In this episode of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron steps away from the wrench for a moment and talks from the heart about a growing crisis in the auto repair world: there aren’t enough mechanics to fix tomorrow’s cars. Sparked by Ford CEO Jim Farley’s recent comment that he can’t fill 5,000 technician jobs paying $120,000 a year, Ron digs into why the trade gets so little respect, why consumers don’t see what really goes on in the service bay, and how that disconnect is hurting everyone.
Ron shares real stories from his New Jersey shop, including a 2016 Chevy Equinox owner who “pre-diagnosed” his own timing chain problem, and explains how modern cars, complicated electronics, and a lack of machine shops have pushed repair work into all-or-nothing territory. He calls out YouTube University, the graying technician workforce, and the urgent need to bring auto shop and the trades back into schools before the backlog of broken cars gets even worse.
If you care about auto repair, trade careers, or what it’s going to take to keep America moving, this is one you don’t want to miss.
- 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 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 in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And here we are yep, another week of adventures with Ron.
I keep thinking of how to make this show better,
if it's any good at all, But I think it's
more about, you know, what goes on in the shop
and the things I see in the experiences I have,
and you know, just trying to talk out to the
shop because I don't know. You know, auto repair is
(01:14):
a very misunderstood industry. It really is. And it makes
me think that does anybody see what I say? And
I'm sure shop owners do, but does the consumer? And
that's what makes it so difficult. Recent article just I
think it was this week or today even in the
New York Post. Ford CEO Jim Farley commented he can't
(01:36):
fill five thousand mechanics jobs paying one hundred and twenty
thousand dollars a year. And here's the quote you've all
been waiting for. You know what, Jim says, We're in
trouble in our country. Yeah, no kidding. Research Kathy is
writing I had written for one of the local magazines
or regional magazines g'z twenty five thirty years ago. And
(02:00):
you know, I'm writing a book. I know it's I'm
trying to get through it, but boy, it's not hard.
It's not easy. It's hard. And we're going to include
some of the articles that I wrote twenty five years ago.
And Kathy's writing these articles, and she's or reading the
articles and she says, you know, I read every one
of them. He said, First of all, you still say
the same things today. That you said twenty five thirty
years ago, and she said, all of them are true,
(02:22):
and in many cases you predicted the future. She goes,
do you realize that? And I said, yeah. And one
of the things I've been saying for a teen years
is this is an industry that gets no respect. That's
kind of like being Rodney Dangerfield that were you know,
nobody really looks at mechanics, and everybody complains mechanics or
too expensive mechanics of this or mechanics of that. The
problem is, and yeah, there's there's some bums out there,
(02:44):
but the bigger problem is everybody's got a preconceived notion
of how to fix something and how we're going to
approach this and why we're going to approach this, and
I don't think anybody realizes what order repair is. I
had a phone call this week at the shop. Gentlemen
called up, I've been listening to you on radio and
I need to get my sixteen sixteen Chevy Equinox. I
(03:07):
don't know. The phone was ringing off the wall. Three
people were standing in front of me. I could barely
give the man his due that he deserved, and I
felt bad about it. But you know his sixteen Chevy
Equinox had two variable valve timing fault codes, and one
of them he believes he fixed by putting an actuator in,
but the other one is difficult to get to. So
(03:27):
he did some sort of a diagnosis, as he put it,
and he believes it's the timing chain. When can he
make an appointment and bring it in? And you know,
my whole theory about timing change, it's an interesting conversation
to have. I think some vehicles wear out timing chains,
regardless of what you do. My experience that the Chevy
(03:49):
equinoxes seemed to be going through them, the little two
four Eco boost and the fives or the one sixes,
I think it is are going through chains because it's
usually lack of me and it's usually poor quality oil changes.
But how do you jump into that Because in Bergen County,
New Jersey, and I've said this a million times on
the air, in Bergen County, New Jersey, show me a
(04:12):
machine shop, show me an engine rebuilder. So when you
take that apart to see the timing chain and you
find slivers of metal, you can say, okay, we can
get this fix or that fix. We can get the
engine repair for that having to go get a whole
great assembly or a whole engine assembly from GM. Where
do you go with that? And yet people will say
that mechanics are judgmental, People will say mechanics are expensive,
(04:34):
People will say that mechanics don't properly diagnose. I think
part of the issue is that even when mechanics are trying,
the deck is stacked against them because of the public conception.
What Ford CEO says, what Fort CEO Jim Farley says,
when he says we're in trouble, he's not lying. There
(04:57):
are you know, there's a pile of mechanics. Get I'm
ready to retire. You look at an AS certification class
and I guarantee you three quarters of the guys in
that room have gray hair. And that's a problem. And
when I go out to YouTube, I look at the
YouTube channel and I see some of the stuff at
YouTube University. And I know some of these kids as
(05:18):
I call them, and they'll talk about how they use
the scope and they did this, and they did that
and it took them three minutes. Now, when you talk
to them in class, they'll say, yeah, that was a
three day car but I just made it look good
on the video. So even YouTube, Lise, right, you know,
as long as we're going to be honest here and
talk about this. There's a bit of fallacy with regards
to YouTube University and how accurate it is. But the
(05:39):
bottom line, and this is really the meat and potatoes
of it, is we need more mechanics and we need
to start training them. We need to start We need
to ramp up the trade schools. We need to put
autoshop back in high school. It needs to be a
four year program at least. You know, I don't know,
(06:00):
says he can't find people to take a job. At
one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year, that's a
lot of dough. That really is a lot of dough.
And you know, maybe not for every part of the country.
In Bergen County, New Jersey, you're probably broke making one
hundred and twenty a year, you know, But in other
parts of the country that's good bread, Fred, And yet
(06:23):
we can't find people to take these jobs. And it's
not just order repair. It's all the trades, electricians, carpenters, plumbers.
It's something that can't be outsourced and it's something that
can't be done by AI and it's a problem, and
it's going to continue to be a problem because you
mark my words, we don't figure this out in the
next three to six years, you're going to see an
(06:44):
even bigger backlog of getting your car fixed. You know,
order repair is interesting, right, and again talking to you
from the heart and what I see and what I suspect,
I don't think. I don't think we realize how far
behind the eight ball we are, and I don't think
you realize that. You know, as CEO Farley puts it,
(07:06):
it takes X number of weeks to teach somebody how
to take an engine in and out of a super
duty forward pickup, which I thought was kind of interesting
that he was referencing that, because that's such a big,
big problem they have right now having to do engines
in these trucks. But this is a question of placing
people in the right skill set because I think there
are mechanics out there, I really do. I think there's
(07:29):
a lot of mechanics out there, potentials want to bees
to do it yourself. Is the guys that you know,
they go to work, you know, Monday through Friday, nine
to five in that computer job or in the office job,
or you know, wearing the suit and tie, and I
wish I was a mechanic, but they can't because you know,
how do you break into this industry? It's it's you know,
(07:49):
you want to be a mechanic. So let's see, let's
say you go to trade school, trade school, any one
of them, Link in Tech or Uti or any of them.
It's it's somewhere in the magnitude of twenty five to
thirty grand for you know whatever. It is a two year,
three year program, and it's probably more all right, it's
probably more by now. Then you come out of your
(08:10):
twenty five thousand dollars program, let's baseline it there, and
you have to buy tools. Well, you know you could
buy you can buy something other than snap on or Mac.
