The Car Show with Dane Donovan 10/19/2024

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
With a four barrel car.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
We're a due looks soft. Good afternoon, and welcome to
the car show. I'm Dane Non I've been taking all
of your car questions.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
The number I'll call five one three seven four nine
fifty five hundred. That number again, five one three seven
four nine fifty five hundred.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Said this multiple times. Listen.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
I truly enjoy what I do, love what I do,
and because of that, I'm here on Saturdays to answer
your car questions and try to take care of you
and get your car fixed and get you back out
on the road and give you the best advice that
I can. Don't know that, I can't say that I
know everything, but listen, I'm here. I've been doing this
for twenty five years. Again, I can't imagine myself doing

(00:52):
anything else. I love it and every day. The thing
that thing about my business too is is the automotive
repair RAS is You're always you're constantly learning, constantly learning,
and there's never two days that are the same, right,
and so you know it's it's you know it again,

(01:14):
I enjoy what I do, and again I spend my
Saturdays with you from one to two to answer all
of your car questions, So whether it has whether it's
a automotive repair question. You're looking to buy a newer
used vehicle, you have a maintenance question, Hey Dane, how
how quickly should I, you know, be changing my oil
and things like that. In fact, I had a car

(01:35):
on Friday. Never seen this before. We had car that
had a fault in it. And there is a filter
that's underneath the passenger side.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Seat to.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Cool the battery for a Prius, right, not the hybrid battery,
but an auxiliary battery. And this thing was completely plugged
up and that's the reason why.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
And this thing was full of dog.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Hair, another reason why you should probably make sure that
if you can get as much dog hair out of
that you can. But this filter was completely clogged with
and I've never seen one. It was a battery filter,
and uh it was. It was, you know, again something
I learned new. So again taking your car questions. So
the number to call five one, three, seven fifty were

(02:20):
wedding this afternoon, so.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
That's gonna be interesting.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
But had my youngest son had a football game at nine? Uh,
my oldest had a soccer game at eleven? Rushed here.
In fact, my producer said, hey, are you coming? And
I said, yeah, I'm just I'm just so I'm stretched
so thin, and goes, do you ever get a day off?
And I said no, no, never, especially when you have kids.

(02:47):
There's never a day off, right, Uh, sports and work
and everything else.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
So uh but yeah, so it is it is hot
out there.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
We we uh, you know, we're still kind of in
the air can season. But again, it's Cincinnati, right, I mean,
just wait two weeks and we'll probably be in the thirties.
And you know, I just feel like we never have
four seasons anymore. It's always just like extremely hot or
extremely cold, right, And it's kind of hard to adjust

(03:18):
when it comes to your car repair, right, you know,
here we're at ninety two degrees today, or at least
that's what it's supposed to get to today. But then
you know, let's just say, I mean literally, in like
two weeks, we could be in the in the thirties overnight. Right,
So it's something that we need to think about, right,

(03:39):
we need to start thinking about transitioning from the summer
and in thinking about winter, right, getting the car ready
not necessarily winter. I don't you know, I don't want
to say the s word, although lately we several years
now we haven't really had a ton of snow, but uh,

(04:00):
you just always have to be prepared and think about it, right,
And we have to start transitioning from thinking about, hey,
uh it's hot out here. What do I need to
do to you know, keep my ac going right? And
and that's important, right, but when you start thinking about, hey,
we're gonna start getting into colder temperatures. And again typically

(04:21):
those massive uh temperature fluctuations is when you see a
lot of altnators go out, starters go out, batteries go
out right, and we see a ton of it. And
you know, I'm not saying that it's gonna happen anytime soon,
but you know that that first really deep cold snap
that we get, man that take that wreaks havoc on

(04:44):
on your vehicle. Now, the other the frustrating part about
it though, is and we got to think about this too,
And I want to talk about a gentleman that I
had a conversation with yesterday.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
But you know, I can test an alternator, your can't.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
I can test an altinator, your mechanic contest an altinator,
the dealer contest an altinator and it can test.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Good today and it can be bad tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Okay, there are times that you know, you can test
the starter and it tests good and the very next
day he even within an hour, it can be.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Not functioning.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Right, So there's you know, in a battery, I can
test a battery today and it'd be dead, dead as
a door, nay on tomorrow. It happened to me one
time I was test driving, not test driving, I was
driving a vehicle, started right up, went to the mall,
went ran in for five minutes, came out dead as
a doornail. No signs, no indication that it was failing
or that it was weak or nothing. It just boom.

