chrysler. If it was me the first thing I would check would be that fuel pump. Sometimes they die fast and dramatic, other times not so much. Best of luck and keep us posted, I'm curious as to what the issue ends up to be.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

The car is back at a garage we trust now, so I'm sure they will check stuff like fuel pressure, stuff like that when trying to diagnose it today. They are going to take it on an extended test drive to try and replicate the problem.

Will definitely post when I find out the diagnosis.
 
I've got a bit of a story about some car problems, but it's a bit late for that now. Anyway I have (or had) a 2003 Ford Focus ST170. It was a car that I bought off my mother who herself had bought from my older brothers mate. I've been driving it for 2 years and I'd really grown to love it, but it had 150,000 miles on the engine and was due a timing belt change, the exhaust cat would probably have been needed to be replaced by next year.


Just over a week ago I was driving home from a late night band rehearsal and as is usual I like to give it the occasional squirt of juice in 2nd gear to get it singing, but I rarely if ever push the car real hard. Still, I had the initial kick of power and then it started to level off strangely, revved up to 6000rpm and still no real power, changed into 3rd and still no power and that's when I noticed something was strange, it also started to smell like it was burning, engine temperature guage not looking great.

Stopped at the next lights and the car sounded like a tractor, with a tapping/knocking sound I knew it didn't sound good. So I limped home (luckily only about a mile away) and parked it. Checked the the coolant and there wasn't any, checked the oil and there wasn't any... Pretty strange considering I keep an eye on these, this must have happened really recently. I did a little research and still wasn't sure, put in a litre of oil and coolant the next day and started it up.

Sounded fine for a while at idle but then once I had revved over 2k RPM the tractor noise came back, a real nasty knocking sound. At first I thought maybe it was the head gasket, I found oil in the 2nd cylinder spark plug socket and a mixture of what seemed like oil/water coming out of the exhaust... I'm no expert on cars so my best guess was as good as my google research skills. Took it to the garage (same guys who always service it for me) on thursday and before I'd even shown him the car he'd already diagnosed it was a blown bottom end, by the sound of the car reversing into a parking spot.

So yeah, the ST170 is dead.. They said that if I'd revved that up properly the thing would chew itself to bits, and with the timing belt needing to be changed and the Exhaust probably needing a swap in the near future it would be a waste of money to fix it. I have to say I'm pretty gutted, but I could probably buy another one in better condition for £2000 ish with half the mileage.
 
Adamgp
So my Mom's car has been having issues this week. She's got an '04 PT Cruiser turbo.

Just driving along, everything was fine, stopped at a red light. SES light came on and chimed. Light turned green, car didn't want to go. It moved, but would just chug along at 5-10 mph, wouldn't go any higher.

She was about an hour from home so it wasn't towed to our regular mechanic. Car ran fine for them, they weren't able to recreate the chugging/loss of power issue. They were able to scan the car and get the SES codes, there were 3:

P0138 - Bank 1 sensor 2 high voltage
P0175 - High condition
P040 - Cam position sensor circuit failure (code and/or description is probably wrong on this one, I don't have the car so I can't rescan it.)

They didn't know what was wrong and couldn't replicate the problem. Since the car seemed to run fine, my parents picked the car up and drove it back home. Talked to our local mechanic and he said next time it happens to bring it in.

Well my Mom went out the next day and it happened again. Chugging, loss of power. Had it towed to our regular garage this time and now they are trying to replicate the problem but can't. They are working on diagnosing it today.

Any ideas of what can be wrong? I haven't seen the car, only what she told me by phone. Sounds like it is related to O2 sensor/emissions.
Click to expand...

Mom got her car back yesterday.

They replaced the O2 sensor and the cam position sensor, both were bad. That seems to have fixed the power loss and chugging. It runs fine now but we'll know after she drives it for a week or so if it is fixed for good.
 
My Q: does passing cars in oncoming traffic negatively affect fuel economy more than negligibly? That is, does the wind resistance created as they pass have a measurable and deleterious effect on fuel used?

I ask because I saw on fuelly.com (public fuel economy and fuel price tracker) a tip recommending to stay as near as possible to the outside of the lane in order to improve fuel economy, but was sceptical (and cannot seem to find much on the internet about it).
 
GT Pro
My Q: does passing cars in oncoming traffic negatively affect fuel economy more than negligibly? That is, does the wind resistance created as they pass have a measurable and deleterious effect on fuel used?

I ask because I saw on fuelly.com (public fuel economy and fuel price tracker) a tip recommending to stay as near as possible to the outside of the lane in order to improve fuel economy, but was sceptical (and cannot seem to find much on the internet about it).
Click to expand...

