In this blast from the past edition of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, he opens discussing several automotive issues, focusing on diagnostics and repair advice.
-
Driveability Issues: Ron compares diagnosing cars to Forrest Gump's famous line, "life is like a box of chocolates," saying driveability issues are unpredictable. He shares two examples from his shop:
- A 2004 Volkswagen Touareg with a check engine light on for months and a lean fuel system code. The owner walked in with a scan tool, stating the issue and asking for a fix. Ron emphasizes the importance of mechanics conducting a thorough diagnosis rather than relying on the customer’s assumptions.
- An 2008 Ford Fusion with a rolling idle problem, which after several diagnostics, was determined to likely have a bad throttle body. However, Ron notes the uncertainty in automotive repairs, where even clear diagnoses might not be the full story.
-
Handling Mechanic Conversations: Ron advises car owners to be clear about their concerns and to trust the expertise of the mechanic. He also suggests that the owner must have realistic expectations since repairs often involve educated guesses and problem-solving.
-
Callers' Car Problems:
- Rick in New Haven describes a sticking brake caliper on his 2001 Buick Century. Ron explains that a sticking caliper would cause the car to pull to one side and recommends inspecting the brakes before the situation worsens.
- Paul in Norway discusses a 2001 Toyota Camry that starts, runs briefly, and then shuts down. Ron suggests diagnosing whether the car has spark and injector pulse to narrow down the issue.
- John in Shadyside, Ohio calls about a 1983 Honda Civic with a faulty fuel level sender. The part is unavailable, and Ron offers a creative solution: replacing the sender with a similar one from another car model, explaining how the sender works as a variable resistor in the fuel gauge circuit.
-
Car News and Advice: Ron briefly mentions the unveiling of the 2016 Buick , a sleek convertible aimed at competing with European cars. He highlights the car's impressive design, especially its fast-operating top, which opens in just 17 seconds.
Throughout the show, Ron stresses the importance of understanding how car systems work and how to approach repairs, suggesting that even when parts are unavailable, solutions can often be found with a bit of ingenuity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Row Lady, days of sun, those days of soda and
Patsus and ron Anian.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It's been a case at the shop the last three weeks.
I'm noticing in the heat as summer is here that
we're seeing much higher battery failures, shops.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Failure, a basket full of sandages.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And the car Doctor then locked the house up.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Now, yes, sat, if you're riding around on a battery
that's three four years old and it looks like you're
growing cauliflower on the battery terminals, you probably need to
have the terminals cleaned, battery tested, and maybe replaced.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian, 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.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
The phone and call in. The girls are opening, but
I am here to take their calls. At eight five
five five six oh ninety nine hundred list dot summers
at all.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
And now hee.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Running.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I think far As Gump was wrong. I don't think
life is like a box of chocolates. I think driveability
cars are because you're never quite sure what you're really
gonna get. Hello and welcome Bron and Any and the
guard Doctor here to carry on for the next two
hours talking about you and your automobile at eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero, All Things
automotive or otherwise. If you've got a question or comment
(01:38):
or a concern, give us a call eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. The website for
this radio show as always Cardoctorshow dot com. You can
find more information there. TuneIn dot com, iHeart dot com,
iTunes dot com for podcasting and other show information as well.
If you need me during the week you got a
car problem, we can't get up here on airon talk
(01:58):
about it. Send it to me an email Ron at
cardoctorshow dot com. I think driveability cars are getting tougher
and I almost don't know if it's the car or
the person that owns them. Two situations this week at
the shop two thousand and four Volkswagen turreg Turg turreg
(02:19):
well VW virtually worth a six or one half a
dozen or the other and the check engine light had
been on for admittedly of the owner seven months. And
the reason we knew that was because this is July.
The inspection was December. The check engine light's been on
since then, and he about a month, maybe a little longer.
