Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor
Fast phones this hour: real overheat triage, clutch/flywheel choices, steering play sanity check, BG carbon service for DI, modern sludge cures, and value axles.
Chapter Markers
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00:00 – Open / Tease
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00:58 – Mark (Bronx) – Sudden Overheat, 4-cyl Honda
Steam + gauge pinned = real overheat. Don’t drive; tow. Check thermostat/coolant/pump; rule out head gasket. Pull codes & vitals. -
07:29 – Alan (MD) – ’99 Sentra Clutch
Start OE or LUK. Machine shops scarce—consider kit with flywheel. Inspect rear main & PCV while in there. -
11:48 – Quick Note
Mitchell1 award mention. -
12:21 – Frank (DE) – ’16 Silverado Steering Play
Get true alignment (proper gear, printout); inspect for looseness.
16:07 – PM: DI Carbon – GM recommends BG fuel service; use bgfindashop.com. -
19:12 – Kent (ME) – ’08 Wrangler 3.8 Tick/Ping ~2k
Likely carbon/valvetrain age. Start with BG clean, plugs, full baseline; pay for diagnosis. -
27:03 – Alex (IA) – Drop the Pan?
Modern engines: use chemistry, not pan pulls. Stiction Eliminator example; 5k oil/quality filter. -
32:16 – Mailbag – ’07 Accord Axles (200k)
Skip pricey OE; Advance/Carquest new axles = solid value/fit.
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Mark as Played
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 enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
All right, let's get right into it. Let's go to
Mark on the Bronx, those six on the court. Yeah yeah, Hey, Mark,
what's going on? Tell me the whole story.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well, the car was running, you know, like a top
all along, and then all of a sudden just abruptly
got a overheating condition. It was it became very rough
for idling, and you know when I've come off a
highway to come to a stop and would stole on
me hard to start it up as well. But it
just happened all of a sudden. I mean, the car
was fine, and I don't know, the needle was on.
(01:19):
The temperature gage went all the way to high after
like a few minutes. Now when I try to drive
it and there's more, there's enough cooling in the system.
I checked the radiator, all that stuff. I'm wondering what,
you know, what might be the cause of this four cylinder,
four cylinder, Yeah, condered four cylinder. Yeah, it's I mean automatic,
of course.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But the lowest let anybody try to anybody done any
work to this, any sort of diagnosis performed in this point.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
No, the only thing, the only thing I did on
my own was I changed the PCV Valva, just to
you know, just thinking maybe that would help matters, but
you know, not at all in this case.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
But a yeah, so so, and how many miles.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Are on this mark, Well, this is a lot of
miloge it's two hundred and sixteen thousand.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Right, so, I mean from my seat here, if it's
really overheating and we're gonna we're gonna believe the gauge.
And I'm not saying not to. But you know a
vehicle that all of a sudden is good one minute
and the next minute it's boiling over and the temp
gauge is reading high. I'm gonna start to look for
why is it overheating? Is it a stuck thermostat? Is
it low on coolant for some reason? Do I have
(02:20):
a water pump impeller that's not spinning? And then if
it's physically affecting the way the engine runs, that the
engine is running rough and rough vital or loss of power?
Is there a loss of power associated with this?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
No, not power, but just like I said, it's sluggish
and just it just dies after a while, you know,
just when you come to a stop. There believes I
believe there's enough col in the radiator, check the overfill,
that it's at the low stage with it when it's cold. Course, right,
And yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well but I don't went back up a second. If
it's if it's overheating, okay, if the temperature gauge is
pinned it hot, is it pinned it hot? How are you?
How are you driving this?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, here's the thing. You know, only after three or
four minutes, I have to stop because it goes it
goes up to the defended hot but there's no now
and there's as you stop, you smell or you see
the steam coming out like you know of the of
the engine itself, but you don't actually see any coolant leak,
like there's no coolant leak at all. Okay, so that's
what I understand. But it's kind of strange.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, why can't this have a head gasket that's failing
causing it causing it to run hot, causing it to
run erratic? How's the idle quality? Is the idle quality changed?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, that's the thing. The idle quality is is okay
when you're revving it, of course, but then when you.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Idle I'm talking about in in drive at idle, how
is the idle quality?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
It goes low. It does go low, and it looks
like almost like ready to stall it.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
That right, So it struggles right all right? And if
you if you put it in park, is it still
struggling but the idol RPM comes up a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, it's it's still struggles at park.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So it needs a diagnosi is check engine light?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
On.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, it only comes on. It's interesting. The check elengin
line will only come on after it's the pin the
neil pins to hot.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Well, it's it's so yes, so the check so the
check engine light is on. It's a yes or no question.
Oh okay, got all right, it's it's yes or no.
So we've got to check engine light. Has anybody retrieved
fault codes?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
I did bring it to kind of a mechanic sort
of and he checked it and he noticed that there
was the the there were three things that actually came on,
and he said it wasn't even worth trying to six
it because it might be engine problems down the road.
But one of those three things is the cooling system sensor.
Another one was the something with the valves, and I
don't know, and I forgot what he said with the
(04:41):
third one was but but that's why when he said
the valve, I got scared of sad. Maybe it's not
even worth going going for it.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Was one of the fault codes related to a cylinder misfire. No,
definitely not okay, Yeah, it really needs a diagnosis. Mark.
You've got a lot of great information, Okay, but you
can't take anything I or the other mechanic or anybody
says until somebody physically a puts a scan tool on it,
you know, spend some time looking at basics. How's manifold vacuum?
(05:09):
What does the map sensor look like? What's throttle angle?
What's I mean there's a half a dozen vital signs.
It would be it would be like calling up the
hospital saying, you know, I don't feel good, What's what's
wrong with me? And they're gonna say, well, you know,
heart rate, what do they do? Heart rate? Blood pressure,
vitals give you.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Gonna give you a couple other pieces of information. Number one,
I haven't heard the electric fans on this thing go
off in ages. I don't know if that has something
to do with it hot. Yeah, well that's the thing
I'm wondering if maybe there's something wrong with the sand
you know, sensor or whatever. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, if the engine, if the engine is physically running hot,
if you're seeing steam and the temperature gauges up, it
sounds to me like the engine's running hot, and the
fans being on would make sense because they're trying to
cool off an overheated engine. So you know, there's gonna
come to a point here, and I'm gonna say this
with love. Brother, don't don't go into analysis paralysis. The
(06:03):
car is broken. You shouldn't be driving the car, right
you should you know, toe it to somebody or get
it to somebody within three minutes of the house that
you trust, that's competent, that can you know, sit down
and go through the basics. I'd be looking at, you know,
something from simple to involved. I wouldn't make a decision
on do you get rid of the car, do you
(06:25):
keep the car? What do you do with the car?
Do you mount it on the wall and talk about
it for the next twenty years until it gets diagnosed?
All right, but you you've physically got an overheating condition.
Everything you're telling me points towards a real overheat. Now
the question is why all right?
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Right, So okay, No, I appreciate that, definitely, Thank you
very much.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Right, you're very welcome, Mark, you'd be well, take good
care of bye bye. You can't go into analysis paralysis.
You can't go into what it could have should. You
can't go into maybe I'll do this, Maybe it's that,
Maybe it's it's this thing over here on the side
there's a lot. The question becomes if it was a
(07:06):
human being, what would you do? You would look at
that and say, what are the vital signs? What are
the statistics? It's giving me all the information, all the
information is there, but you can't drive it and you
can't panic. Mark, if you're still listening, brother, it sounds
like you're in a little bit of a panic mode.
