How good a mechanic are you? Please Help...

[rollinncoaster]

Hi, I am a computer science undergrad and I do not know anything about cars, but I do need your help. I was hoping somebody could share some knowledge with me. Here is my story:

We have three cars a VW 96 GTi, a WV Jetta GLS 97 and a Honda Civic DX 98, and all three of them have the Check Engine Light on.

The codes on the GTi are:

P1582 - Idle Adaptation at Limit
P0140 - O2 Sensor Circ.,Bank1-Sensor2 No Activity Detected

The car drives fine, no problems at at except the engine hesitates from time to time. When idle the gauge is not perfectly stable; it jumps +/- 100 rpm's. I have not done anything to this car, except than regular mantainance, replacing the Radiator Fan and the timing belt. Also, the A/C broke down last a couple of days ago; I week after replacing the timing belt.

The Jetta is throwing 3 codes:

P0303 - Cyl.3 Misfire Detected
P1583 - Transmission mount valves Short to B+
P0510 - Closed Throttle Pos.Switch Malfunction

The engine hesitates a lot. When driving, the cars loses power for half a second and then recovers. This is very annoying. This happens all the time, but more often when the engine is cold. The timing belt on this car was replaced a month ago and the A/C compressor broke down right after this was replaced.

The honda is only thowing a P0135- O2 Sensor Heater Circ.,Bank1-Sensor1 Malfunction. We just bought the car and I don't know what the previous owner did with this car.


If you have any insight, suggestion or comment, I would more than glad to hear. Please guys (and girls), I really need your help.

THanks.

RC

[candlaudio]

well here goes, i dont know what is wrong with everything on all of them but one thing is for sure, you need to replace the o2 sensors on all the cars and then reset the computer by taking both the battery cables loose for about 5 minutes then see if the light is still on and check the codes again, now the 2 vw's will be on still cause you have more than one code but the civic light should go out. that is about all i know of right off hand but i am sure someone on here will be able to tell you what is wrong and how to fix the problem...

[rollinncoaster]

Thanks for the prompt reply . I will replace the O2 sensors. I think most of the error codes are because of this.

Thanks again.

RC

[BullShifter]

Were the engine compartments detailed/cleaned on those car?

[rollinncoaster]

No, never. We bought the VW's from a local dealer and the volkswagen from a private owner and we never cleaned the engine compartments.

Now that I remember, when we bought the Jetta the check engine light lit up hours after we took it out the dealer. The next day we came back and they cleaned the T/B and clear the codes. Never had a problem again. (That was a little over two years).

Hope this helps. Thanks for the reply.

RC

[BullShifter]

I was just wondering becasue silcone/solvent based dressings will ruin O2 sensor & a bunch of other shit. Water based is the only way to go for engine dressings.

[rollinncoaster]

NOw that I remember, the engine compartment on the GTi was cleaned a year ago. I think you are right becuase the CEL started to light up around that time.

RC

[rollinncoaster]

The O2 sensor was the source of all the problems. As soon as I replaced it, the car runs very smooth. It even improved the responsiveness of the engine.