Under The Hood show Dec 14, 2025

In Studio Talking Cars and Car Repairs It's Under The Hood

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47:15

Company

Berkeley One Classics

Berkeley One Classics helps people insure their old or rare cars so they’re protected if something happens to them.

Company

car-part.com

car-part.com sells used car parts so people can fix their cars without buying brand-new pieces.

Company

roadreadywheels.com

roadreadywheels.com sells replacement wheels that look like the original ones on a car, but usually cost less.

Concept

recall

A recall means the car company says some cars might have a problem and they want to fix it for free.

Car

Suburban

The Suburban is a big car that can seat many people and carry lots of stuff, made by Chevrolet.

Car

Silverado

The Silverado is a big truck made by Chevrolet that people use for hauling heavy stuff.

Car

Cadillac Escalade

The Escalade is a big luxury SUV made by Cadillac, which is part of GM. It’s popular for its size and comfort.

Car

Dodge C-3000

The Dodge C-3000 is a big van that people use for moving stuff or towing trailers. It’s called the Caddy by many drivers.

Part

A catalytic converter is a part of your car’s exhaust that helps reduce pollution by turning bad gases into cleaner ones. It’s usually located near the engine and is essential for meeting emissions standards.

Part

oxygen sensor

An oxygen sensor is a small device that checks how much oxygen is in the exhaust gases. The car uses this information to decide how much fuel to add, keeping the engine running efficiently and cleanly.

Part

Cadillac Converter

It's a part that helps the car’s engine connect to its gearbox so the car can start and move. Without it, the engine might turn over but the car won’t go anywhere.

Part

spark plug

A spark plug is a tiny part inside the engine that helps start the car by making a small electric spark. Without it, the engine can’t fire up.

Part

fuel pump

The fuel pump is a small device that pushes gasoline from the tank into the engine so it can run. Without it, the car won’t start.

Term

air relief

It’s like giving the car a little breath of air so it can start running smoothly after you’ve fixed an exhaust problem.

Car

Corvette

A Corvette is a fast American sports car made by Chevrolet. It’s famous for its sharp looks and strong engines.

Car

92 Buick Roadmaster

The Buick Roadmaster is a big, comfortable car that was made in the United States. The 1992 version has a roomy inside and looks like older classic cars.

Part

strut

A strut is like a springy arm that holds up part of the car’s body and helps it stay steady on rough roads. When it breaks, that part can fall or wobble.

Car

1973 Ford Country Squire

The Ford Country Squire is a big, roomy wagon from the 1970s. It’s popular among collectors because it looks like a classic American car and can be driven on the road today.

Term

agreed value coverage

With this coverage, you and the insurance company decide how much your car is worth. If it gets damaged or stolen, you'll get that exact amount back, not a lower value based on how old it is.

Concept

OEM wheels

OEM wheels are the same ones that were installed on the car when it left the factory. They fit exactly and work with the car’s brakes, tires, and suspension.

Car

1995 Dodge Blazer

The Blazer is a type of SUV that was sold by Dodge in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1995, it was basically the same car as a Jeep Cherokee but sold with Dodge branding.

Part

Hey, welcome to the end of the hood show podcast.

I am Russ Evans, along with Shannon Nordstrom.

And Chris, he's playing hooky for a good reason.

It's just me and just Shannon.

And we're going to talk cars like we always do.

And as usual, Under the Hood is brought to you

by Berkeley One Classics, your key to collector car insurance

celebrating 50 years in business.

And by car-part.com, over 200 million recycled originally

climate use parts ready to ship to you fast.

And by roadreadywheels.com, use the code hoody

to save even more on your aftermarket OEM look-alike wheels.

Now, here's the podcast.

This is Under the Hood.

Welcome to the Under the Hood show.

I am Russ Evans, along with Shannon Nordstrom.

Welcome hoodies, thanks for tuning in

so we can help you tune up.

It's a great day today.

It's getting cold up here.

It's snowing.

Getting cold.

Again.

It's getting cold to me when it's 75.

It's been cold.

It's some crazy stuff out in the news right now.

Did you see what we knew was going to happen?

And I said, I don't think that heavier oil weight

is going to be-

I did not read that story yet.

I had some people here yesterday

and I've been way out of touch.

So-

It's like, oh, heavier oil.

People are going to be really satisfied to know

that their $80, $90, $100,000 vehicle is covered

because now we have thicker oil and it's protected, right?

So what's the latest, Russ?

Well, multiple people were filing lawsuits over that

trying to get more satisfaction out of it

because-

We're talking about the 6.2 liter recall

on the, well, basically-

Trankshaft issue.

22 and newer Silverados and Suburbans

and Escalades with the 6.2 liter engine.

And that's just what we're referring to.

Yeah, so they got together

and they've actually pooled together

multiple lawsuits into one class action lawsuit.

So they're going after GM

to try to get some customer satisfaction out of it.

We'll see where it goes.

We don't know where it's going to go yet,

but we knew that wasn't going to work

because if you've got a vehicle

and it's, let's say a year old

and it wasn't covered

and they said, oh, thicker oil will be fine.

And then now your vehicle is three years,

one month old.

It's out of the warranty.

You're out of that 50, 60,000 miles

and you're on the hook for an engine.

