May 29, 2021 • 35 mins
Ron starts this episode talking about thinking differently about repairs going forward and how things are changing with the story about a car that was in an accident, had body work, and now the backup camera doesn’t work : takes a call on a 13 Silverado with new gears in the rear end and now it whines : takes a call on a 62 Chevy with a frozen front passenger hub : talks with Chuck Kinkaid, Product Manager and Engineering Shop Eqiupment, Mahle Corp. : and talks about a call he received this week about purchasing an electric vehicle.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ron Anian. You know it's funny. Metal does this funny
thing where it starts to grab and snag and you
can't turn it the other way. You can't turn it
this way and all of a sudden snap and your
dogs Bob girl. I had at the car doctor, I
would change the oil every five thousand miles good synthetic
oils today or five to seven thousand miles. But then
(00:22):
there's also whose oil filter is Welcome to the radio
home of ron and Anian the Car Doctor, since this
is where car owners the world overturned to for their
definitive opinion on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you
a busy signal, pick up the phone and call in
the garage doors are open, but I am here to
(00:43):
take your call at eight five five five six and
now running. So I've got this way that you can
well all save money. Everybody's in for saving money, right,
and something that you can take into your own and
it gives you the power and the ability to do this.
I want you to think differently about repairs going forward.
(01:07):
And you know you can't do this. Gee. I took
it into a shop and it it did this noise
After the repair and I'm gonna take it back. And
it's eight months later because everything is changing. Here's the
classic reason why I went back to the gym this week.
I was started up again with cross fit so I
can be schelt come summer, which I've got a lot
(01:28):
to do between now and summer. Tom stopped and stop what.
I'm just gonna agree with you. Yeah, I just you know,
I just know what you're gonna say. And I was
talking to coach Brian and Coach Briant was telling me
about his wife's nineteen Honda Odyssey that the backup camera
wasn't working on and he said, you know, he goes,
(01:48):
there was an accident back in the fall and it
came out and it worked, but it didn't work, and
then it was staticky, and then it went dark, and
then it would come back, and then it stopped working altogether,
and now it just doesn't work. I said, okay, I said,
you know, because it was his somebody had backed into
or somebody hit the vehicle from behind, and they did
body work, they did hatchwork to it, you know, the
(02:10):
lift gate, and long story short, it came out and
he said it just wasn't right. And I said, well,
did they Did they do an a DOS calibration? I Well,
first I asked him, I said, does your vehicle, if
you look at your vehicle from the front, doesn't have
a camera under the rear view mirror looking forward through
the windshield And he said yes. I said, then your
vehicle has a DOS Advanced Driver Assist and he said, jeez,
(02:34):
what's that. I ran through the whole thing with him
and I explained it to him and he said, you know,
that makes sense, he goes, because also the blind spot
mirrors on the side don't work. And I asked him,
I said, did they do a calibration? If you look
at your invoice from the body shop, you know they
should give you some documentation. Does it say anything on
there about doing an ADS calibration? And he said, no, no,
(02:57):
not that I saw. He goes. It was just straight
you know, replay body work, you know, vendors, parts, paint, labor,
We're done. Well, that's the problem. So now he's got
to go back seven months later and play the ever
since game, which is tough, right, It's it's it's a
tough road to hoe and I feel for him, and I,
you know what, that's part of what I'm here for
(03:18):
is to explain this to you. It's it's not your imagination.
It is a different repair process. We're gonna fix cars
differently going forward. We have to. There's no choice. It's
the technology that's driving us here. So don't wait till
the last minute. If it's coming out of a body
shop after an accident, if it's coming out of a
(03:40):
mechanical shop and they've repaired something and that's something still
doesn't work, don't assume it's going to get better on
its own. And it's just you've got to get into it.
You've just got to get into it right away. I'm
gonna leave it there. We've got a lot going on
this hour. Uh you know, I want to get some
calls in. We've got Chuck kin Kaid from Mala coming
down around the on him of the hour to talk
(04:00):
to us about air conditioning. Next hour, we're gonna have
some memories of Uncle Steve as we celebrate him, and
memories of Memorial Day with Uncle Steve as we uh
observe Memorial Day weekend here on the Car Doctor. So
a lot to do, a lot to talk about. Let's
get the garage doors open, Let's go to Jeremy and Washington,
d C. Jeremy, Welcome aboard, sir, welcome back. How can
I help? What the perfect segue that you just had
(04:24):
For what I'm gonna ask you, I had a new
gears put in the front and rear of my silver
Rod and the differential to give me a little bit
of extra towing. I went from I guess GM had
went three forty two in it sounds right, and I
went up to yeah, and I went up to four elevens.
And since I had that done recently, when it is
(04:45):
about forty five and I come off the throttle, you know, um,
when it's unloaded, I tend to get a little bit
of wine um in that forty five mile prior. And
I'm just wondering if it's something I need to worry
about or I should just you know, because I mean
I've had some trucks that have a little bit of
wine in the back before, and you know, I'm wonder
(05:06):
if it's a if it's a bearing, I need to
worry about her. If it's just like you know, I
could imagine that new gears being put in in a
shop are never gonna be as perfect, perfect perfect as
you know factory gears, they were preinstalled. They should be,
(05:28):
they should be. Let me let me ask you this
is it the same brand of gear front and back? Yeah? Okay,
does does the front rear make any noise? Well? I don't,
you know. I rarely ever put it in four wheel drive,
you know what I mean? Almost never. I don't know
if it does or not. You should just it would
(05:48):
aid in the diagnosis. What I'm curious is, and I'm
not bashing the brand, but just depending upon what brand
of gear could it be cut differ Yukons what they
put in there. So then I would talk to the
Yukon guys and I would tell you, yeah, I mean
they've got a good reputation. I would talk to the
Yukon guys and say, hey, are your gears? Do your
gears tend to be a little louder overstocked depending upon
(06:12):
how they're cut, because some gear manufacturers, you know, cut
their gears at at a different angle and for you know,
more aggressiveness, better wear, better strength, you know, a hundred
different reasons. And maybe what you're hearing is just the
byproduct of the gear. You didn't change tires in doing
the dips, right, You just did the gears. No, I
did not, so you know, just thinking as a tire noise.
(06:36):
But I would clearly go back to the shop and
talk to them because is it the beginning of is
it possible that the opinion isn't torked properly? Is the
depth not set correctly? You know? How did they do
it regarding the opinion? Okay, question for you just right quick.
I'm a complete novice when it comes to axles. Is
(06:59):
where it is that the opinion that's the that's the
one that comes off the drive that turns right the opinion.
The opinion gear is the smaller round gear in line
with the drive shaft that's supported by the two bearings. Now,
depth of opinion, how it sits in the case on
a GM product like yours, is determined by the shims
(07:21):
or shim that's located between the bigger bearing closest to
the head that find that that connects to the gear.
That's depth as it sits down into the case. And
then backlash and preload is determined by the shims on
the sides oh next to the axel bearings. So bearing
(07:45):
bearing depth is probably pinion bearing preload and depth is
probably the most critical adjustment. They're all critical, but pinion
will be the one that's causing this noise if it's
not correct. If I'm going in there this weekend before
I go out, see, I'm gonna take it on a
long trip this summer. And that's what I don't want.
