March 29, 2026 • 42 mins
Dane Donovan shares tips on how to prepare your vehicle for spring break and summer trips. He emphasizes the importance of checking your air conditioning, tire pressure, and brake fluid levels. Dane also discusses the benefits of regular maintenance, citing a personal experience where a friend's car had multiple issues due to neglected maintenance. The episode also features a caller, Wayne, who asks for advice on a brake issue with his 2014 Chevrolet Camaro.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Geez, we'll find my phone. Nice.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good afternoon, and welcome to the car show on fifty
five KRC. I'm Dane Donovan taking all of your car questions.
Five one three seven four nine fifty five hundred. That
number again, five one three seven four nine fifty five hundred. Uh,
it's a it's a beautiful day. A little chili, little chili.
(00:44):
But you know you can still still get outside, go
for a nice brisk walk, or you know, maybe pop
that hood and see whether or not your car has
oil in it, or all your fluids are topped off,
or maybe you've got the proper air pressure, you know,
as many Americans are dealing with the headache of the
(01:06):
UH airline lines, right, and so some people might be
uh traveling on their spring break trip, you know, I
uh following next week, right, you know, the day after Easter,
or it's when our boys are on spring break. So
we're going down to Nashville for a couple of days.
(01:30):
And uh, you know, my wife's like, you know, you
need to get my car in, you know, and and
she does. She needs tires, she needs you know, not
quite an old change just yet. But I'm gonna do
it because we're gonna drive down and you know it's
something that you know, you really need to think about.
You know, we're going to go into summer, summer trips
(01:53):
and you need to really really start thinking about your
air conditioning. I know that it. I mean, now, you
know this week we had opening day and it was
eighty degrees and I'm sure many of you turn that
AC on and if it was working, great. If it
wasn't you need to start playing in the head and
getting in now or if you're in your car now
(02:16):
it's warm enough that if you know, it's about forty
five degrees, right, so you could turn it on and
just see if it's working. Because again, a lot of times,
you know, when we get those it's literally you know
how it is in Cincinnati. If you don't like the weather,
wait ten minutes in it'll change.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
It was eighty on Thursday and then thirty five degrees
yesterday morning, right, So it can change very quickly. But
you know how it is we in my opinion, I mean,
I know that we have four seasons, but it always
goes from like winter like spring for about a week
or two and then boom, we're in ninety degrees and
(02:55):
we're hot, and we're getting these cars in and we're
thinking about trips, and we're in the last minute, and
you know, it happens all the time, and you know,
but you know, something that you need to start thinking
about now is making sure that that car is ready
for spring break if you're traveling, if you're driving, or
(03:16):
maybe you're not going anywhere for spring break, but you
know what, you know that in July or June you're
going on a family vacation, You're to be driving to Florida,
New York, or wherever you're heading, and it's just something
that you want to make sure that you get your
car in at the right time. You know, a lot
of times too, you really don't want to wait the
(03:39):
last minute because there are times where it doesn't necessarily
you know, we get your car in. Let's say you're
leaving Saturday morning, and you bring your car to me
on Friday and we do some work or any repair
shop for that matter, and then there's a something happens,
right a gasket or a part some work. I had
(04:02):
a gentleman that was trapped was a friend of mine
who was going to be traveling to supposed to leave
the day and was involved in a car accident. Now
that's unfortunate that you know, there wasn't anything that he
could have done differently. But we always have to have
a backup plane. You always have to make sure that
your your vehicle is ready for the road. And as
(04:24):
you know, gas prices are through the roof, car prices
are through the roof, and you want to make sure
that you protect your investment and make sure the make
sure that your family is safe and should be on
the road and ready to go. Now, I understand that
fixing your car isn't always glamorous and fun, right, kind
(04:45):
of like going to the dentist. I had to go
to the dentist myself this week. Luckily a wonderful brother
in law who takes care of my teeth. And you know,
it's something that we just have to do. You want
to make sure that you don't cut corners. Right. I
had a gentleman that works for me two weeks ago says,
(05:06):
I can't come into work. I have a really bad
tooth and I have to have removed. I have to
go to urgent care. Right. We don't want that. It's
just not nobody. It just ruins the whole vacation and
the time and just add stress that we don't really
need in today's world, right, So we want to make
sure that we're getting these vehicles in, getting them checked out,
(05:29):
and getting them ready for either spring break or summer. Now,
a lot of you go, ah, you know, I've got time,
I've got time. You know, we always say that I'm
a victim of it myself. I do it all the time.
I wait till the last minute. You don't want to
do that, right, So start thinking about the future. Start
thinking about the air conditioning again. If you're in the
car and you're listening to me right now, turn the
(05:50):
AC on. Just make sure it's working right. If it's not,
let's make an appointment. Let's get it in whether you're
whether you bring it to me or your local mechanic
that on, get it gone, get it ready. You know,
my father in law was in my shop the other
day and I checked his air pressure and you know
he had, you know, thirty eight thirty nine forty pounds
(06:13):
of pressure in his tires, you know, which are over inflated,
should have thirty five. Reason being, the last time he
had an old change it was, you know, in the
zeros right ten twenty, So every for every ten degrees
of ambient air temperature drops, you lose a pound of air. Right,
So on Thursday it was eighty degrees right, so your
air pressure is going to rise. So an overinflated tire
(06:38):
is not as bad as a underinflated tire, certainly going
to get better gas mileage, but you really, it really
puts a lot of wear on the tire, So you
want to make sure that your tires are properly inflated. Now,
what I will tell you is it's certainly important going
on a road trip to make sure your tires are
properly checked and inflated properly. Again, if you drive here
(07:01):
from Cincinnati to Nashville, tires are gonna get hot and
that pressure will rise. But you know once they cool down,
so it's going to fluctuate a little bit. But that
does put a lot of wear on the tires if
they're overinflated or underinflated. So and if you haven't properly
inflated per you're making model. That's where you get the
(07:24):
longevity out of your tires. And tires again are very expensive.
You know, when I started into this, when I started
in this business twenty six years ago. You know, we
could buy it. There was like I don't know, ten
different sizes of tires and you know they're our cost
(07:45):
was a thirty five bucks and you know, obviously we
mark them up, but you pay there, you know, maybe
one hundred bucks a tire by the time you install it.
It's not like that now. I just put four tires
on an Audi Friday, not fizzical. I didn't put them
on myself. My tech did. But you know it was
(08:05):
Now it's it's an A eight, so it's it's a
nicer vehicle, right, But it was almost three thousand dollars
just to put four tires on this vehicle. And so
you want to make sure that you get the most
life out of your car, out of your tires, and
how do you do that. You make sure they're properly inflated,
and you make sure that the car is properly aligned, right,
(08:27):
which we did. And you know, it's it's just it's
the smaller things. It doesn't have to always be get
it in and spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars. It's
just get it in quarterly. I'd like to see a
car at least quarterly. I know that's not always perfect
(08:47):
for everybody, right, but you're able to stay on top
of it, right, and you're able to get ahead of
it in the sense of a lot of times. I
usually get a car nine out of ten times, I
get a car when it's broken, right, Yes, that's what
I do. But by the time it's broken, there's already
(09:11):
five there's already five other things wrong with that car.
So we get it in right, and it's like, hey, yes,
your car won't start because it needs a starter, but
the battery test bad, you've got an oil leak. You
need four tires, four breaks, and it's gonna be three
thousand dollars. And then everybody's like wanting to pull their
hair out because it's like, man, I really can't afford that. Right.
(09:33):
But had they brought it to me maybe three months prior, right,
I could have been like, Hey, you're gonna need breaks soon,
but you do need tires, So we're gonna put the
tires on it today, and then maybe three months from now,
we'll take care. We'll tackle the brake, so we'll tackle
the oil change. Right, So it really and again I'm
gonna use the analogy, and I use it all the time.
(09:54):
You know, if you go to the if you don't
go to the dentists for three, four or five years,
I mean my and I said that had the tooth problem.
