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Vent: Everyone keeps saying you need a scan tool for every check engine light. That's wrong.
Had a car come in yesterday, 2015 Civic. Light on. Kid at the parts store told the owner it was definitely the O2 sensor because his scanner said so. Code was P0420. I put it on the lift, found a cracked exhaust manifold right before the cat. $20 gasket and two hours of labor. Not a $300 sensor. This happens twice a month. A code tells you where to look, not what to replace. How do you guys explain this to customers without sounding like you're just guessing?
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the_ben12h ago
Honestly, that P0420 code is basically the parts store kid's favorite. It's like they get a bonus for selling oxygen sensors. Saw a guy last week who bought three different sensors for his truck because the code kept coming back. Turns out his cat was just full of dirt from a bad head gasket. The scanner said "catalyst efficiency" and his wallet heard "empty it.
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the_riley11h ago
Watched my buddy replace two O2 sensors before finding a huge exhaust leak upstream.
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