Diagnosis needed on car trouble

[Dottleshead]

My wife noticed the check engine light came on the other day abnormally but then went away after an ephemeral stint. But then she tells me she's seen the check oil light flash on and off a couple times too. This morning we drove through some colder weather into warmer weather and parked and we noticed steam (white) rising from the radiator while idling in park. I had her turn the car off and in a few minutes it went away. Temps on the gauges looked normal. 

What I believe to be steam coming out of the radiator doesn't necessarily mean anything but when combined with the other irregularities, it could be  The good news is it's not burning oil. But it is a concern and getting in to see my mechanic is not a speedy process.

Based on this limited info, what do you think is going on? Nothing to worry about? Get it checked? Get it checked immediately? The bad news is we have one and only one car.

[jsharr]

Maybe a bad thermostat?  

[Dottleshead]

3 minutes ago, jsharr said:

Maybe a bad thermostat?  

Possibly and that's always the worry. Doing more damage than we are aware of.

[Longjohn]

It means you need to buy a new bike.

[bikeman564™]

The engine light on, then off would indicate the symptom(s) are gone. Depending on the code, if the problem has been corrected or no longer an issue after a certain number of ignition cycles, it will turn off. This is normal.

When you say oil light. Is it the change oil light, or the oil can that is illuminated red? If its the red one, that indicates low oil pressure. If this persists, I'd have it looked at.

A little bit of steam on the radiator is normal because it's hot. If there is moisture on it, it'll steam. Doesn't mean there is a leak.

[Dottleshead]

Just now, Longjohn said:

It means you need to buy a new bike.

Yeah, no. I got a couple of those. I need my one and only paid off car working like a champ.

[Dottleshead]

2 minutes ago, bikeman564™ said:

The engine light on, then off would indicate the symptom(s) are gone. Depending on the code, if the problem has been corrected or no longer an issue after a certain number of ignition cycles, it will turn off. This is normal.

When you say oil light. Is it the change oil light, or the oil can that is illuminated red? If its the red one, that indicates low oil pressure. If this persists, I'd have it looked at.

A little bit of steam on the radiator is normal because it's hot. If there is moisture on it, it'll steam. Doesn't mean there is a leak.

I am going to pass on this exact post to my wife. She's the one who will schedule the appointment with my mechanic as we need a 100,000 mile check up.

[Longjohn]

2 minutes ago, Dottles said:

Yeah, no. I got a couple of those. I need my one and only paid off car working like a champ.

Take it to the dealership. For a few thousand dollars they will have it running like a champ.

[Zephyr]

What kind of vehicle?

[jsharr]

I have a local mechanic who I trust.  Grew up with his kids, been in business for decades.  I think the third generation is running it now.

I would ask around for recommendations for a shop that is not a dealership and take it to them over taking to a dealership unless you are still under warranty.

 

[Dottleshead]

5 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Take it to the dealership. For a few thousand dollars they will have it running like a champ.

And leave a timed explosive in the trunk?

[Dottleshead]

Just now, Zephyr said:

What kind of vehicle?

2015 Sonata

[Dottleshead]

9 minutes ago, jsharr said:

I have a local mechanic who I trust.  Grew up with his kids, been in business for decades.  I think the third generation is running it now.

I would ask around for recommendations for a shop that is not a dealership and take it to them over taking to a dealership unless you are still under warranty.

 

I have a great mechanic I trust. I have 20 years trusting him and his father's work. That's the good news.  Only trouble is he's busy in the next town over and maybe not the cheapest. But his work has never, ever failed me.

[jsharr]

6 minutes ago, Dottles said:

2015 Sonata

A bit of googling tells me it may have something to do with oil control valves and valve timing.  

[Longjohn]

That’s sonata very old car. Does your mechanic do extensive repairs? Some stick with brakes, tires, exhaust, oil changes, etc. You need a full service mechanic. If that snot what he is you might want someone else for this problem.

[jsharr]

1 minute ago, Dottles said:

I have a great mechanic I trust. Only trouble is he's busy in the next town over. But I have 20 years trusting him and his father's work. That's the good news.

take it to him.  rent her a car for a week.

[Page Turner]

...it's pretty hard to diagnose something that new even if it's right in front of me.  It's a computer driven process, and there are diagnostic codes that get stored in the memory as these events occur.  That's one of the reasons your dealership is probably the best place to start, and why they charge such outrageous labor rates.  If you think of your car like a Microsoft product, but with slightly  better production values in design and manufacturing, you're close to the truth.

 

 

How Car Computers Work

[JerrySTL]

9 minutes ago, Dottles said:

2015 Sonata

If you have under 100K miles on it, the power-train should be under warranty still. I'd take it to a dealer.

[Dottleshead]

4 minutes ago, jsharr said:

 rent her a car for a week.

I may take this advice.

