Ron is very busy this hour; he starts this episode talking about the 80% rule of auto repair; when its ok to take your best shot and guess or as Ron puts it "The Mr. Spock Time Travel Conundrum" to fix a car, He then cites an example from the shop this past week; a 2014 Ford Escape with high mileage and a turbocharger fault. He then helps a caller with an older Toyota Sienna that dies on the road and won’t restart and is more than a little frustrated as he tries to fix it himself. But the good Doctor shows us his bedside manner and walks him through the steps. Ron's next up is 2 for 1; a listener in Maine has questions about changing trans fluid on both his older vehicles with high mileage; a 2008 Toyota Sienna and a 2012 Chevy Malibu. : Next is Bob, a regular Car Dr listener who has questions about a 13 Escape that is consuming coolant : Ron closes out the hour with another story from the shop this week about the older customer and her run in with parking lot concrete bumpers and the ensuing damage.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ron an Aian.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It will advance, spark right, run the timing up until
it just starts to hear noise. It's kind of like
you know when Mom would yell out the back window
dinner time, and is that really Mom?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Better be mom. Others I'm getting a spoon when I
get home and it's not the feede yes.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Still tears up, play lost it and still create radio.
Thanks up, Ben Plane and when you fall in love.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
There's a plan stand of dreams made of.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Amritan the Car Doctor.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Yeah, I've got rush coming through my rear fender walls.
Just was wondering is it easier just to take it
to a body shop and have them try to fix
it or just change that whole pan.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, I gotta tell you first, you show me a
body shop that'll touch rust.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Ananian, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on autumn mode
of repair.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up
the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
The garage doors are open, but.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I am here to take your calls at eight five
five five six ninety nine hundred and nah Pee.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Running.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know, I love that scene in Star Trek, the
Voyage Home. They they found Spock, right, he's up on
the planet. He's growing, and they're they're trying to get
back to Earth, but Earth is besieged by because of
that strange device from outer space, and the Enterprise crew,
you know, Kirk and McCoy and Scotty and the rest
of them that are there. They have to go back
in time and they go back to nineteen sixty eight
(01:38):
to steal, well not steal, but borrow whales, remember, and
bring the whales to the future, to the to their
time and repopulate the Earth. And I love that scene.
I always think of that in the shop when Spock
looks befuddled and McCoy says, what's the matter, And Spock
explains to McCoy that, you know, well, gee, I'm trying
to get us back to the future, and I have
(01:59):
to calculate the time warp and you know the variable
now is the weight of the whales and the water,
and you know it's not a constant anymore. And Spock
lays out all his problems and McCoy says, well, you're
just going to have to guess. And it just makes
me giggle every time, because sometimes sometimes you have to
(02:21):
guess when it comes to fixing a car, and you
just got to hope it's a good guess. Like Spock said,
well then I shall make it my best guess. We
had twenty fourteen Ford Escape in the shop this week.
That high mileage, super high mileage one hundred and sixty
five thousand miles on it, well, not high mileage compared
to Tom's. Tom Ray, my engineer, his is probably encroaching
the three hundred and eighty five thousand mile mark. Knowing him,
(02:43):
you know, I'm telling you, when that thing hits the
four hundred thousand mile mark, it's going to go to
the Smithsonian, or Ford's going to want it back because
they're going to want to figure out what they did
wrong to let one go so far half a million miles.
We agreed on that is that it okay, well half
a million, then it's time we're getting rid of it then,
because Ford will want it back or they'll have to
scrounge around and try and find a million mile badge
or a half a million mile badge marker for the grill.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Well, what they're going to want to do is they're
going to want to figure out what they screwed up
because it lasted so long.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Right, so it's just staggering. But in any event, I
had this fourteen escape with one hundred and sixty five
thousand plus miles on it that was setting a P
zero two ninety nine foult, which is a loss of
boost or overboost in the case of Ford, it can
be one or the other. And they were talking about
a problem with the way the turbo charger was adding
(03:32):
boost to the engine. It was it was erroneous and
it's you know, procedure, and it's the way it powered
up and so forth. Well, the problem with it was
P zero two ninety nine was intermittent. It happened to
the customer, you know, coming up the hill past the
church at sixty five seventy miles an hour and passing gear.
It was hot, not super hot. It's not really crazy
(03:53):
warm here in North Jersey this time of year, and
you know, it just it just went into this mood
power and you know, it barely got out of its
own way, and it turned on the check engine light
and it had its issues. So naturally it ended up
on my doorstep.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
I got it.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I got it a couple of days later, and you
know the problem was Okay. I can scan it for codes,
and I've got the fault code, and I can go
through some basic functional testing, and I can go through
and verify operation, and I can open up the wastegate,
and the wastegate moves and it seems to have no
restriction to it. But now I've got one hundred and
sixty five thousand mile vehicle that had a little bit
(04:29):
of a noisy rear end, the differentials starting to hum
a little bit, as they tend to do. So we
know that's five grand, and now I've got to recommend
a turbo charger.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well do I?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's probably the only place you can go, because if
you look at the flow of diagnostics and you do
your research, there's not many other choices unless you come
across technical bulletin fifteen dish oh one sixty two, and
this is from Ford, and Ford says, if it's a
one point six liter turbomotor with lack of power and
(05:01):
the check engine lights on it, and it's got a
P zero two thirty four two forty five two forty
six and or two ninety nine. They want you to
follow this procedure and they describe it in detail. Some
twenty thirteen through sixteen escapes Fiesta's fusions, et cetera. Makes
a bit a lack of power concern with malfunction indicator
lamp on diagnostic trouble codes, as I said, stored in
(05:23):
power train control module, and they want you to go
through diagnostics. And when you come to the point where
it doesn't exist, like you can't duplicate the problem and
everything passes, you get to play spock. You get to
calculate the time curve back from nineteen sixty eight into
the future because they tell you put on a wastecate
management solnoid, which you can do. It's it's a couple
(05:45):
of four or five hundred dollars worth of vacuum line
and electric solenoid. And you know you have to basically
access it by taking the right side, right front, right
front tire down and accessing it through the wheelhouse because
that's the only place you can get to it. And boy,
those hoses are baked on there. Holy cow, does that
turbo get hot. Those rubber hoses are just cooked and
(06:08):
you kick it out the door. And the point of
this is, yeah, it was a guess, but I call
it an eighty percentile guest. I had eliminated all the obvious.
I had eliminated as much as I could and didn't
just throw a part at it. I at least had
something to fall back on.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Look.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Ford Motor Company generated a bulletin. Again, you know what
are the numbers? Where are bulletins come from? Bulletins don't
exist because there's two cars that are broken that have this.
There aren't even two thousand cars that are broken that
have this. It's probably more like two hundred thousand cars
or more that have this particular problem. And when you
start to see repetitive failure, a bulletin can be a
(06:46):
pretty good source. At at least it eliminates the obvious.
The problem with turbo cars is in the case of
the Ford, in the case of the escape, you can
buy two parts. You can buy a wastecate management which
is the aforementioned plastic soloid with the rubber hoses, or
you can buy the whole turbo baby. You know it's
(07:08):
it's this or everything, and you know the wastegates solenoid
it's a couple of hours to get it in there.
It wasn't the worst, but the turbo charger, the drive
cheff comes out, the front exhaust pipe comes out, the
transfer case comes out, the lower cradles in the way.
If you want, you can drop it, if not, leave
it there, but you're always working over the top of it.
And then you've got to hope that the heated and
(07:30):
hardened bolts that hold the turbo to the exhaust manifold
and the rest of the vehicle in one hundred and
sixty five thousand miles haven't haven't been heat treated or
tempered to the point where they don't want to come out,
or they snap, or their brittle, or they're blued, or
it becomes an issue. You got to take your best guess.
