February 22, 2025 • 35 mins
This episode of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor radio features host Ron taking live calls from listeners experiencing car troubles.
-
Bill from Florida (Toyota Highlander)
- Bill describes a "popping, crackling" noise from under his vehicle when he touches the accelerator.
- Ron asks diagnostic questions, including whether the noise occurs in different gears or at a standstill.
- The issue is likely drivetrain-related, possibly a clicking drive axle or driveshaft issue.
- Ron advises getting it checked ASAP to prevent worsening damage.
-
Austin from Hawaii (1992 Mazda Miata MX-5)
- After driving for two hours, the car loses power as if "choking itself," but revs fine in neutral.
- The temperature and oil pressure gauges fluctuate with the RPMs.
- Possible causes: fuel pressure issues, exhaust restriction, or an electrical failure.
- Ron recommends checking fuel pressure first and monitoring the manifold vacuum to rule out an exhaust problem.
- He stresses proper diagnostics over assumptions, suggesting Austin get an older scan tool for more accurate testing.
-
John from Boston (03 Lincoln Town Car)
- His serpentine belt snapped while driving, making the steering tight.
- After replacing the belt, the steering feels loose and "lazy."
- Ron begins diagnosing but the summary cuts off before a resolution.
Throughout the episode, Ron emphasizes methodical diagnostics, avoiding assumptions, and prioritizing simple tests before complex repairs. He closes the show this week talking about a recent article he read about electrical testing, circuits and ground connections in the latest edition of ALLDATA News.
- Find out more about us at www.cardoctorshow.com
- Follow Us On Instagram - @ronananian
- Visit our You Tube Channel for auto repair tips and videos
- Call Into The Car Doctor Hotline 24/7 (855)560-9900
- Live Call In Show Saturdays 2-4PM Eastern Time
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ron Anian who went to try and grease the ball
joints up her lower It's details in order to repair
the kill and the grease.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Fitting was just a lance eyelash away from hitting the
inside the lip of the wind, so you couldn't possibly
get a grease gun on it. You'd have to take
the wheel off to grease the front end, which.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Is ridiculous, The Car Doctor, you have navigation in this
CARDINRM person non navigation?
Speaker 4 (00:39):
No, no, I don't have navigation.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Okay. So this is a base radio. So there's three
fuses supplying power to the radio and the CD changer.
The CD changer's powered separately from the radio.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Welcome to the radio home of Ronanania, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on autumn mode
of repair. If your mechanics giving you a busy signal,
pick up.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
The phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
The garage doors.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Are open, but I am here to take your calls
at eighty five five five six ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hundred and now pee.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
Running.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Okay, you know what, We've got lots of calls this hour,
so we're gonna dive right into it. No monologue, Bill,
Florida ten Toyota Highlander, Bill, Welcome to the car, doctor, sir,
what's going on?
Speaker 6 (01:27):
Okay, so I've got I've got kind of a funky
front steering situation. But but main the main reason I
called it, I'm getting like a popping, crackling sound from
underknees when I just touched the I don't know if
I can use you to hear it on the phone.
I'm not in the car right now, but.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, if you're not in the car, I don't think
I could hear it. But you're getting you're getting You're
getting what kind of a noise when you do what? Bill?
Speaker 6 (01:52):
I'm oh, I'm in the no I took it to
an empty lot so I could drive it around. I
can hear this, but I don't know if you can
hear that.
Speaker 7 (01:59):
It's like a.
Speaker 6 (02:00):
Upping, cracking sort of sound from underneath when I when
I hit the accelerator, just even even gently.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
No, I can't. I can't build Bill. Are the wheels
in the straight ahead position when you're doing this?
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (02:15):
Any position?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay? Well, well answer the questions one at a time,
so it does it in the straight ahead. Does it
does it change tone or frequency if you turn left
or right?
Speaker 6 (02:27):
I I'm experimenting right now. I don't I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Is it is it the same? Is it the same
in reverse?
Speaker 5 (02:40):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (02:40):
Let me try it.
Speaker 6 (02:41):
Let me try it reverse.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
And you got to keep it moving here, Bill, this
is radio. We're trying to we're trying to hear that.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
I hear that pops? Yeah, okay, and when I go forward.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Okay, So the vehicle has to be rolling.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
If the vehicle was rolling at ten miles an hour
and you put it in neutral, do you still hear it?
Speaker 6 (03:06):
If if it's rolling it I'll try that. I'll try that.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Okay. That's the next question. So is it is it?
Is it related to? No?
Speaker 4 (03:17):
No?
Speaker 6 (03:17):
So it happens, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
So it only happens while your foot's on the gas.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
Whenever I hit the gas. Yeah, and it'll pop even
I hit.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It, Bill, Bill, you're breaking up. What did you say?
It's only there while you're hitting, while you're stepping on
the accelerator.
Speaker 6 (03:38):
Yeah, yeah, even even gently if I just hit it
gently okay.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, I mean without without hearing it and getting a
better feel for it. There's a lot of things. It
could be something in the drive line. I'd be curious,
can you duplicate it on a lift? If you're drove
it on a lift and let your mechanic listen to
it at twenty miles an hour, would he hear the
noise whatever it is you're hearing, you know? My first
my first reaction was, you know, if you didn't hear
(04:03):
this in neutral, or if you heard it in neutral
while the vehicle is rolling, do you simply have a
rock stuck in the tires. So I'm looking for simple here, Bill,
don't overcomplicate it. My other question would be how long
has it been making this noise?
Speaker 6 (04:16):
You know?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Has this been long term?
Speaker 6 (04:20):
A few months now? Okay, at least at least three
or four months?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Has it has it changed? Has it changed in consistency
or frequency, or it's just once it started and stayed
the same. Is it getting worse?
Speaker 7 (04:32):
I think it changed.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
I think it got worse, but it doesn't seem it seems.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
To have like got leveled off, leveled off. Yeah, okay,
So get it into your mechanic and get it checked.
Only because it could be something in the drive line
and whatever you're doing is going to get more expensive
the longer you wait. How many miles are on this?
Speaker 6 (04:52):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (04:53):
Two and thirteen thousand?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Okay, yeah, you know two hun thirteen th fifteen years old.
No sense waiting. Let's let's get it in and let's
see if we drive it up in the air at
fifteen twenty miles an hour, trying to duplicate the speed.
Can we catch it up in the air? This could
be a clicking drive axle, This could be a drive
chaft issue, this could be you know what it could have?
Should it?
Speaker 6 (05:11):
All?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Right? But let's not wait any longer. So I appreciate
the call. Let's go to Austin in Hawaii and let's
see what's going on here. And Austin, you don't anybody
come out and do a remote, do you? No, I'm
not supposed to ask that question. Austin, Welcome to the
car doctor. Are you there? Yes, sir, yes, sir? So
what's going on? Kitto?
Speaker 8 (05:32):
So I have a nineteen ninety miles of Meademics five
and it's after running for a few hours at temperature,
it'll start to bog out, almost like it's choking itself. Okay,
and the car will cut out and I'll have to
put I'll pull off to the side of the road. Now,
I noticed that when that starts to happen, the temperature
gauge and the oil pressure gauge start to fluctuate, with
(05:55):
the RPMs in line with the RPM gauge.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Okay, I don't know that I'm overly concerned about that.
At the point that this is happening, Can I do
something quick like just check charging system voltage?
Speaker 8 (06:11):
Yes, yeah, and it's it's I have full voltage.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Fuel pressure.
Speaker 8 (06:18):
Fuel pressure I'm not sure about. But I'm pretty sure
that that's fine as well.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Well, let's not be pretty sure, you know, if it was,
because if it was good, then remember we're talking about
let's see ninety two, twenty ten. We're talking about a
thirty five year old vehicle. So anything's possible, all right,
Diagnosises don't begin with I'm pretty sure diagnosis begin with
I tested it. So as much of a pain in
the neck as it is to try and check fuel pressure,
(06:44):
it would be my first place to go. Does this feel?
