April 3, 2024 • 17 mins
In the second half of this weeks episode of Classic Car Dr we find Ron finishing up a call from the first half helping a listener make a choice about what vehicle to purchase. He then "take a ride" to Arkansas and helps an older Mazda, a 2002, with a potential charging system problem.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Who's going to.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome back? Why don't any in the car doctor here
at eight five five five six o nine nine zero zero.
We've got Doug from Holbrook, New York on the phone. Doug,
we were talking about we were up to the Jeep
selection in the conversation when we had to pull away
and take the pause. You're still there, sir, Yes, I'm
still with you. You know, I guess my concern with
Jeep is and you know what, if you happen to
like the way the shifter is and you like the
(00:34):
vehicle and you're willing to put up with possible parts
issues down the road, you know, I'm not one hundred
percent convinced the companies in a viable financial position. You
know what, drive something you like, when it breaks, you
don't mind fixing it. My job is to just kind
of open your eyes a little bit to the possibilities.
Because if this conversation we're about what do I think
is a good SUV mid range sized vehicle, I wouldn't
(00:58):
pick Subaru, I wouldn't pick Jeep, and I forget what
was your third choice?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
The third one was the Mansa X five. They came
out with the touring edition because customers did not like
the Sport from thirteen and fourteen due to the acceleration right,
I have not tested them it yet. The customers seem
to love the Touring Edition because it has more horse power,
it's getting the gas milege, and it got a really
good safety. But other than that one, is there one
(01:24):
in particular that you recommend that I'm looking that I'd
be happy with, either in a compact or the midsize suv.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, here, let me and I do, but let me
let me comment on the Mazda. I like Mazda's all right.
I think Mazda makes a good product. I think everything
we're talking about here is a reasonable product. I think
they all have their glitches and issues, and neither are
just observations I've made in particular with some of these
is recently in the last month or so. My issue
with Mazda, and you know this pains me to say
(01:54):
this because I'm a Mazda guy years ago, Mazda pickups
and little GLCs and RX evans and lots of Mases
in the family. Why is it MAS does always rust,
and I mean all cars rust. MAS does taken to
an art form. If we make rusting a car an
Olympic event. The guys from MAZA that engineer them are
going to be the coaches because they're just that good
(02:16):
at it. We had a customer in the last seven months.
He had an five Mazda cx what is it, the
c X nine, the SUV version, and it needed a
pile of work and it had some rust issues, and
he brought it in. We showed it to him. I said, look,
it's nine years old. It's look at the undercarriage. Look
at the way this thing is rusting and falling apart.
And it's not like we're in the we're in the
(02:36):
salt belt, but we're not in the salt belt. This
is North Jersey, and it's reasonable. Everything is comparable from
what I see. He went out and he purchased. He said, yeah,
you're right. He went out and got rid of it.
He traded it in and he bought a used twenty
eleven c X nine, which I just saw this week.
This vehicle's three years old. It needed breaks. I had
to bang the rotors to get them off. They were
(02:57):
actually frozen to the front hub because all ready they
were rusted in such a way that it almost required
heating for removal the undercarriage.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
You can see it.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
The rust is starting to creep in and the fine points,
it's like a moss kind of creeping up the trellis
that it's just kind of starting to reach in. Within
three years, this car is going to be right back
where the two thousand and five was. And I just
look at it and I say, can't Mazda make a
vehicle that doesn't rust? Why is it something that's so
unique to Mars? Again my experience what I see in
(03:29):
the shop. If we're talking about a vehicle that I
like at the moment, mark the clock and check the calendar, Doug,
because right now I think Ford's got it going on.
All right, have you looked at the Ford Escape?
Speaker 4 (03:46):
I have?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I sat here. I went to a dealer this week,
actually sat in it. That was very comfortable and I
definitely liked it. And I was going to go for
a test drive as well.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
All right, Have you sat in a Ford Explorer? No,
totally different vehicles than what they were years ago. The
fourteen and now the fifteen version of both are very
strong vehicles. And I can't say it any other way.
When the youngest of the Inanian clan left for grad
school this past summer, and she had to go out
(04:16):
and buy herself a car because she's now six and
a half seven hours away and outside the reach of
daddy's mechanical arm. I gave her a choice of three vehicles.
