Welcome to this weeks Classic Car Doctor lead-off episode.
Today its from August 16, 2014 and Ron opens the show with a story from his shop. Things were humming along and flowing UNTIL this 1999 Honda Accord showed up with an intermittent crank but no start problem and no service appointment. It had no spark, no injector pulse and no fuel pressure when it would not start. Once it happened to Ron it didn't take him long to diagnose it. Ron was able to get a diagnostic direction simply by looking at the dash board and reviewing which trouble lights came on when the problem happened. Listen in to hear the diagnostic flow.
His first call this hour is from Terry in VT with a 2003 Chevy Pickup and a binding ignition lock cylinder. Ron dispenses some advice on how to proceed and repair. He concludes this episode by answering an email form a listener that has a brake shudder on a 2003 Chevy Trailblazer that is really an ABS issue and a very common problem. Tune in to hear it all.
Do you like listening to these Classic Car Dr shows? Please drop us an email; ron@cardoctorshow.com and let us know your thoughts & opinions.
Visit our web site for more info as well as links to our growing You Tube Video library.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ron An Anian and I realize I'm off on a tear,
but boy, this just frosts me.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
The thing that really amazes me is all the car
manufacturers talk about extending the oil change interval, and then
we're going to tell you that as a result, the
oil is dirty and now you gotta flush it. Hello
the car Doctor. It amazes me how they think that
people that buy new cars are morons. You buy a
new vehicle, it's got fifteen thousand miles on it, You're
(00:30):
following the manufacturer recommended maintenance schedule, and then they try
selling you something you don't need because it's dirty. Well,
in my mind, if you follow the manufacturer recommended schedule
and it's dirty, isn't that their problem?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome to the radio home of ron An Aian, the
Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one. 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.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Are open, but I am here to take your calls
at eight five, five hundred and now.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Running.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Did you hear the one about Behinda No? Start story.
Of course you didn't. I haven't told it to you yet. Hello,
and welcome Ron and Aenei and the car Doctor here
at eight five five five six, so ninety nine hundred,
here to take your calls and answer your questions. Whatever
you've got going on across this great country of ours.
If you're out there driving on a road in an automobile,
truck or anything with an engine in four wheels, maybe
even two wheels, we could get into those questions once
in a while. I'm here to help. Every once in
(01:35):
a while, a car wanders into the shop that really
defies a great deal of the effort, and everyone makes
that effort and a lot of repair shops across this
country to repair it. It's one of those cars that
fights you every step of the way. And because of that, boy,
the steps seems to repair it get longer and they
(01:57):
cost more, and you usually one of those steps involves parts. Tuesday,
this past week, we were really rolling along into a
risonably reasonably busy week. It was a full shop.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
It was a good mix.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
It was, you know, as we like to think. We
had some good work, we had some regular maintenance, we
had a little bit of driveability, problems, and everything was
scheduled and parts were showing up and you're just all
smiling and happy and like gold yay. Then this nineteen
ninety nine Honda Courd sort of fell out of the
sky from nowhere, a regular customer, and we tried never
(02:34):
to disappoint our customers. We try to do everything we
can to make them happy, because that's why you're in business.
You're there to continue to fix cars and make people
happy so they come back so you can continue to
be in business. It's a cycle. The customer complaint was
that the vehicle had to be jump started like a
dead battery, Cathy said, but it wasn't. I went out
there after it had saturdy half hour forty five minutes
(02:56):
after she checked in and went off to work, and
it started well. The first rule of diagnosis diagnosed, diagnosed, diagnosed.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Does it do it?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Can you duplicate the problem? In this case? No. The
battery tested fine, the alternator charge fine, the starter draw
for currents current amp was fine.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And then it happened.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
The week sort of went well, let's just say things
got a little hot. It became a repair problem, and
like anything I was expecting, it went into a crank
no start condition. We know the difference, right, You know
the difference. One is you turn the key and the
engine makes that noise and it doesn't start. And the
other is you turn the key and maybe you'll get
(03:39):
dash lights and a click and nothing happens. When it
went into this crank no start, the engine turned over
at normal speeds and right away, what do you go for?
