When someone says “under the hood,” they mean the engine area of the car. The idea is to understand what’s going on there so you can spot issues early and not get overcharged.
Weird noises are sounds your car makes that it normally doesn’t. The important part is figuring out what the sound is and when it happens, because that can point to the problem.
“Q&A Saturday” means the show is answering questions from listeners. Instead of generic tips, it’s usually about real problems people are dealing with and how to handle them.
It’s basically a first meeting to talk about what you need and what your goals are. The idea is to figure out the best next steps before you get into the details of buying a car.
When your engine is cold, the car’s computer switches to a special starting/warm-up setting. It adds extra fuel so the engine can run smoothly and warm up faster.
An automatic transmission uses hydraulic control and fluid temperature to shift smoothly. The engine’s warm-up strategy can affect transmission behavior because transmission fluid also needs to reach an appropriate operating temperature.
They’re talking about a place that sells used cars. When you buy used, you want to pay attention to the car’s condition and maintenance history so you don’t overpay.
This is the dealership being promoted in the segment. For listeners, it’s a reminder that some dealers offer both sales and financing/lease support, which can streamline the buying process.
Low mileage is a common used-car selling point that generally suggests less wear from driving. However, mileage alone doesn’t guarantee condition—service records, accident history, and maintenance matter just as much.
Calipers are the parts that squeeze the brake pads against the spinning brake rotor. If they’re worn out or not working right, your brakes won’t stop as well.
The parking pawl is a small part inside an automatic transmission that locks the car when you put it in Park. If it fails, the car may not stay locked and could roll.
They bring up the Toyota FJ Cruiser to make the point that you should actually check your parking brake setup on an automatic. It’s a reminder not to assume Park alone is enough.
The Nissan Rogue is a crossover SUV meant for normal daily driving. The podcast talks about a 2008 model and mentions rear brakes, which are part of the regular safety system that helps the car slow down. When rear brakes wear out, they need inspection and replacement like other maintenance items.
Transmission service typically involves inspecting and/or replacing transmission fluid and filters (depending on the vehicle) to maintain proper lubrication and cooling. The episode frames it as a key maintenance topic, especially for CVT-equipped Nissan vehicles.
Service advisors are the people you talk to at the shop. They write the repair paperwork and explain what needs to be done. Good ones are organized and clear; sloppy ones can miss details.
A service manager is the person in charge of the repair shop’s service work. They help make sure the team does things correctly and finishes the job the right way.
A work order is the shop’s official list of what they’re going to do. If it’s filled out completely, it’s harder for things to get missed or misunderstood.
“In mileage” is the odometer reading when the vehicle is brought into the shop. It’s important because it anchors the repair order to the car’s condition at intake and helps verify maintenance history and whether work was performed at the claimed mileage.
A repair order is the paperwork from the shop that lists what they did to your car. If it’s incomplete or unclear, you can’t easily prove what you were charged for.
Term
pull it out
“Pull it out” means removing the engine from the car. That’s major work, so the shop should explain exactly what they removed and what they replaced.
A 2010 Dodge Caravan is a minivan. The point here is that fixing the front end can be messy and take longer than expected, and the paperwork should reflect what actually happened.
Setting a sequence on the repair order means organizing each customer request as a distinct, ordered line item (often with checks/notes). This reduces ambiguity and makes it harder for a shop to bundle or omit steps.
Tire rotation is the scheduled swapping of tires between positions to promote even tread wear. It’s commonly recommended at regular mileage intervals and is often handled as a separate service line item.
Diagnostic time is the time you pay for the shop to figure out what’s wrong. If you limit it (for example, one hour), you’re less likely to get charged for extra work you didn’t approve.
The thermostat controls when coolant starts flowing to keep the engine at the right temperature. If it sticks or fails, the engine can overheat and get damaged.
Antifreeze is the fluid that keeps your engine from freezing in winter and overheating in summer. It also helps prevent rust inside the engine’s cooling system.
Flushing and refilling means you remove the old coolant and put in new coolant. It helps the cooling system work correctly and protects the engine from damage.
Overheating is when the engine gets too hot. The host is warning that if you don’t maintain the coolant and thermostat, the engine can overheat while driving.
LIVE
Good morning friends, folks, family, Niagara, you're tuned in to Car Connection where the
coffee's hot, the tools are ready and the talk is always tuned up.
I'm your host, Niall Motormouth Jenkins, coming to you straight from the Car Connection
Workshop where we mix a little humor, a little know-how and a whole lot of horsepower.
Here it's not just about fixing cars, it's about keeping you rolling, saving you money
and giving you the confidence to understand what's under that hood.
From the classics, to the commuters, to the weird noises, to the what the heck moments
we've got you covered.
