Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor
Three-day shop sprint, ATG misfire class takeaways, and a through-line: maintenance beats repairs. Then calls on when to keep/swap cars, run-flats vs spares, and streetable performance cooling—plus a quick washer-fluid myth-buster.
Chapter Markers
-
00:00 – Open / Monologue
3-day week grind; ATG class (Edison). Recognition from listeners. Big takeaway: factory schedule as baseline, oil at 5–6k, fluids-by-condition, turbos work harder—maintenance > repair. -
07:25 – Case Study – ’15 Dodge Charger (P0128)
Fast diag → thermostat; car shows “minimal maintenance” pitfalls. Cost-per-mile vs deferred work. -
11:11 – Tom’s Inspection Story
Full synthetic, 5k intervals; cost-per-month math on real ownership. -
13:49 – Mark (Las Vegas) – ’08 Honda CR-V, 241k
Loves simple tech; wary of CVT/turbos. Advice: rent/try newer tech, or keep CR-V and invest (engine/trans if needed) vs $30k+ replacement. -
17:25 – Mark (cont.) – What to Buy / Wait?
Shortlist: CR-V, RAV4, Blazer, Escape. Turbos are ubiquitous; hybrids add complexity. Consider waiting as regulations/offerings shift. -
23:19 – Mike (CA) – ’14 BMW X5 Tires
Run-flats vs spare. If converting, match rolling diameter & systems; run-flats have pros/cons, roadside realities. -
27:00 – Kevin (MA) – ’72 Dart, Holley Sniper & Trans Cooler
Handheld/tuner Q → check Holley; stall-converter heat, separate cooler, plug rad ports; “mild goes wild” on the street—detune for temps. -
32:16 – Mailbag – Washer Fluid Colors
Orange vs blue = freeze-point/formulation. Mixing generally OK if bottle allows; unlike oil/coolant/trans fluids.
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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 alike. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join The Conversation live every Saturday from two to four
pm Eastern by calling eight five to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to
honest answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow
dot com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, but I'm both baby, so they let me out
of the shop. This week, we're very busy in the
show this week. It was a three day work week.
You know, Labor day was Monday Friday. We first Friday.
We're always closed on First Friday, So Danny and I
had three days to get five days worth of cars done.
And we just rolled baby. We came in a little early,
we stayed a little late, except that on Wednesday and Thursday.
(01:12):
To add to this, I won't say misery, but to
add to this excitement, we had class in Edison this week, Edison,
New Jersey. We went down to the Hilton and spend
four hours each night with Chris Lewis and the guys
from Automotive Training Group ATG and a bunch of shops
from around the area mechanics shop owners, et CETERA great
(01:35):
class on cylinder misfire contribution and diagnosis. Second time through
the class, I liked it so much I took it again.
I took Danny for his first time. And sometimes when
you go to class, you learn content right, you learn
what the subject matter is, and then sometimes you learn
a lot more. And I can honestly say for me
it was both, and it usually is about halfway through
(01:59):
the class, at the at the break, at the pause,
we took a coffee break around eight thirty eight fifteen,
two of the fellas came up to me, you know,
and Hey, I just wanted to shake your hand and
say thank you. I appreciate all that you do. You know,
you've helped me out in the shop a couple of
times listening to the show, and you know, they kind
of figured out who he says, I figured out who
(02:20):
you were by your voice, because obviously, you know, the
face is a secret. It's kind of a weird deal, right,
It's been going on that way for a long time,
thirty something years here on radio. But when you get
when you get pegged out, it just you know, it
wasn't what he it wasn't how he said. It was
what he said. It was that I've helped him, and
that's that's what this show is about. And we had
(02:43):
a great conversation after that, you know, the ice was broken,
and then everybody seemed to, you know, interact more and
there was a greater conversation. And one of the things
Chris brought up during the course of talking about cylinder
missfire and diagnosis is the need for maintenance and why
automotive maintenance is so important. And he knows how I am.
(03:04):
Chris used to work for me, full disclosure, right, Chris
and I've been together thirty years off and on, his employer,
employee and so on. And his conversation to the other
guys in the room, he picked out two guys from
another shop, and he said, how many timing chains do
you do in the course of a week or a month?
And they said probably two or three every week. And
you know how many catalytic converters, and oh, probably four
(03:26):
or five and so on, and all the major engine repairs,
valve jobs, cylinder heads, engine replacement. And then he turned
to me and he said, Ron, how many timing chains
have you done in the shop? And I said, lately none?
And you know how many catalytic converters. I think I
probably did two this year. They just don't go bad
(03:48):
for me. And you know, there's something about the Aaron Waldock,
New Jersey, I guess. And the truth is that I
tend to do maintenance, and I do I do. I
do maintenance. If it's wet, I think about changing in it,
what mileage, And if it's a consumer driving the car
a little harder, I'll recommend a more frequent service schedule.
(04:09):
And that's just so gosh darn important. And you know,
you have to look at what the manufacturer recommends, and
that's a guideline. And you also have to know that
when you look at an owner's manual, all right, when
you look at an owner's manual or better yet, when
you look in the black binder that they always give
you when you buy a vehicle, there'll be a recommended
(04:31):
service schedule. You've got to know. Now, some of it
might be an over cell, because some of it might
be the dealer whoever, that might be a used car,
new car, whatever, coming up with their own service schedule
of recommended maintenance. But the one you at least want
to pay very close attention to is the one that
is in the factory printed owner's manual. And they will
tell you service intervals for maintenance and when to change
(04:53):
fluids and when to do filters. And you should be
looking at that. You should be thinking about, you know,
if it's wet, change it it's such and such a mileage.
I still stand behind my statement that I've taken heat
for over the years and oil change is the single
most critical piece of maintenance you can do to a vehicle.
(05:14):
All Right, you want to put ten thousand mile oil
in the car and change it at ten thousand miles,
that's your call. I'll put ten thousand mile oil in
the car and change it at six. Because of the
additive package and the quality of that oil is that
much better, I'll put a high mileage filter on it,
and I'll still change it between five and six thousand miles.
Because the other thing you have to think about, and
(05:35):
if you notice too, how many of today's cars are
all turbocharge and those engines are working harder and harder.
But the thing you also have to think about is
that vehicle ages, what other fluids are critical under the hood,
not to ignore and just think only about oil changes.
Oil changes are a great piece of maintenance. I started
this conversation there, but I'm also going to point out
(05:57):
that it's a great place to catch up on some
of the other things and to look at fluid condition.
And you know, if a trained mechanic, a real mechanic,
not a goofball, is working on the car, you know
they're gonna look at tire condition. They're gonna wiggle the
front end, They're gonna take a quick peak at breaks.
They're gonna look for something hanging off, broke and rusted,
about the break, about the fall off, and try and
(06:18):
do their best to keep you safe and keep that
car reliable. How many times we lift the hood of
a car and we see a battery that's seven or
eight years old, or we see a vehicle inspection sticker
that's a year out or four months out or five
months out, but it's overdue in any respect. Maintenance is
the key, you know why I order repair is so expensive.
(06:40):
And this is really probably the one thing if you
take away from my opening conversation with you today, this
is probably the one thing to remember. Auto repair is
expensive because you're not doing maintenance. And it's the truth
because when you average out what it costs to maintain
a vehicle against im chains, catalytic converters, cylinder heads, major
(07:03):
engine work, transmission over holes, maintenance comes out cheaper and
it's easier on you. It's easier, it's a more you know,
budget friendly timely. It's not a chunk every so often.