Most of most of the texts seem to buy that stuff.
And you know, there's probably a minimum of a twenty
five thousand dollars investment in the first three years in tooling.
(08:34):
And what do you get back for it? See, that's
the problem. Ford saying one hundred and twenty thousand a year,
and that's probably you know, he doesn't say, but is
that entry level is that atex b tex, you know,
top of the line, mid level. Right, you're investing so
much money to become a mechanic. It's not like forty
years ago, all right, you had a screwdriver, a straight
(08:58):
blade of Phillips, a set of wrenches that ran from
three eighths to three quarters of an inch. Oh, maybe
he got excited. You got to use a seven eighth
inch wrench because it was the big one, right, a hammer,
a hack saw. Now today, my god, I have draws
of wrenches and draws of wrenches. You know, we have
(09:19):
to take an inventory because sometimes you forget where stuff is.
That is kind of the hilarity of it, right, Danny
was working on something the other day and he was
looking for something and he goes where we put I
don't know, I really don't know. We haven't used it
in a while. And we tend to move things around
trying to become more efficient, more organized, which confuses us
even more. And it's just kind of hilarious what you
(09:40):
come across in the shop and you know, these are
the tools you need to fix cars, but it doesn't
matter because we don't have enough mechanics anyway. I'm not
sure where we're going. I guess I'm just trying to
point out that I agree with mister Farley. And if
you go Google search CEO Jim Farley in the New
York Post, you can read the article this entirety and
(10:02):
you'll see that what he says is a little nerve unnerving,
you know, as he closes out, and he says, we
have over a million openings and critical jobs emergency services, trucking,
factory workers, plumbers, electricians, and tradesmen. And he's not wrong.
So we need to rethink our priorities and get squared away.
Eight five five five six nine nine zero zero. I'm
(10:24):
coming back right after this, and we're gonna open up
the phone line, so don't go away. I'm Ron Ananian
be right back. Hey, let's get over to Bernie in
(10:44):
Pennsylvania waiting there patiently with his forty two willies. Bernie,
this is kind of cool. What are we trying to do?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Hi?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Ron?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
You mentioned mechanics before you forgot the Baylor twine. Something
else that was in the toolbox.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Oh yeah, and that's all And that's all you needed, right.
It just it's it's so different now, it's it's and
and We're going to really have to get on our
on our game here because we're going to lose a
generation and then we're going to really not be able
to get cars fixed. So anyway, what's going on?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah, Yeah, I'm the son of a mechanic. Actually, my
dad rebuilt this forty two Willie deep totally and it's
it's been in the storage, hasn't been run in a while.
It's got the total of seventy miles on the engine,
and I want to crank it back up and do
it properly. I know I need to drain the fuel
out of it and put some fresh fuel in there.
(11:33):
We're also going to use non ethanol fuel, just not
to complicate matters, right, but but oil change is something
that I had a question about, wondering what the best
way to go with that is.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
In terms of what viscosity, brand type, all of it.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, pretty much. I think he's been a thirty weight,
high detergent guy in the past. I don't think he's
put synthetic in it. That would be my preference, but.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You probably can't find what you're looking for by conventional means,
all right, So to me, that's a hot rod, all right.
It's a pre seventy five engine. Okay, when was it rebuilt?
How long ago.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
He rebuilt it? Probably about twelve years ago, all right?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So do you know did they change the valve seats
in the head or is it standard valve seats or
to what degree and level?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I think it's probably standard.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Okay, So you know, basically, there's a company out there
called Driven Racing Oil. You may or may not like this.
I'm not sure, but we'll see. It's the stuff I
use in the hot rod, all right. They make a
great oil. If you read their website, and I believe
it's Driven Racingoil dot com, but if you google it
will come up. They'll they'll talk about the different oils
(12:55):
and what they do and how they apply to different engines.
They I believe, have a straight thirty way and they
will have the correct oil with the correct head is
in it because they know it's going into a vehicle
that does not have a catalytic converter. Because a modern
day vehicle that's got a cat on it can't use oil,
for example, with I believe sulfur in it because it'll
(13:15):
damage the cat. But they've they've got the they've got
the good stuff, all right, not cheap, but what is
But it's the right oil. Uh and and I think
that's where you're going. I think you're going to end
up with that. The other thing depending upon you know,
what sort of sludge do you have in this do
you have any How long has it been sitting? How
long has it been sitting, Ernie? Did you say it's.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Been sitting for a few years. It's been driven a
little bit, But I don't think there's any sludge. It
looks like it's really right. It's clean, pretty crystal clean. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So one of the one of the things I like
in vehicles that sit a lot. And on suspicion, it's yeah,
you know, I take the oil fill cap or if
I pull the valve cover off, what does it look like?
But I can't see in the crevices. I like stitching.
I like stiiction eliminator from Hotshot Secret, all right, I
think that's I think that's one of the better crank
case cleaner type chemicals out there. It's not really a chemical,
(14:09):
it's an additive in the marketplace, and you can go
out to their website Hotshotsecret dot com and read all
about it. So I like it. Plus it's a really
cool green color, which I really like to it's just
kind of neat to look at. What else are we
going to do to this? We got to go through
drive line fluids, right, yeah, yeah, for sure, six vault,
twelve vault, twenty four vault because all three flavors came
(14:31):
in that generation of vehicle, which is yeah, it's a
six volt okay, so you know, obviously this is a generator.
There's probably greasable fittings in the generator at the end
for the bearings if I remember, right, So we want
to make sure those are taken care of. We want
to go through the front suspension, you know, I would.
I would get out as much of the old break
(14:52):
fluid as I could, if there's any in it, and
refill the system and then flush it clean doing you know,
doing it manually. I like to do, just to recap
it real quick. I like to do. Get a big
plastic cup, good sized plastic cup, like you know, go
to your favorite fast food quench quench your McDonald's cheeseburger craving,
(15:13):
right and and and stop by, get a burger and
some fries, and get a big giant gulp whatever the
heck it is in a plastic cup and use that
rubber breakose pig pigtail, curly q it into the cup.
Bind your clip at the top to hold the rubber
hose in place about I don't know, fourteen eighteen inches
of rubber hose. Put the cup on the ground. Open
the bleeder pump to your heart's content. When you push
(15:35):
all the dirty fluid out, keep filling the master. Now
go around. Now go around the vehicle and manually bleed
and purge and flush the system. In that method, I
think Dot three is probably fine. You know, I don't.
I don't know that you need Dot four. I don't
know that you need to complicate it ever so much.
I don't. You're probably not going to drive the vehicle
(15:56):
all that much anyway. You know, I would not use silicone,
and that has some issues too. I'm not a big
huge fan. But bottom line, just get out all the
old fluid. Fill it with fresh You know. The thing
I like about bleeding breaks that way is you're working
the hydraulics right You're you're you're pushing the master, you're
moving the wheel cylinders. You're getting everything to open up
(16:18):
and spread, and you'll get a great pedal if you
bleed and flush it correctly. So you know, those are
the kind of things we're talking about. Obviously, it didn't
sit outside. It was stored inside. Yes, okay, so you know,
on the chance, you know, where are we in Pennsylvania?