We're talking, a good reman's going to cost you 10 grand

installed.

People aren't ready for that soon after they shouldn't.

That's a really good engine

other than that crankshaft issue, so.

Just a minor thing like the crankshaft.

Yeah, we'll, just minor thing.

Well, you're one of them.

Yeah, no, I'm one of them.

My truck's working just fine.

I'm carefully just watching what they do

and we'll see what happens.

But I've had it in for the test

and they've put the microphones on it

and they've listened to it.

And did some due diligence

and we had already put the different oil in it

which is like I said, we knew when we did that

it was just okay, we'll play along.

Yeah, I cut the filter open and cut my finger open.

You did cut your finger on that.

Very thoroughly.

I even checked your oil while I had it apart.

Chad Shetler, our resident racing expert said,

why don't you guys cut the filter open?

We do that on the Sprint cars all the time.

And so we cut the filter open

and didn't find a thing in there.

It looked good, but hey, whatever.

We're going to jump on right in

and talk to Mike in Wisconsin.

How are you doing, Mike?

And how's that Ram truck doing?

It's not running.

Ooh, that's not running.

Like not at all?

Or poorly?

No, I can't.

No, I can't even get it started.

Okay, what have you done to it?

Nothing turns over.

Well, originally it just started running terrible.

Like you take off and all of a sudden it lost,

like it loses all its power.

Like all the power just, and it's just real sluggish.

So you couldn't even get up to speed.

Actually, you'd have to shut the key off,

but put it neutral, shut the key off

and then turn it back on.

And then you had enough power to get back up to speed

and then the same thing would happen

after a hundred yards or maybe a mile.

And then they put new sensors on each side of the caddy

or new sensors and then they found a ground missing

from the battery to the chassis and they put that on.

But somehow they got it running again

and it was good for about a day, day and a half,

and then all of a sudden it just stopped running again.

And it would do the same thing.

It would just bog down.

You'd get going a little bit

and also it just bogged down,

like it's getting no fuel in sets, you know?

Well, listening to what you've done so far,

I wanna clarify yet again just the problem today,

but first I wanna ask you,

the sensors on both sides of the Cadillac Converters,

is that what you were talking about?

Probably the oxygen sensors upstream and downstream?

Yeah.

Okay, all right.

I didn't know if you had like a caddy right next to it

that you'd put sensors on.

What kind of caddy it was.

But we got that part figured out.

But today, you say it won't start

and you made a comment that made us to believe

that it wasn't even turning over.

Is that where you're at or is it?

No, it does turn over.

It does turn over.

It's just, but it's a no start.

And before it was a sluggish once you did get it going

and then it was fun.

You know, the first thing I think of

that comes to mind is the Cadillac Converter

that being plugged up.

Because when you shut it off,

it'll bleed out some of that pressure.

And when it does,

then you can start it up again and it'll go.

But let's say the first time it went a quarter mile,

the second time it might go an eighth mile

and the third time it may only go

a few feet and then it won't start.

But if you've emptied out those converters,

there's two things to consider here.

You clean those out,

but if those converters are plugging up and coming apart,

they may have clogged up the muffler.

I had one of these on a Silverado a week ago.

The muffler got plugged up with pieces of catalyst

and the front.

So here's what to do.

Just take the front oxygen sensors out.

The ones up closest to the engine

just unscrew them like a spark plug, both of them.

Start the vehicle up.

See if it'll start.

If it does start with those removed,

you still have a restriction in that exhaust.

And that's really what I'm leaning at.

They can check fuel pressure easily on this thing.

So I'm assuming that's been done,

but a lot of shops don't go to the part

about when it's plugged up.

They don't know exactly where to go

because they don't do that.

And Russ, you're making a big assumption there

that somebody has already checked air fuel spark.

Right.

And there are.

You would think, right?

Yeah.

Because that's.

Go ahead.

Yeah, when he had the thing plugged in underneath,

he said something about,

he was checking something with the fuel

or something with something like that.

That's something familiar.

Okay.

Yeah.

Can he shut something off

by having that thing plugged in underneath the steering wheel?

No, no, not at all.

You can turn the fuel pump on to do some testing,

but you can't shut anything off to bypass anything

without a custom programmer.

And that's not something that would keep it

from starting with what you're talking about.

I really think something's restricted in that exhaust.

I would remove those O2 sensors and see if it fires up.

Does it pop and bang or even like try, but just not go?

Not sure.

There was a couple of times it backfired.

Okay.

Yeah.

Then it sounds like it's probably stuffed up.

Okay.

So maybe just, there is like a hole in the exhaust.

I might have to have that exhaust put on anyway, so.

Right.

Just open it up, take the sensors out and see.

That's a quick operation.

If they've just put new sensors in it,

they're not going to be stuck in there.

Somebody's already fought with them

to make sure they're not rusted in or corroded in,

but just unscrew the ones that are ahead

of the catalytic converter

where there's a potential blockage.

That air relief that you give it

should be enough to make it start.

It's going to sound like a funny car,

funny race engine with those out of there,

but you want to be able to.

Oh, okay.

So I'm relieving the pressure.

Okay.

Just take them out so that it can relieve the pressure.

