March 21, 2020 • 35 mins
Ron starts this episode telling his “them” story : takes a call on an 09 Escape with a bad evap valve : takes a call looking to discuss portable jump boxes : takes a call on a 14 GMC Sierra that has a slight clunk in the steering : takes a call on a 94 Caddy where the caller replaced the shocks and now has a relay to wire up : talks about the GM Heritage website.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ron and Anian, I think something needs to be done
to regulate headlights. If your joy is to drive out
in the middle of nowhere and pitch black darkness and
make it look like it's Sunday afternoon and time square, Hey, great,
that's your thing, but not when I'm coming down the
road at you, the car Doctor, Chris, where are you
(00:25):
going on any time? Play? Oh no, no, there's there's
a stretch of high D High nine between State College
and Altuna. It's clear, dry, and there's always some subrou
w r X or something wants dot testo me. So.
Welcome to the radio home of Ron and Anian, the
Car Doctor, since this is where car owners the world
(00:48):
over turned 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 are open,
but I am here to say your calls at and
now running. Did I ever tell you my them story?
(01:11):
Did I ever tell you this? It's it's I'm just
listening to this week's open about the guy doing on
the Pennsylvania Turnpike and we had a call last hour
if you missed it about the woman who thinks somebody's
playing with and I'm not saying there wasn't, but just
somebody's playing with her car at night to give it
bad gas mileage, and this guy's following her and using
radio frequencies to alter the car. And and I thought
(01:33):
about this guy. So a couple of years ago, fellow
walks into the shop, sits down and kind of lets
out a side relief. Thank god I made it here.
You're the only guy I trust. Yeah, what's that? Well,
because my car has been modified by them? And he
(01:55):
takes his eyes and flirts to the ceiling. One too.
Three What do you mean by them? Them? Who? Them?
You know them? They've done something to my car. They're
tracking me to see where I'm going. Who's tracking you? Them? Two? Yea.
(02:19):
And we go through this whole thing about how he's
taken his car into repair shops and there's a tracking
device on it and he's being watched and he's being
recorded and all his movements and everything about him is
being taken and stored for further examination by them. Yeah. Really,
(02:44):
And I just I couldn't get them out. I just
so finally I said, have you gone to the police,
And he said no, because I was afraid them wouldn't
like that. I said, well, you know, the police deal
with this kind of thing all the time. Really, yeah, absolutely,
(03:05):
I said, I would go report down to the Walden
Police Department and tell them you were here and tell
them the story just the way you told me, and
they'll know what to do. You think, so, oh yeah,
they'll definitely know what to do. Right. He leaves, I
swear to god. He leaves. He comes back a half
hour later. Danny and I look at each other. Dany's
(03:28):
got his hands on the bat because we're not quite
sure what's going to happen at this point, and he said, uh,
I just want to say thank you. I appreciate you
telling me to go to the police. And I said
you went. He goes, oh yeah, And I'm starting to think,
like the the Walden Police department let this guy go.
And he says, oh yeah, I went in. I explained
the whole thing to the sergeant. Do you know they've
(03:49):
seen this before? They have? He said yeah, he said.
The sergeant came out, he had this stick in his
belt that specially treated tap the top of the dashboard
three times and he says, now, you're no longer being tracked.
We've disabled the object and the guy. The guy said,
I was so grateful I got in the car. I
could tell right away it was fixed. He goes, you're
the best mechanic. I know you're always honest. He left.
(04:11):
I haven't seen the guys probably it's probably three or
four years. There's no place like home. There's no place
like home, I'm telling you. I and like I listened
to some of the calls, and I'm thinking, like, there's
got to be a gathering place that I don't ever
want to get to because they're all there. Um, it's
(04:32):
just but true story, the story of them. Uh, they're
all there, you mean, the gathering of them, the gathering
of them. Yeah, they are all there in them. Um.
So anyway, Ron and naming the car doctor here, we
are just trying to have a little fun. But that
true story, God's honest, true that. I have to tell
more stories about what happens in the shop because some
things you just that one's right up there with you
(04:53):
just can't believe it. Let's kick the phones open, let's
get back to work here. Let's go to Mike and
Delaware oh nine four to escape some evap problems, Mike,
don't tell me, good brother, what's going on? Hey? What
I called two thousand nine ford Ford Escape. I bought
it last April and then when it was stormed or
warranty um, and then in May I had took it
(05:16):
to back to the dealership because of the check engine
like one and is the evap? So so this about
about a month ago and the light comes back on,
take it over in and out car carrier and goes
Barren and she called yesterday, Yeah, it's the evap. Is
that a Ford Ford U? Is it the part itself
(05:37):
that's not designed right? Or it seems like Martlans. I
hope every year I don't have change EVAP. Well, there's
there's there's there's multiple reasons why the EVAP light will
set or why the while the chicken is light, we'll
set an EVAP code? You know what code was it
the first time? What code is at this time? Oh?
(05:58):
Shoot the other papers in the well because because I
took the other paper tone and said it's what happened
the last time to come on and I'm not sure
she didn't tell me what what code it was. She
had order apart and be ready Monday. So so because
here understood, let's understand it like this. Take a gas can,
put it, put it out in the driveway, all right, right,
(06:22):
it would it would, so we have to vent it, right, right,
it would. It would get hot in the sun, expand
and explode. So we've got to have a way to
vent it so it doesn't build up pressure. So we've
got events solenoid. Right, that goes on one side of
the can. All right. If we wanted to if we
wanted to suck on the can and pull fumes out
(06:43):
of it by a manual method, we'd have to put
a purge valve on it. That's two devices, right, And
if we wanted to pour fuel out of it, we'd
have to take the cap off, right. That's that's that's
three separate components attached to the gas can. Right. If
the event valve goes bad, it sets a code. If
the purge valve goes bad, it sets a code. At
(07:04):
the gas cap goes bad, it sets a code. All
three different unique faults for an evapp sister, So it
depends on which fault code it had now common on
the square body escape that generation was the event and
was the purge all right? Yeah, Well I know it
(07:27):
was a purge last year, but you know she said
it was. You know, it might have been the same
thing purge again. But yeah, if the you gotta ask
her if the purge went bed in a year. I
gotta think that's a warranty thing, right, it's it's a year, um.
And you know, if you've been a regular customer that
dealership or that repair shop, I think they're you know,
(07:49):
they got to do the right thing here. And you
know it's listen, there's a ton of bad parts out
there despite everybody's best efforts. So no, I'm not blaming this.
It was dealership. I got it from that. You know,
they fixed the first time and then like saying, then
I took him to in and out Tire care yesterd
or Yester Friday and then they just put it on
(08:11):
the machine and he said it was a purge vowel
or something. You know, because the light on on the
gate on the instrument panel would say fuel check check
flu in the valve or check cap? Is it a
check cap message? Right? I don't have a cat all right,
this is this is a right. There's a capitalist system.
Oh no, right, oh wait, it was the last year
(08:34):
I think for a cap or seven. But um, yeah,
so there's you know, what was the code? Then? What's
the code now? It's as simple as that. I'll give
you a calling, and you know, I'm sure she'll tell
me what it was because you know, Yeah, Hey, Ron,
good question. You still got your send me to Monty
call him still. Don't you bring back memories? I remember
(08:56):
you saying something on on on your radio show. I
had a sent two monety color go kind of like
the brown goldish colored exactly autumn gold Texas Texas. Yeah,
and question, I don't want to go ahead three for
nickel to my later ages of working and I want something.
