August 8, 2020 • 35 mins
Ron starts this episode talking about why something breaks by discussing his generator problem this week : takes a call on an 06 F-350 that needs a brake caliper changed, but all the caller can find for brake fluid is synthetic brake fluid : takes a call on a 2000 Ultima with a P0140 downstream O2 sensor code : takes a call on a 98 F-150 that stalls when brought to a stop, particularly in warm weather : takes a call on a 2020 Jeep Wrangler diesel where the caller mounted a winch and wants to discuss the spacers that came with it : takes a call on a 19 Caravan where the caller is wondering if different front seats are available.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ron and Anian, you're driving this plaque two door fifty five.
The guy in the Prius that was in front of
me at the traffic light on the way of the chiropractor,
he saw it coming up. When I pulled up the
stuff behind him, he got so nervous he round the
red light. I think I scared as priss. Prius is
out of the grill of my homor that Carr doctor.
(00:26):
Everybody out there saying why would a gas gage nickel
check engine might turn on. It's part of the emissions package.
Everything's related to emissions. When it comes to that light,
that's all they're concerning about. Welcome to the radio home
of Ron and Anian, the Car Doctor. It's this is
where car owners the world overturned to for their definitive
opinion on automotive repair. If you're a mechanics giving you
(00:48):
a busy signal, pick up the phone and call in
the garage doors are open, but I am here to
take your calls at eight five five five six D
and now he's running. There's always a reason that something breaks.
There's always a story behind it. You know how it
(01:08):
came to be. Maybe it was worn out, maybe it
was just a bad part to begin with. But on
certain things, there's a diagnosis that happens. There's there's a
reason why something fails or why an engine doesn't run right.
And I know that's simplistic, but I'll make the point
this way. My generator broke this week, the generator that
(01:30):
powers the studio. And we've had a generator in the
studio or on the studio backing it up for about
five years now, and it's worked flawlessly. It has been
absolutely spot on. We've actually done the show on generator
a couple of times and you've never even noticed it. Right,
It's it just happens. It's it's there, it works, it
holds everything up, it's it reacts to the the ups
(01:52):
and downs and the electrical demands. It's been flawless. And
this year when we had the big storm here in
the North as well as up and down the Eastern seaboard,
we we had some problems. It started, it ran, we
turn on the air conditioning in the studio because it's
hot in the studio without a c right and it
would struggle and it would just it would wheeze and
(02:14):
gasp and it just didn't work properly. The generator repair
crew came out and good guys, they're they're sharp as attack.
They know what's going on. They went through their diagnostics,
and I'm probably the last guy that you want looking
over your shoulders. I'm standing. I'm kind of watching, like, gee,
what buttons do they head? How do they get that
to happen? What makes that work? That's kind of you.
I'll have to remember that. Maybe I can go in
and pull codes out of my generator. They get a
(02:35):
scan tool hook up to it. Why do they make
a scan tool port for a generator? And part of
the diagnosis came back. They wanted to put the generator
into dealer mode where they can actually measure the output
amperage demand in the I put amperage demand and capacity
what it's putting out, so they can say, hey, how
(02:57):
the the studio is asking for this much and it's
able to give this much. And they couldn't get it
to go into dealer mode. And there's only a few
things that can really do that, and it always comes
back to the controller or the computer itself for the
generator has an issue. So they came back out the
second day and they put the controller in it and
it worked. It was able to go into dealer mode
(03:18):
and we were able to look at you know, current
output in demand and voltage and all kinds of other
neat and really great things. But if you turned on
the air conditioning for the studio, the generator still died.
And now everybody's scratching their head and they're all standing
there and I'm thinking about it, and they're thinking about it,
and you know what would make an engine die under load,
(03:39):
And I just set off that t I said, gee,
if this was a car, I think it has a
bad fuel pump. And Mike, the lead tech that was
working on this, leaned over the back of the generator
and looked, there's a little valve in the back. There's
a switch valve that the generator will run on, as
(03:59):
most generators do, they run on multiple fuels. There's a
choice of propane or natural gas. And he looked at
it and it was set to natural gas. And it
was up against the stop as he tried to, you know,
turn it with his thumb with his finger, and he said,
but that doesn't look right. He says, all these generacts
that position is usually a little bit further more to
(04:21):
the left. He turns it all the way to the
right to full propane. He said, that makes sense. That's
where I always see them stop. And he turns it
back and it comes upon the point in rotation where
it was sitting. And then he said he felt like
a little crack and it just went the rest of
the way, and all of a sudden it was open
another third of the way. There was like a piece
(04:44):
of debris or something from the factory, because we've never
touched this. This is the way it was set up
out of the crate five years ago. Started the generator
up roared to life, and it ran so much better
and so much stronger. Turned the air condition sing on,
turned on lights, you know, just and it's fixed. Two problems.
(05:05):
One reason when when you get past the controller. And
then we sat there and said, well, why did that happen?
You know, this thing worked great out of the box
five years ago. It wasn't a problem. What changed in
the past five years. That doesn't make any sense. Could
something get dirty? And you know, running on natural gas,
there isn't a lot of filter there. There isn't you know,
you don't see dirty throttle bodies on natural gas engines,
(05:28):
whether it's a car or generator, what have you as
often as you would on an internal combustion in a remobile.
And we're standing there thinking about it, and then I
realized I knew what it was. And I looked at
Mike and his helper and I said, hey, listen, think
about it. And they said yeah. And I said, what
do you hear? And they stood up in the neighborhood
were in. There's generators attached to buildings. There's generators attached
(05:50):
to houses. And they said, although we here is generators running.
I said, right, I said, five years ago, when we
put this generator in, I was one of the first
guys in the neighborhood to put in a generator. Yeah,
I said, everybody else is running their generator. This generator
in this particular storm wasn't getting enough fuel because the
(06:10):
volume and pressure wasn't there. Because now it's feeding multiple systems,
whereas before five years ago, I was the first or
second guy on the block in the neighborhood to get
a generator, and it it makes sense. Right, We're gonna
put a fuel pressure gauge on it next week so
I can actually watch it and maybe take some notes.
And the point becomes there's a reason. There's a reason
(06:32):
why something that worked five years ago didn't work today.
What changed, And that's what diagnostics are about. Sometimes, Yeah,
getting to the why the car does this or the
car does that, that's always important. But sometimes just fixing it,
you've got to know why, so therefore you can prevent
it from happening again. Or you learn enough that that
(06:53):
one particular instance, and believe me that one will stick
with me for a good long time. I'll remember that
for h for quite a while. About you know, just
an engines and engine check, fuel pressure check, basic check, ignition.
You know, it all comes down to diagnostics and some
basic solid mechanical knowledge and theory as to yan engine
does what it does. Hello and welcome Ronan any in
(07:13):
the car doctor here to help you five zero zero zero,
here to take your calls and answer your questions. Let's
real quick, let's get one in before we go to
the break. Let's go to Paul in New Hampshire, OH
six f three fifty and some questions about break, calipers
and fluid. Paul, Welcome to the car doctor. How can
I help? It's about twenty years since the senior person
I did a reman trans on the Dodge Carogran for
(07:35):
my wife. Uh still running good? Cool? Yeah, I kind of,
I kind of that's on the fringe of my memory.
So twenty years is yeah, twenty years goes by. I
got a two thousand, six four three fifty. Um, I
have a break caliber that's a little finicky. It's not
quite releasing, okay, and I'm going to change it. Uh.
