October 21, 2023 • 35 mins
Ron starts this episode talking about the electric infrastructure, and his chance to drive a Tesla : takes a call on a 23 Yukon and questions/problems with flat towing : takes a call on an 08 Wrangler X with a leaking radiator : takes a call on an 01 Town & Country that suddenly bucks, jerks and leaves you stranded for 20 minutes when it will then fire right back up.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Ron Anian, you can't run the business. You can't run
an order repair business the way you ran it. You
know a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago.
You can, but you're not going to be successful, happy,
and produce positive results on as large as scale as
you possibly could have. Show the Car Doctor.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't have the wrap, but I'm in the break, Pa.
You change everything out, and I just wonder if you
have anything to catch it?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Is this so the rear brake set up? Is it
a cable setup or an electric parking break?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Cable?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Cable?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Okay, Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian, the
Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one, 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. The garage doors.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five six ninety nine hundred.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Running.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So how is your week? It was a nice week.
Pleasant week. Was sort of a quiet week in the shop.
Things have slowed down a little bit. I think everybody's
distracted by what's going on in the world. Rightfully, so
right we're all kind of craning our necks and swolving
our heads and being aware of our surroundings and what's
going on around us, which is a good thing. But
life goes on in the automotive world. That has to
because we were dedicated to it, and that's just part
(01:27):
of the day to day in life. This one goes
out to research. Kathy. She handed me something she got
in her PS and G bill, and I thought about it,
and I kind of got her point. In her PSC
and G bill. This month she got a little notice.
You know, if you look in the flyers of your
utility companies, and it says it's talking about from PC
ANDNG here in New Jersey that you can charge your
(01:48):
vehicle you'r EV at home and save you if you're
considering an EV. We have incentives to help make driving
more convenient and affordable. And they talk about how you
can do off peak charging and get credits for the
utility service upgrades such so on and so forth, and
then on the back of it says you can still
go to the gas station for slushies and that's great,
and I understand that, and hey, you know that's marketing.
What I don't understand is why is PSC in G,
(02:15):
which I always thought men parksleeve, beat and go home.
Why is PSC and G promoting evs? When I stand
online in bagel stores and I talk to the guys
work in the lines and they say, there's no way
we're going to have an EV infrastructure, I don't understand that.
Is this a classic case of the emperor has no
clothes and he's up there naked and nobody wants to
(02:36):
admit it. You know, I'm all for moving forward, and
I'm not an anti electric I'm just anti stupidity. I
keep saying that there was a couple of things that
went on in the EV world for me this week,
well about ten days ago. Ten days ago, my compadre
and sometime dinner companion, my date, Tony, took me out.
(02:56):
We went out together, a couple of guys, and we
went to a nice little Italian restaurant. But I to
drive his new Tesla, says Ron, I'll let you drive
the Tesla. Well, I drove a Tesla. You know I
will say this. It is blindingly fast. It took me
back to the days of a big block corvette. It
just you hit the throttle or the accelerator pedal or
(03:18):
whatever you want to call that thing under your right foot,
and that car takes off. It is a little bit
strange that you know you take off, but the minute
you take your foot off the accelerator pedal, it just
there's it. Because of the way the braking system is
set up, that car just slows to a hold. You
almost don't need to use brakes in an ev which
is kind of interesting. I realized how dangerous they can
(03:42):
be to drive, though. I'll tell a story this way.
I go to the gym four am, five am. I
do CrossFit with the kids down here in Midland Park.
They're my kids, I call them. And you know, I
took my eyes off the road for a minute. And
I'm driving my Suburban, which I've only had twenty one years,
so I'm kind of used to the vehicle. And I
(04:02):
took my eyes off the road for a split second.
To adjust the heat. I had to look down for
a minute just to you know, where's the button, where's
the knob kind of a thing. And I looked back up.
I glanced back up and there's a deer right in
the middle of the road. Blue of the horn swerved
avoided it, and I thought about that, and I said, man,
and that's with having a button they call a tactile touch. Right,
(04:23):
you can run your fingers over there to that side
of the dashboard, the instrument panel, and you can feel
the control or the knob or whatever it is you're looking.
I understand completely, having driven that vehicle for twenty one years,
why GM put steering wheel controls, you know, for the
radio and other things in the steering wheel. You keep
your eyes on the road because they say that split
(04:44):
second is that is sometimes the matter of life or death,
or an accident or just going forward. Now, in all fairness,
the Tesla I was driving. I was in the car
twelve minutes. But it's not intuitive. There's a I think
there's a huge learning curve. That was my impression. And
that's not anything to do with the electric side of it.
(05:05):
That just goes with the overall design of the Tesla.
I think it's very non intuitive. It's a giant iPad
for a dashboard, a giant iPad turned in landscape position,
and you know, we sat there.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Tony's a car guy. Tony was a service manager for
Toyota Dealership. He's been a line tech for Ford. He's
been a service manager for Ford. He's been around right.
He's now the local Hunter wheel alignment and service rep.
And he does a great job. By the way, and
we pulled over at one point in our little venture
(05:40):
and we were just where is the heater control? How
do you turn the heat on? And we couldn't figure
it out? And I don't know, I think we're pretty smart.
I think we're you know, average intelligence to say the least. Like,
you know, it's got to be intuitive because a non
car person has to be able to make this work. Now,
somebody I was telling this story to recently said, but
you know, Ron, there's probably voice control for that. Well maybe,
(06:03):
I hope. But does that mean everybody that drives this car?
You know how I want to borrow your car, let
me borrow your car. Is every electric vehicle going to
be the same? Or am I going to have to
give the guy that wants to borrow my car a
twenty minute dissertation on how everything operates. There's a fatal
flaw in any vehicle. I don't care whether it's ev ice,
(06:26):
hydrogen gets pulled by a horse, I don't care. How
if you if you got to take your eyes off
the road to find something radio heat or seat position.
It's dangerous as any officer, as any police officer. And
see what they say, and they'll tell you the same
thing because they say, that's how traffics, that's how accidents
happen in traffic. The other thing that really didn't thrill
(06:47):
me is the ride. Now, this is ev all right
because of the weight. Man, that thing rode like a
like a like a buckboard with two broken springs. It
was just a boom ba boom ba boom boo boom
down the road. It just it rowed heavy, is the
only way I could describe it. Wasn't impressed, was not impressed.
I think they've got a lot to do. I think
(07:08):
they've got a long way to go. I did you
know breach the Hey, we need to get electrons. Where
are we going to get them? A nice little app Again,
you got to pull over to figure this out. We
pulled over and you know, where can I get this
thing recharged? And it popped up and it showed me
you know here the nearest charging places seventeen minutes away.
(07:29):
Of course, you hope that you can get there now.
I took note of in the time that would take
us to drive to those seventeen charging seventeen minutes away
to get to the charging station. How many get I
turned my head, And how many gas stations? God forbid
that illegal stuff called gasoline. It's illegal now, isn't it.
How many of those were around me? They were plentiful.
(07:52):
I don't know. I think we're going at this wrong,
you know. And I had another thought, so ebe seemed
to be because Tony talked a lot about, you know,
the tax breaks and the tax credits, and there's no
sales tax when you buy an EV in New Jersey
and all the benefits of purchasing one from a financial perspective,
but you still have to be able to afford one.
