This week on Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron answers a listener email about a Ford Transit rear brake job that turned into a wrong-year/ wrong-parts headache, then explains a 2021 Jeep Gladiator start/stop battery issue and the simple reset trick that brings it back to life. He lays out a fast winter car prep checklist—tires, batteries, coolant, washer fluid, oil, belts—and closes with how TPMS really works in cold weather. Plus, guest Dale Ross from the National Auto Body Council shares how the Recycled Rides program puts refurbished vehicles into the hands of veterans in need.
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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 ronin 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
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nine nine zero zero. That's a five to five five
(00:25):
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start your injuries. The Car Doctor is in the garage
(00:47):
and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Hey, good to see you here today,
Ronanani the Car Doctor. I'm gonna open with a piece
of email. This comes to us from Tom down in Florida.
Tom writes in heron I heard your story A couple
of weeks back. You started to tell us about the
twenty nineteen Ford transit with the rear breake problem that
you had. I was wondering if you could finish it
up and elaborate on it a little bit, because I
(01:10):
ran into a similar situation. I own a nineteen Ford
Transit and it was difficult for me to get break pads.
Tom down in Gainesville, Florida. Yeah, Tom, So here's the deal.
Here's what happened. We a couple of weeks ago, we
got a customer has I'll start the conversation here. The
customer has two Ford Transits, a nineteen and a twenty,
(01:33):
and it really would have been a lot easier had
he purchased the two nineteens at the same time. You know,
he's a plumber and he needed two vehicles. But the
original what year was it, I think it was a
nineteen ninety seven Ford Van E one P fifty was
still going and he just figured he could squeeze a
(01:54):
couple of more months at of it. But the problem
was he ended up waiting long enough. He bought the
nineteen and the end of the model you're running, so
we couldn't get a nineteen. He had to get a twenty.
In his mind, that's okay. In my mind, I knew
the confusion that was going to come up about because
every once in a while, funny things happen, right, So
he called me up and he said, hey, he's got
(02:15):
to drop off the nineteen he wants to bring in
the nineteen f to four transit, the two fifty transit.
It needs rear brakes. Okay, sure, yeah, bring it in.
And had a little bit of a Wonderry list and
oil change in some other services. The fuel door was broken,
which is a whole nother story this. You know, two
hundred dollars piece of plastic that goes on to replace
the fuel door when that breaks. And you know rear brakes.
(02:40):
You ever do rear brakes on a transit, It's it's
not what you think it's. It's kind of a strange deal.
All right. You undo, you get it up in the air.
You undo the five bolts that hold the axle into
the hub and slide the axle out right, and then
that loosens the rotor. That's how the rotor is to
(03:00):
the inside face of the hub. Now the rotor rusts
to the hub. I don't care where you live, the
roter's going to rust to the hub. It's just the
way it is. And by the way, the bolts, yeah,
the bolts we take out. If you've heard the stories
Tom and anybody else, you should we always replace the bolts.
They want those bolts replaced. They want them torque. The
spec I think it was thirty five pounds and then
(03:24):
seventy degree turn, so you're going to do a torque
angle turn on those. They want them torque specific to
a specific torque, a specific tightness. But the problem is,
or the challenge is getting the rotor off. It has
to come loose from the hub because the hub stays
in place. The hub stays there. You kind of have
(03:45):
to rotate the rotor either clockwise or counterclockwise, and then
that indexes it to the flange and then it'll clear
and come straight out. The trick is getting it loose,
of course, you know, we use PV blaster. We broke
down the rust and got it to move, and with
the help of an air chisel we were able to
nudge it along and waited a little bit more, sprayed
(04:07):
a little pb And this was an especially rusty rotor
and hub, and I've got to say that should have
been the clue because the nineteen's usually you're doing the
breaks every fifteen to eighteen thousand miles. This turned out
to be the twenty I guess I'm giving away the story.
He brought me the wrong van, and I took his
(04:29):
word for it. I made the assumption, which is a
dangerous word, and we all know why. And the rotors
were the same because I found out putting the roadors
on that was no problem. But the pads, there was
two choices of pads and they were wrong. And no
matter what we did, we kept coming up with the
wrong pad. But I'm ahead of myself. So we ended
(04:50):
up soaking the hub and the rotor PB, working it
back and forth, and then indexing it off and getting
the rotor off off and you know, clean the hub.
You should clean the hub, Tom, if you're doing these
breaks on your own, you know, clean the area where
the rotor sits, you know, get rid of as much
rust and crud and everything else as you can, and
(05:11):
then put the new rotor on. Okay, and I strongly
recommend you replace the rotors. It's just part of the job.
The van we were doing, it's a plumber's vehicle, and
it's the rotors crushed and you know, had a nasty
lip on it. And this isn't something you really want
to play around with. It's breaks. It's really important, you know,
to stop trying to do this wrong. Don't do a
(05:32):
pad slap. You shouldn't do a pad slap anyway. But
so we got the new rotoran and new bolts, torqued
everything in place, and we can't get the right pads,
and we're going round and round, and you say to yourself,
what am I missing? You know, you look it up
three times. We're breaks twenty nineteen four trans at F
two fifty and customers said the nineteen. And then it
(05:54):
dawned on me. I called my parts house and I said,
by the way, well we'll look trying to figure out
the right pads. You know, I'd also want a rear
brake pad sensor, because they make a sensor. Forge got
a sensor inside the brake pad on the driver's side,
on the inner pad that it's the wear sensor. And
they had driven this so deep that the sensor wasn't reusable.
(06:15):
It gouged itself into the sensor and it had to
be replaced. So they come back and they said, you
we have no listing for a sensor. And then I realized,
thinking about it, I'm still trying to figure out why
I can't get the right brake pads. And then I
realized about three minutes later, and I called my parts
house up and I said, I think I've got the
(06:37):
wrong year on this truck. And I verified it against
the event and sure enough it was the twenty That's
when we got the right brake pads. And lo and
behold inside the brake pad kit is a sensor, and
that got the job moving. And I guess I tell
you this because my point becomes there's always a way out.
(06:58):
There's always a reason why why something went wrong. There's
always a reason why. You know, you've got to think
your way through the problem, all right, And it's not
necessarily just something with breaks. It doesn't have to be
something like that. Look, we see it on other things,
some of the common everyday things that well, that you
guys might be doing. All right, it's difficult for you
(07:19):
to do everything. It's difficult for you to do a
lot of things anymore. We had a customer with a
twenty one jeep Gladiator and Tom, I hope that explains
it for you. We had a customer with a twenty
one Jeep Gladiator somewhere around the timeframe that this transit
was in and it needed batteries. The main battery was
going dead, and it's a start stop vehicle and it
(07:41):
has an auxiliary battery, that battery that's inside the fender well,
and he was going to do it, but he went
to YouTube University and he saw where the battery was
located and you've got to take out the inner wheelhouse
and the battery, and it's a hot mess, and he
didn't want to get involved. He says, Ron, just just
do the whole thing. The issue on the jeeps, just
(08:03):
so that you know is look at the battery terminal.
