The Ford F-100 is an old pickup truck that many people liked because it was tough and easy to fix. The 1971 version is popular with people who like old trucks and want to bring them back to life.
The Chrysler LeBaron is an older car that came in different styles, including one you can drive with the top down. People liked it because it looked nice and felt a bit fancy.
A removable hard top is a solid roof you can take off your car so you can drive with the roof open or closed. It keeps the car warmer and safer than a soft roof.
The Ford Thunderbird is a fancy old car that looks really cool and had special parts you could take off, like the roof. People remember it because it was both nice to look at and fun to drive.
Cams and lifters help open and close the engine's valves so the engine can work properly. They move parts inside the engine to let air and fuel in and exhaust out.
Fuel stabilizer is a liquid you add to gas to keep it fresh when you don't use it for a long time. This helps your lawn mower or other machines start easily later.
A thermostat is like a temperature switch in your car's engine that helps it warm up faster and keeps it from getting too hot. It blocks or lets coolant flow to keep the engine at the right temperature.
Open loop means the car's computer is running the engine based on fixed settings instead of checking how the engine is actually doing. This usually happens when the engine is warming up.
Road Ready Wheels sells replacement wheels that look and fit just like the original ones on your car. You can use your existing center caps and tire pressure sensors, so it's easy to swap wheels without extra parts.
A clunk is a loud noise you hear from your car, like something hitting or dropping inside. It usually means something might be loose or broken and should be checked out.
Reverse gear is the setting in your car that makes it go backward. Sometimes when you use it on a hill, your car might make noises because of how the parts work together.
The Honda Odyssey is a big family car that can carry lots of people and stuff comfortably. The 2004 version is known to last a long time but might need some repairs after many years.
The Toyota Prius is a car that uses both gas and electricity to save fuel and help the environment. Many people like it because it doesn’t break down often and helps you spend less money on gas.
The PCV system helps keep your car's engine clean by recycling gases inside the engine. If it gets blocked, it can cause your car to burn oil and have problems.
Piston rings are like tight seals around parts inside the engine. If they wear out, oil can leak where it shouldn't and cause problems like burning oil.
The Chevrolet Equinox is a small SUV that many people use for daily driving. It has a four-cylinder engine that can sometimes burn oil if there are problems.
The Chrysler Voyager is a family van similar to other Chrysler vans. Sometimes, small problems happen like the clock moving the wrong way, which can be a little frustrating but not serious.
The Chrysler Pacifica is a family van that came after an older model called the Town & Country. It has newer features but isn’t seen as much anymore, so it might be harder to find.
LIVE
Welcome to the Under the Hood Show podcast. Thank you for joining us. We have some podcast sponsors.
Berkeley One Classics. Your key to collector car insurance.
And road ready wheels. Replica OEM wheels add huge savings. Use the offer code hoodie for even more.
And by car dash part over 200 million used parts ready to ship to you fast.
Don't forget we streamed the show on YouTube and Facebook. We'd love to have you join us there.
Now here is the Under the Hood Show podcast. This is Under the Hood. Welcome to the Under the Hood
Show. We are glad to have you with us. Russ Evans is here to answer your automotive questions.
Thanks for joining us Under the Hood. Shannon Nordstrom is here to do the same.
Welcome hoodies. Thanks for tuning in so we can help you tune up. I'm Chris Carter here to answer
your calls at 866-594-4150. I've never seen you time anything as perfect as you just timed that
even though you've come in before at the last minute. This time you were here, you were ready,
but you did not. There's a part of me that thinks everything has to be done last minute
or you're wasting time. You were right there. I don't know. It's just so weird. It's a problem.
It's a problem. Hey Chris, I have to tell you something that I saw this morning and I have
a picture of it on my phone. Oh no. And it made me think of you. And it also made me realize
this is the two most or maybe three iconic, ironic placements of vehicles we've had in our
unloading area in a row together. Here's what they were. Okay. I saw the picture. An Aztec.
Okay. I didn't see that. Just ahead of the Aztec. The most innovative vehicle of all time. Just
what I thought it was. And just ahead of that is a 71 Ford F100. Oh wow.
Now how do you look at the picture and not see anything but that yellow car? Wow. I really
didn't see anything. Because I told, I asked you to look at the yellow car. No, I thought it said.
I said, what's the yellow car? So your brain was already broken. Oh wow. I didn't even see the
other ones. I have to look back at the picture and see if they were in though because I kind of
zoomed in. But no, they were everything in there. But no, that's so to have that in a row. Wow.
An Aztec, a TC by Maserati and an F100. And I know what I'm only going to do with one of them.
Is the TC, is that like the shadow? No, no, the TC by Maserati was a, I'll call it a joint venture,
but I actually opened the door this morning and looked at a little bit closer. There's actually
a Vintag on it from Maserati. Okay. And it's like a LeBaron GTS convertible. Okay. But it's,
but they made it that same chassis. It's got a three liter V6 Chrysler engine. It's got a
removable hard top with port windows, kind of like a Thunderbird. Okay. And a rich Crandian leather
of pillowed vinyl leather seats that on this one are very, very crusty. What year is it?