It's only a car. Take a breath. We'll figure it out.
Let's go to Alan, Maryland. Let's see what's going on here.
Al Welcome, sir. How can I help you today with
(07:27):
your ninety Yes.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Sir, long time listener. You've always been helpful, and thanks
for once again taking my call.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
It's a ninety nine Nissan CenTra basic vehicle, two hundred
and seventy eight thousand miles, just broken in, just broken in.
As you might imagine, the clutch is slipping, so I'm
getting ready to put a clutch in it. Okay, And
nowadays you always worry about the quality of parts. I've
been pleasantly surprised. There seemed to be a lot of
quality clutch kits out there, and that's why I'm calling.
(07:58):
I'm kind of looking for your advice. One clutch kit
that I looks kind of decent to me. The company
name is something called Clutch America. They apparently have a
line of various clutches, the highest quality one includes costs,
the pressure plate, the disk to throw out bearing, the
(08:19):
alignment tool, and also the flywheel. And I want to
buy the flywheel because I'm sure the flywheel is scored
by now well.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And I'll tell you why you want to buy a
flywheelll maybe you don't want to buy a flywheel. The
flywheel issue is when we do a clutch in the shop,
we don't do many anymore because there's not many clutches
left on the road. It becomes a case of we've
got no more machine shop to grind out the flywheel.
They're all gone.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
They're all gone. The last the last clutch job I did,
I took the flywheel off, I brought it to a
machine shop. I wouldn't even know where to hell to
bring it now. I don't know if there is a
machine shopping.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Right it's they're gone. So then my next comment becomes,
before we start looking at Clutch America, which could be
Clutch Overseas, you know, what's in a name? Okay, you know,
have you called Nissan? Have you asked? I would? I
would start with the manufacturer, Okay, I really would. I
(09:13):
just if it's not them, I would go Look, there's
a company. I'm going to say the name wrong. I
believe it's Luke l u K. We think of it
as luck good luck with the clutch. But they make
a great component. We used to use them over time,
repeatedly with great success. Whether that company still exists at
the level where the come up with a kid of flywheel,
pressure plate, disc, et cetera. Haven't bought a clutch for
(09:36):
a ninety nine Nissan CenTra in a while, but you know,
it's it's it's it's worth looking at. And I I've
got to say that doing a clutch in this day
and age. I'm also going to what does the remain
seal look like? If I'm looking at the rearmain seal
and it's CEP, I'm changing it. I'm also going to
(09:57):
take a look at the higher mileage, older vehicle. What
sort of shape is the crank case ventilation system in?
Does it have a pcvvalve? Can I put a factory
PCV in? It is there anything else. It needs to
be cleaned because you want to go another quarter million
miles with that clutch, I'm sure you do.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Yeah, you know, any thoughts about this clutch set that
I was looking at? And as far as prices go,
I checked, you know, O'Reilly's in advance, and they all
seem to be around the same price, and they seem
to be saying, like I said, this one claims it's
US made. The flywheels is supposedly cast iron. The pressure
(10:33):
plate is what they call duct dial modular cast iron.
The springs are reinforced.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And which is nothing, which is nothing really unusual now,
because that's the way all that stuff came out of
the factory.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Okay. And even the disc, this copper ceramic disc pad's
got six pads around the circumference, around the circumference. That's
all rational.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
So you know, does the case is there? Let me
say it like this, if there's a forum, you know,
I love living in this modern age, as mom would
call it. Right, if there's a forum online for clutching
stalls on Centrish, what's everybody else using? Right, It's it's
always the same example. I always I always go to that.
I always think of that and kind of take it
(11:20):
from there, all right.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
So yeah, I do appreciate good luck to you.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Be well A five, five, five, six zero nine nine
zero zero run on any of the car Doctor. We're
back right after this, Hey, quick, kudos to the folks
over at Mitchell one. They have just won the prestigious
Shop Management Software Award in the twenty twenty five Professional
Tool Equipment News category over there, for you know, their
(11:48):
job View feature in Manager one has helped them to
stand out above the rest when it comes to repair
shop software. So good, good luck and thank you to
Mitchell one for their continued efforts. And if you're out
in vague a Pexima, they'll be out there with a
boostop buy and see it. Go take a look at
their job View feature set and Manager one. But they
just won the twenty twenty five P ten Innovation Award
(12:09):
in the Automotive Software category. Congratulations. Let's get back to
the phones. Let's go over and talk to Franken Delaware
sixteen Chevy Silverado. What's going on here, Frank? Welcome to
the card Doctor, sir, How can I help?
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Good afternoon, Ron, Thank you for taking all, appreciate it.
Welcome I've got two questions on it. How much play
in the steering wheel should there be? It seems like
I've got sixty one miles on it, and I noticed
(12:42):
something in the last within the last year, and I
didn't pay too much attention to it. I took it
to the dealer twice where I normally get my service done,
and they couldn't. They told me it's fine, but it
seems like I got like an inch or inch and
(13:02):
a quarter of play. Uh. And it's just more noticeable
now that I know about it.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Are you Are you always correcting the wheel driving down
the road?
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Frank, I'm going back and forth?
Speaker 6 (13:16):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (13:17):
I mean that the unit it steers straight.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Right, but that yeah, I get it, there's a leg.
But I guess the question I've got is, you know,
are you, first of all, does the wheel sit horizontal?
Does the wheel sit level?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Yeah, it might be uh a tad off now, it's
hard to tell with.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Uh, it's within if it was a clock face, is
it within an hour?
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
All right?
Speaker 6 (13:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And then how far off of that hour does it
go before you get it? The change direction?
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Well? Uh, it's funny, it's it's that back and forth
left right that it has a play it's about, like
I said, an inch either direction, and it feels like
I'm compensating.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Ever have a wheel ever have a wheel alignment done?
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Yeah? They had it done there and they they said,
it's okay, do.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
You have another shop? Do you have another shop you
can take it to. It's time for a second opinion,
is where I'm going with this.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
Yes, I'm I'm thinking about that locally here right in
the Millsborough area there, and I'm going to contact them
next this coming week, right.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And we want to find somebody that's going to do
a real wheel alignment, nice piece of hunter equipment, something
that's not blow toe and let it go. Somebody that's
going to look at all the angles and if there's
if there's any wiggle in that front suspension steering, something loose,
something off.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I always tell everybody when I put it on the
rack and wiggle it and shake it and then do
my calibration and I'm gonna find it. So you know,
that's that's that's step one. Where where is the where
is the alignment? If it's been a while or you know,
was it ever done?
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Now?
Speaker 5 (15:12):
The alignment was done?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (15:16):
That was done at the dealer.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
They give you a print out?
Speaker 5 (15:21):
Did they give me a print out? They probably did?
And I need I need to dig that out.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And then and then where where are those numbers?
Speaker 6 (15:34):
You know?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And one of the things I hear so much, and
I'm just skeptical. I'm skeptical about you've got a complaint, right,
that sounds valid. And I'm letting the guy that's guarding
the cookie jar tell me it's okay. All the cookies
are accounted for, you know. I just you know, I'd
like to get I'd like to get Keebler out of
(15:55):
there and let mister Nabisco come in and check the oreos.
You know what I'm saying. I just I just like
a second opinion. So let's get an alignment done and
then we can talk further. Second question, I know there's
a second question here.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Second question, what prevented maintenance? I got sixty one thousand
miles on it. I'm been watching these YouTube shows, car
shows of a carbon build up on the top, you know,
with the direct injection motors. This is a four point three.
