June 27, 2020 • 36 mins
Ron starts this episode taking a call with a listener asking if it’s possible to manually shift an automatic transmission for fun : answers an email regarding 1234YF – the new type of refrigerant for car air conditioners : takes a call on a 2000 Cherokee where the cooling fan won’t come on unless the sensor is disconnected : takes a call on a 13 Silverado and aftermarket parts : talks about cleaning a car that has been sitting for awhile : then discusses diagnostics and the story of an 02 Silverado he repaired this week.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Ron and an instant failure. Nobody got hurt, nobody got
beat up, you know, nobody got accused. There was no stealing,
there was no fevery, there was nothing other than it
was a stupid moment that you know something and he'll
never do it again. The car Doctor, I think the
(00:23):
zero on numbers probably a fair safe guest. And I've
got no proof of that. I can just tell you
a gut call from forty five years of fixing cars.
I haven't seen it as an issue. Welcome to the
radio home of Ron and Anian the Car Doctor. Since
this is where car owners the world overturned to for
their definitive opinion on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving
(00:46):
you a busy signal, pick up the phone and call
in the garage to orders are open. But I am
here to take your call at eight five five five
six and now running. Hey, welcome aboard. It's time to
get started and fixed cars today. I'm ronanin in the
card doctor zero zero. Let's dive right in. Go over
(01:08):
to Brian and it's in New Jersey, and some questions
and comments about driving his latest acquisition. I think Brian,
welcome aboard, So what kind of car is this? And
how can I help? Thank you. I've been listening to
your show a long time. You have a great show.
I was born a car geek, and I have a
two thousand fourteen Cadillac A T S that I love.
I bought it new, it has fifty three thousand miles
(01:31):
on it. But when you buy a car today, that's
so complicated. The sales but never has enough time to
explain everything to you. And I've had automatics all my life.
I was wondering if you could briefly and simply explain
to me how do I use that the manual override.
(01:51):
Let's say if I was on the turnpike and I
wanted to use the tap up feature. I wanted to
operate it manually. I kind of stand how to do
it when you wanted down shift, but I don't understand
how to do the part where your upshift. So it
sounds like it sounds like a potential for a YouTube video.
Um and I agree with you, Brian. To tell you
the truth, I'm more amazed at how sales people are
(02:15):
able to keep up with the technology because it changes
from model year to model year. Think about it, right,
you what that was a ten Cadillac and model year.
I'm sure features and functions were done away with and
it was different than they had to know. You know,
it's amazing the amount of knowledge sales people have to
have to to sell something is what we viewed so
(02:35):
simple as a car. Um, But I get it. Um,
I can't speak to that exact vehicle. I will talk
in generalities. I will tell you that, and I'm sure
you're aware of this somewhere in your owner's manual. Explain
the procedure. Um, if you're asking me, are you asking
me the function of how to make that shifter up shift? Well,
(02:56):
you only think it will really tell you when the
owners manual is that the vehicle is made that if
you shift incorrectly, that it will not damage the vehicle.
It does not explain to you how to do that. Okay,
So does it tell you how to down shift? Well,
that I've done all my life, even with an automatic
(03:17):
when it's when I'm on an icy road. But does
the car stop short up shifting? That's the part I
have a little. Like I said, I've always said automatics, right,
are you having a problem with when to do that?
When to do the upshift at what point? Yeah, I
don't really know. Like, let's say it was on the turnpike.
(03:38):
I really how do I Some person told me I
shift up and then down shift three times, look for
the red line, and then shift up again. And I
just wanted to ask what your opinion was. Um, I'd
leave it and draw. Brother, I've done it, but I
was just you know, I'd like to tinker with it.
So so you know and listen. You know, I love
(04:02):
the fact you're a long term listener. You're like family.
At this point, can I beat you up for a minute.
I want to make you feel like you're at home.
Um ya, right ahead. You know how much was this
car when you bought it? Uh? It's a forty thou
dollar car on the list right and now it's probably
a sixty five thousand dollar car. So why would this
sixty five thousand dollar car is seven years old? Do
(04:23):
we want to start abusing it? And hear me, hear
me out right? What you what? What you really want?
You really want to go buy a car? You really
need a hot rod? How old are you, Brian? Well
you to graduate high school? Uh? N okay, so you
need to go find like a seventy three Z four
(04:44):
speed car, all original, you know, spend fourty or fifty grand,
put that in the driveway in the parking lot, in
the in the garage, and and go play with that
on the weekend and drive your Cadillac Monday through Friday.
Am I wrong? Well, actually you would be surprised. With
my first CA. I was, and my parents bought it
for me. I had a brand new seventies seven Lincoln
(05:07):
Continental Mark five. So wait a minute, you're a you're
a you're a manual transmission. You're a closet manual transmission user. Okay,
And have you ever had a car with a manual
trans No, I told you I've never. I've always had
an automatic. Well, my dad had a truck in business,
(05:32):
and he put me in the truck one day and
I could get the part with the shifting, but every
time I touched the clutch, I stalled it out. He
took told me to get out of the truck and
he said forget about it for I. Okay, so you
need lessons and how to drive a stick Yeah, I mean,
I know they don't have clutch now, but I mean
(05:53):
I have the thing in the car. I've never used it.
And I've asked a few people and they tell you
also many different things. How do you that? What? How
to drive the the auto stick in the cars? Well,
that's because every car is a little different. I wouldn't
push and in all seriousness, I wouldn't push any engine
close to the red line because you know you're gonna
you're gonna hurt something. You know, there's a there's a
(06:18):
feel all right that if you if you listen, you know,
realize we're going back to the days when we have
to use the things God gave us called called site, smells, sound, sensation,
feeling as to win the shift that car. We can
look at the tech but if we don't know the
shift points, and we probably don't because there's no there's
(06:41):
no definition. UM. I would take a real hard look
at the owner's manual. And because there should be as
as lawyered up as GM and the rest of the
car companies are, there should be some sort of um,
don't shift it past this point warning. They should give
you some table to say, here's the RPM band, all right,
here's where the shifts are going to occur the best.
(07:03):
Here's where the most torque and power is going to occur,
and and and so forth. Um. That being said, Um,
why don't you take it out, put it in drive,
find a nice, quiet, long flat road and do a
three quarter throttle acceleration And at the same time watch
the shift points under heart acceleration. Where does that engine
shift if it if it brings first gear up to
(07:26):
three thousand rpm, Second gear up, tom, fourth gear up
the four thousand rpm. You've got an idea how the
manufacturer wants you to do it. Now you've got to
the side. How big is your checkbook and how how
how how big is your muchI Ismo that you want
to take it further than that? Does that make sense? Right? Yeah,
(07:47):
especially especially the last one that you've got right right,
you know it's it's you know, Um, you can't make
a silk purse out of a Sal's ear, all right,
but you can make you can make a Sal's ear
out of a silk First you can ruin a car
like this very quickly doing the wrong thing. Well, then
(08:07):
then why are we doing this? What you need another car? Brother?
Go find if listen, if you want to go find
something that you can you know, manually shifting automatic and
tell the salesman listen for the eighty grand you're gonna spend,
because that's what you'll spend today, all right, or the
sixty grand whatever it is. You know what, I need
a ten minute course and how to use this slap
(08:28):
ship because that's the determining factor when I when I
make a decision on whether or not I'm gonna buy
this fair point. Yes, okay, but that's where. But it
sure sounds like you need lessons and how to drive
a stick. It sure sounds like you're seventy three guy,
it really does. All right. You want a car. You
want the car that all the seniors had in high
(08:49):
school that you said you looked at it and you know,
g I want one of those. So although you were
probably the party bus, right you were the guy driving
everybody around, Yes, I want this SA car Doctor, car
Doctor is not so dopey. So all right, listen, Brian,
I gotta go. But you know, car lessons, that's what
you want. But I you could do what I told
(09:10):
you as far as figuring out shift points. But um,
you know, be careful what you wish for. Thank you.
