August 19, 2023 • 35 mins
Ron starts this episode talking about a cutback in production of automotive air conditioning refrigerant and that there has not been a replacement announced yet : talks about tires and the problem getting them : answers an email about an article on EV's : takes a call on a 16 Rogue where the caller changed the transmission fluid and now the transmission is acting up : answers an email about a 10 Caddy with a sticky slip yolk : talks about social media and car repair : talks about a funky pickup truck Ron looked at recently that needed $9800 worth of work.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ron an Aanian that they're taking his vehicle to a
testless service center, who was quoted, are you ready.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Sixteen thousand dollars that's being told the entire battery would
needs to replace him So he reached out to Bernoid,
who was able to fix the small part using a
breast fitting. If you find a home improvement store for
only seven hundred dollars twenty three times less than test.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Tha's quotes, so I guess we're going to be going
a home depot to get our cars fixed. In the future,
the Car Doctor, we'll start fixing more Australian cars a lot.
I could say, oh yeah, you never know, but the
phone anyway, let's hop along. You get that kangaroo hop
Australia segue like a led below.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Welcome to the radio home of ron an Inian, 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.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Phone and call in.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
The garage doors.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Are open, but I am here to take your calls
at eighty five five five six oh ninety nine hundred
and now pee running. Hey, welcome aboard, Thanks for us,
thanks for stopping by this this day and this weekend
and this day of the week whenever you're listening, and
we're happy to be here with you. My name is
Ron Andaniy and the Car Doctor. I'm here for you
(01:14):
at eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
That number is twenty four to seven, I should point out.
And you can call us anytime, day or night. We're
not when we're not on the air. We're live on
the air Saturdays two to four pm East Coast time,
and you can call eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero, leave a message and we will
call you back and get you in the Q for
the next live broadcast. And we'd like you to call in,
(01:35):
you know, we really would. We'll be gentle, we promise.
This is real easy. You call up, ask a question,
we'll give you an answer. We'll help you fix your car.
You know, it's it's it's. We would rather answer questions
here than by email because when we do it one
on one, it's a time element. You know, there's there's
only so much of me to go around, and its
(01:55):
benefits everybody. If we ask the question up by ourn air,
which is why sometimes you'll hear me read emails on
air so I can answer them. And you know, everybody
gets to hear, hey, here's here's a solution to a problem.
So anyway, that's what this is about. Keep in mind
I should point this out. You know, I guess as
summer's winding down now, you know we're coming up on
Labor Day weekends soon. You know, one thirty four refrigerant
(02:19):
there's going to be an announcement in October. I'm told
that one thirty four refrigerant there's there may be a
mandatory cut in production and there may be a ban
coming I'm hearing rumors of. So you know, just be aware.
If you're into air conditioning and you know, charging refrigerant
that kind of thing, and you do your own you
(02:40):
may want to put someone thirty four away because you
may not be able to find it come next season.
You know, it's the government's clamping down for whatever reason.
And you know they and the weird thing is they
haven't announced the replacement yet, which makes no sense to me.
They're talking about a ban or cut some production, but
they haven't announced a replacement refrigerant. So It makes me
(03:02):
wonder what we're going to say, makes me wonder what's
going to happen. I want to talk about tires, tires, tires,
tires as Jerry Tire. Jerry would always say, you know, tires.
We're having problems getting parts on a lot of things,
but tires seem to be contentious. I think is the
word big word, college word, you know. Stevie B Regular
(03:22):
customer OA Jeep Grand Cherokee s R T eight, I
believe it is. You know, the hot rod version of
the Grand Cherokee was in this week and he has
run flats on his jeep, which a lot of the
Jeeps do, a lot of you know, the s R
T eight's the fancy jeeps do because of exhaust configuration,
chassis configuration and so on, and you know, it's a
neat vehicle. It's you know, it's a hot rod jeep.
(03:45):
And the front tires are a different size than the
rear tires and that's the way it came factory. But
they're run flats and they've never been cheap, but now
they're getting they're not just getting more expensive, they're also
getting very very hard to find. Local supply house didn't
have them. The second tier local supply house didn't have them.
(04:08):
We had a resort to going online, and at that point,
you know, it was a question of availability. It would
take a week to get them, and the tires were
somewhere around the neighborhood if I remember right, of about
twenty four hundred dollars for a set of tires and
they're not even on the car yet. And you know,
part of the issue is because as the tires dwindle
(04:29):
and availability, you know, supply and demand, right, price goes
up when there's less tires to sell. And we see
that on everything, you know, tires, brakes, filters, filters or
another one, not to go off the subject, but real
quick filters, air and cabin filters. We're seeing fifty dollars
air filters now. You know, we buy filters on Monday,
(04:51):
we go to reorder them on Friday, and the filter
you know, went up nine bucks in a week. Not
all the time, but just enough of them out there.
It makes you wonder what's going on in the filter business.
That's that's definitely a problem. But Stevie going back to
Steve and his tires, so you know, it's a run
flat issue now Steve has a nail in the left
(05:12):
rear tire and he didn't even realize it until he
pointed it out to him. He's been driving around like
this with the TPMs light on and he kept looking
at the tires, going, well, they don't go down. You
know it must be you know, it must be a
defective sensor. And I said, no, Steve, the reason the
tire doesn't go down is because it's a run flat.
It's got a stiffer sidewall. It's designed to support the vehicle.
(05:33):
It's doing what it's supposed to do, which you have
to realize that, all right, as the vehicle owner, you
have to realize that the vehicle. You're not going to
see a flat tire. With a run flat, it's always
going to be inflated. It's always it's it's designed to
run without air. So Stevie needs tires. I'm back to that.
(05:54):
He found them. They're going to be about two grand
and it's going to take ten days to get they're
on order. We should see them this week coming. But
imagine you're stuck on the side of the road with
a run flat and it doesn't work like that. You know,
you need a tire, and then what do you do.
In Stevie's case, he's driving a classic car. You know,
it's you know, he might as well be driving a
(06:17):
seventy Corvette at least, you know, it's got a little
more style to it. But you know, it's parts are
an issue on older cars. Now tires are too. We
had it's not just the not just the older cars.
We had a twenty nineteen Toyota Siana this week. Also, Matthew,
who if you recall a couple of months back, I
told you the story about how the poor guy took
(06:39):
his family down on vacation, and I believe the car
was stolen in Maryland or Delaware. I forget where. They
parked it in a hotel parking lot, and they came
out the next day and it was gone. And when
they got back, what was left of it would fit
inside of a coffee can because they had sent the
car through the crusher. Well, Matthew has purchased a certified
pre owned toyotas seeing it, which is a nice vehicle.
(07:01):
I like to see in this you know, I think
they I think they do a great job, not cheap,
but what is today? I believe this one the way
it's decked out and equipped. It's a seventy thousand and
seventy two thousand dollars vehicle. Well, he's had a couple
of months now and he this week called me up
and he said, hey, Ronnie, I've got a tire pressure
(07:22):
light on. I'm not quite sure what to do, and
I said, drop it off, Matt, let me take a look.
You know, we we'll make sure you're safe. We want
to be safe. It's tires, and we'll tell you what
we see. So he dropped it off, and we, you know,
we looked at it, and yeah, the left rear tire
had eighteen pounds of air in it, so it clearly
had a leak. I pulled it off and I got
to use the tank. I love the tank, the water tank.
(07:45):
I well, you know what, it's the cheapest diagnostic tool
I've got and it works great. It works every time.
All I have to do is fill it with water.