You still have to be able to spend forty to
(08:13):
sixty thousand dollars on that vehicle. And I thought about
in the remote places, in the remote parts of the country.
You know, one of our affiliates within the last two
years is KSKO up there in McGrath, Alaska. And it's Alaska.
It's kind of a remote part of the country. No, no,
no harm intended, no slight intended. And you wonder, you know,
(08:35):
and i'd really you know, I'd love to hear from
a listener up there in McGrath do we have any
do they have any EV's? Is there an EV future?
There is there EV potential in that part of Alaska,
in any part of Alaska? Or are we preparing to
put a vehicle in place that serves the east coast,
the west coast and nothing in the middle. And I
wonder about that, you know where where? And what is
(08:57):
the future of EV's. And I questioned that. So just
my perspective, I got to drive an EV wasn't impressed
some of it. Yeah, but I still think it's got
a long way to go in terms of technology. And no,
I still wouldn't park it in my garagecause I wouldn't
trust it next to the hot rod. So just my
(09:18):
two cents height five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. I am Ron on Ady and the car doctor.
I'll be back to talk to you right after this.
Don't go away, no, God, that's right.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
If you call and we're not live, you can leave
a message and we'll call you back to get you
on the air with Ron eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. Speaking of Ron, here he.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Is and real quick before we go to the phones,
you know, going back to that PC and G flyer
where they're telling you, hey, well we'll set you up
at home to charge your EV and we'll give you
credits and pay for it and blah blah blah blah.
I don't understand why the company's saying one thing and
the employees, the guys that are doing the installs, the
guys that are maintaining the system, are saying another. Because
every time I run into one of those guys at
(10:07):
a bagel store or a coffee shop, and you know,
inevitably I just have to bring it up. They say, Yeah,
there's just no way. We just don't have the infrastructure,
we don't have the capacity, we don't have the ability
to do it on the timeline they're dictating. So there's
a missing piece to the puzzle and we'll have to
watch it as we go forward. Let's go. Let's go
over and talk to John and tennessee twenty three Yukon. John.
(10:28):
Welcome to the car doctor, sir, How can I help?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
How are you today?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I'm very good.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I bought a twenty twenty three Yukon. We have a
motorhome and I was looking for a vehicle to flattel
behind the motorhome and the salesman. Of course they aren't aware.
I guess that General Motors has chosen to go to
single speed transfer cases on most of their vehicles with
(10:52):
four wheel drive now, so they're used to the old woman.
So I anyway, I've been a great gear head all
my life, and I didn't do my homework. I got
everything ready to install the base, play hooked it after
the motor home and got ready to check everything out
and realized I only have a single speed transfer case.
You have to have a two speed transfer case in
(11:12):
order to flat toe General Motors four wheel drive vehicles.
And it just was curious that my options are, you know,
either have a car shipped down where I'm going, or
take the drive shafts out. I've called a couple of
places to see if putting a two speed transfer case
(11:32):
and the wiring and everything in it was feasible, and
haven't really had much success. Just thought i'd see what
you thought.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I don't think. I think you bought the wrong vehicle
to put Yeah, I think you bought the wrong vehicle, brother.
You know, I think replacing or putting a two speed
transfer case and by two speed. I think what you're
trying to say is you need something that you can
put into neutral.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Correct, exactly, right, exactly, so the single states don't go.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Into natrol, right, And I don't know what putting the
transmission in neutral does?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
That would be my only other thought. And the concern
is you're still running or spinning the transfer case around
at sixty miles an hour going down the highway, so
that really doesn't work, you know, do you do? You?
You know? Are their devices? And I you know, I
go I always go back to It's like being at
(12:28):
the gym when coach says, hey, look around, see what
everybody else is doing. You're not the only guy having
this problem. You know, what's everybody else doing with twenty
three ucons? You can't be the only guy having this problem.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Apparently they started this transmission I think at twenty sixteen
is what I thought I read somewhere. So it's not
a brand new issue, right, I think they started putting
single speed transfer cases in several years ago. Right, because
salesmen they're so used to selling four speeds that can
(12:58):
be flat out, they don't bother to do their homework.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, well, and it sounds like you've got an all
wheel drive, not a four wheel drive.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
No, it's a four wheel drive. It's definitely. I run
it in two wheel most of the time.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Oh, you can take it. You can take it out
of four wheel drive. You can put it into rear
wheel drive.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I mostly drive it in Uh, excuse me, mostly drive
it in two wheel drive.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Well, you can put it in two wheel drive and
pull out the rear drive shaft. Then what's the issue?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah, that's a thought. See if I could just take
out one drive shift, I was thinking that I would
probably have to pull both drive shafts. I didn't know
whether by still having the drive shaft in the front
if it would be driving into the transmission and spin
and stuff around that shouldn't be spinning.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Well, I think what you're going to find is, I
think the mechanical lock for the four wheel drive aspect
then is going to come off the actuator on the
front dip. I would look at a wiring diagram, believe
it or not. I would look at a wiring diagram
four four wheel drive operation and see what they're doing.
Does the four wheel lock up take place inside the
transfer case or does it take place on the front axle.
(14:09):
If it takes place on the front axle, then I
would be venture to guess, and you'd have to try
this as an experiment. Pull the rear drive shift and
flat tow it on the front. Just don't lock the
front axle. It'd be the same thing as the old school,
you know, four wheel drive, when you'd lock the front hubs.
Just leave the front hubs on, leave the front axle unlocked,
(14:30):
and then at that point the dry shift is spinning.
The danger, as I always understood it is towing a
four wheel drive vehicle of any stature history, manufacturer, make, etc.
Was always how does that transfer case get lubricated? You know,
in the sense that are we going to run something
dry where when it's in four wheel drive? Things that
(14:52):
are underload a four wheel drive operation are getting lubricated
by virtue of an oil pump inside that unit? Or
it does it matter now because the drive shaft might
be spinning, but it's not spinning at at at true
speed or true load. If you understand what I'm saying,
you know, so you know I would first understand how
(15:13):
does that how does that single speed four wheel drive work?
All right? But that's interesting, I wasn't. I haven't seen
the newer ones where they're just one four wheel drive speed,
no four wheel load, no four wheel high, no differentiation.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Apparently you have to order order that it comes. I think,
you know, the Nalis used to be all wheel drives, right,
but I think now you can get them with true
four wheel drive, and usually in the Denalis they also
come with If I'm not mistaken, I thought I read somewhere,
and I may be wrong, but I thought I read
(15:52):
somewhere that they in fact do come automatically with the
two speed transfer case that are the you can put
them in neutral.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Now, this might be a big pain in the butt,
but I have seen towing setups where you will put
front wheels on a dolly.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And then to do that with this transmission, with this one,
you would have to take the drive shaft out.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Of the rear right and then pull the rear drive shaft. Yes,
so you know, is that is that the ultimate solution?
How big of it? How often are you going to
you know, tow this car?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
John once a year? So I'm almost to the point
now where I'm saying I'll just pay to habit ships
down there because by the time I start buying all
the other stuff, I've paid for a round trip shipping.
And then I told my wife, I said, next year,
we'll just trade for twenty twenty four and get what
what is flat tow of them?
