March 28, 2020 • 35 mins
Ron starts this episode by talking about network communications srategies in cars : takes a call on a Grand Cherokee with a P0740 code : takes a call asking about stealing the codes on a key fob : discusses an article on Ford quickly retooling to make ventilators : answers an email on network loop configurations in GM cars : answers an email on car maintenance basics average owners can do : takes a call on car maintenance basics : takes a call regarding the Coronavirus : talks about his car memories.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Ron Ananian, do you know they've seen this before? The
sergeant came out. He had this stick in his belt
that specially treated at the top of the dashboard three
times and he says, now you're no longer being TRACKEDI
disabled the object. I was so grateful. I got in
the car. I could tell right away it was fixed.
You're the best mechanic. I know you're always on the
(00:35):
car Doctor. Would you buy rod that's already built? I've
been through it both ways. I'd buy something if I
could find the right vehicle. I'd buy something, don't if
I could afford it. Welcome to the radio home of
Ron and Nanian the Car Doctor, since this is where
car owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion
(00:56):
on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you a signal,
pick up the phone and call in the garage to
orders are open, But I am here to take your
calls at and now running. Okay, UM, gotta say it
(01:16):
like this. I'm reading out of a book on computer networking.
Listen to what Listen to the description, and I want
to do this real quick before we go to the phone.
Network modules are often connected in a series where the
ends are connected as well. In this way, each module
is situated in the middle of the flow of information.
This forms a loop of modules. When a message is generated,
(01:39):
it is sent out in both directions, traveling through every
module on network. Each module receives the message from both
directions simultaneously, which makes the series network very stable. Is
that about cars or is that about computer networks in
the office? It's about cars. This is out of the book.
That is out of the class with I took two
(02:00):
months ago. We're doing network communications strategies. Think about what
they're saying. They're they're talking about modules and series connections
and and data packets and messages being generated. Just like
that computer network at the office or maybe the one
in your house. It's it really is a giant computer.
It's just they put four wheels and an engine on
(02:20):
it and that's what's hauling you around these days. So
you know, we had a call last hour, and they
come in from time to time about I want to
change out the radio. I want to you know, I
want to change the electronic cluster. I want to move
things around. Everything's got a module now and everything is
interconnected into everything else. It's not as simple as you know,
plug and play and drop in, drop out and and
(02:43):
make the car work that way. So I just thought,
I give you and that was the simplest definition of
it I could find, because I wanted you to get
some idea of what this was that we're trying to
deal with when we're trying to fix cars today. So
they really are a computer networks. Helldo welcome Ron and
any of the car doctor here at zero. A lot
going on as we celebrate Dred Show this weekend, and
(03:05):
I'm glad to have you here. Let's let's go to
line too and talk to I'm not sure who that is,
but I know it's from Arizona with the P zero
seven forty and the jeep. Correct, who is this? Ah?
This is Dean? Hey, Dean, how are you? I knew
that I saw it and then it glimps off my screen?
So what's going on with this jeep? We got check
engine light? Uh, take the code off. It's a zero
(03:27):
seven hundred, of course, but it's when I did the
code scanner it comes up P zero seven four zero.
How many miles were on it? And this is what
the four point seven leader four point seven leader with
n in the serial number is all wheel drive RFE transmission.
(03:53):
This is the This is the Mercedes version of a
Jeep as it were back in the day when Dame
Larond it back in the day year. So your question
to me is what's broke or what do you want
to do with this? I checked the oil level of
the fluid levels good. It was changed about thirty thousand
miles ago. It's still pretty clean, nut burnt black um.
(04:16):
But of course I've got this and I can't get
rid of it. It runs good, and it shifts. It
seems to shift fine. So I was looking mainly for
a transmission shop that you might recommend in the area. Yeah,
I don't know anyone Arizona way, but let me let
me let me tell you what's likely going on here.
I can tell you why. That's seven forty sets, all right?
(04:37):
Did you you ever you ever have a mini bike
as a kid or something with a centrifical clutch. So
remember how that centrifical clutch work the faster when it
got to a certain speed, and then the drum was
locked in place by the shoes inside of the clutch itself,
and that's what made the minibike move and that's that's
(04:58):
that's that's exactly like the torque convert or, except they
apply the the the shoes or the friction material with
hydraulic pressure. So you know what could go wrong. They
could have an electrical issue that's not allowing the toru converter,
clutch solenoid to apply and open up that hydraulic port.
But more likely there would be a secondary fault because
(05:19):
I firmly believe that most cars today have the ability
they can test every components seven different ways. So if
it was an electrical fault, it would likely come up
you know P zero seven forty A or one or
whatever electrical circuit issue you know, tor converter, clutch, solnoid
and so on. So you know it's a loss of
converter apply because it doesn't see the proper RPM drop
(05:43):
once the converter locks on, all right, So it's making
a determination that hey, it's it's it's a fault in
this portion. Um likely this is trans A trans shop
should really go through in diagnose do we have proper
electrical signal. There's some testing they can do with a
scan tool to apply the converter and look for the
proper response that type of thing. UM. As far as
(06:06):
finding a shop, who do you use for a general mechanic,
I'm the mechanic, um So, I was a mechanic for
many years, but I'm getting too old now to do
transmission work and stuff like that, and especially especially that
because you know, to pull the trans out of it,
I mean, converter means you got to pull out. This
(06:28):
one's got of course, all wheel drives, so it's got,
um you know, all the extra on the transmission to
pull out. So it's a lot of work to pull
that out of there. Well. And you know, let I
was just looking for a shop that you know. I
thought maybe you might have one that you knew, or
somebody that you could recommend that I called to find out.
Do you have a mechanic in the area. No, I really,
(06:48):
you know, it's everybody asks me this. I really have
nobody in the area in Arizona. UM. It's it's getting
harder and harder. I can tell you. I don't know
if you could get into it. UM. I a t
N dot net. I A t N dot net is
a mechanics website. I don't know what they do for
(07:09):
non members. I don't know if they would allow you
to go in and say, hey, I'm in Arizona, I'm
looking for a qualified transmission shop, and you can start
to read some of the reviews of guys there. You
may google search. Maybe you could google search UM I
A t N dot net Arizona members and see what
(07:29):
comes up that way. It stands for International Automotive Technicians
Network UM and they're they're they're a pretty qualified group
of guys. There's another website DIAG dot net d I
A G dot net there they're the new boy on
the block and they're expanding rapidly, uh, you know. And
I looked at some of these websites because if you
can read some of the information, if they allow you,
(07:52):
the consumer to go in there and read some of it,
you can tell who's on the ball and who's not, uh,
you know, and it kind of gives you a backside.
I'd look at at what goes on behind the scenes.
And then after that it's gonna be you've got to ask,
you know, who who has everybody been using. It's still
word of mouth. It's still a word of mouth business,
(08:12):
you know. But I will say I do want to
leave you with this before your run is I want
you to think about, you know, if you do pull
the trans eighteen years old, forty thousand miles, I don't
know that I would do just a converter. I'd probably
do a trans. I put in a whole new kid
if it has to be pulled, But do either a
(08:32):
rebuilt or have it rebuilt. Yeah, because the mileage is
you know, the labor to get there, the mileage to
you know, on it, it's you know, you might as
well something like that would cost. It depends on the unit.
