From Florida heat to Maine winters to a single mom’s daily grind—this week’s Car Doctor covers it all. Tom from Lakeland asks if tire pressure should follow the placard or the sidewall in the Florida heat. Paul in Maine is burning through Prius rear brakes, and Ron explains the factory fix every Prius owner should know. Then Alicia from Illinois, with 227k miles on her Ford Escape, wonders if it’s time to repair or replace. Ron delivers practical tips, industry insights, and honest advice that every driver can use.
Keywords: tire pressure tips in hot weather, Toyota Prius rear brake wear, Ford Escape overheating and AC failure, K-Seal head gasket sealer, certified pre-owned car buying advice.
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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 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 engines. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Let's go. Let's go to Lakeland, Florida. I got a feeling.
This is my buddy Tom. He's my new best friend
from Lakeland, Florida. He called in at a different time. Yes,
we're talking about amaz oil and mold, but one I
got a feeling. He's got a different question. Now, Tom,
what's bothering you today.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, it's about tire pressure. And you know I'm in
the heated climate.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Right, Yeah, you're in You're in Florida? Is it is it?
Are you calling it? Is it nighttime now? Or are you?
Are you on the enclosed Are you in the enclosed
porch you were telling me about when we were off
air there a little while ago.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yes, I am.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Now what happens if you're not in the enclosed porch?
Or are their alligators? Tom?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
No, I need my house.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Okay. Yeah. See that's why I can't live in Florida.
I can't live in Florida when there's something outside that
would that would eat me, you know, and like.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
When the alligators are a little bit further away.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
All right, Okay, I'll believe you. So I'll take your
word for it. Right, I'll take your word for it.
So what's going on with tire pressure?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Tom?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Let's go back to that.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
The manufacturer says thirty p s i. But my tire
recommend you know, says the maximum is forty four psi.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Okay, where where where are you looking? Where does it
say forty four uh on the tire on the tire,
and where does it say thirty on the manufacturer dekel
on the on the door pillar, right, So you want
to follow what the manufacturer calls for. Now a couple
(02:24):
of a couple of ways this changes. I've seen people
they will take and put an incorrect tire on the car.
What do I mean by that? They'll put the right size,
but it will be the incorrect load rating or speed rating,
and that can affect how the vehicle handles stability, tirewar, traction,
(02:47):
and so on. So as long as you have correct
tire size whatever it is, two, five, fifty five, sixteen,
load range, load range or speed rating t and if
the player says thirty, even though the tire says maximum
pressure forty four, and you notice it says maximum right,
if it says maximum pressure forty four, you want to
(03:09):
go by the thirty that's on the door placard. Would
I bump it up two pounds? Sure? I might make
it thirty two? How does the car ride all right?
Speaker 5 (03:18):
You know?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I might play with that a little bit to see
if I get a little bit better traction, a little
bit better handling, depending upon what kind of vehicle we're
riding in. You know, my plow truck. I've got a
twenty two Chevy Silverado twenty five hundred HD. And when
I plow with it, I'll run fifty pounds in the
front seventy two pounds in the back. But when I plow,
I'll drop the rear tires at least ten pounds, probably
(03:43):
closer to fifteen. It puts, yes, and put some weight
in the back and I'll get a little bit better traction.
But I'll pump the fronts up because they're carrying the
weight of the plow, and the plow weighs fifteen hundred pounds.
So you know, it's a it's a guide. It's recommended.
But there are times that you will play with tire pressure.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
But in the heat of Florida, wouldn't you want to
keep the PSI lower?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Well, so let's understand this, all right. You know when
do you put the pressure? When do you put the
air in the tire? All right? What's what's the temperature swing?
What was the temperature swing in Lakeland today? Where did
it start and where did it end?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Eighty two?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It went from where ninety three to eighty two? Yes,
that's a one pound change, okay, So I would you
know if they're calling for thirty I would have put
thirty one it depending on if if I did it
later in the day when it was warmer out and
it's going to fluctuate, it'll drop the thirty when it
cools off.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, I'm an old truck driver for forty years at
delivery and all that kind of good stuff, right, And
we always do PM and on the tires and stuff
before we left, right, so we always make sure that
you know it was that when it was cold, you
(05:15):
checked yours.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Right, that's right. But now, but now keep in mind,
let's let's talk about the northeast. And this is this
is why I always say order repair is a national
event with regional consequences. In New Jersey. All right, you
bring me your car in New Jersey in July and
I changed the oil. I'll bring it from the outside
(05:37):
where it's one hundred and three degrees and I bring
it into my air conditioned shop and it goes up
on it goes up on the rack. Oh yeah, runs
and air conditioning all day. Let's let's not even go there.
Let's not even have that conversation. So you couldn't imagine
me in Florida, all right, it would I'd have to
be able to hang meet in the shop in order
to it's and that's a whole other conversation, all right,
(06:00):
but I'll bring that car in. We will do tire
pressure on a car that comes in for an oil
change in July within the first eight to ten minutes.
We make sure we do it early because we want
to catch the temperature outside. We want to let it
stabilize a little bit inside and then send it back
out the door. But in three months July, August, September,
(06:22):
we get to the end of September, we've got October.
What happens in October? We start to get frost warnings, right,
we start to get cold. And my point is all cars,
regardless of whether or not they've got tire pressure monitoring
systems on them or not, all cars. And if you
read any manufacturer's owner's manual, it still tells you the
same thing, check your tires at least once a month.
(06:46):
From fancy to simple, from old to new, the science,
the laws of physics are still the same. And guess what,
very few people do I have a.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Tire gage by my side.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, but you're because you're an over the you're retired
over the road. Trucker. You understand the value of tire pressure.
You get it right. Most people. Most people do not
because they're they're they're very just, they're oblivious. There's no
other way to say it. All right, sir.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
R.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I enjoy your show, and you're very knowledgeable and you're
the credit of society.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Listen, Tom, I appreciate that. I'm just you know, you know, well, look,
I'm just I'm just I'm just a lucky mechanic that
got a radio show and I just just trying to
help everybody. But I appreciate the comments. I really do.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
You never want to come down to spring training? Call
me and put you up?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Are there alligators? Will I be in an enclosure?
Speaker 5 (07:50):
No?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
You be at the Lachland Stadium watching George Tigers.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Okay, well maybe we'll do that.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I forgot to tell you I'm from Troit.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Okay. Oh, then I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have
to call you back. I'm sure we could get some
Detroit street racing stories out of you.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yes we could.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, I'm sure. So did the factory really come out
at night?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Tom?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Let me do it right now? Did the factory really
come out at night? Do you recall the sixties and seventies,
the eighties. You sound like you're of that generation or
of that ilk Did they yeh yeah, did they? Did they?
Did they really come out?
