July 7, 2018 • 36 mins
Ron starts this episode talking about Tesla : takes a call from a 26 year old woman about buying a car : answers a question about towing with a CVT transmission : talks about determining tire size : takes a call on an 05 Dodge 2500 with a list of codes : takes a call on a 15 Kia Sorrento with questions on brake rotors : and the Sure Track Fix of the Week from Mitchell One is, “What’s in the trunk?”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ron Ananian, I've got to wonder about self driving cars,
I really do. I've got to look at this very carefully.
And you've got to how will the car no it's broken?
Other than it will stop driving the Car Doctor. You
(00:28):
drive your car? Who doesn't know when their car isn't right?
What do you do? You get a sense of sound?
Either breaks your noisy? It seems like they're gonna have
to give that car the smarts of a person. Welcome
to the radio home of Ron and Anian the Car Doctor.
Since this is where car owners the world overturned to
(00:49):
for their definitive opinion on automotive repair. If your mechanics
giving you a busy signal, pick up the phone and
call in the garage. Orders are open, but I am
here to take your calls at eight five five five
six and now running. Hey, it's time to start your engines.
(01:09):
A long and welcome pens for stopping by the garage today.
I'm monitating in the Car Doctor here at eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. The Car
Doctor seven phone number again eight by five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. More information about this radio show.
Car Doctor show dot com. Uh the ability to podcast
if you're using some sort of device up double pot
or whether podcast player are you using, please click subscribe,
(01:31):
And if you're out at Spreaker, you can click follow.
And just in general, we're just trying to drive the
podcast numbers, um, as well as the radio show numbers.
You know, we're we're twofold business operation here as when
we try to step out from behind the microphone once
in a while and talk about it, but not much,
and we appreciate your support. We also appreciate the fact
that listen a lot of choices out there. We appreciate
that you're spending some time with us, so we try
(01:52):
to give you some quality information because that's what this
radio show is and has been about the past twenty
seven years. A long time ago. I think I was
better looking then. Um, I want to talk about Tesla.
Do you no comment from Tom? That's because Tom's alone
in the booth today and I got uh the often imitated,
(02:13):
never duplicated one and only no bologning, not a phony,
Thomas Ray the third. How are you today? Tom? It's
you know, it's good man. UM, that's good. I appreciate
you taking the time to be with me. Otherwise I'd
be here by myself, and that would be scary. Well,
you know people would hear exactly, yeah, that would be
you know, but you know you said this, this was
a twofold business. And why did you give me specific
(02:33):
instructions on the shirts you want folded here? Well, because
you know, I I want to get everything done. It's
we're getting ready for the annual company picnic and the
uniform of the day will be T shirts. So I've
got Lucy the Wonder Dog in here with me. She's sleeping.
I think she's getting old. She's like eight now, really, yeah,
she's getting Yeah, she's worn out. We were throwing the
ball for the backyard of the studio and um, I
(02:56):
think we've worn her out. So either that or either
that or she's typical at the audience. I'm putting everybody
to sleep today. Yeah, I could be um or talk
about Tesla. Eddie goid as good as capital. It keeps
me abreast of what's going on with with with Tesla,
and it's and it's interesting, you know, it's an interesting article.
Tesla stopped a break and role test as it pushed
(03:18):
to hit Model three goals. I'm not sure where Tesla
is going all right, and it's kind of scary some
of the stuff you eat, and that's what's here. You know,
I get it. I think I think very long term plan.
If they can survive and produce enough money, I think
companies like Tesla, we'll take us to the planets. The
idea of electric and alternate fuel vehicles and things like that,
I think that's going to happen. But it's the learning
(03:41):
curve down here that sort of scares me. Tesla has
decided to skip of breaking role test and the manufacturing
of its Model three vehicles. The Model three, for those
of you that may not know, is a key piece
of product for Tesla. They're really struggling with it and
trying real hard to get it to work, because it's
it's the bread and butter car. It's you know, it's there.
(04:04):
It's their Chevy and Palace, so to speak. It's it's
the car that everybody can drive and own and operate
and so forth, and it's it's it's the cheapest of
the line, Tesla says, it's model it tests the Model
three breaks in alignment and other parts of the factories
of the tests were redundant shares in the electric vehicle
maker plunged by six percent or more on Tuesday and
midday training. This camp to us from July three just
(04:26):
be to this middle of this week as it pushed
to hit electric vehicle production targets for the quarter, test
that decided to skip break and role testing for its
Model three sedan and its Fremont factory. The news was
first reported by Business Insider. The company managed to meet
a self imposed deadline to produce five thousand Model three
cars in a week after several quarters of missing its goals,
but Testlas stock plunged by more than seven percent to
(04:48):
the day the article changed it. Like other automakers, the
company is facing tarifts that will take on Friday, that's yesterday,
And yesterday the cfr A downgraded the stock from hold
to sell, saying the company's birtht production rate for its
Model three won't be sustainable. You gotta wonder what is
the long term capability of Tesla. You know, you see
them on the road. They look nice, but are they
able to are they able to really deliver? On the
(05:12):
plus side, you think about how many of them are
out there, and and what kind of technology it is,
and how many problems are we having Okay, the ones
we're having problems with, you know, bursting into flames and
and and some of the other issues. Yeah, that's sort
of a problem. But just I'm just here to report
the facts, folks. That's it. Every car we build goes
(05:33):
through rigorous quality checks, the company recently told c CNBC,
and must meet exact inspects, including break tests. To be
extremely clear, Tesla says we drive every Model three on
our test track to verify breaking, torque, squeal, and rattle.
There are no exceptions. That has not yet said whether
or not or when the tests may be reinstated, according
(05:53):
to test the workers at the Fremont, California factory, they
also conduct the Lineman checks on the g A three
or General Assembly Line three, using a system that was
designed in house. All vehicles have their brakes and alignment
tested on site after they're fully assembled and before they
leave the free month factory to go to a service
delivery center of the company confirmed Tesla has changed other
processes the speed of production. For instance, The New York
(06:15):
Times recently reported that Tesla reduced the number of spot
welds used in the Model three's underbellied by three or
six percent. Yeah, but you wonder how many spot wells
did it need. I the car is not cracking in
half or falling apart yet. Um, but that's that's to
us from Tesla and thanks to Eddie Coitus goit as Capital.
I've got to tell you my opinion is, and I
(06:37):
think it sort of ties into what I think when
somebody ask me what kind of car should I buy?
Have had people ask me how I want to buy
a Tesla? What do you think? My answer is, you know,
doesn't meet your lifestyle? How well will you? You know,
how well will it drive you where you want to go?
And how are you going to get it fixed? And
what are you gonna actually do with it? And you know,
the number one question when you're buying a car really
(06:58):
comes out to be who's gonna work on That's the
most important part of the car owning process, because if
if you're buying a Tesla and thinking Bob's garage down
the street is gonna work on it, You're in for
a very big and every rude shock. Uh. You know,
I think Tesla will sort their problems out, um, but
from a stock perspective, and you know, a can they
(07:19):
make it work perspective that's the backbreaker. Remember, it's about
making money, not necessarily making cars. That, um, that becomes
an issue. So but um, we'll just keep an eye
on that. We'll see what Tesla's got to say. I've
gotten a bunch of questions, uh this week regarding self
driving cars. Um uh, there was one here I wanted
to talk about. The fellow made a point. He said,
(07:41):
wait a minute, let me just find it. I can't
find it, but I can't remember the question. And he
brought out a good point. He said, you know, Ron,
you've got to remember, self driving cars are never going
to have a steering wheel or not have a steering
wheel in them. And I don't see the day when
that's gonna happen anytime soon or anytime in the immediate future.
And I've got to agree, I think the safety factors.
I'm amazed that they've got self driving cars and electric
(08:02):
vehicles and all this technology going and they give the
driver the ability to turn off the safety feature and
override it. That just boggles my mind. You know, that's
sort of like taking the taking the safety off the
gun while it's pointed at you and saying, nad, I'll
never go off. Um. You know that just doesn't make
any sense to me. I think you're just asking for trouble.
