December 21, 2024 • 35 mins
Ron starts this episode talking about replacing rusted components on a car : answers a social media post on a 2 Equinox and the entertainment system : answers an email on a 14 Legacy that needs a cat converter and now cannot access cruise control : answers an email about transmissions : and answers an email on a steering wheel squeak : takes a call on a 97 Voyager that needs a power steering pump : and Ron reads his Night Before Christmas.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
So silver Bell on streets seta can't bring Me.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Comes on, Ron Ananian.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
If every mechanic refused to work on a broken car
that was put in front of them and somebody else
had tried to fix, you'd have an awful big pile
of broken cars laying around somewhere because there's an awful
lot of di wires that aren't properly fixing vehicles that
get into this situation that Car Doctor, Do you think.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
There'll come a time Ron where they're going to push
the California They're going to push the ego cars off
the vote, that's what they're going.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's where they're headed
because I do watch California for that basis, because unfortunately,
what happens in California seems to leak its way across
the rest of the country.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Welcome to the radio home of Ronananium, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up
the phone and call in. The garage doors are open.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
But I am here to take your calls at eight
five five five, six ninety nine hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And now he.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Running, how was your week? Right? Well, mine was busy
fixing cars. I hope your week was just as good
as mine. We we were just slammed to the gills.
I think everybody realizes, you know, they're getting ready for
Christmas week, New Year's week, and you know a little
bit into the year, fun stuff. And you could tell
though that people are still spending big money on cars,
(01:50):
and still we put we put big money in a
lot of older vehicles this week. And I think it's
you know, doing part because you know the price of
new vehicles, not saying you shouldn't buy one, but just
you know, is it in your budget? And it just
cars are made so well today they can go on
for a long time. We had a we had a
twenty fourteen Subaru UH forester out back forrester. I think
(02:12):
it was needed a passenger side rear wheel bearing, you know.
And I guess you could sort of say that this
conversation is about the uh oh. The uh oh to
a mechanic. It's sort of like the same thing as
the pregnant pause. You know, you go uh uh, you know,
now what we had to put a wheelbaring in this,
(02:35):
in this twenty fourteen suber and actually the customer said,
you know, it's got higher mileage on Actually it was
low mileage. I'm sorry, this is the low mileage one.
But it had lower mileage on it. But it was,
you know, eleven going on twelve years old, because it
was an early fourteen car. And she said, you know,
if you do the right side, do the left side too.
And I said, yeah, that kind of makes sense because
we were also doing back breaks, and if you're doing
(02:56):
back breaks on one of these, you're you're you're kind
of halfway to doing the wheel bearing anyway, so you
know you might as well. It's it's only a matter
of time. I think the problem with the subarus is
the amount of rust, all right, because they get they
get really good and rusty, you know, the undercarriage and such,
and that's just no far reach. I mean, the way
(03:19):
the roads are salted and treated and processed for snow
in any part of the country where they have it,
it's maddening. But you know, you take them as they come.
So I started doing the right rear wheel bearing. Now
there's a couple of ways you can do this. There's
a bunch of tools in the market. I'm not fond
(03:39):
of them. My concern is that these tools push against
There's a press tool out there. There's a couple of
them that will go in and latch onto the bearing
assembly and then press on the center of the axle,
which I don't like because it pushes against the pinion
pin in the diff and I've seen somewhere they're so
(03:59):
bad rusted. They will they will snap, they will break,
and I always wonder about that. My method is that
I will heat gently, heat the outside of the knuckle
the casing, and after a short period of time, I
will put bolts in from the outside and drive it
out that way. I find that that usually works, so
(04:21):
except in this case, it didn't work. Nothing worked. I
never had one do this to me where you know,
heat didn't work, pressing didn't work. I don't think the
tool would have worked. That everybody raves about that they
say works. I think it was one of those cars.
And that's when you look at it and go uh oh.
When the two pushbolts were stuck in the housing and
(04:42):
I couldn't get them out, but I had just gotten
it to move a little bit off the backing plate.
I was able to take the saws all and cut
the two bolts clean. And then at that point I
was able to let everything cool down. And finally, and
that's the trick. You've got to get a little bit
of a gap between the bearing, the backing pl and
the knuckle, all right, because otherwise penetrating whale can't get
(05:04):
in there. Once I got that little bit of a gap,
not much about an eighth of an inch, I was
able to take some PB blaster shoot it in there
right and let it soak, which I did, and Yeah,
came back about twenty minutes later, hit it again, went
back to work on the other car in Bay three,
and you know, came back within forty five minutes and
(05:25):
I was able to chisel the bearing out it. It
just broke down the rust enough to do that. But
you know, it's the uh oh moment. And then the
other thing I always you know, you hate to it,
you get into it, but this is what some of
these jobs lead you to. You quote one number, you say, yeah,
this is going to be a couple of three thousand
dollars whatever it is, because it's going to be bearings
and brakes and a bunch of other things. And then
(05:47):
all of a sudden, you see that tiny little pinhole
in the axle that's been spraying grease for a while
in the boot. So now you've got to do a
right side ax Well, the customers of the mind, if
you're doing the right, you want to do the left.
So now you're doing a left side bearing a left
side act. All of a sudden, the job's gone up considerably.
Is it worth it?
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I think so, you know, I think so. I'll tell
you what.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
In the end.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
You know, Jan got a card. It's quiet like a
tomb inside this car. Now that bearing was so loud
and noisy. You know, four tires were bearings, two axles breakoverhaul,
the car'll probably go another fifty thousand miles and then
some And maybe that's okay. You know, I tell you
these stories because that was my week. But you know,
maybe that's okay. We did backing plates with it, you know,
(06:34):
which is you know, it's funny, right, I've never done
backing plates whenever, well I can't say never, but usually
I never have to do backing plates, and I do
super rewheel bearings. But for that right side bearing. It
was just it was welded by rust. It just wouldn't
come apart to that bearing assembly. And when I called
the dealer they have dozens of them in stock. I'm thinking,
(06:55):
you know what, maybe that's the way to do it.
It would be quicker not having to separate the bearing
from the backing. But yeah, it's it's cars are funny,
Russ does. Russ does some some strange things to them,
you know, in terms of in terms of making it
more difficult to work on. So but uh, yeah, it's
(07:15):
it's tough stuff. So hey, coming up at the bottom
of the hour, No, not the bottom of the hour,
around at the end of this hour. You know, this
is Christmas week, right, Christmas is the middle of the
week this year. We're looking forward to it. We're gonna
work Monday Tuesday, We're gonna do pizza at the shop
on Tuesday, and then we're gonna be off Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
(07:36):
which I'll have to be because I'm actually I'm out
of here Tuesday afternoon. I've got to get north to
help Santa get the sleigh ridy. I'm actually doing a
zoom call with them about three hours from now to
show the elves where to put the anti drone device
so we can get to New Jersey and New York
and stuff. But you know, just just just busy week,
just busy stuff. So I'm down around the end of
(07:59):
the hour, which is where I was going with this,
is we're gonna have the Night Before Christmas. I know
you guys look forward to that every year. I enjoyed
doing that. You know I did that. You know, I'll
never forget a good thirty some odd years ago. I
don't want to remember. It was so long ago, a
good couple of years ago. We were at a trade
show dinner meeting and somebody we needed to it's a
(08:22):
long story, long story, shortest. We needed to entertain the troops,
so to speak, because the actual speaker was late and
showing up. So you know, I wrote that on the
back of a bathroom paper towel, you know, the Night
before Christmas, and we put it to that, and myself
and a dear friend of mine who's gone now, Richie Johnson,
(08:43):
we did that in Unison at a trade show meeting
here in New Jersey. So a little bit of history
of where the Night Before Christmas came from, and ever
since then, We've made it part of the show and
I get to sit and think about Richie and tear
up a little bit and enjoy the enjoy the season.
