Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor - February 14, 2026 - Hour 1- A Mechanics Worst Nightmare

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Ron and Anion, we have three cars in the shop this week,

which is kind of crazy, like it just doesn't happen.

But everybody around us, everything is slowing down.

I'm just a love machine.

And I want work for nobody but you.

Yeah, baby.

I'm just a love machine.

Oh, I can kiss and kiss.

The car doctor.

I've been seeing advertisements for these new tools

that you play with your iPhone 2 or your cell phone 2

when you download an app and you can do a four wheel

or a front wheel alignment on your car.

I can't believe that a $200 app can take the place

of a $70,000 alignment machine.

Welcome to the radio home of Ron and Anion, the car doctor.

Since 1991, this is where car owners the world over turn to

for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.

If your mechanic's 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 8555609900.

And now, here's Ronny.

Everybody loves somebody sometimes.

Everybody falls in love somehow.

Oh, boy.

Tom's up to his usual high jinks,

even though I can't see him on camera today.

Hello, welcome.

You know, where do we start today?

All right, there's a lot of things on my mind.

There's a couple of things of high importance today

on my mind that I'd like to get settled.

I want to talk about auto repair.

And, you know, if you're new to this show,

understand what this show is, we talk about auto repair.

We talk about real life stuff from the shop.

We talk about things that I see,

phone calls I get all from the shop.

And it's a viewpoint from a mechanic

that's been working probably longer than he's half alive.

To see 45, 53, I've been doing this.

I've been doing this a fair 45 years and maybe longer.

And I see a lot and I absorb a lot

and I think about a lot.

I've said for the longest time

that mechanics hold your life in our hands.

And that's why it's so important.

A, we've got to be the best we can be.

And, you know, you've got to go and find the best

that you can find and afford.

And that afford part just strikes me.

I have a problem with that to some degree

because it seems like some that can afford

still don't want to spend money on doing auto repair properly,

which boggles my mind.

I had a phone call this week in the shop

from a phone shopper, as I like to call them.

And it was, how much is it to do front brakes

on a Nissan Pathfinder?

And, you know, my question is always,

what are we trying to achieve?

What's wrong with the brakes?

Why do you think, well, I think I need brakes.

They're squealing, the dealership tells me I need brakes.

And they want $500 to do pads and rotors.

And I think that's too much money.

Now, this is a hard question to answer and see on radio

because, you know, different parts of the country

have different labor rates.

But around New Jersey, New York,

typical shop labor rates are somewhere

between $175 and $250 an hour.

I mean, that's what it is.

It is what it is.

And, you know, that's obviously directly tied

to the cost of living and what it takes to be here

in property taxes and insurance and overhead in the building.

And everybody's got to make a living

so everybody can be here to service the population

that's here.

That's just what it is.

I don't think $500 is a lot of money to do pads and rotors.

And I told that to him.

I said, it sounds like they're machining the rotors.

They're gonna cut the rotors

and they're gonna replace the pads.

And he didn't really understand that

or he just didn't want to.

He didn't want to absorb that.

He didn't want to sit there and think to himself

that, you know, how important are brakes?

Brakes are obviously a liability.

And, you know, there's only one way to do brakes,

the right way.

And, you know, you've got to have confidence in your brakes.

You, the vehicle operator, you've got to know

that they're going to stop.

They're going to do what they're supposed to do.

You need to have confidence in the vehicle.

And you need to have confidence in your mechanic

because your mechanic, like I said,

holds your life in their hands.

Tuesday, my phone rang late at the house

and it was Tom, I didn't pick it up.

It was, you know, I was probably in bed.

I was passed out.

It was 8.30 at night for me.

That's late because I start my day very early.

And the next day when I spoke to Tom,

he was upset, rightfully so,

when I tell you what I'm going to tell you.

Tom Jr., his son.

And he just had taken his 16 year old Toyota

into the local Toyota dealer,

Middletown Toyota Middletown Connecticut.

And they had done a bulb in the front

and the procedure's a little vague.

It's either pulled the bumper or pulled the wheel

and go at it from the back.

And they had pulled the wheel, the left front wheel

and they changed the bulb.

And the next day Tom was driving along.

It's every mechanic's nightmare.

I can't begin to tell you how you'll lose sleep

over this at night if you're a mechanic.

