Why Cars Cost More Than Just Repairs | The Car Doctor Podcast
From BMW leases to Toyota hybrids, wiring harness nightmares to blown diesel dreams, Ron Ananian takes calls that prove cars are more than machines — they’re a lifestyle choice. In this episode:
-
Should you buy out that BMW X5 lease or go Toyota RAV4?
-
Why a Ford E-150’s hidden wiring fault proves experience matters.
-
The safe choice when an Audi tire takes a sidewall hit.
-
One Marine’s $11,000 RAM EcoDiesel disaster and why he traded it for a Toyota.
Maintenance, safety, and smart decisions — Ron breaks down what every car owner needs to know before signing the next check.
- Grab your Car Doctor gear – T-shirts & more at CarDoctorShow.com
-
Follow the wrench – Instagram @ronananian for shop life & behind-the-scenes
-
Watch & learn – Auto repair tips & videos on our YouTube Channel
-
Got a car question? Call the Car Doctor Hotline 24/7 – (855) 560-9900
-
Join the conversation LIVE – Saturdays 2–4 PM Eastern
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Ronananian, 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 five
(00:25):
six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to honest
answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow dot
com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your engines. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yep, here I am listeners, Roninanian at your service. Another
hour car Doctor, and let's kick it off. Let's let's
go to the phones right away. Let's get going because
we've got a lot of phone calls this hour. Let's
go to Norman. Is that Norman in Queen's County, New York? Norman,
Welcome to the car doctor shore.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Ah, thanksful lot Ron. Everyone got a good I got
a perplexing problem that everyone should have. Okay, I've been
listening to you since nineteen ninety one. Oh, you're making
me coming off You helped me out with my BMW
a short time ago when you diagnosed it because specifically
at the fob wasn't working and we got to fixed up.
(01:23):
Now my car is coming off lease, Ron, and to
buy the car, and you can buy it back at
twenty seven thousand dollars two thousand and two BMW X.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Five X three twenty two.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Twenty twenty two, twenty two. Now the question comes in
the repay when you come off lease and you have
to have the car fixed. It is just crazy on
prices for anything you want done. And at what point
do you tell yourself you know something? It was I'm
seventy three years old. It was a good experiment. My
(02:00):
wife and I love the car. Now let's just go
back to a Toyota rout four that we always like,
and we can buy a brand new Route four, or
we can take our chances purchase the car which has
sixteen thousand miles on it. We don't do that much
traveling and then you have to put up with the repairs.
(02:22):
But when you look at the prices, but it costs
is thousands of dollars or something that is just like
out of we can't afford that. I mean put it
that way, and if you buy a maintenance contract on it,
you might as well just release the car or drop
it and buy a regular car.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So what do you do? You know, cars, cars have
become a lifestyle Norman, And I don't know where this occurred.
I think in the last twenty years. It was a
slow process. But as you and everyone else is finding out,
it's you lease the car and they cover the cost
of repair, They cover everything. Right, you had a great
three two or two or three year lease whatever the
(03:04):
term was, and it was a great Yeah it was
that was your lifestyle. And now it's time, you know, well, okay,
we've got to get another car, and is it going
to be a BMW again? Needless to say, I would
venture to guess that to release that BMW is a
very different deal now than it was three years ago,
or the numbers the same, much more, much.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
More, because it's surprised and the problem, not the problem
is that nothing's gone wrong with the car. Right, So,
as you always say, always maintenance, maintenance, maintenance, any new car,
any car. After three years, you got to think about breaks,
You got to think about fluid changes, You got to
think about transmission. Right, You're thinking about things have to
be taken care of. Right, I now it's clothing thousands
(03:48):
of dollars to do that.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I think you are on the right beam, my friend.
I think the idea that you know what you had,
the social experiment, you had, the lifestyle. It's a nice car. Look,
nothing wrong with the Toyota, nothing wrong with a RAF four. Right,
it's it's not a terrible par.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
That way into the next thing. Because you always help
me out with my two thousand and five Row four?
Do I go for the hybrid? Like I always heard
you talk about the Preus being the best hybrid they have.
But if we want the Row four, do we stick
with a RAV four hybrid or the regular RAV four
(04:24):
for a car that's going to last?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
In other words, which one has the best repair history?
And your your say?
Speaker 4 (04:33):
So?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I think they both have a good track record, Norman.
I think both vehicles have the potential to go the distance.
I think it's it's what what are you more comfortable
and what do you enjoy driving? And I think you've
got to go drive both vehicles. Look, you're coming out
of a rocket ship, all right, and you're not exactly
going to a biplane, but you're you know, you're going
to a smaller rocket ship. So you know, how much
(04:55):
more technology do you want or can you give up?
You know, there's a whole again. We're back to the
lifestyle comment. All right, this is going to be a
very different experience for you in the sense of although
you said you had a Toyota before, so I don't
think it's going to be totally different. But you know, listen,
you want to enjoy driving, right, you're seventy two, you
(05:16):
said seventy two, seventy.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Three, seventy three, So it's going to be my last.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I know it's your last car. I know everybody gets
like that. I'm creeping up on you, and I don't
think I'm ever going to say this is my last car.
You know, the day before I go, I'm going to
be out looking at cars. But that's just me. I
think you've got to find something you like. And listen,
I wouldn't drive just to rav for you know, maybe
you want to go look at Alexis, Maybe you want
(05:42):
to look at something a little high line there, and
you know, the same Toyota quality, the same Toyota mentality,
and see where that gets you. Part of the problem
is right now, a lot of people are coming out
of what I will call expensive car leases BMW, Audi,
Mercedes and that car that they leased three years ago
(06:05):
and they had to put oh, I'm gonna guess three
thousand dollars down and they've got a least payment of
five point fifty six hundred a month. They're finding out
now all of a sudden, it's it's it's it's double
down and nine hundred, almost one thousand dollars a month
depending upon the money.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, you get you know it, you know it, and.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
It's it's crazy, it's it's and what are you getting?
And you're going to see that change as the economy changes,
and it will. It's just it's just a matter of time.
There has to be an evolution here.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
If if dollars are a concern, all right, and I'm
not saying that we want to throw money around, I
don't care, you know, I don't care how much money
you have, you just don't throw money around. You got
to short respect, right.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
You want you want to use common sense? Right, car
for transportation?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
You know? My wife and I just you know, just
what are we doing? Very few miles?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
But good experiment, you know, good experiment. Having it? It felt good,
But now it feels stupid buying a coffee that much Funny,
It's like you'd like to spend money other things in life.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, yeah, now do you do? You go out and
lease the raft four which is the second part of
the question that we haven't talked about.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I buy it.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I buy it by do you buy it? Did? Did
you look at the least numbers?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
The at least he went for like three hundred and
fifty dollars a month. But you know something, when you
rent something wrong, you're when you lease something, you're renting
you don't own it, right. And I've always liked owning
something to say it's mine, right, And I always followed
your advice. You just do I change the oil every
three thousand miles transmission fluid. It was once a year.
(07:41):
I was going overboard on this and the call ass
and I'd rather just say it's mine. I'm taking good
care of it. But at least I'm saying it's not rented.
And the least I fell into because you get googled
into saying, hey, look I can afford at least right
now because the monthly payments in there.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
But you don't own the car.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah did you? Did you drive a rap for yet?
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well you s the own one?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
No?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
No, have you driven? Have you driven a new one?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
No?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
No, I just went online and went looking at it
and I see there. My wife likes it. Also, all right,
we have to go down and Yatroy. It's something that
we have to get into. But we use you as
our guru and who to go on new advice.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Norm All up Ron, call up Roun, find out what's happening,
because you you gave us. You gave us very When
I was listening to you you first came on the radio,
and I was trying to follow along with you what
you're doing. And I'm not mechanically I have to fix
the car. But I come to stand when you're talking
about and uh, I wish I could go back to
(08:50):
my nineteen seventy a Crown Victoria that was the best
car I ever had in my life. But uh, and
I was a corroborated car.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Well, you know, I was trained. I was trained as
a mechanic, you know. And I know what you're saying.
