A ground strap is like a metal “ground wire” that helps the car’s electrical system work correctly. If it’s in the wrong spot and gets rubbed or pinched, it can cause problems and even wear out parts nearby.
The flywheel is a heavy spinning part connected to the engine. It helps the engine run smoothly, and because it spins fast, anything that touches it can cause serious trouble.
Automatic transmissions use fluid pressure to shift gears. The front pump helps make that pressure, so if it gets stressed or affected, it can wear out sooner.
The check engine light means the car’s computer found a problem. It’s not something to ignore, because it usually points to a real fault that should be diagnosed.
A Dodge Durango is a common SUV people use for everyday driving. Here, the host talks about a Durango that sat in a shop too long, and the customer didn’t come back because the work took too long.
P0068 is a specific error code from the car’s computer. It usually means the car thinks the throttle is in one position, but the airflow readings don’t match that expectation.
This sensor measures how much air is flowing into the engine. If it’s dirty or inaccurate, the car can get confused about throttle position versus airflow.
The throttle body is a part that controls how much air gets into the engine. If it gets dirty, the airflow can be off from what the car’s computer expects.
After you do certain repairs or cleanings, the car may need to “relearn” how to idle and respond. A reset clears old settings so the computer can start fresh.
Fuel trim is the car’s computer constantly adjusting how much gas it squirts in. It does this to keep the engine running with the right mix of air and fuel.
The mass airflow sensor tells the engine computer how much air is entering the engine. If it’s dirty or wrong, the computer may add too much or too little fuel, causing rough running.
O-rings are small rubber seals that help keep things from leaking. On a throttle body, they sit near the moving shaft. If cleaner gets into places it shouldn’t, it can degrade those seals over time.
Carbon deposits are gunk that can build up inside the engine’s air path. Over time it can interfere with airflow and make the car run less smoothly. The host is saying this is one reason fuel-system cleaning matters.
Fuel system cleaning is a service that helps remove buildup from the parts that deliver fuel to the engine. If deposits build up, the engine can run worse. The host is saying it’s part of preventing or reducing the same kind of buildup that affects the throttle area.
Ross-Tech makes diagnostic software for certain car brands in the Volkswagen group. It helps you connect a laptop to the car to read trouble codes and check what the car’s computer is seeing. The host is excited about using it for troubleshooting.
It’s a tool that releases harmless smoke into a system to help find where air is leaking. If there’s a crack or bad seal, the smoke escapes and you can see it.
These are the cameras that show what’s behind the car when you’re backing up. If they stop working after a crash, it can be due to damaged wiring or a module that needs diagnosis.
They mean the car’s computer didn’t save any error information about the airbag warning. If the computer doesn’t record a problem, insurers may deny repairs because they can’t verify what happened.
Airbags are the safety cushions that pop out in a crash to help protect you. The car uses sensors to decide if the crash is serious enough to deploy them.
They talk about how to figure out whether the airbag problem and the backup camera problem are connected to the crash. They also discuss how the car’s stored error codes can show whether something existed before the accident.
Wires carry signals between the car’s electronics. If a crash damages or pinches the wiring, the car may stop working correctly in that area.
LIVE
Ron An Aian, it's hard to get to and if it's in the worst possible place to be repaired, that's probably what's wrong, because that's how Murphy's Law always works.
And someday I'm going to catch up to Murphy bites the Car Doctor. It would be ideal if you could
find a repair shop that has an exchanger. But if
you're going to do this yourself, it's going to be drained the radiator. Pull hoses off of it, try and
get as much cooling out of it as possible, but keep in mind, without a coolant exchanger, you're never going to get everything out of the engine block.
Welcome to the radio home of ron Anian the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If your mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up the.
Phone and call in.
The garage doors.
Are open, but I am here to take your calls at eighty five five five six oh ninety nine hundred and now he.
Running.
You know it's gonna be a really great week at the shop. When Monday morning, eight twenty two, you've already
got the repair of the week set for the weekend radio show. Hello and welcome Ron Nanny and the Car
Doctor rolling along here at eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero, here to take your calls and solve your problems, because that's what the car Doctor does.
