Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor begins the show in a no-nonsense mood, fueled by a dose of chicken soup from Research Kathy. He quickly shifts to the topic of car batteries before taking calls.
Key Takeaways from the Show:
-
Car Battery Maintenance & Misconceptions
- Many drivers don't realize that a car battery can die simply from lack of use.
- Driving only a few miles a day or letting a car sit for extended periods can cause battery depletion.
- Batteries need at least 35-40 minutes of driving at highway speeds with some electrical load to recharge properly.
-
Solutions for Low-Use Vehicles
- For those who don’t drive frequently, solar-powered battery chargers (plugged into the OBD-II port) can maintain charge without needing to drive.
- The host’s shop uses automatic battery chargers to keep low-mileage customers' batteries healthy.
-
General Battery Advice
- If a battery is over four years old, replace it before it fails.
- Modern cars have many electronic systems that drain power even when parked.
- Visit AutoBatteries.com for information on choosing the right battery.
-
Call-In Segment: Finding Spark Plug Wires for a 1961 Rambler
- A caller struggles to find plug wires long enough for his flathead six-cylinder engine.
- Ron suggests checking Standard Motor Products for the correct part number.
- Alternatively, he recommends buying a universal set for a Chevy small-block V8 and cutting them to the correct length.
Conclusion:
The show blends technical advice with humor, emphasizing battery maintenance for modern vehicles and addressing a classic car enthusiast's problem. Ron's expertise and straightforward approach make complex car issues easy to understand.
- 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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ron An Aiant, the great fl murmur who said the
show must go one. Yes, I have a cold. I'll
take an fl murman this year. You know what, Somebody's
got to do it. So it's me. It's like the
guy at the top of the roller coaster. It's two
weak to turn back. Then, the.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Car Doctor.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We typically hang onto our cars for quite a while.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
And I've never had a car with a cracked cylinder head.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, I mean, first question. First, I've it's been a
long time.
Speaker 5 (00:30):
Since I've heard my Honda, my Accura, my anything has
a cracked cylinder head.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
You know, it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 6 (00:37):
Welcome to the radio home of ron An Anian, the
Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car
owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion on
automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you a busy signal,
pick up the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
The garage doors.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five, six ninety nine hundred now.
Speaker 6 (01:03):
Running.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
Look I made it one week later. I'm ready see that.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You know what it was?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It was?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
It was research.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Kathy stopped by the office this week and brought me
chicken soup. It's that chicken soup. There is something magical
about chicken soup. So for everyone's benefits, she brought me
back to life. I don't know if you guys are
gonna like it, because I'm in a no nonsense, no
no boloney kind of mood today. So but we're here
to talk about order repair. I want to talk about
batteries before we open up the phones, which are already busy.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Let me do that again, A.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Five to five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
I want to talk a little bit about batteries. And
the phone number is twenty four seven. Look at me,
I'm doing seven things at once. That phone number is
twenty four seven. You can call it anytime, day or night.
We're live on the network Saturdays two to four pm
Eastern time. Again A five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. And if you call, leave a message,
(01:57):
we will call you back.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And people are actually surprised. You know, I got of emails.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Go well, you actually called me back. Your your system works, well,
it better work. It's supposed to work. That's what we're
here for. We're here to talk to you. Believe me,
nobody likes to hear me talk, at least not unless
I'm answering the car question. So you know, that's the
whole purpose of this gig and has been for the
past thirty four plus years. As we've come to find that,
I don't know, it's kind of interesting. You know what
(02:21):
if your Google search order repair radio shows there's there's
one or two that come up, who could that be?
I want to talk a little bit about batteries, and
I want to talk about do you make sense?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Do you do?
Speaker 5 (02:35):
You do you stop and think that the laws of
physics apply to you because they have to write. I'm
not sure what it is, but there was a sign
on the shop front door this week that said, if
you don't drive your car and you have a dead battery,
then stop here and and I'm not sure what the
thought process is because people don't do the math.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
You have to do the math.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
In more than a few cases, three to be exact,
it was my battery goes dead, and only one person, Jeff,
my buddy, Jeff, he kind of got it. He he,
you know, sat and he listened to the explanation and
he made sense out of it, and he did the
right thing. He went out and he bought a solar
charger for his for his window, so that he's going
to charge the battery trickle charge it, you know, when
he's not using it because he doesn't drive nearly as much.
(03:20):
But you know, two of the three couldn't understand why
having purchased a battery. One was a year and a half,
the other one was two years ago. They're down to
driving on average three point two miles a day, and
there are some weeks where they don't use the car
for a week to ten days.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And we did the math.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
We figured out how far it's been since we did
the battery and how many miles the car has on it. Now,
you know, the laws of physics don't change in this
universe unless you get out of this universe, which I'm
not sure if you can do that.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
We haven't figured out time travel yet. We haven't figured
out traveling at.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Light speed in that you know, it takes roughly thirty
five to forty minutes of a ride exceeding forty five
to fifty miles an hour. And now I have to say,
with the proper amount of accessories on to put a
drain and load on the system because so many vehicles
today run computer systems or elds that will run the
(04:15):
alternator at a minimum, So the battery has to show
a pretty good state of discharge in order to get
the alternator to do what we want it to do
and bring the battery back to life. Now, you know,
you may find that you may simply find that you're
just not going to be that person. You're just not
going to drive it enough, and that's okay. You may
(04:37):
want to consider because and it's something we've been doing
for the past couple of years where we will actually
charge batteries for vehicles that are driven less.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And we know who you are. We can tell by mileage.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
We can look at you know, one of the things
Mitchell Management does, you know, our Mitchell software, our Mitchell
Shop Management software does is it will show us mileage
since the last time the vehicle was in and we
can look at the yearly average, and we can look
at a monthly average and so on, and certain vehicles
hit a number and when it comes in for one
of its oil changes every year, we will take it
over and throw it on. We have an associated battery
(05:11):
charger that will automatically figure out state of charge, the
amount of charge required, and it set it and forget
it and walk away, and it becomes part of a
service and it prevents that vehicle from going dead. And
it's something we've been doing of late, just to bring
vehicles back to life. And every one of the batteries
(05:32):
this week, it's what we did. We brought everybody's battery
back up to two hundred percent before we give him
back the vehicle. And you know, again, the math has
to make sense, but you have to get this out
of your head that if you bought a battery two
years ago and you don't drive the vehicle, the battery is.
Speaker 7 (05:48):
Going to go dead.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
I mean, there's just no there's no hidden trick to this.
One fella exclaimed to me. He said, well, you know,
is the first time since I've been driving that I've
had to deal with this. Oh, well, is there anything
different about your driving habits? Well, I don't drive as much.
I'm retired now. Well, yeah, guess what, you're retired. You
don't drive as much. You don't drive every day. That's
(06:09):
why you know what, Please, no stupid across my threshold today.
I can't deal with it. It's just it's like you
people have to stop to think about what you're saying.
Numbers don't lie. What I always tell you, numbers in
order repair just just really hold true to fruition. It's
they are what they are and you can't change them.
There's actually a mathematical formula and I could I could
(06:30):
get it out. We could do the math if you want,
where we can figure out based on the the cranking
amperage reserve of the battery. Okay, how many amp hours
the battery has. How many hours that battery can sit
dormant with X amount of electrical drain on it before
it's depleted. Think of a pool in your backyard. You
(06:52):
know what's the average swimming pool size? A couple hundred gallons, right,
four or five hundred gallons of water. If you put
a small quarter inch hole down on the bottom of
that pool and let the water drain out, how long
does it take for the water to drain out. It's
the same idea with the battery, all right, until you
fill the hole, plug the hole, or add more water,
eventually the pool is going to run empty. Eventually the
(07:14):
battery is going to go dead, and there's nothing you
can do about it. We say the standard rule of
thumb is, you know, roughly ten days to two weeks.