He's like, I was going to go back and during
COVID and I just never went back. Right, So we're
dealing we're dealing with six years. So you can imagine
that six years of not going to the dentist, you're
going to have quite a bit of dental repair. Same
(10:15):
with your car, right, same with your house. You know,
if you don't have anybody come in to your house
and inspect it, and you know, you live in your
house every day. So if there's a leak in your
roof or something like that, we typically tend to handle
that right because we want to protect that investment. You
should do that for your car because these cars, again,
the average price of a vehicle today is fifty thousand dollars. Okay,
(10:40):
So I understand that it's a depreciating asset and you're
not going to get fifty thousand for it when you
sell it, but you want to make sure you protect
that your car of that investment and making sure that
it's safe you can be out on the road and
you know, and your family safe. Right. And I understand
that cars are expensive and we really don't want to
spend the money on it, but you have to do it.
(11:01):
It's just one of those things that we have to do.
Maintenance and maintaining these cars is more important today than
it's ever been in my opinion, because there's the cars
are so expensive, so you want to start thinking about that,
especially with spring break going on and then we're going
into summer. Make sure your AC's working. Make sure that
you get in at a you know, ample time so
(11:25):
you know you're not up against the in a corner
with you know, with problems. So all right, again, the
number to call five one, three, seven, four nine, fifty
five one hundred coming up. We have Wayne and Mike.
You're listening to the Car Show on fifty five KRC,
the talk station. This is fifty five KARC and iHeartRadio station.
Your car isn't just a machine, it's your daily partner.
And with new cars becoming more expensive than ever, smart
(11:47):
maintenance for your current vehicle just makes sense. Hi, I'm
Dane Donovan, third generation owner at Donovan's Auto and Tire Center,
That's why at Donovan's we give you everything you need
and nothing you don't. Honest expert service to keep your
car running longer. Donovan's Auto entire Center, Cincinnati's honest choice
for auto repairs. That's nineteen fifty eight, three locations in
Blue Ash, pleasant Ridge, in our new location near Xavier
(12:09):
Donovan's Auto form find yours at donovantire dot com. All
the news and the views of Brian Thomas.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Monday morning at five on fifty five KRC, the talkstation.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Welcome back taking your car questions and again the number
to call five one three seven fifty five hundred. That
number again five one three seven four nine fifty five
hundred in studio here to take your car questions again.
It's a beautiful Saturday. My wife and I are going
to a fundraiser tonight for Mueller High School. Uh looking
(12:44):
forward to that. But uh yeah, here again every Saturday
to answer your car questions. I hope everybody had a
great week. I hope.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Unfortunately are our reds Uh did not win on opening day,
but that's okay. Uh, it was still it was a
good time. My son was in the parade for the
Dragonfly Foundation and and I want to give a shout
out to them along with Cancer Free Kids.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
You know, my my son at two and a half
was diagnosed with cancer and uh you know he's uh
doing great in remission and uh should he has one
more set of scans and then we can. You know,
he's in remission but again doing great. So Cancer Free
Kids and Dragonfly Foundation, Uh great foundations if you're looking
(13:35):
to donate their great foundation. Uh. And again Dragonfly Foundation
uh invites him every year to the opening Day parade.
He gets to participate in that and uh they have
a tractor and he's uh you know, he's just happy
and waving and has a great time. So I want
(13:55):
to get again shout out to those foundations. They're they're great.
You want to give to uh great research and great
cancer charities. Those two are locally just phenomenal. And uh
again he's doing well and he's out. Uh he's going
to make his first communion. So my wife and him
(14:18):
are out at the mall right now looking for a
nice pair of slacks and a and a jacket for
first communion coming up here shortly so so he'll be
he'll be nine in August. So he's doing well. So
he uh got this. He got to go to his
first now he's this is I think the fourth Opening
(14:39):
Day parade he's participated in, but he's never really been
able to go to the game, and this year, unfortunately,
I was not able to make the game. But so
they my wife and three boys got to go and
they enjoyed it, and uh my wife needed had like
I'm she was overwhelmed. She's like, I just want to
take a shower, go to bad So it can be
(15:02):
a lot going on with down there. So but unfortunately
our race lost. But today's kids Opening Day, So hope
you're down there if you've got kids, and get them
down there and enjoy the festivities. So all right again,
let's go to the phones. We have Wayne. Hey, Wayne,
welcome to the car show. How can I help?
Speaker 5 (15:19):
Oh, thank you. I'm glad to hear your son's doing well.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Thank you. Yeah, he's uh living his life.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Uh yeah, I have a twenty fourteen christ or three
hundred deaths Okay, it's got V six, three hundred horsepower
gas engine. That's a real world drive vehicle. About a
year ago, I was driving on Corade Avenue. I went
to stop at a stoplight, and the brake blister seemed
(15:51):
to give out. The breaks did work, and he got
me stopped. I immediately pulled into a parking lot and looked
at the fluid and every thing. It was all full.
There was a car repair place right up the street.
I even stopped there and had them check it out.
They couldn't find anything wrong. Well, it's been fine for
quite a while. Then recently now it's done it to
(16:14):
me basically two more times. Okay, it will it will stop,
but you can tell the loss of the break booster
and the pedal goes down way much more.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Okay, So all right, So so it's intermittent, correct, and
the break fluids full and the brakes look great.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Yeah, the the pads and rotors and everything have only
been on it for about four months.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Okay, all right. So when it is at any point,
is the pedal itself hard, like really really stuffed, really hard,
or or does it just go straight to the floor.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
No, it's uh. I look up a test on YouTube
where you get in the car with a not running,
pump it up and your pedal gets good and hard.
Then you start the car and that it should go
down some not a lot and then stop. It does that?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
I actually ran a code scan on it and it
shows no electrical codes on like anything like the sensors
that see the air going through them or something. So
I'm just kind of thinking maybe the booster itself, or
(17:39):
to be honest, the car's never had a fluid flush
that maybe maybe there's some air in a line or something.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I think you can try that typically, though, I mean,
how many times does this act? How many times does
this happened to you?
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Two?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Three times?
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Or I said, well it's I think now it's been
three or four? All or four?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Okay? All right? And again two rehere? So when when
it when it acts up? Are you at a traffic
light and you just have your foot on the pedal
when it goes down to the floor or is it
like if you're getting off the highway goes to the floor.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Well, you know, I'm just driving along. It doesn't seem
to matter where I'm at. Now I go to slow
down or to stop it a light, it happens, and
then if I let off of it and pump up
once or twice, it comes right back up.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Okay. So here's what I want you to Here's here's
what I would do. First. You know, yes, you break
fluid should be replaced every thirty thousand miles. Break fluid
absorbs moisture, and yes you can with that moisture. Yes
you will get air in the system. It would be
beneficial to do that regardless. Okay. Now I don't think
(18:55):
that that's your problem either, Like you said, the breakboosters.
But before I before you do that, change the fluid,
flush the fluid. Okay, but there is most of these
newer vehicles have a vacuum hose, okay, because your break
booster runs off a vacuum and that vacuum hose runs
(19:17):
to the engine. The you know, most people don't realize
that that hoe, that vacuum hose that runs from the
booster to the engine has a valve in it. Okay,
and those valves can go bad. So before you know,
break fluid, sure, let's do it. I don't know that
that's true necessarily a problem. Either your booster is bad
or that valve's bad. The valve that that vacuum line
(19:41):
again that runs from the booster to the valve cover
has a valve in it. I would recommend replacing that
hose that has the valve in it first. Okay, if
you still have the problems, then yes, it's gonna need
the it's gonna need the booster. Now, a lot of
these vehicles too, have a you know, the valve the
(20:06):
there's a the valve cover. You know, vacuum runs through
the valve cover, So you could be dealing with a
vacuum issue that's built into the you know, there's typically
a diaphragm that sits on top or built into the
valve cover. That will that could cause that too, But
the hose would be very inexpensive. Right, break fluid again
every thirty thousand, Try that vacuum line first, because again,
(20:29):
you got it. You've got that valve. Are you experiencing
any other IDOL issues or and you said you ran
the check engine light and no other lights came on,
or no, there was no other codes in the system.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
No, there were no codes that it showed up.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Obviously I opened the hood and took the little cover
off the top of the engine. Okay, and I can
see the vacuum line where it comes off. It looks
like the intake manifold m HM and goes over to
the brick booster okay, and looks it plugs in to
(21:08):
the side of the booster up near the top. There
is also some kind of electronic uh airflow sensor built
into that right there.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
I was just wondering if maybe I unplugged that air
sensor to see if that put any kind of immediate
effect on the booster.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah you could, yeah, okay, and all right, Uh yes, I.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Looked up a hose. I looked up the vacuum hods
for that. It's like, it's not terrible. It's about fifty box,
I think, so I don't mind. You know, replacing that
is just kind of a monster to get to because
you get uh as far back as the uh mooster sets,
I have to get a bunch of stuff out of
the way.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah. Well, the other the other thing that you could do, too,
is you start the car, let it run, get it
or you know, it doesn't have to run in the
driveway if you're if you're out and about driving around
town or whatever, get it up to normal operating temperature.
