Car Advice Like How To Fix A Gas Tank That Won't Fill and More Live Calls Under The Hood
Under The Hood show
Car Advice Like How To Fix A Gas Tank That Won't Fill and More Live Calls Under The Hood
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Concept
vehicle recall
A vehicle recall is when a car company asks owners to bring their cars back to fix a problem that could be dangerous. It's like a safety check to keep everyone safe.
Concept
airbags
Airbags are like big pillows inside cars that pop out when there's a crash to keep people safe. They help stop you from hitting the inside of the car.
Car
Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger is a type of pickup truck that people use for work and daily driving. Sometimes, parts like airbags in these trucks can have problems and need to be fixed.
Company
Takata
Takata made airbags that are safety devices in cars. However, some of their airbags were dangerous and had to be recalled to keep people safe.
Term
airbag recall
Sometimes car companies ask people to bring their cars in to fix airbags that might be unsafe. This is called a recall and helps keep drivers safe.
Car
Nissan Titan
The Nissan Titan Crew Cab is a big truck with four doors and a strong engine that can pull heavy things. The 2008 version is popular because it’s good for work and also comfortable for people riding inside. It’s a good choice if you need a tough truck that’s also nice to drive.
Term
ABS
ABS helps stop your car safely by making sure the wheels don’t get stuck when you brake hard, so you can still steer.
Term
wheel speed sensor
Wheel speed sensors tell the car how fast each wheel is spinning so the ABS can work properly and keep you safe.
Term
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive means all four wheels of a car get power from the engine, which helps the car drive better on rough or slippery roads.
Term
body harness
A body harness is like a big bundle of wires that connects all the electrical parts in a car's body, like the lights and sensors, so they work properly.
Company
Dorman Products
Dorman Products makes car parts you can buy to fix your vehicle, like wires for brakes. They help you replace broken parts without buying new cars.
Term
rust
Rust happens when metal gets wet and starts to break down, making parts weak or broken. It can cause wires in your car to stop working.
Car
Dodge Ram
The 2019 Dodge Ram 1500 is a big truck used for carrying heavy stuff and driving on tough roads. It has different engines and cool features to make driving easier.
Part
purge valve
The purge valve helps get rid of fuel smells by sending fuel vapors from a special filter to the engine to burn them off.
Term
service bulletin
A service bulletin is a note from the car maker telling mechanics about a problem and how to fix it, but it's not a big enough problem to make them call back all the cars.
Part
fuel tank
The fuel tank is the part of your car that holds the gas or diesel you put in. It keeps the fuel safe until the engine uses it.
Term
body work
Body work means fixing the outside parts of a car if they get damaged, like dents or scratches.
Part
rocker
The rocker is a metal part under the car doors that helps hold the car's shape and keep it strong.
Company
car-part.com
car-part.com is a website where you can find used car parts like engines and wheels. It helps you find parts that fit your car and shows pictures so you know what you're buying.
Company
Road Ready Wheels
Road Ready Wheels makes replacement wheels that look like the original ones and work with your car's existing parts, so you don't have to buy extra pieces.
Part
TPMS sensors
TPMS sensors are little gadgets in your car's wheels that tell you if your tires don't have enough air, so you can fix them before they cause problems.
Part
aluminum alloy wheels
Aluminum alloy wheels are wheels made from a mix of aluminum and other metals. They are lighter and often look nicer than regular steel wheels.
Part
steel wheels
Steel wheels are wheels made from steel metal. They are heavier but strong and usually cost less than other types of wheels.
Term
aftermarket wheels
Aftermarket wheels are wheels you can buy that are not made by the car company but still fit your car. They can look different and sometimes cost less or more than the original wheels.
Term
OEM
OEM means the parts or wheels that come from the same company that made your car. They fit perfectly because they are made just for your car.
Term
agreed value policy
This is a type of insurance where you and the insurance company agree on how much your car is worth beforehand, so if something happens, you get that amount without arguments.
Concept
homeowners insurance and vehicle coverage
Your house insurance usually doesn't pay for your car if it's just sitting in your garage, so you need special car insurance for that.
Car
Chevrolet Avalanche
The Chevrolet Avalanche is a big truck that can carry a lot of stuff and also has space for people to sit comfortably. It has a special feature that lets you open up the back part to make more room when you need it. People like it because it’s good for work and family trips.
Car
Ford Fusion
The Ford Fusion is a popular family car that’s easy to drive and comfortable. People sometimes talk about how fast it can go from a stop, like how quickly it can get moving in a short distance. This helps show how powerful or quick the car feels when you start driving.
Car
Plymouth Fury
The Plymouth Fury is an old, big car from many years ago that people liked because it looked cool and had a strong engine. Sometimes people talk about small details on the car, like the letters or badges on it, which help identify the model.
Car
Ford F-250
The Ford F-250 is a big truck used for heavy jobs like towing trailers. The 2011 version can have a diesel engine, which uses a different kind of fuel and is good for power and saving gas.
Term
diesel
Diesel is a kind of fuel used in some engines that makes trucks and big vehicles run strong and use less gas. It's different from regular gasoline.
Term
oil leak
An oil leak means oil is dripping from the engine where it shouldn't. This can cause the engine to run low on oil and get damaged.
Term
battery
The battery is like the car's power source that helps start the engine and run lights and other things. If it's weak, the car might not start.
Term
vacuum operated system
A vacuum operated system uses air pressure from the engine to move parts inside the heater or air conditioner. It helps control where the air goes inside the car.
Term
motor operated system
A motor operated system uses small electric motors to move parts inside the heater or air conditioner. This helps control where the air comes out inside the car.
