David in Horn Lake, he's got an oil change question for Coach.
David, you're on with Coach Charlie.
Thank you for taking a look.
I got a question.
Did you get a picture to either start World War III or settle it?
I got a friend.
I got a friend that swears up and down.
We have a bit.
We get some borderline being ugly or whatnot.
He tells me I'm dumber than dirt, and they pay me a quarter.
No.
Because I want to take my vehicle to an oil change place,
and they change the oil.
The controversy comes about this.
His theory is, when you go to an oil change place
and you put a dry oil filter in there,
the oil has to hit that dry oil filter like a sponge,
and you don't get any lubrication
until the filter reads saturation and able to pass through.
He says that causes engine wear damage,
and he swears up and down, but I'm
causing my engine to wear prematurely,
and my counter is, that may have been 30 or 40 years ago,
but the new technology, new cars, new oil pumps
and whatnot, it doesn't matter.
So settle the dispute, please.
Ding!
And now we're in.
Ha, ha, ha.
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Welcome to AutoCorrect.
Helping you correct your auto problems,
our host is Coach Charlie Melton, AKA Professor Charlie
Melton, who's an ASC certified master technician
and a teacher of all things automobiles.
And I'm just germane flood.
Good morning, coach.
Good morning, but I don't have
all those things behind my name.
I know, but I had to add it today.
You just added all kinds of things to it.
And because, of course, we're in owner's manual 101 class
with the teacher of the century of automobiles.
Well, you got to think about, you know,
we're talking about owner's manuals.
And just like when I came in this morning,
I looked at your owner's manual
and the first thing I told you
is that you've never opened that owner's manual.
It's impeccable.
I mean, Paige is crisp.
You can smell the new on it.
That's right.
And it's just impeccable.
Before, listen, before we get into owner's manual one-on-one,
me and you have got to discuss
that Mustang EV you drove up last week
and that coach let me drive.
Yes, I did.
And I gave that EV back to him.
I only drove it for 14 miles in one week.
Coach put that EV right at the driveway
and pushed it back to him.
He didn't even drive.
He just, hey, take it.
I did say take it.
I said, give me my truck back is what I said.
So I got to drive it.
And yes, coach was right.
You take your foot off the pedal.
It stops moving like you've come to a complete stop.
You don't even know it's running.
That's how quiet it was.
The Mustang, of course, wasn't there
because I drove a Mustang for years.
Right.
It don't look like a Mustang.
It doesn't look like a Mustang on the inside,
on the outside.
It does have some hops.
I call it some hops.
I was in a parking lot.
I tried as hoppy as I could be when I pushed on the gas.
It did have a little pep to it.
That's one good thing.
It took a little second to get to the pep.
You could feel the, and then the...
Right, then it would.
It was a little hesitation.
Yeah, yeah.
But it was a learning experience.
You know, if you're going to drive an EV
and that's great, a lot of people drive them,
but you just got to learn how to drive them
because all EVs, when you take your foot off the pedal,
they will stop because it takes the power away
from the motors.
Yeah.
Well, thank you for giving me that field trip lesson.
You're so welcome.
Last week, and here's the thing.
There's a correlation between EVs and gas-powered vehicles.
They all come with owner's manuals.
Every one of them comes with an owner's manual.
And it might have told me that this car
is going to completely stop when you pull your foot off the pedal.
It probably would have, you know,
because owner's manual is just full of so much information
that we just don't look at.
And we say, well, what is this?
Well, owner's manual will tell you what is this.
That's right.
So here's the write-up.
A car owner's manual is a vehicle-specified
instructional guide that provides information
on how to operate, maintain,
and care for a particular car model,
serving as an essential resource for any car owner
to ensure safe and reliable vehicle ownership.
And if you want to discuss this with us today,
or if you have a question, we're in owner's manual,
one-on-one class.
Our email address for questions is auto at mpbonline.org.
The phone number is 1-877-MPB-RING.
That's 1-877-672-7464-RING.
Class is in session.
Let's go, Coach.
Well, when you start talking about owner's manuals,
there's so many different books.
You got supplement owner's manuals.
You got tires owner's manuals.
You got the vehicle itself owner manual.
You got the radio owner's manual.
You got your warranty owner's manual.
So you got about five or six different books.
And I know that you're saying,
yeah, you can go Google all this.
Well, no, you can't Google all of this
if you don't know anything about it.
You have to know what you're talking about
in order to Google it.
Right.
Your owner's manual gives you all that information
that we were talking about last week
as a young lady called and said that her radio wouldn't work
and she said she replaced the fuse.
Well, I looked at my owner's manual and I told her,
I said that it may have more than one fuse.
Mine has four for the radio.
Yeah.
In different places in the owner's manual.
