July 14, 2025 • 8 mins
Ron Ananian joins Mendte in the Morning to wrap up his overview of dashboard warning lights as he talks about the coolant temperature warning light, plus the engine oil pressure, and battery warning lights.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's hard to believe how many warning lights there are
(00:03):
on your dashboard. And we got to count them all
because over the last few weeks, Ron and nanyan host
of the Car Doctor, which is available weekly on the
iHeartRadio app. He's also, by the way, owner of Our
A Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. That's our A Automotive
in Waldwick, New Jersey. Over the last few weeks, Ron
(00:23):
has been running through them all, uh, and talking about
their importance and why you should get them checked. And this,
by the way, is going to be the last installment.
And it's some warning lights that people just tend to ignore.
He's gonna tell us why they're important. Good morning, Ron,
Good morning Larry.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, this is congratulations. Everybody's made it through dishboard warning lights.
Here we are. The test is coming, so I hope
everybody is ready. Uh. Let's let's let where do you
want to start.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Let's start with the cool and temperature warning light.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Okay. And I chose it this way because these are
the three of the basic that everybody's so used to.
Cool and temperature warning light comes on, Larry, you're driving along,
says the car is overheating. It's running hot. What's your
first reaction.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
To do nothing? He would keep driving.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Come on, now, you gotta want to stop the car, right, I'm.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Just thinking myself, it's gonna go away. It'll go away
in a couple of hours.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We're gonna have to come up with a special test
for you this. Yeah, you can't. You can't ignore it. Well,
you can't ignore it, but you run the risk of
doing serious engine damage. So you know, what I really
want everybody to do is if the dashboard warning light
is coming on, or if you've got a temperature gauge
(01:45):
and it says it's overheating, it's running hot, pull over,
get to an area where you can stop safely. Right,
do not open the hood. Don't open the hood. There's
nothing you can do anyway. Let the car sit for
a half hour to forty five minutes unless and my
concern becomes that if you open the hood and something
is really super hot, and if a hose is about
(02:08):
to let go, and I have seen this more time
than I care to remember, you will open the hood
and get a belly full of upper radiator hose and
get second third degree burns. So you don't want to
open the hood of an under of an overheated vehicle
until it's sat for anywhere from thirty to forty five
minutes at least at least.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, I knew it was serious. The way you said,
do not open the hood. You said it like somebody
makes that warning in a horror movie. You know, don't
open the door. The way you said that was extremely serious.
So I can tell you've seen some bad things.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Don't go in the barn. Absolutely, that's and hopefully with
the weather we're having, everybody's you know, taking their car
and for regular service the mechanics checking the common causes
low coolant thermostat age or was the water pump? Look like?
Do the cooling fans turn on? You know that kind
of stuff. Well, that's how you're going to prevent the
light from coming on by doing maintenance.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
All right, So you get the you get the warning
light right, and you do the right thing. You pull over,
you don't open the hood, You wait a few minutes.
Do you drive again after that?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, what's the situation? Do I have triple a? Am
I calling for a toe? Am I somewhere in the
middle of Oshkosh and I've got to get to where
I'm going I could try. You should know where your
coolant overflow bottle is, Larry, I'm gonna send you pictures
for your car, and maybe if we're going distances, we're
(03:30):
carrying a gallon of coolant specific to the vehicle or
water at least, just so we have some kind of
an emergency preparedness kit.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Larry's like I got to carry around coolant and a
picture book. Apparently after that we shouldn't laugh, because it's
really good advice.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Honestly, I know you're laughing at me. You're not laughing
at the advice that you're Okay, how about the engine
oil pressure warning light? Now that one you can wait on.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Right, Larry, If the oil pressure warning light comes on,
maybe it's maybe it's a lie. You know, we see
a lot of oil pressure sending units, which is the
sensor that tells the dashboard if the oil pressure is
good or not. We do see to have a bad
oil pressure sender is not an uncommon thing. Okay, all right,
(04:21):
it can. But some of this you can detect on
your own pull over. Turn off all the noise in
the car, the radio and so on, and listen, does
the engine start to sound more mechanical? Right, is it is?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
It?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Is it clunking and wrapping? Shut it off, give the car,
Let the car sit a couple of three four minutes.
Check the oil level. Maybe it's low on oil. Maybe
it's got a severe oil leak. Maybe it's burning oil,
and you can avoid that. Normal maintenance, normal care. Just
be aware of. Hopefully you're checking your oil level once
(04:55):
a month on your car if you think you need to,
if it's older, and doing some just you know, normal
due diligence would be the way you're gonna do it.
Because if you don't, and you drive it with the
oil pressure light on, you know that's right up there,
that's just as bad as the coolant light because if
they're both for real, the engine's overheating or the engines
low on oil pressure, it's gonna stops. It's gonna come
(05:18):
to a dead stop when you at least want it to.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And it can really when you don't have oil, it
can really hurt your engine, right, I mean, at a
certain point, if you're driving without oil, it's gonna just
kill your engine.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Take take your two hands and rub them together real
quick and do that. See how long you can do
that before they get so hot. You can't do that anymore.
