In this episode of The Car Doctor, Ron Ananian takes calls from real drivers facing real dilemmas. Debbie from Wisconsin wonders if it’s finally time to replace her trusty 2005 Ford Explorer — and Ron walks her through the pros and cons of keeping an aging SUV versus buying a costly modern crossover. From certified pre-owned tips to Wrangler warnings, it’s a masterclass in practical car buying advice.
Later, John in Maine tracks down a pesky P0480 code after replacing the cooling fan in his Jeep Grand Cherokee. Ron dives into wiring diagrams, OE vs. aftermarket parts, and even post-collision troubleshooting.
Finally, Paul from Virginia asks why there are so many kinds of antifreeze — and whether the "universal" stuff is actually safe. Ron breaks it down with an easy-to-follow answer rooted in engineering, not marketing.
Have an aging ride or a mystery code of your own? Tune in, learn something, and maybe save yourself a bundle.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners Alife. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join the Conversation live every Saturday from two to four
pm Eastern by calling eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five five
(00:25):
six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to honest
answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow dot
com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Let's get started right away, no fus, no months. Let's
go to Debian Wisconsin and kick off this hour W
five Ford Explorer. We're going to replacement. What's going on, Debbie?
How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm good? Thanks for taking my call. I just want
to say I enjoy your show. I listen to it
all the time. I'm not a mechanic, but I learn
a lot and.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I thank you. I appreciate it, Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
My two thousand and five at eight pour Explorer. I love.
It's got one hundred and fourteen thousand. I've never really
had problems with it, but I was thinking maybe it's
time to replace it, you know. And I go around
trying out cars and I get out of my explore.
Now you know how they used to build cars, right yep? Yea?
(01:33):
And I get into something and it's like you want
how much for this? Right? You know? And I just
keep doing this and I don't like little cars, I
don't like crossovers, and I just I just don't know
what to do. Keep it and just drive it or
what are my options?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Well?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Give me let me. Let me ask you a couple
of questions. So you know how much? How many miles
do you drive in a year?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Not many? I live in a small town, and like
I said, I only have one hundred and fourteen on it.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
And you know, are you working every day? Does it
have to be? Does it have to start every day?
Or if one day it didn't start, you could put
off whatever you were doing and do it the next day.
While you're geting it fixed. That kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I'm retired. And it always starts in Wisconsin too. This
thing goes through snow like you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
You know, right.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
The only the only downside to keeping it all right,
and let me let me start the conversation here, is
that it's twenty years old. And I know for a
fact there are certain things that you cannot buy for
that vehicle anymore, and they're even difficult to find in
the aftermarket, and they're even difficult to find in the
salvage yard world, like main engine controllers, which are not
(02:43):
uncommon to fail on that generation explore. So you know,
you keep driving it. It may come down to where
one day you need something you can't buy and then
you're gonna have to buy something quick. So what you're
doing is smart.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Starting to look around. You have to sit in a
bunch of cars. You don't have to necessarily sit in
a new car, right you have to, you have to sit,
But you have to sit in a bunch of cars.
You can do well buying a what I call a
three year old CPO or certified pre owned vehicle, meaning
it's something that was traded in back in it was
(03:17):
three years old. It's typically got twenty five to thirty
thousand miles on it, it's two thirds of the price
of what it would have been new, and you get
a great warranty generally with a CPO car for most manufacturers,
and it's a pretty good deal. So it's something to
go look for. Now, the question is what, right, what
is it that you're going to buy? Have you sat?
(03:38):
Have you sat in a New Explorer?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I don't like crossovers, okay, I just you're kind of
my generation. Do you remember the fifty station Wagon?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, listen and a hearse?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
How do you take a crossover and it's across in
the station fifty station Wagon? And aharse? I just think
it's ugly.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Right, that's okay. So you know, what is it that
you want to drive? What do you like?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I like something that's like a taint, like what I got. Well,
you know, something's safe and it's built. You know, it's
heavy and it goes through it and well.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
They don't make that anymore. So that's a problem.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, right, that's my problem.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So you know, here's here comes the trade off. So
since we know you can't get what you're driving, because
if you did, you'd be driving it already. What's your
what's your second choice? You really don't like the look
of a new Explorer?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
No, okay, no, I don't like crossovers at all.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Okay, what about what about a Chevy Tahoe.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Oh that's a thought.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Right, But wait, do you see the price tag on those?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I tried want to use one out up at the garage,
and it was seventy three thousand, right right?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
These are like these are like phone numbers, and that's
that's the other part of the problem. Or listen, do
you go completely retro? Do you go backwards? Do you
go buy a completely you know, do you go if
you're going to spend fifty grand, do you go buy
a redone sixties something that your mechanics says, yeah, I
can get parts for that, because sometimes it's actually easier
(05:06):
to get parts for older vehicles than newer vehicles. And
you know, you go back to your days of high school.
What was your car in high school?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Dodge Darts?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh, Debbie, we have to get you out more. That's
that's not you know, Wait a minute, So, so all
your friends were driving Camaros and Chevelle's and road runners
and you were driving a Dodge Dart.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah, I liked it too.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Oh, Debbie, No, Debbie, Debbie, you were you?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Weren't you?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Weren't cheese queen in Wisconsin?
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Were you?
Speaker 4 (05:40):
By chance?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I mean it's no dart, okay. So uh, you know,
just got to get into a bunch of cars, you know,
and listen, let's not let's not rule out. Go sit
in a new Toyota Highlander. Go sit in a Grand Highlander.
And you're gonna tell me you don't like Toyota's but
I'm going to tell you that they make a pretty
fair automobile, all right. And I would tell you to
(06:04):
go sit in a Chevy Tahoe. I would go sit
in I would give that Ford Explorer a second look.
You're not going to like an Escape because it's too tiny, right,
But you know the problem is you got to sit
in a bunch of cars figure out what you like.
You're dealing with a pile of technology because you're going
from something twenty years old to today, which is going
(06:24):
to be culture shock.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
You know, when I first started trying out cars, the
salesman threw me the keys and told me to take it.
I got in the cars after and I didn't know
how to start it right. You had to come. You
didn't use the Y I had no question.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And this is the problem, right, this is absolutely the problem.
And this is something you got to get used to.
But that's why I'm saying you got to decide sooner
rather than later, because you're gonna get stuck in a
hole one day. You're going to be behind the eight
ball and I'm going.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
To the middle of winter in fifty below. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well you know, listen, I'm I'm gonna talk to you
like we were standing at the counter and I just
found out that the frame was rotted on your truck
and you had to replace it right away. Debbie, you know,
you're faced with the decision that you've got to do
it now rather than later, and you know, make up
your mind. Pick something. You know, maybe what you want
to do is go look at rental cars and go drive.
(07:13):
Go rent a car for a weekend and drive it
for the weekend. You know, I think I want to
drive a Tahoe. At least I'm going to spend seventy
three thousand dollars. Maybe I like driving it for the
weekend so much I won't mind spending the money. Well,
you'll always you'll always mind. You and I are built
the same, I can tell, but you know we'll always mind.
