Hot Potato
After vehicle tossed from one shop to another, TCM replaced and vehicle returned to owner.
No-Start after Fender Bender
When the ’96 Lexus was dropped at our door, it came with a simple concern: “Vehicle stopped running following accident. Airbags have deployed.” A trip to the ES300 confirmed that both airbags had indeed “popped” (Figure 1). With just over 100K on its odometer, and needing two airbags and a new front bumper, I wondered if this vehicle was worth saving. My customer was motivated to have us dig into the diagnosis, so we accepted the challenge.
A One-of-a-Kind Saab No-Start
How often do you get to say this as a technician: “I have never seen this before”?
Such a day occurred for me recently when my customer had his 1991 Saab 9000 towed to our shop with a no-start complaint. Little did I know what I was in for! Spoiler alert: Do not look at the last two pictures yet; try to figure this one out first.
Deal with High Current and Intermittent Failures
Tips for troubleshooting intermittent failures and no-starts
What is your knee-jerk reaction when a vehicle rolls into your bay with the following concern: intermittent no-start? Personally, I usually like to know the make and model of the vehicle so I can tag it with a pattern-case failure (and I will revisit this point a little later), but this can often lead me to dangerous and time-wasting conclusions.
Car Gets New Life After Revamped DME System
The car sitting in front of my bay was towed in last night for a no-start problem. Looking at it gives me that “Here-I-go-again” feeling. The chalky paint is oxidized from infrared overexposure. A greenish hue of lichens blankets the exposed upper surfaces. The tags have been expired for two years. Disturbed ants crawl along the inner fender seam, originating from a bra that covers the front of the vehicle. There are no leaves or maple seeds in the cowl vents, so I assume it might have been residing in an apartment complex (covered parking) or perhaps a subdivision.
Pinpointing a Chrysler’s No-Start
This time, however, he was trying to decide on whether to retire this car and move on to another. He has two vehicles already running well, and this one is a spare. Clean as a pin for a ’91 and still well under 100,000 on the clock. Ideally, I’d like to have been able to tell him what the cost would be to get the car running without spending a lot of diagnostic time trying to find out why it quit. I mean, it’s a 3.3 Chrysler; how hard can it be?
