2010 Mazda catalyst monitor
Had a fun one today. 2010 Mazda v6 came asking us for help getting the catalyst monitor to set. customer had been to two other independent shops and the dealer multiple times over the last 3 months. they all said just keep driving it, customer had put over 3k miles and it had not set any codes, all other monitors completed but the catalyst still sat uncompleted. the dealer had tried to just throw a cat at it but customer was not wanting to spend that much without proof. Came to me and started driving. at a 55mph cruise found the B1S1 af sensor freaking out. but not enough to set a code. with this alone i replaced the AF with a OE part and drove again. sensor now smooth and monitor set within 5 miles. how did a dealership not find this? is it because there was no codes? is diagnostics a dying breed or something?
The most probable reason the dealer did not find it, is because the technician working on it was getting paid .3 to diagnose it. The service writer tried to shotgun it to the customer. The estimate for the converter probably included new O2 sensors, the vehicle would have been fixed and the writer would have made good money by selling the job. The tech probably said for .3 I pulled codes and…
Hi Jamey: The issue that I have with your thought process (not that I believe you are incorrect) is the Indy shops, but one, didn't shine very brightly here either. Forgetting "fault" or "blame" for a moment, issues like these will help to start/continue the death knell of our trade. Personally, it doesn't matter whose flag is flying at a shop. I don't like it no matter what. Guido
You are absolutely correct Guido. I really should have left out "The Dealer" and just said "The other shops" It is a problem in a lot of shops. Diagnostics are not sold correctly. Just blast away with the parts cannon and hope something sticks.
Nobody wants to hear that you need to figure out what is wrong. They think if you don't just know (through magic??) you're making crap up after that. At least most indy's will charge 1.0 vs .3 so you have half-a chance anyway. p.s. JT, today was our last day of "being open". ESO is gonna take phone calls and stack cars until there is enough for a full day of work.
Sorry to hear that Geoff. That is my last line of defense also. I have reached it yet and hope I don’t. good luck. at least the island isn’t crowded with tourists....
That was nice at first, and yet every day this week the roads are more full of people going...IDK where. People are pretty fed-up with the whole thing, and realize they can do what they want....as long as it's free. More and more people up on the old cane roads where I do my cardio, too.
Hi Jamey, This is a 10 year old car and the .3 is probably a minimum of an hour. But the damage is already done with the mindset that has been created with no value (pay) for testing and analysis, and the only value (pay) is replacing parts. It's a rare individual that can shift his mind out of the warranty flat rate game into the customer pay arena. Until the manufacturers implement changes…
It seems to have died a long time ago.It died when R&R (repair and rebuild) was replaced with R&R(remove and replace)
lol at "dying breed". It was never a growing breed to begin with! That's why iATN.net got started and now Diag.net For those VERY FEW super nerds who want to solve mysteries instead of just "scanning and selling" like all the high volume places, making all the big money do. Good job, btw. We don't have emissions here, so solving a "monitor won't run" is something…
Nice catch, Scott! I don't suppose you saved the scan data files from your diagnosis? I'd be interested to see the captures if they're available.
Define freaking out. I see B1S1 has far less dynamic range. And after scan shows that B2S1 seems also to have a freaking out problem. Clearly we don't have access to the engineering strategy the engineers used to decide good and bad. Don't get me wrong, you fixed this vehicle, you are a hero. I was looking for criteria that is reproducible, that's all. Thanks you for posting. Did the cat monitor…