Advice When Shopping for a Used Car, Most Common Vehicle Issues, Signs of Low Fluids

Another Saturday in CCO line has rolled around time once again for a little car

care. If you have any kind of a question, any kind of a question you want to always

ask a mechanic maybe, your question, or maybe you're having trouble with your car,

your truck, your van, and before you bring them for service, your favorite dealer,

your favorite shop, you might want to know what could be ailing. We'll get you a

little analysis over the radio. The guy to do that is ASE certified technician

Nick Stoffel from Lloyd's Automotive on beautiful Grand Avenue at St. Paul. Nick,

good morning. Good morning, Denny. Welcome to the last day of February. Kind of hard

to believe March, where did February go? But it's been probably a busy, a busy one

for you and your crew at Lloyd's. I think like most, I'm happy February's over. It's

the, it's the longest and hardest, it's the shortest but the hardest month of the

year. It's gray and cold and everything else. So yeah, we're looking forward,

it sounds like a little bit of snow today, but that's okay. It'll be warm again and the sun's

higher in the sky. So just hold on folks, we're almost to the end. It'll be more melting this

week, probably producing more bottles, maybe use some more work for your crews, but that's

a whole other thing. Yeah, we always like to invite our listeners to join in on this conversation

sooner rather than later because not only does our time go by quickly, Nick takes his leave

about 7.45 making way for Ted Ferrell's wine chat. So if any kind of a car care question,

give us a call or send a text, just one number for either 6514619226. Interesting question

that came in earlier this morning and we do talk about getting, if you're going to buy a used car,

see if the owner will let you get it checked out at Lloyd's, for example. This text says this,

good morning. If I'm buying a used car from a dealership, should I still take it into my

mechanic for a check and any other advice for buying a used car? It's a good question to kick

off the show. What about advice or what about a dealership? Can you ask them to check it out

someplace else? Yeah, you can for sure. I mean, before you buy, excuse me, before you buy any

vehicle, I think it's fair to say it should be inspected. Depending on the dealership, they may

have done an inspection and your relationship with them might be telling of that. Keep in mind,

they likely took that in on a trade-in. So it's not a vehicle that they naturally had servers

that had a long history with. So they, somebody traded in, they in turn are trading the vehicle

to you or someone else. So I would make sure there's an inspection, whether they've done it

or you have your people do it, but you should really know what you're spending on the money

before you do. All right. Good question. Again, 6514619226. Good morning. Tim Minneapolis sends

this one in, 2021 Kia Forte, 45,000 miles on it. Tim's recently retired. Good going. He will drive

about 2,500 miles, I assume, 25,000 per five every five to six months. His question is,

should I now have oil changed every 5,000 or every five to six months? Great show. He loves the show.

And he says he remembers me doing the nighttime news at 10 o'clock every Sunday night. Well,

I did it a lot more, Tim. That's true. Anyway, you can answer your question, then I have a little

bit of a comment for Tim. What about the oil change? I think this is pretty common these days.

What do you think about folks that don't drive, like Tim says, maybe about 2,500 a year?

You know, I think it's fair to say that the vehicle should be inspected twice a year. You know,

it just a lot happens in the course of the year with the heat of the summer and the cold of the

winter and everything in between. So I think the vehicle should be inspected. At that time,

they can, you know, look at the condition of the oil. If they have any reason or recommendation,

they might want to do it twice a year or they might just do it once a year. And I think that's

either way could be fine, depending on the vehicle and the condition of the fluid.

So have it inspected twice a year. They can make the determination if they change the oil or not,

based on, you know, conversation with you. But, you know, it's not just the oil, it's the suspension,

the steering. You mentioned potholes, Denny, and, you know, we're getting into that season,

there's a lot of wear and tear. So we want to have our eyes on that to make sure everything's

safe for the driver. Yeah, that's a good point. And we've talked about it before when, when

someone brings in their vehicle for an oil and filter change, what does the mechanic do? What

does the technician do each time? It's not just change the oil and filter? No, it's not just

change the oil and filter. You know, you take your vehicle in for service, it should be thoroughly

inspected. You're checking the tires, the lights, the steering suspension, any noises or any of that

kind of stuff that has happened over the last several months, we want to put our eyes on to make

sure, you know, usually if there's a noise or something that's different than the norm, that's

because something's wearing out. So we want to get our eyes on that to see to what extent maybe make

a recommendation for repair then or plan for something for the future. But having that car

looked at kind of keeps you on top of things and hopefully prevents any, any kind of breakdown.

