It is Time to Be Aware of Pot Holes, How to Choose the Right Spark Plug, Why Nick Became a Mechanic

How very apropos, Ryan. I love the music.

708 now on WCCO. I am not Denny Long,

obviously. This is Laura Oaks from the WCCO Radio Newsroom.

Denny has the day off. He'll be back next week. And it is time

for this morning's Car Care Show with Nick Stoffel

from Lloyd's Automotive in St. Paul. Good morning, Nick.

Good morning. Nice to have you here. And our phone lines

are going to get very busy and the text line will too, of course. But there are a couple of things

that I wanted to ask you before we get going that I'm hoping

others can relate to. And that is getting over

some of the intimidation that either

new drivers or maybe women who aren't

used to having to take care of their car problems

or worry about that because the dad

or the husband or whoever has always handled it but they want to be a little more

empowered with that kind of stuff. Maybe a single mom

who's kind of on her own and having to learn this stuff by herself. I wanted to

see from you what are some of the like the

things that we must monitor that are easy

to do that we shouldn't be intimidated by. Maybe a tire pressure light,

the check engine light, belts, hoses, fluids. Kind of some

of that basic stuff that most people should know. What would you

say to that? Well, that's a good question. I would say

first off is most people, to be

honest, don't know how to do those things any longer. You know, as we get older,

when we were younger at the filling station, we used to check tire pressure, check

oil level, check washer fluid. I feel like those days are long gone.

Luckily for us, the cars have evolved where there's sensors and indicators

that remind us, hey, you have a low tire. It's time to

do an oil change. There's a maintenance light. There's, you know, there's a concern or a problem.

There's a check engine light. So there are reminders within the vehicle itself that tell

you something's not right. Now, it's important though, when you see those indicators, don't ignore them.

Now, it doesn't mean it has to be expensive. You have to do the work, but

at a minimum, you need to have it assessed, figure out what's going on, get an estimate,

then you can make an informed decision whether or not you repair it or wait for something

for another time. Great. And just tying into that, I was just checking

out the Lloyds Automotive website. First of all, if people, if you're not

familiar yet with Lloyds Automotive in St. Paul, they've been in business for 50 years.

They are super highly rated. They have won

and been acknowledged for just about every rating and award you could possibly

imagine. So Nick knows what he's talking about here. And their blog on their

website is apropos for the day two, Nick, because what I'm seeing

is the title of warning signs you should never ignore strange

noises and what they could mean. So that kind of falls into what we're

talking about. Are there, are there some noises that we should for sure be paying

attention to maybe particularly during pothole season?

Well, I would say the most important is something

changes. You know, I used to never hear this type of noise. I never

had this type of reaction with my vehicle. You know, as you mentioned pothole season,

you know, you don't always see those potholes, especially this morning, we got a little snow

on the ground, you're driving along, you hit those imperfections in the road and

something changes. Maybe a light comes on. It's important to stop, walk around

the car, make sure if it looks okay, but you need to do more than that. If something is different

it needs to be looked at. And I can't say it more than if it doesn't mean you need to go and

spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to have something repaired that day. However,

you can't ignore it. You got to have it looked at. You need to know what's going on because

what happens if you ignore it, that little problem that might have been in simple fix

grows into something more, something more expensive, something more complicated

and, you know, more time, more money and we'd like to avoid that if all possible.

Alright, now I want to get some calls and texts going. Wake up people. It's 7-12. You've had

your coffee already. So have I. I'm coffeeed out. It's gotten to the point where it doesn't taste good

anymore. So here we are. The number is 651461

9226. What questions do you have

for Nick Stoffel from Lloyd's Automotive in St. Paul? He's with us until

7.45 this morning. Now's your chance. Did you hit a pothole?

Is there a light on? You're not sure what it means? Is there a noise you're hearing

that you don't know what to do about? Anything.

We're freewheeling today. Open lines and Nick Stoffel is with us

and has all the answers. Nick, one of the things I want to get back to from that blog

post that I mentioned in terms of sounds that we don't want

to hear and what they could possibly mean. A big one is a grinding

noise. Can you talk about what a grinding noise could indicate?

Typically we hear something grinding. Obviously it's friction and if that grinding

comes and goes and what I mean by that is there's a scenario where you're driving, you apply

the brakes, you hear the noise, you release the brakes, it goes away. That would tell me

it's something related to the brakes. If you're driving along and it's speed sensitive

the noise as the speed increases, the frequency of the noise increases

then we start thinking about something that's rotating. Maybe it's the tires, possibly the wheel bearing

or the brakes once again. So it's important if you're hearing a noise

the descriptive experience, what I tell Danielle at times

have a notepad. If you're experiencing something that doesn't seem right, write it down

if it's intermittent, pay attention how often it happens.