I believe it was the positive in this case. Does
it have a singular wire connector on it? It's the forward terminal.
I believe that's positive. And if it does, it's got BMI.
If it's got start stop, it's got BMI. Battery monitoring systems. Okay.
So the computer looks at the battery, and it looks
(08:26):
at the state of charge and determines how what it's
going to do as far as charge rate, how it's
going to apply field to the alternator to keep the
alternator running at a higher voltage level to keep the
battery or to charge the battery. The trick is and
in his case, he ran it down so low the
auxiliary battery went dead. So now the computer was confused
(08:47):
and it saw a fifty percent state of charge on
the auxiliary battery even after we changed it. You know,
And it's funny. If you do the research, you're really
gonna love this. There's actually it's a known software that
Chrysler hasn't corrected up to this moment, and they just
they just It kind of surprises me because you would
(09:10):
think with all the software updates that they do, they
could correct this, and I don't know why they don't
do it, but regardless, here's the trick. Here's the tip
I want you to I want you to be aware of.
All right, if you're looking at this with a scan
tool and you won't see this in OBED two, you've
got to go in with a scan tool with your
make model and you're gonna look at state of charger
SoC depending on how your scan tool displays it of
(09:30):
the auxiliary battery, and you've likely at this point got
a message on the dashboard that says start stop, inoperative, start, stop,
not working, stop, start, need service, something along those lines.
You're gonna look at the auxiliary battery and it's gonna
show a less than sixty percent state of charge, typically
(09:52):
in the thirty forty percent tile, and you're gonna go,
but gee, I've got a new auxiliary battery in there.
Why isn't it relearning? Now some of the jeeps we've
observed and had the experience where some of the jeeps
will after a time period, learn a new state of charge,
learn a new SoC A little bit of a pain
(10:13):
in the neck because you're not sure. There doesn't seem
to be any consistency. I can't tell you it's this
model or that model. It just seems very subjective. Here's
the tip, here's what works. Okay, battery, you know, new
batteries in clear any fault codes and with the key
off that singular one wire sensor, disconnect it about ten
(10:37):
to fifteen minutes. All right, Longer is better. It's not
going to hurt anything. And you're going to find that
when you go to restart. You're going to restart it.
Look at the state of charge. All of a sudden,
now you've erased the memory of what the old battery was,
and you're going to see the new battery all right
or I'm sorry, you'll see it will pick up the
(10:57):
new state of charge of the new auxiliary battery. Problem solved.
If you've got codes in the start stop, clear the
codes out once the vehicle warms up up until that point,
we'll say start stop not ready. Once the vehicle warms up,
it will then start to stop stop start again. It
will then start to stop start. Yeah that sounds right, okay,
(11:19):
but the key is yes, you have to reset the
state of charge indicator on the auxiliary battery and that
will allow stop start to begin doing its job. Just
to tip from the car doctor to you. So just
keep it in mind. And you know what, if you
don't want to do your auxiliary battery, I understand. So
just be aware that not everything is as it seems,
(11:41):
and not everything as it was on your older car.
Even doing batteries today gets to be complicated. Phone numbers
eight five, five five six oh nine nine zero zero.
I'm not on an eading in the car doctor. We're
back right after this. Hey, before we get started this segment,
(12:03):
I should point out that down around the bottom. Next
segment coming up Dale Ross from an ABC. They are
doing something this year, as they have for the past
couple of years, recycled rides for veterans. So it's a
great interview. You don't want to miss this as we
talk to dal and get into a little bit of
the how and the why, and if you're a veteran,
if you know someone, this is an interview that you
(12:24):
want to hear because it's going to help you, help
them and so forth. So I want to talk a
little bit about winter car prep. You know, we don't
cover this in great detail, and it's that time of
year where we should. And I've created a little winter
car prep checklist. And one of the questions I wrote,
or one of the comments I wrote, is about switching
to winter tires, because it's a question that you guys,
(12:45):
you know, you're always wondering. I can tell by the emails.
Should I switch to winter tires? Are my all season
tires good enough for snow and ice? You've got to remember, right,
winter is a season, snow is a condition, and you
know where are you going? How are you driving? That's
also key, That's always a key thing. Winter tires, true
(13:05):
winter tires designed to handle ice and snow work really well,
they do all right. I'm not going to say don't
do it, but I'm going to point out that there's
going to be some expense involved because you're going to
have to pay to switch them over unless you purchase,
you know, additional wheels that match your vehicle, and then
you're in the process of storing either you know, tires
(13:26):
or wheels mounted wheels year round. So that's just something
to be aware of. There's also some tire pressure monitoring
complications because you'd have to create separate IDs and store
the tires far enough away. But is it worth it? Hey,
if you're traveling through snow country ice, right, you know
a true winter tire will outperform an all season tire,
(13:49):
no doubt. The question is how much are you driving?
How much do you need it? So it's just something
to think about, but it is something to consider. Testing
your battery, how do you know it's strong enough for
cold starts? Well, you know where I stand on this, Right,
if your battery is older than three years and you're
driving specific models, Hondas come to mind, some of the
Toyotas come to mind, I'm thinking I'm changing that battery
because cold weather strains the battery. Now a quick test
(14:12):
and it's really mindless. The industry has given us some
great battery testing tools and devices. We use a mathematical
algorithm style where it's no load and it's looking at
voltage dissipation over time and it makes a decision about
whether or not that battery is, you know, in danger
of failing, does it need to be charged, does it
(14:33):
need to be replaced. So it's something a good shop
is doing as part of their oil change this time
of year, if not at all around the year, you know,
throughout the year. So we tend to do it spring
end fall anni freeze big topic right. A lot of
cars today, at a minimum, are five year cooling vehicles.
(14:54):
Some are ten. Where do you want to stand on
that conversation? At the very least, depending upon the the
age of your vehicle, you should have the freeze point
checked to see will your vehicle stand up for it.
Is the anti freeze strong enough. If the anti freeze
is in its eighth year and you're keeping the car
long term, you want to also get the coolant checked
for acidity. Is the coolant starting to break down? Is
(15:16):
it reaching the point of failure where it can do
internal damage. Because any freeze will fail. It gets to
be like apple cider. It will go bad, It'll go
sour and rot the system from the inside out and
do damage and cause cause damage to metal, aluminum components
and so on. So any freeze should be checked considered.
It's really dependent upon your vehicle, but it's something your
(15:38):
mechanics should be looking at and you should be as well.
Washer fluid I love this one. This was a great
question someone sent me. They were asking about, you know,
washer fluid and freezing temps. They do make two types
of washer fluids, right. They do make you'll see the
traditional blue the stuff that you're always seeing on the
gas station island when you're getting gas, that blue washer fluid.
(15:58):
And then they make a yellow right, which is a
higher freeze point, and it also has the ability in
some applications, depending upon the brand, will it actually eat
away at the ice and get rid of the ice.