Now do that with a little bit of baby lotion
between your hands, right, you can do that almost indefinitely.
And that's the best example I can give you of
what your engine's going through when your enginees low on oil.
It's like your two dry palms rubbing together and building
up heat. When they've got oil between them, they slip
(05:51):
and slide and it doesn't do the damage.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
And that's the.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Purpose of what oil's doing. It's got the protective film.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Just to defend myself for a second. So I really
didn't think you needed to pull over right away for
the cool and you've convinced me of that, But the
engine oil pressure. I have time to get to a
place to check my oil, right, fine time. How long
would I have to go before I found a gas station?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Larry, if you're having a heart attack, are you gonna
sit down? You're gonna keep walking.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I'll probably keep walking.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
You're asking the wrong guy the wrong questions here, I think.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So, Natalie, I'm scared. Now get on the number three.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Now, let's get to the charging system in the battery
warning light.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
All right, So you're driving along and either a battery picture,
a symbol of a battery comes on, or it says
battery charging system something related to electrical Let's define this
the battery of the majority of modern automobiles. Its main
purpose is to start the vehicle. In theory, you could
take that battery out of the vehicle once the engine
(06:59):
is running, because the alternator is creating electricity to run
the system. All right, I'm not suggesting anybody do. There
is a couple of reasons why the battery things the
battery does. But my point becomes, when you see that
battery charging warning light, you are likely running off the battery.
At that point, the alternator has died, the charging system
is not working, and it's doing what it's supposed to do.
(07:23):
You're just running on battery. Now you're kind of like
the Starship Enterprise running on impulse power can warp drives,
so you know at what point does the battery go
south and then the car stoffs? So that one Larry,
if you want to keep going, you can because now
you're just going to get stuck and learn the lesson
of stopping and the value in it. So you could do.
(07:45):
What you could do is you see that battery charging
warning light. If you want to continue to drive, or
you have to continue to drive. Don't shut the vehicle off.
Cut electrical, use air conditioning. I know that's hard to say.
In July. Air conditioning, use to zero, leave the windows down,
headlights off, turn off any any electrical accessory you can
(08:05):
you can find, unplug your cellphone from the charger and
drive and just get to where you gotta get.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
All right, so we all get certificates except maybe me.
Ron and Naney and host of the Car Doctor which
is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app, and owner of
our Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Thanks a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Ron, You're very welcome. Larry, thank you
It's hard to believe how many warning lights there are
(00:03):
on your dashboard. And we got to count them all
because over the last few weeks, Ron and nanyan host
of the Car Doctor, which is available weekly on the
iHeartRadio app. He's also, by the way, owner of Our
A Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. That's our A Automotive
in Waldwick, New Jersey. Over the last few weeks, Ron
(00:23):
has been running through them all, uh, and talking about
their importance and why you should get them checked. And this,
by the way, is going to be the last installment.
And it's some warning lights that people just tend to ignore.
He's gonna tell us why they're important. Good morning, Ron,
Good morning Larry.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, this is congratulations. Everybody's made it through dishboard warning lights.
Here we are. The test is coming, so I hope
everybody is ready. Uh. Let's let's let where do you
want to start.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Let's start with the cool and temperature warning light.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Okay. And I chose it this way because these are
the three of the basic that everybody's so used to.
Cool and temperature warning light comes on, Larry, you're driving along,
says the car is overheating. It's running hot. What's your
first reaction.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
To do nothing? He would keep driving.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Come on, now, you gotta want to stop the car, right, I'm.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Just thinking myself, it's gonna go away. It'll go away
in a couple of hours.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We're gonna have to come up with a special test
for you this. Yeah, you can't. You can't ignore it. Well,
you can't ignore it, but you run the risk of
doing serious engine damage. So you know, what I really
want everybody to do is if the dashboard warning light
is coming on, or if you've got a temperature gauge
(01:45):
and it says it's overheating, it's running hot, pull over,
get to an area where you can stop safely. Right,
do not open the hood. Don't open the hood. There's
nothing you can do anyway. Let the car sit for
a half hour to forty five minutes unless and my
concern becomes that if you open the hood and something
is really super hot, and if a hose is about
(02:08):
to let go, and I have seen this more time
than I care to remember, you will open the hood
and get a belly full of upper radiator hose and
get second third degree burns. So you don't want to
open the hood of an under of an overheated vehicle
until it's sat for anywhere from thirty to forty five
minutes at least at least.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, I knew it was serious. The way you said,
do not open the hood. You said it like somebody
makes that warning in a horror movie. You know, don't
open the door. The way you said that was extremely serious.
So I can tell you've seen some bad things.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Don't go in the barn. Absolutely, that's and hopefully with
the weather we're having, everybody's you know, taking their car
and for regular service the mechanics checking the common causes
low coolant thermostat age or was the water pump? Look like?
