How about a 2011 Jeep Liberty that runs terrible and has trouble on hot days? Ron's next up is a bit of a Frankenstein vehicle; the original engine has been replaced by something different .and well, its bits and pieces being held together in this 03 Tacoma. The OBD II port tests show no codes BUT the check engine light is on. Ron offers a definitive approach to get to a conclusion quickly. He then covers basic mis-fire diagnostics on an 07 Escalade with multiple misfires. After walking the caller thru the steps he then takes a call on an 01 VW Gulf with a bad voltage regulator and an owner that can't find the right part. Ron gives him the info he needs to solve his problem. The last call of the hour is from a listener in Virginia that has an 04 Chevy Trailblazer where the transmission won’t engage. Ron's solution and diagnostic step is simple and clear to determine the fault.
Visit us at https://www.cardoctorshow.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Ron An aian.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
There isn't a car out there that can't be fixed.
It's just a matter of time. It's a matter of
will the customer accept it, will they want to pay
for it? So you know, don't take it on your abilities.
If you can't fix that vehicle, maybe somebody doesn't want it.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
The Car Doctor I got a twenty thirteen Schevy Malibu
that the radio is.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Fuck a one station.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Nothing works the buyome dome.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
It doesn't do anything.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
So is it a station that plays me?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
No?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up
the phone and call in. The garage doors.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five six.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
And now pee running.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, well, well, here we are once again, and thanks
for taking the time to be with me. I enjoy
spending this time with you each and every weekend, and
for of course if we're here on podcasts, I enjoy
that too, And from what we can see, we hope
you are and we think you are enjoying the classic
Car Doctor postings up on the Facebook page or on
the podcast page as well. Get out the card doctorshow
dot com and check it out. Midweek we put up
(01:27):
a car Doctor show from ten years ago, and you
guys seem to be enjoying that as well. So we're
glad to be here for you. Let us open the
phones right away. Let's go over and talk to Let's
go talk to John and Virginia eleven Jeep Liberty and
running hot. John. Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir. How
can I help?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Well, okay, thank you, thank you for taking my call. Yeah,
what it is is, I've never seen anything like this before.
I've been driving cars for forty years. But I have
a Jeep Liberty like two times two days in the
last three months. One day in January and like about
two weeks ago. It was about eighty degrees. The car
(02:04):
would run fine until I had a really warm day.
The first one, as I said, was in January, the
car wouldn't. After driving around like running some errands for
ten minutes, the car decided it was just going to
run terrible. Wouldn't go over forty miles an hour. Anymore.
It was running hot. It wasn't showing it on the gauge,
(02:26):
and it would it would barely start once I turned
it off, and then it was it wouldn't shift into
gear hardly at all either.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
What makes it What makes you think it was running? John? John?
What makes you think it was running hot if it
wasn't showing you on the gauge.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I was, well, I was getting gas. I was standing
outside the car, and it was I could smell that
the heat coming up from under the hood. Both times
that this happened, but like I said, it was like
actually months apart, and then the next day it's like
nothing happened in the car ran fine, but it was
(03:05):
you know, it was like fifty degrees or something. Well,
I talked to four different shops. Nobody can tell me
what this is. I'm getting is I'm getting told, well,
you're gonna have to just wait till it happens again
and then bring it in. Then do I really have
to do that?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Or well, let's let's back up a second. So you're
you're getting an intense sensation of heat would be a
fair way to say it. Like it was running like
it was running, but it was shut off while you
were getting fuel.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, no, it was I had it running too, and
it was running hot.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Okay, you know, I don't want to I don't want
to say that it was running hot. If the gauge
says it's not running hot, it's not running hot.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I mean, you know, based on what based on you know,
we're not smelling the heat, you'd have a sensation of heat,
you know, is it. I'd really have to sit there
and measure temperature to say, okay, it's running hot. But
if it's physically running hot, what you're describing is contrary
to you know, the gauges and the wiring on the vehicle.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
It Well, I actually smell. I don't know what it
was I was smelling, but it was it was running
hot and you could tell. But I don't know, you know,
I wouldn't say it was like like oil burning, but
you know, it almost smelled like, you know, like metal
was rubbing together or something like that. But that's not
I don't have any idea what it was I was smelling,
(04:30):
but it was. It was definitely seemed that it was.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I don't know, John, are you sure you're not smelling
oil burning?
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Well? No, I don't have any leaks.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I'm not asking. I'm not asking if you have any leaks.
You know, a small a small loss of oil out
the rear of the valve cover where you'll never see it.
It's going to hit the exhaust or hit the exhaust
aunt of fold that will evaporate and never hit the ground,
but it will. It will give the sensation of hot
or heat or smell or something. All right, if an
engine is physically running hot, you're going to see it
(05:06):
on gauge. Now, if you want to go the other
way and say the gauge is broken, then we can
talk about why would it overheat in hot weather? Well,
because it's warm out. Because the shops aren't wrong, they
need to see it to duplicate the condition. I could
sit here and expand on theory for the rest of
the afternoon and talk about all possible scenarios. But what
you're describing goes against the laws of physics in a sense.
(05:27):
All right, Now, the engine running badly, the trans not shifting,
it's almost as if you're describing the vehicle was going
into limp mode. Limp mode is an occurrence on that
particular vehicle when it loses track of the accelerator pedal position,
(05:48):
and it won't allow the trans to shift properly. It
won't allow it to accelerate, it won't go over forty
miles an hour. It's a complete loss of power. That's
what that sounds like. I've got to say that the
first thing I would do with this is at least
the baseline it. Do we have any fault codes in it?
I don't care if the lights on or not. I
just want to know where there any fault codes anywhere
(06:09):
in the vehicle and proceed.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
They've been having trouble. Two places have been having trouble
getting a reading. What do you mean for some reason
they used, you know, the code reader, but they weren't
able to tell me anything.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Are you saying that it doesn't set fault codes?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Uh? Well maybe I'm maybe I'm not thinking of the
same thing.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Okay, Well, we're talking about plugging into the diagnostic port
under the dashboard to the side of the steering wheel, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I had I had like two places do that, and
they were they were unable to come up with anything.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Okay, So just for giggles, how about we put a
fault in it? If if I've got a vehicle that
is acting strangely and I can't get any fault readings
out of it. The first thing I do is I
create a fault. How do you know when something's bad
(07:10):
by breaking it? Right? If I unplug a throttle position
sensor or an oxygen sensor or some such component, and
I go and scan that vehicle, and I still don't
get a fault code for that particular component, that tells
me something? Agreed?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
So why don't we start there? Why don't we you know?
And why are we using two different repair shops? Do
you have one mechanic that you've been going to for
regular service with this vehicle?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah? Well, he said he couldn't get a reading with
his computer. He couldn't come up with what it was.
Even the last guy I saw it was actually a
jeep specialist, or claimed to be. He made the claim
that he should be able to fix it, and then
he was telling me the same thing. Three other people were.
I just can't figure that out.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay, Well here, back, yeah, here, let's let's let's do this. John,
pick one guy, all right, explain our conversation. Let them
let them create a fault pay them for an hour
of their time. This is the guy that's going to
fix the vehicle when the problem returns. Let them create
a fault, all right, They unplug the accelerator pedal position
(08:25):
sensor and it sets an accelerator pedal position fault. We've
now proven that vehicle is capable of diagnosing itself and
its faults and failures. Agreed, Yeah, okay, plug it back in.
