This week on Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron opens with a Veterans Day salute and a tribute to the last Navajo Code Talker, whose everyday language helped win a world war. From there, it’s a fast lap through the garage: shopping old Cadillacs with the notorious HT 4100 engine, spooky hearse memories from the ’80s, chasing a hard-to-find clock spring for a ’97 Dodge Dakota, and sorting out lousy MPG on a lifted Jeep JK.
Ron also walks through a smart, no-parts-cannon diagnosis on a Jeep Gladiator ABS fault and closes with a quick “your car might need repair if…” checklist to get you thinking ahead of the holidays. As always, the takeaway is simple: good mechanics aren’t expensive—they’re priceless.
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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 to five
(00:25):
five six zero ninety nine hundred, your direct line to
honest answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit cardoctorshow
dot com for past episodes, repair tips, and Ron's latest insights,
and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your injuries. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
You know November is a Veterans Day month, right, we'd
celebrated Veteran's Day this month, and this celebration, right, I've
checked with my veterans that you could to say, it's
a celebration of sorts. And Tom just informed me that
the last Navajo code breaker has just passed and I
have to comment on that. You know, that's to step
(01:10):
out of character just for the moment. And you know
they were so key and instrumental in the war in
the Pacific in the Second World War because they were
just speaking their common everyday language and nobody could understand them,
and it was just a code that couldn't be broken,
and it was key and so helpful in so many
battles and so many campaigns. So rest easy and thank
you for a job well done. I want to talk
(01:32):
a little bit about I've got this. Oh geez, look
who's checking in? Oh, mister Cooper's checking and I can't
get going today. Mister Cooper's checking in, or Cooper's checking
and he says, hey, Ron, I've decided my family and
I have decided that Shopwright should bring you all their
cards for a wheel alignment, because they all seem to
need it. Well, you know that that would be a
heck of a contingency. I'd like that. That'd be like
(01:53):
having a taxi cab fleet. But you know, then again,
maybe if I was doing the wheel alignments, they would
magically steer themselves to the cookie ayele, the ice cream mile,
the milk ayle, the right It would be you know,
think about you know, if you could control that. Yeah,
it's got a little bit of a drift. Where does
it go all thirteen chocolate chip cookies, you know, something
like that. So just you know, but thank you. Mister
(02:13):
Cooper has always a good voice to hear from.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'll tell you the abs story on the jeep later on.
Let's go right to Pete, who's waiting there very patiently
in Pennsylvania, wants to talk about my god forty one
HT Cadillac engines. Oh boy, here's a conversation from the past, Pete.
Welcome to the car doctor, sir, what's going on.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Hi, Ron, I've been looking at some older model Cadillacs,
mostly from the eighties, and what I've been finding is
they all have the HTTYHT engines in them. Yep, I
read a lot of bad things about them. The ones
I've been looking at are lower mileage and they seem
to run okay. But I wanted to get your opinion
(02:53):
on that. And is there any telltale signs that it's
about to fail because everybody tells me that when I
go to look at them. Of course, it's running perfectly
and they they've driven at you know, quite a distance
recently and they haven't had any issues. But is there
any telltale signs that it's about to fail or.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So let's start here. First of all, this is an
engine at the last time that I checked, and the
last time I checked was a good ten years ago,
that a you can't get replacement parts pieces, components, assembly, subassembly,
cylinder heads or anything anywhere. It just doesn't seem to exist.
(03:31):
General Motors hasn't made parts for that engine. I think
they stopped production back in the early two thousands, and
they haven't supported that engine beyond, you know, unlike a
small block Chevy, for example, where everything's a dime a
dozen you can pick it up anywhere. Having said that,
what I remember about the HT forty one hundred is
the failures went like this, and we're talking about an
(03:52):
engine that started out in the early eighties. As a
matter of fact, I can still remember the day I
was standing at the parts counter at broken Cadillac and Ridgewood,
New Jersey, and they're gone fifteen years, that's how long
ago this was, and I was picking up parts for
the shop. It was my turn to get out and
a fairly new Cadillac at the time with the HD
(04:14):
forty one hundred was rolling out the door. And as
this approached the door, my parts men at the time
still my parts man, Dennis said to me watch this
because he knew what was coming. And you saw it
slow to a crawl as it waited for the door,
and it developed this knocking sound. And I looked at
Dennis and he said, just wait. And the knocking sound
(04:34):
got louder and louder and louder and boom. And I said,
what happened? I said, how did you know? He said,
because it just got a thirty thousand mile service and
I went, I went, but that doesn't make any sense.
What did they do? He said, Well, they torque the
intake manifold. And now I really got curious, Right, what
does towrquing the intake manifold have to do with that?
(04:57):
I talked to a couple of texts. I talked to
the service manager. That engine was one of General Motors'
first forays into an all aluminum design. Right, that's an
all aluminum engine, and the weight of the crank. The
reason they want the intake manifold torque at thirty thousand
miles is because the weight of the crank would pull
the center or the belly of the engine down, so
(05:18):
they when they torque it, you know, you're taking that
bent piece of wood and you're kind of straightening it.
The problem is the thrust bearing on a forty one hundred,
as I remember it is number three, it's the middle
crank journal. So now you're pinching it in the middle.
And Dennis pointed out to me, he says, we kind
of WinCE when we have to do these because usually
(05:39):
before they get out the door, they don't get they
don't get the two tenths to the door and kaboom,
oh yeah. So so my point is, if it made
it this far, you know, maybe maybe there's hope. You know,
maybe there's hope. But I would also eye it as
(05:59):
if the engine did fail, what else would you put
in it? Because the bodies are gorgeous. I think the
eighties Cadillacs have some of the sexiest lines going. I
think they're really I think there's some of the really
the grills and everything. They're sharp cars, and I think
they're you know, I kind of prefer some of the
early eighties stuff over the seventies. The late seventies the
cars were so bloated and overweight and massive. You know,
(06:23):
it's you know, an early Fleetwood Brome was just a
gorgeous car.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
But they are.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know, you got to come up with a better
engine or a better power plant, unless unless you really
want the glamour of a forty one hundred. You know,
to each his own, you know, but yeah, there is
no there is no real way. I'll tell you another
really neat thing. If you do get one, and you
get like an eighty one on up, you can do
(06:50):
full diagnostics on that engine right through the heater control head.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Oh really Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
You can pull codes I think it's off and warmer,
and then you can look at the nose switch on
the throttle body. You can look at air conditioning fault codes.
You can move blend door position, you can do I
mean a ton of stuff. It's been a long time.
I've forgotten most of it, but I still have the
shop manual somewhere, truth be told. In the eighties, I
(07:16):
was renting space for the shop out the back of
a Cadillac limousine in Hearst business. So I would work
on my customer's cars by day, and then I would
stay late and work on their cars at night. And
they were all Cadillac. They were forty one hundreds, and
the forty it became the forty five hundred, and then
I think the forty nine hundred right later on, right,
(07:38):
they grew in size. Let me tell you, there's nothing
like being in a big empty repair shop in October
with the leaves rustling late in the day and as
it's getting dark and you're working on a hearst Cadillac.
