November 15, 2025 • 34 mins
In this episode of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron opens with a visit to the local liquor store and a simple question—“How’s business?”—that quickly turns into a bigger conversation about the crazy state of the world, the economy, and yes, auto repair. From there, he dives into a head-scratcher in the shop: a 2020 GMC Denali with an intermittent no-crank that’s already on its fifth starter in five years. The owner’s “hammer tap” trick has always worked—until it doesn’t. Ron walks through modern battery testing, why today’s algorithm-based testers can miss an intermittent failure, how his old-school carbon pile load tester finally cracked the case, and why he ended up replacing both the battery and starter with parts he trusts.
The phones light up and Ron tackles a grab bag of real-world problems:
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A Toyota Tacoma with a long-standing rear “thump” that feels like someone hit you from behind – is it axle wrap, pinion angle, or something in the suspension geometry?
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A nasty rear brake job on a Ford Transit, and a shop tip on using CRC Pro Series Brake Clean to tame the rust and mess.
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An ’03 VW Jetta TDI with swapped engines and questions about injection timing, scan tool accuracy, and when you really need a dedicated VAG-COM tool.
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A Ford F-250 no-crank with a remote start system in the mix, where Ron explains why you have to think in terms of wiring paths, junction boxes, and key fuses like 27, 13, and 31 instead of just “bad starter.”
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And a quick, practical mini-clinic on tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS)—why you can’t judge a tire by kicking it, how temperature affects pressure, and what that little door-jamb placard really assumes.
If you want real-world diagnostic stories, straight talk about the insanity of modern car design, and practical advice you can actually use on your own vehicle, this episode’s for you.
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Follow the wrench – Instagram @ronananian for shop life & behind-the-scenes
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Watch & learn – Auto repair tips & videos on our YouTube Channel
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners Alife. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join The Conversation Live every Saturday from two to four
pm Eastern by calling eight five to five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five five five
(00:25):
six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to honest
answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow dot
com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your enginies. The Car Doctor is into garage and
(00:47):
ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I went and saw Matt at the liquor store this morning.
I'm going to a big celebration tonight and I want
to give the hon a re a nice bottle of scotch.
And I got him a nice bottle of scotch. And
we were told looking, and I said, how's business, Matt?
Because to be in a liquor store on the weekend
and there's nobody inside. He goes, ah, you know, wrong,
business is way off, you know. He goes, it's really
(01:10):
I haven't had a great weekend since fourth of July,
which and I looked at him and I said, is
that normal? And he goes, well, I don't know. And
the classic line right from Matt over there at ma
Wall Liquors, he said, you know, he said, you would
think in the state of the world and the state
of the economy and the state of everything else, he goes,
you're either one of two things. You're either depressed or
you're celebrating, and either way you're drinking. And I said,
(01:31):
you know, that's that's a fair point. I never kind
of thought of it that way. And he said, you know,
there's just insanity around in all of everything that we
see going on, you know. And I said, let me
tell you this story. And the story, as I related
to Matt, is this one. I had a twenty twenty
gmc denali good segue, huh. I had a twenty twenty
(01:53):
gmc denali in the shop this week and it was
an intermittent no crank. Something about this truck raised my
eyebrows right away when I first had it brought in.
This is the second time it's back in. I actually
I sort of had a comeback. It came in two
weeks ago. The customer dropped it off and he said,
(02:14):
I need a starter, And I said, how do you
know you need a starter? And he said, because watch
and he crawled under the truck. He had a hammer
in his pocket. It was the funniest thing. He had
a hammer, right, and you know and he says, Ron,
get in the truck and push on the button. I
push on the button and he hits the starter with
a hammer and the truck starts and I shut it
off and it won't start. And I say, okay, I'm
holding the button down and he hits the button with
(02:36):
he hits the hammer with a button. I'm sorry. He
hits the starter with the hammer and it starts. He says,
I want you to put a starter in the truck. Well,
but we should know. He says, I want you to
put a starter in the truck. He goes, that has
worked on every vehicle I've ever runed since the seventies.
He's an older fellaw and he said, my dad taught
me that trick and yeah, you know you kind of
can't argue that, right, you say, you know, you tap it,
(02:58):
it starts. It's a bad start, he said. I know
it's a starter because this will be the fourth starter
my truck has had. And I'm handing it up. I'm
going it's a five year old vehicle. It's a twenty
twenty gmc denali. Right, He's put this will be the
fifth starter, and I'm thinking, how is that possible? Every
(03:19):
twenty twenty five thousand miles? We put a starter in
the truck, like, it doesn't make any sense to me,
but listen, you know, it was reasonable to ask. It
was a reasonable thing to do. I put a starter
in the truck, went out and got the best brand
new and you know what new means in my world,
starter I could find, all right, just like all the
other brand new GM starters I could find. So so
(03:45):
we put a starter in the truck, started right up.
Didn't need the hammer, I said, Chris, you're good to go, baby,
all right, I said, it starts, you can leave the
hammer at home. He goes, I'll keep it in the
back seat, you never know, just in case he goes.
I'm getting used to it. This is the hammer I
bought for the truck. All right, So you know, a
couple of days goes by, three, four days goes by,
and somewhere around the fourth or fifth day, I said, oh,
(04:06):
I'm feeling brave. Let me just text Chris and say, hey,
by the way, how's the truck? And he writes me
back and he says, I think you jinxed me. He goes,
it just didn't start. I'm in my driveway at my house.
It didn't start. He said, I tried the hammer trick
and it didn't work. Oh wait, it started, he said,
(04:27):
I'll be right over. He comes over, He gets under
the truck, we shut it off. It won't start. He
taps it with a hammer. It won't start. I just
looked at him. I said, you realize we're into something different.
He goes, yeah, I get that. So you know, it's
a crazy business. How do we go from one extreme
for the next to the next. You know, we're going
(04:49):
to be on starter number six in five years and
I'm looking for what did everybody else miss? Remember? As
Matt at the liquor store said, it's an insane world. Well,
auto repair kind of epitomizes this right, it really is crazy.
So I go through the truck. I can't reproduce it
(05:10):
because that's the other problem. Right as soon as it
was the next day when I came in the next day. Now,
I can't duplicate the problem. As far as I'm concerned,
the truck's acting normal. So I, you know, due diligence,
Tell me what's absolutely what can I verify absolutely positively
as good. I tested the battery, I voltage dropped, tested
the cables. Now, when I tested the battery, I used
(05:34):
the industry standard algorithm style mathematical calculator battery load tester,
And I say battery load tester sort of tongue in
cheek because it doesn't really apply a load. It's taking
a surface charge reading with a minor of very small.
I believe they apply two aamps of a load or
some ridiculous amount of ampergs to it, and they make
a mathematical calculation whether the battery is good or bad.
(05:57):
And this battery came back one time it came back
good load charge needs recharging. The other time it came
back as good. By the way, load testing batteries and
GMC trucks is absolutely ridiculous. Because you can't get the
clamps on the cables. But that's a different conversation. We're
going to have that at some point in the future,
I don't know where. And I went through everything I
(06:18):
could go through as far as looking at inputs. I'm
looking through, you know, all the controls. There's transmission switches involved,
CM involved, body computer, there's an engine control computer involved.