It's important, but you've got to do your research. And
(07:53):
I'm talking to you, all of you, all of my
di wires and all of my brothers and sisters that
are doing this professionally. You guys have all been there.
You know what I'm talking about. But for everybody that
you know, once in a while you got to take
a guess. You just got to take a step back.
I took a step back. I eliminated the obvious. I said, look,
I've looked at everything else. Do I have another choice?
(08:13):
Is there another way to do this? The only other
way to do this was well, there was two ways.
One verify the fault, like drive it until it broke again,
which wasn't practical all right because the couple of days
we had it and drove it and nothing else came up.
Or put a turbocharger on it. In other words, change everything,
because and even then, right, you change everything. You know,
(08:37):
it could always be a wiring issue. It could always
be that wires that's broken under an insulation somewhere that
you may or may not see, and then you'll be
chasing that. So sometimes in order to repair, your best guess,
as long as it's your cheapest guess and as long
as you've done some research, is really the best yes
(09:00):
you can make, and you'll probably find yourself back in
the future where you want to be because your time
travel calculations are correct. And that's what it was for us,
because we ship that car out on Monday this week
and it's been five days and I haven't heard and
you know, according to Austin, it would occur every couple
of days when the problem was happening, and by now
(09:21):
I think we would have heard. So we expect that
next week we'll get a phone call and we can
do the rear breaks and get him back on the
road safer than he is now. But you know, one
hundred percent and that'll be okay. So don't feel bad
if you have to guess. Just make sure it's a
good one and make sure your calculations are all right
where they should be. Eight five five five six ninety
(09:42):
nine hundred eight five five five six nine nine zero zero.
Here we'll say it like that. That is the phone
number to get in here to talk to me. Ron
and Andy and the car doctor, myself and Tom Ray
will both be back right after this. Don't go away.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
It's he drives that way. But when I it comes
to fixing cars, Ron has car advice done right. Eight
five five five six zero ninety nine zero zero. Here's Roden, Kay.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Thanks for coming back and spending some time with me.
I'm Ron and any and let's get over and talk
to Joe from Tennessee. Joe, how can I help You're
on with the car doctor.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
Yes, sir, we got a two thousand and four Toyota
Siana and my mother and my grandmother was driving down
the road and all of a sudden it died on
her and wouldn't start back. And the field punk has
been replaced. And I checked at the field rail right
up where it goes up through the injectors, and there's
(10:39):
a boat on it. I loosened that up, and when
and when I did, field sprayed out of it, just
to you know, a stream of it. So I feel
like I'm getting fuel to the injectors. And I took
one of the plug wires off and tried just turning
it over, and I spark. Okay, I really don't know
(11:04):
where to go from here. I don't know if it's maybe,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Can it well? Here, let's let's talk about it. Cianna
is a pretty good vehicle, right, it doesn't It doesn't
have a huge track record of dying on the road.
So let me just ask the basic questions. Has it
ever been in an accident that you know of?
Speaker 7 (11:23):
Not, not that I know of.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Okay? Are are you the original owner?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (11:29):
No, sir, okay, it could have been, but not, you know,
Like I said.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
How long how long have you owned it?
Speaker 6 (11:36):
Joe, Well, it's it's actually my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Okay, how long? How long has he had it?
Speaker 4 (11:43):
For?
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Three or four years?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Okay, so let's let's just say no, it hasn't. But
just keep that in the back of your mind. When
it dies. If you if you know it stalls, she
turns the key off. If you turn the key back on,
does the check engine light light up?
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
That was another thing. One we took the bat when
they did the field bunk. They took the battery cable off,
but when we put it back on, of course, I
guess that cleared the codes. So we checked it and
it does have one PO three forty, which that's a camshaft.
Ah well, I can't think of the name of it now,
(12:23):
but that that was the code that popped up even
after the battery's been disconnected.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Okay, so it's got a hard failure. P zero three
forty is what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
You can go in. If you can.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Go in look at codes, and P zero three forty
was there all.
Speaker 6 (12:39):
The time, yes, sir, even after the battery's been taken off.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
So and we when we put it back, put the
battery back on and tried to turn it over. It
still wasn't dark, so we and and then when we
put the scanner on it, that's what showed up.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
So it's in no start mode right now?
Speaker 6 (13:01):
Yes, all right?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Do you have a mechanic stethoscope?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Joe?
Speaker 7 (13:07):
Uh, I've got a long screw drip that'll work.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Have you listened to the injectors to the injector's click.
Speaker 6 (13:19):
I hadn't tried that.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It ain't running yet, no, no, yeah, no, no, no,
But Joe, if somebody, if somebody's cranking it, all right,
you're gonna hear the injectors go click, click, click, click click.
If the injectors aren't clicking while cranking, it'll never start.
You got you got another car in the household? Joe, Yes, okay,
what's the other car?
Speaker 7 (13:42):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (13:43):
Well, my wife she's got a Camry and then I
got a Ford Rangers.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Okay, go over to the camera. Four cylinder or six
cylinder camera. It's all right, easy. Injectors are easy to
get to. Well what year? Let me ask that? Quite
what your camera?
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Seventeen?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Oh yeah, so take your take your long screw driver.
Nothing wrong with it. Listen to my dad fixed many
of DC three during World War two with long screw drivers.
You know, there's a there's a there's there's it's a
great tool. But you know, take that and go listen
to the camera. So you know what kind of a
click you're listening for. Right, let's let's learn how to
let's learn how to fix cars on the good car
(14:21):
before we go over to the bad car. Okay, so
you you'll hear that click, click, click, click click on
that seventeen camera. Now walk over to you know, grandmom's
grandmom Sienna. You should hear that click. If you've got
click and you're confident you've got fuel pressure right and
you've got spark, that that that baby's got to start,
(14:43):
all right. The only other thing that will keep that.
But it won't if it's if it's clicking, you know,
and then if it's not clicking. Just do you have
a scan tool? Do you own a scan tool?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Joe?
Speaker 6 (14:55):
Well, just it's just a cheap one from maybe Walmart.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, I don't care. Well, we'll display data stream, do
you know.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
I honestly, I honestly couldn't tell you what I could
tell you what kind it is, and Matthew, you could
tell me if it does. I don't know though, what
kind is it? It's anova.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I think that does display data stream. Yeah, go look
on there. There's got to be a place where it
says codes. It's probably obed button. Is that DTC is
DTC is diagnostic trouble codes? And then is there any
kind of a scroll down menu that talks about data stream?
Speaker 6 (15:44):
I'd have to hook it up, all right, So let's
go look.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
What I want you to go look at is if
you have no injector click, I just want to make
sure that for some reason it's not seeing or it
doesn't think you're at wide open throttle. What I'm trying
to get to is long way around the barn. If
you take a modern day automobile and put your foot
to the floor, it won't start. It'll crank continuously. Because
(16:10):
one of the things the engineers have put into most
of the modern cars on the road in the last
twenty years is we're all creatures of habit. Every time
a human being thinks the car is flooded, what's the
first thing we do, Oh, the carburetor's backed up. We
hold our foot to the floor and try and clear
flood the motor. Well, just you know, I've seen. We've
had cases where cars, you know, the throttle position sensor
(16:30):
or the accelerated position, pedal position sensor something reports where
at wide open throttle the car goes into clear flood
mode and cuts off the injectors. So, if it turns
out you don't have that click, I want to know that,
and I just I just want to get past that,
just to be sure we don't have a false wide
open throttle setting. That being said, if you have mechanical
(16:51):
click at the injectors, you have spark, and you have
fuel pressure. The only other conclusion I can come to
is you have a mechanical fault of some kind that's
preventing that vehicle from running. Just for giggles, just for giggles.