What you could do is while the car is running,
pop the hood, obviously, you know, in a parking lot
or in your garage or whatever. Pop the hood and
(22:25):
as the car is running, I want you to take
the oil cap off. Okay, Now, if you if you
unscrew the oil cap and it comes it comes off
freely and there's no resistance, then we don't have a
vacuum issue in the engine bay, which would eliminate the
valve cover the intake issue. So but if you go
to take it off and you hear like a whole
(22:47):
bunch of air and pressure kind of build up and
it's kind of then we got a vacuum issue in
the in the valve cover because a lot of these
these newer vehicles have that that built in vacuum system
right there and the PCV what we call positive crank
ventilation system, the PCV system. So try to while it's running,
while the car is warm, just take devout the oil
(23:08):
cap off. If you if it comes off freely, no issue,
then we don't have a vacuum issue at the engine right.
But if you take it off and you hear a
whole bunch of hissing, like like a whole bunch of
pressure build up, then we've got a valve cover that
PCV system issue as well, which be causing your break issue.
(23:30):
So try those Those are simple things that you can
do at home before you go spending a whole bunch
of money on a brake booster, you know, because I'm
willing to bet probably that thing installed is anywhere between
five to eight hundred dollars, could be even a lot
more than that. So try those things first and then
call me back with an update.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Okay, I could I hit one quick question if I
brought it up and hand you do the brake flash
and typically about what does that run?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
It's usually it's about one one twenty nine ninety five
in that area. It depends on depends on what the
fluid is or whatnot, so it's it's very inexpensive. But
again it should be done every thirty thousand. It's very important.
I'm telling you. It makes a huge difference. And again
it protects your hoses because a lot of times hose
(24:23):
with moisture in there, those the break hoses can collapse
and some it's it's a good thing to do. So,
like I said, it's about one twenty nine based upon
how much fluid it needs and so on and so forth.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
So all right, okay, yeah that's not reasonable at all.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Allay, Thank thanks Wayne, take care, bye bye all right again.
Taking your phone calls and I'm gonna call a five one, three, seven,
four nine fifty five hundred coming up, Mike. I appreciate Mike.
I want to get to you, so stay on the line.
This is a great topic that I love talking about.
So we've got Mike and John. You're listening to the
car showing fifty five k R see the talk station.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
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Speaker 2 (25:08):
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Speaker 6 (25:10):
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Franks knows the most important things are quality work and
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Speaker 2 (25:21):
Right and get in your vehicle back on the road.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Call five one three eight two nine ninety thirty eight
two nine ninety thirty.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
The best way to wake up in the morning, A
hot cup of coffee and Brian Thomas Monday morning at
five on fifty five KRC, the talk station.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Welcome back, taking your car questions. The number to call
five one, three, seven, four nine fifty five hundred. I'm
Dane Donovan from Donovan's Auto entire Center, located here in
the wonderful Cincinnati, well shit, most of the time. Wonderful again.
I talked about the opening day. There was, uh, you know,
(26:00):
we we got to get it together. You know, there
were seventeen arrests down there during the opening day. We
got to get it together. People, come on, you know,
this is a great city. I don't like the weather.
The weather sucks, but you know we're better than this.
So when you go out, enjoy yourself. But you know,
mind yourself. You know where I don't know where. I
(26:22):
don't know if it was like COVID when we were
trapped in our houses for two years, that everybody just
started acting like a fool. But you know, be mindful,
be respectful, and it doesn't always have to be a confrontation.
You know, everyone has the right to their opinion, but
let's just keep our opinions to ourselves. Let's act accordingly,
(26:44):
go out and have a good time, and you know,
none of this lawlessness. It's just crazy. So anyways, let's
get back to talking about cars. So on the phone,
we have Mike. Hey, Mike, welcome to the car show.
How can I help?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Hey, Dan, I listened to your I guess you called
a rant about the about the car warranty.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
I work in the shop. I've been doing this probably
for close to forty years, and I've learned from dealing
with those warking service companies. I know they don't like
to pay internal murder stuff, but as far as my
breaks go front end work anything like that, I had
(27:31):
more problems with them whatsoever. What a lot of things
I do is I'll go with dealer with price and
dealer dealer part numbers is a big thing that they like.
And labor rate that we regarded for the the natural
accounts one thirty and for those warranty claims companies, I
do one sixty and I've had really good luck with
(27:56):
them recently. The last one that I had trouble with, uh,
they only one of the paid catch amount of dollars
on the motor repair. Wow, that to have the motor
replaced on it. But the reason for that is some
other stuff that was un to the motor. And they
I think they have a capital will they'll pay out.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah. So I mean so you'll so at your shop,
you'll deal with them, You'll take you'll take them? Do
you take? All of them? Are certain ones or.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
There's a few that I don't take. Off the top
of my head, I can't really remember the names of them,
but there's a few of them that I won't take.
And there's a few of them that I really love
dealing with because they're easy, you know. But the biggest
thing is ut when they instead of using natural market
parts uh for pricing and stuff like, I go with
(28:48):
thearer list because they have an algorithm they go by
and if things don't match that algorithm, that's when they
start kicking things back.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Hmm. It's interesting. Yeah, I just I stopped dealing with
them for it was just here's here's my you know,
I understand that it can be beneficial potentially to the
consumer itself, to the consumer themselves, and I understand, but
(29:16):
I mean, you know, it's just I've just seen so
many times that these customers, in my opinion, this is
my opinion, I've seen so many times where they can
the individual that has this insurance policy and my opinion
is not being taken care of and screwed. And I
just morally and ethically. I just don't like them because
(29:39):
I just I've seen time and time again that I
don't feel that they really really take care of and
I feel like they're sold a deal of goods and
it's and by the time you get to the bottom
of it, Yeah, sure, you might have a fifteen one
hundred dollars repair and the company's going to cover five
hundred bucks, right, but you know you paid, you know,
(30:00):
three thousand dollars for the you know, over time it
might work out. But you know, I just had a
gentleman not too long ago call me and he's like, hey,
you know, hey, you know I've got this repair and
ya da dada YadA, I've got this aftermarket warranty company.
I'm like, hey, I don't. I don't work with him.
And he's like, you're the third person that I've called
it won't take these warranties. And I'm like, you know,
(30:23):
to some people like yourself, you're okay, we're you know,
you're okay working with them and dealing with them. But
for me, I don't like chasing my money in the
sense of like, you know, these people like, hey, we
don't pay shop supply fees. We don't pay diagnostic, we
don't pay you know, disposal fees. We don't pay this,
we don't pay that. We're only going to pay seventy
(30:44):
five dollars an hour for labor, and yad dad YadA.
And then you go through all these steps and it's
like a fifteen hundred dollars repair. The customer is responsible for,
you know whatever, a thousand of it and you know
they cover five hundred. But then you got to submit
you know, uh, so many times you've spent you spent
(31:06):
all the paperwork and it's like, well the mileage is
an accurate from what you called us about. You know,
it's different and this and that, and it's it to me,
it's just.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
A yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
I mean you have to, yeah, you have to be
meticulous when you do that stuff. But you know, I
just you know, and I was. I had a young boy,
uh young kid, I mean he's probably college young kid. Look,
he brought me a used vehicle as a Volkswagen uh
TDI and and I said, look, you know, car checked
(31:40):
out great. And I said, needed a couple of little things,
not a big deal. I said, look, don't buy any
after market warranty, and I said, whatever they offer you.
If it's if they say, hey, buy this after market
warranty it's three grand, I said, just take that three
grand that they told you it was going to cost you.
And I said, put it in a money market phone
or put it in the invest it and then if
if you have a car repair, you can pull back out.