After that the battery could in all likelihood be dead.
Of some of the older cars, it may last longer.
We see some batteries go up to three weeks. But
(07:34):
after that, you know, you've got to realize that it's
it's just a daunting challenge facing car manufacturers today because
of the amount of computers on cars. Leave a car
sit for anything longer than three weeks and you're you're
susceptible to whatever may happen. Now, the solution, all right,
that I've been talking about for a very long time
that I'm not sure why more people aren't doing it,
(07:57):
But the solution is you go out to add Amazon
and just Google search solar powered battery charger for OBD
two port connector solar charge Solar powered charger OBD two
would probably generate the right product. And basically what this is,
this is about the size of an etche sketch. It's
the size of a big tablet and it'll suction cup
(08:17):
to the window of the vehicle and it will have
a cord on it that will plug into the diagnostic
port underneath the dashboard. And this is nothing new. The
vehicle manufacturers do this. This is how they keep cars
alive at the port. When the vehicles are sitting waiting
for storage, or waiting for shipment, or you know, waiting
for final assembly. As they sit out in you know,
reserve fields outside the manufacturing plants, they will leave the
(08:41):
batteries on. Believe me, they're not dragging jump packs around
the three thousand cars saying let's jump each and every
one of them and get them back inside the factory
to finish them up. Believe me, They've got a way
around this. So just uh, just I want to I
just wanted to have that battery conversation with you. And please,
if your battery is more than four years old and
it's starting to show signs, don't wait, change it.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Batteries are just too darn critical to the vehicle today.
And there's nothing worse than sitting on the side of
the road or in a shop right in a shop
right parking lot, or a supermarket parking lot, and you know,
waiting for that jump start that may or may not
ever come.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You know.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
More information about batteries Auto batteries dot com My favorite place.
You know, we kind of recall it required reading Auto
batteries dot Com gives you everything you need to know
about batteries and helps you make decisions on on purchases,
and you know physical dimension and electrical size and electrical
capacity and everything you need to know Auto batteries dot
com A five five five six zero. That's enough of
(09:43):
a rant. I'll go back to being the nice guy
when we come back. Eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I'm running any in the car doctor, honest, I'll be
right back.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
Don't go away.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Time.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Ride it on the wall so you don't forget to
call for car advice.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Done right?
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Now back to Rod, and I hope you're out there
enjoying the show today, drinking from your Ronani and the
car doctor coffee cup, teacup, et cetera, wrapped in your
car doctor T shirt or coozy or sweatshirt, whatever it
might be.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Everybody seems to be enjoying those. Yeah, and we appreciate that.
We appreciate the love that we're getting as well. We're
watching everybody take those and uh, you know what most importantly,
you guys are enjoying it, which we like. Just get
out the card doctorshow dot com and click on the
merchandise button. Let's go over and talk to Let's go
talk to Tom in Wisconsin. Tom, How can I help?
(10:47):
Ronananian at your service?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Sir?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yes, sir, Hi Ron, Yes, sir? What's going on?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Here's my issue. I'm looking for a set of plug wires.
I can't find them for an old anc Rambler nineteen
sixty one American with a flatthead six. And all of
the websites that I that I get on, they come
(11:15):
up with a certain part number, I order them, they
get here, and they're all way too short. And so
I'm looking for a part number or some such thing,
a manufacturer, somebody that can make me or mix them,
you know, long enough. I need one that's about two
(11:36):
of the wires are about twenty eight inches, and then
two or three inches shorter for the for two more,
and then two you know, two more that are three
inches or so shorter than that, and then of course
the coil wire. Right, this is about ten inches long.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
This is a six cylinder top.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Right, it's a flatthead six, you know. So it's got
to get from that it's got to go from. They've
got to go from from the distributor, which is down
on the side kind of an at an angle, and
then they got to go up and then around the
top of the flathead, and then of course down to
the plug itself. So, uh, the ones that I've been getting,
(12:19):
the connectors on the end are correct, but they're just
too short, okay. And I'm looking for a part number
or somebody that can make or mix you know, those
that are well enough for the flathead.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Why can't you make them? And here's here's my answer,
all right, I mean there's there's two thoughts.
Speaker 8 (12:35):
I have.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Number One, Standard Motor Products. Standard Motor Products has been
around since the twenties, all right, I mean one hundred
years ago, the twenties, all right.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
They're in Long Island City, New York. They've been around forever.
I would look online see if they have a listing,
and then at least you've got a part number you
can search for that way, all right, because they do
have that.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
That's that's kind of the issue, a part number.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Well, that's why I'm saying, try Standard Motor Products. See
if they've got a listening. If not, you could probably
call their tech line and ask them to look backwards.
They've got various tech and support lines. That's number one.
Number two, This was just a standard seven millimeters sparkplug wire.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
It's not a real fat wire, correct, correct? Right? Right?
Speaker 5 (13:21):
So, so why can't we buy a set of wires
for a V eight a small block Chevy that are
too long?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Hear me out, that are too long?
Speaker 8 (13:31):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And just buy the.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Yeah, and just buy the tool, because I mean, I've
got one. It's just it's just a it's just a
die and stamp set that you can just buy ends
and just cut the wire to your length and just
make your own wire set. I mean, granted, doing it
getting it getting it pre made is sure a heck
of a lot easier. But you know, if short of
finding any of these still in existence, then you know,
(13:57):
let's just make them. You know, this happens all the time.
I did this with the hot Rod years ago, where
I had to make my own wires, So it's not
it's not an impossibility, but that would be Those would
be my two thoughts.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
So I think the I think the small block VH
Chevy from say sixty five or so. Yeah, you know,
and I'll get a couple of extra wires, but that's okay.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Something like sixty five Corvette where the wiring had to
be long because it had to go down come out
of the distributor and then run down the side of
the block to each side and had to fit through
the loom and the protection and the cover and the
harnesses and all that. You know, I would think that
I would think that's a longer wire set than the
ones that ran over the top of the valve covers.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
So okay, sure, yeah, you know, Well, the thing is,
the thing is the one end that goes on the plug.
Obviously that's that standard. But the connector on the boot
on the opposite ends, it changes with the manufacturer. You know. Sure,
god is different than the cord than than the Chevy.
(15:03):
So but I think Chevy and and Rambler at the
time were.
Speaker 7 (15:07):
Pretty closely the manufacturers.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
And this is if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
As long as you get a tight seal, it looks
like a little Derby, right, it looks like a Derby
cap the end of the wire going to the distributor cap. Yeah,
that's and that's what the spot plugs on the on
the on the chevyes were like at the time. So
I would think, as long as I've got a good
tight seal, I think you're fine. It's just a matter
of which set's going to be the longest. And I'm thinking,
I'm thinking small block Chevy Corvette, small block Chevy something. Uh,
(15:36):
you know, with that sort of similar setup. You know,
that's what comes to mind, because I think when you
got into like the Impalace and everything else, they ran
the wires over the top in a lot of cases
because they weren't They weren't you know, they weren't finned
rock or covers right right, So it wasn't so okay,
all right, sir.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I wish the ads would. I wish the ads that
you see online and stuff would would show the lengths
of these things. And you know, the picture and the
descriptions that they get, that's that's okay, But you know,
the ads don't show the lengths of the various layers,
and so that's been my issue so far.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Listen, I'll tell you what the challenge in dealing with
older cars, and it's no different than dealing with newer cars.