That's you know what. That's a start, all right, that's
a start. You have fun out therapy safe you take.
Thank you so much. You're very welcome. You're very welcome.
Bye bye. I'm running Any of the Car Doctor eight
five five zero. You know I should go find Brian.
He's in New Jersey. I should go find Brian and
(09:32):
take him for a ride in the hot rod that
will convince him to leave the car and drive all
day long. Nine five five five zero nine zero zero
running End of the Car Doctor. I'm back right after this.
Don't go away. Hey, welcome back. We're on Any of
(09:56):
the Car Doctor. Let's do a quick piece of email. Run.
We're a small sharp in Florida. We're jump it into
the one three f YF business. We've seen lots of
overwhelming information. We're not quite sure what to do. Where
did you end up. We heard you're recently talking about
you're getting into it yourself, so we're kind of curious.
Paul Jacksonville Audo. Um, you know, Paul, the one two
three four y F. For those of you that are
you know, as Ron speaking English, we're talking about the
(10:19):
new well new in the sense that the you know,
recently within the last five years, type of refrigerant that's
been introduced into cars. Um, y F very very expensive
side of the business to get into UM in terms
of the refrigerant and very exacting, very you know, you
have to be dead nuts on the money when it
comes to you know, diagnosing the systems and servicing the systems.
(10:43):
There's no margin of error. So it's something that a
lot of shops are going to get into. But on
a you know, they're making decisions now and I understand
your I understand you're overwhelmed, uh, Paul, So I get it.
Take a look at malak get out the service solutions
dot Mala dot com, take a look at their equipment.
I've done a lot of research. That's where I ended up.
I chose them over everybody else because of the technology
(11:04):
they bring to the table, but also because of the
fact that the company seems to be willing to listen.
I have been to a couple of trade shows set
and talk to them, listen to what they had to
say about UM, you know, fixing machines in the field,
which they're making so easy or much easier than the
competition right now. And they're aware that as the cost
of this service is going to be expensive because of
what it represents UM downtime is critical to a repair shop.
(11:27):
So they're working on methods of you know, minimal downtime
if any. They're doing updates by over the year, wireless
and things like that. Just some really neat things. But
you'll see it there at Service Solutions dot Mala dot com.
And uh, you know, I wish you well. Um, you'll
be happy. I'm sure. Let's get over and talk to
Dave in Maine two thousand Cherokee and some cooling fan issues. Dave,
(11:48):
Welcome to the car doctor. How can I help? Ah? Hi,
first time calling ever? Thank you, sir. Well, I'm glad
and here ahead. I have a two thousand jeep chair
a key, which there's a lot of them on the
road yet. Um, it's kind of spotless. I've taken good
care of it about a year ago, a little over
a year ago. The um, the cooing fan will not
(12:11):
come on over each um. So luckily I was in
the climate before where we went to Maine Arizona in
the wintertime and up to Maine in the summertime, so
I never had to deal with any any heat issues.
But it just bugs me. I've been I've been trying,
and I've taken it to jeep mechanics and they can't
(12:31):
figure it out. Well wait, wait, I didn't know if
there was anything that you know that I can try.
Well wait a minute, let's let's back up a second.
You're telling me the cooling fan doesn't come on. Yes,
and I've and I you know, I've hired the cooling
fan just to make sure it's operable, and it comes on.
(12:52):
So the fan motor comes on. Ye. Okay. So if
you go to the cooling fan relay and find the
dark blue dark blue with a pink trace, which is
the ground lag going back to the PCM, yeah, I'm
I'm right, I'm under the hood right now. Okay, if
if you were to ground that dark blue pink, does
the fan run? Um, I don't know. I've never tried that.
(13:17):
When I accidentally happened about a week ago, I put
a new coon sensor in, you know, for the temperature
gage and if I if I, if I pull that out,
the fooding can't cooling fan comes on. Okay. Well, that's
because that's because the PCM throws it in the fault, alright,
And that that tells me that in all likelihood the
(13:38):
fan relay probably is okay. But I want to verify it,
all right. So what I what I want you to
do is I'd like you to get your hands on
a wiring diagram because this is a pretty simple circuit. Yeah,
I have I have a wiring diagram. Okay. So so
take a look at on the on the fan relay
(13:58):
coming out of d third team. There's a dark blue
pink which feeds back to the computer. Have you seen
that in the wiring diagrams. That's the radiator fan control
for the PCM. And I'm sure it's good because if
you're telling me you're disconnecting it and it's coming on.
But I want to see it doing anyway, you should
ground that dark If you ground that dark blue pink,
(14:21):
you should see the fan come on. That's ground control.
That will close the relay. Okay. So if I take
the relay out, no no, no, no, no, no, no
relay in leave the relay alone, all right, find that
dark blue pink coming off the relay. If you have
any doubt, cut the water that would be on the
bottom underneath the uh No, the relay should be behind
(14:44):
the driver's side headlight. If I remember correctly in two thousands, No,
this one has the cooling fan relay is in the
puze box up there on two thousands, and it was
in a different spot according to what I found out.
This is you know, well, this is Chrysler, Chrysler I've had.
I had once. It had a diagram in it. Um.
(15:04):
This is a Cherokee, not a Grand Okay, So find
the cooling fan relay. I'll back it up to that point,
all right. Find the family I'm looking at that right now, okay,
And it's in the fuse box on the passenger side
right and back of the battery. Okay. Then there it
says cooling fan and the other one says a s
(15:24):
D Okay. And then verify. Verify your wiring and pins,
make sure they're all good. Make sure you have voltage. Okay.
The test light came on every time I every everyone
I plugged it into. Let's not use a test light.
Let's use a voult meter, all right, And let's let's
(15:46):
put when we're looking for battery voltage, let's put the
meter to the negative side of the battery. Then then
let's touch the positive probe to the battery positive to
make sure we read battery voltage. Then go probe the
relay all right, And the reason I want to use
a volt meter is will a test light light if
there's nine vaults at at a terminal? Yeah? Well like
(16:10):
if there's twelve volts at a terminal? Okay, right, well
how do I how do I know? Can you're ride?
Can you're ride determine three volt difference? I don't think
anybody is that good? Right, So this is uh. People
have told me I'm crazy trying to figure this out.
They should, they said, as you're just hot wire. Right, Listen,
(16:31):
I don't want to do that thing. This thing is
so pristine that the jeep dealer I took it too,
offered me. Uh, for it does rest on it has
the tags underneath them. Dave, Dave, Dave, listen to me.
All right, Okay, don't don't worry about what people's opinions are.
(16:52):
If I worried about what people's opinions are, what a
close shop thirty years ago? All right? Most most most
people when it comes to cars, well, I won't say most,
but there are some people out there. It's like a
rare concept. Some people are just idiots and they just
you know, think about it. Don't worry about the vehicle
if it overheats hot wire. It alright, that's like the
(17:12):
person that says the check out Well, but that's like
the person that's like the person that says the check
engine lights on. Ignore it, it doesn't mean anything. The
car still Really I had, I bought a car, went
in and they put a piece of black electrical tape
over there. Huh right. You know again, there are some
people that just you know what, some people just want
to fall into the idiot category. It makes classifying people
that much easier. So, UM, understand how the relay works.
(17:35):
Ground the relay on the dark blue pink. If it
comes on, we know it's not the relay. The only
thing we've got left then is do we have a
potential problem where the PCM can't interpret cooling temperature? Do
you have a scan tool? Um? I have a scan tool.