Just a side note, thanks to him for that comment and Tim was mentioning when he

remembers me doing the nighttime news. What we had was, that's what we called it,

nighttime news. Every night at 10 o'clock, we announced, they called us staff announcers.

We did all the news and the weather. The news people, the journalists in the newsroom,

they wrote it. They did all the typing, yes, on typewriters and we in turn did all the reading.

And we had every night, 10 o'clock news. Ever since they told me, Cedric Adams time,

some folks may remember him. It was before my time, by the way. We had six minutes of CBS news,

then about eight, 10 minutes of local news. Sometimes Steve Cannon would come in and do the

sports. And then we had the weather, usually five states. We did the five state weather. So

he's bringing it back in old memory. It was a long time ago with Tim, but had a lot of fun

back then too. All right, back to our car care. 6514619226. Let me see if I can piece this together.

It comes in a bunch of sentences here. It's a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500, 5.7 engine.

My brake pedal goes to the floor. I don't see any brake fluid in the reservoir. Could my problem

possibly be a bad rusty brake line? Or could it be something else? Thanks for the show.

Please keep up the great work. Well, thank you. Thanks for joining us. What do you think about

that brake issue? We want to be very cautious for sure because if the brake pedal is going to the

floor, that tells us and they mentioned the reservoir is empty. So there's a leak somewhere.

Definitely could be a rusty brake line. Could be a caliper, a fitting, the reservoir itself,

the master cylinder, a lot of places where that fluid could be going. But the fact that it's leaking

tells us we don't have any of that hydraulic pressure. So in the event of having to stop,

you may not be able to. So that vehicle should not be driven. Definitely should be towed in.

Get it in the air and try to find that source of that leak. We mentioned it and we always like to

that any any kind of a car care question, maybe it's something you've always wanted to ask a

mechanic. Debbie sent this in and I think I don't I don't think we've ever had that general question

like this. What would you say, Nick, are the most common car problems when somebody brings in

view? What do you see at your shop? Most common. It kind of seasonal, I suppose. We get a lot of

concerns about heat going into the winter months, not air conditioning questions in the summer months.

And I suppose a lot of brakes and like steering suspension type noises as we transition through

the spring time. So the things that bother us the most, you know, the heat, the cold, the roads

are usually the types of problems for the cars also, I guess. I would say as we roll into March

and April, we'll see a lot of steering suspension wear and tear type issues come May when we hit

that 90 degree day, our cars will be full of air conditioning work and it kind of transitions as the

year goes around. Have you put you on the spot here? And I think I heard this story many years

ago. It was not at a shop. It was at a quick oil or one of those places that strictly do oil

changes. Someone forgot to tighten the pan plug and consequently the oil leaked out and bad stuff.

Have you ever seen that in your career? I know it doesn't happen at Lloyd's, but have you ever

heard of that happening? We have, you know, and keep in mind, you know, we're all human and humans

make mistakes. Unfortunately, a drain plug is a very costly mistake. We actually have one that was

brought into Lloyd's. It was serviced elsewhere, but there's a third party involved and they need to

have a middle person and we're that middle person. So we're working with it with an outfit to replace

an engine on a vehicle where the same thing happened and it does happen. You know, it's not

that it's intentional. You know, like I said, people are human, humans make mistakes. It's

unfortunately a drain plug is probably the most expensive mistake on a car, but it can happen.

Oh yeah, and you don't want to be the one that forgot that. All right,

in right after the break, we're going to talk to Jerry and then I talk to him. So hang on, Jerry.

