September 20, 2025 • 33 mins
The Car Doctor – Checks, Banks & Real-World Car Fixes
On this episode of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron exposes the hidden headaches of running a small auto repair business—from a QuickBooks/FedEx check security scare to a TD Bank account freeze—and how a proactive Chase Bank solved it. Callers get practical fixes: a Chevy Tahoe brake-pedal height solution, a Duramax diesel fuel/vacuum diagnostic tip, and a Ford Explorer cold-start game plan. Plus, a sneak peek at a 2015 Toyota Highlander spark plug video that proves why “simple” jobs aren’t so simple.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners alike. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join the Conversation Live every Saturday from two to four
pm Eastern by calling eight five to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's a five to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to
honest answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow
dot com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your engines. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
If you were having pizza Knight in America like so
many last night, and sitting around saying, hey, how is
your week, and everybody's oh, I did this and I
did that. If you asked me, you know what I
would answer. I would answer one word because it was
one of those weeks. I think this is an appropriate
story for a radio show about cars, because it's also
(01:09):
about what goes on in the repair shop. And you
need to know that a lot of what goes on
in a repair shop isn't necessarily the problems of fixing
the cars. It's the problems of running the shop. It's
the front office stuff and the things that go on
behind the scenes in the front office. My front office
went nuts on Wednesday. I had ordered checks from QuickBooks,
(01:34):
and I'm going to mention names and you know what
I'm going to tell you. Yeah, Okay, all the companies
that I mentioned are free to come on the show
and tell me their side of it and tell you
their side of it, because I think they were all
very badly run. I ordered checks from QuickBooks. We use
QuickBooks to help run the shop and write checks, and
we order checks from them the week prior. The checks
showed up on Tuesday. They were actually a day late,
(01:57):
not a crisis. We were ready for that. We had
a couple extra checks. Well like we were running out
of checks. We just got to the point where we
needed three order checks. The box didn't show up on Monday.
The box showed up on Tuesday, and what caught my
attention was FedEx another company that's welcome to come on
the show, because I think there were a bunch of dopes,
all right. They You ever noticed you put a shipping
(02:18):
label on a cardboard box, and you you know, you
stick the label to the box and ship the box. Well,
the box came the address. The shipping label was still
attested to the original piece of box cardboard that it
was attached to, but somebody had taken a razor knife,
cut it out and scotch taped it, you know, packing
taped it to the top of a new box, and
(02:40):
then wrapped about four miles of packing tape around it.
It looked like something Luke Costello wrapped up for a
birthday present for Bud Right. And it just caught your
eye that something's wrong, like this was not how you
would think it would come out of a check printing
facility wherever that is, and open it up and sure
(03:00):
it's the checks. And you know, first comment to quick Books,
why are we still shipping checks and clear plastic bags?
I don't understand that in a day in and age,
we're heightened security, and we're worried about fraud, and we're
worried about everybody gathering our personal information. Why are we
sending things out in clear plastic bags should As FedEx
explained to me, the box burst open at the TRANSFERACIL
(03:23):
facility at Newark Airport, and they transferred the checks from
one box to another and sent it on its way.
Of course, of course, it took two phone calls from
to FedEx to find that out, because God forbid anybody
that answers the phone knows what they're really talking about.
Needless to say, it would have been nice had they
put a sticker. Don't you think they should have put
(03:44):
a sticker on the outside of the box that said, hey,
we know this box looks a little funny, but it
was reboxed under a supervised facility, under a supervised condition,
so the contents weren't, you know, compromised. I mean, what
if it was gold coins on Amazon that you can
now going by gold coins on Amazon right where all
the gold coins accounted for? So talking to QuickBooks got
(04:08):
nowhere because I got the same overseas person telling me, oh,
we're so sorry, mister Ananian, and yeah, we're very sorry
that that happened, and would you like to order more checks?
Because some of the checks were rustled and shuffled and
you know, beat up. No, I want to know that
these checks are going to be okay, that they're all there,
and we did count and they're all there. And then
the only concern we have is was the account Is
the checking account able to be compromised? Because did somebody
(04:30):
come along with their camera and go click click on
the line at FedEx? Something FedEx never even thought of
until I mentioned it and they said, well, yeah, I
guess that's possible. I guess that's possible. This is a
this is this is a secure method of shipping. So
let me get this right. In an age of fraud,
in an age of absolute we're concerned about everything under
(04:51):
the sun. We're shipping checks all across America, not just
to order repair shops, but everywhere, unsupervised, in non secure envelopes.
Well that was Tuesday, That was stupid Tuesday. Well, insane
Wednesday came along, so TD Bank, who's also free to
(05:14):
come on the show and talk to us about this,
because what the heck I want to get You know,
we're not talking about small companies here. These aren't mom
and pops. These are all giant companies. Who knows, maybe
they'll be off the air next week. You know, they
might buy a couple of radio networks and cancel this show.
Decided that, well, we're going to freeze the account so
I can no longer use my checking account, which was
(05:34):
in use for the past forty seven years or whatever
it's been, because I've only I've only been here a
little while. And you know, in order for me to
write a check out of it, I had to call
up the fraud department and say I'm writing check number
XYZ for three dollars and twenty two cents or whatever
the amount was, and they would clear it and allow
it to process through. And I had thirty days of
(05:57):
doing this because then they would just close the account,
and in the meantime I needed to go get another
bank account. Have you tried to open a new bank
account for a business in America lately at all recently
in the last couple of years. Well, this was my
first experience. I haven't had to do it in quite
a long time. Why I've been around for a while.
(06:18):
I've been around over forty something years. When I got
the TD bank. Vic who's also welcome to come on
the show and talk to us about it, was reading
from the script book. Well, mister and Adian, we're sorry
that this happened, but you know, we'll need to see
your new business formation papers to give you the new
checking account that you're going to need. Excuse me, Well,
(06:43):
I've been a customer here since I don't know, nineteen
ninety three, which was a while ago. You can't see
that I'm in existing business. Yes, but when you opened it,
you opened it with your social and the federal government
now requires a tax ID beginning with twenty two. Well, yeah,
here's my scale. You'll see tax return, here's the mortgage
that you guys held for so many years. Here's all
(07:04):
this information. But no, we're going to read from the
script kind of describes my week right now. In the meantime,
I'm trying to run a radio show, I'm trying to
run a repair shop. I'm trying to keep Danny busy.
I'm trying to keep the shop flowing, and I'm dealing
with complete insanity. On the financial side of things. A
(07:28):
new Chase Manhattan Bank opened in Waldwick, New Jersey in
the last couple of weeks, and I'm trying to get
over there because I kept thinking, you know what, maybe
I'll bank a little bit with them, just to see
how they are. I've got a couple of Chase credit
cards as a personal note. They've always worked well. Anytime
there's been an issue, it's always been you know, it
always works. I ended up talking to Oliver. I ended up.
