September 8, 2025 • 9 mins
Ron Ananian joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about the proper car maintenance and what to do if you want to get the most life out of your car.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're going to talk about some of the basics today,
like changing oil with ronan Amian, podcast host of The
Car Doctor, which is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app.
He's also owner of R a Otomotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Now,
I know what you're talking about today, Ron, and listen.
I just want to tell you a quick story. It
was about twenty years ago and I had I got
(00:21):
a brand new Ford Expedition and I loved it. I
really did love it, and I was I was driving
it for a few months and all of a sudden
it just broke down. And it was brand new. It
was just a few months and it broke down, and
I brought it to the dealership, and you know, I
had a towed to the dealership and the dealership said,
have you changed the oil in this? And I realized
(00:43):
I hadn't. In the engine what do they call it blocked?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Seized?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, seized?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
But how did it seaze it after four or five months? Lay?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Well, maybe it wasn't four or five months. Maybe it
was a little bit longer than that.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
That was it.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
That was a really good question. I forgoten the what
I was talking to you there for a second.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Now, I'm going to put you through car doctor boot camp.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, there I go. Now, I learned my lesson a
week that was a long time ago. Now I believe me.
I changed my oil when it doesn't need to be changed.
I am such a fanatic about it. That's a big
lesson to learn.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, I'll tell you what. I don't think there is
a time when you can't or shouldn't change oil. I
still like the five to six thousand mile five to
six month interval, and I'll tell you why. It provides
vehicle longevity, and it also gives a qualified, trained mechanic
the opportunity to look around and make sure everything is okay.
(01:40):
And that's key, and that's part of what an oil
change is about. And that's where our maintenance conversation is
going to start this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
When you say five to six thousand miles, is that
different for every car or is it pretty much the standard?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's just a good rule of thumb. Listen, you know
some people are different. I have family members who but
I won't really be mentioned because I'm afraid they're listening.
And you know it's I have to give them the
I have to give them the short oil change sticker
because I know they're going to go past it by
one thousand miles And their answer is, but I have
you Yeah, but that's not the point. The point has
(02:15):
come in on time, you know, it's it's like difficult.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Non real quick. Then with that, a lot of cars
these days have you know, a gauge or a reminder
since mine says, you know, when you get to fifteen percent,
bring it in. But sometimes you know I could be
under or over that five thousand miles or five months
or what should I look at? Should I do the
(02:39):
old fashioned just bring it in?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Do you own your car? Release it? Natalie?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I own it?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Okay? You want to drive it forever?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Change it every five to six or every five to
six months. I mean it's just that simple.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
So five to six thousand miles.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Or four months, five to six months with.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
I'm hitting the five thousand first okay?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Right? Oh yeah sure? And you know sometimes you can
stretch it. And here's that conversation with your mechanic. What
does the oil look like? How does the car feel?
What's the general overall quality of the vehicle? Oil changes
do a whole lot more than just change oil. If
they're done properly and it's now listen. Some places use
an oil change as a loss leader. It's to get
(03:22):
people in the door. Let's do the cheap oil change
and sell them thousands of dollars worth of work which
they may not or may necessarily need right away. Some
people do a practical oil change. If the shop is
one hundred dollars an hour, it's seventy five dollars labor
for an oil change plus material. That's realistic. The place
that's doing the cheap oil change is using it as
(03:43):
a loss leader. It's just math. It's like the supermarket, right.
How many times do you go to the supermarket and say,
how can they sell me a gallon of ice cream
for two fifty this week? And I can buy two?
But last week it was six dollars because they played
with the price of something else somewhere along the way
to make up the difference. Oil changes are no different.
But an oil change is the biggest, most efficient method
(04:05):
of getting longevity out of a vehicle.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
But that's not the only one. You talked about getting
your car to last a long time. There's many many
other things you need to do.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I like the old change, and one of those is
so you go in, you buy a new car, and
you know they go through the maintenance schedule with you.
