for a 99 crown victoria lx that is overheating. computer at advanced auto said the air flow controller was busted

6/3/2007 5:20:41 PM

get a temp switch and relay kit and bypass all that crap <$60

6/3/2007 7:28:56 PM

wtf is an air flow controller?

6/3/2007 8:25:24 PM

the little board that controls the fan speed, but i seriously doubt a parts jockey is gonna be able to correctly diagnose that

6/3/2007 8:47:16 PM

you sure they didn't say air flow meter? (meaning mass air flow sensor - get it from a junkyard)

6/4/2007 3:21:39 AM

..... because they often cause over heating.

6/4/2007 8:10:50 AM

lol, really...

6/4/2007 3:23:57 PM

just stick a few window fans on the front grill and wire them up using a power inverter... lol

6/4/2007 4:51:17 PM

lol

i really have no idea why it's overheating, but he hooked it up to the computer and that's what came up. ti's a little black box on the air intake system. which is weird because i didn't think air intake dealt with cooling, i thought it simply dealt with combustion

6/6/2007 12:34:11 AM

lol almost certain he meant it's the air flow meter.. as in the sensor that tells the engine how much air is coming in so it can know how much fuel to inject. if it's running lean as shit it could maybe possibly make it over heat but it's a long shot if it's doing it at idle

edit: now that i re-read, it's def that sensor. usually when it's unplugged completely it (computer) will use some default values based on other factors and should run decently.. def shouldn't be overheating though solely because of that if it's still doing it with the sensor unplugged and you arent driving the shit out of it.

[Edited on June 6, 2007 at 1:54 AM. Reason : asdf]

[Edited on June 6, 2007 at 2:14 AM. Reason : n]

6/6/2007 1:52:18 AM

Quote :

"wtf is an air flow controller?"

ive never seen that shit before. never herd of it

6/7/2007 4:18:31 PM

it's called a mass air flow controller/sensor

it sits between the air intake (where the filter is) and the engine block and i guess regulates how much air flow gets into the engine for combustion

6/7/2007 7:10:42 PM

Quote :

"it's called a mass air flow controller/sensor"

Mass Air Flow sensor
Or
MAF
Not controler. and will not case over heating. not on a ford anyway

6/8/2007 2:22:38 AM

so i replaced the thermostat. and i replaced the maf.

car still registers as overheating, plus the gas is weird now, when i start to accelerate it sounds like the engine is about to die, jerking forward and such. i go back to advanced auto and they hook it up to the computer again. this time instead of 1 code coming up, they get 3. the guy says all 3 have to deal with the maf and that they probably shipped me a bad part. headin back today to pick up the new part that will supposedly fix it

6/13/2007 11:38:26 AM

you didnt need one to start with, and what are the codes

your overheating can be a lot of issues, does it do it on the highway or just at low speeds?

6/13/2007 12:26:32 PM

have you tried running with it unplugged? it'll go to speed density mode and use other stuff to figure out how much fuel to inject. Not the best long term solution but interested to see the results

6/13/2007 2:44:58 PM

what are the code numbers

6/13/2007 2:48:35 PM

guys at advanced didn't tell me the numbers

today i got the new maf installed. drove it for 15 miles. then the temp light came on and check engine light came on and the car started overheating. i let it sit for an hour. drained a gallon of coolant out. ran it parked for about 15 min with no problems. drove through campus and around back to advanced auto (4.5 miles). had them check it again, and again it was maf signal. talked to a 3rd guy now who said that it's time to get a garage to diagnose it. also told me that the the maf system and overheating are completely unrelated.

6/13/2007 7:22:18 PM

so he told you what has already been said here like 3 times... awesome.

6/13/2007 7:34:05 PM

^^ did you refill it before you ran it again?