There's an anti theft process because the vehicles are so
worried about people stealing it, which I'll tell you the
story about the guys that were just indicted in New
(06:39):
York City this week for stealing Hondas by cloning the
keys and rewriting the VENs and then selling them as
legitimate cars. So those anti theft percussions were taking are
really worth it, you know, nineteen sixty two Chevy, a key,
a purple wire, a battery, a starter, turn it, boom,
We're done. You know, if they want the car, folks,
they're just going to jack it up in total thing away.
(07:00):
So it came down to where I couldn't reproduce any
of this. I got out my Opus scan tool because
this was the second dilemma I had. I hooked up
my snap on my hotel, my Launch, and a couple
other scan tools I can't even think of, and they
all kind of told me gibberish. Nothing made any sense
(07:21):
because they were either inaccurate, they were missing the piece
of information I was looking for. And I went to
the standard, because OPUS is the standard, all right, And
sure enough, inside OPUS, if you go look at park
neutral switch, it's listed. However, we later found out and
talking with tech support after some research, that the park
neutral switch position is an invalid parameter inside the scan
(07:43):
tool and you don't use that the way. GM decided
to do it because technology the more technology is better technology.
When the vehicle is in park, there is a multi
sensor switch inside the transmission trans one trans to and
it shows duty cycler percentage. So if in park, trans
(08:04):
one reads twenty five percent, trans two has to read
seventy five percent in reverse. If reverse reads sixty percent
on pin one, it has to read forty percent on
pin two. It always has to total to one hundred percent.
They're using percentages played against the Hall effect style two
cents or switch inside the transmission nineteen sixty two Chevy
(08:26):
Purple Wire ignition key starter solenoid battery we're good, but
we're trying to keep the car from being stolen. We're
trying to make this as as complicated as we possibly can.
In the end, and Brian and Opus was just great.
I got to give him kudos here.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Man.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
We had a couple of less we were looking at
how ridiculous this whole thing is. And in the end
Opus gave me the information that I wanted to say.
This truck is operating as designed. It's normal. But we
had an instance where during cranking we went into a
cranking clear flood mode. I saw the battery voltage drop
(09:05):
under nine and a half vaults. It really went to
nine two, and then it stopped cranking, and I said,
but the battery is good in my mind, how can
that be? Well, long story short, I ended up pulling
the battery out, put it on the bench, and I
got out my old carbon pile tester, which is the
old school from forty years ago. They tell you not
to use it. They say it's not accurate, they say
(09:26):
it shouldn't be used on a modern day vehicle. Nobody
really gives me a good reason why. And sure enough,
standing voltage twelve point one, bring it up to one
hundred and eight am, so it's replicates the amount of
load of starter would put on it on average, and
battery voltage held at ten to two. Well, gee, that
battery is okay. I sat there and I waited a minute,
(09:47):
and I went back did the same test. Battery voltage
went to eight eight eight six eight two seven and
a half and the machine shut off. Well, I guess
that's a bad battery. So I had an intermittent battery
as an issue. Wow, now how does that relate to
when it came in tap the starter? The starter would
(10:11):
engage and crank the engine over. Remember Matt at the
liquor store today, right ron, it's an insane world where
people should be drinking. You know, maybe I know a
few mechanics that probably are capable of it. Because I'm ready,
I you know, I may have picked the wrong you know,
maybe this is the time to start. I In the end,
(10:32):
I put a battery in it because I knew that
was bad. And I also changed the starter and I'll
tell you why. Because the starter did some funny things
while I was going through testing. It made a couple
of noises I didn't like, and it just reacted differently
than I expected, and I went down and I said,
I've got to try a different brand. Now, I'm going
to tell you a secret. All right, GM starters are good.
(10:55):
I'm not one hundred percent sold because why did we
go through five and five years? I went out and
got a rebuild. I put a car Quest Advanced, right,
I put an advanced Auto parts starter in this truck,
which some people might say, Hey, that's a step down.
I disagree. Car Quest has a very very good rotating
electrical category there. They make some of the really good
(11:16):
alternators that make some really good starters. We've had very
very few problems with them. Put that car Quest that advance.
I'm sorry, that advanced Auto parts starter in that truck
with a fresh battery. It's gone five days. So this
is not on my doorstep on Monday. I'm good. And
all I can say is, yes, what's that line? It's
(11:38):
a mad mad man, mad world. Maybe we should bring
it back. That was nineteen sixty two, another year, same
as the Impala eight five five five six nine nine
zero zero. I'm running eighty in the car. Doctor, come
on back, let's talk. Let's go to Thomas in Arizona.
(12:05):
What's going on? Hey, Thomas. How are you pretty.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Good, sir?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
What's going on? What can I do for you?
Speaker 5 (12:11):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (12:11):
I've had this issue with this axle wrap thing since
twenty twelve when I bought it. Okay, you know, you
come to a stop sign and you let your foot
off the break and thump.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
It was really bad.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
It felt like somebody hit.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Me in the rear end.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well went on for a long time. So then I
went on Tacoma World. They said, this will take care
of that thumping. You get overload springs. They at our
fifteen hundred pounds, and you don't put them where they're
supposed to go behind the axle. You put them in
front of the axle. Well, lo and behold. It worked
(12:50):
for about two years. Right then the straps on them
they're real tiny, they're tin They're just to align it. Well,
they started to twist, can bend because there's a lot
of I guess pressure on there. So I took it
to Toyota. They said, tuck, you gotta live with it,
but no damage will happen. There was a bulletin or
(13:12):
something on it. Well, I've gone through leaf springs, several
of them, and the things started to sad. So this
Toyota won't do anything after market. So I went to
this other guy that did after market stuff. He put
traction bars on. He said it was that take care
of it. It did not. We even did the drive shaft,
(13:35):
new springs, leaf springs. I even put bill Stein shocks
around it. And then I even to stop the sad,
I put on airbags.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
So are you saying, hold on a second, Thomas, Are
you saying that as you apply the brake, when you
let off the break, the rear axle is physically moving
or as the brake releases, it causes the axle to
wind to like load front then back. It's like you're
you're twisting the axle. In a sense.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
It's a thump, not as bad as it was, but
it's still there and now it's coming back. So there's
times I'll raise the air bags up and down. It
goes away for a few days. When I pull a trailer,
I don't really feel it four wheel drive.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Nothing is is this a standard height? To call me?
You haven't modified anything.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Oh other than just the air bags?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And how much higher is it with the air bags?
But the air bag solves it right now?
Speaker 4 (14:39):
It kind of plays with it. It's good for a
couple of days, then it'll come back. I raised it
because it'll They say, when you have an empty bed,
go to five pounds. Then when I put my trailer on,
I have to raise it to thirty. And it's a level.
But I tried putting eleven in and it's like it's
still there, not as much. Because you don't want to
(15:01):
put too much here, you'll be tearing stuff up. That's
what I was told.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I'm gonna tell I'm gonna tell you, Mike, I'm gonna
go with my gut on this one. Thomas. I haven't
seen this particular problem, all right, but I'm gonna tell
you the fact that I haven't heard about it doesn't
mean it doesn't exist, because it does. Obviously you're here
talking to me about it. I'm gonna I'm gonna tell
you that you're you're in an area where it doesn't
seem like anybody's got a solution. If you followed what
(15:29):
they said out on a form and it didn't work
for you, then you're into something unique. The reason I
asked about is it's standard height or not? Is do
we have an issue where the suspension height is altered
and pinion angle is incorrect in the rear the point
where the drive shaft and the rear end physically meet.