Speaker 5 (08:25):
You know?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
The stories are guys like the Larean would come out
at you know, midnight and go street racing down down Woodward.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
And yeah, I'm a downtown guy. Yeah it close.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of a lot of
things that don't happen now, you know, a very a
very different culture and we're not.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Cruising down uh well in Detroit and the Woodward now.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Right right, and Woodward Woodward was the big cruise right.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yes, sir, it was it still is.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
How many how many cars do you think was was
there on Woodward in the heyday in a night? One
hundred five hundred?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Ir Dad, have to say more than four hundred?
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Really, yeah, I mean because we had this little strip
from downtown Woodward up to Pontiac and you had a
Burger joint, you know, where everybody would be.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And they still do, uh I think coming up now
or maybe I missed it, but they had that Woodward
Woodward strip going.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
On and and they're still doing the cruise all listen
there's a lot of Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Got a fund, I got a lot of friends do
in Michigan, family and stuff like that. And my friend
has a Toyota m R. Two and he takes it
down Woodward Avenue.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah. I don't know if I I don't know how
cool i'd feel cruising Woodward with my elbow out the window.
But I guess I think I probably enjoy it. Regardless
of where you're at in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Yeah, I think it's called West New York City.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, she's she's over. She's over in Union County, over
by the by New York City and the River.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah. She works for a company called Amazon.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I've heard of them.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Hey, Tom, I got it. I gotta go, and you
and I, You and I could chat all day. It's
like it's like old Home Week.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
So I'll listen to the program at six o'clock in Lakeland.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Oh, we appreciate that time. We appreciate you. You'd be well,
my friends, Well, thank you. I gotta go, Tom, I
really do all right. You'll be well. Bye Bye. I'm
running any in the car. Doctor. We'll be back right
after this. Welcome back. We're let's let's do an email
and I tried doing this via phone. I actually called Paul,
(11:06):
or we called Paul. I know that we called him
back because and let me take a moment and mention
this again. You know, if you call five zero nine
nine zero zero or twenty four to seven phone number
during the week, odd hours whatever, leave a message, We're
not on the air. We're on the air Saturdays two
to four pm Eastern time. We tell you this all
the time. Well, if you call and leave a message
(11:27):
at eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero,
like Paul did, we will call you back. Paul didn't
get the memo, though, because we called him back to
get him on the air, and I'm not sure if
we got through to him. So in any event, I
want to answer his question.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
One the hopes that he's listening, because you know he's
a regular listener. He says, Hey, Ron, my name is Paul.
I'm calling in reference to my twenty twelve Toyota Prius.
I've already used within a year's time, rear rotors twice,
and brake pads. I'm using ceramic brake pads, and the
power and the product I'm using power stock. My question
is why are my rear brakes running out so quickly.
(12:04):
I didn't think it would. I believe I'm buying high
quality break pads. I don't know if I should do
this myself or just have a mechanic to do all
four rotors. I don't know how we got the rotors
from rear brake pads, Paul, and let me stop there
for a second. If you're only doing rear pads and
not rear rotors, depending upon what the rotors look like,
especially the interface, because after all, this is this is
(12:29):
this is main right. We know there's a high salt
content there and there could be issues. You know, we
want to be sure that what we're doing. You know,
we've got a good, smooth, clean surface rotor to work
from that it'll it'll do the job it's supposed to do,
so you know, by all means, you know, we want
to if you have to put rotors on it is
(12:49):
what I'm trying to say, nicely, don't just don't just
you know, try and save some money. Rotors are mandatory.
It's don't do a pad slab because just doing a pad,
if the rotors are beat up or rotted or rusted,
that can cause an issue for you premature padwear. It
happens all the time, but that isn't where I think
we're going here. But I just want to mention that,
(13:11):
all right. You then go on to say, I don't
think I should do this myself or have a mechanic
duel four rotors getting them all done at once. I'm
just simply baffled as the way I'm going through rear
brake pads. Well, you say, en roators in the rear
run my front roaders. I have been good for well over,
and you give a date. I hate to replace them.
That's all, okay? And then you know he gives me
his phone number and he lives in Madison, Maine.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Paul.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
First of all, all right, if you're listening, get a
look at Toyota bulletin. And this bulletin came out a
long time ago, all right. Get a look at Toyota
TSB two forty eight ish twelve, and it talks about
unevenware or accelerate and accelerated where on rear brake pads
on this generation Prius. And they go on to talk
about things that you might have to do with measurement
(13:53):
and to see what runout might be. But they also
mentioned the fact that there is an updated rear brake
pad kit, and I believe what Toyota did was change
the compound. They changed the material of the pad to
compensate for weight distribution on the vehicle. So you know,
first things first, this Bolton talks about a new design
(14:15):
brake pad kit, which I would assume power Stop is doing.
Power Stop is a very good break pad. We use
them all the time in the shop. Full disclosure, but
I just want to cover the bass. My obligation is
to give you all the information. The other thing is,
I'd like to try and diagnose this, so you know,
if you are replacing rear roadors. I'm a little fuzzy
(14:36):
about that based on your email. But if you're replacing
the rear roadors with the pads, are they being properly
lubricated to the slide pins work? What kind of condition
are the calibers and so there's a couple of things
you have to think about there. The other issue is
are the front brakes working, because typically the priuses we
(14:59):
will change two sets of front pads before we even
get close to the rears. And we've got some priuses
out there that are running around with two hundred thousand
miles on them in original rear brake pads. So my
other question becomes, are the front brakes working like they're
supposed to? You know, if you go out there and
hit the brake, cart, does the car nose dive?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Does it?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Does it pull down like it's like it's going into
a hard stop. You know, something you could do if
we were going to diagnose this is to get a
thermal imager, you know, a tempt gun. Take the car
for a ride. Is it all right? Do we have
even temperature on both front rotors? Is one more than
the other? Do we have any kind of heat? What
sort of heat are we generating? And you know it's
(15:41):
easy enough. Find another car, take it for a ride,
measure the rotor temp and you'll be close. I mean,
it won't be the same as a twelve prious unless
you have and have a twelve prius there. You know
what's known, good known, good known bed right, So do
we have correct application, operation and application of the front brakes?
So that comes and then for that matter, what's the
(16:02):
temperature of the rear rotors? Are the calibers causing the
brakes to drag? So my point becomes Paul and everybody else.
Just just replacing pads and rotors on a repetitive basis
doesn't necessarily get us anywhere. We've got to do some
sort of diagnostic We've got to do a few things
here to see is what we're doing correct? Do we
(16:24):
need to do and think outside the box. Brake pads
and rotors are pretty clear cut if you can get
them on the vehicle, if you're using a good quality part,
If you're lubricating the caliber slides, lubricating the pins and
the shields and the hardware that the brake pad sits on,
chances are you're doing it right. Now, we've got to
(16:46):
start to get into the minutia. We've got to get
into the little lily bitti right, Does the caliber drag?