It was the Escape, the Chevy Excursion, and the Toyota
Raft four. The excur the Chevy Excursion. We both agreed,
not the vehicle or Equinox. I'm sorry, not Excursion, the
(04:38):
Chevy Equinox, I said, uh not the vehicle. GM's got
to do some things to kick it up a notch
to make.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
It a better product.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
But it came down to the Raft four in the Ford,
and the Ford was clearly in her eyes not mine.
You know, I thought the Ford was a better vehicle.
But she came back to me and made the decision
and said, you know, the Ford feels better, It's got
better navigation, the screen is bigger. She liked the Ford better,
and I agreed with her. Right now, I'm going to
tell you, if you ask my opinion on a vehicle
(05:08):
in that size, I'd go with a Ford, either the
Escape or the Explorer.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Okay, because I'm taking into account too that we have
we have a young son who just turned three, so
he's gonna be growing. Want to make shure now it's safe,
but then it has enough room when we take trips
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Right, and that's and that's important, and you've got to
look at that, you know. It's it's really kind of
interesting to watch in that the companies that went through
the bankruptcies are still suffering GM and Chrysler in particular,
and you know, the engineering hasn't caught up. Ford survived
at all. And you know every company has their cycle.
(05:44):
They all go through their ups and downs. Right now,
I think Ford's on the up and if they can
maintain it, more.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Power to them.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
But purchasing a Ford is probably that's one of the
first vehicles I would go look at right now if I.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Was interested in a new car.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Okay, yes, I checked them Escape, and I do want
to check Explore. I may lean more towards the Escape
just because it's a little bit smaller. I don't need
something as largely as the Explorer is going to be.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And just make sure you get the two leader eco
tech motor and you'll be fun, okay.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
So that you don't have to worry about like a
six cylinder just the two Leader EOS.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Now I think I think the two Leader Eco Tech
and it's more than enough vehicle.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
For you, okay, because especially when it comes again. Thanks
so much for taking my call. You've been a great help.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
You're welcome, Doug. Listen, we're here for you. You got anything
else going on, give us a call back and let
us know what you end up buying. I think the
listeners would be curious. All right, definitely, Well, thanks so much,
You're very welcome. It's some it's it's purchasing a new
car is a tough call, and I feel for everybody
that goes through it. And it's just important. You know,
(06:46):
you can't fall in love with the first girl you date,
all right, if you're, if you're or guy, whatever, you know,
this is this is the new generation. And uh, you
know you're you're coming out of a vehicle that's five, six, seven, ten,
twelve years old, and naturally everything feels good. But you've
really got to sit in that car and it's got
(07:08):
to feel like your easy chair at home. It's got
to be comfortable to you and to some people, maybe
that Jeep shifter is gonna be. Okay, I sat in
the car for five minutes, and I said, I don't
understand how anybody could drive this. I sat in a
Chevy Equinox and one of the things I didn't like
about it was how hard the seat was. And that's
been a problem in my eyes, GM's had for a
(07:30):
couple of years. And yeah, I know the seat eventually
breaks in somewhere around the five six thousand mile mark.
But maybe I'm getting a little crotchety in my old age,
but it just it's it's You would think that the
engineers would make it a better product right off they
get go. There were some other deficiencies in the Equinox.
The navigation screen was only seven inch where everything else
is eight inch and bigger, and all those little things
(07:51):
add up. But most important, it's serviceability of the vehicle.
And I think, out of everything we talked about here,
the two easiest vehicles to service, one's the Ford, one's
the Toyota. And I think that's got to be taken
into consideration, because everything's gonna break sooner or later you're
gonna have to repair it. Eight five five five six
nine nine zero zero. I'm ronning Anie in the car,
(08:13):
doctor hey Eddie in Mountain home marking. So I stay
on the line. The card Doctor's coming back to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Don't go away.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Hey, Hey, welcome back Ronning Annie in the car doctor,
rocking and rolling along this hour. Let's get over to
Eddie Mountain home Marking. So Eddie, welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
How are you ron good?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Rolling along?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
You know? It's it's it's nice to be here on
the weekend and talk to everybody, including yourself.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
What can I do for you?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well, I have a Mazda MPV two thousand and two
van that had voltage fluctuation problems. The voltage. I have
this little device that we bought at O'Reilly's that you
can plug in the cigarette lighter, okay, and it had
an LED display on it. It would pretty much tell you
the output of I guess the alternator slash battery. When
(09:12):
the car was my wife was driving down the street,
the thing would go from like eleven point nine to
almost fourteen volts. Anything electrical running meaning air conditioned headlights,
winch of wipers. You can see a.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Marked probably speed up and slowed down.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yes right, yes, very noticeably. Took it to one shop
alternator okay. I wanted to get a second opinion to it.
