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Failed your emission smog test? Can you afford to pay the repairs?
By Richard Trent
Almost all drivers realize that driving in any American
cities requires that the vehicle has to pass an emission
smog testing. The government has passed this law to avoid
pollution and help everybody conserve our scarce oil
supplies. Naturally, if your vehicle failed the emission
test, your vehicle cannot be driven unless you got it fixed.
Therefore, you either have the option of having it repaired
in a garage or if you are one of the many drivers who want
to save money,you would think hard and try by fixing the
check engine light problem yourself.
A lot of drivers are afraid to bring their vehicles to the
garage and you cannot blame them. Imagine the initial cost:
(1). $100-$150 for scanning the codes and the preliminary
testing to check the code. (2). Extra labor expense once the
job estimate is authorized which is nearly $100 per hour
depending on the type of vehicle you drive. By the time the
work is completed, it can easily total in the neighborhood
of $300-$800 which is only for one code. And if more codes
are found, your cost can easily rise up.
If you have no plan to break the bank, consider fixing it
yourself. Shown here is an example for one of my subscriber
who had check engine light in his dash panel: My 2001 Ford
F150 Pick up truck has not passed the smog test and this
code P0402 (EGR flow high) came on the other day on my
vehicle. I tried repairing this myself and when I tested the
vacuum to the egr valve port at idle, the engine stalled,
this tells me that the egr valve is OK. The engine
performance is OK except I have to see this light and will
surely fail my smog test. How do I check this so I can pass
my emission test?
Looking at this problem and searching my vehicle database,I
found out that this problem is common so I wrote him this:
There is a common fix for this problem and this requires the
replacement of the DPFE sensor. The sensor has a shape of a
small box with 2 ports coming from the exhaust. The sensor
can be found between the valve cover and throttle body with
tubes running from it. This sensor determines the exhaust
back pressure when the EGR valve is operational. The
passages (tubes) for this device can get cracked and leak
that would cause the code but this sensor usually fails.
Also, if the tube has carbon restriction, the code can come
out too. To test, measure the signal voltage of the sensor
by tracing the DPFE wiring colors. The maximum reading
should be 0.9 volt and any reading higher than this means
the sensor has failed.
Because of his membership to my courseware, he saved himself
the cost of scanning and he was able to buy the tools at a
reasonable cost like a hand held vacuum pump, a digital
voltmeter and all the hand tools required to do this job. By
the time the work was finished, he spent about the same
amount had he brought the vehicle to a garage with a major
benefit: gained a new set of tools, improved his belief in
himself and he is even ready next time a check engine light
appears in his dash panel. So, can you see the advantage of
doing it yourself? Even if you cannot finish the job and go
to a garage, you just become an informed customer that no
garage can rip-off. For more info, please read my blog at:
http://check-engine-light-codes.blogspot.com
About the Author
Mr. Richard Trent is an avid publisher of automotive websites and blogs including this blog that helps car owner save money on car repairs. Please visit http://www.check-engine-light-codes.blogspot.com
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/39739.html
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