Practical Automotive Advice to Save Money on Car Repairs Were Under The Hood
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Concept
replica OEM wheels
“Replica OEM wheels” are wheels made by other companies that look like the original factory wheels. They usually cost less, but you still want to make sure they fit your car correctly.
Term
crank
To “crank” means the starter spins the engine. If the lights work but it won’t crank, the problem is often in the start/ignition path.
Concept
dash lights on but no start
If the dashboard lights come on but the car won’t start, the battery is probably okay, but the “start” signal isn’t getting through. That can be caused by the ignition switch or lock cylinder.
Term
ignition switch
The ignition switch is what tells the car to start when you turn the key. If it’s worn out, the lights may come on but the engine won’t crank.
Term
relays
A relay is like an electrical switch that controls power to another component. If it’s going bad, the car may act up intermittently. That’s why it comes up in starting problems.
Term
fuses
Fuses protect electrical circuits by breaking the connection when current is too high. A blown or failing fuse can cause certain functions to stop working, sometimes intermittently if there’s a loose fuse or related issue. The speaker mentions checking fuses after noticing weird starting behavior.
Term
voltmeter
A voltmeter is a tool that checks if electricity is reaching a part of the car. Mechanics use it to see whether a switch or wire is getting power.
Term
boost pressure
“Boost pressure” is the extra air pressure created by a turbocharger or supercharger. If throttle control and fueling don’t coordinate properly, boost behavior can change, which can contribute to smoke and poor performance.
Term
Eco Diesel
Eco Diesel is a diesel engine option. The host is saying that on this diesel, removing certain parts can be risky if corrosion has built up.
Term
torque wrench
A “torque wrench” is a tool that tightens fasteners to a specific torque value. The host suggests using one (and setting it conservatively) to avoid over-torquing and breaking glow plugs during removal.
Term
glow plugs
Glow plugs help a diesel start by warming things up. If they get stuck, removing them can be a big job.
Concept
under warranty
Under warranty means the car’s manufacturer will pay for certain repairs. They’re saying the dealership may only do the job if the warranty covers it.
Car
Jeep Grand Cherokee
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a common SUV. The speaker is saying they’ve seen them go to very high mileage, so it’s not always as bad as people fear.
Term
OEM replica wheels
These are replacement wheels that copy the look of the factory wheels. They can cost less, but you still need to make sure they fit your car correctly.
Company
road ready wheels dot com
They’re talking about a wheel seller called Road Ready Wheels. The point is you might be able to buy replacement wheels for less than you’d pay elsewhere.
Company
Berkeley one classics
They’re talking about an insurance company for classic or special vehicles. The goal is to get the right coverage so you’re protected without paying for too much or too little.
Term
snow tires
Snow tires are tires made for winter weather. They grip better on snow and ice than regular tires, especially when it’s cold.
Concept
direct fit
Direct fit means the wheels are made to bolt on properly. You shouldn’t need extra parts or modifications to make them work.
Term
33s
“33s” means the car has big tires. Big tires can help off-road, but they can also make the vehicle feel slower.
Term
jacked up
“Jacked up” means the car sits higher than stock, usually for off-roading. It can look cool and handle rough ground better, but it can also affect how it drives.
Term
misfire
A misfire means the engine isn’t burning fuel correctly in one or more cylinders. The car may shake, hesitate, or “chug,” and it can happen sometimes rather than all the time.
Term
OEM spark plug
OEM spark plugs are the same type (or very close) to what the car was built with. They’re usually a safer choice than cheap alternatives.
Brand
Motorcraft
Motorcraft is Ford’s parts brand. The idea here is to use a reputable, factory-style plug instead of a bargain one.
Term
porous block
A porous block means the engine block has a flaw that can let coolant leak where it shouldn’t. That can cause problems like coolant getting into the cylinders.
Term
K-Seal
K-Seal is a product you add to the coolant to try to stop small leaks. It won’t work for big leaks or serious internal coolant problems.
Concept
fix what you got
Instead of giving up on the car, you repair the problem. They’re saying it’s often smarter financially than selling it for a small amount and buying something else.
Concept
drive it gently
“Drive it gently” means don’t accelerate hard or push the car. It can reduce strain on a transmission that’s acting up.
Term
low oil pressure warning
This warning means the engine may not be getting enough oil pressure. If it’s real (not just a sensor glitch), the engine can wear out quickly, so it’s important to check it right away.
Term
changed the oil
They already changed the oil, which is usually the first thing you do when you see an oil problem. If the warning still shows up after the change, it usually means something else is wrong.
Concept
used engines
A used engine is an engine taken from another vehicle (usually a wrecked one) and installed in your car. It can be a cheaper way to fix a major engine problem than replacing everything new.
Term
wheelstander
A wheelstander is a car that lifts its front wheels during hard acceleration. It’s usually done on purpose for drag racing shows because it looks dramatic and requires tuning to do safely.
LIVE
Welcome to the Under the Hood Show podcast.