I think that's the Bend's Trans. I believe that's and
don't hold me to this, but you're probably in the
neighborhood and New Jersey dollars around five grand as an
(08:54):
as an educated guess, it's been a while since I've
seen one, but I remember it being an expensive unit
to do, and parts for it are you know, they're
they're not cheap. And then it depends on what's bad
in size it just look at it. We probably got
another on the car total maybe and sodadeptis but you know,
five thousand doesn't go very far these days, well and
(09:17):
it doesn't. And then you've got to play the what
if game too. You know you let's say it's let's
say it's five grand. Okay, it's five grand. What if
the engine went bad six months from now, would you
put an engine in it? And so you've got to
you've got away that you know it's it's and I'm
not saying it will, but you know, if you've owned
(09:38):
this since noon, you've done all the oil changes in
the maintenance, and you know it. You know, at least
now you you and listen, maybe it's cheaper to put
an engine in it. Maybe it is, you know, at
least you know where you are. There's less electronics on it,
there's less technology on it. A replacement jeep of that
caliber today is easily sixty grand. You know, yeah, that's true.
(10:02):
That's one of the reasons we kept it. Because it's
a really nice car, you know, all all of a sudden,
it just starts to make sense. It's technology you can
deal with. And I'm sure there's not a lot of
rust on it, if any at all. It's Arizona. How
much snow do you guys get none? So you know, uh,
you know, the brake lines are probably still analyzed and
everything comes apart nice and easy as compared to the
(10:24):
most part. That's the case. You can take almost anything
off without a problem. You know, So maybe before you
decide to put a trans in it price an engine,
play what if? Sometimes you gotta play what if? And
you know, if an engine turns out to be Now,
now you've got to think in the next two years
that you put eleven five in that vehicle. Well, you
(10:45):
know what, maybe you would if the engine went bad
because it's sixty to replace it. Yeah, okay, well I
appreciate it, un thank you, sir. You take good care. Yeah,
it's it's always a numbers It's always a numbers game
with cars listening, and sometimes you gotta stop and think
about it. You know, I think about hybrids, right. I've
got a couple of emails people say, how come you'll
(11:06):
recommend an engine or a transmission in a hybrid but
you won't you or you earn in another car, but
you won't recommend putting a battery in a hybrid. I'll
tell you that answer. When the car Doctor returns, don't
go away. Welcome Mack. Want naming of the car doctor here.
(11:28):
Let's get on over to Mike in Michigan O six
Chevy Silverado. Mike Welcome to the Car Doctor. Sir, what's
going on? Mike? Hey, Mike, is Mike there? Mike, Yeah,
I can hear you. Greg. Yeah, we're supposed to be
a Mike there, but I guess we lost them. So
how are you? Greg? What's going on? Got a question?
(11:49):
Somebody told my girlfriend. You know, okay, so you've got
a vehicle, you've got the opener on your key chain
that when you get out of the vehicle you should
lock it on the arm of the vehicle because if
you locked the vehicle with using the opener on your
key chain, the thieves can get in it. I said
it didn't sound right to me, but I said I
(12:10):
knew who on what? On what basis are they gonna
know how to get in it? Because they can steal
the frequency because it's been it's been transmitted. Whoever told
us to her? Of course you know didn't tell that,
but you know she doesn't know a lot about cars
and any more need to do. I but I'm an
old service station owner from way back, so I love
your show, like a lot of memories and some I'm
(12:32):
not so fond memories. But I thought this was a
good question for you. I appreciate it. Brother. Um, so
let's let's let's play the game their way. So she
hits the button and the the frequency code gets transmitted
out and they capture it. Now they're in the car.
Now what Yeah, well, I mean, yeah that's true. Now
(12:53):
what uh you know, they don't they don't they don't
have the they don't have the digital code to start it.
They don't have a key or an electronic button. I
don't know that that would start the car necessarily, you know,
I like, are you saying that to get in the
car they would have to have some would they have
to have some sophisticated piece of equipment to capture that code? Oh? Yeah, absolutely.
(13:19):
In other words, this is one of those things. Oh yeah,
it might happen, but the chances are like about getting
struck by lightning. Well yeah, and my and my understanding
is everybody's got a different digital code. Think about it, right,
every think of all the cars that have remote is
a technical term, right, Think of all the cars that
have remote and how many people are standing in parking
(13:40):
lots using them, and you know every time that has
to be in My understanding is that's a revolving, evolving
digital code. So it's never the same every time it's
transmitted because it can't be you know, it's it's it's
and part of that is for the ant a theft
(14:00):
factor that we're talking about right here. So you know,
how important does that have to be? You know? Another
thing is why why would they want to get in
her cart? You know? So why why do they say?
What's in there that you know if if they wanted
to get into their car? It's called a rock through
(14:21):
the side window, you know if if I mean, you know,
if anybody can get in you know what, you don't
have anything high tech. One of the things that amazes
me is we still make cars with um theft proof radios.
Why you know, it's who's gonna steal it? Because the radio,
the radio is so specific and so exact that and
(14:45):
it's so buried in the dashboard. You know, it's just
to me, it's a to me, it's a testimony to
the stupidity of of man that we think that, you know,
somebody's gonna want the radio out of a two thousand
eleven Honda Odyssey. We're gonna put anti theft fault coding
on it. Who would perhaps perhaps the radio is more
best proof than the car. The car is well and
(15:06):
then and then you know what a later model car
now with tracking and GPS on it, Go ahead, take it.
What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do
with it? We can find it, you know. It's it's
you know, listen, if somebody wants it, they're gonna get it.
You know. I always say it. Locks are meant to
keep honest people out, all right, it's it's you know,
(15:29):
but from her security and her safety. Just so let
as she understands. I like I like doing the remote
you know, judging because it makes the horn go. Because
if any if anybody's standing around, it makes them aware. Yeah,
they locked the car. You know. It's and it sort
of attracts attention and it keeps her safe, which is
what we're all about. So there you go. All right,
all right, thank you sir, alrightyture you too, thank you
(15:53):
you too. God bless um. Yeah, let's let him take
the car. Who cares? By the way, speaking of staying healthy,
I gotta give kudos to Ford. I just have to
mention this. I was reading the article this morning and
I watched the video. There's a great video on Fox
News where they talk about Ford stepping up and making
the ventilators for the current situation. And I mean they're
(16:14):
going all out, they really are. They're they're like pulling
parts out of thin air and the assembly lines together,
and they're taking blocks of workers that were two weeks
ago building cars and now they're building ventilators. And you know,
when you look at the car companies every time there's
a crisis in this country, how Ford steps up to
(16:34):
the plate. Right. They did it with Willow Run, they're
doing it today. They were the only car company that
didn't take the bail out in two thousand and eight.
They you know what, Yeah, they were a car company,
and everybody's got their beef about them, I'm sure, but
you know what, they're doing the right thing and they're
not waiting to be told. They're doing it on their own.
So kudos to Ford for that. We uh, we love
(16:54):
you for that, man. That's that's great. Um. By the way,
somebody just sent me an email, Hey, Ron, is there
a different style module other than a single loop design.
I'll tell you what. I'll read the next chapter in
the book. The diagram on the next page shows a
GM Class two network and loop configuration. It takes a
bit of tracing to figure it out. Starting its three
traced through the modules and the following sequence. Listen to
(17:15):
the modules that are in the sequence. In just an
old school GM Class two network, the road sends suspension module,
the amplifier, the remote control function actuator, the body controller,
the sensing diagnostic module which is air bag, the memory
seat module, and the radio. Now what do all those
things have in common? Nothing, really except that they all
(17:36):
have to talk to one another, which makes it absolutely
necessary that they be there and part of the network.
So you notice how there's a radio module tied in
with the remote control, the body module, the air bag
module in the memory seats. Now why is that? Probably
because everything has to talk to one another. When you
sit in the car, it has to know you're there.
(17:59):
It's gonna know. Oh gee, Ron was sitting in this
card last time he was in, he was listening to
the station on the radio. We'll give him that preset back,
or maybe we've got to adjust the seat. That's where
the body control modules involved in it too. Everything is interconnected.
So going back to the call previous, our previous shows
where we want to change the radio, I don't know
you're gonna necessarily do it. Everything's gonna be too involved today.