Does the front brake work? Does the backwork? Back break
apply evenly? So, don't assume it's parts. You've taken it
this far. I encourage you to go further and then,
lest but not least, don't rule out that bulletin from
(17:06):
Toyota two forty eight twelve. It's older, but you know
it's We've got to look at everything. As I always say,
don't tell me what's don't tell me what's bad. Look
for what's good. If you look for what's good, you'll
figure out what's bad and what's causing the premature break
weear issue on this twelve prias. All right, Paul, I
hope that did it for you. I hope you got
(17:27):
something out of that. If not, call us at eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero, and
then when we call you, please call us back. We'd
love to chat about this on are if we need to.
But I think this will get you going in the
right direction. I'm ronnin Anie in the car doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Don't go away. Hey, we're back.
Let's go to Let's go to Illinois. Let's go talk
to Alicia twenty thirteen Ford Escape and looks like a
(17:49):
multitude of problems. Alisia, you're talking to the car doctor
ronin Inie and how can I help? What's going on here?
Speaker 4 (17:55):
I've had my car for about a year and I've
had a lot of cooliant issues and I have a
lot of mileages on my car.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
To use car and how many miles are on this car.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Two hundred and twenty seven thousand.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
You're right, you do have a lot of miles on
this car. So okay, so s vehicle right right right?
Speaker 4 (18:26):
I need transportation. My cooliant has been going in and
out in my AC, and I obviously need transportation because
I'm a mom.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I knew you were mom. I can tell by the
sound of your voice you were mom. You're a single mom, right, yeah?
How could I know? How could I tell that? Smile kiddo.
We're going to take care of this, all right, I promise. So,
so you've got a twenty thirteen escape, it's got over
two hundred thousand miles on it. Now, when you say
you've got cooling coolant problems, are you losing coolant or
(18:58):
the engine overheats or both both? All right? And then
when you say you have AC problems, what do you
mean the AC stops your conditioning stops working, or it
doesn't work at all?
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, like it goes in and out and along also
with my heat too.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Okay. So when you say when you say the AC
goes in and out, you mean sometimes it blows cold
and then it blows hot, or it doesn't blow air
at all.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Right, it doesn't blow or sometimes it does blow, okay.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
But when it when it blows it's.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Cold, uh sometimes okay?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And what else is going on with this car?
Speaker 4 (19:39):
And I had a transmission week in December and I
got that fixed?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Right? What did that cost? Do you remember?
Speaker 4 (19:50):
A good like three hundred and probably fifty dollars?
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Right?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
So how how for lack of a better way to
put it, how upside down in this car? Are you?
How much more do you owe on it?
Speaker 4 (20:02):
About three thousand?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Right?
Speaker 5 (20:05):
You know?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
The issue is it's not going to get any cheaper
to fix from here. So if I said to you, Alicia,
you know, go buy a different car, what's in the budget?
What do you have realistically?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I mean, I'm okay with staying within ten thousand dollars,
but it's just the fact of having to buy a car,
a new car costantly every year. Like I'm between. I'm
decisive if I should just say, get like a brand,
brand new car, year model, or just stick with the
older used cars. But with the newer cars, only the
(20:44):
shops can fix it, like you can't get a side
mechanic to fix it, right, and the older car, you know,
that was the nice pro with that is that you
know anyone can fix it, right?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Do you let me ask you this do you travel
a lot? Do you put a lot of miles on
a car? Yes, you do? How many? You know, how
many miles? I mean, how many miles a year do
you drive?
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Honestly, I don't know. I try to, like, I share
a car with my boyfriend because we've we've always had
car problems. And then on top of that, I try
to do side hustling with like uber eats and stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Right, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Gotcha?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
So you know, this is the problem with cars is
sometimes it becomes life altering stuff. Right, you're always married
to this car that you're fixing. So how do you
get how do you get out of the cycle? And
part of what I was thinking about was do you
lease something a real inexpensive, basic simple car? You know,
(21:49):
do you go for a two or three hundred dollars
a month lease if it's if it exists. I haven't
looked at leasing in a while. But the fact that
you do a lot of miles, I don't know that
that's going to help you, right, And you're right, you'll
you'll probably spend every bit of you know, seven to
eight thousand dollars on that used car, and that's going
to eat a bowl your savings and then in a
(22:11):
year you probably need another one. I don't know that
the escape is worth fixing. I'm a little scared by
the mileage, right is it? Is it losing coolant? Like
you're always adding coolant to it and you don't see
a leak. Right, So it sounds like there's an internal
(22:31):
engine problem. Has anybody tried to diagnose it and come
back to you and said something along the lines of,
maybe it's a bad head gasket. Yeah, yeah, so you
know the one thing you could try, and it may
not be effective, but if you wanted to gamble up.
I think it's approximately between fifteen one hundred dollars. Company
(22:54):
by the name of k Seal. You'll find it at
most oral parts stores. K Seal makes a cooling system seiler.
They make one rated for head gaskets, all right, it's
called Kseal Ultimate and it's a it's a pouring solution
into the cooling system. It goes you have to you
might have to take some coolant out or your mechanic
could add it. And what it does is it depending
(23:15):
upon the severity of the head gasket leak or failure.
It stands a reasonably good chance of sealing the cooling
system and solving the head gasket issue at least, you know,
maybe long enough to get you another year, a year
and a half, two years. I mean, we've had some
great success with it, where some cars we've they're still
driving the car three years later. My hesitancy for that is,
(23:41):
I don't know if that's your only cooling system problem.
You know, it goes low on coolant and then it overheats,
or it overheats and it's got enough coolant in it.
You know, I'm questioning in my mind, is the cooling
fan coming on? Right? It's it's like I'm trying to
figure out which came first, the chicken or the egg, right,
(24:01):
which which which happened first? And it's that's kind of tough,
right the A the AC issue sounds like a separate problem,
unrelated to the problem with the cooling system, because you're
saying you're saying the AC problem is the blower, the
(24:21):
fan inside the car. You turn the blower on full speed,
and sometimes it cuts out and it doesn't work, and
sometimes it does. Right, if I understand you correctly, right,
if this was hey Ron, the cooling system starts to
overheat and the AC starts to blow warm, but it
still blows. I'm going to say that the two are
(24:41):
related because that if the radiator is superheated, it's going
to affect the effectiveness and how well the air conditioning works.
So from a practical point of view, we're we're almost
into September. Let's say we could cheat and get away
without air conditioning for a little while. But the problem is,
(25:02):
you'll need a blower for winter, right, You'll need the froster,
You'll need heat. So that almost sounds like a problem
in either the blower resistor or the blower motor. Both
of them are not cheap to replace on that vehicle.
All right, the blower motor, if you have you gotten
any prices on this, Has anybody tried to diagnose any
(25:24):
of this. The blower motor, right, because this is the
newer body style escape. The blower motor on that car
corkscrews in under the passenger side. It's really crazy how
they put it together. And that blower motor repair is
upwards of two grand just to give you a ballpark
if you were at the dealer or an independent repair shop.
