-
🎃 Open: Halloween banter sets the mood before diving into calls.
-
🚙 ’99 Land Cruiser: Caller plans full restoration; Ron weighs the costs, effort, and emotional value vs. simply buying one already done.
-
🧰 30K Service: What real maintenance includes—oil and filters, tire rotation, brake fluid flush, and a full inspection.
-
💧 Brake Fluid Flush: Why moisture matters and how to do it right—by hydraulically working the system, not just suctioning fluid.
-
⛽ Fuel Cleaning / GDI vs. Port Injection: Tank additives are maintenance; full cleanings must be done hot with varied RPMs for results.
-
🔊 Buick LaCrosse: Diagnosing wheel-bearing noise properly—use a lift and stethoscope, not “Dr. Google.”
-
🔧 Kia Optima: Typical valve-cover gasket seep from age; confirm with dye and check crankcase ventilation.
-
👨🔧 Finding a Good Mechanic: The oil change is your test—quality, reassembly, and clear explanations matter more than price.
- Grab your Car Doctor gear – T-shirts & more at CarDoctorShow.com
-
Follow the wrench – Instagram @ronananian for shop life & behind-the-scenes
-
Watch & learn – Auto repair tips & videos on our YouTube Channel
-
Got a car question? Call the Car Doctor Hotline 24/7 – (855) 560-9900
-
Join the conversation LIVE – Saturdays 2–4 PM Eastern
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners alike. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join the Conversation live every Saturday from two to four
pm Eastern by calling eight five to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred. You are 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
(00:47):
garage and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah that's right, Halloween's coming and them gee whizz so well,
I guess we'll be scared tomorrow. Right, the giants are
playing again.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I'm the kidding and I you know, I was gonna
go with Ron an Indian for Halloween.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
My wife said no, too scary forgetting That's right, because
En Ron Indian shows up. Things happen. So and by
the way, Tom, take off your maskets too early. Yet,
what do you got for me this hour? Let's see
you want to go to Stephen, Virginia. Let's start right there,
Steve Virginia ninety nine land cruiser wants to restore it?
Steve want to restore a ninety nine land Cruiser?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I'm gonna do it because I've always wanted one. Okay,
And I found the unicorn. It's actually in pretty darn good.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Shape, all right. Tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Well, I actually was a friend's vehicle that they passed
away and family used it for intermittent use over the years,
and then basically seven years ago it got parked because
it was having an intermittent no crank situation. So I
(01:51):
got a hold of them and they maybe said, Steve,
if you if you really want it your friend, take
it and take a look at it. So I brought
it home. And what's been done? To keep a long
story short, I basically the brakes were bad. All the
brakes have been done over. That expensive booster system is
(02:13):
all fixed, right. I took all the bad gas out
of it.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Did you fix the did you fix the intermittent crank condition.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well yeah, well it's really funny. You know what that
was is they didn't have a master key.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Okay, so they had.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
A key that would turn the truck over, but the
computer wasn't seeing the key.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Got it.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Once I re keyed it, the thing well back up
I had. I did have to replace the fuel pump.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well yeah, and is that is that a result of
you know, sitting But bottom line, it starts every time though.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Oh it starts and it runs amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
How many miles are on it?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Two?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And how much you think you can it's going to
cost you to restore it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I'm figuring.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
And what's your idea of restoration?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
My idea, well, my dear restoration history wise, Just to
give you an example, bought a two thousand and six
f three point fifty turbo diesel. I bulletproofed the whole thing,
went through it, front to back. I love the truck.
It does everything I want. So basically it'll go up
on blocks and every vacuum hose, every here hose, all
(03:32):
the fluids, I mean, everything's getting on everything, wet's getting changed.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Everything, rubber is getting replaced. Yes, yep, okay, you got
to pull the engine.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
You know, just from reading forums, that's one of the
things I wanted to talk to you about because well,
actually your introduction basically answered my question, because you can
get half a million miles out of a motor, I think,
so this particular motor has a history of longevity and
(04:07):
there's literally no noise in this engine.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Oh yeah, but you know, do you pull, do you
pull the engine, do a rearmain seal, do an oil
pan gasket, look at look at the bottom of the pan.
Is there any sludge, any varnish? Clean the pan, reassemble it,
put it together, you know that kind of thing. I'm
not saying you have to rebuild the engine, but you know,
maybe it's that seven years. Maybe you want to look
at some of the rubber, some of the seals, some
of the gaskets, and and you know, freshen it up
(04:31):
a little bit. And then you know, transmission wise, those
transit are fairly bulletproof. But you know, do a complete
fluid replacement. Maybe you hook up and do a fluid
exchange through the cooler lines and you know, as you say,
if it's wet, change it, if it's rubber, breakots, change it.
All the belts, hoses, everything, whatever you can get your
hands on. At this point you can probably get your
(04:51):
hands on quite a bit. Right.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, it's actually very very okay to work on once
you remove all the plates.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
On the bottom and right right now, now, just as I.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Said, it's a solid truck. I've actually was kind of
amazed that it has. It has basically no rush. It
has that little bit of surface rush from aging. Right,
that's really it now? Is it?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Is it an emotional thing? Steve? And I'm asking you
this for a question. Is it because it was your
friend's truck or you just like ninety nine land cruisers?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I've always wanted one, okay, And when this came up,
it was you know, I generally, you know, when a
car hits one hundred thousand miles is when I get
a hold of it, right, and I'll run them. They
go to the grave from my house, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I don't I don't know if it's I don't know
where it falls dollar wise, I don't know what your
budget's like. But it's funny because I have a customer
who's a land cruiser guy too, and he was into
it this week and we were looking on eBay there's
one out there on eBay for forty five grand that's done,
ninety two thousand miles on it, some of the rare options,
the tent, some of the different bumpers, some of the
(06:01):
different you know, add on features. It's all there. It's
a done vehicle. And my point becomes, and I don't know,
you know, listen, we all like working on hot rods, right,
but just got I got to be devil's advocate and
point out that you can probably buy what you're going
to do done and not not have the aggravation and
spend your time driving rather than fixing. Just something to
(06:24):
think about. That would be my only point to bring up.
And you know, let it go from there, and you
could probably sell this for what you've got in it
and recoup your costs. Now, if you tell me, hey, Ron,
it was my buddy's truck and I want to drive
it because he had it, you know what, there's no
argument with that. That's a completely different that's an emotional issue,
and that's a completely different reason to own a vehicle.
(06:46):
And I never, I never quibble over that.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, And I am faced with the frustration of being
sixty eight and actually I enjoy working on the cars.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Right, and you know, to the to the other point
at sixty eight, do we really want to start spending
weekends doing this? Wouldn't we rather be driving than fixing?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Well, well, be honest with you with this one, I
was sort of pushing for My next point on this
was I'm gonna do I've got it running, do I
need to get crazy? I Am going to try and
change all the stuff over and do a timing service
on it. And at that point I was going to
drive the thing for a while before any other stuff,
(07:31):
just to see how strong the engine ran, how the
training felt, all the stuff. I just want to drive it.