So when you go along and you look at all the fuses,
you got to read out beside the other
and it will tell you what goes to the radio.
Yeah, yeah.
So you got to take and be able to understand
when you start reading on your manual.
And like I said, we're going to start right from the top
and that'd be the table of contents.
If you start looking at the table of contents,
we're talking about the first one in mine
is the instrument cluster.
And it says warning lights and chimes.
All those warning lights and chimes are right there.
It tells you what they are.
Now it doesn't tell you how to fix them
or what made them come on,
but it tells you every one of your lights.
Okay, message center.
If you got a message center,
it'll tell you about the message center.
And then your entertainment system.
Everybody wants to know about the entertainment system.
Well, that's the one that you're gonna have to study up on
because that's the thickest one.
It's got all the buttons and the whistles in it.
It has all the buttons and the whistles.
You're talking about what type it is.
How do you, the USB port
or if any other one's satellite radio,
if you got a satellite radio in there
or you have sync or whatever Siri
or whatever you have in your vehicle
is gonna tell you how to use it
and how to pair that phone.
I wanna know, the question that I have is
because Abram, I know he reads his owner's manual.
Abram, have you cracked yours open?
Is yours as-
I'm an avid reader.
Whatever.
I'm an avid reader.
They need to have owner's manuals
at the book festival this weekend.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you'd pick up one.
That's right.
But yeah, mine is literally impeccable.
You cannot beat to my pages.
And mine you can see has grease on them.
Coach has got chip grease on there.
He's had it just in his hands all the time.
And I know Liz, she always tells me
that she reads her owner's manual.
She gets in there and tells me different things.
Liz is a reader.
She will read this owner's manual to tell you
anything about her vehicle.
Yeah.
And then too, Liz is the type
that'll find something where if you didn't see it,
it was a free thing that they were gonna give you.
That's right.
Yeah.
She's that type.
So if we get into, let's just say,
mine comes with navigation and multimedia system,
owner's manual itself.
That's that second book that we just talked about.
Or the complimentary book with all of these books,
because I've got six books for my Lexus.
But this is my navigation
and multimedia system owner's manual.
It does say it has a quick guide
where you can just get through quickly
or you can go through the basic functions.
The navigation system,
the audio and visual systems,
the voice command system,
information, phone, the Lexus inform system.
And so all of that's in here.
And I probably would use my radio
and everything a lot better if I've read this.
If you read it, well, driver's control.
A lot of people when they buy new vehicles,
they know nothing about their vehicle.
They don't know how to drive it.
They don't know what this does.
It takes them two or three, four months
in order to say, oh, I found a new button.
What does it do?
Yeah.
Well, guess what?
Your owner manual tells you what it would do.
And, you know, we talked about locks and safety
and how in security, how to get out of that vehicle.
We talked about that last week.
Well, guess what?
That's in there.
Locks and security.
Anti-theft, keys, locks.
It has all that in there.
Safety restraint, airbags and child restraints.
All that is in your owner's manual.
And, you know, and you start talking
about what type of wheels you have,
what type of engine you have and transmission.
Well, that's not really gonna be
in the owner's manual, you're telling you what kind,
but you got another very, very important piece of paper
that needs to go with your owner manual.
And that is that sticker
that tells you how much that vehicle is worth.
Now, that is the one thing
I did not put in my owner's manual pack.
But I think, Coach, it's in the car.
I have mine right here.
And it tells you everything.
It tells you how much warranty you got on what.
Did you know that when you buy a vehicle
from the dealership that they warranty the tires
for 36,000 miles?
No.
You do?
Did not know.
As long as you, if you have a bumper to bumper
36,000 miles for the first 12,000,
they're gonna give you 100%.
Then when you need the next 24,000,
they'll give you 60%.
And the last part, they're gonna give you 30%.
So.
All of that's in there
that possibly nobody even read.
Yeah, because they could've been getting
their tires prorated
where they went out and bought a new tire.
Yeah.
Now, do they get defected?
Sure they have defected.
Those recall tires that you need to know
what type of tires you have on your vehicle.
That's on the sticker.
It's on the sticker on your door.
It's in your, on the sticker that we have
that's going with the owner's manual as well.
Okay, driving.
Well, everybody says, well, I know how to drive my vehicle.
Well, owner's manual says they want to tell you
how to drive your vehicle
to make it work a little bit better
and where you can use a longer.
Okay.
I cannot wait until we can get a little bit more in depth
especially inside of some of these sections in the book.
Cause my book listed out really easily
and it gives you kind of the quick contents guide
where even like, let's just say for safety and security
it has the main topics listed
even before you peel back in there
and it says child seat, theft deterrent system and more.
And so once we get into some of this
we'll talk about some of this
and I'm excited about this.
The phone number is 1-877-MPB-RING.
That's 1-877-672-7464.
