October 21, 2023 • 35 mins
Ron starts this episode with the story of an 07 Ford where everything was wrong, but turned out right : takes a call on a 14 RAM that is giving a 4 wheel drive code, but the 4WD seems to be working OK and the caller is looking to see what the code means : takes a call on a 09 Camry that had a check engine light, the Toyota dealer said to replace the gas cap, light came back on – and she is looking for Ron’s advice : answers an email on a 2000 Accord where the exhaust system was replaced and now has O2 sensors : takes a call on an 01 Cherokee Sport with heating problems : answers an email on an 18 Ford with transmission problems.
Visit us at https://www.cardoctorshow.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ron Ananian, I chose not to work on his car.
And I think that's within the mechanics, right. I think
a mechanic has the right not to have to work
on every day. And I think the conversation is respectfully
the clon no thank you, no.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Moment, no thank you please, it only makes this need.
Then it makes him.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
How to find my doll? The car doctor.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
On the regulator, there's an A and then I and
then F and then F.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Where's where does the idea guy?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
As it goes to a white wire.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
That goes to the fuse box, so that means it's power.
So that means the back of the alternator that I
terminal must be twelve vaults.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian the Car Doctor.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Since nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
This is where car owners the world overturned to for
their definitive opinion on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving
you a busy signal, pick up the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
The garage doors are open, but I am here to
take your calls at eight five five five six ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Hundred and now pee.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Running.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Did I tell you the story about the UH seven
Ford that we had problems with recently. It's just kind
of a classic case of you know, when things go wrong,
but they end up right, and it happens. You know,
we had an O seven f one fifty. We've worked
on this truck for a long time now, we've gotten
to know it very well. It's it's it's basically a
(01:30):
plow vehicle. It's an O seven. It's got sixty seven
thousand miles on it. It doesn't have a lot of miles.
Shows you how little use it really gets, you know,
and it's being affected by rust and agent whether and
it sits around a lot. The uh person that owns
it just uses the plow the driveway out. They've got
a bigger house off the road and they need to
get out to the main road during winter months. So
it's just it's kind of a plow vehicle and that's
(01:51):
all they do with it, and you know, little jobs
and odd things around the house and so forth. But
you know, it's not the daily driver. So the complaint
was the red brake light comes on at the dashboard,
flickers on and off, and we got the vehicle, didn't
see it, saw no red brake light. No matter what
we did, we couldn't get the red brake light to
come on. So, you know, there's two reasons why the
(02:15):
red brake light will come on on this vehicle, like
most vehicles, it's either a fault with the parking brake
switch or the parking brake. You know, you push down
the parking break the red brake light comes on, excuse me.
Or you will see low fluid in the master cylinder.
Or it could be a bad float sensor in the
master cylinder and either one of those tool caused the
red brakelight to come on. So we didn't see a
(02:38):
red brake light on. We couldn't duplicate it no matter
what we did. We drove it and nothing happened. And
you know, we took the liddle off the master cylinder,
we looked at the sensor. We gently pushed down on
the sensor. It didn't come up. Red brake lights stayed on, AHA,
because the fluid was a little on the low side.
Because it turns out it needed front brakes. The front
pads were just a NAT's eye lash away from going
(02:58):
metal on metal, and the fluid level was low enough that, yeah,
you could see that, you know, on a turn uphill
downhill you know, some some sloshing the fluid around, maybe
the float comes in contact and would turn the light
on and it wouldn't come back up. The light was
on at that point. All right, here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna you know, and it's a plow vehicle. Did
I tell you that part? I think I did, so.
(03:20):
You know it's pads, rotters, calipers, all right, because you
could see one side of the caliper, the inboard pad
was faster, was wearing faster than the other on one side.
The other side had a break hose that was bulging.
So it needed some mechanical repairs to the break system. Pads, rotters, caliper, soses,
and I put a master on it. It's fifteen years old.
(03:41):
The sensor was sticking, the fluid was getting dirty, which
it'll do from lack of use. Right, you know, break
fluid absorbs moisture seven to ten percent a year. It's hygroscopic,
and it will absorb moisture and show contamination and break down.
So let's put a master on the vehicle. It's it's time.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
One of the other things I always say, I mean
this sincerely, is we're running out of parts. All right,
older vehicles. If you can get parts now and you're
planning to keep it, and Rick the owner was planning
to keep it, Let's do it now. Let's get it done.
Padro Caliber's hoses, master cylinder, float level sensor moved good, Hey,
we're done. Took it around the block. Red brake light
(04:19):
came on. HM, well, at least we got brakes, so
we dove a little deeper. Couldn't get it to happen again,
couldn't get it to happen, drove it. The light went out,
and it just kept behaving itself. It's been a while
since I've seen an seven f one to fifty on
a regular basis. I went through my notes and I
(04:39):
started reading again, which is why I keep notes in
the first place, And then it hit me. These were
common for instrument cluster faults. The instrument cluster itself would
fail and have its issues. So I took the top
of the dash apart, and you know, the connector on
the left side was where the feeds came in through
(04:59):
the break light switch going down to the red brake light.
And sure enough, if I kind of wiggled and gently
massaged that left connector, the brake light would go on,
the brake light would go out. Ah, we need a
cluster repair. Sent it out for cluster repair, and I
could prove this very you know, hardcore. Every time, got
(05:23):
it to do it, sent it out for cluster repair,
brought it back, took it around the block vehicles fixed
what's right? What's wrong? Nothing? You know, sometimes you got
to fix the obvious. You have to fix known bad.
I say this to you all the time. All right,
(05:44):
you can't ignore the failures of other parts of the
vehicle and repair. Well, I'm going to fix the red
brake light. You know what, The red brake light's not unsafe.
It doesn't. It contradicts what's really going on, but it's
not unsafe. No brakes is unsafe. Poor breaks is unsafe.
And Rick got it. He understood one hundred percent. And
(06:05):
as he said to me, he said, you know, Ron,
a new plow truck is sixty five thousand dollars. A
stripped boy, what's wrong? What's wrong with this picture? Right?
A strip that f one point fifty they'll take A
plow is sixty grand, sixty five thousand bucks. Now it's
you know, it's just it's just crazy. Now, the argument
could be made, well, he could hire somebody to plow
the driveway, but I think I think, in all honesty,
(06:27):
I think that's Rick's moment of sanity that he gets
to go out there and play push the snow, and
you know, he just gets to. He enjoys that, you know,
and I get that, you know, like listen, I enjoy
cutting the lawn sometimes and you know, just that moment
of solitude when you're out there and about. So I
guess the point of this as we kick off this
hour of the car Doctor, is just you know, Yeah,
there's no rule that says it's any one thing. There's
(06:49):
no rule that says, you know, we can't look at
the rest of the vehicle, nor shouldn't we look at
the rest of the vehicle. The rule is fix the
vehicle and make it safe, make it right. You know,
when the systems are failing, you've got to either make
a commitment or get out from under. Kevin brought in
his seven Ford edge this week. About three weeks ago,
(07:10):
he was driving around visiting his mom in upstate New
York and the oil pressure light came on and he
stopped at his mom's repair shop up in that neck
of the woods and he needed an oil pressure sending unit.