And then if that, if it starts then, what Russ is saying,

then you're able to say, okay,

I got to figure out why this restriction is there

and is it the catalytic converters

and or is it the, it has it got further downstream?

The muffler is more, that'd be less frequent.

Having a muffler plug.

That's highly unusual, but it does happen.

And if the catalytic converters are plugged up,

they do break in certain models.

The substrates inside of them break up

and they can plug themselves,

but it's more related to a problem

with the engine running poorly

or having a issue with the engine

where it's leaking antifreeze,

it's got a burn and oil,

things that cause too much to get into those converters

that catalyst process,

which heats those things up to a thousand degrees

and just burns things up and reprocess it,

isn't capable of keeping up what's getting dumped into it.

That's why a lot of times

after people put in a different engine

or those sort of things,

they'll find out they have a secondary problem

with the catalytic converters

because that old engine

dumped a lot of things into it and caused problems.

And so that's what we're looking at here.

Now, having said all that,

we got you all thinking about this.

If they haven't checked fuel pressure

and they haven't confirmed that the spark is there,

there could be a completely different problem

than what we're talking about,

but we're making an assumption

that somebody's already done that.

Because that would be the low hang.

So he did compression tests already on everything.

Oh, that's good.

That's good.

He's made sure that the cylinders are healthy.

That's really good.

But that low hanging fruit.

There was one that was like only a hundred though.

Yeah.

It should still start with one low cylinder,

but Russ, what are you?

You're cylinder number two.

Oh, boy, that, I don't know.

If it is, get ready.

Yeah.

I mean, it'll still start

if the other ones have compression.

Yeah.

Now you got him.

Now you got him nervous again, Russ.

That's not what we're trying to do here.

We're trying to give him help.

That's all right.

I've already got tons of money in it.

A little more ain't gonna hurt.

Let's pull those sensors out and see if it starts up.

Thanks, Mike.

Okay, that's what I'll do.

All right.

I appreciate it.

Thank you guys.

You bet.

Take care.

Bye.

Ouch, huh?

Well, Russ, if it is cylinder number two, what are you?

Well, that's the one that we usually start feeling first

when we've got an issue going on with the cam.

Yeah, the top end of the engine.

You start seeing it.

Yeah, oil ring issue on that, so.

All right.

I thought you were going somewhere there,

but I wasn't quite sure.

866-594-4150, this is under the hood.

In the studio today, we've got Brian

and Shelley from Berkeley One Classics.

They've been with us for, as you know, a number of years,

and we're glad to have them here with us today.

For those of you who don't know, Berkeley One Classics,

their classic car division office, their main office,

is right down the street from us, actually,

in Chris's backyard.

Chris is off today.

By the way, Chris is out.

You wondered where he was today, missing his voice.

He is doing the Children's Miracle Network

radio thon.

They have raised millions of dollars

for children with cancer over the years,

and that's what he is doing all day today.

On his other radio gig, he has.

That's why he sounds so good when he does this one,

but we're proud of him for doing that.

And if you want to help with that,

you can go to our website,

and you can donate from underthewoodshow.com,

and you can make a donation today,

or any day, if you would like for that.

Yep, you sure can.

It's something very, very important to us,

and Chris has put, I mean, they're on the radio

for 24 hours, radio thon, him and Doc and others,

and they pour their heart and soul into that campaign.

It's quite amazing.

It's good.

You know, he doesn't do it so well too,

just whoring for him.

They have won some national awards

from the National Children's Miracle Network

for the program they've done.

They've been brought down to Florida

on the main stage for that, for national awards,

for what they've, the way they present it,

not just for the money that's been raised

through the radio stations, but how they present it,

and meaning how they care.

I mean, you can tell if you listen to those guys,

and you could catch them on the internet.

If you search, if you're a good Google search person,

like Chris, you could probably find a little bit of their-

Hey, you should be able to find the stream

of their radio station.

It's pretty awesome, for sure.

Yeah, that's great.

But they're just down the street

from Berkeley One Classics office here locally,

and they have been able to help so many people

with their coverage, with agreed value

for their classic and collectible vehicles.

It's, we're happy to tell the story, that's for sure.

Well, we, you know, with all our products,

we only talk about what we use ourselves.

And besides whatever goes into a car for repairs,

we need to protect our cars.

I've got classics, you have classics.

Your dad has classics, but also performance cars.

He's got some Corvettes.

They wouldn't necessarily be a classic.

They're turning into classics as they age,

but some of those new ones, they're performance cars,

and they're not driven.

You're not gonna drive a ZR1 Corvette,

a new one to work every day.

You know, it's an occasional driver,

so those can be covered too.

But when you look at the agreed value coverage on cars,

it's a must.

I would not be, I would not feel comfortable

insuring my car, my cars somewhere else

where I had to pay so much.

You know what it costs for car insurance.

If you had to pay that for a collection

of even three collectors that you drive,

let's say you drive them 3,000 miles a year

between the three of them,

why would you pay the regular rates for that?

But you know, you can be covered for the car,

you can be covered for spare parts.

There's a lot of different things.

And speaking of classics,

we've got one on the phone right now.

Scott from North Carolina has got a 92 Buick Roadmaster.

That takes us way back, I gotta ask.

How you doing, Scott?

Hello, under the hood folks in Berkeley One Classic.