If I go in this weekend and change the they
(08:08):
put in um regular flu I want to put in
synthetic v W ninety in there. Could I take a
torque wrench as a well. I have access to that
when I take that dift cover off to make sure
it's torque correctly. The torque for the preload on the
bearing is done at the pinion flange. But that torque
(08:33):
or opinion preload or that that the torque of the
nut on the opinion only determines the crushed tolerance of
the bearing against the race. You don't set pinion depth
how deep. And we're talking about measurements. You know in
thousands of an inch you're not going to you're not
(08:53):
going to change. If you can change pinion death by
tightening the nut tighter, you've got bigger problems than than
just a one what a foul? Okay, all right, so
you know again. Um, you know, maybe they need to
pace the gears, you know, put some blue or some
some grease on their spin them. Look at them, does
it look like it's hitting each other in the middle,
(09:14):
that they've got the right preload on it, that they've
got you know, how did the measurements, uh, you know,
tolerate out? How to how the tolerances measure out when
they put this together? Just very very important. But first
step for me to call you kind of just inquire. Yeah, absolutely,
and I'm I'm and I'm sure listen, there's no bad
(09:34):
first step when you're trying to get information. I don't
care what you're working on, all right, you know, even
if you're hearing the same story over and over again.
I do it all the time. If I've got something
that I've done a hundred times and it's been a while,
like how did that go, I'll sit. I always read
the procedure. If I have my doubts, I don't care
how many times I've done it, because you know, your
(09:55):
mind always remembers or see something. In this particular case,
you're not the first guy to put yukon gears in
a thirteen Silverado. I would be out looking at I
would be out looking on the forms. And if twenty
guys say, yeah, the gears are a little noisier, but
they were, you know what, that's probably your answer. But
at least you do your due diligence to avoid yourself
(10:17):
the hassle. One of the biggest things and the cautions
I want to leave you with here, Jeremy, is that
the old rule of thumb. It's often been said that
when you replace gears, fresh bearings and and and so forth,
you overhaul the dif that that first seventy five miles
is critical on how the gears were in and if
(10:37):
you can if you continue to drive it and preload
and tolerances are not set correctly, you could cause an
irregular wear pattern and cause irreversible damage. So you want
to get this resolved. You want to know if it's
right or wrong right away before you continue to drive it.
Do your due diligence. Brother, call me back. You know
where you know where to find me eight five five
(10:59):
zero running aiming the car doctor. We're all back right
after this. For the best in car advice, give Ron
a call eight by five five zero nine nine zero zero.
Now back to run. You know I had someone this
(11:21):
week talk to me about buying a new car, and
they were telling me how they were afraid to buy
an internal combustion engine vehicle because electric cars will be
here in thirty years or fifteen years. We're gonna comment
on that this hour because I want to. I want
to bring that up. I thought that was an interesting perspective.
I hadn't thought of it. But right now, let's get
over to Jim in Michigan sixty two Chevy Nova and
(11:42):
trying to get the front passenger hub apart. Jim, I'll
give you fifty bucks for its sight unstane. I think
we'll almost consider that a down payment run. So thank
you for your wisdom. This is one of those uh
fifty a week for five years. Well, yeah, let's work
on the interest rate. But what kind of probably not
(12:04):
don't enough? So how can I help you my phone? Yeah,
this has been one of those multi year restoration projects
were on. I lafely lost my brakes about two years ago,
so we just kind of parked it inside. Did you
know interior other parts of the car. I replaced the
wheel and the tire on the front passenger side a
(12:25):
couple of days ago. The old wheel came off. The
new one went on smoothly. But when I went to
spin the tire, it did not rotate. It did not spin.
I took the tire of the wheel off, whacked with
a hammer a few times, applied a little bit of heat,
and still no rotation, no spinning. It does have the
(12:48):
UM I guess the brake shoes or brake pads, and
I'm not sure if maybe some rust is maybe just
accompulated and preventing that hug from spinning. Yeah, I would
agree this is a break drum vehicle. Still correct, Yes, rum?
Can you can you get the center cap for the
(13:11):
wheel bearing off? I probably could, yes, And let's just
talk this out. What would be the danger in taking
the center cap off? And I'm just trying to think
of the parts we're gonna sacrifice here taking the center
cap off, the outer bearing off, and um, how would
(13:33):
we do this? Lower the car on the ground. I
want to use the weight of the car against the
brake shoes probably rusted to the drum. We're assuming the
shoes have rusted to the drum. That's kind of what
I'm thinking of. And I'm I'm just saying to myself
with the weight of the vehicle rocking against the shoes
(13:54):
cause them to pop and release. Okay, and the only
way I know to do that is to load against
the spindle, the hub, the bearing. But you know, we
stand the chance to ruin a few things here, namely bearings,
namely the brake, shoes themselves. Uh, the way the whole
(14:15):
down springs are affixiated, you know, et cetera. Um, I'm
willing to sacrifice the shoes that that part will not
be a problem. What about can you get to the
there's gotta be a there's gotta be a um A
self adjuster slot right through the backing plate. I believe
there is. Yes, What if we back that self adjuster
(14:37):
all the way off? And if if we back the
self adjuster all the way off, is there a and
I don't think there isn't sixty two? Is there an
inspection plug of some kind where we could look at
the depth of the shoes where we see the shoes
physically move away from the drum? I don't think. I
(15:00):
don't think. So. You know, if we back off the
star wheel self adjuster, does it look like you know
what's gonna happen? Is the self adjuster is likely going
to get sloppy right the shoes. If the shoes are
rusted against the drum, then the self adjuster is gonna
(15:20):
get sloppy where it wedges itself between the two shoes
at the bottom, and that that adjuster is just going
to eventually pick up enough slop. That was a bit,
you know, kind of just sort of wobble around. But
if that's the case, then we know the shoes are
frozen against the drum, and we know what we've got
to do. But at least if you get the adjuster
(15:42):
out of the way, maybe spring tension. I mean, you're
gonna have to overhaul the front brakes anyway at this point.
If the shoes are really frozen to the drum. You know,
the question is the least amount of damage. Heat's not
a bad idea. I don't think you could generate enough
without doing their damage to other break components. I'm trying
(16:02):
to get this thing apart as delicately as I can. Uh,
that's why I'm wondering the weight of the vehicle, you know.
And you my guess is if you pull the outer bearing,
that gives the drum the ability to cock itself. Uh,
you know, I would probably put the nut back on
so that God forbid, the drum can't somehow slide off
(16:23):
if the car would have got this swaying the drum
go that way, and obviously be careful. Jack stands or something,
maybe a jack stands or or some sort of safety
support that if the wheel fell, it's gonna fall on
the jack stand before it hits the ground, so to speak.
Um maybe a floor jack under the under the under
the cradle with a two by four two inches down.