And one of the things that you want to keep
and be aware of is if you know bad weather
is coming, pick your wipers up off the glass, whether
it's snow or ice. You don't want to just get
in the car and turn the wipers on. That's how
(16:20):
you break wiper linkage. Having fixed one just this week
on a twelve Chevy Equinox that was a four hundred
dollars bill, So lifting the wiper blades is a lot cheaper.
Getting the oil changed, well, you know, you don't have
to change it to a winter grade oil, as someone
asked me that went out many, many years ago. You
do want to make sure you're using correct viscosity, and
(16:40):
that's really not just a winter thing. That's a year
round thing. But it's important to know that correct viscosity
is going to help your engine start smooth and quicker
and keep it more reliable and cold weather. It's just
that important. So just make sure you're using correct viscosity.
If you're doing it yourself, and if your mechanics doing it,
you might want to ask them that question. How does
(17:01):
he approach viscosity? Thickness, think thickness, belts, hoses, and the
other stuff that we traditionally used to change or be
worried about. Most belts today on modern vehicles will go
one hundred thousand miles and at least five to six
years right, and we check them differently. We check belts
for failure based on depth of the tread of the belt,
(17:23):
not necessarily like a tire that would crack and dry
and rot out. But of course it's always a good
idea to give the engine compartment a good general look,
look at belts and hoses, consider age and work your
way out from there. I'm running ay and the Car
Doctor coming up next Dale Ross from the ANABC Recycled Rides.
We'll return right after this. Don't go away.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Run Veterans Day.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
What does it mean? Well, we're going to take a
little bit of a detour here on the Car Doctor
and talk about it a little bit. We recently celebrated
Veterans Day and I verified that with my veterans that
I have both in my family and in my you know,
circle of friends, that Veterans Day is a day of celebration.
It's a recognition of what veterans are and who they are,
and what they've done and how they've helped defend the
country and their their commitment. And recently it came to
(18:39):
my attention that the NABC is involved in this this year,
as they always are, and they've made some Well let
me let me bring on our guests and let's talk
about it. Dale, I'm sorry. Dale Ross is the program
director of an ABC Recycled Rides. Dale, I'm stumbling a
little bit today, so you got to help me.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Out, all right, Ron.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You know it's one of those days. But Veterans Days
is something you guys work out year round, right ANYBC,
So tell us what is NABC Recycled Rides program and
how are you connected to veterans?
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Sure? Sure? The NABC stands for National Autobody Council, So
we are made up of all the constituents of the
collision repair industry, so insurance companies that donate vehicles and
then collision repair shops that repair them to like new condition.
And through this NABC Recycled Rides program, what we do
(19:38):
is we recycle these refurbished vehicles. We get them back
into the community by working with local charities to give
them to people that are in need of reliable transportation.
Our main focus is veterans. We do a lot of
vehicles to veterans, and during Veterans Months of November, we
gifted thirty vehicles all over the country to veterans. But
(20:01):
on Veterans Day was kind of special for us because
that was our largest single gifting. We worked with a
repair repair partner, Texas Collision Centers, and they refurbished sixteen
vehicles and we gifted those to sixteen veterans in need
in the Dallas Fort Worth area. That was a pretty
(20:24):
big event.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
So, dyll, are we recycling you know, total vehicles that
they're actually putting back together? Or is it you know,
how do they pick the vehicle?
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Is it based on road worthiness or ability to repair
or that's a huge undertaking today.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yes it is. These shops really invest quite a bit.
But actually these are theft recoveries, so they're not collision totals.
The situation is if your car's you know, stolen, and
the insurance company pays your claim and then two weeks
later the vehicle show up and is recovered, it's a
(21:02):
recovered theft that now the insurance company owns. So the
insurance company donates that vehicle to our program. We have
a collision repair partner that raises their hand and says,
I'll take yeah. So like new conditions.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
So so the veterans that get this is you know,
what's the vetting process? Can can a veteran if there's
a veteran out there. That's g I really need a car.
I'm trying to support my family. Can they sign up
somewhere so they get the recognition and possibly a vehicle
or this is huge, you know at the national level,
I'm sure there's more than thirty veterans that need a vehicle.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Oh yeah, yeah, So we've done We've gifted to one
hundred and twenty five veterans so far this year across
the country. What we do is we work with local
charities and veteran military service organizations and we count on
them to really nominate the people that they know and
(21:57):
have been working with and you can kind of vouch
for because otherwise we don't know, right, you know, we
don't know the person.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
They're legitimate, sure, yeah right.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
So so through those organizations they nominate them. We have
a criteria that they need to meet, We do a
background check, they need to have an honorable discharge, and
then then they're approved.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
So this month November and ABC recognized the veterans on
Veterans Day, it was sixteen vehicles to veterans, but thirty
throughout the month.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Thirty throughout the months. But we do this all year long.
We just don't do it on Veterans Day or in November.
We do it all year.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Long, and I'm sure there's more than enough theft recoveries
in this country to yeah, right, kind of to kind
of feed the fire. Yeah, you know, when they go
through the recycle process, you know, ANYBC recycles rides. Does
the body shop make that decision or are you guys
involved at that at some level? How does it come
(23:02):
to you know, who decides what and where we're going
to do? Obviously you know, and I guess part of
my question is, you know, a BMW gets stolen, but
you know, are we going to give a BMW two
a veteran Not that we can't, but you know, is
it more practically give him a Toyota so he can
put his family in it as well?
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Kind of Yeah, you're exactly right. So we have a
criteria certainly, no luxury vehicles. We're looking for family vehicles, SUVs,
you know, four door sedans, things like that. There can't
be any frame damage, there can't be deployed airbags, no
flood damage, things like that. So we have a first
(23:40):
level of you know, qualification for the vehicle, and then
the repair shop that's going to repair it. They get
to go out to copart, take a look at the
car before they accept it.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Talk about the repair shops a minute. Theyll not to
cut you off, but talk about the repair shops a minute.
I mean, this is a huge commitment on they're part
as well. Right, they're dedicating their resources and obviously they're
not getting paid to.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Do this, that's correct. So first they go to their
local vendors to see if they want to be involved
in donor and then we have national vendors that will
help out, like LKQ will donate parts to every one
of these recycled rides. But yeah, it's a huge commitment
for the repair shop. Their technicians usually are volunteering their time.
(24:31):
It's really amazing what they do. And we have people
like a Dynasty Autobody in New Jersey that they do
this every year for veterans. I think they've done it
thirteen years in a row something like that. Last year.
This past year gifted four veterans. So they usually do
(24:52):
multiple veterans at a time, and they do it every year.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
You know, it's a daunting task. I'm sitting here thinking
about it. Stolen recoveries and this isn't just you know,
a stolen recovery by definition is what the name implies.
But this isn't a vehicle that well, you know, somebody
stole it, took it for a joy ride. This is
the anti theft system has likely been you know, hacked into,
or the wiring, the steering and the wiring column has
(25:16):
been beat up. There's probably dense there could be engine
damage because they abuse the vehicle right there out for
a joy rod. There's a lot that goes into this,
and you know, the body shops. Really this is a
huge expense on everybody's part. This is a great program deal.
I got to tell you, I'm very impressed.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, no, we go over them pretty good.
