This episode demystifies Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) and why they’re not recalls. Ron breaks down GM’s 23-NA-072 low-speed TCC shudder—what “ATF degradation” really means and why a full transmission fluid exchange matters. Then: the Toyota RAV4 P0755 shift-solenoid fault and why many were cured with an updated OE ECM, not a transmission. Plus a quick diagnostic for a 1994 Chevy Blazer speedometer that dies on bumps (VSS → DRAC → cluster, use the cruise test). Practical, no-nonsense diagnostics that save parts—and wallets.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners alike. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join the Conversation live every Saturday from two to four
pm Eastern by calling eight five to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's a five to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to
honest answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow
dot com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call. I'm trying to understand technical.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Service bulletins this week. Hello and welcome. By the way,
I you know, bulletins are kind of fun to read.
They for me, they are you can see a pattern
in how a vehicle is at fault or how a
manufacturer is at fault. In a sense, if you notice,
if you ever read a technical bulletin, and my shops
out there do. But you know, if you're a consumer,
(01:13):
you probably haven't. A technical bulletin is a suggestion or
recommendation by a vehicle manufacturer that if you have this
particular problem, here's a potential repair, here's a course of
action to solve that problem, because they've seen it over
and over and over again as a pattern, as a
consistent failure. And that's key. That's how bulletins get written.
(01:35):
That's how bulletins come to life because you can imagine
the legality of writing one single bulletin and then stop
to consider that vehicle manufacturers put out thousands of bulletins
every year and just what does it take to do that.
So to produce one bulletin, it means there's a problem, right.
(01:58):
It's not something they take willy nilly. It's a it's
a real issue. It came across GM Technical Service bulletin
and you can find this out online just go Google
search twenty three dash NA North America twenty three, dish
NA dish O seventy two. It came out in April
and May of twenty twenty three, and it talks about
(02:22):
shutter and shake at low speeds. And it's a very
interesting bulletin to read because it's one of those bulletins
that if you look at it, it gets your attention
from the fact that it starts with covering Buick Enclave
model year twenty nineteen, Cadillac XT five XT six is
in twenty twenty, Chevrolet Blazer Intraversus in twenty nineteen, and
(02:45):
GMC Acadia is in twenty twenty, all the way up
to model year twenty twenty three, So that's roughly four
model years of vehicles across the entire product lineup, short
of trucks in one sense. And the bulletin talks about
(03:05):
shutter or shake at low speed DIEG TCC torque converter
clutch shutter, meaning that when the transmission is in certain
gears and you accelerate, the vehicle is going to shutter
or shake and do the hula, you know, sort of
like when you get that brake pulse when you're stepping
on the brake pedal at fifty five sixty because the
rotors have warped or they've gone out of round. And
(03:27):
if you read this bulletin, that covers four years worth
and I can only guess at the number of vehicles
that that effects. It goes on to talk about, you know,
the course of action, When does the fault occur, how
often does it occur, what vehicle conditions, what road conditions.
(03:47):
And it's interesting to note that, at a minimum, the
first thing the bulletin tells you to do is change
the trans fluid because the at F and I'll use
the wording right off of page three of the of
the bulletin, I've got it in front of me ATF
degradation has occurred. That's a legal way of saying, the
transfluid has gone by bye, all right. It lost all
(04:11):
its abilities to shift and operate the transmission properly. It
has lost its performance package. In other words, change the transfluid. Now,
why does that just strike me as odd because we're
in an age where manufacturers, most manufacturers are saying, don't
change transfluid. You don't need to, it's not necessary. It's
(04:34):
lifetime fluid. And what do I always tell you, guys,
who's lifetime. It's lifetime until it's not. It's lifetime until
the transmission breaks. It's amazing to me how far the
automotive industry has come in the fifty some odd years
that I'm in it. I think that with proper care
(04:55):
and maintenance, you can get a half a million miles
out of most engines today. I think you can. I
think it's a doable thing. You've got to do your
due diligence. You've got to do your oil changes. You've
got to do your fuel system service. You've got to
do your spark plugs when they call for at eighty
to one hundred thousand miles most vehicles, you know, you've
got to do your stuff coolant, take care of your fluids.
(05:15):
It seems like the industry still has a problem building
a transmission to go that distance, and have they over
complicated it. Yeah, I think they've made transmissions more complicated
than engines in some cases. From we went from three
speeds when I first started doing this, I was in
the business when it was two speeds, and I don't
(05:35):
know if that's a good or a bad thing. I've
stayed current, so I guess it's a good thing. We
went from two speeds to three speeds, four speeds, five speeds,
six spiece. There are now ten speed and above transmissions,
and they're always shifting, they're always hunting they're working harder
than ever before to keep that vehicle quote unquote in
the optimal performance band so that we get the best
fuel economy and the lowest emissions out of it. But
(05:58):
it comes at a price, because that transmission is really
being worked, and it's like a constant sprint all the
time in a lot of cases. And at what point
does that transfluid breakdown? I can tell you when it
breaks down. It breaks down when you get as per
technical bullets in twenty three NAO seventy two, you get
(06:20):
shutter or shake at low speeds. Could be thirty thousand miles,
could be eighty thousand miles. I've talked to GM trans
guys and they tell me that GM is now reaching
for and trying all different types of fluids, and I've
seen it. There are all different qualities and brands and
types of transfluid that GM is trying. And this isn't
(06:42):
about general motors. Don't misunderstand me. My god, this is
a two hour radio show. I need more than two
hours to talk about the Ford transmission problem in the
F one fifty f two fifty pickup trucks. What a
disaster that is. It just seems like we can't build
a transmission. And when they have the problem, the first
thing the bulletins all talk about, Oh, you have ATF degradation,
(07:05):
you need to change transfluid. No kidd, really yeah. I
feel like writing somebody and saying, you know, there's this
guy on the radio has been talking about that for
the longest time, about how fluids make a vehicle go
longer and last the distance. GM is just finding this
out in this bulletin. They're just admitting it, but it's
worth a read. The reason this gets me so incensed
(07:27):
is you'll see some bulletins you can tell the effect
of that particular problem or the depth of that particular
problem by looking at the bulletin your make model of cars.
Sometimes you'll see it's you know, it's twenty nineteen buick
Enclaves and it's got a shutter SHEMI in it's production date.
It was made Julian date February of twenty nineteen through
(07:48):
May of twenty nineteen. So maybe it's two hundred thousand
vehicles or whatever the number is. This is across four
years and multiple divisions of General motors. How many how
many fouls and thousands, maybe a million of cars. Have
we made wrong? Have we created this problem because we're
not changing trans fluid? And that's a problem because guess
(08:11):
who ultimately pays for this, not GM. This bulletin doesn't
cover And let me point that out. Bulletins don't automatically
mean it's covered under warranty. It is if the manufacturer
has enough of a problem and they decide to extend warranty.