1990. I think they made them for three years, maybe? 89, 90, 91. We had a guy come into the
electronic stores back when that car was brand new and he says, I have a Maserati. And we're like,
no, you don't. Well, that's cool. And he brought it in. I went, you have a LeBaron. Okay, that's
what I was thinking of when you said that. I'm like, it's kind of like saying, I have a Cadillac.
No, you have a Cavalier. No, I have a Cadillac. That's a Simeron. That's a Cavalier. We haven't
said the word Simeron. It's been a while. Last time we said the word Simeron. I think probably
before Chris was on the show. What was funny was that's in the letters to the editor. A Simeron
is in the letters to the editor and car and driver, which I read this morning, I believe.
They called it the Cavalac. 866-594-4150. Let's take some calls. Let's start with Chris in
Minnesota. Chris, you're on the end of the hood show. What can we do for you?
My 2014 Dodge Caravan, I have a trouble called T-Zero 394,
Amshaft position sensor intermittent bank two. I replaced the sensor, cleared the code. I can
drive it for a couple of days and then the code comes back. I clear the code and then
after a little while the code comes back. I was wondering what you think the next step
should be for me to fix this? Run. You did react when he said it. I've seen this one before and
what it comes down to on these is either in no particular order a failed cam sensor.
A rodent of some kind has been chewing on the wire. Corrosion where the connector
plugs into the sensor or metal contamination in the oil from failing lifters and rocker arms,
which is really common, that gets on the sensor and on the tone ring and causes it to read incorrectly.
And then we've got another one here. We've got four. We could have...
You have more fingers, so I'm curious where you're going to go with this.
Loose timing chain or computer software update or computer itself failed.
Unfortunately, probably if you had to put any of those at the first of the line and then the
metal in there. I'd pull that sensor out and look at it very closely and look at the tone ring and
see if there's any filings on it. If there are and you wipe them off and put it back in and it runs
perfectly, it's metal in there. But if it's still quiet and it runs good, you may be able to fix it
by pulling the valve covers off, check all those rockers, look at the cams for wear,
replace the rockers. They're very readily available. And pause at the look at the cam for wear.
Because that's not unusual.
If it's worn really bad, a little wear, you're going to see some marks. But if you look at it
and say, wow, that baby's really worn, then you're going to put cams and lifters or rockers and
everything in there. And that's not uncommon. People do this all the time. The dealerships
are doing them every day and then change the oil a couple of times, get her good and clean.
And it should usually, it's fine. Once it starts rattling pretty good, or if you've got a lot of
metal in there, a lot of people choose to replace the engine with a certified used part because
it's easier than trying to clean it out. But I've had, you know, I've had people at home,
one of our employees had one of these vans or this engine in a vehicle. And they said, well,
let's put rockers in it. Rockers fixed it for a couple months. It still had some metal in it.
They changed the oil a few more times, wiped the sensor off and eventually it cleaned itself up
and it was fine. And they saved some money overall, but they still ended up with, you know,
1500 bucks in parts. And of course, all that time they spent and changed the oil.
But that's a lot cheaper than an engine, isn't it?
You know, a used engine, used engines are not what you think. It depends on where you're at.
Lately, the price of mechanical work, I believe, has been over inflated. We've stayed pretty level,
but the number of people that call me every day that are shocked when I give them a price that
has not been discounted, it's just what the market has always been. And they're telling me
it is like $4,000 more for the same used engine. And when I when I question and I start wondering,
there's a couple things that are happening here. You could think like maybe like your doctor,
dentist, whatever, oh, they're just over charging me mechanics overcharge. I don't think it's that as
much as so many shops don't want to do that repair. They don't want to put engines in. We
have a number of shops that send engines to us, they send their customer or us, we do the engine
or the transmission, that big heavy work, because we know how to do it. And we're happy to do it.
We love doing it. And we can do it affordably. They don't want to do it. Their personnel don't
really like it. They don't want to do it. They feel more comfortable blasting out the everyday
stuff and cars coming cars go out there. They're good that way. And we like that. We're glad that
we can do that. And then when we're done with it, we send the if it needs other stuff like brakes,
it's like, no, we don't do that, whether they were nice enough to send us the car, we did the engine,
you got to go back to them and talk to them about that. So a lot of shops will say it's going to
be more just to not do it. And if the customer says, well, okay, no matter what, they're like,
well, for that price, I'll do it. So it's gone up. But the price of price to be used engine,
you've got to look at it no matter what the price is, Chris, whether it's
$3,000 or $11,000. How much does that car cost? If you say, oh, my Honda's broke, right? Chris,
you got this new Honda's like, my Honda's broke. I'm just going to junk it. What are you going to
get out of it? It's a pretty new Honda. I might get 2000 bucks out of it. Okay, what would it cost
you to go buy that Honda on the lot? Oh, it costs 20. And it cost 11 to fix it. So you're going to
make $9,000 by you could fix it and sell it and make nine grand or you could just
junk it. What do you want to do? Oh, I've never thought about that. So there's more to it than
just saying I need an engine and having a shop say, oh, we'll just put it in. Hey, Chris, you're
still with us. Let's hope it's the rodent. What about the cam phasers? No, I've not had it.