Clear the code, make sure all the fluid levels are correct.
Look the vehicle over. Make sure the radiator is not
leaking when it's cold, and they'll know to do this.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I check that it's not leaking.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Okay, when when it's cold, and they can get the
radiator cap off the bottle if they can look inside
the radiator over. Look over the radiator for general leaks
and seeps. Does it show any signs of cool and
staining at the seams? All right? Drive the vehicle. Warm
weather's coming. You're going to find out within the next
six weeks. It's that simple, right.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I just I just thought it was odd. I kind
of just I didn't really necessarily want to be driving
it around and then it you know, gets stranded. But well,
that's what I have to do well, let me, let
me do it.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
How many miles around the vehicle?
Speaker 5 (09:24):
John fifty eight thousand, okay, fifty.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Eight thousand, Only fifty eight thousand. It's not a lot
of miles. So all you can do at this point,
it is twelve years old. All you can do at
this point is baseline it, check all the fluids, look
it over for mechanical soundness, scan it, create a fault.
It sets the fault. Great, it doesn't set a fault,
why not? And then proceed from there. That's all you
can do. It's twelve years old. You're looking for guarantees
(09:49):
where you're not going to find any.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Not to be harsh, right right, you know, and that's
generally something like this. The mechanic really wouldn't be able
to I guess.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Walter Walter P. Chrysler, Walter P. Chrysler wouldn't be able
to determine what's wrong with that vehicle in its present state.
And that's the technology of vehicles today. Somebody may guess
and get it right right, and that's all possible. But
the key here is, first of all, one guy, one
guy making the salad, all right, and follow procedure. There's
(10:21):
always a reason there's always a way, all right, kiddo.
I gotta run him up against the clock. But you
do that, you go through procedure, you follow those things.
You give me a call back with the results and
I'll guide you accordingly. John, I appreciate you being there.
A five to five, five six zero nine nine zero
zero run an eighty of the car Doctor coming back
right after this. Don't go away. It's he drives that way.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
But when it comes to fixing cars, Ron has car
advice done right.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Eight five to five, five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Here's Ron. Hey, let's go on over and talk to
Let's go to Sam and ILLINOISO three Toyota at the
com Sam. Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir. How can
I help?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Thank you?
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Ron, Sure appreciate having me on there.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I got a three to edit Tacoma. I've had it
for a year. It's got about two one hundred and
fifty thousand miles on it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Just broken in and.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Well there's a little yeah, it's broken in, but let
me say a little bit more here. So I bought
it a year ago and it's originally the car. The
truck had a three r z F E engine and
at two point seven liters five speed, and I bought
it with five vs F E with a three point
(11:35):
four six automatic and four by four okay. And the
problem is that I gott I get no, I got
a check engine light on, and I got no codes
coming out.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay. So when they made the swamp, you know, I hate,
I hate when these things go on, because right right,
you know where I'm going to go with this. Has
it always been like this? Has it always had a
check engine light on?
Speaker 5 (12:04):
No? No, let me tell you what happened here. So, uh,
the original exhaust system, I guess it's her. I don't know,
but you know the front catalytic converter right next to
the h the front side of the exhaust there in
the front right, uh. And then there's one in the
in the that behind it. Okay. So what happened was
(12:28):
they they took that one of the back out saying
it was bad, and they replaced it, okay. And as
soon as they did that, that's when the light came on.
So the other guy and the cat This catalytic convert
is not to me, it's not a catalytic convert. It's
(12:50):
it's I don't I don't know what it is, but
it's not a catalytic converter. Okay, it's a look it's
a look alike or whatever it is. I don't know
what they call it. But so that was in there,
and then what the other guy did his He took
that one that that was replaced, and he took one
in the front out and put it in its place.
So now I only have one muffler in the front,
(13:11):
I'm going to say, and then one on the way back.
So that's that's all that system has with two oxygen sensors,
one in the front and one in the back.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So it sounds like we're missing cats.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Right right, I mean originally right?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Okay, So when you go in and scan for codes,
how do you do it? Do you do it as
ob D two or do you go in as year
make model.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Well the guy did it with a year make a model,
ooka engine.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I would want to do this as OBD two because
that's going to be more generic and it's not going
to have the filters of engine and the rest of it.
It's just going to be generic codes. I'd be curious.
I'd be thinking, I'm thinking that you're going to see faults. See,
the problem here is when they swapped the engine and
(14:04):
they put the different engine in even though everything you know,
you didn't have the problem before, and we do. Now
what what did they unearthed by changing catalytic converters? You know?
Short of you know, because my only other thought is
do we have to go wire for a wire and
verify that we have all wire and inputs at the PCM,
which is tedious and it'll drive you right piece.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
And that was my next question here, right, So I
looked at the TCU in there, and I got no
model numbers, nothing that looks like it came from somewhere else.
I don't know, right, but it's not the original one
in there. So my next question was, with that V
six engine, how do I match an ECU with an engine?
(14:46):
Because I can't call Toyota. They keep asking me for
ven numbers, right, not. I can't give them a V
in number because it's not gonna work, right.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
You'd have to find You'd have to find the H
three to coma with a V six, okay, and use
that then, Okay, all right, that's that's the only way,
because that's the only way you're going. That's the only
way you're going to order parts for that? The question
is though, right, The question is, well, that V six
PCM work in a in a four cylinder. This is
(15:15):
a four cylinder, correct.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Right now? This is six six?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Oh, this is two different year V six is okay?
Speaker 5 (15:21):
Yeah, this was it was before it was the two
point seven and there with a five speed The three
r z f E was in there before originally originally
then they replaced it with a five v z f E,
which is a three point four V six.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Right, automatic, are still the stick?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
No?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
No, it's automatic four by four?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Right? So this is this is a real Frankenstein.
Speaker 7 (15:44):
Right, this is.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
This is this is a real cross cross breed of something.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
And I got yeah, and I got taken on it.
Well that's okay, just keep moving on here, right.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
But but well, the other thing I was going to
the other thing I was going to say was yeah,
I mean find something with that engine and at least
get a PCM for that at least you know, then
that's right, all right, or or talk to for that matter,
if you know, depending upon if the PCM is even
still available from Toyota, do you it's not right?
Speaker 5 (16:16):
Right?
Speaker 6 (16:17):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
If it's not then, you know, do you just gamble
on one of the you know rebuilders. You know, do
you go down to your local AutoZone and say, hey,
I've got a V six Toyota with this engine. Can
you give me a PCM Because AutoZone is not going
to ask you by vin. They may ask you for
part numbers on the old PCM, which which that's a problem.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
But I have a board number. I got a board number,
but not a right on the box.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah. Yeah, the part numbers, the part number is going
to be totally different, all right, right, so but maybe
AutoZone can look it up by application. Neither here nor there.
That being said, you know that the next step with
this is can we put a fault into this? Does
it recognize the fault under ob D two? Forget your
make model. I want to go basic here, I don't
(17:02):
want to get fancy. I don't care unplug, unplug anything.