If you want to go to class
or if you've got a question
send your emails to auto at mpbonline.org.
We're an owner's manual 101 class.
Tuition's free.
Yeah, it's free.
It is free.
Just tune in.
Is your car under recall?
I'll tell you how you can find out next.
You're listening to AutoCorrect
with coach Charlie Melton.
I'm Jermaine Flood.
If you want even more AutoCorrect
find our podcast on all podcast platforms
on your smart device.
AutoCorrect is heard on MPB Think Radio Thursdays
at 10 a.m. with replays Saturdays at 11 a.m.
Here are a few.
It's just a few.
A few is four for me today.
Recent recalls.
The first up is Stelanus latest recall
affects more than 91,700 examples
of his Jeep Grand Cherokee 4XE plug-in hybrid SUV
and involves a software issue
that may cause a loss of drive power.
Effective vehicles include model year 22 to 26
Grand Cherokee 4XES.
A software error within the hybrid control processor
may result in the loss of propulsion
increasing the risk of a crash.
That sounds like when you take your foot off
of the gas on that Mustang.
That sounds like Jeep is almost catching up
with Ford this year.
Well, here's the fix.
There's currently no remedy.
But it's under development.
So yeah, they're getting close.
But right behind that one,
the latest recall from Ford
affects more than 1.4 million vehicles
from both its luxury,
both it and its luxury arm, Lincoln.
The issue involves the rear view camera
which may display a blank or distorted image.
That's light work.
That is light work.
Hey, look to the left.
Look to the right.
Right.
Look to the rear and you wanna see what's behind you
and beside you.
You know what?
Look to the left and look to the right.
Look to the rear.
You'll see what's in sight.
I was, we were getting close to a ride on that one.
I felt that one coming on.
Okay, so here's the effective vehicles.
It's 25 to 17 expeditions,
2015 to 18 Edge and Transit Connects.
2015 to 19 Super Duty F250, 350 and 450
as well as the Mustang.
The 2016 to 19 Super Duty F550 and the Transit.
The 2017 to 19 Econoline and the 2019 Ranger.
Effective, Lincoln's include model year 2015
to 17 Navigator SUVs and 2015 to 19 MKC SUVs.
The rear view camera may display a distorted
or blank image when the vehicle is in reverse.
Turn your head around.
Reducing the driver's visibility
and increasing the risk of a crash as a fix.
They're replacing that rear view camera
as necessary for free.
You know, they could just put like an animation on it
or something when it goes out that would just play a cartoon
or something for you.
Like a cute cat.
That's right or something.
Yeah, something that just says, yeah, I'm no longer here.
Yeah, a little cute cat or something.
That'll just, people will just be driving down
the highway on reverse then.
I can't believe that.
You got a cartoon going the whole time?
Let me show you something.
Let me show you.
The kids start crying.
Turn that on again.
We ain't never going nowhere, I see.
All right, here's another recent recall.
Mazda is recalling a certain mild hybrid,
certain mild hybrid variants of its CX-70 and CX-90
over an issue with the vehicle's fuel gauge.
Effective vehicles include model year 24 to 25 CX-90s
and 25 CX-70s.
The issue is with the fuel gauge
in the instrument cluster,
which may display an inaccurate reading
and you need to know how much gas you put in there.
This could result in the vehicle
unexpectedly running out of fuel,
installing, increasing the risk of a crash.
You know, Coach, my dad, you know, back in the day
when, you know, instrument clusters would just go out.
Go out, yes.
Daddy taught me the way to know,
I guess, how much gas you've got in the vehicle.
I cannot remember that,
but it was like you took, you know, you filled it up
and it was whatever you filled it up on
and I don't know how long you drove
but he was like, if it don't work, do that
and then you'll figure out, you know,
where you should be.
Do you know there is a section in the owner's manual
that tells you that?
Really?
How to calculate your fuel?
No!
Yes.
Ah!
There is a section here that says
how to calculate your fuel miles in your tank
and how much you're getting a mile for gallon.
Does it really?
Yes.
Well, I thought Daddy just knew
because he was smart.
Well, Daddy did know
because it probably wasn't in there back that time.
He was smart enough to maybe even read that name, maybe.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it's in the manual.
That reminded me of this.
That's a fix.
So that's in the manual.
That's in the manual.
Okay, so to resolve this issue,
dealers are updating the body control module software
for free or you can go into your owner's manual
and figure out how much gas you got left in that car.
Right.
And finally in recall news,
Toyota is recalling 62,000 examples
of its BZ4X electric SUV
as well as, where do they get these letters from?
As well as RZ300E and RZ450E electric SUVs.
You know, they all mean something.
BZ4X.
That's an easy 4X, so you can remember.
Yeah.
It's over an issue concerning windshield defrosters.