(07:58):
The only thing they had on the out with synthetic
break fluid, and I was really uh quote off card
not saying, well, it's like d t H number three. Uh,
that's what it would be. And I'm really concerned about
the synthetic break fluid mixing with the well is it
is it synthetic dot three or four, Paul? Or is
(08:20):
it synthetic dot five silicone dot three? Okay? First of all, technically,
all break fluid is synthetic, all right, It really is
because it's all made in the laboratory. It doesn't come
from an oil bry product. Alright, So we all break fluid.
It's interesting if you start reading about it. All break
fluid is synthetic. Some have higher degree ratings and some
(08:42):
are considered more pure. So this one synthetic, This one's
conventional At a Dot three or four level, you can
mix conventional and synthetic. You can add you can add
synthetic to conventional and and vice aversa. There's there's there's
no issue mixing silicone and Uh dot three and four
is a no no that you can't do. That just
(09:03):
compromises the system and it won't work the way it's
supposed to, will create a bunch of incompatibility issues. Where
were you that they didn't have conventional break fluid? Uh? O'Reilly?
Really did they? Did they have an answer? Did they
have a reason why? Um? I questioned about it? He says, oh,
that's that's what we use. And they had their order
(09:26):
repair shop. Uh the I P tire and Order repair
basically attached buildings and they said that's the fused and
I just didn't feel comfortable with it. Um, well, I
guess what you're saying is they went to the name
synthetic because they came out with a truly synthetic silicon base.
So they just put synthetic on Wolder bottles. Well, you know, Paul,
(09:49):
we're we're a marketing society. We react to certain buzzwords,
and everybody likes the term everybody likes the term synthetic,
but in the reality, like I said, it's it's not
synthetic oil versus conventional oil. It's it's really a different
thought process. But for what you're doing, synthetic brake fluid
will be just fine. It's not gonna make a whole matter,
(10:10):
a whole lot of difference in in reality. You know,
if you're doing this job right, this is an O six,
it's fifteen years old. You're gonna flush the system anyway.
So you'll get all the conventional out and put the
synthetic in um or or their version of synthetic, and
you'll be just fine. Okay. One of the quick questions,
quick on the break caliber and not a rear brake caliber?
Which emergency brakes? Uh? For the rear Well, what is
(10:33):
the time between the rear brake caliber UM and the
emergency break? Say that again, what is the what the uh?
You have your foot actuator for your emergency brake, right,
and step on it and apply the brakes and rear
wheels brick caliber UM. I didn't do too much work
(10:57):
on trucks, did work on cars, and I remember there's
a tie in linkage that uh. Well, so so when
you look at the rear breaks, does the rear brake
caliper have a lever that comes out of the back
of the caliber body that the cables attached to. I didn't.
(11:18):
I didn't take it down because I wasncerned about the
break fluid. But being under niece are taking a look
at it before I decided to put one in. I know,
you know, I went down and they got the caliber
and they gave me the synthetic break floid. And it's
just a dual piston caliber. There's no mechanical connection at all.
It's just hydraulic connection master. So okay, and this is
(11:42):
a this is a rear caliper that you're changing, correct, Okay,
So then your parking break is going to be a
shoe set up inside the road or like a small
brake drum. Okay, so you want to get the caliper
out of the way. I would see that then I
wasn't looking to see something correct mechanical. T No, you'll
you'll see a pivot lever attached to the cable. And
(12:04):
once you get if you want to take the rotor
off to take a look, you can clean up the pivots.
Maybe loub the lever itself because the levers get good
and rusty. Make sure the boot that seals the lever
to the backing plate housing the rubber hasn't rotted away,
so no moisture, dirt and crud is getting in there.
And it's a matter of when you pull on that lever,
(12:24):
you spread the shoes. There's a falcrum inside that you know,
pushes them out, and that's what pushes the parking brake
shoes out into the inside of the rotor, which is
like a little break drum. Yeah. Well, the previous show
you talking about the blaster with the control for how
much you want to put on and some of that up.
I'm looking forward to using, so I guess maybe I'll
be using it. Yeah, And that's and you know, and
(12:46):
the nice the nice thing about blaster, we use blaster um.
I'll actually use blaster and two forms. I'll use it
to break rust down, but then I'll also use it
on levers like that because it's sort of I've had
experience where it acts as a little bit of a
turrent and it prevents rust and moisture from forming again,
which prevents the rust in the first place. Uh, And
then if you want. PB also makes some good lubricants,
(13:09):
you know, just all around lubricants for the chassis, like
that in the spray that you can you know, put
that on the lever to coat it as well and
help displace moisture so it doesn't happen again. Also, you
can do that and you know, I don't know, I
like to let the blasters soak in there for a
little length of time and then maybe revisit it in
a month and hit it again. So and while you're there,
you could also take the PB and shoot it down
(13:30):
the inside of the cable where the cable goes inside
the brake halving housing the sheathing. Let it run down
inside the sheathing and it'll start to break that down.
If if that has any exposure to moisture, that will help,
you know, slow down the cable corrosion process as well. Yeah,
one of the issues I think I'm having now. I
mean it's two thousands six, but it's less than and yeah,
(13:57):
you just just you know, get under there and lubricate
everything because it's sitting so long and uh, you know,
it's just gonna become it's just going to become an issue.
So good luck to you, kiddo, and uh, you know,
thanks for calling in and thanks for being part of
the Car Doctor family. Eight five five five zero nine
nine zero zero. Gotta go running late. I'll be back
right after this. Have done. What's more fun than listening
(14:24):
to Ron and any in the Car Doctor and getting
that car fixed? Right A five five five zero nine
zero zero. Give Ron a call. Now back to Ron, Hey,
let's get over and talk to you. Kennan summer sitting,
New Jersey, two thousand, Nissan ken Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir.
How can I help Ron? Nice to talk to you.
I'm not here next to Rutgers University, and sure I
(14:46):
like you. Your website is very good, so I get
a picture of who I'm talking to. There you go.
Isn't that scary? Huh? So yeah, it's it's the face
made for radio, as Tom Ray likes to point out. Okay,
oh right, I have a two thous and Nissan Ultimat. Uh.
The check engine light is on. I scanned it. Uh,
(15:06):
the code comes up. PO. That's bank one sensor too.
I replace that with a Bosch sensor. Uh. The check
enginela is still on. I drove it a hundred fifty miles.
I tried to scan it and turn out the light,
but that doesn't work, so I can't get the light off. Okay,
(15:27):
So let's let's back up a second. Um, when you
after you change the part, did you do any diagnosis
prior change in the part? No? I just scanned it
because the check engine was on. Do do you does
your scan tool give you data streamer? Is it just
a code clearer? Just a code clearer. So what you've
(15:47):
got is you've got the equivalent of the ability to
maybe check heart rate, and you've got to assume what
blood pressure is, because without being able to look at
that a stream to back up what the fault is,
you're you're you're whistling in the dark. So let me
ask you a few questions before I, you know, we
we get we get too far into this. Does this
(16:09):
car sound like it has an exhaust leak? No? Okay?
And And the reason I ask that is because it's
important downstream O two is on those cars, if there's
any exhaust leak up front, forward of that center and
actually a little bit past that center, it will skew
the readings. See, the problem is a Pizero one forty
is you're correct, is a downstream OH two? But the
(16:31):
issue is it can be it can be, it can
be the result of other things that are failing. All right,
most of the time, most of the time it's a
faulty O two. But you know, we need to know
what's fuel turem, where's fuel trim on this car, what's
calculated load on this car? What's the forward OH two reading?
And is the forward OH two reading somehow skewing the
(16:53):
downstream O two reading. I've seen some complications with that,
not just on this but on other vehicles. So and
then and then my my, my last comment would be, um,
are we sure that we've got the right part in it?