6/13/2007 7:35:04 PM

nah, i think i had actually overfilled it, that's why i drained some out and just let it run. what i really need to do is flush it but i don't want to deal with that until the rest of the bs is fixed, or at least i'm told exactly what is wrong

6/13/2007 7:48:07 PM

what you need to do is quit messing with it and let someone who knows what they're doing fix it before you screw something major up (if you haven't already). you're well on your way by doing something like draining a gallon of coolant out.

you've made it pretty clear you don't really know what you're doing. don't ruin your car to save a few bucks.

6/13/2007 7:56:34 PM

you know the coolant tank will tell you if you have overfilled it

plus the owners manual has quantity information in it

6/13/2007 8:02:59 PM

actually the owner's manual is garbage, and in any event, draining a gallon out of the overfill tank won't hurt the system considering it's the overfill tank.

and durrrr, it's quite obvious i don't know what i'm doing, hence going to advanced auto and having them tell me what is wrong. the things they told me were wrong were do-it-yourself jobs. a thermostat takes 30 seconds to replace. so does an MAF. and it's more than saving a "few" bucks considering ford's diagnostics alone cost 98 dollars. that is simply for them to say "ah here's your problem"

6/13/2007 8:17:02 PM

Quote :

"it's more than saving a "few" bucks considering ford's diagnostics alone cost 98 dollars."

you've payed for and taken the time to install two parts, and your problem remains. are you really saving that much? also, there are other shops that do diagnostics besides ford. you probably won't find one to do it for much less than $70-80 though, most charge you for an hour up front.

if you screw something up by continueing to drive it around with a problem and overheating, you're really not going to be saving any money.

Quote :

"draining a gallon out of the overfill tank won't hurt the system considering it's the overfill tank. "

oh, okay.

Quote :

"it's quite obvious i don't know what i'm doing, hence going to advanced auto and having them tell me what is wrong."

so not only do you not know what you're doing, you take it to a bunch of other idiots that don't know what they're doing either? come on.

i mean, have you even verified that it's actually overheating?

i'm not trying to be an ass, i've just been watching this thread and it's become obvious you need to seek professional help.




[Edited on June 13, 2007 at 8:37 PM. Reason : .]

6/13/2007 8:34:59 PM

Quote :

"if you screw something up by continueing to drive it around with a problem and overheating, you're really not going to be saving any money."

the only driving i've done in it is after replacing a part to test it out. SOP i'd say

Quote :

"so not only do you not know what you're doing, you take it to a bunch of other idiots that don't know what they're doing either? come on."

excuse me for expecting advanced AUTO parts to be able to tell me what PARTS to put in an AUTOmobile

Quote :

"i'm not trying to be an ass, i've just been watching this thread and it's become obvious you need to seek professional help."

understandable but quite obvious to me as well

[Edited on June 13, 2007 at 9:04 PM. Reason : jank]

6/13/2007 9:03:56 PM

Quote :

"excuse me for expecting advanced AUTO parts to be able to tell me what PARTS to put in an AUTOmobile"

their job is to sell you parts, not diagnose your problem, so you bought parts, it didnt fix the problem, sounds like you lost

Quote :

"and in any event, draining a gallon out of the overfill tank won't hurt the system considering it's the overfill tank."

and you dont have an overflow tank, its a closed system, the purpose of the pressurized tank is to purge air from the system, and to store a slight reserve and contain expansion it sounds like you have made the problem much worse by airlocking the system by not following proper procedures and not diagnosing the original problem

it could be any number of things, the fan not coming on, obviously air in the system now, a bad thermostat, a bad sensor, a restriction in the system, or even a blown head gasket

I was going to offer some help, but after you finished flaming Ivan, who knows a shitload more about cars than you could ever hope to, and making a complete idiot out of yourself, you deserved to get assraped by a mechanic. Hell I'm even gonna recommend you take it to the dealership.