Come on, everybody out there, as a regular listener knows,
it's we're gonna look for. We're gonna look for spark,
fuel and fuel pressure. Right the basics had no spark,
(04:00):
had no injector pulse. Fuel pressure was good. But the
giveaway on the diagnosis when the no start occurred because
I turned it off, thought about it and said, gee,
is is this the same car? Start went to start
it and bang it fired right off. And I'm sitting there,
I'm going uhh. When it went into the nose start
(04:23):
and after getting into the rhythm of the car a
little bit, I noticed that no spark, no injector pulse.
Fuel pressure was good, but the check engine light didn't
come on. There was no there was no check engine
light on the dashboard. Huh, well, you're that so what's
not waking up, what's not doing what.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
It's supposed to do.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Every time? It didn't come on every time, and you
start to go back in your mind, Gee, I think
I've seen this before, but where and you start to
recount some things and from memory. When it went into
that no spark, no injector pulse, no check engine light scenario,
I smacked the top left side of the dashboard. Car
(05:06):
started like bang like every time. It was one of
two things. The first, which I didn't think was the
dashboard was bad because I've never seen a dashboard not
start a car or cause us no start scenario. I said, ah,
you know what, maybe I shouldn't go there. It was
something underneath it, and I'd bet on that now also
(05:28):
is part of experience, And this is where that experience
thing comes in that you and I talk about when
what happens when the gray heads, the older technicians retire,
what's going to fill that gap as part of the experience.
In that particular spot, I knew that's exactly where the
main fuel system really was a part that failed regularly
on this generation Honda. There was a couple of complications though,
(05:51):
because unfortunately I peaked under the dashboard and were there
supposed to be an empty void just with one main
wiring harness leading up to ignition sway, which somebody that
thought they were installing an alarm system. I mean, it
was a rats nest. It was miles and miles of
miles and miles of wire. It was just unbelievable, and
(06:11):
crim connects and butt connects that were half broken, and
electrical tape that wasn't and it was. It was ugly,
all right, So you know, I had to try and
look beyond the hacked and the sloppy crimps, and I
had to look beyond a lot of things until I
got to the main relay, which was just where I thought.
Up on the left side of the dash up under
(06:32):
on a clip, pulled it down. Car went into a crank,
no start condition. Got out my little two ounce diagnostic camera.
I'm going to take a picture of that and put
up on Facebook. Maybe i'll do that this week if
I remember that when I get back to the shop
on Monday. You know, little two ounce diagnostic camera as
I call it, gave it a little and relay clicked.
Car started right up. Needs a relay. Now the bottom
(06:57):
line becomes regardless of how looks from the outside.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Of the repair.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You've got to keep your head about you and diagnose
till you're done, because you've got to understand. I got
the new relay, plugged it in, car started. Hey, that's
pretty good. Turned it again. Car started. Hey, look at
this two for two and you know what's coming. Turned
it again, the car started and died. Huh look at that.
(07:27):
Sat there and thought about it.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
For a minute.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Went back through the scenario again. Started the first time, started,
the second time, wouldn't start.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
The third time.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Took the old relay, which I knew would at least
start the car or not start the car on a
consistent basis. Plugged it in. The car started every time. Hey,
what do you know about that? We had a bad
new part. And regular listeners know what new means right,
never ever worked. And yeah, once again it proves true
new does not mean good. And this was a brand
(07:56):
new relay from Honda in a Honda bag with a
Honda part on it. It doesn't matter where they comes from.
Junk is junk, and sometimes you just get junk. Put
a new relay another relay in it, and I'm happy
to report that little Hondas down the road and fixed. Also,
I did take out the wiring harness and put the
(08:17):
car back to no anti theft, no alarm system, no
remote start, and I get that. You know, we're disappointed
we lose the remote start, but the alarm system was
really so hacked and so badly wired. The customer actually
said to me, Jim, glad you took that out because
we were having dinner in our in the house one
night about three or four weeks ago, and we were
(08:37):
having dinner at the table. The kitchen door was open
and we heard somebody start the car and we went
out there and there was nobody in it. The car
was trying to start itself. That's how bad. The wiring
harness was poorly connected and the components were incorrect, and
what a mess. So, you know, nothing like doing a
good job after you have to undo the bad one.