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Well, there's only.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Problem is those putting those base plates on a car,
removing that front fashion and everything. It's about a forty
hour job. And I put eight of them on different cars. Now,
this one was the most difficult of any I've ever done.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Right right, it sounds it sounds like you got it
in hand. But like I said, I would, I would
just look at wiring. How is that? How was that
four wheel drive activated? Because in my mind, if if
we disconnected the rear drive shaft, although here we are
again we're working at it, if we left it in
two wheel drive and towed it without a drive shift
in it, does that? Does that effectively do the same thing.
(17:25):
What's it going to cost to ship it to wherever
it's going.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
It's about eight hundred bucks one way, which you know,
the one guy at GM told me, he said, if
we could even do it, my guess is it had
run about fifteen thousand dollars fan for fifteen thousand dollars.
I'll trade cars right, yeah, and not be messing with it.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I go back to my original statement, John, you bought
the wrong car. I'm sorry, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Think I did. I totally agree. One just goes to
show you, you know, don't believe everything is saies.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Listen, let me ask you. Let me ask you the John,
let me ask you the important question. And well, I
hope I know the answer. That your wife didn't tell
you not to buy the car and you did anyway,
then you're really in trouble, brother.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So no, no, this is the car my wife wanted.
I had a twenty seventeen Buick conclave that I was
happy as a clam with.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Well, then at least we know that she's happy. John,
b Well, I gotta go, babe. I'm running ding of
the Car Doctor. We're back right after this. Welcome back
(18:40):
to the Auto Zone studio. Here's Ron, Welcome back running
the character Here. Let's let's wonder over and let's go
to Kenton, Maine. Oaight, cheap Wrangler Kent. Welcome to the
Car Doctor.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Hello, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You're welcome, sir.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
Well, the reason I'm calling today is because I recently
picked up another two thousand and eight jeep Wrangler, and
I noticed that I have some a small dripping of
my anti freeze coming out the bottom driver's side of
the radiator, which is the opposite side of the hose.
(19:21):
And I was preparing to tackle a radiator replacement, and
then I thought, why don't I look at the stop
leak products. Maybe it could work, or maybe it could
buy some time. And I saw the case A on
there and remembered your having mentioned it, and so I
just thought I would ask is it worth it to
(19:45):
go ahead and try the seiler before I do the replacement.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
So let's talk a little bit about the vehicle. Ken
how many miles are on this.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
One hundred and thirty seven thousand.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
All right? So you know at a radiator, all right,
you're planning to keep, You're planning to keep the vehicle.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Yeah, I'm good. I was hoping to try to get
a few years out of it. It was a recent trade,
and I was unhappy with the with the twenty twelve,
with the three point six because the motor was ticking,
and I read horror stories about on the internet about
(20:23):
the dreaded pentastar tick. I didn't want to get involved.
I'm back with it. I went back to a three
point eight and it just runs and drives beautifully, and
so I would like to get a few years out
of it. And yeah, it makes sense. I definitely. It's
probably owede an old a radiator two or three times
(20:44):
and with this many miles on it.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Right, you know, listen, if anything's going to do the job,
it'll be case Seal. If I was going to do anything,
it would be case Seal. If the vehicle had three
hundred thousand miles on it, you were getting rid of
it in three months, then I think it's a case
Seal thing. If it's a matter of you can't get
it in for rep, it's let's do k seal and
we'll write it out for three to four to five
six months and then get it in. K Seal is,
in my opinion, the best cooling system seal are on
(21:08):
the market today. All Right, it works really well. Now
here's the catch. K seal has a hard time with
a rubber gasket. It's really designed to be effective with
hard shim, hard hard metal stop area types of leaks.
Now that being said, have I seen it work on
situations with radiators where I know the end gasket was seeping. Yeah,
(21:29):
I absolutely have. If you ask k Seal Tech support,
they'll tell you no, it's not supposed to work there,
but it does. I've seen it. I've had it work.
You know, it works really well. It's a great product.
But my situation, or my concern is in this situation.
You know, if you just got the vehicle and you're
planning to drive it long term, you can try k Seal,
(21:49):
but I'd rather see you go through the cooling system.
I'd rather go and have you put a radiator in
it while it's out, you know, water pump, thermostat, replace
the coolant. You know, let's service it, you know. And
the first thing I would actually do before I even
got into doing the radiator is I'd get down to
my local AutoZone and I would grab some they called
them litmus paper tests and test the coolant, not strength,
(22:12):
but the cooling system acidity is the cooling system acidic?
Has it started to turn like into that? You know,
it's bad. It's got more of an acid base than
what it's supposed to have than a neutral base, and
you know, it just may be time for some cooling
system repairs. Does the system look original, original hoses, water
(22:32):
pump et, cetera.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
I haven't looked at it that closely yet, but I
am looking at the idea that while I'm in there,
For example, you certainly hoses are cheap, so you'd be crazy.
You don't want to have a lower radiator hose after
changing the radiator and have to then deal with that.
So I'm I'm considering a small package at least of
(22:59):
the hoses and whatever else I might need. And I've
been looking at radiators and called a couple of shops,
and I do see that, you know, if you're trying
to get an original replacement, it can be a little
bit of a pricey radiator for a single row plastic
tank radiator that might not last all that long. And
(23:22):
then I see these after market all aluminum aluminum tanks
that you know, start a little bit closer to they're
actually they're less than the ones that I've been calling
and asking about some of them around, you know, one
hundred and eighty two hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, go take a can, go take a look at
osc if you can find one. One stop cooling, they're out,
They're out of the West Coast OSC. We use them
in the shop all the time. I believe they're available
at AutoZone. They work really well. It's going to be
a traditional plastic tank aluminum center, all right. But we've had,
oh I don't know, a one percent failure rate, and
(24:00):
I'm being I'm probably over exaggerating there because I just
don't recall having that many failures with them. They work
out of the box really well. OSC, which I found
out later on, stands for one stop cooling, you know,
but that'll work. And then when you're looking for hoses,
nobody better than Gates and you might as well put
a belt on it. And I believe Gates has some
(24:21):
hose and belt packages. You'd have to check at your
local parts supplier and see what they've got. But it's time.
It's one hundred and thirty thousand miles. If that's got
original host clamps on it, all the hoses on that car,
oh yeah, all those hoses are one hundred thirty thousand miles.
We're talking fourteen years old right in eighteen Yeah, I'm sorry,
(24:41):
at two thousand and eight, so you know, at that point,
you know, you do a system overhaul. Coolant belt hoses,
thermostat water pump, some good quality products.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
That makes sense, so I don't have to go back
into that, right, and I can move to something else once.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Do it right, and you're probably not going to find
I would venture to guess that if we didn't have
a UAW strike in parts failures or lack of parts
issues to put up with that, Chrysler probably doesn't make
that radiator readily available anymore anyway, it's too old.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
So oh yeah, so I probably am looking at the aftermarket.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, yeah, And that's why you know. And then where
you get the parts from is just as important as
what you get. And that's why you know when I
send you to AutoZone, I know if you have a problem,
they're going to take care of it because that's the
kind of company they are, that's the kind of people
they are. You know, you're only as strong as your
best supplier. I always say, I happen to have a
I just happen to have a belief based in that.