You know, would that be a reasonable course of action
with this thing.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
If you're planning to keep it, Because if you're doing
a timing belt, you're doing a timing belt, water pump,
idler's tension or radiator radiator, right, radiator.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I'm actually looking into the heater cores the entire shooting match.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Well, you know, you start doing heater cores, you're taking
the dash out of the truck. You're going a little
you know on a vehicle that are you going to
keep it or not? You've got to make a decision
you're either keeping it and going all the way, or
you're going to sell it and stop right where you
are and buy something else that's a running vehicle with
less mileage, and you'll spend more time driving and less
time fixing. And that's the bottom line. Yeah, but you
(08:22):
know it's it's the emotional question. You know, it's your
buddy's truck, and that's you know, that's where things kind
of fall apart. I can listen. I sold Black one.
Black one was the first fifty five Chevy ever I
had that I brought to you know, completion. Did it
when I was a kid, seventeen eighteen years old, and
(08:43):
I had that car forever. That car's on Long Island now.
Somebody came along offered me ten grand four it when
it was in pieces twelve years ago. Gone. I put
that money towards Black two, which is I just built
Black one all over again. It's identical, and it kind
of is. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't cut the
wheel wells because Black two, the wheelwheels, defenders are just perfect.
(09:06):
I mean, it was a perfect car. It was a
thirty six thousand mile original car. My point is, and
everybody says this to me all the time. You know,
if you could get rid of that, I can get
rid of mine, right, you can just recreate your childhood memories.
So is it that we're hanging onto this because it's
a memory, or are we hanging on to this because
we're just emotionally attached and to someone resolved, you know,
(09:28):
trauma in our head that we've got to hang on
to it because it was so and So's truck.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But no, that's the emotional aspect for me is and
what I actually want something that I can work on
to drive long term.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Then by the you know what, so you.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Say I'm into it, Yeah, I'm definitely into Yeah it correctly.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Then you know what, just just look around at the
rest of the market, go out on eBay, see what
else is out there. There are some interesting ones with
the shower option, with the tent option, some of the
rare stuff that land cruisers have had do have and
so on, and then decide, Okay, you know what, for
me to get to that forty five thousand dollars vehicle,
I gotta spend sixty. I don't want to do that.
(10:08):
I'll go buy the forty five. But if I can
spend ten and get to the forty five thousand dollars vehicle,
then that's probably worth doing forty five thousand dollars vehicle, right, Yeah, So.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I was actually, what's your experience with these? You see
them as a very reliable, dependable vehicle.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
They have been. Yeah, they're they're very much in demand.
Everybody loves them. They have there's a huge market for
them overseas and that's generally where they go. As a
matter of fact, it's it's a little difficult to purchase
a newer one, and the younger ones all seem to
have disappeared. So yeah, there's huge demand, but you've just
got to resolve it in your head. You've got to
look at it from a cost point of view. And
(10:44):
let me tell you, it's a lot more fun to
drive them than it is to work on them on
a NonStop basis. And it just starts to snowball that
I'm just going to do a timing belt and a
radiator and oh, a heater core, and all of a sudden,
you're a couple of three four thousand dollars in parts
and a couple of long weekends and months, and so
you've got some thinking to do. Stevie, I can't solve
(11:06):
that for you, but it's not a bad idea, just
is it the right idea? A?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Five?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Five, five, six, nine nine zero zero. We'll return right
after this, you know, Tom, I was listening to the
promo there when we're on the pause, and you don't
see Texico stations anymore. It's kind of funny. I just
looked it up. They're still out there, but there's like
only in sixteen states, whereas they used to be nationwide.
It's like them ines. So you don't see ESO that
(11:31):
often either. Well, so so became Exxon, didn't.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
They Well not not in most of the United States,
but like if you go down to the virgin Islands,
they have ESSO stations, not Exxon stations.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Interestingly, yeah, you know, gas stations have passed I But anyway, Yeah,
the Texico Star because I actually worked at a Texaco
as a kid. That's what kind of got my attention.
So that was good. Let's let's go to Ralph in
Virginia twenty two Ford Explorer. How can I help you today,
Ralph Roninanian, at your service.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yes, thank you, sir, You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
So I bought a new Explorer in twenty three to
twenty and took it in and for oil change, and
they want to do thirty thousand mile maintenance and wanted
to change the break fluid. So you're talking about maintenance
and changing fluids, and I was thinking, I don't know
about break fluid, so I wanted to one to get
(12:21):
your opinion on that, and then also about a fuel
system cleaner. It's like, oh, I can just buy something
from autoparts store and put that in sure is that
the same or.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Not?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Really? Good questions? Great questions. So let's do break fluid first.
Break fluid the college word is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture.
It absorbs anywhere from three to six percent moisture per year,
depending upon environment. So in theory you could see break
fluid displaced up to ten percent in a two year
(12:55):
time period by moisture. Moisture and break fluid will affect
it's hydraulic ability, right, if we thin it out, it's
just not going to have that same feel. That's number one.
So it affects break system performance. Number two. Moisture in
a brake system, in terms of abs calipers or caliber
pistons can cause rust over the long haul moisture induced fluid.
(13:20):
So when we're doing a break fluid flush or replacement,
we're trying to get out all the old fluid to
put in fresh so we eliminate the moisture problem. Makes sense, yes, sir, Okay. Now,
the way I like to do break fluid flushes or
fluid exchanges is I like to work the hydraulics. And
(13:42):
I've seen everybody. They'll have their suckers and their pushers,
and you know, I use a simple I just have
a big plastic cup with a rubber hose and a
binder clip. I cut a long piece of rubber hose,
I picktail curly cue it into the cup. I'll put
about a inch of break fluid on the bottom of
the cup. I'll bind or clip the hose to the
cup so it doesn't flop around. Put the cup on
(14:04):
the ground. I'll put the rubber hose to the breake bleeder,
open the bleeder up, and I'll get in the vehicle.
I will have at this point sucked out as much
break fluid out of the master as I can. I
will have put as much fresh fluid in as needed,
and I will stroke the pedal ten times. The reason
I like doing it this way is I'm physically working
(14:25):
the hydraulics. I'm moving everything, right, I'm not just passively
pulling or pushing fluid through a path. I'm actually moving
pistons and actuators and making the brake system do the work.
And I will repeat that process, going around to all
four wheels, refilling the master and so on until I'm
done and I've got clear fluid all four wheels. To me,
(14:47):
that's a real break fluid exchange, all right.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
And you will impress it.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You will. You will find a better brake pedal out
of that, right, you will find a better And it's
what's really amazing, and it's kind of a shocking. I
do this with the white plastic cup because white's a
great color. You then take the white cup and you
show it to the customer and I pour it out
in front of them and all a little crud and
sediment and you go, I don't know what it is,
but that can't be good. You know, that's not supposed
(15:14):
to be in a brake system. So yeah, that to
me is a break fluid exchange. That's the right way
to do it. Now. Fuel system cleaning, we do tank additive.