I borrowed off someone and hooked it on, but never
(17:58):
it never showed anything related to the what are you?
What are you looking for? What are you looking for?
I'm curious do you know what you're looking for? Well,
this is a while ago. I uh, I was just
looking for um as system are to come up on it? Well,
how about come kind of an arrow code? To come up. Okay,
forget the code. How about we're looking for what's cool intemp.
(18:20):
If cool intemp reads two thirty five degrees and the
fans supposed to come on at two thirty six, what's
the issue? Right, Maybe we've got a radiator that's slightly
restricted and it can't flow. Well, maybe there's something else
going on here. Start to gather dad or brother, get
a scant looked up to it, see what temperature readings are,
find the spec for what it's supposed to be and
(18:41):
we can talk from there. I'm monading the car doctor.
We're back right after this. Welcome back? Why any of
(19:03):
the car doctor? At eight by five five zero zero zero,
Jeremy Washington, d C thirteen Silverado. How can I help
you today? Jeremy, Welcome aboard, Hey Ron, thanks for taking
my call. Um got a like alluded to the thirteen Silverado.
And while we were quarantining, you know, I had time
on my hands, didn't need a vehicles and what the hell?
(19:25):
Let's uh I did para steering hose on this the
ones that come to and from the rack, you know,
the GM thing where they start to weep around the
crimps um isn't it amazing that a company like General Motors,
for all their technology and for all their skill, they
can't make a hose last longer than four or five years.
(19:46):
It's amazing. It's mine. Every vehicle I've had, every week
one I've had, going back to the Mission Corps line,
our steering line going back to the mid nineties, it's
just don't understand. Yeah, I don't understand. And I and
you know, and yet, Okay, I'm gonna steal the show
for a second here, Jeremy, I'm sorry. And and well,
(20:08):
you know it's our show, right, It's it's yours in
mind and everybody else that's listening. And yet my seventy
two Monte Carlo that I found down in luve Key, Texas,
three years ago, with forty one thousand miles on it,
we brought it up to the shop. The power steering
line still don't weak. Yeah, I mean, I'm with you. Well,
(20:32):
that group of engineers retired and the next generation took over,
and you know they're all sitting there saying, well, we
don't want to get laid off or have to retire
like those guys, so will make something that doesn't work
this way? There's you know, job security. I guess, I
don't know, and it's maybe they saved five cents per
line or something. You know, if Mary Barrow wants to decide,
(20:54):
you know, she wants to make JEAM a better company,
you gotta look at the details. And the devil is
in the details. Yes, and your supplier contracts, right, just
get the good stuff. I'm with you, y man. So
I said, Okay, let me take it down to a
local shop and uh take it to a guy that
he sources his parts from NAPO. Okay, so, and I
(21:15):
tell him, I say, look, while you're in there, there's
these two stupid little seals about the size of a
dime where these things push into the steering rack. Um,
I said, just go ahead and change him out, get
the vehicle back and instead of power steering fluid, he's
put in transmission fluid. And change that out. And the
(21:39):
lines are leaking where it goes into the rack. Dang
it all right, So I don't even bother dealing with
him again. I said, I'm gonna go down and get
these seven dollar seals and pop these babies in there.
I put these new seals in and it's like I
think they did it to do like a quick connect,
make it easy for you guys, and as simple, you
(22:00):
know what I mean. They just like they just push
you in and there's like this bolt. So I put
him in. Man that things are leaking like crazy. Now
I'm like, what the crap? So I've took a risk
and went down the one plus we have with GMS. Man,
you can get the O E parts anywhere. So went
down the local Delco supplier, got the O E M
(22:23):
power steering hoses. Pop him in there not I mean
it's bone dry now, the thing works perfectly. So my
question is how does the how does like NAPA stay
in business? I mean, it's very frustrating. I was losing it.
I can't believe I blew three bucks on this job. Jeremy,
(22:44):
there's there's It's down to a microscopic level. Okay, how
popular I'll answer your question this way, Maybe this is
the way to do it. How popular do you think
Chevies are? No, well, I don't know, but but I
mean they're I mean the popular, they're popular, right, but
I mean they're reproducing. Do you know you can buy
if you can build a fifty five Chevy from the
(23:06):
ground up, You can buy every part, nutting bolt, every clip.
The only thing you can't get is the bulkhead. And
there's donor bulkheads out there, But there's guys. I mean,
like you look at some fifty fives that are being
put together and they look like they rolled off the
assembly line yesterday. But yet, but yet there are manufacturers
for that car. You go buy a fuel level sending
(23:26):
unit and it's it's they make it correct, but the
last three percent doesn't work. You know, it's just there's
what's the point And the same thing can be said,
The same thing can be said about what you're talking about.
And I'm not sure why. You don't know how many
(23:48):
times I look up at the shop and at the
ceiling and go, why, all right, why? Why why do
we create this? You go through all the trouble to
reproduce the part, and you can't get it that last
three or four and it's just very frustrated because you
then you're thinking, well, it can't be these because they're
(24:08):
brand new. But I thought there's nothing else left. Let
me just try the O E UM lines. But they
fit like a freaking glove. What does new stand? What
does new stand? What does new stand for Jeremy. Well
there were there we go exactly quick side note the
same vehicle. Um, I guess. A few months ago I
(24:30):
took the bed off the back to pop a new
fuel pumping this thing, um and that worked fine. But
when I was putting the bed back on, I got
a little over zealous with my cordless impact and one
of the eight bed bolts got stripped out. What do
you think the best I've got a couple of options.
(24:53):
One of them is just to ignore it and go
with the seven that are still working. Yeah, but you
won't be able to sleep at night. Yeah, that's just
the kind of person I am. Sad Like, could I
just get an you know what I mean? You'll be haunted? Yeah,
it'll just be like I'm gonna have a load of
mulch in the back and then the bed's gonna break off.
(25:16):
You can I just get an oversized bolt? Would that
be the way to go? And try sticking it up
through there? I'm trying to think of what it looks like,
you know, is it threaded into is it a blind
nut threaded into the frame? Correct? It goes up, It
goes through the frame and into the box. So the
boxes on top of the frame. Bolt goes up and
(25:37):
there and there's no nut or anything. It just is
threaded into the box. Okay, So is there is there
a way it is it threaded into the box or
it's threaded into the frame. It's threaded it into the
They go from the top to the box. No, it's
bottom up, bottom up. Another goes through the frame into box.
(25:58):
And I guess that's where i've you know, metal must
know a little too soft. Cheesy door, just cheesy brother.
So so so why can't we get a different bolt
instead of using a hex head bolt? What if you know,
like my Ford Ranger, the bolts go the other way.
They come from the top down, and it is it
(26:18):
is a shoulderless, rounded radius bolt head with a torque
fitting in the middle. And what if I went from
the top down and put a nut down on the
frame side. Well, you know, sillier things have been done.
I kind of hate to chop a drill a hole
in the bed, but like you said, I mean, dumber
(26:39):
things have been done before. Well you know, if you
if you did that, okay, because if I understand you right,
the nut is in the body of the bed, um
the nut. You can't even see it in the bed.
It's like these little uh the squared rectangular tribe. Well
you know what I mean, right, yeah, So if we
metal thread and since this is a since this is
(27:02):
a work vehicle right as a work truck, it's not
a trailer queen. Uh you know, if we if we
did it from the top down and then painted the
head of that bolt, go go and I shouldn't even
tell you about this stuff because you'll be painting the
truck all night long. Go find a court of Benjamin
more low luster alkalid that you're always gonna be talking about.
