"Car Down? Start With Diagnosis - Not Decisions | Take Control of Your Repair"
Car Connection Workshop
"Car Down? Start With Diagnosis - Not Decisions | Take Control of Your Repair"
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Concept
diagnosis
The show’s main idea is: figure out what’s actually causing the problem first. That way you don’t waste money guessing and replacing the wrong parts.
Concept
Q&A
They’re talking about a special episode format where listeners send in questions. The host picks a few and answers them, usually about car problems and repairs.
Concept
RSS feed
An RSS feed is basically the “delivery system” that tells podcast apps when a new episode is available. The host is working on the settings so episodes show up correctly for listeners.
Concept
repair orders (ROs)
A repair order is the paperwork the shop writes up for your car. It lists what they found, what they’re going to fix, and what you’ll be charged. If there’s ever a disagreement, that document is usually the most important proof.
Company
City Auto Sales and Leasing
This is the dealership sponsoring the show. They’re describing themselves as a used-car seller that tries to be straightforward and offer good-condition vehicles.
Concept
pre-owned automobiles
Pre-owned just means used cars. The point here is to shop for ones that are in good shape and priced fairly, not junk.
Concept
beater
A “beater” is a cheap used car you just need to get from A to B. It’s usually not the nicest car, but it can be a practical choice if you’re on a budget.
Term
Napa
NAPA is a company that sells car parts and supplies to shops and DIYers. The host is saying parts from NAPA have gotten expensive, which changes how they shop for repairs.
Car
Honda Civic DX
This is a specific version (trim) of the Honda Civic. The host is talking about a 1999 Civic DX hatchback, so it’s not just “a Civic”—it’s the exact kind of Civic they brought into the shop.
Term
five-speed
“Five-speed” means the car has a manual gearbox with five forward gears. It matters because manual and automatic cars can have different issues and different repair steps.
Concept
vehicle service file / file on every vehicle
It’s like keeping a folder for your car. When something breaks again, you can look back and see what was fixed before and what paperwork/warranty you still have.
Term
warranty
Warranty coverage determines whether a failed exhaust component should be replaced at no cost. The speaker uses the invoice to confirm whether the installed muffler qualifies for the expected warranty terms.
Term
muffler
A muffler is the part of the exhaust system that makes the car quieter. If it’s rusted out or damaged, replacing it can be a practical fix.
Concept
shop it around
“Shop it around” means getting multiple quotes or checking multiple sellers before buying a part. In repairs, this can significantly reduce out-of-pocket cost, especially for common parts like mufflers.
Term
hardware kit
The hardware kit is the set of small parts that hold the muffler in place. Using new hardware can prevent rattling and make the repair last longer.
Part
alternator
The alternator is what keeps your car’s battery charged while you drive. If it’s failing, the car’s electrical stuff can start acting weird and the battery may not stay charged.
Concept
car down
“Car down” describes a vehicle that’s out of service because it can’t be repaired or made safe to drive. In the episode’s context, it’s caused by delays, shortages, or incomplete preparation to fix known issues.
Concept
fleet vehicles
A fleet vehicle is a car a business uses for work. If it’s broken, the business loses time, so getting it repaired quickly matters a lot.
Company
Jenkins Automotive
Jenkins Automotive is the name of the shop the speaker worked at. They’re using it as an example of how they handled repairs and maintenance.
Term
parts cannon
“Parts cannon” describes a bad repair approach where a shop replaces multiple parts without properly diagnosing the underlying issue. It’s essentially trial-and-error that can waste money and time, and it can still leave the original problem unresolved.
Concept
repair order (RO)
A repair order is the paperwork the shop writes when you drop your car off. It’s how the shop documents what’s wrong and what they’re going to fix. If the paperwork isn’t filled out correctly, the shop might not get paid by the warranty.
Concept
shop rate
Shop rate is what a repair shop charges per hour for labor. Even if you’re just waiting or asking someone to stay and watch, that time can still be billed.
Part
radiator
The radiator helps keep the engine from overheating by cooling the coolant. If it fails, the engine can run too hot.
Part
brakes
Brakes slow the car down, and the parts that create friction wear out over time. That’s why brake service is a normal part of car ownership.
Part
tires
Tires wear out as you drive, and they also age even if tread looks okay. Replacing them is normal maintenance.
Part
starter
The starter is what turns the engine over when you turn the key or press the start button. If it fails, the engine may not crank.
Term
planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence is the idea that products are designed to wear out or become outdated on a schedule, encouraging replacement. The host argues that modern parts and materials (including lots of plastic) lead to more frequent failures and replacements.
Term
rice rocket
“Rice rocket” is slang for a fast-looking, performance-focused import car. In this episode, it’s used as a fun way to describe feeling like the car is “sporty” again after cosmetic fixes.
LIVE
Good morning folks, you're tuned in to Car Connection where the coffee is hot, the tools
are ready, and the talk is always tuned up.
I'm your host, Niall Motormouth Jenkins, coming to you straight from the Car Connection workshop
where we mix a little humor, a little know-how, and a whole lot of horsepower.
Here it's not just about fixing cars, it's about keeping you rolling, saving you money,
giving you the confidence to understand what's under that hood.
From the classics, to the commuters, to the weird noises, and the what the heck moments.
We've got you covered, so grab your coffee, sit back, join the crew, because this is Car Connection
your Monday through Saturday morning pit stop for stories, smarts, a few good laughs, and I'm Niall
Motormouth Jenkins. We are shifting it into drive. Well, we are officially on hump day,
middle of the week, just a couple of days away from Fun Friday, heading back into the weekend,
a bit of a short week for many. Yeah, lots to get done, and a short time to get there.
That's what I'm faced with this week, so please pray for me, would you? Yeah, lots of deadlines,
lots of new things to learn, and constantly moving in a forward direction. As my professor would
always say, if you're not moving forward, you're definitely going backwards.