We're going to get to your phone call and everybody else, if you want to send a text or give a Nick

a call, either way, Nick will be with us till about 745 answering any kind of a car care question

you may have 651-461-9226. 18 degrees going to 21 today here on Newstalk A30W CCO.

It's another Saturday morning when we talk cars, trucks, vans, and the problems you may be having

with yours and maybe some solutions. At least find out what's wrong with them. Thanks to Nick Stoffer

from Lloyd's Automotive in St. Paul answering those questions. Nick, for those that need some

assistance from Lloyd's, tell us how we find you guys. Yes, sir. If you have ever have a question

and need some advice, we're here to help. You can reach us at 651-228-1316. If you're in St. Paul,

you can find us on the corner of Grand and Shatsworth, which is 982 Grand Avenue. If you need

more information, do check our website, which is LloydsAutomotive.net. We'll get you that info

before Nick takes his leave, which is about 745. So call us, text us with your question 651-461-9226.

Speaking of phones, let's grab a call or two. Jerry has been waiting there in Minnetucket to

ask you something. Thanks, Jerry. What is your question? You're more on Nick's side. You guys,

I have an older high performance, higher horsepower performance engine, older engines,

and I've been running like 1040 conventional and bellowing for, yes, my lifetime, never any

problem. What do you think of that switch to synthetic oil?

Well, if there's a reason to switch to the fluid, I'd like to say if you have something

you've been using or doing for a long time, it's a performance vehicle. Something was built for

said type of weight of oil. Honestly, I'd probably stick with what you've been using. I'd hate to

create any issues or any potential problems. Obviously, on a newer vehicle or anything

other than that, I would tell you follow the manufacturer's recommendation. They might have a

range of oil weights to use. Obviously, 1040 is a very thick and heavy oil from years past. A lot

of performance engines use that type of oil. Today's vehicles obviously use a much lighter

weight oil as we touch on often. So I would say I would stick with what you've been using unless

there's a reason. The engine builders, somebody's giving some advice otherwise and they have a

reasoning for it. But other than that, I would stick with what you've been doing all along.

Good advice. Thanks, Jerry. Hank is calling in from Hudson this morning. Hank, what is your question for Nick?

Well, my question is I've been dealing with the same dealer for maybe 20 years on my vehicles.

And I have presently a Jeep that I really like. I've had it serviced with oil changes, brakes,

but I came into a big problem with a heater core here a couple years ago. They had to tear the

dash out and that was very expensive. Now they got to go back in because the vents,

what did I not sure what they call it? It's where you turn your vent for a heat up and frost. The

flaps aren't opening or actuating. And it's going to be about a $2,025 repair. And I negotiate a price

with them on that. I mean, as a consumer, can I say, hey, I've been a longtime customer. Can you cut

me a little reduction in the price of that repair? And the other question I had was the guy that was

talking about oil. Is it Amsoil says $10,000 on fully synthetic where the dealers say, no, no,

we got to change it every five. I'll hang up and listen. Thank you. All right. What do you think,

Nick? So pricing, obviously, you can have a conversation. You can mention that they did the

heater car. And within a certain amount of time, is that something that could have been affected?

You know, you're dealing with the dash, the heater box, with something inadvertently unplugged,

or something damaged. So I think if you have a good relationship, you can have those conversations.

If you need more information, maybe they can demonstrate or show you, maybe they have images

or pictures or some data that kind of support that. So I think the conversation is great. That's

how you get to the bottom and have you satisfied, make sure they're treated fairly. Everybody wins

in those situations. On the mortar oil, I'm on board with the 5,000 miles on a synthetic oil.

I have said many times, I believe that, you know, Amsoil or some of these other products will say

that they're good for 10, 15,000 miles. And I don't dispute that. But what I face in my experience

with all the cars that we see, we seem to do a heck of a lot of repair related to oil. What I

mean by that is when the oil breaks down, sludge is created, things become restricted,

oil flows not as good as it once was. And we run into problems with different systems there.