But at least we enjoy it. We kind of get
a test drive for the weekend, just to see what
(07:34):
it's like. You know, the strangest joy in driving cars
comes out of the weirdest places. I bought a tea Bird,
an O two tea Bird for my wife a year
and a half ago. And you know, I don't know.
That car is always broken. It's always in the shops.
You always asks where it is. I say, I don't know.
I'm still driving it. I'll let you know. But I
(07:54):
enjoy the death out of that car. It's a it's
a it's an O two Bird. Yeah, it's a basic automobile.
I get confused because there's no GPS, there's no dash display,
there's no it's very mechanical.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Out of all the cars I have, I enjoy that
car the most. But you know, you got to you
gotta find that car that winds your clock. It's important.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So what do you think of wranglers? I kind of
have an affinity forum. But I am sixty seven. You know,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Well, you know, I think a Wrangler's I think a
Wrangler is a fun vehicle, all right, But you gotta
be prepared. Either you get a good one or you don't.
I've seen some jeeps go one hundred and fifty thousand
miles road hard, put away wet. If it was a horse,
that would have been shot. And I've seen some jeeps
go thirty two thousand miles in the engines. The engines fail,
(08:43):
no rhyme or reason, all right. So the bigger question
would be what can your mechanic work on? Because I
can tell you've got a guy, he's your guy, he's
been your guy that's been doing all your service, and
I would sit down and talk to him. What's he
comfortable with? And and that's important when you're picking a
used car, because a lot of times you buy the
(09:03):
wrong car and you find out you got to change mechanics,
and that's as much of a culture shocks as buying
the wrong car.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So, yeah, he was steering me away from that. He's
not happy with that.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, I don't think you will either, because they get
to be expensive to maintain. They're great when they're new,
but Chrysler jeeps. We see more than a few problems
with them. It's some like I said, it's a fun vehicle,
you just got to have a pocketbook to go with it.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
So yeah, yep, that's true. All right, kidd you gave
me some really good ideas, all right, some used ones
like I wrote it down, you know, within the mileage
and stuff. I think I'm going to start doing that.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, I think you have to. And if you want
to hear this conversation again in about an hour four
o'clock Eastern time, about five o'clock Eastern time today, this
will become a podcast. This is the second hour, and
you were in the top off at the top of
the hour, so you can listen to this segment all
over again. Just go to cardoctorshow dot com and go
look at our podcast page and you'll be able to
find it there.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
All right, kidding, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You're very welcome to WB Well eight five to five
five six zero nine nine zero zero, run on any
of the card Doctor coming back right after this, let's
go to Maine and talk to John about his fifteen
JEP Grand Cherokee. John, you're on with the Car Doctor
at eighty five to five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. How can I help?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Hi?
Speaker 6 (10:21):
Ron, thanks for taking my phone call.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Welcome sir. What's going on?
Speaker 6 (10:24):
Well, let me a little bit of a freef history here.
I replaced the fan in this jeep just about a
month ago. The other one went bad, so ordered fan.
Put it in. Everything seemed fine, took you all the grid,
fired it up, let us sit there for a while,
and in a little over two hundred degrees the fan
come on. I said, the operation success. About two days
(10:46):
later the check engine might come on and give the
P four to eighty code. In fact that I think
there was two of them. So I erased him. Everything
was fine for a couple more days and come back
on again, and so I erased it again. The next
day it come on, and this time they had three codes.
(11:07):
One of them said permanent. So I hit the race
checking gin light. When I so and so forth, next
day it did it, I rased it. It went about
four days in no light. Come on for the heck
of it, I said, you know what, I'm going to
put my code reader in and check it. And there
was no codes, not even the permanent one. Then a
week later it comes back on. So right now, About
(11:29):
every fourth or fifth time you stop the car, the
light comes on given that P four eighty code.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Oh so it's intermittent.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
Yes, oh good.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I thought this was going to be hard, so let's
let's attack it like this. Prior to any of all this,
the old fan module just failed outright and didn't work right. Okay,
I noticed.
Speaker 6 (11:53):
I noticed the engine heating out but not getting hot,
and I let it sit, the drive it one day,
let it go to about two hundred and twenty degrees.
The fan come on, So I said, okay, I the
order a fan. Are no codes?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Right? Are Are you the original owner of this vehicle?
Speaker 6 (12:05):
John, I've been in about eight years.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
All right, to your knowledge, ever been a front end
accident or collision?
Speaker 6 (12:15):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Okay, there has been all right? How recent?
Speaker 6 (12:19):
Oh? Five six years ago?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Okay? Just you know the only reason I bring that
up is because and I always ask this question when
I'm dealing with fans or front front front and backs
of cars are the two places that get hit the most, right.
Usually when something gets hit on the side the cars,
the vehicle's total but it's usually a front hit or
a back hit. You know that Statistics show that it's
(12:43):
it's it's it's it's that's where things happen the most.
And if it's a front hit. Okay, So you know,
if you look at the wiring harness, is it routed
in its original holders? Does it look like it's pulled
or strained such that underneath the convolute covering or underneath
the wire taping, does it look like it was the
harness was put back together correctly? You know, I'm looking
for a potential problematic wiring harness is what I'm trying
(13:06):
to get to, right, and only you and your eye
can see that that. You'll need to go over that
and trace that harness out and look at it as
carefully as you can.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
Well, I have had go back history again. Originally the
fan I replaced was only three years old. The first
one that went bad. Went online, did a bunch of
tasks and they told me to check for probes and
the radiator and thermistics and stuff like that. And there's
two really two relays, and there's two fuses. One says
(13:39):
FAN one, one says Fan two. And tracing the harness out,
nothing goes to those fuses or the relays. There's the
number six wire that goes to one hundred and amp
link fuse underneath the box where you put your murders,
where you put your booster cables in the passenger side right,
and the black wire goes to the block. There's a
(14:01):
number eighteen wire, which I assume is the command wire
since wire in that harness, So there's only the three wires.
I would tell the red is always hot, the black
goes to ground, and then there would be the signal.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Wire right correct. Now there are two versions of this fan,
just just to clarify that, depending upon what you originally had.
There can be a variable speed fan and there can
be a two speed fan. And to my memory, they
look alike. They would both plug in, but they would
(14:39):
actually take that back. They would both fit in, but
I don't believe they electrically plug in. But my point becomes,
make sure you're looking at the right wiring diagram. If
your wiring diagram doesn't match what you've got, then you've
got the wrong diagram, and that's why it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
Okay, Well, I do know the red wire goes to
the hundre damp link fuse. I know the black wire
goes to directly to the engine block and it plugs in.
The fan is variable speed, It'll come on real slow
sometimes because I can see the blaze as it spins.
And then if it's really hot, We've had one day
a really hot weather to hear with the air conditioner
(15:16):
on that I can hear it, you know, reving up
like a jet engine.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Then I'm going to tell you the first thing I'm
gonna do on Monday is I'm going to take the
last day digits of the VN and call my local
Chrysler dealer and ask them, Hey, I want to price
on a new fan. Can you tell me if this
is variable speed or clearcut one and two speed fan,
just to make sure, just to make sure. If they
say it's variable speed and you have a variable speed,
then at least you know you've got the right fan
(15:40):
in the vehicle. On the chance that both would plug in,
I don't think they will. But I'm just trying to
cover the bases and eliminate, you know, let me eliminate
the easy stuff first.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
The second thing is after market fan or OE fan.
