This is a 2014 Acura RDX, a compact luxury SUV. The caller is talking about a problem where the car seems to “rev up” briefly before it completes the shift from 2nd to 3rd gear.
A shift flare is when the car’s RPM jumps up for a moment before the transmission finishes the shift. It can feel like the engine revs too long before the gear actually changes.
“Trans oil” means the fluid inside the automatic transmission. Keeping it fresh helps the transmission shift smoothly, because the fluid is what makes the clutches work.
A scan tool is a device that plugs into the car to check for stored error codes. Sometimes it won’t show anything if the problem doesn’t trigger a code every time.
Solenoids are small electrical valves inside the transmission. They help control when and how the transmission shifts by directing fluid to the right places.
A lab scope is a tool that lets a mechanic look at electrical signals as a graph. It helps confirm whether the transmission computer is actually commanding the right electrical behavior.
Pin testing means checking the wires at the connector pins. It helps confirm whether electricity is getting to the right places in the transmission system.
It means overthinking a problem until you can’t decide what to do. The speaker is saying don’t get stuck—use the evidence to choose a sensible repair.
Term
low vacuum condition
“Low vacuum” means the engine’s vacuum system isn’t pulling as much suction as it should. That can cause certain systems to work incorrectly, so it’s a clue for where the problem might be.
A “dino” is a testing machine for an engine. It can apply load and measure how the engine is performing, so mechanics can diagnose problems more easily.
Concept
car payments or repair bills
They’re comparing two ways people pay for cars: monthly payments for a newer car, or money spent on repairs for an older one. The idea is to think about which cost you’re really going to end up paying.
Concept
There is no free lunch
This is a saying meaning you can’t avoid costs forever. With cars, if you don’t pay for repairs, you’ll usually pay through car payments instead.
Axles are the parts that transfer power from the transmission to the wheels. If one axle is bad, the host is saying it can make sense to replace both because the job is already partially disassembled.
Struts are part of a car’s suspension system that help control ride quality and wheel contact. When the host says to “take a look at the struts” during transmission work, they’re pointing out that suspension wear can be uncovered or worsened while the car is already apart.
Control arms are parts that connect the suspension to the wheel. They often use rubber bushings, and when those bushings wear out the car can feel loose or handle worse.
Rubber bushings are small rubber parts that help suspension components move smoothly. If they wear out, the car can feel sloppy and tires may wear faster.
The Chevrolet Suburban is a big, family-focused SUV. In this part of the conversation, the host is just using it as an example from their own shop/ownership history.
In an automatic transmission, a solenoid is like a small valve controlled by the car’s computer. The 2-3 solenoid specifically helps the car shift from 2nd gear to 3rd gear.
Sometimes several transmission solenoids are built into one replaceable unit. If the problem is in that unit, you can fix it without tearing the whole transmission apart.
A “fault” is a warning the car’s computer records when it detects something wrong. It often shows up as a diagnostic code that a mechanic can read to find the cause.
The “module” here is part of the transmission that controls fluid flow for shifting. When it’s removed, the mechanic can check small screens/filters inside for dirt that might be causing problems.
Particulate is tiny bits of debris in the transmission fluid. If the fluid has debris, it can mean something inside the transmission is wearing down and shedding material.
Place
Robin, Delaware
This is the caller’s location in Delaware. It’s just setting up the next part of the show where Ron takes a question.
A 10-speed transmission is an automatic gear system with ten different gear ratios. More gears can help with smoothness and efficiency, but here it’s the part that’s causing intermittent, harsh shifting.
This is a 2018 Ford F-150 Platinum with a 3.0-liter diesel engine. The important part is that the conversation is about its 10-speed automatic transmission acting up with weird, intermittent shifting.
Transmission fluid has to stay in good condition to keep shifts smooth. If it breaks down, it can’t do its job well, and the transmission may start shifting harshly or inconsistently.
Term
absorbing moisture through the vent tube
The transmission has a vent tube to help it breathe as conditions change. If that vent lets in moisture, the fluid can get contaminated and shifting can become rough or unpredictable.
Modern transmissions are controlled by software. “Software calibrations” are the settings that tell the transmission how and when to shift, and updating them can fix certain shift problems.
PCM is the main computer for the powertrain (engine and related controls). The host wants to verify the PCM software is current too, because it can affect how the transmission shifts.
The valve body is a key internal part that directs transmission fluid to make the transmission shift. If valves inside it stick or wear out, shifts can become harsh or erratic, and sometimes it needs replacement.
