I have the MX+ OBD reader and Torque app. Would AlphaOBD give me more detail or not? I'd be happy to invest if it does.
And yes I understand that diagnostic codes do not tell what part to replace, they are a starting point.
At this point I do not know exactly what codes it is showing, the mechanic was using his Snap On scan tool and I was kind of following along but I didn't want to get in his way too much.
Right now I just don't know enough. Is it a serious problem or is the shop not competent to diagnose it or are they not honest? I can't tell. So I'm having the whole mess towed home so I can go through it methodically in my own shop on my own schedule. Not something I can do in their parking lot.
When I get it home my steps will be something like: check codes and chase those rabbits.
If in doubt change suspect sensors, I have spares of some and I wouldn't mind ending up with spare cam and crank sensors. Since the codes I saw beside the road made no sense, I wondered if it was the ECU. I re-seated those connectors, no change. But if my spare ECU is usable I might try that.
Seems to me I ought to be able to get it to idle decently whether or not it has a mechanical problem. Once I have achieved that, I can evaluate the knock and find out what it is or isn't, and check oil pressure.
Speaking of oil pressure.... Did you know that the oil pressure reading on the dash is fake? The sensor on the engine is just a switch. As long as there is any pressure to activate the switch, the computer makes up an oil pressure number to show you, based on RPM and temperature and I don't know what else. It's an idiot light pretending to be a gauge.
Absolutely this is not BS, you can check it yourself. I have this info from a very experienced technician at Chrysler HQ. And from my days as an engineer at Ford, I know they do the same thing on at least some models, I have personally verified it.