So grab your coffee, sit back, join the crew because this is Car Connection.
Your Monday through Saturday morning pit stop for stories, smarts and a few good laughs.
I'm Niall Motormouth Jenkins, shifting it into drive this morning right here in the
Car Connection Workshop.
Well, good, good morning to you if you're on the road.
We have made it to Saturday, it's Motormouth's morning drive Saturday morning, Q&A, that's
questions and answers for the whole hour.
We have three questions I pulled out from the emails received during the weekend if
you want to know how to do that and get your question on the air with me so that I can
answer it and break it out for you.
It's simple.
Motormouth. Jenkins at gmail.com, you'll find that email address in the description box
of our YouTube videos as well as our podcast.
All the podcasts now we're moving over to our YouTube channel, I'm migrating them over
10 at a time and moving them from private to public, that's the way it has to go, that's
just the way it is.
So we are in season two, today's episode being, season two episode 129, they're all listed
for you in our YouTube channel.
If it's marked, the one you want to listen to, if it's marked private, that means I haven't
made it, been able to make it public yet so I'm putting up 10 each and every day every
24 hours I can cycle in another 10 podcasts and make them public.
So just so you know, the new ones as we come along, we're working at figuring out, they're
supposed to be able to go public as soon as we come off the air on iHeart with the program
and it's scheduled for eight o'clock, it should shoot automatically over to our YouTube channel
which it does and it's supposed to be made public but it's not turning it public so we're
working on figuring that out so if you see that in our YouTube channel, that's okay,
we are on it, we're all over it like axle on a donut, it's that simple.
So thanks for joining us this morning and welcoming us into your world as we welcome
you into my very own.
Yeah, I can refer you to therapy, to treatment, yeah counseling, yeah you'll be okay.
It does pass after a while, the car connection workshop.
So thanks for joining us, if you are a working weekend dude or do that, well take it easy
out there, make sure you get the right drive through order not somebody else's, that happens
on a regular basis, I might add and check it, check it twice, lock it down in your cup holder
and join us, let's have a swiggy together this morning brought to us by our certified financial
planning professionals, Tony Miele, Larry Tietro, 50 years experience with IG Wealth Management,
portfolio management, debt retirement, estate planning, powers of attorney, beneficiaries,
the whole nine yards and health proxies, if you have kids living at home, 18 years or older,
are you their health proxy and look that up, what that means, moms and dads, you need to know
what that means, they arrange mortgages through IG Wealth, I've had a mortgage with them for
almost 15 years, I wouldn't think of going anywhere else, they're absolutely amazing to deal with,
no fuss, no muss and great mortgage rates, very competitive, life insurance, critical insurance
and a whole lot more services that I just don't have time to mention, click on their logo on a
homepage or our website at carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com and you'll get to meet both Tony Miele and Larry
Tietro, book yourself in for the discovery meeting that we have nicknamed the hour in a coffee,
leave your wallet at home, mama leave your purse at home, you're not going to have experience, any
sales or gimmicks or anything, they're going to sit and listen to you find out where you're at
and where you'd like to be and then talk about working out a game plan to get you there, so
on three, that's how we do it, if you're joining us for the first time, get your 16-pack of grayola
crayons and you're folding up leaf bags so you can take all kinds of notes without running out of
paper and we count it down on three, two, one, are you ready, three, two, one, yep I needed that
right away, just like you know my pops used to say yeah you needed that kick in the pants,
yeah thanks and I appreciate that, could I get an extra one next time so I don't need one
this time or can I get one this time so I don't need one next time,
yeah the things you flash back to right, yeah pops would say if you don't stop doing that
you're going to find out what size my work boot is, ding ding ding, hey man
I just snuck another swiggy, you don't mind do you, okay morning weekend the weather,
Saturday, it is Saturday, it is, it's weekend and it's Easter weekend, if you're going to be out
there with the kids taking on the Easter bunny and finding the egg supply, I would recommend be
careful, I've heard again that the Easter bunny this year is a biter so be careful, yeah and it's
extreme Easter egg hunting, I've seen videos when they release the kids they're taking no prisoners
so moms and dads keep an eye but you might want to be on the sidelines for this one where you're
going to need some PPE, personal protection equipment, Saturday's low will be 40 degrees
between 6am and 7am, the high will be 68 between 4pm and 5pm, temperature range will feel like
32 to 67, yippee, wind will make it feel cooler than the actual temperature, well we're pushing up
when we, when we stabilize at about 60, 62 degrees Fahrenheit then we'll launch our 30 day
