Beware the shysters!

[Randy Dupree]

I read several other forums depending on my projects at the time.
Lately i have been chasing an intermittent miss in my van.
It comes and goes and it seems to happen after the van sits idling with the air on.
We have air conditioned dogs!

anyway,reading automotive forums and watching youtubes about my issues has been interesting.

It seems like lots of shops out there are real shysters,they promise you the moon and tell you how good they are and what experts they are and they get a big deposit and you leave your car/truck/bus/boat/lawn mower etc to be fixed and it never gets done.
So a year later you are mad and go get your vehicle and its not done,it may be disasembled,parts may be missing and your deposit money is long gone.

Now what?
Now you have to find a reputable shop and give them more money to fix what the other shysters screwed up.

So listen up,if you need work on your vehicles you need to check and make sure the shop can do what they say,in a timely manner and not rip you off.

Lots of those shops advertise on FB or other places where theres no real way to check on them (so i hear).

But if its your bird needing work you can check here to see if the shop is a known good shop.

Verify!!

[Trees]

Did you get your van problem resolved Randy? We just went through a similar situation with our ‘04 Chevy 1 ton Roadtrek. Mechanic changed and checked and analyzed. Finally I told him to check fuel injector connections, sure enough a bad connector or broken wire. Oh well , it needed new plugs and wires anyway, LOL.

[Randy Dupree]

Originally Posted by Trees

Did you get your van problem resolved Randy? We just went through a similar situation with our ‘04 Chevy 1 ton Roadtrek. Mechanic changed and checked and analyzed. Finally I told him to check fuel injector connections, sure enough a bad connector or broken wire. Oh well , it needed new plugs and wires anyway, LOL.

I hope i have it figured out.
I talked to Bad Andy and i watched Pine Hollow on youtube and some other youtubers,my local guy has a good scanner and hes scanned it and we talked about it.
I think i have it in hand,i feel much better about what i'm dealing with now.

But let me say this,i don't know anything about newer cars and how they work,but seeing the wiring diagrams on some of the youtubes has helped me understand the basics,how the injectors and coils are fired.
I'm driving the van to the beach today,that should be a good test.

[Tallybird]

Good luck hope you have it fixed. If it acts up see if your local guy has a tech 2 or similar. You can watch the injectors live under load and mess with the timing. If your van is 2013 or older I have a tech 2.and you are so far away!:-) our 2022’s are still on an extended warranty. When it expires I’ll buy the newer tech 2. Handy little bugger for us old guys if you’re a gm fan. The gm diesels def systems are ****. I really don’t want to delete so I just use the tech 2 and it runs well FWIW
Forgot to add. Yup social media has so many participants it is fertile ground for nefarious behavior. Kinda like living in a big city these days. Totally agree.

[Randy Dupree]

Originally Posted by Randy Dupree

I hope i have it figured out.
I talked to Bad Andy and i watched Pine Hollow on youtube and some other youtubers,my local guy has a good scanner and hes scanned it and we talked about it.
I think i have it in hand,i feel much better about what i'm dealing with now.

But let me say this,i don't know anything about newer cars and how they work,but seeing the wiring diagrams on some of the youtubes has helped me understand the basics,how the injectors and coils are fired.
I'm driving the van to the beach today,that should be a good test.

Nope,its still missing at about 1300RPM,1400 RPM.

[Randy Dupree]

Originally Posted by Tallybird

Good luck hope you have it fixed. If it acts up see if your local guy has a tech 2 or similar. You can watch the injectors live under load and mess with the timing. If your van is 2013 or older I have a tech 2.and you are so far away!:-) our 2022’s are still on an extended warranty. When it expires I’ll buy the newer tech 2. Handy little bugger for us old guys if you’re a gm fan. The gm diesels def systems are ****. I really don’t want to delete so I just use the tech 2 and it runs well FWIW
Forgot to add. Yup social media has so many participants it is fertile ground for nefarious behavior. Kinda like living in a big city these days. Totally agree.

Its a 2019 3500 express van.

[tqwrench]

Originally Posted by Randy Dupree

Nope,its still missing at about 1300RPM,1400 RPM.