Wow, that was deep, absolutely. Fun Friday coming up, big reminder, Q&A Saturday,
if you want one of your questions answered on the air, you had better get that into me,
and my email, the easiest email for you to remember, motormouth, one word, dot, dot,
don't forget the dot, Jenkins, J-E-N-K-I-N-S, just as it sounds, at gmail.com, motormouth.jankins,
at gmail.com, I always put that in the description box unless I have a brain fart, or a flat line,
or just a dead spot. If you ever had that, you walk into a room and you're just kind of standing
there and you're going, okay, I'm here for, I don't know, I just kind of circle the wagon for a minute,
and trying to remember, why did I go in there? Yeah, I had one of those just the other day,
went out, hoping it through the house, through the breezeway, to the shop, get to my toolbox,
and I'm standing there. So, I'm here for what? A couple minutes, okay, gotta go,
just came out to have a look around, I guess. Well, good, good morning to you, if you're just
pulling through the drive-thru, let's get things rolling this morning. There's always lots to talk
about when it comes to automobiles. So, remind, just another reminder, Saturday's Q&A, it's coming
up, that's a one-hour question and answer period. So, I pull the three best questions that arrive
into my email box, and then I share those out with all the listeners on all the platforms. So,
and the like, so wherever you're pulling your podcast from, just in the search bar, car connection
workshop, so that's simple, you'll find us, you'll find us, and or go right to our YouTube channel.
So, if you're subscribed on our YouTube channel, which I hope that you are, I haven't looked at
the percentage yet this week, but I'm hoping that goes down, that many of you are enjoying
the videos, which is great. Thank you very much to all of you who are enjoying the videos,
having a takeaway from each and every one, and especially your comments matter, leave me a comment.
You've got a question, pop it in there on the video, or shoot me an email, motormouth.jankinsatgmail.com,
but you'll find all our podcasts are exporting over to our YouTube channel, and unfortunately,
I have to go in every 24 hours and make 10 more season one podcasts from public, I mean from
private to public. So, that avoids our YouTube channel from getting kind of locked down by the
algorithms and over, if we overload them, that can cause a serious shutdown problem. So, I just
grouped 10 at a time, and I think I've got it figured out where there was one more step I needed
to take on the RSS feed for the podcast to automatically export and go public. So, we'll
see how that works out on today's program. So, you can grab our podcast there, all of season one is
there, as I mentioned, I'm taking a block of 10 podcasts at a time and moving them from private
to public so that you can access them, but they're all there, they are all there, but not all of them
are public yet, can't do that. So, enough said on that, brings us to the biggest drawer in our
toolbox, which is our homepage or our website, that is done on purpose, so that there aren't so
many choices for you to go to, we keep it simple, stupid, no that's not nice, just keep it super
simple, kiss, yeah. So, motormouth.jankins at gmail.com is the email, there is a website form as well on
our homepage of our website, click on the contact tab and a menu will drop down and you'll find it,
you will find it instantly, contact, yeah, something like that. Anyways, yeah, there's a website form
there, that's correct, yes, we have a winner, we'll have our morning beverage in just a moment and
the daily weather report brought to you by our certified financial planning professionals, Tony
Miele, Larry Tietro, 50 years experience as fiduciaries with IG Wealth Management, these guys
are two of the most decorated CFPs in Canada, but I'll tell you what, you'll never hear mention it,
they're very, very humble, they don't need any more clients, they just wanted to be a part of
what I've been doing here with car connection and now car connection 2.0, you have a lot more ways
to connect and engage with us, having YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Stevensvilleontheweb.ca,
we are the professional on that website, thank you to Skippy, our videographer who put that site
together, my pops lives in Stevensville, our videographer lives in Stevensville, she created
that website to create a communal website connecting the community to the family owned
operated businesses and eateries in the Stevensville area, so just click on the businesses tab,
you'll find our profile page, it's really good, Skippy puts up reels and things like that, bloopers
and blunders on Facebook and Instagram, you won't see those videos anywhere else, and we also have
an online store and thank you to all of you who have made a purchase, grab some car connection
motor mouth gear and be part of the crew that is battling for those who are struggling through
addiction to help get them the support they need at Total Freedom Addiction Centers in
Canada and USA where a new life waits for them there, so those who are made that decision today
is the day, if I have to eat lime of beans for a whole year in really cold coffee, I'll do it and
I'll like it, those those are the folks who are looking to help, they got to be ready and willing
and wanting to get to one of the Total Freedom Addiction campuses where that's what they deal
with, it's not a program, it's a life change, so thank you to all of you who have been jumping into
our online store making a purchase, getting the right size of color and getting it shipped directly
to your door and that is all being taken care of by one of the businesses that runs on the USA campus
of Total Freedom, Freedom Expressions, they do t-shirts and paraphernalia, advertising and
marketing stuff, they create it right on site and that's how they have, they're completely
self-contained, so they don't get any outside funding, government grants etc, it's businesses,
it's the businesses they have built up on their campus so that as those who are going through
the addiction change, the last phase is getting them into responsibility,
showing up for a job, getting paid and the money is set aside from them, they have access to it but
it's still under, you know, discipline and it's just amazing, so if you have a moment sometime,
just click on the link under, just click on their logo on the homepage of our website and check out
Total Freedom Addiction Centers, Canada and USA, it is amazing to see lives being changed just like
that, it's just over the top, that's what they do and so thank you again to all those who have
been grabbing some merch on our in and on our online store at CarConnectionBusinessNetwork.com,
CCBusNet.com and again all that information, I always plant it in the description boxes for
YouTube videos and our podcasts as well, so I do my best to make sure I'm giving you all kinds of
nuggets in the descriptions so I would definitely and highly recommend that you take the time not to
just to scan but to actually read the description boxes for the YouTube videos and the podcast
because I plant purposely a lot more information and some more nuggets that will help to protect you
in the automotive repair business because as I mentioned before, the most popular email I've
received in 32 years, we're in our 32nd year of CarConnection and it would be, you know,
advantage of me, ripped me off, in other words, in your words, that's usually what I see. Do you
think they ripped me off? Well, let's take a look and see what's going on but there's two things that
that I really need to know in order to determine that for you is A, I really need to have a look
at the car myself and verify what they did was done because that's a problem out there. I'm telling
you, I'm going to be talking about that when I do the program on, I spoke about it yesterday, ROs,
repair orders, making sure if you want to protect yourself ladies, mostly the ladies at the counter,
you have to make sure you're making the service advisor completely fill out the RO, the repair order.