I've not had it for us. I've never had a problem with that being the cause of your issue. It's
either been, you know, a wire issue with that computer metal in there from rockers. He's already
done a sensor and he said it came back pretty quick. You take the old one out. It's contaminated.
It's got some metal filing stuck to it. You put another one in, it's clean. It's good. And then
it comes back. So just taking out and simply wiping it off really good and putting it back in. If
that fixes it, it's metal. And sometimes it's so fine that it's just a coating that's glittery
that you can't really see chunks or anything on it. Chris did not go the way I had hoped for you
and good luck and thanks for calling. Sorry. It seems... All right. 866-594-4150. That's the
number to reach us here at the end of the hood show. Now we're going to Utah and talking to Dave.
Dave, you're on the end of the hood show. What can we do for you?
Well, I have a question about a new truck. Well, a newer than I have truck. But first I want to
say I was listening to the other week and that guy was trying to mow his lawn in the winter,
but he couldn't start his mower. So I was a small engine mechanic for a long time.
And what I always do for my gas can is empty. I put the fuel stabilizer in it and then go
fill up my gas can. So any gas in my gas cans, any gas in my equipment always has stabilizer in it.
That's why I want to say about that. But I want to get a newer truck. I like the body style
of the 2015 to 2018 Chevy. And I've heard you guys talk about the transmission having the
thermostat problem. But I need a three-quarter ton to pull my trailer, but I don't want a
diesel. I want a gas. And I don't know if a three-quarter ton gas is going to have the same
kind of problems as a half ton. In my opinion for you, Dave, and thanks for calling in and
offering your insight from our previous call because that was a fun call. We really like
that the weather was that nice. It looks like we're going to get some of that back. And that is
putting it in. You don't have to wait until you're going to store anything to put stabilizer in,
right? Yeah. Well, our bulk tank that we have out here, our company that brings our bulk,
they add stabilizer and treatments to it. And then we also have other stuff we put in there. And
that was always the best method is you put it in at the bottom and fill it up and let it all get
splashed around and mixed around. And so that's a good way to do that. And as long as you know
you're going to use it up over some time, that works out well. That works out well. But if you
don't, you've stabilized it. But I'm talking about the additive. But if I were you, my own opinion,
just because of the, I think it's a much better engine, I would try to save my budget until you
could get to at least a 2021, was it? Or 22 when they started putting the LAT in there, the 6.6
gas, that motor and that transmission combination that they put up yet, they've proven to be very
strong. And people want them for the aftermarket because they're putting superchargers on them
because they're a solid cast iron block. I just think not that the other ones bad, you know,
the previous generation with the six liter was a, that transmission was not as prone to failure
as the half tons that we're talking about, by any means, with the gas motor, three quarter tons.
But if you really wanted to save and get some budget dollars put aside, I would, I would
jump up to that next generation with the 6.6 LAT gas in it, if you could.
But that's $20,000. If you look around, there's starting to be some high mileage ones out there
that are less, less money. Okay. And a higher mileage, one of those is probably better than a
little lower mileage, one of those. It's just a superior, we had those six liters with the,
you know, basically the four L80, but it's the, not that anymore, but it's the electronically
shifted transmission in our delivery trucks in Azuzu MPRs. And they work fine. But boy,
when we got the different generation with the 6.6 in it and the next transmission that's made it to
it, it's just such a, it's just such a better vehicle. It's the way it drives the power that
it has. Last trips to the shop. Yeah. It just, I don't know. That's just that. I jumped on that.
I don't know why because it's my own experience, I guess, but I'm going to jump in and say that
seems like terrible advice for a radio show. And I'll tell you why, because I just looked up 2016,
2500. Yep. A bunch of them showed up 25 grand. Yep. I looked up 22, a bunch of them show up
49, 51, 45. Those are probably diesels at that price. But they're all, but I'm just,
but they're the same search 2015 versus 2022. Okay. So I'm going to go back then and I'm going
to do the Chris Carter answering of this call without what I've interjected. All right. I'm fine
with your answer. Hey, Chris, thanks for calling in and give us the tip about the, put the additive
in your gas can first. We like that Dave Dave Dave Dave. Did I? Oh yeah. Okay Dave. Chris is a
Dave. Good tip about that. No, but you go ahead and, and don't be as worried about that three
quarter ton transmission behind the gas motor as you, as we have had in experiences with the half
tons. That's when we talk about the, the bypass field, the 10 speeds. Yeah. There's two problems
with those we can discuss later, but that's not in that truck. I will say your advice is noted
and Dave, let me ask you this on that note. Does that, does his advice help you or is that just
not in the cards right now? Well, for one thing, it's not in the cards right now. And I think
all the trucks passed the 2018 bar style ugly. So, well, hey, you know what, there's, there's that.
