The reason I think it is the egr purge solenoid is from what the alldata sites says for DTC27 QDMB fault DTC 27 will set when QDMB Fault line: Is "High" for 20 seconds or more tcc is commanded "On" (My car is a stick, so this does not apply) Battery voltage is greater then 10.5 volts Action taken: The Malfunction Lamp (MIL) will illuminate, and the cooling fan will enable. DTC test description: Check to see if DTC27 was set as a result of the EVAP canister purge solenoid valve circuit Check tcc operation Check intergrity of EGR circuit up to the solenoid. So from what I can see, it looks like the purge solenoid becuase when I had the tech 1, I did test the EGR solenoid (I had an old stored EGR code) I also tested both the A/C fan relay and the engine fan relay and I was able to start stop the fan from the tech 1. I did not test the purge solenoid because at the time, I did not know what DTC27 ment. Provided the freezing rain stops when I get home, I am going to swap cars around and pull it into the garage and check that purge solenoid. The thing that I can't understand, is why did GM have the cooling fan come on for an EGR system fault? Static

Had appointment with Garage to have a complete tune-up. This was listed as being done before the car was sold to me. Ford certified! Ya, the plugs where still the original, 4 where out of gap. mechanic said that they where showing as burning oil. Grayish. gummed up. Changed for New plugs. Fuel filter was clogged. New filter. Mechanic said, that mileage will be noticeable. Oil was very black, changed oil and filter. checked tranny oil, OK. Brake fluid,Anti-Freeze, battery, power steering, all OK. He gave me a bottle of fluid to put into gas tank when I gas up, to clean up the jets. 1-1/2 hour later, road test and I'm gone. As this is the mechanic I go to, I was next to the car and could see what was being done. Which is not the case at the dealer. There you leave the car and come back in the afternoon like 4:00/5:00 pm to pick up. The service manager says, this and this was done, and the amount you owe is.The previuos owner paid for a full tune-up at Ford. He was taken as the saying goes. I had some errands to run. The slippage was beraly noticable and seemed to dissapear. Will have a chance for highway driving in the next couple of days. Will report back next week.

First time back on line in a long while. Finally bought a new computer (Sony Vaio) Hopefully I didn't miss too much! I don't particularly pay too much attention to CR, although sometimes I find myself browsing through their magazines while shopping around at the store just out of curiosity. Their good and bad bets are pretty much the same as they were in previous years. I find Carsurvey.com and Epinions.com to be more valuable. I have a 1996 Honda Accord with the 4-cylinder, 223,000 miles and just keeps on trucking. I've had to service it as I would with any other car, but it's never given me any unexpected problems on the road or failed to start one morning. The engine still retains most of it's original major components (such as the alternator, AC compressor, starter, PS pump, master cylinder, etc.) which is truly amazing in my opinion. I am a strong believer in preventive maintenance and upkeep, and I'm sure that has had something to do with my car's reliability... but I've definitely only had to do the very basics to keep it so. Also have a 2001 Pontiac Trans Am, which CR listed as unreliable. Currently have 56,000 miles and haven't done squat to it except change the oil/filters, brakes, tires and light bulbs. Absolutely nothing else. Had a pretty good experience with a 97 Mercury Cougar also(V8 model) The transmission and intake manifold were the only weak links in this otherwise solid car...but my transmission and manifold had already been replaced before I bought the car used with 90,000 miles. Sold it with a little over 150,000 miles.