But a bulletin is a suggested course of action, whether
the vehicle's in warranty or not. If it's out of warranty,
guess who's paying for it? You the happy vehicle owner.
(08:36):
I can't stress and I think I want to stress
it again. If you haven't figured it out by now
that look at fluids, Look at all your fluids, look
at more than just oil. You want the car to
go the distance, Help the car go the distance. Start
thinking about some sort of fluid routine. I read this bulletin.
(08:56):
You know it's funny. I read this bulletin. You know
what transmission first came to my mind. The plastic pan
filter built in eight hundred dollars trans service on the
Chrysler Jeep products that a couple of months back, we
were talking about I had spoken to some Jeep texts
and they say, what's the point in servicing it? The
fluid seems to fail, break down and the trans seems
to break anyway. And I'm wondering would they last longer
(09:18):
with a more rigorous fluid schedule. And You've got to
say to yourself because it all comes back to fluid.
It all comes back to the fact that fluid is
breaking down. Transmission. Fluid is breaking down because of how
hard it's being worked. The heat is causing issues. It
loses its ability to perform properly. And once it does,
(09:40):
it's you know, once it turns, it then affects the
transmission and before long and understand the other thing, and
then I'm going to pull over. The other thing to
be aware of is have you priced out or replacement
transmission for something lately? Oh my gosh, you know, I
remember when four thousand dollars seemed like a lot of money.
Four thousand dollars seem like a bargain. Now there are
(10:02):
transmissions in Jeep products and GM products. And we had
a Chevy Traverse in the shop two months back that
they wanted us to verify it had a bad trans
After the dealer told him it had a bad trans
because the dealer wanted fourteen thousand dollars to put a
transmission into Chevy Traverse. You know, I didn't read the estimate.
I'm not sure exactly what was involved. All I know
(10:22):
was it was supposed to be getting a complete transmission assembly,
and there was some other complications because exhaust had to
come down and a few other things. So yeah, it
probably had a couple of grand, But still it's probably
every bit of eight nine grand to put a transmission
in a Chevy Traverse, America's car, the one that everybody's
driving all the mom and pops. Remember when everybody was
(10:43):
driving in Palace. Remember in Palace, four doors got to
be something to be said for that. Maybe there's something
to be said for looking at taxicabs. Maybe that's what
we should do. You want to know what kind of
car to buy, go look go at the taxi cab
drivers are driving in the big city near you, because
if they're driving it, that means it goes four hundred
thousand with minimal breakage because they can't afford to fix
it because they pay too much for the medallion, which
(11:05):
is a whole conversation for another day. But start looking
at bulletins twenty three seventy two. See what that does
for you. Start looking at what they're really saying in
the course of action, in the history of the automobile
in that particular manufacturer, and how they're having that problem.
Bulletins are an interesting read, sometimes more so than a
good crime drama. A five five, five, six zero nine
(11:26):
nine zero zero. I'm running eighty and the car doctor,
I'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Let's
let's cruise over to Arizona. Coming in loud and clear today.
Let's go talk to Kate online two Kate with her
three ref four Katie, this doesn't sound good. So from
what Tom's reading to me here, what's going on? What's
(11:47):
going on?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Thank you, professor run the season senior in the season
ref four needs some doctor's help. The vehicle started responding
sluggishly taking off from a up as September twenty ninth,
but then it was intermittent and not always occurring, so
I thought it may have been a bad tank of gas,
(12:08):
and it resolved for a few days and then started
up again. It has one hundred and eighty five thousand
miles on it now. On October ninth, after taking it
in for an oil change, there were no symptoms, but
on the way home it started again where it would
be sluggish from a stop and then it would do
(12:28):
it again around thirty thirty two and then start again
and sort of hard shift into forty forty two. Only
once in that time period did the cnometer and tech
it was stuck at forty miles And then at the
four on the ninth, the check engine light came on
(12:51):
and it was a code P zero seven five five.
And going through my paperwork though, and I called Toyota
customer service, it was August of twenty ten that there was.
It's actually supposedly a false indicator like for the Pea codes,
and the P zero seven five five is one of them,
(13:13):
and they were replacing malfunctioning ECM. And what my concern
is is I being in my seventies and not having
the kind of income I did. I don't want to
make a mistake by putting in a whole new transmission,
or some people are saying, just service it, just put
(13:33):
in this ECM. What are the steps that maybe could
be preventative healthcare? I've always had the fluids change up
until twenty and followed the service. It was up until
twenty nineteen that we were using the Toyota fluids. And
my guy is retired, so now I've just been having
(13:53):
a check. So the last time the trans was changed
was twenty nineteen. He's been checking the fluids ever since
and they keep telling me it looks fine.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
So and when you say, when you say trans was changed,
you mean the trans fluid was changed.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Yes, I'm sorry, Yeah, okay, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
So who whose service is this on a bigger scale,
Toyota or an independent?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
It's an independent, okay.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I mean nothing wrong. I was just curious what your
relationship is with Toyota at this point. Yes, they did
have a campaign. It's it's it's the p zero seven
fifty five ten one fifty wrap four campaign. They had
some issues and Toyota was starting out with replacement of
the ECM just like you describe the letters, absolutely spot on.
They had extended warranty ten years, one hundred and fifty
(14:42):
thousand miles. Right, So you know, here's the roll of
the dice. They're saying they want they want the PCM replaced,
engine controller replaced and in some cases they want to
replace the transmission. You know, I can see your argument
like ge whiz, but I could and also see theirs,
because it's it's where are we three? So it's you know,
(15:05):
thirteen years past the ten year date of service. It's
interesting to note that the three raf got the notice
about the extended campaign seven years into the life of
the vehicle, right, so you know, it's funny. You know,
I opened the show talking about tsb's and how manufacturers
seem to construe them to their advantage. And here's a
(15:25):
perfect example of it. It took seven eight years of
three raft fours running around in the streets of America
to find out that there's a problem with a P
zero seven fifty five. It kind of doesn't make any sense.
The the elder advice in me would say to you, Kate,
you got your money's worth out of the car? All right?
Probably not the answer you're looking for, but that's the
(15:46):
reality of it. Did you did get your money's worth
out of it? You got twenty three twenty two years,
almost two hundred thousand miles. The question here isn't which
or what should you do first? Ust is what does
the rest of the car look like, and how committed
to it are you?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
It's been a good car. I'm originally from Illinois and
back in twenty and eleven it took a trip back
and forth with me. I've maintained it. Unfortunately, the catalytic
converter had gone out and oh it was around twenty
twenty three and they replaced it and that went bad,
and I just put in another cat April fifteenth of
(16:27):
twenty twenty five. But like I say, I've maintained it.