Typically breaking up at that RPM means it's under a load, climbing through the gears, historically secondary ignition, combustion pressure is high, spark has to fight it's way through. Has it been tuned up and define that? Older Ford 4.6/5.4 usually need CoPs (coil-on-plug) when it is tune-up time. Fuel is a possibility, but that's usually hard start, longer than usual crank time, or breaking up on the big end, while giving it all the juice. Vacuum leak is also a thing, anything beyond the MAF will tell the MAF less air than actual, driving system lean, lean break up, sometimes chuggle. Inspect hoses going from MAF to throttle body, check for intake/vacuum leaks. Can of throttle body spray handy here. Then you get into the off-the-wall stuff like electronic controls. Had a brand new Navigator breaking up at cruise once, turned out to be the CKP harness internally shorted to the shielding wire. Save that kind of stuff for later.

[Randy Dupree]

Originally Posted by tqwrench

Typically breaking up at that RPM means it's under a load, climbing through the gears, historically secondary ignition, combustion pressure is high, spark has to fight it's way through. Has it been tuned up and define that? Older Ford 4.6/5.4 usually need CoPs (coil-on-plug) when it is tune-up time. Fuel is a possibility, but that's usually hard start, longer than usual crank time, or breaking up on the big end, while giving it all the juice. Vacuum leak is also a thing, anything beyond the MAF will tell the MAF less air than actual, driving system lean, lean break up, sometimes chuggle. Inspect hoses going from MAF to throttle body, check for intake/vacuum leaks. Can of throttle body spray handy here. Then you get into the off-the-wall stuff like electronic controls. Had a brand new Navigator breaking up at cruise once, turned out to be the CKP harness internally shorted to the shielding wire. Save that kind of stuff for later.

ohh yeah,i shot parts at this thing for far too long.
But heres my wake up call.
Yes,coil on plug.
And yes,the scanner shows the misfires on 1-3-5-7.
One bank,one side of the engine.

so heres how the power gets to the coils and the injectors,well,not power but ground.
20amp fuse in the fuse block,which feeds 4 wires coming out of the block and those 4 wires feed the coils and injectors.
the ecm then supplies grounds to those items to make them fire/squirt on time.

My thinking is the fuse block has a bad solder joint or broken wire between the fuse and the coils/injectors.

It seems like this is a fairly common problem with the GM fuse blocks.
Some guys on you tube take the block apart and fix the solder joint or broken wire.
Thats going to be tomorrows project.

That fuse block is under the master cylinder,which is further complicated by having the M&G brake between the master and the booster.
The air filter has to come off and i think the master will come off and be tied out of the way.
Just getting the cover off and back on with all that in place is a PITA.

Lucky the wiring harness plugs into the bottom of the block and is held on with 3-4 bolts,that are on top by the fuses.

since all 4 coils on that side are affected i suspect the power feed,so i will break out the bandaids and get to work on it at the crack of noon tomorrow.

[Randy Dupree]

Ohh,and no check engine light,ever.

[tqwrench]

Originally Posted by Randy Dupree

ohh yeah,i shot parts at this thing for far too long.
But heres my wake up call.
Yes,coil on plug.
And yes,the scanner shows the misfires on 1-3-5-7.
One bank,one side of the engine.

so heres how the power gets to the coils and the injectors,well,not power but ground.
20amp fuse in the fuse block,which feeds 4 wires coming out of the block and those 4 wires feed the coils and injectors.
the ecm then supplies grounds to those items to make them fire/squirt on time.

My thinking is the fuse block has a bad solder joint or broken wire between the fuse and the coils/injectors.

It seems like this is a fairly common problem with the GM fuse blocks.
Some guys on you tube take the block apart and fix the solder joint or broken wire.
Thats going to be tomorrows project.

That fuse block is under the master cylinder,which is further complicated by having the M&G brake between the master and the booster.
The air filter has to come off and i think the master will come off and be tied out of the way.
Just getting the cover off and back on with all that in place is a PITA.

Lucky the wiring harness plugs into the bottom of the block and is held on with 3-4 bolts,that are on top by the fuses.

since all 4 coils on that side are affected i suspect the power feed,so i will break out the bandaids and get to work on it at the crack of noon tomorrow.

Sounds like you're on to something there. Board in that box might be made of something tasty. Have a can of raid handy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpiNsVgVH5Y