So I, you know, inflated a tire and you know,
put it in the water tank, and sure enough, in
a about five or six minutes. It took a while
to settle down because it creates a lot of foam
and frouth. When you put it in the you know,
(08:07):
you put it in the in the tank. We we
waited a couple of minutes and let it clear, and
you could see there was a crack in the sidewall
where the sidewall met the you know, the face of
the tire, the side of the tire that actually rides
on the road, and the tire itself is coming apart.
Here's the dilemma. The tire that was on the vehicle.
This vehicle has had two tires replaced at a clip,
(08:29):
not four, and that can be a problem. You know,
all wheel drive like this Siena, but any all wheel
drive vehicle, you know, you have to worry about diameter
of tire for equality, for balance in the system, and
it's really best to try and keep them as close
close to each other as possible, which is why, you know,
rotating tires is a great thing, right it. You know,
(08:51):
if you rotate tires moving around, it helps with wear
and helps promote tire life and things like that. So,
you know, in the case of Matt, he had you know,
the two rear tires were newer. They had about seven
thirty seconds of tread on them. A new tire has
ten thirty seconds of tread, so they were thirty percent worn.
The front tires, though, were at two maybe three thirty
(09:14):
seconds of tread. They clearly needed to be replaced. Unfortunately,
both front tires weren't on the back because it was
the left rear, one of the better tires so to speak,
that had the damage to the sidewall. It gets expensive
four run flats. The run flats for that car were
three hundred and twenty bucks apiece, something crazy like that.
(09:36):
By the time you do some labor, by the time
you put an alignment on it, you've got a telephone
number for a set of tires that you know, twenty
years ago was half the price or a third the
price of adjusted for inflation. I think the important takeaway
for you is to be aware that your vehicle may
have run flats. They're being used more and more. There
is a degree of difficulty in repairing them. You know,
(09:59):
there is is a conversation right now that I don't
think we have a good answer on yet, where the
industry talks about can a run flat be safely repaired?
We should actually do that. We could actually get somebody
from a tire rep or a tire company to come
on and talk to us about repairing run flats and
the practicality of it. Can that be done? So I'll
have to make a note of that too. We can
(10:20):
think of the call and you know it would be
interesting just talking about proper ways to repair tires. But
my point becomes, if you have no spare, if you've
got a Siena and you've got a third row seat,
a rearwood facing seat or a forward facing seat, third bro,
you don't have a spare. Know that, and you know
(10:40):
a lot of vehicles are like that today. And my
concern with it is when I every once in a
while you run into a run flat tire that gouges
the sidewall, It tears the side wall up, and it's
the tire is not strong enough at that point to
support the way to the vehicle seat. You need a spare,
which you don't have, so just run flat tires. Ah
(11:01):
technology what it's doing for us, so just be aware.
I just want to give you a little tire talk
this day as we kick off the car doctor. I'm
running eighty in the car doctor. I'm here at eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'll
be back right after this don't go away.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Whether it's a little red Corvette or you go. You've
come to the right place to get that car fixed.
We're on an eighty in the Car Doctor eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Now back to Ron.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Hey and we are back running the Car Doctor at
your service. Great email here from Maurice. Maurice writes in Hey, Ron,
I listened to your show in Tucson on kV I
Saturday mornings between five a and seven eighths recorded from
the previous week and delayed, but it's still a great
show and I enjoy it. Thank you, Maurice. I appreciate
that I ran across this article and I thought you'd
be interested in it if you haven't read it already.
This guy, unfortunately brought brought into the choir everyone running
(11:59):
to the next great hope of the industry. As you've
correctly noted, in my opinion, we're moving too fast on
this Elon Musk Award winning marketing idea, and the infrastructure
of the country is definitely not ready for these vehicles
on a mass scale. And he goes on to talk
about there was a recent article that came out about
someone that had purchased a newer Ford ev F one
(12:23):
P fifty lightning pickup truck. And it's a sad story
in a way. He took his family out on vacation,
the owner of the truck, and he traveled, you know,
I think fourteen hundred miles from Canada down through into
the United States, and he couldn't get anywhere. He couldn't,
he couldn't, he couldn't find charging, and when he found charging,
(12:44):
it was more expensive than gassing up. And there were
issues with the vehicle long term, and he ended up
having to drop it off at the Ford dealer, at
a Ford dealer, renting a gas version of the vehicle,
you know, to continue the journey, and then pick it
up on the way back, writes, and I find it
interesting that the only clear thinking industry CEO is mister Toyota,
(13:05):
who says they'll stay with hybrids for now, you know.
And I think that's clear thinking. I think hybrids are
the answer. I think hybrids do provide, you know, a
lot of balance and opportunity for the industry and for
cleaning things up. You know, we see this all the time.
We hear this all the time, that you know, the
infrastructure the infrastructure, and I don't get it. The emperor
has no clothes, and yet we continue to go in
(13:27):
this direction. To continue with Maurice's letter, many of Toyota's
shareholders want to run them out on a rail.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I haven't seen that. I maybe, but you know. But
for these statements, yet Forge Farley bets the future of
his company, and nav is getting rid of internal combustion
way too early in the game. What's wrong with CEOs?
They seem embarrassed because their vehicles aren't as sexy as
a tesla, even though it lists fifty percent of the
country can't afford a tesla. Here's the most important part
(13:52):
of Maurice's letter. I got to tell you this. This
is why I read this. This is the hook. What
about embracing Henry Ford's idea of creating a vehicle for
the masses, a vehicle that people can afford and is
a dependable vehicle. It seems that Toyota Motor Company is
only one that isn't totally in the process worrying about
the future of vehicle ownership like that. Let's proceed slowly,
(14:14):
carefully and thoughtfully. He concludes, about stepping into the swift
water of EV ownership, which the gentleman in this article
spent off a small fortune having to learn, unfortunately the
hard way. These vehicles are not quite so greatful the
planet that they seem to be, and at the moment
only only good for short, medium range travel. Faithful listener,
Maurice from Tucson, Arizona. You know, Maurice, solid points and
(14:36):
I think it's something we have to address at some point,
and I think we will. You know, we have Mark
Millson from time to time. He's, in my opinion, the
industry expert on what it's going to take to bring
EV to the light that it is and to or isn't.
And you know, as Mark says, you give it a
couple of years and you're going to start to see
people back down because it can't be done. You know,
(14:57):
I'm all about listen, I'm all about clean up energy
in the environment, and I was worried about the planet
as the next guy. You know, if there's something here
to worry about, but the legislation, you can't legislate it
and regulate it into existence and expect it to work.
And you hear all these stories, you know, I love
how you read the stories. You know such and such
companies coming out with a battery that will charge in
(15:19):
ninety seconds and go four times the distance. And then
when you read the story, Yeah, they're working on that,
and they've got a rough prototype that doesn't quite do that,
but you know, given ten years, they'll get that to
do that because of the technology and the cost. So
it just not practical. Hey, Ron, less piece of email
(15:40):
today or list of this hour. This comes to us
from Mark Ron. I've been listened to you since the
early days on New York Radio. Thanks for all the
useful information you've shared. I have a twenty seventeen day
Tucson with about forty five thousand miles on it. Here's
another common story. I've been pretty happy about it, but
I've also heard your warnings. Hunday recently extended one hundred
thousand mile WARRANTYED one hundred and fifty. I'd be looking
(16:00):
to replace it or are the things I could do
to prevent some of the problems? Also, do you think
that the current model is okay to buy? Thanks for
your help. Mark originally from New Jersey but now on
Rhode Island. You know what, Mark, this is a problem
for Hyundai, these engines just don't seem to be holding up.