He had a switch failure. So they did that, and
three weeks later he's dropped it off with the shop
because he collected a bunch of dash lights, ABS, traction control,
(07:32):
the wrench maintenance light came on, the TPMs light came on,
no check engine light, just about everything else. And when
I scanned it, it had a fault code P zero
seven twenty two, which indicates a problem in the output
shift speed sensor circuit. Some research talked about based on
the vincode and the date of the vehicle's assembly, it
(07:55):
could have a problem in the wiring harness, It could
be a problem with the sensor, so on and so forth,
and you know on research to do that sensor, it's
down deep in the bowels of the transmission. The transmission
has to actually come apart. And I said to Kevin,
I said, Kevin, are you committed to this vehicle one
hundred and sixty thousand miles fifteen years old? Are you
ready to you know, get deep into the bowels of
the trans and you know, possibly do a sensor. Dude,
(08:17):
you know, we could do a deep dive, which we
would have to for a diagnosis. Do we need to
look at wiring? You know, there's a bunch of things
to consider here. No, he says it's time to get
rid of it. I'm done, and that's the difference. The
point becomes both vehicles are O seven's, But Rick was
I'm hanging onto this, fix everything. I want it right.
Kevin's point is he was done. He didn't want to
(08:39):
fix the seven and understandable. It's a personal human decision.
Nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong on either side. The
point becomes, you got to know what you're getting into.
You've got to know what your level of commitment is.
If you want to hang on to it, fix it.
If you don't want to fix it, don't fix it,
but understand the costs and understand where that can lead.
(09:00):
There's no guarantee that rix plowtruck won't need something else
major before the end of the year, and there's no
guarantee it will. But he didn't spend sixty five thousand
dollars just how he looks at it, Kevin, I don't
know he's gonna go out and test the market and
see what vehicles cost today. And I think he's going
to be shocked, and he'll probably be back because there's
no cheap used vehicles out there, and there's hardly any
(09:24):
good new ones. That's a whole nother conversation for another day.
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero
Ron and nay of the car Doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Don't go away for the best in
(09:44):
car advice.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Give Ron a call eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Now back to Ron. Let's go over to Dicky in
Maine with a fourteen rim and some four wheel drive problems.
Got to get that working for a winter. So welcome
to the car Doctor, Dicky. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, Hi, on, I have a twenty fourteen dogs Hoomy
Ram shot box and it keeps showing a code on
the desk. There a service four wheel drive system. Okay,
I've always taken care of my own stuff, but everything's
sealed now, there's no way to add fluid or anything
like that, and I just I haven't coded it at all,
so I don't know what it is.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Right. So you know, obviously we'd like to know what
the fault code is. There's been a lot of problems
with that and understand just so we're clear. And I
think you know this, but I just want to say
when they say service four wheel drive system, they're not
saying it's time to change a fluid. They're telling you
the system's not working. It won't go into four wheel drive,
will it. Have you tried?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, it works fine, four wheel driven, anything works fine
on it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Okay, then I'm going to tell you you got Then
I'm going to tell you need to pull a code
and see what's in there, because it sounds like you're
getting a warning message because it's seeing some sort of
a fault, whether it be an intermittent defect or a
hard defect, that it's not going to work properly come
this winter. Now. A couple of things to note that
(11:04):
works with the front axle actuators. The front differential axle
actuators on those have a real high failure rate, you know,
so they're known to go. The other issue is Chrysler
and their infinite wisdom decided to put all the wiring
and the grounds in and around that actuator. So you know,
guess what, you're out there plowing snow, You're out there
(11:26):
driving on a cold, wet's main road and all that chemicals.
Over time, all that chemical gets on the wiring. Check
for a broken ground wire up by the driver's side
motor mount that ground. If that ground, if you trace
it back, I believe goes to the FAD the front
actual front differential ACXLE actuator, and then you can just
get into power and ground at the connector. I've also
(11:49):
seen the connector get corrosion on it and it creates
enough internal resistance in the connector that the actuator can't
be read properly or actuated properly. And that's an issue.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
But something in the front front driver's side, yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, right, But the fact, the fact that it's working
now tells me that, you know, we've got to go
look at this and not just hope and wait for
a winter to come up and then it'll be working properly.
Let's go see what the code is. Yeah, something, something's
going to go on there on the border right. Yeah,
and understand, not an ob D two scan. You've got
(12:26):
to go in with something that's your make, model specific,
because we want to look at transfer case before wheel drive.
And I'm willing to bet it's going to be a
seas in Charlie one forty seven b as in Baker
one forty seven b as in Baker. That was a
common fault for the front actual actuator. And I bet
you that's that'll take you on the path, all right.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Kittle, Okay, okay, thank you for much.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You're very welcome, sir. Good luck to you if you
need more of them here, Yes, sir, not a problem.
You're very welcome. Let's get over to uh let's go
talk to is that Marie and Maine and see what's
going on here on nine Camra. Yes, ma'am, well, love
your show. Thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
I get a twenty oh nine CAMERI essay. I bought
it though, and it's never been in an accident. I
bought it at a Toyota dealership. I've had all my
maintenance down at Toyota Service. It has seventy one thousand miles.
So about three weeks ago, the the engine light went on.
It was it was steady, so they said replace the
(13:25):
gas cap. So I did. Well, it came back on again,
so they ran the diagnostics and they didn't see a problem,
so they reset the light again. Well, I'm going in
next week and I really don't know if you had
any words of wisdom or I love this car, but
I don't want to spend like tons of bucks. So well,
wasn't any ideas?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, let's back up a second. Who said put a
gas cap on it? Toyota?
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Okay, So what do you know what the numbered fault
code was? Was it a P zero four to four
to one? I don't no, okay, so let's let's let's
have a general conversation you and I. All right, if
you took a gallon gas can and filled it up
(14:12):
with gas and sealed it and put it outside on
your driveway on a hot sunny day, what do you
think will happen?
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Oh, it might blow up or something.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Right, or it's going to expand and bulge and leak. Right, yes, yeah,
so okay, let's take the gas cap off and let's
so it doesn't build up any pressure. But now what
are we doing? We're venting fumes to the atmosphere?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Right?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yes, cars are the same way, all right. Your car
has a gas tank, right, yeah, so if they sealed
that gas tank, what do you think what happened to
your car? Right? So you know it sounds like this
is going to be what we call big big word here,
a college word, evaporative emissions system. The fault, but there
(15:02):
are there are There are multiple ways and multiple tests
in which we test the system's fuel tank for integrity.
Think think guests can in the driveway, right, Most guests
cans have they have a poor spout, They have events spout,
right they You know, we could put a sensor in
there to measure internal pressure. There's a bunch of ways
(15:25):
we could test that container to see if it has
integrity or if it's leaking fumes. Correct. Yeah, so you know,
maybe one sensor fault is a P zero four four one,
then the other ones at P zero four four two,
and then the other ones at P zero four four
three and so on. So until we know what exact
fault code this is, we're just having a great conversation
(15:46):
you and I, but we're not getting anywhere.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
So okay, No, they didn't give me the codes or
anything when they were in the diagnostics, right.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Well, you know, just so we clarify, a diagnostic is
more than just a code scan. It's okay, we've got
a P zero four four one. Then somebody either sticks
their head in a book and understands how that four
to four one occurs. Okay, right, Just like when you
go to the er and they take your heart rate, Jam, Marie,
(16:15):
your blood your heart rate's a little high today. Let's
go look and see you. Let's go run. So what
do they do? They run some tests, right, they might.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
Myself.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
So yeah, you know where I'm coming. Right, They're heart rate,
they're gonna look at blood pressure, they're gonna look at pulse,
they're gonna look at you know, they're gonna ask you
all kinds of questions. That's a diagnostic. What they've done
at this point is they've done a code scan. Not enough,
they took your heart rate and blood pressure. They got
to go to the next step. All right, Okay, that
(16:47):
should be fairly easy to diagnose and repair. Of course,
the one overall factor is you're in Maine.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Right, Yes I am.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
And they get that funny stuff called snow. Yes, and
to combat that snow they put what on the road
chemical and that chemical, that chemical causes a lot of
things to rot and rust out on the cars. Okay,
So when we're looking to see if that gas can
in your driveway has integrity, it's intact in an automobile.
