In this episode of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron shares a story about a longtime customer, Larry, who recently decided to purchase a classic car. Initially, Larry was interested in a 1963 Corvette, but he ended up buying a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle instead. Although Ron was initially skeptical about Larry's choice, Larry was drawn to the Beetle after seeing its restoration. The car had some issues when it came to the shop, including needing an oil change and a broken horn.
Ron explains how fixing the horn was trickier than expected due to the car's outdated wiring system. He shares how the horn system works with just two wires and how the problem was ultimately traced back to loose spade terminals that needed cleaning and tightening. The simplicity of older cars is highlighted when Ron compares the Beetle’s two-page wiring diagram to the complexity of modern vehicles. Ron reflects on the nostalgia and joy that old cars like Larry’s bring, emphasizing how classic cars are more than just transportation—they hold sentimental value and remind people of simpler times.
Later in the show, Ron offers advice on a brake issue for a listener with a 2011 Ford Edge. Despite replacing the master cylinder and rear calipers, the listener still had a spongy brake pedal. Ron suggests that the issue might be with the ABS control unit, which often gets overlooked. He advises performing an ABS bleed and, if necessary, replacing the ABS unit. Ron concludes by discussing the importance of regular brake fluid maintenance to avoid similar problems in the future.
Lastly, Ron answers an email from a listener named Dave, whose friend is concerned about a coolant service being recommended by a Toyota dealer for a 2023 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. Ron clarifies that the coolant in the inverter cooling system is likely the same Toyota Super Long Life coolant used in the rest of the cooling system, and suggests waiting until the car reaches around 60,000 miles for this service.
In summary, the episode covers stories about classic car repairs, advice on brake maintenance, and clarification on coolant servicing for hybrid vehicles. Ron emphasizes the importance of regular maintenance and how older cars continue to evoke strong memories.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ron An Indian, battery's got a standing voltage of twelve
point three volts. Wait a minute, it's got eleven point
four volts. Wait a minute, it's got ten and a
half folds. Wait a minute, it's got twelve and a
half folds. The battery voltage is changing by the second
as I'm watching it on the meter, I'm going, Okay,
what do you want to be? Oh yeah, the car Doctor.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, here are what we ended up finding out.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
We find out my friend that barbed the.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Car jumped his wife's car, and he hooked up the
jumper gave.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Us the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh boy, and we assume deep ride the computer.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome to the radio home of ron An Aanian, 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.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Up the phone and call in. The garage doors are open,
but I am here to take your calls at eight
five five five six ninety nine hundred and now peers running.
Larry came to me a couple of weeks ago, and
Larry's a longtime customer. At the shop, and we really
like Larry. He's funny and he's he's on point on
(01:12):
a lot of things, and you know, he understands car
repair to the point of why you do what you
do and why you have to do it the way
you do it. And he said to me, you know, Ron,
and Larry's older. I've got to preface this. Okay, Larry's
retired now. And you know he came to me a
couple of six seven months ago and he said, you know, Ron,
I'm thinking of buying a classic car. Yeah, okay, I
can understand that. He says, I need something, you know,
(01:34):
something I can tinker with and you know, motor around
and you have some fun with. And I said, sure,
you what are you thinking of buying? Larry? He said, well,
the first car on my wish list is an old
school Corvette, like a sixty three split window VET. And
I was like, wow, Larry, that's great. I mean classic,
you know, talk about something that defined a generation. A
sixty three split window Vet, instantly identifiable, very clear what
(01:59):
you're driving, you know, great value. You've got to find
a nice one, he says. Yeah. He says, I've really
been looking hard and said I think I really found
a nice one. Yeah, because I knew there was a
butt here. You know, there's always a when they just
he said, but the guy also has this, and I went,
uh uh, he's also got this really cool sixty seven Volkswagon.
(02:20):
I went, oh, no, I don't know why it's with
you Vokeswagon people. You're all nuts. Danny's the same way.
My Danny's got an eighty seven VW cabriolet convertible, which
is up for sale by the way, if anybody's looking
for one. And he's now into a Toyota pickup truck.
But Larry was just like, oh, this Volkswagon is so
cool and you got to see it and it's a
(02:41):
great you know, they did a nice restoration and YadA.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah. Needless to say, he bought the Volkswagon. I'm not
sure what prompted it. It wasn't money, it wasn't it
wasn't anything else other than he said that car really
talked to me. I don't know what the world's coming
to anymore when a Volkswagon speaks louder than split windows
sixty three event. But in any event, so Larry's been
(03:05):
motoring around in the car and yes, Tom, Danny's chick
Magnet is up for sale. Tom's asking me that the
Volkswagon's up forcill. Yep, it's just you know, he's into
something else now. But it's a nice car. Danny's Folkswagen's
a Q car. It's you know, if you're looking for
a convertible and it's a stick. They didn't make any sticks.
This was a converted car made into a five speed stick.
I believe it's a five speed. But anyway, I'm with
(03:27):
my other story. See Volkswagen stories. Volkswagens just generate stories.
It's just so. Larry's car showed up at the shop
this week. He had some complaints. He needed an oil
change because he didn't know when it was changed last,
and the oil was really thick and black and ugly.
And it is a nice car, I have to say.
It rides really well. You wouldn't know it's a nineteen
sixty seven Volkswagon. You wouldn't know it's a nineteen sixty
(03:49):
seven anything. It holds the road really well, it tracks
really well. It's come and do for some tires and things.
Larry's going to go and try and find tires. He
wants to put thin white wall tires in a Volkswagen Beetle.
I mean, he's just I don't know he's going in
for a look. But he telling me all the stories
about how everybody waves at him and just oh, I
had a Volkswagon once, and I don't get it. I
(04:10):
just don't see the fascination. But in any event, the
horn didn't work. So, you know, Larry said, can you
fix the horn? And you know, I've got a couple
of lights out, and there's a couple of odds and
ends here and there, and he gave me the list
and we went through the list and we fixed everything
relatively basic, straightforward stuff, except for the horn. The horn
was the boondoggle. And it became that because the technology
(04:34):
is so old and it's so simple. You forget the
way Volkswagon did it back well, they probably did it
right up until they stopped making the beetle. Was there
were only two wires that powered the horn. There was
a hot lead came out of the fuse box down
that went down to one leg of the horn, and
then there was the ground leg. The ground leg came out,
came up to the steering column and it clipped onto
(04:58):
a spade terminal at the bottom of the sh steering
column and that was the ground leg. And then they
ran a wire down the center of the steering shaft
that came out and grounded to the steering coupling, all right,
and it connected there and then they expected that to
provide ground coming back up the column, so that when
(05:19):
you blew the horn, when the horn button made contact,
it completed the ground between the two brown wires and
the horn should blow. Well, the problem is the vehicle
was restored, so now all bets are off. And you know,
one of the weaknesses of this car, and I see
this on a lot of Volkswagon restorations, frankly, is the
(05:41):
wiring harnesses. Really it seems like they're still using the
original harnesses, which isn't a big deal except that, well,
they should actually change it, in my opinion. And it's
not that hard of Volkswagon harness is all one piece
in sixty seven. It's just everything from front to back,
and there are reproduction harnesses out there. And now all
these wires are getting brittle and corroded and knocked about.
But they didn't have a lot of Larry's harness tucked
(06:03):
in place. It was in the wrong places. They ran
hot leads through grounded you know, push them into clips
metal bent over clips that would ground it and possibly
cause a shorter or possibly cause a fire. And we
tried to correct as much of that as we could,
as much as what we saw. And in the end,
Larry's problem was simply the spade terminals. The two ground
(06:23):
lugs going to the base of the column, going to
the top of the column were loose. They were on.