And you knew I was going to ask this question.
It's an aptomatic Okay, well, price difference, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
It's actually the same fan I bought before, same part
number from the same company. Okay, Now, now the other
one went three years with no check engine light on. Anyway,
it just decides to give up the ghost. And when
I actually took it out of the car, I took
the took it apart, took the back cover of it,
and there was, uh three chips that were burned up
(16:23):
in it.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Right. See, because I'm kind of concerned that it's the
fan itself, just because you had a bad fan but
no light. Now you have a fan that works, and
now you've got a series of codes. So what changed?
The only thing that's really changed in this equation, everything
else being equal, is you put it. You put a
fan assembly in it. Sure, and whether it's you know,
(16:45):
whether it's after market or oe. You know, that kind
of gets to you. It sits in the back of
your mind. What you what you could do, is what
I would do is put a put an electrical load
across the ground and the hot since they're constant, right,
and that light should be lit all the time, right,
(17:10):
And can you take it for a ride and watch
that light? Does that light flicker, does that light change,
does that light change in intensity? Does that light you know,
go dim, go bright, et cetera. And if that light
is a constant bright, well then I know it's not
power and ground. It's either signal wire or the way
the signal wire is interpreting the fan. And at that
point I'm going to go to the company that I
(17:32):
bought it from and say, listen, I think I've got
a defect here. I want to try another fan. That's
the value in buying from a company you can you
can talk to. So do those steps. If you need more, John,
you know where to find me. But I think you're
going to find the answer in one of those steps
that we discussed eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero running any of the car doctor coming
back right after this, let's uh oh, let's go cruise
(17:58):
over to Virginia and talk to Paul ninety four fifty Paul,
how are you today? What can I do for you?
Speaker 4 (18:03):
All right? Hi, Ron, that should take my pall.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
I've got well, first of all, I've got two kind
of general questions. You know, there's I guess more than
a dozen different kinds of any freeze today. And then
you got the one that says compatible with all makes
models years. Okay, then why isn't it just one? And uh,
(18:31):
I've got ten vehicles. The newest one is the ninety four,
so they're all conventional green, and that's where I've been using.
I was wondering if that yellow, which is a a
longer life one, if that would be okay to use
and would be okay to mix with green.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So, okay, great questions, you know. It's it's the answer
to why we have so many different types of Annie freezes.
Why are there so many different kinds of ketchup in
the supermarket? Ketchup is ketchup, right, but yet everybody's got
their own brand and style and look and flavor and taste,
and anti freezers run the same way, so every manufacturer
(19:14):
wants something different. It's based on the electronics in the vehicle.
It's based on the alloys and the rubber components that
the engine is made up of. It's based on a
lot of factors that each manufacturer and each engineer that's
involved in the building of that vehicle goes to, so
they put different things in. But I agree with you,
it seems very complicated, right, And I'm sure if we asked,
(19:36):
I'm sure if we asked an engineer, we'd get about
a four day answer, and it would all still come
back to use the green, use the yellow, use the blue,
use the red, and and so be it the universal,
the universal stuff which I've I've seen people use. I've
never used it in all honesty, just because I've always
(19:56):
had that particular application available to me. I think my opinion,
I think the universal is there in the emergency. You're
in the autoparts store, you need red, they're out of red,
or you can't get red, or you've got maybe you've
got three different vehicles at home, a red cooling car,
a green cooling car, a blue cooling car. Now you've
only got to buy one coolant and you're covered. And
(20:18):
that answer would make sense to me. I think it's
more important when we're buying anti freeze the quality of
it all right, And I think there's a lot of
choices out there. I think there's a lot of confusion
out there, just like when I buy you know, you
hear me talk about fuel system cleaner. I always talk
about engineering. I talk about anti freeze. I talk about
(20:40):
engineering and the chemical makeup of it. We use peak
in the shop. You hear me talk about Peak all
the time. Yes, they're a sponsor here on the radio show.
And it's not that I use it because of that.
They actually became a sponsor because I used Peak in
the shop and started talking about it. They put the
dots together. I think Peak, which has been around a
very long time, and Peak has, you know, really done
(21:02):
their homework and make a quality product in both universal
and the colored coolants that you know that you're getting
the correct anti freeze application. So much so, for example,
if you use Peak, I'll call it Toyota coolant. They've
combined the red and the pink from long life to
extended long life into one coolant with the correct additives
(21:25):
that you're not damaging or hurting the engine. You're doing
it just as Toyota would want you to do. So,
just when you pick an anti freeze, pick engineering and
pick quality over anything else and you can't go wrong.
Is fair answer? Does that answer it for you?
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Okay? Onto onto your question?
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Okay, and then just real quick, excuse me. Last week
something called in about the Cadillac and you mentioned the
perosity of those blocks.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Wouldn't case Heal help them?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Caseal could have, but I wanted him to do some testing.
I didn't want to just blindly put something in until
we until we knew what we were dealing with. Sometimes
I don't like to listen. You got to understand where
I come from. I talk to so many people here
on air and then at the shop during the course
of the week. In my mind, I'm doing the diagnosis
in my head, frankly, and I'm trying to get you
(22:20):
to learn how to test it before you just fix it.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's it's to be a little comical, and I don't
know if the joke will do well. But there's a
scene in one episode of Hogan's Heroes where they're gonna
and I'm dating myself, but they're going to blow up
a tower, and Hogan says to the boys, we got
to find out what this is. And Carter goes why,
and Hogan says, because this way, at the end of
the war, you can tell you your kids, we blew
up a this or EVA instead of we just blew
up a tower. You know. I want to know where
(22:46):
the coolant leak is coming from. I want to know
if it's porosity in the block. I want to know
if it's a head gasket. I want to know what
I'm dealing with before I just fix it. That's why
I will always encourage a diagnosis, all right, That's just
that's just where I will come from, because when I
find out it's neither one of those, then maybe not
in putting case seal in, but certain times, just to
(23:07):
recommend a repair without knowing what it is I'm trying
to fix, I may actually hurt the situation. So I
I always want to know. I try to be that specific.
All right, onto your question, sir.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Okay, Right, I had well, I was in town eighteen
miles away, and I was I had gotten gas and
it was driving oct first, and then as I was
(23:40):
going along road and came across, came around and Benn,
there was trashing the road, okay, and could not avoid it.
So when I when I got home, I can actually
hear uh click click, and I'm just like, look that
(24:03):
and uh there was a can, a beer can that
was still stuck to my tire.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
But that was a lot.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
That was a lot of trash.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Yeah yeah. And and then there was a when I
backed up, there was an entire bag that then released
from the undercarriage. So that might have bothered wiring, you know,
so who knows the punt? I only hear I don't
(24:37):
hear it each time I turn it, and uh, sometimes
it'll start, other times not. And it's uh, it just
became real difficult. And that gas station that I stopped at,
which was not the usual, uh, is kind of a
little bit below the road, and we've had a lot
(24:59):
of rain in June, so I might have gotten a
considerable amount of water.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Don't come.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
So your question, your question to me is what happened?