Yes it will hurt your aero, but 2 feet isn't going to make a huge difference in normal driving.
 
Alright I'm very curious. When I bought the civic the guy said it needed a battery, main relay and ignition switch. So when I start the car I have to insert a screw driver to the little mechanism. The white thing in the picture below.

image.jpg

Or for a better description the, switch in this picture ( mine is pulled out just like this on the car)
image.jpg


Now the car wouldn't start because it needed a main relay (unless he plugged in these two things to make it run which I used to drive it home) so I got a main relay and put it in but I honestly am curious of how the ignition switch could be bad?? I'm possibly thinking it's good.

What are the symptoms of a bad ignition switch? I googled it but I honestly would prefer from you guys instead.

The car would start and run perfectly. Drove the whole 40 mins back no problem. I'm honestly thinking about putting the switch back into the lock cylinder and go to honda for them to make me a key and see what happens.
 
Why aren't road sensors (those strips below the pavement which allegedly detect when a car is present in order to change the traffic lights) painted, marked or otherwise labelled? This unexplained omission is the case at least in most parts of Australia.

It is common-sense that coming to a complete stop wastes fuel, so being able to know where they are so one can slow down as early as possible before the light changes green (so as to be able to slowly glide through and not have to come to a full stop) is advantageous, both for traffic flow (less stop-starting) and fuel economy.

To me, it is another inexplicable government oversight when building roads.
 
GT Pro
Why aren't road sensors (those strips below the pavement which allegedly detect when a car is present in order to change the traffic lights) painted, marked or otherwise labelled? This unexplained omission is the case at least in most parts of Australia.

It is common-sense that coming to a complete stop wastes fuel, so being able to know where they are so one can slow down as early as possible before the light changes green (so as to be able to slowly glide through and not have to come to a full stop) is advantageous, both for traffic flow (less stop-starting) and fuel economy.

To me, it is another inexplicable government oversight when building roads.
Click to expand...
You can actually see them in the roads, as the pavement must be cut to place them. Look for an octoganal line in the road.

AFAIK they usually right before the solid white line seen at most stop lights, at least it's that way here in America.
 
Indeed, at some lights I do notice them carved into the ground. However, at a particular set of lights where this issue has been bugging me lately I cannot see any linear indication in the pavement, which make makes me wonder whether the light mechanism is activated instead via an overhead sensor.
 
GT Pro
Indeed, at some lights I do notice them carved into the ground. However, at a particular set of lights where this issue has been bugging me lately I cannot see any linear indication in the pavement, which make makes me wonder whether the light mechanism is activated instead via an overhead sensor.
Click to expand...
No, what happens is when your massive hunk a metal is over these sensors, which are basically just wires, because of electromagnetism and such your large hunk of metal causes the circuit to change when over that wire, and that is relayed back to the control box which realizes that there is a car there
 
Hello gents

If the car (suspension) is squeaking and making noises when going over speed bumps (not all of the time), is that worn out bushings or what? is it something that needs replacment?

Note that my car suspension is being neglected when it comes to maintenance if that helps.

Thanks in advance.
 
Alright my Camry is confusing the hell out of me. It's a 1992 Camry Le 2.2l 4 cylinder.

Basically a while back when I was driving this car. I would get no heat while driving but if it sat there at idle the temperature would creep up to normal til I started driving which would make it go back to cold.

I assumed thermostat. So I changed it. Car heats up finally but I get steam from the radiator and the bottom radiator hose is cold and the upper one is hot. I'm like ok I guess I didn't "burp" the air out the coolant system. I try to do that and assume I succeeded since I saw no bubbles coming out. Start driving and steam is still coming out...

I'm like "ok", obviously it's the radiator. Change radiator and burp the cooling system again. STEAM is still coming off radiator.

It's not overheating, it stays at normal temperature but I'm still getting steam at idle. What could be the problem?? I drove about 25 mins home and it was fine but instill worried something will eventually happen.
 
JrDarknes
Alright my Camry is confusing the hell out of me. It's a 1992 Camry Le 2.2l 4 cylinder.

Basically a while back when I was driving this car. I would get no heat while driving but if it sat there at idle the temperature would creep up to normal til I started driving which would make it go back to cold.
Click to expand...

Did you replace the radiator fan motor(s)? Sometimes you have to buy the plastic fan shroud as well.

An engine that runs cooler when the car is moving compared to one that is moving slow or idling is a classic case of a malfunctioning fan motor.
 
Pupik
Did you replace the radiator fan motor(s)? Sometimes you have to buy the plastic fan shroud as well.