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Thanks for listening to the Under the Hood Show podcast. Here's the show.
This is Under the Hood. Welcome to the Under the Hood Show. We are glad to have you with us.
Russ Evans is here to answer your automotive questions. Thanks for joining us under the hood.
Shannon Nordstrom is in theory here to answer your automotive questions.
And I'm Chris Carter here to answer your calls at 866-594-4150. 866-594-4150.
We should like at the, we should blink the lights like when the bar closes at night,
if we could blink the lights in the whole complex, he would maybe see the lights and then go,
we do, we do have an app, an app for that because all the building's all electronic.
I think Shannon's the only one, maybe Benji that has that so that they can look and say,
oh, somebody left the lights on. That's a button by the door all on all off.
It's kind of crazy when you look out the window and you can see, you know, 70% of the complex.
And if you're here by yourself and it's dark on a weekend and you hit the button and everything
lights up, everything goes off. It's kind of crazy.
Well, well, well. Not only are you late, you didn't even know, we, you know what time it is.
Hey, we got to give a tribute. Slacker. I was in a meeting that I called,
which I shouldn't have done before a radio show. Right.
During, I said to everybody, I have to go. Yeah. And I was just down the hallway.
Sure. So I walked in here. I thought you guys were still doing pre-show.
No. Back to the Future Count. We've been talking about you for a couple of minutes now.
That's fair. They say diehard. Is it a Christmas movie or not? People argue.
Does Back to the Future Count is a car show?
Oh, that's a good question. The whole show, the whole theme revolves around the car.
One car. Oh, that's a good question. The, the, uh, the guy from that show,
the one that's, everybody would know the famous, he had very small part. He died this week,
96, I think, 94, 96, the one, you know, Slacker, Mr. Skinner.
He also played in Top Gun. Oh, yo, yo, sure. Uh, James, um, yeah. Yeah. That guy, the, the,
he gets the buzz. He gets buzzed by Maverick in Top Gun, right? No. No. No, no, no, no.
All right. Your body's right. I'm not getting involved in that part of the conversation.
I'm still thinking about quality control. He's going to go on. He's going to go another step
and it'll be even more esoteric. Right. And checks your body can't cash or whatever. Well,
you know that one. Let that guy. I'm glad. I was thinking of the Slacker part though. He was
late and I was like, Slacker. It's fair. Yeah. I'm right now. I was a radio show Slacker.
You're a Slacker McFly. All right. Let's just start. Let's just get going. Welcome to the
end of the hood show. Let's talk to Michael. Michael has a car problem. Let's get off of
the movies and all the other stuff. Hi, Michael. What can we do for you?
How's it going? Good. Well, medium. Nice. Fair enough. I got a problem with my
09 Ford Focus. I'm hoping you guys can give me a little direction on diagnosing what the issue
might be. Okay. So, oh, sorry. I'm in a transit station. So it might get kind of noisy here and
there. Sorry. But basically, the main problem is when I turn the key,
car doesn't start, but the lights come on. And I know that usually means you start looking at
like the starter switch, the battery, et cetera. But I've had some strange experiences with the
car that leads me to believe it's something else. And unfortunately, I don't have a trusted
mechanic that I can just take it to. And I've heard enough horror stories basically about,
you know, what happens when you take a car that won't start to somebody who's maybe ethically
not at their best. It's a good way to say it. I like that. That's a good way to say it.
So the strange things that I've had with this car is that when I bought it,
basically, it wouldn't start up right away, which is a horrible reason to buy a car.
But what I came to find out was that if I had the key, a specific end of the key turned up,
it always turned on, you know, it always worked just fine. But even though it's a double-ended key,
for some reason, if it's turned the other way around, it doesn't work. And
there's a set of two keys. It was the same way with both, which I've never had with any other
car before. And I haven't been able to find an explanation for that. Seems like it might be
related, but I don't know. So it won't crank. It doesn't turn over anything.
Yeah. The lights come on, but yeah, it doesn't even try to start.
Yeah. So turn the key to the start position and push in on the key.
Push it in. Turn it to start and then push it towards the column.
Push it in towards the steering column. Yep. And if it starts right up, go get yourself,
take it in and say, I need a new ignition switch and lock cylinder. I see that all the time.
Well, that's what I've been... It'll only work so wrong.
But that's what I've been doing. Oh.
Did it work? Because if it worked for like a week and then it quit,
yeah, it's worn out. Maybe a month. Yeah. So I would say that probably three quarters of all
that, that model ignition switch on those fords that come to us for a no crank,
I walk right out, turn the key, push in on it a little bit and it fires right up.
And they think you're a magician. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, we need to put a lock cylinder. And some of
them, it'll work like a couple of times. Like I go, oh, that's what it is. And by the time I go out
to start it and bring it in to swap it out, I can't because it's not working. Because the wipers
in there are wearing out and every time you push on it, it just wears a little more. It's already
done. So if it worked shortly, a few days a week, a month and then it stopped, now it doesn't do it
at all. Yeah, that's what was going on. Basically, if it ever would only crank when you pushed it in.