(08:23):
So uh, the key for self driving cars to me
limited operation, very exact specific procedures, very specific environment, and
short leash. Let's watch it and see what they do,
and um make sure that nothing bad happens or nothing nothing,
nothing additional bad happens, and maybe we'll get somewhere with it.
(08:46):
But we do need the technology if those have its
place eight zero running any of the car doctor we
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(09:08):
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(09:36):
to call for car advice. Done right eight five five
five zero nine zero zero Now back to Ron Hey,
let's get back and over and talk to Lindsay from
Pennsylvania looking for a car, Young lady, twenty six years old. Lindsey,
Welcome to the car Doctor. How can I help Hi?
I'm actually looking for a new car, and I'm looking
for an sud kind of looking between the super Reforce
(09:59):
and a rap for Hybrid. But I don't really know
what's the difference between the two and which one is
better and if there's even one better than that. So
both cars are super Forester or Toyota Hybrid. Both cars
are new, right, that's what you're saying. You're looking at
buying new, Lindsay, Okay, and then and then who's who's
(10:20):
going to work on it? I always come back to that.
That's that's I'm guessing you're a recent college graduate. This
is like the first set of real wheels. Yeah. The
car that I have now is used and I've never
purchased a new one before, so this is totally new
for me. So I would probably check with the dealership.
That's normally what I've been doing, right, Who's who's been
(10:42):
working on the used car? Now? The dealer before I
have a Ford, so it's been the Ford dealership that's
been working on it. How come you're not looking at
a new Ford just out of curiosity? I don't know,
I just was looking for something different, right, right? Have
you have you been to suggestions? Have you driven the
Forester or the hybrid? I have not driven any of them,
(11:05):
you know, I've just been kind of looking. So, you know,
picking a new car is kind of like dating, all right.
It's it's it's sort of you know, you you've got
to go out on a bunch of dates. You've got
to decide what do you like? Not like you know,
is you know, how does it handle? And how does
it feel? I mean that's, you know, no other way
to express it, all right. You know there may be
things that you like about the car during the day
(11:26):
that may change at night. There may be you know,
you've got to look at you know, how do the
controls feel if you're driving along at forty miles an
hour and you know, look down, Try and find the heat,
Try and find the radio. Is it difficult to make changes?
Try and find the power windows switches. You know, you're
you're you're moving out of an older ford. How old
is the ford? What kind of ford is it that
you're driving. Okay, so you're you're you're going from you know,
(11:50):
probably a d C three cargo plane from to you know,
you're gonna be going into the space shuttle here. All right,
this is this is a completely different animals. So there's
a lot of change now, you know, just keep in
mind that automatically you get into anything new, it's just
gonna feel better because it is. It's it's not a
(12:12):
thirteen year old vehicle either, all right, but you want to,
you know, try it out. Drive whatever you're gonna drive
at least twice, or maybe drive the first round once
and then when you get down to the final decision,
drive it, you know twice, Drive it once during the day,
once at night. I always tell everybody that when they're
buying a car, because the personality of the car will
change from you know, daytime to nighttime. You know, it's dark,
(12:35):
you know, can you see things in the dark? Can
you get to where you want to get? Et cetera?
What do you buy? Super huts are okay? Um? You
know everything out there is generally a good one thousand
mile car, alright. A hundred thousand miles seems to be
the breakpoint. And then you've got to the side how
long do you want to hang onto it? All right?
Unless you've got a lemon, most cars will go to
(12:55):
the hundred thousand mile mark with no problem. Today in
the minimum amount of maintenance, it's how long are you
gonna hang onto it? And what's the resale value? So
you've got to stop and look at that. Now you
know the hybrid. To me, the hybrid is are you
traveling far for work? Yes? That was one of the
reasons why I was looking into the hybrid because with
(13:17):
my car now I am spending a lot of money
on gas. Um have you compared or talked to the
insurance company with regard to the price difference between ensuring
a forester versus a hybrid versus something else? All right?
So that's got to be at the top of the list,
because this has got to be a numbers decision, all right.
(13:39):
When when when you're young, I'll talk to you like
I talked to one of my daughters when you're young
and starting out, all right, you've got to make a
decision based on numbers, not emotions. Okay, And you know
can can you can you afford X, Y and Z
and and what can you afford. The second question always becomes,
who's gonna work on it? If you're gonna buy the
Toyota and the Toyota deal is gonna work on it?
(14:01):
Great if If if you're gonna buy the Toyota and
you expect the family mechanic Bob's garage to work on it,
you gotta go talk to Bob and say, Bob, can
you work on this car? All right? The one drawback
of hybrids is that, you know, it's It's sort of
like when you buy a house. Most houses have asphalt
shingle roofs, and then once in a while you get
(14:22):
a house with a copper or a tin roof. Um,
they're both rufs. They're all rufe, they'll all keep you dry.
It's just one is a little more difficult to work
on than the other. So you know, sometimes that hybrid
vehicle is going to need the expertise of a dealer
tech to solve, you know, whatever the problem is. Most
of the maintenance is cut and dry. They generally don't break.
They're really pretty good, especially the Toyotas. Oh. I'd probably
(14:45):
give them the edge fifty miles all right, But you
gotta go drive one. You gotta you know, do you
like the experience. One of the things that's gonna boggle
your mind with the newer vehicles, no matter what you
pick a subar u, um uh, Toyota, even the new Fords,
the difference between most of them and that tourists that
(15:06):
you're driving is they're gonna have start stop technology. Are
you familiar with that? You know you're gonna pull up
to the stop sign and the car is gonna shut
off and you're gonna be like, what happened? Um, you know,
it's it's it's it's kind of weird. So, you know,
the other thing to think about is how long do
you plan to keep this car? Five years, ten years,
two hundred thousand miles, a hundred thousand miles and it's gone. Um,
(15:30):
you know you've got ah, You've got to sort that
out as well. I think if we're starting out and
we want to try and stay in that same budget
and time frame, let's look at the Forester. My my
my thought on a Forester is great, hundred hundred and
twenty thousand mile vehicle. They're a little pricey on correct maintenance,
correct maintenance. There's a lot of there's there's things that
(15:50):
people will cheat on, but they're a little pricing when
you do the correct maintenance. Um, the Toyota hybrid not
a bad choice. I would compare a gas version and
look at the price difference between gas and hybrid and
decide is it worth that much of a difference, all right?
And then you know, third third thing I look at
is yeah, I look at something comparable and afford Go
(16:11):
look at afford escape, you know, just to see what
that experience is like. The key for you is going
to be and a lot of people is who's gonna
work on it no matter how new it is, sooner
or later, it's gonna break. And you've got to be
able to resolve that in a in a proper manner
so you don't have any issues. Good, all right, So
(16:32):
but that's you know, that's clearly how I would, um,
how I would do it. And then also keep in mind,
like I said, talk to your insurance company, because I'm
willing to bet right off the bat, you don't have
collision on that, oh five tourists. Yeah, you'll have collision
on on all of these. So you gotta look at
what the rates are. And some of those cars are
are more money than others in terms of costs to ensure.
(16:54):
And then let's throw a fourth car in there. Um,
not exactly like what you're looking at, but let's just
go drive a hand to say of it, someone said
to me the other day, and I haven't verified this,
but you can buy a Honda Civic for under twenty grant.
It sounds like a lot of car for less than
twenty cheese. You know. You just got to the side
of Yeah, you know, you got to the side too.
If you're traveling in bad weather, is that going to
(17:15):
be what you want to be in in bad weather
as a bad weather vehicle? Uh? You know, so that's um,
that's just something to consider into the into the mix
as well. Alright, kidd, thank you, you're very welcome. You
got any questions, you know where to find me? All right,
thank you very much. You're very welcome. Linda, You take
good care. Um, it's tough, Tom, you know it's tough. One.
(17:35):
Kids go out and buy new vehicles today and um,
you know what are they gonna drive and how are
they gonna get it there? Let's real quick. Can I
sneak in an email? Run? My name is Maury. I
drove a fifteen Honda Civic. Oh look, I know I
saw a Civic in here somewhere. The manuel says, I
can tow one thousand pounds. Boy, this question sounds familiar.