Oh boy, good times, you know, especially when you got
to take one out for a rod, you know. So,
(08:02):
but those are those are That's what I know. Would
I take a chance, Yeah, if I found a good
running one, what do they want for the car? They're
not they're not they're not allot of dough.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Right three grand?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, I found one, yeah, three three three Grand's a
big train set in the basement, right.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, you know it's it's it's a hobby. And at
that point, if the engine did kaboom, I'm sure there's
guys out there. There's got to be something else to
retro frit And frankly, I'd put an ls I'd put
an ls GM motor in it, and you know, now
you got the best of both worlds. So you know,
there's got to be a way to do it. But
you know, beyond that, I wouldn't get too hot and
(08:40):
heavy into a forty one hundred. I'd run it for
what it's worth, and if something happens, i'd be prepared
to go to the distance. But I really got to
like the body and the rest of it, so I
would look more towards body and interior to make sure
that's in good shape, so that if and when you
ever had to do an engine swap, you could.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Okay, all right, So all right, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
You're very welcome, sir.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
You'd be well you too, A right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I bring home the hearse on road tests. You know,
there's nothing like pulling up on your neighbors slow, you know,
dude in a hearse on October right around Halloween. Just
that reminds me of a number of years ago.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We had a funeral mass to do at a radio station.
I worked at it for the archbishop in town. And
we're all there and a bunch of TV guys and
a bunch of radio guys, and we're running cables all
through the cathedral and all of a sudden, and it's dark,
and the archbishop's body is there on the altar, and
(09:39):
there's a guy from the Knights of Columbus standing guard
over and walking back and forth, and all of a
sudden we hear it was like we're all looking at
each other. Turns out it was the wind through the steeple.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
But I mean, talk about it.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It's like time to go right. I you know what,
We were bringing a hearse back from Connecticut.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Not me.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Neil one of the drivers for the Limo and Herst company,
and he had taken his grandchildren along for the ride.
Older fella, and they were all interesting characters there. This
is the eighties, so these were all retired World War
Two veterans. One guy was a waist gun around a
be seventeen. The other guy was a marine from the Pacific.
(10:22):
I mean, interesting guys to sit and talk to. Right,
But Neil had taken his grandchildren and they were rolling around.
He had come down to the yard he picked up
his grandchildren who had gotten dropped off, and he was
finishing driving the car up to its final drop off
and the kids were playing around in the back and
Neil didn't think about it. Twice and they got to
a stop sign, and the two kids jumped up from
(10:44):
behind the curtain out of the glass and scared the
Jesus out of the poor lady in the car behind.
She panicked so bad she slammed on the gas rammed
into the back of this brand new Cadillac Herse. And
I was like, oh my gosh. So needless to say,
Ron became a body and a paint man that day.
But yeah, I'll never forget that. And it was like, yeah,
don't go boo unless you really mean it. A five five,
(11:07):
five six nine nine zero zero. Lord help me, I'll
be back right after this. Don't go anywhere. Let's go
to Alex in Florida. Alex. Welcome to the car doctor, sir,
(11:28):
how can I help?
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Hey, Ron, thanks for taking the call. Well, so I
am a hunt sport. Thank you. So I'm gonna hunt
for a ninety seven Dodge Dakota clock spring. Both my
local map and outone can find a clock spring, but
without the cruise control function. When I go to Mopar,
the Mopar guy says, hey, I have one for a
two thousand and two. Okay, send me a picture, man,
see if it's an exact message. Because I can't send
(11:50):
you a photo because it's a sealed box and I
can't send it to you. Do you know where I
can get an exact clock spring for a ninety seven
dollars for Florida.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I'm going to tell you you know where I would
be looking. I would. I would run it through all
the major chains. I would get over to an advance.
I would tell them, hey, here's what I have and
let them do the searching for me, because they've got
the connections. And if advanced autoparts comes back to you
and says, yes, no one has it, and you know
what I'm thinking is they're going to go through dormant
and they're going to go through all the rest of
(12:21):
them to see if anybody manufactures for that, then that
then I know the aftermarket doesn't do it as far
as an oe. My next thought becomes, if you have
a part number and you can get it in a
sealed box or get a return guarantee and I'm sure
you've done this, is I would go look at eBay
and just see what eBay has. I'll be cautious though,
(12:41):
because I've had a couple of weird experiences on eBay
in the last year. Most recently, just for the record,
not to steal the conversation, but I purchased a radio
for the Ranger. I wanted to put a factory radio
back in. It didn't work. I sent it back and
expected a refund, and the person I purchased it from,
(13:02):
we're back to me and he said, well, the radio
showed up damage, which I don't get how that happened,
because I shipped it out the same way he shipped
it to me. I personally, I think he damaged it
in the box because he knew the radio was broken
and now he'd get paid by eBay for you know,
damaged radio, et cetera. And I had to argue. I
finally got my money back, but it was aggravation where
I go be all and end all, and I always
(13:23):
saved the best for a last You know that, alex Is.
There's a there's a company in San Antonio, Texas, all right,
Clockspringexpert dot com expert or experts clock Spring Experts Experts
dot com San Antonio, Texas. And I've seen their stuff.
It's spot on, it's made really well. We've purchased a
(13:45):
few of them over the years, and they're really fast,
so you could call them up and tell them, hey,
I've got this. It's got cruise controlled. Do you have
an exact match for it? And if they do, they'll
solve the problem. Their stuff has been great, so all right.
But that's that's the order I would normally go through,
you know, just trying to cover the bases. It's funny
(14:05):
the little things that we don't think of. There are
now companies sprouting up for the older cars, you know,
the eighties and the nineties and so forth. I just
found somebody the other day that makes seat belts for
older cars, because I've got a couple of older cars
that I want to get the seat belt retractors repaired on.
And I never thought i'd get that. I can't stand
when you take the seatbelt off, it falls out the
(14:25):
door with you, and you know it doesn't I want
the retractor to work, so.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
You know, and do you think run? So I got
my airbag light on and I put my scanner coat
on it. I've gone to two garages and they say, hey,
there's not a problem with the airbag. So I've narrowed
down more than likely. I think it's the wires in
the clock spring that are producing the airbag light lash?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Well what you what you could do? And I don't
know the speck off the top of my head, but
there were kids out there, you know. Basically that clock
spring is just a certain resistance. Let's ask the question
in this way, does the fault if you clear the fault,
turn the key off, turn the key back on. Does
the fault come back right away?
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Okay, So air bags are monitored for every second that
key is on. And there are repair kits, are not
repair kits, diagnostic kits out there, and you'll find it
in service information where you can substitute in a specific
value resistor that will replicate the resistance value of that
(15:28):
air bag. All right, And you would have to pop
the clock spring and go down to where the clock
spring goes into the main harness, go across the two
pins that come up the clock spring and go to
the air bag. And if that makes the fault go away,
you're either dealing with an air bag issue or a
clock spring issue. I mean, that's it. If the air bag,
(15:52):
which isn't available, is one thousand bucks and the clock
spring US two hundred, which one do you want to take?
The poka?
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Hey, hey, window number eight, right.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It's it's to the point that on older vehicles. You know,
I've got a list of things I buy for older vehicles,
the suburban, the money car level all the money car
doesn't have an air bag in it, obviously, but there's
certain things I buy that I just hold an inventory,
and for my cars with clock springs that are getting older.
A matter of fact, I just used up the one
(16:23):
I had. I had to get a clock spring for
the Thunderbird, and I was actually able to buy one
brand new out of fort They still made it, which
shocked the living heck out of me. But yeah, clock
springs or something, because it's it's it's a shame you
can't really drive the car without it. You can, but
it's not you know, I like something with all the
safety features to work. If you get what I'm saying,
and I think you.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Do, long you know, it takes away from the pleasure
of driving outtill ninety seven. I'm over like three hundred
and ten thousand miles and I'm still going, so right,
just keep just like you said, all right, too much
and thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Cheaper to keeper you too, sir. You enjoy the turkey.
