0:00

Ron Ananian got in the truck and lo and behold

0:02

the gas gauges on him, and I said, wow, the gas

0:04

gauge must be broken, because nobody

0:06

would really drop off a vehicle for a running problem

0:08

with no gas in it, right, I mean, how dune

0:11

can people be?

0:17

It's June, this.

0:22

The car Doctor. When I talked to the owner

0:25

a short time later, I said, by the way, I guess

0:27

the gas gauge is broken. He said, no, it works. Why,

0:29

I said, well, the gas gauge is on in that says little

0:31

fuel lights on. He goes, oh, yeah, it's out of gas. You can stop

0:33

put gas in it for me, right, Yeah, I can do

0:35

that. I can wash it too if you want. It's just going to cost

0:38

you.

0:38

Welcome to the radio home of ron

0:40

Ananian, the Car Doctor.

0:42

Since nineteen ninety one.

0:43

This is where car owners the world

0:45

overturned to for their definitive

0:47

opinion on automotive repair. If

0:50

your mechanics giving you a busy signal,

0:52

pick up the phone and call in The

0:54

garage doors are.

0:56

Open, but I am here to take your calls. At

0:58

eight five five five six ninety nine hundred

1:00

and now he running

1:05

yep, ryam listeners on an Amy and at your service,

1:07

another hour, car Doctor, and let's kick it off. Let's

1:10

let's go to the phones right away. Let's get going because

1:12

we've got a lot of phone calls this hour. Let's go to Norman.

1:14

Is that Norman in Queen's County, New York? Norman.

1:17

Welcome to the car.

1:17

Doctor, Sarah. Thanksful, lot Ron.

1:19

Everyone's got a good I got a perplexing

1:22

problem that everyone should have. Okay,

1:24

I've been listening to you since nineteen ninety

1:26

one.

1:27

Oh, you're making me coming off.

1:29

You helped me out with my BMW a short

1:31

time ago when you diagnosed

1:33

its specifically at

1:35

the fob wasn't working and we got

1:37

to fixed up. Now my cause coming

1:40

off. Lease Ron and to

1:43

buy the car, and

1:45

you can buy it back at twenty seven thousand

1:47

dollars two thousand and two BMW X

1:50

five text three two

1:53

twenty two, two, twenty twenty.

1:56

Two, twenty two.

1:56

Guys, Now the question comes in the repay,

1:59

Well you come well, police, and

2:01

you have to have the car fixed. It is

2:03

just crazy on prices

2:06

for anything you want done. And

2:08

at what point do you tell yourself you

2:10

know something it was I'm seventy three

2:13

years old. It was a good experiment.

2:15

My wife and I love the car. Now

2:18

let's just go back to a Toyota Wrap

2:20

four that we always like, and

2:22

we can buy a brand new rout

2:24

four, or we can take

2:26

our chances purchase

2:29

the car which has sixteen

2:32

thousand miles on it. We don't do a much traveling.

2:35

And then you have to put up with

2:37

the repairs. But when you look at the prices,

2:39

but it cost its thousands of dollars

2:41

or something that is

2:44

just like out of we can't afford

2:46

that. I mean put it that way, and if you buy

2:48

a maintenance contract

2:50

on it, you might as well

2:53

just release the car or

2:56

drop it and buy a regular car.

2:59

So you do you know, cars,

3:01

cars have become a lifestyle Norman,

3:04

and I don't know where this occurred. I think

3:06

in the last twenty years. It was a slow process.

3:09

But as you, as you and everyone else is finding

3:11

out, it's you lease the car and

3:14

they cover the cost of repairs. They cover everything.

3:16

Right, you had a great three two or two or three

3:18

year lease whatever the term was, and it was a

3:20

great. Yeah it was that was

3:22

your lifestyle. And now it's

3:25

time you know, well, Okay, we've got to get another car,

3:27

and is it going to be a BMW again? Needless

3:30

to say, I would venture to guess that to

3:33

release that BMW is a very different

3:35

deal now than it was three years ago? Or

3:37

are the numbers the same?

3:40

Much more? Much more?

3:41

Because it's surprised and the problem not

3:44

the problem is that nothing's going

3:46

wrong with the car, right, So as you

3:48

always say, always maintenance, maintenance,

3:50

maintenance, any new car, any

3:52

car. After three years, you got to think about brakes,

3:55

You got to think about fluid changes, you got to think

3:57

about transmission. Right, You're thinking about

3:59

things happen to be taken care of. Right, I

4:02

now it's closing thousands of dollars

4:04

to do that.

4:05

I think you are on the right beam,

4:07

my friend. I think the idea that you know what you had,

4:09

the social experiment, you had, the lifestyle.

4:12

It's a nice car. Look, nothing wrong with the

4:14

Toyota, nothing wrong with a RAF four. Right,

4:16

it's it's not a terrible hour.

4:18

Just that way into the next thing. Because

4:20

you always help me out with my two thousand and five

4:23

RAV four. Do I go for

4:26

the hybrid? Like I always heard you

4:28

talk about the Preus being the best hybrid

4:30

they have, But if we want the raw four,

4:34

do we stick with a RAV four hybrid

4:37

or the regular RAV four for

4:41

a car that's going to last?

