🎧 Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor
Episode Title: Ford Fusion Check Engine Mystery + Used Car Red Flags
Summary:
In this episode, Ron tackles a 2016 Ford Fusion with 166K miles showing P018B low fuel pressure and P0299 turbo underboost—a warning to anyone buying used GDI turbo cars without proper inspection. Learn why scan tool diagnostics should be mandatory before buying, especially in states like Florida with no emissions testing.
Also on the show:
-
A 2002 Ford Thunderbird gets a coolant flush—but what is a “coolant service kit”?
-
A 2007 Chevy Colorado suffers from a failing PCM that only works when hot.
-
A 2012 Honda Fit A/C quits in 107°F heat—Ron explains where to begin.
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Plus: Why cheap $79 oil changes may cost more than you think.
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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 alike. 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 to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five
(00:25):
five 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 into garage and
(00:47):
ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I want to tell you about this sixteen Ford Fusion
that I got to work on this week at the show.
Sixteen Ford Fusion, one hundred and sixty six thousand miles
on it. Recent purchase by the customer from down Florida
Way brought it up to North Jersey. And you know
if mechanics intuition could pick lottery numbers as accurately as
(01:14):
they can pick bad cars. Boy, I'll tell you what,
I'd be retired. You know, you ever just look at
a car and I really think there is something to
mechanics intuition. You just look at a car and you go, boy,
there's something not right about this one. They purchased the car,
and about two hours into the ride north from Florida,
(01:36):
they drove it home the eighteen hundred mile trip. About
two hours into the ride, the check engine light pops on. Well,
in Florida, I'm told, and I don't know that this
is true, but I was told by the owner that
the check engine light doesn't matter in Florida because they
don't have inspection down there. And I'd like to get
an answer on that if any of our Florida listeners
can tell me. Do you guys go to a regular inspection?
(01:57):
You know, in New Jersey we go to inspection every
two years. We plug in, we look at monitors, we
look for codes, We look to see, you know, what
state of readiness and operation is the vehicle computer in
and we pass or failed based on that. Primarily that's
the big one. Well, I'm told in Florida. That doesn't matter. Well,
I don't know. I didn't really look at that, but
(02:18):
necessarily not the point of the story. The point is
two hours into the trip, the check engine light comes on,
and you're coming to a state where a mission's inspection
is mandatory, it has to pass emissions. By the time
it got to my doorstep, the fault code was gone,
The check engine light had turned off, the fault code
was gone. There was nothing in history. They waited a
(02:40):
while to bring it in, but they just told me
the story. They said, Hey, this check engine light came on,
but it went away, and now we just want to
get it serviced. So hesitantly I serviced the vehicle. I
went through when I looked, and you know, did what
needed to be done, breaks tires, et cetera. We put
a bunch of money in it whatever it was, twelve
fifteen hundred bucks and sent it out the door and
(03:01):
I said, you know, when the check engine light comes back,
then you need to, you know, bring it back. We'll
look at the check engine light. Check engine light came back,
showed up on my doorstep on Tuesday, and it had
a P zero eighteen B, which is a low or
plausibility error message in the low fuel pressure sensor. This
(03:25):
is a GDR car gasoline direct injection. There's a low
pressure fuel pump. There's a high pressure fuel pump. The
low pressure fuel pump has a sensor on the line
in this particular car, not all of them do. This
one does. And it has a high pressure sensor that
feeds the on the rail that feeds the injectors that
goes directly to the engine. And it also had a
(03:47):
P zero two ninety nine turbo underboost turbocharger underboost fault.
You know, you used to think catalytic converters were the
most expensive code the car could have, and then turbo
charger under or boost came along, and it could be
anything from a wastegate, soleno or assembly problem to the
whole turbo charger. And you know, in terms of dollars,
(04:08):
it could be, you know, five hundred to four thousand.
It's a very wide range. I wish mechanics intuition could
pick lottery numbers as bad as easily as they can
pick a bad car. Because I'm not surprised. I just
knew working on this car that there was something there.
I really think it should be mandatory that when you
(04:29):
buy a used car they have to provide you with
a clean bill of health showing the monitors ran the
self tests that show that the computer ran its monitors.
It ran the monitors at least a half a dozen times,
that it's a consistently good passing emission system. It protects you,
It protects you the vehicle purchaser, or you know, we
(04:51):
should we should set up a scan tool that somehow
everybody can rent the scan tool for twenty four hours
or something, or buy a scan tool. They're cheap enough.
What am I saying? And understand the basic parameters of
how to use it, because I think it would go
such a long way to helping you identify a good
car versus a bad car. This car is going to
need at a minimum five hundred and in a maximum
(05:15):
I'm not sure. The sad part is you have to
fix the low fuel pressure plausibility problem before you can
solve the two ninety nine. I look, the waistgate moves,
it's got movement and the turbo chargers working. Whatever the
issue is, it's not there right now. The low fuel
pressure sending you an issue is there. It's reading one
(05:36):
tenth of a pound on the scan tool. So it's
clearly got a problem. Whether it's the sender, which it
probably is. Senders are not uncommon, but it could be wiring,
it could be PCM, and you've got to go through
your due diligence and scan and test and so forth.
The sad part is you've got to do that five
to six hundred dollars repair in order to find out
(05:57):
if you need to do the four thousand dollars repair
on a car with one hundred and sixty six thousand miles,
And it fast becomes a game of what if. You know,
what if we do this, and then what if we
do that? And then what if the transmission fails? Cars
are getting tougher in terms of the economics and making
(06:19):
the economics work, and trying to get a good used
vehicle is becoming more and more of a chore. I
really encourage you to take it to a mechanic get it.
And I realize it's not in everybody's budget, and I
understand that one hundred percent, but you've just got to
be prepared. You've got to have money put aside. You've
(06:40):
got to understand and I get it. The cars have
gotten so gosh aren't expensive that it's it's becoming difficult
to purchase something, a good, clean, used car for under
ten grand today. You've really got to understand what happens
in the process. I got to explain to the vehicle
owner what we're doing and how we're doing it. But
(07:01):
to add insult to injury, unfortunately, an hour after I
spoke to them about the fusion and what the fusion
is going to need, they well, as she put it,
the guardrail jumped out in front of her and wiped
out the left side of the car as far as
the suspension. She cracked the two wheels on her twenty
twelve Infinity with two hundred thousand miles on it, and
(07:23):
in all likelihood probably totaled the car. We haven't had
a chance to look at it yet. We moved it
around the parking lot Friday afternoon. And you know, when
you turn the steering wheel and it only goes three quarters
of the way in one direction and then stops, something's
bent hard and there's grinding and crunching, and you know,
(07:44):
you've got to start telling people. So let's see, you
need one car, you need two cars? Is there a
third car that we want to go for the trifecta.
Not trying to be a wise guy. Yeah, sometimes mechanics
intuition is just it's it's too accurate too many times.