And the wheel fell off.

He was driving down the road

and the wheel separated from the vehicle.

Now, fortunately, if there is a blessing in this

and there is, he was driving around local.

He wasn't doing 60 on the highway.

He was doing, I'm guessing, 3035 on back streets.

And the wheel fell off.

And here he is on the way to work on the side of the road.

And oh my God, now what do I do?

And this is a problem on so many levels

because you have to understand that tire

and wheel assembly coming off the car

is like a guided missile.

All right, at speed, that tire bouncing down the road,

that'll go through a windshield,

that will take out another car,

that will cause that car, it's aimed for to swerve

into the car next to it

and could cause a multi-car accident.

This is every mechanic's nightmare.

I calmed Tom down and I explained to him.

I said, this is an indefensible position, Tom.

I said, they're gonna be so nice about this,

you just watch.

And sure enough, to their credit.

And this is the measurement of auto repair.

I always say, auto repair is like marriage

in the sense that when things are going good

and we're on the honeymoon and oh honey, I love you

and this is wonderful, there's no problem.

But sooner or later, somebody passes gas and there's a problem.

And it's just, you gotta see how they react to it.

How well do they handle the situation?

To their credit, Middletown Toyota stepped up.

They did the right thing.

They absolutely did the right thing

in this mechanic's opinion.

They had a tow truck, picked up the car within the hour.

They had the vehicle evaluated within 45 minutes

of delivery to the dealership.

Tom Jr. got a phone call within two hours saying,

here's what happened, we're so sorry.

And accidents do happen in auto repair

because we're not perfect.

None of us are gonna be perfect until we're dead

and then I'm pretty sure we're not making any mistakes.

And they not only fixed what was wrong with the car,

they serviced it, oil change and some filters

and some other things.

They replaced hubcaps on the car

because he was missing a couple of hubcaps.

They detailed it, they shampooed it,

they cleaned the interior, they gave him a loner.

They did the right thing.

And to me, that's what you're looking for in a repair shop.

You're looking for somebody that when something goes wrong,

they step up to the plate.

I understand as an addendum,

the last bit of information I heard on this story was

that three o'clock on Friday afternoon,

they had a shop-wide meeting.

You know what it takes to stop a dealership repair facility

in their tracks and to have a 15 minute meeting?

You know what that costs?

Any ideas, right?

Think of the dollars per hour.

But they did.

They had a shop-wide meeting at three o'clock on Friday

and the topic I'm told was this,

that this can never happen again.

Why did it happen in the first place

and what steps are we gonna do

to make sure that it never happens again?

And I asked Tom, senior, I didn't talk to junior,

how did he feel about it?

Well, you know what, let me, Tom,

you wanna jump in here, what are your thoughts?

Well, you're right.

They did the right thing, they stepped up to the plate.

I mean, when my son called and said,

here's what happened, there was no hesitation.

They were like, where's the car?

We're coming to get it right now.

And you're right, accidents happen, mistakes happen.

Somebody had a bad day.

Thankfully, it turned out okay.

And they took care of the problem.

They took care of the problem and I told my son,

I said, look, I said, you take it back there.

You develop a relationship with these guys

because they did, they made a mistake

and they made good on it.

They made, they did more than make good on it.

So you just go, continue having your car serviced there

and you'll eventually be known as one tire guy

or somebody when you go walking into it.

I'm known as the 400,000 mile guy at the Ford dealer here.

Right, sooner or later, sooner or later,

somebody, he's gonna get a nickname for this.

Oh, look, it's left tire Tom or something.

And, you know, it's, but it's a sign

of what we're looking for in a repair facility.

Listen, it's what we're looking for

in anybody that we do business with, right?

There's no business that's infallible, okay?

The plumber shows up, he changes the wrong part.

The carpenter, you know, makes the addition

and he puts the wrong type of door in

to go out to the deck that was just added on.

Things happen, mistakes happen.

The problem in auto repair is the wrong mistake,

the wrong kind of mistake.

You know, doing front brakes

when we were supposed to do front and back.

Yeah, that's one thing.

All right, that's just roll it back in the door.

But the wheel that falls off,

I remember a shop a couple of blocks away from us

going back, it's gotta be 15 years ago.

The left front tire came off of this pickup truck.

It went through the front windshield

of the car in oncoming traffic.