(17:21):
We have to look at the vent lines, we have
to look at the purge, we have to look at
all the controls and self regulation. It can be done.
So I think reasonably you should look at I think
you're going to spend two hours of diagnostic time. Two
hours of diagnostic time. A shop should be able to
go through if that is a hardcore present problem and
(17:43):
diagnose it all right, if they want, if they want to,
and that's that's one of the keys marine, So go in,
go in, talk to them about running a diagnostic talk
to them. You know, hey, you're willing to spend one
to two hours of time, can they give you some answers?
And if they can't, unfortunately, then you're in the wrong place.
You got to find the shop that can. But that's
(18:03):
not an unrepairable problem and not something I think about
getting rid of the car over because it should be
able to be fixed. I'm Ronning Andy and the guard doctor.
I'm back right after this. Don't go away. Ron's in
his own the AutoZone studio and he'll be back right
after this.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Every hardway let me slip away home.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Every hardway you've seen that it is welcome back to
the AutoZone studio. Here's Ron. Shoot, hey there, so I'm back.
Let's see I want to read this from Randall. Randall
wrote a very nice email. Randall from Newington, New Hampshire. Ron,
I love the show I'm writing about. I have a
two thousand and Honda Accord Ex with a four cylinder
(18:57):
in the California missions package. It has a low exhaust or.
It had allowed exhaust. I'm sorry, so I replaced the
exhaust from the manifold to the tip a few months ago.
I used a new NTK good choice heated oxygen sensor
in the new catalytic converter. As soon as I started
the car, the malfunction indicator or check engine lamp lit up.
I knew immediately what was wrong. The sensor isn't right.
It was the only component with an electrical connector. I
(19:18):
tried a dentso heated oxygen sensor and it had the
same issue. I went to my service manual looked up
procedure for testing components. I tested both of the new
O two's. They both have a resistance value of three
and a half homes. The old one, still in the
old cat had a seven and a half home value.
Speck in the manuals between two and twenty. They should
work fine, but I don't. I bought a walk a
row two sensor for AutoZone. It has a resistance value
(19:41):
of ten homes and the light is off. The rest
of the wiring seems fine. Voltage is in continuity within spec.
I tested those with my vaultometer. It works now, so
it's done as you say out the door. A couple
of comments here Randall and for everyone else. Service manuals
are great, but there's nothing like having current, always changing,
always updated, fresh information from an online source. All data
(20:04):
all right. For example, because this is a two thousand,
this vehicle's twenty three going on twenty four years old.
Service information has changed a lot since that book was published,
and it'll probably have changed by the time I get
done doing the show today. That updated information is always
handy to have, you know, I would question because I
have run into this on two thousand. I think I
(20:25):
talked about this not too long ago two thousand and
two thousand and one accords where I couldn't find proper
two application by design, and I ended up talking to
the boys over at Opus IVS and we had them
reference it and we found the right part number that way,
So I don't think this is an issue that NTK
or Denso had problems. NTK, in my opinion, is an
(20:47):
OE sensor. It is an oas sensor and one of
the better sensors out there. I don't think companies that
large make their living doing things wrong. I think this
was a catalog application or a parts look up error message,
So just be aware of that. One of the things you
could do, Randall is you could go out and sign up,
go to shop squad online dot com. Shop squad online
dot com, sign up as a repair shop and you'll
(21:10):
have access to all the information in shop squad and
you can actually look up parts directly on the NNGK
NTK website, and they present a bunch of information as
a matter of fact, if there is an application error,
if there's reported cases of problems looking up two censors,
for example on this vehicle, it'll be in shop squad
online because they record those kinds of things and display
(21:32):
that information. There's an awful lot of information out there
at shop squad online dot com. And I haven't gotten
to the bottom of that well, nor do I expect to.
But in any event, on with your email ron, not
there any insights You've had this issue with a car
head two before? Well, there you go. There's some of
it that getting the right part sometimes is difficult. I'm
wondering if the ECO is just tired and once the
higher resistance of the orre the wiring is getting old
(21:54):
and there's too much sensitivity associated with it, if the
connectors are so all higher resistance is needed to maintain
the current. Now, well, I think it's a parts application error.
I've had this issue before and purchasing a correct a
different part number from an NTK and that vehicle would work, right.
I think this is a poor application. Look up. I'm
Honda didn't do things exactly right back twenty eighty three
(22:16):
going on twenty four years ago, so you know, one mistake,
things get lost and nobody's going to remember how it
was corrected, you know, if you wanted to take the time.
This is one of those things when you get into
applications or cataloging that if we were to go back
far enough and look far enough, we might find a
technical service bulletin from Honda that says, hey, this part
number is supposed to be this, but instead it found
(22:38):
out that it's supposed to be that, you know, when
you think about it, it's kind of amazing how the
how the manufacturers keep their part numbers all lined up
and in order that they're right as many times as
they are. I'm amazed at more times at how how
how many times we get parts right versus that, you know,
three percent of the time when we get parts wrong.
So I wouldn't take that to heart. I'm not sure
(22:59):
what the computer checks with heated circuit or it's adaptions programming.
I did check the codes of my old code reader.
It was a DTCP zero one forty one secondary heated
two sensor one heater circuit malfunction. I'd be lost without
my manuals or imagination. Imagine what you could do randal
with online data again, you know, like an old data.
So just something to think about it. I also did
(23:19):
the ten minute memory reset disconnect the battery alone with
the code reader. I really have an issue with this
car in terms of computers. I've replaced all the metal
fuel and brake lines, front subframe, fuel tank and struts
and springs about and about four cats in exhausts. The
cats only need to be replaced because the flans is
brought out. They seem to last about seven to nine years.
He then goes on to save repair as an art form.
I love how creative repairing things is just figuring out
(23:41):
the puzzles, you know, Randall, I appreciate somebody that's out
there trying to do this on a on a part
time basis, and you know, you seem to be doing
it well. You seem to have a clear thought process.
You know. Oxygen sensors are oxygen sensors. They're not tough
to to test. We've and we can only test them.
I don't think a repair shop contest an oxygen sensor
(24:02):
one hundred percent. I think we can get into the
eighty five ninety percent tile. You know, I think it's difficult.
I've seen a few cars, not necessarily just Hondas, but
vehicles where the oxygen sensor is biased. It doesn't start
its reference voltage at zero, for example, It'll start its
reference voltage at a negative two tenths of a vault,
(24:25):
and its range will only go as high as positive
eight tenths of a vault. Because it's a one range
vault sensor that biased two, which skews more to the
low side, which is a lean condition. Constantly causing the
vehicle to add fuel is a rich condition. Is the
tough one to find. But I've seen that, you know,
(24:46):
but the majority of O two sensors, we can do
a bunch of things. Vehicle running, shoot it with a
little propane. Does it go as we used to say,
pig rich? Will it hit point eight point nine? And
I'd like to see point nine because I've seen point
z on a bias OH two and just testing one
side of it with propane doesn't do any good. I
will also pull a vacuum hose off a large vacuum
(25:08):
hose and watch my two readings. How low does it go?
Does it go below zero? The rule is an O
two sensor that goes below zero technically isn't right and
should be replaced because it is biased in the wrong direction.
All right. Years ago, we actually used to run a
test GM single wire H two's where we would grab
(25:28):
the oxygen sensor wire, we disconnect it, watch on a
scan tool and we'd wet our fingers, we'd touch the
end of the connector. We'd wet our fingers and touch
the positive battery post and watch the two voltage change.