(16:46):
It doesn't it's not gonna take much to move. If
you if you can get the car to change pitched
an inch, it's probably gonna pop the drum. I just
got a feeling when you put some weight on it
and there's nothing holding the shoes against the drum, it's
going to just, you know, snap, just a quick release
and away it goes. Yeah, okay, you know, let's give
(17:08):
that a shot. If that doesn't work. Last ditch before
I tell you to take the drum off is from
the top. You know, get it up, get the wheel
and the tire off. Soak start soaking from the top,
lip p B blaster, just get as much PB. It's
gonna make a mess. Of things. Put a drip pan underneath,
try and get some PB around the lip of the
(17:30):
drum as it sits against the backing plate and let
it soak. It might just be able to get enough
creep action that you can eventually work it free that
way too. But p B blaster is really great in
a situation like this. It tends to eat, yeah, the
big pill right, the big pail. And then when none
of this works, then I'm gonna tell you to split
(17:50):
the ball joints at the knuckle and you know, support
the control arm, get the get the knuckle and the
break drum assembly off and let's work on it in
advice so we don't have to you know, we don't
have to worry about the rest of the vehicle. I'm
just thinking you've got bigger issues here. Um, if you
have to sacrifice the drum, maybe take it to a
machine shop and have them machine the drum off, save
(18:12):
the backing plate and the spindle and uh, you know,
I think that will come out better for you. All right, sir,
all right, very well, you'd be you'd be well and
good luck. Let us know what happens. UM sixty two
Chevy two is Novas they're just neat little cars. Not
enough of them left, obviously, I'd like to hear how
this one comes out. Hey, coming up next, a C
one oh one and a little bit more chucking Kaide
(18:32):
from All is going to stop by the garage and
talk to us all about air conditioning. What we need
to know. Whether you're a repair shop or a consumer.
This is the place to be. I'm Ronini and the
Car Doctor. We're back right after this colcome back n
(19:01):
a name of the car doctorate. You know, our next
guest has such a long title because of his involvement
in the industry. We actually had to short it down
to we First it got down to a paragraph, and
then we took it down to a sentence, and then
we've got it down to a couple of words. Chuck
kin Kaid has been around the automotive industry for such
a long time as a product manager, and he's in
charge of engineering shop equipment for Mala Corporation. We're just
(19:21):
really glad to have him here with us today. Chuck,
Welcome to boards, sir, Hey, thanks, air conditioning systems and
cars and trucks. You know, it's often been said that
somebody might skimp out and not do the complete break job.
They might do a cheaper royal change. They might put
you know, tires, it won't last as long on the car.
(19:43):
But boy, when air conditioning doesn't work, it's over right,
every upset. Everybody's upset. Um. How has and it's it's
changed so much. Take us back real quick if you can,
how have a c systems and cars and trucks involved.
You know, back in the sixties a Cadillac with our
twelve had a capacity of over four and a half
(20:05):
pounds um. And how does that evolve fast forward to
today's vehicles. Yeah, so you know, the system sizes have changed.
We do smaller systems and you know with that, of
course comes new challenges. But you know you've got smaller components.
You uh, you've got uh less room in the vehicle,
you've got less airflow. Um. You know, there's been a
(20:27):
lot of a lot of changes through the years. Uh.
You know, so UM I think, uh, you know it's
important that you know, you people understand that. You know,
system system sizes are actually a lot smaller these days,
and so you know it drives the need for higher accuracy,
you know, really because you know, if you overcharge or
(20:48):
under charge, like like you say, a four and a
half pound system a little bit. Yeah, you generally you're okay, right,
you might want to top it off, it might make
it a little cooler. But these days, yeah, you can't
really do that anymore. If that's sixty six Caddy lost
eight ounces of refrigerant, what was that that was? It
was less than a quarter capacity, right, it wasn't capacity,
(21:09):
it was it was still cold in those cars. I
remember those cars. I wrote in those cars. Uh. You know,
you know, you get a modern day vehicle that you know,
something a twenty sixteen or seventeen anything, and it loses
eight ounces of refrigerant. That's that could be that could
be two thirds the charge. The car basically blows hot air,
(21:31):
yeah exactly. Yeah, so you have to get more accurate
with it, right, So so you know, it goes into
you know, the equipment that you use and things like this.
You know, we you see use gauges and engage sets
and that type of thing, and that moved into the
equipment space and now the equipments. You know, we have
new standards and different things that we do to make
sure these these are really accurate when they charge and
(21:53):
and so on and so forth. You know, so it's
been uh, it's quite a transition, what you know, if
you can you know, not not the whole story, just
maybe the first paragraph. But we know we went from
our twelve to one thirty four A. You know, obviously
ozone issues, and now we're transitioning from one thirty four
to one two three four YF why ozone issues again?
(22:17):
The environment again? No, yeah, that's it's actually the environment.
So you're absolutely right. So when we transition from our twelve,
that was really had to do with the ozone depletion, right, So, um,
our our twelve is really bad for the environment. So
you know, we need that ozone in our stratosphere to
you know, really protect us and things. And so now
(22:38):
you know what didn't happen when we transition. So we
we transition from our twelve to one, and you know,
now we're getting into what's called the global warming potential, right,
so our twelve is also bad for global warming potential.
So this is a CEO two has a global warming
potential of one, So we use that as a rep prints. Okay,
(23:01):
so we say c O two is the one, our
twelve is ten thousand, nine hundreds. So so one pound
of our twelve would is really you know what is
that five tons of c O two equivalents in the
atmosphere one four A UM. It is also bad, not
quite as bad. It's it's actually fourteen thirty so almost
(23:25):
a ton for every pound that you release. And so
now we're transitioning to one four y U and that's
got a global warm potential of four so that's it's
literally ninety seven percent better than one thirty four A.
So that's really driving a lot of changes in the
industry right now. I didn't realize our twelve is that
bad or twelve is like a bazooka shot to the ozone.
(23:47):
Let's just blow a hole in in in the atmosphere. Yeah.
So the O zone, yeah you want to talk O
zone one three four A is way better for ozone
than our twelve used to be. It's not zero, but
it's it's it's way better to our twelve. If our
twelve is a one one four A is like zero
is your point zero zero zero one uh five, you
(24:07):
know something like this. So from that standpoint, yeah, it's
I think we've got the ozone problem. Okay with one
four A and with YF. But what we need to
get a handle on is the global warming. So the
CEO two gases and warming the planet. Um. And so
you know there's more A C systems these days. Um.
(24:28):
You know, we we have more people, so on and
so forth. So uh, you know, moving to a lower
g wt refrigerant just just something that's gonna make sense
for us. So when you look at a modern vehicle,
and for those of you just joining us, we're talking
to Chuck in Kid from Mala Corporation about air conditioning,
when you look at a modern day vehicle, Chuck, you
(24:49):
know it's it's not that sixty six caddy with a
four and a half pound system, it's a one pound.
Typical system capacity today is sixteen ounces are less the
shop that's you know, and the reason we went to
all this is right. We we need the grill area.
The design of the vehicle has affective components, and we're
trying to make everything more compact. That's a given. But
(25:12):
the shops that are out there, and I want you
to speak directly to this, that are trying to charge
air conditioning new old whatever, without a machine, how can
they be accurate it's really difficult. UM. Yeah. So you know, we,
you know, not just us, but a lot of in
the industry spent a lot of time really tuning these systems.
(25:34):
And there's new standards that we have to meet today.
If you look back in UM the R twelve days, UM.
You know, the the j so f A has standards
for equipment and uh used to be j I think
it's standards, but you know those standards for that we
were under, they really have nothing for the efficiency of
the recovery or the charge accuracy, right because of the
(25:56):
systems were so big. Be fast forward to two thousands
and as the standard came out and that that forced
us to do recovery in every case half oun charge accuracy.
UM added some other things like you know, you can't
cross contaminate, so if you know, you know, uh or
if you know, but if you know, I'm sure you know.
(26:18):
But tag oil and poe oil, you have to be
careful if you get an electrically driven compressor. You don't
want that oil to be conductive. Uh. You know that
can cause fires and electrical issues in this so UM.
So there's some standards that were put in there, and
then now we've got a new standard that we've got
to meet, which is h J seven for r F, I,
(26:38):
D and J, which is for the wife equipment in whole.
