Ron hits the ground running with a caller that is burning oil in his 2007 Toyota RAV 4. He covers his thoughts on why the manufacturers oil change interval may be the reason why. He then talks to Arlene from Michigan. She is having an issue with her 1999 Volvo 5 speed that has a random ABS, Traction control light coming that no one can give her a direction or diagnosis. Ron cautions her and offers some insight on why the dealer may be approaching it incorrectly.
Last, Ron closes out today talking with Tom about his new air filter kit and what he likes about it.
Enjoying these older episodes? Send us your thoughts if you wish. ron@cardoctorshow.com
Find out more about us; www.cardoctorshow.com
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 (00:08):
Hey, welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We aren't any in the card doctors here. Let's grow
over talk to Augie from Auburn, Maine with a two
thousand and seven Toyota and some questions. Augie, welcome to
the car doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yeah, Ron, Yeah, I have an O seven Toyota Rev
four four cylinder. It's got fifty two thousand miles on
it and I bought it new. It never burned any
oil between oil changes, I got kind of laxed. So
just before our last oil change was due, the low
oil light started coming on flickering, so I checked the
(00:39):
oil into my shock it was below the dipstick, so
I had it took a little more than a quart
over a court to put in. And then my wife,
it's my wife's car, and she religiously does the oil
changes on it, and I then she had to all
(01:02):
change done. And then I checked it again after six
hundred miles and I was half a quart low again,
So apparently she's starting to burn oil. And I went
on the internet and found many thirty forty postings on
these Toyotas, so apparently there's a real problem here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
And let me ask you, Algie, when you went long
on that first oil change. How long did you go?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Our all oil changes are between four and five thousands?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Okay? And then you said you went you went late
on one. You said you got lax on doing one.
How long did no?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
No, I didn't know any of what I meant. I
meant I got lax on checking them. Okay, I didn't
check the oil anymore or very little because it went
between oil changes.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Do you know offhand what viscosity oil you're using?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yes, that's five W twenty that's what they recommend.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's correct. And then are you using a synthetic or
a conventional?
Speaker 1 (02:05):
It's conventional.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So the first mistake, and I won't say it would
have prevented the problem, but I'm going to be blunt.
The first mistake is I would never run a conventional
oil to five thousand miles, all right, simply because conventional
oils are all pretty much made the same they like
synthetic oil. Conventional oils have additives installed in them by
(02:29):
the different oil manufacturers, and that's what makes them unique
to that manufacturer. You know, I used to think, when
I was a lot younger and naive, that you know,
oil brand a came out of this hole in the ground.
Oil brand B came out of that hole in the ground,
oil brand C came out of that hole in the ground,
and so on. And after learning and reading and researching,
(02:51):
it appears that the majority of oil companies start with
a base stock and add additives put vitamins in to
make that oil unique to their product, to their brand,
to their market, and then they sell it as that.
So penz oil, for example, we'll talk about pens oil
(03:12):
because we like pens oil. Pens oil is you know,
it's the good stuff. As I always say, you know,
they now have pure plus technology where they've created an
oil that is specific to their way of thinking. It's
proprietary with their chemical composition, but it has the additives
in it to meet the requirements of the car manufacturers.
(03:32):
All right, I always say, you don't buy the oil,
you buy the oil company, you buy the engineering behind it.
That being said, conventional oil, I wouldn't run it to
five thousand miles in a lot of applications simply because
studies show that additives put into oil to maintain their
(03:53):
effectiveness start to dissipate around the three thousand, thirty five
hundred mile mark and they're gone by five thousand miles.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Okay, well, this is the oil course that the dealer
puts in and recommend it.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You know, No, I understand. Listen, there's a lot of
there's a lot of people out there that are following
manufacturers recommendations. And I could probably write a book on
why I think that's wrong. You know, I come from
the school of if enough is good, more is better,
too much is just enough. You know, it's if we
take everything at face value, then Augie, and let's say
(04:29):
Toyota was absolutely one hundred percent right, so everybody ran.