On a scan tool because our body acted as a
giant resistor. It's kind of a fun thing to do,
sort of like look at this, and then we would
(25:49):
also go the other way and wet our fingers and
go to the negative side of the battery. We go
negative positive negative positive. We'd become the two sensor command,
if you will. We'd see if we could drive the
system rich or Lean and early days, it taught us,
you know, it taught us how the system works. It
also gave us the opportunity to, you know, test other
(26:10):
things by virtue of substitution. We were the O two,
so you know, that's one of the things we do
as well as far as heater circuit testing. What they're
doing is they're looking at voltage drop. A computer doesn't
measure current, it measures voltage drop. It's looking to see
it's doing Ohm's law in its head, so to speak,
that if this much voltage is flowing, and it knows
the resistance of the circuit, then it's calculating out what
(26:33):
the current must be. Does that current flow meet the
spec and if it does, all is good. If it doesn't,
then it sees a fault. That's why the vehicles that
had a or the two sensors that had a different
resistance value turn the light back on for a heater
circuit fault. Because as resistance changes in Ohm's law, so
does the value of current flowing based upon the base voltage.
(26:54):
So it just made all that much of a difference
as far as testing capability. But that's how they do it, alright, Ketto.
I appreciate your email, and I'm sure you'll get this.
You say that you're you know you're working and you're
doing your service at a home improvement and you'll get
to this on a Wednesday evening after ten thirty, So
God blessed, keep going and if you have any questions,
you know where to find me. Eight five five five
(27:15):
six zero nine nine zero zero. Run a name of
the card doctor. I'll be back right after this. Welcome back,
(27:39):
run named the card doctor here at eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. Keep in mind
I haven't said it yet today, but we are trying
to do calls on Wednesday night. So you shoot us
an email eight five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero, leave a voicemail. Shoot us an email ron
at cardoctorshow dot com. Tell us who you are a
name number, how to get a hold of you, and
we're trying to do tapings on Wednesday nights seven o'clock
(28:00):
Eastern time for airing on future shows. So eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero has multipurpose.
You can call now or you can get in a
queue and we'll talk to you midweek. Let's go over
and talk to Speaking of talking, let's go talk to
Peter in Philly. Oh one jeep Cherokee. Peter, welcome to
the car doctor, sir, how can I help?
Speaker 5 (28:18):
Yeah, Ron, thank you very much for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Well, here's the deal. I got a two thousand and
one Cherokee Sport six cylinder, a four point zero engine,
and problem seems to be in the heating system. I
don't have any hot ear flow to the floor. I
took it to my mechanic and he says there's a
(28:42):
motor under the dash that has to be replaced. However,
I only have three controls on the dash. The first
one I have a fan speed selector switch that works fine,
and the next one is the airflow of action switch,
which does not work. I do get hot air in
(29:04):
the defrost mode, but not for the heat for the floor,
and the temperature switch works.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
All right, Okay, So let me ask you this. The
heat that's coming out of the defroster right if you
if you set it on mid mid fan speed, is
that hot enough that it's uncomfortable to keep your hand there?
Uh no, okay, so it's it's really only lukewarm.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
Well, no, it's I get plenty of heat up to
the defrost because I have to turn it off it
gets so warm.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Okay, so it does work. Oh, it's just that it's
not putting heat out on the floor.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Right, So I guess the the I don't know what. See.
I used to have a seventy nine deep turkey years ago,
and I had a there was some type of a
vacuum tank and a hose they do controlling the air.
They pop it to the bottom.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
They did away with all that. Peter, let me let me, Peter,
let me ask that's your question. Okay, how many how
many doors do you have on your house or apartment?
You got also you got a front door, you got
a bedroom door, you got a kitchen door.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
Right, Well, let me see there's a cellar door two upstairs.
I guess the total of let me see three a
cellar door, front door, and back door.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Okay, so on your on your jeep, you've got at
the frost door, you've got you've got a temp door,
and you've got a bottom or mid door that either
goes to the center of the dash or out on
the floor. Right, So the little electric motor that runs
the to the floor or middle of the dash, right,
(30:38):
that motor is not working from the sounds of it.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
Okay, so he's telling the truth then right now.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
But here's and here's the key. All right, I'd spend
ten bucks and go down to my local autoparts store
autozonal have him if you have one near you, and
grab a thermometer right and stick it in the temp
stick it in the ducks. Do you have enough heat?
Because I just want to make sure you don't have
two problems, because it's not uncommon for the older jeeps
to have restricted heater cores that won't affect where the
(31:07):
heat comes out. But I just want to make sure
that if he does the blend or that the rest
of it is going to work properly too. So the
you know, for a simple test, so the magic number,
all right, especially this time of year when it's not
too cold on the east coast. The magic number if
you put that thermometer in the defroster duck and turn
(31:27):
the heat on second or third speed, you don't want
to be on full second or third speed. Mid level,
you should see approximately one hundred and forty five to
one hundred and sixty degrees of temperature. Okay, all right,
And if you've got that, then you've got enough heat
being generated by the engine that it'll it'll defrost and
you know you won't have an issue. The reason you
(31:49):
need that much heat is because if the engine is
running at one hundred and ninety five degrees, you're going
to lose thirty degrees by normal attrition between it and
the ducks, and by the time it gets to your skin,
if it's coming out the duck at one hundred and fifty,
it's gonna hit your skin. You're lucky if it hits
it at one hundred and twenty, all right. So that's
why it has to run so hot, So don't be
(32:10):
fool That's why I say a couple of things. If
you put your hand by the heater and it's uncomfortable,
they're like you feel like you're getting burned. That's a
sign you've got good heat. Grab the upper radiator hose.
Is the engine warm regardless of what the gauge says,
and then go to the heater core. Feel both heater hoses.
One should be hot to the touch, the other one
(32:30):
should be fifteen to twenty degrees cooler but still uncomfortable,
but not as hot. If that's the case, then chances
are it's just a blend door issue. Your basement door's
actuator is broken. But if it's not the case, you
could have a bad blend door actuator and a restricted
heater core and they're both going to need to be replaced.
(32:51):
So just you know, in terms of longevity. And by
the way, that's a four liter jeep, that thing will
probably run forever, so yes, it's worth fixing, especially in
this day and age. Good luck to you, Peter. I'm
Ron an Andy and the car Doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Welcome back, Hey, thanks for sticking with
(33:16):
me this weekend and being here with me this hour.
This comes to us from Brian and d Luth, Minnesota.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Hey.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Ron, we've spoken a couple of times in the past
few years. I'm contacting you now about a twenty thirteen
four one fifty V eight my friend has. She said,
the check engine light will light up, Spidama, I'll go
to zero, engine will hesitate and run rough, she said,
shutting off and restarting the engine. I'll get her running
again until it happens again. She did have it scanned
at apart store. It as a P zero seven twenty.
I looked that up, but I was wondering if you
have any experience with this and what it might be.
(33:44):
And also I looked at it Sidica because more often
by one thing or another. I'm trying to encourage her
to take it to a dealer or a shop, but
she's hesitant. She doesn't think it can be repaired. I
thought i'd bounce this off of you for your opinion.
Thanks so much, Brian from Duluth. Yeah, Brian, Listen tell
her to take a look at Technical Servis bulletin sixteen
disc triple zero eight. It talks about specific problems with
(34:05):
that transmission that you make model body vehicle. It actually
also affects twenty eleven through fourteen Mustangs and some of
the expeditions and navigators. They have a problem with the
lead frame or lead frame inside the transmission assembly. They're
talking about replacing it. They have extended Ford Motor Company
has extended the warrant TEA on some of those. I
don't know where we are on mileage with this vehicle,
(34:26):
so it may or may not be in er out.
But it's a sort of common problem that affected that
generation of vehicles, so it shouldn't be that difficult to repair.
