Field Trip!! Trying to Diagnose a Misfire with No Tools

[@donkaiser6704]

Helluva nice guy, fixing her garage door for her as well!

[@ThunderbirdRocket]

The best ! This tutorial / journey / slice of life / team approach was very enriching ! Made my morning !!

[@SchrodingersBox]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TheCowgirlNiamh]

Yes I remember her. Lovely lady! That spontaneous horn would freak me out! I much prefer mechanical over electrical problems but maybe that’s just the way my brain is wired. 😂 Great job again Matt!

[@SchrodingersBox]

Thanks so much, glad you remember that first video with her. It wasnt my best for sure as there was never a resolution to it, but this one made up for it especially with that stupid horn hahaha!!!

[@erikkirby1]

Always a win in my mind when helping out friends !!!

[@SchrodingersBox]

I agree!!

[@Tony-rl2fr]

Horn honks randomly due to electrical issues... Plot twist: Juanita's boy is hiding under the driver's side dashboard and messing with Matt 😆. Great job Matt, you're a good man. 👍🏻

[@legallass9905]

😆

[@SchrodingersBox]

Hahahaha !!!! FYI she is single at time of this video ;-)

[@Tony-rl2fr]

Hey thanks brother but I'm all set. She seems like a pleasant gal... and those hands, wow! 😄

[@labradormcgraw]

Great video, Matt. Vicki's camera work is spot-on; I don't know why you've never thought of this idea before. I noticed Juanita's little dude trying to pick up a few tricks - maybe he'll fix the next car. Can't wait for the electrical fix video. (FYI, the correct pronunciation of 'grounds' is actually 'GROUNDS'.)

[@SchrodingersBox]

Thanks Andy!! Vicki just approached me about the idea as I didn't think she would be interested previously but yes she is a natural!!

[@legallass9905]

Thank you, Andy, you are very kind. I am now very aware of how unsteady my hand was in some of the handheld shots. I need more practice!!

[@labradormcgraw]

@@legallass9905 Hey, Vicki! Of course, an added bonus of helping with Matt's videos is that you'll be on hand to sort out his bad-hair-day issues. Having said that, they've kinda become part of the channel's fabric these days. 😆

[@legallass9905]

@@labradormcgraw 😆, I have tried, but he's having none of my interference as far as his appearance goes. I can only guess that he doesn't want to distract you all with how handsome he really is. He likes his disguise 🥸.

[@labradormcgraw]

@@legallass9905 Yes, let's go with that. Of course, we shouldn't be surprised - look at Einstein's hair. The dishevelled don't-give-a-damn look must be a trait of great minds.

[@cwstout1]

It's fun to see you jump when the horn blows. Great tutorial on using compressed air to check compression and knowing how to determine when the compression stroke begins.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Hahahaha what wasn't shown is that happened to me probably 15 times lol,. It was majorly pissing me off!!!

[@suckOnThese3]

Note to self...dont buy a Dodge Avenger. I haven't seen one of those since 1999

[@SchrodingersBox]

Man I have had a LOT of dodge avengers come to me over the years! I never seem to see them on the streets but they sure have been in my garage a lot!!

[@suckOnThese3]

@@SchrodingersBox curious does that have a V6 3.0 Mitsubishi motor in it?

[@SchrodingersBox]

Correct!

[@jgeorges3061]

MATT, AWESOME you are a good man brother by helping ur friends and neighbours as always fun to watch as always and Vicki's camera work is great cheeeeeers.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Yes I suppose people could have worse neighbors than us hahaha. But most definitely you are right about the camerawork- Vicki did great!!

[@sheerwillsurvival2064]

Good people take care of good people. Great video 🙏🏻

[@SchrodingersBox]

Well said!!

[@unclemarksdiyauto]

Not too often we hope we are wrong! Glad for her that it is just a coil and a few little issues. Great video.

[@JohnDoesGarage]

I don't consider it you being wrong, I always have a short list of possibilities, usually with one being the most likely at the time and I work my way through ruling them out until I reach a final conclusion. Especially with no tools you have to rely on your experience and deductive reasoning which is all you had. I was right with you on your thought process, so I guess if you were wrong, so was I, but that puts me in good company, so I'm okay with that. Please tell Juanita she does have very pretty hands. Thanks for the video.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Well stated, I definitely agree.

[@ourkid2000]

Man that honk when you grabbed the coil was so well timed...(17:15)...haha. Got you as soon as you picked it up. Gave you a pretty funny fright. Could not have timed that one better

[@SchrodingersBox]

Man that horn pissed me off. Actually that happened so many times while we tried getting car started I cant even count!!

[@ourkid2000]

@@SchrodingersBox I bet it did! I'm not sure how well I'd handle that

[@JimFinlayson]

Your videos are super helpful. Thanks.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Glad to hear it!

