They’re talking about whether what you pay actually gets you a car that lasts. If the car breaks a lot, it’s not really good value even if it looks good or is new.
They’re basically saying the price you pay doesn’t always mean the product is better. The speaker argues that modern stuff can cost more while being made with worse materials or workmanship.
Wear and tear is just the normal aging of parts as you drive. Regular maintenance can slow it down, but if something is already worn, it may still need repair.
Spark plugs help the engine start by creating a spark. Even if a car is advertised as “maintenance-free,” spark plugs usually still need to be replaced after a certain mileage or time.
They’re talking about doing research before buying—like using Consumer Reports and reading online posts. The goal is to learn what tends to go wrong and what owners report.
“Count on for reliability” suggests the speaker is emphasizing predictable ownership—cars that are less likely to require frequent repairs. This is a key filter when comparing vehicles beyond just performance or styling.
A road test is just a short drive to see if the car feels good to you. You’re checking things like comfort and how it drives, not just looking at it in the showroom.
Concept
goals vs what you can afford
This is about realizing your dream car might cost more than you can spend. You may need to change what you’re looking for or accept certain compromises to make it work.
They’re talking about a 1998 Honda CR-V. It’s an older Honda SUV that they drove for a long time, showing how some cars can last a lot of miles if they’re cared for.
They’re talking about the fluid inside an automatic transmission. Using the right fluid matters because it helps the transmission work correctly and last longer.
CVT means “continuously variable transmission.” It’s a type of automatic that changes smoothly instead of shifting gears, but it needs the right fluid and regular service to last.
They mean the same kind of problem keeps happening to that car. If a model has a known repeat issue, it can get expensive even if you try to maintain it.
The Nissan Rogue is a common SUV that many people use as a daily driver. The host is saying it can be really good on gas, but you still have to treat it and maintain it the right way.
BMW is a European brand, and the point here is that it often needs specialists for repairs and maintenance. That can mean higher costs than many U.S. cars.
Aftermarket parts are replacements made by other brands. The idea here is that some are safe to use, but electronics can be more problematic if they don’t match the car well.
Maintenance is the regular work you have to do to keep a car running well. The speaker is saying if you don’t like doing that for a gas car, diesel may be even more frustrating.
An oil change replaces used, contaminated oil with fresh oil to restore lubrication and cleaning capability. The interval matters because oil degrades and collects contaminants over time.
Wix makes replacement filters for your car. The point here is that the host trusts Wix because they believe the filter quality helps protect the engine and other systems.
Full synthetic means the oil is made completely from synthetic base oils. It can be better for heat, but the big advantages may not matter as much for everyday driving.
what I want that's exactly what I want I don't care that filter cost me 20 bucks
I cannot buy an engine for 20 bucks would I be safe in saying that I cannot buy a
long-block engine for my vehicle for 20 bucks you don't cheap out on filters and
fluids ever that is a no-no and that will not get you to the high mileage it
will not it will not get you there won't so Alicia don't listen to what the
manufacturer says stick with 5,000 K or four months whatever happens first so if
it's four months and you've only put 1,500 kilometers on it your vehicle falls
in the severe service category you need to change the oil filter more often
because your oil is getting contaminated with carbon unburnt fuel and acids that
destroy your engine from the inside out so that's what I highly recommend change
it early if you know you're going to be over change it a little early you won't
get busted by the oil change cops month or mileage time or mileage whatever
happens first okay and it doesn't matter whether it's synthetic semi synthetic
conventional well here's what a couple of oil engineers I had a chance to have
lunch with many years ago back in the late 90s from a company that if I
mentioned their name you would definitely know who I was sitting with and the
gentleman was an oil engineer and a scientist and I asked him I said is there
really a whole lot of benefits to me switching over and running to full
synthetic for my customers and here's what he said the average everyday Joe
will never get all the feature benefits out of running synthetic oils in their
everyday car that's what he said I go wow how about semi synthetic he goes yeah
you could run it it's not that expensive but again synthetic oils are for those
people are really pushing it hard he says especially in the racing industry
you know that's what they got to run they got to run synthetics everywhere
they dissipate a lot of heat but for the average Joe average Joe they're not
going to see the feature benefits out of running a full synthetic not I'm not
them I'm not the message I'm the messenger and again if I mentioned the
engineers of the company they were working for you would definitely know the
product line you would definitely know last but not least we're pretty much
over time again so let's see we can blow this one out quick Steve yes he brings
up the ultimate question my vehicles AC system quit last late last summer what
will it cost to fix it what could I be looking at price wise well first of all
I do not have a magic wand or crystal ball we've been putting the order in
myself and some of my cronies for a number of years back order all the time