Is there any animal intrusion? We want to look around
make sure nothing got nibbled on. Obviously, a fresh battery,
(16:40):
I mean, that's a no brainer. You know, if we're
going to drive it in the rain. I don't know
what the hard top is like. But if you can
find and get a pair of wiper blades on it.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, it's got a manual wiper.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
You do it by hand, right, yeah, right, I'm not
thinking you know, but yeah, but just make sure there's
a wiper on there that works. And obviously go through
the lights and all the rest of the stuff. And
there you know, coolant is there still coolant in it?
Is the radiator film?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah? If I put some some fresh uh I think
prestone in there.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Right, you know, you could you know, do some sort
of a chemical flush or a mild chemical flush, and
then you know, open up the pet cock, let it run,
add coolant, open up the pet cock. Let it run
and bleed it out unless you are lucky enough to
have access to a coolant exchange machine. Right, you know,
that's that's another way to go at it. But coolant's
(17:36):
going to be the last thing on the list, and
I'd probably do coolant again in five thousand miles or
two years, whichever comes first, because of the acidity issue
that could come up. So that's the way we're going
to go about it. My friend, you let us know
if you need more. I'm running any in the car doctor.
We're back right after this from the city streets to
(17:57):
the open road. And if you ride and needs here rown,
we'll keep you rolling.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
He's a car doctor, doctor car and bast right.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Well, I think that was the Ken Martin band went again.
That was mister Martin himself. I like his tone. I
like these uh. I like these songs that we're getting
out there, mister.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
They've been practicing on some new songs for you.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, I understand that, and we're gonna get those out
on here wee else. We're going to put those into
the podcast so people have that to look forward to
as well. But yeah, look at that, we have our
own band. By the way, I do have one complaint
though they eat a lot. I mean I went into
the I went into the green room after the show
last week. You know, there's seven guys in that band.
They went through fourteen pizzas, three hero sandwiches, a round
(18:47):
of muscles, and a plate of pasta. I mean a
bowl of pasta.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Haley, a lot of energy to support the car doctor.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Oh come on, Dash, I'm just saying, oh yeah, but
you're missing the point. I want to stop doing the show.
I want to be in with them. I want to
be in there with them meeting. You know, they had
they had they had a pineapple pizza, which I usually
think it was illegal to put pineapple on pizza until
you have a slice, and pineapple pizza is actually one
(19:17):
of the best. But yeah, my.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Son says that he likes that, and I've never tried it.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, you gotta try it. Come on, we'll tell you what.
Get into the green room next week, and you know,
get yourself a slice before the band eats it up.
So and then I.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Tried to, but I don't have a musical instrument to
bring in, so they won't they won't allow me get
through the door.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Well, if you have enough pizza. You will. Let's go
over to Carl and Louisiana. Carl, how are you, sir?
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Oh well, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Very welcome.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
What can I do for you guys out of the
New Jersey area, Yes, sir, that's what I thought. I'm
I apologize for calling so late, and I had difficulty
with my phone. I was trying to understand what ways
to test the functionality of a catalytic converter. I've heard
a couple of different story The things I've done is
(20:07):
I have a good scan tool. It shows me the
incoming and the outcoming temperature based on what the ECM
is telling me. I've heard other people talking about like, well,
let's put this way. I don't know if it's a
good mechanic or not. That's something he's like, Oh man,
it smells like sulfur coming out of your exhaust. Your
cat's gone. So I'm looking at the data and the
temperature upstream and downstream are accurate, and I'm trying to
(20:33):
understand how can I determine if a cat is good
or bad?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Do we have a is this a problem vehicle? Do
you have a check engine light in a fault code
or this is just general knowledge, general knowledge.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
What kind of car, Well, it's a twenty thirteen f
one fifty eco boost.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
All right, So let's talk about catalytic converters and general
catalytic right, temperature related. It requires temperature to do what
to take carbon monociga to t right carbon monoxide into
into carbon dioxide and oxygen. Right, we're trying to break
(21:16):
down the molecules, so you know, and then and then
we get ht O and H two oh and some
of these we get water. But it takes heat. So
we're either going to do an oxygen storage capacity test
and look and see how much oxygen can it hold,
or we're gonna look at We're gonna look at oxygen
(21:37):
sensor cross counts. Let's talk about storage capacity. I think
it's a simpler one for everyone to understand.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I do the same thing, and I look at the
O two inlet and outlet of it, and I monitor
the middle of old signal, and they seem to be
corresponding accurately. And that's why I was saying I shouldn't say.
I'm asking you if the inlet temperature versus the outlet
temperature is a difference that you should pay attention to
(22:04):
with catalytic converter failing, I don't.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I don't simply because I find I do the oxygen
storage capacity test, I'll graph it out with a scan tool,
and I find that to be more accurate. But now
let me say this, that's my part of the country,
all right. I believe that test to be accurate at
the national level. But I always tell everybody different areas
of the country have different consequences. The way they blend
(22:31):
your fool, the way they blend fuel for you in Louisiana,
I guarantee you, is different than the way they blend
fuel for me in New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
And certainly I'll ask you a question and you elaborate
on what you mean by oxygen storage.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Okay, So think of somebody sitting at the counter eating
a sandwich. You ever go have a You ever go
have a Hero sandwich?
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yes, okay, So a twelve a one foot Hero twelve
inches of sandwich. You get down to about inch number
nine and you can't eat no more in your burp, right,
And oxygen and a catalytic converter is sort of the
same way. A catalytic converter swallows everything and it stores everything,
and then it gets to a point where it's reached
(23:17):
its capacity. All right, it's stored as much much oxygen
as it possibly can, and then it burps and it
releases it. And that's the moment when we will see
a difference between the front OH two sensor the back
O two sensor in the length of time it takes
to make that change. So we'll see we'll see that
downstream oh two change. We'll see all of a sudden
(23:40):
that downstream O two instead of being high, it will
drop lean.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Okay, all right, let me ask you this. If you
and I can monitor upstreaming downstream oh two, how long?
How long until it takes you to eat that hero sandwich?
You can see it?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Well, what kind of car? What kind of car are
we talking about? See that's like I said, yeah, but
that's but that's my point, right, so you know, let
me let me say it like this. It's usually no,
it's usually no. It's not like that. It's a percentage factor.
A catalytic converter is considered and we're talking general terms.
(24:16):
A catalytic converter is considered efficient when it meets the
criteria of storage capacity seventy percent of the time. It's
a matter of math. Is there is a mathematical formula
that we could probably look up somewhere. I have it
in my notes where it talks about the difference between
the front row two, the rear row two, the length
(24:36):
of time, divide it all out and it has to
be at seventy percent efficiency. Matter of fact, I know
where the formula is at the shop. Right.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
If it falls, I've done I've done bad things then,
because there's people that have had pout catalytic converters that
have helped friends of mine, It's like, oh, actually, we're
just going to you know, break that loose like your
engine breathe. They don't have to worry about emissions criteria.
Down here I'm trying to avoid is having you know,
back pressure and you know blown out seals and things
(25:06):
like that in my own vehicle. And you know, yeah,
I could just open it up from the manifold and
not worry about it. Because well, but.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
If you're if you're if you're worried about if you're
worried about that first question I asked, or do you
have a fault code? Do you have a P zero
four twenty or a P zero four thirty. Oh, okay,
if you if you go and look in ob under
ob D, if you look at pending, do you have
any fault codes? No?