But the hobby, i'll call it a hobby of dealing
with older cars and keeping older cars on the road
and hot rods and antique cars such as this. The
challenge is just getting never mind any parts, but just
correct parts. And it's just it's so frustrating.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
I'ming chain was awful. Yeah, yeah, I found an old,
old mobile one that worked. Yeah. Yeah, it's just the
ones that they show online that sit that they don't
sit right well.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
And a lot of that goes back to we don't
manufacture anything in this country anymore, and what we do
have here is complete garbage. You know, it's it's and
it's funny. I can't wait to see the turnarounds as
they take the country back and it starts to make
sense again. I can't wait to see the turnaround in manufacturing,
to see if we actually start to make engine parts
(17:02):
here again and what.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
That will mean.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
And yeah, it would absolutely be great because it's just
the stuff coming in is just absolute, pure garbage. And
and I've set it for years, Tom, I've absolutely said
it for years. The quality of auto parts that we
have to deal with on a daily basis is an
absolutely a risk to national security because we can't keep
the fleet moving because we can't keep it safely on
(17:27):
the road as it ages, which requires everybody to be
in a new vehicle, which obviously not everybody can afford,
especially at the prices of cars today. So anyway, I
gotta run, Tom, I'm up against the clock. Listen, I
pay on it. You're very welcome, sir, carry on and
keep the faith, and you're very welcome.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You uh, you know, do what you do what I said,
and get yourself a V eight, get yourself a V
eight sparklog wire set and just trim the ends, and
I think you'll be just fine, you know.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
And you know, I got to tell you too, American Motors.
American Motors probably never made anything. They probably got it
from everybody else anyway, So it's just a matter of
figuring out who's wire they used. But I bet just
and Motor Products could help to I would take a
look there. I'm running any in the car doctor eight
five five five six zero nine nine yeow zero.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 7 (18:07):
Don't away.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
Welcome back, and here we are eight five five five
six zero nine nine years zero. You know, by the way,
the marketing guys for the merchandise website wanted me to
ask if anybody's got any ideas for a new product,
what would they like to see is put up there
on the card Doctor website, car Doctor logos on.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
You know, we've already gotten a couple of things, but
I'm curious what people are thinking and what they're looking
for us. So if you have some suggestions on clothing
or items or whatever ron at cardoctorshow dot com, just
drop me a line, and you know, get out there,
look at it. Click on the merchandise button at the
card Doctorshow dot com website and take a look in
there and what can we add? We're always looking to
(19:17):
improve and be better. So anyway, let's uh, I guess
the phones are still lit up? Huh gosh, I can't
get rid of these phones right people calling for it?
What do I think we're fixing cars? Ryan Tennessee, let's
go to Ryan and Tennessee. Ryan you're there.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Oh, yes, sir, Yes sir?
Speaker 1 (19:33):
How can I help you run an nian at your service?
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Yes? So I have a Ram fifteen hundred. It's a
twenty twelve model or two thousand two model. Excuse me, right,
I have a check engine light coming on about a
minute after I start my truck when it's cold, right,
and when that check engine light comes on, it runs
like it has bad gas in it for about thirty
(19:59):
seconds and the chick engine light goes off and it
runs just fine after that. Okay, Now I've already I've
already changed, you know, like the air filter, all the
common things. But I've did the plugs, I did the
coal packs, and I went as far as to change
the fuel pump because the pump and the filter they're both.
There's no inline filter on that truck.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Trouble code.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
I've got, I've got diagnosed grant on it, and it
said it was having a misfire.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Okay, So it's so it's it's reporting a misfire on
a cylinder? Do we know which? Do we know which cylinders?
Speaker 4 (20:41):
I do not?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
I don't, okay, And all you're getting is a random
misfire fault.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Yep?
Speaker 7 (20:47):
All right?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
And how did you.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Do a and I'm going to be specific here, how
did you pull the trouble code? Did you go in
under generic under OBD two or did you go look
at manufacturer Chrysler specific?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Are no?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Actually, uh, I mean I went to AutoZone. I got
them to run a diagnostic okay, and also my mechanic
and it came up the same code. And I looked
up the codes and it wasn't specific on which cylinder
it was miss firing.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Okay, one code one code P zero three hundred yep, okay,
And that was that.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Was one of them. What are the other ones?
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Uh? I don't recall right off the top of my head.
I've got it wrote down in my truck, and I'm
not at my truck right now.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Okay. So there's a couple of ways.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, this injured mine.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
There's a couple of ways to approach this, Ryan, all right.
The point I'm trying to get at is, you know,
I don't consider a generic OBD two code scan enough
to start changing all the parts you changed, all right, Hyeah,
you kind of jumped the gun, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Let me, let me, let me.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
I mean, I've got one hundred and eighty thousand miles
on it, okay, period, and.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
You know, if it's if it's just been hey, everything
was original, and we want to just you know, shoot
the parts cannon.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
I get it.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
I'm okay with that, but just you know, here we
are and we still you know, now we've now we've
done the maintenance and we still don't have a truck
that's fixed. So now we need to know if we
were in the shop. I want to go backwards a second,
if we were in the shop, because you know, I
practice what I preach.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I'm not just up here talking head on radio.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
I've got I've got the cheapest OBD two scan tool
sitting by the door of the shop. Right Ryan comes in, Hey, Ron,
my check engine lights on. It's called d da da
da da da dah. I grab that tool because it's
the quickest, easiest I run after I go, Ryan, you
got a P zero three hundred. My next, my next comment,
I need to a catch it in the act. Be
go in and look your make model, all right, to
(22:38):
look to see is there anything Chrysler specific that would
tell me because cars speak two languages. Do you understand
why why I'm asking which version of scan.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
That you did?
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, okay, you.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Know I want to know to tell it ob D
two is one thing, to tell it two thousand and
two RAM fifteen hundred might give me more information, all right.
So that's always that for the sake of our conversation
here on radio, and just trying to educate everybody.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That's always important.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
The next thing I'm going to go look at is
and I don't think they will in two thousand and two,
but I'm curious by nature. I'm going to bring up
that a stream and I'm going to look to see
do I have any misfire PIDs? Can I see cylinders
misfiring by a diagnostic tool and narrow it down that way?
And if I can't see that, the next thing I'm
(23:25):
going to do is go look at something called mode six.
Any of this ring of bell? Anybody mentioned any of
this to you?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (23:32):
No, no, not at all?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
So mode six? You ever get sick? I did?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
I was?
Speaker 5 (23:39):
I was sick last I was sick last week's show, Brother, Right,
I had I had?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I had that head cold. We must have bumped into
each other.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
Right, you know? I felt good on Tuesday. Wednesday I
started to get a sore throat. Thursday I got the
uh uh. And by Friday, I'm like, this is going
to be a tough show to get through. But I
got through it right. So Wednesday my check engine light went.
On Thursday, my internals did a quick test, a Mode
six test, and I failed all the tests. And by
(24:09):
Thursday night I was sick. Cars do the same thing.
It will look at you on a day to day basis,
and it runs it self tests on a day to day,
minute by minute basis. Okay, The way it runs those
tests is in a section of its software called Mode six.
All right, it is where all it is where all
(24:31):
the self test data is stored. If we as human
if we if we as human beings can access the
doctor records, because you know, if we went to the
doctor every time, what do they always do? Heart rate,
blood pressure, breathe, you know, sometimes turn your head and cough,
you know that whole routine. Right, So Mode six, first
(24:51):
of all, we need we need a good quality scan tool, right,
and we're going to go in and we're going to
go look at Mode six data. And what we will see,
depending upon the tool and how the tool breaks it down,
is the binary language, the digital tests that the vehicle
computer does broken down at the common everyday language, and
we might see things like the misfires can occur. It
(25:15):
can't be more than four hundred. It's got a minimum
of four hundred, a maximum of sixty five thousand, and
we see the the test is right on the border
of failing at three ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
All right, gee, that's a problem.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Or we'll see one particular test that it says it
can't have more than twenty seven thousand revolutions and a
max and a minimum of five thousand revolutions, and we're
at sixty five thousand revolutions.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
That's a problem. Right.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
It gives us the ability to look by category, all right,
by component and say, hey, what's flagging this, what's causing this?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
All right?