People say this to me, they like my old school approach,
but I was trained by old school. You know. You've
got to remember my dad was an airline mechanic. My
dad was superintendent maintenance for American airlines during the Second
World War, worked on a lot of military aircraft. He
(09:18):
always taught me, you know, this is the procedure. You
got to follow the procedure. There's steps one through six.
You don't skip the step four. And Billy, my first
boss in the gas station that I still to this
day considered one of the smartest people I ever met.
He had a genius mentality. You know, proper maintenance done properly.
I've said that about Billy, But he just taught me
procedure and process. My dad was gone at that point,
(09:40):
but old school mechanics, you know what, it's still nuts
and bolts. It still takes fluid, it still takes basics
in order to operate properly. And that's what I think.
I think, even with the technology today, so you know,
and it's a lifestyle, right, So you've got to look
at that Toyota, that RAB four real quick and then
I'll let you go that RAB four. You know, the
cost to operate that RAP four is going to be
(10:02):
substantially less than BMW anything. And you know, you've got
to look at that. And chances are that that RAB
four will last you easily ten years, if not longer,
with proper care. And that's a good spot.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
To be in.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So that's it's funny.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I believe what you always say. Maintenance all the way, yep,
and take good care of it and it'll go forever.
And I really appreciate the phone call.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
You're very welcome, Norman. You have a good rest of
the day.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
My best to your wife listening to you all the time.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Thank you, sir. You'd be well, you know, it's it's
part of the process to maintain a car. You've got
to do it right. Maintenance is the key and if
you don't maintain it, you know. And it's a funny thing.
And I do this at the shop and maybe I'm
wrong for doing it, but somebody will come in with
their new car and as we start to work on it,
(10:52):
and the relationship evolves, and you know, we start to
go through things, and you know, they'll start to come
in the fifteen thousand mile service that they're twenty thousand
mile service, and we start to show them pieces and
parts that we've replaced and changed. And I said, you
got to remember, buying a new car has Now we're
enjoy the privilege of throwing it away, one piece at
a time. But it got you there, It kept you safe,
(11:13):
it kept you dry, it brought you to work. It
did what it was supposed to do. And that's the
purpose of an automobile. Cars are a lifestyle. How much
lifestyle can you afford? Ah, that's the secret, and that's
what you have to realize as you approach. It can't
be emotional when you're looking at a car. It's got
to be factual and affordable. And that's the bottom line.
I'm running ady in the car doctor. I'll be back
right after this.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
No go away.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And we're back, listeners, run an any in the car
doctor here at your service. Let's let's wander over and
talk to Don and Virginia. Don, welcome to the car Doctor, sir.
How can I help Hi?
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Ron? Thanks you and I talked early in November two
thousand and sixty one. Fifty had gotten the whole plethora
of codes thrown. I had thrown some parts at it.
They all sort of revolved around the Eger system and
that type of thing. I did end up replacing the ECM,
and all of those codes went away for a while.
(12:05):
And then right before we were going on vacation with
a couple of other couples, I started getting a storm
of just despirit codes and so I threw my hands
up and I told my wife. I said, I'm just
going to take it to the dealer, right And she said,
oh my god, We're not going to be able to eat.
I said, well, we'll see. So I took it to
the dealer where I bought it. I took it on
(12:25):
a Sunday night because I knew they weren't going to
be there, and I dropped it off, left the foldly
of what I'd done and all the codes, along with
screenshots from the scan tool, and they opened it seven
thirty on Monday morning. They called me about nine thirty
and I said, we know what the problem is. And
I said really, He said, yeah, we put a mechanic
on there he's been here thirty years, he's worked on
(12:46):
lots of E one fifty chateaus and everything else. You
got a wiring horness problem, and apparently the wiring harness
that wrapped itself around the orifice tube that runs from
the EGR valve down to this sauce and it worked
through had melted inside. Yeah, and so you know, he said,
it's not going to be cheap. He said, it's a
lot of time an hour. So it was about an
(13:07):
eight hundred and fifty dollars repair. But they went in,
traced it out, repaired it because you can't find the
wiring harness, aren't it obviously for that not a problem
since the one on a two thousand mile vacation, no
problem in the mountains, no codes, it's doing fine good.
So I guess the bulk of that is that the
(13:28):
lesson learned is that sometimes when you weigh over your head,
you got to take it somewhere where there's experience and
they've worked on these things for a long time.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well there's that, and there's also you know, you can't
beat yourself up right, you don't know, all right, you
don't know if where the wiring harness rubbed through if
it's short circuited, because you know, if it's rubbing against
the metal tube, it's ground. Right, you don't know what
part of the horns. You don't know if you damage
(13:57):
the PCM either, all right, you know, I go back
to the day. I'll date myself here, eighty eight Chevrolet
J body cars. I think it was with the two
point eight leter, the flat aluminum top intake manifold set up.
They would actually the ignition coils were mounted on top
of the ignition module, so the coil would spike, it
(14:19):
would overload the module. The module was tied by wiring
back to the PCM, so the coil would take out
the module would take out the PCM. You'd end up
putting three parts in the car to fix it. You know,
everything is interconnected. Heck, we had a couple of GMS
back in the day. I could tell you these stories
with Fords too. Gms are just on my mind today
(14:39):
for some reason that you know, you would have bad alternators,
and a bad GM alternator on certain models would actually
overload the system and damage any of the processors on
the vehicle. So you would put multiple parts. It looked
like you were guessing, but in fact you were just
running down the problem. So you know, would it could
(15:01):
have shoulda Do you still have the old PCM?
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I did?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Okay, So guess what now you got to back up?
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Right? You know exactly?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
You know it's and I would hang on to that
because you know, if you're planning on keeping this, this
was a camper or something, right this or this is.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
A well no it had it was a chateau, so
it was factory with captain chairs. It didn't have any
modifications like a rebuilder or something like that, right right,
So right, we've had it.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
It's a little fancy. It's not just a regular van,
is my right?
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Right?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah? Uh so you know what not a work fan.
Now you got to spare PCM. I wouldn't be ashamed
of exactly. I wouldn't be ashamed of that at all.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
So one other quick question. Sure, I've got to change
the plugs on this. It's got the plugs have about
one hundred and twenty thousand on it. And as part
of all this stuff, before I went in and changed
the number five because that was showing misfires, the plug
was not in great shape. So my question is this
and looking through through Mitchell's and other other places. The
(16:04):
response is you probably want to take the fuel rail
loose from the brackets in order to be able to
get the tools down in to do the to get
the plugs out, because the fuel rails sit right on
top of the coal the cool on plugs. Right. Is
there anything I should be afraid of? Is this? Is this?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Is this a four to six or a five four?
I don't remember five four five four four?
Speaker 4 (16:26):
No, I two two valve for a cylinder, so I
don't have to worry about the plugs being stuck, right.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
No, I think you're going to find that. I think
you're gonna find you're going to loosen the rail and
just kind of ease it out of the way.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You know, do you have Do you have a heated
garage so it's warm? I do, okay, So you know
I would park it in there overnight, get it good
and warm, and just take your time. I would. I
would drop a little P B blaster down the hall
and you know, just on the just on the chance
that the plugs are stuck, and just kind of work
their way carefully. And as long as you're doing plugs
at this age in mileage, you probably ought to shared
(17:00):
the coil. Yeah, change the coils. You know I would,
And you know, if we're going to do this, let's
do it once. Let's get motocraft stuff, you know, let's
let's let's just let's just be done with it. You know,
we don't want to go through this twice.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And obviously just the issue is you have to you know,
you change the four front ones from the front of
the car, and then you have to take the doghouse
all right and change the four rearuins on your back
right reaching out through.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
So yeah, okay, yeah, So listen, it might be easier
depending upon how the chairs are constructed and put in there,
it might be easier to take the chairs out.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
That's a good idea because I've had those out before
to do some photework on them.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
So right, okay, so you know that might help you too.