(25:42):
Been in the business a while, so to speak. But
you know, while you're doing a radiator, belts, hoses, thermostat
water pump, visit it once.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Is there any reason why I would be wanting to
consider a three row radiator.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
No or no.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
I don't need nothing that.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Fancy, not unless you're not unless you're going to start
modifying something. You know, the whole science of how a
car works is really interesting. I've actually seen cases where
hot rodders have put big, giant four row or three
row radiators in cars and they run hotter. And part
(26:27):
of the issue is is that the coolant it's it's
it's wider, right, The radiator is wider, so there's more
capacity the water flow through the radiator. They don't change
the rate of time that the water is or the
coolant is in the radiator, so it doesn't have proper
time to dissipate and give off heat, so the heat
(26:49):
exchange doesn't take place, and it will actually cause the
vehicle to run hotter. And they scratch their heads as
to why. I'm not saying it happens a lot, but
I've seen it. Don't think more is better. You know,
we had an old saying back when I was starting
out in this business. I learned it early on from
the guys that were doing it. Then you know, mild
(27:10):
goes wild and less is more, and it's really true,
until you understand the engineering or the impact and the
physics of what you're changing, And why don't just change
it because everybody else does it? You know, sometimes it
leads you down the wrong path. You know, there's more
than a few people out there doing standard replacement radiators, gates, belts, gates, hoses,
(27:31):
you know, water pumps, thermostats and so forth. And no problems,
all right, sir.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
All right, well, thank you for the advice about the
osc radiators. And I will keep in mind that the
the CASEO may buy me sometime and it may not,
and will find out when I try it. But it
won't hurt nothing else or cause any problems.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Absolutely not. Won't hurt anything else. And the other way.
Case heal's not going to work if it's a real
big rubber gasket leak, like I said, k seal doesn't
work well on that, But it works well if that's
a metallic leak from the core of the radiator itself.
So or if the block had a deficiency in its
something like that. Good luck to you, Kent. Let us
know how it works out, and enjoy your new vehicle.
I'm running any in the car. Doctor. We're back right
(28:16):
after this welcome back run any of the car Doctor.
By the way, Tom writes in from Newburgh, New York. Hey, Ron,
what the heck is PSC and G Public Service Electric,
Public Service Electric and Gas. But in New Jersey there
(28:39):
are a utility company. But in New Jersey a lot
of people say it's park, sleep, eat and go home.
If you've ever seen him working on the road crewise so,
but that's sorry, fellas. Let's go over and talk to
Doug in Oklahoma, oh one Chrysler Town and Country. Doug,
Welcome to the car Doctor, sir. How can I help?
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Yes, sir, it's a pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Thank you as well.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
I have Oh, I've got a two thousand and one
Town and Country with the three three.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
This vehicle has been dependable for the past ten years.
About three or four months ago, my daughter was driving
it and called and said, hey, it quit running, so
I had it towed to her house. I went over
and looked at this, and looked looked at that, and uh,
I checked it's coming up with the P zero one
(29:27):
oh eight.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Okay, over and over.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
I've replaced the map sinsor No, it didn't fix anything.
So I went and put the old one back in,
and I owned it out and checked it according to
the shop manual, and it checked checked out good, so
uh it it would it would run good. And then
(29:50):
I replaced the EGR valve because I had a similar
Chrysler car that was doing the same thing. It was
a rough idol. It wouldn't run right. Replaced the e
g R valve. Ran perfect for two weeks. Then I
get a call again that it's doing the same thing
and that it's stalled, and so I pulled the codes again.
(30:13):
Was at P zero one oh eight, the same thing.
I've checked grounds, I've checked wiring, I've checked fuel pressure,
and the main problem is you can't get it out
on the road to check how it runs on the road.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
You can't the problem at the time when the failure occurs, right.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
And I put my I did a I have an
ANSEL two thousand, I believe scanner. And what do you
call it? The at idol? The I've heard you say
it a million times, the trim fuel trim and at
(30:59):
an idol it's about zero to like a negative six, okay,
But and I put fuel pressure gauge on it hit
strong sixty one pounds when you it just that's constant,
and it's just really weird. One time it'll it'll run
perfect for fiften minutes and then it would just like
(31:20):
it just shuts off, right, And then another time you
let it run, it'll just run flawless. Then it will
start missing and jerking, and then it will just die.
Then you let it sit for fifteen minutes and it
will fire up again.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
So what what kind of scan tool do you have, Doug?
Speaker 4 (31:40):
It's an ANTL two thousand.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Okay, does that display data? I'm not familiar with that one.
Does does it display data stream?
Speaker 4 (31:48):
Yes, it displays data stream? You can uh yeah, just
check the O you know, the O two. You can
check fuel trim and you can check up. You know,
it's not and very very extensive.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
It sounds like it sounds like it does basic OBD two,
which is what I'm after, all right, for the purposes
of this conversation. So this is a zero to five
volt sensor map censor, all right?
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (32:17):
You know, keon engine off? What's the map sensor?
Speaker 4 (32:20):
Say?
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Where does it start? All right?
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Huh oh, I'm trying to think what it was within
the parameters. All right, I believe whatever. Yeah, and I
don't remember what the parameters were, but it fell within
that race.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
All right, I'll tell you what. Hang on second, let
me let me pull over, take a pause, we'll come back.
We'll finish up. Don't go anywhere, Doug, I'm running any
of the car. Doctor. We'll be back right after this.
Welcome back to the Auto Zone studio. Here's Ron. Hey,
(32:59):
let's get back. I can talk to Doug. Doug, you're
still there, Oklahoma way. So let's talk about P zero
one to eight in the in the three minutes we
got left. So P zero one to eight is a
fault code that sets because the engine controller, the PCM,
sees map voltage go high. It sees it go to
five vaults or four point nine volts, whatever you want
to believe, but it's it's it's a higher than normal
(33:20):
voltage expected. All right. When I when I think about that,
and you know you're taking the right steps. So we're
going to make some assumptions, which we both know on
family radio is a dangerous word, right, So let's let's
assume this is being set as a result of a
map sensor circuit fault, that it's really a map sensor
circuit problem. Notice I didn't say censor, I said map
(33:41):
sensor circuit.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Could be the sensor, could be the wiring, could be
the PCM. Maybe the PCM is internally interpreting data wrong
and falsely setting the code. So what I want you
to do is I want you to go find connector
one O two. I remember connector one O two. It's
kind of buried on the engine harness and it's in
a position. What I'm thinking about real quick is could
(34:04):
we have stray voltage across that connector inducing a voltage
into the map sensor circuit, creating a false one oh
eight and making the vehicle stall. Then what I'd like
you to do is find that there's two of those
MAP wires go through connector one O two, the five
vault reference and the signal return. If we could take
(34:28):
those two wires from the map sensor and make our
own harness and go straight shot right back to the PCM,
tap in, cut the wires, leave yourself enough wire and
lead that you can solder it and then put it
back if you want. But if we create two wires
there bypass those that are in the harness and then
(34:49):
go and take the ground lead and make your own ground.
Does that solve a problem and make it go away?
