A 1988 Ford Thunderbird came in with a no charge condition and the alternator had already been changed. Although the following post is about a Thunderbird, the Mercury Cougar has the same failure. Testing at the alternator found that there was no ignition power on the light green wire with a red tracer at the … Continue reading “No Charge Condition 1988 Ford Thunderbird”
This 1992 Dodge full sized van came in with the customer complaint of power windows inop. The customer had already replaced the switch with no improvement. I quickly checked and found no power on the large tan wire at the driver’s side power window switch. Having been down this road before I looked at the … Continue reading “Power Windows Inop 1992 Dodge Van”
The customer called and said that their 1998 Chevrolet Astro van only had the high blower working but by the time it showed up a couple of days later the blower had stopped altogether. Simple test for no blower on an older high mileage vehicle, turn the key on, set the blower to high and … Continue reading “1998 Chevrolet Astro Van Only High Blower Speed Works”
This 2001 Chevrolet Impala came in with the complaint that the low beam headlights would not work. I went to the headlight bulb and found power on both terminals of the low beam bulb. This indicates that a ground is missing. After looking at a wiring diagram I determined that there were several possibilities: broken … Continue reading “2001 Chevrolet Impala, No Low Beam Headlights”
This 2003 Ford Windstar came in with the service engine soon light on. Checking code revealed codes P0171 and P0174, banks 1 and 2 lean. I checked for vacuum leaks and none were found so I moved on to the Mass Air Flow sensor. It is common for them to get dirty and cause these … Continue reading “2003 Ford Windstar P0171 and P0174, Banks 1 & 2 Lean”
This 1999 Ford Expedition came in with the complaint that the interior and running board light stay on. I checked data in the gem module with my scan tool and found that even with the door closed. I tried spraying the latch with a cleaner/lubricant but it did not fix it in this case. Cleaning … Continue reading “1999 Ford Expedition Dome, Courtesy and Running Board Lights Stay On”
This 1993 Toyota Camry came in with the complaint that the tail lights do not work. The front park lights and the dash lights work. I checked the bulbs in the rear and found that the bulbs were good and that there was no power on the tail light wire (light green). I consulted a … Continue reading “1993 Toyota Camry Tail Lights Inoperative”
This 1997 Infiniti Q45 came in with the complaints of poor acceleration,surging idle and the service engine soon light on. I checked codes and found 9 codes stored. I knew that most were probably induced or false codes so I cleared the codes and then ran the engine till the SES light came back on. … Continue reading “1997 Infiniti Q45 Poor Acceleration,Surging Idle And Service Engine Soon Light On.”
A customer brought in a very clean 1984 Toyota Pickup with only about 65,000 miles on it with an over charging condition. The alternator had already been replaced. The customer had tried a new voltage regulator with no change in the over charge condition. I tested the wires at the voltage regulator and found that … Continue reading “1984 Toyota Pickup Charging System Over Charges”
This Suburban came in with the complaint that the turn signal fuse blows. The customer could not relate when the fuse would blow and it would not blow when it came in the shop. I first went to the rear and and inspected the wiring there and found no problems. Next I turned my attention … Continue reading “Turn Signal Fuse Blows In 1997 Chevrolet Suburban”