That it was a it was a direct look up.
It wasn't a universal LOW two. It was a good
fit to what came out of the vehicle. I purchased
(17:16):
it in a local store. Uh and uh, it's it's
a bos So. I'm not sure if that's a factory
probably probably in two thousand and Nissan. I have seen
bosh and some of the older Nissans. Bosch is a
good name, Densel is a good name. But the question
is just didn't look the same as what you took
(17:36):
out and it plugged right in correct. Yeah, yeah, okay,
So then the next step is why is it setting
the one forty? Now you've got to be able to
look at that stream. You need to know what fuel
trim is, you need to know what calculated load capability is,
because because otherwise, Ken, you're just you're you're just whistling
in the dark. You're just you've only got half the information.
(17:57):
So you know, leave the O two where it is,
get a skin tool, look and read data stream or
find somebody else that can help you read data stream
and coming back next week we can talk about it further.
Eight five five five zero zero, or on any of
the car Doctor coming back right after this, welcome back.
(18:37):
Why don't any of the car doctor or eight five
five five zero nine zero zero the Car Doctor seven
phone number. I'll do it again. Eight five five five
six zero zero zero. Give us a call. We'll get
you in Q and get you up here and we
can talk about it on the big stage and solve
your car's problem. Let's get over to Pat and Alberta,
Canada one fifty and some stalling issues. Pat. Welcome to
(18:58):
the Car Doctor. How can I help hi? Ron thanks
for having me on your show. You're welcome. I listened
to your podcast. Hey, um, my situation is um, yes,
stalling and when it's hot, especially when it comes to
a stop sign, doesn't always do it. And it's it's
(19:18):
kind of like another calm the dark, I guess because
there's no code that comes on. And um, here's what
I've done to it. I've replaced the idol control mode
or control switch or whatever it is used to be
idle air speed motor. It's the I A motor. The
triangular shape or the rectangular shape looks like two triangles together. Uh.
(19:44):
The opening it's got to ten or eight millimeter screws
on each side, with the with the gasket with the
round holes on the side of Then I claimed the
throttle body with a throttle by the cleaner. And what
else did they do with it? Oh? I cleaned the
mass airflow sensor didn't seem to make much a difference.
(20:06):
And my next step was thinking about throwing on a
mass airflow sensor. Well, you know, as I always say,
the only thing we throw in is people in the pool.
And you know, unless we want to get wet and
look silly, we try not to throw anything without some
kind of diagnosis. That being said, so you know, if
(20:28):
if if you can, if you can get your hands
on a scanner or find somebody that understands fuel trim
and some basics, let's baseline. Let's let's look at you know,
let's look at what's good, what's working when it doesn't stall?
What does it do? Where's fuel trim? What's calculated load
going to show me? All though this is I don't
recall and I don't think there's going to be a
calculated load pit in ninety eight, but if it's there,
(20:51):
let's look at it. Let's look at all the Let's
look at the data stream and see what we can
call from that. You know, just because there's no fault
codes doesn't mean there's not things to look at. You ever,
you ever, just you feel kind of crummy certain times
of the year, and you go to the doctor and
you know, they look at you and your your blood
is good and your your heart rates good, but they
still kind of poke around and proud you a little bit,
(21:11):
and they eventually figure it out, and you know, they
sort of they gather information from other sources. It's it's
it's kind of the same thing. We're just doing it
with a car. And you know the fact that it
only does it warm, Well, that's that's a key piece
of information. But what else does do things look like?
You know, when it's cold, if I have a reading,
(21:32):
a fuel trim, calculated load, if it's their throttle angle tps,
all my valuable data pits. If I have readings when
it's cold, when it doesn't stall, and then when it
starts stolling when it's warm, and I go back in
and start reading those numbers and compare, did any of
those numbers change? Do I have something that heat expands,
making a vacuum leak, making it run lean, making its
(21:54):
stall when at least expected? Could I have an e
g R valve sticking in the hot weather if I
were to block the e g R v L vacuum
line just just disconnected for the moment to drive it.
Once I got it to the point where it's happening
on a consistent basis, does that change or alter the
stall rate or stop it all together? On this? Yeah? Well,
(22:15):
you know, and then when it dies, does it chuggle
on down? When it dies? Pad? Is it? Does it?
You know? Is it's sort of like a murmur where
it just kind of wheezes to a stop or is
it bang clean like somebody turned the kid. No, it
kind of chucking. It starts chugging, and then sometimes it'll
stall over. Most of the time it kind of catches
itself and keeps going. Couldn't have a couldn't have a
(22:37):
couldn't have a porous or leaking fuel pressure regulator on
the rail. They were common to fail back in the day. Yeah, listen,
it's twenty two years old. Now it's entitled right, you know, um,
what's what's fuel pressure when it's good? You know, fuel
pressure when it's good, when you get this thing that
(22:59):
when you get this thing to are it's stolen? What's
fuel pressure when it's bad? Have you taken a fuel sample?
There's there's There's easily twenty to twenty five things I
could think of to check on this or to have known,
you know, comparison of hey, here's what it does, here's
what it looks like, this is what this is what happened,
and now I can figure out what the causes a
(23:20):
lot of times, you know, I'll say it like this.
I think the number is of cars with check engine
lights on are a component failure and No two a cat,
a throttle position sensor, a mass airflow that last thirty year,
ten percent, whatever the number is is. They're the ones
that make you think. They're the ones that make you
(23:42):
have to go and look at different pits and different
values and other places for information. Which is why on
all cars, even the cars that are component failures. And
I put it on two one that fixed, it's good.
What's fuel trim? What was throttle angle? What was calculated load?
You know you still record those things. You write them
down in your book. Every mechanic has a book, either
it's in his head or it's a paper copy, or
(24:03):
it's on a computer. But you've always got your data
to refer back to the things that you won't forget. Um.
That being said, this truck has a wiring harness down
by the exhaust manifold by the front pipe, right, yeah,
is that safely tucked in place? Is that anywhere near
the exhaust manifold that it could be rubbing against it?
(24:24):
Is there any damage to the wiring harness whatsoever? Yeah,
could check that. Sure. Yeah, it's a it's an old
farm truck, so it's been right. But make sure that harness,
and and for that matter, even if the harness is
away from the manifold that it's not rubbing against it,
(24:45):
Go down, go down there and kind of grab the
harness like you were needing though, and gently massage the harness,
wiggle it and jiggle it and move it back and forth.