It's a rust inhibitor, and just paint the top of
(27:22):
the bolt and then you could just get some rattle
can paint the match the color of the bed and
you're done. Um, you call it a day, and just
you know you'll sleep better. I mean that's that's and
and you know there again, why did GM do it
that way? How cheesy is that to be bolts going
into sheet metal? Right right? Right? Here's just you know,
(27:44):
I love the L S engine and I liked that
just four I have the four L sixt transmission. Man,
if you just if you really take care of them.
They do you right, but it's just stupid little Here's
here's the takeaway, all right, and then I'm gonna go.
I I said to myself twenty two years ago. I
still remember the day and date I said it, that
the industry is changing. I was a young mechanic. I
(28:06):
was just about to enter into the new building on
Prospect Street, and I said to myself, the industry is changing,
and we're going to see a way in which the
aftermarket comes to do business, and in that the manufacturers
are going to be using the same manufacturers. The vehicle
manufacturer are gonna be using the same parts manufacturers that
(28:26):
NAPA and everybody else is using. Okay, so I really
believe those power steering hoses from NAPA and everybody else
are made on the same assembly line as GM four
because there's only so much manufacturing capacity in the world,
and it's it's just the way they're built to spec. Now,
you know, that's not to say GM spec is any
better than NAPAs. NAPAs don't fit in GM's leak. I
(28:48):
don't know what the answer is, um, but but there
are there are some cases where the aftermarket outshines the
oe manufacturer. By four. Right, That's why I decided to
give him a chance because guaranteed. And then there's some cases,
there's some kids, listen, I wouldn't give a hoot for
(29:09):
a Delco break pad and rotors set up because Delco
is one of the most watered down parts lines I've
ever seen. In some cases in terms of breaks, they're
just there. There's there's too many choices. You gotta know
what you're buying. But then again, there's some after market
break companies PTC and Dura great pads and rotors. I
use them all day long, like like a one percent problem.
(29:31):
That's that's something that's unheard of. So anyway, I gotta go.
I'm looking against the clock, Jeremy, as always, sir, I
enjoyed the time you. You stay safe down there Washington
d C Way, and you call back any time, brother,
you take good care. I'm running any of the car Doctor.
We're back right after this. Welcome back right on any
(29:57):
of the car Doctor, real quick from the Car Care Council.
I want to tell a little bit about well, the
fact that vehicles have been sitting for a length of time. Now,
they've been uh um right with everybody in quarantine. The
Car Care Council is issue to press release and they
talk about cleaning the car, and you know what, I
couldn't agree with them more the fact that you know,
it's before we start driving our vehicles again. How clean
(30:19):
are they? You know, we want to make sure that
the exterior is clean. Wash it, wax it, make sure
you get all the schmutz off the windshield, all the
dead bugs, all the whatever that's been collected. You may
want to think about scraping and cleaning the glass, uh,
you know, using a razor blade, a single edge razor
blade and some good heavy ammonia based cleaner. Make sure
that way you're not scraping dirt into the rubber of
(30:39):
the wiper blades, and it will help that vehicles be
safer when you travel on down the road and deep clutter.
All right, You want to make sure that you know,
I don't know, you know, maybe you've been sort of
throwing things in the car. I gotta take this here
and that there and this over to Mom's when I
get a chance to get out of the house. And
maybe the inside of the car has more stuff in
it than the inside of your house. So you want
to make sure that you know, the car sort of
(30:59):
looks like a car. Clean the interior all right, as
the Car Care Council says, make sure you're thoroughly clean
the interior, wash the windows and cleaning. Put the floor
mats back in place. Make sure you secure the floor
mats where they're supposed to go so nothing gets jammed
under any pedals or people don't trip getting in and
out of the car. You want to obviously give the
interior a good cleaning, and you want to wax it.
You know, you should be waxing your car twice a
(31:21):
year and take a look. You know, this is for
overall vehicle condition. You want to take a look at,
you know, any minor pain damage, anything that might have
happened during quarantine, anything that might you know, overall reflect
the the the value of the vehicle as as things
go down the road in this thing's age, because you're
gonna probably hang onto this car for a while. You know,
the country is going through that moment of if you've
(31:42):
got a decent car now more than ever, you want
to take care of it. And these are some of
the things that they're trying to get to. And obviously
there's more information out there online at their website car
here dot org. But be aware that driving a clean car,
and I can tell you this from personal experience, driving
a clean car just feels better. There's something about it
(32:03):
that's psychologically. You're just in a better car. You really are,
so they seem to run better. And some good sound
advice from the folks over there at the Car Care Council. Hey,
when we come back to close the show today, I
want to sum up the past two hours and talk
a little bit about diagnostics. I'm gonna tell you the
story about the O two Chevy Silverado that acted like
a bad transmission that nobody was able to fix and
(32:25):
how the Car Doctor fixed it in about twenty two minutes.
So come on back, we'll talk about it. We'll close
out right there. I'm running any of the Car Doctor.
I'll see on the other side, welcome back. We're in
any of the Car Doctor. I want to talk a
(32:46):
little bit about diagnostics. Alright, we we big theme on
this show today, especially where a lot of phone calls.
I've tested this, I've tested that looking for the bad part.
First of all, if you don't have a scam t
you're you're really trying to fix the car. The modern car. Okay,
you know something O B D two something mad sance.
(33:09):
You're really putting yourself out of disadvantage. All right, If
you've got any intention of trying to repair your car,
go online Autel dot com a U T. E. L.
Take a look at their website. They've got so many
choices of scan tools. You've got to be able to
find something there that fits your budget. Know what you
wanna do, Know what you're looking for in terms of features,
maybe something specific to your vehicle, but understand what capabilities
(33:32):
you're looking for. But Autel will have it for you.
Take a look. That being said, you've got a scan tool,
you've got a digital voltometer, you've got some of the
basics in terms of hand tools you're trying to diagnose
and repair something. I had a two thousand two Chevy
Silverado this week that had been to a couple of
shops and they weren't able to repair it. Every once
(33:52):
in a while this vehicle would go into limp in.
This was an O two Silverado with a big block
eight leader Alison transmission. Allison transmissions as a rule, never fail,
they're pretty bulletproof. This one only had sixty miles on
the vehicle. And you know, while that's not something that guarantees,
in my mind the trans is always good. I do.
I do weigh that I'm not gonna lie. That's the
human side, right, That's that's the emotion of it. You
(34:15):
get into that. I did my research. Every once in
a while this truck went into limping. From the customer's description.
I experienced it once where you're driving down the road
and all of a sudden it would lose gears. It
would be stuck. It would downshift and go into second
and stay in second. Then it wouldn't up shift, and
with all sorts of crazy transmission related things, and then
it had no reverse and then the dask gages went out,
(34:36):
and then the prindle, the park reverse drive neutral lights
would go out and they would get tim and by
the time I got back to the shop, it would
correct itself. Wow, like magic set some fault codes for
low voltage to the trans control module and GM has
had some problems with this particular trans control module. I
did do about forty five minutes of research. I interviewed
(34:58):
a couple of people from e M to talk to
them about it. Because it's such an intermittent problem. I
learned the high failure rate of the trans control modules.
Trans control module which is on intergalactic outer space back
order for another three weeks, and I had to deal
with what I had to deal with. I waited for
it to happen again, and it was stuck with that
problem where it wouldn't shift. It was doing what it
(35:19):
was supposed to do. Powers and grounds. It all comes
down to that. On this particular truck, I checked powers
and grounds pins one through five. I had ground on one.
In five, I was able to light up a headlight
using the pink in the middle or the orange in
the middle. On three is my battery voltage source? I
had no switch dignition on two and four. Went to
the fuse, wiggled the fuse had power. Found out the
(35:42):
fuse terminals were spread. Found out that the problem was
in the fuse box. Twenty two minutes later fixed. That's
a diagnosis this time until the next time I'm running
anading in the car. Doctor reminding you each time. Good
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. To see you, she was stoned.