So I'm guessing the check engine light's been on seven
(02:40):
to nine months and he's been driving it around. It
has a lean fuel system code. The reason I know
it has a lean fuel system code is because he
walked into the shop with his scan tool telling me
here's the code. I think it's intake. Guess it's what
can you do to fix it? Let me tell you
about the right and the wrong way to walk into
somebody's house. And I kind of take it personal, and yeah,
(03:04):
you know, I was asking. I was talking to Sue
last night. We were having dinner at this little Italian
restaurant again, and I said, you know, maybe my ego's
a little too fragile. I don't know. But when somebody
walks in and says to me, here's what's wrong with
the car, how are you going to fix it? And
I haven't even walked outside, gotten as signed repair, haven't
even gotten to the point where I've lifted the hood,
(03:24):
and I'm being put on the spot. You know, give
me a break, walked outside, looked at the car, it's
it's used up, worn out, eighty thousand mile oh four
Volkswagen that's been road hard, put away, wet, and it really,
I won't say should have been shot, but it's getting close.
The driver's door doesn't open from the inside anymore. The
(03:45):
owner admitted that it needed breaks. It's had this check
engine light issue ongoing for quite some time now, and
I explained to him that check engine light is the
mystery because once you saw that twenty one to eighty
nine lean fuel condition bank one fault that his scan
tool said was the issue that you've then got the
(04:05):
problem of is there anything else there? It's layered, you
don't know. We ended up sending that car to the
dealer because he wanted to know me or the dealer,
and I said the dealer, because walk into the dealer
and show them the scan tool and see what they
do to you. Second driveability car this week was an
O eight Ford Fusion eight Ford Fusion that had a
rolling idol between six and eight hundred doar pm and
(04:26):
went through every test and diagnosed it the way it
should have been. After Ford diagnosed it and two other
shops diagnosed it and came to the conclusion that it's
a bad throttle body. A five hundred dollars part is
that the only thing wrong with it. G I don't know.
I've got to get through this. I've got to go
one step at a time. I can prove the throttle
body bad. I don't know how the rest of the
car is because I can't test beyond that point. Like
a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going
(04:47):
to get. The owner intends to take it to a
fourth or fifth, or sixth or seventh shop, I'm not
sure what answer he's looking for, but obviously here's what's
wrong with the car. I can prove it isn't something
to satisfy him. The bottom line, it becomes that you
as the owner, you as the vehicle decision maker. It's
a lot like caretaking for somebody older or for yourself.
(05:08):
You've got to have a clear mind what it is
you're looking for before you go out looking, and you've
got to understand that when you're talking to a mechanic
sometimes the worst thing in the world to say is
here's what's wrong with it, how are you going to
fix it? Or gee, what if that doesn't fix it?
And instill some doubt into the conversation. You've got to
get used to the idea that auto repair going forward,
(05:29):
there is going to be that eighty percentile guess that
hopefully he's a good guesser and a good diagnostician that's
going to get you down to that point of here's
what's wrong with the car. Hello, and welcome Ron and
Andy and the car doctor.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Here.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
We're going to roll along this hour. Coming up next hour,
we're gonna be talking to Mark Eaton. Mark is from Dens,
so we're going to be talking to him about a
ridium and they're iridium TT spark plugs. But right now
we have a very full phone bank and fast Tarry's
looking at me through the glass with a pained expression
on his face, saying open the doors. So let's fire
him up. Let's go over to Rick in New Haven, Connecticut,
(06:01):
two thousand and one buikh century and some break caliber questions. Rick,
Welcome to the car Doctor, sir, All right, what's going on?
Speaker 5 (06:11):
Well, I'm thought I have a sticking break caliper, and
I was wondering anything I could do about that until
I replace it.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Not really, you know when you say you've got a
sticking caliper. What are the breaks pull left or right?
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Rick another?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Okay, Well, generally a squeal is a is a compound
issue and not necessarily a stuck caliber issue. If a
break caliper is sticking, the vehicle, by all rights should pull.
Even the slightest little bit of a break caliper that's
hanging is going to cause unequal pressure in the system
and the vehicle will have a bit of a drift
to the left or the right. Now, you know, we
(06:50):
should also see breaks wearing more to one side than
the other. Who who's saying that the caliper sticking.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
I'm a friend with more experience than me.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Okay. Any reason why you're waiting to repair it?
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Yeah, finances?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Okay, well, and that's a fair statement. Just keep in
mind if the brakes do become a problem, and there
is an issue and they don't work, the repair bills
are only going to go up from here. So you know,
keep in mind too that breaks stick or break caliper
issues aren't necessarily going to be a squeal all by themselves.