All right, good luck to you. Listen. I'm glad. I'm
glad it worked out for you, all right, and I
appreciate you getting back to us, all right, sir, Thanks Ron,
You're very welcome. You'd be well, I'm running any in
the car. Doctor. We're back right after this. Don't go away.
Welcome back. Listeners running any in the Car Doctor. Let's
let's go on over. Let's go talk to Bill in
(17:58):
Sussex County, New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Bill.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Welcome to the Car Doctor, Sir. How can I help Hi?
Speaker 6 (18:02):
Ron, Thanks for taking the call on time listener from WTBQ.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
Trying to help out my sister who was in Chicago.
She sent me a picture of a tire from her
audi that has some curb rash on it, and basically
there's a chunk or gouge that's been taken out of
the sidewall. It's if I had to guess, it would
probably be about an inch and a half long and
maybe a quarter of an inch deep. So I told
(18:28):
her to take it to the local tire shop to
get an evaluation. They looked at it and their opinion
was that the tire did exactly what it was supposed
to do, that there's no steel belt showing, and that
for the time being, it was okay to leave it
as it is. I kind of error on the side
(18:49):
of caution, and I think I know what the answer is,
but I wanted to get your thoughts on it as well.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So good and it's a good question and I'm glad
you called. Then, you know that that sidewall of the tire,
and this being an Audi, this is probably what we
call a low profile tire, you know, yeah, it has
a short height to the ground, so to speak, well,
you know, the tire shop is right. The side casing
of the tire did exactly its job. It protected the
(19:18):
tire in the sense of something going through the steel belt,
which is now even though it's not hanging out, it's
much more exposed than it normally would be. You know,
this is the best example I can give everybody to
think about. Is you ever skin your elbow and you
don't bleed, but you get that you take away the
top layer of skin and you get that tender portion
of your skin underneath, and now it's a little you know,
(19:40):
and it hurts a little bit when you're rest on
your elbow and then all of a sudden you start
bleeding because you kind of poked through. You know, she's
taken away that outer layer. So there's there's if something
were to and that's a pretty good gash right that
size that you that you had mentioned, you know, if
something were to come up in the road, now where
the side casing that's going to deflect. And you know
(20:05):
Bill that I always say, the road is a very
unforgiving place, sure, you know, and especially in an Audi,
especially a low profile tire. You know, I know it's
going to be a two hundred dollars tire or two
hundred and fifty dollars tire. But what's her life worth?
What's what's what's the car worth? What's not getting stuck
on the side of the road or an accident worth?
(20:25):
And I think i'd have to vote with you because
I know what you're thinking. I'd put a tire on
the car.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
I wouldn't hesitate, especially if you're going to be going
on a long trip.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Oh absolutely, yeah, absolutely listen and yes, but even if
she was gonna just you know, I don't care if
she's a three mile a day commuter. You know, everybody says, well,
I only go three miles a day. Just make the
brakes work good enough. You know, a little kid rolls
out on a bicycle right in front of you, two
blocks from your house, there's no saying where that accident's
(20:54):
gonna happen. And I think it's in her best interest.
You know, that tire, Yes, if that tire was just used.
You know, does she make that tire the spare? But
then now she's got an unreliable spare in the car,
and it probably wouldn't fit because she probably has a
space saver or some other depending upon the year, Audi,
some other low profile so to speak, or low use tire.
(21:18):
You know, there's so many ways they create spares today.
I think you go out and buy a spare, and
if it tore the chunk out, depending upon how many
miles are on it, I'd probably shoot the alignment too.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
I was thinking of that too. Yeah, and I did
suggest to her that she should probably buy two tires
since that's an all wheel drive vehicle.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Well, and now now the question comes up, right, and
this is I know where this is going to go,
because now the question comes up, how much tread has
left on the other tires. Yes, so, you know, the
industry says certain cars, Subarus are susceptible to it, certain
models of Jeep are susceptible to it. You know, Audi's
seem to be a little less fussy. But I don't
(21:58):
want to tempt the tempt, tempt the devil. You know,
if I'm looking at tread depth and if the current
tread depth on the car is you know, less than
five thirty seconds, which is more than fifty percent worn.
And she's going to put two fresh tires up front
if she's going to do some serious driving. You know what,
how old are the tires are they? You know, four
or five years old? You know those tires are going
(22:21):
to be date coded in four or five years. They'll
be out of the realm in another two years where
you're not supposed to be riding on them. So again,
what's the value of her safety at high speed, all
kinds of weather. Nothing handles like a fresh set of tires,
And I think it's just kind of goes with the
territory of what she's driving.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
All right, that's great advice. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
You know, I can't say it any other way. The
biggest concern I have is, you know, har I'll tell
you the story this way. We had a jeep in
the shop just recently and the new customer and where
he was going. They've been doing all his service work
and all the lugnuts were swollen. Now jeeps have a
(23:03):
problem that the lugnut is capped, so there's a hard
steel body underneath this tiny aluminum cap and if you
constantly air gun them on and off, impact hammer them
on and off, eventually those lug nuts will start to
splinter and shred, and then moisture gets in. And now
the moisture turns into rust, and the rust and there's
(23:24):
a bulge, and now you can't fit the nineteen millimeters
socking on it. You have to have a nineteen and
a half or some other odd ball size in order
to get the lugnuts off. So you know, Rich brought
it in. We got all the lugnuts off, but in
looking at the wheels, the wheels on this jeep, you
could see that they were getting beat up. And when
we talked about it, it's partially it's the last shot.
(23:45):
They were kind of animals, for lack of a way
to say it, but it was kind of interesting to
see just how these wheels themselves had picked up debris.
And there's a lot of junk on the road, and
you know, it catches your eye and you have to
realize you may not hear it, sea to feel it,
but to have an exposed wound in that tire. I
looked at Rich's wheels on his jeep, and we did
get the lugnuts off. By the way, I took a
(24:06):
little bit of persuasion. Someday I'll tell you guys this
story about how we had to get out the three
quarter inch breaker bar that's two feet long and literally
stand on it to break some of the lugnuts loose.
They were so overtightened. You know, it's it's what's what's
the safety. I've never met anybody standing on the side
of the road with a flat that they.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Knew was.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Marginal.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Going.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Boy, I'm so glad I saved money that I could
get stuck here. And you know, wait, wait for the
tow truck. It just doesn't work like that. So by
all means, get her, get her, get her a tire,
two tires, four tires. Uh, you know what, take it,
take it as a warning sign and do an alignment
and then you drive in peace and quiet and and
the knowledge of safety.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
Right, And I'm happy that tire buying is easier than
picking out oil or getting a forty one light bulb
in the local hardware store.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
That's right, absolutely absolutely, Bill. So all right, sir, you'll.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
Be aware new year, happy and healthy new year to everyone.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Thank you, Bill, and thanks for being part of the
Car Doctor family.
Speaker 6 (25:04):
You'd be welk you for calling.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You're very welcome. I'm running Indie in the card Doctor.
We'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Welcome back, listeners,
roun an Innie in the car Doctor. Let's let's get
back to the phone. Let's go over to Jerry out there.
And I think it's is it Las Vegas, Jerry? Or
what part of the vat are you from?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
No, I'm retired in Las Vegas. I'm from the East
Coast directionally born in New York. But yeah, I'm retired.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Gotcha. Good for you? So what's going on? How can
I help?
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Well?
