In this episode of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron discusses several important automotive topics, focusing on misinformation, safety concerns, and diagnostic strategies.
- He starts by emphasizing the responsibility of broadcasting accurate information, especially in the automotive field. Ron reflects on his years of experience and stresses the importance of avoiding shortcuts that can lead to more harm than good. He specifically criticizes a Facebook post he saw, which suggested disconnecting a vehicle's battery to solve running problems. Ron strongly disagrees with this blanket advice, explaining that modern vehicles rely on adaptive systems like memory resets and fuel trims that could be disrupted, leading to further issues.
- The next point of concern is safety. Ron critiques another video that showed improper techniques for replacing a rear wheel bearing, such as using a floor jack without proper jack stands and striking steel on steel, which can be dangerous. He shares his own safety standards and personal experiences, warning listeners to be cautious when following advice from social media, as it can sometimes be misleading or dangerous.
- He also discusses a listener’s car issue related to a 2012 Chrysler 500C Sport. The car experiences a problem with fueling where the gas pump shuts off frequently when filling the tank. Ron explains that this could be related to the evaporative emission system, particularly the charcoal canister or the fuel tank's internal valve. He outlines a methodical diagnostic process to help identify the source of the problem, emphasizing the importance of eliminating potential causes step by step.
- Later, Ron answers a listener's question about transmission maintenance, distinguishing between a fluid "flush" and a "fluid change." He advises against the term "flush," which implies pressure, and recommends an "exchange" where the fluid is exchanged via the transmission’s circulation system.
Ron wraps up the episode by discussing some lighter topics, such as the idea of selling branded T-shirts for his show, before diving back into more technical discussions with other listeners.
Throughout, Ron emphasizes the importance of accurate information and careful, well-thought-out diagnostics in car repair, warning against risky shortcuts or relying on potentially harmful advice from unverified sources.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Ron Ananian.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
He's also got this really cool sixty seven Volkswagon. I
want to Oh no, I don't know. Why are you
Volkswagon people? You're all nuts?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
The Car Doctor waggat day make eight.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well they you know the issue there is they couldn't
achieve emissions firing one plub for cylinder once.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome to the radio home of Ron Ananian, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Up the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
The garage doors.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Are open, but I am here to take your calls.
At eight five five five six nine hundred and now he.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Is running.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I want to start the hour. I want to talk
about truth and broadcasting and displaying information. You know, I've
been doing this a while, and not just radio, I
mean fixing cars long time. And you know they say
your job will tell you who you are, and mine
told me who I was a long time ago. Been
(01:22):
doing this a very long time. Have I met mem
share of mistakes?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Absolutely, I mean Jesus, I don't know anybody that doesn't
do their job that doesn't make mistakes, but you know,
you try to avoid him the older you get and
the longer you do it right. I saw a post
on Facebook this morning from a regular Facebook contributor that
I think everybody in the automotive world sees. And I'm
not going to call him out by name, but I'm
going to say that I disagree with his information. And
(01:49):
I've watched him over the time, over time, and I've
seen what he does and his stuff's been okay. But
you know, the two I saw today were kind of
bone rattling. One talked about if you want to restore
your vehicle back to good operating condition, if the vehicle
is giving you a running problem, disconnect the battery. Disconnect
(02:11):
the battery and turn on the headlights to bleed out
any electrical energy in the vehicle to restore it back
to factory default. You know, I can't tell you how
big I disagree with that statement because it's a blanket statement.
It's the video leads you to believe that you can
do that for all your problem solving, and I'm going
(02:32):
to tell you right here and now, you're going to
create more problems than you're going to solve by doing that,
the adaptives, the memory resets, the fuel trim, the transmission controls,
all of it is so sensitive on a modern day vehicle,
anything five six years old or newer, and even beginning
(02:52):
model year twenty fifteen coming up a lot of vehicles.
You want to do it on something older. You want
to do it on a let's see, this is twenty
twenty five. You want to do it on a fifteen
year old vehicle. You're probably not as disruptive. You're still
going to affect minimum ital speed and airflow, and you're
going to affect idle quality and have to retrain idle
on a lot of vehicles, which means you're going to
get into cleaning throttle bodies. Don't disconnect the battery unless
(03:17):
the manufacturer tells you to do so, unless you've exhausted
all other methods, unless you've done a realistic diagnosis, and
in the case of certain diagnoses, Yeah, disconnecting the battery
makes sense. I get that. You know, sometimes disconnecting a
battery con Sometimes disconnecting a battery as part of a
(03:40):
diagnosis is effective. What faults do you create? You're testing
the system. You want to look to see does it
have a condition that is created by disconnecting the battery
and what that does to the vehicle. But to do
it in place of a diagnosis, to do it in
the hopes that it's going to solve something. No, you're
(04:01):
you're living a fool's dream and you're you're basically creating
more problems than you're going to solve. The second video
was about safety. The second video this individual put up
that I saw today talked about replacing a rear wheel
bearing on an older Japanese vehicle. I think it was
a Toyota or a Subaru, and just a lot wrong it.
(04:28):
How can I say it? You know, jacked it up.
Didn't talk about jack Stans, so you were led to
believe that the car was supported by the floor jack
You know, I like your legs as long as God
made them. I don't want to see anybody lose a leg.
All right, cars get jacked up, they go on jack Stans.
That's the number one rule I've given my mechanics from
(04:50):
the day I started training any of them. And it
was more than a tongue lashing if I ever saw
it not done that way. Cars go on Jackson hands.
You don't strike steel on steel. In the video, he's
using a long wrench, which I understand. He's using the
wrench I think improperly. He's not holding it in a vice,
the wheelbaring that he's trying to disassemble, but he's striking
(05:14):
the nut. He's striking the wrench that's on the nut
with a hammer. Steel on steel is never the way,
all right, It's not a way to repair a vehicle.
And you know, the funny thing is, I know this individual,
you know, not personally, but I've seen his stuff. He's
an old school mechanic, and I'm trying to figure out
is he's having a moment where he's, you know, just
(05:37):
incorrectly doing things. I get it that. You know, hey, listen,
you know, maybe we're trying to impress. Maybe we're trying
to show people, Hey, quick quick shortcuts dangerous. Shortcuts are dangerous.
I mean, that's the only way I can explain it.
They just don't They just don't resolve anything, and they
usually end up getting your hurt. So my point is,
(06:01):
when I tell you something, and I'm not trying to
make this about me, when I tell you something, I've
done it. I've been doing it. I've read it. I've
experienced it. It's real, all right. It's not something I
pull out of the cosmos and just say, oh, let's
try this. Yes, there are moments I will tell you
to disconnect the battery cable, but they're legit. I've referenced it,
(06:25):
I've experienced. There is no scenario where I can say, hey,
cars not run right, disconnect the battery. And that's the
way this video was presented that I understood it to
say that was the implication. The media is a very
I want to say, dangerous thing. I could convince you
(06:47):
the sky is purple and I could do it too.
So I have to be very careful how I spend
this nickel of our time together that I'm giving you
the best possible information I can because I take it
to heart and know that when I explained something to you,
I believe it to be the answer. And I'm not
just trying to grab your your your listenership or your time.
