October 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Remote from “somewhere in Pennsylvania,” Ron turns a repair-shop counter chat into a bigger question: don’t shop for the cheapest or the flashiest—shop for the capable. Then the phones fly: a 2021 Nissan Kicks with a stubborn P0101 (use calculated load & fuel trims, don’t parts-swap), a 2024 Highlander maintenance roadmap (fluids early and often), a 1970 Impala idle-stop solenoid lesson, a 2002 Sequoia stuck in 4WD low (likely front-diff actuator/binding—stop driving, inspect), and a 2002 Cummins with dead batteries (charge correctly, then parasitic-draw test <50 mA).
Closer: “Good mechanics aren’t expensive—they’re priceless.”
- Grab your Car Doctor gear – T-shirts & more at CarDoctorShow.com
-
Follow the wrench – Instagram @ronananian for shop life & behind-the-scenes
-
Watch & learn – Auto repair tips & videos on our YouTube Channel
-
Got a car question? Call the Car Doctor Hotline 24/7 – (855) 560-9900
-
Join the conversation LIVE – Saturdays 2–4 PM Eastern
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to 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 five five six zero
nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five five
(00:25):
six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to honest
answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow dot
com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your engines. The Car Doctor is into garage and
(00:47):
ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Subwhere in the mountains of Pennsylvania and the quiet spot
that no one can find? Our doctors broadcasting remote live
today we're trying things out. We've gone a little bit
west of New Jersey and that's where I am. It
was a great ride out here. The Pennsylvania Turnpike moves
along very well. At eighty five ninety miles an hour
(01:13):
as you kind of do that speed trying not to
get run over, because that's the way it is. And
we're here doing radio today in a remote location, hidden
and unknown to everyone, including the government. So maybe this
will be the future, Tom, We'll do government underground radio.
But I had an experience this week that I wanted
to talk about, and it's funny how we all try
(01:36):
to go about communicating. I had to get a radio repaired,
the Thunderbird. The CD player died, so I had to
get the CD player repaired, and I took it into
the repair center, and you know, I went to pick
it up on Thursday, Friday, whatever day it was, and
Mary at the counter started talking to me, and we
started chatting, and she said, oh, you're a mechanic, and
(01:58):
I said, yeah, I'm getting ready to walk out the door.
My radio was coming around the corner and she's asking me,
you know, all sorts of questions, and you know, one
of the questions was are you any good? I don't
know how to answer that question anytime anybody asks me,
am I a good mechanic? Because I I just I
don't know how anybody would answer that. I told her
(02:19):
I was terrible. I said, I'm a bad mechanic. I
just kind of I just kind of cheat and do
the best I can. And she said wow. She said
you don't have a great opinion of yourself and I said, well, no,
not really. I said, it's just that usually the next
question is are you honest? And I said this way,
I figured, if I tell you I was a bad mechanic,
you wouldn't ask me if I was honest. I would
(02:40):
avoid the second question because you would know that who
would in the right mind would say they're a bad
mechanic if they weren't. And she's like, oh, she goes, well,
and she was confused. So I gave her my name
and I said google my name. She googled my name
and she went, oh, wow, you're the car doctor. She said,
(03:00):
And this is the part that I don't understand, because
you were kind of half kidding around having this conversation.
And she said, because you're a celebrity, are you expensive?
And I was walking out the door because my radio
had just shown up, and I said, you know, it's
not a matter of if I'm expensive or not. I'm
going to fix it, right, And isn't that really what counts.
Isn't that what you're looking for? Why weren't you with
your last mechanic? Or why aren't you there anymore? And
(03:21):
she didn't have an answer for that doesn't matter who
works on your car. In a sense, you know, why
are you there? And I think you have to answer
that question first time because everybody always says, or a
lot of people always say they're looking for a new mechanic. Well,
why are you looking for a new mechanic? What is
(03:42):
it that you're looking for? And you know, if you
and we have this conversation a lot, you and I
and we talk about this and we say, is it price?
Is it punctuality? Is it honesty? Is it you know,
potential or the ability? And I think it's all those things.
But somewhere they have to come up in some kind
of a stacked order. I really do. I don't think
it can be you're looking for all of it, because
(04:05):
it can't be. You can't be the cheapest, the fastest,
the best, you know, the most flexible. It just doesn't
work like that. There's just too many variables in the
automobile repair game. There's too many things. There's too many
things that have to go right in order for something
to be completed correctly. So I don't know if that's
(04:25):
the right question to ask anymore. Are you a good mechanic?
Are you an honest mechanic? I think the I think
the better answer is are you capable? And I think
that's what you need to really be talking about you
and saying to yourself, you know, is it? Is it
the ability to fix the car? I think that's where
(04:48):
you have to.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Kind of modify your language and be ready for that.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So but in any event, Mary went out the door
and you know, off she went, and it was good
and we kind of rolled along. So I just thought
I would share that with you and some for another.
I see the phones are lit up, Tom, are we
ready to go to phones here and remote? Yeah, let's
go to John in Virginia. Let's see what's going on
here John. Oh, no, John's not there. John's not in Virginia,
(05:19):
So I'm not sure what's going on there. But in
any event, going back to my story about picking a mechanic, Yeah,
that's that's what we got, right. It varies like that.
So had a nice ride out coming out to PA.
I discovered, you know, the road being a very unforgiving place,
(05:45):
you know, the way things just move along on the turnpike.
And I took the big plow truck. It was great.
The plow truck kind of went from getting it's eleven
twelve miles to the gallon around town to all of
a sudden it got twenty six miles out on the highway.
I have to take more road trips, I think, I
think that's probably the better way to do it. So
(06:06):
but uh, in any event, I think, uh, Tom is
ready for me now, and let's pull over and let's uh,
let's let's jump. Let's see if we can get a
phone call up Tom. We uh oh, don't take the
call yet. Okay, tell you what, Tom. Let's pull over,
take a pause, and uh let's do that. I'm ronning
eighty in the car doctor A five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. We'll be back right after this.
(06:28):
Don't go anywhere. Hey, let's uh, let's go to John
and Virginia twenty hon to fit mass airflow sensor full John,
you're on with the car doctor. What can they do
for you?
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Hey, I recently persis it's actually Anisson kicks. It's a
twenty twenty on kicks.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Okay, and it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
The car is a car exactly. Came up with a
P zero one O one. I replaced the mass airflow sensor. Uh,
I'm a really old scan tool. I'm unable to do
the calibration, and I was hoping that doing a drive
test would calibrate itself. Is that possible?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
When you say calibration, what do you mean calibration?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I looked up on YouTube. They say you have to
do a calibration of the system. I'm assuming I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
They're probably talking about that you've got to reset fuel trim.