(32:02):
But you know, I just I don't feel that they're
a great product to the consumer. I just I've just
seen so many people ripped off.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah, that's good advice there. I wouldn't recommend anybody buying one,
but if they already have it, you got.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
To do it. You got to do Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I had one on a Dodge dur Ango that broke
a canon hand and they will cover the engines because
the guy couldn't come up with every single hole. Mm
hmmm hmm, right, because he did two of them himself
and they had a shop to one. They do look
for every little single reason not to do something right,
(32:45):
you know.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, No, I agree, And you're right if you do
have them, If you do have one, if you've purchased one,
you know, you do your due diligence, You do your
best to find somebody that can that will work with
them and and hopefully you get your money back. But
h yeah, I just feel like to the consumer, they
just I don't I don't think it's a fair product
(33:06):
that they sell because a lot of times, you know,
a lot of times people come to me and like, hey,
you know, they bring a car to me and they
don't tell me they half one and I'm like, oh,
you need front breaks and they're like, oh, I got
to after market warranty, Michael, that's a wearing part. I mean,
no aftermarket warranty is gonna oh yeah, it covers everything.
Everything's I'm like, no.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Cover hydraulics, which is calipers, hoses and things like that,
but never any never any hard parts like the stition
material or the roads which they wear items. And you know,
it's I think, I think for the consumb of the
buy it, it's to make some money. But if they
got it, they got it, and the mouth will use
it if they can find somebody that does.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yes, sir, I agree with you. I agree with you
on that, and I appreciate the phone call.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
I haven't had any problem to get payments on them either,
because usually it's a credit card payment. It's usually the
same day.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, no, and you're right. I mean when I work
with them, yes, they'd send credit card payment or whatnot,
But a lot of times they kick back paperwork because
the mileage that I gave them when I called them
was different than what was stated when I called them.
And then a lot of times I'm spending all my
time on the phone giving them all the car information, right,
I'd give them down, I'd break down. They went the year,
(34:19):
make model, vin customer's number, you know, a name, you
know everything, and they're like, what's wrong with the car?
Tell them what's wrong with the car? What are the
codes when they come in? YadA da YadA. So I
spend fifteen twenty minutes of my time telling them what's
wrong with the car. And then there's a lot of
times where they go, oh, well they're not covered under that.
Well great, I just wasted twenty five minutes of my
(34:40):
time and you know, customer's not covered. I just wasted
my time. I didn't get paid for it, and you know,
you know, and the customer has this false sense of everything.
You know. I've even had times where people come in
on my union and old change like, Oh, I got
an after market warranty. I'm like, and it doesn't work
that way, you know. So that's why I just, you know,
(35:03):
I just don't have a good gut feeling about them
because I've just been you know, I you know, I
got one right now that owes me four hundred and
fifty dollars and they've they've never paid me, and I
had to chase my money, call them multiple times and
I never got my money. So if you're out there listening,
really the aftermarket warranties, they are not good. Do not
(35:27):
buy them ever, ever, under no circumstances. And if you
think you need one when you're purchasing a vehicle, then
you shouldn't be purchasing the vehicle because they're not what
they at. The way they're sold is like, you know again,
and I've talked about this, and I got to take
a break, but again I've talked about this. If you
(35:49):
see in every other commercial about selling car insurance, or
every other commercial about medicine, or every other commercial about
this or that, and my opinion, it's usually a red
flag like, hey, probably something that is not not right here,
and you know that that endurance or whatever you know
(36:10):
if you're paying, if you're seeing a commercial, every other
commercial is about endurance. Obviously they're raking in all kinds
of money, but really at the end of the day,
they're not. You know, they're they're taking advantage of you
as the consumer. And I'm telling you on the back
end what I see they they take advantage of you.
So that's why I don't ever ever recommend him. So
(36:34):
all right, taking your phone calls and a call five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifty five hundred coming up. We've got John.
He's called from Iowa. I want to hear about the
weather down in Iowa. So you listen to the car
show on fifty five KR see the talk station. Way
back in nineteen fifty my grandfather opened Donovan's Auto entire
Center right here in Cincinnati. A lot has changed since then,
but our commitment to honest auto repair hasn't. We believe
(36:55):
in making sure your vehicle gets everything it needs and
nothing it doesn't because as a family owned business with
our name on the wall, integrity matters. From nineteen fifty
eight to today, Donovan's Auto entire Center is still Cincinnati's
honest choice for auto repair, and we're proud to keep
this city moving three area locations. Find yours at donovantire
dot com. This is fifty five KARC at iHeartRadio station.
(37:21):
If you're listening to the Car Show fifty five KRC,
I'm Dan Donovan's Auto entire Center here to serve you
locally in the Tri state area, Cincinnati, Indiana, Kentucky. Right,
so go to donovantire dot com find your new yes's location.
Would love to help you and take care of your vehicle.
So all right, holding on steady has been John? Hey John,
(37:43):
welcome to the car Show. How can I help?
Speaker 7 (37:46):
Hey? Dan, thanks for taking the call. Hey did you
talk about their conditioning and checking things out earlier in
the show And I got me to taken. I put
a new belt on my twenty twelve to Cole in
the last fall. The hood was up and I was
looking things over, which I do every fall, and I
noticed that the air conditioner. I had the air conditioner on.
(38:06):
It was seventy degrees that day. The engine's idling, and
I noticed the air conditioning is kicking on and off.
The clutch is coming in, you know, runs and then
it disengages. And I've never seen that, so I don't
know if I have a problem or not, because on
my ninety seven to call me in my two thousand
and six Corolla, well, the air conditions on all the time.
On this one it was cycling, but I was getting
(38:28):
plenty of cold air. And I just I've been doing
a lot of research and some of the tacoma you
know strings out there say that's normal. Some say is it?
And I thought, before I really start digging into it,
because summer's coming, ask you get your opinion. Is that
normal or.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
It's a great question. So, yeah, your older vehicles, when
you turn on the AC, the clutch would stay engaged
all the time, and at compressor's running now because of
all the you know, all the technology and what's out there. Again,
it's it's yes, some of these compressors will cycle and
they'll kick on, kick off, kick on, kick off, and
(39:09):
then others will just run all the time. I mean,
there are some of your newer cars today even if
you don't even have the AC on, the compressor stays
and or that the clutch stays.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
So it's I don't know that you necessarily have a problem.
I think. So you've got a pressure switch, right, So
if the free on level is low, sometimes it'll read that,
Oh it's oh we're full of free on. Oh no
we're not. You know, it could be on the fence.
So so it could be cycling because it's like, oh,
we're good on free on. Oh we're low on frown.
(39:42):
Oh we're good on free on. Oh we're low on frown.
So that could be reason why it's cycling. So what
I would and again with air conditioning, it's never anything
that you can just like pull and say, hey, can
you check my AC because free on is a gas
so you have to hook it up to a system.
I do not. And you know, it says you're in Iowa, right,
so obviously you're not bringing it to me in Cincinnati.
(40:03):
But I would take it to your mechanic and I
would just have them hook it up to the machine
and find out, check the pressures, find out if it's low.
A lot of times. Again, what the machine has to
do is suck it down. If you're like for you know,
if the truck holds a pound of free on and
they have to suck it down, and let's say that
there's three quarters of a pound in there, right, that
(40:25):
could be reason why it's maybe cycling, right, so then
they put your they put your three quarters pound back in,
they put another quarter in, so now you're full, and
then you know you're good to go. So that could
be reason why it's cycling like that because the pressure
switch is seeing that the free on level is low
and it's causing it. Again, it could be just simply
(40:47):
because of the way the car's made and because of
all your environmental and you're economical and making sure the
car runs the most fuel efficient it because you know,
the compressor is a small engine and right has little
pistons in it, and it's so it could be cycling
to conserve fuel. So the car is the truck is
(41:07):
more fuel efficient. So but I I would, I think,
in my opinion is I would get it in, have
him check the levels, make sure that it's full of
free on. That's probably what's going on, is it's getting
a little it's on that fence and it's it's messing
with that pressure switch. Right, Okay, thank you so much,
thank you much. All Right, appreciate the phone call. Take
(41:29):
care man all the way from Iowa. So I really
do appreciate the phone calls. Everybody. Enjoy the rest of
the weekend. I'll be back next Saturday to answer all
of your car questions. Again, be safe out there, and uh,
you know, go out and enjoy yourself, but do it
in a respectful manner. And uh again, be safe, take
(41:50):
care of each other. I'll be back next Saturday to
answer all your all of your car questions. You listen
to the Car Show on fifty five krc D talkstations,
The Slow and
Speaker 1 (42:10):
The Slow
Geez, we'll find my phone. Nice.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good afternoon, and welcome to the car show on fifty
five KRC. I'm Dane Donovan taking all of your car questions.