And that's due to the there's just the changes in
the refrigerant um. The playability of the refrigement was a
big driver for a lot of that. Right, you know
it's been said, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
put it here before we take the plus, Chuck, I
want to hold you over another segment. A C is
(26:59):
assisted of precise measurement and accuracy, and I want to
talk about how you put that into a machine and
make that work. Stay right where you are, Chuck and
Kaid Mala Corporation on Ronanini in the Car Doctor. We'll
both be back right after this. Don't go away, Welcome
(27:20):
back the car Doctor here with Chuck in Kid, product
manager and Equipment Engineering Equipment UH, Workshop manager for the
Automotiva after market at Mala and Um, Chuck, your your
title changes by the way, by the minute. I'm sorry. Uh.
You know there's far too many cars out there that
(27:40):
you know you'll drive along in the A C. It'll
blow cold out the left side and hot out the
right and to the layman or even to some mechanics,
they'll think that, gee, there's a problem with blend doors
or maybe the controls are not working properly. But in
a lot of cases it's a charge issue. And you know,
we're talking about being off by four ounces. The system
(28:03):
is not properly charged. It does that. You need a machine.
You absolutely have to charge by a machine. It's it's
the law in a lot of cases. But you know,
speak to that precision, that that that accuracy, that's that's
a standard that's they don't they don't really let go of,
do they now? And you're right, right, I mean exactly.
(28:25):
I mean a lot of times it would be a
blend or but it could also be under charging, right,
And so there's consequences to under charging or overcharging the system.
Overcharging could damage a compressor. There's all kinds of different
things that could happen, and it really depends on the vehicle. Um.
But yeah, I mean, you absolutely need a certified machine.
All these sort of units are certified. They need testing standards,
(28:48):
and you're really you're really doing the customers a disservice
if you're not using machine on a modern vehicle. Uh
you know, you know, we take a lot of factors
in new account temperature pressures, weights, COUMP and say factors
and things like this so that you can get a
good service, in a repeatable service out of it. And
if you're doing that mannually or with especially with older
equipment which really just doesn't have those kind of standards, um,
(29:11):
you know, it's tough to get that accuracy of the unit.
One of the things, one of the things that I
love the way my Mama machine works is that and
in comparison to some of the older machines we used
to run through the shop, is that the Mala sort
of gives you training on the job. You know, you
(29:31):
you walk through an automatic sequence. It tells you, now,
I'm gonna do this, how does this look? I'm gonna
do that? How does that look? You know? Now we
need to do this, and it teaches you the process
and asks you the question at the same time, and
not to mention the display is very nice. Can that
thing get like YouTube channel? I mean, can I can
I get like bugs buttons? You know it's like sometimes
you want to watch TV. You're doing a c service,
(29:52):
but um uh yeah, we could do that, but yeah,
we we tend not to. But yeah, you're right. We
user manuals in there right in the interface. And um,
you know, we always tell customers, you know, follow the
instructions on this greet and that's really what you have
to do, and you know we walk you through it.
You know. So there's things get more complex, you know.
We obviously we put more technology into these units, but
(30:15):
part of the reasons to do that is really to
make life easier for the technician. Right, So you know
it sounds more complicated with touch screens and things like this,
but the point of the technology is to make you
make it easier to use, make life easier, uh, for
the technician. So you know, well, we do things like
we have WiFi in our enclosure that gives us you know,
we can network print full page reports, or we have
(30:36):
a phone mapp you can be across the shop or
at lunch and you you get a push notification note my
services done, or monitor the pressures while you're doing the service. Um,
you know, we we could also give us some advantages
for like diagn diagnosing machines. If you have a problem
in the in the field, we can remote into those machines.
We can take over control. We can do live training
in some cases UM diagnosed the machine. UM actually a
(31:00):
lot of cases prevent the need to have to send
service providers out. And and I really like it to
tell you that, because it really gives me the opportunity
to offer more features. So these you know, we work
with O E. M. S and and a lot of
different people get a lot of great ideas. A lot
of those ideas actually turn into features and enhancements of
the product that we can just you know, give to
(31:20):
our customers. And so you know, your machine gets better
and better over time. You know, you're never out of date.
The great one of the great things about the mala
A C machines is I'll walk up, turn it on,
and I'll watch it go through an update before I
use it that day. And it's kind of comforting to
know that you're working on a problem vehicle in some
(31:40):
cases and your machine has the absolute up to the
second latest technology and and and bug fixes. Right, It's
just it's comforting. It's it's like working with a scan
tool that that you know is constantly being updated. And
I haven't seen anybody else in the marketplace do it
to the level that MALA is doing it, so you
(32:01):
get you get kudos from me for that, you really do. Hey, listen, Chuck,
we're gonna we're gonna wind it up because we're gonna
run out of time. Where before we go, where can
the listeners get more information? Because obviously we're gonna have
you back, but in the interim, where can we get
more information about MALA and a C and all that
we're gonna deal with this summer and summer's next. Yeah,
So i'd point people to a couple of places. Obviously
(32:23):
our website, so that's uh www dot Service Solutions all
one word dot Mala dot com. And uh, the Mobile
Air Conditioning Society. I think they just changed their name recently.
But um, that's also a good place for training. Um.
You know, people are gonna want six or nine certification
certifications to even buy a refrigerant these days, so that's
(32:44):
a great place for training as well. Good Okay, Well yeah,
and you're right. You know what we could do three
more interviews, Truck. We're gonna get your back, brother, all right.
There's just a lot to talk about a C and certification,
the safety of it. We've only scratched the surface more
to come. Thanks to you and everybody at MALA. We
have pre She hate the way you're trying to take
care of us and the environment. Uh, just outstanding job.
(33:05):
Take take good care, Chuck. I'm runing any in the
car Doctor. We are back right after this. Welcome back.
We're on any of the car Doctor. And once again
thanks to Chucking kid over at MALA Corporation for taking
the time today. MALA by the way as m A
(33:26):
h l E. If you're out there looking for them
and their A C equipment. UM, good stuff, really good stuff.
We use them in the shop. I had a recent call.
I want to address this. Someone called the shop this
week and we were talking about she's interested in buying
a new vehicle and you know, what do I think
about buying an electric vehicle now? And I said, well,
(33:47):
you know, I we ran down the list and you
know the pros and the cons. And I said, but why,
I said, you've you know, you've been driving this little
four cylinder Honda Civic for so many years that you know,
why would you change and get away from that? And
she she actually drives a stick She's driving an older
Civic with a stick and she's a stick girl. And
she you know, she likes to drive stick and I said,
(34:08):
you know you're gonna get an automatic. I said, aren't
you gonna miss that the driving style? And she said yeah.
But she said, you know, why would I buy another
internal combustion engine a gas engine, because in fifteen years
everything is gonna be electric. Anyway. I can't imagine being
ready or trying to buy an electric vehicle now because
in fifteen years you're worried about getting parts for an
(34:29):
internal combustion engine. Listen, the electric vehicle isn't gonna last
five years. You don't think the computer chips and the
modules and the software that runs that isn't gonna have
to be updated more than a few times over the
course of the next fifteen years if it lasted that long.
From the way the market's talking, I don't think electric
vehicles are gonna go beyond the five six year mark
(34:50):
with given current technology and even projected technology. So you know,
don't count the internal combustion engine out just yet, and
don't jump the gun. Make sure if you're going to electric,
you're going for all the right reasons, and make sure
you're able to deal with the pros and the cons
of either or so. Just some good long thought processes needed.