(05:41):
It was done.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
So it's things that we need to think about.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
And again, uh, when we get into you know, the ice,
the sleet, the snow and whatnot, we need to start
thinking about tires. Now we've gone through summer and you're
probably not have any time any type of training. Uh,
you know, traction problems, right, but we need to start
thinking about that as well, and transitioning into getting the
vehicle ready for our all colder temperatures. And again it's

(06:08):
not as bad as you know northern states. You know,
like Wisconsin or Michigan or you know, Pennsylvania or whatnot.
But you know, we still we tend to have some
some bad days and it's important to make sure that.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
You're prepared for it, right and.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
So, but so, start thinking about that, start putting that
on your on your grocery list.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
As far as like, hey, listen, I got it.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Probably again you don't need to do it this week
or this month or whatnot, but just start thinking about it.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Hey, listen, I got through summer.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
We probably took the car on a summer trip and whatnot.
Probably should get it in, get it looked at before
it gets into those colder temperatures and before we get
into you know, they're an issue that's gonna cause you
to break down, Right, nobody wants to be broken down.
That's a massive inconvenience. And uh, especially with the older vehicles,

(07:03):
and you know, it's it's it's hard to determine. You
know again, it's it's very hard, especially with older cars
and a lot of the hoses and the plastics and whatnot.
I mean, these things get brittle, they break, and you
know it. And again, we can inspect your vehicle and
it's not always we're not always going to detect a
one things that are wrong with your vehicle. In fact,

(07:26):
my wife's vehicle is broke down as we speak. She
has a GMC Yukon and uh, I mean it's five
years old, it's a twenty eighteen. But GMS, and I'm
not picking on GM I obviously own one. Uh, but
they have this cylinder deactivation where you know, when you're
driving on the highway, it'll shut down cylinders. Well, what
happens is these lifters collapse. It's a massive known problem

(07:50):
with GMS and the car. You know, the lift you know,
you have multiple cylinders that quit firing and check engine
lights on, it's flashing, and it's a big job, big job.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
So in her heads have to come off.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
It's you know, I mean the last one, the last
couple of ones that we did were five six thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Obviously, with prices.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Going up like everything else, you're you're probably talking six
seven thousand dollars now to do this job. And it's
and it wasn't anything that my wife did wrong. It
wasn't anything that I did wrong. It is a known
problem and it's just the it's the way the vehicle
is designed, and it's a it's a massive headache. But ironically,

(08:31):
as I'm at the dealership ordering these parts, she's it's
twenty eighteen six point two liters V eight in this Yukon,
And the parts manager is telling me. As we're sitting there,
he's looking up all the parts. He tells me, he's like,
you should see the new six twos. I'm like, what's
going on with those? He's like, man, they're they're they're
locking up. The main bearings are are going bad within

(08:53):
less than a thousand miles some of them. He goes,
we started one the other day, brand new. They started
it up and ran for five five five minutes, five
minutes and it locked up.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
And so I'm like.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Well, I guess I guess I shouldn't be complaining too
bad because this car's got one hundred and twenty three
thousand miles on it and these lifters went bad.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
I can fix it, of course, but I mean.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
For for for you know, for people that are out
there and they spend you know, forty fifty sixty thousand
dollars on these cars and then to turn around and
have to put this type of money into it. It's
something that you think about and again, it wasn't anything
that we did wrong.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
It's just a design fault.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
Now there are there is a GM there are tools
out there that you can deactivate that cylinder. Deactivation it
costs money, of course, but would prolong the life of
the vehicle. So so you know, even even I have
car problems, So it happens, but especially when you're buying

(09:49):
older cars. But again, to go back to earlier when
I said that, you know, five minutes brand new car
they started up, it's running five minutes. Things locked up,
So you know, think about that when you're purchasing a
new vehicle, like hey, you know, you know so many
times do I have the conversation where I call a
customer and say, hey, you know, hey, your car needs

(10:10):
two or three thousand dollars. Well, that's not worth the
the you know worth it right, Well, you got to
think about it. If you spend sixty thousand dollars on
a car seventy thousand dollars, you know, there's a lot
of quality issues out there with these newer cars.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
They just you know, they just don't build them like
they used to. But unfortunately we.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
Can't we can't drive our old cars forever, right, because
parts become obsolete and you can't get them.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
So it's you know, it's a catch twenty two.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
But you know, if your car is five years old
and it needs you know, five or six thousand dollars
worth of work, is it worth it?

Speaker 2 (10:45):
I think so.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
If your car's thirty years old and needs that type
of work, if you can even find the parts, is
it worth it? Probably not, But I think you should
work with your mechanic on that and come to a
you know, come to come together on it and have
a good conversation about and see if it's worth it, right.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
And uh, that's one of.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
The one of the great things that I enjoy doing
when I'm I'm walking.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Through people with this, like hey, does it make sense right?

Speaker 3 (11:13):
And a lot of times people are like, wow, I'll
just get rid of it, or I'll just junk it,
or what do you think, Dane? And that's really what
I like to do is and I'm like, hey, let's
let's kind of like lay everything out here. Let's let's
figure out what's best for you. What what is your
future for the car? What what you know? Do you
want to get another year out of it? Do you
want to get ten years out of it. Right, do

(11:34):
you want to spend only one hundred dollars on the
car or do you want to spend ten thousand dollars
on the car? Right, It's all based upon you and
your mechanic and have that sitting down and have that
conversation and finding out what makes the most sense and
what makes you know. You know, some people are like, oh,
I'll just go out buy one and they've got the money.
Some people don't, you know, it's it's something. It's a

(11:54):
conversation that you should be able to sit down and
have that with your mechanic.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Right.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
So it's important. And again that's why I'm here on Saturdays.
If you've got a car question, love to hear from you.
I'd love to walk you through it and help you
out as best I can. Then I'm gonna call five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifty five hundred phone lines are wide open, get to
you pretty quickly. But coming up, we've got Pete.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
You're listening to the car show on fifty five KRC
the talk station.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
This is fifty five KRC and iHeartRadio station.