(25:45):
All Right, the blower motor resistor is just as difficult
to get to. But regardless, I think my vote is
to replace this vehicle if I have that vote, right,
you know, if if if you wanted to try a
bottle of k Seal Ultimate, you know, get down to
(26:06):
your local Oda parts store, you know, and it's it's
it's real simple and easy to do. You're whoever your
mechanic is, do you have a reasonable relationship with your
mechanic that you could go in and talk to him
and explain what you're thinking. I'm just trying to band
aid this back together to see if I can buy
you a couple of months. Yeah, right, you know, That's
(26:26):
That's what I'm thinking for that And in the meantime,
while this is band aidd back together, if k sal
Ultimate buys you that time, which I'm going to give
you better than average odds that it will. It depends
on the severity of the failure. At least you've got,
you know, two months, three months to go out and
try and find something. And you know, we want to
(26:47):
look for something, you know, I mean, does a Toyota
Camra work for you? Does a little Honda CRV work something?
You know? And and and something in that category. You know,
one hundred thousand miles on those cars doesn't scare me.
If you can find something in that range, right, and
they've got some longevity, obviously, I want a mechanic to
(27:09):
look at it, okay, and I want somebody to, you know,
try and look for the obvious faults and failures. It's hard.
I feel your pain, kiddo, all right, So but that's
what I would advise you to do. I think you've
got to replace this, try and patch it back together
as best you can. But I think putting money in
(27:30):
this it's only going to get more expensive as time
goes on. Okay, Alicia, I know you have a second
question or some secondary comments. Let me pull over, take
this pause. We'll be back right after this. Don't go away.
We're talking with Alicia add of Illinois about or twenty
thirteen four to escape. Alicia, so far what I'm saying
makes sense to.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
You, yeah a little bit.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Okay. I just think you try and cobble this car
back together to buy yourself some time, because I think
to put bigger money into this is a folly. Because
here's here's the concern I've got. The other concern I've
got is you've already had one transmission repair. If that
(28:14):
transmission were to fail, don't faint, but that transmission, if
that transmission fails, that transmission in New Jersey dollars in
a repair shop is about five grand to fix, right,
So yeah, you know how much how much more do
we want to put in this?
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Honestly trying to keep from spending that five thousand.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Right right, That's why I say, you know, go talk
to your mechanic, tell him, ask him, ask him about it.
You know you have you have an O'Reilly or an
advanced autoparts or an AutoZone or something. Right, go down
there and look for a bottle of k Seal Ultimate.
It has to say ultimate on it because that's the
stuff rated for head gasket, right, and see if that
(29:01):
solves it. And if that doesn't solve it, then your
problem is much more severe than you realize. And the
car's really got to go because it's only a ticking
time bomb at that point.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Okay, what cars do you suggest that I look into
after this? Or should I get a newer car or
still try to continue we use cars and just try.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
A different if you can get listen, you know, if
you can if and I don't know how, you'll I
don't know how, I don't know what the budget is,
all right, but it's a lot more than ten grand
if you can find what we call a CPO car
certified pre owned all right from a manufacturer. A Toyota
Camry has a good track record, Honda accords, Honda crvs right,
(29:44):
Toyota Highlanders, rab Fours, all vehicles with good track records.
But you know, to find something decent used, you're probably
in the twenty to twenty five thousand dollars range, right,
So you know, you got to see what's the down pay.
You've got to go look at. And then the other
thing to think about is when you buy a used car,
(30:06):
you will pay a higher interest rate. So so what
you've got to consider is, let's say you buy a
twenty thousand dollars used car, right, and it's used, so
there's less of a warranty on it, and the interest
rate is probably seven percent. But if you buy a
new car that's thirty five thousand dollars, your monthly payment
(30:30):
may be higher, but your interest rate will be lower,
and you'll have a warranty from three to five years,
depending upon the car. So it kind of puts you
into a better spot. Does that make Does that make sense?
What I'm what I'm trying to do is figure out
what's the best way to give you some breathing room.
So as you continue your climb up the mountain, you're gonna,
(30:52):
you know, slowly, get ahead, get to the point where
you know you're on top. But a CPO car, if
you can find a good certified pre owned, the dealers
always advertise them as CPOs. A CPO car comes with it'll,
it'll have it'll have a better warranty on it than
a regularly used car. You pay a little bit more
money for it, all right, but you'll get a little
(31:14):
bit of a better warranty, and it's been checked out
and verified. You know, they do the they do the
one hundred point check. So you're not buying some clunker
or somebody else's problem. And if there is a problem,
they're gonna warranty it. The other piece of advice is
whatever you buy, you know how to tell when the
salesman's lying, when his lips move. Remember that, all right,
(31:36):
So whatever they tell you get it in writing. You know,
I don't care where you buy it from. I don't
care if you buy it from Bob's Used Car a
Lot or Bob's Toyota on Main Street. Oh yeah, you know. Listen,
you come back every Thursday, We'll give you a free
oil change. Yeah, put it in writing. And if they
don't want to put it in writing, don't buy the car. Okay,
makes sense. I gotta go listen. If you need something,
(31:57):
you know where to find me. All right, Alicia, all right,
you'd be well, I'm ronnin Annie in the Car Doctor.
We'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Well,
all that about does it for me. This week, I
was very excited and happy to talk to each and
every one of you, whether it was directly on the
phone or by virtue of this just this broadcast or
this podcast. However you're listening to this show. Let me
(32:19):
just remind you that there is an ongoing stream of
information that we put out there available for you. You
can check out our YouTube channel. Just go out there
to YouTube and search Ron and Aanie in the Car Doctor.
We've got fresh videos going up on a regular basis.
We've also got our Facebook page, Ron Andanie in the
Car Doctor. That's there for you as well. You know, Alicia.
Just it's she's sitting in the back of my mind
(32:40):
that I'm thinking about. That's a tough spot, and I
realize how hard it is today for people just looking
for a vehicle, And what do you do? I think?
And I hope my words meant something to her in
the sense that she sits down and plans. I think
you have to plan the attack. I think you have
to get a basic vehicle. And you know, that's how
(33:00):
you climb up to the top of the mountain by
just you know, having some nothing flashy, nothing beyond transportation,
which is what cars were meant to be, back and
forth to work, and you can climb out of that pile.
It's out there for you and everybody else. Alicia, you
can do it. I have faith in everybody. You know. Cars.
It's funny, right, Cars, If they do one thing, they
(33:22):
humble us to the point of teaching us some of
the extremities of life. I think, and you know, they
become a necessary part of what we have to do,
and they help us get there. So I hope what
I said and I really mean this. She was probably
one of the most impactful callers I've had in the
last couple of months. But I really hope what I
said made sense, and I hope it works for you.
