Mr Mechanic 10-19-2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Meet Bob. He's a four time tire rotation champion. When
he was a baby, his first words were automatic transmission fluid.
Bob's so cool he has engine coolant running through his veins.
And then there's Kyle, also known as Premium Unleaded. Legend
has it that Kyle can change your oil with his toes,

(00:21):
and that he can tell your tires ill pressure just
by how you're walking. He's Bob, He's Kyle, and every
Saturday morning they morphed together to form the greatest superhero
known to man. Mister Mechanic check engine lights, don't stand
a chance. This is the Mister Mechanic Show on eleven ten, kfab.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
All right, good Saturday morning to you. This is the
Mister Mechanic Show. Five five, three, eleven ten or those
numbers to get in. This is an interactive call in
talk show all about cars, cars, truck's mechanical things to
go along with cars trucks. You've got questions, I'll give

(01:05):
you some answers, at least what I've seen. I've seen
quite a bit of stuff over the years. We're Buchanan
Service Centers fiftieth and Dodge eightieth and Dodge guaranteed breaks
forty ninth Avenue and Dodge. We're busy seven days a
week at these stores, so no reason to break down
if you got us in your phone. This has been
kind of a busy week for us at the shop.

(01:27):
We got cars coming in, cars going out. We're starting
to see a lot of intermittent issues with cars. A
lot of things that come in and you know, they'll
come in with a check engine light and you know,
some devastating description of this problem and what happens, and
you'll scan it and you'll be like, wow, how's this

(01:48):
thing even running? And it's running great? Is a problem
that we face with cars. Intermittent issues are, in my opinion,
the hardest that we see. So it's important at least
for you guys. Like when you have a car that
acts up, sometimes the best thing that you can do

(02:11):
because I mean, you got to take it to a mechanic,
because I mean, if you don't know what you're doing,
I mean, this can be a very alarming event for you.
So the things I want you to pay attention to.
If you've got a problem that comes and goes, when
does it happen? Is there something that you're doing just

(02:33):
like when it starts happening, just say, what did I
just do one second ago? Did I turn on the
turn signals and all of a sudden the wipers are
going and everything like that, And as soon as I
turn the corner, it it quits. This is important stuff
to kind of take note of and convey to your
mechanic because in the event that you come across an

(02:54):
intermittent issue, I mean, there's no real book time on
what to charge for this. It's just a matter of
how long it takes us to find it as to
what the end result bill is. So the more information,
the more kind of piecing it together that you can
do on your own, the more it could potentially save

(03:16):
you as far as a repair. And I mean I've
seen cars come in where you know what I just described,
I turn on the left turn signal and my whole
center display everything starts flashing in the blower motor quits,
you know, and at least that gives us a direction
of the car to go, because I mean, in simplicity,

(03:38):
I mean cars are fairly easy. I mean, all your
problems are right there between the bumpers. You've only got
ten feet of potential for a problem. But there's a
billion things in that ten feet. So if we can
narrow it down to a certain area, that helps me
out tremendously. I mean, because just saying I got to

(03:59):
check engine light on one time it did this thing.
I mean, that's leaving a lot of gray area. I mean,
especially because some of these intermittent problems, they don't happen
every time you turn the key. I mean, we've had
cars for weeks and weeks and weeks and never got
this problem to occur. So it's important to take notes

(04:19):
of that. I mean, if we can narrow it down
to a certain section, even that helps tremendously. Just a
couple of things to keep in mind, but five, five,
eight to eleven ten are the numbers to get in
if you've got any questions. Right now, we're gonna go
to Mike with a ninety two f one fifty Mike,
good morning, what's happening?

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Good morning?

Speaker 4 (04:38):
Well by ninety two would just it will just quit okay,
and he just shuts down and then it won't restart.
I took it to my mechanic and he was having
a heck of a time, and I was able to
I was finally able to drive it home, but it
ran rough okay, And I got it home and.

Speaker 5 (05:03):
I drove.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
I thought, well, I'm going to run it out the
interstate and back run it hard, and so I did that,
got home and parked it and.

