0:02

Ron Anian, and I thought about it that

0:04

it's pink and I just can't get over this and

0:06

it's pink, and I just I'm like,

0:08

you know, it looks like a bottle

0:10

of pepto bismol with four tires going down

0:13

the road.

0:13

I mean, there's just there's.

0:14

Just no other way to say it. It's this

0:16

pink thing.

0:32

The car Doctor, what's that mean?

0:34

Run today?

0:35

Cut some kind of thing over the cash or

0:37

Well.

0:37

Yeah, a coated rotor has a protective

0:40

coating onto the rotor itself

0:42

so that it won't rot and rust the parts

0:44

that aren't you know, not the breakepad

0:47

area, but the non breakpad area.

0:49

Welcome to the radio home of ron

0:51

Aian, the Car Doctor. Since nineteen

0:53

ninety one, this is where car owners

0:56

the world overturned to for their definitive

0:58

opinion on automotive. If

1:01

your mechanics giving you a busy signal,

1:03

pick up the phone and call in.

1:05

The garage doors.

1:06

Are opening, but I am here to take your calls

1:08

at eight five five five six oh ninety.

1:10

Nine hundred and now he.

1:14

Running. Okay, I

1:16

think we should start. I should

1:19

start by telling you this story right before

1:21

we go to the phones. So I

1:24

got a phone call this week and it was

1:26

it kind of was that, Oh help

1:28

me car, doctor, please, I'm stuck on the side of the road.

1:30

Phone call a certain

1:33

member of the staff that we shall remain nameless.

1:35

And his twenty fifteen FOURD escape

1:38

was overheated. At three hundred and seventy seven

1:40

thousand miles, it's allowed to do anything at wants. Tom's

1:42

car has been through the war,

1:45

and the higher miology was he

1:47

was overheating, and he

1:50

called me and we talked our way through it, and I said,

1:52

you know, there's some kind of a cool leak. Tom, I

1:54

can't exactly see where it is over the phone here,

1:56

but you got to get.

1:56

It down to me.

1:57

He got it down to me, and I did a deep

1:59

dive. You know, at three

2:01

hundred seventy thousand plus

2:03

miles, they can be a lot of things. There's

2:06

a lot you have to stop and consider. And

2:08

it's hard right for Tom's got

2:10

a two liter escape. It's the

2:12

engine compartment is very crowded. It's difficult

2:15

to see exactly

2:17

where it was down on the right front corner. The only

2:19

thing over there short of the hose

2:22

that leads up to the cool and overflow bottle,

2:24

or the cool and overflow tank itself, or the expansion

2:26

tank, whatever we want to call it out of the fourteen

2:28

names that we give things in this industry. The

2:31

plastic tank in the right front corner, short

2:33

of that hose is the water pump itself.

2:37

And I couldn't see much of

2:39

anything else. You know, I don't have X

2:41

ray vision. I went out

2:43

to the auto's own website. I went out to AutoZone

2:45

pro dot com, and I

2:48

was able to look at the pump all

2:51

right, and see they showed three different

2:53

views of it. They showed the front,

2:55

the back of the side. You know they'll

2:57

they'll show things in a parts picture. And to

3:00

see where the wi pole was

3:03

all right, and you

3:05

know the wee pole is where when the seal has gone

3:07

bad, you can you'll

3:11

see cool it come out of it. Well, at least I knew

3:13

where to look, so I took a mirror. After

3:15

seeing that on the AutoZone Pro website, I

3:18

took a mirror and I put it down under

3:21

the pump. I pulled the pulley right.

3:23

I put the mirror down under

3:25

found the vent because now I'm working backwards

3:28

upside down because there's no room to look at anything here,

3:31

and we used

3:33

a We

3:36

basically pressurized the cooling system all

3:39

right. We pulled the bottle out from the corner, put

3:41

an adapter on, pressurized that and you could hear the

3:43

hiss. But you know, the concern was,

3:45

is it something mechanical?

3:46

Is it? Is it? You know, is it?

3:48

Did the engine just fail at that mile? I've never

3:50

seen an escape go three hundred and seventy seven thousand

3:53

miles, So bottom

3:55

line, it was it was the event because

3:57

I actually took my finger and I'm listening to it hiss, I'm

4:00

here, and I put my finger

4:02

right in the hole and it just stopped hissing.

4:05

And Tom needed a water pump. Called

4:08

up AutoZone because now we're on the clock. We gotta

4:10

get Tom back on the road. He's he's

4:12

breathing over my shoulder like I gotta go, I gotta go,

4:14

I gotta go. And you know Tom

4:17

keeps radio stations on the air. It's sort of a

4:19

national emergency situation, I guess in a

4:21

sense, no kidding, And

4:23

AutoZone was right there. They brought us a pump. We by

4:26

the time we had it apart, they had the pump there. We put them

4:28

together and he's back out on the road again. And

4:31

that's you're in the shop story this week for AutoZone

4:33

because autozonepro dot com, you

4:35

know, if they're right there to support us mechanics and keep

4:38

us busy. And even Tom was impressed with their speed.