(07:49):
I talked to Marco, the manager. Marco gave me to Oliver.
Oliver asked me. He said, well, I'm going to need
your new business formation paperwork. And I'm thinking, oh god,
we're going to go through this again. Now. All we
want to do is fix cars at the end of
the day, right, folks, That's all we're trying to do. Marco.
I'm sorry, Oliver, what do you think I need? Well,
(08:10):
I need your DBA. You're doing business as okay? I
had that, he said, right, And what's the expiration date
on it? Because it has to be renewed every five years.
I don't know. Maybe every state's different, maybe New Jersey's wrong,
maybe it's different in New Jersey. But my DBA is
from a million years ago, nineteen eighty three, to be exact,
(08:31):
and there's no expiration date on it. And he said
there has to be. Well, there is, and I'll show
you that here it is. The raised seal notar Republic
verified from the county seat in Hackensack, New Jersey. No
expiration date. Let me make a phone call, which I
thought was kind of nice of him, that Oliver was
willing to stick his neck out take the time for
(08:51):
somebody he didn't know, on account that he didn't have
to see if this was possibly the way to do it. Gee,
customer service, somebody that doesn't read from the script, what
a concept? Call me back, he said. I asked three people. Yeah,
what happened, he said. The first guy said no, the
second guy said maybe, The third guy said yes. I said,
what do you say? He said, come on over, I'll
(09:12):
open the account. So I solved the problem sort of
maybe kind of. Yes, We're going to now start banking
with Chase Bank. No credit desire, no pressure, no no
no promotion here intentionally given. And I guess the point
(09:34):
of all of this is the aggravation the problems in
running a small business, not just an order repair shop,
but the problems in running a small business are are
beyond what you can describe, and it can go from
zero to one hundred and twenty miles an hour like that,
in the blink of an eye, and it's difficult. It's difficult.
(09:58):
It best to explain to somebody it took three days
out of my week for something that was beyond my control,
for something I did not create. Because a major corporation,
three major corporations don't have scenarios in place to correct this.
(10:18):
I don't understand most of all, how FedEx, for all
the packages they ship to their credit, they knew the
box was damaged on the conveyor belt at the transfer
station at Newark Airport. If you know the problem can happen,
don't you have a better remedy than it looks like
a four year old took cut the box out state
(10:38):
on and wrapped so much tape around this thing. It
looked like that bad Christmas present you got from Uncle
Frank last year that you were afraid to open because
of the ribbon being in fourteen different places and tape
all over the place. I was surprised the lunch that
the guy had that day wasn't kind of wrapped in
between the tape as he wrapped his fingers around it
and created this. Needless to say, I am like so
(11:02):
fired up to just fix cars today because I didn't
get to fix any cars on Wednesday and Thursday. So
I'm ready eight five five five six nine nine zero zero.
I'll be back right after this. See you, by the way.
For everybody that came in the shop this week and
tried to make me laugh with I hear your flashing
(11:22):
school buses stop anyway? Let's that was the running joke
in the shop all week long. Are you flashing? Are
you done flashing a school bus? Yet? They haven't arrested you,
not yet, but I'm trying. Frank, Virginia twenty Chevy Tahoe.
What's going on here? Frank? How can I help?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Hey, Ron, thanks for taking my call. Welcome sir, We've
got the twenty Chevy Tahoe premiere. Okay, the car is great.
I like it. The problem I have is when I
step on a brake pedal at my right foot to
the right side of the foot. Also, it's the gas pedal.
Excuse me. At one time I even ran into the
back of a pickup truck. Luckily nobody got hurt. Right,
(12:01):
The dealer said the break in gas pedal.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Work fixed change in a fixed position.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yet it would change on this year's model and they
are no longer individually adjusted. You guys who adjust both
of them at the same time. Both of them do
get just at the same time. They also said they
had a mechanic there who knew how to adjust just
the brake pedal, but when I went back to have
that done, they said they couldn't do it because of
(12:29):
liability reasons. They recommended a handicapped company to put an
adapter on the top of the brake pedal to raise
it up, but that was not an option. It was
just too white. I didn't get that done.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
What do you mean it was? So let me ask
a couple of questions, right, because I was going to
actually say right, handicapped vehicle controls would probably be the
way to go. Do you have a do you have
a lazy right foot? Does it flop over? Not to
get personal, but we're here on radio, so nobody will
see you.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I know it's talking about I don't think so it's
it just stays it does stay could write a little bit.
But when you step on a brake, the brake pedal
top of it is in line with the gas pedal
at the top of the gas pedal.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Right, but if you're if you're stepping on what I
don't understand is if you I'm just trying to visualize this,
If you're stepping on the brake and your foot is
straight up total heel top the bottom, how do you
manage to catch the gas pedal?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, I'm not fully over on the right hand side
of the get the brake pedal. I thought if I
could get the brake pedal raised up a little bit
to keep it from being in line with the gas pedal,
that would solve the problem. So what I'm trying to
do is use my left foot for brakes in my
right foot.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I don't want to see you do that because I
think that that makes it We're going to have to
retrain you in your in your in, your in your
driving approach. So what you're effectively asking for is you
want a block of wood on the brake.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Pedal something like that, or now this this one guy,
this technician, said that he was a will to adjust
the brake pedal linkage to bring the break higher than
what the what it is now, But then they said
they wouldn't do it because you change anything from the manufacturer,
then there's liability.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, there is a liability, so you know, and that's
hence that brings us back to the handicapped vehicle control.
You know, you can't be the only person in America
that's got this issue. You know, there are people with
handicaps that are obviously driving. There are people, I'm sure
that have a foot position issue such as you're having.
So did you talk to the handicapped vehicle control people?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I went down in and I saw what they have,
and it's it's a block. It's made out of metal
and rubber that you put on the top of the
brake pedal, which brings it up. But it's a high piece.
It's not even one that you can have the size
made up, so it's high. I've sort of just putting
something on it myself and bolted it right break up.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Well can you take and I'm trying to imagine what
they have, but can you take whatever they're going to
have and say, well, that's too high, I need half
that thickness. Take it to a machine shop and have
them machine it in half and then bolt it on.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I had a door to that, but that that's one reason.
One way I haven't.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I don't know what the device looks like. You know, listen,
we can we can modify cars to such a degree.
I'm sure this isn't the most insurmountable problem in the
whole world. It's just going to take some thought. Yes,
there's some liability issues, you know, as far as to
be concerned about. But I think if we follow common
sense guidelines and and you know, however, the handicapped vehicle
(15:39):
controls places doing it, I'm sure if you follow some
sort of guideline from them, and then that's not to say, hey, listen,
wherever you went, they're not the only ones.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You can't convince me that you know you're the only
person with this condition. I always say that it's a
big country there, They've they've got to have scenarios that
accommodate a wide variety of driving habits, so to speak.
It's a fair way to say it. And I would
encourage you. I would say, let's just you know, Google search,
(16:14):
you know, handicapped vehicle controls. I have an issue. I
have a customer who has trying to think he has
no left leg, no right leg, no legs at all.