And if it can just do I don't do a
lot of heavy driving now. And if it's something that
would be a safe vehicle and worthy of being on
the road without causing any harm or inconvenience to me
or others, I'd like to do preventative and ongoing maintenance
(16:50):
on it. But if it's going to be four or
five thousand dollars and then something.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Else go hard to tell, you know, Kate, that's the
part you don't know. I'll tell you what. Sit tight,
let me pull over, take the pause. When we come back,
we'll finish up and then we'll get on to Greg
and Arizona. Also, so if everybody stays put, I'm Ron
and Andy in the Car Doctor eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero, myself and Tom, who
haven't spoken to yet today. I mean, we'll let him
(17:16):
get into the second half of this hour and we'll
both be back right after this. Don't go away. Eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero. The
Car Doctor's twenty four to seven number. By the way,
check out the YouTube channel. Brand new videos up there
as of last week on doing spark plugs on V
six Toyota Highlanders and some of the implications. And it's
(17:38):
just a how you take it apart. And it's not
so much how you take it apart, but what has
to be taken apart. It's not a step by step,
but just to give you an idea if you're planning
on doing it yourself, what you're getting yourself into. And
it's interesting to see some of the comments that people
are making, some good, some have me scratching my head,
like how are they thinking? But in any event, let's
get back to Kate and Arizona waiting. They're patiently Kate.
(17:59):
So regarding the three F four, if you know, up
until about five years ago, we actually saw a lot
of these vehicles for this particular problem. And in the
case of a P zero seven fifty five and the
ten year, one hundred and fifty thousand miles Toyota campaign,
I call it or a bulletin, however you want to
look at it. The greater majority of vehicles were repaired
(18:20):
by replacing ecms. All right, you know if we play
the percentages, all right? You know the problem here is
you can go through a diagnosis, but you're diagnosing against
known bad, known failures, known pattern issues. Right now, my
(18:42):
question or my concern because I'm always trying to root
for you guys. You know, do we have any help
at Toyota if we call Toyota up and lay it
on them. You know what, I'm in my seventies. This
is the vehicle I bought when I thought Toyota was
the company. I know it's twenty years later, but I'm
having a problem related to something. You guys had an
issue with the issue campaign for it, and I know
them out, But is there any room for consideration here?
(19:04):
You know? You gotta like Mom said, once in a while,
Mom said to me, she said, you know, Ron, you
gotta throw yourself on the mercy of the court and
see what they do. She was right, I'm still here.
So I got good mom, I got the mercy those
those darn hot rods. So you know, and do they
take does that take us anywhere? The curiosity I've got
(19:26):
is I wonder if anybody at Toyota in the dealership
level is going to remember this campaign? Of course twenty
case twenty.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I have my original mailing of it.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well well, no, no, no, but that I mean, you know,
you know, are they going to remember a service campaign
that ended officially ended twelve years ago?
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Right?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
You just you just have to well, no more than
twelve years ago. What'm I saying? Twenty five? Thirteen years ago?
Are they going to really have any memory of this
that they're gonna know? Yeah, we replaced a lot of
ec ms, was the first step. It would be interesting
to have a conversation with them and and and see
what that gets you.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Because you know, Ron my compliment to Toyota customer service
in California. Uh, the woman did check into it and
she read She says, well, let me see if it
is the CM that we found was the remedy. And
she took the time and was reading to me and
she says, I'm reading this and and she read out
loud and then she said, yes, that seems that it
(20:30):
should be the approach to it the ECM. And what
I'm what I'm also concerned about is if I were
to continue driving it for a while as is with
these intermittent symptoms, if it truly is the e CM,
which we don't know, would I burn out the transmission
or I'm fortunate in that my family had been military.
(20:54):
I learned a lot and we used to repair our vehicles.
So what would an approach to want a soft reset
by disconnecting the battery? And yeah, it's not gonna that's
not gonna do it.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Here do you not to get personal, cap But I'm
gonna get personal for a second. And nobody knows who
you are because it's radio. But you know, do you.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Walk with a cane sometimes?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
So imagine imagine when you had to walk with a
cane and you didn't, right, you know, you'd get there.
You'd sort of strain your your ligaments and your joints,
but you'd get there, right. You know. It's it's sort
of the same way. Here's a car that needs a PCM,
or maybe it needs a PCM, right, So we're making
(21:38):
the joints in the ligaments of the transmission work harder
under a duress condition, and we're just beating it up.
So we could do that long enough to the point
where we need a knee or a transmission, or we
could walk with the cane or put a PCM in
it and see what that gets us.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
You know, we're we're in our Arizona sunset, me in
the car, right.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Well, I get it, one hundred percent, kidd of I
get it, I really do. I just you know, the
other thing I want to caution you on is all
right and then I've got to go is if if
you know, if you do put a PCM in it,
I would strongly recommend that you get one from Toyota,
not not. You know, independent shops can do transmitson can
(22:20):
do computers and all. As if he was going to
use a Toyota PCM, great, but you know, for an
independent shop to go purchase an aftermarket quote unquote remand computer, nah,
Nah's I don't. I don't well, I don't think. I
don't think an aftermarket computer rebuilder has the technical ability
(22:44):
and I've said this for years to catch that intermittent
glitch that intermittent failure that once in a blue moon
high tide, you know, left turned tuesday. Kind of a
problem with the equipment they've got at their level because
they can't afford it.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Right, quality is what's important, right, it's and.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
So many of these cars had this particular problem. If
you've got an aftermarket PCM or a used PCM, how
would you know that it's didn't solve your problem or
you're just getting a repeat of the original problem because
that computer still has that Reman problem in it. You know,
this is like when somebody says to me, Hey, Ron,
I'm getting a software update from my car. It does this, this,
(23:24):
and this. Can you tell me what's gonna fix it?
You know what The answer is, No, I can just
tell you that the software update is going to fix
it because the engineer installed that software. I can tell
you that the greater likelihood of p zero seven fifty
five is going to fix it because the pattern failure
shows us that Do I know what they did to
the PCM to make it fix it?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
No?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Do I care? Not really, because it's not anything I
could purchase separately and install. You know, but in this,
in this case, you know the manufacturer has said, yeah,
we've got an ups We made a mistake. There's something
here that doesn't hold up to our level of expectationation.
This is what we want you to do. So I
don't want you or anybody to misread that. They're not
(24:05):
saying just put any old PCM in it. They want
whatever part number the bulletin talks about whatever brand or
level of quality that particular PCM is from Toyota to
go in the vehicle. And that's how you'll know if
it fixes it it does. If not, then step two
is a transmission. Now, you know, last thought before you
do any of this, you just got to ask yourself,
(24:27):
you know, do you want to get married to this car?
Because you're about to get married to this car for
the next four to six years to justify the expense.
So just just mull that over. And that's a pocketbook decision.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
And I thank you for your suggestions. And I had
not thought of asking them to consider about the letter
because I disfigured it was past the expiration date.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
It can't hurt. It can't hurt. Like Mama also, Mam
also said it can't hurt to ask.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, you can get us.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So your program means so so much. It plays out
here and twothon at five o'clock in the morning, and
I lay there listening to it, and sometimes I doze off.