Do those things. If you need a wiring diagram, let
me know all be trying and get one to you
and we'll talk about it. Then I'm moninating in the
car doctor. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
Ron Anian, you can't run the business. You can't run
an order repair business the way you ran it. You
know a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago.
You can, but you're not going to be successful, happy,
and produce positive results on as large as scale as
you possibly could have. Show the Car Doctor.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't have the wrap, but I'm in the break, Pa.
You change everything out, and I just wonder if you
have anything to catch it?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Is this so the rear brake set up? Is it
a cable setup or an electric parking break?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Cable?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Cable?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Okay, Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian, the
Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one, 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. The garage doors.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five six ninety nine hundred.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Running.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So how is your week? It was a nice week.
Pleasant week. Was sort of a quiet week in the shop.
Things have slowed down a little bit. I think everybody's
distracted by what's going on in the world. Rightfully, so
right we're all kind of craning our necks and swolving
our heads and being aware of our surroundings and what's
going on around us, which is a good thing. But
life goes on in the automotive world. That has to
because we were dedicated to it, and that's just part
(01:27):
of the day to day in life. This one goes
out to research. Kathy. She handed me something she got
in her PS and G bill, and I thought about it,
and I kind of got her point. In her PSC
and G bill. This month she got a little notice.
You know, if you look in the flyers of your
utility companies, and it says it's talking about from PC
ANDNG here in New Jersey that you can charge your
(01:48):
vehicle you'r EV at home and save you if you're
considering an EV. We have incentives to help make driving
more convenient and affordable. And they talk about how you
can do off peak charging and get credits for the
utility service upgrades such so on and so forth, and
then on the back of it says you can still
go to the gas station for slushies and that's great,
and I understand that, and hey, you know that's marketing.
What I don't understand is why is PSC in G,
(02:15):
which I always thought men parksleeve, beat and go home.
Why is PSC and G promoting evs? When I stand
online in bagel stores and I talk to the guys
work in the lines and they say, there's no way
we're going to have an EV infrastructure, I don't understand that.
Is this a classic case of the emperor has no
clothes and he's up there naked and nobody wants to
(02:36):
admit it. You know, I'm all for moving forward, and
I'm not an anti electric I'm just anti stupidity. I
keep saying that there was a couple of things that
went on in the EV world for me this week,
well about ten days ago. Ten days ago, my compadre
and sometime dinner companion, my date, Tony, took me out.
(02:56):
We went out together, a couple of guys, and we
went to a nice little Italian restaurant. But I to
drive his new Tesla, says Ron, I'll let you drive
the Tesla. Well, I drove a Tesla. You know I
will say this. It is blindingly fast. It took me
back to the days of a big block corvette. It
just you hit the throttle or the accelerator pedal or
(03:18):
whatever you want to call that thing under your right foot,
and that car takes off. It is a little bit
strange that you know you take off, but the minute
you take your foot off the accelerator pedal, it just
there's it. Because of the way the braking system is
set up, that car just slows to a hold. You
almost don't need to use brakes in an ev which
is kind of interesting. I realized how dangerous they can
(03:42):
be to drive, though. I'll tell a story this way.
I go to the gym four am, five am. I
do CrossFit with the kids down here in Midland Park.
They're my kids, I call them. And you know, I
took my eyes off the road for a minute. And
I'm driving my Suburban, which I've only had twenty one years,
so I'm kind of used to the vehicle. And I
(04:02):
took my eyes off the road for a split second.
To adjust the heat. I had to look down for
a minute just to you know, where's the button, where's
the knob kind of a thing. And I looked back up.
I glanced back up and there's a deer right in
the middle of the road. Blue of the horn swerved
avoided it, and I thought about that, and I said, man,
and that's with having a button they call a tactile touch. Right,
(04:23):
you can run your fingers over there to that side
of the dashboard, the instrument panel, and you can feel
the control or the knob or whatever it is you're looking.
I understand completely, having driven that vehicle for twenty one years,
why GM put steering wheel controls, you know, for the
radio and other things in the steering wheel. You keep
your eyes on the road because they say that split
(04:44):
second is that is sometimes the matter of life or death,
or an accident or just going forward. Now, in all fairness,
the Tesla I was driving. I was in the car
twelve minutes. But it's not intuitive. There's a I think
there's a huge learning curve. That was my impression. And
that's not anything to do with the electric side of it.
(05:05):
That just goes with the overall design of the Tesla.
I think it's very non intuitive. It's a giant iPad
for a dashboard, a giant iPad turned in landscape position,
and you know, we sat there.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Tony's a car guy. Tony was a service manager for
Toyota Dealership. He's been a line tech for Ford. He's
been a service manager for Ford. He's been around right.
He's now the local Hunter wheel alignment and service rep.
And he does a great job. By the way, and
we pulled over at one point in our little venture
(05:40):
and we were just where is the heater control? How
do you turn the heat on? And we couldn't figure
it out? And I don't know, I think we're pretty smart.
I think we're you know, average intelligence to say the least. Like,
you know, it's got to be intuitive because a non
car person has to be able to make this work. Now,
somebody I was telling this story to recently said, but
you know, Ron, there's probably voice control for that. Well maybe,
(06:03):
I hope. But does that mean everybody that drives this car?
You know how I want to borrow your car, let
me borrow your car. Is every electric vehicle going to
be the same? Or am I going to have to
give the guy that wants to borrow my car a
twenty minute dissertation on how everything operates. There's a fatal
flaw in any vehicle. I don't care whether it's ev ice,
(06:26):
hydrogen gets pulled by a horse, I don't care. How
if you if you got to take your eyes off
the road to find something radio heat or seat position.
It's dangerous as any officer, as any police officer. And
see what they say, and they'll tell you the same
thing because they say, that's how traffics, that's how accidents
happen in traffic. The other thing that really didn't thrill
(06:47):
me is the ride. Now, this is ev all right
because of the weight. Man, that thing rode like a
like a like a buckboard with two broken springs. It
was just a boom ba boom ba boom boo boom
down the road. It just it rowed heavy, is the
only way I could describe it. Wasn't impressed, was not impressed.
I think they've got a lot to do. I think
(07:08):
they've got a long way to go. I did you
know breach the Hey, we need to get electrons. Where
are we going to get them? A nice little app Again,
you got to pull over to figure this out. We
pulled over and you know, where can I get this
thing recharged? And it popped up and it showed me
you know here the nearest charging places seventeen minutes away.
(07:29):
Of course, you hope that you can get there now.
I took note of in the time that would take
us to drive to those seventeen charging seventeen minutes away
to get to the charging station. How many get I
turned my head, And how many gas stations? God forbid
that illegal stuff called gasoline. It's illegal now, isn't it.
How many of those were around me? They were plentiful.
(07:52):
I don't know. I think we're going at this wrong,
you know. And I had another thought, so ebe seemed
to be because Tony talked a lot about, you know,
the tax breaks and the tax credits, and there's no
sales tax when you buy an EV in New Jersey
and all the benefits of purchasing one from a financial perspective,
but you still have to be able to afford one.
You still have to be able to spend forty to
(08:13):
sixty thousand dollars on that vehicle. And I thought about
in the remote places, in the remote parts of the country.
You know, one of our affiliates within the last two
years is KSKO up there in McGrath, Alaska. And it's Alaska.