I'm here to answer your car questions and help you with your car problem. Because I just got done doing
a five day stint this week at ri Automotive. I'll
be there next week, and I'll be there for every week thereafter, as long as the Good Lord is willing, because I have to be because judging by what came in the door this week Monday at eight twenty two am, there's not many left. And I hate the way that sounds,
but it's just the way I feel at this moment because of the emotion behind this repair. Two thousand and
three Dodge Durango rolled in. The engine had failed that
it failed back in May of this year, and it took the repair shop five and a half months to get the pieces all back together. It was like all
the King's horses and all the King's men trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again. Turns out that part of
what I had to do this Monday morning, and for all this week was look over the previous repair. What
did that repair shop do or not do? In which
case it's pretty easy because sometimes they just don't do a lot. In this case, they actually did get it
back together. I give them that much credit. And most
of the parts were there and they were all pretty tight.
Wasn't a few things falling off, but not terrible. Of course,
the ground strap that was supposed to go from the firewall to the back of the engine block that somehow fell down between the engine and the transmission was sticking out through the dust shield in the trans cover, rubbing up against the flywheel as the engine ran. Yeah, that's
kind of not in the right place, and I'm gonna have to do something with that because at some point that ground strap pinched between the engine block and the trans may affect front pump life of the transmission, depending upon how accurate you want to be, and let's face it, we're trying to be accurate. But the part that got
me was they focused on doing the engine that it needed that it imploded, and they missed everything else it needed. Breaks.
It had a check engine light on, it had an airbag light on It needed so far is about six thousand dollars worth of work. But their focus was, Hey,
we're going to do the engine because the engine is the only thing that's blown up at this point, and that's really what we need to do, and that's really what gets me. And then they can't even do that right.
They do it so bad. It takes five and a
half months, and they develop a customer that'll never go back there and put another stink on a business that well, it sort of smells like New Jersey at low tide, and I can say that I live in New Jersey.
I'm really surprised at what's in this industry. You think
it's getting better and then you see a vehicle like this and you say why. Before I went on the
air today, my daughter, the grad school student, called and she was telling me this story about she was in CVS last night and the cashier at CVS was just in a talkative mood, she said, and he just somehow seemed to pour his life story out to me. I'm
not sure why, dad, And I said, well, I think that's because it's that you're in grad school and you've got that look of somebody who listens. Because you're going
into family and marital counseling. You know you're going you're
gonna be a psychiatrist, a physiochiatrist or a psychologist one of the toe, and you're gonna have that ability to listen to people, and you kind of have that look on your face. And she said, you know, Dad, he
told me this story about how happy he was to be a cashier here at CVS because his previous job, he'd been an auto mechanic, and he was really proud of the fact that he was the worst auto mechanic he ever knew. He put brake pads on wrong, he
didn't tighten wheels, tires fell off cars, oil leaked after he changed the oil, and he said it took a while, but finally the BMW dealership fired me. And I'm thinking
two things here. How long does it take for a
BMW dealer'll fire somebody that's obviously inempt And then why is CBS putting this guy in charge accounting money and talking to people? Is the face of the business doesn't
make any sense to me. But the point is, this
isn't a business where you can really be proud that you're an idiot that you don't do your job right, because this business risks people's lives every day. If you
don't fix that car properly, somebody could die, a wheel could fall off, breaks could fail, problems do exist, not to mention the damage to the industry of everybody else out there that's really hard working and trying to do their job and make a living. And then every once
in a while, and it seems like it's more often than not lately, somebody comes along to stink the place up.
The problem with the repair shop that took five months to put this car back together with most of its parts is there because they're not committed to keeping up.
They're what I call part timers. They're working full time,
but they're part time efforts in the industry. The majority
of people in this industry are full timers. They're the
ones that they're working at twenty four to seven because there's so much information out there, they've got to do it twenty four to seven. I went to the deli
this morning, and not that deli. I went to a
different deli actually this was yesterday morning. Stopped and I
picked up coffee for the boys and some sandwiches and we were talking about something and new guy on the counter and he heard, oh, yeah, you're an auto mechanic. Yeah,
he goes good business. You can make a lot of money.