Look at that oil change list. Is it manufacturer printed
or dealer printed? And I'm not giving away any trade secrets,
but some dealers have created their own maintenance schedules and
(04:36):
they're they're correct, depending upon environment, depending upon application. Now
we're into a trust thing. Is this dealer really looking
out for my benefit? Do I want to maintain the
car as per them? Because I want to drive like
Natalie to four hundred thousand miles? But then do I
own the car or release it? If you notice that
was my first question, because if you lease the car,
(04:58):
I'm doing whatever the manufact actor says, not the dealer,
not the repair shop. I'm doing what the manufacturer says.
In the three years i'm going to have that lease,
I'm going to do you know, two and a half
oil changes, rotate the tires once and out the door goes.
I'm not in it for the long term, but if
I'm driving it a long time, I'm doing that oil
(05:19):
change every five to six I'm going to rotate tires
on a regular basis. When that vehicle approaches the fifty
or sixty thousand mile mark. I'm going to think about
other fluids. I'm going to think about fuel system cleaning.
I'm going to think about doing proper maintenance. Because where
this conversation started and what generated this topic for the
radio show this past week was I was in training
(05:42):
class last week. I took another advanced class on cylinder
misfire diagnostics because what else were to do on Wednesday
and Thursday night. And it became listening to the other
shops in the room. They're doing timing chains and catalytic
converters and transmission replacement, all this heavy, expensive engine work.
And they came around to me and they said, Ron,
(06:04):
how much how many timing changes have you done lately? Zero?
You know, we don't do big, heavy engine work nearly
as much as we used to. And I couldn't understand why,
and then the light bulb went off. I do more maintenance,
and maintenance is the key to preventing that long term
big failure.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And that gets back to a conversation we have a lot,
and that is you gotta find someone that you trust
to work on your car, because if you don't, it
could cost you not only in the long run, but
in the short term too, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Larry, I'm appalled by my industry to a point. I
spent a good fifteen minutes last week with a new
customer who's driving a ten year old Dodge Charger with
ninety thousand miles on it, and it never had a
lick of maintenance other than oil changes. And I told them,
point blank, I said, you're on the crux of you know,
(06:58):
what do you do? Do you begin the maintenance schedule.
Now you got ten years out of the car, you
got ninety thousand miles. We figured that where in the
last six years he spent seventy one dollars a month
to maintain this vehicle, and the national average is one
hundred and fifty, you know. And he said, Geene, nobody
ever explained it to me like this, And I'm upolled
by that. It's the obligation of a repair shop to
(07:21):
guide you as well as to repair the vehicle. It's
like coming to a doctor. No pun intended. It's what
we're supposed to do. We hold your life in your
hands in our hands, and the maintenance comes down to dollars.
Is it worth spending?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Well, how do they know? I mean, forget for the
people that live near Waldwick, New Jersey, they can go
see you, but not everybody lives around that area. How
do you know that this is the person to go to,
This is the person I can trust.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
You're you're gonna love this answer. Go get an oil
change done? How do they handle something simple? If a
repair shop can handle this simple oil change, give them
something more complicated to do, and do it before you
have the disaster. Hey, Larry, when do you want to
go to the emergency room when you're having the heart
attack or when well, you know, I'm a little I'm
(08:08):
hard to breathe and I'm getting a little pasty looking.
Maybe I want to find a doctor and find out
what's going on now before I have the problem. Isn't
that the better way? But we don't do that right.
We tend to a lot of us tend to rush
in at the last minute, fix my problem. I've got
an issue. I think it's some pre planning helps us
along the way to find a good mechanic.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
But it can't just be the oil change. It has
to be they have to tell you, we need you
to get in for this. We need you to get
in for this. We need you to get in for this,
but you need to trust that too.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yes, but you also need to apply common sense. Listen,
come by the shop later. I've got a twenty sixteen
jeep outside the rear tires are as bald as a
baby's behind. And the answer I got when I said
you need tires is yeah, but I only go to
home depot on Saturdays with it to pick up lumber.
What kind of an answer is that? You know, the
(09:01):
screw that goes through the tire or the wet road
where you spin out of control, doesn't care where you're
going right, doesn't care how many miles around the vehicle.
It just knows it has no traction.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, great advice. Ronin Nadian is going to be back
with us in two weeks at nine to five. Ron,
have a good couple of weeks. Whatever you're doing, and
thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
You're very welcome, Larry happy to be here.