Speaker 5 (12:24):
Do you have a truck, camper, r V or a trailer
that needs body repair. If so, call my buddy Dave Breakmanute.
Frank's Heavy Truck Collision Repair located just All five seventy
five or Route sixty three.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
It's convenient to both Cincinnati and Date.

Speaker 5 (12:36):
With over thirty years of experience including insurance work and fleetwork,
Franks knows the most important things are quality work and
customer satisfaction. Frank's Heavy Truck Collision Repair prides themselves in
doing the job right and get in your vehicle back
on the road. Call five one three eight two nine
ninety thirty eight two nine ninety thirty. Don't miss Clay
and Buck Monday at twelve oh six on fifty five KRC.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
The station.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Taking your car questions is the number to call. Five
one three fifty five hundred. I'm Dana Dane Donovan from
Donovan's Auto Entire Center UH. You can look us up
online at donovantire dot com. We have multiple locations in
the Cincinnati area. We have a pleasant Ridge location and
across from there is a two bay oil chain shop,
so you don't have to make an appointment. You pull

(13:24):
in and out. We'll get you taken care of. We've
got a blue ash location and our new Norwood Evanston location.
It's it's Donovan's Auto four and now and uh so yeah,
so we're we're here in Cincinnati, in the heart of Cincinnati.
So if you need any type of car repair, we'd

(13:44):
be happy to take care of you. So all right,
let's go to the phones. We've got Pete. Hey, Pete,
welcome to the car show. How can I help?

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Hey Dane, how are you going?

Speaker 2 (13:53):
I'm good, sir, How are.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
You pretty good? Good? Hey? So, I've got a twenty
twelve Camrey that about two hundred thousand miles on it,
And I guess the best way to describe the noise
that I'm getting it's like if I'm idling in a
drive through, for example, because you can hear the engine
a little bit. Like I'm there's a rattling like just
when I'm idling there in gear. If I take it

(14:16):
out a year, it smooths out and goes away. And
I know the camera's haves it's a two point five,
and I know they kind of have an issue with
some noise at little idle.

Speaker 6 (14:27):
But so the thing.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
I'm you know, between, I guess is I'm not necessarily
going to fix it if I can do something easy.
It really depends on if I sell it or if
I just trade it in. You know, I'm getting little
bit more out of selling it. But I'm just trying
to figure out what that noise is. I know that
if I turn my air conditioner off, the rattle goes away.

(14:53):
If I start my air conditioner up, the rattle will start,
and there's nothing. You know, if I'm up over a
thousand arc ms or driving down the road, there's absolutely
no noise in that engine. It's tight.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
So uh, obviously without listening to it, it's hard to say,
uh exactly, but what what I believe it is is
the serpentine the belt tensioner. Okay, serpentine belt tentioner, and
Toyota for years went to a hydraulic belt tensioner, and

(15:27):
the hydraulic would go bad in that tensioner and a
lot of times, so when you turn that compressor on,
it's making that engine work hard, and a lot of
times what it'll do is it allow that that tensioner
to start rattling. Okay, So again, without looking at do
you know if it's a hydraulic tensioner or a spring
loaded tensioner.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
You may know it is springloaded. I replaced it. So
I just was changing my serpentine belt about a month
ago and trying to adjust that tension or we actually okay,
my son went the wrong direction on it and just
snapped it.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
So we replaced it, okay, and the noise continued.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, the noise continued. I mean, you know it's down
in the bottom end. You know, it's kind of I mean,
if I'm listening to it, it's just a rattling kind
of down around the oil pan. But I can't get
close to it. I can't get it up on a
rack and listen to it. Things like that. Well, I
actually had it as a dealer, and so I had

(16:29):
my timing chain replaced maybe thirty thousand miles ago, and
I still had that noise because that's what they thought
it was, and it was due anyway because I hadn't
ever changed it. So in one hundred and seventy five
thousand miles, I've replaced the timing chain, and you know,
I pull out and didn't go away. I go back
in talk to the dealer and he is kind of
listening to my air conditioning unit. But it just doesn't

(16:53):
sound like my Yeah, it's something rattling. Not it doesn't
sound like my air conditioning. Let's there's something that can
come and lose bottle.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Now, well, I mean you said they listened to the
AC compressor and they they kind of ruled that out.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
Well, he told me that it sounds like it's coming
from that area. It was his screwdriver to his ear less.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Right right, right, right right, So you know, I would say,
you know, if the tensor was you know, replaced, because
again that's a common problem.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
My next thing is it's got to be, in my opinion,
the compressor.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
Now, mind you a compressor has you know, it's a
small it's it has pistons in it. I mean it
is you know that that compressor is pumping that free
on through the system. So just like an engine's got
a you know, if a piston or a rod or
you got a wristpin that's making noise, that you'll get
a knocking sound. Right. So yeah, so I would if