Effective vehicles include model year 23 to 25 BZ4X
and RZ450E SUVs and 24 to 25 RZ300E SUVs.
A software issue in the electrical control unit
may prevent the windshield defroster
and effective vehicles from removing frost,
ice or fog from the windshield reducing visibility
and increasing risk of a crash.
As a fixed dealers are updating the programming
of the effective electrical control unit.
They'll also inspect and replace
the electrical climate control processor,
I mean compressor as necessary for free.
But there's the easy fix, easier than that.
Call the ice scraper.
What if it's on the inside though, coach?
Is that on the inside?
Cause the ice don't get on the inside.
No, ice doesn't.
But I have a hard time.
They fog up.
Yeah, I have a hard time getting my windows
defogged properly.
Okay, well, like there's always a fix.
Yeah, I've got a hard time doing that properly.
You can find out though, if your car has a past recall
by going to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration website and inputting your VIN number
that's in htsa.gov for slash recalls
or you can find their safer car app.
We're in owner's manual 101 class.
We just got checked about gas mileage
from Professor Coach Charlie Melton.
We're also taking your vehicle repair questions.
Email us at auto at mpbonline.org.
The phone number though, if you wanna give us a call
like Joe in Mobile, that's 1-877-MPB-RING.
That's 1-877-672-7464.
Let's go to Joe in Mobile, Alabama.
He's got a 2000 Nissan Rogue transmission question.
Joe, you're on with Coach Charlie.
Hi, Coach.
The transmission, I mean, the car runs, the motor's good,
and but it only goes slow.
You can't take it on the highway.
You can go like in the neighborhood, you know,
going slow, but not on the highway, but what?
And I'd call to try to find out about getting a transmission
and ensuring you have difficulty finding one.
Yeah, being that old of a car, you know,
once you think about a transmission,
it sounds like it may not be shifting gears
because it sounds like if it goes slow
and you put it in drive and you press on the accelerator,
does the RPMs pick up and the vehicle just don't,
it just goes the same speed.
Have you noticed that?
That the engine speeds up but the vehicle don't move?
Right.
Yeah, okay.
So that means that most likely that it's slipping
on the inside, maybe the torque converter may be bad,
but it sounds like to me that you have a problem
with the transmission itself.
Maybe a silo noise, not making it shift into another gear,
you know, because you do have silo noise
in that transmission as well.
And what I would do, I would go ahead
and put a scan tool on it
because the scan tool will tell you
what's happening to that transmission
will give you a lead of what's going on in that transmission.
So, but put the scan tool on it first
because I'm sure it has a check engine line on it
due to the transmission not working properly.
Yes, definitely.
Yeah, so put a scan tool on it.
All right, thank you.
Yes, sir.
All right, thank you, Joe.
That, can he go into the owner's manual
for any of that beforehand?
If he's got any questions?
Well, he can go to the owner's manual
and find the specifications of what type of fluid
goes into that transmission,
but not how to put the scan tool on it, you know.
Right, right.
This is for do-it-yourselfers.
Here is just for the owner that don't know anything
about their car, that's really,
that may not be mechanical inclined in this,
maybe for people that do it yourselfers as well.
You know, so the owner's manual has different levels
of what, according to what you're doing.
Yeah, and speaking of that,
mine does have a section called do-it-yourself maintenance.
It's got listed underneath that hood,
positioning a floor jack, engine compartment, tires,
tire inflation pressure, wheels, air conditioning filter,
which I guess you can DIY, electronic key battery,
which is hard.
I've almost tore up my key fob on the monster
trying to do that myself.
I don't, I'm just rough.
Checking and replacing fuses,
headlight aim and light bulb.
So it sounds like I can touch a little.
You could touch some of the stuff in here.
There's like checking your oil,
it tells you how to check your oil,
tells you the maintenance of the type of oil
it takes, transmission fluid, battery.
It tells you the warning that battery's put out gas
and you know, that you don't worry to do it.
It tells you how to get the acid off your hands
because, or if you spill acid on the battery.
It talks about battery relearn.
This is very important that a lot of people say
they get their batteries changed at the outer part store
and then the car goes crazy.
Well, guess what?
In the owner's manual, it talks about battery relearn
that the vehicle has to relearn how you drive.
Okay.
Step by step.
And you would think something's wrong with it.
Right.
Yeah, you would think something's wrong.
And in the owner's manual, it tells step by step
how to make it relearn.
Yeah.
How far you gotta drive it,
how far it, how long it has to be an idle
for that battery to relearn.
Right.
It talks about different types of coolants, what not to mix.
You know, a lot of people go in there and say,
well, what type of coolant do I need?
Owner's manual tells you exactly what it is
and tells you not to mix certain antifreezes
with other antifreezes.
Yeah.
There are some tips in there that will save you money.