(15:51):
Now you purchased the truck used correct right? If on
the ground level height or whatever level height is is
for this vehicle, if you were to look at the
front of the rear axle, the front of the differential,
is it level? Is it pointed down? Is it pointed up?
Where is it.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
That?
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I don't know?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Right? Did somebody change the rear because how do we
know this is a stock two thousand and three rear?
You bought the truck? Uh, ten years later, nine years later?
A lot can happen. You probably bought it with higher
mileage on it too.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
I'm guessing I bought it from a dealer, right, and uh, yeah,
it's high mileage.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Right, Well, it probably was then, you know. And then
the other question I've got is if you put it
in neutral and coast to a stop and apply the
brake and let off the brake doesn't make the noise?
Does it give you that same sensation?
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Very funny you would say that because I was going
to do that today, because.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I'm looking to see is it is it? Does it change?
When the diff is not underload or as much load,
because it almost sounds like the rear is is wound
up and then bang. It releases when you when you
change its its positions, so to speak, by stepping on
the brake and then letting off the brake. So that's
what happens, right, I want you to I want you
(17:20):
to check two things. I also want to make sure
is the frame intact. There's nothing cracked, rusted, broken, mounts
are in place. All the body mounts are where they're
supposed to be, All the body mounts are tight. I
want to cover the basics, but I also want to
know pinion angle. I want you to do some research
on that, and I want you to try the neutral
step on the brake release thing. Call me back, we'll
(17:41):
talk some more about it, and we'll keep going with it.
Eight five five five six nine nine zero zero run
an Ady and the car doctor coming back right after this.
Don't go away.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Promises streets to the open roll tonight.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
We'll give you wrong, right, he's a car doctor.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Carr advice, don't ride, thank you? Ban the band? Does
the band have a name? Tom? Is that is that
the Ken Martin band? I think so. I think it's
the Ken Martin ban. It's the Ken Martin band. He
never told me the name of the band, so the
Ken Martin Band.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Ken.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Would you sit down please, I want to tell you
real quick before we go anywhere. We had occasion this
week in the shop we were doing rear breaks on
a twenty nineteen. Well it turned out to be a
twenty twenty. That's a whole nother story for Transit two
point fifty. And it is the stupidest design in the
world because you have to take the axle outs, take
the bolts out, push the rotor forward, turn it and
(18:44):
pull it back off the hub, and it makes a
bloody mess. It's you've got rust everywhere and dirt everywhere
and contaminate everywhere. So we just got you know, you
don't think you can reinvent the mouse trap, right? CRC
they're break Clean. They have a they call it the
CRC Pro Series break Clean Holy Cow, harder spray, better spray,
(19:08):
not splashy, but just more force and it's all encompassing.
I'll tell you what. We use less brake Clean than
we normally would have just using a singular can. And
if you're if you're doing this kind of work, and
you need a solvent cleaner, something to clean away the
rust and the crud and you know everything else that
that CRC Pro Series Break Clean It's it's really good stuff.
(19:30):
Go take a look at it. You'll find it on
their website. I just wanted to mention it a little
tip from the base. Let's go to John and Connecticut.
Oh three Jetta and oh boy, I love these kind
of cars and problems. John, what's going on?
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Hey, Ron? I did an engine swap on a three
PDI first engine I didn't get to do to timing
belt and what so got a donor car with one
hundred and twenty nine thousand on it swapped engines. So
my snap on Trenton, I adjusted the ignition or ignition
(20:07):
UH injection timing out right and it shows from eighty
five degrees to I think one hundred and ten. And
by the time I got it with Inspec, I checked
my cool and temp and I was up at one
forty five. But I also looked at my intake air
attempt which showed seventy seven and yesterday.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Was yesterday was yeah, probably in.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
The stop in the fifties, Yeah, I think right.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, it sounds like something. It sounds like one of
the sensors. Let me ask you this, when you did
the swamp, what your vehicle did it come from?
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Three three three? Okay?
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And what sensors did you use? The ones that came
in the second engine or did you take them out
of the first.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (20:52):
The only sensors I use or whatever that were on
that engine. So the map and the master aflow that
was in the car. I still used the original to
that car. Okay, golal plugs to the donor engine. Uh,
that's the other thing I gotta check. I got to
see if I got a back goal plug because on
(21:14):
initial startup on cold, it'll it'll run rough.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
But right.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
So so this morning I threw the scanner on it.
I was checking the intou temp and it showed forty
two degrees cool and temp showed forty two. Fuel temp
showed forty two.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Was it forty two degrees in Connecticut this morning?
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Well my garage said forty seventh. So I was like
five degree.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, I would it's five degrees, but I would say
that's you know, it's pretty close. Yeah, So that's pretty close.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
And I went to the injection timing thing again and
it showed showed me being at thirty eight degrees and
the scanner said the ideal target sixty.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
So that's I guess, well, and then my and then
my second question is because what you're really saying, let
me let me, let me talk to your brother or
brother here, John, what you're really saying is your you're
questioning is the trite and accurate?
Speaker 5 (22:08):
I guess because everything I seen online, everybody's using the
Volkswagen bag thing. It shows a graph.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
The vagcom tool right is phenomenal. I bought when I
bought when when you see how it takes a little
bit of getting used to because it's it's geared more
towards a Volkswagen tech if if if you if you
can get the language and using blocks and everything to
find your data. I haven't used mine in a while,
and it's it's a boy. You can really sing with
(22:36):
that tool on volkswagons. I I questioned my triton on
Volkswagen too. For the record, all right, it's not. It's
not my favorite tool for that car line, certain things,
but not something like this. It's one of the reasons
why I have a vag coom right. The vagcom scan
(22:56):
tool because I just questioned its accuracy and the problem
you will find and scan tool manufacturers argue this with me,
is you know how many old three volkswagons are left right? Right?
How many twenty three volkswagons are on the road? A lot? More?
Speaker 3 (23:15):
So?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Do you think they gear their tools towards the newer
vehicles and you know the older stuff, well they're going away.
What difference does it make so you find yourself buying
more than a few, Yes, sir, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
I still have the old brick. Is the old brick
capable of doing the injection timing on that? Would that
be a better tool to use?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
I you know what, you won't know until you try listen,
And it's not a question of is it better you know, don't? Don't?
What's what's the you know, analysis paralysis? If you can
plug it in legitimately and look up the vehicle, right,
try it? What's the worst that happens?
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Right, as long as as long as the tool seems
like it's responding to the vehicle. The other question I've
got is you know which injectors did you use? The
ones that came in the in the door engine?
Speaker 5 (24:01):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Could we have a spray issue.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Well, let me tell you this. With the donor vehicle,
that thing would start up within like two seconds, idle
per everything.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh you ran the donor engine.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
Yeah, I bought a whole other Donor car.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Okay, got it, got it. So it's it's something in
the connection too, or the or the process of what
you're doing. So then let's let's let's get let's make
sure set up is right. How I would handle this. Listen,
I'll tell you the story this way, all right. I
had a I'm all gonna tell that to you quick.