They went on with tension, but if you wiggled them,
you could voltage drop across them and see the connection
go good to bad. And it was just a simple
matter of take it apart, sand each spade terminal, clean
(06:43):
up each push on portion of the spade, tighten it,
put it on so it's now tight, and we coated
each one with a little bit of yellow grease to
prevent any future corrosion. And you know, it was so simple,
it was so simple. It was difficult, right, It was
such a simple fix. It was hard because you're looking
at where's the computer and where's the relay, and you know,
where's the four miles of wiring diagram. I printed out
(07:08):
the wiring diagram for this Volkswagen Mitchell. Thank god for
Mitchell and their older car section of wiring. I printed
out the wiring diagram for a sixty seven Volkswagen Beetle
out of their online section. Anybody want to guess how
many pages it takes for a Volkswagen wiring diagram nineteen
sixty seven? No, Tom too, It actually took two pages
(07:29):
front to back. Now they split it in the middle, right,
so you know, they split the pages. This is the
front half of the car. This is the back half
of the car. Today that's probably two hundred pages. And
it's just it's staggering how simple cars were forty five
fifty years ago. It really is, you know, I don't I.
(07:49):
I was telling Tom this before I went on air today.
I discovered a new TV show today. You ready, my
new favorite TV show, The Rockford Files. I never saw it.
I'd heard about it off and on, but I never
saw it, and I actually watched it today. Actually, before
we went on air, I was just scrolling around Amazon
waiting for the show to begin, and I started watching
The Rockford Files about an hour earlier. And the best
(08:12):
thing about that show, well, it's a good show. I'm
not saying it isn't. But one of the best things
about that show is the cars that are in it.
Holy caw. You look at the variety of cars and
a ton of oaks wagons. I noticed that right off
the bat. There's a beetle on every corner in the
Rockford Files. And that was California back in the seventies, right.
But the really fascinating thing is looking at the variety
(08:34):
of cars and the colors of the cars. Red, green, yellow, orange.
There was hardly a black car or a white car.
And look at what's out on the road. Everything today
is black, white, some cross section. Every once in a
while you see a blue or a yellow. GM's got
some neat colors in their truck line, you know, some
(08:54):
steel grays and some silvers, but not the one I'll
call the concophony, the mixture of bright colors that we
had forty or fifty years ago. I want to you know,
they say that's a sign of the times, right. You
can look at the color of cars that people are driving.
But just a look down memory lane, just a look
at where it was and how simple it was. It
was so simple, it was complicated, and Larry's happy. I
(09:18):
got to tell you. He got his car back, he's
got his horn. Beep beep. You know, he had so
much fun blowing the horn pulling out of the parking lot.
He's so excited. I never saw a sixty eight year
old guy drinking eat beep, beep beep. He's just thrilled.
It's like, you know, it's like a kid at Christmas
driving his Volkswagon Beetle. And I'm thinking, I don't know,
sixty three Corvette's got to be way cooler. But what
(09:39):
do I know? I get it. You know, And this
is probably the biggest deal of this whole conversation, is
that old cars give us memories, and that's what makes
them so vital. They are an important part of American culture.
They are so vital to us. I don't think, and
I've said this to you before, and I've he said
(10:00):
it a lot of times. I don't think thirty or
forty years from now, where everybody's going to go. Man,
I drove the coolest twenty twenty three Toyota Camery in
the whole world. You're gonna say it was reliable, and
you're gonna say it was a good car, but you're
gonna also say it was too expensive and it was
just a car, And that says a lot about the
time period that these older cars came from. There was
(10:21):
a there was a mechanical sense that I think we're
all lacking, that we're all looking for. My friend Kenny
is giving up his twenty ten Ford Explorer and I'll
leave it here so we can move on. But Kenny's
gonna finally get rid of his twenty ten Ford Explore.
It's got one hundred and seventy five thousand miles on
it and the chassis starting to ride away from the body,
and he's like, yeah, I got to give it up.
(10:42):
He says, what do you think I should buy? And
we kind of went over the list, and you know,
he said it. He goes but you know, he says nothing.
He says anything up to this point that I've looked at.
He says, nothing's exciting. Nothing really, you know, makes me
feel good about climbing into It just becomes transportation. I
wonder if that's what we need. I wonder if we
(11:02):
need more vehicles that aren't so much just transportation but
just a sheer joy to drive. Food for thought. Car companies,
are you listening? Eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. I'm running any in the car, doctor,
I'll be back right after this. Little gto need advice
(11:35):
on how to maintain that classic gt O.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Ron is the guy eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Here's Ron.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Let's let's answer some emails. The phone number if you
want to get in, by the way, is eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. Keep in
mind that's twenty four seven eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's twenty four to seven.
As I said, you can call, leave a message and
we will call you back and get you in the
qu for the next live broadcast. A little warm today,
so we may be light on phone calls if you
(12:04):
want to get in. I noticed T shirt sales went
up this week. That means everybody's getting ready for summer.
So you know, if you want a T shirt cardoctorshow
dot com, click on the merchandise button. Let's let's let's go.
Let's here's one from Frank. Frank wrote in he said, Ron,
I've got a twenty eleven Ford Edge three point five
liters fron wheel drive. The brake pedal feels spongy. I
(12:26):
had the master cylinder replaced and the rear calipers replaced.
He bled the brakes, he used over two gallons of
break fluid, and he still can't find the problem. Can
you help sure, you know, and let me just cover
the bases this way, Frank, you know, is it? Is
it a case of you know, obviously there's no leaks
in the system, so you know, we got to work
our way out. There's no leaks in the system. He
(12:47):
put a master on it. He did rear calipers. I'm
not sure why. I'm were they leaking? Were they not
adjusting properly? This should be a vehicle with a parking
break built into the rear calipers, so they were prone
to leak. They were also prone to stick on the slides,
and that's important to note. And that hopefully the front
calibers are okay. So if if we want to say
(13:09):
that front calibers are good, back calibers are now good.
Because he changed the minutes, he did a master. There's
not much else this can be. If it was bled
properly and you've got solid fluid at all four wheels,
I'm going to tell you it's one of two things.
I'm going to tell you. It's likely either the ABS
control unit needs to have a bleed done to it,
(13:30):
which requires a scan tool. Okay, there's a specific procedure
on how to do this where you will do a
you call it an initialization or call it an ABS
bleed where they will activate the ABS control solenoids and
valves and they will actually burp the air or any
air that might have gotten trapped in that unit. Or
(13:50):
it's a bad ABS controller and the hydraulic side has failed.
I've had this. I've had this issue more time than
I care to remember. Here's the scenario, an older vehicle
and I see a lot with Forge, but I've also
seen it on Toyota's I've also seen it on GM products.
So it's not just a Ford exclusive problem where you
will get a crumby brake pedal and everybody goes through
(14:14):
the basics. They think Master fine, they think they think calipers.
They see an issue, they'll start changing parts and they
never resolve it. Master cylinder is a good place to
start when you don't see anything, and I'll tell you
why in my experience, when the Master doesn't fix it,
that points even more towards the ABS control unit. Did
(14:35):
you change a master cylinder that didn't need to be changed. Nah,
not in my opinion, because I would be willing to
bet that because in your case, it's fifteen years old.