(18:21):
Welcome to networking. I'm running any in the car, doctor,
We're gonna pull over and take a fause. I'll go
back right after this. Don't go win for the best
(18:50):
in car advice, give Ron a call eight five five
five zero nine nine zero zero. Now back to Ron. Okay,
let's do a quick piece of email. Hey ron On,
in these quarantine times, what can we do for maintenance
while we're stuck at home? And also, can you talk
a little bit about how long should we let our
cars sit while we're waiting to go back to work?
(19:10):
And this comes to us from Fred and Virginia. Um,
you know Fred, great questions, and yeah, I guess it's
it's an issue now right. We either either you can't
get to your mechanic because you're not allowed out on
the road, or you can get out on the road,
but your mechanics not there because he's been quarantined. So
what can you do? What are some of the basics
you can do? Fair question, fair point. Um, We've got
(19:32):
to think that the cars are sitting now, right, I
know at our house, and I'm gonna go back to
work this week because New Jersey they deemed us essential.
And I've got a couple of things that I'm going
to control how they get into the shop. And we've
got a couple of cars we're gonna work on this
week and get back into it a little bit. But
you know, for ten days, nothing moved. So I went
out there after day five and I went for a
(19:54):
little ride. I you know, listen, I wanted to get
out of the house anyway. Uh. You know, obviously there's
plenty of gasoline or ound, which is a whole another story.
You know what the price of gasoline, holy account. But
you know you went out and and and it's important
not to make this just a one minute trip down
the block. I don't think idling the car is the
right thing to do, you know, because it's it's a
different it's a different sort of warm up. It's gonna
(20:16):
you're gonna run at seven eight minutes and just let
it sit. Um. As a matter of fact, one of
the cars I have to look at this week is
for a customer. The car sat ten days and now
she went out to the highway this morning. As a
matter of fact, she sent me a text and she
told me that when she steps on the brake, she's
getting a shake which she didn't have before. And I'm
thinking the rotors, the breake rotors have rusted and they're
(20:39):
creating an issue for her. So driving the car every
couple of days, will you know, prevent rotors from rusting tires,
you know, so they don't get flat spots and you
know they can develop quickly. And you know, obviously charging
the battery and you know, getting the juices flowing. Listen,
if you sat in bed for ten days, what would
you be like? Right? You kind of gotta get your
juices flowing, the joy to moving. You gotta get everything lubricated,
(21:02):
and it's important. So I think taking the car out
after four or five days for a rod, nice and
easy fifteen twenty minutes, half hour. It's not like we're
gonna rush to go anywhere. And by the way, I've
I've got to tell you that, um uh it really
is great getting out on the roads because there's no
cars out there. Uh, So that's important. What can you
do for maintenance? Uh, fuel system cleaner, you know, especially
(21:25):
if it's gonna sit long term, right, gasoline loses its
pop anywhere from thirty to forty five days after it's installed.
And then you've got to think about you know, moisture ethanol.
You've got to think about carbon deposits forming. Uh. You know,
a can of Berryman's hest Uh during the course of
this is a great thing to do. Uh, maintain the
fuel system. Uh. You know, maybe not something you're gonna add,
(21:48):
but something to have in the glove box. And I've
said this before, bottle of caseal cooling system sealer. To
have that in the glove compartment for that emergency when
you do take it out and your mechanics not around
and maybe it's got a cooling system leaking. You've got
to get home. Uh. You know, filters, make sure they're
a good quality filter, air cabin wicks. Uh. You know,
I want to point out that you've got an O'Reilly
Oota Parts near you. You can get curb side drop
(22:11):
off and pick up hands free or you know, you know,
clean pick up drop off. They've arranged you know, no contact,
that's the word I'm looking for. Uh. So you can
call your local Rallyota parts. You can order online at
orillyoto dot com and then get your filters there. So
and then tire pressure. You know, hopefully you've got a
way at home to add you know, air to your car,
uh tires and you know do that as well. So
(22:33):
just just simple things. Listen, we're gonna get through this.
It's gonna take some time. Uh, you know, the is're
gonna be another four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, We
don't know. It'll be somewhere in that proximity, we hope.
But we all have to do the right thing. Stay
at home, stay away from each other, and take care
of the car so it's ready because when we come back,
what you're gonna need it because you're gonna be real busy.
There's gonna be a lot to do. Let's get over
(22:54):
the phone. Let's go over to Russell in Virginia and
some questions about maintenance. Russell. Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help? Yes? Uh. First of all, I'm
still glad I found Joel Uh. I used to listen
to another car guys uh on another radio station, and
I was flipping through the A M channels and I
found you a couple of weeks ago. And I'm so
happy because I've always done my own maintenance on my cars.
(23:17):
My daddy raised me to change oil religiously. Uh, you
change out spart clothes and I it's actually passed on
to me, and I enjoy doing it. It's so it's
a hobby I actually enjoy doing. And Uh, yeah exactly.
And people ask me. I retired two months ago, and
the guys that work always used to say, Russell, you're
(23:39):
getting ready to retire. Why do you do that? I said,
because I can. Every day. Every day is Saturday, right Russell,
there you go. Um, and today's a good day down
here in Chesapeake, as son as that. And I pulled
my car out of the garage. It's a two thousand
nine Volkswagen c C. I've done a lot of bolts
on performance to it with the stage Age two kit. Um,
(24:01):
it's a six it's a six speed, and uh, it's
a two thousand nine and I just broke twenty four
thousand miles on it. So the car runs like a
chap it really does. Uh. And it's incredible what people
can do with factory cars. You can bolt on performance
like cold air, intakes, turbo exhaust. I've got them running
(24:22):
a three and a half inch stain let's exhaust all
the way from the turbo out to the back. I've
got full coil over suspension. The car runs like a
champ and I love it. And and think about all
the the physics and the math and everything you've learned
from working on that car, right Russell, Yes, I mean
(24:43):
I've I've got Uh. I've improved the sway bars. I
went with larger sway bars, which improves the cornering. And
I don't want people to think I'm some kind of
maniac out there, you know, driving recklessly. But it is
such a joy. I can refer to myself as a
spirited driver. Uh you know it know many people go ahead.
I was gonna say. It gives you a sense of
(25:03):
pride to be able to do what you're doing right,
and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. And that's why, uh,
you know, I was talking in a previous hour about
you know, my first car and what cars did for me.
And I think it would be so great if the
kids today could find a way, if we could get
them more involved with cars and working on working with
their hands and you know, working on projects. You know,
(25:25):
it's it's it's it's it's a human experience and it's
not where something has just handed to you and say here,
you've created this, You've made this, and now you care
for it. And it teaches you. It teaches you about
life in a lot of ways. Uh. Well, I think
it builds character and discipline to maintain something you own.
(25:46):
Um real quick, Like, I don't mean to keep you
too long because uh uh, like I said, I'll retired.
A couple of months ago, I was speaking to a
guy at work before I retired, and he told me
he was talking to a friend of his one day
and Houston as like mid forties, almost fifties. He got
a phone call and he said, man, I gotta leave.
He goes, well, where are you going? He goes, my
son's got a flat time, I gotta go change it.
His son was twenty one years old and he had
(26:08):
to leave it to go change the tire. If that
had been me, my dad, he said, you'll sit there
to you learn how to change well, and that's you know, listen,
and that's and that's a huge part of it, because
you've got to know how to change a flat. Well.
You know what we raised. We raised three great girls
and they're all grown young women now, and they all
had to change a flat because the day they got
their license, they came in, Hey, I got my license,
(26:29):
I passed my test, and they came back in five
minutes later, Dad, I got a flat. Wow, how did
that happen? And uh, you know because when mom had
him out, Dad made sure the car had a flat
because then we sat down and we learned how to
change a flat in the driveway, each and every one
of them, whether they remember now, but you know, and
that's part of it, because where's the emergency? And that's
you know what. One of the things I learned all
(26:51):
right early on, and I learned this from my dad
before he passed, was you gotta be a good scout.
