An interesting thing FordService did for a gent below... With the amount of sensors all spread out in new autos - I bet Acura has an ECU diagnostic mode [i.e. to test ALL installed sensors are ok at the factory or gather data on them at any time]. It can potentially save us quite a bit of frustration.

Let's use this idea whenever they give us the standrad BS 'cannot duplicate' crap of an answer !!

.S.
---

Q - Several months ago I wrote about a problem with my 1994 Cougar downshifting out of overdrive after it had been driven over 150 miles. The dealer had difficulty finding the problem because it was intermittent; and, of course, it never showed up when I had it into the garage. The dealer put a "Flight Recorder" on for me and all I had to do was push a button within one minute after the problem had occurred. I used this flight recorder until the problem had happened a couple of times and returned to the garage, where they downloaded the data, pinpointed the problem and fixed it within a half-hour. The problem was a faulty transmission sensor. Thought your readers might like to know about this method of finding those on-again-off-again problems that never show up when you take the car in for repair.

 

How would I know re. that diagMode... whenever we designed any Telecomm Wireless Channel based systems utilizing dozens of channels - that's how we would TEST the channels worked at the factory - while this would also serve as one of the top procedures to go through each channel and record data when problems would arise...
And since we all 'fart' the same way... well there you go ....

 

dealer can't blow us off then

 

Anyone try?

 

my dealership does have a 'black-box' that they can hook up to monitor the systems .. however they won't leave it in the car to log and find intermitent problems .. I guess that acura is happy with crappy service

 

Re. the crappy service - MORE then agree... My long term issue with Acura.. is that they carefully 'control' Complaint Distributtion.. i.e. they asign some imbacile on the case [Acura Consumer Relations] whom ONLY knows of how to keep you at bay by preventing further escalation of the problem. And since none of the dealers are really assosiated w/ Acura - they are all independently owned - they 'only' get together when they are both sued... and of course for quota internal bonuses ...

Our 'better' line of defense from my experience is rather dealing directly with the dealer General Manager or even an Owner. There was a Service Manager that acted like an ass... so I wrote him 'hard'... a few weeks later... my service adviser in strictest confidence informed [without knowing of the letter] that they disscussed my letter during a few meetings with that chum's presense there... Of course.. if that doesn't work.. - radio... Tv.. - is the only thing that comes to mind.. and how to 'dent' the situation ...

Pardon for 'repost'... or sounding like a cratched CD.. ... Yet less exciting designs and services are my Acura pet peeves ... Still... passing a 330i with owner's bulging eyes.. doing 101 at 6700rpm in the 3rd... w/ vtec silk-ing away... makes me forget & come for more ...

 

As a point of information, the ecu in most of our cars stores a "snapshot" of all the data being processed when a fault occurs. This can be read by our diagnostic tools and will sometimes help in diagnosing problems that set a fault code. This is kept in memory for a period of time. The problem is, that if an intermitent problem does not cause the ecu to set a code, then there is no snapshot taken. Our newer diag tablet computer can be put in snapshot mode, then our techs can drive the car and manually trigger a recording if the problem occurs. This equiptment costs over $5,000.00 and is not likely to be lent out to a customer!

Wayne Gruen
Svc Mgr
PAA

 

Wayne... thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, if the problem is intermittent, the diagGear, no matter how expensive or great - does us no good. If you'd ask me, being a programmer before, I'd rather assign some chunk of Diag memory, enough to be able to record a week's worth - then do a dump and see what truly happened.
Ironic how simple it would be, since the ECU code for it is/was already written. This would also circumvent the use of extra gear, and catch the intermittent culprit in the act, while lessening so much frustration at times.. for both customers and mechanics.

Another option that is to come.. when our cell companies will get their act together with 4G, is to wirelessly transmit the ECU data to mechanics investigating the case.. 4G WILL allow this, however by the time this will get implemented, we both shall probably retire ...

 

Wayne... another q for you .... my boss for instance, does NOT care how I solve the problem... yet if my client requires resolution... my boss has a favorite 'saying'.... "Please HANDLE it"... meaning... resolve it.. no matter what. I hope you are the same way with your guys... to keep all of us here happy ...

Fortunately, and this is from the field.... these cases are rare enough to be adequately resolved in my case. In the extreme cases I MADE designers write me a 'custom diag' code and finding the problem that way. The rule of thumb - the more you look for a solution - the dumber or simpler is the culprit ...