The woman swerved, hit a pole.

The pole fell on top of her car.

She was airlifted to Newark Trauma Center.

I believe she lived.

It created a three car accident

on a back street in Bergen County.

And that mechanic never really recovered from that.

I believe he left the business is what ended up happening

because the trauma,

because he realized the mistake he made.

So just, you know what?

There's a way to handle an auto repair relationship.

Middletown Toyota handled it correctly.

I think the guys that are phone shopping

and looking for the cheap ways out of things

don't understand that.

And going back to the gentleman with the brakes,

I suggested he go somewhere else

and try and find what he's looking for.

And when he doesn't,

I'm more than happy to talk to him

because there's only one way to do things

on auto repair and that's the right way.

855-560-9900.

I'm Ron Anani and the car doctor.

I'll be back right after this.

Lately, car buying has become a pretty dull experience.

But on eBay, behind every car and part is a story

waiting to be shared.

Like this guy I read about who bought a 2020 Porsche Cayman GT4

on eBay, it was well loved.

I mean, there are plenty of Caymans

in great condition on eBay,

but this one needed some work.

That's just the start of the story.

So after this guy gets a great deal on his dream car,

he rebuilds the whole thing with all these parts

he found on eBay.

Performance brakes, suspension, body panels,

the works, guaranteed to fit.

Next thing you know, this nearly scrapped Cayman

was out there on the track as a full blown race car.

You're ready to go daily driver, your next resto mod.

Hello Lotus Elon and the parts to finish it.

eBay has thousands of cars

and is the largest online selection

of vehicle parts and accessories.

eBay, things, people, love.

Every small business owner has that one moment

that could have broken them, but remarkably, it didn't.

Hi, I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business.

And on season three of The Unshakables,

my co-host Kathleen Griffith and I

are bringing you more incredible stories

of overcoming the impossible.

Listen to The Unshakables wherever you get your podcasts

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Ronny!

I love you!

Can't call me any day or night, call me!

For the best in car advice, give Ron a call.

855-560-9900.

Now, back to Ron.

Hey, let's jump over to Greg in Wisconsin,

see what's going on with his own nine Murano.

Greg, welcome to the car doctor, sir, how can I help?

Hi, Ron.

Yes, sir.

Thanks for taking my call.

You're very welcome.

I have my daughter has an 09 Murano

that background Thanksgiving,

a little bit before Thanksgiving,

it's through P0306.

Okay.

And then I, yeah, so my son-in-law had asked me about it

and I suggested to him to switch the coils

to another cylinder.

And so he did that.

And at the same time, I think that he did that,

he was also having trouble with the gas gauge not working.

So he had gone in and I think pulled the sending unit

out of the tank and cleaned up the contacts or something

and got that working.

And then about a week later, he called me up

and the car would not start in the driveway.

It had a P0300 now.

And so I went over there to help him

and I couldn't get my spark plug tester to fit on the boot.

So we just checked it,

you know, the kind of the old way of just holding it

to the block or whatever the hadn't and saw sparks.

So I thought, well, maybe it's just wet.

So we pulled all the spark plugs out and they were all wet,

cleaned them up, dried them off, put them back in.

And it didn't want to start at first job.

And then I jumped in and just held it down to the floor

and got it to start and it seemed like it cleared out

and was running okay.

And the next mistake on my part was I did not test drive it

and I just thought it was, you know, it started, it's good.

And so my daughter, the next,

I'm not sure if it was the next day or whenever,

but then she got stuck on the highway

with the service engine light flashing.

So she stopped, it was still running, but she stopped it.

So it was misfiring at speed on the highway.

Yeah, yeah, had lost the power.

And so then my son-in-law had it towed to a shop

and they...

Plugs and coils.

Yeah, they said that they checked for spark, had spark,

checked for a compression, had good compression

and checked fuel injectors and they said everything was good,

don't know what's wrong with it.

And kind of let it go at that.

So then...

So let me ask you this question, Greg.

Yeah.

You know, your son-in-law moved the coil, right?

Yes.

He took it from six and he put it somewhere else

and he put the other coil back where it was.

Did he move the plug?

I know, I don't believe the plug was moved.

Okay, so when it came back to look at it

and said codes again, was it still showing a misfire on six?

It was showing, no, 306 was gone,

it was just a P0300 now.