I had a nineteen transit. Customer said, customer has two vehicles.
(24:39):
He's got a nineteen Ford Transit and a twenty Ford Transit.
You know, he had to buy one three months apart
just to drive me nuts. Okay, like, just buy two.
You need to get it over with. He tells me
he's bringing the nineteen ron. Made the mental error of
not verifying that right. So I looked up parts for nineteen.
I brought the nineteen parts in. He brought me the nineteen.
(25:01):
I'm doing real breaks wrong, brake pads. Long story short.
After three turns around, I went the dummy. I said
to myself. Is this the nineteen It wasn't it was
the twenty change four change the brake pads from nineteen
to twenty. My point is there's always a logical reason
when you sit down and think about So let's get
(25:23):
pump timing to the point where were content that it's accurate.
All right, you know it's a diesel. You know how
long did the vehicle sit while you were waiting to
do the engine? Any length of time?
Speaker 5 (25:35):
Probably about a year. But I gotta also tell you
with the original engine, at startup, it would run. It
would almost like you would turn the key off. It
was so quick, right, It would run like that for minutes.
So is it smooth out?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So if it's a year, could we have some kind
of growth or algae in the fuel system in the tank?
Speaker 5 (25:58):
Right?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Diesels are prone to that. Go out to hot Shot Secret.
I gotta run them up against the clock. But go
out to hot Shot Secret. Go out to their website
hotshotsecret dot com. Take a look at take a look
at stiiction eliminator, and take a look at some of
the other things they have as fuel system clean up.
Depending upon your condition, where you're exactly at and see
and and you know, to try that one of those
(26:22):
and to use that stuff, to use stitional eliminer on
a regular basis. I can't tell you enough good things
about it, but to do the pump timing, get that
square away in your head, and then come back and
talk to me and we'll cover the rest of it,
all right, kiddo.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
You're very welcome, sir. You'd be well. I'm ronning Andy
and the car doctor. We're back right after this. Don't
go away. Hey, let's let's go see David Pennsylvania. David,
(26:59):
look to the car doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Oh, I'm having some issues in min two? Got it?
I try to start it. It just can go on
to dash and says engine system failed or starting system failed.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
But its it cranks over right, No.
Speaker 6 (27:17):
No crank, okay, go straight to the little computer on
the dash here. And I tried reading up on a
little bit. Some people thought, yeah, maybe starter or something
like that, but I also read we're pultiably the remote
remote start. If fitch failed or shorted, it might do that.
(27:39):
I've had a remote start in since twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Well, yeah, because depending upon how let's let's talk generically,
because I don't know how yours is wired. The one
of the things I dislike about add on accessories, And
I'm saying that as a person who has add on
accessories and vehicles. Okay, so I know it's sort of
a necess are evil, all right, It's kind of like
some days you just have to stop at a McDonald's
(28:04):
and get a cheese burger. You're not sure why, but
you just you have to your body screaming for it. So,
having said that, how it's wired, the care and consideration,
all right, is it possible that when they tapped into
the wiring harness In simplest terms, if there's a feed
from the main computer that goes to the ignition switch,
(28:26):
that goes to the relay that goes to the body
computer that goes down to the starter, how they tapped
into that wiring. They usually have to break it at
some point and put the remote start module in series
in the circuit. Right, So did they do a poor
sowder job? Did they have a do we have a
bad connection? Do we have you know? So there's a
(28:48):
couple of things we have to see.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
If we were standing at the shop and we had
a scan tool on it one of the things I
would go look for. Does the does the vehicle show
me it reckgnizes park neutral And twenty twelve we were
still using a park neutral switch. Does it show that, Yes,
the trans is in park? Can I put it in reverse? Yes,
it says reverse. Does it go into neutral? Yes, it's
Oh wait, it doesn't say neutral. Why doesn't it say?
(29:12):
You know, I'm looking for inputs that type of approach, right, so,
and that's something you will not see with OBD two.
So don't look for it. You need a year make
model scanner, all right, or you need a year make
model capable scanner so that you can see you know there,
because listen, there could be four hundred and fifty PIDs
(29:32):
pieces of information for that vehicle. It's it's crazy. Some
vehicles today have eight hundred pids's and more. So you know,
these are the kind of things we look for. The
one thing I want to ask you to do, all right,
just on the chance you know where the battery junction
boxes under the hood. It's probably right on top of
(29:55):
the radiator, that long rectangular box with fuses and relays in.
Oh yeah, oh look at go find make sure you
find the right one fuse twenty seven. Okay, all right,
it's a it's a twenty am fuse. Fuse twenty seven.
All right, when you're sure you've got when you're sure
you got fuse twenty seven, pull it out, Look at it.
(30:19):
Are the contacts burnt? Are there? Are there? Are there
two black marks? Brown marks on the fuse blade?
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (30:26):
I didn't see that, now all right?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
If if oh you did you you looked at twenty seven? Okay?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Are you going to replace it with another fuse?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Okay? Okay? Because yeah, there's well and then twenty seven
fuse twenty seven. There's a bulletin fifteen dish oh one
three seven that talks about relocating fuse twenty seven to
a different part of the box because they're worried about
the electrical load on the circuit. But I don't I
don't think you have that problem. All right, But if
(30:57):
you break out a wiring diagram, you'll be able to
see should you have power at twenty seven? At what point?
And do you or don't you? And that's that's fuse
twenty seven is going to be part of this, okay,
all right, So the next step would be a wiring
diagram where am I missing power and voltage? Listen, it's
easy enough crawl under the truck. Do you have power
(31:18):
at the solenoid wire? Feeding the starter? Start as a starter,
it's an appliance right plug in, plug out. But I
think you've got to go through some of the other
things we talked about first in order to get to
a bottom, bottom end conclusion. Do those things, Dave, call
me back. I'm happy to talk to you, and we
can go a little deeper if we have to, but
that'll at least get you started. Eight five, five, five, six, seven,
(31:39):
nine nine zero zero, run an ending of the car.
Doctor coming back right after this, and we're back. Let's
see if was it abe in Pennsylvania? The generally just
(32:01):
spoke with if he's still listening regarding the F two fifty,
The other thing I thought about is, while you're at
the battery junction box under the hood, go look at
fuse number thirteen. It's a thirty amper And go look
at fuse thirty one. Is it thirty one? In my head?
Yet it's thirty one? Are either of those blown? Get
a wiring diagram and trace it out. But there are
(32:22):
three critical fuses twenty seven thirteen and thirty one in
that battery junction box that could either be burnt or blown,
and that'll give you a direction on which way to
diagnose as well. So that's just very very important. I
want to finish here, Okay, I want to leave you
with this thought. I was at the gym this week
and Krista came up to me and she was asking
about tire pressure monitoring systems because the TPMs light came
(32:45):
on in her car and she said, I don't know,
I guess the math didn't click. And what I said
to her was or TPMs light was on, but the
tires still looked okay. You can't judge a tire by
kicking the sidewall. If it's a run flat, the sidewall
is going to be rock card. So don't assume that
just because the tire still looks okay, that it's not
(33:05):
low on pressure. You have to physically check pressure. But
it's a direct relationship between the placard on the driver's
door jam and the weather as to how that TPMs
system is going to work. Assume that the placard you
open up the driver's door, there's a little sticker there.