fuel savings challenge, if you're interested in putting about $100 a month back in your
bank account in your pocket, I can show you how to do that, teach you how to do it but you have,
I'll give you the instructions, you do the part, that's how it has to work because I don't drive
your car, I don't know you and I don't drive your car okay, yeah that's it exactly, so I'll
give you the instructions, you drive the car, keep track and then in 30 days minimum you're
going to put $50 to $100 back in your pocket, it all depends, closer to 50 if you cheat,
closer to 100 if you do it right, so hang in for that, we haven't forgotten, we got to get out of
the cold start function because that doesn't help any of us with fuel economy right now, the
temperature's up and down, your vehicle still goes into cold start mode, what does that mean,
cold start mode, it means that the computer looks at the temperature of the antifreeze,
that's not the coolant temperature sensor or sender, which one's correct, the sender,
coolant temperature sender is for your gauge, you're monitoring in the dash, coolant temperature
sensor is what the computer reads to determine the temperature of your vehicle's engine, so if it's
stone cold, it reads that in a voltage signal, then it adjusts instantly the air fuel mixture,
so at this time of year where we're bouncing around in the 40s, low 50s, back into the high 30s,
there's cold start function will kick in, that's where more fuel, less air, so we need to put more
fuel in the cylinders and give it less air and get the burn going, we need lots of burn to get
that engine up to 195 degrees Fahrenheit, that's normal, that's what we call normal
operating temperatures, 195 Fahrenheit, no matter what you're driving, it needs to be stable
and pinned at 195 degrees Fahrenheit for everything to work properly, including your
automatic transmission, we have part two coming up on that on Monday on the automatic transmission
myths, not myths, myths, that's a hard word to say, you ever tried that?
All right, so our weekend weather brought to us by City Auto Sales and Leasing, Earl
and Louise Grant, great couple to deal with, let me tell you, you're gonna love it there, I don't
care if it takes you two days to get there and you gotta take your jammies and a toothbrush,
it's worth it because you can buy a vehicle with confidence and be treated with nothing less
than honesty and integrity, low mileage, top quality vehicles at fair prices, they sell
no junk, so no lipsticks on pigs and no skunks and mink coats, top quality vehicles, that's why
the Greater Toronto Area's premier pre-owned auto store, in-house leasing and financing available,
so check in with Earl and Louise Grant, City Auto Sales and Leasing, if you don't see the vehicle
that you're currently looking for, let them know, they have the resources with 25 plus years in the
business, they know where the source those vehicles from, if there is a good one out there, I'll tell
you Earl and Louise will find it, low mileage at a fair price, save you thousands and thousands of
steps, let them know that car connection sent you, do we have any RAIN on the tow port today for
weather, well I didn't want to tell you but yeah, 0.25 of an inch, tell you these microbursts,
I think they dump down an inch at a time to be honest with you, man the rain can sure come down
all of a sudden there's nothing and then there's a wall of water, well again welcome to Saturday,
it is Easter weekend, if you're having a family gathering remember, you can have that extra
slice of pie and make sure you got the couch organized for yourself, right to have a little rest,
thank you to Niagara Block at 5000 Montrose Road, Niagara Falls in Canada, building Canada since
1931, making this podcast available to you on all the platforms, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple,
Amazon and any podcast platform that you're pulling your podcast from, just put Car Connection
Workshop in the search bar and you will find us there, share us, share us with your family and
friends, visit us on our website at carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com, that's where you'll find our
program partners, logos on the homepage, click on any logo and connect and meet with them and let
them know Car Connection sent you, Niagara Block 5000 Montrose Road, Niagara Falls, building Canada
since 1931, all the building supplies you can muster, hardscape landscape materials so that you
can put together that beautiful backyard space you've always wanted to entertain family, friends and
maybe even just hang out and have a little quiet time, they have a list of contractors,
just talk to Kathy Grimo and ask her to give you a referral to a contractor that would
be able to take care of that special project that you have in mind, well let's jump in with
question number one and thank you this morning, a very special thank you to Linda and Jennifer
and James for taking the time and sending me an email question, some great questions, I'll
tell you the questions coming in, they're enough to burn my socks right off my feet
and make my hair stand straight up which I think it already is, yeah it makes hard to wear a ball cap
anyhow, question one this morning, question one from Linda, my husband told me
my husband told me I don't need to use the parking brake, is that true?
Is that the time?