So let's let's go back when you when you had
the old mass airflow sensor in it, or the original
mass airflow sensor in it. Did you do any testing
or did you just happen to randomly change it?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So, like I said, it was recently purchased. I took
it in a dealer. They said it wasn't under warranty,
so they said it was a mass airflowing sensor. I
replaced a mass airflow sensor. It went out with it
a week. I replaced it again because it was a
piezer one on one and then I had researched on
YouTube and it says you got to do some sort
of calibration.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So here's what I want you to do. Take your
take your scan tool. Did you you know your scan
tool reads in O B D two language? Right? I
want I want you to hook your scan tool up,
and I want you to look at calculated load, all
right as a pid okay with me? And what what
(08:20):
size engine is in this car?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I don't know, all right, it's my daughter's car. I
don't know, I don't all right.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So whatever it is a one point five a two liter?
What size? What size engine this is? And then I
want you to go for a road test warmed up,
closed loop, and I want you to look at a
couple of things. I want you to see what what
fuel trim is? Number one? All right? And and where's
fuel trim short term, short term, long term? But calculated
load is our is our key denominator there. If this
(08:51):
is a two liter engine at idle, we're gonna see
roughly one point eight to two and a half grams
of airflow per second or calculated load if it's really
high or really low. And then maybe I've got a
mass airflow out of calibration. Maybe that's a separate issue.
I could also have a torn intake duck that could
have a restricted air intake. All right, and then where
(09:13):
did you get the mass air Where did you get
the mass airflow sensor from.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Advance autom And it's exactly like the original, Well, it'll.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It'll look exactly like it, but its ability to read,
you know, depends on how good the electronics are internally.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So yeah, ultimately, you know, I just figured it out.
It's a one point six liter.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Okay, so ad idle calculated load. Looking at calculated load,
we should see one point four to one point eight
If I saw it two, Yeah, that's not so bad.
If I see three and the air intake duct is
good and there are no vacuum leaks and the rest
of the vehicle is mechanically sound, I'm gonna say you
just got another bad mass airflow. I'd be curious now
(09:56):
that you've got three mass airflows included. Could did you
turn in the original Did you have to turn it
in for a core?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I get, well, ye, warranty issue.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Well, no, the very first one, the original one you had,
the one that came with the car. Do you still
have that?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I do not have that.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Okay, so you only have the one mass airflow that's
in the car, correct, right?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
See the problem is you replaced an oe part, didn't
do any testing, and now you've got to start the test,
but you're testing with an unknown part of unknown quality, yes, sir, right,
So got to do the mass airflow test. Got to
see what calculated load is. Is calculated load correct? Because if
it's correct at idle and you're still getting the fault,
(10:46):
then I'm going to say maybe it's another bad mass
air because it's out of range at higher end. I'd
also like to see what fuel trim is as you're
cruising down the road. Does it go excessively high? Does
it report excessively out of range? All right, it's kind
of odd to have three bad mass airflows?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
All right?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
There is There is no calibration test I'm aware of
other than resetting memory and fuel trim and then going
for a ride. Okay, and maybe that's what you're reading
on YouTube, but sometimes YouTube university will lead you down
the wrong path. So I would be cautious about what
you're doing there. But now at least you've got some knowledge.
(11:25):
I would go and look at that calculated load and
see what that does, how close or how inaccurate is it,
and then you can call me back next week we
can talk a little bit further about it and make
some better decisions.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
All right, Well, yes, sir, thank you very much. Calculated
load and.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Fuel trims, right, yep, absolutely all.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Right, John, Yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
You're very welcome. Yeah. Again, I hate the idea of just,
you know, blind changing apart. Let's do an email for mal. Hey, Ron,
I own a twenty twenty four Toyota Highlander. What reckoon
undas would you make for fluid changes another maintenance item?
The engine is a two point five liter with a supercharger.
I believe Toyota's recommendations are too long if I want
(12:07):
to keep the car for more than ten years. Current
mileages twenty four thousand. Thanks Al, you know, Al, I agree.
I'm not crazy about manufacturers, you know, fluid changes and
maintenance lists, and especially a supercharger. Turbo charger, I think
is what you're trying to say. You know, they work harder,
(12:28):
they work real hard. They build a lot of engine
hood underhood engine heat, and I think you really want
to take a look at all the fluids. A big
fan of oil changes every five thousand miles. I think
it's an absolute must. I think it's something you just
need to do. You know, I disagree completely with the
ten thousand mile oil change interval. As you will know,
(12:50):
a good quality filter absolutely trans fluid at fifty, translate
between fifty and sixty dress to the drive line fluids,
you know, rear dif front diff the front transfer case
if we want to call it that, or the power
takeoff unit on that particular car has less than a
quart of fluid in it and you can't imagine the
(13:11):
abuse that it's taking in terms of heat and power distribution.
And they just put such a small unit in there,
and they have for the longest time that you know,
all the drive line fluids at fifty. I like coolant
at five years. I think that's mandatory. I think fuel
system cleaning at thirty where you're going to hook up
the physical machine and clean the rail and you know,
(13:34):
perhaps a kit from c RC to do a fuel
system cleaning to make sure because that should be a
direct injection engine and in all likelihood that is a
port and direct injection engine. So doing a fuel system
cleaner at every oil change, a drop or you know,
a dropman into the tank. I think that's you know,
(13:55):
I think that's mandatory as well. You know, as complicated
it is the cars are getting, it still comes back
to maintenance and fluids and the things you're talking about,
and if you want to keep the car five years,
ten years, or somewhere in between or beyond, it comes
back to fluids being being the vital part, you know,
(14:18):
of keeping the car and getting it there, and it's
it's just so gosh darn important. But just just stay
with the fluids. Like I said, Alan, I think you'll
see that. You'll you'll get that that result. So let's
do another piece of where are we hey, Ron? This
(14:38):
one comes to us from Robert. Robert's got a seventy
and pallid with a three fifty two barrel. Sometimes it's
as if I can't knock off the choke. There's an
electric solenoid that bumps the linkage raising the idol. It's
not the choke that's on the power steering manifold coming
off on the top of the manifold. Passenger side coming
off on the top of the manifold. No matter how
long I let it idle, this salonid doesn't at least
(15:00):
the linkage. This car doesn't have and never had AC.
What is this and what's it for and what's it called?
So I can replace it that's actually there on a
non AC car in nineteen seventy Robert, because what they
did was that's supposed to close the throttle, all right.
The idea was that it would close the throttle and
prevent the car from doing run on that. You know,
(15:23):
this is back back when gasoline octane ratings were changing
and we were changing the quality of fuel and cars experienced,
you know, dieseling and pre ignition, detonation, a variety of
gasoline performance issues, and they figured out that if they
closed the throttle plate, they would shut off the air
supply and cause the engine to shut off quickly if
it was having any of those issues when you turn
(15:44):
off the key. I don't know that you need that anymore,
because obviously gasoline's changed a few times in the past
sixty years, fifty years. And I would set this up
on the base idle, screw off the carburetor itself, and
then use that as a slight bump up, and I
(16:05):
would play with it and adjust it. It's something that
was there as an emission control back in the day,
and I don't know that it's mandatory anymore. You know,
it was just it was just an idol of solenoid,
is what it's called now. If this was an AC
car that was there that was designed to bump out
when you turn the AC on, it provided additional RPM
(16:26):
for the engine when it was under the load of
air conditioning. So, you know, a completely different story. But
this is a very mechanical car. This is a question
of you know, can you make it run okay? Just
on base idle. Screw that back the base idle, screw
off a touch, use that idle up to allow the
throttle plate to close more when you release it, and
(16:49):
then it'll have its curve idyl and it's bump up
idle if you want to think of it like that.
