This is the newer kind of parking brake that’s controlled electronically, not by a simple cable. When you work on the car, you may need to follow special steps so the system doesn’t get confused.
Modern scan tools often require up-to-date software to support newer vehicle functions and module commands. If the tool’s software isn’t current, it may not be able to access features like EPB service mode even if the hardware is capable.
Updates are new versions of the software the shop uses. They can be necessary so the tool understands the car correctly and can run the right repair steps.
A rusty bolt is a common older-school brake service problem: seized fasteners can make pad/rotor or caliper removal difficult. It’s the kind of issue that can often be solved with physical tools and proper penetrating/technique.
Sometimes the mechanic has to install the right software before the repair can proceed. Doing that for the first time can take extra time and cause delays.
“Making oil” in this context likely means the transmission was leaking or producing oil-related mess—commonly from worn seals, gaskets, or internal wear. Oil leaks can be misdiagnosed as internal transmission failure, so identifying the leak source matters before rebuilding.
Royal Purple is a company that makes specialty oils for cars. People use it in transmissions and gearboxes to try to improve shifting and reduce noise.
Liqui Moly is a company that makes aftermarket oils and additives. Here, they’re talking about using a Liqui Moly gear additive to help the transmission work better.
Manual transmissions use a special fluid, not the same oil as the engine. Using the right kind can make shifting smoother and reduce grinding or stiffness.
They’re saying that finding the best oil sometimes takes experimenting. Different trucks and driving conditions can respond differently, so you may need to try the right fluid to see what works.
A hot rod is a car that’s been modified for performance or personal preference. They’re using their hot rod story to show that sometimes the usual rules about fluids don’t always apply.
Oil additives are extra chemicals mixed into oil (or added separately) to improve properties like detergency, anti-wear protection, friction reduction, or seal conditioning. Whether an additive is appropriate depends on the oil’s existing formulation and the vehicle’s requirements.
They mean taking the transmission out of the car to fix or service it. Since that’s a big job, you want to make sure you can get the right fluids afterward.
High beams are the brightest headlights setting. If they make the lights flicker or go out, something in the electrical system is likely failing when more power is demanded.
A circuit drawing is like a map of the truck’s wiring. It shows how power gets from the battery to the headlights, so you can test the right part instead of guessing.
Your headlights run on their own wiring circuit. If only the headlights stop working (but other lights still work), the problem is probably in the headlight wiring or parts tied to that circuit.
A wiring diagram is like a map of the car’s electrical system. It shows what connects to what, so you can follow the path to the headlights instead of guessing.
Running the truck with the lights on helps test problems that only show up after things warm up. If the headlights go out after a while, that’s a big clue about what’s failing.
Cruise control is the system that keeps your car at a set speed. If it stops working, it can be caused by something in the control switches, wiring, or power supply.
Champion is a company that makes spark plugs. The idea here is to use a plug brand/type that matches what the car originally used or what’s known to work well.
Bleeding is the process of removing air from a hydraulic brake system. If air remains, the pedal can feel soft or spongy, so the procedure includes re-bleeding when the pedal doesn’t feel right.
Air in the brake lines makes the pedal feel soft because air compresses. If the pedal doesn’t feel right, you need to bleed the brakes again.
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start your engines. The Car Doctor is in the garage
and ready to take your call.
Hey, let's get this hour going. Run an Indian. The
Car Doctor here at your service. Eight foot to five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. You know, I
want to start the show this week with a store from the shop, because sometimes the best way to understand where this industry is going, the automotive industry is to look at what happened yesterday, this past week, recently, right, we had a vehicle in the shop this week. It
was nothing exotic. It wasn't an Evy, it wasn't a spaceship.
It was just a late model Chevrolet, just a newer Chevy, and it needed breaks, heads and rotors. You know, the
kind of stuff that five years ago, ten years ago, you do in your driveway during lunch, before lunch, we do in the shop. You know, in a couple of hours.