6/13/2007 9:13:48 PM

Quote :

"their job is to sell you parts, not diagnose your problem, so you bought parts, it didnt fix the problem, sounds like you lost"

guess they wasted a shitload of money on portable computers to hook up to a car to DIAGNOSE the problem

and i wasn't flaming the dude intentionally

[Edited on June 13, 2007 at 9:27 PM. Reason : asfd]

6/13/2007 9:26:34 PM

computers dont diagnose problems, it doesnt tell you what fucking part to replace, it ll you the symptoms

take a rich bank 1 code

could be an oxygen sensor, maf sensor, iat sensor, fouled plug, stuck injector, plugged air filter, bad pressure regulator, or even a stuck valve

by my count, thats about $1200 worth of parts you would have to replace to fix that problem by diagnosing it with an obdII reader

6/13/2007 9:32:55 PM

Quote :

"oxygen sensor, maf sensor, iat sensor, fouled plug, stuck injector,"

OR even a wiring, power, or ground problem with any one of those.

[Edited on June 13, 2007 at 10:39 PM. Reason : this is why we mechanics get paid. we dont just change parts. well, most of us dont.]

6/13/2007 10:37:12 PM

Quote :

"this is why we mechanics get paid. we dont just change parts"

definitely see the reality in this after the past 2 weeks

6/14/2007 3:20:47 PM

Cherokee, if you think advance auto parts is going to give you a good diagnosis you're badly mistaken. The computer they used on your car costs them all of about 50 bucks and you can buy yourself for about 100. All it does is read codes, it leaves things wide open for interpretation. If you take it to a shop like mine (merchant's tire) or ford, we'll use a tool that costs about 5,000 dollars and actually can go in and read freeze frame data, individual sensor voltages, etc. The technician will read the voltages, look at the freeze frame data, and diagnose the problem. That's why you pay 98 dollars at ford or 79 dollars at my shop. The tool actually is expensive and it takes more than 3 seconds to diagnose. You take it to a place like ours and we'll tell you what the problem is, not what it might be.

And if you go to advance auto parts for expertice.. you're sadly mistaken. Granted I know a lot of guys at the western blvd store personally some of them aren't worth much as far as diagnosis goes. There are absolutely NO requirements about knowing anything about cars when you apply at advance. I used to manage an advance (the one on glenwood) and know from personal experience that sometimes they're forced to hire complete idiots. Anybody can plug in the scan tool and tell you what it reads. You need someone with experience to solve the problem. You want someone good at western, ask for paul. You want to have a definate answer to your problem.. take it to someone who has the real diagnosis tools, not a parts store.

6/18/2007 12:44:55 AM

tge point here is the maf fucking up has almost a 0% chance of being related to his overheating problems.. like i said earlier, you can run the fucking car with the maf unplugged and it WILL NOT OVERHEAT and will eliminate that possibility

the overheating is something else completly, the moron that told you it was related is incompetent and only repeating what the computer told him, with no real world interpretation of what was really going on..

but yea, ^ pretty much got it right on.. the overheating is something related to the cooling system, not the fucking maf sensor

6/18/2007 3:39:19 AM

ok i read this thread

completely

i was gonna quote one thing but there were like 5 things i really liked...i copy pasted

Quote :

"[Edited on June 13, 2007 at 10:39 PM. Reason : this is why we mechanics get paid. we dont just change parts. well, most of us dont.] their job is to sell you parts, not diagnose your problem, so you bought parts, it didnt fix the problem, sounds like you lost what you need to do is quit messing with it and let someone who knows what they're doing fix it before you screw something major up (if you haven't already). you're well on your way by doing something like draining a gallon of coolant out. you've made it pretty clear you don't really know what you're doing. don't ruin your car to save a few bucks. I was going to offer some help, but after you finished flaming Ivan, who knows a shitload more about cars than you could ever hope to, and making a complete idiot out of yourself, you deserved to get assraped by a mechanic. Hell I'm even gonna recommend you take it to the dealership."