(36:04):
Sp
Ron and an instant failure. Nobody got hurt, nobody got
beat up, you know, nobody got accused. There was no stealing,
there was no fevery, there was nothing other than it
was a stupid moment that you know something and he'll
never do it again. The car Doctor, I think the
(00:23):
zero on numbers probably a fair safe guest. And I've
got no proof of that. I can just tell you
a gut call from forty five years of fixing cars.
I haven't seen it as an issue. Welcome to the
radio home of Ron and Anian the Car Doctor. Since
this is where car owners the world overturned to for
their definitive opinion on automotive repair. If your mechanics giving
(00:46):
you a busy signal, pick up the phone and call
in the garage to orders are open. But I am
here to take your call at eight five five five
six and now running. Hey, welcome aboard. It's time to
get started and fixed cars today. I'm ronanin in the
card doctor zero zero. Let's dive right in. Go over
(01:08):
to Brian and it's in New Jersey, and some questions
and comments about driving his latest acquisition. I think Brian,
welcome aboard, So what kind of car is this? And
how can I help? Thank you. I've been listening to
your show a long time. You have a great show.
I was born a car geek, and I have a
two thousand fourteen Cadillac A T S that I love.
I bought it new, it has fifty three thousand miles
(01:31):
on it. But when you buy a car today, that's
so complicated. The sales but never has enough time to
explain everything to you. And I've had automatics all my life.
I was wondering if you could briefly and simply explain
to me how do I use that the manual override.
(01:51):
Let's say if I was on the turnpike and I
wanted to use the tap up feature. I wanted to
operate it manually. I kind of stand how to do
it when you wanted down shift, but I don't understand
how to do the part where your upshift. So it
sounds like it sounds like a potential for a YouTube video.
Um and I agree with you, Brian. To tell you
the truth, I'm more amazed at how sales people are
(02:15):
able to keep up with the technology because it changes
from model year to model year. Think about it, right,
you what that was a ten Cadillac and model year.
I'm sure features and functions were done away with and
it was different than they had to know. You know,
it's amazing the amount of knowledge sales people have to
have to to sell something is what we viewed so
(02:35):
simple as a car. Um, But I get it. Um,
I can't speak to that exact vehicle. I will talk
in generalities. I will tell you that, and I'm sure
you're aware of this somewhere in your owner's manual. Explain
the procedure. Um, if you're asking me, are you asking
me the function of how to make that shifter up shift? Well,
(02:56):
you only think it will really tell you when the
owners manual is that the vehicle is made that if
you shift incorrectly, that it will not damage the vehicle.
It does not explain to you how to do that. Okay,
So does it tell you how to down shift? Well,
that I've done all my life, even with an automatic
(03:17):
when it's when I'm on an icy road. But does
the car stop short up shifting? That's the part I
have a little. Like I said, I've always said automatics, right,
are you having a problem with when to do that?
When to do the upshift at what point? Yeah, I
don't really know. Like, let's say it was on the turnpike.
(03:38):
I really how do I Some person told me I
shift up and then down shift three times, look for
the red line, and then shift up again. And I
just wanted to ask what your opinion was. Um, I'd
leave it and draw. Brother, I've done it, but I
was just you know, I'd like to tinker with it.
So so you know and listen. You know, I love
(04:02):
the fact you're a long term listener. You're like family.
At this point, can I beat you up for a minute.
I want to make you feel like you're at home.
Um ya, right ahead. You know how much was this
car when you bought it? Uh? It's a forty thou
dollar car on the list right and now it's probably
a sixty five thousand dollar car. So why would this
sixty five thousand dollar car is seven years old? Do
(04:23):
we want to start abusing it? And hear me, hear
me out right? What you what? What you really want?
You really want to go buy a car? You really
need a hot rod? How old are you, Brian? Well
you to graduate high school? Uh? N okay, so you
need to go find like a seventy three Z four
(04:44):
speed car, all original, you know, spend fourty or fifty grand,
put that in the driveway in the parking lot, in
the in the garage, and and go play with that
on the weekend and drive your Cadillac Monday through Friday.
Am I wrong? Well, actually you would be surprised. With
my first CA. I was, and my parents bought it
for me. I had a brand new seventies seven Lincoln
(05:07):
Continental Mark five. So wait a minute, you're a you're
a you're a manual transmission. You're a closet manual transmission user. Okay,
And have you ever had a car with a manual
trans No, I told you I've never. I've always had
an automatic. Well, my dad had a truck in business,
(05:32):
and he put me in the truck one day and
I could get the part with the shifting, but every
time I touched the clutch, I stalled it out. He
took told me to get out of the truck and
he said forget about it for I. Okay, so you
need lessons and how to drive a stick Yeah, I mean,
I know they don't have clutch now, but I mean
(05:53):
I have the thing in the car. I've never used it.
And I've asked a few people and they tell you
also many different things. How do you that? What? How
to drive the the auto stick in the cars? Well,
that's because every car is a little different. I wouldn't
push and in all seriousness, I wouldn't push any engine
close to the red line because you know you're gonna
you're gonna hurt something. You know, there's a there's a
(06:18):
feel all right that if you if you listen, you know,
realize we're going back to the days when we have
to use the things God gave us called called site, smells, sound, sensation,
feeling as to win the shift that car. We can
look at the tech but if we don't know the
shift points, and we probably don't because there's no there's
(06:41):
no definition. UM. I would take a real hard look
at the owner's manual. And because there should be as
as lawyered up as GM and the rest of the
car companies are, there should be some sort of um,
don't shift it past this point warning. They should give
you some table to say, here's the RPM band, all right,
here's where the shifts are going to occur the best.
(07:03):
Here's where the most torque and power is going to occur,
and and and so forth. Um. That being said, Um,
why don't you take it out, put it in drive,
find a nice, quiet, long flat road and do a
three quarter throttle acceleration And at the same time watch
the shift points under heart acceleration. Where does that engine
shift if it if it brings first gear up to
(07:26):
three thousand rpm, Second gear up, tom, fourth gear up
the four thousand rpm. You've got an idea how the
manufacturer wants you to do it. Now you've got to
the side. How big is your checkbook and how how
how how big is your muchI Ismo that you want
to take it further than that? Does that make sense? Right? Yeah,
(07:47):
especially especially the last one that you've got right right,
you know it's it's you know, Um, you can't make
a silk purse out of a Sal's ear, all right,
but you can make you can make a Sal's ear
out of a silk First you can ruin a car
like this very quickly doing the wrong thing. Well, then
(08:07):
then why are we doing this? What you need another car? Brother?
Go find if listen, if you want to go find
something that you can you know, manually shifting automatic and
tell the salesman listen for the eighty grand you're gonna spend,
because that's what you'll spend today, all right, or the
sixty grand whatever it is. You know what, I need
a ten minute course and how to use this slap
(08:28):
ship because that's the determining factor when I when I
make a decision on whether or not I'm gonna buy
this fair point. Yes, okay, but that's where. But it
sure sounds like you need lessons and how to drive
a stick. It sure sounds like you're seventy three guy,
it really does. All right. You want a car. You
want the car that all the seniors had in high
(08:49):
school that you said you looked at it and you know,
g I want one of those. So although you were
probably the party bus, right you were the guy driving
everybody around, Yes, I want this SA car Doctor, car
Doctor is not so dopey. So all right, listen, Brian,
I gotta go. But you know, car lessons, that's what
you want. But I you could do what I told
(09:10):
you as far as figuring out shift points. But um,
you know, be careful what you wish for. Thank you.