When a question comes in like that it's like how do I answer that without upsetting the
hubby? I can't because I gotta tell you the truth, it's not true, it is absolutely, listen up folks,
it's absolutely 100% wrong, wrong, okay I got a backup plan to answer this one,
go to our YouTube channel, last summer Skippy would tell you we had a number of vehicles come in
from some widows and single ladies and others just struggling to make ends meet and we were able to
jump in and provide some labor and I'll tell you we got in, I got into some break jobs that
were just, they were stinking gruesome and you can go watch that for yourself and get a better
understanding that will answer this question and you'll also be able to see, that's right you'll be
able to see what it is, where it is, how it works, how it breaks and why you should be using your
emergency brake, your park brake, set brake, whatever you want to call the darn thing,
I'm going to say parking brake to save me from losing one of my two last brain cells,
the little gray men, yeah, you'll see exactly what I'm about to tell you visually, we had the
brake nationals going last summer, it was one really bad brake job after another where nothing
was salvageable, nothing, calipers, pads worn right down to the metal, brake rotors completely
toast, you can't reuse them anyway, they got to come out, so if you're, if you're guys talking
about doing a pad slap on an old rotor shame on you, that's not how you do a brake job, that's wrong,
wrong, that's wrong, you do it right, brakes and steering, if you can't stop it or steer it,
nothing else matters, so in our YouTube channel, if you go back to summer of 2025, you will see
back to back brake jobs where you'll see what happens to the parking brake mechanism when
you're not using it, and unfortunately it is, it makes up a good portion of your rear braking system,
and when it goes defunct, you're in big trouble, it all has to be replaced for it all to work properly,
I'm just saying, hey I'm not the the message, I'm just the messenger, these four wheel disc brake
systems with disc brake drum combination on the rear, here's what you have to know, when you look
back there, you're not just looking at brake pads, that rear disc brake rotor has a brake drum built
into it, what's that for you ask, well that's where your emergency brake shoes go, inside
the brake drum portion built into the disc brake rotor on the back, and you ready for this, and
the emergency brake cables when you pull them, adjust your rear disc brake pads,
so that it takes the weight off the front of the brakes, because the front brakes do about
60 to 75 percent of the braking, but that doesn't mean rear brakes are an option, okay fella,
all right, it's not, it doesn't, well you know the front brakes all they do must all work all the
time, you know we don't want to need to be bothered spending money on the parking brake,
okay armchair warriors, head to the youtube channel, and you can get there very quick,
go to carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com, ccbusnet.com, top right hand corner, has all the online
community platforms we're involved with, facebook, youtube, uh or facebook, instagram,
stevenzillaontheweb.ca, and uh skippy puts reels and stuff up there to make you laugh,
I'm gonna have some coffee here, hmm yeah I'm having coffee, yep go ahead, you tell somebody,
tell two friends and get them to bring more coffee,
I had to cough there for a minute, little gap in the uh, I didn't think you needed to hear that,
you ever get that dry spell, that little tickle thing, yeah most people do, go to our home page,
top right hand corner, all the community uh online platforms are there for you to click and join us,
check out the reels and bloopers that skippy puts there on facebook, instagram,
stevensvilleontheweb, we have a profile page there, we are the uh online expert, yeah so you
get to see our articles there, click on the businesses tab to find us there, our iHeart radio
link is there as well, click on there and grab some merch while you're in the merch store,
having a look around, just remember uh the sale proceeds from the merch, go to help those who
are struggling with addiction that have made the decision to beat it, beat it once and for all,
we can help them get to a total freedom addiction campus, Canada and USA, where that's what they
deal with, that's what they do and that's what they deal with there and um they have a new life
waiting for them there, it's not a program, it is a complete life change, so our youtube channel
is there, click on there and go into summer, find the videos from summer uh 2025 and you will find,
I believe there's three separate vehicles in a row, four-wheel disc brake system
and the parking brake system is completely destroyed, like there's nothing left, it's all
rotted out, that's not how it's supposed to be fellas and fellettes, you need to be using that
park brake every day, every time you park, so if you came here to bust me on anything like that,
um you're going to see every vehicle you peer through the window that the parking brake is on
and that not just happens when I put the vehicle back in the driveway, if I go to the store,
parking brake goes on, if I go into the bank, parking brake's on, if I stop for fuel, parking
brake goes on, it takes 21 days, Dan Sullivan, there you go, look him up and listen to his 21 day
focus, it takes and he has another one called the 21 days to make or break a habit, that's the
talk you want to listen to, 21 days to make or break any habit, so in order for you to get used to
oh well honey just put it on when you have to, oh no, no no no times no divided by no
equals no, every time that car stops and you put it in park that emergency brake goes on even if
it's an automatic, fellas sorry to tell you but when you watch those videos put your comments
down below because every single one of those rear brake jobs would have cost thousands
to have done it had to have it done in the shop, everything had to be replaced, all the emergency
shoes, hold down kits, cables, rotors and calipers because when the emergency brakes can't adjust the
rear calipers you don't have rear brakes working, you don't, they're just there for grins, so you're