I swear I answered this. The dealer says no, his
boat is a hundter and fifty pounds trailers to fifty.
Is this a problem with the CVT trans I wouldn't
(17:58):
just necessarily as the dealer. I would as the dealer.
Why does he say no? If the manual says he
can tell a thousand pounds, why does the dealer say no?
What is he basing that on? Now? Maybe you've got
to put an auxiliary trans cooler in, some type of
a device to cool the trans down. That would be
my first thought. But if the manual says you can
do it, why is the dealer saying you can't? And then,
by the same token, I would call Honda and speak
(18:19):
to their customer service team and ask them, Hey, the
manual says this, the dealer says no, what's the right answer.
What's your experience? Ben? I would also use the power
of the internet and google it. What's everybody out there doing?
Or you know, how are they doing it? Um? Are
they making it work? Is it? Um? Has it been
an issue for those that are trying to get it done?
So just some things to think about and deal with.
(18:41):
But I would say if you can do it, you can.
Now you've got to find out the proper procedure and
what sort of trans cooler you might need to get
the job done, and um, we'll kind of go from there. Maury,
thanks for the question. Eight five five zero zero zero.
I am Rondaninian, the Car Doctor, and I'll be back
right after this. Don't you go away? Second, remember when
(19:25):
the Wild Kids running int the car docer? By the way,
remember when the Wild Kids roade Honda's right, I mean
that was the that was a big deal that song
back in the sixties. Right, you know, first gear, second gear,
hold type, lean, right, et cetera. Um, wow, what if
you know? It's funny how a hundred years from now
they're gonna look back at cars and say, look at
(19:46):
how look at the dating of the time period and
and and look at what they represented. I still go
back to I enjoy watching the older shows. I was
watching Chips again as I'm still fascinated by Chips. I'm
still on a Chips kick. And um, you know the
cars that they were driving this week, the seventy eight Thunderbird,
the seventy eight Lincoln Continental that you know, plowed into
(20:06):
a Volkswagen Beetle and took the thing out and half
a heartbeat and the Lincoln drove away in the Volkswagon
was crushed. Um. Just really amazing stuff. When you look
at the the the epic proportions of some cars were
this big and some cars were this big, and we
we drove those things and you know, now everything is um.
You know. What else is interesting that when you look
at the older TV shows, all the cars had color.
(20:28):
They were all different colors, red, green, blue, white. Today
everything is white, silver, or black. You know, very the
country's very blah uh, you know, very different time periods,
so you know, things are changing. Speaking of change, By
the way, I've gotten more than a few questions, and
I thought this was a good tip to pass along.
I've gotten more than a few questions from your regarding
tires and you know, figuring out tire size and things
(20:48):
like that. If you go out to Goodyear dot com,
the folks are good Year Tire, Goodyear dot com. They've
made it very easy to determine tire size. You go
right from the start of the first page. You tell
him either the vehicle or you can actually plug and
this I thought this was neat. You can actually plug
your license plate in right on the website and your
state and it will match the vehicle by plate and
(21:11):
state plate and state. Hey like that, and it will
tell you what tire sizes you have. And then Atlanta
go find your tires online. So that's when the folks
are good year good year dot com. It's free and
open to everybody. You may want to take a look
at that and see what that does for you. So
in any event, let's get over and talk to Mitch
out in Oregon. Oh, five DoD and a list of codes.
Mitch Ronald Needing the car doctor at your service, sir,
(21:33):
how can I help? Hey, Ron, thanks for taking my call. Um, Well,
I got a friend. He's got the five Dodge and uh,
last week he was driving it and get fluttered a
little bit. The check engine light came on, it went
back off, and the truck drove fine the rest of
(21:53):
the week. A few days ago, he towed a trailer
about sixty eight miles up to our work. Happened and
it did find We unhook the trailer and then did
some running around and his truck died and we started
and checked into I came on. We tried to start
(22:13):
it up with about ten seat and died. So we
towed it back up to camp, which is about a
quarter mile the let we just let it set. The
next day we went into town, got a code reader,
came back and um plugged it in and it had
a whole bunch of codes. Um it had one one
code and eight Kendean codes. Okay, so that was a lot.
(22:40):
I don't know if you want to know those. Now
we'll give me what's the what's the what was the one,
you know, the hard failure, the heart faire sailor was
the random misfire. So it's it's got a zero three.
What were the others? Uh? Zero nine? Those are cranked
daft positions, sensor and crank circuits. And then you got
(23:04):
some seven stuff. And I'm wondering if if that was
if those scot set by being told, let me ask
you this question. What are you what are you using
for a code reader? O B D two You're going
in the O B D two side? Correct? Okay, here's
(23:25):
the problem if that has a communication fault with the
tip of module totally at the graded power module, which
is where I think this is going. By the way, Um,
you'll never see it on an O b D two fault,
it's not likely to see it. Here's an example where
it would really I think it would. It would tell
(23:46):
me a lot of things if you were scan this
by year, make model, vehicle specific. Here's a classic you know,
here's a classic example where you when you hear me
talking about you know, you can go in O b
D two or you can go in vehicle specific. Vehicle
specific will access all modules on the vehicle, while O
b D two will only access typically engine trans things
(24:08):
that are strictly and specifically amissions related. Because that's what
O b D two is about, right, So you could
spend some time looking for, you know, something that isn't there.
My my, one of my rules of thumb is when
I get a car that's doing intermittent weird things, I
(24:29):
do a complete vehicle scan or I want to, all right,
because I'm looking for I'm looking for more information. Okay, Um,
so so what I did is as I wrote the
coach down, UM, I cleared them all, and I thought, okay,
let's let's drive and see what comes back and maybe
just deal with with a lower level of codes um.
(24:50):
And nothing has come back, and it's driving fine, right,
And here's a case that had the next time it happens,
I would I you could scan it O B D
two wise for example, if but if the tip of
them or the totally integrated power module which is sort
of like the central data bus communication fault out on
(25:15):
the vehicle under the hood. If if, if that's got
an issue, it may or may not set an O
B D two fault. It may only set something vehicle specific,
manufacturer specific. So so it needs a dealer. Uh well,
you make models. How many how many telephones do you
have in your house? Oh, they're all cell phones, so
(25:35):
uh three. Well, let's say that. Let's say they were
all hardwired. Okay, call one call one PCM, one TCM
trans control module and the other one tip them totally
integrated power module. If if the PCM and the TCM
are on the same data bus, meaning they're on the
same network, all right, they'll always talk to each other,
(25:57):
but they won't talk to the tip of them. Or
maybe the tip UM is the central point between the
two and they don't speak directly to each other. They
both have to go through the tip of module. And
maybe there's maybe there's three others on that same data
bus and they all have to go through the tip
of module. But the PCM software maybe such that it
doesn't allow it to tell O B D two, Hey
(26:18):
I lost touch with TIPPAM. I just said cam crank
and you know, seven misfire faults and it doesn't know why.
It's it's sort of like scanning at O B D two.
You're only getting half the picture, You're only getting half
the data. So that's that's that's why, you know, it
kind of comes back to that. We scan cars today
(26:39):
for some of the goofiest things that you would never expect.
You know, I sit there and I say to myself
and I'm trying to think. I had a vehicle the
other day the windshield wipers didn't work. I scanned codes
and there was and there was a communication fault in
the instrument cluster that was preventing the wipers from coming on.
You know, it's it's just it's just getting to that point,
or it's past that point. Really is the point? So okay,
(27:02):
you know. Now in the meantime before I let you go,
and I know you got another question, I'll give you
that one sec is just cover the basics. Look for
a wiring harness that's rubbing or rough, Look for the
you know, the battery cables loose. How do all the
grounds appear all right? You know, and just just make
sure everything's intact. It is a twelve year old, thirteen
year old vehicle right right, and it feels like you're
(27:26):
just driving around on eggshells waiting for it to that,
you know. Um, So if I could maybe get a
scan tool that could scan it by your make model,
it may show me something. Probably at this point you've
cleared it, but it can't hurt to look if you
can get a you know, it's listen, if you can
(27:46):
get your hands on a scan tool for free, it's
gonna question nothing to look at, and it's you know. Typically, um,
just about every scan tool today has a complete system
scan as one of the menu choices. Turn the key on,
plug it in, set it up, and it go. Baby.