(33:43):
So get out there, find that CPO car, and I
hope you do well. I've got to go. I'm running
out of time till the next time I'm running any
in the car doctor reminding you 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 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 to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five
(00:25):
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and be sure to subscribe to The Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your engines. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Let's go. Let's go to Lakeland, Florida. I got a feeling.
This is my buddy Tom. He's my new best friend
from Lakeland, Florida. He called in at a different time. Yes,
we're talking about amaz oil and mold, but one I
got a feeling. He's got a different question. Now, Tom,
what's bothering you today.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Well, it's about tire pressure. And you know I'm in
the heated climate.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Right, Yeah, you're in You're in Florida? Is it is it?
Are you calling it? Is it nighttime now? Or are you?
Are you on the enclosed Are you in the enclosed
porch you were telling me about when we were off
air there a little while ago.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yes, I am.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Now what happens if you're not in the enclosed porch?
Or are their alligators? Tom?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
No, I need my house.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Okay. Yeah. See that's why I can't live in Florida.
I can't live in Florida when there's something outside that
would that would eat me, you know, and like.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
When the alligators are a little bit further away.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
All right, Okay, I'll believe you. So I'll take your
word for it. Right, I'll take your word for it.
So what's going on with tire pressure?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Tom?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Let's go back to that.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
The manufacturer says thirty p s i. But my tire
recommend you know, says the maximum is forty four psi.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Okay, where where where are you looking? Where does it
say forty four uh on the tire on the tire,
and where does it say thirty on the manufacturer dekel
on the on the door pillar, right, So you want
to follow what the manufacturer calls for. Now a couple
(02:24):
of a couple of ways this changes. I've seen people
they will take and put an incorrect tire on the car.
What do I mean by that? They'll put the right size,
but it will be the incorrect load rating or speed rating,
and that can affect how the vehicle handles stability, tirewar, traction,
(02:47):
and so on. So as long as you have correct
tire size whatever it is, two, five, fifty five, sixteen,
load range, load range or speed rating t and if
the player says thirty, even though the tire says maximum
pressure forty four, and you notice it says maximum right,
if it says maximum pressure forty four, you want to
(03:09):
go by the thirty that's on the door placard. Would
I bump it up two pounds? Sure? I might make
it thirty two? How does the car ride all right?
Speaker 5 (03:18):
You know?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I might play with that a little bit to see
if I get a little bit better traction, a little
bit better handling, depending upon what kind of vehicle we're
riding in. You know, my plow truck. I've got a
twenty two Chevy Silverado twenty five hundred HD. And when
I plow with it, I'll run fifty pounds in the
front seventy two pounds in the back. But when I plow,
I'll drop the rear tires at least ten pounds, probably
(03:43):
closer to fifteen. It puts, yes, and put some weight
in the back and I'll get a little bit better traction.
But I'll pump the fronts up because they're carrying the
weight of the plow, and the plow weighs fifteen hundred pounds.
So you know, it's a it's a guide. It's recommended.
But there are times that you will play with tire pressure.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
But in the heat of Florida, wouldn't you want to
keep the PSI lower?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Well, so let's understand this, all right. You know when
do you put the pressure? When do you put the
air in the tire? All right? What's what's the temperature swing?
What was the temperature swing in Lakeland today? Where did
it start and where did it end?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Eighty two?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It went from where ninety three to eighty two? Yes,
that's a one pound change, okay, So I would you
know if they're calling for thirty I would have put
thirty one it depending on if if I did it
later in the day when it was warmer out and
it's going to fluctuate, it'll drop the thirty when it
cools off.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Well, I'm an old truck driver for forty years at
delivery and all that kind of good stuff, right, And
we always do PM and on the tires and stuff
before we left, right, so we always make sure that
you know it was that when it was cold, you
(05:15):
checked yours.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Right, that's right. But now, but now keep in mind,
let's let's talk about the northeast. And this is this
is why I always say order repair is a national
event with regional consequences. In New Jersey. All right, you
bring me your car in New Jersey in July and
I changed the oil. I'll bring it from the outside
(05:37):
where it's one hundred and three degrees and I bring
it into my air conditioned shop and it goes up
on it goes up on the rack. Oh yeah, runs
and air conditioning all day. Let's let's not even go there.
Let's not even have that conversation. So you couldn't imagine
me in Florida, all right, it would I'd have to
be able to hang meet in the shop in order
to it's and that's a whole other conversation, all right,
(06:00):
but I'll bring that car in. We will do tire
pressure on a car that comes in for an oil
change in July within the first eight to ten minutes.
We make sure we do it early because we want
to catch the temperature outside. We want to let it
stabilize a little bit inside and then send it back
out the door. But in three months July, August, September,
(06:22):
we get to the end of September, we've got October.
What happens in October? We start to get frost warnings, right,
we start to get cold. And my point is all cars,
regardless of whether or not they've got tire pressure monitoring
systems on them or not, all cars. And if you
read any manufacturer's owner's manual, it still tells you the
same thing, check your tires at least once a month.
(06:46):
From fancy to simple, from old to new, the science,
the laws of physics are still the same. And guess what,
very few people do I have a.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Tire gage by my side.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, but you're because you're an over the you're retired
over the road. Trucker. You understand the value of tire pressure.
You get it right. Most people. Most people do not
because they're they're they're very just, they're oblivious. There's no
other way to say it. All right, sir.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
R.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I enjoy your show, and you're very knowledgeable and you're
the credit of society.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Listen, Tom, I appreciate that. I'm just you know, you know, well, look,
I'm just I'm just I'm just a lucky mechanic that
got a radio show and I just just trying to
help everybody. But I appreciate the comments. I really do.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
You never want to come down to spring training? Call
me and put you up?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Are there alligators? Will I be in an enclosure?
Speaker 5 (07:50):
No?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
You be at the Lachland Stadium watching George Tigers.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Okay, well maybe we'll do that.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I forgot to tell you I'm from Troit.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Okay. Oh, then I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have
to call you back. I'm sure we could get some
Detroit street racing stories out of you.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yes we could.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, I'm sure. So did the factory really come out
at night?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Tom?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Let me do it right now? Did the factory really
come out at night? Do you recall the sixties and seventies,
the eighties. You sound like you're of that generation or
of that ilk Did they yeh yeah, did they? Did they?
Did they really come out?
Speaker 5 (08:25):
You know?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
The stories are guys like the Larean would come out
at you know, midnight and go street racing down down Woodward.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
And yeah, I'm a downtown guy. Yeah it close.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, a lot of a lot of a lot of
things that don't happen now, you know, a very a
very different culture and we're not.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Cruising down uh well in Detroit and the Woodward now.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Right right, and Woodward Woodward was the big cruise right.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yes, sir, it was it still is.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
How many how many cars do you think was was
there on Woodward in the heyday in a night? One
hundred five hundred?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Ir Dad, have to say more than four hundred?