And I you know, you can do your oil changes
on time. I've had people that do all their maintenance
do the oil changes on time, and the engines still
(16:21):
come apart. So there's a reliability problem here. And I
know Hyundai's working on this, and to their credit, they're
extending the mileage on the warranty and they're trying to
replace everybody's engines. But you know, brother, it ain't easy.
You know, it's a lot of work. It's they've got
a you know, they've got a few things that they
have to take care of, and the sheer volume. I
(16:42):
talk to guys in Hundai dealerships to tell me they've
got anywhere, depending upon the dealership, they've got anywhere from
fifteen to twenty two cars apart and any one time
with engines pulled. Do I think it's worthwhile to get
rid of now if you can get a good price
for it, if you want to get rid of it,
you know, it's because it'll be cost versus replacement costs
versus you know, what's the aggravation factor. Like I said,
(17:06):
there's more than a few bulletins about this from Hyundai.
You can go down and talk to your local Hondai dealer,
which you probably should because if you're if you own
a Hundai and you think you've got, you know, the
four cylinder that's got the engine problem, you may want
to go down there and talk to them because they'll
tell you proper procedure if you are you know, if
you're again, if you are an owner of a Hyundai
(17:28):
and you're doing oil changes, I don't care if you're
doing them on your own, if you're going to the
local quick Loube, if you're going to your regular mechanic,
if you're going to the dealer, they'll have a copy
of it, but have some kind of records of oil
changes because when those engines fail, and Mark I say
this to you and everybody else, when those engines fail,
they want to see oil change interval, you know, copies,
They want to know how often in between, and they're
(17:51):
doing that obviously. If you know, all of a sudden,
you can't produce an oil change for fifteen thousand miles,
that's their out. You know, they get out of it.
They don't have to deal with it. So you know,
if you can do if you can produce receipts. That's
what they're looking for. But as far as getting rid
of the car, I don't know. You know, I might
(18:11):
get rid of it for other reasons. I might get
rid of it for that. It all depends on what
kind of shape the rest of it's in and what's available.
What would you buy? I appreciate the email. Keep on trucking.
I'm wanting any of the car Doctor. I'm back right
after this. I coming by right up with Welcome back
(18:44):
the Car Doctor. Actual, let's say the social media conversation
for later. Let's go talk to Dave in Michigan sixteen
Nissan Rogue and some transmission issues. It looks like, Dave,
Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir. How can I help?
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Yes, I bought the car used with about one hundred
and four thousand miles on it. It runs fantastic, it's
great car. I love it, but all of a sudden
it started with some transmission issues. And I've changed the
fluid in it with the recommended NSH Tree liquid or
(19:22):
fluid that the that the company recommends, right, and it
hasn't made any difference.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Right in other words, you're using either original Nissan fluid
or something an aftermarket equivalent to Nissan fluid for that dematic.
I think it is or something like that, correct, right,
And it has it changed the way it operates or
still operates the same it was prior to changing the fluid.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
Still operates the same before, Like I never changed the
fluid in it. I've changed the fluid in it several
times since I've owned it, just to keep it up
because I've heard they've had problems. But it started one
day had a crossed an intersection. It seemed it was
(20:12):
always when i'd get up to operating temperature, when it
when it was cold and stuff, it would shift fine
until it gets to operating temperature. Then all of a
sudden I'd go to cross an intersection. It's like the
axles were shaken up and down and from rear to front,
and then it started. The would rev way up to
(20:38):
like five thousand RPMs on its own, come back down. Yeah,
it was slipping.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
And who services this vehicle, Dave, a dealer or a
private You do your own.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
No, I do my own, many many many years ago.
I taught automotive technology before they got so technical. And
so for oil changes, breaks and things like that. I
still do that myself.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Do you have a scan tool?
Speaker 5 (21:13):
I don't, my grandson does. I took the one day
when I had it in town, before it started acting
up and the check engine light was on, I had
it scanned in an automotive shop that I buy a
lot of parts at. And the scan that came up
was a PO eight one code, which when I looked
(21:37):
it up, was to do with the transmission pressure sensor
or fluid pressure sensor.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Right, zero eight forty one? Yes, okay, right?
Speaker 5 (21:52):
And so then I had somebody I questioned whether or
not the computer to be cleared of that code before
it would correct itself. So I had had him eliminate
that code out of there. The engine lights stayed off
and so on and so forth, but it didn't make
(22:16):
any difference in the shifting.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Okay, what kind of what kind of scandal does your grant?
I think you said, your grandson? What kind of scandal
does your grandson have? Is it generic? Obed two? Kind
of going by your make model, you.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Know, I'm not sure what he has. The one that
the parts place had, they said, was just an average
scan tool. So then I took it to an ahead.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Good, no, go ahead, you had finished your thought.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
I took it to another guy who's a mechanic for
a long time and had him check it, and he
saw all kinds of codes that were there from a
long time ago. I had, you know, I had a
battery failure, the all alternator, it failed at one time,
and so he cleared some of that stuff out of there,
(23:05):
and then he cleared the the codes so that the
engine light was off and it's still off. But I
can't drive the car anyplace, right, And when I tried
to back it up the driveway after leaving his place,
which was two miles away, I couldn't even I lost reverse.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
All right, So this probably needs a trans as much
as you don't want to hear that. And I understand that,
all right.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
I know that's what I was. You know what I
could come up with also?
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Well, and I'll tell you why. The P zero eight
forty one usually results in one of two things. It's
either a fluid issue, low fluid, dirty fluid, tired fluid,
fluid filled with debris, which brings the question where did
debris come from? Okay, or the trans is failed internally.
The reason I'm asking about scan tools. Is you can
(23:55):
go in and look, all right, eight forty one is
a fluid pressure sensor switch are they'll command the transmission
to They'll say, hey, go to fifty percent duty cycle
to apply the band to allow the transmission to operate.
They'll tell it fifty percent and then they'll look for
you know, there's actual and commanded. You know, command says
(24:18):
do this. Actual is what comes out with a good
year make model scan tool, something that's you know, the
equivalent of the factory scan tool. You can look at
actual and commanded, so you know it's it's the old analogy.
I told you kids, I told you to go upstairs
and clean your room, and I went upstairs in your
room wasn't clean. Guess what you need a transmission? You
(24:39):
know it's it's that. So I mean you could you
could go do that and prove that. The reason I
was asking who works on this because Nissan, depending upon
your relationship with the dealer or wherever you're taking it
for service, Nissan did have some extended warranties. I believe
by sixteen they had stopped. I think they were more
(25:01):
fourteen and down, you know, going into the thirteen's, twelves,
elevens and so on. But I know Nissan had extended
some of the warranties on these CVT transmissions up to
ten years, one hundred and fifty thousand miles. I just
don't know where the year break was where they stopped
doing that, But it might be worth a phone call
to the dealer to say, hey, you know I bought
(25:21):
one of these things. Here's what it is. Because I
don't quote me on this, and please don't faint, but
I think you're going to find that that trans is
somewhere between six and seven grand installed. Not a cheap
not a cheap unit. You know, it's it's at least
worth it to go down there and have a conversation
and maybe you know, you can kind of finesse him
(25:43):
into hey, if I buy the I if I pay
for the part, well you guys provide the labor. Since
it's such a known problem. Will that get you anywhere?
I don't know, but you'll feel better about it at
least when you get to pay the credit card bill
next month.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
You know, I did get a letter from about a
year ago, right, and uh, this was from the manufacturer
about the problem and they extended it to a certain
amount of miles, and then when I talked to the factory,
they said, oh, no, yours is past it. So there's
nothing we can do for you. So, because that was
(26:19):
before the problem started, right, So I but so I
know they're out. I've talked to the dealer about that
sensor and it's and they say it's in the valve body,
in the valve bodies almost two thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Well then, and to take out the valve body and
to go through all that. How many miles are on
the car now, Dave?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
One hundred and ninety two undred, Dave, you.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Got to buy a transmission. You're done, I know it. Yeah,
you got You got twenty thousand miles on a transmission
that likely failed at the one twenty mark. You know
you kind of you kind of nursed it all this way. Uh.