You gotta be prepared. You don't know when you're gonna
need it. If if if you could dick when the
emergency was gonna happen, you wouldn't call it an emergency.
He'd call it scheduled. And uh, I never forgot that
real quick, Russell. You're in Chesapeake, Virginia, in the Chesapeake
Bay area. They still got that bridge over there across
(27:14):
the bay. Yes, I hate that bridge. I really don't
that that bridge scares the heck out of me. So
people go through the tunnels and they slow down. I
just don't understand it. I think they have to do
a multimillion dollar study. Why people slow down in the
tunnels because they're to get back up on the bridge
in the water. Uh. Everybody I talked, they says it's
(27:35):
because they're afraid. And I said, well, you would think
they'd staid up. So they right. Well, but that, I'll
tell you what an all seriousness. That is a marvel
of modern engineering, twenty six miles across. The thing that
bugs me is when I'm in the middle. I'm thirteen
miles out in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. I
think about that all the time. So Russell, I enjoyed
the call, sir you Uh, you take good care of
(27:55):
You're welcome, you know, thank you for being there force
and we're glad to be here to help you. You
call any time, like everybody else, I'm running, any of
the card actor will pull over and take a pause.
I'll be back right after this. Welcome back. When the
(28:17):
name of the card octorate by five zo in the
car a phone number. Let's go over David and Iowa, David,
how are you today? My brother? Hey, I'm doing great wrong.
How you doing good, sir? What's going on? Well, I
tell you what, I got some encouragement for everybody with
all this. Uh, you know, if you've got you have
to go with a positives attitude. If you're gonna try
(28:38):
to fix the car, you know you can't give up
and u with the epidemic. Then we've got going on.
I want to tell everybody that we've got tewing the
greatest people out there, scientist, biologists and the whole works.
They're working their Klien's office, a protein as rougher, maybe
a little even harder than you do. But anyway, I
want to give them some encouragement. We're gonna find a
(28:59):
way to get this thing well wiped out. Okay, But
it's up to the individuals to keep a positive attitude.
If you don't go to if you've got a problem,
you have to keep positive. Uh. Every time you get
a negative feeling, you either prow a wrench down or
you give up a kicking a car or whatever. It's
the same thing with your health. If you have a
(29:20):
positive attitude and a hope that this thing will be
cleared up, which they are working on. Believe me, I've
got some insight information from people, but some of the
top people working on this thing, and uh, it's we're
gonna whip it. Okay, it's it's on its way out. So, uh,
fear is a killer, all right. So I want everybody
(29:42):
to get an attitude if they have any kind of
a faith in whatever supervenient or whatever prayer helps, Uh,
good attitude if you don't. And uh, I just wanted
to pass that to all your listeners, just to hang
in there, do what we're supposed to do, and keep
a kicked your chain up. My grandfather say, so, you know,
(30:03):
I had about seventy six years of the experience with
hardships and stuff, and every time I've ever wanted something,
that kept a good attitude about it and it came
to pass. So you know what, David, David, You're so
you're so spot on, you know what. You know what
I've learned and and and maybe maybe this will kind
of put it in perspective for some people. Uh you know, saw,
(30:24):
I'm the voice on the radio, and I guess I'm this,
you know, I'm this B list celebrity. I just I
don't think of myself as that. I'm just this mechanic
that got lucky with the radio show. You know, well,
you know, one of the what thank you. You know,
one of the things I've learned is how great my
parents were as a result of this coronavirus thing. Um.
You know, it's real easy to watch World War two
(30:47):
movies and read books and and here the history, you know,
oral history from those that lived it. Because they lived it,
we know the answer, We know who won the war.
We don't know how this is going to pan out.
I know how it's going to pan out, but we
don't know when you know, there's we we haven't gotten
that final chapter yet. And our parents, that generation just
(31:09):
slugged through that every day, all right. I mean the
first year of the war forty one, forty two and
into the middle of forty three, it wasn't great news.
It wasn't until early forty three when the war turned around.
They went through twelve eighteen months of g or we're
gonna be you know, are we gonna be overrun? You
(31:29):
know what's gonna happen and how will it happen? And
so on. So you're right, we are going to fix
this because this is just like every other problem in life.
You know, it's it's it's we were We've got people
working on it. We're we're aware of it, and we
will resolve it. Um. You know, I guess the best
thing I can leave it as is, let's just all
be human, all right. Um. You know, I was at
(31:52):
the supermarket two weeks ago. I had a shopping card
off stuff, just you know, just doing our normal shopping,
and there was somebody trying to get through and they
had like four items and they were behind me, and
I let them go ahead. I'm not saying that looking
for a pet on the back, but I just let
them go ahead because and the guy looked at me
and I said, brother, we're all going to the same
place a hundred years from now. Anyway, it doesn't matter,
(32:13):
you know, go get you don't get done what you
gotta get done. And I think right now the most
important thing is that just help each other and and maintain,
like you say, a positive attitude. And it's gonna pass
real quick, and it's gonna we're gonna wake up and go, wow,
we beat it, and uh look at us. You know
we did the job. So David, you keep calling, all right,
and you stay safe out there in Iowa. And I
(32:35):
love your attitude. Man, you're you're my hero. So you
keep doing it what you're doing it zoo zero running
any of the Car Doctor. We're back right after this.
It's not a pitchy. She was there. She woke up
and me by the hand, then with hey, let's as
(33:03):
we wind it down this hour, welcome back. You know,
I got to dedicate this this weekend show the mom.
You know, Mom's gone now, and uh, you know I
didn't talk about that during the first two hours here,
and uh, you know, it really wouldn't be a Car
Doctor radio show without mom. You know, my dad was gone.
She basically never came out in the garage. She knew
I was working on cars. I don't think she knew
(33:25):
really what I was doing out there. She just knew
I was out there. And she always told me, she said,
you know, because I asked her, because I kind of
turned the uh you know, family garage into a repair
shops sort of looking environment. And you know, Mom, you know,
you never really said anything to me, and she said,
I didn't have to. She said, you know what, that
was a mother's gift to a son because I knew
(33:45):
you were out there. I knew you were safe. I
knew you were trying to learn, and I was willing
to put up with all the noises and smells and
sights and sounds, and you know some of the other
things that when you figure out how to make the
car go fast and do a burnout, you know, maybe
you shouldn't do it in the driveway. But that's thanks mom. Um.
You know that's some of the things you learn as
a kid growing up. But um, you know, it's been
(34:06):
a heck of a ride. It's fift hundred shows. I
never thought i'd get here. I remember doing the first show, uh,
you know, upon w F A s and white planes
and thinking to myself, well, this can't last long. How
long could this take? You know, we'll be out of
here in three weeks. And here we are twenty eight
years later. Um, And you know, I've got to give
credit to what it is we're talking about. We're talking
(34:27):
about cars, cars, just you know what to me? Cars
or my piano. I look at some people look at
the piano and they just see a pile of wood
and some white keys and some black keys. And you know,
it blows my mind how some people can sit down
in front of a piano with no music and no
no practice, and they can bang out notes and they
can make it. You know, they can make it, make music. Um,
(34:48):
and I guess that's a gift. And you know, I
I look at some of the guys in this industry.
They can sit down in front of a car and
not read about anything and just pick up a wrench
and start working on something. And you know, to me,
that's a gift. And that's what I always strive to be.
And it really has been an honor. A lot of
people say that, but I really truly mean it. It
has been an honor to be here for you each
(35:09):
and every time. He's past twenty eight years and here's
to the next and the next shows. Because I love
what I do and I love that I get to
talk to each and every one of you each and
every week. And uh, you know what, you just you
keep the questions coming, folks. I'll be here. I'm not
going anywhere until the next time I'm rounding any in
the car doctor reminding you each and every time. Good
(35:29):
mechanics aren't expensive, They're priceless. Let's see it.