overheating the front brakes and instead of them doing 60 to 70 percent of the work, they're now
taking the whole weight of the engine and transmission 100 percent and it burns out the front brakes
and usually they usually warp and you end up with shake and brake or the brakes are squealing like a
pig on the front because we're overheated, too much weight, too much inertia, so there's a word for
you can look up, yeah, physics, physics class, I really enjoyed physics class, look up the term
inertia because that's exactly what happens when the rear disc brakes are not adjusted
because you don't use the parking brake and all the mechanism that works the parking brake
helps the disc brake to work properly, how about them apples, you like apples, how about them apples,
yeah so when it comes time for a brake job you go well do we really have to do the parking brake,
I don't use it, hey rocket scientist what did I just say, it all works together, it's an integral
braking system and if you don't understand it you will when you've paid to replace it all three,
two, three times because you decided oh it's an automatic honey we don't need to use the parking
brake that's just stupid, really wait till I show you what an actual parking paw looks like
and I will, I'll video that, the little tiny teeny weeny piece of metal called a parking paw
inside your automatic transmission is all that holds all the weight of that vehicle when you
don't use the parking brake should that little tab break off you set the car free it goes it's
like it's in neutral because you can't put it in park because the parking paw broke off so
we'll do a video on that very very soon because I'm working into transmissions right now it'll be a
great idea for you all of you all y'all to see what is holding the entire weight of that vehicle
on a hill and you forgot to set the wheels towards the curb so that it goes flying down the hill
when that breaks off because it does and when it does there's no park mode it's in neutral
and the car takes off yeah so we'll cover that another time but the just looking at you can look
it up too if you wish parking paw pa w l parking paw have a look you'll see what I mean makes me
nervous just thinking about it whether I have a vehicle that's automatic or manual guess what
the fj cruiser is automatic go out there right now and you have a little peekaboo see if the
handle is pulled up yes it is all the time follow me to the stores the handle pulled up
yes it is 21 days to make or break a habit so getting back to Linda's question my husband
told me I don't need to use the parking brake is that true door number two your supply of
riceroni for that fella cold riceroni and a spam sandwich no bread perfect so take a look at those
youtube videos folks because all our videos are designed to teach you automotive automotive repair
and ownership basic fundamentals basic fundamentals that will prevent you ladies
from getting ripped off at the service center because it's happening even the fellows are
getting taken for a big ride these days huge ride so a lot of upselling going on because
when the economy sucks yeah like a swirly in the toilet we're pretty much on the last swirl
uh money gets tight and people get desperate and in the automotive world if you head into
a shop that does upsell and the techs are paid flat rate they're going to rip you off to make
their paycheck I don't mean to be disrespectful and I am definitely not saying all but I am saying
they'll sell you stuff you don't need they'll upsell you stuff you really don't need because
they're trying to make up their paycheck that's how they get paid on commission on flat rate they
get a commission and I never paid my guys commission never they were on hourly and they had to perform
as you perform so shall you bonus they never needed to come and ask for a raise because they knew
don't ask motormouth for more money you better ask them what can I do to change
my production in order to earn a raise that's the question you need to come and ask me and
then I'll write it down for you and say here's what you need to do and I'll help you in these areas
if you want to work towards making more money but I never paid my guys flat rate never paid
any any commissions it was as you work if you work hard enough and produce for the shop
you'll instantly get an increase in your pay without even asking it'll be your wife that says
your check's worth more this month there you go that's how I was raised in a shop
with a military instructor you never asked them can I get a raise no you better ask them
the right question because now you're going to get a lecture on why you're not getting a raise
that's the question you should be asking so why am I not getting a raise here's your list okay so
back to the question yes yes plus yes times yes equals yes use the parking brake if you have not
been using it if you've not been using it don't use it until your service tech has a look back there
wheels off calipers off rotors off let's see if you even have anything that works back there
but you need to get it working because it I can tell you right now your rear brakes aren't working
right you do not have a safe vehicle on the road why not trying to scare you here but all four
wheels are designed to have brakes fellas I'm just saying I don't know why they put brakes on the back
when the fronts do all the work according to the fellas in the armchairs yeah take me on anytime
guys I'll take your lunch money and your milk money right in front of you and I'll do it nicely and
smile four brakes four tires four corners all need to have an experience equal braking when your
wheels are all the way around all the time we do not cheap on brakes suspension and steering
that's what gives you a stable controllable automobile anything less means something happens
you need to pull an evasive maneuver you don't have the power the car does you're going where the
car says it's going and if it's out in the rhubarb patch that's where it will settle when it's
finished you'll be along for the ride and yes yes you will probably need a change of clothing at
that point let's be safe out there when I say happy healthy motoring when I sign off for the last
