Need Help Finding Engine,Transmission

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Every time I read the title of this thread I want to tell you to look under the hood.
Sometimes I wish We had a forum game thread that takes thread titles at face value.
This thread is a good read!

Start one. Sounds fun.
 
Update on van. Flashing overdrive light and hard shifting that has given us a fit fro past year.
Seems like after changing all the vacuum lines, Differential rear end sensor $30,
right front wheel sensors $140, left front $140
high pressure speed block sensor $375'used'
Antilock brake module $175
Front and rear seals $30
Finally SEEMS like the root of the problem was Throttle Valve Sensor! $69.

Not countign the complete tune up fuel pump filters, plugs,wires,fuel pump. another $300.

$500 rotors,brake pads drums,shoes bearing seals etc. Code reader $275.

About rebuilt the whole thing. It seems the main problem was the Throttle body sensor and had to pull throttle body and all just to change that little piece of work. Dealer said it would cost $500 to change. A little help from neighbor and son on one of his visits. but it is good so far.


Thank you all for your help.
Now it runs like a new van.
 
About rebuilt the whole thing. It seems the main problem was the Throttle body sensor and had to pull throttle body and all just to change that little piece of work.

I understand. For the past year my truck had been acting like it wasn't getting fuel at 45mph. It almost felt like it was hunting gears but not quite. Dodge said I needed a new fuel pump, injector pump and injectors. $8000.
Last week I took it in to our local automotive electrical place to have my batteries tested and they noticed a broken cable coming from a battery. It was the cable to the fuel heater. They fixed it, for free and the problem stopped. Turns out the fuel was to to cool/thick to flow properly!
 
I understand. For the past year my truck had been acting like it wasn't getting fuel at 45mph. It almost felt like it was hunting gears but not quite. Dodge said I needed a new fuel pump, injector pump and injectors. $8000.
Last week I took it in to our local automotive electrical place to have my batteries tested and they noticed a broken cable coming from a battery. It was the cable to the fuel heater. They fixed it, for free and the problem stopped. Turns out the fuel was to to cool/thick to flow properly!

Sometimes people make mistakes that can really cost us so glad you got yours fixed for nothing. it is a deceitful world too so that doesn't help either.:thumbs:
 
Terri, I can appreciate your post.

Many years ago, I worked in an electronics repair shop. An item came in for repair that had a loose wire dangling just inside of the cover. It took all of 15 seconds to repair the thing. That was 100% of what was wrong. Most repairs in that shop took 1/2 an hour to an hour to fix and the prices generally ranged between $85 and $125 for a repair. Considering what I had just done, I asked my boss how to write up the invoice. He made me write it up for $125. It was an "electronic repair".

That never did sit well with me. And as it turned out, I did not work there much longer.

Some people will do little things without charging while others will charge big $$ for little things. I suppose I can see at least a part of either side of that. But I would rather be the person that gives away at least some little things. I happen to think it comes back to you later.
 
Terri, I can appreciate your post.

Many years ago, I worked in an electronics repair shop. An item came in for repair that had a loose wire dangling just inside of the cover. It took all of 15 seconds to repair the thing. That was 100% of what was wrong. Most repairs in that shop took 1/2 an hour to an hour to fix and the prices generally ranged between $85 and $125 for a repair. Considering what I had just done, I asked my boss how to write up the invoice. He made me write it up for $125. It was an "electronic repair".

That never did sit well with me. And as it turned out, I did not work there much longer.

Some people will do little things without charging while others will charge big $$ for little things. I suppose I can see at least a part of either side of that. But I would rather be the person that gives away at least some little things. I happen to think it comes back to you later.

This shop is awesome. The dad heard from somewhere that one of our kids was sick and he stopped me at the grocery store to ask how she was. Said if we needed anything to let him know. We've gone to them for things over the last 10+yrs , alternator/a.c. blower and such but that blew me away.
 