Yeah. I missed the fixed part of it though. I think my phone cut out.
What should I be looking at? If it was working for a little bit, if you turned it,
it went, oh, it's not starting. And you pushed it in one day and went, oh, well,
that's how I do it. And it worked for about a week and then quit. What you're going to
need is the lock cylinder and ignition switch, the whole assembly there. It comes with a key,
lock cylinder, switch, all of it. And you replace that and you're fixed up. It's got to be programmed
because of the program in the car. You'll need two keys and that lock cylinder and switch in
order of programming. You need two keys. Okay, gotcha. Is that something like that I would
take in specifically to a dealership? Any place that can do forward programming. There's been a
lot of issues with independent shops and forward programming lately. It kind of comes and goes.
So you just ask them, can you do, can you program keys for a Ford? And if they say, sure,
then that's a shop that can do it. Is that a programming that some of these mobile locksmiths
that there seems to be more of on the market that got the technology could do? They do it.
Our mobile guy does it. Okay, so if you physically had somebody do the work of replacing it,
you could have that person come in. You might call them first just to make sure what their
schedule is and what your schedule is for the car. Right. And we're also making the assumption that
your electrical system is in good condition, that your wires to the starter in good condition.
The connection is good there. The starter is working. The battery is good.
That's the diagnosis. Did I push in the key and it started for a while?
Yep, exactly. Yeah, that was one part that I didn't include in the story.
After a few weeks of it not really starting reliably, suddenly for another week it did,
and then I've been able to get it. I've had something else weird though that it's probably
related, I'm assuming, but I thought it might be the relays or the, what is it, the fuses?
So I popped those open or I popped the box open and I basically just pressed it on them gently
just to make sure everything was in snug and they all had like a very, very slight click to them,
which probably just from the area like heating and cooling gradually expanding.
But after I did that, it just fired up on the first go.
Like I turned the key and the car just started immediately. But then, you know, drive the car
for 15 minutes to get the battery, make sure the battery is taken care of,
park it, and then it wouldn't start again. And did that like three times over the course of a week
or two? And so I think it's something, that'd be either the key of the electrical system in some
way, but everything else seems fine with the electrical system as far as I can tell.
That's pretty easy to diagnose. They can take a voltmeter, connect right to the wire coming
out of the ignition switch for the starter and the input and say, oh, we've got battery voltage
on the input. We got nothing coming out of it. The switch is bad. That's, that's an easy
diagnose for a shop looking at it. Michael, thanks very much for the call. Good luck.
866-594-4150. James Tolkien is the guy who, the actor who died. Yeah. I actually, I actually saw
that on the bald guy. He's always the little news segment. There you go. Yeah, we, we bring it all
back around. We'll just, and I actually, I'm in the loop now. Yeah. 866-594-4150. That's the number
to reach us here at the end of the hood show. Let's talk to Tom. You're on the end of the hood
show. Tom, what can we do for you? Well, I'm driving a 2015 Ram Eco diesel. And I just,
just recently bought this thing. And when you leave it set for a couple of days and started up,
you can go about a half a mile and then you get a whole bunch of white smoke, I guess, coming out
the tailpipe. And it will last for probably 20 seconds. And then there's nothing else showing up.
And driving it right now, it seems to run really nice. But the oil pressure at idling is only 19.
And I'm wondering, am I looking at some big problems coming up?
Well, you said this truck is new to you. Yes. Yep. It's got 206,507 miles. And I had just bought it.
It came from Arkansas. And it's absolutely rush free. And those trucks are extremely,
extremely popular as far as their fuel economy and the way they run when they run good are
that motor in the grand Cherokees and different vehicles. People really like them when they're
working. When they don't, they become a very, very problematic, expensive experiment. So the
white smoke in your case is just a vehicle telling you that it's, it's elected a new owner every time.
You know, it's like a pope. Yeah. It's just saying, yep, got a new owner. That's what it's doing every
time it goes. But 207 miles is impressive. That it even, well, just that it hasn't had
other trauma in its life. But did you buy it from the original owner?
No, no. So the one COVID that comes up to is service electronic throttle control.
When you, when you start the motor, it just says that after a little bit service throttle control.
Is that a hard thing to service? No, that means it needs repair. That's a code for that system.
It doesn't mean just clean it. It means a good service oil. Oh, I need to change my oil service
throttle that people do think, well, what do I need to do? Clean it? No, it means there's an
electronic fault in there. And see that thing, that thing doesn't open up a throttle to give
the engine more air. It's got a throttle blade like the Duramax has, and that's controlling
emissions and things, but it uses the injection. It feeds it more fuel to give it more throttle. So
if you've got a problem with that, and it were to close that butterfly or it wasn't working like
it's supposed to, yeah, you can get some white smoke because it's going to have a difference in
the boost pressure and stuff. That needs to be serviced. And I guess if I, if I had bought one
of these trucks and it'd come from down south, where you don't have the corrosion issues,
sure, for me personally, that on my truck, I'm going to try to take the glow plugs out of it.