We're going to talk about some of the basics today,
like changing oil with ronan Amian, podcast host of The
Car Doctor, which is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app.
He's also owner of R a Otomotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Now,
I know what you're talking about today, Ron, and listen.
I just want to tell you a quick story. It
was about twenty years ago and I had I got
(00:21):
a brand new Ford Expedition and I loved it. I
really did love it, and I was I was driving
it for a few months and all of a sudden
it just broke down. And it was brand new. It
was just a few months and it broke down, and
I brought it to the dealership, and you know, I
had a towed to the dealership and the dealership said,
have you changed the oil in this? And I realized
(00:43):
I hadn't. In the engine what do they call it blocked?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Seized?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, seized?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
But how did it seaze it after four or five months? Lay?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Well, maybe it wasn't four or five months. Maybe it
was a little bit longer than that.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
That was it.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
That was a really good question. I forgoten the what
I was talking to you there for a second.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Now, I'm going to put you through car doctor boot camp.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, there I go. Now, I learned my lesson a
week that was a long time ago. Now I believe me.
I changed my oil when it doesn't need to be changed.
I am such a fanatic about it. That's a big
lesson to learn.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, I'll tell you what. I don't think there is
a time when you can't or shouldn't change oil. I
still like the five to six thousand mile five to
six month interval, and I'll tell you why. It provides
vehicle longevity, and it also gives a qualified, trained mechanic
the opportunity to look around and make sure everything is okay.
(01:40):
And that's key, and that's part of what an oil
change is about. And that's where our maintenance conversation is
going to start this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
When you say five to six thousand miles, is that
different for every car or is it pretty much the standard?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's just a good rule of thumb. Listen, you know
some people are different. I have family members who but
I won't really be mentioned because I'm afraid they're listening.
And you know it's I have to give them the
I have to give them the short oil change sticker
because I know they're going to go past it by
one thousand miles And their answer is, but I have
you Yeah, but that's not the point. The point has
(02:15):
come in on time, you know, it's it's like difficult.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Non real quick. Then with that, a lot of cars
these days have you know, a gauge or a reminder
since mine says, you know, when you get to fifteen percent,
bring it in. But sometimes you know I could be
under or over that five thousand miles or five months
or what should I look at? Should I do the
(02:39):
old fashioned just bring it in?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Do you own your car? Release it? Natalie?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I own it?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Okay? You want to drive it forever?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Change it every five to six or every five to
six months. I mean it's just that simple.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
So five to six thousand miles.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Or four months, five to six months with.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
I'm hitting the five thousand first okay?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Right? Oh yeah sure? And you know sometimes you can
stretch it. And here's that conversation with your mechanic. What
does the oil look like? How does the car feel?
What's the general overall quality of the vehicle? Oil changes
do a whole lot more than just change oil. If
they're done properly and it's now listen. Some places use
an oil change as a loss leader. It's to get
(03:22):
people in the door. Let's do the cheap oil change
and sell them thousands of dollars worth of work which
they may not or may necessarily need right away. Some
people do a practical oil change. If the shop is
one hundred dollars an hour, it's seventy five dollars labor
for an oil change plus material. That's realistic. The place
that's doing the cheap oil change is using it as
(03:43):
a loss leader. It's just math. It's like the supermarket, right.
How many times do you go to the supermarket and say,
how can they sell me a gallon of ice cream
for two fifty this week? And I can buy two?
But last week it was six dollars because they played
with the price of something else somewhere along the way
to make up the difference. Oil changes are no different.
But an oil change is the biggest, most efficient method
(04:05):
of getting longevity out of a vehicle.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
But that's not the only one. You talked about getting
your car to last a long time. There's many many
other things you need to do.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I like the old change, and one of those is
so you go in, you buy a new car, and
you know they go through the maintenance schedule with you.