It's the holidays. So anyway, let's pull over to a pause.
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
I should point out eight five five five six zero
(09:05):
nine nine zero zero is the card Doctor's twenty four
to seven number. Very important. Eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. You can call it anytime,
day or night, leave a message. The hotline is is
live and manned between the hours of two and four
pm Eastern Time on Saturdays. But eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero has an answering service
(09:26):
attached to it. You can leave a message, we'll call
you back and get you in Q for the next
live broadcast. And you never know, we do tape shows
from time to time for to continue to get new
content on air. If we're taking a weekend off for
some reason, and you know, you never know when you're
gonna get a call and say, hey, you want to
talk about this, We'll put you up on air and
make it into a call. So always keep that number handy.
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
(09:48):
I'm running ending the card doctor. Let me pull over
and take a pause. I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
He drives that way. But when it it comes to
fixing cars, Ron has car advice done right.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Eight five to five five six zero nine to nine
zero zero. Here's Ron. Let's do some emails. Or actually
this is a social media post. This comes to us
from Don, who writes in hey Ron, We've got a
new twenty twenty four Chevy Equinox. It's been great, except
for the entertainment center. The thing that is most frustrating.
That thing is the most frustrating thing ever. It does
(10:24):
not have a CD player. You know, isn't it funny?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Right?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
A lot of vehicles don't have CD players anymore. It's
getting to be the impossible to get option. And so
we loaded a thumb drive with all our CDs that
we had ripped to the computer. Then we found out
that it would not play the WMA format. So I
spent weeks transferring everything to the MP three format. Then
when you are driving by yourself, the USB will only
play by way of voice recognition. It does not let
(10:48):
you manually browse anything. I don't think that's the fault
of the equinox though. I just think, honestly, I think
you're using it incorrectly. I don't think they make it
so that it can index a thumb I've seen this
before that that's a problem. He then goes on to
say the problem with voice recognition is it never gets
anything right after about a dozen times it's saying I'm sorry,
(11:10):
I didn't understand you. You just give up. You can
manually do everything else. You can change radio stations or
the Serio six M station, but it does not let
you manually browse the USB thumb drive. Yeah, Like I said,
I think what I would do is, because everything plays
through your phone, do and I would look to see,
you know, can you make a music collection using Amazon
Music or Google Music on your phone and then just
(11:33):
get it to pick from that? And I wonder if
it would voice search that because your phone is likely
an accepted device, because your phone will likely pair with
that infotainment system, all right, and you know, then will
it search accordingly in that? You know, I've had success.
I can do that in my wife's car, she's got
Alexis GX four sixty, and it will search my It
(11:54):
will search my phone as far as well. Actually, no,
I take that back. It won't search my phone, but
it will let me screw all through to the next song,
the next song, the next song. So, you know, I
think the way you're using and I understand how you
want to use it, I don't think it's possible, and
I think because it's not designed to do that, you know,
But I get it. I get the frustration. No CD player,
(12:15):
What do you do? They should they put I think
they should have CD players, but they don't. You know,
which is you know? Try that though? Or I wonder
what would happen if you loaded everything onto Google Drive
and then you can manually make playlists from that. I
wonder if that would work also, So, but I think
everything's going to come through your phone. Everything is headed
to your phone anyway. So I'm just you know, get
(12:36):
used to the idea. It's the future. This comes to us.
This is actually a caller. She hasn't gotten an are yet. Hey, Ron,
it's Kathy. I have a twenty fifteen legacy Subaru. It's
got three hundred and fourteen thousand miles on it. I've
kept it up and I'm sorry now because they tell
me I need a new catalytic converter, or the dealer
wants five thousand dollars, some guy wants three thousand dollars.
Then I found an anthemarket parts dealer in Carol, Iowa
(12:58):
who can do it for about one thousand. Put all
the lights were on one day later, and the next
day they went off, and then they came back on
again like the service engine. Soon now they're off again.
I don't know what's going on, if I should replace
it or what. But when I when the lights are on,
I can't use my cruise control. Well, yeah, and a
lot of the Japanese cars do that that. You know,
it's it's it's it's a lot of the Japanese cars
(13:21):
do that that They will disable crews and some of
the other accessory function because the vehicle isn't in peak
operating condition because when the check engine lights on, which
it would be if a catalytic converter was having a failure,
if the check engine light was on, then their concern
is the vehicle working too hard under limited power, and
they won't allow crews to operate. Now back to whose
(13:42):
cat would I put on this? You know, this is
a question of I think this is a question of
what if, Kathy, if if you put any form of
a catalytic converter on this vehicle and it suffers a
cataclysmic failure engine or transmission, would you fix it? Is
body and good enough shape to justify it? If the
(14:02):
answer is yes, I'd probably put the manufacturer's CAT back
on it. I know it's a lot of money, but
if you look at catalytic converters side by side, the
factory cat is twenty four inches long, The aftermarket cat
is twenty inches long, the aftermarket after market CAT is
fifteen inches long. They get shorter and they get smaller,
and I think the only thing you can, you know,
(14:24):
justify in your head is you've got to have that.
That that you got to compromise. How long are you
going to drive the car? And what sort of return
on your dollars do you want to get? The manufacturer's
cat lasted three hundred thousand miles. It's pretty good, right,
you know, you don't need to go another three hundred thousand.
But WILL a good quality we'll call it WILL, a
first line aftermarket catalytic converter last you know, one hundred
(14:50):
thousand miles. You know, to get this car to four
to fifty. To get this car to four hundred and
fifteen thousand miles would be quite a trick. Now, the
issue is too that if you use a dirt cheap cat,
and there's a lot of dirt cheap cats out there,
will it actually work and do the job it's supposed to.
(15:11):
It's an older engine, there's I'm sure some imbalances in
the fuel system in terms of how it how it operates,
and what it's supposed to do. So you're making that
after market cat work just a little bit harder. You know,
there's no there's no mystery to catalytic converters in my mind,
all right, you know, I understand how they work, and
(15:33):
it's in terms of getting them to solve the problem
out of the box. That factory cat works the best.
It can swallow a lot of junk, and I'm not
suggesting you allow it to, but it's it's it's more
forgiving than the aftermarket stuff. But it has its place.
Right If the aftermarket cat is half the price of
the manufacturer's cat, there's there's an answer right there in
(15:55):
terms of what you're what you're gonna do, because maybe
you don't want want to, you know, make that major
of an investment, you know, and it brings me back
to my first comment about what if. I also think
that you should be talking to your regular mechanic whoever's
been servicing the car up to this point, because with
this kind of mileage on it, you know, there's going
(16:17):
to be other extenuating circumstances, and you want to deal
with a guy that you've had good success with. You know,
if you were going to a doctor and it was
heart surgery, would you change doctors in midstream because the
next doctor down the list was newer but maybe cheaper
or maybe just cheaper. I don't think you would. It
doesn't make any sense, and I wouldn't do that. I
(16:37):
wouldn't do the same thing with a car. You know,
you've had a relationship with this guy. It sounds like
he's been doing a lot of the maintenance, and I
think that counts for something, and I think that's where
you're going to get the most bang for the buck,
you know, in terms of in terms of keeping that
car on the road twenty fifteen, three hundred and fourteen
thousand miles. You know, as an a side, you say
(17:01):
you've done a lot of maintenance. I would look through
the maintenance records. You know, has it had head gaskets,
has it had good cooling system maintenance? What does the
undercarriage suspension look like? Because it's not this problem, This
problem is repairable. You know, it's a question of whose
part do you want to put on it. I'd probably
go somewhere between manufacturer and the cheapest guy in the aftermarket.
