Cam solenoid is missing screen at X position

© DenLorsTools.com Summary: Many Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pick ups are having problems with P0014 and/or P0017 codes. This has to do with the correlation of the camshaft and crankshaft as the computer sees them. Idle can be affected and the vehicle can even stall. The culprit is almost always the camshaft actuator solenoid valve, not the crankshaft position sensor or a cam position sensor. There have been reports of rough idle and fluctuation as well. The solenoid affects the variable cam timing control. One of the tiny screens can wear and be disintegrated causing everything to go awry.

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Car cranks over but doesn’t start.

OK, so you don’t have a Model T like in the picture but all your car does is crank over and does NOT start. I’ve been writing some articles geared more for the weekend mechanic and publishing them on a different site. Since this auto repair blog is mainly for professional technicians, I generally don’t post the more basic auto repair tips and tricks articles here. But I realize that not everyone that reads this blog is a professional tech, so I wanted to provide this link to one of my articles I originally posted at EzineArticles.com.

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Expedition body is raised for easier cylinder head removal.

Summary: If removing a cylinder head on an Expedition or Navigator, many professional technicians will do a “Body Off” procedure which makes the engine much more accessible. Although this appears to be over dramatic and an over-kill, it really doesn’t take that long to raise the body once you know what to do. Flat rate technicians make their money by getting the job done in the shortest period of time. And if that means seemingly going to extremes, so be it! Find out how to avoid going through all this trouble for a failed helicoil, by clicking here.

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Recently, I had a blog reader with a blown spark plug on a 2002 Mazda Tribute, she may have found us by using the search engines for blown spark plugs, even though our articles are mainly for specific Ford engines that do have this problem. She asked my advice about what she should do with her Mazda. While this is not a common problem with 3.0 engines, like in some Ford 4.6 and 5.4 engines I offered my advice. More than likely the spark plug had either been left loose or was cross threaded at some point and it blowing out was the end result. Below is what this reader had to say and my response.

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Lisle Auto Tools manufacturing company was started in Clarinda, Iowa in 1903 by C.A. Lisle. The first tool his company manufactured surprisingly wasn’t an automotive tool at all, it was water well drilling equipment powered by a horse! Subsequent products were not automotive related either, remember old ringer washers? And how about the old style manual push mower? Some twenty years after the Lisle Corporation was first started, the tool company made its first automotive product.

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2005 Corvette AC & Heat control door resembles a vertical blind.

Corvette has some amazing engineering! Who needs real doors to control airflow in the HVAC (Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning) system, when you can have this material that rolls on spools. This is a masterfully designed system that lasts in most cases until the car is just out of warranty. Kidding aside, if you’re experiencing a problem with your Corvette’s air conditioning, this could be the issue. Codes can be stored and attempts at resetting or calibrating will fail. The weak point is where the material attaches to the spool, on the one pictured it was ripped clean away.

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Calvan 11/16″ drill bit used with air ratchet and 1/2″ socket.

DenLors tools has sold hundreds of the Calvan spark plug repair kits and has had no reported failures. We’ve answered many questions about Ford spark plug thread repairs over the last couple of years and have included them in various places on our site. Now in this auto repair blog ALL of the frequently asked questions to date are posted here in one central location, if you don’t see your question answered, feel free to use the comment form and ask. Included here are questions about repairing spark plug holes after Lisle, Napa, Auto Zone, or other brands may be thicker than the Heli-Coil, but still have managed to fail and allow the spark plug to blow out AGAIN. We are not out to discredit any other spark plug insert company, we just know from our customer feedback what works and what just works for awhile. The questions below answer questions from real customers with this serious problem. We recommend the Calvan Ford spark plug insert repair kit as the best solution for Ford 1998-2004 4.6, 5.4. 6.8 SOHC (2 valve) engines, the following will help show why.

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Pinpointing oil, coolant and gas leaks with powder.

OK, maybe Johnson didn’t have this use in mind for their baby powder. But, it can help to pinpoint the origin of leaks. This is particularly true if there’s a leak and the source is not obvious. Baby powder is an inexpensive readily available substance, however it will not change colors when it absorbs fluid like Met-L-Check D70, a leak detection powder that some car manufacturers recommend to help verify automotive fluid leaks. After all a correctly diagnosed leak on the first attempt, saves warranty costs for the dealers.

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The large diameter camera wand is too big to access engine cylinders (M-Spector).

We’ve sold hundreds of Provision borescopes and we answer questions about this and other car tools everyday. ProVision scopes have been a very popular specialty tool for auto technicians as well as many other lines of work, see our Fiberoptic Borescope Uses, Tech Article for ideas on how they can be used. ProVision borescopes use fiberoptic technology. Fiber optic bore scopes have been the best option for mechnanics until recently. However, video based inspection scopes have some advantages over fiber optic inspection scopes. Fiberoptic borescopes use an eyepiece for viewing, while video based inspection scopes have a color video screen that can be viewed by several people at once. The fiberoptic inspection borescope has to be manually focused the see the subject clearly. The video based inspection scope has auto focus, which makes it easier to use.

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If  Ford’s poorly designed spark plugs would just all come out like these.

© DenLorsTools.com Lisle Spark Plug Extractor DLT  Summary: The lucky guy that removed the spark plugs in the picture above, has someone watching over him, he narrowly escaped huge spark plug problems. We have orders everyday for specialty tools to remove broken spark plugs from Fords. The two piece spark plug typically comes apart, separating the main part of the spark plug from the huge electrode shield. Ford’s spark plug design comes under the heading “what were they thinking?”. 

DenLors Tools was one of the first automotive tool suppliers to sell the Rotunda 303-1203 specialty tool that was recommended in the Ford TSB to remove these broken spark plugs when they were broken upon removal. Now, we have a much better solution in the LIS65600. The Lisle specialty tool has quickly became our most popular tool for removing Ford broken spark plugs. We have had only positive feedback from auto techs that have used this tool. Ford forums have recently been helping to spread the word of the success of this new tool. There is quite a buzz about a Ford class action suite regarding this poorly designed spark plug, but our role is to help those that are dealing with broken spark plug problems, to remove them as quickly and inexpensively as possible.

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