LIVE
Your home is more than just walls and a roof. It's a feeling. It's the gentle morning sun
spilling across your kitchen floor, signaling the start of a beautiful day. It's the soft, warm
glow of a lazy afternoon, filtered just right, and it's the quiet privacy you cherish at the end
of the day, shutting out the world. At Hunter Douglas, we believe in perfecting that light.
Our innovative shades, shutters, and blinds are meticulously crafted to not only add beauty to
your space, but to transform it, giving you precise control over light, privacy, and mood.
From inspiration to installation, our local experts not only bring your vision to life,
but bring peace of mind, handling everything down to the last detail, because the right shade
changes everything. Is it time to upgrade your shades? Meet with our experts to start your
customized journey today. To begin, just head to redesignplano.com or call them at 972-608-4999.
That's redesignplano.com.
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. Russ's wife is here as well.
Oh, that's not it. Try again. Oh, Russ. Oh, man. We're going to have this big event.
All right, now try. Say, loving under the hood. Okay, there we go. Hi, Michelle. Hi, Chris.
866- I'm Chris Carter, by the way. 866-594-4150. That's the number to reach us here at The
Under the Hood Show. What has caught your attention in the automotive world? Well,
I'd tell you what. I had it last week, but I didn't get a chance to get to it. But Stalantis took
a... The fine wine company? Yes. Or is it a beer? It feels like... It's the small, the little can,
the thin one that needs the small cuisine. Not the big ones we saw down in Texas.
What do you call the big ones we saw in Texas? The 40? Yeah, what do you call those? What do
they call them? A 40. It's a 40 ounce. I thought I had another name for it. Rolling down the street
with the 40. I just remember you started singing a song when we saw it. Almost bought one. No,
Stalantis issued a major attention getter for 225,000 vehicles to a do not drive.
And their intent was, I think there's a legal side to this too, for sure. But we've been trying to
recall these vehicles for 10 years and you haven't responded. And we've tried a lot of measures
and your vehicle is still dangerous and you should not drive it. And they're hoping that
they'll get more attention to have people for the airbags. It's got airbags. But having said that,
that does make me a little nervous. It really does. It's like issuing tornado warnings when
there's not a tornado. Eventually, if you raise it to another level and you still don't get action,
well, what do you got left? I mean, go tow the car out of their driveway? Aren't they trying to
protect themselves to say, judge, I told them don't drive it. And they did. I mean, that's the
legal side of it. I would bet. But that was when I saw the news, I was like, okay, what's this about?
And with that, usually you see the do not drives. It's like, we know of 12, 14 Rangers or 12 to
14 Rangers that had this airbag in it. That could be a big problem. Right. And we're individually
calling them or like the Lamborghini recall where there was one or one out of six. Yeah. First,
first you have to have a seatbelt thing, wasn't it? The Lamborghini? I don't remember. Yeah.
First, you have to have a, you have to have a car that's involved in a collision to even
get on the radar of a problem with being injured by a Takata airbag, right? The car has to be in
an accident. That's already, already the numbers are low compared to production of the cars compared
to how many are going to have an airbag deployment event. And then it's even lower because not every
single one of those airbags is going to have an issue with the, that's the dangerous part,
just a portion of them were not everyone. So that makes it even lower. So the numbers aren't
really out there on the radar. We've seen them. We know there's been some deaths and injury caused
by some of the shrapnel that, that the early ones had, but what are the actual numbers? I wonder
how many have actually. That's the thing. And I think it's the opposite of that. If you have,
it's our sample size is so small, but still the amount in that sample size is big enough
to make us notice. That's a huge, that's, that's the huge problem.
It's all a little bit scary, but I think that you, you got manufacturers out there when they
have these things happen. It would be odd if they didn't take their time, right? Because the longer
this stretches out, the fewer vehicles that are still on the road, they start retiring more of
them. They get wrecked. They're, they're gone. They love, you know what? During my work week,
I've got my little notepad where I'm writing down, Oh, jeez, I got to do this yet. I got,
you know, I start filling up the page. I got to do this year. I got to do nothing more satisfactory
than crossing it out. I'm sure for those people in that recall division, they get a certain amount
of award and excitement when they get to cross off VIN numbers. Nope. Don't have to worry about
that one anymore. Don't have to worry about that one anymore. And so as we get that way, when we
fix the car and it comes back like 20 times, we're like, Oh, this thing is just driving. It's nothing
like, Hey, I want to let you know, I wrecked my car. It won't be coming anymore. Oh, I'm so sorry to
hear that. It hangs up the phone. Yes. Well, and in this case, this is a, we, we talked about this
so much back then that we've kind of forget this talking about it at work the other day.
And someone said, why do they keep using Takata airbags? Are they the only manufacturer of airbags
or what? Ha ha ha. Pretty much. Pretty much. It's gotten to that. I mean, we got there a while ago,
but yeah, they were, there were no, no one was making replacements for those. It was Takata.
And how many times did they issue a new one? How many times? And then recall that how many airbags
have you had in your element? I'm on my third recall. Okay. I've had them replaced and then I
didn't. And then I got another one. So I'm on it. The ones that I should have gotten in have been
recalled. So I feel like I'm super smart. Have you had, so you've had one set of airbag? One set.
And then the, that set got recalled. And then I got noticed that the replacement sets were going
to be recalled, but I hadn't done the replacement yet. So the whole air thing is, this airbag thing
has got to be partially political too, because just the other day I looked up frontal crash sensors
for an 05 Tahoe. Pretty new vehicle yet for being on the road. There's still thousands and thousands
out there, right? They don't sell one anymore. They do not sell. They have stopped producing. GM
has stopped producing over a year ago, both the frontal crash sensors for that vehicle, and you
cannot buy them. They don't sell them aftermarket. I know this because I had a bundle of them,
new surplus, and they all of a sudden instantly became the hottest thing on my eBay store when
they discontinued them. So here's the thing. How can a manufacturer be allowed to not be,
you know, you're not allowed to keep your vehicle safe, but yet that manufacturer has to be responsible
for airbags that are working poorly, that could hurt somebody, that they're not allowed to disable.