(09:00):
Hello and welcome ronin Anie in the Car Doctor, here
at your command, here to help you at eight five
five five six oh ninety nine hundred. This is ronin
anie in the Card Doctor, the one and only original
A nany in a n A n I an keep
those cards and letters coming, folks. The Card Doctor hotline
is twenty four seven eight five five five six oh
ninety nine hundred. And remember, if we're not here live
on air Saturday afternoon two to four, you give us
(09:21):
a call during the week Fast Harry Fast Haarry dot com.
Fast Harry's out today and we send him our thoughts.
He's feeling a little under the weather. We wish everybody
to send Harry some good thoughts and wishes for getting better.
He's on the mend. We just didn't want to bring
him in today and have us get sick because he
can hardly talk. And we thought, well, by next week
I would be sick. And sound is probably pretty important
(09:42):
on radio because if not, you know what it would
sound like next week. That would be the extent of it.
So we just thought, you know, it would just be
kind of important to do that, just to give you
an idea of what could happen in radio. I learned
that a long time ago, sound is very important in
the world of radio. So we're gonna be talking about
next week on the Card Doctor, just so everybody knows
(10:03):
about it. And I got to mention this a couple
of times this hour and next there's two hours today,
Yet like there always is. If you're just catching us
at the beginning of the hour, you know that there's
another hour after this. Next week on the card, doctor,
we're going to be breaking open the gift closet giving
away a fifty dollars gift card from the folks at AutoZone.
AutoZone is putting up a gift card, and I want
(10:24):
to mention as in conversation with them, part of their
concern and our concern as well. We talk about break
repair and the way break work is done. Not enough
break hardware is being purchased. So you can do what
you want with that fifty dollars gift card if you
win it next week, but we'd like you to consider
repurchasing break hardware with it to make sure that your
(10:45):
break job, front, breaks, back, breaks, whatever you're doing goes
back together with fresh hardware, because hardware break hardware is
what really makes a break job proper and safe. So
just keep that in mind. Eight five five five six
ninety nine hundred Ron and any in the car doctor
finding it Ron at our doctorshow dot com and find
me right here when I get back.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Don't go away.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Bad And I was falling sad.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Hey, welcome back Ron Ending and the card Doctor. Glad
to be here with you this hour, this part of
the weekend, as we always are. Let's get over to
Terry from Springfield, Vermont and talk about his two thousand
and six Chevy pick him up truck. Terry, welcome to
the Car Doctor. How can I help you, sir? Terry?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Are you there?
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Hey, sir, hey, there you go. So a little bit
of sticky itis, A little bit of sticky itis on
the board.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So good.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I'm doing good man, I'm rocking and rolling. I'm ready
to answer some car questions today. So what's going on?
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
What can I do for you?
Speaker 4 (12:04):
There we go, my twenty five h I'm having a
problem with my mission key. I put the key in,
I go from uh to start to you know, it
doesn't it does not unlock.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Okay, well when you say it, well, when you say
it doesn't unlock, Terry?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
What you you you You put the.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Key in and the lock tumbler doesn't turn correct?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Is the steering wheel cocked at an odd angle so
you could kind of you could wiggle and jiggle the
wheel a little bit and turn the key and nothing happens.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I can read it on the steering wheel, and I
rad it on and jiggle the key, pull it out,
turn around, turn over, put a back in to the
same thing, and it will not unlock until I play
and play and play and play with it, and then
it finally comes unlocked.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And it doesn't do this all the time. It's very intermittent.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
How many miles are on the truck?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
All right? What does the key? What does the key
look like?
Speaker 4 (13:05):
It happens that the key side?
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Okay? Are they both Are they both good clear cut keys?
And you know in the sense you're a good good
definition nowear pattern.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
That's a great area because one of one of my
user every day and was key which she didn't try
the truck every day?