(07:09):
I'm trying to give you something that solves a problem,
because that's what I've always tried to do. So just
just be wary, all right, because it really comes down
to you can get hurt working on cars. You really
can bad things happen all the time, and you know,
I'll never forget. It was bring your daughter to work day,
(07:34):
and the middle kid was I think she was all
of ten years old. And this way, this is when
I knew she had good survival skills. So I made
her the fireman. We were we were using the torch
to cut up some exhaust, and you know it was
she was safe. She was between me and the you know,
the door. She would have heck, I would have shielded
her if you know I was cutting off a relatively
(07:56):
safe portion of exhaust that there was nothing else near
that was. But she wanted to see the torch work.
So as I let the torch and she held the
spray bottle of water, she said, what happens if you
hit the gas tank? I said, well, kidding me around,
I said, well all your problems are over. And I
turned around and I turned back and she was standing
outside the shop about twenty feet away, and I said,
(08:16):
what are you doing? She says, I'm being safe, dad.
And you know what, I never forgot that lesson. So
it's take it for granted, take it at face value.
Cars can be dangerous. Needless to say, she went to
Afghanistan and came back and she survived. I should have
known that she would have done that too, because her
survival skills were always very good, even from that of
(08:37):
a little kid. But in any event, just just you know,
the Facebook and YouTube stuff and all the social media stuff.
You know, it can be very misleading and very deceiving,
and I'm just concerned that it's going to set some
precedents where people are going to get hurt. So I
wanted you to hear it here that you know there's
(08:58):
a concern, Know what you're looking at, and know who
you're listening to, and make your judgments from there. Anyway,
let's pull over to take a pause before we go
to the phones. Eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero Again eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero. I'm Ron an any in the
car doctor. I'll be back right after this. Whether it's a.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Little red Corvette or you go, you've come to the
right place to get that car fixed. We're on an
Ady in the car doctor. Eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. Now back to Ron.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
By the way, we should I should let you guys know.
I'm curious in a way though, if maybe you got
to the Facebook page and let me know. Put a
post up there. You know, I'll put up a post
asking it. We're thinking of adding I don't know, would
anybody want to wear an Riotomotive T shirt. We're thinking
of adding ra Automotive T shirts to the to the
Car Doctor's store website, along with Car Doctor T shirts.
(10:00):
Somebody said it to me the other day, Hey, where
do I get an Rioto Motive T shirt? I never
thought of it. You should have them on the website.
Blah blah blah. I don't know. Listen, if you guys
want to dress like the card Doctor, I'm glad to
you know, help you do the ones with the pocket. Yeah,
it's the ones with the pocket. Yeah, the pocket tea's. Oh,
these are good shirts, these are great shirts. Well, and
you know, Tom, it's funny. I was talking to the
I was talking to the web guys about it, and
(10:20):
they said, you know, well, are we gonna have a
pocket on this one? I said absolutely? They said how come?
I said, because I've never met a mechanic that doesn't
need that pocket tea. You know, Oh, I got this
little screw. Where am I going to put it? I'll
put it in my pocket and then it goes so yeah, no,
we would. We would definitely do Ari Automotive T shirts
with pockets and and uh yeah that's you know, Tom,
I'm gonna put a post up on Facebook and or
(10:43):
you know what if you would do that, maybe uh
let's put it up on Facebook and just pin it
to the top, and you know, we'll take a poll
see if anybody's interested, and we'll add Ari Automotive T
shirts to the car Doctor's store with pockets. So we
might add card doctor T shirts with pockets too. I
know you guys want pockets. Anyway, that piece of business
out of the way. Let's go over to Tony in
New Hampshire. Tony waiting very patiently. Thank you, Tony.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
How can I help you Todayron Hiron, thank you for
taking my call.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
I've got a twenty twelve five hundred C sport car
and it's got ninety eight thousand miles on it and
this problem just started. It's basically, when I fill the
car up and I've got a quarter of a tank
of gas remaining in it, I can put the pump
on the first nozzle or the first lever and it'll
pump three to four dours and then shut off. And
(11:27):
then from there I can only put in or nurse it.
Then nurse in two to three ounces of gas at
a time until I fill it up. But I don't
know why this is happening.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Okay, So you ever, you ever take a can and
empty the can and then or well it's empty, but
you've punched one hole in the cannon and then you
try to fill it with water and it won't because
there's too much pressure in the can, right, It just
it just bubbles. And so that's that's really how a
gas tank works. Also, so consequently they've got to open
(12:00):
up the other side of the tank so as you're
putting fuel in, there's a place for pressure to go,
that place for pressure to go when you're sitting there
filling the tanks. The charcoal canister, all right. Charcoal canister
is an essential part of the evaporative emission system, all right,
and it can have all kinds of different failures. So
(12:24):
this could also be a bad fuel tank that the
internal valving on the tank has either failed or clogged
or restricted, and the only repair for that is to
replace the tank. So we need to break this out
to diagnose it, all right, if you can get it
up in the air and get a mechanic to look
at it with the understanding of what we're trying to achieve,
(12:44):
which is why I'm explaining this to you. We need
to locate the charcoal canister. There's going to be a
big tube that goes from the canister to the fuel tank.
We need to disconnect that. All right. Then if we
look at the fuel filler neck, and we're gonna have
to take out the inner wheelhouse on the side where
the tank neck is driver's side. I'm twelve, Yeah, driver's side.
(13:08):
Take the wheelhouse lining out and you'll see a long
tube they call that the recirculation tube that comes from
the fuel filler neck and it leads down to the tank.
All right, you want to disconnect that also at the
tank if you can what what you what you now
have right is a gas tank that is open and
(13:28):
vented to atmosphere. You're with me, yes, I am all right.
If we if we go to put fuel in this
car and the and the pump keeps clicking off doing
the same thing, where's the problem. It's it's in the tank, right, yeah, right, Okay,
(13:50):
if if I punch, if I punch another hole in
the top of my can and it's vented to atmosphere
and I still can't put water in the can, where's
the problem?
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Right?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
It's the can, right, it can Right? If I put
a plastic hose on the side that I punched the
hole in on the can, and I ran that plastic
hose up to a hairnet or something that's porous, and
I put a coat of wax over that screen, and
(14:20):
now it kicks off the pump, that's a restriction, right, right.
So my problem isn't in the isn't in the can.
My problem is in the hairnet, the screen that's waxed over. Correct, Okay,
And the way I'm going to prove whether it's the
can or the screen is disconnect the hose. And that's
what you're doing when you disconnect the charcoal canister makes
(14:43):
sense now if it takes gas, if you can put
fuel in it and it's normal. Now we've got to
go back and disconnect and reconnect one of the other hoses.
Pick one, you know. I would probably reconnect the canister
and then go back and put a little more fuel
in it. And when I can fill it up with
(15:03):
the canister. Okay. Then it's in the recirculation host and
there's probably a spider web in it, which is common. Okay, yeah,
we have to do you have do you have a
do you have a propane barbecue in the backyard?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (15:16):
I do?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Okay. You ever get a spider to build a web?
Speaker 6 (15:20):
Not? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, it happens. And that's why you know when the
barbecue won't light. When the barbecue won't light, it it's
because you take it apart and you're looking. There's a
spider web there, and you can blow through it, but
it's just it's enough of a restriction that it affects
you know, uh, you know, gas flow, and it affects operations.
(15:41):
So we're looking for we're looking for a pimple on
the flies behind here, tony. So that's why we're that's
why we're kind of doing this one step at a time,
but that's the basic principle of what we're looking for,
all right, sir, Okay.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Ron, thank you very much, and I'll let you know
how I make out.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
You're very welcome and I'll be glad to hear it.
