Episode Summary: Ron Ananian – The Car Doctor
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Car Repair is Getting Tougher:
Ron emphasizes that modern car repair requires constant learning. Vehicles are more complex, and assumptions can lead to misdiagnosis. -
Case Study – 2015 Toyota Tacoma, Crank No-Start:
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Towed into the shop with a crank-no-start issue.
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Suspected fuel pump failure. Two options to access it:
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Drop the rusted fuel tank (difficult due to NJ winters and corrosion)
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Remove the truck bed instead — easier and safer
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Diagnosed fuel system with wiring diagrams and voltage checks.
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Found ~10.8V at the fuel pump resistor — enough to power the pump.
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Checked for ground and continuity — both were good.
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Considered immobilizer as a cause (Toyota uses fuel cut in anti-theft and overheating situations).
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Scan Tool Confusion:
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Snap-On scan tool incorrectly reported a fuel cut.
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Opus scan tool and factory Toyota software showed no fuel cut.
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Lesson: Don’t rely on one scan tool — use multiple tools and verify against known good data.
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“Scan tools don’t fix cars — they gather information.”
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Confirmed Bad Fuel Pump:
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Used a test light (round headlight bulb) to confirm power delivery.
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Replaced pump, truck started.
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Gas gauge issue followed: showed empty despite a half-full tank.
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Removed and reinstalled the pump to cycle float — gauge returned to normal.
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Lesson: Sometimes parts need time or manual cycling to recalibrate.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ron an Anian.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm noticing the car count is down, but the size
of the repair is way up, and it's climbing every
day every week.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
You know, we're seeing sicker cars the car.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Doctor, till we measure it against what's the alternator's rate?
It out it's a hard question to answer safely. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Total sense?
Speaker 5 (00:37):
And thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I think I'll stare on the side of cautionience and
only do the charging when I'm driving.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Ananium, 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 2 (01:00):
The garage doors are open, but I am here to
take their call at eight five five five set nine hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
And nae running.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You know, it gets harder and harder fixing cars, and
you have to be smarter and smarter. It's it's not
a business where you can just sit on your backside
and say, well, I fixed three cars last week, what
are you going to do for me? Now? The industry,
the business, the cars are always testing you and always
pushing you harder and harder. We had a twenty fifteen
(01:34):
Toyota Ta Coma in the shop this week, towed in
and it was a It was a crank no start condition,
and diagnosis took us to the point that it was
in the fuel pump area, likely a fuel pump, but
I have to prove it because in order to put
a fuel pump in this car, I've got two choices.
I'm either lowering the tank, which is sort of rusted
(01:54):
in place. If you've ever been to New Jersey in
the winter, we have this stuff called snow. It's cold,
it's wet, and they put this chemical down that tends
to rot things and make it all into one. So
you can't really take things apart easily. So I'd have
to face the rust and corrosion of eleven years of
New Jersey winters. Or I could take the bed off
the truck, which actually was easier. It was easier for
(02:16):
us to remove the bed and attack it that way
from the top, so you go through wiring. Now, Toyota
does it a little different than most. They've got to
circuit open relay, a fuel pump, relay, an EFI main relay,
and they also have a fuel pump resistor. And what
they're doing is they're they're either on one side of
(02:39):
the resistor or the other to speed the pump up
or slow it down to depending upon condition. They were
electrically changing available voltage supply power supply to the pump
to alter its speed. They're not doing it by duty cycle.
A lot of manufacturers do a duty cycle. They turn
the pump on and off, on and off on a
off pulse with they'll do a bunch of different controls.
Toyota's just you're either on this side or that side.
(02:59):
That's it. But if you read the wiring diagram, coming
off pin four of the fuel pump relay is a
black red wire that runs down to the pump. Now
coming off of pin four. Also right at the same
spot where the wire goes right to the pump, it
goes to the one leg of the resistor. So as
part of my diagnosis, I verified do I or don't
(03:22):
I have power at the fuel pump resistor.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
I did.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
During cranking, I had about ten point eight volts, and
ten point eight volts is enough because I'm considering the
vults is drop across the resistor. There's some consumption there.
And I wasn't gonna sit down and do the math
at that point because it was still within range that
it should turn on the pump, provided the pump is good,
and provided I had continuity on the other leg of
the black red wire running down to the pump, and
(03:49):
that I had ground, and ground was easy enough to
check because it was right there, steering you in the face.
They just came right off the pump and it went
right to the chassis. Chassis ground.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
O.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I you know, I started looking around, and then I
got on the subject of, you know, could I have
in a mobilizer issue problem because and this is the
other thing you have to know about Toyota, right, Toyota
is a little more complicated in a lot of ways
because they have they have a mobilizer system which will
put the vehicle into fuel cut. A mobilizer is their
anti theft and they have two forms of fuel cut.
(04:22):
They have an anti theft fuel cut, meaning that if
you stick a screwdriver in the key slot and try
to jam the block cylinder forward, it's going to go
Wait a minute, that's not the key. I don't see
the digital chip. I'm not allowing fuel pump to operate,
or if the engine, for example, if engine temperature exceeds
two hundred and forty five degrees, it's going to shut
the engine down because it's going to say, hey, you're
(04:43):
about to overheat and damage the engine take away fuel.
So could I be in fuel cut now before I
go through and lower a tank or take a bed off? Ah,
you know what, I just I just want to see.
So I looked at it, and I've got to tell you.
I took out my snap On scan tool was the
(05:03):
first one I reached for, and it said, yes, I'm
in fuel cut. And I kind of looked at that,
and I said, well, I'm in fuel cut. And then
I started to think about it, and I said, well,
how can I be in fuel cut if I've got
voltage on the black red going to the fuel pump resistor,
which if I go up and down the other side
of the leg, I've got to have twelve vaults there.
(05:24):
The question is was it getting twelve volts to the
pump or was there something else going on here? So
I took out my Opus scan tool and I was
able to get a completely different reading than what the
snap On said I got a reading that made sense
that said I'm not in fuel cut. So now I've
(05:45):
got two top level tools. One's giving me an answer
that makes sense and the other one is not. So
I did the next best thing. I called up Opus
and we got together and Marlon and I we installed
he and Old, I should say Marlin, he installed Toyota
factory software on my scan tool and it got the
(06:06):
same reading as what the Opus said. So therefore, factory
tool Opus both say yes snap On incorrect information and
no knock against snap On. But there's something about the
way it's updating that it didn't update the information correctly.
And I'm not saying never buy a snap On. I'm
just saying you've got to have more than one tool today,
(06:27):
and you've got to have that. You've got to know
that you know what you're looking at, maybe lying to you.
And the fact is, I've never really had a scenario
where I had an improper or what I thought was
an improper signal or information out of an immobilizer unit
like this. So I'm looking at a broken car trying
to make judgments. Never never judge a broken car, all right,
(06:48):
Never learn from a broken car. You always want to
try and test against a broken car. That's the key.
So I, okay, I've got a mobile, I don't have
an a mobilizer event, I've got power on the black Red.
Decided to pull the bed. I pulled the bed off,
and I had power at the black Red. Going down
to the pump, I had the ground was working. As
a matter of fact, we've got a video coming out,
(07:11):
and I'm going to apologize for it ahead of time
because I'm not sure how well it worked. We shot
a video in several steps and stages, and we were
trying something newer. We took a sidebar. There's a couple
of points in the video where I wanted to I
wanted to really drive home a couple of points. So
you're gonna see the video stop and we're gonna let's
take a right turn here. We're gonna go over here
and talk about this in depth, and then we're gonna
(07:32):
come back and we'll see if it works or not.