Trying to save 5,000 miles keeps fresh oil in there, allows those detergents to clean and

prevent or minimize the buildup. So the longer we go, the more likely those things can happen.

There's a lot of different products, a lot of different marketing out there. But I agree with

5,000 miles on a synthetic oil change. Very good. Let's grab another phone call and then we'll get

back to some texts. Joe is calling in from Maplewood. Hi, Joe. Thank you for waiting. What is your

question? It's kind of an oil relationship, too. I have a route for it. It's sad that these Toyota

and the burning oil being that they're so good. Anyways, about a week, I go about two quarts of

oil. Now it's recommended for 5W20. Can I just, I'm going to change the engine in the summertime?

Can I just put any oil in it since it's burning now or should I just take it with 520?

Well, I think 520 is probably on the lower price point. If you were in a pinch, you need to change

the oil weight. You went one grade up or down, probably not the end of the world. I wouldn't

be using the 1040 that the gentleman was using on his high-performance vehicle. If you're burning a

lot of oil, you're trying to kind of fill that gap, something inexpensive, keeping it full is most

important. But if it's 520 or 530 or 020, you're all within that same range. I don't think you're

going to hurt anything too much, especially as much as it's burning. So I think it's fair to say

the least expensive price point probably helped bridge that gap until you can get that fixed for

you. Very good. Looking at another text came in a bit ago. Denny and Nick, I have a 2016 Honda

Pilot and the tailgate does not completely close sometimes. The latch is sticking. How do I lose

it? Well, we need to figure out why. Is it the latch itself is not clasping? Is there something

that's one of the hinges or the striker? There's something that's obviously changed. Having that

looked at, figure out where it's either binding up or not properly sealing. And also, we don't want

to have a problem with the latch that could fail because that's even more frightening because now

like it could open up and anything in the back of the vehicle could fall out. So I would say I'd get

on somebody's schedule, have them try to determine exactly what it is. Maybe they can clean the

latch. And I don't think that's likely, but you never know something can get caught up in there.

Some kind of debris or something, restricting it from clasping properly. So I would have it looked

at. Definitely have it repaired because like I said, we don't have that open up and have a

bunch of stuff all along. Yeah. A couple of days ago, I was looking at the basement and some of the

stuff I've gathered. I came across some graphite. I thought, I don't know why I bought this. I must

have bought it for some lubrication business. When somebody has a problem with the latches,

door latches, tailgate, and brings it to Lloyd's, what kind of lubricant would your technician use

to kind of make it work okay? I mentioned graphite. I'd like graphite. We would like to use things

that are not going to collect dirt. You know, some of those petroleum based products that seem to,

oh, it really freed things up. It did today, but tomorrow you might end up gumming it up with more,

more, more stuff. So we want to use something that's not going to collect any dust or dirt.

Graphite's a great product. Some of the silicone products, you know, and we want to be sparingly.

We don't want to overdo it. A little goes a long ways. So I would say I would try a light product,

even on that latch, you know, the door locks, all these things you mentioned, door hinges,

you know, they start to squeak a little bit. You put a little bit of graphite or silicone in there,

work it a little bit, kind of let it work its way in, and it can go a long way. So,

but definitely that's something that's going to collect dirt and make it kind of get all

gummed up and make it actually work for yourself in the long run. Make sense. Nick, hang on. We're

going to take a break and have a look at that weather forecast and we'll have more show to come.

Any kind of a car care question, let's hear from you, either by phone or by text 6514619226

from Newstalk A3O. This is WCCO and welcome back to CCO's Car Care Show, dining along here along

with ASC certified technician Nick Stoffel from Lloyd's Automotive on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

Question we get to Nick from time to time, does an electric vehicle use antifreeze?

Yes, they do. There's a lot of heat generated in those electric vehicles. So there are cooling

systems and you know, different than the conventional oil or engine, obviously, but they still have

cooling systems, thermostats, water pumps, and they do have issues. They do need service and

maintenance too. So if you have an electric vehicle, check your owner's manual. It's not

maintenance free, different types of maintenance, but there's still work to be done.