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Are they.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Are? They both original keys that came with the truck. Okay,
So you know there's one of three possibilities. And the
fact that it happens with a worn key and a
sharp key, as I like to call it, you know,
it's got good definition to it sort of eliminates the
keys as a probable possible cause. Okay. You know we're
(13:47):
either dealing with something in the lock column itself is
prohibiting the cylinder from turning. But there really isn't a
lot there. It's a It goes in, it rotates. If
the tumblers line up, you know you're done. It goes so,
you know, the only logical conclusion I can come to
is it's the lock cylinder itself. But before you replace it,
(14:10):
and before you you know, we start wildly spraying any
kind of lubricant on it, because there's electronics inside steering
columns today and you'd probably be all right. My suggestion
is what I what I usually do is I will
go get some liquid graph height, and I like the
liquid powder graph heights. Okay, if I can, you know,
if the lock cylinder, if I could turn the truck
on its side and drop it down inside the lock cylinder,
(14:33):
that works great. But I can't not unless you want
to try, which is a whole other problem. You'll be
calling you about replacing the driver's side mirror. The uh
the liquid graph fight. But I don't spray it in
the lock cylinder. I very gently put a couple of
drops of it on the key at the beginning I
(14:53):
put it. I'll put like two drops on the beginning,
and I'll put a drop or two in the middle
and I'll insert the key and I'll stroke it in
couple of times, and then I'll, you know, and I'm
using the key to wipe the lubricant into the lock
cylinder and get into the tumblers. It's a much cleaner,
neater way of doing it, and it's almost impossible to
hurt anything electronically. And at that point, if that doesn't
(15:17):
do it, then you need a lock cylinder. The lock
cylinder itself is just jamming up and there's not much
more you can do with it. So have you say
that again?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
I have seen a lot of this because there's my
brother in the road have same era truck and they
have the same issue.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
You know where I see it a lot. I see
it a lot on trucks with construction crews. What do
you do for a living terry?
Speaker 4 (15:43):
I'm to soil of these maintenance. I drive it nine
miles every day.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, and well, And the reason I say constructions crews,
landscapers short trip, short trip vehicles because because you know what,
you know, the short trip guys, they get in, they
turn the key, they go to the coffee store, they
get out, they turn it off. They you know, they
get their coffee they get in. I mean maybe you're
not maybe you're not doing that, but you still amassed
a fair amount of miles in a seven year, eight
(16:09):
year old vehicle. So you know you've turned that key
on and off a few times. You start thinking about
three four times a day, times how many days, times
how many years? Yeah, it really depends on the condition.
It depends on the vehicle. The other thing is is
it is that a singular key by itself on the
key ring or do you have multiple rings? Multiple keys
there one key, Okay, yeah, and that's the way to
(16:33):
do it. That's that's that's really the way to do
it because of the weight. But uh, I think you
treat it the way we just talked about it, and
you'll come to a conclusion and you'll you'll know what
to do. It's either A is going to help or
B it's going to be replaced the lock cylinder. Just
keep in mind, if you replace the lock cylinder, that's
something you're gonna want to let a repair shop door
(16:55):
or a certified locksmith, because chances are there is an
anti theft system in this vehicle and there's going to
be some relearning that they're going to have to do
in order to get it. So it restarts again and
for the doors, say that again? Yeah right, and you
want it correct. And you wanted key to like for
the doors, because that's that absolutely drives me crazy. You know,
(17:15):
I've got two keys for one vehicle, you know, so
it'll cost you an extra fifty dollars. Guess what, life's
too short. At least you have something you'll like, all right, Terry?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Okay, Ron, thank you very much for answer the question.
I'd love to show.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Thank you, Terry, I appreciate it. I'm glad to be
here for you and everybody else in Vermont and all
of our many affiliates. Hey, quick piece of email. Ron
love the show No more order repair shows in Boston.
So I happen to find your show on tuneing. Well, listen,
we're glad to be there. We'll have to give that
to the affiliate department. We can take over Boston too.
As the car Doctor pushes everybody else out my question
two thousand and three, Chevy Trailblazer just hit eighty thousand miles.
(17:49):
I've had it since New Lately. When I come to
a stop, my front breaks, grunt. I hear it. I
feel it. It's in the brake pedal. It can be
heard outside the car. It sounds like the ABS is energizing.
I've had both rotors pads replace break fluid flus. It
didn't help. I pulled the ABS fuse and the problem
goes away. But my dash light up says service brakes.