They're effectively disabling that Tahoe airbag by not selling a part to fix it, but they can't
disable airbags that could kill you by going off. You got a better chance of just slamming into a
wall with no airbags and having an airbag go off in your face that might shoot shrapnel at you,
but they can't disable them. They've got to fix them. It's a weird deal. I think they go by
event and which one goes through court and what the outcome is. This is the worst show ever.
And the real is we don't know any of this. We're speculating, but the logical thinking
would make you think that there's got to be some weights and measures to their decisions.
Yeah, there's something somewhere that somebody's making decisions that we'll never know about.
866-594-4150. Let's talk to Sam in Minnesota. Sam, you're on the end of the hood show. What can
we do for you? I have an 08 Nissan Titan, you know, with the 5.6 and all that. It's a very good
motor. I love that, but I'm having an issue with not getting my ABS and my slip light off. I'm not
being able to turn it off. Now, I've replaced three of the four sensors just because I've
bought, you know, and I've replaced one twice, but it says when we hook it up to the machine
that there's no juice going to my left rear. What, where does, okay, if I take that sensor
on my left rear tire off, out, and there's a plug hanging underneath my box, where does that
wire go? Where does that continue forward? Where does, and is there any like
ohms or any juice in there that's a constant juice with the key on?
It runs all the way to the front up that body harness until it reaches the ABS control module.
Okay. It runs all the way up. So can I just buy another one and somehow find that ABS module and
plug it into it, unplug it and leave that son of a gun right there? No, they don't, they don't do that.
If you've got a problem with the wire and you don't know where it's at and you want to bypass it,
what you've got to do is get yourself two wires of the same gauge. If it's 16, 18 gauge, you've got
to get two wires of the same gauge. And then you need to stretch them out long enough to reach
about five feet further than from the rear end to the front. And then you need to clamp those two
of those wires in a vice or something on one end. And then you put the other end in an electric
cordless drill. And then you turn the drill on while you're holding it out with just enough
tension to not break it, but you don't want it slack. And you run the drill and you're going to,
it's going to pull you forward slowly until you get one twist of wires per half inch.
Basically, it's going to look just like your other, your old ABS wire is going to look the same.
It's going to be twisted. If it's not twisted, you'll get interference and it'll never work.
So do that. And then just cut each end off a little bit until you get the size you want. So
put that in up at the ABS module, go to the back, hook it in at a new ABS sensor,
and you fix that circuit. Because you've got somewhere in there, you probably have a break in
the wire or you just have a little rub through in it and it's causing interference and making it look
dead. And as far as your question about voltage, usually you'll see a little bit of something
because that's how the module tests the wiring. So if you check your right rear, your passenger rear,
and it has let's say 300 millivolts with the key on and the left side is dead, well that means
either the module's dead or the wiring's got a break in it somewhere. Alright, I'm going with the
tie breaker here. Shannon, Russ is going to do that. I'm not. I've got to come back to this.
That's all mechanical. I hear the music and we're coming back to this because I can't leave this
alone. I have thoughts. Okay, we're going to take a quick break when we come back. We'll hear from
Shannon and then we want to hear from you. 866-594-4150. You're listening to the end of the hood show.
866-594-4150. That's the number to reach us. Let me make you the tie breaker on this,
on Russ's idea. Russ is going to do that with the drill and the wires. I'm not. So we're at both,
we're at the top and bottom ends of the skill set. Sam, you're still there.
Let's try this again. It does not go in the four-wheel drive. It's okay, Sam. We're starting,
we're still on the ABS thing here. Just hang on for a second. Oh, its four-wheel drive won't work
because the ABS, yeah, because the system's not working yet. Your four-wheel drive is not going
to work. But what Russ described with those wires, are you game for that?
Well, I'm just going to try to run a wire over there to see if there's any juice. But
I would, I guess I could try it. Yeah, because you could check continuity,
but it won't work without shielding them against the twisted pair. So now here's where I get into
this a little further. When you first had the problem, and I don't know this, Russ, does that
08 Titan, if he would have had it with the right scanner, could he have found out
which wheel that code was coming from instead of just start?
I did know. Yeah, I did know. Oh, I see. You said you replaced three of them. I thought you were
guessing. I did. I replaced all three of them after I've already replaced the one twice.
I got you. I got you. Okay, so maybe I had a bad one. So now onto this thing about the twisted pair.
Chris, I might try it, but here's the difference between what would happen with what Russ described
and what I described. So Russ, what was the length of the wire? What do I got to do?
Just make it about five feet longer than what you think it should be so that when you twist it,
it's going to make it shorter. And this wire came from where? You just get a couple bulk wire.
You go buy it. Okay, so here's what happens to me. I have to buy extension. No, I have to buy
three lengths of that wire because the first one I'm going to hit the drill and it's going to go
way too fast. And I'm going to have an ugly mess. You had it on speed two instead of speed one.
