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A few months ago I got in touch with "Lormax" (aka Travis Richardson of fixthekarma.com).
My car, about to turn 15,000 on the odometer overall has been highly reliable.
For nearly 14,000 miles, the car has been a comfortable, fun and extraordinarily beautiful 5 day a week commuter vehicle for me. The minor oddities (seats that don't return, CIU lockups, bluetooth mysteries, etc.) I just chalk up to the "character" of the car. The important stuff (driving dynamics and not buying gasoline) more than make up for these minor issues.
The only exception has been that, in some cases, if I ran the battery to zero or near zero I would often (but not always) receive a CEL the next morning after charging the car. Sometimes the CEL would disappear after a couple of additional charging cycles, sometimes not (and I would clear it using a OBD reader and software).
This worried me because I was concerned the CEL might indicate some sort of serious issue.
Through this forum, I got in touch with Lormax and he suggested that it was likely I had a weak battery module. I live in Sarasota, fifty miles south of Tampa and it turned out that Lormax had a trip planned to South Florida to service the cars of other owners. I asked him to give my car the "spa treatment".
Initially, he drove from Orlando late in the evening to visit my car and do a basic diagnosis. He has the original factory OBD software and was able to confirm that battery module five was failing in a minor way. He only charged me $40 for this "house call".
He had arranged to have access to a service bay in Tampa and I told him to go ahead and plan for a module swap, a CIU "dam" fix and a few other minor tweaks. I let him know I didn't have time to drop the car in Tampa and he said he would figure out how to get the car to and from.
About a week later, I heard from him that he was ready. He coordinated a time to pick up the car and drive it north. He swapped out the module, did the other fixes and had the car back to me the next day. The charge was consistent with his estimate.
Throughout the entire process, Travis was highly communicative, completely professional and demonstrated a clear passion for doing an excellent job for a car he clearly loves.
I am writing this reference report for any others that may wish to avail themselves of "Lormax's" skill and experience.
I highly recommend him.
My car, about to turn 15,000 on the odometer overall has been highly reliable.
For nearly 14,000 miles, the car has been a comfortable, fun and extraordinarily beautiful 5 day a week commuter vehicle for me. The minor oddities (seats that don't return, CIU lockups, bluetooth mysteries, etc.) I just chalk up to the "character" of the car. The important stuff (driving dynamics and not buying gasoline) more than make up for these minor issues.
The only exception has been that, in some cases, if I ran the battery to zero or near zero I would often (but not always) receive a CEL the next morning after charging the car. Sometimes the CEL would disappear after a couple of additional charging cycles, sometimes not (and I would clear it using a OBD reader and software).
This worried me because I was concerned the CEL might indicate some sort of serious issue.
Through this forum, I got in touch with Lormax and he suggested that it was likely I had a weak battery module. I live in Sarasota, fifty miles south of Tampa and it turned out that Lormax had a trip planned to South Florida to service the cars of other owners. I asked him to give my car the "spa treatment".
Initially, he drove from Orlando late in the evening to visit my car and do a basic diagnosis. He has the original factory OBD software and was able to confirm that battery module five was failing in a minor way. He only charged me $40 for this "house call".
He had arranged to have access to a service bay in Tampa and I told him to go ahead and plan for a module swap, a CIU "dam" fix and a few other minor tweaks. I let him know I didn't have time to drop the car in Tampa and he said he would figure out how to get the car to and from.
About a week later, I heard from him that he was ready. He coordinated a time to pick up the car and drive it north. He swapped out the module, did the other fixes and had the car back to me the next day. The charge was consistent with his estimate.
Throughout the entire process, Travis was highly communicative, completely professional and demonstrated a clear passion for doing an excellent job for a car he clearly loves.
I am writing this reference report for any others that may wish to avail themselves of "Lormax's" skill and experience.
I highly recommend him.