So just think about scan tools, think about diagnosing, think
(08:06):
about paying for some sort of a code scan. And
I don't mean something you're going to get a local
parts house. I mean taking it to a local mechanic
and asking them, because doing a scan tool analysis is
probably just as or maybe more important than looking at
the traditional things. How clean is the oil, tires, break, suspension, chassis, undercarriage,
(08:30):
what does it look like, what components work, what components
don't work. Counting on a trusted mechanic for their opinion
on what sort of shape that vehicle is in is
worth quite a bit if you've got the right trusted mechanic.
So just something to think about. I see Tom shot
(08:51):
me a note here. Hey, Ron, In Florida, there is
no safety or emissions inspection. Wow, just like New Jersey,
well worse than New Jersey, because I think New Jersey's ridiculous.
There's no safety inspection in New Jersey, which is to
me abominable, But there's no emissions inspection. In Florida. Either
that's just crazy. I wonder what they're expecting or what
(09:12):
they're thinking. I'd like to hear from my Florida listeners
if anybody out there has any comments. What are they
thinking out there that we're just going to drive cars
with check engine lights on. I wonder if they're susceptible.
I wonder if they're susceptible in Florida to roadside inspections
and if they fail, there's a hefty fine. And because
that's the way it is in Jersey in terms of safety,
(09:32):
so we took away safety in New Jersey. But if
you're caught by a mobile unit, it's a hefty fine.
So in other words, we've turned it over to enforcement.
So we're just generating dollars for the state treasury instead
of actually worrying about keeping people safe and fixing cars.
So anyway, eight five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. I'll be back to open up the phones
right after this. Don't go away, Let's go over, let's
(09:55):
kick the garage doors open. Let's go over to the
Larry and Oregon O two to T bird. Larry, Welcome
to the car doctor. Sure you're on at eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. How can
I help?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Well, I have a two thousand and two T Bird.
I've talked to you before about stockpiling parts, and I've
you told me that I should exchange all the coolants
or change them. And I started with the coolant. And
when I had it done at the local Ford dealer,
they said one of the charges was a coolant service kit,
(10:27):
and I was wondering what that was. I'm also wondering
what the next cop uh exchange of the fluids I
should do?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, what did they say the coolant service kit was?
My thought would be it would be some sort of
chemical additive or treatment for the system. What did they say?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
They didn't say, it's just on the on the charge
for exchanging the coolant.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Is there is there is coolant listed separately. Yes, it
is okay, I would ask her. I would ask him, listen,
it's it's it's not the it's an abnormal charge. Every
shop's got a different way of writing things, and as
many different processes. As many different ways as there are
to do one process, there's there's more than a few
(11:12):
ways to do cooland service. I'm not saying which is
right and which is wrong, And sometimes it's predicated based
on local local laws and what's allowed. And sometimes it's
you know a matter of how are they disposing of
the chemical waste and things like that. So certain times
you're going to run into things like this. But I
would ask them, Hey, what's in that cool and service kit?
(11:32):
My guess is it's additives, cleaners, or source some sort
of protector or protectant for the system. All right, So
once it's done, as far as what's the next fluid?
Just do them all? Are we? You can't You can't
be on a budget driving a classic like an O
two T bird, Larry, you can't.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I want you want to compare prices with East Coast
to West coast? Or don't you want to get into.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That ken What did it costs to do a cooling service?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Well? I had that done and I had an oil
change with the filter, of course, and they charged me
two hundred and eighty five dollars, which I didn't think
was too bad.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I think that's dirt cheap. Let me tell you, let me,
let me let me rail about oil change pricing philosophy.
If you win, you opened up, you opened up the door, right, Yes,
So I look at oil changes as a shop owner,
as time spent. A typical oil change, if you're doing
it how I consider it to be correct, runs anywhere
(12:34):
from a half hour to forty five minutes, depends on
the vehicle. Sometimes it's sometimes it's eight to ten minutes
setting up some of the bigger trucks on the lift
to the point where you feel secure underneath it. And
for anybody out there doubting me, go ahead, you get
underneath a vehicle. Some of these go get under a
ram twenty We did a twenty nineteen ram with a
six seven comings in it, and I think my Mohawk
(12:56):
lifts are some of the best in the world. But
it took us every bit of eight eight to nine
minutes I was the clock to get it centered to
the point where we felt secure under that vehicle. It
takes time. There was a road test involved in the
case of the diesel. We did more than just the
three rights. We wanted to get the diesel good and warm.
We took it for a little bit of a ride.
We got it up to temperature. How does it feel
(13:16):
on the road. This is a real work truck, so
you're being very cautious with it. In terms of your approach.
Not that you're not cautious with others, but you know,
this is a little bit more to look at. It's
not a four cylinder Toyota Corolla. So to me, an
oil change is half hour to forty five minutes. Right,
If the shop laborates one hundred and eighty dollars an hour,
(13:37):
that comes out to one hundred and twenty five dollars
in labor to do an oil change at forty five minutes. Right,
material a good quality oil. Let's cap the price of
a good quality synthetic at ten bucks a quart. Five courts,
there's fifty bucks. That's one hundred and seventy five an
oil filter. Ten bucks a good quality oil filter these days,
(13:58):
so the shop can make a little bit of a
living sor are we two hundred dollars?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
You know?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's it's fascinating though, because I hear comments from time
to time about people still looking for the seventy nine
ninety five oil change. And and here's my point, right,
if we can agree that time and material is what
a repair shop sells, and it costs that repair shop,
(14:25):
let's make it thirty minutes, so it should be ninety
dollars in labor plus material. That's still one hundred and
seventy five dollars right, right, If they're doing it cheaper
than that one hundred and seventy five dollars, how are
they making a living? How are they making up for it?
And the answer I most commonly get, well, you tell me, Larry,
(14:46):
how do you think they're making up for it? If
they're doing the oil change cheap, how do they make
up for it? They got to charge more somewhere else, right,
I suppose, So it's I mean, math is math. Math
never lies. Two and two has to be four. So
that oil change that you're doing cheap, they have to
compensate for it by overcharging somewhere else. They're either overlapping labor,
(15:08):
which I see is the most common way to see
people that they'll write up a job that they'll say
out of the book is nine hours. And I just
recently went through this with a local Toyota dealer. They
gave somebody a quote of nine point two hours, and
there was about three and a half almost four hours
of overlap because it was it was common jobs. It
(15:28):
was front drive axles, ball joints, and an axle seal
and you all if it was in the same area,
and they quoted it out of the book as if
it was three separate labor operations. So you know, I
think you did all right. But my question to them
would be, what's their labor rate? If their labor rate
is one hundred dollars an hour, how long did it
(15:49):
take them. If their labor rate is two hundred dollars
an hour, how long did it take them. It's all
based on you know, it's all time and material is
what I'm coming down to.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
It's similar to what you charge. I think, yeah, a
whole bucks an hours. Anyway, I had another question, but
you're call the guy that hooked me up with you
couldn't really tell me. I went here in Apata Junction, Arizona,
and I couldn't find the radio station and that you
are on and in a Patrick Junson, which is East
a Mesa. So I hope he calls me back and
(16:19):
tells me what it is, OK.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
He you know, Larry, I don't know that he will
because I'm not sure if we have the whole list
we are. We are in an over two hundred stations
around the country. I can make a request to network.