I think it might be speed sensors or question mark
coming to us from Edward up there at the Dana
(18:11):
Farber Cancer Institute, Brookline IV and Boston mess Edward, I'll
tell you what. What it sounds like you've got is
you've got a false ABS event going on. ABS. The
analog computer can't physically see how fast the wheels are turning,
so it relies on the signal from the sensors. What
this generation vehicle had a bad habit of was a
rust build up around the sensor and the tone ring
(18:34):
changing the gap, which would affect the signal. Also, the
sensor itself or the wheel bearing itself could be bad.
So have your mechanic take a look at and diagnosed
the two front wheel speed sensors, bearings, et cetera. And
I think I'll come to the answer from there. I'm
running any in the car doctor, We're coming back right
after this.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Don't go away.
Ron An Anian and I realize I'm off on a tear,
but boy, this just frosts me.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
The thing that really amazes me is all the car
manufacturers talk about extending the oil change interval, and then
we're going to tell you that as a result, the
oil is dirty and now you gotta flush it. Hello
the car Doctor. It amazes me how they think that
people that buy new cars are morons. You buy a
new vehicle, it's got fifteen thousand miles on it, You're
(00:30):
following the manufacturer recommended maintenance schedule, and then they try
selling you something you don't need because it's dirty. Well,
in my mind, if you follow the manufacturer recommended schedule
and it's dirty, isn't that their problem?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome to the radio home of ron An Aian, the
Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one. 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.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Are open, but I am here to take your calls
at eight five, five hundred and now.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Running.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Did you hear the one about Behinda No? Start story.
Of course you didn't. I haven't told it to you yet. Hello,
and welcome Ron and Aenei and the car Doctor here
at eight five five five six, so ninety nine hundred,
here to take your calls and answer your questions. Whatever
you've got going on across this great country of ours.
If you're out there driving on a road in an automobile,
truck or anything with an engine in four wheels, maybe
even two wheels, we could get into those questions once
in a while. I'm here to help. Every once in
(01:35):
a while, a car wanders into the shop that really
defies a great deal of the effort, and everyone makes
that effort and a lot of repair shops across this
country to repair it. It's one of those cars that
fights you every step of the way. And because of that, boy,
the steps seems to repair it get longer and they
(01:57):
cost more, and you usually one of those steps involves parts. Tuesday,
this past week, we were really rolling along into a
risonably reasonably busy week. It was a full shop.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
It was a good mix.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
It was, you know, as we like to think. We
had some good work, we had some regular maintenance, we
had a little bit of driveability, problems, and everything was
scheduled and parts were showing up and you're just all
smiling and happy and like gold yay. Then this nineteen
ninety nine Honda Courd sort of fell out of the
sky from nowhere, a regular customer, and we tried never
(02:34):
to disappoint our customers. We try to do everything we
can to make them happy, because that's why you're in business.
You're there to continue to fix cars and make people
happy so they come back so you can continue to
be in business. It's a cycle. The customer complaint was
that the vehicle had to be jump started like a
dead battery, Cathy said, but it wasn't. I went out
there after it had saturdy half hour forty five minutes
(02:56):
after she checked in and went off to work, and
it started well. The first rule of diagnosis diagnosed, diagnosed, diagnosed.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Does it do it?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Can you duplicate the problem? In this case? No. The
battery tested fine, the alternator charge fine, the starter draw
for currents current amp was fine.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And then it happened.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
The week sort of went well, let's just say things
got a little hot. It became a repair problem, and
like anything I was expecting, it went into a crank
no start condition. We know the difference, right, You know
the difference. One is you turn the key and the
engine makes that noise and it doesn't start. And the
other is you turn the key and maybe you'll get
(03:39):
dash lights and a click and nothing happens. When it
went into this crank no start, the engine turned over
at normal speeds and right away, what do you go for?
Come on, everybody out there, as a regular listener knows,
it's we're gonna look for. We're gonna look for spark,
fuel and fuel pressure. Right the basics had no spark,
(04:00):
had no injector pulse. Fuel pressure was good. But the
giveaway on the diagnosis when the no start occurred because
I turned it off, thought about it and said, gee,
is is this the same car? Start went to start
it and bang it fired right off. And I'm sitting there,
I'm going uhh. When it went into the nose start
(04:23):
and after getting into the rhythm of the car a
little bit, I noticed that no spark, no injector pulse.