You got him right here, direct today.

Is that Roadmaster a sedan, or is it a wagon?

It's the estate wagon.

Oh yeah.

Oh boy.

All right, when we get to the end here,

where don't tell us what color it is

or what trim it has on it until we get to the end

because we gotta guess here.

But tell us about the Roadmaster, what's going on with it?

Well, we bought the car for my 16 year old son,

about six months ago, it's his first car.

So he takes it to school every day.

And in North Carolina here, it's getting a little cooler.

So we get a frost every now and then.

So the rear of the frost is not working.

And I put a meter on it and I can get

on one side of the window pistons.

Right.

I guess is where the wire comes in.

Purple wire that comes in, that 10 gauge wire is the hot wire.

Yeah, it's a heavy wire.

It looked like someone had wired it before,

but I'm guessing maybe it's stock.

Yeah, that's normal.

It connects, yeah, it connects to the lower piston

and then there's another connection

at the top of the piston.

But for some reason they were unhooked

and they're not working when I put the meter on it.

So I'm not sure, I hot wired or crossed them going across

and I can get them to come on.

But maybe there's a disconnect between the piston

where it's connected on the bottom

and then it reappears at the top

where the other wire for the rear window of the frost is.

Right.

Well, that's good to know that you connected them that way.

So if it works, yeah, if it worked

when you had power like that,

what happens is you've got a power coming in

that there's a ground on the one side of the window

that you saw.

So that side's good, but where the power comes in,

you've got power coming into the bottom of the piston

that makes a connection inside

and then comes out of the top

and goes to the glass to heat it up.

But we know the glass is good

because you've made the direct connection and it works.

I think that that strut that holds the glass up has failed

because it's got an internal electrical connection

that moves and they're known to wear out

and that you'll just lose your connection.

So if you can take off the connection at the bottom

where it comes out of the body

and then jumper it to where it comes out of the top

of that shock that holds up the glass that strut

and it heats it up, it's definitely that piston back

there that strut that holds up the glass that's failed.

It definitely went quick, it heated the window

but I was worried that we were,

it was unplugged for a reason and is there a failsafe

that struts the top or whatever, but those...

There is and it's got a relay built into it in the switch

but it's probably disconnected.

They were probably testing it is what my guess would be.

So you should be able to just put some new ones on

because they're gonna fail in this cold anyways.

It's normal for an older car like that.

So it's time to replace them.

You can get a wire with a recoil

on it like a telephone cord

so you could just have it connected all the time.

Right, yeah, that would make those two.

All right, does that help you out, Scott?

That definitely helps, yep.

He loves the wagon, so we wanna keep it on the road

and he grew up in a, we have a 73 Ford country sedan

based on 429 in it that's gonna need to rebuild

here soon but it's done a couple power tours and...

Oh, cool.

We took his on power tour last year,

so, but yeah, we wanna keep it in the family.

The older car because it's not the old Ford

because it's not on the road every day going to school

and it doesn't have a 16 year old driver.

That's more of a Berkeley one classics

but this Roadmaster, not so much

even though it is a classic.

So we're gonna guess the color of this car.

I'm guessing it is maroon and it's got woodgrain on it.

Now the woodgrain's just an optional

but I'm thinking it's maroon.

I think it's like a light blue with woodgrain.

The woodgrain being optional.

What color is it, Scott?

What would Chris say and then the Berkeley?

Chris would say it's silver.

Well, we'll give the Berkeley folks a guess.

Oh yeah, well, let's do that.

Shelly gets a guess.

Tan with woodgrain.

I'll second that.

Okay.

All right, what color is it, Scott?

It's white with woodgrain.

White with woodgrain, all right.

But it has an odd interior, it's blue

so you don't see a lot of blue.

That's weird, I could picture that baby blue cover.

Is it the deep pillowed interior

with the buttons in the center of it almost?

Absolutely, absolutely.

It's like riding on a couch for sure.

All right, Scott, stay on the line

and we're gonna have you talk to producer Doug.

He's gonna get you a hoodie courtesy

of the Berkeley One Classic

celebrating 50 years of collector car coverage.

Under the Hood is brought to you by BerkeleyOneClassics.com,

your key to collector car insurance.

And by car-part.com, over 200 million recycled

originally-commit used parts ready to ship to you fast.

And by roadreadywheels.com, use the code hoodie

to save even more on your aftermarket OEM look-alike wheels.

Hey, it's Chris Carter with Russ Evans

and Shannon Nordstrom Under the Hood.

When you need great coverage for your ride,

BerkeleyOneClassics is here for you.

They'll work with you to help determine

the amount of coverage a vehicle like yours should have

and that coverage is agreed value coverage.

So there's no disagreement

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They also have discounts for car club members.

For 50 years, BerkeleyOneClassics

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what they can save you

and how well they can cover your valuable investment.

It takes just a few minutes

using their easy online quote tool.

BerkeleyClassics.com or call 1-800-603-3330.

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Welcome back everybody.

It's time to get back under the hood with a motor medics.

Welcome back to the under the hood show.

I am Russ Evans along with Shannon Nordstrom.

How you doing, Shannon?

Really good, really good.

Did you get the chicken man reference?