I can't promise you that I'll hear from anybody because
there's a thousand things going on. As much as we listen,
we're doing our best. Brother. You know, people call me up,
they want I have people email me at two o'clock
(16:43):
in the morning, and then they get annoyed at me
that I didn't respond about their car problem. You know,
it's it's it's there's there's a lot of moving pieces
to this radio show, and it's a very grassroots effort.
But if we find out where we are in Arizona,
we're on in more than a few places in Arizona,
we'll happy announced it up on air. How's that for
an answer?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
That's good. And another thing is you are on here
at eleven months and you were also on at again
the next morning at five am.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
And then yeah, that's because I guess we're what you
call popular, and you know everybody's looking for us, Larry,
I know, believe me, brother, I know, LARRYB. Well, enjoy
your tea, bird, go do the rest of the fluids,
get them all done, and make sure that you're asking
and inquiring about why the bills as says what it does,
because it's important to know before you pay. I'm running
ady in the car. Doctor. I'll be back right after this.
(17:38):
I just want to touch on that topic real quick
one me. I want one minute while it's fresh on
everybody's mind. If repair shops actually started to charge legitimate
times for some of the services they do versus trying
to do it cheap to get people in the door,
I think you'd raize I think you'd elevate the entire
industry to the point where they would start to operate
like businesses instead of I consider it too emotional and
(18:03):
reacting to the market to keep people happy. I think
it's important because we're losing a lot of people that
don't want to be technicians anymore. And the number one
reason why because they can't get paid enough to support
what they do on a regular basis. And it's got
to come from somewhere, folks. It's we're going to be
left without mechanics very soon because the pool is dwindling
(18:24):
every day and it's getting worse and worse. Steven Louisiana
was seven Chevy Colorado. How can I help sir?
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yes, sir, thank you for this opportunity or whatever I
want to ask you about my two thousand and seven
Chevy Colorado five cylinder truck. Okay, a couple of years ago,
it's started developing a problem. Then, after a bunch of
deductive reasoning, I finally figured out what the problem was.
(18:51):
And master mechanics have never heard this problem before. But
the power control module, which looks like a little car
amp on the on the firewall with an aluminum body.
To get the things running, I had to put a
heat source on there, in other words, the engine compartment.
(19:15):
Once it got to like operating temperature, it would run
the car. The truck would run fine. But how did
you know? How do you get it to operating temperature
if you can't get it started anyway? I finally I
finally figured out what was wrong with it. How to
do it? Well, I don't I don't know, because it
progressively got worse, and I kept saying, well, I was
(19:39):
looking at maybe trying to change uh PCM. I know
you have to have them program to your Vendo number
and stuff or whatever. But anyway, before I could get
it going, it finally pretty much died out all the way.
And the truck has like two hundred and fifty thousand
miles on it. I changed all it every six years,
(19:59):
So seventy thousand miles, whether or not a need now,
I'm just kidding, it hasn't been well taken care of.
But now it's a big paper weight at the end
of the driveway, and I'm just asked wondering if what's
the viability of perhaps getting the PCUM swapped out.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
And first of all, I've seen that I have experienced that,
I've experienced vehicles that don't start hot or cold because
of problems with PCMs, and not just Chevy Colorado's a
lot of vehicles. It's not an uncommon experience or a
common story that yet happens. As far as getting that
PCM replaced, the real question is are there re manufactured
(20:38):
ones available? Does GM still put out a PCM for that?
Are there any in the automotive aftermarket? And as far
as getting it programmed, sure, I don't think that's that's
as difficult a solution as there are difficulties would be
to actually find somebody to program it. So do you
have a regular mechanic down Louisiana Way? Yes, sir, have
(21:00):
you asked have you asked him about his ability to program?
Does he program?
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Uh? Yeah? But actually the person I'm thinking of didn't
do it, but someone's top to help me one time
on the side of the road and he had like
a like a speed shop type deal or something like that,
and he said he had the ability to program.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
But yeah, programming is not an impossibility on an older
vehicle like that. They've just got to be set up
with the right computers and the right software and the
right you know, the right training. There are some cases
with GM vehicles, for example, where computers are proprietary to
the vehicle and there may or may not be a
replacement computer available, and there's a I'll say it like this,
(21:46):
there's a dark subculture in the automotive industry that is
now chip swapping, where they will unsolder chips from one
computer and solder them back into the replacement used computer
to allow that vehicle computer to be programmed to that vehicle.
That's going on too, That's been going on probably the
(22:06):
better part of seven or eight years. You know, I know,
I know people in New Jersey that do this on
a regular basis, for example. So there are guys out
there that do it. The real question is, you know,
can you get a computer for that? I prefer to
see something new, because I don't think anybody can really
reman a computer. I don't think anybody's got the technology
or the capability, yes to test it the way the
(22:28):
manufacturer would test it. I think technology is the greatest
thing for the automotive industry and the worst all at
the same time. I think it puts us it's a
double edged sword, brother that I think that it is
going to take away the ability to enjoy older cars
after a certain age, when you can't get components anymore.
(22:52):
I understand, you know we've got we've got more than
a few customers driving the generation of Ford Explore oh six,
oh seven, oh eight that need computers. I think, if
I'm not mistaken, one fellow Brandon's was a ten nice vehicles.
They were great vehicles. They are great vehicles. You know,
good engines, you know, big solid vehicles. They need PCMs.
(23:17):
You couldn't find a PCM for that vehicle. Use new
Reman really, Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. And the
other problem is you will go and buy something from it.
I know one fella that did he put four he
put four, No, he put five. Used PCMs in before
he finally got a good one, and the question becomes
(23:37):
how long will that list? Because the components are you know,
things are being depleted on a regular basis, parts of
the single biggest problem facing the industry after mechanics or
the lack of them. So you know it can be done.
Your Colorado can be done, but you've got to look
at the entire vehicle. Steven all right, right, you know
you know is this is this worth it? Because I
(23:59):
would venture to guess in New Jersey dollars, I'm going
to tell you that computer's five hundred bucks. We'll throw
an hour at it to put it in. There's two,
that's seven, and it's probably three hundred dollars to flash
that computer and get software working and to go through it.
So I bet you, I bet you you're gonna throw
a grand at it in New Jersey to fix that.
(24:19):
Equate that to Louisiana. I don't know what you know,
how their labor rates are and so forth, but it
gives you, It gives you a ballpark to work from,
and that's it. That's all dependent upon that processor, that computer.
We could look that up. We could find out that
computer is fifteen hundred bucks. You don't know, so you've
got to look at the whole vehicle at a quarter
million miles. You know, you got to play what if?