(35:12):
I'm running any in the car. Doctor, thanks for stopping
by this hour until the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless. Signa
Ron Anian. You know it's funny. Metal does this funny
thing where it starts to grab and snag and you
can't turn it the other way. You can't turn it
this way and all of a sudden snap and your
dogs Bob girl. I had at the car doctor, I
would change the oil every five thousand miles good synthetic
oils today or five to seven thousand miles. But then
(00:22):
there's also whose oil filter is Welcome to the radio
home of ron and Anian the Car Doctor, since this
is where car owners the world overturned to for their
definitive opinion on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you
a busy signal, pick up the phone and call in
the garage doors are open, but I am here to
(00:43):
take your call at eight five five five six and
now running. So I've got this way that you can
well all save money. Everybody's in for saving money, right,
and something that you can take into your own and
it gives you the power and the ability to do this.
I want you to think differently about repairs going forward.
(01:07):
And you know you can't do this. Gee. I took
it into a shop and it it did this noise
After the repair and I'm gonna take it back. And
it's eight months later because everything is changing. Here's the
classic reason why I went back to the gym this week.
I was started up again with cross fit so I
can be schelt come summer, which I've got a lot
(01:28):
to do between now and summer. Tom stopped and stop what.
I'm just gonna agree with you. Yeah, I just you know,
I just know what you're gonna say. And I was
talking to coach Brian and Coach Briant was telling me
about his wife's nineteen Honda Odyssey that the backup camera
wasn't working on and he said, you know, he goes,
(01:48):
there was an accident back in the fall and it
came out and it worked, but it didn't work, and
then it was staticky, and then it went dark, and
then it would come back, and then it stopped working altogether,
and now it just doesn't work. I said, okay, I said,
you know, because it was his somebody had backed into
or somebody hit the vehicle from behind, and they did
body work, they did hatchwork to it, you know, the
(02:10):
lift gate, and long story short, it came out and
he said it just wasn't right. And I said, well,
did they Did they do an a DOS calibration? I Well,
first I asked him, I said, does your vehicle, if
you look at your vehicle from the front, doesn't have
a camera under the rear view mirror looking forward through
the windshield And he said yes. I said, then your
vehicle has a DOS Advanced Driver Assist and he said, jeez,
(02:34):
what's that. I ran through the whole thing with him
and I explained it to him and he said, you know,
that makes sense, he goes, because also the blind spot
mirrors on the side don't work. And I asked him,
I said, did they do a calibration? If you look
at your invoice from the body shop, you know they
should give you some documentation. Does it say anything on
there about doing an ADS calibration? And he said, no, no,
(02:57):
not that I saw. He goes. It was just straight
you know, replay body work, you know, vendors, parts, paint, labor,
We're done. Well, that's the problem. So now he's got
to go back seven months later and play the ever
since game, which is tough, right, It's it's it's a
tough road to hoe and I feel for him, and I,
you know what, that's part of what I'm here for
(03:18):
is to explain this to you. It's it's not your imagination.
It is a different repair process. We're gonna fix cars
differently going forward. We have to. There's no choice. It's
the technology that's driving us here. So don't wait till
the last minute. If it's coming out of a body
shop after an accident, if it's coming out of a
(03:40):
mechanical shop and they've repaired something and that's something still
doesn't work, don't assume it's going to get better on
its own. And it's just you've got to get into it.
You've just got to get into it right away. I'm
gonna leave it there. We've got a lot going on
this hour. Uh you know, I want to get some
calls in. We've got Chuck kin Kaid from Mala coming
down around the on him of the hour to talk
(04:00):
to us about air conditioning. Next hour, we're gonna have
some memories of Uncle Steve as we celebrate him, and
memories of Memorial Day with Uncle Steve as we uh
observe Memorial Day weekend here on the Car Doctor. So
a lot to do, a lot to talk about. Let's
get the garage doors open, Let's go to Jeremy and Washington,
d C. Jeremy, Welcome aboard, sir, welcome back. How can
I help? What the perfect segue that you just had
(04:24):
For what I'm gonna ask you, I had a new
gears put in the front and rear of my silver
Rod and the differential to give me a little bit
of extra towing. I went from I guess GM had
went three forty two in it sounds right, and I
went up to yeah, and I went up to four elevens.
And since I had that done recently, when it is
(04:45):
about forty five and I come off the throttle, you know, um,
when it's unloaded, I tend to get a little bit
of wine um in that forty five mile prior. And
I'm just wondering if it's something I need to worry
about or I should just you know, because I mean
I've had some trucks that have a little bit of
wine in the back before, and you know, I'm wonder
(05:06):
if it's a if it's a bearing, I need to
worry about her. If it's just like you know, I
could imagine that new gears being put in in a
shop are never gonna be as perfect, perfect perfect as
you know factory gears, they were preinstalled. They should be,
(05:28):
they should be. Let me let me ask you this
is it the same brand of gear front and back? Yeah? Okay,
does does the front rear make any noise? Well? I don't,
you know. I rarely ever put it in four wheel drive,
you know what I mean? Almost never. I don't know
if it does or not. You should just it would
(05:48):
aid in the diagnosis. What I'm curious is, and I'm
not bashing the brand, but just depending upon what brand
of gear could it be cut differ Yukons what they
put in there. So then I would talk to the
Yukon guys and I would tell you, yeah, I mean
they've got a good reputation. I would talk to the
Yukon guys and say, hey, are your gears? Do your
gears tend to be a little louder overstocked depending upon
(06:12):
how they're cut, because some gear manufacturers, you know, cut
their gears at at a different angle and for you know,
more aggressiveness, better wear, better strength, you know, a hundred
different reasons. And maybe what you're hearing is just the
byproduct of the gear. You didn't change tires in doing
the dips, right, You just did the gears. No, I
did not, so you know, just thinking as a tire noise.
(06:36):
But I would clearly go back to the shop and
talk to them because is it the beginning of is
it possible that the opinion isn't torked properly? Is the
depth not set correctly? You know? How did they do
it regarding the opinion? Okay, question for you just right quick.
I'm a complete novice when it comes to axles. Is
(06:59):
where it is that the opinion that's the that's the
one that comes off the drive that turns right the opinion.
The opinion gear is the smaller round gear in line
with the drive shaft that's supported by the two bearings. Now,
depth of opinion, how it sits in the case on
a GM product like yours, is determined by the shims
(07:21):
or shim that's located between the bigger bearing closest to
the head that find that that connects to the gear.
That's depth as it sits down into the case. And
then backlash and preload is determined by the shims on
the sides oh next to the axel bearings. So bearing
(07:45):
bearing depth is probably pinion bearing preload and depth is
probably the most critical adjustment. They're all critical, but pinion
will be the one that's causing this noise if it's
not correct. If I'm going in there this weekend before
I go out, see, I'm gonna take it on a
long trip this summer. And that's what I don't want.