Speaker 5 (25:31):
A couple of quick things. Number one, I'm sixty five,
graduated high school in seventy six, and I've always worked
on my own car, basic stuff, changing on and everything,
and I've always kept vehicles ten plus years. Well, in
twenty twenty one, I basically went to the RAM dealer
and built my dream truck because this gentry Eco diesel
(25:53):
had great reviews and looked good and I wanted a
diesel for the fuel economy and towing. My RV received
the truck in March twenty twenty two. All was good
at first, and then all of a sudden, when diesel
was a buck fifty more than gas, I took my
old Nissan pickup truck. It went cross country came back
a month later. So the diesel sat for months, all
(26:16):
of a sudden, bang bang bang, engine codes, engine codes wrong, wrong,
wrong dealer for weeks at a time. Because they're short
diesel technicians. EGR went out turbo problems an absolute nightmare,
and especially sitting for months and months and months. I've
got the bills in front of me. Obviously I didn't
(26:36):
pay them because it's under warranty, but it's over eleven
thousand dollars pairs.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
What that tells me is not only do they not
have any diesel texts, the texts that are working on
it are clueless. But I guess it's easy to criticize
from my seat here. It's in the safety of the studio.
But I got to tell you it's you know, you
hang one part, two parts, as an educated guess, after
that it's time to call in the zone rep and
start talking to somebody and saying, Hey, what's going on?
Where we're going with this? That was probably I'm going
(27:02):
to guess Jerry at seventy or eighty thousand dollars.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Vehicle sixty five.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, okay, all right, A lot of money.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
Yeah, a lot, a lot of money. And I paid
cash for it because I'm retired and I'm saved my money.
So I was I was going on a trip to
meet an old Marine Corps buddy I hadn't seen in years,
and all of a sudden, the whole emission system went
crap again. So I wrote, I wrote a personal letter
to fight Fiat Chrysler. No response, So I went and
(27:35):
I got one of these Lemon law lawyers online and
they said, oh, you got a great case, you got
a great case, you got a great case. Well, let
me tell you the lemonlaw lawyer guys, especially, some of
these guys online are a total rip off themselves. And
I can get into that if you want. But long
story short, every time I brought it back with something wrong.
So Thanksgiving weekend, I just I took the plunge and
(28:00):
I just traded it in and I took a beating
and I got a Toyota. I got a twenty twenty
three Toyota, right, and it was just and when the
ram ran nice, it ran fantastic, but I don't know
if you've had experience with these eco diesels, but I've
heard other guys who've had these disaster stories with the
(28:22):
turbos and the emissions and everything.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah, I'm not a fan of diesel in general in
that application for a lot of reasons. Number one, Chrysler's involved,
and you know, the older ones when it was the
comings back in. You know, the older the what was
it the three's or the ninety eight's going way back
that seemed to be a better diesel. The newer one,
(28:44):
the more electronics they hang on it, it seems like
the more difficult it is to properly maintain it and
get some kind of decent power out of it. And
there's a lot of limitations. But that be said, you know,
we still work on them, we still see them. They're
just not my favorite in the whole world. I still
think what happened with you is and you know, let
me point out the next time if you decide to
take the plunge again. I don't think you will, but
(29:06):
just in case, you know, the question I always ask
when I'm buying something weird, I want to know who's
going to work on it. Hey, do you have a
tech trained in this, and surprisingly, I'm surprised the dealership
was able to sell it to you and not have
a certified tech. You know, the way General Motors works,
for example, is they've got to have a certified Corvette
tech on hand before they can sell a Corvette. If
(29:27):
they don't have a guy that can fix it, they
can't sell it. And I believe the other car companies
do the same thing. So I'm not sure where the
bump in the road became in that you couldn't get
this solved, And I guess it's just a reflection on
the dealer really, because if they wanted to fix it,
they could. You know, there is a culture when you
buy a vehicle, Jerry, and I think you know that
now in terms of you know, you just got an
(29:49):
example of how Chrysler or how Ram, Dodge, Fiat whoever
they are, you know, handles customer service and handles problems
like that. You'll be happy with the Toyota. I can
tell you that.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Oh, absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
And it's a different culture, right, It was very different,
the different buying experience totally.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
And I'm gonna tell you I wanted the twenty twenty
three because I'm tired because they this year they're going
to to turbos and everything. Right, I'm sick at turbos.
I'm sick of too much junk on there. I want
to naspa it naturally aspirated, you know, basic stuff that
I could work on.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yep, yep, yep, Nope, yep, no, absolutely.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
And let me can I make a quick comment about
these Lemon lawyer guys for shures on the ear if
they ever choose to go to one. In the fine print,
you know, you think you think you sign on with
a lawyer because the lawyer is going to look after you,
look after you, He's going to be on your side. Well,
in the fine print of what I signed, it said,
if you receive an offer from Fiat Chrysler and you
(30:46):
do not accept it, you have to pay the lawyer fees.
Well I'm thinking, fine, okay, you know get it to
get an offer. Well, I think these guys work with them.
Chrysler came back with this low ball offer and I
went to the lawyering mark, I'm not taking let's go
to court. He goes, well, we're not sure, blah blah blah,
and they started dancing around.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
So all all all of a sudden, it became your
your fault, and what did you do wrong? Yep, I
get it, Jerry, I really do. Hey, Jerry, sit tight,
stay on the line, let me pull over, take a
pause for the cause, and we'll come back to you.
Don't go away. I'm running any in the car. Doctor.
We'll be back right after this. Welcome back. Listeners were
kind of winding down the hour here, Jerry from Las Vegas.
(31:25):
You're still there, yes, sir, So I'm sorry, Jerry, I
mean to cut you off. Tell us some you know.
I give you a little bit of on air therapy here.
So the Lemon law lawyers aren't exactly why they're cracked
up to be a fair statement exactly.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
And it's state by state. You got to look at
your state. Some states are stronger than others. Nevada's in between.
But you really got to read the fine print with
these guys, right because I think they'll put the screws
to you if they get the chance.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Right right, right, right, So well, Jerry, listen, I appreciate
you calling in my spies. Tell me that you are
is it?
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Is it? Is it? A do you?
Speaker 2 (31:56):
How do you say it? When you're no longer in
the Marine Corps active. Are you a retired marine? You're
not an ex marine. There's no such thing as an
ex marine, right.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
Well, I did thirty years, so I'm a retired marine. Okay,
it lets me sit on my buttet. Can I do
a quick shout out because my local garage guys exactly
like you. It's Dad's garage on North Rancho in Las Vegas.
Sure it's the same way you do.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Absolutely, Jerry. It's been a pleasure, sir, and thank you
for your service.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
No thanks, love the show. You take care, you.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Take good care. I'm running any in the car doctor,
you know. And poor Jerry, right he's he he ended up,
you know, going in, and I wish I had found
him sooner in that, you know, I could have I
could have helped him, you know, maybe we could have
diagnosed it together. Part of the problem is, all right,
(32:47):
you know, you go into a dealership under warranty. Warranty
doesn't mean it's getting fixed. It just means that it's
going to be looked at for free, all right. And
I still stand on the premise and my saying that
I've said over the years that a repair shop is
only as good as the people in it. The sign
on the door doesn't mean anything. And you know, when
(33:08):
you're buying, oh, I don't know. When you're you're buying
a four cylinder Toyota camera, it's a pretty safe bet
they've got a guy that can work on that. But
if you're buying an Eco Diesel from your Ram dealership,
you're buying a Corvette from your Chevrolet dealership, or you know,
back in the day, you're buying something, do you have
a guy that can fix this? Is he any good?
How old is he? Is he going to retire in
the next two weeks? You know, these are all great questions,
(33:29):
all things you want to know because it's all going
to come down to sooner or later. That vehicle is
gonna have to get serviced and you're gonna need that
person in order to properly, you know, enjoy and get
a life cycle out of it. If the dealer is
your guy, if the dealer's going to be the one
to work on it. And you know, unfortunately Jerry had
a bed run of luck. But he'll like that Toyota.