Does it break the truck and doesn't come back with
the corresponding fault. So that proves the system is capable
of doing what it's supposed to do. All right? Then
then depending upon what fault code you get, we'll determine
which way we go and what we actually do to
try and resolve it all. Right, then then you can
(17:25):
get over to AutoZone and do the PCM look up.
Maybe they've got a PCM that will match that particular vehicle.
Because let's think of it like this. We both know
we're both smart enough to realize that two different size engines,
two different size air pumps, a big guy and a
little guy both running a race. Everything's equal, but one's
(17:47):
got bigger air intake is surely going to have different
load output in different capacity. It's just freights, right, So
we've got to start breaking these systems down one by
one and figuring out where the fault is. If you
don't think that's a catalytic converter, that's an issue, I'd
be curious. I'd be curious to see what an oxygen
(18:07):
sensor pre and post test, an index ratio test of
the catalytic inverter sensors would look like in data stream,
and maybe you want to go there as well. I'm
run an Ady in the Car Doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Thanks Sam, I appreciate the call. Hey,
(18:48):
welcome back, run An any of the Car Doctor. Did
you listen to your classic Car Doctor episode this week. Ah,
when you see what's coming this week, And kudos to
Tom Ray for his efforts. We appreciate that Tom's traveling tomorrow.
Tom's uh going north. I think Tom's going to be
part of the eclipse. Is is that true?
Speaker 6 (19:07):
We're going to see the eclipse. Well, and as a
as a preview to that, how'd you like our rock
and roll party yesterday?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Uh the rocket? Yeah? Well that was so. I would
hate to have been the guy. You know, there's there's
a story going around that some guy was getting surgery
done to his Uh. I would hate to have been
the guy getting the circumcision yesterday. At the point of
that earthquake, that's all I got to say.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Oh, no kidding, like wow, that would have been the ups.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I gotta tell you, I was sitting I was actually
sitting in studio, and you know, I rolled my chair
back from the desk to do something and that's when
it started to shake. And you know that sometimes one
of the wheels breaks on the chair and I go, oh,
look the wheel broke. Oh wait, that's going on a
lot longer than just a momentary baboom, you know, like
uh uh oh, it was about it shook for about
(19:53):
thirty seconds here in North Jersey.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
So, uh, while I was on a I eighty four
and my wife called me and said, oh my god,
the furnaces about to explode. I said, what are you
talking about?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah, just just crazy.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
And you know, she told me she shut it down,
and I had her look at it as well. If
it shook the house, it should be kind of off
its pedestal it sits on. And then she looked, you know,
I said, it wasn't that, and then we found out
we had the earthquake.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
It was like, wow, Oh, I'm thinking, how big can
the eclipse be?
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Now?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
If we're not here next week to do the show,
then the eclipse is pretty bad. So everybody should enjoy
this next half hour because this might be it. You
never know. Let's go to Joe, Tom, Let's go to
Joe and Virginia. Oh seven Cadillac Escalade. So Joe, welcome
to the car doctor, sir. How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yeah? Thank you for on. First time listener, long, long
time listener, first time call it.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I got you.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Yeah, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Brother?
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Uh? Miss siron engine was running it smooth and been
excitted to hear some knocking noise driving down the road
and became.
Speaker 8 (20:57):
More current.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
You know, first it was intermittent that it became full
time and the car started jerking, lunching a little bit. Okay,
so I finally pulled it over and ran codes on.
It was a three oh one and it stayed three
to oh one for several days. At high rpm, like
(21:20):
for forty five hundred, it would smooth out, but at
low RPMs it would sputter and RPMs would fluctuate up
and down, and then it went to a three to two,
and then after that it went to a three hundred
a couple hours later, and we won't hold an idol
(21:42):
at this point, and the RPMs just go up again. Also,
the stability light came on as well as well as
the engine light.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Well the stability lights. Stability lights coming on because it
sees faults in the engine controller. All right, yeah, so
that's that's that's, that's that all right. I guess you're
I guess you're at work today. Huh huh, Joe.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
It sounds like soundid yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, it sounds like work in the background or you're shopping. Yeah,
So you know the answer here is, you know what's
common or are we suffering an engine failure or are
we suffering true ignition component failure or an injector problem,
et cetera. This is uh, this is the seven escalate,
So this is the six point two leader. This is
the big motor. Great, All right, are you handy with
(22:30):
a vault meter?
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Okay, So let's go to Let me ask the question
this way. Have you had any engine mounts done recently?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
No?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
All right? Ground one oh two left side driver's side
of the engine, left side motor mount. Ground one oh
two is critical, critical and common cause of misfires on
these engines. It gets loose, it gets corroded. It's kind
of hard to see.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
You know, you're you're gonna either find it by taking
the driver's side wheel well out and looking in and
seeing the motor mountain, seeing the ground strap attached there,
or you're going to do a resistance check from the
coil connector down to ground one or two to make
sure it's got good continuity to engine ground. You're gonna
voltage drop ground from the connector to the coil pack itself. Over.
(23:18):
I want to look at you know, because we could
go through the you know, move coils around routine. I'm
sure you're familiar with this, you know, Yeah, it's right
and it's still there, so you know, I just yeah, nothing,
no change, you know, before we go move in the injector,
which is a little bit of work, Let's just go
do some voltage testing. That pink white wire is battery voltage?
(23:42):
All right? That's that's coil hot. Remember back in the
old days. Uh, you know, we had coil negative and
coil hot, we had coil positive. Does that Does that
pink white show battery voltage or charging system voltage when
the vehicle is misfiring? All right? Uh?
Speaker 4 (23:57):
You know that's off off a.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Coming into the coming into the main bank. There should
be a main plug or you're going to find it
individually at each coil do we have Do we have
hot at that pink white on the cylinders that are misfiring?
All right? Okay, all right, If we have battery voltage
there and we have ground at one oh two, then
I'm fairly confident we've got an adequate voltage supply to
(24:24):
fire the coil. If we don't, then we've got to
trace that back. What I'm trying to eliminate is these
had some problems with fuse boxes. The main fuse box
under the hood. It would crack and it would do
erratic things. So you know this is a let's look
at a wiring diagram. But I happen to know that
(24:45):
that pink white and the ground G one O two
or comments. Let's just verify that it's a five minute test. Hey,
the engine's misfiring. I've got charging system voltage, it's off,
it's you know, tell me what's good. I'll tell you
what's bad. It's off the table right right, So that
that just eliminates that. Next, you know, can we just
look at engine vacuum even though I know it's going
(25:05):
to be lousy. Can we just come up with a number?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah, right, let's just look at manifold vacuum. Where are we?
All right? And let's just verify. Are you familiar with
Yoda scan tool?
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Joe?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Uh yeah, yeah, Okay, go out to go look up
I want you. I'm gonna make you an expert. Go
look up atgtraining dot com I believe is the website.