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Right? All right? Man? So well, I appreciate you. I
appreciate your advice. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
You're very welcome, Steven. Always a pleasure. So you'll be
will I there probably won't be anything as an old
truck pretty soon, you know. I saw a little sticker
the other day on an older truck in ninety five Ford.
It was kind of neat. It's you know it. Real
trucks rattle. And I thought about that, you know, and
(25:11):
I said, how many real trucks are going to be
left soon? Because the older they get, the more technology
they have, the lack of parts. You know, you're gonna
see a definitive timeline. Things from the nineties down will survive,
but that ninety eight through twenty ten, all that stuff
seems to be going away for some reason. And even
the older ones they're gonna you're gonna see, there's gonna
(25:33):
be there's gonna be some issues there. So but yeah,
real trucks rattle. The question is for how long eight five, five, five,
six zero nine nine zero zero running any of the
car doctor coming back right after this, let us go
to Tim in California. Tim, you're all running any in
the car doctor, sir? How can I help you in
your twelve Honda Fit.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Oh well, thank you for talking to me today. So
a couple of weeks ago, though, I was out in
California on I five, our famous freeway, and the temperature
was one hundred and seven and the Honda Fit air
conditioning stop stopped producing cold air, and also the flow
(26:19):
the amount of what do you call it CFM the fan.
You know, I wasn't getting much airflow.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Right, So the the AC was on and the blower
was on, but you just stopped getting airflow out of
the ducks. So obviously the condenser, I'm sorry, the evaporator
coil froze.
Speaker 5 (26:36):
I'm thinking that and on this particular car. I've experienced
it on other cars. On this car it seems to
recover pretty fast. So what I did is I I
have a button for the air conditioning independent of the
knob that controls the.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Fan, right, So you turned it off the butt right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
So I shut it off, and you know, I'm ten
or fifteen minutes later it was producing cold there again.
So it was capable of producing cold air at that temperature.
And you know, I stopped going to one shop that
was close to my house. I was going there because
you know, they had told me that, you know, I
need to replace the Canon condenser coils got it, you know,
(27:17):
and they had done a pull of vacuum and recharge
the system on me. And when I when I went
back and told them, hey, I'm getting this symptom. You know,
They're saying, well, you know, shoot the parts cannon. You know,
let's just replace the condenser and the progressor. And I'm amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
First of all, I'm amazed they actually found a condenser
for it. But you know, I go ug because can
we diagnose it first? Can we try and take a
shot at diagnosing it right? And I know you feel
the pain also financially and the aggravation factor.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Right, yeah, So I you know, I declined that service,
and I got some coil cleaner, foaming coil cleaner, and
I cleaned the radiator and the condenser coil. And and
when I'm a happy way knowing that this problem only
exhibits on the hottest of days. So then I went
to a friend who owns a mechanic shop, which you know,
(28:10):
I've had three new cars I bought in twenty twelve,
I haven't had much need for a regular mechanic. But
I know this person personally. I work on his car
as a matter of fact, because I do window tinning,
I work on his car. So I know him pretty well.
And so you know, I said, hey, why don't we
pull a vacuum, you know, and because I know the
cars have such a small amount of refrigerant that it's
(28:33):
critical that it be perfect in the quantity. And so
I had him do that just you know, I asked
for it. I didn't ask for a diagnosis. Let's try this,
you know, a couple of years later, same result, you know,
on the hottest days. And I think, I think mechanics
(28:54):
are a little dismissive when you know you have a
car like that. He drives enough two fifty, you know,
so you know, it's like, well, this is what happens
when you buy a car with such a small air conditioning.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
So can we let's let's talk about air conditioning physics,
can we? Yeah, how does air conditioning work? Air Conditioning
doesn't produce cold air? Air conditioning conditions air all right,
that's that's the thought process. We take a liquid and
we push it through a line, and when it gets
(29:28):
to a restriction of the proper size, drops come out
the end. It's sort of like you know the waterfall
that we plug, and then instead of a rush of
water or a rush of liquid refrigerant, we get drops.
And as those drops fall over the edge into the evaporator,
(29:49):
they're they're falling from pressure into a vacuum state. And
when they go into that vacuum state, that liquid then
becomes a gas. As it goes through and use that
transition from liquid to gas, it has a tendency to
absorb heat as it's pushed across the evaporator coil by
(30:10):
the blower motor with me, makes sense, yeah, all right,
And then when it gets out to the condenser out
in front of the vehicle, it's a reverse process. It
gets to the condenser as a gas, and as it
changes back to a liquid, it gives off the heat
that it absorbed from the engine from the passenger compartment. Right.
(30:31):
So the concern here if we're really freezing the evaporator coil.
The first question I've got is what system pressure on
the low side when we're doing that. So if it
goes below the rule of thumb is, if it goes
below thirty pounds, we're running the danger of having evaporator
freeze up. Now in that particular car, I've seen anywhere
(30:54):
from twenty six to thirty. I'd really be curious. You know,
maybe we've got a bad pressure switch. The pressure switch
itself normally opens, I believe at twenty eight pounds. I've
seen them out of calibration where they'll run all the
way down below twenty six, and we run the risk
of freezing up the evaporator coil. And you know, perhaps
(31:16):
that's going on. But you know I'm not hearing anybody
do that. All we're doing is we're changing parts. I'll
tell you what, Tim, Sit tight, let me pull over,
take this pause. I don't want to go through this
too quick. We'll finish up with you on the other
side of this. I'm running any in the car. Doctor,
we'll return right after this. Don't go anywhere, Tim, you're
still there, sir, Tim, Yes, okay. So what I'm trying
(31:41):
to get at, and thanks for sticking around. What I'm
trying to get at is, you know, if we have
a true freeze up problem based on evaporator temperature sensor readings. Okay,
there are ways to go through and test and modify
for this. Now. The evaporator tem censor on that I'm
sure you know this by now is buried in the
evaporator case under the dashboard. Kind of a pain in
(32:03):
the neck to get.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
To, right, Yeah, and you got to pretty much disassemble everything.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Right, And I'm I like to kind of try and
think my way outside the box if I can. So
what I would like to do is if we turn
the AC on and low speed, I like to do
a low speed reading in this case because you're going
to get maximum evaporator freeze up potential at a lower speed.
The air moves slower over the evaporator will tend to
(32:31):
freeze it faster. I would do that and watch my
temperature on the low side gauge as I see it
fall below thirty two thirty pounds, where it's approaching freeze up,
which is where we establish that's when refrigerant will it's
too cold anything below thirty really okay, I want you
to disconnect the evaporator connector, which you'll find I think
(32:51):
coming through the firewall on the right side. I have
to look at the car because some of these are different,
and I try and get a resistance reading off that
I'm sorry, off that evaporator switch to see what it is.