But from your symptoms, your description about the check engine light,
this sphenometer and restarting it, that is textbook exactly what
the TSB talks about and references in saying how the
conditions occur. So I think that puts you on the
(34:48):
right track. But by all means she should get it
in and get it diagnosed because it's only going to
get worse and become more unreliable. I appreciate the email, Brian,
I appreciate you being there, and I appreciate the ability
to be here for all of you. I'm on an
ady in the card doctor. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See you
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Sh
Ron Ananian, I chose not to work on his car.
And I think that's within the mechanics, right. I think
a mechanic has the right not to have to work
on every day. And I think the conversation is respectfully
the clon no thank you, no.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Moment, no thank you please, it only makes this need.
Then it makes him.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
How to find my doll? The car doctor.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
On the regulator, there's an A and then I and
then F and then F.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Where's where does the idea guy?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
As it goes to a white wire.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
That goes to the fuse box, so that means it's power.
So that means the back of the alternator that I
terminal must be twelve vaults.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian the Car Doctor.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Since nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
This is where car owners the world overturned to for
their definitive opinion on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving
you a busy signal, pick up the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
The garage doors are open, but I am here to
take your calls at eight five five five six ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Hundred and now pee.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Running.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Did I tell you the story about the UH seven
Ford that we had problems with recently. It's just kind
of a classic case of you know, when things go wrong,
but they end up right, and it happens. You know,
we had an O seven f one fifty. We've worked
on this truck for a long time now, we've gotten
to know it very well. It's it's it's basically a
(01:30):
plow vehicle. It's an O seven. It's got sixty seven
thousand miles on it. It doesn't have a lot of miles.
Shows you how little use it really gets, you know,
and it's being affected by rust and agent whether and
it sits around a lot. The uh person that owns
it just uses the plow the driveway out. They've got
a bigger house off the road and they need to
get out to the main road during winter months. So
it's just it's kind of a plow vehicle and that's
(01:51):
all they do with it, and you know, little jobs
and odd things around the house and so forth. But
you know, it's not the daily driver. So the complaint
was the red brake light comes on at the dashboard,
flickers on and off, and we got the vehicle, didn't
see it, saw no red brake light. No matter what
we did, we couldn't get the red brake light to
come on. So, you know, there's two reasons why the
(02:15):
red brake light will come on on this vehicle, like
most vehicles, it's either a fault with the parking brake
switch or the parking brake. You know, you push down
the parking break the red brake light comes on, excuse me.
Or you will see low fluid in the master cylinder.
Or it could be a bad float sensor in the
master cylinder and either one of those tool caused the
red brakelight to come on. So we didn't see a
(02:38):
red brake light on. We couldn't duplicate it no matter
what we did. We drove it and nothing happened. And
you know, we took the liddle off the master cylinder,
we looked at the sensor. We gently pushed down on
the sensor. It didn't come up. Red brake lights stayed on, AHA,
because the fluid was a little on the low side.
Because it turns out it needed front brakes. The front
pads were just a NAT's eye lash away from going
(02:58):
metal on metal, and the fluid level was low enough that, yeah,
you could see that, you know, on a turn uphill
downhill you know, some some sloshing the fluid around, maybe
the float comes in contact and would turn the light
on and it wouldn't come back up. The light was
on at that point. All right, here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna you know, and it's a plow vehicle. Did
I tell you that part? I think I did, so.
(03:20):
You know it's pads, rotters, calipers, all right, because you
could see one side of the caliper, the inboard pad
was faster, was wearing faster than the other on one side.
The other side had a break hose that was bulging.
So it needed some mechanical repairs to the break system. Pads, rotters, caliper, soses,
and I put a master on it. It's fifteen years old.
(03:41):
The sensor was sticking, the fluid was getting dirty, which
it'll do from lack of use. Right, you know, break
fluid absorbs moisture seven to ten percent a year. It's hygroscopic,
and it will absorb moisture and show contamination and break down.
So let's put a master on the vehicle. It's it's time.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
One of the other things I always say, I mean
this sincerely, is we're running out of parts. All right,
older vehicles. If you can get parts now and you're
planning to keep it, and Rick the owner was planning
to keep it, Let's do it now. Let's get it done.
Padro Caliber's hoses, master cylinder, float level sensor moved good, Hey,
we're done. Took it around the block. Red brake light
(04:19):
came on. HM, well, at least we got brakes, so
we dove a little deeper. Couldn't get it to happen again,
couldn't get it to happen, drove it. The light went out,
and it just kept behaving itself. It's been a while
since I've seen an seven f one to fifty on
a regular basis. I went through my notes and I
(04:39):
started reading again, which is why I keep notes in
the first place, And then it hit me. These were
common for instrument cluster faults. The instrument cluster itself would
fail and have its issues. So I took the top
of the dash apart, and you know, the connector on
the left side was where the feeds came in through
(04:59):
the break light switch going down to the red brake light.
And sure enough, if I kind of wiggled and gently
massaged that left connector, the brake light would go on,
the brake light would go out. Ah, we need a
cluster repair. Sent it out for cluster repair, and I
could prove this very you know, hardcore. Every time, got
(05:23):
it to do it, sent it out for cluster repair,
brought it back, took it around the block vehicles fixed
what's right? What's wrong? Nothing? You know, sometimes you got
to fix the obvious. You have to fix known bad.
I say this to you all the time. All right,
(05:44):
you can't ignore the failures of other parts of the
vehicle and repair. Well, I'm going to fix the red
brake light. You know what, The red brake light's not unsafe.
It doesn't. It contradicts what's really going on, but it's
not unsafe. No brakes is unsafe. Poor breaks is unsafe.
And Rick got it. He understood one hundred percent. And
(06:05):
as he said to me, he said, you know, Ron,
a new plow truck is sixty five thousand dollars. A
stripped boy, what's wrong? What's wrong with this picture? Right?
A strip that f one point fifty they'll take A
plow is sixty grand, sixty five thousand bucks. Now it's
you know, it's just it's just crazy. Now, the argument
could be made, well, he could hire somebody to plow
the driveway, but I think I think, in all honesty,
(06:27):
I think that's Rick's moment of sanity that he gets
to go out there and play push the snow, and
you know, he just gets to. He enjoys that, you know,
and I get that, you know, like listen, I enjoy
cutting the lawn sometimes and you know, just that moment
of solitude when you're out there and about. So I
guess the point of this as we kick off this
hour of the car Doctor, is just you know, Yeah,
there's no rule that says it's any one thing. There's
(06:49):
no rule that says, you know, we can't look at
the rest of the vehicle, nor shouldn't we look at
the rest of the vehicle. The rule is fix the
vehicle and make it safe, make it right. You know,
when the systems are failing, you've got to either make
a commitment or get out from under. Kevin brought in
his seven Ford edge this week. About three weeks ago,
(07:10):
he was driving around visiting his mom in upstate New
York and the oil pressure light came on and he
stopped at his mom's repair shop up in that neck
of the woods and he needed an oil pressure sending unit.
He had a switch failure. So they did that, and
three weeks later he's dropped it off with the shop
because he collected a bunch of dash lights, ABS, traction control,
(07:32):
the wrench maintenance light came on, the TPMs light came on,
no check engine light, just about everything else. And when
I scanned it, it had a fault code P zero
seven twenty two, which indicates a problem in the output
shift speed sensor circuit. Some research talked about based on
the vincode and the date of the vehicle's assembly, it
(07:55):
could have a problem in the wiring harness, It could
be a problem with the sensor, so on and so forth,
and you know on research to do that sensor, it's
down deep in the bowels of the transmission. The transmission
has to actually come apart. And I said to Kevin,
I said, Kevin, are you committed to this vehicle one
hundred and sixty thousand miles fifteen years old? Are you
ready to you know, get deep into the bowels of
the trans and you know, possibly do a sensor. Dude,
(08:17):
you know, we could do a deep dive, which we
would have to for a diagnosis. Do we need to
look at wiring? You know, there's a bunch of things
to consider here. No, he says it's time to get
rid of it. I'm done, and that's the difference. The
point becomes both vehicles are O seven's, But Rick was
I'm hanging onto this, fix everything. I want it right.
