Finding a Good Diagnostician

[Shel_B]

Damon Russell would be the person to ask for. Damon is the shop manager. Known him longer than I have known John and is an absolutely fantastic tech

Thank you for that info. I may have spoken with him when I called today. I'll note the name for future reference.

 

[Shel_B]

Also, a "subtle roughness" is going to be difficult to convey unless you have a side-by-side example of the same vehicle. Unless of course, the issue is blatantly obvious.

It's obvious to me and my sweetie has noticed it as well. It's annoying and detracts from my enjoyment of driving the car.

 

[wtd]

Yes. A good tech can interpret how the pressure in the cylinders change as to a valve sticking or timing problem. He can do an electronic compression test to check for low compression without the hassle of taking out the plugs. Maybe watch some Pine Hollow videos,

I watch Ivan from Pine Hollow religiously. He knows his stuff. I recently bought his pressure transducer kit to play around with on my 92 Cavalier that has had a rough idle problem for years.

Bernie Thompson with Automotive Test Solutions is a master at reading scope info and uses pressure transducers quite a lot on his YT channel.

 

[supton]

It's interesting that you mention motor mounts. I too had some thoughts along that line and actually made a few inquiries about the possibility. Didn't get any meaningful response. Thanks for reminding me.

On mine I think I have bad mounts, and at times the idle seems wonky. On mine the dogbone looks squished on one side, so something shifted.

I tried cleaning the TB but that didn’t help, and it was a few days of a truly messed up throttle before it relearned itself.

 

[willbur]

Find a local shop that has experience with your particular vehicle and stick with them.
And remember, when diagnosing, it takes what it takes.

Good luck.

Or a mechanic that owns a car like it?