(09:19):
Would you buy a rod that's already built or want
our barn? Fine? Um, yeah, I've I've I've been through
it both ways. I'd buy something if I could find
the right vehicle, and fighting the right vehicle is hard.
I'd buy something done if I could afford it. But
because part of the part of the part of the
problem now is even if you want to build something,
(09:43):
a lot of the parts that you're gonna purchase are
either gonna be wrong, don't fit, or in good quality
or just garbage to begin with. And it's nothing you
want to put on a car. To tell you the
truth that the parts problem is so bad it almost
it almost prevents you from enjoying the hobby. It really
does what I'm saying. I was like working in the hand.
I said, I'd love to find something that's all together
(10:06):
from there. You know, if if it was a choice
of buying a ten thousand dollar roller or a twenty
five thousand dollar done car, and the twenty five thousand
dollar done car was done, done and just the way
I'd want it, I'd spent I'd spend the twenty five
and be done. Because you're you're not going to duplicate
that car. You're not gonna make that ten thousand dollar
car like that twenty five thousand dollar car for fifteen
(10:27):
thousand dollar price difference. It's just not gonna happen, you know. So,
um what, And I'm gonna watch American Graffiti again. I
love that movie. Well, you know what, we've all got
the time for that. So you let me know what
you let me know what they say, Mike, Let me
keep rolling. I've got I got a bunch of calls
to get to, and let me pull over and take
(10:48):
a pause. And we'll be back to Mike and Delaware.
Another Mike and Delaware right after this. I'm running any
of the Car Doctor. Don't go away. That's right. If
you call and we're not live, you can leave a
message and we'll call you back to get you on
(11:09):
the air with Ron. Eight five five zero nine nine
zero zero. Speaking of Ron, here he is, let's get
on over and tuck to Mike and Delaware. Another Mike
and Delaware other than the other Mike and Delaware. Mike
and Delaware. Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir, how can
I help? Hey, Ron, it's kind of funny and Mike
and Delaware, I'm only about fifteen minutes from the guy
to just call Over and County and I all say,
(11:31):
you don't seventy seven mont car that's not funny enough.
It's it's it's Monte Carlo country. By the way, I
should as long as we're on the subject of Monty Carlos,
I should mention um, I'm always looking if anybody out
there has one. I'm always looking for a grill for
my seventy two Monty Carlo, the one thing they haven't
reproduced yet. So if anybody has one, we're willing to
come and get it. So anyway, going with your call, Mikey,
what's your question? Okay, my question is it's car related, Ron,
(11:54):
and thanks for taking a call. By the way, Um,
years ago, I bought a portable jump at pack. I'll
think it was I should call it a jump in.
I think it was made by press Stone and lasted
for a lot of years, had good luck whether they
used it multiple times, and I finally went and put.
I bought the inverter or converter, i'll go along with
it to change, you know, from twelve old till one twenty.
(12:14):
It was the yellow It was the yellow booster pack,
right correct. It was like carrying a battery around with
great I had one of those. They actually did work well.
They were they were they were intiquated by today's standards,
but yeah, you're right, they worked very well well. I
finally went to put, you know a few years ago,
and I went to a local parks or tool shop,
bought a brand new and had it for about sus
(12:36):
eight months and went to go use it to jump
start my dad's vehicle. He left his light to one
then he worked and it was brand staging there right
out of the box I charged it kept the charge
and all that, and she was like, I'm going online
and I'm kind of looking to replace this thing now,
and you're getting a lot of pros and cons about
whether you get the big ones like what I used
to have or the smaller I guess what they're powered by.
(12:59):
Late Nocot batters are like a little small box pas
and I'm just not really sure what I would what
would be the best type to replace it. I've got
a that's one tip you pick up, you know, so
looking for something with to be able to jump start
larger vehicles, um, you know, small depols but without breaking
the bank. I didn't know if you had any recommendations. Yeah,
(13:20):
I mean listen Booster kids or just you know, bigger
is always better, all right, so you know, you buy
as much as you can afford. When my press Stone
yellow Booster pack died a couple of years back, I
actually went out there. There's a company out there called
micro start um. The micro Start XP ten is the
one I got. Now. I think they've upgraded and they've
made some changes in a couple of years since I
(13:41):
purchased mine, But my micro start works every time. I've used,
and I haven't used it a lot, but I keep
it handy with me. I actually have it in my
man bag as my kids call it, my my my
man satchel, as my my kids kid me about. But um,
I've sort of got an emergency pack with me. I've
got a little uh tiny little knapsack thing I sling
over my shoulder all the time. It's got my wallet
(14:02):
and pocket knife, and it's got some electrical tape in it,
and I've actually got the booster pack right in there.
You know. Yeah, it's it's it's small, it's it's it's
it's roughly I think it's ten by three, maybe eight
by three, and it's it's it's the thickness of a
cell phone. But you've got to see the look on
somebody's face when you you you pull this thing out
(14:24):
of your you know, out of your bag, and you
walk up and you jump start there there. I have
jumped started um excursions with it, the Ford Diesel with it.
It's a it's a it's a big kit in a
sense of capacity. Uh. And it's always charged. I've never
had it had a dead battery. As a matter of fact.
I have to look I think it's been ten months
since I charged, and I bet you I'll pull it
out of the bag and it will still show four
(14:46):
blue lights, uh, you know, showing that it's fully charged.
And the nice thing is it's got a built in flashlight.
It'll it'll you know, oscillate for like an emergency. It
will uh you know, charge your cell phone, charge your laptop.
You know. It's it's sort of like a it's a
priority now. And if I recall correctly, I think I've
(15:06):
seen them on Amazon to to twenty something like that.
But the most important thing and the reason I went
to a micro start at the time was at the
time they were the only jump pack approved by Ford
and GM for jump starting the cars, because, believe it
or not, how you jump start the car and the
(15:28):
way the energy comes out to the battery, if it's
if it's not filtered, for lack of a better way
to put it, it can actually produce a problem and
create a module issue. And it's been known to you know,
a bad jump pack, a cheap jump pack, will actually
cause damage to an electronic module. So you know, it's
(15:50):
not just like cooking up a battery, uh, you know,
like doing a jump start so it's just something to
think about. Two. You want to read up on that
and see who's got the best rating right now. At
the time a couple of years back, it was micro
start does that right? So what kind of what kind
of wat it we would be talking about that would
probably be needed for when I'm asking, I wouldn't Well,
(16:11):
they're gonna They're gonna tell you it will jump start
up to a so many C C A battery. Kid.
I can't remember the exact number, but they rated mind
for I believe the way they rated it at the
time was they said it will do a diesel and
up to a one ton vehicle was their capacitance rating. Um,
But you know, uh, diesels probably it's been a while
(16:34):
since I look, so I don't hold me to this, Mike,
but a diesel Ford pick up or a diesel Ford
Excursion something like that is probably in the seven A
capacity rating because I believe there's two five fifty batteries
in there, and I would take two thirds of that
as my as my rated number. But I tended to
(16:54):
look at you know what did they say it would do? Um,
just strictly by vehicle. But I've ever had it not
start anything. You know, there's there's quite a few of
these things like when Amazon, when you got to Google,
but you know, of course a lot of them. There
are several different brands that have really good ratings and
then when you look at the lower ratings, just like
you know, don't ever buy this, Yeah, I say, just
(17:15):
kind of you know who who who can I talk
to you to actually might recommend something's an automotive business. Well,
and it's funny, you know, we we actually I actually
picked up the phone and we talked to the owner
of micro start, um uh years ago. You know he
was actually just starting out. That was probably probably more
than probably when we when I had this thing. Um,
(17:36):
it's been a while and I've been happy with it
for the three or four I guess it's five years
and now what am I saying? It's five years? But
it is part of my emergency kit. So um, I'll
put it to you this way. I know a nice
young man, Austin. Austin is now going he is often
he's going to become a new Jersey State trooper and
he is at school for it. And when he went off,
(17:56):
part of his going away present, as you were, was
was micro Start XP ten because who wanted to make
sure if he ever came out of class he could
jump start and uh do what he had to do.