But I've learned a lot, and I so appreciate your
your educating us and keeping us knowledgeable about things that
are changing to in the world of vehicles.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Our doctor's offices. Take could take a lesson from how
you helped to teach us. So I thank you very well.
Take care of run, Thank you for contacting.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Bye bye, You're welcome. Bye bye, you'd be well. I'm
ronnin Andy and the car Doctor. We'll be back right
after this. Hey, let's go to Greg and Arizona. Greg,
my apologies. I know I took some time on that call,
but I just wanted to cover the bases. I appreciate
your patience. How can I help you today, sir?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Yes, hi, Ron, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
I have a nineteen ninety four Chevy Blazer. It's a
full size, four whettle drive and I had the block
replaced and as soon after that, I noticed while driving it,
if I hit a bump, this speedometer was flashing to zero.
It was shorting. I guess is what I found out
this was symptom. And I took it back to him
and he says, well, I doubt that's what it is.
(26:06):
It's most likely something in the dash that the dash
is shorting. But it's too coincidental that this happened after
the block was replaced. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I think it is coincidental unless they pinched a wire
during engine replacement. The way I would break it down is, now,
this is this is a a traditional I'm trying to
think of what this cluster looked like in ninety four.
Is this a digital output display or is this an
analog display? Does it look like a needle in a spanometer?
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yes, it looks like a needle needle right.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So, and it's just it's just when you hit a bump. Yes, okay,
So the vehicle speed sensor. Does this car have cruise control?
Speaker 4 (26:50):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
If you put the cruise on and hit a bump,
does the crews disengage?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
I haven't. It's I haven't written it lately.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Here's why I say that, Because vehicle speed signal comes
out of the VSS at the tail shaft of the transmission.
It's just an AC signal generator all right. It's like
a pickup coil mounted in the back of the back
of the transmission that sends a signal up to the DRAC,
which is the digital read module in the back of
(27:21):
the glove box next to the PCM, and then that
converts that signal so it can send it over to
the PCM. It's a buffer, right. We can read that
signal a multitude of different ways. We could look at
it on a scan tool, we could look at it
with a lab scope, but we could also do something
where just as simple as pie, just put it on cruise.
(27:42):
If the crews were to shut off, then I'm going
to tell you somehow the signal either going to the
PCM or the DRACK is being cut off and causing
it to fail. If the cruise stays engaged, that means
that the PCM is still receiving proper signal and that
the distance is Now we've now cut the circuit in half.
(28:03):
Think of it like this, right, The vehicle speed sensors
in the tail shaft of the trends, so from there
it goes to the PCM and the DRAG which are
in the glove box, and from those it goes to
the to the instrument cluster. Okay, you're with me. If
if if you put it on cruise and the signal
drops out when you hit the bump or a bumpy road,
(28:25):
repetitive bumpy road, right, you know, that's telling us that
the problem is related to loss of signal. If it
stays engaged, that means that the and but we still
lose this spanometer. That means somewhere between the PCM and
(28:46):
the instrument cluster, we've lost command to control the cluster.
How long ago was the engine block replaced?
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Probably about six years ago. But I haven't been driving
it too much. I've been waiting to repair, remodel, restore
the inside.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
So the engine was replaced six years ago, and it's
just recently that you started driving it.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Well, no, ever since I ever since I've been driving it,
it's been doing after the engine. It's been doing this shorting.
But I really haven't haded on the freeway where I
was using.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Cruise. Okay, that's fair, but that's that's part of the
way I would, you know, for for you the consumer,
to break it down, that's part of what I would do.
If it loses cruise, well then I've got a signal dropout?
Why do I have a signal dropout? Is it possible
that wiring coming up from the transmission. It would be
(29:44):
kind of odd that we pinched the one of the
two wires coming out of the vehicle speed sensor coming
up to the vehicle was pinched and caused as a
result of doing the engine. That would be you know,
why aren't we affecting something else? Would be my question
right right? And and at that point. The other thing
I would look at is if I put it on
a scan tool, because I can still run a scan
(30:05):
tool in ninety four, it would just be in OBD one.
It would be something old school. Or I would look
at it with a labscope. Do I have signal loss?
You know which which end of the problem do we
want to attack at the trans or at the cluster.
It would not be impossible for this to have a
bad cluster. They were common back in the day, right.
(30:26):
The other thing, and what this might develop into is
if this becomes a consistent loss of spinometer needle position
or the spanometer, does it ereact to radic gregg? Does
it ever speed up and seem like it's going faster
than you actually are.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
No, No, it seems like it's steady.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Only when I get that bumped it flakes off. Try
cruise control. Let's do cruise control first, and then we
can talk further about it if we have to.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Okay, another question on the same vehicle.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I'll tell you what. Stay put, Stay put, let me
pull over, take the pus. When we come back, we'll
finish up. I'm running any in the car. Doctor, We'll
be back right after that. Yes, Hey, let's go back
to Greg Arizona. Greg. One last thought on the speedo
before we move on to the next question. The odometer. Well,
I guess it happens so quick, you can't tell if
(31:14):
the odometer.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Stops, right, No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Okay, right, yeah, it wouldn't, so I just I would
pay attention to that too, because that will also tell
us if the odometer continues to function but the speedo doesn't.
You know, the needle actually physically stops or drops or hiccups,
but the odometer seems to work normal, then I would
question the instrument cluster as well. That tends to point
(31:42):
to an issue there. So second question, well, I can
get you go ahead?
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Where can I get a decent dash replacement for this vehicle.
I don't really want to put an aftermarket plastic on.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Right, you mean the actual gauges themselves, or the carrier
and the cluster.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Oh, the the dashboard on top.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Oh, the de padded dash. Who is it LM's LMC truck.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Oh, they're gonna have Yeah, they're gonna have the aftermarket stuff.
As far as oe boy, brother, you know you're gonna
have to dig up a part number and start scrounging.
I mean, there's no because the problem is, that's not
a cookie cutter vehicle anymore. You know, there's there's that's
not what I call a catalog car. Nobody, you know,
nobody's restoring those. You know, I'm not so impressed by
(32:29):
the fact that I restored a fifty five Chevy to
make it look like it did, because all I had
to do is open a catalog and be fussy. But
restoring a ninety four Blazer, that's that's a trick, right,
There's there's not that much stuff. Listen. I was standing
in line at the pizza reel last night. You'll appreciate
this story. We'll close out the hour here. I ran
into my friend Tom he's trying to sell his late
father in law's forty seven Lincoln, and he said, nobody
(32:52):
wants it. I said, yeah, nobody wants a forty seven Lincoln.