But the point comes across that you know, power's on
the black Red, you've got ground on the white, you've
got a bad fuel pump. Yes, I took out my
trusty round headlight pulls eight ams it's enough of an
electrical load that I know the circuit's intact. It lit
up the light whenever we cranked it and had a
bad fuel pump. Car had a bad fuel pump. But
(07:54):
you've got to know, See that's the catch. You've got
to know. It's just so important you just can't assume
because there's too much riding on it. And then in
further proof that Mercury is in retrograde, because I've decided
this was the week Mercury was in retrograde, because I
subscribed to that school of thought that you know, sometimes
it just we put the fuel pump in the truck
(08:16):
runs and it was late in the day and we
were tired, and you'll see in the video we actually
have the we actually have more of the crew now involved.
Danny's holding the camera, research Kathy sitting in the seat
of the truck trying to hide herself because she's camera shy.
So everybody should write it and comment about how exciting
it was to see research Kathy. That'll drive her nuts.
And on command she turns the key, the light comes on.
(08:37):
I talk about it, and we come back and connect
the fuel pump. It runs. It was late in the day,
came in the next morning, started it up. The gas
gage is reading empty. Oh, now we knew there was
at least a half a tank of fuel in there.
That's what the old gauge said, and we knew when
we took the pump out. We looked inside there was
a half a tank of fuel in there. What happened,
(08:58):
I'm not sure is the answer. We took the pump
back out, cycled the float level a couple of times.
It worked, fun plugged in the old one. The old
one the fuel sending unit was working. The old one
really had a similar reading, which made no sense, and
I thought, maybe it has to update, maybe it has
to run, because I've seen some vehicles where the vehicle
(09:19):
will if it sees something erratic about a fuel pump sender.
But it would have to be with keon. And I'm
trying to think about the testing we did. Did it
see an erroneous signal? It's like if you take your
car and you go fill it up with gas and
you leave it running. On some vehicles, you'll notice the
gas gage does not report or react as fast as
(09:39):
it normally could. There's a pause there. But in any event,
we had to take the fuel pump back out, cycle
the arm a few times, made it work, got it
to the point where we say, okay, it's reporting a
half a tank, it's working. We put it all together,
drove it to the gas station, put twenty dollars worth
of fuel in its soa go up even more. Sometimes
there's glitches you can't explain, but you've got to have
the wherewith in the calmness and to stand and deliver
(10:03):
and just get through it. Because cars are getting harder
to resolve, and I think everybody's I think everybody's aware
of that. I think the environment is getting a little
caustic at times. You know, I can hear it in
the sounds of customers' voices. Everybody's getting very concerned about dollars.
Everybody's getting very concerned about getting their vehicle back, and
you can see the strain. It's starting to show. You know,
(10:26):
there's a certain cost of diagnosis that we've all got
to be aware of, and we've all got to really
pay attention to because we have to diagnose and we
can't do it for free, but we have to be
accurate in what we do. By the way, the worst
thing in the world you can do is don't keep
calling the repair shop saying is my car done? Trust me,
if the car was done the good repair shops anyway,
(10:46):
they'll call you, they'll let you know they don't want
to keep your car because it's taking up space. They
can put another car in. I just had to get
that in there. In any event, the tuns the Tacoma
is done, fuel pumps in, gas gauge works, the beds
back on, it works. Video to you probably by the
end of this week coming and we'll go from there.
So I'm just trying to tie videos to the radio
(11:10):
show because of the description. As a matter of fact,
in the video, I tell everybody come to this opening
this hour so that you can hear the more vivid description.
If that helps, because I think this was an important one.
When you're getting a contradiction of information and you know
you can prove it electrically through a wiring diagram that
this circuit has to work, chances are you're looking at
(11:31):
a scan tool it's reading incorrectly. Don't just trust a
scan tool and take it as gospel. Scan tools don't
fix cars. Scan tools gather information, and that's the key takeaway.
Let's pull over to take a pause. Eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'm running ay
in the car, doctor, I'll be back right after this. No, God,
(11:56):
that's right.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
If you call and we're not live, you can leave
a message. I'll call you back to get you on
the air with Ron. Eight five six zero nine nine
zero zero. Speaking of Ron, there he is.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Hey, let's go to Judd in Maine two thousand and
Toyota touns or jud Welcome to the card doctor. How
can I help?
Speaker 5 (12:13):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Yeah, I went to replace my front viets.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Okay, the.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Typically you get on both the caliper on these old
vehicles and just flop it right back, leave the one
in and replace pads. Well, there's something when't there's a
little bump there. I wouldn't allow it to fold back,
so I unbolted the entire thing, put the new pads in.
Now there's two different sized pads. You can choose from
(12:42):
small ones or larger ones. Two played seven five point three.
I think it was the difference, but so four point sevens.
I grabbed them, put them in, no problem, and then
I couldn't get it get the caliper back on. It
was an you know it wasn't out on a like
the rotor was too thick or something. So I got
(13:05):
my puller out and made sure it was completely retracted
and uh and still couldn't couldn't fit it on there.
So there's because there's two different sizes for that year,
I'm not sure if I run out and buy another Caliper.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Well let's let's let's let's let's back up a second.
So we're working on front brakes on a two thousand tundra, Yes, sir, okay.
And they're telling you what's different, rotor, Caliper or pads?
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Well, pad. I was going for the pads, so they
said pads.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Okay, So the pads you took off is the same
basic shape what you're putting on absolutely, So then we
have to believe that the pads themselves are correct, all right,
I think what I think what you're running into. The
difference and engine size will have a different physical size
of brake pad. The swept area or the contact area
(14:03):
of the pad will be smaller on a lighter, smaller
engine vehicle because of the weight and you know, the
vehicle itself. So that being said, are you replacing rotors?
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Well, I believe I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Now, well, but you weren't before. Is there a rust lip?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
A little very well but not large?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I mean you should you should be able to you know,
if the piston is compressed all the way, you should
be able to fit the caliper over the rotor pad
and all. It shouldn't matter, all right? Is that? Are
you certain the caliper is bottomed out?
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Pretty certain? Are used to those set of pullars. Took
a three jaw puller, pulled it off, set it for
a two jaw and and it's a good sized pullar.
And I was able to crank it with the old path.
I put the old pats in there as a spacer.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You know, right, is this a dual piston in front caliper? Jud?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
I think it's single. It's it's been there since last summer.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Okay, okay, because you know, if the and if the
piston is, the piston has to be you know, generally
the rule of thumb is the piston has to be
flushed with the body of the caliber. So there's no
there's no extension, right, Okay.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
So the one thing that's throwing me off a little
bit is the fact that that caliber wouldn't roll all
the way back?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
What do you mean roll all the way back?
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Well, you can usually just undo the front bolt, the
top bolt, and loosen the bottom one and then just
flip it over, so you're actually not having to hold
the caliper in your hands and do it.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
So you're talking about, you know, so your concern is
that you can't you can only take off one. You
have to take off both bolts of the caliber to
get it off the vehicle.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Have you done it before in this vehicle where you've
taken off one and pivoted it back. No, Okay, don't
assume that it works that way on every vehicle, because
it doesn't. I know what you're speaking about. You're talking
about you take out one of the slide pins and
you're you're under the assumption that you can just pivot
it and leave the other pin tight in the caliper,
but take it out of the bracket right.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Well, actually, I'm talking about the two bolts that actually
physically hold the caliper on.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
The caliper or the caliper bracket, the caliper, the caliper itself.
