Ron takes his hot rod out for a spin for the first time in a while, then it’s straight into a marathon of listener calls. From every corner of America and on every kind of vehicle, it’s another fast-paced hour with The Car Doctor.
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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):
Oh it's my turn again. What a crazy day, right,
we're still kind of recovering from our lack of being
at PBA two eighty six Car Show and toml are
twelve talking about it. And you know what we're going
to find out this week when we call up and
talk to the software company and why this didn't talk
to that, and that didn't talk to this, and the
thingamagig didn't work. And you know, we're talking about pivoting,
(01:11):
and that's part of what allt to repair is, right,
it's it comes back to it. It teaches me the
lesson over and over again that life is about pivoting
and being flexible and making the change that you don't
want to make when you least expect it, but have to.
And I just keep thinking that's the lesson today because
(01:31):
we're frustrated, as you can tell that we didn't get
to stay the whole day at the show. On the
other hand, I did get to washing wax the hot rod,
something I haven't done in two years because I haven't
taken the cover off but three times. And I taught
me that I have to get out and drive it more.
And you know what, it was good in the sense
that I enjoyed driving the car. It's been a while.
(01:51):
I have to do more of that because you know,
there's only so many nice sunny days left in a
lot of ways, let's all r up the garage doors.
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero
is the phone number. Let's go over to Donna down
in Tennessee a ten Chevy Equinox. Donna, welcome to the
car doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Hi? Thank you. I had my air compressor on my
air conditioning go out, okay, and so I had it replaced.
And it only blows cold air from one side. It
barely blows from the other side. And the guy who
did put it in had a transmission fall on him,
so he's not available. I checked the actuator, doors already
(02:31):
changed to cabin filter and no, luck.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Okay, Well, if if it's not getting any airflow, is
the air coming out anywhere or there's just yes? Is
there just no airflow?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
No, the air is coming out on the passenger side,
and it's cool, very cool. And then on this passenger side,
did I just say that?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, I know what you're meaning. The driver's side, right,
that's okay, that's a kid.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
But on the passenger side, I'm getting very little blow
and it's not cool.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
All right, So we've got minimal airflow and what's there
is not cool? And that was that since the ac
compressor was done, yes, and you're you never got back
to I mean, what did he do the air? I'm
gonna I'm gonna paraphrase it like this, The ac compressor
was done on Monday, the transmission fell on him on Tuesday,
and you went back on Wednesday and he wasn't there.
(03:26):
It was that quick, that kind of a.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Scenario, Well, I kind of. I think it was about
a week later.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, okay, and you have no way to contact him.
Is it was it like this when you the first
time you turn the air on.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
No, I can't say that. Well, it might have been
because I drive it, so I didn't realize the passenger
side wasn't getting it. I just knew when it was
getting really warm outside, right, I started sweating in the
car with the air conditioner on, and then I started
checking stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Because you're doing the right you're looking at the right things. Listen,
the first things that come to my mind is airflow.
Notwithstanding when I see a system that's warmer on one
side than the other and it's a split evaperator like
this one, is I always think about low system or
incorrect system charge. All right, So that's that's always on
(04:18):
the back of my mind. Do I have a system
charge issue to a charge level issue? But the fact
that there's no air blowing out of the one side
where's the air going? And I would get curious at that.
I would want to take a scan tool and do
a sweep test. You know, have to sit there, and
you know, you can actually take a good quality scan tool,
(04:39):
something more than OBD two and self test the actuators.
In other words, take the front door to your house.
You know where closed, you know where closed is right,
and you know where you know where full open is right. Well,
you can do that with a scan tool and the
computer will log that, it will see you all you
know whatever it is one hundred and eighty two steps
(05:00):
and if it only gets up to one hundred and sixty,
it will report that as a problem. Now, is it
possible for some reason this is out of calibration? Sure
it could. It could think one's sixty is a maximum
opposite end position. But that's kind of odd, right that
he did a compressor and all of a sudden you've
got this problem. So, you know, instead of looking for
(05:22):
what's bad, I really want to go back to what
I always say. I want to look for what's good.
Does it pass a sweep test, does it have a
good system charge in it? Is air coming out anywhere
on this vehicle? Other than the vents. When you've got
it in the vent position, if you put it on
the frost, can you well, let's say you can't do that, right,
you can. You're split side to side temperature wise, but
(05:45):
you can't change position. If you put this into frost,
the frost probably over rides. Well wait a minute, how
are you? How are you split on this? You're split
temperature wise, not position wise.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Well, it does, like I said, it barely blows out
the passenger side, and it's not cool. I did just
hit the defrost button and I can feel it on
my feet. So oh, but that's good.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Let's see, right, turn the air conditioning off. Does the
defrost come out through the top?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Sounds like it is, but I can't reach them.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
And then and then why were you feeling it on
your feet in the defrost position with the AC on?
You should be feeling it in your face? Or is it?
Is it coming? Is it coming out the bottom?
Speaker 4 (06:32):
See?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I think you've got a stuck door. I really do.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Well.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I did change the middle one. I forget what it's called,
but I kind of checked out the one on each
side and those seemed fine, right, Actually your doors? Yeah,
and the middle one did not look like it was
operating well, So it went ahead and just changed it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right when you when you had that one off, were
you able to freely move the door?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I didn't. I just put a new one on.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
You didn't try You didn't try moving it? Right?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, I guess I should.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I still have the part, right? Is it?
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Because? Is it binding? And then if you put a
new one on, did you calibrate it because sometimes they
require calibration?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Thank you? No? I did not?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
All right, So you got a bunch of things to
do here.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yep, I need a high low UH pressure gauge for
checking the high low right.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Well, you do need You do need gauges.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You will need some kind of a recovery system too,
if you're going to do this on your own, you know.
And I can get into an argument with AC guys
about this all day long. Everybody says, well, you look
at ambient temperature, and if ambient temperature is eighty degrees
and it's it's showing eighty five pounds on the low
side gauge at rest or eighty five pounds across the
system at rest, that means you've got correct charge. Yeah,
(07:51):
I disagree with that. I don't find ambient temp and
a relationship to pressure in the system really exists anymore
as being accurate. I've had far too many systems with
new one thirty four refrigerants show me just the opposite
to be incorrect. And I really like if I'm dealing
with a mystery system, I really like to be the
(08:13):
guy that pull it out, measure it, recharge it. You
know what kind of oil comes out, what kind of
refrigerant comes out, and you know go from there.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So well should I? And my other thought was should
I waste the money to do a die test on it?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well? Why you're thinking maybe it's low?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Well I think that I always like to start with
the easiest stuff, which I've done.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, but you know the well, the problem is you
can listen, you can add die to this, all right,
you can surely do that. But you know how low
is it? You're you're about You're on step four. I
think it's great, I really do, but you're on step four.
I think step one is the things we talked about.