always back order here's what you got to know many of you would say well you know
my air conditioning system pooped out late just like Steve late last summer when
should I fix it well I'm not going to bother fixing it you know I don't need
it till next summer oh did you want your conditioning to be working next summer
well yeah I'm not driving in a hot steamy car in the middle of July 93
degrees with high humidity no oh looked like I've been dragged through a hedge
backwards by the time I get to work and that's the ladies and she ain't gonna be
happy with her fellow mm-hmm that should have been fixed before Steve drove
through the winter because if the system's not working that means there's
no refrigerant in there where did it go the neighbor stole it while you were
sleeping last night no it fell out well possibly there's a leak well if there's
a leak that means the refrigerant leaked out that means that all the slushies
salty water and and air salted air is being sucked in by the decosin bag that
attracts moisture out of the refrigerant but now it's pulling moisture out of the
air from where the refrigerant leaked out and it's contaminating the whole AC
system all winter all winter being an AC tech my first question to Steve would
be how long have you been driving the system dead well he's already told me
said late last summer so that could be September end of September beginning of
October so and now let's see we're in spring now so how many months would that
be let's go October October November December January February March heading
into April seven months that system's been open sucking moisture salt air
laden moisture over the winter months into the air conditioning system via the
decosin bag which that's what its job is is to is to pull moisture and hold the
moisture in the ceramic like material so now what I know already is that
decosin bag is the ceramic pellets in there are totally totally absorbed with
moisture they're pregnant with moisture if I go to try and charge that system to
even test it for leaks there's a good chance the ceramic pellets will explode
the bag will split open in the accumulator that's where it hides and
now it's going to put all that product throughout the entire air conditioning
system every tube every pipe every or or fist tube evaporator core condenser the
whole package the whole schmiel is going to get contaminated why because that
decosin bag is full of moisture so how do we fix that well we got to change the
accumulator period it's got to go the system's been open for seven months
sucking moist air we can't charge it if we do we risk that bag splitting open as
I just said in all those ceramic pellets exploding kind of looking like really
swollen rice Krispies that you left in the milk way too long and now it's soggy
and they're puffy another great idea to share with you is a bowl of brand buds
pour milk all over it and then just walk away for a half an hour and come back and
take a look at what you got that's what happens to the ceramic pellets they're
puffy and they'll explode and the bag will rip open and completely cause a
living nightmare how do we fix it now we not only need an accumulator but we
have to open the whole system all the lines and flush everything out
completely then change the accumulator then suck the system down into a vacuum
then put some air conditioning enough refrigerant in that's what we're allowed
to do to determine where the leaking point is so we can determine a course of
action as to where the refrigerant leaked out and what we need to do to fix it and
then we can't let the car go down the road with that refrigerant we pumped in
we have to suck it back out that's the fix to get started to fix it now there
are some secrets that I do know but I am not sharing those on the microphone I've
been in the H air conditioning side of things for many years decades and
there's some tricks that I can do to at least get the system tested and reduce
the cost to the consumer and get it fixed and fixed right anytime your vehicles
air conditioning system goes down if you will if you love that AC you need to get
it back up and running quickly it's not a system you can say well leave it for a
couple of years or get to it you know it's end of the season we'll get to it
next year no no no no that's not how that works a cheap air conditioning fix
gonna run you about a thousand bucks today used to be about 500 we get the
system back up and running top drawer for 500 bucks ten years ago you'd be
swinging to the bank but today prices of parts and especially with air conditioning
assist if the summer is hot then parts start to become rare and scarcer to find
and can take ten days to two weeks to get the parts because everybody else's
AC system is diet and especially if it's a domestic it they puke constantly you
can't keep air conditioning conditioning on them I've never had one
domestic vehicle that the air conditioning system didn't puke on me
not one the old seven FJ that's original AC I make a point of every two years
evac and recharge the system if there's a filter in there pull it out put a new
one in bam same with the 99 Honda Civic DX I tell you when the air conditioning
is on you can hang beef in there again change evac and recharge the AC system
every two years out goes the bad blood in goes the new we suck the system clean
and we're putting brand new AC refrigerant back in checking the pressures and the
temperature in the dash that's how you keep it going and then there's a number
of nuggets on things you need to know about how to use your vehicles air
conditioning system so that it lasts for years to come and I will share that in
another podcast where we'll cover off in fact we'll shoot some videos to show you
what I do and how I do it so that you can duplicate that and treat your vehicles
air conditioning system thumbs up and have it working for years to come so
