08/12/2020
Story time!
On a regular basis I'm told that having your car repaired at a mechanic is just too expensive and they can't afford it. Recently I had a great example of how many times, it's actually cheaper to take your vehicle into a shop. One of my customer brought in a GMC truck that had a misfire, the owner of the vehicle had already spent a considerable amount of time and money trying to find the problem. They had replaced all the spark plugs, wires, swapped ignition coils around, and spent quite a lot of time researching the problem. After not being able to find it they brought it in for me to look at.
I started my normal diagnostic testing process by hooking up my diagnostic scanner and reviewing the misfire data, it was a steady misfire on cylinder 3. I got out my tester to verify the spark for that cylinder but before I could even hook it up I spotted the problem, the porcelain insulator on the number 3 spark plug was cracked. The cracked insulator was allowing the spark to jump from the plug to the cylinder head instead of inside the cylinder like it should be. I replaced the one spark plug and the truck runs as good as new now.
Something as small as a cracked insulator can cause huge headaches on today's vehicle. I always recommend bringing in your vehicle for a professional inspection/diagnostic when you're having an issue. If this vehicle had be brought to me first the owner could have saved a lot of money and time. Contact me first for any vehicle related issues and let me SAVE you money!
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