(17:22):
You know, it's like the rules in house construction, get
three estimates, pick the guy in the middle. But I
think it's also a question of do you just want
to take this money and put it towards a different
vehicle altogether, something newer, with less miles on it, because
the mileage here is extraordinary, over three hundred thousand, And
I think that becomes a concern for you know, what else,
(17:44):
what else could fail? You know, that old subject about
rotating electrical comes to mind. Starters, alternators, you know, back
in the day, we'd always worry about water pumps past
a certain point. So, you know, I get it. And
then the last thing I want to put in your
head is, depending upon where you're driving, if you're out
in remote parts of Iowa, if you're on quiet back
roads late at night. You know, maybe having a newer
(18:08):
car with less miles on it is more peace of
mind for you as well as well as any family members,
because anything can go wrong with the vehicle. It's it's
a matter of odds, the odds, and you know, just
trying to do your due diligence. So I hope that
made sense. And if you need more information, Kathy, you
know where to find me. Eighty five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. I'm on anady in the car. Doctor.
(18:29):
We're back right after this. Let's answer or some emails.
(19:00):
Let's get some quiet time together. You and I. Hey Ron,
as an avionics mechanic, I appreciate your methodical approach to troubleshooting.
I also enjoy the shows when you're talking about your
dad and his experience as an aircraft mechanic, and I
kind of help that one day my son will speak
as fondly about me as you have about your dad.
You know, it's funny the older you get, you have
more memories about your parents. And you know, I was
fortunate that in the early years I had my dad
(19:23):
for the short time that I did, but the influence
that he left on me and you know about fixing cars,
and there isn't a day that goes by that I somehow,
you know, either I'm pulling a wrench out of my
out of my toolbox at the shop that is from
the forties, from you know, his time working lead mechanic
American Airlines, or you know, just just thinking about some
(19:43):
of the advice he gave me when I was a
little kid that still applies to this day. You know,
it's weird you hold a wrench in your hands and
they're all big wrenches, the big wrenches as I call them.
You know, anytime we get a you know we're working
on something huge and the wrench size is over an
inch and a half or you know, any anything like
twenty five millimeters and up. If it's a newer vehicle,
(20:04):
I say to myself, Gee, is this the rent that
worked on FDR's airplane? Because it could have he was
in charge of he was in charge of maintenance on
the President's plane. Anyway, Jeff Wright continues, Anyway, my daughter's
two thousand and four Jeep Liberty had a rebuilt transmission
installed at one hundred and thirty five thousand miles four
years ago. I checked the fluid twice a year when
I serviced the car, and it's normal. This past year
I checked it. It was a dark purple color. It didn't
(20:26):
smell burnt. The transmission seemed to be working fine. It
now has thirty two thousand miles on it. So I
dropped the pan, changed the filter, and cleaned the magnet.
It had about an eighth of inch of paste on it.
After filling and driving it, the fluid didn't look much better.
I'd entrain the torque inverter, which you can't. You'd have
to do a specific procedure of flesh out through the
cooler line, et cetera. I suctioned out about a gallon,
(20:46):
replaced it, and the color improved slightly. Repeated the sequence
again and it didn't really improve. I sent in for
fluid analysis and it came back in for high and embraces.
Fast forward six months, six thousand miles, sent in another example,
same results, just lower amounts. My question is work at
the embrace the material enter in limited knowledge of automatic transmissions,
and these suggestions appreciated. Jeff in the luth Minnesota. Uh,
(21:08):
you know what, Jeff, and for everybody else out there,
you know those those answers are not good all right,
because generally embraces or material in the trans fluid. It's
either the clutch material of the transmission itself, meaning the
trans is coming apart, or and I would bet more
money on this that it's the tor converter itself. The
(21:30):
tor converter has a lock up function where they mechanically
locked the converter. Think of two house fans and you
turn and they're they're they're they're in front of each other,
and you turn on the first fan, fan A, fan B.
You turn on fan A. You do not turn on
fan B, but Fan A runs and the wind from
(21:51):
fan A drives fan B. That's a torque converter, all right.
You've got, you know, an object under propulsion fan blades.
In this case, instead of fluid being the medium by
which we drive the second fan or the second set
of splines, we're using air. But that's basically how a
(22:13):
torque inverter works. Now, in order to make a modern
vehicle most efficient, they will, through various methods, mechanically lock
the outer spline to the innerspline direct lock of the converter.
That takes use of a pressure plate and some clutch material,
all right. That clutch material will wear out over time,
(22:35):
and then it tears through the transmission and it causes
nothing but havoc. It just creates a horrible time. It
creates a tough time, and I'm willing to bet that's
what you're seeing. So what I would do is, I would,
you know, keep changing the fluid, all right, stay on
top of it, because automatic transmissions react to particulate and
(22:59):
contamination and it's never good. So you know, I just
keep changing the fluid overheated, you know, I would look.
I looked in your case, but I would keep an
eye out just in case three four, five, six months
from now they do something. You know, there's generally more
more updates and reflashes for computers, for transmissions in the
way that they operate for the manufacturer than I think
(23:20):
anything else, truthfully, and I would keep that in mind.
Do they see do you see a reflash for this?
I don't think there's anything out there. I look the
other day when I got this email, so I didn't
see anything. So but just be aware. But heat fluid
are the two main causes what causes a transmission to
break down, So just keep changing it. Just very very important.
(23:42):
All right, kiddo, And thanks for the kind words about dad. Yeah,
you know what good stuff. You know what. I'm proud
that my dad was a mechanic and that I got
I got the bug from him. This comes to us
from a longtime listener in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. We leve Ourkia.
But one thing is it as this annoying little steering
wheel squeak in the steering column behind the steering wheel
(24:04):
when it's cold, the thing squeaks summer not at all,
goes away with the interior when it's warm. So I
guess I mean to turn the heat on. So much
for electronics and the wheel buttons. Thinking to take to
the dealer, but wondering if there's a simple fix like
silicon spray, or if they have to pull it apart.
Kind of sounds like a slight chalkboard squeak, much more faint,
or like a squeak while washing windows. Thanks DJ DJ.
(24:25):
Probably what's going on here is inside inside the steering
wheel or at the bottom of the steering wheel where
it meets the column, there's a copper contact ring. There's
some type of a contact ring that's going to be
there with a brush writing against it, a copper brush
or a brass brush, whatever the material is to maintain connectivity.
(24:47):
And it's dry, and it's going to be a case
of pulling the steering wheel, putting a drop of dielectric
grease on that, and putting it back together. And I
bet you the noise goes away. If that's what it is,
that'll do it. We see this as a common problem,
and yes, do change from hot to cold in the shop.
It's not completely uncommon, you know, but yeah, and it's annoying.
Is the best way I can describe what happens is
(25:09):
the brush contact is chattering or bouncing off that that
copper track ring and it and you put a drop
of dielectric grease on it and it just lubricates it
the least little bit and it works well. So you know,
to get it into your mechanic, I'm sure they'll know
what what it is that they have to do. Let's
(25:30):
pull over and take the pause. I'm ronning Andy in
the car doctor eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. We're back right after this, and away
(25:50):
we go. Let's uh, let's go to Diana in Florida. Diana, welcome,
How can I.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Help hi car? Doctor? Have a similar question? Then about
an older vehicle?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Then, well maintained ninety seven Plymouth Voyager three point three
lead minivan.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Okay, uh the uh.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Done quite a bit of work on it here and there.