With your wishes on there so that the repair order is where it starts and has to begin if you
want to protect yourself from being ripped off and we're going to get into that, not today,
but I'm planning that out so that I stay on track. So yeah, let's get into our morning coffee together
before it goes too cold. It's actually quite hot right now. So this is how we do it. If you're
joining us for the first time, you need a 16 pack of crayola crayons, a folding up leaf bag,
and if you don't have a co co-pilot in the car with you, then you can just catch the podcast
later because it will be uploaded and you can grab all the information from there. But if you do have
a skippy in your car, you say here's the crayons, here's take some notes, take some notes please.
So grab your coffee through the takeout window, whatever that looks like, double check your order,
lock it down, and let's have a swiggy on 321. That's how we do it. Brought to us by
City Auto Sales and Leasing, Earl and Louise Grant and husband and wife team. They are car guys through
and through. If you or someone you know is on the hunt to make a vehicle purchase this spring,
you firing that way because they can buy with confidence, be treated with nothing less than
honesty and integrity. They provide amazing, I'm going to say outstanding quality vehicles,
low mileage, fair prices. That's why we call them Greater Toronto Areas Premier pre-owned
auto stores. So check in with Earl and Louise Grant. They carry a pretty decent inventory under
roof and outside. If you check them out and you don't see the vehicle you're looking for,
here's the deal. They have the resources to find those low mileage, fair priced vehicles.
They don't sell any junk. They don't bring any junk. They don't sell any junk. That if they
take in a trade, they put it in the used car corral and they go away. That's what they do. So if
you're looking for something that you just want to grab as a beater, let them know because they
do take in trades but they don't put them back out on the lot in most cases. So let them know what
you're specifically looking for and let Earl and Louise Grant do a thousand, save you a thousand
steps. How's that? So on 321, let's say thank you to City Auto Sales and Earl and Louise Grant for
over 25 years providing fantastic, outstanding pre-owned automobiles. Thanks Earl and Louise.
321. I put a little piece of ginger in there this morning. I think that's helping with the
sinus. Sometimes I wake up and I feel like, is there a rock in my forehead? I don't know.
Could be. Remember my teacher saying, Jenkins, do you have rocks in your head?
No. Why? Do you need one? Go outside and get one for you.
That's alrighty. Very, very good. Thank you to Niagara Block at 5000 Montrose Road,
Niagara Falls, building Canada since 1931. They've been in the falls and hopefully we
get an opportunity to post some of the black and white pictures from 1931. What Niagara Falls looks
like. They have a lot of history posted up at the plant and that would be great to just be able to
maybe snap a small video that you could click on and have a look for yourself. Providing building
supplies, all the materials that you need to build your project whether it's hardscape landscaping
or you're looking at adding on a workshop or something, get in touch. And Kathy Grimo,
she's at the front desk, ask if you're in need of a contractor, she has a list of quality referrals.
So check in. Nothing beats getting a quality referral to someone who can estimate the job
is easy to work with, starts and finishes the job and at the end of it you're super duper happy.
What do we got today for weather? Well, let's take a look. Shall we? Let's have a look.
I don't know. This is the answer. Oh, hang on. We're on the wrong. There we go. We can put this
together now. Sure we can. Today we have, I think we're going to have a high in the 50s. We are.
Today the high is, high for today is 53 degrees low. Overnight low is going to be 26
yesterday. We had some snow flurries yesterday. The high yesterday was 35 and the overnight
low was 26. It's a little crispy out there this morning at 430. Let me tell you that.
26 degrees right now. Yeah, that's a little frosty. Everything's covered in frost here in
the south shores of Lake Erie. Mostly clear. Yes, I agree. I can see stars in the moon.
Wind is making it feel a whole lot colder about 25. Clear conditions will continue all day.
And today's temperature range from 26 to 53 degrees Fahrenheit and it will feel like because of the
wind, 23 to 56. How does that work? I don't know. I'm just a messenger. I'm not the message. Enjoy
your day. Precipitations, I got zero on both sides of the map. So no snows, no wetness. Boy,
out in the Midwest, they're just getting stinking hammered. One of my favorite channels,
the wood box. What's it called? The wood something? The wood something.
Chris. Yeah, he's a wood farmer and he sent some videos out yesterday. Two and a half feet of snow.
Possibly three. Yeah, you can keep that there. Absolutely. Let's move on. And speaking of moving
on this morning, I want to say also a thank you to Crystal Ridge Dream Center for all that they do
to help kids, single moms, seniors, widows, orphans, whatever they are there for. And every Tuesday,
every Friday, they feed hot meals out the door and they're feeding between 260 and up 260 people
and up. They get no outside funding from anywhere. So it comes from local businesses
and people like you and me serving men and women and children meals, love, hope and lots of programs
available. They have a great single moms, single dads program, a great program for you just designed
for you guys, you fellas and fellas changing lives one at a time the Niagara region, especially in the
times when community support is crucial. Crystal Ridge Dream Center shines as a beacon of compassion
and transformation. They're a non-profit faith based organization. They're out there doing
what we're too busy to do. So if you can support them in any way shape or form, send them some
grocery cards, a one time gift, become a monthly giver. Maybe you've got some spare time,
check in with them. They're always looking for volunteers because some of them actually really,
really, really, really retire and move away. And I'll tell you, they're volunteers. They love what
they do there. They really, really do enjoy their time there and helping out. So thank you to all
our program partners because without them, we simply wouldn't be able to have made the adjustment
from radio over to digital and have somebody supporting us as we get our feet anchored in the
ground. So help us on all our platforms. Like, share, follow, subscribe. Make sure you're subscribed
if you haven't checked for a while because here's what I've noticed about the algorithms.