Speaker 4 (25:30):
No?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Right? Have you have you? Do you understand mode six
testing inside of a scan tool? Uh?
Speaker 4 (25:37):
I don't know what mode six is, but I've done
the OEM testing the right delves a little further.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Well, my point is if you go look at mode six.
Mode six is the testing done inside of a scan
tool of Visa v ob D two technology, and it
is the actual behind the scenes testing that the computer
will put the vehicle through. To determine is the cat
a pass or a fail? You can go look at
mode six and determine way before it sets a pending fault,
(26:07):
whether or not that cat has a problem replacing a cat.
Wait a minute, a minute, Wait a minute, Wait a minute,
Wait a minute, Wait a minute, Carl, But before we
condemn catalytic converters based on smell, it's likely something else
is causing that cat to smell, either the quality of
the fuel, the maintenance being done to it or not
(26:30):
being done to it, the quality of the ignition system.
How good is the spark right? How warn are the plugs?
I mean all that stuff comes into effect. So you know,
a good running, well balanced system your truck, all right,
I mean you're living proof of it. Okay, you've got
a good running truck that's twelve years old for all
(26:52):
intensive purposes. Right. You can graph and record your cat temperatures,
you can look at fuel trims, you can do an
oxygen sensor storage capacity. That's known good. All right. You
can look at that every month from now for the
next two years. When you see that start to degrade,
you know what known good is, right, you know what works.
(27:13):
You haven't set a code yet, because nothing is more
critical than the judgment of the computer, right, agreed.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Well perhaps, I mean it depends on the sensor, but
you've definitely validated what I'm trying to look at. And
earlier I was listening to you talking about the future mechanics,
and I do want to say there are future mechanics,
except we don't have them in America because we don't
have small enough Chinese child hands to work on.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
That's all I Carl, you be well, you have a
great rest of the weekend, and we'll talk to you again.
I'm running any in the car, doctor Rebecca. Right after this,
(28:02):
another hour kind of flying by here on the car, doctor,
and we'll almost at a time, but before we run
out of time, I think mister Ray wants to contribute
to the conversation, right, Tommy, you'll make a comment about
mister Farley, their CEO, Ford and the technician shortage.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yeah, I mean I had a conversation this morning. He's
a friend of mine posted online. Granted, this was a
fictional story about a guy who showed up at a
school functioned kind of like a career day, and he
was a mechanic and with grease under his fingernails. And
everybody was looking down their nose at the guy just
because you know, you had a computer programmer, you had
(28:39):
a doctor, you had this. And he got up there
and he spoke and he says, you know, he says,
if I don't maintain the trucks, you don't have anything
to buy. You don't have any food, right, you don't
have any close through there And with my friend, I
used my daughter as an example. Now, she's a doctor. Okay,
she's highly educated. She's a doctor. She takes care of
(28:59):
anim Her boyfriend is a school system custodian. And people
look at me when I say that, and go, what
do you mean he's a custodian. He's a first of all,
he's a great guy, and he treats her like a queen.
But he gets up every morning, he goes to work.
He works hard, he's smart, he can fix just about anything.
(29:22):
I mean, what's not to like about the guy? Seriously,
why do we look down our nose at these people?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Well?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I think, you know, is it because people work with
their hands, but you know, or is it that society
has made it too easy for people that, oh, we
don't need a car, we can uber, But the uber
is still a car. I don't need to buy a car.
I can uber or take a taxi, but that's still
a vehicle. It's still a method of transportation. And I
think about that, Tom, and I think that's you know,
(29:48):
that's all valid comments and questions. You know, I grew
up in a time where I could never afford a car.
I literally made one car out of three, all right,
and that was my first car. I just kind of
cobbled a car together, and I kept those cars around
as long as I had to, or until mom realized
that I really had all those cars, and she said,
something's got to go, it's either you or the cars,
(30:09):
and I went, all right, needless say, I got rid
of the cars. But you know, I'm not sure. I think.
I think the mistakes people make is they have preconceived
notions now about what it takes to repair a car.
Because my father taught me this, and no disrespect, but
if your father's in the ground more than a year,
(30:30):
chances are what he knew isn't applicable to today's modern automobile.
You know, somewhere in this weekend show, I talked about
the twenty twenty gmc Denali that has three computers, four switches,
five relays of computer. I mean, it's just it's an
endless list just to make the starter go. In nineteen
sixty two, I also mentioned that there were three components,
(30:52):
a key of purple wire, a battery, and a starter.
And you know, the technology is just so different. And
originally I used to really believe that we are on
the quest of trying to eliminate emissions. Yeah, I get it,
we're trying to cut down on emissions. We're trying to
make vehicles less able to be stolen. But as they
posted in New York City today, those eight guys are
(31:14):
indicted for stealing Honda's by figuring out the cars they wanted,
cloning the keys, changing the vin bringing it in for
a service that validates the vehicle is theirs, and then
they would sell it. So if they want it, they're
going to figure out how to get it, they're going
to take the car. Bottom line, we've taken technology to
a point. You know, read an oe Original Equipment Manufacturer
(31:38):
Service manual. How many times does it say replace with
known good part as part of the diagnostic tree. You know,
I want to know where all these known good parts
are coming from, because, as far as I'm concerned, the
part's not known to be good until we actually try it,
put it in a vehicle in a last longer than
two weeks. And who's got this endless supply of parts?
(31:58):
Wake up? We've taken technology way too far, and we're
asking too much of it because we can't even deal
with it. The OEZ can't deal with it, and they've
designed it. How do you think the rest of the
world is gonna do? No wonder nobody wants a car.
They're too damn complicated. Eight five five five six nine
nine zero zero. That's my commentary for today, I'm running
(32:19):
any in the car, doctor, I'll be right back. Wrong button.
You know it's it's I'm tired. It's it's been like
a long week. The light switch doesn't turn on. The microphone, Tom.
(32:40):
You know this is this is like we uh, I'm sorry,
you up. We can't take you out. I'll tell you what.
You can't take me out. But you know this is
like my daughter and I went when close shopping about
three weeks ago. True story, Okay, and we're tired. We've
been in the mall about six hours. We're close shopping,
getting ready for the holidays. And I find this green
shirt and I guess there's in order to repair analogy
(33:01):
here about you have to look first and be sure
of what you're looking at. And she says, you're gonna
try it on. I said, I'm tired. I don't want
to try it on. And I said, I'm gonna hold it.
I hold it up to my shoulders and I go
and I look in the mirror and I go, look
it fits, it fits well. Look how it looks. And
she looks and she goes, you're right, it does fit well.
She goes, something doesn't look right, though we both realized
we're looking at a mannequin wearing the same shirt. We're
both so tired we couldn't tell that. You know, it
(33:23):
wasn't me so needless to say, right, be sure of
what you're looking at because it's it can be felt
like a dummy. I felt like a dummy. Listen. I
felt like a dummy a lot this week. It was.
It was a pretty tough week in the shop. And
I know I say that a lot in mechanics, say
that a lot, but it it was interesting. The physicality
(33:44):
of the shop is expected. The mentality and how much
you have to think all the time. You're always training
your brain to do more and more and more, and
you're required that, you know. I think that. In closing,
it's one of the things I like about doing CrossFit.