[Bikeguy]

The oil light flashing…  The oil could be low and you need to add NOW, before you damage the engine.  Years ago I was in a car of my friend and I notice the oil light flickering.  He told me; “I’m not worried there is lots of oil”.   A few minutes later, the engine bearings seized up and totaled his engine.

If the engine was cold, and the oil is too thick (the wrong oil for the winter) the oil pump may not be able to pump the pump enough oil into the engine and the light flickers.  That’s not good at all for the engine.   Or the oil pump could be failing, which would be rare.

Or the oil pressure sensor could be bad. 

The steam…   Hard to say…  it could be bad.   Or just a leaking hose.

The check engine light…   Get the code and see what happened.

If you are really unlucky, and all 3 things are related, that could be something real bad, like a blown head gasket, which is rare.   Anything leaking out and dripping on the garage floor?

[Indy]

I am confused, so you don't have an ODBII reader to check the engine codes?  That is a completely foreign concept to me.

[Dottleshead]

The irony. My bus just broke down with mechanical trouble.

[Dottleshead]

2 minutes ago, Indy said:

I am confused, so you don't have an ODBII reader to check the engine codes?  That is a completely foreign concept to me.

What the fudge is an ODBII reader?!?? 

[2Far]

Unless you got the sickly sweet smell from the steam, it's likely water vapor from somewhere.

Check engine light is a funky thing, mine's come an a few times, flickered then went out. It may be related to fuel quality, but dunno.

 

[Longjohn]

1 minute ago, Dottles said:

The irony. My bus just broke down with mechanical trouble.

I think you are carrying and spreading a mechanical virus. You need to go into quarantine. 

[Dottleshead]

5 minutes ago, JerrySTL said:

If you have under 100K miles on it, the power-train should be under warranty still. I'd take it to a dealer.

Yeah. If I can get in and see my car guy, and it falls under warranty, he'll tell me.

[Dottleshead]

Just now, Longjohn said:

I think you are carrying and spreading a mechanical virus. You need to go into quarantine. 

I'm like a bad VD.

[Bikeguy]

14 minutes ago, Dottles said:

What the fudge is an ODBII reader?!?? 

If you have to ask, you don't need one.    Your mechanic should have it.

Years ago I purchased an expensive ODB2 device that connects via Bluetooth to my Garmin Nuvi GPS in the car.  It’s kind of cool to see all of data in the GPS display when you drive.

I don’t use it much, but it is nice to have if needed.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/automotive/ecoroute-hd-transforms-your-nuvi-into-a-realtime-diagnostics-computer/

[Dottleshead]

2 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

If you have to ask, you don't need one.  Your mechanic should have it.

He does. And giving Indy trouble after his ODBII injection. 

[Airehead]

49 minutes ago, Dottles said:

My wife noticed the check engine light came on the other day abnormally but then went away after an ephemeral stint. But then she tells me she's seen the check oil light flash on and off a couple times too. This morning we drove through some colder weather into warmer weather and parked and we noticed steam (white) rising from the radiator while idling in park. I had her turn the car off and in a few minutes it went away. Temps on the gauges looked normal. 

What I believe to be steam coming out of the radiator doesn't necessarily mean anything but when combined with the other irregularities, it could be  The good news is it's not burning oil. But it is a concern and getting in to see my mechanic is not a speedy process.

Based on this limited info, what do you think is going on? Nothing to worry about? Get it checked? Get it checked immediately? The bad news is we have one and only one car.

Does it smell sweet?

[Longjohn]

4 minutes ago, Dottles said:

What the fudge is an ODBII reader?!?? 

My wife had a Verizon Hum installed on her Pilot, then she bought another vehicle and gave me the Pilot. The hum tells me more than I want to know about my vehicle. It would tell me if I had a problem with the engine and what the problem is. It also tells me if the voltage in the battery is getting low (usually tells me that when it’s too low to start the car.) Since my wife doesn’t drive anymore I drive her car and just use the Pilot to haul stuff or when I need 4WD.

[Dottleshead]

Just now, Airehead said:

Does it smell sweet?

How could I possibly tell? I was standing next to my wife.

[Indy]

6 minutes ago, Bikeguy said:

If you have to ask, you don't need one.  Your mechanic should have it.

And if the service engine light comes on, you should be taking it to a mechanic soon to have them look if it can wait or not.

[Dottleshead]

4 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

My wife had a Verizon Hum installed on her Pilot, then she bought another vehicle and gave me the Pilot. The hum tells me more than I want to know about my vehicle. It would tell me if I had a problem with the engine and what the problem is. It also tells me if the voltage in the battery is getting low (usually tells me that when it’s too low to start the car.) Since my wife doesn’t drive anymore I drive her car and just use the Pilot to haul stuff or when I need 4WD.

Is the Hum worth it?