It's kind of a remote part of the country. No, no,
no harm intended, no slight intended. And you wonder, you know,
(08:35):
and i'd really you know, I'd love to hear from
a listener up there in McGrath do we have any
do they have any EV's? Is there an EV future?
There is there EV potential in that part of Alaska,
in any part of Alaska? Or are we preparing to
put a vehicle in place that serves the east coast,
the west coast and nothing in the middle. And I
wonder about that, you know where where? And what is
(08:57):
the future of EV's. And I questioned that. So just
my perspective, I got to drive an EV wasn't impressed
some of it. Yeah, but I still think it's got
a long way to go in terms of technology. And no,
I still wouldn't park it in my garagecause I wouldn't
trust it next to the hot rod. So just my
(09:18):
two cents height five five five six zero nine nine
zero zero. I am Ron on Ady and the car doctor.
I'll be back to talk to you right after this.
Don't go away, no, God, that's right.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
If you call and we're not live, you can leave
a message and we'll call you back to get you
on the air with Ron eight five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. Speaking of Ron, here he.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Is and real quick before we go to the phones,
you know, going back to that PC and G flyer
where they're telling you, hey, well we'll set you up
at home to charge your EV and we'll give you
credits and pay for it and blah blah blah blah.
I don't understand why the company's saying one thing and
the employees, the guys that are doing the installs, the
guys that are maintaining the system, are saying another. Because
every time I run into one of those guys at
(10:07):
a bagel store or a coffee shop, and you know,
inevitably I just have to bring it up. They say, Yeah,
there's just no way. We just don't have the infrastructure,
we don't have the capacity, we don't have the ability
to do it on the timeline they're dictating. So there's
a missing piece to the puzzle and we'll have to
watch it as we go forward. Let's go. Let's go
over and talk to John and tennessee twenty three Yukon. John.
(10:28):
Welcome to the car doctor, sir, How can I help?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
How are you today?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I'm very good.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I bought a twenty twenty three Yukon. We have a
motorhome and I was looking for a vehicle to flattel
behind the motorhome and the salesman. Of course they aren't aware.
I guess that General Motors has chosen to go to
single speed transfer cases on most of their vehicles with
(10:52):
four wheel drive now, so they're used to the old woman.
So I anyway, I've been a great gear head all
my life, and I didn't do my homework. I got
everything ready to install the base, play hooked it after
the motor home and got ready to check everything out
and realized I only have a single speed transfer case.
You have to have a two speed transfer case in
(11:12):
order to flat toe General Motors four wheel drive vehicles.
And it just was curious that my options are, you know,
either have a car shipped down where I'm going, or
take the drive shafts out. I've called a couple of
places to see if putting a two speed transfer case
(11:32):
and the wiring and everything in it was feasible, and
haven't really had much success. Just thought i'd see what
you thought.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I don't think. I think you bought the wrong vehicle
to put Yeah, I think you bought the wrong vehicle, brother.
You know, I think replacing or putting a two speed
transfer case and by two speed. I think what you're
trying to say is you need something that you can
put into neutral.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Correct, exactly, right, exactly, so the single states don't go.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Into natrol, right, And I don't know what putting the
transmission in neutral does?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
You know?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
That would be my only other thought. And the concern
is you're still running or spinning the transfer case around
at sixty miles an hour going down the highway, so
that really doesn't work, you know, do you do? You?
You know? Are their devices? And I you know, I
go I always go back to It's like being at
(12:28):
the gym when coach says, hey, look around, see what
everybody else is doing. You're not the only guy having
this problem. You know, what's everybody else doing with twenty
three ucons? You can't be the only guy having this problem.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Apparently they started this transmission I think at twenty sixteen
is what I thought I read somewhere. So it's not
a brand new issue, right, I think they started putting
single speed transfer cases in several years ago. Right, because
salesmen they're so used to selling four speeds that can
(12:58):
be flat out, they don't bother to do their homework.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yeah, well, and it sounds like you've got an all
wheel drive, not a four wheel drive.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
No, it's a four wheel drive. It's definitely. I run
it in two wheel most of the time.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Oh, you can take it. You can take it out
of four wheel drive. You can put it into rear
wheel drive.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I mostly drive it in Uh, excuse me, mostly drive
it in two wheel drive.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Well, you can put it in two wheel drive and
pull out the rear drive shaft. Then what's the issue?
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah, that's a thought. See if I could just take
out one drive shift, I was thinking that I would
probably have to pull both drive shafts. I didn't know
whether by still having the drive shaft in the front
if it would be driving into the transmission and spin
and stuff around that shouldn't be spinning.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Well, I think what you're going to find is, I
think the mechanical lock for the four wheel drive aspect
then is going to come off the actuator on the
front dip. I would look at a wiring diagram, believe
it or not. I would look at a wiring diagram
four four wheel drive operation and see what they're doing.
Does the four wheel lock up take place inside the
transfer case or does it take place on the front axle.
(14:09):
If it takes place on the front axle, then I
would be venture to guess, and you'd have to try
this as an experiment. Pull the rear drive shift and
flat tow it on the front. Just don't lock the
front axle. It'd be the same thing as the old school,
you know, four wheel drive, when you'd lock the front hubs.
Just leave the front hubs on, leave the front axle unlocked,
(14:30):
and then at that point the dry shift is spinning.
The danger, as I always understood it is towing a
four wheel drive vehicle of any stature history, manufacturer, make, etc.
Was always how does that transfer case get lubricated? You know,
in the sense that are we going to run something
dry where when it's in four wheel drive? Things that
(14:52):
are underload a four wheel drive operation are getting lubricated
by virtue of an oil pump inside that unit? Or
it does it matter now because the drive shaft might
be spinning, but it's not spinning at at at true
speed or true load. If you understand what I'm saying,
you know, so you know I would first understand how
(15:13):
does that how does that single speed four wheel drive work?
All right? But that's interesting, I wasn't. I haven't seen
the newer ones where they're just one four wheel drive speed,
no four wheel load, no four wheel high, no differentiation.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Apparently you have to order order that it comes. I think,
you know, the Nalis used to be all wheel drives, right,
but I think now you can get them with true
four wheel drive, and usually in the Denalis they also
come with If I'm not mistaken, I thought I read somewhere,
and I may be wrong, but I thought I read
(15:52):
somewhere that they in fact do come automatically with the
two speed transfer case that are the you can put
them in neutral.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Now, this might be a big pain in the butt,
but I have seen towing setups where you will put
front wheels on a dolly.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And then to do that with this transmission, with this one,
you would have to take the drive shaft out.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Of the rear right and then pull the rear drive shaft. Yes,
so you know, is that is that the ultimate solution?
How big of it? How often are you going to
you know, tow this car?
Speaker 2 (16:29):
John once a year? So I'm almost to the point
now where I'm saying I'll just pay to habit ships
down there because by the time I start buying all
the other stuff, I've paid for a round trip shipping.
And then I told my wife, I said, next year,
we'll just trade for twenty twenty four and get what
what is flat tow of them?