So, well, let me give them this Dave, if you're looking for a 15 to 18, you go pick the three
quarter ton you like preferably with the six speed tranny in it, not an eight, but get the six.
And then as soon as you buy it and you're happy that it's, that it's a good running truck,
go buy, go to Amazon and pick up the thermal bypass kit for the transmission. It bypasses
that thermostat that sticks and burns them up. You can do it at home. It's going to cost you
less than a hundred bucks for everything bolted on, then you don't have to worry about that
sticking and you'll probably have a good truck 90%, maybe 95 or 90, maybe even more percent of the
transmissions we repair to put another one in on those model, the 15 to 18s are because that
thermostat stuck and smoked the transmission and it could have been avoided. And when people say,
well, you can't take the thermostat out and you have that external cooler because then the radiator
will never warm up the fluid and it'll take so long to warm up the fluid. Think about this,
until your thermostat opens on your engine, that radiator never warms up. And if you're driving
in a day that's 10 degrees out anyways, it may never open up. And so you're driving with that
open loop anyway. There's no difference. So I think you'd be fine if you got the budget for
15 to 18, find the one you like, six speed auto. And is that thermostat issue one where if it
hasn't happened yet, it put it in. I mean, it's an instant problem. When it breaks, it breaks.
If it hasn't broken. Yes, you could take off this morning, it's fine. This afternoon you take off,
you burn it up. So it's not like a cumulative problem where he takes it out and then it breaks.
Okay. We have two transmission rebuilders we use that we bought purchase from that we're
national distributors form. And those transmissions always come with a bypass valve
for the transmission. Every one of them. They feel confident giving you a three year 100,000
mile warranty with no thermostat in there versus some people that say, well, you can't take the
thermostat out. It would be too cold on the cold. No, it's not. That's what they want. And it works
perfectly. Does that help you out there, Dave?
Helps out a lot. Thanks. Thanks very much. Now, Dave, thanks for the call. In the opposite
direction, I think your answer was a good answer. Don't justify my stupidity and craziness. I'm not
at all. I think it was a fine switch. It just wasn't if you can afford it that new truck. I would
feel so much more comfortable with that engine combination. You know what I did though? I discounted
his first comment and it was the most important thing. I don't like it. Yeah, I like the looks of
the 15 to 18s. I heard him say it and I blew right past it, but that was a very important detail to
him and I would I blew right past it. So shame on me. The end of the hood show podcast is brought
to you by exclusive sponsors like Berkeley One Classics celebrating 50 years, your key to
collector car insurance, and by car dash part.com with over 200 million parts. Find them online at
car dash part.com and by road ready wheels. OEM replica wheels at a huge savings road ready wheels
dot com. Thanks for listening to the under the hood show podcast. I'm Russ Evans with Shannon
Nordstrom and Chris Carter. When we needed protection for our own personal collectibles and
performance vehicles, we turned to Berkeley One Classics and here's why. Berkeley One Classics has
over 50 years experience and they're dedicated to serving their customers. They will work with you
to help determine the amount of coverage a vehicle like yours should have and that coverage is agreed
valued coverage. So there is no disagreement on what your vehicle is covered for. They also have
discounts for car club members. Berkeley Classics ensures a wide range of vehicles from sports cars
and rare exotic cars to antique vehicles including cars, trucks, tractors, military vehicles and
antique motorcycles. Over 50,000 of them a year. Visit BerkeleyClassics.com today and get a free
quote and find out firsthand what they can save you and how well they can cover your valuable
investment. It takes just a few minutes using their easy online quote tool on their website.
Visit BerkeleyClassics.com that's BerkeleyClassics.com or call 800-603-3330 that's 800-603-3330.
If you need parts whether it be for a brand new car or going back about 20 years it doesn't matter
check out car-part.com. It's fast and it's easy. Over 200 million parts strong all across North
America. Over 4,000 recyclers to choose from giving you the largest selection available.
Whether it's an engine, transmission, doors, seats or wheels you can find them on car-part.com.
We even let you know what parts from other models and years fit your car. Many recyclers
supply pictures of their parts too. We even have a mobile app. Search US and Canada or buy from your
local independent recycler. Whichever you choose buying recycled is good for the environment and
good for your wallet. If you're a repair shop there is a professional version available for you
at no charge. That's car-part.com. Car-part.com. Check it out today. We want to tell you about
our partner at Road Ready Wheels. Road Ready Wheels has the very best aftermarket OEM replica wheels
available with a direct fit of the factory center caps and TPMS sensors so you don't need special
caps and sensors. Simply transfer yours over when you replace the wheel. With near perfect ratings
on Google, Amazon and eBay consumers like you are extremely satisfied when it comes to road
ready wheels. Maybe your wheels leak air or maybe you want to upgrade from an old rusty steel wheel.
Road Ready Wheels has both aluminum alloy and new steel wheels to fit many cars on the road today.