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Now, it didn't just come to that conclusion of P
zero three hundred misfire at random?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
All right?
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Oh no, I got the code and I you know,
I just I googled the code.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Right, and and that's what I'm saying. But the car
computer didn't just come up with it. It has to
run those tests in order to tell it, tell you
and tell itself what's going on. You ever think of
how let's let's let's finish the conversation here. You ever
you ever think of how a misfire is detected and
just any engine?
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Oh no? Never? Never think?
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Can can can you walk? Can you can you walk correctly?
You have you have a cadence?
Speaker 8 (26:34):
Right?
Speaker 5 (26:34):
One, two, three, four, five six, Right? If you had
to get up out of a chair and walk to
the front door, and it was ten steps, you would
have ten even steps. Right, you don't stumble. If you
stumbled along the way and you know your your left
foot went up but it didn't go down as smooth,
your brain would record that and record that as a stumble.
A car computer does it by counting the degrees of rotation,
(26:58):
how fast and how smoothly it gets from one firing
event to the next.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
All right, So if the.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Firing order on an engine is one eight four to three, six, five, seven, two,
and cylinder one fires the time the crank shaft takes
to rotate around and bring number eight to firing position,
the length of time it takes to get from one
to eight is recorded eight four, then four, then three.
So the amount of time it takes to get there
in milliseconds is being recorded. If it sees one at
(27:27):
five milliseconds and one at ten milliseconds, that goes, wait
a minute, something happened. There's there's something not smooth there, right,
and it's going to start to look at those two
suspect cylinders, and it may either flag both of them,
one of them, or just a random P zero three hundred, depending.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Upon what it sees.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
So so as an example, all that data is recorded
in mode six.
Speaker 7 (27:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Yeah, I've never liked, I've never like had a diagnostic
on it while it was actually doing it.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
Okay, And that's fine, And you don't need to mode
six data Mode six data if you if you brought
it to the shop. And I'm not telling you to
drive from Tennessee, but I'm just saying, if you brought
it to if you brought it to the shop. We
started it from cold and it ran good, and then
two minutes into the cycle it started to run rough,
and then it straightened itself out. If we just plugged
(28:21):
in with a scan tool at that moment, we would
be able to read the mode six data. The problems
that occurred that key cycle are stored in history.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
They're stored.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
They're still there, all right, So it doesn't disappear, and
at least it gives its direction. Listen, there's three reasons
why an engine misfires, and then I gotta go ignition.
You just replaced everything, so on the on the on
the assumption that ignition is good, right, and that all
the components are good and installed correctly. Okay, right, you know,
(28:53):
et cetera. Then we're into either a fuel issue or
a mechanical issue. You know, could we have carbon deposits
on valves? Yeah, I guess it's possible.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
One hundred and eighty thousand miles a good fuel system
cleaning wouldn't hurt. But then we're down to, you know,
the the other more likely suspect. Do we have an
injector starting to fail? Do we have a computer not dry?
Speaker 7 (29:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Do we have a computer not driving?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (29:20):
Right, So but before we start changing all the injectors,
please go do a mode six test?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
All right? All right, okay, and then we'll go from there.
I'm here if you need me, brother, all right, I'm
glad you god, You're very welcome, sir, you'll be well.
Take good care.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Ron on Aenie and the car doctor here A five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. We'll be
back right after this.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Taking Hey, let's uh.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
Let's go down and talk to Wes again in Tennessee.
Eighteen Kia, Sorrento West. What's going on? Rn on Indian
very sir, Yes, sir.
Speaker 8 (30:02):
Well about this eighteen kids Sorrento from my friend of
mine was a garage cap about a year and a
half ago, had twenty six thousand miles on it rung
great and everything. Then last winter we had a really
cold snap, got down to about five or six degrees,
car wood and Budge who wouldn't turn turn over, no click,
(30:23):
no nothing, but all the lights on the dash came
on when he turned the key. As soon as I
got up to about fourteen or fifteen degrees, fired right up,
no problem. The same thing happened again about two two
three weeks ago we got a got down about seven
or eight degrees. My daughter called me, went over there.
It was a sunny day. Afterwards, she keeps in a
(30:44):
car board. It was a garage cap previously. And I
pushed the car out in the sun an hour later,
fired right up.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
When it first of all, six cylinder, four cylinder? What
are we working on?
Speaker 8 (30:57):
I think it's a sixth it's the it's theda model whatever?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Sorry, does it have? And does it have? Does it
with or without? Smart? Key is without without? So this
is just a regular.
Speaker 7 (31:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:13):
It's got the key that pops out to push the
button and the key comes out of it. And I
had a cant both both I worked for a construction company.
We got a mechanic. Both times he came over, plugged
his computer up to it. He said, not a single code.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Show.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Well, I don't think we're going to see codes. But
what I am curious to see. I can look at
cranking conditions, you know, I can look at I can
look at data stream and see. First of all, does
the does the p C m C the transactual range switch,
the t R S, which is the park neutral drive
(31:47):
switch that sits on top of the transfer, on top
of the trans itself. Does it see that in park
or neutral?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
When I commit? When I when I, you know, shifted
in an out of gear?
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Because if if for some reason, for example, it's like
put a car in reverse, put an automatic and reverse,
what happens you create the same condition. Right, it won't crank,
You'll have dashlights, but it won't crank, and it won't
set a code. So if it thinks the cars in
the wrong gear, it's not going to enable it all right,
that's number one. That's that's easy. And then if I
(32:18):
can catch it in the act, go look at the
rest of it. There is there should be a what
we call a starter enabled PID or a starter enabled
piece of data, and it will tell it starter enabled yes.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
No.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
And the easiest thing is take a look at this
when the car's working. Don't wait till it's broke, you know,
look and see what data is available, and then write
it down. Take a picture of it with your cell phone,
so the next time it happens you can just set
the tool up real quick and go back and look,
do I have this?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Do I have that?
Speaker 5 (32:48):
Because the problems trying to catch us well, picture of
the dish doesn't help me. Picture of the dish doesn't
tell me anything. That just tells me dashlights are on.
A picture of the tool and the setup will keep
it on the front, forefront of your mind as far
as what pieces of information we're looking for last under
the hood, real quick, I'll tell you what. Sit tight,
(33:09):
let me pull over, take this pause. I don't want
to rush this. Well, come back, we'll finish up. I'm
running ny in the car.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Doctor.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
We'll return right after this. Don't go anywhere West, okay, Wes,
you're there, Wes. Okay, So so listen, I only got
(33:35):
a couple of minutes. Let's just be real quick. When
this happens again. Or have you done this? Have you
cycled it out of park and to reverse back into
park again?
Speaker 8 (33:47):
Well, the last time I did because I put it
neutral the back of our carport and put it back
and drive.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
And it's still in park and still didn't start right away.
All right, So that's that's step one. You know, Do
we have a sticking cold older you know? Park neutral switch?
Just let's do simple first, right, Let's let's think we
do we possibly have a bad starter? Do we have
a problem with the what we call the start fuse?
(34:15):
So I want to talk about the start fuse first.
The start fuse is the middle of that side of
the circuit. The start fuse is seven and a half amps.
It's located behind the left end of the dash in
the module that's there. All right, I want to go
to that fuse. Does that Does that fuse have power
to it?