Sticking valves are internal parts that don’t slide smoothly when they should. If they stick, the transmission can’t control fluid pressure correctly, which can cause harsh or inconsistent shifting.
It means the same problem keeps happening to lots of cars, not just one. And it often shows up around the same time or mileage because of how the car was built or designed.
That phrase means the car has an automatic transmission with 10 forward gears. The host is saying it starts having problems after about 40,000 to 60,000 miles.
Term
NonStop battle
He’s describing a constant struggle with how the transmission shifts—like it never really feels right. In this case, it’s connected to the transmission getting worse with mileage.
A safety recall is when the manufacturer has to fix a problem that could affect safety. It usually comes with an official notice and a repair procedure.
He’s talking about a Ford recall that includes certain Explorer years. The recall is about transmission shifting issues, so it matters if your Explorer is in the affected range.
It means the issue isn’t the same for every car. The manufacturer checks the car’s VIN number and only some exact cars are covered by the recall or service bulletin.
A bulletin is the manufacturer’s internal “known issue” notice. It tells mechanics what to look for and how to fix it, even if it’s not a full safety recall.
Transmission fluid has to be the right type and in good condition. If it’s old, contaminated, or the wrong spec, it can cause the transmission to act up and wear out faster.
An AC relay is like a remote-controlled switch for the air conditioner. If it’s faulty, the A/C may not turn on even though the system is otherwise okay.
The 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee is a popular SUV. Here it’s mentioned because the air conditioning stopped working, and the host discusses ways to diagnose or work around the problem.
“Rube Goldberg” means a solution that’s way more complicated than it needs to be. Here it’s describing a workaround with lots of steps instead of a simple repair.
A power distribution center is the vehicle’s electrical box that holds fuses and relays. It’s where power gets sent to different systems, and it can be hard to repair because the parts are tightly packaged.
A "sticky lifter" is a small engine part that helps open and close the engine valves. If it sticks, the engine can make a ticking sound because the valve timing isn’t being controlled smoothly.
An oil additive is something you add to your engine oil to help it work better. Here, it’s used to help clean the engine so noisy lifters can quiet down.
Varnish is gunk that can build up inside an engine when oil ages. It can make parts stickier and reduce lubrication, which can contribute to ticking noises.
Lifter failure means the valve lifter isn’t working right. When that happens, the engine can tick and the valve-train may not operate as intended, often because oil isn’t keeping things clean and lubricated.
“Top tier gasoline” is a type of gas that’s required to have strong cleaning additives. The goal is to help keep your engine and fuel system from getting dirty over the long run.
Deposits are the sticky/dirty buildup that can form on parts like fuel injectors and intake valves. When they build up, the engine can run rough or feel less responsive.
Detergent additives are cleaning chemicals mixed into gasoline. They help stop gunk from building up inside the engine so it can keep running the way it should.
The EPA sets a minimum amount of cleaning additives that gas must contain. The point here is that “top tier” uses more (and better) cleaning additives than that minimum.
Emission components are parts that help reduce pollution from your exhaust. The speaker is saying some additives can interfere with them if they’re not within certain limits.
Octane grades are the “regular” vs “premium” types of gas. Higher octane generally resists engine knocking, and the speaker is saying the cleaning additives can be required even in the lower octane versions.
Carbon deposits are gunk that can build up inside an engine over time. When they build up, they can make the engine run less smoothly and reduce how well it burns fuel.
Intake valves are the engine parts that let the mixture of air and fuel into the cylinders. If they get coated with carbon, the engine can run poorly.
Term
emissions increase
Emissions increase means the car puts out more pollution. The host is saying that certain deposit-related problems can make the engine burn fuel less cleanly.
A downdraft tube is an older emissions-related plumbing piece that routes crankcase fumes back into the engine. It’s mentioned here as part of how early emissions problems were noticed.
Crankcase ventilation is how an engine handles gases that build up inside the crankcase. Instead of venting them to the atmosphere, the system sends them back to be burned.
Direct injection means the fuel is sprayed straight into the cylinder. That changes how much the fuel helps keep the intake valves clean compared with older designs.
Port fuel injection sprays fuel into the intake area before it enters the cylinder. That can help reduce buildup on the intake valves compared with direct injection.
In a port-injected engine, fuel is sprayed into the intake passage before it goes into the cylinder. Because of where the fuel enters, the intake valves can collect carbon deposits over time.
Intake fogging is when you spray a special cleaner into the intake so it can reach the intake valves. It helps break up and remove carbon buildup on those valve surfaces.