And it's going to not work well. Or I'm going to put it in the vice and I'm going to squish it too
hard. And I'm going to realize that I, you know, ruin the, I mean, there's something's not, there's
a problem. You're going to hit the trigger. It's going to pull right out because it went so fast
and shortened. It's not working. And then the second time, I'm thinking I've got it all figured
out and I got it fixed. And then I'm going to leave the drill in reverse or something. And I'm
going to, something else is going to go wrong. Yeah. So then the last time is when I'll, I'll
just be, you know, taking a break. I'm going to get this right. And then maybe I'm going to get the
proper tension, the proper speed, and it's going to work. So now I lean to our guest in the studio
who I think Russ was showing off for his wife with that answer. I'm quite sure that that answer
would have been a little different if Michelle wasn't sitting here. But Michelle, when Russ does
something like he just described, doesn't go perfect every time. Be truthful. 99.9. I swear.
He's just that type of person because I got it. There's got to be a true somewhere that he has
that same event that he doesn't get it right the first time and he rips the crap out of the wires
and then he gets mad and he's got to run to the store and buy more wires and sometimes it's,
it's Chris Farley. So Michelle, just you want to expound on that?
So when he was building the barn shed, it happened a couple of times with the wood and then we had
to go back to Menards to get more wood. And yes, he does get upset, but guess what? He makes it right.
Oh yeah. It's perfect. It's done. You know, rough draft masterpiece. Yeah. Some truth to that.
Well, you know, and I saw the work that you guys did up in our service center and
I was shielded from the unveiling for a number of months started in Christmas time and it
we were there 14 weekends. It proved the concept. I heard the number 240 hours or something like
that. This is after we already had a very skilled carpenter in a very skilled carpenter in there.
And then it did a contractor did amazing. He did a bunch of work too. And so that Russ said,
that's not good enough. Oh no, it's good enough. It needed more. It needed more.
And Michelle's got her touches all over it. So it's awesome.
Sam, Sam, let us know how that works if you do it. All right. And keep track of how many times.
What is that harness called between there? Can I just buy one online?
Nope. You could buy a whole body harness, but they don't sell it anymore. No,
it's the part of the entire body harness lighting everything. You might, if you knew for sure the
options, and maybe there was a tag number on that rear body harness, you might find somebody on
car dash part where you could look up an ABS module and see if they have the truck in the yard
yet and you could pay them. They're not going to do it for 20 bucks, but they might do it for 150.
Yeah. Get that back part and get a on bolted, on clipped proper harness with the same tag number.
And sometimes people don't inventory stuff like that.
Maybe easier for you to put the whole harness on. Chris is going, I'd put the whole harness on
instead of making the thing. But if it was a front one, you'd be in luck because most of those
front ABS harnesses are made from our partner over at Dorman products. And it's, it's like,
oh, there it is. It's twisted ready to go. Just plug it in and then you plug it in up at the top
because that's where they break that rear one though. This is almost unheard of. They don't
break. They rust. You get a little rust on the body or something and it rubs a hole in it.
So a visual inspection, you might look at the whole thing and say, Hey,
here it is. I see some rust on the outside of my harness. Well, that's a great indication that
inside of the harness, there's more rust and it's coming out. So you just cut the tape off with a
razor blade, open it up. So one wire broken, solder it together, insulate it, put it together, fixed.
Sam, thanks very much for the call. Good luck. 866-594-4150. Let's talk to Ron. You're on the
2019 Dodge Ram 1500. And up until about a month ago, I could go to the gas station,
tank fill upgrade. I brought it to a body shop to have some work done on it. And they didn't have
to pull the box off. But when I got it back, it'd only take about a half gallon at a time.
So I brought it back to the body shop. They pulled it back off, kind of thought they would pinch the
vent or hose or something. So they took it back off. They had it for two days, change out. I think
the purge valve and some other stuff, hoses all look good. Basically called me until they come
again, if there's nothing they could do about it. I had to get a full tank of gas out of them,
but that was a good deal. But they just, and it's still, I took it to the gas station yesterday
again and about a half gallon at a time. Again, you just sit there and just feather it the whole
whole time. Now they did say there is a service bulletin on it, but not a recall. And I think the
service bulletin, they're requesting a new fuel tank put in it. But do you know anything
or I could do? Ron, I gotta ask you a couple of questions to kind of solidify our answer, I think
here. At least I believe, when you brought it to the body shop, what directly were they doing?
What was the operation they had to do?
They just do some body work on the cab. I had hit a, unfortunately, a light pole at a parking
lot. I kind of turned too sharp. So I kind of hit that back door. So they're replacing that bottom
rocker or cab corner rocker, but there really wasn't any damage done on the box.
Okay. No, no, that's, I believe that first of all, Ron, you told me way more than you needed to
because you just admitted to the world what happened and I wasn't trying to go all that far,
Ron, but it'll be okay. So I was trying to understand if there was any reason with the
repair that they did, it's not uncommon to remove a box to work on the back of the cab, to access
fuel pumps. I mean, boxes get removed often to make the job easier to get that big hunk of
metal out of the way. In doing that operation, you disconnect the fuel filler hoses, the vent
line to the tank, and that's it. You don't mess with the evap system unless by chance,
some stupid reason on certain types of vehicles, somebody would pinch something and break something,
putting it back together because they left a tool in there. I mean, there's weird crazy
things can happen, but most likely that's a pretty simple operation. You unbolt it from the tank,
you unfasten it from the tank, you unfasten the vent. It shouldn't have affected the
evap piece of that puzzle or the canister part of that puzzle in that operation.
Rush, have you got thoughts? Is there- Just the hose being twisted, which they said they
figured that out and it was fine because it has a vent up at the top. If there's nothing wrong with
that, it is possible. I think these had the recall bulletin thing they had was because of a broken
piece of that bladder inside that tank, which could cause this. And for that to happen, it does
happen often in collisions, but usually heavy collisions. But if it was getting loose, they
will break on their own sometimes. So I'm wondering if maybe banging it around, taking the tank with
the box off, which they should be able to do. You should be able to hammer on that thing and not
damage it. But if it was that weak, just moving stuff around, it might have finally failed. So
you might need to replace it. But there's really nothing they could have normally done in the
operation of removing the box and putting it back on. As long as that filler is straight
and attached, something else has happened. It's just horrible timing. It's like saying,
you broke my lug nuts off when you were removing them. I put the tool on reverse,
I screwed them off. They were stuck. It wasn't the tool that broke them. They're made to come off.