But aren't those slide pins the slide.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Pins I had to clean up. They didn't have any
in stock. I cleaned them up.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So the slide pins, the slide pins are separate. The
slide pins go in the caliper and go into the bracket,
and then the caliper bolts to that.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
That's correct, okay.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So if you look at the bottom of the slide pin,
isn't it more or less an oval shape? The head
of the head of the head of the pin where
the bolt goes in.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
It's been a while, say.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Because perhaps the slide pin is tightened the caliper and
it won't rotate.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yeah, I understand.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I understand your point, but but I'm going to scold
you a little bit if that's okay, but I'll be gentle.
All right, you're doing it wrong, all right, put rotors
on it. Do you know why rotors should be replaced?
And I'm being serious. Do you know why rotors should
be replaced? I okay, So well it has to do
(17:21):
with you. Ever noticed that a rotor has a nice
cross hatch finished to it? Yes, okay. The reason they
put that there is not to make it look pretty
so people buy it. The reason they put that there
is because that cross hatch raises the temperature of the
brake pad for an initial scuff in and break in period.
So when you put an old rotor in with a
(17:45):
fresh set of pads, there's no scuff action, so it
can't possibly break in correctly, and it causes a problem
with pad and how effective they are. Noise and you're
doing it wrong. Brother, pads and rotors at the if
the caliber doesn't bought them out, change the caliber. It's
twenty five years old. Put good brakes on it. Be safe.
(18:06):
I love you, brother, you'd be good. I'm running any
and the Car Doctor. I'll be back right after this. Hey,
(18:35):
we are cruising along this hour. By the way, I'm
the Car Doctor Calendar. This coming Monday, if you're in
New York, We're going to be back on WR about
nine forty in the morning talking about what your check
engine light means. We're going to be starting a series
on dashboard elimination dashboard warning lights, so we're going to
start there on Monday, May fifth, about nine and Tom,
(18:56):
you have a comment.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
Yeah, I was gonna say that's a there's an idea
for the web store.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
It's a car Doctor calendar. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (19:05):
You and Danny's standing around in various stages of undress
working on cars.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, there you go, there's a there's a there's a
thought to have. No, we're gonna start doing a thing
on them. Not really, We're gonna start doing a thing
on you know, dashboard morning lights, what they all mean.
We're gonna start with check engine lights, work our way
through TPMs down into ABS traction control, and we figured
by the end of the summer we'll have everybody at
least you know, moderate smarts, so to speak. I hope
that doesn't sound snarky or something, but just you know,
(19:30):
just give you the ability to understand what those dashboard
lights mean and how important they are, because it's one
thing I've learned after thirty plus years of being on radio.
A little bit of knowledge goes a long way. So
that's starting Monday. If you're in the New York City area,
Monday May fifth. Is that this Monday? Yeah, No, it's
a week from this Monday, Monday May fifth, somewhere around
nine thirty five, nine in the morning. And if you
(19:53):
miss it, you can get it off their website because
they always post the link up there and they put
an audio clip. So let's get back to the phones.
Larryan was Jury thirteen GMC terrain Larry. Welcome to the
car doctor, sir. How can I help?
Speaker 7 (20:04):
Well, I've been I bought the car used and had
about one hundred and fifty thousand on it, and uh,
it's a two point four. It started making a sound
like I tap. About six weeks after I got a
tapping like you were tapping on a plastic dash. And
then it evolved into I'd pull up to the stop
(20:30):
flight stop sign and it would surge. It wouldn't it
wanted to like keep going okay, and it would it
would die going around corners. I went to three different
mechanics and got three totally different ideas. So I wasn't
comfortable going to anybody. And uh, here you are.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Right, So let me ask you this. Does it have
oil in it? Did it have oil in it when
you checked?
Speaker 7 (20:57):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Okay, So even with oil in it, the engine is
mechanically making noise.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
The engine sounds fine.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Well you said the engine was tapping.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
Well, I don't know if it's the engine. It sounds
like it's right in front of the dash, oh, okay,
where the breather would be.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Okay, So if you get out, if you pop the
hood and go out under the hood, do you hear it?
Speaker 7 (21:32):
Well, it never lasts that long.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So it's got an intermittent tapping noise that sounds like
it's coming out of the dashboard, but you're not sure, correct, okay.
And the engine doesn't run right all the time.
Speaker 7 (21:47):
Ohever, it runs all right except when you pull up
to a stop side sign. Now it quit doing this.
One day I got outunder the hood. About every two phillips,
I have to put a half courtl oil.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Okay. And so if we were going to count, if
we were going to count by mileage, Larry, is it
burning a court in one thousand miles, a court in
two thousand miles, a court in five hundred miles.
Speaker 7 (22:17):
Oh, let's see, I would say a court five hundred miles.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Okay. So it's got excess of oil consumption? Yes, okay.
So I want to go back to the tapping, all right,
the tapping, you know, is the tapping?
Speaker 7 (22:35):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
And listen? This should be easy to hear, is it?
You know? If we can isolate it. Do we hear
it under the hood or do we hear it when
it happens if we were to get out, or do
we hear it more at the dash itself, because under
the dash, I'm thinking about an AC servo motor or
a blend or position motor, something that is either stuck
or broken or ratcheting. You know, noise under the dash
(22:56):
is pretty prominent. You'll hear it, all right, so you
know the next time it happens it's going to be
I mean, I can talk for hours about noises and
where they come from, but I want to try and
help you. So I think the next time it happens,
it's got to be pulled over, pop the hood. Where
do you hear it from?
Speaker 7 (23:12):
Well, I've tried that, but it never lasts that long.
But it does not have to be running for that
noise to start. Okay, it could be I could turn
the engine off and go in a quick stop and
get something to drink and come back out and it starts. Now,
next time, it may do it while I'm driving.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Okay, So it'll do it. Key off in your hand, parked, yes, Okay.
So I've got to believe that's that's something to do
with a blend door or a temperature door under the dash.
Do you have the AC or the heat on at
the time that that happens.
Speaker 7 (23:51):
That I don't recall.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Okay, so pay attention to that because I'm thinking you've
got a temperature or a blend door that's either looking
for what happens when you shut the car off. The
temperature door you know, hot, the cold or blend door
position middle top, bottom of dash. They're all controlled by
little electric servo motors. They will all look for a
(24:13):
baseline of zero, all right, So when you shut it off,
it's going to go back to its rest position. If
it can't get there, bang bang bang bang bang. It's
trying to get there. But we're talking about things that
are made with little plastic nylon gears that you know,
eleven years ol one hundred and fifty thousand miles. Things
(24:33):
get chewed up, worn out, and every once in a
while something goes out of sync where it just won't work.
I'm betting that's I'm betting that's a blend door issue.
I want to focus on the engine all right, in
the time we have, so let me tell you.
Speaker 7 (24:46):
Go ahead, tell you something else. It's going to help you.
I think, go ahead. About six months ago it quit
doing this. I popped the hood to put my oil
in and blown the line off the TVC valve right line.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
That's and that's where I'm going with this. That well,
that isn't the pc well, okay, that's the breather hose.
You're talking about the hose that comes up to the
air intake duct on the left side of the engine
on the right side of the engine apartment as you're
sitting in the vehicle, right. So there's more than a
few bulletins from GM about this, all right. There is
a PCV orifice, little tiny hole that generally requires intake
(25:26):
manifold removal. If your mechanic is brave of heart. There
are ways that you can drill through the intake, but
most guys take and I incurred, take take the PCV off.