That's you know what. That's a start, all right, that's
a start. You have fun out therapy safe you take.
Thank you so much. You're very welcome. You're very welcome.
Bye bye. I'm running Any of the Car Doctor eight
five five zero. You know I should go find Brian.
He's in New Jersey. I should go find Brian and
(09:32):
take him for a ride in the hot rod that
will convince him to leave the car and drive all
day long. Nine five five five zero nine zero zero
running End of the Car Doctor. I'm back right after this.
Don't go away. Hey, welcome back. We're on Any of
(09:56):
the Car Doctor. Let's do a quick piece of email. Run.
We're a small sharp in Florida. We're jump it into
the one three f YF business. We've seen lots of
overwhelming information. We're not quite sure what to do. Where
did you end up. We heard you're recently talking about
you're getting into it yourself, so we're kind of curious.
Paul Jacksonville Audo. Um, you know, Paul, the one two
three four y F. For those of you that are
you know, as Ron speaking English, we're talking about the
(10:19):
new well new in the sense that the you know,
recently within the last five years, type of refrigerant that's
been introduced into cars. Um, y F very very expensive
side of the business to get into UM in terms
of the refrigerant and very exacting, very you know, you
have to be dead nuts on the money when it
comes to you know, diagnosing the systems and servicing the systems.
(10:43):
There's no margin of error. So it's something that a
lot of shops are going to get into. But on
a you know, they're making decisions now and I understand
your I understand you're overwhelmed, uh, Paul, So I get it.
Take a look at malak get out the service solutions
dot Mala dot com, take a look at their equipment.
I've done a lot of research. That's where I ended up.
I chose them over everybody else because of the technology
(11:04):
they bring to the table, but also because of the
fact that the company seems to be willing to listen.
I have been to a couple of trade shows set
and talk to them, listen to what they had to
say about UM, you know, fixing machines in the field,
which they're making so easy or much easier than the
competition right now. And they're aware that as the cost
of this service is going to be expensive because of
what it represents UM downtime is critical to a repair shop.
(11:27):
So they're working on methods of you know, minimal downtime
if any. They're doing updates by over the year, wireless
and things like that. Just some really neat things. But
you'll see it there at Service Solutions dot Mala dot com.
And uh, you know, I wish you well. Um, you'll
be happy. I'm sure. Let's get over and talk to
Dave in Maine two thousand Cherokee and some cooling fan issues. Dave,
(11:48):
Welcome to the car doctor. How can I help? Ah? Hi,
first time calling ever? Thank you, sir. Well, I'm glad
and here ahead. I have a two thousand jeep chair
a key, which there's a lot of them on the
road yet. Um, it's kind of spotless. I've taken good
care of it about a year ago, a little over
a year ago. The um, the cooing fan will not
(12:11):
come on over each um. So luckily I was in
the climate before where we went to Maine Arizona in
the wintertime and up to Maine in the summertime, so
I never had to deal with any any heat issues.
But it just bugs me. I've been I've been trying,
and I've taken it to jeep mechanics and they can't
(12:31):
figure it out. Well wait, wait, I didn't know if
there was anything that you know that I can try.
Well wait a minute, let's let's back up a second.
You're telling me the cooling fan doesn't come on. Yes,
and I've and I you know, I've hired the cooling
fan just to make sure it's operable, and it comes on.
(12:52):
So the fan motor comes on. Ye. Okay. So if
you go to the cooling fan relay and find the
dark blue dark blue with a pink trace, which is
the ground lag going back to the PCM, yeah, I'm
I'm right, I'm under the hood right now. Okay, if
if you were to ground that dark blue pink, does
the fan run? Um, I don't know. I've never tried that.
(13:17):
When I accidentally happened about a week ago, I put
a new coon sensor in, you know, for the temperature
gage and if I if I, if I pull that out,
the fooding can't cooling fan comes on. Okay. Well, that's
because that's because the PCM throws it in the fault, alright,
And that that tells me that in all likelihood the
(13:38):
fan relay probably is okay. But I want to verify it,
all right. So what I what I want you to
do is I'd like you to get your hands on
a wiring diagram because this is a pretty simple circuit. Yeah,
I have I have a wiring diagram. Okay. So so
take a look at on the on the fan relay
(13:58):
coming out of d third team. There's a dark blue
pink which feeds back to the computer. Have you seen
that in the wiring diagrams. That's the radiator fan control
for the PCM. And I'm sure it's good because if
you're telling me you're disconnecting it and it's coming on.
But I want to see it doing anyway, you should
ground that dark If you ground that dark blue pink,
(14:21):
you should see the fan come on. That's ground control.
That will close the relay. Okay. So if I take
the relay out, no no, no, no, no, no, no
relay in leave the relay alone, all right, find that
dark blue pink coming off the relay. If you have
any doubt, cut the water that would be on the
bottom underneath the uh No, the relay should be behind
(14:44):
the driver's side headlight. If I remember correctly in two thousands, No,
this one has the cooling fan relay is in the
puze box up there on two thousands, and it was
in a different spot according to what I found out.
This is you know, well, this is Chrysler, Chrysler I've had.
I had once. It had a diagram in it. Um.
(15:04):
This is a Cherokee, not a Grand Okay, So find
the cooling fan relay. I'll back it up to that point,
all right. Find the family I'm looking at that right now, okay,
And it's in the fuse box on the passenger side
right and back of the battery. Okay. Then there it
says cooling fan and the other one says a s
(15:24):
D Okay. And then verify. Verify your wiring and pins,
make sure they're all good. Make sure you have voltage. Okay.
The test light came on every time I every everyone
I plugged it into. Let's not use a test light.
Let's use a voult meter, all right, And let's let's
(15:46):
put when we're looking for battery voltage, let's put the
meter to the negative side of the battery. Then then
let's touch the positive probe to the battery positive to
make sure we read battery voltage. Then go probe the
relay all right, And the reason I want to use
a volt meter is will a test light light if
there's nine vaults at at a terminal? Yeah? Well like
(16:10):
if there's twelve volts at a terminal? Okay, right, well
how do I how do I know? Can you're ride?
Can you're ride determine three volt difference? I don't think
anybody is that good? Right, So this is uh. People
have told me I'm crazy trying to figure this out.
They should, they said, as you're just hot wire. Right, Listen,
(16:31):
I don't want to do that thing. This thing is
so pristine that the jeep dealer I took it too,
offered me. Uh, for it does rest on it has
the tags underneath them. Dave, Dave, Dave, listen to me.
All right, Okay, don't don't worry about what people's opinions are.
(16:52):
If I worried about what people's opinions are, what a
close shop thirty years ago? All right? Most most most
people when it comes to cars, well, I won't say most,
but there are some people out there. It's like a
rare concept. Some people are just idiots and they just
you know, think about it. Don't worry about the vehicle
if it overheats hot wire. It alright, that's like the
(17:12):
person that says the check out Well, but that's like
the person that's like the person that says the check
engine lights on. Ignore it, it doesn't mean anything. The
car still Really I had, I bought a car, went
in and they put a piece of black electrical tape
over there. Huh right. You know again, there are some
people that just you know what, some people just want
to fall into the idiot category. It makes classifying people
that much easier. So, UM, understand how the relay works.
(17:35):
Ground the relay on the dark blue pink. If it
comes on, we know it's not the relay. The only
thing we've got left then is do we have a
potential problem where the PCM can't interpret cooling temperature? Do
you have a scan tool? Um? I have a scan tool.
I borrowed off someone and hooked it on, but never
(17:58):
it never showed anything related to the what are you?
What are you looking for? What are you looking for?