At that point, unplug the mass airflow sensor? Does the
car start?
Speaker 7 (17:11):
You know? Do we have a right?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Do we have a mass airflow problem causing an erroneous reading?
All right? Does this car sit for a length of time?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Joe?
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Well, it does at times, and it's probably since she's
five and a half hours from here and she just
grove down here, right, and before that it's shit, probably
I don't know, three or four months.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Okay, you know I always I always get concerned on
cars that sit with spiders building up webs up and
around the mass airflow sensor, causing all kinds of problems.
But let's go through the basics first. Let's go through
one step at a time. Do the things I told you,
all right? And then if we have to, let's concern
(17:59):
ourselves with do we have proper power to the main
relay in the underhood fuse box. But that's a little
bit down the road. Do those things? Call me back
if you need more job, I'm here to help you.
I'm running any in the car doctor. We'll be back
right after this. Don't go away, Welcome back, run an
(18:43):
Adie in the card doctor. Remember last week we were
talking about the price of gasoline. Boy, I've got a
wide ranging a bunch of emails this week. I think
the high is from our buddy Paul Walker up there
in Alaska. Paul wrote in and he said, ron I
was listening to your show up here tonight. And Paul
is a full disclosure polls the program director for KSKO.
They carry us up there at McGrath, Alaska. He said,
(19:05):
we pay eight forty three eight dollars and forty three
cents a gallon. Gas is barged up in the summer
for a few months, and if you need it over
the winter, it's flown up. So you know, I'll Aska
is a little bit of a remote. Listen, the car
doctor covers all areas of the globe where you're We're everywhere, baby,
and that's just what we want. Big or small, we
don't care. We just want to fix cars. But eight
(19:26):
forty three a gallon? Can you imagine? And then I
heard there was another one here. Let me see if
I can find it. I think this was from Steve
and Roanoke. Steve was talking how he was paying three
point fifty three a gallon. I don't know I've got
it here, but I'll find it later on. I'll let
you know exactly. But you know, eight fifty a gallon?
Can you imagine? Holy now? So I'm very happy paying
my four dollars a gallon in New Jersey. So but anyway,
(19:49):
let's go over to Andy in Maine. Andy eight CNN
A twelve Malibu, some questions about transfluid? How can I
help you?
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Ron?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And Ini and at your servicer?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, Hi, Ron, great show. I listened to you whenever
I can thank you. I appreciate that Ron both. In
my course, I changed the oil every three thousand miles
or so. And the last time I go to these
thirty dollars oil change places. The last time I went there,
they said that my transmission fluid was dirty on my
(20:20):
Siana van. And I got two questions for you. I'm
coming from the point of view, if it's not broke,
don't fix it right In other words, do you still
recommend changing fluids like the fluid in the Toyota The
mileage is like one hundred and ninety thousand miles. Wow,
(20:45):
if I changed the fluid, could I possibly damage something?
Or what's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
You could?
Speaker 7 (20:52):
You know?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
It's it's funny, Andy, I have to tell you we
you know we do. That's that should be w S
in eight eight oh eight might have been one of
the first years. It's right around the cusp of when
they went from Type four to WS fluid, which you know,
Toyota's different type of fluids. I've seen problems on certain
Toyotas all right where and it seems like it's more
(21:16):
than newer ones fifteen and above Model Y're fifteen and
above where they get to a certain point. It's not
all of them, but they'll just get to that seventy
eighty thousand mile mark and the trans will start to
chatter and they'll have slip issues and just won't behave well.
So a lot of the newer WS vehicles will recommend
(21:36):
trans fluid changes in the fifty to sixty thousand mile range.
Transmission fluid is not like engine oil. It's once. It's
dirty and dark, it's tainted. It just never seems to
stay or come clean no matter how much you change it.
But one of the things we're seeing with Toyotas in particular,
and we see it on a few other models, is
(21:57):
there are additive packages and friction modifiers in the fluids
that do wear out. It's like vitamins, all right, The
additive packet friction modifier will wear out and cause the
trend to malfunction. You got one hundred and ninety thousand
miles on this car. I'm sure the fluid is black.
(22:18):
I'm sure it's beat up.
Speaker 7 (22:20):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
This is about where do you want to take the gamble? Andy?
Do you want to roll the dice now and change
the fluid now and see if you get to the
four hundred thousand mile mark. I've come to the conclusion,
after all my years of fixing cars that some cars
are just put together right, they're all right. But some
are more right than others. You know, some of them
(22:42):
are just they just seem to endure longer with the
least amount of service. It's white if some human beings
rise above and you know, meet life head on and
rise to the challenge, while others are stuck trying to,
you know, figure out what a golf club is for.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
You, do you think that I should kind of just
ignored it or what's your take on it?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Do you take long trips with it? Andy?
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, I go to uh, I go to New Jersey
every once in a while, and uh, you know, uh,
Rhode Island. Yeah, I take fairly long trips.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
I think you've more than proven that it's a good vehicle.
It's got twenty thousand miles on the original trans.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Oh, that the vehicle is excellent. I mean, it hasn't
given me any trouble. And uh I buy another one.
Let's put it that one right?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Well, you'd be you'd be disappointed if you'd expected to
do this. You know, it's I don't know that the
new one will go that far. Andy, They've they got
wise to it, and they've they've engineered it for for
prosperity on their side.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
So we say, you know, I think it's good when, uh,
when the fellow told me that the fluid was dirty?
I have another Are the the Malibu? And I can't
the Malibu as far as I can tell. Does it
even have a dipstick? No, it does not transmission unless
I'm missing it.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
No, it does not. It's a it's a well you know,
well you wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Obviously, how would you know if your fluid is low?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You won't until the trans malfunctions.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
You're kidding me.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Nope, nope, nope. Listen. Let me let me back up
to the beginning of our conversation. All right, So you're
using a I'll use your words, a thirty dollars oil
change place, right. Who's your regular mechanic.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
A fellow here, Paul down in Jonesport.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Okay, and he doesn't do your oil changes.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Well, I only take it to Paul when I like,
for instance, what did he do? He changed some grommets
and breaks? In other words, I don't get a big
city too often, and you know it's just convenient for
me to pull in there right and think that boom,
(25:07):
I'm out of there, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So are you comfortable driving a twelve and a well,
what's probably almost a fifteen year old vehicle with higher
mileage on them, that it only goes to the mechanic
when it breaks.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
On.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Don't you feel I've been comfortable?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Let's put it that way, right, I mean, I kind
of think an oil change is much more than an
oil change, especially on an older, high mileage vehicle. You know,
an oil change is supposed to find the problem before
it happens. An oil change. The last thing an oil
change does is change oil and filter. The first thing
an oil change does is put it in the hands
of a qualified mechanic, you know, he or she. They
(25:44):
take it for a road test. They drive it around
the block three rights as we call it. Listen to
the creeks and rattles, you know, go through and do
the procedure. You know, what you're doing is okay, I
get it, But you know a lot of things can
change over time, especially on an older vehicle. You know,
you're you're defying the odds. I give you credit Andy,
(26:05):
and I don't have an explanation for it. But I'm
a guy that I like to be under the hood
every couple of months. I like to see things every
couple of you know, four or five, six months, to
see what's going on. You know that Malibu. Yeah, there's
there's no way for anybody to check the fluid level.