You take good care, yes, sir, take care. Yeah, it's
just it's just we've we've got to break this down
into into you know, little little minutia steps. All right,
how does it work? May not be the easiest thing
to get to it. It may take some time and
be tedious, but it's it's better than guessing. And and
(16:19):
I've and I've seen, for in all fairness, I've seen
bad fuel tanks on these cars. I've seen I've seen
the spider in the recarc line. I've seen a clogged canister.
You know, anything's possible here. It's twelve years old, it's
one hundred thousand miles on it, and you know, it's
it's really kind of interesting. Ev app work is very
interesting to me. There's always a logical reason, always a
(16:42):
logical explanation, and you know, over the years it's become
i won't to say, more of a challenge, but more
of a quest that you know, every evapp problem can
be solved. I always think about the one we had
last year. We had a Dodge Durangle last year where
we proved it had a bad esum Covapuative system Integrity monitor,
(17:04):
which is the piece that controls flow out of the
canister when the vehicle is off, and it also helps
run the EVAP monitor. The ESOM was bad, vehicle ran
its monitor, it passed, it had integrity, the system was working.
And then two weeks later we had a cold snap,
the weather changed. The car came back with the exact
(17:25):
same fault. The customer looked at me. I said, oh,
maybe it's a bad new ESOM. I mean, listen, bad
new parts new never ever worked. It happens. I went
through the diagnosis. Nope, ESOM was good. Everything checked out,
smoked it. Nope, everything was good, everything had integrity. And
then I don't know what made me do it, but
you know, if you look at some of the modern
(17:46):
day vehicles, it's a rubber elbow with a hard plastic
code leading into the base of the engine where they
go into the throttle body or we'll go into the
intake whatever. And I just happened to with the smoke
machine on, I had no leak, and I happened to
lean on the elbow a little bit, and sure enough,
it was just enough of a twist that it started
(18:07):
letting smoke out. All of a sudden, we found our leak.
When it got real cold. The rubber contracted and caused
an EBAB failure. So it's always the little thing that
you find. I'm running eny in the card doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Don't go anywhere. Let's let's
(18:44):
go over to Let's go over to uh, let's go
to SID in Maine. Some transmission questions. Sid. Welcome to
the card doctor, Sir. How can I help?
Speaker 6 (18:53):
Yes, sir, thank you, you're welcome. I'm sure you run
across there was they call it a splash pad under
those food transmissions that break up and dangle off. And yeah,
I mean, well it's I can't.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Understand the seventy thousand dollars for a vehicle. You think
they could come up with something better than that.
Speaker 6 (19:13):
Yeah, and so you know I got one. In fact,
there's a second truck. It's it's falling apart, and I
want to go with a skid plate to also help
protect the catalytic convertise from theft. But it's quite as
They all look big if you want to, because you
have to have that out of the way to drain
(19:35):
the oil, right engine right, And I haven't found any
with there's one with a small oil a hole that
you can get up to it, but it's it's it
needs a drain valve put on really so you can
put a hose on it. And it's I don't know
that I want to do that. So I wonder if
you've ever run across anything.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
That you know, I've never run across it, but in
my mind saying if we can get a plate, that's
you know, we like the plate, we just don't like
the size of the hole. Why can't we take it
to a machine shop and have a door put in it?
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Oh, I mean I can, yeah, And I got right.
You know this guy got stuff cut steel.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
But yeah, right, why can't white? Why can't we just
put a flap in it? You know, like old school pajamas. Uh,
put a little put a little flap door in the
back of it. Uh, you know. And I often wonder
why car companies don't do that. Now, you know, we
look at the Ford the Escapes. You know, the same
guy must be making the splash pants for the Escapes
(20:36):
and the Edges and and some of the new Explorers too.
Because he's he's crazy. We put these, you know, self
threading screws into these little red and nylon washers or
I'm sorry, little red and nylon locknuts that are you know,
push push pressed into the frame if we want to
call that a frame. And you know, after fifty thousand miles,
no matter how easy you are, you will strip them
(20:58):
out and then they start to fall out, and then
the shield loses some of the screws, and then you're
driving down the road of sixty miles an hour and
it falls off underneath the car. And the danger here
is there's two problems with this, the shields that I'm
speaking about and on yours. It's got its reasons too.
But the shields I'm speaking about on the on the
escapes will also have an air duct that puts cool
(21:20):
air directly up to the turbo to help keep it cool.
So if that shield falls off, and I see a
lot of them come in and they're missing, and I
have to explain to people if that turbo doesn't get
proper air, you know, the two hundred dollars you're saving
on the shield becomes a three thousand dollars turbo charger
in about ten thousand miles. So you know that's that's
an issue too. So yeah, why not listen you know
(21:42):
what I can.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
See that, Yeah, there's critical I got, I got the
stuff to the cut holes in the plate. That's that's
still problem. But okay, I just thought wonder if you'd
seen anything.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Now, Yeah, second question.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Other transmission thing. Difference between flush and fluid change do
you recommend?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I hate the word flush. Flush denotes pressure. I like exchange,
all right. Now. The difference between a fill and an exchange.
A fill is I'm taking out a drain plug, I'm
draining something and I'm just refilling whatever fluid was in
the pan. An exchange denotes that I am somehow tying
(22:38):
into the transmissions, recirculation lines, the cooler lines, and I
am going to tie into that transmission, and I'm going
to take out a court and add a court, and
take out a court and add a court, and I'm
going to do so until I've either reached the capacity
of or based on color. Now on the old days,
(23:00):
and I'll back up for a quick second in the
old days, going back the old days and order repairs
ten years ago, you know, ten years ago, when more
cars had dipsticks, we would do this. We would do
a transmission fluid exchange with a dipstick line going down,
with a tube going down the dipstick and it was.
You know, it's kind of sweet you'd get a car
(23:21):
forty fifty thousand miles, you know, like the color of
the fluid out it comes.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
But that you're not talking about filthy yet, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
And that's what I'm coming to in my in my experience,
all right, most of the time doing an exchange down
a dipstick or at a cooler line at that let's
call it fifty, let's round it off, fifty thousand miles mark, we'll, we'll, we'll,
And it varies a little bit because it varies on
vehicle and color of fluid and condition and so forth.
(23:53):
If we do a fluid exchange at fifty, I'm fine.
Doing a fluid exchange at sixty, and then doing a
fluid and filter exchange at one hundred, I see, all right,
you know, if I've got super dirty fluid at forty
five fifty thousand miles, and I do an exchange, and
(24:14):
at the next oil change, when I check the fluid
like I'm supposed to, if I'm doing that because I'm
a competent shop and all of a sudden the fluid's
turned color again. Now I'm wondering, is something coming apart?
Now I may drop the pan on an inquiry and
you know, and then I'll get into but it's it's
And the only reason I say that' sid is because
sometimes changing filters on some of these vehicles GM products
(24:37):
a Chevy suburban. Oh my lord, what a nightmare. You know,
the same genius that designed those fiber board covers for
the Ford transmissions, he must have he must have a
brother in law that works for GM, because this guy
put the exhaust pipe right under the transpan, so neither
one of them wanted to gain access to the trans
to service it. All right. And you know, in the
(24:59):
case of the GMS, it's either you're going to unbolt
the front pipe. Unbolt the front pipe from the manifolds.