It's spread out over time. Now there's ways to avoid maintenance,
and I think there's cars that you know, maybe you're
going to do a minimal amount of maintenance. We had
(07:25):
a twenty fifteen Dodge charger in the shop this week.
First time I saw the car, first time customer Darren
came in. He had a check engine light on, had
a P zero one twenty eight. I walked him through
initially because there's a check engine light on, I've got
to go through my diagnostic routine. But with a P
zero one to twenty eight and a Chrysler product, it's
about a fifteen minute diagnosis just to check a couple
of things. And then you're putting a thermostat in that
(07:46):
car ninety percent of the time and so far ninety
five percent of the time, that fixes it. And we
did that. We did an oil change, and we fixed
as washer nozzles and wiper blades. But I can tell
by looking at this car it never had anything else done.
It had it had like a minimal amount of maintenance.
(08:07):
There were repairs because things had broken over the previous
ten years, but it wasn't It wasn't that driveline fluids
were changed, transmission fluid was never changed. Coolant was original
at ten years old, which it can be because it's
ten year, one hundred and fifty thousand mile coolant. But
to my point, the vehicle's now ten years old, said
zero maintenance other than oil changes and maybe whatever fell
(08:29):
off it during the course of that ten year life cycle.
Do you start to follow manufacturers recommended maintenance at this point,
I mean, you've got a freak there. You've got a
vehicle that got to eighty five thousand miles with minimal maintenance.
Is now the moment? Is now the time you're going
to try and convince yourself to start doing fluid filters
and other services so that you want to get to
two hundred thousand miles. Probably not, but not every vehicle
(08:53):
is going to be like Darren's. Not every vehicle is
going to get to that eighty five thousand mile mark
with minimal maintenance. And I had a great conversation with
Darren and I explained it to them, and I think
that's the other problem. Nobody. It seems like nobody really
gets a great explanation, or a lot of times you
don't get great explanations. Maybe I think every mechanic's like me.
They like to talk, they like to explain things. They
like to be, you know, very direct. But I'm guessing not.
(09:18):
And Darren said, nobody ever talked to me about this
kind of stuff before. He says, I would take it in.
They would say, ah, we looked it over, and I'm like,
I'm not sure what they looked at the left ear break,
the rotor was so bright, you know, you could tell
you look at the left ear brake rotor it was
it had that hot iron look to it. You could
see that the rust had oxided because the brake was
dragging and the right rear brake was getting close in
(09:41):
the inside face of the rotors were all rust pitted
and starting to rot. Front brakes weren't much better. You
could see. In the course of the next twelve to
eighteen months, between tires, brakes, fluids, some of the other
things that I saw, you were going to probably spend
between five and six grand on this car. Is now
the moment? Is now the moment to tell the seventy
(10:01):
eight year old man, hey, stop smoking cigarettes. You'll live longer,
you know, just to get to eighty three. Maintenance is key.
It's something you've got to decide. It's an internal thought process.
I think what you do and who does it is
just as in critical, is just as critical as what
kind of vehicle are you driving? But I will tell
you this and I'll leave it here before we go
(10:22):
to the pause. You've also got to decide are you
buying the car. If you buy the car, you maintain it.
If you lease the car, you know, if the manual
says ten thousand miles. Do ten if the manual says,
you know, never do spark plugs. Never do spark plugs.
If you're leasing the car and you've got no intention
of owning that vehicle, you just follow owner's manual recommended maintenance,
(10:47):
not what the dealer says, because what the dealer's saying
might be more than what the manufacturer requires, unless your
lease agreement says you've got to follow this. And that's
a whole separate conversation onto itself to another thing that
makes auto repair expensive. Eight five five five six oh
nine nine zero zero. I'm running eney in the car. Doctor.
I'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Hey,
(11:11):
let's oh, you know what, let's hear from Tom?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yes, sir, Actually I have a comment on the way
you open the show.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Had to take my car in yesterday for state inspection
here in New York. And what I usually do is
I usually throw them a little bone and do the
oil change whatever in the car, and you know, rather
than bring it down to you. And I'm talking to
the service rider who's a different service rider than I
normally take, who I normally deal with, and he starts
trying to sell me on their synthetic blend and telling me, oh,
(11:41):
you only have thirty five hundred miles on the.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Oil on this car.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
And I looked at him and the other service rider
I deal usually deal with his sitting there and start
snickering because he knew what was coming.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
And I said, my.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Last car went to four hundred thousand miles. I didn't
do that by changing the oil any greater than five
thousand miles and by putting anything but a full synthetic
in to it and not the synthetic blend. I said, so,
could you please give me what I wanted?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Well, and you know, Tom, it's it's it's got to
be a cost per mile question. When I was when
I was talking to Darren, we'll go back to where
we started. Right when I was talking to Darren, the
customer with a fifteen charger, we figured it out that
he had spent about He thinks he spent five to
six thousand dollars in the previous eight years. So I
did the math, divided that out. He spent seventy one
(12:27):
dollars and forty two cents a month after buying the
car over the previous eight years of ownership because he
bought the car used with two years on it. So
as I said to him, you know, but you're you're
at that point, You're at eighty five thousand miles. It's
going to be coming due for a ninety k service,
it's going to be coming due for spark plays. You've
got to take the intake blent them off you. You know,
as you approach that magic hundred thousand mile mark, if
(12:49):
you want to see two hundred thousand miles out of it,
you've got to spend some money or you're going to
be changing components or vehicle. And you know, the point
of the whole opening conversation. And I appreciate your comment Tom,
as always, I love I love the way you break
it out is if you're gonna go the distance, you've
got to start when the vehicle is new. As my
(13:11):
grandfather said to my uncle Steve when he was seventy eight,
I think I'm gonna stop smoking because I want to
live longer. He lived to be eighty two. You know,
Grandpa came over from the Old Country, he came over
from Armenia. He was smoking hand rolled cigarettes with no
filter for the better part of you know sixty five years.
I think probably what killed him was he stopped smoking.
But you know, it's like when do you you know,
(13:33):
when do you start to make the change? And I
you know, it's it's maintenance is the key. Maintenance is
what it's all about. As always, Let's let's get back
to what we do best. Let's go to Mark in
Las Vegas. Let's roll the dice. Ha ha, what a pun?
So what's going on? Mark?
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Hi? Ron? Hey, I'm the perfect caller to have after
all this talk about maintenance because I've got an eight
honto CRV that I've owned since new and I have
been meticulous about maintenance. I used to take it to
a quick lube to get an oil change, but I
(14:09):
think after listening to you ten or fifteen years ago,
I started actually doing my own oil changes with full synthetic. Anyway,
I got two hundred and forty one thousand miles on
this car, and I've never had a check engine, like
come on, never. But my question is to you, because
(14:31):
now it's getting up in mileage and I'm getting a
little hesitant about taking it on long trips out of
town because of the mileage. I'm kind of looking for
some guidance from you, because I know within the next
probably year or two, I'm probably going to get another vehicle.
They're going to need to get another vehicle. But the
(14:53):
thing that I'm conflicted about is this car has been
such a great car. It's got pretty much basics in it,
and that's kind of what I wanted when I bought it,
not a lot of fancy stuff, you know, no CVT transmission,
no turbo, And it seems like everything nowadays is got
the turbo and the CBT. What what is out there?