4:42

Okay?

4:43

No other words, which one has the best repair

4:47

history? And your your say?

4:49

So I think they both have a good

4:51

track record, Norman. I think both

4:53

vehicles have the potential to go the distance. I

4:55

think it's it's what what are you more comfortable

4:58

and what do you enjoy driving? And I think

5:00

you've got to go drive both vehicles. Look, you're

5:02

coming out of a rocket ship, all

5:04

right, and you're not exactly going to a biplane,

5:06

but you're you know, you're going to a smaller rocket

5:08

ship. So you know, how much more

5:11

technology do you want? Or

5:13

can you give up? You know, there's a whole again.

5:15

We're back to the lifestyle comment. All

5:17

right, this is going this is gonna be a very different

5:20

experience for you in the sense of although

5:22

you said you had a Toyota before, so

5:25

I don't think it's going to be totally different. But

5:27

you know, listen, you want to

5:29

enjoy driving, right, You're you're seventy

5:31

two. You said seventy two, seventy.

5:33

Three on seventy three, so it's

5:35

going to be my last I.

5:37

Know it's your last

5:39

car. I know everybody gets like that I'm

5:41

creeping up on you. And I don't think I'm ever going to say

5:43

this is my last car. You know, the day

5:45

before I go, I'm going to be out looking at cars. But that's

5:47

just me. I

5:50

think you've got to find something you like and listen.

5:52

I wouldn't drive just to rav for you

5:55

know, maybe you want to go look at Alexis. Maybe

5:57

you want to look at something a little high line there and

6:00

you know, the same Toyota quality, the same

6:03

Toyota mentality, and

6:06

see where that gets you. Part of the problem

6:08

is right now a lot of people are

6:11

coming out of what I will call expensive

6:13

car leases BMW Audie

6:15

Mercedes and that car

6:18

that they leased three years ago and

6:20

they had to put, oh, I'm going to guess, three

6:23

thousand dollars down and they've got a lease payment

6:25

of five point fifty six hundred a month. They're

6:27

finding now all of a sudden, it's it's it's

6:30

it's double down and nine hundred

6:32

almost one thousand dollars a month depending upon the model.

6:34

Yeah, you get you know it, you know it,

6:37

and it's crazy. It's it's

6:39

and what are you getting? And you're

6:42

going to see that change as the economy

6:44

changes, and it will. It's

6:47

just it's just a matter of time. There has to be an

6:49

evolution here. You know, if

6:51

if dollars are a concern, all

6:53

right, and I'm not saying that we want to throw money

6:56

around, I don't care, you know, I don't care how much money you have.

6:58

You just don't throw money around.

6:59

You got to show it if you want, you want

7:01

to use common sense? Right, cars for

7:03

transportation. You know, my wife

7:05

and I had just you know, just what are we doing?

7:08

Very few miles, but good

7:10

experiment, you know, good experiment having

7:12

it. It felt good, but now it feels

7:14

stupid buying a coffee that much

7:17

funny. Uh, It's

7:19

like you'd like to spend your money other things in life?

7:21

Well, yeah, now do you do you go out

7:23

and lease the raft four? Which is the second

7:26

part of the question that we haven't talked about.

7:28

I buy it, I buy it, buy it?

7:30

Do you buy it?

7:31

Did?

7:31

Did you look at the least numbers?

7:34

Yeah, at least he went for like three hundred

7:36

and fifty dollars a month. But

7:38

you know something, when you rent something wrong. You're

7:40

you're when you lease

7:42

something, you're renting you don't own, right.

7:45

And I've always liked owning something to say

7:47

it's mine, right, And I always

7:49

followed your advice.

7:50

You just do.

7:51

I change the oil every three thousand miles

7:54

transmission fluid. It was once

7:56

a year. I was going overboard on this, the

7:59

call ass and I'd

8:01

rather just say it's mine. I'm taking good

8:04

care of it. But at least I'm saying

8:06

it's not rented. And the

8:08

least I fell into because you

8:11

get googled into saying, hey, look I

8:13

can afford at least right now because the

8:15

monthly payments are there. But you don't own the car.

8:18

Did you?

8:19

Did you drive a rap for yet?

8:22

Oh yeah, well you saw own one?

8:24

No?

8:24

No, have you driven? Have you driven a new one? No?

8:27

No?

8:27

I just went online and went looking at it and

8:30

I see there. My wife likes

8:33

it. Also, All right, we have to

8:35

go down and try. It's something

8:37

that we have to get into, but we use

8:39

you as our guru and who

8:42

to go on new advice.

8:42

I appreciate that.

8:44

All up ron, all up roun and find

8:46

out what's happening, because you you gave

8:48

us you gave us very

8:50

When I was listening to you you first came on

8:53

the radio, and I was trying

8:55

to follow along with you what you're doing. And I'm

8:57

not mechanically happy

9:00

to fix the car, but I understand when you're

9:02

talking about. And I

9:04

wish I could go back to my nineteen seventy a

9:07

Crown Victoria. That was the best car I

9:09

ever had in my life. But and

9:12

that was a corroborated car.