You don't let the get you, all right, So, yeah,
you know what cars are cheaper to keep them. I
got to tell you it's so the backside of the
radio story on the Ranger. I don't think we ever
talked about this here is. I actually went out. I
threw out that we had put in an aftermarket radio
that was giving me grief and a couple of years
(17:18):
and now wasn't working. You know, you have to like
smack it to get it to turn on, and blah
blah blah. Who's got time to fix it? Finally I said, okay,
let's just put a fact through a radio when it
We're past the days of listening to multitudes of different things.
I finally did find one on eBay. Not only did
I find a good rebuilder fell in the middle of Illinois,
it also I actually now have a ninety seven Ranger
(17:41):
with the rare option of the CD player built into
the radio, which in ninety seven was pretty hard to find. Right,
So the Ranger just keeps getting better and better. Who knows,
maybe I'll paint it one of these days a five, five, five, six,
nine nine zero zero on any of the car doctors
still rolling. I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
From the city street.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
To the Urven Rule tonight. If you run his head,
Ron will keep you rolling.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah, he's a car doctor, car advistor. All right, where
are we gonna go? Let's go to Walter in Pennsylvania. Walter,
you're up, Yeah, Hi, yes, sir? What's going on?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
All right?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Tell me the story?
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Okay. I bought it recently in August. I bought a
twenty seventeen cheap JK poor door jeep. And when I
bought it, I had the wrong tires on. I had
thirty five vote range e and it didn't coast well
at road rough and I determined that the front caliper
was hung up. Long story short, I changed both calipers
(19:10):
and it still was hung up. So then I did
more research in the brake line. I'm sorry about that.
The change. I changed a brake line. Then that freed
up the tire, and then I got smaller tires.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Load range C.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
But I'm still only getting about fourteen miles per galion.
It probably improved probably two miles per galion.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Okay, So that's it is? There?
Speaker 6 (19:40):
Is that what I can expect from.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Well, let's let's back up and make some assumptions. With
your dangerous words. The rest of the engine, the rest
of the vehicle is pretty much stock correct.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
Well, it has a two and a half inch paraflex
lift on it.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Okay, well, and.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
The tires on now are eighty five?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Are the tires? So are the tires anything close to
what was stock on the vehicle? And how close? And
how is? How is? How is the vehicle programmed for
what size tire? And I guess the other part of
my question is if you were to cruise the highway
at sixty miles an hour on the vehicle, just lock
(20:22):
the cruise control at sixty and you go between two
mile markers, does it take you a minute to get
from one mile marker to the other.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
It's a hair off. It used to be about five
mph off with the thirty fives, but now it's maybe two.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Okay, all right, so that's close. That's going to alter
it some. So you know, I don't see great mileage
out of those. It's not like they're in the twenties.
I'll see I'll typically see sixteen to eighteen right right, right,
So so now we're into the question. I guess what
(21:00):
I'd have to do is start doing the math and
what percentage am I off? And add that to my
mileage calculation because is the odometer? Is the odometer being
driven slower than it's act because you're going off of that, right,
that's your that's your measurement.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
For correct I'm going off to miles per gallon computer
that's on the right dashboard.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Do you have a cell phone holder? I know this
is a strange question, but it just popped into my head.
Do you have a cell phone holder?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I do?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Okay, so and I'll do this with the hot rod
where I will put there's a there's an app and
I can't don't ask me the name of it, and
I will just I will. Yeah, it's not ways, it's
something else. It's an actual digital spinometer where and it's
it's accurate within a mile because I've well, don't ask
me how I know, but I've gone through a radar
(21:53):
trap and found that it was accurate within a mile, right,
And I got out of it because the cop was
super nice, but I told him that was scientific experiments,
and you know in that car he gets it. So
you know, i'd be curious to what percentage your spinometer
truly is off? That's number one all right. I get
(22:15):
why you changed from the other tires, by the way,
because if it's the tires I'm thinking of with a
big knobby, separate nobby tires. Yeah, I was out of
their minds. I don't yeah, yeah, no, I don't get it.
They're loud, their knobby, they ride terrible. They don't get
fuel economy. They just totally destroyed the whole of the vehicle. Yeah,
(22:38):
probably probably, you know what, yeah, absolutely, because those those
tires and they're super expensive. So you know how many
how many miles on this on this vehicle Walter fifty thousand.
So I'm gonna find out where my spinometer really is
number one, number two. Just for the sake of conversation,
(23:03):
I'm going to take out my scan tool. I'm sure
you've got a scan tool.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
No, I don't, all right, I'd like.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
To see you learn the value of fuel trim. I
want to know is the engine at proper temperature?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
All right? Not by the gauge, yeah, with the temperature
right right.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I don't want to go by the gauge. I want
to go by a scan tool. I want to know
what the computer's saying, right, you know, if it's one
hundred and ninety five degree stat and the engine's running
at one hundred and eighty eight degrees all day long. Yeah,
that's you know, because we're looking for we're looking for,
you know, a pin in the haypile. We're looking for
a little bit. We're not looking for a lot. And
(23:47):
you know, last thing, and obviously you know the calibers
aren't hanging up anymore. Last thing I want to know
is I would do a fuel system cleaning. Not to
be cliche, all right, not trying to sell you a
fuel system cleaner. And you know, I just I just think,
at fifty thousand miles, if it's never been done by now,
it's surely due and I may see a change in performance.
(24:13):
And I would, you know, get over to your local
Loto parts store and you know, pick one, you know,
a barnment kid, a cr C kid, you know whoever,
and you know, by all means, just follow procedure and
see what that does for you.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Would would sucking out the tranny fluid and put new wind?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah now that's not that's not that's if we were
in the shop trying to solve this. Everything I've described
to is exactly how I would do it, and every
and every once in a while. Brother, sometimes you just
get a car that just it is what it is,
right right?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
You know?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Is the is the lift? You know it's obviously the
lift is making it less aerodynamic.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Oh sure, I mean it's a bread right, it's brick.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
You're pushing a brick through the air. So all of
a sudden, it all of a sudden it matters, you know.
But like I said, you're you're not going to get
You're not going to get into the low twenties, not
with one of those.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
No, but I was hoping high teen, right you know?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Now, are you an around town driver?
Speaker 6 (25:18):
Mostly with that? To take that any on a trip
would not be.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Played right well?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Right, So the reason I ask is, I'll drive the
plow truck. It's a twenty two. What is it. It's
a twenty two Chevrolet twenty five hundred each day with
a six six, and I'll drive that around town. You know,
every once in a while the driver information center raises
its sand and said, hey, hit twelve miles to the gallon.
I get all excited, but for the most part it's
(25:45):
ten eleven. But the one time I drove it to Pittsburgh,
I actually got sixteen miles to the gallon. I was shocked.
It was. It was. It was a fifty percent improvement
simply by doing more highway so that around town stuff
really destroys mileage, there is yeah, you know, right, there
is something to be said for that. So but look
(26:07):
at it this way. All right, I'll leave you on
a positive note. If it runs well and you go
through all this and you like the vehicle, it's it's
an extra couple of hundred bucks a year in fuel,
but you're happy and smiling, right right, Yeah, that's that's
your bottom line.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, it's a jeep.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Just you know, just remember what jeep stands for. Drum roll,
drum roll, please, what does jeep stand for? Let's see,
if you're a real jeep owner, Walter, what is jeep
stand for? You know?