(07:27):
Generally it's compound. It could also be that the brake pads,
you know, whatever lubricant was supposed to be there. Now,
the brake pad could be stuck on the caliper, not
allowing it to float all right, because the caliber the
pad has to float against the rotor to a degree.
A little bit of silicon grease and the right spots
goes a long way to preventing squeal. But if the
(07:49):
way the pad is mounted is correct, if that break
caliper itself is mechanically stuck, then you should have other
issues going on here. My suggestion is, before you wait
too much longer, take it apart. See what kind of
shape the breaks are really in, and if it's something
you can't do, have a professional do it, because bad
(08:09):
breaks is nothing to fool around with, and it keeps
you safe and it keeps me safe. As I'm driving
along in the car next to you. Let's go over
to Paul in Norway, Maine. I guess that couldn't be Norway, Norway. No,
we don't have that kind of reach. See what's going
on here with this two thousand and one cameray, Paul,
Welcome to the car, doctor sir, How are you pretty good?
Speaker 6 (08:26):
How are you doing good?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
What's going on?
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Well, I'll get a two thousand and one camera and
it's a five speed with a two point two, and
I bought it for fun, and it's like a second
a third vehicle.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Actually, what's kind of neat a five speed camera? You
don't see many of those.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
Yeah, that's why you bought it. YEA had the five speed?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, yep. So what's going on that? Well?
Speaker 6 (08:49):
I had it out of service for a while, and
when I went to put it back into service, it
would start up and it'll run for a few seconds
and then it will quit. Okay, and uh, it got
worse and worse, and now it just starts. It fires.
(09:11):
You see the tacometa needle go up, and then it quits,
and then you can hear the fuel pump working to repressurize.
I guess it's something. And then I try it again
it does the same exact thing.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
All right.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Let me let me ask you this. Once it goes
into this dead it won't start mode. Have you checked
to see do you have spark?
Speaker 6 (09:36):
I'm imagining that I do, because it seems to fire.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It fires, right, but but but I'm imagining that maybe
you don't, simply because it fires and dies, so it
has spark when you go to start it, it doesn't
have spark, otherwise it would keep running. We won't be
having this phone call right right, so and the play Well, no,
how about we take how about we take a coil
wire out of off a spark plug. Do you have
(10:00):
a spark plug, tester pole, a larger gap plug? Yeah, Well,
let's look it up. Let's see if we've got spark,
and we should have. We should have an angry orangish
hot blue white spark color kind of thing going on there,
and it should be an extended gap plug. And if
you can fire the coil, then we know it's not spark,
(10:21):
and that eliminates about half the possible problems this could be.
If it has spark, then my next question is going
to be does it have injector pulse? And probably the
easiest way for you to tell me that is if
you don't have one, go buy a mechanic stethoscope. Listen
to the injectors. Do they click, they'll click when it runs?
(10:41):
Do they continue to click when it goes into that
crank no stark condition? Do those two tests call me
back next week?
Speaker 6 (10:48):
All right, I'll do that, all right.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Kitt Well, thank you, and you keep us posted eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero the
Card Doctor's twenty four to seven phone number. Give us
a call anytime, day or night and leave a message
fast Harry. We'll call you back. I'm running dye in
the Car Doctor. I'll be back right after this. Welcome back,
(11:32):
run an Indie in the Car Doctor here. If you're
new to us, we want to thank you for stopping by.
If you've been here a while, we want to thank
you for sticking around. This radio show for you newbies
is all about your car and it's problems. So if
you've got a question, if your mechanics beating you up,
if the car doesn't seem to make sense, if gee,
the last build seem too expensive to me, then give
us a call. Eight five five five six zero nine
(11:53):
nine zero zero will help break it down, and I'll
put it into a language in a way that you
can understand it and listen. Maybe your mechanic's wrong, though,
we can kind of talk about that too. But this
radio show's here for you, and it's dictated by the
calls and the questions that you ask, and that's how
we run this show and have for the past twenty
four plus years. Let's get over and talk to John Shadyside, Ohio,
nineteen eighty three, Honda Civic and some problems with a
(12:15):
fuel level center. John, Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help?
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Hey, Ron, I.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Ran out of options because nobody can get the part,
and I was wondering at first any way that I
can get a fuel sensor, any fuel sensor would work
in that car.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Well, let's see two eighty three. What am I saying?