If I go in this weekend and change the they
(08:08):
put in um regular flu I want to put in
synthetic v W ninety in there. Could I take a
torque wrench as a well. I have access to that
when I take that dift cover off to make sure
it's torque correctly. The torque for the preload on the
bearing is done at the pinion flange. But that torque
(08:33):
or opinion preload or that that the torque of the
nut on the opinion only determines the crushed tolerance of
the bearing against the race. You don't set pinion depth
how deep. And we're talking about measurements. You know in
thousands of an inch you're not going to you're not
(08:53):
going to change. If you can change pinion death by
tightening the nut tighter, you've got bigger problems than than
just a one what a foul? Okay, all right, so
you know again. Um, you know, maybe they need to
pace the gears, you know, put some blue or some
some grease on their spin them. Look at them, does
it look like it's hitting each other in the middle,
(09:14):
that they've got the right preload on it, that they've
got you know, how did the measurements, uh, you know,
tolerate out? How to how the tolerances measure out when
they put this together? Just very very important. But first
step for me to call you kind of just inquire. Yeah, absolutely,
and I'm I'm and I'm sure listen, there's no bad
(09:34):
first step when you're trying to get information. I don't
care what you're working on, all right, you know, even
if you're hearing the same story over and over again.
I do it all the time. If I've got something
that I've done a hundred times and it's been a while,
like how did that go, I'll sit. I always read
the procedure. If I have my doubts, I don't care
how many times I've done it, because you know, your
(09:55):
mind always remembers or see something. In this particular case,
you're not the first guy to put yukon gears in
a thirteen Silverado. I would be out looking at I
would be out looking on the forms. And if twenty
guys say, yeah, the gears are a little noisier, but
they were, you know what, that's probably your answer. But
at least you do your due diligence to avoid yourself
(10:17):
the hassle. One of the biggest things and the cautions
I want to leave you with here, Jeremy, is that
the old rule of thumb. It's often been said that
when you replace gears, fresh bearings and and and so forth,
you overhaul the dif that that first seventy five miles
is critical on how the gears were in and if
(10:37):
you can if you continue to drive it and preload
and tolerances are not set correctly, you could cause an
irregular wear pattern and cause irreversible damage. So you want
to get this resolved. You want to know if it's
right or wrong right away before you continue to drive it.
Do your due diligence. Brother, call me back. You know
where you know where to find me eight five five
(10:59):
zero running aiming the car doctor. We're all back right
after this. For the best in car advice, give Ron
a call eight by five five zero nine nine zero zero.
Now back to run. You know I had someone this
(11:21):
week talk to me about buying a new car, and
they were telling me how they were afraid to buy
an internal combustion engine vehicle because electric cars will be
here in thirty years or fifteen years. We're gonna comment
on that this hour because I want to. I want
to bring that up. I thought that was an interesting perspective.
I hadn't thought of it. But right now, let's get
over to Jim in Michigan sixty two Chevy Nova and
(11:42):
trying to get the front passenger hub apart. Jim, I'll
give you fifty bucks for its sight unstane. I think
we'll almost consider that a down payment run. So thank
you for your wisdom. This is one of those uh
fifty a week for five years. Well, yeah, let's work
on the interest rate. But what kind of probably not
(12:04):
don't enough? So how can I help you my phone? Yeah,
this has been one of those multi year restoration projects
were on. I lafely lost my brakes about two years ago,
so we just kind of parked it inside. Did you
know interior other parts of the car. I replaced the
wheel and the tire on the front passenger side a
(12:25):
couple of days ago. The old wheel came off. The
new one went on smoothly. But when I went to
spin the tire, it did not rotate. It did not spin.
I took the tire of the wheel off, whacked with
a hammer a few times, applied a little bit of heat,
and still no rotation, no spinning. It does have the
(12:48):
UM I guess the brake shoes or brake pads, and
I'm not sure if maybe some rust is maybe just
accompulated and preventing that hug from spinning. Yeah, I would
agree this is a break drum vehicle. Still correct, Yes, rum?
Can you can you get the center cap for the
(13:11):
wheel bearing off? I probably could, yes, And let's just
talk this out. What would be the danger in taking
the center cap off? And I'm just trying to think
of the parts we're gonna sacrifice here taking the center
cap off, the outer bearing off, and um, how would
(13:33):
we do this? Lower the car on the ground. I
want to use the weight of the car against the
brake shoes probably rusted to the drum. We're assuming the
shoes have rusted to the drum. That's kind of what
I'm thinking of. And I'm I'm just saying to myself
with the weight of the vehicle rocking against the shoes
(13:54):
cause them to pop and release. Okay, and the only
way I know to do that is to load against
the spindle, the hub, the bearing. But you know, we
stand the chance to ruin a few things here, namely bearings,
namely the brake, shoes themselves. Uh, the way the whole
(14:15):
down springs are affixiated, you know, et cetera. Um, I'm
willing to sacrifice the shoes that that part will not
be a problem. What about can you get to the
there's gotta be a there's gotta be a um A
self adjuster slot right through the backing plate. I believe
there is. Yes, What if we back that self adjuster
(14:37):
all the way off? And if if we back the
self adjuster all the way off, is there a and
I don't think there isn't sixty two? Is there an
inspection plug of some kind where we could look at
the depth of the shoes where we see the shoes
physically move away from the drum? I don't think. I
(15:00):
don't think. So. You know, if we back off the
star wheel self adjuster, does it look like you know
what's gonna happen? Is the self adjuster is likely going
to get sloppy right the shoes. If the shoes are
rusted against the drum, then the self adjuster is gonna
(15:20):
get sloppy where it wedges itself between the two shoes
at the bottom, and that that adjuster is just going
to eventually pick up enough slop. That was a bit,
you know, kind of just sort of wobble around. But
if that's the case, then we know the shoes are
frozen against the drum, and we know what we've got
to do. But at least if you get the adjuster
(15:42):
out of the way, maybe spring tension. I mean, you're
gonna have to overhaul the front brakes anyway at this point.
If the shoes are really frozen to the drum. You know,
the question is the least amount of damage. Heat's not
a bad idea. I don't think you could generate enough
without doing their damage to other break components. I'm trying
(16:02):
to get this thing apart as delicately as I can. Uh,
that's why I'm wondering the weight of the vehicle, you know.
And you my guess is if you pull the outer bearing,
that gives the drum the ability to cock itself. Uh,
you know, I would probably put the nut back on
so that God forbid, the drum can't somehow slide off
(16:23):
if the car would have got this swaying the drum
go that way, and obviously be careful. Jack stands or something,
maybe a jack stands or or some sort of safety
support that if the wheel fell, it's gonna fall on
the jack stand before it hits the ground, so to speak.
Um maybe a floor jack under the under the under
the cradle with a two by four two inches down.
(16:46):
It doesn't it's not gonna take much to move. If
you if you can get the car to change pitched
an inch, it's probably gonna pop the drum. I just
got a feeling when you put some weight on it
and there's nothing holding the shoes against the drum, it's
going to just, you know, snap, just a quick release
and away it goes. Yeah, okay, you know, let's give
(17:08):
that a shot. If that doesn't work. Last ditch before
I tell you to take the drum off is from
the top. You know, get it up, get the wheel
and the tire off. Soak start soaking from the top,
lip p B blaster, just get as much PB. It's
gonna make a mess. Of things. Put a drip pan underneath,
try and get some PB around the lip of the
(17:30):
drum as it sits against the backing plate and let
it soak. It might just be able to get enough
creep action that you can eventually work it free that
way too. But p B blaster is really great in
a situation like this. It tends to eat, yeah, the
big pill right, the big pail. And then when none
of this works, then I'm gonna tell you to split
(17:50):
the ball joints at the knuckle and you know, support
the control arm, get the get the knuckle and the
break drum assembly off and let's work on it in
advice so we don't have to you know, we don't
have to worry about the rest of the vehicle. I'm
just thinking you've got bigger issues here. Um, if you
have to sacrifice the drum, maybe take it to a
machine shop and have them machine the drum off, save
(18:12):
the backing plate and the spindle and uh, you know,
I think that will come out better for you. All right, sir,
all right, very well, you'd be you'd be well and
good luck. Let us know what happens. UM sixty two
Chevy two is Novas they're just neat little cars. Not
enough of them left, obviously, I'd like to hear how
this one comes out. Hey, coming up next, a C
one oh one and a little bit more chucking Kaide
(18:32):
from All is going to stop by the garage and
talk to us all about air conditioning. What we need
to know. Whether you're a repair shop or a consumer.