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Yeah, I know if you draw gas out, you'll see
the gas separated from the water, and the gas will
be on top of the water, be on the bottom. Yep.
Well I haven't gotten to do that yet, so.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
You know, maybe the answer to this question is because
you're telling me it doesn't run right, right, correct, right.
It's let's start with the simple stuff. First, visual inspection.
What does the undercarriage look like? Is there wiring torn
up or is it no offense? Is it your imagination
that yeah, you ran over trash, but it has nothing
to do with why the vehicle doesn't start or runs
(25:48):
like it does, because it's really related to water in
the fuel. Because you've painted two different scenarios here, correct.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yes, and I all went under it with the creeper
and I didn't see anything tore loose.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Well to my point. So let's let's take a motion
and fear out of this, and let's just be scientific.
Let's pull a fuel sample, real easy to do. Hook
a fuel pressure gauge up or some sort of trader
test point at the fuel pressure test point up under
the hood. Let's see does it fill a Snapple bottle?
That's just a volume test, just for the heck of it.
It's an older truck, right, it's thirty years old. And
(26:23):
let's just test and see do we have good fuel
pump and what does the fuel look like? Fuel looks
like fuel, Fuel fills the Snapple bottle or an equal
sized bottle and under thirty seconds, fuel's not the issue.
Then let's scan it for codes. That's a ninety four,
that's pre OBD two. So let's not count on a
quick reaction. One of the distractions, and one of the
(26:43):
problems with newer vehicles is they've spoiled us as mechanics
and technicians. We expect answers and failure responses so much quicker. Well,
older stuff moved at a much slower speed, all right,
It just it moved at the speed of molasses. And
you've got to go in and retrieve faults and look
to see if that vehicle were to run a Ford
(27:06):
static code test, meaning that it keon engine off and
it passed and there's no faults, and then it passed
an engine running test. There isn't a wiring issue, there
isn't a code issue. We've got to look for something
outside those parameters. So first two things, quality of fuel,
volume of fuel pump, a quick code test. You won't
have to crawl all over the vehicle. I think you're
(27:26):
going to find a direction to go within that and
then we can talk about it further next week. So
do those things, Paul, give me a call back, let
me know what you find, and I'll be here for
you at eight five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. I'm running any of the Car Doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Let's see next up. Let's
let's go back to Virginia. Talk to Troy sixteen Subaru Legacy. Troy.
(27:48):
Welcome to the Car Doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Hey, Ron, Thanks for taking my call. Welcome sir, Hey
twenty sixteen Subaru Legacy. We bought it in twenty nineteen.
Thirty thousand miles on it right now it's sitting at
one hundred and three. We drive it about three times
a month, days in the garage, kept the maintenance up
(28:12):
on it. Never had a problem with it. We drove
about forty five fifty miles last week, parked it. It
set for a couple hours. We came back, got in it,
went to start it and it lit up by your
Christmas treek. Oh boy, DFC tracks control abs all that.
(28:38):
So look in the manual real quick. Luckily we had
it there, so we checked it said do not drive absolutely.
It says, you know, C manufacturer, seed dealer. So luckily
we had a friend that would brought a car trailer,
towed us back it in the garage and went out
(29:05):
the next day. Start well, we started looking up what
the problem was. You to see all these YouTube videos,
it's you know, it's like, well it needs twelve courts.
You're at a one hundred thousand on the Superrew Legacy.
It's one hundred thousand miles. It's time for you to
do a transmission service change of filter. It's gonent E
twelve course of you know, transmission fluid. However, it wasn't
(29:29):
really happy with that situation. We just wasn't real sure.
So talk to a couple of friends and just you know,
just kind of you doing what you do before you're
really take it in within the first twenty four hours.
What what what? What folks do you know that may
give you an idea what's wrong with it? So the
next day go out, turn it on, start it up.
(29:50):
The lights are gone.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
So let me let me ask let me ask you this, Troy.
Did anybody pull fault codes out of this car?
Speaker 5 (29:58):
And absolutely not not at this point?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Okay, can I can I tell you something before you
go any further? Yes, sir, you're playing mind games with yourself. Okay,
you know you're you're you're you're mentally making yourself crazy.
Go get a code scan, and I don't mean an
autopart store code scan. I mean a real by manufacturer
twenty sixteen Subaru legacy. What fault code is here? All right?
(30:23):
You know this is why you ever get a medical
condition and you go look it up on the internet
and they tell you that your toenail fell off means
you're gonna die on Tuesday you know. It's why. It's why,
it's why you don't go look up medical conditions. And
I don't look up anything. If I don't feel good,
I wait twenty four hours. If I'm still alive, I
go to work. If not, I call a doctor. You know,
as dumb as that sounds, because you look up things
(30:44):
on the internet, it'll scare you, right, it's it's everything
is just too generic. The fact that all the lights
are on. Was the check engine light on? Is my okay?
So no check engine light, ABS and traction control came on.
Did it say anything about trans temp too high?
Speaker 4 (31:03):
No?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Okay, So it sounds like you've got an ABS or
traction control fault that will turn on other codes or
I'm sorry, that will turn on other lights, depending upon
what fault code has occurred. Because a lot of the
systems on a modern vehicle are intertwined, they're interconnected, right,
So for example, you could get a bad oxygen you
(31:26):
gonna have an oxygen censor fault code. Let's say the
check engine light was on because the engine has a
oxygen sensor fault. It will it all likelihood turn on
traction control, turn on ABS, turn on trans controller. It
will look, because because engine operation affects the operation of
all those other systems, everything is connected. Go get a
(31:47):
code scan done, and get it done, either within twenty
four hours of the next time the lights cycle, or
while the lights are on. At least that gives you
a direction to look. All right, but don't don't start
doing maintenance until you know what those codes are, because
you're just going to start spending money where you don't
(32:08):
need to, and that's important. Give me a favorite. Get
the code skin done this week. Coming back next week.
We'll be here live on the fourth of July and
we can talk about it then. All right, kiddo, good luck.
Let me know what happens. I'm running ending in the car. Doctor.
I'm back right after this. Before I go today, I
want to just talk to you real quick about we're
into that time of year where it's hot out right.
(32:31):
It's been hot geez. I mean Tuesday at the shop
here in North Jersey, it was so hot you walked
outside of two o'clock, it was like being it was
like it was like an oven. It's so hot. It
was one hundred and four degrees outside the shop this week,
Tuesday and Wednesday, it was crazy and I want to
just talk to you about you know, the overheat thing. Right,
your car runs hot, your vehicle's running hot, you see
(32:51):
higher temperature, and you know, some dues and don'ts all right,
regardless of where you are with part of the country.
But if you're in a part of the country that's
you know, super hot, you may have an overheat condition.