And I can tell you both of those vehicles are
expensive transmissions to replace, and that if it were up
to me, if we were at the shop, we would
(26:27):
have had a long conversation about where do you want
to roll the dice fifty sixty thousand miles change the fluid.
It's just it's just good maintenance, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
It just does.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
So in my younger days, I used to do all
my work on all my cars, right, and for instance,
to change the transmission fluid on say a car from
the seventies, you pull the pan off, you know, and
(26:58):
the and the flu which done, and there was filters
involved and everything else. Is that still the same today
on the Malibu?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Maybe? I think on the Malibu not even I think
the Malibu is just going to be a drain and
fill and you've got to follow a specific procedure on
the Toyota, it's going to be a drain and fill.
But keep in mind, draining and filling the toyota at
this stage you're only going to get at best two
and a half three quarts of fluid out of it.
And it's probably a six court system because there's going
(27:26):
to be fluid in the converter. The ideal way to
do both of those is somebody using a machine that
they hook up in line to the cooler to the
trans cooler and do a fluid exchange. I don't want
to use the word flush, but do a fluid exchange.
The danger in bultimate they take it to a transmission
shop right right, and if they'll even do it at
this point because of the mileage. You know the danger
(27:47):
and changing trans fluid on an older high mileage unit
is transfluid does leave a varnished deposit, a varnished ring
around the trans as time goes on. You put fresh
trans fluid into anything and transfer. It has a very
high scrubbing, high detergency action in the majority of cases,
and it will scrub and clean the inside of that
trans over time and loos in particulate. But you know
(28:10):
where do you want to where do you want to
take the risk? You know, if the trans is going
to fail, let's make it fail. Let's find out, because
you're still driving that car a long distance. You're traveling
eight hours to New Jersey, right, okay? Right? So where
do you where do you want to take the loss?
You know, at least this way if the trans If
the trans starts to fail because of a fluid change,
(28:34):
you know, and you'll know within a month or six
weeks at least you're close to home and you know
where to take it to get it overhauled. Right, Because
to put a five thousand dollars trans in that car
is a whole lot cheaper than trying to go out
and buy a new one for.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Sixty that's for sure. So now, uh, well, so what
you what I'm going to do then is talk to
my mechanic and see if he'll do it, and if not,
I'll have to wait till I get down to a
big city or something. Right, And as far as I know,
(29:07):
there are no places like we talked about the thirty
dollars oil change. There's no place like a sixty dollars transmission, no.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Change, And you wouldn't want to and frankly, I'd be
a little concerned about the thirty dollars oil change place,
because well, that's a conversation for another day. But that's
a longer conversation. Cars are getting complicated and the fluids
are getting very precise. Go do those things, Andy, call
me back if you need more. I'm up against the clock.
I'm running Indie in the car doctor. We'll be back
right after this coming back run an Indi in the
(29:50):
car doctor. Let's go right away to Bob and Upstate
New York thirteen Ford Escape. Bob, Welcome to the car doctor, sir,
how can I help?
Speaker 7 (29:58):
Hey, Ryan, So my daughter in law, my daughter and
my son in law are having problems with their twenty
thirteen Ford Escape, with the one point six liter turbo
where it's consuming coolant on a regular basis. It recently
stranded when it overheated, so they were smart they stopped.
Got a tote of fixed. But it's got one hundred
(30:20):
and fifty thousand miles plus or minus, and you know
here it is, it's eleven years old. Diagnostics that I
can do? Or is this a simple case of just
giving up and saying put some caseal ultimated and keep driving.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
You know, when we say it overheats, Bob cooling fans,
come on, Yeah, it.
Speaker 7 (30:42):
Was purely just low fluid triggered. I shouldn't say it overheated.
I take that back. It in indicated on the dashboard
it was out of cool it or cool it to
stop the engine. I mean it did not reach an overheat.
We're likely to have hurt.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Them if you pull the engine oil dipstick. And I
know you're smart enough to do that listening to you
all these years. You know you pulled the oil dipstick
and there's no signs of coolant in the oil.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
It doesn't look like a milkshake. It's not chocolate, he brown.
It just looks like oil. Right, So it's it's likely
just consuming coolant past the head gasket. You know, expensive
repair three to five grand, best guess. So yeah, you
know it's it's three to five grand on an eleven
year old, one hundred and fifty thousand mile vehicle, or
(31:26):
you know, one hundred dollars bottle of caseal ultimate and
let's see what happens, you know, because beyond that then
you've got to you know, what's the rest of the vehicle. Like,
you know, a couple of things have to happen here. Yeah, yeah,
it's right. You know, if the body was perfect, If
the body was perfect, and you know the and for
(31:47):
some reason which I can't imagine why k SAL wouldn't
work right, or it was a bigger repair, or it's
something else unrelated that we're not seeing or hearing it
right now in our conversation. You know, would you put
an engine in it? Engines five grand, transmissions five grand.
We're at differentials five grand. We're fifteen rand into a
car that's rustling, that's eleven years old, of the arm,
fifty thousand miles on it. Uh, you know that that
(32:09):
one hundred dollars bollery?
Speaker 7 (32:11):
Nothing else for me to check now? Right now? You're
there nothing else I could check. They took it to
their mechanic. He couldn't find any leaks obviously, and makes
it you checked. So that's what I was saying, Is
there anything I could do? Now?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
It's there's there's nothing. There's nothing on the ground, there's
it's not wet inside the engine compartment. We're going to
make an assumption. Hey, we're going to finish this hour
where I started this hour. That you know, take your
best guess. It sounds like your best guess is it's
a head gas get Let's get a bottle of Caseal Ultimate,
pour it in and see what happens. And if that
doesn't do it, then we can start to think about
replacing the vehicle and you'll find more of you and
(32:44):
everybody else at casel dot com. Appreciate the call. I'm
running any in the car doctor. We're back right after this.
Welcome back, Running the Car Doctor. Good phone calls this hour.
I appreciate everybody calling in and some good questions and
(33:06):
some just just just great conversation. And it's funny, right, Bob,
the last conversation. Right, Sometimes you can take your best guess,
you know, and it becomes a point of practicality. You're
gonna buy a hole engine, You're gonna put a head
gasket on it. You're gonna go into one hundred and
fifty thousand mile car that's rusting. No, you're gonna do
a You're gonna do a bottle of Caseal Ultimate and
see what the outcome is. Because sometimes I'm telling you,
(33:27):
it all comes back to Star Trek the voyage home. Right,
your best guess is your best choice sometimes and that's uh,
that's the only way to go about it. I want
to talk to you real quick about this two thousand
and three Honda cord before I go today. You know,
sometimes the repairs, well, it's older cars. It's older cars
with with goofy little problems that maybe there are no solutions,
you know, or maybe they're the solutions are too expensive,
(33:47):
just like that escape with the head gasket problem. Well,
in this case, this three accord came in little old
lady to the shop this week and she had clipped
the front bumper. She pulled up and caught the front
lower valance on one of those parking lot and buttments,
and then backed up and couldn't get She was stuck,
and then went forward and she was stuck. And then
finally somebody picked up the car, she said, and was
(34:09):
able to get her off the concrete. But now the
whole front of the car is kind of hanging down,
it's dragging.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
It.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Would you scoop anything up if it was snowing out,
she would have scooped up all the snow in the road.
So she brought it over to us. We looked at it.
But it's older, right, it's an older car now it's
twenty two years old. We didn't have the clips for
the lower bumper in the assortments that we have, and
we have a lot of assortments in the shop. Went
on AutoZone pro dot com. The folks over at AutoZone
(34:36):
ran us over an assortment for older vehicles, which, yeah, okay,
so now I have older vehicle clips in the shop.