6/18/2007 3:50:09 AM

iS ANYBODY else fucking drunke

6/18/2007 4:18:28 AM

i could probably get that way by 5am but i got class tomorrow

6/18/2007 4:21:46 AM

fuck class/school/swrok being a fuckin pimp is the way to be

6/18/2007 4:23:38 AM

aight i'll take like 4 shots

6/18/2007 4:28:11 AM

Quote :

"79 dollars at my shop."

where's your shop

and yea it didn't make sense that they said it was related, considering you can run without maf and the only problem will be low gas mileage

6/18/2007 4:33:03 PM

Merchant's Tire on Duraleigh rd, a few miles up glenwood from crabtree valley mall. I didn't want to say the name because I wanted my post to come off more as advice, not a plug. Craig is our master tech and will be able to figure out your problem before you even park your car haha... Swing by, ask for me (David, I work up front so i'll probably greet you anyway) and maybe i'll work out a tww discount of some sort.

571-0071 is our phone number

6/19/2007 12:08:01 AM

wow, merchant's tire. a step above jiffy lube...

6/19/2007 12:16:16 AM

Quote :

"Merchant's Tire on Duraleigh rd, a few miles up glenwood from crabtree valley mall. I didn't want to say the name because I wanted my post to come off more as advice, not a plug. Craig is our master tech and will be able to figure out your problem before you even park your car haha... Swing by, ask for me (David, I work up front so i'll probably greet you anyway) and maybe i'll work out a tww discount of some sort."

I've actually been here, and found the whole lot of you to be pretty fucking inept. mattc would probably corroborate on this one.

6/19/2007 12:52:34 AM

hey sling did you come to my store the other day for an inspection with a red car.

6/19/2007 2:49:40 AM

zxappeal, who did you deal with, what was your issue, and how long ago?

slowback96 no, but i'm going to guess you work at the quick lube? i've taken a white mitsubishi montero sport and a white pathfinder over there.

6/19/2007 3:04:36 AM

Quote :

"this is why we mechanics get paid. we dont just change parts"

"this is why we [good] mechanics get paid. we dont just change parts"

Most of you guys actually know how a car works. As most will find out now it's hard to find a mechanic who can diagnose your problem without their computer telling them what is wrong.

My cousin was a master ford tech, senior tech, HNIC or whatever the hell you want to call him at a ford dealership and left to start his own shop at his house. He's in the Sanford area. I'll try and get his number if you'd like, but he knows his shit, esp fords and is actually reasonably priced.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 5:59 AM. Reason : "]

6/19/2007 5:58:29 AM

Cornbread, that's because these days there's probably 500 times as many electronics in cars as there were 15 years ago. Every single aspect of your car is electronically controlled. The only difference between a good mechanic and a good parts salesman at advance auto [diagnostically speaking] is that 5,000 dollar scan tool and the knowledge of how to interpret it. On a carbureated engine your old school shade tree guy could diagnose a stalling/running rough problem easily but today it could be battery, alternator, iac, maf, map, coil (especially tough with coil on plug ignitions), etc.

6/19/2007 10:20:13 AM

actually i do a lot of diagnosing without a scan tool, a lot of experience and a good ohm/voltmeter is all you have to have, even though a modus is nice to have, its not a necessity

6/19/2007 11:25:43 AM

True, but when you're a mechanic getting paid one hour labor to diagnose a car it's much better to plug in a snap-on tool and get an answer in one minute than use a volt/ohm meter and maybe it takes you 20 minutes (or more). If its your own car in your driveway/garage that's fine but mechanics like to make as much money (do as many jobs) as they can in their 8-10 hour shift.

6/19/2007 11:42:29 AM

i do appreciate all the help guys. this shit is pissing me off

6/19/2007 5:22:20 PM

^^ do tell, let me into his world of paid by the hour mechanics

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 5:38 PM. Reason : ^ i can take a look at it sometime this week]

6/19/2007 5:32:43 PM