Blogtrek

P0108 Manifold Absolute Pressure High Input

Recently, as I was traveling on an interstate, I notice the scary words "Service Engine Soon" appear in yellow on my dashboard. I did not think I would reach my destination safely after that. But I did and got home safely again. In the morning I went to an auto parts store and asked what it meant. They got out a $400 gizmo and plugged it into a socket under the driver's side. After some hemming and hawing, it said "MAP/BARO High Input" and "P0108". I went home and looked it up on the Internet. It means "Manifold absolute pressure/Barometric pressure Voltage High Input". What in the heck does that mean? I read some more web sites and found out that it means something about the fuel injection system, which is governed by pressure in the engine. It also made mention of a "manifold absolute pressure sensor" or MAP sensor. Why was it making high voltage?

After the plugin, the light vanished! But it reappeared two days later when I turned into a parking lot. This time the van stalled, and it was hesitant upon restarting. The yellow light went on again. I went to an auto parts store and they tested it and it came up with the same message: P0108. The guy there told me that the MAP sensor was dead. Now how was that supposed to cause high input? I suppose it is supposed to control that input but it doesn't. I bought one but realized that a service place would have to install it. Two days later I took it in for repair and they installed my new MAP sensor, ran diagnostic tests, and cleaned up a fuel system munged up by improper fuel injection uncontrolled by the dead MAP sensor.

So that is apparently OK now. However, I think the entire process is rotten. We should not have to buy a $400 tool to plug into a socket when something goes wrong and read an incomprehensible error message. The message should state on the dash somewhere in clear language what has happened. I should get a message on my dash saying "MAP sensor voltage improper, may need replacement" instead of the cryptic and unhelpful "Service Engine Soon". But that is usual for the car industry, which I find the most disreputable of any group in this country. It is so bad, both car sales (blaring SUV ads at you at newstime on TV) and repair, that I refused to vote for Don Beyer for any office in Virginia, even though this meant voting for conservative Republicans. He was a car dealer. He was also a strike against Howard Dean, in my opinion. He was Dean's treasurer. That was cancelled out in part by Bobby Scott's support for Dean, but it still meant I was not completely for Dean. Something needs to be done about the car industry in this country.