It wasn't a big deal, you know, one of those jobs you didn't have to really think. It was just
a cup of coffee in one hand, socket wrenching the other, sort of taking your time, picking your way through the day.
If you're doing it in the driveway, if we're doing it in the shop, obviously we're trying to get going because we've got other cars behind it. But it's just
it's supposed to be a simple job. You always hear
it from people, Hey, it's just breaks, except this time you can't. It's not different. We get the wheels off,
we get it up in the air, and we're ready to go, and Danny looks at me and he says, you know what, this is an electronic parking brake. Okay,
and he says, and I knew what that meant, and I didn't think I was going to get this answer.
And he says, well, I've got to get a scan tool.
I've got to put it in service mode. And you
have to put it in service mode. Right, if you're
working on an electronic parking brake car something late model, a lot of them now require you know, you have to be in service mode, and if you don't, you'll break the electronic parking brake, You'll say code, You'll create all kinds of problems. Electronic parking brakes. You've got them
in your car. You've seen it. You know you're driving
around in your friends or your own vehicle. It's the
push button thing, right, you push the button, it sets the brake, You pull up on it, and it releases the brake. That's an electronic parking brake. Well, there's a
little electronic motor on the back of the caliber that spins a shaft which controls a piston to push in, pull back, push in, pull back, and effectively lock the brake.
So now the job start. Now the job just comes
to a complete stop, and you know, you got to think about this because you know, it's not that we don't know how to do the breaks, but the car won't let us, right, So we grab the scan tool we always grab, and we've got a lot of options.
You guys know this. I've got a bunch of scan tools.
I'd like to think I've got, you know, three quarters of what's on the market. And the function's not there.
It just won't do it. And I'm thinking to myself, wait,
this is a modern scan tool. This is supposed to
be able to do what you need when you need it to do it. But it won't put this car
in service mode. And now that clock that all repair
shops fight, it starts ticking right ticking, because that smoke you see is the money we're burning. The cars on
the lift, the bay is tied up, the customers expecting the car by three. It's eleven o'clock in the morning.
So you know we're not fixing anything. So now I
start hunting for software. I go to a different scan tool.
We pull out the backup unit. We pull out another
scan tool older. But sometimes the older tools surprise you. Right,
the function is there because they got to it early for some reason. We hook it up, we get through
the menus and there it is break service mode. Hey
problem solved. Maybe nope, because we tried to run the function.
We tried to get it to do it. At least
this tool. We had the choice of Hey, you can
try this, but it said your software is not current update required. Now I'm standing there and I should point
out this was the week we put the swear jar back in the shop. If you swear in the shop,
it's a quarter every time. You know, we're waiting to
see who can fill the can the fastest. So far,
Danny's in the lead, but I'm close behind. So but
we're trying to you know, everybody should have a swear jar.
I think it shows strength of mind on most cars. Wait,
all those volkswagons show up. So now I'm standing there
and I'm looking at this thing, and I'm thinking, we don't have a break problem. We don't have a tool problem.
Now I've got a software problem. So now what Now
I've got to stop the repair. I've got to take
the tool log into Wi Fi. I've got to renew
the subscription that I let expire six months prior because I've got the newer tool I've got you know, the best thing, the tool that's going to last forever and do everything I wanted to do. And we're downloading updates
and we're waiting for the progress bar to kind of move along, and you know, the phone rang a couple of times, and I answered the phone. Danny's you know,
we've got the lift tied up. He's doing on something
on a car outside. But we're both now we're both
kind of distracted from the break job that has to go by three o'clock. You know, now it's getting closer
to noon. We're trying to at least get a dent
in this thing before we go to lunch, which we never took. You know, we're not fixing cars anymore. I
thought about this. We're negotiating with them right Think about
how far we've come, or is it how far we've fallen.
There was a.