(17:54):
it's in that area, in that vicinity and you've already
taken care of the tensure, because again, the tensors a
lot of times when that compressed or kicks on, makes
the engine work a little bit harder. If those tentsresures
are weak, it'll it'll make them bounce and rattle. If
that's ruled out, and you're telling me the noise is
in that area and it only comes on when the
AC is on, I'm willing to bet that the compressor

(18:16):
is coming apart the compress it's gonna probably need.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
An AC compressor. Yeah, I mean it's it's not uncommon.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yeah, you know, because you got to think about the
factors here, right, So what you know, the noise, you know,
just kind of like when I have a customer that
has a break noise, right if the if if I've
got a noise and when I apply the brakes the
noise goes away, then the noise has to be in
the breaks most likely. And if you're telling me that
you've got this noise and it goes away when you
turn the air conditioning off and comes back on when

(18:48):
you turn the A C on and again the tensor
is taken care of, I'm willing to I'm willing to
bet that compressor is coming apart and needs an AC compressor.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
So you would think that would sound almost like the
worst pen.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, because they've they've got they've got little
pistons in them.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
I mean, they're tiny little motors.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
I mean, they do you know, they've they've got to
you know, obviously, they've got to pump that free on.
I mean, at least the older ones did. As far
as the newer ones. I exactly how they're built, I'm
not quite sure, but you know, there they've it's got
a pump type system in it.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
It's got to pump that free on through the system.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
So and again, if it goes away, I mean, it
could be the the clutch itself where the AC clutch
is bad. But yeah, you still would replace the compressor anyways.
But I mean, yeah, are you do you live close by?
I mean, I'll take a listen for you one day

(19:45):
if you if you go to yeah, I mean, I
mean so, I mean, my new store is just probably
eight miles from from north of downtown, so I'm you're
you're probably fifteen minutes away from me.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
I mean, if you'd like to swing it bye, you know,
I won't charge you out. Let me just listen to it.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
But I'm willing to bet that that's what's going on,
is that it's the it's the compressor. Now I will
tell you too, whether you bring it to me or not,
it's not going to be cheap. The compressors are you know,
most most compressor jobs nowadays are anywhere between eight hundred
and twelve hundred dollars. Right, And I know you're kind
of on the fence about getting rid of it, but
at least you would have some type of closure.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Let me listen to it and I'll give you my
honest opinion on it. Noises noises are hard. I mean
it's it's a lot of what I do every day
is noises.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
But to just buy just you know, by describing a
noise over a radio over the phone, right, it's kind
of hard to narrow it down. I think you need
a compressor. But to try to help you out, you know,
you don't need to make an appointment. Just swing it
by one day. I'll be more happy to go out there,
take a look at it, listen, listen to it for
you and and if that's what we're dealing with and

(20:56):
your you know, I can give you price on it.
Or if you're like, you know, that's not worth it.
You know we're going in the winter. I'm not gonna
be using the ac you know, I'll just get rid
of it or sell it. That's fine. But at least
you have some type of idea of what it's, what
it is, and what's causing it, you know.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, you're just that you're there during the week.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Monday through Friday. Yes, sir, Now, I will not be
there on Monday this week.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
I won't be there on Monday, but yeah, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
I'll be there every day eight to five thirty. You
don't need to call an advance. Just say, hey, Dana
talk to you on the radio, and we'll take a
listen for you. I get one of my mechanics out
there and we'll we'll shoot you straight and we'll figure
out what we can do for you.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
I might to stop up at the lunch I work downtown.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Okay, sure, yeah, ten yeah, all right, Yeah, just when
you come in, ask for Danes, say I talked to
him on the radio, and I'll be I'll be glad.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
To take care of you. Okay, all right, thanks, Pete,
I have a great day. You know, that's the thing
I would say fifty.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
I mean, don't hold me to this, but I would
probably say probably fifty percent of what we deal with
on a day to day basis is noises, rattle noises,
grinding noises, break squeaks.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
I mean, we deal a lot with noises.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
And you know, my cousin Cole and I we're pretty
near I mean, we enjoy doing that, trying to chase
that down, I really do.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
And you get there.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
They've got these tools called chassis ears where you'll put
these ears on certain parts of the car where you
think it's coming from. And you know, Kyle and I
really really enjoy trying to figure that stuff out. I mean, again,
we've been doing it for twenty five years and we've
got a pretty good knack for it and enjoy it.
And and again it's it's always it's just like it's

(22:46):
like solving a crime or solving a puzzle, right you
you know, you want to with your knowledge and whatnot,
you want to figure out exactly.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
What it is. And again, it's a learning process too.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
There might be a time where you're like, oh, shoot,
I've never seen that before, I've never heard that noise before.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Let me figure this out.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
And that's one of the one of the great parts
of the job is trying to figure out noises.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Now.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
It can be also a very frustrating part of the
job as well, because you might think, oh, yeah, I
know what that is, and you put the part on,
it doesn't fix it, right, So you can't morally charge
the customer for a part that you didn't fix their
car with. You know, Hey, I'm gonna put this part on,
but I didn't fix it, so I'm gonna charge you. Anyways,
It's really hard to do that unless you have that
conversation like, we think it's this, how do you want

(23:31):
to proceed?