4:41

But yeah, true story from the bay. The next thing we have

4:43

to figure out, though, is we're trying to

4:45

do the math. We want to know

4:47

how many times because I measured it's a six

4:49

inch water pump pulley. It's an eight inch crank pulley

4:51

three hundred and seventy seven thousand miles. Tom

4:54

said it's got fifty eight and twenty

4:57

hours on it, I think is what he told me.

5:00

We want to know how many times that water pump spun around

5:03

at three hundred and seventy seven thousand miles.

5:05

Well, rough basic math came

5:07

out to be about six hundred and sixty million

5:10

times. So now we have to add

5:12

the differential between the pulleys. We also

5:14

have to figure in how

5:17

long did I sit in traffic idoling? You

5:19

know, I mean, there's a whole bunch of stuff that comes into

5:21

this.

5:22

It sounds like it's you know, it's funny Tome.

5:23

I was watching Hidden Figures last night on TV

5:26

and they were trying to figure out John Glenn's orbit

5:28

and they were trying to plug in these unknown numbers. I said,

5:31

this is like trying to figure out Tom's water pump rotation.

5:34

You know, we're gonna be doing advanced calculus on a

5:36

water pump revolution timetable just

5:38

to figure out, just to figure out, you

5:40

know, because we're just curious how many miles, how

5:42

many how many rotations did that pump go through

5:45

before the bearing, and the bearing didn't fail, the

5:48

seal just wore itself out. So

5:50

absolutely amazing, but true story from the Bay AutoZone

5:53

does it again?

5:54

That was that was impressive. Yeah,

5:56

almost as impressive as the big pink glow

5:59

I saw over our automotive

6:01

is. I was coming into the place.

6:04

What is it with everybody and the fascination

6:06

with this pink Volkswagen thing?

6:09

I don't know, but I sent pictures to several

6:11

friends and they all said the same thing, We want

6:13

it. How much does the guy want for it?

6:15

Well, and yeah, I

6:17

don't get it.

6:18

And the sad part is, you know, we

6:19

just we just did a breakup grade so it now has

6:21

disc brakes and bigger drum breaks on the

6:24

back, and it just it'll stop on a time. It won't

6:26

go faster than forty miles an hour because it's still got

6:28

the original engine in it, you know. And

6:30

my answer was, if you want to make it stop better,

6:33

let's just put a quick release on the engine. We'll drop

6:35

the engine out of it. It'll slow it down like an anchor, and the

6:37

car I'll come to an immediate hole.

6:38

But well, let's

6:40

give our listeners a quick, quick, little behind the

6:42

scenes glance at the car.

6:44

Doctor.

6:44

Now, I put the opens together every week, and

6:47

I usually I have to choose the clips we use,

6:49

and that's I'll either pick it with something

6:51

funny you say, or something real precise

6:54

you say, or whatever, and then

6:56

I try to match music to it. So

6:58

this week I said, let me see if they're are any

7:00

songs about volkswagens. And you'd

7:02

be surprised how many songs there are about volkswagons.

7:04

And that mentioned Volkswagen. But what really

7:07

impressed me was I found this.

7:09

God drives the Volkswagen

7:12

fame, God

7:15

drives the volkswag You

7:18

know.

7:19

We we just found out right,

7:22

we're gonna have we're gonna have a calls at this era. We've

7:24

got somebody from Maine told

7:26

us that in their church bulletin they mentioned

7:28

the car doctor and for advice and

7:30

gave out the phone number. And Tom

7:33

sent me a note. He said, look, God listens to the car

7:35

doctor, and I said, of course he does. Now I

7:37

know why because he needs somebody to fix

7:39

his thing. All right, it's a Volkswagen.

7:43

You know, he's looking, he's looking down going.

7:45

Look I found a guy that can still work on a Volkswagen

7:47

thing. It's just so in

7:49

any event, let me let me can

7:51

I go to David in Virginia and get the phones going?

7:54

David Virginia, thanks for putting up with

7:56

us today. We're a little off, a little off topic.

7:58

But twelve Honda Civic, how can I up you, sir?

8:02

Yes, yes, a friend of mine.

8:04

He's a recent roommate

8:08

and he works at

8:11

a prison which is about forty

8:13

five minute drive. So I

8:16

think it was Wednesday, Tuesday,

8:19

Tuesday morning, you

8:22

know, he has to be at work at like six point thirty.