There's really you know, if there's engine damage, we haven't
seen it because we've already you know, taken a thorough
analysis of the vehicle. A lot of them. You're surprised,
you'd be surprised that it's just really the steering column
that they might have damaged to get into the vehicle.
(25:56):
And other than that, it's just minor, you know, scratches
and dents and things like that. And so these shops
refurbish them to like brand new condition.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
So an ABC recycle rides. How do you find them?
I mean, it's just a matter if you're working with
your contacts at insurance companies or existing body shops, or
is there a specific process you go.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Through well insurance companies. There's probably seven or eight that
are members of our organization. Everybody needs to be a member.
So our member insurance companies like Geico and All State Travelers, Farmers,
they find the vehicles, so they're actively working with us,
(26:38):
and they come to us and say, hey, I have
a car in upstate New York, take a look at it.
We'll put it into the program.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Right if we've got a veteran out there, deal as
we wind things down. If we've got a veteran out there,
that's you know, they need a rod. You know, how
do they apply for it? You know, how do they
get more information? And where would they go?
Speaker 4 (27:02):
So the best thing is any organization that they're already
working with, the VA or any charity like Western New
York Heroes in the Buffalo area, something someone like that,
if they're already working with them, talk to them about
nominating them. They can email us, but they can't really
(27:22):
apply themselves. They have to be nominated. They could email
us at an ABC gifting at National Autobody Council dot org.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
You say that one more time for us, Dale.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
It's an A B C gifting at National Autobody Council
dot orgy. That's not a not a short one.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
That's that's that's that's a mouthful, brother, and then what's
and then what's what's the website? Is that didn't fill
on your website as well?
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Yes, it's a National Auto Body.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Council, National Little Body Care Council dot dot org or
dot com dot org, dot org, dot National Older Bodycounsel
dot org. Got it and spelled out as it sounds.
Nationalottle Body Council dot com, dot org dot org. Okay, cool, Dale,
you guys are doing a heck of a job. I
want to say thank you on behalf of the veterans
(28:18):
that I have in my family and uh, you know
everyone out there. We appreciate what you guys are doing
and you know, keep on going.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
All right, all right, well, thank you very much, Ron,
you appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
You're very welcome, sir. You're welcome back anytime. I'm Ronning
any and the car doctor. We are back right after this, Okay,
I want to talk a little bit about tire pressure
monitoring system because we're definitely into that time of year.
(28:50):
It's getting colder, and I think a lot of you
are going to be seeing the tire pressure light, that
little yellow light that looks like a cross section of
a tire if you look at it close enough and
you're all wondering what it is. It's yellow, it's orange,
but you get it. You've seen it on your dashboard.
You should be seeing it when you go through bulb check,
when you turn the key to the on or push
the button to the on position before it starts. Tire
(29:11):
pressure monitoring systems, and they'll work one of a couple
of different ways. They've either got a sensor in the tire,
which is a direct system, meaning that there is a
tire pressure sensor. Is a radio transmitter in a sense
typically operates on a broadcast frequency. Not that you need
to know this, but it's three hundred and fifteen megahertz,
(29:32):
or it's four hundred and thirty three mega hurts, and
some of them are a little different. Some of the
higher profile cars were on a different frequency. And understand
each sensor has a unique broadcast number, has a unique
registration number, I should say and think about it, right,
because if you were next to a car that had
a same number, in your vehicle's receiver picked up on
(29:54):
the guy next to you when he's got low tire pressure,
it's going to turn on your light. So each sensor
in each wheel has to be unique, right. A tire
pressure light comes on when there's one of two reasons,
low pressure or a fault in the system. A fault
in the system is usually indicated by the light blinking blink, blink,
(30:18):
blink a couple times, ten times, twenty times, whenever the
manufacturer wants, and then the light will stay on solid
after I think roughly thirty seconds to a minute of driving.
That's a fault. That's not low pressure. So you can
check tire pressure all you want and you're not going
to find a fault. You find that if the placard
on the door, which is where I'm going next, says
(30:39):
thirty five and the tires roll at thirty five, that's
not low tire pressure. That is a fault in the system.
And by the way, we should mention, I should mention
that when we're talking tire pressure systems, always think you
know about the spare. If you're driving a Toyota, you've
probably got a fifth tire involved. Toyota lexis, depending if
(31:00):
it's a full size or not, you've probably got a
tire in the trunk or in the back area somewhere
that's got a tire pressure sensor in it too, So
don't rule that out. Wrap fours the tire on the door,
that type of thing. But tire pressure systems and they
all work pretty much the same way in the sense
that the light is designed to come on, intended to
(31:22):
comme on when tire pressure drops fifteen percent less than
door placard. What do I mean by door placard? Open
up the driver's door. There's a decal either on the
door or on the post, and it's going to tell
you a couple of things. That'll show you the Then
it'll show you data manufacture of the vehicle. It will
show you suggested tire pressure for that vehicle, and that
(31:47):
number generally resides. You know, it'll say thirty five pounds
for example, that's thirty five pounds at sixty eight degrees. Okay,
here's the key. Tire press p sure changes rule of
thumb one pound for every ten degrees of change. If
tire if the temperature goes up to seventy eight degrees,
(32:08):
you've now got tire pressure at thirty six goes up
to eighty eight degrees thirty seven. Consequently, where you see
it more is when it goes the other way. You'll
see it go from sixty eight to now this time
of year. If your oil was changed in early June
or late May, depending upon what part of the country
you're in, and you haven't checked tire pressure, and all
(32:31):
of a sudden you get to you know, late fall,
early winter and it's cold, you're going to see that
tire pressure drop at least three pounds. It'll get to
a point where it drops a little bit more. You're
going to see about a four and a half pound drop. Boom,
the light comes on, so it's easy enough to resolve.
You're going to look at pressure on the tire versus
(32:55):
door placard. Right, I'll tell you what. Let me pull over,
take a pause. When I come, we'll finish up with
this TPMs systems right on the other side. I'm ronning
Andy and the car doctor. We'll be back right after this. Okay,
(33:21):
we are back, So just to finish up the conversation
in the minute or two that we have left tire
pressure monitoring systems. When I left you, we were talking about,
you know, why is the light on? We went through
a couple of scenarios. You need to have an accurate
tire pressure gage, needless to say, and you're gonna spend
a couple of bucks. Right, You're not going to buy
(33:41):
a cheap piece of junk because it's critical that it's accurate,
and you're going to make sure that not the number
on the tire. You're gonna look at the door placard,
all right. If the placard says thirty five pounds and
it's thirty degrees out, add two pounds, all right, go
up a little bit. If the door placard says thirty
(34:01):
five pounds and you're in Arizona, okay, and it's one
hundred degrees, you're gonna know that you wanna, you know,
maybe make it thirty four to thirty three. Drop it
a little bit because it's gonna get tire pressure's gonna
go up as you drive the car because the tire
is gonna get hotter, all right, So it's important to
note placards at sixty eight it's gonna change up or
(34:23):
down one to one pound for every ten degrees of change.