You can't restore it anymore. There's there's there's no parts
for it, there's no market for it. The market that
wanted that car is going away. So the classic car
industry is changing rapidly. But you know what, we'll put
it out there, Greg. If anybody knows what place Greg
can get a dash for a ninety four Blazer by
all means, let us know. Greg. I appreciate the conversation.
(33:15):
I'm ronning Andy in the Car Doctor 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
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(00:25):
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start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call. I'm trying to understand technical.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Service bulletins this week. Hello and welcome. By the way,
I you know, bulletins are kind of fun to read.
They for me, they are you can see a pattern
in how a vehicle is at fault or how a
manufacturer is at fault. In a sense, if you notice,
if you ever read a technical bulletin, and my shops
out there do. But you know, if you're a consumer,
(01:13):
you probably haven't. A technical bulletin is a suggestion or
recommendation by a vehicle manufacturer that if you have this
particular problem, here's a potential repair, here's a course of
action to solve that problem, because they've seen it over
and over and over again as a pattern, as a
consistent failure. And that's key. That's how bulletins get written.
(01:35):
That's how bulletins come to life because you can imagine
the legality of writing one single bulletin and then stop
to consider that vehicle manufacturers put out thousands of bulletins
every year and just what does it take to do that.
So to produce one bulletin, it means there's a problem, right.
(01:58):
It's not something they take willy nilly. It's a it's
a real issue. It came across GM Technical Service bulletin
and you can find this out online just go Google
search twenty three dash NA North America twenty three, dish
NA dish O seventy two. It came out in April
and May of twenty twenty three, and it talks about
(02:22):
shutter and shake at low speeds. And it's a very
interesting bulletin to read because it's one of those bulletins
that if you look at it, it gets your attention
from the fact that it starts with covering Buick Enclave
model year twenty nineteen, Cadillac XT five XT six is
in twenty twenty, Chevrolet Blazer Intraversus in twenty nineteen, and
(02:45):
GMC Acadia is in twenty twenty, all the way up
to model year twenty twenty three, So that's roughly four
model years of vehicles across the entire product lineup, short
of trucks in one sense. And the bulletin talks about
(03:05):
shutter or shake at low speed DIEG TCC torque converter
clutch shutter, meaning that when the transmission is in certain
gears and you accelerate, the vehicle is going to shutter
or shake and do the hula, you know, sort of
like when you get that brake pulse when you're stepping
on the brake pedal at fifty five sixty because the
rotors have warped or they've gone out of round. And
(03:27):
if you read this bulletin, that covers four years worth
and I can only guess at the number of vehicles
that that effects. It goes on to talk about, you know,
the course of action, When does the fault occur, how
often does it occur, what vehicle conditions, what road conditions.
(03:47):
And it's interesting to note that, at a minimum, the
first thing the bulletin tells you to do is change
the trans fluid because the at F and I'll use
the wording right off of page three of the of
the bulletin, I've got it in front of me ATF
degradation has occurred. That's a legal way of saying, the
transfluid has gone by bye, all right. It lost all
(04:11):
its abilities to shift and operate the transmission properly. It
has lost its performance package. In other words, change the transfluid. Now,
why does that just strike me as odd because we're
in an age where manufacturers, most manufacturers are saying, don't
change transfluid. You don't need to, it's not necessary. It's
(04:34):
lifetime fluid. And what do I always tell you, guys,
who's lifetime. It's lifetime until it's not. It's lifetime until
the transmission breaks. It's amazing to me how far the
automotive industry has come in the fifty some odd years
that I'm in it. I think that with proper care
(04:55):
and maintenance, you can get a half a million miles
out of most engines today. I think you can. I
think it's a doable thing. You've got to do your
due diligence. You've got to do your oil changes. You've
got to do your fuel system service. You've got to
do your spark plugs when they call for at eighty
to one hundred thousand miles most vehicles, you know, you've
got to do your stuff coolant, take care of your fluids.
(05:15):
It seems like the industry still has a problem building
a transmission to go that distance, and have they over
complicated it. Yeah, I think they've made transmissions more complicated
than engines in some cases. From we went from three
speeds when I first started doing this, I was in
the business when it was two speeds, and I don't
(05:35):
know if that's a good or a bad thing. I've
stayed current, so I guess it's a good thing. We
went from two speeds to three speeds, four speeds, five speeds,
six spiece. There are now ten speed and above transmissions,
and they're always shifting, they're always hunting they're working harder
than ever before to keep that vehicle quote unquote in
the optimal performance band so that we get the best
fuel economy and the lowest emissions out of it. But
(05:58):
it comes at a price, because that transmission is really
being worked, and it's like a constant sprint all the
time in a lot of cases. And at what point
does that transfluid breakdown? I can tell you when it
breaks down. It breaks down when you get as per
technical bullets in twenty three NAO seventy two, you get
(06:20):
shutter or shake at low speeds. Could be thirty thousand miles,
could be eighty thousand miles. I've talked to GM trans
guys and they tell me that GM is now reaching
for and trying all different types of fluids, and I've
seen it. There are all different qualities and brands and
types of transfluid that GM is trying. And this isn't
(06:42):
about general motors. Don't misunderstand me. My god, this is
a two hour radio show. I need more than two
hours to talk about the Ford transmission problem in the
F one fifty f two fifty pickup trucks. What a
disaster that is. It just seems like we can't build
a transmission. And when they have the problem, the first
thing the bulletins all talk about, Oh, you have ATF degradation,
(07:05):
you need to change transfluid. No kidd, really yeah. I
feel like writing somebody and saying, you know, there's this
guy on the radio has been talking about that for
the longest time, about how fluids make a vehicle go
longer and last the distance. GM is just finding this
out in this bulletin. They're just admitting it, but it's
worth a read. The reason this gets me so incensed
(07:27):
is you'll see some bulletins you can tell the effect
of that particular problem or the depth of that particular
problem by looking at the bulletin your make model of cars.
Sometimes you'll see it's you know, it's twenty nineteen buick
Enclaves and it's got a shutter SHEMI in it's production date.
It was made Julian date February of twenty nineteen through
(07:48):
May of twenty nineteen. So maybe it's two hundred thousand
vehicles or whatever the number is. This is across four
years and multiple divisions of General motors. How many how
many fouls and thousands, maybe a million of cars. Have
we made wrong? Have we created this problem because we're
not changing trans fluid? And that's a problem because guess
(08:11):
who ultimately pays for this, not GM. This bulletin doesn't
cover And let me point that out. Bulletins don't automatically
mean it's covered under warranty. It is if the manufacturer
has enough of a problem and they decide to extend warranty.
But a bulletin is a suggested course of action, whether
the vehicle's in warranty or not. If it's out of warranty,
guess who's paying for it? You the happy vehicle owner.
(08:36):
I can't stress and I think I want to stress
it again. If you haven't figured it out by now
that look at fluids, Look at all your fluids, look
at more than just oil. You want the car to
go the distance, Help the car go the distance. Start
thinking about some sort of fluid routine. I read this bulletin.