Does this feel you know, restrictive in the sense that
you know, you've sound like you've been driving long enough
you ever drive a car with clogged exhaust, restricted exhaust
where it can't breathe. Does it feel like that kind
of a loss of power? Or is this if you
(07:05):
it does okay? Or if you were to stop pull
over popinga neutral, will the engine rev up on its own?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It will, Okay, it just won't accelerate.
Speaker 8 (07:16):
It just won't accelerate. So yeah, I'll put it in
your trill and it'll rev up just fine. And I'll
still see that fluctuation in the gauges. You know, it'll
still follow those RPMs. But yeah, it'll rev.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Up just fine, you know, unless we're having an electrical
issue here. But you're you're telling me that you've got
good solid charging system voltage at the point when this
failure occurs, right, Yes, okay, you know I wouldn't be
I wouldn't really be looking for fault codes here. It's
it's too old and it's not smart enough, so I'm
going to start to look for I you know, this
(07:49):
is not as smart as OBD two. Ob D two
began you know, seven years later, six years later, depending
upon where you were living, and it was much smarter.
This is we're back to this. This this is a
mass airflow car.
Speaker 8 (08:03):
Yes, it has a map sensor yet, right, it has it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Has a map sensor, correct, Yes, do you have do
you have the ability to read any of the data
by scan? Do you have an older scan tool?
Speaker 5 (08:15):
No?
Speaker 8 (08:15):
I won't got a too OBD two scan Okay?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, and you can't get into this system correct?
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah. Here's here's the argument for if you're going to
keep this car. Here's the argument for buying an older
scan tool on eBay and learning how to use it,
because it'll it'll take you into some of the testing
a lot quicker. C ob D two spoiled us, right,
it made us, It made us all, It made us
all diagnostic deficient because we we tended to depend on
the scan tool too much. But let's look at the
(08:42):
map sensor. Three wire map sensor. We're gonna have a
five vult reference, we're gonna have a ground and we're
gonna have a signal wire. You know, can we set
up can we set up a test point? You know
while we're driving along, what's that's what's that signal wire
telling us all right? And then at the point of failure,
has that signal line changed showing a possible exhaust restriction.
Do we have an exhaust system that's collapsing internally? Do
(09:04):
we have a vacuum gauge? Can we put a vacuum
gauge on this and look at manifold vacuum up until
the point the problem happens? And do we show a
drop in manifold vacuum if at the moment when it fails?
And I realize some of these things are easier to
say than do on a thirty five year old vehicle,
Can we lower part of the exhaust and you know,
drive it without exhaust? Just open up some exhaust access
(09:27):
if we think we've got to restricted exhaust somehow causing
the point of failure. I mean, listen, it's either we're
either dealing with an electronic component that's overheating, that's failing
all right. And I'll say that just keeping in mind
with your comment about you know, you saw the electrical
gauges fluctuating all over the place, all right, So are
(09:48):
we losing spark somehow? Is there something electronic beginning to
fail all right? Or do we have an exhaust restriction somehow?
Or are we losing fuel pressure pressure? Would be the
most logical, because you said initially it takes how long
for this problem to appear?
Speaker 8 (10:09):
Right around the two hour market right when it starts
their kicking it, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Two hours, not twenty minutes. It warms up in fifteen, right,
So it's not that when it transitions into warm up
all of a sudden happens. It's two hours later. Two
hours later, something's been heat soaked, is the first thing
that comes to my mind. Right, So I'm starting to
think about I'm just I just want to get fuel
(10:35):
pressure off the table, kiddo, all right, because the testing,
the testing gets the testing gets harder after that. Listen,
believe it or not, I'm lazy by nature, all right.
I want to do the simple stuff. I want to
do the simple stuff first. And you know, I know
it sounds like cheap talk for the guy on radio
you can't see, but when I tell you I've got
steps one through twelve, and when I go through every
(10:55):
one of them, you know, I'm that guy driving around
Bergen County, New Jersey with the fuel pressure gage strapped
to the windshield and everybody looks at me like I'm crazy.
But you know what I fix. I fix all my
cars and that's what counts, you know, when I fix
them right the first time, one shot. So let's let's
not assume. Assumption is is the mother of all problems
(11:15):
when it comes to diagnostics. So, uh, you know, let's
let's look at fuel pressure. Let's consider looking and using
the map gauge or the map sensor is a possible
point towards exhaust restriction. Let's hook a vacuum gauge up right.
Let's start to think about and you know, maybe i'd
pull plugs just to see do I have a good
(11:36):
clean set of plugs? Are they showing me anything? You know,
I don't think it's It's not the most difficult vehicle
in the world to get access to some of this stuff, right, Uh,
it's all right there. I'm trying to remember where the
distributor is. The distributor lays on the side coming out.
Speaker 8 (11:53):
The Uh, yes, I believe, so I believe it leaves
on the back. If you're looking at the engine from
the front, the.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Back, left side, right, you know, can I get access
to the distributor cap? Just you know, is it clean?
Is it dry? I'm thinking about oil up inside the
distributor tracking against the road or you know, all the
goofy things that we don't we don't see anymore because
OBD two eliminated all this. Right, you know you've got
you've got forty times the moving parts in that car
(12:20):
that you've got to go back and think about now.
And it's it's you know, it's it's it's more of
a mechanical issue. Uh, you know. And then while I've
got that fuel line open, what's the last thing I'm
gonna do. I'm gonna check. I'm gonna check fuel quality.
Just just saying just you know, just saying just to
be sure. So uh, remember what's what's what's the rule?
(12:43):
All right? I always tell you guys, stop looking for
what's bad. Tell me what's good. Tell me what's good.
I'll tell you what's bad, all right. Do you remember
a couple of weeks did you hear the show about
a month ago where I talked about the fellow that
went to Pennsylvania with the Honda and he put the
e eighty five ethanol into the car and he made
the lean fault. So so yeah, he came back this week.
(13:06):
And I love Alex. He's a great kid. And you know,
he came back this week and the check engine light
had been out and now it started coming back on again. Okay,
so it had it had a lean fault code. Again.
Have you been to Pennsylvania, Yes, but I didn't use
that pump. Okay. So I started looking at the car,
and I thought about it and thought about it, and naturally,
(13:27):
you know the worst part about trying to diagnose the
car is if you're a human being, your emotions get
the better of you. Right, you have to be stone cold,
you have to be it's this, it's this, it's this,
it's this, it's this. It can't be well, it can't
be that. And god, I hope it's not this. And God,
I want to be eighteen again. And I hope this
doesn't cost a lot of money, you know. So bottom line,
I started thinking about what creates a lean condition, just
(13:49):
like I did a month ago. Well, the air intake
toes between the air filter housing and the throttle body
is cracked underneath, and it's worked its way around. And
I'm I'm telling you right now, it wasn't cracked like
this a month ago. It just decided to crack. There's
a new one sitting in the shop form we're gonna
do it on Tuesday. And my point becomes never assume,
(14:10):
never believe, test everything. Tell me what's good. I'll tell
you what's bed. Don't take any shortcuts, all right, So
and use the car as much as you can to
help you tell you what's wrong. And I think I
think you're on the right path. Will you do those
things and call me back in a week or two
let me know what you find. Okay, kiddo, you'd be well.
I'm running any in the car doctor. We're back right
(14:31):
after this. He drives that way.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
But when it comes to fixing cars, ron has car
advice done right eight five five five six zero nine
to nine zero zero.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Here's Ron. Hey, let's go to John and Boston. John.
Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
How can I help over ron hap your Saturday?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes, sir, what's going on?
Speaker 5 (14:56):
Yeah? I was driving my linking town car city streets
and staring and got all of a sudden tight and
turned out the servanteae belt snapped. Well, I was trying
to turn the stann wheel without a power steering I
noticed that after I put a new servant team belt
(15:18):
on it, that stairing seemed kind of not tight and
kind of loose and lazy like it was strained. When
I was driving it and turning it without the serventine
belt power steering, I was wondering if I have to
replaced staring the mint ridge from of the steering wheel
down to the well.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
So let's let's back up a second. John. First of all,
you know when a steering belt snaps, is it is
it that the belt? You know, I look at the
old belt. Is the old belt cracked and beat up?
Or did it snap clean? Like it was placed under
a high duress and it was just older and it failed.
Could the power steering pump itself have been bound up?