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Really, yeah, I mean because we had this little strip
from downtown Woodward up to Pontiac and you had a
Burger joint, you know, where everybody would be.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And they still do, uh I think coming up now
or maybe I missed it, but they had that Woodward
Woodward strip going.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
On and and they're still doing the cruise all listen
there's a lot of Yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Got a fund, I got a lot of friends do
in Michigan, family and stuff like that. And my friend
has a Toyota m R. Two and he takes it
down Woodward Avenue.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah. I don't know if I I don't know how
cool i'd feel cruising Woodward with my elbow out the window.
But I guess I think I probably enjoy it. Regardless
of where you're at in New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Yeah, I think it's called West New York City.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, she's she's over. She's over in Union County, over
by the by New York City and the River.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah. She works for a company called Amazon.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I've heard of them.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Hey, Tom, I got it. I gotta go, and you
and I, You and I could chat all day. It's
like it's like old Home Week.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
So I'll listen to the program at six o'clock in Lakeland.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Oh, we appreciate that time. We appreciate you. You'd be well,
my friends, Well, thank you. I gotta go, Tom, I
really do all right. You'll be well. Bye Bye. I'm
running any in the car. Doctor. We'll be back right
after this. Welcome back. We're let's let's do an email
and I tried doing this via phone. I actually called Paul,
(11:06):
or we called Paul. I know that we called him
back because and let me take a moment and mention
this again. You know, if you call five zero nine
nine zero zero or twenty four to seven phone number
during the week, odd hours whatever, leave a message, We're
not on the air. We're on the air Saturdays two
to four pm Eastern time. We tell you this all
the time. Well, if you call and leave a message
(11:27):
at eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero,
like Paul did, we will call you back. Paul didn't
get the memo, though, because we called him back to
get him on the air, and I'm not sure if
we got through to him. So in any event, I
want to answer his question.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
One the hopes that he's listening, because you know he's
a regular listener. He says, Hey, Ron, my name is Paul.
I'm calling in reference to my twenty twelve Toyota Prius.
I've already used within a year's time, rear rotors twice,
and brake pads. I'm using ceramic brake pads, and the
power and the product I'm using power stock. My question
is why are my rear brakes running out so quickly.
(12:04):
I didn't think it would. I believe I'm buying high
quality break pads. I don't know if I should do
this myself or just have a mechanic to do all
four rotors. I don't know how we got the rotors
from rear brake pads, Paul, and let me stop there
for a second. If you're only doing rear pads and
not rear rotors, depending upon what the rotors look like,
especially the interface, because after all, this is this is
(12:29):
this is main right. We know there's a high salt
content there and there could be issues. You know, we
want to be sure that what we're doing. You know,
we've got a good, smooth, clean surface rotor to work
from that it'll it'll do the job it's supposed to do,
so you know, by all means, you know, we want
to if you have to put rotors on it is
(12:49):
what I'm trying to say, nicely, don't just don't just
you know, try and save some money. Rotors are mandatory.
It's don't do a pad slab because just doing a pad,
if the rotors are beat up or rotted or rusted,
that can cause an issue for you premature padwear. It
happens all the time, but that isn't where I think
we're going here. But I just want to mention that,
(13:11):
all right. You then go on to say, I don't
think I should do this myself or have a mechanic
duel four rotors getting them all done at once. I'm
just simply baffled as the way I'm going through rear
brake pads. Well, you say, en roators in the rear
run my front roaders. I have been good for well over,
and you give a date. I hate to replace them.
That's all, okay? And then you know he gives me
his phone number and he lives in Madison, Maine.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Paul.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
First of all, all right, if you're listening, get a
look at Toyota bulletin. And this bulletin came out a
long time ago, all right. Get a look at Toyota
TSB two forty eight ish twelve, and it talks about
unevenware or accelerate and accelerated where on rear brake pads
on this generation Prius. And they go on to talk
about things that you might have to do with measurement
(13:53):
and to see what runout might be. But they also
mentioned the fact that there is an updated rear brake
pad kit, and I believe what Toyota did was change
the compound. They changed the material of the pad to
compensate for weight distribution on the vehicle. So you know,
first things first, this Bolton talks about a new design
(14:15):
brake pad kit, which I would assume power Stop is doing.
Power Stop is a very good break pad. We use
them all the time in the shop. Full disclosure, but
I just want to cover the bass. My obligation is
to give you all the information. The other thing is,
I'd like to try and diagnose this, so you know,
if you are replacing rear roadors. I'm a little fuzzy
(14:36):
about that based on your email. But if you're replacing
the rear roadors with the pads, are they being properly
lubricated to the slide pins work? What kind of condition
are the calibers and so there's a couple of things
you have to think about there. The other issue is
are the front brakes working, because typically the priuses we
(14:59):
will change two sets of front pads before we even
get close to the rears. And we've got some priuses
out there that are running around with two hundred thousand
miles on them in original rear brake pads. So my
other question becomes, are the front brakes working like they're
supposed to? You know, if you go out there and
hit the brake, cart, does the car nose dive?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Does it?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Does it pull down like it's like it's going into
a hard stop. You know, something you could do if
we were going to diagnose this is to get a
thermal imager, you know, a tempt gun. Take the car
for a ride. Is it all right? Do we have
even temperature on both front rotors? Is one more than
the other? Do we have any kind of heat? What
sort of heat are we generating? And you know it's
(15:41):
easy enough. Find another car, take it for a ride,
measure the rotor temp and you'll be close. I mean,
it won't be the same as a twelve prious unless
you have and have a twelve prius there. You know
what's known, good known, good known bed right, So do
we have correct application, operation and application of the front brakes?
So that comes and then for that matter, what's the
(16:02):
temperature of the rear rotors? Are the calibers causing the
brakes to drag? So my point becomes Paul and everybody else.
Just just replacing pads and rotors on a repetitive basis
doesn't necessarily get us anywhere. We've got to do some
sort of diagnostic We've got to do a few things
here to see is what we're doing correct? Do we
(16:24):
need to do and think outside the box. Brake pads
and rotors are pretty clear cut if you can get
them on the vehicle, if you're using a good quality part,
If you're lubricating the caliber slides, lubricating the pins and
the shields and the hardware that the brake pad sits on,
chances are you're doing it right. Now, we've got to
(16:46):
start to get into the minutia. We've got to get
into the little lily bitti right, Does the caliber drag?
Does the front brake work? Does the backwork? Back break
apply evenly? So, don't assume it's parts. You've taken it
this far. I encourage you to go further and then,
lest but not least, don't rule out that bulletin from
(17:06):
Toyota two forty eight twelve. It's older, but you know
it's We've got to look at everything. As I always say,
don't tell me what's don't tell me what's bad. Look
for what's good. If you look for what's good, you'll
figure out what's bad and what's causing the premature break
weear issue on this twelve prias. All right, Paul, I
hope that did it for you. I hope you got
(17:27):
something out of that. If not, call us at eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero, and
then when we call you, please call us back. We'd
love to chat about this on are if we need to.