Okay, so then if we went into data stream

and looked at misfires, what did we say?

So yeah, so in between that,

if I can talk about the next step was it went to a dealership

and the dealership said that it must have,

because of the misfires, it must have thrown cat codes.

So they picked up cat codes

and said guaranteed it's a cat.

So a couple of cats got changed

and that of course did not fix it.

Then a week ago, I went over and we did check misfires

and we got misfires on misfire counts on two, four and six.

Okay, that's the right side, I believe,

right side, left side, right side.

That's not the firewall side, so outside of the,

the easy to get to, thankfully.

But yeah, so we got those, real high misfire counts,

pretty much all the same on all of them.

And then I was, I thought, well,

he said that supposedly the compression was good,

but I thought, well, I'll do a leak down and just see

and those three, the two, four and six,

the cylinders all seemed really tight

on the leak down test, there really wasn't any.

Yeah, a hundred pounds, a hundred pounds in,

it's got to hold 90 pounds or more, right?

Yeah, yep, yep, and it was good, almost too much.

I mean, a couple of us done not a real expensive tester,

but two of them were at 98 and I think the other one

was like at 96.

Okay, so move on, get past that.

So when they did cats, they did all of them,

they did one side, not the other, what did they do?

So they did the both sides of the front

and then the center one was done.

I did that one with my son-in-law

probably a couple of years ago.

Okay.

So right now, does this car run?

It'll run, yep, it'll run on the three

and maybe we're getting something out of the two,

four and six.

I did pull the plugs out just to look at them again

and they were, it looked like they were firing.

I mean, the plugs have about 30,000 on them

and although there was some, it looked like there was

some fuel around the outside edge of the plug.

Looked like it was a little wet there.

Okay.

What kind of scan tool do you have, Greg?

I've got a, I've got an auto tablet.

So you can go in, you can go in your make model.

Yes.

Okay.

And obviously you can also go in OBD too.

Should we, should we choose to?

So right now to sum it up, this vehicle's got

a running problem on the forward bank,

two, four and six.

It's reporting misfires on two, four and six

and it's got a low power problem.

When I return, we're going to give you the answers

you're looking for, Greg.

Don't go anywhere and everybody else stay put.

I'm Ronan Amy and the car doctor, 855-560-9900

here's the phone number.

If we're not here, call, leave a message.

The answering machine will kick you in

for the next live queue, but don't go anywhere.

I'll be back with Greg's answers right after this.

Lately, car buying has become a pretty dull experience,

but on eBay, behind every car in part

is a story waiting to be shared.

Like this guy I read about who bought a 2020 Porsche Cayman GT4

on eBay, it was well loved.

I mean, there are plenty of Caymans in great condition

on eBay, but this one needed some work.

That's just the start of the story.

So after this guy gets a great deal on his dream car,

he rebuilds the whole thing with all these parts

he found on eBay.

Performance brakes, suspension, body panels, the works,

guaranteed to fit.

Next thing you know, this nearly scrapped Cayman

was out there on the track as a full blown race car.

You're ready to go daily driver, your next rest-o-mod,

Hello Lotus Elon, and the parts to finish it.

eBay has thousands of cars and has the largest

online selection of vehicle parts and accessories.

eBay, things, people, love.

Every small business owner has that one moment

that could have broken them, but remarkably, it didn't.

Hi, I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business,

and on season three of The Unshakables,

my co-host Kathleen Griffith and I

are bringing you more incredible stories

of overcoming the impossible.

Listen to The Unshakables wherever you get your podcasts

and learn more at chase.com slash podcast.

JP Morgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC

cooperate 20 and 26 JP Morgan Chase Inc.

Wow, that had everything.

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What do you think of all that, Druski?

Stay chillin'? Just switchin'.

It's better over here.

No cash access and card expires in six months.

Card issued by summarized banks and a member FDIC.

Yeah, he's a co-doctor.

Co-co-co-co-co.

Co-advice down the road.

Co-co-co-co-co.

Greg, you're still there, sir. Welcome back.

I am still here, Ron. Thank you.

So let's talk about this for a minute.

Here's a vehicle that's been kind of handed around, right?

And it seems, you know, as I'm listening to the story,

the story and the symptoms and the condition

and the problem seems to change a little, right?

It gets worse the more people that work on it.

