kevin300es

I know it sounds a stupid question. I have been stuck at the very first step to take a look at my engine:

I unscrewed the two visible bolts at the front of the engine cover, but still cannot take the cover off, it feels something underneath the cover is connected to the engine itself.

Google has been used but no answer is found.

Thank you guys in advance for help!

Odd that you are not able to read codes, VERY strange that it would run that bad without getting so much as a random miss-fire code. Perhaps the issue is with the ECM itself, but that would require further troubleshooting (I am not suggesting replacing the ECM right now).

If you do not have any communication, you could check fuses, there is 1 fuse that supplies 12 to the OBDII diag port, if that is blown you would not get power to the scanner.

Do you notice any issues with slow cranking when starting, or any other symptoms? If so take the car to you local auto part store and ask them to check the battery/charging system.

Your previous mechanic sounds a little questionable. as far as the brake pad wear indicator, it is part of the pad, so when they replaced the pads the indicator is replaced too (although some aftermarket pads do not have wear indicators). As far as rotors, he should have been able to determine if they needed to be turned or replaced easily when he replaced the pads. Brake noise can be caused by several things, but it should be fairly easy for him to correct (many times all that needs to be done is apply anti squeal gop to the back of the pads). I am concerned that they did not replace all the the normal hardware when they first did the brakes. But to charge you again is a little outrangeous in my opinion.

Thanks for your reply! Now I just want to find out if it is justified to replace rotors after theyve been used for 40k miles, as it will make me feel better. Or it depends on how used they are?

Anyway, a mechanic that relies on me to point out the solution is questionable indeed.

It does not sound like the timing belt. I assume that the check engine light is on, so I would recomend having the codes read. Without knowing what codes are present, my first guess would be a fuel pressure related problem.

thanks for the reply, George, the engine light is not on, I tried to read codes in autozone, but failed.

I went to the mechanic today, and was told tune up may help solving the problem.

I don't think I can trust that mechanic's digonostics anymore, spending >2k bucks there. Here is why.

They replaced my brake pads one year ago, then the scratching braking noise appears ever since. They said it is the rotors, so I paid 300 for rotors too. But the problem never ends. Only last night when I was reading the factory service manual, which I downloaded from this forum, I suspected they didnt replace wear indicators and anti-sqeal shims when they replaced the pads.

Guess what, I went there and asked them this morning, and they indeed didnt change it! Another 107 bucks were spent to order and replace front shims...

this problem has been coming up since timing belt replaced about one year ago:

turn off the car, wait for 3 or 5 minutes, start the car again, it (I feel it's the engine) shakes alot, doesn't respond to gas, the shaking slowly disappears. When the shaking is gone, the engine shuts down, engine, oil lights are on then.

Everytime this happens, I need to wait another 1 or 2 minutes and to start again.

Also when I drive on highway, as the speed goes up to 50 or 60 miles, there is abnormally loud noise, some kind of rumble.

has anybody faced this wired problem?

I want to go to the mechanic who replaced the timing belt for me, but it has been one year, waranty expires, I want to have an idea what is wrong before I go.

Thanks

...check the alternator, it may not be charging the battery. Your smptoms are exactly like when the alternator diodes in my '92 were "burnt out". I then had the alt. rebuilt for under a hundred. (They replace the diodes).

Thanks for the your reply Kingjack133.

Updates:

AAA sent somebody get the battery checked, cannot rule out the probability that alternator is the problem. Meanwhile, battery voltage is in the risky zone.

THe guy tried a couple of times to jump the car, but everytime I can only drove only yards before panel lights flashed then the whole car died out.

Gonna tow it and get it checked, realizing it's too risky to drive

bought the battery early this year, the battery has been dead for a couple of times. Think it is wierd because I drive on highways almost every the other day, and headlights are always automatically off when I leave my car.

Symptoms:

When the battery is dead, it is totally dead. Called AAA, they jumped the car with a portable starter, but one or two minutes after I drove the car, it went off again, totally. lucky I was still in the parking lot!

However jumping the car with my friend's car and cables worked.

When I pressed window control buttons in nights, the headlight dimmed alot.

Did these symptomes happen to anybody? THANK YOU

My car: 97 ES300

What can I say, super PRO!!

Thank you so much for so detailed reply. Really learned alot stuff.

I guess I will go to a mechanic to see what to do next.

Today I installed the two doors inner panels back. Though didn't fix the problem, had alot fun there.

Appreciate your expertise advice again!

Replacing the outer door pannels is not just a simply unbolting the old and then installing the new. I am a ASE certified master mechanic, and I would not feel confident replacing them myself. Bodywork takes speciallized skills to get right. Replacing the door is generally a more cost effective repair. You wrote that you tried to pop the dent out yourself, is it a minor dent? If it is not too bad, a experienced body person can shrink the pannel at the appropriate spots and the dent will pop out by itself. This is due to the fact that when the pannel is dented, the metal stretches, you cannot simply pop it out from opposite side. The metal needs to be shrinked to get it to return to the original position. Knowing where to shrink the pannel takes experience, so does replacing the outer pannel. Where as any decent mechanic can replace the door, and with some effort, get the aglignment set.

Thanks for answering questions.

Do you mean it is hard to install the outer panel onto the door? So even a whole door module from wrecks yards would be less expensive than outer panel sold by parts store?

Thanks, really appreciate it.

I would not recomend trying to replace the outer door pannels. Check local wrecking yards, craiglist, or ebay and get a set of used doors. It is much easier / faster to just replace the door. Of course aligning the replacement door will take a patientence.

Very glad to find this place.

I got a hit and run on my '97 ES300 in some parking lot. Both front and rear doors (passenger side) got scratches and dents.

Don't wanna spend hundreds of bucks in mechanic, so decided to DIY.

QUESTION: Has anyone tried ordering OEM outer door panels and replacing old ones? What tools do I need? How good is OEM parts quality?

I removed inner panel and tried to pop dent out but didn't work. Furthermore don't want to paint scratch places by myself, so I guess replacing outer panel is not a bad idea, is it?

THANKS ALOT! and everybody Happy New Year!