Can you can you manually move the door? How much
(08:59):
refrigerants in it? You know, if you if you play
with the knob does it come out anywhere or is
it stuck in one position that it's always going to
be blowing out at your feet, right, you know, right,
so it's it's you know, and then does it need
calibration and then yeah, okay, if it's low on charge,
did he not charge the system properly? And you know,
(09:21):
maybe he made a mistake, maybe he read the wrong amount.
Is there a rear evaporator in the car and he
didn't realize it, so he charged it for a front
only evaporator system. It is right, okay, as long as
as long as it is. But you know, you'll answer
the question if you're using a machine that recovers, and
if it's supposed to have two pounds in it, you
(09:41):
take out you know, one pound fourteen ounces close enough.
If you take out one pound, that's fifty percent. That's
that's that's very low. And then that's a problem. Now
you want to recharge it. Hey, the system works perfect,
except I got to figure out way the air is
not blown because I I made a mess of my
mode door when I did the actually trying to you know,
shotgun this. You know, now you want to add a
(10:04):
die to it. So if in two weeks, it's low
on charge again. Now you got a place to go.
But to start to start adding things to the pot.
You know, there's always ten steps. I like. I like
to encourage people to sit down and follow the ten
in order. Don't hopscotch. Oh all right, So not scolding,
just saying, you know, I don't. I don't like to
play hopscotch. It's painful for me too, believe me, because
(10:27):
I want to get to the solution. You know what
order repairs like life. Here, I am saying that again.
You got to enjoy the ride in the process. You
really do.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So yeah, well I'm not enjoying the ride too hot.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Well I get that one hundred percent. One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
So you're giving me some tips to think about because
I had no idea about the calibration on.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
The door, right, Sometimes there's a calibration. You have to
tell it. Here's the new actuator, here's zero. And have
you ever had a car with a dead you know,
have you ever had a car And then I got
to go, have you ever had a car with a
dead battery? And you replace the battery, and then the windows,
the power windows, the automatic windows don't work, and you
have to train the windows. Same thing. You got to
show the computer up. You got to show the computer down.
(11:09):
And then all of a sudden it knows position. You
got to you put an actuator in it. You got
to show it zero. You got to show it one
hundred and eighty degrees in the other direction and back.
And that's probably a good chance of what you're going through.
So you got some steps to do here, Donna, you
do them. You give me a call back if you
need me. Eight five five five six nine nine zero
zero running any of the Car Doctor coming back right
(11:30):
after this. Hey, let's not waste any time. Let's go
right to Jamie and Iowa seventy nine f one, p
fifty Jamie, Welcome to the Car Doctor. What's going on?
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Hi?
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Ron? Yes, well, I've got this truck and it's been
running perfectly except the other last weekend. I pulled it
in the garage and parked it, and then I went
to go start it, like Monday or something, and it
wouldn't start, just frank over. So I thought, well, there's
no spark, So I put a spark plug tester on it,
(12:06):
and it didn't show any sparks. I said, Okay, I
don't have spark. So I checked the coil and the
coil with the little meter you know those little dialmeters,
right multimeter. It shows that the coil is good. Okay,
Well I checked the coil.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You didn't. You did an om reading on the coil
you own, you owned the primary, okay.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
And then I went and checked the fuse for the
coil and it was good.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
All right, you had power at the positive side.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Yeah, oh yeah, okay, And I actually replaced the fuse.
But anyway, then I disconnected the Duras spark where it
was into the watering harness and made sure it was
all clean and not coroded, put it back together, and
it wouldn't start. So then I thought, well, I have
been having trouble with the selenoid on the firewall there
(12:58):
or the fender. It had been sticking and I'd had
to jump out open the hood and whop it and
it'd stop cranking. So I thought, well, I need to
replace that anyway, So I replaced that because I thought, well,
maybe when it was cranking over the engine longer than
it's supposed to be, that it maybe caused it to
burn out the ignition side.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
So I got a other before.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
We go, before we go too far, Jamie. So you know,
you know you don't have spark. Do you have fuel pressure?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
There was gas?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
I pumped the carburetor and it was his.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Right, and and okay, so you have fuel pressure, okay, right.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
I put another selenoid on it, that was a new one,
and then I cranked it over and it started and
it was running perfect, and then it just all of
a sudden quit and I thought, well, that's a fluke.
But it's cold, you know, just started up.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You put another you put another ignition module in.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
No, I haven't.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
I put a selenoid for the starter okay, right, it
was sticking. Okay, I know I need it anyway, Okay,
maybe it was on it.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
What what kind of what kind of ignition solenoid is this, Jamie?
Is it Is it the square rectangular piece mounted to
the distributor or is it the big box with the
two leads that come off and it sits on the
driver's fender.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Well, yeah, it's the round little deal with the two leads.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
And then on the middle of it, it's got the
starter side and it's got the run side.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Right, and it's it sits on the fender.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well, yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
How are the grounds? How are the how are the
grounds on the forty five year old vehicle?
Speaker 4 (14:44):
They're good? Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
How did you check them back up?
Speaker 5 (14:48):
How'd you check them unscrewed them?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And okay? How about can we do a vaulted drop test?
Do you understand the concept?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Not really?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Okay, let's let's let's learn it then. So you know,
in New Jersey, if you want to go to the shore,
you take the parkway. The parkway goes down the length
of New Jersey. Now you get to Woodbridge and the
parkway goes over the over the Reard Bay, Reard and River. Okay,
(15:19):
right next, right next to the parkway is Root one
and nine. When there's traffic on the parkway, you go
Route one and nine. All right, that's the bypass. So
when there's a restriction, electricity takes the easiest path. It
takes the path of least resistance. So voltage drop is
a very bad term. I don't like the term voltage drop.
(15:41):
It confuses people. I like the term voltage bypass. So
what we want to do is under duress. We'd like
to see I'd love to see a twelve vault headlight
using one leg of ground as the ground for whatever
we're testing, and then the other side going to hot
(16:02):
and if it glows is bright under duress with one
as it does under the other, Hey, great, then I
got a good ground. That's a vaulted drop. I mean
you could put a meter on it also and measure
it with a digital meter if you go to if
you go to YouTube University and just type in voltage
drop testing, you'll come up with about forty thousand different
ways to do it. But understanding the concept of what
(16:23):
you're doing voltage drop testing is so important, all right.
Speaker 6 (16:28):
So it's like having an intermitt in voltage drop because
then it started up and raising.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Sure it could be, sure could be. Especially listen, I
remember thirty years ago when these trucks were only twenty
years old, all right, And I say it like that
because we're talking about a forty six almost forty seven
year old vehicle. All Right. We've got to just be
mindfully aware of corroded components. And you know, I just
(16:54):
want to do a vaulted drop test. Hey it's good, good,
check it off, check the box and move on, right, Okay, Yeah,
the other thing that was more common with these in
terms of failure was if you take the distributor cap off.