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Eighty three?
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, that's my dad's car. He passed away, and I'm
trying to restore it a little bit, you know, running.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I mean, the car is only thirty two years old.
It's still got some life left in it. I think,
you know. My one question would be before I talk
about getting a replacement part, John, is is it that
the gas doesn't work? Have you pulled the fuel level
cender out? Do you know that it's bad?
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Yeah, because the gas that in the tank, okay for
twenty years. Okay, so I just decided, you know, to
give it a shot.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, then the next question I've got is that the
fuel level cender went bad and it, you know, because
the gas turned to gelatine and whatever else. It varnished
down into what's the inside of the tank look like.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
No, No, the dealers they they they can can't get
a new tank. Okay, they can't get a answor Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
So you know, all that sensor is, all that sending
unit is is a potentiometer. It's a variable resistor. So
I've got to think, with a little bit of creativity
and ingenuity that it can't be the most impossible thing
to transfer another sending unit that has the same range
value and resistance value to make that gauge work. What
(13:57):
I would tell you to do, is it if we
were at the shop. I have this device, it's called
a variable potentiometer, and all it is is just a
big riist at It lets me very resistance in a
circuit so I can get things to do what I
want them to do. It's basically a fuel level cender. Now,
most fuel level cenders are zero to ninety oms. Sometimes
(14:19):
they're they're they're ten to one hundred and twenty oms.
They vary by car manufacturer. If you put a if
you put a potentiometer, a variable potentiometer to that signal
line back to the gauge and measure Wear's e Wear's full.
Then you just got to find a potentiometer that matches
that range and then attach it to the sender.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Yeah, but where do you get this?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Well, what the actual part, the replacement part?
Speaker 4 (14:46):
No, any of them that would work. I'm not pick a.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Car once you. Once you. The most important thing, and
my point is the most important thing is to know
what range cender you're looking for.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Okay, Well, I don't know that.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I'm not mechanic, right, Well, the mechanic would have to
know that, John, That's what I'm trying to tell you, Okay,
all right. So in other words, the mechanic would have
to have the smarts to understand that a gas gauge
is a variable resistor circuit. All right. Let me explain
it like this. If the gas gauge didn't work in
(15:19):
the days of nineteen eighty three, eighty five, ninety ninety
five and so on, we would get out of variable
potentiometer and we would do a sweep test of the gauge.
We'd put it at zero, bring it up towards the
top end. We watched the gauge go from E to F.
All right, So he's got to do the same thing
to that car. In doing that, he's going to determine
(15:40):
what the range of that sender is. Once he knows that,
then it's a simple matter of referencing a later model
vehicle and saying, and I would probably start to look
somewhere in the mid nineties, because I'm sure sending units
are available for those, and say, okay, a sending unit,
for example, for a ninety five civicx Aveil. I'd find
(16:01):
one and transfer over that sending unit to the existing
one that's in the car. And it can't be that
hard to do. Fabrication of parts isn't the most impossible
thing in the world. Where there's a will, there's.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Away, So there's a way to do it if you find.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
The right If you can find somebody that understands variable
resistance and how and how to really understand how a
fuel gage circuit works, then you can find somebody to
repair this. If all your mechanic can do right now
is swap parts, then all you can do. All you've
got is a parts swapper. And that's why you're confused
about it, all right, This is this is a fairly
(16:36):
simple circuit and a fairly simple problem. I wouldn't let
something like this stand in your way and keep you
from getting this car repaired. So good luck to you. John.
If you need more information, send me an email ron
at cardoctorshow dot com and we can kind of pick
it up and go from there. Hey, listeners, just real
quick before we pull over and take the pause. My
(16:57):
spies tell me and I've got some updated info. Buick
Is just has just unveiled with the twenty sixteen Cascadia. Wow,
you've got to google this Cascadia cisca DA. What a
good looking convertible this is. And you can see where
General Motors is going with this car. If the mechanicals
(17:18):
are correct and the mechanicals work, they're taking square aim
at BMW and Audi for this and everything's going to
that European look. But the Cascadia, I saw pictures of it,
and I was quite impressed and pleased to see how
they're how they're changing their design. It comes out as
a convertible. It's got a very sleek windshield. The top
(17:39):
goes up and down and in only seventeen seconds they
can lower the top up. Speeds up to thirty one
miles an hour the spec say, and it's got a
very wind swept exterior design. So you know you can
see ton what do you think? Let me turn this around,
ton look at that? Is that a sharp looking car? Yeah?