8:24

He gets up, starts

8:27

his car and it's the

8:30

battery light comes on and there's

8:36

some funky noise. So Anyway,

8:40

it's really early in the morning, so he just

8:43

sits there for like an hour

8:46

until the dealership opens. He

8:48

calls his parents. They

8:50

live in Texas. He moved

8:53

up from Texas recently, and

8:56

so his

8:59

parents said, take it to the dealership and

9:03

we're talking to you know what, eleven

9:06

year old car.

9:09

Okay, So he takes it to the dealership

9:12

and they

9:14

say, oh, yeah, your alternator is bad,

9:17

your batteries not good.

9:21

And they made a bunch of other recommendations

9:24

work, which she declined. But

9:27

he just wanted to get on the red so he can get to work

9:29

because he's going through training at this prison,

9:32

so he can't miss work, gotcha.

9:34

So long story, Stewart. They

9:38

call back and they say,

9:40

okay,

9:43

this is going to cost you at

9:46

least fourteen And

9:50

he calls his parents because his parents are helping

9:52

him out pay the bill, and they say,

9:54

yeah, go ahead.

9:54

You know it's a dealership, you know, they

9:57

always do good work.

9:59

The alternator by

10:02

itself, just the part

10:04

was eight hundred and seventy dollars right

10:06

twenty twelve Civic all right,

10:09

which I thought was outrageous.

10:11

Well, I looked on it's probably

10:14

it's probably new from

10:16

Honda, not a reman,

10:19

all right, Typical. Typically,

10:22

I can't say exactly what a twelve civic

10:25

alternator is worth brand new out of a dealer,

10:27

but I'm going to tell you the majority of alternators,

10:30

if we were to price them and we stopped pricing

10:32

them a new out of the dealer on older cars, is is

10:34

it justified? Because you're going to find

10:36

there somewhere between six and eight hundred bucks. So

10:39

that's that's kind of in the ballgame. Let's

10:41

break it down like this. You know, David, I

10:43

realize it's a shock, but let's

10:46

let's throw an hour with diagnosis. Can we

10:48

agree on that? Because

10:51

answers don't Answers just don't fall. Answers

10:53

don't fall out of the tree. What's the dealer gooft for a

10:55

labor rate? One hundred and fifty two

10:57

hundred.

11:01

Total labor rate was like three fifty, yes,

11:03

all right?

11:04

But what do they get per hour? You

11:08

got to break it down.

11:09

You're probably in the ballpark.

11:11

So let's say let's say, yeah, let's

11:13

say it's one hundred and fifty, all right, So

11:15

it's one hundred and fifty to diagnose, it's

11:18

an hour to change the alternator? Give

11:20

or take, and we'll throw the battery into

11:22

Let's say it's an hour to change the battery and the alternator.

11:25

That's two hours altogether. There's three hundred.

11:28

The alternator, knew out of the Honda dealer is eight

11:30

hundred. There's eleven. All

11:33

right, did they put

11:35

a belt on it, did they change attention, or did they

11:37

do anything.

11:38

Else they

11:40

did in an inspection?

11:41

Okay, so maybe the inspection was

11:43

worth one hundred dollars.

11:45

There's twelve. The bill was.

11:47

Fourteen we're

11:49

not fourty three.

11:50

Yeah, there were sales tax, right, we're not too

11:52

far off the mark guessing.

11:57

Okay, yeah, it's wow.

11:59

Yeah.

12:00

Now now yeah,

12:03

cars are expensive. Now, well, go

12:05

price a new one, right, go

12:07

go go price a replacement vehicle.

12:10

Now.

12:11

Having said that, Okay, I'll tell you what, Dave,

12:13

let me pull over, take a pause. We'll finish up on the other

12:15

side when I come back. Don't go away, all right, I'm running

12:18

aiding in the car doctor. We'll both be back right after this. Don't

12:20

go anywhere

12:27

you.

12:34

Need advice on how to maintain that classic gt

12:37

O. Ron is the guy eight five five

12:39

five six zero nine nine zero zero.

12:42

Here's Ron. David you're still there,

12:44

sir, Yes

12:46

I am. So let me.

12:47

Start out by saying, you know, I'm not here to beat you up. I'm

12:49

trying to let me I'm just trying to make a

12:52

point and see if I can help you understand

12:54

and get a little more comfortable with the car repair. All right,

12:57

So let's just be two guys talking, right. So,

13:00

oh, you know your

13:02

your friend with the with the Honda with with the alternator.

13:05

Could he have gotten it done cheaper?

13:07

Yeah?

13:07

Probably.

13:07

I don't think he would have saved anything on labor,

13:10

because can we agree that any time you have a

13:12

problem with the car, it's got to be diagnosed, right, unless

13:14

you want to take the chance and throw parts at it. So

13:17

maybe he would have saved one hundred and fifty bucks.