Speaker 6 (26:37):
Every pocket?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Just empty every pocket? Well there's that one. No, it's junk,
each and every part. Just just expect expensive problems. So
on that note, and I like jeeps, I really do.
Please no more hate mail.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
The Volks, Yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Trust they're huge, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
And I'm did the valvesia fault?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Pray to the valve?
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Tick?
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Well?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, did the valve seat fall out of number Did
the valve seat fall out of number? Three? Cylinder yet?
Speaker 6 (27:06):
Oh no?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
All right? Get ready no, get ready, so not to
be not to be depressing, but keep changing the oil,
do a fuel system cleaning, maintain it, enjoy it, love it.
It's a jeep.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So all right, sir, all right, thanks, you're very welcome.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
You're well, Yeah, it's what happened to jeep? My god,
they were so I talked to somebody. I love my jeep.
Oh I just got a brand new Jeep. How many
miles we're on at twelve?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Wait a five, five, five, six nine nine zero zero.
I'll be back right after this. Gee, our jeep's expensive.
(27:54):
But it seems like a good segue after that last
call to tell you about the twenty two Gladiator.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
We fixed this week.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
A smooth segue, charming and handsome too. So we had
a twenty two Jep Gladiator come into the shop this
week with a right front wheel speed sensor fault code
for the ABS. Now, ABS can be a challenge. You
have to break it down and keep it simple. Right
ABS is based on wheel speed they have They have
a tone ring or some sort of trigger device mounted
(28:22):
at each wheel off its four wheel and a sensor
that reads and varies its signal output to the ABS controller.
In this case, this particular jeep set a Charlie see
zero zero thirty four one D. The subtext was one
D right front wheel speed, sensor circuit current out of range.
It saw an incorrect signal. The signal was either high
(28:45):
or the signal was low. Generally they're low. So in
the course of diagnosis visual examination, right everything looked intact.
We were going to swap sensors side to side as
part of this as part of this diagnosis. But to
get to the sensor, to get the sensor out you
have to take the wheel hub. But the bearing out
that breaks apart. It was a mess. Now, yeah, it's
(29:10):
easy to condemn the sensor and go, oh, it's a
bad sensor, and then somehow that sensor will become a
bad wheel bearing, and then that bad wheel bearing will
become a bad ABS controller and then we'll go look
at the wiring, which is where the problem was. If
you go underneath the jeep like most jeeps and it'll work.
You can build a jumper harness. We didn't have to
build a very big one, but the connectors left to
(29:31):
right were the width of the vehicle apart. I unplugged
the left front wheel speed sensor. After owning both sensors,
I should point that out, and they own the same.
I started to get a good feeling that I don't
have a sensor issue. My problem is somewhere else. I
took the left front sensor signal, I disseminated which was
(29:54):
positive and which was negative, because there's a polarity to
them generally is and I sent that signal up the
right front harness to the ABS controller and sure enough,
looking at it on a scan tool vehicle on the
lift keon scan tool live vehicle, live, not running, rotating
the left front wheel generated a signal on the right
(30:16):
front sensor pit in the scan tool. Now having done
the road test, and during the road test, we saw
the right front sensor was dead. Okay, I knew that.
Oh I'm sorry, I'm saying that backwards. We took the
right front sensor and put it up the left front
channel and we were able to produce a signal. We
took the left front sensor, put it up the right
(30:37):
front channel to the ABS and it was dead. There
was no signal output. So I proved the sensor good.
I proved the circuit bad. I then took a jumper
lead and went from right at the sensor right to
pins twenty six and twenty seven, twenty five, twenty six,
twenty six and twenty seven at the ABS controller. In short,
(30:59):
I made my own home harness and I found that
pin twenty six, the green with vel violet wire, was
open circuit. Now what do you do? Because the problem
is between the right front sensor and the ABS controller
right side of the vehicle to left side of the vehicle.
I ran a new wire, soldered it in place, snipped
it close to the sensor, soldered it in place, and
(31:21):
while at the vehicle was fixed. And my point is,
I know we did about jeeps. You know, it's a
matter of logical deduction. You have to think your way
through the problem. Something I was going to do and
in this case, this particular vehicle didn't have it is
sometimes you'll look at ABS sensors, you'll look at the
fault codes that's set. If you ever get a fault
(31:42):
code that says signal erratic or signal open, okay, disconnect
the sensor jumper across the two wires. If the signal
goes from signal open to signal shorted. You know, the
harness leading up to the ABS controller is good. Now
you can focus on the sensor because chances are that's
where your issue is, or the tone wheel. But just
(32:04):
some examples of how to approach diagnosis. It doesn't have
to be part swapping. And you know what the customer
even said, He goes, I knew this was a hard problem.
The fact that you did it without putting one part
in the vehicle tells me you're really diagnosed it. Well,
that's what you're supposed to do. Eight five, five, five,
six nine nine zero zero. Hey it is I'm running
any in the car doctor. I'll be back right after
(32:24):
this and it's just you and me on the road.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You know, as we wind down this hour with the
car doctor, I just want to say thank you. I
appreciate you allow me to be here with you. You know,
there's a lot of things you can be thankful for Thanksgiving,
and this is this is right at the top of
my list that I get to spend each and every
weekend with you. Guys, I will ask you this and
I don't ask it often, but if you have someone
interested in order to repair. If you have someone that
wants to learn about their vehicle, by all means, please
(32:58):
tell them about us. If you're a podcaster, please turn
your friends onto us. Hit that like button on our
Facebook page and follow us on YouTube for our YouTube videos.
And if you have suggestions for what you'd like to
see in the coming new year, please by all means.
You know, I know we've been light on videos the
last month or so. We've just been so busy in
the shop we haven't had time. But we're here for you.
But you know, we need to know what you're looking for.
(33:20):
And you know we need some numbers. We need numbers
to go up, so we need more likes, and we
need more followers so we can appreciate everything that you
that you might do for us. So to close the
show today, I just wanted to do this. This is sort
of a bad version of Jeff Foxworthy's you might be
a redneck, if you know. I like to think of
it as your car might need repair. If all right,
you get in your car, and these are things you
(33:40):
can do yourself. If you look at your inspection sticker
and it's you know, it's July, and this is November. Well,
something's wrong, all right. If your vehicle is more than
five years old, you might need repair in the way
of a battery if it's never been changed. So it's
something to check, especially with Thanksgiving and the holidays coming up, right,
we got to keep the sleigh going and we got
(34:01):
to keep the family safe. So basics, all right. Your
vehicle might need repair if you're using a piece of
newspaper and a bottle of index to clean the windshield
because the wipers are so bad they just don't work
in Those gouges in the glass from the broken wiper
blade are just really starting to become annoying.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
All right.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
You might need an oil change if you can't read
the sticker. We had one another shop the other day. Yeah,
I think I need an oil change. We took the
sticker out. There's nothing on it. The ink had faded.
It was a new customer from another shop. The magic
marker was gone, which I've got to tell you is
another thing. It's sort of a pet peeve in this
day and age. If you're a repair shop and you're
(34:39):
not printing oil change stickers, if you're still handwriting oil
change stickers, can you at least get a magic marker
that comes to something somewhat of a point so you're
not guessing what the mileage is, so that it's not
so fat and heavy it just looks like a shmer
on the glass. So yeah, your vehicle might need repair,
so does your mechanic. I'm ronning Ady in the car
(34:59):
doctor the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See you.