All right, interesting. By the way, Nick will be here for about another eight, ten minutes or so.

Take advantage of it, 6514619226. You can tell me what this detector wants to know,

is a decarbon service necessary when there is no issue at 25,000 miles? What's that text you're

wanting to know? Well, if we're talking decarbon like in the intake of an engine, that is a common

service. You know, the way the fuel systems have changed, the way the fuel injection has changed,

we've put the fuel injector inside the combustion chamber, it's no longer in the intake plenum,

meaning that that fuel's not cleaning the back of those valves. So we get a little carbon built up.

Depending on the making the model, it should be done for sure. I can't tell you the condition of

yours of that mileage. You know, that seems a little early, but if there's a reason based

on the conversation, they can justify why it should be done. Now I would hear that out, but

just to do it, to do it, I think that might be a little bit early. What is that process, Nick?

How is that done? Well, there's a few ways, you know, sometimes they'll use like walnut shells and

like an attachment with that kind of like a vacuum. They kind of sprayed them in there to clean it up.

There are chemical products too that will be put into the intake manifold,

work its way through there, get the back of the valves clean again,

not really do it yourself or type product because you have to be very careful not to overdo it. You

don't want to get any of that product into the engine in the manner where it could damage something,

or if you had a significant amount in there, it could create damage other ways too. So

you have to definitely follow the procedure, have the tools and the training to do it.

But it is becoming more of a common thing that we do see with engines. I think 25,000 miles on

a regular routine, probably a little bit early, like I said, but have that conversation that

they can demonstrate and explain why they're doing it and have good information that, you know,

after you hear them out, probably not the worst thing to get done.

All right, very good. Texter sends this in, 2005, the Euclid Saber, no brake lights. The bulbs are

good. The fuse good. What could be the possible causes? Well, there's a switch at the base of

the brake pedal. So when you depress the brake pedal, the switch opens up and it sends a signal

to turn those brake lights on. I would suspect maybe something there. Our fuse is good. Our

bulb is good. We always talk about wiring and connections, you know, getting the wiring from

the front of the back of the vehicle. Sometimes it can get pinched. Sometimes it can get in a

spot where there'd be some even road damage or possibly corrosion. So, you know,

something gets a wiring diagram, starts at 0.8 and works your way through that diagram.

You're going to find a source where we're losing the power and that's why the brakes are not,

though it's not working. Okay. Texter says, I hear you guys talking a lot about check engine lights.

What are the most common issues when I see my check engine light?

Well, I would say the most common issue and where it's kind of sometimes been referred to as a gas

cap light, you know, if we leave our fuel cap off and the vehicle does a emissions self-test,

it'll learn that there's a leak there because the cap is not sealed and secure. It'll turn the

light on and store that code. And that's unfortunately, though, there's only one light and

people might assume, oh, it's just a gas cap. Well, there can be a lot of other issues that

are more critical to the engine operation of the vehicle that could be expensive or could

they be stranded. So don't assume anything when the check engine light comes on, there's hundreds

of possible codes that could be stored at a minimum, have the code retrieved, have them do the basic

diagnosis to kind of get you an idea of what's happening there. Once you have that information,

you can make a determination how critical it is. Also keep in mind, if the light is on and somebody

looks at it and says, oh, it's something to do with the emission system with the evaporative with

the fuel cap or something along those lines, if you choose not to repair that, obviously that's

your choice. But if something else goes on, there's not another light that can come on,

there's only one light. So my advice is usually resolve anything turning that light on because

you don't want to have a situation where you're stranded because it could have done a repair

and saved yourself a lot of heartache. Yeah, and money. Grab another phone call. Paul is calling

in from Egan this morning. Hey Paul, what is your question? Yeah, I've got a 2009 Honda CRV.