But I've also seen this on twenty year old vehicles
that the brake fluid is probably dirty. It's probably pretty
dirty and crumbings and scummy looking for lack of a
(14:56):
non technical for lack of a technical term, and it's
absorbed more more than its fair amount of moisture because
the system probably wasn't properly flushed as maintenance because break
bleeding and break flushing is an important part of the
maintenance schedule and has been for the past twenty years,
and the system corrodes internally. So what happens is you
(15:17):
get to the point where you say, hey, it's either
a master or an ABS control unit. How do you
decide which? I don't think you have to. I think
you're either going to do both. You know, first you're
going to try an ABS bleed, as I pointed out,
But when you're down to the components, it's either you're
going to do both. You're either going to do a
master in an ABS unit together, or you're going to
start with a master and when that doesn't fix it,
you're going to do the ABS unit. And I'll tell
(15:38):
you why doing that master first is so important. Most
of these ABS control units are between fifteen and fifteen
hundred and two thousand dollars. You're not going to put
an on average eighteen hundred dollars break system component in
a system if you can find one, right, because that's
the other part of this conversation. This is a fifteen
(16:00):
year old vehicle. I'd be I'd be mildly surprised if
for it still manufactures the ABS control unit for this,
all right, And you're not going to put that part
on If you've got dirty fluid from an older master,
and you can, you can flush that master all you want,
you never quite get it as clean as it needs
(16:22):
to be. And we're talking about grit and contaminant at
a microscopic level. So when you consider the price of
that ABS control unit, if you can find one, you're
just better off. Just you know, find if you can
find a master cylinder, and that's a whole other conversation,
put a fresh Master in it, fresh fluid, bleed it
out and do the ABS unit, and you should find
(16:46):
this to be fixed. Like I said, I would start
with an ABS bleed do it by scan tool. You'll
need to. And once you get that done and everything's
routed right, there's no leaks. You verified front calibers, you
verified real caliper's, proper parts, good hoses. You know it's
fifteen years old. Now you know it's it's going to
(17:07):
be an ABS unit and you're gonna be shocked when
it fixes it because it's just it's something you just
never stop to think of. That ABS unit is in
bypass mode. It's stuck in bypass and that's what's causing
the crummy brake pedal. And for the record, I've done these,
and when I do these, I will take the ABS
control unit apart and you'll never see anything. It looks
(17:30):
whistle clean in there. You know, there's not there's not
a lot of indicators as to why. But it fixes
it every time. It's one of those here's a classic
example of tell me what's good, I'll tell you what's bad,
and here's how we're going to fix it. Kind of
a thing. And you know, I've had it happened to
me more than a few times. In my career. We're
doing so and makes a great break pedal. And again
(17:54):
this makes the argument for doing a four wheel bleed
and flush every couple of years as part of a
maintenance package. That important, you know, especially when you see
the price of that ABS control unit. As I pointed out.
But before I go any further, I'd love to see
what parts are available and work your way out from there,
because if they're not, you've got to find parts on
(18:15):
the in case of before you get too deep into this, Frank,
I hope that works for you. I'm ron an Indie
in the car doctor. I'll be back right after this.
(18:43):
There's no need to ron an Inian is here. Absolutely,
that's what Ronan Inian does. He shows up and he
fixes cars. And let's keep going with emails. Phone number
once again, five six zero nine nine zero zero. Baseball
season must be in start. Everybody forgot about radio. Hello,
(19:06):
ron I have a friend who calls me regularly while
he is having his two year old Toyota hybrid vehicle
service to a Toyota dealer in Chicago. Let me start
this again. This comes with from Dave. Hello, ron I
have a friend who calls me regularly while he is
having his two year old Toyota Hybrid Vehicles vehicles service
to a Toyota dealer in Chicago, or as they say,
(19:27):
I'm married with children in Chicago. This one is his
wife's twenty twenty three Highlander with forty six thousand miles
on it. The dealer wants to do a coolant service.
I suggested not until sixty one thousand miles. But the
one I have a question about is they want to
do a coolant service for the inverter cooling system. What
knowledge do you have that I can tell him? Thanks
(19:47):
Dave and Norway, Maine. We'll look at this. We're going
from New Jersey to Maine to Chicago. Well, you know, Dave,
I question that it's a two year old vehicle with
less than fifty thousand mile on it, and the inverter,
to my knowledge, has the same Toyota Super Long Life
coolant in it that the rest of the cooling system has.
(20:08):
I would agree with you. Sixty thousand seems like a
reasonable substitute. They seem to be putting on a lot
of miles. Could just stretch that coolant life out to
the eighty to one hundred thousand mile mark. Sure, that's considered.
Toyota considers that ten year on hundred thousand mile coolant,
which I don't understand because after it goes that ten
(20:28):
year one hundred thousand mile cycle, then it's five years
or sixty. And I think because they're assuming or trying
to make us believe that the cooling system is a
little more contaminated at that point for miles in longevity,
and they want a shorter coolant cycle. You know, if
it was me, I stayed at the five and sixty,
and I see cars go longer down the road, which
is what this is all about.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I still think manufacturers. I still think manufacturers alter maintenance
schedules to promote a no maintenance you know, Carnival breaks
it anything. And I'll believe that when they close the
service departments, which we know is never going to happen.
So I liked I like sixty. I would ask the
dealer why forty six thousand miles on it is? Is
(21:12):
it a slow day in Chicago. We've got nothing else
to fix, you know? Or did they did they do
some sort of a coolant test strip process, you know,
where we test stripped the coolant and we looked at
acidity and it came back with the highest city level.
Those things we did in missus Kluch's science class in
the tenth grade. We learned about a cidity and base
(21:34):
and pH and all that other nonsense. Of course, I
want to know why also two years, forty six thousand
miles on it is the coolant service under warranty? Because
what's the warranty on that vehicle? Is it is coolant
fluid service? Since there she looks if they look in
the owner's manual, and here's the point I'm trying to make.
If they look in the owner's manual, they're going to
(21:55):
tell them it's not at forty six thousand miles and
two years old. It's probably going to be at the
least five and sixty, but I believe it's going to
be ten and one hundred thousand miles. So the fact
that they want to do it after two years and
forty six thousand miles, is there a problem? Did the
coolant strip come back and show acidity? And if it
is acidic, why and is that problem under warranty? The
(22:18):
whole thing sounds fishy. Dave, All right, I'm gonna be
honest with you. It just it just doesn't make sense
unless they can tell me that. You know, they know
in Chicago for whatever reason. You know, because of the
environment the vehicle is operated in, because environment always plays
a role in how often a vehicle gets maintained or
(22:41):
how a vehicle gets maintained. Let me correct myself, how
a vehicle gets maintained. So I think that unless they
can support this, I think your friend's getting served the
bolooney sandwich at a dollar fifty nine pounds, and you know,
I hope he enjoys the lunch because it doesn't make
any sense. I would opt for sixty thousand. But if
(23:04):
they're doing so many miles, you know, and if they're
going to get the sixty thousand next year, that's three
years and sixty thousand miles. I don't think the cool
has been in there long enough to get contaminated or
beat up again. I would I would revert to pH
testing using a cool and dipstrip, which is what we
do all the time in the shop when we have
our debts. You know, that one just doesn't make any
(23:25):
sense to me, buddy, So I would be cautious because
you might be spending money you don't need to spend
right now. Another one. Hey, Ron, I'm thinking of buying
a twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three Honda CRV.
We did the recall or they did the recall? Oh?
Did the recall? I'm sorry, I'm reading this wrong. Did
the recall fix the steering sticky steering issue or was
(23:47):
it just smoke? Are there other issues with this vehicle?
I think the sticky steering issue is fixed, and I've
seen some good results with it. As far as what
Honda's saying, Tom's riding me Blooney's ten ninety nine pounds.
You know, you're probably right, Tom as I was expecting
that as I was saying that I'm saying, and I've
(24:08):
been telling that story that way for a long time.
It shows you how long I've been on radio. So
let's go with ten dollars. Look up, it's a local
grocery store. It's ten ninety nine pounds. Well, you know,
I'm thinking of the tariffs, right, that's the tariff price.
I'm pre tariff. So let's let's see what it goes to. Now,
fourteen dollars a pound for boloni? Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
We're getting served a lot of Bolognia. I think sometimes
(24:30):
I'm thinking of buying a twenty two Honda. Back to this.