Speaker 6 (05:13):
It quit.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
And it wouldn't restart. Now he put a new distributor in.
He couldn't find the problem either, but he put a
new distributor in, thinking that was it. And now I
went the other day and I went to uh Primate
Hill and I got most of the way up the
hill and the quit I had it wouldn't free start,

(05:39):
and I had to back down the hill, of course
without any power, down the bottomy hill and back it
into a driveway level driveway and she fired right up.
So I drove it home. And a week earlier I
had done the same thing, left my house I live

(06:00):
on the country, drove it up this hill and they quit.
I had to back it all the way down and
then it would restart it okay.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
So here's my question to you. So he put a
distributor in it, which makes me think he was leaning
towards Spark on this particular truck. A distributor was not
an uncommon part to replace and replace fairly often. I've
done a bunch of them. Is this the straight six
or is this the V eight?

Speaker 4 (06:31):
This is a thrill?

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Okay, So have you checked fuel pressure on this car?

Speaker 4 (06:39):
I haven't. No, it's it's fuel ejected.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Also, sure, but I hadn't.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
No, I haven't, Okay. So here's the reason that I
bring that up. You said it died a couple of
times going up a hill. So going up a hill
means that all your gas is going to the back
of the gas tank. Your fuel pump about right in
the middle of that gas tank, give or take. If
it's the front ar ear, they're both right in the middle.

(07:07):
So what I want to know is are we losing
fuel pressure going up a hill? Is anything changing on
my fuel pressure gauge reading when I'm going up a hill,
because a couple of things can happen. There's baffles inside
this tank, and this is an old steel tank, and
I've seen where they just break off, and those baffles

(07:30):
are there to kind of keep gas centered and slowly
move it to the back of the tank as you're
going up a hill. And that allows because your fuel
pump module on like a new car, will hold about
a quarter of a gallon of gas itself, which will
get you up a hill and back. This truck doesn't
really have a hangar module. It just has a fuel

(07:52):
pump sitting in the bottom of the tank and that's it.
So it relies greatly on these baffle inside the tank
to keep fuel around the fuel pump while you're climbing hills.
So I think if it were in my bay, the
first thing I would do was put a mechanical fuel

(08:13):
pressure gauge on it and take it for a test drive.
And this is something I mean, you can go to
any part store and buy a cheap mechanical fuel gauge.
I mean, Harbor Freight sells them. I think I got
one there for ten twelve bucks. I mean, they're not
greatly expensive. And it just screws into like a straight port.

(08:34):
It looks like a port like on your tire, but
it's on a fuel rail by your injectors, and you
can just kind of be sure you don't pinch it
in the hood. Maybe leave your hood popped a little
bit so you can have the hose outside and look
at this gauge and just take this thing for a drive.
Are we losing fuel? Pressure. I mean it should be
around thirteen to fifteen pounds off the top of my

(08:55):
head on this truck. But I mean that would be
my for go to, you know, from what you've said,
And mind you, this is an old truck. So are
the wiring harnesses underneath loose? And you know we're going
up a hill and we're shorting something out. I mean,
I think you would have a blown fuse because this

(09:15):
fuel pump is fused if that were the case. So
I mean, for starters, I'm gonna rule that out. But
I want to know what the fuel pressure is because
you got a new distributor in there, so I should
hope your spark is great. So I think the next
place I'm gonna go is that test with the fuel pressure.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Okay, all right, well look at that sure thing.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Okay, thank you, Yeah you bet, Mike, Thanks for the call.
All right, we're gonna take a quick break here on
the Mister Mechanic Show. Five, five, eight, eleven, ten or
those numbers to get in. We'll be back in a minute.

Speaker 7 (09:51):
Are you a mechanic who just doesn't feel like a
mechanic anymore?

Speaker 8 (09:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Do you find.

Speaker 7 (09:57):
Yourself unable to last as long under the hood, that's right?
Or are you just not interested in rotating tires anymore?