32 years I mean it every guy I worked for taught us safety when you're working and safety is number
one no shortcuts on anything we worked on no shortcuts that would get you sent home for a week
if you got caught doing a shortcut that'll get you a few days off without pay
yep I'm telling you okay number two we got to move along here with time is it holy smokes
snapping armpits man time goes fast number two so Linda I'll let you break that to your husband
just take them over to our youtube channel look at the break national summer 2025 one vehicle after
another the last one was the 2008 Nissan Rogue that was donated to us the rear brakes there was
another shop checked the vehicle out didn't even have rear brakes on there
or parking brake on their list of things that needed to be done to get it back on the roadways
safe and through a certification didn't even have that written down there was nothing left
nothing left in the emergency brakes nothing salvageable it was all j u n k junk so that
was the last one we did that was break nationals all the way around all four yeah and if you had
to pay for that out of your pocket you'd be probably about 25 2600 bucks in parts and labor easily
uh who's up next jennifer question number two on the list and remember if you want to get a question
on the air don't be afraid your question may help somebody else somewhere else on this planet we
spin on so the question about the handbrake my husband told me we don't need to use it brilliant
um i'm being nice too i'm playing nice ask my friends um yeah sub get online
and send me an email motormouth dot jankins at gmail.com send me your question let me take
and let me break it down for you i'll give you nothing less than honesty integrity and truth
i don't sugarcoat anything because that doesn't help you sugarcoating stuff and you know
there's no losers here we're all winners well there's no crying in the car connection workshop
let me tell you i'm working today later this afternoon i've got to get caught up we're four
vehicles behind and i think three of those are gonna be videos one of them is the transmission
service okay anyways uh that's gonna be i don't think we've done a transmission service so that's
gonna be the first one on there and you're gonna want to know if you're nissan owners you're gonna
want to know the letters cvt what does that mean cha cha how can i prevent myself from getting taken
advantage of when i take my vehicle to the rear repair shop great question jennifer and uh we're
gonna unpack that on a on a podcast uh and break down the service and repair order so that's when
you arrive at the shop that piece of paper ladies is justice right there a lot of service advisors
are lazier than steak and yeah i'm gonna be hard on them because they suck they don't fill
everything in and that falls on the head of the if there's a service manager in the service department
he needs to he or she needs to crack that whip and let them know where their behinds are because
we fill work orders out completely that's the details that protects the business as well as
the consumer so here's the here's the deal here's what i know being long enough in the business
one out of ten service advisors are any good they're lazy they cut corners they're too lazy to
put the plate number in there gotta get up oh i gotta go get the license plate oh i forgot to
get the in mileage they don't put in mileage and they don't put out mileage or both are missing
they don't even put the date on i've seen the repair orders i've had to teach a class on it
and i've had examples showing lousy work orders change oil 169.95 well did you do anything else
well you know the guy probably checked the tire pressures and the other fluids would you not want
put that information in there so the customer can see change engine $3,800 okay uh did you do
anything to have to change that motor pull it out did you have to like on bolt stuff take things off
change any clamps or you know the details the details so this is where we as the consumer
have to move from being a conned consumer to a prosumer so ladies make sure that the lazy
service advisor and i don't care if i get some hate mail from this because i'll tell you what i
could go to 10 service centers and i can tell you i'll have maybe one work order that's completely
filled out in detail and now they have a system where you can actually categorize the repair
work and it writes the story for you but there's still other things that that story doesn't write
for you is actually what really happened because nothing goes textbook tell me tell me about it
nothing you watch the series we've got a series of seven uh 15 20 minute segments
tearing out the i'm tearing out the front end on a 2010 dodge caravan the opposite side took me a
whole day it was gruesome yeah it doesn't go textbook but the passenger side actually you'll
hear me say yippee on there a few times because things were coming apart that would not come apart
on the driver's side that's where the story comes in so here we go how do i how do i prevent myself
from getting ripped off number one you got your full name and address on the top of the work order
number two you got your in mileage plus your license plate stay tuned with the in mileage
that's the mileage you arrived with on your vehicle here's where it's very important
when we get to the end number two whatever your requests are you make sure that the service advisor
sets up a sequence on the repair order for each one of your requests i want a full service oil
change and check over sequence one that's what i'm putting in there for you so that when the when
the tech reads it he knows exactly what he's to he or she is to do in the service bay any questions
they know come back to the window i'll tune you up make sure let's make sure everything is getting
done that mrs smith wants done number two rotate the tires that is a separate sequence which will
have a time each sequence will have a time allotted to it my service engine lights on diagnose
and contact me at make sure that it's clear that you prefer to be called you prefer to be emailed
you prefer to have a text make sure the advisor makes that absolutely clear on the work order
so there's no excuses because excuses are useless i used to input warranty for a major car manufacturer
