Idiot Fkn Mechanics

[gt-ahhh!]

so today i decided to play mechanic and troubleshoot a few idling, low rpm cruising problems ive been having. started by cleaning the afm. no worries there, though it was a waste of time since its only 10000km old. and then i thought id check for vac leaks.

ive been convinced there has been one for a while now. im adamant the car is not as responsive or powerful as it should be, given the state of modification.

so i blocked up the snorkel pipe with a can of beetroots lol and whacked an airgun on one of the manifold hoses. firstly, air came whoosing out everywhere from the u-shaped black pcv hose. turns out its split on the base about 2cm along. went down the st and got some hose, replaced that.

then fed some air in again, heard a hissing coming from near the throttle body this time. had a look, found a strange hose coming out the base of the throttle body. i traced it across the engine bay to the charcoal cannister. i dont know much about them, but i figured its connected to the intake, so ill blast some air down it and see if its leaking at the cannister.

this resulted in very loud hissing from the back of engine bay. obviously it was going to be very difficult to find/fix this. after some time i realised it was actually coming from under the car wtf! jacked it up, and lo and behold, there is a nice big hose wide open near the cat, and going nowhere!!

seems the idiot caryard thought it would be a good idea to plumb the charcoal cannister into the atmosphere, which to my understanding, means the engine is sucking air from under the car while on vacuum, and blasting air out the same place when on boost. so basically my car has been nowhere near optimal performance since ive had it.

i decided fk it, just block the charcoal cannister off. and retest the system for leaks. apparently it reached pressure rather quickly this time, and blew the snorkel off the turbo! great, probably the hardest hose to get to on the whole car. had to take off two other hoses, and it was still a bitch to get to. then when i was putting it back together, i lightly twisted a boost controller hose, which was apparently enough for it to fall apart in my hands! now i have to wait until tomorrow to buy some hose to replace that!

WHO'D BE A MECHANIC?!

[Basti]

lol <--- sympathetic laugh

[gt-ahhh!]

i was expecting a few of those.

[cuppas]

haha

good luck on getting all that fixed

one thing though, you might need your charcoal canister if you plan on keeping your car legal

[Kinks]

Yep some of them are just plain lazy.

Had my 100k service done, the next day the fan belt starts squealing on cold start. No biggie, new belts always stretch. take it back.. "it's the power steering belt give me 10 mins mate no dramas see you later"

next day it squeals again. go back, they tighten it more and say it's at the end of the adjustment range if it squeals again we'll order a smaller belt (wtf?). i ask if it could be the alternator belt but he insists it's the power steering. drive home.

greeted by a small puddle of oil under my car in the morning. book it in again. car comes back "we THINK it's the cam seals, replaced them for you no charge". engine continues to drip oil for 3 days then it stops.

belt squeal comes back. book it in again, they change the power steering belt. next morning it squeals again.

meanwhile the car has also been using water, i have topped up the overflow reservoir about 4 times since the service.

decide to DIY rather than lose another day of having the car at the mech's. it's a new belt so maybe it stretched. tighten the P/S belt with no effect. next day, time to prove it's not the P/S belt. remove P/S belt and start engine - big squeal. kinda hard for a belt to squeal when it's sitting on my bench!

tighten the alternator belt, refit P/S belt with less tension than before (i wound it up pretty tight) and no squeal issues. f***kign hopeless mechanic dropkick idiots!!

car has also stopped using water, at least there is nothing major wrong the lazy f**ks just didn't bother to bleed the system when they did the 100k service, so they gave it back to me with about 2 litres of air in the system. great.

never ever ever use those cockwads again. and if they haven't done the 100k service properly and my timing belt lets go I'm sending them a bill. seriously if you can't even tell which belt is squealing you should be flipping burgers at mcdonalds.

[gt-ahhh!]

hhahaha thats effed.

when i had my engine replaced, along with the turbz, the dickheads didnt even set the wastegate actuator. so basically it was wide open all the time and wouldnt make boost until about 5500rpm lol.

took me months to figure that shit out.

oh and then they installed the ebc wrong, so needless to say i dont go there anymore.

[Jet 20]

It's very hard to find good help these days.

They all talk the talk, but fck it up when they are doing the job.

Thats why i do everything myself now.

[W0rp3D]

It's very hard to find good help these days.

They all talk the talk, but fck it up when they are doing the job.

Thats why i do everything myself now.

I try to do everything my self, recently spent $500 on parts trying to fix a problem, ended up having to take it to a mechanic, another $500 later and its fixed with a power fc tune, if you have a good mechanic sometimes its cheaper to just give to them.

[Jet 20]

yeah true, but it's very hard to find a good mechanic.

that wont rip your ass off in the performance game.

i got done big time and it wont happen again.

[Jet 20]

i do my own tuning now also, until i do a big turbo + fuel system upgrade any how, then i'l get it tuned on the dyno again.

[gt-ahhh!]

yeah true, but it's very hard to find a good mechanic.

i love having a profec b boost controller. you clear it before you hand over the keys, and then when you pick the car up you can quickly see if they gave it some stick when they took it around the block. i caught a tyre bloke who obviously couldnt resist the urge to wind it out, but wasnt quite annoyed enough to get up them.

my local mechanic who just does my servicing etc, seems pretty good. he only got up to 3psi. maybe because i work on the next corner... but you can hear my car in the next suburb.

lol

im going to give jem (ingleburn) a go next time. they seem very professional.

