As I was getting ready to get some groceries yesterday, I put the Jeep in drive, heard a thunking sound as the engine sorta "caught" as it went into gear and the little "Engine Malfunction" idiot-light came on.
Well, says I, I guess I'm heading for the dealership before I get my groceries.
Two miles later, the Jeep's engine cuts to zero RPM and I coast to the side of the road, dead. Turn the key, silence.
That can't be good. I whip out my service contract card (which includes the tow-to-dealer portion of my warranty... had 400 miles left to go on the "bumper to bumper" warranty, so whatever it was, it was covered.
An hour later, I'm at the dealer. The service manager decides "well, let's see what you're in for" and attaches the diagnostic computer to the onboard computer.
I felt like I was Jim Lovell watching my spacecraft die. Low speed on the crank shaft, faulty behavior on some other thing, an unknown problem in the transmission. I look over at the guy with a knowing, "I'm so glad this is all under warranty, because it just sounds ... pricy!" He agrees with me.
So, I get a loaner/rental (it's a rental, but the warranty covers the rental car), and head home, expecting to see the Jeep in a couple days. I get a call a couple hours later, "It's all fixed, come get it."
boggle
SYSTEM TEST HAS CODES P1391 AND P0725. CHECK AND TEST PER DIAGNOSIS MANUAL. FOUND FAULTY CRANK SHAFT SENSOR. INSTALL NEW CRANK SENSOR. CLEARED CODES
I ask the service manager, "But it died, that was no phantom sensor-ghost that put my car dead in the water on the side of the road."
Oh, but it was ... see, apparently the computer thought it knew best and was trying to figure out what was "wrong" based on the crappy input it was getting from the sensor. Garbage In, Garbage Out, and it decided it was best just to call it quits and demand qualified attention immediately.
Remember the days when cars didn't have on-board computers? I'd gladly sacrifice a couple mpg to get back to when I didn't have to worry about some broken electronic widget deciding to have my car commit harikari on the road, or have my car testifying against its owner about my driving speed or seat belt status.
I wonder if there are sites for hacking your own car, to remove the onboard computer sensors and such. Can the modern car even work without all that computerized horseshit?
Suddenly I don't want a flying car.
Well...there is a way to hack into the computer's onboard computer. However, you need to be an automotive technician (or at least armed with the diagnostic code manual) in order to understand what it's telling you and why. (A consumer reporter for a local TV station in Tampa did it, as I recall.)
I've never heard of anyone being able to run a car without the onboard computer. The computers have been in cars (at least certain models) since the '70's and have gotten increasingly refined since. I do know of at least one suit brought against GM that demanded disconnection of the onboard computer; it was argued by GM that disconnecting it would cause the car to malfunction and be a safety hazard.
You might want to look at a carchip.
http://www.davisnet.com/drive/products/carchip.asp
could you remove it? No. You could replace
the distributor with a mechanical one
and the fuel injection with a carb, but,
you'd way screw yourself trying to meet
emissions then.
OTOH, go find your local race shop. Those
guys/gals have experience doing this and are
probably somewhat familiar with the laws and
regs in your area.