Have you serviced your cooling system? And by that, I
don't mean just have you changed coolant. Of course, changing
coolant is a whole different connotation now, right, you know,
(33:12):
but if your car's got coolant in it longer than
five years, it probably is due. Check your manufacturers, some
of them are very specific. But servicing the cooling system,
making sure belts and hoses are good, making sure there
are no obstructions, nothing's blocking airflow where it's supposed to
underneath or behind the grille of the condenser and so on.
(33:32):
And absolutely positively, if it's steaming from under the hood
and you pull over, do not lift the hood. You
could get hurt and you already know it's overheating. Wait
till it cools off. I'm running any in the car,
doctor until the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're
priceless
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners Alife. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
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(00:25):
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start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Let's get started right away, no fus, no months. Let's
go to Debian Wisconsin and kick off this hour W
five Ford Explorer. We're going to replacement. What's going on, Debbie?
How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm good? Thanks for taking my call. I just want
to say I enjoy your show. I listen to it
all the time. I'm not a mechanic, but I learn
a lot and.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I thank you. I appreciate it, Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
My two thousand and five at eight pour Explorer. I love.
It's got one hundred and fourteen thousand. I've never really
had problems with it, but I was thinking maybe it's
time to replace it, you know. And I go around
trying out cars and I get out of my explore.
Now you know how they used to build cars, right yep? Yea?
(01:33):
And I get into something and it's like you want
how much for this? Right? You know? And I just
keep doing this and I don't like little cars, I
don't like crossovers, and I just I just don't know
what to do. Keep it and just drive it or
what are my options?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Well?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Give me let me. Let me ask you a couple
of questions. So you know how much? How many miles
do you drive in a year?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Not many? I live in a small town, and like
I said, I only have one hundred and fourteen on it.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
And you know, are you working every day? Does it
have to be? Does it have to start every day?
Or if one day it didn't start, you could put
off whatever you were doing and do it the next day.
While you're geting it fixed. That kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I'm retired. And it always starts in Wisconsin too. This
thing goes through snow like you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
You know, right.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
The only the only downside to keeping it all right,
and let me let me start the conversation here, is
that it's twenty years old. And I know for a
fact there are certain things that you cannot buy for
that vehicle anymore, and they're even difficult to find in
the aftermarket, and they're even difficult to find in the
salvage yard world, like main engine controllers, which are not
(02:43):
uncommon to fail on that generation explore. So you know,
you keep driving it. It may come down to where
one day you need something you can't buy and then
you're gonna have to buy something quick. So what you're
doing is smart.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Starting to look around. You have to sit in a
bunch of cars. You don't have to necessarily sit in
a new car, right you have to, you have to sit,
But you have to sit in a bunch of cars.
You can do well buying a what I call a
three year old CPO or certified pre owned vehicle, meaning
it's something that was traded in back in it was
(03:17):
three years old. It's typically got twenty five to thirty
thousand miles on it, it's two thirds of the price
of what it would have been new, and you get
a great warranty generally with a CPO car for most manufacturers,
and it's a pretty good deal. So it's something to
go look for. Now, the question is what, right, what
is it that you're going to buy? Have you sat?
(03:38):
Have you sat in a New Explorer?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I don't like crossovers, okay, I just you're kind of
my generation. Do you remember the fifty station Wagon?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, listen and a hearse?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
How do you take a crossover and it's across in
the station fifty station Wagon? And aharse? I just think
it's ugly.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Right, that's okay. So you know, what is it that
you want to drive? What do you like?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
I like something that's like a taint, like what I got. Well,
you know, something's safe and it's built. You know, it's
heavy and it goes through it and well.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
They don't make that anymore. So that's a problem.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, right, that's my problem.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
So you know, here's here comes the trade off. So
since we know you can't get what you're driving, because
if you did, you'd be driving it already. What's your
what's your second choice? You really don't like the look
of a new Explorer?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
No, okay, no, I don't like crossovers at all.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Okay, what about what about a Chevy Tahoe.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Oh that's a thought.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Right, But wait, do you see the price tag on those?
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I tried want to use one out up at the garage,
and it was seventy three thousand, right right?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
These are like these are like phone numbers, and that's
that's the other part of the problem. Or listen, do
you go completely retro? Do you go backwards? Do you
go buy a completely you know, do you go if
you're going to spend fifty grand, do you go buy
a redone sixties something that your mechanics says, yeah, I
can get parts for that, because sometimes it's actually easier
(05:06):
to get parts for older vehicles than newer vehicles. And
you know, you go back to your days of high school.
What was your car in high school?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Dodge Darts?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Oh, Debbie, we have to get you out more. That's
that's not you know, Wait a minute, So, so all
your friends were driving Camaros and Chevelle's and road runners
and you were driving a Dodge Dart.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Yeah, I liked it too.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Oh, Debbie, No, Debbie, Debbie, you were you?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Weren't you?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Weren't cheese queen in Wisconsin?
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Were you?
Speaker 4 (05:40):
By chance?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I mean it's no dart, okay. So uh, you know,
just got to get into a bunch of cars, you know,
and listen, let's not let's not rule out. Go sit
in a new Toyota Highlander. Go sit in a Grand Highlander.
And you're gonna tell me you don't like Toyota's but
I'm going to tell you that they make a pretty
fair automobile, all right. And I would tell you to
(06:04):
go sit in a Chevy Tahoe. I would go sit
in I would give that Ford Explorer a second look.
You're not going to like an Escape because it's too tiny, right,
But you know the problem is you got to sit
in a bunch of cars figure out what you like.
You're dealing with a pile of technology because you're going
from something twenty years old to today, which is going
(06:24):
to be culture shock.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
You know, when I first started trying out cars, the
salesman threw me the keys and told me to take it.
I got in the cars after and I didn't know
how to start it right. You had to come. You
didn't use the Y I had no question.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And this is the problem, right, this is absolutely the problem.
And this is something you got to get used to.
But that's why I'm saying you got to decide sooner
rather than later, because you're gonna get stuck in a
hole one day. You're going to be behind the eight
ball and I'm going.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
To the middle of winter in fifty below. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well you know, listen, I'm I'm gonna talk to you
like we were standing at the counter and I just
found out that the frame was rotted on your truck
and you had to replace it right away. Debbie, you know,
you're faced with the decision that you've got to do
it now rather than later, and you know, make up
your mind. Pick something. You know, maybe what you want
to do is go look at rental cars and go drive.
(07:13):
Go rent a car for a weekend and drive it
for the weekend. You know, I think I want to
drive a Tahoe. At least I'm going to spend seventy
three thousand dollars. Maybe I like driving it for the
weekend so much I won't mind spending the money. Well,
you'll always you'll always mind. You and I are built
the same, I can tell, but you know we'll always mind.
But at least we enjoy it. We kind of get
a test drive for the weekend, just to see what
(07:34):
it's like. You know, the strangest joy in driving cars
comes out of the weirdest places. I bought a tea Bird,
an O two tea Bird for my wife a year
and a half ago. And you know, I don't know.
That car is always broken. It's always in the shops.
You always asks where it is. I say, I don't know.
I'm still driving it. I'll let you know. But I
(07:54):
enjoy the death out of that car. It's a it's
a it's an O two Bird. Yeah, it's a basic automobile.