Everybody ran five twenty Toyota motor oil for five thousand miles,
changed it correctly. The vehicles had no other issues, and
everybody's consuming oil. That tells us either the car's got
a problem, the oil's got a problem, or the manufacturer's
(04:50):
recommendation has a problem. Because there's only a couple of
constants there. Everything else is everybody's just driving a car.
If you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, okay, well I went on the internet, right and
found thirty forty postings where these engines have the same problem, right,
and they're getting worse.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yep, they do have They do have ring problems. I
have read some reports that where they're talking about replacement
of rings, they're having oil ring problems where the rings
are sticking and they're not able to perform proper oil
control and it is critical to use five twenty oil.
In some cases, they're actually calling for a zero twenty oil.
(05:32):
And it's a case by case basis, depending upon where
you live in the climate and the environment and things
like that. That that being said, I can tell you that,
or let me ask the question this way. Who's doing
your mechanical work. Is it a dealer or is it
a private garage.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's a dealer, okay, So.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
You know I would bring it up to the dealer
and ask them, can we do an oil consumption test?
Which should be their response. That is corporate Toyota's response,
We need to know how much oil you're consuming, and
their answer, if it's anything more than a quart every
five hundred miles, their answer is going to be that
that's acceptable.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, well I don't find that accept.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Do I neither do I? You know, listen, it's one
of the reasons I haven't purchased a new Toyota in
quite a while.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I'm at that point right now. I had a all
Track that I went two hundred thousand miles and never
burned a drop oil, right, And I'm very upset about
what they're saying.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Hey, you ever hear if you're a regular listener to
the show, and if you're not, you know, I'm always
saying that I think Toyotas are a good car, but
they're not as good as everybody thinks. Yes, this is
exactly why, because everybody makes that same statement. You just said, Hey,
I used to have a Toyota All Track, or I
had a ninety eight Camera, or I had a ninety
(06:56):
two Corolla, and boy, that thing went a quarter million miles.
And I've got a newer Toyota and I've got problems
with it with less than eighty thousand miles on it.
And that's because, in my opinion, they're okay, but you know,
they're not that supercar anymore. You've really got to look
at them. I think their growth has caused them to
suffer some of the maladies that some of the other
(07:18):
big car companies have. And if I'm out looking at
cars right now, it's four GM Toyota, Honda, Chrysler, no
particular order, something in the top five food groups there.
They've all got their issues, but not any one of
them stands out above the rest like it once was.
The playing field has been leveled, sir.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah, I believe what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
The problem is, of all these posts I've read, it
keeps getting worse and worse. I'm only at fifty two
thousand miles right, and my extended warranty is seven years,
so it is run out now. Some of the posts
said there was a dealer that honored it and got
(08:04):
a new engine out of it. The other one said, oh,
the dealers have to rebuild the engine anywhere from three
to six thousand dollars. So now I'm now I'm in
a quandary of what do I do? What do I write?
So if I go to the dealer, he's going to
say what you said that, Oh, it's normal to burn
(08:25):
a cord in one thousand miles.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Court in five hundred, I think is what they consider acceptable.
It may be a fact. How can listen not my listen,
not my statement, Augie. It's it's it's this is how
they feel, this is how they think. I'll tell you
how to remedy it. The way I would approach this
is go to the dealer, ask for an oil consumption test.
Once you get the oil consumption test, if it's below
(08:47):
their standard, regardless of what you think it should be,
they're going to write it to their standard. If it's
below their standard, and they won't do anything for you
as far as you know paying for the bill. Tell
them you want to talk to the Toyota factory rep.
I would call Toyota out in Torrens, California, the phone
numbers in the back of your owner's manual. Tell them listen,
I've been a Toyota customer for twenty years. I can't
(09:08):
believe the quality of the vehicle, how it's fallen. Maybe
the recalls that you guys went through five years ago
have really come to fruition, you know, kind of bang
that drum and tell them, I'm about to go over
and switch my family and all my vehicles over to
Ford or Chrysler or GM. I'm giving you guys one
last chance to clean this up. And if they don't
react to that, that tells you the heart and soul
of the company, and then it's time to move on.
