My Monte died today.
 

Today I got my 2004 MC Dale Jr car back from getting the intake gaskets replaced. I picked the car up from the shop and it was running great. I stopped at my house to do a few things. I then left to go to my fiancee's house and about three miles outside of the town I live in the car died while going down the road. It died like you turned the key off.

I tried starting it and it would act like it was going to start and then it wouldn't. The fuel pump is coming on and I have good pressure at the schrader valve. I had the car towed to the shop that did the intake repair and he will look at it tomorrow.

When I got the car back to his shop, he was able to get the car to run if he gave it gas as he was turning the key but it was running rough like it was cutting out and when he let off of the gas the car would die. He checked all of the electrical and fuel connections and they all appeared tight.

There was no check engine light when all of this was happening but before I picked up the car, the check engine light had come on when the car was coming back from the suspension shop and it threw a Map sensor code. The mechanic checked the connections and cleared the code and it didn't come back on.

So, what do you guys think is going on.? I had no problems before the repair so I assume its related to the repair somehow. What else should I be looking at? I'm hoping the mechanic will figure it out so we shall see.

Thanks for any input.

Wayne

Could he have missed a ground or something. Ive had that problem before with a few different vehicles. I could get it to start but it was very hard to and when it ran, it wouldnt run worth a damn. I say check all your grounds and connections again and make sure he didnt miss something.

I don't know anything about the gas factor of the problem but a rough idle could be the EGR valve. This sucks man even if it is something from the other work the shop did it might be hard to prove.

Yea its hard to tell whether or not a shop fixed one thing and broke another. All you can do is try a shop and hope for the best.

Idk if it makes any difference but some shops have ase certification.

Sounds like the timing is off, but the timing is controlled by the computer on these cars.

could be just a giant vacumn leak, maybe he missed something when putting it back together

I don't know. I've used this guy quite a few times over the years and he has done the intake gasket on my 98 chevy truck as well as a few other people's that I have sent to him. He is going to go over everything today and see what he can find. The car was running great and then just suddenly died with no warning. No running rough or sputtering. It was like I turned the key off. Wish me luck because I cannot afford to spend anymore money on this thing at the moment.

Wayne

Good luck. I hope it gets fixed, and for your sake, I hope it IS the mechanics fault so you don't have to pay. It is pretty weird that it just started happening after the repair. But there is also always the chance that its that MAP sensor acting up again.?

You win the prize. Unfortunately He replaced the MAF sensor before the unhooked vacuum line was discovered. He replaced the sensor yesterday with a reman one from Autozone. I don't like reman stuff, especially sensors, so I told him I wanted a GM one. He got one for it, installed it, and sold it to me at cost with no charge for labor.

Today I go to pick the car up and when I start it, its running kind of rough but then it smoothes out. I go to drive it and it initially acts like its going to die. I drive it down the road and go to turn at a light and the car dies. I get it started and take it back to the shop and tell him what happened.

He hooks his scanner up to it and its showing a MAF sensor code even thought the CEL is not on. While he is looking things over, some guy who is there with him(I don't know if its a helper or a customer but as far as I know he works alone) hears what he thinks is a vacuum leak. The mechanic moves his hand around where the sound is and I see that a vacuum line that goes over the top of the back valve cover is disconnected. He hooks the line back up and the code clears up on his scanner. We go test drive the car with the scanner and everything shows normal. I drove it 40 miles back home with no problems.

I can tell he is kind of embaressed about the whole thing and he told me he would put the old MAF sensor back in and Would try to take the new sensor back but didn't know if the dealer would take it back since its been installed.

I ended up making a deal with him. I kept the new sensor and he is going to cut me a deal on the next repair that he does for me. I've read that these engines have problems with the MAF sensors going out and I figure my original one was on borrowed time with 90,000 miles on it. It was an almost $300 dollar mistake on his part but he has done me good on repairs in the past so I decided to give him another chance.

I know that some people would say that I should stick him with the new part and not go back to him but he has been the most honest mechanic I've been to around here and I've recommened him to a lot of people in the past and they have been extremly happy with him. I am a little upset that I probably spent almost $300 for no reason but its not the end of the world.

Wayne

Sounds like a minor mistake that just had larger problems associated with it. S*it happens to even the best of us. I see where you are coming from, I probably would not hold that against him either, at least he was honest about the whole thing. Now I probably would have made him eat the $300 sensor. However I guess if he gives you one hell of a deal next time, it will pay off eventually. Just make sure he gives you a deal ;) Glad its fixed up!