Speaker 1 (34:37):
You know? It's it's as simple as that.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
It's it's probably the most critical fuse in the system
because it brings power down that leg.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So can I test there?
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Can I put a test point there outside the dash
so that when it happens, I.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Can get to it real quick with a vault meter.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
Last, at the starter, the blue wire, the solenoid feed.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Do I have power at that solenoid feed.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
If I have power at that solenoid feed and power
at the battery stud itself, I've got a bad starter, brother.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
It's just that simple.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
But you know, can I get to that as a
test point and test it quickly when the problem happens.
Those are the two things I'd look at. I'm running
AD in the car doctor till the next time. The
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
See ye
Ron An Aiant, the great fl murmur who said the
show must go one. Yes, I have a cold. I'll
take an fl murman this year. You know what, Somebody's
got to do it. So it's me. It's like the
guy at the top of the roller coaster. It's two
weak to turn back. Then, the.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Car Doctor.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
We typically hang onto our cars for quite a while.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
And I've never had a car with a cracked cylinder head.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, I mean, first question. First, I've it's been a
long time.
Speaker 5 (00:30):
Since I've heard my Honda, my Accura, my anything has
a cracked cylinder head.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
You know, it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 6 (00:37):
Welcome to the radio home of ron An Anian, the
Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car
owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion on
automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you a busy signal,
pick up the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
The garage doors.
Speaker 5 (00:55):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five, six ninety nine hundred now.
Speaker 6 (01:03):
Running.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
Look I made it one week later. I'm ready see that.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You know what it was?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It was?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
It was research.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Kathy stopped by the office this week and brought me
chicken soup. It's that chicken soup. There is something magical
about chicken soup. So for everyone's benefits, she brought me
back to life. I don't know if you guys are
gonna like it, because I'm in a no nonsense, no
no boloney kind of mood today. So but we're here
to talk about order repair. I want to talk about
batteries before we open up the phones, which are already busy.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Let me do that again, A.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Five to five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
I want to talk a little bit about batteries. And
the phone number is twenty four seven. Look at me,
I'm doing seven things at once. That phone number is
twenty four seven. You can call it anytime, day or night.
We're live on the network Saturdays two to four pm
Eastern time. Again A five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. And if you call, leave a message,
(01:57):
we will call you back.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And people are actually surprised. You know, I got of emails.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Go well, you actually called me back. Your your system works, well,
it better work. It's supposed to work. That's what we're
here for. We're here to talk to you. Believe me,
nobody likes to hear me talk, at least not unless
I'm answering the car question. So you know, that's the
whole purpose of this gig and has been for the
past thirty four plus years. As we've come to find that,
I don't know, it's kind of interesting. You know what
(02:21):
if your Google search order repair radio shows there's there's
one or two that come up, who could that be?
I want to talk a little bit about batteries, and
I want to talk about do you make sense?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Do you do?
Speaker 5 (02:35):
You do you stop and think that the laws of
physics apply to you because they have to write. I'm
not sure what it is, but there was a sign
on the shop front door this week that said, if
you don't drive your car and you have a dead battery,
then stop here and and I'm not sure what the
thought process is because people don't do the math.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
You have to do the math.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
In more than a few cases, three to be exact,
it was my battery goes dead, and only one person, Jeff,
my buddy, Jeff, he kind of got it. He he,
you know, sat and he listened to the explanation and
he made sense out of it, and he did the
right thing. He went out and he bought a solar
charger for his for his window, so that he's going
to charge the battery trickle charge it, you know, when
he's not using it because he doesn't drive nearly as much.
(03:20):
But you know, two of the three couldn't understand why
having purchased a battery. One was a year and a half,
the other one was two years ago. They're down to
driving on average three point two miles a day, and
there are some weeks where they don't use the car
for a week to ten days.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And we did the math.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
We figured out how far it's been since we did
the battery and how many miles the car has on it. Now,
you know, the laws of physics don't change in this
universe unless you get out of this universe, which I'm
not sure if you can do that.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
We haven't figured out time travel yet. We haven't figured
out traveling at.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Light speed in that you know, it takes roughly thirty
five to forty minutes of a ride exceeding forty five
to fifty miles an hour. And now I have to say,
with the proper amount of accessories on to put a
drain and load on the system because so many vehicles
today run computer systems or elds that will run the
(04:15):
alternator at a minimum, So the battery has to show
a pretty good state of discharge in order to get
the alternator to do what we want it to do
and bring the battery back to life. Now, you know,
you may find that you may simply find that you're
just not going to be that person. You're just not
going to drive it enough, and that's okay. You may
(04:37):
want to consider because and it's something we've been doing
for the past couple of years where we will actually
charge batteries for vehicles that are driven less.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And we know who you are. We can tell by mileage.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
We can look at you know, one of the things
Mitchell Management does, you know, our Mitchell software, our Mitchell
Shop Management software does is it will show us mileage
since the last time the vehicle was in and we
can look at the yearly average, and we can look
at a monthly average and so on, and certain vehicles
hit a number and when it comes in for one
of its oil changes every year, we will take it
over and throw it on. We have an associated battery
(05:11):
charger that will automatically figure out state of charge, the
amount of charge required, and it set it and forget
it and walk away, and it becomes part of a
service and it prevents that vehicle from going dead. And
it's something we've been doing of late, just to bring
vehicles back to life. And every one of the batteries
(05:32):
this week, it's what we did. We brought everybody's battery
back up to two hundred percent before we give him
back the vehicle. And you know, again, the math has
to make sense, but you have to get this out
of your head that if you bought a battery two
years ago and you don't drive the vehicle, the battery is.
Speaker 7 (05:48):
Going to go dead.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
I mean, there's just no there's no hidden trick to this.
One fella exclaimed to me. He said, well, you know,
is the first time since I've been driving that I've
had to deal with this. Oh, well, is there anything
different about your driving habits? Well, I don't drive as much.
I'm retired now. Well, yeah, guess what, you're retired. You
don't drive as much. You don't drive every day. That's
(06:09):
why you know what, Please, no stupid across my threshold today.
I can't deal with it. It's just it's like you
people have to stop to think about what you're saying.
Numbers don't lie. What I always tell you, numbers in
order repair just just really hold true to fruition. It's
they are what they are and you can't change them.
There's actually a mathematical formula and I could I could
(06:30):
get it out. We could do the math if you want,
where we can figure out based on the the cranking
amperage reserve of the battery. Okay, how many amp hours
the battery has. How many hours that battery can sit
dormant with X amount of electrical drain on it before
it's depleted. Think of a pool in your backyard. You
(06:52):
know what's the average swimming pool size? A couple hundred gallons, right,
four or five hundred gallons of water. If you put
a small quarter inch hole down on the bottom of
that pool and let the water drain out, how long
does it take for the water to drain out. It's
the same idea with the battery, all right, until you
fill the hole, plug the hole, or add more water,
eventually the pool is going to run empty. Eventually the
(07:14):
battery is going to go dead, and there's nothing you
can do about it. We say the standard rule of
thumb is, you know, roughly ten days to two weeks.
After that the battery could in all likelihood be dead.
Of some of the older cars, it may last longer.