I got thumbs up from Tony. Tony knows, so the
Tony and all his boys are like that. And take
(18:01):
that out for a road. So a lot of technology
out there and a lot of good looking car that
General Motors is coming up with and part and parcel
real quick. One last thought on John's problem. One of
the things I see people make mistakes with is the
part's not available. That means I can't fix the car.
That's not the case. What you've always got to do
(18:23):
when you're faced with a no part available scenario is
how does the circuit work? And then make a part
from there. It's not that car companies make parts anymore.
They subcontract them out, and a lot of things are very,
very similar, So always understand what you're working on before
you try going to solve the impossible. I'm running any
of the car doctor. We'll be back right after this
Row Lady, days of sun, those days of soda and
Patsus and ron Anian.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It's been a case at the shop the last three weeks.
I'm noticing in the heat as summer is here that
we're seeing much higher battery failures, shops.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Failure, a basket full of sandages.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
And the car Doctor then locked the house up.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Now, yes, sat, if you're riding around on a battery
that's three four years old and it looks like you're
growing cauliflower on the battery terminals, you probably need to
have the terminals cleaned, battery tested, and maybe replaced.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian, 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.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
The phone and call in. The girls are opening, but
I am here to take their calls. At eight five
five five six oh ninety nine hundred list dot summers
at all.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
And now hee.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Running.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I think far As Gump was wrong. I don't think
life is like a box of chocolates. I think driveability
cars are because you're never quite sure what you're really
gonna get. Hello and welcome Bron and Any and the
guard Doctor here to carry on for the next two
hours talking about you and your automobile at eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero, All Things
automotive or otherwise. If you've got a question or comment
(01:38):
or a concern, give us a call eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. The website for
this radio show as always Cardoctorshow dot com. You can
find more information there. TuneIn dot com, iHeart dot com,
iTunes dot com for podcasting and other show information as well.
If you need me during the week you got a
car problem, we can't get up here on airon talk
(01:58):
about it. Send it to me an email Ron at
cardoctorshow dot com. I think driveability cars are getting tougher
and I almost don't know if it's the car or
the person that owns them. Two situations this week at
the shop two thousand and four Volkswagen turreg Turg turreg
(02:19):
well VW virtually worth a six or one half a
dozen or the other and the check engine light had
been on for admittedly of the owner seven months. And
the reason we knew that was because this is July.
The inspection was December. The check engine light's been on
since then, and he about a month, maybe a little longer.
So I'm guessing the check engine light's been on seven
(02:40):
to nine months and he's been driving it around. It
has a lean fuel system code. The reason I know
it has a lean fuel system code is because he
walked into the shop with his scan tool telling me
here's the code. I think it's intake. Guess it's what
can you do to fix it? Let me tell you
about the right and the wrong way to walk into
somebody's house. And I kind of take it personal, and yeah,
(03:04):
you know, I was asking. I was talking to Sue
last night. We were having dinner at this little Italian
restaurant again, and I said, you know, maybe my ego's
a little too fragile. I don't know. But when somebody
walks in and says to me, here's what's wrong with
the car, how are you going to fix it? And
I haven't even walked outside, gotten as signed repair, haven't
even gotten to the point where I've lifted the hood,
(03:24):
and I'm being put on the spot. You know, give
me a break, walked outside, looked at the car, it's
it's used up, worn out, eighty thousand mile oh four
Volkswagen that's been road hard, put away, wet, and it really,
I won't say should have been shot, but it's getting close.
The driver's door doesn't open from the inside anymore. The
(03:45):
owner admitted that it needed breaks. It's had this check
engine light issue ongoing for quite some time now, and
I explained to him that check engine light is the
mystery because once you saw that twenty one to eighty
nine lean fuel condition bank one fault that his scan
tool said was the issue that you've then got the
(04:05):
problem of is there anything else there? It's layered, you
don't know. We ended up sending that car to the
dealer because he wanted to know me or the dealer,
and I said the dealer, because walk into the dealer
and show them the scan tool and see what they
do to you. Second driveability car this week was an
O eight Ford Fusion eight Ford Fusion that had a
rolling idol between six and eight hundred doar pm and
(04:26):
went through every test and diagnosed it the way it
should have been. After Ford diagnosed it and two other
shops diagnosed it and came to the conclusion that it's
a bad throttle body. A five hundred dollars part is
that the only thing wrong with it. G I don't know.