Took it to a second shop alternator. We let the
second guy do it. Seemed like the problem didn't go away,
so he did a little more research into it. He
thought it was the fan relay he changed that didn't
(09:50):
fix it. Then eventually it got to the cooling fan
control module and he replaced that and we picked a
car up a couple of days ago. It seems to
be okay. I'm just cautiously optimistic about it. You know,
I have this little little device still plug into the
cigarette light and I've been watching.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
It and it's normal.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Well, that was my question for you. What is the
what's normal?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Well? Normal standing there at idle all right, or you
know down the road fifteen hundred and two grand Typical
charging system outputs should never go below thirteen volts. Oh,
some cars, I guess as they get older, depending upon
the amount of electrical loaded idle, you'll see twelve eight,
twelve six, But it should never go below twelve five
(10:35):
twelve five. You're stealing from the battery at that point.
But a modern day vehicle, and I consider an O
two Mazda in this category, will typically maintain thirteen thirteen
point two to fourteen volts and you won't see a
wild fluctuation. Now interesting to note, Eddie, this is a
PCM or powertrain control module. The main engine computer control
(11:00):
the field state of that alternator. What I mean by
that is the PCM, the main engine computer is the
brains of the operation, and it's looking at voltage demand
on the electrical system. Does Edi want the headlights on?
Does missus Eddy want the air conditioning on? And it's
looking at the voltage, displacement and demands of the battery,
(11:21):
what kind of shape and state of charges the battery in,
and it will run the alternator charging control up or
down to maintain the demand of the system. So you know,
if you're seeing eleven eight to fourteen and a half
or fifteen vault and it's all over the it's all
over the place, you know it's it's typically one of
(11:42):
two things. It's typically one of three things. Alternator very
common ground issue. And I don't know if you were
on hold before when you heard my conversation about Mazda.
Here you are driving a twelve year old Mazda, and
you know how I feel about RUSS. Now you're in Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
It's a little bit of a different world.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I don't think you guys get the snow and use
you know, salt like it's in calcium chloride, like it's
going out of style like they do up here in
the north. And you know, but still still prone to rust.
If you're anywhere in your salt water, still prone to rust,
you still want to go through some voltage drop tests
and make sure good clean grounds between engine and battery
and frame and so on. And then number three PCM.
(12:24):
But let me explain one thing that's very important to
understand this system. You know, there are four wires at
the back of this alternator and one of them is
a PCM control. Two of them are standard ones a
heavy gauge battery. One is ignition on. But very important
to note, you could unplug the voltage regulator on this alternator,
(12:46):
which is the four or the two wire connector, and
bring the idle speed up, bring the engine speed up
over twenty five hundred dor pm. This alternator will then
go from battery voltage to a fixed charging rate and
start to charge on its own and maintain that self charge.
It will go into a fixed state. So my point
(13:07):
is if this vehicle alternator. If this charging system is healthy,
it should be able to self regulate itself once it
gets over twenty five hundred do PM. Having said that, before,
I trusted a little chotski that I bought from any
auto parts store, right, you know, before I'm going to
(13:28):
make a determination and let this thing, you know, run
my life for the weekend. I'd get a vault meter
ound and I would check voltage at the battery and
I do, and you know, real simple, start it up,
tap the gas just once, just just burp it, just
to get everybody awake and say, okay, slap them around
(13:48):
a little bit, and let's get everybody moving. Let's get
the electrons flown, and let's see where charging rate is
sitting there at idle. If this vehicle has a healthy
charging system, you're going to see thirteen vaulted better. My
guess is thirteen eight or fourteen volts is what you're
going to really want to say. Then, you know, let's
turn on headlights. Let's go headlights, high beam, let's go defriciate. Well,
(14:11):
we could do air conditioner, sure, you know, quite frankly,
if we really want to, you know, stress it. And
I like to do it in stages. But yeah, then
go air conditioner, then go rear to froster, with everything
on the froster on high AC headlights, high beam, rear defroster.
