cleaned throttle body and MAF and now problems - I need help

I agree Stu. I am just mad that a simple tune up has left me carless for 4 days. I will have him take it to the dealership but i am not paiyng anything. I think it's his responsibility. The thing is he owns a shop and has other mechanics there, so i think its one of his employees that worked on my car. Either way i want my FX back and don't think i should have to pay anything more. We really have tried and checked eveything
 
Hope i dont come off rude but not for nuttin, hes a mechanic thats supposed to know good knowledge of fixing cars. Friend or no friend, he should stand by his work and make this right for you by all means. I would not take the back seat of this ride. By reading this whole thread, he had to have mix up the coil firing order or there is a faulty coil. Bad plugs would you give a rough idle and not so much a bad misfire if you used platnum plugs. Smelling fuel to me is no spark. Hope its a simple fix at the dealer.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
 
Listen, if you have checked everything electrical, coils, plugs and such. The coils are pretty self explainitory and are pretty straight forward as to crossing them as they are numbered. Again, just a thought. If you filled up or gassed up prior to taking the car in (to a heated garage) the car was repaired and pulled outside and sat in the (cold). And if the gas is bad, the water in the gas will seperate and freeze or become very sluggish. This will give you the same exact symtoms you are describing. I know this may sound elementary but at this point I would check the gas before I took it to the stealership. Somehow get some gas out of the car, put it in a mason jar or a clear glass and let it sit undisturbed for 3-4 hours if the gas is bad it will separate and also have a bad smell. Just a thought, with cold weather gas containers condensate and the ethenol in the wonderful gas we now get attracts water. I would atleast look into it as it may be the root of your problems. Especially, like I said if you gassed up prior to the repair! Hense, the car may have ran fine after your mechanic finished the work, but after sitting outside and mother nature doing her work the water in the gas froze and now you have problems. I know it's a shot in the dark, but at this point the only thing to lose is the stealerships high labor rates!
 
When i brought the FX to him it had less then a quarter tank of gas and with all the testing i think he said its almost empty.I am going to ask my cousin to bring him some gas and see if that helps. I need gas anyways so why not try. This needs to be fixed today. I will report back once fixed and let you all know what the problem was
 
If you have very little gas and it is not of the best if quality, this may very well be your issue! No offense, as I tell my wife it is just as easy to keep the tank full or on half a tank as it is empty. :) I have never opened up the Infiniti tank/pump but allot of them have a high and low pickup on them, when running very low on gas you are sucking up all the crap from the bottom of the tank. And lets face it, even the best gas stations in the world have substandard help. I Remeber when I was younger there was a guy that worked at a gas station that got busted filling his tank and then replacing it with water in the station tanks. Of course they all have seperators on them now but non the less as it gets cold the seperators do not catch it all as the water crystallizes in the gas itself. Thats why people have more problems in with fuel in the winter opposed to warmer weather. I hope that's all it is for your sake, anyway again a shot in the dark, good luck!
 
So FX has been at the dealership all day. They told my mechanic it's the plugs and were about to change them, my mechanic said he changed the plugs and look deeper. If the plugs are bad i will be pissed cause that should have been determined quick. My mechanic did buy 2 plugs and switch them around but the problem was still there. I hope the dealer has good new for me tomorrow. If anyone wants to know i bought the ngk iridiums LFR5AIX-11 plugs. Thanks for all the help guys, can't wait to see what the dealership says
 
So the dealership called my mechanic back and said the computer is fried and how they're on back order for a month. I am really trying not to go to the shop. I am fuming right now. he's trying to convince me that the battery was dead and shorted out the computer. He's saying it's known fact that out vehicles have bad grounds and that put a surge through the computer. I have no vehicle to get to work. I tried to remain calm during this whole ordeal but i can not remain calm anymore
 
try calling the wrecking yard. last time i checked there was couple wrecked fx\s in toronto
 
I have a few places i will call tomorrow. they're not expensive or anything, just a pain being without my FX for a week. I can drive it but its running really rich and i don't want to mess up my cats, although i was considering getting hfc's anyways. I am calm now lol. It could be worse
 
i read somehwere where it could jsut be a bad grounding point. might want to check all those also
 
For anyone who cares to know the update. So i hve been carless for 2 1/2 weeks due to this issue. Sent the FX to the dealership where they told us it's the computer. My mechanic orders a computer and the problem is still there. We now take the FX back from the dealer and my mechanic decides to check the coils. As you can read from page one where most said to have him check the coils i asked him if he checked them and he said yes. Well today he called me and said it was the coils, coil 2,4 and 6. I am fuming right now as he told me he checked them before. He now says i need to pay for the 3 coils he's changning (i am ok with that), pay for the computer, pay for the dealership doing their diagnoses and reprogramming the new computer, pay for a new ground wire. In today he says i owe around $1100.00. I am picking up my FX after work. Very happy to have my FX back but very upset it has been gone this long and the problem was the first thing he should have checked after plugs. I am mad i don't know much about mechanics but i did tell him to check what everyone recommended.
 