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Well, there's only.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Problem is those putting those base plates on a car,
removing that front fashion and everything. It's about a forty
hour job. And I put eight of them on different cars. Now,
this one was the most difficult of any I've ever done.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Right right, it sounds it sounds like you got it
in hand. But like I said, I would, I would
just look at wiring. How is that? How was that
four wheel drive activated? Because in my mind, if if
we disconnected the rear drive shaft, although here we are
again we're working at it, if we left it in
two wheel drive and towed it without a drive shift
in it, does that? Does that effectively do the same thing.
(17:25):
What's it going to cost to ship it to wherever
it's going.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
It's about eight hundred bucks one way, which you know,
the one guy at GM told me, he said, if
we could even do it, my guess is it had
run about fifteen thousand dollars fan for fifteen thousand dollars.
I'll trade cars right, yeah, and not be messing with it.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I go back to my original statement, John, you bought
the wrong car. I'm sorry, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Think I did. I totally agree. One just goes to
show you, you know, don't believe everything is saies.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Listen, let me ask you. Let me ask you the John,
let me ask you the important question. And well, I
hope I know the answer. That your wife didn't tell
you not to buy the car and you did anyway,
then you're really in trouble, brother.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So no, no, this is the car my wife wanted.
I had a twenty seventeen Buick conclave that I was
happy as a clam with.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Well, then at least we know that she's happy. John,
b Well, I gotta go, babe. I'm running ding of
the Car Doctor. We're back right after this. Welcome back
(18:40):
to the Auto Zone studio. Here's Ron, Welcome back running
the character Here. Let's let's wonder over and let's go
to Kenton, Maine. Oaight, cheap Wrangler Kent. Welcome to the
Car Doctor.
Speaker 5 (18:53):
Hello, thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You're welcome, sir.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
Well, the reason I'm calling today is because I recently
picked up another two thousand and eight jeep Wrangler, and
I noticed that I have some a small dripping of
my anti freeze coming out the bottom driver's side of
the radiator, which is the opposite side of the hose.
(19:21):
And I was preparing to tackle a radiator replacement, and
then I thought, why don't I look at the stop
leak products. Maybe it could work, or maybe it could
buy some time. And I saw the case A on
there and remembered your having mentioned it, and so I
just thought I would ask is it worth it to
(19:45):
go ahead and try the seiler before I do the replacement.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
So let's talk a little bit about the vehicle. Ken
how many miles are on this.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
One hundred and thirty seven thousand.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
All right? So you know at a radiator, all right,
you're planning to keep, You're planning to keep the vehicle.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Yeah, I'm good. I was hoping to try to get
a few years out of it. It was a recent trade,
and I was unhappy with the with the twenty twelve,
with the three point six because the motor was ticking,
and I read horror stories about on the internet about
(20:23):
the dreaded pentastar tick. I didn't want to get involved.
I'm back with it. I went back to a three
point eight and it just runs and drives beautifully, and
so I would like to get a few years out
of it. And yeah, it makes sense. I definitely. It's
probably owede an old a radiator two or three times
(20:44):
and with this many miles on it.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Right, you know, listen, if anything's going to do the job,
it'll be case Seal. If I was going to do anything,
it would be case Seal. If the vehicle had three
hundred thousand miles on it, you were getting rid of
it in three months, then I think it's a case
Seal thing. If it's a matter of you can't get
it in for rep, it's let's do k seal and
we'll write it out for three to four to five
six months and then get it in. K Seal is,
in my opinion, the best cooling system seal are on
(21:08):
the market today. All Right, it works really well. Now
here's the catch. K seal has a hard time with
a rubber gasket. It's really designed to be effective with
hard shim, hard hard metal stop area types of leaks.
Now that being said, have I seen it work on
situations with radiators where I know the end gasket was seeping. Yeah,
(21:29):
I absolutely have. If you ask k Seal Tech support,
they'll tell you no, it's not supposed to work there,
but it does. I've seen it. I've had it work.
You know, it works really well. It's a great product.
But my situation, or my concern is in this situation.
You know, if you just got the vehicle and you're
planning to drive it long term, you can try k Seal,
(21:49):
but I'd rather see you go through the cooling system.
I'd rather go and have you put a radiator in
it while it's out, you know, water pump, thermostat, replace
the coolant. You know, let's service it, you know. And
the first thing I would actually do before I even
got into doing the radiator is I'd get down to
my local AutoZone and I would grab some they called
them litmus paper tests and test the coolant, not strength,
(22:12):
but the cooling system acidity is the cooling system acidic?
Has it started to turn like into that? You know,
it's bad. It's got more of an acid base than
what it's supposed to have than a neutral base, and
you know, it just may be time for some cooling
system repairs. Does the system look original, original hoses, water
(22:32):
pump et, cetera.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
I haven't looked at it that closely yet, but I
am looking at the idea that while I'm in there,
For example, you certainly hoses are cheap, so you'd be crazy.
You don't want to have a lower radiator hose after
changing the radiator and have to then deal with that.
So I'm I'm considering a small package at least of
(22:59):
the hoses and whatever else I might need. And I've
been looking at radiators and called a couple of shops,
and I do see that, you know, if you're trying
to get an original replacement, it can be a little
bit of a pricey radiator for a single row plastic
tank radiator that might not last all that long. And
(23:22):
then I see these after market all aluminum aluminum tanks
that you know, start a little bit closer to they're
actually they're less than the ones that I've been calling
and asking about some of them around, you know, one
hundred and eighty two hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, go take a can, go take a look at
osc if you can find one. One stop cooling, they're out,
They're out of the West Coast OSC. We use them
in the shop all the time. I believe they're available
at AutoZone. They work really well. It's going to be
a traditional plastic tank aluminum center, all right. But we've had,
oh I don't know, a one percent failure rate, and
(24:00):
I'm being I'm probably over exaggerating there because I just
don't recall having that many failures with them. They work
out of the box really well. OSC, which I found
out later on, stands for one stop cooling, you know,
but that'll work. And then when you're looking for hoses,
nobody better than Gates and you might as well put
a belt on it. And I believe Gates has some
(24:21):
hose and belt packages. You'd have to check at your
local parts supplier and see what they've got. But it's time.
It's one hundred and thirty thousand miles. If that's got
original host clamps on it, all the hoses on that car,
oh yeah, all those hoses are one hundred thirty thousand miles.
We're talking fourteen years old right in eighteen Yeah, I'm sorry,
(24:41):
at two thousand and eight, so you know, at that point,
you know, you do a system overhaul. Coolant belt hoses,
thermostat water pump, some good quality products.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
That makes sense, so I don't have to go back
into that, right, and I can move to something else once.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Do it right, and you're probably not going to find
I would venture to guess that if we didn't have
a UAW strike in parts failures or lack of parts
issues to put up with that, Chrysler probably doesn't make
that radiator readily available anymore anyway, it's too old.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
So oh yeah, so I probably am looking at the aftermarket.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Yeah, yeah, And that's why you know. And then where
you get the parts from is just as important as
what you get. And that's why you know when I
send you to AutoZone, I know if you have a problem,
they're going to take care of it because that's the
kind of company they are, that's the kind of people
they are. You know, you're only as strong as your
best supplier. I always say, I happen to have a
I just happen to have a belief based in that.