Yes.
And save your vehicle
that you probably didn't even know were in there.
So we're talking about all of that today.
The number is 1-877-MPB-RING.
That's 1-877-672-7464.
When we come back, coach,
I've got a couple of little tidbits that came
in my owner's manual pack
that I think will make it a little bit easier
on a couple of things,
especially thumbing through 455 pages of owner's manual.
Our email address where you can send questions
is auto at mpbonline.org.
We're at owner's manual 101 class
between your car repair questions.
What's in the news?
Why your car is more efficient when you drive slower?
Wants to do that.
I guess we need to.
I'll tell you more next.
Thank you for listening to AutoCorrect
on MPB Think Radio.
Coach Charlie Melton, retired instructor
from Clinton High School's Automotive Tech program
is our expert host.
I'm Jermaine Flood.
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the MPB public media app.
In addition to listening to the show on that app,
click on the support button and make a contribution.
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Excuse me, in the news,
why your car is more efficient when you drive slower?
Now, this is kind of focusing on EVs,
which is one that I was in the last week.
But it can kind of go over for gas vehicles as well.
So they're saying, you're worried about range
and you're looking at gas prices
and trying to maximize how far your dollar gets you.
And maybe you saw a Chevy drive
or a Silverado EV drive for about 1,000
or so miles on a single charge
and you're wondering how they did it.
Well, the answer is simple.
Unfortunately, it's not practical.
You can maximize your range easily.
You just have to never be in a hurry.
Driving more slowly will increase your range.
And it's all based on physics around the equations
that deal with drag.
And drag can be calculated with formulas
that I'm not gonna read on here right now, right?
But drag is, it can be broken down like this.
Automakers love to brag about reducing the coefficient
of drag in their vehicles,
making them more slippery in the air
and that's a goal according to the equation.
If all other variables are equal,
drag will scale linearly
with the car's coefficient of drag.
Coach, do you know anything about drag?
Well, the main thing that they're talking about,
if you notice that we used to have square vehicles
and now we have sort of rounded vehicles,
while the air will flow over the rounded vehicle
better than does a square vehicle.
And that will cut down the drag
because it doesn't matter if it's an EV or a gas,
you're gonna get better fuel economy
if you have less drag, even going faster.
And that's why it says EV is going slower
because of the drag and it takes more power
from those motors and from the battery
to cut the wind resistance.
Yeah, so they say increasing a vehicle's coefficient of drag
makes it harder to push through the air.
Increasing its speed makes it much harder
to push through the air,
far more so than anything else in the equation.
It's not something you can get around with engineering,
it is what it is.
And it's literally, you just need to go at slow speeds
with the biggest contributor
being around record-breaking range.
It's not that hard and it's not that complex,
but it's very inconvenient if you were in a rush
like I was this morning.
And that just means go slow.
Yeah, drive slow, everybody.
Yeah, and I don't really drive slow.
Me either.
I drive fast a little bit when I need to, just a little bit.
I drive the speed limit.
Yes, we do.
Yes, you gotta drive the speed limit.
That did not sound like the truth at all.
That was not convinced at all.
I did get a ticket several months ago going too fast for sure.
Yes, we do, Coach.
I'll include a link to this story
in our show's podcast description.
The number, though, is 1-877-MPB-RING.
That's 1-877-672-7464.
If you've got a question and we've got one on the line
from Curtis in Flora,
he's got an owner's manual oil change question.
Curtis, you're on with Coach Charlie.
Yes, the owner's manual says I should change it
every 7,000 miles.
But when I take it to the oil change place
and they put the stupid up there,
they'll put 3,000 and sometime they'll put 5,000.
So should I continue with 7,000?
Well, most of the time on the newer vehicles,
even some of the older vehicles,
they have a oil light that comes on
and tells you the mileage of when it needs to be changed.
Some of them are 7,500.
Some of them are my, believe it or not,
my wife's Mercedes was 12,000 miles before it was changed
because that's what it says on it, okay?
That's when the light comes on and says
you got 10% or whatever left range to change that oil.
You need to change the oil according to how you drive.
Stop and go driving.
I would change it more than what it says in the manual.
If you're driving nothing highway,
then you can extend the time that you change,
the interval that you change the oil.
But it's according to how you drive,
even dusty weather or stuff like that
where air dust and all is gonna get in the oil
then once again.
And I do understand what you're saying
because I just had my oil changed
and it says 5,000 miles, okay?
But that's not what the book says.
The book says 7,500.
So it's according to how you drive.
Okay, I also have another question.
Let's say I get the oil change
and I probably drive it maybe seven, eight times in two months
and then I get in the car
and it says oil change soon.
Should I change the oil or?
No, so you're not going very many miles in it, right?
Okay.
Right.