[@jimkillen1065]

I always enjoy watching your videos. A great learning opportunity. As far as the water leak . Those problems can bite you for sure . Some cars have a sensor that tells you if your coolant level is low and of course temp gauge. At a glance the car is not overheating so it's OK..until it's not ..

[@abdul-kabiralegbe5660]

Some engines place the coolant temperature sensor high relative to the coolant level and somewhat apart from the main bulk of the engine such that the engine may be devoid of coolant and still not register an overheating condition on the gauge. The best location is right on the cylinder head, so even if the coolant is not in contact with the sensor, the sensor can at least register the excessive heat of the head.. Some Fords go further by adding a cylinder head temperature sensor. Some VW/Audi use a coolant level sensor (as you mentioned) but that's in the expansion tank.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Yep both you guys are right. In this case its actually a leaking thermostat housing, but the housing also have all the hose connections for heater core etc. Its a modular unit and I have seen many many many of these leak.

[@TheDisgruntledMechanic]

Luckily you didn't have to test a 9 volt battery while you were there!! Great video as always! Love my NOCO boost.

[@SchrodingersBox]

HAHAHAHA well I havent tried your tongue method with ther NOCO boost yet lol. You first pal!!!

[@Ted_E_Bear]

Love the way you think !

[@SchrodingersBox]

Thank you 😊

[@TroyStevensStelzerPaintingInc]

Nice work Matt. Logical troubleshooting wins again. Hopefully the electrical issues are an easy fix as well. It could sort itself out with a fresh battery, (fingers crossed).

[@SchrodingersBox]

Yeah the only thing is that fresh battery means that god damned horn will be more active lol!!

[@Pablo_Automotive]

Great video Matt.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Glad you enjoyed it and welcome back!! Its been a while!!

[@deutzmans1]

Diagnosing that intermittent horn honk will be interesting

[@SchrodingersBox]

Hahaha until I get a concussion from hitting my head on the hood lol!!

[@BJMiguel3]

Was this intermittent horn honk ever diagnosed?

[@SchrodingersBox]

Sort of. I know it’s related to the TIPM but I have not had time to check it yet.

[@stonestreaker]

Some ElectroBoom potential with that horn!

[@tomthecat7785]

I really wish I could take my car to you. I love your method. I took my car to the mechanic with an evap code and told him that I had already changed the evap purge valve two times. But it just kept going bad. He of course ignores everything I say, and tells me it's just another bad evap purge valve. One month later, the valve goes bad sgain. I can't figure out why they keep going bad, and my mechanic isn't competent enough to either.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Sorry to hear. Maybe he should watch my evap videos. It’s pretty easy to tell if a purge valve is not working.

[@tomthecat7785]

@Schrodingers Box Yeah, it stinks. He is diagnosing the purge valve correctly, but hasn't been able to tell me why they keep going bad. I'm on my fourth EVAP purge valve in 4 months. This can't be normal. Anyway, I fired him and now I'm trying to binge your videos to attempt to figure it out myself.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Ohhhhhh that makes sense. Yeah a very common cause of that would be deteriorating EVAP hoses. The debris from the hoses can clog the solenoid. Could also be bad cannister causing debris as well. Try cutting open the old solenoid see if it’s full of rubber or charcoal.

[@mechanicmatt871]

Thinking out loud can scare the customer, nice diag, great camera work too.

[@SchrodingersBox]

It can indeed. Even worse though- it can also create false hope that something is minor when you later find it actually isnt.

[@mikebaz7843]

I was caught out by a blown head gasket recently, I had a cursory look when the car was cold and it started and ran fine, no bubbles in the coolant - the customer brought me the car warm and it had a bad misfire when at idle in drive, I could smell and see coolant being burnt from the exhaust, but off idle and driving it was smooth and fine.

[@midnighttutor]

what does the DNA on your sweatshirt code for?

[@SchrodingersBox]

Hahaha nothing it’s just random. Then again I have not searched it in a database either - I should try that!!

[@wadeshull8227]

That kind of problem can be quite a few diff things...most generally its a weak or bad coil or a spark plug....bad spark plugs cause the coils to go bad

[@SchrodingersBox]

Yes very true. This car will also get new spark plugs for that exact reason!

[@coycarlson4979]

You mentioned the year and make of the vehicle - but I was also wondering of how many miles were on the odometer 🤔✌️

[@SchrodingersBox]

No idea. I actually never look at mileage on any car because it not relevant to scientific diagnosis.

[@wackey3455]

happy days dont have to take it to the scrap yard happy customer

[@louispasnik5976]

Visual inspection (coolant leak potentially from blown head gasket) started to lead us down the path of scrapping the engine.....lol.

[@SchrodingersBox]

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Hey you are so right!!!! I didnt think of that. Its was indeed the visual that led me down the wrong path for sure hahaha! Brilliant!!!!!

[@bltoth1955]

Wouldn’t a weak spark have the same symptoms?