The other thing to be aware of is and it
was more the pathfinders, but I did see it occasionally
on the rogues where the radiators had internal trans cooler
(27:07):
issues and the but usually those failed calamitously, very quickly.
The fact that you were able to nurse this thing
for another seventy eighty thousand miles. Probably not, but you
may want to think about if you invest in a radiator.
I'm sorry, you invest in a transmission. You may want
to invest in a radiator too, because that's seven to
(27:28):
one eight years old, two hundred thousand miles, and you
don't want to put a six seven thousand dollars transmission
in it and then have the radiator fail and cause
a problem as a result of the trans fluid getting
contaminated with colon.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
So how do you feel about an external cooler? For yeah?
Why not? Sure?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Why not? I? And you know what we I've seen
quite a few of those where they'll bypass the factory cooler.
But you know, obviously it needs a cooler, but first
you got to get a transmission in, kiddo, all right?
So yeah, you know, Unfortunately I wish I had a
better answer for you.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
I was thinking about it. I've been this has been
just tearing me apart for several weeks now, and I thought, well,
maybe you know, maybe there was something I'm missing.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Well, no, listen, I can I can convince you to
I can convince you to put a trans in it?
Real easy or not? All right, have you priced a
new vehicle yet.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
Well I haven't. I still owe over five thousand on
this one, oh, Dave, And I'm unfortunately, Oh I know, Oh.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Dave, I'm so sorry. Yeah, but listen, I can make
you feel better about it. Go go go price a
new Go price a new vehicle. You know it's it's
it's just that simple, all right, because I think you're
gonna find although you know now you're going to be
into this vehicle not five thousand, You're going to be
into this vehicle twelve thousand. And you know at two
(28:56):
hundred thousand miles, you do have to play what if?
You know what? What if?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Is? Right? Oh?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, you know what if the engine fails? What will
you do next? So sometimes you're better off punting. Maybe
there's a deal out there where you can purchase a
used vehicle and roll your debt into the next one.
I'm not sure, but you know, there might be some
better financial alternatives versus you know, just you know, doing
it that way. And so but anyway, let me go, Dave,
(29:24):
I got to pull over. I appreciate your call, and
I appreciate you being here for us. We're glad to
help you anyway we can. Let us know what you decide.
We can talk about it on are at another time.
All right, Kitto, You'll be well, you'd be well. I'm
running any of the Card Doctor. We're back right after this.
(29:49):
Welcome back, I'm running the Card Doctor. Let's two for
a quarter, Dave writes, and Hey, run twenty ten Cadillac
Escalade with a sticky slip yoke on the drive shift.
After breaking to a stop and loading these suspension there's
a pop coming from the slip yoke when taking off
from a stop. I've greased it several times and the
problem comes back. I did research and want your opinion
about the nickel plated slip yoke. Will this solved the
problem long term? I've got an older Chevy truck and
(30:11):
i never had this issue. Dave, be careful of the
nickel plated slip yoke. My understanding is that this slip
yoke noise, this this popping sound, is because of how
the splines are interfacing to the output shaft of the
trans So when you say nickel plated slip yoke, I'm
thinking you're telling me around the outside, all right, which
(30:35):
isn't a bad thing. But the problem we're trying to
circumvent is on the inside of the yoke, So are
we talking about the same thing here? Are you saying
it's nickel plated on the inside of the yoke. I
have seen different plated, different treated yokes solve this problem,
and then they're put on with a specific grease. So
then your next question would be, whoever's making or providing
(30:55):
this yoke, is there a specific grease to solve the problem?
That's that's worked it out. And keep in mind too,
you want to make sure that the bushing and the
tail shaft of the transmission is not worn out, creating
an issue as well. Sometimes if this is an older vehicle,
it's thirteen years old, I don't know what the mileage is,
but play in the support bushing there can create this
issue as well. Last it's not common, but I have
(31:18):
seen it happen where problems with rear suspension, rubber bushings,
control arms, things like that will create erratic drive shaft movement,
shall we say it like that that causes this popping
noise as well, So just just be aware of that.
Second one two thousand and one Pontiac Grand Prix with
a three to eight V six runs rough obviously missing
on one or more cylinders, pulled coded and showed a
(31:40):
mass airflow out of tolerance, sprayed it with cleaner and
that code did not come back and now runs great
until it warms up. Then how does it run? It
just doesn't run well? You know, good fuel pressure, suspect
the ignition, pulled it out, checked all three cools of
mounting plate, took it over part store. How to test
to check that good? Thoughts? Well, yeah, it does it
run the same? Does it still run like it's got
a misfire? You know there are ways because this is
(32:03):
an older distributist ignition vehicle. You know with the three coils? Uh,
you know, where does it report the misfire? Can you
swap those three coils around? They were all the same.
Can you move I think they were numbered. I think
was one in six, two and five and no three
and six, two and five, one and four. Can you
(32:23):
move those around and make the misfollow the coil. I've
seen more than a few bad coils where they were
tested good, but they just didn't work. So, you know,
the outo part stores checking for circuit continuity, it's not
really able to do performance if it's the test are
I'm thinking of it's a bench test, you know, it
could still be something in the module. And for that matter,
(32:44):
do we have a crank sensor problem, do we have
other sensor related issues? What sort of scan tool do
you have? The fact that it changed with mass airflow?
And this is what caught my eye here real quick.
The fact that it changed with mass airflow may makes
me think this is a mass airflow sensor problem or
part of the problem. Can you do can you get
(33:05):
it to run good enough cold? Can you do a
calculated load test wide open throttle down the road, put
your foot through the headlight. This calculated load hit one
hundred percent. If it falls short, chances are this could
also be part of the problem or the problem a
bad mass airflow sensor. Two good problems, Dave. They'd be
great to talk about on the phone. Give me a call.
I'm running ady in the car doctor. We'll be back
right after this. Welcome back, I'm running of the car doctor,
(33:44):
busy hour, right. I appreciate the calls. I appreciate you
guys reaching out and the comments and the questions. I'm
stunned at Dave. I think it was Dave with the
CVT transmission at two hundred thousand miles. Dude, that needs
a transmission. You're done. I'm just not quite sure what
I would do with the five thousand dollars upside down
on the loan for the vehicle. But I, you know,
(34:05):
we're going through this. At the shop, Danny's brother Tony
found a nineteen ninety six Dodge pickup truck twenty five
hundred worth a five to nine comings diesel stick. And
I don't know, Tony's one of those wild kids that
he just always finds these deals. And he was all
hot to trot and all ready to go until he
brought the truck to the shop, and I went through
(34:26):
it and looked at the front end and gave him
a detailed list of you know, the ninety eight hundred
dollars worth of work that this truck that's not worth
two thousand dollars needs. Well, you know, supposedly the truck's
worth a lot of money. I don't think so. It's
almost thirty years old. We can't get half the parts
for it from Chrysler anymore. A lot of it's going
to be half the market. And as I said to Tony,
(34:47):
and as I as I was trying to say to Dave,
there comes a moment where it's you got a fish
and cut bait. I mean it's time to you know,
we're done, get out of it, you know, but to
go deep. I don't know if I'd go deeper into
a two hundred thousand miles seven year old Nissan rogue
with a transmission that needs to be replaced, and what
shape is the rest of it unless you're ready to
(35:09):
make the commitment, because you've always got to play what if?