And I said, really you think so he goes, oh, sure, he goes repair shops are just money machines. And I
sat there and I said, yeah, but think of the dedication involved. He goes, why what dedication is there? And
you know, that's part of the problem. And I'll say
it like this, like I've always said it for so many years, whether I was on radio or not. Auto
repairs a very exacting task. You know, you've got to
hit that little white ball ten out of ten times.
Nobody pays a baseball or nobody pays an auto mechanic to be a three hundred hitter like they do in baseball.
And that's something really you have to think about. In
the case of this Dodge Durango, they didn't even get up the plate, and when they did they finally struck out.
They got a foul tip. They got the car out
of the shop, but they took so long to work on the car the customer will never go back. And
they shot themselves in the foot by missing the other repair work. The vehicle needed breaks, tires, a fuel tank
because of the check engine light that was on, an airbag light that I've yet to diagnose it get that far yet. I spend two thirds of my week on
this truck. I'm kind of working through. It's my restoration.
And in the end, whoever's running that business that did the engine, well, they kind of shot themselves they you know, cause I got to tell you, I get up and go to work every day to make a living. I
don't go there to practice. I don't go there to
fool around. It's a job. To me, it's a career.
And I don't think anybody listened to this broadcast that has to work for a living does the same. I
think everybody out there is working hard trying to make it work, and sometimes you just looking and say why.
And the scary part to me is we let these people vote and reproduce eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero. IM running any of the car
Doctor here to answer any of your questions that you might have regarding your automobile. The website for this radio
show is Cardoctorshow dot com. There's more information there via
tune in and iHeart dot com. You can download podcasts
iHeart and iTunes as well, and if you need me during the week, I'm Ron at Card Doctor show coming up down around the bottom of the hour, little bit of a surprise. We're gonna talk too well. I don't
want to give too much away. Let's just say, if
you like frozen dessert treats, you want to stick around for the two thirty or the down at the bottom of the hour interview because we're going to talk to a gentleman something a little bit different for the Car Doctor.
In our second hour, we're going to be talking to the folks from all data I believe today and we're going to talk a little bit about what's new out there in the information world. We are giving away a
fifty dollars gift card to Ailey Autoparts this week, So when you're thinking about car maintenance and repairs, think about the folks from Ariiley Autoparts. We're going to be giving
away a fifty dollar gift card that's coming out of the gift closet. Decision of the judge Fast Harry is
final as we entertain your calls this week, So give us a call at eighty five to five five six zero nine nine zero zero. I'm ronnin Ady and the
Car Doctor. I'm back right after this. Hey, welcome back
leaning the Car Doctor. Here, let's kick up in the
garage doors and doors and welcome back Bob Philsburgh, New Jersey. Robert,
Welcome to the Car Doctor. Sure, welcome back to the
car Doctor.
Yeah, good afternoon.
How are you? What's going on?
This? Out of a three the three point two v
R six. I got a check engine light, okay, and
it's a P zero zero six eight and uh this week I'm going to have it looked at though. But
they talk about possible a dirty throttle body, a mass airflow censor, if you could clean it and vacuum leaks and stuff. Now I would what would be your approach?
Well, you know I would obviously, Yeah, what the what the concern here is, we're seeing a problem with the throttle position is out of kilter, so to speak, in relation to it's it's flowing more air than the expect it to based on the angle of the throttle plate.
So you know, you're gonna look at fuel trim, You're gonna look for vacuum leaks, You're gonna go do a basic, Yeah, throttle body cleaning and try to do some resets and adjustments as a starting point. Not a common failure, Bob
hasn't come across my plate all that much. I've seen
one or two cases of it actually on Volkswagens more than Audi's in the Volkswagen version of that fault. But
you know, you gotta let them do their thing. They're
not they're not lying to you. It doesn't sound like
they're handing you any bologna at this point.
Yeah, Now, what about cleaning the mass airflow sensor. They
have a certain type of chemical that you can use on that. Does that hurt them? No?