Did it bind up and cause the belt failure. We're
(16:00):
not talking about a twenty twenty three car. We're talking
about a two thousand and three automobile, right, so it's
twenty two years old. Now, if you were driving this
without the belt on it, as I suspect you had to,
you obviously put air into the system. Have you bled
all the year out or is the pump? Is the
pump louder than normal?
Speaker 5 (16:23):
No, the pump shot loud and I didn't even think
about any air happened to be bled out of it?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Right? You know there would be air in the system.
You'll put air in one of those pumps driving it.
You know, listen, I can tell you from experience at
the shop. The car is dead and we have to
push it in the shop. It's got a belt on
it and cranking the wheel three to the left and
three of the right and make the door. There's all
kinds of air in that system that requires bleeding before
we can drive the vehicle, and just driving the vehicle
(16:52):
may or may not burp it out. Now. The one
thing I'm going to caution you on is because this
is older, all right, I don't believe in coincidence. I
just just want to be sure. Did the belt fail
because it was older? Did the belt fail because something
else is causing undue duress? You know? Make sure you know,
take the belt back off? Can you spin the idler
(17:13):
the tension or does the alternator spin free? Does everything
feel like it's supposed to?
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Now, yeah, that's a cass positive. The alternator was see stuff?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Okay, Right, so there's there's the reason why the belt failed.
So you know, now I'm going to tell you and
suggest to you probably a higher mileage town car. You know.
The easy thing is everybody runs out and puts a
power steering pump on it. But I'm going to tell
you getting another power steering pump for this is probably
a nightmare because most of the remanned stuff is going
(17:44):
to be louder and more squirrely than what you've got
in there. So you know, as a rule, you may
want to try and find something, but you should consider
flushing power steering fluid. Do a fluid exchange, put fresh
fluid in it, and obviously eat all the air out. Last,
take a look at the steering knuckle, the little you
joined that joins the column to the rack or the box,
(18:08):
and make sure that's not bound up and rusted as well.
A couple of things to look for. Call me back
if you need more, John, I'm here for you. Go socks.
I'm ronnin Andy and the car doctor. I'll be back
right after this. And here we are. You know what
(18:44):
I want to do? Some emails. Let's get through the pile. Hey, Ron,
longtime listener. Appreciate you and the staff and look forward
to listening each week. This comes to us from Mark.
Mark writes, in two separate unrelated questions, I have a
twenty nineteen Subaru and I've read suber U tsp's about
oil leaks due to using our TV as a guest maker,
which impacts all models. I'm curious how prevalent is this
across other manufacturers, at least for my super Brew. This
(19:06):
seems like a ticking time bomb since the ole engine
has to be pulled to be resealed, should leaks occur. Yeah,
but what do you care, Mark, I mean, you probably
got the pull to do head gaskets anyway, So you know, listen,
our TV is the most common or the most prevalent
form of gasket sealer in the industry and has been
probably for the better part of ten going on twelve years,
maybe longer. You know, it's r TV technology has gotten
(19:30):
a lot better over the years. It's it's really increased
a lot. I think certain manufacturers aren't using it, maybe
to their best benefit, or they're applying it in situations
you know, where again it's it's cheaper to do it
that way initially, and then they've learned their mistakes and
then they pull engines and you don't see the problem. Again,
how common is it, Yeah, a lot of manufacturers. Everybody's
(19:52):
using RTV, you know, I don't think the industry could
survive with that RTV. I think that with the you know,
quality of parts that are out there, the way they
stamped tin covers and the way they stamp oil pans out,
and by that I mean cheap and badly, our TV
makes up for a lot of you know errors, errors
in construction, you know. And it's not just listen, it's
(20:15):
not just the manufacturers. When I first put the hot
rot together, going on fifteen years ago, now, I'll never forget,
the oil pan leaked like a sieve and we pulled
it often. It was a cant and oil pan, big
race oil pan. Oh yeah, whoopee, right, gold oil pan,
nice blue and white sticker. We thought it was the
greatest thing since slice bread. I thought it was the
biggest piece of junk I ever saw it because the
(20:36):
flanges weren't made correctly, and I ended up having to
take it apart, straighten the flanges and then RTV it
back together to get it to seal. And when I
called the manufacturer, when I called cant and they said, yeah,
well that's you know, that's the level of quality we have.
So you know what, our TV is a necessary evil.
You'll never convince me otherwise. But it's got to be
there because I don't think anybody can make parts anymore.
(20:57):
Second question, last year we built my friend's twenty fifth
teen Honda a cord starter, took a do AutoZone and
get a tested it works great. Well, we'ren't putting it
back in the car. I've tested it. Since this was
thirty bucks in parts, it made me wonderhe my mechanics
don't do this where it's possible, since this could save
hundreds of bucks. First of all, this is a four
cylinder record. I wouldn't want to pull that out twice.
Second of all, you know, thirty bucks in parts. Yeah,
(21:19):
but which thirty bucks in parts do you use? You'd
you'd have to know or test. And then if it's
a higher mileage older vehicle, this one's ten years old.
My concern becomes that at the cost of labor in
a repair shop between one hundred and fifty and two
hundred dollars an hour, If it's one hundred and fifty
bucks to get the starter in and out, and sometimes
it's more on some of the Hansa's on some of
(21:40):
the other cars out there, I think that's an issue.
I think the other problem you're going to be up
against is you did your friend a favor as a
professional to say, hey, Mark, I changed the starter solinoid.
I can't guarantee the rest of it, but I changed
the starter solinoid. So as long as that doesn't go bad,
you're good. And then next week one of the brushes fails,
and then maybe the commutator, and then maybe the armature,
(22:04):
and then maybe at that point, I'm just going to
put a reman starter in the car. I get where
you're coming from, Mark, But due to the design of vehicles,
due to the complexity of starters, due to the fragility
of the parts in other words, i e. Lack of quality,
I don't think starter rebuilding on newer vehicles is practical
(22:25):
for all those reasons. And then some I think that
we get, you know, a finite life out of some
of these things, and you know, we get to that
one hundred and fifty thousand mile mark, which is typically
where a starter will fail, put another unit in the car,
we get another one hundred and fifty thousand miles out
of it, and at three hundred thousand miles we get
a new car. Just my way of thinking, But I
(22:45):
understand where you're coming from. I just don't think it
works in a professional shop. Let's uh, let's go to
Billy in Colorado with some questions. Billy run and Andy
and at your service, sir, what's going on?
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (22:57):
How you doing all right?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Questions?
Speaker 7 (22:59):
So I am. I was packing last night for a
road trip and trying to figure out which tools to
take along in the car. And You've mentioned your go
bag a couple of times, and I was kind of wondering,
what do you keeping it?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
My cell phone, my triple a credit card? Uh? I
do have a go bag. It has flashlight, Swiss army knife,
electrical tape, you know, a pair of pliers, uh, a
snap on, a screwdriver with the multi bits in it.
You know, I don't really keep any wrenches, you know,
(23:34):
because I just don't see myself doing that. If I
had to change something and I've done this, I'll walk
into a wal Mart or some such and buy some
cheap wrenches on the on the fly and fix what
I have to fix at that point.
Speaker 7 (23:46):
You know, got like several sets I ended up putting.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You know, other otherwise otherwise you end up, you know,
you disassemble your toolbox and take it with you. You know.
I also I always carry a jump pack, you know,
I always got some form of a jump back with me.
A micro start, I think, is the one I'm currently
using that I like so much, you know, and that
kind of thing. You know. I don't do the tire
inflate stuff anymore. I probably should, you know, But frankly,
(24:14):
I'm driving. I'm also driving newer vehicles now, and you know,
I just and I've reached that age in my life
where I just want to get in a car and go.
You know, if I have to go some great distance
in an older vehicle, if I were taking the Monty
Carla somewhere, that's a whole other conversation, you know. And
the problem there is, and you know, and here I'll
(24:36):
address it like this, Bill, you know, part of the
problem in driving an older classic car. Listen, I went
to college in a seventy two Monty Carlo. All Right,
I broke down in the Garden State Parkway. I'd walk.