We better be over twelve five. We're typically probably going
to be twelve eight to thirteen. And if you've got
(14:33):
a clamp on ammeter, you're going to see probably in
the magnitude of sixty five to seventy amps coming out
of this alternator trying to run everything. And that's normal,
all right, sir.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
I did listen to your show September thirteenth when you
talked about alternators and PCMs. I listen to it online. Right,
that was that was very helpful just before you called Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Very very close to this particular system.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
An, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Let me let me tell you what state.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Sit tight.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I don't want to cut you short. Sit tight. I've
got to pull over. You stay right there and we'll
say goodbye afterwards. If that's the case. But I'm running
Ending of the Car Doctor will be back right after this. Hey, Hey, hey,
(15:43):
welcome back Running of the Car Doctor.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Eddie.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
You're still there, sir, Yeah, sorry about that. If I don't,
If I don't hit that. If I don't hit that
mark on time, Tom comes in here and he beats
me with a wet noodle.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
So it's, uh, you.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Know, it becomes an issue. So it's it's in his contract.
He's allowed to do that if I don't hit marks.
Because in it, I don't know, it does this thing
where you have all these affiliates and then everybody goes
off kilter and before you know it, you have a
couple of one hundred people screaming at you. I can't
understand that. It's such a simple thing to me. So
but what I wanted to say was, you know, just
keep in mind the basics, and yes, you're right, going
(16:18):
back to you know, the the other show regarding alternators
and PCMs, same system, pretty much the same basic system.
The most important piece to walk away from the conversation
with is here's an example of it's only as strong
as it's only as good a system as the as
the weakest link. And you've got to make sure you've
got a good alternator in it, whatever, whatever they used,
(16:40):
whatever they purchased, and you should be fine. So but
check voltage and if you have any other questions, any
other issues. Ron At cardoctorshow dot com or shoot us
a line or you know, give us a call. During
the week we'll get your back up on the air.
We can talk about it again, all right, sir, thank
you for talking. You're very welcome. Good luck to you
and have a good rest of the weekend. I'm running
any in the Car Doctor. Just to let you know.
(17:00):
This show continues after the news at the top of
the hour, so there's more card octorant to come. Thanks
to Tom, Harry and Big Tony. I'm on any of
the carduct Remind you the mechanics aren't expensive, they're placeless.
Who's going to.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome back? Why don't any in the car doctor here
at eight five five five six o nine nine zero zero.
We've got Doug from Holbrook, New York on the phone. Doug,
we were talking about we were up to the Jeep
selection in the conversation when we had to pull away
and take the pause. You're still there, sir, Yes, I'm
still with you. You know, I guess my concern with
Jeep is and you know what, if you happen to
like the way the shifter is and you like the
(00:34):
vehicle and you're willing to put up with possible parts
issues down the road, you know, I'm not one hundred
percent convinced the companies in a viable financial position. You
know what, drive something you like, when it breaks, you
don't mind fixing it. My job is to just kind
of open your eyes a little bit to the possibilities.
Because if this conversation we're about what do I think
is a good SUV mid range sized vehicle, I wouldn't
(00:58):
pick Subaru, I wouldn't pick Jeep, and I forget what
was your third choice?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
The third one was the Mansa X five. They came
out with the touring edition because customers did not like
the Sport from thirteen and fourteen due to the acceleration right,
I have not tested them it yet. The customers seem
to love the Touring Edition because it has more horse power,
it's getting the gas milege, and it got a really
good safety. But other than that one, is there one
(01:24):
in particular that you recommend that I'm looking that I'd
be happy with, either in a compact or the midsize suv.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, here, let me and I do, but let me
let me comment on the Mazda. I like Mazda's all right.
I think Mazda makes a good product. I think everything
we're talking about here is a reasonable product. I think
they all have their glitches and issues, and neither are
just observations I've made in particular with some of these
is recently in the last month or so. My issue
with Mazda, and you know this pains me to say
(01:54):
this because I'm a Mazda guy years ago, Mazda pickups
and little GLCs and RX evans and lots of Mases
in the family. Why is it MAS does always rust,
and I mean all cars rust. MAS does taken to
an art form. If we make rusting a car an
Olympic event. The guys from MAZA that engineer them are
going to be the coaches because they're just that good
(02:16):
at it. We had a customer in the last seven months.