Kevin's point is he was done. He didn't want to
(08:39):
fix the seven and understandable. It's a personal human decision.
Nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong on either side. The
point becomes, you got to know what you're getting into.
You've got to know what your level of commitment is.
If you want to hang on to it, fix it.
If you don't want to fix it, don't fix it,
but understand the costs and understand where that can lead.
(09:00):
There's no guarantee that rix plowtruck won't need something else
major before the end of the year, and there's no
guarantee it will. But he didn't spend sixty five thousand
dollars just how he looks at it, Kevin, I don't
know he's gonna go out and test the market and
see what vehicles cost today. And I think he's going
to be shocked, and he'll probably be back because there's
no cheap used vehicles out there, and there's hardly any
(09:24):
good new ones. That's a whole nother conversation for another day.
Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero
Ron and nay of the car Doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Don't go away for the best in
(09:44):
car advice.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Give Ron a call eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Now back to Ron. Let's go over to Dicky in
Maine with a fourteen rim and some four wheel drive problems.
Got to get that working for a winter. So welcome
to the car Doctor, Dicky. How can I help?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, Hi, on, I have a twenty fourteen dogs Hoomy
Ram shot box and it keeps showing a code on
the desk. There a service four wheel drive system. Okay,
I've always taken care of my own stuff, but everything's
sealed now, there's no way to add fluid or anything
like that, and I just I haven't coded it at all,
so I don't know what it is.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Right. So you know, obviously we'd like to know what
the fault code is. There's been a lot of problems
with that and understand just so we're clear. And I
think you know this, but I just want to say
when they say service four wheel drive system, they're not
saying it's time to change a fluid. They're telling you
the system's not working. It won't go into four wheel drive,
will it. Have you tried?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, it works fine, four wheel driven, anything works fine
on it.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Okay, then I'm going to tell you you got Then
I'm going to tell you need to pull a code
and see what's in there, because it sounds like you're
getting a warning message because it's seeing some sort of
a fault, whether it be an intermittent defect or a
hard defect, that it's not going to work properly come
this winter. Now. A couple of things to note that
(11:04):
works with the front axle actuators. The front differential axle
actuators on those have a real high failure rate, you know,
so they're known to go. The other issue is Chrysler
and their infinite wisdom decided to put all the wiring
and the grounds in and around that actuator. So you know,
guess what, you're out there plowing snow, You're out there
(11:26):
driving on a cold, wet's main road and all that chemicals.
Over time, all that chemical gets on the wiring. Check
for a broken ground wire up by the driver's side
motor mount that ground. If that ground, if you trace
it back, I believe goes to the FAD the front
actual front differential ACXLE actuator, and then you can just
get into power and ground at the connector. I've also
(11:49):
seen the connector get corrosion on it and it creates
enough internal resistance in the connector that the actuator can't
be read properly or actuated properly. And that's an issue.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
But something in the front front driver's side, yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yeah, right, But the fact, the fact that it's working
now tells me that, you know, we've got to go
look at this and not just hope and wait for
a winter to come up and then it'll be working properly.
Let's go see what the code is. Yeah, something, something's
going to go on there on the border right. Yeah,
and understand, not an ob D two scan. You've got
(12:26):
to go in with something that's your make, model specific,
because we want to look at transfer case before wheel drive.
And I'm willing to bet it's going to be a
seas in Charlie one forty seven b as in Baker
one forty seven b as in Baker. That was a
common fault for the front actual actuator. And I bet
you that's that'll take you on the path, all right.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Kittle, Okay, okay, thank you for much.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You're very welcome, sir. Good luck to you if you
need more of them here, Yes, sir, not a problem.
You're very welcome. Let's get over to uh let's go
talk to is that Marie and Maine and see what's
going on here on nine Camra. Yes, ma'am, well, love
your show. Thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
I get a twenty oh nine CAMERI essay. I bought
it though, and it's never been in an accident. I
bought it at a Toyota dealership. I've had all my
maintenance down at Toyota Service. It has seventy one thousand miles.
So about three weeks ago, the the engine light went on.
It was it was steady, so they said replace the
(13:25):
gas cap. So I did. Well, it came back on again,
so they ran the diagnostics and they didn't see a problem,
so they reset the light again. Well, I'm going in
next week and I really don't know if you had
any words of wisdom or I love this car, but
I don't want to spend like tons of bucks. So well,
wasn't any ideas?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, let's back up a second. Who said put a
gas cap on it? Toyota?
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Okay, So what do you know what the numbered fault
code was? Was it a P zero four to four
to one? I don't no, okay, so let's let's let's
have a general conversation you and I. All right, if
you took a gallon gas can and filled it up
(14:12):
with gas and sealed it and put it outside on
your driveway on a hot sunny day, what do you
think will happen?
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Oh, it might blow up or something.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Right, or it's going to expand and bulge and leak. Right, yes, yeah,
so okay, let's take the gas cap off and let's
so it doesn't build up any pressure. But now what
are we doing? We're venting fumes to the atmosphere?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Right?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yes, cars are the same way, all right. Your car
has a gas tank, right, yeah, so if they sealed
that gas tank, what do you think what happened to
your car? Right? So you know it sounds like this
is going to be what we call big big word here,
a college word, evaporative emissions system. The fault, but there
(15:02):
are there are There are multiple ways and multiple tests
in which we test the system's fuel tank for integrity.
Think think guests can in the driveway, right, Most guests
cans have they have a poor spout, They have events spout,
right they You know, we could put a sensor in
there to measure internal pressure. There's a bunch of ways
(15:25):
we could test that container to see if it has
integrity or if it's leaking fumes. Correct. Yeah, so you know,
maybe one sensor fault is a P zero four four one,
then the other ones at P zero four four two,
and then the other ones at P zero four four
three and so on. So until we know what exact
fault code this is, we're just having a great conversation
(15:46):
you and I, but we're not getting anywhere.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
So okay, No, they didn't give me the codes or
anything when they were in the diagnostics, right.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Well, you know, just so we clarify, a diagnostic is
more than just a code scan. It's okay, we've got
a P zero four four one. Then somebody either sticks
their head in a book and understands how that four
to four one occurs. Okay, right, Just like when you
go to the er and they take your heart rate, Jam, Marie,
(16:15):
your blood your heart rate's a little high today. Let's
go look and see you. Let's go run. So what
do they do? They run some tests, right, they might.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
Myself.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
So yeah, you know where I'm coming. Right, They're heart rate,
they're gonna look at blood pressure, they're gonna look at pulse,
they're gonna look at you know, they're gonna ask you
all kinds of questions. That's a diagnostic. What they've done
at this point is they've done a code scan. Not enough,
they took your heart rate and blood pressure. They got
to go to the next step. All right, Okay, that
(16:47):
should be fairly easy to diagnose and repair. Of course,
the one overall factor is you're in Maine.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Right, Yes I am.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
And they get that funny stuff called snow. Yes, and
to combat that snow they put what on the road
chemical and that chemical, that chemical causes a lot of
things to rot and rust out on the cars. Okay,
So when we're looking to see if that gas can
in your driveway has integrity, it's intact in an automobile.
(17:21):
We have to look at the vent lines, we have
to look at the purge, we have to look at
all the controls and self regulation. It can be done.
So I think reasonably you should look at I think
you're going to spend two hours of diagnostic time. Two
hours of diagnostic time. A shop should be able to
go through if that is a hardcore present problem and
(17:43):
diagnose it all right, if they want, if they want to,
and that's that's one of the keys marine, So go in,
go in, talk to them about running a diagnostic talk
to them. You know, hey, you're willing to spend one
to two hours of time, can they give you some answers?