Time when the biggest problem doing breaks was a rusty bolt, maybe a stuck caliper, something like that. Maybe the part
came in the box and it was it was looked up wrong or catalog wrong or box wrong. That was
the biggest headache. But you could fix that. You could
put your hands on that and rectify that in short order.
Now now you need, you know, a bigger hammer in a sense. You need a scan tool, you need a subscription,
you need Wi Fi, you need the correct software version just to get permission to turn the wrench. And here's
the part that I think about the most. What about
the di I wires? What about the guy trying to
do it in his driveway, trying to feed his family, just trying to get to work, right, he just you're out there, you're you know what, honey, I did breaks and autoshop in high school. I know that was twenty
years ago. They haven't changed that much until this rolls
into your driveway and you're going to do pads and rotors. Okay,
I mean, God bless you guys. You're out there in
the driveway and you're doing everything you can do. You're
attending YouTube University. You've got your basic tool set, you've
got ambition. But if you don't have a scan tool, brother,
you don't have access. Because nobody told you that. Before
you fix the brakes, you've got to talk to the car.
And that's where we are in twenty twenty six. You've
got to talk to the car. The barrier to entry,
the barrier for access has changed because it's not about skill.
You've got to have access to information. You've got to
have access to software, you've got to have access to tools.
You've got to have access to updates. And if you
don't have those things, you're not fixing the car. And
that break job, well, we got it done. Took some
resources out of the shop that day, and it took up more time than we thought we were going to have to dedicate to it. But you know, we updated
the tool, we got into service mode, we did the brakes, cleared the codes. Everything's great. Of course, I've got to
tell you as a shop owner, when you're doing one for the first time and you have to download the software that morning, you don't want the guinea pig to be the car that has to go in two hours.
That's where it gets a little hairy and your stomach gets in or not, it cost us more. We stayed
with our quote, we know for the next time, because that's part of the learning structure of HOTO repair. You know,
as a shop owner you're giving out quotes and every once in a while you get blindsided because you do everything you think you're supposed to do. You buy all
the tools, you try to stay current. You try to
have the best of the best, and there's always one little snake in the woodpile that just doesn't want to cooperate.
You know the moral of the story, if there is one.
Because I thought about this, it made me question, am I still repairing cars? Or am I becoming an IT
department with a toolbox? You know, your car now needs
Wi Fi just as bad as it needs a wrench, and that sort of changes everything. Because I'll tell you something,
This is why repair costs are going up. This is
why shops have to invest thousands in equipment. This is something.
This is really why sometimes you need to hear and you will hear, Hey, we will it be done today?
I don't know. I might need a day or two.
It's not because we don't know how to fix cars.
It's not because we don't know how to fix cars.
Not because we forgot how to fix cars. It's because
cars have changed and the rules have changed, and you can't know everything. We had a conversation this week with
Ross Whiteley from Mitchell One about repair information having a ross on the show in a couple of weeks and you know, as a taste bit to it not this week, but he's coming up soon in a couple of weeks.
As a tasty tidbit to it, I think the number was two hundred and fifty million pages of information currently this year, and it grows exponentially every year. And he said,
within that information, you still can't find everything you need because it changes so fast. If you're not up to date,
if you're not current, if you don't have software, you're not in the game. Heck, you're out in the bleacher somewhere.
So this hour we're going to talk about it. If
you want to talk about that, give me a call.
If you're a di wire and you're struggling, give me a call. You know you can still do this yourself,
But where is the line? And if you want to
talk about that line in the sand, call me up and let's talk about how you can make smart decisions before you get stuck halfway through a repair, because the last place you want to be is in your driveway, halfway through a break job, and that car is not giving you permission to let it your work on it, and there's no way to get it. I'm Ronning Andy
in the car Doctor. We're coming back right after this.
Don't go away.
Hey.
By the way, this is this is T shirt week.