I've got to get through this. I've got to go
one step at a time. I can prove the throttle
body bad. I don't know how the rest of the
car is because I can't test beyond that point. Like
a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going
(04:47):
to get. The owner intends to take it to a
fourth or fifth, or sixth or seventh shop, I'm not
sure what answer he's looking for, but obviously here's what's
wrong with the car. I can prove it isn't something
to satisfy him. The bottom line, it becomes that you
as the owner, you as the vehicle decision maker. It's
a lot like caretaking for somebody older or for yourself.
(05:08):
You've got to have a clear mind what it is
you're looking for before you go out looking, and you've
got to understand that when you're talking to a mechanic
sometimes the worst thing in the world to say is
here's what's wrong with it, how are you going to
fix it? Or gee, what if that doesn't fix it?
And instill some doubt into the conversation. You've got to
get used to the idea that auto repair going forward,
(05:29):
there is going to be that eighty percentile guess that
hopefully he's a good guesser and a good diagnostician that's
going to get you down to that point of here's
what's wrong with the car. Hello, and welcome Ron and
Andy and the car doctor.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Here.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
We're going to roll along this hour. Coming up next hour,
we're gonna be talking to Mark Eaton. Mark is from Dens,
so we're going to be talking to him about a
ridium and they're iridium TT spark plugs. But right now
we have a very full phone bank and fast Tarry's
looking at me through the glass with a pained expression
on his face, saying open the doors. So let's fire
him up. Let's go over to Rick in New Haven, Connecticut,
(06:01):
two thousand and one buikh century and some break caliber questions. Rick,
Welcome to the car Doctor, sir, All right, what's going on?
Speaker 5 (06:11):
Well, I'm thought I have a sticking break caliper, and
I was wondering anything I could do about that until
I replace it.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Not really, you know when you say you've got a
sticking caliper. What are the breaks pull left or right?
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Rick another?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Okay, Well, generally a squeal is a is a compound
issue and not necessarily a stuck caliber issue. If a
break caliper is sticking, the vehicle, by all rights should pull.
Even the slightest little bit of a break caliper that's
hanging is going to cause unequal pressure in the system
and the vehicle will have a bit of a drift
to the left or the right. Now, you know, we
(06:50):
should also see breaks wearing more to one side than
the other. Who who's saying that the caliper sticking.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
I'm a friend with more experience than me.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Okay. Any reason why you're waiting to repair it?
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Yeah, finances?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Okay, well, and that's a fair statement. Just keep in
mind if the brakes do become a problem, and there
is an issue and they don't work, the repair bills
are only going to go up from here. So you know,
keep in mind too that breaks stick or break caliper
issues aren't necessarily going to be a squeal all by themselves.
(07:27):
Generally it's compound. It could also be that the brake pads,
you know, whatever lubricant was supposed to be there. Now,
the brake pad could be stuck on the caliper, not
allowing it to float all right, because the caliber the
pad has to float against the rotor to a degree.
A little bit of silicon grease and the right spots
goes a long way to preventing squeal. But if the
(07:49):
way the pad is mounted is correct, if that break
caliper itself is mechanically stuck, then you should have other
issues going on here. My suggestion is, before you wait
too much longer, take it apart. See what kind of
shape the breaks are really in, and if it's something
you can't do, have a professional do it, because bad
(08:09):
breaks is nothing to fool around with, and it keeps
you safe and it keeps me safe. As I'm driving
along in the car next to you. Let's go over
to Paul in Norway, Maine. I guess that couldn't be Norway, Norway. No,
we don't have that kind of reach. See what's going
on here with this two thousand and one cameray, Paul,
Welcome to the car, doctor sir, How are you pretty good?
Speaker 6 (08:26):
How are you doing good?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
What's going on?