Speaker 8 (10:06):
Yeah, I'd go weeks and weeks without doing an oil change.
The car would come in and just sit there, and
of course we look at each other. I knew what
was expected of me, being a mechanic and all, but
I just wasn't in the mood.

Speaker 7 (10:21):
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Speaker 8 (10:45):
After I took mechanic Hall, I felt like a new mechanic.
I was rotating tires and changing oil faster than ever before,
I was even finishing before the car was even off
the jack.

Speaker 7 (10:56):
Millions of mechanics around the world are finding their love
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Speaker 2 (11:03):
So what are you waiting for?

Speaker 7 (11:05):
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Speaker 2 (11:12):
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Speaker 7 (11:14):
Disclaimer This drig has not been tested to approve by
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Speaker 2 (11:18):
It's just me today. Bob's off this weekend. So if
you've never called and you want to call, and you've
got a question about your car, you know you don't
necessarily have to have a problem to even call me.
I'll take your call. I mean, yeah, hey, Kyle, how
does my tail light work? You sure about that gyle? Yeah?
You bet? Yeah? Yeah, I'm here for an hour, so
why not call me? Yeah? You got a question like

(11:40):
how does something on my car work? Or when should
I do this? I'm your guy, no problem. So let's
let's jump back into the calls. We got John waiting
patiently here, two thousand and four Ford tourists. John, what's
on your mind?

Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (11:54):
I got two thousand and four tours in the start
of grinds.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Right, Okay, the gentleman.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Put a new starter in. They're still doing the same thing,
the only one is doing.

Speaker 9 (12:08):
Does that have a flat fin on the flywheel?

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Would you think, well, no, it doesn't need shimed. It
should bolt right up to your bell housing. They did
away with shims years and years and years ago. So
no shim's in that starter. So the first place I'm
gonna go is to that flywheel. I'm gonna pull the
starter back out. I can't remember on these, depending on

(12:32):
the engine. There maybe an inspection plate on the very
bottom behind the oil pan you can pull that'll allow
you to see these teeth. And we need to get
a flashlight in there, and maybe have one of your
buddies turn the engine over with a ratchet. Don't try
to use the starter to turn it over or anything

(12:53):
like that. Just use a ratchet on the harmonic balancer.
Turn your motor over entirely one whole turn, and take
a look at all these teeth, and don't just look
for one that's flat. Look for them. You'll be looking
for something very shiny in there, because the flywhey al itself,
it should be really dull colored. But look for something

(13:16):
really shiny. That could be a very sharp teeth. That'll
tell you. But most likely, I mean, if you've got
a new starter in there and it's doing the same thing,
there's only one other variable the flyway.

Speaker 9 (13:29):
You have pull the engine, the change the fowheel on them.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Just the curiosity.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, you can do it one or two ways. You
can pull the engine or you can pull the transmission.

Speaker 9 (13:40):
Okay, not one has been probably about three quarters of
this besides between the side cover and the flame on
that thing. Mm, so it's got a twin cam overhead
cam motor.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Are Yeah, that's a big motor. They kind of shoehorn
that thing in there, so there's not a lot of room.
So this might be possible on this car. It might
not be. But I know in the past, in my
more ambitious days, when I would do work in my
driveway some cars, older cars like around this era, you

(14:16):
might get lucky and you know, undo your transmission mounts,
take your bell housing and torque converter mounts out, get
a jack underneath that transmission that's stable, and just kind
of drop your frame your subframe down on that driver
side and you might be able to get enough room

(14:36):
to get in there with the wrench and do your
work without pulling this unit entirely out. I've been able
to do that on quite a few cars, believe it
or not. And like I say, you get if you
can get an inch inch and a half two inches
of movement between the engine and transmission enough just to
get a long wrench in there and use a flywheel

(14:59):
holding tool and just kind of do your work and
get in and out of there easily. That's the best way.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Okay, I'll do my darn said exactly.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Thank you, Sure you bet, John, Thanks for calling. Yeah,
doing flywheels, transmission replacements, engine replacements on front wheel drive
vehicles is cramped, to say the least in most cases,
so we got to kind of think outside the box.
Because when I figured that out, I knew I didn't
want to pull the whole transmission out of this car