But not on that one. Okay, on that one. That Eco Diesel, good luck. I am going to try to take them
out as a, and I don't want you to, or your mechanic to, but for myself, if I own the truck,
only because it's from down south, and I would be, I'd be very gentle on it. I might even get a
torque wrench that, that works in reverse to just make sure I don't torque them so much I break them
off. You know, if they're torqued at 40, I'm going to set my torque wrench at 40 on a one that,
because not all torque wrenches go backwards, and I would try to take it out. And if it comes out
at 38, I'd be like, Oh, great, that one's good. But if it's like not coming out when I get to
that torque spec, I'm not going to touch it because they break off. And then you're looking at,
you know, 10 grand to tear it down. Why are you taking the glow plugs out, Russ?
Because they can, because they, they don't come out up here.
No, no, I know, because we, I just came from Toronto. That's where I was last week at a meeting,
and they were all saying in their forum where they all talked to each other, dismantling
for them. They were like, what do you guys do with your eco diesels to get the glow plugs out?
Well, friends of mine in Texas are changing glow plugs on those. They're like, well, we don't
ever have a problem with them. Oh, well, if you're not having a problem with them, why are we? It
must be the climate. So if you could get it out, clean it. Does that have anything to do with
the problem that he says he's having? No, but I'm just thinking because that comes, for us,
that comes to mind right away because it's such a pain up here. Well, we ruin engines trying to
get glow plugs out. And we have people that have one glow plug out and they're like, yeah,
they say I've got a glow plug out and it starts a little hard. It's like, well, just put up with it
because it, unless you're ready to spend probably 10 grand to get the thing out, tearing it down.
Those are extremely expensive engines. And here's the other thing.
Most people I know around here won't even work on one. We won't work. I won't touch one. I won't
change the oil in one. We just don't do it. I'll do brakes and things like that, but I won't open
the hood to do anything. You don't want to be the I touched it. No, we don't. And as far as I know,
the dealership won't work on it unless it's under warranty because it's one of those things now,
unless they feel that they're slow and they're okay with, if something's not good and we'll just
price them out an engine. But I've had several customers with both the Chevy small diesels
and the, that I've seen it on both occasions where there's some smaller town shops that said,
I don't have anybody here with the training. I don't really want to do this for the same reasons.
Now we're painting a really ugly picture and it's kind of true, but, but
I started with a throttle body service. What if I owned it? You know, if I was like,
not a mechanic, but I owned it and I just picked it up like this and it was that nice. I'd be like,
well, let's get it in, see if we can get that throttle thing fixed. So it starts and runs great
every day and sell it to somebody else for a whole lot of money because it's such a nice truck.
It's a, I don't know. I don't, it seems like we're painting too ugly of a picture. Aren't we
Russ? I don't know. Just get on the internet and, I know oil pressure stories. It's got a variable
oil pump in it. So yeah, that seems normal to me, but that, that's $200 miles on it. Somebody drove
it that far. Right. That's a 200,000 miles. I know, but somebody drove it that far. So that's not
all bad. It was great until now. Well, it's not bad yet. He's just got to get somebody to serve
us that code. Or is it? No. Yeah. Check the code first and see what they think. Have them give
it a once over, use car inspection, let them tell you what they think the shape of the engine is.
But he already bought it. Well, he bought it, but at least he knows if there's other things that
need to be repaired to prevent more expensive repairs. I would just make some phone calls to
different diesel shops and, you know, that say they work on light duty stuff also.
And just ask them, Hey, do you work on the eco diesels? Light duty diesels. Yeah. And find out,
because that is a trouble spot. We see that like the Colorado canyons with the little diesels in them,
the, you know, the, the GM three leaders, there seems to be more serviceability people out there
for them. But we're seeing the same thing where shops, they, I'm just not going to work on that
truck. It's just a better experience for my life if I don't work on that truck. And I felt so good
when it started because you said the people that have good luck with that, they do. Whoever got
that thing, the 200,000 miles is not having this conversation. No, and we don't know what they spent
on it. But if they didn't spend anything, that's amazing. Cause they got a truck that got crazy
fuel mileage that overcame the cost of the engine that they pay for. We have also had grand
Cherokees in here with 300,000 miles on with that motor. I mean, so people are driving them.
That's right. And that's why we're so jaded on this. Cause we've seen, we've seen the worst.
All right. You guys stop, stop talking for a second. This isn't getting any better.
Thank you for calling. I hope, I hope your day goes better. A lot of it has to do with
emission systems cleanings. And there's people that, that drive those that come into our shop
that have had, I've had them in for tires and things, but they've done emission system cleaning
kits on those diesels. They've changed the oil on a regular basis. I've got other people that come
in and when they have a problem, it seems to me, when we start checking, we're like,
why did you go 15,000 in the oil change? Well, it's fine. Okay.