Where does it fall? Could you wire a resistor in
series to sort of calibrate that and a had a
little bit more resistance to it to keep it from
(33:13):
keeping the compressor on that extended length of time. I've
also done things like this for AC systems, where I
will put a potentiometer a variable switch that I can
control and prevent the freeze up. Some ideas to try.
Call me back if you need more until the next
time I'm running ade in the car. Doctor, good mechanics
aren't expensive, They're priceless. See you
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners alike. 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 to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to
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start your enginies. The Car Doctor is into garage and
(00:47):
ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I want to tell you about this sixteen Ford Fusion
that I got to work on this week at the show.
Sixteen Ford Fusion, one hundred and sixty six thousand miles
on it. Recent purchase by the customer from down Florida
Way brought it up to North Jersey. And you know
if mechanics intuition could pick lottery numbers as accurately as
(01:14):
they can pick bad cars. Boy, I'll tell you what,
I'd be retired. You know, you ever just look at
a car and I really think there is something to
mechanics intuition. You just look at a car and you go, boy,
there's something not right about this one. They purchased the car,
and about two hours into the ride north from Florida,
(01:36):
they drove it home the eighteen hundred mile trip. About
two hours into the ride, the check engine light pops on. Well,
in Florida, I'm told, and I don't know that this
is true, but I was told by the owner that
the check engine light doesn't matter in Florida because they
don't have inspection down there. And I'd like to get
an answer on that if any of our Florida listeners
can tell me. Do you guys go to a regular inspection?
(01:57):
You know, in New Jersey we go to inspection every
two years. We plug in, we look at monitors, we
look for codes, We look to see, you know, what
state of readiness and operation is the vehicle computer in
and we pass or failed based on that. Primarily that's
the big one. Well, I'm told in Florida. That doesn't matter. Well,
I don't know. I didn't really look at that, but
(02:18):
necessarily not the point of the story. The point is
two hours into the trip, the check engine light comes on,
and you're coming to a state where a mission's inspection
is mandatory, it has to pass emissions. By the time
it got to my doorstep, the fault code was gone,
The check engine light had turned off, the fault code
was gone. There was nothing in history. They waited a
(02:40):
while to bring it in, but they just told me
the story. They said, Hey, this check engine light came on,
but it went away, and now we just want to
get it serviced. So hesitantly I serviced the vehicle. I
went through when I looked, and you know, did what
needed to be done, breaks tires, et cetera. We put
a bunch of money in it whatever it was, twelve
fifteen hundred bucks and sent it out the door and
(03:01):
I said, you know, when the check engine light comes back,
then you need to, you know, bring it back. We'll
look at the check engine light. Check engine light came back,
showed up on my doorstep on Tuesday, and it had
a P zero eighteen B, which is a low or
plausibility error message in the low fuel pressure sensor. This
(03:25):
is a GDR car gasoline direct injection. There's a low
pressure fuel pump. There's a high pressure fuel pump. The
low pressure fuel pump has a sensor on the line
in this particular car, not all of them do. This
one does. And it has a high pressure sensor that
feeds the on the rail that feeds the injectors that
goes directly to the engine. And it also had a
(03:47):
P zero two ninety nine turbo underboost turbocharger underboost fault.
You know, you used to think catalytic converters were the
most expensive code the car could have, and then turbo
charger under or boost came along, and it could be
anything from a wastegate, soleno or assembly problem to the
whole turbo charger. And you know, in terms of dollars,
(04:08):
it could be, you know, five hundred to four thousand.
It's a very wide range. I wish mechanics intuition could
pick lottery numbers as bad as easily as they can
pick a bad car. Because I'm not surprised. I just
knew working on this car that there was something there.
I really think it should be mandatory that when you
(04:29):
buy a used car they have to provide you with
a clean bill of health showing the monitors ran the
self tests that show that the computer ran its monitors.
It ran the monitors at least a half a dozen times,
that it's a consistently good passing emission system. It protects you,
It protects you the vehicle purchaser, or you know, we
(04:51):
should we should set up a scan tool that somehow
everybody can rent the scan tool for twenty four hours
or something, or buy a scan tool. They're cheap enough.
What am I saying? And understand the basic parameters of
how to use it, because I think it would go
such a long way to helping you identify a good
car versus a bad car. This car is going to
need at a minimum five hundred and in a maximum
(05:15):
I'm not sure. The sad part is you have to
fix the low fuel pressure plausibility problem before you can
solve the two ninety nine. I look, the waistgate moves,
it's got movement and the turbo chargers working. Whatever the
issue is, it's not there right now. The low fuel
pressure sending you an issue is there. It's reading one
(05:36):
tenth of a pound on the scan tool. So it's
clearly got a problem. Whether it's the sender, which it
probably is. Senders are not uncommon, but it could be wiring,
it could be PCM, and you've got to go through
your due diligence and scan and test and so forth.
The sad part is you've got to do that five
to six hundred dollars repair in order to find out
(05:57):
if you need to do the four thousand dollars repair
on a car with one hundred and sixty six thousand miles,
And it fast becomes a game of what if. You know,
what if we do this, and then what if we
do that? And then what if the transmission fails? Cars
are getting tougher in terms of the economics and making
(06:19):
the economics work, and trying to get a good used
vehicle is becoming more and more of a chore. I
really encourage you to take it to a mechanic get it.
And I realize it's not in everybody's budget, and I
understand that one hundred percent, but you've just got to
be prepared. You've got to have money put aside. You've
(06:40):
got to understand and I get it. The cars have
gotten so gosh aren't expensive that it's it's becoming difficult
to purchase something, a good, clean, used car for under
ten grand today. You've really got to understand what happens
in the process. I got to explain to the vehicle
owner what we're doing and how we're doing it. But
(07:01):
to add insult to injury, unfortunately, an hour after I
spoke to them about the fusion and what the fusion
is going to need, they well, as she put it,
the guardrail jumped out in front of her and wiped
out the left side of the car as far as
the suspension. She cracked the two wheels on her twenty
twelve Infinity with two hundred thousand miles on it, and
(07:23):
in all likelihood probably totaled the car. We haven't had
a chance to look at it yet. We moved it
around the parking lot Friday afternoon. And you know, when
you turn the steering wheel and it only goes three quarters
of the way in one direction and then stops, something's
bent hard and there's grinding and crunching, and you know,
(07:44):
you've got to start telling people. So let's see, you
need one car, you need two cars? Is there a
third car that we want to go for the trifecta.
Not trying to be a wise guy. Yeah, sometimes mechanics
intuition is just it's it's too accurate too many times.
So just think about scan tools, think about diagnosing, think
(08:06):
about paying for some sort of a code scan. And
I don't mean something you're going to get a local
parts house. I mean taking it to a local mechanic
and asking them, because doing a scan tool analysis is
probably just as or maybe more important than looking at
the traditional things. How clean is the oil, tires, break, suspension, chassis, undercarriage,
(08:30):
what does it look like, what components work, what components
don't work. Counting on a trusted mechanic for their opinion
on what sort of shape that vehicle is in is
worth quite a bit if you've got the right trusted mechanic.