The box is made to come off without the tank failing. So if the tank failed, it was going to fail
anyways. Ron, thanks very much for the call. Good luck. We're going to take a break. You're
listening to the end of the hood show. The end of the hood show podcast is brought to you by
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Thanks for listening to the under the hood show podcast. Your home is more than just walls and
a roof. It's a feeling. It's the gentle morning sun spilling across your kitchen floor, signaling
the start of a beautiful day. It's the soft warm glow of a lazy afternoon filtered just right.
And it's the quiet privacy you cherish at the end of the day, shutting out the world.
At Hunter Douglas, we believe in perfecting that light. Our innovative shades, shutters,
and blinds are meticulously crafted to not only add beauty to your space, but to transform it,
giving you precise control over light, privacy and mood. From inspiration to installation,
our local experts not only bring your vision to life, but bring peace of mind handling everything
down to the last detail because the right shade changes everything. Is it time to upgrade your
shades? Meet with our experts to start your customized journey today. To begin, just head to
redesignplano.com or call them at 972-608-4999. That's redesignplano.com.
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Welcome back, everybody. It's time to get back under the hood with our motor medics.
866-594-4150. That's the number to reach us here at the Under the Hood show. Don't forget,
if you miss a show, you can catch it on the podcast. And if you want to watch the show,
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Like Jeremy Millison. Jeremy Millison. Congratulations to everybody here at Under the
Hood and our friends over at Berkeley One Classics celebrating over 50 years of collector car
coverage and Universal Technical Institute. Find them at UTI.edu.
I saw, speaking at UTI, I saw a video the other day about mini CNC machines.
Mini?
Mini. They're like a...
Like a waddle or tiny?
Or they make cars.
They're small. No, they're small. They're not too expensive. And are they worth it? And I was like,
I gotta get me one of those. I think I'm good. I think, oh man, I really...
The only thing is, I don't make anything or need one. I just think they're neat,
so I don't know how long it would last.
I'm gonna get some of those someday so you could just stop by our place and you could use them.
Yeah, yeah, I'll rent it.
Like some 3D printing stuff and some CNC machines and nice bridge port just to play around with
making... I'm gonna make some parts.
I just think of making things like that I already had.
How long would you be happy with that, Chris?
Well, before happiness, I'm sure would come frustration and anger.
Kind of like twisting the wires that we talked about.
Once you got it down where you could do things well soon before you'd be bored.
Oh, right away, because I don't have anything to do. I don't know.
I'd be like, damn, look. And she'd be like, yeah, neat. What are you gonna do with it?
I'm like, why do you have to... Why do you have to ruin everything?
I'm gonna make another one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm gonna protect it.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Like, that's good.
Hey, I gotta ask Russ a question about the 19 RAM with the fuel thing from the before the hour.
You know, when you overfill, you can cause problems.
We tell people all the time not to overfill their tank.
Just go fuel into the evap system, into the canister.
Is there anything in the reassembly that could have replicated an overfill or
is there anything if they... I'm just trying to think of anything else there that could have...
They would have to have a pinched closed vent line back there.
You're not allowing the tank to vent. So when you put fuel in, it comes back up.
And I missed it. Was it one to one? It was he got it back and it happened immediately.
That's what it sounded like.
There's a plastic tube inside of the rubber tube that goes down to the tank.
If that was kinked in there somehow, it's not actually not vent.
The venting isn't the problem. It's restricted. It's blocked off.
So it's kicking back. That's a possibility too.
It's... We've run into this. When our own truck did this, it was older.
It was a RAM. Tim was like, this kept kicking back.
I still think of Terry Johnson too with his avalanche. We never...
That thing was a...
No, but it did burn to the ground. So it fixed the problem.
That was another... That was a celebration call.
Sorry, Terry, but we're really happy about that fuel problem we couldn't figure out.
But he never had a leak. It would just... When he filled it up...
Well, it leaked then when he filled it, but that's not when it burned up.
But ours, we ended up putting a canister on it and it was fixed.
This was so long ago as before we even really knew about the canister problem.
So is it possible that the collision shop was being nice and they gave him a full tank of gas
and somebody overfilled it and that was the one that put it over the edge?
No. That's timing.
New cars, you can do it a few times and they filled it trying to replicate the problem.
That's right. It was after the fact.
He said he got a full tank of gas out of the deal.
They probably kept putting it in going, does this fix it? No, a little more.
So that just reinforces our theory that it's highly unlikely that that
collision shop did anything that should have caused that problem.
Something just could have gotten...
I like your theory about something being shook loose in the accident
if it was already a little bit loose because otherwise it should be stronger than that.
Wouldn't it be just horrible but funny?
If they remove the filler neck from the tank to pull the box off and they didn't want it to leak,
they didn't want a vapor so they stuffed a rag in there and then they put the filler neck back on.
And just stuffed the rag down in it?
And the rag had fallen in to where the roller of a valve is and it's just stuck in there.
It can happen.
It's like in surgery when you...
Why is there a sutures in the X-ray?
Scissors.
Trisha, that's your job.
866-594-4150.
And by the way, again, kudos to him for just...
I would have made up a story.
Maybe we caught him off guard on what happened, why it was at the body shop.
Because I wouldn't have said what he did.