It'll tell you front tires, rear tires. What the pressure
should be. That's a sixty eight degree day. That's the
(33:25):
rule of thumb we go by. So it's sixty eight degrees.
If it says thirty five pounds, when the system loses
fifteen percent, okay, when it gets down to thirty one pounds,
it's going to turn on the light. By the same consequence,
if you're living Arizona and it's one hundred degrees, okay,
(33:46):
you've got to compensate for pressure and adjust accordingly because
it changes with temperature. For every ten degrees of change,
tire pressure goes up or down. So keep that in
mind as I explain to Christa, and hopefully he got
it and you did too. So that's about it till
the next time I'm running Ay and the car doctor
(34:06):
reminding all of you as I'm putting Tom Ray to
sleep good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See uh hey,
he's a car doctor. Carr advice, don't Ray
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally
recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle
owners Alife. Ron brings over forty years of hands on
experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.
Join The Conversation Live every Saturday from two to four
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(00:25):
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start your enginies. The Car Doctor is into garage and
(00:47):
ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I went and saw Matt at the liquor store this morning.
I'm going to a big celebration tonight and I want
to give the hon a re a nice bottle of scotch.
And I got him a nice bottle of scotch. And
we were told looking, and I said, how's business, Matt?
Because to be in a liquor store on the weekend
and there's nobody inside. He goes, ah, you know, wrong,
business is way off, you know. He goes, it's really
(01:10):
I haven't had a great weekend since fourth of July,
which and I looked at him and I said, is
that normal? And he goes, well, I don't know. And
the classic line right from Matt over there at ma
Wall Liquors, he said, you know, he said, you would
think in the state of the world and the state
of the economy and the state of everything else, he goes,
you're either one of two things. You're either depressed or
you're celebrating, and either way you're drinking. And I said,
(01:31):
you know, that's that's a fair point. I never kind
of thought of it that way. And he said, you know,
there's just insanity around in all of everything that we
see going on, you know. And I said, let me
tell you this story. And the story, as I related
to Matt, is this one. I had a twenty twenty
gmc denali good segue, huh. I had a twenty twenty
(01:53):
gmc denali in the shop this week and it was
an intermittent no crank. Something about this truck raised my
eyebrows right away when I first had it brought in.
This is the second time it's back in. I actually
I sort of had a comeback. It came in two
weeks ago. The customer dropped it off and he said,
(02:14):
I need a starter, And I said, how do you
know you need a starter? And he said, because watch
and he crawled under the truck. He had a hammer
in his pocket. It was the funniest thing. He had
a hammer, right, and you know and he says, Ron,
get in the truck and push on the button. I
push on the button and he hits the starter with
a hammer and the truck starts and I shut it
off and it won't start. And I say, okay, I'm
holding the button down and he hits the button with
(02:36):
he hits the hammer with a button. I'm sorry. He
hits the starter with the hammer and it starts. He says,
I want you to put a starter in the truck. Well,
but we should know. He says, I want you to
put a starter in the truck. He goes, that has
worked on every vehicle I've ever runed since the seventies.
He's an older fellaw and he said, my dad taught
me that trick and yeah, you know you kind of
can't argue that, right, you say, you know, you tap it,
(02:58):
it starts. It's a bad start, he said. I know
it's a starter because this will be the fourth starter
my truck has had. And I'm handing it up. I'm
going it's a five year old vehicle. It's a twenty
twenty gmc denali. Right, He's put this will be the
fifth starter, and I'm thinking, how is that possible? Every
(03:19):
twenty twenty five thousand miles? We put a starter in
the truck, like, it doesn't make any sense to me,
but listen, you know, it was reasonable to ask. It
was a reasonable thing to do. I put a starter
in the truck, went out and got the best brand
new and you know what new means in my world,
starter I could find, all right, just like all the
other brand new GM starters I could find. So so
(03:45):
we put a starter in the truck, started right up.
Didn't need the hammer, I said, Chris, you're good to go, baby,
all right, I said, it starts, you can leave the
hammer at home. He goes, I'll keep it in the
back seat, you never know, just in case he goes.
I'm getting used to it. This is the hammer I
bought for the truck. All right, So you know, a
couple of days goes by, three, four days goes by,
and somewhere around the fourth or fifth day, I said, oh,
(04:06):
I'm feeling brave. Let me just text Chris and say, hey,
by the way, how's the truck? And he writes me
back and he says, I think you jinxed me. He goes,
it just didn't start. I'm in my driveway at my house.
It didn't start. He said, I tried the hammer trick
and it didn't work. Oh wait, it started, he said,
(04:27):
I'll be right over. He comes over, He gets under
the truck, we shut it off. It won't start. He
taps it with a hammer. It won't start. I just
looked at him. I said, you realize we're into something different.
He goes, yeah, I get that. So you know, it's
a crazy business. How do we go from one extreme
for the next to the next. You know, we're going
(04:49):
to be on starter number six in five years and
I'm looking for what did everybody else miss? Remember? As
Matt at the liquor store said, it's an insane world. Well,
auto repair kind of epitomizes this right, it really is crazy.
So I go through the truck. I can't reproduce it
(05:10):
because that's the other problem. Right as soon as it
was the next day when I came in the next day. Now,
I can't duplicate the problem. As far as I'm concerned,
the truck's acting normal. So I, you know, due diligence,
Tell me what's absolutely what can I verify absolutely positively
as good. I tested the battery, I voltage dropped, tested
the cables. Now, when I tested the battery, I used
(05:34):
the industry standard algorithm style mathematical calculator battery load tester,
And I say battery load tester sort of tongue in
cheek because it doesn't really apply a load. It's taking
a surface charge reading with a minor of very small.
I believe they apply two aamps of a load or
some ridiculous amount of ampergs to it, and they make
a mathematical calculation whether the battery is good or bad.
(05:57):
And this battery came back one time it came back
good load charge needs recharging. The other time it came
back as good. By the way, load testing batteries and
GMC trucks is absolutely ridiculous. Because you can't get the
clamps on the cables. But that's a different conversation. We're
going to have that at some point in the future,
I don't know where. And I went through everything I
(06:18):
could go through as far as looking at inputs. I'm
looking through, you know, all the controls. There's transmission switches involved,
CM involved, body computer, there's an engine control computer involved.
There's an anti theft process because the vehicles are so
worried about people stealing it, which I'll tell you the
story about the guys that were just indicted in New
(06:39):
York City this week for stealing Hondas by cloning the
keys and rewriting the VENs and then selling them as
legitimate cars. So those anti theft percussions were taking are
really worth it, you know, nineteen sixty two Chevy, a key,
a purple wire, a battery, a starter, turn it, boom,
We're done. You know, if they want the car, folks,
they're just going to jack it up in total thing away.
(07:00):
So it came down to where I couldn't reproduce any
of this. I got out my Opus scan tool because
this was the second dilemma I had. I hooked up
my snap on my hotel, my Launch, and a couple
other scan tools I can't even think of, and they
all kind of told me gibberish. Nothing made any sense
(07:21):
because they were either inaccurate, they were missing the piece
of information I was looking for. And I went to
the standard, because OPUS is the standard, all right, And
sure enough, inside OPUS, if you go look at park
neutral switch, it's listed. However, we later found out and
talking with tech support after some research, that the park
neutral switch position is an invalid parameter inside the scan
(07:43):
tool and you don't use that the way. GM decided
to do it because technology the more technology is better technology.