People say why do you CrossFit at your age? I
like doing CrossFit because it's the mental challenge as well
(34:06):
as the physical challenge, and it's always making me think.
So to my peeps out there at CrossFit, thanks for
putting up with me. I'm running eighty in the car,
doctor boy, oh boy. Till the next time. I'm reminding
you good mechanics aren't expensive. They're priceless. See y Hey car.
Doctor Carr advice to write
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 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 in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And here we are yep, another week of adventures with Ron.
I keep thinking of how to make this show better,
if it's any good at all, But I think it's
more about, you know, what goes on in the shop
and the things I see in the experiences I have,
and you know, just trying to talk out to the
shop because I don't know. You know, auto repair is
(01:14):
a very misunderstood industry. It really is. And it makes
me think that does anybody see what I say? And
I'm sure shop owners do, but does the consumer? And
that's what makes it so difficult. Recent article just I
think it was this week or today even in the
New York Post. Ford CEO Jim Farley commented he can't
(01:36):
fill five thousand mechanics jobs paying one hundred and twenty
thousand dollars a year. And here's the quote you've all
been waiting for. You know what, Jim says, We're in
trouble in our country. Yeah, no kidding. Research Kathy is
writing I had written for one of the local magazines
or regional magazines g'z twenty five thirty years ago. And
(02:00):
you know, I'm writing a book. I know it's I'm
trying to get through it, but boy, it's not hard.
It's not easy. It's hard. And we're going to include
some of the articles that I wrote twenty five years ago.
And Kathy's writing these articles, and she's or reading the
articles and she says, you know, I read every one
of them. He said, First of all, you still say
the same things today. That you said twenty five thirty
years ago, and she said, all of them are true,
(02:22):
and in many cases you predicted the future. She goes,
do you realize that? And I said, yeah. And one
of the things I've been saying for a teen years
is this is an industry that gets no respect. That's
kind of like being Rodney Dangerfield that were you know,
nobody really looks at mechanics, and everybody complains mechanics or
too expensive mechanics of this or mechanics of that. The
problem is, and yeah, there's there's some bums out there,
(02:44):
but the bigger problem is everybody's got a preconceived notion
of how to fix something and how we're going to
approach this and why we're going to approach this, and
I don't think anybody realizes what order repair is. I
had a phone call this week at the shop. Gentlemen
called up, I've been listening to you on radio and
I need to get my sixteen sixteen Chevy Equinox. I
(03:07):
don't know. The phone was ringing off the wall. Three
people were standing in front of me. I could barely
give the man his due that he deserved, and I
felt bad about it. But you know his sixteen Chevy
Equinox had two variable valve timing fault codes, and one
of them he believes he fixed by putting an actuator in,
but the other one is difficult to get to. So
(03:27):
he did some sort of a diagnosis, as he put it,
and he believes it's the timing chain. When can he
make an appointment and bring it in? And you know,
my whole theory about timing change, it's an interesting conversation
to have. I think some vehicles wear out timing chains,
regardless of what you do. My experience that the Chevy
(03:49):
equinoxes seemed to be going through them, the little two
four Eco boost and the fives or the one sixes,
I think it is are going through chains because it's
usually lack of me and it's usually poor quality oil changes.
But how do you jump into that Because in Bergen County,
New Jersey, and I've said this a million times on
the air, in Bergen County, New Jersey, show me a
(04:12):
machine shop, show me an engine rebuilder. So when you
take that apart to see the timing chain and you
find slivers of metal, you can say, okay, we can
get this fix or that fix. We can get the
engine repair for that having to go get a whole
great assembly or a whole engine assembly from GM. Where
do you go with that? And yet people will say
that mechanics are judgmental, People will say mechanics are expensive,
(04:34):
People will say that mechanics don't properly diagnose. I think
part of the issue is that even when mechanics are trying,
the deck is stacked against them because of the public conception.
What Ford CEO says, what Fort CEO Jim Farley says,
when he says we're in trouble, he's not lying. There
(04:57):
are you know, there's a pile of mechanics. Get I'm
ready to retire. You look at an AS certification class
and I guarantee you three quarters of the guys in
that room have gray hair. And that's a problem. And
when I go out to YouTube, I look at the
YouTube channel and I see some of the stuff at
YouTube University. And I know some of these kids as
(05:18):
I call them, and they'll talk about how they use
the scope and they did this, and they did that
and it took them three minutes. Now, when you talk
to them in class, they'll say, yeah, that was a
three day car but I just made it look good
on the video. So even YouTube, Lise, right, you know,
as long as we're going to be honest here and
talk about this. There's a bit of fallacy with regards
to YouTube University and how accurate it is. But the
(05:39):
bottom line, and this is really the meat and potatoes
of it, is we need more mechanics and we need
to start training them. We need to start We need
to ramp up the trade schools. We need to put
autoshop back in high school. It needs to be a
four year program at least. You know, I don't know,
(06:00):
says he can't find people to take a job. At
one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year, that's a
lot of dough. That really is a lot of dough.
And you know, maybe not for every part of the country.
In Bergen County, New Jersey, you're probably broke making one
hundred and twenty a year, you know, But in other
parts of the country that's good bread, Fred, And yet
(06:23):
we can't find people to take these jobs. And it's
not just order repair. It's all the trades, electricians, carpenters, plumbers.
It's something that can't be outsourced and it's something that
can't be done by AI and it's a problem, and
it's going to continue to be a problem because you
mark my words, we don't figure this out in the
next three to six years, you're going to see an
(06:44):
even bigger backlog of getting your car fixed. You know,
order repair is interesting, right, and again talking to you
from the heart and what I see and what I suspect,
I don't think. I don't think we realize how far
behind the eight ball we are, and I don't think
you realize that. You know, as CEO Farley puts it,
(07:06):
it takes X number of weeks to teach somebody how
to take an engine in and out of a super
duty forward pickup, which I thought was kind of interesting
that he was referencing that, because that's such a big,
big problem they have right now having to do engines
in these trucks. But this is a question of placing
people in the right skill set because I think there
are mechanics out there, I really do. I think there's
(07:29):
a lot of mechanics out there, potentials want to bees
to do it yourself. Is the guys that you know,
they go to work, you know, Monday through Friday, nine
to five in that computer job or in the office job,
or you know, wearing the suit and tie, and I
wish I was a mechanic, but they can't because you know,
how do you break into this industry? It's it's you know,
(07:49):
you want to be a mechanic. So let's see, let's
say you go to trade school, trade school, any one
of them, Link in Tech or Uti or any of them.
It's it's somewhere in the magnitude of twenty five to
thirty grand for you know whatever. It is a two year,
three year program, and it's probably more all right, it's
probably more by now. Then you come out of your
(08:10):
twenty five thousand dollars program, let's baseline it there, and
you have to buy tools. Well, you know you could
buy you can buy something other than snap on or Mac.
Most of most of the texts seem to buy that stuff.
And you know, there's probably a minimum of a twenty
five thousand dollars investment in the first three years in tooling.