So I'm still a good kit. I forget what it costs.
I think that's where I got the two price range from.
So UM, do some research. I think you'll be happy
with it. Mike, thanks for tuning in, and uh, thanks
(18:17):
for being a Monte Carlo owner and enjoyed the conversation.
I'm not needing the car doctor. We are back right
after this don't go away. Welcome back when I needing
(18:42):
the car doctor. By the way, I just checked my
micro Start XP ten. I got it sitting here under
the under the desk here in the studio, and I
was right. Four out of the five blue lights lit up.
And I haven't charged it. It's it's got to be
eight nights, might be a year since I've charged it.
So for Mike and Delaware, if you're still listening, I
don't think micro starts the way to go. And you're right.
When you pull that thing out, people look at you
(19:04):
like you've got three heads. Right. It's it's like it's
like you're pulling out a communicator from Star Trek they
don't get it, and they think they think you're a magician,
and then the next thing they say is where did
you get that? I need one? Yeah, it's it's just
it's an amazing tool. Part of the emergency go big.
As a matter of fact that I wanted to mention
this too. We were talking about emergency go kits and
what to put in the car in these times, just
to make sure you're okay if you need something in
(19:25):
a hurry, in case your mechanics closed, or it just
is a you know what I carry it and the
I carry it in the hot rod just in case
is a bottle of caseeal. All right. You know you've
got to think that if you're if you're gonna if
you pop in and develop a cooling system leak, whether
it be UH, you know, from a variety of places,
something mine or something serious, whatever, a bottle of k
(19:46):
seal and you can find it at orillyoto dot com
or your local Orellyoto parts. A bottle of k Seal
is a great cooling system sealer. It's the only cooling
system sealer we've used UH in the last couple of years,
and it works to such a high degree of success.
That if you can't get to your mechanic and you've
got a coolant leak, k CL will probably get you
back on the road and get you safe so that
(20:07):
you can get where you have to get and do
what you have to do. So you can read more
about that at k CEL dot com. I want to
make sure I mentioned that we were talking before about
emergency kits and building it with fluids and filters and
things k c L k CL dot com. You want
to get one of those, to get a bottle of
that and throw it in the carts. Good quick, cheap protection.
Let's get over to Oliver and Virginia Catty and some
(20:29):
questions about shock absorbers. Oliver, you're on with the car doctor, sir,
how can I help Oliver? Oliver? Where Oliver go? Oliver's gone?
Oliver going once and then Oliver will call me back
and say, how come we're not here, and I'll go, well,
I don't know, I don't know what happened to Oliver. Okay,
Oliver's gone. Good. I want to go back to talking
(20:51):
about emergency kits, all right, because that's that's that's first
and foremost on my mind. Um Oh, somebody just emailed me.
They said, Ron, can you elaborate on this story about them?
You want to hear them story? Well, no, there is
no there is no elaboration. Um, listen, there's a lot
of what's the word I'm looking for, there's a lot
of you know, people get a little crazy dealing with cars,
(21:16):
and it's it's an interesting phenomena. And you know, you'll
see all kinds of things in a repair shop, people
that are talking about, uh, you know, their their car
does this or their car does that. You've got to
be open minded though, and look at each and every case.
The guy with them, I never saw him again, and um,
you know, he never he never appeared. I guess either
(21:37):
they beamed them up or they you know, he's safe
off somewhere, locked up. I'm not really quite sure. Let's
get over to Aaron and Vermont fourteen GMC Sierra and
some clunks in the steering Hey, Aaron, welcome to the
car doctor, sir. How can I help um? So I
have Um, it's just I've brought it into the dealer
(21:58):
multiple times. I've had it since it was brand new,
and uh, I have a clunk in the steering You
feel in the steering wheel and I bring it into
the dealer. They say there's nothing wrong. Everything's tied up
front and they don't see anything wrong with it. But
I mean, it's a pret predominant clunk. You feel it
kind of at low speeds, sometimes a little higher speeds.
(22:22):
Can you can you duplicate it like in a parking
lot maneuver if you're sitting in a park, like trying
to get into a parking space. Yeah, kind of you
you can, yes, yes, you know so like so like
in a dry rock situation. It'll sit there and you know,
like a little you almost feel it more than you
hear it. Yes, definitely, you definitely feel it more than
(22:43):
you feel it for sure. Yeah. I mean have you
have you taken it into them and say hey, here's
the problem and showing them the clunk. I've tried to
do a ride along with them and I sat next
to them and they said they have they can't feel
it for some reason, and I can feel it. And
I don't know if it's just a dealer denial or something.
(23:05):
I mean, I've done a little research myself and they've
I've heard or I've run on forums that maybe there's
something wrong with the rack. Copinion or something with these vehicles.
But well, there's a noise issue you want to get
your hands on gm um uh it's it's um uh.
(23:26):
It's not necessarily a bolt and it's just a um
it's it's it's a tech notice that talks about a
squeak noise when turning the steering wheel. And it's been
out there since June that and they talk about applying
a drop of grease down around the base of the
intermediate steering shift. But then there's also been some problems
with the intermediate steering shift where that needs to be replaced.
(23:49):
So I'm just puzzled by the fact that, you know,
if if you bring them the car and it makes
this noise and they they don't feel it or hear it,
or they you know, they really want to fix it. Um.
You kind of got me scratching in my head. Yeah,
I you know, um, let's diagnosed it. It's it's because
(24:10):
to me, from what you're describing, it sounds like a
problem in the in the in the lower intermediate steering shift. Okay,
you know, not not out of the realm. It's kind
of a common thing. Uh, They've had their issues. Um
you know, yeah, i'd make sure the rack is tight.
I don't know that I would. I don't know that
I would jump beyond that if the racks getting a
little noisy and loose as it ages, unless it's showing
(24:33):
me something that's making it unsafe, you know, steering racks.
In my experience from what I've seen over time, Yeah,
they do get a little clunky and noisy and as
time goes by. But I'm envisioning this thing as you're
trying to maneuver into a parking lot and you hear this,
it's it's it's it's like a cross between a knock
and a clunk. It's just a noise that wasn't there before. Yes, exactly, Well,
(24:54):
we'll to be honest, it's actually almost been there since
about three months into owning the I com playing now. Okay, okay,
so you know, do they have another fourteen in the
shop that they can show you and say, yeah, they
all do that. That's normal. That's always my next that's
always my next question, you know, and see where they
(25:15):
go from there. All right, right, thank you, You're very welcome, sir.
If you need more them here, take good care. So
all right, we're gonna try this again, Oliver and Virginia. Oliver,
you're there, Yes, sir, here you go. I was wondering
what happened you wandered away. I thought you didn't like
me anymore. No, I love you death, brother, and I can't.
I left a little text message last week and you
(25:37):
fella called me up, and I think that's really great.