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Well, I'll get a two thousand and one camera and
it's a five speed with a two point two, and
I bought it for fun, and it's like a second
a third vehicle.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Actually, what's kind of neat a five speed camera? You
don't see many of those.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
Yeah, that's why you bought it. YEA had the five speed?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, yep. So what's going on that? Well?
Speaker 6 (08:49):
I had it out of service for a while, and
when I went to put it back into service, it
would start up and it'll run for a few seconds
and then it will quit. Okay, and uh, it got
worse and worse, and now it just starts. It fires.
(09:11):
You see the tacometa needle go up, and then it quits,
and then you can hear the fuel pump working to repressurize.
I guess it's something. And then I try it again
it does the same exact thing.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
All right.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Let me let me ask you this. Once it goes
into this dead it won't start mode. Have you checked
to see do you have spark?
Speaker 6 (09:36):
I'm imagining that I do, because it seems to fire.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It fires, right, but but but I'm imagining that maybe
you don't, simply because it fires and dies, so it
has spark when you go to start it, it doesn't
have spark, otherwise it would keep running. We won't be
having this phone call right right, so and the play Well, no,
how about we take how about we take a coil
wire out of off a spark plug. Do you have
(10:00):
a spark plug, tester pole, a larger gap plug? Yeah, Well,
let's look it up. Let's see if we've got spark,
and we should have. We should have an angry orangish
hot blue white spark color kind of thing going on there,
and it should be an extended gap plug. And if
you can fire the coil, then we know it's not spark,
(10:21):
and that eliminates about half the possible problems this could be.
If it has spark, then my next question is going
to be does it have injector pulse? And probably the
easiest way for you to tell me that is if
you don't have one, go buy a mechanic stethoscope. Listen
to the injectors. Do they click, they'll click when it runs?
(10:41):
Do they continue to click when it goes into that
crank no stark condition? Do those two tests call me
back next week?
Speaker 6 (10:48):
All right, I'll do that, all right.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Kitt Well, thank you, and you keep us posted eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero the
Card Doctor's twenty four to seven phone number. Give us
a call anytime, day or night and leave a message
fast Harry. We'll call you back. I'm running dye in
the Car Doctor. I'll be back right after this. Welcome back,
(11:32):
run an Indie in the Car Doctor here. If you're
new to us, we want to thank you for stopping by.
If you've been here a while, we want to thank
you for sticking around. This radio show for you newbies
is all about your car and it's problems. So if
you've got a question, if your mechanics beating you up,
if the car doesn't seem to make sense, if gee,
the last build seem too expensive to me, then give
us a call. Eight five five five six zero nine
(11:53):
nine zero zero will help break it down, and I'll
put it into a language in a way that you
can understand it and listen. Maybe your mechanic's wrong, though,
we can kind of talk about that too. But this
radio show's here for you, and it's dictated by the
calls and the questions that you ask, and that's how
we run this show and have for the past twenty
four plus years. Let's get over and talk to John Shadyside, Ohio,
nineteen eighty three, Honda Civic and some problems with a
(12:15):
fuel level center. John, Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help?
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Hey, Ron, I.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Ran out of options because nobody can get the part,
and I was wondering at first any way that I
can get a fuel sensor, any fuel sensor would work
in that car.
Speaker 5 (12:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Well, let's see two eighty three. What am I saying?
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Eighty three?
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, that's my dad's car. He passed away, and I'm
trying to restore it a little bit, you know, running.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I mean, the car is only thirty two years old.
It's still got some life left in it. I think,
you know. My one question would be before I talk
about getting a replacement part, John, is is it that
the gas doesn't work? Have you pulled the fuel level
cender out? Do you know that it's bad?
Speaker 5 (13:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Yeah, because the gas that in the tank, okay for
twenty years. Okay, so I just decided, you know, to
give it a shot.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, then the next question I've got is that the
fuel level cender went bad and it, you know, because
the gas turned to gelatine and whatever else. It varnished
down into what's the inside of the tank look like.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
No, No, the dealers they they they can can't get
a new tank. Okay, they can't get a answor Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
So you know, all that sensor is, all that sending
unit is is a potentiometer. It's a variable resistor. So
I've got to think, with a little bit of creativity
and ingenuity that it can't be the most impossible thing
to transfer another sending unit that has the same range
value and resistance value to make that gauge work. What
(13:57):
I would tell you to do, is it if we
were at the shop. I have this device, it's called
a variable potentiometer, and all it is is just a
big riist at It lets me very resistance in a
circuit so I can get things to do what I
want them to do. It's basically a fuel level cender. Now,
most fuel level cenders are zero to ninety oms. Sometimes
(14:19):
they're they're they're ten to one hundred and twenty oms.