Or this happens once a week, once a month or very rare occurrence

that can be very helpful when you do bring the vehicle in for maintenance or repair.

You can mention that. You have a little blog or little notepad that shares some of those

experiences and how you made them happen or how they

occurred. You can share that with us or with your shop and dealership.

They can try to duplicate that to confirm what's going on. Okay, great.

Let's go to the phones. We have Steve in Ham Lake. Steve, what's your question?

Thank you for the time.

I'm curious about the rated cold cranking

capacity on batteries. I'm reading an article

in the March 21 issue of Hot Rod

and the writer says, a battery puts out

100% of its rated power at 80 degrees,

65% at 32 degrees and only 40% at 0 degrees.

It currently implies to me that there's two yardsticks in place.

When I buy a battery and it says 700 cold cranking amps

which would be at 0, I expect it to put out

700, not 40% of that. Is there a easy

explanation for what's going on here?

Well, the battery does lose capacity at the cold attempt.

So what they're telling you, cold cranking amps at that degrees,

that's the rating that's putting out at that temperature. Now, that being said,

the car is never going to ask for 700 cold cranking amps.

The starter draw on the coldest day is a few hundred amps maybe,

depending on the make, the model compression, a lot going on there, but it's a few hundred amps.

What we're really concerned about is when that brand is brand new, it puts out

up to 700, you need 300. But as the battery ages,

the capacity ages with that, it's 650, 600,

so forth and so on, we want to make sure that 3, 4, 5 years

on the road, you have that capacity to keep the car started

on the coldest days. Thanks for your call, Steve. Let's head to

Don in Fridley. Go ahead, Don. Hi, I had a question on

these electronics. All these cars are electronic now.

And if the alternator goes, it affects

the computer system. And I wanted to know

how you can, how do you stop

that from happening? Well, you can't necessarily

stop that from happening. So the alternator is the

recharger. We have a cell phone charger on our outlet at our house.

Well, the alternator does the same for the car. When the vehicle is running at

speed, the alternator is creating energy that replenishes and fills up the battery.

When the car is running, it's running out that alternator. The battery

is just there to start the vehicle and complete the circuit. So if the alternator

starts to put, stops putting out that energy, you have a limited time

before the car is going to die. So if you're driving along in the alternator where to

fail, most likely there will be an icon or indicator on the dash telling

you that, that kind of gives you heads up, hey, something's wrong here.

Don't ignore that light. Get it into the shop because what will happen is once the

battery is depleted, the car is going to stall, then you're stranded and need a tow.

All right. Thanks for your call, Don. We appreciate it. It's 717 on WCCO.

You're listening to Car Care with Nick Stoffel from Lloyd's Automotive

in St. Paul. If you have a question for Nick, here's the number to call

or text. 651461

9226. We'll be back with your calls and texts after this.

I told you you'd love my bumper music this morning, you guys.

This is Laura Oaks in for Denny Long. Thanks for listening. This is Car Care

with Nick Stoffel from Lloyd's Automotive in St. Paul. We're taking your Car Care questions

by text or phone. The number for both is

651461 9226.

And Nick, we have a text from Rick who I think is trying to

test my ignorance here and I'm going to read it.

Good morning. We have a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander with 90,000

miles. I'm going to be putting new plugs in it. My choices are

iridium, double iridium, or ruthenium.

What's the difference? Thanks, Rick. What do you say?

Well, spark plugs have evolved. They use a precious material.

Platinum's also in there and the reason for that is at the longevity.

It helps the spark plug last longer. Every time that spark plug

fires, there's an arc between the little gap there and that can

wear the spark plug out. My recommendation is put back

in what came out. An upgrade is not going to make a difference with the spark plug.

Try to get the same brand. There's a whole bunch of

stuff involved with that. So if you go to the Part Store, tell them what you have.

Tell them you want the original equipment spark plug. If they say, oh, we have this better one, don't do

that. You only need what it came in. Don't spend extra money in this situation.

Put back what came out and the spark plug will last

another 60, 80, 100,000 miles, whatever the recommendation is.

Excellent. Thanks for the question, Rick. And thanks for the answer, Nick. I'm learning a lot. Now I know

about spark plugs. I also have learned about cold cranking amps

this morning. Let's go to our next text or what are your thoughts about

places that just do oil changes, Nick?