(09:29):
It's that simple.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yes, that's exactly the way I feel all right now. Now,
the last thing I have, yeah, real quick alternative I
have is to sell it. And in good faith, I
wouldn't sell it to a private party, because I would
my conscience would bother me.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Well, no, you can't, And what I could, what I
would tell you to do, Aggie, is trade it back
into whatever dealer's getting it. And whether you tell the
dealer who want to tell the dealer about it, that's
up to you. But first things first, before we talk
about selling it, let's find out if you're going to
sell it. Take those steps with Toyota this week and
give us a call back. I'm running any in the
car doctor. We'll be back right after this. Hey, welcome back.
(10:38):
Run in the car doctor. He Let's get over to
our lean in Michigan. We're falling behind. We got a
lot of calls. Let's go our lean. How can I
help you?
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Well? I got a nineteen ninety nine Volvo S seventy
five speed Turbo okay, no rust, right, stored in Florida, fifties,
just fifty five miles fifty fifty thousand miles, stored in
winter here, never driven in the winter. And I've got
a problem with the light. First thing that happens is
the light comes on where you have a picture of
(11:06):
a car and some squiggly lines, okay, control right, uh huh.
Then the ABS light comes on, right, then the brake
light comes on. Then those lights go off, and a
blinking arrow light comes on. And I took it to
the dealer and they cannot pull a code down it.
So they ordered a dashed module at the cost of
(11:28):
one thy three hundred, but they said they can't guarantee
you we'll fix the problem. So I wondered if you
could maybe help me know which.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Way to go.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Mike, Well, my question is the dealer couldn't pull the
code out of this vehicle. That's right.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
They said they could not pull a code.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Okay. Problem are they able to read you know those
component lights that came on. Are they able to read
the data stream out of those components? Can they can
they talk to those modules at the time that the
lights are.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Well, first of all, they couldn't make them come.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
On, okay when they drove it, all right.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
So I don't know that. And they said to bring
it back when I you know, when this happens again.
But they're you know about twelve miles away, and I
hesitate to drive over there.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Let's come on, let's let's do it like this then.
Do you see the lights every morning?
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Arlen?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (12:26):
If I would drive it every day. Yes, I haven't
driven it since the night I went out and started
it today and it never started like that was really
running rough, okay, and the lights were not on all right,
I haven't driven it.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So this is a separate issue. Now now it's running rough,
and you had and the dash lights were normal per se,
and so now now it's almost like it's got a
secondary problem, that's right, Okay. The easiest way to diagnose this,
and I really don't want to see anybody guess at
this is when we see a component act up and
(13:04):
we can't prove it. You know, when you say they
can't pull any codes? Can they still talk to the computers?
Do you have a desktop computer in your house? Arlene?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Okay, you ever have it act up but you can't
prove what's wrong with it, and you sort of go
and look, you know, can I still see the hard drive?
Can I still see the DVD burner? Can I still
talk to the you know? Can I talk to some
of the components. You're you're you're doing a network test.
You're looking to see are the components there. So what
I want them to do is when the problem is happening,
(13:37):
and you may have to leave it there the night
before and let them drive it a couple of days
and let them go out and try it cold, because
maybe this is a temperature thing where it's got to
be cold or cool or not driven yet. And at
the moment that it's happening, then plug in, can the
scan tool talk to ABS traction control trans module and
(13:57):
so on regardless, And if that ken, then we know
it's not those modules, then we can focus. Maybe we
do have a problem with the printed circuit boarder or
connection at the instrument cluster. Maybe that's the issue. So
my concern is spending one thousand bucks on a guess.
That's a heck of a guess. And unless they've got
(14:18):
a better reason, and maybe they can tell you, Hey, Arleen,
we can't prove it's bad, but we've seen this before
on a half a dozen cars just last week. Hey,
you know what, that's a pattern failure. That's a different conversation.
But in terms of you know, spending one thousand bucks. Hey,
this is the first car you've ever seen.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Do it?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
This is a good place to start. You only do
that if the checkbook is bottomless, and nobody's checkbook is
bottomless today. So have them diagnosed it the way I did,
the way I explained it to. You see what that does.