(15:16):
And I don't really want to buy a new car
because I don't want to spend more on a new
car that I spent from my.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
First house right right. And what you're driving, you know,
what you're driving, Mark, is what I affectionately call a brick,
right Yeah, it's it's it's red, it's square, it's reliable,
it's solid. It just it just goes. So the first
thing I'm going to tell you is the next time
you're going out of town, rent a car. Don't take
(15:42):
that car, all right, Rent something you think you're gonna
want to buy, and start to play that game and
see if you like the technology, see if you like
the bells and whistles, see if anything there, you know.
And the only reason I said is because I've learned.
I've learned to, you know, I was I was never
a fan of backup cameras, right, And I probably was
(16:04):
never a fan of backup cameras because I got that
from Uncle Steve. Uncle Steve always said the most important
part of a fighter pilot was his neck, because you
got to learn to look around and see what's around you.
And I never forgot that. And I always did that,
you know, driving you're always looking around. And then one
day I got a backup camera in a vehicle and
I went, you know, maybe Uncle Steve would have had
more fun if he had a backup camera. He could
(16:25):
have seen what was coming up behind him. But neither
here nor there, you know, Just go rent the car,
Go go rent.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
They have to do. I probably don't even have to
do that because my wife's car is at twenty twenty
four and it's like driving.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
A jet, right.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
She's got so much stuff in this car. And some
of the features I like, you know, I like the
adaptive cruise control. I like being able to come up
to a stop and take my foot off the break
but there's so many other things. And my car didn't
even come with a backup camera. I actually had to
put one in after market. Oh, so there are some features,
(17:00):
right I like I would like? Right?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, I was gonna say, yeah, there are some features
that you would like. So it sort of comes back to,
you know, do you want to make the trade off
and are you ready to let it go. I'll tell
you what, Mark, Sit tight. When we come back, we'll
finish up and we'll talk about what you may want
to go by, or maybe you want to hang on
to this, and there's ways to do that too. I'm
Ron an eighty in the car doctor eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'll be back
(17:25):
right after this. Don't go away. Let's go back to
Mark in Las Vegas. Mark, you're still there, sir.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
Yes, I am Ron.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So you know, there's a couple of thoughts that go
through my head when I we're talking about changing from
what's now a fifteen year old vehicle, seventeen year old vehicle,
seventeen year old vehicle, and to maybe a twenty one
or a twenty two. So let's say there's a fifteen
year spread in technology, right, right, Okay, I like the
(17:56):
CRV all right, to stay with what you're driving, like
Kahanda CRV nice car. I like the Toyota Raft for
nice car, right, Yeah, that I'm gonna I'd go look
at a Chevy Blazer. They've made the Blazer smaller, it's
a little more compact, it's got some zip to it.
To tell you the truth, I was looking at a
(18:17):
Blazer SS for myself a couple of months ago because
I was having my g maybe I want to drive
something different for a while conversation in my head. And
I looked at one of those. I like that vehicle.
And I still like the Ford Escape. I still think
that is a solid vehicle. I really do.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And don't They have a lot of turbos though, in
the all.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Of them, but all of them have turbos.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
I I'm kind of like you, Yeah, I like you.
I think they're trying to use a turbo to squeeze
out every little bunch of mileage. Ye, and it just
seems like it's overworking these engines.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Well it is. But the problem is the problem is
we're not We're not going to get away from it
anything in the last seven years. Chance it's bizarre. It's turboat.
It's hard to find something more turbot or CVT.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
What about I guess hybrid is not out of the
question then for me, right.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
But you know, now you're diving a little deeper into
more technology.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
And that's you know, and I neglected to tell you this.
I have done everything on my car. The only time
I've ever taken it in to a dealership is to
get the airbags done. So I love working on my
own car. I absolutely love.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
It now though now the other side of that, but
the other side of that conversation, Mark is keep the CRV,
keep it well.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
I'd thought about that. I thought about if something happens
to slap a new engine and training.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
In it, right, and you know, if you have a
trans in that car and it's five grand, and if
you had to put an engine in that car and
it's five grand, there's ten grand, and then at least
you know what you got.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
I think I right now, it's fifty to fifty. I
think I'd rather do that than go out and buy
something that I can't work on that's going to cost
me thirty grand.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
I read I read something the other day and I
you know, you see things on the Internet, and I
couldn't verify it by a news source, but I think
this came out said it was Fox News, and it's
said that the EPA is rolling back a missions requirements
or something about the EPA is not going to be
mandating a missions requirements in nineteen states or something, and
(20:21):
it sounded like under the current administration, we're going to be,
you know, lightening up on a mission requirements something to
that effect. And it made me stop and say, does
that mean we're going to lighten up on the mandates
for CVTs, turbos, evs? You know, are we going to
change what's out there as far as a vehicle? And
(20:42):
I've got to do some further research for it. And
I guess my point is, if I'm thinking about buying
a vehicle and I'm not desperate, maybe I want to
wait two years. Maybe I want to see what what
what the change in the political climate, what effect that's
going to have on the automobile. I do know I
have seen Chrysler, for example, Chrysler, if you've been reading
(21:03):
about it, is bringing back the V eight. HEMI GM
just GM just invested a pile of money in a
new V eight engine plant in upstate New York. They
did that about three months ago. So I don't know
that America's love affair with the V eight is over.
I don't know that everything is going to be turbo
chargers going forward and mandated. I did read it was
(21:28):
interesting too. There was an article I've got it here
somewhere that Jay Leno had proposed in California that you know,
they wanted to do away with motor vehicle inspection on
older classic cars. California said, no, we're not, We're not
enacting that law. But I understand that that battle is
going back to the drawing board again. So we're we're
(21:50):
I don't know, are we developing a different stance on
emissions and emissions requirements and because it becomes an expel.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
You know, I do want a car with d mileage.
I mean, I think I'm getting like twenty four miles
to the gallon. I'm not a hot rodder, right, I
just want good, good, basic transportation, something that I can
work on. And I'll still probably change the oil myself,
because I don't dress too any of these little Jay.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Places, you know, mark changing the oil and then I've
got to go on changing the oil is a critical
thing that you can and should do. It kind of
keeps you in touch with the vehicle because that's the
way you're built, brother, right, But anything newer you you,
all right, not because of your desire, but you because
of the cost and the tooling required and the training required.
(22:40):
You'll be able to do maintenance on some of the
newer cars, not all of them, but you're going to
be limited. So it's gonna also be an issue where
you need to develop a relationship with a local mechanic
and you know, mak him the go to guy, or
you're gonna have to move to New Jersey. It's it's
it's one of the two, all right. So it's the
(23:00):
best answer I got for you. Drive something newer. Drive
a few newer vehicles, like I said, Mark, see what
you think of those, and if they don't float your boat,
maybe it's hanging on to the CRV for the short
term future and see where the world takes us. I
appreciate the call. As always. Let's go over to Mike
and California fourteen BMW. Mike, Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
What's going on?
Speaker 6 (23:19):
Yeah? Thanks, Ron say, I've got a twenty fourteen BMW
X five that I bought from a friend of mine,
and it came with run flat tires and no spare, right,
and I'm getting to the point where I need to
get new tires, and I'm wondering if I should get
a compact spare and put it in there and get
regular tires, or go with run flat again.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
No, go with run flat again. It's just going to
be unless somebody's got it figured out that you can
get a standard tire that won't affect wheel speed because
you don't want to affect critical engine functions, break functions,
things like that. And then where would the spare go.