This call went like Tom's truck. It started out fine. Got about a half mile in. Got some white
snow smoking. We said we were at a six today, not a 10. Tom, I'm going to, I'm going to end
this call. I feel like I need to take over here on this one. I'm really happy for you that you
bought this nice clean truck down south. And the fact that it runs good when it runs good,
and you've got this one code and the one puff of smoke, we're going to, you're going to find a
shop that will work on it. They're going to, they're going to clean the emission system.
They're going to check it all out. The code's going to go away and you're going to be able to
enjoy this truck. He's going to call us in six years and go, you remember that truck that you
said was so horrible? I haven't done anything to it. Yeah. And I wouldn't, I would not try to
take your glow plugs out like Russ suggested. No, that's for me to do. I know. Do not do that.
If the glow plugs are not a problem, leave them alone. Don't touch them.
We don't open the hood. That's a Russ would probably come out with like a Dracula situation
with like garlic around his neck or something. Move on. These are not the droids you're looking for.
Tom, thanks very much for the call. Good luck. Sorry. I'm sorry. That went terrible. I'm not
happy about that call. Doug, no more eco diesels. No, just not even to take those calls anymore.
Sorry. The end of the hood show podcast is brought to you by exclusive sponsors like
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Welcome back everybody. It's time to get back under the hood with our motor medics.
866-594-4150. Don't forget if you miss an episode of the show you can find it wherever you get
your podcasts. If you subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can watch the show and join
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Get a lot of those people that call the show Berkeley One Classics vehicles and if we're good
we'll guess the color. If we're not you get a free hoodie. I found my project car. What is it? My
brother and I told you we're gonna get a project car that we don't. The project that's not a project?
Yeah we don't live near each other so we're just gonna argue about what car we should have.
A Suzu Amigo. It's perfect. Amigo. I go get a Suzu Amigo. Did you get a Fuego instead?
Yeah no don't don't don't muddle this. We finally agreed. Not really. But. I just popped into my
head I was like an Amigo. Oh there it is. If there's so those things are so hot these days
there's not even any for sale. What's the last price you saw on a decent one when you were doing
this exercise? I just I saw I looked everywhere. I saw I think three nationwide on Facebook.
All of them. Because there's only three left. Yeah yeah and two of them were like six grand
but they were bulked up. They had bars and and then there was one that was like 2800 something like
that. I see where it is. They're they're out there but either people don't want to sell them
because they like them and they're in decent shape or they're sitting in our backfield. Yeah I don't
think there's any out there that people look that are in great shape. But if you see them there
there's no in between usually it's like crazy money and they're decked out. They're not crazy
money and just stock. They're way over the top or if you're lucky you find one. I mean I run into
the same Monte Carlo the same certain years or the same way. They're out there. I'll go one step
further. And some other cars are like that too. The last model year was kind of ugly so they're
not super on my hot super hot metal. So you want like a 98? Yeah yeah yeah right in there. Yeah 98,
96. Or is it 90? Yeah and then it ended in like 99. Somebody's driving a samurai in our town when
the weather's decent. I'll I'll see it drive in the morning. They're headed to work and it's
it's got like 33s on it. It's jacked up a little bit. It's green and and I'll see them because
it's got no exhaust. As it goes by I'm like oh there goes the samurai. Mr. Yvette had a samurai
and I drove that and we always called it the Gillette razor. Yeah like the commercial Christmas
when the razor's good for whatever reason that's what we called it. I'd like to drive one again
and just see how it feels. They're so underpowered. If they're anything but those
stock little tiny toy wheels that were on them you hold it to the floor and they go like 50.
I know I just, isn't there a party that kind of wants to drive it just to see how bad it was?
Let's talk to Craig. You're on the end of the hood show. Craig what can we do for you?
Yeah we've got a 2013 Ford Fusion that intermittently will misfire or whatever.
Usually not at first start up when it's cold but if you drive somewhere stop
and you go to start it'll occasionally then misfire chug and but so far you know it'll stop
or you shut it off and then restart we've been able to go. Not getting any tech engine light,
had a mechanic look at it once said it was fine. Of course. Those are the worst ones.