This is the place to be. I'm Ronini and the
Car Doctor. We're back right after this colcome back n
(19:01):
a name of the car doctorate. You know, our next
guest has such a long title because of his involvement
in the industry. We actually had to short it down
to we First it got down to a paragraph, and
then we took it down to a sentence, and then
we've got it down to a couple of words. Chuck
kin Kaid has been around the automotive industry for such
a long time as a product manager, and he's in
charge of engineering shop equipment for Mala Corporation. We're just
(19:21):
really glad to have him here with us today. Chuck,
Welcome to boards, sir, Hey, thanks, air conditioning systems and
cars and trucks. You know, it's often been said that
somebody might skimp out and not do the complete break job.
They might do a cheaper royal change. They might put
you know, tires, it won't last as long on the car.
(19:43):
But boy, when air conditioning doesn't work, it's over right,
every upset. Everybody's upset. Um. How has and it's it's
changed so much. Take us back real quick if you can,
how have a c systems and cars and trucks involved.
You know, back in the sixties a Cadillac with our
twelve had a capacity of over four and a half
(20:05):
pounds um. And how does that evolve fast forward to
today's vehicles. Yeah, so you know, the system sizes have changed.
We do smaller systems and you know with that, of
course comes new challenges. But you know you've got smaller components.
You uh, you've got uh less room in the vehicle,
you've got less airflow. Um. You know, there's been a
(20:27):
lot of a lot of changes through the years. Uh.
You know, so UM I think, uh, you know it's
important that you know, you people understand that. You know,
system system sizes are actually a lot smaller these days,
and so you know it drives the need for higher accuracy,
you know, really because you know, if you overcharge or
(20:48):
under charge, like like you say, a four and a
half pound system a little bit. Yeah, you generally you're okay, right,
you might want to top it off, it might make
it a little cooler. But these days, yeah, you can't
really do that anymore. If that's sixty six Caddy lost
eight ounces of refrigerant, what was that that was? It
was less than a quarter capacity, right, it wasn't capacity,
(21:09):
it was it was still cold in those cars. I
remember those cars. I wrote in those cars. Uh. You know,
you know, you get a modern day vehicle that you know,
something a twenty sixteen or seventeen anything, and it loses
eight ounces of refrigerant. That's that could be that could
be two thirds the charge. The car basically blows hot air,
(21:31):
yeah exactly. Yeah, so you have to get more accurate
with it, right, So so you know, it goes into
you know, the equipment that you use and things like this.
You know, we you see use gauges and engage sets
and that type of thing, and that moved into the
equipment space and now the equipments. You know, we have
new standards and different things that we do to make
sure these these are really accurate when they charge and
(21:53):
and so on and so forth. You know, so it's
been uh, it's quite a transition, what you know, if
you can you know, not not the whole story, just
maybe the first paragraph. But we know we went from
our twelve to one thirty four A. You know, obviously
ozone issues, and now we're transitioning from one thirty four
to one two three four YF why ozone issues again?
(22:17):
The environment again? No, yeah, that's it's actually the environment.
So you're absolutely right. So when we transition from our twelve,
that was really had to do with the ozone depletion, right, So, um,
our our twelve is really bad for the environment. So
you know, we need that ozone in our stratosphere to
you know, really protect us and things. And so now
(22:38):
you know what didn't happen when we transition. So we
we transition from our twelve to one, and you know,
now we're getting into what's called the global warming potential, right,
so our twelve is also bad for global warming potential.
So this is a CEO two has a global warming
potential of one, So we use that as a rep prints. Okay,
(23:01):
so we say c O two is the one, our
twelve is ten thousand, nine hundreds. So so one pound
of our twelve would is really you know what is
that five tons of c O two equivalents in the
atmosphere one four A UM. It is also bad, not
quite as bad. It's it's actually fourteen thirty so almost
(23:25):
a ton for every pound that you release. And so
now we're transitioning to one four y U and that's
got a global warm potential of four so that's it's
literally ninety seven percent better than one thirty four A.
So that's really driving a lot of changes in the
industry right now. I didn't realize our twelve is that
bad or twelve is like a bazooka shot to the ozone.
(23:47):
Let's just blow a hole in in in the atmosphere. Yeah.
So the O zone, yeah you want to talk O
zone one three four A is way better for ozone
than our twelve used to be. It's not zero, but
it's it's it's way better to our twelve. If our
twelve is a one one four A is like zero
is your point zero zero zero one uh five, you
(24:07):
know something like this. So from that standpoint, yeah, it's
I think we've got the ozone problem. Okay with one
four A and with YF. But what we need to
get a handle on is the global warming. So the
CEO two gases and warming the planet. Um. And so
you know there's more A C systems these days. Um.
(24:28):
You know, we we have more people, so on and
so forth. So uh, you know, moving to a lower
g wt refrigerant just just something that's gonna make sense
for us. So when you look at a modern vehicle,
and for those of you just joining us, we're talking
to Chuck in Kid from Mala Corporation about air conditioning,
when you look at a modern day vehicle, Chuck, you
(24:49):
know it's it's not that sixty six caddy with a
four and a half pound system, it's a one pound.
Typical system capacity today is sixteen ounces are less the
shop that's you know, and the reason we went to
all this is right. We we need the grill area.
The design of the vehicle has affective components, and we're
trying to make everything more compact. That's a given. But
(25:12):
the shops that are out there, and I want you
to speak directly to this, that are trying to charge
air conditioning new old whatever, without a machine, how can
they be accurate it's really difficult. UM. Yeah. So you know, we,
you know, not just us, but a lot of in
the industry spent a lot of time really tuning these systems.
(25:34):
And there's new standards that we have to meet today.
If you look back in UM the R twelve days, UM.
You know, the the j so f A has standards
for equipment and uh used to be j I think
it's standards, but you know those standards for that we
were under, they really have nothing for the efficiency of
the recovery or the charge accuracy, right because of the
(25:56):
systems were so big. Be fast forward to two thousands
and as the standard came out and that that forced
us to do recovery in every case half oun charge accuracy.
UM added some other things like you know, you can't
cross contaminate, so if you know, you know, uh or
if you know, but if you know, I'm sure you know.
(26:18):
But tag oil and poe oil, you have to be
careful if you get an electrically driven compressor. You don't
want that oil to be conductive. Uh. You know that
can cause fires and electrical issues in this so UM.
So there's some standards that were put in there, and
then now we've got a new standard that we've got
to meet, which is h J seven for r F, I,
(26:38):
D and J, which is for the wife equipment in whole.