Or go look up Automotive Training Group and go read
that the tab they'll talk there about volumetric efficiency. All right,
take a breath, Joe, breathe in right now? How well
(25:44):
do you breathe? Okay, it's it's like it's like it's
like when the doctor puts the stethoscope on your chest
and says, take a deep breath. I mean, it's all
you can do is take a deep breath.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
So we're gonna we're gonna measure how well can the
engine breathe. Volumetric efficiency is a breathing test. If the
engine passes, it's not mechanical. If the engine doesn't pass,
it's mechanical, and it's unobtrusive testing. It'll take us. It'll
tell us either we're taking something apart or we're not,
(26:13):
and we have to look elsewhere, all right, And all
you need is a scan tool, the ability to read
mass airflow and grams per second, which you can do
under OBD two. You need, you need intake air temp,
you need RPM. That's it. That's all you need. And
then you just plug it into their calculator at Automotive
Training group and it does the math for you. It'll
(26:35):
it'll tell you what percentage you're in. But they also
give you a nice little explanation about what VE testing is. Now.
One caution. You want to do this on a good vehicle.
You got another vehicle on the household.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Uh yeah, a Honda.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Okay, that's fine. They all engines. Breathe, brother, they're all
the physics are the same, right, So I want you
to do it on a good vehicle because I don't
want you to learn on I don't want you to
learn how to do something on a broken vehicle. If
you learn how to do something on a broken vehicle,
you don't know if you're doing the testing wrong or
the vehicle is actually broken and telling you the truth.
(27:12):
So recognize what good looks like, you'll recognize what bad
looks like.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Capeche Yeah, yeah, okay, that's just just just on the OBT, just.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
A you don't even have no, you don't even you
don't even have to use your make model. You can
do volumetric efficiency testing OBD two data mass airflow, RPM,
intake air temp. You need to know a barometric pressure,
which is really difficult. You know how you figure out
barometric pressure?
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Uh, look at the weather channel?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Well that or do you know where you live? You
type in the name of your hometown and you type
in you know, Joe's Joe's house dot com uh Virginia
and tell me barometric pressure. Boom, It tells you you
plug in barrow RPM, mass airflow, intake air, do a
ve test, you come back in the ninety percent tile. Hey,
the engine breeds good off the table next. It's as
(28:07):
simple as that, all right, and then we can have
a further conversation.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Okay, where I can tell it up there and you
can check it out whatever you.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Want to do. Joe, you got you got. You gotta
get permission with the guards. Don't let down the guards,
don't let drop the druwbridge at the shop until I
tell them to. So it's uh, it's just it's a secret.
You know. Somebody told me I'm harder to find than
the bat cave. I said, well, there's a reason for that.
But in any event, all right, Joe, I'm always glad
to talk to you anytime.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
You're very welcome, sir. Good luck eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero. Well, it's the truth.
Batman has to wear the cape and the mask. Sometimes
Tom's gonna make a mask comment. I'll be back right
after this.
Speaker 7 (28:47):
Don't go away, welcome.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Back, or name the card doctor. Let's wander down to
Florida and talk to Gary. Gary, welcome to the card doctor, sir,
how can I help?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Ron?
Speaker 8 (29:09):
I got a two, I got a two thousand and
one Volksweg and d I one point nine annual transmission.
And that's a factor in this. The voltage regulator is
bad and that's all been confirmed. Not the alternator, the regulator.
The regulator that was on it was not the original
OE one. So I don't want to go by that
(29:29):
part number on it because I don't believe it was correct.
My dilemma is I cannot I cannot source what I
can concretely believe is the correct BOSH part number for
this one hundred and twenty alternator. Every part number I
look up when they cross reference one, you know, it's
(29:50):
like going down the rabbit hole and it just leads
to more confusion.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Okay, let me say this about BOSH. They make a
lot and their information as far as part number cross
reference shouldn't be believed. For lack of a better way
to say it. You know, I've learned from time I
look it up more by application than I do by
(30:15):
cross reference, or I'll look it up by on Volkswagen.
I'll do chassis number, then number, something that will identify
what that vehicle originally came with. Because I've run into this,
I've run into exactly what you're talking about. You'll take
that part number, you'll put it into the system and
it'll cross reference back to everything. But with the part
that you think it is correct? Correct, Yeah, and it
(30:35):
just doesn't make any sense. And you're sitting there and
you're saying, well, wait a minute, it's supposed to be this,
but they're telling me it's that. But that looks totally
different than what I have in my hand, And yeah,
I get it. I would look it up by application.
I actually use a website. Have you seen FCP euro
f C P E E U r O f CP
(30:57):
euro dot com. I think it is, you know, they
they do a pretty fair job of looking things up
by application. But I've I've learned that you you've really
got to do it by application, not by part number.
On volkswagons, Heck, the Volkswagen dealer looks it up by application,
all right.
Speaker 8 (31:16):
Your website is as inconsistent as bosses.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Right. I can't tell you how many times I've been
to the VW dealer. You know, I put the hose
in their hands. Here's the hose I need. Here's the
part number on the hose. Yeah, that number doesn't mean
anything anymore. That number's gone. Well great, I'm glad we've
got this car, you know, like, but again, you know
this is this is what we get. You know. It's
(31:39):
if any if this was easy, anybody could do it,
you know, so I would. I would. I would do
this strictly by application, and I think that'll lead you
to the promised Land.
Speaker 8 (31:47):
All right, brother, okay, okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
You're very welcome. Listen how you make out? If you
need more of them? Here? Hey five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. The car Doctor's cruising back
right after this.
Speaker 7 (31:56):
Don't go away.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
And run, we will because let's do this last call.
Run and any of the car Doctor here Richard in Virginia, Sir,
you're my last one this hour. How can I help you?
Speaker 9 (32:16):
Good afternoon around, Thank you. I have an four trail
Blazer that I purchased new.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Back then.
Speaker 9 (32:27):
I've got about two hundred and sixty thousand miles on
it right now. It's the inline sixth with automatic four
wheel drive, driving down the road about fifty mile an hour,
I lost all power to the wheels. The engine still run,
it had no power to the wheels in regular drive
(32:49):
or four wheel drive. And that's basically what has happened
to it. It kind of acted like you had a
in a position for towing the neutral With everything I
did check, like the transmission fluid without the vehicle running,
it's probably about and a couple of inches above the
(33:12):
full mark.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah, it's got to be done with the engine. It's
got to be done with you. It's got to be
done with the engine running. So let's so let's just
get that out of your head.
Speaker 9 (33:19):
Well, yeah, I was checking it with it off right
to say where it was. It was about two inches
above the full mark. And then with the vehicle running,
I checked it and it stayed its about the same
about the same location. The fluid never changed. So that's
where I am. I have basically done about anything I
(33:41):
know to do to it, you know myself.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Right, And the vehicle still does not move.
Speaker 9 (33:45):
Correct, It will not move at all, no, sir, all right.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
So i'd like it to I'd like to just do
a code scan before we start disconnecting things that I'm
going to tell you about in a minute. I just
like to you know, listen, the doctor always does heart
rate and blood for should before he does anything to you, right,
I just I'd like to have I'd like to have
numbers to fall back on. You know, Hey, we put
a transmission in it. We didn't have these codes before,
and now we have these codes. It's related to the transmission. Hey,
(34:11):
we had these codes before we did the transmission, and
now we don't have the codes. Great, we fix something.
You know, it's the theory holds water. So I'd just
like to do a code scan just as a preliminary.
It's a good it's a pre good pre diagnostic test
to get in the habit of doing.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
All.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Right, next, crawl under the truck on the list listen
to me, because the clock's going to take me on
the passenger side of the transmission. There's an electrical connector disconnected.