I would have said...
I hit a pole.
We got hit.
I got hit in the parking lot.
Since my wife is here, she remembers when we saw it.
I'm in the...
Locally there was a bar where it's a marine, a verneidie marine, you know that place.
Where the automotive store used to be, there was a bar there after the automotive store moved out
right behind the bank.
I'm setting it up for these guys, the other people are going...
Chris is tracking but you just keep going.
Don't try to get me on board if I can't get there.
While there's light poles, just say this.
Hey guys, so my wife and I saw this.
There's light poles in this parking lot.
There's a bar in the parking lot.
There is directly lined up perfectly with the bar and a parking space which is no more than
40 feet away, 30, 40 feet.
This car drove straight out of...
Had to come straight out of there because that's the only way you could get the fastest run was if
you backed up to the front door of the bar and floored it to hit this pole.
It hit that pole so hard that the whole front of the car was bent around that.
Remember that?
It was like a little car like a fusion and the whole front end was like bent so far around.
You couldn't get it off the pole.
You'd have to pry it apart and then back it out.
And we're like, you can hit stuff pretty hard in a parking lot.
So when he says, I had a little pole parking lot damaged.
I was thinking in my head, how hard this car hit this pole with maybe a 40 foot run.
How fast can you get like a Ford fusion going in 40 feet?
Can you get going 50 miles an hour in 40 feet?
37.
37, you think that's it?
That's the number.
That was me.
No.
That baby had both the airbags blown and it was just wrapped around.
That is a short distance to create that sort of impact.
That reminds me of my brother when he was 16, was screwing around and hit a pole and he hit it
right between the M, I mean dead center between the M and the O on his Plymouth Fury.
He hit that, you could not, because my other brother who was picking on him went and measured
specifically right in the center.
He hit it dead on.
You couldn't have hit it more if he had tried.
So when we say in the industry center pole shot, this was as
That was a center pole shot, a centered pole shot.
Exactly.
866-594-4150.
Let's go to Maine and talk to Keegan.
You're on the end of the hood.
Show Keegan, what can we do for you?
Hey gentlemen.
So I have a 2011 F-250 with the diesel that I've been working on.
Originally it was running, warming up, the owner said, and then the engine completely stalled
and he went to try to crank it again, nothing and he realized that a bunch of oil under the
vehicle.
So then he found an oil leak.
It was his oil filter had failed.
He replaced that three times off the oil.
So when he went to crank it again, still no crank.
He gets a display, everything comes on the cabin, but the starter wasn't turning over.
I come out and I check his batteries.
They were low, like 11.8 for both of the batteries.
So we tried charging them and with a good charge, 12.8, 12.9 still had the same issue.
I watched the voltage draw on the batteries and as he turned the crank,
and they would drop from that 12.8 down to eight volts.
So we had plenty of draw.
Look at the starter.
It's everything pretty crusted and corroded.
So I thought it was the starter at that point.
We replaced the starter, still a famous issue.
I verified 12 volts was getting to the starter,
computers showing high and low end are both turning on being commanded.
So then I'm checking resistance on the auxiliary battery,
the positive cable running the starter.
And I'm getting a lot of ohms of resistance.
So I'm getting zero of ohms of resistance on the primary battery.
And then looking up, I found a fairly corroded or possibly corroded positive cables.
So I ran a bypass, dedicated two gauge cable from the auxiliary battery to the starter.
Still same symptom.
No change, won't start.
What idea do you have?
Eight volts is too low.
It's going to be more like 10 and a half or 11.
So it's it's definitely losing voltage between the battery and that starter.
It's you've got and those cables on those,
they had some problems with corrosion building up internally in them by the ends
that you can't really see unless you cut the casing off at the end.
So but his bypass cable wouldn't have eliminated that problem.
You would need to.
Well, they'd have to be as heavy as the factory ones and bolted on solid to both.
Because if you've got right, I use two gauge.
I use two gauge braided copper.
I bolted on solid and I cut the original primary from the auxiliary
so that it couldn't be short-circuiting or going through there.
It sounds like you're trying to cover the bases for sure.
You got all new cables in.
You've got new grounds from the batteries and terminals down to the block.
And then you've got two new hot cables.
No, no, I only replaced the positive cable from the auxiliary battery.
I didn't do grounds.
I would verify them all because if you've got a voltage drop,
you'd find out where it's dropping that voltage.
If it's at the starter, if you're going from,
you measure from the negative on the starter, right at the terminal,
not on the cable, right direct center of the terminal,
from there to that starter, and then try to crank it.
And if it drops down to eight volts, then go over to the other negative
and see where it's at.
And then you want to back up in the cable and find out where the voltage drop is.
So you're going to hook to the negative and the positive right at the battery and crank it.
And if you've got, you know, 10 and a half volts there
and you've got eight volts at the starter, it's in that line.
Then go to the other battery, do the same thing.
You're going to have to measure each piece of wire to that block
because you need both batteries to crank it at full voltage.
And both grounds and both hots need to be good.
So if only one of them is bad out of those four, it's going to drop.
I got to bring this story back because, you know,
this was, you had a lot of story there.
There was a lot going on.
What was the original problem?
So the original problem was he went to turn it over.
He started it up like normal.
He was getting the warmed up to go plowing.
And all of a sudden it turned off and he's like, that's weird.
It was just a few, like a minute or so of warming up.
And he went to crank it over again, nothing when it clicked, when it cranked.
And then he realized there was a puddle of oil under the vehicle in motor oil.
The puddle of oil is the part I was trying to figure out how that came into the picture.
Yeah, that was the original issue.
And when I examined it, it was only coming from the oil filter seal.
Like it wasn't untied enough or it blew the seal.