And that's critical so that you've got good solid tires
on the car as far as pressure goes, and that
you're not overinflated, you're not under inflated. That's how TPMs
systems work. I see, that's about it for our time today.
I'm running eighty in the car doctor, till the next time.
Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you the car Doctor.
(34:48):
Car Advice to ride
You're listening to ronin 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
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(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 (00:50):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Hey, good to see you here today,
Ronanani the Car Doctor. I'm gonna open with a piece
of email. This comes to us from Tom down in Florida.
Tom writes in heron I heard your story A couple
of weeks back. You started to tell us about the
twenty nineteen Ford transit with the rear breake problem that
you had. I was wondering if you could finish it
up and elaborate on it a little bit, because I
(01:10):
ran into a similar situation. I own a nineteen Ford
Transit and it was difficult for me to get break pads.
Tom down in Gainesville, Florida. Yeah, Tom, So here's the deal.
Here's what happened. We a couple of weeks ago, we
got a customer has I'll start the conversation here. The
customer has two Ford Transits, a nineteen and a twenty,
(01:33):
and it really would have been a lot easier had
he purchased the two nineteens at the same time. You know,
he's a plumber and he needed two vehicles. But the
original what year was it, I think it was a
nineteen ninety seven Ford Van E one P fifty was
still going and he just figured he could squeeze a
(01:54):
couple of more months at of it. But the problem
was he ended up waiting long enough. He bought the
nineteen and the end of the model you're running, so
we couldn't get a nineteen. He had to get a twenty.
In his mind, that's okay. In my mind, I knew
the confusion that was going to come up about because
every once in a while, funny things happen, right, So
he called me up and he said, hey, he's got
(02:15):
to drop off the nineteen he wants to bring in
the nineteen f to four transit, the two fifty transit.
It needs rear brakes. Okay, sure, yeah, bring it in.
And had a little bit of a Wonderry list and
oil change in some other services. The fuel door was broken,
which is a whole nother story this. You know, two
hundred dollars piece of plastic that goes on to replace
the fuel door when that breaks. And you know rear brakes.
(02:40):
You ever do rear brakes on a transit, It's it's
not what you think it's. It's kind of a strange deal.
All right. You undo, you get it up in the air.
You undo the five bolts that hold the axle into
the hub and slide the axle out right, and then
that loosens the rotor. That's how the rotor is to
(03:00):
the inside face of the hub. Now the rotor rusts
to the hub. I don't care where you live, the
roter's going to rust to the hub. It's just the
way it is. And by the way, the bolts, yeah,
the bolts we take out. If you've heard the stories
Tom and anybody else, you should we always replace the bolts.
They want those bolts replaced. They want them torque. The
spec I think it was thirty five pounds and then
(03:24):
seventy degree turn, so you're going to do a torque
angle turn on those. They want them torque specific to
a specific torque, a specific tightness. But the problem is,
or the challenge is getting the rotor off. It has
to come loose from the hub because the hub stays
in place. The hub stays there. You kind of have
(03:45):
to rotate the rotor either clockwise or counterclockwise, and then
that indexes it to the flange and then it'll clear
and come straight out. The trick is getting it loose,
of course, you know, we use PV blaster. We broke
down the rust and got it to move, and with
the help of an air chisel we were able to
nudge it along and waited a little bit more, sprayed
(04:07):
a little pb And this was an especially rusty rotor
and hub, and I've got to say that should have
been the clue because the nineteen's usually you're doing the
breaks every fifteen to eighteen thousand miles. This turned out
to be the twenty I guess I'm giving away the story.
He brought me the wrong van, and I took his
(04:29):
word for it. I made the assumption, which is a
dangerous word, and we all know why. And the rotors
were the same because I found out putting the roadors
on that was no problem. But the pads, there was
two choices of pads and they were wrong. And no
matter what we did, we kept coming up with the
wrong pad. But I'm ahead of myself. So we ended
(04:50):
up soaking the hub and the rotor PB, working it
back and forth, and then indexing it off and getting
the rotor off off and you know, clean the hub.
You should clean the hub, Tom, if you're doing these
breaks on your own, you know, clean the area where
the rotor sits, you know, get rid of as much
rust and crud and everything else as you can, and
(05:11):
then put the new rotor on. Okay, and I strongly
recommend you replace the rotors. It's just part of the job.
The van we were doing, it's a plumber's vehicle, and
it's the rotors crushed and you know, had a nasty
lip on it. And this isn't something you really want
to play around with. It's breaks. It's really important, you know,
to stop trying to do this wrong. Don't do a
(05:32):
pad slap. You shouldn't do a pad slap anyway. But
so we got the new rotoran and new bolts, torqued
everything in place, and we can't get the right pads,
and we're going round and round, and you say to yourself,
what am I missing? You know, you look it up
three times. We're breaks twenty nineteen four trans at F
two fifty and customers said the nineteen. And then it
(05:54):
dawned on me. I called my parts house and I said,
by the way, well we'll look trying to figure out
the right pads. You know, I'd also want a rear
brake pad sensor, because they make a sensor. Forge got
a sensor inside the brake pad on the driver's side,
on the inner pad that it's the wear sensor. And
they had driven this so deep that the sensor wasn't reusable.
(06:15):
It gouged itself into the sensor and it had to
be replaced. So they come back and they said, you
we have no listing for a sensor. And then I realized,
thinking about it, I'm still trying to figure out why
I can't get the right brake pads. And then I
realized about three minutes later, and I called my parts
house up and I said, I think I've got the
(06:37):
wrong year on this truck. And I verified it against
the event and sure enough it was the twenty That's
when we got the right brake pads. And lo and
behold inside the brake pad kit is a sensor, and
that got the job moving. And I guess I tell
you this because my point becomes there's always a way out.
(06:58):
There's always a reason why why something went wrong. There's
always a reason why. You know, you've got to think
your way through the problem, all right, And it's not
necessarily just something with breaks. It doesn't have to be
something like that. Look, we see it on other things,
some of the common everyday things that well, that you
guys might be doing. All right, it's difficult for you
(07:19):
to do everything. It's difficult for you to do a
lot of things anymore. We had a customer with a
twenty one jeep Gladiator and Tom, I hope that explains
it for you. We had a customer with a twenty
one Jeep Gladiator somewhere around the timeframe that this transit
was in and it needed batteries. The main battery was
going dead, and it's a start stop vehicle and it
(07:41):
has an auxiliary battery, that battery that's inside the fender well,
and he was going to do it, but he went
to YouTube University and he saw where the battery was
located and you've got to take out the inner wheelhouse
and the battery, and it's a hot mess, and he
didn't want to get involved. He says, Ron, just just
do the whole thing. The issue on the jeeps, just
(08:03):
so that you know is look at the battery terminal.
I believe it was the positive in this case. Does
it have a singular wire connector on it? It's the forward terminal.
I believe that's positive. And if it does, it's got BMI.
If it's got start stop, it's got BMI. Battery monitoring systems. Okay.