If it comes back clean, then you know where you are.
If it doesn't, it may give you something to shoot
for and from little acorns mighty oaks grow and then
(28:10):
in the meantime, with this drive and wait for something.
That's all you can do. That's all right brother, this
point all right, you keep me posted. But um yeah,
that's the O B D two versus your make model
speech for today. Okay, all right, I will I will
keep you posted. All right. You take good care of Thanks,
thanks MACKO zero. The car doctors coming back right after this.
(28:31):
When the family car needs some fixing, there's only two
things that really matter, getting the right part and getting
some good advice. It's a pretty safe bet that, with
over a million parts in stock, pet Boys has the
right part right now. The pet Boys pros are extensively
trained to find the right part for just about any
car or truck. Better yet, these pros can also handle
the entire installation or service needed. It's always good to
(28:54):
have options and know the pet Boys Pros have it
covered either way. For the best in car advice, give
Ron a call eight by five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. Now back to Ron. Hey, I'm glad
you kind of turned this way. And turn the mike
(29:15):
button on. Tom. You're getting nervous there, Hey, I get
busy when I have to do things like sweep the
floor and everything else. And Tony's not here, by the way,
you missed the spot in the corner over there. Um yeah,
I'll spot you Tony of the back next week. So
let me get over to the phone. Let's gonna talk
to Jerry and Omaha, Nebraska. How are things in beautiful
Omaha today, Jerry, ron and needing the car doctor at
your service. It's a little bit warm. Button almost agrees,
(29:37):
but not bad. Sorry, we're not allowed to do the weather.
I get yelled at if I ask the weather report.
But thanks for sharing that. Some people have no sense
of humor. So how can I help you today? Jerry?
What's going on? I got Tonto and I got new
break pads all the way around, and I was wondering
the rotors aren't really scared or anything not, just wondering
(29:57):
if I should just resurface summer getting new. Well, the
issue comes back to one of a few things. One
how thick are the rotors to begin with? It's always
gotta be minimum thickness based on whether or not we machine.
You should buy the book by industry standard, machine the
rotor or give the brake pad a fresh rot or
to adhere to. You know that that rough surface of
(30:19):
the rotor does a few things. Number one, it's it's
it's clean and provides maximum friction ability as the pad
breaks in. But more importantly it's pad breaking. It helps
raise the temperature of the pad evenly and smoothly. It helps,
you know, there's there's certain resins that are baked into
the brake pad. If you sit and talk to a
break guy and he'll tell you that the initial surface
(30:41):
temperature of the brake pad against itself, you know, it
helps evenly cure the pad and you know, cure the
It's like baking the cake. The way the way it
was explained to me once was, you know, brake pads
are like cakes that come out of the oven that
are baked about the way that initial application for fifty
to seventy miles bakes at the remaining five. It so
that that that unfinished machine surface, so to speak, is
(31:05):
what is, you know, and that's why they say it's breaking.
It's a break in period. It's got I bought it
when I had thirty thousand miles and there was just
a one older and has got forty six thousand miles
on it now. And I haven't taken the wheels off
the check to see how thick they are, right, I mean, if, if,
if they'll stand to cut cut them. If not, you know,
(31:27):
it's I'm gonna tell you to change them. I'm also
going to tell you to look at the rotor on
the inside. I'm not sure why. Well, maybe it's got
to do it the way they go down the road.
But it seems like the majority of cars in the
last eight or ten years we always noticed the inside face,
not just keys, but everything. Um, the inside face is
the one that always seems to rust or de laminate
or peel or you know that that that shiny side
(31:49):
of the road or just doesn't look so shiny. And
obviously that's real important because a you can't machine against
rot If if if the inside face of the rotor
is rot and and and un machineable, you're you're cutting
down the coefficient of friction, I think is the college word,
if I want to talk like hi tech um and
the ability for the car to stop by if that's
(32:10):
not a smooth surface on the inside, I don't think
they've ever been changed because I got it at and
you could, you know, and then you can also replace
the rotors, but you know that's obviously a more costly proposition. Yeah,
I was just wondering. I don't know if there's any
good rotors out there. They all seem like the cars
I had in the past. I got replacements and they
warped for a couple of years. Well, And I think
(32:32):
a lot of that has to do with um, you know, uh,
brand choice and where they're coming from. Do you have
an O'reillyoto parts out there in Omaha? Yes. We stop
by the folks in Orillyota parts. Ask him, Hey, what works,
what's not gonna warp? Ask them if they have power stop,
if they have power stop break rotors. If they do,
I put them on all day long. I have absolutely
(32:53):
no qualms. I have very very very few problems knock
Wood with power stop pads, powers, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
power stop rotors, power stop break rotors. They've they've been
really good the cars I've had before. I just had
bad luck with new rotors. Yeah, and a lot of
people do. And I think a lot of it has
(33:14):
to do with, uh, you know, a lot of it
has to do with just cheap roters in white boxes
that are being reboxed I'm curious not to get political,
but i will for a quick thirty seconds. I'm curious
what President Trump's tariffs are gonna do with our trade
with China in terms of bringing in cheaper car parts.
And I'm wondering how it's gonna slow things down, and
maybe maybe I'm kind of hopeful we'll see an increase
(33:36):
in better car parts made here that have a better
quality to them. That's what I was hoping for, because
everything made in China and that it's just it's not good. No,
it just it doesn't seem to hold to a good
exact standard. Sound. Looks like all the break rotors are
pretty much made over in China. You as it's gonna
be really interesting the next couple of years. Jerry, I
(33:57):
gotta go. I'm up against the clock, Babe. You enjoy
Omahana breast, can have yourself a good rest of the weekend.
And if you have any other questions, you know where
to find me. I'm runing anding in the car doctor zero.
We're back right after this taking it home. Runing ading
(34:19):
in the car. Doctor. Let's do our real fixed sure
track fixing the week from the folks at Mitchell one,
Mitchell one dot com for those you're looking for the information.
The neat thing about a real fixed sure Track, and
we talk about this every week, is the fact that
these are real world pattern fixes right from the Mitchell
one database, right from the sure Track information source. So
today's titled is What's in the Trunk? What do you
(34:40):
do if you have junk in the trunk but you
can't get to your trunk open with a button where
you could with your key. But that's a lot of effort.
Follow this real fix to see how an inoperable trunk
release is diagnosed and repairing on the Chevy Malibu. And
the thing I thought about when I was reading this
one is a lot of cars don't have keys anymore.
A lot of cars just have it's the trunk release
button or the fob or the button on the dash.
There are no keys in trunks anymore, so sometimes you
(35:02):
really got to fix the trunk. This one started out
as a two thousand three Chevy Malibu. And I like
this one also because think about before when we were
talking about what it takes to fix cars and what
kind of technology is there. Um it had a trouble
code B thirty two sixty seven, which was a deck
lid output relay short to ground or open. The customers
stated the deck lid did not open. They used a
(35:24):
scan tool, and we're also talking to someone recently this
hour about using a scan tool for silly things. Well,
here's one that you wouldn't think to use one for.
They used the scan tool to look at live data
and found the deck lid release relay indicated active. They
took the release and relay out. It's still indicated active.
They used the digital bolt dollmeter, measured the circuits for
a shorter or open the ground or power found one,
(35:46):
put a BCM in it about body, computer module, flashed
it and the vehicle was fixed. Just goes to show
you you've got to use a scan tool for everything,
and things like mitchell Real Fix, Sure track one really
do help more at Mitchell one dot com. Until the
next time I'll run a needy in the car doctor.
The mechanics aren't expensive, they're placeless. See you
Ron Ananian, I've got to wonder about self driving cars,
I really do. I've got to look at this very carefully.