I did that, okay, and you looked at it. Is
there any oil on the inside of the distributor? No,
(17:16):
all right, And this distributor has this distributor has two
pigtail leads leading out of it. Yeah, right, no ignition
module on the distributor. Sit tight, all right, Sit tight, Jamie,
don't go anywhere. I'll come back. We'll finish up, and
then we'll get on to Greg and New York. I
appreciate everybody's patience today. Just a lot of little tedious
(17:38):
things we got to talk about. I'm ronning Andy and
the car doctor. We'll be back right after this at
eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Don't go anywhere. Let's go back to Jamie and Iowa. Jamie,
you're still there. Yeah, I was thinking about this car.
There's a black wire coming off the ignition module, correct, Yeah,
(17:58):
that goes to ground. I want you to voltage drop
test that or if you have any doubts, tap into
that and run on an auxiliary ground to them right
to the negative battery post and then just make sure
there should be a body ground coming off the negative
battery post that goes to the body or the frame.
Do you see all that? Is that still intact?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Oh yeah, okay, all right, just just to be sure
because that's typically where the ground issues become. Look, you know,
this could just flat out be a bad ignition module,
and then the problem becomes getting a good one. Right,
because it's forty five years old, and it got to
the point in eighty two when you were working on
these there was there were limited methods of testing them.
(18:39):
Then that this was the originator in my mind of
swapping hope, right, it was substitute known good part. So
this very well could be. Is it that the vehicle
sits for a length of time and then it restarts
and what's that?
Speaker 5 (18:57):
No, just it'll start up right away, just like I'd
go around.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
The block and go perfectly fine, and you know I
want I like it a mile or so, and then
when I got in front of a house, practically it
just all said dried. When I cranked it over, it
cranked a little bit and it would start. Then I
turn it off and started it again, start up and
go right up in the driveway.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Right, So you've got an intermittent, random, it sounds like
something is getting hot. The other thing is do you
have a hair dryer in the house, Oh yeah, portable
hair dryer.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Heat yeah, if it.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Were a heat gun, if you if you heat the
ignition module or or in the other common then other
common thing that nobody really thinks about or thought about
even then forty years ago, was the pickup coil the
piece inside the distributor. They were they were not uncommon
to fail also but again limited limited simple ways to
test it would take a labscope and to look to
(19:53):
look at it and look at a wave and see
what the voltage is doing. You know, but there's but
there's no oil inside the distributor, right, it's bone dry.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
No, there's no way I looked at it. So is
a way like on the old with the point they
would replace the distributor with one of those electronic ignitions
in it.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Well, you have a distributor with electronic ignition. Do you
want to put a different system in? Is that what
you're asking?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Well?
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Is that a way I could eliminate the duras spark?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
You could? Or but before you do that, this is
a this is a carburetor. This is an EKE to vehicle,
is it not?
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Yeah, it's gotta yeah, just a little two.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Barrel on it, right, But there's some electronic elements to
this vehicle. I'd have to honestly, I'd have to look
back at the wiring and see what this is. I
think this is either EKE one or EKE too, and
I want to see what the computer. I want to
see what the computer authority is on this. You know, Frankly,
if I can still find a Duraspark module and to
pick up oil, I can get him right. Well, but
(21:01):
what's what's the quality and what's the brand?
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Well, they were standard brand.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
I would have no problem with the standard module absolutely.
If you could find a standard module for this what
is it fifty bucks?
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Yeah, they were like seventy dollars, sixty eight dollars right change.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yep, I have no problem with a standard module. To
tell you the truth, I know the engineer that designed
that standard module back in seventy nine, Doug. His first
name was Doug. I can't think of his last name.
I haven't talked to him in thirty years, but I
was I was actually involved with the testing of those
modules out of the Long Island facility or the facility
in Long Island City forty years ago.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Would you say, if I do the voltage drop test, if.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You do the voltae drop test, when you're having the
problem and it passes, and you've got good ground at
the module and you still have no spark, and you've
got you've got positive you've got twelve volts at the
ignition coil, and then crank it and it maintains better
than ten and a half vaults. I say you've got
(22:05):
a problem on the trigger side, and I'm going to
tell you to look very closely at the ignition module
and the pickup coil, all right, And the pickup coil,
like I said, unless you have a labscope, is a
little bit more difficult to test. But replacement requires some
special tooling to press it on and off to get
the shaft out. So process of elimination on the older
vehicle and eliminating known good or known bad trying a
(22:29):
module is a whole lot easier. So okay, all right,
but look at all the grounds, all right, and then
go from there. All right, kiddo, thank you, You're very welcome.
You keep me posted. Let's go to Greg Upstate, New York.
I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Greg, I wanted to
make sure I covered the bases with with Jamie. So
how can I help sir?
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Hello.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
Let's see, I was listening to your show about an
hour ago.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
You had a guy with a BMW.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Right Brad from Florida.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
Yeah, Florida strip tramloads right, yep, yep. So I have
a friend that's the number one mechanic in Sacramento, California
area who does BMW's Maseratis, Lamborghinis and all that, right,
and I asked him about it. You said, there is
a Tula coil kit available from BMW Right.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Yeah, it's it's and that's what I suggested, you know,
it's it's not an uncommon I'm not sure why the
dealer is telling him you've got to take the engine
out six to eight thousand dollars. Either it's either it's
lack of knowledge or there's actually a bulletin that talks
about it. And BMW has actually come out with a
special service tool that allows even in tight fits depending
(23:37):
upon body style and configuration, that you can, you know,
cut the threads in the oil pen instead of having
to pull the engine out.
Speaker 7 (23:44):
So yeah, you know, it's definitely a thing.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yea, yeah, it happens.
Speaker 7 (23:49):
It can be done in one day.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's well and you know, the bulletin
is dated twenty eighteen talks about the issue. Partly is
because it's only a twelve millimeter plug. It's soft aluminumreds,
you know, and it also stems and goes back in here.
I'm going to get on the drum and bang the
drum Greg about you know, when you do an oil
change on a lot of these vehicles, you need to
(24:10):
change the drain plug gasket if the vehicle is so equipped.
But everybody wants to be jerky les and just pull
on the chain so hard. They are pulling the wrench
so hard that it just you know, crushes the gasket
and you know, pulls the threads and it becomes an issue.
So you know, it's just it's just a problem. Yep,
that's very much aware, sir. Hey, listen, I appreciate you
(24:31):
taking the time. Most people, you know, I don't think
a lot of people would take the time to research
it and give us a call and try and help,
So kudos to you, brother.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
All Right, the phone call, so yep.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Listen, it's all we can do is be kind to
each other and try to help. And that's the whole
point of this radio show most days. All right, Kitto,
you'll be well. Thank you so much. You have a
great rest of the weekend. Eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. I'm running any in the
car Doctor. I'll be back right after this. Welcome back.
By the way, a couple additions to the YouTube channel
(25:04):
this week. Get out to ron An Innie and the
Car Doctor. Look us up on YouTube, and of course
always just to make a mention, and I get questions
and people ask about it. If you go out to
the website cardoctorshow dot com, you will find under the
merchandise button, yes, hats, t shirts and all the rest
of the great stuff is still there. So by all means,
feel free help yourself. Let's go out to Ben and
Tennessee ninety nine one fifty and some heat and AC problems.