So the computer looks at the battery, and it looks
(08:26):
at the state of charge and determines how what it's
going to do as far as charge rate, how it's
going to apply field to the alternator to keep the
alternator running at a higher voltage level to keep the
battery or to charge the battery. The trick is and
in his case, he ran it down so low the
auxiliary battery went dead. So now the computer was confused
(08:47):
and it saw a fifty percent state of charge on
the auxiliary battery even after we changed it. You know,
And it's funny. If you do the research, you're really
gonna love this. There's actually it's a known software that
Chrysler hasn't corrected up to this moment, and they just
they just It kind of surprises me because you would
(09:10):
think with all the software updates that they do, they
could correct this, and I don't know why they don't
do it, but regardless, here's the trick. Here's the tip
I want you to I want you to be aware of.
All right, if you're looking at this with a scan
tool and you won't see this in OBED two, you've
got to go in with a scan tool with your
make model and you're gonna look at state of charger
SoC depending on how your scan tool displays it of
(09:30):
the auxiliary battery, and you've likely at this point got
a message on the dashboard that says start stop, inoperative, start, stop,
not working, stop, start, need service, something along those lines.
You're gonna look at the auxiliary battery and it's gonna
show a less than sixty percent state of charge, typically
(09:52):
in the thirty forty percent tile, and you're gonna go,
but gee, I've got a new auxiliary battery in there.
Why isn't it relearning? Now some of the jeeps we've
observed and had the experience where some of the jeeps
will after a time period, learn a new state of charge,
learn a new SoC A little bit of a pain
(10:13):
in the neck because you're not sure. There doesn't seem
to be any consistency. I can't tell you it's this
model or that model. It just seems very subjective. Here's
the tip, here's what works. Okay, battery, you know, new
batteries in clear any fault codes and with the key
off that singular one wire sensor, disconnect it about ten
(10:37):
to fifteen minutes. All right, Longer is better. It's not
going to hurt anything. And you're going to find that
when you go to restart. You're going to restart it.
Look at the state of charge. All of a sudden,
now you've erased the memory of what the old battery was,
and you're going to see the new battery all right
or I'm sorry, you'll see it will pick up the
(10:57):
new state of charge of the new auxiliary battery. Problem solved.
If you've got codes in the start stop, clear the
codes out once the vehicle warms up up until that point,
we'll say start stop not ready. Once the vehicle warms up,
it will then start to stop stop start again. It
will then start to stop start. Yeah that sounds right, okay,
(11:19):
but the key is yes, you have to reset the
state of charge indicator on the auxiliary battery and that
will allow stop start to begin doing its job. Just
to tip from the car doctor to you. So just
keep it in mind. And you know what, if you
don't want to do your auxiliary battery, I understand. So
just be aware that not everything is as it seems,
(11:41):
and not everything as it was on your older car.
Even doing batteries today gets to be complicated. Phone numbers
eight five, five five six oh nine nine zero zero.
I'm not on an eading in the car doctor. We're
back right after this. Hey, before we get started this segment,
(12:03):
I should point out that down around the bottom. Next
segment coming up Dale Ross from an ABC. They are
doing something this year, as they have for the past
couple of years, recycled rides for veterans. So it's a
great interview. You don't want to miss this as we
talk to dal and get into a little bit of
the how and the why, and if you're a veteran,
if you know someone, this is an interview that you
(12:24):
want to hear because it's going to help you, help
them and so forth. So I want to talk a
little bit about winter car prep. You know, we don't
cover this in great detail, and it's that time of
year where we should. And I've created a little winter
car prep checklist. And one of the questions I wrote,
or one of the comments I wrote, is about switching
to winter tires, because it's a question that you guys,
(12:45):
you know, you're always wondering. I can tell by the emails.
Should I switch to winter tires? Are my all season
tires good enough for snow and ice? You've got to remember, right,
winter is a season, snow is a condition, and you
know where are you going? How are you driving? That's
also key, That's always a key thing. Winter tires, true
(13:05):
winter tires designed to handle ice and snow work really well,
they do all right. I'm not going to say don't
do it, but I'm going to point out that there's
going to be some expense involved because you're going to
have to pay to switch them over unless you purchase,
you know, additional wheels that match your vehicle, and then
you're in the process of storing either you know, tires
(13:26):
or wheels mounted wheels year round. So that's just something
to be aware of. There's also some tire pressure monitoring
complications because you'd have to create separate IDs and store
the tires far enough away. But is it worth it? Hey,
if you're traveling through snow country ice, right, you know
a true winter tire will outperform an all season tire,
(13:49):
no doubt. The question is how much are you driving?
How much do you need it? So it's just something
to think about, but it is something to consider. Testing
your battery, how do you know it's strong enough for
cold starts? Well, you know where I stand on this, Right,
if your battery is older than three years and you're
driving specific models, Hondas come to mind, some of the
Toyotas come to mind, I'm thinking I'm changing that battery
because cold weather strains the battery. Now a quick test
(14:12):
and it's really mindless. The industry has given us some
great battery testing tools and devices. We use a mathematical
algorithm style where it's no load and it's looking at
voltage dissipation over time and it makes a decision about
whether or not that battery is, you know, in danger
of failing, does it need to be charged, does it
(14:33):
need to be replaced. So it's something a good shop
is doing as part of their oil change this time
of year, if not at all around the year, you know,
throughout the year. So we tend to do it spring
end fall anni freeze big topic right. A lot of
cars today, at a minimum, are five year cooling vehicles.
(14:54):
Some are ten. Where do you want to stand on
that conversation? At the very least, depending upon the the
age of your vehicle, you should have the freeze point
checked to see will your vehicle stand up for it.
Is the anti freeze strong enough. If the anti freeze
is in its eighth year and you're keeping the car
long term, you want to also get the coolant checked
for acidity. Is the coolant starting to break down? Is
(15:16):
it reaching the point of failure where it can do
internal damage. Because any freeze will fail. It gets to
be like apple cider. It will go bad, It'll go
sour and rot the system from the inside out and
do damage and cause cause damage to metal, aluminum components
and so on. So any freeze should be checked considered.
It's really dependent upon your vehicle, but it's something your
(15:38):
mechanics should be looking at and you should be as well.
Washer fluid I love this one. This was a great
question someone sent me. They were asking about, you know,
washer fluid and freezing temps. They do make two types
of washer fluids, right. They do make you'll see the
traditional blue the stuff that you're always seeing on the
gas station island when you're getting gas, that blue washer fluid.
(15:58):
And then they make a yellow right, which is a
higher freeze point, and it also has the ability in
some applications, depending upon the brand, will it actually eat
away at the ice and get rid of the ice.
And one of the things that you want to keep
and be aware of is if you know bad weather
is coming, pick your wipers up off the glass, whether
it's snow or ice. You don't want to just get
in the car and turn the wipers on. That's how
(16:20):
you break wiper linkage. Having fixed one just this week
on a twelve Chevy Equinox that was a four hundred
dollars bill, So lifting the wiper blades is a lot cheaper.