(08:34):
And what do you get back for it? See, that's
the problem. Ford saying one hundred and twenty thousand a year,
and that's probably you know, he doesn't say, but is
that entry level is that atex b tex, you know,
top of the line, mid level. Right, you're investing so
much money to become a mechanic. It's not like forty
years ago, all right, you had a screwdriver, a straight
(08:58):
blade of Phillips, a set of wrenches that ran from
three eighths to three quarters of an inch. Oh, maybe
he got excited. You got to use a seven eighth
inch wrench because it was the big one, right, a hammer,
a hack saw. Now today, my god, I have draws
of wrenches and draws of wrenches. You know, we have
(09:19):
to take an inventory because sometimes you forget where stuff is.
That is kind of the hilarity of it, right, Danny
was working on something the other day and he was
looking for something and he goes where we put I
don't know, I really don't know. We haven't used it
in a while. And we tend to move things around
trying to become more efficient, more organized, which confuses us
even more. And it's just kind of hilarious what you
(09:40):
come across in the shop and you know, these are
the tools you need to fix cars, but it doesn't
matter because we don't have enough mechanics anyway. I'm not
sure where we're going. I guess I'm just trying to
point out that I agree with mister Farley. And if
you go Google search CEO Jim Farley in the New
York Post, you can read the article this entirety and
(10:02):
you'll see that what he says is a little nerve unnerving,
you know, as he closes out, and he says, we
have over a million openings and critical jobs emergency services, trucking,
factory workers, plumbers, electricians, and tradesmen. And he's not wrong.
So we need to rethink our priorities and get squared away.
Eight five five five six nine nine zero zero. I'm
(10:24):
coming back right after this, and we're gonna open up
the phone line, so don't go away. I'm Ron Ananian
be right back. Hey, let's get over to Bernie in
(10:44):
Pennsylvania waiting there patiently with his forty two willies. Bernie,
this is kind of cool. What are we trying to do?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Hi?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Ron?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
You mentioned mechanics before you forgot the Baylor twine. Something
else that was in the toolbox.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Oh yeah, and that's all And that's all you needed, right.
It just it's it's so different now, it's it's and
and We're going to really have to get on our
on our game here because we're going to lose a
generation and then we're going to really not be able
to get cars fixed. So anyway, what's going on?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Yeah, Yeah, I'm the son of a mechanic. Actually, my
dad rebuilt this forty two Willie deep totally and it's
it's been in the storage, hasn't been run in a while.
It's got the total of seventy miles on the engine,
and I want to crank it back up and do
it properly. I know I need to drain the fuel
out of it and put some fresh fuel in there.
(11:33):
We're also going to use non ethanol fuel, just not
to complicate matters, right, but but oil change is something
that I had a question about, wondering what the best
way to go with that is.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
In terms of what viscosity, brand type, all of it.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Yeah, pretty much. I think he's been a thirty weight,
high detergent guy in the past. I don't think he's
put synthetic in it. That would be my preference, but.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You probably can't find what you're looking for by conventional means,
all right, So to me, that's a hot rod, all right.
It's a pre seventy five engine. Okay, when was it rebuilt?
How long ago.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
He rebuilt it? Probably about twelve years ago, all right?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So do you know did they change the valve seats
in the head or is it standard valve seats or
to what degree and level?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I think it's probably standard.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Okay, So you know, basically, there's a company out there
called Driven Racing Oil. You may or may not like this.
I'm not sure, but we'll see. It's the stuff I
use in the hot rod, all right. They make a
great oil. If you read their website, and I believe
it's Driven Racingoil dot com, but if you google it
will come up. They'll they'll talk about the different oils
(12:55):
and what they do and how they apply to different engines.
They I believe, have a straight thirty way and they
will have the correct oil with the correct head is
in it because they know it's going into a vehicle
that does not have a catalytic converter. Because a modern
day vehicle that's got a cat on it can't use oil,
for example, with I believe sulfur in it because it'll
(13:15):
damage the cat. But they've they've got the they've got
the good stuff, all right, not cheap, but what is
But it's the right oil. Uh and and I think
that's where you're going. I think you're going to end
up with that. The other thing depending upon you know,
what sort of sludge do you have in this do
you have any How long has it been sitting? How
long has it been sitting, Ernie? Did you say it's.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Been sitting for a few years. It's been driven a
little bit, But I don't think there's any sludge. It
looks like it's really right. It's clean, pretty crystal clean. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
So one of the one of the things I like
in vehicles that sit a lot. And on suspicion, it's yeah,
you know, I take the oil fill cap or if
I pull the valve cover off, what does it look like?
But I can't see in the crevices. I like stitching.
I like stiiction eliminator from Hotshot Secret, all right, I
think that's I think that's one of the better crank
case cleaner type chemicals out there. It's not really a chemical,
(14:09):
it's an additive in the marketplace, and you can go
out to their website Hotshotsecret dot com and read all
about it. So I like it. Plus it's a really
cool green color, which I really like to it's just
kind of neat to look at. What else are we
going to do to this? We got to go through
drive line fluids, right, yeah, yeah, for sure, six vault,
twelve vault, twenty four vault because all three flavors came
(14:31):
in that generation of vehicle, which is yeah, it's a
six volt okay, so you know, obviously this is a generator.
There's probably greasable fittings in the generator at the end
for the bearings if I remember, right, So we want
to make sure those are taken care of. We want
to go through the front suspension, you know, I would.
I would get out as much of the old break
(14:52):
fluid as I could, if there's any in it, and
refill the system and then flush it clean doing you know,
doing it manually. I like to do, just to recap
it real quick. I like to do. Get a big
plastic cup, good sized plastic cup, like you know, go
to your favorite fast food quench quench your McDonald's cheeseburger craving,
(15:13):
right and and and stop by, get a burger and
some fries, and get a big giant gulp whatever the
heck it is in a plastic cup and use that
rubber breakose pig pigtail, curly q it into the cup.
Bind your clip at the top to hold the rubber
hose in place about I don't know, fourteen eighteen inches
of rubber hose. Put the cup on the ground. Open
the bleeder pump to your heart's content. When you push
(15:35):
all the dirty fluid out, keep filling the master. Now
go around. Now go around the vehicle and manually bleed
and purge and flush the system. In that method, I
think Dot three is probably fine. You know, I don't.
I don't know that you need Dot four. I don't
know that you need to complicate it ever so much.
I don't. You're probably not going to drive the vehicle
(15:56):
all that much anyway. You know, I would not use silicone,
and that has some issues too. I'm not a big
huge fan. But bottom line, just get out all the
old fluid. Fill it with fresh You know. The thing
I like about bleeding breaks that way is you're working
the hydraulics right You're you're you're pushing the master, you're
moving the wheel cylinders. You're getting everything to open up
(16:18):
and spread, and you'll get a great pedal if you
bleed and flush it correctly. So you know, those are
the kind of things we're talking about. Obviously, it didn't
sit outside. It was stored inside. Yes, okay, so you know,
on the chance, you know, where are we in Pennsylvania?
Is there any animal intrusion? We want to look around
make sure nothing got nibbled on. Obviously, a fresh battery,
(16:40):
I mean, that's a no brainer. You know, if we're
going to drive it in the rain. I don't know
what the hard top is like. But if you can
find and get a pair of wiper blades on it.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, it's got a manual wiper.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
You do it by hand, right, yeah, right, I'm not
thinking you know, but yeah, but just make sure there's
a wiper on there that works. And obviously go through
the lights and all the rest of the stuff. And
there you know, coolant is there still coolant in it?