What if? This goes? So till the next time I'm
running aiding the car doctor. Thanks for being here till
the next time. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
See you
Ron an Aanian that they're taking his vehicle to a
testless service center, who was quoted, are you ready.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Sixteen thousand dollars that's being told the entire battery would
needs to replace him So he reached out to Bernoid,
who was able to fix the small part using a
breast fitting. If you find a home improvement store for
only seven hundred dollars twenty three times less than test.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Tha's quotes, so I guess we're going to be going
a home depot to get our cars fixed. In the future,
the Car Doctor, we'll start fixing more Australian cars a lot.
I could say, oh yeah, you never know, but the
phone anyway, let's hop along. You get that kangaroo hop
Australia segue like a led below.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Welcome to the radio home of ron an Inian, 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.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Phone and call in.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
The garage doors.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Are open, but I am here to take your calls
at eighty five five five six oh ninety nine hundred
and now pee running. Hey, welcome aboard, Thanks for us,
thanks for stopping by this this day and this weekend
and this day of the week whenever you're listening, and
we're happy to be here with you. My name is
Ron Andaniy and the Car Doctor. I'm here for you
(01:14):
at eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
That number is twenty four to seven, I should point out.
And you can call us anytime, day or night. We're
not when we're not on the air. We're live on
the air Saturdays two to four pm East Coast time,
and you can call eight five five five six zero
nine nine zero zero, leave a message and we will
call you back and get you in the Q for
the next live broadcast. And we'd like you to call in,
(01:35):
you know, we really would. We'll be gentle, we promise.
This is real easy. You call up, ask a question,
we'll give you an answer. We'll help you fix your car.
You know, it's it's it's. We would rather answer questions
here than by email because when we do it one
on one, it's a time element. You know, there's there's
only so much of me to go around, and its
(01:55):
benefits everybody. If we ask the question up by ourn air,
which is why sometimes you'll hear me read emails on
air so I can answer them. And you know, everybody
gets to hear, hey, here's here's a solution to a problem.
So anyway, that's what this is about. Keep in mind
I should point this out. You know, I guess as
summer's winding down now, you know we're coming up on
Labor Day weekends soon. You know, one thirty four refrigerant
(02:19):
there's going to be an announcement in October. I'm told
that one thirty four refrigerant there's there may be a
mandatory cut in production and there may be a ban
coming I'm hearing rumors of. So you know, just be aware.
If you're into air conditioning and you know, charging refrigerant
that kind of thing, and you do your own you
(02:40):
may want to put someone thirty four away because you
may not be able to find it come next season.
You know, it's the government's clamping down for whatever reason.
And you know they and the weird thing is they
haven't announced the replacement yet, which makes no sense to me.
They're talking about a ban or cut some production, but
they haven't announced a replacement refrigerant. So It makes me
(03:02):
wonder what we're going to say, makes me wonder what's
going to happen. I want to talk about tires, tires, tires,
tires as Jerry Tire. Jerry would always say, you know, tires.
We're having problems getting parts on a lot of things,
but tires seem to be contentious. I think is the
word big word, college word, you know. Stevie B Regular
(03:22):
customer OA Jeep Grand Cherokee s R T eight, I
believe it is. You know, the hot rod version of
the Grand Cherokee was in this week and he has
run flats on his jeep, which a lot of the
Jeeps do, a lot of you know, the s R
T eight's the fancy jeeps do because of exhaust configuration,
chassis configuration and so on, and you know, it's a
neat vehicle. It's you know, it's a hot rod jeep.
(03:45):
And the front tires are a different size than the
rear tires and that's the way it came factory. But
they're run flats and they've never been cheap, but now
they're getting they're not just getting more expensive, they're also
getting very very hard to find. Local supply house didn't
have them. The second tier local supply house didn't have them.
(04:08):
We had a resort to going online, and at that point,
you know, it was a question of availability. It would
take a week to get them, and the tires were
somewhere around the neighborhood if I remember right, of about
twenty four hundred dollars for a set of tires and
they're not even on the car yet. And you know,
part of the issue is because as the tires dwindle
(04:29):
and availability, you know, supply and demand, right, price goes
up when there's less tires to sell. And we see
that on everything, you know, tires, brakes, filters, filters or
another one, not to go off the subject, but real
quick filters, air and cabin filters. We're seeing fifty dollars
air filters now. You know, we buy filters on Monday,
(04:51):
we go to reorder them on Friday, and the filter
you know, went up nine bucks in a week. Not
all the time, but just enough of them out there.
It makes you wonder what's going on in the filter business.
That's that's definitely a problem. But Stevie going back to
Steve and his tires, so you know, it's a run
flat issue now Steve has a nail in the left
(05:12):
rear tire and he didn't even realize it until he
pointed it out to him. He's been driving around like
this with the TPMs light on and he kept looking
at the tires, going, well, they don't go down. You
know it must be you know, it must be a
defective sensor. And I said, no, Steve, the reason the
tire doesn't go down is because it's a run flat.
It's got a stiffer sidewall. It's designed to support the vehicle.
(05:33):
It's doing what it's supposed to do, which you have
to realize that, all right, as the vehicle owner, you
have to realize that the vehicle. You're not going to
see a flat tire. With a run flat, it's always
going to be inflated. It's always it's it's designed to
run without air. So Stevie needs tires. I'm back to that.
(05:54):
He found them. They're going to be about two grand
and it's going to take ten days to get they're
on order. We should see them this week coming. But
imagine you're stuck on the side of the road with
a run flat and it doesn't work like that. You know,
you need a tire, and then what do you do.
In Stevie's case, he's driving a classic car. You know,
it's you know, he might as well be driving a
(06:17):
seventy Corvette at least, you know, it's got a little
more style to it. But you know, it's parts are
an issue on older cars. Now tires are too. We
had it's not just the not just the older cars.
We had a twenty nineteen Toyota Siana this week. Also, Matthew,
who if you recall a couple of months back, I
told you the story about how the poor guy took
(06:39):
his family down on vacation, and I believe the car
was stolen in Maryland or Delaware. I forget where. They
parked it in a hotel parking lot, and they came
out the next day and it was gone. And when
they got back, what was left of it would fit
inside of a coffee can because they had sent the
car through the crusher. Well, Matthew has purchased a certified
pre owned toyotas seeing it, which is a nice vehicle.
(07:01):
I like to see in this you know, I think
they I think they do a great job, not cheap,
but what is today? I believe this one the way
it's decked out and equipped. It's a seventy thousand and
seventy two thousand dollars vehicle. Well, he's had a couple
of months now and he this week called me up
and he said, hey, Ronnie, I've got a tire pressure
(07:22):
light on. I'm not quite sure what to do, and
I said, drop it off, Matt, let me take a look.
You know, we we'll make sure you're safe. We want
to be safe. It's tires, and we'll tell you what
we see. So he dropped it off, and we, you know,
we looked at it, and yeah, the left rear tire
had eighteen pounds of air in it, so it clearly
had a leak. I pulled it off and I got
to use the tank. I love the tank, the water tank.
(07:45):
I well, you know what, it's the cheapest diagnostic tool
I've got and it works great. It works every time.
All I have to do is fill it with water.
So I, you know, inflated a tire and you know,
put it in the water tank, and sure enough, in
a about five or six minutes. It took a while
to settle down because it creates a lot of foam
and frouth. When you put it in the you know,
(08:07):
you put it in the in the tank. We we
waited a couple of minutes and let it clear, and
you could see there was a crack in the sidewall
where the sidewall met the you know, the face of
the tire, the side of the tire that actually rides
on the road, and the tire itself is coming apart.
