Descrasnezul

Hello everyone, I'm new here and my friend (mechanic) is still in school and may/may not have caused the following problems as he was working on my car.

New parts:

MAF
Spark plugs
Battery
Alternator

I've owned this car for 3 years and I haven't had a single problem except for power steering. Car sounded like a dream until I had my friend fix some bar near the rear end of my car. He cleaned off all the power steering fluid that was caked underneath the car, then the problems started... We found that the last people to work on this car (or the last owner) did some kinda redneck fix to wire that ultimately connects my battery to my alternator. We assume that it caused the old alternator to stop charging the old battery. Its getting looked at this Wednesday but in the meantime I have:

Rough start
Rough idle
Car sounds like a go-kart when i give it gas, but it sounds a lot better at higher speeds.
I usually use 6th gear around 80mph and cruise around 2500 rpm but ever since the problems started happening its now 5th gear that sits at 80mph closer to 3000 rpm and 6th gear is near useless.
The car is also getting 10-11 mpg vs the usual 21mpg
Theres a giant hole in the muffler.

Getting new O2 sensors and a new muffler (hopefully) this week but with all the research ive done I dont see how this will fix the knocking sound in my engine (the go-kart sound). Engine shakes like mad during both idle and acceleration.

Finally, my coolant temp is reading 0. The gauge does not work at all.

Questions I have:

What else do I need to fix/check out??
Could the spark plugs have been installed poorly?
Bad timing? (I don't know much about this category)
Will this leave lasting damage on my car if I dont fix ASAP?

I apologize for the large post and thank you anyone who has read the whole thing.

Fatdog2

What did your friend use to clean the power steering?I hope he didn't steam clean your engine as there are too many electronics that can get trashed with this cleaning method.this is stuff I've heard.Might by a scanner to retrieve codes.Hope this helps.Nobody else chimed in so my 02 worth.

Descrasnezul

He used brake cleaner apparently all over the place underneath. I never asked him to clean anything he figured he was just helping out. Thats when everything went sideways and failed on me. He swears the brake cleaner doesn't hurt anything but my response was "maybe there was something there that wasn't meant to be 'cleaned' away".

Its been weeks because both our schedules are full. Not paying him anything as far as labor goes, he just tells me what parts to buy and I buy them.

gaedbo

Well, even though your mechanic friend didn't mean to, it seems like he might have moved, broke, disturbed something that shouldn't have been.

Why don't you take it to Autozone or some other auto store that will check your codes for free to start with. Won't cost you anything, and might lead you to the main issue.

He might have disturbed some sensor wires or sensor. Potentially, did he move any of the spark plug wires so that they have touched the exhaust or headers.

Did he only clean the underside of the engine/drivetrain, or did he also do some items from the top of the engine reaching down ?

JakeRobb

6th gear at 80 should be under 2000 rpm, unless you (or a previous owner) have changed the rear end gear ratio. But sometimes the tachs on these cars read high. Probably not relevant; just something to be aware of.

Has the coolant temp always read zero, or is that new? If new, my guess is that the sensor is bad, damaged, or disconnected. Brake cleaner can get into a lot of places, and it might be able to dissolve the rubber seal on an electrical connection. I definitely would never just spray it everywhere.

Anyway, if the engine computer isn't getting a good coolant temp signal, it will run in "open loop" mode, which would explain the crummy MPG. It doesn't explain the running rough, but if the brake cleaner affected the any sensors or ignition components, that could.