13:19

In our example, we're saying it's one hundred and fifty to

13:22

diagnose, one hundred and fifty to replace

13:24

the part. So maybe he would have saved one hundred

13:26

and fifty bucks. Now he could

13:28

have opted for a cheaper alternator, all

13:30

right. There's I guarantee you there are after

13:33

market replacements of rebuilt

13:35

alternators, you know, two

13:37

three, four hundred dollars. There's probably

13:40

new alternators

13:43

after market available three

13:45

four hundred dollars things like that. You

13:47

can always find a cheaper part.

13:48

I actually look at autosone,

13:52

like autoisone, right, Yeah, it was

13:54

like two hundred and twenty five dollars, right,

13:56

so I guess it was probably used.

13:58

Or it's a reman, all right, And there's nothing

14:01

wrong with that. It's it's just to

14:03

what level. You know, cars

14:05

are a lifestyle. To what level does he want

14:07

to fix it? And where's his point of comfort?

14:10

You know, it's the weekend, David, You're going

14:12

out.

14:13

To eat this weekend?

14:14

Are you gonna Are you gonna go? Pick a restaurant? And

14:16

then you know, why do you go to that restaurant and not the

14:18

other restaurant? You know, it's it's

14:21

it's it's it's like it's

14:23

it's it's price, or it's isn't

14:25

some of it though when we go out to eat, isn't some

14:27

of it? The service, the taste

14:29

of the food, the smell of the place, the environment,

14:32

the experience, right yeah.

14:34

And yeah, well yeah, or

14:36

I just felt like he was taking advantage

14:38

of him because he's a twenty five year old kid.

14:40

Well, I think somebody should have explained

14:43

options to him. Maybe, but

14:46

by the same token, some of

14:48

that is on him, as I'm

14:50

not picking on him either. But you

14:52

know, we've got to sort of teach the next generation

14:55

how to ask the critical questions, and we haven't done

14:57

that.

14:59

You know.

14:59

It's it's you know, I agree with that,

15:01

you know, can he Is there a cheaper way to do this?

15:03

Harol.

15:03

I'll tell you a quick story before I let you go. I

15:05

had a woman called the shop this week. I

15:08

keep talking to Cheryl. Haven't worked for her yet, but I keep

15:10

getting.

15:10

To talk to her.

15:11

She's got a thirteen land Rover. Think

15:13

about this now, she's driving a twenty

15:16

thirteen land Rover. It's

15:18

an eleven going on twelve year old land Rover

15:20

right, an l R four, and she's

15:22

looking for somebody to work on it. Her

15:25

previous mechanic went out of business,

15:28

and the next line accompanied

15:30

after that was but he was really cheap.

15:34

There's a problem with working

15:37

on a vehicle really cheap, because

15:39

can you ever get to afford to be in business

15:41

long enough to take care of that customer long

15:44

term?

15:45

Do you see my point? You can't. You

15:47

can't have both. You can't, you

15:49

know?

15:49

And he his rent went up and

15:52

he didn't own the building, and after

15:54

working with her for twenty five years, twenty

15:56

five years, he couldn't

15:58

make enough of a.

15:59

Living to buy a building. So

16:02

wow, right, where's that point

16:04

of cheap? Now?

16:06

She had a hard time understanding why it was so

16:08

expensive for anybody to work on a land Rover.

16:10

And I kept pointing out, it's a land

16:12

Rover, it's twelve years old, it's

16:15

got miles on it. My god, when the suspension

16:17

system fails on one of those, it's ten grand,

16:20

you know, it's it's a land Rover.

16:23

We're I'm talking about it, right.

16:25

We're not talking about a Toyota Camry. We're

16:27

talking about a land Rover. You

16:29

know, this is like, this is like the customer I talked

16:31

to this week, and I'm explaining what's wrong with the car and why

16:33

was it so expensive to fix?

16:35

David?

16:36

No, Lie, the car was on

16:38

fire, all right. The valve

16:40

cover was leaking so bad. The oil

16:43

dripped out the back of the valve cover on this eight

16:45

Dodge Avenger right onto the exhaust manifold

16:47

and it caught fire. And I kept

16:50

saying, but it was on fire

16:52

again. The car was up in flames,

16:54

and you got the fire put out. I showed

16:56

her the picture where the husband had used the

16:58

fire ex thing. We're sure to put the fire out like the

17:00

car was on fire. It's a land

17:03

rover.

17:04

You know.

17:05

The problem is nobody ever

17:07

sits and explains it to people. I get

17:09

your sticker shock, I get

17:11

your buddy's sticker shock. You know

17:14

it's it's cars really are a lifestyle.

17:16

There are cheaper alternatives, all right,

17:20

there's other ways that this could have been handled. What

17:22

I think you've got to look at is he's

17:25

safe, right. You

17:27

know, cars breaking down on the road are

17:29

are are a dangerous thing today

17:32

because there's a lot of bad things that happen on

17:34

the road. The road is a very unforgiving place.