Disconnect it and see if the truck moves, does it
go reverse, first, second drive, et cetera. If it does not,
this sounds like this has an internal transphlt that the
(34:46):
trans failed. Is there something electrically putting this trans in neutral?
If it's disconnected and it doesn't, that trans has failed
in all likelihoods, so you get it checked out further,
but go from there. I'm on an ending in the
card Docker. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless see y
sis
Ron An aian.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
There isn't a car out there that can't be fixed.
It's just a matter of time. It's a matter of
will the customer accept it, will they want to pay
for it? So you know, don't take it on your abilities.
If you can't fix that vehicle, maybe somebody doesn't want it.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
The Car Doctor I got a twenty thirteen Schevy Malibu
that the radio is.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Fuck a one station.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Nothing works the buyome dome.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
It doesn't do anything.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
So is it a station that plays me?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
No?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up
the phone and call in. The garage doors.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five six.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
And now pee running.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, well, well, here we are once again, and thanks
for taking the time to be with me. I enjoy
spending this time with you each and every weekend, and
for of course if we're here on podcasts, I enjoy
that too, And from what we can see, we hope
you are and we think you are enjoying the classic
Car Doctor postings up on the Facebook page or on
the podcast page as well. Get out the card doctorshow
dot com and check it out. Midweek we put up
(01:27):
a car Doctor show from ten years ago, and you
guys seem to be enjoying that as well. So we're
glad to be here for you. Let us open the
phones right away. Let's go over and talk to Let's
go talk to John and Virginia eleven Jeep Liberty and
running hot. John. Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir. How
can I help?
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Well, okay, thank you, thank you for taking my call. Yeah,
what it is is, I've never seen anything like this before.
I've been driving cars for forty years. But I have
a Jeep Liberty like two times two days in the
last three months. One day in January and like about
two weeks ago. It was about eighty degrees. The car
(02:04):
would run fine until I had a really warm day.
The first one, as I said, was in January, the
car wouldn't. After driving around like running some errands for
ten minutes, the car decided it was just going to
run terrible. Wouldn't go over forty miles an hour. Anymore.
It was running hot. It wasn't showing it on the gauge,
(02:26):
and it would it would barely start once I turned
it off, and then it was it wouldn't shift into
gear hardly at all either.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
What makes it What makes you think it was running? John? John?
What makes you think it was running hot if it
wasn't showing you on the gauge.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I was, well, I was getting gas. I was standing
outside the car, and it was I could smell that
the heat coming up from under the hood. Both times
that this happened, but like I said, it was like
actually months apart, and then the next day it's like
nothing happened in the car ran fine, but it was
(03:05):
you know, it was like fifty degrees or something. Well,
I talked to four different shops. Nobody can tell me
what this is. I'm getting is I'm getting told, well,
you're gonna have to just wait till it happens again
and then bring it in. Then do I really have
to do that?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Or well, let's let's back up a second. So you're
you're getting an intense sensation of heat would be a
fair way to say it. Like it was running like
it was running, but it was shut off while you
were getting fuel.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, no, it was I had it running too, and
it was running hot.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Okay, you know, I don't want to I don't want
to say that it was running hot. If the gauge
says it's not running hot, it's not running hot.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
It's not.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I mean, you know, based on what based on you know,
we're not smelling the heat, you'd have a sensation of heat,
you know, is it. I'd really have to sit there
and measure temperature to say, okay, it's running hot. But
if it's physically running hot, what you're describing is contrary
to you know, the gauges and the wiring on the vehicle.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
It Well, I actually smell. I don't know what it
was I was smelling, but it was it was running
hot and you could tell. But I don't know, you know,
I wouldn't say it was like like oil burning, but
you know, it almost smelled like, you know, like metal
was rubbing together or something like that. But that's not
I don't have any idea what it was I was smelling,
(04:30):
but it was. It was definitely seemed that it was.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I don't know, John, are you sure you're not smelling
oil burning?
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Well? No, I don't have any leaks.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I'm not asking. I'm not asking if you have any leaks.
You know, a small a small loss of oil out
the rear of the valve cover where you'll never see it.
It's going to hit the exhaust or hit the exhaust
aunt of fold that will evaporate and never hit the ground,
but it will. It will give the sensation of hot
or heat or smell or something. All right, if an
engine is physically running hot, you're going to see it
(05:06):
on gauge. Now, if you want to go the other
way and say the gauge is broken, then we can
talk about why would it overheat in hot weather? Well,
because it's warm out. Because the shops aren't wrong, they
need to see it to duplicate the condition. I could
sit here and expand on theory for the rest of
the afternoon and talk about all possible scenarios. But what
you're describing goes against the laws of physics in a sense.
(05:27):
All right, Now, the engine running badly, the trans not shifting,
it's almost as if you're describing the vehicle was going
into limp mode. Limp mode is an occurrence on that
particular vehicle when it loses track of the accelerator pedal position,
(05:48):
and it won't allow the trans to shift properly. It
won't allow it to accelerate, it won't go over forty
miles an hour. It's a complete loss of power. That's
what that sounds like. I've got to say that the
first thing I would do with this is at least
the baseline it. Do we have any fault codes in it?
I don't care if the lights on or not. I
just want to know where there any fault codes anywhere
(06:09):
in the vehicle and proceed.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
They've been having trouble. Two places have been having trouble
getting a reading. What do you mean for some reason
they used, you know, the code reader, but they weren't
able to tell me anything.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Are you saying that it doesn't set fault codes?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Uh? Well maybe I'm maybe I'm not thinking of the
same thing.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Okay, Well, we're talking about plugging into the diagnostic port
under the dashboard to the side of the steering wheel, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I had I had like two places do that, and
they were they were unable to come up with anything.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Okay, So just for giggles, how about we put a
fault in it? If if I've got a vehicle that
is acting strangely and I can't get any fault readings
out of it. The first thing I do is I
create a fault. How do you know when something's bad
(07:10):
by breaking it? Right? If I unplug a throttle position
sensor or an oxygen sensor or some such component, and
I go and scan that vehicle, and I still don't
get a fault code for that particular component, that tells
me something? Agreed?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
So why don't we start there? Why don't we you know?
And why are we using two different repair shops? Do
you have one mechanic that you've been going to for
regular service with this vehicle?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah? Well, he said he couldn't get a reading with
his computer. He couldn't come up with what it was.
Even the last guy I saw it was actually a
jeep specialist, or claimed to be. He made the claim
that he should be able to fix it, and then
he was telling me the same thing. Three other people were.
I just can't figure that out.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay, Well here, back, yeah, here, let's let's let's do this. John,
pick one guy, all right, explain our conversation. Let them
let them create a fault pay them for an hour
of their time. This is the guy that's going to
fix the vehicle when the problem returns. Let them create
a fault, all right, They unplug the accelerator pedal position
(08:25):
sensor and it sets an accelerator pedal position fault. We've
now proven that vehicle is capable of diagnosing itself and
its faults and failures. Agreed, Yeah, okay, plug it back in.
Clear the code, make sure all the fluid levels are correct.