(15:33):
because I'm the only guy working on it and I'm
not going to be able to lift it back in.
It seems like a lot of work, it is, but
it's gratifying when you're done, you know, because you'd be like, hey,
I fix that. Yeah, but how much is your time worth? Well,
in most cases, skin off my knuckles and you know,
maybe lunch there you go. Yeah, car repair is getting

(15:58):
to be an extremely intense deal, and for the guys,
the side job guys and the guys that want to
do it in their driveway, it's gonna get to be
to the point where you need to buy some really
expensive tools and you know, do some online training classes

(16:19):
in order to figure these problems out. Because the old
cars were easy. I mean there was. I mean, if
you had a pair of pliers of Phillips and straight
screwdriver and you know, a decent floor jack in a
set of sockets, you were set to go. You could
fix anything, you could diagnose anything. I mean I had
a just this morning, I was working on an early

(16:40):
eighties El Camino and.

Speaker 5 (16:43):
I was.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
You know, that was a great start to the day. Gosh,
my hands hardly even got dirty because they weren't touching
anything else. I had to pull all eight spark plugs
out of this thing and check it out and get
it running good. And yeah, it was no pain, no
nothing modern cars. I mean, if you have an ignition issue,
I mean we're talking, I mean, we got to take
a lot of the top of this engine apart just

(17:07):
to get down here and figure it out. That's one
way to do it. Or you know, like I said,
if you want to buy some expensive tools, you know,
call me up. I can walk you through how to
test it right from the computer. But I mean that's
it's just getting to be, you know, to where it's
not the backyard mechanics kind of game anymore, which is unfortunate,

(17:27):
but it is what it is. Everything's got to grow,
everything's got to move forward. We've got to progress, and
this is just one of those things that might not
be a DIY thing anymore. I mean, if you have
an electric car, I mean, stay as far away from
that motor in your driveway as you can. I mean,
I don't know a lot about the repair on them,

(17:49):
but I know enough that it's not for the feint
of heart. And when you see you know, if you
have a hybrid and you open the hood and you
see anything orange, stay away from that with any kind
of probe or testing equipment. Just don't even touch it.
That's my rule of thumb. Anything that's an orange wire

(18:12):
is eight hundred volts and not good. All Right, we
got John on the line here with the Ford Explorer's
got a question about his oil filter. John, what's on
your mind?

Speaker 5 (18:23):
Yeah, when you put that oil filter on that The
last time I did it, I steered it all the
way up to the top, started in leaked, trying to
put a nubb one on and got oil all over.
When you put those on, you should turn them tight
and then three quers them away.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
Right.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, So with your instance, this is something I have seen.
So your filter goes up, their bottoms out, you started up,
you got oil going everywhere, right, yeah, okay, so get
your filter back off of there. And that spindle that
it screws onto, I'm gonna bet that that's loose. And

(19:01):
generally they're just like a big alan wrench kind of
fitting on them, or some of them use a socket.
I can't remember what Ford does. But you just kind
of got to run that tight because what's happening is
your filter's bottoming out before it hits the housing. That's
kind of that, right, That's kind of what that sounds
like to me. Okay, but yeah, get your filter back

(19:27):
off of there, and you know, make sure your gasket
on your old filter isn't stuck up there, and right,
you know, just kind of run that spindle tight. I mean,
you don't have to bury it all the way home.
I think the torques back on them is like twenty
foot pounds, so they don't have to be greatly tight,
and then just run your filter on there and you'll

(19:48):
be good.

Speaker 5 (19:50):
Okay, because I've never had that happen before. I couldn't
figure out what I was doing wrong.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah, it can be a little unsettling. Anytime you start
an engine and you got oil going somewhere, You're like, ahh,
so yeah.

Speaker 5 (20:09):
How often should you change you break fluid?