Actually he's on mechanical legs. And the sweetheart of a guy,
really and we kind of kid about it.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
One time I had to put him on the lift
to a justice leg. I actually tightened some of the
screws that were falling out for him, and we kind
of made a Okay, you're the car of the week,
get up on the lift and we raised them up
and tightening screws, and you know, it's it's that kind
of relationship. We get along very well. And I've seen
some of the configurations and devices that Keith has brought
in to me to have me install over the years,
and I mean there's a bunch of stuff out there,
(16:54):
so and we've actually ordered things for him off of Amazon,
believe it or not. Go to Amazon, type in vehicle
handicap controls, watch what comes up.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I gotta do that. And I'll also check and see
what they have at this handicaps shop and see if
I can get it adjusted right.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
You know, is there a way to modify this? I
would stay away from the linkage and the pivot and
the fulcrum because now we're playing with geometry. I want
to just yeah, I just want to play with the
pedal height and see what that gets me. All right,
do that, Frank, I gotta go. You'd be well. Good
luck t in if you need more. Please give me
a call back. We can chat about it some more.
(17:30):
I'm ronning Andy and the car doctor. We are back
right after this next up. Let's go to John and
Florida right away. John five Chevy Silverado Diesel and uh,
we'll yes, sir, what's going on.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
I've got a lot of information, but so and I
don't want to take up a lot of your time.
Two thousand and five Silverado twenty five hundred diesel four
by four brought new low mileage because we only use
it the hall heavy equipment on the farm, and it's
had We're north of Pensacola in Florida, so it's had
(18:08):
a For the first from two thousand and five to
two thousand and eight, it had very benign driving conditions.
After that, I took a job in western New York,
about a tenth of a mile from Lake Ontario, and
the conditions were less than perfect. We came back to
(18:31):
the farm in twenty fifteen and for about five years
the vehicle ran nicely. One day we were getting supplies
in Pensacola and the hot day came out. Tried to
turn the car over and it was just it just
cranked and cranked. And cranked, and I have enough experience
(18:52):
of diesels to know it was a fuel issued. So
I had the vehicle towed to my mechanic who happens
to have the same year and exact same truck as
I do. And they've taken it apart a couple of times,
so I trust him. What they did. What they did
was to uh, I guess, there's a fuel pump and
a filter in the tank. So they took the tank down,
(19:16):
took the filter out, took the pump out, and cleaned
it out. There was a lot of sand in it,
and put in a new fuel chill filter in the
engine compartment. Two days later, I was in Pensacola and
the same thing happened. I called him up. He told
me how to start the vehicle. Get in the engine
compartment and pump the there's a pump.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
There is the prime. The pump prime it yep.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Like on tractors, and do it ten times and try
to turn it over and woof, it started right up.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Okay, So here's my here's my first question. All right,
there is a there is a pressure test port behind
the alternator. All right, are you aware of this?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
No?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Where is it?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (20:01):
I really don't service this vehicle.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
All right, so ask your mechanic this all right, let's
be cause let's let's just because I already know where
this is going. I can tell there's a lot of
pain involved here for you. And and you know, yes,
I understand diesel owners, long term diesel owners become diesel
mechanics after a while, you have to. So it's just
it's just part of the part of the process and
the ritual. Behind the alternator, there's a vacuum test port
(20:25):
or there's a test port, uh pressure pressure tap, so
hook a pressure vacuum gates to that crank the engine.
It absolutely positively has to build vacuum. I bet it doesn't.
I bet it doesn't. And it should hold that vacuum indefinitely,
all right. You should see two to four inches of
(20:47):
cranking vacuum rough numbers, all right. And what that shows
is that shows there is system integrity from the front
of the vehicle to the tank. Got it, all right?
And if that vacuum doesn't build or doesn't hold, now
let's go find out why. And for the record, OH
fives were the worst. Oh fives had the most pores.
(21:12):
Moret there were more porosity problems with fuel lines and
and fuel connections and fittings and air in the system
and not holding vacuum. I think then all the gms,
OH fives and O four's actually but but this is
not an uncommon problem. And I can tell you why.
I can tell you why it happened. You were great
(21:32):
in Florida. It went you took the truck up the
up to New York. Right, it's been I don't know,
five years in the wonderful salt belt. When it started right,
and then it came right, and then it came back.
Then it came back to Florida, and it was good
for a while until you know, it sort of got activated,
(21:53):
and then one day that's it. You're done. You know,
my TV that worked yesterday doesn't work today. Sooner or later,
things roughte Are you near the ocean at all? I
don't know. I don't remember where Pensacola is.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Yeah, we're right on, we're right. Well, we're about thirty
miles from the from the Gulf of America, Okay, And
and that's about it.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
So, so you went to the salt belt. You applied
several doses of calcium chloride and and a whole bunch
of other chemicals to keep the road free and clean.
And then you brought it back to Florida and you
activated it. Congratulations, Right, it's it's I bet you this
is going to be a fuel related rusted porous line issue.
(22:36):
But that is the first thing you want to do.
That test port. You can actually find all this as
a service procedure in any of the GM service information.
It'll be there. They talk about vacuum testing, pressure gauge
to the test port and what the results of that
has to be.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
All right, you know that amazing? That amazes me, Ron,
because I even have I have two case files with Chevrolet.
I tried getting information and they didn't have any clue
what was happening. I even called Duramax in Canada and
they said, well, we don't support the engine we sell
to Chevrolet.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
No, there should be there. There absolutely should be a
test port. This is a six six, right, there's a
six to six diesel six six Duramax. Yeah. Yes, I
remember my instructor in class explaining this to us twenty
years ago that it's got to be there. There's got
to be it, there's got to be a port.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Has to be all right, if a vacuum, should that
hold vacuum.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
We typically saw two to four inches, you know, two
to five inches, but it should hold. It should hold
that vacuum. It should it should it should stay above
one to two inches even after the engine stops cranking.
I mean theoretically they say it should be there indefinitely.
I don't know how true that is. It's I've never
really looked at it longer than you know. Okay, it's there.