(16:29):
The dealer doesn't have anything really.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Right, And that's funny. I'll tell you. I'll tell you
the story this way, Frank, I just attended another class
with Automotive Training Group and this came up because it
was a class about misfires and power contribution, and one
of the things they pointed out was that BG. And
you hear me talk about BG Fuel System Services or
BG Automotive Services all the time, right, BG is now
(16:56):
the rated recommended fuel system above all. I mean, they
do all their fluids. But General Motors has come out
and said that BG Fuel System service is one of
their recommended services as regular maintenance, you know. And it's
because of the quality of the service and what it
does and the easiest way for you to get that
service done if the dealer doesn't have it. That's why
(17:18):
I'm surprised the dealer doesn't have it, because it's a
recommended service by General Motors now is go out to
bgfind ashop dot com, bgfind ashop dot com and you'll
find a local shop who knows. Maybe the shop does
BG fuel System as well as other fluid services, and
they'll do a wheel alignment. You can get two for one.
Give me a call back and let me know what
you happens, Frank, and let me know where you end
(17:39):
up with this. I'm curious. I'm ron An Dy and
the car Doctor. We'll return right after this. Geez, a
little bit of a long opening there, Tom, that music
kind of went, but that's okay. I'm here, I'll take over.
And you knowice how good I've been today, Tom, I
haven't once mentioned that tomorrow is the day. Yes, the day,
(18:03):
the day, not just any day, but the day, the day.
We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I know
what's going to happen. I won't be watching TV. I
know that. So why your your shoe's still stuck in
it from last season?
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
No, just that I'll be waiting to hear from you.
Because what time is the game tomorrow? One o'clock. One o'clock. Yeah,
one o'clock. So I figured by one oh five Tom
should be jumping off the roof of his house. Tom
Ray is the only individual, folks, just for the record,
that his wife made him move to a ranch, okay,
a one story house because he became a Giants fan.
(18:40):
And in the last ten years he keeps trying to
go up to the roof to jump off because he's
just so upset. So this way he lives on a ranch,
while he ends up with is a broken way.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah yeah, that that that, and she goes through your
bags of earplugs because you know, I'm constantly yelling at
the TV.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
How many TVs have you had in the last ten years? Oh?
Just a couple, Just a couple. So tomorrow's the day anyway,
Today's the day for me. So let's go over to Kenton,
Maine and talk to him about as O. Wait, cheap Kent,
do you have a favorite football team? Is tomorrow your day?
Speaker 6 (19:12):
My favorite team is not playing tomorrow. I'm sort of
a Patrick Mahomes fan, and I like the Chiefs even
though I'm from New England. Since we lost you know,
since we lost Brady our team and you know.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Not that much to cheer for, can I ask you
a football question then? Since you're you know, the Patriots
and all. And I, for the record, I'm not a
super serious football fan. I kind of dabble in it.
I've got enough just to keep cars on my plate straight.
Speaker 7 (19:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Do you think Brady was the reason they went to
all those Super Bowls? Or was it the combination of
him in Belichick? Because Belichick went to coaching college and
it's a disaster. What do you think of that? Is
that an unfair question to ask?
Speaker 6 (20:00):
No, that's not an unfair question. And even though maybe
Belichick isn't doing that great right now at the moment
with a college team, I have to think it was
somewhat a team effort.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Right, right, And you know, and things things are changing.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
You know, Belichick's getting older, he's playing with you know,
different guys and a different you know setup with with
the college team, so maybe.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
He's probably distracted a little bit. Right. He's seventy three,
He's got a twenty something year old girlfriend, so he's
probably got a lot going.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
On, and he's dying to see what that twelve foot
statue of him is going to come out to look like.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Right, So anyway, core questions, let's go back to being
a car show. What's uh, what do you got?
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Well?
Speaker 6 (20:47):
I got a two thousand and eight sheep Wrangler one
hundred and forty five thousand on it. It's a six shift.
I've had it about two years. By the way, thanks
for your advice on what radiator to use. That went
really well as I called you about that. But I've
noticed and maybe this has been going on stort of
once in a while for almost a year, and I
(21:09):
don't drive it all that much, but especially after I
warm up, especially if I'm on a little bit of
an incline, and maybe even if I've got a couple
of hundred pounds in the back. While I'm accelerating, as
I'm approaching two thousand RPMs, I start to hear a
little bit of a faint ticking noise that almost isn't
(21:31):
even a tick. It almost sounds like it might be pinging.
It's hard to describe what the noise is. One thought
I had was if you had a handful of tiny
little ball bearings and you were dropping them into the
bottom of a bucket really fast, you know, something like that.
And you know, it seems to be more noticeable also
(21:55):
after it's warmed up, because I'm kind of noticing it
doesn't do it all the time, and it doesn't do
it when when it's first when it started and not
really warmed up.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
All right, Which which engine is this, Kent?
Speaker 6 (22:08):
That's that's a three point eight, the six, all right?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And when was the last time you know it had
fluid services or carbon cleaning or throttle body service or
any of that well, as.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Far as I know, I don't know nothing about the
history of it. All I've done since I had it
was I've been kind of fanatical about my oil changes
as usual.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Good oil changes, oil changes of the start. But that's
not where maintenance ends.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
Correct, Yeah, oh yeah, I know. There's a lot more
than that, And there's so many different things that it
could be, and at that age, it could need so
many different things that an amateur like myself could just
dive in and say, okay, well I'm going to check this,
I'm gonna buy one of these. I'm going to do that,
and I could go through a lot and not really
be going in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Well, what are your long term plans with the car, Kent?
Speaker 6 (22:59):
Because I bought it a used car lot and I uh,
still all about ten grand on it, and I got
two years left to go.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
You got to go, right, I want I want to.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Get two years out of it, or at least if
I could get you know you, even when those are
junk and having problems, they can still bring forward.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
So listen to me, all right, listen to me, brother,
All right, these are known. These have valve train issues,
these have carbon deposit issues. These have lower end problems,
but let's let's eliminate the obvious. Maintenance is always a
great place to start when you're dealing with something. And
if it's never had a carbon cleaning, if it's never
had some of the other maintenance that it should have
(23:40):
had by now, you might be experiencing old age based
on lack of maintenance. So yeah, I want you to
go to bgfind aeshop dot com. All right, I want
you to find a BG shop and get a BG
fuel system service. They're going to offer a bunch of
other things as far as fluids transmission and some the
other critical fluids of the vehicle. That's great, But in
(24:02):
your case, I want to talk about that noise. If
this is a carbon deposit thing, a carbon cleaning is
going to be a wonderful thing to do. It's going
to add life to the car. It's gonna probably eliminate
your problem. And it's just a good you know, it's
it's a good place to start. You can't go wrong
down right street getting maintenance done if the maintenance is needed.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
So I was also wondering about plugs too, because.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Well, yes, and here we are maintenance right one hundred
and forty five thousand miles. When did you buy it?
How many miles did it have on it?
Speaker 6 (24:34):
I bought it two years ago. It had one thirty five.
I've only put ten on it.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Right, if those are original plugs?
Speaker 7 (24:44):
You know?
Speaker 6 (24:45):
Even yeah, you do?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
You have a regular mechanic Kent? Do you have a
mechanic you trust? I don't.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
I don't. I don't. And at this point here I
almost feel like I should go to the dealership because
I had trust issues with the guy that I had
most recently been going to.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Right, So understand what's gonna happen. Okay, You're gonna go
to the dealer. This is like you're gonna walk into
a doctor's office and ask for open heart surgery at
the age of seventy five. They're gonna they're gonna point out,
they're gonna point out everything that's wrong with it and
probably scare the probably scare the be Jesus at you.