So just something to think about. I see Tom shot
(08:51):
me a note here. Hey, Ron, In Florida, there is
no safety or emissions inspection. Wow, just like New Jersey,
well worse than New Jersey, because I think New Jersey's ridiculous.
There's no safety inspection in New Jersey, which is to
me abominable, But there's no emissions inspection. In Florida. Either
that's just crazy. I wonder what they're expecting or what
(09:12):
they're thinking. I'd like to hear from my Florida listeners
if anybody out there has any comments. What are they
thinking out there that we're just going to drive cars
with check engine lights on. I wonder if they're susceptible.
I wonder if they're susceptible in Florida to roadside inspections
and if they fail, there's a hefty fine. And because
that's the way it is in Jersey in terms of safety,
(09:32):
so we took away safety in New Jersey. But if
you're caught by a mobile unit, it's a hefty fine.
So in other words, we've turned it over to enforcement.
So we're just generating dollars for the state treasury instead
of actually worrying about keeping people safe and fixing cars.
So anyway, eight five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. I'll be back to open up the phones
right after this. Don't go away, Let's go over, let's
(09:55):
kick the garage doors open. Let's go over to the
Larry and Oregon O two to T bird. Larry, Welcome
to the car doctor. Sure you're on at eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. How can
I help?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Well, I have a two thousand and two T Bird.
I've talked to you before about stockpiling parts, and I've
you told me that I should exchange all the coolants
or change them. And I started with the coolant. And
when I had it done at the local Ford dealer,
they said one of the charges was a coolant service kit,
(10:27):
and I was wondering what that was. I'm also wondering
what the next cop uh exchange of the fluids I
should do?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Well, what did they say the coolant service kit was?
My thought would be it would be some sort of
chemical additive or treatment for the system. What did they say?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
They didn't say, it's just on the on the charge
for exchanging the coolant.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Is there is there is coolant listed separately. Yes, it
is okay, I would ask her. I would ask him, listen,
it's it's it's not the it's an abnormal charge. Every
shop's got a different way of writing things, and as
many different processes. As many different ways as there are
to do one process, there's there's more than a few
(11:12):
ways to do cooland service. I'm not saying which is
right and which is wrong, And sometimes it's predicated based
on local local laws and what's allowed. And sometimes it's
you know a matter of how are they disposing of
the chemical waste and things like that. So certain times
you're going to run into things like this. But I
would ask them, Hey, what's in that cool and service kit?
(11:32):
My guess is it's additives, cleaners, or source some sort
of protector or protectant for the system. All right, So
once it's done, as far as what's the next fluid?
Just do them all? Are we? You can't You can't
be on a budget driving a classic like an O
two T bird, Larry, you can't.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I want you want to compare prices with East Coast
to West coast? Or don't you want to get into.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That ken What did it costs to do a cooling service?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Well? I had that done and I had an oil
change with the filter, of course, and they charged me
two hundred and eighty five dollars, which I didn't think
was too bad.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I think that's dirt cheap. Let me tell you, let me,
let me let me rail about oil change pricing philosophy.
If you win, you opened up, you opened up the door, right, Yes,
So I look at oil changes as a shop owner,
as time spent. A typical oil change, if you're doing
it how I consider it to be correct, runs anywhere
(12:34):
from a half hour to forty five minutes, depends on
the vehicle. Sometimes it's sometimes it's eight to ten minutes
setting up some of the bigger trucks on the lift
to the point where you feel secure underneath it. And
for anybody out there doubting me, go ahead, you get
underneath a vehicle. Some of these go get under a
ram twenty We did a twenty nineteen ram with a
six seven comings in it, and I think my Mohawk
(12:56):
lifts are some of the best in the world. But
it took us every bit of eight eight to nine
minutes I was the clock to get it centered to
the point where we felt secure under that vehicle. It
takes time. There was a road test involved in the
case of the diesel. We did more than just the
three rights. We wanted to get the diesel good and warm.
We took it for a little bit of a ride.
We got it up to temperature. How does it feel
(13:16):
on the road. This is a real work truck, so
you're being very cautious with it. In terms of your approach.
Not that you're not cautious with others, but you know,
this is a little bit more to look at. It's
not a four cylinder Toyota Corolla. So to me, an
oil change is half hour to forty five minutes. Right,
If the shop laborates one hundred and eighty dollars an hour,
(13:37):
that comes out to one hundred and twenty five dollars
in labor to do an oil change at forty five minutes. Right,
material a good quality oil. Let's cap the price of
a good quality synthetic at ten bucks a quart. Five courts,
there's fifty bucks. That's one hundred and seventy five an
oil filter. Ten bucks a good quality oil filter these days,
(13:58):
so the shop can make a little bit of a
living sor are we two hundred dollars?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
You know?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It's it's fascinating though, because I hear comments from time
to time about people still looking for the seventy nine
ninety five oil change. And and here's my point, right,
if we can agree that time and material is what
a repair shop sells, and it costs that repair shop,
(14:25):
let's make it thirty minutes, so it should be ninety
dollars in labor plus material. That's still one hundred and
seventy five dollars right, right, If they're doing it cheaper
than that one hundred and seventy five dollars, how are
they making a living? How are they making up for it?
And the answer I most commonly get, well, you tell me, Larry,
(14:46):
how do you think they're making up for it? If
they're doing the oil change cheap, how do they make
up for it? They got to charge more somewhere else, right,
I suppose, So it's I mean, math is math. Math
never lies. Two and two has to be four. So
that oil change that you're doing cheap, they have to
compensate for it by overcharging somewhere else. They're either overlapping labor,
(15:08):
which I see is the most common way to see
people that they'll write up a job that they'll say
out of the book is nine hours. And I just
recently went through this with a local Toyota dealer. They
gave somebody a quote of nine point two hours, and
there was about three and a half almost four hours
of overlap because it was it was common jobs. It
(15:28):
was front drive axles, ball joints, and an axle seal
and you all if it was in the same area,
and they quoted it out of the book as if
it was three separate labor operations. So you know, I
think you did all right. But my question to them
would be, what's their labor rate? If their labor rate
is one hundred dollars an hour, how long did it
(15:49):
take them. If their labor rate is two hundred dollars
an hour, how long did it take them. It's all
based on you know, it's all time and material is
what I'm coming down to.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
It's similar to what you charge. I think, yeah, a
whole bucks an hours. Anyway, I had another question, but
you're call the guy that hooked me up with you
couldn't really tell me. I went here in Apata Junction, Arizona,
and I couldn't find the radio station and that you
are on and in a Patrick Junson, which is East
a Mesa. So I hope he calls me back and
(16:19):
tells me what it is, OK.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
He you know, Larry, I don't know that he will
because I'm not sure if we have the whole list
we are. We are in an over two hundred stations
around the country. I can make a request to network.