Look the vehicle over. Make sure the radiator is not
leaking when it's cold, and they'll know to do this.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I check that it's not leaking.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Okay, when when it's cold, and they can get the
radiator cap off the bottle if they can look inside
the radiator over. Look over the radiator for general leaks
and seeps. Does it show any signs of cool and
staining at the seams? All right? Drive the vehicle. Warm
weather's coming. You're going to find out within the next
six weeks. It's that simple, right.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I just I just thought it was odd. I kind
of just I didn't really necessarily want to be driving
it around and then it you know, gets stranded. But well,
that's what I have to do well, let me, let
me do it.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
How many miles around the vehicle?
Speaker 5 (09:24):
John fifty eight thousand, okay, fifty.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Eight thousand, Only fifty eight thousand. It's not a lot
of miles. So all you can do at this point,
it is twelve years old. All you can do at
this point is baseline it, check all the fluids, look
it over for mechanical soundness, scan it, create a fault.
It sets the fault. Great, it doesn't set a fault,
why not? And then proceed from there. That's all you
can do. It's twelve years old. You're looking for guarantees
(09:49):
where you're not going to find any.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Not to be harsh, right right, you know, and that's
generally something like this. The mechanic really wouldn't be able
to I guess.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Walter Walter P. Chrysler, Walter P. Chrysler wouldn't be able
to determine what's wrong with that vehicle in its present state.
And that's the technology of vehicles today. Somebody may guess
and get it right right, and that's all possible. But
the key here is, first of all, one guy, one
guy making the salad, all right, and follow procedure. There's
(10:21):
always a reason there's always a way, all right, kiddo.
I gotta run him up against the clock. But you
do that, you go through procedure, you follow those things.
You give me a call back with the results and
I'll guide you accordingly. John, I appreciate you being there.
A five to five, five six zero nine nine zero
zero run an eighty of the car Doctor coming back
right after this. Don't go away. It's he drives that way.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
But when it comes to fixing cars, Ron has car
advice done right.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Eight five to five, five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Here's Ron. Hey, let's go on over and talk to
Let's go to Sam and ILLINOISO three Toyota at the
com Sam. Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir. How can
I help?
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Thank you?
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Ron, Sure appreciate having me on there.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I got a three to edit Tacoma. I've had it
for a year. It's got about two one hundred and
fifty thousand miles on it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Just broken in and.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Well there's a little yeah, it's broken in, but let
me say a little bit more here. So I bought
it a year ago and it's originally the car. The
truck had a three r z F E engine and
at two point seven liters five speed, and I bought
it with five vs F E with a three point
(11:35):
four six automatic and four by four okay. And the
problem is that I gott I get no, I got
a check engine light on, and I got no codes
coming out.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay. So when they made the swamp, you know, I hate,
I hate when these things go on, because right right,
you know where I'm going to go with this. Has
it always been like this? Has it always had a
check engine light on?
Speaker 5 (12:04):
No? No, let me tell you what happened here. So, uh,
the original exhaust system, I guess it's her. I don't know,
but you know the front catalytic converter right next to
the h the front side of the exhaust there in
the front right, uh. And then there's one in the
in the that behind it. Okay. So what happened was
(12:28):
they they took that one of the back out saying
it was bad, and they replaced it, okay. And as
soon as they did that, that's when the light came on.
So the other guy and the cat This catalytic convert
is not to me, it's not a catalytic convert. It's
(12:50):
it's I don't I don't know what it is, but
it's not a catalytic converter. Okay, it's a look it's
a look alike or whatever it is. I don't know
what they call it. But so that was in there,
and then what the other guy did his He took
that one that that was replaced, and he took one
in the front out and put it in its place.
So now I only have one muffler in the front,
(13:11):
I'm going to say, and then one on the way back.
So that's that's all that system has with two oxygen sensors,
one in the front and one in the back.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So it sounds like we're missing cats.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
Right right, I mean originally right?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Okay, So when you go in and scan for codes,
how do you do it? Do you do it as
ob D two or do you go in as year
make model.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Well the guy did it with a year make a model,
ooka engine.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I would want to do this as OBD two because
that's going to be more generic and it's not going
to have the filters of engine and the rest of it.
It's just going to be generic codes. I'd be curious.
I'd be thinking, I'm thinking that you're going to see faults. See,
the problem here is when they swapped the engine and
(14:04):
they put the different engine in even though everything you know,
you didn't have the problem before, and we do. Now
what what did they unearthed by changing catalytic converters? You know?
Short of you know, because my only other thought is
do we have to go wire for a wire and
verify that we have all wire and inputs at the PCM,
which is tedious and it'll drive you right piece.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
And that was my next question here, right, So I
looked at the TCU in there, and I got no
model numbers, nothing that looks like it came from somewhere else.
I don't know, right, but it's not the original one
in there. So my next question was, with that V
six engine, how do I match an ECU with an engine?
(14:46):
Because I can't call Toyota. They keep asking me for
ven numbers, right, not. I can't give them a V
in number because it's not gonna work, right.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
You'd have to find You'd have to find the H
three to coma with a V six, okay, and use
that then, Okay, all right, that's that's the only way,
because that's the only way you're going. That's the only
way you're going to order parts for that? The question
is though, right, The question is, well, that V six
PCM work in a in a four cylinder. This is
(15:15):
a four cylinder, correct.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Right now? This is six six?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Oh, this is two different year V six is okay?
Speaker 5 (15:21):
Yeah, this was it was before it was the two
point seven and there with a five speed The three
r z f E was in there before originally originally
then they replaced it with a five v z f E,
which is a three point four V six.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Right, automatic, are still the stick?
Speaker 3 (15:39):
No?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
No, it's automatic four by four?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Right? So this is this is a real Frankenstein.
Speaker 7 (15:44):
Right, this is.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
This is this is a real cross cross breed of something.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
And I got yeah, and I got taken on it.
Well that's okay, just keep moving on here, right.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
But but well, the other thing I was going to
the other thing I was going to say was yeah,
I mean find something with that engine and at least
get a PCM for that at least you know, then
that's right, all right, or or talk to for that matter,
if you know, depending upon if the PCM is even
still available from Toyota, do you it's not right?
Speaker 5 (16:16):
Right?
Speaker 6 (16:17):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
If it's not then, you know, do you just gamble
on one of the you know rebuilders. You know, do
you go down to your local AutoZone and say, hey,
I've got a V six Toyota with this engine. Can
you give me a PCM Because AutoZone is not going
to ask you by vin. They may ask you for
part numbers on the old PCM, which which that's a problem.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
But I have a board number. I got a board number,
but not a right on the box.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah. Yeah, the part numbers, the part number is going
to be totally different, all right, right, so but maybe
AutoZone can look it up by application. Neither here nor there.
That being said, you know that the next step with
this is can we put a fault into this? Does
it recognize the fault under ob D two? Forget your
make model. I want to go basic here, I don't
(17:02):
want to get fancy. I don't care unplug, unplug anything.
Does it break the truck and doesn't come back with
the corresponding fault. So that proves the system is capable
of doing what it's supposed to do. All right? Then
then depending upon what fault code you get, we'll determine
which way we go and what we actually do to
try and resolve it all. Right, then then you can
(17:25):
get over to AutoZone and do the PCM look up.
Maybe they've got a PCM that will match that particular vehicle.