I'm gonna make Tom work card today. So this is
T shirt week. Give us a call. Eight five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero. Everybody's getting a
T shirt this week. Springs here once. You guys dressed upright,
and we want to spread the cheer. So let's let's
move it along. Everybody's getting T shirts. First up, Frank Pennsylvania.
You didn't know that this week, did you, Frank?
I heard on it on one of your other shows.
Ye.
All right, Well, I'm sure you called in because you have a question, but you're the lucky first guy up, sir, So how can I help you today?
Okay?
This is a I have a two thousand and three GMCCRA four point eight motor. I have a sliding camper
weighs about a thousand pounds, and I have a five speed manual transmission. It's that NB thirty five hundreds.
Okay, so that's what I have.
The first question. Now, I had trouble with the motor.
I cracked the ring, and I had a rebuilt motor in and I had a lifter problems make a noise.
I tried everything and one of the products worked. It
was actually Liquid Mollie. It was the lifter additive, okay,
but they changed the motor. Then I had trouble with
the transmission making oil. So I bought a rebuild transmission,
and then when they pulled it out, it was that input bearing was actually scored. There was no problem with
the transmission. But I put two transmissions in rebuilts and
I had troubles with the two of them, and I bought another one from another company. And my question is
royal purple? Can I say the name?
Sure?
I used that for two hundred miles on the other transmission and it ran goood. But with the squeal, then
I hear different things. Vabbling is better, ABS oil is better,
red line is better. I'm not sure what's the proper
oil to put in? And liquid Molly makes. Liquid Molly
makes an MOS two additive for gears, Okay, that the product to put in.
So what I remember about these trucks, Frank, was you know the five speed was available two ways. It had
a low gear and it didn't have a low gear.
Do you have low gear or you just start out in first? Do you have creeper first gear?
No?
No, it's just a five speed, no creeper.
No, no creeper gear right, So five speed with no creeper took GM synchromesh right right, which is you know, that's the that's their GM manual transfluid eighty eight ninety zero three thirty three if I recall the part number correctly.
It's been a while since I looked it up, but I like that fluid. I've literally taken vehicles that are
you know, seventy five ninety waight gear oil, and their hard to shift, and they're stiff to shift. And I
will put GM synchromission and I don't care what it says under the hood. I don't care if it's a GM, Ford, Chrysler,
et cetera. And I've had great results. It works. It's
a great fluid. The thing I like about synchro mesh
is it's a lighter lubricating type of fluid. If I'm
pulling a load because you're putting a camper on it, I might rethink that, But then I can make the argument in my head. You know, when I did the
hot rod, because we're all trial and error to some degree, right, the five speed in the hot rod is supposed to have automatic transfluid in it. Yeah, I know that took
me a while to get used to too. But you know,
supposed to have automatic transfluent in it. But guess what's
in it? GM synchromesh And it works great. And it's
you know, five and a half years now driving. I mean,
I've got five thousand miles on it. It's not like
I go very far. But you know, believe me, when
I drive it, we you know, we might step on it.
A little.
Stuff kicking out there real quick. Yeah, I used this
vehicle for going across countries. Okay, it's six thousand miles
round trips. And the other thing is I checked on
that GM oil. They don't make it anymore. I went
to the dealer and that's not available.
Really, I just got some. I wonder if I got
the last of the inventory. Yeah, I got the last
of it a couple of months back. I remember putting
an inventory order in it.
It came yeah, okay, I went, ok No.
I have no problem with the Royal Purple stuff, and I have I have no problem with the additive. Royal
Purple makes some great product. I mean all those names
you you threw at me or you know, they all make good stuff. There's nothing wrong with any of those.