Getting the oil changed, well, you know, you don't have
to change it to a winter grade oil, as someone
asked me that went out many, many years ago. You
do want to make sure you're using correct viscosity, and
(16:40):
that's really not just a winter thing. That's a year
round thing. But it's important to know that correct viscosity
is going to help your engine start smooth and quicker
and keep it more reliable and cold weather. It's just
that important. So just make sure you're using correct viscosity.
If you're doing it yourself, and if your mechanics doing it,
you might want to ask them that question. How does
(17:01):
he approach viscosity? Thickness, think thickness, belts, hoses, and the
other stuff that we traditionally used to change or be
worried about. Most belts today on modern vehicles will go
one hundred thousand miles and at least five to six
years right, and we check them differently. We check belts
for failure based on depth of the tread of the belt,
(17:23):
not necessarily like a tire that would crack and dry
and rot out. But of course it's always a good
idea to give the engine compartment a good general look,
look at belts and hoses, consider age and work your
way out from there. I'm running ay and the Car
Doctor coming up next Dale Ross from the ANABC Recycled Rides.
We'll return right after this. Don't go away.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Run Veterans Day.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
What does it mean? Well, we're going to take a
little bit of a detour here on the Car Doctor
and talk about it a little bit. We recently celebrated
Veterans Day and I verified that with my veterans that
I have both in my family and in my you know,
circle of friends, that Veterans Day is a day of celebration.
It's a recognition of what veterans are and who they are,
and what they've done and how they've helped defend the
country and their their commitment. And recently it came to
(18:39):
my attention that the NABC is involved in this this year,
as they always are, and they've made some Well let
me let me bring on our guests and let's talk
about it. Dale, I'm sorry. Dale Ross is the program
director of an ABC Recycled Rides. Dale, I'm stumbling a
little bit today, so you got to help me.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Out, all right, Ron.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You know it's one of those days. But Veterans Days
is something you guys work out year round, right ANYBC,
So tell us what is NABC Recycled Rides program and
how are you connected to veterans?
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Sure? Sure? The NABC stands for National Autobody Council, So
we are made up of all the constituents of the
collision repair industry, so insurance companies that donate vehicles and
then collision repair shops that repair them to like new condition.
And through this NABC Recycled Rides program, what we do
(19:38):
is we recycle these refurbished vehicles. We get them back
into the community by working with local charities to give
them to people that are in need of reliable transportation.
Our main focus is veterans. We do a lot of
vehicles to veterans, and during Veterans Months of November, we
gifted thirty vehicles all over the country to veterans. But
(20:01):
on Veterans Day was kind of special for us because
that was our largest single gifting. We worked with a
repair repair partner, Texas Collision Centers, and they refurbished sixteen
vehicles and we gifted those to sixteen veterans in need
in the Dallas Fort Worth area. That was a pretty
(20:24):
big event.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
So, dyll, are we recycling you know, total vehicles that
they're actually putting back together? Or is it you know,
how do they pick the vehicle?
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Is it based on road worthiness or ability to repair
or that's a huge undertaking today.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yes it is. These shops really invest quite a bit.
But actually these are theft recoveries, so they're not collision totals.
The situation is if your car's you know, stolen, and
the insurance company pays your claim and then two weeks
later the vehicle show up and is recovered, it's a
(21:02):
recovered theft that now the insurance company owns. So the
insurance company donates that vehicle to our program. We have
a collision repair partner that raises their hand and says,
I'll take yeah. So like new conditions.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
So so the veterans that get this is you know,
what's the vetting process? Can can a veteran if there's
a veteran out there. That's g I really need a car.
I'm trying to support my family. Can they sign up
somewhere so they get the recognition and possibly a vehicle
or this is huge, you know at the national level,
I'm sure there's more than thirty veterans that need a vehicle.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Oh yeah, yeah, So we've done We've gifted to one
hundred and twenty five veterans so far this year across
the country. What we do is we work with local
charities and veteran military service organizations and we count on
them to really nominate the people that they know and
(21:57):
have been working with and you can kind of vouch
for because otherwise we don't know, right, you know, we
don't know the person.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
They're legitimate, sure, yeah right.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
So so through those organizations they nominate them. We have
a criteria that they need to meet, We do a
background check, they need to have an honorable discharge, and
then then they're approved.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
So this month November and ABC recognized the veterans on
Veterans Day, it was sixteen vehicles to veterans, but thirty
throughout the month.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Thirty throughout the months. But we do this all year long.
We just don't do it on Veterans Day or in November.
We do it all year.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Long, and I'm sure there's more than enough theft recoveries
in this country to yeah, right, kind of to kind
of feed the fire. Yeah, you know, when they go
through the recycle process, you know, ANYBC recycles rides. Does
the body shop make that decision or are you guys
involved at that at some level? How does it come
(23:02):
to you know, who decides what and where we're going
to do? Obviously you know, and I guess part of
my question is, you know, a BMW gets stolen, but
you know, are we going to give a BMW two
a veteran Not that we can't, but you know, is
it more practically give him a Toyota so he can
put his family in it as well?
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Kind of Yeah, you're exactly right. So we have a
criteria certainly, no luxury vehicles. We're looking for family vehicles, SUVs,
you know, four door sedans, things like that. There can't
be any frame damage, there can't be deployed airbags, no
flood damage, things like that. So we have a first
(23:40):
level of you know, qualification for the vehicle, and then
the repair shop that's going to repair it. They get
to go out to copart, take a look at the
car before they accept it.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Talk about the repair shops a minute. Theyll not to
cut you off, but talk about the repair shops a minute.
I mean, this is a huge commitment on they're part
as well. Right, they're dedicating their resources and obviously they're
not getting paid to.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Do this, that's correct. So first they go to their
local vendors to see if they want to be involved
in donor and then we have national vendors that will
help out, like LKQ will donate parts to every one
of these recycled rides. But yeah, it's a huge commitment
for the repair shop. Their technicians usually are volunteering their time.
(24:31):
It's really amazing what they do. And we have people
like a Dynasty Autobody in New Jersey that they do
this every year for veterans. I think they've done it
thirteen years in a row something like that. Last year.
This past year gifted four veterans. So they usually do
(24:52):
multiple veterans at a time, and they do it every year.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
You know, it's a daunting task. I'm sitting here thinking
about it. Stolen recoveries and this isn't just you know,
a stolen recovery by definition is what the name implies.
But this isn't a vehicle that well, you know, somebody
stole it, took it for a joy ride. This is
the anti theft system has likely been you know, hacked into,
or the wiring, the steering and the wiring column has
(25:16):
been beat up. There's probably dense there could be engine
damage because they abuse the vehicle right there out for
a joy rod. There's a lot that goes into this,
and you know, the body shops. Really this is a
huge expense on everybody's part. This is a great program deal.
I got to tell you, I'm very impressed.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, no, we go over them pretty good.
There's really you know, if there's engine damage, we haven't
seen it because we've already you know, taken a thorough
analysis of the vehicle. A lot of them. You're surprised,
you'd be surprised that it's just really the steering column
that they might have damaged to get into the vehicle.
(25:56):
And other than that, it's just minor, you know, scratches
and dents and things like that. And so these shops
refurbish them to like brand new condition.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
So an ABC recycle rides. How do you find them?