For some reason, and I've discovered this myself, you know, that all of a sudden I'll say,
oh, I'm not getting any notifications from this channel, this channel, this channel,
what happened? And then I go and look and I'm unsubscribed and I did not unsubscribe. So
check, make sure you're subscribed, hit the notification bell so you don't miss any videos
whatsoever. We have a new series coming up. We're just wrapping up some mini series and two posted
yesterday, part one, part two, and Friday you'll get another video as well. So we post three,
we upload three new videos every single week. So we run a tight schedule and now I'm working on
getting up to seven YouTube shorts a week as well. So that's something I'm doing on my own. I leave
Skippy alone. She has other things to do as well outside of helping us out here in the car connection
workshop. So this morning's title, but I think before we get in there, get right into it. I
wanted to share just a follow up from yesterday. Yesterday was the spring inspection really counts
and I'm bringing vehicles in from our own personal fleet, vehicles we use for getting things done
around the homestead here, and as well as life, we're getting life, you know, life gets busy,
amen, it sure does. Sometimes you need to just kind of take a whole week off just to get things
accomplished. I wanted to just follow up on parts, automotive parts. I mentioned yesterday
that the best thing I do for myself and my customers and those who come in that we're shooting
videos, we're fixing it and we're, you know, we've been given the privilege and also allowed to shoot
a video on somebody's vehicle. We make sure we protect the license plate, of course, for their
privacy, their privacy. And so they give us permission to do that. I shop it. I got to shop
parts like crazy. I've been a Napa guy for 44 years and I'll be honest, I haven't been able to really
support them as much as I have in the past because the prices are crazy. So I mentioned
yesterday, I brought in the shop so far, the 99 Honda Civic DX, two-door hatchback, five-speed
air conditioning, one owner car. And, you know, I got the opportunity, the privilege of purchasing it
from the owner who's been a car connection listener now for 32 years and we continued
caregiving. And I'll tell you, my friend Jillian did a great job. So Jillian, if you're listening,
great job sister taking care of that car and it still looks like the day I got it from me,
probably even better. Yeah, because I got rid of the decaying sun visors and the headliner
was starting to sag and I replaced all of that last summer. I managed to find a perfect donor
vehicle exactly the same. It was like deja vu, same car, same color,
two-door hatch. It was bizarre. It was like that vehicle was put there just for me. So I managed to
get all the things that I needed to make this vehicle top drawer and it went to its very first
car show last year, which was really, that was something I never even thought would happen.
But anyhow, it's been in the shop and we're dealing with a sunscorched front bumper. It's
going to get painted tonight here in the shop. I'll do that myself. And number two, the mufflers
all falling apart inside and it doesn't have a ton of mileage on since I put it on there.
So I went pulling, here's where I'm going with it. Having a file on every vehicle that you have in
your household makes life so much easier. Okay, so that's vehicle number one. I needed to find out
is that muffler covered? It's turned into corn flakes inside. It's not rotted out by any means on
the outside, but the inside of the thing, the baffles are loose, makes a horrendous sound
when you drive it. So many of you might go, oh, well, you know, it's not really leaking or anything,
but here's the problem. If the baffles come loose and block the tailpipe, the car will shut off.
Do you want that to happen? That's the big question. No, I do not want to experience that.
You're in traffic and the exhaust pipe gets plugged from the inside of the muffler and now what?
What are you going to do? Yeah, you're stuck. So it's better to get it off of there before it
goes to the next level. That's my point. Don't let it go to the next level. So I pulled the file,
I found the receipt for the muffler in there called the Napa guys and then discovered it wasn't a
walker muffler because those come with, if you buy the top end walkers, they come with a one year,
a lifetime warranty or a one year. I can't remember now. So you get more warranty out of it and the
walker stuff does last. Well, this was not a walker muffler as I discovered on the invoice.
It was a something or other I've never even heard of and I used to work in the exhaust industry for
many years during the early 80s when the major recession was on apprentices were out of work.
And so I got a job in an exhaust warehouse and I learned a lot. I learned a lot of stuff there.
Let me tell you, I really did. So I call them no, it only had a 90 day warranty.
If I knew, if I knew that at that time, I would not have touched that part. If a company can only
give me and I'm putting that part on your car 90 days on it, what should that tell me?
J-U-N-K, junk. Now, there is a place for that junk. If you're bought, you know, if you bought
something to flip it or, you know, you just want to get a vehicle that you're, you know, you don't
need anymore through a safety into the hands of someone else and you're putting a brand new muffler
on because the one that's on there is in bad shape. You're giving them a good head start.
Yeah. You're not giving them top drawer materials, but you're also not sending it out
with a muffler patched up and looks like, you know, something out of a wrecking yard or even worse.
Yeah. So we don't want to do that. So that's a place for something like that. A winter beater,
throw the 90 day job, jobby on there. If you get a year or two out of it, hey, what the heck?
So anyways, I installed that muffler in 2021, but there isn't, haven't put a ton of mileage on
the little rocket, the Honda, the 99 Honda, but just the same. It's completely come apart inside.
It's over. So, so I asked, I asked, well, how much for like a Walker muffler? $261.
I go, um, yeah, I said, I'm well connected in the exhaust industry. So I said, well,
I'm going to shop it around. I said, I got connections and they know I'm honest with them.
I just say, you know, I'm going to shop it. So I find it and on one of my online stores that I,
I like to deal with, are you ready for this? The Walker muffler quoted $261, $127.
See what I'm saying? That's why I'm sharing this with you. $127,
261 before tax. And that's my garage price after 44 years.
Yeah. $127 for the Walker muffler. And I got the hardware kit for $10. So I don't waste time with
old hardware. Just cut it off and, and be done with it. Not going to wrestle with old hardware.
That's for sure. Put a new spring bolt kit in, install in a gasket and you're done.
Bing, bang, boom. Hang it on the hangers, you're finished in like less than a half an hour.
So there's, there's number one, number two, the 2007 FJ Cruiser. I talked about that yesterday.
The alternator is screaming. Yeah, this is the third alternator, roughly around every 100,000.