Yeah.

Am I wrong in that statement or would you agree?

I would agree, yes.

So I want to know, is it...

So has the problem gotten to this point, you know,

operator error, mechanic induced in a sense?

Part induced?

You know, we changed parts that haven't fixed anything

and, you know, new means never ever worked in my world, right?

Like 100 thoughts go through my mind.

So since this is the forward bank, right, fairly easy to get to...

Right.

Do you own a cooling system pressure tester?

Yes. Good.

Can we take the vehicle, pull the plugs out,

put a pressure tester on it and walk away for the night

and come back in the morning and look down in the cylinders?

And do we see any signs of coolant in any of the holes?

Right?

If we do, I know you're going to...

I hear your mind, your mind going,

but Ron, I had good leak down.

I understand that.

But this seems to be a random problem.

And let's just go for the...

Tell me what's good, I'll tell you what's bad.

If it passes that, no coolant and there's no signs of fuel in the cylinder

such that we've got an injector leaking down.

If you've got a fuel pressure gauge, let's put a fuel pressure gauge on it.

I'm not saying that's the easiest system to hook up to,

but it might be worth our effort.

Just to know that, yes, it holds fuel pressure.

It doesn't...

You know, I don't have a leaky injector and I don't have a coolant head gasket issue.

Fair?

Fair, yeah.

Okay.

Number three.

Has anybody checked manifold vacuum yet?

No, no, it has not been.

I do have a gauge and it has not been checked.

You know, is it possible that this 210,000 mile Nissan has jumped the chain?

Right?

That the forward...

That has been a thought, yeah.

Right.

Has the cam sprocket jumped the tooth?

Does this have the...

What I affectionately call the Nissan Supercharger wind to it when it runs?

You know, does the chain sound noisy?

Is there like noise coming from the front of the engine?

That it sounds like the back of a bus with the Supercharger winding up

because the chain has actually worn out the plastic

and it's rubbing against the metal bracket that holds the nylon guide?

Yeah, I'm not sure about that.

I'm not sure.

Well, I'll tell you this.

If that timing chain and the assorted accoutrements that go with it,

accoutrements is a good word.

If the timing chain and the accoutrements have not been done,

I say we give it to the Smithsonian because they'll want to see it

because there's just no way a Nissan's going to get to this age and not need a chain,

not at least be making noise.

I've never seen it.

And if it's making noise, that means things are worn

and if it's worn, they're loose and loose is bad because loose becomes uh-oh

and we jump a tooth and it wouldn't take much.

Or the chain has so much stretch and it's affecting that forward bank.

Yeah.

Right?

Is there a way to tell by just pulling-

You're going to pull covers off and look at mechanical marks.

I know of no other way.

Yeah, okay.

Right?

Yeah.

Number one, number two, number three, number four.

If we want to be scientific, and this is why I asked what scan tool you have,

you could look at scan that and get the thing warm

and bring up the air-fuel ratios sensors for each bank, right?

Yeah.

If mixture is correct and we've got a problem for another reason

and I think you're going to see something here,

you're going to see about a volt and a half coming out of the air fuels.

But let's look at it this way.

Forget one and a half volts because this is a 210,000 mile 16-year-old vehicle.

Can we agree that if things are the correct, if things are combustion-wise,

operating-wise, sensor-wise correct in the forward bank,

we should see the same air-fuel ratio sensor values we do in the back bank?

Correct.

Yeah.

Basically, it's two three-cylinder engines.

Yep.

Right?

I agree.

I think you're going to see a higher voltage on the forward bank

because I bet that bank is running lean.

And you could surely go into OBD2 and look at it in language you understand, right?

Because you're probably more familiar with percentage and air-fuel mixture that way.

But I bet that forward bank is lean.

Why?

Because I bet you there's a combustion process problem.

Now, whether that combustion process problem is because the cam jumped the tooth,

manifold vacuum is low, there's an exhaust restriction,

you've got a fuel pressure or coolant leak.

I don't know that yet.

Yeah, right.

Yep.

But you get where I'm going?

I do.

Yeah.

I'm trying to test components in an absolute,

let's end it and this is where it's got to be kind of manner.

All right.

And while I've got my scan tool hooked up just for giggles,

I'm going to look at coolant temp.

I'm going to look at ambient air temp.