Speaker 6 (35:05):
Hey he's the car doctor.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
curR advice don't right,
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 to five
(00:25):
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and be sure to subscribe to the Car Doctor YouTube
channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage and more. Now
start your injuries. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
You know November is a Veterans Day month, right, we'd
celebrated Veteran's Day this month, and this celebration, right, I've
checked with my veterans that you could to say, it's
a celebration of sorts. And Tom just informed me that
the last Navajo code breaker has just passed and I
have to comment on that. You know, that's to step
(01:10):
out of character just for the moment. And you know
they were so key and instrumental in the war in
the Pacific in the Second World War because they were
just speaking their common everyday language and nobody could understand them,
and it was just a code that couldn't be broken,
and it was key and so helpful in so many
battles and so many campaigns. So rest easy and thank
you for a job well done. I want to talk
(01:32):
a little bit about I've got this. Oh geez, look
who's checking in? Oh, mister Cooper's checking and I can't
get going today. Mister Cooper's checking in, or Cooper's checking
and he says, hey, Ron, I've decided my family and
I have decided that Shopwright should bring you all their
cards for a wheel alignment, because they all seem to
need it. Well, you know that that would be a
heck of a contingency. I'd like that. That'd be like
(01:53):
having a taxi cab fleet. But you know, then again,
maybe if I was doing the wheel alignments, they would
magically steer themselves to the cookie ayele, the ice cream mile,
the milk ayle, the right It would be you know,
think about you know, if you could control that. Yeah,
it's got a little bit of a drift. Where does
it go all thirteen chocolate chip cookies, you know, something
like that. So just you know, but thank you. Mister
(02:13):
Cooper has always a good voice to hear from.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'll tell you the abs story on the jeep later on.
Let's go right to Pete, who's waiting there very patiently
in Pennsylvania, wants to talk about my god forty one
HT Cadillac engines. Oh boy, here's a conversation from the past, Pete.
Welcome to the car doctor, sir, what's going on.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Hi, Ron, I've been looking at some older model Cadillacs,
mostly from the eighties, and what I've been finding is
they all have the HTTYHT engines in them. Yep, I
read a lot of bad things about them. The ones
I've been looking at are lower mileage and they seem
to run okay. But I wanted to get your opinion
(02:53):
on that. And is there any telltale signs that it's
about to fail because everybody tells me that when I
go to look at them. Of course, it's running perfectly
and they they've driven at you know, quite a distance
recently and they haven't had any issues. But is there
any telltale signs that it's about to fail or.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
So let's start here. First of all, this is an
engine at the last time that I checked, and the
last time I checked was a good ten years ago,
that a you can't get replacement parts pieces, components, assembly, subassembly,
cylinder heads or anything anywhere. It just doesn't seem to exist.
(03:31):
General Motors hasn't made parts for that engine. I think
they stopped production back in the early two thousands, and
they haven't supported that engine beyond, you know, unlike a
small block Chevy, for example, where everything's a dime a
dozen you can pick it up anywhere. Having said that,
what I remember about the HT forty one hundred is
the failures went like this, and we're talking about an
(03:52):
engine that started out in the early eighties. As a
matter of fact, I can still remember the day I
was standing at the parts counter at broken Cadillac and Ridgewood,
New Jersey, and they're gone fifteen years, that's how long
ago this was, and I was picking up parts for
the shop. It was my turn to get out and
a fairly new Cadillac at the time with the HD
(04:14):
forty one hundred was rolling out the door. And as
this approached the door, my parts men at the time
still my parts man, Dennis said to me watch this
because he knew what was coming. And you saw it
slow to a crawl as it waited for the door,
and it developed this knocking sound. And I looked at
Dennis and he said, just wait. And the knocking sound
(04:34):
got louder and louder and louder and boom. And I said,
what happened? I said, how did you know? He said,
because it just got a thirty thousand mile service and
I went, I went, but that doesn't make any sense.
What did they do? He said, Well, they torque the
intake manifold. And now I really got curious, Right, what
does towrquing the intake manifold have to do with that?
(04:57):
I talked to a couple of texts. I talked to
the service manager. That engine was one of General Motors'
first forays into an all aluminum design. Right, that's an
all aluminum engine, and the weight of the crank. The
reason they want the intake manifold torque at thirty thousand
miles is because the weight of the crank would pull
the center or the belly of the engine down, so
(05:18):
they when they torque it, you know, you're taking that
bent piece of wood and you're kind of straightening it.
The problem is the thrust bearing on a forty one hundred,
as I remember it is number three, it's the middle
crank journal. So now you're pinching it in the middle.
And Dennis pointed out to me, he says, we kind
of WinCE when we have to do these because usually
(05:39):
before they get out the door, they don't get they
don't get the two tenths to the door and kaboom,
oh yeah. So so my point is, if it made
it this far, you know, maybe maybe there's hope. You know,
maybe there's hope. But I would also eye it as
(05:59):
if the engine did fail, what else would you put
in it? Because the bodies are gorgeous. I think the
eighties Cadillacs have some of the sexiest lines going. I
think they're really I think there's some of the really
the grills and everything. They're sharp cars, and I think
they're you know, I kind of prefer some of the
early eighties stuff over the seventies. The late seventies the
cars were so bloated and overweight and massive. You know,
(06:23):
it's you know, an early Fleetwood Brome was just a
gorgeous car.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
But they are.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know, you got to come up with a better
engine or a better power plant, unless unless you really
want the glamour of a forty one hundred. You know,
to each his own, you know, but yeah, there is
no there is no real way. I'll tell you another
really neat thing. If you do get one, and you
get like an eighty one on up, you can do
(06:50):
full diagnostics on that engine right through the heater control head.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Oh really Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
You can pull codes I think it's off and warmer,
and then you can look at the nose switch on
the throttle body. You can look at air conditioning fault codes.
You can move blend door position, you can do I
mean a ton of stuff. It's been a long time.
I've forgotten most of it, but I still have the
shop manual somewhere, truth be told. In the eighties, I
(07:16):
was renting space for the shop out the back of
a Cadillac limousine in Hearst business. So I would work
on my customer's cars by day, and then I would
stay late and work on their cars at night. And
they were all Cadillac. They were forty one hundreds, and
the forty it became the forty five hundred, and then
I think the forty nine hundred right later on, right,
(07:38):
they grew in size. Let me tell you, there's nothing
like being in a big empty repair shop in October
with the leaves rustling late in the day and as
it's getting dark and you're working on a hearst Cadillac.
Oh boy, good times, you know, especially when you got
to take one out for a rod, you know. So,
(08:02):
but those are those are That's what I know. Would
I take a chance, Yeah, if I found a good
running one, what do they want for the car? They're
not they're not they're not allot of dough.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Right three grand?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, I found one, yeah, three three three Grand's a
big train set in the basement, right.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, you know it's it's it's a hobby. And at
that point, if the engine did kaboom, I'm sure there's
guys out there. There's got to be something else to
retro frit And frankly, I'd put an ls I'd put
an ls GM motor in it, and you know, now
you got the best of both worlds. So you know,
there's got to be a way to do it. But
you know, beyond that, I wouldn't get too hot and
(08:40):
heavy into a forty one hundred. I'd run it for
what it's worth, and if something happens, i'd be prepared
to go to the distance. But I really got to
like the body and the rest of it, so I
would look more towards body and interior to make sure
that's in good shape, so that if and when you
ever had to do an engine swap, you could.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Okay, all right, So all right, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
You're very welcome, sir.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
You'd be well you too, A right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I bring home the hearse on road tests. You know,
there's nothing like pulling up on your neighbors slow, you know,
dude in a hearse on October right around Halloween. Just
that reminds me of a number of years ago.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
We had a funeral mass to do at a radio station.