That's what I'm saying. The, the original one lasted the longest from 07. And then there was a
second one, then a third one. So factory one replacement, another replacement and now another
replacement. But here's where, here's where I got sharp on the last replacement was as replacement
number two. I made sure I was buying an alternator that has lifetime warranty. So there's no mileage
or month and it goes void. Ready for this? That alternator $662. My cost, $662. The last I bought
it was 356. Yeah, that was in 2023. And again, I went to the folder for the old 7 FJ Cruiser.
And I knew the receipt would be in there and the warranty card and everything. It was all
stapled together. Bing, bang, boom. It's worth your while to keep good records. Not smushed up
and jammed in the glove box or behind the pocket in the seat to actually put a folder together.
When you have your invoice and you get home and it's all paid for and the car's fixed,
slip it in there. Put the newest ones at the front. That's how I do it. Put the newest ones
at the front of the folder. So when I go to the hanging folders and I find it, all the vehicles
are in a row in the hanging drawer folder file thingies and they're by model year and I pull
the folder took me all of about two minutes. Final receipt gave McCall. Yes, we have one here.
So to avoid paying pre paying it. So in other words, if I wanted that alternator yesterday
and I haven't taken it off yet, it's the old sevens coming in the shop for its spring maintenance
as well. Oil change check over. I know I have an axle oil seal that's starting leak. I can smell it
and I see a little oil there. So we got to assess that see what it's going to take to make that
tighten right again and anything else that is developed. So if it's not off, you got to buy
the next one up front and then get reimbursed for the whole schmiel when you give them the old
one. So in other words, if I wanted it yesterday, I would have paid $662. Let's just call it 660
plus the core, which would be 72 bucks there about plus the tax and write them a check for
how much? Yeah, over 800 bucks. And then take the old one back and get a credit get credit
it back. I'm like, no, that's a lot of paperwork, man. Just forget it. I'll wait till I have it off.
Then your driver can come and we can switch them out. And it cost me Zippo. So if that were your
FJ, that's how I work for you. That's why when I say I'm not here and have not been on the air
with car connection for the manufacturers, for the dealerships, for parts suppliers,
and parts manufacturers, I'm here for you folks teaching you what I know and how to work it
and how to play the car game. So that's how I play the car game and I won.
I set myself up to win. And that is the key. That's what I'm trying to teach you. So if you're
looking to keep a vehicle long term, keep the older vehicle, which is more reliable, I got to tell
you that the quality is better, older is better, and it's more reliable. Period. The stuff that I
see going on. I don't know. I just I shake my head. I go, if you gave it to me, I would say,
please take that thing out of my driveway. Thank you very much. It's going to cost me
an arm and a leg when things are not covered by warranty. And even if they are, I may have a car
down or a vehicle down for six to 12 months, because they're not prepared to fix their shortcomings.
And they get overwhelmed. And then if NHTSA gets involved, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Act, because it's a safety related issue, now all vehicles are grounded. And if they don't have
updated parts to get you going again, guess what, your car down. And that's what we're talking about
today. Car down. Now what? Now what? So here's two vehicles, two fleet vehicles in our own personal
fleet that need that are getting their spring checkovers. Everything was fine going into the
winter. This is my point. Everything was fine on both going into the winter. There was a funny noise
that we heard on that on the rocket back in the fall, but I couldn't it wasn't sticking out to me.
And I said, we'll catch it in the spring. Let's let it develop a little bit. And I ended up,
I didn't even use the vehicle all winter. We kind of tucked it away and and said, you know what,
let's just save this car from the winter. It's pretty. And it had its first car show last year.
So I'm going to take it out to cars and coffee in St. Catherine's, one of the big churches there.
Central Community Church has cars and coffee, I believe on Thursday nights, but I'll get in touch
with the coordinator on that and find out and go out and spend some time with the young fellas with
their tuner cars and whatnot and let them gaga over the 99 Honda Civic DX two door hatchback.
Air conditioning is cold enough to put penguins in the car. So we'll do a once I got it back running
here. I will certainly do an air conditioning service and make sure everything's top door.
And you're not panicking when the heat comes on. So let's jump into this morning's topic with both feet.
Season two episode 132. And if you go looking for previous episodes, it's it's all easy peasy for
gives you the season and the episode number and also the title of the podcast. So whatever you
will remember what you were listening to, you'll find it very, very easy, very, very quickly.
So your car down vehicle goes to the shop on the back of the AAA or CAA or tow truck,
whoever come to pick it up. It's car down situation. Now what? Well, just as I talked about,
that's why it was a good prerequisite to the topic this morning is we got to get a diagnosis going
a diagnostics, not a trinostics. Trinostics is where we get that we get the parts cannon out
and start splattering it with parts. We don't want to work with those texts. And I'll tell you
right now, finding yourself a solid gold mechanic that doesn't wait for your car to break down and
come in on the flatbed. He helps you to stop it from breaking in the first place. You find that
service tech at a shop that you can trust, you've found yourself a repair shop that's watching out
for you and your automobile. That's what we did at Jenkins Automotive and repairs for 11 years.
We worked hard to prevent your vehicle from coming in on a flatbed. We did not want,
we were in an automobile. We did not want our competitors that lived right next door to us.
On both sides, we were in the middle and there's car shops in the home
automobile. To my left and to my right. I never really viewed them as competition.
We helped each other out. And there, you know what?
As a shop, you can't fix every car. It's not, you cannot possibly do it. We had 500 steady
clients and that kept us hopping because constant maintenance. We had all our customers,
our clients we call, I don't want customers, I want clients. That means they're loyal to you,
I'm loyal to them, period. You know, they don't go chasing the flavor of the month.
Well, there's a coupon over there. We'll go over there. Those vehicles are the worst
maintained vehicles on the face of the planet where they go to this shop, then they go over
there for that, over here for this. Don't do that. Get tied in with a solid gold mechanic
that doesn't wait for your car to break. He gets to know it. There's the difference.