Speaker 2 (23:32):
If you think it's this, we think it might be the.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Shrutmouts, you know, because sometimes noises, again, they can be
frustrating and really sometimes hard to narrow down. But it's
it's all part of the job and it's one of
the parts of the job that I enjoy. So all right,
taking your phone calls and I'm gonna call five one
three seven fifty five hundred that number again, five one

(23:55):
three seven four nine fifty five hundred coming up.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
We've got Bill and Dick. You listen to our show
on fifty five KRC, the talkstation.

Speaker 5 (24:03):
At Donovan's Auto entire We get it. It feels like
prices everywhere going up. That's why we're doing all we
can to keep prices down when it comes to repairs
and maintenance on your vehicle. Right now, when you purchase
a set of four qualifying General tires, you get one
hundred dollars rebate by mail and you can drive off
confident knowing the vehicle is ready for the road ahead.
At Donovan's we've been the honest choice for auto repair
since nineteen fifty eight. Let us earn your trust. Next,

(24:25):
schedule your appointment at donovantire dot com. Off for ends
ten thirty one, twenty four sea terms for full details
at generaltire dot com. Slash promotion.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
At all the news and the views of Brian Thomas.

Speaker 5 (24:38):
Monday morning at five on fifty five krc D talkstation.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Welcome back and taking your car questions.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
Then number to call five one three, seven, four nine
fifty five hundred, Dan Dane Donnovan here from Donovan's Auto
entire Center.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Again. You can look us up at donnovantire dot com.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
So all right, let's go to the phones. We've got
Bill patiently waiting. Bill, Thanks for holding on there.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
How can I help you?

Speaker 6 (25:04):
Oh? Yes, I've got a Silverado two thousand and five,
and it has like four dashlights on. I took it
to one of the National Change for you know, for
a read a computer read, and they couldn't get anything.
He says, because of the cigarette lighter doesn't work. I'm

(25:25):
not sure what that means. But it has two outlets
on the dash one with a cap on it that
I use for the cell phone charger, and the other
one is a cigarette lighter and that does not work.
Is is there anything with what he's saying that there's
something wrong that they can't computer can't read it because
a cigarette lighter connection doesn't work or there's a huge bloone.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
With it or yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
So the so it's it's an it says five Chevy
Silverado here. Yes, okay, so what powers So you've got
all all of your newer car, especially No. Five, they
have an OBED two connection, right, that's what allows the
computer to connect to the car and allow you to

(26:10):
you know, get pulled the codes. Okay, what powers that
is the fuse for the cigarette lighter. Oh, so that's
what powers it. So the reason they couldn't get codes
from it is because the fuse is blown for the
cigarette lighter.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
So all you need to do, or all he needs
to do, is you need to replace.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
The fuse for the cigarette lighter, and that will allow
you to gain power to the OBD two connector, which
will allow him to pull the codes and allow him
to figure out exactly why those dashlights are on. Okay,
so it's it's it's a pretty pretty simple, pretty simple
fix at least as far as getting a being allowing

(26:48):
him to pull the codes. But yeah, the reason why
it's not powering up is because the fuse is blown
for the cigarette lighter. So you just got to replace
the cigarette lighter fuse.

Speaker 6 (26:56):
Now, is that under the dash or is that under
the engine? Futter hum? No, I.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Most likely it's gonna be underneath the dash.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
I'm not on an O five, So typically most of
your fuses that are gonna be running the ABS modules
and the computers and the fan and everything like that,
it's gonna be out underneath the hood. But interior stuff,
as far as like the dome lights and the cigarette lighter,
you're gonna have a you'll have a fuse box that's
gonna be underneath I'm sorry, it's gonna be in the

(27:27):
dash now, I don't hold me to this. I think
the fuse box for your truck if you open up
the door, your driver's door all the way. Don't hold
me to this, I'm just but if you open up
the driver's door all the way, I believe up by
the dash like where the air vent is, there might
be a panel right there that says fuse panel.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
If it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
If it doesn't, it would be on the driver's side
kick panel, like right where your left foot would be.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Right, it'll be it'll be labeled.

Speaker 3 (27:58):
But and then once you pull the once you pull
the cover off, once you find it, when you pull
that cover off.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
It'll be labeled as to you.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
It'll just say SIG C I G right, SIG, and
that will tell you exactly which fuse it is.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
It's probably just a tant fuse. All right. Do you
know you said you've got your cell phone and one
cigarette lighters.

Speaker 6 (28:21):
Yeah, one of them has a cap you know, right, yes, And.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
The other one's got your cell phone in it.

Speaker 6 (28:28):
No, the other one is a cigarette lighter and that
one doesn't work. But the cell phones plug or whatever
is or and fine, I use it to charge the
cell all the time.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Okay, Yeah, So all you can get correct.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
Yeah, most likely. So all you need to do is
get locate that fuse. And again, it's probably gonna be
on on I know Chevy. Some manufacturers put it on
the passenger side, but I'm almost certain that off the
top of my head, it's going to be either up
by the when you open up the door all the way.
It's either gonna be up there by the dash where
the vent is, or it's coming down at the bottom.