If you're overdoing

especially for an oil change, bio means anywhere you can go helps. My concern though

is an oil change is important. However, having the vehicle inspected

is just an important, meaning that you're looking at the brakes, the tires,

the underbody, the chassis, the steering suspension, or all those

things getting looked at or assessed is that oil change. So if you go

to the quick loop, we'll call it and they just get you in and out in 15 minutes.

You don't know about the condition of the other items on the vehicle. It's important because

if something's becoming worn or something needs to be adjusted or tightened or

maintained, that's not happening and that can cause a premature

failure, which will cost more money. So if you're going to pinch bio means take it

wherever you can, get that service done, but keep in mind next time around

take it into your regular shop or dealership so they can do that full inspection

to make sure you're not missing out on anything. Alright, good advice. And the guidelines

for frequency of oil changes has evolved over the years, hasn't it?

I remember it used to be every three years. Now I think we're up to five

or maybe our... Careful with that question because you'll get a whole

bunch of responses. Well, what do you say? Then I joke about it often.

So manufacturers are all over the board. It might be

5,000 miles, 7,500 miles, 10,000 miles. Now as Denny knows

I've done this since I was a teenager and based on my experience, what

we see in the shop day in, day out on a good quality synthetic coil,

5,000 miles. If your vehicle still uses the conventional oil, which is becoming

more rare, a 3,000 mile interval and that's simply because

of the repairs that we see, the sludge, the wear, the tear on the timing

components and some of the valve timing stuff. There's a lot of little

intricate pieces inside that engine that need good clean oil and as that gets

worn down or breaks down, it creates sludge and can restrict how those pieces

operate, which can cause a failure, which costs more money again. So as

the theme is, we want you to maintain your vehicle, which costs something, but maintaining

it is always less expensive than doing a repair. So do yourself the favor,

maintain the vehicle, get it in every 5,000 miles. If you don't drive

that much, as I told you just last week, I think, still get

that vehicle in twice a year to at least have it inspected. All those other

components that we just touched on, as they wear out, they need maintenance too.

If you maintain them, they last longer, which saves you money. Okay, thank you, Nick.

Now, I'm going to break from the format for just a second here because I'm putting

my reporter head on. Talking to you, you mentioned just a few minutes ago

that you've been doing this since you were a teenager. You've been dealing

with cars, learning how to fix some, you know, spending time

in a garage since you were a teen. And it reminded me of my dad because

that's how he lived his life as well. He owned an auto parts store

where I grew up in Shakopee. Always was working on a car in the garage.

Started doing classic cars with his buddies. And

so this topic is just, it's warm memories for me. But I want to know

from you, what do you dig about this? Like

why do you want this to be your job?

And what makes you smile about this job every day?

You say that because my kids say, Dad, why did you choose to do what you do?

And I just laugh and say, I don't know. So the back story is

I was 15 years old. There was an Amaco Station

down the road from where we lived. A gentleman, Dan Burns,

who you probably remember, he was my predecessor and did the show for years and years and

I've kind of evolved into it. Owned that gas station.

I worked there through high school. After high school, I joined the Marine Corps because I didn't want to be part of this car thing

as I called it. Got out of the Marine Corps, went to visit Dan and I started

at Lloyd's. And that was back in 1998. So in the history of my working

career, it's been Dan Burns of the Marine Corps, been my bosses.

I had the opportunity to buy Lloyd's from him in 2021.

And since then, whether or not, you know, we've expanded, we're under our third shop now

this is last year and deciding if we're going to keep growing or maintaining what we

have. But it's been one heck of a journey.

Cars are, I don't know, they're cool. I mean, it's just, you know, like your dad, I mean, I grew up in the

shop. We used to tinker with our cars. We had hot rods.

And it was fun, you know, it was just kind of something that took by the time and

it's evolved into three businesses, which doesn't have much to do with cars anymore. It's more about

people and organization, but I'm figuring that out too. So we're going to keep going

forward and see what happens. That's great. First of all, thank you for your service. And

my dad was also a Marine. Thank you. And tell me what are the three Lloyd's

locations so people can figure out which one might be closest to them?

Well, they're independently branded. Lloyd's is

on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, which we talked about on a weekly basis.

The second location is a place called Parkway Auto Care, which is also

in St. Paul. It's on the corner at Ford Parkway in Snowing, right across from the

water towers there. And our newest location is

at 4 or 522 East Lake Street. We've rebranded it

Lake, I'm sorry, Longfellow Automotive. And it's

fun. You know, it's a beautiful building. It's one block off the river. It's

a great neighborhood. We spent a bunch of resources kind of

cleaning things up and remodeling the inside this past few months.

Once spring happens, we're going to get some landscaping and some artwork done on the

outside and hopefully we can support that community neighborhood and

keep growing what we're doing. Love it. Let's take another texture question.