9:13

Well, you know, I was trained.

9:16

I was trained as a mechanic, you

9:18

know, And I know what you're saying. People say this to me.

9:20

They like my old school approach, but I was trained

9:23

by old school. You know, You've

9:25

got to remember my dad was an airline mechanic.

9:27

My dad was superintendent maintenance for American

9:29

airlines during the Second World War, worked

9:32

on a lot of military aircraft. He always taught

9:34

me, you know, this is the procedure. You got to follow

9:36

the procedure. There's steps one through six. You don't

9:39

skip the step four. And Billy,

9:41

my first boss in the gas station that I still

9:44

to this day considered one of the smartest people

9:46

I ever met. He had a genius

9:48

mentality. You know, Proper maintenance

9:50

done properly. I've said that about Billy, but he just

9:52

taught me procedure and process. My dad was gone

9:55

at that point, but old school mechanics,

9:57

you know what, it's still nuts and bolts. It still takes

9:59

fluid, takes basics

10:01

in order to operate properly. And that's what I think.

10:04

I think even with the technology today,

10:07

so you know, and it's a lifestyle, right,

10:09

So you've got to look at that Toyota, that RAB four

10:11

real quick and then I'll let you go that that RAV

10:13

four. You know, the cost to

10:15

operate that RAB four is going to be substantially

10:18

less than BMW anything.

10:21

And you know, you've got to look at that. And chances

10:24

are that that RAB four will last you easily

10:26

ten years, if not longer, with proper care. And

10:29

that's a good spot to be in. So that's

10:31

good funny.

10:32

I believe what you always say. Maintenance all

10:34

the way, yep, and take good

10:36

care of it and it'll

10:38

go forever. And I really appreciate

10:41

the phone call.

10:41

You're very welcome, Norman. You have a good rest of the day. My

10:44

best to your wife listening to

10:46

you all the time. Thank you, sir. You'd be well, you

10:49

know, it's it's part of the

10:51

process to maintain

10:53

a car. You've got to do it right. Maintenance

10:55

is the key, and if you don't maintain

10:57

it, you know, And

11:00

it's a funny thing. And I do this at the shop

11:02

and maybe I'm wrong for doing it, but somebody

11:05

will come in with their new car and as we start to work

11:07

on it, and the relationship evolves, and

11:10

you know, we start to go through things, and you

11:12

know, they'll start to come in the fifteen thousand mile service,

11:15

the thirty thousand mile service, and we start to show

11:17

them pieces and parts that we've replaced and changed. And

11:19

I said, you got to remember, buying a new

11:21

car has now earned you the privilege

11:24

of throwing it away, one piece at a time. But

11:27

it got you there, It kept you safe, it kept

11:29

you dry, it brought you to work. It did what it was

11:31

supposed to do. And that's the purpose of an

11:33

automobile. Cars are a lifestyle.

11:35

How much lifestyle can you afford? Ah, that's

11:38

the secret, And that's what you have to realize as you

11:40

approach. It can't be emotional when you're looking

11:42

at a car. It's got to be factual and affordable.

11:44

And that's the bottom line, I'm ronning Ay in the

11:46

Car Doctor. I'll be back right after this. Don't go away.

11:58

For the best in car advice, give Ron

12:00

a call eight by five five six zero

12:03

nine nine zero zero.

12:05

Now back to Ron and we're back listeners

12:07

running any of the card Doctor here at your service. Let's let's

12:09

wander over and talk to Don and Virginia.

12:12

Don. Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir, how can I help Hi?

12:15

Ron? Thanks? You and I talked early

12:17

in November two thousand

12:19

and sixty one. Fifty had gotten

12:21

a whole plethora of codes thrown.

12:24

I had thrown some parts at it. They all sort of revolved

12:27

around the Eger system and that

12:29

type of thing. I did end

12:31

up replacing the ECM, and all of

12:33

those codes went away for a while. And then right

12:36

before we were going on vacation with a couple other

12:38

couples, I started getting a

12:40

storm of just dispairit codes

12:44

and so I threw my hands up and I told my

12:46

wife, I said, I'm just going to take it to the dealer, right And

12:48

she said, oh my god, we're not going to be able to eat.

12:51

I said, well, we'll see. So I took

12:53

it to the dealer where I bought it. I took

12:55

it on a Sunday night because I knew they weren't going to be there,

12:57

and I dropped it off, left the fold the

13:00

what I'd done and all the codes, along

13:02

with screenshots from the scan tool, and

13:05

they opened it seven thirty on Monday morning. They

13:07

called me about nine thirty and

13:09

they said, we know what the problem is. And I

13:11

said really, He said, yeah. We put a

13:13

mechanic on there. He's been here thirty years.