(29:05):
You know, what's called the left side kickpan, like where
your left foot would be. It'd be in there, be labeled.
You pull the cover off, look at the back of it,
there's gonna be a diagram as to where the cigarette
lighter is and take. Once you get that replaced, he'll
be able to power up his computer and allow you
allow him to pull the codes and and find out

(29:25):
exactly what's.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
Going on with the vehicle.

Speaker 6 (29:28):
Super I appreciate it too.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
All right, not a problem, Bill, have a great day. Thanks.

Speaker 6 (29:32):
I want to say one more thing. I sent a
friend over to your place for you guys to do
a check for a used car, and it really helped
her out a lot.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Oh great.

Speaker 6 (29:44):
Bargaining tools there.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
Well, you know, and I've talked about that multiple times
on the show. It's like, look, if you're buying a
used vehicle, it's imperative that you get it inspected and
get it looked at.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
Right.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Nobody buys a house and doesn't get it inspected. Why
would you buy a an eighty thousand dollars used car.
I mean that's where we're getting to, right. Why would
you buy a sixty thousand dollars car and not get
it inspected? Get it inspected right, find out what's wrong
with it if anything is, and if there is, then
it gives you leverage to turn around and go back
to the dealer and say, hey, listen, you only spend

(30:18):
sixty thousand dollars on this car, but I'm gonna have
to put two or three thousand dollars into it, which
you would sit there and go, you know that's outrighteous,
But not anymore nowadays.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
I mean it's ye.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
All the technology that's in these cars is expensive.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
So go back. It gives you leverage and then you
can negotiate.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Hey, listen, take this off the price of the car,
or fix these problems right, and then you know everybody's happy.
Right the dealership, You know, dealership's happy. You're happy, and
you know, you guys can go your own, you know,
so it's it's important.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
So I'm glad. I appreciate the recommendation. I really do.

Speaker 6 (30:53):
Okay, all right, thanks man, nice bill, all right.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Take care bye bye. Oh yeah, absolutely, And I should
have talked about that earlier in this show. And you know,
sometimes I you know, repeat myself, but uh man, I
just want to try to hammer into people like these
are the things that we need to talk about, right
because these are the things that I see day in
and day out. People buying cars not getting the inspected,
people not changing their oil regularly, listening to listening to

(31:18):
what the dealer says or what the car says. Never
what a mechanic says. It's always about what the well
the car says. I don't need an oil change. I'm
only at thirty percent. Well you know, every single day
I got to deal with a car that comes into
my shop that doesn't have any oil in it and
causes major issues. So, oh man, I could do a
whole hour about this. So but again, I'm taking your

(31:41):
phone calls and call five on three seven hundred. We're
gonna go back to the phones. We've got David. Hey David,
welcome to the car show.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
How can I help?

Speaker 4 (31:50):
I guess I've got a twenty fourteen Honda.

Speaker 6 (31:53):
I bought it used.

Speaker 4 (31:55):
Uh didn't realize when I bought it, h that it
has a like a harmonic sound. When I hit about
two thousand RPMs. Been on what day?

Speaker 2 (32:05):
It is?

Speaker 6 (32:06):
Back towards the.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Above the.

Speaker 4 (32:10):
Rear left tire up into that area, I'll get a
humming noise. If I speed up, increase the RPMs to
twenty three, twenty four goes away.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
If I go below two.

Speaker 6 (32:24):
Thousand usually goes away.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
Sometimes that harmonic as far as the RPMs changes, and
it's a little higher or a little lower, But it's
consistently since I've got the car.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
Okay, does it seem to has it seemed since you've
bought the car or gotten the car? Does it seem
to have gotten louder at any point? Or is it
constantly stay the same?

Speaker 4 (32:49):
Basically stays the same?

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (32:52):
And I said, if I.

Speaker 4 (32:53):
Increase my you know, if I increase the RPMs, I
can get it to go away. But you know, decrease
the RPMs, I can get it to go away. Will
do it when it's driving down the road, or do
it when it's sitting parked and I just reve up
the engine.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Oh so it'll so even parked, when you rev up
the engine, it'll do it.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yes, interesting, okay, all right, But it's like a humming
type noise.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
You said, Uh, yeah, it's like a low a low
bass sound, and uh it's it's it'll get relatively loud,
it'll be it's it's wild enough to be annoying, right right, right, all.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Right, So all right, so that narrows me.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
So when you were saying humming, I'm like, all right,
maybe he's got a bad a cup tire, bad wheelbaring.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
But if it will do it while you're parked and
you just rev.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
It up to two thousand RPMs, then I'm willing to
bet that you've got an exhaust rattle.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Okay, you've got a heat shield.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
So all of your cars nowadays have heat shields on them,
and it's it's it's they're typically welded onto the exhaust.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Some of them are clamped on. It depends on you're
making mode. Okay.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
What happens is if it's welded on a lot of times,
that that weld will rust off, and you've got this.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
So the heat shield is designed too.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
If you ever drive in tall grass, it's designed to
not catch the grass on fire. Okay, So that's what
it's designed to do. Okay, And hanas are pretty pretty
notorious for this. Usually the heat shields will rust off
and they'll rattle.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
So you could have a heat shield and and a
lot of times they'll put a heat shield above, uh,
the exhaust, like that's attached to the body, and a
lot of times they're they're made out of like a
really really cheap aluminum, and then they'll oxidize and then
they'll basically fall on the exhaust. So what it's doing
is the engine vibration at that two thousand RPMs that