2004 Saturn Ion, the cruise control worked

intermittently then quit. What are the possible causes?

Well, cruise control, first off, if there is a

warning light, like a check engine or any indicator on the dash,

one of the defaults is that the cruise control is not going to work. It's more of a safety

issue. The light is a warning, but we don't know what the light means

so the cars decide if I don't know what's wrong, I'm not going to have any of these add-ons. I just want you to

focus on driving. Also, there's some other switches and components

that are part of the cruise control that can fail. I would say, you know, the cars, you know,

got 20 plus years on it. If you're a, someone that's on the highway

a lot and using the cruise control, I would have it, you know, diagnose, figure out exactly

what's going on. If there is a warning light on that's preventing it from working,

that needs to be looked at also because those little things become big

if we ignore them. So, I would say next time you're in for service, simply mention

that the cruise control is not working. You know, pay the amount to have the diagnosis done.

Once you know the diagnosis, you have an idea what the cost of repair is,

you can figure it out for yourself. It's cost-effective or something to live without.

Excellent. Good advice. It is 729 on CCO. That means we need to

take a break. You're listening to CarCare with Nick Stoffel from Lloyd's Automotive

in St. Paul. If you have a question for Nick and you want

to call in or text us, the number is 651-461-9226. We have

about 15 minutes left with Nick. So, get those questions in during

the break. It's 730. We'll be back in a moment. 734

on WCCO. This is Laura Oaks in for Denny Long this morning. We're talking

with Nick Stoffel from Lloyd's Automotive in St. Paul for about

10 more minutes. So, if you have a question for Nick about your car,

you can call us or text 651-461-9226.

Nick, I'm going to go to the text line right now because

here is somebody who needs some help with the battery. I would like to know

if it is unusual to have your car not start with a battery

that's less than two years old when you've been gone two months. The

battery was not a good one. I have a 2012 Lincoln MKZ

with 65,000 miles. What do we know?

So, I agree. Let's get that battery charged up, run the vehicle,

see how it goes. If you're back in town and you're driving on a daily

basis, you're probably going to be just fine. One thing I would tell you

though is make a note of that. It's a common theme. I always say

make a note. Next time you're in for service, say to the shopper

dealership, hey, I was gone this past winter for a couple months. I came back

and the vehicle was dead. We had to charge the battery. Can you test

everything to make sure it's okay? Let's make sure the battery has the capacity

kind of referencing that other text or color. Also, let's make sure when the car

shut off that there's not something wearing down on that battery. If there's a slight drain

or a drop because there's some sort of component that's not working properly,

that can deteriorate, get worse, make the battery

wear down over a couple months, but think it's bad enough that it could wear down over a night.

So, we want to make sure there's not any underlying problem there. So, next time you're in, have some testing

done. Make sure everything's working as it should. Got it. Another

texture. I have a 2016 Jeep Renegade with 51,000

miles on it. The parking brake is not a lever but just a button

and it has been sending me messages that it needs service and at

times it won't come on or turn off when I press the button. Is this

an expensive fix? Maybe.

Parking brakes are an emergency brake or a touchy

subject. It used to be that we would tell people if you use it on a regular

basis, by all means, it's fine. If you never use it and hope that it works on that one

random day, it's not likely because everything's kind of gummed up and seized up.

Newer cars now, however, the parking brake is built

into the rear caliper and there's an electric motor that engages and

disengages it so it's more likely to last longer and work longer.

If there's a warning, once again, there's a warning saying something is wrong, you need to have that looked at.

It doesn't mean you have to spend the money to fix it today but at least you know what's

going on. The last thing you want to have happen is that parking brake engage,

not release, and now the car is stationary and you can't drive it. So,

once again, have it looked at, get an idea of what's going on, get an estimate for it.

Maybe give a second opinion if necessary but at least you know what's going on and what the cost might be.

Alright, here's a good question from a texture that we've talked about in our household

with our cars. When should you take your car to your dealer and when to your neighborhood

garage for routine maintenance? They have a 2016 Subaru.

Well, that's a personal preference obviously.

I'm going to say bring it to us because that's who we do.

But most commonly I think that people will utilize the dealership

while they have an under warranty or they have a maintenance package as part of the

purchase of the vehicle. I think as vehicles age, we start to see them

at the neighborhood shop or the local place.

In our businesses, we see them from the first service to the last service so we see a whole

mix of it. But I think it's probably most common where people have the vehicle under warranty

they might follow that maintenance package that came with the purchase of the vehicle.