Five one three seven four nine fifty five hundred. That
number again, five one three seven four nine fifty five hundred. Uh,
it's a it's a beautiful day. A little chili, little chili.
(00:44):
But you know you can still still get outside, go
for a nice brisk walk, or you know, maybe pop
that hood and see whether or not your car has
oil in it, or all your fluids are topped off,
or maybe you've got the proper air pressure, you know,
as many Americans are dealing with the headache of the
(01:06):
UH airline lines, right, and so some people might be
uh traveling on their spring break trip, you know, I
uh following next week, right, you know, the day after Easter,
or it's when our boys are on spring break. So
we're going down to Nashville for a couple of days.
(01:30):
And uh, you know, my wife's like, you know, you
need to get my car in, you know, and and
she does. She needs tires, she needs you know, not
quite an old change just yet. But I'm gonna do
it because we're gonna drive down and you know it's
something that you know, you really need to think about.
You know, we're going to go into summer, summer trips
(01:53):
and you need to really really start thinking about your
air conditioning. I know that it. I mean, now, you
know this week we had opening day and it was
eighty degrees and I'm sure many of you turn that
AC on and if it was working, great. If it
wasn't you need to start playing in the head and
getting in now or if you're in your car now
(02:16):
it's warm enough that if you know, it's about forty
five degrees, right, so you could turn it on and
just see if it's working. Because again, a lot of times,
you know, when we get those it's literally you know
how it is in Cincinnati. If you don't like the weather,
wait ten minutes in it'll change.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
It was eighty on Thursday and then thirty five degrees
yesterday morning, right, So it can change very quickly. But
you know how it is we in my opinion, I mean,
I know that we have four seasons, but it always
goes from like winter like spring for about a week
or two and then boom, we're in ninety degrees and
(02:55):
we're hot, and we're getting these cars in and we're
thinking about trips, and we're in the last minute, and
you know, it happens all the time, and you know,
but you know, something that you need to start thinking
about now is making sure that that car is ready
for spring break if you're traveling, if you're driving, or
(03:16):
maybe you're not going anywhere for spring break, but you
know what, you know that in July or June you're
going on a family vacation, You're to be driving to Florida,
New York, or wherever you're heading, and it's just something
that you want to make sure that you get your
car in at the right time. You know, a lot
of times too, you really don't want to wait the
(03:39):
last minute because there are times where it doesn't necessarily
you know, we get your car in. Let's say you're
leaving Saturday morning, and you bring your car to me
on Friday and we do some work or any repair
shop for that matter, and then there's a something happens,
right a gasket or a part some work. I had
(04:02):
a gentleman that was trapped was a friend of mine
who was going to be traveling to supposed to leave
the day and was involved in a car accident. Now
that's unfortunate that you know, there wasn't anything that he
could have done differently. But we always have to have
a backup plane. You always have to make sure that
your your vehicle is ready for the road. And as
(04:24):
you know, gas prices are through the roof, car prices
are through the roof, and you want to make sure
that you protect your investment and make sure the make
sure that your family is safe and should be on
the road and ready to go. Now, I understand that
fixing your car isn't always glamorous and fun, right, kind
(04:45):
of like going to the dentist. I had to go
to the dentist myself this week. Luckily a wonderful brother
in law who takes care of my teeth. And you know,
it's something that we just have to do. You want
to make sure that you don't cut corners. Right. I
had a gentleman that works for me two weeks ago says,
(05:06):
I can't come into work. I have a really bad
tooth and I have to have removed. I have to
go to urgent care. Right. We don't want that. It's
just not nobody. It just ruins the whole vacation and
the time and just add stress that we don't really
need in today's world, right, So we want to make
sure that we're getting these vehicles in, getting them checked out,
(05:29):
and getting them ready for either spring break or summer. Now,
a lot of you go, ah, you know, I've got time,
I've got time. You know, we always say that I'm
a victim of it myself. I do it all the time.
I wait till the last minute. You don't want to
do that, right, So start thinking about the future. Start
thinking about the air conditioning again. If you're in the
car and you're listening to me right now, turn the
(05:50):
AC on. Just make sure it's working right. If it's not,
let's make an appointment. Let's get it in whether you're
whether you bring it to me or your local mechanic
that on, get it gone, get it ready. You know,
my father in law was in my shop the other
day and I checked his air pressure and you know
he had, you know, thirty eight thirty nine forty pounds
(06:13):
of pressure in his tires, you know, which are over inflated,
should have thirty five. Reason being, the last time he
had an old change it was, you know, in the
zeros right ten twenty, So every for every ten degrees
of ambient air temperature drops, you lose a pound of air. Right,
So on Thursday it was eighty degrees right, so your
air pressure is going to rise. So an overinflated tire
(06:38):
is not as bad as a underinflated tire, certainly going
to get better gas mileage, but you really, it really
puts a lot of wear on the tire, So you
want to make sure that your tires are properly inflated. Now,
what I will tell you is it's certainly important going
on a road trip to make sure your tires are
properly checked and inflated properly. Again, if you drive here
(07:01):
from Cincinnati to Nashville, tires are gonna get hot and
that pressure will rise. But you know once they cool down,
so it's going to fluctuate a little bit. But that
does put a lot of wear on the tires if
they're overinflated or underinflated. So and if you haven't properly
inflated per you're making model. That's where you get the
(07:24):
longevity out of your tires. And tires again are very expensive.
You know, when I started into this, when I started
in this business twenty six years ago. You know, we
could buy it. There was like I don't know, ten
different sizes of tires and you know they're our cost
(07:45):
was a thirty five bucks and you know, obviously we
mark them up, but you pay there, you know, maybe
one hundred bucks a tire by the time you install it.
It's not like that now. I just put four tires
on an Audi Friday, not fizzical. I didn't put them
on myself. My tech did. But you know it was
(08:05):
Now it's it's an A eight, so it's it's a
nicer vehicle, right, But it was almost three thousand dollars
just to put four tires on this vehicle. And so
you want to make sure that you get the most
life out of your car, out of your tires, and
how do you do that. You make sure they're properly inflated,
and you make sure that the car is properly aligned, right,
(08:27):
which we did. And you know, it's it's just it's
the smaller things. It doesn't have to always be get
it in and spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars. It's
just get it in quarterly. I'd like to see a
car at least quarterly. I know that's not always perfect
(08:47):
for everybody, right, but you're able to stay on top
of it, right, and you're able to get ahead of
it in the sense of a lot of times. I
usually get a car nine out of ten times, I
get a car when it's broken, right, Yes, that's what
I do. But by the time it's broken, there's already
(09:11):
five there's already five other things wrong with that car.
So we get it in right, and it's like, hey, yes,
your car won't start because it needs a starter, but
the battery test bad, you've got an oil leak. You
need four tires, four breaks, and it's gonna be three
thousand dollars. And then everybody's like wanting to pull their
hair out because it's like, man, I really can't afford that. Right.
(09:33):
But had they brought it to me maybe three months prior, right,
I could have been like, Hey, you're gonna need breaks soon,
but you do need tires, So we're gonna put the
tires on it today, and then maybe three months from now,
we'll take care. We'll tackle the brake, so we'll tackle
the oil change. Right, So it really and again I'm
gonna use the analogy, and I use it all the time.
(09:54):
You know, if you go to the if you don't
go to the dentists for three, four or five years,
I mean my and I said that had the tooth problem.
He's like, I was going to go back and during
COVID and I just never went back. Right, So we're
dealing we're dealing with six years. So you can imagine
that six years of not going to the dentist, you're
going to have quite a bit of dental repair. Same
(10:15):
with your car, right, same with your house. You know,
if you don't have anybody come in to your house
and inspect it, and you know, you live in your
house every day. So if there's a leak in your
roof or something like that, we typically tend to handle
that right because we want to protect that investment. You
should do that for your car because these cars, again,
the average price of a vehicle today is fifty thousand dollars. Okay,
(10:40):
So I understand that it's a depreciating asset and you're
not going to get fifty thousand for it when you
sell it, but you want to make sure you protect
that your car of that investment and making sure that
it's safe you can be out on the road and
you know, and your family safe. Right. And I understand
that cars are expensive and we really don't want to
spend the money on it, but you have to do it.