That job. We're we're here for you. What can I
do for you? Well, my mama, you know she she
likes the big cars. You don't want to small one.
So I make this nine if well, Cadillac come back
to life and uh what the relay lay? What I
(25:57):
did was changed order the shocks in the trusts and
went from electronic level rights and regular shocks exactly, went
to passive. They refer to him as passive shocks. Lad,
there's no nowhere. There's four thousand dollars worth shocks on
(26:18):
this car. Now, now we take you all the electronics away.
And I've done that and I've drove it, you know
over a thousand miles. Is driving really good? Now I
gotta make the Uh there's a relay that the company
send me and uh, we gotta hook that up. That
(26:43):
way we'll stop sending the service ride control error message
to the computer and you know in the in the
car it actually I mean it spells it out. It's
not just an engine light as service ride control. And
uh so what the problem is is run a ground
(27:10):
wire the pin three on the relay. Okay, I can
figure out where to get some ground at a piece
of steel on the car somewhere. Run a power wire
from switched ignition. Uh huh two pin two of the relay,
(27:34):
Now that would be uh and then it has in
parentheses hot and run. So like in the trunk is
where it's Uh, my jewel is that I'm I'm gonna
do this wiring too. So what's closed to that? My
jewel in the trunk? I mean, I'm looking at the
(27:56):
antennel that ain't gonna work if it ain't hot and run.
A wait a minute, why can't Why can't Why can't
you get a wiring diagram and pin out the level
ride module Because that level ride module is likely going
to have a hot in run feed going to it.
It's likely going to have a ground as well. Don't
(28:16):
you just use the existing wiring and tap into that
because you're not gonna be You're not gonna be utilizing
that module anymore. Right. Oh no, you just went above
my head a little bit. Okay, the level is still
hooked up, right, So you want me to do what? Well,
so let me ask, Let me ask, Let me ask
(28:37):
the simple questions. I just went through this on an
oh three sts caddy where it had air ride in
the back, all right, And he didn't he didn't want
to deal with it because of the price. I think
it was worth our rear shocks, and we thought it
was kind of ridiculous for a car with a hundred
and fifty thousand miles on it that you know, had
(28:57):
oil leaks and a bunch of other things in a
college kid's driving it. And she just didn't have a
lot of doubt. So, you know, we took out the
air ride shocks. Monroe makes a replacement kit with a
coil overspring on it. We put that in and then
then the instructions were unplugged the level right sensor. We
unplugged the level right sensor. No more warning at the dashboard.
(29:19):
We're done. You just unplugged the level. That's all we did. Now,
whose kit is this? Is this a Monroe kit or
is this somebody else's it comes from Strutton Masters. Okay, yeah,
I know, I'm familiar with strut Masters. And then it
comes it damn North Carolina. It was only a couple
hour drive and that was off that day, so I
(29:41):
just instead of paying the hunterd dollars the ship and
I just went on down and picked him up. And
then it seems like a nice place. Yeah. No, they're
a good bunch of guys. That tell you what, Oliver,
let me pull over and take a pause. We want
to come back. We'll finish with this. I'm running. Any
of the Car Doctor will be back with Oliver right
after this. Don't go away you, hey, Oliver Ronning any
(30:08):
of the Car Doctor. You're You're still there, brother. Okay,
so real quick, here's what I want you to do.
Let me ask you this question. Do you own a
volt meter? Yes? Okay, you're comfortable, so you're comfortable with
voltage and all yes, sir? All right, get a wiring
diagram for that level rod All right. I want you
to do this one of two ways. I want you
(30:29):
get a wiring diagram for that level ride module, and
I want you to trace back. There's there's going to
be there's probably a constant hot and there's there's generally
a key ton hot in the words, there's gonna be
both sources at the module. Just tap into that, as
a matter of fact, tap into the ground and the
hot right there, and then you don't have to add
(30:50):
any extra wiring and run anymore wiring and go through
the hassle of that. That's that's my first thought process.
Is my second is Strutt Masters is a great company
in this sense of product support. Why don't you give
him a call. You're not the first guy to do
this and say, hey, I've got a ninety four Caddie
de Ville. Where is everybody tapping in? What's your experience, Ben,
where's everybody tapping in to get that key to hot?
(31:12):
And if that does a go ahead? What were you
gonna say? I was just gonna say they do off
of that, you know, But I was listening to you
last week and I was gonna get your opinion and
the fellas that I talked to when I called a
little support sound like he was, you know, maybe not
(31:33):
the one I wanted to talk take. And then the
third Then the third thing is you got a local mechanic. Well, okay,
it's not really I mean, I mean, uh, well, let
me ask you this. So they want you to they
want you to have a key to hot in the ground.
Where's the other two wires of the relay going? Uh?
(31:55):
They go to uh, let's see attach locate three seventy
read wah attach a PC side of circuit three seventy Right, Well,
the problem here in a seventy are like cut cut
(32:18):
and you know there's a little box in the back
of the Cadillac. And what you can do is a
ground where you put the uh hey, Oliver, time time brother,
only because we're gonna run out of time. Doesn't and
I know this for a fact. Strut masters has more
(32:38):
than a few YouTube videos. Have you looked at it? Right?
So do this? Do this? Take a look at the
YouTube videos. If the guy you call it strut masters
doesn't doesn't answer your question, ask for a different guy.
But it's difficult for me to tell you exactly which
wires to cut without the instruction right in front of me.
(33:00):
And I don't want to give you the wrong information. Um.
I've been through this before with suspension modification kits. I've
done the deal where I'll I call it pinning out.
I pin out each individual wire at the module. This
one does this, this one does that, this is keion
engine off, this is hot, this is this is hot
all the time, and so on. And from there I'll
(33:22):
wire my relay right in proximity. Just for giggles, try
and plug in the module and see if the light
goes out. I'm just curious, all right, if that module
will do it for you, And if it doesn't, it
can't hurt anything. Just plug it back in and then
continue with your wiring. Call me back next week if
you need more. Brother, I'm just out of time. I'm
on Eating the car Doctor. We're back right after this
(33:48):
bloking back. Weren't Eating of the car doctor. We had
a call up there, but we lost him. It was
Mike and Maryland. A lot of Mike's in Maryland and
Delaware must must have been a popular name at the
time he had. He wanted information about the car. Uh.
Most important if you're if you've got an older car
like that, an older Classic, an older GM like that,
take a look under the back seat. Under the back seat,
usually on the driver's side, is the build sheet. If
(34:12):
the mice haven't gotten to it yet, the build sheet
will give you a ton of information about actual options
of the car, what RPO codes were originally in the car.
If that's not there, if it's chewed up now. They
won't do it for Pontiac to my knowledge. But there
is a website, the GM Heritage Website. Just Google search
GM Heritage Archives and I'll tell you what you've got
(34:34):
the time. We're all at home now, right, you want
to you want to see some really neat stuff you can.
You can take a stroll down memory lane of old
pictures of General Motors cars from the forties, the fifties,
the sixties, and they will actually be able to reproduce
the build sheet for any Cadillac. Don't ask me how
I want to know this any Cadillac. I believe it's
from three Can you imagine, right, the the amount of
(34:57):
information that GM has had to keep, They can't keep it.
They're looking for older stuff because what happened was I
was looking for the Monte Carlo, my seventy two Monty Carlo.