Okay, just like I did on mine,
I got 12,000 miles on my truck, okay?
This is the second oil change
and I've had the vehicle for two years almost.
So you see where I'm going there?
I don't drive it enough to have their oil changed
even with their sticker.
So if you're not driving the vehicle very much,
you just change it with that vehicle
whenever it says change it.
Don't go by the date, go by the miles on it.
You know, because, you know, just say if you have it
for, you know, a lot of people say,
well, I'm gonna change it every six months.
Well, if you don't drive it every six months,
if you don't drive a whole bunch,
the oil's still good
because you haven't contaminated the oil.
Okay, thank you for the information.
You're so welcome, thank you.
Thanks, Coach.
You know, I was literally trying my best to find mine,
but maybe I'm gonna get there.
For the oil?
Yeah, I'm just, I was making it, you know.
Go back to the back of the index
that we haven't talked about.
And I did, I did.
But maybe I'm overlooking it.
I mean, we're gonna go to a phone call.
Okay, let's go.
With Jim and Jackson and I'm well Jim has dropped.
He wants me to find my oil maintenance guide in here.
And I'm just having a hard time.
You know what?
That's a good time for me to talk about these quick guides
that also.
Pivot, pivot, go.
Pivot and go.
So if you don't wanna thumb through
or possibly, you know, these quick guides
may have in what my oil range is,
there is owner manuals, quick guides.
Coach has got the best quick guide
cause all he's got is a fold out pamphlet.
My quick guide still has content section
and pages, but not as many pages.
It only has about 100 pages versus 500 pages.
And then there's also an eOwners manual.
So I can actually put this disk into a computer
and see the owner's manual on my computer.
So this does make it a little easier
when you're trying to look for something specific
and you just don't have a lot of time
to be thumbing through.
But I'm a fine mind.
Once we go to this phone call
and with David in Horn Lake,
he's got an oil change question for coach.
David, you're on with coach Charlie.
Thank you for taking my call.
I got a question that you could pick from there
either start World War three or settle it.
I got a friend.
I got a friend that swears up and down.
We have a dead, we get,
it gets on the borderline being of you or whatnot.
He tells me I'm dumber than dirt
and they pay me a court.
No.
I want to take my vehicle to an oil change place
and they change the oil, okay?
The controversy comes about is
he does his own oil changes.
He takes his brand new oil filter
and he buys wherever, God knows whatever,
but he fills it full of oil
and lets it soak overnight.
And then he fills it up again
and then he changes it all.
And his theory is when you go,
when you go to an oil change place
and you put a dry oil filter in there,
the oil has to hit that dry oil filter like a sponge
and you don't get any lubrication
until the filter re-saturation and able to pass through.
He says that causes wear, engine wear damage
and he swears up and down,
but I'm causing my engine to wear prematurely
and I, my counter is that may have been 30 or 40 years
ago, but the new technology,
new cars, new oil pumps and whatnot, it doesn't matter.
So what'll this be, please?
Ding, and now we're in.
Well, I will tell you that the dealership
does not let an oil filter soak
and if the dealership does not let an oil filter soak,
it's not messing up that vehicle
because the vehicle, the dealership would have to pay
for that vehicle if it messed up because of the oil.
So you're the one that is correct.
He is wrong, I'm sorry to say
because a lot of oil filters are sideways, okay?
And the oil, there is a bypass on all engines
most of the time with oil
where the oil will go straight to the engine
and then it goes to the filter so it can bypass
so there will be no lack of oil going to the vehicle.
So just think about it, when you cut the vehicle on
and you crank it up,
what's the first thing goes up?
The oil pressure, as soon as you crank that vehicle up,
it's got oil pressure
and that means that oil is flowing through the vehicle.
Okay, thank you for still not the dispute.
You won David, you won this one.
And that's why David listens to autocorrect.
That's right.
I love it, David, tell your friend
he's got to listen to the show as well
and he may win one of these disputes.
And he can call me and I'll explain it to him.
Yeah, he may win a dispute.
David, thank you so much for your call.
Thank you, have a good day.
All right, you too.
All right, coach.
So I found a little something.
What'd you find?
While David was duking it out with his friend.
I found in my Warranty and Services Guide
I did find these complimentary services up to certain miles
but I still cannot find the oil change.
Like, you know, when I should have my oil change
and I'm in that section that they had in the index
but I'm not seeing them.
Once again, vehicles today have that oil light on them.
So why they don't need to take this out.
They need to let me worry about it.
Well, that's why they took it out of there
is because people would not change the oil
if they weren't towed change your oil.
Okay, so now if you drive in dusty weather,
I mean dusty environments and stuff like that
or cold environments, then you need to change your oil.
If you do a lot of stop and go driving,
you need to change your oil
and that's what consumers need to know.