Car runs great. We've got 130,000 miles on it. Keep it serviced. All of a sudden the VSA light

came on along with the exclamation point and the check engine. So I headed in, they went

through the codes, cleared some things, but it's still coming on. So whenever we drive it up,

trying to get up to speed, it surges on you. Once you get over to a certain speed, it just goes fine,

but it just intermittently comes on, goes off. You can turn the car off, push the button,

and then it'll go off. The next time you drive it, it'll come on, wondering where to go with that.

Well, whoever worked on it, take it back. Obviously there's a repair order with hopefully

some good notes and descriptions of what was found, what the codes were, what they determined

through some testing. Sounds like we need to take the next step. So whatever was going on,

documented. That's got a new set of information now. Compare that. And so we had the repair done.

We had a bunch of information related to this. We got a similar thing still going on. Let's get

some more information out of the car's computer system. Compare the two. Hopefully those will

lead you down the path to resolve that. Sometimes the intermittent problems are the hardest because

you need to catch it in the act. It sounds like in this situation, if you leave it with them,

they should be able to drive the vehicle and experience it. Get that information out of the

car's computer system, do some testing, and hopefully get you back on the road with a working car.

Very good. Good morning. Tester says I have a 2012 Ford Fusion with a 2.5-liter engine,

155,000 miles on it recently. When the car's cold, the transmission shifts hard if I accelerate

more quickly. Good to be just low on transmission fluid, no sign of leakage on the garage floor,

or something more serious. What do you think? Well, I don't know for sure, but the car's telling

you it's not happening. So my best advice to anyone, when you notice something's different, boy,

it's certainly shifting harder, starting harder, running differently, not as well. That's the car

telling you there's something's wrong. So do get that in, have somebody take a look at it.

And as always, it doesn't mean you need to spend a lot of money today, but at least figure out what's

going on. In this situation, if it's low on fluid and there's a small leak that they can resolve

and fix, that prevents from creating expensive damage to a transmission. You need to fix that,

and if you ignore it, you end up with a bigger problem you could have avoided. So I know cars

are expensive and we don't always understand how they work or what's going on. And if you notice,

I always talk about having that conversation, ask those questions, get a second opinion,

but as soon as you have a conversation, someone can demonstrate what they want to do and why,

it makes it a lot easier to understand, and then you know what you're spending your money on,

but to avoid it or ignore it, definitely is not going to be the best path.

Yeah, I think Nick, we have time for maybe one more text. As far as shocks, replacement,

how do you know when to replace my shocks and what does a mechanic do to check on that?

Well, it's a visual inspection. We see any kind of leaking. We'll get it on the ground and we'll

joust the vehicle, be pushing down on the bumper and kind of see how they rebound, tire wear,

concerns about noise or ride quality. So there's a different types of reasons that we do shocks

that are struts. It's one of those things I promised you then when we do them. You notice a

world of difference with the new shocks with struts on the vehicle versus the worn out ones.

The car just rides smoother, rides nicer. So if your car's got over 100,000 miles when it's in

for service, have them take a look. Maybe they can make some advice or recommendation based on an

inspection. That makes sense. Well, Nick, we're just about out of time. Why don't you tell folks

again how they get in touch with the good guys at Lloyd's? Absolutely. If you have a question,

as always, do call. We will answer. We don't mind 651-228-1316. And if you're in St. Paul,

we're on the corner of Grand and Chatsworth, which is 982 Grand Avenue. And if you need more

information, do check our website, which is LloydsAutomotive.net. We'll do that very thing.

And Nick, have a great week and come on back next week. Something to do. Thanks, Danny.

Advice When Shopping for a Used Car, Most Common Vehicle Issues, Signs of Low Fluids

About this episode

ASE certified technician

Kia Forte

oil change

steering

suspension

wear and tear

oil and filter change

vehicle inspection

Dodge Ram

brake fluid leak

brake fluid reservoir

brake line

caliper

master cylinder

hydraulic pressure

oil pan plug

drain plug

engine oil weight

heater core

5W20 oil

Honda Pilot

tailgate latch

graphite

silicone

antifreeze

water pump

thermostat

decarbon service

intake plenum

walnut shell blasting

intake manifold

fuel cap

Honda Crv

Ford Fusion

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