When the vehicle is in park, there is a multi
sensor switch inside the transmission trans one trans to and
it shows duty cycler percentage. So if in park, trans
(08:04):
one reads twenty five percent, trans two has to read
seventy five percent in reverse. If reverse reads sixty percent
on pin one, it has to read forty percent on
pin two. It always has to total to one hundred percent.
They're using percentages played against the Hall effect style two
cents or switch inside the transmission nineteen sixty two Chevy
(08:26):
Purple Wire ignition key starter solenoid battery we're good, but
we're trying to keep the car from being stolen. We're
trying to make this as as complicated as we possibly can.
In the end, and Brian and Opus was just great.
I got to give him kudos here.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Man.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
We had a couple of less we were looking at
how ridiculous this whole thing is. And in the end
Opus gave me the information that I wanted to say.
This truck is operating as designed. It's normal. But we
had an instance where during cranking we went into a
cranking clear flood mode. I saw the battery voltage drop
(09:05):
under nine and a half vaults. It really went to
nine two, and then it stopped cranking, and I said,
but the battery is good in my mind, how can
that be? Well, long story short, I ended up pulling
the battery out, put it on the bench, and I
got out my old carbon pile tester, which is the
old school from forty years ago. They tell you not
to use it. They say it's not accurate, they say
(09:26):
it shouldn't be used on a modern day vehicle. Nobody
really gives me a good reason why. And sure enough,
standing voltage twelve point one, bring it up to one
hundred and eight am, so it's replicates the amount of
load of starter would put on it on average, and
battery voltage held at ten to two. Well, gee, that
battery is okay. I sat there and I waited a minute,
(09:47):
and I went back did the same test. Battery voltage
went to eight eight eight six eight two seven and
a half and the machine shut off. Well, I guess
that's a bad battery. So I had an intermittent battery
as an issue. Wow, now how does that relate to
when it came in tap the starter? The starter would
(10:11):
engage and crank the engine over. Remember Matt at the
liquor store today, right ron, it's an insane world where
people should be drinking. You know, maybe I know a
few mechanics that probably are capable of it. Because I'm ready,
I you know, I may have picked the wrong you know,
maybe this is the time to start. I In the end,
(10:32):
I put a battery in it because I knew that
was bad. And I also changed the starter and I'll
tell you why. Because the starter did some funny things
while I was going through testing. It made a couple
of noises I didn't like, and it just reacted differently
than I expected, and I went down and I said,
I've got to try a different brand. Now, I'm going
to tell you a secret. All right, GM starters are good.
(10:55):
I'm not one hundred percent sold because why did we
go through five and five years? I went out and
got a rebuild. I put a car Quest Advanced, right,
I put an advanced Auto parts starter in this truck,
which some people might say, Hey, that's a step down.
I disagree. Car Quest has a very very good rotating
electrical category there. They make some of the really good
(11:16):
alternators that make some really good starters. We've had very
very few problems with them. Put that car Quest that advance.
I'm sorry, that advanced Auto parts starter in that truck
with a fresh battery. It's gone five days. So this
is not on my doorstep on Monday. I'm good. And
all I can say is, yes, what's that line? It's
(11:38):
a mad mad man, mad world. Maybe we should bring
it back. That was nineteen sixty two, another year, same
as the Impala eight five five five six nine nine
zero zero. I'm running eighty in the car. Doctor, come
on back, let's talk. Let's go to Thomas in Arizona.
(12:05):
What's going on? Hey, Thomas. How are you pretty.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Good, sir?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
What's going on? What can I do for you?
Speaker 5 (12:11):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (12:11):
I've had this issue with this axle wrap thing since
twenty twelve when I bought it. Okay, you know, you
come to a stop sign and you let your foot
off the break and thump.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
It was really bad.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
It felt like somebody hit.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Me in the rear end.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well went on for a long time. So then I
went on Tacoma World. They said, this will take care
of that thumping. You get overload springs. They at our
fifteen hundred pounds, and you don't put them where they're
supposed to go behind the axle. You put them in
front of the axle. Well, lo and behold. It worked
(12:50):
for about two years. Right then the straps on them
they're real tiny, they're tin They're just to align it. Well,
they started to twist, can bend because there's a lot
of I guess pressure on there. So I took it
to Toyota. They said, tuck, you gotta live with it,
but no damage will happen. There was a bulletin or
(13:12):
something on it. Well, I've gone through leaf springs, several
of them, and the things started to sad. So this
Toyota won't do anything after market. So I went to
this other guy that did after market stuff. He put
traction bars on. He said it was that take care
of it. It did not. We even did the drive shaft,
(13:35):
new springs, leaf springs. I even put bill Stein shocks
around it. And then I even to stop the sad,
I put on airbags.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
So are you saying, hold on a second, Thomas, Are
you saying that as you apply the brake, when you
let off the break, the rear axle is physically moving
or as the brake releases, it causes the axle to
wind to like load front then back. It's like you're
you're twisting the axle. In a sense.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
It's a thump, not as bad as it was, but
it's still there and now it's coming back. So there's
times I'll raise the air bags up and down. It
goes away for a few days. When I pull a trailer,
I don't really feel it four wheel drive.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Nothing is is this a standard height? To call me?
You haven't modified anything.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Oh other than just the air bags?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
And how much higher is it with the air bags?
But the air bag solves it right now?
Speaker 4 (14:39):
It kind of plays with it. It's good for a
couple of days, then it'll come back. I raised it
because it'll They say, when you have an empty bed,
go to five pounds. Then when I put my trailer on,
I have to raise it to thirty. And it's a level.
But I tried putting eleven in and it's like it's
still there, not as much. Because you don't want to
(15:01):
put too much here, you'll be tearing stuff up. That's
what I was told.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I'm gonna tell I'm gonna tell you, Mike, I'm gonna
go with my gut on this one. Thomas. I haven't
seen this particular problem, all right, but I'm gonna tell
you the fact that I haven't heard about it doesn't
mean it doesn't exist, because it does. Obviously you're here
talking to me about it. I'm gonna I'm gonna tell
you that you're you're in an area where it doesn't
seem like anybody's got a solution. If you followed what
(15:29):
they said out on a form and it didn't work
for you, then you're into something unique. The reason I
asked about is it's standard height or not? Is do
we have an issue where the suspension height is altered
and pinion angle is incorrect in the rear the point
where the drive shaft and the rear end physically meet.
(15:51):
Now you purchased the truck used correct right? If on
the ground level height or whatever level height is is
for this vehicle, if you were to look at the
front of the rear axle, the front of the differential,
is it level? Is it pointed down? Is it pointed up?
Where is it.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
That?
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I don't know?
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Right? Did somebody change the rear because how do we
know this is a stock two thousand and three rear?
You bought the truck? Uh, ten years later, nine years later?
A lot can happen. You probably bought it with higher
mileage on it too.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
I'm guessing I bought it from a dealer, right, and uh, yeah,
it's high mileage.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Right, Well, it probably was then, you know. And then
the other question I've got is if you put it
in neutral and coast to a stop and apply the
brake and let off the brake doesn't make the noise?
Does it give you that same sensation?