I'm curious do you know what you're looking for? Well,
this is a while ago. I uh, I was just
looking for um as system are to come up on it? Well,
how about come kind of an arrow code? To come up. Okay,
forget the code. How about we're looking for what's cool intemp.
(18:20):
If cool intemp reads two thirty five degrees and the
fans supposed to come on at two thirty six, what's
the issue? Right, Maybe we've got a radiator that's slightly
restricted and it can't flow. Well, maybe there's something else
going on here. Start to gather dad or brother, get
a scant looked up to it, see what temperature readings are,
find the spec for what it's supposed to be and
(18:41):
we can talk from there. I'm monading the car doctor.
We're back right after this. Welcome back? Why any of
(19:03):
the car doctor? At eight by five five zero zero zero,
Jeremy Washington, d C thirteen Silverado. How can I help
you today? Jeremy, Welcome aboard, Hey Ron, thanks for taking
my call. Um got a like alluded to the thirteen Silverado.
And while we were quarantining, you know, I had time
on my hands, didn't need a vehicles and what the hell?
(19:25):
Let's uh I did para steering hose on this the
ones that come to and from the rack, you know,
the GM thing where they start to weep around the
crimps um isn't it amazing that a company like General Motors,
for all their technology and for all their skill, they
can't make a hose last longer than four or five years.
(19:46):
It's amazing. It's mine. Every vehicle I've had, every week
one I've had, going back to the Mission Corps line,
our steering line going back to the mid nineties, it's
just don't understand. Yeah, I don't understand. And I and
you know, and yet, Okay, I'm gonna steal the show
for a second here, Jeremy, I'm sorry. And and well,
(20:08):
you know it's our show, right, It's it's yours in
mind and everybody else that's listening. And yet my seventy
two Monte Carlo that I found down in luve Key, Texas,
three years ago, with forty one thousand miles on it,
we brought it up to the shop. The power steering
line still don't weak. Yeah, I mean, I'm with you. Well,
(20:32):
that group of engineers retired and the next generation took over,
and you know they're all sitting there saying, well, we
don't want to get laid off or have to retire
like those guys, so will make something that doesn't work
this way? There's you know, job security. I guess, I
don't know, and it's maybe they saved five cents per
line or something. You know, if Mary Barrow wants to decide,
(20:54):
you know, she wants to make JEAM a better company,
you gotta look at the details. And the devil is
in the details. Yes, and your supplier contracts, right, just
get the good stuff. I'm with you, y man. So
I said, Okay, let me take it down to a
local shop and uh take it to a guy that
he sources his parts from NAPO. Okay, so, and I
(21:15):
tell him, I say, look, while you're in there, there's
these two stupid little seals about the size of a
dime where these things push into the steering rack. Um,
I said, just go ahead and change him out, get
the vehicle back and instead of power steering fluid, he's
put in transmission fluid. And change that out. And the
(21:39):
lines are leaking where it goes into the rack. Dang
it all right, So I don't even bother dealing with
him again. I said, I'm gonna go down and get
these seven dollar seals and pop these babies in there.
I put these new seals in and it's like I
think they did it to do like a quick connect,
make it easy for you guys, and as simple, you
(22:00):
know what I mean. They just like they just push
you in and there's like this bolt. So I put
him in. Man that things are leaking like crazy. Now
I'm like, what the crap? So I've took a risk
and went down the one plus we have with GMS. Man,
you can get the O E parts anywhere. So went
down the local Delco supplier, got the O E M
(22:23):
power steering hoses. Pop him in there not I mean
it's bone dry now, the thing works perfectly. So my
question is how does the how does like NAPA stay
in business? I mean, it's very frustrating. I was losing it.
I can't believe I blew three bucks on this job. Jeremy,
(22:44):
there's there's It's down to a microscopic level. Okay, how
popular I'll answer your question this way, Maybe this is
the way to do it. How popular do you think
Chevies are? No, well, I don't know, but but I
mean they're I mean the popular, they're popular, right, but
I mean they're reproducing. Do you know you can buy
if you can build a fifty five Chevy from the
(23:06):
ground up, You can buy every part, nutting bolt, every clip.
The only thing you can't get is the bulkhead. And
there's donor bulkheads out there, But there's guys. I mean,
like you look at some fifty fives that are being
put together and they look like they rolled off the
assembly line yesterday. But yet, but yet there are manufacturers
for that car. You go buy a fuel level sending
(23:26):
unit and it's it's they make it correct, but the
last three percent doesn't work. You know, it's just there's
what's the point And the same thing can be said,
The same thing can be said about what you're talking about.
And I'm not sure why. You don't know how many
(23:48):
times I look up at the shop and at the
ceiling and go, why, all right, why? Why why do
we create this? You go through all the trouble to
reproduce the part, and you can't get it that last
three or four and it's just very frustrated because you
then you're thinking, well, it can't be these because they're
(24:08):
brand new. But I thought there's nothing else left. Let
me just try the O E UM lines. But they
fit like a freaking glove. What does new stand? What
does new stand? What does new stand for Jeremy. Well
there were there we go exactly quick side note the
same vehicle. Um, I guess. A few months ago I
(24:30):
took the bed off the back to pop a new
fuel pumping this thing, um and that worked fine. But
when I was putting the bed back on, I got
a little over zealous with my cordless impact and one
of the eight bed bolts got stripped out. What do
you think the best I've got a couple of options.
(24:53):
One of them is just to ignore it and go
with the seven that are still working. Yeah, but you
won't be able to sleep at night. Yeah, that's just
the kind of person I am. Sad Like, could I
just get an you know what I mean? You'll be haunted? Yeah,
it'll just be like I'm gonna have a load of
mulch in the back and then the bed's gonna break off.
(25:16):
You can I just get an oversized bolt? Would that
be the way to go? And try sticking it up
through there? I'm trying to think of what it looks like,
you know, is it threaded into is it a blind
nut threaded into the frame? Correct? It goes up, It
goes through the frame and into the box. So the
boxes on top of the frame. Bolt goes up and
(25:37):
there and there's no nut or anything. It just is
threaded into the box. Okay, So is there is there
a way it is it threaded into the box or
it's threaded into the frame. It's threaded it into the
They go from the top to the box. No, it's
bottom up, bottom up. Another goes through the frame into box.
(25:58):
And I guess that's where i've you know, metal must
know a little too soft. Cheesy door, just cheesy brother.
So so so why can't we get a different bolt
instead of using a hex head bolt? What if you know,
like my Ford Ranger, the bolts go the other way.
They come from the top down, and it is it
(26:18):
is a shoulderless, rounded radius bolt head with a torque
fitting in the middle. And what if I went from
the top down and put a nut down on the
frame side. Well, you know, sillier things have been done.
I kind of hate to chop a drill a hole
in the bed, but like you said, I mean, dumber
(26:39):
things have been done before. Well you know, if you
if you did that, okay, because if I understand you right,
the nut is in the body of the bed, um
the nut. You can't even see it in the bed.
It's like these little uh the squared rectangular tribe. Well
you know what I mean, right, yeah, So if we
metal thread and since this is a since this is
(27:02):
a work vehicle right as a work truck, it's not
a trailer queen. Uh you know, if we if we
did it from the top down and then painted the
head of that bolt, go go and I shouldn't even
tell you about this stuff because you'll be painting the
truck all night long. Go find a court of Benjamin
more low luster alkalid that you're always gonna be talking about.
It's a rust inhibitor, and just paint the top of
(27:22):
the bolt and then you could just get some rattle
can paint the match the color of the bed and
you're done. Um, you call it a day, and just
you know you'll sleep better. I mean that's that's and
and you know there again, why did GM do it
that way? How cheesy is that to be bolts going
into sheet metal? Right right? Right? Here's just you know,
(27:44):
I love the L S engine and I liked that
just four I have the four L sixt transmission. Man,
if you just if you really take care of them.