If that doesn't work, Ron at cardoctorshow dot com, drop
me an email and we'll talk about it some more
here on air. I'm ronnin Eny in the car Doctor.
I'll be back right after this. Hey, welcome back. Why
(15:27):
don't any in the car doctor here? And I just
want to point out that Rona Tom, I'm trying to
close out the end.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Yeah, but you know, we'll gesk guys in the control
room here. We feel bad. We feel real bad about
teasing you before about you know, you stepping out to
take a driver on the block and.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Well yeah that's because you know listen, and that's true.
That was I thought that was a funny spot, but
that is true. I do prefer driving my truck with
the kN N air and take system on it rather
than being here doing radio sometimes because it's so much
fun to drive.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Well, we prefer to drive it too. But you never
let us. We're jealous of you.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Ron.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well, you know what, Tom, if you sit in that
truck and it's a full sized Chevy Silver Rod, So
if you sit in that truck, it seems like the
fenders get bigger and the hood gets longer. And maybe
it's my imagination and it might sound corny, but that
intake system just makes it run so well. You just
never notice things and you kind of bounce off things sometimes,
especially when you're snowplowing.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
With maybe we like to do that. You never asked you.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Need a checkbook to go with that. Tom. So I
love you guys, but I don't love you that much.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
That's a true sign of love when when you're a
car guy, whether or not you'll let the other guy
actually drive your vehicle. That's a whole other conversation. But
in all seriousness, I do like my truck a lot
better with the cana in air and take system. It
does make a difference in the way that it runs.
And the nicest thing about it is there's very little maintenance.
(16:42):
Once you install it. It's once a year check it
for dirt and make sure it's oiled and down the road,
and it does give the best performance.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
No, no, no. The nice thing about it is because
there's no maintenance. The guys at the quick loop places
never get to touch.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
On that's listen. The guys at the quick Blue places
never get to touch my truck anyway. So that's like,
you know, the hardest question for the guy, for me
to answer to the guy when I do get around
to buying a new vehicle is would you like the
extended warranty?
Speaker 5 (17:05):
No?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Why because you're never going to see it, And that's
a whole other conversation. So give me the vehicle. Let
me get out of here. By the way, speaking of
getting out of here, I can see that it's time
to go. This hour, there was another hour of the
car Doctor after the news at the top of the
hour on most of these affiliates till then I'm running
any in the card doctor reminding you the mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
See you
Hey, welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We aren't any in the card doctors here. Let's grow
over talk to Augie from Auburn, Maine with a two
thousand and seven Toyota and some questions. Augie, welcome to
the car doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yeah, Ron, Yeah, I have an O seven Toyota Rev
four four cylinder. It's got fifty two thousand miles on
it and I bought it new. It never burned any
oil between oil changes, I got kind of laxed. So
just before our last oil change was due, the low
oil light started coming on flickering, so I checked the
(00:39):
oil into my shock it was below the dipstick, so
I had it took a little more than a quart
over a court to put in. And then my wife,
it's my wife's car, and she religiously does the oil
changes on it, and I then she had to all
(01:02):
change done. And then I checked it again after six
hundred miles and I was half a quart low again,
So apparently she's starting to burn oil. And I went
on the internet and found many thirty forty postings on
these Toyotas, so apparently there's a real problem here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
And let me ask you, Algie, when you went long
on that first oil change. How long did you go?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Our all oil changes are between four and five thousands?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Okay? And then you said you went you went late
on one. You said you got lax on doing one.
How long did no?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
No, I didn't know any of what I meant. I
meant I got lax on checking them. Okay, I didn't
check the oil anymore or very little because it went
between oil changes.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Do you know offhand what viscosity oil you're using?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yes, that's five W twenty that's what they recommend.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's correct. And then are you using a synthetic or
a conventional?
Speaker 1 (02:05):
It's conventional.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So the first mistake, and I won't say it would
have prevented the problem, but I'm going to be blunt.
The first mistake is I would never run a conventional
oil to five thousand miles, all right, simply because conventional
oils are all pretty much made the same they like
synthetic oil. Conventional oils have additives installed in them by
(02:29):
the different oil manufacturers, and that's what makes them unique
to that manufacturer. You know, I used to think, when
I was a lot younger and naive, that you know,
oil brand a came out of this hole in the ground.