(25:27):
A lot of heat and AC problems today. I guess, uh,
the weather change or something. I'm not sure. Ben, ron
An Inian at your service, sir, How can I help?
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Yeah, thanks for taking my call. You're welcome. We're having
an issue with the van. When we start to go
up hills. It was not about six months ago. But
anytime we get just a gradual hell, the AC or
the heat will kick out, and then when we go
(25:56):
back down to hell, it's it kicks back on it.
But we're we're turning it off because we don't want
to burn up the unit, you know, we don't.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Is it is it that the unit turns off or
the airflow changes position.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
We're we're also getting a noise when we when after
we go back down a hill or get on flat land,
the under our passenger side, under the floorboard there it
starts to do like a compression noise, almost like a
like a diaphragm or filling up it.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Almost it almost been. It almost sounds like you've got
a problem with door position. If when you say no heat,
no AC, you're talking no air coming out of like
for example, if you've got to set to a C
and the air should be coming out the center events,
you're saying it it doesn't come out from the center events.
If you if you're if you're going uphill and you're
putting your foot in it.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's either way. Yeah. I thought it was
the AC at first, and we did like we put
some you know, some fluid in it.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
I forget the word, right, yeah, no refrigerate no, but
but hear me out. My question is you know when
you lose when you lose airflow at the center vents,
do you still have airflow at the defrost position or
on the floor.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Uh no, it completely goes out, all of it.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Okay, all gone. So the blower physically stops, right, But
have you checked to see if you have air coming
out of the ducks at the defroster or at the floor.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Uh yeah, yeah, we h. I'll put my hand in
it there and nothing comes out. And then it'll do
like I'll release almost like like you're holding your breath
and then somebody ex house that's what it feels like,
and it'll it'll take about ten seconds when you go
down the hill and then it'll just go then release
and then.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Okay, if you're if you're if you're going down the
hill and you take your foot off the gas.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
Yeah, it's uh so you go up the hill and
it just everything cuts out.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, if you're going downhill and you take your foot
off the gas and coast in neutral, does it all
come back?
Speaker 4 (28:10):
It all comes back Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
You've got a vacuum problem. You It sounds this sounds
like a vacuum problem. The classic the vacuum reservoir tank
is either is either ruptured, broken or the host fell
off that supply that feeds supply. All right, so we've
got to look at that. It sounds like there's just
a good size hole in that and you're just not
(28:33):
getting enough airflow to control the doors in the proper position.
That would be that would be the first step. All right,
you know that that would not be uncommon. Could we
have an actuat or issue door position, door blend issue position? Sure,
but you know, let's go with let's go with simple first.
Has it had any recent work? Has anybody worked on
this recently?
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Yeah? I did. I did a tune up on it myself.
Uh yeah, uh spark plugs and wires about eight months ago,
eight nine months ago.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
And did the problem happen right after that or has
it been a while?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
It was? Yeah, right right around that time. I didn't
think I was touching any of the hoses, but I
probably I might have when I pulled one of the wires.
I could have.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Okay, because of the vacuum tubing, for that if I'm
if memory serves me correct, comes down around the passenger
side corner of the engine and then feeds into under
the dash to feed the canister which is attached to
it just under the passenger side portion of the dashboard.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Okay, right, okay, so.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I would be paying attention there. It will. It will
confuse you because they actually feed manifold vacuum to those reservoirs.
But that's just the way they are. They're just trying
to get mass maximum vacuum apply to that if they can.
But I would go back and look at those hoses.
Did you somehow break something not realizing it? Do you
(29:58):
have a vacuum leak of some magnitude affecting door operation?
And if not, just make sure that the door for
the system where the doors and the vacuums apply line
is intact doing what it's supposed to do. But that's
where I think you're headed for this, all right.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
I appreciate it that that narrows it down, because I
was going to pull the whole No.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
No, no, no no, let's let's go back and try and
be sequential, all right, Kittle, you call me back if.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
You need more, Okay, I appreciate it that.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
You're very welcome. You're very welcome, ben A five five,
five six zero nine nine zero zero. We'll be back
to wrap it up right after this. I want to
finish out the hour today and talk about the the
massive amounts of misinformation that's out there in the world
of water repair. Some of it's perpetuated by the repair
(30:49):
shops that I think are wrong. Some of it is
perpetuated by the Internet Library, the University of the Internet,
and some of the conversations that people have and talking
about the way procedures are done in proper SSSS are done.
There's a lot of engineering that goes into a modern car.
And if you find somebody saying, well, that's not how
we used to do it on my dad's car, which
was thirty years ago, you know, it's a bad example.
(31:12):
Because there are some places where the laws of physics
are the same, but you know what, on a modern vehicle,
the laws of physics have changed the game, and just
in the way we approach repair, just in the way
we approach maintenance, just in the way that we think
about it, and these these misnomers that are out there
on the Internet, where people start and I think they
(31:34):
just want to be heard and they don't know what
they're talking about, and they start talking about oil change intervals,
entire rotation time and why repair shop does this or that.
I think they're wrong, and I think the proof is
in the putting. I think it's you know, what's the
longevity of the vehicle, And I think that's the bigger
picture and that's really what it's all about. So I
want to just plant that seat in your head. Maintenance
(31:54):
is still the single most important thing you can do
to a vehicle to keep it running longer. It really is.
It kind of comes back to that. I've gotten a
couple of emails of the last two or three weeks
of people looking at different cars, and I want to
just comment on that I see without commenting to any
specific one, but just the four that I've gotten on
(32:15):
my desk in front of me. Some of them talk
about they want to buy a Toyota Hybrid or a
Kia Hybrid. Which hybrid should we buy one? Fella says,
you know they both fit as extremely well. We're of
this age. We're not quite sure. You know, what are
your thoughts? I think you're still buying a car. Company
and I think the difference between buying a Toyota or
(32:37):
a Kia. If those are my two choices, I'm probably
going to lean towards the Toyota. I think the Key
is a great five to six year vehicle. I just
haven't seen Kiya Hyundai because I lump them both together
evolve into the same state where they're better than that.
They're a five year vehicle, six year vehicle, and a
(32:59):
real one. But then they just seem to fall apart.
They don't seem to hold up. If my choice is
Keye Hunda for a hybrid or Toyota for a hybrid,
I've got to think the Toyota's got to win hands
down every time, because I think the engineering is better.
I think the quality control I'd have to give them
not to Toyota, And I think it becomes a case
of you're buying again the culture of repair. What does
(33:20):
that company say it's going to take to maintain that
car and keep it on the road? Now, first and foremost, absolute,
first and foremost. When you're looking at cars, what's Ron's rule?
Drive it during the day, drive it at night? Are
all the buttons in the right place? Does everything have
a good tactile feel to it. Can you find what
you're looking for fairly easy? It's really that important. And
(33:44):
you know, those are the things you have to look for,
and those are the things you have to keep in
mind because you're going to have this car for five
or six, seven or eight or nine or ten years
till the next time. I'm ronnin Andy and the car Doctor.