CRC makes a fuel-system cleaning kit meant to help remove carbon and deposits. In this episode, it’s described as a kit that sprays cleaner into the intake and helps clean the injectors too.
GDI means gasoline is injected directly into the engine’s combustion area. Since the fuel doesn’t wash the intake valves the same way, carbon can build up there and may require extra cleaning.
“Top Tier fuel” means the gas has extra cleaning additives. Those additives help keep the engine’s fuel parts cleaner so they don’t get clogged up as easily.
A “detergent package” is the set of chemical additives in gasoline that are designed to prevent and remove deposits. In this context, it’s what helps keep fuel injectors and fuel system passages cleaner over time.
The Chevy Silverado is a big pickup truck. Here it’s mentioned because the speaker is talking about replacing a glow plug, which is usually part of a diesel engine’s cold-start system.
“Margin of error” means how forgiving a job is. The speaker is saying some repairs are so sensitive that small mistakes can quickly turn into expensive damage.
A replacement engine means swapping the whole engine instead of fixing one small part. The point here is that a small problem can sometimes force the repair to become a much bigger job.
A diesel engine runs differently than a gasoline engine: it starts by compressing air so the fuel ignites. The episode is emphasizing that even a small part like a glow plug matters a lot for keeping the engine running safely.
“High performance engines” are engines built to deliver more power and handle tough use. The speaker is using this as an example of how people used to keep complex machines running even in bad conditions.
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start your enginies. The Car Doctor is in the garage
and ready to take your call.
Another hour car Doctor and look at this. Now let's
open the phones. What the heck, let's start there. Brian
Michigan fourteen Accura. How can I help you today?
Sir here on, thanks for taking my call. A long
time listener, first time caller.
I got a.
Twenty fourteen Accura RDX. It's the B six with six
speed trans It's got two thirty eight on the clock, so it's not exactly a spring chicken. What I guess
would be described as a shift maybe a flare is kind of what I've seen online between two not I went called a shutter between two and three. If you
watch the tack at at a light load, say it's had two grand, and it gets ready to shift into third, it jumps up to like twenty five hundred, maybe even twenty seven hundred before it actually jumps into third and then drops back down, so it almost like it revs up before it goes into third. Now it's kind of
a light load. If you're at a heavier load, it
won't do it, and then it's really not doing it between any other gear. But I don't know if you've
heard much this car. It just seems like the shifting
has always been kind of it down shifts itself, you know, and it's kind of got a bit of a jerkiness to it. But it's kind of always been that way.
But this flare between two and three is something fairly new.
I've always done trans oil. The transil is pretty clean.
Change it every twenty thousand, but that only pulls about four courts each each time, so just kind of running into kind of a dead end here. The scan tool
I have doesn't show much. It's a fox well, but
it doesn't really get in much of the trans module.
What I see in the trans modules, like some of the PIDs that I would see on engine like barometric pressure and load and things along those lines that usually see in the in the engine module. Nothing to do
with the shifts. I mean, this thing is like loaded
with relays and pressure switches.
Well, keep in mind, you keep keep in mind to erroneous barrow readings, you know, if it thinks the barrow is X and it's really why Yeah, I could see that affecting trans operation not like that, but I just I just want to I just want to address that.
So in my experience, the Honda six speed generally is it's either fluid. You know, I can tell you you
don't have any check engine light or any fault codes in the trands because it's either fluid the solenoids or the trans itself. Yeah, there's there's there's no in between.
And here's part of the reasoning car's got two unre thirty eight thousand miles on it right, right, You're you're already seventy eight thousand miles past where I normally soon fail, so you're ahead of the curve. If you were to
pull the trans out of the car to take do a tear down to inspect, do you really think if you found part X y Z bed you would just change that or drove overhaul the trans.
Well, probably overhaul the trans. I guess that's sort of
the question, is that how do you get a diagnosis between that? I guess there's this this this solenoid module
which is just all by sobs like seven hundred and fifty bucks, right, But how do you really get a diagnosis?
Like you how do you get a diagnosis to say it's that part?
Well, you have to you'd have to, you know, hook up a lab scope, right, something with multi trace verify power, verify ground verify at the point of failure. It has
good power and ground verify the inputs to the module, verify the outputs coming from the module or where they're you know, it's called pin testing, is what we used to do back in the old days, and verify inputs and outputs. Do I really think it's that it would
be a weird failure generally generally, and it's it's pretty good repetitiveness in a pattern failure, it's second gear solenoid, third gear solenoid trans fluid trans. Okay, not much fails
outside of that. If it was a converter, it should
do it in all speeds, right.