Thanks for all of your advice, Bob. You know what, Bob,
I think there's not a lot else that I know
about with that CRV. They're pretty good cars, all right,
All kidding around the side, Let's go back to I
think Hand is a decent car company. I don't think
it's the car company it was ten years ago. I
don't think any car company is the company it was
(24:51):
ten years ago, because I think they were making better
cars in some areas and some aspects ten years ago.
And you know that things have changed a lot in
the last ten years. And you know, I think that
the electronics have complicated things. I think the degree of
electronics has made cars. You know, it's funny. I open
the show talking about more mechanical types of vehicles, and
(25:13):
I think the electronics have made cars less mechanical. And
I think that less mechanical approach is affecting the quality
of the cars because there's there's so much you know,
the circumference of problems grows, the diameter of problems increases
with it, and it just becomes more and more difficult
to fix. I think whatever you buy, all right, whether
(25:35):
it be that Honda CRV or whether it be something else,
I would be more concerned. Can your mechanic, if you've
got an independent mechanic and independent shop, can he deal
with it? Or do you like the dealership that you
buy it from, are they going to deal with it?
What's their service department's rating? And by all means, because
of the electronics on that car, I would look into
(25:56):
and consider putting a service policy on it and develop
a relationship with that dealership because I think I think
the most important part about fixing a car today is
always has been the relationship. And you know, I think
that a repair shop, whether it says Honda or Bob's
Garage over the doorway, relishes that relationship if they're smart
(26:16):
and they maintain that customer and take care of that
customer and do what they're supposed to do, because you know,
it's it's about the relationship in business today as it
was yesterday and we'll be in the future. So just
just my two cents, buy it. If you like it, Bob,
just make sure the place that you're taking it to
get fixed can fix it, and you know, be aware.
(26:36):
So eight five five five six zero nine nine zero
zero eight five five five six zero nine nine zero
zero runnnading the car doctor. I'm back right after this?
(26:58):
Look back, aren't the car doctor? Let's go over to
Mike and Delaware. Mike, Welcome to the card doctor. Sir,
how can I help?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Hey? You going runs? Mike? I got a question. I'm
kind of like doing some upkeep on my ninety two
Ford Ranger, and I'm going to change the well it's
never been replaced fuel injection. And then while I got
the top intake plantum or in upper intake. All the
question is the reason why I hadn't taken off because
(27:28):
you couldn't get to the right bank. Uh, spark plug?
Why did they make eight eight spark slugs for four?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yes? Was that? Well? They they you know, the issue
there is they couldn't achieve emissions firing one plug per
cylinder once, so they didn't. They didn't.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
They didn't.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
They didn't have the technology for multi strike ignition like
they developed later on. Because if you noticed, that twin
plug per cylinder routine went away after a while because
they developed better ignition systems and you know, they could
they could move the technology inside the ignition module and
the computer and make it with electronics. So a twin
(28:10):
plug per cylinder set up will be more complete in
combustion and therefore put less pollutant out the tailpipe. So
you know, following I think somewhere around ninety four ninety
five that was gone by OBD two, that was gone
and that shows you the advancements in technology. But it
(28:32):
was all about emissions, Mike, That's what they were chasing,
you know, that's what they were chasing. So as always
that they're always chasing.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Game.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Yeah, you bring back memories and you're a big inter.
You show you or your friend Bonum folkswagon.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, yeah, it's that's go ahead.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Got another question on this ranger. I know to OBD one,
all I got is a code reader. It pulls up
the codes. Does the check engine light when you just
turn the ignition on and it's supposed to come on?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yes, in bulb in bulb check Absolutely you turn that.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
If the vehicle's been sitting off any length of time, uh,
you know, and typically longer than thirty seconds, turn the key,
just cycle the key, but don't crank it. You should
see the check engine light as well as other check
engine as well as other dishboard lights come on. We
call that bulb check all right, Oh okay, so.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
You know, like say the check engine, what did come on?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Then?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
I don't even use the truck on the weekend. It's
it's my beat truck right now, right, And I noticed
I don't know if the ball went out on the
check engine lights instrument panel or what.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Well does the light ever come on at all?
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Uh? It sounds like that.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
And I got to take it through inspection in Delaware. Yeah, well,
good thing they don't have to plug it in. I'll
get on that year. It's a sniffer test.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Right yeah, right, Well, it may you know, if there's
something wrong with it. Let's let me say it like this,
that the check engine light is monitoring the emissions and
it's it's doing what it's supposed to do. So there
may be a problem in the truck that the dash
light would be on. You just don't know it because
the bulb is burnt out or it's missing. So you know,
(30:25):
I would run through keon engine off, keon engine running,
and continuous memory fault codes the old style forward tests,
and look to see does the system have any faults
in it. If the system has faults in it, then
at least you know what you're dealing with. If the
system doesn't have faults in it, it might behoove you to,
you know, pull the dash panel out, put a bulb in,
because I don't remember it being I think it's I
(30:45):
think it's a one ninety four bulb if I remember, right, Oh, okay,
you know, I don't think I don't think it's anything fancy.
And then you can at least have the indicator working
like supposed to, you know, in Jersey, in New Jersey,
as I think most states. If this was an O
B D two vehicle, if we cycle the key on,
we have to see a check engine light that's bulb test.
(31:06):
Otherwise that vehicle would fail inspection. So just be aware
of that before you go.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
All right, yeah, I'm well, I'll listen to you every
every Saturday, mambe talking about the hubid ones you snap
on you calling it the.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Brick, the brick yep yep ye, which those you know, Mike,
those are those are available on you know, those are
available up on eBay and other places that you could
buy one of those and they'd be a great tool.
For that truck. Just make sure you get the ford
Eke adapters for it. They'll be shaped like that diagnostic
plug you have out under the out under the hood,
(31:41):
and you know that's a great tool for that vehicle.
And you can read. You can get those relatively cheap.
You can read data stream as well as trouble codes.
You know, if that's going to be something you're going
to be hanging on to for a while. So appreciate
the call, Mike. Always a pleasure to talk to you.
I'm running eni in the car. Doctor. I'm back right
after this, and here we are as we kind of
(32:12):
wind down this hour. Just one last thought for Mike
and Delaware. Mike, if you're still listening, you know we're
talking about your ninety two Ranger and you're getting it
ready for inspection in Delaware and they're going to do
a sniffer test. You may want to do this. You
may want to go out to CRC Industries dot com
take a look at CRCs Guaranteed to Pass a Missions
(32:33):
System cleaner. It comes in a twelve ounce bottle. It
is a very high solvent solution detergent cleaner for cleaning
older fuel systems. Works on newer ones too, But it's
what it strives to do is clean up catalytic converters,
carbon deposits and fuel deposits in the system. But it
will help to clean up older catalytic converters and restore
(32:56):
them to a better operating condition. You know, Mike, concern
with your truck is you don't have a check engine
light coming on, So are there fault codes in it?
As I pointed out during our call, So you know,
that becomes the priority. But if you can't, you know,
get the bulb to work, and if it doesn't matter
at this point and you don't have fault codes, but
you're just counting on the vehicle to pass on its own,
(33:20):
and I suspect there's a problem, which is why you
were changing the fuel injectors. Consider using CRC Guaranteed to
pass emission systems. They do offer money back guarantees. You've
got to use it, I think three or four times.
I forget what the footnote said, but you can find
it on their website CRC Industries dot com. And perhaps
that'll be a better way for you to go in
terms of getting through inspection. And you know, I can
(33:41):
drive that ninety two Ranger a little bit longer. You know,
it's hard right that we drive older cars and we're
trying to get them through because the next thing he's
going to run into, Mike is going to run into.