I've come to realize and look at and consider as I've gotten older and working on cars, what do I have ready access to? If if you've got ready access
to Royal Purple, that you know, if you had to pull the trans in six months, you could go get more Royal Purple from wherever. Then you know, Royal Purple
is the fluid. If if you think it's a problem,
then it's it's Valveleine. You know, we don't. We don't
see Valveline a lot in North Jersey, and I don't know why it's not hand. It's not carried by a
lot of the warehouses. We don't see amzoil anywhere because Amzoil,
to my knowledge, is all distribution out of one warehouse to their individual dealers that are, you know, basically operating out of their garages. I know of no autoparts store
that carries amzoil. I'm not saying it's not there. I'm
just before the emails come. So, if Royal Purple's working
for you, they make some great product. They've got a
lot of science behind their stuff, and I would have no problem telling you to use it and you know.
I'm sure you'll be fine. I wouldn't worry about it, okay,
all right.
Sir, okay, good Because that liquid Mollie adds it was the only thing that stopped the lifter from making noise.
Right twenty thous a mile.
Yeah, the liquid molly you're talking about. I think it's
part number nine triple zero two or something something like that. Yeah,
a small, small skinny bottle. Yeah yeah, we use that
in the shop too, and that stuff works good in certain situations. So stay in the line, Frank. Give Tom
your information, name, address, T shirt size. We'll get a
card doctor T shirt out to you in the coming weeks.
And we thank you for being part of the family where it with pride and enjoy the spring of the summer.
And of course thank you for the call. We're always
happy to be here and help you guys. I'm Ronning
Amy and the car doctor. I'm coming back at eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero right after this.
From the city street.
It's to the open road tonight.
Hell, ron will keep you roll right.
Hey, let's go over and talk to Oh, thank you the boys in the band. I noticed they're wearing their
card doctor T. Shirts today. They're doing a good job.
And except that one guy needs a bigger T shirt?
Is uh his card? Doctors hanging out? Let's let's go
over to Jim in Delaware, ninety four Ranger. How are
you today?
Jim got more blockings? I can say, grace Silver, how
you doing Ron?
I'll tell you what, brother, I'm right there with you.
I got up this morning, I looked at the sun.
I said, God is great man, and here we are right another great weekend. So all good.
Call?
Yes, sir, how can I help you?
I have any four Ford Ranger four point zero motor, and I'm five hundred miles away from two hundred thousand miles on love the truck.
Yea truck.
I have a problem with my lights at night. Well night,
of course I have my If I put on my high beams for any period of time, it seems that my my lights, my head lights will go off. They'll
blink off and on, off and on. Everything else works,
tale lights, everything is fine. Dash lights are fine. But
but the lights go off and on it I keep it on low beings. I'm in fairly decent shape. And
if the cabin in the winter time is hot inside the truck. It seems to happen more often.
Okay, figure that one out.
So do you have stock headlights in it? Yes, sir,
so they're just plain old standard headlights, yes, sir. All right.
So so the first thing I'd want to do is turn the headlights on. I'd love to put a I'd
love to put a clamp, an amp clamp. Do you
know what I mean by an amp clamp? A meter
with a built in clamp on it that I could measure current and look to see do I have what am I pulling? What's the circuit drawing? There's a circuit
breaker inside that headlight switch still even in ninety four, and if the circuit goes on overload, if that circuit breaker is failing, now you know, have you done any work to it? Have you done any diagnosis when the
headlights go off? Have you been able to duplicate it?
You know when you're home in the garage that you could actually measure to see do you still have voltage coming into the switch.
I don't have any of those tools at all. I'm sorry, Ed,
that's okay.
That's all right. Now, you're not an old guy. You
just haven't got the right tools. Yet, And I'll back
up a second. It's the first place I would look
is it should be fus ten. Fuse ten was generally
the fuse for the headlights on that vehicle. Inside the
instrument cluster. I would pop the fuse out and look
at it. All right, it should be a fifteen AM fuse.
Typically there were fifteen or twenties. I believe in ninety
I think it's I think in ninety four fifteen amp was. Yeah,
I believe it was a fifteen an fuse. Does the
fuse look burnt? And that's something simple you can do
with no tools, right, ok, just just look at the spade terminals. Do they look beat Do they look beat up?