I'm going to look at a couple of things.

I'm going to look at mass airflow.

What do I see?

I probably won't see much, but it only takes a second.

You know?

Yeah.

So what about trying to get it warmed up but the check engine light is flashing right away?

So it runs that bad now?

Yeah.

I mean, it'll run.

I can start it, but it'll have no power and the light will start flashing pretty quick.

Okay.

So then before we run it and do any further damage, let's do the cylinder test.

You know, coolant pressurize and do we have any coolant in the cylinders the next morning,

eight hours later, let it soak.

Okay.

All right.

And if it does, if it passes that, then let's do a manifold vacuum check.

Something's got to be off here early on.

Those are my two indicators.

I'm betting manifold vacuum is going to be low and then I'm thinking something mechanical.

Now, for giggles, since it was just put on, can you take the cat off?

Right?

Does the cat on bolt?

Probably.

Yeah.

I would think it'd be easy to get off.

Right.

It's going to be awfully loud, but if the engine clears up in the way that it runs and then

last, okay, last, can we go look at mode six?

Are you familiar with mode six?

I've heard you talk about it a lot.

I've never actually went into it.

Good time to learn.

Although you're going to look, although looking at a broken vehicle to learn a system isn't

right.

Take your scan tool, hook it up to any other car in the household, go into OBD2 and they

should have either a special functions listed or special features or mode six.

Mode six is just looking at the operating conditions when the problems occur.

I'm sorry, not mode six, freeze frame.

Mode six is going to be the conditions of each individual test, what tests are failing

just to go look at it, but go look at freeze frame.

Freeze frame is where I want you to be.

I just want to see what conditions these things are happening under.

All right.

You know, you got a bunch of homework to do, kiddo.

Don't worry, you'll fix it.

I'll fix it.

All right.

So you give me a call, you give me a call next week or the week after you let me know

how you made out.

All right.

We'll do around.

All right, great.

Good luck.

855-5600-9900 running in the car doctor.

We're back right after this.

Lately, car buying has become a pretty dull experience.

But on eBay, behind every car and part is a story waiting to be shared.

Like this guy I read about who bought a 2020 Porsche Cayman GT4 on eBay, it was well loved.

I mean, there are plenty of Caymans in great condition on eBay, but this one needed some

work.

That's just the start of the story.

So after this guy gets a great deal on his dream car, he rebuilds the whole thing with

all these parts he found on eBay.

Performance brakes, suspension, body panels, the works guaranteed to fit.

Next thing you know, this nearly scrapped Cayman was out there on the track as a full

blown race car.

You're ready to go daily driver, your next resto mod, hello Lotus Elon, and the parts

to finish it.

eBay has thousands of cars and is the largest online selection of vehicle parts and accessories.

eBay, things, people, love.

Every small business owner has that one moment that could have broken them.

But remarkably, it didn't.

Hi, I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business.

And on season three of The Unshakables, my co-host Kathleen Griffith and I are bringing

you more incredible stories of overcoming the impossible.

Listen to The Unshakables wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at chase.com

slash podcast.

JP Morgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC, copyrighted 20 and 26 JP Morgan Chase Inc.

Judge you for not eating Reese's while you listen to it.

Reese's.

Actually, go back to the nature sounds.

Nice.

Yeah, it's really nice.

And more benefits that they leave out.

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I know you love meals.

Plus switch right now and we'll even pay off your old phone up to 800 bucks.

What do you think of all that, Druski?

Stay chillin'?

Just switchin'.

It's better over here.

Hey, let's keep it going.

Let's go over to Matt in Minnesota.

So, to Matt, welcome to the car doctor, sir.

What's going on?

Matt?

Is Matt there?

Matt's gone.

Well, that happens.

What can I tell you?

It kind of works that way.

Too bad I think I could have fixed that Chevy venture because I think that vehicle is suffering from load management distress.

Let's do a piece of email.

This comes from Dean Hayron, long-time listener, first-time e-mailer.

Two questions about my 25 Chevy Silverado 1520,000 miles 10-speed trans LT crew cab.

I live in Northeast Wisconsin and routinely boat fish, ice fish, et cetera.

I never understood that ice fishing thing.

That's gotta be cold, right?

I'd love a call if you can, but please send an email back with what you think on these issues.

Well, let's see.