[@SchrodingersBox]

Most definitely. My guess is that’s why I heard a slight difference when coil was connected. Didn’t have enough to jump air gap but maybe had some spark when contacting plug. Might also have been because the shorted coil itself just causes a difference in engine sound. A very unreliable test for sure!

[@bltoth1955]

@@SchrodingersBox Thx,👍

[@phill3144]

Could the random alarm noise be from the backup battery in siren being dead

[@SchrodingersBox]

it’s from a bad Total Integrated Power Module.

[@derekspaar782]

Love your videos and the cat lol Meow

[@SchrodingersBox]

ALWAYS APPRECIATE YOU!!!!

[@derekspaar782]

You did have tools with you it's your brain that is the most Important tools everyone has but too many people don't use there Brain

[@SchrodingersBox]

Hey thanks man. The only problem is when I had no tools and just my brain I misdiagnosed it lol!! It wasn't till I had more tools that my brain finally served me correctly!!

[@derekspaar782]

Lol it's helpful to have your brain and tools unlike Scottie Kilmer I don't think he has brains or tools his Click bait video I'm a diesel technician myself and I love your videos because everyone can learn new things off Like minded people because you Taught me a couple new ways of thinking about a issues with a car I know a lot but I don't know everything the stupid people is the ones that think they know everything you can't Teach them nothing the Truly intelligent people try to learn new things and never closed their mind off like that I'm hungry for as much Knowledge as I can get Teachers don't get enough credit for what they do for the world with out people like you that teaches people we would be f*** thank you for your video I really appreciate everything you do for me and everyone else that watch your videos I like the videos you call the dumb people out I think they are funny thanks again

[@SchrodingersBox]

Thank you- very nice of you to say!!

[@derekspaar782]

You earn everything I said

[@270billycraven]

What scan tool are you using

[@SchrodingersBox]

Auto Enginuity

[@anthonyvalladares3218]

The alarm going off at random can be problem from the under the hood fuse box

[@svinnythepooh9819]

Nice content! All in all u needed is just a torx and a coil swap test and would have called it a day in a first half of video. On the other hand the content came out great n useful with those few hiccups :)

[@SchrodingersBox]

Yep its pretty sad that just the lack of a torx bit caused a misdirection down the path.

[@لاإلهإلااللهمحمدرسولالله-ث2ق8ث]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@mikesabin8568]

Ever scoped the cooling system to chedk for blown headgasket?

[@SchrodingersBox]

I have not done that yet but I can do it with my pressure transducer.

[@alejandrovelazquez2378]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@SuperJoes70]

I always wait to find out cause of the problem before coming up with the final Diag and then tell the customer

[@SchrodingersBox]

By far the best policy. I of course wanted to show thought process in real time and customer happened to want to watch while I do video.

[@edwardkopp1367]

Too bad you didn't have a good battery. Could have done a "Clear Flood" crank to listen for a dead cylinder. A "Scanner Danner" original test...lol

[@SchrodingersBox]

Yep that is EXACTLY what I hoped to do!

[@mtrltoolman]

👍👍

[@SchrodingersBox]

Hey good to see you back!!!

[@kellismith4329]

Better to expect the worst, and settle for the cheap repair rather than the reverse - that horn wire would be unplugged after the first honk, I have had people do that to me sneak up and blow the horn while working under there - not a nice prank gives you a headache

[@dougkelley1266]

How do I subscribe to your pay channel?

[@SchrodingersBox]

Just go to www.schrodingersboxqm.com

[@pl5882]

All these comments are polite. Trolls must not have notifications turned on.

[@SchrodingersBox]

Hahahaha yeah the troll comments are a mere fraction of what they used to be. I believe it’s because they know the environment of this channel and realize they will just look stupid as their comment backfires.

[@rickyrickharris4908]

Only half through but how could you possibly be leaning reward blown head gasket or even compression issues? Obvious misfire but you found the coil pack that made no difference when un plugging. That looks like acoip pack or a plug. Not saying by ANY MEANS thats all it is but just not sure why your jumping the gun . Look at oil is it even milky? If not that's a good sign is not bad gasket

[@rickyrickharris4908]

Now I'm 3/4 way done with vid and you are saying compression is good and you think its an ignition issue. Not sure how that was so hard to know based on your tools and how you talk i think you should have known this

[@SchrodingersBox]

It’s always easy to diagnose it after watching the video ain’t it?

[@aor3200]

Good old coil swap

[@SchrodingersBox]

Indeed! Still the easiest way- if you can access the coils. on more and more cars they are under the intake now though.

[@paulstaf]

It is a dodge, you shouldn't put any money into it regardless...cut your losses now. :D

[@turbobuick33]

Sounds like bad a TIPM

[@SchrodingersBox]

Yes I do agree. I have isolated much of the electrical to it- definitely the horn thing for sure is there because if you shake it around you can cause it to activate.