To be clear, is what parts are available for that
ninety two, ninety two, two thousand and two, twenty twelve,
two thousand. We thirty ago, you know, we're thirty years ago,
(34:03):
you know, thirty three years ago. You know, there's probably
not a lot of quality parts left for a vehicle
that age. And the fact is to replace that little,
you know, small pickup truck, which, in all fairness, I've
got to tell you the Ranger. I still have my
eighty seven. What do I have? I have a ninety
seven Ranger. I'm sorry, my ninety seven Ranger. It's a
(34:25):
cute little truck. And you know, even the small trucks
of today are one and a half times the size
of that. So I kind of just I don't want
to get rid of it. Oh my god, have I
become a Volkswagen owner? Is Is it that bad? I
just I love it beyond the side of what it is.
Maybe I should fix the crooked bumper up front. The
bumper is bent on the Ranger. But that's another story
(34:46):
for another day on how that happened. So, Mike, if
you're out there, I wish you the best with your
ninety two Ranger and I hope you continue to enjoy it. Wow,
I think a Volkswagen owner. Oh my god, I'm not
an ady in the car doctor. I know that. I'm
here to remind you one more time. Like always, good
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. Let's see you, m
Ron An Indian, battery's got a standing voltage of twelve
point three volts. Wait a minute, it's got eleven point
four volts. Wait a minute, it's got ten and a
half folds. Wait a minute, it's got twelve and a
half folds. The battery voltage is changing by the second
as I'm watching it on the meter, I'm going, Okay,
what do you want to be? Oh yeah, the car Doctor.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, here are what we ended up finding out.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
We find out my friend that barbed the.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Car jumped his wife's car, and he hooked up the
jumper gave.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Us the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh boy, and we assume deep ride the computer.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome to the radio home of ron An Aanian, 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.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Up the phone and call in. The garage doors are open,
but I am here to take your calls at eight
five five five six ninety nine hundred and now peers running.
Larry came to me a couple of weeks ago, and
Larry's a longtime customer. At the shop, and we really
like Larry. He's funny and he's he's on point on
(01:12):
a lot of things, and you know, he understands car
repair to the point of why you do what you
do and why you have to do it the way
you do it. And he said to me, you know, Ron,
and Larry's older. I've got to preface this. Okay, Larry's
retired now. And you know he came to me a
couple of six seven months ago and he said, you know, Ron,
I'm thinking of buying a classic car. Yeah, okay, I
can understand that. He says, I need something, you know,
(01:34):
something I can tinker with and you know, motor around
and you have some fun with. And I said, sure,
you what are you thinking of buying? Larry? He said, well,
the first car on my wish list is an old
school Corvette, like a sixty three split window VET. And
I was like, wow, Larry, that's great. I mean classic,
you know, talk about something that defined a generation. A
sixty three split window Vet, instantly identifiable, very clear what
(01:59):
you're driving, you know, great value. You've got to find
a nice one, he says. Yeah. He says, I've really
been looking hard and said I think I really found
a nice one. Yeah, because I knew there was a
butt here. You know, there's always a when they just
he said, but the guy also has this, and I went,
uh uh, he's also got this really cool sixty seven Volkswagon.
(02:20):
I went, oh, no, I don't know why it's with
you Vokeswagon people. You're all nuts. Danny's the same way.
My Danny's got an eighty seven VW cabriolet convertible, which
is up for sale by the way, if anybody's looking
for one. And he's now into a Toyota pickup truck.
But Larry was just like, oh, this Volkswagon is so
cool and you got to see it and it's a
(02:41):
great you know, they did a nice restoration and YadA.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah. Needless to say, he bought the Volkswagon. I'm not
sure what prompted it. It wasn't money, it wasn't it
wasn't anything else other than he said that car really
talked to me. I don't know what the world's coming
to anymore when a Volkswagon speaks louder than split windows
sixty three event. But in any event, so Larry's been
(03:05):
motoring around in the car and yes, Tom, Danny's chick
Magnet is up for sale. Tom's asking me that the
Volkswagon's up forcill. Yep, it's just you know, he's into
something else now. But it's a nice car. Danny's Folkswagen's
a Q car. It's you know, if you're looking for
a convertible and it's a stick. They didn't make any sticks.
This was a converted car made into a five speed stick.
I believe it's a five speed. But anyway, I'm with
(03:27):
my other story. See Volkswagen stories. Volkswagens just generate stories.
It's just so. Larry's car showed up at the shop
this week. He had some complaints. He needed an oil
change because he didn't know when it was changed last,
and the oil was really thick and black and ugly.
And it is a nice car, I have to say.
It rides really well. You wouldn't know it's a nineteen
sixty seven Volkswagon. You wouldn't know it's a nineteen sixty
(03:49):
seven anything. It holds the road really well, it tracks
really well. It's come and do for some tires and things.
Larry's going to go and try and find tires. He
wants to put thin white wall tires in a Volkswagen Beetle.
I mean, he's just I don't know he's going in
for a look. But he telling me all the stories
about how everybody waves at him and just oh, I
had a Volkswagon once, and I don't get it. I
(04:10):
just don't see the fascination. But in any event, the
horn didn't work. So, you know, Larry said, can you
fix the horn? And you know, I've got a couple
of lights out, and there's a couple of odds and
ends here and there, and he gave me the list
and we went through the list and we fixed everything
relatively basic, straightforward stuff, except for the horn. The horn
was the boondoggle. And it became that because the technology
(04:34):
is so old and it's so simple. You forget the
way Volkswagon did it back well, they probably did it
right up until they stopped making the beetle. Was there
were only two wires that powered the horn. There was
a hot lead came out of the fuse box down
that went down to one leg of the horn, and
then there was the ground leg. The ground leg came out,
came up to the steering column and it clipped onto
(04:58):
a spade terminal at the bottom of the sh steering
column and that was the ground leg. And then they
ran a wire down the center of the steering shaft
that came out and grounded to the steering coupling, all right,
and it connected there and then they expected that to
provide ground coming back up the column, so that when
(05:19):
you blew the horn, when the horn button made contact,
it completed the ground between the two brown wires and
the horn should blow. Well, the problem is the vehicle
was restored, so now all bets are off. And you know,
one of the weaknesses of this car, and I see
this on a lot of Volkswagon restorations, frankly, is the
(05:41):
wiring harnesses. Really it seems like they're still using the
original harnesses, which isn't a big deal except that, well,
they should actually change it, in my opinion. And it's
not that hard of Volkswagon harness is all one piece
in sixty seven. It's just everything from front to back,
and there are reproduction harnesses out there. And now all
these wires are getting brittle and corroded and knocked about.
But they didn't have a lot of Larry's harness tucked
(06:03):
in place. It was in the wrong places. They ran
hot leads through grounded you know, push them into clips
metal bent over clips that would ground it and possibly
cause a shorter or possibly cause a fire. And we
tried to correct as much of that as we could,
as much as what we saw. And in the end,
Larry's problem was simply the spade terminals. The two ground
(06:23):
lugs going to the base of the column, going to
the top of the column were loose. They were on.
They went on with tension, but if you wiggled them,
you could voltage drop across them and see the connection
go good to bad. And it was just a simple
matter of take it apart, sand each spade terminal, clean
(06:43):
up each push on portion of the spade, tighten it,
put it on so it's now tight, and we coated
each one with a little bit of yellow grease to
prevent any future corrosion. And you know, it was so simple,
it was so simple. It was difficult, right, It was
such a simple fix. It was hard because you're looking
at where's the computer and where's the relay, and you know,
where's the four miles of wiring diagram. I printed out
(07:08):
the wiring diagram for this Volkswagen Mitchell. Thank god for
Mitchell and their older car section of wiring. I printed
out the wiring diagram for a sixty seven Volkswagen Beetle
out of their online section. Anybody want to guess how
many pages it takes for a Volkswagen wiring diagram nineteen
sixty seven? No, Tom too, It actually took two pages
(07:29):
front to back. Now they split it in the middle, right,
so you know, they split the pages. This is the
front half of the car. This is the back half
of the car. Today that's probably two hundred pages. And
it's just it's staggering how simple cars were forty five
fifty years ago. It really is, you know, I don't I.