But you know, if it needed something, I kept it up,
so did regular maintenance. You know, it all changes, all that.
And now I was steering pumps, sleeking. Say it's not
the hoses, Say it's the front seal. Uh, but it
(26:37):
was kind of the price was a shock. Is at
eight hundred bucks? Okay? How many?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
How many? How many miles are on this Diana?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Oh? Okay? Yeah, two hundred and eighty five thousand?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Okay, And you want to do what you want to?
Just replace the seal?
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Well, I didn't know. Everyone says it's just place for Pompton.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Right, me too, I don't know, me too. Let's let's
let's let's look at it. Let's look at it like this. Okay,
So let's say this car is junk. It's you're not
going to fix it. What are you gonna what are
you gonna go buy?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Well?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
I don't want to do that, right right, Yeah, the
car's been well maintained, it's not overly engineered. I like
simple things, right.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Well, and so there's your answer, right, So what is
it about the eight hundred dollars that bothers you? The
price of the part, the price of the labor, the
repair in general. Have you been putting a lot of
money in the car of late or it this one
just rubs you the wrong way?
Speaker 4 (27:43):
Well, uh, I would say, because I'm older, I'm used
to lower repair costs, and it's always a shock, it seems.
What for that it needs to be thirty dollars?
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Well, I don't I don't know if I ever remember
paristereing comsts being thirty five dollars. But I understand. Listen,
I had a call in the shop two weeks ago.
The person calls up and she wants me to work
on her Row seven Honda, and we talked to labor eight.
And labor rates in North Jersey are very expensive. You know,
labor eight in North Jersey's one hundred seventy five dollars
an hour. And that might be a shock, but you know,
(28:22):
come to New Jersey. See what property taxes costs, see
what insurance costs, See what taxes are It's the cost
of doing business. So anyway, my point is it's regional,
it's reflective of where you're at. So you know, her
comment was, well, I think the labor rate should be
fifty dollars an hour. Yeah, it's ridiculous, right, And I said, listen,
(28:43):
you get when you get out of your time machine
and come back from nineteen fifty five the minute how
your trip was. Of course she hung up on me,
you know, but it's it's the truth. It's it's it's reality.
You know, there's a lot of sticker shock in auder repair,
and I get that. But what I think you've got
to look at just my two cents, because I'm assuming
you called for my two cents worth, is that it's cheaper.
(29:06):
Whatever it is, it's cheaper than a new vehicle. You know,
this vehicle. You like this vehicle. Right. My big, my
big concern would be how much of the power steering
system are they replacing. There's a pump, there's two hoses in.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
A rack and okay, you know everything but the rack.
I replaced that rack about three years ago, okay. And
one guy told me it was leaking. The next guy said, no,
it's not leaking. Uh, And the next guy said it
wasn't leaking. Right now, I'm saying it's not leaking because
(29:42):
I don't see any thoughts there only at that one,
you know, drip.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Right, Let me ask you this question, how come you
got so how come you have so many mechanics? How
come there's so many people giving you giving you opinions?
And looks.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Well, he used to have a good mechanic, but he
kind of got pushed out of the business. Lets mechanics
quit during the COVID virus, right, and so it was
then I tried to find another one. And and right
now I happen to kind of be in two places
because of a move I'm trying to make. And so
(30:18):
I don't really know the mechanics, you know. So I said,
well I better get a second opinion, like you ud
a doctor. Yeah, sure, yeah, so that's why. And I
had the two opinions. The prices ranged from like seven
to fifty quest to nine hundred. Okay, but on power
(30:39):
steering with the two hoses, and so let me ask.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It, Let me, let me, let me ask you this question.
Let me let me make a comment. This way more
important or just as important as the power steering pump
you're driving a twenty semi twenty five year old vehicle,
twenty six year old vehicle, and it's got almost it's
got almost three hundred found miles on it. This is
a prime example of a vehicle that needs somebody to
(31:05):
you know, little TLC. This is the kind of vehicle.
As a mechanic, I don't I can't necessarily charge for
everything I do because there's always a nip and a
tuck and a touch and a top up and something
you're going to tighten and stay on, you know, because
it becomes a mechanic's pride to keep this vehicle going
to a degree, there's a sense of that. It's not
(31:25):
like a newer vehicle. So my point is as important
as keeping it repaired, is you need a good mechanic.
You almost need somebody. This is a great repair to
start with. You don't want to find out the hard
way that the guy, regardless of what it was eight
hundred or eighteen hundred. You want to make sure the
guy working on it a stands behind their work, they
(31:48):
do a good job. If there is a problem, and
if there's a problem, it's likely going to be with
the part because the vehicle is so old where's the
new part coming from? And you know you want to
make sure they can stand up for it. So I
think I would be cautious jumping into this until you
decide who's gonna be the mechanic and who's gonna work
on the car on a regular basis. I think that
(32:08):
is more important than doing this. I don't want to
say piecemeal, but you know the other guy's gone, I
get it. It happens every day in this country. It
happens every day in this business. Got to find another
mechanic that's more important right now, I think, than something
that's dripping. My other concern is, you know, have you
(32:30):
asked anybody, and this is the key language, right, will
this fix my leak? Because you don't want anybody coming
back and saying, well, we thought it was the paristering pump,
but it's really a rack. Because they're changing the rack.
I'm sorry they're changing the pump and the two lines
just because you don't see a leak from the rack.
Make sure they looked at the bellows, the rubber seals,
(32:51):
the rubber bellows that are over the end of it,
all right, that sometimes they'll fill with fluid. I would
almost put a little pinhole in If they can't determine
for sure, you know, depending upon where this rat came from,
this might also be a cause or a source of
the leak as well. You got some homework to do, kiddo,
do that and you know, by all means, give me
(33:12):
a call back if you need more. I appreciate the call,
and good luck to you and Merry Christmas. Hey coming
up next. You know a long term car doctor tradition.
We've been doing the night before Christmas the better part
of thirty years, some of it before I was even
on radio way back in the day. And that's longer
than thirty years ago. So that just goes to show
you how long ago.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
This was.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
The night before Christmas is something I threw together real
quick at the last minute. I hope you enjoy it.
It's a yearly tradition from my house to yours. Merry Christmas.
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the dark,
not a car was still broken. All the plugs had
their spark, the wrenches were stashed all snug in their boxes. Well,
(33:55):
me by myself was having Christmas party leftovers, some bagels
and loses out from the lot. There rose such a clatter.
I sprang to my feet and yelled, hey, what's the
matter now? What to my bloodshot, tired eyes should appear?
But some crazy old guy one sleigh with reindeer. I winced,
and I cried, Oh great, just one more. I'd rather
sit back and have a cup of tea and some smores.
(34:17):
He approached the front door with a smile so bright.
I quickly unlocked it and turned back on the office light.
Excuse me, kind sir, but I'm having some trouble. The
left runner on my sleigh has started to wobble. The
balance is wrong and it pulls to the right. The
reindeer working too hard this cold night. I have so
much to do and no time left to do it.