I knew every customer's vehicle, every client, client in our shop. I knew their vehicles,
their daughter, their son, their husbands. I knew all their vehicles and I could pull their file
and check and see what was done last. It was great. And they loved it too because their
vehicles weren't breaking down. So when they left from the service, we booked the cars in
for their next appointment right away so that we knew ahead of time who's coming,
who's coming. And the clients were really good. If they had to change up, they knew,
don't be afraid, just call the office and we'll push it out. We'll change it up. That way we're
not wasting a spot that somebody else could get because we had a waiting list. I always tried
my best to make sure we got people in the door in less than 10 days, less than seven days. And that
we had a little space on our calendar for the super duper can't deal without the car emergency
program. Yeah. So we did everything we could to make sure that our clients were getting back out
on the road as quick as possible. But we did the maintenance form. We guided them with maintenance
and we were huge on teaching that. So you need to have so it's car down. Now what? It's on the
flatbed. It's on its way to the shop. Do you have a diagnostician at the shop where your vehicle
goes to? Do you have peeps in there, mechanics in there that are top drawer diagnosticians, not
parts cannons, where they're going to throw a bunch of parts at it, give you a call and go,
well, you know, it needs this and this and this and this. And then the stories start coming out.
And that's not good. When I hear the stories, you know, how this is tied in with that. And,
you know, the knee bones connected to the elbow and blah, blah, blah. I started from going right
away parts cannon. We don't know how to diagnose. And that's going to cost you a bundle. So you
have to make sure that how do we prevent the diagnostic phase from going through the window
and breaking the bank. This is where we will nail it on the program, the podcast I do on
ROs repair orders. The moment you're checking in with your vehicle is absolutely of utmost
importance to saving your butt and your wallet from taking a hit. So you have to take the helm.
I know you many people they roll their eyes are going, Oh, I don't need another thing on my plate.
Well, sorry to tell you, if you're wanting to lose weight and get into your mankini fellas,
for the summer, you can't do it from the armchair, eating bonbons and drinking cola or cold snacks.
You're going to get bigger. So you're going to have to put an effort to get to the desired result.
So it all starts at the counter with the advisor. And I'll tell you this again, no disrespect,
but it's spending a whole week in class all day, every day to learn from the manufacturer
that the RO had better be filled out completely if you're wanting to get paid warranty on the job.
Miss something and the claim gets denied twice. It's done. So if that repair order had $10,000
worth of warranty work on it, you're getting zero, zero. So they give you two kicks at the cat
and maybe the hamster, maybe, and it's over. You're not, they can't put the claim in again. So now
you got to go to the general manager and tell him you just botched up a $10,000 RO repair order
and can't put the claim back in. But I found a way that you could, but I never told the general
manager that that was my relationship between that I built between the manufacturer's rep and
myself. We had a lot of trust, a lot of honesty on the table and we both respected each other.
And I could ask and I would get, but if the general manager asked, he wouldn't get. He didn't have
that rapport. I built that rapport. So anyhow, you've got to make sure that you protect yourself
at that point, diagnostic. So there's four levels, the concern, the cause, the correction, and
confirmation. We had that drilled into us for a whole week. All four things have to be covered on
the RO, the repair order. And I say that because this is, this pertains to you. If you don't want
to get ripped off, it starts right here with the diagnosis. You don't give them a blank check.
Okay, sequence one, cars coming on the flatbed. What's wrong with it? It's an IDK. I don't know.
Right? You don't know. I don't know. It's a diagnosis. Sequence one is going to be
diagnosed, vehicle doesn't run. Okay, so don't give them a blank check. What do I mean by that?
You're going to give them and make sure it's written on sequence one, vehicle towed in, no start
diagnose. You're authorizing and write it right on there. If they won't do it, you do it. I authorized
one hour of diagnosis time and want a follow up to discuss further diagnosis. Got that? One hour.
I am authorizing one hour of diagnostic time and then a follow up to review
further diagnosis if required. Sign it, print your name and date it and even go further one step
further the time. Put the time next to it. Now you've given them a check that's fully filled out
and signed for one hour only. Got it? That's how you protect yourself. That you gave yourself
a huge back door. They come to you and want to bill you for two hours. I authorized one hour of
diagnosis time with a follow up and review for further diagnosis if required. Signed, printed,
print your name so you know they don't say well this could be Elvis that signed this.
Can't make out the signature. A sign, a print, a date and a time if you like. Now you're locked in.
Now they're locked in. Got it? They're locked in. So you know when they start working on it,
they're only and they know they're going to get one hour. They're only getting one hour and they
better have their poop together when they have to call you and then you can tell them at that point.
Best way to connect with you. Email, zoom call, send me a video or text me or phone. So five ways
of communication. You let them know right there on the spot and make sure that's put right on the
work order. Customer contact prefers text, email, phone, zoom, video or other. Smoke signal and
perhaps maybe a carrier pigeon. I don't know what maybe those could be added in as you know potential
alternates. So I say that to say that's where it begins ladies. That's where it begins. You're in
the driver's seat. It's your automobile. It's your cash. You got to make sure you put a lid on it so
that the parts cannon does not come out of the closet and bury your bank account. Number two,
right on the work order. I require estimates on any further repairs to be discussed before
giving authorization. If you have to hand write it on there, you hand write it on there and again
whatever your whatever request you're making on the work order, the repair order, you make sure
you've signed it, printed your name and dated it and even go as far as putting the time on there.
Now you're protected. Number two, there's your safety net number two. So here what are we trying
to prevent here? The parts cannon. Yeah, Trinostics. Trinostics are killing people in the repair shops.
Yeah, throwing parts at it till they get it right. That's not diagnosis. That's Trinostics. Step number
three, to decide to fix it or not to fix it. And I tie that in with step number four, careful,
be careful with knowledge before deciding. Okay, so number one, I don't care what the
vehicle's worth curbside. Just forget about it. Just forget about it. Exactly. That's a sales
getting sucked into being a consumer instead of a prosumer. So you got it. Here's what you got to do.
You got to take a step back. You got to say, what is this whole entire ordeal going to cost?
So again, you can add that right on to your repair order.
Before you you give the keys in, I require a full,
fully disclosed cost, labor and parts before go ahead is given. Sign it, sign that line,
print your name, sign it, print date and time if you wish. Now your work order is completely
locked in. You've got three stages. You've protected yourself on the diagnostic. So we're
not getting five hours of diagnostic time. A really good automotive tech should be able to
diagnose within an hour. Unless it's something super weird. And we can come across that. But
that's where communication needs to happen. Communication needs to happen. And if you
don't start that communication right at the time you bring the car in and fill that repair order
out correctly, there will be no communication. Because here's something I learned about being
involved in radio for 31 years. They all work in the non communication communication business.