You guys had to explain it to me

and I already forgot

because it wasn't something in my wheelhouse

when I was younger.

Maybe I'm the only one that's old enough.

Producer Doug knows chicken man.

Yeah, you just gave him two big thumbs up from Doug.

The world's, what is it?

What is it, Doug?

The greatest crime fighter the world has ever known.

Does that get that?

All right, he's dead now, right, Doug?

The gentleman.

So there was an ad guy who voiced chicken man.

Do either of our guests know chicken man?

I'm glad I'm not alone.

So Chris and Russ do this to me.

You don't know that?

Why don't you know?

I just don't know that.

Tony Stark.

Yes.

What you would remember is all over the country,

no matter what major city you lived in,

it was LosAngelesHelpWanted.com,

HoustonHelpWanted.com, DallasHelpWanted.com.

And it was the ads where there'd be a gentleman

and a lady and he would be doing a bit behind the desk

saying, Nancy, I need to find somebody

for the new job.

Well, have you tried Sioux FallsHelpWanted.com?

Well, I'm looking all over.

I don't have time to be on the internet.

Where can I go?

Well, there's Sioux FallsHelpWanted.com.

He did those ads that most people know,

but before that he did a bit called Chicken Man

that ran on thousands of stations.

And it was just a quick like a one to two minute thing

where he played kind of like the Batman thing

where the commissioner would call

and he was just the regular guy.

But at night he was the greatest crime fighter

the world had ever known.

So a few people get it.

A few people make comments on our-

Other people think we're just strange.

Post and they don't think I'm strange.

They know I'm strange.

So as strange as we are,

we're gonna jump right back to the phone

and we're gonna talk with Terry in Nebraska

with a 95 blazer.

Hey Terry.

Hi guys, how you doing?

Pretty good.

Okay, great.

Well, I'm hoping you can help me out

with my old 1995 blazer.

It's got over 200,000 miles on it,

but it's a vehicle that I really love having for

like a backup sort of thing.

And this summer it wasn't running very well.

So I brought it to my mechanic

and he replaced and what it would do

it would just stop like it's been out of gas.

Anyhow, he replaced spark plugs,

wire set, distributor cap, rotor, fuel filter,

manifold pressure sensor.

And he also had tested the fuel pump

and that showed that it was running well

and I think he just ran out of ideas.

And so anyhow, I picked the vehicle up,

seemed to be running well.

I probably drove it another 20, 25 miles

and it just the same issue came back.

It just stopped right on the highway.

I was wondering if you guys had any ideas as to

what else this could be.

And it's dead completely now, right?

Yeah, completely now, right?

Well, and thanks for asking that.

What'll happen if it sits for a little while,

then it'll start right up.

Like if I went out and tried to start it now

it would start right up.

It would probably run for maybe five minutes,

well, intermittent, but five minutes,

perhaps 10 and then it would stop again.

All right, step one.

Let's turn your radio down in the background for me.

Okay.

Yeah, it's not on.

Okay, we're good to go then.

Okay.

Oh, we're just getting some feedback here.

That's fine, we'll work through it.

Okay, yeah, sorry about that.

No, I don't have anything on.

No, and is this Blazer?

We're assuming this is the small Blazer,

the S Blazer with a 4.3?

Yeah, 2.3.

Let's see.

Yes, it's a Vortec engine, a six-cylinder.

Yeah, they use the Vortec 4.3 in those.

And that, yep, no, that's no problem.

We're just trying to make sure

on the same page with what it is.

If it's shutting down like that,

I'm still leaning towards distributor

and you're gonna have to verify that

by finding out if you've got spark or not.

So you're going to, you're gonna want to check

and when it dies or doesn't start,

you're gonna wanna get a spark tester

and any auto parts store is gonna have that

for about $3.

And it just goes right in line with that,

with the spark, the coil wire,

the main coil to that distributor wire.

And see if you got spark.

I'm guessing you probably don't have spark,

which is an indicator that that vehicle,

likely the most, about 98%,

it's gonna either be a failed coil

or even more so a distributor issue.

I would pull the cap off the distributor,

take the rotor off and look at the bottom side of it

and see if it's burned through.

Because when they burn through, it shorts out that coil

and it can work for a few minutes,

but as it heats up, it opens up the porosity

of that rotor and then it will arc to ground

and it'll shut it down, it'll short the coil.

So that's where we would look.

With that model, that Vortec was super popular

and it's got a very weak point with the distributor,

the ignition system with the distributor and that coil.

So I would look at that very closely.

And then the spider.

The spider injector.

The spider injector could be problematic sometimes.

Hey, all right, well, you guys certainly gave me

some great ideas here.

I'll be checking on those.

Well, thanks, Jerry.

Take care.

All right, we're gonna jump over

and talk to Aaron in Ohio with an O3 RAM.

How are you doing, Aaron?

I'm good, how are you all?

Pretty good.

Huge fan of the show,

long time listener, first time caller.

I have a 2003 Cummins diesel, 2,500 gram.

Okay.

It has 525,000 miles on it.

Wow!

It's a great truck.

Transmission lines started leaking

and I don't know if they're original or not,

but I replaced them and I went with a kit

that had half inch rubber style hose

as opposed to switching back and forth

between the hard lines.