They stock thousands of wheels ready to ship and have free returns and shipping. Plus save 10%
more when you use the code hoodie at checkout. Aftermarket wheels can be very expensive and
it's so hard to choose what you want. With Road Ready Wheels you get an OEM looking wheel that
fits like it should but costs much less. Save money today and get yours at roadreadywheels.com.
Special discounts apply for large quantities and dealers and they have a special electronic data
feed and online portal waiting for you. Find out more by going to roadreadywheels.com where you
can use their online vehicle selection tool to find your Road Ready Wheels today. That's Road
Ready Wheels dot com. Welcome back everybody. It's time to get back under the hood with the
motor medics. 866-594-4150. Don't forget if you miss an episode you can always find it on our podcast
feed and you can watch the show on our YouTube channel. If you subscribe there and join the
Hoodie Fan Club at underthehoodshow.com you could win a hoodie. Like Roger Esping congratulations
from our friends over at Berkeley One Classics. They're celebrating over 50 years of collector
car coverage. That's a long time. They know what they're doing and we use them on our own car.
Check them out at BerkeleyOneClassics.com and of course by Universal Technical Institute UTI.edu.
That's where you're going to be wanting to go if you are interested in mechanics. If you have a
son that's interested in it, a grandson, they're like hey where's my direction? Where should I go?
Check them out. They've got more than that. Maybe they want to be a CNC machinist.
Marine mechanics. That's a big one. AI is not going to be taking over marine mechanics or auto
mechanics. Welding. There's lots of opportunities to have even aviation mechanics. These are things
that you seriously got to think about. If you're where we're at now they predict the percentage
of jobs that will be taken over by AI type things or seriously altered where it might be hard for
you to establish that career. If you're not in the career yet you might want to look at things
like this because there will always be trade jobs like Universal Technical Institute. This commercial
won't exist but those jobs will. 866-594-4150. Let's talk to Frank in Connecticut. Frank you're
on the end of the hood show. What can we do for you? Yeah, first of all, it's amazing you guys.
You really answer your phones. You call us back. I'm truly amazed. I'm a senior and all my days
very seldom do anybody ever call you back. I've got to be honest with you and I appreciate that.
Thank you. We appreciate you. Well, thank you too. I have a problem with
my Honda when I park my driveways on a slight incline and when I put it in reverse I get a clunk
like a jump like the car literally jumps. If I go down let it go down a hill by itself then
it's level. I don't get that clunk. Sometimes I'll get a little bit but very little but
the incline it sounds like something's falling out you know. That's scary. What kind of Honda
you got Frank? 2004 Honda Odyssey. I got to straighten something out here because I heard
two things. If he stopped on a hill on an incline he puts it in reverse it goes bang
but if you let it roll down and then put it in reverse and it doesn't so what you're saying
are you telling me that if you put it in reverse it bangs if you're on that hill on your driveway
but if you bypass reverse you just go from park to neutral and let it roll all the way down
the hill and then put it in reverse it's quiet is that right? Well pretty quiet I would say
hardly no if anything just a tiny bit of very little not almost not noticeable it's just a
little jump like. So it is not the pulling it out of park that makes the bang it's getting it
into the reverse gear when it engages reverses when you get the bang. Right. All right you could
it could be as simple as an engine mount or a transmission mount it's just getting loose
and causing that so you pull it out of park the park paw releases a lot of times they would
they would hang up on a hill they would drag if you're parked on an incline all the time
what they want you to do is pull up with your foot on the brake and still in gear put the
parking brake on and then put it into park so the parking brake holds the vehicle not the
transmission because that transmission if you're on a steep enough hill it will not hold it and on
any hill it's not great right that could be that could be basically you're saying when I'm when I'm
up there play it say put the emergency brake on have you used the parking brake before
very seldom okay because I'm I'd be a look so I would say the next time you have your
vehicle into a shop so if this was in my shop and you said can you check my parking brake because
I haven't turned it on I have the ability to release it I know how to get back there and
what to pry on to release it so if I turn it on for you to test it and I say oh it works great
you're fine great if it sticks though I know where to pry to release it and tell you don't use it I
don't want you to try and your drive with the first time and have it not work Honda's very seldom
this is where they usually work yeah it's probably gonna work you'll probably be just fine but after
they check that for you like during the next oil change or whatever then try it just pull up with
your foot on the brake put the parking brake on before you put that shifter into park and if that
works that's your situation you'll be fixed if not you might have a loose engine mount and the next
time you're into the shop to get the oil change and stuff say could you just rock it and see what
you think because all they it's no big deal to check it they don't have to say we're going to
charge you an hour minimum I've seen that before all they do is open the hood with it in park and
they rock it forward and backwards until it stops and they can see how far the engine rocks if it
moves just a tiny little bit you're good if it lifts way up and goes thump thump back and forth
they got a broken mount they use fluid filled hydraulic mounts on these to cushion and it was
common for them to leak with some age and get some slack in them and and make some noise and Frank if
the worst case scenario was that there's something wrong with a planetary or something in the
differential on the transmission or internal you're probably not going to want to spend the money to
