How many times in your life can you say “Problem solved”? I mean you say problem solved, after YOU fixed the problem. Not picking up the phone and calling someone to resolve the issue, or driving your vehicle down to the shop and waiting patiently until they call you. We like our lives problem free. Of course I think we all realize that when there are no problems you are probably not in a very challenging life. I mean there is nothing wrong with have a problem free life, but lets be honest any mechanical system like a car, truck, or SUV is going to break down eventually. Of course you can always throw money at the problem and purchase a new vehicle at the mere hint of an issue with your present day clunker.
Well I solved a problem yesterday. In an attempt to help increase the gas mileage on our station wagon I installed a high performance ignition system. What’s that? Well basically it just sends more voltage to the part of the engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture. The idea is that you get a bigger bang, which means more power but it also means a more complete burn of the air/fuel mixture. This means better emissions out the tail pipe since less of the fuel gets to the tailpipe!
When I installed this ignition kit, the engine ran really bad, un-drivable. I’ve been working with the company that makes the kit for the last couple of weeks. They have provided me with a complete 2nd kit in an attempt to help me find the issue. I was finally able to chance the problem down to a single wire, but using a new wire has the same results, a bad running engine. One of the “clues” to this issue was a CHECK ENGINE light that would come on. Using a scanning tool I was able to determine that it was one of two sensors, but article after article I read indicated it could be something else. Finally after checking out everything else I changed both of these two sensors and viola the problem was solved. It turned out to be a problem with a sensor that I had replaced maybe a year earlier, so of course it was the last one that I thought it would be.
Also this sensor was working well enough to allow the engine to run perfectly well with the stock ignition system, but faltered when the high performance ignition system components were put into place. I know I didn’t think this could be the answer and neither did the company who made the kit. In fact their primary product is the major component in the “timing” of the engine, and they didn’t think it could be this sensor either.
So after literally hours and hours of working on this issue it is solved. I can truly say “Problem Solved”, and it was me that fixed it. Of course like most things that is only partly true. I had the help of several people at the kit’s company. I e-mailed a complete stranger and in less than 24 hours he responded to my e-mail with a four page attachment with information on my specific vehicle! I also had the benefit of the Internet, so thank your Mister Al Gore. 😛
No one, well I don’t, like having problems. It is frustrating, it can be costly, and even very emotional. But through problems we learn. Sometimes we just learn what not to do, other times we learn more about the item we are working on. There are those times that we learn more about ourselves. Personally all that can just go to hell, I’m just glad the bitch of a SUV is running again. Now it better give me improved gas mileage or I just might set it on fire! lol