Fuel pressure was good, but the check engine light didn't
come on. There was no there was no check engine
light on the dashboard. Huh, well, you're that so what's
not waking up, what's not doing what.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
It's supposed to do.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Every time? It didn't come on every time, and you
start to go back in your mind, Gee, I think
I've seen this before, but where and you start to
recount some things and from memory. When it went into
that no spark, no injector pulse, no check engine light scenario,
I smacked the top left side of the dashboard. Car
(05:06):
started like bang like every time. It was one of
two things. The first, which I didn't think was the
dashboard was bad because I've never seen a dashboard not
start a car or cause us no start scenario. I said, ah,
you know what, maybe I shouldn't go there. It was
something underneath it, and I'd bet on that now also
(05:28):
is part of experience, And this is where that experience
thing comes in that you and I talk about when
what happens when the gray heads, the older technicians retire,
what's going to fill that gap as part of the experience.
In that particular spot, I knew that's exactly where the
main fuel system really was a part that failed regularly
on this generation Honda. There was a couple of complications though,
(05:51):
because unfortunately I peaked under the dashboard and were there
supposed to be an empty void just with one main
wiring harness leading up to ignition sway, which somebody that
thought they were installing an alarm system. I mean, it
was a rats nest. It was miles and miles of
miles and miles of wire. It was just unbelievable, and
(06:11):
crim connects and butt connects that were half broken, and
electrical tape that wasn't and it was. It was ugly,
all right, So you know, I had to try and
look beyond the hacked and the sloppy crimps, and I
had to look beyond a lot of things until I
got to the main relay, which was just where I thought.
Up on the left side of the dash up under
(06:32):
on a clip, pulled it down. Car went into a crank,
no start condition. Got out my little two ounce diagnostic camera.
I'm going to take a picture of that and put
up on Facebook. Maybe i'll do that this week if
I remember that when I get back to the shop
on Monday. You know, little two ounce diagnostic camera as
I call it, gave it a little and relay clicked.
Car started right up. Needs a relay. Now the bottom
(06:57):
line becomes regardless of how looks from the outside.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Of the repair.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You've got to keep your head about you and diagnose
till you're done, because you've got to understand. I got
the new relay, plugged it in, car started. Hey, that's
pretty good. Turned it again. Car started. Hey, look at
this two for two and you know what's coming. Turned
it again, the car started and died. Huh look at that.
(07:27):
Sat there and thought about it.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
For a minute.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Went back through the scenario again. Started the first time, started,
the second time, wouldn't start.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
The third time.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Took the old relay, which I knew would at least
start the car or not start the car on a
consistent basis. Plugged it in. The car started every time. Hey,
what do you know about that? We had a bad
new part. And regular listeners know what new means right,
never ever worked. And yeah, once again it proves true
new does not mean good. And this was a brand
(07:56):
new relay from Honda in a Honda bag with a
Honda part on it. It doesn't matter where they comes from.
Junk is junk, and sometimes you just get junk. Put
a new relay another relay in it, and I'm happy
to report that little Hondas down the road and fixed. Also,
I did take out the wiring harness and put the
(08:17):
car back to no anti theft, no alarm system, no
remote start, and I get that. You know, we're disappointed
we lose the remote start, but the alarm system was
really so hacked and so badly wired. The customer actually
said to me, Jim, glad you took that out because
we were having dinner in our in the house one
night about three or four weeks ago, and we were
(08:37):
having dinner at the table. The kitchen door was open
and we heard somebody start the car and we went
out there and there was nobody in it. The car
was trying to start itself. That's how bad. The wiring
harness was poorly connected and the components were incorrect, and
what a mess. So, you know, nothing like doing a
good job after you have to undo the bad one.
(09:00):
Hello and welcome ronin Anie in the Car Doctor, here
at your command, here to help you at eight five
five five six oh ninety nine hundred. This is ronin
anie in the Card Doctor, the one and only original
A nany in a n A n I an keep
those cards and letters coming, folks. The Card Doctor hotline
is twenty four seven eight five five five six oh
ninety nine hundred. And remember, if we're not here live
on air Saturday afternoon two to four, you give us
(09:21):
a call during the week Fast Harry Fast Haarry dot com.
Fast Harry's out today and we send him our thoughts.