Is they're room in the car somewhere for even a compact.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Yeah, there's a space for a compact. It was an
option or maybe standard when the car was new, But
somewhere along the line somebody put run flat tires or
maybe it came that way new.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
It probably came it probably came that way new. So
the only the only way I would tell you that
it's okay to make the switches. What is the replacement
tires rolling diameter going to be in Is it equal
to a factory setting such that if it's different than
the run flat, you can go and have it programmed
that I used to have this size tire on it.
(24:31):
Now I've got this, and I would just be mindful
of that because it may you know, changing the diameter
may affect spinometer, may affect you know, traction control, anti
lock brakes and so forth.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
For the record, I'm not a fan of run flats though.
I it's believe me, this is not run flats have
their place, but I see far too many people stuck
on the side of the road. You're driving down the interstate.
If you get a nail in the tire, great, If
a block lock of wood goes through the sidewall, you're
stuck on the side of the road and there's there's
there's nothing you're going to do about it. So it's
(25:08):
it's you know, and the irony here is you realize
where run flats came from, right, No, The story goes
that run flats were created because outside the BMW factory
in Germany, thieves used to lay down nail strips, and
as the new BMW's were coming out for road testing,
they would lay down nail strips. The car would get
(25:28):
a flat, the owner would jump in the car and
get out of the car to go look at the flat,
and somebody would jump in the car and steal it
and drive away on flat tires. You know. So there's
and BMW said we can't have this. And BMW is
one of the co creators or the creator of run
flat tires. That's the story I always heard. You know,
(25:49):
it's it's it's it's out there. So but I think
if diameter is the same and you do have room
for a spare, and you you can get a jack
and you're driving a distance, this is not going to
be a cheap conversion though, and you've got to consider
that toe But nothing on a BMW is cheap at
this point, right right, right?
Speaker 6 (26:09):
No, I just I've never had run flats and I
didn't know if they have a checkered pasted or if
they're a viable way to go or for what the
story is.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
If someone is buying a new vehicle and the choices
yes or no, and they can get away without it,
I always I prefer no, I'll leave it there. How's
that for an answer. They're okay, they have their place,
But like I said, you're on the highway. If you
get more than a nail through the sidewalk. If that
side wall is damaged, you're stuck on the side of
the road waiting for a toe.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
All right, kitt got your opinion and that's helpful.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Okay, thank you, You're very welcome. You'd be well. Ay
five five, five six zero nine nine zero zero running
any of the car. Doctor. I'm back right after this. Hey,
let's go over and talk to Kevin in Massachusetts. Kevin,
what's going on? Seventy two? Dodgs Darty?
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Hey, Ron, how you doing? All right?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Man?
Speaker 4 (27:02):
I just picked up a car. It's it's a neat
little car and a couple of questions. It has a
Holly Sniper fuel injected on it. Okay, I don't. I
don't have the control pad that comes with it. Do
I need it? And can I replace it?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Do you know that the controlled pad?
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Are you talking?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Are you talking about the module that runs the injection.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Like that when you're setting it up? I guess it
has like a handheld thing.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Right, the tuner?
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Right?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Well, yeah, how are you going to tune it in
the future?
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Well, that's I'm saying, yeah, So can I Can I
just buy the control pad or.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
That that's a Holly question, brother, and you know, and
you know what, I'm going to say it like this,
and all my experience in dealing with the performance after market,
the quality of the program or the part or the
component of whatever you're talking to someone about is really
restricted to or enhanced by how intelligent or nice that
(27:54):
person is that you're talking to.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
You know, I've spoken to a few people at different
performance applications over the years, and some of them treat
me like I'm a complete idiot, and some of them
are very nice and accommodating. And I'm not saying I'm
expecting special treatment. I'm just saying I go in, I
ask some very general, generic questions, sometimes specific, and you know,
I don't always get the answer I'm looking for. It
(28:19):
kind of makes you a sour on talking to these people.
So I guess man manage your expectations when you when
you get in there, Kevin.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
I have a quick second question about assault converters and transcoolers. Okay,
I'm gonna put a train. It doesn't have a transplorer
on it, now, I'm gonna put one on it. If
I don't use the radiator and just use the transport
to cool it, do I leave the radiator empty when
I disconnect the lines off it.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
So tell me what, tell me, tell me what we're
building here, because obviously this is not this is not
mom's grocery getter.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
All right, No, it's a it's a four O waight
stroker in it.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Okay, we go and racing. We're driving it on the street.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Well, I'm hoping to be driving it down the street.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Okay. And how I have a stole speed converter A
you're going to put in it?
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Well, there's it's already all together. I just picked it up.
It's got a thirty five hundred in it all reason,
I'm pretty sure. Yeah, And it's it's kind of a
big camin right now. It's running hot. So I want
to get the trans coooler taking it because that's all
it's converter is going to produce a lot of heat,
sure is now, So I want to separate it out
of the system.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
If again, has the engine been dinode?
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
So you know where the power band comes in.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
I don't have the results. I just know what it
made from power.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
So and you know and where that power band comes
in in terms of where it starts to make power
is just as important as how much power it makes.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Right, Well, that's the the guy that put it, that
bought it from said, that's why it had to thirty
five hundred in that's where it was, you know, with
the Dino, that's where it needed to be or something.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
And I get it. Listen, I drove a forty eight
hundred stole speed converter on the street and a power
glide with black one and it was crazy. Uh you know,
and for the record, I can never get that car
to run cool. It was marginal at best on good days.
So you know, you may get tired of that. And
that's why I say that thirty five hundred stall speed converter,
you may put something a little less with a with
(30:11):
a lower stall speed in it so that you've got
better hook up, because you may find the extra two
tents that you're going to pick up on the streets
not worth the temperature band that you're going to run in.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
I think I'm going to be fighting a cam at
that point too.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Well, right, so, and that's why that's why I ask,
where's the power band? You know, I'll leave it here
because I'm going to run out of time. But and
I like what you're doing. Do the separate trans cooler
and play with it. You'll find playing with spark plug
heat range has an effect. Quality of fuel has an effect.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Obviously that radiator empty though the bottom when I take
the lines of it, What.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Do you mean the trans cooler where the trans fluid
would be. Yeah, yeah, I mean just put just put
some pipe plugs in there, just to clean up the look, right,
it's not gonna it's not gonna hurt anything.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
But I didn't know if I should leave the trans
fluid in there or just leave it empty.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You could take it out. It's not gonna matter. There's
there's gonna be nothing there, right, it's just going to
be an empty It's just going to be an empty tubing.
So but you know, leave it, leave it here. You
may want to put an electric cooling fan on it,
you know, I'll leave you with the immortal words of
my first first boss.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
A little bit got too. It's got too cooling fans
on now, it's too electrics on it.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Now, right, as long as you have a hot override
in there, all right, just so you can flip it
on when you want. But remember this on the street,
mild goes wild, so if you're having problems, detune it
a little bit and you may find you solve your
problem without realizing it. So good luck to you. Give
us an update report in six months, Kevin, and I
hope it works out for you. Eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero running any of the
Car Doctor coming back right after this. Wow, that was
(31:41):
a quick hour. Let's do a quick piece of email.
This comes to us from Katie in Wanaque, New Jersey.
Dear Car Doctor, listened to the show all the time.
I consider myself a younger person. I'm in my late thirties.
I'm happy to have you board, Kate, and I find
it fascinating the way you talk about cars, and you're
getting me excited about being part of a car carrying community.