But you know, that's all you need, and that that
solenoid is probably not available too much at Orto Parts
store anymore. Uh. It was just a it was just
an idol of solenoid, single wire mounted on the on
the side of the carb You'd probably find it online
(17:09):
at some of the uh, you know, carburetor rebuilders and
some of the vintage car places. UH you know, I
would look in some of the catalogs for Chevell or
Camaro because they have it as well. So, uh, you know,
it's a it's a it's a fairly common item across
the board for general motors products of that era and
that vintage. All right, so all right, let's uh, let's
(17:31):
pull over eight five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. I'm running indy in the car. Doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Hey, we're back eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. Let's go
to tom at Utah two, Toyota Sequoia. What's going on, Tom?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Well, I engage the four wheel drive below, and then
when I went to this is a short story. When
I went to disengage it, it appears that it's partially disengage.
It allow allows me to reach speeds, but when I
turn you can tell that the front wheels are still engaged.
I have an indicator, you know, I have an indicator
(18:10):
on the dash that you know shows the four wheels
and usually when it's in four wheel drive, those are
all green. Those have turned off, but there's an orange
dot in the middle of that that stays on. In fact,
it's blinking I'm hoping maybe there's some type of vacuum
issue or you know, something that's maybe not an entire rebuild.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I agree, it sounds like it sounds like the
front axle is partially engaged. High mileage on this unit, Yes, sir.
You know, have you tried backing up with the unit
in two wheel drive to see if it releases?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
I have.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I've tried backing up when I disengage, and we were
tried it doing it a neutral right, moving forward and
backing up, you know, those different things, because in the
past that has worked, but this doesn't happen very often.
But now now that it's happened, I've been able to
(19:13):
get it out in the past, but now it's happened,
it won't release. It won't release, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Have you have you looked at the fluid on the
front dip or the transfer case at all?
Speaker 4 (19:26):
I have, not just.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Just just fluid level or does either one of those
show metal particulate not to say the ugly word.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Amen, Yeah, you know?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Is it? Is it? You know? What are we chewing up?
Because if you continue to drive this, you're going to
break something even more if that's possible, and that's and
that's a concern. You know, even if you pulled the
front drive shift, something's locked on. And you know, in
a case of this, I don't even know if I
would tell you to start disengaging if there's vacuum controls
(19:59):
to try and manually shifted, because it just sounds like
something's broken and it really should get fixed, because you
can't count on it. You can't trust on it that
it's going to release if you ever had to put
it back in in the future.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Right, Yeah, it's only it's only low, it's not high.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Right. Have you tried shifting in into four wheel drive high?
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, and it won't and it won't go.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Yeah, right, it won't release. I mean it goes, it
won't release.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's right.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
You can't tell that it's in low until you make
a sharp turn and know how it grabs when you
make a turn.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, it hops, right, it hops, And it sounds like
the front DIF is locked on. So you know there's
an actuator there that if you were to remove it,
you might be able to get the piston to slide
out and release it. But then the problem is does
it happen again? And if it you know if if
In other words, what I'm saying is, if you can't
trust it to use it, then take it apart and
(21:03):
fix it, right, Yeah, you know, as much as you
don't want to do it, because you're probably gonna tell
me there's three hundred thousand miles on this thing.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
They had two sixty.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, so you know, isn't isn't Isn't this a case
where if you're going to keep the truck, you might
as well find out now what's bad before you really do.
If it's possible more serious damage and it's gonna cost
you more money for sure. Yeah, you know, I don't
think I would drive this at all or much longer, Tom,
(21:35):
because you're only chewing something up. Okay, Well, I'm almost yeah,
I'm almost certain you're gonna go check front diff fluid
and take a magnet and fish it down around on
the bottom and you're gonna come up with shavings. But
it sounds like it sounds like the front diff is
locked on, and you know, maybe you pull the front
(21:58):
drive shift to put the transfer case in neutral. If
the transfer case spins, then you know the transfer case
is okay, and then your problems in the front diff
and break it down that way, and you know, at
least you know then what you've got to take apart?
You know, do you have an actuator that's stuck on
in the front u t A. Yeah, take a look
at the way the system actuates up in the front.
(22:18):
Is the actuator not releasing? And if you were to
disassemble that, does that allow it to release? And it's
maybe it's more of a control thing than the actual
diff itself.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Right, Yeah, I'm following.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
You right, got to take something apart, my friend. I
know you don't want to do it. I know that's
why you called me. There's no magic bullet for this one.
It sounds mechanical.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Yeah, I was hoping maybe you had some vacuum secret,
but I don't think we do.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
No, I don't think you do. I think you've tried
them all, you know. Like I say, you may find
an actuator that's stuck on. But in the meantime, how
much have you driven it at this mileage? Have you
heard anything? At the very least, you owe it. You
youoe it a check of the fluid and fluid level,
fluid condition, that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
So yeah, I may may have only driven it ten
miles just trying to you know, do different reverse type things.
But I haven't driven it much, so.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's probably good. Yep. So listen, it won't matter how
much you've driven it. The answer is going to be
how much how much will it tolerate at this age
in mileage?
Speaker 4 (23:26):
So that's true, Yes, take.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
It up, take it apart. It's worth keeping.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
It's been a good ride for all of us too.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah, yep, you know it's it's to go and replace it.
Now when you look at the price of a new one,
all of a sudden, overhauling every drive line component in
the truck looks like a bargain.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Amen. Yeah, so yeah, this one probably is around ninety
to one hundred thousand new.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So right, oh, yeah, you know everything is so it's
it's you know, it's not a question of what what
should what should you do? It's a question of how
much should you do? Yes, you know, and do it
once and get it over with.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
So all right, Kittle, enjoy your show. Thank you for
all you do.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You're very welcome, sir. I appreciate you being there today.
You'd be well, yeah, it just kind of comes down
to can we can we fix it? And you know,
on the other side of it, Tom, if you're still listening,
fix it now. We can still get parts for it
because it's twenty three years old and uh, you know,
drive it another twenty years. Eighty five five six zero
(24:29):
nine nine zero zero. Run an inning in the car. Doctor.
Let's pull over and take a pause. I'll be back
right after this, and we're back eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero on an inning in
the car doctor. Let's let's go to Joe and Iowa
two Dodge pick up. Joe. Welcome to the car doctor, Sir,
How can I help?
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Yeah, definitely, Fellows. Hey, so my kid, I got a
couple of things I want to ask you about. Sure,
one of my kids, one of my kids got it. Yeah,
the two thousand and two Dodge. It's thirty five hundred,
it's got the comings diesel engine. And he tried to
start the other day. It sits for quite a while.
(25:09):
The batteries were dead. So he went on got two
brand new batteries. He stuck them in and he went
and started, I don't remember, in a few days or something,
and he couldn't get it started. The batteries were dead.
He checked it with volt meter and they were pretty
much dead. So I took a look at it, just glanced,
and then I seen, well, looked like he might have
(25:30):
left the light on in the cab. So I shut
that switch on, the rotary switch. I shut that off, thinking, well,
you know that must been the problem. You know, pull
the batteries down, and it does have two batteries, and
then so I charged them, looked at it. The next
day they were about down to less than of vold.
So I said, well, that's interesting, what what else going on?
(25:53):
So then I checked the radio and the radio switch
was on that there was no volume coming out of it. Well,
maybe by chance, maybe the radio pulled down. I didn't
think the radio would have any voltages going to it
with the key out of ignition. But it shouldn't never, Yeah, okay,
it shouldn't. Okay, that's interesting. So so I went ahead
(26:16):
and shut the radio off rotary doll radio and I
shut it off in charge batteries again. The next day
the battery stayed. I never could get a full twelve
twelve and a half votes on the batteries charge.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
First of all, what are you charging the batteries with
a trickle charger.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
You know, at that time, I had a charger that
was putting out at six am. Charger.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Okay, you really you really need to charge to correctly
charge a battery such as what's required for that Commings diesel,
You're really gonna need a professional grade repair shop charger,
all right, and you should be. You know, are you
disconnecting the battery cables when you're charging?
Speaker 5 (27:00):
No, I left them hooked up and I charged them together.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
No, disconnect them and charge them individually, or go buy
a real charger, all right, because it'll it'll take it'll
take too long. Besides the fact that if you leave
it hooked up and there's a draw in the vehicle,
you're pulling against the charger.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Yeah, I figure that too, all right.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, so you know, the first step is you've got
to get the charge. You've got to get the batteries
up the correct level. It may not happen overnight with
a with a low AM charger like that, all right.
It may take a couple of days for each battery.
Oh and then once.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
I'm sorry, at what rate amperings rate where you talk,
and it might take that.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Well, you know we're in if we're if we're in
the shop, I'm rolling it over to the automatic charger
and it's it's gonna set the charge rate based on
the internal resistance value of the battery in its capacity.
That's why I'm saying six samps. Six samps is such
is on such a low scale. You know, the professional
grade chargers will run anywhere from twenty to thirty five
(28:04):
amps in these batteries today to bring them up to speed,
and then it will it will, you know, tailor it
down as they get closer to the top of their charge.
So you're you're trying to empty the ocean with a
tea spoon. Okay, it's gonna take It's gonna take a while,
all right, So you know that's that's number one. Number two.
(28:27):
Once you get the batteries up to charge. Do you
have a d v O M, a digital volteme meter
or something with a milliamp scale or an amp scale
in it?
Speaker 5 (28:38):
Yeah, I got an I got an vote meter.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Okay, so let's set it. Let's set it on amperage.
Let's set it on milliamps, and let's put the meter
in series. And we can do this off of one battery,
leave the other one disconnected. So as not to provide
an alternate power source and confuse things, all right, and
and let's just let's just measure for draw. Do we
(29:03):
have a draw in this vehicle? The rule says, the
rule says that you have to have less than fifty
milliamps in order for the vehicle to be considered okay.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
On a draw, you need less than.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Less than fifty milliams, all right, And if you find
an excess of high draw, you know, if it's there
and it's it may take a while to you know,
bleed down, depending upon the amount of computers in O two.
Not a whole lot of computers in this thing. But
within a half hour to forty five minutes, we should
see under fifty milliamps. And if after that forty five
minute period we still see you know, three four seven
(29:43):
eight amps, then one at a time, we're gonna pop
a fuse. Just take a fuse out of start with
the underhood fuse box, and then work your way into
the interior cabin fuse box, right and one at a time,
take it out, put it in. Does it make any change?
One of those fuses is going to show us a
(30:03):
circuit that's drawing mm hmm. Let me ask you this question.
Let me let me ask you this question. Is the
radio and after market radio?
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (30:14):
You know, I'm not for sure. I'm not for sure.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
I'm sorry, Ron.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah, take a look at that radio? Is after market
if it looks like it was installed by the previous owner.
M you know, I probably start there. I see a
lot of problems with the after market radios or the
install that becomes an issue.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I just I just didn't think there'd
be any voleage to it. You know, I was surprised
when it actually kept a pretty good charge on it
after the next day. But well, let me can I
ask you, I'll.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Tell you what sit sit tight, Sit tight? Joe, let
me pull over, take this pause. When I come back,
we'll finish up. All right, I'm running, ay and the
car doctor. We're back right after this. Hey, we're back
running any of the car doctorate by five, five, six
zero nine nine zero zero. Joe, you're still there, Iowa, yeah,
still here, Yes, sir, A couple of questions. You got
(31:12):
a couple of minutes, Joe, go ahead, Okay.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
Uh, I thought he had when he checked it this morning,
my kid, he said, had eleven point six to zero
volts on the batteries. I thought that would neede be
enough to crank it kind of slow, but he said
it wouldn't do nothing. How much schoolige, I.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Mean minute a battery is considered under voltage at twelve
point one. A standing twelve volt battery should have twelve
and a half vaults to it.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Yeah, that's what I figured about twelve and a half, right,
so that bottom line? Okay, okay? And I just looked
at my volt meter and it doesn't I got an
AMP A SE scale, but no AMP DC scal on it.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Is there a way to convert it? Or you're gonna
you're gonna have to get something that's milliamps? Does it
go to milliamp?
Speaker 5 (31:59):
In a see it goes to two hundred milliams? I
believe in our ten AM setting two hundred million ams. Oh,
there is a DC scal and I see it, so
I see it now, Okay, yeah, two hundred am.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Right, So that's what you want. You want to put
that on milliams And you're looking for a fifty milliam
draw or less, and I would think on an oh
two Dodge diesel, you're probably going to be a lot
less than fifty million ams. There's not a lot of
computer electronics on that vehicle.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
How do you how do you hook that up for
to check for a draw?
Speaker 2 (32:32):
You're going to disconnect the negative battery cable and put
the meter in series.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
To go from the negative post to the right.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, so, so disconnect the other battery so it's out
of the equation. Then you're going to just connect the
negative battery cable and you're going to put one lead
of the meter to the post and one lead of
the meter to the cable.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Okay, to the negative side.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, to the negative side. I like working with the
negative side. Less chance of sparking something.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
Okay, okay, see just just.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
See what it does, and then just watch your polarity.
If it reads negative, reverse your leads.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
Yeah yeah, okay. How much time though? How much time
do you when you take that reading? Is it just
incontinued forty five?
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Like like I said t before, Joe, half hour to
forty five minutes, you should see it drop off under
fifty milliamps. Again, depending upon the amount of computers on
that truck. An hour is the maximum. But you know
that thirty to forty five minutes should do it, and
I would start with looking at this radio. If you
suspect that, maybe take that fuse out first and see
(33:35):
where you go. Appreciate the call, Joe. I'm here next
week if you need me. I'm running ady in the car. Doctor.
It's been a pleasure till the next time. Good 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 five five six zero
nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five five
(00:25):
six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to honest
answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow dot
com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your engines. The Car Doctor is into garage and
(00:47):
ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Subwhere in the mountains of Pennsylvania and the quiet spot
that no one can find? Our doctors broadcasting remote live
today we're trying things out. We've gone a little bit
west of New Jersey and that's where I am. It
was a great ride out here. The Pennsylvania Turnpike moves
along very well. At eighty five ninety miles an hour
(01:13):
as you kind of do that speed trying not to
get run over, because that's the way it is. And
we're here doing radio today in a remote location, hidden
and unknown to everyone, including the government. So maybe this
will be the future, Tom, We'll do government underground radio.
But I had an experience this week that I wanted
to talk about, and it's funny how we all try
(01:36):
to go about communicating. I had to get a radio repaired,
the Thunderbird. The CD player died, so I had to
get the CD player repaired, and I took it into
the repair center, and you know, I went to pick
it up on Thursday, Friday, whatever day it was, and
Mary at the counter started talking to me, and we
started chatting, and she said, oh, you're a mechanic, and
(01:58):
I said, yeah, I'm getting ready to walk out the door.
My radio was coming around the corner and she's asking me,
you know, all sorts of questions, and you know, one
of the questions was are you any good? I don't
know how to answer that question anytime anybody asks me,
am I a good mechanic? Because I I just I
don't know how anybody would answer that. I told her
(02:19):
I was terrible. I said, I'm a bad mechanic. I
just kind of I just kind of cheat and do
the best I can. And she said wow. She said
you don't have a great opinion of yourself and I said, well, no,
not really. I said, it's just that usually the next
question is are you honest? And I said this way,
I figured, if I tell you I was a bad mechanic,
you wouldn't ask me if I was honest. I would
(02:40):
avoid the second question because you would know that who
would in the right mind would say they're a bad
mechanic if they weren't. And she's like, oh, she goes, well,
and she was confused. So I gave her my name
and I said google my name. She googled my name
and she went, oh, wow, you're the car doctor. She said,
(03:00):
And this is the part that I don't understand, because
you were kind of half kidding around having this conversation.
And she said, because you're a celebrity, are you expensive?
And I was walking out the door because my radio
had just shown up, and I said, you know, it's
not a matter of if I'm expensive or not. I'm
going to fix it, right, And isn't that really what counts.
Isn't that what you're looking for? Why weren't you with
your last mechanic? Or why aren't you there anymore? And
(03:21):
she didn't have an answer for that doesn't matter who
works on your car. In a sense, you know, why
are you there? And I think you have to answer
that question first time because everybody always says, or a
lot of people always say they're looking for a new mechanic. Well,
why are you looking for a new mechanic? What is
(03:42):
it that you're looking for? And you know, if you
and we have this conversation a lot, you and I
and we talk about this and we say, is it price?
Is it punctuality? Is it honesty? Is it you know,
potential or the ability? And I think it's all those things.
But somewhere they have to come up in some kind
of a stacked order. I really do. I don't think
it can be you're looking for all of it, because
(04:05):
it can't be. You can't be the cheapest, the fastest,
the best, you know, the most flexible. It just doesn't
work like that. There's just too many variables in the
automobile repair game. There's too many things. There's too many
things that have to go right in order for something
to be completed correctly. So I don't know if that's
(04:25):
the right question to ask anymore. Are you a good mechanic?
Are you an honest mechanic? I think the I think
the better answer is are you capable? And I think
that's what you need to really be talking about you
and saying to yourself, you know, is it? Is it
the ability to fix the car? I think that's where
(04:48):
you have to.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Kind of modify your language and be ready for that.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So but in any event, Mary went out the door
and you know, off she went, and it was good
and we kind of rolled along. So I just thought
I would share that with you and some for another.
I see the phones are lit up, Tom, are we
ready to go to phones here and remote? Yeah, let's
go to John in Virginia. Let's see what's going on
here John. Oh, no, John's not there. John's not in Virginia,
(05:19):
So I'm not sure what's going on there. But in
any event, going back to my story about picking a mechanic, Yeah,
that's that's what we got, right. It varies like that.
So had a nice ride out coming out to PA.
I discovered, you know, the road being a very unforgiving place,
(05:45):
you know, the way things just move along on the turnpike.
And I took the big plow truck. It was great.
The plow truck kind of went from getting it's eleven
twelve miles to the gallon around town to all of
a sudden it got twenty six miles out on the highway.
I have to take more road trips, I think, I
think that's probably the better way to do it. So
(06:06):
but uh, in any event, I think, uh, Tom is
ready for me now, and let's pull over and let's uh,
let's let's jump. Let's see if we can get a
phone call up Tom. We uh oh, don't take the
call yet. Okay, tell you what, Tom. Let's pull over,
take a pause, and uh let's do that. I'm ronning
eighty in the car doctor A five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. We'll be back right after this.
(06:28):
Don't go anywhere. Hey, let's uh, let's go to John
and Virginia twenty hon to fit mass airflow sensor full John,
you're on with the car doctor. What can they do
for you?
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Hey, I recently persis it's actually Anisson kicks. It's a
twenty twenty on kicks.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Okay, and it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
The car is a car exactly. Came up with a
P zero one O one. I replaced the mass airflow sensor. Uh,
I'm a really old scan tool. I'm unable to do
the calibration, and I was hoping that doing a drive
test would calibrate itself. Is that possible?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
When you say calibration, what do you mean calibration?
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I looked up on YouTube. They say you have to
do a calibration of the system. I'm assuming I don't know.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
They're probably talking about that you've got to reset fuel trim.
So let's let's go back when you when you had
the old mass airflow sensor in it, or the original
mass airflow sensor in it. Did you do any testing
or did you just happen to randomly change it?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So, like I said, it was recently purchased. I took
it in a dealer. They said it wasn't under warranty,
so they said it was a mass airflowing sensor. I
replaced a mass airflow sensor. It went out with it
a week. I replaced it again because it was a
piezer one on one and then I had researched on
YouTube and it says you got to do some sort
of calibration.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So here's what I want you to do. Take your
take your scan tool. Did you you know your scan
tool reads in O B D two language? Right? I
want I want you to hook your scan tool up,
and I want you to look at calculated load, all
right as a pid okay with me? And what what
(08:20):
size engine is in this car?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I don't know, all right, it's my daughter's car. I
don't know, I don't all right.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So whatever it is a one point five a two liter?
What size? What size engine this is? And then I
want you to go for a road test warmed up,
closed loop, and I want you to look at a
couple of things. I want you to see what what
fuel trim is? Number one? All right? And and where's
fuel trim short term, short term, long term? But calculated
load is our is our key denominator there. If this
(08:51):
is a two liter engine at idle, we're gonna see
roughly one point eight to two and a half grams
of airflow per second or calculated load if it's really
high or really low. And then maybe I've got a
mass airflow out of calibration. Maybe that's a separate issue.
I could also have a torn intake duck that could
have a restricted air intake. All right, and then where
(09:13):
did you get the mass air Where did you get
the mass airflow sensor from.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Advance autom And it's exactly like the original, Well, it'll.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It'll look exactly like it, but its ability to read,
you know, depends on how good the electronics are internally.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So yeah, ultimately, you know, I just figured it out.
It's a one point six liter.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Okay, so ad idle calculated load. Looking at calculated load,
we should see one point four to one point eight
If I saw it two, Yeah, that's not so bad.
If I see three and the air intake duct is
good and there are no vacuum leaks and the rest
of the vehicle is mechanically sound, I'm gonna say you
just got another bad mass airflow. I'd be curious now
(09:56):
that you've got three mass airflows included. Could did you
turn in the original Did you have to turn it
in for a core?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I get, well, ye, warranty issue.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Well, no, the very first one, the original one you had,
the one that came with the car. Do you still
have that?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I do not have that.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Okay, so you only have the one mass airflow that's
in the car, correct, right?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
See the problem is you replaced an oe part, didn't
do any testing, and now you've got to start the test,
but you're testing with an unknown part of unknown quality, yes, sir, right,
So got to do the mass airflow test. Got to
see what calculated load is. Is calculated load correct? Because if
it's correct at idle and you're still getting the fault,
(10:46):
then I'm going to say maybe it's another bad mass
air because it's out of range at higher end. I'd
also like to see what fuel trim is as you're
cruising down the road. Does it go excessively high? Does
it report excessively out of range? All right, it's kind
of odd to have three bad mass airflows?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
All right?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
There is There is no calibration test I'm aware of
other than resetting memory and fuel trim and then going
for a ride. Okay, and maybe that's what you're reading
on YouTube, but sometimes YouTube university will lead you down
the wrong path. So I would be cautious about what
you're doing there. But now at least you've got some knowledge.
(11:25):
I would go and look at that calculated load and
see what that does, how close or how inaccurate is it,
and then you can call me back next week we
can talk a little bit further about it and make
some better decisions.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
All right, Well, yes, sir, thank you very much. Calculated
load and.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Fuel trims, right, yep, absolutely all.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Right, John, Yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
You're very welcome. Yeah. Again, I hate the idea of just,
you know, blind changing apart. Let's do an email for mal. Hey, Ron,
I own a twenty twenty four Toyota Highlander. What reckoon
undas would you make for fluid changes another maintenance item?
The engine is a two point five liter with a supercharger.
I believe Toyota's recommendations are too long if I want
(12:07):
to keep the car for more than ten years. Current
mileages twenty four thousand. Thanks Al, you know, Al, I agree.
I'm not crazy about manufacturers, you know, fluid changes and
maintenance lists, and especially a supercharger. Turbo charger, I think
is what you're trying to say. You know, they work harder,
(12:28):
they work real hard. They build a lot of engine
hood underhood engine heat, and I think you really want
to take a look at all the fluids. A big
fan of oil changes every five thousand miles. I think
it's an absolute must. I think it's something you just
need to do. You know, I disagree completely with the
ten thousand mile oil change interval. As you will know,
(12:50):
a good quality filter absolutely trans fluid at fifty, translate
between fifty and sixty dress to the drive line fluids,
you know, rear dif front diff the front transfer case
if we want to call it that, or the power
takeoff unit on that particular car has less than a
quart of fluid in it and you can't imagine the
(13:11):
abuse that it's taking in terms of heat and power distribution.
And they just put such a small unit in there,
and they have for the longest time that you know,
all the drive line fluids at fifty. I like coolant
at five years. I think that's mandatory. I think fuel
system cleaning at thirty where you're going to hook up
the physical machine and clean the rail and you know,
(13:34):
perhaps a kit from c RC to do a fuel
system cleaning to make sure because that should be a
direct injection engine and in all likelihood that is a
port and direct injection engine. So doing a fuel system
cleaner at every oil change, a drop or you know,
a dropman into the tank. I think that's you know,
(13:55):
I think that's mandatory as well. You know, as complicated
it is the cars are getting, it still comes back
to maintenance and fluids and the things you're talking about,
and if you want to keep the car five years,
ten years, or somewhere in between or beyond, it comes
back to fluids being being the vital part, you know,
(14:18):
of keeping the car and getting it there, and it's
it's just so gosh darn important. But just just stay
with the fluids. Like I said, Alan, I think you'll
see that. You'll you'll get that that result. So let's
do another piece of where are we hey, Ron? This
(14:38):
one comes to us from Robert. Robert's got a seventy
and pallid with a three fifty two barrel. Sometimes it's
as if I can't knock off the choke. There's an
electric solenoid that bumps the linkage raising the idol. It's
not the choke that's on the power steering manifold coming
off on the top of the manifold. Passenger side coming
off on the top of the manifold. No matter how
long I let it idle, this salonid doesn't at least
(15:00):
the linkage. This car doesn't have and never had AC.
What is this and what's it for and what's it called?
So I can replace it that's actually there on a
non AC car in nineteen seventy Robert, because what they
did was that's supposed to close the throttle, all right.
The idea was that it would close the throttle and
prevent the car from doing run on that. You know,
(15:23):
this is back back when gasoline octane ratings were changing
and we were changing the quality of fuel and cars experienced,
you know, dieseling and pre ignition, detonation, a variety of
gasoline performance issues, and they figured out that if they
closed the throttle plate, they would shut off the air
supply and cause the engine to shut off quickly if
it was having any of those issues when you turn
(15:44):
off the key. I don't know that you need that anymore,
because obviously gasoline's changed a few times in the past
sixty years, fifty years. And I would set this up
on the base idle, screw off the carburetor itself, and
then use that as a slight bump up, and I
(16:05):
would play with it and adjust it. It's something that
was there as an emission control back in the day,
and I don't know that it's mandatory anymore. You know,
it was just it was just an idol of solenoid,
is what it's called now. If this was an AC
car that was there that was designed to bump out
when you turn the AC on, it provided additional RPM
(16:26):
for the engine when it was under the load of
air conditioning. So, you know, a completely different story. But
this is a very mechanical car. This is a question
of you know, can you make it run okay? Just
on base idle. Screw that back the base idle, screw
off a touch, use that idle up to allow the
throttle plate to close more when you release it, and
(16:49):
then it'll have its curve idyl and it's bump up
idle if you want to think of it like that.
But you know, that's all you need, and that that
solenoid is probably not available too much at Orto Parts
store anymore. Uh. It was just a it was just
an idol of solenoid, single wire mounted on the on
the side of the carb You'd probably find it online
(17:09):
at some of the uh, you know, carburetor rebuilders and
some of the vintage car places. UH you know, I
would look in some of the catalogs for Chevell or
Camaro because they have it as well. So, uh, you know,
it's a it's a it's a fairly common item across
the board for general motors products of that era and
that vintage. All right, so all right, let's uh, let's
(17:31):
pull over eight five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. I'm running indy in the car. Doctor. I'll
be back right after this. Hey, we're back eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero. Let's go
to tom at Utah two, Toyota Sequoia. What's going on, Tom?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Well, I engage the four wheel drive below, and then
when I went to this is a short story. When
I went to disengage it, it appears that it's partially disengage.
It allow allows me to reach speeds, but when I
turn you can tell that the front wheels are still engaged.
I have an indicator, you know, I have an indicator
(18:10):
on the dash that you know shows the four wheels
and usually when it's in four wheel drive, those are
all green. Those have turned off, but there's an orange
dot in the middle of that that stays on. In fact,
it's blinking I'm hoping maybe there's some type of vacuum
issue or you know, something that's maybe not an entire rebuild.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I agree, it sounds like it sounds like the
front axle is partially engaged. High mileage on this unit, Yes, sir.
You know, have you tried backing up with the unit
in two wheel drive to see if it releases?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
I have.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
I've tried backing up when I disengage, and we were
tried it doing it a neutral right, moving forward and
backing up, you know, those different things, because in the
past that has worked, but this doesn't happen very often.
But now now that it's happened, I've been able to
(19:13):
get it out in the past, but now it's happened,
it won't release. It won't release, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Have you have you looked at the fluid on the
front dip or the transfer case at all?
Speaker 4 (19:26):
I have, not just.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Just just fluid level or does either one of those
show metal particulate not to say the ugly word.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Amen, Yeah, you know?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Is it? Is it? You know? What are we chewing up?
Because if you continue to drive this, you're going to
break something even more if that's possible, and that's and
that's a concern. You know, even if you pulled the
front drive shift, something's locked on. And you know, in
a case of this, I don't even know if I
would tell you to start disengaging if there's vacuum controls
(19:59):
to try and manually shifted, because it just sounds like
something's broken and it really should get fixed, because you
can't count on it. You can't trust on it that
it's going to release if you ever had to put
it back in in the future.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Right, Yeah, it's only it's only low, it's not high.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Right. Have you tried shifting in into four wheel drive high?
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, and it won't and it won't go.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Yeah, right, it won't release. I mean it goes, it
won't release.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's right.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
You can't tell that it's in low until you make
a sharp turn and know how it grabs when you
make a turn.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, it hops, right, it hops, And it sounds like
the front DIF is locked on. So you know there's
an actuator there that if you were to remove it,
you might be able to get the piston to slide
out and release it. But then the problem is does
it happen again? And if it you know if if
In other words, what I'm saying is, if you can't
trust it to use it, then take it apart and
(21:03):
fix it, right, Yeah, you know, as much as you
don't want to do it, because you're probably gonna tell
me there's three hundred thousand miles on this thing.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
They had two sixty.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, so you know, isn't isn't Isn't this a case
where if you're going to keep the truck, you might
as well find out now what's bad before you really do.
If it's possible more serious damage and it's gonna cost
you more money for sure. Yeah, you know, I don't
think I would drive this at all or much longer, Tom,
(21:35):
because you're only chewing something up. Okay, Well, I'm almost yeah,
I'm almost certain you're gonna go check front diff fluid
and take a magnet and fish it down around on
the bottom and you're gonna come up with shavings. But
it sounds like it sounds like the front diff is
locked on, and you know, maybe you pull the front
(21:58):
drive shift to put the transfer case in neutral. If
the transfer case spins, then you know the transfer case
is okay, and then your problems in the front diff
and break it down that way, and you know, at
least you know then what you've got to take apart?
You know, do you have an actuator that's stuck on
in the front u t A. Yeah, take a look
at the way the system actuates up in the front.
(22:18):
Is the actuator not releasing? And if you were to
disassemble that, does that allow it to release? And it's
maybe it's more of a control thing than the actual
diff itself.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Right, Yeah, I'm following.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
You right, got to take something apart, my friend. I
know you don't want to do it. I know that's
why you called me. There's no magic bullet for this one.
It sounds mechanical.
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Yeah, I was hoping maybe you had some vacuum secret,
but I don't think we do.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
No, I don't think you do. I think you've tried
them all, you know. Like I say, you may find
an actuator that's stuck on. But in the meantime, how
much have you driven it at this mileage? Have you
heard anything? At the very least, you owe it. You
youoe it a check of the fluid and fluid level,
fluid condition, that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
So yeah, I may may have only driven it ten
miles just trying to you know, do different reverse type things.
But I haven't driven it much, so.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's probably good. Yep. So listen, it won't matter how
much you've driven it. The answer is going to be
how much how much will it tolerate at this age
in mileage?
Speaker 4 (23:26):
So that's true, Yes, take.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
It up, take it apart. It's worth keeping.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
It's been a good ride for all of us too.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Yeah, yep, you know it's it's to go and replace it.
Now when you look at the price of a new one,
all of a sudden, overhauling every drive line component in
the truck looks like a bargain.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Amen. Yeah, so yeah, this one probably is around ninety
to one hundred thousand new.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So right, oh, yeah, you know everything is so it's
it's you know, it's not a question of what what
should what should you do? It's a question of how
much should you do? Yes, you know, and do it
once and get it over with.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
So all right, Kittle, enjoy your show. Thank you for
all you do.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You're very welcome, sir. I appreciate you being there today.
You'd be well, yeah, it just kind of comes down
to can we can we fix it? And you know,
on the other side of it, Tom, if you're still listening,
fix it now. We can still get parts for it
because it's twenty three years old and uh, you know,
drive it another twenty years. Eighty five five six zero
(24:29):
nine nine zero zero. Run an inning in the car. Doctor.
Let's pull over and take a pause. I'll be back
right after this, and we're back eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero on an inning in
the car doctor. Let's let's go to Joe and Iowa
two Dodge pick up. Joe. Welcome to the car doctor, Sir,
How can I help?
Speaker 5 (24:49):
Yeah, definitely, Fellows. Hey, so my kid, I got a
couple of things I want to ask you about. Sure,
one of my kids, one of my kids got it. Yeah,
the two thousand and two Dodge. It's thirty five hundred,
it's got the comings diesel engine. And he tried to
start the other day. It sits for quite a while.
(25:09):
The batteries were dead. So he went on got two
brand new batteries. He stuck them in and he went
and started, I don't remember, in a few days or something,
and he couldn't get it started. The batteries were dead.
He checked it with volt meter and they were pretty
much dead. So I took a look at it, just glanced,
and then I seen, well, looked like he might have
(25:30):
left the light on in the cab. So I shut
that switch on, the rotary switch. I shut that off, thinking, well,
you know that must been the problem. You know, pull
the batteries down, and it does have two batteries, and
then so I charged them, looked at it. The next
day they were about down to less than of vold.
So I said, well, that's interesting, what what else going on?
(25:53):
So then I checked the radio and the radio switch
was on that there was no volume coming out of it. Well,
maybe by chance, maybe the radio pulled down. I didn't
think the radio would have any voltages going to it
with the key out of ignition. But it shouldn't never, Yeah, okay,
it shouldn't. Okay, that's interesting. So so I went ahead
(26:16):
and shut the radio off rotary doll radio and I
shut it off in charge batteries again. The next day
the battery stayed. I never could get a full twelve
twelve and a half votes on the batteries charge.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
First of all, what are you charging the batteries with
a trickle charger.
Speaker 5 (26:35):
You know, at that time, I had a charger that
was putting out at six am. Charger.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Okay, you really you really need to charge to correctly
charge a battery such as what's required for that Commings diesel,
You're really gonna need a professional grade repair shop charger,
all right, and you should be. You know, are you
disconnecting the battery cables when you're charging?
Speaker 5 (27:00):
No, I left them hooked up and I charged them together.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
No, disconnect them and charge them individually, or go buy
a real charger, all right, because it'll it'll take it'll
take too long. Besides the fact that if you leave
it hooked up and there's a draw in the vehicle,
you're pulling against the charger.
Speaker 5 (27:18):
Yeah, I figure that too, all right.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, so you know, the first step is you've got
to get the charge. You've got to get the batteries
up the correct level. It may not happen overnight with
a with a low AM charger like that, all right.
It may take a couple of days for each battery.
Oh and then once.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
I'm sorry, at what rate amperings rate where you talk,
and it might take that.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Well, you know we're in if we're if we're in
the shop, I'm rolling it over to the automatic charger
and it's it's gonna set the charge rate based on
the internal resistance value of the battery in its capacity.
That's why I'm saying six samps. Six samps is such
is on such a low scale. You know, the professional
grade chargers will run anywhere from twenty to thirty five
(28:04):
amps in these batteries today to bring them up to speed,
and then it will it will, you know, tailor it
down as they get closer to the top of their charge.
So you're you're trying to empty the ocean with a
tea spoon. Okay, it's gonna take It's gonna take a while,
all right, So you know that's that's number one. Number two.
(28:27):
Once you get the batteries up to charge. Do you
have a d v O M, a digital volteme meter
or something with a milliamp scale or an amp scale
in it?
Speaker 5 (28:38):
Yeah, I got an I got an vote meter.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Okay, so let's set it. Let's set it on amperage.
Let's set it on milliamps, and let's put the meter
in series. And we can do this off of one battery,
leave the other one disconnected. So as not to provide
an alternate power source and confuse things, all right, and
and let's just let's just measure for draw. Do we
(29:03):
have a draw in this vehicle? The rule says, the
rule says that you have to have less than fifty
milliamps in order for the vehicle to be considered okay.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
On a draw, you need less than.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Less than fifty milliams, all right, And if you find
an excess of high draw, you know, if it's there
and it's it may take a while to you know,
bleed down, depending upon the amount of computers in O two.
Not a whole lot of computers in this thing. But
within a half hour to forty five minutes, we should
see under fifty milliamps. And if after that forty five
minute period we still see you know, three four seven
(29:43):
eight amps, then one at a time, we're gonna pop
a fuse. Just take a fuse out of start with
the underhood fuse box, and then work your way into
the interior cabin fuse box, right and one at a time,
take it out, put it in. Does it make any change?
One of those fuses is going to show us a
(30:03):
circuit that's drawing mm hmm. Let me ask you this question.
Let me let me ask you this question. Is the
radio and after market radio?
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (30:14):
You know, I'm not for sure. I'm not for sure.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
I'm sorry, Ron.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah, take a look at that radio? Is after market
if it looks like it was installed by the previous owner.
M you know, I probably start there. I see a
lot of problems with the after market radios or the
install that becomes an issue.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I just I just didn't think there'd
be any voleage to it. You know, I was surprised
when it actually kept a pretty good charge on it
after the next day. But well, let me can I
ask you, I'll.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Tell you what sit sit tight, Sit tight? Joe, let
me pull over, take this pause. When I come back,
we'll finish up. All right, I'm running, ay and the
car doctor. We're back right after this. Hey, we're back
running any of the car doctorate by five, five, six
zero nine nine zero zero. Joe, you're still there, Iowa, yeah,
still here, Yes, sir, A couple of questions. You got
(31:12):
a couple of minutes, Joe, go ahead, Okay.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
Uh, I thought he had when he checked it this morning,
my kid, he said, had eleven point six to zero
volts on the batteries. I thought that would neede be
enough to crank it kind of slow, but he said
it wouldn't do nothing. How much schoolige, I.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Mean minute a battery is considered under voltage at twelve
point one. A standing twelve volt battery should have twelve
and a half vaults to it.
Speaker 5 (31:39):
Yeah, that's what I figured about twelve and a half, right,
so that bottom line? Okay, okay? And I just looked
at my volt meter and it doesn't I got an
AMP A SE scale, but no AMP DC scal on it.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Is there a way to convert it? Or you're gonna
you're gonna have to get something that's milliamps? Does it
go to milliamp?
Speaker 5 (31:59):
In a see it goes to two hundred milliams? I
believe in our ten AM setting two hundred million ams. Oh,
there is a DC scal and I see it, so
I see it now, Okay, yeah, two hundred am.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Right, So that's what you want. You want to put
that on milliams And you're looking for a fifty milliam
draw or less, and I would think on an oh
two Dodge diesel, you're probably going to be a lot
less than fifty million ams. There's not a lot of
computer electronics on that vehicle.
Speaker 5 (32:28):
How do you how do you hook that up for
to check for a draw?
Speaker 2 (32:32):
You're going to disconnect the negative battery cable and put
the meter in series.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
To go from the negative post to the right.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, so, so disconnect the other battery so it's out
of the equation. Then you're going to just connect the
negative battery cable and you're going to put one lead
of the meter to the post and one lead of
the meter to the cable.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Okay, to the negative side.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, to the negative side. I like working with the
negative side. Less chance of sparking something.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
Okay, okay, see just just.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
See what it does, and then just watch your polarity.
If it reads negative, reverse your leads.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
Yeah yeah, okay. How much time though? How much time
do you when you take that reading? Is it just
incontinued forty five?
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Like like I said t before, Joe, half hour to
forty five minutes, you should see it drop off under
fifty milliamps. Again, depending upon the amount of computers on
that truck. An hour is the maximum. But you know
that thirty to forty five minutes should do it, and
I would start with looking at this radio. If you
suspect that, maybe take that fuse out first and see
(33:35):
where you go. Appreciate the call, Joe. I'm here next
week if you need me. I'm running ady in the car. Doctor.
It's been a pleasure till the next time. Good mechanics
aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
Host
Ron Ananian
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!