And I get what he's saying. He's talking about his
(33:50):
new Toyota. He wanted A twenty three because in twenty
four Toyota also is going to all turbo chargers, or
a lot of turbo chargers. And you know, I question
that as well. I'm not a big turbo charger fan.
I think it's some extra work where you don't necessarily
need it all the time. But we'll say, you know what,
turbo charger technology has come a long way and we'll
have to learn to embrace it. Hey, that's about it
for now, till the next time I'm running any in
(34:11):
the car doctor reminding you good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
See you
You're listening to Ronananian, 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 five
(00:25):
six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to honest
answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow dot
com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your engines. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yep, here I am listeners, Roninanian at your service. Another
hour car Doctor, and let's kick it off. Let's let's
go to the phones right away. Let's get going because
we've got a lot of phone calls this hour. Let's
go to Norman. Is that Norman in Queen's County, New York? Norman,
Welcome to the car doctor shore.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Ah, thanksful lot Ron. Everyone got a good I got
a perplexing problem that everyone should have. Okay, I've been
listening to you since nineteen ninety one. Oh, you're making
me coming off You helped me out with my BMW
a short time ago when you diagnosed it because specifically
at the fob wasn't working and we got to fixed up.
(01:23):
Now my car is coming off lease, Ron, and to
buy the car, and you can buy it back at
twenty seven thousand dollars two thousand and two BMW X.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Five X three twenty two.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Twenty twenty two, twenty two. Now the question comes in
the repay when you come off lease and you have
to have the car fixed. It is just crazy on
prices for anything you want done. And at what point
do you tell yourself you know something? It was I'm
seventy three years old. It was a good experiment. My
(02:00):
wife and I love the car. Now let's just go
back to a Toyota rout four that we always like,
and we can buy a brand new Route four, or
we can take our chances purchase the car which has
sixteen thousand miles on it. We don't do that much
traveling and then you have to put up with the repairs.
(02:22):
But when you look at the prices, but it costs
is thousands of dollars or something that is just like
out of we can't afford that. I mean put it
that way, and if you buy a maintenance contract on it,
you might as well just release the car or drop
it and buy a regular car.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So what do you do? You know, cars, cars have
become a lifestyle Norman, And I don't know where this occurred.
I think in the last twenty years. It was a
slow process. But as you and everyone else is finding out,
it's you lease the car and they cover the cost
of repair, They cover everything. Right, you had a great
three two or two or three year lease whatever the
(03:04):
term was, and it was a great Yeah it was
that was your lifestyle. And now it's time, you know, well, okay,
we've got to get another car, and is it going
to be a BMW again? Needless to say, I would
venture to guess that to release that BMW is a
very different deal now than it was three years ago,
or the numbers the same, much more, much.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
More, because it's surprised and the problem, not the problem
is that nothing's gone wrong with the car. Right, So,
as you always say, always maintenance, maintenance, maintenance, any new car,
any car. After three years, you got to think about breaks,
You got to think about fluid changes, You got to
think about transmission. Right, You're thinking about things have to
be taken care of. Right, I now it's clothing thousands
(03:48):
of dollars to do that.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I think you are on the right beam, my friend.
I think the idea that you know what you had,
the social experiment, you had, the lifestyle. It's a nice car. Look,
nothing wrong with the Toyota, nothing wrong with a RAF four. Right,
it's it's not a terrible par.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
That way into the next thing. Because you always help
me out with my two thousand and five Row four?
Do I go for the hybrid? Like I always heard
you talk about the Preus being the best hybrid they have.
But if we want the Row four, do we stick
with a RAV four hybrid or the regular RAV four
(04:24):
for a car that's going to last?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
In other words, which one has the best repair history?
And your your say?
Speaker 4 (04:33):
So?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I think they both have a good track record, Norman.
I think both vehicles have the potential to go the distance.
I think it's it's what what are you more comfortable
and what do you enjoy driving? And I think you've
got to go drive both vehicles. Look, you're coming out
of a rocket ship, all right, and you're not exactly
going to a biplane, but you're you know, you're going
to a smaller rocket ship. So you know, how much
(04:55):
more technology do you want or can you give up?
You know, there's a whole again. We're back to the
lifestyle comment. All right, this is going to be a
very different experience for you in the sense of although
you said you had a Toyota before, so I don't
think it's going to be totally different. But you know, listen,
you want to enjoy driving, right, you're seventy two, you
(05:16):
said seventy two, seventy.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Three, seventy three, So it's going to be my last.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I know it's your last car. I know everybody gets
like that. I'm creeping up on you, and I don't
think I'm ever going to say this is my last car.
You know, the day before I go, I'm going to
be out looking at cars. But that's just me. I
think you've got to find something you like. And listen,
I wouldn't drive just to rav for you know, maybe
you want to go look at Alexis, Maybe you want
(05:42):
to look at something a little high line there, and
you know, the same Toyota quality, the same Toyota mentality,
and see where that gets you. Part of the problem
is right now, a lot of people are coming out
of what I will call expensive car leases BMW, Audi,
Mercedes and that car that they leased three years ago
(06:05):
and they had to put oh, I'm gonna guess three
thousand dollars down and they've got a least payment of
five point fifty six hundred a month. They're finding out
now all of a sudden, it's it's it's it's double
down and nine hundred, almost one thousand dollars a month
depending upon the money.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, you get you know it, you know it, and.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
It's it's crazy, it's it's and what are you getting?
And you're going to see that change as the economy changes,
and it will. It's just it's just a matter of time.
There has to be an evolution here.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
If if dollars are a concern, all right, and I'm
not saying that we want to throw money around, I
don't care, you know, I don't care how much money
you have, you just don't throw money around. You got
to short respect, right.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
You want you want to use common sense? Right, car
for transportation?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Right?
Speaker 3 (06:49):
You know? My wife and I just you know, just
what are we doing? Very few miles?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (06:54):
But good experiment, you know, good experiment. Having it? It felt good,
But now it feels stupid buying a coffee that much Funny,
It's like you'd like to spend money other things in life.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well, yeah, now do you do? You go out and
lease the raft four which is the second part of
the question that we haven't talked about.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I buy it.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I buy it by do you buy it? Did? Did
you look at the least numbers?
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
The at least he went for like three hundred and
fifty dollars a month. But you know something, when you
rent something wrong, you're when you lease something, you're renting
you don't own it, right. And I've always liked owning
something to say it's mine, right, And I always followed
your advice. You just do I change the oil every
three thousand miles transmission fluid. It was once a year.
(07:41):
I was going overboard on this and the call ass
and I'd rather just say it's mine. I'm taking good
care of it. But at least I'm saying it's not rented.
And the least I fell into because you get googled
into saying, hey, look I can afford at least right
now because the monthly payments in there.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
But you don't own the car.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah did you? Did you drive a rap for yet?
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Well you s the own one?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
No?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
No, have you driven? Have you driven a new one?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
No?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
No, I just went online and went looking at it
and I see there. My wife likes it. Also, all right,
we have to go down and Yatroy. It's something that
we have to get into. But we use you as
our guru and who to go on new advice.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Norm All up Ron, call up Roun, find out what's happening,
because you you gave us. You gave us very When
I was listening to you you first came on the radio,
and I was trying to follow along with you what
you're doing. And I'm not mechanically I have to fix
the car. But I come to stand when you're talking
about and uh, I wish I could go back to
(08:50):
my nineteen seventy a Crown Victoria that was the best
car I ever had in my life. But uh, and
I was a corroborated car.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Well, you know, I was trained. I was trained as
a mechanic, you know. And I know what you're saying.
People say this to me, they like my old school approach,
but I was trained by old school. You know. You've
got to remember my dad was an airline mechanic. My
dad was superintendent maintenance for American airlines during the Second
World War, worked on a lot of military aircraft. He
(09:18):
always taught me, you know, this is the procedure. You
got to follow the procedure. There's steps one through six.