fix it anyway you'd probably wait until it's way worse and then replace the transmission so getting
that parking brake working so you can take some of that stress off it and hope when you're holding
the hill would be a good a good help for you are you so buried in snow that you can't roll down a
hill right now or how is everything where you're at no I got my driveways clean you know like
driveways clean did you get the big amounts of snow or were you a little further inland oh no yeah
we got we got almost two feet two feet yeah yeah I know we saw that we've been watching on the news
of course when you get a big event like that uh you guys are uh you've been doing a lot of digging
this year you got all the snow we didn't mm-hmm yeah oh yeah it was a rough one you know and
thank god I got good neighbors right they helped me out you know what we say thank you to your
neighbors too because you sound like a good guy so Frank thanks very much for the call good luck
and that is with with the car if we have any if we're within what five years you should use
the parking brake before you put it in park pull up to your spot hit the brake stop turn on the
parking brake and then turn then put it in park there's a strategy built into a lot of the newer
GM vehicles at least when you hit the park the park button you hear the I think your truck probably
does it you hear the parking brake engage and then it clicks into park it's it's almost simultaneous
but it's it's doing that to help and a lot of vehicles because of the electronics on the braking
system now they have automated hill holder function so that when it gets on a hill that the brake
will hold it instead of putting all the trip pressure on the transmission and and keeps it from
rolling back I mean a lot of good technology out there with those things mine has all the hybrid
bells and whistles but it's not a hybrid so they're not relevant but it has brake hold hill hold
but I don't have a it it's not a hybrid so it's not really but it's nice to have those things
sometimes yeah because it does it does do the on off which I'm not as sweet on in the non-hybrid
because it starts every time and I know now what people like in the Prius never had an issue never
thought it was a big deal and now it feels like a big deal because it feels like the car is starting
because it is you know it does rattle to life kind of or or roar to life it's a little bit
weird eight six six five nine four four one five oh let's go to Nebraska and talk to Luke
you're on the end of the hood show Luke what can we do for you thank you guys great show thank you
yeah yeah I have a 2011 equinox with that 2.4 it's got about 104,000 on it and it likes to eat oil
yeah you don't like that have a meat and oil but the the encouraging thing is there's a chance
that it might be not so bad there's a chance there's a chance and there's another chance
that it could be bad and so you've got a four cylinder right yeah yeah oh you're gonna say it
seems to be yeah it seems to be like when you you know get on it mash the foot pedal it eats a
lot of oil that way well hopefully it's because the positive crank case vent system the pcv system
that's integrated into the valve cover is uh is gummed up and it's pulling that oil right into
your intake and burning it versus problems with the piston rings and pushing it by them
you know and burning it but if you if you caught it how many miles are on this equinox you said 104
yeah how long has it been how long has it been burning the oil
uh it's been getting worse for the last two years yes I appreciate this call because that's
about I would that would be my I'd go about two years I think well if you let it go too long you'll
damage the engine but it could be that it's it's oil you're you're getting too much blow by if you
pull the cap off the oil while it's sitting there idling if it's got a ton of air blowing out
shouldn't be blowing out that much that pressure is what would force it into there eventually
it'll blow out the front and rear main seal and then you'll have a very expensive problem but
the the first fix for that you you got two things you can do some people try to drill a hole in a
certain spot on the intake to clean out the port but that only gets the one port it doesn't get all
four and then they'll put a screw in it to cover it up and you'll see some youtube videos on that
and great if you want to do that but the right way is to unbolt that intake manifold and do one
of two things you can either purchase an upgraded dormant intake manifold from our partner dormant
that is all upgraded pcv good to go or you can take yours off and you can use a tiny little drill
bit in the pick and clean out the four ports one in each runner of the intake and then the fifth one
which is the main one and then spray cleaner down through the hole in there and make sure it washes
in that hole and out the other four once it's all clean and you can put it back together some of them
putting a whole intake on it some people don't feel comfortable trying to clean the old one out
so that's that's what you can do to clean that out if it's got that much blow by and then if that
is if that's was plugged and you put it back on you should instantly see a change in the amount
of air that's coming out of that cap this is the same issue we have with the chevrolet trucks with the
LS series engines where they would burn a lot of oil and it was a pcv related issue which turned
out to be a valve cover you just replace the valve cover on the driver's side and boom your oil
burn is done you fixed it those are the easy fixes if it's bigger than that usually they burn more
oil than that and a lot faster they'll go from everything working fine to within a day or two
you got broken piston rings stuck rings they're just putting so much oil and you can't run the
engine anymore so i'm optimistic that yours might just be this pcv issue and you you say that it
shouldn't blow out that much it blows out is there a way to test that or will he know typically it
should blow it would should have a little suction to it okay and you can take the cap off and if
you set a piece of paper on top of it it would stick to it but not suck it in and it wouldn't
blow it off if you can't lay a piece of paper on top of it without it blowing away then it's got
too much pressure and then once he cleans it it'll sit on there and hopefully it will if
there's no wear in the rings it may be to the point that it's worn enough that you're still