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
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):
Oh it's my turn again. What a crazy day, right,
we're still kind of recovering from our lack of being
at PBA two eighty six Car Show and toml are
twelve talking about it. And you know what we're going
to find out this week when we call up and
talk to the software company and why this didn't talk
to that, and that didn't talk to this, and the
thingamagig didn't work. And you know, we're talking about pivoting,
(01:11):
and that's part of what allt to repair is, right,
it's it comes back to it. It teaches me the
lesson over and over again that life is about pivoting
and being flexible and making the change that you don't
want to make when you least expect it, but have to.
And I just keep thinking that's the lesson today because
(01:31):
we're frustrated, as you can tell that we didn't get
to stay the whole day at the show. On the
other hand, I did get to washing wax the hot rod,
something I haven't done in two years because I haven't
taken the cover off but three times. And I taught
me that I have to get out and drive it more.
And you know what, it was good in the sense
that I enjoyed driving the car. It's been a while.
(01:51):
I have to do more of that because you know,
there's only so many nice sunny days left in a
lot of ways, let's all r up the garage doors.
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero
is the phone number. Let's go over to Donna down
in Tennessee a ten Chevy Equinox. Donna, welcome to the
car doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Hi? Thank you. I had my air compressor on my
air conditioning go out, okay, and so I had it replaced.
And it only blows cold air from one side. It
barely blows from the other side. And the guy who
did put it in had a transmission fall on him,
so he's not available. I checked the actuator, doors already
(02:31):
changed to cabin filter and no, luck.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Okay, Well, if if it's not getting any airflow, is
the air coming out anywhere or there's just yes? Is
there just no airflow?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
No, the air is coming out on the passenger side,
and it's cool, very cool. And then on this passenger side,
did I just say that?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, I know what you're meaning. The driver's side, right,
that's okay, that's a kid.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
But on the passenger side, I'm getting very little blow
and it's not cool.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
All right, So we've got minimal airflow and what's there
is not cool? And that was that since the ac
compressor was done, yes, and you're you never got back
to I mean, what did he do the air? I'm
gonna I'm gonna paraphrase it like this, The ac compressor
was done on Monday, the transmission fell on him on Tuesday,
and you went back on Wednesday and he wasn't there.
(03:26):
It was that quick, that kind of a.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Scenario, Well, I kind of. I think it was about
a week later.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, okay, and you have no way to contact him.
Is it was it like this when you the first
time you turn the air on.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
No, I can't say that. Well, it might have been
because I drive it, so I didn't realize the passenger
side wasn't getting it. I just knew when it was
getting really warm outside, right, I started sweating in the
car with the air conditioner on, and then I started
checking stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Because you're doing the right you're looking at the right things. Listen,
the first things that come to my mind is airflow.
Notwithstanding when I see a system that's warmer on one
side than the other and it's a split evaperator like
this one, is I always think about low system or
incorrect system charge. All right, So that's that's always on
(04:18):
the back of my mind. Do I have a system
charge issue to a charge level issue? But the fact
that there's no air blowing out of the one side
where's the air going? And I would get curious at that.
I would want to take a scan tool and do
a sweep test. You know, have to sit there, and
you know, you can actually take a good quality scan tool,
(04:39):
something more than OBD two and self test the actuators.
In other words, take the front door to your house.
You know where closed, you know where closed is right,
and you know where you know where full open is right. Well,
you can do that with a scan tool and the
computer will log that, it will see you all you
know whatever it is one hundred and eighty two steps
(05:00):
and if it only gets up to one hundred and sixty,
it will report that as a problem. Now, is it
possible for some reason this is out of calibration? Sure
it could. It could think one's sixty is a maximum
opposite end position. But that's kind of odd, right that
he did a compressor and all of a sudden you've
got this problem. So, you know, instead of looking for
(05:22):
what's bad, I really want to go back to what
I always say. I want to look for what's good.
Does it pass a sweep test, does it have a
good system charge in it? Is air coming out anywhere
on this vehicle? Other than the vents. When you've got
it in the vent position, if you put it on
the frost, can you well, let's say you can't do that, right,
you can. You're split side to side temperature wise, but
(05:45):
you can't change position. If you put this into frost,
the frost probably over rides. Well wait a minute, how
are you? How are you split on this? You're split
temperature wise, not position wise.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Well, it does, like I said, it barely blows out
the passenger side, and it's not cool. I did just
hit the defrost button and I can feel it on
my feet. So oh, but that's good.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Let's see, right, turn the air conditioning off. Does the
defrost come out through the top?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Sounds like it is, but I can't reach them.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
And then and then why were you feeling it on
your feet in the defrost position with the AC on?
You should be feeling it in your face? Or is it?
Is it coming? Is it coming out the bottom?
Speaker 4 (06:32):
See?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I think you've got a stuck door. I really do.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Well.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I did change the middle one. I forget what it's called,
but I kind of checked out the one on each
side and those seemed fine, right, Actually your doors? Yeah,
and the middle one did not look like it was
operating well, So it went ahead and just changed it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right when you when you had that one off, were
you able to freely move the door?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I didn't. I just put a new one on.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
You didn't try You didn't try moving it? Right?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, I guess I should.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I still have the part, right? Is it?
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Because? Is it binding? And then if you put a
new one on, did you calibrate it because sometimes they
require calibration?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Thank you? No? I did not?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
All right, So you got a bunch of things to
do here.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yep, I need a high low UH pressure gauge for
checking the high low right.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Well, you do need You do need gauges.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You will need some kind of a recovery system too,
if you're going to do this on your own, you know.
And I can get into an argument with AC guys
about this all day long. Everybody says, well, you look
at ambient temperature, and if ambient temperature is eighty degrees
and it's it's showing eighty five pounds on the low
side gauge at rest or eighty five pounds across the
system at rest, that means you've got correct charge. Yeah,
(07:51):
I disagree with that. I don't find ambient temp and
a relationship to pressure in the system really exists anymore
as being accurate. I've had far too many systems with
new one thirty four refrigerants show me just the opposite
to be incorrect. And I really like if I'm dealing
with a mystery system, I really like to be the
(08:13):
guy that pull it out, measure it, recharge it. You
know what kind of oil comes out, what kind of
refrigerant comes out, and you know go from there.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So well should I? And my other thought was should
I waste the money to do a die test on it?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well? Why you're thinking maybe it's low?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Well I think that I always like to start with
the easiest stuff, which I've done.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, but you know the well, the problem is you
can listen, you can add die to this, all right,
you can surely do that. But you know how low
is it? You're you're about You're on step four. I
think it's great, I really do, but you're on step four.
I think step one is the things we talked about.
Can you can you manually move the door? How much
(08:59):
refrigerants in it? You know, if you if you play
with the knob does it come out anywhere or is
it stuck in one position that it's always going to
be blowing out at your feet, right, you know, right,
so it's it's you know, and then does it need
calibration and then yeah, okay, if it's low on charge,
did he not charge the system properly? And you know,
(09:21):
maybe he made a mistake, maybe he read the wrong amount.
