Knocking about... [cars]

[rebeccmeister]

Finally got a call from the mechanic, who says that although any issues have been pinpointed as being associated with the knock sensor, he's reluctant to try and access/test it more directly, because the components that would need to be disassembled to access it are rusty and that can lead to all sorts of entertaining situations, as I well know from personal experience with rusty bicycles, and more.

But they did change the oil and check the brakes, at least.

So I'll go pick it up tomorrow and drive back to Tempe, while contemplating my next moves. It sounds like they may recommend taking the car to a dealer, I suppose because a dealer is more likely to have the correct replacement parts on hand.

We shall see. For now I need to figure out my travel back to Tucson.

Whee.

Edited to add... Diagrams like this one make me really tempted to figure out how to replace the sensor myself! But it kinda looks like I'd wind up having to get a torque wrench/etc to carry out the work, and if I got stuck, well...

Comments

[scrottie]

"Resonance Chamber (with Resonance Chamber)" -- uh huh. Suuure.

Yeah, if they have to ruin parts to get them off, they could get in to a cycle of having to order more and more parts. There's some dynamics there... dealerships are often terrible mechanics, but they're largely obligated to support the vehicles they sell, within certain bounds. They won't rebuild the engine, but it hurts the brand a lot if they won't replace a sensor. Car ratings (kind of like college ratings) have service satisfaction as a major component. You're more likely to buy the same brand and from them if you're happy with the service too. But refusing to remove a manifold (exhaust manifold I'm guessing?) is kinda weak on the part of the mechanic. Some of those things I don't even know what they are.

I don't think they can cancel a warning entirely. Usually warnings can be cleared out but then it'll just come right back again.

Wonder if the Arizona mechanic just doesn't see corrosion very often. I noticed corrosion but I wouldn't call it rusty.

It wouldn't hurt to hit the exhaust header studs with PB Blaster or some other penetrating oil like that just to get a head start on getting things open when you or someone else does it. Let it evaporate for a while before running the car if you do that. Exhaust header is a hot spot and those things are flammable. And I do have a pirated copy of the service manual for the car, which should have step by step instructions for any procedure like that.

If the only problem is the knock sensor, I think you'll be ok to drive. The computer can mostly compensate with some loss of efficiency. Get it fixed when you can.

[rebeccmeister]

Thanks for all this. I'm guessing this is commentary for both this post and the follow-up post, so I'll interpret it based on that assumption.

Some other miscellaneous information: I tried calling the nearest dealer, but it sounds like they're busy enough they haven't bothered to call me back, which means anything they do is going to take forever anyway, likely as long as any repair cycle that happens with any other mechanic. And from what I understand, dealers tend to be more expensive. So, not going to bother with the dealer. J&J have a local mechanic they've been going to for decades (these guys), so they will be my next go-to auto people as needed. This all gave me flashbacks to the 2021 car troubles with my Uncle D's car - I remember J&J recommending their mechanic at that point, too! But I just went with whoever my uncle was fine with back then, and they were fine.

I am thinking that the 'check engine' and sensor issue might be a wiggly connection somewhere, given that the 'check engine' light turned off and hasn't come back on again. So strange.

The AZ mechanic has seen corrosion before - I think they were just being prudent about the use of everyone's time.

Also, it feels like they may have tuned the engine a bit, or else the oil change made a big difference, because the engine's running noticeably more smoothly than it was before. So that's nice.

So, all told: I want to drive the car up to Prescott next week for a social insect mini-conference, so I think I'm going to give it a go. If I run into more car trouble, things might be a bit more involved to deal with, but at that stage I'll either go over to chat with the AZ Import Specialists, or whoever else I need to deal with, wherever I am. Oh, and on social media elsewhere, TomTom had a suggestion for a 'check engine' decoder device, so I might get that, too. So many car accessories...

JH also had the suggestion of checking the car's manual for the overall maintenance schedule, so that's something else I need to sit down and look at so I can figure out how to give myself reminders to follow it.

[scrottie]

All good advice. Not sure why the car would feel noticeably smoother after an oil change... the oil should never get that bad that you could tell the difference, and the oil looked fine before you left (still a nice honey color). Maybe an intake air filter was changed too? That's more likely to be noticeable. And looking at that diagram more, it would be the intake manifold. With the computer controlling everything, there's not really anything to tune. It constantly adjusts everything itself. And yeah, responding to both posts in one go. If not a bad connection (sometimes unplugging and re-plugging those little automotive connectors a few times gets them working for a while longer), wires will break from the vibration too, or start to get a spotty connection. Could poke at either connectors or wires with the multimeter.

[rebeccmeister]

Re: smoothness, dunno!

I just looked at the invoice, and it notes excessive rust under the intake manifold as the reason for the recommendation to take the car to a dealer.

I am not sure I'm ready to figure out how to poke at connectors and/or wires with a multimeter right now. I was kind of hoping the mechanic would do that, over the course of checking for pack rat damage!