But think of it like this. It's it's if this
(23:58):
was a a gasoline engine with a mechanical lift pumph,
a mechanical pump, all right, A mechanical pump does not
pump fuel. Theoretically, a mechanical pump creates a low vacuum condition, right,
and it doesn't suck. It just creates a low vacuum
condition and atmospheric pressure pushes down on the fuel to
(24:20):
drive it out of the tank through the lineup to
the That's kind of the physics of how a lift
pump works. That's the theory of how they explain it
to us in class. But it's the idea by which
we diagnose the diesel.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
That so the yeah, it makes sense to me. It's
so the under conditions where the vehicle starts, it should
still I mean, whether it starts or it stops. I'm
not going to have the wherewithal to hook up a
vacuum gauge to the port behind the alternator when it
doesn't start, but when it does start, it should when
(24:56):
it cranks, it should maintain the two to four inches
of that.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Well.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Once, once fuel is flowing, it's flowing right once when
you siphon fuel out of a tank, Once you you know,
and get the mouthful of fuel or liquid or whatever
it is, it continues to flow. Do you ever think
about how come that works.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Because there's no cavitation right?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Well, well, because because atmospheric pressure is pushing down on
the fuel in the tank and pushing it up out
to the point of lowest pressure which you created by
sucking on it. Mm hmm, all right, which is the
whole We can have a conversation about this for about
two hours about how carburetors work, but it all, it all,
all the physics comes back to this. So when that
(25:37):
doesn't start, you're just looking to see can it build
vacuum during a crank? Simple test if you can't find
information on it. You send me the then I'll find
the test procedure. I'll email it to you roniccardoctorshow dot com.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
I sure will, all right, So let me get this
right so I can explain it to the mechanic. And
I know I'm not going to be able to get
to the truck to the mechanic when it doesn't start
like this. So will there be any variation in the
(26:14):
vacuum when I drive the vehicle up to the shop
and tell them.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Hey, hook up a vacuum, do this, do this, don't
look at it when it's bad, run the test when
it's good. So you understand what So if you right,
we always want to look at a good vehicle. He's
got the same vehicle, ask him to do the test
on his vehicle. Right. If we don't test broken cars
or vehicles, right, John, that's the rule. We don't test
(26:43):
cars when they're broken. We test cars when they're good,
so we know what they're going to look like when
they're broken. Oky, All right, simple stuff.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
I'll send you the vin and and we'll go from there.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
We'll go from there. A right, but I'm sure that's
going to have a test port but that's the first thing.
Do we have vacuum because why does the primer work?
If the primer didn't work, then maybe we've got a
fickum problem. Maybe we've got a fuel delivery problem. Maybe
we've got a glow plug issue, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera. But this sounds like fuel's not getting there now.
The question is why vacuum test port? All right, I
(27:19):
gotta go, send me an email.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Hey, thanks you.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Very welcome, sir. You'll be well eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero. What else could it be?
I'm running any of the card doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Hey, we are rolling along the cellar.
Let's get to Gerald in North Carolina, Gerald Deron with
the card doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Hello? Jerod?
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Hello, how you doing, sir?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
What's going on?
Speaker 5 (27:42):
I've got a twenty ten model for grinder four truck. Okay,
it's four OV six automatic and everything is uh what
it's doing. Whenever I started it in morning, everyone's dying.
I've started back up maybe twice three times sometimes and
then it runs just fine. Maybe drive it seven miles
(28:04):
or something soft, shut it down, get back in its
fires right back up.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
Yesterday I had a gem of a mechanic's coat of
church where he put a clean the throttle body and
he put a new I tauch you mass airflow sandstro
on truck. And it started this morning, but it kind
of quivered a little bit, but it didn't die. And
I just wonder what the problem, what the real problem
(28:30):
is with this truck?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Well? Is it? Is it fixed? Is the first question?
So is it mass airflow related or is it a
fuel pressure problem? So if you want to prove, if
you want to prove, was it I guess are you
questioning is it the mass airflow because it runs different now?
Or it runs okay? Which is it?
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Well, it didn't die whereas it had been dying, you know,
and I haven't started back up, but it didn't start
really smooth and run, you know, just fire off that bucket.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Should okay, So it acts like a.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
Fuel pressure brod and the table wall need to go
to the fix it.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And I was going to suggest did anybody check fuel pressure?
You know, how did we come to the conclusion of
a mass era?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Was it had that check? I had that check in
a garage maybe a couple of ways ago. The truck
didn't nie on them. They can't it overnight, and it
didn't nye for them, and they couldn't really figure that.
I did a fuel pressures on it, and uh, it
started and then while the gate was on. It holds
(29:34):
great fuel pressure, but it said the ship the truck
off and it wanted nothing. So I didn't have any
residual pressure it.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It should hold some residual But if the condition isn't
there when the you know, if if they start, if
they turn the key on, fuel pressure goes to spec
and they turn it off and it holds and then drops,
but the truck fires right up. I'm not so concerned
about the loss of a residual I want to know
(30:03):
what fuel pressure's doing when it doesn't start. So here's well,
I was going to say what my question would be,
all right, if you sat there and if the problem
was happening, and it sounds like it's not for right now,
and the fact that we've changed the part kind of
convolutes the diagnosis. We've watered down the chicken soup. We
(30:23):
don't know how good it is yet. Is if you
sat there and turned the key prime the pump shut
it off. Wait a couple of seconds, prime the pump.
Shut it off. You know, if you prime the rail,
would it have started prior to putting the mass airflow on?
Of course, there's no rule that says you've only got
(30:44):
one problem. Right. It sounds like the fellow that put
the mass air on, and I'm not saying he was wrong,
but it sounds like this. I don't hear any diagnosis
being done. It sounds like this was his best guess
and he might have discovered something, or this might be
the moment the truck is running on its own and
it's not having the problem. Do you still have the
(31:04):
old mass airflow?
Speaker 4 (31:06):
I do?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Was this a Hey, he's my buddy thing, let me
help him. And we haven't said this is a finished repair?
Speaker 5 (31:14):
Was it?
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Let me put a mass airflow on and try it
and see what happens.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (31:19):
He put wong had you of him? And the truck
didn't like I said, I started truck this morning and
it didn't I like it. Ben died and that restarted right,
but it didn't start running. It was its smooth Is
it really over the kind of quiver little?
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Or uh?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Right?
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Well?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Listen, listen, listen, listen to me g and then I
gotta go all right, there's no diagnosis been done here. Okay,
try it with the mass airflow at this point, can
you replicate before you change any more parts? Can you
replicate the original problem? If the original problem happens, put
the old mass airflow back on, catch it with the
problem with fuel pressure. Then we can talk some more.
(32:04):
I hope that's the best I can do for you
at the moment, ronn and And and the car doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Hey coming up, I think
this week or next week. It'll launch up on the
YouTube channel a video about changing spark plugs on a
twenty fifteen Toyota Highlander. And I realized, gee, that sounds
(32:25):
so simple. What's the specialty or what makes that video
so special? I'm trying something different. It's several videos piece together,
tied together, and I'm just trying to show you the
complexity of just put spark plugs in my car. And
you take note when I show you the panning. As
I go around the shop and go what is this piece?
