okay I took your advice yahoo answerers lol. I got my car diagnosed by a real mechanic and he said it was the oxygen sensor I asked what one of 4 was it and hee said it was the upstream and something about 4th block or something to that nature. he said essentially it was the driver side beofre the catalytic converter and after the block. the easy one tog et too lol.. so I took the car bought an o2 sensor and changed it. the car seems to be better at acceleration but it is still idling hard and shaking in idle it is idling like a big block lol.. . just as it was before this change. there isnt a significant change what so ever. anyone know what the heck the upstream 4th block or whatever means?? did I change the right one or was he Blowing smoke up my butt? any help would be greatlyappreciated if you have more questions that need to be answered please email me at whelchel77@yahoo.com thnkas
More oxygen sensor questions....?
I assume you mean bank 1 or 2 sensor 1. Bank one would be the side on a V motor that cylinder 1 is on and bank 2 is the opposite side. Sensor 1 is in front of the catalytic converter 2 is behind it. As far as the car running rough it could be running rich or lean which could cause your O2 code if the sensor was covered in black soot there's a good possibility it's running rich. The oxygen sensor usually doesn't affect the running of the car too much unless it's really wacked out. there's probably something else causing the running problem.
More oxygen sensor questions....?
You have 4 o2 sensors?
I would take it back, if he diagnosed that as the problem, and it isn't better, he should look at it again, no charge. You did pay him to diagnose the problem, and if it's still having the same problem, he has an obligation to look at it again and verify that the o2 sensor problem is fixed, and whatever problem you have now is elsewhere.
I agree that you should have had the shop complete the work, but either way, you paid for the diagnosis and if it wasn't correct he needs to look at it again, or refund the money for the diagnostic time.
It's possible that you have other problems besides the o2 sensor, so take it back and have him take another look at it. Have him check and see what difference changing that o2 sensor made.
If it did make a difference, and you have other issues, you might need to pay more for diagnosis, it just depends on what he charged you for the first time. Sometimes it's a step by step thing. You take care of the obvious things first, and then look again. Additional problems would require additional time to diagnose.
Why didn't you have the mechanic do it? That way if it didn't fix it, he'd find out what was going on while it was there. Now he'll probably charge you more. And I don't know what a 4th block upstream thingy is. Take it back and have him fix it for you.