We see some batteries go up to three weeks. But
(07:34):
after that, you know, you've got to realize that it's
it's just a daunting challenge facing car manufacturers today because
of the amount of computers on cars. Leave a car
sit for anything longer than three weeks and you're you're
susceptible to whatever may happen. Now, the solution, all right,
that I've been talking about for a very long time
that I'm not sure why more people aren't doing it,
(07:57):
But the solution is you go out to add Amazon
and just Google search solar powered battery charger for OBD
two port connector solar charge Solar powered charger OBD two
would probably generate the right product. And basically what this is,
this is about the size of an etche sketch. It's
the size of a big tablet and it'll suction cup
(08:17):
to the window of the vehicle and it will have
a cord on it that will plug into the diagnostic
port underneath the dashboard. And this is nothing new. The
vehicle manufacturers do this. This is how they keep cars
alive at the port. When the vehicles are sitting waiting
for storage, or waiting for shipment, or you know, waiting
for final assembly. As they sit out in you know,
reserve fields outside the manufacturing plants, they will leave the
(08:41):
batteries on. Believe me, they're not dragging jump packs around
the three thousand cars saying let's jump each and every
one of them and get them back inside the factory
to finish them up. Believe me, They've got a way
around this. So just uh, just I want to I
just wanted to have that battery conversation with you. And please,
if your battery is more than four years old and
it's starting to show signs, don't wait, change it.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
Batteries are just too darn critical to the vehicle today.
And there's nothing worse than sitting on the side of
the road or in a shop right in a shop
right parking lot, or a supermarket parking lot, and you know,
waiting for that jump start that may or may not
ever come.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You know.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
More information about batteries Auto batteries dot com My favorite place.
You know, we kind of recall it required reading Auto
batteries dot Com gives you everything you need to know
about batteries and helps you make decisions on on purchases,
and you know physical dimension and electrical size and electrical
capacity and everything you need to know Auto batteries dot
com A five five five six zero. That's enough of
(09:43):
a rant. I'll go back to being the nice guy
when we come back. Eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I'm running any in the car doctor, honest, I'll be
right back.
Speaker 7 (09:51):
Don't go away.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Time.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Ride it on the wall so you don't forget to
call for car advice.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Done right?
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Now back to Rod, and I hope you're out there
enjoying the show today, drinking from your Ronani and the
car doctor coffee cup, teacup, et cetera, wrapped in your
car doctor T shirt or coozy or sweatshirt, whatever it
might be.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Everybody seems to be enjoying those. Yeah, and we appreciate that.
We appreciate the love that we're getting as well. We're
watching everybody take those and uh, you know what most importantly,
you guys are enjoying it, which we like. Just get
out the card doctorshow dot com and click on the
merchandise button. Let's go over and talk to Let's go
talk to Tom in Wisconsin. Tom, How can I help?
(10:47):
Ronananian at your service?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Sir?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yes, sir, Hi Ron, Yes, sir? What's going on?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Here's my issue. I'm looking for a set of plug wires.
I can't find them for an old anc Rambler nineteen
sixty one American with a flatthead six. And all of
the websites that I that I get on, they come
(11:15):
up with a certain part number, I order them, they
get here, and they're all way too short. And so
I'm looking for a part number or some such thing,
a manufacturer, somebody that can make me or mix them,
you know, long enough. I need one that's about two
(11:36):
of the wires are about twenty eight inches, and then
two or three inches shorter for the for two more,
and then two you know, two more that are three
inches or so shorter than that, and then of course
the coil wire. Right, this is about ten inches long.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
This is a six cylinder top.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Right, it's a flatthead six, you know. So it's got
to get from that it's got to go from. They've
got to go from from the distributor, which is down
on the side kind of an at an angle, and
then they got to go up and then around the
top of the flathead, and then of course down to
the plug itself. So, uh, the ones that I've been getting,
(12:19):
the connectors on the end are correct, but they're just
too short, okay. And I'm looking for a part number
or somebody that can make or mix you know, those
that are well enough for the flathead.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Why can't you make them? And here's here's my answer,
all right, I mean there's there's two thoughts.
Speaker 8 (12:35):
I have.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Number One, Standard Motor Products. Standard Motor Products has been
around since the twenties, all right, I mean one hundred
years ago, the twenties, all right.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
They're in Long Island City, New York. They've been around forever.
I would look online see if they have a listing,
and then at least you've got a part number you
can search for that way, all right, because they do
have that.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
That's that's kind of the issue, a part number.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Well, that's why I'm saying, try Standard Motor Products. See
if they've got a listening. If not, you could probably
call their tech line and ask them to look backwards.
They've got various tech and support lines. That's number one.
Number two, This was just a standard seven millimeters sparkplug wire.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
It's not a real fat wire, correct, correct? Right? Right?
Speaker 5 (13:21):
So, so why can't we buy a set of wires
for a V eight a small block Chevy that are
too long?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Hear me out, that are too long?
Speaker 8 (13:31):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And just buy the.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Yeah, and just buy the tool, because I mean, I've
got one. It's just it's just a it's just a
die and stamp set that you can just buy ends
and just cut the wire to your length and just
make your own wire set. I mean, granted, doing it
getting it getting it pre made is sure a heck
of a lot easier. But you know, if short of
finding any of these still in existence, then you know,
(13:57):
let's just make them. You know, this happens all the time.
I did this with the hot Rod years ago, where
I had to make my own wires, So it's not
it's not an impossibility, but that would be Those would
be my two thoughts.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
So I think the I think the small block VH
Chevy from say sixty five or so. Yeah, you know,
and I'll get a couple of extra wires, but that's okay.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Something like sixty five Corvette where the wiring had to
be long because it had to go down come out
of the distributor and then run down the side of
the block to each side and had to fit through
the loom and the protection and the cover and the
harnesses and all that. You know, I would think that
I would think that's a longer wire set than the
ones that ran over the top of the valve covers.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
So okay, sure, yeah, you know, Well, the thing is,
the thing is the one end that goes on the plug.
Obviously that's that standard. But the connector on the boot
on the opposite ends, it changes with the manufacturer. You know. Sure,
god is different than the cord than than the Chevy.
(15:03):
So but I think Chevy and and Rambler at the
time were.
Speaker 7 (15:07):
Pretty closely the manufacturers.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
And this is if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
As long as you get a tight seal, it looks
like a little Derby, right, it looks like a Derby
cap the end of the wire going to the distributor cap. Yeah,
that's and that's what the spot plugs on the on
the on the chevyes were like at the time. So
I would think, as long as I've got a good
tight seal, I think you're fine. It's just a matter
of which set's going to be the longest. And I'm thinking,
I'm thinking small block Chevy Corvette, small block Chevy something. Uh,
(15:36):
you know, with that sort of similar setup. You know,
that's what comes to mind, because I think when you
got into like the Impalace and everything else, they ran
the wires over the top in a lot of cases
because they weren't They weren't you know, they weren't finned
rock or covers right right, So it wasn't so okay,
all right, sir.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I wish the ads would. I wish the ads that
you see online and stuff would would show the lengths
of these things. And you know, the picture and the
descriptions that they get, that's that's okay, But you know,
the ads don't show the lengths of the various layers,
and so that's been my issue so far.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Listen, I'll tell you what the challenge in dealing with
older cars, and it's no different than dealing with newer cars.
But the hobby, i'll call it a hobby of dealing
with older cars and keeping older cars on the road
and hot rods and antique cars such as this. The
challenge is just getting never mind any parts, but just
correct parts. And it's just it's so frustrating.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
I'ming chain was awful. Yeah, yeah, I found an old,
old mobile one that worked. Yeah. Yeah, it's just the
ones that they show online that sit that they don't
sit right well.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
And a lot of that goes back to we don't
manufacture anything in this country anymore, and what we do
have here is complete garbage. You know, it's it's and
it's funny. I can't wait to see the turnarounds as
they take the country back and it starts to make
sense again. I can't wait to see the turnaround in manufacturing,
to see if we actually start to make engine parts
(17:02):
here again and what.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
That will mean.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
And yeah, it would absolutely be great because it's just
the stuff coming in is just absolute, pure garbage. And
and I've set it for years, Tom, I've absolutely said
it for years. The quality of auto parts that we
have to deal with on a daily basis is an
absolutely a risk to national security because we can't keep
the fleet moving because we can't keep it safely on
(17:27):
the road as it ages, which requires everybody to be
in a new vehicle, which obviously not everybody can afford,
especially at the prices of cars today. So anyway, I
gotta run, Tom, I'm up against the clock. Listen, I
pay on it. You're very welcome, sir, carry on and
keep the faith, and you're very welcome.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You uh, you know, do what you do what I said,
and get yourself a V eight, get yourself a V
eight sparklog wire set and just trim the ends, and
I think you'll be just fine, you know.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
And you know, I got to tell you too, American Motors.