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Oh? Around here? I mean with the weather that we have,
because break fluid likes to attract moisture, and I mean
your system is sealed, so that keeps a lot of
it out of there. But we recommend every fifty to
eighty thousand somewhere in there. But generally, like on my
personal vehicles, just whenever I need breaks, which normally ends

(20:36):
up being somewhere around fifty to eighty thousand. If I'm
there and I'm taking the system apart anyway, it's not
that much more work to just hook up a break
bleader and just flush your fluid through there. And that's
kind of what I recommend.

Speaker 5 (20:51):
Okay, But yeah, that's great now, it's thank.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
You, Yeah you bet, John, Thanks for the call, all right?
With John dropping off gives some open lines for you. Five, five, eight,
eleven ten the numbers to get in. We'll be back
in a second. Get in early. I don't have much
time left here, Gosh, hit me with these questions.

Speaker 5 (21:09):
Guys.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
All right, I'm gonna jump over to Walter. Walter's got
a nineteen sixty seven ford. I'm curious about Walter. What's
going on with this truck?

Speaker 10 (21:19):
Okay? I the allernator.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
Light came on?

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Okay.

Speaker 10 (21:24):
Well, I took it in, had it, had it tested.
I had a bad allernator, so I put a new alternator,
a new allernator on it. I guess it wasn't the rebuilds.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
Okay, and.

Speaker 10 (21:35):
Light still stays on. So I had the battery chick. Well,
I had a bad battery. I put a new battery
on it. Light still comes on.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Okay.

Speaker 10 (21:43):
So I've got a boldage regulator and a new allernator,
harness up from the alternator up to the regulator in
the battery and put that a new light still comes on.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Okay. So here's my first question. Is the system charging?

Speaker 10 (22:09):
Well, I've driven it, I've driven it into the park store.
I live twenty miles from the park store. I've driven
it into the park store two times to have it tested,
and it charges.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Okay. So our system's working great. We're just worried about
a light. So let's talk about the light. Okay. So
this can be I don't have the wiring diagram for
this truck memorized, I'm sorry to say, but in my
sixty two Ford. So this is a generator system, so

(22:42):
it may be different, but still a charging unit, a battery,
a voltage regulator. So I've got a light bulb in
the dash that is either gonna always have power and
then when the system quits charging, they all is going
to pull it to ground or vice versa. It's always

(23:03):
going to have ground, and when your system quits working,
it goes to power. So we need to get the
dash out of this car, and let's look at what's
happening on this light bulb. Because if your system always
has power, like you turn your key on, that light
bulb gets power, and then when your generator is below

(23:25):
X amount, it closes a relay and your voltage regulator
kicks the light on. Because there's a potential for how
this system could work. Also, this light could come on
if your signal wire to that light bulb is shorted
to ground. Say it goes around the corner of an

(23:46):
engine block and it's been rubbing there for sixty years.
We could have a bare wire that's touching ground. Turning
the light bulb on. Our charging system's working just fine,
I see, So let's take a look what's happening there,
because if you're charging, that light shouldn't be on, and
it sounds to me like you're charging, because your battery

(24:09):
would have run dead by now.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
I would have thought.

Speaker 10 (24:12):
So yeah, okay, Oh, I'm I'm almost as old as
I'm older than the pickup. Okay, I have a hard
time getting up under the day, so I'm gonna pull.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
That sure, and it might be easier to kind of
start underneath the hood, you know, before we go underneath
the dash, because I doubt you're going to find a
short underneath the dash because there's nothing under there, right, Okay,
So if you get a wiring diagram, I'm sure somebody
still sells a book on this truck, LMC or something.

(24:47):
You can get a wiring.

Speaker 10 (24:48):
Diagram and I've got the Ford Manual on it perfect.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
So we just need to find one wire that goes
from either your alternator or your voltage regulator to the dash,
and we're going to find that in our bulkhead where
it goes through the firewall, and then you can kind
of test it from there. Either use a vault meter
or a test light'll work. Just find in this scenario

(25:16):
and just start there.