I want to see somebody do that at one hundred
thousand miles when the nuts are rusted on in the northeast,
all right. Or you've got this big Gigundis pride bar
that we like to think of as the workout tool,
and one of us will wedge it up against the
(25:20):
pipe and the cross member, and if you get it
just right, you can stress it just enough that while
one guy's holding the pipe in place, the other guy
can lower the pan and it's you know, I feel
bad doing it, but I know of no other way
to do it with any kind of credibility or practical
financial resolve, you know. So but yeah, I like that.
(25:42):
I like doing an exchange like that, you know. So
what do you have a ten speed in your f
one fifty?
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, you know. Then there's that story because and I
don't say this wishing it upon you, but changing fluid
on a four to ten speed is almost a useless
task because you'll probably change the transmission before the fluid
wear is out because they're so problematic. And I realize
a lot of people might be cringing to hear me
say that, but it's got to be Forlord's biggest problem.
(26:11):
Right now, I haven't had a customer. I haven't had
a customer with a ten speed forward trends right now
go past the sixty thousand mile mark without it being rebuilt. Really, yeah,
it's just incredible. Fortunately for most of them to this point,
everything's been under warranty. But we'll see what the future brings, so,
you know, and look, i'd love to be wrong. I
(26:33):
still like Ford as a product, I really do, but
they've had their problems with their transmissions, and you know,
it seems like every time they try to make an improvement,
it doesn't help or it makes it worse.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
So enough said, I talked to you a little less
of a year ago. I had all consumption issues from
new and it finally killed the cats and they replace
those and then they finally replaced the engine right once once,
and that's been that's been fine. Right, it's a it's a.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
You know, it's it's it's sad because and then I
gotta go. But it's sad, said, because you know, what
I've learned in my fifty plus years of repairing cars
is a new term that always pops into my head
when somebody says, what kind of car should I buy?
And that's you're buying the culture of repair. How does
the corporation allow the dealer to repair that vehicle? And
(27:29):
it's it's sometimes the corporation hog ties the dealer. Let's
try this first before we do that.
Speaker 6 (27:36):
Yes, And and I.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Just and and then and then you know what happens.
Then people go buy other cars. And that's the part.
That's the part I don't understand. That's the part I
just don't understand. So but all right, sir, listen, go
do what you gotta do. Send me pictures of what
you create. Who knows you may you may have to
go get a patent on it. It may be creating something
that the rest of the world needs. All right, said,
(28:01):
You'll be well, yes, sir eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero running any in the car doctor,
I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
He's gone, and.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
So let's go over. Let's go talk to Gene. Gene
is down south. It says ninety nine infinity Gene, Welcome
to the car doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Thanks? Uh? I have two issues, two main issues. A
turnover the car doesn't like, the doesn't x like, it
doesn't want to start, doesn't want to turn over. And
then once it's up and running, there are times where
sometimes it slows down and the acceleration or hesitates. You know,
you hit the gas and you expect it to go
(28:51):
and it kind of doesn't.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Okay, So when let's let's let's talk about the first
one first. When you say it doesn't want to turn over,
are you are you saying that you turn the key
and the engine cranks unevenly before it starts or it
is a hard time to start.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Uh, yeah, I think it. It tries to crank. You
crank so neat. I mean it's just hard to you know,
it'll you know, it'll have I mean, I don't know
how to say it.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Really is it?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Is it? Is it that the engine? Is it that
the starter's not engaging to crank the engine over?
Speaker 6 (29:35):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (29:37):
If you had somebody here, let's do this. Have somebody,
have somebody sit in the car yep, and try to
start it. You go out, You go out and lift
the hood and watch the alternator or the belts as
they as they crank it. Do they move smooth and
easy or do they hesitate? Is it is it that
you hear noise from under the hood but nothing's happening
(29:59):
with the belts, that the belts aren't rotating.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Uh, I'm uh, I'm actually in the car now.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
We need we need a second person.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yeah, I actually got a second person here yep. And uh,
if you just give me a minute.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
You gotta be quick though, because we're running out of
time this segment. I've got two minutes left now. I
could talk for two minutes, or we can try and
solve this.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
There's a lot of windown South today. Hey, it's live.
It's live radio, folks. You can't make this up. I'm
loving it. Go ahead, okay, we're all waiting to hear
from Jem. Now here comes the report.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
All right, say again, that's all right.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
So somebody's in the car.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
What they were?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
All right? Well, have somebody? Have somebody hit the start
button while you watch it? Does the engine turn over smoothly?
We're to be quiet now while Jane goes to start
the car.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Oh so now so okay, so so I'm going to
start it.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well, somebody's got it. Somebody's got to hit the key
to start it. And somebody's got to watch the belts
as they move. That's the catch. Okay, all right, let
us know when Okay, America is waiting.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Okay. Now, the first time I was watching the belts
and they looked like they It didn't squeal, but it
looked like they were here we go again.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
That sounded all right?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
All right, say it again.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
That sounded all right?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah it didn't. It looked sorry too.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Okay, So guess what. It's an intermittent problem. Try it
tomorrow when it's cold. Let's talk about the second problem.
What was the second problem?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
What's the uh accelerate like when you you know, after
you're driving, you know, you hit the accelerators, it seems
to like kind of bog. It's not it's not responding.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Okay, how many miles are on this gene? And I'm
running out of time, so let's just let's just cut
to the chase. How many miles are on this.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
So when the when the O dometer is working? And
that's another issue, right, one hundred and thirty two thousand five, Right.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
So I'm going to tell you. I'm going to say
two things to you, all right. Number one, this is
the kind of car based on its agent mileage, we
sort of need to do a heart rate and blood
pressure test because you're going to tell me there's no
check engine light on, right or is there no?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
There's no check in right, right?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
So we want to know. We want to know fuel trim,
We want to know mass airflow calculation. We want to
know will this vehicle pass something called the volumetric efficiency testing?
All right? And these are all things we can talk
about in depth. But the first thing I want you
to try and do this week is have somebody do
a fuel pressure test to this vehicle and specifically check
(32:49):
the fuel pressure regulator to make sure that it's operating. Okay,
so we're going to start with a fuel pressure check
and vitals to determine what sort of shape this vehicle
is in, and then we can kind of talk about
it from there. Do those things. I'm out of time.
I appreciate the call, and we'll continue to work on this.
I'm ronning Andy and the car doctor. We're back right
after this promise. Hey, I want to I want to
(33:24):
go back and revisit Jean's infinity there. You know, I
know he's not on the line, maybe he's still listening,
but I want to also, you know, tell you where
my thought process was going. You know, it's a it's
a it's a twenty see ninety nine, twenty nine nineteen,
it's a twenty five almost twenty six year old vehicle.
And I think he said four hundred and thirty two
thousand miles right, so, and with no check engine line on,
(33:45):
where do you go? Well, you know, you don't sit
there and say, well, you can't diagnose that. You've got
to look at vitals. You've got to look at you know,
tell me what's good. This is a tell me what's
good car? All right, I'll and I'll tell you what's bad.
Let's look at fuel pressure, all right. I want to
know that fuel pressure is consistent on an older vehicle.
I also want to do a fuel sample test, which
is something i'll do when I have the fuel lines disconnected. Okay,
(34:07):
does the car meet fuel standards?