Do you think that you could well please get right
(34:38):
to it without saying a word. I went to work
right away. Too bad the alignment machine had no specks
for a sleigh. Meanwhile, the reindeer were prancing around that
rootolph in common. What a couple of clowns. In a
matter of moments from time one point two, the runner
was straight and the alignment done too. I helped him
bloat up all the presents but one. He left it
(34:58):
to pay me for cash.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
He had none.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
I hope it's from Snap on a half inch drive
air gun. He started the sleigh by merely calling their
names a dasher and dancer, Donna and Blitzen. Get up
off your butts, Rudolph comment and fix him. It started
to idle and float in the air. Then Rudolph lit
up the sky with his nose extraordinary, and I heard
him exclaim this could have been quite a mess. The
(35:21):
car doctor rings true. These mechanics aren't expensive, they're really priceless.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
And may Chris Lessus be
So silver Bell on streets seta can't bring Me.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Comes on, Ron Ananian.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
If every mechanic refused to work on a broken car
that was put in front of them and somebody else
had tried to fix, you'd have an awful big pile
of broken cars laying around somewhere because there's an awful
lot of di wires that aren't properly fixing vehicles that
get into this situation that Car Doctor, Do you think.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
There'll come a time Ron where they're going to push
the California They're going to push the ego cars off
the vote, that's what they're going.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's where they're headed
because I do watch California for that basis, because unfortunately,
what happens in California seems to leak its way across
the rest of the country.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Welcome to the radio home of Ronananium, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up
the phone and call in. The garage doors are open.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
But I am here to take your calls at eight
five five five, six ninety nine hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And now he.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Running, how was your week? Right? Well, mine was busy
fixing cars. I hope your week was just as good
as mine. We we were just slammed to the gills.
I think everybody realizes, you know, they're getting ready for
Christmas week, New Year's week, and you know a little
bit into the year, fun stuff. And you could tell
though that people are still spending big money on cars,
(01:50):
and still we put we put big money in a
lot of older vehicles this week. And I think it's
you know, doing part because you know the price of
new vehicles, not saying you shouldn't buy one, but just
you know, is it in your budget? And it just
cars are made so well today they can go on
for a long time. We had a we had a
twenty fourteen Subaru UH forester out back forrester. I think
(02:12):
it was needed a passenger side rear wheel bearing, you know.
And I guess you could sort of say that this
conversation is about the uh oh. The uh oh to
a mechanic. It's sort of like the same thing as
the pregnant pause. You know, you go uh uh, you know,
now what we had to put a wheelbaring in this,
(02:35):
in this twenty fourteen suber and actually the customer said,
you know, it's got higher mileage on Actually it was
low mileage. I'm sorry, this is the low mileage one.
But it had lower mileage on it. But it was,
you know, eleven going on twelve years old, because it
was an early fourteen car. And she said, you know,
if you do the right side, do the left side too.
And I said, yeah, that kind of makes sense because
we were also doing back breaks, and if you're doing
(02:56):
back breaks on one of these, you're you're you're kind
of halfway to doing the wheel bearing anyway, so you
know you might as well. It's it's only a matter
of time. I think the problem with the subarus is
the amount of rust, all right, because they get they
get really good and rusty, you know, the undercarriage and such,
and that's just no far reach. I mean, the way
(03:19):
the roads are salted and treated and processed for snow
in any part of the country where they have it,
it's maddening. But you know, you take them as they come.
So I started doing the right rear wheel bearing. Now
there's a couple of ways you can do this. There's
a bunch of tools in the market. I'm not fond
(03:39):
of them. My concern is that these tools push against
There's a press tool out there. There's a couple of
them that will go in and latch onto the bearing
assembly and then press on the center of the axle,
which I don't like because it pushes against the pinion
pin in the diff and I've seen somewhere they're so
(03:59):
bad rusted. They will they will snap, they will break,
and I always wonder about that. My method is that
I will heat gently, heat the outside of the knuckle
the casing, and after a short period of time, I
will put bolts in from the outside and drive it
out that way. I find that that usually works, so
(04:21):
except in this case, it didn't work. Nothing worked. I
never had one do this to me where you know,
heat didn't work, pressing didn't work. I don't think the
tool would have worked. That everybody raves about that they
say works. I think it was one of those cars.
And that's when you look at it and go uh oh.
When the two pushbolts were stuck in the housing and
(04:42):
I couldn't get them out, but I had just gotten
it to move a little bit off the backing plate.
I was able to take the saws all and cut
the two bolts clean. And then at that point I
was able to let everything cool down. And finally, and
that's the trick. You've got to get a little bit
of a gap between the bearing, the backing pl and
the knuckle, all right, because otherwise penetrating whale can't get
(05:04):
in there. Once I got that little bit of a gap,
not much about an eighth of an inch, I was
able to take some PB blaster shoot it in there
right and let it soak, which I did, and Yeah,
came back about twenty minutes later, hit it again, went
back to work on the other car in Bay three,
and you know, came back within forty five minutes and
(05:25):
I was able to chisel the bearing out it. It
just broke down the rust enough to do that. But
you know, it's the uh oh moment. And then the
other thing I always you know, you hate to it,
you get into it, but this is what some of
these jobs lead you to. You quote one number, you say, yeah,
this is going to be a couple of three thousand
dollars whatever it is, because it's going to be bearings
and brakes and a bunch of other things. And then
(05:47):
all of a sudden, you see that tiny little pinhole
in the axle that's been spraying grease for a while
in the boot. So now you've got to do a
right side ax Well, the customers of the mind, if
you're doing the right, you want to do the left.
So now you're doing a left side bearing a left
side act. All of a sudden, the job's gone up considerably.
Is it worth it?
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I think so, you know, I think so. I'll tell
you what.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
In the end.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
You know, Jan got a card. It's quiet like a
tomb inside this car. Now that bearing was so loud
and noisy. You know, four tires were bearings, two axles breakoverhaul,
the car'll probably go another fifty thousand miles and then
some And maybe that's okay. You know, I tell you
these stories because that was my week. But you know,
maybe that's okay. We did backing plates with it, you know,
(06:34):
which is you know, it's funny, right, I've never done
backing plates whenever, well I can't say never, but usually
I never have to do backing plates, and I do
super rewheel bearings. But for that right side bearing. It
was just it was welded by rust. It just wouldn't
come apart to that bearing assembly. And when I called
the dealer they have dozens of them in stock. I'm thinking,
(06:55):
you know what, maybe that's the way to do it.
It would be quicker not having to separate the bearing
from the backing. But yeah, it's it's cars are funny,
Russ does. Russ does some some strange things to them,
you know, in terms of in terms of making it
more difficult to work on. So but uh, yeah, it's
(07:15):
it's tough stuff. So hey, coming up at the bottom
of the hour, No, not the bottom of the hour,
around at the end of this hour. You know, this
is Christmas week, right, Christmas is the middle of the
week this year. We're looking forward to it. We're gonna
work Monday Tuesday, We're gonna do pizza at the shop
on Tuesday, and then we're gonna be off Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
(07:36):
which I'll have to be because I'm actually I'm out
of here Tuesday afternoon. I've got to get north to
help Santa get the sleigh ridy. I'm actually doing a
zoom call with them about three hours from now to
show the elves where to put the anti drone device
so we can get to New Jersey and New York
and stuff. But you know, just just just busy week,
just busy stuff. So I'm down around the end of
(07:59):
the hour, which is where I was going with this,
is we're gonna have the Night Before Christmas. I know
you guys look forward to that every year. I enjoyed
doing that. You know I did that. You know, I'll
never forget a good thirty some odd years ago. I
don't want to remember. It was so long ago, a
good couple of years ago. We were at a trade
show dinner meeting and somebody we needed to it's a
(08:22):
long story, long story, shortest. We needed to entertain the troops,
so to speak, because the actual speaker was late and
showing up. So you know, I wrote that on the
back of a bathroom paper towel, you know, the Night
before Christmas, and we put it to that, and myself
and a dear friend of mine who's gone now, Richie Johnson,
(08:43):
we did that in Unison at a trade show meeting
here in New Jersey. So a little bit of history
of where the Night Before Christmas came from, and ever
since then, We've made it part of the show and
I get to sit and think about Richie and tear
up a little bit and enjoy the enjoy the season.