I'd climb over the Garden State Parkway wall and walk
into the town of wherever I was. Walk to the
Oda Park store. Tell that guy I needed an upper
radiator hose or a fan belt or a set of
points or whatever, and they went to the back room
(24:58):
and they got it. I can't walk on a you know,
it's fifty years now. I can't walk in and get
any of those parts over the counter. First of all,
you know O'Riley AutoZone Advanced. They're not going to understand
what I'm trying to look up because they're gonna want
to know you're making model before I give them a
part number. And they're not gonna have points, They're not
gonna have belts and hoses. So driving that Classic a
distance is a problem. I always think in terms of
(25:20):
if I'm driving that ten to fifteen year old something Volkswagon, Toyota,
something sporty. You know, I just want to have enough
to get by to get me out of trouble and
hence I get back to the jump pack, you know,
electrical tape, a gallon of coolanth of some kind, even
water just to get me off the road, you know,
(25:42):
things like that. But absolutely the most important thing in
my go big is that I've looked the vehicle over
before I leave, and I know exactly what I've got.
You know, I'll do little goofy things. I'll over inflate
all the tires two pounds, three pounds. It just gives
me a sense of security. Depending upon where I'm going,
I'll throw a tire plug kit in, you know, just
(26:05):
in case I do. I did make up a hose,
And I know this sounds crazy, but I do have
an air hose with two ends on it, and I
can lock it onto the spare and I can run
it to any one of the tires on the car.
So if I get a flat, I'll fix the flat
and I'll take that air hose and I'll use it
to equalize out, and I'll take air from the spare
(26:27):
and put it into the tire that went flat, if
you know what I'm saying. The other thing the other yeah, yeah,
just sort of just sort of something I made. The
other option is depending upon where I am in which
car I'm taking, I also have a portable air compressor
that I'll throw in the car from time to time.
It depends on which one the ranger carries the air hose.
(26:48):
Everything else gets its own compressor, you know. But just
stuff like that, because I think cars have gotten too complicated.
You know, what all I want to do is get
off the road and get back to the hotel or
wherever I'm going, because beyond that, I'm taking it to
a garage and I'm going to fix it there, you know,
because it's it's the world has gotten to be very
unforgiving everywhere else. Can you imagine being, you know, two
(27:11):
hundred miles from home, and you know whatever you're driving
the alternator failed, Where you're going to find an alternator,
Where you're gonna find the tools, where you know an
alternator you might be able to do. You're gonna do
a water pump in the parking lot.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
Right right?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
You know it's that stuff is gone. Those days are over,
and hence back to my question about emails right, answering
Mark's question about just doing starters and parts, right, do
I really want to do things by parts? Or do
I want to consider everything has a finite life. If
I get to one hundred and fifty thousand miles, listen,
I'm doing it Tuesday. I'm sorry, Monday, Monday. I'm putting
(27:48):
a water pump in an O nine Venza. Here, tell
me what to do. Bill. It's an O nine Venza
with one hundred and five thousand miles on it. Right,
it's leaving New Jersey. It's going to Florida for the
next two years. Florida to get the water pump out,
I've got to pull the alternator. To pull the alternator,
I've really got to take the radiator and kick it
forward one hundred and ten thousand miles one hundred and
(28:10):
five thousand miles on an almost fifteen year old Toyota.
Am I gonna? Am I gonna take the alternator? Is
going to be in my hand? Am I going to
put an alternator in it? Am I going to put
a radiator in it? Are? And I car's going to
drive eighteen hundred miles from New Jersey to Florida and
back right, isn't Isn't that preemptive? Don't I want to
(28:30):
think a little proactively and just everything has a finite
life and be done with it.
Speaker 7 (28:36):
I don't know if you want to, you know, suggest
it's the customer.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, And that's what I did, And he says, yeah,
you're right, you know, because it's not it's not that
it's not that we're talking about something five years old.
We're talking about something fifteen years old. And experience has
taught me where do the alternators typically fail in the toyotas, oh,
somewhere between eighty and one hundred and forty thousand, So
he's kind of in that sweet spot. You know, where
to the radios go plastic radiator, a plastic tanked radiator,
(29:02):
going to Florida. You know, if it gets to one
hundred and ten on a cold day, we're happy. You know,
it's how much stress is the water pump going to
be under? So I think the answer to your question
is the essentials, and then beyond that, I'm trying to
do my preemptive maintenance to keep the car going so
I can deal with it on my terms in my garage.
Fair answer, yeah, okay, col means you'll be well, Billy.
(29:28):
I always enjoyed talking to you. I'm running Andy and
the car Doctor. We're back right after this, and we
are back real quick. Tom made a comment about, you know,
(29:51):
his old escape to do an alternator, and his old
escape you'd have to pull the passenger side front axle
and yet and that's the problem. So you know, to
answer Billy's question, everybody else, what's in my go bag
enough to get me back to where I'm safe, and
then I can deal with it either by putting it
on a flatbed and getting it home. Or I just
do all my legwork before I leave, and I do
my preemptive maintenance. When I have things apart, start looking
(30:12):
at and considering component and system level repairs, things that
go together. You got to take an alternator out to
get to a water pump. It's fifteen years old, one
hundred and ten thousand miles on it. Put an alternator
in it on next you know, it's the price of
the part, not the price of the part in the
labor on the side of the road. Let's go to
Matt and Virginia. Matt, Welcome to the car doctor, sir,
how can I help?
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Hey, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
You welcome. What's going on?
Speaker 4 (30:34):
I have this battery, okay that I hooked up. This
is about a decade ago. I hooked up to an
in burner and he's as a survival slash camping device. Okay,
you're able to run a crock pod, a coffee pod,
the toaster, whatever you need, all modern conveniences. I was
also able to plug an electric drill and make if
you know where a Swedish candle is, sure it's a
(30:56):
just through a bunch of holes in the log and
it just burns one log in it. Anyway, I haven't
touched some years. We've had this snowstorm in Virginia Beach
and I said, hey, might get out of power. Maybe
I'll get this thing work in plug a couple of
electric mindkets if we need to for a couple of days. Okay,
the battery can charge up to twelve dot eight volt
(31:18):
and then you put that load tester on it. The
resist thing says bad.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
So this is a this is a deep this is
a deep this is a deep cycle. This is a
deep cycle battery, man, Matt. This is a deep cycle.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Battery, deep cycle battery.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
So this is a marine application.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Uh, well, I use it.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I use it for woods, right, But I'm just saying
this is a marine battery, a deep cycle battery, or
a trolling battery. Right, So you've got to use you
specifically have to use a deep cycle charger. A conventional
battery charger will charge that battery too fast and overheat
it and damage. So they they yeah, they make they
(32:04):
make now nowadays we call them smart chargers. All right,
if you want to get if you want to get
an example of it. I'm not saying to go out
and buy one. We go out to go out to
Associated Equipment dot Com or I think it's Associated Equipped
dot Com. Look at their ESS sixty one hundred, all right,
or any one of their smart chargers. That battery charger
has the ability to read. I always explain it like this.
(32:26):
They have the ability to read the internal resistance of
the battery and based on whether it's a deep cycle,
a regular battery, you know, and so on, it has
the ability to make the internal adjustments hence the term
smart charger, and adjust and charge that battery accordingly. But
that's what you want to do. And you know, desulvation
(32:47):
or smart charging a battery can take upwards of a
couple of hours, if not longer. So it's not something
that's going to happen overnight. But that's the best example
I can give you the stuff that Associated Equipment has
Associatedequipped dot Com. I'm running any in the car. Doctor.
I'll be back right after this. You know, I'm gonna
(33:20):
give you something for free today before I go go
out to All Data dot com. Go to the resources
tab All Data dot Com, go to the resources tab,
all right, and click on the Old Data newsletter. There
is a really great article and it kind of ties
in with everything we're talking about today. There is a
really great article it's called Following the Path to Electrical Enlightenment.
(33:43):
I've been reading it by David Brie. I take it
as Brie Brie b r y Bree. I don't want
to say bree like the cheese. But I don't know, David.