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (34:10):
If you've been putting E fifteen in it? Does it
have E fifteen fuel in it? And you can tell
that with an ethanol vial? And that's I got to
tell you. Testing fuel and fuel quality is fast becoming
one of our standards in our diagnostic tests because we're
finding an awful lot of vehicles are running substandard fuel
fuel that is mixed improperly. I'm not saying one brand
(34:30):
is better than the other, but it's either wrong fuel
or bad quality that we're seeing. Okay, I would do
a fuel system cleaning, a BG fuel system cleaning, read Moore, EG,
bgfuelsystem dot Com, look it up, Google it. But you know,
a carbon cleaning from BG would do wonders for a
vehicle like that. But you've still got to go through
(34:51):
and tell me. Tell me what's good. I'll tell you
what's bad. Till the next time. I'm not an ady
in the car, doctor. Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're placeless.
See y
Ron Ananian.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
He's also got this really cool sixty seven Volkswagon. I
want to Oh no, I don't know. Why are you
Volkswagon people? You're all nuts?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
The Car Doctor waggat day make eight.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well they you know the issue there is they couldn't
achieve emissions firing one plub for cylinder once.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome to the radio home of Ron Ananian, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Up the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
The garage doors.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Are open, but I am here to take your calls.
At eight five five five six nine hundred and now he.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Is running.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I want to start the hour. I want to talk
about truth and broadcasting and displaying information. You know, I've
been doing this a while, and not just radio, I
mean fixing cars long time. And you know they say
your job will tell you who you are, and mine
told me who I was a long time ago. Been
(01:22):
doing this a very long time. Have I met mem
share of mistakes?
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Absolutely, I mean Jesus, I don't know anybody that doesn't
do their job that doesn't make mistakes, but you know,
you try to avoid him the older you get and
the longer you do it right. I saw a post
on Facebook this morning from a regular Facebook contributor that
I think everybody in the automotive world sees. And I'm
not going to call him out by name, but I'm
going to say that I disagree with his information. And
(01:49):
I've watched him over the time, over time, and I've
seen what he does and his stuff's been okay. But
you know, the two I saw today were kind of
bone rattling. One talked about if you want to restore
your vehicle back to good operating condition, if the vehicle
is giving you a running problem, disconnect the battery. Disconnect
(02:11):
the battery and turn on the headlights to bleed out
any electrical energy in the vehicle to restore it back
to factory default. You know, I can't tell you how
big I disagree with that statement because it's a blanket statement.
It's the video leads you to believe that you can
do that for all your problem solving, and I'm going
(02:32):
to tell you right here and now, you're going to
create more problems than you're going to solve by doing that,
the adaptives, the memory resets, the fuel trim, the transmission controls,
all of it is so sensitive on a modern day vehicle,
anything five six years old or newer, and even beginning
(02:52):
model year twenty fifteen coming up a lot of vehicles.
You want to do it on something older. You want
to do it on a let's see, this is twenty
twenty five. You want to do it on a fifteen
year old vehicle. You're probably not as disruptive. You're still
going to affect minimum ital speed and airflow, and you're
going to affect idle quality and have to retrain idle
on a lot of vehicles, which means you're going to
get into cleaning throttle bodies. Don't disconnect the battery unless
(03:17):
the manufacturer tells you to do so, unless you've exhausted
all other methods, unless you've done a realistic diagnosis, and
in the case of certain diagnoses, Yeah, disconnecting the battery
makes sense. I get that. You know, sometimes disconnecting a
battery con Sometimes disconnecting a battery as part of a
(03:40):
diagnosis is effective. What faults do you create? You're testing
the system. You want to look to see does it
have a condition that is created by disconnecting the battery
and what that does to the vehicle. But to do
it in place of a diagnosis, to do it in
the hopes that it's going to solve something. No, you're
(04:01):
you're living a fool's dream and you're you're basically creating
more problems than you're going to solve. The second video
was about safety. The second video this individual put up
that I saw today talked about replacing a rear wheel
bearing on an older Japanese vehicle. I think it was
a Toyota or a Subaru, and just a lot wrong it.
(04:28):
How can I say it? You know, jacked it up.
Didn't talk about jack Stans, so you were led to
believe that the car was supported by the floor jack
You know, I like your legs as long as God
made them. I don't want to see anybody lose a leg.
All right, cars get jacked up, they go on jack Stans.
That's the number one rule I've given my mechanics from
(04:50):
the day I started training any of them. And it
was more than a tongue lashing if I ever saw
it not done that way. Cars go on Jackson hands.
You don't strike steel on steel. In the video, he's
using a long wrench, which I understand. He's using the
wrench I think improperly. He's not holding it in a vice,
the wheelbaring that he's trying to disassemble, but he's striking
(05:14):
the nut. He's striking the wrench that's on the nut
with a hammer. Steel on steel is never the way,
all right, It's not a way to repair a vehicle.
And you know, the funny thing is, I know this individual,
you know, not personally, but I've seen his stuff. He's
an old school mechanic, and I'm trying to figure out
is he's having a moment where he's, you know, just
(05:37):
incorrectly doing things. I get it that. You know, hey, listen,
you know, maybe we're trying to impress. Maybe we're trying
to show people, Hey, quick quick shortcuts dangerous. Shortcuts are dangerous.
I mean, that's the only way I can explain it.
They just don't They just don't resolve anything, and they
usually end up getting your hurt. So my point is,
(06:01):
when I tell you something, and I'm not trying to
make this about me, when I tell you something, I've
done it. I've been doing it. I've read it. I've
experienced it. It's real, all right. It's not something I
pull out of the cosmos and just say, oh, let's
try this. Yes, there are moments I will tell you
to disconnect the battery cable, but they're legit. I've referenced it,
(06:25):
I've experienced. There is no scenario where I can say, hey,
cars not run right, disconnect the battery. And that's the
way this video was presented that I understood it to
say that was the implication. The media is a very
I want to say, dangerous thing. I could convince you
(06:47):
the sky is purple and I could do it too.
So I have to be very careful how I spend
this nickel of our time together that I'm giving you
the best possible information I can because I take it
to heart and know that when I explained something to you,
I believe it to be the answer. And I'm not
just trying to grab your your your listenership or your time.
(07:09):
I'm trying to give you something that solves a problem,
because that's what I've always tried to do. So just
just be wary, all right, because it really comes down
to you can get hurt working on cars. You really
can bad things happen all the time, and you know,
I'll never forget. It was bring your daughter to work day,
(07:34):
and the middle kid was I think she was all
of ten years old. And this way, this is when
I knew she had good survival skills. So I made
her the fireman. We were we were using the torch
to cut up some exhaust, and you know it was
she was safe. She was between me and the you know,
the door. She would have heck, I would have shielded
her if you know I was cutting off a relatively
(07:56):
safe portion of exhaust that there was nothing else near
that was. But she wanted to see the torch work.
So as I let the torch and she held the
spray bottle of water, she said, what happens if you
hit the gas tank? I said, well, kidding me around,
I said, well all your problems are over. And I
turned around and I turned back and she was standing
outside the shop about twenty feet away, and I said,
(08:16):
what are you doing? She says, I'm being safe, dad.
And you know what, I never forgot that lesson. So
it's take it for granted, take it at face value.