Speaker 6 (25:19):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
You know. This is the classic example of why I
encourage everybody. You've got to have a relationship with a mechanic.
I don't care who it is, dealer, independent or otherwise,
but you've got to have that relationship all along because
you can't wait till you're having the heart attack to
decide to go to the doctor and say, what do
you think's wrong? There's there's there's a lot here, all right.
(25:40):
So I want you to make an appointment at the dealership.
Here's what I want you to do. I want you
to make an appointment at the dealership. That's where you
want to go. I want you to ask for a diagnosis.
You'll spend somewhere between an hour and two hours. My
guess is you'll spend between one hundred and fifty and
three hundred dollars. You'll have some you'll have some answers.
They're probably gonna come back with a laundry list of
things that the vehicle needs. And that's okay because you're
(26:02):
into it. You know, you know, ten grand on it.
It's a good running vehicle. Maybe you'll keep it another
five years, and maybe this is the way to get there.
Because a new Jeep or anything in that category of
what that is is between forty and sixty grand. So
if if you had to put a couple of bucks
in it, not that I want to spend your money.
If you had to put six seven, eight thousand dollars
(26:24):
in it, and it was done properly, and it helps
establish a relationship with that repair shop. You know what,
you're coming out ahead in the long run. So make
an appointment for a diagnosis. Start the war there. Get
out to bgfind aeshop dot com, get a carbon cleaning
done if the dealership can't do it, and give me
a call back if you need more. Always good to
(26:44):
hear from you. A five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. I think that's the phone number. I've
been doing that for a couple of years. A five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'll be
back right after this. Let's go out to Iowa and
talk to Alex. Alex, Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help?
Speaker 7 (27:03):
That's a question? Thank you around. It's a question that
I wanted to ask you because, you know, back when
we were kids, my dad ties to take the oil
pan off what at that time was a fifty three
plymouth and take the oil pan off and clean the
gunk out of it, and then you know, cleaning with
(27:24):
gasoline after we scraped the stuff out there. Well, wouldn't
it wouldn't the same situation be true nowadays?
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Have you ever looked at a modern day oil pan. Alex.
I love the question, don't misunderstand. I think it's a
great question because it shows a contrast of how far
technology has taken us. All Right, Yeah, you know some
of these cars today, to get the oil pan off,
you're you're gonna pull the engine out, or you're gonna
drop exhaust, or you're gonna you're you're gonna the accessibility factor.
(27:58):
They're not fifty three Plymouth anymore. They're not fifty three
anything anymore. All Right, And you know I'd have to
look it up, but you got a question. You did
that fifty three Plymouth even have an oil filter? Was
that the reason we had to clean the pan because
of sledge formation? Because not all cars in the fifties
had oil filters, Believe it or not. You know, fifty
five Chevies, I know this for a fact, fifty five
(28:20):
Chevies the V eights didn't have oil filters. Was this
dealer installed option? Isn't that the craziest thing you ever heard?
Speaker 7 (28:27):
Right?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, so you know technology can correct for this, all right.
If we think we've got sludge in the engine because two,
you pull the pan down, pick a car today. I
don't care whatever it is a twenty twenty one Honda something,
pull the pan down, clean the pan. If they's sledging
the pen, isn't there sludge everywhere else? And then it'll settle.
(28:55):
But it's even more critical in a modern engine because
of variable valve timing and things we do to you know,
make the engine perform at the level that it performs at. Right,
we worry about oil. They say that lubricating is if
on a list of five things, lubricating is like fourth
or fifth in order of importance in terms of what
(29:16):
an oil does today in a modern day engine. So
dropping a pan to clean the pan, yeah, I think
it's a wasted effort, even if you could get the
pan down, which in a lot of cases you can't easily.
I'm gonna use technology. If I've got an engine that's
sludged up, or I've got a sticky lifter or some
varnished deposit issues, I'm going to use something like Sticktion
(29:39):
Eliminator from hot Shot Secret. All right, great product. I
had a valve tick in my little shop Ranger Forever
everything I tried, nothing got rid of. It's two rounds
of Sticktion Eliminator. The tick is gone and it runs.
This is a two hundred and twenty seven ninety seven
Ranger right V six three leader, So you know, hotshot secret,
(30:00):
it sticks, an eliminator. It just works great. The other
thing I'm going to stay on top of is I'm
doing my oil changes. I don't care what manufacturers say,
I don't care what you know. How long can I
go between oil change? Mentality is I'm doing my oil
changes every five thousand, good quality oil, good filter, and
I'm not going to have a sledge of varnish issue.
I'm not going to have deposits in the oil pan
(30:21):
or anywhere else in the engine because the engine is
always going to be clean. Maintenance always gets you there, brother,
all right, it really does it. It's it's a it's
a it's a piece of machinery. Okay. And if we
if we, if we apply common sense that marketing departments
are trying to overrule, I think we'll find that we
(30:44):
would get longer out of vehicles with less repairs by
doing and going back to regular maintenance on a much higher,
more qualified, more quality, controlled level. If that makes sense.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
Yeah, So yeah, I'm I'm in the trap of used
car and then bringing him up to standard good useage,
you know, and it's quite that's my journeys most of
my life.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
But I'll say this, I love the fact that you
bonded with your father over pulling oil pans. I think
that's cool, right, you know, Tom was Tom was telling
me the story before we started the show. I'll tell
you real quick about the other day he was driving
around his neighborhood and he saw a couple of kids
working on a car on the side of the house,
and he said, I stopped and he took a picture
because he couldn't get over the fact that kids actually
(31:30):
worked on a car in this day and age, which
I said, sure, I mean that's listen. Many a Saturday
afternoon got me to this point working on the car
outside my mom's house, because you know, that's how you learned,
and that was the curiosity, and that's where that's where
the bug began.
Speaker 7 (31:45):
So yeah, he taught me how to put the clutch plate,
pressure plate, you know, how to make sure it's got
you know, torquit right right.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Oh yeah, And those are the moments that you bonded
with dad that you'll never forget, you know. But sometimes
I think that's what society needs today, those moments with
dad or mom bonding and just talking about common sense, rational,
everyday things. I appreciate it. To call Alex, you'd be well,
I'm running any and the car doctor. We're back right
after this. All right, The last one today is going
(32:16):
to be an email. Dave from Kentucky is checking and Hey, Ron,
I need drive shifts for my two thousand and seven
Honda ac Cord two hundred thousand miles. I can't remember
what brand of drive shifts I should install for value
and durability, as someone recently recommended, I've seen some of
the prices from the dealer. The dealer wants over eleven
hundred dollars each and the local parts house has them
(32:37):
for two hundred dollars. Do you know if any of
the aftermarket parts are over manufacturer rebuildings are one brand
that is equal to the OEM or at least ninety percent.
Thanks for all you do. Love your radio show, Dave, Dave,
tell you what, Get down to your local Advanced Autoparts
and you know what. I could talk for hours about
the quality or lack of in aftermarket replacement axles, and yes,
I agree a lot of times the OE manufacturer. Here's
(32:58):
a classic example, right, here's a seventeen year old vehicle
with two hundred thousand miles on it. Do you need
two thousand dollars worth of axles from the manufacturer? I
don't think so. Advance makes a great line or carries
a great line of axles. It'll be marketed under Advance Carquest.