We do tank additive at every oil change. Ralph, all right,
and you know, tank additive is a vitamin shot. It's
(15:36):
a maintainer. It won't may or may not make it
much better, but it's not gonna let it get any worse,
if you know what I'm saying. Maybe over time a
tank additive, but it's not. It's not a complete substitute
for an actual hook up to the fuel rail. Clean
the injectors, clean the rail, clean the pistons, type of
(15:58):
a repair. Right. The other thing to be aware of
is on a GDI engine gasoline direct injection, a fuel
system cleaning where you hook up and clean through the injectors,
doesn't clean the intake valves. Why is that? It used
to be that? And I believe you have a GDI
(16:20):
engine and you're twenty two explorer. I think I have
to see which engine that is. But the problem is
on a gasoline direct injection engine, you inject fuel just
like the name implies, directly into the cylinder. You bypass
the intake valve. You know, engines of five years prior
were port fuel injection. You had the injector sit behind
(16:42):
the intake valve. So the injector was always spraying on
the valve. It tended not to build up carbon. But
when you cleaned it, you were pushing cleaner directly on
the valve, helping wipe away any carbon build up that
showed up on the valve or the valve seat. It
makes sense, and that's that's a huge difference. I'll tell
(17:02):
you what, Ralph, stay put, I'll come back and it'll
just be a couple of minutes. We'll finish up. I'm
ronning ay in the car doctor. Yeah, you know there's
a difference, right, GDI port fuel injection. What does it
all mean? Well, we're gonna talk about it with Ralph
and the rest of you right after we get back
from this pause. Don't go anywhere. I will return.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
From the city streets to the open roads.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
And now, if you're ready his help, I will keep
you rolling around. He he's a car doctor.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Charlie, guys, don.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Bet your rush. Limba didn't have his own rock and
roll band. Let's go over and let's go back to Ralph. Ralph,
So we were talking about GDI and port fuel injection, right.
So the idea is that fuel would wash the valve.
So when you did a fuel system cleaning. You would
spray directly onto the valve, clean the injector, get the
top of the piston and you're good. GDI you're gonna
(18:09):
miss the valve. You might get some of the piston
tops right. And it's important because it seems that GDI
engines have a characteristic the industry has learned where they
will have crank case ventilation problems and leave oil deposits
on piston tops subsequently. And also, you know, if we've
got any sort of valve guide seat page issues will
(18:31):
be credding up the intake valves very quickly. So it's
important to do fuel system cleaning, but do it properly.
That being said, how they do it is just as
important as doing it. Yeah, tank additive is good, but
doing a formal fuel system cleaning properly. You know how
I know a shop is lost, right? You know, I'm
(18:52):
probably the worst guy to go into other shops because
I watch how other shops do things. They'll bring a
car in from the outside and stone cold, they'll do
a fuel system cleaning. Does that sound right to you, Ralph?
Not really right, because when does complete combustion occur when
the fire is roaring right, things are warmed up. We're
(19:13):
up and awake, and I see this. When I do
a fuel system cleaning, I'll you know, get the car warm,
and then I'll start adding my juice, as I like
to say, and I will vary the speed. I won't
always do it at idle. I'll bring it. I'll let
at idle a little bit, I'll bring it up all fidle.
I've got a scan tool hooked up. I'm looking at
OBD two. I'm looking at cat temperature right, because I
(19:34):
want the cat to be cleaned. But I want the
cat at its most efficient temperature range or in its
most efficient temperature range. Because it's fuel system cleaning. It
requires heat. It's not just a matter of spray and
chemical on. And I've gotten some very good, much better
results doing it this way. But it's all part of maintenance.
It's all part of what should be done, all right.
So they're not wrong for selling you that a typical
(19:57):
thirty thousand mile service, To answer the question directly, is
an oil change, air cabin filters, break, fluid flush, tire rotation,
fuel system cleaning, peak at wiper blades, a general chassis inspection,
wiggle the front end and a road test that's real,
you know, and that's that's typically what most vehicles needed
thirty thousand miles all.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Right, right, so what so how do you find a
good mechanic that will plush your brakes like you're talking
about and talk to the fuel clean talk the talk
to them.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
You gotta you know, it's it's a process. It's you
got to look down side streets and back alleys, all right,
and you've got.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
A couple of places and had to bring it back
for rework. Yeah, Like, so okay, maybe I should just
go to the dealer, because at least they should have
some trained knowledge.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So you know, when when family members call in and
there are other parts of the country and they can't
get to see Dad or Ron, depending on who they
are in the relationship with me, you know, they'll say
to me, I'm gonna go to the dealership. What do
I want to look for? What I want to ask for?
You want to talk to the service writer. Does the
guy pay attention? Does the person pay attention? Do they
answer your questions? You know? How do you do a
(21:14):
fuel system cleaning? Are you are you are you concerned
about you know, doing it on a cold vehicle. Are
you following whatever the manufacturer calls for? How are you
doing a break flush right? Do you do it by time?
Do you do it by how much fluid you get
through it? You know, what's your procedure? I'm curious. A
good mechanic, A good shop. My god, I had a
(21:35):
woman come in this week. Brother. I spent the better
part of twenty five minutes explaining everything we were going
to do, and I loved it. It was great. And
she turned around she said, I can see how my
husband listens to you on the radio. This was like
my own radio show. I said, yeah, kind of sort of.
But you know, it's a good shop. We'll explain it
to somebody that wants to know, and I think it's
I think it's part of their obligation. But you've got
(21:58):
to know what you're looking for too. You know, are
dealers the place to go? I think there's great dealers
out there. I think there's bad dealers out there. I
also think there's you know, good independence and bed independence.
So just something to be aware of. I appreciate the call.
You'd be well, let's go over to phil and Delaware.
See what's going on here. Phil welcome to the car.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Doctor sir, good afternoon. Thanks you for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
You're welcome. What's going on?
Speaker 5 (22:25):
I was telling your producer, I got a twenty thirteen
Buick Lacrosse. It's got fifty six or fifty seven thousand
miles on it. It was my mother's car. My daughter
now has it. It's got noise apparently in the front wheelbearings,
(22:46):
and both of them, calling both of them Phil. She said,
the driver's side is worse than the passenger side. We
had jack the car up and everything, and I a
little bit, but it's it's it's she said. When you're
(23:07):
driving it, you hear it more. Ty rod ends are
tight all that, and when jack the car up rotates
the tire wheel and you're hearing something. But to me,
it almost sounds like a break issue, not a wheelbarryage.
(23:27):
But she said, Doctor Google said it. Apparently the big
Lacrosse has a history of.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Listen, listen. They all have a history of chewing up.
They all have a history of chewing up wheel bearings.
You can't you can't use the Google Universe to decide
if a car has a broken part time. You know
you'll you'll spend a lot of money where you don't
have to. So the simple way to do this is
you got to get it up in the air. I
don't know if jack stands are high enough. It's got
to go on a lift. And you're either going to
(23:59):
have some sit in the car and run the car
twenty thirty forty miles an hour at varying speeds and
listen with a twenty dollars mechanic stethoscope, or you're gonna
you're gonna make it high tech and involved and have
analysis paralysis. Use some sort of fancy vibration analysis tool.
Drive down the road and listen to it. Once you
know wheelbar and you'll know right away. Once you know
(24:20):
wheel bearings are quiet, then you can go somewhere else.
If the wheel bearings are noisy, you got to fix
those first, and then while it's apart, take a look
at the brakes and consider it from there. I mean,
that's the only way you can really approach that.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
So, yeah, that's what I told her. I said, I
just doctor Google ain't don't don't you know that's not right?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
The trusts.