And then the kit, it recommended bypassing

the heat exchanger on the side of the block

where coolant goes in and warms up the transmission

and directly cools the transmission down to

under peak load.

And I did that and I kind of regret that now

or based on the forums,

I don't know if I made the right decision or not

and we're cold here in Ohio right now

and I'm trying to figure out

if I should try to do something different

before summer hits.

The truck does tow.

I have a Goose Neck trailer

and I haul tractors around.

And so I have a trans temp on the truck

that I can monitor,

but I don't wanna be halfway through a trip

and realize we're overheating.

That's no fun, is it?

No.

Yeah, if I own that truck,

then I've got a truck.

It would have a large transmission cooler

mounted out in front of the cooling stack

and in front of the radiator there

to cool that down.

And I would not have a thermostat in it.

I would sacrifice a few minutes of letting it warm up a little

and it's a diesel, you wanna warm it up anyways.

I'd sacrifice a few minutes of warming it up

to make sure that the oil is flown

in that transmission to protect it

over possibly overheating it.

Because starting up a truck when it's cold

letting it run five minutes

is far less detrimental than

you running that thing at 235, 240 degrees,

towing a bunch of tractors down the road.

What kind of tractors do you have?

Are they classic tractors or are they new tractors?

Farm tractors?

They're classic tractors

and actually I was gonna throw this in there.

I'm restoring a 1944 Oliver 60 right now.

And I was trying to get the steering rack

apart earlier in the week about a week ago

and it wouldn't come apart from PB Blaster and Heat

and I remembered one of your recent episodes

where you talked about just throwing some PB Blaster

on it on a daily basis and yesterday

when I threw it on there,

it just pulled straight into the bearing

and it loosened up and I didn't have to get

the Settling and Torch out.

So I was gonna compliment you on that suggestion.

Well thanks.

But yeah, classic tractors.

That's why we talk about stuff we use on the show

because people can use it.

Also Berkeley One Classics,

they're in our studio today as guests

and they not only ensure classic cars

and performance cars but classic tractors

and it's that time of year, antique snowmobiles.

Something to think about.

And even parts.

So if you have a classic tractor you're restoring,

sadly what would happen if the building burned down?

It is a restoration shop.

Right.

It's covered.

So I mean there's always that to think of

but as far as that truck goes,

I would most definitely get a larger cooler on it

and put up there.

My truck does not have a radiator cooler

to warm up the coolant.

So I find myself running that thing.

If I started it up today when it's 10 degrees out

and blowing snow, I'm gonna start it up

and run it for probably 10, 15 minutes

to get everything flowing in that diesel

so I can drive it.

And then I drive it easy for a couple miles

and it's running.

I mean within two or three miles

that transmission fluids up to 40, 50 degrees

which is fine.

And if you think about it,

if you were to start it cold

and the radiator's warming up that fluid,

it takes a while for the radiator to get hot

because the thermostat's 100% closed.

The coolant's passing through the engine.

It's not even warming up the radiator

to warm up your transmission fluid.

So it takes a while anyways.

You should let it warm up a little bit anyways.

So it still has the cooler up by the radiator

but then there's that exchanger.

Right.

Small, okay.

And so that's what I bypassed.

You have no concern about the exchanger itself.

You're just concerned about making sure

I have enough cooling power.

Right, make sure that up.

So the one that's on the engine, that exchanger,

not only heats it in the winter

but it cools it in the summer

but it can only cool it down to the engine temperature.

So the engine's running at 200 degrees.

That's where it's gonna go

because that's what your coolant attempts at.

So you want it to drop.

I like to be able to cool,

be a little proactive with that and drop it.

So I bypass that even if I'm gonna bypass it

in the summer and put it back in the winter.

You can do that.

They do make a kit that's online.

I think Acura Diesel sells it.

I think that's where I got mine

but it's got two valves like a mobile home,

motor home, whatever you've got a camper

and you wanna bypass the heater in the winter,

the water heater so you can winterize it.

You just turn both valves to the left

and it bypasses it, turn them to the right.

It runs through the heater.

Same thing with your truck.

You can bypass that cooler.

I didn't know they made such a thing.

Oh yeah, you can bypass the one on the engine.

It's the same product actually, brass valves.

But yeah, you could bypass it in the summer

or winter and switch it around.

I gotta ask, is that original miles on that transmission?

It is the second transmission but I know the guy

that owned it for its first stage of its life.

The guy owned a farm in Southern Ohio

and then a farm in Arizona

and he drove it back and forth between his two farms.

And then he recorded every tank of gas,

every oil change, I mean everything.

And so I have records up to 450,000 miles from him

and he put a transmission in it at like 220

and I have no records after that.

So which is hard to believe that a 48RE

has almost 300,000 miles on it at that point.

That's why I was asking.

Yeah, my estimate is that it has,

I mean based on the paperwork,

it has about 280 on it right now

or 280 or 300,000 miles on the transmission.

Well, you must maintain well

and a lot of highway miles

and then probably good driving habits

where you're not just overly working it

or a jackrabbit starting the thing

and just taking it easy all the time.

That's a lot of miles on one of those.

For sure.

Yeah, yep.

Does that help you out Aaron?

It does and makes me feel better

about bypassing the heat exchanger,

but I'll look for upgraded cooling options.