I'm not trying to pick on you, David. I'm sure
I'm gonna get a phone call for this. But anyway,
his article talks about ground paths and how you focus
on ground paths and that's the weak link and the
(34:04):
often overlooked side of the electrical circuits. And he's absolutely right,
he's spot on. Okay, it's a great article. It talks about,
you know, why bad grounds occur, some of the things
you can look for, and it explains it, you know,
follow the electrons all right. It's a very simple article.
It breaks things down from the hot side to the
(34:25):
ground side, why things get corroded, and it talks about
voltage drop and what voltage drop is. It's a good, good, basic,
but advanced article, and I think it's musk reading, you know,
for all the battery questions we dealt with today. And
for all the conversations we dealt with today talking about
why things work and don't work. I thought about this
(34:45):
article throughout the entire show, So get out to all
data dot com, click on the All Data newsletter through
resources and you'll find it there. Till the next time,
I'm not on any in the card doctor, reminding each
and every one of you it's been an absolute pleasure
until the next time. Good McCann aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See you
Ron Anian who went to try and grease the ball
joints up her lower It's details in order to repair
the kill and the grease.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Fitting was just a lance eyelash away from hitting the
inside the lip of the wind, so you couldn't possibly
get a grease gun on it. You'd have to take
the wheel off to grease the front end, which.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Is ridiculous, The Car Doctor, you have navigation in this
CARDINRM person non navigation?
Speaker 4 (00:39):
No, no, I don't have navigation.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Okay. So this is a base radio. So there's three
fuses supplying power to the radio and the CD changer.
The CD changer's powered separately from the radio.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Welcome to the radio home of Ronanania, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on autumn mode
of repair. If your mechanics giving you a busy signal,
pick up.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
The phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
The garage doors.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Are open, but I am here to take your calls
at eighty five five five six ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hundred and now pee.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
Running.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Okay, you know what, We've got lots of calls this hour,
so we're gonna dive right into it. No monologue, Bill,
Florida ten Toyota Highlander, Bill, Welcome to the car, doctor, sir,
what's going on?
Speaker 6 (01:27):
Okay, so I've got I've got kind of a funky
front steering situation. But but main the main reason I
called it, I'm getting like a popping, crackling sound from
underknees when I just touched the I don't know if
I can use you to hear it on the phone.
I'm not in the car right now, but.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, if you're not in the car, I don't think
I could hear it. But you're getting you're getting You're
getting what kind of a noise when you do what? Bill?
Speaker 6 (01:52):
I'm oh, I'm in the no I took it to
an empty lot so I could drive it around. I
can hear this, but I don't know if you can
hear that.
Speaker 7 (01:59):
It's like a.
Speaker 6 (02:00):
Upping, cracking sort of sound from underneath when I when
I hit the accelerator, just even even gently.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
No, I can't. I can't build Bill. Are the wheels
in the straight ahead position when you're doing this?
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (02:15):
Any position?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay? Well, well answer the questions one at a time,
so it does it in the straight ahead. Does it
does it change tone or frequency if you turn left
or right?
Speaker 6 (02:27):
I I'm experimenting right now. I don't I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Is it is it the same? Is it the same
in reverse?
Speaker 5 (02:40):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (02:40):
Let me try it.
Speaker 6 (02:41):
Let me try it reverse.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
And you got to keep it moving here, Bill, this
is radio. We're trying to we're trying to hear that.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
I hear that pops? Yeah, okay, and when I go forward.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Okay, So the vehicle has to be rolling.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
If the vehicle was rolling at ten miles an hour
and you put it in neutral, do you still hear it?
Speaker 6 (03:06):
If if it's rolling it I'll try that. I'll try that.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Okay. That's the next question. So is it is it?
Is it related to? No?
Speaker 4 (03:17):
No?
Speaker 6 (03:17):
So it happens, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
So it only happens while your foot's on the gas.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
Whenever I hit the gas. Yeah, and it'll pop even
I hit.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It, Bill, Bill, you're breaking up. What did you say?
It's only there while you're hitting, while you're stepping on
the accelerator.
Speaker 6 (03:38):
Yeah, yeah, even even gently if I just hit it
gently okay.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, I mean without without hearing it and getting a
better feel for it. There's a lot of things. It
could be something in the drive line. I'd be curious,
can you duplicate it on a lift? If you're drove
it on a lift and let your mechanic listen to
it at twenty miles an hour, would he hear the
noise whatever it is you're hearing, you know? My first
my first reaction was, you know, if you didn't hear
(04:03):
this in neutral, or if you heard it in neutral
while the vehicle is rolling, do you simply have a
rock stuck in the tires. So I'm looking for simple here, Bill,
don't overcomplicate it. My other question would be how long
has it been making this noise?
Speaker 6 (04:16):
You know?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Has this been long term?
Speaker 6 (04:20):
A few months now? Okay, at least at least three
or four months?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Has it has it changed? Has it changed in consistency
or frequency, or it's just once it started and stayed
the same. Is it getting worse?
Speaker 7 (04:32):
I think it changed.
Speaker 6 (04:35):
I think it got worse, but it doesn't seem it seems.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
To have like got leveled off, leveled off. Yeah, okay,
So get it into your mechanic and get it checked.
Only because it could be something in the drive line
and whatever you're doing is going to get more expensive
the longer you wait. How many miles are on this?
Speaker 6 (04:52):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (04:53):
Two and thirteen thousand?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Okay, yeah, you know two hun thirteen th fifteen years old.
No sense waiting. Let's let's get it in and let's
see if we drive it up in the air at
fifteen twenty miles an hour, trying to duplicate the speed.
Can we catch it up in the air? This could
be a clicking drive axle, This could be a drive
chaft issue, this could be you know what it could have?
Should it?
Speaker 6 (05:11):
All?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Right? But let's not wait any longer. So I appreciate
the call. Let's go to Austin in Hawaii and let's
see what's going on here. And Austin, you don't anybody
come out and do a remote, do you? No, I'm
not supposed to ask that question. Austin, Welcome to the
car doctor. Are you there? Yes, sir, yes, sir? So
what's going on? Kitto?
Speaker 8 (05:32):
So I have a nineteen ninety miles of Meademics five
and it's after running for a few hours at temperature,
it'll start to bog out, almost like it's choking itself. Okay,
and the car will cut out and I'll have to
put I'll pull off to the side of the road. Now,
I noticed that when that starts to happen, the temperature
gauge and the oil pressure gauge start to fluctuate, with
(05:55):
the RPMs in line with the RPM gauge.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Okay, I don't know that I'm overly concerned about that.
At the point that this is happening, Can I do
something quick like just check charging system voltage?
Speaker 8 (06:11):
Yes, yeah, and it's it's I have full voltage.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Fuel pressure.
Speaker 8 (06:18):
Fuel pressure I'm not sure about. But I'm pretty sure
that that's fine as well.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Well, let's not be pretty sure, you know, if it was,
because if it was good, then remember we're talking about
let's see ninety two, twenty ten. We're talking about a
thirty five year old vehicle. So anything's possible, all right,
Diagnosises don't begin with I'm pretty sure diagnosis begin with
I tested it. So as much of a pain in
the neck as it is to try and check fuel pressure,
(06:44):
it would be my first place to go. Does this feel?
Does this feel you know, restrictive in the sense that
you know, you've sound like you've been driving long enough
you ever drive a car with clogged exhaust, restricted exhaust
where it can't breathe. Does it feel like that kind
of a loss of power? Or is this if you
(07:05):
it does okay? Or if you were to stop pull
over popinga neutral, will the engine rev up on its own?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It will, Okay, it just won't accelerate.
Speaker 8 (07:16):
It just won't accelerate. So yeah, I'll put it in
your trill and it'll rev up just fine. And I'll
still see that fluctuation in the gauges. You know, it'll
still follow those RPMs. But yeah, it'll rev.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Up just fine, you know, unless we're having an electrical
issue here. But you're you're telling me that you've got
good solid charging system voltage at the point when this
failure occurs, right, Yes, okay, you know I wouldn't be
I wouldn't really be looking for fault codes here. It's
it's too old and it's not smart enough, so I'm
going to start to look for I you know, this
(07:49):
is not as smart as OBD two. Ob D two
began you know, seven years later, six years later, depending
upon where you were living, and it was much smarter.