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Yeah, it's handy, it's handy.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
You know it's handy. If it's handy if you want
to know a sports score, if you want to know statistics.
As far as what's broken on the car in the driveway,
it's a calculated guess. It's not that smart.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Yeah, check. You know. I'm used to doing a truck.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
And you know I can I get no motion out
of that wheel other than it's spinning right. There's no
side to side or nobody. And you won't nothing like that.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, you won't. You won't, Philip, You won't get any
You won't get any lateral movement and a bad wheelbar
or a noisy wheel bearing out of a lot of
the cars today. You will if you drive it long enough.
But initially, you know, and I've changed hundreds of wheel bearings,
I could probably say less than five ever had any
real wiggle or movement in them. So just just something
(25:35):
to be aware of.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
It just just just shock maker that you know, Like
I said with with fifty thousandth fifty six seven seven
thousand on, it takes one.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It takes one pothole, brother, you know, it takes one
pothole one. You know, one good curb hit, one good
slide in the wrong direction and bang away you go.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
So all right, sure, thank you so much, sir. Oh,
real quick, real quick, yea kiya twenty fifteen optimum. Not
I was looking all over the place for the engine size.
But anyway, the backside of the engine is the manifold
mounted UH two censor, and below that is another sensor
(26:20):
on the exhaust pipe, and there is oil. What looks
to me like the valve cover gasket is leaking right
fifty it's got fifty six thousand on it. Okay, dude,
they have you heard anything about them as far as
(26:43):
dry rot in the casket?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Well, it's eleven. It's eleven years old, kiddo. It's eleven
years old. It's got sixty thousand miles on it. It's
due a valve cover gasket. Not the end of the world, okay,
all right, not.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
I just I was just wondering because that's that's where
that's where it looks like it's coming from the cots wet.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Before we try to outdo Professor Google, the most important
part here is wash it down, add some fluorescent die.
If we were in the shop, proper procedure, wash it down,
add some fluorescent dye. Where do we see the die
valve cover? Great, let's put a gas in it somewhere else.
Let's diagnose that. And the last thing I'm going to
leave you with, Philip is it's eleven years old, it's
got about sixty thousand miles on it. Make sure whatever
(27:25):
crank case ventilation system the vehicle has is operating properly,
and the orifice tubes, if it has them, are clear
so that you don't have similar problems. But chances are
this is just an older car with dried out gaskets
eight five five five six nine nine zero zero. The
car doctor will return right after this, so we are back.
(27:47):
Let's do an email. This is from Sam from a
week ago. Hey Ron, Sam, we've foked on the show
before York, Pennsylvania. I'm slightly confused again, that's okay, Sam.
This time it's about the proper type of trans fluid
for a twenty ten Ford Explore AYUR four leader VIN
and he gave me the VIN and I got to
tell you, Sam, the VIN didn't match anything, so something's
wrong with that. But anyway, trans code is V. I
(28:07):
believe this is an LV or equivalent vehicle. I've seen
some of the online parts stores listed as Mrcon five.
I'm doing a filter change in solnoid pack replacement and
had some odds shifting in the codes P zero, seven
seventy five and seven thirty five solenoid B at a
different home reading than the others. Bravo. Right the fact
that you looked at all the solenoids and realized that
they should all read the same and they don't, so
(28:29):
chances are we've got a bad solnoid.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Here.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
I have the replacement solioid pack and filter, torque specs
and sequence. Any guidance on proper fluid is appreciated. There
is no dipstick, so it doesn't have the type or
calls for what kind of fluid to put in it.
Thanks for your time, Sam, Yeah, a lot of vehicles
don't have dipsticks today and we don't use We don't
want to use dipsticks to tell us what kind of
(28:51):
fluid the vehicle should have. And here's why, because way
do you find the vehicle that it tells you to
use XYZ fluid and a bulletin came out six months
or a year later after the vehicle is in production
and it told you to use different fluid. So we
always want to go to an information source. We really
(29:11):
do it's just that critical. Now that being said, in
your case, if this is a five speed automatic, it's
a MRK five car. That's how I remember it. If
it's the six speed trans which chances are it's the
six speed, and it's very simple. Just go through the gears.
How many gears does it have? If it's a six speed,
(29:31):
it's an LVY car, all right, And it's important. It's
very important to have proper fluid because of the additive
packs that's in there. Okay, for whatever shift qualities they're
trying to create, for whatever shift characteristics. I'll tell you
what if they if they come up with any different
or any more am I saying that properly? If they
(29:51):
come up with any more different types of trans fluids,
I'm going to have to add a bigger wing to
the shop because I can't store any more fluid that
I'm storing now. I've got to have seventeen different types
of transmission fluid in house, and we still don't use
it all, and we still order different stuff, and I
don't subscribe to that. You know, one type of trans
(30:13):
fluid works on everything. I think transmissions are way too complicated.
I think it'll work on coolant. I've had some success
with some of the coolants, the universal stuff. They work. Well,
that's a matter of you know, it's a different animal
in one sense. But transfluid, I like using the specific
stuff doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be.
It does not have to be OE. But it's got
(30:33):
to be rated for that particular transmission engine combination. So
you know, but that should be. If that's a six
speed SAM, that should be an LV vehicle. And I
would verify it through some sort of electronic information system
all Data or Mitchell or Identifix something. But don't count
on the dipstick. Counting on the dipstick. That's a no no, because,
(30:55):
like I said, you'll see cars where the dipstick says
one thing. And six months a year after the vehicle
was out on the road, the factory decided to call
for something completely different. Eight five five, five six oh
nine nine zero zero run an eading of the car
doctor coming back to wrap it up right after this,
I want to finish out the hour talking about Steve's coming.
(31:18):
A couple of calls ago about you know, finding a
good mechanic and how do you do that. I think
you have to know what you're looking for, all right?
And you know, is it price? Because price is a
tough one. Order repair gets expensive, it just does. But
you know, there's an old saying that says, you know,
if you think a good mechanic is expensive, try a
(31:39):
bad one, and you know see where that gets you,
and you know, what are you looking for? I think
the easiest thing the judge a mechanic on is the
oil change. And I think you have to look at it,
and you think you have to look at what they're
doing and how they do it, all right. I don't
think an oil change is supposed to be cheap. I
don't see how it can be cheap. A good oil change,
(32:01):
an oil change done properly, proved me wrong, right, is
typically somewhere between twenty and thirty minutes. It just is.
Sometimes they're longer. Change the oil on a twenty nineteen
Ford Ranger four cylinder, the left front tire and the
inner skirt panel has to come down to get to
(32:23):
the filter. It's the dumbest oil change in the whole world,
all right. So many cars today have and have lower
body panels that you have to lower and remove to
gain access to anything. So the faster. We make everybody
work trying to do it cheap. The more mistakes are
made or the less parts go back on. This ranger
(32:44):
was the first time customer with us. They'd been going
somewhere else and we got to put the three You know,
there was four four missing clips holding the splash shield
on the left side that cover the filter that the
factory had there. But the other shop felt like it
wasn't important to put back. Couldn't do an oil change right,
which is what brought the person or a door in
the first place. So give them something simple to do.