[cabbie_bro]

I always have worked on my own cars, the only time one of my cars have ever gone to a mechanics/panel beaters is when i had a N14 pulsar and a nipple on the throttle body had a minor crack so i took it to where my mate worked and they welded on a new nipple for me and thats about it.

Other than that it is me or sometimes i get a mate to help me out if i am stumped or need a extra pair of hands.

[cuppas]

Yep some of them are just plain lazy.

Had my 100k service done, the next day the fan belt starts squealing on cold start. No biggie, new belts always stretch. take it back.. "it's the power steering belt give me 10 mins mate no dramas see you later"

next day it squeals again. go back, they tighten it more and say it's at the end of the adjustment range if it squeals again we'll order a smaller belt (wtf?). i ask if it could be the alternator belt but he insists it's the power steering. drive home.

greeted by a small puddle of oil under my car in the morning. book it in again. car comes back "we THINK it's the cam seals, replaced them for you no charge". engine continues to drip oil for 3 days then it stops.

belt squeal comes back. book it in again, they change the power steering belt. next morning it squeals again.

meanwhile the car has also been using water, i have topped up the overflow reservoir about 4 times since the service.

decide to DIY rather than lose another day of having the car at the mech's. it's a new belt so maybe it stretched. tighten the P/S belt with no effect. next day, time to prove it's not the P/S belt. remove P/S belt and start engine - big squeal. kinda hard for a belt to squeal when it's sitting on my bench!

tighten the alternator belt, refit P/S belt with less tension than before (i wound it up pretty tight) and no squeal issues. f***kign hopeless mechanic dropkick idiots!!

car has also stopped using water, at least there is nothing major wrong the lazy f**ks just didn't bother to bleed the system when they did the 100k service, so they gave it back to me with about 2 litres of air in the system. great.

never ever ever use those cockwads again. and if they haven't done the 100k service properly and my timing belt lets go I'm sending them a bill. seriously if you can't even tell which belt is squealing you should be flipping burgers at mcdonalds.

local garage?

[Kinks]

yeah fairly local. I feel bad bagging them because I can't fault their customer service - they were always very friendly - but I don't go to a mechanics to make friends, I go there to get my car serviced.

[Jet 20]

but I don't go to a mechanics to make friends, I go there to get my car serviced.

So true. no friends in business

[BAMR33]

seems the idiot caryard thought it would be a good idea to plumb the charcoal cannister into the atmosphere

They're all plumbed to atmosphere in the same spot, it's to prevent the discharge of fuel vapour under the bonnet, which would be a bit of a fire hazard. Heaps of people people block them off, doesn't really make a difference one way or the the other. The amount of air bleeding out of that small tube would be minimal.

[gt-ahhh!]

They're all plumbed to atmosphere in the same spot, it's to prevent the discharge of fuel vapour under the bonnet, which would be a bit of a fire hazard. Heaps of people people block them off, doesn't really make a difference one way or the the other. The amount of air bleeding out of that small tube would be minimal.

i disagree. im not entirely sure where its supposed to go, though i have heard something about it going to the fuel tank? you are possibly correct about that, though in theory its the same as having a hole in your plenum. but small amount of air....

when i boosted the intake system up with a compressor the air was flying out of that "small tube". it was VERY loud, and drained the system (inc. a/m fmic) of air in approx. 10 seconds. that to me seems like a considerable loss of air which the engine/turbo has to overcome. not to mention that the air has passed the afm (while on boost), but isnt making it to combustion.

Edited January 29, 2009 by gt-ahhh!

[Godzilla32]

Not many ppl understand the concept of the charcoal cannister. Connected correctly there will be a pipe coming from the fuel tank to carry fuel vapour to the top of the canister. It will also have a hose or opening on the BOTTOM of it to SUCK IN fresh air to flush the fuel tank vapours out the top into the intake manifold. It will only operate at certain manifold pressure. A diaphram is fitted to the outlet to control this via the manifold vacuum.

A hose right under the car (not connected to the canister directly) will most likely meant to be connected to something though. Perhaps get a foto and we can help locate what goes where

Deren

PS: Another way to check for vacuum leaks is to use something like aero start or carby cleaner. Spray it around all joins and suspicious areas and listen for an increase in engine RPM. An increase means you have a leak there.

Edited January 29, 2009 by Godzilla32

[Guest 40th-edition]

nice to hear there are plenty of guys out there doing there own work. i do it all day avary day and tell people all the time just have a go its easy well some of it.

anyones got probs they can come to me im not dodgy and do all the jobs like they are my own cars. its cool though dont need any work flat out as is.

[gt-ahhh!]

PS: Another way to check for vacuum leaks is to use something like aero start or carby cleaner. Spray it around all joins and suspicious areas and listen for an increase in engine RPM. An increase means you have a leak there.

well since i am in fact checking for BOOST leaks by compressing the system, it is well possible that the open hose of which i speak does not operate on vacuum. very interesting.

i tried the carby cleaner with the engine running and didnt find anything. but as soon as i compressed the system i found leaks instantly, it was much easier i thought. and has the benefit of testing the hoses/clamps under say 20psi, so you know they will hold on the road. each to his own.

thanks for your explanation of the charcoal cannister. mines blocked off now though lol.