This is we're back to this. This this is a
mass airflow car.
Speaker 8 (08:03):
Yes, it has a map sensor yet, right, it has it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Has a map sensor, correct, Yes, do you have do
you have the ability to read any of the data
by scan? Do you have an older scan tool?
Speaker 5 (08:15):
No?
Speaker 8 (08:15):
I won't got a too OBD two scan Okay?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, and you can't get into this system correct?
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah. Here's here's the argument for if you're going to
keep this car. Here's the argument for buying an older
scan tool on eBay and learning how to use it,
because it'll it'll take you into some of the testing
a lot quicker. C ob D two spoiled us, right,
it made us, It made us all, It made us
all diagnostic deficient because we we tended to depend on
the scan tool too much. But let's look at the
(08:42):
map sensor. Three wire map sensor. We're gonna have a
five vult reference, we're gonna have a ground and we're
gonna have a signal wire. You know, can we set
up can we set up a test point? You know
while we're driving along, what's that's what's that signal wire
telling us all right? And then at the point of failure,
has that signal line changed showing a possible exhaust restriction.
Do we have an exhaust system that's collapsing internally? Do
(09:04):
we have a vacuum gauge? Can we put a vacuum
gauge on this and look at manifold vacuum up until
the point the problem happens? And do we show a
drop in manifold vacuum if at the moment when it fails?
And I realize some of these things are easier to
say than do on a thirty five year old vehicle,
Can we lower part of the exhaust and you know,
drive it without exhaust? Just open up some exhaust access
(09:27):
if we think we've got to restricted exhaust somehow causing
the point of failure. I mean, listen, it's either we're
either dealing with an electronic component that's overheating, that's failing
all right. And I'll say that just keeping in mind
with your comment about you know, you saw the electrical
gauges fluctuating all over the place, all right, So are
(09:48):
we losing spark somehow? Is there something electronic beginning to
fail all right? Or do we have an exhaust restriction somehow?
Or are we losing fuel pressure pressure? Would be the
most logical, because you said initially it takes how long
for this problem to appear?
Speaker 8 (10:09):
Right around the two hour market right when it starts
their kicking it, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Two hours, not twenty minutes. It warms up in fifteen, right,
So it's not that when it transitions into warm up
all of a sudden happens. It's two hours later. Two
hours later, something's been heat soaked, is the first thing
that comes to my mind. Right, So I'm starting to
think about I'm just I just want to get fuel
(10:35):
pressure off the table, kiddo, all right, because the testing,
the testing gets the testing gets harder after that. Listen,
believe it or not, I'm lazy by nature, all right.
I want to do the simple stuff. I want to
do the simple stuff first. And you know, I know
it sounds like cheap talk for the guy on radio
you can't see, but when I tell you I've got
steps one through twelve, and when I go through every
(10:55):
one of them, you know, I'm that guy driving around
Bergen County, New Jersey with the fuel pressure gage strapped
to the windshield and everybody looks at me like I'm crazy.
But you know what I fix. I fix all my
cars and that's what counts, you know, when I fix
them right the first time, one shot. So let's let's
not assume. Assumption is is the mother of all problems
(11:15):
when it comes to diagnostics. So, uh, you know, let's
let's look at fuel pressure. Let's consider looking and using
the map gauge or the map sensor is a possible
point towards exhaust restriction. Let's hook a vacuum gauge up right.
Let's start to think about and you know, maybe i'd
pull plugs just to see do I have a good
(11:36):
clean set of plugs? Are they showing me anything? You know,
I don't think it's It's not the most difficult vehicle
in the world to get access to some of this stuff, right, Uh,
it's all right there. I'm trying to remember where the
distributor is. The distributor lays on the side coming out.
Speaker 8 (11:53):
The Uh, yes, I believe, so I believe it leaves
on the back. If you're looking at the engine from
the front, the.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Back, left side, right, you know, can I get access
to the distributor cap? Just you know, is it clean?
Is it dry? I'm thinking about oil up inside the
distributor tracking against the road or you know, all the
goofy things that we don't we don't see anymore because
OBD two eliminated all this. Right, you know you've got
you've got forty times the moving parts in that car
(12:20):
that you've got to go back and think about now.
And it's it's you know, it's it's it's more of
a mechanical issue. Uh, you know. And then while I've
got that fuel line open, what's the last thing I'm
gonna do. I'm gonna check. I'm gonna check fuel quality.
Just just saying just you know, just saying just to
be sure. So uh, remember what's what's what's the rule?
(12:43):
All right? I always tell you guys, stop looking for
what's bad. Tell me what's good. Tell me what's good.
I'll tell you what's bad, all right. Do you remember
a couple of weeks did you hear the show about
a month ago where I talked about the fellow that
went to Pennsylvania with the Honda and he put the
e eighty five ethanol into the car and he made
the lean fault. So so yeah, he came back this week.
(13:06):
And I love Alex. He's a great kid. And you know,
he came back this week and the check engine light
had been out and now it started coming back on again. Okay,
so it had it had a lean fault code. Again.
Have you been to Pennsylvania, Yes, but I didn't use
that pump. Okay. So I started looking at the car,
and I thought about it and thought about it, and naturally,
(13:27):
you know the worst part about trying to diagnose the
car is if you're a human being, your emotions get
the better of you. Right, you have to be stone cold,
you have to be it's this, it's this, it's this,
it's this, it's this. It can't be well, it can't
be that. And god, I hope it's not this. And God,
I want to be eighteen again. And I hope this
doesn't cost a lot of money, you know. So bottom line,
I started thinking about what creates a lean condition, just
(13:49):
like I did a month ago. Well, the air intake
toes between the air filter housing and the throttle body
is cracked underneath, and it's worked its way around. And
I'm I'm telling you right now, it wasn't cracked like
this a month ago. It just decided to crack. There's
a new one sitting in the shop form we're gonna
do it on Tuesday. And my point becomes never assume,
(14:10):
never believe, test everything. Tell me what's good. I'll tell
you what's bed. Don't take any shortcuts, all right, So
and use the car as much as you can to
help you tell you what's wrong. And I think I
think you're on the right path. Will you do those
things and call me back in a week or two
let me know what you find. Okay, kiddo, you'd be well.
I'm running any in the car doctor. We're back right
(14:31):
after this. He drives that way.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
But when it comes to fixing cars, ron has car
advice done right eight five five five six zero nine
to nine zero zero.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Here's Ron. Hey, let's go to John and Boston. John.
Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
How can I help over ron hap your Saturday?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes, sir, what's going on?
Speaker 5 (14:56):
Yeah? I was driving my linking town car city streets
and staring and got all of a sudden tight and
turned out the servanteae belt snapped. Well, I was trying
to turn the stann wheel without a power steering I
noticed that after I put a new servant team belt
(15:18):
on it, that stairing seemed kind of not tight and
kind of loose and lazy like it was strained. When
I was driving it and turning it without the serventine
belt power steering, I was wondering if I have to
replaced staring the mint ridge from of the steering wheel
down to the well.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
So let's let's back up a second. John. First of all,
you know when a steering belt snaps, is it is
it that the belt? You know, I look at the
old belt. Is the old belt cracked and beat up?
Or did it snap clean? Like it was placed under
a high duress and it was just older and it failed.
Could the power steering pump itself have been bound up?
Did it bind up and cause the belt failure. We're
(16:00):
not talking about a twenty twenty three car. We're talking
about a two thousand and three automobile, right, so it's
twenty two years old. Now, if you were driving this
without the belt on it, as I suspect you had to,
you obviously put air into the system. Have you bled
all the year out or is the pump? Is the
pump louder than normal?
Speaker 5 (16:23):
No, the pump shot loud and I didn't even think
about any air happened to be bled out of it?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Right? You know there would be air in the system.
You'll put air in one of those pumps driving it.
You know, listen, I can tell you from experience at
the shop. The car is dead and we have to
push it in the shop. It's got a belt on
it and cranking the wheel three to the left and
three of the right and make the door. There's all
kinds of air in that system that requires bleeding before
we can drive the vehicle, and just driving the vehicle
(16:52):
may or may not burp it out. Now. The one
thing I'm going to caution you on is because this
is older, all right, I don't believe in coincidence. I
just just want to be sure. Did the belt fail
because it was older? Did the belt fail because something
else is causing undue duress? You know? Make sure you know,
take the belt back off? Can you spin the idler
(17:13):
the tension or does the alternator spin free? Does everything
feel like it's supposed to?