So you replace the oil filter, he re-topped off the oil.
See if it would turn over again and not turn over since then.
There's nothing in that oil filter unless it contaminated the starter,
or if it had gotten enough oil gone out of it that the engine is actually damaged.
Yeah.
And the starter can't turn it over.
But you'd see some major drop right at the starter.
If that was the case.
Kagan, what you gotta do is you gotta go get three parts of wire and then you braid them.
And you go left over top, right over, and then you just...
No.
No?
No, but you...
Good luck.
Thanks very much for the call.
We'll say something about this after the break.
866-594-4150.
You wanted to come back to this?
Well, I did because it just, we just kind of recapped in the break there.
He was idling.
It died.
There's a bunch of oil underneath it.
And an obvious problem with the oil filter area, the housing or the filter,
you just wonder if something more tragic happened.
And...
I'm sure they have to put in it.
Yeah.
And how long, you know, just how long it had been since they had that filter on there,
or the chunk I used to hit it or something.
I mean, I don't know, Kagan's gone now, right?
Oh, he's still there.
You're still there, right?
Kagan, we're trying to zero in on that a little bit more.
I'm here.
No, he was avidly using it for plowing.
I'd repaired it earlier in the summer.
I don't remember what you called it.
The main power fuses leaving the primary battery.
Those are corroded out.
I replaced those and he got power again and everything was good.
And he was avidly plowing with it this winter.
He went to start it up, like I said, and then that happened.
So it was pretty sudden, nothing that I know of that he hit.
I don't know how much oil he put in.
He did that part himself.
I'm not sure how much he had actually put back in.
I should ask him that.
I was curious.
Is there a sensor that if the computer sees the oil level too low,
it would shut itself off to preserve the engine or does that not exist?
If it's too low, it won't start.
Yeah, they've been putting that on.
Well, it's already running.
If it's actively running and the oil level goes down,
is it able to see that and shut off?
There's a number of vehicles that we know that are in accidents
and the oil pan gets damaged and they will shut themselves off
before they kill the engine.
When they lose oil pressure, yeah.
Yeah, and so...
Does that have to be reset?
Okay, or the oil level sensor on the side of the pan,
if it's too low, it won't start.
But you're having a problem with voltage.
It's cranking slow and you've got low voltage.
But you're not, sorry, Bruce.
Maybe you heard something, no crank at all.
He's got no crank at all.
Oh, it does.
No crank at this point, just a click or nothing.
There was one time when I first recharged those batteries
that we got like a flow crank and then didn't do anything.
At that point, it was just back to the battery.
It sounds like the motor's locked up.
That's what I'm nervous about.
Put a bar on the crank and try to turn it by hand.
I bet you won't be able to because if you've got,
if it's eight volts and if you're positive,
you have really good connections on those terminals now
and it's dropping to eight volts when you hit it
and you've put a starter on it, the engine's locked up.
So it's not allowing it to turn.
It's just like a big toaster down there when you turn that key.
Yeah.
And that would explain why I was shocked.
Well, that's why I was zooming in on that
because I mean, the oil and this,
they're, what's the chances that both happened at the same time?
Yeah, it may have, it may have just locked up.
And it could be that the person running it
didn't notice or didn't tell you as soon as,
there could have been other things happening
if it's not their own.
Did they add oil to it after it?
Oh, there's a puddle, we better add some oil.
No, it's full.
There's things there that I would be checking on.
Let's put it that way.
Right.
Okay.
So I'm going to leave, verify that the pink shaft actually turned.
That's, that's your next step
before you spend any more aggravation.
Right.
Because you might find you have major aggravation.
You might have major aggravation.
Keegan, thanks very much for the call.
Good luck.
866-594-4150.
Let's talk to Bert.
You're on the end of the hood show, Bert.
What can we do for you?
Well, this is probably an easy one for you,
but I have a Dodge Durango 2005 when,
when my wife or I put gas in it,
the nozzle keeps clicking
and you got to stay outside and fill it.
And that, you know, when it's cold out,
it's in South Dakota,
you sit there and keep putting in a gallon or so
and then it clicks off, you know,
in, you know, when you put the gas thing into your,
where the gas goes in.
So it just keeps, it just keeps
clicking off and you got to stand out there
and fill the tank.
Yes.
And how long has it been doing this?
Well, it was doing it a while back
and then I can't remember what we did.
Then it quit doing it.
Now it's doing it again.
So I'll do that again.
No distractions in the room whatsoever.
The most, the most obvious thing
that we have happened quite a bit
is the fuel evaporator emission system gets clogged
and or as a problem with the check valve
or a problem with the purge valve
and it's not able to vent that tank when you're filling.
Okay.
And it's supposed to, it's supposed to release
so it can vent as you're putting fluid in
and make sure that, you know, there's no problems there.
So it's something's, something's broken in that system
and it's actually either the canister
is the worst case scenario where that canister
gets saturated with raw fuel
and that typically can happen if people are,
it can just happen over time
but it also happens if people overfill their tank
and don't stop, you know, they keep trying
to click in a little extra, click in a little extra,
you can run raw fuel into the system.
And if you would like more information on this,
Bert, you go listen to this episode of the podcast
when it comes out and go back a few minutes
because we just kind of hit on all of this.
You probably didn't catch the similarities
but that, that Ram pickup call,
we were trying to diagnose a similar problem
after he had it at the body shop.
But it really sounds like the problem is, is a,
is a easy one to fix, like you said.
But you just got to have somebody check that system
and see if there's any codes for, for valves or anything.
If not, it could just be the purge canister is saturated.
Bert, thanks very much for the call.
Good luck.
866-594-4150. Let's talk to Jim.