(32:02):
Look at that. I appeal to the younger audience, and
I thought I was old. My question today is about
washer fluid. I recently ran out of blue washer fluid
at my house and my husband had purchased some orange
washer fluid for my Lexus and I'm not quite sure
what the differences are, and I'm wondering if it was
okay that I mixed it. And I'm hoping I did
(32:23):
the right thing, Kate, Katie, and for everybody else out there,
you know what, it's a great question, Orange Blue. The
two washer fluids, one has a different freeze point protection
than the other. As long as the bottle of liquid
that you're changing from one to the other, or mixing
one to the other doesn't say anything that you know
bad about mixing a fluid. I say it's okay. Engine
(32:45):
oil would matter. I wouldn't do that transfluid obviously important
coolant it would matter. So some things you can, some
things you can't read the bottle, Katie for your question today,
but was sending you out a car doctor T shirt.
We appreciate it. I'm ronning any until next time. The
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners alike. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join The Conversation live every Saturday from two to four
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zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to
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start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, but I'm both baby, so they let me out
of the shop. This week, we're very busy in the
show this week. It was a three day work week.
You know, Labor day was Monday Friday. We first Friday.
We're always closed on First Friday, So Danny and I
had three days to get five days worth of cars done.
And we just rolled baby. We came in a little early,
we stayed a little late, except that on Wednesday and Thursday.
(01:12):
To add to this, I won't say misery, but to
add to this excitement, we had class in Edison this week, Edison,
New Jersey. We went down to the Hilton and spend
four hours each night with Chris Lewis and the guys
from Automotive Training Group ATG and a bunch of shops
from around the area mechanics shop owners, et CETERA great
(01:35):
class on cylinder misfire contribution and diagnosis. Second time through
the class, I liked it so much I took it again.
I took Danny for his first time. And sometimes when
you go to class, you learn content right, you learn
what the subject matter is, and then sometimes you learn
a lot more. And I can honestly say for me
it was both, and it usually is about halfway through
(01:59):
the class, at the at the break, at the pause,
we took a coffee break around eight thirty eight fifteen,
two of the fellas came up to me, you know,
and Hey, I just wanted to shake your hand and
say thank you. I appreciate all that you do. You know,
you've helped me out in the shop a couple of
times listening to the show, and you know, they kind
of figured out who he says, I figured out who
(02:20):
you were by your voice, because obviously, you know, the
face is a secret. It's kind of a weird deal, right,
It's been going on that way for a long time,
thirty something years here on radio. But when you get
when you get pegged out, it just you know, it
wasn't what he it wasn't how he said. It was
what he said. It was that I've helped him, and
that's that's what this show is about. And we had
(02:43):
a great conversation after that, you know, the ice was broken,
and then everybody seemed to, you know, interact more and
there was a greater conversation. And one of the things
Chris brought up during the course of talking about cylinder
missfire and diagnosis is the need for maintenance and why
automotive maintenance is so important. And he knows how I am.
(03:04):
Chris used to work for me, full disclosure, right, Chris
and I've been together thirty years off and on, his employer,
employee and so on. And his conversation to the other
guys in the room, he picked out two guys from
another shop, and he said, how many timing chains do
you do in the course of a week or a month?
And they said probably two or three every week. And
you know how many catalytic converters, and oh, probably four
(03:26):
or five and so on, and all the major engine repairs,
valve jobs, cylinder heads, engine replacement. And then he turned
to me and he said, Ron, how many timing chains
have you done in the shop? And I said, lately none?
And you know how many catalytic converters. I think I
probably did two this year. They just don't go bad
(03:48):
for me. And you know, there's something about the Aaron Waldock,
New Jersey, I guess. And the truth is that I
tend to do maintenance, and I do I do. I
do maintenance. If it's wet, I think about changing in it,
what mileage, And if it's a consumer driving the car
a little harder, I'll recommend a more frequent service schedule.
(04:09):
And that's just so gosh darn important. And you know,
you have to look at what the manufacturer recommends, and
that's a guideline. And you also have to know that
when you look at an owner's manual, all right, when
you look at an owner's manual or better yet, when
you look in the black binder that they always give
you when you buy a vehicle, there'll be a recommended
(04:31):
service schedule. You've got to know. Now, some of it
might be an over cell, because some of it might
be the dealer whoever, that might be a used car,
new car, whatever, coming up with their own service schedule
of recommended maintenance. But the one you at least want
to pay very close attention to is the one that
is in the factory printed owner's manual. And they will
tell you service intervals for maintenance and when to change
(04:53):
fluids and when to do filters. And you should be
looking at that. You should be thinking about, you know,
if it's wet, change it it's such and such a mileage.
I still stand behind my statement that I've taken heat
for over the years and oil change is the single
most critical piece of maintenance you can do to a vehicle.
(05:14):
All Right, you want to put ten thousand mile oil
in the car and change it at ten thousand miles,
that's your call. I'll put ten thousand mile oil in
the car and change it at six. Because of the
additive package and the quality of that oil is that
much better, I'll put a high mileage filter on it,
and I'll still change it between five and six thousand miles.
Because the other thing you have to think about, and
(05:35):
if you notice too, how many of today's cars are
all turbocharge and those engines are working harder and harder.
But the thing you also have to think about is
that vehicle ages, what other fluids are critical under the hood,
not to ignore and just think only about oil changes.
Oil changes are a great piece of maintenance. I started
this conversation there, but I'm also going to point out
(05:57):
that it's a great place to catch up on some
of the other things and to look at fluid condition.
And you know, if a trained mechanic, a real mechanic,
not a goofball, is working on the car, you know
they're gonna look at tire condition. They're gonna wiggle the
front end, They're gonna take a quick peak at breaks.
They're gonna look for something hanging off, broke and rusted,
about the break, about the fall off, and try and
(06:18):
do their best to keep you safe and keep that
car reliable. How many times we lift the hood of
a car and we see a battery that's seven or
eight years old, or we see a vehicle inspection sticker
that's a year out or four months out or five
months out, but it's overdue in any respect. Maintenance is
the key, you know why I order repair is so expensive.
(06:40):
And this is really probably the one thing if you
take away from my opening conversation with you today, this
is probably the one thing to remember. Auto repair is
expensive because you're not doing maintenance. And it's the truth
because when you average out what it costs to maintain
a vehicle against im chains, catalytic converters, cylinder heads, major
(07:03):
engine work, transmission over holes, maintenance comes out cheaper and
it's easier on you. It's easier, it's a more you know,
budget friendly timely. It's not a chunk every so often.
It's spread out over time. Now there's ways to avoid maintenance,
and I think there's cars that you know, maybe you're
going to do a minimal amount of maintenance. We had
(07:25):
a twenty fifteen Dodge charger in the shop this week.
First time I saw the car, first time customer Darren
came in. He had a check engine light on, had
a P zero one twenty eight. I walked him through
initially because there's a check engine light on, I've got
to go through my diagnostic routine. But with a P
zero one to twenty eight and a Chrysler product, it's
about a fifteen minute diagnosis just to check a couple
of things. And then you're putting a thermostat in that
(07:46):
car ninety percent of the time and so far ninety
five percent of the time, that fixes it. And we
did that. We did an oil change, and we fixed
as washer nozzles and wiper blades. But I can tell
by looking at this car it never had anything else done.
It had it had like a minimal amount of maintenance.