And it depends on the chemical and it also and listen, the way I approach mass airflow sensor cleaning is I get to that part of the diagnosis, I just I just don't do it at random because I don't like to what's the word I'm looking for ingest chemicals into a vehicle unless I really have to, Right, Okay, So when I get to that point where as part of the diagnos I've said that, yeah, this points towards mass airflow sensor, This points towards it as a possible fault, right, and I'll explained to somebody and say, hey, Bob, listen,
we're at that seventy eighty percentile where we've got a mass airflow fault. I can buy a new one, which
I'm guessing for this car is a few is a few cocoas. I'm sure they're not cheap. Or I can
try cleaning it, and I will try to get customer approval beforehand, you know, tell them listen, it's five six hundred dollars for a mass airflow, or we can try cleaning it for seventy five whatever it is, and in which case, if it works, fine, If it doesn't, we're going to buy a mass airflow anyway, just to see what sort of reaction we get. Mass airflow sensor cleaning
is a case by case basis. In my eyes, I
don't just blindly do it because there's a lot of delicate electronics inside of a mass airflow sensor. Does the car?
Does the car idle any higher than normal? Bob?
No, not really a fact that doesn't. The only thing
that it seems to do is when you first start it up, there's a little bit of a shake. But
when this thing idle is I got to look at the tact to see if it's still running right. But now,
when you let the throttle body, do you physically take it off the car and clean it.
It would be nice if you could, yeah, because it's right there. Way to do it, it depends again, it
depends on the car. On that car, Yeah, I probably
would because it's easier to get behind. You can turn
it upside down, it's easier to hold it in. And
the thing I like about doing off car throttle body cleaning, if I can deal with that, if I can get to it easy enough, is I can be I don't have to let the car ingest Again. I'm using that
word a lot of chemicals.
You know.
It's funny. I'll be in another shop and I'll watch
somebody clean a throttle body, and I think the text some of the texts think that the more cans they use, the cleaner it must get. Where you can be just
as effective. We actually have wooden handled long Q tips
in the shop where will give a little bit of a spritz technical term sprits and just gently wipe it out, not trying to get it wild and all over the place.
Because the other concern becomes with throttle body cleaners, even though they say they're rated safe. You get it into
the throttle body too much, the o ring seals that are on the ends of the shaft over time can be affected. So here's a case where less is better
and sometimes enough too much is not good enough.
Well, you have this on your maintenance schedule.
I see it absolutely sure. All cars get the throttle
body cleaning as part of our own maintenance. It's it's
throttle body, you know. Throttle bodies being dirty are our
result of the type of fuel. Sometimes it has to
do with the extended oil change intervals that were pushing cars through. It also has to do with the design
of the.
Cars, although blood by gas is going through there, right.
And the other thing to be aware of is we still have the we still have problems with carbon deposits in cars today, and that's you know, it seems like carbon deposits and throttle body cleaning go hand in hand, right, and you know, we've got to be mindful of that.
That's why it's so important to clean fuel systems today and do fuel system cleaning. So, you know, just saying
it's all it's all part of the process. Let me
go through their thing. You know, I would think they're
going to dedicate an hour to it, do some basic diagnosis, maybe clean the throttle body. When they do clean the
throttle body, they are going to have to do a throttle body or an idle relearn reset. Yeah, and you
know we'll go from there.
Yeah, the ross tech in which I won't eventually get when I get my laptop up and running. And that
thing is awesome, that program.
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely, I've got that in the shop as well. It's a uh that is a that is
a great tool.
Yeah. Well I'm going to learn something.
Yep, that's right. And you know what, Bob, You're never
too old to learn in this business. You're always you're
you're always uh, you know, you're always learning something. You know,
it's it's just it's just part of the process. So
you know, and keep in mind too that you know, you can have problems with an intake manifold gasket on that you can have you know a couple of things.
Let them do their diagnosis and yeah and see where it goes.
Yeah, they just got a smoke machine, so I'm only got to see one work and I can't wait.
Right, cool beans? Yeah, all right, Bob, you take good
care of yourself and have a good rest of the afternoon.
You too, Thank you, Ron, You're very welcome.
Yeah, it's you know, step by step diagnosis. That's that's
really the case. That's really what we're looking for. I
want to talk about an email before we take the pause.