And that is really why the oil places say 5,000 miles
is because all the stopping go driving.
It used to be 3,000 miles.
Right, right.
So they increased it to 5,000.
But now oil today, just like our last caller
was talking about the technology of the oil
and the way they make it now has changed completely.
You know, when you get a 0,10, 0,W10 oil,
well, that means that is very, very thin oil.
Mine says, okay, it does give me the actual oil, right?
Right.
It says SAE 0W16.
0W16?
Okay, so that's, I've never heard that one,
but 0W16 usually is like 10, 20, or, you know.
Yeah, and then they say if that's not available,
0W20 may be used, yeah.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
That's most vehicles today use 20, 20 weight,
usually 10 to 20.
Okay, okay.
Lexus just wants to be special with this 16.
Well, I will tell you one thing.
If you look back in where maintenance is,
it tells you the type of oil.
Most manufacturers use Ford uses Motocraft oil.
I don't know who makes their oil.
They got Motocraft on it, but they use Motocraft oil.
General Motors is going to use AC oil.
Toyota's going to use Toyota oil, believe me.
That's what it says.
I mean, mine says Toyota Genuine Motor Oil
is used in your Lexus vehicle.
So most of these vehicles manufacturers
are going to use their own oil.
It's blended to be that specification.
That's where the 16 came from.
Yeah, and that's what you need to do, too,
is go to the, if you're going to do it yourself,
go to the oil, go to the parts store,
and make sure in your owner's manual
that it meets those specifications.
Because if it don't meet those specifications
and they say you're changing your oil itself,
they can avoid the warranty.
Okay.
Well, let me tell you what we're in, folks.
We're in owner's manual 101 class.
I have been searching and studying.
I wish that people could see what's going on,
because it's like y'all are at a coffee shop
like at a book club right now,
just like thumbing through a couple pages and stuff.
We got books all over the place.
We do have books all over the place.
I'm in class, and we're taking
vehicle repair questions as well.
You can send an email to auto at mpbonline.org.
When we come back from the quick break,
we've got Daryl and Memphis on the line.
He's got an oil change question.
We started something now.
Send an email again to auto at mpbonline.org.
Here comes a new car review from Casey Williams.
And after that, coach is tip of the week.
This is AutoCorrect on MPB Think Radio.
Here's a new car review from Casey Williams.
It's Auto Casey on AutoCorrect.
If you're a Corvette fan who either doesn't like
the idea of admitted to Corvette
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I might have a really good alternative for you this week.
The 2025 Nissan Z.
Now I know it's a Nissan, but it does look classic.
Looks like the 1970 Nissan Z brought forward,
but a lot more modern.
I think it was really cool.
On the inside, I really like this one too.
It has the blue interior in it, but it's simple.
It's got the technology of a simple flat screen gauges,
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This one has a six-speed manual transmission
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And it is just a blaster drive on a country road.
So let's talk about price.
Well, the Z starts under $43,000.
This one all in, $55,585.
See the full video on his YouTube channel, Auto Casey,
and listen to AutoCorrect
on the MPB Think Radio YouTube channel.
This is AutoCorrect.
If you've missed any of the show,
listen to the whole thing
from autocorrect.mpbonline.org.
AutoCorrect is heard on MPB Think Radio Thursdays at 10 a.m.
with replay Saturdays at 11 a.m.
and after the show today, it's Southern Remedy at 11 a.m.
Kids and teens with Dr. Morgan McLeod.
I'm Jermaine Flood.
Our expert is Coach Charlie Melton,
ASC certified master technician
and professor Melton today.
And it's time for Coach's tip of the week.
You know, when you're doing oil changes
when you're doing any type of maintenance to your car,
especially oil changes as you go through the owner's manual,
read it because I'm gonna read what it says here.
It says, do not use supplement engine oil additives,
cleaners or other engine treatments
that are unnecessary and could lead to engine damage
that is not covered by the Ford Motor Company.
Use what the manufacturer says use
and you ain't gonna add no additives.
You ain't gonna do anything
because you're under warranty.
Well, let's go to the phone lines.
We've got Daryl in Memphis.
He's got an oil change question.
Let's see if the manual will help us help him.
Daryl, you're on with Coach Charlie.
Yeah, good morning.
Good morning.
Look, before you all took a break,
I thought I heard one of you say something about
oil changes used to be every 3,000 miles
and I know that to be true
because I've been driving for quite a period of time.
And now with today's technology,
it's recommended that you change oil every 5,000 miles.
Now, my question is, would that apply
even if you're driving a vehicle
that's let's say maybe 10 years old?
What I would do on that,
you know, once again, it's still a stop and go.
It's according to how you drive,
you know, what environment you drive in.