American Motors probably never made anything. They probably got it
from everybody else anyway, So it's just a matter of
figuring out who's wire they used. But I bet just
and Motor Products could help to I would take a
look there. I'm running any in the car doctor eight
five five five six zero nine nine yeow zero.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 7 (18:07):
Don't away.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
Welcome back, and here we are eight five five five
six zero nine nine years zero. You know, by the way,
the marketing guys for the merchandise website wanted me to
ask if anybody's got any ideas for a new product,
what would they like to see is put up there
on the card Doctor website, car Doctor logos on.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
You know, we've already gotten a couple of things, but
I'm curious what people are thinking and what they're looking
for us. So if you have some suggestions on clothing
or items or whatever ron at cardoctorshow dot com, just
drop me a line, and you know, get out there,
look at it. Click on the merchandise button at the
card Doctorshow dot com website and take a look in
there and what can we add? We're always looking to
(19:17):
improve and be better. So anyway, let's uh, I guess
the phones are still lit up? Huh gosh, I can't
get rid of these phones right people calling for it?
What do I think we're fixing cars? Ryan Tennessee, let's
go to Ryan and Tennessee. Ryan you're there.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Oh, yes, sir, Yes sir?
Speaker 1 (19:33):
How can I help you run an nian at your service?
Speaker 4 (19:37):
Yes? So I have a Ram fifteen hundred. It's a
twenty twelve model or two thousand two model. Excuse me, right,
I have a check engine light coming on about a
minute after I start my truck when it's cold, right,
and when that check engine light comes on, it runs
like it has bad gas in it for about thirty
(19:59):
seconds and the chick engine light goes off and it
runs just fine after that. Okay, Now I've already I've
already changed, you know, like the air filter, all the
common things. But I've did the plugs, I did the
coal packs, and I went as far as to change
the fuel pump because the pump and the filter they're both.
There's no inline filter on that truck.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Trouble code.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
I've got, I've got diagnosed grant on it, and it
said it was having a misfire.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Okay, So it's so it's it's reporting a misfire on
a cylinder? Do we know which? Do we know which cylinders?
Speaker 4 (20:41):
I do not?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
I don't, okay, And all you're getting is a random
misfire fault.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Yep?
Speaker 7 (20:47):
All right?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
And how did you.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Do a and I'm going to be specific here, how
did you pull the trouble code? Did you go in
under generic under OBD two or did you go look
at manufacturer Chrysler specific?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Are no?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Actually, uh, I mean I went to AutoZone. I got
them to run a diagnostic okay, and also my mechanic
and it came up the same code. And I looked
up the codes and it wasn't specific on which cylinder
it was miss firing.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
Okay, one code one code P zero three hundred yep, okay,
And that was that.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Was one of them. What are the other ones?
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Uh? I don't recall right off the top of my head.
I've got it wrote down in my truck, and I'm
not at my truck right now.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Okay. So there's a couple of ways.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, this injured mine.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
There's a couple of ways to approach this, Ryan, all right.
The point I'm trying to get at is, you know,
I don't consider a generic OBD two code scan enough
to start changing all the parts you changed, all right, Hyeah,
you kind of jumped the gun, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Let me, let me, let me.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
I mean, I've got one hundred and eighty thousand miles
on it, okay, period, and.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
You know, if it's if it's just been hey, everything
was original, and we want to just you know, shoot
the parts cannon.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
I get it.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
I'm okay with that, but just you know, here we
are and we still you know, now we've now we've
done the maintenance and we still don't have a truck
that's fixed. So now we need to know if we
were in the shop. I want to go backwards a second,
if we were in the shop, because you know, I
practice what I preach.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I'm not just up here talking head on radio.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
I've got I've got the cheapest OBD two scan tool
sitting by the door of the shop. Right Ryan comes in, Hey, Ron,
my check engine lights on. It's called d da da
da da da dah. I grab that tool because it's
the quickest, easiest I run after I go, Ryan, you
got a P zero three hundred. My next, my next comment,
I need to a catch it in the act. Be
go in and look your make model, all right, to
(22:38):
look to see is there anything Chrysler specific that would
tell me because cars speak two languages. Do you understand
why why I'm asking which version of scan.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
That you did?
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, okay, you.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Know I want to know to tell it ob D
two is one thing, to tell it two thousand and
two RAM fifteen hundred might give me more information, all right.
So that's always that for the sake of our conversation
here on radio, and just trying to educate everybody.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That's always important.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
The next thing I'm going to go look at is
and I don't think they will in two thousand and two,
but I'm curious by nature. I'm going to bring up
that a stream and I'm going to look to see
do I have any misfire PIDs? Can I see cylinders
misfiring by a diagnostic tool and narrow it down that way?
And if I can't see that, the next thing I'm
(23:25):
going to do is go look at something called mode six.
Any of this ring of bell? Anybody mentioned any of
this to you?
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (23:32):
No, no, not at all?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
So mode six? You ever get sick? I did?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
I was?
Speaker 5 (23:39):
I was sick last I was sick last week's show, Brother, Right,
I had I had?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
I had that head cold. We must have bumped into
each other.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
Right, you know? I felt good on Tuesday. Wednesday I
started to get a sore throat. Thursday I got the
uh uh. And by Friday, I'm like, this is going
to be a tough show to get through. But I
got through it right. So Wednesday my check engine light went.
On Thursday, my internals did a quick test, a Mode
six test, and I failed all the tests. And by
(24:09):
Thursday night I was sick. Cars do the same thing.
It will look at you on a day to day basis,
and it runs it self tests on a day to day,
minute by minute basis. Okay, The way it runs those
tests is in a section of its software called Mode six.
All right, it is where all it is where all
(24:31):
the self test data is stored. If we as human
if we if we as human beings can access the
doctor records, because you know, if we went to the
doctor every time, what do they always do? Heart rate,
blood pressure, breathe, you know, sometimes turn your head and cough,
you know that whole routine. Right, So Mode six, first
(24:51):
of all, we need we need a good quality scan tool, right,
and we're going to go in and we're going to
go look at Mode six data. And what we will see,
depending upon the tool and how the tool breaks it down,
is the binary language, the digital tests that the vehicle
computer does broken down at the common everyday language, and
we might see things like the misfires can occur. It
(25:15):
can't be more than four hundred. It's got a minimum
of four hundred, a maximum of sixty five thousand, and
we see the the test is right on the border
of failing at three ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
All right, gee, that's a problem.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
Or we'll see one particular test that it says it
can't have more than twenty seven thousand revolutions and a
max and a minimum of five thousand revolutions, and we're
at sixty five thousand revolutions.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
That's a problem. Right.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
It gives us the ability to look by category, all right,
by component and say, hey, what's flagging this, what's causing this?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
All right?
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Now, it didn't just come to that conclusion of P
zero three hundred misfire at random?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
All right?
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Oh no, I got the code and I you know,
I just I googled the code.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
Right, and and that's what I'm saying. But the car
computer didn't just come up with it. It has to
run those tests in order to tell it, tell you
and tell itself what's going on. You ever think of
how let's let's let's finish the conversation here. You ever
you ever think of how a misfire is detected and
just any engine?