(32:47):
This piece, this piece, this piece and this piece all
have in common. They're all supposed to go here Because
we had to take all that apart to get to there,
because that's what's involved coming up on our YouTube channel
this week or next. So if you haven't subscribed, subscribe,
if you haven't visited our YouTube channel, just get out there,
go run an Anie in the Car Doctor and you
(33:07):
will find it along with all the other videos we've
got up there, and there's more coming.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Just that.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
We've been working on this one for a while. We're
trying to change the format a little bit and you know,
give it, make it a little more interesting, and make
it a little bit more you know, how do we
get here? More practical kind of things. So, and don't
forget hats, t shirts and all the rest over at
our website just to hit the merchandise button. I'm running
Ay in the Car Doctor till the next time. Good
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See Yeah,
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 a five to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to
honest answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow
dot com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your engines. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
If you were having pizza Knight in America like so
many last night, and sitting around saying, hey, how is
your week, and everybody's oh, I did this and I
did that. If you asked me, you know what I
would answer. I would answer one word because it was
one of those weeks. I think this is an appropriate
story for a radio show about cars, because it's also
(01:09):
about what goes on in the repair shop. And you
need to know that a lot of what goes on
in a repair shop isn't necessarily the problems of fixing
the cars. It's the problems of running the shop. It's
the front office stuff and the things that go on
behind the scenes in the front office. My front office
went nuts on Wednesday. I had ordered checks from QuickBooks,
(01:34):
and I'm going to mention names and you know what
I'm going to tell you. Yeah, Okay, all the companies
that I mentioned are free to come on the show
and tell me their side of it and tell you
their side of it, because I think they were all
very badly run. I ordered checks from QuickBooks. We use
QuickBooks to help run the shop and write checks, and
we order checks from them the week prior. The checks
showed up on Tuesday. They were actually a day late,
(01:57):
not a crisis. We were ready for that. We had
a couple extra checks. Well like we were running out
of checks. We just got to the point where we
needed three order checks. The box didn't show up on Monday.
The box showed up on Tuesday, and what caught my
attention was FedEx another company that's welcome to come on
the show, because I think there were a bunch of dopes,
all right. They You ever noticed you put a shipping
(02:18):
label on a cardboard box, and you you know, you
stick the label to the box and ship the box. Well,
the box came the address. The shipping label was still
attested to the original piece of box cardboard that it
was attached to, but somebody had taken a razor knife,
cut it out and scotch taped it, you know, packing
taped it to the top of a new box, and
(02:40):
then wrapped about four miles of packing tape around it.
It looked like something Luke Costello wrapped up for a
birthday present for Bud Right. And it just caught your
eye that something's wrong, like this was not how you
would think it would come out of a check printing
facility wherever that is, and open it up and sure
(03:00):
it's the checks. And you know, first comment to quick Books,
why are we still shipping checks and clear plastic bags?
I don't understand that in a day in and age,
we're heightened security, and we're worried about fraud, and we're
worried about everybody gathering our personal information. Why are we
sending things out in clear plastic bags should As FedEx
explained to me, the box burst open at the TRANSFERACIL
(03:23):
facility at Newark Airport, and they transferred the checks from
one box to another and sent it on its way.
Of course, of course, it took two phone calls from
to FedEx to find that out, because God forbid anybody
that answers the phone knows what they're really talking about.
Needless to say, it would have been nice had they
put a sticker. Don't you think they should have put
(03:44):
a sticker on the outside of the box that said, hey,
we know this box looks a little funny, but it
was reboxed under a supervised facility, under a supervised condition,
so the contents weren't, you know, compromised. I mean, what
if it was gold coins on Amazon that you can
now going by gold coins on Amazon right where all
the gold coins accounted for? So talking to QuickBooks got
(04:08):
nowhere because I got the same overseas person telling me, oh,
we're so sorry, mister Ananian, and yeah, we're very sorry
that that happened, and would you like to order more checks?
Because some of the checks were rustled and shuffled and
you know, beat up. No, I want to know that
these checks are going to be okay, that they're all there,
and we did count and they're all there. And then
the only concern we have is was the account Is
the checking account able to be compromised? Because did somebody
(04:30):
come along with their camera and go click click on
the line at FedEx? Something FedEx never even thought of
until I mentioned it and they said, well, yeah, I
guess that's possible. I guess that's possible. This is a
this is this is a secure method of shipping. So
let me get this right. In an age of fraud,
in an age of absolute we're concerned about everything under
(04:51):
the sun. We're shipping checks all across America, not just
to order repair shops, but everywhere, unsupervised, in non secure envelopes.
Well that was Tuesday, That was stupid Tuesday. Well, insane
Wednesday came along, so TD Bank, who's also free to
(05:14):
come on the show and talk to us about this,
because what the heck I want to get You know,
we're not talking about small companies here. These aren't mom
and pops. These are all giant companies. Who knows, maybe
they'll be off the air next week. You know, they
might buy a couple of radio networks and cancel this show.
Decided that, well, we're going to freeze the account so
I can no longer use my checking account, which was
(05:34):
in use for the past forty seven years or whatever
it's been, because I've only I've only been here a
little while. And you know, in order for me to
write a check out of it, I had to call
up the fraud department and say I'm writing check number
XYZ for three dollars and twenty two cents or whatever
the amount was, and they would clear it and allow
it to process through. And I had thirty days of
(05:57):
doing this because then they would just close the account,
and in the meantime I needed to go get another
bank account. Have you tried to open a new bank
account for a business in America lately at all recently
in the last couple of years. Well, this was my
first experience. I haven't had to do it in quite
a long time. Why I've been around for a while.
(06:18):
I've been around over forty something years. When I got
the TD bank. Vic who's also welcome to come on
the show and talk to us about it, was reading
from the script book. Well, mister and Adian, we're sorry
that this happened, but you know, we'll need to see
your new business formation papers to give you the new
checking account that you're going to need. Excuse me, Well,
(06:43):
I've been a customer here since I don't know, nineteen
ninety three, which was a while ago. You can't see
that I'm in existing business. Yes, but when you opened it,
you opened it with your social and the federal government
now requires a tax ID beginning with twenty two. Well, yeah,
here's my scale. You'll see tax return, here's the mortgage
that you guys held for so many years. Here's all
(07:04):
this information. But no, we're going to read from the
script kind of describes my week right now. In the meantime,
I'm trying to run a radio show, I'm trying to
run a repair shop. I'm trying to keep Danny busy.
I'm trying to keep the shop flowing, and I'm dealing
with complete insanity. On the financial side of things. A
(07:28):
new Chase Manhattan Bank opened in Waldwick, New Jersey in
the last couple of weeks, and I'm trying to get
over there because I kept thinking, you know what, maybe
I'll bank a little bit with them, just to see
how they are. I've got a couple of Chase credit
cards as a personal note. They've always worked well. Anytime
there's been an issue, it's always been you know, it
always works. I ended up talking to Oliver. I ended up.
(07:49):
I talked to Marco, the manager. Marco gave me to Oliver.
Oliver asked me. He said, well, I'm going to need
your new business formation paperwork. And I'm thinking, oh god,
we're going to go through this again. Now. All we
want to do is fix cars at the end of
the day, right, folks, That's all we're trying to do. Marco.
I'm sorry, Oliver, what do you think I need? Well,
(08:10):
I need your DBA. You're doing business as okay? I
had that, he said, right, And what's the expiration date
on it? Because it has to be renewed every five years.