Ron Ananian, do you know they've seen this before? The
sergeant came out. He had this stick in his belt
that specially treated at the top of the dashboard three
times and he says, now you're no longer being TRACKEDI
disabled the object. I was so grateful. I got in
the car. I could tell right away it was fixed.
You're the best mechanic. I know you're always on the
(00:35):
car Doctor. Would you buy rod that's already built? I've
been through it both ways. I'd buy something if I
could find the right vehicle. I'd buy something, don't if
I could afford it. Welcome to the radio home of
Ron and Nanian the Car Doctor, since this is where
car owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion
(00:56):
on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you a signal,
pick up the phone and call in the garage to
orders are open, But I am here to take your
calls at and now running. Okay, UM, gotta say it
(01:16):
like this. I'm reading out of a book on computer networking.
Listen to what Listen to the description, and I want
to do this real quick before we go to the phone.
Network modules are often connected in a series where the
ends are connected as well. In this way, each module
is situated in the middle of the flow of information.
This forms a loop of modules. When a message is generated,
(01:39):
it is sent out in both directions, traveling through every
module on network. Each module receives the message from both
directions simultaneously, which makes the series network very stable. Is
that about cars or is that about computer networks in
the office? It's about cars. This is out of the book.
That is out of the class with I took two
(02:00):
months ago. We're doing network communications strategies. Think about what
they're saying. They're they're talking about modules and series connections
and and data packets and messages being generated. Just like
that computer network at the office or maybe the one
in your house. It's it really is a giant computer.
It's just they put four wheels and an engine on
(02:20):
it and that's what's hauling you around these days. So
you know, we had a call last hour, and they
come in from time to time about I want to
change out the radio. I want to you know, I
want to change the electronic cluster. I want to move
things around. Everything's got a module now and everything is
interconnected into everything else. It's not as simple as you know,
plug and play and drop in, drop out and and
(02:43):
make the car work that way. So I just thought,
I give you and that was the simplest definition of
it I could find, because I wanted you to get
some idea of what this was that we're trying to
deal with when we're trying to fix cars today. So
they really are a computer networks. Helldo welcome Ron and
any of the car doctor here at zero. A lot
going on as we celebrate Dred Show this weekend, and
(03:05):
I'm glad to have you here. Let's let's go to
line too and talk to I'm not sure who that is,
but I know it's from Arizona with the P zero
seven forty and the jeep. Correct, who is this? Ah?
This is Dean? Hey, Dean, how are you? I knew
that I saw it and then it glimps off my screen?
So what's going on with this jeep? We got check
engine light? Uh, take the code off. It's a zero
(03:27):
seven hundred, of course, but it's when I did the
code scanner it comes up P zero seven four zero.
How many miles were on it? And this is what
the four point seven leader four point seven leader with
n in the serial number is all wheel drive RFE transmission.
(03:53):
This is the This is the Mercedes version of a
Jeep as it were back in the day when Dame
Larond it back in the day year. So your question
to me is what's broke or what do you want
to do with this? I checked the oil level of
the fluid levels good. It was changed about thirty thousand
miles ago. It's still pretty clean, nut burnt black um.
(04:16):
But of course I've got this and I can't get
rid of it. It runs good, and it shifts. It
seems to shift fine. So I was looking mainly for
a transmission shop that you might recommend in the area. Yeah,
I don't know anyone Arizona way, but let me let
me let me tell you what's likely going on here.
I can tell you why. That's seven forty sets, all right?
(04:37):
Did you you ever you ever have a mini bike
as a kid or something with a centrifical clutch. So
remember how that centrifical clutch work the faster when it
got to a certain speed, and then the drum was
locked in place by the shoes inside of the clutch itself,
and that's what made the minibike move and that's that's
(04:58):
that's that's exactly like the torque convert or, except they
apply the the the shoes or the friction material with
hydraulic pressure. So you know what could go wrong. They
could have an electrical issue that's not allowing the toru converter,
clutch solenoid to apply and open up that hydraulic port.
But more likely there would be a secondary fault because
(05:19):
I firmly believe that most cars today have the ability
they can test every components seven different ways. So if
it was an electrical fault, it would likely come up
you know P zero seven forty A or one or
whatever electrical circuit issue you know, tor converter, clutch, solnoid
and so on. So you know it's a loss of
converter apply because it doesn't see the proper RPM drop
(05:43):
once the converter locks on, all right, So it's making
a determination that hey, it's it's it's a fault in
this portion. Um likely this is trans A trans shop
should really go through in diagnose do we have proper
electrical signal. There's some testing they can do with a
scan tool to apply the converter and look for the
proper response that type of thing. UM. As far as
(06:06):
finding a shop, who do you use for a general mechanic,
I'm the mechanic, um So, I was a mechanic for
many years, but I'm getting too old now to do
transmission work and stuff like that, and especially especially that
because you know, to pull the trans out of it,
I mean, converter means you got to pull out. This
(06:28):
one's got of course, all wheel drives, so it's got,
um you know, all the extra on the transmission to
pull out. So it's a lot of work to pull
that out of there. Well. And you know, let I
was just looking for a shop that you know. I
thought maybe you might have one that you knew, or
somebody that you could recommend that I called to find out.
Do you have a mechanic in the area. No, I really,
(06:48):
you know, it's everybody asks me this. I really have
nobody in the area in Arizona. UM. It's it's getting
harder and harder. I can tell you. I don't know
if you could get into it. UM. I a t
N dot net. I A t N dot net is
a mechanics website. I don't know what they do for
(07:09):
non members. I don't know if they would allow you
to go in and say, hey, I'm in Arizona, I'm
looking for a qualified transmission shop, and you can start
to read some of the reviews of guys there. You
may google search. Maybe you could google search UM I
A t N dot net Arizona members and see what
(07:29):
comes up that way. It stands for International Automotive Technicians
Network UM and they're they're they're a pretty qualified group
of guys. There's another website DIAG dot net d I
A G dot net there they're the new boy on
the block and they're expanding rapidly, uh, you know. And
I looked at some of these websites because if you
can read some of the information, if they allow you,
(07:52):
the consumer to go in there and read some of it,
you can tell who's on the ball and who's not, uh,
you know, and it kind of gives you a backside.
I'd look at at what goes on behind the scenes.
And then after that it's gonna be you've got to ask,
you know, who who has everybody been using. It's still
word of mouth. It's still a word of mouth business,
(08:12):
you know. But I will say I do want to
leave you with this before your run is I want
you to think about, you know, if you do pull
the trans eighteen years old, forty thousand miles, I don't
know that I would do just a converter. I'd probably
do a trans. I put in a whole new kid
if it has to be pulled, But do either a
(08:32):
rebuilt or have it rebuilt. Yeah, because the mileage is
you know, the labor to get there, the mileage to
you know, on it, it's you know, you might as
well something like that would cost. It depends on the unit.
I think that's the Bend's Trans. I believe that's and
don't hold me to this, but you're probably in the
neighborhood and New Jersey dollars around five grand as an
(08:54):
as an educated guess, it's been a while since I've
seen one, but I remember it being an expensive unit
to do, and parts for it are you know, they're
they're not cheap. And then it depends on what's bad
in size it just look at it. We probably got
another on the car total maybe and sodadeptis but you know,
five thousand doesn't go very far these days, well and
(09:17):
it doesn't. And then you've got to play the what
if game too. You know you let's say it's let's
say it's five grand. Okay, it's five grand. What if
the engine went bad six months from now, would you
put an engine in it? And so you've got to
you've got away that you know it's it's and I'm
not saying it will, but you know, if you've owned
(09:38):
this since noon, you've done all the oil changes in
the maintenance, and you know it. You know, at least
now you you and listen, maybe it's cheaper to put
an engine in it. Maybe it is, you know, at
least you know where you are. There's less electronics on it,
there's less technology on it. A replacement jeep of that
caliber today is easily sixty grand. You know, yeah, that's true.