I worked at it for the archbishop in town. And
we're all there and a bunch of TV guys and
a bunch of radio guys, and we're running cables all
through the cathedral and all of a sudden, and it's dark,
and the archbishop's body is there on the altar, and
(09:39):
there's a guy from the Knights of Columbus standing guard
over and walking back and forth, and all of a
sudden we hear it was like we're all looking at
each other. Turns out it was the wind through the steeple.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
But I mean, talk about it.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It's like time to go right. I you know what,
We were bringing a hearse back from Connecticut.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Not me.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Neil one of the drivers for the Limo and Herst company,
and he had taken his grandchildren along for the ride.
Older fella, and they were all interesting characters there. This
is the eighties, so these were all retired World War
Two veterans. One guy was a waist gun around a
be seventeen. The other guy was a marine from the Pacific.
(10:22):
I mean, interesting guys to sit and talk to. Right,
But Neil had taken his grandchildren and they were rolling around.
He had come down to the yard he picked up
his grandchildren who had gotten dropped off, and he was
finishing driving the car up to its final drop off
and the kids were playing around in the back and
Neil didn't think about it. Twice and they got to
a stop sign, and the two kids jumped up from
(10:44):
behind the curtain out of the glass and scared the
Jesus out of the poor lady in the car behind.
She panicked so bad she slammed on the gas rammed
into the back of this brand new Cadillac Herse. And
I was like, oh my gosh. So needless to say,
Ron became a body and a paint man that day.
But yeah, I'll never forget that. And it was like, yeah,
don't go boo unless you really mean it. A five five,
(11:07):
five six nine nine zero zero. Lord help me, I'll
be back right after this. Don't go anywhere. Let's go
to Alex in Florida. Alex. Welcome to the car doctor, sir,
(11:28):
how can I help?
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Hey, Ron, thanks for taking the call. Well, so I
am a hunt sport. Thank you. So I'm gonna hunt
for a ninety seven Dodge Dakota clock spring. Both my
local map and outone can find a clock spring, but
without the cruise control function. When I go to Mopar,
the Mopar guy says, hey, I have one for a
two thousand and two. Okay, send me a picture, man,
see if it's an exact message. Because I can't send
(11:50):
you a photo because it's a sealed box and I
can't send it to you. Do you know where I
can get an exact clock spring for a ninety seven
dollars for Florida.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I'm going to tell you you know where I would
be looking. I would. I would run it through all
the major chains. I would get over to an advance.
I would tell them, hey, here's what I have and
let them do the searching for me, because they've got
the connections. And if advanced autoparts comes back to you
and says, yes, no one has it, and you know
what I'm thinking is they're going to go through dormant
and they're going to go through all the rest of
(12:21):
them to see if anybody manufactures for that, then that
then I know the aftermarket doesn't do it as far
as an oe. My next thought becomes, if you have
a part number and you can get it in a
sealed box or get a return guarantee and I'm sure
you've done this, is I would go look at eBay
and just see what eBay has. I'll be cautious though,
(12:41):
because I've had a couple of weird experiences on eBay
in the last year. Most recently, just for the record,
not to steal the conversation, but I purchased a radio
for the Ranger. I wanted to put a factory radio
back in. It didn't work. I sent it back and
expected a refund, and the person I purchased it from,
(13:02):
we're back to me and he said, well, the radio
showed up damage, which I don't get how that happened,
because I shipped it out the same way he shipped
it to me. I personally, I think he damaged it
in the box because he knew the radio was broken
and now he'd get paid by eBay for you know,
damaged radio, et cetera. And I had to argue. I
finally got my money back, but it was aggravation where
I go be all and end all, and I always
(13:23):
saved the best for a last You know that, alex Is.
There's a there's a company in San Antonio, Texas, all right,
Clockspringexpert dot com expert or experts clock Spring Experts Experts
dot com San Antonio, Texas. And I've seen their stuff.
It's spot on, it's made really well. We've purchased a
(13:45):
few of them over the years, and they're really fast,
so you could call them up and tell them, hey,
I've got this. It's got cruise controlled. Do you have
an exact match for it? And if they do, they'll
solve the problem. Their stuff has been great, so all right.
But that's that's the order I would normally go through,
you know, just trying to cover the bases. It's funny
(14:05):
the little things that we don't think of. There are
now companies sprouting up for the older cars, you know,
the eighties and the nineties and so forth. I just
found somebody the other day that makes seat belts for
older cars, because I've got a couple of older cars
that I want to get the seat belt retractors repaired on.
And I never thought i'd get that. I can't stand
when you take the seatbelt off, it falls out the
(14:25):
door with you, and you know it doesn't I want
the retractor to work, so.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
You know, and do you think run? So I got
my airbag light on and I put my scanner coat
on it. I've gone to two garages and they say, hey,
there's not a problem with the airbag. So I've narrowed
down more than likely. I think it's the wires in
the clock spring that are producing the airbag light lash?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Well what you what you could do? And I don't
know the speck off the top of my head, but
there were kids out there, you know. Basically that clock
spring is just a certain resistance. Let's ask the question
in this way, does the fault if you clear the fault,
turn the key off, turn the key back on. Does
the fault come back right away?
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Okay, So air bags are monitored for every second that
key is on. And there are repair kits, are not
repair kits, diagnostic kits out there, and you'll find it
in service information where you can substitute in a specific
value resistor that will replicate the resistance value of that
(15:28):
air bag. All right, And you would have to pop
the clock spring and go down to where the clock
spring goes into the main harness, go across the two
pins that come up the clock spring and go to
the air bag. And if that makes the fault go away,
you're either dealing with an air bag issue or a
clock spring issue. I mean, that's it. If the air bag,
(15:52):
which isn't available, is one thousand bucks and the clock
spring US two hundred, which one do you want to take?
The poka?
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Hey, hey, window number eight, right.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
It's it's to the point that on older vehicles. You know,
I've got a list of things I buy for older vehicles,
the suburban, the money car level all the money car
doesn't have an air bag in it, obviously, but there's
certain things I buy that I just hold an inventory,
and for my cars with clock springs that are getting older.
A matter of fact, I just used up the one
(16:23):
I had. I had to get a clock spring for
the Thunderbird, and I was actually able to buy one
brand new out of fort They still made it, which
shocked the living heck out of me. But yeah, clock
springs or something, because it's it's it's a shame you
can't really drive the car without it. You can, but
it's not you know, I like something with all the
safety features to work. If you get what I'm saying,
and I think you.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
Do, long you know, it takes away from the pleasure
of driving outtill ninety seven. I'm over like three hundred
and ten thousand miles and I'm still going, so right,
just keep just like you said, all right, too much
and thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Cheaper to keeper you too, sir. You enjoy the turkey.