you miss one detail on that repair order that's covered by warranty claim denied
denied just keep remembering the out mileage keep remembering that box is empty okay
so every sequence so if you're taking it in to be diagnosed i have a noise i hear something
something's rattling i smell something there's a fluid on the driveway you make sure that service
advisor puts the details on that sequence here's where you protect yourself get ready this is the
silver bullet on that work order somewhere in english not hieroglyphics because some of these
service advisors write like i can't even describe it's not it's not printing it's not writing it's
hieroglyphics you want to make sure it's perfectly clear i am authorizing one hour of diagnostic time
and request a full review by phone email text or send me a video and a text so i can see what's
going on and i will proceed from there do not give them an open ticket do you know what that means
you don't say just diagnose it and fix it no no no no you're open wide open to get
and ripped off you give them one hour diagnostic time with a review and how they're going to connect
with you and you make sure that you sign the initial and sign that and date it right beside
that request i'm authorizing one hour of diagnostic time with a full review and they're
your contact information how they're to connect with you and you sign date and print your name
right beside that authorization that avoids a lot of well i misunderstood you oh well it's not here
on the work order there's a million excuses if you want to protect yourself i can protect you
that's how you have to do it because don't trust that advisor to do it for you because they're lazy
most of them are lazy next remember every sequence whatever it is that you
are requesting each each service or diagnosis or maintenance goes on a separate sequence you
want to see separate times their labor times charged to that sequence so how much time did
johnny spend on the tire rotation how much time did he spend on the brake service you want to see
individual times for the individual services they're called sequences so if you have six things
that's six sequences not one not lumped into two it's six you want to separate out the labor so that
you can audit your invoice correctly and you want to see what they did you want to see it written
out again they're lazy so don't assume they're just going to do it for you not true i see even
at the dealership level some really bad invoicing lousy invoicing i spent a whole week in invoicing
school uh so that i was making sure all invoices whether it was customer pay or warranty work
that the invoices were filled out perfectly every single time so yeah i'm tough i am tough on that
because that protects the customer as well as the company next you want all the parts
separated from each sequence so not just a great big list of freaking gobbly gook
word salad on the right hand column you want all the parts separated out and in sequence
with the sequences so oil change everything that was done on the oil change side is opposite
the labor side showing you the parts used for sequence number one parts used in sequence number
two etc okay the out mileage what is the purpose of the out mileage and make sure when you sign
that work order you sign it date it and print your name in any special request you do the same
beside each sequence and then here's the thing when you say i'm giving you one hour for diagnostic
time when they call back and give you a review don't just say go ahead no no no no no no
i'll give you i'll authorize one more hour of diagnostic time and then i need an i want another
review with an estimate to complete don't leave that ticket open that's where you're going to get
take it and if the guys are paid commission you really got to be sharp you got to be sharp
so they call you your vehicles done the vehicles been road tested right
am i right the vehicle's been road tested right so if they road tested it what should the mileage be
that is in the outbox what's that mileage it should be different than the inbox
by how much the road test value so what that does is that confirms that all the work was done
and it was done correctly and to the letter that's what the out mileage confirms if there's no out
mileage it didn't get road tested it didn't the work didn't get confirmed and checked for quality
of workmanship period it just did it it did not get checked period that's a problem that is a serious
problem so i'll i'll do a whole program on work orders repair and service times and also on work
orders because when it comes to warranty work if the work order is incomplete the warranty will not
be paid out to the dealership period it won't be authorized so they lose the money okay quickly
number three number three is from james do thermostats ever require replacing and how do
you know when they are not working well when they're not working you're usually on the side of the
highway james waiting for the flatbed because you've overheated there's no here's the thing
there is no warning light on the thermostat although some of the jeeps out there we did a 2017
you can check that on our youtube channel 2017 was flagging the thermostat so there was actually
a cooling system fault code that led me to the failure of the thermostat so it was running too
cold which meant the thermostat was open that's far better than the thermostat being slammed short
closed i'll get there closed if the thermostats closed the engine's gonna go into super overheat
that's when catastrophic engine failure happens you damage the motor it can't take it so we gotta
remember with a lot of these vehicles they have electric cooling fans cooling fans don't come come
on till 212 225 fahrenheit 212 to 225 fahrenheit when you're dealing with water is a boiling point
antifreeze when it's mixed right lowers that so it's not boiling at 212 225 the antifreeze can
take that temperature and it's not boiling like water tap water would but the thing with thermostats
is it not all vehicles are going to flag you like that it was a 2017 Jeep JK with a 3.6 liter
pentastar it flags a fault code for the cooling system and then you can diagnose it from there