(07:49):
I was telling Tom this before I went on air today.
I discovered a new TV show today. You ready, my
new favorite TV show, The Rockford Files. I never saw it.
I'd heard about it off and on, but I never
saw it, and I actually watched it today. Actually, before
we went on air, I was just scrolling around Amazon
waiting for the show to begin, and I started watching
The Rockford Files about an hour earlier. And the best
(08:12):
thing about that show, well, it's a good show. I'm
not saying it isn't. But one of the best things
about that show is the cars that are in it.
Holy caw. You look at the variety of cars and
a ton of oaks wagons. I noticed that right off
the bat. There's a beetle on every corner in the
Rockford Files. And that was California back in the seventies, right.
But the really fascinating thing is looking at the variety
(08:34):
of cars and the colors of the cars. Red, green, yellow, orange.
There was hardly a black car or a white car.
And look at what's out on the road. Everything today
is black, white, some cross section. Every once in a
while you see a blue or a yellow. GM's got
some neat colors in their truck line, you know, some
(08:54):
steel grays and some silvers, but not the one I'll
call the concophony, the mixture of bright colors that we
had forty or fifty years ago. I want to you know,
they say that's a sign of the times, right. You
can look at the color of cars that people are driving.
But just a look down memory lane, just a look
at where it was and how simple it was. It
was so simple, it was complicated, and Larry's happy. I
(09:18):
got to tell you. He got his car back, he's
got his horn. Beep beep. You know, he had so
much fun blowing the horn pulling out of the parking lot.
He's so excited. I never saw a sixty eight year
old guy drinking eat beep, beep beep. He's just thrilled.
It's like, you know, it's like a kid at Christmas
driving his Volkswagon Beetle. And I'm thinking, I don't know,
sixty three Corvette's got to be way cooler. But what
(09:39):
do I know? I get it. You know, And this
is probably the biggest deal of this whole conversation, is
that old cars give us memories, and that's what makes
them so vital. They are an important part of American culture.
They are so vital to us. I don't think, and
I've said this to you before, and I've he said
(10:00):
it a lot of times. I don't think thirty or
forty years from now, where everybody's going to go. Man,
I drove the coolest twenty twenty three Toyota Camery in
the whole world. You're gonna say it was reliable, and
you're gonna say it was a good car, but you're
gonna also say it was too expensive and it was
just a car, And that says a lot about the
time period that these older cars came from. There was
(10:21):
a there was a mechanical sense that I think we're
all lacking, that we're all looking for. My friend Kenny
is giving up his twenty ten Ford Explorer and I'll
leave it here so we can move on. But Kenny's
gonna finally get rid of his twenty ten Ford Explore.
It's got one hundred and seventy five thousand miles on
it and the chassis starting to ride away from the body,
and he's like, yeah, I got to give it up.
(10:42):
He says, what do you think I should buy? And
we kind of went over the list, and you know,
he said it. He goes but you know, he says nothing.
He says anything up to this point that I've looked at.
He says, nothing's exciting. Nothing really, you know, makes me
feel good about climbing into It just becomes transportation. I
wonder if that's what we need. I wonder if we
(11:02):
need more vehicles that aren't so much just transportation but
just a sheer joy to drive. Food for thought. Car companies,
are you listening? Eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. I'm running any in the car, doctor,
I'll be back right after this. Little gto need advice
(11:35):
on how to maintain that classic gt O.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Ron is the guy eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Here's Ron.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Let's let's answer some emails. The phone number if you
want to get in, by the way, is eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. Keep in
mind that's twenty four seven eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's twenty four to seven.
As I said, you can call, leave a message and
we will call you back and get you in the
qu for the next live broadcast. A little warm today,
so we may be light on phone calls if you
(12:04):
want to get in. I noticed T shirt sales went
up this week. That means everybody's getting ready for summer.
So you know, if you want a T shirt cardoctorshow
dot com, click on the merchandise button. Let's let's let's go.
Let's here's one from Frank. Frank wrote in he said, Ron,
I've got a twenty eleven Ford Edge three point five
liters fron wheel drive. The brake pedal feels spongy. I
(12:26):
had the master cylinder replaced and the rear calipers replaced.
He bled the brakes, he used over two gallons of
break fluid, and he still can't find the problem. Can
you help sure, you know, and let me just cover
the bases this way, Frank, you know, is it? Is
it a case of you know, obviously there's no leaks
in the system, so you know, we got to work
our way out. There's no leaks in the system. He
(12:47):
put a master on it. He did rear calipers. I'm
not sure why. I'm were they leaking? Were they not
adjusting properly? This should be a vehicle with a parking
break built into the rear calipers, so they were prone
to leak. They were also prone to stick on the slides,
and that's important to note. And that hopefully the front
calibers are okay. So if if we want to say
(13:09):
that front calibers are good, back calibers are now good.
Because he changed the minutes, he did a master. There's
not much else this can be. If it was bled
properly and you've got solid fluid at all four wheels,
I'm going to tell you it's one of two things.
I'm going to tell you. It's likely either the ABS
control unit needs to have a bleed done to it,
(13:30):
which requires a scan tool. Okay, there's a specific procedure
on how to do this where you will do a
you call it an initialization or call it an ABS
bleed where they will activate the ABS control solenoids and
valves and they will actually burp the air or any
air that might have gotten trapped in that unit. Or
(13:50):
it's a bad ABS controller and the hydraulic side has failed.
I've had this. I've had this issue more time than
I care to remember. Here's the scenario, an older vehicle
and I see a lot with Forge, but I've also
seen it on Toyota's I've also seen it on GM products.
So it's not just a Ford exclusive problem where you
will get a crumby brake pedal and everybody goes through
(14:14):
the basics. They think Master fine, they think they think calipers.
They see an issue, they'll start changing parts and they
never resolve it. Master cylinder is a good place to
start when you don't see anything, and I'll tell you
why in my experience, when the Master doesn't fix it,
that points even more towards the ABS control unit. Did
(14:35):
you change a master cylinder that didn't need to be changed. Nah,
not in my opinion, because I would be willing to
bet that because in your case, it's fifteen years old.
But I've also seen this on twenty year old vehicles
that the brake fluid is probably dirty. It's probably pretty
dirty and crumbings and scummy looking for lack of a
(14:56):
non technical for lack of a technical term, and it's
absorbed more more than its fair amount of moisture because
the system probably wasn't properly flushed as maintenance because break
bleeding and break flushing is an important part of the
maintenance schedule and has been for the past twenty years,
and the system corrodes internally. So what happens is you
(15:17):
get to the point where you say, hey, it's either
a master or an ABS control unit. How do you
decide which? I don't think you have to. I think
you're either going to do both. You know, first you're
going to try an ABS bleed, as I pointed out,
But when you're down to the components, it's either you're
going to do both. You're either going to do a
master in an ABS unit together, or you're going to
start with a master and when that doesn't fix it,
you're going to do the ABS unit. And I'll tell
(15:38):
you why doing that master first is so important. Most
of these ABS control units are between fifteen and fifteen
hundred and two thousand dollars. You're not going to put
an on average eighteen hundred dollars break system component in
a system if you can find one, right, because that's
the other part of this conversation. This is a fifteen
(16:00):
year old vehicle. I'd be I'd be mildly surprised if
for it still manufactures the ABS control unit for this,
all right, And you're not going to put that part
on If you've got dirty fluid from an older master,
and you can, you can flush that master all you want,
you never quite get it as clean as it needs
(16:22):
to be. And we're talking about grit and contaminant at
a microscopic level. So when you consider the price of
that ABS control unit, if you can find one, you're
just better off. Just you know, find if you can
find a master cylinder, and that's a whole other conversation,
put a fresh Master in it, fresh fluid, bleed it
out and do the ABS unit, and you should find
(16:46):
this to be fixed. Like I said, I would start
with an ABS bleed do it by scan tool. You'll
need to. And once you get that done and everything's
routed right, there's no leaks. You verified front calibers, you
verified real caliper's, proper parts, good hoses. You know it's
fifteen years old. Now you know it's it's going to
(17:07):
be an ABS unit and you're gonna be shocked when
it fixes it because it's just it's something you just
never stop to think of. That ABS unit is in
bypass mode. It's stuck in bypass and that's what's causing
the crummy brake pedal. And for the record, I've done these,
and when I do these, I will take the ABS
control unit apart and you'll never see anything. It looks
(17:30):
whistle clean in there. You know, there's not there's not
a lot of indicators as to why. But it fixes
it every time. It's one of those here's a classic
example of tell me what's good, I'll tell you what's bad,
and here's how we're going to fix it. Kind of
a thing. And you know, I've had it happened to
me more than a few times. In my career. We're
doing so and makes a great break pedal. And again
(17:54):
this makes the argument for doing a four wheel bleed
and flush every couple of years as part of a
maintenance package. That important, you know, especially when you see
the price of that ABS control unit. As I pointed out.