(10:02):
That's one of the reasons we kept it. Because it's
a really nice car, you know, all all of a sudden,
it just starts to make sense. It's technology you can
deal with. And I'm sure there's not a lot of
rust on it, if any at all. It's Arizona. How
much snow do you guys get none? So you know, uh,
you know, the brake lines are probably still analyzed and
everything comes apart nice and easy as compared to the
(10:24):
most part. That's the case. You can take almost anything
off without a problem. You know, So maybe before you
decide to put a trans in it price an engine,
play what if? Sometimes you gotta play what if? And
you know, if an engine turns out to be Now,
now you've got to think in the next two years
that you put eleven five in that vehicle. Well, you
(10:45):
know what, maybe you would if the engine went bad
because it's sixty to replace it. Yeah, okay, well I
appreciate it, un thank you, sir. You take good care. Yeah,
it's it's always a numbers It's always a numbers game
with cars listening, and sometimes you gotta stop and think
about it. You know, I think about hybrids, right. I've
got a couple of emails people say, how come you'll
(11:06):
recommend an engine or a transmission in a hybrid but
you won't you or you earn in another car, but
you won't recommend putting a battery in a hybrid. I'll
tell you that answer. When the car Doctor returns, don't
go away. Welcome Mack. Want naming of the car doctor here.
(11:28):
Let's get on over to Mike in Michigan O six
Chevy Silverado. Mike Welcome to the Car Doctor. Sir, what's
going on? Mike? Hey, Mike, is Mike there? Mike, Yeah,
I can hear you. Greg. Yeah, we're supposed to be
a Mike there, but I guess we lost them. So
how are you? Greg? What's going on? Got a question?
(11:49):
Somebody told my girlfriend. You know, okay, so you've got
a vehicle, you've got the opener on your key chain
that when you get out of the vehicle you should
lock it on the arm of the vehicle because if
you locked the vehicle with using the opener on your
key chain, the thieves can get in it. I said
it didn't sound right to me, but I said I
(12:10):
knew who on what? On what basis are they gonna
know how to get in it? Because they can steal
the frequency because it's been it's been transmitted. Whoever told
us to her? Of course you know didn't tell that,
but you know she doesn't know a lot about cars
and any more need to do. I but I'm an
old service station owner from way back, so I love
your show, like a lot of memories and some I'm
(12:32):
not so fond memories. But I thought this was a
good question for you. I appreciate it. Brother. Um, so
let's let's let's play the game their way. So she
hits the button and the the frequency code gets transmitted
out and they capture it. Now they're in the car.
Now what Yeah, well, I mean, yeah that's true. Now
(12:53):
what uh you know, they don't they don't they don't
have the they don't have the digital code to start it.
They don't have a key or an electronic button. I
don't know that that would start the car necessarily, you know,
I like, are you saying that to get in the
car they would have to have some would they have
to have some sophisticated piece of equipment to capture that code? Oh? Yeah, absolutely.
(13:19):
In other words, this is one of those things. Oh yeah,
it might happen, but the chances are like about getting
struck by lightning. Well yeah, and my and my understanding
is everybody's got a different digital code. Think about it, right,
every think of all the cars that have remote is
a technical term, right, Think of all the cars that
have remote and how many people are standing in parking
(13:40):
lots using them, and you know every time that has
to be in My understanding is that's a revolving, evolving
digital code. So it's never the same every time it's
transmitted because it can't be you know, it's it's it's
and part of that is for the ant a theft
(14:00):
factor that we're talking about right here. So you know,
how important does that have to be? You know? Another
thing is why why would they want to get in
her cart? You know? So why why do they say?
What's in there that you know if if they wanted
to get into their car? It's called a rock through
(14:21):
the side window, you know if if I mean, you know,
if anybody can get in you know what, you don't
have anything high tech. One of the things that amazes
me is we still make cars with um theft proof radios.
Why you know, it's who's gonna steal it? Because the radio,
the radio is so specific and so exact that and
(14:45):
it's so buried in the dashboard. You know, it's just
to me, it's a to me, it's a testimony to
the stupidity of of man that we think that, you know,
somebody's gonna want the radio out of a two thousand
eleven Honda Odyssey. We're gonna put anti theft fault coding
on it. Who would perhaps perhaps the radio is more
best proof than the car. The car is well and
(15:06):
then and then you know what a later model car
now with tracking and GPS on it, Go ahead, take it.
What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do
with it? We can find it, you know. It's it's
you know, listen, if somebody wants it, they're gonna get it.
You know. I always say it. Locks are meant to
keep honest people out, all right, it's it's you know,
(15:29):
but from her security and her safety. Just so let
as she understands. I like I like doing the remote
you know, judging because it makes the horn go. Because
if any if anybody's standing around, it makes them aware. Yeah,
they locked the car. You know. It's and it sort
of attracts attention and it keeps her safe, which is
what we're all about. So there you go. All right,
all right, thank you sir, alrightyture you too, thank you
(15:53):
you too. God bless um. Yeah, let's let him take
the car. Who cares? By the way, speaking of staying healthy,
I gotta give kudos to Ford. I just have to
mention this. I was reading the article this morning and
I watched the video. There's a great video on Fox
News where they talk about Ford stepping up and making
the ventilators for the current situation. And I mean they're
(16:14):
going all out, they really are. They're they're like pulling
parts out of thin air and the assembly lines together,
and they're taking blocks of workers that were two weeks
ago building cars and now they're building ventilators. And you know,
when you look at the car companies every time there's
a crisis in this country, how Ford steps up to
(16:34):
the plate. Right. They did it with Willow Run, they're
doing it today. They were the only car company that
didn't take the bail out in two thousand and eight.
They you know what, Yeah, they were a car company,
and everybody's got their beef about them, I'm sure, but
you know what, they're doing the right thing and they're
not waiting to be told. They're doing it on their own.
So kudos to Ford for that. We uh, we love
(16:54):
you for that, man. That's that's great. Um. By the way,
somebody just sent me an email, Hey, Ron, is there
a different style module other than a single loop design.
I'll tell you what. I'll read the next chapter in
the book. The diagram on the next page shows a
GM Class two network and loop configuration. It takes a
bit of tracing to figure it out. Starting its three
traced through the modules and the following sequence. Listen to
(17:15):
the modules that are in the sequence. In just an
old school GM Class two network, the road sends suspension module,
the amplifier, the remote control function actuator, the body controller,
the sensing diagnostic module which is air bag, the memory
seat module, and the radio. Now what do all those
things have in common? Nothing, really except that they all
(17:36):
have to talk to one another, which makes it absolutely
necessary that they be there and part of the network.
So you notice how there's a radio module tied in
with the remote control, the body module, the air bag
module in the memory seats. Now why is that? Probably
because everything has to talk to one another. When you
sit in the car, it has to know you're there.
(17:59):
It's gonna know. Oh gee, Ron was sitting in this
card last time he was in, he was listening to
the station on the radio. We'll give him that preset back,
or maybe we've got to adjust the seat. That's where
the body control modules involved in it too. Everything is interconnected.
So going back to the call previous, our previous shows
where we want to change the radio, I don't know
you're gonna necessarily do it. Everything's gonna be too involved today.
(18:21):
Welcome to networking. I'm running any in the car, doctor,
We're gonna pull over and take a fause. I'll go
back right after this. Don't go win for the best
(18:50):
in car advice, give Ron a call eight five five
five zero nine nine zero zero. Now back to Ron. Okay,
let's do a quick piece of email. Hey ron On,
in these quarantine times, what can we do for maintenance
while we're stuck at home? And also, can you talk
a little bit about how long should we let our
cars sit while we're waiting to go back to work?