But the point was AutoZone Pro again to the rescue,
and we got our little old lady customer back out
on the road and the bumper put up back where
it was supposed to be an all for a very
cheap price. So thanks again to the folks over at
AutoZone AutoZone pro dot com. I'm Ronineny in the car doctor,
reminding you till the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
(34:58):
they're priceless.
Speaker 7 (35:04):
Sis
Ron an Aian.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It will advance, spark right, run the timing up until
it just starts to hear noise. It's kind of like
you know when Mom would yell out the back window
dinner time, and is that really Mom?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Better be mom. Others I'm getting a spoon when I
get home and it's not the feede yes.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Still tears up, play lost it and still create radio.
Thanks up, Ben Plane and when you fall in love.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
There's a plan stand of dreams made of.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Amritan the Car Doctor.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Yeah, I've got rush coming through my rear fender walls.
Just was wondering is it easier just to take it
to a body shop and have them try to fix
it or just change that whole pan.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, I gotta tell you first, you show me a
body shop that'll touch rust.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Ananian, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on autumn mode
of repair.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up
the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
The garage doors are open, but.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I am here to take your calls at eight five
five five six ninety nine hundred and nah Pee.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Running.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know, I love that scene in Star Trek, the
Voyage Home. They they found Spock, right, he's up on
the planet. He's growing, and they're they're trying to get
back to Earth, but Earth is besieged by because of
that strange device from outer space, and the Enterprise crew,
you know, Kirk and McCoy and Scotty and the rest
of them that are there. They have to go back
in time and they go back to nineteen sixty eight
(01:38):
to steal, well not steal, but borrow whales, remember, and
bring the whales to the future, to the to their
time and repopulate the Earth. And I love that scene.
I always think of that in the shop when Spock
looks befuddled and McCoy says, what's the matter, And Spock
explains to McCoy that, you know, well, gee, I'm trying
to get us back to the future, and I have
(01:59):
to calculate the time warp and you know the variable
now is the weight of the whales and the water,
and you know it's not a constant anymore. And Spock
lays out all his problems and McCoy says, well, you're
just going to have to guess. And it just makes
me giggle every time, because sometimes sometimes you have to
(02:21):
guess when it comes to fixing a car, and you
just got to hope it's a good guess. Like Spock said,
well then I shall make it my best guess. We
had twenty fourteen Ford Escape in the shop this week.
That high mileage, super high mileage one hundred and sixty
five thousand miles on it, well, not high mileage compared
to Tom's. Tom Ray, my engineer, his is probably encroaching
the three hundred and eighty five thousand mile mark. Knowing him,
(02:43):
you know, I'm telling you, when that thing hits the
four hundred thousand mile mark, it's going to go to
the Smithsonian, or Ford's going to want it back because
they're going to want to figure out what they did
wrong to let one go so far half a million miles.
We agreed on that is that it okay, well half
a million, then it's time we're getting rid of it then,
because Ford will want it back or they'll have to
scrounge around and try and find a million mile badge
or a half a million mile badge marker for the grill.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Well, what they're going to want to do is they're
going to want to figure out what they screwed up
because it lasted so long.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Right, so it's just staggering. But in any event, I
had this fourteen escape with one hundred and sixty five
thousand plus miles on it that was setting a P
zero two ninety nine foult, which is a loss of
boost or overboost in the case of Ford, it can
be one or the other. And they were talking about
a problem with the way the turbo charger was adding
(03:32):
boost to the engine. It was it was erroneous and
it's you know, procedure, and it's the way it powered
up and so forth. Well, the problem with it was
P zero two ninety nine was intermittent. It happened to
the customer, you know, coming up the hill past the
church at sixty five seventy miles an hour and passing gear.
It was hot, not super hot. It's not really crazy
(03:53):
warm here in North Jersey this time of year, and
you know, it just it just went into this mood
power and you know, it barely got out of its
own way, and it turned on the check engine light
and it had its issues. So naturally it ended up
on my doorstep.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
I got it.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I got it a couple of days later, and you
know the problem was Okay. I can scan it for codes,
and I've got the fault code, and I can go
through some basic functional testing, and I can go through
and verify operation, and I can open up the wastegate,
and the wastegate moves and it seems to have no
restriction to it. But now I've got one hundred and
sixty five thousand mile vehicle that had a little bit
(04:29):
of a noisy rear end, the differentials starting to hum
a little bit, as they tend to do. So we
know that's five grand, and now I've got to recommend
a turbo charger.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well do I?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's probably the only place you can go, because if
you look at the flow of diagnostics and you do
your research, there's not many other choices unless you come
across technical bulletin fifteen dish oh one sixty two, and
this is from Ford, and Ford says, if it's a
one point six liter turbomotor with lack of power and
(05:01):
the check engine lights on it, and it's got a
P zero two thirty four two forty five two forty
six and or two ninety nine. They want you to
follow this procedure and they describe it in detail. Some
twenty thirteen through sixteen escapes Fiesta's fusions, et cetera. Makes
a bit a lack of power concern with malfunction indicator
lamp on diagnostic trouble codes, as I said, stored in
(05:23):
power train control module, and they want you to go
through diagnostics. And when you come to the point where
it doesn't exist, like you can't duplicate the problem and
everything passes, you get to play spock. You get to
calculate the time curve back from nineteen sixty eight into
the future because they tell you put on a wastecate
management solnoid, which you can do. It's it's a couple
(05:45):
of four or five hundred dollars worth of vacuum line
and electric solenoid. And you know you have to basically
access it by taking the right side, right front, right
front tire down and accessing it through the wheelhouse because
that's the only place you can get to it. And boy,
those hoses are baked on there. Holy cow, does that
turbo get hot. Those rubber hoses are just cooked and
(06:08):
you kick it out the door. And the point of
this is, yeah, it was a guess, but I call
it an eighty percentile guest. I had eliminated all the obvious.
I had eliminated as much as I could and didn't
just throw a part at it. I at least had
something to fall back on.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Look.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Ford Motor Company generated a bulletin. Again, you know what
are the numbers? Where are bulletins come from? Bulletins don't
exist because there's two cars that are broken that have this.
There aren't even two thousand cars that are broken that
have this. It's probably more like two hundred thousand cars
or more that have this particular problem. And when you
start to see repetitive failure, a bulletin can be a
(06:46):
pretty good source. At at least it eliminates the obvious.
The problem with turbo cars is in the case of
the Ford, in the case of the escape, you can
buy two parts. You can buy a wastecate management which
is the aforementioned plastic soloid with the rubber hoses, or
you can buy the whole turbo baby. You know it's
(07:08):
it's this or everything, and you know the wastegates solenoid
it's a couple of hours to get it in there.
It wasn't the worst, but the turbo charger, the drive
cheff comes out, the front exhaust pipe comes out, the
transfer case comes out, the lower cradles in the way.
If you want, you can drop it, if not, leave
it there, but you're always working over the top of it.
And then you've got to hope that the heated and
(07:30):
hardened bolts that hold the turbo to the exhaust manifold
and the rest of the vehicle in one hundred and
sixty five thousand miles haven't haven't been heat treated or
tempered to the point where they don't want to come out,
or they snap, or their brittle, or they're blued, or
it becomes an issue. You got to take your best guess.
It's important, but you've got to do your research. And
(07:53):
I'm talking to you, all of you, all of my
di wires and all of my brothers and sisters that
are doing this professionally. You guys have all been there.
You know what I'm talking about. But for everybody that
you know, once in a while you got to take
a guess. You just got to take a step back.