What are your thoughts? Oh yeah. I'm like the mechanic. What motor did you say it has
or did you not? Well I did not. It does have an equal boost. One five but I don't
what size? One point no one one five not what size one one point five. Turbo four cylinder
great engine when it works can get their biggest faults they have two and the first one is coils
and spark plugs make sure you get it if you're doing that as a tune up item. Once they hit about
60,000 it's time they start having misfire issues that can be randomized. Got a really good quality
coil like a a motor rad coil that's got extra windings that they put in them heavier epoxy
they're just stronger more durable they hold up really well for the heat because you're generating
a lot of heat in that and then as far as spark plugs go an OEM spark plug a good factory
motorcraft spark plug in there don't put anything cheap on there and definitely don't ever put
anything from amazon on there because you don't know what you're getting even if it says his name
brand it might not be. Beware those those engines are real sensitive that's the number one issue
the number two issue we see on those engines is what they call a porous block it's more of a screen
door than an aluminum cast block and it lets coolant through into the cylinder and at very low rpm
like at idle or under high pressures when you are really trying to accelerate on the on ramps
things like that and then you let off on it and come to a stop it can allow coolant into usually
into the number three cylinder and it's a there's no fix to it you can try k-seal that has fixed a
few of these it's a product that will it'll fix small leak if there's no pressure behind it like
from the cylinder but it won't seal a leak that's so big it's like a heater core it won't we won't
plug a heater core because it won't seal leak that big but that that is a fix and that that's
important for people to know that have these cars that have been told they need an engine
and they they don't want to put an engine in it because it's got you know 180 000 miles and they
just they're not thinking about it these cars are still selling for you know in that 10 000 range
or so so if they're running great because you can't beat the fuel economy so a lot of people
are putting engines in them but the two things we see is besides the the porous block and the
coolant leaking and this is the ignition mainly and I think if you drive this long enough and it
keeps doing what it's doing and you're not seeing any coolant loss it's probably going to come down
to the ignition you're going to get a misfire code a shop's going to be able to track that and see it
and they'll say we need to put coils and plugs in this thing to fix this issue they can come up
kind of sudden it can it can do what yours is doing then all of a sudden boom it's got a hard
miss on and it can do that sometimes without a check engine light with in that base ignition but
usually you'll get a misfire code though but most of the time you do but occasionally I've had these
cars actually missing while I'm sitting in them and the misfire monitor is not setting I see the
miss it says oh cylinder two is missing there's a hundred and fifty misfires it's shaking but it's
not setting the code it's just the way the the misfire profile works in anything related to the
turbos and waste gates on what you see there very few I'll I'll have these cars where you know one
of these small engines will lose a timing belt like on an escape or something and destroy the engine
but turbos are they're on the lower list for kind of kind of been a GM thing on some of those
turbos cruise those things yeah spark or whatever anything with a small turbo they have had issues
but yeah these are these have been pretty good turbo wise Craig thanks very much for the call
good luck 866-594-4150 let's talk to Reese you're on the end of the hood show Reese what can we do for
you I've got a 2005 Pontiac Bonneville with 190,000 miles on it and the transmission has started
slipping and it's getting worse I've got my daughter driving it back and forth to school
trying to get her to just stay in town with it is there anything a guy can do
to help that situation or are we just on a women a prayer well those those cars are
are still sought after for people as far as that they're they've got a lot of room
you can put a lot of people in cargo in them and they still get great gas mileage high 20s on those
usually we have a lot of people repairing those I did a Bonneville transmission in in one of one
of our guys did this week we put a transmission in 05 Bonneville we did a transmission in an 04
Bonneville the week before that we did one in a Le Sabre which is with the same thing
not too many months ago I mean they're they're still pretty popular and people are still doing
them and when we're putting these things in we put a used one in save you a whole ton of money
and it's got a year warranty on it parts and labor so I mean that only works here and in our
town in Garrett's in South Dakota but as far as you know around the country I'm sure you
can find other shops too that would pick up a certified transmission from a partner like
Cardache Park be able to put it in for you at a local independent shop and still save you some
money and get some kind of warranty on it I just think if you look at this car and you go okay
transmission's slipping let's just get rid of it maybe get one or two hundred bucks out of it
somewhere as is if whatever place it with oh another if I can find a Bonneville that's in good
shape I'll I'll buy one for for what six seven thousand bucks it makes more sense to fix what
you got because those engines wow they're pretty tough we saw so many of these make 300 thousand
miles as far as what you can do now is just drive it gently yeah if you change don't change the fluid
if somebody says we'll change the fluid and help you you're just we're in waste money yeah russ had
one in one of our company cars I drove it really gently all in Minneapolis you got an extra 10 000
miles out of that probably and I had already had the code for long shift max adapt and the last the
last trip I made was we went up to Minneapolis because we had a event for a vendor and we we
drove up there and on the way up I got to Worthington and it shifted it took off in second gear and it
went uh-oh and it it got into overdrive and I just left it there I didn't slow down far enough or it
would downshift and I kept it there and it was chugging pretty hard and I just I went the whole
way without stopping because I didn't think it shift again I got into Minneapolis parked it