(11:01):
It's just one of those things that we have to do.
Maintenance and maintaining these cars is more important today than
it's ever been in my opinion, because there's the cars
are so expensive, so you want to start thinking about that,
especially with spring break going on and then we're going
into summer. Make sure your AC's working. Make sure that
you get in at a you know, ample time so
(11:25):
you know you're not up against the in a corner
with you know, with problems. So all right, again, the
number to call five one, three, seven, four nine, fifty
five one hundred coming up. We have Wayne and Mike.
You're listening to the Car Show on fifty five KRC,
the talk station. This is fifty five KARC and iHeartRadio station.
Your car isn't just a machine, it's your daily partner.
And with new cars becoming more expensive than ever, smart
(11:47):
maintenance for your current vehicle just makes sense. Hi, I'm
Dane Donovan, third generation owner at Donovan's Auto and Tire Center,
That's why at Donovan's we give you everything you need
and nothing you don't. Honest expert service to keep your
car running longer. Donovan's Auto entire Center, Cincinnati's honest choice
for auto repairs. That's nineteen fifty eight, three locations in
Blue Ash, pleasant Ridge, in our new location near Xavier
(12:09):
Donovan's Auto form find yours at donovantire dot com. All
the news and the views of Brian Thomas.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Monday morning at five on fifty five KRC, the talkstation.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Welcome back taking your car questions and again the number
to call five one three seven fifty five hundred. That
number again five one three seven four nine fifty five
hundred in studio here to take your car questions again.
It's a beautiful Saturday. My wife and I are going
to a fundraiser tonight for Mueller High School. Uh looking
(12:44):
forward to that. But uh yeah, here again every Saturday
to answer your car questions. I hope everybody had a
great week. I hope.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Unfortunately are our reds Uh did not win on opening day,
but that's okay. Uh, it was still it was a
good time. My son was in the parade for the
Dragonfly Foundation and and I want to give a shout
out to them along with Cancer Free Kids.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
You know, my my son at two and a half
was diagnosed with cancer and uh you know he's uh
doing great in remission and uh should he has one
more set of scans and then we can. You know,
he's in remission but again doing great. So Cancer Free
Kids and Dragonfly Foundation, Uh great foundations if you're looking
(13:35):
to donate their great foundation. Uh. And again Dragonfly Foundation
uh invites him every year to the opening Day parade.
He gets to participate in that and uh they have
a tractor and he's uh you know, he's just happy
and waving and has a great time. So I want
(13:55):
to get again shout out to those foundations. They're they're great.
You want to give to uh great research and great
cancer charities. Those two are locally just phenomenal. And uh
again he's doing well and he's out. Uh he's going
to make his first communion. So my wife and him
(14:18):
are out at the mall right now looking for a
nice pair of slacks and a and a jacket for
first communion coming up here shortly so so he'll be
he'll be nine in August. So he's doing well. So
he uh got this. He got to go to his
first now he's this is I think the fourth Opening
(14:39):
Day parade he's participated in, but he's never really been
able to go to the game, and this year, unfortunately,
I was not able to make the game. But so
they my wife and three boys got to go and
they enjoyed it, and uh my wife needed had like
I'm she was overwhelmed. She's like, I just want to
take a shower, go to bad So it can be
(15:02):
a lot going on with down there. So but unfortunately
our race lost. But today's kids Opening Day, So hope
you're down there if you've got kids, and get them
down there and enjoy the festivities. So all right again,
let's go to the phones. We have Wayne. Hey, Wayne,
welcome to the car show. How can I help?
Speaker 5 (15:19):
Oh, thank you. I'm glad to hear your son's doing well.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Thank you. Yeah, he's uh living his life.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Uh yeah, I have a twenty fourteen christ or three
hundred deaths Okay, it's got V six, three hundred horsepower
gas engine. That's a real world drive vehicle. About a
year ago, I was driving on Corade Avenue. I went
to stop at a stoplight, and the brake blister seemed
(15:51):
to give out. The breaks did work, and he got
me stopped. I immediately pulled into a parking lot and looked
at the fluid and every thing. It was all full.
There was a car repair place right up the street.
I even stopped there and had them check it out.
They couldn't find anything wrong. Well, it's been fine for
quite a while. Then recently now it's done it to
(16:14):
me basically two more times. Okay, it will it will stop,
but you can tell the loss of the break booster
and the pedal goes down way much more.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Okay, So all right, So so it's intermittent, correct, and
the break fluids full and the brakes look great.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Yeah, the the pads and rotors and everything have only
been on it for about four months.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Okay, all right. So when it is at any point,
is the pedal itself hard, like really really stuffed, really hard,
or or does it just go straight to the floor.
Speaker 5 (16:58):
No, it's uh. I look up a test on YouTube
where you get in the car with a not running,
pump it up and your pedal gets good and hard.
Then you start the car and that it should go
down some not a lot and then stop. It does that?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
I actually ran a code scan on it and it
shows no electrical codes on like anything like the sensors
that see the air going through them or something. So
I'm just kind of thinking maybe the booster itself, or
(17:39):
to be honest, the car's never had a fluid flush
that maybe maybe there's some air in a line or something.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I think you can try that typically, though, I mean,
how many times does this act? How many times does
this happened to you?
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Two?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Three times?
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Or I said, well it's I think now it's been
three or four? All or four?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Okay? All right? And again two rehere? So when when
it when it acts up? Are you at a traffic
light and you just have your foot on the pedal
when it goes down to the floor or is it
like if you're getting off the highway goes to the floor.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Well, you know, I'm just driving along. It doesn't seem
to matter where I'm at. Now I go to slow
down or to stop it a light, it happens, and
then if I let off of it and pump up
once or twice, it comes right back up.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Okay. So here's what I want you to Here's here's
what I would do. First. You know, yes, you break
fluid should be replaced every thirty thousand miles. Break fluid
absorbs moisture, and yes you can with that moisture. Yes
you will get air in the system. It would be
beneficial to do that regardless. Okay. Now I don't think
(18:55):
that that's your problem either, Like you said, the breakboosters.
But before I before you do that, change the fluid,
flush the fluid. Okay, but there is most of these
newer vehicles have a vacuum hose, okay, because your break
booster runs off a vacuum and that vacuum hose runs
(19:17):
to the engine. The you know, most people don't realize
that that hoe, that vacuum hose that runs from the
booster to the engine has a valve in it. Okay,
and those valves can go bad. So before you know,
break fluid, sure, let's do it. I don't know that
that's true necessarily a problem. Either your booster is bad
or that valve's bad. The valve that that vacuum line
(19:41):
again that runs from the booster to the valve cover
has a valve in it. I would recommend replacing that
hose that has the valve in it first. Okay, if
you still have the problems, then yes, it's gonna need
the it's gonna need the booster. Now, a lot of
these vehicles too, have a you know, the valve the
(20:06):
there's a the valve cover. You know, vacuum runs through
the valve cover, So you could be dealing with a
vacuum issue that's built into the you know, there's typically
a diaphragm that sits on top or built into the
valve cover. That will that could cause that too, But
the hose would be very inexpensive. Right, break fluid again
every thirty thousand, Try that vacuum line first, because again,
(20:29):
you got it. You've got that valve. Are you experiencing
any other IDOL issues or and you said you ran
the check engine light and no other lights came on,
or no, there was no other codes in the system.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
No, there were no codes that it showed up.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
Obviously I opened the hood and took the little cover
off the top of the engine. Okay, and I can
see the vacuum line where it comes off. It looks
like the intake manifold m HM and goes over to
the brick booster okay, and looks it plugs in to
(21:08):
the side of the booster up near the top. There
is also some kind of electronic uh airflow sensor built
into that right there.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
I was just wondering if maybe I unplugged that air
sensor to see if that put any kind of immediate
effect on the booster.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah you could, yeah, okay, and all right, Uh yes, I.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Looked up a hose. I looked up the vacuum hods
for that. It's like, it's not terrible. It's about fifty box,
I think, so I don't mind. You know, replacing that
is just kind of a monster to get to because
you get uh as far back as the uh mooster sets,
I have to get a bunch of stuff out of
the way.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah. Well, the other the other thing that you could do, too,
is you start the car, let it run, get it
or you know, it doesn't have to run in the
driveway if you're if you're out and about driving around
town or whatever, get it up to normal operating temperature.