I don't know. Maybe every state's different, maybe New Jersey's wrong,
maybe it's different in New Jersey. But my DBA is
from a million years ago, nineteen eighty three, to be exact,
(08:31):
and there's no expiration date on it. And he said
there has to be. Well, there is, and I'll show
you that here it is. The raised seal notar Republic
verified from the county seat in Hackensack, New Jersey. No
expiration date. Let me make a phone call, which I
thought was kind of nice of him, that Oliver was
willing to stick his neck out take the time for
(08:51):
somebody he didn't know, on account that he didn't have
to see if this was possibly the way to do it. Gee,
customer service, somebody that doesn't read from the script, what
a concept? Call me back, he said. I asked three people. Yeah,
what happened, he said. The first guy said no, the
second guy said maybe, The third guy said yes. I said,
what do you say? He said, come on over, I'll
(09:12):
open the account. So I solved the problem sort of
maybe kind of. Yes, We're going to now start banking
with Chase Bank. No credit desire, no pressure, no no
no promotion here intentionally given. And I guess the point
(09:34):
of all of this is the aggravation the problems in
running a small business, not just an order repair shop,
but the problems in running a small business are are
beyond what you can describe, and it can go from
zero to one hundred and twenty miles an hour like that,
in the blink of an eye, and it's difficult. It's difficult.
(09:58):
It best to explain to somebody it took three days
out of my week for something that was beyond my control,
for something I did not create. Because a major corporation,
three major corporations don't have scenarios in place to correct this.
(10:18):
I don't understand most of all, how FedEx, for all
the packages they ship to their credit, they knew the
box was damaged on the conveyor belt at the transfer
station at Newark Airport. If you know the problem can happen,
don't you have a better remedy than it looks like
a four year old took cut the box out state
(10:38):
on and wrapped so much tape around this thing. It
looked like that bad Christmas present you got from Uncle
Frank last year that you were afraid to open because
of the ribbon being in fourteen different places and tape
all over the place. I was surprised the lunch that
the guy had that day wasn't kind of wrapped in
between the tape as he wrapped his fingers around it
and created this. Needless to say, I am like so
(11:02):
fired up to just fix cars today because I didn't
get to fix any cars on Wednesday and Thursday. So
I'm ready eight five five five six nine nine zero zero.
I'll be back right after this. See you, by the way.
For everybody that came in the shop this week and
tried to make me laugh with I hear your flashing
(11:22):
school buses stop anyway? Let's that was the running joke
in the shop all week long. Are you flashing? Are
you done flashing a school bus? Yet? They haven't arrested you,
not yet, but I'm trying. Frank, Virginia twenty Chevy Tahoe.
What's going on here? Frank? How can I help?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Hey, Ron, thanks for taking my call. Welcome sir, We've
got the twenty Chevy Tahoe premiere. Okay, the car is great.
I like it. The problem I have is when I
step on a brake pedal at my right foot to
the right side of the foot. Also, it's the gas pedal.
Excuse me. At one time I even ran into the
back of a pickup truck. Luckily nobody got hurt. Right,
(12:01):
The dealer said the break in gas pedal.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Work fixed change in a fixed position.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yet it would change on this year's model and they
are no longer individually adjusted. You guys who adjust both
of them at the same time. Both of them do
get just at the same time. They also said they
had a mechanic there who knew how to adjust just
the brake pedal, but when I went back to have
that done, they said they couldn't do it because of
(12:29):
liability reasons. They recommended a handicapped company to put an
adapter on the top of the brake pedal to raise
it up, but that was not an option. It was
just too white. I didn't get that done.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
What do you mean it was? So let me ask
a couple of questions, right, because I was going to
actually say right, handicapped vehicle controls would probably be the
way to go. Do you have a do you have
a lazy right foot? Does it flop over? Not to
get personal, but we're here on radio, so nobody will
see you.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I know it's talking about I don't think so it's
it just stays it does stay could write a little bit.
But when you step on a brake, the brake pedal
top of it is in line with the gas pedal
at the top of the gas pedal.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Right, but if you're if you're stepping on what I
don't understand is if you I'm just trying to visualize this,
If you're stepping on the brake and your foot is
straight up total heel top the bottom, how do you
manage to catch the gas pedal?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, I'm not fully over on the right hand side
of the get the brake pedal. I thought if I
could get the brake pedal raised up a little bit
to keep it from being in line with the gas pedal,
that would solve the problem. So what I'm trying to
do is use my left foot for brakes in my
right foot.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I don't want to see you do that because I
think that that makes it We're going to have to
retrain you in your in your in, your in your
driving approach. So what you're effectively asking for is you
want a block of wood on the brake.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Pedal something like that, or now this this one guy,
this technician, said that he was a will to adjust
the brake pedal linkage to bring the break higher than
what the what it is now, But then they said
they wouldn't do it because you change anything from the manufacturer,
then there's liability.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, there is a liability, so you know, and that's
hence that brings us back to the handicapped vehicle control.
You know, you can't be the only person in America
that's got this issue. You know, there are people with
handicaps that are obviously driving. There are people, I'm sure
that have a foot position issue such as you're having.
So did you talk to the handicapped vehicle control people?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I went down in and I saw what they have,
and it's it's a block. It's made out of metal
and rubber that you put on the top of the
brake pedal, which brings it up. But it's a high piece.
It's not even one that you can have the size
made up, so it's high. I've sort of just putting
something on it myself and bolted it right break up.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Well can you take and I'm trying to imagine what
they have, but can you take whatever they're going to
have and say, well, that's too high, I need half
that thickness. Take it to a machine shop and have
them machine it in half and then bolt it on.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I had a door to that, but that that's one reason.
One way I haven't.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I don't know what the device looks like. You know, listen,
we can we can modify cars to such a degree.
I'm sure this isn't the most insurmountable problem in the
whole world. It's just going to take some thought. Yes,
there's some liability issues, you know, as far as to
be concerned about. But I think if we follow common
sense guidelines and and you know, however, the handicapped vehicle
(15:39):
controls places doing it, I'm sure if you follow some
sort of guideline from them, and then that's not to say, hey, listen,
wherever you went, they're not the only ones.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
You can't convince me that you know you're the only
person with this condition. I always say that it's a
big country there, They've they've got to have scenarios that
accommodate a wide variety of driving habits, so to speak.
It's a fair way to say it. And I would
encourage you. I would say, let's just you know, Google search,
(16:14):
you know, handicapped vehicle controls. I have an issue. I
have a customer who has trying to think he has
no left leg, no right leg, no legs at all.