Steve that's probably not what you want to hear but that is the fact the system
went down late summer it should have been fixed then and there not now so now
it's up in the air what is it going to cost I hope not too much but like I said
I've learned some tips and tricks over the years with eight with AC systems on
automobiles and working on big truck AC as well and there's a lot of refrigerant
in there the cars today maybe a pound pound and a half refrigerant maybe two
or one point seven five they don't hold very much as a very small system but when
a system's been down we need to flush it out because number one I don't want any
of that crud in my expensive AC machine because it can totally destroy it so
what's that going to cost me yeah eight thousand ten thousand dollar machine
today the one that I work with was a lot of money when I bought it and today it's
like double double the price and add some so I don't want to do anything to
jeopardize my machine my equipment because then who's paying for that so we
got to be very careful how we approach that one and do a lot of inspecting and
checking to see if we can verify where the refrigerant leaked out and then try
and do a very gentle partial charge with some dye in it a dye pack so we can find
the leak as quick as possible and not let the pressures get up too high and then
find and source the leak suck the system back out quickly so that we can get the
pressures off and then we can draft out a course of action but definitely you're
getting a new accumulator definitely to especially depends on how old the vehicle
is it's not worth the risk because at that bag splits and the ceramic pellets
explode which they will the system's done and you know it's too much work the
labor and the labor would just kill you it would eat you alive so again we'll be
talking about air conditioning a lot more coming up in the next few weeks as
we get closer to ambient air temperatures rising above 50 degrees and
stabilizing so some fantastic questions today well done you guys maybe for the
month of April we'll we'll take all the questions in put everybody's name in a
hat and at the end of the month pull a name and send a gift card out what do
you think of that let me know put something in the in the comment box on
one of the YouTube videos or better yet go to our website carconnectionbusinessnetwork.com
ccbusnet.com and send me an email your thoughts let me know your thoughts and
would you be up for that throw the questions at me get your name in the
in the drum the more questions you ask means the more entries you get increases
the chance of winning which is that something you're interested in we send
out a gift card make a big to-do about it and get the questions flying because
those are three fantastic questions thanks to Jim and Alicia and Steve for
taking the time to send some really good questions in that probably could be on
the minds of those listening today so until next time happy healthy motoring
check out our car connection fleet maintenance system I haven't looked to
see if the page is up yet but if it isn't yet I spoke to our webmaster he
said he was putting that page together waiting on me to send a picture of what
that maintenance system looks like so that you can see that you're getting
value for your money and it would be just once you have on it be just like
having me in your home as your coach helping you take care of your automobile
but yet I'm not there how cool is that you're running the same pattern I have
for many years and you're putting lots of money back in the bank yep that makes
you a winner baby you're not playing the car game anymore you're working with
motormouth motormouth dial Jenkins so thanks for joining us today have a great
rest of your weekend appreciate y'all doing all those little things for us
like subscribe share follow join our community put comments in the videos and
most of all don't forget to ring that notification bell so you're notified when
the new videos come out and we thank you for doing that from Skippy and I
deeply from our hearts we appreciate your help your love your support and for
watching and listening and coming along with us for the ride so happy healthy
motoring keep it under 100 put that coffee on I'm gonna come to your house
peace patience and kindness always we'll see you on Monday morning at 8 a.m. bye
for now
About this episode
A fast Q&A session tackles reliability, oil-change habits, and expensive A/C failures. Nile “Motormouth” Jenkins argues that today’s tighter engine tolerances and thinner oils are contributing to early powertrain failures, especially in certain GM and other modern designs, and pushes the idea that 10–15-year-old, well-kept cars can be more dependable than new “plastic” builds. He recommends changing oil early (even with synthetic) and never cheaping out on filters. For A/C, he warns that letting it sit dead for months can contaminate the system, driving repair costs up—often requiring an accumulator and flushing.
It's Saturday Q&A at the Car Connection Workshop, and we're tackling three questions every driver should hear.
Jim's looking at replacing his current ride and wants to know - are domestics really that unreliable, and what should he be considering before buying?
Elisha asks about oil changes using synthetic. How long is too long - and what 's the safest interval to protect your engine?
And Steve's dealing with an A/C system that quit last summer...what's it going to cost, and what happens when you leave it sitting too long?
We break it all down:
1) How to approach buying you're next vehicle the smart way
2) Why oil change intervals should be based on time and mileage
3) The real cost of delayed A/C repairs - and why timing matters
Car Care isn't guesswork. It's about understanding the system and staying ahead of problems before they get expensive.
#CarQ&A #AutoRepair # CarMaintenance
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