And you've got to how will the car no it's broken?
Other than it will stop driving the Car Doctor. You
(00:28):
drive your car? Who doesn't know when their car isn't right?
What do you do? You get a sense of sound?
Either breaks your noisy? It seems like they're gonna have
to give that car the smarts of a person. Welcome
to the radio home of Ron and Anian the Car Doctor.
Since this is where car owners the world overturned to
(00:49):
for their definitive opinion on automotive repair. If your mechanics
giving you a busy signal, pick up the phone and
call in the garage. Orders are open, but I am
here to take your calls at eight five five five
six and now running. Hey, it's time to start your engines.
(01:09):
A long and welcome pens for stopping by the garage today.
I'm monitating in the Car Doctor here at eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. The Car
Doctor seven phone number again eight by five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. More information about this radio show.
Car Doctor show dot com. Uh the ability to podcast
if you're using some sort of device up double pot
or whether podcast player are you using, please click subscribe,
(01:31):
And if you're out at Spreaker, you can click follow.
And just in general, we're just trying to drive the
podcast numbers, um, as well as the radio show numbers.
You know, we're we're twofold business operation here as when
we try to step out from behind the microphone once
in a while and talk about it, but not much,
and we appreciate your support. We also appreciate the fact
that listen a lot of choices out there. We appreciate
that you're spending some time with us, so we try
(01:52):
to give you some quality information because that's what this
radio show is and has been about the past twenty
seven years. A long time ago. I think I was
better looking then. Um, I want to talk about Tesla.
Do you no comment from Tom? That's because Tom's alone
in the booth today and I got uh the often imitated,
(02:13):
never duplicated one and only no bologning, not a phony,
Thomas Ray the third. How are you today? Tom? It's
you know, it's good man. UM, that's good. I appreciate
you taking the time to be with me. Otherwise I'd
be here by myself, and that would be scary. Well,
you know people would hear exactly, yeah, that would be
you know, but you know you said this, this was
a twofold business. And why did you give me specific
(02:33):
instructions on the shirts you want folded here? Well, because
you know, I I want to get everything done. It's
we're getting ready for the annual company picnic and the
uniform of the day will be T shirts. So I've
got Lucy the Wonder Dog in here with me. She's sleeping.
I think she's getting old. She's like eight now, really, yeah,
she's getting Yeah, she's worn out. We were throwing the
ball for the backyard of the studio and um, I
(02:56):
think we've worn her out. So either that or either
that or she's typical at the audience. I'm putting everybody
to sleep today. Yeah, I could be um or talk
about Tesla. Eddie goid as good as capital. It keeps
me abreast of what's going on with with with Tesla,
and it's and it's interesting, you know, it's an interesting article.
Tesla stopped a break and role test as it pushed
(03:18):
to hit Model three goals. I'm not sure where Tesla
is going all right, and it's kind of scary some
of the stuff you eat, and that's what's here. You know,
I get it. I think I think very long term plan.
If they can survive and produce enough money, I think
companies like Tesla, we'll take us to the planets. The
idea of electric and alternate fuel vehicles and things like that,
I think that's going to happen. But it's the learning
(03:41):
curve down here that sort of scares me. Tesla has
decided to skip of breaking role test and the manufacturing
of its Model three vehicles. The Model three, for those
of you that may not know, is a key piece
of product for Tesla. They're really struggling with it and
trying real hard to get it to work, because it's
it's the bread and butter car. It's you know, it's there.
(04:04):
It's their Chevy and Palace, so to speak. It's it's
the car that everybody can drive and own and operate
and so forth, and it's it's it's the cheapest of
the line, Tesla says, it's model it tests the Model
three breaks in alignment and other parts of the factories
of the tests were redundant shares in the electric vehicle
maker plunged by six percent or more on Tuesday and
midday training. This camp to us from July three just
(04:26):
be to this middle of this week as it pushed
to hit electric vehicle production targets for the quarter, test
that decided to skip break and role testing for its
Model three sedan and its Fremont factory. The news was
first reported by Business Insider. The company managed to meet
a self imposed deadline to produce five thousand Model three
cars in a week after several quarters of missing its goals,
but Testlas stock plunged by more than seven percent to
(04:48):
the day the article changed it. Like other automakers, the
company is facing tarifts that will take on Friday, that's yesterday,
And yesterday the cfr A downgraded the stock from hold
to sell, saying the company's birtht production rate for its
Model three won't be sustainable. You gotta wonder what is
the long term capability of Tesla. You know, you see
them on the road. They look nice, but are they
able to are they able to really deliver? On the
(05:12):
plus side, you think about how many of them are
out there, and and what kind of technology it is,
and how many problems are we having Okay, the ones
we're having problems with, you know, bursting into flames and
and and some of the other issues. Yeah, that's sort
of a problem. But just I'm just here to report
the facts, folks. That's it. Every car we build goes
(05:33):
through rigorous quality checks, the company recently told c CNBC,
and must meet exact inspects, including break tests. To be
extremely clear, Tesla says we drive every Model three on
our test track to verify breaking, torque, squeal, and rattle.
There are no exceptions. That has not yet said whether
or not or when the tests may be reinstated, according
(05:53):
to test the workers at the Fremont, California factory, they
also conduct the Lineman checks on the g A three
or General Assembly Line three, using a system that was
designed in house. All vehicles have their brakes and alignment
tested on site after they're fully assembled and before they
leave the free month factory to go to a service
delivery center of the company confirmed Tesla has changed other
processes the speed of production. For instance, The New York
(06:15):
Times recently reported that Tesla reduced the number of spot
welds used in the Model three's underbellied by three or
six percent. Yeah, but you wonder how many spot wells
did it need. I the car is not cracking in
half or falling apart yet. Um, but that's that's to
us from Tesla and thanks to Eddie Coitus goit as Capital.
I've got to tell you my opinion is, and I
(06:37):
think it sort of ties into what I think when
somebody ask me what kind of car should I buy?
Have had people ask me how I want to buy
a Tesla? What do you think? My answer is, you know,
doesn't meet your lifestyle? How well will you? You know,
how well will it drive you where you want to go?
And how are you going to get it fixed? And
what are you gonna actually do with it? And you know,
the number one question when you're buying a car really
(06:58):
comes out to be who's gonna work on That's the
most important part of the car owning process, because if
if you're buying a Tesla and thinking Bob's garage down
the street is gonna work on it, You're in for
a very big and every rude shock. Uh. You know,
I think Tesla will sort their problems out, um, but
from a stock perspective, and you know, a can they
(07:19):
make it work perspective that's the backbreaker. Remember, it's about
making money, not necessarily making cars. That, um, that becomes
an issue. So but um, we'll just keep an eye
on that. We'll see what Tesla's got to say. I've
gotten a bunch of questions, uh this week regarding self
driving cars. Um uh, there was one here I wanted
to talk about. The fellow made a point. He said,
(07:41):
wait a minute, let me just find it. I can't
find it, but I can't remember the question. And he
brought out a good point. He said, you know, Ron,
you've got to remember, self driving cars are never going
to have a steering wheel or not have a steering
wheel in them. And I don't see the day when
that's gonna happen anytime soon or anytime in the immediate future.
And I've got to agree, I think the safety factors.
I'm amazed that they've got self driving cars and electric
(08:02):
vehicles and all this technology going and they give the
driver the ability to turn off the safety feature and
override it. That just boggles my mind. You know, that's
sort of like taking the taking the safety off the
gun while it's pointed at you and saying, nad, I'll
never go off. Um. You know that just doesn't make
any sense to me. I think you're just asking for trouble.
(08:23):
So uh, the key for self driving cars to me
limited operation, very exact specific procedures, very specific environment, and
short leash. Let's watch it and see what they do,
and um make sure that nothing bad happens or nothing nothing,
nothing additional bad happens, and maybe we'll get somewhere with it.