(25:42):
Been in the business a while, so to speak. But
you know, while you're doing a radiator, belts, hoses, thermostat
water pump, visit it once.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Is there any reason why I would be wanting to
consider a three row radiator.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
No or no.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
I don't need nothing that.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Fancy, not unless you're not unless you're going to start
modifying something. You know, the whole science of how a
car works is really interesting. I've actually seen cases where
hot rodders have put big, giant four row or three
row radiators in cars and they run hotter. And part
(26:27):
of the issue is is that the coolant it's it's
it's wider, right, The radiator is wider, so there's more
capacity the water flow through the radiator. They don't change
the rate of time that the water is or the
coolant is in the radiator, so it doesn't have proper
time to dissipate and give off heat, so the heat
(26:49):
exchange doesn't take place, and it will actually cause the
vehicle to run hotter. And they scratch their heads as
to why. I'm not saying it happens a lot, but
I've seen it. Don't think more is better. You know,
we had an old saying back when I was starting
out in this business. I learned it early on from
the guys that were doing it. Then you know, mild
(27:10):
goes wild and less is more, and it's really true,
until you understand the engineering or the impact and the
physics of what you're changing, And why don't just change
it because everybody else does it? You know, sometimes it
leads you down the wrong path. You know, there's more
than a few people out there doing standard replacement radiators, gates, belts, gates, hoses,
(27:31):
you know, water pumps, thermostats and so forth. And no problems,
all right, sir.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
All right, well, thank you for the advice about the
osc radiators. And I will keep in mind that the
the CASEO may buy me sometime and it may not,
and will find out when I try it. But it
won't hurt nothing else or cause any problems.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Absolutely not. Won't hurt anything else. And the other way.
Case heal's not going to work if it's a real
big rubber gasket leak, like I said, k seal doesn't
work well on that, But it works well if that's
a metallic leak from the core of the radiator itself.
So or if the block had a deficiency in its
something like that. Good luck to you, Kent. Let us
know how it works out, and enjoy your new vehicle.
I'm running any in the car. Doctor. We're back right
(28:16):
after this welcome back run any of the car Doctor.
By the way, Tom writes in from Newburgh, New York. Hey, Ron,
what the heck is PSC and G Public Service Electric,
Public Service Electric and Gas. But in New Jersey there
(28:39):
are a utility company. But in New Jersey a lot
of people say it's park, sleep, eat and go home.
If you've ever seen him working on the road crewise so,
but that's sorry, fellas. Let's go over and talk to
Doug in Oklahoma, oh one Chrysler Town and Country. Doug,
Welcome to the car Doctor, sir. How can I help?
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Yes, sir, it's a pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Thank you as well.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
I have Oh, I've got a two thousand and one
Town and Country with the three three.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
This vehicle has been dependable for the past ten years.
About three or four months ago, my daughter was driving
it and called and said, hey, it quit running, so
I had it towed to her house. I went over
and looked at this, and looked looked at that, and uh,
I checked it's coming up with the P zero one
(29:27):
oh eight.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Okay, over and over.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
I've replaced the map sinsor No, it didn't fix anything.
So I went and put the old one back in,
and I owned it out and checked it according to
the shop manual, and it checked checked out good, so
uh it it would it would run good. And then
(29:50):
I replaced the EGR valve because I had a similar
Chrysler car that was doing the same thing. It was
a rough idol. It wouldn't run right. Replaced the e
g R valve. Ran perfect for two weeks. Then I
get a call again that it's doing the same thing
and that it's stalled, and so I pulled the codes again.
(30:13):
Was at P zero one oh eight, the same thing.
I've checked grounds, I've checked wiring, I've checked fuel pressure,
and the main problem is you can't get it out
on the road to check how it runs on the road.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
You can't the problem at the time when the failure occurs, right.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
And I put my I did a I have an
ANSEL two thousand, I believe scanner. And what do you
call it? The at idol? The I've heard you say
it a million times, the trim fuel trim and at
(30:59):
an idol it's about zero to like a negative six, okay,
But and I put fuel pressure gauge on it hit
strong sixty one pounds when you it just that's constant,
and it's just really weird. One time it'll it'll run
perfect for fiften minutes and then it would just like
(31:20):
it just shuts off, right, And then another time you
let it run, it'll just run flawless. Then it will
start missing and jerking, and then it will just die.
Then you let it sit for fifteen minutes and it
will fire up again.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
So what what kind of scan tool do you have, Doug?
Speaker 4 (31:40):
It's an ANTL two thousand.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Okay, does that display data? I'm not familiar with that one.
Does does it display data stream?
Speaker 4 (31:48):
Yes, it displays data stream? You can uh yeah, just
check the O you know, the O two. You can
check fuel trim and you can check up. You know,
it's not and very very extensive.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
It sounds like it sounds like it does basic OBD two,
which is what I'm after, all right, for the purposes
of this conversation. So this is a zero to five
volt sensor map censor, all right?
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (32:17):
You know, keon engine off? What's the map sensor?
Speaker 4 (32:20):
Say?
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Where does it start? All right?
Speaker 4 (32:23):
Huh oh, I'm trying to think what it was within
the parameters. All right, I believe whatever. Yeah, and I
don't remember what the parameters were, but it fell within
that race.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
All right, I'll tell you what. Hang on second, let
me let me pull over, take a pause, we'll come back.
We'll finish up. Don't go anywhere, Doug, I'm running any
of the car. Doctor. We'll be back right after this.
Welcome back to the Auto Zone studio. Here's Ron. Hey,
(32:59):
let's get back. I can talk to Doug. Doug, you're
still there, Oklahoma way. So let's talk about P zero
one to eight in the in the three minutes we
got left. So P zero one to eight is a
fault code that sets because the engine controller, the PCM,
sees map voltage go high. It sees it go to
five vaults or four point nine volts, whatever you want
to believe, but it's it's it's a higher than normal
(33:20):
voltage expected. All right. When I when I think about that,
and you know you're taking the right steps. So we're
going to make some assumptions, which we both know on
family radio is a dangerous word, right, So let's let's
assume this is being set as a result of a
map sensor circuit fault, that it's really a map sensor
circuit problem. Notice I didn't say censor, I said map
(33:41):
sensor circuit.
Speaker 4 (33:42):
Right.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Could be the sensor, could be the wiring, could be
the PCM. Maybe the PCM is internally interpreting data wrong
and falsely setting the code. So what I want you
to do is I want you to go find connector
one O two. I remember connector one O two. It's
kind of buried on the engine harness and it's in
a position. What I'm thinking about real quick is could
(34:04):
we have stray voltage across that connector inducing a voltage
into the map sensor circuit, creating a false one oh
eight and making the vehicle stall. Then what I'd like
you to do is find that there's two of those
MAP wires go through connector one O two, the five
vault reference and the signal return. If we could take
(34:28):
those two wires from the map sensor and make our
own harness and go straight shot right back to the PCM,
tap in, cut the wires, leave yourself enough wire and
lead that you can solder it and then put it
back if you want. But if we create two wires
there bypass those that are in the harness and then
(34:49):
go and take the ground lead and make your own ground.
Does that solve a problem and make it go away?
Do those things. If you need a wiring diagram, let
me know all be trying and get one to you
and we'll talk about it. Then I'm moninating in the
car doctor. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
Host
Ron Ananian
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