Let's do this by phone.

Or let's do this by Air Dean because this is the easiest way for me to do it right now this week.

I bought this newer Silverado gas truck.

I traded in my 06 Dodge Ram.

I'm surprised that thing didn't have so much rust on it.

But anyway, I use my truck to tow my fishing boat.

I probably put 6,000 miles a year on my truck, but most miles are pulling this boat.

If my truck doesn't work, I can't go fishing.

I like the way this guy thinks.

It's not that I can't go to work.

I can't go fishing.

I like to do as much of my own maintenance on my vehicle's boats as possible.

Question one, GM recommends using 0W20, eight quarts full synthetic.

I'm reading from various sources.

They recommend on this engine using 5W30, eight quarts.

My gut tells me to follow GM's recommendation.

Yeah, I would do that.

GM is going through some stuff now with their engines where they're having issues as far as what oil to recommend on the 6-2s.

You're not saying what engine this is.

You say there's a 5-3.

So yeah, I would go with what GM recommends.

And I would use the 0W20 and I think it'd be fine.

I don't believe in what internet trolls have to say unless they have the backing to prove it.

They have to say, hey, we've tested 100,000 vehicles, 100,000 engines, and this is the problem.

So I would definitely use the full synthetic like that.

My main question, I did a lot of research on this truck before buying it.

It didn't take me long to run into the dynamic fuel management issues.

DFM is the newer version of AFM that came out.

Yep.

And my logic was basically, should I be replacing the DFM and putting a bypass kit in it?

And, you know, no, because I think that you're going to run into issues number one.

I think you're going to run into issues with warranty.

It's a 25 truck.

I would be looking more at doing proper fluid services, proper oil changes, right?

Stay on top of it.

I think with the 10-speed trans, you're going to find towing the boat is going to work that truck a little bit.

And, you know, you're just better off getting into your routine of maintenance.

I think when you do do things like trans service, I would be doing a fluid exchange.

And from what I'm seeing with regards to the vehicles going through, you know, transmission issues early on,

I would probably be servicing this fluid in the 50,000 mile range and not waiting longer than that.

We're seeing a lot of problems with the GM 10 and 8 speeds with fluid contamination problems.

A lot of times we're finding and we're learning, we just learned recently that one of the reasons GM has so many problems with their truck transes

and the fluids are breaking down and that 70 to 80,000 mile range causing chatter and wear issues is because they're absorbing moisture through the vent hole of the transmission,

which is breaking down the trans fluid and causing it to not work as well as it should.

So, you know, I've been saying this for a very long time.

I take a lot of heat for it, but I still believe that the cheapest thing you can do to any vehicle is change the oil, change certain fluids.

Definitely more often than manufacturers recommend.

Manufacturers are not interested in longevity.

Manufacturers are interested in selling you another vehicle or proving to you that under ownership for the first two or three years,

they don't want you to do any service because it doesn't need anything.

And it doesn't until it gets to years three, four, five, six, seven and so on when you're counting on it to go the distance.

Do you ever notice you buy a new vehicle and two years later you get a postcard saying, hey, your truck is worth this much money.

Come trade it in.

What are they telling me that they don't think it's going to go another eight years?

I never understood that.

It just just made no sense.

So, but that's where you be, Dean.

I would just do your maintenance, do your due diligence and I'd leave the DFM system alone for now more to come.

Eight five five five six seven nine nine zero zero.

We're back right after this.

Lately, car buying has become a pretty dull experience.

But on eBay, behind every car and part is a story waiting to be shared.

Like this guy I read about who bought a 2020 Porsche Cayman GT4 on eBay.

It was well loved.

I mean, there are plenty of Caymans in great condition on eBay, but this one needed some work.

That's just the start of the story.

So after this guy gets a great deal on his dream car, he rebuilds the whole thing with all these parts he found on eBay.

Performance brakes, suspension, body panels, the works guaranteed to fit.

Next thing you know, this nearly scrapped Cayman was out there on the track as a full blown race car.

You're ready to go daily driver.

Your next Resto mod, Hello Lotus Elon and the parts to finish it.

eBay has thousands of cars and is the largest online selection of vehicle parts and accessories.

eBay, things, people, love.

Every small business owner has that one moment that could have broken them.

But remarkably, it didn't.

Hi, I'm Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business.