(33:06):
Let them do it on a repetitive nature. Don't look
at the price, look at how well do they do it,
And then you know, you'll get to know them, and
you'll get to see what goes on. Look around the shop.
What's in the shop? Is it filled with dusty old books? Hey,
I got a pile of dusty old books, But I've
got every electronic information system known to mand. Talk to them.
(33:27):
You'll learn to know and how to pick a mechanic,
just like you pick a doctor, a deli, a pizza maker,
and everything else that you've got in your life that's
important to you. But picking a mechanic is hard. I
understand it, but give them a shot, give them a chance.
If not, move on. There's plenty of places out there.
Until the next time, I'm ronning Andy in the car doctor,
reminding you the mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you,
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners alike. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join the Conversation live every Saturday from two to four
pm Eastern by calling eight five to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred. You are 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
(00:47):
garage and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah that's right, Halloween's coming and them gee whizz so well,
I guess we'll be scared tomorrow. Right, the giants are
playing again.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I'm the kidding and I you know, I was gonna
go with Ron an Indian for Halloween.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
My wife said no, too scary forgetting That's right, because
En Ron Indian shows up. Things happen. So and by
the way, Tom, take off your maskets too early. Yet,
what do you got for me this hour? Let's see
you want to go to Stephen, Virginia. Let's start right there,
Steve Virginia ninety nine land cruiser wants to restore it?
Steve want to restore a ninety nine land Cruiser?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I'm gonna do it because I've always wanted one. Okay,
And I found the unicorn. It's actually in pretty darn good.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Shape, all right. Tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Well, I actually was a friend's vehicle that they passed
away and family used it for intermittent use over the years,
and then basically seven years ago it got parked because
it was having an intermittent no crank situation. So I
(01:51):
got a hold of them and they maybe said, Steve,
if you if you really want it your friend, take
it and take a look at it. So I brought
it home. And what's been done? To keep a long
story short, I basically the brakes were bad. All the
brakes have been done over. That expensive booster system is
(02:13):
all fixed, right. I took all the bad gas out
of it.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Did you fix the did you fix the intermittent crank condition.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well yeah, well it's really funny. You know what that
was is they didn't have a master key.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Okay, so they had.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
A key that would turn the truck over, but the
computer wasn't seeing the key.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Got it.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Once I re keyed it, the thing well back up
I had. I did have to replace the fuel pump.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well yeah, and is that is that a result of
you know, sitting But bottom line, it starts every time though.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Oh it starts and it runs amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
How many miles are on it?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Two?
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And how much you think you can it's going to
cost you to restore it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I'm figuring.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
And what's your idea of restoration?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
My idea, well, my dear restoration history wise, Just to
give you an example, bought a two thousand and six
f three point fifty turbo diesel. I bulletproofed the whole thing,
went through it, front to back. I love the truck.
It does everything I want. So basically it'll go up
on blocks and every vacuum hose, every here hose, all
(03:32):
the fluids, I mean, everything's getting on everything, wet's getting changed.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Everything, rubber is getting replaced. Yes, yep, okay, you got
to pull the engine.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
You know, just from reading forums, that's one of the
things I wanted to talk to you about because well,
actually your introduction basically answered my question, because you can
get half a million miles out of a motor, I think,
so this particular motor has a history of longevity and
(04:07):
there's literally no noise in this engine.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Oh yeah, but you know, do you pull, do you
pull the engine, do a rearmain seal, do an oil
pan gasket, look at look at the bottom of the pan.
Is there any sludge, any varnish? Clean the pan, reassemble it,
put it together, you know that kind of thing. I'm
not saying you have to rebuild the engine, but you know,
maybe it's that seven years. Maybe you want to look
at some of the rubber, some of the seals, some
of the gaskets, and and you know, freshen it up
(04:31):
a little bit. And then you know, transmission wise, those
transit are fairly bulletproof. But you know, do a complete
fluid replacement. Maybe you hook up and do a fluid
exchange through the cooler lines and you know, as you say,
if it's wet, change it, if it's rubber, breakots, change it.
All the belts, hoses, everything, whatever you can get your
hands on. At this point you can probably get your
(04:51):
hands on quite a bit. Right.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, it's actually very very okay to work on once
you remove all the plates.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
On the bottom and right right now, now, just as I.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Said, it's a solid truck. I've actually was kind of
amazed that it has. It has basically no rush. It
has that little bit of surface rush from aging. Right,
that's really it now? Is it?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Is it an emotional thing? Steve? And I'm asking you
this for a question. Is it because it was your
friend's truck or you just like ninety nine land cruisers?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
I've always wanted one, okay, And when this came up,
it was you know, I generally, you know, when a
car hits one hundred thousand miles is when I get
a hold of it, right, and I'll run them. They
go to the grave from my house, right, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I don't I don't know if it's I don't know
where it falls dollar wise, I don't know what your
budget's like. But it's funny because I have a customer
who's a land cruiser guy too, and he was into
it this week and we were looking on eBay there's
one out there on eBay for forty five grand that's done,
ninety two thousand miles on it, some of the rare options,
the tent, some of the different bumpers, some of the
(06:01):
different you know, add on features. It's all there. It's
a done vehicle. And my point becomes, and I don't know,
you know, listen, we all like working on hot rods, right,
but just got I got to be devil's advocate and
point out that you can probably buy what you're going
to do done and not not have the aggravation and
spend your time driving rather than fixing. Just something to
(06:24):
think about. That would be my only point to bring up.
And you know, let it go from there, and you
could probably sell this for what you've got in it
and recoup your costs. Now, if you tell me, hey, Ron,
it was my buddy's truck and I want to drive
it because he had it, you know what, there's no
argument with that. That's a completely different that's an emotional issue,
and that's a completely different reason to own a vehicle.
(06:46):
And I never, I never quibble over that.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, And I am faced with the frustration of being
sixty eight and actually I enjoy working on the cars.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Right, and you know, to the to the other point
at sixty eight, do we really want to start spending
weekends doing this? Wouldn't we rather be driving than fixing?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Well, well, be honest with you with this one, I
was sort of pushing for My next point on this
was I'm gonna do I've got it running, do I
need to get crazy? I Am going to try and
change all the stuff over and do a timing service
on it. And at that point I was going to
drive the thing for a while before any other stuff,
(07:31):
just to see how strong the engine ran, how the
training felt, all the stuff. I just want to drive it.
You know, would that be a reasonable course of action
with this thing.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
If you're planning to keep it, Because if you're doing
a timing belt, you're doing a timing belt, water pump,
idler's tension or radiator radiator, right, radiator.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I'm actually looking into the heater cores the entire shooting match.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Well, you know, you start doing heater cores, you're taking
the dash out of the truck. You're going a little
you know on a vehicle that are you going to
keep it or not? You've got to make a decision
you're either keeping it and going all the way, or
you're going to sell it and stop right where you
are and buy something else that's a running vehicle with
less mileage, and you'll spend more time driving and less
time fixing. And that's the bottom line. Yeah, but you
(08:22):
know it's it's the emotional question. You know, it's your
buddy's truck, and that's you know, that's where things kind
of fall apart. I can listen. I sold Black one.
Black one was the first fifty five Chevy ever I
had that I brought to you know, completion. Did it
when I was a kid, seventeen eighteen years old, and
(08:43):
I had that car forever. That car's on Long Island now.