I wanted to get that going. Um, they didn't have
anything for Chevrolet older than seventy five, I think, but
seventy five Pontiac might be there. So Mike, if you're
still listening. Google search GM Heritage Archives and that will
(35:20):
bring you a link to that website. You can get
a build sheet and then go from there to get
more information. Hey, looking up, I'm any in the car
doct you're reminding you until the next time. Good mechanics
aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
Ron and Anian, I think something needs to be done
to regulate headlights. If your joy is to drive out
in the middle of nowhere and pitch black darkness and
make it look like it's Sunday afternoon and time square, Hey, great,
that's your thing, but not when I'm coming down the
road at you, the car Doctor, Chris, where are you
(00:25):
going on any time? Play? Oh no, no, there's there's
a stretch of high D High nine between State College
and Altuna. It's clear, dry, and there's always some subrou
w r X or something wants dot testo me. So.
Welcome to the radio home of Ron and Anian, the
Car Doctor, since this is where car owners the world
(00:48):
over turned 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 are open,
but I am here to say your calls at and
now running. Did I ever tell you my them story?
(01:11):
Did I ever tell you this? It's it's I'm just
listening to this week's open about the guy doing on
the Pennsylvania Turnpike and we had a call last hour
if you missed it about the woman who thinks somebody's
playing with and I'm not saying there wasn't, but just
somebody's playing with her car at night to give it
bad gas mileage, and this guy's following her and using
radio frequencies to alter the car. And and I thought
(01:33):
about this guy. So a couple of years ago, fellow
walks into the shop, sits down and kind of lets
out a side relief. Thank god I made it here.
You're the only guy I trust. Yeah, what's that? Well,
because my car has been modified by them? And he
(01:55):
takes his eyes and flirts to the ceiling. One too.
Three What do you mean by them? Them? Who? Them?
You know them? They've done something to my car. They're
tracking me to see where I'm going. Who's tracking you? Them? Two? Yea.
(02:19):
And we go through this whole thing about how he's
taken his car into repair shops and there's a tracking
device on it and he's being watched and he's being
recorded and all his movements and everything about him is
being taken and stored for further examination by them. Yeah. Really,
(02:44):
And I just I couldn't get them out. I just
so finally I said, have you gone to the police,
And he said no, because I was afraid them wouldn't
like that. I said, well, you know, the police deal
with this kind of thing all the time. Really, yeah, absolutely,
(03:05):
I said, I would go report down to the Walden
Police Department and tell them you were here and tell
them the story just the way you told me, and
they'll know what to do. You think, so, oh yeah,
they'll definitely know what to do. Right. He leaves, I
swear to god. He leaves. He comes back a half
hour later. Danny and I look at each other. Dany's
(03:28):
got his hands on the bat because we're not quite
sure what's going to happen at this point, and he said, uh,
I just want to say thank you. I appreciate you
telling me to go to the police. And I said
you went. He goes, oh yeah, And I'm starting to think,
like the the Walden Police department let this guy go.
And he says, oh yeah, I went in. I explained
the whole thing to the sergeant. Do you know they've
(03:49):
seen this before? They have? He said yeah, he said.
The sergeant came out, he had this stick in his
belt that specially treated tap the top of the dashboard
three times and he says, now, you're no longer being tracked.
We've disabled the object and the guy. The guy said,
I was so grateful I got in the car. I
could tell right away it was fixed. He goes, you're
the best mechanic. I know you're always honest. He left.
(04:11):
I haven't seen the guys probably it's probably three or
four years. There's no place like home. There's no place
like home, I'm telling you. I and like I listened
to some of the calls, and I'm thinking, like, there's
got to be a gathering place that I don't ever
want to get to because they're all there. Um, it's
(04:32):
just but true story, the story of them. Uh, they're
all there, you mean, the gathering of them, the gathering
of them. Yeah, they are all there in them. Um.
So anyway, Ron and naming the car doctor here, we
are just trying to have a little fun. But that
true story, God's honest, true that. I have to tell
more stories about what happens in the shop because some
things you just that one's right up there with you
(04:53):
just can't believe it. Let's kick the phones open, let's
get back to work here. Let's go to Mike and
Delaware oh nine four to escape some evap problems, Mike,
don't tell me, good brother, what's going on? Hey? What
I called two thousand nine ford Ford Escape. I bought
it last April and then when it was stormed or
warranty um, and then in May I had took it
(05:16):
to back to the dealership because of the check engine
like one and is the evap? So so this about
about a month ago and the light comes back on,
take it over in and out car carrier and goes
Barren and she called yesterday, Yeah, it's the evap. Is
that a Ford Ford U? Is it the part itself
(05:37):
that's not designed right? Or it seems like Martlans. I
hope every year I don't have change EVAP. Well, there's
there's there's there's multiple reasons why the EVAP light will
set or why the while the chicken is light, we'll
set an EVAP code? You know what code was it
the first time? What code is at this time? Oh?
(05:58):
Shoot the other papers in the well because because I
took the other paper tone and said it's what happened
the last time to come on and I'm not sure
she didn't tell me what what code it was. She
had order apart and be ready Monday. So so because
here understood, let's understand it like this. Take a gas can,
put it, put it out in the driveway, all right, right,
(06:22):
it would it would, so we have to vent it, right, right,
it would. It would get hot in the sun, expand
and explode. So we've got to have a way to
vent it so it doesn't build up pressure. So we've
got events solenoid. Right, that goes on one side of
the can. All right. If we wanted to if we
wanted to suck on the can and pull fumes out
(06:43):
of it by a manual method, we'd have to put
a purge valve on it. That's two devices, right, And
if we wanted to pour fuel out of it, we'd
have to take the cap off, right. That's that's that's
three separate components attached to the gas can. Right. If
the event valve goes bad, it sets a code. If
the purge valve goes bad, it sets a code. At
(07:04):
the gas cap goes bad, it sets a code. All
three different unique faults for an evapp sister, So it
depends on which fault code it had now common on
the square body escape that generation was the event and
was the purge all right? Yeah, Well I know it
(07:27):
was a purge last year, but you know she said
it was. You know, it might have been the same
thing purge again. But yeah, if the you gotta ask
her if the purge went bed in a year. I
gotta think that's a warranty thing, right, it's it's a year, um.
And you know, if you've been a regular customer that
dealership or that repair shop, I think they're you know,
(07:49):
they got to do the right thing here. And you
know it's listen, there's a ton of bad parts out
there despite everybody's best efforts. So no, I'm not blaming this.
It was dealership. I got it from that. You know,
they fixed the first time and then like saying, then
I took him to in and out Tire care yesterd
or Yester Friday and then they just put it on
(08:11):
the machine and he said it was a purge vowel
or something. You know, because the light on on the
gate on the instrument panel would say fuel check check
flu in the valve or check cap? Is it a
check cap message? Right? I don't have a cat all right,
this is this is a right. There's a capitalist system.
Oh no, right, oh wait, it was the last year
(08:34):
I think for a cap or seven. But um, yeah,
so there's you know, what was the code? Then? What's
the code now? It's as simple as that. I'll give
you a calling, and you know, I'm sure she'll tell
me what it was because you know, Yeah, Hey, Ron,
good question. You still got your send me to Monty
call him still. Don't you bring back memories? I remember
(08:56):
you saying something on on on your radio show. I
had a sent two monety color go kind of like
the brown goldish colored exactly autumn gold Texas Texas. Yeah,
and question, I don't want to go ahead three for
nickel to my later ages of working and I want something.
(09:19):
Would you buy a rod that's already built or want
our barn? Fine? Um, yeah, I've I've I've been through
it both ways. I'd buy something if I could find
the right vehicle, and fighting the right vehicle is hard.