They do you right, but it's just stupid little Here's
here's the takeaway, all right, and then I'm gonna go.
I I said to myself twenty two years ago. I
still remember the day and date I said it, that
the industry is changing. I was a young mechanic. I
(28:06):
was just about to enter into the new building on
Prospect Street, and I said to myself, the industry is changing,
and we're going to see a way in which the
aftermarket comes to do business, and in that the manufacturers
are going to be using the same manufacturers. The vehicle
manufacturer are gonna be using the same parts manufacturers that
(28:26):
NAPA and everybody else is using. Okay, so I really
believe those power steering hoses from NAPA and everybody else
are made on the same assembly line as GM four
because there's only so much manufacturing capacity in the world,
and it's it's just the way they're built to spec. Now,
you know, that's not to say GM spec is any
better than NAPAs. NAPAs don't fit in GM's leak. I
(28:48):
don't know what the answer is, um, but but there
are there are some cases where the aftermarket outshines the
oe manufacturer. By four. Right, That's why I decided to
give him a chance because guaranteed. And then there's some cases,
there's some kids, listen, I wouldn't give a hoot for
(29:09):
a Delco break pad and rotors set up because Delco
is one of the most watered down parts lines I've
ever seen. In some cases in terms of breaks, they're
just there. There's there's too many choices. You gotta know
what you're buying. But then again, there's some after market
break companies PTC and Dura great pads and rotors. I
use them all day long, like like a one percent problem.
(29:31):
That's that's something that's unheard of. So anyway, I gotta go.
I'm looking against the clock, Jeremy, as always, sir, I
enjoyed the time you. You stay safe down there Washington
d C Way, and you call back any time, brother,
you take good care. I'm running any of the car Doctor.
We're back right after this. Welcome back right on any
(29:57):
of the car Doctor, real quick from the Car Care Council.
I want to tell a little bit about well, the
fact that vehicles have been sitting for a length of time. Now,
they've been uh um right with everybody in quarantine. The
Car Care Council is issue to press release and they
talk about cleaning the car, and you know what, I
couldn't agree with them more the fact that you know,
it's before we start driving our vehicles again. How clean
(30:19):
are they? You know, we want to make sure that
the exterior is clean. Wash it, wax it, make sure
you get all the schmutz off the windshield, all the
dead bugs, all the whatever that's been collected. You may
want to think about scraping and cleaning the glass, uh,
you know, using a razor blade, a single edge razor
blade and some good heavy ammonia based cleaner. Make sure
that way you're not scraping dirt into the rubber of
(30:39):
the wiper blades, and it will help that vehicles be
safer when you travel on down the road and deep clutter.
All right, You want to make sure that you know,
I don't know, you know, maybe you've been sort of
throwing things in the car. I gotta take this here
and that there and this over to Mom's when I
get a chance to get out of the house. And
maybe the inside of the car has more stuff in
it than the inside of your house. So you want
to make sure that you know, the car sort of
(30:59):
looks like a car. Clean the interior all right, as
the Car Care Council says, make sure you're thoroughly clean
the interior, wash the windows and cleaning. Put the floor
mats back in place. Make sure you secure the floor
mats where they're supposed to go so nothing gets jammed
under any pedals or people don't trip getting in and
out of the car. You want to obviously give the
interior a good cleaning, and you want to wax it.
You know, you should be waxing your car twice a
(31:21):
year and take a look. You know, this is for
overall vehicle condition. You want to take a look at,
you know, any minor pain damage, anything that might have
happened during quarantine, anything that might you know, overall reflect
the the the value of the vehicle as as things
go down the road in this thing's age, because you're
gonna probably hang onto this car for a while. You know,
the country is going through that moment of if you've
(31:42):
got a decent car now more than ever, you want
to take care of it. And these are some of
the things that they're trying to get to. And obviously
there's more information out there online at their website car
here dot org. But be aware that driving a clean car,
and I can tell you this from personal experience, driving
a clean car just feels better. There's something about it
(32:03):
that's psychologically. You're just in a better car. You really are,
so they seem to run better. And some good sound
advice from the folks over there at the Car Care Council. Hey,
when we come back to close the show today, I
want to sum up the past two hours and talk
a little bit about diagnostics. I'm gonna tell you the
story about the O two Chevy Silverado that acted like
a bad transmission that nobody was able to fix and
(32:25):
how the Car Doctor fixed it in about twenty two minutes.
So come on back, we'll talk about it. We'll close
out right there. I'm running any of the Car Doctor.
I'll see on the other side, welcome back. We're in
any of the Car Doctor. I want to talk a
(32:46):
little bit about diagnostics. Alright, we we big theme on
this show today, especially where a lot of phone calls.
I've tested this, I've tested that looking for the bad part.
First of all, if you don't have a scam t
you're you're really trying to fix the car. The modern car. Okay,
you know something O B D two something mad sance.
(33:09):
You're really putting yourself out of disadvantage. All right, If
you've got any intention of trying to repair your car,
go online Autel dot com a U T. E. L.
Take a look at their website. They've got so many
choices of scan tools. You've got to be able to
find something there that fits your budget. Know what you
wanna do, Know what you're looking for in terms of features,
maybe something specific to your vehicle, but understand what capabilities
(33:32):
you're looking for. But Autel will have it for you.
Take a look. That being said, you've got a scan tool,
you've got a digital voltometer, you've got some of the
basics in terms of hand tools you're trying to diagnose
and repair something. I had a two thousand two Chevy
Silverado this week that had been to a couple of
shops and they weren't able to repair it. Every once
(33:52):
in a while this vehicle would go into limp in.
This was an O two Silverado with a big block
eight leader Alison transmission. Allison transmissions as a rule, never fail,
they're pretty bulletproof. This one only had sixty miles on
the vehicle. And you know, while that's not something that guarantees,
in my mind the trans is always good. I do.
I do weigh that I'm not gonna lie. That's the
human side, right, That's that's the emotion of it. You
(34:15):
get into that. I did my research. Every once in
a while this truck went into limping. From the customer's description.
I experienced it once where you're driving down the road
and all of a sudden it would lose gears. It
would be stuck. It would downshift and go into second
and stay in second. Then it wouldn't up shift, and
with all sorts of crazy transmission related things, and then
it had no reverse and then the dask gages went out,
(34:36):
and then the prindle, the park reverse drive neutral lights
would go out and they would get tim and by
the time I got back to the shop, it would
correct itself. Wow, like magic set some fault codes for
low voltage to the trans control module and GM has
had some problems with this particular trans control module. I
did do about forty five minutes of research. I interviewed
(34:58):
a couple of people from e M to talk to
them about it. Because it's such an intermittent problem. I
learned the high failure rate of the trans control modules.
Trans control module which is on intergalactic outer space back
order for another three weeks, and I had to deal
with what I had to deal with. I waited for
it to happen again, and it was stuck with that
problem where it wouldn't shift. It was doing what it
(35:19):
was supposed to do. Powers and grounds. It all comes
down to that. On this particular truck, I checked powers
and grounds pins one through five. I had ground on one.
In five, I was able to light up a headlight
using the pink in the middle or the orange in
the middle. On three is my battery voltage source? I
had no switch dignition on two and four. Went to
the fuse, wiggled the fuse had power. Found out the
(35:42):
fuse terminals were spread. Found out that the problem was
in the fuse box. Twenty two minutes later fixed. That's
a diagnosis this time until the next time I'm running
anading in the car. Doctor reminding you each time. Good
mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. To see you, she was stoned.
(36:04):
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