You don't skip the step four. And Billy, my first
boss in the gas station that I still to this
day considered one of the smartest people I ever met.
He had a genius mentality. You know, proper maintenance done properly.
I've said that about Billy, But he just taught me
procedure and process. My dad was gone at that point,
(09:40):
but old school mechanics, you know what, it's still nuts
and bolts. It still takes fluid, it still takes basics
in order to operate properly. And that's what I think.
I think, even with the technology today, so you know,
and it's a lifestyle, right, So you've got to look
at that Toyota, that RAB four real quick and then
I'll let you go that RAB four. You know, the
cost to operate that RAP four is going to be
(10:02):
substantially less than BMW anything. And you know, you've got
to look at that. And chances are that that RAB
four will last you easily ten years, if not longer,
with proper care. And that's a good spot.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
To be in.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So that's it's funny.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I believe what you always say. Maintenance all the way, yep,
and take good care of it and it'll go forever.
And I really appreciate the phone call.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
You're very welcome, Norman. You have a good rest of
the day.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
My best to your wife listening to you all the time.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Thank you, sir. You'd be well, you know, it's it's
part of the process to maintain a car. You've got
to do it right. Maintenance is the key and if
you don't maintain it, you know. And it's a funny thing.
And I do this at the shop and maybe I'm
wrong for doing it, but somebody will come in with
their new car and as we start to work on it,
(10:52):
and the relationship evolves, and you know, we start to
go through things, and you know, they'll start to come
in the fifteen thousand mile service that they're twenty thousand
mile service, and we start to show them pieces and
parts that we've replaced and changed. And I said, you
got to remember, buying a new car has Now we're
enjoy the privilege of throwing it away, one piece at
a time. But it got you there, It kept you safe,
(11:13):
it kept you dry, it brought you to work. It
did what it was supposed to do. And that's the
purpose of an automobile. Cars are a lifestyle. How much
lifestyle can you afford? Ah, that's the secret, and that's
what you have to realize as you approach. It can't
be emotional when you're looking at a car. It's got
to be factual and affordable. And that's the bottom line.
I'm running ady in the car doctor. I'll be back
right after this.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
No go away.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
And we're back, listeners, run an any in the car
doctor here at your service. Let's let's wander over and
talk to Don and Virginia. Don, welcome to the car Doctor, sir.
How can I help Hi?
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Ron? Thanks you and I talked early in November two
thousand and sixty one. Fifty had gotten the whole plethora
of codes thrown. I had thrown some parts at it.
They all sort of revolved around the Eger system and
that type of thing. I did end up replacing the ECM,
and all of those codes went away for a while.
(12:05):
And then right before we were going on vacation with
a couple of other couples, I started getting a storm
of just despirit codes and so I threw my hands
up and I told my wife. I said, I'm just
going to take it to the dealer, right And she said,
oh my god, We're not going to be able to eat.
I said, well, we'll see. So I took it to
the dealer where I bought it. I took it on
(12:25):
a Sunday night because I knew they weren't going to
be there, and I dropped it off, left the foldly
of what I'd done and all the codes, along with
screenshots from the scan tool, and they opened it seven
thirty on Monday morning. They called me about nine thirty
and I said, we know what the problem is. And
I said really, He said, yeah, we put a mechanic
on there he's been here thirty years, he's worked on
(12:46):
lots of E one fifty chateaus and everything else. You
got a wiring horness problem, and apparently the wiring harness
that wrapped itself around the orifice tube that runs from
the EGR valve down to this sauce and it worked
through had melted inside. Yeah, and so you know, he said,
it's not going to be cheap. He said, it's a
lot of time an hour. So it was about an
(13:07):
eight hundred and fifty dollars repair. But they went in,
traced it out, repaired it because you can't find the
wiring harness, aren't it obviously for that not a problem
since the one on a two thousand mile vacation, no
problem in the mountains, no codes, it's doing fine good.
So I guess the bulk of that is that the
(13:28):
lesson learned is that sometimes when you weigh over your head,
you got to take it somewhere where there's experience and
they've worked on these things for a long time.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well there's that, and there's also you know, you can't
beat yourself up right, you don't know, all right, you
don't know if where the wiring harness rubbed through if
it's short circuited, because you know, if it's rubbing against
the metal tube, it's ground. Right, you don't know what
part of the horns. You don't know if you damage
(13:57):
the PCM either, all right, you know, I go back
to the day. I'll date myself here, eighty eight Chevrolet
J body cars. I think it was with the two
point eight leter, the flat aluminum top intake manifold set up.
They would actually the ignition coils were mounted on top
of the ignition module, so the coil would spike, it
(14:19):
would overload the module. The module was tied by wiring
back to the PCM, so the coil would take out
the module would take out the PCM. You'd end up
putting three parts in the car to fix it. You know,
everything is interconnected. Heck, we had a couple of GMS
back in the day. I could tell you these stories
with Fords too. Gms are just on my mind today
(14:39):
for some reason that you know, you would have bad alternators,
and a bad GM alternator on certain models would actually
overload the system and damage any of the processors on
the vehicle. So you would put multiple parts. It looked
like you were guessing, but in fact you were just
running down the problem. So you know, would it could
(15:01):
have shoulda Do you still have the old PCM?
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I did?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Okay, So guess what now you got to back up?
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Right? You know exactly?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
You know it's and I would hang on to that
because you know, if you're planning on keeping this, this
was a camper or something, right this or this is.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
A well no it had it was a chateau, so
it was factory with captain chairs. It didn't have any
modifications like a rebuilder or something like that, right right,
So right, we've had it.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
It's a little fancy. It's not just a regular van,
is my right?
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Right?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah? Uh so you know what not a work fan.
Now you got to spare PCM. I wouldn't be ashamed
of exactly. I wouldn't be ashamed of that at all.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
So one other quick question. Sure, I've got to change
the plugs on this. It's got the plugs have about
one hundred and twenty thousand on it. And as part
of all this stuff, before I went in and changed
the number five because that was showing misfires, the plug
was not in great shape. So my question is this
and looking through through Mitchell's and other other places. The
(16:04):
response is you probably want to take the fuel rail
loose from the brackets in order to be able to
get the tools down in to do the to get
the plugs out, because the fuel rails sit right on
top of the coal the cool on plugs. Right. Is
there anything I should be afraid of? Is this? Is this?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Is this a four to six or a five four?
I don't remember five four five four four?
Speaker 4 (16:26):
No, I two two valve for a cylinder, so I
don't have to worry about the plugs being stuck, right.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
No, I think you're going to find that. I think
you're gonna find you're going to loosen the rail and
just kind of ease it out of the way.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You know, do you have Do you have a heated
garage so it's warm? I do, okay, So you know
I would park it in there overnight, get it good
and warm, and just take your time. I would. I
would drop a little P B blaster down the hall
and you know, just on the just on the chance
that the plugs are stuck, and just kind of work
their way carefully. And as long as you're doing plugs
at this age in mileage, you probably ought to shared
(17:00):
the coil. Yeah, change the coils. You know I would,
And you know, if we're going to do this, let's
do it once. Let's get motocraft stuff, you know, let's
let's let's just let's just be done with it. You know,
we don't want to go through this twice.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And obviously just the issue is you have to you know,
you change the four front ones from the front of
the car, and then you have to take the doghouse
all right and change the four rearuins on your back
right reaching out through.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
So yeah, okay, yeah, So listen, it might be easier
depending upon how the chairs are constructed and put in there,
it might be easier to take the chairs out.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
That's a good idea because I've had those out before
to do some photework on them.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
So right, okay, so you know that might help you too.
All right, good luck to you. Listen. I'm glad. I'm
glad it worked out for you, all right, and I
appreciate you getting back to us, all right, sir, Thanks Ron,
You're very welcome. You'd be well, I'm running any in
the car. Doctor. We're back right after this. Don't go away.