13:15

He's worked on wats of E one fifty chateaus

13:18

and everything else. You got a wiring harness

13:20

problem. And apparently the wiring harness

13:22

that wrapped itself around the orifice

13:25

tube that runs from the EGR valve down

13:27

to exauce and it had

13:30

melted inside, and so

13:33

you know, he said, it's not going to be cheap. He said,

13:35

it's a lot of time an hour. So it was about an eight hundred

13:37

and fifty dollars repair. But they went in, traced

13:40

it out, repaired it. Because you can't

13:42

find the wiring harness, aren't it Obviously

13:44

for that not

13:46

a problem since the one on a two thousand miles

13:49

vacation, no problem in the mountains,

13:51

no codes, it's doing fine.

13:54

So I guess the bulk

13:57

of that is that the lesson learned

13:59

is that sometimes when you weigh over your head, you

14:01

got to take it somewhere where there's experience

14:04

and they've worked on these things for a long time.

14:06

Well there's that, and there's also

14:08

you know, you can't beat yourself up right. You

14:11

don't know, all right. You

14:13

don't know if where the wiring harness

14:15

rubbed through, if it

14:18

short circuited, because you know, if it's rubbing

14:20

against the metal tube it's ground, right.

14:23

You don't know what part of the horns. You don't know if

14:26

you damage the PCM either,

14:29

all right, you know, I go back to the day.

14:31

I'll date myself here. Eighty

14:34

eight Chevrolet J body cars.

14:36

I think it was with the two point

14:38

eight leter, the flat aluminum top intake manifold

14:41

set up. They would actually the ignition

14:43

coils were mounted on top of the ignition module,

14:46

so the coil would spike, it

14:49

would overload the module.

14:51

The module was tied by wiring back to

14:53

the PCM, so the coil would

14:55

take out the module would take out the PCM. You'd

14:57

end up putting three parts in the car to fix it. You

15:01

know, everything is interconnected. Heck, we had

15:03

a couple of GMS back in the day. We

15:06

could I could tell you this story with Fords too. Gms

15:08

are just on my mind today for some reason that

15:12

you know, you would have bad alternators, and

15:14

a bad GM alternator on certain models

15:17

would actually overload the system and

15:20

damage any of the processors on the vehicle,

15:22

so you would put multiple parts. It looked

15:24

like you were guessing, but in

15:27

fact you were just running down the problem.

15:29

So you know, would it could have?

15:31

Should have? Do you still have the old PCM?

15:35

I do?

15:36

Okay, so guess what now you got to back up right,

15:39

you know, you know it's and I would hang

15:41

on to that because you know, if

15:44

you're planning on keeping this, this was a camper

15:46

or something, right this or this.

15:47

Was a well no, it it was so

15:52

it was factory with captain chairs

15:54

that didn't have any modifications like a rebuilder

15:56

or something like that, right, right, so we

16:00

at it.

16:00

It's a little fancy. It's not just a regular van,

16:03

is my right? Right? Yeah, so

16:05

you know what, not a work van. Now you got to spare PCM.

16:08

I wouldn't be ashamed of exactly. I wouldn't

16:10

be ashamed of that at all.

16:12

One other quick question. Sure, I've

16:14

got to change the plugs on this. It's the

16:17

plugs have about one hundred and twenty thousand on it. And

16:20

as part of all this stuff, before I went in and changed

16:22

the number five because that was showing misfires,

16:25

the plug was not in great shape. So

16:27

my question is this, And looking through

16:30

Mitchell's and other places, the

16:34

response is you probably want to take the fuel

16:36

rail loose from the brackets in

16:38

order to be able to get the tools down in to

16:40

do the to get the plugs out, because

16:43

the fuel rails sit right on top of the seal

16:45

the cool on plugs. Is

16:48

there anything I should be afraid

16:50

of? Is this?

16:51

Is this?

16:52

Is this a four to six or a five four? I don't

16:54

remember five four five four to four?

16:56

No, two

16:58

valve for a cylinder, So I don't have to worry about the plugs

17:01

being stuck.

17:02

Right, No, I think you're going to find that. I

17:04

think you're gonna find you're going to loosen the rail and just kind

17:06

of ease it out of the way. Uh, you know,

17:08

do you have do you have a heated garage so

17:11

it's warm?

17:11

I do?

17:12

Okay, So you know, I would park it in there overnight,

17:14

get it good and warm, and just take your time.

17:17

I would.

17:17

I would drop a little P B blaster down

17:20

the hall and you know, just on the just

17:22

on the chance that the plugs are stuck, and just kind of work

17:24

their way carefully. And as long

17:26

as you're doing plugs at this age in mileage,

17:28

you probably ought to consider the coil. Yeah,

17:31

change the coils, you know, I would.

17:33

And you know, if we're going to do this, let's do it

17:35

once. Let's get motocraft stuff, you

17:38

know, let's let's let's just let's just be

17:40

done with it. You know, we don't want to go through this twice. And

17:42

obviously, just the issue is you have to.

17:44

You know, you change the four front ones

17:46

from the front of the car, and then you have to take the

17:48

doghouse off right and change the four rearuins

17:51

on your back right reaching

17:53

out through.

17:54

So yeah, okay, yeah, so listen, it might

17:56

be easier depending

17:58

upon how the chairs are ruck. Didn't put

18:00

it in there. It might be easier to take the chairs out.