(08:46):
But we do need the technology if those have its
place eight zero running any of the car doctor we
are coming back right after this. Don't go away when
the family car needs some fixing. There's only two things
that really matter, getting the right part and getting some
gooded vice. It's a pretty safe bet that, with over
a million parts in stock, pet Boys has the right
part right now. The pet Boys pros are extensively trained
(09:08):
to find the right part for just about any car truck.
Better yet, these pros can also handle the entire installation
or service needed. It's always good to have options and no,
the pet Boys pros have it covered either way. I
do right it on the wall, so you don't forget
(09:36):
to call for car advice. Done right eight five five
five zero nine zero zero Now back to Ron Hey,
let's get back and over and talk to Lindsay from
Pennsylvania looking for a car, Young lady, twenty six years old. Lindsey,
Welcome to the car Doctor. How can I help Hi?
I'm actually looking for a new car, and I'm looking
for an sud kind of looking between the super Reforce
(09:59):
and a rap for Hybrid. But I don't really know
what's the difference between the two and which one is
better and if there's even one better than that. So
both cars are super Forester or Toyota Hybrid. Both cars
are new, right, that's what you're saying. You're looking at
buying new, Lindsay, Okay, and then and then who's who's
(10:20):
going to work on it? I always come back to that.
That's that's I'm guessing you're a recent college graduate. This
is like the first set of real wheels. Yeah. The
car that I have now is used and I've never
purchased a new one before, so this is totally new
for me. So I would probably check with the dealership.
That's normally what I've been doing, right, Who's who's been
(10:42):
working on the used car? Now? The dealer before I
have a Ford, so it's been the Ford dealership that's
been working on it. How come you're not looking at
a new Ford just out of curiosity? I don't know,
I just was looking for something different, right, right? Have
you have you been to suggestions? Have you driven the
Forester or the hybrid? I have not driven any of them,
(11:05):
you know, I've just been kind of looking. So, you know,
picking a new car is kind of like dating, all right.
It's it's it's sort of you know, you you've got
to go out on a bunch of dates. You've got
to decide what do you like? Not like you know,
is you know, how does it handle? And how does
it feel? I mean that's, you know, no other way
to express it, all right. You know there may be
things that you like about the car during the day
(11:26):
that may change at night. There may be you know,
you've got to look at you know, how do the
controls feel if you're driving along at forty miles an
hour and you know, look down, Try and find the heat,
Try and find the radio. Is it difficult to make changes?
Try and find the power windows switches. You know, you're
you're you're moving out of an older ford. How old
is the ford? What kind of ford is it that
you're driving. Okay, so you're you're you're going from you know,
(11:50):
probably a d C three cargo plane from to you know,
you're gonna be going into the space shuttle here. All right,
this is this is a completely different animals. So there's
a lot of change now, you know, just keep in
mind that automatically you get into anything new, it's just
gonna feel better because it is. It's it's not a
(12:12):
thirteen year old vehicle either, all right, but you want to,
you know, try it out. Drive whatever you're gonna drive
at least twice, or maybe drive the first round once
and then when you get down to the final decision,
drive it, you know twice, Drive it once during the day,
once at night. I always tell everybody that when they're
buying a car, because the personality of the car will
change from you know, daytime to nighttime. You know, it's dark,
(12:35):
you know, can you see things in the dark? Can
you get to where you want to get? Et cetera?
What do you buy? Super huts are okay? Um? You
know everything out there is generally a good one thousand
mile car, alright. A hundred thousand miles seems to be
the breakpoint. And then you've got to the side how
long do you want to hang onto it? All right?
Unless you've got a lemon, most cars will go to
(12:55):
the hundred thousand mile mark with no problem. Today in
the minimum amount of maintenance, it's how long are you
gonna hang onto it? And what's the resale value? So
you've got to stop and look at that. Now you
know the hybrid. To me, the hybrid is are you
traveling far for work? Yes? That was one of the
reasons why I was looking into the hybrid because with
(13:17):
my car now I am spending a lot of money
on gas. Um have you compared or talked to the
insurance company with regard to the price difference between ensuring
a forester versus a hybrid versus something else? All right?
So that's got to be at the top of the list,
because this has got to be a numbers decision, all right.
(13:39):
When when when you're young, I'll talk to you like
I talked to one of my daughters when you're young
and starting out, all right, you've got to make a
decision based on numbers, not emotions. Okay, And you know
can can you can you afford X, Y and Z
and and what can you afford. The second question always becomes,
who's gonna work on it? If you're gonna buy the
Toyota and the Toyota deal is gonna work on it?
(14:01):
Great if If if you're gonna buy the Toyota and
you expect the family mechanic Bob's garage to work on it,
you gotta go talk to Bob and say, Bob, can
you work on this car? All right? The one drawback
of hybrids is that, you know, it's It's sort of
like when you buy a house. Most houses have asphalt
shingle roofs, and then once in a while you get
(14:22):
a house with a copper or a tin roof. Um,
they're both rufs. They're all rufe, they'll all keep you dry.
It's just one is a little more difficult to work
on than the other. So you know, sometimes that hybrid
vehicle is going to need the expertise of a dealer
tech to solve, you know, whatever the problem is. Most
of the maintenance is cut and dry. They generally don't break.
They're really pretty good, especially the Toyotas. Oh. I'd probably
(14:45):
give them the edge fifty miles all right, But you
gotta go drive one. You gotta you know, do you
like the experience. One of the things that's gonna boggle
your mind with the newer vehicles, no matter what you
pick a subar u, um uh, Toyota, even the new Fords,
the difference between most of them and that tourists that
(15:06):
you're driving is they're gonna have start stop technology. Are
you familiar with that? You know you're gonna pull up
to the stop sign and the car is gonna shut
off and you're gonna be like, what happened? Um, you know,
it's it's it's it's kind of weird. So, you know,
the other thing to think about is how long do
you plan to keep this car? Five years, ten years,
two hundred thousand miles, a hundred thousand miles and it's gone. Um,
(15:30):
you know you've got ah, You've got to sort that
out as well. I think if we're starting out and
we want to try and stay in that same budget
and time frame, let's look at the Forester. My my
my thought on a Forester is great, hundred hundred and
twenty thousand mile vehicle. They're a little pricey on correct maintenance,
correct maintenance. There's a lot of there's there's things that
(15:50):
people will cheat on, but they're a little pricing when
you do the correct maintenance. Um, the Toyota hybrid not
a bad choice. I would compare a gas version and
look at the price difference between gas and hybrid and
decide is it worth that much of a difference, all right?
And then you know, third third thing I look at
is yeah, I look at something comparable and afford Go
(16:11):
look at afford escape, you know, just to see what
that experience is like. The key for you is going
to be and a lot of people is who's gonna
work on it no matter how new it is, sooner
or later, it's gonna break. And you've got to be
able to resolve that in a in a proper manner
so you don't have any issues. Good, all right, So
(16:32):
but that's you know, that's clearly how I would, um,
how I would do it. And then also keep in mind,
like I said, talk to your insurance company, because I'm
willing to bet right off the bat, you don't have
collision on that, oh five tourists. Yeah, you'll have collision
on on all of these. So you gotta look at
what the rates are. And some of those cars are
are more money than others in terms of costs to ensure.
(16:54):
And then let's throw a fourth car in there. Um,
not exactly like what you're looking at, but let's just
go drive a hand to say of it, someone said
to me the other day, and I haven't verified this,
but you can buy a Honda Civic for under twenty grant.
It sounds like a lot of car for less than
twenty cheese. You know. You just got to the side
of Yeah, you know, you got to the side too.
If you're traveling in bad weather, is that going to
(17:15):
be what you want to be in in bad weather
as a bad weather vehicle? Uh? You know, so that's um,
that's just something to consider into the into the mix
as well. Alright, kidd, thank you, you're very welcome. You
got any questions, you know where to find me? All right,
thank you very much. You're very welcome. Linda, You take
good care. Um, it's tough, Tom, you know it's tough. One.
