Car Mechanic Suggestions

[Durian Fiend]

You had me at donuts.  :-)  Where is Mikeʻs?

Mike's Auto in Pahoa - Mike misdiagnosed my car and it cost me $235.

 Terracore ~ I've heard from people - one of them that works for Mike, that he throws screaming fits and I don't want to subject myself to that.  But thanks for trying to help.

Lovely.  You could at least let him know via some sort of message delivery.  Apparently you don't want to share with us your car model, check engine codes or issues.   Good luck with the mechanic of your choice and please report back how it goes.

[sistersue]

You had me at donuts.  :-)  Where is Mikeʻs?

Mike's Auto in Pahoa - Mike misdiagnosed my car and it cost me $235.

 Terracore ~ I've heard from people - one of them that works for Mike, that he throws screaming fits and I don't want to subject myself to that.  But thanks for trying to help.

Lovely.  You could at least let him know via some sort of message delivery.  Apparently you don't want to share with us your car model, check engine codes or issues.   Good luck with the mechanic of your choice and please report back how it goes.

As I said earlier, it has all the symptoms of a clogged cat converter.  Once in a while, a "rotten egg" smell, which I assumed was the volcano (same smell) and a "choking" or "surging" of the engine when accelerating.  The check engine light is not on.  It's a Dodge Neon, 2005, 98,000 miles and has been a faithful and good car for the 12 years I've owned it. I'm taking it to Wally's to see if he can figure it out.

[Rob Tucker]

I had a converter removed and replaced with at straight pipe at Aloha Muffler in Hilo. $200.

[terracore]

"As I said earlier, it has all the symptoms of a clogged cat converter. Once in a while, a "rotten egg" smell, which I assumed was the volcano (same smell) and a "choking" or "surging" of the engine when accelerating. The check engine light is not on. It's a Dodge Neon, 2005, 98,000 miles and has been a faithful and good car for the 12 years I've owned it. I'm taking it to Wally's to see if he can figure it out."

Those can also be symptoms of a clogged fuel filter or a problem with the fuel pressure regulator. Including the rotten egg smell. It would be unusual to have a bad cat that doesn't set off the O2 sensors and make the genie in the engine light glow.

Good idea taking it to Wally's. I've never been there but heard good things about him. I hope it goes well and you can report back what happened so the rest of us can learn something.

[Chas]

I had a converter removed and replaced with at straight pipe at Aloha Muffler in Hilo.  $200.

I'll second the recommendation of Aloha. Not sure if that's what you need in this case, but I've gotten 2 mufflers from him and he's great.

[sistersue]

I had a converter removed and replaced with at straight pipe at Aloha Muffler in Hilo.  $200.

I'll second the recommendation of Aloha. Not sure if that's what you need in this case, but I've gotten 2 mufflers from him and he's great.

Thanks for all the information.  Maybe there's hope for this car after all.  I feel so much better after the comments about Wally and Aloha Muffler.  I'll let you all know what happens.  Mahalo again.

[Obie]

If you want to do a quick check yourself, the 2000 Neon is easy to do.If the converter is clogged, it would set a code because it has an O2 sensor before and after the converter.
I would suspect clogged injectors.

https://www.allpar.com/threads/chrysler-...st.229592/

I would volunteer to read out the codes with my OBD scan tool but it's buried under 85 ft of lava in Kapoho.

[terracore]

Anything with the emissions system would generate a code that would turn on the check engine light. I think it's actually an EPA requirement. OBD scanners are cheap now (I think mine was about $12), but any good auto parts store will do a free scan and even clear the codes.

As for the $200 Aloha muffler charges, that is probably a fair rate, but Curlees did mine for under $100, though that was a few years ago. I kept the bad cat they removed and sold it on eBay and the net cost was basically free. Cat theft wasn't a huge thing back then and there weren't any "local cash buyers" like have proliferated everywhere these days.

[sistersue]

You had me at donuts.  :-)  Where is Mikeʻs?

Mike's Auto in Pahoa - Mike misdiagnosed my car and it cost me $235.

 Terracore ~ I've heard from people - one of them that works for Mike, that he throws screaming fits and I don't want to subject myself to that.  But thanks for trying to help.

Lovely.  You could at least let him know via some sort of message delivery.  Apparently you don't want to share with us your car model, check engine codes or issues.   Good luck with the mechanic of your choice and please report back how it goes.

Hi again ~ I'm reporting back how it went with my car.  I'm pretty worried because I think I still need a good mechanic for myself and my daughter and granddaughters also.  There are several cars in my family and we all relied on Joe Pereira for 30 years, and we sure do miss him, as a good friend and as our mechanic.
As I said earlier, Mike told me my transmission is going out so I took the car to Transmission Technology and paid $235 just to be told my transmission is okay - the problem is in the engine. So I went back to Wally and he put in a new camshaft position sensor and I've been driving for two days and my car has finally stopped surging and choking.  I'm now not afraid to drive to Hilo, and am happy with the way the car is acting.  BUT the problem is now that Wally just installed a camshaft position sensor a year ago. He charged me $177. this time and about the same a year ago. I mentioned this to him and he said he didn't remember. Any ideas on what I should do? Thanks again for all your help.

[terracore]

I had a car where the camshaft position sensor went out annually. Fortunately, the repair took less than 5 minutes and required only an allen wrench and a new sensor. The sensor itself was only a few dollars. They come in two versions, either a 1-year warranty or a 3-year warranty.

The first time it happened I took it to Curlees. It's the reason I bought a scanner because the computer was throwing "bad camshaft sensor" code and had I known that it would have saved me a lot of money.

My current car is periodically popping up with a "ENGINE HOT A/C OFF" error on the dash. Of course it's initially noticed because the A/C stops working, and it gives the driver a sense of panic that the engine is overheating. The error also disables the temperature gauge on the dash and turns the engine cooling fans on high. But when I scanned the code, it actually came up with a code that the engine was TOO COLD. But once the error comes up the A/C and temp gauge is disabled permanently until the code is erased. So I can either wait for summer when the code will stop popping up, or replace the thermostat that is stuck in the open position. I'll replace the thermostat eventually. Until then I'm resetting the code periodically when the A/C stops working. I have a lot of priorities competing for my time right now.

Code scanners are cheap, and worth every penny. Especially when the car's dash readout is lying.