Welcome back. Listeners running any in the Car Doctor. Let's
let's go on over. Let's go talk to Bill in
(17:58):
Sussex County, New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Bill.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Welcome to the Car Doctor, Sir. How can I help Hi?
Speaker 6 (18:02):
Ron, Thanks for taking the call on time listener from WTBQ.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
Trying to help out my sister who was in Chicago.
She sent me a picture of a tire from her
audi that has some curb rash on it, and basically
there's a chunk or gouge that's been taken out of
the sidewall. It's if I had to guess, it would
probably be about an inch and a half long and
maybe a quarter of an inch deep. So I told
(18:28):
her to take it to the local tire shop to
get an evaluation. They looked at it and their opinion
was that the tire did exactly what it was supposed
to do, that there's no steel belt showing, and that
for the time being, it was okay to leave it
as it is. I kind of error on the side
(18:49):
of caution, and I think I know what the answer is,
but I wanted to get your thoughts on it as well.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So good and it's a good question and I'm glad
you called. Then, you know that that sidewall of the tire,
and this being an Audi, this is probably what we
call a low profile tire, you know, yeah, it has
a short height to the ground, so to speak, well,
you know, the tire shop is right. The side casing
of the tire did exactly its job. It protected the
(19:18):
tire in the sense of something going through the steel belt,
which is now even though it's not hanging out, it's
much more exposed than it normally would be. You know,
this is the best example I can give everybody to
think about. Is you ever skin your elbow and you
don't bleed, but you get that you take away the
top layer of skin and you get that tender portion
of your skin underneath, and now it's a little you know,
(19:40):
and it hurts a little bit when you're rest on
your elbow and then all of a sudden you start
bleeding because you kind of poked through. You know, she's
taken away that outer layer. So there's there's if something
were to and that's a pretty good gash right that
size that you that you had mentioned, you know, if
something were to come up in the road, now where
the side casing that's going to deflect. And you know
(20:05):
Bill that I always say, the road is a very
unforgiving place, sure, you know, and especially in an Audi,
especially a low profile tire. You know, I know it's
going to be a two hundred dollars tire or two
hundred and fifty dollars tire. But what's her life worth?
What's what's what's the car worth? What's not getting stuck
on the side of the road or an accident worth?
(20:25):
And I think i'd have to vote with you because
I know what you're thinking. I'd put a tire on
the car.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
I wouldn't hesitate, especially if you're going to be going
on a long trip.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Oh absolutely, yeah, absolutely listen and yes, but even if
she was gonna just you know, I don't care if
she's a three mile a day commuter. You know, everybody says, well,
I only go three miles a day. Just make the
brakes work good enough. You know, a little kid rolls
out on a bicycle right in front of you, two
blocks from your house, there's no saying where that accident's
(20:54):
gonna happen. And I think it's in her best interest.
You know, that tire, Yes, if that tire was just used.
You know, does she make that tire the spare? But
then now she's got an unreliable spare in the car,
and it probably wouldn't fit because she probably has a
space saver or some other depending upon the year, Audi,
some other low profile so to speak, or low use tire.
(21:18):
You know, there's so many ways they create spares today.
I think you go out and buy a spare, and
if it tore the chunk out, depending upon how many
miles are on it, I'd probably shoot the alignment too.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
I was thinking of that too. Yeah, and I did
suggest to her that she should probably buy two tires
since that's an all wheel drive vehicle.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Well, and now now the question comes up, right, and
this is I know where this is going to go,
because now the question comes up, how much tread has
left on the other tires. Yes, so, you know, the
industry says certain cars, Subarus are susceptible to it, certain
models of Jeep are susceptible to it. You know, Audi's
seem to be a little less fussy. But I don't
(21:58):
want to tempt the tempt, tempt the devil. You know,
if I'm looking at tread depth and if the current
tread depth on the car is you know, less than
five thirty seconds, which is more than fifty percent worn.
And she's going to put two fresh tires up front
if she's going to do some serious driving. You know what,
how old are the tires are they? You know, four
or five years old? You know those tires are going
(22:21):
to be date coded in four or five years. They'll
be out of the realm in another two years where
you're not supposed to be riding on them. So again,
what's the value of her safety at high speed, all
kinds of weather. Nothing handles like a fresh set of tires,
And I think it's just kind of goes with the
territory of what she's driving.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
All right, that's great advice. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
You know, I can't say it any other way. The
biggest concern I have is, you know, har I'll tell
you the story this way. We had a jeep in
the shop just recently and the new customer and where
he was going. They've been doing all his service work
and all the lugnuts were swollen. Now jeeps have a
(23:03):
problem that the lugnut is capped, so there's a hard
steel body underneath this tiny aluminum cap and if you
constantly air gun them on and off, impact hammer them
on and off, eventually those lug nuts will start to
splinter and shred, and then moisture gets in. And now
the moisture turns into rust, and the rust and there's
(23:24):
a bulge, and now you can't fit the nineteen millimeters
socking on it. You have to have a nineteen and
a half or some other odd ball size in order
to get the lugnuts off. So you know, Rich brought
it in. We got all the lugnuts off, but in
looking at the wheels, the wheels on this jeep, you
could see that they were getting beat up. And when
we talked about it, it's partially it's the last shot.
(23:45):
They were kind of animals, for lack of a way
to say it, but it was kind of interesting to
see just how these wheels themselves had picked up debris.
And there's a lot of junk on the road, and
you know, it catches your eye and you have to
realize you may not hear it, sea to feel it,
but to have an exposed wound in that tire. I
looked at Rich's wheels on his jeep, and we did
get the lugnuts off. By the way, I took a
(24:06):
little bit of persuasion. Someday I'll tell you guys this
story about how we had to get out the three
quarter inch breaker bar that's two feet long and literally
stand on it to break some of the lugnuts loose.
They were so overtightened. You know, it's it's what's what's
the safety. I've never met anybody standing on the side
of the road with a flat that they.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Knew was.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Marginal.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Going.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Boy, I'm so glad I saved money that I could
get stuck here. And you know, wait, wait for the
tow truck. It just doesn't work like that. So by
all means, get her, get her, get her a tire,
two tires, four tires. Uh, you know what, take it,
take it as a warning sign and do an alignment
and then you drive in peace and quiet and and
the knowledge of safety.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
Right, And I'm happy that tire buying is easier than
picking out oil or getting a forty one light bulb
in the local hardware store.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
That's right, absolutely absolutely, Bill. So all right, sir, you'll.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
Be aware new year, happy and healthy new year to everyone.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Thank you, Bill, and thanks for being part of the
Car Doctor family.
Speaker 6 (25:04):
You'd be welk you for calling.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
You're very welcome. I'm running Indie in the card Doctor.
We'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Welcome back, listeners,
roun an Innie in the car Doctor. Let's let's get
back to the phone. Let's go over to Jerry out there.
And I think it's is it Las Vegas, Jerry? Or
what part of the vat are you from?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
No, I'm retired in Las Vegas. I'm from the East
Coast directionally born in New York. But yeah, I'm retired.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Gotcha. Good for you? So what's going on? How can
I help?
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Well?
Speaker 5 (25:31):
A couple of quick things. Number one, I'm sixty five,
graduated high school in seventy six, and I've always worked
on my own car, basic stuff, changing on and everything,
and I've always kept vehicles ten plus years. Well, in
twenty twenty one, I basically went to the RAM dealer
and built my dream truck because this gentry Eco diesel
(25:53):
had great reviews and looked good and I wanted a
diesel for the fuel economy and towing. My RV received
the truck in March twenty twenty two. All was good
at first, and then all of a sudden, when diesel
was a buck fifty more than gas, I took my
old Nissan pickup truck. It went cross country came back
a month later. So the diesel sat for months, all
(26:16):
of a sudden, bang bang bang, engine codes, engine codes wrong, wrong,
wrong dealer for weeks at a time. Because they're short
diesel technicians. EGR went out turbo problems an absolute nightmare,
and especially sitting for months and months and months. I've
got the bills in front of me. Obviously I didn't
(26:36):
pay them because it's under warranty, but it's over eleven
thousand dollars pairs.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
What that tells me is not only do they not
have any diesel texts, the texts that are working on
it are clueless. But I guess it's easy to criticize
from my seat here. It's in the safety of the studio.