(08:07):
There were repairs because things had broken over the previous
ten years, but it wasn't It wasn't that driveline fluids
were changed, transmission fluid was never changed. Coolant was original
at ten years old, which it can be because it's
ten year, one hundred and fifty thousand mile coolant. But
to my point, the vehicle's now ten years old, said
zero maintenance other than oil changes and maybe whatever fell
(08:29):
off it during the course of that ten year life cycle.
Do you start to follow manufacturers recommended maintenance at this point,
I mean, you've got a freak there. You've got a
vehicle that got to eighty five thousand miles with minimal maintenance.
Is now the moment? Is now the time you're going
to try and convince yourself to start doing fluid filters
and other services so that you want to get to
two hundred thousand miles. Probably not, but not every vehicle
(08:53):
is going to be like Darren's. Not every vehicle is
going to get to that eighty five thousand mile mark
with minimal maintenance. And I had a great conversation with
Darren and I explained it to them, and I think
that's the other problem. Nobody. It seems like nobody really
gets a great explanation, or a lot of times you
don't get great explanations. Maybe I think every mechanic's like me.
They like to talk, they like to explain things. They
like to be, you know, very direct. But I'm guessing not.
(09:18):
And Darren said, nobody ever talked to me about this
kind of stuff before. He says, I would take it in.
They would say, ah, we looked it over, and I'm like,
I'm not sure what they looked at the left ear break,
the rotor was so bright, you know, you could tell
you look at the left ear brake rotor it was
it had that hot iron look to it. You could
see that the rust had oxided because the brake was
dragging and the right rear brake was getting close in
(09:41):
the inside face of the rotors were all rust pitted
and starting to rot. Front brakes weren't much better. You
could see. In the course of the next twelve to
eighteen months, between tires, brakes, fluids, some of the other
things that I saw, you were going to probably spend
between five and six grand on this car. Is now
the moment? Is now the moment to tell the seventy
(10:01):
eight year old man, hey, stop smoking cigarettes. You'll live longer,
you know, just to get to eighty three. Maintenance is key.
It's something you've got to decide. It's an internal thought process.
I think what you do and who does it is
just as in critical, is just as critical as what
kind of vehicle are you driving? But I will tell
you this and I'll leave it here before we go
(10:22):
to the pause. You've also got to decide are you
buying the car. If you buy the car, you maintain it.
If you lease the car, you know, if the manual
says ten thousand miles. Do ten if the manual says,
you know, never do spark plugs. Never do spark plugs.
If you're leasing the car and you've got no intention
of owning that vehicle, you just follow owner's manual recommended maintenance,
(10:47):
not what the dealer says, because what the dealer's saying
might be more than what the manufacturer requires, unless your
lease agreement says you've got to follow this. And that's
a whole separate conversation onto itself to another thing that
makes auto repair expensive. Eight five five five six oh
nine nine zero zero. I'm running eney in the car. Doctor.
I'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Hey,
(11:11):
let's oh, you know what, let's hear from Tom?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yes, sir, Actually I have a comment on the way
you open the show.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Had to take my car in yesterday for state inspection
here in New York. And what I usually do is
I usually throw them a little bone and do the
oil change whatever in the car, and you know, rather
than bring it down to you. And I'm talking to
the service rider who's a different service rider than I
normally take, who I normally deal with, and he starts
trying to sell me on their synthetic blend and telling me, oh,
(11:41):
you only have thirty five hundred miles on the.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Oil on this car.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
And I looked at him and the other service rider
I deal usually deal with his sitting there and start
snickering because he knew what was coming.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
And I said, my.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Last car went to four hundred thousand miles. I didn't
do that by changing the oil any greater than five
thousand miles and by putting anything but a full synthetic
in to it and not the synthetic blend. I said, so,
could you please give me what I wanted?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Well, and you know, Tom, it's it's it's got to
be a cost per mile question. When I was when
I was talking to Darren, we'll go back to where
we started. Right when I was talking to Darren, the
customer with a fifteen charger, we figured it out that
he had spent about He thinks he spent five to
six thousand dollars in the previous eight years. So I
did the math, divided that out. He spent seventy one
(12:27):
dollars and forty two cents a month after buying the
car over the previous eight years of ownership because he
bought the car used with two years on it. So
as I said to him, you know, but you're you're
at that point, You're at eighty five thousand miles. It's
going to be coming due for a ninety k service,
it's going to be coming due for spark plays. You've
got to take the intake blent them off you. You know,
as you approach that magic hundred thousand mile mark, if
(12:49):
you want to see two hundred thousand miles out of it,
you've got to spend some money or you're going to
be changing components or vehicle. And you know, the point
of the whole opening conversation. And I appreciate your comment Tom,
as always, I love I love the way you break
it out is if you're gonna go the distance, you've
got to start when the vehicle is new. As my
(13:11):
grandfather said to my uncle Steve when he was seventy eight,
I think I'm gonna stop smoking because I want to
live longer. He lived to be eighty two. You know,
Grandpa came over from the Old Country, he came over
from Armenia. He was smoking hand rolled cigarettes with no
filter for the better part of you know sixty five years.
I think probably what killed him was he stopped smoking.
But you know, it's like when do you you know,
(13:33):
when do you start to make the change? And I
you know, it's it's maintenance is the key. Maintenance is
what it's all about. As always, Let's let's get back
to what we do best. Let's go to Mark in
Las Vegas. Let's roll the dice. Ha ha, what a pun?
So what's going on? Mark?
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Hi? Ron? Hey, I'm the perfect caller to have after
all this talk about maintenance because I've got an eight
honto CRV that I've owned since new and I have
been meticulous about maintenance. I used to take it to
a quick lube to get an oil change, but I
(14:09):
think after listening to you ten or fifteen years ago,
I started actually doing my own oil changes with full synthetic. Anyway,
I got two hundred and forty one thousand miles on
this car, and I've never had a check engine, like
come on, never. But my question is to you, because
(14:31):
now it's getting up in mileage and I'm getting a
little hesitant about taking it on long trips out of
town because of the mileage. I'm kind of looking for
some guidance from you, because I know within the next
probably year or two, I'm probably going to get another vehicle.
They're going to need to get another vehicle. But the
(14:53):
thing that I'm conflicted about is this car has been
such a great car. It's got pretty much basics in it,
and that's kind of what I wanted when I bought it,
not a lot of fancy stuff, you know, no CVT transmission,
no turbo, And it seems like everything nowadays is got
the turbo and the CBT. What what is out there?
(15:16):
And I don't really want to buy a new car
because I don't want to spend more on a new
car that I spent from my.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
First house right right. And what you're driving, you know,
what you're driving, Mark, is what I affectionately call a brick,
right Yeah, it's it's it's red, it's square, it's reliable,
it's solid. It just it just goes. So the first
thing I'm going to tell you is the next time
you're going out of town, rent a car. Don't take
(15:42):
that car, all right, Rent something you think you're gonna
want to buy, and start to play that game and
see if you like the technology, see if you like
the bells and whistles, see if anything there, you know.
And the only reason I said is because I've learned.
I've learned to, you know, I was I was never
a fan of backup cameras, right, And I probably was
(16:04):
never a fan of backup cameras because I got that
from Uncle Steve. Uncle Steve always said the most important
part of a fighter pilot was his neck, because you
got to learn to look around and see what's around you.