So I appreciate it.

All right, take care.

Thanks and check out Berkley Learn Classics

for that tractor coverage.

You'll be surprised.

Sounds good, we'll do.

Take care.

All right, man.

What do you think, Shannon?

I think that we should have guessed

the color on the tractor.

No, I mean we could have,

but he had multiples I could have taken a while.

I think Shelly would have won that one.

She says orange.

I would have guessed orange.

I wonder if there's some green ones, though?

Green acres.

My sister would be all over this and her husband,

they would be telling me every detail about it

if they were here.

Oh yeah.

866-594-4150, this is under the hood.

We'll be right back.

866-594-4150, this is under the hood

and I'm Russ Evans.

Chris is out today doing his Children's Miracle Network

event, so.

Radio sign.

Yeah, radio sign.

Annual event, check out our website.

There's a link there if you'd like to donate to that.

But we're gonna go right back to the phones.

And we're gonna talk to Bob.

Bob's in Georgia with an 07 Accord.

How you doing, Bob?

Doing pretty good, how are you doing?

Not bad, thanks for asking.

How was your 07 Accord doing?

Well, do I need better earplugs

or can I somehow quiet down the power steering pump

and mechanism?

It's sometimes it moans and groans

and sometimes it creaks and sometimes it sounds like

a stuck suspension system in the front end.

It just, it comes and goes.

Mmm.

So is it?

But I don't know.

A creaking noise or a whining noise?

Yes, yes.

Yes.

That didn't help me.

It makes all kinds of noises.

It is, I just need better earplugs, so I don't hear it.

It steers fine, but it kind of moans, I guess,

most of the time.

Well, you'll have different symptoms

of different problems.

And so if you're getting a high pitch,

kind of a hydraulic whine or squeal,

you know, then that's like a hydraulics problem.

There's potentially something going on with the pump.

There's something going on with the rack and pinion.

You can get, if the belt system isn't proper

and things are loose or have gotten a leak onto them,

you can get belt squeal under the pressure steering.

But those noises are gonna be a little more particular.

There's a belt squeal.

Most people can tell what that is,

that hydraulic whine of power steering,

you can usually tell what that is.

But if you're getting a noise and a creak as you turn,

then we gotta start looking at what components move

with that rack and pinion.

And assuming that the rack and pinion itself

isn't really close to a major failure,

then you gotta look at the strut plates on top.

When that thing turns, the struts have to turn with it

and there's a bearing plate on top of the struts.

And if they're starting to get a rot of just bad, thank you.

That'll give you more of a, when you turn the wheel,

a doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom.

Yeah, they can make a clunking noise.

And that's like a springing, doom, doom,

as they turn and bind and then they release.

Doom, doom, as they turn.

Or it could be a ball joint that is making a noise.

That's more like a creak, like the sound of trying

to tighten up or loosen a nut that's dry

and you're turning it.

Exactly.

And it gives you a creak as you move it.

And that would be, if they're making that kind of noise,

that's really close to breaking.

And that's a safety issue.

You need to get that checked right away.

The popping noise with the struts,

that can go on for a while.

But that, I would recommend going,

if you don't think it's a hydraulic noise,

I would recommend going to a suspension shop

or an alignment shop and letting them,

many places will offer a free inspection.

And they may tell you they find other things wrong

with your 07 Accord, but you're looking

for the one main thing that's wrong

that's making that noise.

That's the main thing you're looking for

to figure out what's going on.

In our shop when we're working on cars,

we make people aware of something

that's going to kill them or kill the car.

Otherwise, we know that the cars need repairs

and they don't need to hear that.

They need transportation.

They need to be safe.

Yes, they have a tiny leak coming

from their oil pan gasket.

It's an 07 Accord.

I get those calls, Shannon, every day.

It's like, oh, I went in and they told me,

I needed this, this, this, this.

You don't need any of that.

None of the leaks are reaching the ground.

Nothing is unsafe.

You're fine. Just drive it.

I feel better.

Then they come back when they need the major repair.

We're doing plenty of engines and transmissions.

Those are things that are needed.

You don't need to nickel and dime it

with all the other stuff.

Yeah, Bob, you need to get that thing in

and have a shop, even a tire shop

that does those things.

Check that because we want you to be safe.

Okay.

Does that help you out, Bob?

It's a professional voice.

Yeah, and I would just say,

I would say though that if the noise is hydraulic related

and it's more of a hydraulic squeal

and it just, if that is more of what it is,

our partner at Justice Brothers

makes a good power steering conditioner

that would be worth a try to put in there

just to see if that would help,

if it is a hydraulic type noise.

Something carried in shops

that you could ask your local shop if they've got it.

But what can happen sometimes too

is that the rack and pinion itself,

the seals can go out of the rack and pinion,

so it starts a slow leak out of the boots

or the end of the rack and pinion.

Sometimes you can get a pretty good leak

before it even hits the ground

because it gets caught in the...

We got a video on our YouTube channel

about that power steering rack leaking

and what it looked like.

It was bad.

But if you lose enough fluid,

then you're going to start getting noises

and you can have problems.

So you definitely got to get this inspected.

Hopefully it's just a belt squeak.