If you change the oil 3,000 miles,
if you were doing that on that older vehicle,
it may still, I would probably still do it at 3,000 miles
because it's used to be in that oil
so it's staying clean and thick
because what happens as you drive carbon
and everything gets up in that oil
and you know, it gets thicker.
Well, at 3,000 miles, you change the oil,
the oil's gonna be thinner
what the vehicle's supposed to have in it, okay?
And so that would still be good for that
but in the scheme of oil,
everybody says 3,000, some people say 5,000
but that's one of these new oil lights are on there,
7,500, 12,000 miles.
You know, you can drive an 18-wheeler,
15,000 miles before you have the first oil change,
you know, and the cars are doing the same thing.
And so, but I would stay in that same interval
if you were driving an older model car
that you've been doing at 3,000.
You know, and that's just because it's used to it,
you know, engines get used to things
just like we as people get used to things
and that's how I'd keep that.
Does that help, Daryl?
Okay.
Yeah, I guess I have the medium would be about 4,000 miles.
Yeah, just like if it's an older vehicle.
Because really, if you think about it,
oil has changed and so it is better
so you could extend that a little bit longer,
you know, than 3,000, yes, for sure.
Okay.
All right, thank you.
All right, thank you, Daryl.
And like we learned with mine
and we just gotta either wait on the lighter,
call Lexus and ask him what's the,
when do I need to bring it in?
Because like you say, for me,
it's like how much you drive it,
what's your driving habits?
So the oil light will come on and what do you do?
It's on, it's on right now.
Okay, so you need to go have it changed.
I know, it's on right now, it's on right now.
So it's percentages, it goes in percentage
of how much oil life you have.
Because what they're doing,
they know what their oil does and how it deteriorates.
And so it's percentages of the oil
it tells you how good the oil still is.
Okay, the last day of this month, I'ma go.
Well, you need to get it in there.
Can I wait two weeks?
Well, you probably waited a month already.
No, no, no, no, he came on last week.
Okay, okay, well, we're gonna hit you that one.
He said, Jermaine, I know you.
It came on last week, I promise it came on last week.
And I was like, oh, it's too far into September now, honey.
You know what else I got inside
of my owner's manual kit that I think was dope?
It's the Lemon Law Guide.
And even though we don't have specific lemon laws here,
especially as it relates to Lexus,
it gives you the lemon laws of all the other states.
And some of these lemon laws are pretty substantial
where like if you feel like your vehicle has a defect
that substantially impairs its use or whatever,
you can come in and possibly get a new vehicle
or get that fixed.
And within three times of them trying
to fix that specific defect,
if it doesn't get fixed, they kind of replace this car.
Well, that's what in the owner's manual,
it talks about arbitration,
it talks about mediation of the vehicle and who you call.
And that is, once again, going back to the manufacturer,
talks about calling the better business bureau
about automotives.
So it talks about where you can really,
if there's a safety problem that you see with the vehicle,
you can call and turn that in.
So there's a lot of things in the owner's manual
that you just didn't know
that is there for your information.
And as a consumer, that's what you need to know.
Now, one other thing real quick,
I had in mind a roadside assistance five years
didn't cost anything.
And now look what they do.
They give you free towing.
They give you non-warranty towing, collision towing,
battery jumping start, they'll bring you gas,
they'll give you, they'll lock it,
let you get out of your vehicle, they'll fix the locks.
And everybody was probably still using their AAA.
Right.
And this is five years don't cost anything
it comes with the vehicle.
That's nice.
Five years or 60,000 miles.
Everybody crack open that glove box right now,
pull out that big old book
that you ain't never come through.
And you get to thumb in, that'll help you.
It'll help you.
It'll equip you with the knowledge
that you need to understand your vehicle system.
It empowers owners.
And we want you to feel empowered today.
That'll wrap us up for today's order correct.
Our crew engineer, Abram Nanny,
call screener Marissa Vaughn
for coach Charlie Melton master technician.
I'm Jermaine Flood next week.
It's cruisin' Clinton car show 2025
in the 17th annual Renaissance Eurofest classic
European auto and motorcycle show.
Thank you for listening to auto correct on MPB Think Radio.
This is an MPB Think Radio podcast.
To hear previous shows, visit mpbonline.org
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About this episode
Dive into the essentials of car ownership with a focus on the often-overlooked owner's manual. Coach Charlie Melton and Jermaine Flood discuss the importance of understanding your vehicle's manual, from maintenance schedules to troubleshooting tips. They tackle common misconceptions, like oil change intervals, and share personal anecdotes about their own vehicles. The episode also features listener questions about oil changes and recalls, making it a practical guide for anyone looking to enhance their automotive knowledge.
A car owner's manual is a vehicle-specific instructional guide that provides information on how to operate, maintain, and care for a particular car model, serving as an essential resource for any car owner to ensure safe and reliable vehicle ownership.