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Oh no? Never? Never think?
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Can can can you walk? Can you can you walk correctly?
You have you have a cadence?
Speaker 8 (26:34):
Right?
Speaker 5 (26:34):
One, two, three, four, five six, Right? If you had
to get up out of a chair and walk to
the front door, and it was ten steps, you would
have ten even steps. Right, you don't stumble. If you
stumbled along the way and you know your your left
foot went up but it didn't go down as smooth,
your brain would record that and record that as a stumble.
A car computer does it by counting the degrees of rotation,
(26:58):
how fast and how smoothly it gets from one firing
event to the next.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
All right, So if the.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Firing order on an engine is one eight four to three, six, five, seven, two,
and cylinder one fires the time the crank shaft takes
to rotate around and bring number eight to firing position,
the length of time it takes to get from one
to eight is recorded eight four, then four, then three.
So the amount of time it takes to get there
in milliseconds is being recorded. If it sees one at
(27:27):
five milliseconds and one at ten milliseconds, that goes, wait
a minute, something happened. There's there's something not smooth there, right,
and it's going to start to look at those two
suspect cylinders, and it may either flag both of them,
one of them, or just a random P zero three hundred, depending.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Upon what it sees.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
So so as an example, all that data is recorded
in mode six.
Speaker 7 (27:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Yeah, I've never liked, I've never like had a diagnostic
on it while it was actually doing it.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
Okay, And that's fine, And you don't need to mode
six data Mode six data if you if you brought
it to the shop. And I'm not telling you to
drive from Tennessee, but I'm just saying, if you brought
it to if you brought it to the shop. We
started it from cold and it ran good, and then
two minutes into the cycle it started to run rough,
and then it straightened itself out. If we just plugged
(28:21):
in with a scan tool at that moment, we would
be able to read the mode six data. The problems
that occurred that key cycle are stored in history.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
They're stored.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
They're still there, all right, So it doesn't disappear, and
at least it gives its direction. Listen, there's three reasons
why an engine misfires, and then I gotta go ignition.
You just replaced everything, so on the on the on
the assumption that ignition is good, right, and that all
the components are good and installed correctly. Okay, right, you know,
(28:53):
et cetera. Then we're into either a fuel issue or
a mechanical issue. You know, could we have carbon deposits
on valves? Yeah, I guess it's possible.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
One hundred and eighty thousand miles a good fuel system
cleaning wouldn't hurt. But then we're down to, you know,
the the other more likely suspect. Do we have an
injector starting to fail? Do we have a computer not dry?
Speaker 7 (29:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Do we have a computer not driving?
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (29:20):
Right, So but before we start changing all the injectors,
please go do a mode six test?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
All right? All right, okay, and then we'll go from there.
I'm here if you need me, brother, all right, I'm
glad you god, You're very welcome, sir, you'll be well.
Take good care.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Ron on Aenie and the car doctor here A five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. We'll be
back right after this.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Taking Hey, let's uh.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
Let's go down and talk to Wes again in Tennessee.
Eighteen Kia, Sorrento West. What's going on? Rn on Indian
very sir, Yes, sir.
Speaker 8 (30:02):
Well about this eighteen kids Sorrento from my friend of
mine was a garage cap about a year and a
half ago, had twenty six thousand miles on it rung
great and everything. Then last winter we had a really
cold snap, got down to about five or six degrees,
car wood and Budge who wouldn't turn turn over, no click,
(30:23):
no nothing, but all the lights on the dash came
on when he turned the key. As soon as I
got up to about fourteen or fifteen degrees, fired right up,
no problem. The same thing happened again about two two
three weeks ago we got a got down about seven
or eight degrees. My daughter called me, went over there.
It was a sunny day. Afterwards, she keeps in a
(30:44):
car board. It was a garage cap previously. And I
pushed the car out in the sun an hour later,
fired right up.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
When it first of all, six cylinder, four cylinder? What
are we working on?
Speaker 8 (30:57):
I think it's a sixth it's the it's theda model whatever?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Sorry, does it have? And does it have? Does it
with or without? Smart? Key is without without? So this
is just a regular.
Speaker 7 (31:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:13):
It's got the key that pops out to push the
button and the key comes out of it. And I
had a cant both both I worked for a construction company.
We got a mechanic. Both times he came over, plugged
his computer up to it. He said, not a single code.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Show.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
Well, I don't think we're going to see codes. But
what I am curious to see. I can look at
cranking conditions, you know, I can look at I can
look at data stream and see. First of all, does
the does the p C m C the transactual range switch,
the t R S, which is the park neutral drive
(31:47):
switch that sits on top of the transfer, on top
of the trans itself. Does it see that in park
or neutral?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
When I commit? When I when I, you know, shifted
in an out of gear?
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Because if if for some reason, for example, it's like
put a car in reverse, put an automatic and reverse,
what happens you create the same condition. Right, it won't crank,
You'll have dashlights, but it won't crank, and it won't
set a code. So if it thinks the cars in
the wrong gear, it's not going to enable it all right,
that's number one. That's that's easy. And then if I
(32:18):
can catch it in the act, go look at the
rest of it. There is there should be a what
we call a starter enabled PID or a starter enabled
piece of data, and it will tell it starter enabled yes.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
No.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
And the easiest thing is take a look at this
when the car's working. Don't wait till it's broke, you know,
look and see what data is available, and then write
it down. Take a picture of it with your cell phone,
so the next time it happens you can just set
the tool up real quick and go back and look,
do I have this?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Do I have that?
Speaker 5 (32:48):
Because the problems trying to catch us well, picture of
the dish doesn't help me. Picture of the dish doesn't
tell me anything. That just tells me dashlights are on.
A picture of the tool and the setup will keep
it on the front, forefront of your mind as far
as what pieces of information we're looking for last under
the hood, real quick, I'll tell you what. Sit tight,
(33:09):
let me pull over, take this pause. I don't want
to rush this. Well, come back, we'll finish up. I'm
running ny in the car.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Doctor.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
We'll return right after this. Don't go anywhere West, okay, Wes,
you're there, Wes. Okay, So so listen, I only got
(33:35):
a couple of minutes. Let's just be real quick. When
this happens again. Or have you done this? Have you
cycled it out of park and to reverse back into
park again?
Speaker 8 (33:47):
Well, the last time I did because I put it
neutral the back of our carport and put it back
and drive.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
And it's still in park and still didn't start right away.
All right, So that's that's step one. You know, Do
we have a sticking cold older you know? Park neutral switch?
Just let's do simple first, right, Let's let's think we
do we possibly have a bad starter? Do we have
a problem with the what we call the start fuse?
(34:15):
So I want to talk about the start fuse first.
The start fuse is the middle of that side of
the circuit. The start fuse is seven and a half amps.
It's located behind the left end of the dash in
the module that's there. All right, I want to go
to that fuse. Does that Does that fuse have power
to it?
Speaker 1 (34:37):
You know? It's it's as simple as that.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
It's it's probably the most critical fuse in the system
because it brings power down that leg.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So can I test there?
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Can I put a test point there outside the dash
so that when it happens, I.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Can get to it real quick with a vault meter.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
Last, at the starter, the blue wire, the solenoid feed.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Do I have power at that solenoid feed.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
If I have power at that solenoid feed and power
at the battery stud itself, I've got a bad starter, brother.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
It's just that simple.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
But you know, can I get to that as a
test point and test it quickly when the problem happens.
Those are the two things I'd look at. I'm running
AD in the car doctor till the next time. The
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
See ye
Host
Ron Ananian
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!