Cars can be dangerous. Needless to say, she went to
Afghanistan and came back and she survived. I should have
known that she would have done that too, because her
survival skills were always very good, even from that of
(08:37):
a little kid. But in any event, just just you know,
the Facebook and YouTube stuff and all the social media stuff.
You know, it can be very misleading and very deceiving,
and I'm just concerned that it's going to set some
precedents where people are going to get hurt. So I
wanted you to hear it here that you know there's
(08:58):
a concern, Know what you're looking at, and know who
you're listening to, and make your judgments from there. Anyway,
let's pull over to take a pause before we go
to the phones. Eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero Again eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero. I'm Ron an any in the
car doctor. I'll be back right after this. Whether it's a.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Little red Corvette or you go, you've come to the
right place to get that car fixed. We're on an
Ady in the car doctor. Eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. Now back to Ron.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
By the way, we should I should let you guys know.
I'm curious in a way though, if maybe you got
to the Facebook page and let me know. Put a
post up there. You know, I'll put up a post
asking it. We're thinking of adding I don't know, would
anybody want to wear an Riotomotive T shirt. We're thinking
of adding ra Automotive T shirts to the to the
Car Doctor's store website, along with Car Doctor T shirts.
(10:00):
Somebody said it to me the other day, Hey, where
do I get an Rioto Motive T shirt? I never
thought of it. You should have them on the website.
Blah blah blah. I don't know. Listen, if you guys
want to dress like the card Doctor, I'm glad to
you know, help you do the ones with the pocket. Yeah,
it's the ones with the pocket. Yeah, the pocket tea's. Oh,
these are good shirts, these are great shirts. Well, and
you know, Tom, it's funny. I was talking to the
I was talking to the web guys about it, and
(10:20):
they said, you know, well, are we gonna have a
pocket on this one? I said absolutely? They said how come?
I said, because I've never met a mechanic that doesn't
need that pocket tea. You know, Oh, I got this
little screw. Where am I going to put it? I'll
put it in my pocket and then it goes so yeah, no,
we would. We would definitely do Ari Automotive T shirts
with pockets and and uh yeah that's you know, Tom,
I'm gonna put a post up on Facebook and or
(10:43):
you know what if you would do that, maybe uh
let's put it up on Facebook and just pin it
to the top, and you know, we'll take a poll
see if anybody's interested, and we'll add Ari Automotive T
shirts to the car Doctor's store with pockets. So we
might add card doctor T shirts with pockets too. I
know you guys want pockets. Anyway, that piece of business
out of the way. Let's go over to Tony in
New Hampshire. Tony waiting very patiently. Thank you, Tony.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
How can I help you Todayron Hiron, thank you for
taking my call.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
I've got a twenty twelve five hundred C sport car
and it's got ninety eight thousand miles on it and
this problem just started. It's basically, when I fill the
car up and I've got a quarter of a tank
of gas remaining in it, I can put the pump
on the first nozzle or the first lever and it'll
pump three to four dours and then shut off. And
(11:27):
then from there I can only put in or nurse it.
Then nurse in two to three ounces of gas at
a time until I fill it up. But I don't
know why this is happening.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Okay, So you ever, you ever take a can and
empty the can and then or well it's empty, but
you've punched one hole in the cannon and then you
try to fill it with water and it won't because
there's too much pressure in the can, right, It just
it just bubbles. And so that's that's really how a
gas tank works. Also, so consequently they've got to open
(12:00):
up the other side of the tank so as you're
putting fuel in, there's a place for pressure to go,
that place for pressure to go when you're sitting there
filling the tanks. The charcoal canister, all right. Charcoal canister
is an essential part of the evaporative emission system, all right,
and it can have all kinds of different failures. So
(12:24):
this could also be a bad fuel tank that the
internal valving on the tank has either failed or clogged
or restricted, and the only repair for that is to
replace the tank. So we need to break this out
to diagnose it, all right, if you can get it
up in the air and get a mechanic to look
at it with the understanding of what we're trying to achieve,
(12:44):
which is why I'm explaining this to you. We need
to locate the charcoal canister. There's going to be a
big tube that goes from the canister to the fuel tank.
We need to disconnect that. All right. Then if we
look at the fuel filler neck, and we're gonna have
to take out the inner wheelhouse on the side where
the tank neck is driver's side. I'm twelve, Yeah, driver's side.
(13:08):
Take the wheelhouse lining out and you'll see a long
tube they call that the recirculation tube that comes from
the fuel filler neck and it leads down to the tank.
All right, you want to disconnect that also at the
tank if you can what what you what you now
have right is a gas tank that is open and
(13:28):
vented to atmosphere. You're with me, yes, I am all right.
If we if we go to put fuel in this
car and the and the pump keeps clicking off doing
the same thing, where's the problem. It's it's in the tank, right, yeah, right, Okay,
(13:50):
if if I punch, if I punch another hole in
the top of my can and it's vented to atmosphere
and I still can't put water in the can, where's
the problem?
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Right?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
It's the can, right, it can Right? If I put
a plastic hose on the side that I punched the
hole in on the can, and I ran that plastic
hose up to a hairnet or something that's porous, and
I put a coat of wax over that screen, and
(14:20):
now it kicks off the pump, that's a restriction, right, right.
So my problem isn't in the isn't in the can.
My problem is in the hairnet, the screen that's waxed over. Correct, Okay,
And the way I'm going to prove whether it's the
can or the screen is disconnect the hose. And that's
what you're doing when you disconnect the charcoal canister makes
(14:43):
sense now if it takes gas, if you can put
fuel in it and it's normal. Now we've got to
go back and disconnect and reconnect one of the other hoses.
Pick one, you know. I would probably reconnect the canister
and then go back and put a little more fuel
in it. And when I can fill it up with
(15:03):
the canister. Okay. Then it's in the recirculation host and
there's probably a spider web in it, which is common. Okay, yeah,
we have to do you have do you have a
do you have a propane barbecue in the backyard?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (15:16):
I do?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Okay. You ever get a spider to build a web?
Speaker 6 (15:20):
Not? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, it happens. And that's why you know when the
barbecue won't light. When the barbecue won't light, it it's
because you take it apart and you're looking. There's a
spider web there, and you can blow through it, but
it's just it's enough of a restriction that it affects
you know, uh, you know, gas flow, and it affects operations.
(15:41):
So we're looking for we're looking for a pimple on
the flies behind here, tony. So that's why we're that's
why we're kind of doing this one step at a time,
but that's the basic principle of what we're looking for,
all right, sir, Okay.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Ron, thank you very much, and I'll let you know
how I make out.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
You're very welcome and I'll be glad to hear it.
You take good care, yes, sir, take care. Yeah, it's
just it's just we've we've got to break this down
into into you know, little little minutia steps. All right,
how does it work? May not be the easiest thing
to get to it. It may take some time and
be tedious, but it's it's better than guessing. And and
(16:19):
I've and I've seen, for in all fairness, I've seen
bad fuel tanks on these cars. I've seen I've seen
the spider in the recarc line. I've seen a clogged canister.
You know, anything's possible here. It's twelve years old, it's
one hundred thousand miles on it, and you know, it's
it's really kind of interesting. Ev app work is very
interesting to me. There's always a logical reason, always a
(16:42):
logical explanation, and you know, over the years it's become
i won't to say, more of a challenge, but more
of a quest that you know, every evapp problem can
be solved. I always think about the one we had
last year. We had a Dodge Durangle last year where
we proved it had a bad esum Covapuative system Integrity monitor,
(17:04):
which is the piece that controls flow out of the
canister when the vehicle is off, and it also helps
run the EVAP monitor. The ESOM was bad, vehicle ran
its monitor, it passed, it had integrity, the system was working.