I'd buy something done if I could afford it. But
because part of the part of the part of the
problem now is even if you want to build something,
(09:43):
a lot of the parts that you're gonna purchase are
either gonna be wrong, don't fit, or in good quality
or just garbage to begin with. And it's nothing you
want to put on a car. To tell you the
truth that the parts problem is so bad it almost
it almost prevents you from enjoying the hobby. It really
does what I'm saying. I was like working in the hand.
I said, I'd love to find something that's all together
(10:06):
from there. You know, if if it was a choice
of buying a ten thousand dollar roller or a twenty
five thousand dollar done car, and the twenty five thousand
dollar done car was done, done and just the way
I'd want it, I'd spent I'd spend the twenty five
and be done. Because you're you're not going to duplicate
that car. You're not gonna make that ten thousand dollar
car like that twenty five thousand dollar car for fifteen
(10:27):
thousand dollar price difference. It's just not gonna happen, you know. So,
um what, And I'm gonna watch American Graffiti again. I
love that movie. Well, you know what, we've all got
the time for that. So you let me know what
you let me know what they say, Mike, Let me
keep rolling. I've got I got a bunch of calls
to get to, and let me pull over and take
(10:48):
a pause. And we'll be back to Mike and Delaware.
Another Mike and Delaware right after this. I'm running any
of the Car Doctor. Don't go away. That's right. If
you call and we're not live, you can leave a
message and we'll call you back to get you on
(11:09):
the air with Ron. Eight five five zero nine nine
zero zero. Speaking of Ron, here he is, let's get
on over and tuck to Mike and Delaware. Another Mike
and Delaware other than the other Mike and Delaware. Mike
and Delaware. Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir, how can
I help? Hey, Ron, it's kind of funny and Mike
and Delaware, I'm only about fifteen minutes from the guy
to just call Over and County and I all say,
(11:31):
you don't seventy seven mont car that's not funny enough.
It's it's it's Monte Carlo country. By the way, I
should as long as we're on the subject of Monty Carlos,
I should mention um, I'm always looking if anybody out
there has one. I'm always looking for a grill for
my seventy two Monty Carlo, the one thing they haven't
reproduced yet. So if anybody has one, we're willing to
come and get it. So anyway, going with your call, Mikey,
what's your question? Okay, my question is it's car related, Ron,
(11:54):
and thanks for taking a call. By the way, Um,
years ago, I bought a portable jump at pack. I'll
think it was I should call it a jump in.
I think it was made by press Stone and lasted
for a lot of years, had good luck whether they
used it multiple times, and I finally went and put.
I bought the inverter or converter, i'll go along with
it to change, you know, from twelve old till one twenty.
(12:14):
It was the yellow It was the yellow booster pack,
right correct. It was like carrying a battery around with
great I had one of those. They actually did work well.
They were they were they were intiquated by today's standards,
but yeah, you're right, they worked very well well. I
finally went to put, you know a few years ago,
and I went to a local parks or tool shop,
bought a brand new and had it for about sus
(12:36):
eight months and went to go use it to jump
start my dad's vehicle. He left his light to one
then he worked and it was brand staging there right
out of the box I charged it kept the charge
and all that, and she was like, I'm going online
and I'm kind of looking to replace this thing now,
and you're getting a lot of pros and cons about
whether you get the big ones like what I used
to have or the smaller I guess what they're powered by.
(12:59):
Late Nocot batters are like a little small box pas
and I'm just not really sure what I would what
would be the best type to replace it. I've got
a that's one tip you pick up, you know, so
looking for something with to be able to jump start
larger vehicles, um, you know, small depols but without breaking
the bank. I didn't know if you had any recommendations. Yeah,
(13:20):
I mean listen Booster kids or just you know, bigger
is always better, all right, so you know, you buy
as much as you can afford. When my press Stone
yellow Booster pack died a couple of years back, I
actually went out there. There's a company out there called
micro start um. The micro Start XP ten is the
one I got. Now. I think they've upgraded and they've
made some changes in a couple of years since I
(13:41):
purchased mine, But my micro start works every time. I've used,
and I haven't used it a lot, but I keep
it handy with me. I actually have it in my
man bag as my kids call it, my my my
man satchel, as my my kids kid me about. But um,
I've sort of got an emergency pack with me. I've
got a little uh tiny little knapsack thing I sling
over my shoulder all the time. It's got my wallet
(14:02):
and pocket knife, and it's got some electrical tape in it,
and I've actually got the booster pack right in there.
You know. Yeah, it's it's it's small, it's it's it's
it's roughly I think it's ten by three, maybe eight
by three, and it's it's it's the thickness of a
cell phone. But you've got to see the look on
somebody's face when you you you pull this thing out
(14:24):
of your you know, out of your bag, and you
walk up and you jump start there there. I have
jumped started um excursions with it, the Ford Diesel with it.
It's a it's a it's a big kit in a
sense of capacity. Uh. And it's always charged. I've never
had it had a dead battery. As a matter of fact.
I have to look I think it's been ten months
since I charged, and I bet you I'll pull it
out of the bag and it will still show four
(14:46):
blue lights, uh, you know, showing that it's fully charged.
And the nice thing is it's got a built in flashlight.
It'll it'll you know, oscillate for like an emergency. It
will uh you know, charge your cell phone, charge your laptop.
You know. It's it's sort of like a it's a
priority now. And if I recall correctly, I think I've
(15:06):
seen them on Amazon to to twenty something like that.
But the most important thing and the reason I went
to a micro start at the time was at the
time they were the only jump pack approved by Ford
and GM for jump starting the cars, because, believe it
or not, how you jump start the car and the
(15:28):
way the energy comes out to the battery, if it's
if it's not filtered, for lack of a better way
to put it, it can actually produce a problem and
create a module issue. And it's been known to you know,
a bad jump pack, a cheap jump pack, will actually
cause damage to an electronic module. So you know, it's
(15:50):
not just like cooking up a battery, uh, you know,
like doing a jump start so it's just something to
think about. Two. You want to read up on that
and see who's got the best rating right now. At
the time a couple of years back, it was micro
start does that right? So what kind of what kind
of wat it we would be talking about that would
probably be needed for when I'm asking, I wouldn't Well,
(16:11):
they're gonna They're gonna tell you it will jump start
up to a so many C C A battery. Kid.
I can't remember the exact number, but they rated mind
for I believe the way they rated it at the
time was they said it will do a diesel and
up to a one ton vehicle was their capacitance rating. Um,
But you know, uh, diesels probably it's been a while
(16:34):
since I look, so I don't hold me to this, Mike,
but a diesel Ford pick up or a diesel Ford
Excursion something like that is probably in the seven A
capacity rating because I believe there's two five fifty batteries
in there, and I would take two thirds of that
as my as my rated number. But I tended to
(16:54):
look at you know what did they say it would do? Um,
just strictly by vehicle. But I've ever had it not
start anything. You know, there's there's quite a few of
these things like when Amazon, when you got to Google,
but you know, of course a lot of them. There
are several different brands that have really good ratings and
then when you look at the lower ratings, just like
you know, don't ever buy this, Yeah, I say, just
(17:15):
kind of you know who who who can I talk
to you to actually might recommend something's an automotive business. Well,
and it's funny, you know, we we actually I actually
picked up the phone and we talked to the owner
of micro start, um uh years ago. You know he
was actually just starting out. That was probably probably more
than probably when we when I had this thing. Um,
(17:36):
it's been a while and I've been happy with it
for the three or four I guess it's five years
and now what am I saying? It's five years? But
it is part of my emergency kit. So um, I'll
put it to you this way. I know a nice
young man, Austin. Austin is now going he is often
he's going to become a new Jersey State trooper and
he is at school for it. And when he went off,
(17:56):
part of his going away present, as you were, was
was micro Start XP ten because who wanted to make
sure if he ever came out of class he could
jump start and uh do what he had to do.