Here's the dilemma. The tire that was on the vehicle.
This vehicle has had two tires replaced at a clip,
(08:29):
not four, and that can be a problem. You know,
all wheel drive like this Siena, but any all wheel
drive vehicle, you know, you have to worry about diameter
of tire for equality, for balance in the system, and
it's really best to try and keep them as close
close to each other as possible, which is why, you know,
rotating tires is a great thing, right it. You know,
(08:51):
if you rotate tires moving around, it helps with wear
and helps promote tire life and things like that. So,
you know, in the case of Matt, he had you know,
the two rear tires were newer. They had about seven
thirty seconds of tread on them. A new tire has
ten thirty seconds of tread, so they were thirty percent worn.
The front tires, though, were at two maybe three thirty
(09:14):
seconds of tread. They clearly needed to be replaced. Unfortunately,
both front tires weren't on the back because it was
the left rear, one of the better tires so to speak,
that had the damage to the sidewall. It gets expensive
four run flats. The run flats for that car were
three hundred and twenty bucks apiece, something crazy like that.
(09:36):
By the time you do some labor, by the time
you put an alignment on it, you've got a telephone
number for a set of tires that you know, twenty
years ago was half the price or a third the
price of adjusted for inflation. I think the important takeaway
for you is to be aware that your vehicle may
have run flats. They're being used more and more. There
is a degree of difficulty in repairing them. You know,
(09:59):
there is is a conversation right now that I don't
think we have a good answer on yet, where the
industry talks about can a run flat be safely repaired?
We should actually do that. We could actually get somebody
from a tire rep or a tire company to come
on and talk to us about repairing run flats and
the practicality of it. Can that be done? So I'll
have to make a note of that too. We can
(10:20):
think of the call and you know it would be
interesting just talking about proper ways to repair tires. But
my point becomes, if you have no spare, if you've
got a Siena and you've got a third row seat,
a rearwood facing seat or a forward facing seat, third bro,
you don't have a spare. Know that, and you know
(10:40):
a lot of vehicles are like that today. And my
concern with it is when I every once in a
while you run into a run flat tire that gouges
the sidewall, It tears the side wall up, and it's
the tire is not strong enough at that point to
support the way to the vehicle seat. You need a spare,
which you don't have, so just run flat tires. Ah
(11:01):
technology what it's doing for us, so just be aware.
I just want to give you a little tire talk
this day as we kick off the car doctor. I'm
running eighty in the car doctor. I'm here at eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'll
be back right after this don't go away.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Whether it's a little red Corvette or you go. You've
come to the right place to get that car fixed.
We're on an eighty in the Car Doctor eight five
five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 5 (11:34):
Now back to Ron.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Hey and we are back running the Car Doctor at
your service. Great email here from Maurice. Maurice writes in Hey, Ron,
I listened to your show in Tucson on kV I
Saturday mornings between five a and seven eighths recorded from
the previous week and delayed, but it's still a great
show and I enjoy it. Thank you, Maurice. I appreciate
that I ran across this article and I thought you'd
be interested in it if you haven't read it already.
This guy, unfortunately brought brought into the choir everyone running
(11:59):
to the next great hope of the industry. As you've
correctly noted, in my opinion, we're moving too fast on
this Elon Musk Award winning marketing idea, and the infrastructure
of the country is definitely not ready for these vehicles
on a mass scale. And he goes on to talk
about there was a recent article that came out about
someone that had purchased a newer Ford ev F one
(12:23):
P fifty lightning pickup truck. And it's a sad story
in a way. He took his family out on vacation,
the owner of the truck, and he traveled, you know,
I think fourteen hundred miles from Canada down through into
the United States, and he couldn't get anywhere. He couldn't,
he couldn't, he couldn't find charging, and when he found charging,
(12:44):
it was more expensive than gassing up. And there were
issues with the vehicle long term, and he ended up
having to drop it off at the Ford dealer, at
a Ford dealer, renting a gas version of the vehicle,
you know, to continue the journey, and then pick it
up on the way back, writes, and I find it
interesting that the only clear thinking industry CEO is mister Toyota,
(13:05):
who says they'll stay with hybrids for now, you know.
And I think that's clear thinking. I think hybrids are
the answer. I think hybrids do provide, you know, a
lot of balance and opportunity for the industry and for
cleaning things up. You know, we see this all the time.
We hear this all the time, that you know, the
infrastructure the infrastructure, and I don't get it. The emperor
has no clothes, and yet we continue to go in
(13:27):
this direction. To continue with Maurice's letter, many of Toyota's
shareholders want to run them out on a rail.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I haven't seen that. I maybe, but you know. But
for these statements, yet Forge Farley bets the future of
his company, and nav is getting rid of internal combustion
way too early in the game. What's wrong with CEOs?
They seem embarrassed because their vehicles aren't as sexy as
a tesla, even though it lists fifty percent of the
country can't afford a tesla. Here's the most important part
(13:52):
of Maurice's letter. I got to tell you this. This
is why I read this. This is the hook. What
about embracing Henry Ford's idea of creating a vehicle for
the masses, a vehicle that people can afford and is
a dependable vehicle. It seems that Toyota Motor Company is
only one that isn't totally in the process worrying about
the future of vehicle ownership like that. Let's proceed slowly,
(14:14):
carefully and thoughtfully. He concludes, about stepping into the swift
water of EV ownership, which the gentleman in this article
spent off a small fortune having to learn, unfortunately the
hard way. These vehicles are not quite so greatful the
planet that they seem to be, and at the moment
only only good for short, medium range travel. Faithful listener,
Maurice from Tucson, Arizona. You know, Maurice, solid points and
(14:36):
I think it's something we have to address at some point,
and I think we will. You know, we have Mark
Millson from time to time. He's, in my opinion, the
industry expert on what it's going to take to bring
EV to the light that it is and to or isn't.
And you know, as Mark says, you give it a
couple of years and you're going to start to see
people back down because it can't be done. You know,
(14:57):
I'm all about listen, I'm all about clean up energy
in the environment, and I was worried about the planet
as the next guy. You know, if there's something here
to worry about, but the legislation, you can't legislate it
and regulate it into existence and expect it to work.
And you hear all these stories, you know, I love
how you read the stories. You know such and such
companies coming out with a battery that will charge in
(15:19):
ninety seconds and go four times the distance. And then
when you read the story, Yeah, they're working on that,
and they've got a rough prototype that doesn't quite do that,
but you know, given ten years, they'll get that to
do that because of the technology and the cost. So
it just not practical. Hey, Ron, less piece of email
(15:40):
today or list of this hour. This comes to us
from Mark Ron. I've been listened to you since the
early days on New York Radio. Thanks for all the
useful information you've shared. I have a twenty seventeen day
Tucson with about forty five thousand miles on it. Here's
another common story. I've been pretty happy about it, but
I've also heard your warnings. Hunday recently extended one hundred
thousand mile WARRANTYED one hundred and fifty. I'd be looking
(16:00):
to replace it or are the things I could do
to prevent some of the problems? Also, do you think
that the current model is okay to buy? Thanks for
your help. Mark originally from New Jersey but now on
Rhode Island. You know what, Mark, this is a problem
for Hyundai, these engines just don't seem to be holding up.
And I you know, you can do your oil changes
on time. I've had people that do all their maintenance
do the oil changes on time, and the engines still
(16:21):
come apart. So there's a reliability problem here. And I
know Hyundai's working on this, and to their credit, they're
extending the mileage on the warranty and they're trying to
replace everybody's engines. But you know, brother, it ain't easy.