18:03

That's a good idea, because I've had those out before

18:05

to do some work on them.

18:06

So all right, okay, so you know that might help you

18:08

too. All right, good luck to you.

18:10

Listen.

18:10

I'm glad. I'm glad it worked out for you, all right,

18:12

and the kid. I appreciate you getting

18:14

back to us, all right, sir. Thanks Ron,

18:17

You're very welcome.

18:17

To be well.

18:18

I'm running Indy in the card Doctor. We're back right after

18:20

this. Don't go away. Contrasts

18:39

welcome back listeners Running Ani in the car Doctor. Let's

18:41

let's go on over. Let's go talk to Bill in Sussex

18:43

County, New Jersey.

18:44

Bill.

18:44

Welcome to the car doctor, Sir, how can.

18:46

I help hi?

18:47

Ron, Thanks for taking the call time listener

18:49

from w TBq.

18:51

I appreciate it.

18:52

Trying to help out my sister who was

18:54

in Chicago. She sent me a picture of

18:56

a tire from her Audi

18:59

that has some curve rash on it, and

19:01

basically there's a chunk or gouge that's

19:03

been taken out of the sidewall. It's

19:06

if I had to guess, it would probably be about

19:08

an inch and a half long and maybe

19:10

a quarter of an inch deep. So I told

19:13

her to take it to the local tire shop to get

19:15

an evaluation. They

19:17

looked at it and their opinion

19:20

was that the tire did exactly what it was

19:22

supposed to do, that

19:24

there's no steel belt showing, and

19:27

that for the time being, it was okay

19:29

to leave it as it is.

19:33

I kind of err on the side of caution, and

19:35

I think I know what the answer is, but I

19:38

wanted to get your thoughts on it as

19:40

well.

19:40

So good and it's a good question,

19:43

and I'm glad you called.

19:44

Then.

19:45

You know, that side

19:47

wall of the tire, this being an audi this is

19:49

probably what we call a low profile tire,

19:52

you know, Yeah, it has a short height

19:54

to the ground, so to speak. Well, you

19:56

know, the tire shop is right. The side

19:59

casing of the tire did exactly its job.

20:01

It protected the

20:03

tire in the sense of something going through the steel

20:06

belt, which is now even though it's not

20:08

hanging out, it's it's much more exposed

20:10

than it normally would be. You know, this is

20:13

the best example I can give everybody to think about. Is

20:15

you ever skin your elbow and you don't

20:17

bleed, but you get that you take away the top

20:19

layer of skin and you get that tender portion

20:22

of your skin underneath, and now it's

20:24

a little you know, and it hurts a little bit. When

20:26

you're rest on your elbow and then all of a sudden you

20:28

start bleeding because you kind of poked through.

20:31

You know, she's taken away that outer layer.

20:34

So there's there's if something were

20:36

to and that's a pretty good gash, right that size

20:38

that you that you had mentioned, you

20:41

know, if something were to come up in

20:43

the road, Now, where's the side

20:45

casing that's going to deflect? And

20:49

you know Bill that I always say, the road

20:51

is a very unforgiving place, you

20:54

know, and especially in an Audi, especially

20:56

a low profile tire. You

20:59

know, I know it's going to be a two hundred dollars tire or

21:01

two hundred and fifty dollars tire, But what's her

21:03

life worth? What's the car

21:05

worth? What's not getting stuck on the side of the road or

21:07

an accident worth? And

21:11

I think i'd have to vote with you because

21:13

I know what you're thinking. I'd put a tire on the car. I

21:15

wouldn't hesitate, especially.

21:17

If you're going to be going on a long trip.

21:18

Oh absolutely, yeah, absolutely

21:21

listen and yes, but even

21:23

if she was going to just you know, I don't care if she's a

21:25

three mile a day commuter. You

21:28

know, everybody says, well, I only go three miles a day.

21:30

Just make the brakes work good enough. You

21:32

know, a little kid rolls out on

21:34

a bicycle right in front of you, two blocks from your

21:36

house. There's no saying where that accident's

21:39

going to happen. And I

21:41

think it's in her best interest. You know

21:43

that tire, Yes, if that tire was

21:46

just used, you know, does she make that tire

21:48

the spare? But then now she's got an unreliable

21:50

spare in the car, and it probably wouldn't fit because

21:52

she probably has a space saver

21:54

or some other depending upon the year,

21:57

AUDI some other low profile

22:00

so to speak, or low use tire. You

22:02

know, there's so many ways they create spares today.

22:04

I think you go out and buy a spare,

22:07

and if it tore the chunk out, depending

22:09

upon how many miles are on it, I'd

22:11

probably shoot the alignment too.

22:14

I was thinking of that too. Yeah, And I

22:16

did suggest to her that she should probably buy two

22:18

tires since that's an all wheel drive

22:20

vehicle.

22:21

Right. Well, and now now the question comes

22:23

up, right, and this is I know where this is

22:25

going to go, because now the question comes up,

22:27

how much tread has left on the other tires.