And I never forgot that. And I always did that,
you know, driving you're always looking around. And then one
day I got a backup camera in a vehicle and
I went, you know, maybe Uncle Steve would have had
more fun if he had a backup camera. He could
(16:25):
have seen what was coming up behind him. But neither
here nor there, you know, Just go rent the car,
Go go rent.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
They have to do. I probably don't even have to
do that because my wife's car is at twenty twenty
four and it's like driving.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
A jet, right.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
She's got so much stuff in this car. And some
of the features I like, you know, I like the
adaptive cruise control. I like being able to come up
to a stop and take my foot off the break
but there's so many other things. And my car didn't
even come with a backup camera. I actually had to
put one in after market. Oh, so there are some features,
(17:00):
right I like I would like? Right?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, I was gonna say, yeah, there are some features
that you would like. So it sort of comes back to,
you know, do you want to make the trade off
and are you ready to let it go. I'll tell
you what, Mark, Sit tight. When we come back, we'll
finish up and we'll talk about what you may want
to go by, or maybe you want to hang on
to this, and there's ways to do that too. I'm
Ron an eighty in the car doctor eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'll be back
(17:25):
right after this. Don't go away. Let's go back to
Mark in Las Vegas. Mark, you're still there, sir.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
Yes, I am Ron.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So you know, there's a couple of thoughts that go
through my head when I we're talking about changing from
what's now a fifteen year old vehicle, seventeen year old vehicle,
seventeen year old vehicle, and to maybe a twenty one
or a twenty two. So let's say there's a fifteen
year spread in technology, right, right, Okay, I like the
(17:56):
CRV all right, to stay with what you're driving, like
Kahanda CRV nice car. I like the Toyota Raft for
nice car, right, Yeah, that I'm gonna I'd go look
at a Chevy Blazer. They've made the Blazer smaller, it's
a little more compact, it's got some zip to it.
To tell you the truth, I was looking at a
(18:17):
Blazer SS for myself a couple of months ago because
I was having my g maybe I want to drive
something different for a while conversation in my head. And
I looked at one of those. I like that vehicle.
And I still like the Ford Escape. I still think
that is a solid vehicle. I really do.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
And don't They have a lot of turbos though, in
the all.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Of them, but all of them have turbos.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
I I'm kind of like you, Yeah, I like you.
I think they're trying to use a turbo to squeeze
out every little bunch of mileage. Ye, and it just
seems like it's overworking these engines.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Well it is. But the problem is the problem is
we're not We're not going to get away from it
anything in the last seven years. Chance it's bizarre. It's turboat.
It's hard to find something more turbot or CVT.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
What about I guess hybrid is not out of the
question then for me, right.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
But you know, now you're diving a little deeper into
more technology.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
And that's you know, and I neglected to tell you this.
I have done everything on my car. The only time
I've ever taken it in to a dealership is to
get the airbags done. So I love working on my
own car. I absolutely love.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
It now though now the other side of that, but
the other side of that conversation, Mark is keep the CRV,
keep it well.
Speaker 5 (19:35):
I'd thought about that. I thought about if something happens
to slap a new engine and training.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
In it, right, and you know, if you have a
trans in that car and it's five grand, and if
you had to put an engine in that car and
it's five grand, there's ten grand, and then at least
you know what you got.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
I think I right now, it's fifty to fifty. I
think I'd rather do that than go out and buy
something that I can't work on that's going to cost
me thirty grand.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
I read I read something the other day and I
you know, you see things on the Internet, and I
couldn't verify it by a news source, but I think
this came out said it was Fox News, and it's
said that the EPA is rolling back a missions requirements
or something about the EPA is not going to be
mandating a missions requirements in nineteen states or something, and
(20:21):
it sounded like under the current administration, we're going to be,
you know, lightening up on a mission requirements something to
that effect. And it made me stop and say, does
that mean we're going to lighten up on the mandates
for CVTs, turbos, evs? You know, are we going to
change what's out there as far as a vehicle? And
(20:42):
I've got to do some further research for it. And
I guess my point is, if I'm thinking about buying
a vehicle and I'm not desperate, maybe I want to
wait two years. Maybe I want to see what what
what the change in the political climate, what effect that's
going to have on the automobile. I do know I
have seen Chrysler, for example, Chrysler, if you've been reading
(21:03):
about it, is bringing back the V eight. HEMI GM
just GM just invested a pile of money in a
new V eight engine plant in upstate New York. They
did that about three months ago. So I don't know
that America's love affair with the V eight is over.
I don't know that everything is going to be turbo
chargers going forward and mandated. I did read it was
(21:28):
interesting too. There was an article I've got it here
somewhere that Jay Leno had proposed in California that you know,
they wanted to do away with motor vehicle inspection on
older classic cars. California said, no, we're not, We're not
enacting that law. But I understand that that battle is
going back to the drawing board again. So we're we're
(21:50):
I don't know, are we developing a different stance on
emissions and emissions requirements and because it becomes an expel.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
You know, I do want a car with d mileage.
I mean, I think I'm getting like twenty four miles
to the gallon. I'm not a hot rodder, right, I
just want good, good, basic transportation, something that I can
work on. And I'll still probably change the oil myself,
because I don't dress too any of these little Jay.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Places, you know, mark changing the oil and then I've
got to go on changing the oil is a critical
thing that you can and should do. It kind of
keeps you in touch with the vehicle because that's the
way you're built, brother, right, But anything newer you you,
all right, not because of your desire, but you because
of the cost and the tooling required and the training required.
(22:40):
You'll be able to do maintenance on some of the
newer cars, not all of them, but you're going to
be limited. So it's gonna also be an issue where
you need to develop a relationship with a local mechanic
and you know, mak him the go to guy, or
you're gonna have to move to New Jersey. It's it's
it's one of the two, all right. So it's the
(23:00):
best answer I got for you. Drive something newer. Drive
a few newer vehicles, like I said, Mark, see what
you think of those, and if they don't float your boat,
maybe it's hanging on to the CRV for the short
term future and see where the world takes us. I
appreciate the call. As always. Let's go over to Mike
and California fourteen BMW. Mike, Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
What's going on?
Speaker 6 (23:19):
Yeah? Thanks, Ron say, I've got a twenty fourteen BMW
X five that I bought from a friend of mine,
and it came with run flat tires and no spare, right,
and I'm getting to the point where I need to
get new tires, and I'm wondering if I should get
a compact spare and put it in there and get
regular tires, or go with run flat again.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
No, go with run flat again. It's just going to
be unless somebody's got it figured out that you can
get a standard tire that won't affect wheel speed because
you don't want to affect critical engine functions, break functions,
things like that. And then where would the spare go.
Is they're room in the car somewhere for even a compact.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Yeah, there's a space for a compact. It was an
option or maybe standard when the car was new, But
somewhere along the line somebody put run flat tires or
maybe it came that way new.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
It probably came it probably came that way new. So
the only the only way I would tell you that
it's okay to make the switches. What is the replacement
tires rolling diameter going to be in Is it equal
to a factory setting such that if it's different than
the run flat, you can go and have it programmed
that I used to have this size tire on it.
(24:31):
Now I've got this, and I would just be mindful
of that because it may you know, changing the diameter
may affect spinometer, may affect you know, traction control, anti
lock brakes and so forth.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
For the record, I'm not a fan of run flats though.
I it's believe me, this is not run flats have
their place, but I see far too many people stuck
on the side of the road. You're driving down the interstate.