Does that make the truck shut off? We've seen cases
where that portion of the harness gets hardened from the heat,
gets sort of it's sort of case hardened. It's twenty
two years old. Now, it's been exposed to heat. It
(25:05):
was allowsy place for them to put the harness in
the first place when Ford designed this, and we've seen
lots of harness issues created down there. So it doesn't
have a lot of miles on it, well, you know,
neither do I. But look at me, look kind of
shape bombing. Uh you know, mileage doesn't matter to me. Um,
it's broken, you know. If I well, yeah, Pat, you know, listen,
(25:27):
if I thought like that, it doesn't have a lot
of miles on it, it shouldn't be broken. Okay, let's go,
let's bring in the next vehicle. You know, it's you know,
sometimes that influences my decision thinking, but not until I
get you know, not until I get my data. Hey, listen,
are the battery cables tight? Yeah? You don't know. You
don't know, brother, You don't know how many cars we
(25:49):
fix because somebody put a battery in it. And I'm
not saying you did this, but somebody put a battery
in it. And the terminals are loose. The g M
side terminals are tight all the way. And you'll walk up,
you know, tap the negative terminal. It just moves, you know, uh,
twenty minutes by a clock face and the truck stoles,
(26:10):
or it sets a trouble code or a voltage issue,
or you know, it's you gotta go through basics. You
gotta go through and and stop changing parts, you know,
because you know what you show me where it says
all those parts you put on new doesn't mean good,
New means never ever worked. So you know it just
(26:31):
it just doesn't comply. You could have put another problem
into that just by changing apart. Now you're gonna have
two issues to deal with. So stop stop changing. Yeah,
I get a scanner, and you know, do some look
at look up some YouTube videos on fuel trim and
how fuel trim works and what fuel trims all about,
and there's no way, there's no more being half a
(26:52):
mechanic anymore. You gotta do it all. You gotta look
at everything. And that's the only way we're gonna fix
cars and trucks going forward. It's just it's just gotten
way too complicated and way too involved. All right. But
whatever you find, whatever information you get, you call me
back because I'll be here waiting for you and we
can talk about it and we'll fix that truck together,
you and me. Good luck to you, all right, Um,
(27:13):
I'll call you back, all right. You let me know
you take good care already. I'll see you. Hey, I
had to throw that in there zero. The car Doctor's
cruising back right after this. BA come back then all thing? Hey, Hey, hey,
(27:39):
do you know the way to San Jose Ronaldini and
the car Doctor. Dave's gonna show us Dave and his
cheep wrangler Dave. Welcome aboard, sir. How are you today?
My call? Run? Um, I got a pretty simple question
compared to a lot of the other ones you get. Uh.
I uh bought diesel wrangler and I added a mo
fire bumper and a winch to the front, and it
(28:02):
sagged it down a little bit, like about three quarters
of an inch, and I just wonder what you thought
about putting those those your thane spacers in or The
other idea I had was the rubicon is about an
inch taller. So I was thinking about going to the
dealer and trying to figure out if maybe I could
swap the rubicon springs and that would lift it up
(28:23):
an inch. I like the spring idea. And I'll tell
you why. You know, any vehicle regardless, you know, you
put a winch and a heavier bumper on the front,
You've added a lot of weight to that vehicle. So
the space or is just gonna give it that cosmetic
appearance so that it's level, because I guess that's what
you're going for, which would make sense, right, yes, sir,
(28:44):
But you know we will well yeah, I mean i'd
like some more functional we want we want stabuild, yeah, yeah,
we want stability. We want to be able to take
it out on the trails and and you know we
use that winch if we get stuck, pull us up,
pull us up the side of the mountain, pull us
up out of the ditch whatever. Uh, you know, so
it becomes a point of practicality. I like the idea
of upgrading the spring system and putting, you know, a
(29:06):
better spring in there, something that you know has a
higher payload rating and it will give the truck, give
the vehicle more stability, and be safer in the long run.
So I I think that makes more sense. It's amazing
what a winch ways. It's amazing what some of these
bumpers wig we Um. We just finished this week for
a very good customer of ours, Eddie with his Silverado.
(29:27):
I was talking about it last week. Eddie lives out
in the middle of Pennsylvania and he wanted a bumper
for the front of his Silverado that you know, he's
got this issue where you know, animals run across the
road and sometimes you can't stop, and you know, he
needed a cow catcher basically, uh, you know, for the
front of the truck. And when I tell you, it
took Danny and I every bit of twenty minutes to
(29:49):
line this bumper up under the winch and then use
the winch in the shop to pick the bumper up
to line it up to the frame. And I mean
we we had three hours just getting the bumper to
the point where we could bolted to the frame by
the time. You know, we wiggled things around. But it's
a lot of weight you're dealing with. And I think
you're in the same position and now you've added a winch.
(30:09):
That winch ways what five pounds? Oh no, no, No,
it's probably the the you know, it was a plastic
bumper before that the chief came with. And uh, I
think I probably added. I tried to weigh everything on
my scale here, but um, I think I think I
added like about a hundred and twenty pounds to the
(30:32):
front of the car. But that's it. Yeah, it's gonna
say a hundred pounds made the front of the truck sad. Uh, yeah,
it's already the diesel motor is already they say, three
or four hundred pounds heavier than the gas motor in
the Wrangler. And uh so I think maybe I don't
(30:54):
know if maybe that was already kind of maxed out. Uh,
you know with the springs and uh the you know,
the the new metal bumper and you know the Mopar
bumper which fit really great. That's why I went with
a Mopar one. But um, they and the winch. I
probably added, like, probably added like a pounds or something.
(31:15):
The winch is probably like between forty and fifty, and
then you have the winch, the winch plate, and then
the bumper too. So so do do this, Dave, Dave,
do this? First of all, all right, talk to Chrysler.
Find out is there a different Is there a difference
in a replacement front spring for a guess versus a
(31:37):
diesel wrangler? All right, okay, let's let's find out. I
I think there is, all right, but let's just find out,
and then they'll probably be able to give you a
part number or a color code tag for what should
be on the spring. Now, being as how this is
a twenty this truckle, it'll be real easy to see.
Go find that spring, find the part number. Let's make
(31:58):
sure the truck has the right springs in from the factory.
I imagine it does, but you know, let's let's at
least get that off the list. And then and then
the next question is you know the fact that it's
a diesel, is the diesel spring does that have a
higher payload rating than the rubicon or the wrangler? So
we're putting rubicon springs in? It really help it? Right? Uh? Yeah,
(32:24):
it might be a lesson in futility. And then now
you're gonna have to go look at some of the
aftermarket stuff and see what they offer. Think of it
like this, and I always say this, and I've I've
learned it to be true. You're not the first guy
to do this. You can't be right. Somebody else had
a winch and they wanted to put better springs in it.
So somebody else has already done this, and by doing
some research you'll find out what it is. So you
(32:46):
only have to make one more change and then it
will be right. Alright, sir, you do that, Davy. Thanks
for the call. I appreciated. Good luck, enjoy the jeep.
Send us some pictures of it. We'll put them up
on our Facebook page nine nine zero. The car doctor
is coming back right after this. Hey, let's get over
(33:14):
and talk to Elizabeth in Maine. A nineteen grand caravan. Elizabeth,
I think I can help you here. What's going on? Well,
thank you for taking my call again. Yes, we, uh,
my husband and I went out looking for a minivan.
We ended up with a twenty Dodge brand caravan. And
the strange thing has happened. Um, it's not a mechanical
issue per se, but it is it is a definite
problem for us. The new seats in the vehicles are
(33:37):
all like a what do you call the bucket seat
type thing with the seat of it is formed with
the cushions that come up around your thighs and then
it seems to be pitched back. Now I cannot get
this seat to go have the base of it, the
seat part of its flat. I've tried every setting that
there is there, and it seems like all the vehicles
(33:58):
are that way. Now the problem and these I have
a disc problem in my back which showed up because
of the seat. So I'm now I got a vehicle
I can't drive because of the seat. This is kind
of strange. You ever hear that one before? Um, you
know you're gonna laugh. I sort of have. So I
see a chiropractor. I've been. I've been to a chiropractor, yeah,
(34:19):
for the last twenty maybe going on twenty five years,
and there's there's nearly nothing wrong with me, not with
my back anyway, but you know, just just all these
years turn and wrenches and bending in twisting, and I've
sat in cars where they're uncomfortable and David will Will
shim my bottom for lack of a better way to
put it. Um, you know, a thin piece of paper.
(34:39):
They staggered me left or right. Uh. They want me
to sit on the piece of paper while I drive
and will eventually shift my back the other way. And
I've seen that method of chiropractory do some really amazing things.