(34:47):
that that exhaust is vibrating. It's just the right tone
that's causing that thing to vibrate, that exhausts to vibrate
just enough.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
To hit that thing. So I'm will I'm not.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
I'm willing to bet from what you're telling me, if
it'll if it'll do it. At Idle parked, you've got
an you've got a heat shield that's rattling, that's attached
to the exhaust. Now, typically what we do a lot
of times the heat shields will sometimes they'll they'll just fall.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Off, which I don't recommend.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
What we do is then we'll just we'll do an
exhaust clamp and just clamp them down to get rid
of the noise. But if it's back towards the back,
you probably have just got a heat shield back there,
especially towards the back, because what they want to do
is the the that cheap aluminum that I was talking about,
They want to make sure that that you know, all
these all these vehicles nowadays, they all have plastic gas tanks. Okay,

(35:39):
so obviously then the exhaust is running right below them, right,
So obviously heat plastic they don't mix, right, So a
lot of times they'll run that's aluminum.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Ten type of.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
You know heat shield, so that doesn't heat up the
gas tank, right, and again they fall down, and so
that might be what's going on. So if it's back
towards the left side, I'm willing to bet one of
the heat shields that's on the you know, kind of
protecting the gas tank has falling down. Now, nine out
of ten times, what we'll do is like they're held
up by like just a like a what we call
not a wing nut, but a cheap little nut. And

(36:15):
what we'll do is we'll remove that nut and just
put a bigger fat or washer on there and hold
up that plate. So it's usually something that we can
do really easily, really cheaply, and get you back out
of the road and get rid of the noise. So
I'll be more than happy to look at it for
you or take it to your mechanic or dealer. But

(36:35):
I'm I'm ninety ninety nine percent sure you got a
heat shield that's rattling on the exhaust. I mean you
could have an exhaust clamp that rusted off, or a
bracket that welded, you know that rusted off.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
But again, all of those are easy cheap fixes. All right,
Well that sounds good.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
I assumed I have somewhere I add something that's.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Loose or.

Speaker 6 (37:01):
Even maybe too tight. Yeah, that's a problem.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
But you've got to hit you you can absolutely so
listen what I would recommend you if you've if you've
got the availability, you've got time. I mean, just crawl
underneath that back bump, crawl unerneath that back bumper and
get a flashlight and just see if there's any type
of metal or anything touching the exhaust.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Obviously you you'll know where the exhaust is.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
But just see if there's any type of metal that
looks lose or something hanging on it. I'm willing to
bet that's what it is if you don't have the time. Again,
I don't know what part of town is. I don't
know what part town you're in. But like I told
the last car, if you want to swing it by,
I'll be more happy to get it up in the
air and we'll try to we'll try to find it
for you.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Be more happy to do that for you.

Speaker 6 (37:43):
Awesome, I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Yeah, I'm at the Auto four, the new the new
location Auto four location that's at the corner of Montgomery
Road and Dana.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
Again.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
You can take it to your mechanic. I'm not saying
you have to bring it to me, but I'd be
more happy to help you out.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Okay, You've been awesome thanking all right, David, you have
a great day. Take care by bye. All right.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Taking your phone calls and number call five one, three, seven, four,
nine fifty five hundred. The phone lines are wide open.
We do uh, you know We've got one more segment
and uh I can probably get in. I could probably
fit in another one or two questions. So love to
hear from me. If you've got a car question, again
the number to call five one, three, seven four nine
fifty five hundred.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
You're listening to the car show on fifty five KRC
the talk station.

Speaker 5 (38:21):
Do you have a truck, camper, r V or trailer
that needs body repair? If so, call my buddy Dave
Breakmanute Frank's Heavy Truck Collision Repair located just All five
seventy five or Route sixty three. It's convenient to both
Cincinnati and Date. With over thirty years of experience including
insurance work and fleetwork, Franks knows the most important things
are quality work and customer satisfaction. Frank's Heavy Truck Collisiony

(38:42):
Pair prides themselves in doing the job right and get
in your vehicle back on the road. Call five one
three eight two.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Nine ninety thirty eight two nine ninety thirty.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
You're listening to the car show on fifty five pair
O see the talk station. Dan Donovan here from Donovan's
Auto entire Center. Here every Saturday from one to two
to take all your car question. I'd love to hear
from you.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
I will do my best. I don't think uh most
of the most of the year, I will be here.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
You know, just had of a couple of events, Like
I said earlier in the show, got a wedding this afternoon,
an outdoor wedding, which uh my wife told me right
before I got here. I'm like, oh man, it's ninety
two degrees outside and we got to stand outside, and
not looking forward to that, but I mean looking forward
to the wedding, but not sitting out in the heat