Is the radiator film?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah? If I put some some fresh uh I think
prestone in there.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Right, you know, you could you know, do some sort
of a chemical flush or a mild chemical flush, and
then you know, open up the pet cock, let it run,
add coolant, open up the pet cock. Let it run
and bleed it out unless you are lucky enough to
have access to a coolant exchange machine. Right, you know,
that's that's another way to go at it. But coolant's
(17:36):
going to be the last thing on the list, and
I'd probably do coolant again in five thousand miles or
two years, whichever comes first, because of the acidity issue
that could come up. So that's the way we're going
to go about it. My friend, you let us know
if you need more. I'm running any in the car doctor.
We're back right after this from the city streets to
(17:57):
the open road. And if you ride and needs here rown,
we'll keep you rolling.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Right.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
He's a car doctor, doctor car and bast right.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Well, I think that was the Ken Martin band went again.
That was mister Martin himself. I like his tone. I
like these uh. I like these songs that we're getting
out there, mister.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
They've been practicing on some new songs for you.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, I understand that, and we're gonna get those out
on here wee else. We're going to put those into
the podcast so people have that to look forward to
as well. But yeah, look at that, we have our
own band. By the way, I do have one complaint
though they eat a lot. I mean I went into
the I went into the green room after the show
last week. You know, there's seven guys in that band.
They went through fourteen pizzas, three hero sandwiches, a round
(18:47):
of muscles, and a plate of pasta. I mean a
bowl of pasta.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Haley, a lot of energy to support the car doctor.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Oh come on, Dash, I'm just saying, oh yeah, but
you're missing the point. I want to stop doing the show.
I want to be in with them. I want to
be in there with them meeting. You know, they had
they had they had a pineapple pizza, which I usually
think it was illegal to put pineapple on pizza until
you have a slice, and pineapple pizza is actually one
(19:17):
of the best. But yeah, my.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Son says that he likes that, and I've never tried it.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, you gotta try it. Come on, we'll tell you what.
Get into the green room next week, and you know,
get yourself a slice before the band eats it up.
So and then I.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Tried to, but I don't have a musical instrument to
bring in, so they won't they won't allow me get
through the door.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Well, if you have enough pizza. You will. Let's go
over to Carl and Louisiana. Carl, how are you, sir?
Speaker 4 (19:44):
Oh well, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Very welcome.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
What can I do for you guys out of the
New Jersey area, Yes, sir, that's what I thought. I'm
I apologize for calling so late, and I had difficulty
with my phone. I was trying to understand what ways
to test the functionality of a catalytic converter. I've heard
a couple of different story The things I've done is
(20:07):
I have a good scan tool. It shows me the
incoming and the outcoming temperature based on what the ECM
is telling me. I've heard other people talking about like, well,
let's put this way. I don't know if it's a
good mechanic or not. That's something he's like, Oh man,
it smells like sulfur coming out of your exhaust. Your
cat's gone. So I'm looking at the data and the
temperature upstream and downstream are accurate, and I'm trying to
(20:33):
understand how can I determine if a cat is good
or bad?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Do we have a is this a problem vehicle? Do
you have a check engine light in a fault code
or this is just general knowledge, general knowledge.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
What kind of car, Well, it's a twenty thirteen f
one fifty eco boost.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
All right, So let's talk about catalytic converters and general
catalytic right, temperature related. It requires temperature to do what
to take carbon monociga to t right carbon monoxide into
into carbon dioxide and oxygen. Right, we're trying to break
(21:16):
down the molecules, so you know, and then and then
we get ht O and H two oh and some
of these we get water. But it takes heat. So
we're either going to do an oxygen storage capacity test
and look and see how much oxygen can it hold,
or we're gonna look at We're gonna look at oxygen
(21:37):
sensor cross counts. Let's talk about storage capacity. I think
it's a simpler one for everyone to understand.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
I do the same thing, and I look at the
O two inlet and outlet of it, and I monitor
the middle of old signal, and they seem to be
corresponding accurately. And that's why I was saying I shouldn't say.
I'm asking you if the inlet temperature versus the outlet
temperature is a difference that you should pay attention to
(22:04):
with catalytic converter failing, I don't.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I don't simply because I find I do the oxygen
storage capacity test, I'll graph it out with a scan tool,
and I find that to be more accurate. But now
let me say this, that's my part of the country,
all right. I believe that test to be accurate at
the national level. But I always tell everybody different areas
of the country have different consequences. The way they blend
(22:31):
your fool, the way they blend fuel for you in Louisiana,
I guarantee you, is different than the way they blend
fuel for me in New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
And certainly I'll ask you a question and you elaborate
on what you mean by oxygen storage.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Okay, So think of somebody sitting at the counter eating
a sandwich. You ever go have a You ever go
have a Hero sandwich?
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yes, okay, So a twelve a one foot Hero twelve
inches of sandwich. You get down to about inch number
nine and you can't eat no more in your burp, right,
And oxygen and a catalytic converter is sort of the
same way. A catalytic converter swallows everything and it stores everything,
and then it gets to a point where it's reached
(23:17):
its capacity. All right, it's stored as much much oxygen
as it possibly can, and then it burps and it
releases it. And that's the moment when we will see
a difference between the front OH two sensor the back
O two sensor in the length of time it takes
to make that change. So we'll see we'll see that
downstream oh two change. We'll see all of a sudden
(23:40):
that downstream O two instead of being high, it will
drop lean.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Okay, all right, let me ask you this. If you
and I can monitor upstreaming downstream oh two, how long?
How long until it takes you to eat that hero sandwich?
You can see it?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Well, what kind of car? What kind of car are
we talking about? See that's like I said, yeah, but
that's but that's my point, right, so you know, let
me let me say it like this. It's usually no,
it's usually no. It's not like that. It's a percentage factor.
A catalytic converter is considered and we're talking general terms.
(24:16):
A catalytic converter is considered efficient when it meets the
criteria of storage capacity seventy percent of the time. It's
a matter of math. Is there is a mathematical formula
that we could probably look up somewhere. I have it
in my notes where it talks about the difference between
the front row two, the rear row two, the length
(24:36):
of time, divide it all out and it has to
be at seventy percent efficiency. Matter of fact, I know
where the formula is at the shop. Right.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
If it falls, I've done I've done bad things then,
because there's people that have had pout catalytic converters that
have helped friends of mine, It's like, oh, actually, we're
just going to you know, break that loose like your
engine breathe. They don't have to worry about emissions criteria.
Down here I'm trying to avoid is having you know,
back pressure and you know blown out seals and things
(25:06):
like that in my own vehicle. And you know, yeah,
I could just open it up from the manifold and
not worry about it. Because well, but.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
If you're if you're if you're worried about if you're
worried about that first question I asked, or do you
have a fault code? Do you have a P zero
four twenty or a P zero four thirty. Oh, okay,
if you if you go and look in ob under
ob D, if you look at pending, do you have
any fault codes? No?
Speaker 4 (25:30):
No?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Right? Have you have you? Do you understand mode six
testing inside of a scan tool? Uh?
Speaker 4 (25:37):
I don't know what mode six is, but I've done
the OEM testing the right delves a little further.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Well, my point is if you go look at mode six.