An engine that runs cooler when the car is moving compared to one that is moving slow or idling is a classic case of a malfunctioning fan motor.
Click to expand...

No, I did not replace them.

The steam however seems to have stop appearing so I guess I'm in the safe zone as for now.
 
Does anyone know what the things are called that you use to have your electric fans flush with the radiator. They look kind of like zipties. Just need to know what they're called or where I can buy some as mine never came with any as I bought the kit with a shroud.

Its the little 4 long things on the bottom right of the picture.

CLGElecFanKit_std.jpg
 
JrDarknes
Does anyone know what the things are called that you use to have your electric fans flush with the radiator. They look kind of like zipties. Just need to know what they're called or where I can buy some as mine never came with any as I bought the kit with a shroud.

Its the little 4 long things on the bottom right of the picture.

CLGElecFanKit_std.jpg
Click to expand...

Still called zip ties. Just a specialized kind for radiator fans.
 
Thought this would wipe off but it wouldn't. It's from the painting tape I had on it for about 8 months.

What do I need to do to get it off? Do I have to wet sand or is there an easier option.

image.jpeg
 
JrDarknes
Thought this would wipe off but it wouldn't. It's from the painting tape I had on it for about 8 months.

What do I need to do to get it off? Do I have to wet sand or is there an easier option.
Click to expand...
Perhaps some plastic razor blades might do it? I'd think there'd be a lower chance of scratching the paint with them, and hopefully they would be less work than wet sanding.
 
So anyone have a solution for getting duct tape residue off a car? We had to cover up the sunroof with the usual plastic sheet and duct tape while we waited for the insurance company to have someone come around to fix it and now we have leftovers from the patch job on the car. To make things worse it's the car is black and driving my family's OCD crazy.
 
maxi25
So anyone have a solution for getting duct tape residue off a car? We had to cover up the sunroof with the usual plastic sheet and duct tape while we waited for the insurance company to have someone come around to fix it and now we have leftovers from the patch job on the car. To make things worse it's the car is black and driving my family's OCD crazy.
Click to expand...
The alcohol and pink eraser worked for me that Harry mentioned above.
 
Sorry If my explanation is bad.

Just wanting to make sure I'm wiring this up right. I want all my aftermarket electronics to come on with the key in the "on" position.

I would want to wire my "on" wire to 87a and the 12volts wire coming straight from the battery to 87? 30 is the feeding all my electronics the 12 volts?


IMG_6968.JPG
 
My car door is freezing shut when it gets cold. I looked around and found out other people with this car have similar problems with doors freezing shut, but I couldn't find any solutions. I actually thought I was going to pull off the door handle so I came in through the trunk and pushed the door open from the inside. Is there something I can do to stop water getting in there?
image (1).jpg
image.jpg
 
Last edited:
Which part is freezing up? The lock or on the seals?

Spray your locks with Wd40, and use something like vaseline on the seals.

Edit

Now I see photo's. I think it might be time for new door seals.
 
Last edited:
JrDarknes
Sorry If my explanation is bad.

Just wanting to make sure I'm wiring this up right. I want all my aftermarket electronics to come on with the key in the "on" position.

I would want to wire my "on" wire to 87a and the 12volts wire coming straight from the battery to 87? 30 is the feeding all my electronics the 12 volts?

View attachment 618397
Click to expand...


In all honesty if you want everything to come on when you turn the key to run you could use a 4 prong relay or you could use the one you have.

All a 5 pin does (87a) is provide power to a circuit when the key is off.

What you do is run your key on power supply to pin (86) and run pin (85) to ground.
Then run a fused battery power supply to pin (30) and hook up what ever you want to use on that circuit to pin (87). Edit: You will have to run a ground wire from whatever you install to complete the circuit.
Pin (87a) is used to provide power to an additional circuit you want to use when the key is off.
In your case you can simply not use pin (87a) unless you can find something you want to power when the key is off.

Hope that helps.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

M
General questions about features
Replies
10
Views
1K
Masanijey
M
Liquid
Dumb Car Questions Thread
2 3
Replies
71
Views
10K
TexRex
TexRex
benjoi84
Painfully obvious racing questions PT.2
Replies
3
Views
838
mattikake
M
Grimm6Jack
Selling Cars - Let's talk about this a bit more.
2 3
Replies
60
Views
13K
05XR8
05XR8
MisterWaffles
Gran Turismo 7 Livery Editor - General Discussion Thread
102 103 104
Replies
3K
Views
361K
24HuresdeLoL
24HuresdeLoL

Latest Posts

Back