(39:28):
and a brand new wool suit.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
But you know, it is what it is.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
But my cousin, Kevin is is getting married, and congratulations
to him and his wife. Not yet fiance, I guess technically,
but uh yeah, another another Donovan in the in the
family getting married today. So I do want to talk

(39:54):
about real quick before we go. I had a little
bit of incident this week. I had a vehicle, you know,
something went bad on it, and you know these things happen, right,
But I want you listeners out there to know that listen.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Your mechanics and I know that mechanics.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
Shops, automotive repair shops kind of always get a bad rap, right.
And I know it can be frustrating when you don't
always necessarily know what's going on with the vehicle, right.
But I had an example this week where we put
a part on a car and you know, somehow it

(40:37):
created a problem. It had to be towed back. We
fixed it. I honored it, said hey, take full responsibility.
We messed up. And this was last week, and I
fixed it, didn't charge them any, refunded him for his
very first repair. So the guy, the Gentleman's paid nothing, okay,

(40:57):
And I said, yeah, you know, we made it. You
know it was It's an honest mistake. It just something happened.
I don't know what happened. I don't know how it happened,
but it happened, right, So you do your absolute best
take care of the customer right now. Mind you, this
car is twenty years old, okay, twenty years old, so
it's really hard to understand, you, It's really hard to

(41:17):
know what could possibly fail right in the future. Right,
So it just so happened in just a bad chain
of events. The gentleman picked the car up last week,
he was driving it yesterday, so it went a whole week.
He's driving it goes it broke down on me. It's overheating, right,
So I did absolutely everything that I could.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
I went to.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
I got the car towed to the shop. I offered
to take him to work. He said he could get
a ride. I said, listen, I will drop a car
off to you so you're not without a car over
the weekend. And had to go to two different enterprises
to get him a rental car, got it to him
and I said, soon as that car gets towed in,
I want to know exactly what's wrong with it. And

(42:00):
here to come, you know, come to find out it
was just a plastic coolin host that had nothing to
do with what we did.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
It's just a just a.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
Series of events that just happened all, you know, all
at once right or within like you know, one, two, three, right?
And uh, you know, I do everything that We always
do everything that we possibly can to take care of
the customer. But just know that if you have an
older vehicle, and just know that he wasn't happy with me,

(42:30):
and I understand that.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Right you get your car back, you're upset. I get it.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
But I went above and beyond, in my opinion, to
do everything that I could take care of this gentleman,
and there was just no pleasing them. And the moral
of stories and what I'm just trying to tell you
is that listen, when you have an older vehicle, please
be patient and please understand that we are absolutely doing
the best.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
I can't speak for every automotive repair shop.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
I can speak for Donovan Tyre that we are doing
everything in our best power to take care of you,
to take.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Care of the customer.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
And unfortunately, like I said earlier in the beginning of
the show, I can test your alternator to day and
it can be bad tomorrow. I can test your starter
today and it'd be bad tomorrow. Same for a batter,
same for what everything else that pertains to that vehicle. Right, so,
always try to have compassion and understand that we're as
a in the automotive industry. We're doing everything that we
can to fix your car. But sometimes people want us

(43:26):
to predict the future and predict what's gonna fail next,
And as you know, that's that's hard. You know, you
can't go to your doctum and say, hey, Doc, you
know what's the next illness I'm gonna get.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
You know, it's hard on us.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
And as much as I try to try to convince
this gentleman, I mean, it hits me hard because I
understand that he's upset, but I'm doing everything they can
and I can't predict what's gonna break on this car next, Right,
So just always know that, you know, if your car,
if you're with your mechanic or your dealership or at
Donovan's or whatnot, Right, just know that try to at

(44:03):
any point try to gain try to understand and get
as much knowledge as you can about the vehicle. Right,
Why did it break down again? What happened again? What
are how are you going to take care of me?
What are we going to do to rectify this and
and fix this and whatnot? And for me and for Donovan's,
you know, just having that dialogue, having that conversation and

(44:25):
trying to work it out goes a long way, right,
because if we're always if we're just yelling and screaming
and mad, it's it's really hard to solve problems when
we can't have us, you know, it's really hard to
come to a solution if we don't come together and
try to work it out. Right, And we will always
do what's best for the customer. And always do the

(44:47):
make the honest choice and the honest decision for you.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
And and we're always the honest choice.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
And so just always think about that when you're out
there getting your car repaired. Always just make sure you
do the best to understan in the situation. And and
uh not always get so overworked, right, I know it's stressful,
but we're all here to help you out and to
get you back out of the run. So I'll be
back next Saturday answer all your car questions. Thank you
so much, everybody, have a great weekend. I'll be back

(45:13):
next Saturday to answer all your car questions. And I'm
gonna call five one, three, seven, four nine fifty five hundred.
You're listening to the Car Show on fifty five KRC,
the talk stations