I took a step back. I eliminated the obvious. I said, look,
I've looked at everything else. Do I have another choice?
(08:13):
Is there another way to do this? The only other
way to do this was well, there was two ways.
One verify the fault, like drive it until it broke again,
which wasn't practical all right because the couple of days
we had it and drove it and nothing else came up.
Or put a turbocharger on it. In other words, change everything,
because and even then, right, you change everything. You know,
(08:37):
it could always be a wiring issue. It could always
be that wires that's broken under an insulation somewhere that
you may or may not see, and then you'll be
chasing that. So sometimes in order to repair, your best guess,
as long as it's your cheapest guess and as long
as you've done some research, is really the best yes
(09:00):
you can make, and you'll probably find yourself back in
the future where you want to be because your time
travel calculations are correct. And that's what it was for us,
because we ship that car out on Monday this week
and it's been five days and I haven't heard and
you know, according to Austin, it would occur every couple
of days when the problem was happening, and by now
(09:21):
I think we would have heard. So we expect that
next week we'll get a phone call and we can
do the rear breaks and get him back on the
road safer than he is now. But you know, one
hundred percent and that'll be okay. So don't feel bad
if you have to guess. Just make sure it's a
good one and make sure your calculations are all right
where they should be. Eight five five five six ninety
(09:42):
nine hundred eight five five five six nine nine zero zero.
Here we'll say it like that. That is the phone
number to get in here to talk to me. Ron
and Andy and the car doctor, myself and Tom Ray
will both be back right after this. Don't go away.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
It's he drives that way. But when I it comes
to fixing cars, Ron has car advice done right. Eight
five five five six zero ninety nine zero zero. Here's Roden, Kay.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Thanks for coming back and spending some time with me.
I'm Ron and any and let's get over and talk
to Joe from Tennessee. Joe, how can I help You're
on with the car doctor.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
Yes, sir, we got a two thousand and four Toyota
Siana and my mother and my grandmother was driving down
the road and all of a sudden it died on
her and wouldn't start back. And the field punk has
been replaced. And I checked at the field rail right
up where it goes up through the injectors, and there's
(10:39):
a boat on it. I loosened that up, and when
and when I did, field sprayed out of it, just
to you know, a stream of it. So I feel
like I'm getting fuel to the injectors. And I took
one of the plug wires off and tried just turning
it over, and I spark. Okay, I really don't know
(11:04):
where to go from here. I don't know if it's maybe,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Can it well? Here, let's let's talk about it. Cianna
is a pretty good vehicle, right, it doesn't It doesn't
have a huge track record of dying on the road.
So let me just ask the basic questions. Has it
ever been in an accident that you know of?
Speaker 7 (11:23):
Not, not that I know of.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Okay? Are are you the original owner?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (11:29):
No, sir, okay, it could have been, but not, you know,
Like I said.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
How long how long have you owned it?
Speaker 6 (11:36):
Joe, Well, it's it's actually my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Okay, how long? How long has he had it?
Speaker 4 (11:43):
For?
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Three or four years?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Okay, so let's let's just say no, it hasn't. But
just keep that in the back of your mind. When
it dies. If you if you know it stalls, she
turns the key off. If you turn the key back on,
does the check engine light light up?
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
That was another thing. One we took the bat when
they did the field bunk. They took the battery cable off,
but when we put it back on, of course, I
guess that cleared the codes. So we checked it and
it does have one PO three forty, which that's a camshaft.
Ah well, I can't think of the name of it now,
(12:23):
but that that was the code that popped up even
after the battery's been disconnected.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Okay, so it's got a hard failure. P zero three
forty is what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
You can go in. If you can.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Go in look at codes, and P zero three forty
was there all.
Speaker 6 (12:39):
The time, yes, sir, even after the battery's been taken off.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
So and we when we put it back, put the
battery back on and tried to turn it over. It
still wasn't dark, so we and and then when we
put the scanner on it, that's what showed up.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
So it's in no start mode right now?
Speaker 6 (13:01):
Yes, all right?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Do you have a mechanic stethoscope?
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Joe?
Speaker 7 (13:07):
Uh, I've got a long screw drip that'll work.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Have you listened to the injectors to the injector's click.
Speaker 6 (13:19):
I hadn't tried that.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It ain't running yet, no, no, yeah, no, no, no,
But Joe, if somebody, if somebody's cranking it, all right,
you're gonna hear the injectors go click, click, click, click click.
If the injectors aren't clicking while cranking, it'll never start.
You got you got another car in the household? Joe, Yes, okay,
what's the other car?
Speaker 7 (13:42):
Uh?
Speaker 6 (13:43):
Well, my wife she's got a Camry and then I
got a Ford Rangers.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Okay, go over to the camera. Four cylinder or six
cylinder camera. It's all right, easy. Injectors are easy to
get to. Well what year? Let me ask that? Quite
what your camera?
Speaker 6 (14:00):
Seventeen?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Oh yeah, so take your take your long screw driver.
Nothing wrong with it. Listen to my dad fixed many
of DC three during World War two with long screw drivers.
You know, there's a there's a there's there's it's a
great tool. But you know, take that and go listen
to the camera. So you know what kind of a
click you're listening for. Right, let's let's learn how to
let's learn how to fix cars on the good car
(14:21):
before we go over to the bad car. Okay, so
you you'll hear that click, click, click, click click on
that seventeen camera. Now walk over to you know, grandmom's
grandmom Sienna. You should hear that click. If you've got
click and you're confident you've got fuel pressure right and
you've got spark, that that that baby's got to start,
(14:43):
all right. The only other thing that will keep that.
But it won't if it's if it's clicking, you know,
and then if it's not clicking. Just do you have
a scan tool? Do you own a scan tool?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Joe?
Speaker 6 (14:55):
Well, just it's just a cheap one from maybe Walmart.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, I don't care. Well, we'll display data stream, do
you know.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
I honestly, I honestly couldn't tell you what I could
tell you what kind it is, and Matthew, you could
tell me if it does. I don't know though, what
kind is it? It's anova.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I think that does display data stream. Yeah, go look
on there. There's got to be a place where it
says codes. It's probably obed button. Is that DTC is
DTC is diagnostic trouble codes? And then is there any
kind of a scroll down menu that talks about data stream?
Speaker 6 (15:44):
I'd have to hook it up, all right, So let's
go look.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
What I want you to go look at is if
you have no injector click, I just want to make
sure that for some reason it's not seeing or it
doesn't think you're at wide open throttle. What I'm trying
to get to is long way around the barn. If
you take a modern day automobile and put your foot
to the floor, it won't start. It'll crank continuously. Because
(16:10):
one of the things the engineers have put into most
of the modern cars on the road in the last
twenty years is we're all creatures of habit. Every time
a human being thinks the car is flooded, what's the
first thing we do, Oh, the carburetor's backed up. We
hold our foot to the floor and try and clear
flood the motor. Well, just you know, I've seen. We've
had cases where cars, you know, the throttle position sensor
(16:30):
or the accelerated position, pedal position sensor something reports where
at wide open throttle the car goes into clear flood
mode and cuts off the injectors. So, if it turns
out you don't have that click, I want to know that,
and I just I just want to get past that,
just to be sure we don't have a false wide
open throttle setting. That being said, if you have mechanical
(16:51):
click at the injectors, you have spark, and you have
fuel pressure. The only other conclusion I can come to
is you have a mechanical fault of some kind that's
preventing that vehicle from running. Just for giggles, just for giggles.
At that point, unplug the mass airflow sensor? Does the
car start?
Speaker 7 (17:11):
You know? Do we have a right?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Do we have a mass airflow problem causing an erroneous reading?