Donner on the bottom and it's it's a good it's a good conversation to have with all of you. This
comes to us from Doug. Doug wrote me an email
this week. Hey, Ron, my girlfriend has a twenty twelven
day a Lantra. A couple of months ago, she was
at a dead stop getting to make a turn when she was rear ended by a car going approximately thirty miles per hour. The problem begins when she takes it
to the dealership where she purchased the car new they were on the preferred list for the insurance company. Prior
to the accident, there were no lights on. Everything worked
as it should. After the accident, the airbag light came
on and the backup screen for the backup cameras started not to work occasionally. The body shop had a report
to the insurance company what their scanner or computer told them about the airbag light and the function of the backup camera prior to the accident. Because the computer could
not tell them exactly when the light came on, etc.
The insurance cosmon huts are refusing to pay for the repairs.
This is a classic case of who to believe. My
girlfriend has had all regular maintenance performed by this dealer and was just in for service one month prior with no lights on. How do you make a case to
the insurance companies so they take care of these things.
That's extremely frustrating. I have personally had something similar like
this and found myself trying to fight the insurance company and gave up after six months. Doug, I'll tell you what, Doug.
In your letter, You've got part of the answer. You
say that she had had the car in for service one month prior and there were no lights on. If
there were life ights on, they should have noted it.
So I think the benefit of the doubt has to go to the girlfriend, to the vehicle owner here, and the conversation with the insurance company has to be along the lines of I've hired you because this is what an insurance policy is. An insurance policy is a service contract,
all right? If you go down to the legal nitty
gritty of it. It seems that regardless of what state
you're in in this country of ours, an insurance policy is a service contract. They are under contract to repair
that vehicle back to previous or pre accident condition, and unless they've got documentations to show and support, they've got to fix it. And it might take a lawyer, which
might take some time. It's an insurance company. But I
wonder who would defend them against defending them against defending them to yourself. So one thing to keep in mind.
How about hey, guys, let's go find where the problem is and then depending upon what it is, we'll decide who or what is really at fault. But to ignore it, uhuh,
you can't do it. I'm Ron an Ady in the cardoc.
We're back right after this.
Don't go away, she's real. Find my Form nine, she's real,
Find my pine, my phone.
Welcome back, Welcome back. Weren't any in the car doctor here?
You know, when you're the guy on radio, people want to talk to you. I've learned that over the past
twenty five years, and there's a lot of different things that people want to talk to you about. Sometimes it's
related to the car. I was having breakfast at the
Delhi this morning and I'm having a conversation with someone at the counter and Roger, one of the regulars that Delhi, came in. He wanted me to come outside and see
his nineteen twenty one Model A and you know, just wanted to show it to me. It's just it's that's
my life, folks. Well, a couple of months ago, I
think it was back Midsummer, we received a surprise package at the shop. It was about oh yay big and
it was different custards in there, and they came to us from David god David from Tipton, Iowa, and he is the owner of David's famous gourmet frozen custard. And
it was a really great letter. And I've got to
tell you that if you're just tuning into the Car Doctor, yep, this is the Car Doctor and I am Ron and Aian And this next segment really has nothing to do with cars. It's more about what it takes to create
a business and the dedication. We just thought it would
be fun to talk to somebody outside of the automotive arena and give him a little bit of spotlight time because we think he's earned it for the quality of the product that he's put out and also his story because it's a great human interest story. And that's the
other thing The Car Doctor and the Crew is all about, is the people that make up this great country of ours, this human interest evolution that we've got going on. David,
Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir. Hi, all right, so
let's see you're self. Admit you're not a car guy.
You say, I like cars. I like cars, but I'm
not in what you would call them enthusiasts. I mean,
there are a lot of cars that I would like to own, but I'm not a I grew up on a farm, but I'm not a gear head.
Right, So you know, how does a car guy come to listen to a car show? Is my first question?
Well, I travel a lot, especially on the weekends, doing samples, and so I found you on the radio station not a watterly while KXL, and I was, I mean, I enjoyed car shows that some of them are really good, something that's really good. But the thing that always struck
me about yours was you always talk a lot about quality.
But the thing that always just astounded me was somebody would call up with some screwball question about a two thousand and four Dodge something or other, and you would just know what it was. I remember once somebody call
up about some bizarre things and you said, you know, there's a there's a problem with the starter of those things, and I think it's the purple and white wire. And
then somebody called in about their battery was running down, and you know, it sounds like maybe you need to change your your coolant because that engine has dissimilar metals and that might be creating a current. And I'm like, man,
this guy is he knows everything. Well, nobody knows everything, but.