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Very funny you would say that because I was going
to do that today, because.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I'm looking to see is it is it? Does it change?
When the diff is not underload or as much load,
because it almost sounds like the rear is is wound
up and then bang. It releases when you when you
change its its positions, so to speak, by stepping on
the brake and then letting off the brake. So that's
what happens, right, I want you to I want you
(17:20):
to check two things. I also want to make sure
is the frame intact. There's nothing cracked, rusted, broken, mounts
are in place. All the body mounts are where they're
supposed to be, All the body mounts are tight. I
want to cover the basics, but I also want to
know pinion angle. I want you to do some research
on that, and I want you to try the neutral
step on the brake release thing. Call me back, we'll
(17:41):
talk some more about it, and we'll keep going with it.
Eight five five five six nine nine zero zero run
an Ady and the car doctor coming back right after this.
Don't go away.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Promises streets to the open roll tonight.
Speaker 6 (18:02):
We'll give you wrong, right, he's a car doctor.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Carr advice, don't ride, thank you? Ban the band? Does
the band have a name? Tom? Is that is that
the Ken Martin band? I think so. I think it's
the Ken Martin ban. It's the Ken Martin band. He
never told me the name of the band, so the
Ken Martin Band.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Ken.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Would you sit down please, I want to tell you
real quick before we go anywhere. We had occasion this
week in the shop we were doing rear breaks on
a twenty nineteen. Well it turned out to be a
twenty twenty. That's a whole nother story for Transit two
point fifty. And it is the stupidest design in the
world because you have to take the axle outs, take
the bolts out, push the rotor forward, turn it and
(18:44):
pull it back off the hub, and it makes a
bloody mess. It's you've got rust everywhere and dirt everywhere
and contaminate everywhere. So we just got you know, you
don't think you can reinvent the mouse trap, right? CRC
they're break Clean. They have a they call it the
CRC Pro Series break Clean Holy Cow, harder spray, better spray,
(19:08):
not splashy, but just more force and it's all encompassing.
I'll tell you what. We use less brake Clean than
we normally would have just using a singular can. And
if you're if you're doing this kind of work, and
you need a solvent cleaner, something to clean away the
rust and the crud and you know everything else that
that CRC Pro Series Break Clean It's it's really good stuff.
(19:30):
Go take a look at it. You'll find it on
their website. I just wanted to mention it a little
tip from the base. Let's go to John and Connecticut.
Oh three Jetta and oh boy, I love these kind
of cars and problems. John, what's going on?
Speaker 5 (19:43):
Hey, Ron? I did an engine swap on a three
PDI first engine I didn't get to do to timing
belt and what so got a donor car with one
hundred and twenty nine thousand on it swapped engines. So
my snap on Trenton, I adjusted the ignition or ignition
(20:07):
UH injection timing out right and it shows from eighty
five degrees to I think one hundred and ten. And
by the time I got it with Inspec, I checked
my cool and temp and I was up at one
forty five. But I also looked at my intake air
attempt which showed seventy seven and yesterday.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Was yesterday was yeah, probably in.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
The stop in the fifties, Yeah, I think right.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, it sounds like something. It sounds like one of
the sensors. Let me ask you this, when you did
the swamp, what your vehicle did it come from?
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Three three three? Okay?
Speaker 5 (20:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And what sensors did you use? The ones that came
in the second engine or did you take them out
of the first.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (20:52):
The only sensors I use or whatever that were on
that engine. So the map and the master aflow that
was in the car. I still used the original to
that car. Okay, golal plugs to the donor engine. Uh,
that's the other thing I gotta check. I got to
see if I got a back goal plug because on
(21:14):
initial startup on cold, it'll it'll run rough.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
But right.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
So so this morning I threw the scanner on it.
I was checking the intou temp and it showed forty
two degrees cool and temp showed forty two. Fuel temp
showed forty two.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Was it forty two degrees in Connecticut this morning?
Speaker 5 (21:33):
Well my garage said forty seventh. So I was like
five degree.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, I would it's five degrees, but I would say
that's you know, it's pretty close. Yeah, So that's pretty close.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
And I went to the injection timing thing again and
it showed showed me being at thirty eight degrees and
the scanner said the ideal target sixty.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
So that's I guess, well, and then my and then
my second question is because what you're really saying, let
me let me, let me talk to your brother or
brother here, John, what you're really saying is your you're
questioning is the trite and accurate?
Speaker 5 (22:08):
I guess because everything I seen online, everybody's using the
Volkswagen bag thing. It shows a graph.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
The vagcom tool right is phenomenal. I bought when I
bought when when you see how it takes a little
bit of getting used to because it's it's geared more
towards a Volkswagen tech if if if you if you
can get the language and using blocks and everything to
find your data. I haven't used mine in a while,
and it's it's a boy. You can really sing with
(22:36):
that tool on volkswagons. I I questioned my triton on
Volkswagen too. For the record, all right, it's not. It's
not my favorite tool for that car line, certain things,
but not something like this. It's one of the reasons
why I have a vag coom right. The vagcom scan
(22:56):
tool because I just questioned its accuracy and the problem
you will find and scan tool manufacturers argue this with me,
is you know how many old three volkswagons are left right? Right?
How many twenty three volkswagons are on the road? A lot? More?
Speaker 3 (23:15):
So?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Do you think they gear their tools towards the newer
vehicles and you know the older stuff, well they're going away.
What difference does it make so you find yourself buying
more than a few, Yes, sir, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
I still have the old brick. Is the old brick
capable of doing the injection timing on that? Would that
be a better tool to use?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
I you know what, you won't know until you try listen,
And it's not a question of is it better you know, don't? Don't?
What's what's the you know, analysis paralysis? If you can
plug it in legitimately and look up the vehicle, right,
try it? What's the worst that happens?
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Right, as long as as long as the tool seems
like it's responding to the vehicle. The other question I've
got is you know which injectors did you use? The
ones that came in the in the door engine?
Speaker 5 (24:01):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Could we have a spray issue.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Well, let me tell you this. With the donor vehicle,
that thing would start up within like two seconds, idle
per everything.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh you ran the donor engine.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
Yeah, I bought a whole other Donor car.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Okay, got it, got it. So it's it's something in
the connection too, or the or the process of what
you're doing. So then let's let's let's get let's make
sure set up is right. How I would handle this. Listen,
I'll tell you the story this way, all right. I
had a I'm all gonna tell that to you quick.
I had a nineteen transit. Customer said, customer has two vehicles.
(24:39):
He's got a nineteen Ford Transit and a twenty Ford Transit.
You know, he had to buy one three months apart
just to drive me nuts. Okay, like, just buy two.
You need to get it over with. He tells me
he's bringing the nineteen ron. Made the mental error of
not verifying that right. So I looked up parts for nineteen.
I brought the nineteen parts in. He brought me the nineteen.
(25:01):
I'm doing real breaks wrong, brake pads. Long story short.
After three turns around, I went the dummy. I said
to myself. Is this the nineteen It wasn't it was
the twenty change four change the brake pads from nineteen
to twenty. My point is there's always a logical reason
when you sit down and think about So let's get
(25:23):
pump timing to the point where were content that it's accurate.
All right, you know it's a diesel. You know how
long did the vehicle sit while you were waiting to
do the engine? Any length of time?