Is there a rear evaporator in the car and he
didn't realize it, so he charged it for a front
only evaporator system. It is right, okay, as long as
as long as it is. But you know, you'll answer
the question if you're using a machine that recovers, and
if it's supposed to have two pounds in it, you
(09:41):
take out you know, one pound fourteen ounces close enough.
If you take out one pound, that's fifty percent. That's
that's that's very low. And then that's a problem. Now
you want to recharge it. Hey, the system works perfect,
except I got to figure out way the air is
not blown because I I made a mess of my
mode door when I did the actually trying to you know,
shotgun this. You know, now you want to add a
(10:04):
die to it. So if in two weeks, it's low
on charge again. Now you got a place to go.
But to start to start adding things to the pot.
You know, there's always ten steps. I like. I like
to encourage people to sit down and follow the ten
in order. Don't hopscotch. Oh all right, So not scolding,
just saying, you know, I don't. I don't like to
play hopscotch. It's painful for me too, believe me, because
(10:27):
I want to get to the solution. You know what
order repairs like life. Here, I am saying that again.
You got to enjoy the ride in the process. You
really do.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So yeah, well I'm not enjoying the ride too hot.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Well I get that one hundred percent. One hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
So you're giving me some tips to think about because
I had no idea about the calibration on.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
The door, right, Sometimes there's a calibration. You have to
tell it. Here's the new actuator, here's zero. And have
you ever had a car with a dead you know,
have you ever had a car And then I got
to go, have you ever had a car with a
dead battery? And you replace the battery, and then the windows,
the power windows, the automatic windows don't work, and you
have to train the windows. Same thing. You got to
show the computer up. You got to show the computer down.
(11:09):
And then all of a sudden it knows position. You
got to you put an actuator in it. You got
to show it zero. You got to show it one
hundred and eighty degrees in the other direction and back.
And that's probably a good chance of what you're going through.
So you got some steps to do here, Donna, you
do them. You give me a call back if you
need me. Eight five five five six nine nine zero
zero running any of the Car Doctor coming back right
(11:30):
after this. Hey, let's not waste any time. Let's go
right to Jamie and Iowa seventy nine f one, p
fifty Jamie, Welcome to the Car Doctor. What's going on?
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Hi?
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Ron? Yes, well, I've got this truck and it's been
running perfectly except the other last weekend. I pulled it
in the garage and parked it, and then I went
to go start it, like Monday or something, and it
wouldn't start, just frank over. So I thought, well, there's
no spark, So I put a spark plug tester on it,
(12:06):
and it didn't show any sparks. I said, Okay, I
don't have spark. So I checked the coil and the
coil with the little meter you know those little dialmeters,
right multimeter. It shows that the coil is good. Okay,
Well I checked the coil.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You didn't. You did an om reading on the coil
you own, you owned the primary, okay.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
And then I went and checked the fuse for the
coil and it was good.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
All right, you had power at the positive side.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
Yeah, oh yeah, okay, And I actually replaced the fuse.
But anyway, then I disconnected the Duras spark where it
was into the watering harness and made sure it was
all clean and not coroded, put it back together, and
it wouldn't start. So then I thought, well, I have
been having trouble with the selenoid on the firewall there
(12:58):
or the fender. It had been sticking and I'd had
to jump out open the hood and whop it and
it'd stop cranking. So I thought, well, I need to
replace that anyway, So I replaced that because I thought, well,
maybe when it was cranking over the engine longer than
it's supposed to be, that it maybe caused it to
burn out the ignition side.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
So I got a other before.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
We go, before we go too far, Jamie. So you know,
you know you don't have spark. Do you have fuel pressure?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
There was gas?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
I pumped the carburetor and it was his.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Right, and and okay, so you have fuel pressure, okay, right.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
I put another selenoid on it, that was a new one,
and then I cranked it over and it started and
it was running perfect, and then it just all of
a sudden quit and I thought, well, that's a fluke.
But it's cold, you know, just started up.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You put another you put another ignition module in.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
No, I haven't.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
I put a selenoid for the starter okay, right, it
was sticking. Okay, I know I need it anyway, Okay,
maybe it was on it.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
What what kind of what kind of ignition solenoid is this, Jamie?
Is it Is it the square rectangular piece mounted to
the distributor or is it the big box with the
two leads that come off and it sits on the
driver's fender.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Well, yeah, it's the round little deal with the two leads.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
And then on the middle of it, it's got the
starter side and it's got the run side.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Right, and it's it sits on the fender.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well, yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
How are the grounds? How are the how are the
grounds on the forty five year old vehicle?
Speaker 4 (14:44):
They're good? Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
How did you check them back up?
Speaker 5 (14:48):
How'd you check them unscrewed them?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
And okay? How about can we do a vaulted drop test?
Do you understand the concept?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Not really?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Okay, let's let's let's learn it then. So you know,
in New Jersey, if you want to go to the shore,
you take the parkway. The parkway goes down the length
of New Jersey. Now you get to Woodbridge and the
parkway goes over the over the Reard Bay, Reard and River. Okay,
(15:19):
right next, right next to the parkway is Root one
and nine. When there's traffic on the parkway, you go
Route one and nine. All right, that's the bypass. So
when there's a restriction, electricity takes the easiest path. It
takes the path of least resistance. So voltage drop is
a very bad term. I don't like the term voltage drop.
(15:41):
It confuses people. I like the term voltage bypass. So
what we want to do is under duress. We'd like
to see I'd love to see a twelve vault headlight
using one leg of ground as the ground for whatever
we're testing, and then the other side going to hot
(16:02):
and if it glows is bright under duress with one
as it does under the other, Hey, great, then I
got a good ground. That's a vaulted drop. I mean
you could put a meter on it also and measure
it with a digital meter if you go to if
you go to YouTube University and just type in voltage
drop testing, you'll come up with about forty thousand different
ways to do it. But understanding the concept of what
(16:23):
you're doing voltage drop testing is so important, all right.
Speaker 6 (16:28):
So it's like having an intermitt in voltage drop because
then it started up and raising.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Sure it could be, sure could be. Especially listen, I
remember thirty years ago when these trucks were only twenty
years old, all right, And I say it like that
because we're talking about a forty six almost forty seven
year old vehicle. All Right. We've got to just be
mindfully aware of corroded components. And you know, I just
(16:54):
want to do a vaulted drop test. Hey it's good, good,
check it off, check the box and move on, right, Okay, Yeah,
the other thing that was more common with these in
terms of failure was if you take the distributor cap off.
I did that, okay, and you looked at it. Is
there any oil on the inside of the distributor? No,
(17:16):
all right, And this distributor has this distributor has two
pigtail leads leading out of it. Yeah, right, no ignition
module on the distributor. Sit tight, all right, Sit tight, Jamie,
don't go anywhere. I'll come back. We'll finish up, and
then we'll get on to Greg and New York. I
appreciate everybody's patience today. Just a lot of little tedious
(17:38):
things we got to talk about. I'm ronning Andy and
the car doctor. We'll be back right after this at
eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Don't go anywhere. Let's go back to Jamie and Iowa. Jamie,
you're still there. Yeah, I was thinking about this car.