Somebody came along offered me ten grand four it when
it was in pieces twelve years ago. Gone. I put
that money towards Black two, which is I just built
Black one all over again. It's identical, and it kind
of is. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't cut the
wheel wells because Black two, the wheelwheels, defenders are just perfect.
(09:06):
I mean, it was a perfect car. It was a
thirty six thousand mile original car. My point is, and
everybody says this to me all the time. You know,
if you could get rid of that, I can get
rid of mine, right, you can just recreate your childhood memories.
So is it that we're hanging onto this because it's
a memory, or are we hanging on to this because
we're just emotionally attached and to someone resolved, you know,
(09:28):
trauma in our head that we've got to hang on
to it because it was so and So's truck.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But no, that's the emotional aspect for me is and
what I actually want something that I can work on
to drive long term.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Then by the you know what, so you.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Say I'm into it, Yeah, I'm definitely into Yeah it correctly.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Then you know what, just just look around at the
rest of the market, go out on eBay, see what
else is out there. There are some interesting ones with
the shower option, with the tent option, some of the
rare stuff that land cruisers have had do have and
so on, and then decide, Okay, you know what, for
me to get to that forty five thousand dollars vehicle,
I gotta spend sixty. I don't want to do that.
(10:08):
I'll go buy the forty five. But if I can
spend ten and get to the forty five thousand dollars vehicle,
then that's probably worth doing forty five thousand dollars vehicle, right, Yeah, So.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I was actually, what's your experience with these? You see
them as a very reliable, dependable vehicle.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
They have been. Yeah, they're they're very much in demand.
Everybody loves them. They have there's a huge market for
them overseas and that's generally where they go. As a
matter of fact, it's it's a little difficult to purchase
a newer one, and the younger ones all seem to
have disappeared. So yeah, there's huge demand, but you've just
got to resolve it in your head. You've got to
look at it from a cost point of view. And
(10:44):
let me tell you, it's a lot more fun to
drive them than it is to work on them on
a NonStop basis. And it just starts to snowball that
I'm just going to do a timing belt and a
radiator and oh, a heater core, and all of a sudden,
you're a couple of three four thousand dollars in parts
and a couple of long weekends and months, and so
you've got some thinking to do. Stevie, I can't solve
(11:06):
that for you, but it's not a bad idea, just
is it the right idea? A?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Five?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Five, five, six, nine nine zero zero. We'll return right
after this, you know, Tom, I was listening to the
promo there when we're on the pause, and you don't
see Texico stations anymore. It's kind of funny. I just
looked it up. They're still out there, but there's like
only in sixteen states, whereas they used to be nationwide.
It's like them ines. So you don't see ESO that
(11:31):
often either. Well, so so became Exxon, didn't.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
They Well not not in most of the United States,
but like if you go down to the virgin Islands,
they have ESSO stations, not Exxon stations.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Interestingly, yeah, you know, gas stations have passed I But anyway, Yeah,
the Texico Star because I actually worked at a Texaco
as a kid. That's what kind of got my attention.
So that was good. Let's let's go to Ralph in
Virginia twenty two Ford Explorer. How can I help you today,
Ralph Roninanian, at your service.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yes, thank you, sir, You're welcome.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
So I bought a new Explorer in twenty three to
twenty and took it in and for oil change, and
they want to do thirty thousand mile maintenance and wanted
to change the break fluid. So you're talking about maintenance
and changing fluids, and I was thinking, I don't know
about break fluid, so I wanted to one to get
(12:21):
your opinion on that, and then also about a fuel
system cleaner. It's like, oh, I can just buy something
from autoparts store and put that in sure is that
the same or.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Not?
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Really? Good questions? Great questions. So let's do break fluid first.
Break fluid the college word is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture.
It absorbs anywhere from three to six percent moisture per year,
depending upon environment. So in theory you could see break
fluid displaced up to ten percent in a two year
(12:55):
time period by moisture. Moisture and break fluid will affect
it's hydraulic ability, right, if we thin it out, it's
just not going to have that same feel. That's number one.
So it affects break system performance. Number two. Moisture in
a brake system, in terms of abs calipers or caliber
pistons can cause rust over the long haul moisture induced fluid.
(13:20):
So when we're doing a break fluid flush or replacement,
we're trying to get out all the old fluid to
put in fresh so we eliminate the moisture problem. Makes sense, yes, sir, Okay. Now,
the way I like to do break fluid flushes or
fluid exchanges is I like to work the hydraulics. And
(13:42):
I've seen everybody. They'll have their suckers and their pushers,
and you know, I use a simple I just have
a big plastic cup with a rubber hose and a
binder clip. I cut a long piece of rubber hose,
I picktail curly cue it into the cup. I'll put
about a inch of break fluid on the bottom of
the cup. I'll bind or clip the hose to the
cup so it doesn't flop around. Put the cup on
(14:04):
the ground. I'll put the rubber hose to the breake bleeder,
open the bleeder up, and I'll get in the vehicle.
I will have at this point sucked out as much
break fluid out of the master as I can. I
will have put as much fresh fluid in as needed,
and I will stroke the pedal ten times. The reason
I like doing it this way is I'm physically working
(14:25):
the hydraulics. I'm moving everything, right, I'm not just passively
pulling or pushing fluid through a path. I'm actually moving
pistons and actuators and making the brake system do the work.
And I will repeat that process, going around to all
four wheels, refilling the master and so on until I'm
done and I've got clear fluid all four wheels. To me,
(14:47):
that's a real break fluid exchange, all right.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
And you will impress it.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You will. You will find a better brake pedal out
of that, right, you will find a better And it's
what's really amazing, and it's kind of a shocking. I
do this with the white plastic cup because white's a
great color. You then take the white cup and you
show it to the customer and I pour it out
in front of them and all a little crud and
sediment and you go, I don't know what it is,
but that can't be good. You know, that's not supposed
(15:14):
to be in a brake system. So yeah, that to
me is a break fluid exchange. That's the right way
to do it. Now. Fuel system cleaning, we do tank additive.
We do tank additive at every oil change. Ralph, all right,
and you know, tank additive is a vitamin shot. It's
(15:36):
a maintainer. It won't may or may not make it
much better, but it's not gonna let it get any worse,
if you know what I'm saying. Maybe over time a
tank additive, but it's not. It's not a complete substitute
for an actual hook up to the fuel rail. Clean
the injectors, clean the rail, clean the pistons, type of
(15:58):
a repair. Right. The other thing to be aware of
is on a GDI engine gasoline direct injection, a fuel
system cleaning where you hook up and clean through the injectors,
doesn't clean the intake valves. Why is that? It used
to be that? And I believe you have a GDI
(16:20):
engine and you're twenty two explorer. I think I have
to see which engine that is. But the problem is
on a gasoline direct injection engine, you inject fuel just
like the name implies, directly into the cylinder. You bypass
the intake valve. You know, engines of five years prior
were port fuel injection. You had the injector sit behind
(16:42):
the intake valve. So the injector was always spraying on
the valve. It tended not to build up carbon. But
when you cleaned it, you were pushing cleaner directly on
the valve, helping wipe away any carbon build up that
showed up on the valve or the valve seat. It
makes sense, and that's that's a huge difference. I'll tell
(17:02):
you what, Ralph, stay put, I'll come back and it'll
just be a couple of minutes. We'll finish up. I'm
ronning ay in the car doctor. Yeah, you know there's
a difference, right, GDI port fuel injection. What does it
all mean? Well, we're gonna talk about it with Ralph
and the rest of you right after we get back
from this pause. Don't go anywhere. I will return.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
From the city streets to the open roads.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
And now, if you're ready his help, I will keep
you rolling around. He he's a car doctor.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Charlie, guys, don.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Bet your rush. Limba didn't have his own rock and
roll band. Let's go over and let's go back to Ralph. Ralph,
So we were talking about GDI and port fuel injection, right.