Do they look ugly?
Right?
Just make sure it's a good clean contact. Any sort
of water leak in this truck at all, Jim, No.
Certain, not at all. Just the drivers a while, all.
Right, that's okay. I just want to make sure we're
not dealing with a water issue. But i'd be looking
at fuse once I established the fuse is good. If
we were working on it in the shop. I don't
think it's going to be a power feed into the headlight switch, because if it was a power or a feed problem. You'd be telling me the parking lights are
going out and the rest of the lights are going out.
If it's only losing headlights, it's something just on that circuit by itself. Any aftermarket accessories in this vehicle alarm
system anything, Oh, no, sir, all right, it's never been in an accident that you know of. No, sure, Okay,
then i'm gonna I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go chase
that fuse. Then when it happens, i'm gonna drive it
around until it happens, or I'm gonna leave it, leave it running, leave the lights on because I'm curious to see when I turn the headlamps on. If you're going
to your mechanic, he should be saying things like, well, we're gonna measure the amount of current being pulled. We're
gonna look at volted. Sure, that's fine, but we're gonna
measure current current being the volume, all right, how much electrical flow? Or are the headlights pulling? How many electrons
are the electron are the headlights trying to pull through the circuit? All right?
And you said that was fusee number ten?
Should it should be fuse ten? In ninety four. All right,
Fuse ten was Fuse ten was common back then the early nineties. A lot of the Fords, the Tauruses, the Aerostars,
a lot of them had fuse ten as part of the headlights. But of course I'm going to also tell
you find a wiring diagram, find a fuse panel. Maybe
the owner's Manu'll have that information. But fuse ten and
it was typically two or three fuses that were involved that that that fed that multifunction switch. All right, you
know it became it became, you know, an elaborate circuit in the mid eighties up and because they had to add a bunch of things to it. But that's where
I would be looking. And the fact that you can
if you can duplicate it if you leave the truck running.
Let me ask you this question. If you leave the
truck running in the driveway, idling with the high beams on, after twenty minutes, did the headlights go out?
Oh sure, okay, drive it with the low beams.
On and I put my high beams on to go in my driveway.
It'll kind of start them.
Okay.
So you know, do we have do we have do we have too much? Current being pulled. Do we have
a ground problem? Do we have a resistance problem? But
we have too much current being pulled? Pop in the
breaker and that would make sense, right, But I want i'd want to know. I'd start with a fuse. A
fuse is a great place to take a peek. Anything
else in the truck, anything else in the truck affected.
On, sir?
Okay, all right, then that's where I'm going to tell you.
It goes all right, kiddo.
Okay, I have also my crew is controlled. It works sporadically.
Well, I'm gonna say, fix the headlights first.
Is it?
Is it a case where you're driving on cruise and all of a sudden it cuts out.
No, sir, I just can't get it to start. Just
every once in a while it'll kick in, okay, but very rarely does a kick in.
Any problem with the brake lights, no, sir. Any problem
you know, to your knowledge, the break lights are working every time. Yes, sir, two hundred thousand miles on a
thirty year old vehicle. I'm gonna be carefully considering. A
brake light switch is a possible problem. If that brake
light switch should errandly turn on, it will prevent the crews from working. You have a little icon on the
dashboard that lights up, right, you have a master switch.
You hit the you hit the steering wheel control and it turns it on so that you'll see an indicator on the desh when you get the crews to come on.
No, sure it doesn't have an indicator.
Okay, that's interesting. In ninety four.
Or else, I haven't covered up with a piece of black tape.
Well, yeah, that's all right. I can't. I can't help
you with that one, kiddo. You're gonna have to You're
gonna have to figure that out. But i'd want to
know do I have power in again, same thing, electrical circuit.
I want to know do I have power in? You
know when I have the problem?
Is it?
Because I want to know is it a switch problem?