going to have some blow by but not so maybe you could reduce the oil consumption by half
or three quarters that would be great yeah how much oil is it using
it about
court probably in two weeks well if you could knock that down to a half a court of
month that would be great luke thanks very much for the call good luck and eventually he'll damage
his catalytic converter running that much oil through it it's it's getting warm and it burns
it out of there but eventually sometimes it just doesn't do the job eight six six five nine four
four one five hope that's the number to reach us here at the end of the hood show let's go back
to frank frank where you did you have another question about your odyssey yeah i got a little
confused there but let me just say you told me uh drive to the top of my driveway and then don't
put it in park use the emergency with my foot right the foot emergency yes but before you do that at
home do it at a shop right since you haven't used it as much as you could it might break
the first time we're just concerned that you'd push that emergency break in and then all
sudden this the cables get stuck or something because it hasn't been used for a while and
then you got another problem that you don't need that's that's what we're trying to avoid okay so
have that checked first but then the other thing you said they have my engine mount checked yep
have them put it in park at a shop when you're getting your oil changed if that's what you do and
haven't lift the hood and and rock it back and forth and and see if you got any like russ said
if it if you see that engine moving back and forth a couple inches and it's going kunk kunk kunk
every time they move it back and forth there's your problem you got a motor mount that's broken
and what is the next problem it could be well you start getting into some other things it could
be inside of the transmission after they've checked all the external things they're going to want to
check the cv joints to make sure that there's not a bushing out or you know something like that could
make it clunk like that also on the changes of pressure on that drivetrain it's the same thing
on an axle shaft there's pressure one way pressure the other way if all of a sudden one of them has
got a excessive wear they can make a clunk you know that sort of thing you could have a break
that's making a clunk but based on what you how you explain that to us that's the first thing we
would look into but if those problems find out all everything else looks good and there's something
that's making the noise inside the transmission like a i don't think it could be in the differential
of the transmission it could be a planetary of the transmission at that point you might just learn
to live with it because the the expense of replacing the transmission or trying to fix the
transmission would far outweigh the value of that of that o4 i think it was odyssey so in frank's case
those two things are procedures that he can do to check that aren't going to cost a lot of money
and if it's not that you just drive it till it stops work then you learn to manage the problem
using that park assist brake and just taking some of the pressure off of it when you're doing
those those uh hills and maneuvers and we should mention too does that make sense frank
yeah it makes sense i i get through to saying i just uh it's excellent car and you know the
pond is excellent and you know i had it 20 years and it's uh been good to me and it's really uh a
very good car so i'm just saying if if it is a tranny is it worth replacing a tranny and just
keep using it or not what do you think on that average well you'd like the car how many miles
you got on that vehicle frank i think it is about 75 thousand oh that's really low miles
really low miles i and is the body clean not rusty is showing through or anything like that
no rush just a few things and dangs and you know what i mean where the bumpers were bangs and
a little taping it a hole here and there well there's a hole you're looking at a vehicle that's
got um you know to replace it with a newer van you're going to spend a lot of money because
those newer vans get to be 20 30 thousand dollars 15 18 thousand for a high mileage used one at
farce got a timing belt yeah it's it i just i don't know if it's not if somebody looks at it
and says oh that's not so bad you might just keep going it's going to probably do that for a long
time you definitely want to look into a timing belt though because of that 22 years old if that's
never been done yeah and we should say too when uh the the term parking brake and emergency brake
same brake just different terminology over the years this i mean we we're talking about the
parking brake and we didn't always call it the parking brake well because it's only for parking
if you activate a parking brake you will destroy it if the vehicle is moving yeah it's meant to be
hold when you're stopped um not for jay turns no it's um not anymore right right right right
it's the difference between so if if you put your if you put your bare hands on a on a on a pipe
like pretend you're on in x games right these games right you're holding the pole and you and
you stand there you're holding it as tight as you can without gloves your your hands are fine
there you're trying to struggle with a grip but you know your hands are fine now what happens if
you just grab a fire pole and you slide down uh 100 feet with your bare hands you're gonna burn
your hands that's what's happening with those brakes parking brake you're stopped it holds
doesn't generate any heat if you turn it on going on the road it's paper thin and it will
destroy that lining it'll be gone whereas when they used to call them a emergency brake
that brake was there in case your hydraulics failed when you did not have a proportioning
valve to if your rear hydraulics went you still had front your front went you still had rear
that was your service brake would work so that was that's when it became a parking brake
before that it was yeah an emergency brake you needed something to stop the train
866-594-4150 frank thanks very much for the call good luck 866 i already said that
594-4150 let's go to oklahoma and talk to rowdy you're on the end of the hood show rowdy what can
we do for you i got a 25 christner voyager and the clock in here advances six hours every night