So the idea is that fuel would wash the valve.
So when you did a fuel system cleaning. You would
spray directly onto the valve, clean the injector, get the
top of the piston and you're good. GDI you're gonna
(18:09):
miss the valve. You might get some of the piston
tops right. And it's important because it seems that GDI
engines have a characteristic the industry has learned where they
will have crank case ventilation problems and leave oil deposits
on piston tops subsequently. And also, you know, if we've
got any sort of valve guide seat page issues will
(18:31):
be credding up the intake valves very quickly. So it's
important to do fuel system cleaning, but do it properly.
That being said, how they do it is just as
important as doing it. Yeah, tank additive is good, but
doing a formal fuel system cleaning properly. You know how
I know a shop is lost, right? You know, I'm
(18:52):
probably the worst guy to go into other shops because
I watch how other shops do things. They'll bring a
car in from the outside and stone cold, they'll do
a fuel system cleaning. Does that sound right to you, Ralph?
Not really right, because when does complete combustion occur when
the fire is roaring right, things are warmed up. We're
(19:13):
up and awake, and I see this. When I do
a fuel system cleaning, I'll you know, get the car warm,
and then I'll start adding my juice, as I like
to say, and I will vary the speed. I won't
always do it at idle. I'll bring it. I'll let
at idle a little bit, I'll bring it up all fidle.
I've got a scan tool hooked up. I'm looking at
OBD two. I'm looking at cat temperature right, because I
(19:34):
want the cat to be cleaned. But I want the
cat at its most efficient temperature range or in its
most efficient temperature range. Because it's fuel system cleaning. It
requires heat. It's not just a matter of spray and
chemical on. And I've gotten some very good, much better
results doing it this way. But it's all part of maintenance.
It's all part of what should be done, all right.
So they're not wrong for selling you that a typical
(19:57):
thirty thousand mile service, To answer the question directly, is
an oil change, air cabin filters, break, fluid flush, tire rotation,
fuel system cleaning, peak at wiper blades, a general chassis inspection,
wiggle the front end and a road test that's real,
you know, and that's that's typically what most vehicles needed
thirty thousand miles all.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Right, right, so what so how do you find a
good mechanic that will plush your brakes like you're talking
about and talk to the fuel clean talk the talk
to them.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
You gotta you know, it's it's a process. It's you
got to look down side streets and back alleys, all right,
and you've got.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
A couple of places and had to bring it back
for rework. Yeah, Like, so okay, maybe I should just
go to the dealer, because at least they should have
some trained knowledge.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So you know, when when family members call in and
there are other parts of the country and they can't
get to see Dad or Ron, depending on who they
are in the relationship with me, you know, they'll say
to me, I'm gonna go to the dealership. What do
I want to look for? What I want to ask for?
You want to talk to the service writer. Does the
guy pay attention? Does the person pay attention? Do they
answer your questions? You know? How do you do a
(21:14):
fuel system cleaning? Are you are you are you concerned
about you know, doing it on a cold vehicle. Are
you following whatever the manufacturer calls for? How are you
doing a break flush right? Do you do it by time?
Do you do it by how much fluid you get
through it? You know, what's your procedure? I'm curious. A
good mechanic, A good shop. My god, I had a
(21:35):
woman come in this week. Brother. I spent the better
part of twenty five minutes explaining everything we were going
to do, and I loved it. It was great. And
she turned around she said, I can see how my
husband listens to you on the radio. This was like
my own radio show. I said, yeah, kind of sort of.
But you know, it's a good shop. We'll explain it
to somebody that wants to know, and I think it's
I think it's part of their obligation. But you've got
(21:58):
to know what you're looking for too. You know, are
dealers the place to go? I think there's great dealers
out there. I think there's bad dealers out there. I
also think there's you know, good independence and bed independence.
So just something to be aware of. I appreciate the call.
You'd be well, let's go over to phil and Delaware.
See what's going on here. Phil welcome to the car.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Doctor sir, good afternoon. Thanks you for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
You're welcome. What's going on?
Speaker 5 (22:25):
I was telling your producer, I got a twenty thirteen
Buick Lacrosse. It's got fifty six or fifty seven thousand
miles on it. It was my mother's car. My daughter
now has it. It's got noise apparently in the front wheelbearings,
(22:46):
and both of them, calling both of them Phil. She said,
the driver's side is worse than the passenger side. We
had jack the car up and everything, and I a
little bit, but it's it's it's she said. When you're
(23:07):
driving it, you hear it more. Ty rod ends are
tight all that, and when jack the car up rotates
the tire wheel and you're hearing something. But to me,
it almost sounds like a break issue, not a wheelbarryage.
(23:27):
But she said, Doctor Google said it. Apparently the big
Lacrosse has a history of.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Listen, listen. They all have a history of chewing up.
They all have a history of chewing up wheel bearings.
You can't you can't use the Google Universe to decide
if a car has a broken part time. You know
you'll you'll spend a lot of money where you don't
have to. So the simple way to do this is
you got to get it up in the air. I
don't know if jack stands are high enough. It's got
to go on a lift. And you're either going to
(23:59):
have some sit in the car and run the car
twenty thirty forty miles an hour at varying speeds and
listen with a twenty dollars mechanic stethoscope, or you're gonna
you're gonna make it high tech and involved and have
analysis paralysis. Use some sort of fancy vibration analysis tool.
Drive down the road and listen to it. Once you
know wheelbar and you'll know right away. Once you know
(24:20):
wheel bearings are quiet, then you can go somewhere else.
If the wheel bearings are noisy, you got to fix
those first, and then while it's apart, take a look
at the brakes and consider it from there. I mean,
that's the only way you can really approach that.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
So, yeah, that's what I told her. I said, I
just doctor Google ain't don't don't you know that's not right?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
The trusts.
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Yeah, it's handy, it's handy.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
You know it's handy. If it's handy if you want
to know a sports score, if you want to know statistics.
As far as what's broken on the car in the driveway,
it's a calculated guess. It's not that smart.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Yeah, check. You know. I'm used to doing a truck.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
And you know I can I get no motion out
of that wheel other than it's spinning right. There's no
side to side or nobody. And you won't nothing like that.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, you won't. You won't, Philip, You won't get any
You won't get any lateral movement and a bad wheelbar
or a noisy wheel bearing out of a lot of
the cars today. You will if you drive it long enough.