22:30

Yes, So.

22:32

You know, the industry says certain

22:34

cars subarrus are susceptible to

22:36

it, certain models of Jeep are susceptible to

22:38

it. You know, Audi's seem to

22:40

be a little less fussy. But I don't want

22:43

to temp tempt the devil. You

22:45

know, if I'm looking at tread depth

22:47

and if the current tread depth on the car

22:50

is you know, less than five thirty seconds,

22:52

which is more than fifty percent worn, And

22:55

she's going to put two fresh tires up front

22:57

if she's gonna do some serious driving. You

22:59

know, how old are the tires are they?

23:02

You know, four or five years old. You know,

23:04

those tires are going to be date coated in

23:06

four or five years. They'll be out of the realm

23:08

in another two years where you're not supposed to

23:10

be writing on them. So again, what's

23:13

the value of her safety at high speed,

23:15

all kinds of weather, Nothing handles

23:18

like a fresh set of tires, And I

23:20

think it's just kind of goes with the territory of what she's

23:22

driving.

23:24

All right, that's great advice. I appreciate it.

23:26

You know, I can't

23:28

say it any other way. The biggest concern I

23:31

have is, you know, her. I'll

23:33

tell you the story this way. We had a jeep in the shop

23:35

just recently and the

23:38

new customer and where he was going, they'd

23:41

been doing all his service work and all

23:44

the lug nuts were swollen. Now jeeps

23:46

have a problem that the lug nut is

23:49

capped, so there's a there's a hard steel

23:51

body underneath this tiny aluminum

23:54

cap. And if you constantly air

23:56

gun them on and off, impact hammer them on

23:58

and off, event those

24:01

lug nuts will start to splinter and shred,

24:04

and then moisture gets in. And now

24:06

the moisture turns into rust, and the rust and there's

24:08

a bulge, and now you can't fit the nineteen millimeters

24:11

socking on it. You have to have a nineteen and a half or

24:13

some other odd ball size in order

24:15

to get the lugnuts off. So you

24:17

know, Rich brought it in. We got all the lugnuts

24:19

off, but in looking at the wheels, the

24:21

wheels on this jeep, you could see

24:24

that they were getting beat up. And when

24:26

we talked about it, it's partially

24:28

it's the last shot. They were kind of animals, for

24:30

lack of a way to say it, but it was kind

24:32

of interesting to see just how these wheels

24:35

themselves had picked up debris, and there's

24:37

a lot of junk on the road, and you

24:40

know, it catches your eye and you have to realize

24:42

you may not hear it, see it, or feel it, but to

24:44

have an exposed wound in that tire. I

24:47

looked at Rich's wheels on his jeep and we did

24:49

get the lugnuts off. By the way. I took a little bit of persuasion.

24:52

Some day, I'll tell you guys this story about how we had to get out

24:54

the three quarter inch breaker bar that's two feet long

24:56

and literally stand on it to break some of the lugnuts loose.

24:59

They were so overtight. You

25:01

know, it's it's what's what's the

25:03

safety. I've never met anybody standing

25:05

on the side of the road with a flat that

25:08

they knew was marginal.

25:11

Going. Boy, I'm so glad I saved money

25:13

that I could get stuck here, and you know, wait for

25:16

the tow truck. It just doesn't

25:18

work like that. So by all means, get

25:20

her, get her, get her a tire, two tires, four

25:22

tires, you know what. Take it, take

25:24

it as a warning sign and do an alignment, and then you drive

25:27

in peace and quiet and and the knowledge

25:29

of safety.

25:30

Right, and I'm happy that tire

25:32

buying is easier than picking out oil

25:35

or getting a forty light bulb in the local

25:37

hardware store.

25:38

That's right, absolutely absolutely

25:40

Bill.

25:41

So all right, sir, you'd be weare happy New year,

25:43

Happy and healthy new year to everyone.

25:45

Thank you, Bill, and thanks for being part of the car Doctor

25:47

family. You'd be well. You You're very welcome.

25:49

I'm Ronning Andy and the car Doctor. We'll be back right

25:52

after this. Don't go away, welcome

26:03

back. Listeners running ending in the Car Doctor. Let's

26:06

get back to the phones. Let's go over to Jerry out

26:08

there. And I think it's is it Las Vegas,

26:10

Jerry? Or what part of the vat are you from?

26:13

No, I'm retired in Las Vegas.

26:15

I'm from the East Coast directionally born in New York.

26:17

But yeah, I'm retired.

26:18

Gotcha. Good for you? So what's going on? How

26:20

can I help?