See you see where or take the intake manifold off,
so you see where it is. There's a PCV orifice
that has to be drilled out to ensure that it's clear.
All right. If that's restricted, then you're going to end
(25:49):
up with too much crank case pressure and oil consumption
and remain seals pop out and a slew of issues.
There is a vented oil fill cap far one eighteen
from Delco. I'm trying to remember the exact number, but
you can put a vented oil fill cap and one
(26:10):
of the bulletins that talks about this mentions this by
part number on the vehicle, and that will help vent
the crank case if you don't want to go through
the process of taking the intake off. But like I
like doing the intake. I like knowing that that's done.
Speaker 7 (26:23):
You know.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
But I'd be willing to bet you've got excess crank
case pressure. And again there's a way to measure it
using a monometer, which is a very accurate vacuum gage.
But given the history of the car, I would want
to know that the PCV is clear because at this point,
once you clear up the PCV problem and there isn't
excess crank case pressure, you know, do we still have
(26:45):
oil consumption? If we still have oil consumption, the fix
which the warranty's gone now because the extend of the
warranty eight years and so many thousands of miles. The
fix was pistons and rings. The other thing you could try,
all right, I don't know that this will solve all
of it, but take the engine oil dipstick and leave
(27:08):
it popped out a quarter of an inch, right, you
want to you want to vent the crank case? Real easy? Yeah, right,
It's just it's just that simple. Just just put a
little crank case vent in it that way, and maybe
that's the cheapest solution to try. Does that change anything
for you? Right? Just just leave the crank, just leave
(27:29):
the dipstick up. And it shouldn't it should not allow
oil to come up the tube. Uh, Like I said,
I don't. I don't think it's a long term solution.
But just does it cut down on oil consumption enough
to the point where all right, now it's worth the
money to go and pull the intake off. I'm looking
for short cuts, right, I'm looking for shortcuts to get
to an answer.
Speaker 7 (27:48):
Well, I'm not. I mean, I'm I can live with
oil consumption. I just need it to quit surging. It
stop signs because sometimes it gets pretty bad.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Well you know that surge and then the next step
I'm gonna tell you is real quick and then I
gotta go. Is you know when it's surging, where's fuel
trim on this car? What's fuel trim? What's mass airflow
sensor doing? All right? But uh, you know what, try
popping the dipstick and see if that eliminates any of
the surge, because that's going to change a few things
(28:19):
in the way the engine's operating. And then give me
a call back and we can talk further on it.
All right, Kittle, good to talk to you, Larry. I'm
running ay in the car. Doctor, we're back right after this.
(28:40):
Let's uh, let's all right enough with the music's mom
would say, which I never really understood how an Armenian
woman could talk well, whatever, Alan and Florida. What's going on? Baby?
Can I help? Mom's had that ability, didn't they. I
(29:01):
don't know. I don't know if is Yiddish or what
it is, but my mother was one hundred percent Armenia
and she could talk Chinese and Yiddish all at the
same time. I never really understood it, but that was I.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Think it's a universe. I think it's a universal word.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, yeah, well everybody had Tom Tom's Tom's flashed me
saying it's Yiddish. So oh, anyway, how can I help
you out.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
Pring real quick things?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (29:25):
One, you need to you need to have an off
air hint line that goes just to Tom, and Tom
can give you hints to not interrupt your on air program.
Speaker 7 (29:33):
Okay, because I've tried to call.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
A couple of times with some hints that I thought
were you know, uh yeah, yeah, I read the words anyway.
One one is Fella called in, I think it was
last week about you talked about the oil.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Pan, right, the Honda oil drained plug yep.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Yeah, And I wanted to call in and say, you
know how many of those I've never used that cheap
plug you spoke of, but you know how many of
those he could put in for the six or eight
hundred dollars to drop the pan?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Right?
Speaker 5 (30:04):
You know, so every month you could put in a
new plug.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Well yeah, and that's why I said I didn't like that.
I discourage that if you recall and I understand, yeah,
it's you know, but listen, that's why you're calling. So
go ahead, what's your second game?
Speaker 5 (30:16):
And then and then the heay coil is a good idea.
The other one is I tried to call him one time.
You're trying to find water leaks. I have a tool
in my toolbox. It's called a moisture meter that I
use in my gardening. I paid it ninety nine cents
for it. They're now maybe eight bucks. But it's just
a little probe metal probe with a meter on the
end of it, and you can nuzzle that down in
(30:38):
the carpet or up in the corner, or back down
in the seat or something, and you can find a
moisture content that you may not that might not be
exposing itself to the surface of the carpet.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Well, but what would happen if once the water's in
the car, if the vehicle is you know, tilted left
or right, is the water going to tend to collect
in that corner showing the higher water content?
Speaker 5 (30:58):
Well, like if you went alongunderneath in the under the dash,
followed their dash from right to left. As you're looking
at under the dash, you can you sneak that meter
and then you find that there's water running in a
particular area, you know what I'm saying. So you got
a two foot the floorboard is two feet wide, and
you start across it and you'll find all of a
(31:20):
sudden it'll read moisture and that's where it's leaking down
out of the core.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Have you have you used it? Have you used it
for that in a car? Larry? Sorry? But yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's fine and it works.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
I use it. Yeah, because I live down in Florida.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
In all my years, I've never heard of it. But
I'll take a look at it.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
Yeah, and it's the probably now about seven ninety five
a little meter at any garden plant.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
And I'll tell you what. Here's here's your assignment. You're ready, Yeah, sir,
send me a link. We're on at cardoctorshow dot com.
Show me what you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (31:54):
I will, sir.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
All right, all right, you'd be well.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
Joy the show.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Thanks Allan, I appreciate you. You're very welcome. Bye bye.
Good to hear from a fan A five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero. We're back right after this. Hey,
(32:18):
winding it down this hour, just a couple of quick
things courtesy of research. Kathy doing her job. She's telling
me to tell everybody it's AC season. I think that's
Kathy's way of telling me her trailblazer needs the AC charged.
So that's a subtle hint, jab jab, but it is.
She's right, you know what it is AC season. It's uh,
you know, we're about a month away from the real
(32:39):
warm weather. Although it's supposed to be warm in most
of the United States. This weekend is getting humid in muggy,
So if it's been a while, it's a good time
to think about it. If it's a one thirty four
refrigerant car, if it's an older system, you should be
recharging the AC and servicing it, you know, every eighteen
to twenty four months is a good idea help keep
moisture content down if you want longevity out of the system.
If it's a twelve thirty four y F car, the
(33:01):
newer refrigerant, they're not serviced as much or as often.
The industry still hasn't come up with a standard that
I'm aware of as far as how often and when.
Usually it's when they break, but be aware that they
are expensive. So at the very least, when you get
your car in for servicing in the next couple of months,
you know, have the AC system looked over, any signs
of leaks, the normal wear and tear belts and so forth.
(33:22):
Just does the system look like it's in good shape
to go this season, and by all means they can
always do a duct test, thermometer test, you know, to
verify system performance that way. So just a good idea
to start thinking AC so you're not caught blind and
caught short. I'm willing to bet the price of refrigerant
is climbing along with everything else auto repair related, because
(33:42):
a lot of the parts houses are pushing refrigerant now,
saying that they're expecting prices to go up. So just
be aware it's cheaper to get it done now, then
it will be later. And one just quick follow up
from last week. We had talked to Aaron from Standard
Motor Products and you know, we were talking about, you know,
stand selling on Amazon, and I had a couple of calls.