Oil brand B came out of that hole in the ground,
oil brand C came out of that hole in the ground,
and so on. And after learning and reading and researching,
(02:51):
it appears that the majority of oil companies start with
a base stock and add additives put vitamins in to
make that oil unique to their product, to their brand,
to their market, and then they sell it as that.
So penz oil, for example, we'll talk about pens oil
(03:12):
because we like pens oil. Pens oil is you know,
it's the good stuff. As I always say, you know,
they now have pure plus technology where they've created an
oil that is specific to their way of thinking. It's
proprietary with their chemical composition, but it has the additives
in it to meet the requirements of the car manufacturers.
(03:32):
All right, I always say, you don't buy the oil,
you buy the oil company, you buy the engineering behind it.
That being said, conventional oil, I wouldn't run it to
five thousand miles in a lot of applications simply because
studies show that additives put into oil to maintain their
(03:53):
effectiveness start to dissipate around the three thousand, thirty five
hundred mile mark and they're gone by five thousand miles.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Okay, well, this is the oil course that the dealer
puts in and recommend it.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
You know, No, I understand. Listen, there's a lot of
there's a lot of people out there that are following
manufacturers recommendations. And I could probably write a book on
why I think that's wrong. You know, I come from
the school of if enough is good, more is better,
too much is just enough. You know, it's if we
take everything at face value, then Augie, and let's say
(04:29):
Toyota was absolutely one hundred percent right, so everybody ran.
Everybody ran five twenty Toyota motor oil for five thousand miles,
changed it correctly. The vehicles had no other issues, and
everybody's consuming oil. That tells us either the car's got
a problem, the oil's got a problem, or the manufacturer's
(04:50):
recommendation has a problem. Because there's only a couple of
constants there. Everything else is everybody's just driving a car.
If you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, okay, well I went on the internet, right and
found thirty forty postings where these engines have the same problem, right,
and they're getting worse.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yep, they do have They do have ring problems. I
have read some reports that where they're talking about replacement
of rings, they're having oil ring problems where the rings
are sticking and they're not able to perform proper oil
control and it is critical to use five twenty oil.
In some cases, they're actually calling for a zero twenty oil.
(05:32):
And it's a case by case basis, depending upon where
you live in the climate and the environment and things
like that. That that being said, I can tell you that,
or let me ask the question this way. Who's doing
your mechanical work. Is it a dealer or is it
a private garage.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
It's a dealer, okay, So.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
You know I would bring it up to the dealer
and ask them, can we do an oil consumption test?
Which should be their response. That is corporate Toyota's response,
We need to know how much oil you're consuming, and
their answer, if it's anything more than a quart every
five hundred miles, their answer is going to be that
that's acceptable.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah, well I don't find that accept.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Do I neither do I? You know, listen, it's one
of the reasons I haven't purchased a new Toyota in
quite a while.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I'm at that point right now. I had a all
Track that I went two hundred thousand miles and never
burned a drop oil, right, And I'm very upset about
what they're saying.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Hey, you ever hear if you're a regular listener to
the show, and if you're not, you know, I'm always
saying that I think Toyotas are a good car, but
they're not as good as everybody thinks. Yes, this is
exactly why, because everybody makes that same statement. You just said, Hey,
I used to have a Toyota All Track, or I
had a ninety eight Camera, or I had a ninety
(06:56):
two Corolla, and boy, that thing went a quarter million miles.
And I've got a newer Toyota and I've got problems
with it with less than eighty thousand miles on it.
And that's because, in my opinion, they're okay, but you know,
they're not that supercar anymore. You've really got to look
at them. I think their growth has caused them to
suffer some of the maladies that some of the other
(07:18):
big car companies have. And if I'm out looking at
cars right now, it's four GM Toyota, Honda, Chrysler, no
particular order, something in the top five food groups there.
They've all got their issues, but not any one of
them stands out above the rest like it once was.