Let me tell you. Thank goodness they didn't work for the car manufacturer I worked for. They were
all been put to the curb like a garbage can. They would have been done. The suits come at five on
Friday, somebody's leaving. Yeah, and probably doesn't even know. That's how it would work. The
five o'clock surprise, suits are here, somebody's going. That's how that works. They would never
get away with it. Never. So diagnose, protect yourself. Assess the cause. You want to know
exactly what it's going to be parts labor and tax all in out the door. That protects you.
Number three, to fix it or not to fix it. Here's where take a step back. Who cares if it's a $200
car curbside, I could care less. It's paid for. If it's solid, and the foundation is solid,
it's not rotted out engines running good, transmissions working well, and it's maintained.
Then I take a look if it's 2800 bucks, I just throw that number out there. It seems to be a
magical number on a lot of repair orders that I've reviewed lately. 2800 seems to be the magic
number. You go, okay, if I went and bought another vehicle today, how many car payments would it be
to meet the 2800? And then that's going to be a vehicle that's going to have to have service and
repair as well. Unless it's brand new, you're going to have some kind of lame warranty from the
manufacturer. I just saw something that actually made my head spin was Chrysler.
Yeah, they really stepped up to the plate with their warranty seven years. It's 770,
I think it is, is what I saw. I will double check that. And I kind of did a, you know,
get my age away and lend a Blair rotation, head rotation,
all the way back to the front and went, wow, that's saying something. I will double check that and
find out exactly what is because I was just skimming through, I was lighting the fireplace.
And I don't read newspapers, just the local newspaper to see what's going on in town because
if it's in print, it's got to be true. And a lady drops off bags of newspapers for me and I'm,
you know, as I'm crumpling up and making twisties to get the fireplace going, I came across that
newspaper article and I think it was the night I think she reads the night review. So I went, wow,
that's like, I didn't hear that one. So I'll do some homework on it. I think Chrysler may have
stepped up to the plate and maybe starting a bit of a warranty war, which wouldn't be too bad.
Like I said, 90 days on a muffler. Come on, folks. You know what that tells me about your product?
Not a whole lot of confidence in your product, which means what I can't see that you put together
inside the muffler is probably nothing but hoopty. Yeah, it's not like you can cut open a muff,
a muffler. Can I have a look at that inside first before I pay for it? Not going to happen. So now
you know, now you know that product is only good for 90 days. Anyhow, so here's where you want to
slow it down. What's the ultimate repair out the door all in fixed up in the vehicles, you know,
if you haven't had it evaluated a while to see how it's doing health wise, that would be a good
time to have that done as well. So you can make a decision with what? All the information. That's
what you need. Make a decision to move forward and continue with that automobile based on all
the information, not just some all of it. So you can then make what an informed decision. So many
people botch this area up. That's why I'm parking on it a little bit. Don't do not botch it up.
You've done everything to this point car down. Now what? Diagnose assess the cost to fix it or
not to fix it. Number four, careful with knowledge before deciding to botch it up.
Take a look at the big picture. Get the emotions back in the box. Okay.
We don't want any amygdala hijackings here. You can Google that later. It's real. That's where
when emotions are high, intelligence is low. That's how that works. Why did I have to study that?
Let me tell you the intense moments of fellowship between husband and wife in my waiting area at
my shop. There were times where I'd have to take them. Can we just take this out into the shop for
a minute? Yeah, because they're going at it. Why'd you let this happen? Blah, blah, blah. Yeah,
nuclear holocaust just like that. And I'm just standing there going at that time. Our shop rate
was $65 an hour ago. Can I step in just for a moment? I got other work to do. You're going to be a
while because my hourly rate is 65 an hour. If you want me to stand here and monitor your discussion,
somebody's got to pay me for my time. And I'm actually working for you right now. And they'd
get to a decision very quickly. So that's how I learned about when intelligence, when emotions
are high, intelligence level drops almost to zero. It's called an amygdala hijacking. It's a little
almond shaped thing that we have in our brains. When the emotions get going and cooking, the amygdala
gets out of control. So Google that sometime today and fact check me, okay? So you got to learn this
stuff. So when you're having to make a decision and faced with, do we fix it? Do we dump it?
Do we donate it? Do we send it to the the U Plucket Department at the Wreck and Yard?
And it'll be just ripe for the plucking. That's good for somebody else, but it may not work out
good for you because the decision may be wrong. Okay, we want to slow it down. As I already mentioned,
forget about what it's worth curbside. If it's paid for, it's structurally sound,
then everything else on that vehicle is serviceable, repairable, or replaceable. Period. One cost. So
I come back to our FJ. If I had to pay for that $660 alternator plus tax
and labor, would I pitch it to the curb? It's an 07. You know, that's, that's quite, I hear this
from, well, you know, that thing's quite old. I don't know why, you know, why are you putting
money into it? And I go, it's paid for. Oh, that's what I usually hear. Oh, I said, yeah, it would
just be smart to fix it. Would it not? $660 alternators wear out on every vehicle.
Starters, alternators, tires, brakes, exhaust, steering, lights, wiring, radiator, thermostat,
oil, filters, wipers, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It happens on everything. So whether it's
older, or whether it's a couple of years old, stuff where it's wear and tear. And I really
affirm believer in planned obsolescence based on the quality that I see in the parts on vehicles
and all the plastic coming out. Honest to goodness, if they can, if they could make the whole car out
of plastic, you'd just have to put in your blue box when you're finished with it. You might get
tagged. You might get blown in by the curbside fellas. That could possibly happen. So I'm making
light of it, but it's important. Don't get sucked in to the car game and be a loser at it. You can
be a winner, an absolute winner that crushes it, putting money back in your pocket. So if you got
a bill of $2,800 to get this vehicle back in working order, divide that by 12 months, would you?