Remember Carquest Autoparts Advancing car Quest merged some years back
(33:20):
Advance Carquest line of axles. It will likely be a
new axle. It will be a little bit more than
you'll find some of the cheaper stuff in the aftermarket.
But that's okay because we've had very, very very good
success with them. They kind of fit that price point
and budget and you know, a very low comeback rate,
(33:41):
probably in the two percent range. So at Vance Carquest
line of axles available at your local Advance Autoparts store,
and I think you'll be very happy with them. They
come complete as sets for each side. So I appreciate
the question, Dave. I'm running any in the car doctor
till the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless, baby,
see ya.
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
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zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five
(00:25):
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start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
All right, let's get right into it. Let's go to
Mark on the Bronx, those six on the court. Yeah yeah, Hey, Mark,
what's going on? Tell me the whole story.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Well, the car was running, you know, like a top
all along, and then all of a sudden just abruptly
got a overheating condition. It was it became very rough
for idling, and you know when I've come off a
highway to come to a stop and would stole on
me hard to start it up as well. But it
just happened all of a sudden. I mean, the car
was fine, and I don't know, the needle was on.
(01:19):
The temperature gage went all the way to high after
like a few minutes. Now when I try to drive
it and there's more, there's enough cooling in the system.
I checked the radiator, all that stuff. I'm wondering what,
you know, what might be the cause of this four cylinder,
four cylinder, Yeah, condered four cylinder. Yeah, it's I mean automatic,
of course.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But the lowest let anybody try to anybody done any
work to this, any sort of diagnosis performed in this point.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
No, the only thing, the only thing I did on
my own was I changed the PCV Valva, just to
you know, just thinking maybe that would help matters, but
you know, not at all in this case.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
But a yeah, so so, and how many miles.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Are on this mark, Well, this is a lot of
miloge it's two hundred and sixteen thousand.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Right, so, I mean from my seat here, if it's
really overheating and we're gonna we're gonna believe the gauge.
And I'm not saying not to. But you know a
vehicle that all of a sudden is good one minute
and the next minute it's boiling over and the temp
gauge is reading high. I'm gonna start to look for
why is it overheating? Is it a stuck thermostat? Is
it low on coolant for some reason? Do I have
(02:20):
a water pump impeller that's not spinning? And then if
it's physically affecting the way the engine runs, that the
engine is running rough and rough vital or loss of power?
Is there a loss of power associated with this?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
No, not power, but just like I said, it's sluggish
and just it just dies after a while, you know,
just when you come to a stop. There believes I
believe there's enough col in the radiator, check the overfill,
that it's at the low stage with it when it's cold. Course, right,
And yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well but I don't went back up a second. If
it's if it's overheating, okay, if the temperature gauge is
pinned it hot, is it pinned it hot? How are you?
How are you driving this?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, here's the thing. You know, only after three or
four minutes, I have to stop because it goes it
goes up to the defended hot but there's no now
and there's as you stop, you smell or you see
the steam coming out like you know of the of
the engine itself, but you don't actually see any coolant leak,
like there's no coolant leak at all. Okay, so that's
what I understand. But it's kind of strange.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Well, why can't this have a head gasket that's failing
causing it causing it to run hot, causing it to
run erratic? How's the idle quality? Is the idle quality changed?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, that's the thing. The idle quality is is okay
when you're revving it, of course, but then when you.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Idle I'm talking about in in drive at idle, how
is the idle quality?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
It goes low. It does go low, and it looks
like almost like ready to stall it.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
That right, So it struggles right all right? And if
you if you put it in park, is it still
struggling but the idol RPM comes up a little bit.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, it's it's still struggles at park.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So it needs a diagnosi is check engine light?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
On.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, it only comes on. It's interesting. The check elengin
line will only come on after it's the pin the
neil pins to hot.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Well, it's it's so yes, so the check so the
check engine light is on. It's a yes or no question.
Oh okay, got all right, it's it's yes or no.
So we've got to check engine light. Has anybody retrieved
fault codes?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
I did bring it to kind of a mechanic sort
of and he checked it and he noticed that there
was the the there were three things that actually came on,
and he said it wasn't even worth trying to six
it because it might be engine problems down the road.
But one of those three things is the cooling system sensor.
Another one was the something with the valves, and I
don't know, and I forgot what he said with the
(04:41):
third one was but but that's why when he said
the valve, I got scared of sad. Maybe it's not
even worth going going for it.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Was one of the fault codes related to a cylinder misfire. No,
definitely not okay, Yeah, it really needs a diagnosis. Mark.
You've got a lot of great information, Okay, but you
can't take anything I or the other mechanic or anybody
says until somebody physically a puts a scan tool on it,
you know, spend some time looking at basics. How's manifold vacuum?
(05:09):
What does the map sensor look like? What's throttle angle?
What's I mean there's a half a dozen vital signs.
It would be it would be like calling up the
hospital saying, you know, I don't feel good, What's what's
wrong with me? And they're gonna say, well, you know,
heart rate, what do they do? Heart rate? Blood pressure,
vitals give you.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Gonna give you a couple other pieces of information. Number one,
I haven't heard the electric fans on this thing go
off in ages. I don't know if that has something
to do with it hot. Yeah, well that's the thing
I'm wondering if maybe there's something wrong with the sand
you know, sensor or whatever. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, if the engine, if the engine is physically running hot,
if you're seeing steam and the temperature gauges up, it
sounds to me like the engine's running hot, and the
fans being on would make sense because they're trying to
cool off an overheated engine. So you know, there's gonna
come to a point here, and I'm gonna say this
with love. Brother, don't don't go into analysis paralysis. The
(06:03):
car is broken. You shouldn't be driving the car, right
you should you know, toe it to somebody or get
it to somebody within three minutes of the house that
you trust, that's competent, that can you know, sit down
and go through the basics. I'd be looking at, you know,
something from simple to involved. I wouldn't make a decision
on do you get rid of the car, do you
(06:25):
keep the car? What do you do with the car?
Do you mount it on the wall and talk about
it for the next twenty years until it gets diagnosed?
All right, but you you've physically got an overheating condition.
Everything you're telling me points towards a real overheat. Now
the question is why all right?
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Right, So okay, No, I appreciate that, definitely, Thank you
very much.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Right, you're very welcome, Mark, you'd be well, take good
care of bye bye. You can't go into analysis paralysis.
You can't go into what it could have should. You
can't go into maybe I'll do this, Maybe it's that,
Maybe it's it's this thing over here on the side
there's a lot. The question becomes if it was a
(07:06):
human being, what would you do? You would look at
that and say, what are the vital signs? What are
the statistics? It's giving me all the information, all the
information is there, but you can't drive it and you
can't panic. Mark, if you're still listening, brother, it sounds
like you're in a little bit of a panic mode.
It's only a car. Take a breath. We'll figure it out.
Let's go to Alan, Maryland. Let's see what's going on here.
Al Welcome, sir. How can I help you today with
(07:27):
your ninety Yes.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Sir, long time listener. You've always been helpful, and thanks
for once again taking my call.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
It's a ninety nine Nissan CenTra basic vehicle, two hundred
and seventy eight thousand miles, just broken in, just broken in.
As you might imagine, the clutch is slipping, so I'm
getting ready to put a clutch in it. Okay, And
nowadays you always worry about the quality of parts. I've
been pleasantly surprised. There seemed to be a lot of
quality clutch kits out there, and that's why I'm calling.