I would tell you talk to your chiropractor as a
way he can shim you to help make it work better,
make it fit better, and then after that we can
talk about maybe adding foam to the seat. Do that.
Call me back. I'm running in in the card and
(35:01):
reminding you good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. Senior,
Ron and Anian, you're driving this plaque two door fifty five.
The guy in the Prius that was in front of
me at the traffic light on the way of the chiropractor,
he saw it coming up. When I pulled up the
stuff behind him, he got so nervous he round the
red light. I think I scared as priss. Prius is
out of the grill of my homor that Carr doctor.
(00:26):
Everybody out there saying why would a gas gage nickel
check engine might turn on. It's part of the emissions package.
Everything's related to emissions. When it comes to that light,
that's all they're concerning about. Welcome to the radio home
of Ron and Anian, the Car Doctor. It's this is
where car owners the world overturned to for their definitive
opinion on automotive repair. If you're a mechanics giving you
(00:48):
a busy signal, pick up the phone and call in
the garage doors are open, but I am here to
take your calls at eight five five five six D
and now he's running. There's always a reason that something breaks.
There's always a story behind it. You know how it
(01:08):
came to be. Maybe it was worn out, maybe it
was just a bad part to begin with. But on
certain things, there's a diagnosis that happens. There's there's a
reason why something fails or why an engine doesn't run right.
And I know that's simplistic, but I'll make the point
this way. My generator broke this week, the generator that
(01:30):
powers the studio. And we've had a generator in the
studio or on the studio backing it up for about
five years now, and it's worked flawlessly. It has been
absolutely spot on. We've actually done the show on generator
a couple of times and you've never even noticed it. Right,
It's it just happens. It's it's there, it works, it
holds everything up, it's it reacts to the the ups
(01:52):
and downs and the electrical demands. It's been flawless. And
this year when we had the big storm here in
the North as well as up and down the Eastern seaboard,
we we had some problems. It started, it ran, we
turn on the air conditioning in the studio because it's
hot in the studio without a c right and it
would struggle and it would just it would wheeze and
(02:14):
gasp and it just didn't work properly. The generator repair
crew came out and good guys, they're they're sharp as attack.
They know what's going on. They went through their diagnostics,
and I'm probably the last guy that you want looking
over your shoulders. I'm standing. I'm kind of watching, like, gee,
what buttons do they head? How do they get that
to happen? What makes that work? That's kind of you.
I'll have to remember that. Maybe I can go in
and pull codes out of my generator. They get a
(02:35):
scan tool hook up to it. Why do they make
a scan tool port for a generator? And part of
the diagnosis came back. They wanted to put the generator
into dealer mode where they can actually measure the output
amperage demand in the I put amperage demand and capacity
what it's putting out, so they can say, hey, how
(02:57):
the the studio is asking for this much and it's
able to give this much. And they couldn't get it
to go into dealer mode. And there's only a few
things that can really do that, and it always comes
back to the controller or the computer itself for the
generator has an issue. So they came back out the
second day and they put the controller in it and
it worked. It was able to go into dealer mode
(03:18):
and we were able to look at you know, current
output in demand and voltage and all kinds of other
neat and really great things. But if you turned on
the air conditioning for the studio, the generator still died.
And now everybody's scratching their head and they're all standing
there and I'm thinking about it, and they're thinking about it,
and you know what would make an engine die under load,
(03:39):
And I just set off that t I said, gee,
if this was a car, I think it has a
bad fuel pump. And Mike, the lead tech that was
working on this, leaned over the back of the generator
and looked, there's a little valve in the back. There's
a switch valve that the generator will run on, as
(03:59):
most generators do, they run on multiple fuels. There's a
choice of propane or natural gas. And he looked at
it and it was set to natural gas. And it
was up against the stop as he tried to, you know,
turn it with his thumb with his finger, and he said,
but that doesn't look right. He says, all these generacts
that position is usually a little bit further more to
(04:21):
the left. He turns it all the way to the
right to full propane. He said, that makes sense. That's
where I always see them stop. And he turns it
back and it comes upon the point in rotation where
it was sitting. And then he said he felt like
a little crack and it just went the rest of
the way, and all of a sudden it was open
another third of the way. There was like a piece
(04:44):
of debris or something from the factory, because we've never
touched this. This is the way it was set up
out of the crate five years ago. Started the generator
up roared to life, and it ran so much better
and so much stronger. Turned the air condition sing on,
turned on lights, you know, just and it's fixed. Two problems.
(05:05):
One reason when when you get past the controller. And
then we sat there and said, well, why did that happen?
You know, this thing worked great out of the box
five years ago. It wasn't a problem. What changed in
the past five years. That doesn't make any sense. Could
something get dirty? And you know, running on natural gas,
there isn't a lot of filter there. There isn't you know,
you don't see dirty throttle bodies on natural gas engines,
(05:28):
whether it's a car or generator, what have you as
often as you would on an internal combustion in a remobile.
And we're standing there thinking about it, and then I
realized I knew what it was. And I looked at
Mike and his helper and I said, hey, listen, think
about it. And they said yeah. And I said, what
do you hear? And they stood up in the neighborhood
were in. There's generators attached to buildings. There's generators attached
(05:50):
to houses. And they said, although we here is generators running.
I said, right, I said, five years ago, when we
put this generator in, I was one of the first
guys in the neighborhood to put in a generator. Yeah,
I said, everybody else is running their generator. This generator
in this particular storm wasn't getting enough fuel because the
(06:10):
volume and pressure wasn't there. Because now it's feeding multiple systems,
whereas before five years ago, I was the first or
second guy on the block in the neighborhood to get
a generator, and it it makes sense. Right, We're gonna
put a fuel pressure gauge on it next week so
I can actually watch it and maybe take some notes.
And the point becomes there's a reason. There's a reason
(06:32):
why something that worked five years ago didn't work today.
What changed, And that's what diagnostics are about. Sometimes, Yeah,
getting to the why the car does this or the
car does that, that's always important. But sometimes just fixing it,
you've got to know why, so therefore you can prevent
it from happening again. Or you learn enough that that
(06:53):
one particular instance, and believe me that one will stick
with me for a good long time. I'll remember that
for h for quite a while. About you know, just
an engines and engine check, fuel pressure check, basic check, ignition.
You know, it all comes down to diagnostics and some
basic solid mechanical knowledge and theory as to yan engine
does what it does. Hello and welcome Ronan any in
(07:13):
the car doctor here to help you five zero zero zero,
here to take your calls and answer your questions. Let's
real quick, let's get one in before we go to
the break. Let's go to Paul in New Hampshire, OH
six f three fifty and some questions about break, calipers
and fluid. Paul, Welcome to the car doctor. How can
I help? It's about twenty years since the senior person
I did a reman trans on the Dodge Carogran for
(07:35):
my wife. Uh still running good? Cool? Yeah, I kind of,
I kind of that's on the fringe of my memory.
So twenty years is yeah, twenty years goes by. I
got a two thousand, six four three fifty. Um, I
have a break caliber that's a little finicky. It's not
quite releasing, okay, and I'm going to change it. Uh.
(07:58):
The only thing they had on the out with synthetic
break fluid, and I was really uh quote off card
not saying, well, it's like d t H number three. Uh,
that's what it would be. And I'm really concerned about
the synthetic break fluid mixing with the well is it
is it synthetic dot three or four, Paul? Or is
(08:20):
it synthetic dot five silicone dot three? Okay? First of all, technically,
all break fluid is synthetic, all right, It really is
because it's all made in the laboratory. It doesn't come
from an oil bry product. Alright, So we all break fluid.