All right? Does this car sit for a length of time?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Joe?
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Well, it does at times, and it's probably since she's
five and a half hours from here and she just
grove down here, right, and before that it's shit, probably
I don't know, three or four months.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Okay, you know I always I always get concerned on
cars that sit with spiders building up webs up and
around the mass airflow sensor, causing all kinds of problems.
But let's go through the basics first. Let's go through
one step at a time. Do the things I told you,
all right? And then if we have to, let's concern
(17:59):
ourselves with do we have proper power to the main
relay in the underhood fuse box. But that's a little
bit down the road. Do those things? Call me back
if you need more job, I'm here to help you.
I'm running any in the car doctor. We'll be back
right after this. Don't go away, Welcome back, run an
(18:43):
Adie in the card doctor. Remember last week we were
talking about the price of gasoline. Boy, I've got a
wide ranging a bunch of emails this week. I think
the high is from our buddy Paul Walker up there
in Alaska. Paul wrote in and he said, ron I
was listening to your show up here tonight. And Paul
is a full disclosure polls the program director for KSKO.
They carry us up there at McGrath, Alaska. He said,
(19:05):
we pay eight forty three eight dollars and forty three
cents a gallon. Gas is barged up in the summer
for a few months, and if you need it over
the winter, it's flown up. So you know, I'll Aska
is a little bit of a remote. Listen, the car
doctor covers all areas of the globe where you're We're everywhere, baby,
and that's just what we want. Big or small, we
don't care. We just want to fix cars. But eight
(19:26):
forty three a gallon? Can you imagine? And then I
heard there was another one here. Let me see if
I can find it. I think this was from Steve
and Roanoke. Steve was talking how he was paying three
point fifty three a gallon. I don't know I've got
it here, but I'll find it later on. I'll let
you know exactly. But you know, eight fifty a gallon?
Can you imagine? Holy now? So I'm very happy paying
my four dollars a gallon in New Jersey. So but anyway,
(19:49):
let's go over to Andy in Maine. Andy eight CNN
A twelve Malibu, some questions about transfluid? How can I
help you?
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Ron?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And Ini and at your servicer?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, Hi, Ron, great show. I listened to you whenever
I can thank you. I appreciate that Ron both. In
my course, I changed the oil every three thousand miles
or so. And the last time I go to these
thirty dollars oil change places. The last time I went there,
they said that my transmission fluid was dirty on my
(20:20):
Siana van. And I got two questions for you. I'm
coming from the point of view, if it's not broke,
don't fix it right In other words, do you still
recommend changing fluids like the fluid in the Toyota The
mileage is like one hundred and ninety thousand miles. Wow,
(20:45):
if I changed the fluid, could I possibly damage something?
Or what's your take on that?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
You could?
Speaker 7 (20:52):
You know?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
It's it's funny, Andy, I have to tell you we
you know we do. That's that should be w S
in eight eight oh eight might have been one of
the first years. It's right around the cusp of when
they went from Type four to WS fluid, which you know,
Toyota's different type of fluids. I've seen problems on certain
Toyotas all right where and it seems like it's more
(21:16):
than newer ones fifteen and above Model Y're fifteen and
above where they get to a certain point. It's not
all of them, but they'll just get to that seventy
eighty thousand mile mark and the trans will start to
chatter and they'll have slip issues and just won't behave well.
So a lot of the newer WS vehicles will recommend
(21:36):
trans fluid changes in the fifty to sixty thousand mile range.
Transmission fluid is not like engine oil. It's once. It's
dirty and dark, it's tainted. It just never seems to
stay or come clean no matter how much you change it.
But one of the things we're seeing with Toyotas in particular,
and we see it on a few other models, is
(21:57):
there are additive packages and friction modifiers in the fluids
that do wear out. It's like vitamins, all right, The
additive packet friction modifier will wear out and cause the
trend to malfunction. You got one hundred and ninety thousand
miles on this car. I'm sure the fluid is black.
(22:18):
I'm sure it's beat up.
Speaker 7 (22:20):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
This is about where do you want to take the gamble? Andy?
Do you want to roll the dice now and change
the fluid now and see if you get to the
four hundred thousand mile mark. I've come to the conclusion,
after all my years of fixing cars that some cars
are just put together right, they're all right. But some
are more right than others. You know, some of them
(22:42):
are just they just seem to endure longer with the
least amount of service. It's white if some human beings
rise above and you know, meet life head on and
rise to the challenge, while others are stuck trying to,
you know, figure out what a golf club is for.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
You, do you think that I should kind of just
ignored it or what's your take on it?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Do you take long trips with it? Andy?
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yeah, I go to uh, I go to New Jersey
every once in a while, and uh, you know, uh,
Rhode Island. Yeah, I take fairly long trips.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
I think you've more than proven that it's a good vehicle.
It's got twenty thousand miles on the original trans.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Oh, that the vehicle is excellent. I mean, it hasn't
given me any trouble. And uh I buy another one.
Let's put it that one right?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Well, you'd be you'd be disappointed if you'd expected to
do this. You know, it's I don't know that the
new one will go that far. Andy, They've they got
wise to it, and they've they've engineered it for for
prosperity on their side.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
So we say, you know, I think it's good when, uh,
when the fellow told me that the fluid was dirty?
I have another Are the the Malibu? And I can't
the Malibu as far as I can tell. Does it
even have a dipstick? No, it does not transmission unless
I'm missing it.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
No, it does not. It's a it's a well you know,
well you wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Obviously, how would you know if your fluid is low?
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You won't until the trans malfunctions.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
You're kidding me.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Nope, nope, nope. Listen. Let me let me back up
to the beginning of our conversation. All right, So you're
using a I'll use your words, a thirty dollars oil
change place, right. Who's your regular mechanic.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
A fellow here, Paul down in Jonesport.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Okay, and he doesn't do your oil changes.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Well, I only take it to Paul when I like,
for instance, what did he do? He changed some grommets
and breaks? In other words, I don't get a big
city too often, and you know it's just convenient for
me to pull in there right and think that boom,
(25:07):
I'm out of there, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So are you comfortable driving a twelve and a well,
what's probably almost a fifteen year old vehicle with higher
mileage on them, that it only goes to the mechanic
when it breaks.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
On.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Don't you feel I've been comfortable?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Let's put it that way, right, I mean, I kind
of think an oil change is much more than an
oil change, especially on an older, high mileage vehicle. You know,
an oil change is supposed to find the problem before
it happens. An oil change. The last thing an oil
change does is change oil and filter. The first thing
an oil change does is put it in the hands
of a qualified mechanic, you know, he or she. They
(25:44):
take it for a road test. They drive it around
the block three rights as we call it. Listen to
the creeks and rattles, you know, go through and do
the procedure. You know, what you're doing is okay, I
get it, But you know a lot of things can
change over time, especially on an older vehicle. You know,
you're you're defying the odds. I give you credit Andy,
(26:05):
and I don't have an explanation for it. But I'm
a guy that I like to be under the hood
every couple of months. I like to see things every
couple of you know, four or five, six months, to
see what's going on. You know that Malibu. Yeah, there's
there's no way for anybody to check the fluid level.
And I can tell you both of those vehicles are
expensive transmissions to replace, and that if it were up
to me, if we were at the shop, we would
(26:27):
have had a long conversation about where do you want
to roll the dice fifty sixty thousand miles change the fluid.