(07:58):
I'm kind of looking for your advice. One clutch kit
that I looks kind of decent to me. The company
name is something called Clutch America. They apparently have a
line of various clutches, the highest quality one includes costs,
the pressure plate, the disk to throw out bearing, the
(08:19):
alignment tool, and also the flywheel. And I want to
buy the flywheel because I'm sure the flywheel is scored
by now well.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And I'll tell you why you want to buy a
flywheelll maybe you don't want to buy a flywheel. The
flywheel issue is when we do a clutch in the shop,
we don't do many anymore because there's not many clutches
left on the road. It becomes a case of we've
got no more machine shop to grind out the flywheel.
They're all gone.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
They're all gone. The last the last clutch job I did,
I took the flywheel off, I brought it to a
machine shop. I wouldn't even know where to hell to
bring it now. I don't know if there is a
machine shopping.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Right it's they're gone. So then my next comment becomes,
before we start looking at Clutch America, which could be
Clutch Overseas, you know, what's in a name? Okay, you know,
have you called Nissan? Have you asked? I would? I
would start with the manufacturer, Okay, I really would. I
(09:13):
just if it's not them, I would go Look, there's
a company. I'm going to say the name wrong. I
believe it's Luke l u K. We think of it
as luck good luck with the clutch. But they make
a great component. We used to use them over time,
repeatedly with great success. Whether that company still exists at
the level where the come up with a kid of flywheel,
pressure plate, disc, et cetera. Haven't bought a clutch for
(09:36):
a ninety nine Nissan CenTra in a while, but you know,
it's it's it's it's worth looking at. And I I've
got to say that doing a clutch in this day
and age. I'm also going to what does the remain
seal look like? If I'm looking at the rearmain seal
and it's CEP, I'm changing it. I'm also going to
(09:57):
take a look at the higher mileage, older vehicle. What
sort of shape is the crank case ventilation system in?
Does it have a pcvvalve? Can I put a factory
PCV in? It is there anything else. It needs to
be cleaned because you want to go another quarter million
miles with that clutch, I'm sure you do.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Yeah, you know, any thoughts about this clutch set that
I was looking at? And as far as prices go,
I checked, you know, O'Reilly's in advance, and they all
seem to be around the same price, and they seem
to be saying, like I said, this one claims it's
US made. The flywheels is supposedly cast iron. The pressure
(10:33):
plate is what they call duct dial modular cast iron.
The springs are reinforced.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And which is nothing, which is nothing really unusual now,
because that's the way all that stuff came out of
the factory.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Okay. And even the disc, this copper ceramic disc pad's
got six pads around the circumference, around the circumference. That's
all rational.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
So you know, does the case is there? Let me
say it like this, if there's a forum, you know,
I love living in this modern age, as mom would
call it. Right, if there's a forum online for clutching
stalls on Centrish, what's everybody else using? Right, It's it's
always the same example. I always I always go to that.
I always think of that and kind of take it
(11:20):
from there, all right.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
So yeah, I do appreciate good luck to you.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Be well A five, five, five, six zero nine nine
zero zero run on any of the car Doctor. We're
back right after this, Hey, quick, kudos to the folks
over at Mitchell one. They have just won the prestigious
Shop Management Software Award in the twenty twenty five Professional
Tool Equipment News category over there, for you know, their
(11:48):
job View feature in Manager one has helped them to
stand out above the rest when it comes to repair
shop software. So good, good luck and thank you to
Mitchell one for their continued efforts. And if you're out
in vague a Pexima, they'll be out there with a
boostop buy and see it. Go take a look at
their job View feature set and Manager one. But they
just won the twenty twenty five P ten Innovation Award
(12:09):
in the Automotive Software category. Congratulations. Let's get back to
the phones. Let's go over and talk to Franken Delaware
sixteen Chevy Silverado. What's going on here, Frank? Welcome to
the card Doctor, sir, How can I help?
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Good afternoon, Ron, Thank you for taking all, appreciate it.
Welcome I've got two questions on it. How much play
in the steering wheel should there be? It seems like
I've got sixty one miles on it, and I noticed
(12:42):
something in the last within the last year, and I
didn't pay too much attention to it. I took it
to the dealer twice where I normally get my service done,
and they couldn't. They told me it's fine, but it
seems like I got like an inch or inch and
(13:02):
a quarter of play. Uh. And it's just more noticeable
now that I know about it.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Are you Are you always correcting the wheel driving down
the road?
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Frank, I'm going back and forth?
Speaker 6 (13:16):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (13:17):
I mean that the unit it steers straight.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Right, but that yeah, I get it, there's a leg.
But I guess the question I've got is, you know,
are you, first of all, does the wheel sit horizontal?
Does the wheel sit level?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Yeah, it might be uh a tad off now, it's
hard to tell with.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Uh, it's within if it was a clock face, is
it within an hour?
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
All right?
Speaker 6 (13:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And then how far off of that hour does it
go before you get it? The change direction?
Speaker 5 (13:53):
Well? Uh, it's funny, it's it's that back and forth
left right that it has a play it's about, like
I said, an inch either direction, and it feels like
I'm compensating.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Ever have a wheel ever have a wheel alignment done?
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Yeah? They had it done there and they they said,
it's okay, do.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
You have another shop? Do you have another shop you
can take it to. It's time for a second opinion,
is where I'm going with this.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
Yes, I'm I'm thinking about that locally here right in
the Millsborough area there, and I'm going to contact them
next this coming week, right.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And we want to find somebody that's going to do
a real wheel alignment, nice piece of hunter equipment, something
that's not blow toe and let it go. Somebody that's
going to look at all the angles and if there's
if there's any wiggle in that front suspension steering, something loose,
something off.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I always tell everybody when I put it on the
rack and wiggle it and shake it and then do
my calibration and I'm gonna find it. So you know,
that's that's that's step one. Where where is the where
is the alignment? If it's been a while or you know,
was it ever done?
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Now?
Speaker 5 (15:12):
The alignment was done?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (15:16):
That was done at the dealer.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
They give you a print out?
Speaker 5 (15:21):
Did they give me a print out? They probably did?
And I need I need to dig that out.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And then and then where where are those numbers?
Speaker 6 (15:34):
You know?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
And one of the things I hear so much, and
I'm just skeptical. I'm skeptical about you've got a complaint, right,
that sounds valid. And I'm letting the guy that's guarding
the cookie jar tell me it's okay. All the cookies
are accounted for, you know. I just you know, I'd
like to get I'd like to get Keebler out of
(15:55):
there and let mister Nabisco come in and check the oreos.
You know what I'm saying. I just I just like
a second opinion. So let's get an alignment done and
then we can talk further. Second question, I know there's
a second question here.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Second question, what prevented maintenance? I got sixty one thousand
miles on it. I'm been watching these YouTube shows, car
shows of a carbon build up on the top, you know,
with the direct injection motors. This is a four point three.
(16:29):
The dealer doesn't have anything really.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Right, And that's funny. I'll tell you. I'll tell you
the story this way, Frank, I just attended another class
with Automotive Training Group and this came up because it
was a class about misfires and power contribution, and one
of the things they pointed out was that BG. And
you hear me talk about BG Fuel System Services or
BG Automotive Services all the time, right, BG is now
(16:56):
the rated recommended fuel system above all. I mean, they
do all their fluids. But General Motors has come out
and said that BG Fuel System service is one of
their recommended services as regular maintenance, you know. And it's
because of the quality of the service and what it
does and the easiest way for you to get that
service done if the dealer doesn't have it. That's why
(17:18):
I'm surprised the dealer doesn't have it, because it's a
recommended service by General Motors now is go out to
bgfind ashop dot com, bgfind ashop dot com and you'll
find a local shop who knows. Maybe the shop does
BG fuel System as well as other fluid services, and
they'll do a wheel alignment. You can get two for one.