[Dottleshead]

10 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

My wife had a Verizon Hum installed on her Pilot, then she bought another vehicle and gave me the Pilot. The hum tells me more than I want to know about my vehicle. It would tell me if I had a problem with the engine and what the problem is. It also tells me if the voltage in the battery is getting low (usually tells me that when it’s too low to start the car.) Since my wife doesn’t drive anymore I drive her car and just use the Pilot to haul stuff or when I need 4WD.

 

5 minutes ago, Dottles said:

Is the Hum worth it?

I'm better off taking it to the dealer once in a blue moon.

PROS

• Easy setup.
• Intuitive app interface.
• Automatic maintenance checks and reminders.

CONS

• Crucial services depend on cellular coverage.
• Pricey.

[Page Turner]

23 minutes ago, Indy said:

I am confused, so you don't have an ODBII reader to check the engine codes?  That is a completely foreign concept to me.

...I bought a cheap code grabber about 7-8 years ago to work on my wife's Toyota.   I think it's already outdated. 

[Longjohn]

Just now, Dottles said:

Is the Hum worth it?

Not on a Honda, might be good to have on a problematic car. The hum also keeps track off all kind of other stuff. If someone else installs the app they can see where the car is, how fast you are going, tire pressure. My wife had the app before she gave the car to me. I called it spyware, I don’t need to have her watching me electronically. It tells you when service is due, might be good for people that forget to service their vehicle. (My brother and it used to be my son)

[Indy]

Just now, Page Turner said:

...I bought a cheap code grabber about 7-8 years ago to work on my wife's Toyota.   I think it's already outdated. 

ODBII hasn't really changed.  Should still pull the codes, the hardest part sometimes is finding a site that can interrupt the codes.

[Dottleshead]

Just now, Longjohn said:

Not on a Honda, might be good to have on a problematic car. The hum also keeps track off all kind of other stuff. If someone else installs the app they can see where the car is, how fast you are going, tire pressure. My wife had the app before she gave the car to me. I called it spyware, I don’t need to have her watching me electronically. It tells you when service is due, might be good for people that forget to service their vehicle. (My brother and it used to be my son)

Yeah. It would be a waste of money on my car. Spyware!

[Longjohn]

My wife called me one time while I was driving and said my engine was overheating. I looked at the dash and the temp gauge Showed slightly elevated temp but I was pulling a loaded trailer on a 95° day.

[Indy]

1 minute ago, Dottles said:

Yeah. It would be a waste of money on my car. Spyware!

The HUM also at one time, was known for frying ECMs.  No idea if they've really gotten that fixed or not.

I've got several different ODBII readers, but I am a tool whore.  The last one I bought just because it looked cooler than my others, doesn't do anything special that the others don't.  I have issues.  

[Dottleshead]

Just now, Indy said:

I have issues.  

You're in good company.

[donkpow]

Some of the auto parts stores will pull stored codes for you. The trouble is that the code may not be directly related to a possible failure. Like "low fuel pressure" indication could lead a mechanic to replace the fuel pump when it could just as easily be the sensor failing.

[maddmaxx]

Is the steam from your radiator coming from a specific place, like a pin hole might do?  Sometimes when you run an engine out of water, the temperature gauges read normal because there is no hot water at the sensor. (especially true in cold weather).

You need to get the codes read somewhere though because no one here stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night and remote troubleshooting is always wrong except for the one right answer.

[Dottleshead]

Yeah we're taking it into the shop. It seemed like a good topic to post. I just wanted to see which asshats blamed me for my problems.

[Wilbur]

10 minutes ago, Dottles said:

Yeah we're taking it into the shop. It seemed like a good topic to post. I just wanted to see which asshats blamed me for my problems.

Not me.  I blame your parents.  

[Dirtyhip]

4 hours ago, Dottles said:

My wife noticed the check engine light came on the other day abnormally but then went away after an ephemeral stint. But then she tells me she's seen the check oil light flash on and off a couple times too. This morning we drove through some colder weather into warmer weather and parked and we noticed steam (white) rising from the radiator while idling in park. I had her turn the car off and in a few minutes it went away. Temps on the gauges looked normal. 

What I believe to be steam coming out of the radiator doesn't necessarily mean anything but when combined with the other irregularities, it could be  The good news is it's not burning oil. But it is a concern and getting in to see my mechanic is not a speedy process.

Based on this limited info, what do you think is going on? Nothing to worry about? Get it checked? Get it checked immediately? The bad news is we have one and only one car.

Oh no.  Bad news bears.  Car problems are the worst.

[Square Wheels]

TMI, I didn't bother to read it.

Just buy a new car.

[Dottleshead]

16 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Not me.  I blame your parents.  

POTD

[12string]

The Hyundai Variable Valve timing failure mode is generally a clog in the solenoid that controls oil pressure to the VVT system.  They don't usually leak, but it will throw a code.  I suppose if the oil level is low and pressure goes low, it could also throw the VVT code.