But initially, you know, and I've changed hundreds of wheel bearings,
I could probably say less than five ever had any
real wiggle or movement in them. So just just something
(25:35):
to be aware of.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
It just just just shock maker that you know, Like
I said with with fifty thousandth fifty six seven seven
thousand on, it takes one.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It takes one pothole, brother, you know, it takes one
pothole one. You know, one good curb hit, one good
slide in the wrong direction and bang away you go.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
So all right, sure, thank you so much, sir. Oh,
real quick, real quick, yea kiya twenty fifteen optimum. Not
I was looking all over the place for the engine size.
But anyway, the backside of the engine is the manifold
mounted UH two censor, and below that is another sensor
(26:20):
on the exhaust pipe, and there is oil. What looks
to me like the valve cover gasket is leaking right
fifty it's got fifty six thousand on it. Okay, dude,
they have you heard anything about them as far as
(26:43):
dry rot in the casket?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Well, it's eleven. It's eleven years old, kiddo. It's eleven
years old. It's got sixty thousand miles on it. It's
due a valve cover gasket. Not the end of the world, okay,
all right, not.
Speaker 5 (26:55):
I just I was just wondering because that's that's where
that's where it looks like it's coming from the cots wet.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Before we try to outdo Professor Google, the most important
part here is wash it down, add some fluorescent die.
If we were in the shop, proper procedure, wash it down,
add some fluorescent dye. Where do we see the die
valve cover? Great, let's put a gas in it somewhere else.
Let's diagnose that. And the last thing I'm going to
leave you with, Philip is it's eleven years old, it's
got about sixty thousand miles on it. Make sure whatever
(27:25):
crank case ventilation system the vehicle has is operating properly,
and the orifice tubes, if it has them, are clear
so that you don't have similar problems. But chances are
this is just an older car with dried out gaskets
eight five five five six nine nine zero zero. The
car doctor will return right after this, so we are back.
(27:47):
Let's do an email. This is from Sam from a
week ago. Hey Ron, Sam, we've foked on the show
before York, Pennsylvania. I'm slightly confused again, that's okay, Sam.
This time it's about the proper type of trans fluid
for a twenty ten Ford Explore AYUR four leader VIN
and he gave me the VIN and I got to
tell you, Sam, the VIN didn't match anything, so something's
wrong with that. But anyway, trans code is V. I
(28:07):
believe this is an LV or equivalent vehicle. I've seen
some of the online parts stores listed as Mrcon five.
I'm doing a filter change in solnoid pack replacement and
had some odds shifting in the codes P zero, seven
seventy five and seven thirty five solenoid B at a
different home reading than the others. Bravo. Right the fact
that you looked at all the solenoids and realized that
they should all read the same and they don't, so
(28:29):
chances are we've got a bad solnoid.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Here.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
I have the replacement solioid pack and filter, torque specs
and sequence. Any guidance on proper fluid is appreciated. There
is no dipstick, so it doesn't have the type or
calls for what kind of fluid to put in it.
Thanks for your time, Sam, Yeah, a lot of vehicles
don't have dipsticks today and we don't use We don't
want to use dipsticks to tell us what kind of
(28:51):
fluid the vehicle should have. And here's why, because way
do you find the vehicle that it tells you to
use XYZ fluid and a bulletin came out six months
or a year later after the vehicle is in production
and it told you to use different fluid. So we
always want to go to an information source. We really
(29:11):
do it's just that critical. Now that being said, in
your case, if this is a five speed automatic, it's
a MRK five car. That's how I remember it. If
it's the six speed trans which chances are it's the
six speed, and it's very simple. Just go through the gears.
How many gears does it have? If it's a six speed,
(29:31):
it's an LVY car, all right, And it's important. It's
very important to have proper fluid because of the additive
packs that's in there. Okay, for whatever shift qualities they're
trying to create, for whatever shift characteristics. I'll tell you
what if they if they come up with any different
or any more am I saying that properly? If they
(29:51):
come up with any more different types of trans fluids,
I'm going to have to add a bigger wing to
the shop because I can't store any more fluid that
I'm storing now. I've got to have seventeen different types
of transmission fluid in house, and we still don't use
it all, and we still order different stuff, and I
don't subscribe to that. You know, one type of trans
(30:13):
fluid works on everything. I think transmissions are way too complicated.
I think it'll work on coolant. I've had some success
with some of the coolants, the universal stuff. They work. Well,
that's a matter of you know, it's a different animal
in one sense. But transfluid, I like using the specific
stuff doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be.
It does not have to be OE. But it's got
(30:33):
to be rated for that particular transmission engine combination. So
you know, but that should be. If that's a six
speed SAM, that should be an LV vehicle. And I
would verify it through some sort of electronic information system
all Data or Mitchell or Identifix something. But don't count
on the dipstick. Counting on the dipstick. That's a no no, because,
(30:55):
like I said, you'll see cars where the dipstick says
one thing. And six months a year after the vehicle
was out on the road, the factory decided to call
for something completely different. Eight five five, five six oh
nine nine zero zero run an eading of the car
doctor coming back to wrap it up right after this,
I want to finish out the hour talking about Steve's coming.
(31:18):
A couple of calls ago about you know, finding a
good mechanic and how do you do that. I think
you have to know what you're looking for, all right?
And you know, is it price? Because price is a
tough one. Order repair gets expensive, it just does. But
you know, there's an old saying that says, you know,
if you think a good mechanic is expensive, try a
(31:39):
bad one, and you know see where that gets you,
and you know, what are you looking for? I think
the easiest thing the judge a mechanic on is the
oil change. And I think you have to look at it,
and you think you have to look at what they're
doing and how they do it, all right. I don't
think an oil change is supposed to be cheap. I
don't see how it can be cheap. A good oil change,
(32:01):
an oil change done properly, proved me wrong, right, is
typically somewhere between twenty and thirty minutes. It just is.
Sometimes they're longer. Change the oil on a twenty nineteen
Ford Ranger four cylinder, the left front tire and the
inner skirt panel has to come down to get to
(32:23):
the filter. It's the dumbest oil change in the whole world,
all right. So many cars today have and have lower
body panels that you have to lower and remove to
gain access to anything. So the faster. We make everybody
work trying to do it cheap. The more mistakes are
made or the less parts go back on. This ranger
(32:44):
was the first time customer with us. They'd been going
somewhere else and we got to put the three You know,
there was four four missing clips holding the splash shield
on the left side that cover the filter that the
factory had there. But the other shop felt like it
wasn't important to put back. Couldn't do an oil change right,
which is what brought the person or a door in
the first place. So give them something simple to do.
(33:06):
Let them do it on a repetitive nature. Don't look
at the price, look at how well do they do it,
And then you know, you'll get to know them, and
you'll get to see what goes on. Look around the shop.
What's in the shop? Is it filled with dusty old books? Hey,
I got a pile of dusty old books, But I've
got every electronic information system known to mand. Talk to them.
(33:27):
You'll learn to know and how to pick a mechanic,
just like you pick a doctor, a deli, a pizza maker,
and everything else that you've got in your life that's
important to you. But picking a mechanic is hard. I
understand it, but give them a shot, give them a chance.
If not, move on. There's plenty of places out there.
Until the next time, I'm ronning Andy in the car doctor,
reminding you the mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you,
Host
Ron Ananian
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!