Hopefully you got a problem with your belts

and then get a good set of gates belts on there

and new tensioners and that will take care of it.

No belt, no ways.

Yeah, sure.

Okay, very good.

Very good.

You got to check those other things out then.

Thanks, Bob.

Take care.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We're going to jump over and talk to Luann.

Luann's got a 2017 RADN4.

How you doing, Luann?

Pretty good.

Tell us about your RADV4 troubles.

Okay.

Underneath where you store the spare tire,

we're getting moisture, water,

and we checked many of the,

you know, you Google the information

on where it could be coming from.

The seals underneath are good.

Yeah.

Don't know where it's coming from.

I've never heard of this.

Oh yeah, and you end up after a few car washes

and rains, you end up with two or three inches

of water back there, don't you?

Yeah, it's a mess.

Yeah, that's no good.

And it'll end up rusting the vehicle back there

eventually.

And with the paint on it, you can wipe it out.

It's usually pretty good.

But once it starts turning orange,

it's not good and it will rust through.

So here's a way to find out what's going on.

Turn, start the car up

and set the air conditioning system,

the heating air conditioning system.

Set that on vent, outside air position.

It's got that outside arrow

and then the inside recirculates.

Set it on outside and turn that vent on,

blower on high with the car running.

And then get outside the vehicle,

close all the doors and windows, sunroof, anything.

Then get yourself a bucket of soapy water.

A lot of dish soap and soapy water,

so it makes bubbles.

And then pour that on the back of the vehicle.

Pour it around that gate area back there.

Watch for the bubbles.

When you see the bubbles come out,

that's where the leak is.

Whether it's on the gate or underneath,

you can get a spray bottle and spray it underneath the car.

And if you see bubbles coming out, water's going in.

And that's usually where it's coming from.

Does the vehicle have a sunroof?

Yeah, I was just gonna ask that same question.

Does the vehicle have a sunroof?

If it has a sunroof,

there are four drains on that factory sunroof,

one on each corner.

If one of those drains becomes clogged,

it will overflow, run down the quarter panel

and can get in there as well.

So what you wanna do is open up the sunroof,

look inside of it.

The back ones you'll have to shine a light into

to see them.

But the two front you should be able to see

and they're about three eighths of an inch around.

You can put something in there

that you don't wanna blow too much air in them

because you'll blow the hose off

and then you gotta take the headliner out.

But you could get a,

they do make some long pipe cleaners.

You can get off of Amazon.

They're like four, five, six foot long.

Actually sell them for crafts.

Stick that pipe cleaner through there gently

until it comes out the bottom of the car.

You'll actually see it hanging under the bottom of the car

and clean out the leaves and the gunk that's in there.

Rotten leaves, they'll plug it up.

If it's got a sunroof,

I'd say that's the more likely culprit

with that much volume of water getting in there.

More likely, but you could still do the old test

of the blower, but hope that helps you out.

Yeah, it will, thank you very much.

Take care, Luanne.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

You bet.

Bye.

There you go, another satisfied customer.

All for the great price of free.

Exactly.

We'd say if it doesn't help you double your free back, right?

That's for sure.

I love when you can connect with the listener

and they can be able to say, you know what,

I'm gonna give that a try.

That makes sense.

We haven't done that yet.

And that's what we're all about

is trying to just help people find better remedies

and not spend a bunch of money they don't need to.

That's what we're here for.

And even if you go into a dealership,

independent shop or your friend says,

hey, let's get this thing fixed

and it's gonna be this much, call us.

It costs nothing to find out what we know

from our decades of in the shop repairs

and our auto recycling center.

We can help you out where we can

and at least give you a little confidence

if they've told you it's gonna be $5,000 fixed.

And we say, yeah, that's pretty likely

maybe even a little more than you know it's right.

But if we say, you know what,

I bet you can fix that thing a lot cheaper.

Who knows?

All right, that's gonna do it

for another hour of The Under the Hood Show.

I am Russ Evans along with Shannon Nordstrom

for Chris Carter who is of course not here today.

This is The Under the Hood Show.

With Russ Evans, this is Shannon Nordstrom thanking you

for tuning into The Nordstroms 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 Russ and Shannon are offered

for entertainment value only

and as a guide to your repair needs.

No claim to repair or cause is given or implied.

Always consult with your own certified technician

and follow all safety procedures

before attempting any repair.

To be a part of the show,

call 866-594-4150.

Find out more by visiting UndertheHoodShow.com.

Under the Hood is produced by Prairie House Productions.

All content is the property

of Nordstroms Automotive Incorporated

and may not be used without our permission.

0:00

47:15

In Studio Talking Cars and Car Repairs It's Under The Hood

Berkeley One Classics

car-part.com

roadreadywheels.com

recall

Suburban

Silverado

Cadillac Escalade

Dodge C-3000

catalytic converter

oxygen sensor

Cadillac Converter

spark plug

fuel pump

air relief

Corvette

92 Buick Roadmaster

strut

1973 Ford Country Squire

agreed value coverage

OEM wheels

1995 Dodge Blazer

distributor cap

rotor

fuel filter

manifold pressure sensor

spark tester

transmission lines

heat exchanger

Goose Neck trailer

trans temp

transmission cooler

radiator cooler

About this episode

Original notes