17:37

I recently replaced my wife's twenty

17:39

eighteen Ford Explorer. Somebody

17:41

said why it only had fifty six thousand

17:43

miles on it. I said, because she's

17:46

going to start to travel to go see the grand baby

17:48

six hours away. I want her in something

17:50

as new as it can be, because I don't want her to have

17:52

a problem on the road. Because the road

17:54

is a very unforgiving place, and you have to realize

17:57

that

17:59

that's it. That's all I got David. I hope I helped you understand

18:01

it better. I appreciate your openness and

18:03

something to think about. So good luck to you, and keep

18:05

us post that I'm run a needing the Car Doctors.

18:07

We're back right after this.

18:33

Welcome back Ron Ding the Car Doctor, at your

18:35

service at eight five five five six zero nine nine

18:37

zero zero. Keep in mind we are expanding

18:39

the YouTube channel, and if you're

18:41

looking for more information you want to hear this show again, don't

18:43

forget to get out and look for the podcast wherever podcast

18:45

players are found. Let's go over and

18:48

talk to Brian in Minnesota. Brian, Welcome to the

18:50

Car Doctor, sir. How can I help?

18:53

Hello?

18:53

Ron, Yes, sir, and

18:55

there I've got I've got a

18:58

two thousand and eight guy. Play it's

19:00

my son's vehicle. About

19:02

it this past spring, got

19:06

two hundred and twenty some thousand miles on it,

19:08

extremely well, extremely

19:11

well maintained here or four overall.

19:14

But as we know, things happen anyway. Yep,

19:19

it this is entirely intermittent.

19:23

First happened a

19:25

little over a month ago. It's

19:28

happened a couple of times since. Where

19:30

uh, it seems like maybe half

19:32

of the cylinders are cutting out. At

19:35

least at least a couple of them loses power

19:38

dramatically. Check

19:40

check engine light comes on, traction

19:43

control light will

19:45

come on, and I think that one might

19:48

wink.

19:49

See zero five is it?

19:50

Is it setting a zero five sixty one?

19:54

It's setting up P eleven seventy

19:56

four.

19:57

Okay.

19:59

And also the the tire

20:02

pressure light will come on, and

20:04

then the tack will drop as well.

20:09

Okay.

20:10

And then what do you do to what do

20:12

you do to get rid of it?

20:15

Nothing?

20:16

You can shut it off, wait a little bit and

20:21

it'll be just fine.

20:24

I had it.

20:26

He was back home here and

20:28

you know, a month or so ago, and he

20:32

I had we had a service. He

20:35

went back to the cities, back

20:37

on to the Twin Cities. So

20:40

he went one hundred and fifty miles. He probably

20:42

went one hundred total, about one hundred and seventy miles with

20:44

smoother driving. And

20:46

the next morning he calls me up and here are the things acting

20:48

out. Since

20:51

then, it's done it

20:55

maybe three other times,

20:57

and it did it last weekend. It's actually

20:59

at a shop. Great now you're kind of bewildered

21:01

by it. By it. He

21:04

drove one hundred and fifty miles here to the house.

21:08

It was just fine. I get

21:10

in it to drive it to the shop

21:12

five miles away and it's

21:14

doing it. Two

21:16

days later, mechanic gets in it and

21:19

it's just fine.

21:20

Okay, let's talk about the eleven.

21:23

Yeah, it's it's, it's it's it's it's random,

21:26

right, It's just it's just so random

21:28

and intermittent.

21:29

So it is. And it's like flipping

21:31

a switch, right, It's not something that kind of

21:34

goes into It's like flipping a switch.

21:35

Okay, So you

21:38

know, naturally, i'd love to see it on a scanner.

21:40

And you know, can I catch can I look at fuel trim?

21:42

Can I You know, I could sit here and for five minutes,

21:44

you know, uh, Brian, and give

21:47

you all these things to look at. But if if, if it happens

21:49

in the blink of an eye, it's it's so

21:51

whenever I get one like this, I

21:54

want to triage it, right, I want to get I want to

21:56

get to the middle of the problem as fast as I can.

21:59

So you know, if a shop's working

22:01

on it, the first thing I want to do is screw fuel pressure

22:03

gauge on it. I don't care how they do it. I don't

22:05

care if there isn't a port, make a tool, make an adapter

22:08

or whatever. I went through that this week with an

22:10

O three Mercury sable that I discovered

22:13

needed a fuel pump. But when I went to lift

22:15

it, there was no rockers left because the floor pan's

22:17

gone. So we're going to junk the car, which is a whole

22:19

other conversation for a different day. But

22:21

my point is, you know, screw fuel

22:23

pressure gauge on it. Most vehicles, it takes

22:25

about seven minutes tape it

22:27

to the windshield and let it stay there.

22:29

That's why God made duct.