I can't promise you that I'll hear from anybody because
there's a thousand things going on. As much as we listen,
we're doing our best. Brother. You know, people call me up,
they want I have people email me at two o'clock
(16:43):
in the morning, and then they get annoyed at me
that I didn't respond about their car problem. You know,
it's it's it's there's there's a lot of moving pieces
to this radio show, and it's a very grassroots effort.
But if we find out where we are in Arizona,
we're on in more than a few places in Arizona,
we'll happy announced it up on air. How's that for
an answer?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
That's good. And another thing is you are on here
at eleven months and you were also on at again
the next morning at five am.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
And then yeah, that's because I guess we're what you
call popular, and you know everybody's looking for us, Larry,
I know, believe me, brother, I know, LARRYB. Well, enjoy
your tea, bird, go do the rest of the fluids,
get them all done, and make sure that you're asking
and inquiring about why the bills as says what it does,
because it's important to know before you pay. I'm running
ady in the car. Doctor. I'll be back right after this.
(17:38):
I just want to touch on that topic real quick
one me. I want one minute while it's fresh on
everybody's mind. If repair shops actually started to charge legitimate
times for some of the services they do versus trying
to do it cheap to get people in the door,
I think you'd raize I think you'd elevate the entire
industry to the point where they would start to operate
like businesses instead of I consider it too emotional and
(18:03):
reacting to the market to keep people happy. I think
it's important because we're losing a lot of people that
don't want to be technicians anymore. And the number one
reason why because they can't get paid enough to support
what they do on a regular basis. And it's got
to come from somewhere, folks. It's we're going to be
left without mechanics very soon because the pool is dwindling
(18:24):
every day and it's getting worse and worse. Steven Louisiana
was seven Chevy Colorado. How can I help sir?
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yes, sir, thank you for this opportunity or whatever I
want to ask you about my two thousand and seven
Chevy Colorado five cylinder truck. Okay, a couple of years ago,
it's started developing a problem. Then, after a bunch of
deductive reasoning, I finally figured out what the problem was.
(18:51):
And master mechanics have never heard this problem before. But
the power control module, which looks like a little car
amp on the on the firewall with an aluminum body.
To get the things running, I had to put a
heat source on there, in other words, the engine compartment.
(19:15):
Once it got to like operating temperature, it would run
the car. The truck would run fine. But how did
you know? How do you get it to operating temperature
if you can't get it started anyway? I finally I
finally figured out what was wrong with it. How to
do it? Well, I don't I don't know, because it
progressively got worse, and I kept saying, well, I was
(19:39):
looking at maybe trying to change uh PCM. I know
you have to have them program to your Vendo number
and stuff or whatever. But anyway, before I could get
it going, it finally pretty much died out all the way.
And the truck has like two hundred and fifty thousand
miles on it. I changed all it every six years,
(19:59):
So seventy thousand miles, whether or not a need now,
I'm just kidding, it hasn't been well taken care of.
But now it's a big paper weight at the end
of the driveway, and I'm just asked wondering if what's
the viability of perhaps getting the PCUM swapped out.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
And first of all, I've seen that I have experienced that,
I've experienced vehicles that don't start hot or cold because
of problems with PCMs, and not just Chevy Colorado's a
lot of vehicles. It's not an uncommon experience or a
common story that yet happens. As far as getting that
PCM replaced, the real question is are there re manufactured
(20:38):
ones available? Does GM still put out a PCM for that?
Are there any in the automotive aftermarket? And as far
as getting it programmed, sure, I don't think that's that's
as difficult a solution as there are difficulties would be
to actually find somebody to program it. So do you
have a regular mechanic down Louisiana Way? Yes, sir, have
(21:00):
you asked have you asked him about his ability to program?
Does he program?
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Uh? Yeah? But actually the person I'm thinking of didn't
do it, but someone's top to help me one time
on the side of the road and he had like
a like a speed shop type deal or something like that,
and he said he had the ability to program.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
But yeah, programming is not an impossibility on an older
vehicle like that. They've just got to be set up
with the right computers and the right software and the
right you know, the right training. There are some cases
with GM vehicles, for example, where computers are proprietary to
the vehicle and there may or may not be a
replacement computer available, and there's a I'll say it like this,
(21:46):
there's a dark subculture in the automotive industry that is
now chip swapping, where they will unsolder chips from one
computer and solder them back into the replacement used computer
to allow that vehicle computer to be programmed to that vehicle.
That's going on too, That's been going on probably the
(22:06):
better part of seven or eight years. You know, I know,
I know people in New Jersey that do this on
a regular basis, for example. So there are guys out
there that do it. The real question is, you know,
can you get a computer for that? I prefer to
see something new, because I don't think anybody can really
reman a computer. I don't think anybody's got the technology
or the capability, yes to test it the way the
(22:28):
manufacturer would test it. I think technology is the greatest
thing for the automotive industry and the worst all at
the same time. I think it puts us it's a
double edged sword, brother that I think that it is
going to take away the ability to enjoy older cars
after a certain age, when you can't get components anymore.
(22:52):
I understand, you know we've got we've got more than
a few customers driving the generation of Ford Explore oh six,
oh seven, oh eight that need computers. I think, if
I'm not mistaken, one fellow Brandon's was a ten nice vehicles.
They were great vehicles. They are great vehicles. You know,
good engines, you know, big solid vehicles. They need PCMs.
(23:17):
You couldn't find a PCM for that vehicle. Use new
Reman really, Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. And the
other problem is you will go and buy something from it.
I know one fella that did he put four he
put four, No, he put five. Used PCMs in before
he finally got a good one, and the question becomes
(23:37):
how long will that list? Because the components are you know,
things are being depleted on a regular basis, parts of
the single biggest problem facing the industry after mechanics or
the lack of them. So you know it can be done.
Your Colorado can be done, but you've got to look
at the entire vehicle. Steven all right, right, you know
you know is this is this worth it? Because I
(23:59):
would venture to guess in New Jersey dollars, I'm going
to tell you that computer's five hundred bucks. We'll throw
an hour at it to put it in. There's two,
that's seven, and it's probably three hundred dollars to flash
that computer and get software working and to go through it.
So I bet you, I bet you you're gonna throw
a grand at it in New Jersey to fix that.
(24:19):
Equate that to Louisiana. I don't know what you know,
how their labor rates are and so forth, but it
gives you, It gives you a ballpark to work from,
and that's it. That's all dependent upon that processor, that computer.
We could look that up. We could find out that
computer is fifteen hundred bucks. You don't know, so you've
got to look at the whole vehicle at a quarter
million miles. You know, you got to play what if?
Speaker 4 (24:44):
Right? All right? Man? So well, I appreciate you. I
appreciate your advice. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
You're very welcome, Steven. Always a pleasure. So you'll be
will I there probably won't be anything as an old
truck pretty soon, you know. I saw a little sticker
the other day on an older truck in ninety five Ford.