26:22

Well, A couple of quick things. Number

26:24

one, I'm sixty five,

26:26

graduated high school in seventy six, and I've

26:28

always worked on my own car, basic stuff,

26:31

changing on and everything, and I've always kept vehicles

26:33

ten plus years. Well, in

26:36

twenty twenty one, I

26:38

basically went to the RAM dealer and built

26:40

my dream truck because this gentry

26:43

Eco diesel had great reviews and

26:46

looked good, and I wanted a diesel for

26:48

the field economy and towing. My RV received

26:51

the truck in March twenty twenty two. All

26:53

was good at first, and then

26:56

all of a sudden, when diesel

26:58

was a buck fifty more than gas, I took my old

27:01

Nissan pickup truck. It went cross country

27:03

came back a month later. So

27:05

the diesel sat for months, all of a sudden, bang

27:08

bang bang, engine codes, engine

27:10

codes wrong, wrong, long dealer

27:12

for weeks at a time because they're short diesel

27:14

technicians. EGR

27:17

went out turbo problems, an

27:20

absolute nightmare, and especially

27:23

sitting for months and months and months. I've

27:25

got the bills in front of me. Obviously I didn't

27:27

pay them because it's under warranty. But it's over eleven

27:29

thousand dollars pairs.

27:31

Yeah. What that tells

27:33

me is not only do they not have any diesel texts,

27:35

the texts that are working on it are clueless. But you

27:38

know, I guess it's easy to criticize from my seat

27:40

here. It's in the safety of the studio. But I got

27:42

to tell you it's you know, you hang

27:44

one part two parts as an educated guests. After

27:46

that, it's time to call in the zone rep and

27:49

start talking to somebody and saying, hey, what's going

27:51

on? Where we're going with this? That was probably

27:53

I'm going to guess Jerry at seventy or eighty thousand

27:55

dollars.

27:55

Vehicle sixty

27:58

five? Yeah, okay, all right, a

28:00

lot of money, yeah, a lot, a

28:02

lot of money. And I paid cash

28:05

for it because I'm retired and I've saved my money.

28:08

So I was.

28:09

I was going on a trip to meet an old Marine

28:11

Corps buddy I hadn't seen in years, and all

28:14

of a sudden, the whole emission

28:16

system went crap again. So I

28:20

wrote, I wrote a personal letter to to

28:22

fight Fiat Chrysler. No response.

28:25

So I went and got one of these Lemon law lawyers

28:27

online and they said, oh, you got a great

28:29

case, you got a great case, you got a great case. Well,

28:31

let me tell you the Lemon law lawyer

28:34

guys, especially some of these guys online are

28:36

a total rip off themselves. And I can get

28:38

into that if you want. But long story

28:41

short, every time I brought it back

28:43

with something wrong. So Thanksgiving

28:45

weekend, I just I

28:49

took the plunge and I just traded

28:51

it in and I took a beating and I

28:53

got a Toyota. So I

28:56

got a twenty twenty three Toyota, right and

28:59

and and it was just and when

29:01

the ram ran nice,

29:04

it ran fantastic. But I

29:06

don't know if you've had experience with these eco

29:08

diesels, but I've heard

29:10

other guys who've had these disaster stories

29:12

with the turbos and the emissions and everything.

29:14

Yeah, I'm not a fan of diesel

29:17

in general in that application for

29:19

a lot of reasons. Number one, Chrysler's

29:21

involved, and you know, the older

29:24

ones when it was

29:26

the comings back in, you know, the older

29:28

the what was it, the three's or the ninety eight's

29:31

going way back, that seemed to be a better

29:33

diesel. The newer one, the more electronics

29:36

they hang on it, it seems like the

29:38

more difficult it is to properly

29:40

maintain it and get some kind of decent power

29:42

out of it. And there's a lot of limitations. But

29:45

that be said, you know, we still work on them,

29:47

we still see them. They're just not my favorite in the whole world.

29:49

I still think what happened with you is and you

29:52

know, let me point out the next time if you decide

29:54

to take the plunge again. I don't think you will, but just

29:57

in case, you know the question I always ask when

29:59

I'm buying something weird, I want to know who's

30:01

going to work on it? Hey, do you have a tech trained in this?

30:04

And surprisingly, I'm surprised the dealership

30:06

was able to sell it to you and not

30:09

have a certified tech. You know, the way General

30:11

Motors works, for example, is they've

30:13

got to have a certified Corvette tech on hand

30:15

before they can sell a Corvette. If they don't have

30:18

a guy that can fix it, they can't sell it. And

30:20

I believe the other car companies do the same thing.

30:22

So I'm not sure where the bump in the road

30:25

became in that you couldn't get this

30:27

solved, And I guess it's just a reflection

30:29

on the dealer really, because if they wanted to fix it,

30:31

they could. You know, there is a culture

30:34

when you buy a vehicle, Jerry,

30:36

and I think you know that now in terms of you

30:38

know, you just got an example of how Chrysler

30:41

or how Ram, Dodge, Fiat whoever they

30:43

are you know, handles customer

30:45

service and handles problems like that, you'll

30:48

be happy with the Toyota. I can tell you that,

30:50

absolutely, right. And it's a different culture,

30:53

right, it was very different, the different buying experience

30:56

totally.

30:57

And I'm going to tell you I wanted the twenty

30:59

twenty three because I'm tired because

31:01

they this year they're going to turbos

31:03

and everything. I'm sick at turbos. I'm

31:05

sick of too much junk on there. I wanted to naspa

31:08

it naturally aspirated, you

31:10

know, basic stuff that I could work on.