Mode six is the testing done inside of a scan
tool of Visa v ob D two technology, and it
is the actual behind the scenes testing that the computer
will put the vehicle through. To determine is the cat
a pass or a fail? You can go look at
mode six and determine way before it sets a pending fault,
(26:07):
whether or not that cat has a problem replacing a cat.
Wait a minute, a minute, Wait a minute, Wait a minute,
Wait a minute, Wait a minute, Carl, But before we
condemn catalytic converters based on smell, it's likely something else
is causing that cat to smell, either the quality of
the fuel, the maintenance being done to it or not
(26:30):
being done to it, the quality of the ignition system.
How good is the spark right? How warn are the plugs?
I mean all that stuff comes into effect. So you know,
a good running, well balanced system your truck, all right,
I mean you're living proof of it. Okay, you've got
a good running truck that's twelve years old for all
(26:52):
intensive purposes. Right. You can graph and record your cat temperatures,
you can look at fuel trims, you can do an
oxygen sensor storage capacity. That's known good. All right. You
can look at that every month from now for the
next two years. When you see that start to degrade,
you know what known good is, right, you know what works.
(27:13):
You haven't set a code yet, because nothing is more
critical than the judgment of the computer, right, agreed.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Well perhaps, I mean it depends on the sensor, but
you've definitely validated what I'm trying to look at. And
earlier I was listening to you talking about the future mechanics,
and I do want to say there are future mechanics,
except we don't have them in America because we don't
have small enough Chinese child hands to work on.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
That's all I Carl, you be well, you have a
great rest of the weekend, and we'll talk to you again.
I'm running any in the car, doctor Rebecca. Right after this,
(28:02):
another hour kind of flying by here on the car, doctor,
and we'll almost at a time, but before we run
out of time, I think mister Ray wants to contribute
to the conversation, right, Tommy, you'll make a comment about
mister Farley, their CEO, Ford and the technician shortage.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Yeah, I mean I had a conversation this morning. He's
a friend of mine posted online. Granted, this was a
fictional story about a guy who showed up at a
school functioned kind of like a career day, and he
was a mechanic and with grease under his fingernails. And
everybody was looking down their nose at the guy just
because you know, you had a computer programmer, you had
(28:39):
a doctor, you had this. And he got up there
and he spoke and he says, you know, he says,
if I don't maintain the trucks, you don't have anything
to buy. You don't have any food, right, you don't
have any close through there And with my friend, I
used my daughter as an example. Now, she's a doctor. Okay,
she's highly educated. She's a doctor. She takes care of
(28:59):
anim Her boyfriend is a school system custodian. And people
look at me when I say that, and go, what
do you mean he's a custodian. He's a first of all,
he's a great guy, and he treats her like a queen.
But he gets up every morning, he goes to work.
He works hard, he's smart, he can fix just about anything.
(29:22):
I mean, what's not to like about the guy? Seriously,
why do we look down our nose at these people?
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Well?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I think, you know, is it because people work with
their hands, but you know, or is it that society
has made it too easy for people that, oh, we
don't need a car, we can uber, But the uber
is still a car. I don't need to buy a car.
I can uber or take a taxi, but that's still
a vehicle. It's still a method of transportation. And I
think about that, Tom, and I think that's you know,
(29:48):
that's all valid comments and questions. You know, I grew
up in a time where I could never afford a car.
I literally made one car out of three, all right,
and that was my first car. I just kind of
cobbled a car together, and I kept those cars around
as long as I had to, or until mom realized
that I really had all those cars, and she said,
something's got to go, it's either you or the cars,
(30:09):
and I went, all right, needless say, I got rid
of the cars. But you know, I'm not sure. I think.
I think the mistakes people make is they have preconceived
notions now about what it takes to repair a car.
Because my father taught me this, and no disrespect, but
if your father's in the ground more than a year,
(30:30):
chances are what he knew isn't applicable to today's modern automobile.
You know, somewhere in this weekend show, I talked about
the twenty twenty gmc Denali that has three computers, four switches,
five relays of computer. I mean, it's just it's an
endless list just to make the starter go. In nineteen
sixty two, I also mentioned that there were three components,
(30:52):
a key of purple wire, a battery, and a starter.
And you know, the technology is just so different. And
originally I used to really believe that we are on
the quest of trying to eliminate emissions. Yeah, I get it,
we're trying to cut down on emissions. We're trying to
make vehicles less able to be stolen. But as they
posted in New York City today, those eight guys are
(31:14):
indicted for stealing Honda's by figuring out the cars they wanted,
cloning the keys, changing the vin bringing it in for
a service that validates the vehicle is theirs, and then
they would sell it. So if they want it, they're
going to figure out how to get it, they're going
to take the car. Bottom line, we've taken technology to
a point. You know, read an oe Original Equipment Manufacturer
(31:38):
Service manual. How many times does it say replace with
known good part as part of the diagnostic tree. You know,
I want to know where all these known good parts
are coming from, because, as far as I'm concerned, the
part's not known to be good until we actually try it,
put it in a vehicle in a last longer than
two weeks. And who's got this endless supply of parts?
(31:58):
Wake up? We've taken technology way too far, and we're
asking too much of it because we can't even deal
with it. The OEZ can't deal with it, and they've
designed it. How do you think the rest of the
world is gonna do? No wonder nobody wants a car.
They're too damn complicated. Eight five five five six nine
nine zero zero. That's my commentary for today, I'm running
(32:19):
any in the car, doctor, I'll be right back. Wrong button.
You know it's it's I'm tired. It's it's been like
a long week. The light switch doesn't turn on. The microphone, Tom.
(32:40):
You know this is this is like we uh, I'm sorry,
you up. We can't take you out. I'll tell you what.
You can't take me out. But you know this is
like my daughter and I went when close shopping about
three weeks ago. True story, Okay, and we're tired. We've
been in the mall about six hours. We're close shopping,
getting ready for the holidays. And I find this green
shirt and I guess there's in order to repair analogy
(33:01):
here about you have to look first and be sure
of what you're looking at. And she says, you're gonna
try it on. I said, I'm tired. I don't want
to try it on. And I said, I'm gonna hold it.
I hold it up to my shoulders and I go
and I look in the mirror and I go, look
it fits, it fits well. Look how it looks. And
she looks and she goes, you're right, it does fit well.
She goes, something doesn't look right, though we both realized
we're looking at a mannequin wearing the same shirt. We're
both so tired we couldn't tell that. You know, it
(33:23):
wasn't me so needless to say, right, be sure of
what you're looking at because it's it can be felt
like a dummy. I felt like a dummy. Listen. I
felt like a dummy a lot this week. It was.
It was a pretty tough week in the shop. And
I know I say that a lot in mechanics, say
that a lot, but it it was interesting. The physicality
(33:44):
of the shop is expected. The mentality and how much
you have to think all the time. You're always training
your brain to do more and more and more, and
you're required that, you know. I think that. In closing,
it's one of the things I like about doing CrossFit.
People say why do you CrossFit at your age? I
like doing CrossFit because it's the mental challenge as well
(34:06):
as the physical challenge, and it's always making me think.
So to my peeps out there at CrossFit, thanks for
putting up with me. I'm running eighty in the car,
doctor boy, oh boy. Till the next time. I'm reminding
you good mechanics aren't expensive. They're priceless. See y Hey car.
Doctor Carr advice to write
Host
Ron Ananian
Popular Podcasts
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!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.