Well, you know, it's just thank you, David, and I just you know, it's just guess what. They don't let
me cut the lawn or hold any sharp objects during the week because other than cars, I'm out of luck.
So yeah, that's okay.
You know, And that's okay. I kind of found my
I think I found my niche I think i've I've I've figured out what God wanted me to do while I was here. And you take that. So when you
take that, and let's segue into it. This box shows
up at the office and it's filled with custard. So
how does David You know, how did David get into the custard business?
Well, well, first, the way the box showed up was I'm driving back from Minneapolis one late one Sunday night, where I've been giving samples all weekend, and I'm listening to your podcast and I had it Don's on me.
You know a lot. I start quality all the time,
and we make the highest quality ice cream in the world, so maybe he'd like to have some quality from us.
But how we got started in this was I took my grandma's recipe this is fifteen years ago, and a church cookbook, Crispie the church I grew up in this little town in Iowa, and I put him together and I still thought, you know, this could be better, so I kind of tweaked it and I made it better.
And then I don't know, ten eleven years ago, a friend and I went to a local shop five times one summer because he like coffee ice cream and that's something they called a cup of joe. Five times and
they were out of it, and the last time the girl said, you know, that's especially they don't make it that often, And I said, oh, why is it on your menu? And she just kind of shrugged kissed me off.
I went over and I made my own, and everybody who tasted it said, man, this is so good, you should sell it. So that don't eat Dutch chocolate, and man,
this is so good, you should sell it. Then I
need straw strawberry, which we don't sell yet, but I'm going to send you some.
I want to I want to be listen, let's cut to the chase. I want to be the test pilot
for that. And the Tom Ray's got his nose pressed
up against the glass. Tom's a strawberry fanatical also, and
that's the you know, that's the unique thing that we experienced with the cut. Now is it custard or ice cream?
Let's get this part of it. It's custard. But to
be a custard you have to be ice cream first.
Right.
The diver stream custard and ice cream is the amount of egg yolks. Okay, so to be be to be
ice cream, you have to have ten percent better fat.
We have twenty six percent better fat, which no one in the ice cream ministry thinks you can make. But
since I don't come onto the ice cream industry. I
don't know any better. Right, right then we have we
have four percent egg yolk solids, which is two and a half times for a to have to be a custard.
But we do it because we want to make the best, right.
Oh.
And I got to tell you it was the best.
It was. It was really amazing how smooth and you know,
the flavor was there and the texture was there, and you just you just didn't want to stop eating it, which I have to tell you it is on weight Watchers, right it is. How many points is it? I'm listening
to this up points in my head going, uh, but it is. It's it's great product, it really is, and
it just kind of turned our heads a little bit.
Well, the nice thing is you would have to eat a lot of it to be satisfied.
Right, Oh that's true, hurries, Yeah, yeah, that's good. I
like that happy in a hurry because it did you felt satisfied. It was really nice on on the on
the hot summer nights, just to have a little taste and kind of work your way through the container.
But you know, but I always I always believed that if you if you made the best product or delivered the best service in the world, and they did it at a fair price, with the reasonable profit. My theory
was you'd be successful, right, So that's that's what we try to do.
For those of you just tuning in, Yeah, this is the car doctor. We're talking to. David got from Tip
to Iowa David's famous gourmet frozen custard. So you're not crazy.
This is a car show, but we're taking a little bit of break from that for something a little different today. David,
there's a story behind the story about how you got started in ice cream. Would you like to talk about it?
