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Check Engine light, dramatic loss of engine power....

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Old 11-18-2004, 10:19 AM
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Default Check Engine light, dramatic loss of engine power....

After having a Autopage 850 alarm installed...

Got a call to tell me my car was done with tint and the alarm. However, the installers admitted they forgot to plug some plug in before starting the engine or something.
So now my check engine light is on and the car has very little power, wont go past 4500 RPM's, and rumbles and shakes while idling (that really scared me).
Anyways, I'm hoping that the engine goes into some sort of "safe mode" when the check engine light is triggered... not sure what I should do, but in the interest of fairness for the guys who worked on my car, im not going to say any names until I get a proper diagnosis and give them the chance to fix it.

There is no doubt that their install is what caused the problem, I'm just not sure what to do about it.. Got an appointment in a few hours to have them take a look at it... but I'm not so sure I should have them working on it again.

The alarm is partly non-functional as well... just a tap-sensor, but it would be nice to get a fully working product for $550+ after install.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
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Old 11-18-2004, 03:58 PM
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Is the wire that wasn't plugged in, reconnected now?

If it is, disconnect the negative terminal, and wait a minute or two. Then reconnect the negative terminal, and see if everything is working fine.

If the plug isn't reconnected, I hope you find it and reconnect it. Sounds like your installer needs some help w/ Scions.
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Old 11-18-2004, 08:13 PM
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Is there a remote start involved?
I'll share a story that sounds similar, but not meant to scare you.
Back in my installer days I was putting in a Clifford 900IQ with smart windows and remote start in a 1997 Land Cruiser. This truck was fresh from the dealership and the customer was driving from the shop to NY (we were in FL) when it was done.
It was going pretty quickly because I did a 1996 LC just the day before and the wiring locations were fresh in my mind.
Everything was going fine until I went to make the last connection. The LC from the day before had a tach wire in a harness on the passenger side firewall. This one didn't. I called Clifford tech and they told me that the 1997 LC has no tach wire under the hood but I could use one of the injector wires. He said the Clifford Smart Starter could read the pulses of the injector and program itself to the RPM. I was concerned about tapping this wire but was assured that due to the high resistance of the Clifford circuit, the ECU would never know it's connected. I cautiously made the connection.
Once I got everything buttoned up I went on to programming and I was happy when it went succesfully. I quickly tested everything and it all worked. I got into the truck to pull it around to the front of the store and the CEL was lit and the engine was chugging. I disconnected my wiring and still the same result. I knew I was screwed. It was a Saturday afternoon and the customer was ready to hit the road. We ended up renting him a car and brought the LC to the dealership on Monday.
The diagnonis was the computer burned up and it was $1800 to replace (which of course we did). The total bill on the installation was $1500 so we basically lost our ___ on that one.
Sometimes bad things can happen to the best installers (more frequent with bad ones) and human error (or product) can put a bad spin on the experience. If your dealer takes responsibility and fixes their error that counts for a lot. My customer was not happy he could not drive his new truck to NY and show it to his family. At the end of the day we did everything we could. He knew that it was not an act of malice and I was doing what Clifford advised me to. It would have been a different story if I said "You'll have to take it up with Clifford. I installed it the way they told me to and it's their fault your $50K truck is broken."
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Old 11-18-2004, 09:17 PM
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Stuff happens. I'd take it back to them first and have them go over their installation. It may be something minor that will be seen on re-inspection. The fact that a part of it isn't working could be an indicator of what the problem is... Good Luck and let us know what it turns out to be.
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Old 11-19-2004, 07:34 AM
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Well, I know things happen, I'm not furious, but im a bit worried... I have to drive this car to work and back..

Yes there is a remote start involved, that part does work... Just the tap sensor for paging isn't working.

But unfortunately I missed my appointment this morning. I just got home from driving home from work, and noticed an odd smell... my headers were glowing red hot... nothing seems to have burned, but I could see the headers through the ventilation ports on that aluminum cover around them... glowing as red hot as a stove... 8(

This is bad isnt it? Going in tomorrow mornning and going to call my service department and ask some questions too.
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Old 02-14-2006, 10:34 PM
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Bump This Post Dude
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Old 02-25-2006, 04:59 AM
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remove the auto start it fixed mine and since it is remove the dealer is replaceing my header and cat and 02 sensor that were damaged when it was in limp mode
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