The playing field has been leveled, sir.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah, I believe what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
The problem is, of all these posts I've read, it
keeps getting worse and worse. I'm only at fifty two
thousand miles right, and my extended warranty is seven years,
so it is run out now. Some of the posts
said there was a dealer that honored it and got
(08:04):
a new engine out of it. The other one said, oh,
the dealers have to rebuild the engine anywhere from three
to six thousand dollars. So now I'm now I'm in
a quandary of what do I do? What do I write?
So if I go to the dealer, he's going to
say what you said that, Oh, it's normal to burn
(08:25):
a cord in one thousand miles.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Court in five hundred, I think is what they consider acceptable.
It may be a fact. How can listen not my listen,
not my statement, Augie. It's it's it's this is how
they feel, this is how they think. I'll tell you
how to remedy it. The way I would approach this
is go to the dealer, ask for an oil consumption test.
Once you get the oil consumption test, if it's below
(08:47):
their standard, regardless of what you think it should be,
they're going to write it to their standard. If it's
below their standard, and they won't do anything for you
as far as you know paying for the bill. Tell
them you want to talk to the Toyota factory rep.
I would call Toyota out in Torrens, California, the phone
numbers in the back of your owner's manual. Tell them listen,
I've been a Toyota customer for twenty years. I can't
(09:08):
believe the quality of the vehicle, how it's fallen. Maybe
the recalls that you guys went through five years ago
have really come to fruition, you know, kind of bang
that drum and tell them, I'm about to go over
and switch my family and all my vehicles over to
Ford or Chrysler or GM. I'm giving you guys one
last chance to clean this up. And if they don't
react to that, that tells you the heart and soul
of the company, and then it's time to move on.
(09:29):
It's that simple.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yes, that's exactly the way I feel all right now. Now,
the last thing I have, yeah, real quick alternative I
have is to sell it. And in good faith, I
wouldn't sell it to a private party, because I would
my conscience would bother me.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Well, no, you can't, And what I could, what I
would tell you to do, Aggie, is trade it back
into whatever dealer's getting it. And whether you tell the
dealer who want to tell the dealer about it, that's
up to you. But first things first, before we talk
about selling it, let's find out if you're going to
sell it. Take those steps with Toyota this week and
give us a call back. I'm running any in the
car doctor. We'll be back right after this. Hey, welcome back.
(10:38):
Run in the car doctor. He Let's get over to
our lean in Michigan. We're falling behind. We got a
lot of calls. Let's go our lean. How can I
help you?
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Well? I got a nineteen ninety nine Volvo S seventy
five speed Turbo okay, no rust, right, stored in Florida, fifties,
just fifty five miles fifty fifty thousand miles, stored in
winter here, never driven in the winter. And I've got
a problem with the light. First thing that happens is
the light comes on where you have a picture of
(11:06):
a car and some squiggly lines, okay, control right, uh huh.
Then the ABS light comes on, right, then the brake
light comes on. Then those lights go off, and a
blinking arrow light comes on. And I took it to
the dealer and they cannot pull a code down it.
So they ordered a dashed module at the cost of
(11:28):
one thy three hundred, but they said they can't guarantee
you we'll fix the problem. So I wondered if you
could maybe help me know which.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Way to go.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Mike, Well, my question is the dealer couldn't pull the
code out of this vehicle. That's right.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
They said they could not pull a code.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Okay. Problem are they able to read you know those
component lights that came on. Are they able to read
the data stream out of those components? Can they can
they talk to those modules at the time that the
lights are.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Well, first of all, they couldn't make them come.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
On, okay when they drove it, all right.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
So I don't know that. And they said to bring
it back when I you know, when this happens again.
But they're you know about twelve miles away, and I
hesitate to drive over there.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Let's come on, let's let's do it like this then.
Do you see the lights every morning?
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Arlen?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (12:26):
If I would drive it every day. Yes, I haven't
driven it since the night I went out and started
it today and it never started like that was really
running rough, okay, and the lights were not on all right,
I haven't driven it.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So this is a separate issue. Now now it's running rough,
and you had and the dash lights were normal per se,
and so now now it's almost like it's got a
secondary problem, that's right, Okay. The easiest way to diagnose this,
and I really don't want to see anybody guess at
this is when we see a component act up and
(13:04):
we can't prove it. You know, when you say they
can't pull any codes? Can they still talk to the computers?