But I think this will get you going in the
right direction. I'm ronnin Anie in the car doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Don't go away. Hey, we're back.
Let's go to Let's go to Illinois. Let's go talk
to Alicia twenty thirteen Ford Escape and looks like a
(17:49):
multitude of problems. Alisia, you're talking to the car doctor
ronin Inie and how can I help? What's going on here?
Speaker 4 (17:55):
I've had my car for about a year and I've
had a lot of cooliant issues and I have a
lot of mileages on my car.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
To use car and how many miles are on this car.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Two hundred and twenty seven thousand.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
You're right, you do have a lot of miles on
this car. So okay, so s vehicle right right right?
Speaker 4 (18:26):
I need transportation. My cooliant has been going in and
out in my AC, and I obviously need transportation because
I'm a mom.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I knew you were mom. I can tell by the
sound of your voice you were mom. You're a single mom, right, yeah?
How could I know? How could I tell that? Smile kiddo.
We're going to take care of this, all right, I promise. So,
so you've got a twenty thirteen escape, it's got over
two hundred thousand miles on it. Now, when you say
you've got cooling coolant problems, are you losing coolant or
(18:58):
the engine overheats or both both? All right? And then
when you say you have AC problems, what do you
mean the AC stops your conditioning stops working, or it
doesn't work at all?
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, like it goes in and out and along also
with my heat too.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Okay. So when you say when you say the AC
goes in and out, you mean sometimes it blows cold
and then it blows hot, or it doesn't blow air
at all.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Right, it doesn't blow or sometimes it does blow, okay.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
But when it when it blows it's.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Cold, uh sometimes okay?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And what else is going on with this car?
Speaker 4 (19:39):
And I had a transmission week in December and I
got that fixed?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Right? What did that cost? Do you remember?
Speaker 4 (19:50):
A good like three hundred and probably fifty dollars?
Speaker 5 (19:53):
Right?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
So how how for lack of a better way to
put it, how upside down in this car? Are you?
How much more do you owe on it?
Speaker 4 (20:02):
About three thousand?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Right?
Speaker 5 (20:05):
You know?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
The issue is it's not going to get any cheaper
to fix from here. So if I said to you, Alicia,
you know, go buy a different car, what's in the budget?
What do you have realistically?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I mean, I'm okay with staying within ten thousand dollars,
but it's just the fact of having to buy a car,
a new car costantly every year. Like I'm between. I'm
decisive if I should just say, get like a brand,
brand new car, year model, or just stick with the
older used cars. But with the newer cars, only the
(20:44):
shops can fix it, like you can't get a side
mechanic to fix it, right, and the older car, you know,
that was the nice pro with that is that you
know anyone can fix it, right?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Do you let me ask you this do you travel
a lot? Do you put a lot of miles on
a car? Yes, you do? How many? You know, how
many miles? I mean, how many miles a year do
you drive?
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Honestly, I don't know. I try to, like, I share
a car with my boyfriend because we've we've always had
car problems. And then on top of that, I try
to do side hustling with like uber eats and stuff.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Right, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Gotcha?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
So you know, this is the problem with cars is
sometimes it becomes life altering stuff. Right, you're always married
to this car that you're fixing. So how do you
get how do you get out of the cycle? And
part of what I was thinking about was do you
lease something a real inexpensive, basic simple car? You know,
(21:49):
do you go for a two or three hundred dollars
a month lease if it's if it exists. I haven't
looked at leasing in a while. But the fact that
you do a lot of miles, I don't know that
that's going to help you, right, And you're right, you'll
you'll probably spend every bit of you know, seven to
eight thousand dollars on that used car, and that's going
to eat a bowl your savings and then in a
(22:11):
year you probably need another one. I don't know that
the escape is worth fixing. I'm a little scared by
the mileage, right is it? Is it losing coolant? Like
you're always adding coolant to it and you don't see
a leak. Right, So it sounds like there's an internal
(22:31):
engine problem. Has anybody tried to diagnose it and come
back to you and said something along the lines of,
maybe it's a bad head gasket. Yeah, yeah, so you
know the one thing you could try, and it may
not be effective, but if you wanted to gamble up.
I think it's approximately between fifteen one hundred dollars. Company
(22:54):
by the name of k Seal. You'll find it at
most oral parts stores. K Seal makes a cooling system seiler.
They make one rated for head gaskets, all right, it's
called Kseal Ultimate and it's a it's a pouring solution
into the cooling system. It goes you have to you
might have to take some coolant out or your mechanic
could add it. And what it does is it depending
(23:15):
upon the severity of the head gasket leak or failure.
It stands a reasonably good chance of sealing the cooling
system and solving the head gasket issue at least, you know,
maybe long enough to get you another year, a year
and a half, two years. I mean, we've had some
great success with it, where some cars we've they're still
driving the car three years later. My hesitancy for that is,
(23:41):
I don't know if that's your only cooling system problem.
You know, it goes low on coolant and then it overheats,
or it overheats and it's got enough coolant in it.
You know, I'm questioning in my mind, is the cooling
fan coming on? Right? It's it's like I'm trying to
figure out which came first, the chicken or the egg, right,
(24:01):
which which which happened first? And it's that's kind of tough,
right the A the AC issue sounds like a separate problem,
unrelated to the problem with the cooling system, because you're
saying you're saying the AC problem is the blower, the
(24:21):
fan inside the car. You turn the blower on full speed,
and sometimes it cuts out and it doesn't work, and
sometimes it does. Right, if I understand you correctly, right,
if this was hey Ron, the cooling system starts to
overheat and the AC starts to blow warm, but it
still blows. I'm going to say that the two are
(24:41):
related because that if the radiator is superheated, it's going
to affect the effectiveness and how well the air conditioning works.
So from a practical point of view, we're we're almost
into September. Let's say we could cheat and get away
without air conditioning for a little while. But the problem is,
(25:02):
you'll need a blower for winter, right, You'll need the froster,
You'll need heat. So that almost sounds like a problem
in either the blower resistor or the blower motor. Both
of them are not cheap to replace on that vehicle.
All right, the blower motor, if you have you gotten
any prices on this, Has anybody tried to diagnose any
(25:24):
of this. The blower motor, right, because this is the
newer body style escape. The blower motor on that car
corkscrews in under the passenger side. It's really crazy how
they put it together. And that blower motor repair is
upwards of two grand just to give you a ballpark
if you were at the dealer or an independent repair shop.