It's interesting if you start reading about it. All break
fluid is synthetic. Some have higher degree ratings and some
(08:42):
are considered more pure. So this one synthetic, This one's
conventional At a Dot three or four level, you can
mix conventional and synthetic. You can add you can add
synthetic to conventional and and vice aversa. There's there's there's
no issue mixing silicone and Uh dot three and four
is a no no that you can't do. That just
(09:03):
compromises the system and it won't work the way it's
supposed to, will create a bunch of incompatibility issues. Where
were you that they didn't have conventional break fluid? Uh? O'Reilly?
Really did they? Did they have an answer? Did they
have a reason why? Um? I questioned about it? He says, oh,
that's that's what we use. And they had their order
(09:26):
repair shop. Uh the I P tire and Order repair
basically attached buildings and they said that's the fused and
I just didn't feel comfortable with it. Um, well, I
guess what you're saying is they went to the name
synthetic because they came out with a truly synthetic silicon base.
So they just put synthetic on Wolder bottles. Well, you know, Paul,
(09:49):
we're we're a marketing society. We react to certain buzzwords,
and everybody likes the term everybody likes the term synthetic,
but in the reality, like I said, it's it's not
synthetic oil versus conventional oil. It's it's really a different
thought process. But for what you're doing, synthetic brake fluid
will be just fine. It's not gonna make a whole matter,
(10:10):
a whole lot of difference in in reality. You know,
if you're doing this job right, this is an O six,
it's fifteen years old. You're gonna flush the system anyway.
So you'll get all the conventional out and put the
synthetic in um or or their version of synthetic, and
you'll be just fine. Okay. One of the quick questions,
quick on the break caliber and not a rear brake caliber?
Which emergency brakes? Uh? For the rear Well, what is
(10:33):
the time between the rear brake caliber UM and the
emergency break? Say that again, what is the what the uh?
You have your foot actuator for your emergency brake, right,
and step on it and apply the brakes and rear
wheels brick caliber UM. I didn't do too much work
(10:57):
on trucks, did work on cars, and I remember there's
a tie in linkage that uh. Well, so so when
you look at the rear breaks, does the rear brake
caliper have a lever that comes out of the back
of the caliber body that the cables attached to. I didn't.
(11:18):
I didn't take it down because I wasncerned about the
break fluid. But being under niece are taking a look
at it before I decided to put one in. I know,
you know, I went down and they got the caliber
and they gave me the synthetic break floid. And it's
just a dual piston caliber. There's no mechanical connection at all.
It's just hydraulic connection master. So okay, and this is
(11:42):
a this is a rear caliper that you're changing, correct, Okay,
So then your parking break is going to be a
shoe set up inside the road or like a small
brake drum. Okay, so you want to get the caliper
out of the way. I would see that then I
wasn't looking to see something correct mechanical. T No, you'll
you'll see a pivot lever attached to the cable. And
(12:04):
once you get if you want to take the rotor
off to take a look, you can clean up the pivots.
Maybe loub the lever itself because the levers get good
and rusty. Make sure the boot that seals the lever
to the backing plate housing the rubber hasn't rotted away,
so no moisture, dirt and crud is getting in there.
And it's a matter of when you pull on that lever,
(12:24):
you spread the shoes. There's a falcrum inside that you know,
pushes them out, and that's what pushes the parking brake
shoes out into the inside of the rotor, which is
like a little break drum. Yeah. Well, the previous show
you talking about the blaster with the control for how
much you want to put on and some of that up.
I'm looking forward to using, so I guess maybe I'll
be using it. Yeah, And that's and you know, and
(12:46):
the nice the nice thing about blaster, we use blaster um.
I'll actually use blaster and two forms. I'll use it
to break rust down, but then I'll also use it
on levers like that because it's sort of I've had
experience where it acts as a little bit of a
turrent and it prevents rust and moisture from forming again,
which prevents the rust in the first place. Uh, And
then if you want. PB also makes some good lubricants,
(13:09):
you know, just all around lubricants for the chassis, like
that in the spray that you can you know, put
that on the lever to coat it as well and
help displace moisture so it doesn't happen again. Also, you
can do that and you know, I don't know, I
like to let the blasters soak in there for a
little length of time and then maybe revisit it in
a month and hit it again. So and while you're there,
you could also take the PB and shoot it down
(13:30):
the inside of the cable where the cable goes inside
the brake halving housing the sheathing. Let it run down
inside the sheathing and it'll start to break that down.
If if that has any exposure to moisture, that will help,
you know, slow down the cable corrosion process as well. Yeah,
one of the issues I think I'm having now. I
mean it's two thousands six, but it's less than and yeah,
(13:57):
you just just you know, get under there and lubricate
everything because it's sitting so long and uh, you know,
it's just gonna become it's just going to become an issue.
So good luck to you, kiddo, and uh, you know,
thanks for calling in and thanks for being part of
the Car Doctor family. Eight five five five zero nine
nine zero zero. Gotta go running late. I'll be back
right after this. Have done. What's more fun than listening
(14:24):
to Ron and any in the Car Doctor and getting
that car fixed? Right A five five five zero nine
zero zero. Give Ron a call. Now back to Ron, Hey,
let's get over and talk to you. Kennan summer sitting,
New Jersey, two thousand, Nissan ken Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir.
How can I help Ron? Nice to talk to you.
I'm not here next to Rutgers University, and sure I
(14:46):
like you. Your website is very good, so I get
a picture of who I'm talking to. There you go.
Isn't that scary? Huh? So yeah, it's it's the face
made for radio, as Tom Ray likes to point out. Okay,
oh right, I have a two thous and Nissan Ultimat. Uh.
The check engine light is on. I scanned it. Uh,
(15:06):
the code comes up. PO. That's bank one sensor too.
I replace that with a Bosch sensor. Uh. The check
enginela is still on. I drove it a hundred fifty miles.
I tried to scan it and turn out the light,
but that doesn't work, so I can't get the light off. Okay,
(15:27):
So let's let's back up a second. Um, when you
after you change the part, did you do any diagnosis
prior change in the part? No? I just scanned it
because the check engine was on. Do do you does
your scan tool give you data streamer? Is it just
a code clearer? Just a code clearer. So what you've
(15:47):
got is you've got the equivalent of the ability to
maybe check heart rate, and you've got to assume what
blood pressure is, because without being able to look at
that a stream to back up what the fault is,
you're you're you're whistling in the dark. So let me
ask you a few questions before I, you know, we
we get we get too far into this. Does this
(16:09):
car sound like it has an exhaust leak? No? Okay?
And And the reason I ask that is because it's
important downstream O two is on those cars, if there's
any exhaust leak up front, forward of that center and
actually a little bit past that center, it will skew
the readings. See, the problem is a Pizero one forty
is you're correct, is a downstream OH two? But the
(16:31):
issue is it can be it can be, it can
be the result of other things that are failing. All right,
most of the time, most of the time it's a
faulty O two. But you know, we need to know
what's fuel turem, where's fuel trim on this car, what's
calculated load on this car? What's the forward OH two reading?
And is the forward OH two reading somehow skewing the
(16:53):
downstream O two reading. I've seen some complications with that,
not just on this but on other vehicles. So and
then and then my my, my last comment would be, um,
are we sure that we've got the right part in it?
That it was a it was a direct look up.