He had an five Mazda cx what is it, the
c X nine, the SUV version, and it needed a
pile of work and it had some rust issues, and
he brought it in. We showed it to him. I said, look,
it's nine years old. It's look at the undercarriage. Look
at the way this thing is rusting and falling apart.
And it's not like we're in the we're in the
(02:36):
salt belt, but we're not in the salt belt. This
is North Jersey, and it's reasonable. Everything is comparable from
what I see. He went out and he purchased. He said, yeah,
you're right. He went out and got rid of it.
He traded it in and he bought a used twenty
eleven c X nine, which I just saw this week.
This vehicle's three years old. It needed breaks. I had
to bang the rotors to get them off. They were
(02:57):
actually frozen to the front hub because all ready they
were rusted in such a way that it almost required
heating for removal the undercarriage.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
You can see it.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
The rust is starting to creep in and the fine points,
it's like a moss kind of creeping up the trellis
that it's just kind of starting to reach in. Within
three years, this car is going to be right back
where the two thousand and five was. And I just
look at it and I say, can't Mazda make a
vehicle that doesn't rust? Why is it something that's so
unique to Mars? Again my experience what I see in
(03:29):
the shop. If we're talking about a vehicle that I
like at the moment, mark the clock and check the calendar, Doug,
because right now I think Ford's got it going on.
All right, have you looked at the Ford Escape?
Speaker 4 (03:46):
I have?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I sat here. I went to a dealer this week,
actually sat in it. That was very comfortable and I
definitely liked it. And I was going to go for
a test drive as well.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
All right, Have you sat in a Ford Explorer? No,
totally different vehicles than what they were years ago. The
fourteen and now the fifteen version of both are very
strong vehicles. And I can't say it any other way.
When the youngest of the Inanian clan left for grad
school this past summer, and she had to go out
(04:16):
and buy herself a car because she's now six and
a half seven hours away and outside the reach of
daddy's mechanical arm. I gave her a choice of three vehicles.
It was the Escape, the Chevy Excursion, and the Toyota
Raft four. The excur the Chevy Excursion. We both agreed,
not the vehicle or Equinox. I'm sorry, not Excursion, the
(04:38):
Chevy Equinox, I said, uh not the vehicle. GM's got
to do some things to kick it up a notch
to make.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
It a better product.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
But it came down to the Raft four in the Ford,
and the Ford was clearly in her eyes not mine.
You know, I thought the Ford was a better vehicle.
But she came back to me and made the decision
and said, you know, the Ford feels better, It's got
better navigation, the screen is bigger. She liked the Ford better,
and I agreed with her. Right now, I'm going to
tell you, if you ask my opinion on a vehicle
(05:08):
in that size, I'd go with a Ford, either the
Escape or the Explorer.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Okay, because I'm taking into account too that we have
we have a young son who just turned three, so
he's gonna be growing. Want to make shure now it's safe,
but then it has enough room when we take trips
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Right, and that's and that's important, and you've got to
look at that, you know. It's it's really kind of
interesting to watch in that the companies that went through
the bankruptcies are still suffering GM and Chrysler in particular,
and you know, the engineering hasn't caught up. Ford survived
at all. And you know every company has their cycle.
(05:44):
They all go through their ups and downs. Right now,
I think Ford's on the up and if they can
maintain it, more.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Power to them.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
But purchasing a Ford is probably that's one of the
first vehicles I would go look at right now if I.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Was interested in a new car.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Okay, yes, I checked them Escape, and I do want
to check Explore. I may lean more towards the Escape
just because it's a little bit smaller. I don't need
something as largely as the Explorer is going to be.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
And just make sure you get the two leader eco
tech motor and you'll be fun, okay.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
So that you don't have to worry about like a
six cylinder just the two Leader EOS.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Now I think I think the two Leader Eco Tech
and it's more than enough vehicle.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
For you, okay, because especially when it comes again. Thanks
so much for taking my call. You've been a great help.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
You're welcome, Doug. Listen, we're here for you. You got anything
else going on, give us a call back and let
us know what you end up buying. I think the
listeners would be curious. All right, definitely, Well, thanks so much,
You're very welcome. It's some it's it's purchasing a new
car is a tough call, and I feel for everybody
that goes through it. And it's just important. You know,
(06:46):
you can't fall in love with the first girl you date,
all right, if you're, if you're or guy, whatever, you know,
this is this is the new generation. And uh, you
know you're you're coming out of a vehicle that's five, six, seven, ten,
twelve years old, and naturally everything feels good. But you've
really got to sit in that car and it's got
(07:08):
to feel like your easy chair at home. It's got
to be comfortable to you and to some people, maybe
that Jeep shifter is gonna be. Okay, I sat in
the car for five minutes, and I said, I don't
understand how anybody could drive this. I sat in a
Chevy Equinox and one of the things I didn't like
about it was how hard the seat was. And that's
been a problem in my eyes, GM's had for a
(07:30):
couple of years. And yeah, I know the seat eventually
breaks in somewhere around the five six thousand mile mark.
