My spouses check emissions and oil pressure light came in yesterday. I used my scanner and the Code is a P0522 which is an oil sensor. The odyssey has 3 oil sensors and this one (per type of code) of course is at the bottom of the engine by the oil filter so a pain to get at and check.
She plans on taking it to the dealer after work to see what they tell her.
So my question is do you folks TELL the repair shop what you think it is ( based on codes and research) or just sit back and wait to see what they say and then decide what you want to do.
Weird question I know but somehow in my mind I feel like there is less chance of game playing if I tell them here is what I think but can you confirm?
The oil level is fine btw. Checked it like 8 times.
I guess it depends on how obvious it is. If questionable, you just advise but I’ve been both right and wrong and has cost me money when I have been right and they have been wrong. It’s a partnership though not adversarial.
No. Listen to the diagnosis and ask questions based on what your research tells you. If you tell them what to do and it doesn’t work, it’s all on you.
You tell the shop ALL the symptoms you see and under what conditions you see them. No need to tell them the code number, they have a better scanner than you do. If you tell them ALL the issues you experience, a good mechanic should find the problem.
Would you tell your doctor your gall bladder should come out? You won’t just tell tell her you have a pain in your side because you think she’ll just remove your appendix because she’s got a boat payment due, would you?
If you think the shop will try and scam you, pad the bill or otherwise cheat a less than knowledgeable owner… Don’t DO Business with them. Very simple. If you cannot trust the shop, don’t take your car there.
Hey thanks for the replies. Appreciate it! With my car I would take it to a mechanic I trust but she wants to take it to a dealership so I am on guard with them always.
My doctor through Kaiser probably would take out my gall bladder and appendix but that’s another story lol
So you tell them what you experienced and possibly they replace a part that’s iffy?
Or you do tell them about the what you experienced, waiting for the part to completely fail, and possibly causing other serious damage?
I’m not a mechanic but all business is about a relationship. The provider relies on the client to be up front about symptoms and potential problems and the customer relies on the provider to be honest and professional.
Never share your diagnosis with your mechanic. Just share the symptoms.
The same goes for your doctor.
This particularly applies in your case because you seem to think:
That code tells you the reading from the sensor is out of spec, but it doesn’t tell you why it is out of spec. The code could be due to faulty sensor, a faulty sensor circuit, or a low oil level.
If you go just from the error code, you might throw parts at the perceived problem, rather than diagnosing the actual problem.
Out of three times at the doctor, I was right twice and he was right once. But I just say this is what I think I’ve got and they either concur or explain why it isn’t. Then I do as they say. Don’t have to worry about the appendix, lost that years ago, but the gallbladder . . .?
The dealer is not going to pay any attention to the codes you get, they will probably get the same one but the will likely charge you $150 to run their scan and refuse to look at the car if you won’t authorize it. I was in a dealer waiting room when a lady came in with a vacuum leak that I could hear from the waiting room but they would not follow the sound without a scan.
My doctor and I argued all the time. On one visit I told him I had become diabetic, he got very upset and told me I was not qualified to tell that, he would make tests and tell me the results. He then asked me my symptoms, I described all of then and he said, well , I will still run the tests, but yes, you are diabetic. My present doctor became upset when I stopped taking a blood thinner. I spent 8 monts not being able to drive or read because of bleeding in my etes, underwent two vitroectomies to stop the bleeding and after the second one I stopped taking the warfarin. I told him I know I have to die, but I don’t have to go blind first. That was 9 years ago.
Hey everyone. Thanks for the replies. Appreciate it. Dealer came back with the rocker arm oil pressure sensor diagnosis. Which was what we were thinking. Parts and labor $302.00. Part is $71 and $231 is labor.
An extreme alternative would have been like an aquaintance who refuses to ever pay the the dealer or real mechanic price, instead relying on driveway, Craigslist and moonlighting mechanics.
Last week he discovered that his motor is completely shot on his fairly new, low mileage Chevy because of improper repairs.
Well NOW they are saying something different . So originally I thought it was the oil sensor…They (the dealer) at $300 thought it was an oil switch. Now they are saying oh our diagnostics now show it is the oil sensor and that is $500.00 to fix. I was like naw…no loss of oil right? They said right. I said so I can drive this around for awhile since it isn’t affecting the oil level at all. Right. So I just grabbed the van back and will look for a reputable place for better quotes.
The real problem is that their diagnosis was shoddy . . .
Being good at diagnosis means you follow it through to the end if there’s any doubt . . . otherwise you’ll be eating your words later on, as the shop did
Of course, if a tire is flat due to a nail, no further diagnosis is needed
But in the case of a check engine light and fault code, the shop should be thorough in their diagnosis
And they obviously weren’t, since they had to change their tune later on