Speaker 5 (25:35):
Probably about a year. But I gotta also tell you
with the original engine, at startup, it would run. It
would almost like you would turn the key off. It
was so quick, right, It would run like that for minutes.
So is it smooth out?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
So if it's a year, could we have some kind
of growth or algae in the fuel system in the tank?
Speaker 5 (25:58):
Right?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Diesels are prone to that. Go out to hot Shot Secret.
I gotta run them up against the clock. But go
out to hot Shot Secret. Go out to their website
hotshotsecret dot com. Take a look at take a look
at stiiction eliminator, and take a look at some of
the other things they have as fuel system clean up.
Depending upon your condition, where you're exactly at and see
and and you know, to try that one of those
(26:22):
and to use that stuff, to use stitional eliminer on
a regular basis. I can't tell you enough good things
about it, but to do the pump timing, get that
square away in your head, and then come back and
talk to me and we'll cover the rest of it,
all right, kiddo.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
You're very welcome, sir. You'd be well. I'm ronning Andy
and the car doctor. We're back right after this. Don't
go away. Hey, let's let's go see David Pennsylvania. David,
(26:59):
look to the car doctor. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Oh, I'm having some issues in min two? Got it?
I try to start it. It just can go on
to dash and says engine system failed or starting system failed.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
But its it cranks over right, No.
Speaker 6 (27:17):
No crank, okay, go straight to the little computer on
the dash here. And I tried reading up on a
little bit. Some people thought, yeah, maybe starter or something
like that, but I also read we're pultiably the remote
remote start. If fitch failed or shorted, it might do that.
(27:39):
I've had a remote start in since twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Well, yeah, because depending upon how let's let's talk generically,
because I don't know how yours is wired. The one
of the things I dislike about add on accessories, And
I'm saying that as a person who has add on
accessories and vehicles. Okay, so I know it's sort of
a necess are evil, all right, It's kind of like
some days you just have to stop at a McDonald's
(28:04):
and get a cheese burger. You're not sure why, but
you just you have to your body screaming for it. So,
having said that, how it's wired, the care and consideration,
all right, is it possible that when they tapped into
the wiring harness In simplest terms, if there's a feed
from the main computer that goes to the ignition switch,
(28:26):
that goes to the relay that goes to the body
computer that goes down to the starter, how they tapped
into that wiring. They usually have to break it at
some point and put the remote start module in series
in the circuit. Right, So did they do a poor
sowder job? Did they have a do we have a
bad connection? Do we have you know? So there's a
(28:48):
couple of things we have to see.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
If we were standing at the shop and we had
a scan tool on it one of the things I
would go look for. Does the does the vehicle show
me it reckgnizes park neutral And twenty twelve we were
still using a park neutral switch. Does it show that, Yes,
the trans is in park? Can I put it in reverse? Yes,
it says reverse. Does it go into neutral? Yes, it's
Oh wait, it doesn't say neutral. Why doesn't it say?
(29:12):
You know, I'm looking for inputs that type of approach, right, so,
and that's something you will not see with OBD two.
So don't look for it. You need a year make
model scanner, all right, or you need a year make
model capable scanner so that you can see you know there,
because listen, there could be four hundred and fifty PIDs
(29:32):
pieces of information for that vehicle. It's it's crazy. Some
vehicles today have eight hundred pids's and more. So you know,
these are the kind of things we look for. The
one thing I want to ask you to do, all right,
just on the chance you know where the battery junction
boxes under the hood. It's probably right on top of
(29:55):
the radiator, that long rectangular box with fuses and relays in.
Oh yeah, oh look at go find make sure you
find the right one fuse twenty seven. Okay, all right,
it's a it's a twenty am fuse. Fuse twenty seven.
All right, when you're sure you've got when you're sure
you got fuse twenty seven, pull it out, Look at it.
(30:19):
Are the contacts burnt? Are there? Are there? Are there
two black marks? Brown marks on the fuse blade?
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (30:26):
I didn't see that, now all right?
Speaker 2 (30:28):
If if oh you did you you looked at twenty seven? Okay?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Are you going to replace it with another fuse?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Okay? Okay? Because yeah, there's well and then twenty seven
fuse twenty seven. There's a bulletin fifteen dish oh one
three seven that talks about relocating fuse twenty seven to
a different part of the box because they're worried about
the electrical load on the circuit. But I don't I
don't think you have that problem. All right, But if
(30:57):
you break out a wiring diagram, you'll be able to
see should you have power at twenty seven? At what point?
And do you or don't you? And that's that's fuse
twenty seven is going to be part of this, okay,
all right, So the next step would be a wiring
diagram where am I missing power and voltage? Listen, it's
easy enough crawl under the truck. Do you have power
(31:18):
at the solenoid wire? Feeding the starter? Start as a starter,
it's an appliance right plug in, plug out. But I
think you've got to go through some of the other
things we talked about first in order to get to
a bottom, bottom end conclusion. Do those things, Dave, call
me back. I'm happy to talk to you, and we
can go a little deeper if we have to, but
that'll at least get you started. Eight five, five, five, six, seven,
(31:39):
nine nine zero zero, run an ending of the car.
Doctor coming back right after this, and we're back. Let's
see if was it abe in Pennsylvania? The generally just
(32:01):
spoke with if he's still listening regarding the F two fifty,
The other thing I thought about is, while you're at
the battery junction box under the hood, go look at
fuse number thirteen. It's a thirty amper And go look
at fuse thirty one. Is it thirty one? In my head?
Yet it's thirty one? Are either of those blown? Get
a wiring diagram and trace it out. But there are
(32:22):
three critical fuses twenty seven thirteen and thirty one in
that battery junction box that could either be burnt or blown,
and that'll give you a direction on which way to
diagnose as well. So that's just very very important. I
want to finish here, Okay, I want to leave you
with this thought. I was at the gym this week
and Krista came up to me and she was asking
about tire pressure monitoring systems because the TPMs light came
(32:45):
on in her car and she said, I don't know,
I guess the math didn't click. And what I said
to her was or TPMs light was on, but the
tires still looked okay. You can't judge a tire by
kicking the sidewall. If it's a run flat, the sidewall
is going to be rock card. So don't assume that
just because the tire still looks okay, that it's not
(33:05):
low on pressure. You have to physically check pressure. But
it's a direct relationship between the placard on the driver's
door jam and the weather as to how that TPMs
system is going to work. Assume that the placard you
open up the driver's door, there's a little sticker there.
It'll tell you front tires, rear tires. What the pressure
should be. That's a sixty eight degree day. That's the
(33:25):
rule of thumb we go by. So it's sixty eight degrees.
If it says thirty five pounds, when the system loses
fifteen percent, okay, when it gets down to thirty one pounds,
it's going to turn on the light. By the same consequence,
if you're living Arizona and it's one hundred degrees, okay,
(33:46):
you've got to compensate for pressure and adjust accordingly because
it changes with temperature. For every ten degrees of change,
tire pressure goes up or down. So keep that in
mind as I explain to Christa, and hopefully he got
it and you did too. So that's about it till
the next time I'm running Ay and the car doctor
(34:06):
reminding all of you as I'm putting Tom Ray to
sleep good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See uh hey,
he's a car doctor. Carr advice, don't Ray
Host
Ron Ananian
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