But before I go any further, I'd love to see
what parts are available and work your way out from there,
because if they're not, you've got to find parts on
(18:15):
the in case of before you get too deep into this, Frank,
I hope that works for you. I'm ron an Indie
in the car doctor. I'll be back right after this.
(18:43):
There's no need to ron an Inian is here. Absolutely,
that's what Ronan Inian does. He shows up and he
fixes cars. And let's keep going with emails. Phone number
once again, five six zero nine nine zero zero. Baseball
season must be in start. Everybody forgot about radio. Hello,
(19:06):
ron I have a friend who calls me regularly while
he is having his two year old Toyota hybrid vehicle
service to a Toyota dealer in Chicago. Let me start
this again. This comes with from Dave. Hello, ron I
have a friend who calls me regularly while he is
having his two year old Toyota Hybrid Vehicles vehicles service
to a Toyota dealer in Chicago, or as they say,
(19:27):
I'm married with children in Chicago. This one is his
wife's twenty twenty three Highlander with forty six thousand miles
on it. The dealer wants to do a coolant service.
I suggested not until sixty one thousand miles. But the
one I have a question about is they want to
do a coolant service for the inverter cooling system. What
knowledge do you have that I can tell him? Thanks
(19:47):
Dave and Norway, Maine. We'll look at this. We're going
from New Jersey to Maine to Chicago. Well, you know, Dave,
I question that it's a two year old vehicle with
less than fifty thousand mile on it, and the inverter,
to my knowledge, has the same Toyota Super Long Life
coolant in it that the rest of the cooling system has.
(20:08):
I would agree with you. Sixty thousand seems like a
reasonable substitute. They seem to be putting on a lot
of miles. Could just stretch that coolant life out to
the eighty to one hundred thousand mile mark. Sure, that's considered.
Toyota considers that ten year on hundred thousand mile coolant,
which I don't understand because after it goes that ten
(20:28):
year one hundred thousand mile cycle, then it's five years
or sixty. And I think because they're assuming or trying
to make us believe that the cooling system is a
little more contaminated at that point for miles in longevity,
and they want a shorter coolant cycle. You know, if
it was me, I stayed at the five and sixty,
and I see cars go longer down the road, which
is what this is all about.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I still think manufacturers. I still think manufacturers alter maintenance
schedules to promote a no maintenance you know, Carnival breaks
it anything. And I'll believe that when they close the
service departments, which we know is never going to happen.
So I liked I like sixty. I would ask the
dealer why forty six thousand miles on it is? Is
(21:12):
it a slow day in Chicago. We've got nothing else
to fix, you know? Or did they did they do
some sort of a coolant test strip process, you know,
where we test stripped the coolant and we looked at
acidity and it came back with the highest city level.
Those things we did in missus Kluch's science class in
the tenth grade. We learned about a cidity and base
(21:34):
and pH and all that other nonsense. Of course, I
want to know why also two years, forty six thousand
miles on it is the coolant service under warranty? Because
what's the warranty on that vehicle? Is it is coolant
fluid service? Since there she looks if they look in
the owner's manual, and here's the point I'm trying to make.
If they look in the owner's manual, they're going to
(21:55):
tell them it's not at forty six thousand miles and
two years old. It's probably going to be at the
least five and sixty, but I believe it's going to
be ten and one hundred thousand miles. So the fact
that they want to do it after two years and
forty six thousand miles, is there a problem? Did the
coolant strip come back and show acidity? And if it
is acidic, why and is that problem under warranty? The
(22:18):
whole thing sounds fishy. Dave, All right, I'm gonna be
honest with you. It just it just doesn't make sense
unless they can tell me that. You know, they know
in Chicago for whatever reason. You know, because of the
environment the vehicle is operated in, because environment always plays
a role in how often a vehicle gets maintained or
(22:41):
how a vehicle gets maintained. Let me correct myself, how
a vehicle gets maintained. So I think that unless they
can support this, I think your friend's getting served the
bolooney sandwich at a dollar fifty nine pounds, and you know,
I hope he enjoys the lunch because it doesn't make
any sense. I would opt for sixty thousand. But if
(23:04):
they're doing so many miles, you know, and if they're
going to get the sixty thousand next year, that's three
years and sixty thousand miles. I don't think the cool
has been in there long enough to get contaminated or
beat up again. I would I would revert to pH
testing using a cool and dipstrip, which is what we
do all the time in the shop when we have
our debts. You know, that one just doesn't make any
(23:25):
sense to me, buddy, So I would be cautious because
you might be spending money you don't need to spend
right now. Another one. Hey, Ron, I'm thinking of buying
a twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three Honda CRV.
We did the recall or they did the recall? Oh?
Did the recall? I'm sorry, I'm reading this wrong. Did
the recall fix the steering sticky steering issue or was
(23:47):
it just smoke? Are there other issues with this vehicle?
I think the sticky steering issue is fixed, and I've
seen some good results with it. As far as what
Honda's saying, Tom's riding me Blooney's ten ninety nine pounds.
You know, you're probably right, Tom as I was expecting
that as I was saying that I'm saying, and I've
(24:08):
been telling that story that way for a long time.
It shows you how long I've been on radio. So
let's go with ten dollars. Look up, it's a local
grocery store. It's ten ninety nine pounds. Well, you know,
I'm thinking of the tariffs, right, that's the tariff price.
I'm pre tariff. So let's let's see what it goes to. Now,
fourteen dollars a pound for boloni? Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
We're getting served a lot of Bolognia. I think sometimes
(24:30):
I'm thinking of buying a twenty two Honda. Back to this.
Thanks for all of your advice, Bob. You know what, Bob,
I think there's not a lot else that I know
about with that CRV. They're pretty good cars, all right,
All kidding around the side, Let's go back to I
think Hand is a decent car company. I don't think
it's the car company it was ten years ago. I
don't think any car company is the company it was
(24:51):
ten years ago, because I think they were making better
cars in some areas and some aspects ten years ago.
And you know that things have changed a lot in
the last ten years. And you know, I think that
the electronics have complicated things. I think the degree of
electronics has made cars. You know, it's funny. I open
the show talking about more mechanical types of vehicles, and
(25:13):
I think the electronics have made cars less mechanical. And
I think that less mechanical approach is affecting the quality
of the cars because there's there's so much you know,
the circumference of problems grows, the diameter of problems increases
with it, and it just becomes more and more difficult
to fix. I think whatever you buy, all right, whether
(25:35):
it be that Honda CRV or whether it be something else,
I would be more concerned. Can your mechanic, if you've
got an independent mechanic and independent shop, can he deal
with it? Or do you like the dealership that you
buy it from, are they going to deal with it?