Then based on relationships, experience, convenience,

they make the decision best fit for them. Alright, we're talking with Nick Stoffel

from Lloyd's Automotive in St. Paul for a few more minutes.

If you have a question for him, give us a call or a text 6514619226.

Another texture, Nick, that

2014 Impala, the Iron Ranger in me wants to say

Impala with 82,000 miles. The owner's manual

recommends a spark plug change at 100,000 miles.

Is there a risk with age that the plugs will get more difficult

to remove due to rust or corrosion?

That is a great question and very true. So oftentimes

you look at the maintenance schedule and it'll say certain mileage but it also might have

some months or years in there that we ignore. We always just go based on the mileage.

So I would say if you drive your vehicle less than

the typical driver where that schedule's designed for, those maintenance

items might need to be done sooner based on time. So

careful there, you don't want to overdo it. But yes, spark plugs

the material that they're made of, the threaded part that threads into

the cylinder head, if that becomes corroded or seized, you can

make a more expensive repair or possibly damage the cylinder head which becomes

more expensive in its own. So maintenance is important

and if you don't know like boy, you know, my car is this age, it has this mileage

are these things due? You can always look online or call. Call and

ask. The best information that when you ask those questions

don't assume, ask the questions, hey my vehicle is 12 years old

there's only so many miles on it. It says the spark plugs are due at a

mileage further down the road for me but it'll take me years to get there.

Is this something that should do? Have that conversation, have those people

help you understand the pros and cons, the consequences and the cost

and the potential risk so therefore once again you make the most informed decision

for you and your vehicle. Great, thank you Nick. I want to remind folks that you guys

have just some excellent resources and information on your website and I want

to go back to the most recent blog post about some of the strange

noises you might be hearing, what they could mean, what you shouldn't

ignore and especially during pothole season now when some of us

are ending up in the shop whether we like it or not, that's something that I think people are

possibly going through. Tell us about some of those rattling

sounds that should not be ignored. Well first off you mentioned

potholes and like I said this morning we have a snow on the road so you might not

see or if you see a puddle keep in mind you can see the puddle but you can't see

how deep it is so try to avoid obviously don't go into uncoming traffic

don't cut somebody off maybe slow down but be aware you know it's most important

this time of the year that we really focus on the road ahead of us because you see that little

puddle but all of a sudden I knew that puddle is a two or three or four inch pothole

which could create some damage making those noises making this

experience suspension components fail possibly have a flat

tire or a damaged wheel which can be very costly so if you have

if you see a pothole ahead or you see a puddle ahead take caution you know obviously

before we know it will be road construction season they'll be able to fix

those potholes so it's only a few months out of the year that we have to be really

ultra sensitive to those potholes but this is the time of the year you have to really start paying

attention because the less we want and you know we want to fix everyone's car but

it's not enjoyable for us for people to come in on a tow truck because of something like that

and that's you know it could something's not broken so it's more expensive it's

inconvenient because you weren't planning it it wasn't a scheduled repair now you're on a

tow truck your whole day or days are interrupted so try to avoid that we're

all in a hurry we're all very busy I know that but when you see that puddle ahead of

you on the road make sure you be cautious right

you know proceed cautiously I would say right and I think a lot of people

like me and down my favorite route to work

I have already figured out my path for avoiding the potholes

and those manhole covers that are just not even with the road

and I'm just pride myself on missing these holes and missing these

manhole covers and then all of a sudden yes it's like a game and then this morning

with a little bit of snow on the road bam I hit one just what you were talking about so

it is something to be aware of it is 743 on WCCO

we've had a great chat this morning with Nick Stoppel from Lloyd's Automotive

in St. Paul give them a visit give them a call for whatever you may need

they're very highly rated you can check them up there so that yourself

and Nick thanks for joining us we'll talk again soon

yeah thank you for having me and hopefully we'll have actually if Dennis should be careful

because you've done such a good job that you know maybe they won't have him back

oh we won't have him back he'll be back with bells on next week

I better be careful thank you Nick

It is Time to Be Aware of Pot Holes, How to Choose the Right Spark Plug, Why Nick Became a Mechanic

About this episode

check engine light

tire pressure light

hoses

fluids

belts

vehicle sensors and indicators

maintenance light

pothole season

wheel bearing

cold cranking amps

alternator

dashboard warning light

Mitsubishi Outlander

iridium spark plugs

platinum spark plugs

oil change

chassis

tires

underbody

steering suspension

brakes

conventional oil

sludge

timing components

Saturn Ion

cruise control

Lincoln MKZ

battery drain

Jeep Renegade

electronic parking brake

vehicle warranty

Ford Ranger

Chevrolet Impala

damaged wheel

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