(08:56):
You know it's funny. I read this bulletin. You know
what transmission first came to my mind. The plastic pan
filter built in eight hundred dollars trans service on the
Chrysler Jeep products that a couple of months back, we
were talking about I had spoken to some Jeep texts
and they say, what's the point in servicing it? The
fluid seems to fail, break down and the trans seems
to break anyway. And I'm wondering would they last longer
(09:18):
with a more rigorous fluid schedule. And You've got to
say to yourself because it all comes back to fluid.
It all comes back to the fact that fluid is
breaking down. Transmission. Fluid is breaking down because of how
hard it's being worked. The heat is causing issues. It
loses its ability to perform properly. And once it does,
(09:40):
it's you know, once it turns, it then affects the
transmission and before long and understand the other thing, and
then I'm going to pull over. The other thing to
be aware of is have you priced out or replacement
transmission for something lately? Oh my gosh, you know, I
remember when four thousand dollars seemed like a lot of money.
Four thousand dollars seem like a bargain. Now there are
(10:02):
transmissions in Jeep products and GM products. And we had
a Chevy Traverse in the shop two months back that
they wanted us to verify it had a bad trans
After the dealer told him it had a bad trans
because the dealer wanted fourteen thousand dollars to put a
transmission into Chevy Traverse. You know, I didn't read the estimate.
I'm not sure exactly what was involved. All I know
(10:22):
was it was supposed to be getting a complete transmission assembly,
and there was some other complications because exhaust had to
come down and a few other things. So yeah, it
probably had a couple of grand, But still it's probably
every bit of eight nine grand to put a transmission
in a Chevy Traverse, America's car, the one that everybody's
driving all the mom and pops. Remember when everybody was
(10:43):
driving in Palace. Remember in Palace, four doors got to
be something to be said for that. Maybe there's something
to be said for looking at taxicabs. Maybe that's what
we should do. You want to know what kind of
car to buy, go look go at the taxi cab
drivers are driving in the big city near you, because
if they're driving it, that means it goes four hundred
thousand with minimal breakage because they can't afford to fix
it because they pay too much for the medallion, which
(11:05):
is a whole conversation for another day. But start looking
at bulletins twenty three seventy two. See what that does
for you. Start looking at what they're really saying in
the course of action, in the history of the automobile
in that particular manufacturer, and how they're having that problem.
Bulletins are an interesting read, sometimes more so than a
good crime drama. A five five, five, six zero nine
(11:26):
nine zero zero. I'm running eighty and the car doctor,
I'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Let's
let's cruise over to Arizona. Coming in loud and clear today.
Let's go talk to Kate online two Kate with her
three ref four Katie, this doesn't sound good. So from
what Tom's reading to me here, what's going on? What's
(11:47):
going on?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Thank you, professor run the season senior in the season
ref four needs some doctor's help. The vehicle started responding
sluggishly taking off from a up as September twenty ninth,
but then it was intermittent and not always occurring, so
I thought it may have been a bad tank of gas,
(12:08):
and it resolved for a few days and then started
up again. It has one hundred and eighty five thousand
miles on it now. On October ninth, after taking it
in for an oil change, there were no symptoms, but
on the way home it started again where it would
be sluggish from a stop and then it would do
(12:28):
it again around thirty thirty two and then start again
and sort of hard shift into forty forty two. Only
once in that time period did the cnometer and tech
it was stuck at forty miles And then at the
four on the ninth, the check engine light came on
(12:51):
and it was a code P zero seven five five.
And going through my paperwork though, and I called Toyota
customer service, it was August of twenty ten that there was.
It's actually supposedly a false indicator like for the Pea codes,
and the P zero seven five five is one of them,
(13:13):
and they were replacing malfunctioning ECM. And what my concern
is is I being in my seventies and not having
the kind of income I did. I don't want to
make a mistake by putting in a whole new transmission,
or some people are saying, just service it, just put
(13:33):
in this ECM. What are the steps that maybe could
be preventative healthcare? I've always had the fluids change up
until twenty and followed the service. It was up until
twenty nineteen that we were using the Toyota fluids. And
my guy is retired, so now I've just been having
(13:53):
a check. So the last time the trans was changed
was twenty nineteen. He's been checking the fluids ever since
and they keep telling me it looks fine.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
So and when you say, when you say trans was changed,
you mean the trans fluid was changed.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Yes, I'm sorry, Yeah, okay, that's okay.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
So who whose service is this on a bigger scale,
Toyota or an independent?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
It's an independent, okay.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I mean nothing wrong. I was just curious what your
relationship is with Toyota at this point. Yes, they did
have a campaign. It's it's it's the p zero seven
fifty five ten one fifty wrap four campaign. They had
some issues and Toyota was starting out with replacement of
the ECM just like you describe the letters, absolutely spot on.
They had extended warranty ten years, one hundred and fifty
(14:42):
thousand miles. Right, So you know, here's the roll of
the dice. They're saying they want they want the PCM replaced,
engine controller replaced and in some cases they want to
replace the transmission. You know, I can see your argument
like ge whiz, but I could and also see theirs,
because it's it's where are we three? So it's you know,
(15:05):
thirteen years past the ten year date of service. It's
interesting to note that the three raf got the notice
about the extended campaign seven years into the life of
the vehicle, right, so you know, it's funny. You know,
I opened the show talking about tsb's and how manufacturers
seem to construe them to their advantage. And here's a
(15:25):
perfect example of it. It took seven eight years of
three raft fours running around in the streets of America
to find out that there's a problem with a P
zero seven fifty five. It kind of doesn't make any sense.
The the elder advice in me would say to you, Kate,
you got your money's worth out of the car? All right?
Probably not the answer you're looking for, but that's the
(15:46):
reality of it. Did you did get your money's worth
out of it? You got twenty three twenty two years,
almost two hundred thousand miles. The question here isn't which
or what should you do first? Ust is what does
the rest of the car look like, and how committed
to it are you?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
It's been a good car. I'm originally from Illinois and
back in twenty and eleven it took a trip back
and forth with me. I've maintained it. Unfortunately, the catalytic
converter had gone out and oh it was around twenty
twenty three and they replaced it and that went bad,
and I just put in another cat April fifteenth of
(16:27):
twenty twenty five. But like I say, I've maintained it.