But maybe I'm getting a little crotchety in my old age,
but it just it's it's You would think that the
engineers would make it a better product right off they
get go. There were some other deficiencies in the Equinox.
The navigation screen was only seven inch where everything else
is eight inch and bigger, and all those little things
(07:51):
add up. But most important, it's serviceability of the vehicle.
And I think, out of everything we talked about here,
the two easiest vehicles to service, one's the Ford, one's
the Toyota. And I think that's got to be taken
into consideration, because everything's gonna break sooner or later you're
gonna have to repair it. Eight five five five six
nine nine zero zero. I'm ronning Anie in the car,
(08:13):
doctor hey Eddie in Mountain home marking. So I stay
on the line. The card Doctor's coming back to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Don't go away.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Hey, Hey, welcome back Ronning Annie in the car doctor,
rocking and rolling along this hour. Let's get over to
Eddie Mountain home Marking. So Eddie, welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
How are you ron good?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Rolling along?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
You know? It's it's it's nice to be here on
the weekend and talk to everybody, including yourself.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
What can I do for you?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well, I have a Mazda MPV two thousand and two
van that had voltage fluctuation problems. The voltage. I have
this little device that we bought at O'Reilly's that you
can plug in the cigarette lighter, okay, and it had
an LED display on it. It would pretty much tell you
the output of I guess the alternator slash battery. When
(09:12):
the car was my wife was driving down the street,
the thing would go from like eleven point nine to
almost fourteen volts. Anything electrical running meaning air conditioned headlights,
winch of wipers. You can see a.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Marked probably speed up and slowed down.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yes right, yes, very noticeably. Took it to one shop
alternator okay. I wanted to get a second opinion to it.
Took it to a second shop alternator. We let the
second guy do it. Seemed like the problem didn't go away,
so he did a little more research into it. He
thought it was the fan relay he changed that didn't
(09:50):
fix it. Then eventually it got to the cooling fan
control module and he replaced that and we picked a
car up a couple of days ago. It seems to
be okay. I'm just cautiously optimistic about it. You know,
I have this little little device still plug into the
cigarette light and I've been watching.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
It and it's normal.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Well, that was my question for you. What is the
what's normal?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Well? Normal standing there at idle all right, or you
know down the road fifteen hundred and two grand Typical
charging system outputs should never go below thirteen volts. Oh,
some cars, I guess as they get older, depending upon
the amount of electrical loaded idle, you'll see twelve eight,
twelve six, But it should never go below twelve five
(10:35):
twelve five. You're stealing from the battery at that point.
But a modern day vehicle, and I consider an O
two Mazda in this category, will typically maintain thirteen thirteen
point two to fourteen volts and you won't see a
wild fluctuation. Now interesting to note, Eddie, this is a
PCM or powertrain control module. The main engine computer control
(11:00):
the field state of that alternator. What I mean by
that is the PCM, the main engine computer is the
brains of the operation, and it's looking at voltage demand
on the electrical system. Does Edi want the headlights on?
Does missus Eddy want the air conditioning on? And it's
looking at the voltage, displacement and demands of the battery,
(11:21):
what kind of shape and state of charges the battery in,
and it will run the alternator charging control up or
down to maintain the demand of the system. So you know,
if you're seeing eleven eight to fourteen and a half
or fifteen vault and it's all over the it's all
over the place, you know it's it's typically one of
(11:42):
two things. It's typically one of three things. Alternator very
common ground issue. And I don't know if you were
on hold before when you heard my conversation about Mazda.