22:31

Tape this way. At least this

22:33

way, at least.

22:33

We can see eleven seventy four

22:36

is an imbalance and air fuel mixture

22:38

between cylinders on bank one?

22:42

So is it running lean?

22:44

Is it about to set an eleven seventy

22:46

five which is bank two? Okay?

22:49

You know, do we do we have a lean running

22:52

engine? You know, I always

22:54

I always encourage everybody. If we've

22:57

got a V six, V eight anything,

23:00

and we get a fault for the left side of the

23:02

motor, don't just focus on the left

23:04

side, you know, if it's if it's

23:06

a fuel trim related issue.

23:08

Can we go and look at fuel trim on the right side.

23:10

Always remember if the you know, you go to

23:12

the doctor for a physical, right Brian, and he

23:15

says, you know you're you're cholesterol good

23:17

cholesterol is two hundred bed cholesterol

23:19

is two h one.

23:20

So if if it's.

23:22

One ninety nine, are we waiting? You

23:25

know it's it's you're you're right on the you're

23:27

right on the cruck. So if if fuel

23:29

trim on the right side is twenty

23:32

five and the code sets at twenty six, guess

23:34

what, it just hasn't gotten to that part yet.

23:36

So you know, why is this running lean?

23:40

You think if it lost fuel pressure, if the fuel pump couldn't

23:42

deliver volume, you think it would start to lose.

23:44

Power and run lean.

23:46

I do, yeah,

23:48

right logically logically speaking,

23:51

And then again maybe it's not fuel pressure

23:53

related.

23:54

What's what's what's the strategy

23:56

on.

23:56

These that I've seen? One of the weird things I've

23:58

seen on these is it will set

24:01

a C zero Charlie zero five

24:03

sixty one. And when you said the

24:05

service Stabili track light is on, I

24:09

bet you there's a fault code in the Stabilit track

24:12

And I bet you it's a five sixty one because

24:14

the brake control module is receiving

24:16

invalid data from another module and

24:18

it sets that fault. And everybody they either

24:21

ignore it or they look at it. If they ignore

24:23

it, they miss it. If they look at it, it

24:25

confuses them. All right, there's

24:28

there's there's two things that

24:30

are critical on this car that'll cause loss

24:32

of power besides the fuel pump. Besides

24:35

you know, is it a bad PCM, is it a bad

24:38

wiring harness? I mean, there's fifty things we could talk

24:40

about, but just trying to get to the middle of the problem.

24:43

You know, tell me what's good, I'll tell you what's bad,

24:45

all right. Throttle position sensor,

24:48

all right, because this is a drive by wire

24:50

car, so throttle position and accelerator

24:53

pedal position sensors. But I

24:55

generally don't see those create the lean

24:57

condition, and if they did, it would be both

24:59

bad.

25:02

Right.

25:02

Map sensor all right, Uh,

25:05

we've got to take a look. We've got to take a look

25:07

at the map censor. And I don't mean as the map censor

25:09

bed do we have a wiring problem

25:13

And it could be an issue

25:15

where the map sensor is changing voltage

25:18

while you're driving the vehicle. You

25:20

know, it's showing a lean condition that

25:23

isn't there, or it's showing a rich condition,

25:25

and the PCM tries leaning the mixture

25:28

out to the point that the car shuts off in stalls,

25:31

or runs bad or.

25:32

Has a loss of power. All

25:34

right, you know,

25:38

yeah, go ahead.

25:41

I was just gonna throw out there when

25:44

it did happen to him, I when he

25:47

was in the Twin Cities, I did. I

25:49

did go through there one day after this had

25:51

happened, and I stopped by, put my scanner

25:53

on it, and I came up with that, got

25:59

it up to my guy up the road here, and

26:02

he's coming up with that too, and he

26:04

said, well that's he said. I'm

26:06

that he's saying, Well, it could either be two

26:08

censor or campus and sensor or

26:11

phaser, and

26:16

you're going, you're going in the direction of a fuel

26:18

mixture on bank one.

26:19

So that's good to know.

26:20

It, right, Well,

26:23

what would cause these other lights to come on? And

26:25

I get the check engine.

26:27

Well, the other engine light.

26:28

The other lights are coming on because

26:31

the way the strategy is on vehicles, probably

26:33

in the last twenty years now, I was going to say five years,

26:35

but I'm getting old. I forget in the last

26:37

twenty years is if

26:40

there's a fault in the PCM, they

26:44

start to limit traction control, They

26:46

start to limit steering and safety

26:48

device control because they don't want

26:50

the engine over working itself, working

26:52

too hard.

26:55

You know.

26:57

I was gonna say, ever, you know, it's sort of like you

26:59

spray your shoulder and the doctor

27:01

says, don't lift anything heavy, but you can still go

27:03

to work.

27:05

It's easy.