I get confused because there's no GPS, there's no dash display,
there's no it's very mechanical.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Out of all the cars I have, I enjoy that
car the most. But you know, you got to you
gotta find that car that winds your clock. It's important.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So what do you think of wranglers? I kind of
have an affinity forum. But I am sixty seven. You know,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Well, you know, I think a Wrangler's I think a
Wrangler is a fun vehicle, all right, But you gotta
be prepared. Either you get a good one or you don't.
I've seen some jeeps go one hundred and fifty thousand
miles road hard, put away wet. If it was a horse,
that would have been shot. And I've seen some jeeps
go thirty two thousand miles in the engines. The engines fail,
(08:43):
no rhyme or reason, all right. So the bigger question
would be what can your mechanic work on? Because I
can tell you've got a guy, he's your guy, he's
been your guy that's been doing all your service, and
I would sit down and talk to him. What's he
comfortable with? And and that's important when you're picking a
used car, because a lot of times you buy the
(09:03):
wrong car and you find out you got to change mechanics,
and that's as much of a culture shocks as buying
the wrong car.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
So, yeah, he was steering me away from that. He's
not happy with that.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, I don't think you will either, because they get
to be expensive to maintain. They're great when they're new,
but Chrysler jeeps. We see more than a few problems
with them. It's some like I said, it's a fun vehicle,
you just got to have a pocketbook to go with it.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
So yeah, yep, that's true. All right, kidd you gave
me some really good ideas, all right, some used ones
like I wrote it down, you know, within the mileage
and stuff. I think I'm going to start doing that.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, I think you have to. And if you want
to hear this conversation again in about an hour four
o'clock Eastern time, about five o'clock Eastern time today, this
will become a podcast. This is the second hour, and
you were in the top off at the top of
the hour, so you can listen to this segment all
over again. Just go to cardoctorshow dot com and go
look at our podcast page and you'll be able to
find it there.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
All right, kidding, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You're very welcome to WB Well eight five to five
five six zero nine nine zero zero, run on any
of the card Doctor coming back right after this, let's
go to Maine and talk to John about his fifteen
JEP Grand Cherokee. John, you're on with the Car Doctor
at eighty five to five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. How can I help?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Hi?
Speaker 6 (10:21):
Ron, thanks for taking my phone call.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Welcome sir. What's going on?
Speaker 6 (10:24):
Well, let me a little bit of a freef history here.
I replaced the fan in this jeep just about a
month ago. The other one went bad, so ordered fan.
Put it in. Everything seemed fine, took you all the grid,
fired it up, let us sit there for a while,
and in a little over two hundred degrees the fan
come on. I said, the operation success. About two days
(10:46):
later the check engine might come on and give the
P four to eighty code. In fact that I think
there was two of them. So I erased him. Everything
was fine for a couple more days and come back
on again, and so I erased it again. The next
day it come on, and this time they had three codes.
(11:07):
One of them said permanent. So I hit the race
checking gin light. When I so and so forth, next
day it did it, I rased it. It went about
four days in no light. Come on for the heck
of it, I said, you know what, I'm going to
put my code reader in and check it. And there
was no codes, not even the permanent one. Then a
week later it comes back on. So right now, About
(11:29):
every fourth or fifth time you stop the car, the
light comes on given that P four eighty code.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Oh so it's intermittent.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
Yes, oh good.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I thought this was going to be hard, so let's
let's attack it like this. Prior to any of all this,
the old fan module just failed outright and didn't work right. Okay,
I noticed.
Speaker 6 (11:53):
I noticed the engine heating out but not getting hot,
and I let it sit, the drive it one day,
let it go to about two hundred and twenty degrees.
The fan come on, So I said, okay, I the
order a fan. Are no codes?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Right? Are Are you the original owner of this vehicle?
Speaker 6 (12:05):
John, I've been in about eight years.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
All right, to your knowledge, ever been a front end
accident or collision?
Speaker 6 (12:15):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Okay, there has been all right? How recent?
Speaker 6 (12:19):
Oh? Five six years ago?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Okay? Just you know the only reason I bring that
up is because and I always ask this question when
I'm dealing with fans or front front front and backs
of cars are the two places that get hit the most, right.
Usually when something gets hit on the side the cars,
the vehicle's total but it's usually a front hit or
a back hit. You know that Statistics show that it's
(12:43):
it's it's it's it's that's where things happen the most.
And if it's a front hit. Okay, So you know,
if you look at the wiring harness, is it routed
in its original holders? Does it look like it's pulled
or strained such that underneath the convolute covering or underneath
the wire taping, does it look like it was the
harness was put back together correctly? You know, I'm looking
for a potential problematic wiring harness is what I'm trying
(13:06):
to get to, right, and only you and your eye
can see that that. You'll need to go over that
and trace that harness out and look at it as
carefully as you can.
Speaker 6 (13:16):
Well, I have had go back history again. Originally the
fan I replaced was only three years old. The first
one that went bad. Went online, did a bunch of
tasks and they told me to check for probes and
the radiator and thermistics and stuff like that. And there's
two really two relays, and there's two fuses. One says
(13:39):
FAN one, one says Fan two. And tracing the harness out,
nothing goes to those fuses or the relays. There's the
number six wire that goes to one hundred and amp
link fuse underneath the box where you put your murders,
where you put your booster cables in the passenger side right,
and the black wire goes to the block. There's a
(14:01):
number eighteen wire, which I assume is the command wire
since wire in that harness, So there's only the three wires.
I would tell the red is always hot, the black
goes to ground, and then there would be the signal.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Wire right correct. Now there are two versions of this fan,
just just to clarify that, depending upon what you originally had.
There can be a variable speed fan and there can
be a two speed fan. And to my memory, they
look alike. They would both plug in, but they would
(14:39):
actually take that back. They would both fit in, but
I don't believe they electrically plug in. But my point becomes,
make sure you're looking at the right wiring diagram. If
your wiring diagram doesn't match what you've got, then you've
got the wrong diagram, and that's why it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
Okay, Well, I do know the red wire goes to
the hundre damp link fuse. I know the black wire
goes to directly to the engine block and it plugs in.
The fan is variable speed, It'll come on real slow
sometimes because I can see the blaze as it spins.
And then if it's really hot, We've had one day
a really hot weather to hear with the air conditioner
(15:16):
on that I can hear it, you know, reving up
like a jet engine.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Then I'm going to tell you the first thing I'm
gonna do on Monday is I'm going to take the
last day digits of the VN and call my local
Chrysler dealer and ask them, Hey, I want to price
on a new fan. Can you tell me if this
is variable speed or clearcut one and two speed fan,
just to make sure, just to make sure. If they
say it's variable speed and you have a variable speed,
then at least you know you've got the right fan
(15:40):
in the vehicle. On the chance that both would plug in,
I don't think they will. But I'm just trying to
cover the bases and eliminate, you know, let me eliminate
the easy stuff first.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
The second thing is after market fan or OE fan.
And you knew I was going to ask this question.