What you could do is while the car is running,
pop the hood, obviously, you know, in a parking lot
or in your garage or whatever. Pop the hood and
(22:25):
as the car is running, I want you to take
the oil cap off. Okay, Now, if you if you
unscrew the oil cap and it comes it comes off
freely and there's no resistance, then we don't have a
vacuum issue in the engine bay, which would eliminate the
valve cover the intake issue. So but if you go
to take it off and you hear like a whole
(22:47):
bunch of air and pressure kind of build up and
it's kind of then we got a vacuum issue in
the in the valve cover because a lot of these
these newer vehicles have that that built in vacuum system
right there and the PCV what we call positive crank
ventilation system, the PCV system. So try to while it's running,
while the car is warm, just take devout the oil
(23:08):
cap off. If you if it comes off freely, no issue,
then we don't have a vacuum issue at the engine right.
But if you take it off and you hear a
whole bunch of hissing, like like a whole bunch of
pressure build up, then we've got a valve cover that
PCV system issue as well, which be causing your break issue.
(23:30):
So try those Those are simple things that you can
do at home before you go spending a whole bunch
of money on a brake booster, you know, because I'm
willing to bet probably that thing installed is anywhere between
five to eight hundred dollars, could be even a lot
more than that. So try those things first and then
call me back with an update.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Okay, I could I hit one quick question if I
brought it up and hand you do the brake flash
and typically about what does that run?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
It's usually it's about one one twenty nine ninety five
in that area. It depends on depends on what the
fluid is or whatnot, so it's it's very inexpensive. But
again it should be done every thirty thousand. It's very important.
I'm telling you. It makes a huge difference. And again
it protects your hoses because a lot of times hose
(24:23):
with moisture in there, those the break hoses can collapse
and some it's it's a good thing to do. So,
like I said, it's about one twenty nine based upon
how much fluid it needs and so on and so forth.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
So all right, okay, yeah that's not reasonable at all.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Allay, Thank thanks Wayne, take care, bye bye all right again.
Taking your phone calls and I'm gonna call a five one, three, seven,
four nine fifty five hundred coming up, Mike. I appreciate Mike.
I want to get to you, so stay on the line.
This is a great topic that I love talking about.
So we've got Mike and John. You're listening to the
car showing fifty five k R see the talk station.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
A truck camper r VA a trailer that needs body
repair if so called. Frank's Heavy Truck Collision Repair located
just All five seventy five or Route sixty three.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
It's convenient to both Cincinnati and Date.
Speaker 6 (25:10):
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.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Right and get in your vehicle back on the road.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Call five one three eight two nine ninety thirty eight
two nine ninety thirty.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
The best way to wake up in the morning, A
hot cup of coffee and Brian Thomas Monday morning at
five on fifty five KRC, the talk station.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Welcome back, taking your car questions. The number to call
five one, three, seven, four nine fifty five hundred. I'm
Dane Donovan from Donovan's Auto entire Center, located here in
the wonderful Cincinnati, well shit, most of the time. Wonderful again.
I talked about the opening day. There was, uh, you know,
(26:00):
we we got to get it together. You know, there
were seventeen arrests down there during the opening day. We
got to get it together. People, come on, you know,
this is a great city. I don't like the weather.
The weather sucks, but you know we're better than this.
So when you go out, enjoy yourself. But you know,
mind yourself. You know where I don't know where. I
(26:22):
don't know if it was like COVID when we were
trapped in our houses for two years, that everybody just
started acting like a fool. But you know, be mindful,
be respectful, and it doesn't always have to be a confrontation.
You know, everyone has the right to their opinion, but
let's just keep our opinions to ourselves. Let's act accordingly,
(26:44):
go out and have a good time, and you know,
none of this lawlessness. It's just crazy. So anyways, let's
get back to talking about cars. So on the phone,
we have Mike. Hey, Mike, welcome to the car show.
How can I help?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Hey, Dan, I listened to your I guess you called
a rant about the about the car warranty.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
I work in the shop. I've been doing this probably
for close to forty years, and I've learned from dealing
with those warking service companies. I know they don't like
to pay internal murder stuff, but as far as my
breaks go front end work anything like that, I had
(27:31):
more problems with them whatsoever. What a lot of things
I do is I'll go with dealer with price and
dealer dealer part numbers is a big thing that they like.
And labor rate that we regarded for the the natural
accounts one thirty and for those warranty claims companies, I
do one sixty and I've had really good luck with
(27:56):
them recently. The last one that I had trouble with, uh,
they only one of the paid catch amount of dollars
on the motor repair. Wow, that to have the motor
replaced on it. But the reason for that is some
other stuff that was un to the motor. And they
I think they have a capital will they'll pay out.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah. So I mean so you'll so at your shop,
you'll deal with them, You'll take you'll take them? Do
you take? All of them? Are certain ones or.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
There's a few that I don't take. Off the top
of my head, I can't really remember the names of them,
but there's a few of them that I won't take.
And there's a few of them that I really love
dealing with because they're easy, you know. But the biggest
thing is ut when they instead of using natural market
parts uh for pricing and stuff like, I go with
(28:48):
thearer list because they have an algorithm they go by
and if things don't match that algorithm, that's when they
start kicking things back.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Hmm. It's interesting. Yeah, I just I stopped dealing with
them for it was just here's here's my you know,
I understand that it can be beneficial potentially to the
consumer itself, to the consumer themselves, and I understand, but
(29:16):
I mean, you know, it's just I've just seen so
many times that these customers, in my opinion, this is
my opinion, I've seen so many times where they can
the individual that has this insurance policy and my opinion
is not being taken care of and screwed. And I
just morally and ethically. I just don't like them because
(29:39):
I just I've seen time and time again that I
don't feel that they really really take care of and
I feel like they're sold a deal of goods and
it's and by the time you get to the bottom
of it, Yeah, sure, you might have a fifteen one
hundred dollars repair and the company's going to cover five
hundred bucks, right, but you know you paid, you know,
(30:00):
three thousand dollars for the you know, over time it
might work out. But you know, I just had a
gentleman not too long ago call me and he's like, hey,
you know, hey, you know I've got this repair and
ya da dada YadA, I've got this aftermarket warranty company.
I'm like, hey, I don't. I don't work with him.
And he's like, you're the third person that I've called
it won't take these warranties. And I'm like, you know,
(30:23):
to some people like yourself, you're okay, we're you know,
you're okay working with them and dealing with them. But
for me, I don't like chasing my money in the
sense of like, you know, these people like, hey, we
don't pay shop supply fees. We don't pay diagnostic, we
don't pay you know, disposal fees. We don't pay this,
we don't pay that. We're only going to pay seventy
(30:44):
five dollars an hour for labor, and yad dad YadA.
And then you go through all these steps and it's
like a fifteen hundred dollars repair. The customer is responsible for,
you know whatever, a thousand of it and you know
they cover five hundred. But then you got to submit
you know, uh, so many times you've spent you spent
(31:06):
all the paperwork and it's like, well the mileage is
an accurate from what you called us about. You know,
it's different and this and that, and it's it to me,
it's just.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
A yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
I mean you have to, yeah, you have to be
meticulous when you do that stuff. But you know, I
just you know, and I was. I had a young boy,
uh young kid, I mean he's probably college young kid. Look,
he brought me a used vehicle as a Volkswagen uh
TDI and and I said, look, you know, car checked
(31:40):
out great. And I said, needed a couple of little things,
not a big deal. I said, look, don't buy any
after market warranty, and I said, whatever they offer you.
If it's if they say, hey, buy this after market
warranty it's three grand, I said, just take that three
grand that they told you it was going to cost you.
And I said, put it in a money market phone
or put it in the invest it and then if
if you have a car repair, you can pull back out.