And then two weeks later we had a cold snap,
the weather changed. The car came back with the exact
(17:25):
same fault. The customer looked at me. I said, oh,
maybe it's a bad new ESOM. I mean, listen, bad
new parts new never ever worked. It happens. I went
through the diagnosis. Nope, ESOM was good. Everything checked out,
smoked it. Nope, everything was good, everything had integrity. And
then I don't know what made me do it, but
you know, if you look at some of the modern
(17:46):
day vehicles, it's a rubber elbow with a hard plastic
code leading into the base of the engine where they
go into the throttle body or we'll go into the
intake whatever. And I just happened to with the smoke
machine on, I had no leak, and I happened to
lean on the elbow a little bit, and sure enough,
it was just enough of a twist that it started
(18:07):
letting smoke out. All of a sudden, we found our leak.
When it got real cold. The rubber contracted and caused
an EBAB failure. So it's always the little thing that
you find. I'm running eny in the card doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Don't go anywhere. Let's let's
(18:44):
go over to Let's go over to uh, let's go
to SID in Maine. Some transmission questions. Sid. Welcome to
the card doctor, Sir. How can I help?
Speaker 6 (18:53):
Yes, sir, thank you, you're welcome. I'm sure you run
across there was they call it a splash pad under
those food transmissions that break up and dangle off. And yeah,
I mean, well it's I can't.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Understand the seventy thousand dollars for a vehicle. You think
they could come up with something better than that.
Speaker 6 (19:13):
Yeah, and so you know I got one. In fact,
there's a second truck. It's it's falling apart, and I
want to go with a skid plate to also help
protect the catalytic convertise from theft. But it's quite as
They all look big if you want to, because you
have to have that out of the way to drain
(19:35):
the oil, right engine right, And I haven't found any
with there's one with a small oil a hole that
you can get up to it, but it's it's it
needs a drain valve put on really so you can
put a hose on it. And it's I don't know
that I want to do that. So I wonder if
you've ever run across anything.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
That you know, I've never run across it, but in
my mind saying if we can get a plate, that's
you know, we like the plate, we just don't like
the size of the hole. Why can't we take it
to a machine shop and have a door put in it?
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Oh, I mean I can, yeah, And I got right.
You know this guy got stuff cut steel.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
But yeah, right, why can't white? Why can't we just
put a flap in it? You know, like old school pajamas. Uh,
put a little put a little flap door in the
back of it. Uh, you know. And I often wonder
why car companies don't do that. Now, you know, we
look at the Ford the Escapes. You know, the same
guy must be making the splash pants for the Escapes
(20:36):
and the Edges and and some of the new Explorers too.
Because he's he's crazy. We put these, you know, self
threading screws into these little red and nylon washers or
I'm sorry, little red and nylon locknuts that are you know,
push push pressed into the frame if we want to
call that a frame. And you know, after fifty thousand miles,
no matter how easy you are, you will strip them
(20:58):
out and then they start to fall out, and then
the shield loses some of the screws, and then you're
driving down the road of sixty miles an hour and
it falls off underneath the car. And the danger here
is there's two problems with this, the shields that I'm
speaking about and on yours. It's got its reasons too.
But the shields I'm speaking about on the on the
escapes will also have an air duct that puts cool
(21:20):
air directly up to the turbo to help keep it cool.
So if that shield falls off, and I see a
lot of them come in and they're missing, and I
have to explain to people if that turbo doesn't get
proper air, you know, the two hundred dollars you're saving
on the shield becomes a three thousand dollars turbo charger
in about ten thousand miles. So you know that's that's
an issue too. So yeah, why not listen you know
(21:42):
what I can.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
See that, Yeah, there's critical I got, I got the
stuff to the cut holes in the plate. That's that's
still problem. But okay, I just thought wonder if you'd
seen anything.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Now, Yeah, second question.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Other transmission thing. Difference between flush and fluid change do
you recommend?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I hate the word flush. Flush denotes pressure. I like exchange,
all right. Now. The difference between a fill and an exchange.
A fill is I'm taking out a drain plug, I'm
draining something and I'm just refilling whatever fluid was in
the pan. An exchange denotes that I am somehow tying
(22:38):
into the transmissions, recirculation lines, the cooler lines, and I
am going to tie into that transmission, and I'm going
to take out a court and add a court, and
take out a court and add a court, and I'm
going to do so until I've either reached the capacity
of or based on color. Now on the old days,
(23:00):
and I'll back up for a quick second in the
old days, going back the old days and order repairs
ten years ago, you know, ten years ago, when more
cars had dipsticks, we would do this. We would do
a transmission fluid exchange with a dipstick line going down,
with a tube going down the dipstick and it was.
You know, it's kind of sweet you'd get a car
(23:21):
forty fifty thousand miles, you know, like the color of
the fluid out it comes.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
But that you're not talking about filthy yet, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
And that's what I'm coming to in my in my experience,
all right, most of the time doing an exchange down
a dipstick or at a cooler line at that let's
call it fifty, let's round it off, fifty thousand miles mark, we'll, we'll, we'll,
And it varies a little bit because it varies on
vehicle and color of fluid and condition and so forth.
(23:53):
If we do a fluid exchange at fifty, I'm fine.
Doing a fluid exchange at sixty, and then doing a
fluid and filter exchange at one hundred, I see, all right,
you know, if I've got super dirty fluid at forty
five fifty thousand miles, and I do an exchange, and
(24:14):
at the next oil change, when I check the fluid
like I'm supposed to, if I'm doing that because I'm
a competent shop and all of a sudden the fluid's
turned color again. Now I'm wondering, is something coming apart?
Now I may drop the pan on an inquiry and
you know, and then I'll get into but it's it's
And the only reason I say that' sid is because
sometimes changing filters on some of these vehicles GM products
(24:37):
a Chevy suburban. Oh my lord, what a nightmare. You know,
the same genius that designed those fiber board covers for
the Ford transmissions, he must have he must have a
brother in law that works for GM, because this guy
put the exhaust pipe right under the transpan, so neither
one of them wanted to gain access to the trans
to service it. All right. And you know, in the
(24:59):
case of the GMS, it's either you're going to unbolt
the front pipe. Unbolt the front pipe from the manifolds.
I want to see somebody do that at one hundred
thousand miles when the nuts are rusted on in the northeast,
all right. Or you've got this big Gigundis pride bar
that we like to think of as the workout tool,
and one of us will wedge it up against the
(25:20):
pipe and the cross member, and if you get it
just right, you can stress it just enough that while
one guy's holding the pipe in place, the other guy
can lower the pan and it's you know, I feel
bad doing it, but I know of no other way
to do it with any kind of credibility or practical
financial resolve, you know. So but yeah, I like that.
(25:42):
I like doing an exchange like that, you know. So
what do you have a ten speed in your f
one fifty?
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, you know. Then there's that story because and I
don't say this wishing it upon you, but changing fluid
on a four to ten speed is almost a useless
task because you'll probably change the transmission before the fluid
wear is out because they're so problematic. And I realize
a lot of people might be cringing to hear me
say that, but it's got to be Forlord's biggest problem.