Well at least it's fixed. Might be a good time to start learning how to work on the FX yourself if you are interested. You said your cousin or someone is a mechanic also, did they not check the coils?
 
My cousin is a mechanic but he works a lot too. we trusted the mechanic. so when he said he checked the coils we didn't question him as he's a pretty smart guy. Will probably just have my cousin work on it in the future. He was going to change the plugs but he's busy and i thought it's a no brainer so i let my mechanic do it. Just glad i will have my FX back after all this. Will be talking to him about what i owe as well. It just bothers me i don't know mechanics, i know abut car stereos but not mechanics. Also, what is the chance of 3 coils going during a spark plug change. I don't think my mechanic did the change i think his other workers did, so could they have messed up my coils seeing how the coils are all on teh same side?
 
I wouldn't pay for the dealer diagnostic. It would have never gone to the dealer if he had checked the coils. You even asked him their condition and he basically mislead you intentionally or unintentionally that they were good. So you then allowed him to send it to dealer for a computer you didn't need. He shouldn't charge you for that. I'd be hesitant about whether or not you're responsible for coils. The chances of 3 failing at the same time are slim to none. But it's easy to mess them up during a spark plug change if he pulls too hard.
 
If you have proof that he said he checked the coils, then I would print off this thread and take it to him and tell him you are not paying for anything. If he says anything, tell him you will see him in small claims court, where you will also be seeking the damages for being car-less for over 2 weeks.

It was literally like the 3rd thing everyone here on IS said it could be. Absolutely ridiculous, I stayed out of this thread for so long because you kept saying how you trusted this mechanic even though all along he sounded like a complete asshat. I didn't want to upset you, but I think you are now realizing how bad your "trusted" mechanic ended up screwing you over. I say make him pay...

shadow191 said:
How do you know that your coils and plugs are fine? Because the same guy who thinks it's a bad MAF when it probably isn't tells you he checked them? Your symptoms sound basically the same as on my old Maxima (VQ30) when I blew a coilpack. One cylinder wasn't firing so the car had no power, threw crazy misfire codes, and smelled like fuel. So either he messed up one of your coilpacks reinstalling it or he swapped the plugs as someone mentioned. That will also result in your symptoms since the firing order is messedup.
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I mean seriously Shadow hit the nail on the head in the first page of the thread.

:iS: is bible. :eatsleepis:
 
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teemoney said:
My cousin is a mechanic but he works a lot too. we trusted the mechanic. so when he said he checked the coils we didn't question him as he's a pretty smart guy. Will probably just have my cousin work on it in the future. He was going to change the plugs but he's busy and i thought it's a no brainer so i let my mechanic do it. Just glad i will have my FX back after all this. Will be talking to him about what i owe as well. It just bothers me i don't know mechanics, i know abut car stereos but not mechanics. Also, what is the chance of 3 coils going during a spark plug change. I don't think my mechanic did the change i think his other workers did, so could they have messed up my coils seeing how the coils are all on teh same side?
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Its tight to take the coils out around certain pipes and wires so they probally bent it too much and fuked it up.
 
Viperi,

I agree 100%, I just changed my plugs last weekend and they can be a real bitch to get to. I can see a mechanic/shadetree forcing them out and screwing them up. I have had allot of cars and I can't ever Remeber more than one coil going out at the time. 3 Of them! Come on, I would tell the guy to pound salt or I pound his head in if it were me and I wouldn't pay for any of the work he done!
 
I picked up my FX and gave him $450. I really didn't want to give him anything but it is what it is. I took this as a learning experience. It just makes me mad that he said he checked the coils and didn't. I could tell when i picked up the FX that he knows he screwed up. I have no way to prove he messed up my coils and that's why i paid. Like i said i won't be going back. I thank everyone for their help but understand i am not a mechanic, i told him what to check and thought he did. Guess cause i had a free rental i wasn't pushing him to fix it but at the end of the day i missed my FX and returned the rental yesterday. I hope anyone who reads this learns from my mistakes. On a side note, new air filter, new iridium plugs, cleaned throttle body, cleaned MAF and new battery and it drives amazing, so happy
 
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teemoney said:
I picked up my FX and gave him $450. I really didn't want to give him anything but it is what it is. I took this as a learning experience. It just makes me mad that he said he checked the coils and didn't. I could tell when i picked up the FX that he knows he screwed up. I have no way to prove he messed up my coils and that's why i paid. Like i said i won't be going back. I thank everyone for their help but understand i am not a mechanic, i told him what to check and thought he did. Guess cause i had a free rental i wasn't pushing him to fix it but at the end of the day i missed my FX and returned the rental yesterday. I hope anyone who reads this learns from my mistakes.I have no way to prove hOn a side note, new air filter, new iridium plugs, new battery and it drives amazing, so happy
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Were all on your side here bud. We feel for you. Glad you got your car back, and atleast she is running good now. Thats all that matters. In the grand scheme of everything $450 is nothing to even bother getting upset about. Shit happens, we move on.
 
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