(32:02):
But you know, I just I don't feel that they're
a great product to the consumer. I just I've just
seen so many people ripped off.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah, that's good advice there. I wouldn't recommend anybody buying one,
but if they already have it, you got.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
To do it. You got to do Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I had one on a Dodge dur Ango that broke
a canon hand and they will cover the engines because
the guy couldn't come up with every single hole. Mm
hmmm hmm, right, because he did two of them himself
and they had a shop to one. They do look
for every little single reason not to do something right,
(32:45):
you know.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, No, I agree, And you're right if you do
have them, If you do have one, if you've purchased one,
you know, you do your due diligence, You do your
best to find somebody that can that will work with
them and and hopefully you get your money back. But
h yeah, I just feel like to the consumer, they
just I don't I don't think it's a fair product
(33:06):
that they sell because a lot of times, you know,
a lot of times people come to me and like, hey,
you know, they bring a car to me and they
don't tell me they half one and I'm like, oh,
you need front breaks and they're like, oh, I got
to after market warranty, Michael, that's a wearing part. I mean,
no aftermarket warranty is gonna oh yeah, it covers everything.
Everything's I'm like, no.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Cover hydraulics, which is calipers, hoses and things like that,
but never any never any hard parts like the stition
material or the roads which they wear items. And you know,
it's I think, I think for the consumb of the
buy it, it's to make some money. But if they
got it, they got it, and the mouth will use
it if they can find somebody that does.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yes, sir, I agree with you. I agree with you
on that, and I appreciate the phone call.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
I haven't had any problem to get payments on them either,
because usually it's a credit card payment. It's usually the
same day.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Yeah, no, and you're right. I mean when I work
with them, yes, they'd send credit card payment or whatnot,
But a lot of times they kick back paperwork because
the mileage that I gave them when I called them
was different than what was stated when I called them.
And then a lot of times I'm spending all my
time on the phone giving them all the car information, right,
I'd give them down, I'd break down. They went the year,
(34:19):
make model, vin customer's number, you know, a name, you
know everything, and they're like, what's wrong with the car?
Tell them what's wrong with the car? What are the
codes when they come in? YadA da YadA. So I
spend fifteen twenty minutes of my time telling them what's
wrong with the car. And then there's a lot of
times where they go, oh, well they're not covered under that.
Well great, I just wasted twenty five minutes of my
(34:40):
time and you know, customer's not covered. I just wasted
my time. I didn't get paid for it, and you know,
you know, and the customer has this false sense of everything.
You know. I've even had times where people come in
on my union and old change like, Oh, I got
an after market warranty. I'm like, and it doesn't work
that way, you know. So that's why I just, you know,
(35:03):
I just don't have a good gut feeling about them
because I've just been you know, I you know, I
got one right now that owes me four hundred and
fifty dollars and they've they've never paid me, and I
had to chase my money, call them multiple times and
I never got my money. So if you're out there listening,
really the aftermarket warranties, they are not good. Do not
(35:27):
buy them ever, ever, under no circumstances. And if you
think you need one when you're purchasing a vehicle, then
you shouldn't be purchasing the vehicle because they're not what
they at. The way they're sold is like, you know again,
and I've talked about this, and I got to take
a break, but again I've talked about this. If you
(35:49):
see in every other commercial about selling car insurance, or
every other commercial about medicine, or every other commercial about
this or that, and my opinion, it's usually a red
flag like, hey, probably something that is not not right here,
and you know that that endurance or whatever you know
(36:10):
if you're paying, if you're seeing a commercial, every other
commercial is about endurance. Obviously they're raking in all kinds
of money, but really at the end of the day,
they're not. You know, they're they're taking advantage of you
as the consumer. And I'm telling you on the back
end what I see they they take advantage of you.
So that's why I don't ever ever recommend him. So
(36:34):
all right, taking your phone calls and a call five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifty five hundred coming up. We've got John.
He's called from Iowa. I want to hear about the
weather down in Iowa. So you listen to the car
show on fifty five KR see the talk station. Way
back in nineteen fifty my grandfather opened Donovan's Auto entire
Center right here in Cincinnati. A lot has changed since then,
but our commitment to honest auto repair hasn't. We believe
(36:55):
in making sure your vehicle gets everything it needs and
nothing it doesn't because as a family owned business with
our name on the wall, integrity matters. From nineteen fifty
eight to today, Donovan's Auto entire Center is still Cincinnati's
honest choice for auto repair, and we're proud to keep
this city moving three area locations. Find yours at donovantire
dot com. This is fifty five KARC at iHeartRadio station.
(37:21):
If you're listening to the Car Show fifty five KRC,
I'm Dan Donovan's Auto entire Center here to serve you
locally in the Tri state area, Cincinnati, Indiana, Kentucky. Right,
so go to donovantire dot com find your new yes's location.
Would love to help you and take care of your vehicle.
So all right, holding on steady has been John? Hey John,
(37:43):
welcome to the car Show. How can I help?
Speaker 7 (37:46):
Hey? Dan, thanks for taking the call. Hey did you
talk about their conditioning and checking things out earlier in
the show And I got me to taken. I put
a new belt on my twenty twelve to Cole in
the last fall. The hood was up and I was
looking things over, which I do every fall, and I
noticed that the air conditioner. I had the air conditioner on.
(38:06):
It was seventy degrees that day. The engine's idling, and
I noticed the air conditioning is kicking on and off.
The clutch is coming in, you know, runs and then
it disengages. And I've never seen that, so I don't
know if I have a problem or not, because on
my ninety seven to call me in my two thousand
and six Corolla, well, the air conditions on all the time.
On this one it was cycling, but I was getting
(38:28):
plenty of cold air. And I just I've been doing
a lot of research and some of the tacoma you
know strings out there say that's normal. Some say is it?
And I thought, before I really start digging into it,
because summer's coming, ask you get your opinion. Is that
normal or.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
It's a great question. So, yeah, your older vehicles, when
you turn on the AC, the clutch would stay engaged
all the time, and at compressor's running now because of
all the you know, all the technology and what's out there. Again,
it's it's yes, some of these compressors will cycle and
they'll kick on, kick off, kick on, kick off, and
(39:09):
then others will just run all the time. I mean,
there are some of your newer cars today even if
you don't even have the AC on, the compressor stays
and or that the clutch stays.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
So it's I don't know that you necessarily have a problem.
I think. So you've got a pressure switch, right, So
if the free on level is low, sometimes it'll read that,
Oh it's oh we're full of free on. Oh no
we're not. You know, it could be on the fence.
So so it could be cycling because it's like, oh,
we're good on free on. Oh we're low on frown.
(39:42):
Oh we're good on free on. Oh we're low on frown.
So that could be reason why it's cycling. So what
I would and again with air conditioning, it's never anything
that you can just like pull and say, hey, can
you check my AC because free on is a gas
so you have to hook it up to a system.
I do not. And you know, it says you're in Iowa, right,
so obviously you're not bringing it to me in Cincinnati.
(40:03):
But I would take it to your mechanic and I
would just have them hook it up to the machine
and find out, check the pressures, find out if it's low.
A lot of times. Again, what the machine has to
do is suck it down. If you're like for you know,
if the truck holds a pound of free on and
they have to suck it down, and let's say that
there's three quarters of a pound in there, right, that
(40:25):
could be reason why it's maybe cycling, right, so then
they put your they put your three quarters pound back in,
they put another quarter in, so now you're full, and
then you know you're good to go. So that could
be reason why it's cycling like that because the pressure
switch is seeing that the free on level is low
and it's causing it. Again, it could be just simply
(40:47):
because of the way the car's made and because of
all your environmental and you're economical and making sure the
car runs the most fuel efficient it because you know,
the compressor is a small engine and right has little
pistons in it, and it's so it could be cycling
to conserve fuel. So the car is the truck is
(41:07):
more fuel efficient. So but I I would, I think,
in my opinion is I would get it in, have
him check the levels, make sure that it's full of
free on. That's probably what's going on, is it's getting
a little it's on that fence and it's it's messing
with that pressure switch. Right, Okay, thank you so much,
thank you much. All Right, appreciate the phone call. Take
(41:29):
care man all the way from Iowa. So I really
do appreciate the phone calls. Everybody. Enjoy the rest of
the weekend. I'll be back next Saturday to answer all
of your car questions. Again, be safe out there, and uh,
you know, go out and enjoy yourself, but do it
in a respectful manner. And uh again, be safe, take
(41:50):
care of each other. I'll be back next Saturday to
answer all your all of your car questions. You listen
to the Car Show on fifty five krc D talkstations,
The Slow and
Speaker 1 (42:10):
The Slow
The Car Show with Dale and Dane Donovan News
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