Do you have a desktop computer in your house? Arlene?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Okay, you ever have it act up but you can't
prove what's wrong with it, and you sort of go
and look, you know, can I still see the hard drive?
Can I still see the DVD burner? Can I still
talk to the you know? Can I talk to some
of the components. You're you're you're doing a network test.
You're looking to see are the components there. So what
I want them to do is when the problem is happening,
(13:37):
and you may have to leave it there the night
before and let them drive it a couple of days
and let them go out and try it cold, because
maybe this is a temperature thing where it's got to
be cold or cool or not driven yet. And at
the moment that it's happening, then plug in, can the
scan tool talk to ABS traction control trans module and
(13:57):
so on regardless, And if that ken, then we know
it's not those modules, then we can focus. Maybe we
do have a problem with the printed circuit boarder or
connection at the instrument cluster. Maybe that's the issue. So
my concern is spending one thousand bucks on a guess.
That's a heck of a guess. And unless they've got
(14:18):
a better reason, and maybe they can tell you, Hey, Arleen,
we can't prove it's bad, but we've seen this before
on a half a dozen cars just last week. Hey,
you know what, that's a pattern failure. That's a different conversation.
But in terms of you know, spending one thousand bucks. Hey,
this is the first car you've ever seen.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Do it?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
This is a good place to start. You only do
that if the checkbook is bottomless, and nobody's checkbook is
bottomless today. So have them diagnosed it the way I did,
the way I explained it to. You see what that does.
If that doesn't work, Ron at cardoctorshow dot com, drop
me an email and we'll talk about it some more
here on air. I'm ronnin Eny in the car Doctor.
I'll be back right after this. Hey, welcome back. Why
(15:27):
don't any in the car doctor here? And I just
want to point out that Rona Tom, I'm trying to
close out the end.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
Yeah, but you know, we'll gesk guys in the control
room here. We feel bad. We feel real bad about
teasing you before about you know, you stepping out to
take a driver on the block and.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Well yeah that's because you know listen, and that's true.
That was I thought that was a funny spot, but
that is true. I do prefer driving my truck with
the kN N air and take system on it rather
than being here doing radio sometimes because it's so much
fun to drive.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Well, we prefer to drive it too. But you never
let us. We're jealous of you.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Ron.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well, you know what, Tom, if you sit in that
truck and it's a full sized Chevy Silver Rod, So
if you sit in that truck, it seems like the
fenders get bigger and the hood gets longer. And maybe
it's my imagination and it might sound corny, but that
intake system just makes it run so well. You just
never notice things and you kind of bounce off things sometimes,
especially when you're snowplowing.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
With maybe we like to do that. You never asked you.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Need a checkbook to go with that. Tom. So I
love you guys, but I don't love you that much.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
That's a true sign of love when when you're a
car guy, whether or not you'll let the other guy
actually drive your vehicle. That's a whole other conversation. But
in all seriousness, I do like my truck a lot
better with the cana in air and take system. It
does make a difference in the way that it runs.
And the nicest thing about it is there's very little maintenance.
(16:42):
Once you install it. It's once a year check it
for dirt and make sure it's oiled and down the road,
and it does give the best performance.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
No, no, no. The nice thing about it is because
there's no maintenance. The guys at the quick loop places
never get to touch.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
On that's listen. The guys at the quick Blue places
never get to touch my truck anyway. So that's like,
you know, the hardest question for the guy, for me
to answer to the guy when I do get around
to buying a new vehicle is would you like the
extended warranty?
Speaker 5 (17:05):
No?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Why because you're never going to see it, And that's
a whole other conversation. So give me the vehicle. Let
me get out of here. By the way, speaking of
getting out of here, I can see that it's time
to go. This hour, there was another hour of the
car Doctor after the news at the top of the
hour on most of these affiliates till then I'm running
any in the card doctor reminding you the mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
See you
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