(19:10):
And this comes to us from Fred and Virginia. Um,
you know Fred, great questions, and yeah, I guess it's
it's an issue now right. We either either you can't
get to your mechanic because you're not allowed out on
the road, or you can get out on the road,
but your mechanics not there because he's been quarantined. So
what can you do? What are some of the basics
you can do? Fair question, fair point. Um, We've got
(19:32):
to think that the cars are sitting now, right, I
know at our house, and I'm gonna go back to
work this week because New Jersey they deemed us essential.
And I've got a couple of things that I'm going
to control how they get into the shop. And we've
got a couple of cars we're gonna work on this
week and get back into it a little bit. But
you know, for ten days, nothing moved. So I went
out there after day five and I went for a
(19:54):
little ride. I you know, listen, I wanted to get
out of the house anyway. Uh. You know, obviously there's
plenty of gasoline or ound, which is a whole another story.
You know what the price of gasoline, holy account. But
you know you went out and and and it's important
not to make this just a one minute trip down
the block. I don't think idling the car is the
right thing to do, you know, because it's it's a
different it's a different sort of warm up. It's gonna
(20:16):
you're gonna run at seven eight minutes and just let
it sit. Um. As a matter of fact, one of
the cars I have to look at this week is
for a customer. The car sat ten days and now
she went out to the highway this morning. As a
matter of fact, she sent me a text and she
told me that when she steps on the brake, she's
getting a shake which she didn't have before. And I'm
thinking the rotors, the breake rotors have rusted and they're
(20:39):
creating an issue for her. So driving the car every
couple of days, will you know, prevent rotors from rusting tires,
you know, so they don't get flat spots and you
know they can develop quickly. And you know, obviously charging
the battery and you know, getting the juices flowing. Listen,
if you sat in bed for ten days, what would
you be like? Right? You kind of gotta get your
juices flowing, the joy to moving. You gotta get everything lubricated,
(21:02):
and it's important. So I think taking the car out
after four or five days for a rod, nice and
easy fifteen twenty minutes, half hour. It's not like we're
gonna rush to go anywhere. And by the way, I've
I've got to tell you that, um uh it really
is great getting out on the roads because there's no
cars out there. Uh, So that's important. What can you
do for maintenance? Uh, fuel system cleaner, you know, especially
(21:25):
if it's gonna sit long term, right, gasoline loses its
pop anywhere from thirty to forty five days after it's installed.
And then you've got to think about you know, moisture ethanol.
You've got to think about carbon deposits forming. Uh. You know,
a can of Berryman's hest Uh during the course of
this is a great thing to do. Uh, maintain the
fuel system. Uh. You know, maybe not something you're gonna add,
(21:48):
but something to have in the glove box. And I've
said this before, bottle of caseal cooling system sealer. To
have that in the glove compartment for that emergency when
you do take it out and your mechanics not around
and maybe it's got a cooling system leaking. You've got
to get home. Uh. You know, filters, make sure they're
a good quality filter, air cabin wicks. Uh. You know,
I want to point out that you've got an O'Reilly
Oota Parts near you. You can get curb side drop
(22:11):
off and pick up hands free or you know, you know,
clean pick up drop off. They've arranged you know, no contact,
that's the word I'm looking for. Uh. So you can
call your local Rallyota parts. You can order online at
orillyoto dot com and then get your filters there. So
and then tire pressure. You know, hopefully you've got a
way at home to add you know, air to your car,
uh tires and you know do that as well. So
(22:33):
just just simple things. Listen, we're gonna get through this.
It's gonna take some time. Uh, you know, the is're
gonna be another four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, We
don't know. It'll be somewhere in that proximity, we hope.
But we all have to do the right thing. Stay
at home, stay away from each other, and take care
of the car so it's ready because when we come back,
what you're gonna need it because you're gonna be real busy.
There's gonna be a lot to do. Let's get over
(22:54):
the phone. Let's go over to Russell in Virginia and
some questions about maintenance. Russell. Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help? Yes? Uh. First of all, I'm
still glad I found Joel Uh. I used to listen
to another car guys uh on another radio station, and
I was flipping through the A M channels and I
found you a couple of weeks ago. And I'm so
happy because I've always done my own maintenance on my cars.
(23:17):
My daddy raised me to change oil religiously. Uh, you
change out spart clothes and I it's actually passed on
to me, and I enjoy doing it. It's so it's
a hobby I actually enjoy doing. And Uh, yeah exactly.
And people ask me. I retired two months ago, and
the guys that work always used to say, Russell, you're
(23:39):
getting ready to retire. Why do you do that? I said,
because I can. Every day. Every day is Saturday, right Russell,
there you go. Um, and today's a good day down
here in Chesapeake, as son as that. And I pulled
my car out of the garage. It's a two thousand
nine Volkswagen c C. I've done a lot of bolts
on performance to it with the stage Age two kit. Um,
(24:01):
it's a six it's a six speed, and uh, it's
a two thousand nine and I just broke twenty four
thousand miles on it. So the car runs like a
chap it really does. Uh. And it's incredible what people
can do with factory cars. You can bolt on performance
like cold air, intakes, turbo exhaust. I've got them running
(24:22):
a three and a half inch stain let's exhaust all
the way from the turbo out to the back. I've
got full coil over suspension. The car runs like a
champ and I love it. And and think about all
the the physics and the math and everything you've learned
from working on that car, right Russell, Yes, I mean
(24:43):
I've I've got Uh. I've improved the sway bars. I
went with larger sway bars, which improves the cornering. And
I don't want people to think I'm some kind of
maniac out there, you know, driving recklessly. But it is
such a joy. I can refer to myself as a
spirited driver. Uh you know it know many people go ahead.
I was gonna say. It gives you a sense of
(25:03):
pride to be able to do what you're doing right,
and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. And that's why, uh,
you know, I was talking in a previous hour about
you know, my first car and what cars did for me.
And I think it would be so great if the
kids today could find a way, if we could get
them more involved with cars and working on working with
their hands and you know, working on projects. You know,
(25:25):
it's it's it's it's it's a human experience and it's
not where something has just handed to you and say here,
you've created this, You've made this, and now you care
for it. And it teaches you. It teaches you about
life in a lot of ways. Uh. Well, I think
it builds character and discipline to maintain something you own.
(25:46):
Um real quick, Like, I don't mean to keep you
too long because uh uh, like I said, I'll retired.
A couple of months ago, I was speaking to a
guy at work before I retired, and he told me
he was talking to a friend of his one day
and Houston as like mid forties, almost fifties. He got
a phone call and he said, man, I gotta leave.
He goes, well, where are you going? He goes, my
son's got a flat time, I gotta go change it.
His son was twenty one years old and he had
(26:08):
to leave it to go change the tire. If that
had been me, my dad, he said, you'll sit there
to you learn how to change well, and that's you know, listen,
and that's and that's a huge part of it, because
you've got to know how to change a flat. Well.
You know what we raised. We raised three great girls
and they're all grown young women now, and they all
had to change a flat because the day they got
their license, they came in, Hey, I got my license,
(26:29):
I passed my test, and they came back in five
minutes later, Dad, I got a flat. Wow, how did
that happen? And uh, you know because when mom had
him out, Dad made sure the car had a flat
because then we sat down and we learned how to
change a flat in the driveway, each and every one
of them, whether they remember now, but you know, and
that's part of it, because where's the emergency? And that's
you know what. One of the things I learned all
(26:51):
right early on, and I learned this from my dad
before he passed, was you gotta be a good scout.
You gotta be prepared. You don't know when you're gonna
need it. If if if you could dick when the
emergency was gonna happen, you wouldn't call it an emergency.