They vary by car manufacturer. If you put a if
you put a potentiometer, a variable potentiometer to that signal
line back to the gauge and measure Wear's e Wear's full.
Then you just got to find a potentiometer that matches
that range and then attach it to the sender.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Yeah, but where do you get this?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Well, what the actual part, the replacement part?
Speaker 4 (14:46):
No, any of them that would work. I'm not pick a.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Car once you. Once you. The most important thing, and
my point is the most important thing is to know
what range cender you're looking for.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Okay, Well, I don't know that.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I'm not mechanic, right, Well, the mechanic would have to
know that, John, That's what I'm trying to tell you, Okay,
all right. So in other words, the mechanic would have
to have the smarts to understand that a gas gauge
is a variable resistor circuit. All right. Let me explain
it like this. If the gas gauge didn't work in
(15:19):
the days of nineteen eighty three, eighty five, ninety ninety
five and so on, we would get out of variable
potentiometer and we would do a sweep test of the gauge.
We'd put it at zero, bring it up towards the
top end. We watched the gauge go from E to F.
All right, So he's got to do the same thing
to that car. In doing that, he's going to determine
(15:40):
what the range of that sender is. Once he knows that,
then it's a simple matter of referencing a later model
vehicle and saying, and I would probably start to look
somewhere in the mid nineties, because I'm sure sending units
are available for those, and say, okay, a sending unit,
for example, for a ninety five civicx Aveil. I'd find
(16:01):
one and transfer over that sending unit to the existing
one that's in the car. And it can't be that
hard to do. Fabrication of parts isn't the most impossible
thing in the world. Where there's a will, there's.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Away, So there's a way to do it if you find.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
The right If you can find somebody that understands variable
resistance and how and how to really understand how a
fuel gage circuit works, then you can find somebody to
repair this. If all your mechanic can do right now
is swap parts, then all you can do. All you've
got is a parts swapper. And that's why you're confused
about it, all right, This is this is a fairly
(16:36):
simple circuit and a fairly simple problem. I wouldn't let
something like this stand in your way and keep you
from getting this car repaired. So good luck to you. John.
If you need more information, send me an email ron
at cardoctorshow dot com and we can kind of pick
it up and go from there. Hey, listeners, just real
quick before we pull over and take the pause. My
(16:57):
spies tell me and I've got some updated info. Buick
Is just has just unveiled with the twenty sixteen Cascadia. Wow,
you've got to google this Cascadia cisca DA. What a
good looking convertible this is. And you can see where
General Motors is going with this car. If the mechanicals
(17:18):
are correct and the mechanicals work, they're taking square aim
at BMW and Audi for this and everything's going to
that European look. But the Cascadia, I saw pictures of it,
and I was quite impressed and pleased to see how
they're how they're changing their design. It comes out as
a convertible. It's got a very sleek windshield. The top
(17:39):
goes up and down and in only seventeen seconds they
can lower the top up. Speeds up to thirty one
miles an hour the spec say, and it's got a
very wind swept exterior design. So you know you can
see ton what do you think? Let me turn this around,
ton look at that? Is that a sharp looking car? Yeah?
I got thumbs up from Tony. Tony knows, so the
Tony and all his boys are like that. And take
(18:01):
that out for a road. So a lot of technology
out there and a lot of good looking car that
General Motors is coming up with and part and parcel
real quick. One last thought on John's problem. One of
the things I see people make mistakes with is the
part's not available. That means I can't fix the car.
That's not the case. What you've always got to do
(18:23):
when you're faced with a no part available scenario is
how does the circuit work? And then make a part
from there. It's not that car companies make parts anymore.
They subcontract them out, and a lot of things are very,
very similar, So always understand what you're working on before
you try going to solve the impossible. I'm running any
of the car doctor. We'll be back right after this
Host
Ron Ananian
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