Is it a fuse problem? What aren't I getting it
to do? Right?
And that's that's you're talking about the cruise control.
Right, that's I'm talking about the cruise. But I would
also want to look at a wiring diagram. Sometimes you
find a common splice between two different circuits, and all of a sudden, you fix that splice in the headlights work, and the cruise control works, So you know, it's a tough one. I'm not gonna I'm not saying it isn't.
But I would fix the obvious fault first. I would
work on the headlights first, because that's probably easier, all right, because you can duplicate it. You could make that happen,
and then I would, you know, see what happens with the cruise from there.
All right, sir, Okay, now one more question, real quick.
What's the difference what's the difference between in laws and outlaws?
Oh god, I don't know what outlaws are wanted?
Jim, stay on the line, man, Thank you, sir. You
stay on the line. Jim, stay on the line. Give
Tom your information, and then we'll get a car doctor T shirt out to you. Another stand up comedian. We
should get him up on the show. Maybe you know
that's what we need on the show. We need another comedian. Anyway,
run and any of the car doctor. I'll be back
right after this. Welcome back. Let's go to Mike and Delaware. Mike,
my first question is why, But I'm sure you've got a good reason. How can I help you today?
All right? Hang you doing? Run?
You're welcome.
All right.
What I've got here is kind of like a sentimental piece, an eighty six Dodge six hundred coup convertible, right, and Sony got ninety eight thousand on it. And what I
want to know is it's a two five motor. What's
a good good spark plug ran to put in it?
I'd like a champion in that. I'd put a champion
in that. Yeah, champion plugs back back in the day.
That was probably factory. I would also tell you to
put a timing belt in it if it hasn't ever been done.
My mother in law already put it, put one in and she got them wrote it down into the owner's manual. Yeah,
it's got ninety eight down on how long?
How long ago has the timing belt done? Mike?
Probably four or five years ago? Maybe all right? Because
she she didn't. I mean she drove it a couple
of times a month, parked in the garage. Can I
ask you a stupid question?
No stupid questions.
Should I try to see if the convertible top goes up and down? Or yeah, if I'm messed with it.
If I'm messed with it, won't I can't get it back up.
Well, listen, you know what, from the experience of having a convertible, the worst that happens is it goes down.
Is a car stored.
Inside, Yeah, I got it in the gridge.
Yeah.
The worst that happens is it goes down. If it
doesn't come back up, it's it's a sunny day car.
Because there's nothing like having a convertible with the top down on a day like today in the Northeast. It's
absolutely stunning and gorgeous. So I would you know, and
I would be willing to bet that there are still companies out there that make parts for those if you want, all right, as silly as it sounds, some convertible restore, I would be online. I'd be looking in southern California
or southern Florida. I actually found, I actually found. We
have a two thousand and two T Bird in the family now and convertible and we I found convertible top motors for that at a place in southern Florida. So
piston piston motor. So it's out there. If I remember right,
a Dodge six hundred was really a glorified aris K car.
Right, That's what I was going to ask you. I
know it was a Lei Coca when he was running the show, right, because it's.
A front wheel drive, small square body.
Yeah yeah, yeah, no headlights. But my brother had one
in eighty nine K car. But you seem like, I
guess it was the same.
I think. I think with Chrysler it was a K
car and with with Dodge it was a six hundred, you know, but they were all they were all built on the same platform. Those were you know. I got
to tell you those are pretty durable cars. My only
my only concern is finding parts. I can't find parts.
I can't find parts for a twenty sixteen Chrysler never never mind a nineteen eighty six Chrysler product. Right, So
you know, you know your local Advanced Autoparts is going to become your best friend. So because you know you're
going to be there getting parts for that. There you
had another question.
Yeah, I want to change the breakthrough it and I'm planning to do it myself. Okay, I can't do I
do one one way at a time or loosen all the now one of the time at a time.
