Nenad and others need help badly

[ShollyC220]

Wow am I pissed. My '94 C220 had needed a head gasket job so I finally bit the bullet last week and took it to the stealership. Reason- I was leaving for vacation at the Outer Banks Monday, so I wanted to get my gasket fixed before I left, just to prevent any potential problems. So I get up in the morning, make the 400+ mile drive down from PA, no problems! I'm thinking, great, these guys did a good job for once. (btw, i stopped once on the way down to gas up) Anyway, last night I go to turn on my car to go to dinner, and the CEL comes on! So im thinking, damnit, they messed something up. I checked the engine oil level/ coolant/ hoses (ones that are visible) and everything checked out. The car isn't running hot and it drove fine last night. I drove it a little more this morning and heard sort of a clunking/banging noise, although it was really faint. Anyone have an idea as to what might be going on? I'm really hoping that the CEL sensor is goingbad and coming on for no reason, but with my luck that isn't it. Help please, nenad, anyone. Thanks-

-sholly

Oh, and to make matters worse, should I have to get it fixed before driving it home, the closest dealership is in Norfolk, 2 hours away. Yay :banana:

[Denlasoul]

Go to an Autozone or Pepboys and borrow their Scanner. At least you'll be able to pull codes and figure out what is wrong.

[Sulaco]

Did you ever replace the wiring harness? I'm sure you know all about their infamous symptoms and problems. If you still have the original harness, you're not the first person who had a working car, performed some huge engine fix (ie head gasket), and now have even bigger problems.

A fellow Club202'er (JustDexter) just had this happen to him. He replaced the head gasket on his 94-95 202, and all the shuffling around and moving aside of the wiring harness caused MANY of the wires to break out of their rubber coating and cause SERIOUS issues. He can't even DRIVE his car now.

Edit- he simply changed his SPARK PLUGS. Didn't replace the head gasket. Sorry Dex!

[jnenad16]

as denlasoul said, get it scanned first, but don't drive the car at all. as for the banging, clunking sound, can you tell if its coming from the front or the back of the engine? did they resurface the head? did they do a valve job? look at your invoice, does it indicate a new chain, chain tensioner, or guide rails?

nenad

[ShollyC220]

Thanks for all the input- I got a flat (just what I needed, another problem) the other day down here so I changed it and havent driven it anyway. I need to go buy another tire so I havea spare for the drive home- I'll get it scanned then. There now seems to be no visible or audible symptoms of the CEL so I don't know what the problem is. Wire harness is probably the culprit, but it hasn't gotten bad enough to do anything but trip the CEL. One other queston- would a clogged cat set off the CEL? I ask this only because I think mine may be clogged.

-sholly

[jnenad16]

the clogged cat might trip CEL if the O2 sensors fail as well.

nenad