27:06

We're just trying to take care of the vehicle and not

27:08

put it under any undue stress or

27:10

aggravation until we solve the problem.

27:14

Yeah, and I get one hundred

27:16

percent they I was going to say when

27:18

it happened to me, when I was driving it five

27:20

miles up the road here and it was doing it,

27:22

and it makes sense that obviously

27:25

something's wrong, isn't It isn't running right, it's

27:27

throwing everything off. The thing would not

27:29

shift correctly either. I mean, it just I

27:31

couldn't get it.

27:32

Sure.

27:32

Yeah, and ultimately

27:35

I did. I pulled over the shoulder and I

27:38

kept moving, but I just backed up the troddle right

27:41

and just kind of let it, let it take

27:43

a breath, and then

27:45

I was gradually able to get get it up

27:48

to a speed where.

27:48

It was reasonable right, and then it was and

27:51

then it was okay, and then the other thing you can look at

27:53

while you're when you've got your fuel pressure gage hooked

27:55

up, just for giggles, take

27:58

a fuel sample. Hit the fuel pressure release

28:00

button on the fuel pressure gage. Take a fuel sample.

28:02

It should fill a pint in under thirty seconds.

28:04

Shows it's got volume and the fuel should be clean.

28:07

But you know, are we headed towards a failing

28:09

fuel pump on a two hundred thousand mile fifteen

28:11

year old car? Do we have an intermittent map

28:13

sensor? Some things to look at, Brian, I gotta

28:15

go take a look at that. Give me a call back. I'm glad

28:17

to help him. Talk about it some more and we

28:19

can solve it for you. I'm running any in the Card Doctor.

28:22

We're back right after this. Hey,

28:35

welcome back.

28:35

Running in the Card Doctor.

28:36

Here at eight five five five six zero nine nine zero

28:38

zero twenty four to seven phone number. Call leave a message. If

28:41

we're not here, we'll get you on here in the next live broadcast.

28:43

Let's go over to Hannah in Maine, fifteen

28:45

Ford Fusion. Hannah, how can I help.

28:47

You hi, let

28:49

me give you a little rundown. What's going on with

28:51

me in my car?

28:52

Okay?

28:53

I have a twenty fifteen Ford Fusion

28:56

at sixty eight thousand miles.

28:58

The transmission is a pair gone

29:00

toast, and I still owe

29:03

fourteen thousand dollars on the vehicle.

29:05

Yikes? Did you

29:07

yeah? Did you?

29:08

No?

29:09

I don't know what you do.

29:10

You bought it used, right?

29:12

I did? I came with thirty thousand

29:14

miles.

29:15

Okay, Well, you

29:18

know it's it's so, and

29:21

I'm sure you've got did you get a price on a replacement

29:23

trans.

29:25

So? The Ford garage

29:27

in Augusta is quoting me six

29:30

thousand, nine hundred with a three

29:32

year warranty. But I've been

29:34

looking through other garages and

29:37

I've been quoted around six thousand

29:39

because they don't want to put a used transmission

29:41

in, because they're worried that this one

29:43

only got me to sixty eight thousand miles.

29:45

What's to say one for four thousand,

29:48

wouldn't you know get me in? You

29:50

know a used one would last any longer?

29:52

Right?

29:53

So obviously the first that's the problem.

29:56

Yeah, Well, and the.

29:57

First, the first choice, I'm gonna get

29:59

the first we're gonna we're gonna talk about this here.

30:02

Obviously, my first question is can you afford a new

30:05

car? And the answer is going to be no, because otherwise

30:07

you would have bought a new car instead of buying the used

30:09

car three years ago? Right, Okay, so

30:11

right, can can you afford another

30:14

used car?

30:17

Well?

30:17

No, I can't. I can't even afford

30:20

the six thousand dollars.

30:21

Repair, right I kind of knew that.

30:24

So so then the option becomes in, You've got

30:26

to you know, you've got to repair this. And

30:29

quite honestly, I would, I would I

30:31

myself. Who's been servicing the car up to this point?

30:33

Who's been working on it?

30:36

So it's just.

30:37

Sitting at the Ford Garage in Augusta

30:39

right now until I find a place

30:41

to get it to tou to either get the repair

30:43

done or have it repossessed at the Ford

30:46

Garage and Augusta.

30:47

Well no, by that, I mean, because who's

30:49

who's been working on it up to this point, who's been doing

30:51

the service and such on it?

30:52

Do you have?

30:53

Has the Ford dealer been the place or you just ended

30:56

up there for this particular problem.

30:59

I just ended up there with this particular problem.

31:01

Okay, and then do they you

31:03

know, what does the rest of the car look like? It's

31:06

nine years old and it's been up in Maine.

31:08

It's you know, let's face it, you guys have corrosion

31:10

and rust issues. I don't want to put seven

31:12

grand.