(17:35):
Kids go out and buy new vehicles today and um,
you know what are they gonna drive and how are
they gonna get it there? Let's real quick. Can I
sneak in an email? Run? My name is Maury. I
drove a fifteen Honda Civic. Oh look, I know I
saw a Civic in here somewhere. The manuel says, I
can tow one thousand pounds. Boy, this question sounds familiar.
I swear I answered this. The dealer says no, his
boat is a hundter and fifty pounds trailers to fifty.
Is this a problem with the CVT trans I wouldn't
(17:58):
just necessarily as the dealer. I would as the dealer.
Why does he say no? If the manual says he
can tell a thousand pounds, why does the dealer say no?
What is he basing that on? Now? Maybe you've got
to put an auxiliary trans cooler in, some type of
a device to cool the trans down. That would be
my first thought. But if the manual says you can
do it, why is the dealer saying you can't? And then,
by the same token, I would call Honda and speak
(18:19):
to their customer service team and ask them, Hey, the
manual says this, the dealer says no, what's the right answer.
What's your experience? Ben? I would also use the power
of the internet and google it. What's everybody out there doing?
Or you know, how are they doing it? Um? Are
they making it work? Is it? Um? Has it been
an issue for those that are trying to get it done?
So just some things to think about and deal with.
(18:41):
But I would say if you can do it, you can.
Now you've got to find out the proper procedure and
what sort of trans cooler you might need to get
the job done, and um, we'll kind of go from there. Maury,
thanks for the question. Eight five five zero zero zero.
I am Rondaninian, the Car Doctor, and I'll be back
right after this. Don't you go away? Second, remember when
(19:25):
the Wild Kids running int the car docer? By the way,
remember when the Wild Kids roade Honda's right, I mean
that was the that was a big deal that song
back in the sixties. Right, you know, first gear, second gear,
hold type, lean, right, et cetera. Um, wow, what if
you know? It's funny how a hundred years from now
they're gonna look back at cars and say, look at
(19:46):
how look at the dating of the time period and
and and look at what they represented. I still go
back to I enjoy watching the older shows. I was
watching Chips again as I'm still fascinated by Chips. I'm
still on a Chips kick. And um, you know the
cars that they were driving this week, the seventy eight Thunderbird,
the seventy eight Lincoln Continental that you know, plowed into
(20:06):
a Volkswagen Beetle and took the thing out and half
a heartbeat and the Lincoln drove away in the Volkswagon
was crushed. Um. Just really amazing stuff. When you look
at the the the epic proportions of some cars were
this big and some cars were this big, and we
we drove those things and you know, now everything is um.
You know. What else is interesting that when you look
at the older TV shows, all the cars had color.
(20:28):
They were all different colors, red, green, blue, white. Today
everything is white, silver, or black. You know, very the
country's very blah uh, you know, very different time periods,
so you know, things are changing. Speaking of change, By
the way, I've gotten more than a few questions, and
I thought this was a good tip to pass along.
I've gotten more than a few questions from your regarding
tires and you know, figuring out tire size and things
(20:48):
like that. If you go out to Goodyear dot com,
the folks are good Year Tire, Goodyear dot com. They've
made it very easy to determine tire size. You go
right from the start of the first page. You tell
him either the vehicle or you can actually plug and
this I thought this was neat. You can actually plug
your license plate in right on the website and your
state and it will match the vehicle by plate and
(21:11):
state plate and state. Hey like that, and it will
tell you what tire sizes you have. And then Atlanta
go find your tires online. So that's when the folks
are good year good year dot com. It's free and
open to everybody. You may want to take a look
at that and see what that does for you. So
in any event, let's get over and talk to Mitch
out in Oregon. Oh, five DoD and a list of codes.
Mitch Ronald Needing the car doctor at your service, sir,
(21:33):
how can I help? Hey, Ron, thanks for taking my call. Um, Well,
I got a friend. He's got the five Dodge and uh,
last week he was driving it and get fluttered a
little bit. The check engine light came on, it went
back off, and the truck drove fine the rest of
(21:53):
the week. A few days ago, he towed a trailer
about sixty eight miles up to our work. Happened and
it did find We unhook the trailer and then did
some running around and his truck died and we started
and checked into I came on. We tried to start
(22:13):
it up with about ten seat and died. So we
towed it back up to camp, which is about a
quarter mile the let we just let it set. The
next day we went into town, got a code reader,
came back and um plugged it in and it had
a whole bunch of codes. Um it had one one
code and eight Kendean codes. Okay, so that was a lot.
(22:40):
I don't know if you want to know those. Now
we'll give me what's the what's the what was the one,
you know, the hard failure, the heart faire sailor was
the random misfire. So it's it's got a zero three.
What were the others? Uh? Zero nine? Those are cranked
daft positions, sensor and crank circuits. And then you got
(23:04):
some seven stuff. And I'm wondering if if that was
if those scot set by being told, let me ask
you this question. What are you what are you using
for a code reader? O B D two You're going
in the O B D two side? Correct? Okay, here's
(23:25):
the problem if that has a communication fault with the
tip of module totally at the graded power module, which
is where I think this is going. By the way, Um,
you'll never see it on an O b D two fault,
it's not likely to see it. Here's an example where
it would really I think it would. It would tell
(23:46):
me a lot of things if you were scan this
by year, make model, vehicle specific. Here's a classic you know,
here's a classic example where you when you hear me
talking about you know, you can go in O b
D two or you can go in vehicle specific. Vehicle
specific will access all modules on the vehicle, while O
b D two will only access typically engine trans things
(24:08):
that are strictly and specifically amissions related. Because that's what
O b D two is about, right, So you could
spend some time looking for, you know, something that isn't there.
My my, one of my rules of thumb is when
I get a car that's doing intermittent weird things, I
(24:29):
do a complete vehicle scan or I want to, all right,
because I'm looking for I'm looking for more information. Okay, Um,
so so what I did is as I wrote the
coach down, UM, I cleared them all, and I thought, okay,
let's let's drive and see what comes back and maybe
just deal with with a lower level of codes um.
(24:50):
And nothing has come back, and it's driving fine, right,
And here's a case that had the next time it happens,
I would I you could scan it O B D
two wise for example, if but if the tip of
them or the totally integrated power module which is sort
of like the central data bus communication fault out on
(25:15):
the vehicle under the hood. If if, if that's got
an issue, it may or may not set an O
B D two fault. It may only set something vehicle specific,
manufacturer specific. So so it needs a dealer. Uh well,
you make models. How many how many telephones do you
have in your house? Oh, they're all cell phones, so
(25:35):
uh three. Well, let's say that. Let's say they were
all hardwired. Okay, call one call one PCM, one TCM
trans control module and the other one tip them totally
integrated power module. If if the PCM and the TCM
are on the same data bus, meaning they're on the
same network, all right, they'll always talk to each other,
(25:57):
but they won't talk to the tip of them. Or
maybe the tip UM is the central point between the
two and they don't speak directly to each other. They
both have to go through the tip of module. And
maybe there's maybe there's three others on that same data
bus and they all have to go through the tip
of module. But the PCM software maybe such that it
doesn't allow it to tell O B D two, Hey
(26:18):
I lost touch with TIPPAM. I just said cam crank
and you know, seven misfire faults and it doesn't know why.
It's it's sort of like scanning at O B D two.
You're only getting half the picture, You're only getting half
the data. So that's that's that's why, you know, it
kind of comes back to that. We scan cars today
(26:39):
for some of the goofiest things that you would never expect.
You know, I sit there and I say to myself
and I'm trying to think. I had a vehicle the
other day the windshield wipers didn't work. I scanned codes
and there was and there was a communication fault in
the instrument cluster that was preventing the wipers from coming on.
You know, it's it's just it's just getting to that point,
or it's past that point. Really is the point? So okay,
(27:02):
you know. Now in the meantime before I let you go,
and I know you got another question, I'll give you
that one sec is just cover the basics. Look for
a wiring harness that's rubbing or rough, Look for the
you know, the battery cables loose. How do all the
grounds appear all right? You know, and just just make
sure everything's intact. It is a twelve year old, thirteen
year old vehicle right right, and it feels like you're
(27:26):
just driving around on eggshells waiting for it to that,
you know. Um, So if I could maybe get a
scan tool that could scan it by your make model,
it may show me something. Probably at this point you've
cleared it, but it can't hurt to look if you
can get a you know, it's listen, if you can
(27:46):
get your hands on a scan tool for free, it's
gonna question nothing to look at, and it's you know. Typically, um,
just about every scan tool today has a complete system
scan as one of the menu choices. Turn the key on,
plug it in, set it up, and it go. Baby.
