Local chain auto parts stores advertise that you can come into their store and have your car "scanned" by their experts to diagnose why that pesky "check engine" or "service engine now" light is on. And they do so whole hearted, bless their hearts. Problem is, you get what you don't pay for.
Last fall the 1996 Camaro I bought for our sons to use started running as though it had a blown rod and the ominous SERVICE ENGINE SOON light was on. I took the car to the local chain auto parts store and a tech, trusty scanner in hand, was able to quickly diagnose that there was a misfire in cylinder six. Problem was that they couldn't tell me why cylinder six was misfiring. They recommended I change the coil pack and I did so - but $30 later the car still ran poorly. Somewhat crestfallen, I went back to the auto parts store for more "free trouble shooting". This time another "tech" questioned why the tech who told me to replace the coil pack had me do so because typically the first thing done with a misfire is to change the spark plug. At this point I'm getting a good idea why these well meaning young men are working in an auto parts store and not in a service center.
I found changing a spark plug on the Camaro to be a brutal, knuckle busting, time sucking process so I had a local, chain service center change all of them for me, not just cylinder six, to the tune of $200. It's a twenty year old car and they were the original plugs so...I thought it money well spent. Anyway, the car did run much better afterwards however, I did notice some bog and hesitation under wide open throttle acceleration. Another trip back to the service center and they told me that I needed to have the ignition wires replaced at $250. I was livid. They said I didn't ask them to put the car on their diagnostic scanner since all I asked them to do was change the plugs. So, here I am bringing my rough running car to them and all they do is what I tell them to do? My sons and I agreed that with the stumbling only happening when the gas pedal is on the floor, we could live with it until the spring when I could change the wires for an out of pocket expense of $25.
Last fall the 1996 Camaro I bought for our sons to use started running as though it had a blown rod and the ominous SERVICE ENGINE SOON light was on. I took the car to the local chain auto parts store and a tech, trusty scanner in hand, was able to quickly diagnose that there was a misfire in cylinder six. Problem was that they couldn't tell me why cylinder six was misfiring. They recommended I change the coil pack and I did so - but $30 later the car still ran poorly. Somewhat crestfallen, I went back to the auto parts store for more "free trouble shooting". This time another "tech" questioned why the tech who told me to replace the coil pack had me do so because typically the first thing done with a misfire is to change the spark plug. At this point I'm getting a good idea why these well meaning young men are working in an auto parts store and not in a service center.
I found changing a spark plug on the Camaro to be a brutal, knuckle busting, time sucking process so I had a local, chain service center change all of them for me, not just cylinder six, to the tune of $200. It's a twenty year old car and they were the original plugs so...I thought it money well spent. Anyway, the car did run much better afterwards however, I did notice some bog and hesitation under wide open throttle acceleration. Another trip back to the service center and they told me that I needed to have the ignition wires replaced at $250. I was livid. They said I didn't ask them to put the car on their diagnostic scanner since all I asked them to do was change the plugs. So, here I am bringing my rough running car to them and all they do is what I tell them to do? My sons and I agreed that with the stumbling only happening when the gas pedal is on the floor, we could live with it until the spring when I could change the wires for an out of pocket expense of $25.
Things were fine up until about a month ago when the car started running poorly again. Another trip to the auto parts store for another free scan revealed a misfire this time in cylinder five. Must be the bad wires, right? This time the tech, a different kid by the way, told me that it could be a bad fuel injector. What the what? Lovely. When I told him about the service center saying it could be spark plug wires, he said change those first and if it continues to run poorly then it's most likely the fuel injector. That's an expensive project even if I do it myself not to mention difficult since this car is incredibly hard to work on. I limped back home and started working on changing the spark plug wires.
It took me probably three hours to swap the wire out for cylinder 5 but much to my delight, when I fired it up, not only did the engine run smoother, the SERVICE ENGINE light was off. Oh, life was good. That was until an aggressive road test. No sooner did I floor the gas that the SERVICE ENGINE light came back on and the car started to backfire. I was quite upset and limped home believing now that the kid was right about the fuel injector. Lovely.
As I began to do research on fuel injector replacement, it occurred to me that I was going with the recommendation of a twenty year old kid at an auto parts store. So, I took the car to another service center, my thought being that the other service center I went to was not manned by the sharpest tools in the shed, and asked them to scan the car and diagnose why the car was running so poorly. $100 later I got all the information I needed, it was a bad coil pack. They gave me an estimate of $194 to replace it and I somewhat politely turned down their offer since I knew that I could get a new coil pack for $30 and swap it in in 20 minutes. I did so and the car runs better than it has ever run since we've had it. Money.
Bottom line as always, you get what you pay for and also, more importantly, you get what you don't pay for.
It took me probably three hours to swap the wire out for cylinder 5 but much to my delight, when I fired it up, not only did the engine run smoother, the SERVICE ENGINE light was off. Oh, life was good. That was until an aggressive road test. No sooner did I floor the gas that the SERVICE ENGINE light came back on and the car started to backfire. I was quite upset and limped home believing now that the kid was right about the fuel injector. Lovely.
As I began to do research on fuel injector replacement, it occurred to me that I was going with the recommendation of a twenty year old kid at an auto parts store. So, I took the car to another service center, my thought being that the other service center I went to was not manned by the sharpest tools in the shed, and asked them to scan the car and diagnose why the car was running so poorly. $100 later I got all the information I needed, it was a bad coil pack. They gave me an estimate of $194 to replace it and I somewhat politely turned down their offer since I knew that I could get a new coil pack for $30 and swap it in in 20 minutes. I did so and the car runs better than it has ever run since we've had it. Money.
Bottom line as always, you get what you pay for and also, more importantly, you get what you don't pay for.
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