Please HELP! My check engine light came on the other day and my car ran rough. I took it to a mechanic and he could not figure out the problem. He just said the ?Keep Alive Memory? wiring problems. Whatever that means???!!! He told me to take it to a dealership since they have a ?Ford Star Tech? equipment to take care of the problem.
I read somewhere that is just a fuse and wire grounding problem along with the battery cables needing to be cleaned.
I need help fast b/c dealerships are a joke for the most part.
THANK YOU! My dad and I cleaned the battery cables where they meet at the terminal. It had gunk build up which means I need to replace the battery cables. All is fine now. I called the mechanices up and told them off...wasting my time and money. They are as bad as lawyers and vultures. Karma is a b---- and someday it will bite them in the derriere.
Take care.
"Al" wrote: > KONGC wrote: > > Please HELP! My check engine light came on the other day > and my car > > ran rough. I took it to a mechanic and he could not figure > out the > > problem. He just said the ?Keep Alive Memory? wiring > problems. > > Whatever that means???!!! He told me to take it to a > dealership since > > they have a ?Ford Star Tech? equipment to take care of the > problem. > > > > I read somewhere that is just a fuse and wire grounding > problem along > > with the battery cables needing to be cleaned. > > > > I need help fast b/c dealerships are a joke for the most > part. > > > > Thank you. > > > > so you have a mechanic that is not even able to read a code > from your > car's computer and 'figure out' whats wrong. > > but you know what's wrong - just need to clean those battery > cables (not > sure why you have not done that yet though) > > of course you are right - "dealerships are a joke" so you have > come to a > newsgroup for "fast help" that isn't a joke. good thinking.
Now just remember this for next time: Even though the new side-terminal posts are infinitely better at controlling corrosion, they still can go bad with acid working it's way between the wires and the lug stamping.
And with the fancy molded plastic cover on the battery terminal you'll never see the corrosion building up - but you still have to replace the cables occasionally. 10 years is when you keep an eye open and especially if you get slow crank troubles and it isn't the battery, 20 years is when you start thinking about replacing the cables 'just because'.
Dealers and mechanics that you don't know have to do "Defensive Repair Work" - Just like "Defensive Medicine, this means they have to be overly thorough (change all parts even marginally suspect) so you don't come back with the same problem again - And if it's a Dealer with a "we fix it the first time for a lifetime" policy you might want them to do it for free, so they don't chance it. Ergo, your bill is almost always quite a bit higher.
If the symptoms are vague and it could be a cheap fix or an expensive fix, I prefer to do the simple and inexpensive stuff first. (Often it's stuff that needed to be done for maintenance anyway.) See if that cures it before changing the expensive parts.
Like an ignition stumble, where you aren't sure if it's the coil, module, pickup or just the plugs and wires, and the computer or testing can't help - first you do plugs and wires, rotor and cap (all maintenance items) then drive it for a while and see.
"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote: > On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:22:32 -0500, KONGC > wrote: > > >THANK YOU! My dad and I cleaned the battery cables where > they meet at > >the terminal. It had gunk build up which means I need to > replace the > >battery cables. All is fine now. I called the mechanices up > and told > >them off...wasting my time and money. They are as bad as > lawyers and > >vultures. Karma is a b---- and someday it will bite them in > the > >derriere. > > Now just remember this for next time: Even though the new > side-terminal posts are infinitely better at controlling > corrosion, > they still can go bad with acid working it's way between the > wires and > the lug stamping. > > And with the fancy molded plastic cover on the battery > terminal > you'll never see the corrosion building up - but you still > have to > replace the cables occasionally. 10 years is when you keep an > eye > open and especially if you get slow crank troubles and it > isn't the > battery, 20 years is when you start thinking about replacing > the > cables 'just because'. > > Dealers and mechanics that you don't know have to do > "Defensive > Repair Work" - Just like "Defensive Medicine, this means they > have to > be overly thorough (change all parts even marginally suspect) > so you > don't come back with the same problem again - And if it's a > Dealer > with a "we fix it the first time for a lifetime" policy you > might want > them to do it for free, so they don't chance it. Ergo, your > bill is > almost always quite a bit higher. > > If the symptoms are vague and it could be a cheap fix or an > expensive fix, I prefer to do the simple and inexpensive stuff > first. > (Often it's stuff that needed to be done for maintenance > anyway.) > See if that cures it before changing the expensive parts. > > Like an ignition stumble, where you aren't sure if it's the > coil, > module, pickup or just the plugs and wires, and the computer > or > testing can't help - first you do plugs and wires, rotor and > cap (all > maintenance items) then drive it for a while and see. > > -->--
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