It's the holidays. So anyway, let's pull over to a pause.
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
I should point out eight five five five six zero
(09:05):
nine nine zero zero is the card Doctor's twenty four
to seven number. Very important. Eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. You can call it anytime,
day or night, leave a message. The hotline is is
live and manned between the hours of two and four
pm Eastern Time on Saturdays. But eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero has an answering service
(09:26):
attached to it. You can leave a message, we'll call
you back and get you in Q for the next
live broadcast. And you never know, we do tape shows
from time to time for to continue to get new
content on air. If we're taking a weekend off for
some reason, and you know, you never know when you're
gonna get a call and say, hey, you want to
talk about this, We'll put you up on air and
make it into a call. So always keep that number handy.
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
(09:48):
I'm running ending the card doctor. Let me pull over
and take a pause. I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
He drives that way. But when it it comes to
fixing cars, Ron has car advice done right.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Eight five to five five six zero nine to nine
zero zero. Here's Ron. Let's do some emails. Or actually
this is a social media post. This comes to us
from Don, who writes in hey Ron, We've got a
new twenty twenty four Chevy Equinox. It's been great, except
for the entertainment center. The thing that is most frustrating.
That thing is the most frustrating thing ever. It does
(10:24):
not have a CD player. You know, isn't it funny?
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Right?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
A lot of vehicles don't have CD players anymore. It's
getting to be the impossible to get option. And so
we loaded a thumb drive with all our CDs that
we had ripped to the computer. Then we found out
that it would not play the WMA format. So I
spent weeks transferring everything to the MP three format. Then
when you are driving by yourself, the USB will only
play by way of voice recognition. It does not let
(10:48):
you manually browse anything. I don't think that's the fault
of the equinox though. I just think, honestly, I think
you're using it incorrectly. I don't think they make it
so that it can index a thumb I've seen this
before that that's a problem. He then goes on to
say the problem with voice recognition is it never gets
anything right after about a dozen times it's saying I'm sorry,
(11:10):
I didn't understand you. You just give up. You can
manually do everything else. You can change radio stations or
the Serio six M station, but it does not let
you manually browse the USB thumb drive. Yeah, Like I said,
I think what I would do is, because everything plays
through your phone, do and I would look to see,
you know, can you make a music collection using Amazon
Music or Google Music on your phone and then just
(11:33):
get it to pick from that? And I wonder if
it would voice search that because your phone is likely
an accepted device, because your phone will likely pair with
that infotainment system, all right, and you know, then will
it search accordingly in that? You know, I've had success.
I can do that in my wife's car, she's got
Alexis GX four sixty, and it will search my It
(11:54):
will search my phone as far as well. Actually, no,
I take that back. It won't search my phone, but
it will let me screw all through to the next song,
the next song, the next song. So, you know, I
think the way you're using and I understand how you
want to use it, I don't think it's possible, and
I think because it's not designed to do that, you know,
But I get it. I get the frustration. No CD player,
(12:15):
What do you do? They should they put I think
they should have CD players, but they don't. You know,
which is you know? Try that though? Or I wonder
what would happen if you loaded everything onto Google Drive
and then you can manually make playlists from that. I
wonder if that would work also, So, but I think
everything's going to come through your phone. Everything is headed
to your phone anyway. So I'm just you know, get
(12:36):
used to the idea. It's the future. This comes to us.
This is actually a caller. She hasn't gotten an are yet. Hey, Ron,
it's Kathy. I have a twenty fifteen legacy Subaru. It's
got three hundred and fourteen thousand miles on it. I've
kept it up and I'm sorry now because they tell
me I need a new catalytic converter, or the dealer
wants five thousand dollars, some guy wants three thousand dollars.
Then I found an anthemarket parts dealer in Carol, Iowa
(12:58):
who can do it for about one thousand. Put all
the lights were on one day later, and the next
day they went off, and then they came back on
again like the service engine. Soon now they're off again.
I don't know what's going on, if I should replace
it or what. But when I when the lights are on,
I can't use my cruise control. Well, yeah, and a
lot of the Japanese cars do that that. You know,
it's it's it's it's a lot of the Japanese cars
(13:21):
do that that They will disable crews and some of
the other accessory function because the vehicle isn't in peak
operating condition because when the check engine lights on, which
it would be if a catalytic converter was having a failure,
if the check engine light was on, then their concern
is the vehicle working too hard under limited power, and
they won't allow crews to operate. Now back to whose
(13:42):
cat would I put on this? You know, this is
a question of I think this is a question of
what if, Kathy, if if you put any form of
a catalytic converter on this vehicle and it suffers a
cataclysmic failure engine or transmission, would you fix it? Is
body and good enough shape to justify it? If the
(14:02):
answer is yes, I'd probably put the manufacturer's CAT back
on it. I know it's a lot of money, but
if you look at catalytic converters side by side, the
factory cat is twenty four inches long, The aftermarket cat
is twenty inches long, the aftermarket after market CAT is
fifteen inches long. They get shorter and they get smaller,
and I think the only thing you can, you know,
(14:24):
justify in your head is you've got to have that.
That that you got to compromise. How long are you
going to drive the car? And what sort of return
on your dollars do you want to get? The manufacturer's
cat lasted three hundred thousand miles. It's pretty good, right,
you know, you don't need to go another three hundred thousand.
But WILL a good quality we'll call it WILL, a
first line aftermarket catalytic converter last you know, one hundred
(14:50):
thousand miles. You know, to get this car to four
to fifty. To get this car to four hundred and
fifteen thousand miles would be quite a trick. Now, the
issue is too that if you use a dirt cheap cat,
and there's a lot of dirt cheap cats out there,
will it actually work and do the job it's supposed to.
(15:11):
It's an older engine, there's I'm sure some imbalances in
the fuel system in terms of how it how it operates,
and what it's supposed to do. So you're making that
after market cat work just a little bit harder. You know,
there's no there's no mystery to catalytic converters in my mind,
all right, you know, I understand how they work, and
(15:33):
it's in terms of getting them to solve the problem
out of the box. That factory cat works the best.
It can swallow a lot of junk, and I'm not
suggesting you allow it to, but it's it's it's more
forgiving than the aftermarket stuff. But it has its place.
Right If the aftermarket cat is half the price of
the manufacturer's cat, there's there's an answer right there in
(15:55):
terms of what you're what you're gonna do, because maybe
you don't want want to, you know, make that major
of an investment, you know, and it brings me back
to my first comment about what if. I also think
that you should be talking to your regular mechanic whoever's
been servicing the car up to this point, because with
this kind of mileage on it, you know, there's going
(16:17):
to be other extenuating circumstances, and you want to deal
with a guy that you've had good success with. You know,
if you were going to a doctor and it was
heart surgery, would you change doctors in midstream because the
next doctor down the list was newer but maybe cheaper
or maybe just cheaper. I don't think you would. It
doesn't make any sense, and I wouldn't do that. I
(16:37):
wouldn't do the same thing with a car. You know,
you've had a relationship with this guy. It sounds like
he's been doing a lot of the maintenance, and I
think that counts for something, and I think that's where
you're going to get the most bang for the buck,
you know, in terms of in terms of keeping that
car on the road twenty fifteen, three hundred and fourteen
thousand miles. You know, as an a side, you say
(17:01):
you've done a lot of maintenance. I would look through
the maintenance records. You know, has it had head gaskets,
has it had good cooling system maintenance? What does the
undercarriage suspension look like? Because it's not this problem, This
problem is repairable. You know, it's a question of whose
part do you want to put on it. I'd probably
go somewhere between manufacturer and the cheapest guy in the aftermarket.