It's just it's just good maintenance, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
It just does.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
So in my younger days, I used to do all
my work on all my cars, right, and for instance,
to change the transmission fluid on say a car from
the seventies, you pull the pan off, you know, and
(26:58):
the and the flu which done, and there was filters
involved and everything else. Is that still the same today
on the Malibu?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Maybe? I think on the Malibu not even I think
the Malibu is just going to be a drain and
fill and you've got to follow a specific procedure on
the Toyota, it's going to be a drain and fill.
But keep in mind, draining and filling the toyota at
this stage you're only going to get at best two
and a half three quarts of fluid out of it.
And it's probably a six court system because there's going
(27:26):
to be fluid in the converter. The ideal way to
do both of those is somebody using a machine that
they hook up in line to the cooler to the
trans cooler and do a fluid exchange. I don't want
to use the word flush, but do a fluid exchange.
The danger in bultimate they take it to a transmission
shop right right, and if they'll even do it at
this point because of the mileage. You know the danger
(27:47):
and changing trans fluid on an older high mileage unit
is transfluid does leave a varnished deposit, a varnished ring
around the trans as time goes on. You put fresh
trans fluid into anything and transfer. It has a very
high scrubbing, high detergency action in the majority of cases,
and it will scrub and clean the inside of that
trans over time and loos in particulate. But you know
(28:10):
where do you want to where do you want to
take the risk? You know, if the trans is going
to fail, let's make it fail. Let's find out, because
you're still driving that car a long distance. You're traveling
eight hours to New Jersey, right, okay? Right? So where
do you where do you want to take the loss?
You know, at least this way if the trans If
the trans starts to fail because of a fluid change,
(28:34):
you know, and you'll know within a month or six
weeks at least you're close to home and you know
where to take it to get it overhauled. Right, Because
to put a five thousand dollars trans in that car
is a whole lot cheaper than trying to go out
and buy a new one for.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Sixty that's for sure. So now, uh, well, so what
you what I'm going to do then is talk to
my mechanic and see if he'll do it, and if not,
I'll have to wait till I get down to a
big city or something. Right, And as far as I know,
(29:07):
there are no places like we talked about the thirty
dollars oil change. There's no place like a sixty dollars transmission, no.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Change, And you wouldn't want to and frankly, I'd be
a little concerned about the thirty dollars oil change place,
because well, that's a conversation for another day. But that's
a longer conversation. Cars are getting complicated and the fluids
are getting very precise. Go do those things, Andy, call
me back if you need more. I'm up against the clock.
I'm running Indie in the car doctor. We'll be back
right after this coming back run an Indi in the
(29:50):
car doctor. Let's go right away to Bob and Upstate
New York thirteen Ford Escape. Bob, Welcome to the car doctor, sir,
how can I help?
Speaker 7 (29:58):
Hey, Ryan, So my daughter in law, my daughter and
my son in law are having problems with their twenty
thirteen Ford Escape, with the one point six liter turbo
where it's consuming coolant on a regular basis. It recently
stranded when it overheated, so they were smart they stopped.
Got a tote of fixed. But it's got one hundred
(30:20):
and fifty thousand miles plus or minus, and you know
here it is, it's eleven years old. Diagnostics that I
can do? Or is this a simple case of just
giving up and saying put some caseal ultimated and keep driving.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
You know, when we say it overheats, Bob cooling fans,
come on, Yeah, it.
Speaker 7 (30:42):
Was purely just low fluid triggered. I shouldn't say it overheated.
I take that back. It in indicated on the dashboard
it was out of cool it or cool it to
stop the engine. I mean it did not reach an overheat.
We're likely to have hurt.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Them if you pull the engine oil dipstick. And I
know you're smart enough to do that listening to you
all these years. You know you pulled the oil dipstick
and there's no signs of coolant in the oil.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
It doesn't look like a milkshake. It's not chocolate, he brown.
It just looks like oil. Right, So it's it's likely
just consuming coolant past the head gasket. You know, expensive
repair three to five grand, best guess. So yeah, you
know it's it's three to five grand on an eleven
year old, one hundred and fifty thousand mile vehicle, or
(31:26):
you know, one hundred dollars bottle of caseal ultimate and
let's see what happens, you know, because beyond that then
you've got to you know, what's the rest of the vehicle. Like,
you know, a couple of things have to happen here. Yeah, yeah,
it's right. You know, if the body was perfect, If
the body was perfect, and you know the and for
(31:47):
some reason which I can't imagine why k SAL wouldn't
work right, or it was a bigger repair, or it's
something else unrelated that we're not seeing or hearing it
right now in our conversation. You know, would you put
an engine in it? Engines five grand, transmissions five grand.
We're at differentials five grand. We're fifteen rand into a
car that's rustling, that's eleven years old, of the arm,
fifty thousand miles on it. Uh, you know that that
(32:09):
one hundred dollars bollery?
Speaker 7 (32:11):
Nothing else for me to check now? Right now? You're
there nothing else I could check. They took it to
their mechanic. He couldn't find any leaks obviously, and makes
it you checked. So that's what I was saying, Is
there anything I could do? Now?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
It's there's there's nothing. There's nothing on the ground, there's
it's not wet inside the engine compartment. We're going to
make an assumption. Hey, we're going to finish this hour
where I started this hour. That you know, take your
best guess. It sounds like your best guess is it's
a head gas get Let's get a bottle of Caseal Ultimate,
pour it in and see what happens. And if that
doesn't do it, then we can start to think about
replacing the vehicle and you'll find more of you and
(32:44):
everybody else at casel dot com. Appreciate the call. I'm
running any in the car doctor. We're back right after this.
Welcome back, Running the Car Doctor. Good phone calls this hour.
I appreciate everybody calling in and some good questions and
(33:06):
some just just just great conversation. And it's funny, right, Bob,
the last conversation. Right, Sometimes you can take your best guess,
you know, and it becomes a point of practicality. You're
gonna buy a hole engine, You're gonna put a head
gasket on it. You're gonna go into one hundred and
fifty thousand mile car that's rusting. No, you're gonna do
a You're gonna do a bottle of Caseal Ultimate and
see what the outcome is. Because sometimes I'm telling you,
(33:27):
it all comes back to Star Trek the voyage home. Right,
your best guess is your best choice sometimes and that's uh,
that's the only way to go about it. I want
to talk to you real quick about this two thousand
and three Honda cord before I go today. You know,
sometimes the repairs, well, it's older cars. It's older cars
with with goofy little problems that maybe there are no solutions,
you know, or maybe they're the solutions are too expensive,
(33:47):
just like that escape with the head gasket problem. Well,
in this case, this three accord came in little old
lady to the shop this week and she had clipped
the front bumper. She pulled up and caught the front
lower valance on one of those parking lot and buttments,
and then backed up and couldn't get She was stuck,
and then went forward and she was stuck. And then
finally somebody picked up the car, she said, and was
(34:09):
able to get her off the concrete. But now the
whole front of the car is kind of hanging down,
it's dragging.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
It.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Would you scoop anything up if it was snowing out,
she would have scooped up all the snow in the road.
So she brought it over to us. We looked at it.
But it's older, right, it's an older car now it's
twenty two years old. We didn't have the clips for
the lower bumper in the assortments that we have, and
we have a lot of assortments in the shop. Went
on AutoZone pro dot com. The folks over at AutoZone
(34:36):
ran us over an assortment for older vehicles, which, yeah, okay,
so now I have older vehicle clips in the shop.
But the point was AutoZone Pro again to the rescue,
and we got our little old lady customer back out
on the road and the bumper put up back where
it was supposed to be an all for a very
cheap price. So thanks again to the folks over at
AutoZone AutoZone pro dot com. I'm Ronineny in the car doctor,
reminding you till the next time. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
(34:58):
they're priceless.
Speaker 7 (35:04):
Sis
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