He's feeling a little under the weather. We wish everybody
to send Harry some good thoughts and wishes for getting better.
He's on the mend. We just didn't want to bring
him in today and have us get sick because he
can hardly talk. And we thought, well, by next week
I would be sick. And sound is probably pretty important
(09:42):
on radio because if not, you know what it would
sound like next week. That would be the extent of it.
So we just thought, you know, it would just be
kind of important to do that, just to give you
an idea of what could happen in radio. I learned
that a long time ago, sound is very important in
the world of radio. So we're gonna be talking about
next week on the Card Doctor, just so everybody knows
(10:03):
about it. And I got to mention this a couple
of times this hour and next there's two hours today,
Yet like there always is. If you're just catching us
at the beginning of the hour, you know that there's
another hour after this. Next week on the card, doctor,
we're going to be breaking open the gift closet giving
away a fifty dollars gift card from the folks at AutoZone.
AutoZone is putting up a gift card, and I want
(10:24):
to mention as in conversation with them, part of their
concern and our concern as well. We talk about break
repair and the way break work is done. Not enough
break hardware is being purchased. So you can do what
you want with that fifty dollars gift card if you
win it next week, but we'd like you to consider
repurchasing break hardware with it to make sure that your
(10:45):
break job, front, breaks, back, breaks, whatever you're doing goes
back together with fresh hardware, because hardware break hardware is
what really makes a break job proper and safe. So
just keep that in mind. Eight five five five six
ninety nine hundred Ron and any in the car doctor
finding it Ron at our doctorshow dot com and find
me right here when I get back.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Don't go away.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Bad And I was falling sad.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Hey, welcome back Ron Ending and the card Doctor. Glad
to be here with you this hour, this part of
the weekend, as we always are. Let's get over to
Terry from Springfield, Vermont and talk about his two thousand
and six Chevy pick him up truck. Terry, welcome to
the Car Doctor. How can I help you, sir? Terry?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Are you there?
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Hey, sir, hey, there you go. So a little bit
of sticky itis, A little bit of sticky itis on
the board.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So good.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I'm doing good man, I'm rocking and rolling. I'm ready
to answer some car questions today. So what's going on?
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
What can I do for you?
Speaker 4 (12:04):
There we go, my twenty five h I'm having a
problem with my mission key. I put the key in,
I go from uh to start to you know, it
doesn't it does not unlock.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Okay, well when you say it, well, when you say
it doesn't unlock, Terry?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
What you you you You put the.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Key in and the lock tumbler doesn't turn correct?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Is the steering wheel cocked at an odd angle so
you could kind of you could wiggle and jiggle the
wheel a little bit and turn the key and nothing happens.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I can read it on the steering wheel, and I
rad it on and jiggle the key, pull it out,
turn around, turn over, put a back in to the
same thing, and it will not unlock until I play
and play and play and play with it, and then
it finally comes unlocked.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
And it doesn't do this all the time. It's very intermittent.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
How many miles are on the truck?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
All right? What does the key? What does the key
look like?
Speaker 4 (13:05):
It happens that the key side?
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Okay? Are they both Are they both good clear cut keys?
And you know in the sense you're a good good
definition nowear pattern.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
That's a great area because one of one of my
user every day and was key which she didn't try
the truck every day?
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Are they.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Are? They both original keys that came with the truck. Okay,
So you know there's one of three possibilities. And the
fact that it happens with a worn key and a
sharp key, as I like to call it, you know,
it's got good definition to it sort of eliminates the
keys as a probable possible cause. Okay. You know we're
(13:47):
either dealing with something in the lock column itself is
prohibiting the cylinder from turning. But there really isn't a
lot there. It's a It goes in, it rotates. If
the tumblers line up, you know you're done. It goes so,
you know, the only logical conclusion I can come to
is it's the lock cylinder itself. But before you replace it,
(14:10):
and before you you know, we start wildly spraying any
kind of lubricant on it, because there's electronics inside steering
columns today and you'd probably be all right. My suggestion
is what I what I usually do is I will
go get some liquid graph height, and I like the
liquid powder graph heights. Okay, if I can, you know,
if the lock cylinder, if I could turn the truck
on its side and drop it down inside the lock cylinder,
(14:33):
that works great. But I can't not unless you want
to try, which is a whole other problem. You'll be
calling you about replacing the driver's side mirror. The uh
the liquid graph fight. But I don't spray it in
the lock cylinder. I very gently put a couple of
drops of it on the key at the beginning I
(14:53):
put it. I'll put like two drops on the beginning,
and I'll put a drop or two in the middle
and I'll insert the key and I'll stroke it in
couple of times, and then I'll, you know, and I'm
using the key to wipe the lubricant into the lock
cylinder and get into the tumblers. It's a much cleaner,
neater way of doing it, and it's almost impossible to
hurt anything electronically. And at that point, if that doesn't
(15:17):
do it, then you need a lock cylinder. The lock
cylinder itself is just jamming up and there's not much
more you can do with it. So have you say
that again?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
I have seen a lot of this because there's my
brother in the road have same era truck and they
have the same issue.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
You know where I see it a lot. I see
it a lot on trucks with construction crews. What do
you do for a living terry?