Sure. I got tired of everybody saying this is so good,
we should sell it, so I decided, well, I mean, I'm a stockbroker for thirty five years, and I thought, well, you know, that'd be fun a lot better getting his talk brokers at which would call fun. But my oldest
son is in law school and he said he would to be our lawyer. And my third son, who then
the marine, I'm sorry, he was a sub mariner and he can sort of wanted to be involved. My second
son lived in Savannah, Georgia and stationed at on a air base that we talked about him having the only shop in the country and then calling on pursery stores on the East Coast. So I thought, well, we should
move ahead with this thing. And he moved to fair Banks, Alaska,
and I thought, well, you know, I mean, I'm not in such a big hurry because he's going to be there while well, two and a half years ago he called me up and this is something that we thought it'd be fun to do. Someday He called me up
and he wondered, off I would keep his dogs because he was moving back to Savannah to find a place to live. And I said absolutely. We got off the
phone and I thought, well, I'm gonna have to hurry up with his ice cream thing if he's going back to Savannah. Right four days later, he died of undiagnosed
cornerary artery disease. Wow, So I knew then that I
had to do it.
Yeah, there's a reason for everything, right.
Yeah, I mean I had to do it for my other kids too, but you know, they were still here and so there was no urgency. But now there's urgency.
So yeah, you know, It's it's funny. We go through
life and we kind of we we sort of take some of the things for granted, and then we figure out what it is we need to do and you gotta hurry up. You got to hurry up and do
it right exactly.
We started last year in six stores in Iowa and now we're in about two hundred and twenty five stores in eight states.
Wow. Great, Great.
We had to build our own plant because everybody in the ice cream business that you can't do what you do well.
Listen, remember my high school lotoshop teacher says I never amount to anything in the car business. So I'm just
out here proving him wrong every day. Hey, hey, David,
is there is there a website? Because I know we're
going to get calls from the listenership. Where can they
find out more information about David's famous frozen custard.
Our our website is david Famous dot com.
Right.
Our Facebook page is Facebook dot com. Slash David's Famous
on Twitter, We're at David's Famous. Yeah, find our website,
send us an email.
Cool, Hey David, you're famous. We appreciate everything you guys do,
and uh, it's great to talk to somebody with such dedication to a craft.
And we're sure hopefully one of these days soon will be on the East Coast.
And you come to New Jersey. We'll we'll help you
open the store. We'll do her remote.
Yeah. Well, wawall's big in Jersey, aren't they.
Oh yeah, matter of fact, my daughter loves wahwah. She
finds out we're going to Wawa to open them up for David's custard, she'll she'll get out of grad school just to come out to the wah wah. That'll be
a whole other story. So I got all right, you
take good care, David. I gotta go to the clock's.
Can it take me? I'm on an any in the
car doctor? Something just for fun. We're back right after this.
Welcome back, warn't the ny in the car doctor. I
want to thank Doug. David got from Tipton, Iowa. Once again,
David's famous score mate, David's famous dot com. Just a
fun conversation, and we're glad to hear there's somebody out there so dedicated to the craft. Let's get over and
talk to Doug. Charleston, West Virginia, twenty twelve. You know, Doug,
I think I just answered this question as an email.
I thought it was such a great topic. I'm glad
you called in to talk about it. Let's recount tell
us a little bit about this twenty twelve day and some of the problems you're having.
Yes, actually it's my girlfriend's car. But about two months
ago she got real ended. She was stopped getting ready
to make a turn, and a teenager rear rended her.
He didn't even have time to hit his brakes, probably going about thirty miles in the aire. So anyway, she
goes to take it to the shop to get it fixed.
Of course, you know, there's no question about the body damage.
But the air bag light came on, and also the backup camera well suddenly or will sometimes it doesn't work, so it works intermittently, and so it came down to the insurance company whether or not to pay for this airbag light to get it fixed. An insurance company denied
it because the computer didn't register when the light came on.
So let's back up a second. When she got rear ended,
did the airbags deploy in the car?
No?
At thirty miles an hour.
That's an estimate, because the speed limit is thirty miles an hour and she was at a dead stop making a turn and the teenager didn't hit his brake. So
I mean, it could have been going twenty miles an hour.
Well, but you know air bags are supposed to deploy anytime a collision with an impact over seven miles an hour.
So yeah, it was definitely ever seven miles an hour.
So my point is if the air bags, none of the air bags in the car deployed, then either. I mean,
I guess it can happen, but it just seems odd to me. It seems like and I'm not doubting. I'm
not doubting you, Doug. I'm trying to make the argument
for why they should repair it in that if the air bag didn't deploy, it sounds like the system wasn't working before the accident.