Actually he's on mechanical legs. And the sweetheart of a guy,
really and we kind of kid about it.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
One time I had to put him on the lift
to a justice leg. I actually tightened some of the
screws that were falling out for him, and we kind
of made a Okay, you're the car of the week,
get up on the lift and we raised them up
and tightening screws, and you know, it's it's that kind
of relationship. We get along very well. And I've seen
some of the configurations and devices that Keith has brought
in to me to have me install over the years,
and I mean there's a bunch of stuff out there,
(16:54):
so and we've actually ordered things for him off of Amazon,
believe it or not. Go to Amazon, type in vehicle
handicap controls, watch what comes up.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I gotta do that. And I'll also check and see
what they have at this handicaps shop and see if
I can get it adjusted right.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
You know, is there a way to modify this? I
would stay away from the linkage and the pivot and
the fulcrum because now we're playing with geometry. I want
to just yeah, I just want to play with the
pedal height and see what that gets me. All right,
do that, Frank, I gotta go. You'd be well. Good
luck t in if you need more. Please give me
a call back. We can chat about it some more.
(17:30):
I'm ronning Andy and the car doctor. We are back
right after this next up. Let's go to John and
Florida right away. John five Chevy Silverado Diesel and uh,
we'll yes, sir, what's going on.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
I've got a lot of information, but so and I
don't want to take up a lot of your time.
Two thousand and five Silverado twenty five hundred diesel four
by four brought new low mileage because we only use
it the hall heavy equipment on the farm, and it's
had We're north of Pensacola in Florida, so it's had
(18:08):
a For the first from two thousand and five to
two thousand and eight, it had very benign driving conditions.
After that, I took a job in western New York,
about a tenth of a mile from Lake Ontario, and
the conditions were less than perfect. We came back to
(18:31):
the farm in twenty fifteen and for about five years
the vehicle ran nicely. One day we were getting supplies
in Pensacola and the hot day came out. Tried to
turn the car over and it was just it just
cranked and cranked. And cranked, and I have enough experience
(18:52):
of diesels to know it was a fuel issued. So
I had the vehicle towed to my mechanic who happens
to have the same year and exact same truck as
I do. And they've taken it apart a couple of times,
so I trust him. What they did. What they did
was to uh, I guess, there's a fuel pump and
a filter in the tank. So they took the tank down,
(19:16):
took the filter out, took the pump out, and cleaned
it out. There was a lot of sand in it,
and put in a new fuel chill filter in the
engine compartment. Two days later, I was in Pensacola and
the same thing happened. I called him up. He told
me how to start the vehicle. Get in the engine
compartment and pump the there's a pump.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
There is the prime. The pump prime it yep.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Like on tractors, and do it ten times and try
to turn it over and woof, it started right up.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Okay, So here's my here's my first question. All right,
there is a there is a pressure test port behind
the alternator. All right, are you aware of this?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
No?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Where is it?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (20:01):
I really don't service this vehicle.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
All right, so ask your mechanic this all right, let's
be cause let's let's just because I already know where
this is going. I can tell there's a lot of
pain involved here for you. And and you know, yes,
I understand diesel owners, long term diesel owners become diesel
mechanics after a while, you have to. So it's just
it's just part of the part of the process and
the ritual. Behind the alternator, there's a vacuum test port
(20:25):
or there's a test port, uh pressure pressure tap, so
hook a pressure vacuum gates to that crank the engine.
It absolutely positively has to build vacuum. I bet it doesn't.
I bet it doesn't. And it should hold that vacuum indefinitely,
all right. You should see two to four inches of
(20:47):
cranking vacuum rough numbers, all right. And what that shows
is that shows there is system integrity from the front
of the vehicle to the tank. Got it, all right?
And if that vacuum doesn't build or doesn't hold, now
let's go find out why. And for the record, OH
fives were the worst. Oh fives had the most pores.
(21:12):
Moret there were more porosity problems with fuel lines and
and fuel connections and fittings and air in the system
and not holding vacuum. I think then all the gms,
OH fives and O four's actually but but this is
not an uncommon problem. And I can tell you why.
I can tell you why it happened. You were great
(21:32):
in Florida. It went you took the truck up the
up to New York. Right, it's been I don't know,
five years in the wonderful salt belt. When it started right,
and then it came right, and then it came back.
Then it came back to Florida, and it was good
for a while until you know, it sort of got activated,
(21:53):
and then one day that's it. You're done. You know,
my TV that worked yesterday doesn't work today. Sooner or later,
things roughte Are you near the ocean at all? I
don't know. I don't remember where Pensacola is.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Yeah, we're right on, we're right. Well, we're about thirty
miles from the from the Gulf of America, Okay, And
and that's about it.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
So, so you went to the salt belt. You applied
several doses of calcium chloride and and a whole bunch
of other chemicals to keep the road free and clean.
And then you brought it back to Florida and you
activated it. Congratulations, Right, it's it's I bet you this
is going to be a fuel related rusted porous line issue.
(22:36):
But that is the first thing you want to do.
That test port. You can actually find all this as
a service procedure in any of the GM service information.
It'll be there. They talk about vacuum testing, pressure gauge
to the test port and what the results of that
has to be.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
All right, you know that amazing? That amazes me, Ron,
because I even have I have two case files with Chevrolet.
I tried getting information and they didn't have any clue
what was happening. I even called Duramax in Canada and
they said, well, we don't support the engine we sell
to Chevrolet.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
No, there should be there. There absolutely should be a
test port. This is a six six, right, there's a
six to six diesel six six Duramax. Yeah. Yes, I
remember my instructor in class explaining this to us twenty
years ago that it's got to be there. There's got
to be it, there's got to be a port.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Has to be all right, if a vacuum, should that
hold vacuum.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
We typically saw two to four inches, you know, two
to five inches, but it should hold. It should hold
that vacuum. It should it should it should stay above
one to two inches even after the engine stops cranking.
I mean theoretically they say it should be there indefinitely.
I don't know how true that is. It's I've never
really looked at it longer than you know. Okay, it's there.