Speaker 10 (25:19):
Okay, Okay, I'll try that and see what happens and
sure that. What are the what are the chances that
have got a bad again I put a new one
on there.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
I'm gonna say it's not impossible. I mean the good
thing about that. And you've got the Ford Manual. If
you've got a set of feeler gauges, you can take
the top off of that thing and you're going to
see three switches in there. It kind of looks like
I said, of breaker points. You're familiar with that in
your distributor.

Speaker 10 (25:55):
Well it's not. It's a transitionorized.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Oh okay, so we can't take it apart.

Speaker 5 (26:02):
And fix it.

Speaker 10 (26:02):
You can't take it apart.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Well, that's unfortunate. I like to take that part and
fix them.

Speaker 10 (26:10):
I do too, But I'm thinking I may go just
back to the part store, buy another one and trade
them and if it works, then you take the bad
one back, and if it don't work, I'll take the
good one back.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Sure, yep. That's one way to do it.

Speaker 10 (26:26):
That's like a two minute thing.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
Yep.

Speaker 10 (26:28):
Besides the trip to the part store.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
So yeah, yeah, you bet.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
Okay, Well I'll.

Speaker 10 (26:34):
Get under the hood and we'll run that wire down
and see which one it is and see if I
gotta bear wires someplace.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Sure thing. Well let me know what you find, Walter.
I appreciate the car. All right, We're gonna jump over
to Gary. Gary's got a twenty fourteen Nissan Morano. Gary.
What's going on today?

Speaker 6 (26:53):
Uh, just trying to figure out what's wrong with them
all the time. Sure, everything is testing, and then it's
like and it might work. And this is that we
have a twenty ten Rogue with the little forebanger in it,
and it will bog down when you turn the air on.
And I realize you're talking one hundred and thirty horse

(27:15):
power and you turn the air on, it's sucking horsepower
off the motor. That there's some with the automatic transmissions
going and all the other electrical parts on it. So
now we have a Nissan twenty fourteen and it's the
Moronto model and it has six cylinder in it. And
even when we bought it, my cars are all high

(27:37):
violets cars. That rogue has one hundred and fifty eight thousand,
and it's still running, and I don't want to mess
with it and find out I just destroyed the pattern
how they run anyway, And so the Morono doesn't. You'll
pull up to a stop sign, cycles, the air conditioning
motor kind of bogs down a little bit, and I'm

(27:58):
thinking that they have a like a loop kit or
something you put in the air conditioning into the it's
not thendenser.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
The compressor.

Speaker 6 (28:09):
Yeah, the compressor is it just wearing tear those one
hundred and seventeen thousand miles on this car and it
didn't start till about ninety eight thousand.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Okay, So let me get this. Let me make sure
I'm following. Okay. So you're coming to a stop sign
and your ace's on and your IDOL seems like it's
dropping lower than it should. Is that what's happened?

Speaker 6 (28:32):
Doesn't go slow though, it's just your idling. Everything's okay. Cycles,
It kind of stalls the motor a little bit, and
then it goes backed up again. It's just okay, it's
an anomaly.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
So have you looked at the throttle body on this Nissan?

Speaker 7 (28:48):
No?

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Okay, So that's gonna be the first place I'm gonna
want to go, cause if the AC's working, I'm gonna
you know, and there when it comes on, there's no
belts squeal, I'm gonna rule that out. I'm gonna say
the AC is working just fine. Let's leave that system alone.
Let's go to our throttle body. And since you've got

(29:10):
a V six, this one's a little more accessible than
the four cylinder. So what I want you to do,
take your air boot off and let's unplug this throttle body,
take it off the car. Let's physically look at this
blade in there. Is it dirty? Is it really gummed
up with stuff? We got one hundred and fifty thousand

(29:32):
miles on it. Has it ever been cleaned? If it hasn't,
then that's going to create what you're explaining to me,
and we need to get in there.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
There.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
You can go to the parts store. They offer a
product for cleaning throttle plates, and we got.