If it comes back clean, then you know where you are.
If it doesn't, it may give you something to shoot
for and from little acorns mighty oaks grow and then
(28:10):
in the meantime, with this drive and wait for something.
That's all you can do. That's all right brother, this
point all right, you keep me posted. But um yeah,
that's the O B D two versus your make model
speech for today. Okay, all right, I will I will
keep you posted. All right. You take good care of Thanks,
thanks MACKO zero. The car doctors coming back right after this.
(28:31):
When the family car needs some fixing, there's only two
things that really matter, getting the right part and getting
some good advice. It's a pretty safe bet that, with
over a million parts in stock, pet Boys has the
right part right now. The pet Boys pros are extensively
trained to find the right part for just about any
car or truck. Better yet, these pros can also handle
the entire installation or service needed. It's always good to
(28:54):
have options and know the pet Boys Pros have it
covered either way. For the best in car advice, give
Ron a call eight by five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. Now back to Ron. Hey, I'm glad
you kind of turned this way. And turn the mike
(29:15):
button on. Tom. You're getting nervous there, Hey, I get
busy when I have to do things like sweep the
floor and everything else. And Tony's not here, by the way,
you missed the spot in the corner over there. Um yeah,
I'll spot you Tony of the back next week. So
let me get over to the phone. Let's gonna talk
to Jerry and Omaha, Nebraska. How are things in beautiful
Omaha today, Jerry, ron and needing the car doctor at
your service. It's a little bit warm. Button almost agrees,
(29:37):
but not bad. Sorry, we're not allowed to do the weather.
I get yelled at if I ask the weather report.
But thanks for sharing that. Some people have no sense
of humor. So how can I help you today? Jerry?
What's going on? I got Tonto and I got new
break pads all the way around, and I was wondering
the rotors aren't really scared or anything not, just wondering
(29:57):
if I should just resurface summer getting new. Well, the
issue comes back to one of a few things. One
how thick are the rotors to begin with? It's always
gotta be minimum thickness based on whether or not we machine.
You should buy the book by industry standard, machine the
rotor or give the brake pad a fresh rot or
to adhere to. You know that that rough surface of
(30:19):
the rotor does a few things. Number one, it's it's
it's clean and provides maximum friction ability as the pad
breaks in. But more importantly it's pad breaking. It helps
raise the temperature of the pad evenly and smoothly. It helps,
you know, there's there's certain resins that are baked into
the brake pad. If you sit and talk to a
break guy and he'll tell you that the initial surface
(30:41):
temperature of the brake pad against itself, you know, it
helps evenly cure the pad and you know, cure the
It's like baking the cake. The way the way it
was explained to me once was, you know, brake pads
are like cakes that come out of the oven that
are baked about the way that initial application for fifty
to seventy miles bakes at the remaining five. It so
that that that unfinished machine surface, so to speak, is
(31:05):
what is, you know, and that's why they say it's breaking.
It's a break in period. It's got I bought it
when I had thirty thousand miles and there was just
a one older and has got forty six thousand miles
on it now. And I haven't taken the wheels off
the check to see how thick they are, right, I mean, if, if,
if they'll stand to cut cut them. If not, you know,
(31:27):
it's I'm gonna tell you to change them. I'm also
going to tell you to look at the rotor on
the inside. I'm not sure why. Well, maybe it's got
to do it the way they go down the road.
But it seems like the majority of cars in the
last eight or ten years we always noticed the inside face,
not just keys, but everything. Um, the inside face is
the one that always seems to rust or de laminate
or peel or you know that that that shiny side
(31:49):
of the road or just doesn't look so shiny. And
obviously that's real important because a you can't machine against
rot If if if the inside face of the rotor
is rot and and and un machineable, you're you're cutting
down the coefficient of friction, I think is the college word,
if I want to talk like hi tech um and
the ability for the car to stop by if that's
(32:10):
not a smooth surface on the inside, I don't think
they've ever been changed because I got it at and
you could, you know, and then you can also replace
the rotors, but you know that's obviously a more costly proposition. Yeah,
I was just wondering. I don't know if there's any
good rotors out there. They all seem like the cars
I had in the past. I got replacements and they
warped for a couple of years. Well, And I think
(32:32):
a lot of that has to do with um, you know, uh,
brand choice and where they're coming from. Do you have
an O'reillyoto parts out there in Omaha? Yes. We stop
by the folks in Orillyota parts. Ask him, Hey, what works,
what's not gonna warp? Ask them if they have power stop,
if they have power stop break rotors. If they do,
I put them on all day long. I have absolutely
(32:53):
no qualms. I have very very very few problems knock
Wood with power stop pads, powers, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
power stop rotors, power stop break rotors. They've they've been
really good the cars I've had before. I just had
bad luck with new rotors. Yeah, and a lot of
people do. And I think a lot of it has
(33:14):
to do with, uh, you know, a lot of it
has to do with just cheap roters in white boxes
that are being reboxed I'm curious not to get political,
but i will for a quick thirty seconds. I'm curious
what President Trump's tariffs are gonna do with our trade
with China in terms of bringing in cheaper car parts.
And I'm wondering how it's gonna slow things down, and
maybe maybe I'm kind of hopeful we'll see an increase
(33:36):
in better car parts made here that have a better
quality to them. That's what I was hoping for, because
everything made in China and that it's just it's not good. No,
it just it doesn't seem to hold to a good
exact standard. Sound. Looks like all the break rotors are
pretty much made over in China. You as it's gonna
be really interesting the next couple of years. Jerry, I
(33:57):
gotta go. I'm up against the clock, Babe. You enjoy
Omahana breast, can have yourself a good rest of the weekend.
And if you have any other questions, you know where
to find me. I'm runing anding in the car doctor zero.
We're back right after this taking it home. Runing ading
(34:19):
in the car. Doctor. Let's do our real fixed sure
track fixing the week from the folks at Mitchell one,
Mitchell one dot com for those you're looking for the information.
The neat thing about a real fixed sure Track, and
we talk about this every week, is the fact that
these are real world pattern fixes right from the Mitchell
one database, right from the sure Track information source. So
today's titled is What's in the Trunk? What do you
(34:40):
do if you have junk in the trunk but you
can't get to your trunk open with a button where
you could with your key. But that's a lot of effort.
Follow this real fix to see how an inoperable trunk
release is diagnosed and repairing on the Chevy Malibu. And
the thing I thought about when I was reading this
one is a lot of cars don't have keys anymore.
A lot of cars just have it's the trunk release
button or the fob or the button on the dash.
There are no keys in trunks anymore, so sometimes you
(35:02):
really got to fix the trunk. This one started out
as a two thousand three Chevy Malibu. And I like
this one also because think about before when we were
talking about what it takes to fix cars and what
kind of technology is there. Um it had a trouble
code B thirty two sixty seven, which was a deck
lid output relay short to ground or open. The customers
stated the deck lid did not open. They used a
(35:24):
scan tool, and we're also talking to someone recently this
hour about using a scan tool for silly things. Well,
here's one that you wouldn't think to use one for.
They used the scan tool to look at live data
and found the deck lid release relay indicated active. They
took the release and relay out. It's still indicated active.
They used the digital bolt dollmeter, measured the circuits for
a shorter or open the ground or power found one,
(35:46):
put a BCM in it about body, computer module, flashed
it and the vehicle was fixed. Just goes to show
you you've got to use a scan tool for everything,
and things like mitchell Real Fix, Sure track one really
do help more at Mitchell one dot com. Until the
next time I'll run a needy in the car doctor.
The mechanics aren't expensive, they're placeless. See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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