Give me a call back and let me know what
you happens, Frank, and let me know where you end
(17:39):
up with this. I'm curious. I'm ron An Dy and
the car Doctor. We'll return right after this. Geez, a
little bit of a long opening there, Tom, that music
kind of went, but that's okay. I'm here, I'll take over.
And you knowice how good I've been today, Tom, I
haven't once mentioned that tomorrow is the day. Yes, the day,
(18:03):
the day, not just any day, but the day, the day.
We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I know
what's going to happen. I won't be watching TV. I
know that. So why your your shoe's still stuck in
it from last season?
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
No, just that I'll be waiting to hear from you.
Because what time is the game tomorrow? One o'clock. One o'clock. Yeah,
one o'clock. So I figured by one oh five Tom
should be jumping off the roof of his house. Tom
Ray is the only individual, folks, just for the record,
that his wife made him move to a ranch, okay,
a one story house because he became a Giants fan.
(18:40):
And in the last ten years he keeps trying to
go up to the roof to jump off because he's
just so upset. So this way he lives on a ranch,
while he ends up with is a broken way.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah yeah, that that that, and she goes through your
bags of earplugs because you know, I'm constantly yelling at
the TV.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
How many TVs have you had in the last ten years? Oh?
Just a couple, Just a couple. So tomorrow's the day anyway,
Today's the day for me. So let's go over to Kenton,
Maine and talk to him about as O. Wait, cheap Kent,
do you have a favorite football team? Is tomorrow your day?
Speaker 6 (19:12):
My favorite team is not playing tomorrow. I'm sort of
a Patrick Mahomes fan, and I like the Chiefs even
though I'm from New England. Since we lost you know,
since we lost Brady our team and you know.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Not that much to cheer for, can I ask you
a football question then? Since you're you know, the Patriots
and all. And I, for the record, I'm not a
super serious football fan. I kind of dabble in it.
I've got enough just to keep cars on my plate straight.
Speaker 7 (19:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Do you think Brady was the reason they went to
all those Super Bowls? Or was it the combination of
him in Belichick? Because Belichick went to coaching college and
it's a disaster. What do you think of that? Is
that an unfair question to ask?
Speaker 6 (20:00):
No, that's not an unfair question. And even though maybe
Belichick isn't doing that great right now at the moment
with a college team, I have to think it was
somewhat a team effort.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Right, right, And you know, and things things are changing.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
You know, Belichick's getting older, he's playing with you know,
different guys and a different you know setup with with
the college team, so maybe.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
He's probably distracted a little bit. Right. He's seventy three,
He's got a twenty something year old girlfriend, so he's
probably got a lot going.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
On, and he's dying to see what that twelve foot
statue of him is going to come out to look like.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Right, So anyway, core questions, let's go back to being
a car show. What's uh, what do you got?
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Well?
Speaker 6 (20:47):
I got a two thousand and eight sheep Wrangler one
hundred and forty five thousand on it. It's a six shift.
I've had it about two years. By the way, thanks
for your advice on what radiator to use. That went
really well as I called you about that. But I've
noticed and maybe this has been going on stort of
once in a while for almost a year, and I
(21:09):
don't drive it all that much, but especially after I
warm up, especially if I'm on a little bit of
an incline, and maybe even if I've got a couple
of hundred pounds in the back. While I'm accelerating, as
I'm approaching two thousand RPMs, I start to hear a
little bit of a faint ticking noise that almost isn't
(21:31):
even a tick. It almost sounds like it might be pinging.
It's hard to describe what the noise is. One thought
I had was if you had a handful of tiny
little ball bearings and you were dropping them into the
bottom of a bucket really fast, you know, something like that.
And you know, it seems to be more noticeable also
(21:55):
after it's warmed up, because I'm kind of noticing it
doesn't do it all the time, and it doesn't do
it when when it's first when it started and not
really warmed up.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
All right, Which which engine is this, Kent?
Speaker 6 (22:08):
That's that's a three point eight, the six, all right?
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And when was the last time you know it had
fluid services or carbon cleaning or throttle body service or
any of that well, as.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Far as I know, I don't know nothing about the
history of it. All I've done since I had it
was I've been kind of fanatical about my oil changes
as usual.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Good oil changes, oil changes of the start. But that's
not where maintenance ends.
Speaker 6 (22:34):
Correct, Yeah, oh yeah, I know. There's a lot more
than that, And there's so many different things that it
could be, and at that age, it could need so
many different things that an amateur like myself could just
dive in and say, okay, well I'm going to check this,
I'm gonna buy one of these. I'm going to do that,
and I could go through a lot and not really
be going in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Well, what are your long term plans with the car, Kent?
Speaker 6 (22:59):
Because I bought it a used car lot and I uh,
still all about ten grand on it, and I got
two years left to go.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
You got to go, right, I want I want to.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Get two years out of it, or at least if
I could get you know you, even when those are
junk and having problems, they can still bring forward.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
So listen to me, all right, listen to me, brother,
All right, these are known. These have valve train issues,
these have carbon deposit issues. These have lower end problems,
but let's let's eliminate the obvious. Maintenance is always a
great place to start when you're dealing with something. And
if it's never had a carbon cleaning, if it's never
had some of the other maintenance that it should have
(23:40):
had by now, you might be experiencing old age based
on lack of maintenance. So yeah, I want you to
go to bgfind aeshop dot com. All right, I want
you to find a BG shop and get a BG
fuel system service. They're going to offer a bunch of
other things as far as fluids transmission and some the
other critical fluids of the vehicle. That's great, But in
(24:02):
your case, I want to talk about that noise. If
this is a carbon deposit thing, a carbon cleaning is
going to be a wonderful thing to do. It's going
to add life to the car. It's gonna probably eliminate
your problem. And it's just a good you know, it's
it's a good place to start. You can't go wrong
down right street getting maintenance done if the maintenance is needed.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
So I was also wondering about plugs too, because.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Well, yes, and here we are maintenance right one hundred
and forty five thousand miles. When did you buy it?
How many miles did it have on it?
Speaker 6 (24:34):
I bought it two years ago. It had one thirty five.
I've only put ten on it.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Right, if those are original plugs?
Speaker 7 (24:44):
You know?
Speaker 6 (24:45):
Even yeah, you do?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
You have a regular mechanic Kent? Do you have a
mechanic you trust? I don't.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
I don't. I don't. And at this point here I
almost feel like I should go to the dealership because
I had trust issues with the guy that I had
most recently been going to.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Right, So understand what's gonna happen. Okay, You're gonna go
to the dealer. This is like you're gonna walk into
a doctor's office and ask for open heart surgery at
the age of seventy five. They're gonna they're gonna point out,
they're gonna point out everything that's wrong with it and
probably scare the probably scare the be Jesus at you.
Speaker 6 (25:19):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
You know. This is the classic example of why I
encourage everybody. You've got to have a relationship with a mechanic.
I don't care who it is, dealer, independent or otherwise,
but you've got to have that relationship all along because
you can't wait till you're having the heart attack to
decide to go to the doctor and say, what do
you think's wrong? There's there's there's a lot here, all right.
(25:40):
So I want you to make an appointment at the dealership.