(17:22):
You know, it's like the rules in house construction, get
three estimates, pick the guy in the middle. But I
think it's also a question of do you just want
to take this money and put it towards a different
vehicle altogether, something newer, with less miles on it, because
the mileage here is extraordinary, over three hundred thousand, And
I think that becomes a concern for you know, what else,
(17:44):
what else could fail? You know, that old subject about
rotating electrical comes to mind. Starters, alternators, you know, back
in the day, we'd always worry about water pumps past
a certain point. So, you know, I get it. And
then the last thing I want to put in your
head is, depending upon where you're driving, if you're out
in remote parts of Iowa, if you're on quiet back
roads late at night. You know, maybe having a newer
(18:08):
car with less miles on it is more peace of
mind for you as well as well as any family members,
because anything can go wrong with the vehicle. It's it's
a matter of odds, the odds, and you know, just
trying to do your due diligence. So I hope that
made sense. And if you need more information, Kathy, you
know where to find me. Eighty five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. I'm on anady in the car. Doctor.
(18:29):
We're back right after this. Let's answer or some emails.
(19:00):
Let's get some quiet time together. You and I. Hey Ron,
as an avionics mechanic, I appreciate your methodical approach to troubleshooting.
I also enjoy the shows when you're talking about your
dad and his experience as an aircraft mechanic, and I
kind of help that one day my son will speak
as fondly about me as you have about your dad.
You know, it's funny the older you get, you have
more memories about your parents. And you know, I was
fortunate that in the early years I had my dad
(19:23):
for the short time that I did, but the influence
that he left on me and you know about fixing cars,
and there isn't a day that goes by that I somehow,
you know, either I'm pulling a wrench out of my
out of my toolbox at the shop that is from
the forties, from you know, his time working lead mechanic
American Airlines, or you know, just just thinking about some
(19:43):
of the advice he gave me when I was a
little kid that still applies to this day. You know,
it's weird you hold a wrench in your hands and
they're all big wrenches, the big wrenches as I call them.
You know, anytime we get a you know we're working
on something huge and the wrench size is over an
inch and a half or you know, any anything like
twenty five millimeters and up. If it's a newer vehicle,
(20:04):
I say to myself, Gee, is this the rent that
worked on FDR's airplane? Because it could have he was
in charge of he was in charge of maintenance on
the President's plane. Anyway, Jeff Wright continues, Anyway, my daughter's
two thousand and four Jeep Liberty had a rebuilt transmission
installed at one hundred and thirty five thousand miles four
years ago. I checked the fluid twice a year when
I serviced the car, and it's normal. This past year
I checked it. It was a dark purple color. It didn't
(20:26):
smell burnt. The transmission seemed to be working fine. It
now has thirty two thousand miles on it. So I
dropped the pan, changed the filter, and cleaned the magnet.
It had about an eighth of inch of paste on it.
After filling and driving it, the fluid didn't look much better.
I'd entrain the torque inverter, which you can't. You'd have
to do a specific procedure of flesh out through the
cooler line, et cetera. I suctioned out about a gallon,
(20:46):
replaced it, and the color improved slightly. Repeated the sequence
again and it didn't really improve. I sent in for
fluid analysis and it came back in for high and embraces.
Fast forward six months, six thousand miles, sent in another example,
same results, just lower amounts. My question is work at
the embrace the material enter in limited knowledge of automatic transmissions,
and these suggestions appreciated. Jeff in the luth Minnesota. Uh,
(21:08):
you know what, Jeff, and for everybody else out there,
you know those those answers are not good all right,
because generally embraces or material in the trans fluid. It's
either the clutch material of the transmission itself, meaning the
trans is coming apart, or and I would bet more
money on this that it's the tor converter itself. The
(21:30):
tor converter has a lock up function where they mechanically
locked the converter. Think of two house fans and you
turn and they're they're they're they're in front of each other,
and you turn on the first fan, fan A, fan B.
You turn on fan A. You do not turn on
fan B, but Fan A runs and the wind from
(21:51):
fan A drives fan B. That's a torque converter, all right.
You've got, you know, an object under propulsion fan blades.
In this case, instead of fluid being the medium by
which we drive the second fan or the second set
of splines, we're using air. But that's basically how a
(22:13):
torque inverter works. Now, in order to make a modern
vehicle most efficient, they will, through various methods, mechanically lock
the outer spline to the innerspline direct lock of the converter.
That takes use of a pressure plate and some clutch material,
all right. That clutch material will wear out over time,
(22:35):
and then it tears through the transmission and it causes
nothing but havoc. It just creates a horrible time. It
creates a tough time, and I'm willing to bet that's
what you're seeing. So what I would do is, I would,
you know, keep changing the fluid, all right, stay on
top of it, because automatic transmissions react to particulate and
(22:59):
contamination and it's never good. So you know, I just
keep changing the fluid overheated, you know, I would look.
I looked in your case, but I would keep an
eye out just in case three four, five, six months
from now they do something. You know, there's generally more
more updates and reflashes for computers, for transmissions in the
way that they operate for the manufacturer than I think
(23:20):
anything else, truthfully, and I would keep that in mind.
Do they see do you see a reflash for this?
I don't think there's anything out there. I look the
other day when I got this email, so I didn't
see anything. So but just be aware. But heat fluid
are the two main causes what causes a transmission to
break down, So just keep changing it. Just very very important.
(23:42):
All right, kiddo, And thanks for the kind words about dad. Yeah,
you know what good stuff. You know what. I'm proud
that my dad was a mechanic and that I got
I got the bug from him. This comes to us
from a longtime listener in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. We leve Ourkia.
But one thing is it as this annoying little steering
wheel squeak in the steering column behind the steering wheel
(24:04):
when it's cold, the thing squeaks summer not at all,
goes away with the interior when it's warm. So I
guess I mean to turn the heat on. So much
for electronics and the wheel buttons. Thinking to take to
the dealer, but wondering if there's a simple fix like
silicon spray, or if they have to pull it apart.
Kind of sounds like a slight chalkboard squeak, much more faint,
or like a squeak while washing windows. Thanks DJ DJ.
(24:25):
Probably what's going on here is inside inside the steering
wheel or at the bottom of the steering wheel where
it meets the column, there's a copper contact ring. There's
some type of a contact ring that's going to be
there with a brush writing against it, a copper brush
or a brass brush, whatever the material is to maintain connectivity.
(24:47):
And it's dry, and it's going to be a case
of pulling the steering wheel, putting a drop of dielectric
grease on that, and putting it back together. And I
bet you the noise goes away. If that's what it is,
that'll do it. We see this as a common problem,
and yes, do change from hot to cold in the shop.
It's not completely uncommon, you know, but yeah, and it's annoying.
Is the best way I can describe what happens is
(25:09):
the brush contact is chattering or bouncing off that that
copper track ring and it and you put a drop
of dielectric grease on it and it just lubricates it
the least little bit and it works well. So you know,
to get it into your mechanic, I'm sure they'll know
what what it is that they have to do. Let's
(25:30):
pull over and take the pause. I'm ronning Andy in
the car doctor eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. We're back right after this, and away
(25:50):
we go. Let's uh, let's go to Diana in Florida. Diana, welcome,
How can I.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
Help hi car? Doctor? Have a similar question? Then about
an older vehicle?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Then, well maintained ninety seven Plymouth Voyager three point three
lead minivan.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Okay, uh the uh.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Done quite a bit of work on it here and there.
But you know, if it needed something, I kept it up,
so did regular maintenance. You know, it all changes, all that.