And if they can't, unfortunately, then you're in the wrong place.
You got to find the shop that can. But that's
(18:03):
not an unrepairable problem and not something I think about
getting rid of the car over because it should be
able to be fixed. I'm Ronning Andy and the guard doctor.
I'm back right after this. Don't go away. Ron's in
his own the AutoZone studio and he'll be back right
after this.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Every hardway let me slip away home.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Every hardway you've seen that it is welcome back to
the AutoZone studio. Here's Ron. Shoot, hey there, so I'm back.
Let's see I want to read this from Randall. Randall
wrote a very nice email. Randall from Newington, New Hampshire. Ron,
I love the show I'm writing about. I have a
two thousand and Honda Accord Ex with a four cylinder
(18:57):
in the California missions package. It has a low exhaust or.
It had allowed exhaust. I'm sorry, so I replaced the
exhaust from the manifold to the tip a few months ago.
I used a new NTK good choice heated oxygen sensor
in the new catalytic converter. As soon as I started
the car, the malfunction indicator or check engine lamp lit up.
I knew immediately what was wrong. The sensor isn't right.
It was the only component with an electrical connector. I
(19:18):
tried a dentso heated oxygen sensor and it had the
same issue. I went to my service manual looked up
procedure for testing components. I tested both of the new
O two's. They both have a resistance value of three
and a half homes. The old one, still in the
old cat had a seven and a half home value.
Speck in the manuals between two and twenty. They should
work fine, but I don't. I bought a walk a
row two sensor for AutoZone. It has a resistance value
(19:41):
of ten homes and the light is off. The rest
of the wiring seems fine. Voltage is in continuity within spec.
I tested those with my vaultometer. It works now, so
it's done as you say out the door. A couple
of comments here Randall and for everyone else. Service manuals
are great, but there's nothing like having current, always changing,
always updated, fresh information from an online source. All data
(20:04):
all right. For example, because this is a two thousand,
this vehicle's twenty three going on twenty four years old.
Service information has changed a lot since that book was published,
and it'll probably have changed by the time I get
done doing the show today. That updated information is always
handy to have, you know, I would question because I
have run into this on two thousand. I think I
(20:25):
talked about this not too long ago two thousand and
two thousand and one accords where I couldn't find proper
two application by design, and I ended up talking to
the boys over at Opus IVS and we had them
reference it and we found the right part number that way,
So I don't think this is an issue that NTK
or Denso had problems. NTK, in my opinion, is an
(20:47):
OE sensor. It is an oas sensor and one of
the better sensors out there. I don't think companies that
large make their living doing things wrong. I think this
was a catalog application or a parts look up error message,
So just be aware of that. One of the things you
could do, Randall is you could go out and sign up,
go to shop squad online dot com. Shop squad online
dot com, sign up as a repair shop and you'll
(21:10):
have access to all the information in shop squad and
you can actually look up parts directly on the NNGK
NTK website, and they present a bunch of information as
a matter of fact, if there is an application error,
if there's reported cases of problems looking up two censors,
for example on this vehicle, it'll be in shop squad
online because they record those kinds of things and display
(21:32):
that information. There's an awful lot of information out there
at shop squad online dot com. And I haven't gotten
to the bottom of that well, nor do I expect to.
But in any event, on with your email ron, not
there any insights You've had this issue with a car
head two before? Well, there you go. There's some of
it that getting the right part sometimes is difficult. I'm
wondering if the ECO is just tired and once the
higher resistance of the orre the wiring is getting old
(21:54):
and there's too much sensitivity associated with it, if the
connectors are so all higher resistance is needed to maintain
the current. Now, well, I think it's a parts application error.
I've had this issue before and purchasing a correct a
different part number from an NTK and that vehicle would work, right.
I think this is a poor application. Look up. I'm
Honda didn't do things exactly right back twenty eighty three
(22:16):
going on twenty four years ago, so you know, one mistake,
things get lost and nobody's going to remember how it
was corrected, you know, if you wanted to take the time.
This is one of those things when you get into
applications or cataloging that if we were to go back
far enough and look far enough, we might find a
technical service bulletin from Honda that says, hey, this part
number is supposed to be this, but instead it found
(22:38):
out that it's supposed to be that, you know, when
you think about it, it's kind of amazing how the
how the manufacturers keep their part numbers all lined up
and in order that they're right as many times as
they are. I'm amazed at more times at how how
how many times we get parts right versus that, you know,
three percent of the time when we get parts wrong.
So I wouldn't take that to heart. I'm not sure
(22:59):
what the computer checks with heated circuit or it's adaptions programming.
I did check the codes of my old code reader.
It was a DTCP zero one forty one secondary heated
two sensor one heater circuit malfunction. I'd be lost without
my manuals or imagination. Imagine what you could do randal
with online data again, you know, like an old data.
So just something to think about it. I also did
(23:19):
the ten minute memory reset disconnect the battery alone with
the code reader. I really have an issue with this
car in terms of computers. I've replaced all the metal
fuel and brake lines, front subframe, fuel tank and struts
and springs about and about four cats in exhausts. The
cats only need to be replaced because the flans is
brought out. They seem to last about seven to nine years.
He then goes on to save repair as an art form.
I love how creative repairing things is just figuring out
(23:41):
the puzzles, you know, Randall, I appreciate somebody that's out
there trying to do this on a on a part
time basis, and you know, you seem to be doing
it well. You seem to have a clear thought process.
You know. Oxygen sensors are oxygen sensors. They're not tough
to to test. We've and we can only test them.
I don't think a repair shop contest an oxygen sensor
(24:02):
one hundred percent. I think we can get into the
eighty five ninety percent tile. You know, I think it's difficult.
I've seen a few cars, not necessarily just Hondas, but
vehicles where the oxygen sensor is biased. It doesn't start
its reference voltage at zero, for example, It'll start its
reference voltage at a negative two tenths of a vault,
(24:25):
and its range will only go as high as positive
eight tenths of a vault. Because it's a one range
vault sensor that biased two, which skews more to the
low side, which is a lean condition. Constantly causing the
vehicle to add fuel is a rich condition. Is the
tough one to find. But I've seen that, you know,
(24:46):
but the majority of O two sensors, we can do
a bunch of things. Vehicle running, shoot it with a
little propane. Does it go as we used to say,
pig rich? Will it hit point eight point nine? And
I'd like to see point nine because I've seen point
z on a bias OH two and just testing one
side of it with propane doesn't do any good. I
will also pull a vacuum hose off a large vacuum
(25:08):
hose and watch my two readings. How low does it go?
Does it go below zero? The rule is an O
two sensor that goes below zero technically isn't right and
should be replaced because it is biased in the wrong direction.
All right. Years ago, we actually used to run a
test GM single wire H two's where we would grab
(25:28):
the oxygen sensor wire, we disconnect it, watch on a
scan tool and we'd wet our fingers, we'd touch the
end of the connector. We'd wet our fingers and touch
the positive battery post and watch the two voltage change.
On a scan tool because our body acted as a
giant resistor. It's kind of a fun thing to do,
sort of like look at this, and then we would
(25:49):
also go the other way and wet our fingers and
go to the negative side of the battery. We go
negative positive negative positive. We'd become the two sensor command,
if you will. We'd see if we could drive the
system rich or Lean and early days, it taught us,
you know, it taught us how the system works. It
also gave us the opportunity to, you know, test other
(26:10):
things by virtue of substitution. We were the O two,
so you know, that's one of the things we do
as well as far as heater circuit testing. What they're
doing is they're looking at voltage drop. A computer doesn't
measure current, it measures voltage drop. It's looking to see
it's doing Ohm's law in its head, so to speak,
that if this much voltage is flowing, and it knows
the resistance of the circuit, then it's calculating out what
(26:33):
the current must be. Does that current flow meet the
spec and if it does, all is good. If it doesn't,
then it sees a fault. That's why the vehicles that
had a or the two sensors that had a different
resistance value turn the light back on for a heater
circuit fault. Because as resistance changes in Ohm's law, so
does the value of current flowing based upon the base voltage.
