Good on you @wncgirl. Sounds like you are on the right track to a long-sought sol’n.
As mentioned above, there’s a couple of tests — one is a simple and fairly inexpensive chemical test to determine if combustion gasses are entering the coolant – tests mechanics would usually do to verify a bad head gasket before removing the cylinder head. Other tests they might do is to look for bubbles in the coolant, a compression test, and a leak-down test. Might be worthwhile to ask your mechanic if he/she’s considered doing one or more of these. It may be the problem is so obvious that it isn’t needed, but worth asking I think anyway.
Ok everyone, my brother talked to the mechanic and I think he is ok - it will be another round of expense, but he is competent we believe. Turns out he did do some of these tests and will redo the head gasket - I think what he meant in my conversation is that he may or may not find out things once he’s in there. He emailed me a quote and here’s what it said: "HOOKED UP SCAN TOOL. FOUND P0132 - OXYGEN SENSOR HIGH
VOLTAGE. PUT COOLING SYSTEM UNDER PRESSURE TO CK
FOR LEAKS. FOUND LEAK AROUND HOSE CLAMP. FOUND COOLANT SYSTEM BUILDING PRESSURE
RAPIDLY. PERFORMED TEST TO CK FOR EXHAUST
IN COOLANT SYSTEM. FOUND EXHAUST IN COOLANT SYSTEM. NEEDS HEAD GASKET,
POSSIBLE WARPED HEAD. ALSO, NEED TO FIND REASON IT OVERHEATED.
Really hate the fact that I have to go through all this mess again but he surely won’t take as long as Meineke and he will surely do it right the first time! When he gets into it a bit more and sees what all is going on, I am going to go back on Meineke and DEMAND my money back, even if it takes small claims court.
I will also add that this man has been to a two-year technical school, worked for 2 GM dealers and some independent shops before forming his own business. He is ASE certified.
Progress report - know it’s been awhile. The estimate came in right before Thanksgiving and I didn’t expect anything to get done right then. Due to some other jobs, the tearing down of my engine didn’t occur until early this week. I called this afternoon and they have (hopefully) repaired the head gasket and are putting the everything back together. Of course they will have to drive it and try to figure out the PO 132 code that they found when I first took it to this place. This is a different code than what I had earlier (PO 135 and PO 420) originally. I didn’t get to talk in detail because I am at work and had work-related calls coming in. I don’t know if this means that Meineke didn’t do the head gasket job properly to begin with or not. I hope that is the case - if it is, then I will go back and demand the money back for that portion of the work. Meineke also did a radiator, thermostat, water pump, timing belt and catalytic convertor that won’t be reimbursable unless there is something wrong with the way they did that. My question is - does anyone think it is likely that Meineke made an error or do some cars just have blown head gaskets over and over? This has been a nightmare and I sure hope it is coming to an end soon.
If your question about repeated head gasket failures means one specific car, then multiple failures would point to someone possibly not doing the job correctly the first time.
There are tales of automotive woe all the time on this forum and yours is certainly in the top tier of chronic headaches.
I can’t provide much useful information from here on but will say, pessimistically, that I’m not convinced that you’re out of the woods yet on this. Hopefully I’m dead wrong.
ok4450 - I hope you are wrong too - what makes you think that I’m not out of the woods yet? We don’t know everything at this point. I have been to hell and back with this vehicle and need some encouragement or need to know that there’s no hope or it one.
Finally got the car back AGAIN this afternoon after spending another $892! Here’s the low-down - the head gasket job was basically redone - the machine shop that Meineke had used had done a good job on resurfacing the warped head so that wasn’t a problem. However, this new mechanic had to retorque the camshaft and adjusted the valve clearance, so it sounds like Meineke partially did the job but not completely. He also found a small coolant leak near a hose clamp- Meineke had supposedly fixed that. Check engine light and PO 132 code was on and car was “stumbling” like it was back in the summer. He did some diagnostics and didn’t find anything out of line - he knew I had had both oxygen sensors replaced. He drove the car and reset the code and stumbling stopped after several more test drives. This afternoon, I drove it the 3 miles or so home and everything was great. Did a little more driving and hate to report that it did that “stumbling” or hesitation like it did this summer just one time! Check engine light stayed off though and I completed several more errands without incident - car ran like a top! What in the world is going on? Is there possibly some sort of wiring issue with the oxygen sensor or what? I am just about at the end of my rope!
I doubt that the problem is related to O2 sensors anyway and to be honest, it’s near impossible to determine what is going on without having car in hand.
When this intermittent stumbling occurs, does it happen at low RPM or high RPMs, slow or high speed, etc?
This evening when it happened, I was backing out of a parking place and as I tried to take off, it hesitated big time and finally lurched ahead without any more problems. Same as this summer. It eventually got really bad last summer and the check engine light came on - PO 135 at that time and replacing front oxygen sensor helped. Then I ran into all these head gasket and catalytic convertor problems. A few weeks ago after Meineke replaced the catalytic convertor, the PO 132 came on and the car would barely run. This is when I took it to the new mechanic.
I’m afraid that I’m approaching the useless point as far as info goes. An intermittent lurching could be due to any one of a number of things. Secondary ignition fault with a plug or coil, faulty ignition switch, main relay, intermittent fuel pump, TPS switch, MAP sensor, fuel injector sticking, EGR valve going stupid, etc, etc.
I’m very hesitant to recommend changing this or that and making it a fishing expedition that may go nowhere and I think the PO132 (high voltage, rich mixture more than likely) code is a symptom of the problem rather than a cause. Kind of like coughing can be a symptom of the flu bug.
Do you know if the shop did a full scan on the car or just pulled numerical codes, as in the 132?
I’m starting to feel like Diogenes…
I know someone actually has to look at the vehicle. The one time it happened this evening, it was at a low RPM - I backed out of a parking space and just as I took off it hesitated big time and finally got to going without any more problems as I made several other stops for errands. Same thing happened over the summer when I first got the vehicle and eventually it got really bad and a PO 135 code came. Seems to be at slow speeds. Replacing front oxygen sensor solved it. After Meineke put on the catalytic convertor a few weeks ago, this code came and the car would hardly run so I took it to the new mechanic.
Wncgirl, error codes start with a single letter like P for “powertrain” and is followed by four digits. The code P0132 indicating abnormally high voltage from the sensor may mean that it was connected up incorrectly. Along with the sensor output wire there are two wires to the heater circuit for the sensor. Power is applied to those leads to heat up the sensor when it is cold so it can work as designed. I suspect that one of the heater wires (possibly the return side) may have been tied to the wire going to the ECU that is used for the sensor output wire to connect to.
As for the stumbling issue I would guess that the throttle position sensor may have a bad spot on it and that is a common problem due to wear.
I’ve continued to drive the car around town for the past two days and had no more problems - check engine is staying off, running ok, etc. Of course we never know. I called the mechanic back yesterday and he said that until the light comes on or it gets to running badly, he can’t tell a whole lot. He said that when he reset the code the other day, after driving it several times the stumbling disappeared. I don’t think this particular code appeared until after the Meineke folks put on the cat and hooked everything back up. Time will tell.