(34:02):
People were saying, well, you know, Standard doesn't sell on Amazon,
but yet Standard saying don't use Amazon parts. There's some
misclarification or there's a misunderstanding here. Standard Motor Products does
not sell directly on Amazon. They use their parts distribution
chain because they really believe in supporting business here in
America and small business, big business and so forth. What
(34:23):
you're seeing is parts houses or parts distributor selling Standard
on Amazon. But what we're getting at is that Amazon part,
that white box part made overseas. When there's a problem,
there's none, if any little recourse that you have with
that manufacturer. So you know what, by American buy something
here that you know has a track record by standard.
(34:44):
I'm not an ady in the car, doctor. Good mechanics
aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
Ron an Anian.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm noticing the car count is down, but the size
of the repair is way up, and it's climbing every
day every week.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
You know, we're seeing sicker cars the car.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Doctor, till we measure it against what's the alternator's rate?
It out it's a hard question to answer safely. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Total sense?
Speaker 5 (00:37):
And thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I think I'll stare on the side of cautionience and
only do the charging when I'm driving.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Ananium, 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 2 (01:00):
The garage doors are open, but I am here to
take their call at eight five five five set nine hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
And nae running.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
You know, it gets harder and harder fixing cars, and
you have to be smarter and smarter. It's it's not
a business where you can just sit on your backside
and say, well, I fixed three cars last week, what
are you going to do for me? Now? The industry,
the business, the cars are always testing you and always
pushing you harder and harder. We had a twenty fifteen
(01:34):
Toyota Ta Coma in the shop this week, towed in
and it was a It was a crank no start condition,
and diagnosis took us to the point that it was
in the fuel pump area, likely a fuel pump, but
I have to prove it because in order to put
a fuel pump in this car, I've got two choices.
I'm either lowering the tank, which is sort of rusted
(01:54):
in place. If you've ever been to New Jersey in
the winter, we have this stuff called snow. It's cold,
it's wet, and they put this chemical down that tends
to rot things and make it all into one. So
you can't really take things apart easily. So I'd have
to face the rust and corrosion of eleven years of
New Jersey winters. Or I could take the bed off
the truck, which actually was easier. It was easier for
(02:16):
us to remove the bed and attack it that way
from the top, so you go through wiring. Now, Toyota
does it a little different than most. They've got to
circuit open relay, a fuel pump, relay, an EFI main relay,
and they also have a fuel pump resistor. And what
they're doing is they're they're either on one side of
(02:39):
the resistor or the other to speed the pump up
or slow it down to depending upon condition. They were
electrically changing available voltage supply power supply to the pump
to alter its speed. They're not doing it by duty cycle.
A lot of manufacturers do a duty cycle. They turn
the pump on and off, on and off on a
off pulse with they'll do a bunch of different controls.
Toyota's just you're either on this side or that side.
(02:59):
That's it. But if you read the wiring diagram, coming
off pin four of the fuel pump relay is a
black red wire that runs down to the pump. Now
coming off of pin four. Also right at the same
spot where the wire goes right to the pump, it
goes to the one leg of the resistor. So as
part of my diagnosis, I verified do I or don't
(03:22):
I have power at the fuel pump resistor.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
I did.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
During cranking, I had about ten point eight volts, and
ten point eight volts is enough because I'm considering the
vults is drop across the resistor. There's some consumption there.
And I wasn't gonna sit down and do the math
at that point because it was still within range that
it should turn on the pump, provided the pump is good,
and provided I had continuity on the other leg of
the black red wire running down to the pump, and
(03:49):
that I had ground, and ground was easy enough to
check because it was right there, steering you in the face.
They just came right off the pump and it went
right to the chassis. Chassis ground.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
O.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I you know, I started looking around, and then I
got on the subject of, you know, could I have
in a mobilizer issue problem because and this is the
other thing you have to know about Toyota, right, Toyota
is a little more complicated in a lot of ways
because they have they have a mobilizer system which will
put the vehicle into fuel cut. A mobilizer is their
anti theft and they have two forms of fuel cut.
(04:22):
They have an anti theft fuel cut, meaning that if
you stick a screwdriver in the key slot and try
to jam the block cylinder forward, it's going to go
Wait a minute, that's not the key. I don't see
the digital chip. I'm not allowing fuel pump to operate,
or if the engine, for example, if engine temperature exceeds
two hundred and forty five degrees, it's going to shut
the engine down because it's going to say, hey, you're
(04:43):
about to overheat and damage the engine take away fuel.
So could I be in fuel cut now before I
go through and lower a tank or take a bed off? Ah,
you know what, I just I just want to see.
So I looked at it, and I've got to tell you.
I took out my snap On scan tool was the
(05:03):
first one I reached for, and it said, yes, I'm
in fuel cut. And I kind of looked at that,
and I said, well, I'm in fuel cut. And then
I started to think about it, and I said, well,
how can I be in fuel cut if I've got
voltage on the black red going to the fuel pump resistor,
which if I go up and down the other side
of the leg, I've got to have twelve vaults there.
(05:24):
The question is was it getting twelve volts to the
pump or was there something else going on here? So
I took out my Opus scan tool and I was
able to get a completely different reading than what the
snap On said I got a reading that made sense
that said I'm not in fuel cut. So now I've
(05:45):
got two top level tools. One's giving me an answer
that makes sense and the other one is not. So
I did the next best thing. I called up Opus
and we got together and Marlon and I we installed
he and Old, I should say Marlin, he installed Toyota
factory software on my scan tool and it got the
(06:06):
same reading as what the Opus said. So therefore, factory
tool Opus both say yes snap On incorrect information and
no knock against snap On. But there's something about the
way it's updating that it didn't update the information correctly.
And I'm not saying never buy a snap On. I'm
just saying you've got to have more than one tool today,
(06:27):
and you've got to have that. You've got to know
that you know what you're looking at, maybe lying to you.
And the fact is, I've never really had a scenario
where I had an improper or what I thought was
an improper signal or information out of an immobilizer unit
like this. So I'm looking at a broken car trying
to make judgments. Never never judge a broken car, all right,
(06:48):
Never learn from a broken car. You always want to
try and test against a broken car. That's the key.
So I, okay, I've got a mobile, I don't have
an a mobilizer event, I've got power on the black Red.
Decided to pull the bed. I pulled the bed off,
and I had power at the black Red. Going down
to the pump, I had the ground was working. As
a matter of fact, we've got a video coming out,
(07:11):
and I'm going to apologize for it ahead of time
because I'm not sure how well it worked. We shot
a video in several steps and stages, and we were
trying something newer. We took a sidebar. There's a couple
of points in the video where I wanted to I
wanted to really drive home a couple of points. So
you're gonna see the video stop and we're gonna let's
take a right turn here. We're gonna go over here
and talk about this in depth, and then we're gonna
(07:32):
come back and we'll see if it works or not.
But the point comes across that you know, power's on
the black Red, you've got ground on the white, you've
got a bad fuel pump. Yes, I took out my
trusty round headlight pulls eight ams it's enough of an
electrical load that I know the circuit's intact. It lit
up the light whenever we cranked it and had a
bad fuel pump. Car had a bad fuel pump. But
(07:54):
you've got to know, See that's the catch. You've got
to know. It's just so important you just can't assume
because there's too much riding on it. And then in
further proof that Mercury is in retrograde, because I've decided
this was the week Mercury was in retrograde, because I
subscribed to that school of thought that you know, sometimes
it just we put the fuel pump in the truck
(08:16):
runs and it was late in the day and we
were tired, and you'll see in the video we actually
have the we actually have more of the crew now involved.