So I'm still a good kit. I forget what it costs.
I think that's where I got the two price range from.
So UM, do some research. I think you'll be happy
with it. Mike, thanks for tuning in, and uh, thanks
(18:17):
for being a Monte Carlo owner and enjoyed the conversation.
I'm not needing the car doctor. We are back right
after this don't go away. Welcome back when I needing
(18:42):
the car doctor. By the way, I just checked my
micro Start XP ten. I got it sitting here under
the under the desk here in the studio, and I
was right. Four out of the five blue lights lit up.
And I haven't charged it. It's it's got to be
eight nights, might be a year since I've charged it.
So for Mike and Delaware, if you're still listening, I
don't think micro starts the way to go. And you're right.
When you pull that thing out, people look at you
(19:04):
like you've got three heads. Right. It's it's like it's
like you're pulling out a communicator from Star Trek they
don't get it, and they think they think you're a magician,
and then the next thing they say is where did
you get that? I need one? Yeah, it's it's just
it's an amazing tool. Part of the emergency go big.
As a matter of fact that I wanted to mention
this too. We were talking about emergency go kits and
what to put in the car in these times, just
to make sure you're okay if you need something in
(19:25):
a hurry, in case your mechanics closed, or it just
is a you know what I carry it and the
I carry it in the hot rod just in case
is a bottle of caseeal. All right. You know you've
got to think that if you're if you're gonna if
you pop in and develop a cooling system leak, whether
it be UH, you know, from a variety of places,
something mine or something serious, whatever, a bottle of k
(19:46):
seal and you can find it at orillyoto dot com
or your local Orellyoto parts. A bottle of k Seal
is a great cooling system sealer. It's the only cooling
system sealer we've used UH in the last couple of years,
and it works to such a high degree of success.
That if you can't get to your mechanic and you've
got a coolant leak, k CL will probably get you
back on the road and get you safe so that
(20:07):
you can get where you have to get and do
what you have to do. So you can read more
about that at k CEL dot com. I want to
make sure I mentioned that we were talking before about
emergency kits and building it with fluids and filters and
things k c L k CL dot com. You want
to get one of those, to get a bottle of
that and throw it in the carts. Good quick, cheap protection.
Let's get over to Oliver and Virginia Catty and some
(20:29):
questions about shock absorbers. Oliver, you're on with the car doctor, sir,
how can I help Oliver? Oliver? Where Oliver go? Oliver's gone?
Oliver going once and then Oliver will call me back
and say, how come we're not here, and I'll go, well,
I don't know, I don't know what happened to Oliver. Okay,
Oliver's gone. Good. I want to go back to talking
(20:51):
about emergency kits, all right, because that's that's that's first
and foremost on my mind. Um Oh, somebody just emailed me.
They said, Ron, can you elaborate on this story about them?
You want to hear them story? Well, no, there is
no there is no elaboration. Um, listen, there's a lot
of what's the word I'm looking for, there's a lot
of you know, people get a little crazy dealing with cars,
(21:16):
and it's it's an interesting phenomena. And you know, you'll
see all kinds of things in a repair shop, people
that are talking about, uh, you know, their their car
does this or their car does that. You've got to
be open minded though, and look at each and every case.
The guy with them, I never saw him again, and um,
you know, he never he never appeared. I guess either
(21:37):
they beamed them up or they you know, he's safe
off somewhere, locked up. I'm not really quite sure. Let's
get over to Aaron and Vermont fourteen GMC Sierra and
some clunks in the steering Hey, Aaron, welcome to the
car doctor, sir. How can I help um? So I
have Um, it's just I've brought it into the dealer
(21:58):
multiple times. I've had it since it was brand new,
and uh, I have a clunk in the steering You
feel in the steering wheel and I bring it into
the dealer. They say there's nothing wrong. Everything's tied up
front and they don't see anything wrong with it. But
I mean, it's a pret predominant clunk. You feel it
kind of at low speeds, sometimes a little higher speeds.
(22:22):
Can you can you duplicate it like in a parking
lot maneuver if you're sitting in a park, like trying
to get into a parking space. Yeah, kind of you
you can, yes, yes, you know so like so like
in a dry rock situation. It'll sit there and you know,
like a little you almost feel it more than you
hear it. Yes, definitely, you definitely feel it more than
(22:43):
you feel it for sure. Yeah. I mean have you
have you taken it into them and say hey, here's
the problem and showing them the clunk. I've tried to
do a ride along with them and I sat next
to them and they said they have they can't feel
it for some reason, and I can feel it. And
I don't know if it's just a dealer denial or something.
(23:05):
I mean, I've done a little research myself and they've
I've heard or I've run on forums that maybe there's
something wrong with the rack. Copinion or something with these vehicles.
But well, there's a noise issue you want to get
your hands on gm um uh it's it's um uh.
(23:26):
It's not necessarily a bolt and it's just a um
it's it's it's a tech notice that talks about a
squeak noise when turning the steering wheel. And it's been
out there since June that and they talk about applying
a drop of grease down around the base of the
intermediate steering shift. But then there's also been some problems
with the intermediate steering shift where that needs to be replaced.
(23:49):
So I'm just puzzled by the fact that, you know,
if if you bring them the car and it makes
this noise and they they don't feel it or hear it,
or they you know, they really want to fix it. Um.
You kind of got me scratching in my head. Yeah,
I you know, um, let's diagnosed it. It's it's because
(24:10):
to me, from what you're describing, it sounds like a
problem in the in the in the lower intermediate steering shift. Okay,
you know, not not out of the realm. It's kind
of a common thing. Uh, They've had their issues. Um
you know, yeah, i'd make sure the rack is tight.
I don't know that I would. I don't know that
I would jump beyond that if the racks getting a
little noisy and loose as it ages, unless it's showing
(24:33):
me something that's making it unsafe, you know, steering racks.
In my experience from what I've seen over time, Yeah,
they do get a little clunky and noisy and as
time goes by. But I'm envisioning this thing as you're
trying to maneuver into a parking lot and you hear this,
it's it's it's it's like a cross between a knock
and a clunk. It's just a noise that wasn't there before. Yes, exactly, Well,
(24:54):
we'll to be honest, it's actually almost been there since
about three months into owning the I com playing now. Okay, okay,
so you know, do they have another fourteen in the
shop that they can show you and say, yeah, they
all do that. That's normal. That's always my next that's
always my next question, you know, and see where they
(25:15):
go from there. All right, right, thank you, You're very welcome, sir.
If you need more them here, take good care. So
all right, we're gonna try this again, Oliver and Virginia. Oliver,
you're there, Yes, sir, here you go. I was wondering
what happened you wandered away. I thought you didn't like
me anymore. No, I love you death, brother, and I can't.
I left a little text message last week and you
(25:37):
fella called me up, and I think that's really great.
That job. We're we're here for you. What can I
do for you? Well, my mama, you know she she
likes the big cars. You don't want to small one.