and on the way back I didn't even get to Rochester and it went into second gear and it stayed there
so I set my cruise at 40 miles an hour on the interstate and just left it there the entire
way back to Sioux Falls and it by the time when I got just to my exit had to stop it wouldn't go
anymore so you can go a long way and I think on these we have had a lot of customers who went oh
it died and wouldn't shift anything but second but they were able to drive it 50 miles home
in second gear going 40 I understand they got to watch their rpms did you say you have that code
yeah it's already kicking the code I I don't know I had my buddy reset it it was also kicking 402
codes and he just done he reset everything for me it's it's done you saying it with a max adapt
long shift it means it's already turned up the pressure as long as as high as it can
in order to firm up the shift by giving it more pressure but it means long shift even though it's
turned up all the way you're still having a long slow shift so it it means it's on its way out now
you might be able to drive it like Shannon said you might be able to drive this thing another
few thousand miles if you're real careful with it and it's probably going to shift hard then you
turn the key off turn it back on and it goes back to normal for a little bit that's the indication
that you need to start saving those pennies because you're either going to replace it or replace the
car within the next several months would it help him if he was you said your daughter's going to
drive it but just by manually shifting it gently no not at all you got to let it do its thing so
it doesn't get confused and then just be just be gentle with it and it's hard to tell a kid how
to try one interesting Reese thanks very much for the call good luck what an interesting conundrum
that puts in my head because when I was that age school age driving a car if I had a car that I
could baby and I wouldn't I could have driven it for another 10 years but if my daughter had that
same car I wouldn't I wouldn't tell her that you know what I mean yeah I'd probably tell my son that
but not my first thing they do is floor I need a new car dad eight six six five nine four four one
five oh that's the number to reach is here at the end of the hood show let's go to Tennessee
and talk to mark here on the end of the hood show mark what can we do for you
okay I got a Ford F-150 2020 with the five co-coyote motor and it's got 200,000 miles on it
and I'm starting to get a low oil pressure warning and of course it has full of oil
and just recently changed the oil and still getting the same reading so I googled and said that I got a
response that Ford has problems with that switch so I changed the switch
and I'm still having the same problem I've got to go back here because my
mind got jumbled between a 20 F-150 how many miles did you say it had
200,000 okay and that's just I had to ask again because for a 2020 that's you know it's already
six years old but that's a lot of miles it's it's been used well have you how many of those have you
owned it uh brand new I owned it the whole time I do a lot of traveling uh because I do I am a
NHRA IHRA drag racer oh fun nice so we've been towing the whole time with this
no okay no I have a I have a toad or a toad and then I use the truck for travel
okay well if you're that that's a good thing to know them because if you've had this truck just on
the highway driving it 200,000 miles is nothing for one of these they really go a long way like
that but we've also had people with a hundred on these that have towed the entire 100,000 miles
and we've had some issues with them because they they were overloaded a guy towing a landscape
trailer sufficient boat no problem but I they've got a lot of power so I've had some people pulling
houses yeah smoothers like 10,000 pound trailers with them they're like well I'm okay because they
said it's good to tow 11 I'm like that's not 80% and you're overloaded at times but yeah this thing
my first step in our shop where we're doing these kind of repairs I would pull out the
oil pressure sending unit I'd put a T in there and I'd put a so I could hook it up and still have
the electrical portion you need that to drive it and then watch that gauge and see what my gauge is
actually reading and if it's low right we thought of that you know you're you're you know what I mean
if it's low I've seen these engines fail from excess wear inside where they're bleeding to death you
got mains and rods that are excessive clearance cam bearings excessive clearance and all together
it just lowers that pressure at idle you could if you're trying to cover it up and it's you know
it's your own truck and you're trying to drive it a little longer and the engine's quiet it doesn't
burn in oil you could put a different you know relief spring in that oil pump and just to pump
up that pressure just a little bit or put a high volume pump in it because it's probably not worth it
to break the engine down but now there again if you guys are deep into that stuff as racers you
might have some fun tearing it apart and seeing what you got but most people are not most people
are not going to be able to afford the pieces he does this all day he doesn't want to go work on
his own truck when he's done well the problem is is uh getting to the panel because it's a
poor old drive that uh yeah he did have a pain so yeah I got a well in the and you can't pull the
motor because you can't get to the transmission bolts um bolts well you gotta do make it easy
make it easy on yourself make it easy on yourself get it on a two post two post hoist
and do as Ford designed it and lift the cab off yeah um yeah so I just said do a little cab off
yeah that's that's what um yeah if I ever go that route um I got a uh wrecking yard that has a 24
5.0 with only 30,000 miles on it and I was thinking about just dropping the motor out
and just do away with the issue that's always a good choice too you know we do that at our
own shop we put a lot of used engines in a lot of re-manufactured engines in and get vehicles
going it sure beats the cost of switching to a new a newer vehicle even I had some of the other day
that they didn't they they fixed their car but the reason they didn't switch to another one they
said well it pencils out pretty good but I encouraged them call your insurance agent too
oh and ask him what it's gonna cost cost of insurance is way up right now yeah $100 more a
month to drive a vehicle that was seven years newer and it was basically the same vehicle wow I
never thought it was a Ford Escape that doesn't come into the formula all the time when you're