There's a black wire coming off the ignition module, correct, Yeah,
(17:58):
that goes to ground. I want you to voltage drop
test that or if you have any doubts, tap into
that and run on an auxiliary ground to them right
to the negative battery post and then just make sure
there should be a body ground coming off the negative
battery post that goes to the body or the frame.
Do you see all that? Is that still intact?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Oh yeah, okay, all right, just just to be sure
because that's typically where the ground issues become. Look, you know,
this could just flat out be a bad ignition module,
and then the problem becomes getting a good one. Right,
because it's forty five years old, and it got to
the point in eighty two when you were working on
these there was there were limited methods of testing them.
(18:39):
Then that this was the originator in my mind of
swapping hope, right, it was substitute known good part. So
this very well could be. Is it that the vehicle
sits for a length of time and then it restarts
and what's that?
Speaker 5 (18:57):
No, just it'll start up right away, just like I'd
go around.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
The block and go perfectly fine, and you know I
want I like it a mile or so, and then
when I got in front of a house, practically it
just all said dried. When I cranked it over, it
cranked a little bit and it would start. Then I
turn it off and started it again, start up and
go right up in the driveway.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Right, So you've got an intermittent, random, it sounds like
something is getting hot. The other thing is do you
have a hair dryer in the house, Oh yeah, portable
hair dryer.
Speaker 7 (19:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Heat yeah, if it.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Were a heat gun, if you if you heat the
ignition module or or in the other common then other
common thing that nobody really thinks about or thought about
even then forty years ago, was the pickup coil the
piece inside the distributor. They were they were not uncommon
to fail also but again limited limited simple ways to
test it would take a labscope and to look to
(19:53):
look at it and look at a wave and see
what the voltage is doing. You know, but there's but
there's no oil inside the distributor, right, it's bone dry.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
No, there's no way I looked at it. So is
a way like on the old with the point they
would replace the distributor with one of those electronic ignitions
in it.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Well, you have a distributor with electronic ignition. Do you
want to put a different system in? Is that what
you're asking?
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Well?
Speaker 5 (20:21):
Is that a way I could eliminate the duras spark?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
You could? Or but before you do that, this is
a this is a carburetor. This is an EKE to vehicle,
is it not?
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Yeah, it's gotta yeah, just a little two.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Barrel on it, right, But there's some electronic elements to
this vehicle. I'd have to honestly, I'd have to look
back at the wiring and see what this is. I
think this is either EKE one or EKE too, and
I want to see what the computer. I want to
see what the computer authority is on this. You know, Frankly,
if I can still find a Duraspark module and to
pick up oil, I can get him right. Well, but
(21:01):
what's what's the quality and what's the brand?
Speaker 5 (21:05):
Well, they were standard brand.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
I would have no problem with the standard module absolutely.
If you could find a standard module for this what
is it fifty bucks?
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Yeah, they were like seventy dollars, sixty eight dollars right change.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yep, I have no problem with a standard module. To
tell you the truth, I know the engineer that designed
that standard module back in seventy nine, Doug. His first
name was Doug. I can't think of his last name.
I haven't talked to him in thirty years, but I
was I was actually involved with the testing of those
modules out of the Long Island facility or the facility
in Long Island City forty years ago.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Would you say, if I do the voltage drop test, if.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You do the voltae drop test, when you're having the
problem and it passes, and you've got good ground at
the module and you still have no spark, and you've
got you've got positive you've got twelve volts at the
ignition coil, and then crank it and it maintains better
than ten and a half vaults. I say you've got
(22:05):
a problem on the trigger side, and I'm going to
tell you to look very closely at the ignition module
and the pickup coil, all right, And the pickup coil,
like I said, unless you have a labscope, is a
little bit more difficult to test. But replacement requires some
special tooling to press it on and off to get
the shaft out. So process of elimination on the older
vehicle and eliminating known good or known bad trying a
(22:29):
module is a whole lot easier. So okay, all right,
but look at all the grounds, all right, and then
go from there. All right, kiddo, thank you, You're very welcome.
You keep me posted. Let's go to Greg Upstate, New York.
I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Greg, I wanted to
make sure I covered the bases with with Jamie. So
how can I help sir?
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Hello.
Speaker 7 (22:47):
Let's see, I was listening to your show about an
hour ago.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
You had a guy with a BMW.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Right Brad from Florida.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
Yeah, Florida strip tramloads right, yep, yep. So I have
a friend that's the number one mechanic in Sacramento, California
area who does BMW's Maseratis, Lamborghinis and all that, right,
and I asked him about it. You said, there is
a Tula coil kit available from BMW Right.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Yeah, it's it's and that's what I suggested, you know,
it's it's not an uncommon I'm not sure why the
dealer is telling him you've got to take the engine
out six to eight thousand dollars. Either it's either it's
lack of knowledge or there's actually a bulletin that talks
about it. And BMW has actually come out with a
special service tool that allows even in tight fits depending
(23:37):
upon body style and configuration, that you can, you know,
cut the threads in the oil pen instead of having
to pull the engine out.
Speaker 7 (23:44):
So yeah, you know, it's definitely a thing.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Yea, yeah, it happens.
Speaker 7 (23:49):
It can be done in one day.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's well and you know, the bulletin
is dated twenty eighteen talks about the issue. Partly is
because it's only a twelve millimeter plug. It's soft aluminumreds,
you know, and it also stems and goes back in here.
I'm going to get on the drum and bang the
drum Greg about you know, when you do an oil
change on a lot of these vehicles, you need to
(24:10):
change the drain plug gasket if the vehicle is so equipped.
But everybody wants to be jerky les and just pull
on the chain so hard. They are pulling the wrench
so hard that it just you know, crushes the gasket
and you know, pulls the threads and it becomes an issue.
So you know, it's just it's just a problem. Yep,
that's very much aware, sir. Hey, listen, I appreciate you
(24:31):
taking the time. Most people, you know, I don't think
a lot of people would take the time to research
it and give us a call and try and help,
So kudos to you, brother.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
All Right, the phone call, so yep.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Listen, it's all we can do is be kind to
each other and try to help. And that's the whole
point of this radio show most days. All right, Kitto,
you'll be well. Thank you so much. You have a
great rest of the weekend. Eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. I'm running any in the
car Doctor. I'll be back right after this. Welcome back.
By the way, a couple additions to the YouTube channel
(25:04):
this week. Get out to ron An Innie and the
Car Doctor. Look us up on YouTube, and of course
always just to make a mention, and I get questions
and people ask about it. If you go out to
the website cardoctorshow dot com, you will find under the
merchandise button, yes, hats, t shirts and all the rest
of the great stuff is still there. So by all means,
feel free help yourself. Let's go out to Ben and
Tennessee ninety nine one fifty and some heat and AC problems.