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Now, yeah, that's a cass positive. The alternator was see stuff?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Okay, Right, so there's there's the reason why the belt failed.
So you know, now I'm going to tell you and
suggest to you probably a higher mileage town car. You know.
The easy thing is everybody runs out and puts a
power steering pump on it. But I'm going to tell
you getting another power steering pump for this is probably
a nightmare because most of the remanned stuff is going
(17:44):
to be louder and more squirrely than what you've got
in there. So you know, as a rule, you may
want to try and find something, but you should consider
flushing power steering fluid. Do a fluid exchange, put fresh
fluid in it, and obviously eat all the air out. Last,
take a look at the steering knuckle, the little you
joined that joins the column to the rack or the box,
(18:08):
and make sure that's not bound up and rusted as well.
A couple of things to look for. Call me back
if you need more, John, I'm here for you. Go socks.
I'm ronnin Andy and the car doctor. I'll be back
right after this. And here we are. You know what
(18:44):
I want to do? Some emails. Let's get through the pile. Hey, Ron,
longtime listener. Appreciate you and the staff and look forward
to listening each week. This comes to us from Mark.
Mark writes, in two separate unrelated questions, I have a
twenty nineteen Subaru and I've read suber U tsp's about
oil leaks due to using our TV as a guest maker,
which impacts all models. I'm curious how prevalent is this
across other manufacturers, at least for my super Brew. This
(19:06):
seems like a ticking time bomb since the ole engine
has to be pulled to be resealed, should leaks occur. Yeah,
but what do you care, Mark, I mean, you probably
got the pull to do head gaskets anyway, So you know, listen,
our TV is the most common or the most prevalent
form of gasket sealer in the industry and has been
probably for the better part of ten going on twelve years,
maybe longer. You know, it's r TV technology has gotten
(19:30):
a lot better over the years. It's it's really increased
a lot. I think certain manufacturers aren't using it, maybe
to their best benefit, or they're applying it in situations
you know, where again it's it's cheaper to do it
that way initially, and then they've learned their mistakes and
then they pull engines and you don't see the problem. Again,
how common is it, Yeah, a lot of manufacturers. Everybody's
(19:52):
using RTV, you know, I don't think the industry could
survive with that RTV. I think that with the you know,
quality of parts that are out there, the way they
stamped tin covers and the way they stamp oil pans out,
and by that I mean cheap and badly, our TV
makes up for a lot of you know errors, errors
in construction, you know. And it's not just listen, it's
(20:15):
not just the manufacturers. When I first put the hot
rot together, going on fifteen years ago, now, I'll never forget,
the oil pan leaked like a sieve and we pulled
it often. It was a cant and oil pan, big
race oil pan. Oh yeah, whoopee, right, gold oil pan,
nice blue and white sticker. We thought it was the
greatest thing since slice bread. I thought it was the
biggest piece of junk I ever saw it because the
(20:36):
flanges weren't made correctly, and I ended up having to
take it apart, straighten the flanges and then RTV it
back together to get it to seal. And when I
called the manufacturer, when I called cant and they said, yeah,
well that's you know, that's the level of quality we have.
So you know what, our TV is a necessary evil.
You'll never convince me otherwise. But it's got to be
there because I don't think anybody can make parts anymore.
(20:57):
Second question, last year we built my friend's twenty fifth
teen Honda a cord starter, took a do AutoZone and
get a tested it works great. Well, we'ren't putting it
back in the car. I've tested it. Since this was
thirty bucks in parts, it made me wonderhe my mechanics
don't do this where it's possible, since this could save
hundreds of bucks. First of all, this is a four
cylinder record. I wouldn't want to pull that out twice.
Second of all, you know, thirty bucks in parts. Yeah,
(21:19):
but which thirty bucks in parts do you use? You'd
you'd have to know or test. And then if it's
a higher mileage older vehicle, this one's ten years old.
My concern becomes that at the cost of labor in
a repair shop between one hundred and fifty and two
hundred dollars an hour, If it's one hundred and fifty
bucks to get the starter in and out, and sometimes
it's more on some of the Hansa's on some of
(21:40):
the other cars out there, I think that's an issue.
I think the other problem you're going to be up
against is you did your friend a favor as a
professional to say, hey, Mark, I changed the starter solinoid.
I can't guarantee the rest of it, but I changed
the starter solinoid. So as long as that doesn't go bad,
you're good. And then next week one of the brushes fails,
and then maybe the commutator, and then maybe the armature,
(22:04):
and then maybe at that point, I'm just going to
put a reman starter in the car. I get where
you're coming from, Mark, But due to the design of vehicles,
due to the complexity of starters, due to the fragility
of the parts in other words, i e. Lack of quality,
I don't think starter rebuilding on newer vehicles is practical
(22:25):
for all those reasons. And then some I think that
we get, you know, a finite life out of some
of these things, and you know, we get to that
one hundred and fifty thousand mile mark, which is typically
where a starter will fail, put another unit in the car,
we get another one hundred and fifty thousand miles out
of it, and at three hundred thousand miles we get
a new car. Just my way of thinking, But I
(22:45):
understand where you're coming from. I just don't think it
works in a professional shop. Let's uh, let's go to
Billy in Colorado with some questions. Billy run and Andy
and at your service, sir, what's going on?
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (22:57):
How you doing all right?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Questions?
Speaker 7 (22:59):
So I am. I was packing last night for a
road trip and trying to figure out which tools to
take along in the car. And You've mentioned your go
bag a couple of times, and I was kind of wondering,
what do you keeping it?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
My cell phone, my triple a credit card? Uh? I
do have a go bag. It has flashlight, Swiss army knife,
electrical tape, you know, a pair of pliers, uh, a
snap on, a screwdriver with the multi bits in it.
You know, I don't really keep any wrenches, you know,
(23:34):
because I just don't see myself doing that. If I
had to change something and I've done this, I'll walk
into a wal Mart or some such and buy some
cheap wrenches on the on the fly and fix what
I have to fix at that point.
Speaker 7 (23:46):
You know, got like several sets I ended up putting.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You know, other otherwise otherwise you end up, you know,
you disassemble your toolbox and take it with you. You know.
I also I always carry a jump pack, you know,
I always got some form of a jump back with me.
A micro start, I think, is the one I'm currently
using that I like so much, you know, and that
kind of thing. You know. I don't do the tire
inflate stuff anymore. I probably should, you know, But frankly,
(24:14):
I'm driving. I'm also driving newer vehicles now, and you know,
I just and I've reached that age in my life
where I just want to get in a car and go.
You know, if I have to go some great distance
in an older vehicle, if I were taking the Monty
Carla somewhere, that's a whole other conversation, you know. And
the problem there is, and you know, and here I'll
(24:36):
address it like this, Bill, you know, part of the
problem in driving an older classic car. Listen, I went
to college in a seventy two Monty Carlo. All Right,
I broke down in the Garden State Parkway. I'd walk.
I'd climb over the Garden State Parkway wall and walk
into the town of wherever I was. Walk to the
Oda Park store. Tell that guy I needed an upper
radiator hose or a fan belt or a set of
points or whatever, and they went to the back room
(24:58):
and they got it. I can't walk on a you know,
it's fifty years now. I can't walk in and get
any of those parts over the counter. First of all,
you know O'Riley AutoZone Advanced. They're not going to understand
what I'm trying to look up because they're gonna want
to know you're making model before I give them a
part number. And they're not gonna have points, They're not
gonna have belts and hoses. So driving that Classic a
distance is a problem. I always think in terms of
(25:20):
if I'm driving that ten to fifteen year old something Volkswagon, Toyota,
something sporty. You know, I just want to have enough
to get by to get me out of trouble and
hence I get back to the jump pack, you know,
electrical tape, a gallon of coolanth of some kind, even
water just to get me off the road, you know,
(25:42):
things like that. But absolutely the most important thing in
my go big is that I've looked the vehicle over
before I leave, and I know exactly what I've got.