You know, it's a lot of work. It's they've got
a you know, they've got a few things that they
have to take care of, and the sheer volume. I
(16:42):
talk to guys in Hundai dealerships to tell me they've
got anywhere, depending upon the dealership, they've got anywhere from
fifteen to twenty two cars apart and any one time
with engines pulled. Do I think it's worthwhile to get
rid of now if you can get a good price
for it, if you want to get rid of it,
you know, it's because it'll be cost versus replacement costs
versus you know, what's the aggravation factor. Like I said,
(17:06):
there's more than a few bulletins about this from Hyundai.
You can go down and talk to your local Hondai dealer,
which you probably should because if you're if you own
a Hundai and you think you've got, you know, the
four cylinder that's got the engine problem, you may want
to go down there and talk to them because they'll
tell you proper procedure if you are you know, if
you're again, if you are an owner of a Hyundai
(17:28):
and you're doing oil changes, I don't care if you're
doing them on your own, if you're going to the
local quick Loube, if you're going to your regular mechanic,
if you're going to the dealer, they'll have a copy
of it, but have some kind of records of oil
changes because when those engines fail, and Mark I say
this to you and everybody else, when those engines fail,
they want to see oil change interval, you know, copies,
They want to know how often in between, and they're
(17:51):
doing that obviously. If you know, all of a sudden,
you can't produce an oil change for fifteen thousand miles,
that's their out. You know, they get out of it.
They don't have to deal with it. So you know,
if you can do if you can produce receipts. That's
what they're looking for. But as far as getting rid
of the car, I don't know. You know, I might
(18:11):
get rid of it for other reasons. I might get
rid of it for that. It all depends on what
kind of shape the rest of it's in and what's available.
What would you buy? I appreciate the email. Keep on trucking.
I'm wanting any of the car Doctor. I'm back right
after this. I coming by right up with Welcome back
(18:44):
the Car Doctor. Actual, let's say the social media conversation
for later. Let's go talk to Dave in Michigan sixteen
Nissan Rogue and some transmission issues. It looks like, Dave,
Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir. How can I help?
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Yes, I bought the car used with about one hundred
and four thousand miles on it. It runs fantastic, it's
great car. I love it, but all of a sudden
it started with some transmission issues. And I've changed the
fluid in it with the recommended NSH Tree liquid or
(19:22):
fluid that the that the company recommends, right, and it
hasn't made any difference.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Right in other words, you're using either original Nissan fluid
or something an aftermarket equivalent to Nissan fluid for that dematic.
I think it is or something like that, correct, right,
And it has it changed the way it operates or
still operates the same it was prior to changing the fluid.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
Still operates the same before, Like I never changed the
fluid in it. I've changed the fluid in it several
times since I've owned it, just to keep it up
because I've heard they've had problems. But it started one
day had a crossed an intersection. It seemed it was
(20:12):
always when i'd get up to operating temperature, when it
when it was cold and stuff, it would shift fine
until it gets to operating temperature. Then all of a
sudden I'd go to cross an intersection. It's like the
axles were shaken up and down and from rear to front,
and then it started. The would rev way up to
(20:38):
like five thousand RPMs on its own, come back down. Yeah,
it was slipping.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
And who services this vehicle, Dave, a dealer or a
private You do your own.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
No, I do my own, many many many years ago.
I taught automotive technology before they got so technical. And
so for oil changes, breaks and things like that. I
still do that myself.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Do you have a scan tool?
Speaker 5 (21:13):
I don't, my grandson does. I took the one day
when I had it in town, before it started acting
up and the check engine light was on, I had
it scanned in an automotive shop that I buy a
lot of parts at. And the scan that came up
was a PO eight one code, which when I looked
(21:37):
it up, was to do with the transmission pressure sensor
or fluid pressure sensor.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Right, zero eight forty one? Yes, okay, right?
Speaker 5 (21:52):
And so then I had somebody I questioned whether or
not the computer to be cleared of that code before
it would correct itself. So I had had him eliminate
that code out of there. The engine lights stayed off
and so on and so forth, but it didn't make
(22:16):
any difference in the shifting.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Okay, what kind of what kind of scandal does your grant?
I think you said, your grandson? What kind of scandal
does your grandson have? Is it generic? Obed two? Kind
of going by your make model, you.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Know, I'm not sure what he has. The one that
the parts place had, they said, was just an average
scan tool. So then I took it to an ahead.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Good, no, go ahead, you had finished your thought.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
I took it to another guy who's a mechanic for
a long time and had him check it, and he
saw all kinds of codes that were there from a
long time ago. I had, you know, I had a
battery failure, the all alternator, it failed at one time,
and so he cleared some of that stuff out of there,
(23:05):
and then he cleared the the codes so that the
engine light was off and it's still off. But I
can't drive the car anyplace, right, And when I tried
to back it up the driveway after leaving his place,
which was two miles away, I couldn't even I lost reverse.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
All right, So this probably needs a trans as much
as you don't want to hear that. And I understand that,
all right.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
I know that's what I was. You know what I
could come up with also?
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Well, and I'll tell you why. The P zero eight
forty one usually results in one of two things. It's
either a fluid issue, low fluid, dirty fluid, tired fluid,
fluid filled with debris, which brings the question where did
debris come from? Okay, or the trans is failed internally.
The reason I'm asking about scan tools. Is you can
(23:55):
go in and look, all right, eight forty one is
a fluid pressure sensor switch are they'll command the transmission
to They'll say, hey, go to fifty percent duty cycle
to apply the band to allow the transmission to operate.
They'll tell it fifty percent and then they'll look for
you know, there's actual and commanded. You know, command says
(24:18):
do this. Actual is what comes out with a good
year make model scan tool, something that's you know, the
equivalent of the factory scan tool. You can look at
actual and commanded, so you know it's it's the old analogy.
I told you kids, I told you to go upstairs
and clean your room, and I went upstairs in your
room wasn't clean. Guess what you need a transmission? You
(24:39):
know it's it's that. So I mean you could you
could go do that and prove that. The reason I
was asking who works on this because Nissan, depending upon
your relationship with the dealer or wherever you're taking it
for service, Nissan did have some extended warranties. I believe
by sixteen they had stopped. I think they were more
(25:01):
fourteen and down, you know, going into the thirteen's, twelves,
elevens and so on. But I know Nissan had extended
some of the warranties on these CVT transmissions up to
ten years, one hundred and fifty thousand miles. I just
don't know where the year break was where they stopped
doing that, But it might be worth a phone call
to the dealer to say, hey, you know I bought
(25:21):
one of these things. Here's what it is. Because I
don't quote me on this, and please don't faint, but
I think you're going to find that that trans is
somewhere between six and seven grand installed. Not a cheap
not a cheap unit. You know, it's it's at least
worth it to go down there and have a conversation
and maybe you know, you can kind of finesse him
(25:43):
into hey, if I buy the I if I pay
for the part, well you guys provide the labor. Since
it's such a known problem. Will that get you anywhere?
I don't know, but you'll feel better about it at
least when you get to pay the credit card bill
next month.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
You know, I did get a letter from about a
year ago, right, and uh, this was from the manufacturer
about the problem and they extended it to a certain
amount of miles, and then when I talked to the factory,
they said, oh, no, yours is past it. So there's
nothing we can do for you. So, because that was
(26:19):
before the problem started, right, So I but so I
know they're out. I've talked to the dealer about that
sensor and it's and they say it's in the valve body,
in the valve bodies almost two thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Well then, and to take out the valve body and
to go through all that. How many miles are on
the car now, Dave?