And if it can just do I don't do a
lot of heavy driving now. And if it's something that
would be a safe vehicle and worthy of being on
the road without causing any harm or inconvenience to me
or others, I'd like to do preventative and ongoing maintenance
(16:50):
on it. But if it's going to be four or
five thousand dollars and then something.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Else go hard to tell, you know, Kate, that's the
part you don't know. I'll tell you what. Sit tight,
let me pull over, take the pause. When we come back,
we'll finish up and then we'll get on to Greg
and Arizona. Also, so if everybody stays put, I'm Ron
and Andy in the Car Doctor eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero, myself and Tom, who
haven't spoken to yet today. I mean, we'll let him
(17:16):
get into the second half of this hour and we'll
both be back right after this. Don't go away. Eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero. The
Car Doctor's twenty four to seven number. By the way,
check out the YouTube channel. Brand new videos up there
as of last week on doing spark plugs on V
six Toyota Highlanders and some of the implications. And it's
(17:38):
just a how you take it apart. And it's not
so much how you take it apart, but what has
to be taken apart. It's not a step by step,
but just to give you an idea if you're planning
on doing it yourself, what you're getting yourself into. And
it's interesting to see some of the comments that people
are making, some good, some have me scratching my head,
like how are they thinking? But in any event, let's
get back to Kate and Arizona waiting. They're patiently Kate.
(17:59):
So regarding the three F four, if you know, up
until about five years ago, we actually saw a lot
of these vehicles for this particular problem. And in the
case of a P zero seven fifty five and the
ten year, one hundred and fifty thousand miles Toyota campaign,
I call it or a bulletin, however you want to
look at it. The greater majority of vehicles were repaired
(18:20):
by replacing ecms. All right, you know if we play
the percentages, all right? You know the problem here is
you can go through a diagnosis, but you're diagnosing against
known bad, known failures, known pattern issues. Right now, my
(18:42):
question or my concern because I'm always trying to root
for you guys. You know, do we have any help
at Toyota if we call Toyota up and lay it
on them. You know what, I'm in my seventies. This
is the vehicle I bought when I thought Toyota was
the company. I know it's twenty years later, but I'm
having a problem related to something. You guys had an
issue with the issue campaign for it, and I know
them out, But is there any room for consideration here?
(19:04):
You know? You gotta like Mom said, once in a while,
Mom said to me, she said, you know, Ron, you
gotta throw yourself on the mercy of the court and
see what they do. She was right, I'm still here.
So I got good mom, I got the mercy those
those darn hot rods. So you know, and do they
take does that take us anywhere? The curiosity I've got
(19:26):
is I wonder if anybody at Toyota in the dealership
level is going to remember this campaign? Of course twenty
case twenty.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I have my original mailing of it.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well well, no, no, no, but that I mean, you know,
you know, are they going to remember a service campaign
that ended officially ended twelve years ago?
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Right?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
You just you just have to well, no more than
twelve years ago. What'm I saying? Twenty five? Thirteen years ago?
Are they going to really have any memory of this
that they're gonna know? Yeah, we replaced a lot of
ec ms, was the first step. It would be interesting
to have a conversation with them and and and see
what that gets you.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Because you know, Ron my compliment to Toyota customer service
in California. Uh, the woman did check into it and
she read She says, well, let me see if it
is the CM that we found was the remedy. And
she took the time and was reading to me and
she says, I'm reading this and and she read out
loud and then she said, yes, that seems that it
(20:30):
should be the approach to it the ECM. And what
I'm what I'm also concerned about is if I were
to continue driving it for a while as is with
these intermittent symptoms, if it truly is the e CM,
which we don't know, would I burn out the transmission
or I'm fortunate in that my family had been military.
(20:54):
I learned a lot and we used to repair our vehicles.
So what would an approach to want a soft reset
by disconnecting the battery? And yeah, it's not gonna that's
not gonna do it.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Here do you not to get personal, cap But I'm
gonna get personal for a second. And nobody knows who
you are because it's radio. But you know, do you.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Walk with a cane sometimes?
Speaker 2 (21:16):
So imagine imagine when you had to walk with a
cane and you didn't, right, you know, you'd get there.
You'd sort of strain your your ligaments and your joints,
but you'd get there, right. You know. It's it's sort
of the same way. Here's a car that needs a PCM,
or maybe it needs a PCM, right, So we're making
(21:38):
the joints in the ligaments of the transmission work harder
under a duress condition, and we're just beating it up.
So we could do that long enough to the point
where we need a knee or a transmission, or we
could walk with the cane or put a PCM in
it and see what that gets us.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
You know, we're we're in our Arizona sunset, me in
the car, right.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Well, I get it, one hundred percent, kidd of I
get it, I really do. I just you know, the
other thing I want to caution you on is all
right and then I've got to go is if if
you know, if you do put a PCM in it,
I would strongly recommend that you get one from Toyota,
not not. You know, independent shops can do transmitson can
(22:20):
do computers and all. As if he was going to
use a Toyota PCM, great, but you know, for an
independent shop to go purchase an aftermarket quote unquote remand computer, nah,
Nah's I don't. I don't well, I don't think. I
don't think an aftermarket computer rebuilder has the technical ability
(22:44):
and I've said this for years to catch that intermittent
glitch that intermittent failure that once in a blue moon
high tide, you know, left turned tuesday. Kind of a
problem with the equipment they've got at their level because
they can't afford it.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Right, quality is what's important, right, it's and.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
So many of these cars had this particular problem. If
you've got an aftermarket PCM or a used PCM, how
would you know that it's didn't solve your problem or
you're just getting a repeat of the original problem because
that computer still has that Reman problem in it. You know,
this is like when somebody says to me, Hey, Ron,
I'm getting a software update from my car. It does this, this,
(23:24):
and this. Can you tell me what's gonna fix it?
You know what The answer is, No, I can just
tell you that the software update is going to fix
it because the engineer installed that software. I can tell
you that the greater likelihood of p zero seven fifty
five is going to fix it because the pattern failure
shows us that Do I know what they did to
the PCM to make it fix it?
Speaker 3 (23:44):
No?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Do I care? Not really, because it's not anything I
could purchase separately and install. You know, but in this,
in this case, you know the manufacturer has said, yeah,
we've got an ups We made a mistake. There's something
here that doesn't hold up to our level of expectationation.
This is what we want you to do. So I
don't want you or anybody to misread that. They're not
(24:05):
saying just put any old PCM in it. They want
whatever part number the bulletin talks about whatever brand or
level of quality that particular PCM is from Toyota to
go in the vehicle. And that's how you'll know if
it fixes it it does. If not, then step two
is a transmission. Now, you know, last thought before you
do any of this, you just got to ask yourself,
(24:27):
you know, do you want to get married to this car?
Because you're about to get married to this car for
the next four to six years to justify the expense.
So just just mull that over. And that's a pocketbook decision.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
And I thank you for your suggestions. And I had
not thought of asking them to consider about the letter
because I disfigured it was past the expiration date.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
It can't hurt. It can't hurt. Like Mama also, Mam
also said it can't hurt to ask.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, you can get us.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So your program means so so much. It plays out
here and twothon at five o'clock in the morning, and
I lay there listening to it, and sometimes I doze off.
But I've learned a lot, and I so appreciate your
your educating us and keeping us knowledgeable about things that
are changing to in the world of vehicles.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Our doctor's offices. Take could take a lesson from how
you helped to teach us. So I thank you very well.