It was kind of neat. It's you know it. Real
trucks rattle. And I thought about that, you know, and
(25:11):
I said, how many real trucks are going to be
left soon? Because the older they get, the more technology
they have, the lack of parts. You know, you're gonna
see a definitive timeline. Things from the nineties down will survive,
but that ninety eight through twenty ten, all that stuff
seems to be going away for some reason. And even
the older ones they're gonna you're gonna see, there's gonna
(25:33):
be there's gonna be some issues there. So but yeah,
real trucks rattle. The question is for how long eight five, five, five,
six zero nine nine zero zero running any of the
car doctor coming back right after this, let us go
to Tim in California. Tim, you're all running any in
the car doctor, sir? How can I help you in
your twelve Honda Fit.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Oh well, thank you for talking to me today. So
a couple of weeks ago, though, I was out in
California on I five, our famous freeway, and the temperature
was one hundred and seven and the Honda Fit air
conditioning stop stopped producing cold air, and also the flow
(26:19):
the amount of what do you call it CFM the fan.
You know, I wasn't getting much airflow.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Right, So the the AC was on and the blower
was on, but you just stopped getting airflow out of
the ducks. So obviously the condenser, I'm sorry, the evaporator
coil froze.
Speaker 5 (26:36):
I'm thinking that and on this particular car. I've experienced
it on other cars. On this car it seems to
recover pretty fast. So what I did is I I
have a button for the air conditioning independent of the
knob that controls the.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Fan, right, So you turned it off the butt right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
So I shut it off, and you know, I'm ten
or fifteen minutes later it was producing cold there again.
So it was capable of producing cold air at that temperature.
And you know, I stopped going to one shop that
was close to my house. I was going there because
you know, they had told me that, you know, I
need to replace the Canon condenser coils got it, you know,
(27:17):
and they had done a pull of vacuum and recharge
the system on me. And when I when I went
back and told them, hey, I'm getting this symptom. You know,
They're saying, well, you know, shoot the parts cannon. You know,
let's just replace the condenser and the progressor. And I'm amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
First of all, I'm amazed they actually found a condenser
for it. But you know, I go ug because can
we diagnose it first? Can we try and take a
shot at diagnosing it right? And I know you feel
the pain also financially and the aggravation factor.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Right, yeah, So I you know, I declined that service,
and I got some coil cleaner, foaming coil cleaner, and
I cleaned the radiator and the condenser coil. And and
when I'm a happy way knowing that this problem only
exhibits on the hottest of days. So then I went
to a friend who owns a mechanic shop, which you know,
(28:10):
I've had three new cars I bought in twenty twelve,
I haven't had much need for a regular mechanic. But
I know this person personally. I work on his car
as a matter of fact, because I do window tinning,
I work on his car. So I know him pretty well.
And so you know, I said, hey, why don't we
pull a vacuum, you know, and because I know the
cars have such a small amount of refrigerant that it's
(28:33):
critical that it be perfect in the quantity. And so
I had him do that just you know, I asked
for it. I didn't ask for a diagnosis. Let's try this,
you know, a couple of years later, same result, you know,
on the hottest days. And I think, I think mechanics
(28:54):
are a little dismissive when you know you have a
car like that. He drives enough two fifty, you know,
so you know, it's like, well, this is what happens
when you buy a car with such a small air conditioning.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
So can we let's let's talk about air conditioning physics,
can we? Yeah, how does air conditioning work? Air Conditioning
doesn't produce cold air? Air conditioning conditions air all right,
that's that's the thought process. We take a liquid and
we push it through a line, and when it gets
(29:28):
to a restriction of the proper size, drops come out
the end. It's sort of like you know the waterfall
that we plug, and then instead of a rush of
water or a rush of liquid refrigerant, we get drops.
And as those drops fall over the edge into the evaporator,
(29:49):
they're they're falling from pressure into a vacuum state. And
when they go into that vacuum state, that liquid then
becomes a gas. As it goes through and use that
transition from liquid to gas, it has a tendency to
absorb heat as it's pushed across the evaporator coil by
(30:10):
the blower motor with me, makes sense, yeah, all right,
And then when it gets out to the condenser out
in front of the vehicle, it's a reverse process. It
gets to the condenser as a gas, and as it
changes back to a liquid, it gives off the heat
that it absorbed from the engine from the passenger compartment. Right.
(30:31):
So the concern here if we're really freezing the evaporator coil.
The first question I've got is what system pressure on
the low side when we're doing that. So if it
goes below the rule of thumb is, if it goes
below thirty pounds, we're running the danger of having evaporator
freeze up. Now in that particular car, I've seen anywhere
(30:54):
from twenty six to thirty. I'd really be curious. You know,
maybe we've got a bad pressure switch. The pressure switch
itself normally opens, I believe at twenty eight pounds. I've
seen them out of calibration where they'll run all the
way down below twenty six, and we run the risk
of freezing up the evaporator coil. And you know, perhaps
(31:16):
that's going on. But you know I'm not hearing anybody
do that. All we're doing is we're changing parts. I'll
tell you what, Tim, Sit tight, let me pull over,
take this pause. I don't want to go through this
too quick. We'll finish up with you on the other
side of this. I'm running any in the car. Doctor,
we'll return right after this. Don't go anywhere, Tim, you're
still there, sir, Tim, Yes, okay. So what I'm trying
(31:41):
to get at, and thanks for sticking around. What I'm
trying to get at is, you know, if we have
a true freeze up problem based on evaporator temperature sensor readings. Okay,
there are ways to go through and test and modify
for this. Now. The evaporator tem censor on that I'm
sure you know this by now is buried in the
evaporator case under the dashboard. Kind of a pain in
(32:03):
the neck to get.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
To, right, Yeah, and you got to pretty much disassemble everything.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Right, And I'm I like to kind of try and
think my way outside the box if I can. So
what I would like to do is if we turn
the AC on and low speed, I like to do
a low speed reading in this case because you're going
to get maximum evaporator freeze up potential at a lower speed.
The air moves slower over the evaporator will tend to
(32:31):
freeze it faster. I would do that and watch my
temperature on the low side gauge as I see it
fall below thirty two thirty pounds, where it's approaching freeze up,
which is where we establish that's when refrigerant will it's
too cold anything below thirty really okay, I want you
to disconnect the evaporator connector, which you'll find I think
(32:51):
coming through the firewall on the right side. I have
to look at the car because some of these are different,
and I try and get a resistance reading off that
I'm sorry, off that evaporator switch to see what it is.
Where does it fall? Could you wire a resistor in
series to sort of calibrate that and a had a
little bit more resistance to it to keep it from
(33:13):
keeping the compressor on that extended length of time. I've
also done things like this for AC systems, where I
will put a potentiometer a variable switch that I can
control and prevent the freeze up. Some ideas to try.
Call me back if you need more until the next
time I'm running ade in the car. Doctor, good mechanics
aren't expensive, They're priceless. See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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