If you get a nail in the tire, great, If
a block lock of wood goes through the sidewall, you're
stuck on the side of the road and there's there's
there's nothing you're going to do about it. So it's
(25:08):
it's you know, and the irony here is you realize
where run flats came from, right, No, The story goes
that run flats were created because outside the BMW factory
in Germany, thieves used to lay down nail strips, and
as the new BMW's were coming out for road testing,
they would lay down nail strips. The car would get
(25:28):
a flat, the owner would jump in the car and
get out of the car to go look at the flat,
and somebody would jump in the car and steal it
and drive away on flat tires. You know. So there's
and BMW said we can't have this. And BMW is
one of the co creators or the creator of run
flat tires. That's the story I always heard. You know,
(25:49):
it's it's it's it's out there. So but I think
if diameter is the same and you do have room
for a spare, and you you can get a jack
and you're driving a distance, this is not going to
be a cheap conversion though, and you've got to consider
that toe But nothing on a BMW is cheap at
this point, right right, right?
Speaker 6 (26:09):
No, I just I've never had run flats and I
didn't know if they have a checkered pasted or if
they're a viable way to go or for what the
story is.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
If someone is buying a new vehicle and the choices
yes or no, and they can get away without it,
I always I prefer no, I'll leave it there. How's
that for an answer. They're okay, they have their place,
But like I said, you're on the highway. If you
get more than a nail through the sidewalk. If that
side wall is damaged, you're stuck on the side of
the road waiting for a toe.
Speaker 6 (26:40):
All right, kitt got your opinion and that's helpful.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Okay, thank you, You're very welcome. You'd be well. Ay
five five, five six zero nine nine zero zero running
any of the car. Doctor. I'm back right after this. Hey,
let's go over and talk to Kevin in Massachusetts. Kevin,
what's going on? Seventy two? Dodgs Darty?
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Hey, Ron, how you doing? All right?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Man?
Speaker 4 (27:02):
I just picked up a car. It's it's a neat
little car and a couple of questions. It has a
Holly Sniper fuel injected on it. Okay, I don't. I
don't have the control pad that comes with it. Do
I need it? And can I replace it?
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Do you know that the controlled pad?
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Are you talking?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Are you talking about the module that runs the injection.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Like that when you're setting it up? I guess it
has like a handheld thing.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Right, the tuner?
Speaker 4 (27:27):
Right?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Well, yeah, how are you going to tune it in
the future?
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Well, that's I'm saying, yeah, So can I Can I
just buy the control pad or.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
That that's a Holly question, brother, and you know, and
you know what, I'm going to say it like this,
and all my experience in dealing with the performance after market,
the quality of the program or the part or the
component of whatever you're talking to someone about is really
restricted to or enhanced by how intelligent or nice that
(27:54):
person is that you're talking to.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
You know, I've spoken to a few people at different
performance applications over the years, and some of them treat
me like I'm a complete idiot, and some of them
are very nice and accommodating. And I'm not saying I'm
expecting special treatment. I'm just saying I go in, I
ask some very general, generic questions, sometimes specific, and you know,
I don't always get the answer I'm looking for. It
(28:19):
kind of makes you a sour on talking to these people.
So I guess man manage your expectations when you when
you get in there, Kevin.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
I have a quick second question about assault converters and transcoolers. Okay,
I'm gonna put a train. It doesn't have a transplorer
on it, now, I'm gonna put one on it. If
I don't use the radiator and just use the transport
to cool it, do I leave the radiator empty when
I disconnect the lines off it.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
So tell me what, tell me, tell me what we're
building here, because obviously this is not this is not
mom's grocery getter.
Speaker 4 (28:52):
All right, No, it's a it's a four O waight
stroker in it.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Okay, we go and racing. We're driving it on the street.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Well, I'm hoping to be driving it down the street.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Okay. And how I have a stole speed converter A
you're going to put in it?
Speaker 4 (29:05):
Well, there's it's already all together. I just picked it up.
It's got a thirty five hundred in it all reason,
I'm pretty sure. Yeah, And it's it's kind of a
big camin right now. It's running hot. So I want
to get the trans coooler taking it because that's all
it's converter is going to produce a lot of heat,
sure is now, So I want to separate it out
of the system.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
If again, has the engine been dinode?
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
So you know where the power band comes in.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
I don't have the results. I just know what it
made from power.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
So and you know and where that power band comes
in in terms of where it starts to make power
is just as important as how much power it makes.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Right, Well, that's the the guy that put it, that
bought it from said, that's why it had to thirty
five hundred in that's where it was, you know, with
the Dino, that's where it needed to be or something.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
And I get it. Listen, I drove a forty eight
hundred stole speed converter on the street and a power
glide with black one and it was crazy. Uh you know,
and for the record, I can never get that car
to run cool. It was marginal at best on good days.
So you know, you may get tired of that. And
that's why I say that thirty five hundred stall speed converter,
you may put something a little less with a with
(30:11):
a lower stall speed in it so that you've got
better hook up, because you may find the extra two
tents that you're going to pick up on the streets
not worth the temperature band that you're going to run in.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
I think I'm going to be fighting a cam at
that point too.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Well, right, so, and that's why that's why I ask,
where's the power band? You know, I'll leave it here
because I'm going to run out of time. But and
I like what you're doing. Do the separate trans cooler
and play with it. You'll find playing with spark plug
heat range has an effect. Quality of fuel has an effect.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Obviously that radiator empty though the bottom when I take
the lines of it, What.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Do you mean the trans cooler where the trans fluid
would be. Yeah, yeah, I mean just put just put
some pipe plugs in there, just to clean up the look, right,
it's not gonna it's not gonna hurt anything.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
But I didn't know if I should leave the trans
fluid in there or just leave it empty.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You could take it out. It's not gonna matter. There's
there's gonna be nothing there, right, it's just going to
be an empty It's just going to be an empty tubing.
So but you know, leave it, leave it here. You
may want to put an electric cooling fan on it,
you know, I'll leave you with the immortal words of
my first first boss.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
A little bit got too. It's got too cooling fans
on now, it's too electrics on it.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Now, right, as long as you have a hot override
in there, all right, just so you can flip it
on when you want. But remember this on the street,
mild goes wild, so if you're having problems, detune it
a little bit and you may find you solve your
problem without realizing it. So good luck to you. Give
us an update report in six months, Kevin, and I
hope it works out for you. Eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero running any of the
Car Doctor coming back right after this. Wow, that was
(31:41):
a quick hour. Let's do a quick piece of email.
This comes to us from Katie in Wanaque, New Jersey.
Dear Car Doctor, listened to the show all the time.
I consider myself a younger person. I'm in my late thirties.
I'm happy to have you board, Kate, and I find
it fascinating the way you talk about cars, and you're
getting me excited about being part of a car carrying community.
(32:02):
Look at that. I appeal to the younger audience, and
I thought I was old. My question today is about
washer fluid. I recently ran out of blue washer fluid
at my house and my husband had purchased some orange
washer fluid for my Lexus and I'm not quite sure
what the differences are, and I'm wondering if it was
okay that I mixed it. And I'm hoping I did
(32:23):
the right thing, Kate, Katie, and for everybody else out there,
you know what, it's a great question, Orange Blue. The
two washer fluids, one has a different freeze point protection
than the other. As long as the bottle of liquid
that you're changing from one to the other, or mixing
one to the other doesn't say anything that you know
bad about mixing a fluid. I say it's okay. Engine
(32:45):
oil would matter. I wouldn't do that transfluid obviously important
coolant it would matter. So some things you can, some
things you can't read the bottle, Katie for your question today,
but was sending you out a car doctor T shirt.
We appreciate it. I'm ronning any until next time. The
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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