Speaker 4 (15:43):
I'm to soil of these maintenance. I drive it nine
miles every day.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, and well, And the reason I say constructions crews,
landscapers short trip, short trip vehicles because because you know what,
you know, the short trip guys, they get in, they
turn the key, they go to the coffee store, they
get out, they turn it off. They you know, they
get their coffee they get in. I mean maybe you're
not maybe you're not doing that, but you still amassed
a fair amount of miles in a seven year, eight
(16:09):
year old vehicle. So you know you've turned that key
on and off a few times. You start thinking about
three four times a day, times how many days, times
how many years? Yeah, it really depends on the condition.
It depends on the vehicle. The other thing is is
it is that a singular key by itself on the
key ring or do you have multiple rings? Multiple keys
there one key, Okay, yeah, and that's the way to
(16:33):
do it. That's that's that's really the way to do
it because of the weight. But uh, I think you
treat it the way we just talked about it, and
you'll come to a conclusion and you'll you'll know what
to do. It's either A is going to help or
B it's going to be replaced the lock cylinder. Just
keep in mind, if you replace the lock cylinder, that's
something you're gonna want to let a repair shop door
(16:55):
or a certified locksmith, because chances are there is an
anti theft system in this vehicle and there's going to
be some relearning that they're going to have to do
in order to get it. So it restarts again and
for the doors, say that again? Yeah right, and you
want it correct. And you wanted key to like for
the doors, because that's that absolutely drives me crazy. You know,
(17:15):
I've got two keys for one vehicle, you know, so
it'll cost you an extra fifty dollars. Guess what, life's
too short. At least you have something you'll like, all right, Terry?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Okay, Ron, thank you very much for answer the question.
I'd love to show.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Thank you, Terry, I appreciate it. I'm glad to be
here for you and everybody else in Vermont and all
of our many affiliates. Hey, quick piece of email. Ron
love the show No more order repair shows in Boston.
So I happen to find your show on tuneing. Well, listen,
we're glad to be there. We'll have to give that
to the affiliate department. We can take over Boston too.
As the car Doctor pushes everybody else out my question
two thousand and three, Chevy Trailblazer just hit eighty thousand miles.
(17:49):
I've had it since New Lately. When I come to
a stop, my front breaks, grunt. I hear it. I
feel it. It's in the brake pedal. It can be
heard outside the car. It sounds like the ABS is energizing.
I've had both rotors pads replace break fluid flus. It
didn't help. I pulled the ABS fuse and the problem
goes away. But my dash light up says service brakes.
I think it might be speed sensors or question mark
coming to us from Edward up there at the Dana
(18:11):
Farber Cancer Institute, Brookline IV and Boston mess Edward, I'll
tell you what. What it sounds like you've got is
you've got a false ABS event going on. ABS. The
analog computer can't physically see how fast the wheels are turning,
so it relies on the signal from the sensors. What
this generation vehicle had a bad habit of was a
rust build up around the sensor and the tone ring
(18:34):
changing the gap, which would affect the signal. Also, the
sensor itself or the wheel bearing itself could be bad.
So have your mechanic take a look at and diagnosed
the two front wheel speed sensors, bearings, et cetera. And
I think I'll come to the answer from there. I'm
running any in the car doctor, We're coming back right
after this.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Don't go away.
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