Because let's think of it like this. We both know
we're both smart enough to realize that two different size engines,
two different size air pumps, a big guy and a
little guy both running a race. Everything's equal, but one's
(17:47):
got bigger air intake is surely going to have different
load output in different capacity. It's just freights, right, So
we've got to start breaking these systems down one by
one and figuring out where the fault is. If you
don't think that's a catalytic converter, that's an issue, I'd
be curious. I'd be curious to see what an oxygen
(18:07):
sensor pre and post test, an index ratio test of
the catalytic inverter sensors would look like in data stream,
and maybe you want to go there as well. I'm
run an Ady in the Car Doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Thanks Sam, I appreciate the call. Hey,
(18:48):
welcome back, run An any of the Car Doctor. Did
you listen to your classic Car Doctor episode this week. Ah,
when you see what's coming this week, And kudos to
Tom Ray for his efforts. We appreciate that Tom's traveling tomorrow.
Tom's uh going north. I think Tom's going to be
part of the eclipse. Is is that true?
Speaker 6 (19:07):
We're going to see the eclipse. Well, and as a
as a preview to that, how'd you like our rock
and roll party yesterday?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Uh the rocket? Yeah? Well that was so. I would
hate to have been the guy. You know, there's there's
a story going around that some guy was getting surgery
done to his Uh. I would hate to have been
the guy getting the circumcision yesterday. At the point of
that earthquake, that's all I got to say.
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Oh, no kidding, like wow, that would have been the ups.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I gotta tell you, I was sitting I was actually
sitting in studio, and you know, I rolled my chair
back from the desk to do something and that's when
it started to shake. And you know that sometimes one
of the wheels breaks on the chair and I go, oh,
look the wheel broke. Oh wait, that's going on a
lot longer than just a momentary baboom, you know, like
uh uh oh, it was about it shook for about
(19:53):
thirty seconds here in North Jersey.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
So, uh, while I was on a I eighty four
and my wife called me and said, oh my god,
the furnaces about to explode. I said, what are you
talking about?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah, just just crazy.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
And you know, she told me she shut it down,
and I had her look at it as well. If
it shook the house, it should be kind of off
its pedestal it sits on. And then she looked, you know,
I said, it wasn't that, and then we found out
we had the earthquake.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
It was like, wow, Oh, I'm thinking, how big can
the eclipse be?
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Now?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
If we're not here next week to do the show,
then the eclipse is pretty bad. So everybody should enjoy
this next half hour because this might be it. You
never know. Let's go to Joe, Tom, Let's go to
Joe and Virginia. Oh seven Cadillac Escalade. So Joe, welcome
to the car doctor, sir. How can I help you?
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yeah? Thank you for on. First time listener, long, long
time listener, first time call it.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I got you.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Yeah, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Brother?
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Uh? Miss siron engine was running it smooth and been
excitted to hear some knocking noise driving down the road
and became.
Speaker 8 (20:57):
More current.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
You know, first it was intermittent that it became full
time and the car started jerking, lunching a little bit. Okay,
so I finally pulled it over and ran codes on.
It was a three oh one and it stayed three
to oh one for several days. At high rpm, like
(21:20):
for forty five hundred, it would smooth out, but at
low RPMs it would sputter and RPMs would fluctuate up
and down, and then it went to a three to two,
and then after that it went to a three hundred
a couple hours later, and we won't hold an idol
(21:42):
at this point, and the RPMs just go up again. Also,
the stability light came on as well as well as
the engine light.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Well the stability lights. Stability lights coming on because it
sees faults in the engine controller. All right, yeah, so
that's that's that's, that's that all right. I guess you're
I guess you're at work today. Huh huh, Joe.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
It sounds like soundid yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, it sounds like work in the background or you're shopping. Yeah,
So you know the answer here is, you know what's
common or are we suffering an engine failure or are
we suffering true ignition component failure or an injector problem,
et cetera. This is uh, this is the seven escalate,
So this is the six point two leader. This is
the big motor. Great, All right, are you handy with
(22:30):
a vault meter?
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Okay, So let's go to Let me ask the question
this way. Have you had any engine mounts done recently?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
No?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
All right? Ground one oh two left side driver's side
of the engine, left side motor mount. Ground one oh
two is critical, critical and common cause of misfires on
these engines. It gets loose, it gets corroded. It's kind
of hard to see.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
You know, you're you're gonna either find it by taking
the driver's side wheel well out and looking in and
seeing the motor mountain, seeing the ground strap attached there,
or you're going to do a resistance check from the
coil connector down to ground one or two to make
sure it's got good continuity to engine ground. You're gonna
voltage drop ground from the connector to the coil pack itself. Over.
(23:18):
I want to look at you know, because we could
go through the you know, move coils around routine. I'm
sure you're familiar with this, you know, Yeah, it's right
and it's still there, so you know, I just yeah, nothing,
no change, you know, before we go move in the injector,
which is a little bit of work, Let's just go
do some voltage testing. That pink white wire is battery voltage?
(23:42):
All right? That's that's coil hot. Remember back in the
old days. Uh, you know, we had coil negative and
coil hot, we had coil positive. Does that Does that
pink white show battery voltage or charging system voltage when
the vehicle is misfiring? All right? Uh?
Speaker 4 (23:57):
You know that's off off a.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Coming into the coming into the main bank. There should
be a main plug or you're going to find it
individually at each coil do we have Do we have
hot at that pink white on the cylinders that are misfiring?
All right? Okay, all right, If we have battery voltage
there and we have ground at one oh two, then
I'm fairly confident we've got an adequate voltage supply to
(24:24):
fire the coil. If we don't, then we've got to
trace that back. What I'm trying to eliminate is these
had some problems with fuse boxes. The main fuse box
under the hood. It would crack and it would do
erratic things. So you know this is a let's look
at a wiring diagram. But I happen to know that
(24:45):
that pink white and the ground G one O two
or comments. Let's just verify that it's a five minute test. Hey,
the engine's misfiring. I've got charging system voltage, it's off,
it's you know, tell me what's good. I'll tell you
what's bad. It's off the table right right, So that
that just eliminates that. Next, you know, can we just
look at engine vacuum even though I know it's going
(25:05):
to be lousy. Can we just come up with a number?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah, right, let's just look at manifold vacuum. Where are we?
All right? And let's just verify. Are you familiar with
Yoda scan tool?
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Joe?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Uh yeah, yeah, Okay, go out to go look up
I want you. I'm gonna make you an expert. Go
look up atgtraining dot com I believe is the website.
Or go look up Automotive Training Group and go read
that the tab they'll talk there about volumetric efficiency. All right,
take a breath, Joe, breathe in right now? How well
(25:44):
do you breathe? Okay, it's it's like it's like it's
like when the doctor puts the stethoscope on your chest
and says, take a deep breath. I mean, it's all
you can do is take a deep breath.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
So we're gonna we're gonna measure how well can the
engine breathe. Volumetric efficiency is a breathing test. If the
engine passes, it's not mechanical. If the engine doesn't pass,
it's mechanical, and it's unobtrusive testing. It'll take us. It'll
tell us either we're taking something apart or we're not,
(26:13):
and we have to look elsewhere, all right, And all
you need is a scan tool, the ability to read
mass airflow and grams per second, which you can do
under OBD two. You need, you need intake air temp,
you need RPM. That's it. That's all you need. And
then you just plug it into their calculator at Automotive
Training group and it does the math for you. It'll
(26:35):
it'll tell you what percentage you're in. But they also
give you a nice little explanation about what VE testing is. Now.