You don't let the get you, all right, So, yeah,
you know what cars are cheaper to keep them. I
got to tell you it's so the backside of the
radio story on the Ranger. I don't think we ever
talked about this here is. I actually went out. I
threw out that we had put in an aftermarket radio
that was giving me grief and a couple of years
(17:18):
and now wasn't working. You know, you have to like
smack it to get it to turn on, and blah
blah blah. Who's got time to fix it? Finally I said, okay,
let's just put a fact through a radio when it
We're past the days of listening to multitudes of different things.
I finally did find one on eBay. Not only did
I find a good rebuilder fell in the middle of Illinois,
it also I actually now have a ninety seven Ranger
(17:41):
with the rare option of the CD player built into
the radio, which in ninety seven was pretty hard to find. Right,
So the Ranger just keeps getting better and better. Who knows,
maybe I'll paint it one of these days a five, five, five, six,
nine nine zero zero on any of the car doctors
still rolling. I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
From the city street.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
To the Urven Rule tonight. If you run his head,
Ron will keep you rolling.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah, he's a car doctor, car advistor. All right, where
are we gonna go? Let's go to Walter in Pennsylvania. Walter,
you're up, Yeah, Hi, yes, sir? What's going on?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
All right?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Tell me the story?
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Okay. I bought it recently in August. I bought a
twenty seventeen cheap JK poor door jeep. And when I
bought it, I had the wrong tires on. I had
thirty five vote range e and it didn't coast well
at road rough and I determined that the front caliper
was hung up. Long story short, I changed both calipers
(19:10):
and it still was hung up. So then I did
more research in the brake line. I'm sorry about that.
The change. I changed a brake line. Then that freed
up the tire, and then I got smaller tires.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Load range C.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
But I'm still only getting about fourteen miles per galion.
It probably improved probably two miles per galion.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Okay, So that's it is? There?
Speaker 6 (19:40):
Is that what I can expect from.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Well, let's let's back up and make some assumptions. With
your dangerous words. The rest of the engine, the rest
of the vehicle is pretty much stock correct.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
Well, it has a two and a half inch paraflex
lift on it.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Okay, well, and.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
The tires on now are eighty five?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Are the tires? So are the tires anything close to
what was stock on the vehicle? And how close? And
how is? How is? How is the vehicle programmed for
what size tire? And I guess the other part of
my question is if you were to cruise the highway
at sixty miles an hour on the vehicle, just lock
(20:22):
the cruise control at sixty and you go between two
mile markers, does it take you a minute to get
from one mile marker to the other.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
It's a hair off. It used to be about five
mph off with the thirty fives, but now it's maybe two.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Okay, all right, so that's close. That's going to alter
it some. So you know, I don't see great mileage
out of those. It's not like they're in the twenties.
I'll see I'll typically see sixteen to eighteen right right, right,
So so now we're into the question. I guess what
(21:00):
I'd have to do is start doing the math and
what percentage am I off? And add that to my
mileage calculation because is the odometer? Is the odometer being
driven slower than it's act because you're going off of that, right,
that's your that's your measurement.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
For correct I'm going off to miles per gallon computer
that's on the right dashboard.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Do you have a cell phone holder? I know this
is a strange question, but it just popped into my head.
Do you have a cell phone holder?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I do?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Okay, so and I'll do this with the hot rod
where I will put there's a there's an app and
I can't don't ask me the name of it, and
I will just I will. Yeah, it's not ways, it's
something else. It's an actual digital spinometer where and it's
it's accurate within a mile because I've well, don't ask
me how I know, but I've gone through a radar
(21:53):
trap and found that it was accurate within a mile, right,
And I got out of it because the cop was
super nice, but I told him that was scientific experiments,
and you know in that car he gets it. So
you know, i'd be curious to what percentage your spinometer
truly is off? That's number one all right. I get
(22:15):
why you changed from the other tires, by the way,
because if it's the tires I'm thinking of with a
big knobby, separate nobby tires. Yeah, I was out of
their minds. I don't yeah, yeah, no, I don't get it.
They're loud, their knobby, they ride terrible. They don't get
fuel economy. They just totally destroyed the whole of the vehicle. Yeah,
(22:38):
probably probably, you know what, yeah, absolutely, because those those
tires and they're super expensive. So you know how many
how many miles on this on this vehicle Walter fifty thousand.
So I'm gonna find out where my spinometer really is
number one, number two. Just for the sake of conversation,
(23:03):
I'm going to take out my scan tool. I'm sure
you've got a scan tool.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
No, I don't, all right, I'd like.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
To see you learn the value of fuel trim. I
want to know is the engine at proper temperature?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
All right? Not by the gauge, yeah, with the temperature
right right.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I don't want to go by the gauge. I want
to go by a scan tool. I want to know
what the computer's saying, right, you know, if it's one
hundred and ninety five degree stat and the engine's running
at one hundred and eighty eight degrees all day long. Yeah,
that's you know, because we're looking for we're looking for,
you know, a pin in the haypile. We're looking for
a little bit. We're not looking for a lot. And
(23:47):
you know, last thing, and obviously you know the calibers
aren't hanging up anymore. Last thing I want to know
is I would do a fuel system cleaning. Not to
be cliche, all right, not trying to sell you a
fuel system cleaner. And you know, I just I just think,
at fifty thousand miles, if it's never been done by now,
it's surely due and I may see a change in performance.
(24:13):
And I would, you know, get over to your local
Loto parts store and you know, pick one, you know,
a barnment kid, a cr C kid, you know whoever,
and you know, by all means, just follow procedure and
see what that does for you.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Would would sucking out the tranny fluid and put new wind?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah now that's not that's not that's if we were
in the shop trying to solve this. Everything I've described
to is exactly how I would do it, and every
and every once in a while. Brother, sometimes you just
get a car that just it is what it is,
right right?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
You know?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Is the is the lift? You know it's obviously the
lift is making it less aerodynamic.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
Oh sure, I mean it's a bread right, it's brick.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
You're pushing a brick through the air. So all of
a sudden, it all of a sudden it matters, you know.
But like I said, you're you're not going to get
You're not going to get into the low twenties, not
with one of those.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
No, but I was hoping high teen, right you know?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Now, are you an around town driver?
Speaker 6 (25:18):
Mostly with that? To take that any on a trip
would not be.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Played right well?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Right, So the reason I ask is, I'll drive the
plow truck. It's a twenty two. What is it. It's
a twenty two Chevrolet twenty five hundred each day with
a six six, and I'll drive that around town. You know,
every once in a while the driver information center raises
its sand and said, hey, hit twelve miles to the gallon.
I get all excited, but for the most part it's
(25:45):
ten eleven. But the one time I drove it to Pittsburgh,
I actually got sixteen miles to the gallon. I was shocked.
It was. It was. It was a fifty percent improvement
simply by doing more highway so that around town stuff
really destroys mileage, there is yeah, you know, right, there
is something to be said for that. So but look
(26:07):
at it this way. All right, I'll leave you on
a positive note. If it runs well and you go
through all this and you like the vehicle, it's it's
an extra couple of hundred bucks a year in fuel,
but you're happy and smiling, right right, Yeah, that's that's
your bottom line.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, it's a jeep.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Just you know, just remember what jeep stands for. Drum roll,
drum roll, please, what does jeep stand for? Let's see,
if you're a real jeep owner, Walter, what is jeep
stand for? You know?
Speaker 6 (26:37):
Every pocket?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Just empty every pocket? Well there's that one. No, it's junk,
each and every part. Just just expect expensive problems. So
on that note, and I like jeeps, I really do.