you can you can reset it and i do i reset it every day and then when i go home and park in
the evening the clock will advance six hours and no one seems to know how to fix that still under
warranty or no oh no have you ever tried sitting in it and seeing if it actually goes forward in time
because maybe maybe something's going on in there maybe it's a portal it's getting older every day
it's like it's jumping into another time zone is your so that's exactly how many miles i'm thinking
i know kind of what's going on i mean i know what it what it is doing is the computer is
resetting it as the home time zone that is what it's doing my car when i get in my car every morning
it immediately turns on and shows me eastern time zone and then it re it switches back an hour after
a few seconds so i do i think his car every time he starts it is going to a european time zone or
whatever it would be um six hours still lanterns yeah it's picking up a satellite from like europe
or something or africa or whatever as originally made that radio was not made in the united states
but here's the i've seen a lot of these do this and there's there's one of two fixes for it either
have the radio reflashed by the dealer to upgrade the software or they have to replace it that's
that's the only two fixes for that a lot of them were replaced i've had a lot of customers that
had this problem they said yeah they tried to program it and it didn't work next day it did it
so they put a radio in it does your map on the vehicle work just fine everything yeah everything
works just fine just other than the the time change you know and it's and it's nothing i mean
i can i can switch it back every morning but i tell you what it does do also when you're trying
to hit your remote start it's it's real tough to use your remote start because it's like it's
not doing you know it won't do it the first time and you have to you know click it a couple more
times or something but you're too far away it's in europe that car is six hours away it only runs
for 10 minutes okay yeah maybe that's what it is but all right so it's just a it's a whole
new fix and maybe software program or or replace the radio but the our customers replace the
radio they're all under warranties are like no cost i there's something else i'm getting out of
this call as i sit here and listen to this and i bet you can't guess what it is chris or russ
i was there's nothing to do with the time was it the first part of the call the very first part
uses it for uber and amazon no or that it exists yeah i didn't know they made a 25 christler
voyager agree i thought the same thing i thought they're all pacificus uh huh i yeah i thought they
didn't they jump a year or jump three or four how long they still been making a voyager this
like my mind was just broke i'll stop for a few years actually the when i went this was what i was
looking for i had a pacific and i was trading in and i was just said well i don't need the pacific
it was you know the trim packages all in they said get a voyager and i did go to a couple
lots and they're like oh no they quit making that they quit making it i'm like well i'm looking at one
you know at another dealer and it says voyager on it and so uh that's you know and now the the other
they had one for a long time called i forget what it was called but they don't make it anymore
the uh i forget the well they always had you always had the caravan the town and country
and then they went to the pacifica the pacifica has all but vanished from the planet have you
noticed that the last few years the one that had all the problems they're just gone yeah they have
big rental fleets of those i immediately when he said it i googled it yeah because i didn't
and it sure enough 2025 crazy voyager the older pacific is the ones that had all the problems
yeah the o five six the suv version before it was the new ones are great oh love it that's
gonna do it for this hour of the under the hood show until next time you can always find us at
under the hood show dot com like you said we've put uh almost a thousand back yeah episodes of
the show on our podcast feed so if you uh enjoy the show you can go find it wherever you get your
podcasts and don't forget you can watch the show on our social media channels thank you for listening
to the under the hood show for russ evans shanna nordstrom i'm chris carter this has been the under
the hood show with russ evans this is shanna nordstrom thanking you for tuning into the
nordstroms under the hood show have a great day and remember pta la the opinions heard on this
program based on the many years of experience of russ and shannon are offered for entertainment
value only and as a guide to your repair needs no claim to repair or cause is given or implied
always consult with your own certified technician and follow all safety procedures before attempting
any repair to be a part of the show call 866-594-4150 find out more by visiting under the hood show
dot com under the hood is produced by prairie house productions all content is the property of
nordstroms automotive incorporated and may not be used without our permission copyright nordstroms
automotive ink
About this episode
The show dives into automotive troubleshooting and vehicle quirks, starting with a detailed discussion about a persistent camshaft position sensor code on a 2014 Dodge Caravan, exploring causes like wiring issues, metal contamination, and engine wear. Hosts share insights on repair costs versus replacement engines and shop preferences. They also discuss unique vehicles spotted, including a rare Maserati TC and a Ford F100. Later, they address a caller's question about Chevy truck transmissions and engine choices, emphasizing the benefits of newer models and fuel stabilizer use. The episode blends technical advice with automotive anecdotes and practical maintenance tips.
This is Under The Hood. Americas' Favorite Car Talk Show. We talke live calls and give help to anyone with a car repair issue. Yiou have a problem, we will try to help. Call 866-594-4150 to ask The Motor Medics questions. Have you heard of the 90 Maserati LeBaron crossover? What about the Cadillac Cimarron? How to fix a Caravan with a Camshaft Sensor code? Is a 2015-18 GMC Truck a good one to buy? Why does my Honda Odyssey bang when put into reverse on a hill? How to fix Oil Burning on Equinox 2.4 engine? Why does my clock jump time when it sits overnight?