It wasn't a universal LOW two. It was a good
fit to what came out of the vehicle. I purchased
(17:16):
it in a local store. Uh and uh, it's it's
a bos So. I'm not sure if that's a factory
probably probably in two thousand and Nissan. I have seen
bosh and some of the older Nissans. Bosch is a
good name, Densel is a good name. But the question
is just didn't look the same as what you took
(17:36):
out and it plugged right in correct. Yeah, yeah, okay,
So then the next step is why is it setting
the one forty? Now you've got to be able to
look at that stream. You need to know what fuel
trim is, you need to know what calculated load capability is,
because because otherwise, Ken, you're just you're you're just whistling
in the dark. You're just you've only got half the information.
(17:57):
So you know, leave the O two where it is,
get a skin tool, look and read data stream or
find somebody else that can help you read data stream
and coming back next week we can talk about it further.
Eight five five five zero zero, or on any of
the car Doctor coming back right after this, welcome back.
(18:37):
Why don't any of the car doctor or eight five
five five zero nine zero zero the Car Doctor seven
phone number. I'll do it again. Eight five five five
six zero zero zero. Give us a call. We'll get
you in Q and get you up here and we
can talk about it on the big stage and solve
your car's problem. Let's get over to Pat and Alberta,
Canada one fifty and some stalling issues. Pat. Welcome to
(18:58):
the Car Doctor. How can I help hi? Ron thanks
for having me on your show. You're welcome. I listened
to your podcast. Hey, um, my situation is um, yes,
stalling and when it's hot, especially when it comes to
a stop sign, doesn't always do it. And it's it's
(19:18):
kind of like another calm the dark, I guess because
there's no code that comes on. And um, here's what
I've done to it. I've replaced the idol control mode
or control switch or whatever it is used to be
idle air speed motor. It's the I A motor. The
triangular shape or the rectangular shape looks like two triangles together. Uh.
(19:44):
The opening it's got to ten or eight millimeter screws
on each side, with the with the gasket with the
round holes on the side of Then I claimed the
throttle body with a throttle by the cleaner. And what
else did they do with it? Oh? I cleaned the
mass airflow sensor didn't seem to make much a difference.
(20:06):
And my next step was thinking about throwing on a
mass airflow sensor. Well, you know, as I always say,
the only thing we throw in is people in the pool.
And you know, unless we want to get wet and
look silly, we try not to throw anything without some
kind of diagnosis. That being said, so you know, if
(20:28):
if if you can, if you can get your hands
on a scanner or find somebody that understands fuel trim
and some basics, let's baseline. Let's let's look at you know,
let's look at what's good, what's working when it doesn't stall?
What does it do? Where's fuel trim? What's calculated load
going to show me? All though this is I don't
recall and I don't think there's going to be a
calculated load pit in ninety eight, but if it's there,
(20:51):
let's look at it. Let's look at all the Let's
look at the data stream and see what we can
call from that. You know, just because there's no fault
codes doesn't mean there's not things to look at. You ever,
you ever, just you feel kind of crummy certain times
of the year, and you go to the doctor and
you know, they look at you and your your blood
is good and your your heart rates good, but they
still kind of poke around and proud you a little bit,
(21:11):
and they eventually figure it out, and you know, they
sort of they gather information from other sources. It's it's
it's kind of the same thing. We're just doing it
with a car. And you know the fact that it
only does it warm, Well, that's that's a key piece
of information. But what else does do things look like?
You know, when it's cold, if I have a reading,
(21:32):
a fuel trim, calculated load, if it's their throttle angle tps,
all my valuable data pits. If I have readings when
it's cold, when it doesn't stall, and then when it
starts stolling when it's warm, and I go back in
and start reading those numbers and compare, did any of
those numbers change? Do I have something that heat expands,
making a vacuum leak, making it run lean, making its
(21:54):
stall when at least expected? Could I have an e
g R valve sticking in the hot weather if I
were to block the e g R v L vacuum
line just just disconnected for the moment to drive it.
Once I got it to the point where it's happening
on a consistent basis, does that change or alter the
stall rate or stop it all together? On this? Yeah? Well,
(22:15):
you know, and then when it dies, does it chuggle
on down? When it dies? Pad? Is it? Does it?
You know? Is it's sort of like a murmur where
it just kind of wheezes to a stop or is
it bang clean like somebody turned the kid. No, it
kind of chucking. It starts chugging, and then sometimes it'll
stall over. Most of the time it kind of catches
itself and keeps going. Couldn't have a couldn't have a
(22:37):
couldn't have a porous or leaking fuel pressure regulator on
the rail. They were common to fail back in the day. Yeah, listen,
it's twenty two years old. Now it's entitled right, you know, um,
what's what's fuel pressure when it's good? You know, fuel
pressure when it's good, when you get this thing that
(22:59):
when you get this thing to are it's stolen? What's
fuel pressure when it's bad? Have you taken a fuel sample?
There's there's There's easily twenty to twenty five things I
could think of to check on this or to have known,
you know, comparison of hey, here's what it does, here's
what it looks like, this is what this is what happened,
and now I can figure out what the causes a
(23:20):
lot of times, you know, I'll say it like this.
I think the number is of cars with check engine
lights on are a component failure and No two a cat,
a throttle position sensor, a mass airflow that last thirty year,
ten percent, whatever the number is is. They're the ones
that make you think. They're the ones that make you
(23:42):
have to go and look at different pits and different
values and other places for information. Which is why on
all cars, even the cars that are component failures. And
I put it on two one that fixed, it's good.
What's fuel trim? What was throttle angle? What was calculated load?
You know you still record those things. You write them
down in your book. Every mechanic has a book, either
it's in his head or it's a paper copy, or
(24:03):
it's on a computer. But you've always got your data
to refer back to the things that you won't forget. Um.
That being said, this truck has a wiring harness down
by the exhaust manifold by the front pipe, right, yeah,
is that safely tucked in place? Is that anywhere near
the exhaust manifold that it could be rubbing against it?
(24:24):
Is there any damage to the wiring harness whatsoever? Yeah,
could check that. Sure. Yeah, it's a it's an old
farm truck, so it's been right. But make sure that harness,
and and for that matter, even if the harness is
away from the manifold that it's not rubbing against it,
(24:45):
Go down, go down there and kind of grab the
harness like you were needing though, and gently massage the harness,
wiggle it and jiggle it and move it back and forth.
Does that make the truck shut off? We've seen cases
where that portion of the harness gets hardened from the heat,
gets sort of it's sort of case hardened. It's twenty
two years old. Now, it's been exposed to heat. It
(25:05):
was allowsy place for them to put the harness in
the first place when Ford designed this, and we've seen
lots of harness issues created down there. So it doesn't
have a lot of miles on it, well, you know,
neither do I. But look at me, look kind of
shape bombing. Uh you know, mileage doesn't matter to me. Um,
it's broken, you know. If I well, yeah, Pat, you know, listen,
(25:27):
if I thought like that, it doesn't have a lot
of miles on it, it shouldn't be broken. Okay, let's go,
let's bring in the next vehicle. You know, it's you know,
sometimes that influences my decision thinking, but not until I
get you know, not until I get my data. Hey, listen,
are the battery cables tight? Yeah? You don't know. You
don't know, brother, You don't know how many cars we
(25:49):
fix because somebody put a battery in it. And I'm
not saying you did this, but somebody put a battery
in it. And the terminals are loose. The g M
side terminals are tight all the way. And you'll walk up,
you know, tap the negative terminal. It just moves, you know, uh,
twenty minutes by a clock face and the truck stoles,
(26:10):
or it sets a trouble code or a voltage issue,
or you know, it's you gotta go through basics. You
gotta go through and and stop changing parts, you know,
because you know what you show me where it says
all those parts you put on new doesn't mean good,
New means never ever worked. So you know it just
(26:31):
it just doesn't comply. You could have put another problem
into that just by changing apart. Now you're gonna have
two issues to deal with. So stop stop changing. Yeah,
I get a scanner, and you know, do some look
at look up some YouTube videos on fuel trim and
how fuel trim works and what fuel trims all about,
and there's no way, there's no more being half a
(26:52):
mechanic anymore. You gotta do it all. You gotta look
at everything. And that's the only way we're gonna fix
cars and trucks going forward. It's just it's just gotten
way too complicated and way too involved. All right. But
whatever you find, whatever information you get, you call me
back because I'll be here waiting for you and we
can talk about it and we'll fix that truck together,
you and me. Good luck to you, all right, Um,
(27:13):
I'll call you back, all right. You let me know
you take good care already. I'll see you. Hey, I
had to throw that in there zero. The car Doctor's
cruising back right after this. BA come back then all thing? Hey, Hey, hey,
(27:39):
do you know the way to San Jose Ronaldini and
the car Doctor. Dave's gonna show us Dave and his
cheep wrangler Dave. Welcome aboard, sir. How are you today?