Here's what I want you to do. I want you
to make an appointment at the dealership. That's where you
want to go. I want you to ask for a diagnosis.
You'll spend somewhere between an hour and two hours. My
guess is you'll spend between one hundred and fifty and
three hundred dollars. You'll have some you'll have some answers.
They're probably gonna come back with a laundry list of
things that the vehicle needs. And that's okay because you're
(26:02):
into it. You know, you know, ten grand on it.
It's a good running vehicle. Maybe you'll keep it another
five years, and maybe this is the way to get there.
Because a new Jeep or anything in that category of
what that is is between forty and sixty grand. So
if if you had to put a couple of bucks
in it, not that I want to spend your money.
If you had to put six seven, eight thousand dollars
(26:24):
in it, and it was done properly, and it helps
establish a relationship with that repair shop. You know what,
you're coming out ahead in the long run. So make
an appointment for a diagnosis. Start the war there. Get
out to bgfind aeshop dot com, get a carbon cleaning
done if the dealership can't do it, and give me
a call back if you need more. Always good to
(26:44):
hear from you. A five five five six zero nine
nine zero zero. I think that's the phone number. I've
been doing that for a couple of years. A five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'll be
back right after this. Let's go out to Iowa and
talk to Alex. Alex, Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help?
Speaker 7 (27:03):
That's a question? Thank you around. It's a question that
I wanted to ask you because, you know, back when
we were kids, my dad ties to take the oil
pan off what at that time was a fifty three
plymouth and take the oil pan off and clean the
gunk out of it, and then you know, cleaning with
(27:24):
gasoline after we scraped the stuff out there. Well, wouldn't
it wouldn't the same situation be true nowadays?
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Have you ever looked at a modern day oil pan. Alex.
I love the question, don't misunderstand. I think it's a
great question because it shows a contrast of how far
technology has taken us. All Right, Yeah, you know some
of these cars today, to get the oil pan off,
you're you're gonna pull the engine out, or you're gonna
drop exhaust, or you're gonna you're you're gonna the accessibility factor.
(27:58):
They're not fifty three Plymouth anymore. They're not fifty three
anything anymore. All Right, And you know I'd have to
look it up, but you got a question. You did
that fifty three Plymouth even have an oil filter? Was
that the reason we had to clean the pan because
of sledge formation? Because not all cars in the fifties
had oil filters, Believe it or not. You know, fifty
five Chevies, I know this for a fact, fifty five
(28:20):
Chevies the V eights didn't have oil filters. Was this
dealer installed option? Isn't that the craziest thing you ever heard?
Speaker 7 (28:27):
Right?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, so you know technology can correct for this, all right.
If we think we've got sludge in the engine because two,
you pull the pan down, pick a car today. I
don't care whatever it is a twenty twenty one Honda something,
pull the pan down, clean the pan. If they's sledging
the pen, isn't there sludge everywhere else? And then it'll settle.
(28:55):
But it's even more critical in a modern engine because
of variable valve timing and things we do to you know,
make the engine perform at the level that it performs at. Right,
we worry about oil. They say that lubricating is if
on a list of five things, lubricating is like fourth
or fifth in order of importance in terms of what
(29:16):
an oil does today in a modern day engine. So
dropping a pan to clean the pan, yeah, I think
it's a wasted effort, even if you could get the
pan down, which in a lot of cases you can't easily.
I'm gonna use technology. If I've got an engine that's
sludged up, or I've got a sticky lifter or some
varnished deposit issues, I'm going to use something like Sticktion
(29:39):
Eliminator from hot Shot Secret. All right, great product. I
had a valve tick in my little shop Ranger Forever
everything I tried, nothing got rid of. It's two rounds
of Sticktion Eliminator. The tick is gone and it runs.
This is a two hundred and twenty seven ninety seven
Ranger right V six three leader, So you know, hotshot secret,
(30:00):
it sticks, an eliminator. It just works great. The other
thing I'm going to stay on top of is I'm
doing my oil changes. I don't care what manufacturers say,
I don't care what you know. How long can I
go between oil change? Mentality is I'm doing my oil
changes every five thousand, good quality oil, good filter, and
I'm not going to have a sledge of varnish issue.
I'm not going to have deposits in the oil pan
(30:21):
or anywhere else in the engine because the engine is
always going to be clean. Maintenance always gets you there, brother,
all right, it really does it. It's it's a it's
a it's a piece of machinery. Okay. And if we
if we, if we apply common sense that marketing departments
are trying to overrule, I think we'll find that we
(30:44):
would get longer out of vehicles with less repairs by
doing and going back to regular maintenance on a much higher,
more qualified, more quality, controlled level. If that makes sense.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
Yeah, So yeah, I'm I'm in the trap of used
car and then bringing him up to standard good useage,
you know, and it's quite that's my journeys most of
my life.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
But I'll say this, I love the fact that you
bonded with your father over pulling oil pans. I think
that's cool, right, you know, Tom was Tom was telling
me the story before we started the show. I'll tell
you real quick about the other day he was driving
around his neighborhood and he saw a couple of kids
working on a car on the side of the house,
and he said, I stopped and he took a picture
because he couldn't get over the fact that kids actually
(31:30):
worked on a car in this day and age, which
I said, sure, I mean that's listen. Many a Saturday
afternoon got me to this point working on the car
outside my mom's house, because you know, that's how you learned,
and that was the curiosity, and that's where that's where
the bug began.
Speaker 7 (31:45):
So yeah, he taught me how to put the clutch plate,
pressure plate, you know, how to make sure it's got
you know, torquit right right.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Oh yeah, And those are the moments that you bonded
with dad that you'll never forget, you know. But sometimes
I think that's what society needs today, those moments with
dad or mom bonding and just talking about common sense, rational,
everyday things. I appreciate it. To call Alex, you'd be well,
I'm running any and the car doctor. We're back right
after this. All right, The last one today is going
(32:16):
to be an email. Dave from Kentucky is checking and Hey, Ron,
I need drive shifts for my two thousand and seven
Honda ac Cord two hundred thousand miles. I can't remember
what brand of drive shifts I should install for value
and durability, as someone recently recommended, I've seen some of
the prices from the dealer. The dealer wants over eleven
hundred dollars each and the local parts house has them
(32:37):
for two hundred dollars. Do you know if any of
the aftermarket parts are over manufacturer rebuildings are one brand
that is equal to the OEM or at least ninety percent.
Thanks for all you do. Love your radio show, Dave, Dave,
tell you what, Get down to your local Advanced Autoparts
and you know what. I could talk for hours about
the quality or lack of in aftermarket replacement axles, and yes,
I agree a lot of times the OE manufacturer. Here's
(32:58):
a classic example, right, here's a seventeen year old vehicle
with two hundred thousand miles on it. Do you need
two thousand dollars worth of axles from the manufacturer? I
don't think so. Advance makes a great line or carries
a great line of axles. It'll be marketed under Advance Carquest.
Remember Carquest Autoparts Advancing car Quest merged some years back
(33:20):
Advance Carquest line of axles. It will likely be a
new axle. It will be a little bit more than
you'll find some of the cheaper stuff in the aftermarket.
But that's okay because we've had very, very very good
success with them. They kind of fit that price point
and budget and you know, a very low comeback rate,
(33:41):
probably in the two percent range. So at Vance Carquest
line of axles available at your local Advance Autoparts store,
and I think you'll be very happy with them. They
come complete as sets for each side. So I appreciate
the question, Dave. I'm running any in the car doctor
till the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless, baby,
see ya.
Host
Ron Ananian
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