What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Real mechanics needed

88k5blazin

88k5blazin

1/2 ton status
Joined
Nov 27, 2006
Posts
484
Reaction score
0
Location
clark new jersey
My gf has a 2006 Suzuki forenza that has been giving her trouble for awhile now. It started sputtering while driving at various speeds. Rpms would flucuate and car would buck shoftely. Got the run around from dealership saying it was an egr valve. Didn't do anything cause it was still drivable and they wanted 500 bucks. Then it got real bad and took it to Goodyear and they said it had a cracked spark plug. Replaced it and drove fine for a week then the sputtering came back but with no check EL. Now there telling me it has something to do with a valve sticking then they said it may need an engine. We have a top of the line aftermarket warranty but the short story is they had the car for four days didn't do anything so I just picked it up. We have gotten the run around from various mechanics and the dealership. It seems even if it is a difficult problem someone should be able to fix it. I know nothing about these cars and just need some advice to go to somewhere or what a potential problem could be. She still owes 4500 on it and that's about what it is worth. We really just wanna get rid of it and get something newer but financially it's not our best option. I'm getting tempted to contact better business bureua since no one will really dig into it. Especially the dealership since its there make car and we have a full coverage warranty. Side note it always very slowly burned through antifreeze. Had to top it off every 3 months or so. No visible leakage from the outside
 
paragraghs :whistle: or its a p.i.t.a to read :doah:

and sounds like you need to find a good independant auto mechanic that will look it over and give you the low down and also show you why its doing it.

dealers suck and chain stores suck. this you have found out sofar.

if skipping still but no light need a scanner to check miss fire counter in full data stream. this will help start to track it down.

sucking coolent not good at all. that should have been taken care of a long time ago.
 
Just using the clues that you gave, I suspect that you have a small head gasket leak which is just enough to cause the crack in the plug around the electrode. So if that is what I am reading, you will need for a competent mechanic to run the engine to normal operating temperature and then use a coolant tester to pump pressure in the coolant system. Then he must use a boroscope or some other device to look in to the combustion chamber to see if there is truly evidence of a leak. I suspect that the leak is very minute and is the cause of the damage to the plug over a period of time.

What I would do first is to replace that particular plug and see if it drives any different. If it does, this is the root of the problem with the misfire. And if it has done it twice, then it will do it again. My experience on small leaks like that is to use some type of heavy duty stop leak. I like the one in the can or the bottle and looks like molasses. Just pour that in to a warm radiator (not the coolant recovery tank) and run it on the road for about an hour. That should give it ample time to find the leak and plug it.

I hope this works for you. I have done it many times over the years. The more drastic repair would be to pull the head and have it looked over real well before replacing the head gasket.
 
Pull that plug and another. I'll bet the one they changed will be real clean looking compared to the other.
A head gasket leak that is getting on the plug will steam all the dirt and oil off of a plug.

In fact, if you pull the plug while its cold, you might find moisture droplets on it.
There is a good possibility that your whole problem is the head gasket or a crack.

If you have a radiator shop in the area, take it by and have them do a combustion gas test on the coolant. They hook a small hand pump to the radiator cap hole and suck some air through a colored liquid.
If it changes color that means that you have a bad gasket or cracked head or block. Its a cheap test that does not require any major work to do.
 
Excellent advice so far thank you. Pieces are starting to fit together. Last august she had a tune up done because it was doing the stutter pretty bad.

It cleared up for awhile but never fully wente away.and 2 weeks ago is when we took it to goodyear and they said they found the cracked plug. Cracked on the porcelain part they said.

It cleared for a week or so then it came back. A tiny hole in head gasket would explain loss of coolant. I was unaware it could cause the plug to crack. When it was scanned when the light was on it said misfire on cylinder 4 and that was the plug they said was bad.
 
You should be able to buy a coolant tester at a parts store, or Sears or somethign from what I can remember. My dad owns a radiator shop and its exactly as Fordum described... basically a pressure tester that hooks onto the radiator cap and looks for evidence of exhaust gas in the coolant.
 
swettysblazer said:
You should be able to buy a coolant tester at a parts store, or Sears or somethign from what I can remember. My dad owns a radiator shop and its exactly as Fordum described... basically a pressure tester that hooks onto the radiator cap and looks for evidence of exhaust gas in the coolant.
Click to expand...

Would that tester be called an anitifreeze hydrometer?
 
Scratch that. I just saw the test with the blue fluid to cjeck for exhaust gas in coolant. Ill be getting one of those tomorrow
 
88k5blazin said:
Would that tester be called an anitifreeze hydrometer?
Click to expand...


Nope, that just tests the amount of antifreeze in the water. Try exhaust gas tester.
I'll see what I can find.
The porcelain on a plug is on the outside and inside.
Its unlikely that the outside part would break from a coolant leak, but if it were hot and the coolant leak hit the porcelain on the inside it might crack.
 
Last august the dealership mentioned that the egr valve could be bad. Is that a possibility based on these symptoms or were they blowing smoke up my ass. .
 
88k5blazin said:
Last august the dealership mentioned that the egr valve could be bad. Is that a possibility based on these symptoms or were they blowing smoke up my ass. .
Click to expand...

Based on what you told us, that is highly unlikely to be the problem. But it could possibly be a part of it. However, it is not likely the cause of your coolant loss or sparkplug issue.
 
Its an 05. Honestly I would start with a good data log of the car running good (replace the plug again) and the car running bad.

Than see what the parameter is that's causing the the car to run bad.

If you do have a head gasket issue that's definitely a job for some blue devil and then sell the thing.
 
i cant load the picture right now for some reason but i can tell that on the plug that is all the way on the right....(cant find cylinder order online) the plug looked like it had a glossy coating on it with some gunky build up right at the bottom of the treads.

the other three looked in great shape with the whitish grey coating on it and not gunky build up or anything.

I plan on trying to find a store that had that combustion leak tester in stock today. could that glossy coating be the anti freeze hitting the plug. i checked it this morning after it sat all night.
 
Well, there is something going on with that cylinder. If the gunk is whitish, odds are its water and oil mixed.
Check the oil filler hole for more of the white gunk. If the engine does not get driven enough to evaporate all the condensation you might see the white gunk in the filler hole with nothing wrong.
But in general, white gunk in the filler hole=coolant in the oil.
 
One of the first things I check on newer cars when a surging, bucking drivability issue comes up is the fuel pressure. It sounds a lot like a motor starving for fuel.

Obviously the leaking coolant is a different issue though.

And those that rag on people about their post writings, should really double check their own spelling and punctuation. ;-)
 
Fordum said:
Well, there is something going on with that cylinder. If the gunk is whitish, odds are its water and oil mixed.
Check the oil filler hole for more of the white gunk. If the engine does not get driven enough to evaporate all the condensation you might see the white gunk in the filler hole with nothing wrong.
But in general, white gunk in the filler hole=coolant in the oil.
Click to expand...

It was a black gunk build up at the base of the plug. Right on the bottom one or two threads of the plug
 
Finally got it. The one on the right is cylinder 4. It has a glossy black look to it. The one on the left looks the same as cylinders 2 and 3

suzuki_spark_plug.jpg
 
To tell the truth, that looks more like a misfire than coolant. Does this thing have individual coils?
It could still be a coolant leak causing the misfire, but if possible, I would try swapping the coil packs to see if the gunk moves to the other plug.

The coolant is going somewhere though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom