October 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Ron Ananian The Car Doctor - Hour Recap
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’72 Dodge Dart (Kevin): Skip octane boosters/race gas; a true ~10:1 flat-top can run on quality 93. Focus on plug heat range, timing, and jetting. “Mild goes wild.”
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’75 Chevy Van (Greg): Hot-soak flooding. If no boil-over or needle/seat drip, likely needs a pro Quadrajet rebuild/flow test after decades of service.
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’08 Kia Rondo (Beth): After repeated A/C failures, weigh repair costs vs. replacement. Consider a well-kept Toyota Solara; one trusted shop > bouncing around.
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’03 Buick LeSabre (Sam): With exhaust off at 250k, replace both O₂ sensors with OEM-grade parts. Changing courtesy-light delay likely requires GM Tech-2 (if BCM supports).
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Listener Email (Miles): Trickle-charging a 2025 Camry Hybrid is generally fine; “deprogramming” refers to adaptives, not OS. Confirm specifics with a savvy Toyota dealer.
Ron’s button: We’re “the last Jedi” of hot rodding—keep the torch lit.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners Alife. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join the Conversation live every Saturday from two to four
pm Eastern by calling eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero. That's eight five five five six
(00:25):
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 and
(00:47):
ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Boy. Kudos to ethel Mermans. She was right. Let's only
Tom Rain knows what I mean by that. Today. Let's
let's go right to the phones eight five to five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. Kevin's waiting there patiently.
Seventy two Dodge Dart and a question about what Kevin, Kevin,
Welcome back, what's going on with this car?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Ron?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
How you doing?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Right now, I'm running on pump gas. It's a high
compression motor, and I'm running on pump gas, and I
don't know if I should go to a fuel additive
or a race gas mix. Do you have any recommendations there? Octane?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I love I love these conversations, I really do. Kevin,
What what compression ratio you're running in this motor?
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Well, it's supposably ten to one. I bought the car
and they say ten to one. But when I do
a compression test on it, I'm about two hundred and
twenty five pounds per cylinder.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, yeah, but you see compression a compression test. Compression
pressure and compression ratio are two different things, and there
are no there are no reflection of what it is.
And then the other question is if it's a ten
to one compression, is it a flat top piston, doesn't
have a dome to it and all of these.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Yeah, I believe it was supposed to be a flat
top ten to one compression piston.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
All right. If it's a flat top ten to one
compression piston, I don't think you need octane booster okay,
and let me let me, let me let me put
it to you this way. I base everything in my
hot rod universe off the hot rod, all right. And
you know I've forgotten more than I remember about playing
with this car currant engine. I handed the engine builder
(02:33):
a blank check. I said I wanted. I wanted five
hundred horse on the street, and I don't want to
have to work on it. I just just what I did, right.
I got a motor that dinoed at five point thirty seven.
It makes four hundred and I think it's four hundred
and ninety foot pounds of torque at fifty two PM.
(02:57):
It's a thumper right, runs on pump gas. I only
use Snoco ninety three, just my way of feeling better
about it. It's a single four barrel, it's nothing crazy.
It'll it'll scare the living daylights out of you, which
to me is the whole point of this. And you know,
(03:18):
I always think of what Billy said. Billy was my
first boss, and he was into performance and he was
really a genius. I think he was ahead of his time.
He was into the KZ drag bikes in the late
seventies when they were first coming out and Billy always said,
mild goes wild, and it's the absolute truth. So you know,
I don't think you need anything more than ninety three octane,
(03:40):
but you know you could surely you want to find
out run a straight mix of performance fuel and then
run you know, ninety three and go to the track
and measure it in the quarter mile and how much
stronger does it pull? And how much better does it pull?
And how much faster is the car and to what
level of consistency? And you know, you got to measure
it against something, right, right, sticker automatic car? Is it
(04:05):
a sticker automatic automatic?
Speaker 5 (04:06):
I'm sorry, automatic automatic?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So at least, yeah, it's it's but you know, at
least it's the consistency of the automatic, right, which is
a whole lot better. So you could, you could do it.
I don't think you need it. I don't think it's
gonna matter. And one of the reasons, and one of
the things I never liked about octane boosters was you
had to be precise in how much fuel. How much
(04:28):
fuel is in the tank. I don't know. It says
half a tank, Is it a half a tank? Is
it a twenty gallon tank? Is it a low side
of half a tank or is it to the high
side of half a tank? Is it twelve gallons of
fuel or is it nine gallons of fuel? How much
octane booster did you put in? You know, it becomes
a whole michig os. As Mom would say, I think
you're I think you're better off playing with spark plug,
(04:50):
heat range, timing, jetting, dialing it in that way.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
And that's what I'm doing right now. I'm going down
on the heat range one level and right timing and
you know, stuff like that. So you know it's for
getting there.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, it's a it's a day at the track, right yeah, ye,
you know, and you know, for your street car, I
don't think so. I think it's quality of fuel. I
either run and like I said, I either run Sonoco
ninety three and if I can't find a Sinoco, I'll
use Shell whatever. Their high octane stuff is the highest
(05:26):
they have, and you know, and that's what it is.
And if I really want to torture myself, yeah, they
used to be a guy that had Camp two available
by the He couldn't pump it. You had to put
it into the five gallon can and then you pour
the five gallon can into the side of your hot rod,
and you felt good about it, and like, oh that's
really cool. You know, you know, you never you never
went anywhere anyway, So what difference did it make?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
You know?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
You spilt half to you spilt half the camp too
down the side of your beautiful paint job, and you
got all upset and you said, well, I guess I'll
never do this again. And you know because the gas
tank leaks. Yeah right, there was three drops. You just
you went broke just watching it. So but I get
it one hundred percent. What stall converter did you put
in this car? I remember this car. Now you're talking
(06:08):
to me about that, Yeah, right, And I think that's
I think that's more than enough. The original hot Rod
Black Run Black one ran a forty two hundred stall
speed converter. It was the nuttiest thing I ever put
on a street car. You know, you pull up to
a traffic light at four grand and you just release.
It would be just you'd come off on the red
(06:29):
limit or just about it, just crazy stuff you'd get
right up there. So now you don't need an octane booster, Kevin,
do something else to get performance and consistency. You know
what horsepower and going fast isn't about how much can
you make It's about how consistently can you make it?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Right.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
I'm just worried about the running good, you know, detonation
and stuffing like that.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right, Well, if it's a true ten to one, if
it's a true you know, if it's a true flat
top piston on today's gas ninety three, you won't have
it if it's jetted right and timed right.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
So all right, Ken, good bron I appreciate your conversations every.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Every time, Kevin. You know what, I appreciate what you're
trying to do. You live, you live your life, enjoy
your hot rod. Sooner or later you're gonna come to
the conclusion that you don't have to go that fast anymore.
But that's okay, God bless.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Don't go fast quick short distances, yeah, just short distances.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
You know. Listen, you know what there's still it's do
you ever feel like as hot rotters? I'll tell you
a quick story. Tuesday night last week, Shelby Jimmy invited
me to his house out on the deck with his
car group. Now I'm the youngest guy in the car group,
and we're watching Two Lane Blacktop, right, And I had
(07:45):
to explain it to everybody because nobody understood it as
far as you know, what the car culture was in
the sixties. And I'm trying to figure this out. How
the youngest guy in the group is explaining it to
the older guys in the group that actually went through
the car culture of the late sixties early seventies, and no,
he understands it. And they're like, where's all the drag racing.
I'm like, yeah, there is no drag racing in this movie.
(08:05):
It's it's so limited. It's just talking about the counterculture
and the way things were, and it was just just
a different time and a different period. It's it's it's got,
it's got the plot of you know, watching Paint Dry
would be a more exciting plot than watching Two Lane Blacktop.
But you watch it because of the couple of cars
that you see and and and the way it was,
and you know, and what's my point. My point is
(08:27):
cars have changed a lot, right, It's it's the idea
of hot rotting. And sometimes I think we're like the
last Jedi, right, you know, it's like Star Wars. We
we are the last jedi. We we we are carrying
the torch of a generation that is long gone, and
the light is all but out, and nobody understands it anymore.
(08:49):
It's it's kind of depressing. I go, I go, I
go around on the hot rot.
Speaker 5 (08:53):
Say again, we had the high beam switch on the floor.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Right, yeah, we had the high beam switch on the floor.
We have the keys that you turned. You know. I
go out in the hot rod and nobody even, you know,
they look at me. Out Here comes that old man
in that noisy car again. You know, it's just it's
just the cops don't pull you over. You don't get
to meet the police like you did when you were
a kid. It was just just just a completely different time.
So all right, I gotta go, Kevin, You'll be ware day.
(09:20):
Thank you you too, sir. Eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. I'm running any in the car. Doctor.
A little craze today, but good form anyway. I'll be
back right after this. And I just just to comment
one last thing about Kevin and his hot rod, what
he's doing, what he's going through, dialing in in the
carburetor and jetting. When we did that as a society
(09:46):
when we jetted carburetors and played with hot rods to
that level, we understood how things worked mechanically to a
finite point, and it was just just a very different time.
I can't explain it other than you know, it gave
us an understanding of how something worked versus today. Today
we're trying to follow electrons and follow the electron of
(10:08):
the bouncing ball. It's not that easy. So but kudos
to Kevin and everybody out there that's still a Jedi
trying to make a hot rod work. Greg and Florida
seventy five Chevy Man. What could be wrong with this?
How are you today? Greg?
Speaker 4 (10:23):
I'm doing okay? How are you all right?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
What's going on with this?
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Okay? It's three point fifty automatic with the quadrajet carburetor,
and it's flooding when the engine's hot it after since
ten or twenty minutes after it's been shut off, it
gets flooded.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Okay, so flooded, flooded? How how do you know it's flooded?
And I realized that's a generic question, but it's gonna
help me. Do you how do you know it's flooded?
You have to hold your foot to the floor to
clear it out.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
That's right. To get it restarted, I have to hold
it wide open till it.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Okay, and then it puff of black smoke and yeah,
that's it, right, Okay, seems like I've seen this fan.
So you know, you've got the dog house off, you've
got the air cleaner off. You're watching the carburetor. Does
the car boil over? Does it flood over the top
or you never see any fuel? You just ended up
with a flooded engine twenty minutes later, and you can't
(11:21):
figure out where it's coming from.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Well, it's kind of hard to see the carburetor, even
with the doghouse off. It's kind of restricted area to
get to it and look at it. Right, right, I've
had this saying eleven years and I've been messing with
it that long, trying to solve the problem. But I haven't.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Okay, So in seventy five, I'm trying to remember what
seventy five looks like. As long as there's no charcoal
canister tie in, that's you know somewhere. I'm trying to
remember what year. I think it was the early eighties
when the purge valve problem happened. When they put the
purge valve up on top and it would go bad
(12:05):
and it would draw a fuel right from the tank.
So I don't think that's your issue. So as long
as we don't have any heavy canister purge lines going
up to the carburetor causing the issue, I'm going to
tell you if you don't see the carb flooding out
over the top, all right, And this is why I
want you to be able to get to the top
of the choke flap to look at it. You know,
do you see fuel or is there fuel going down
(12:27):
inside the throat that it's peeing up past the needle
and seat? All right? If it's nothing like that, then
I'm going to start to think that if you pull
the carburetor off. There are two solder plugs in the
bottom of the carburetor, and nobody ever thinks of these,
all right. Those two solder plugs were when they manufactured
(12:49):
the carburetor. That's how they drilled the ports for the
main jets, and then at the factory they just dripped
some solder in there and they sealed them up. Well,
fifty years later, those solder plugs have rattled loose and
they're draining the floatball, and that's where your fuel is
(13:11):
coming from, and you'll never see it. So the way
you're gonna find this is if you determine, and this
is why I want you to get to the top
of the carburetor, if you determine that it's not flooding
over the top and it's not dripping past the needle
in seats such as the fuel is boiling because fuel
fuel today is very different than it was in nineteen
(13:32):
seventy five. Okay, as long as we know the carburetor is,
for lack of a better way to say it, mechanically
sound and not boiling over through the throat. The only
other place that fuel can be coming from is out
of the solder plugs in the bottom of the carburetor.
And you're going to take the carbout, you're going to
(13:56):
just leave it on the workbench. What I actually do
is I'll take a re eights bolt or a five
sixteen's bolt and put it through the mounting holes where
the carb mounts to the manifold, and I'll make like
a little stand. If you get what I'm saying, I'll
use a I'll use a shoulder bolt. So if there's
a gap of a one in shoulder. I'll put a
nut lay the carburetor on that in all four corners.
(14:17):
I'll put a nut on the top so that it
stays in place. Now I've elevated it so I can
actually see the bottom of the carb in action. I'll
put a little bit of fuel in the vent hole
up top. I won't overfloot it because I don't want
to make a mess, and I'll let it sit overnight.
And if I come back in the morning, and in
your case, it sounds like you're gonna see it real
obvious if I see if I see those solder plugs
(14:39):
are wet, you know, you just touch it with your
finger and there's fuel there. There's not supposed to be
fuel there. The solder plug is legan making sense.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Oh yeah, well, I've already tried that. I've inspected the
solder plugs. It looks like they've got JB. Welld on them.
And uh, I don't think I put that on there,
but somebody did. But I've done what you like you said,
put fuel in the bowl and let it sit on
(15:12):
the bench and nothing comes out at.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
The bottom and it's dry.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Yeah, right, I'm pretty sure it's not leaking out the bottom.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Okay, If it's not leaking out the bottom, then it's
got to be coming from the top. Carburetor is the
only place that fuel is coming from, you know? Is
the needle shut off? Do we have a saturated float?
Have you ever weighed the float?
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I'll put a new float in it.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Okay. Have you tried a different carburetor?
Speaker 4 (15:42):
No, I haven't tried a different one?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
All right? You know, have you sent that one out
to be rebuilt? Because when a rebuilder rebuilds it, he'll
go through all these tests as well as flow it.
He'll actually measure fuel flow through it. He'll look it
shut off, he'll look at boil over, he'll actually go
through that carburetor. And it might be something you just
can't fix in the field at this point, because there's
(16:07):
no other place that's coming from. Like I said, if
there's no canister perge leading up to it, such as
the canister is saturated to the point that somehow it's
pushing fuel, which in seventy five I don't think it's possible.
Carburetor is the only source of fuel that's gonna make
it flood out like that. Do this out of curiosity
(16:27):
if you shut it off and open the throttle. See,
you need to be able to look down inside. If
you took a mirror and look down in the throat,
do you see fuel dripping? Or before you go to
start at twenty minutes later, do you see fuel collected
on the intake manifold floor?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, I've never seen any fuel on the outside of
the carburator. And I've tried to look in it while
it's sitting there hot and you can't.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah. I think the next up for you, Greg is
it's either send it out to get rebuilt and flowed
or try a different car, because you've tried everything else
from what you're telling me, So do those things. Call
me back. I'll be around next week. You're very welcome, sir.
EIGHTHFI five five six zero nine nine zero zero. We'll
return right after this. And we're back eight five five
(17:21):
five six zero nine nine zero zero. Let's go to
Beth in Florida. Oh eight Kia, Beth. What's going on here?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Well?
Speaker 6 (17:28):
And so two thousand and eight Kia Rondo And it
is only one hundred five thousand miles on it, and
it's not a lot of miles considering it to two
thousand and eight, but the air conditioner has broken down
three times. The first time was in twenty eighteen. It
(17:49):
was the compressor, and the second time was twenty twenty
three and it was the evaporator, and now it's the
compressor again. And I'm getting some really steep ideas or brother.
People are telling me it's between sixteen hundred and two
(18:10):
thousand dollars for the new compressor, which seems to me
like a lot of money. And I guess what I'm
weighing right now is should I get it fixed and
continue driving it or should I invest in maybe another
used car because I can't afford these terrible prices for
new cars.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Right right, you know, it's a great question. First of all,
let's let's get this clear between us. This is roughly
a fifteen year old car.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
Right right, a little older, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
It's you know, it's fifteen sixteen years older, one hundred
thousand miles on it. So let's say it's two thousand
dollars to fix the air conditioning. What if six months
from now the transmission fails, would you fix it?
Speaker 6 (18:59):
Yes, that's true, right.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
That's that's another question. The second is, you know, repetitive
compressor failure. Are you buying new compressors or remand compressors
rebuilt compressors.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
Well, we're supposed to be new. The first one was
seven hundred. The evaporator was eighteen hundred, and I'm still
paying for that. And this compressor is supposed to be new.
And one guy says sixteen hundred, and the other one
is saying around two thousands.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Is this the Kia dealer or a private Is this
the Kia dealer or a private garage?
Speaker 6 (19:37):
Private garage says sixteen hundred, tiers plus says two thousands.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Right. You know. The other thing when a compressor fails,
and depending upon how it fails, sometimes it's a good
idea to also replace the condenser because the condenser gets
the debris of the compressor. If the compressor implodes or
has mechanical fil failure, it will push some of its
particles up line, and the condensers the first one to
(20:05):
take the hit. So you know, Mike, Mike, My one
question I'm thinking to myself is since twenty eighteen, how
many miles have you gone? Because you have you don't
drive a lot, I can tell, so you know, is
it is it ten thousand miles twenty thousand miles. Probably not.
I bet you went twelve fifteen thousand miles in seven
years as a guest about yes, right, so you know,
(20:29):
are we dealing with quality of part? Are we dealing
with something else? Is wrong with the system? Who normally
services the car?
Speaker 6 (20:37):
Beth a gentleman in a private garage?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Right? And is he is he one of the guys
quoting you on the compressor?
Speaker 6 (20:47):
He is? And the evaporator was done by a private corporation,
not corporation by the mom on top. And then the
second is the sixteen hundred first one must see evacuator
and they did that, and then the mom and pop
and then the second one. Here is the compressor for
(21:08):
sixteen hundred dollars by the private.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Private.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
You know, here's the Here's here's where that relationship with
the mechanic comes real handy, because it becomes you know what, uh,
you know what would he do and talk to him?
He knows the condition of the car better than anybody.
And I would also bring up to him, you know,
how did the compressor fail? Is it an electrical failure?
Is it the clutch itself? Or is it a mechanical
(21:35):
failure of the compressor. And if so, do we need
to change the condenser? Okay, right, and yeah that would
be an additional expense, but it would prevent problems. I'm trying.
I'm looking for a repeat problem scenario. What's causing your
repetitive issue? Right? It sounds like the evaporator was a leak,
(21:57):
as it usually is. You know, the compressor is the compressor,
you know, it's it's And like I said, the other
part of this conversation has to be before you put
twenty twenty five hundred three thousand dollars into this, if
the transmission failed in six months, what would you do?
Speaker 6 (22:17):
I would be walking, no kidding, a force to buy.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
So you know, maybe maybe now's the time to forego
the AC repair and start looking at a secondary car.
Drive this one until you can afford something better.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
Right, Okay? I want to ask you about this car.
A friend had one of these and I fell in
love with it. It's a Toyota Selera. Are those good cars.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
As a rule, Yeah, Toyota is a pretty good car.
The Celera is a pretty good car. That's the convertible
version of the camera, correct, Yes, yeah, yeah, they're fun cars.
If you can find one. They're hard to find, especially
in good condition. But we've got a couple of customers
with them and they enjoy them. I enjoy driving them,
you know, with the top down. It's just a fun car.
(23:05):
Especially I could imagine it in Florida right with all
the sunshine. So but you know, mileage dictates, you know, demand,
mileage dictates do I want it? You know, if it's
a twohny thousand miles Selarira, No, If it's a fifty
thousand miles Seleari, Yeah, it's worth looking at. But I
think as a lateral move it would be worth investigating.
(23:26):
But the one thing I want to leave you with
is I get concerned when we're bouncing from garage to garage. One.
I'm a one cook in the kitchen kind of guy,
and it makes it easier on you. And you know,
sometimes another guy is going to be cheaper maybe, but
(23:49):
that money you save is going to come back to
bite you somewhere else. I feel like on order repair
and to have that relationship with the one guy and say, hey,
you've been my mechanical all along. You know what do
you think going on? It's a trust thing. See to me,
trust and honesty is a big deal in order to repair, right, right,
So it's the biggest So I would encourage you to
(24:09):
look at that too.
Speaker 6 (24:11):
Okay, the one that I am looking at now sixteen
hundred you know, that's cash out, and the others I
put on the initial back back in twenty eighteen, that
was cash. But the one two years ago was on
a credit card. It was eighteen hundred dollars now at
(24:33):
thirty five percent interest, and it hasn't been paid off yet,
and I think I were one thousand dollars on it.
And so you know, Destato, the one that I like
doesn't take credit, so it's got to be sixteen hundred
dollars cash out again. Meanwhile, I paid for the other
(24:57):
air conditioner repair, right, I'm.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Sorry, Yeah, No, I get it, I get it. It's
it's it gets to the point where, like I said,
you know, how much further do you want to go
on an older car?
Speaker 6 (25:11):
What if we're to get Scelera? What good year is
there for a used Selera?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
They're all good, but again, conditioned mileage, how well was
it cared for maintenance? I would tell you to buy
the newest one you can afford. Is really how I
would approach it, all right, and then it make them.
I don't think they made them beyond certain years. Like
I know most of my customers are driving their six
is O sevens, and I think ones and O eight
(25:42):
So I don't think you're going to find like a
twenty fifteen celerity. To be honest with you, I haven't
paid that much attention to it. We haven't seen a
lot of newer ones. But the convertible cameras were kind
of a rarity, so uh, you know, I think it's
it's again, as I said, not to be repetitive, but conditional,
dictate what you want to buy. But I think you're
better off looking for a second vehicle or another vehicle
(26:03):
and replacing the Kia before you spend much more money
on it, because, for example, I've got to believe a
Celia is going to hold up better long term than
a Kia, especially at this age in mileage. So good
luck to you, Beth. Let me know what you would
end up doing. I'm here for you if you need me.
A five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
We're back right after this. Ay A five five five
(26:25):
six zero nine nine zero zero. On eating the car, doctor.
Let's go over to Sam in Arizona, three buicle saber. Sam,
what's going on? How can I help?
Speaker 3 (26:34):
So? Thanks to taking my call, got a question regarding
advice oxygen sensors. So I have my rear exhaust better
or manifold loss that replace the baskets? Should I replace
the aucygen sensors since I have it out because it's
(26:56):
two hundred and fifty thousand miles, but they look good
and they seem a lot better than the offer market.
So what's available now?
Speaker 7 (27:02):
Though?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Well, you know, can you still get and I think
I think you probably still could get delkos for it?
I would you know? They're off, they're they're accessible, all right? Uh,
they're cheap, right? How much is an O two censor?
Thirty five forty fifty bucks. They're not a lot of
money anymore? Single wire H Two's right?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I think they're two?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Okay, even so you know you have access, you have
access to them now, all right?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Two censors?
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Two censors do wear out and degrade over time, all right,
two hundred and fifty thousand miles. As long as you
change both, as long as you can get you know,
decent quality. And I don't mean something on Amazon that
you know, is it really a Delco or is it
you know, because the Amazon Orto parts are a whole
nother story. Always I'm always concerned about counterfeit stuff. But
(27:51):
if I can get real GMS for it, yeah, I
think now's the time. It's you know, looking at looking
at them doesn't necessarily tell you. You know, it's funny.
We we we still talk about two sensors in their
simplest form in training classes, and the instructors still browbeat
us with it. Would take a lab scope and you know,
X number of hours have set up to really look
(28:14):
at cross counts and cycle and high limit low limit,
and we can't really test them correctly. That's why we
leave it up to the computer. So you know, and
O three is it testing them? Yeah? Are they okay? Sure,
there's no there's no fault for it. There's no check
engine light, right, you know, when when? When? When does
that happen? And the fact that it's off and it's
(28:35):
it's in your hand and you know, will it come
out at two hundred and fifty thousand miles, Well you're
gonna find out. Yeah, Okay, now's the moment. So second question,
quick question.
Speaker 7 (28:46):
Yeah, so is it possible to code the missile the
car computer to change the delay on when.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
The lights go off after you turn the car off.
It's like twenty but I like to bump that to
a minute. Is that possible? It's a code scanner.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Not with a code scanner. If it's available with anything,
it would have to be a factory level scan tool,
which in three was likely a Tech two, right, and
it would it would have to have been an option
inside the b CM if I recall correctly, and I
don't know that it's there.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
How do you run that down? Only GM knows well.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It would be plugging a scan tool, literally plugging a
Tech two and look for it and see if it's
listed as an option. Now that that being said, in
this day and age, do I think there's somebody out
there that's a programmer that's probably written a program to
do it? Yeah? Probably? How do you find it? The
Google machine? Right?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Right?
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Uh, you know see what, see what it comes up with.
But yeah, it's you know, it's it's it's a valid point.
Sometimes you want to change some of those options, and uh,
you know, somewhere I think seven eight GM got smarter
and They did make it as an option to us
in the Bays, but the early ones not so much.
Not so much. And that's why I always say, you
(30:08):
got to you gotta look in the scan tool and
see if it's there or not.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
So all right, you think only manufacturer scan tool, not
an aftermarket Yeah, Manu.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I think only manufacturer scan tool absolutely. I mean you
could look, you could try, but I don't think you're
gonna see it. I don't think you can see it.
You're very welcome, so you'd be well be welcomed. Bye
bye A five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
We're back right after this. Come to this right the
final minutes, and yep, here we are. Let's do a
(30:40):
piece of email. Hey 'ron home based in Maine. I'm
gonna paraphrase this. We love the Car Doctor on Sunday
mornings on radio station w VOM and Augusta. This comes
to us from miles. My wife and I have a
twenty twenty five cameraon hybrid we bought last winter. We
use it in Florida. We're down there about six months.
My brother in law lives down there and tries to
keep an eye on the place while we're up north
for the summer. He starts the camera once every couple
(31:02):
of months to be sure the starting battery is charged.
The last time he tried to start the car, the
starting battery was dead. We knew soon after we got
from the car, and from when the owner's manue of
the charging the battery might be a problem. I wanted
to put a trickle charger on it. However, the manual
states that the negative cable, which also has other vehicle
system negative cables attached to it, needs to be removed
(31:22):
from the battery before charging. Then, in another place in
the manual, it states that if the starting battery is
disconnected the car's electrical system, it may deprogram something in
the vehicle's computer system. So I think you see the
delimma here. The possibility of deprogramming of the computer seems
to be inevitable whether I move the battery cable from
the car in Florida in the spring or when I
get back on the floor in the fall. Of course,
(31:44):
the owner's manual may be exaggerating the deprogramming thing. I
want to know why they're telling you you can't do that, Miles.
You know, I know a lot of people that are
trickle charging batteries over time on vehicles such as this
in this situation, and I think I think I would
probably count on what the dealer themselves have to say.
I know what I would do. I would put the
(32:05):
trickle charger on it and leave it as a slow
charge until somebody comes up with a reason. Otherwise, I
would also actually research it, and I wouldn't just take
the owner's manual as my b all and end all answer.
So I think it has to be a problem that
you present to the Toyota dealer and see if you
can find somebody there knowledgeable that's not going to just
read the script and come up with a solid answer.
(32:26):
I think doing a trickle charge unless they've got a
particular module they're trying to protect or a specific reason
for saying that that doesn't work, I think you're okay.
I think it's okay to trickle charge it. I think
that you know this deprogramming. They're worried about the adaptives, transmission,
shift point and fuel trim, you know, compensation and some
(32:48):
of the other things that the vehicles do today that
you know are learned, the learned values. That's what they're
talking about for deprogramming. It's not that it's going to
deprogram the operating system and run. It might take fifteen
or twenty miles of operation for it to learn how
miles drives the car so that it can operate to
its peak performance. So that's not my concern. My concern
(33:11):
would be can I hook up a trickle charger and
leave it in place for a long period of time?
I say yes, I want somebody to tell me why no.
I hope that does it. I'm running Ady in the
car doctor till the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless.
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
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(00:47):
ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Boy. Kudos to ethel Mermans. She was right. Let's only
Tom Rain knows what I mean by that. Today. Let's
let's go right to the phones eight five to five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. Kevin's waiting there patiently.
Seventy two Dodge Dart and a question about what Kevin, Kevin,
Welcome back, what's going on with this car?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Ron?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
How you doing?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Hey?
Speaker 5 (01:13):
Right now, I'm running on pump gas. It's a high
compression motor, and I'm running on pump gas, and I
don't know if I should go to a fuel additive
or a race gas mix. Do you have any recommendations there? Octane?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
I love I love these conversations, I really do. Kevin,
What what compression ratio you're running in this motor?
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Well, it's supposably ten to one. I bought the car
and they say ten to one. But when I do
a compression test on it, I'm about two hundred and
twenty five pounds per cylinder.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, yeah, but you see compression a compression test. Compression
pressure and compression ratio are two different things, and there
are no there are no reflection of what it is.
And then the other question is if it's a ten
to one compression, is it a flat top piston, doesn't
have a dome to it and all of these.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Yeah, I believe it was supposed to be a flat
top ten to one compression piston.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
All right. If it's a flat top ten to one
compression piston, I don't think you need octane booster okay,
and let me let me, let me let me put
it to you this way. I base everything in my
hot rod universe off the hot rod, all right. And
you know I've forgotten more than I remember about playing
with this car currant engine. I handed the engine builder
(02:33):
a blank check. I said I wanted. I wanted five
hundred horse on the street, and I don't want to
have to work on it. I just just what I did, right.
I got a motor that dinoed at five point thirty seven.
It makes four hundred and I think it's four hundred
and ninety foot pounds of torque at fifty two PM.
(02:57):
It's a thumper right, runs on pump gas. I only
use Snoco ninety three, just my way of feeling better
about it. It's a single four barrel, it's nothing crazy.
It'll it'll scare the living daylights out of you, which
to me is the whole point of this. And you know,
(03:18):
I always think of what Billy said. Billy was my
first boss, and he was into performance and he was
really a genius. I think he was ahead of his time.
He was into the KZ drag bikes in the late
seventies when they were first coming out and Billy always said,
mild goes wild, and it's the absolute truth. So you know,
I don't think you need anything more than ninety three octane,
(03:40):
but you know you could surely you want to find
out run a straight mix of performance fuel and then
run you know, ninety three and go to the track
and measure it in the quarter mile and how much
stronger does it pull? And how much better does it pull?
And how much faster is the car and to what
level of consistency? And you know, you got to measure
it against something, right, right, sticker automatic car? Is it
(04:05):
a sticker automatic automatic?
Speaker 5 (04:06):
I'm sorry, automatic automatic?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So at least, yeah, it's it's but you know, at
least it's the consistency of the automatic, right, which is
a whole lot better. So you could, you could do it.
I don't think you need it. I don't think it's
gonna matter. And one of the reasons, and one of
the things I never liked about octane boosters was you
had to be precise in how much fuel. How much
(04:28):
fuel is in the tank. I don't know. It says
half a tank, Is it a half a tank? Is
it a twenty gallon tank? Is it a low side
of half a tank or is it to the high
side of half a tank? Is it twelve gallons of
fuel or is it nine gallons of fuel? How much
octane booster did you put in? You know, it becomes
a whole michig os. As Mom would say, I think
you're I think you're better off playing with spark plug,
(04:50):
heat range, timing, jetting, dialing it in that way.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
And that's what I'm doing right now. I'm going down
on the heat range one level and right timing and
you know, stuff like that. So you know it's for
getting there.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, it's a it's a day at the track, right yeah, ye,
you know, and you know, for your street car, I
don't think so. I think it's quality of fuel. I
either run and like I said, I either run Sonoco
ninety three and if I can't find a Sinoco, I'll
use Shell whatever. Their high octane stuff is the highest
(05:26):
they have, and you know, and that's what it is.
And if I really want to torture myself, yeah, they
used to be a guy that had Camp two available
by the He couldn't pump it. You had to put
it into the five gallon can and then you pour
the five gallon can into the side of your hot rod,
and you felt good about it, and like, oh that's
really cool. You know, you know, you never you never
went anywhere anyway, So what difference did it make?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
You know?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
You spilt half to you spilt half the camp too
down the side of your beautiful paint job, and you
got all upset and you said, well, I guess I'll
never do this again. And you know because the gas
tank leaks. Yeah right, there was three drops. You just
you went broke just watching it. So but I get
it one hundred percent. What stall converter did you put
in this car? I remember this car. Now you're talking
(06:08):
to me about that, Yeah, right, And I think that's
I think that's more than enough. The original hot Rod
Black Run Black one ran a forty two hundred stall
speed converter. It was the nuttiest thing I ever put
on a street car. You know, you pull up to
a traffic light at four grand and you just release.
It would be just you'd come off on the red
(06:29):
limit or just about it, just crazy stuff you'd get
right up there. So now you don't need an octane booster, Kevin,
do something else to get performance and consistency. You know
what horsepower and going fast isn't about how much can
you make It's about how consistently can you make it?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Right.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
I'm just worried about the running good, you know, detonation
and stuffing like that.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Right, Well, if it's a true ten to one, if
it's a true you know, if it's a true flat
top piston on today's gas ninety three, you won't have
it if it's jetted right and timed right.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
So all right, Ken, good bron I appreciate your conversations every.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Every time, Kevin. You know what, I appreciate what you're
trying to do. You live, you live your life, enjoy
your hot rod. Sooner or later you're gonna come to
the conclusion that you don't have to go that fast anymore.
But that's okay, God bless.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Don't go fast quick short distances, yeah, just short distances.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
You know. Listen, you know what there's still it's do
you ever feel like as hot rotters? I'll tell you
a quick story. Tuesday night last week, Shelby Jimmy invited
me to his house out on the deck with his
car group. Now I'm the youngest guy in the car group,
and we're watching Two Lane Blacktop, right, And I had
(07:45):
to explain it to everybody because nobody understood it as
far as you know, what the car culture was in
the sixties. And I'm trying to figure this out. How
the youngest guy in the group is explaining it to
the older guys in the group that actually went through
the car culture of the late sixties early seventies, and no,
he understands it. And they're like, where's all the drag racing.
I'm like, yeah, there is no drag racing in this movie.
(08:05):
It's it's so limited. It's just talking about the counterculture
and the way things were, and it was just just
a different time and a different period. It's it's it's got,
it's got the plot of you know, watching Paint Dry
would be a more exciting plot than watching Two Lane Blacktop.
But you watch it because of the couple of cars
that you see and and and the way it was,
and you know, and what's my point. My point is
(08:27):
cars have changed a lot, right, It's it's the idea
of hot rotting. And sometimes I think we're like the
last Jedi, right, you know, it's like Star Wars. We
we are the last jedi. We we we are carrying
the torch of a generation that is long gone, and
the light is all but out, and nobody understands it anymore.
(08:49):
It's it's kind of depressing. I go, I go, I
go around on the hot rot.
Speaker 5 (08:53):
Say again, we had the high beam switch on the floor.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Right, yeah, we had the high beam switch on the floor.
We have the keys that you turned. You know. I
go out in the hot rod and nobody even, you know,
they look at me. Out Here comes that old man
in that noisy car again. You know, it's just it's
just the cops don't pull you over. You don't get
to meet the police like you did when you were
a kid. It was just just just a completely different time.
So all right, I gotta go, Kevin, You'll be ware day.
(09:20):
Thank you you too, sir. Eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. I'm running any in the car. Doctor.
A little craze today, but good form anyway. I'll be
back right after this. And I just just to comment
one last thing about Kevin and his hot rod, what
he's doing, what he's going through, dialing in in the
carburetor and jetting. When we did that as a society
(09:46):
when we jetted carburetors and played with hot rods to
that level, we understood how things worked mechanically to a
finite point, and it was just just a very different time.
I can't explain it other than you know, it gave
us an understanding of how something worked versus today. Today
we're trying to follow electrons and follow the electron of
(10:08):
the bouncing ball. It's not that easy. So but kudos
to Kevin and everybody out there that's still a Jedi
trying to make a hot rod work. Greg and Florida
seventy five Chevy Man. What could be wrong with this?
How are you today? Greg?
Speaker 4 (10:23):
I'm doing okay? How are you all right?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
What's going on with this?
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Okay? It's three point fifty automatic with the quadrajet carburetor,
and it's flooding when the engine's hot it after since
ten or twenty minutes after it's been shut off, it
gets flooded.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Okay, so flooded, flooded? How how do you know it's flooded?
And I realized that's a generic question, but it's gonna
help me. Do you how do you know it's flooded?
You have to hold your foot to the floor to
clear it out.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
That's right. To get it restarted, I have to hold
it wide open till it.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Okay, and then it puff of black smoke and yeah,
that's it, right, Okay, seems like I've seen this fan.
So you know, you've got the dog house off, you've
got the air cleaner off. You're watching the carburetor. Does
the car boil over? Does it flood over the top
or you never see any fuel? You just ended up
with a flooded engine twenty minutes later, and you can't
(11:21):
figure out where it's coming from.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Well, it's kind of hard to see the carburetor, even
with the doghouse off. It's kind of restricted area to
get to it and look at it. Right, right, I've
had this saying eleven years and I've been messing with
it that long, trying to solve the problem. But I haven't.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Okay, So in seventy five, I'm trying to remember what
seventy five looks like. As long as there's no charcoal
canister tie in, that's you know somewhere. I'm trying to
remember what year. I think it was the early eighties
when the purge valve problem happened. When they put the
purge valve up on top and it would go bad
(12:05):
and it would draw a fuel right from the tank.
So I don't think that's your issue. So as long
as we don't have any heavy canister purge lines going
up to the carburetor causing the issue, I'm going to
tell you if you don't see the carb flooding out
over the top, all right, And this is why I
want you to be able to get to the top
of the choke flap to look at it. You know,
do you see fuel or is there fuel going down
(12:27):
inside the throat that it's peeing up past the needle
and seat? All right? If it's nothing like that, then
I'm going to start to think that if you pull
the carburetor off. There are two solder plugs in the
bottom of the carburetor, and nobody ever thinks of these,
all right. Those two solder plugs were when they manufactured
(12:49):
the carburetor. That's how they drilled the ports for the
main jets, and then at the factory they just dripped
some solder in there and they sealed them up. Well,
fifty years later, those solder plugs have rattled loose and
they're draining the floatball, and that's where your fuel is
(13:11):
coming from, and you'll never see it. So the way
you're gonna find this is if you determine, and this
is why I want you to get to the top
of the carburetor, if you determine that it's not flooding
over the top and it's not dripping past the needle
in seats such as the fuel is boiling because fuel
fuel today is very different than it was in nineteen
(13:32):
seventy five. Okay, as long as we know the carburetor is,
for lack of a better way to say it, mechanically
sound and not boiling over through the throat. The only
other place that fuel can be coming from is out
of the solder plugs in the bottom of the carburetor.
And you're going to take the carbout, you're going to
(13:56):
just leave it on the workbench. What I actually do
is I'll take a re eights bolt or a five
sixteen's bolt and put it through the mounting holes where
the carb mounts to the manifold, and I'll make like
a little stand. If you get what I'm saying, I'll
use a I'll use a shoulder bolt. So if there's
a gap of a one in shoulder. I'll put a
nut lay the carburetor on that in all four corners.
(14:17):
I'll put a nut on the top so that it
stays in place. Now I've elevated it so I can
actually see the bottom of the carb in action. I'll
put a little bit of fuel in the vent hole
up top. I won't overfloot it because I don't want
to make a mess, and I'll let it sit overnight.
And if I come back in the morning, and in
your case, it sounds like you're gonna see it real
obvious if I see if I see those solder plugs
(14:39):
are wet, you know, you just touch it with your
finger and there's fuel there. There's not supposed to be
fuel there. The solder plug is legan making sense.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Oh yeah, well, I've already tried that. I've inspected the
solder plugs. It looks like they've got JB. Welld on them.
And uh, I don't think I put that on there,
but somebody did. But I've done what you like you said,
put fuel in the bowl and let it sit on
(15:12):
the bench and nothing comes out at.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
The bottom and it's dry.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Yeah, right, I'm pretty sure it's not leaking out the bottom.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Okay, If it's not leaking out the bottom, then it's
got to be coming from the top. Carburetor is the
only place that fuel is coming from, you know? Is
the needle shut off? Do we have a saturated float?
Have you ever weighed the float?
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I'll put a new float in it.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Okay. Have you tried a different carburetor?
Speaker 4 (15:42):
No, I haven't tried a different one?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
All right? You know, have you sent that one out
to be rebuilt? Because when a rebuilder rebuilds it, he'll
go through all these tests as well as flow it.
He'll actually measure fuel flow through it. He'll look it
shut off, he'll look at boil over, he'll actually go
through that carburetor. And it might be something you just
can't fix in the field at this point, because there's
(16:07):
no other place that's coming from. Like I said, if
there's no canister perge leading up to it, such as
the canister is saturated to the point that somehow it's
pushing fuel, which in seventy five I don't think it's possible.
Carburetor is the only source of fuel that's gonna make
it flood out like that. Do this out of curiosity
(16:27):
if you shut it off and open the throttle. See,
you need to be able to look down inside. If
you took a mirror and look down in the throat,
do you see fuel dripping? Or before you go to
start at twenty minutes later, do you see fuel collected
on the intake manifold floor?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, I've never seen any fuel on the outside of
the carburator. And I've tried to look in it while
it's sitting there hot and you can't.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah. I think the next up for you, Greg is
it's either send it out to get rebuilt and flowed
or try a different car, because you've tried everything else
from what you're telling me, So do those things. Call
me back. I'll be around next week. You're very welcome, sir.
EIGHTHFI five five six zero nine nine zero zero. We'll
return right after this. And we're back eight five five
(17:21):
five six zero nine nine zero zero. Let's go to
Beth in Florida. Oh eight Kia, Beth. What's going on here?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Well?
Speaker 6 (17:28):
And so two thousand and eight Kia Rondo And it
is only one hundred five thousand miles on it, and
it's not a lot of miles considering it to two
thousand and eight, but the air conditioner has broken down
three times. The first time was in twenty eighteen. It
(17:49):
was the compressor, and the second time was twenty twenty
three and it was the evaporator, and now it's the
compressor again. And I'm getting some really steep ideas or brother.
People are telling me it's between sixteen hundred and two
(18:10):
thousand dollars for the new compressor, which seems to me
like a lot of money. And I guess what I'm
weighing right now is should I get it fixed and
continue driving it or should I invest in maybe another
used car because I can't afford these terrible prices for
new cars.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Right right, you know, it's a great question. First of all,
let's let's get this clear between us. This is roughly
a fifteen year old car.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
Right right, a little older, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
It's you know, it's fifteen sixteen years older, one hundred
thousand miles on it. So let's say it's two thousand
dollars to fix the air conditioning. What if six months
from now the transmission fails, would you fix it?
Speaker 6 (18:59):
Yes, that's true, right.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
That's that's another question. The second is, you know, repetitive
compressor failure. Are you buying new compressors or remand compressors
rebuilt compressors.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
Well, we're supposed to be new. The first one was
seven hundred. The evaporator was eighteen hundred, and I'm still
paying for that. And this compressor is supposed to be new.
And one guy says sixteen hundred, and the other one
is saying around two thousands.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Is this the Kia dealer or a private Is this
the Kia dealer or a private garage?
Speaker 6 (19:37):
Private garage says sixteen hundred, tiers plus says two thousands.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Right. You know. The other thing when a compressor fails,
and depending upon how it fails, sometimes it's a good
idea to also replace the condenser because the condenser gets
the debris of the compressor. If the compressor implodes or
has mechanical fil failure, it will push some of its
particles up line, and the condensers the first one to
(20:05):
take the hit. So you know, Mike, Mike, My one
question I'm thinking to myself is since twenty eighteen, how
many miles have you gone? Because you have you don't
drive a lot, I can tell, so you know, is
it is it ten thousand miles twenty thousand miles. Probably not.
I bet you went twelve fifteen thousand miles in seven
years as a guest about yes, right, so you know,
(20:29):
are we dealing with quality of part? Are we dealing
with something else? Is wrong with the system? Who normally
services the car?
Speaker 6 (20:37):
Beth a gentleman in a private garage?
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Right? And is he is he one of the guys
quoting you on the compressor?
Speaker 6 (20:47):
He is? And the evaporator was done by a private corporation,
not corporation by the mom on top. And then the
second is the sixteen hundred first one must see evacuator
and they did that, and then the mom and pop
and then the second one. Here is the compressor for
(21:08):
sixteen hundred dollars by the private.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Private.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
You know, here's the Here's here's where that relationship with
the mechanic comes real handy, because it becomes you know what, uh,
you know what would he do and talk to him?
He knows the condition of the car better than anybody.
And I would also bring up to him, you know,
how did the compressor fail? Is it an electrical failure?
Is it the clutch itself? Or is it a mechanical
(21:35):
failure of the compressor. And if so, do we need
to change the condenser? Okay, right, and yeah that would
be an additional expense, but it would prevent problems. I'm trying.
I'm looking for a repeat problem scenario. What's causing your
repetitive issue? Right? It sounds like the evaporator was a leak,
(21:57):
as it usually is. You know, the compressor is the compressor,
you know, it's it's And like I said, the other
part of this conversation has to be before you put
twenty twenty five hundred three thousand dollars into this, if
the transmission failed in six months, what would you do?
Speaker 6 (22:17):
I would be walking, no kidding, a force to buy.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
So you know, maybe maybe now's the time to forego
the AC repair and start looking at a secondary car.
Drive this one until you can afford something better.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
Right, Okay? I want to ask you about this car.
A friend had one of these and I fell in
love with it. It's a Toyota Selera. Are those good cars.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
As a rule, Yeah, Toyota is a pretty good car.
The Celera is a pretty good car. That's the convertible
version of the camera, correct, Yes, yeah, yeah, they're fun cars.
If you can find one. They're hard to find, especially
in good condition. But we've got a couple of customers
with them and they enjoy them. I enjoy driving them,
you know, with the top down. It's just a fun car.
(23:05):
Especially I could imagine it in Florida right with all
the sunshine. So but you know, mileage dictates, you know, demand,
mileage dictates do I want it? You know, if it's
a twohny thousand miles Selarira, No, If it's a fifty
thousand miles Seleari, Yeah, it's worth looking at. But I
think as a lateral move it would be worth investigating.
(23:26):
But the one thing I want to leave you with
is I get concerned when we're bouncing from garage to garage. One.
I'm a one cook in the kitchen kind of guy,
and it makes it easier on you. And you know,
sometimes another guy is going to be cheaper maybe, but
(23:49):
that money you save is going to come back to
bite you somewhere else. I feel like on order repair
and to have that relationship with the one guy and say, hey,
you've been my mechanical all along. You know what do
you think going on? It's a trust thing. See to me,
trust and honesty is a big deal in order to repair, right, right,
So it's the biggest So I would encourage you to
(24:09):
look at that too.
Speaker 6 (24:11):
Okay, the one that I am looking at now sixteen
hundred you know, that's cash out, and the others I
put on the initial back back in twenty eighteen, that
was cash. But the one two years ago was on
a credit card. It was eighteen hundred dollars now at
(24:33):
thirty five percent interest, and it hasn't been paid off yet,
and I think I were one thousand dollars on it.
And so you know, Destato, the one that I like
doesn't take credit, so it's got to be sixteen hundred
dollars cash out again. Meanwhile, I paid for the other
(24:57):
air conditioner repair, right, I'm.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Sorry, Yeah, No, I get it, I get it. It's
it's it gets to the point where, like I said,
you know, how much further do you want to go
on an older car?
Speaker 6 (25:11):
What if we're to get Scelera? What good year is
there for a used Selera?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
They're all good, but again, conditioned mileage, how well was
it cared for maintenance? I would tell you to buy
the newest one you can afford. Is really how I
would approach it, all right, and then it make them.
I don't think they made them beyond certain years. Like
I know most of my customers are driving their six
is O sevens, and I think ones and O eight
(25:42):
So I don't think you're going to find like a
twenty fifteen celerity. To be honest with you, I haven't
paid that much attention to it. We haven't seen a
lot of newer ones. But the convertible cameras were kind
of a rarity, so uh, you know, I think it's
it's again, as I said, not to be repetitive, but conditional,
dictate what you want to buy. But I think you're
better off looking for a second vehicle or another vehicle
(26:03):
and replacing the Kia before you spend much more money
on it, because, for example, I've got to believe a
Celia is going to hold up better long term than
a Kia, especially at this age in mileage. So good
luck to you, Beth. Let me know what you would
end up doing. I'm here for you if you need me.
A five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
We're back right after this. Ay A five five five
(26:25):
six zero nine nine zero zero. On eating the car, doctor.
Let's go over to Sam in Arizona, three buicle saber. Sam,
what's going on? How can I help?
Speaker 3 (26:34):
So? Thanks to taking my call, got a question regarding
advice oxygen sensors. So I have my rear exhaust better
or manifold loss that replace the baskets? Should I replace
the aucygen sensors since I have it out because it's
(26:56):
two hundred and fifty thousand miles, but they look good
and they seem a lot better than the offer market.
So what's available now?
Speaker 7 (27:02):
Though?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Well, you know, can you still get and I think
I think you probably still could get delkos for it?
I would you know? They're off, they're they're accessible, all right? Uh,
they're cheap, right? How much is an O two censor?
Thirty five forty fifty bucks. They're not a lot of
money anymore? Single wire H Two's right?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I think they're two?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Okay, even so you know you have access, you have
access to them now, all right?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Two censors?
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Two censors do wear out and degrade over time, all right,
two hundred and fifty thousand miles. As long as you
change both, as long as you can get you know,
decent quality. And I don't mean something on Amazon that
you know, is it really a Delco or is it
you know, because the Amazon Orto parts are a whole
nother story. Always I'm always concerned about counterfeit stuff. But
(27:51):
if I can get real GMS for it, yeah, I
think now's the time. It's you know, looking at looking
at them doesn't necessarily tell you. You know, it's funny.
We we we still talk about two sensors in their
simplest form in training classes, and the instructors still browbeat
us with it. Would take a lab scope and you know,
X number of hours have set up to really look
(28:14):
at cross counts and cycle and high limit low limit,
and we can't really test them correctly. That's why we
leave it up to the computer. So you know, and
O three is it testing them? Yeah? Are they okay? Sure,
there's no there's no fault for it. There's no check
engine light, right, you know, when when? When? When does
that happen? And the fact that it's off and it's
(28:35):
it's in your hand and you know, will it come
out at two hundred and fifty thousand miles, Well you're
gonna find out. Yeah, Okay, now's the moment. So second question,
quick question.
Speaker 7 (28:46):
Yeah, so is it possible to code the missile the
car computer to change the delay on when.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
The lights go off after you turn the car off.
It's like twenty but I like to bump that to
a minute. Is that possible? It's a code scanner.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Not with a code scanner. If it's available with anything,
it would have to be a factory level scan tool,
which in three was likely a Tech two, right, and
it would it would have to have been an option
inside the b CM if I recall correctly, and I
don't know that it's there.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
How do you run that down? Only GM knows well.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
It would be plugging a scan tool, literally plugging a
Tech two and look for it and see if it's
listed as an option. Now that that being said, in
this day and age, do I think there's somebody out
there that's a programmer that's probably written a program to
do it? Yeah? Probably? How do you find it? The
Google machine? Right?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Right?
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Uh, you know see what, see what it comes up with.
But yeah, it's you know, it's it's it's a valid point.
Sometimes you want to change some of those options, and uh,
you know, somewhere I think seven eight GM got smarter
and They did make it as an option to us
in the Bays, but the early ones not so much.
Not so much. And that's why I always say, you
(30:08):
got to you gotta look in the scan tool and
see if it's there or not.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
So all right, you think only manufacturer scan tool, not
an aftermarket Yeah, Manu.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I think only manufacturer scan tool absolutely. I mean you
could look, you could try, but I don't think you're
gonna see it. I don't think you can see it.
You're very welcome, so you'd be well be welcomed. Bye
bye A five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
We're back right after this. Come to this right the
final minutes, and yep, here we are. Let's do a
(30:40):
piece of email. Hey 'ron home based in Maine. I'm
gonna paraphrase this. We love the Car Doctor on Sunday
mornings on radio station w VOM and Augusta. This comes
to us from miles. My wife and I have a
twenty twenty five cameraon hybrid we bought last winter. We
use it in Florida. We're down there about six months.
My brother in law lives down there and tries to
keep an eye on the place while we're up north
for the summer. He starts the camera once every couple
(31:02):
of months to be sure the starting battery is charged.
The last time he tried to start the car, the
starting battery was dead. We knew soon after we got
from the car, and from when the owner's manue of
the charging the battery might be a problem. I wanted
to put a trickle charger on it. However, the manual
states that the negative cable, which also has other vehicle
system negative cables attached to it, needs to be removed
(31:22):
from the battery before charging. Then, in another place in
the manual, it states that if the starting battery is
disconnected the car's electrical system, it may deprogram something in
the vehicle's computer system. So I think you see the
delimma here. The possibility of deprogramming of the computer seems
to be inevitable whether I move the battery cable from
the car in Florida in the spring or when I
get back on the floor in the fall. Of course,
(31:44):
the owner's manual may be exaggerating the deprogramming thing. I
want to know why they're telling you you can't do that, Miles.
You know, I know a lot of people that are
trickle charging batteries over time on vehicles such as this
in this situation, and I think I think I would
probably count on what the dealer themselves have to say.
I know what I would do. I would put the
(32:05):
trickle charger on it and leave it as a slow
charge until somebody comes up with a reason. Otherwise, I
would also actually research it, and I wouldn't just take
the owner's manual as my b all and end all answer.
So I think it has to be a problem that
you present to the Toyota dealer and see if you
can find somebody there knowledgeable that's not going to just
read the script and come up with a solid answer.
(32:26):
I think doing a trickle charge unless they've got a
particular module they're trying to protect or a specific reason
for saying that that doesn't work, I think you're okay.
I think it's okay to trickle charge it. I think
that you know this deprogramming. They're worried about the adaptives, transmission,
shift point and fuel trim, you know, compensation and some
(32:48):
of the other things that the vehicles do today that
you know are learned, the learned values. That's what they're
talking about for deprogramming. It's not that it's going to
deprogram the operating system and run. It might take fifteen
or twenty miles of operation for it to learn how
miles drives the car so that it can operate to
its peak performance. So that's not my concern. My concern
(33:11):
would be can I hook up a trickle charger and
leave it in place for a long period of time?
I say yes, I want somebody to tell me why no.
I hope that does it. I'm running Ady in the
car doctor till the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless.
Host
Ron Ananian
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