He'd call it scheduled. And uh, I never forgot that
real quick, Russell. You're in Chesapeake, Virginia, in the Chesapeake
Bay area. They still got that bridge over there across
(27:14):
the bay. Yes, I hate that bridge. I really don't
that that bridge scares the heck out of me. So
people go through the tunnels and they slow down. I
just don't understand it. I think they have to do
a multimillion dollar study. Why people slow down in the
tunnels because they're to get back up on the bridge
in the water. Uh. Everybody I talked, they says it's
(27:35):
because they're afraid. And I said, well, you would think
they'd staid up. So they right. Well, but that, I'll
tell you what an all seriousness. That is a marvel
of modern engineering, twenty six miles across. The thing that
bugs me is when I'm in the middle. I'm thirteen
miles out in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. I
think about that all the time. So Russell, I enjoyed
the call, sir you Uh, you take good care of
(27:55):
You're welcome, you know, thank you for being there force
and we're glad to be here to help you. You
call any time, like everybody else, I'm running, any of
the card actor will pull over and take a pause.
I'll be back right after this. Welcome back. When the
(28:17):
name of the card octorate by five zo in the
car a phone number. Let's go over David and Iowa, David,
how are you today? My brother? Hey, I'm doing great wrong.
How you doing good, sir? What's going on? Well, I
tell you what, I got some encouragement for everybody with
all this. Uh, you know, if you've got you have
to go with a positives attitude. If you're gonna try
(28:38):
to fix the car, you know you can't give up
and u with the epidemic. Then we've got going on.
I want to tell everybody that we've got tewing the
greatest people out there, scientist, biologists and the whole works.
They're working their Klien's office, a protein as rougher, maybe
a little even harder than you do. But anyway, I
want to give them some encouragement. We're gonna find a
(28:59):
way to get this thing well wiped out. Okay, But
it's up to the individuals to keep a positive attitude.
If you don't go to if you've got a problem,
you have to keep positive. Uh. Every time you get
a negative feeling, you either prow a wrench down or
you give up a kicking a car or whatever. It's
the same thing with your health. If you have a
(29:20):
positive attitude and a hope that this thing will be
cleared up, which they are working on. Believe me, I've
got some insight information from people, but some of the
top people working on this thing, and uh, it's we're
gonna whip it. Okay, it's it's on its way out. So, uh,
fear is a killer, all right. So I want everybody
(29:42):
to get an attitude if they have any kind of
a faith in whatever supervenient or whatever prayer helps, Uh,
good attitude if you don't. And uh, I just wanted
to pass that to all your listeners, just to hang
in there, do what we're supposed to do, and keep
a kicked your chain up. My grandfather say, so, you know,
(30:03):
I had about seventy six years of the experience with
hardships and stuff, and every time I've ever wanted something,
that kept a good attitude about it and it came
to pass. So you know what, David, David, You're so
you're so spot on, you know what. You know what
I've learned and and and maybe maybe this will kind
of put it in perspective for some people. Uh you know, saw,
(30:24):
I'm the voice on the radio, and I guess I'm this,
you know, I'm this B list celebrity. I just I
don't think of myself as that. I'm just this mechanic
that got lucky with the radio show. You know, well,
you know, one of the what thank you. You know,
one of the things I've learned is how great my
parents were as a result of this coronavirus thing. Um.
You know, it's real easy to watch World War two
(30:47):
movies and read books and and here the history, you know,
oral history from those that lived it. Because they lived it,
we know the answer, We know who won the war.
We don't know how this is going to pan out.
I know how it's going to pan out, but we
don't know when you know, there's we we haven't gotten
that final chapter yet. And our parents, that generation just
(31:09):
slugged through that every day, all right. I mean the
first year of the war forty one, forty two and
into the middle of forty three, it wasn't great news.
It wasn't until early forty three when the war turned around.
They went through twelve eighteen months of g or we're
gonna be you know, are we gonna be overrun? You
(31:29):
know what's gonna happen and how will it happen? And
so on. So you're right, we are going to fix
this because this is just like every other problem in life.
You know, it's it's it's we were We've got people
working on it. We're we're aware of it, and we
will resolve it. Um. You know, I guess the best
thing I can leave it as is, let's just all
be human, all right. Um. You know, I was at
(31:52):
the supermarket two weeks ago. I had a shopping card
off stuff, just you know, just doing our normal shopping,
and there was somebody trying to get through and they
had like four items and they were behind me, and
I let them go ahead. I'm not saying that looking
for a pet on the back, but I just let
them go ahead because and the guy looked at me
and I said, brother, we're all going to the same
place a hundred years from now. Anyway, it doesn't matter,
(32:13):
you know, go get you don't get done what you
gotta get done. And I think right now the most
important thing is that just help each other and and maintain,
like you say, a positive attitude. And it's gonna pass
real quick, and it's gonna we're gonna wake up and go, wow,
we beat it, and uh look at us. You know
we did the job. So David, you keep calling, all right,
and you stay safe out there in Iowa. And I
(32:35):
love your attitude. Man, you're you're my hero. So you
keep doing it what you're doing it zoo zero running
any of the Car Doctor. We're back right after this.
It's not a pitchy. She was there. She woke up
and me by the hand, then with hey, let's as
(33:03):
we wind it down this hour, welcome back. You know,
I got to dedicate this this weekend show the mom.
You know, Mom's gone now, and uh, you know I
didn't talk about that during the first two hours here,
and uh, you know, it really wouldn't be a Car
Doctor radio show without mom. You know, my dad was gone.
She basically never came out in the garage. She knew
I was working on cars. I don't think she knew
(33:25):
really what I was doing out there. She just knew
I was out there. And she always told me, she said,
you know, because I asked her, because I kind of
turned the uh you know, family garage into a repair
shops sort of looking environment. And you know, Mom, you know,
you never really said anything to me, and she said,
I didn't have to. She said, you know what, that
was a mother's gift to a son because I knew
(33:45):
you were out there. I knew you were safe. I
knew you were trying to learn, and I was willing
to put up with all the noises and smells and
sights and sounds, and you know some of the other
things that when you figure out how to make the
car go fast and do a burnout, you know, maybe
you shouldn't do it in the driveway. But that's thanks mom. Um.
You know that's some of the things you learn as
a kid growing up. But um, you know, it's been
(34:06):
a heck of a ride. It's fift hundred shows. I
never thought i'd get here. I remember doing the first show, uh,
you know, upon w F A s and white planes
and thinking to myself, well, this can't last long. How
long could this take? You know, we'll be out of
here in three weeks. And here we are twenty eight
years later. Um, And you know, I've got to give
credit to what it is we're talking about. We're talking
(34:27):
about cars, cars, just you know what to me? Cars
or my piano. I look at some people look at
the piano and they just see a pile of wood
and some white keys and some black keys. And you know,
it blows my mind how some people can sit down
in front of a piano with no music and no
no practice, and they can bang out notes and they
can make it. You know, they can make it, make music. Um,
(34:48):
and I guess that's a gift. And you know, I
I look at some of the guys in this industry.
They can sit down in front of a car and
not read about anything and just pick up a wrench
and start working on something. And you know, to me,
that's a gift. And that's what I always strive to be.
And it really has been an honor. A lot of
people say that, but I really truly mean it. It
has been an honor to be here for you each
(35:09):
and every time. He's past twenty eight years and here's
to the next and the next shows. Because I love
what I do and I love that I get to
talk to each and every one of you each and
every week. And uh, you know what, you just you
keep the questions coming, folks. I'll be here. I'm not
going anywhere until the next time I'm rounding any in
the car doctor reminding you each and every time. Good
(35:29):
mechanics aren't expensive, They're priceless. Let's see it.
Host
Ron Ananian
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