(26:54):
So it just made all that much of a difference
as far as testing capability. But that's how they do it, alright, Ketto.
I appreciate your email, and I'm sure you'll get this.
You say that you're you know you're working and you're
doing your service at a home improvement and you'll get
to this on a Wednesday evening after ten thirty, So
God blessed, keep going and if you have any questions,
you know where to find me. Eight five five five
(27:15):
six zero nine nine zero zero. Run a name of
the card doctor. I'll be back right after this. Welcome back,
(27:39):
run named the card doctor here at eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. Keep in mind
I haven't said it yet today, but we are trying
to do calls on Wednesday night. So you shoot us
an email eight five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero, leave a voicemail. Shoot us an email ron
at cardoctorshow dot com. Tell us who you are a
name number, how to get a hold of you, and
we're trying to do tapings on Wednesday nights seven o'clock
(28:00):
Eastern time for airing on future shows. So eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero has multipurpose.
You can call now or you can get in a
queue and we'll talk to you midweek. Let's go over
and talk to Speaking of talking, let's go talk to
Peter in Philly. Oh one jeep Cherokee. Peter, welcome to
the car doctor, sir, how can I help?
Speaker 5 (28:18):
Yeah, Ron, thank you very much for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Well, here's the deal. I got a two thousand and
one Cherokee Sport six cylinder, a four point zero engine,
and problem seems to be in the heating system. I
don't have any hot ear flow to the floor. I
took it to my mechanic and he says there's a
(28:42):
motor under the dash that has to be replaced. However,
I only have three controls on the dash. The first
one I have a fan speed selector switch that works fine,
and the next one is the airflow of action switch,
which does not work. I do get hot air in
(29:04):
the defrost mode, but not for the heat for the floor,
and the temperature switch works.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
All right, Okay, So let me ask you this. The
heat that's coming out of the defroster right if you
if you set it on mid mid fan speed, is
that hot enough that it's uncomfortable to keep your hand there?
Uh no, okay, so it's it's really only lukewarm.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
Well, no, it's I get plenty of heat up to
the defrost because I have to turn it off it
gets so warm.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Okay, so it does work. Oh, it's just that it's
not putting heat out on the floor.
Speaker 5 (29:40):
Right, So I guess the the I don't know what. See.
I used to have a seventy nine deep turkey years ago,
and I had a there was some type of a
vacuum tank and a hose they do controlling the air.
They pop it to the bottom.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
They did away with all that. Peter, let me let me, Peter,
let me ask that's your question. Okay, how many how
many doors do you have on your house or apartment?
You got also you got a front door, you got
a bedroom door, you got a kitchen door.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
Right, Well, let me see there's a cellar door two upstairs.
I guess the total of let me see three a
cellar door, front door, and back door.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Okay, so on your on your jeep, you've got at
the frost door, you've got you've got a temp door,
and you've got a bottom or mid door that either
goes to the center of the dash or out on
the floor. Right, So the little electric motor that runs
the to the floor or middle of the dash, right,
(30:38):
that motor is not working from the sounds of it.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
Okay, so he's telling the truth then right now.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
But here's and here's the key. All right, I'd spend
ten bucks and go down to my local autoparts store
autozonal have him if you have one near you, and
grab a thermometer right and stick it in the temp
stick it in the ducks. Do you have enough heat?
Because I just want to make sure you don't have
two problems, because it's not uncommon for the older jeeps
to have restricted heater cores that won't affect where the
(31:07):
heat comes out. But I just want to make sure
that if he does the blend or that the rest
of it is going to work properly too. So the
you know, for a simple test, so the magic number,
all right, especially this time of year when it's not
too cold on the east coast. The magic number if
you put that thermometer in the defroster duck and turn
(31:27):
the heat on second or third speed, you don't want
to be on full second or third speed. Mid level,
you should see approximately one hundred and forty five to
one hundred and sixty degrees of temperature. Okay, all right,
And if you've got that, then you've got enough heat
being generated by the engine that it'll it'll defrost and
you know you won't have an issue. The reason you
(31:49):
need that much heat is because if the engine is
running at one hundred and ninety five degrees, you're going
to lose thirty degrees by normal attrition between it and
the ducks, and by the time it gets to your skin,
if it's coming out the duck at one hundred and fifty,
it's gonna hit your skin. You're lucky if it hits
it at one hundred and twenty, all right. So that's
why it has to run so hot, So don't be
(32:10):
fool That's why I say a couple of things. If
you put your hand by the heater and it's uncomfortable,
they're like you feel like you're getting burned. That's a
sign you've got good heat. Grab the upper radiator hose.
Is the engine warm regardless of what the gauge says,
and then go to the heater core. Feel both heater hoses.
One should be hot to the touch, the other one
(32:30):
should be fifteen to twenty degrees cooler but still uncomfortable,
but not as hot. If that's the case, then chances
are it's just a blend door issue. Your basement door's
actuator is broken. But if it's not the case, you
could have a bad blend door actuator and a restricted
heater core and they're both going to need to be replaced.
(32:51):
So just you know, in terms of longevity. And by
the way, that's a four liter jeep, that thing will
probably run forever, so yes, it's worth fixing, especially in
this day and age. Good luck to you, Peter. I'm
Ron an Andy and the car Doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Welcome back, Hey, thanks for sticking with
(33:16):
me this weekend and being here with me this hour.
This comes to us from Brian and d Luth, Minnesota.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
Hey.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Ron, we've spoken a couple of times in the past
few years. I'm contacting you now about a twenty thirteen
four one fifty V eight my friend has. She said,
the check engine light will light up, Spidama, I'll go
to zero, engine will hesitate and run rough, she said,
shutting off and restarting the engine. I'll get her running
again until it happens again. She did have it scanned
at apart store. It as a P zero seven twenty.
I looked that up, but I was wondering if you
have any experience with this and what it might be.
(33:44):
And also I looked at it Sidica because more often
by one thing or another. I'm trying to encourage her
to take it to a dealer or a shop, but
she's hesitant. She doesn't think it can be repaired. I
thought i'd bounce this off of you for your opinion.
Thanks so much, Brian from Duluth. Yeah, Brian, Listen tell
her to take a look at Technical Servis bulletin sixteen
disc triple zero eight. It talks about specific problems with
(34:05):
that transmission that you make model body vehicle. It actually
also affects twenty eleven through fourteen Mustangs and some of
the expeditions and navigators. They have a problem with the
lead frame or lead frame inside the transmission assembly. They're
talking about replacing it. They have extended Ford Motor Company
has extended the warrant TEA on some of those. I
don't know where we are on mileage with this vehicle,
(34:26):
so it may or may not be in er out.
But it's a sort of common problem that affected that
generation of vehicles, so it shouldn't be that difficult to repair.
But from your symptoms, your description about the check engine light,
this sphenometer and restarting it, that is textbook exactly what
the TSB talks about and references in saying how the
conditions occur. So I think that puts you on the
(34:48):
right track. But by all means she should get it
in and get it diagnosed because it's only going to
get worse and become more unreliable. I appreciate the email, Brian,
I appreciate you being there, and I appreciate the ability
to be here for all of you. I'm on an
ady in the card doctor. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See you
Speaker 4 (35:13):
Sh
Host
Ron Ananian
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!