It's an aptomatic Okay, well, price difference, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
It's actually the same fan I bought before, same part
number from the same company. Okay, Now, now the other
one went three years with no check engine light on. Anyway,
it just decides to give up the ghost. And when
I actually took it out of the car, I took
the took it apart, took the back cover of it,
and there was, uh three chips that were burned up
(16:23):
in it.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Right. See, because I'm kind of concerned that it's the
fan itself, just because you had a bad fan but
no light. Now you have a fan that works, and
now you've got a series of codes. So what changed?
The only thing that's really changed in this equation, everything
else being equal, is you put it. You put a
fan assembly in it. Sure, and whether it's you know,
(16:45):
whether it's after market or oe. You know, that kind
of gets to you. It sits in the back of
your mind. What you what you could do, is what
I would do is put a put an electrical load
across the ground and the hot since they're constant, right,
and that light should be lit all the time, right,
(17:10):
And can you take it for a ride and watch
that light? Does that light flicker, does that light change,
does that light change in intensity? Does that light you know,
go dim, go bright, et cetera. And if that light
is a constant bright, well then I know it's not
power and ground. It's either signal wire or the way
the signal wire is interpreting the fan. And at that
point I'm going to go to the company that I
(17:32):
bought it from and say, listen, I think I've got
a defect here. I want to try another fan. That's
the value in buying from a company you can you
can talk to. So do those steps. If you need more, John,
you know where to find me. But I think you're
going to find the answer in one of those steps
that we discussed eight five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero running any of the car doctor coming
back right after this, let's uh oh, let's go cruise
(17:58):
over to Virginia and talk to Paul ninety four fifty Paul,
how are you today? What can I do for you?
Speaker 4 (18:03):
All right? Hi, Ron, that should take my pall.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
I've got well, first of all, I've got two kind
of general questions. You know, there's I guess more than
a dozen different kinds of any freeze today. And then
you got the one that says compatible with all makes
models years. Okay, then why isn't it just one? And uh,
(18:31):
I've got ten vehicles. The newest one is the ninety four,
so they're all conventional green, and that's where I've been using.
I was wondering if that yellow, which is a a
longer life one, if that would be okay to use
and would be okay to mix with green.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So, okay, great questions, you know. It's it's the answer
to why we have so many different types of Annie freezes.
Why are there so many different kinds of ketchup in
the supermarket? Ketchup is ketchup, right, but yet everybody's got
their own brand and style and look and flavor and taste,
and anti freezers run the same way, so every manufacturer
(19:14):
wants something different. It's based on the electronics in the vehicle.
It's based on the alloys and the rubber components that
the engine is made up of. It's based on a
lot of factors that each manufacturer and each engineer that's
involved in the building of that vehicle goes to, so
they put different things in. But I agree with you,
it seems very complicated, right, And I'm sure if we asked,
(19:36):
I'm sure if we asked an engineer, we'd get about
a four day answer, and it would all still come
back to use the green, use the yellow, use the blue,
use the red, and and so be it the universal,
the universal stuff which I've I've seen people use. I've
never used it in all honesty, just because I've always
(19:56):
had that particular application available to me. I think my opinion,
I think the universal is there in the emergency. You're
in the autoparts store, you need red, they're out of red,
or you can't get red, or you've got maybe you've
got three different vehicles at home, a red cooling car,
a green cooling car, a blue cooling car. Now you've
only got to buy one coolant and you're covered. And
(20:18):
that answer would make sense to me. I think it's
more important when we're buying anti freeze the quality of
it all right, And I think there's a lot of
choices out there. I think there's a lot of confusion
out there, just like when I buy you know, you
hear me talk about fuel system cleaner. I always talk
about engineering. I talk about anti freeze. I talk about
(20:40):
engineering and the chemical makeup of it. We use peak
in the shop. You hear me talk about Peak all
the time. Yes, they're a sponsor here on the radio show.
And it's not that I use it because of that.
They actually became a sponsor because I used Peak in
the shop and started talking about it. They put the
dots together. I think Peak, which has been around a
very long time, and Peak has, you know, really done
(21:02):
their homework and make a quality product in both universal
and the colored coolants that you know that you're getting
the correct anti freeze application. So much so, for example,
if you use Peak, I'll call it Toyota coolant. They've
combined the red and the pink from long life to
extended long life into one coolant with the correct additives
(21:25):
that you're not damaging or hurting the engine. You're doing
it just as Toyota would want you to do. So,
just when you pick an anti freeze, pick engineering and
pick quality over anything else and you can't go wrong.
Is fair answer? Does that answer it for you?
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Okay? Onto onto your question?
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Okay, and then just real quick, excuse me. Last week
something called in about the Cadillac and you mentioned the
perosity of those blocks.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Wouldn't case Heal help them?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Caseal could have, but I wanted him to do some testing.
I didn't want to just blindly put something in until
we until we knew what we were dealing with. Sometimes
I don't like to listen. You got to understand where
I come from. I talk to so many people here
on air and then at the shop during the course
of the week. In my mind, I'm doing the diagnosis
in my head, frankly, and I'm trying to get you
(22:20):
to learn how to test it before you just fix it.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's it's to be a little comical, and I don't
know if the joke will do well. But there's a
scene in one episode of Hogan's Heroes where they're gonna
and I'm dating myself, but they're going to blow up
a tower, and Hogan says to the boys, we got
to find out what this is. And Carter goes why,
and Hogan says, because this way, at the end of
the war, you can tell you your kids, we blew
up a this or EVA instead of we just blew
up a tower. You know. I want to know where
(22:46):
the coolant leak is coming from. I want to know
if it's porosity in the block. I want to know
if it's a head gasket. I want to know what
I'm dealing with before I just fix it. That's why
I will always encourage a diagnosis, all right, That's just
that's just where I will come from, because when I
find out it's neither one of those, then maybe not
in putting case seal in, but certain times, just to
(23:07):
recommend a repair without knowing what it is I'm trying
to fix, I may actually hurt the situation. So I
I always want to know. I try to be that specific.
All right, onto your question, sir.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Okay, Right, I had well, I was in town eighteen
miles away, and I was I had gotten gas and
it was driving oct first, and then as I was
(23:40):
going along road and came across, came around and Benn,
there was trashing the road, okay, and could not avoid it.
So when I when I got home, I can actually
hear uh click click, and I'm just like, look that
(24:03):
and uh there was a can, a beer can that
was still stuck to my tire.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
But that was a lot.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
That was a lot of trash.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Yeah yeah. And and then there was a when I
backed up, there was an entire bag that then released
from the undercarriage. So that might have bothered wiring, you know,
so who knows the punt? I only hear I don't
(24:37):
hear it each time I turn it, and uh, sometimes
it'll start, other times not. And it's uh, it just
became real difficult. And that gas station that I stopped at,
which was not the usual, uh, is kind of a
little bit below the road, and we've had a lot
(24:59):
of rain in June, so I might have gotten a
considerable amount of water.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Don't come.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
So your question, your question to me is what happened?
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Yeah, I know if you draw gas out, you'll see
the gas separated from the water, and the gas will
be on top of the water, be on the bottom. Yep.
Well I haven't gotten to do that yet, so.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
You know, maybe the answer to this question is because
you're telling me it doesn't run right, right, correct, right.
It's let's start with the simple stuff. First, visual inspection.