And that's due to the there's just the changes in
the refrigerant um. The playability of the refrigement was a
big driver for a lot of that. Right, you know
it's been said, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
put it here before we take the plus, Chuck, I
want to hold you over another segment. A C is
(26:59):
assisted of precise measurement and accuracy, and I want to
talk about how you put that into a machine and
make that work. Stay right where you are, Chuck and
Kaid Mala Corporation on Ronanini in the Car Doctor. We'll
both be back right after this. Don't go away, Welcome
(27:20):
back the car Doctor here with Chuck in Kid, product
manager and Equipment Engineering Equipment UH, Workshop manager for the
Automotiva after market at Mala and Um, Chuck, your your
title changes by the way, by the minute. I'm sorry. Uh.
You know there's far too many cars out there that
(27:40):
you know you'll drive along in the A C. It'll
blow cold out the left side and hot out the
right and to the layman or even to some mechanics,
they'll think that, gee, there's a problem with blend doors
or maybe the controls are not working properly. But in
a lot of cases it's a charge issue. And you know,
we're talking about being off by four ounces. The system
(28:03):
is not properly charged. It does that. You need a machine.
You absolutely have to charge by a machine. It's it's
the law in a lot of cases. But you know,
speak to that precision, that that that accuracy, that's that's
a standard that's they don't they don't really let go of,
do they now? And you're right, right, I mean exactly.
(28:25):
I mean a lot of times it would be a
blend or but it could also be under charging, right,
And so there's consequences to under charging or overcharging the system.
Overcharging could damage a compressor. There's all kinds of different
things that could happen, and it really depends on the vehicle. Um.
But yeah, I mean, you absolutely need a certified machine.
All these sort of units are certified. They need testing standards,
(28:48):
and you're really you're really doing the customers a disservice
if you're not using machine on a modern vehicle. Uh
you know, you know, we take a lot of factors
in new account temperature pressures, weights, COUMP and say factors
and things like this so that you can get a
good service, in a repeatable service out of it. And
if you're doing that mannually or with especially with older
equipment which really just doesn't have those kind of standards, um,
(29:11):
you know, it's tough to get that accuracy of the unit.
One of the things, one of the things that I
love the way my Mama machine works is that and
in comparison to some of the older machines we used
to run through the shop, is that the Mala sort
of gives you training on the job. You know, you
(29:31):
you walk through an automatic sequence. It tells you, now,
I'm gonna do this, how does this look? I'm gonna
do that? How does that look? You know? Now we
need to do this, and it teaches you the process
and asks you the question at the same time, and
not to mention the display is very nice. Can that
thing get like YouTube channel? I mean, can I can
I get like bugs buttons? You know it's like sometimes
you want to watch TV. You're doing a c service,
(29:52):
but um uh yeah, we could do that, but yeah,
we we tend not to. But yeah, you're right. We
user manuals in there right in the interface. And um,
you know, we always tell customers, you know, follow the
instructions on this greet and that's really what you have
to do, and you know we walk you through it.
You know. So there's things get more complex, you know.
We obviously we put more technology into these units, but
(30:15):
part of the reasons to do that is really to
make life easier for the technician. Right, So you know
it sounds more complicated with touch screens and things like this,
but the point of the technology is to make you
make it easier to use, make life easier, uh, for
the technician. So you know, well, we do things like
we have WiFi in our enclosure that gives us you know,
we can network print full page reports, or we have
(30:36):
a phone mapp you can be across the shop or
at lunch and you you get a push notification note my
services done, or monitor the pressures while you're doing the service. Um,
you know, we we could also give us some advantages
for like diagn diagnosing machines. If you have a problem
in the in the field, we can remote into those machines.
We can take over control. We can do live training
in some cases UM diagnosed the machine. UM actually a
(31:00):
lot of cases prevent the need to have to send
service providers out. And and I really like it to
tell you that, because it really gives me the opportunity
to offer more features. So these you know, we work
with O E. M. S and and a lot of
different people get a lot of great ideas. A lot
of those ideas actually turn into features and enhancements of
the product that we can just you know, give to
(31:20):
our customers. And so you know, your machine gets better
and better over time. You know, you're never out of date.
The great one of the great things about the mala
A C machines is I'll walk up, turn it on,
and I'll watch it go through an update before I
use it that day. And it's kind of comforting to
know that you're working on a problem vehicle in some
(31:40):
cases and your machine has the absolute up to the
second latest technology and and and bug fixes. Right, It's
just it's comforting. It's it's like working with a scan
tool that that you know is constantly being updated. And
I haven't seen anybody else in the marketplace do it
to the level that MALA is doing it, so you
(32:01):
get you get kudos from me for that, you really do. Hey, listen, Chuck,
we're gonna we're gonna wind it up because we're gonna
run out of time. Where before we go, where can
the listeners get more information? Because obviously we're gonna have
you back, but in the interim, where can we get
more information about MALA and a C and all that
we're gonna deal with this summer and summer's next. Yeah,
So i'd point people to a couple of places. Obviously
(32:23):
our website, so that's uh www dot Service Solutions all
one word dot Mala dot com. And uh, the Mobile
Air Conditioning Society. I think they just changed their name recently.
But um, that's also a good place for training. Um.
You know, people are gonna want six or nine certification
certifications to even buy a refrigerant these days, so that's
(32:44):
a great place for training as well. Good Okay, Well yeah,
and you're right. You know what we could do three
more interviews, Truck. We're gonna get your back, brother, all right.
There's just a lot to talk about a C and certification,
the safety of it. We've only scratched the surface more
to come. Thanks to you and everybody at MALA. We
have pre She hate the way you're trying to take
care of us and the environment. Uh, just outstanding job.
(33:05):
Take take good care, Chuck. I'm runing any in the
car Doctor. We are back right after this. Welcome back.
We're on any of the car Doctor. And once again
thanks to Chucking kid over at MALA Corporation for taking
the time today. MALA by the way as m A
(33:26):
h l E. If you're out there looking for them
and their A C equipment. UM, good stuff, really good stuff.
We use them in the shop. I had a recent call.
I want to address this. Someone called the shop this
week and we were talking about she's interested in buying
a new vehicle and you know, what do I think
about buying an electric vehicle now? And I said, well,
(33:47):
you know, I we ran down the list and you
know the pros and the cons. And I said, but why,
I said, you've you know, you've been driving this little
four cylinder Honda Civic for so many years that you know,
why would you change and get away from that? And
she she actually drives a stick She's driving an older
Civic with a stick and she's a stick girl. And
she you know, she likes to drive stick and I said,
(34:08):
you know you're gonna get an automatic. I said, aren't
you gonna miss that the driving style? And she said yeah.
But she said, you know, why would I buy another
internal combustion engine a gas engine, because in fifteen years
everything is gonna be electric. Anyway. I can't imagine being
ready or trying to buy an electric vehicle now because
in fifteen years you're worried about getting parts for an
(34:29):
internal combustion engine. Listen, the electric vehicle isn't gonna last
five years. You don't think the computer chips and the
modules and the software that runs that isn't gonna have
to be updated more than a few times over the
course of the next fifteen years if it lasted that long.
From the way the market's talking, I don't think electric
vehicles are gonna go beyond the five six year mark
(34:50):
with given current technology and even projected technology. So you know,
don't count the internal combustion engine out just yet, and
don't jump the gun. Make sure if you're going to electric,
you're going for all the right reasons, and make sure
you're able to deal with the pros and the cons
of either or so. Just some good long thought processes needed.
(35:12):
I'm running any in the car. Doctor, thanks for stopping
by this hour until the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless. Signa
Host
Ron Ananian
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