Do the cooling fans turn on? You know that kind
of stuff. Well, that's how you're going to prevent the
light from coming on by doing maintenance.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
All right, So you get the you get the warning
light right, and you do the right thing. You pull over,
you don't open the hood, You wait a few minutes.
Do you drive again after that?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, what's the situation? Do I have triple a? Am
I calling for a toe? Am I somewhere in the
middle of Oshkosh and I've got to get to where
I'm going I could try. You should know where your
coolant overflow bottle is, Larry, I'm gonna send you pictures
for your car, and maybe if we're going distances, we're
(03:30):
carrying a gallon of coolant specific to the vehicle or
water at least, just so we have some kind of
an emergency preparedness kit.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Larry's like I got to carry around coolant and a
picture book. Apparently after that we shouldn't laugh, because it's
really good advice.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Honestly, I know you're laughing at me. You're not laughing
at the advice that you're Okay, how about the engine
oil pressure warning light? Now that one you can wait on.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Right, Larry, If the oil pressure warning light comes on,
maybe it's maybe it's a lie. You know, we see
a lot of oil pressure sending units, which is the
sensor that tells the dashboard if the oil pressure is
good or not. We do see to have a bad
oil pressure sender is not an uncommon thing. Okay, all right,
(04:21):
it can. But some of this you can detect on
your own pull over. Turn off all the noise in
the car, the radio and so on, and listen, does
the engine start to sound more mechanical? Right, is it is?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
It?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Is it clunking and wrapping? Shut it off, give the car,
Let the car sit a couple of three four minutes.
Check the oil level. Maybe it's low on oil. Maybe
it's got a severe oil leak. Maybe it's burning oil,
and you can avoid that. Normal maintenance, normal care. Just
be aware of. Hopefully you're checking your oil level once
(04:55):
a month on your car if you think you need to,
if it's older, and doing some just you know, normal
due diligence would be the way you're gonna do it.
Because if you don't, and you drive it with the
oil pressure light on, you know that's right up there,
that's just as bad as the coolant light because if
they're both for real, the engine's overheating or the engines
low on oil pressure, it's gonna stops. It's gonna come
(05:18):
to a dead stop when you at least want it to.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And it can really when you don't have oil, it
can really hurt your engine, right, I mean, at a
certain point, if you're driving without oil, it's gonna just
kill your engine.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Take take your two hands and rub them together real
quick and do that. See how long you can do
that before they get so hot. You can't do that anymore.
Now do that with a little bit of baby lotion
between your hands, right, you can do that almost indefinitely.
And that's the best example I can give you of
what your engine's going through when your enginees low on oil.
It's like your two dry palms rubbing together and building
up heat. When they've got oil between them, they slip
(05:51):
and slide and it doesn't do the damage.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
And that's the.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Purpose of what oil's doing. It's got the protective film.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Just to defend myself for a second. So I really
didn't think you needed to pull over right away for
the cool and you've convinced me of that, But the
engine oil pressure. I have time to get to a
place to check my oil, right, fine time. How long
would I have to go before I found a gas station?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Larry, if you're having a heart attack, are you gonna
sit down? You're gonna keep walking.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I'll probably keep walking.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
You're asking the wrong guy the wrong questions here, I think.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So, Natalie, I'm scared. Now get on the number three.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Now, let's get to the charging system in the battery
warning light.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
All right, So you're driving along and either a battery picture,
a symbol of a battery comes on, or it says
battery charging system something related to electrical Let's define this
the battery of the majority of modern automobiles. Its main
purpose is to start the vehicle. In theory, you could
take that battery out of the vehicle once the engine
(06:59):
is running, because the alternator is creating electricity to run
the system. All right, I'm not suggesting anybody do. There
is a couple of reasons why the battery things the
battery does. But my point becomes, when you see that
battery charging warning light, you are likely running off the battery.
At that point, the alternator has died, the charging system
is not working, and it's doing what it's supposed to do.
(07:23):
You're just running on battery. Now you're kind of like
the Starship Enterprise running on impulse power can warp drives,
so you know at what point does the battery go
south and then the car stoffs? So that one Larry,
if you want to keep going, you can because now
you're just going to get stuck and learn the lesson
of stopping and the value in it. So you could do.
(07:45):
What you could do is you see that battery charging
warning light. If you want to continue to drive, or
you have to continue to drive. Don't shut the vehicle off.
Cut electrical, use air conditioning. I know that's hard to say.
In July. Air conditioning, use to zero, leave the windows down,
headlights off, turn off any any electrical accessory you can
(08:05):
you can find, unplug your cellphone from the charger and
drive and just get to where you gotta get.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
All right, so we all get certificates except maybe me.
Ron and Naney and host of the Car Doctor which
is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app, and owner of
our Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Thanks a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Ron, You're very welcome. Larry, thank you
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