Speaker 5 (26:42):
One hundred and ninety two undred, Dave, you.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Got to buy a transmission. You're done, I know it. Yeah,
you got You got twenty thousand miles on a transmission
that likely failed at the one twenty mark. You know
you kind of you kind of nursed it all this way. Uh.
The other thing to be aware of is and it
was more the pathfinders, but I did see it occasionally
on the rogues where the radiators had internal trans cooler
(27:07):
issues and the but usually those failed calamitously, very quickly.
The fact that you were able to nurse this thing
for another seventy eighty thousand miles. Probably not, but you
may want to think about if you invest in a radiator.
I'm sorry, you invest in a transmission. You may want
to invest in a radiator too, because that's seven to
(27:28):
one eight years old, two hundred thousand miles, and you
don't want to put a six seven thousand dollars transmission
in it and then have the radiator fail and cause
a problem as a result of the trans fluid getting
contaminated with colon.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
So how do you feel about an external cooler? For yeah?
Why not? Sure?
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Why not? I? And you know what we I've seen
quite a few of those where they'll bypass the factory cooler.
But you know, obviously it needs a cooler, but first
you got to get a transmission in, kiddo, all right?
So yeah, you know, Unfortunately I wish I had a
better answer for you.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
I was thinking about it. I've been this has been
just tearing me apart for several weeks now, and I thought, well,
maybe you know, maybe there was something I'm missing.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Well, no, listen, I can I can convince you to
I can convince you to put a trans in it?
Real easy or not? All right, have you priced a
new vehicle yet.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
Well I haven't. I still owe over five thousand on
this one, oh, Dave, And I'm unfortunately, Oh I know, Oh.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Dave, I'm so sorry. Yeah, but listen, I can make
you feel better about it. Go go go price a
new Go price a new vehicle. You know it's it's
it's just that simple, all right, because I think you're
gonna find although you know now you're going to be
into this vehicle not five thousand, You're going to be
into this vehicle twelve thousand. And you know at two
(28:56):
hundred thousand miles, you do have to play what if?
You know what? What if?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Is? Right? Oh?
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, you know what if the engine fails? What will
you do next? So sometimes you're better off punting. Maybe
there's a deal out there where you can purchase a
used vehicle and roll your debt into the next one.
I'm not sure, but you know, there might be some
better financial alternatives versus you know, just you know, doing
it that way. And so but anyway, let me go, Dave,
(29:24):
I got to pull over. I appreciate your call, and
I appreciate you being here for us. We're glad to
help you anyway we can. Let us know what you decide.
We can talk about it on are at another time.
All right, Kitto, You'll be well, you'd be well. I'm
running any of the Card Doctor. We're back right after this.
(29:49):
Welcome back, I'm running the Card Doctor. Let's two for
a quarter, Dave writes, and Hey, run twenty ten Cadillac
Escalade with a sticky slip yoke on the drive shift.
After breaking to a stop and loading these suspension there's
a pop coming from the slip yoke when taking off
from a stop. I've greased it several times and the
problem comes back. I did research and want your opinion
about the nickel plated slip yoke. Will this solved the
problem long term? I've got an older Chevy truck and
(30:11):
i never had this issue. Dave, be careful of the
nickel plated slip yoke. My understanding is that this slip
yoke noise, this this popping sound, is because of how
the splines are interfacing to the output shaft of the
trans So when you say nickel plated slip yoke, I'm
thinking you're telling me around the outside, all right, which
(30:35):
isn't a bad thing. But the problem we're trying to
circumvent is on the inside of the yoke, So are
we talking about the same thing here? Are you saying
it's nickel plated on the inside of the yoke. I
have seen different plated, different treated yokes solve this problem,
and then they're put on with a specific grease. So
then your next question would be, whoever's making or providing
(30:55):
this yoke, is there a specific grease to solve the problem?
That's that's worked it out. And keep in mind too,
you want to make sure that the bushing and the
tail shaft of the transmission is not worn out, creating
an issue as well. Sometimes if this is an older vehicle,
it's thirteen years old, I don't know what the mileage is,
but play in the support bushing there can create this
issue as well. Last it's not common, but I have
(31:18):
seen it happen where problems with rear suspension, rubber bushings,
control arms, things like that will create erratic drive shaft movement,
shall we say it like that that causes this popping
noise as well, So just just be aware of that.
Second one two thousand and one Pontiac Grand Prix with
a three to eight V six runs rough obviously missing
on one or more cylinders, pulled coded and showed a
(31:40):
mass airflow out of tolerance, sprayed it with cleaner and
that code did not come back and now runs great
until it warms up. Then how does it run? It
just doesn't run well? You know, good fuel pressure, suspect
the ignition, pulled it out, checked all three cools of
mounting plate, took it over part store. How to test
to check that good? Thoughts? Well, yeah, it does it
run the same? Does it still run like it's got
a misfire? You know there are ways because this is
(32:03):
an older distributist ignition vehicle. You know with the three coils? Uh,
you know, where does it report the misfire? Can you
swap those three coils around? They were all the same.
Can you move I think they were numbered. I think
was one in six, two and five and no three
and six, two and five, one and four. Can you
(32:23):
move those around and make the misfollow the coil. I've
seen more than a few bad coils where they were
tested good, but they just didn't work. So, you know,
the outo part stores checking for circuit continuity, it's not
really able to do performance if it's the test are
I'm thinking of it's a bench test, you know, it
could still be something in the module. And for that matter,
(32:44):
do we have a crank sensor problem, do we have
other sensor related issues? What sort of scan tool do
you have? The fact that it changed with mass airflow?
And this is what caught my eye here real quick.
The fact that it changed with mass airflow may makes
me think this is a mass airflow sensor problem or
part of the problem. Can you do can you get
(33:05):
it to run good enough cold? Can you do a
calculated load test wide open throttle down the road, put
your foot through the headlight. This calculated load hit one
hundred percent. If it falls short, chances are this could
also be part of the problem or the problem a
bad mass airflow sensor. Two good problems, Dave. They'd be
great to talk about on the phone. Give me a call.
I'm running ady in the car doctor. We'll be back
right after this. Welcome back, I'm running of the car doctor,
(33:44):
busy hour, right. I appreciate the calls. I appreciate you
guys reaching out and the comments and the questions. I'm
stunned at Dave. I think it was Dave with the
CVT transmission at two hundred thousand miles. Dude, that needs
a transmission. You're done. I'm just not quite sure what
I would do with the five thousand dollars upside down
on the loan for the vehicle. But I, you know,
(34:05):
we're going through this. At the shop, Danny's brother Tony
found a nineteen ninety six Dodge pickup truck twenty five
hundred worth a five to nine comings diesel stick. And
I don't know, Tony's one of those wild kids that
he just always finds these deals. And he was all
hot to trot and all ready to go until he
brought the truck to the shop, and I went through
(34:26):
it and looked at the front end and gave him
a detailed list of you know, the ninety eight hundred
dollars worth of work that this truck that's not worth
two thousand dollars needs. Well, you know, supposedly the truck's
worth a lot of money. I don't think so. It's
almost thirty years old. We can't get half the parts
for it from Chrysler anymore. A lot of it's going
to be half the market. And as I said to Tony,
(34:47):
and as I as I was trying to say to Dave,
there comes a moment where it's you got a fish
and cut bait. I mean it's time to you know,
we're done, get out of it, you know, but to
go deep. I don't know if I'd go deeper into
a two hundred thousand miles seven year old Nissan rogue
with a transmission that needs to be replaced, and what
shape is the rest of it unless you're ready to
(35:09):
make the commitment, because you've always got to play what if?
What if? This goes? So till the next time I'm
running aiding the car doctor. Thanks for being here till
the next time. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
See you
Host
Ron Ananian
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