Danny's holding the camera, research Kathy sitting in the seat
of the truck trying to hide herself because she's camera shy.
So everybody should write it and comment about how exciting
it was to see research Kathy. That'll drive her nuts.
And on command she turns the key, the light comes on.
(08:37):
I talk about it, and we come back and connect
the fuel pump. It runs. It was late in the day,
came in the next morning, started it up. The gas
gage is reading empty. Oh, now we knew there was
at least a half a tank of fuel in there.
That's what the old gauge said, and we knew when
we took the pump out. We looked inside there was
a half a tank of fuel in there. What happened,
(08:58):
I'm not sure is the answer. We took the pump
back out, cycled the float level a couple of times.
It worked, fun plugged in the old one. The old
one the fuel sending unit was working. The old one
really had a similar reading, which made no sense, and
I thought, maybe it has to update, maybe it has
to run, because I've seen some vehicles where the vehicle
(09:19):
will if it sees something erratic about a fuel pump sender.
But it would have to be with keon. And I'm
trying to think about the testing we did. Did it
see an erroneous signal? It's like if you take your
car and you go fill it up with gas and
you leave it running. On some vehicles, you'll notice the
gas gage does not report or react as fast as
(09:39):
it normally could. There's a pause there. But in any event,
we had to take the fuel pump back out, cycle
the arm a few times, made it work, got it
to the point where we say, okay, it's reporting a
half a tank, it's working. We put it all together,
drove it to the gas station, put twenty dollars worth
of fuel in its soa go up even more. Sometimes
there's glitches you can't explain, but you've got to have
the wherewith in the calmness and to stand and deliver
(10:03):
and just get through it. Because cars are getting harder
to resolve, and I think everybody's I think everybody's aware
of that. I think the environment is getting a little
caustic at times. You know, I can hear it in
the sounds of customers' voices. Everybody's getting very concerned about dollars.
Everybody's getting very concerned about getting their vehicle back, and
you can see the strain. It's starting to show. You know,
(10:26):
there's a certain cost of diagnosis that we've all got
to be aware of, and we've all got to really
pay attention to because we have to diagnose and we
can't do it for free, but we have to be
accurate in what we do. By the way, the worst
thing in the world you can do is don't keep
calling the repair shop saying is my car done? Trust me,
if the car was done the good repair shops anyway,
(10:46):
they'll call you, they'll let you know they don't want
to keep your car because it's taking up space. They
can put another car in. I just had to get
that in there. In any event, the tuns the Tacoma
is done, fuel pumps in, gas gauge works, the beds
back on, it works. Video to you probably by the
end of this week coming and we'll go from there.
So I'm just trying to tie videos to the radio
(11:10):
show because of the description. As a matter of fact,
in the video, I tell everybody come to this opening
this hour so that you can hear the more vivid description.
If that helps, because I think this was an important one.
When you're getting a contradiction of information and you know
you can prove it electrically through a wiring diagram that
this circuit has to work, chances are you're looking at
(11:31):
a scan tool it's reading incorrectly. Don't just trust a
scan tool and take it as gospel. Scan tools don't
fix cars. Scan tools gather information, and that's the key takeaway.
Let's pull over to take a pause. Eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'm running ay
in the car, doctor, I'll be back right after this. No, God,
(11:56):
that's right.
Speaker 6 (11:57):
If you call and we're not live, you can leave
a message. I'll call you back to get you on
the air with Ron. Eight five six zero nine nine
zero zero. Speaking of Ron, there he is.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Hey, let's go to Judd in Maine two thousand and
Toyota touns or jud Welcome to the card doctor. How
can I help?
Speaker 5 (12:13):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Yeah, I went to replace my front viets.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Okay, the.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Typically you get on both the caliper on these old
vehicles and just flop it right back, leave the one
in and replace pads. Well, there's something when't there's a
little bump there. I wouldn't allow it to fold back,
so I unbolted the entire thing, put the new pads in.
Now there's two different sized pads. You can choose from
(12:42):
small ones or larger ones. Two played seven five point three.
I think it was the difference, but so four point sevens.
I grabbed them, put them in, no problem, and then
I couldn't get it get the caliper back on. It
was an you know it wasn't out on a like
the rotor was too thick or something. So I got
(13:05):
my puller out and made sure it was completely retracted
and uh and still couldn't couldn't fit it on there.
So there's because there's two different sizes for that year,
I'm not sure if I run out and buy another Caliper.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Well let's let's let's let's let's back up a second.
So we're working on front brakes on a two thousand tundra, Yes, sir, okay.
And they're telling you what's different, rotor, Caliper or pads?
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Well, pad. I was going for the pads, so they
said pads.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Okay, So the pads you took off is the same
basic shape what you're putting on absolutely, So then we
have to believe that the pads themselves are correct, all right,
I think what I think what you're running into. The
difference and engine size will have a different physical size
of brake pad. The swept area or the contact area
(14:03):
of the pad will be smaller on a lighter, smaller
engine vehicle because of the weight and you know, the
vehicle itself. So that being said, are you replacing rotors?
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Well, I believe I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Now, well, but you weren't before. Is there a rust lip?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
A little very well but not large?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I mean you should you should be able to you know,
if the piston is compressed all the way, you should
be able to fit the caliper over the rotor pad
and all. It shouldn't matter, all right? Is that? Are
you certain the caliper is bottomed out?
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Pretty certain? Are used to those set of pullars. Took
a three jaw puller, pulled it off, set it for
a two jaw and and it's a good sized pullar.
And I was able to crank it with the old path.
I put the old pats in there as a spacer.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
You know, right, is this a dual piston in front caliper? Jud?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
I think it's single. It's it's been there since last summer.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Okay, okay, because you know, if the and if the
piston is, the piston has to be you know, generally
the rule of thumb is the piston has to be
flushed with the body of the caliber. So there's no
there's no extension, right, Okay.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
So the one thing that's throwing me off a little
bit is the fact that that caliber wouldn't roll all
the way back?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
What do you mean roll all the way back?
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Well, you can usually just undo the front bolt, the
top bolt, and loosen the bottom one and then just
flip it over, so you're actually not having to hold
the caliper in your hands and do it.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
So you're talking about, you know, so your concern is
that you can't you can only take off one. You
have to take off both bolts of the caliber to
get it off the vehicle.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Have you done it before in this vehicle where you've
taken off one and pivoted it back. No, Okay, don't
assume that it works that way on every vehicle, because
it doesn't. I know what you're speaking about. You're talking
about you take out one of the slide pins and
you're you're under the assumption that you can just pivot
it and leave the other pin tight in the caliper,
but take it out of the bracket right.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Well, actually, I'm talking about the two bolts that actually
physically hold the caliper on.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
The caliper or the caliper bracket, the caliper, the caliper itself.
But aren't those slide pins the slide.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Pins I had to clean up. They didn't have any
in stock. I cleaned them up.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So the slide pins, the slide pins are separate. The
slide pins go in the caliper and go into the bracket,
and then the caliper bolts to that.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
That's correct, okay.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So if you look at the bottom of the slide pin,
isn't it more or less an oval shape? The head
of the head of the head of the pin where
the bolt goes in.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
It's been a while, say.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Because perhaps the slide pin is tightened the caliper and
it won't rotate.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Yeah, I understand.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I understand your point, but but I'm going to scold
you a little bit if that's okay, but I'll be gentle.
All right, you're doing it wrong, all right, put rotors
on it. Do you know why rotors should be replaced?