Take care of run, Thank you for contacting.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Bye bye, You're welcome. Bye bye, you'd be well. I'm
ronnin Andy and the car Doctor. We'll be back right
after this. Hey, let's go to Greg and Arizona. Greg,
my apologies. I know I took some time on that call,
but I just wanted to cover the bases. I appreciate
your patience. How can I help you today, sir?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Yes, hi, Ron, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
I have a nineteen ninety four Chevy Blazer. It's a
full size, four whettle drive and I had the block
replaced and as soon after that, I noticed while driving it,
if I hit a bump, this speedometer was flashing to zero.
It was shorting. I guess is what I found out
this was symptom. And I took it back to him
and he says, well, I doubt that's what it is.
(26:06):
It's most likely something in the dash that the dash
is shorting. But it's too coincidental that this happened after
the block was replaced. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I think it is coincidental unless they pinched a wire
during engine replacement. The way I would break it down is, now,
this is this is a a traditional I'm trying to
think of what this cluster looked like in ninety four.
Is this a digital output display or is this an
analog display? Does it look like a needle in a spanometer?
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yes, it looks like a needle needle right.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So, and it's just it's just when you hit a bump. Yes, okay,
So the vehicle speed sensor. Does this car have cruise control?
Speaker 4 (26:50):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
If you put the cruise on and hit a bump,
does the crews disengage?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
I haven't. It's I haven't written it lately.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Here's why I say that, Because vehicle speed signal comes
out of the VSS at the tail shaft of the transmission.
It's just an AC signal generator all right. It's like
a pickup coil mounted in the back of the back
of the transmission that sends a signal up to the DRAC,
which is the digital read module in the back of
(27:21):
the glove box next to the PCM, and then that
converts that signal so it can send it over to
the PCM. It's a buffer, right. We can read that
signal a multitude of different ways. We could look at
it on a scan tool, we could look at it
with a lab scope, but we could also do something
where just as simple as pie, just put it on cruise.
(27:42):
If the crews were to shut off, then I'm going
to tell you somehow the signal either going to the
PCM or the DRACK is being cut off and causing
it to fail. If the cruise stays engaged, that means
that the PCM is still receiving proper signal and that
the distance is Now we've now cut the circuit in half.
(28:03):
Think of it like this, right, The vehicle speed sensors
in the tail shaft of the trends, so from there
it goes to the PCM and the DRAG which are
in the glove box, and from those it goes to
the to the instrument cluster. Okay, you're with me. If
if if you put it on cruise and the signal
drops out when you hit the bump or a bumpy road,
(28:25):
repetitive bumpy road, right, you know, that's telling us that
the problem is related to loss of signal. If it
stays engaged, that means that the and but we still
lose this spanometer. That means somewhere between the PCM and
(28:46):
the instrument cluster, we've lost command to control the cluster.
How long ago was the engine block replaced?
Speaker 4 (28:55):
Probably about six years ago. But I haven't been driving
it too much. I've been waiting to repair, remodel, restore
the inside.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
So the engine was replaced six years ago, and it's
just recently that you started driving it.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Well, no, ever since I ever since I've been driving it,
it's been doing after the engine. It's been doing this shorting.
But I really haven't haded on the freeway where I
was using.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Cruise. Okay, that's fair, but that's that's part of the
way I would, you know, for for you the consumer,
to break it down, that's part of what I would do.
If it loses cruise, well then I've got a signal dropout?
Why do I have a signal dropout? Is it possible
that wiring coming up from the transmission. It would be
(29:44):
kind of odd that we pinched the one of the
two wires coming out of the vehicle speed sensor coming
up to the vehicle was pinched and caused as a
result of doing the engine. That would be you know,
why aren't we affecting something else? Would be my question
right right? And and at that point. The other thing
I would look at is if I put it on
a scan tool, because I can still run a scan
(30:05):
tool in ninety four, it would just be in OBD one.
It would be something old school. Or I would look
at it with a labscope. Do I have signal loss?
You know which which end of the problem do we
want to attack at the trans or at the cluster.
It would not be impossible for this to have a
bad cluster. They were common back in the day, right.
(30:26):
The other thing, and what this might develop into is
if this becomes a consistent loss of spinometer needle position
or the spanometer, does it ereact to radic gregg? Does
it ever speed up and seem like it's going faster
than you actually are.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
No, No, it seems like it's steady.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Only when I get that bumped it flakes off. Try
cruise control. Let's do cruise control first, and then we
can talk further about it if we have to.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Okay, another question on the same vehicle.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I'll tell you what. Stay put, Stay put, let me
pull over, take the pus. When we come back, we'll
finish up. I'm running any in the car. Doctor, We'll
be back right after that. Yes, Hey, let's go back
to Greg Arizona. Greg. One last thought on the speedo
before we move on to the next question. The odometer. Well,
I guess it happens so quick, you can't tell if
(31:14):
the odometer.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Stops, right, No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Okay, right, yeah, it wouldn't, so I just I would
pay attention to that too, because that will also tell
us if the odometer continues to function but the speedo doesn't.
You know, the needle actually physically stops or drops or hiccups,
but the odometer seems to work normal, then I would
question the instrument cluster as well. That tends to point
(31:42):
to an issue there. So second question, well, I can
get you go ahead?
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Where can I get a decent dash replacement for this vehicle.
I don't really want to put an aftermarket plastic on.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Right, you mean the actual gauges themselves, or the carrier
and the cluster.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Oh, the the dashboard on top.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Oh, the de padded dash. Who is it LM's LMC truck.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Oh, they're gonna have Yeah, they're gonna have the aftermarket stuff.
As far as oe boy, brother, you know you're gonna
have to dig up a part number and start scrounging.
I mean, there's no because the problem is, that's not
a cookie cutter vehicle anymore. You know, there's there's that's
not what I call a catalog car. Nobody, you know,
nobody's restoring those. You know, I'm not so impressed by
(32:29):
the fact that I restored a fifty five Chevy to
make it look like it did, because all I had
to do is open a catalog and be fussy. But
restoring a ninety four Blazer, that's that's a trick, right,
There's there's not that much stuff. Listen. I was standing
in line at the pizza reel last night. You'll appreciate
this story. We'll close out the hour here. I ran
into my friend Tom he's trying to sell his late
father in law's forty seven Lincoln, and he said, nobody
(32:52):
wants it. I said, yeah, nobody wants a forty seven Lincoln.
You can't restore it anymore. There's there's there's no parts
for it, there's no market for it. The market that
wanted that car is going away. So the classic car
industry is changing rapidly. But you know what, we'll put
it out there, Greg. If anybody knows what place Greg
can get a dash for a ninety four Blazer by
all means, let us know. Greg. I appreciate the conversation.
(33:15):
I'm ronning Andy in the Car Doctor till the next time.
Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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