What does the undercarriage look like? Is there wiring torn
up or is it no offense? Is it your imagination
that yeah, you ran over trash, but it has nothing
to do with why the vehicle doesn't start or runs
(25:48):
like it does, because it's really related to water in
the fuel. Because you've painted two different scenarios here, correct.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Yes, and I all went under it with the creeper
and I didn't see anything tore loose.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Well to my point. So let's let's take a motion
and fear out of this, and let's just be scientific.
Let's pull a fuel sample, real easy to do. Hook
a fuel pressure gauge up or some sort of trader
test point at the fuel pressure test point up under
the hood. Let's see does it fill a Snapple bottle?
That's just a volume test, just for the heck of it.
It's an older truck, right, it's thirty years old. And
(26:23):
let's just test and see do we have good fuel
pump and what does the fuel look like? Fuel looks
like fuel, Fuel fills the Snapple bottle or an equal
sized bottle and under thirty seconds, fuel's not the issue.
Then let's scan it for codes. That's a ninety four,
that's pre OBD two. So let's not count on a
quick reaction. One of the distractions, and one of the
(26:43):
problems with newer vehicles is they've spoiled us as mechanics
and technicians. We expect answers and failure responses so much quicker. Well,
older stuff moved at a much slower speed, all right,
It just it moved at the speed of molasses. And
you've got to go in and retrieve faults and look
to see if that vehicle were to run a Ford
(27:06):
static code test, meaning that it keon engine off and
it passed and there's no faults, and then it passed
an engine running test. There isn't a wiring issue, there
isn't a code issue. We've got to look for something
outside those parameters. So first two things, quality of fuel,
volume of fuel pump, a quick code test. You won't
have to crawl all over the vehicle. I think you're
(27:26):
going to find a direction to go within that and
then we can talk about it further next week. So
do those things, Paul, give me a call back, let
me know what you find, and I'll be here for
you at eight five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. I'm running any of the Car Doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Let's see next up. Let's
let's go back to Virginia. Talk to Troy sixteen Subaru Legacy. Troy.
(27:48):
Welcome to the Car Doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 5 (27:51):
Hey, Ron, Thanks for taking my call. Welcome sir, Hey
twenty sixteen Subaru Legacy. We bought it in twenty nineteen.
Thirty thousand miles on it right now it's sitting at
one hundred and three. We drive it about three times
a month, days in the garage, kept the maintenance up
(28:12):
on it. Never had a problem with it. We drove
about forty five fifty miles last week, parked it. It
set for a couple hours. We came back, got in it,
went to start it and it lit up by your
Christmas treek. Oh boy, DFC tracks control abs all that.
(28:38):
So look in the manual real quick. Luckily we had
it there, so we checked it said do not drive absolutely.
It says, you know, C manufacturer, seed dealer. So luckily
we had a friend that would brought a car trailer,
towed us back it in the garage and went out
(29:05):
the next day. Start well, we started looking up what
the problem was. You to see all these YouTube videos,
it's you know, it's like, well it needs twelve courts.
You're at a one hundred thousand on the Superrew Legacy.
It's one hundred thousand miles. It's time for you to
do a transmission service change of filter. It's gonent E
twelve course of you know, transmission fluid. However, it wasn't
(29:29):
really happy with that situation. We just wasn't real sure.
So talk to a couple of friends and just you know,
just kind of you doing what you do before you're
really take it in within the first twenty four hours.
What what what? What folks do you know that may
give you an idea what's wrong with it? So the
next day go out, turn it on, start it up.
(29:50):
The lights are gone.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
So let me let me ask let me ask you this, Troy.
Did anybody pull fault codes out of this car?
Speaker 5 (29:58):
And absolutely not not at this point?
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Okay, can I can I tell you something before you
go any further? Yes, sir, you're playing mind games with yourself. Okay,
you know you're you're you're you're mentally making yourself crazy.
Go get a code scan, and I don't mean an
autopart store code scan. I mean a real by manufacturer
twenty sixteen Subaru legacy. What fault code is here? All right?
(30:23):
You know this is why you ever get a medical
condition and you go look it up on the internet
and they tell you that your toenail fell off means
you're gonna die on Tuesday you know. It's why. It's why,
it's why you don't go look up medical conditions. And
I don't look up anything. If I don't feel good,
I wait twenty four hours. If I'm still alive, I
go to work. If not, I call a doctor. You know,
as dumb as that sounds, because you look up things
(30:44):
on the internet, it'll scare you, right, it's it's everything
is just too generic. The fact that all the lights
are on. Was the check engine light on? Is my okay?
So no check engine light, ABS and traction control came on.
Did it say anything about trans temp too high?
Speaker 4 (31:03):
No?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Okay, So it sounds like you've got an ABS or
traction control fault that will turn on other codes or
I'm sorry, that will turn on other lights, depending upon
what fault code has occurred. Because a lot of the
systems on a modern vehicle are intertwined, they're interconnected, right,
So for example, you could get a bad oxygen you
(31:26):
gonna have an oxygen censor fault code. Let's say the
check engine light was on because the engine has a
oxygen sensor fault. It will it all likelihood turn on
traction control, turn on ABS, turn on trans controller. It
will look, because because engine operation affects the operation of
all those other systems, everything is connected. Go get a
(31:47):
code scan done, and get it done, either within twenty
four hours of the next time the lights cycle, or
while the lights are on. At least that gives you
a direction to look. All right, but don't don't start
doing maintenance until you know what those codes are, because
you're just going to start spending money where you don't
(32:08):
need to, and that's important. Give me a favorite. Get
the code skin done this week. Coming back next week.
We'll be here live on the fourth of July and
we can talk about it then. All right, kiddo, good luck.
Let me know what happens. I'm running ending in the car. Doctor.
I'm back right after this. Before I go today, I
want to just talk to you real quick about we're
into that time of year where it's hot out right.
(32:31):
It's been hot geez. I mean Tuesday at the shop
here in North Jersey, it was so hot you walked
outside of two o'clock, it was like being it was
like it was like an oven. It's so hot. It
was one hundred and four degrees outside the shop this week,
Tuesday and Wednesday, it was crazy and I want to
just talk to you about you know, the overheat thing. Right,
your car runs hot, your vehicle's running hot, you see
(32:51):
higher temperature, and you know, some dues and don'ts all right,
regardless of where you are with part of the country.
But if you're in a part of the country that's
you know, super hot, you may have an overheat condition.
Have you serviced your cooling system? And by that, I
don't mean just have you changed coolant. Of course, changing
coolant is a whole different connotation now, right, you know,
(33:12):
but if your car's got coolant in it longer than
five years, it probably is due. Check your manufacturers, some
of them are very specific. But servicing the cooling system,
making sure belts and hoses are good, making sure there
are no obstructions, nothing's blocking airflow where it's supposed to
underneath or behind the grille of the condenser and so on.
(33:32):
And absolutely positively, if it's steaming from under the hood
and you pull over, do not lift the hood. You
could get hurt and you already know it's overheating. Wait
till it cools off. I'm running any in the car,
doctor until the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're
priceless
Host
Ron Ananian
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