This shop is awesome. The dad heard from somewhere that one of our kids was sick and he stopped me at the grocery store to ask how she was. Said if we needed anything to let him know. We've gone to them for things over the last 10+yrs , alternator/a.c. blower and such but that blew me away.
Sometimes being a loyal customer goes a long way, too. Especially at a mom 'n' pop garage. I had an old SUV that the fuel pump crapped out on, 300 miles from home. NTB fixed it - for $1100. My regular mechanic at home would have done it for $650 and would have thrown in an honest look-over the whole vehicle for free, because my whole family went to him for years. Those kind of relationships are getting hard to find these days...
 
ITS BACK! :ghostly:Not bad yet but it is starting to act up.

We are thinking since the trans has worked so good including on a 800 mile round trip to Atlanta [ worst traffic in the nation ] last month plus a couple 100 miles around here it has to be in the wiring somewhere and not the trans itself.

They all looked for any loose or worn wire and didn't see any.
I'm trying not to be too aggrevated about it. :ghostly:

Reminds me of this song except nothing is stolen, plus I worked on line at GM too. After a couple months I looked like a female weight lifter and would not wear short sleeves, hid to my arms.:eek:

 
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I will have a go at this from where the thread has gone. I am a heavy duty mechanic with lot (decades) of experience
Electronic managed power trains can be a real pain to diagnose, yes the scanner will tell you what sensor is out of calibration, but unless you know or have run into the same or similar problem, it can be a bit of a crap shoot to find the cause of the problem. the only way to check a component is to test operation with a known good component, not a new one because new does not mean proven good. another problem is cost of parts swapping to find the failed part. and of course when you do find the culprit the result seems so simple. many problems trace back to simple tune up parts IE spark plugs, wires filter etc.
There are some rip off artist out there, but there are some really hard problems to solve too.
When a lot of things show up at my door, they have often already stumped several other people so I always ask for a dollar limit that the owner would like to go to. and I refuse to accept "well it isn't worth anything this way" as an answer. Some time the answer is way low, like 2hrs worth of labour, and others is 50 to 75 % of the cost of replacement of the unit (the devil you know is better than the devil you don't) And if the owner won't answer me I say I don't have time to work on it right now, I would rather clean my shop than work on someone's unit and have them decide that I overcharged or ripped them off.
 
I will add the how to test electrical circuits, cause I didn't read Meerkat's last post (the you tube link side tracked me)
First step is to clean the battery posts and clamps to bright metal, not just clean appearing, I really really mean bright metal the amount of time problems trace back to cleaned of corrosion, but not to bright metal is high. voltage spike set weird codes. next is check and clean engine to body ground wire connections, there will be several, there should be a body to battery ground too. In this particular case because of transmission glitches, the connections at the transmission should be inspected, if there is transmission fluid inside the connection it can confuse the computer by sending partial signal to other circuits. the best thing is to clean the connections with electrical cleaner and then pack them with di electric (non conductive) grease .
beyond that each circuit in the harness should be load tested with at least a 5 amp load, just 'cause a test light or continuity tester shows a circuit doesn't mean it won't fail under load.
if there is interest I will describe the load test system I use, it is very simple and inexpensive.
 
.... An item came in for repair that had a loose wire dangling just inside of the cover. It took all of 15 seconds to repair the thing. ... boss ...He made me write it up for $125. .

Yes and no. Sometimes it not so much the time it took but the experience that is expensive.

Main manufacturing machine broke down. Business Owner was loosing big money without the machine running. Maintenance couldn't find the problem. The machine's manufacture couldn't find the problem. Owner was in panic mode. Someone suggested that maybe Elmer could fix it. Elmer was a employee for forty years until he retired. Owner said he didn't care how much it cost get Elmer in here!

When Elmer arrived it took him 15 minutes looking the machine over and asking questions before Elmer took a piece of caulk from his pocket to put and "X" on a part. Replace this part and the machine will work Elmer said. They did and the machine started working. Owner is so happy and told Elmer to send him a bill.

When the Owner saw Elmer's bill for $1,000 he was mad. Tell Elmer I want an itemized bill!!!!!!!!

This is what Elmer sent back:

Chalk, $1
Knowing where to place the "X", $999
 

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