And now I was steering pumps, sleeking. Say it's not
the hoses, Say it's the front seal. Uh, but it
(26:37):
was kind of the price was a shock. Is at
eight hundred bucks? Okay? How many?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
How many? How many miles are on this Diana?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Oh? Okay? Yeah, two hundred and eighty five thousand?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Okay, And you want to do what you want to?
Just replace the seal?
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Well, I didn't know. Everyone says it's just place for Pompton.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Right, me too, I don't know, me too. Let's let's
let's let's look at it. Let's look at it like this. Okay,
So let's say this car is junk. It's you're not
going to fix it. What are you gonna what are
you gonna go buy?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Well?
Speaker 4 (27:19):
I don't want to do that, right right, Yeah, the
car's been well maintained, it's not overly engineered. I like
simple things, right.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Well, and so there's your answer, right, So what is
it about the eight hundred dollars that bothers you? The
price of the part, the price of the labor, the
repair in general. Have you been putting a lot of
money in the car of late or it this one
just rubs you the wrong way?
Speaker 4 (27:43):
Well, uh, I would say, because I'm older, I'm used
to lower repair costs, and it's always a shock, it seems.
What for that it needs to be thirty dollars?
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Well, I don't I don't know if I ever remember
paristereing comsts being thirty five dollars. But I understand. Listen,
I had a call in the shop two weeks ago.
The person calls up and she wants me to work
on her Row seven Honda, and we talked to labor eight.
And labor rates in North Jersey are very expensive. You know,
labor eight in North Jersey's one hundred seventy five dollars
an hour. And that might be a shock, but you know,
(28:22):
come to New Jersey. See what property taxes costs, see
what insurance costs, See what taxes are It's the cost
of doing business. So anyway, my point is it's regional,
it's reflective of where you're at. So you know, her
comment was, well, I think the labor rate should be
fifty dollars an hour. Yeah, it's ridiculous, right, And I said, listen,
(28:43):
you get when you get out of your time machine
and come back from nineteen fifty five the minute how
your trip was. Of course she hung up on me,
you know, but it's it's the truth. It's it's it's reality.
You know, there's a lot of sticker shock in auder repair,
and I get that. But what I think you've got
to look at just my two cents, because I'm assuming
you called for my two cents worth, is that it's cheaper.
(29:06):
Whatever it is, it's cheaper than a new vehicle. You know,
this vehicle. You like this vehicle. Right. My big, my
big concern would be how much of the power steering
system are they replacing. There's a pump, there's two hoses in.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
A rack and okay, you know everything but the rack.
I replaced that rack about three years ago, okay. And
one guy told me it was leaking. The next guy said, no,
it's not leaking. Uh, And the next guy said it
wasn't leaking. Right now, I'm saying it's not leaking because
(29:42):
I don't see any thoughts there only at that one,
you know, drip.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Right, Let me ask you this question, how come you
got so how come you have so many mechanics? How
come there's so many people giving you giving you opinions?
And looks.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Well, he used to have a good mechanic, but he
kind of got pushed out of the business. Lets mechanics
quit during the COVID virus, right, and so it was
then I tried to find another one. And and right
now I happen to kind of be in two places
because of a move I'm trying to make. And so
(30:18):
I don't really know the mechanics, you know. So I said,
well I better get a second opinion, like you ud
a doctor. Yeah, sure, yeah, so that's why. And I
had the two opinions. The prices ranged from like seven
to fifty quest to nine hundred. Okay, but on power
(30:39):
steering with the two hoses, and so let me ask.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It, Let me, let me, let me ask you this question.
Let me let me make a comment. This way more
important or just as important as the power steering pump
you're driving a twenty semi twenty five year old vehicle,
twenty six year old vehicle, and it's got almost it's
got almost three hundred found miles on it. This is
a prime example of a vehicle that needs somebody to
(31:05):
you know, little TLC. This is the kind of vehicle.
As a mechanic, I don't I can't necessarily charge for
everything I do because there's always a nip and a
tuck and a touch and a top up and something
you're going to tighten and stay on, you know, because
it becomes a mechanic's pride to keep this vehicle going
to a degree, there's a sense of that. It's not
(31:25):
like a newer vehicle. So my point is as important
as keeping it repaired, is you need a good mechanic.
You almost need somebody. This is a great repair to
start with. You don't want to find out the hard
way that the guy, regardless of what it was eight
hundred or eighteen hundred. You want to make sure the
guy working on it a stands behind their work, they
(31:48):
do a good job. If there is a problem, and
if there's a problem, it's likely going to be with
the part because the vehicle is so old where's the
new part coming from? And you know you want to
make sure they can stand up for it. So I
think I would be cautious jumping into this until you
decide who's gonna be the mechanic and who's gonna work
on the car on a regular basis. I think that
(32:08):
is more important than doing this. I don't want to
say piecemeal, but you know the other guy's gone, I
get it. It happens every day in this country. It
happens every day in this business. Got to find another
mechanic that's more important right now, I think, than something
that's dripping. My other concern is, you know, have you
(32:30):
asked anybody, and this is the key language, right, will
this fix my leak? Because you don't want anybody coming
back and saying, well, we thought it was the paristering pump,
but it's really a rack. Because they're changing the rack.
I'm sorry they're changing the pump and the two lines
just because you don't see a leak from the rack.
Make sure they looked at the bellows, the rubber seals,
(32:51):
the rubber bellows that are over the end of it,
all right, that sometimes they'll fill with fluid. I would
almost put a little pinhole in If they can't determine
for sure, you know, depending upon where this rat came from,
this might also be a cause or a source of
the leak as well. You got some homework to do, kiddo,
do that and you know, by all means, give me
(33:12):
a call back if you need more. I appreciate the call,
and good luck to you and Merry Christmas. Hey coming
up next. You know a long term car doctor tradition.
We've been doing the night before Christmas the better part
of thirty years, some of it before I was even
on radio way back in the day. And that's longer
than thirty years ago. So that just goes to show
you how long ago.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
This was.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
The night before Christmas is something I threw together real
quick at the last minute. I hope you enjoy it.
It's a yearly tradition from my house to yours. Merry Christmas.
Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the dark,
not a car was still broken. All the plugs had
their spark, the wrenches were stashed all snug in their boxes. Well,
(33:55):
me by myself was having Christmas party leftovers, some bagels
and loses out from the lot. There rose such a clatter.
I sprang to my feet and yelled, hey, what's the
matter now? What to my bloodshot, tired eyes should appear?
But some crazy old guy one sleigh with reindeer. I winced,
and I cried, Oh great, just one more. I'd rather
sit back and have a cup of tea and some smores.
(34:17):
He approached the front door with a smile so bright.
I quickly unlocked it and turned back on the office light.
Excuse me, kind sir, but I'm having some trouble. The
left runner on my sleigh has started to wobble. The
balance is wrong and it pulls to the right. The
reindeer working too hard this cold night. I have so
much to do and no time left to do it.
Do you think that you could well please get right
(34:38):
to it without saying a word. I went to work
right away. Too bad the alignment machine had no specks
for a sleigh. Meanwhile, the reindeer were prancing around that
rootolph in common. What a couple of clowns. In a
matter of moments from time one point two, the runner
was straight and the alignment done too. I helped him
bloat up all the presents but one. He left it
(34:58):
to pay me for cash.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
He had none.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
I hope it's from Snap on a half inch drive
air gun. He started the sleigh by merely calling their
names a dasher and dancer, Donna and Blitzen. Get up
off your butts, Rudolph comment and fix him. It started
to idle and float in the air. Then Rudolph lit
up the sky with his nose extraordinary, and I heard
him exclaim this could have been quite a mess. The
(35:21):
car doctor rings true. These mechanics aren't expensive, they're really priceless.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
And may Chris Lessus be
Host
Ron Ananian
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