But I got to tell you it's you know, you
hang one part, two parts, as an educated guess, after
that it's time to call in the zone rep and
start talking to somebody and saying, Hey, what's going on?
Where we're going with this? That was probably I'm going
(27:02):
to guess Jerry at seventy or eighty thousand dollars.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
Vehicle sixty five.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, okay, all right, A lot of money.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
Yeah, a lot, a lot of money. And I paid
cash for it because I'm retired and I'm saved my money.
So I was I was going on a trip to
meet an old Marine Corps buddy I hadn't seen in years,
and all of a sudden, the whole emission system went
crap again. So I wrote, I wrote a personal letter
to fight Fiat Chrysler. No response, So I went and
(27:35):
I got one of these Lemon law lawyers online and
they said, oh, you got a great case, you got
a great case, you got a great case. Well, let
me tell you the lemonlaw lawyer guys, especially, some of
these guys online are a total rip off themselves. And
I can get into that if you want. But long
story short, every time I brought it back with something wrong.
So Thanksgiving weekend, I just I took the plunge and
(28:00):
I just traded it in and I took a beating
and I got a Toyota. I got a twenty twenty
three Toyota, right, and it was just and when the
ram ran nice, it ran fantastic, but I don't know
if you've had experience with these eco diesels, but I've
heard other guys who've had these disaster stories with the
(28:22):
turbos and the emissions and everything.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah, I'm not a fan of diesel in general in
that application for a lot of reasons. Number one, Chrysler's involved,
and you know, the older ones when it was the
comings back in. You know, the older the what was
it the three's or the ninety eight's going way back
that seemed to be a better diesel. The newer one,
(28:44):
the more electronics they hang on it, it seems like
the more difficult it is to properly maintain it and
get some kind of decent power out of it. And
there's a lot of limitations. But that be said, you know,
we still work on them, we still see them. They're
just not my favorite in the whole world. I still
think what happened with you is and you know, let
me point out the next time if you decide to
take the plunge again. I don't think you will, but
(29:06):
just in case, you know, the question I always ask
when I'm buying something weird, I want to know who's
going to work on it. Hey, do you have a
tech trained in this, and surprisingly, I'm surprised the dealership
was able to sell it to you and not have
a certified tech. You know, the way General Motors works,
for example, is they've got to have a certified Corvette
tech on hand before they can sell a Corvette. If
(29:27):
they don't have a guy that can fix it, they
can't sell it. And I believe the other car companies
do the same thing. So I'm not sure where the
bump in the road became in that you couldn't get
this solved, And I guess it's just a reflection on
the dealer really, because if they wanted to fix it,
they could. You know, there is a culture when you
buy a vehicle, Jerry, and I think you know that
now in terms of you know, you just got an
(29:49):
example of how Chrysler or how Ram, Dodge, Fiat whoever
they are, you know, handles customer service and handles problems
like that. You'll be happy with the Toyota. I can
tell you that.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Oh, absolutely right.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
And it's a different culture, right, It was very different,
the different buying experience totally.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
And I'm gonna tell you I wanted the twenty twenty
three because I'm tired because they this year they're going
to to turbos and everything. Right, I'm sick at turbos.
I'm sick of too much junk on there. I want
to naspa it naturally aspirated, you know, basic stuff that
I could work on.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yep, yep, yep, Nope, yep, no, absolutely.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
And let me can I make a quick comment about
these Lemon lawyer guys for shures on the ear if
they ever choose to go to one. In the fine print,
you know, you think you think you sign on with
a lawyer because the lawyer is going to look after you,
look after you, He's going to be on your side. Well,
in the fine print of what I signed, it said,
if you receive an offer from Fiat Chrysler and you
(30:46):
do not accept it, you have to pay the lawyer fees.
Well I'm thinking, fine, okay, you know get it to
get an offer. Well, I think these guys work with them.
Chrysler came back with this low ball offer and I
went to the lawyering mark, I'm not taking let's go
to court. He goes, well, we're not sure, blah blah blah,
and they started dancing around.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
So all all all of a sudden, it became your
your fault, and what did you do wrong? Yep, I
get it, Jerry, I really do. Hey, Jerry, sit tight,
stay on the line, let me pull over, take a
pause for the cause, and we'll come back to you.
Don't go away. I'm running any in the car. Doctor.
We'll be back right after this. Welcome back. Listeners were
kind of winding down the hour here, Jerry from Las Vegas.
(31:25):
You're still there, yes, sir, So I'm sorry, Jerry, I
mean to cut you off. Tell us some you know.
I give you a little bit of on air therapy here.
So the Lemon law lawyers aren't exactly why they're cracked
up to be a fair statement exactly.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
And it's state by state. You got to look at
your state. Some states are stronger than others. Nevada's in between.
But you really got to read the fine print with
these guys, right because I think they'll put the screws
to you if they get the chance.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Right right, right, right, So well, Jerry, listen, I appreciate
you calling in my spies. Tell me that you are
is it?
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Is it? Is it? A do you?
Speaker 2 (31:56):
How do you say it? When you're no longer in
the Marine Corps active. Are you a retired marine? You're
not an ex marine. There's no such thing as an
ex marine, right.
Speaker 5 (32:04):
Well, I did thirty years, so I'm a retired marine. Okay,
it lets me sit on my buttet. Can I do
a quick shout out because my local garage guys exactly
like you. It's Dad's garage on North Rancho in Las Vegas.
Sure it's the same way you do.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Absolutely, Jerry. It's been a pleasure, sir, and thank you
for your service.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
No thanks, love the show. You take care, you.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Take good care. I'm running any in the car doctor,
you know. And poor Jerry, right he's he he ended up,
you know, going in, and I wish I had found
him sooner in that, you know, I could have I
could have helped him, you know, maybe we could have
diagnosed it together. Part of the problem is, all right,
(32:47):
you know, you go into a dealership under warranty. Warranty
doesn't mean it's getting fixed. It just means that it's
going to be looked at for free, all right. And
I still stand on the premise and my saying that
I've said over the years that a repair shop is
only as good as the people in it. The sign
on the door doesn't mean anything. And you know, when
(33:08):
you're buying, oh, I don't know. When you're you're buying
a four cylinder Toyota camera, it's a pretty safe bet
they've got a guy that can work on that. But
if you're buying an Eco Diesel from your Ram dealership,
you're buying a Corvette from your Chevrolet dealership, or you know,
back in the day, you're buying something, do you have
a guy that can fix this? Is he any good?
How old is he? Is he going to retire in
the next two weeks? You know, these are all great questions,
(33:29):
all things you want to know because it's all going
to come down to sooner or later. That vehicle is
gonna have to get serviced and you're gonna need that
person in order to properly, you know, enjoy and get
a life cycle out of it. If the dealer is
your guy, if the dealer's going to be the one
to work on it. And you know, unfortunately Jerry had
a bed run of luck. But he'll like that Toyota.
And I get what he's saying. He's talking about his
(33:50):
new Toyota. He wanted A twenty three because in twenty
four Toyota also is going to all turbo chargers, or
a lot of turbo chargers. And you know, I question
that as well. I'm not a big turbo charger fan.
I think it's some extra work where you don't necessarily
need it all the time. But we'll say, you know what,
turbo charger technology has come a long way and we'll
have to learn to embrace it. Hey, that's about it
for now, till the next time I'm running any in
(34:11):
the car doctor reminding you good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
See you
Host
Ron Ananian
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.