And I'm being serious. Do you know why rotors should
be replaced? I okay, So well it has to do
(17:21):
with you. Ever noticed that a rotor has a nice
cross hatch finished to it? Yes, okay. The reason they
put that there is not to make it look pretty
so people buy it. The reason they put that there
is because that cross hatch raises the temperature of the
brake pad for an initial scuff in and break in period.
So when you put an old rotor in with a
(17:45):
fresh set of pads, there's no scuff action, so it
can't possibly break in correctly, and it causes a problem
with pad and how effective they are. Noise and you're
doing it wrong. Brother, pads and rotors at the if
the caliber doesn't bought them out, change the caliber. It's
twenty five years old. Put good brakes on it. Be safe.
(18:06):
I love you, brother, you'd be good. I'm running any
and the Car Doctor. I'll be back right after this. Hey,
(18:35):
we are cruising along this hour. By the way, I'm
the Car Doctor Calendar. This coming Monday, if you're in
New York, We're going to be back on WR about
nine forty in the morning talking about what your check
engine light means. We're going to be starting a series
on dashboard elimination dashboard warning lights, so we're going to
start there on Monday, May fifth, about nine and Tom,
(18:56):
you have a comment.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
Yeah, I was gonna say that's a there's an idea
for the web store.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
It's a car Doctor calendar. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (19:05):
You and Danny's standing around in various stages of undress
working on cars.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, there you go, there's a there's a there's a
thought to have. No, we're gonna start doing a thing
on them. Not really, We're gonna start doing a thing
on you know, dashboard morning lights, what they all mean.
We're gonna start with check engine lights, work our way
through TPMs down into ABS traction control, and we figured
by the end of the summer we'll have everybody at
least you know, moderate smarts, so to speak. I hope
that doesn't sound snarky or something, but just you know,
(19:30):
just give you the ability to understand what those dashboard
lights mean and how important they are, because it's one
thing I've learned after thirty plus years of being on radio.
A little bit of knowledge goes a long way. So
that's starting Monday. If you're in the New York City area,
Monday May fifth. Is that this Monday? Yeah, No, it's
a week from this Monday, Monday May fifth, somewhere around
nine thirty five, nine in the morning. And if you
(19:53):
miss it, you can get it off their website because
they always post the link up there and they put
an audio clip. So let's get back to the phones.
Larryan was Jury thirteen GMC terrain Larry. Welcome to the
car doctor, sir. How can I help?
Speaker 7 (20:04):
Well, I've been I bought the car used and had
about one hundred and fifty thousand on it, and uh,
it's a two point four. It started making a sound
like I tap. About six weeks after I got a
tapping like you were tapping on a plastic dash. And
then it evolved into I'd pull up to the stop
(20:30):
flight stop sign and it would surge. It wouldn't it
wanted to like keep going okay, and it would it
would die going around corners. I went to three different
mechanics and got three totally different ideas. So I wasn't
comfortable going to anybody. And uh, here you are.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Right, So let me ask you this. Does it have
oil in it? Did it have oil in it when
you checked?
Speaker 7 (20:57):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Okay, So even with oil in it, the engine is
mechanically making noise.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
The engine sounds fine.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Well you said the engine was tapping.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
Well, I don't know if it's the engine. It sounds
like it's right in front of the dash, oh, okay,
where the breather would be.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Okay, So if you get out, if you pop the
hood and go out under the hood, do you hear it?
Speaker 7 (21:32):
Well, it never lasts that long.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So it's got an intermittent tapping noise that sounds like
it's coming out of the dashboard, but you're not sure, correct, okay.
And the engine doesn't run right all the time.
Speaker 7 (21:47):
Ohever, it runs all right except when you pull up
to a stop side sign. Now it quit doing this.
One day I got outunder the hood. About every two phillips,
I have to put a half courtl oil.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Okay. And so if we were going to count, if
we were going to count by mileage, Larry, is it
burning a court in one thousand miles, a court in
two thousand miles, a court in five hundred miles.
Speaker 7 (22:17):
Oh, let's see, I would say a court five hundred miles.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Okay. So it's got excess of oil consumption? Yes, okay.
So I want to go back to the tapping, all right,
the tapping, you know, is the tapping?
Speaker 7 (22:35):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (22:35):
And listen? This should be easy to hear, is it?
You know? If we can isolate it. Do we hear
it under the hood or do we hear it when
it happens if we were to get out, or do
we hear it more at the dash itself, because under
the dash, I'm thinking about an AC servo motor or
a blend or position motor, something that is either stuck
or broken or ratcheting. You know, noise under the dash
(22:56):
is pretty prominent. You'll hear it, all right, so you
know the next time it happens it's going to be
I mean, I can talk for hours about noises and
where they come from, but I want to try and
help you. So I think the next time it happens,
it's got to be pulled over, pop the hood. Where
do you hear it from?
Speaker 7 (23:12):
Well, I've tried that, but it never lasts that long.
But it does not have to be running for that
noise to start. Okay, it could be I could turn
the engine off and go in a quick stop and
get something to drink and come back out and it starts. Now,
next time, it may do it while I'm driving.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Okay, So it'll do it. Key off in your hand, parked, yes, Okay.
So I've got to believe that's that's something to do
with a blend door or a temperature door under the dash.
Do you have the AC or the heat on at
the time that that happens.
Speaker 7 (23:51):
That I don't recall.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Okay, so pay attention to that because I'm thinking you've
got a temperature or a blend door that's either looking
for what happens when you shut the car off. The
temperature door you know, hot, the cold or blend door
position middle top, bottom of dash. They're all controlled by
little electric servo motors. They will all look for a
(24:13):
baseline of zero, all right, So when you shut it off,
it's going to go back to its rest position. If
it can't get there, bang bang bang bang bang. It's
trying to get there. But we're talking about things that
are made with little plastic nylon gears that you know,
eleven years ol one hundred and fifty thousand miles. Things
(24:33):
get chewed up, worn out, and every once in a
while something goes out of sync where it just won't work.
I'm betting that's I'm betting that's a blend door issue.
I want to focus on the engine all right, in
the time we have, so let me tell you.
Speaker 7 (24:46):
Go ahead, tell you something else. It's going to help you.
I think, go ahead. About six months ago it quit
doing this. I popped the hood to put my oil
in and blown the line off the TVC valve right line.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
That's and that's where I'm going with this. That well,
that isn't the pc well, okay, that's the breather hose.
You're talking about the hose that comes up to the
air intake duct on the left side of the engine
on the right side of the engine apartment as you're
sitting in the vehicle, right. So there's more than a
few bulletins from GM about this, all right. There is
a PCV orifice, little tiny hole that generally requires intake
(25:26):
manifold removal. If your mechanic is brave of heart. There
are ways that you can drill through the intake, but
most guys take and I incurred, take take the PCV off.
See you see where or take the intake manifold off,
so you see where it is. There's a PCV orifice
that has to be drilled out to ensure that it's clear.
All right. If that's restricted, then you're going to end
(25:49):
up with too much crank case pressure and oil consumption
and remain seals pop out and a slew of issues.
There is a vented oil fill cap far one eighteen
from Delco. I'm trying to remember the exact number, but
you can put a vented oil fill cap and one
(26:10):
of the bulletins that talks about this mentions this by
part number on the vehicle, and that will help vent
the crank case if you don't want to go through
the process of taking the intake off. But like I
like doing the intake. I like knowing that that's done.
Speaker 7 (26:23):
You know.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
But I'd be willing to bet you've got excess crank
case pressure. And again there's a way to measure it
using a monometer, which is a very accurate vacuum gage.