I mean, it's just a matter if you're working with
your contacts at insurance companies or existing body shops, or
is there a specific process you go.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Through well insurance companies. There's probably seven or eight that
are members of our organization. Everybody needs to be a member.
So our member insurance companies like Geico and All State Travelers, Farmers,
they find the vehicles, so they're actively working with us,
(26:38):
and they come to us and say, hey, I have
a car in upstate New York, take a look at it.
We'll put it into the program.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Right if we've got a veteran out there, deal as
we wind things down. If we've got a veteran out there,
that's you know, they need a rod. You know, how
do they apply for it? You know, how do they
get more information? And where would they go?
Speaker 4 (27:02):
So the best thing is any organization that they're already
working with, the VA or any charity like Western New
York Heroes in the Buffalo area, something someone like that,
if they're already working with them, talk to them about
nominating them. They can email us, but they can't really
(27:22):
apply themselves. They have to be nominated. They could email
us at an ABC gifting at National Autobody Council dot org.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
You say that one more time for us, Dale.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
It's an A B C gifting at National Autobody Council
dot orgy. That's not a not a short one.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
That's that's that's that's a mouthful, brother, and then what's
and then what's what's the website? Is that didn't fill
on your website as well?
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Yes, it's a National Auto Body.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Council, National Little Body Care Council dot dot org or
dot com dot org, dot org, dot National Older Bodycounsel
dot org. Got it and spelled out as it sounds.
Nationalottle Body Council dot com, dot org dot org. Okay, cool, Dale,
you guys are doing a heck of a job. I
want to say thank you on behalf of the veterans
(28:18):
that I have in my family and uh, you know
everyone out there. We appreciate what you guys are doing
and you know, keep on going.
Speaker 4 (28:25):
All right, all right, well, thank you very much, Ron,
you appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
You're very welcome, sir. You're welcome back anytime. I'm Ronning
any and the car doctor. We are back right after this, Okay,
I want to talk a little bit about tire pressure
monitoring system because we're definitely into that time of year.
(28:50):
It's getting colder, and I think a lot of you
are going to be seeing the tire pressure light, that
little yellow light that looks like a cross section of
a tire if you look at it close enough and
you're all wondering what it is. It's yellow, it's orange,
but you get it. You've seen it on your dashboard.
You should be seeing it when you go through bulb check,
when you turn the key to the on or push
the button to the on position before it starts. Tire
(29:11):
pressure monitoring systems, and they'll work one of a couple
of different ways. They've either got a sensor in the tire,
which is a direct system, meaning that there is a
tire pressure sensor. Is a radio transmitter in a sense
typically operates on a broadcast frequency. Not that you need
to know this, but it's three hundred and fifteen megahertz,
(29:32):
or it's four hundred and thirty three mega hurts, and
some of them are a little different. Some of the
higher profile cars were on a different frequency. And understand
each sensor has a unique broadcast number, has a unique
registration number, I should say and think about it, right,
because if you were next to a car that had
a same number, in your vehicle's receiver picked up on
(29:54):
the guy next to you when he's got low tire pressure,
it's going to turn on your light. So each sensor
in each wheel has to be unique, right. A tire
pressure light comes on when there's one of two reasons,
low pressure or a fault in the system. A fault
in the system is usually indicated by the light blinking blink, blink,
(30:18):
blink a couple times, ten times, twenty times, whenever the
manufacturer wants, and then the light will stay on solid
after I think roughly thirty seconds to a minute of driving.
That's a fault. That's not low pressure. So you can
check tire pressure all you want and you're not going
to find a fault. You find that if the placard
on the door, which is where I'm going next, says
(30:39):
thirty five and the tires roll at thirty five, that's
not low tire pressure. That is a fault in the system.
And by the way, we should mention, I should mention
that when we're talking tire pressure systems, always think you
know about the spare. If you're driving a Toyota, you've
probably got a fifth tire involved. Toyota lexis, depending if
(31:00):
it's a full size or not, you've probably got a
tire in the trunk or in the back area somewhere
that's got a tire pressure sensor in it too, So
don't rule that out. Wrap fours the tire on the door,
that type of thing. But tire pressure systems and they
all work pretty much the same way in the sense
that the light is designed to come on, intended to
(31:22):
comme on when tire pressure drops fifteen percent less than
door placard. What do I mean by door placard? Open
up the driver's door. There's a decal either on the
door or on the post, and it's going to tell
you a couple of things. That'll show you the Then
it'll show you data manufacture of the vehicle. It will
show you suggested tire pressure for that vehicle, and that
(31:47):
number generally resides. You know, it'll say thirty five pounds
for example, that's thirty five pounds at sixty eight degrees. Okay,
here's the key. Tire press p sure changes rule of
thumb one pound for every ten degrees of change. If
tire if the temperature goes up to seventy eight degrees,
(32:08):
you've now got tire pressure at thirty six goes up
to eighty eight degrees thirty seven. Consequently, where you see
it more is when it goes the other way. You'll
see it go from sixty eight to now this time
of year. If your oil was changed in early June
or late May, depending upon what part of the country
you're in, and you haven't checked tire pressure, and all
(32:31):
of a sudden you get to you know, late fall,
early winter and it's cold, you're going to see that
tire pressure drop at least three pounds. It'll get to
a point where it drops a little bit more. You're
going to see about a four and a half pound drop. Boom,
the light comes on, so it's easy enough to resolve.
You're going to look at pressure on the tire versus
(32:55):
door placard. Right, I'll tell you what. Let me pull over,
take a pause. When I come, we'll finish up with
this TPMs systems right on the other side. I'm ronning
Andy and the car doctor. We'll be back right after this. Okay,
(33:21):
we are back, So just to finish up the conversation
in the minute or two that we have left tire
pressure monitoring systems. When I left you, we were talking about,
you know, why is the light on? We went through
a couple of scenarios. You need to have an accurate
tire pressure gage, needless to say, and you're gonna spend
a couple of bucks. Right, You're not going to buy
(33:41):
a cheap piece of junk because it's critical that it's accurate,
and you're going to make sure that not the number
on the tire. You're gonna look at the door placard,
all right. If the placard says thirty five pounds and
it's thirty degrees out, add two pounds, all right, go
up a little bit. If the door placard says thirty
(34:01):
five pounds and you're in Arizona, okay, and it's one
hundred degrees, you're gonna know that you wanna, you know,
maybe make it thirty four to thirty three. Drop it
a little bit because it's gonna get tire pressure's gonna
go up as you drive the car because the tire
is gonna get hotter, all right, So it's important to
note placards at sixty eight it's gonna change up or
(34:23):
down one to one pound for every ten degrees of change.
And that's critical so that you've got good solid tires
on the car as far as pressure goes, and that
you're not overinflated, you're not under inflated. That's how TPMs
systems work. I see, that's about it for our time today.
I'm running eighty in the car doctor, till the next time.
Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you the car Doctor.
(34:48):
Car Advice to ride
Host
Ron Ananian
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