(25:45):
All Right, the blower motor resistor is just as difficult
to get to. But regardless, I think my vote is
to replace this vehicle if I have that vote, right,
you know, if if if you wanted to try a
bottle of k Seal Ultimate, you know, get down to
(26:06):
your local Oda parts store, you know, and it's it's
it's real simple and easy to do. You're whoever your
mechanic is, do you have a reasonable relationship with your
mechanic that you could go in and talk to him
and explain what you're thinking. I'm just trying to band
aid this back together to see if I can buy
you a couple of months. Yeah, right, you know, That's
(26:26):
That's what I'm thinking for that And in the meantime,
while this is band aidd back together, if k sal
Ultimate buys you that time, which I'm going to give
you better than average odds that it will. It depends
on the severity of the failure. At least you've got,
you know, two months, three months to go out and
try and find something. And you know, we want to
(26:47):
look for something, you know, I mean, does a Toyota
Camra work for you? Does a little Honda CRV work something?
You know? And and and something in that category. You know,
one hundred thousand miles on those cars doesn't scare me.
If you can find something in that range, right, and
they've got some longevity, obviously, I want a mechanic to
(27:09):
look at it, okay, and I want somebody to, you know,
try and look for the obvious faults and failures. It's hard.
I feel your pain, kiddo, all right, So but that's
what I would advise you to do. I think you've
got to replace this, try and patch it back together
as best you can. But I think putting money in
(27:30):
this it's only going to get more expensive as time
goes on. Okay, Alicia, I know you have a second
question or some secondary comments. Let me pull over, take
this pause. We'll be back right after this. Don't go away.
We're talking with Alicia add of Illinois about or twenty
thirteen four to escape. Alicia, so far what I'm saying
makes sense to.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
You, yeah a little bit.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Okay. I just think you try and cobble this car
back together to buy yourself some time, because I think
to put bigger money into this is a folly. Because
here's here's the concern I've got. The other concern I've
got is you've already had one transmission repair. If that
(28:14):
transmission were to fail, don't faint, but that transmission, if
that transmission fails, that transmission in New Jersey dollars in
a repair shop is about five grand to fix, right,
So yeah, you know how much how much more do
we want to put in this?
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Honestly trying to keep from spending that five thousand.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Right right, That's why I say, you know, go talk
to your mechanic, tell him, ask him, ask him about it.
You know you have you have an O'Reilly or an
advanced autoparts or an AutoZone or something. Right, go down
there and look for a bottle of k Seal Ultimate.
It has to say ultimate on it because that's the
stuff rated for head gasket, right, and see if that
(29:01):
solves it. And if that doesn't solve it, then your
problem is much more severe than you realize. And the
car's really got to go because it's only a ticking
time bomb at that point.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Okay, what cars do you suggest that I look into
after this? Or should I get a newer car or
still try to continue we use cars and just try.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
A different if you can get listen, you know, if
you can if and I don't know how, you'll I
don't know how, I don't know what the budget is,
all right, but it's a lot more than ten grand
if you can find what we call a CPO car
certified pre owned all right from a manufacturer. A Toyota
Camry has a good track record, Honda accords, Honda crvs right,
(29:44):
Toyota Highlanders, rab Fours, all vehicles with good track records.
But you know, to find something decent used, you're probably
in the twenty to twenty five thousand dollars range, right,
So you know, you got to see what's the down pay.
You've got to go look at. And then the other
thing to think about is when you buy a used car,
(30:06):
you will pay a higher interest rate. So so what
you've got to consider is, let's say you buy a
twenty thousand dollars used car, right, and it's used, so
there's less of a warranty on it, and the interest
rate is probably seven percent. But if you buy a
new car that's thirty five thousand dollars, your monthly payment
(30:30):
may be higher, but your interest rate will be lower,
and you'll have a warranty from three to five years,
depending upon the car. So it kind of puts you
into a better spot. Does that make Does that make sense?
What I'm what I'm trying to do is figure out
what's the best way to give you some breathing room.
So as you continue your climb up the mountain, you're gonna,
(30:52):
you know, slowly, get ahead, get to the point where
you know you're on top. But a CPO car, if
you can find a good certified pre owned, the dealers
always advertise them as CPOs. A CPO car comes with it'll,
it'll have it'll have a better warranty on it than
a regularly used car. You pay a little bit more
money for it, all right, but you'll get a little
(31:14):
bit of a better warranty, and it's been checked out
and verified. You know, they do the they do the
one hundred point check. So you're not buying some clunker
or somebody else's problem. And if there is a problem,
they're gonna warranty it. The other piece of advice is
whatever you buy, you know how to tell when the
salesman's lying, when his lips move. Remember that, all right,
(31:36):
So whatever they tell you get it in writing. You know,
I don't care where you buy it from. I don't
care if you buy it from Bob's Used Car a
Lot or Bob's Toyota on Main Street. Oh yeah, you know. Listen,
you come back every Thursday, We'll give you a free
oil change. Yeah, put it in writing. And if they
don't want to put it in writing, don't buy the car. Okay,
makes sense. I gotta go listen. If you need something,
(31:57):
you know where to find me. All right, Alicia, all right,
you'd be well, I'm ronnin Annie in the Car Doctor.
We'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Well,
all that about does it for me. This week, I
was very excited and happy to talk to each and
every one of you, whether it was directly on the
phone or by virtue of this just this broadcast or
this podcast. However you're listening to this show. Let me
(32:19):
just remind you that there is an ongoing stream of
information that we put out there available for you. You
can check out our YouTube channel. Just go out there
to YouTube and search Ron and Aanie in the Car Doctor.
We've got fresh videos going up on a regular basis.
We've also got our Facebook page, Ron Andanie in the
Car Doctor. That's there for you as well. You know, Alicia.
Just it's she's sitting in the back of my mind
(32:40):
that I'm thinking about. That's a tough spot, and I
realize how hard it is today for people just looking
for a vehicle, And what do you do? I think?
And I hope my words meant something to her in
the sense that she sits down and plans. I think
you have to plan the attack. I think you have
to get a basic vehicle. And you know, that's how
(33:00):
you climb up to the top of the mountain by
just you know, having some nothing flashy, nothing beyond transportation,
which is what cars were meant to be, back and
forth to work, and you can climb out of that pile.
It's out there for you and everybody else. Alicia, you
can do it. I have faith in everybody. You know. Cars.
It's funny, right, Cars, If they do one thing, they
(33:22):
humble us to the point of teaching us some of
the extremities of life. I think, and you know, they
become a necessary part of what we have to do,
and they help us get there. So I hope what
I said and I really mean this. She was probably
one of the most impactful callers I've had in the
last couple of months. But I really hope what I
said made sense, and I hope it works for you.
(33:43):
So get out there, find that CPO car, and I
hope you do well. I've got to go. I'm running
out of time till the next time I'm running any
in the car doctor reminding you good mechanics aren't expensive,
They're priceless. See you,
Host
Ron Ananian
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