thinking about thinking about a repair Ford Escape and they were gonna get a 2023 Ford Escape
versus the one they had and they were like yeah it's gonna run you a hundred bucks more month
they're like for what it's looks the same it's like that's what they run so mark I'm I'm uh I'm
gonna be in Tennessee next week what part of Tennessee are you in uh well I live in a small
little town called Bellbuckle where is that at I'm gonna be going to about an hour
about an hour south of Nashville we're in Frank we're at our shows in Franklin which is west
north up there yeah I'm gonna be in Georgetown I think is where the wedding we have to go to
is Georgetown Tennessee I think that's uh Georgetown I think that's east of Nashville I'm not sure
yeah I've looked at it on the map and I just can't remember right now we got to fly into
Nashville but I just I was I was thinking that what's okay let's tell us a little bit more about
this NHR NHRA car before we get off what what is it what class are you in what are you running
I run an exhibition wheelstander I'm fun oh wow we used to see a few of those
like a little red wagon yeah I I'm from an area down 1970s Chevy Nova oh cool that is fun I'm
I'm from an area down in east Texas where when I lived there in the 80s we had you know probably
20 tracks and the last one down there they'll war in the woods it's out of Paris it's gone
it's this this was the last year for it and it and it was sad because they had them everywhere and
we used to see you'd line people up for exhibition cars like that and and you know street stock and
everything and they were just everywhere and they were so much fun but hey Mark I think this is
this is not a I don't you when you're racing this thing it can't be a Berkeley one classic
but I do think we have to guess the color of this I was just gonna say I think we have to guess the
color of this and I think one way or another he needs to get a hoodie okay to wear the track
I think one way or another he gets a hoodie to wear at the track not yet okay not yet all right
so I think it's a 70 Nova and it's a wheelstand car and every magazine I remember looking at back
then was they were white I was just fed a YouTube video two days ago of a yellow Nova on the strip
Russ Russ I think it's red but I think it's got a like a ton of stripes on it I gotta say stickers
thinking all the big none not stickers the big stripes the big wide all right what do we got
Mark several colors in those okay so originally the car was named smokey red and it was a candy
apple red but then when I obtained the car it is now burnt orange metallic burnt orange with
purple silver pink and what other colors one of the colors stripes on it and
and actually it's going through a rehab right now and we're going to read bring it back orange
but we're going to put both flames and some additional striping on the side well it sounds
like you're having a lot of fun I I think you're forward with 200,000 miles has probably gotten
just a little bit loose inside and that's why you're losing the oil pressure but check it out
manually first and you know hopefully you can get that figured out that that recycled original
equipment engine from another truck I will just give this bit of advice for people because we're
using Mark's call here but if you are going to go online to car dash part the majority of the
recyclers on there are are very very good operators and I still encourage people especially if you
see something on Facebook especially if you see something on Facebook yes that you get a VIN number
so you can do a vehicle history report no different than if you're going to buy a car and that VIN
number they need to be able to track that to the engine that you're buying and that's a easy truth
serum just to make sure you get what you say you're going to get I know like at our certified
auto recycling facility my friends that are in the industry they're taking pictures of the odometer
they're giving you the invoice with the ticket you can go see pictures of the vehicle it came out of
and match that VIN number this shouldn't be hard but there are a lot of people that broker and but
even speculate even when we broker from another yard we get their ticket with the VIN number
and verify it and so just be be aware so it sounds like you got some connections there already but
sounds like you're having fun and when you say wheel stands how how high are we going
one quick one more quick question oh go ahead is there a way I can cross reference the 24-4
to or if that motor will that match up with my truck well one thing that we do in our industries
we have the Hollander interchange and it's pretty good it's not perfect sometimes it gets a little
too technical and sometimes our default is to call the remanufacturer or the dealer and see what
year range the remanufactured engine fits okay and a lot of times they'll have one part number
that runs from 2015 to 2023 and then it switches to a new part number 2024 and the reason that
switched to 2024 is that a different tone ring on the crankshaft or something and it doesn't work
so that's how we check for sure if we if we need to know that's going to do it for this hour of
the end of the hood show thanks for listening until next time you can find us at underthehoodshow.com
with Russ Evans this is Shannon Orts from 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 copyright Nordstroms
automotive Inc.
About this episode
The Under the Hood Show tackles practical, money-saving diagnostics from multiple callers. A 2009 Ford Focus no-crank issue turns out to be a worn ignition switch/lock cylinder—pushing the key helps temporarily, so the fix is the whole programmed assembly. A 2015 Ram EcoDiesel buyer reports white smoke and an “electronic throttle control” code; the advice is to check codes and service emissions/throttle rather than gamble on glow plugs. Other segments cover misfire causes on a turbo 4-cylinder Fusion (coils/plugs vs coolant leaks) and transmission slipping on a high-mileage Bonneville (drive gently, plan for replacement).
Original notes
Looking to save money on car repairs? Tune in to our latest episode of Under The Hood for practical automotive advice that can help you avoid costly repairs. Watch on YouTube or listen on podcasrt now and start saving money on your vehicle maintenance! #cars #automotive #savemoney #watchnow. Here are today's callers. Why does my 09 Focus not crank? My 15 Ram Eco Diesel has a throttle code My 13 Fusion has a misfire when warm Should I fix my 05 Bonneville Transmission?
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