My call? Run? Um, I got a pretty simple question
compared to a lot of the other ones you get. Uh.
I uh bought diesel wrangler and I added a mo
fire bumper and a winch to the front, and it
(28:02):
sagged it down a little bit, like about three quarters
of an inch, and I just wonder what you thought
about putting those those your thane spacers in or The
other idea I had was the rubicon is about an
inch taller. So I was thinking about going to the
dealer and trying to figure out if maybe I could
swap the rubicon springs and that would lift it up
(28:23):
an inch. I like the spring idea. And I'll tell
you why. You know, any vehicle regardless, you know, you
put a winch and a heavier bumper on the front,
You've added a lot of weight to that vehicle. So
the space or is just gonna give it that cosmetic
appearance so that it's level, because I guess that's what
you're going for, which would make sense, right, yes, sir,
(28:44):
But you know we will well yeah, I mean i'd
like some more functional we want we want stabuild, yeah, yeah,
we want stability. We want to be able to take
it out on the trails and and you know we
use that winch if we get stuck, pull us up,
pull us up the side of the mountain, pull us
up out of the ditch whatever. Uh, you know, so
it becomes a point of practicality. I like the idea
of upgrading the spring system and putting, you know, a
(29:06):
better spring in there, something that you know has a
higher payload rating and it will give the truck, give
the vehicle more stability, and be safer in the long run.
So I I think that makes more sense. It's amazing
what a winch ways. It's amazing what some of these
bumpers wig we Um. We just finished this week for
a very good customer of ours, Eddie with his Silverado.
(29:27):
I was talking about it last week. Eddie lives out
in the middle of Pennsylvania and he wanted a bumper
for the front of his Silverado that you know, he's
got this issue where you know, animals run across the
road and sometimes you can't stop, and you know, he
needed a cow catcher basically, uh, you know, for the
front of the truck. And when I tell you, it
took Danny and I every bit of twenty minutes to
(29:49):
line this bumper up under the winch and then use
the winch in the shop to pick the bumper up
to line it up to the frame. And I mean
we we had three hours just getting the bumper to
the point where we could bolted to the frame by
the time. You know, we wiggled things around. But it's
a lot of weight you're dealing with. And I think
you're in the same position and now you've added a winch.
(30:09):
That winch ways what five pounds? Oh no, no, No,
it's probably the the you know, it was a plastic
bumper before that the chief came with. And uh, I
think I probably added. I tried to weigh everything on
my scale here, but um, I think I think I
added like about a hundred and twenty pounds to the
(30:32):
front of the car. But that's it. Yeah, it's gonna
say a hundred pounds made the front of the truck sad. Uh, yeah,
it's already the diesel motor is already they say, three
or four hundred pounds heavier than the gas motor in
the Wrangler. And uh so I think maybe I don't
(30:54):
know if maybe that was already kind of maxed out. Uh,
you know with the springs and uh the you know,
the the new metal bumper and you know the Mopar
bumper which fit really great. That's why I went with
a Mopar one. But um, they and the winch. I
probably added, like, probably added like a pounds or something.
(31:15):
The winch is probably like between forty and fifty, and
then you have the winch, the winch plate, and then
the bumper too. So so do do this, Dave, Dave,
do this? First of all, all right, talk to Chrysler.
Find out is there a different Is there a difference
in a replacement front spring for a guess versus a
(31:37):
diesel wrangler? All right, okay, let's let's find out. I
I think there is, all right, but let's just find out,
and then they'll probably be able to give you a
part number or a color code tag for what should
be on the spring. Now, being as how this is
a twenty this truckle, it'll be real easy to see.
Go find that spring, find the part number. Let's make
(31:58):
sure the truck has the right springs in from the factory.
I imagine it does, but you know, let's let's at
least get that off the list. And then and then
the next question is you know the fact that it's
a diesel, is the diesel spring does that have a
higher payload rating than the rubicon or the wrangler? So
we're putting rubicon springs in? It really help it? Right? Uh? Yeah,
(32:24):
it might be a lesson in futility. And then now
you're gonna have to go look at some of the
aftermarket stuff and see what they offer. Think of it
like this, and I always say this, and I've I've
learned it to be true. You're not the first guy
to do this. You can't be right. Somebody else had
a winch and they wanted to put better springs in it.
So somebody else has already done this, and by doing
some research you'll find out what it is. So you
(32:46):
only have to make one more change and then it
will be right. Alright, sir, you do that, Davy. Thanks
for the call. I appreciated. Good luck, enjoy the jeep.
Send us some pictures of it. We'll put them up
on our Facebook page nine nine zero. The car doctor
is coming back right after this. Hey, let's get over
(33:14):
and talk to Elizabeth in Maine. A nineteen grand caravan. Elizabeth,
I think I can help you here. What's going on? Well,
thank you for taking my call again. Yes, we, uh,
my husband and I went out looking for a minivan.
We ended up with a twenty Dodge brand caravan. And
the strange thing has happened. Um, it's not a mechanical
issue per se, but it is it is a definite
problem for us. The new seats in the vehicles are
(33:37):
all like a what do you call the bucket seat
type thing with the seat of it is formed with
the cushions that come up around your thighs and then
it seems to be pitched back. Now I cannot get
this seat to go have the base of it, the
seat part of its flat. I've tried every setting that
there is there, and it seems like all the vehicles
(33:58):
are that way. Now the problem and these I have
a disc problem in my back which showed up because
of the seat. So I'm now I got a vehicle
I can't drive because of the seat. This is kind
of strange. You ever hear that one before? Um, you
know you're gonna laugh. I sort of have. So I
see a chiropractor. I've been. I've been to a chiropractor, yeah,
(34:19):
for the last twenty maybe going on twenty five years,
and there's there's nearly nothing wrong with me, not with
my back anyway, but you know, just just all these
years turn and wrenches and bending in twisting, and I've
sat in cars where they're uncomfortable and David will Will
shim my bottom for lack of a better way to
put it. Um, you know, a thin piece of paper.
(34:39):
They staggered me left or right. Uh. They want me
to sit on the piece of paper while I drive
and will eventually shift my back the other way. And
I've seen that method of chiropractory do some really amazing things.
I would tell you talk to your chiropractor as a
way he can shim you to help make it work better,
make it fit better, and then after that we can
talk about maybe adding foam to the seat. Do that.
Call me back. I'm running in in the card and
(35:01):
reminding you good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. Senior,
Host
Ron Ananian
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