You're on the end of the hood show.
Jim, what can we do for you?
Hi, I've got an 06 Colorado and in the heater system,
it seems like when I turn it to defrost,
it sounds like the door opens like three quarters of the way
and then slam shut.
Is that a vacuum operated system
or is that a motor operated system?
In 06, that should be an electronic system
that uses actuators to move those doors underneath there.
And so in that scenario, you can most likely bet
that it's probably a problem where one of the doors
is probably, the motor is probably getting bad,
it tries to turn it.
When you say slam, you can hear it thump,
you know, kind of thuds back, correct?
Yeah, it's almost, it's almost obnoxious.
Yeah, and it's unusual for those,
that particular type of vehicle,
we haven't seen a lot of history of them
breaking the mechanisms inside the heater box.
It's typically related to-
Yeah, it doesn't sound like it's a problem.
No, and-
It just sounds like it just opens
three quarters of the way or whatever
and then loses whatever and slam shut again.
So is that when you're switching between like defrost,
is it the mode control or is it the,
is it when you're changing temperatures
or which scenario?
No, it's mode control.
It's only when I get to something
that'll have some defrost capabilities.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Most likely it's just the actuator
that needs to be replaced.
And, but when you have that off,
you can manually move the door,
just with the nub that sticks out
and just make sure that it moves freely
and it doesn't have any restrictions or problems
because it does happen at times
where things will lodge themselves in there
and it doesn't let them move freely.
They're full range of motion.
And is it slamming shut to make sure
it goes into defrost?
It's probably hitting a certain point
in the motor saying, I can't do that.
So let me make sure that-
I can't do that.
I fall back to where it's at.
So where's it stuck at?
I don't know.
Is that-
Pardon?
Is it stuck in one position then
all the time after it makes the noise?
No, no, it switches to all positions
but only in the defrost mode.
And you know, around here sometimes
you need to defrost mode during the winter.
Yeah.
Well, and I suppose there-
I suppose something could be just
getting moisture in it and then hanging up.
Is it-
If you've been driving it and things are warm
and then you go out and jump in it again
while it's still fairly warm,
does it do the same thing?
Or is it just when it's cold in the first time?
No, it's all the time when it, you know,
basically, yeah, it's all the time whenever
you want to try to hit anything under defrost.
And my next question is,
is how easy is that to get at?
I haven't even bothered to look at it yet.
I figured I'd wait till the weather warmed up
to do anything about it.
From what I remember on that vehicle,
there aren't any of those actuators you can't get at
without a little bit of contortion with your body.
I don't think they have any that require dash removal.
Because some of these vehicles, they're just,
it's crazy that they engineer them
that you have to take apart so much to get at them.
But I don't think that's the case on this,
on that year range of Colorado or Canyon.
If it were me, what I would do is I would
wait until the weather got nice.
And then I wouldn't need to do it.
And then you wouldn't do it.
And then I wouldn't do it because I don't,
because I don't, and then next year it would get cold again
and I wouldn't have to do it then because it's too cold.
So if you plan this, Jim, you can,
Hey, that's what I did this year.
Exactly, see, it's perfect.
Oh, I think, I do think you can get at it.
And it would be, it'd be a good exercise
if you don't want to do it yourself,
but have somebody else do it just to,
if nothing else, remove that motor,
don't run it with the, you know,
don't run the power with it disconnected.
Rust has brought that up many times.
You'll ruin that little motor.
But, and then just manually move that door
and see what it feels like to the touch.
And then from there, you'll know.
Yeah, maybe there's something sticky in there.
A leaf.
I mean, it was too thick.
Yeah, something like that in there.
All right, no after showed it.
No, I do have to go, but I do have to tell you
that's the first time that we've had rust
storm out of the studio.
But on the way out, he does a dip kiss with his wife.
Yeah, that was, uh, and it was not caught on camera
because we were talking.
So the, I think he wanted it to be a PDA.
The cameras were, he did not pick it up.
He wanted it to be a PDA.
I think so.
But he didn't succeed at that.
Uh-uh.
No, he didn't, he, well, there's always next time.
Michelle was surprised.
Next week, you two can do it.
I'll be quiet and the camera will catch you guys doing it.
No.
With Rust Evans, this is Shannon Orts
from thanking you for tuning into
the Nordstrom's Under the Hood Show.
Have a great day and remember, PTLA.
The opinions heard on this program,
based on the many years of experience of Rust 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 UnderthehoodShow.com.
Under the Hood is produced by Prairie House Productions.
All content is the property of Nordstrom's Automotive
Incorporated and may not be used without our permission.
Copyright Nordstrom's Automotive, Inc.
About this episode
The show dives into automotive troubleshooting and recalls, focusing on a major airbag recall affecting over 200,000 vehicles and the challenges of dealing with Takata airbags. The hosts discuss the legal and safety implications of recalls and parts availability, especially for older vehicles. They also take live calls, including a detailed technical explanation on fixing ABS sensor wiring issues on a Nissan Titan, offering practical DIY advice. The episode blends industry insights with hands-on repair tips, highlighting real-world problems and solutions for car owners.
Original notes
A fun Automotive repair and advice show with three guys giving accurate advice (most of the time) (: Working in the shop where they gain their knowledge they don't use in-studio computers to answe the car questions. It's all from memory. Call the Motor Medics to get your free advice or maybe just to talk cars. Watch them on YouTube too! HEre are toda's callers. 1. Russ wife visits the show. 2. Stellantis Air Bag Recall 3. Russ wife gets real 4. Why won't my truck take fuel when I fill it? 5. Is my Fords Powerstroke locked up? It won't crank. 6. Dakota air box issues and fueling problems.
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