help

got o advanced auto parts or o'reilys. they do free diagnostics.

Forget advance auto parts. or oreilly auto parts. for diagnostics. they are parts people, not mechanics. Take it to a local trusted shop for diag. If it is blinking, that means catylist damaging misfire. Prob tune up related or injector related. Should take it to a mechanic to be sure.

They have a diagnostics tool that tells them the error code which they type in and find what's wrong to a degree and from there you can decide to go to a shop or not. Just going to a shop immediately is dumb.

I do have to reply to this comment.... I don't know about O'Reillys.. But I served as a shift manager part time at Advance Auto Parts for about a year.. I am ASE Certified.. As was all but one person in our store.. General rule of thumb, inquire with the person you are taking advise from for their credentials.. I have met "parts people" that are more educated then "mechanics"....

Sorry to say guys. It is not dumb to take to a knowledgeable tech. The dumb thing to do is to just trust some parts guy to tell you what is wrong with their car. My credentials are as such. ase cert auto master, ase cert med/heavy truck master, ase alt fuels, ase parts specialist, ase 1 advanced. AAS degree in automotive through GM asep program. 15 years with chevrolet as master tech and shop foreman. Due to physical condition I now work as an assistant manager at Oreilly auto parts and it is against pollicy for us to "plug in that machine that tells you what's wrong with your car". That machine hasn't been invented yet. The diagnostician tells you what is wrong with your car. not a machine. With a misfire it COULD be plugs, wires, fuel injector (whether or not mechanical or electrical issues), injector pulse from the computer, bad catalytic converter, rings, egr valve, intake or exhaust valve, and the list goes on. Their are many very qualified people in the parts business, but from what most experienced parts people know is from what has been told to them, not from personal experience. Even with all my experience and training, I can't tell you what is wrong with your car without testing all systems involved with the issue you may have. You can get lucky and nail the problem with what most commonly goes wrong, but just hanging parts can get very expensive real quick.

And Michael, I agree with the some parts people smarter than mechanics. As a parts person now still playing with a 150,000$ garage full of tools at my house, I have seen many people call themselves mechanics just because they changed oil once or they know a mechanic and somehow they think that information has just been passed on through esp or something. I get fits at when the backyard dumbass thinks we sell him a bad part when the truth is he has no clue. People that come in not knowing how to do something and ask me how are awesome. at least they will listen with an attentive ear and try to do things the right way.

You just repeated what I wrote. It's free, the tool gives an error code, they can find out what's wrong to a degree. Never did I say the person should just believe them on whatver they say. It depends inthe issue and code given. Going to a shop everytime a check engine light comes on adds up quicker than going to advanced or o'reilys. Had I done that with my 300C I would have lost thousands of dollars for nothing. Bad tank of gas, loose gas cap twice, and an egr valve. Had I gone to the shop everytime I would have spent over $1000 on nothing. I stand by what I said. Go to advanced or o'reilys first. Then you can choose togo to a shop after based on the diagnosis.

for some reason i highly doubt any of what u said anyone gave a shit about im Ase Certified out of high school which i graduated from 2 days ago. and i specialize in alternative fuel and am ase master brake mechanic but no one gives a shit do they no if u can go someplace where someone knows how to do it then go if a parts store is closer than a shop then go to the store. why is a big deal

ase means nothing. just that you passed a test. talk to me once you have half of the experience i have. You sound like I did 20 years ago when first got out of school and thought I knew it all. I have worked for chevrolet in dealerships for over 15 years and also been a shop foreman. in other words, the last resort to get if fixed when no one else can do so.

Well, I would have to agree with you.. I worked part time at advance to help cover the extra bills when my wife was out on Maternaty leave with my last son. I have been working on cars since I was 14. I am ASE certified. And I have my degree from Wyotech. It aggrevated me having shadetree mechanics doing dumb s**t, assuming it was one part while not having a clue then returning the part as defective. Even better when you suggested what it could be in the beginning and they ruled it out, and it ended up being the problem. As to some of the other comments on this page, ASE accredidations have varying levels of involvemtent to get accredited as ASE.. You have to not only have the knowledge to pass the test, but you have to have the experience in the field as well. So many of these posts aggrevate me at times, because honestly, most of these ppl don't know what they are talking about. ONE code can have more then one possible problem. And I am ok with getting codes read for free at a parts store, but if you do that you should have the knowledge to interpret them... Or make sure you talk with someone that does.. Because if your code read says the O2 input signal is low, does not always mean the O2 sensor is bad. Always research your advisors credentials... And just food for thought.. Would you allow the person selling your physician his medical equipment to operate on you? Or would you just take advise and weigh it with what your doctor says?

Wow, that's awesome, instead of focusing on helping the guy, this turned into a massive pissing contest between parts guys and mechanics. Either way, when a check engine light is flashing, that is, as mentioned before, a catalyst damaging misfire. However, getting the thing scanned will not necessarily be the saving grace in the grand scheme of things, you could get a P0300, then what? you have a random misfire with no guidance as to what cylinder is the problem or what's causing the misfire. Scan tools are meant to be a diagnostic tool to assist in the diagnostic process, not replace it all together. So I would recommend you take it to a trusted shop. As a side note though, depending on how long this has been an issue for, if it's been going on for a while, you're gonna need a catalytic converter on top of whatever else is causing the misfire... or it could be a good excuse to hollow the cat out. lol.

ive had that problem before on my 00 camaro. its a misfire code. go get the code for it read and that will tell you which cylinder is acting up then check the plug and wire. if those are good then you might try looking at the coil pack. i ended up having to replace one of my coils and it worked out just fine.