One at a time. So what's what you're going to
do is get yourself a suction gun, just some sort of you know, and and Advance Auto Parts will have that.
We're just talking about that, right. You want to extract
all the brake fluid out of the master, okay, and pour in fresh fluid. It should be a Dot three car.
Make sure you're using the right fluid. You don't need
to use anything fancy or no synthetic. It doesn't need
super expensive stuff. It just needs a good, clean, quality fluid.
All right, get yourself. I used to tell this story
on air. When I told it where I would tell everybody,
just go to your local fast food restaurant. Burger King
was predominant at the time, where they had those big giant plastic cups with your soda. Take the odor of soda.
Throw the soda out because it's no good for you.
And unless you want to and and you know, put about two inches of break fluid in the bottom of the cup. Take a piece of rubber vacuum line that
fits securely around the break bleeder. Make sure you can
get the break bleeder open. You're gonna put the car
on four jack stands to do this, okay, And and you know, make sure you've got a good fit on the bleeder. Make sure the bleeder is open, all right,
you're going to fill them, fill the master empty, and fill the master with fresh. Like I said, you're gonna
put a rubber hose on that breake bleeder. Okay, You're
gonna open it just a wee bit, and then you're gonna stroke the pedal. So you're gonna effectively become the pump.
And the thing I like about this is you're you're you're working all the hydraulics. You're working the pistons, you're
working the seals, You're working everything and removing and pushing all the crud out. Now, the first wheel is going
to take the longest and it's going to be the darkest, all right. But you know after that you'll find that
they shorten up. And I'll tell you what, Mike, sit tight,
let me pull over and take a pause. When I
come back, we'll finish up. I don't want to rush this.
I know you got questions. I'm on an Ny and
the car doctor. We're back right after this. Hey, we're back, Mike.
You're still there, sir?
Yeah, sure, him finishing up man.
So so you're you're stroking that brake pedal eight to ten times all right. I mean, if you want to,
if you want to put somebody in the car and you can watch the fluid come out. But the idea
is that you've taken that rubber brake line, you've you are rubber vacuum hosing. You've curly cued it like a
pig's tail and dropped it into the bottom of the of the cup. So the bottom of the hose is
in the fluid. So as you push down, all the
dirty fluid's gonna come out, and it's gonna draw a fluid back in, and you're gonna push down a more dirty fluid's gonna come out, and over time you're gonna get clean fluid out of that bleeder. All right. That's
where that's that's where you stop. Now you may have
to dump the cup because I'm sure if this stuff has got any kind of time on it, it's going to be ugly and and and really foul. All right.
So you know, doing this with somebody just to stroke the pedal usually is easier on you. It's less time
getting in it out of the car, and you're gonna work your way around the car all right. After every
after every bleed, after every caliber or every wheel cylinder. Whatever,
you're bleeding stop, Lock the wheel cylinder up. Lock the
bleeder up. I'm sorry, Lock the bleeder up. How's the
pedal feels the same? Good? Move on? Doesn't feel good?
You've got air stop and rebleed it. Okay, stay on
the line. Let Tom get your information. We're happy to
send your car doctor T shirt Mike, and if you need more, you give us a call. I'm running Amy
in the car Doctor. The mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See the car Doctor carr advice don't right
About this episode
Ron Ananian kicks off with a real shop story about a “simple” brake job derailed by modern electronic parking brakes. The car wouldn’t enter service mode without the right scan tool function and up-to-date software, forcing Ron to chase subscriptions, Wi‑Fi updates, and tool compatibility—turning a routine repair into an IT problem. He argues this software gatekeeping is a major reason costs rise and DIYers get stuck. The show then pivots to listener Q&A: manual transmission fluid choices for a camper-equipped GM, troubleshooting a 1994 Ranger’s headlight/high-beam cutouts, and DIY brake bleeding plus spark plug/timing belt advice for an ’86 Dodge 600 convertible.