But given the history of the car, I would want
to know that the PCV is clear because at this point,
once you clear up the PCV problem and there isn't
excess crank case pressure, you know, do we still have
(26:45):
oil consumption? If we still have oil consumption, the fix
which the warranty's gone now because the extend of the
warranty eight years and so many thousands of miles. The
fix was pistons and rings. The other thing you could try,
all right, I don't know that this will solve all
of it, but take the engine oil dipstick and leave
(27:08):
it popped out a quarter of an inch, right, you
want to you want to vent the crank case? Real easy? Yeah, right,
It's just it's just that simple. Just just put a
little crank case vent in it that way, and maybe
that's the cheapest solution to try. Does that change anything
for you? Right? Just just leave the crank, just leave
(27:29):
the dipstick up. And it shouldn't it should not allow
oil to come up the tube. Uh, Like I said,
I don't. I don't think it's a long term solution.
But just does it cut down on oil consumption enough
to the point where all right, now it's worth the
money to go and pull the intake off. I'm looking
for short cuts, right, I'm looking for shortcuts to get
to an answer.
Speaker 7 (27:48):
Well, I'm not. I mean, I'm I can live with
oil consumption. I just need it to quit surging. It
stop signs because sometimes it gets pretty bad.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Well you know that surge and then the next step
I'm gonna tell you is real quick and then I
gotta go. Is you know when it's surging, where's fuel
trim on this car? What's fuel trim? What's mass airflow
sensor doing? All right? But uh, you know what, try
popping the dipstick and see if that eliminates any of
the surge, because that's going to change a few things
(28:19):
in the way the engine's operating. And then give me
a call back and we can talk further on it.
All right, Kittle, good to talk to you, Larry. I'm
running ay in the car. Doctor, we're back right after this.
(28:40):
Let's uh, let's all right enough with the music's mom
would say, which I never really understood how an Armenian
woman could talk well, whatever, Alan and Florida. What's going on? Baby?
Can I help? Mom's had that ability, didn't they. I
(29:01):
don't know. I don't know if is Yiddish or what
it is, but my mother was one hundred percent Armenia
and she could talk Chinese and Yiddish all at the
same time. I never really understood it, but that was I.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Think it's a universe. I think it's a universal word.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah, yeah, well everybody had Tom Tom's Tom's flashed me
saying it's Yiddish. So oh, anyway, how can I help
you out.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
Pring real quick things?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (29:25):
One, you need to you need to have an off
air hint line that goes just to Tom, and Tom
can give you hints to not interrupt your on air program.
Speaker 7 (29:33):
Okay, because I've tried to call.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
A couple of times with some hints that I thought
were you know, uh yeah, yeah, I read the words anyway.
One one is Fella called in, I think it was
last week about you talked about the oil.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Pan, right, the Honda oil drained plug yep.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Yeah, And I wanted to call in and say, you
know how many of those I've never used that cheap
plug you spoke of, but you know how many of
those he could put in for the six or eight
hundred dollars to drop the pan?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Right?
Speaker 5 (30:04):
You know, so every month you could put in a
new plug.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Well yeah, and that's why I said I didn't like that.
I discourage that if you recall and I understand, yeah,
it's you know, but listen, that's why you're calling. So
go ahead, what's your second game?
Speaker 5 (30:16):
And then and then the heay coil is a good idea.
The other one is I tried to call him one time.
You're trying to find water leaks. I have a tool
in my toolbox. It's called a moisture meter that I
use in my gardening. I paid it ninety nine cents
for it. They're now maybe eight bucks. But it's just
a little probe metal probe with a meter on the
end of it, and you can nuzzle that down in
(30:38):
the carpet or up in the corner, or back down
in the seat or something, and you can find a
moisture content that you may not that might not be
exposing itself to the surface of the carpet.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Well, but what would happen if once the water's in
the car, if the vehicle is you know, tilted left
or right, is the water going to tend to collect
in that corner showing the higher water content?
Speaker 5 (30:58):
Well, like if you went alongunderneath in the under the dash,
followed their dash from right to left. As you're looking
at under the dash, you can you sneak that meter
and then you find that there's water running in a
particular area, you know what I'm saying. So you got
a two foot the floorboard is two feet wide, and
you start across it and you'll find all of a
(31:20):
sudden it'll read moisture and that's where it's leaking down
out of the core.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Have you have you used it? Have you used it
for that in a car? Larry? Sorry? But yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's fine and it works.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
I use it. Yeah, because I live down in Florida.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
In all my years, I've never heard of it. But
I'll take a look at it.
Speaker 5 (31:38):
Yeah, and it's the probably now about seven ninety five
a little meter at any garden plant.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
And I'll tell you what. Here's here's your assignment. You're ready, Yeah, sir,
send me a link. We're on at cardoctorshow dot com.
Show me what you're talking about.
Speaker 5 (31:54):
I will, sir.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
All right, all right, you'd be well.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
Joy the show.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Thanks Allan, I appreciate you. You're very welcome. Bye bye.
Good to hear from a fan A five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero. We're back right after this. Hey,
(32:18):
winding it down this hour, just a couple of quick
things courtesy of research. Kathy doing her job. She's telling
me to tell everybody it's AC season. I think that's
Kathy's way of telling me her trailblazer needs the AC charged.
So that's a subtle hint, jab jab, but it is.
She's right, you know what it is AC season. It's uh,
you know, we're about a month away from the real
(32:39):
warm weather. Although it's supposed to be warm in most
of the United States. This weekend is getting humid in muggy,
So if it's been a while, it's a good time
to think about it. If it's a one thirty four
refrigerant car, if it's an older system, you should be
recharging the AC and servicing it, you know, every eighteen
to twenty four months is a good idea help keep
moisture content down if you want longevity out of the system.
If it's a twelve thirty four y F car, the
(33:01):
newer refrigerant, they're not serviced as much or as often.
The industry still hasn't come up with a standard that
I'm aware of as far as how often and when.
Usually it's when they break, but be aware that they
are expensive. So at the very least, when you get
your car in for servicing in the next couple of months,
you know, have the AC system looked over, any signs
of leaks, the normal wear and tear belts and so forth.
(33:22):
Just does the system look like it's in good shape
to go this season, and by all means they can
always do a duct test, thermometer test, you know, to
verify system performance that way. So just a good idea
to start thinking AC so you're not caught blind and
caught short. I'm willing to bet the price of refrigerant
is climbing along with everything else auto repair related, because
(33:42):
a lot of the parts houses are pushing refrigerant now,
saying that they're expecting prices to go up. So just
be aware it's cheaper to get it done now, then
it will be later. And one just quick follow up
from last week. We had talked to Aaron from Standard
Motor Products and you know, we were talking about, you know,
stand selling on Amazon, and I had a couple of calls.
(34:02):
People were saying, well, you know, Standard doesn't sell on Amazon,
but yet Standard saying don't use Amazon parts. There's some
misclarification or there's a misunderstanding here. Standard Motor Products does
not sell directly on Amazon. They use their parts distribution
chain because they really believe in supporting business here in
America and small business, big business and so forth. What
(34:23):
you're seeing is parts houses or parts distributor selling Standard
on Amazon. But what we're getting at is that Amazon part,
that white box part made overseas. When there's a problem,
there's none, if any little recourse that you have with
that manufacturer. So you know what, by American buy something
here that you know has a track record by standard.
(34:44):
I'm not an ady in the car, doctor. Good mechanics
aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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