31:12

Yep, yep, yep, yep.

31:14

No, absolutely, And let me

31:16

can I make a quick comment about these Lemon lawyer

31:18

guys for sures on the ear if they ever choose to go to one.

31:21

In the fine print, you know, you think you think

31:23

you sign on with a lawyer because the lawyer is gonna

31:25

look after you, look after you, He's going to

31:28

be on your side. Well, in

31:30

the fine print of what I signed, it

31:32

said, if you receive an offer

31:34

from Fiat Chrysler and you do not

31:37

accept it, you have to pay the lawyer fees. Well,

31:39

I'm thinking, fine, okay, you know, get

31:41

it to get an offer. Well, I

31:43

think these guys work with them. Chrysler

31:46

came back with this low ball offer and I went

31:48

to the lawyer Mark, I'm.

31:49

Not taking this.

31:50

Let's go to court. He goes, well, we're not sure,

31:52

blah blah blah, and they started dancing around.

31:55

Basically, all of.

31:56

A sudden, it became your your fault, and what

31:58

did you do wrong? Yep, I get it, Jerry, I really

32:01

do. Hey, Jerry, sit tight, stay on the line, let me

32:03

pull over, take a pause for the cause, and we'll come back to you.

32:05

Don't go away. I'm running Ny and the car doctor. We'll be back

32:07

right after this. Welcome

32:20

back listeners were kind of winding down the hour

32:22

here, Jerry from Las Vegas. You're still there, Yes,

32:25

sir, so I'm sorry, Jerry, I mean to cut

32:27

you off. Tell us some you know, I'll give you a little

32:29

bit of on air therapy here. So the Lemon

32:31

law lawyers aren't exactly why they're cracked up to be a

32:33

fair statement exactly.

32:35

And it's state by state. You got to look

32:38

at your state. Some states are stronger than others.

32:40

Nevada's in between. But you really got

32:42

to read the five print with these guys because

32:44

I think they'll put the screws to you if they get

32:46

the chance, right.

32:47

Right, right, right, So well, Jerry, listen, I appreciate

32:51

you calling in my spies. Tell me that you are

32:53

is it? Is it a how do you say

32:55

it when you're no longer in the Marine Corps active

32:58

duty? Are you a retired marine? You're on

33:00

an ex marine? There's no such thing as an ex marine.

33:02

Right well, I did thirty

33:04

years, so I'm a retired marine.

33:08

It lets me sit on my buttet. Can I do a quick

33:10

shout out because my local garage

33:12

guys exactly like you. It's Dad's

33:14

garage or North Rango in Las Vegas,

33:16

sures the same way you do.

33:18

Absolutely, Jerry, It's been a pleasure,

33:20

sir, and thank you for your service.

33:23

No thanks, love the show. You take care, you.

33:25

Take good care. I'm ron an any and the car doctor, you

33:28

know, and poor Jerry right

33:30

he's he he ended

33:32

up, you know, going in and I

33:36

wish I had found him sooner in that, you

33:39

know, I could have I could have helped

33:41

him, you know, maybe we could have diagnosed it together.

33:44

Part of the problem is, all right, you know, you

33:46

go into a dealership under warranty.

33:48

Warranty doesn't mean it's getting

33:51

fixed. It just means that it's

33:53

going to be looked at for free, all right. And

33:56

I still stand on the premise and my my, my

33:59

saying that I've set over the years that a repair

34:01

shop is only as good as the people in it. The sign

34:03

on the door doesn't mean anything. And you

34:06

know, when you're buying, oh, I don't know. When

34:08

you're you're buying a four cylinder Toyota

34:10

camera, it's a pretty safe bet they've got a guy that can work

34:12

on that. But if you're buying an Eco diesel

34:14

from your Ram dealership, you're buying a Corvette

34:16

from your Chevrolet dealership, or you know, back

34:19

in the day, you're buying something, do you have a guy

34:21

that can fix this? Is he any good? How

34:23

old is he? Is he going to retire in the next two

34:25

weeks? You know, these are all great questions, all

34:28

things you want to know, because it's all gonna

34:30

come down to sooner or later, that vehicle is gonna

34:32

have to get serviced and you're gonna need

34:34

that person in order to properly, you

34:36

know, enjoy and get a life cycle out of it. If

34:38

the dealer is your guy. If the dealer's going to be the one

34:40

to work on it. And you know,

34:43

unfortunately Jerry had a bad round of luck. But he'll like that Toyota.

34:45

And I get what he's saying. He's talking about

34:47

his new Toyota. He wanted a twenty three because in

34:50

twenty four Toyota also is going

34:52

to all turbo chargers, or a lot of turbo chargers.

34:54

And you know, I questioned that as well.

34:56

I'm not a big turbot charger fan. I think it's

34:59

it's some extra work. You don't necessarily need it all

35:01

the time. But we'll see. You know what, Toko charger

35:03

technology has come a long way and we'll have to learn

35:05

from embrace it. Hey, that's about it for now, till the

35:07

next time, I'm ronning Ady and the card Doctor reminding you good

35:09

mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.

35:12

Let's see it.