Please no more hate mail.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
The Volks, Yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Trust they're huge, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
And I'm did the valvesia fault?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Pray to the valve?
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Tick?
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Well?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, did the valve seat fall out of number Did
the valve seat fall out of number? Three? Cylinder yet?
Speaker 6 (27:06):
Oh no?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
All right? Get ready no, get ready, so not to
be not to be depressing, but keep changing the oil,
do a fuel system cleaning, maintain it, enjoy it, love it.
It's a jeep.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
So all right, sir, all right, thanks, you're very welcome.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
You're well, Yeah, it's what happened to jeep? My god,
they were so I talked to somebody. I love my jeep.
Oh I just got a brand new Jeep. How many
miles we're on at twelve?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Wait a five, five, five, six nine nine zero zero.
I'll be back right after this. Gee, our jeep's expensive.
(27:54):
But it seems like a good segue after that last
call to tell you about the twenty two Gladiator.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
We fixed this week.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
A smooth segue, charming and handsome too. So we had
a twenty two Jep Gladiator come into the shop this
week with a right front wheel speed sensor fault code
for the ABS. Now, ABS can be a challenge. You
have to break it down and keep it simple. Right
ABS is based on wheel speed they have They have
a tone ring or some sort of trigger device mounted
(28:22):
at each wheel off its four wheel and a sensor
that reads and varies its signal output to the ABS controller.
In this case, this particular jeep set a Charlie see
zero zero thirty four one D. The subtext was one
D right front wheel speed, sensor circuit current out of range.
It saw an incorrect signal. The signal was either high
(28:45):
or the signal was low. Generally they're low. So in
the course of diagnosis visual examination, right everything looked intact.
We were going to swap sensors side to side as
part of this as part of this diagnosis. But to
get to the sensor, to get the sensor out you
have to take the wheel hub. But the bearing out
that breaks apart. It was a mess. Now, yeah, it's
(29:10):
easy to condemn the sensor and go, oh, it's a
bad sensor, and then somehow that sensor will become a
bad wheel bearing, and then that bad wheel bearing will
become a bad ABS controller and then we'll go look
at the wiring, which is where the problem was. If
you go underneath the jeep like most jeeps and it'll work.
You can build a jumper harness. We didn't have to
build a very big one, but the connectors left to
(29:31):
right were the width of the vehicle apart. I unplugged
the left front wheel speed sensor. After owning both sensors,
I should point that out, and they own the same.
I started to get a good feeling that I don't
have a sensor issue. My problem is somewhere else. I
took the left front sensor signal, I disseminated which was
(29:54):
positive and which was negative, because there's a polarity to
them generally is and I sent that signal up the
right front harness to the ABS controller and sure enough,
looking at it on a scan tool vehicle on the
lift keon scan tool live vehicle, live, not running, rotating
the left front wheel generated a signal on the right
(30:16):
front sensor pit in the scan tool. Now having done
the road test, and during the road test, we saw
the right front sensor was dead. Okay, I knew that.
Oh I'm sorry, I'm saying that backwards. We took the
right front sensor and put it up the left front
channel and we were able to produce a signal. We
took the left front sensor, put it up the right
(30:37):
front channel to the ABS and it was dead. There
was no signal output. So I proved the sensor good.
I proved the circuit bad. I then took a jumper
lead and went from right at the sensor right to
pins twenty six and twenty seven, twenty five, twenty six,
twenty six and twenty seven at the ABS controller. In short,
(30:59):
I made my own home harness and I found that
pin twenty six, the green with vel violet wire, was
open circuit. Now what do you do? Because the problem
is between the right front sensor and the ABS controller
right side of the vehicle to left side of the vehicle.
I ran a new wire, soldered it in place, snipped
it close to the sensor, soldered it in place, and
(31:21):
while at the vehicle was fixed. And my point is,
I know we did about jeeps. You know, it's a
matter of logical deduction. You have to think your way
through the problem. Something I was going to do and
in this case, this particular vehicle didn't have it is
sometimes you'll look at ABS sensors, you'll look at the
fault codes that's set. If you ever get a fault
(31:42):
code that says signal erratic or signal open, okay, disconnect
the sensor jumper across the two wires. If the signal
goes from signal open to signal shorted. You know, the
harness leading up to the ABS controller is good. Now
you can focus on the sensor because chances are that's
where your issue is, or the tone wheel. But just
(32:04):
some examples of how to approach diagnosis. It doesn't have
to be part swapping. And you know what the customer
even said, He goes, I knew this was a hard problem.
The fact that you did it without putting one part
in the vehicle tells me you're really diagnosed it. Well,
that's what you're supposed to do. Eight five, five, five,
six nine nine zero zero. Hey it is I'm running
any in the car doctor. I'll be back right after
(32:24):
this and it's just you and me on the road.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Hey.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You know, as we wind down this hour with the
car doctor, I just want to say thank you. I
appreciate you allow me to be here with you. You know,
there's a lot of things you can be thankful for Thanksgiving,
and this is this is right at the top of
my list that I get to spend each and every
weekend with you. Guys, I will ask you this and
I don't ask it often, but if you have someone
interested in order to repair. If you have someone that
wants to learn about their vehicle, by all means, please
(32:58):
tell them about us. If you're a podcaster, please turn
your friends onto us. Hit that like button on our
Facebook page and follow us on YouTube for our YouTube videos.
And if you have suggestions for what you'd like to
see in the coming new year, please by all means.
You know, I know we've been light on videos the
last month or so. We've just been so busy in
the shop we haven't had time. But we're here for you.
But you know, we need to know what you're looking for.
(33:20):
And you know we need some numbers. We need numbers
to go up, so we need more likes, and we
need more followers so we can appreciate everything that you
that you might do for us. So to close the
show today, I just wanted to do this. This is sort
of a bad version of Jeff Foxworthy's you might be
a redneck, if you know. I like to think of
it as your car might need repair. If all right,
you get in your car, and these are things you
(33:40):
can do yourself. If you look at your inspection sticker
and it's you know, it's July, and this is November. Well,
something's wrong, all right. If your vehicle is more than
five years old, you might need repair in the way
of a battery if it's never been changed. So it's
something to check, especially with Thanksgiving and the holidays coming up, right,
we got to keep the sleigh going and we got
(34:01):
to keep the family safe. So basics, all right. Your
vehicle might need repair if you're using a piece of
newspaper and a bottle of index to clean the windshield
because the wipers are so bad they just don't work
in Those gouges in the glass from the broken wiper
blade are just really starting to become annoying.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
All right.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
You might need an oil change if you can't read
the sticker. We had one another shop the other day. Yeah,
I think I need an oil change. We took the
sticker out. There's nothing on it. The ink had faded.
It was a new customer from another shop. The magic
marker was gone, which I've got to tell you is
another thing. It's sort of a pet peeve in this
day and age. If you're a repair shop and you're
(34:39):
not printing oil change stickers, if you're still handwriting oil
change stickers, can you at least get a magic marker
that comes to something somewhat of a point so you're
not guessing what the mileage is, so that it's not
so fat and heavy it just looks like a shmer
on the glass. So yeah, your vehicle might need repair,
so does your mechanic. I'm ronning Ady in the car
(34:59):
doctor the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See you.
Speaker 6 (35:05):
Hey he's the car doctor.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
curR advice don't right,
Host
Ron Ananian
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