What's their service department's rating? And by all means, because
of the electronics on that car, I would look into
(25:56):
and consider putting a service policy on it and develop
a relationship with that dealership because I think I think
the most important part about fixing a car today is
always has been the relationship. And you know, I think
that a repair shop, whether it says Honda or Bob's
Garage over the doorway, relishes that relationship if they're smart
(26:16):
and they maintain that customer and take care of that
customer and do what they're supposed to do, because you know,
it's it's about the relationship in business today as it
was yesterday and we'll be in the future. So just
just my two cents, buy it. If you like it, Bob,
just make sure the place that you're taking it to
get fixed can fix it, and you know, be aware.
(26:36):
So eight five five five six zero nine nine zero
zero eight five five five six zero nine nine zero
zero runnnading the car doctor. I'm back right after this?
(26:58):
Look back, aren't the car doctor? Let's go over to
Mike and Delaware. Mike, Welcome to the card doctor. Sir,
how can I help?
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Hey? You going runs? Mike? I got a question. I'm
kind of like doing some upkeep on my ninety two
Ford Ranger, and I'm going to change the well it's
never been replaced fuel injection. And then while I got
the top intake plantum or in upper intake. All the
question is the reason why I hadn't taken off because
(27:28):
you couldn't get to the right bank. Uh, spark plug?
Why did they make eight eight spark slugs for four?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yes? Was that? Well? They they you know, the issue
there is they couldn't achieve emissions firing one plug per
cylinder once, so they didn't. They didn't.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
They didn't.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
They didn't have the technology for multi strike ignition like
they developed later on. Because if you noticed, that twin
plug per cylinder routine went away after a while because
they developed better ignition systems and you know, they could
they could move the technology inside the ignition module and
the computer and make it with electronics. So a twin
(28:10):
plug per cylinder set up will be more complete in
combustion and therefore put less pollutant out the tailpipe. So
you know, following I think somewhere around ninety four ninety
five that was gone by OBD two, that was gone
and that shows you the advancements in technology. But it
(28:32):
was all about emissions, Mike, That's what they were chasing,
you know, that's what they were chasing. So as always
that they're always chasing.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Game.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Yeah, you bring back memories and you're a big inter.
You show you or your friend Bonum folkswagon.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, yeah, it's that's go ahead.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
Got another question on this ranger. I know to OBD one,
all I got is a code reader. It pulls up
the codes. Does the check engine light when you just
turn the ignition on and it's supposed to come on?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yes, in bulb in bulb check Absolutely you turn that.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
If the vehicle's been sitting off any length of time, uh,
you know, and typically longer than thirty seconds, turn the key,
just cycle the key, but don't crank it. You should
see the check engine light as well as other check
engine as well as other dishboard lights come on. We
call that bulb check all right, Oh okay, so.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
You know, like say the check engine, what did come on?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Then?
Speaker 3 (29:36):
I don't even use the truck on the weekend. It's
it's my beat truck right now, right, And I noticed
I don't know if the ball went out on the
check engine lights instrument panel or what.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Well does the light ever come on at all?
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Uh? It sounds like that.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
And I got to take it through inspection in Delaware. Yeah, well,
good thing they don't have to plug it in. I'll
get on that year. It's a sniffer test.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Right yeah, right, Well, it may you know, if there's
something wrong with it. Let's let me say it like this,
that the check engine light is monitoring the emissions and
it's it's doing what it's supposed to do. So there
may be a problem in the truck that the dash
light would be on. You just don't know it because
the bulb is burnt out or it's missing. So you know,
(30:25):
I would run through keon engine off, keon engine running,
and continuous memory fault codes the old style forward tests,
and look to see does the system have any faults
in it. If the system has faults in it, then
at least you know what you're dealing with. If the
system doesn't have faults in it, it might behoove you to,
you know, pull the dash panel out, put a bulb in,
because I don't remember it being I think it's I
(30:45):
think it's a one ninety four bulb if I remember, right, Oh, okay,
you know, I don't think I don't think it's anything fancy.
And then you can at least have the indicator working
like supposed to, you know, in Jersey, in New Jersey,
as I think most states. If this was an O
B D two vehicle, if we cycle the key on,
we have to see a check engine light that's bulb test.
(31:06):
Otherwise that vehicle would fail inspection. So just be aware
of that before you go.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
All right, yeah, I'm well, I'll listen to you every
every Saturday, mambe talking about the hubid ones you snap
on you calling it the.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Brick, the brick yep yep ye, which those you know, Mike,
those are those are available on you know, those are
available up on eBay and other places that you could
buy one of those and they'd be a great tool.
For that truck. Just make sure you get the ford
Eke adapters for it. They'll be shaped like that diagnostic
plug you have out under the out under the hood,
(31:41):
and you know that's a great tool for that vehicle.
And you can read. You can get those relatively cheap.
You can read data stream as well as trouble codes.
You know, if that's going to be something you're going
to be hanging on to for a while. So appreciate
the call, Mike. Always a pleasure to talk to you.
I'm running eni in the car. Doctor. I'm back right
after this, and here we are as we kind of
(32:12):
wind down this hour. Just one last thought for Mike
and Delaware. Mike, if you're still listening, you know we're
talking about your ninety two Ranger and you're getting it
ready for inspection in Delaware and they're going to do
a sniffer test. You may want to do this. You
may want to go out to CRC Industries dot com
take a look at CRCs Guaranteed to Pass a Missions
(32:33):
System cleaner. It comes in a twelve ounce bottle. It
is a very high solvent solution detergent cleaner for cleaning
older fuel systems. Works on newer ones too, But it's
what it strives to do is clean up catalytic converters,
carbon deposits and fuel deposits in the system. But it
will help to clean up older catalytic converters and restore
(32:56):
them to a better operating condition. You know, Mike, concern
with your truck is you don't have a check engine
light coming on, So are there fault codes in it?
As I pointed out during our call, So you know,
that becomes the priority. But if you can't, you know,
get the bulb to work, and if it doesn't matter
at this point and you don't have fault codes, but
you're just counting on the vehicle to pass on its own,
(33:20):
and I suspect there's a problem, which is why you
were changing the fuel injectors. Consider using CRC Guaranteed to
pass emission systems. They do offer money back guarantees. You've
got to use it, I think three or four times.
I forget what the footnote said, but you can find
it on their website CRC Industries dot com. And perhaps
that'll be a better way for you to go in
terms of getting through inspection. And you know, I can
(33:41):
drive that ninety two Ranger a little bit longer. You know,
it's hard right that we drive older cars and we're
trying to get them through because the next thing he's
going to run into, Mike is going to run into.
To be clear, is what parts are available for that
ninety two, ninety two, two thousand and two, twenty twelve,
two thousand. We thirty ago, you know, we're thirty years ago,
(34:03):
you know, thirty three years ago. You know, there's probably
not a lot of quality parts left for a vehicle
that age. And the fact is to replace that little,
you know, small pickup truck, which, in all fairness, I've
got to tell you the Ranger. I still have my
eighty seven. What do I have? I have a ninety
seven Ranger. I'm sorry, my ninety seven Ranger. It's a
(34:25):
cute little truck. And you know, even the small trucks
of today are one and a half times the size
of that. So I kind of just I don't want
to get rid of it. Oh my god, have I
become a Volkswagen owner? Is Is it that bad? I
just I love it beyond the side of what it is.
Maybe I should fix the crooked bumper up front. The
bumper is bent on the Ranger. But that's another story
(34:46):
for another day on how that happened. So, Mike, if
you're out there, I wish you the best with your
ninety two Ranger and I hope you continue to enjoy it. Wow,
I think a Volkswagen owner. Oh my god, I'm not
an ady in the car doctor. I know that. I'm
here to remind you one more time. Like always, good
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. Let's see you, m
Host
Ron Ananian
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