Look at that oil change list. Is it manufacturer printed
or dealer printed? And I'm not giving away any trade secrets,
but some dealers have created their own maintenance schedules and
(04:36):
they're they're correct, depending upon environment, depending upon application. Now
we're into a trust thing. Is this dealer really looking
out for my benefit? Do I want to maintain the
car as per them? Because I want to drive like
Natalie to four hundred thousand miles? But then do I
own the car or release it? If you notice that
was my first question, because if you lease the car,
(04:58):
I'm doing whatever the manufact actor says, not the dealer,
not the repair shop. I'm doing what the manufacturer says.
In the three years i'm going to have that lease,
I'm going to do you know, two and a half
oil changes, rotate the tires once and out the door goes.
I'm not in it for the long term, but if
I'm driving it a long time, I'm doing that oil
(05:19):
change every five to six I'm going to rotate tires
on a regular basis. When that vehicle approaches the fifty
or sixty thousand mile mark. I'm going to think about
other fluids. I'm going to think about fuel system cleaning.
I'm going to think about doing proper maintenance. Because where
this conversation started and what generated this topic for the
radio show this past week was I was in training
(05:42):
class last week. I took another advanced class on cylinder
misfire diagnostics because what else were to do on Wednesday
and Thursday night. And it became listening to the other
shops in the room. They're doing timing chains and catalytic
converters and transmission replacement, all this heavy, expensive engine work.
And they came around to me and they said, Ron,
(06:04):
how much how many timing changes have you done lately? Zero?
You know, we don't do big, heavy engine work nearly
as much as we used to. And I couldn't understand why,
and then the light bulb went off. I do more maintenance,
and maintenance is the key to preventing that long term
big failure.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And that gets back to a conversation we have a lot,
and that is you gotta find someone that you trust
to work on your car, because if you don't, it
could cost you not only in the long run, but
in the short term too, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Larry, I'm appalled by my industry to a point. I
spent a good fifteen minutes last week with a new
customer who's driving a ten year old Dodge Charger with
ninety thousand miles on it, and it never had a
lick of maintenance other than oil changes. And I told them,
point blank, I said, you're on the crux of you know,
(06:58):
what do you do? Do you begin the maintenance schedule.
Now you got ten years out of the car, you
got ninety thousand miles. We figured that where in the
last six years he spent seventy one dollars a month
to maintain this vehicle, and the national average is one
hundred and fifty, you know. And he said, Geene, nobody
ever explained it to me like this, And I'm upolled
by that. It's the obligation of a repair shop to
(07:21):
guide you as well as to repair the vehicle. It's
like coming to a doctor. No pun intended. It's what
we're supposed to do. We hold your life in your
hands in our hands, and the maintenance comes down to dollars.
Is it worth spending?
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Well, how do they know? I mean, forget for the
people that live near Waldwick, New Jersey, they can go
see you, but not everybody lives around that area. How
do you know that this is the person to go to,
This is the person I can trust.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
You're you're gonna love this answer. Go get an oil
change done? How do they handle something simple? If a
repair shop can handle this simple oil change, give them
something more complicated to do, and do it before you
have the disaster. Hey, Larry, when do you want to
go to the emergency room when you're having the heart
attack or when well, you know, I'm a little I'm
(08:08):
hard to breathe and I'm getting a little pasty looking.
Maybe I want to find a doctor and find out
what's going on now before I have the problem. Isn't
that the better way? But we don't do that right.
We tend to a lot of us tend to rush
in at the last minute, fix my problem. I've got
an issue. I think it's some pre planning helps us
along the way to find a good mechanic.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
But it can't just be the oil change. It has
to be they have to tell you, we need you
to get in for this. We need you to get
in for this. We need you to get in for this,
but you need to trust that too.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yes, but you also need to apply common sense. Listen,
come by the shop later. I've got a twenty sixteen
jeep outside the rear tires are as bald as a
baby's behind. And the answer I got when I said
you need tires is yeah, but I only go to
home depot on Saturdays with it to pick up lumber.
What kind of an answer is that? You know, the
(09:01):
screw that goes through the tire or the wet road
where you spin out of control, doesn't care where you're
going right, doesn't care how many miles around the vehicle.
It just knows it has no traction.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, great advice. Ronin Nadian is going to be back
with us in two weeks at nine to five. Ron,
have a good couple of weeks. Whatever you're doing, and
thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
You're very welcome, Larry happy to be here.
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