So I make this nine if well, Cadillac come back
to life and uh what the relay lay? What I
(25:57):
did was changed order the shocks in the trusts and
went from electronic level rights and regular shocks exactly, went
to passive. They refer to him as passive shocks. Lad,
there's no nowhere. There's four thousand dollars worth shocks on
(26:18):
this car. Now, now we take you all the electronics away.
And I've done that and I've drove it, you know
over a thousand miles. Is driving really good? Now I
gotta make the Uh there's a relay that the company
send me and uh, we gotta hook that up. That
(26:43):
way we'll stop sending the service ride control error message
to the computer and you know in the in the
car it actually I mean it spells it out. It's
not just an engine light as service ride control. And
uh so what the problem is is run a ground
(27:10):
wire the pin three on the relay. Okay, I can
figure out where to get some ground at a piece
of steel on the car somewhere. Run a power wire
from switched ignition. Uh huh two pin two of the relay,
(27:34):
Now that would be uh and then it has in
parentheses hot and run. So like in the trunk is
where it's Uh, my jewel is that I'm I'm gonna
do this wiring too. So what's closed to that? My
jewel in the trunk? I mean, I'm looking at the
(27:56):
antennel that ain't gonna work if it ain't hot and run.
A wait a minute, why can't Why can't Why can't
you get a wiring diagram and pin out the level
ride module Because that level ride module is likely going
to have a hot in run feed going to it.
It's likely going to have a ground as well. Don't
(28:16):
you just use the existing wiring and tap into that
because you're not gonna be You're not gonna be utilizing
that module anymore. Right. Oh no, you just went above
my head a little bit. Okay, the level is still
hooked up, right, So you want me to do what? Well,
so let me ask, Let me ask, Let me ask
(28:37):
the simple questions. I just went through this on an
oh three sts caddy where it had air ride in
the back, all right, And he didn't he didn't want
to deal with it because of the price. I think
it was worth our rear shocks, and we thought it
was kind of ridiculous for a car with a hundred
and fifty thousand miles on it that you know, had
(28:57):
oil leaks and a bunch of other things in a
college kid's driving it. And she just didn't have a
lot of doubt. So, you know, we took out the
air ride shocks. Monroe makes a replacement kit with a
coil overspring on it. We put that in and then
then the instructions were unplugged the level right sensor. We
unplugged the level right sensor. No more warning at the dashboard.
(29:19):
We're done. You just unplugged the level. That's all we did. Now,
whose kit is this? Is this a Monroe kit or
is this somebody else's it comes from Strutton Masters. Okay, yeah,
I know, I'm familiar with strut Masters. And then it
comes it damn North Carolina. It was only a couple
hour drive and that was off that day, so I
(29:41):
just instead of paying the hunterd dollars the ship and
I just went on down and picked him up. And
then it seems like a nice place. Yeah. No, they're
a good bunch of guys. That tell you what, Oliver,
let me pull over and take a pause. We want
to come back. We'll finish with this. I'm running. Any
of the Car Doctor will be back with Oliver right
after this. Don't go away you, hey, Oliver Ronning any
(30:08):
of the Car Doctor. You're You're still there, brother. Okay,
so real quick, here's what I want you to do.
Let me ask you this question. Do you own a
volt meter? Yes? Okay, you're comfortable, so you're comfortable with
voltage and all yes, sir? All right, get a wiring
diagram for that level rod All right. I want you
to do this one of two ways. I want you
(30:29):
get a wiring diagram for that level ride module, and
I want you to trace back. There's there's going to
be there's probably a constant hot and there's there's generally
a key ton hot in the words, there's gonna be
both sources at the module. Just tap into that, as
a matter of fact, tap into the ground and the
hot right there, and then you don't have to add
(30:50):
any extra wiring and run anymore wiring and go through
the hassle of that. That's that's my first thought process.
Is my second is Strutt Masters is a great company
in this sense of product support. Why don't you give
him a call. You're not the first guy to do
this and say, hey, I've got a ninety four Caddie
de Ville. Where is everybody tapping in? What's your experience, Ben,
where's everybody tapping in to get that key to hot?
(31:12):
And if that does a go ahead? What were you
gonna say? I was just gonna say they do off
of that, you know, But I was listening to you
last week and I was gonna get your opinion and
the fellas that I talked to when I called a
little support sound like he was, you know, maybe not
(31:33):
the one I wanted to talk take. And then the
third Then the third thing is you got a local mechanic. Well, okay,
it's not really I mean, I mean, uh, well, let
me ask you this. So they want you to they
want you to have a key to hot in the ground.
Where's the other two wires of the relay going? Uh?
(31:55):
They go to uh, let's see attach locate three seventy
read wah attach a PC side of circuit three seventy Right, Well,
the problem here in a seventy are like cut cut
(32:18):
and you know there's a little box in the back
of the Cadillac. And what you can do is a
ground where you put the uh hey, Oliver, time time brother,
only because we're gonna run out of time. Doesn't and
I know this for a fact. Strut masters has more
(32:38):
than a few YouTube videos. Have you looked at it? Right?
So do this? Do this? Take a look at the
YouTube videos. If the guy you call it strut masters
doesn't doesn't answer your question, ask for a different guy.
But it's difficult for me to tell you exactly which
wires to cut without the instruction right in front of me.
(33:00):
And I don't want to give you the wrong information. Um.
I've been through this before with suspension modification kits. I've
done the deal where I'll I call it pinning out.
I pin out each individual wire at the module. This
one does this, this one does that, this is keion
engine off, this is hot, this is this is hot
all the time, and so on. And from there I'll
(33:22):
wire my relay right in proximity. Just for giggles, try
and plug in the module and see if the light
goes out. I'm just curious, all right, if that module
will do it for you, And if it doesn't, it
can't hurt anything. Just plug it back in and then
continue with your wiring. Call me back next week if
you need more. Brother, I'm just out of time. I'm
on Eating the car Doctor. We're back right after this
(33:48):
bloking back. Weren't Eating of the car doctor. We had
a call up there, but we lost him. It was
Mike and Maryland. A lot of Mike's in Maryland and
Delaware must must have been a popular name at the
time he had. He wanted information about the car. Uh.
Most important if you're if you've got an older car
like that, an older Classic, an older GM like that,
take a look under the back seat. Under the back seat,
usually on the driver's side, is the build sheet. If
(34:12):
the mice haven't gotten to it yet, the build sheet
will give you a ton of information about actual options
of the car, what RPO codes were originally in the car.
If that's not there, if it's chewed up now. They
won't do it for Pontiac to my knowledge. But there
is a website, the GM Heritage Website. Just Google search
GM Heritage Archives and I'll tell you what you've got
(34:34):
the time. We're all at home now, right, you want
to you want to see some really neat stuff you can.
You can take a stroll down memory lane of old
pictures of General Motors cars from the forties, the fifties,
the sixties, and they will actually be able to reproduce
the build sheet for any Cadillac. Don't ask me how
I want to know this any Cadillac. I believe it's
from three Can you imagine, right, the the amount of
(34:57):
information that GM has had to keep, They can't keep it.
They're looking for older stuff because what happened was I
was looking for the Monte Carlo, my seventy two Monty Carlo.
I wanted to get that going. Um, they didn't have
anything for Chevrolet older than seventy five, I think, but
seventy five Pontiac might be there. So Mike, if you're
still listening. Google search GM Heritage Archives and that will
(35:20):
bring you a link to that website. You can get
a build sheet and then go from there to get
more information. Hey, looking up, I'm any in the car
doct you're reminding you until the next time. Good mechanics
aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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