And on season three of The Unshakables, my co-host Kathleen Griffith and I are bringing you more incredible stories of overcoming the impossible.

Listen to The Unshakables wherever you get your podcasts and learn more at Chase.com slash podcast.

JPMorgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC cooperate 2026 JPMorgan Chase Inc.

It was me at the store with my mouth.

Motive, um, their Reese's.

What was I going to do? Stop myself?

Tune in next time to see if I do it again.

Spoiler, I will.

Wow, that had everything.

Reese's suspense, Reese's.

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Plus switch right now and we'll even pay off your old phone up to 800 bucks.

What do you think of all that, Drusky?

Stay chillin', just switchin'.

It's better over here.

You know, we started the show talking about relationships and order repair.

I think we should end it here too.

Carol's a new customer to us.

She came in this week with her 21 Infinity.

Needed a state inspection, New Jersey state inspection.

And, you know, no problem.

Bring it in, brought it in.

Nice lady, very nice lady.

Brought it in Thursday morning if that matters, which I don't think it does.

And we did a while you wait inspection.

And, you know, during the course of doing the inspection, I noticed that the oil change sticker was handwritten.

I don't understand, I got a comment on that.

I don't understand handwritten oil change stickers in this day and age.

There were so many options for printers.

And to me, it's just so neat and professional and so easy to see.

I can't tell you how many vehicles I get in.

And, you know, somebody's penmanship needs to be improved upon or the magic marker fades.

It doesn't hold up in the sunlight.

And these non-fade oil change stickers just, you know, to me are the way to go.

They're just so professional looking.

I just, again, I don't understand why somebody doesn't have one.

To me, it's an essential piece of equipment in a repair shop as a scan tool.

And her handwritten oil change sticker, which came from the dealership, I have to point that,

which I was really shocked at, that there's a Nissan dealer out there that's using magic marker and white labels to, you know, next oil change do.

The oil change sticker said June of 25, you know, and, you know, in case you're wondering, did their printer fail that morning?

No, because I asked her, I said, have they always handwritten stickers?

And she said, yeah, which I thought was just odd, right?

Just like, huh?

So here we are.

What is this?

This is February of 26.

I said, gee, Carol, I said, you know, car pass inspection, nice car, clean car.

It's only got 18,000 miles on it.

It's four years old or five years old.

But I said, you know, I don't understand why your oil change is so late.

We got into this whole conversation and she said, well, I don't go any miles.

And, you know, I took her through the whole, you know, Ron's can story number three about oil changes about, you know, oil is the cheapest thing you can put in the car in the whole nine yards.

I won't bore you guys with it.

And she said, but you know, when I go in, she said they look at everything on the car and I'm very happy.

And I said, yeah, I get it.

I said, listen, I'm not trying to steal you from wherever you're going.

I'm just trying to make you aware that a car like this low mileage oil changes twice a year.

I said, otherwise, how are you going to get tire pressure done and set correctly?

She goes, well, you know, tire pressure is a problem.

I said, how so?

She goes, well, my tires are constantly low on air every time it gets hot or cold.

I can't understand it.

And I had to explain the whole tire pressure TPMS thing to her.

So, you know what?

Have that relationship with that repair shop.

Go in and get your air check on a regular basis as well as regular servicing.

Till the next time I'm Ron and Amy in the car doctor.

The mechanics aren't expensive.

They're priceless.

See ya.

At CVS, it matters that we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it.

It matters that we're here for you when you need us, day or night.

And we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded.

It matters that CVS is here to fill your prescriptions and here to fill your craving for a tasty and healthy snack.

At CVS, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters.

So visit us at CVS.com or just come by our store.

We can't wait to meet you.

Store hours vary by location.

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Guaranteed human.

Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor - February 14, 2026 - Hour 1- A Mechanics Worst Nightmare

About this episode

Porsche Cayman

eBay

Nissan Pathfinder

brake pads

brake rotors

pads and rotors

brakes

tire and wheel assembly

restomod

Nissan Murano

P0306

coil

sending unit

P0300

spark plug

service engine light

misfiring

fuel injectors

misfire counts

OBD II

race car

Lotus

cooling system pressure tester

leak down test

fuel pressure gauge

manifold vacuum

cam sprocket

Supercharger

timing chain

Dodge Ram

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