(25:27):
A lot of heat and AC problems today. I guess, uh,
the weather change or something. I'm not sure. Ben, ron
An Inian at your service, sir, How can I help?
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Yeah, thanks for taking my call. You're welcome. We're having
an issue with the van. When we start to go
up hills. It was not about six months ago. But
anytime we get just a gradual hell, the AC or
the heat will kick out, and then when we go
(25:56):
back down to hell, it's it kicks back on it.
But we're we're turning it off because we don't want
to burn up the unit, you know, we don't.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Is it is it that the unit turns off or
the airflow changes position.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
We're we're also getting a noise when we when after
we go back down a hill or get on flat land,
the under our passenger side, under the floorboard there it
starts to do like a compression noise, almost like a
like a diaphragm or filling up it.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Almost it almost been. It almost sounds like you've got
a problem with door position. If when you say no heat,
no AC, you're talking no air coming out of like
for example, if you've got to set to a C
and the air should be coming out the center events,
you're saying it it doesn't come out from the center events.
If you if you're if you're going uphill and you're
putting your foot in it.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah, it's either way. Yeah. I thought it was
the AC at first, and we did like we put
some you know, some fluid in it.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
I forget the word, right, yeah, no refrigerate no, but
but hear me out. My question is you know when
you lose when you lose airflow at the center vents,
do you still have airflow at the defrost position or
on the floor.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Uh no, it completely goes out, all of it.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Okay, all gone. So the blower physically stops, right, But
have you checked to see if you have air coming
out of the ducks at the defroster or at the floor.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Uh yeah, yeah, we h. I'll put my hand in
it there and nothing comes out. And then it'll do
like I'll release almost like like you're holding your breath
and then somebody ex house that's what it feels like,
and it'll it'll take about ten seconds when you go
down the hill and then it'll just go then release
and then.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Okay, if you're if you're if you're going down the
hill and you take your foot off the gas.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
Yeah, it's uh so you go up the hill and
it just everything cuts out.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Okay, if you're going downhill and you take your foot
off the gas and coast in neutral, does it all
come back?
Speaker 4 (28:10):
It all comes back Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
You've got a vacuum problem. You It sounds this sounds
like a vacuum problem. The classic the vacuum reservoir tank
is either is either ruptured, broken or the host fell
off that supply that feeds supply. All right, so we've
got to look at that. It sounds like there's just
a good size hole in that and you're just not
(28:33):
getting enough airflow to control the doors in the proper position.
That would be that would be the first step. All right,
you know that that would not be uncommon. Could we
have an actuat or issue door position, door blend issue position? Sure,
but you know, let's go with let's go with simple first.
Has it had any recent work? Has anybody worked on
this recently?
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Yeah? I did. I did a tune up on it myself.
Uh yeah, uh spark plugs and wires about eight months ago,
eight nine months ago.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
And did the problem happen right after that or has
it been a while?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
It was? Yeah, right right around that time. I didn't
think I was touching any of the hoses, but I
probably I might have when I pulled one of the wires.
I could have.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Okay, because of the vacuum tubing, for that if I'm
if memory serves me correct, comes down around the passenger
side corner of the engine and then feeds into under
the dash to feed the canister which is attached to
it just under the passenger side portion of the dashboard.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Okay, right, okay, so.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
I would be paying attention there. It will. It will
confuse you because they actually feed manifold vacuum to those reservoirs.
But that's just the way they are. They're just trying
to get mass maximum vacuum apply to that if they can.
But I would go back and look at those hoses.
Did you somehow break something not realizing it? Do you
(29:58):
have a vacuum leak of some magnitude affecting door operation?
And if not, just make sure that the door for
the system where the doors and the vacuums apply line
is intact doing what it's supposed to do. But that's
where I think you're headed for this, all right.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
I appreciate it that that narrows it down, because I
was going to pull the whole No.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
No, no, no no, let's let's go back and try and
be sequential, all right, Kittle, you call me back if.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
You need more, Okay, I appreciate it that.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
You're very welcome. You're very welcome, ben A five five,
five six zero nine nine zero zero. We'll be back
to wrap it up right after this. I want to
finish out the hour today and talk about the the
massive amounts of misinformation that's out there in the world
of water repair. Some of it's perpetuated by the repair
(30:49):
shops that I think are wrong. Some of it is
perpetuated by the Internet Library, the University of the Internet,
and some of the conversations that people have and talking
about the way procedures are done in proper SSSS are done.
There's a lot of engineering that goes into a modern car.
And if you find somebody saying, well, that's not how
we used to do it on my dad's car, which
was thirty years ago, you know, it's a bad example.
(31:12):
Because there are some places where the laws of physics
are the same, but you know what, on a modern vehicle,
the laws of physics have changed the game, and just
in the way we approach repair, just in the way
we approach maintenance, just in the way that we think
about it, and these these misnomers that are out there
on the Internet, where people start and I think they
(31:34):
just want to be heard and they don't know what
they're talking about, and they start talking about oil change intervals,
entire rotation time and why repair shop does this or that.
I think they're wrong, and I think the proof is
in the putting. I think it's you know, what's the
longevity of the vehicle, And I think that's the bigger
picture and that's really what it's all about. So I
want to just plant that seat in your head. Maintenance
(31:54):
is still the single most important thing you can do
to a vehicle to keep it running longer. It really is.
It kind of comes back to that. I've gotten a
couple of emails of the last two or three weeks
of people looking at different cars, and I want to
just comment on that I see without commenting to any
specific one, but just the four that I've gotten on
(32:15):
my desk in front of me. Some of them talk
about they want to buy a Toyota Hybrid or a
Kia Hybrid. Which hybrid should we buy one? Fella says,
you know they both fit as extremely well. We're of
this age. We're not quite sure. You know, what are
your thoughts? I think you're still buying a car. Company
and I think the difference between buying a Toyota or
(32:37):
a Kia. If those are my two choices, I'm probably
going to lean towards the Toyota. I think the Key
is a great five to six year vehicle. I just
haven't seen Kiya Hyundai because I lump them both together
evolve into the same state where they're better than that.
They're a five year vehicle, six year vehicle, and a
(32:59):
real one. But then they just seem to fall apart.
They don't seem to hold up. If my choice is
Keye Hunda for a hybrid or Toyota for a hybrid,
I've got to think the Toyota's got to win hands
down every time, because I think the engineering is better.
I think the quality control I'd have to give them
not to Toyota, And I think it becomes a case
of you're buying again the culture of repair. What does
(33:20):
that company say it's going to take to maintain that
car and keep it on the road? Now, first and foremost, absolute,
first and foremost. When you're looking at cars, what's Ron's rule?
Drive it during the day, drive it at night? Are
all the buttons in the right place? Does everything have
a good tactile feel to it. Can you find what
you're looking for fairly easy? It's really that important. And
(33:44):
you know, those are the things you have to look for,
and those are the things you have to keep in
mind because you're going to have this car for five
or six, seven or eight or nine or ten years
till the next time. I'm ronnin Andy and the car Doctor.
The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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