Here you are driving a twelve year old Mazda, and
you know how I feel about RUSS. Now you're in Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
It's a little bit of a different world.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I don't think you guys get the snow and use
you know, salt like it's in calcium chloride, like it's
going out of style like they do up here in
the north. And you know, but still still prone to rust.
If you're anywhere in your salt water, still prone to rust,
you still want to go through some voltage drop tests
and make sure good clean grounds between engine and battery
and frame and so on. And then number three PCM.
(12:24):
But let me explain one thing that's very important to
understand this system. You know, there are four wires at
the back of this alternator and one of them is
a PCM control. Two of them are standard ones a
heavy gauge battery. One is ignition on. But very important
to note, you could unplug the voltage regulator on this alternator,
(12:46):
which is the four or the two wire connector, and
bring the idle speed up, bring the engine speed up
over twenty five hundred dor pm. This alternator will then
go from battery voltage to a fixed charging rate and
start to charge on its own and maintain that self charge.
It will go into a fixed state. So my point
(13:07):
is if this vehicle alternator. If this charging system is healthy,
it should be able to self regulate itself once it
gets over twenty five hundred do PM. Having said that, before,
I trusted a little chotski that I bought from any
auto parts store, right, you know, before I'm going to
(13:28):
make a determination and let this thing, you know, run
my life for the weekend. I'd get a vault meter
ound and I would check voltage at the battery and
I do, and you know, real simple, start it up,
tap the gas just once, just just burp it, just
to get everybody awake and say, okay, slap them around
(13:48):
a little bit, and let's get everybody moving. Let's get
the electrons flown, and let's see where charging rate is
sitting there at idle. If this vehicle has a healthy
charging system, you're going to see thirteen vaulted better. My
guess is thirteen eight or fourteen volts is what you're
going to really want to say. Then, you know, let's
turn on headlights. Let's go headlights, high beam, let's go defriciate. Well,
(14:11):
we could do air conditioner, sure, you know, quite frankly,
if we really want to, you know, stress it. And
I like to do it in stages. But yeah, then
go air conditioner, then go rear to froster, with everything
on the froster on high AC headlights, high beam, rear defroster.
We better be over twelve five. We're typically probably going
to be twelve eight to thirteen. And if you've got
(14:33):
a clamp on ammeter, you're going to see probably in
the magnitude of sixty five to seventy amps coming out
of this alternator trying to run everything. And that's normal,
all right, sir.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
I did listen to your show September thirteenth when you
talked about alternators and PCMs. I listen to it online. Right,
that was that was very helpful just before you called Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Very very close to this particular system.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
An, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Let me let me tell you what state.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Sit tight.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I don't want to cut you short. Sit tight. I've
got to pull over. You stay right there and we'll
say goodbye afterwards. If that's the case. But I'm running
Ending of the Car Doctor will be back right after this. Hey, Hey, hey,
(15:43):
welcome back Running of the Car Doctor.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Eddie.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
You're still there, sir, Yeah, sorry about that. If I don't,
If I don't hit that. If I don't hit that
mark on time, Tom comes in here and he beats
me with a wet noodle.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
So it's, uh, you.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Know, it becomes an issue. So it's it's in his contract.
He's allowed to do that if I don't hit marks.
Because in it, I don't know, it does this thing
where you have all these affiliates and then everybody goes
off kilter and before you know it, you have a
couple of one hundred people screaming at you. I can't
understand that. It's such a simple thing to me. So
but what I wanted to say was, you know, just
keep in mind the basics, and yes, you're right, going
(16:18):
back to you know, the the other show regarding alternators
and PCMs, same system, pretty much the same basic system.
The most important piece to walk away from the conversation
with is here's an example of it's only as strong
as it's only as good a system as the as
the weakest link. And you've got to make sure you've
got a good alternator in it, whatever, whatever they used,
(16:40):
whatever they purchased, and you should be fine. So but
check voltage and if you have any other questions, any
other issues. Ron At cardoctorshow dot com or shoot us
a line or you know, give us a call. During
the week we'll get your back up on the air.
We can talk about it again, all right, sir, thank
you for talking. You're very welcome. Good luck to you
and have a good rest of the weekend. I'm running
any in the Car Doctor. Just to let you know.
(17:00):
This show continues after the news at the top of
the hour, so there's more card octorant to come. Thanks
to Tom, Harry and Big Tony. I'm on any of
the carduct Remind you the mechanics aren't expensive, they're placeless.
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