Please put descriptive titles on your threads

[ida34]

When I see a thread titled "need help" or "duce problems" I don't read it.

How can we expect someone to take their time and help us if we are not willing to put forth the effort to even give a clue about what we are asking in the thread title?

If the answers given were anything like some of the questions asked, the answers would be worthless. It is a matter of courtesy, plain and simple.

I am really grateful to those willing to share their expertise, and I make a conscious effort to summarize my question or request in the thread title.

This post reminds me of a conversation with my wife that started out with emails. She said the truck not starting as it should and she had to try 3 times to get it to start. I asked why it took three times? She said she did not know. I asked if it stopped cranking and she said no. I asked if the thing was tuning over at the proper speed or slower. She did not understand the question or how she could even know what I was asking. I then had to ask again asking if it sounded the same or slower than usual. She again proclaimed ignorance. I then had to make up sound effects and with this I figured out it was turning over at the proper speed. She got upset with all my questions and said she wished she had not even said anything. I then told her that if she did not describe the problem for me then how was I going to figure out the problem when she was at work with the truck? She gets upset when I get impatient but my impatience had to do more with her not answering my questions when I was trying to diagnose the problem over the phone. In the end I asked how long she was turning it over. She told me a couple of seconds before stopping and trying again. I then asked why she was stopping. She was worried about burning the starter out. I told her to just keep cranking and not to worry about the starter until she gets to the 15 second or so mark. Now with her actually keeping the key turned the truck starts just fine. My explorer will cut the starter out when the thing starts anyway so there is no reason to let off the key until it starts. It will not grind the starter because of the automatic cut off.

She always does stuff like this. "The truck is not running right" I answer, "What is it doing?" Her typical response is, " I don't know".



Another thing you brought up. We can not help people if they do not describe exactly what is happening with what symptoms along with any corrective action that has been tried. I love to help people but some posts have me just saying to myself, "This guy is in way over his head". It is real hard to teach rudimentary troubleshooting over the web. If a guy does know how to troubleshoot, say electrical, and he only needs to know where to look to find a schematic he has a half way decent chance of being able to fix something. You can usually tell if someone is capable because they ask specific questions instead of general questions like my rear battery is running down. If you do not understand how a system works you have not chance to actually find the problem.

I had my wife ask me to look at a coworkers vehicle a few years ago. The car made it to work and quit running. It would not start but turned over. The coworker's husband and his friend worked on it for two days in the parking lot. The replaced the ignition module, the battery, IIRC the alternator, along with the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. I grabbed the keys and went out to check on it. Immediately I could hear it turning over way faster than it should have. A quick look inside the timing belt cover and my suspicions were confirmed. Broken timing belt on a 2.3 liter Ford Mustang. I ended up having to fix the thing too. They spend a whole lot of money throwing parts at a problem they did not understand. They worked on the thing for two days and it took me a minute and a half to diagnose the problem. If they had know how the engine worked they would have checked for ignition, compression, and fuel and would have been able to focus their efforts.