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This literally just happened to me. One ignition coil later, things are going to be a bit tight for the rest of the month
An ignition coil for my car can be had for a princely $17 on RockAuto. The life hack here is to not get ripped off by a mechanic having it put in; in most cars us Poor People are likely to be driving (i.e. not an Audi, Lamborghini, or Porsche) any garden variety fool with two thumbs and a $20 Harbor Freight socket wrench set can swap out an ignition coil in their own driveway in about 5 minutes.
That’s fair, in most cases I would have done it myself. When a coil pack died on my last car, we harvested one from a dead car on my dad’s property. I took it to a mechanic because I thought it was the transmission. By the time I got the diagnosis, I was afraid that the other pack would die driving it home to fix myself
I work at a mechanic shop. In general,
- spark plugs and coils/ignition packs
- battery
- any and all air filters
- oil change
Can all be done in your home driveway for under $100 and half an hour of free education from YouTube for 95% of all cars. They’re all dumb easy, your least favorite coworker could do it. Depending on your level of expertise you can also add brakes to this list, but incorrectly installed brakes will kill you and will be expensive if they don’t, so lots of folks leave those to the professionals. But if the shop recommends you any of the above you tell them no thank you and then you pick up the parts from AutoZone for 1/5 of the quoted price.
Special shoutout to batteries though, if you’re driving a Rich People Car (essentially anything as or more expensive than a Benz) lots of them will fucking demolish your battery if you don’t take it to the dealer service center to get the system reset with new battery voltage. Whole check system is frankly unnecessary and could be easily done automatically even if you did want it to happen, but no. They all want to ride the battery at the razor’s edge of available voltage so that if you dare install one outside the dealer service center it’ll last about six months before death, possibly catastrophic death. But if you’re driving a Honda? No problem. You can remove the battery while the car is running and it’ll just keep chugging along.
I hate to break the news to you that way, but I think you wasted some money. That said though, if one of those failed, the others might follow suit soon. Now you’re prepared with the knowledge that you can fix it yourself for way cheaper if that does happen.
No need to worry, I know I pissed away a bunch of money for a relatively easy fix. I’m just glad that it was the coil pack and not the transmission like I thought
Yup!
Me literally right now fml
am not a want a car
reason:
Could be a temporary issue.
The problem is that once the ECU(?) registers an error, it cannot be reset without specific equipment.
Fortunately, the specific equipment of a basic OBD2 code reader capable of both helping you diagnose and resetting the code is very cheap these days.
The majority of check engine lights that come “out of the blue” are emissions related failures, usually a leaky (or unscrewed) fuel cap, bad O2 sensor (~$40) or similar. Learning how to Google this stuff for yourself will save any vehicle owner hundreds of dollars instantly vs. spiraling into anxiety over having to pay a mechanic for what is, in most cases, something incredibly simple.
And it will at the very least let you know if it’s serious. I had the check engine light it was that the emissions testing wasn’t working properly so I was at risk of potentially burning more fuel that normal. Whoopdie shit. Ran through some highway and city driving and it cleared itself.
Of course now my airbag light is on FML. 2012 car I think the circuits are going.
Yeah, I got a basic reader about 10 years ago, for what would be €20 in today’s money. It’s saved me hundreds.
Only problem is motorbikes don’t have standard ODB2 ports so I have no idea why the light is on on my little 125 :-/
To be clear, “specific equipment” is a $20 reader on amazon, so while true, it’s not exactly a problem to user service.
Lol my garage collapsed on Friday
especially if it’s a bimmer
VW enters the chat.
laughs while driving his 252k mile VW without a check engine light
Either your VW was made before 2008 or you owe some malevolent spirit your eternal soul.
before 2008
No comment, I am fighting the rust goblins though
The reason I say before 2008 is that around that time VW embraced programmed obsolescence with open arms. I have a 2012 Touran and around 200000 km (not miles) everything started breaking at once. Both driver and passenger side window lifts, front stabilizers and coils (separately), rear coils, gearbox control unit, rear lock, horn, file lines (twice) and now, to rub salt in the financial wound, it lost every drop of oil from the engine into a shopping centre carpark.
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Unplugging your cel doesn’t count.
I had a mk2 Golf booked in to have the timing belt replaced, 1 week before it snapped.
2 weeks later it was crushed by a tank at Mallory race track.
Ouch.
My father snapped the timing belt in his turbo Passat at freeway speed many years ago. I suspect, but cannot prove, that he money shifted it. He reported that the noise it made was “bang.” I believe it.
I’m a Volvo owner with a CEL and I’m scared.
This is called “monetary attention”. Animals do this too. My horses need monetary attention regularly.
Bastards