Speaker 6 (29:46):
Two cans of it's sitting in the garage right now.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Okay, and I'm gonna take that thing and just get
a toothbrush. You know, if you've got to spare toothbrush around,
or there's somebody in the house you're not friends with,
use theirs and just kind of clean out the inside
of this throttle body until it looks brand new and
put it back on the car. Then I'm going to
disconnect the battery, hook that back up, and let's see

(30:10):
if that fixes your problem. Nine times out of ten
I get lucky and it's something just like that.

Speaker 6 (30:17):
Something simple. Yeah, I called you a couple of months ago.
We had a problem with my daughter's pickup and not
blowing codes. But it would no acceleration. Okay, it's all
over the net and all over people having problems with that,
and they end up doing ten or fifteen different things.
Finally it turns out one thing, and the one on

(30:38):
her Dodge pickup was plugs.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (30:41):
So you don't know if it's somebody's taking care of
that car and done the plugs when they should have
been done. But this mechanic I took a two set.
It's probably the plugs. Sure they haven't been done, and
he did the plugs. Kind of tune up on the
Dodge and me pick up is like eight hundred bucks.
Oh yeah, yeah, ninety seven cents of the twenty two bucks.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Now you bet. Yeah, that's why I like the old stuff.
But yeah, I give that a shot here, Gary, let
me know what you come up with. We're gonna take
a quick break here on the Mister Mechanics show five, five,
eight to eleven ten or those numbers to get in.
Jump over to Bob. Bob's got a jeep Grand Cherokee. Bob,
My brake.

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Lights are not working, and I checked refuses. Replace the
balls right, work? The tail lights work, but you.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Have no activity out of the brake lights. No, okay?

Speaker 3 (31:35):
Is that possibly powered through that ignition the twist that?

Speaker 4 (31:43):
Do you know?

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Or I would doubt it. I mean, all power comes
from the ignition switch when you turn your key, that's
what tells everything to power up.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
Butation the brake lights aren't they aren't they powered with
the ignition on or off?

Speaker 2 (32:00):
I'm not particularly sure on this model, but I'm gonna
tell you the first place I'm gonna go with this
is to your brake pedal itself. So on your brake
pedal somewhere you know, up underneath the dash there there's
a switch and that's what your car. We need break

(32:22):
lights we're doing?

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, I replaced that.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Okay, So here's what I want you to do. So
you said you checked the fuses, So you've got a
test light right.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
Right, But I haven't, like I replaced the fuses that
I haven't tested them to make sure that. But I'm
I'm getting powers for tail lights and and blankers, so
I'm I'm thinking there must be power going back to that.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Well, let's not be so sure about that, because power
comes from the front of the car to the back
of the car for the brake lights. It's so what
we've got to do is we've got to get to
that brake light switch. And I'm not sure on two
thousand and twos, there's probably a four wire switch if
you have cruise control. If you don't have cruise control,

(33:19):
it's going to be a two wire switch. So we're
going to have to figure out which one of these
wires because how your system's going to work at that switch,
You're going to have one wire coming in from a
fuse panel that has power on it either key on
power all the time power. Then you push that brake
pedal down. Now you should have another wire that goes

(33:41):
to the back of the car that gets power, and
then when you let off the switch it doesn't have power,
you push the brake it does have power. We need
to make sure that that sequence is happening at that switch.
That's the first thing we have to do. Now, say
we don't have power when we push it, but we
do have power on our feed leg, then we know

(34:03):
we have a bad switch. So now if we have
power and we push it and we do get power
coming out of the switch, now we're going to be
looking for a broken wire from the brake light switch
to the back of the car.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
No boy.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
So that's going to be our test. And you know,
it's pretty sim if you've replaced the switch, you can
do this test. You can just pull the switch out.
It's generally what I do, because I don't really like
laying upside down underneath the dash. I'll just pull it
out and work it with my finger and I can
perform that test and from there we'll know kind of
what's happening. I will say this era of Jeep, a

(34:45):
lot of them had the wiring running from front to back.