(26:11):
Right now, I haven't had a customer. I haven't had
a customer with a ten speed forward trends right now
go past the sixty thousand mile mark without it being rebuilt. Really, yeah,
it's just incredible. Fortunately for most of them to this point,
everything's been under warranty. But we'll see what the future brings, so,
you know, and look, i'd love to be wrong. I
(26:33):
still like Ford as a product, I really do, but
they've had their problems with their transmissions, and you know,
it seems like every time they try to make an improvement,
it doesn't help or it makes it worse.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
So enough said, I talked to you a little less
of a year ago. I had all consumption issues from
new and it finally killed the cats and they replace
those and then they finally replaced the engine right once once,
and that's been that's been fine. Right, it's a it's a.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
You know, it's it's it's sad because and then I
gotta go. But it's sad, said, because you know, what
I've learned in my fifty plus years of repairing cars
is a new term that always pops into my head
when somebody says, what kind of car should I buy?
And that's you're buying the culture of repair. How does
the corporation allow the dealer to repair that vehicle? And
(27:29):
it's it's sometimes the corporation hog ties the dealer. Let's
try this first before we do that.
Speaker 6 (27:36):
Yes, And and I.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Just and and then and then you know what happens.
Then people go buy other cars. And that's the part.
That's the part I don't understand. That's the part I
just don't understand. So but all right, sir, listen, go
do what you gotta do. Send me pictures of what
you create. Who knows you may you may have to
go get a patent on it. It may be creating something
that the rest of the world needs. All right, said,
(28:01):
You'll be well, yes, sir eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero running any in the car doctor,
I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
He's gone, and.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
So let's go over. Let's go talk to Gene. Gene
is down south. It says ninety nine infinity Gene, Welcome
to the car doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Thanks? Uh? I have two issues, two main issues. A
turnover the car doesn't like, the doesn't x like, it
doesn't want to start, doesn't want to turn over. And
then once it's up and running, there are times where
sometimes it slows down and the acceleration or hesitates. You know,
you hit the gas and you expect it to go
(28:51):
and it kind of doesn't.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Okay, So when let's let's let's talk about the first
one first. When you say it doesn't want to turn over,
are you are you saying that you turn the key
and the engine cranks unevenly before it starts or it
is a hard time to start.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Uh, yeah, I think it. It tries to crank. You
crank so neat. I mean it's just hard to you know,
it'll you know, it'll have I mean, I don't know
how to say it.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Really is it?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Is it? Is it that the engine? Is it that
the starter's not engaging to crank the engine over?
Speaker 6 (29:35):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (29:37):
If you had somebody here, let's do this. Have somebody,
have somebody sit in the car yep, and try to
start it. You go out, You go out and lift
the hood and watch the alternator or the belts as
they as they crank it. Do they move smooth and
easy or do they hesitate? Is it is it that
you hear noise from under the hood but nothing's happening
(29:59):
with the belts, that the belts aren't rotating.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Uh, I'm uh, I'm actually in the car now.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
We need we need a second person.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Yeah, I actually got a second person here yep. And uh,
if you just give me a minute.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
You gotta be quick though, because we're running out of
time this segment. I've got two minutes left now. I
could talk for two minutes, or we can try and
solve this.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
There's a lot of windown South today. Hey, it's live.
It's live radio, folks. You can't make this up. I'm
loving it. Go ahead, okay, we're all waiting to hear
from Jem. Now here comes the report.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
All right, say again, that's all right.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
So somebody's in the car.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
What they were?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
All right? Well, have somebody? Have somebody hit the start
button while you watch it? Does the engine turn over smoothly?
We're to be quiet now while Jane goes to start
the car.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Oh so now so okay, so so I'm going to
start it.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well, somebody's got it. Somebody's got to hit the key
to start it. And somebody's got to watch the belts
as they move. That's the catch. Okay, all right, let
us know when Okay, America is waiting.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Okay. Now, the first time I was watching the belts
and they looked like they It didn't squeal, but it
looked like they were here we go again.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
That sounded all right?
Speaker 3 (31:33):
All right, say it again.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
That sounded all right?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah it didn't. It looked sorry too.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Okay, So guess what. It's an intermittent problem. Try it
tomorrow when it's cold. Let's talk about the second problem.
What was the second problem?
Speaker 3 (31:45):
What's the uh accelerate like when you you know, after
you're driving, you know, you hit the accelerators, it seems
to like kind of bog. It's not it's not responding.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Okay, how many miles are on this gene? And I'm
running out of time, so let's just let's just cut
to the chase. How many miles are on this.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
So when the when the O dometer is working? And
that's another issue, right, one hundred and thirty two thousand five, Right.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
So I'm going to tell you. I'm going to say
two things to you, all right. Number one, this is
the kind of car based on its agent mileage, we
sort of need to do a heart rate and blood
pressure test because you're going to tell me there's no
check engine light on, right or is there no?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
There's no check in right, right?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
So we want to know. We want to know fuel trim,
We want to know mass airflow calculation. We want to
know will this vehicle pass something called the volumetric efficiency testing?
All right? And these are all things we can talk
about in depth. But the first thing I want you
to try and do this week is have somebody do
a fuel pressure test to this vehicle and specifically check
(32:49):
the fuel pressure regulator to make sure that it's operating. Okay,
so we're going to start with a fuel pressure check
and vitals to determine what sort of shape this vehicle
is in, and then we can kind of talk about
it from there. Do those things. I'm out of time.
I appreciate the call, and we'll continue to work on this.
I'm ronning Andy and the car doctor. We're back right
after this promise. Hey, I want to I want to
(33:24):
go back and revisit Jean's infinity there. You know, I
know he's not on the line, maybe he's still listening,
but I want to also, you know, tell you where
my thought process was going. You know, it's a it's
a it's a twenty see ninety nine, twenty nine nineteen,
it's a twenty five almost twenty six year old vehicle.
And I think he said four hundred and thirty two
thousand miles right, so, and with no check engine line on,
(33:45):
where do you go? Well, you know, you don't sit
there and say, well, you can't diagnose that. You've got
to look at vitals. You've got to look at you know,
tell me what's good. This is a tell me what's
good car? All right, I'll and I'll tell you what's bad.
Let's look at fuel pressure, all right. I want to
know that fuel pressure is consistent on an older vehicle.
I also want to do a fuel sample test, which
is something i'll do when I have the fuel lines disconnected. Okay,
(34:07):
does the car meet fuel standards?
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (34:10):
If you've been putting E fifteen in it? Does it
have E fifteen fuel in it? And you can tell
that with an ethanol vial? And that's I got to
tell you. Testing fuel and fuel quality is fast becoming
one of our standards in our diagnostic tests because we're
finding an awful lot of vehicles are running substandard fuel
fuel that is mixed improperly. I'm not saying one brand
(34:30):
is better than the other, but it's either wrong fuel
or bad quality that we're seeing. Okay, I would do
a fuel system cleaning, a BG fuel system cleaning, read Moore, EG,
bgfuelsystem dot Com, look it up, Google it. But you know,
a carbon cleaning from BG would do wonders for a
vehicle like that. But you've still got to go through
(34:51):
and tell me. Tell me what's good. I'll tell you
what's bad. Till the next time. I'm not an ady
in the car, doctor. Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're placeless.
See y
Host
Ron Ananian
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