31:12

Into a Yeah, it's

31:15

a pretty clean car. I mean, I just got

31:17

the brakes done on it. I

31:20

haven't had any issues other than this major

31:22

issue. Right, It's in good condition.

31:24

Okay, I would I would want the

31:26

Ford dealer to tell me that, because

31:29

you're seeing it from the top, you

31:31

want to look at it from underneath. What is what? What

31:33

kind of rust is? What kind of rust is on the

31:36

chassis and the subframe? You

31:38

know, what are the things? What are the things that you don't see?

31:40

It's got seventy thousand miles on it, if

31:43

you if you, and I'm just saying, if

31:45

you put seven grand in it, right,

31:48

do they think this car will go another three

31:50

years?

31:50

Typically they do.

31:51

I'm sort of surprised to see the trans fail at

31:53

sixty eight, But then again, I can tell

31:56

you my four Suburban that I

31:58

changed it's diaper every day of its life. The

32:00

trans at fifty five thousand, it happens

32:03

you know, it's it's it's just it's just,

32:05

you know, it's life's tough.

32:06

Wear a hard hat, you

32:09

know, as they.

32:09

Say, I think, I

32:12

think the most important question is who's

32:14

going to do it, who's going to give

32:16

the best warranty, and who's

32:18

going to actually be around to stand behind it.

32:22

Do you travel with the car? Do you stay primarily

32:24

up in Maine? Or do you ever venture out elsewhere?

32:28

I do travel. I live

32:30

in Carthage and I go to I

32:33

stay right in Main, but I do travel like around.

32:35

Me, you know, because my my other concern is,

32:38

you know, if the Ford dealer does it and you travel

32:41

from one side of Maine to the other, if

32:43

the trans were to have a problem, is

32:45

the warranty honored at four dealers elsewhere

32:48

in Maine and across the country, whereas at a local

32:50

shop, you know they might have to make arrangements

32:53

for that to happen. So this is a major

32:55

purchase. You know, if this is a major purchase,

32:57

what what what else are we doing? You

33:01

know, you've got to think that it's it's it's

33:03

twenty grand to replace.

33:06

I use a vehicle with something used. That's

33:09

kind of a tough thing. And you know what,

33:11

you don't want to let it get repossessed

33:13

because then that's going to affect your credit and everything else.

33:15

That becomes a real mischie gus bottom

33:17

line exactly, Yeah, you know. Bottom line.

33:19

You need a car. Is this one any good?

33:22

Is this worth fixing? Let's decide if this

33:24

is worth fixing and putting the money into, and

33:26

then you'll find the money the universe provides.

33:28

All right, right, okay,

33:31

thank you, You're very.

33:32

Welcome, Kittle, good luck, and I wish you the best.

33:34

I'm sorry to hear that I'm running Nanny and the Car

33:36

Doctor. We're back right after this. You

33:50

know, it's it's amazing to me how

33:52

the time just flies by. We just did two

33:55

hours of radio here on the weekend and it just it's

33:57

like and it's gone. The folks over at

33:59

Mitchell one have something called Shuretrack, you

34:01

know, their sure Track fixes, which comes to you as as

34:04

part of the subscription for you

34:06

know, Mitchell one in pro demand. So

34:09

this month there was a good one in there talked about problems

34:11

with a twenty fourteen RAM fifteen hundred that was

34:13

experiencing a cylinder number one shutdown

34:16

and it wasn't operating properly. The person that replaced

34:18

the cam and the lifters a month ago, I'm sorry

34:20

four months ago, and now it's

34:22

setting a fault code. Well, you know, like they

34:24

say, it takes a village to raise a child, that takes a village

34:26

to repair a car. Sometimes, because

34:29

the person that was having the vehicle

34:31

repaired, the person in the shop wrote

34:34

reached out to the share track community via

34:36

Mitchell one and he got some responses

34:38

and they talked about looking at the

34:40

cylinder number one lifter, the multiple

34:43

displacement cylinder lifter, and they found out

34:45

that the lock pin wasn't working and returning

34:47

the lifting a normal operation. So mechanically

34:50

the cylinder never had proper

34:53

valve train operation. The PCM

34:55

knows that and it kept it in the off position.

34:58

So the strategy prevented it from reigniting

35:00

or allowing the cylinder to run and thereby

35:03

saving the cylinder, saving the engine. Anyway, that's

35:05

the strategy that goes through. It's just

35:07

a great service. So the folks over at Mitchell one another

35:09

kudos and another tip of the hat.

35:11

They did.

35:11

They did a great job, as sure track always

35:13

does, helping to solve problems that

35:16

can't be solved otherwise, at least not without

35:19

extensive use of the gray matter.

35:20

So that's about it for today.

35:21

I'm on an aating of the Car Doctor, reminding you good

35:23

mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.

35:26

See