But think of it like this. It's it's if this
(23:58):
was a a gasoline engine with a mechanical lift pumph,
a mechanical pump, all right, A mechanical pump does not
pump fuel. Theoretically, a mechanical pump creates a low vacuum condition, right,
and it doesn't suck. It just creates a low vacuum
condition and atmospheric pressure pushes down on the fuel to
(24:20):
drive it out of the tank through the lineup to
the That's kind of the physics of how a lift
pump works. That's the theory of how they explain it
to us in class. But it's the idea by which
we diagnose the diesel.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
That so the yeah, it makes sense to me. It's
so the under conditions where the vehicle starts, it should
still I mean, whether it starts or it stops. I'm
not going to have the wherewithal to hook up a
vacuum gauge to the port behind the alternator when it
doesn't start, but when it does start, it should when
(24:56):
it cranks, it should maintain the two to four inches
of that.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Well.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Once, once fuel is flowing, it's flowing right once when
you siphon fuel out of a tank, Once you you know,
and get the mouthful of fuel or liquid or whatever
it is, it continues to flow. Do you ever think
about how come that works.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
Because there's no cavitation right?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Well, well, because because atmospheric pressure is pushing down on
the fuel in the tank and pushing it up out
to the point of lowest pressure which you created by
sucking on it. Mm hmm, all right, which is the
whole We can have a conversation about this for about
two hours about how carburetors work, but it all, it all,
all the physics comes back to this. So when that
(25:37):
doesn't start, you're just looking to see can it build
vacuum during a crank? Simple test if you can't find
information on it. You send me the then I'll find
the test procedure. I'll email it to you roniccardoctorshow dot com.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
I sure will, all right, So let me get this
right so I can explain it to the mechanic. And
I know I'm not going to be able to get
to the truck to the mechanic when it doesn't start
like this. So will there be any variation in the
(26:14):
vacuum when I drive the vehicle up to the shop
and tell them.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Hey, hook up a vacuum, do this, do this, don't
look at it when it's bad, run the test when
it's good. So you understand what So if you right,
we always want to look at a good vehicle. He's
got the same vehicle, ask him to do the test
on his vehicle. Right. If we don't test broken cars
or vehicles, right, John, that's the rule. We don't test
(26:43):
cars when they're broken. We test cars when they're good,
so we know what they're going to look like when
they're broken. Oky, All right, simple stuff.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
I'll send you the vin and and we'll go from there.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
We'll go from there. A right, but I'm sure that's
going to have a test port but that's the first thing.
Do we have vacuum because why does the primer work?
If the primer didn't work, then maybe we've got a
fickum problem. Maybe we've got a fuel delivery problem. Maybe
we've got a glow plug issue, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera. But this sounds like fuel's not getting there now.
The question is why vacuum test port? All right, I
(27:19):
gotta go, send me an email.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Hey, thanks you.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Very welcome, sir. You'll be well eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero. What else could it be?
I'm running any of the card doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Hey, we are rolling along the cellar.
Let's get to Gerald in North Carolina, Gerald Deron with
the card doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Hello? Jerod?
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Hello, how you doing, sir?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
What's going on?
Speaker 5 (27:42):
I've got a twenty ten model for grinder four truck. Okay,
it's four OV six automatic and everything is uh what
it's doing. Whenever I started it in morning, everyone's dying.
I've started back up maybe twice three times sometimes and
then it runs just fine. Maybe drive it seven miles
(28:04):
or something soft, shut it down, get back in its
fires right back up.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
Yesterday I had a gem of a mechanic's coat of
church where he put a clean the throttle body and
he put a new I tauch you mass airflow sandstro
on truck. And it started this morning, but it kind
of quivered a little bit, but it didn't die. And
I just wonder what the problem, what the real problem
(28:30):
is with this truck?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Well? Is it? Is it fixed? Is the first question?
So is it mass airflow related or is it a
fuel pressure problem? So if you want to prove, if
you want to prove, was it I guess are you
questioning is it the mass airflow because it runs different now?
Or it runs okay? Which is it?
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Well, it didn't die whereas it had been dying, you know,
and I haven't started back up, but it didn't start
really smooth and run, you know, just fire off that bucket.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Should okay, So it acts like a.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
Fuel pressure brod and the table wall need to go
to the fix it.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
And I was going to suggest did anybody check fuel pressure?
You know, how did we come to the conclusion of
a mass era?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Was it had that check? I had that check in
a garage maybe a couple of ways ago. The truck
didn't nie on them. They can't it overnight, and it
didn't nye for them, and they couldn't really figure that.
I did a fuel pressures on it, and uh, it
started and then while the gate was on. It holds
(29:34):
great fuel pressure, but it said the ship the truck
off and it wanted nothing. So I didn't have any
residual pressure it.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It should hold some residual But if the condition isn't
there when the you know, if if they start, if
they turn the key on, fuel pressure goes to spec
and they turn it off and it holds and then drops,
but the truck fires right up. I'm not so concerned
about the loss of a residual I want to know
(30:03):
what fuel pressure's doing when it doesn't start. So here's well,
I was going to say what my question would be,
all right, if you sat there and if the problem
was happening, and it sounds like it's not for right now,
and the fact that we've changed the part kind of
convolutes the diagnosis. We've watered down the chicken soup. We
(30:23):
don't know how good it is yet. Is if you
sat there and turned the key prime the pump shut
it off. Wait a couple of seconds, prime the pump.
Shut it off. You know, if you prime the rail,
would it have started prior to putting the mass airflow on?
Of course, there's no rule that says you've only got
(30:44):
one problem. Right. It sounds like the fellow that put
the mass air on, and I'm not saying he was wrong,
but it sounds like this. I don't hear any diagnosis
being done. It sounds like this was his best guess
and he might have discovered something, or this might be
the moment the truck is running on its own and
it's not having the problem. Do you still have the
(31:04):
old mass airflow?
Speaker 4 (31:06):
I do?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Was this a Hey, he's my buddy thing, let me
help him. And we haven't said this is a finished repair?
Speaker 5 (31:14):
Was it?
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Let me put a mass airflow on and try it
and see what happens.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Okay?
Speaker 5 (31:19):
He put wong had you of him? And the truck
didn't like I said, I started truck this morning and
it didn't I like it. Ben died and that restarted right,
but it didn't start running. It was its smooth Is
it really over the kind of quiver little?
Speaker 4 (31:40):
Or uh?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Right?
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Well?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Listen, listen, listen, listen to me g and then I
gotta go all right, there's no diagnosis been done here. Okay,
try it with the mass airflow at this point, can
you replicate before you change any more parts? Can you
replicate the original problem? If the original problem happens, put
the old mass airflow back on, catch it with the
problem with fuel pressure. Then we can talk some more.
(32:04):
I hope that's the best I can do for you
at the moment, ronn and And and the car doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Hey coming up, I think
this week or next week. It'll launch up on the
YouTube channel a video about changing spark plugs on a
twenty fifteen Toyota Highlander. And I realized, gee, that sounds
(32:25):
so simple. What's the specialty or what makes that video
so special? I'm trying something different. It's several videos piece together,
tied together, and I'm just trying to show you the
complexity of just put spark plugs in my car. And
you take note when I show you the panning. As
I go around the shop and go what is this piece?
(32:47):
This piece, this piece, this piece and this piece all
have in common. They're all supposed to go here Because
we had to take all that apart to get to there,
because that's what's involved coming up on our YouTube channel
this week or next. So if you haven't subscribed, subscribe,
if you haven't visited our YouTube channel, just get out there,
go run an Anie in the Car Doctor and you
(33:07):
will find it along with all the other videos we've
got up there, and there's more coming.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
Just that.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
We've been working on this one for a while. We're
trying to change the format a little bit and you know,
give it, make it a little more interesting, and make
it a little bit more you know, how do we
get here? More practical kind of things. So, and don't
forget hats, t shirts and all the rest over at
our website just to hit the merchandise button. I'm running
Ay in the Car Doctor till the next time. Good
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See Yeah,
Host
Ron Ananian
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