One caution. You want to do this on a good vehicle.
You got another vehicle on the household.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Uh yeah, a Honda.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Okay, that's fine. They all engines. Breathe, brother, they're all
the physics are the same, right, So I want you
to do it on a good vehicle because I don't
want you to learn on I don't want you to
learn how to do something on a broken vehicle. If
you learn how to do something on a broken vehicle,
you don't know if you're doing the testing wrong or
the vehicle is actually broken and telling you the truth.
(27:12):
So recognize what good looks like, you'll recognize what bad
looks like.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Capeche Yeah, yeah, okay, that's just just just on the OBT, just.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
A you don't even have no, you don't even you
don't even have to use your make model. You can
do volumetric efficiency testing OBD two data mass airflow, RPM,
intake air temp. You need to know a barometric pressure,
which is really difficult. You know how you figure out
barometric pressure?
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Uh, look at the weather channel?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Well that or do you know where you live? You
type in the name of your hometown and you type
in you know, Joe's Joe's house dot com uh Virginia
and tell me barometric pressure. Boom, It tells you you
plug in barrow RPM, mass airflow, intake air, do a
ve test, you come back in the ninety percent tile. Hey,
the engine breeds good off the table next. It's as
(28:07):
simple as that, all right, and then we can have
a further conversation.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Okay, where I can tell it up there and you
can check it out whatever you.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Want to do. Joe, you got you got. You gotta
get permission with the guards. Don't let down the guards,
don't let drop the druwbridge at the shop until I
tell them to. So it's uh, it's just it's a secret.
You know. Somebody told me I'm harder to find than
the bat cave. I said, well, there's a reason for that.
But in any event, all right, Joe, I'm always glad
to talk to you anytime.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
You're very welcome, sir. Good luck eight five five five
six zero nine nine zero zero. Well, it's the truth.
Batman has to wear the cape and the mask. Sometimes
Tom's gonna make a mask comment. I'll be back right
after this.
Speaker 7 (28:47):
Don't go away, welcome.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Back, or name the card doctor. Let's wander down to
Florida and talk to Gary. Gary, welcome to the card doctor, sir,
how can I help?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Ron?
Speaker 8 (29:09):
I got a two, I got a two thousand and
one Volksweg and d I one point nine annual transmission.
And that's a factor in this. The voltage regulator is
bad and that's all been confirmed. Not the alternator, the regulator.
The regulator that was on it was not the original
OE one. So I don't want to go by that
(29:29):
part number on it because I don't believe it was correct.
My dilemma is I cannot I cannot source what I
can concretely believe is the correct BOSH part number for
this one hundred and twenty alternator. Every part number I
look up when they cross reference one, you know, it's
(29:50):
like going down the rabbit hole and it just leads
to more confusion.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Okay, let me say this about BOSH. They make a
lot and their information as far as part number cross
reference shouldn't be believed. For lack of a better way
to say it. You know, I've learned from time I
look it up more by application than I do by
(30:15):
cross reference, or I'll look it up by on Volkswagen.
I'll do chassis number, then number, something that will identify
what that vehicle originally came with. Because I've run into this,
I've run into exactly what you're talking about. You'll take
that part number, you'll put it into the system and
it'll cross reference back to everything. But with the part
that you think it is correct? Correct, Yeah, and it
(30:35):
just doesn't make any sense. And you're sitting there and
you're saying, well, wait a minute, it's supposed to be this,
but they're telling me it's that. But that looks totally
different than what I have in my hand, And yeah,
I get it. I would look it up by application.
I actually use a website. Have you seen FCP euro
f C P E E U r O f CP
(30:57):
euro dot com. I think it is, you know, they
they do a pretty fair job of looking things up
by application. But I've I've learned that you you've really
got to do it by application, not by part number.
On volkswagons, Heck, the Volkswagen dealer looks it up by application,
all right.
Speaker 8 (31:16):
Your website is as inconsistent as bosses.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Right. I can't tell you how many times I've been
to the VW dealer. You know, I put the hose
in their hands. Here's the hose I need. Here's the
part number on the hose. Yeah, that number doesn't mean
anything anymore. That number's gone. Well great, I'm glad we've
got this car, you know, like, but again, you know
this is this is what we get. You know. It's
(31:39):
if any if this was easy, anybody could do it,
you know, so I would. I would. I would do
this strictly by application, and I think that'll lead you
to the promised Land.
Speaker 8 (31:47):
All right, brother, okay, okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
You're very welcome. Listen how you make out? If you
need more of them? Here? Hey five five five six
zero nine nine zero zero. The car Doctor's cruising back
right after this.
Speaker 7 (31:56):
Don't go away.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
And run, we will because let's do this last call.
Run and any of the car Doctor here Richard in Virginia, Sir,
you're my last one this hour. How can I help you?
Speaker 9 (32:16):
Good afternoon around, Thank you. I have an four trail
Blazer that I purchased new.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Back then.
Speaker 9 (32:27):
I've got about two hundred and sixty thousand miles on
it right now. It's the inline sixth with automatic four
wheel drive, driving down the road about fifty mile an hour,
I lost all power to the wheels. The engine still run,
it had no power to the wheels in regular drive
(32:49):
or four wheel drive. And that's basically what has happened
to it. It kind of acted like you had a
in a position for towing the neutral With everything I
did check, like the transmission fluid without the vehicle running,
it's probably about and a couple of inches above the
(33:12):
full mark.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah, it's got to be done with the engine. It's
got to be done with you. It's got to be
done with the engine running. So let's so let's just
get that out of your head.
Speaker 9 (33:19):
Well, yeah, I was checking it with it off right
to say where it was. It was about two inches
above the full mark. And then with the vehicle running,
I checked it and it stayed its about the same
about the same location. The fluid never changed. So that's
where I am. I have basically done about anything I
(33:41):
know to do to it, you know myself.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Right, And the vehicle still does not move.
Speaker 9 (33:45):
Correct, It will not move at all, no, sir, all right.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
So i'd like it to I'd like to just do
a code scan before we start disconnecting things that I'm
going to tell you about in a minute. I just
like to you know, listen, the doctor always does heart
rate and blood for should before he does anything to you, right,
I just I'd like to have I'd like to have
numbers to fall back on. You know, Hey, we put
a transmission in it. We didn't have these codes before,
and now we have these codes. It's related to the transmission. Hey,
(34:11):
we had these codes before we did the transmission, and
now we don't have the codes. Great, we fix something.
You know, it's the theory holds water. So I'd just
like to do a code scan just as a preliminary.
It's a good it's a pre good pre diagnostic test
to get in the habit of doing.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
All.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Right, next, crawl under the truck on the list listen
to me, because the clock's going to take me on
the passenger side of the transmission. There's an electrical connector disconnected.
Disconnect it and see if the truck moves, does it
go reverse, first, second drive, et cetera. If it does not,
this sounds like this has an internal transphlt that the
(34:46):
trans failed. Is there something electrically putting this trans in neutral?
If it's disconnected and it doesn't, that trans has failed
in all likelihoods, so you get it checked out further,
but go from there. I'm on an ending in the
card Docker. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless see y
sis
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.