the general rule of thumb if you don't want to find out when it's going to fail
you're doing cooling system flushes every two years i hope you're not falling into you'll
have to listen to those podcasts and watch my youtube videos in the very early days we've got
almost 200 videos up there i walk through antifreeze i don't know how many times and break it down
in different teaching segments for you is this long life antifreeze is nothing but a
farce it failed back in the early 90s it was causing engine damage head gasket failure intake
gasket failures etching cylinder heads because it turns acidic so those are the things that make
us a consumer is i don't have and use any of that high mileage long maintenance crap in my shop
i won't put it in my own car i'm not putting it in yours you just what you can watch a new video
where i show you how to do a gush and flush and get soaked and have a shower and you can laugh at me
that's up on our youtube channel right now i perform that on our 97 jeep tj wrangler rescue
so you can see everything clearly what i'm doing and how i'm doing it and i'm using just your basic
silicone based antifreeze super silicone solicitate i do not use the long term stuff should be
flushing and filling every two years and change the thermostat out and that will keep you out of
hot water no pun intended so it's one of those items where it's working super hard to keep your
engine at 195 degrees even though and it's thinking freezing cold outside seriously seriously so if
you don't want to find out the hard way and end up steaming up on the highway in a hot july day
in the black tops like 1200 degrees fahrenheit um you don't want to wreck something far cheaper to
just use the general rule of thumb if you had one of our car connection fleet maintenance systems
you would see it on there every 24 months full flush gush and flush and change out the thermostat
before it quits because it's not going to warn you it's just going to quit and it has a big job
to do it's constantly opening and closing opening closing and it's mechanical it's going to fail
it's bound to fail so i hope that answers all your questions thanks again to linda jennifer and james
fantastic questions if you want to get in on q and a saturdays you got to send me an email with
your questions throughout the week motormouth dot jenkins at gmail dot com all the information's
always in the description boxes and more information than what i normally get a chance to talk about
or show you on videos i write the descriptions myself and i put a lot of tips and tricks in there
that you won't hear me speak on or show you on youtube videos or on podcasts you need to read
the descriptions so thank you to uh crystal ridge dream center for being our nonprofit faith-based
organization serving men women and children meals love and hope changing lives one at a time the
niger region from widows to orphans to single moms and youngsters and young adults they take care of
them all at no cost to them whatsoever so if you can reach into your heart and figure out how you
could be a part of that and help them out they'd really appreciate it they feed twice out the door
hot meals tuesdays and fridays and they're just a pretty much maxed out on what that costs to do
that to serve between 260 and 300 people at a time so until next week monday morning we'll see you
bright and early for another mortar mouth eight a.m morning drive happy healthy motoring peace
patience and kindness always and we'll see you in the next one bye for now
About this episode
A Saturday Q&A tackles three money-saving car questions: whether you can skip the parking brake, how to avoid getting ripped off at the shop, and when thermostats actually need replacing. Niall argues the parking brake is integral to rear braking (especially on rear disc/drum setups) and neglect can destroy components. He then breaks down how to read and control a repair order—complete sequences, in/out mileage, diagnostic time limits, and clear notes. Finally, he explains thermostat failure risks, typical operating temps, and why coolant flushes every ~2 years matter.
It's Saturday Q&A - and these three questions could save you a pile of money and headaches down the road.
We're covering real-world advice every driver needs to hear:
? Do you really need to use your parking brake
? How do you protect yourself at a repair shop
? Do thermostats actually need replacing
Here's the truth:
Your parking brake isn't optional-it's part of your braking system, especially with rear disc setups. Ignoring it can lead to uneven braking and costly issues.
Want to avoid getting taken advantage of at a repair shop? It starts with documentation. A properly filled - out work order, clear communication preferences, and controlled diagnostic time can make all the difference.
Thermostats won't warn you before they fail. Wait too long, and you could be dealing with overheating, engine damage, or even transmission failure. Preventative maintenance is the name of the game.
This episode is all about staying ahead of problems, protecting your investment, and keeping your vehicle out of of the scrapyard before it's time.
Got a question? Drop it in an e-mail to [email protected] you might just be featured in the next Q&A.
Thank You for grabbing some Car Connection Motormouth gear from our online store
at (ccbusnet.com) proceeds going toward helping those ready to deal with addiction get to a Total Freedom Addiction Campus Canada & USA where they will receive all the help they need to beat their addiction for good! You guys Rock! Skippy & Motormouth.
Skippy & I would like to also Thank all those doing the little things for us all the time:
Like ,Share, Subscribe, Leave a Comment, Ringing the bell to get notified of New videos miss nothing friends, join our online community.. We love y'all very much! Skippy & Motormouth
As Always More episodes and ...project Details & Links available at Car Connection Business Network.com (ccbusnet.com) you'll find everything on our homepage if you'd like to follow the build &Repair work we do, connect with our amazing program partners, click their logo to meet them. Thank You for giving them you business, Nile Motormouth Jenkins.
Happy Healthy Motoring Friends, see you in the next one, Skippy & Motormouth