You know, I'll do little goofy things. I'll over inflate
all the tires two pounds, three pounds. It just gives
me a sense of security. Depending upon where I'm going,
I'll throw a tire plug kit in, you know, just
(26:05):
in case I do. I did make up a hose,
And I know this sounds crazy, but I do have
an air hose with two ends on it, and I
can lock it onto the spare and I can run
it to any one of the tires on the car.
So if I get a flat, I'll fix the flat
and I'll take that air hose and I'll use it
to equalize out, and I'll take air from the spare
(26:27):
and put it into the tire that went flat, if
you know what I'm saying. The other thing the other yeah, yeah,
just sort of just sort of something I made. The
other option is depending upon where I am in which
car I'm taking, I also have a portable air compressor
that I'll throw in the car from time to time.
It depends on which one the ranger carries the air hose.
(26:48):
Everything else gets its own compressor, you know. But just
stuff like that, because I think cars have gotten too complicated.
You know, what all I want to do is get
off the road and get back to the hotel or
wherever I'm going, because beyond that, I'm taking it to
a garage and I'm going to fix it there, you know,
because it's it's the world has gotten to be very
unforgiving everywhere else. Can you imagine being, you know, two
(27:11):
hundred miles from home, and you know whatever you're driving
the alternator failed, Where you're going to find an alternator,
Where you're gonna find the tools, where you know an
alternator you might be able to do. You're gonna do
a water pump in the parking lot.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
Right right?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
You know it's that stuff is gone. Those days are over,
and hence back to my question about emails right, answering
Mark's question about just doing starters and parts, right, do
I really want to do things by parts? Or do
I want to consider everything has a finite life. If
I get to one hundred and fifty thousand miles, listen,
I'm doing it Tuesday. I'm sorry, Monday, Monday. I'm putting
(27:48):
a water pump in an O nine Venza. Here, tell
me what to do. Bill. It's an O nine Venza
with one hundred and five thousand miles on it. Right,
it's leaving New Jersey. It's going to Florida for the
next two years. Florida to get the water pump out,
I've got to pull the alternator. To pull the alternator,
I've really got to take the radiator and kick it
forward one hundred and ten thousand miles one hundred and
(28:10):
five thousand miles on an almost fifteen year old Toyota.
Am I gonna? Am I gonna take the alternator? Is
going to be in my hand? Am I going to
put an alternator in it? Am I going to put
a radiator in it? Are? And I car's going to
drive eighteen hundred miles from New Jersey to Florida and
back right, isn't Isn't that preemptive? Don't I want to
(28:30):
think a little proactively and just everything has a finite
life and be done with it.
Speaker 7 (28:36):
I don't know if you want to, you know, suggest
it's the customer.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Yeah, And that's what I did, And he says, yeah,
you're right, you know, because it's not it's not that
it's not that we're talking about something five years old.
We're talking about something fifteen years old. And experience has
taught me where do the alternators typically fail in the toyotas, oh,
somewhere between eighty and one hundred and forty thousand, So
he's kind of in that sweet spot. You know, where
to the radios go plastic radiator, a plastic tanked radiator,
(29:02):
going to Florida. You know, if it gets to one
hundred and ten on a cold day, we're happy. You know,
it's how much stress is the water pump going to
be under? So I think the answer to your question
is the essentials, and then beyond that, I'm trying to
do my preemptive maintenance to keep the car going so
I can deal with it on my terms in my garage.
Fair answer, yeah, okay, col means you'll be well, Billy.
(29:28):
I always enjoyed talking to you. I'm running Andy and
the car Doctor. We're back right after this, and we
are back real quick. Tom made a comment about, you know,
(29:51):
his old escape to do an alternator, and his old
escape you'd have to pull the passenger side front axle
and yet and that's the problem. So you know, to
answer Billy's question, everybody else, what's in my go bag
enough to get me back to where I'm safe, and
then I can deal with it either by putting it
on a flatbed and getting it home. Or I just
do all my legwork before I leave, and I do
my preemptive maintenance. When I have things apart, start looking
(30:12):
at and considering component and system level repairs, things that
go together. You got to take an alternator out to
get to a water pump. It's fifteen years old, one
hundred and ten thousand miles on it. Put an alternator
in it on next you know, it's the price of
the part, not the price of the part in the
labor on the side of the road. Let's go to
Matt and Virginia. Matt, Welcome to the car doctor, sir,
how can I help?
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Hey, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
You welcome. What's going on?
Speaker 4 (30:34):
I have this battery, okay that I hooked up. This
is about a decade ago. I hooked up to an
in burner and he's as a survival slash camping device. Okay,
you're able to run a crock pod, a coffee pod,
the toaster, whatever you need, all modern conveniences. I was
also able to plug an electric drill and make if
you know where a Swedish candle is, sure it's a
(30:56):
just through a bunch of holes in the log and
it just burns one log in it. Anyway, I haven't
touched some years. We've had this snowstorm in Virginia Beach
and I said, hey, might get out of power. Maybe
I'll get this thing work in plug a couple of
electric mindkets if we need to for a couple of days. Okay,
the battery can charge up to twelve dot eight volt
(31:18):
and then you put that load tester on it. The
resist thing says bad.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
So this is a this is a deep this is
a deep this is a deep cycle. This is a
deep cycle battery, man, Matt. This is a deep cycle.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Battery, deep cycle battery.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
So this is a marine application.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Uh, well, I use it.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
I use it for woods, right, But I'm just saying
this is a marine battery, a deep cycle battery, or
a trolling battery. Right, So you've got to use you
specifically have to use a deep cycle charger. A conventional
battery charger will charge that battery too fast and overheat
it and damage. So they they yeah, they make they
(32:04):
make now nowadays we call them smart chargers. All right,
if you want to get if you want to get
an example of it. I'm not saying to go out
and buy one. We go out to go out to
Associated Equipment dot Com or I think it's Associated Equipped
dot Com. Look at their ESS sixty one hundred, all right,
or any one of their smart chargers. That battery charger
has the ability to read. I always explain it like this.
(32:26):
They have the ability to read the internal resistance of
the battery and based on whether it's a deep cycle,
a regular battery, you know, and so on, it has
the ability to make the internal adjustments hence the term
smart charger, and adjust and charge that battery accordingly. But
that's what you want to do. And you know, desulvation
(32:47):
or smart charging a battery can take upwards of a
couple of hours, if not longer. So it's not something
that's going to happen overnight. But that's the best example
I can give you the stuff that Associated Equipment has
Associatedequipped dot Com. I'm running any in the car. Doctor.
I'll be back right after this. You know, I'm gonna
(33:20):
give you something for free today before I go go
out to All Data dot com. Go to the resources
tab All Data dot Com, go to the resources tab,
all right, and click on the Old Data newsletter. There
is a really great article and it kind of ties
in with everything we're talking about today. There is a
really great article it's called Following the Path to Electrical Enlightenment.
(33:43):
I've been reading it by David Brie. I take it
as Brie Brie b r y Bree. I don't want
to say bree like the cheese. But I don't know, David.
I'm not trying to pick on you, David. I'm sure
I'm gonna get a phone call for this. But anyway,
his article talks about ground paths and how you focus
on ground paths and that's the weak link and the
(34:04):
often overlooked side of the electrical circuits. And he's absolutely right,
he's spot on. Okay, it's a great article. It talks about,
you know, why bad grounds occur, some of the things
you can look for, and it explains it, you know,
follow the electrons all right. It's a very simple article.
It breaks things down from the hot side to the
(34:25):
ground side, why things get corroded, and it talks about
voltage drop and what voltage drop is. It's a good, good, basic,
but advanced article, and I think it's musk reading, you know,
for all the battery questions we dealt with today. And
for all the conversations we dealt with today talking about
why things work and don't work. I thought about this
(34:45):
article throughout the entire show, So get out to all
data dot com, click on the All Data newsletter through
resources and you'll find it there. Till the next time,
I'm not on any in the card doctor, reminding each
and every one of you it's been an absolute pleasure
until the next time. Good McCann aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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