Could you do that math? Yes, you can. Just take that number and divide it by 12. That's going to tell
you how much that vehicle is costing you over the next 12 months, per month, to run it. I guarantee
you, all of you, that it will not even come close to the cost of making a couple of car payments.
Or if you divide $2,800 by 12, it's not even going to come close to a tank of fuel.
You're not going to get a car payment for around a tank of fuel. It's not going to happen.
Not realistic. So you see where I'm going with this? That's how you play the car game, folks.
Yeah, my FJ Cruiser. I could probably sell it for $25,000 in a heartbeat. Why? Because they don't
make them anymore and everybody keeps leaving a note on my windshield. Call me if you're interested
in selling it. And that's what you'll pay for an 07, around $25,000. The lady I bought it off
of paid $42,000 to $44,000 for that and 07 brand new. That was a lot of money then. That was a ton
of money back then when vehicles started hitting $30,000, $35,000, $40,000, $55,000. And now what?
Yeah. Silverado pickup truck. Check that out sometime. How much they are. It'll blow your freaking
mind. There's no stinking way I'm going to pay $100,000 for anything that is made of sheet metal
and rubber unless it does like 300 miles an hour. Yeah, but where are you going to drive that fast?
Just the same. You buy a high performance vehicle like that. You got to remember one thing. Where
do you get to actually really stretch its legs? You got to go to a brace track somewhere and
get a membership and get your license to run on the track and stuff. It just gets ugly.
There's a place for that. The auto bond. Exactly. Going on vacation with my car
to drive the auto bond. Unlimited speed limit. But that's not happening. So just a quick review.
Car down. Now what? Number one, diagnose. Prepare order. Tie it in at one hour. Lock it up.
Number two, assess the cost. A complete estamade. Parts, labor, tax, all in price.
Lock it down. Number three, the decision to fix it or not to fix it.
Tie that in with number four. Let the emotions drop off. Oh, another thing on this freaking car,
this old jalapeno collector's piece. Come on. Careful with knowledge before deciding the fate
of that automobile. What is the total cost? Divide it by 12. Take a look at the number.
The vehicle's solid. You know the car and it's reliable. Done. It's a done deal at that point.
A done deal. I don't even think about it. I shared two vehicles from our personal fleet.
Would I trash the 99 Honda Civic DX with almost 300,000 K on it
for a muffler? Pull the front bumper cover. It needs just some cosmetic. I like to stay ahead
of the cosmetic stuff because you know what? Then they look like new. I don't even feel like I'm
driving an older car when I'm in there. I'm driving a little sports car. A rice rocket.
Yeah, that's why we call it the rocket. So anyhow, that's how you do it. That's how you win
the car game. So till tomorrow. Happy Wednesday. Make it a great one. Have an extra 30 seconds
for lunch today. That's on me. And we'll see you tomorrow morning. You're tuned to the car
connection workshop with your host dial motor mouth Jenkins in the driver's seat. I got to shift gears
and get out of here. I got stuff to take care of to be prepared for the rest of the day and tomorrow.
And I'm sure you do as well. Like, share, follow, subscribe. Leave a comment. Do all those things
to help us grow our platforms. Jump into the merch store. Grab a little something, something.
Know that you're helping us to help those who are battling addiction and ready to deal with it.
And number two, peace, patience and kindness. Happy, healthy motoring always. We'll see you
tomorrow morning for another edition of motor mouths morning drive. Bye for now. We'll see you in the next one
About this episode
Niall “Motormouth” Jenkins runs through how to handle a car that’s down—before you start authorizing repairs. He argues against “trinostics” (the parts-cannon approach) and stresses diagnosis, clear repair orders, and tight communication with the service advisor. He shares real shop examples from his own fleet: a failing muffler and alternator replacements, plus how keeping receipts/warranties prevents overpaying. The episode ends with a four-step framework: diagnose, lock the estimate, decide calmly, and keep emotions out of the decision.
Original notes
When your vehicle breaks down, emotions take over - and that's when costly mistakes get made.
In this episode, we break down exactly what to do when you car is "car down" and sitting in the shop. From the moment it arrives you need a plan - not panic.
We walk through the proper process:
1) Authorizing diagnosis the right way (and why it matters)
2) Locking in a clear repair order with signatures and limits
3) Getting a full, detailed estimate before approving anything
4) Understanding parts quality, warranty, and long-term value
5) Making a smart decision based on facts-not emotion
Too many people rush into decisions, assume the worst, or jumping straight into car shopping without knowing what they actually have. That's how you lose in the car game
This is about becoming a pro-sumer- someone who understands the process, asks the right questions, and stays in control from the start to finish.
Using real vehicle examples, we break down what it actually costs to repair properly - and how to shop smart without sacrificing quality.
The next episode will dive deeper into the repair order (RO) - what it is, how it works, and how it protects you when it's done right.
If you've ever felt overwhelmed at at repair shop, this episode is your playbook.
# AutoRepair #CarMaintenance #CarOwnership
Motormouth Gear/ Thank You to those who have shopped in our online store at ccbusnet.com proceeds go to help those struggling with addiction get the help they need and are ready to say good bye to addiction by getting to a Total Freedom Addiction Campus Canada & USA and that's what they do, change lives one at a time.. You Guys Rock! Thanks Again, Skippy & Motormouth.
More Episodes and...project Links are available at Car Connection Business Network.com (ccbusnet.com) you'll find everything on our homepage if you'd like to follow the build & Repair work & connect with our program partners, click their logo to meet them, Thank You for Supporting them with. your business. Nile Motormouth Jenkins.
Skippy and I send you our Love and Tnx for doing the little things for us so we can grow all of our platforms, we are working hard to bring helpful information to those who appreciate it and a few laughs as well!! Thank You so Much Car Connection Friends!
Keep Doing It: Like ,Share,Subscribe, Leave A Comment, Ring The Notification Bell, Watch,Listen, join our Online Community. It Gives us the Gas to keep our engines running wide open!!! Tnx Guys..NMJ
Happy Healthy Motoring Friends, see you in the next one, Peace Patience Kindness Always
NMJ
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