You may be right. I mean, she's it's got I
think she's got ninety thousand miles on it now. And
but she said all the regular maintenance done right, actually done at the dealership.
Right, she took it back and get the I'll tell you what, Doug, Sit tight, let me pull over and take a pause, but sit right where you are. We'll
finish us up when I get back. I'm running eding
the car doctor. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back,
run the car doctor. We're talking to Doug in Charleston,
West Virginia. Doug, you're still there, yes, sir, twenty twelve
hun Day. So you know, part of the conversation is
why didn't the airbags deploy? And I guess they could
make an argument that that's why they're not covering it because the airbags were not working. Remember, any time an
airbag light is on, that means there's a defect in the system and the system won't work. So let's play
it out that. Yeah, you know, your girlfriend's giving us
the straight skinny as she remembers it, that the airbag light wasn't on and that they just didn't deploy because sometimes they just don't depending upon how the impact occurred.
But now the backup camera's not working, right, that's the other part of this conversation. Has anybody you know the
fact that they're saying, well, the code, there's codes in the system, or there's no codes in the system to support whether it was before or after. Skin tools won't
do that, you know, if it's a is it a history code or a hard fault. If it's a hard fault,
it's present now. But the only way they would know
that for sure is if they saw it prior to the accident. And in my opinion, every time I've seen
a car go into at least a dealership, if not a competent independent repair shop. You said your girlfriend's car
was in there a month prior, and there's no there's no documentation on her documentation that says airbag light on and backup camera not working. Correct, right, So you know, listen,
repair shops, if there's nothing else, they're all looking to make a buck. All right, let's be let's all cut
to the chase. We all know why we're here, and
repair shops are looking for work all the time. And
if somebody comes into my shop and the airbag light's on, it gets noted on the ticket for two reasons. Number one,
I'm trying to sell you, hey, let me fix the air bag. Number two, I'm trying to cover my tail
because if that car comes back in a week and run, my airbag light came on right after you changed the oil.
No it didn't, because it's documented right here. It was
on when you picked up the car, and it sort of ends the argument. So you know, I think somebody's
got to go to the Hyundaid dealer and start the conversation there. Hey, guys, if this were you, how does
this look to you? Put yourself in my shoes. All right,
I'm not trying to be a pain in the neck, but think about it from that perspective and then ask him to diagnose it. If the problem is a module
in the front of the car, then I don't think it's accident related. But if the problem is a wire
in the rear of the car that got jammed up in the connection or damaged as a result of the accident, now I think you've got a case to go back to the insurance company and talk to them. Always talk
from a practical point of knowledge rather than e motion.
Talk to him, see what they say, and let us know. Doug,
I'm sorry, the clock's gonna take me. I've got to
get out of the hour. I'm on anting in the
car doctor. The mechanics are expensive, fit placeless.
About this episode
Ron Ananian tackles the diagnostic grind—from draining cooling systems with the right exchanger to decoding Audi trouble codes like P0068. He critiques repair shops that chase one failure while missing safety items, citing a Durango case with an engine failure plus check-engine and airbag lights. The show also gets into accident/insurance disputes, explaining how airbag light behavior and “history” vs “hard fault” codes affect claims. Between calls, Ron chats with a frozen-custard business owner about troubleshooting credibility and custard vs ice cream.
From the Car Doctor archives — originally aired October 2015.
In this classic episode of Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor, Ron shares the repair story of the week involving a 2003 Dodge Durango with a failed engine that spent five months sitting partially disassembled at another repair facility before finally arriving at R/A Automotive. The story serves as a reminder of the importance of proper diagnosis, communication, and choosing the right repair shop.
Ron also helps a caller with an Audi A3 displaying a P0068 trouble code, answers a listener email regarding airbag concerns, and takes a call involving a 2012 Hyundai Elantra and an unusual insurance-related airbag issue.
In one of the more unique interviews from the archives, Ron talks with David Gott, owner of David's Famous Gourmet Frozen Custard and a longtime fan of the show. The conversation offers a fun look at small business ownership, customer service, and the relationships built through a shared passion for serving people.
A mix of automotive advice, real-world repair experiences, and memorable conversations from a different era of the show.