Mark. If there is one thing that annoys me more than anything else in this trade, it's the never ending line of people who tell the customers want they want to hear whether its accurate or not. Reminds me of the service manager that told one old lady that the fog that she kept finding on the inside of her car windows was a small coolant leak and we simply had to tighten a hose clamp, instead of telling her that as the vinyl interior cures it will give off chemicals that can fog the glass and it will go away completely by the end of the summer all by itself. I think I saw that car in to get the windows cleaned every week all summer long. What the service manager did was tell her what she wanted to hear, that something got fixed. You wrote "I just fixed an intermittent electrical issue for customer that spent a small fortune with 3 different garages that failed to fix the problem. " It takes four things to be able to fix a car. The right person, the right tools, sufficient training, and a broken car. Intermittent by nature are a car that isn't broken all of the time. If it happens to not be broken at the time that any of the other three shops saw the car, then they had no chance. Now keeping in mind what I started off with, people in this trade wanting to tell the customers what they want to hear, instead of the way it really is, you can go right ahead and fault the shops as you did, and play the hero card here. The facts are the forces at work inside of this industry that you allude to are going to hurt the consumer until we all learn how to be professional. Quote" The flat economy has effectively forced many employment/income/savings/credit challenged people to become self sufficient electrical/emissions troubleshooters and/or forced them to use the services of unemployed/under-employed mechanics that work from home, or on-site" Side work is stealing, pure and simple. Someone doing side work has no insurance, which a shop has to pay in order to protect the customer as well as themselves. They don't pay taxes which short changes everyone else that does. They operate in the street, or in a garage not zoned for the business, the list goes on and on. It's the classic apples to oranges kind of a comparison. You cannot compare what happens in someones back yard to what a real shop does today. Quote "Having a little knowledge also helps prevent customers from being taken advantage of by dealerships, independents, tire/brake/inspection outfits etc" Now where does one get this knowledge? In some back alley? Here on the Internet? You can find videos of people unlocking a door on the Internet with a tennis ball that has a hole cut in it. Its fake, but people want to believe it. Your response is IMO another tennis ball trick that unfortunately I don't have all day to debunk. Plus I have the disadvantage of having to tell it like it really is, not the sugar coated version that people want to hear as you did. Yes it costs money, and sometimes you might consider it "big bucks" for something that may seem relatively easy. Did you see Jerry's response just now? Quote " and the Security fault. My truck is a basic model, manual windows and locks, no electronic security. The dealer shop was successful in getting the SES Icon off, and in applying two "silent" recalls (not happy I didn't get a notice), but the Security fault did not result in any action... I'm concerned it is a computer problem, expensive to repair. The problem may be that the Security fault isn't on all the time, so if I had a reader I could look when it is on. The reality of that paragraph is first that Jerry contradicts himself in saying that the vehicle has a Security issue, but at one point says that its a base model with no electronic security. Not blaming him of anything here, but in a way that's a classic perception, and not an uncommon description that a customer might give to a shop. The security issue is likely real, plus it's intermittent. Tell me Mark are you trained and equipped to service that system? If so what scan tool are you using? (brand and software updated to 20XX model year)?? Sadly this is going to end up rhetorical, because I have to give the answer to make my point. Real techs today, understand that the ONLY tool to service that system correctly is the GM tech II, and the shop has to have a subscription to SPS. What tool would you use if Jerry would happen to own a Ford with a similar reported problem? How about a Toyota; or a Mazda; a Honda, an Acura, a Lexus, a Nissan, an Infinity, a VW, a BMW, Mercedes, Kia, Hyundai? Or any one of the other manufacturers currently available in the US market? The reality is techs and shops need vehicle specific training, and specific O.E. tooling for each one of the manufacturers or else they are working with a handicap, and potentially will find themselves unable to actually complete a given repair without sending the car back to the dealer, or having a mobile diagnostic technician come to their shop, or in fact they could come to a shop like mine for about 90% of the most common vehicles on the road. I ask you Mark are you genuinely equipped and trained to service the security system on Jerrys Truck? Would you be for all of the other manufactures that the readers here are likely to own? By taking on that expense, uncommon in the industry, it impacts what a shop like mine has to charge for even the things that are indeed easy. You attempted to make that look as if it is dishonest with your response and I take extreme exception to that. Dealerships, by their franchise agreement, have to be equipped for, and employ techs who are capable and trained to service things like Jerry's Security system. Only shops and techs who "get it" in the aftermarket step up to the plate and make the required investment in the tools, training and equipment required to do the complete job. Customers who understand this, realize that there are many ways to undercut the real professionals, but understand doing so causes either the professionals to charge even more for what they do, or else they have to dial back the services for which they are going to be able to perform for the customers. Or worse yet, simply shut down and no-longer be a viable option for the public. Think that's an exaggeration? Look at how many dealers are being forcibly shut down. If your above average, your still not trained and equipped to fill the void caused by a dealer that closes. I can't do that simply because of the volume of work that could be displaced. (There are only so many hours in a day). Back yard Bob isn't going to do it, because he wont go to any updated schools, and he darn sure won't buy the tools. Auto repair isn't cheap, it's actually under priced for what it really takes to do it correctly, and armed with the knowledge that is based in reality, a customer has a chance to find a real shop that will repair their car. That's my goal here Mark, exactly what was yours?