And it doesn't. It's it doesn't do it between three
and four. It's just two three and not all the time.
They're either, right, So it's just however you're catching it at that particular moment. If I was replacing that trans
and there's still one available and it is a seven hundred dollars module, I might buy one, because if I'm replacing the trans on the twelve year old two hundred and thirty five town thirty eight thousand mile vehicle, I'm planning to drive this another for twelve years. I don't
want I don't want to find out in three years that I need the module for the new trends that I replaced three years prior. So I'm just going to
look at it as a system and say I got good service, I got good life out of it. Because
the other side of it, you can go into analysis paralysis.
Where's the where's the point of value for the life of what you've been using the vehicle for? That comes
back to you.
So a great car, you know, yeah, right, he's got two thirty eight. But man, it's clean. It's a great car.
Listen, you want it, mile, You want to convince yourself to fix that car? Go price a new one.
Oh yeah, yeah, no, no, I listened to you all the time. It's you know, doing that now, not calling in.
I have a very dear friend. He's got a boat, right,
and it's a twin engine four point fifty four whatever it is. And I forget the size of the boat,
a thirty footer. I'm not a boater. I will admit
that I'm not a boater. And you know, mechanics and
water don't mix and not in my world. And Chris
has a problem with one of the engines, and for two years now he's been going through this trying to prove what's wrong with it for a low vacuum condition.
I talked to him this week. He's got four labscopes
hooked up to it. He's looking at thirty six inputs,
thirty six outputs, trying to source and I said to him, I said Chris, take the engine out of the boat, put it on a dino to where you can get to everything and do your testing there, because you know it's got to come down to these three pieces. And
I know that sounds simple, but you know it's it's a it's a thirty five year old boat with two replacement engines. We've gotten our life out of it. Let's
do some better testing, so you know. And I come
back to you, Brian. I applaud what you're doing. I
really do. But it's twelve years old. It's got to
forty on it. If you take the car and any
kind of long trips, doesn't it give you peace of mind to know that the trans is done?
Yeah? I think so. I guess that's the thing is
if it's just this module for seven to fifty and they gets down the road for another fifty thousand, then I think I'm in good shape. What do you think
of trans would cost to swap out on that?
Oh between six and eight?
Yeah, that's yeah, that's a lot right.
Well, but is it a new car sixty?
Yeah?
Well we wouldn't go that direction either.
And I used I bet you I used three year old RDX has got to be forty.
Yeah, I'd probably be looking at something just with lower mileage, but probably even almost as old. And they're eighteen to twenty, right,
you know so, so I mean maybe that's that's the way to go it. Just love this car. He's got
to power.
You know the other side of it is you know what you got. You know the maintenance you've done to
that car. And I can tell by talking to you
you've changed the oil on that car like you change diapers on a baby drop oil.
It's got all foods, got braindy tires, the brakes are great.
You know, it's a good good.
We live in a world where you either have car payments or repair bills.
There there is no I take the repair because I wrunch myself.
All right, there is no There is no free lunch.
And then for that matter, when you're doing the trans get two axles. Put two axles in it. Take a
look at the struts, look at the control arms. Here's
a car that probably legitimately has tied rubber bushings in the control arms. Let's let's put let's put this car
together like we were going to drive it another five to ten years. Because if you're not going to drive
it another five to ten years. Take the Take the
ten grand you're about to spend on trans suspension, axles and brakes and whatever else you may find, and put it down towards the new car.
Yeah, the lower mileage, right.
You know, I listen. Owning a car just gives you
the ability to throw it away one piece at a time, and whether it's old or new, that's what you're going to end up doing. In twenty fifteen, my beloved suburban,
my four suburban, the buses we call it in the shop.
It had fifty five thousand miles on it. I never
thought about that. It had fifty five thousand miles on it.
Fifty five Chevy. See, there is a god there. He's
got a sense of humor. And it puked the Trans.
Now this is a car that I changed it's diaper every day of its life. It just puked the Trans.
I could have gone out and bought a new bus, but I said, now you know what, I know what I've got. I'd rather stay with this. And when I
pulled the trans, I did fuel system lines, I did brake lines, I did all the fluids. I did trans
cooler lines. The trans cooler lines led into the bottom
of the then eleven year old radiator. I put a
radiator in it. I just kept going. I did a
water pump. I overhould the cooling system, ignition all the
heater hoses. I'm still driving it in twenty sixteen. It
just turned one hundred and two thousand miles. Now where's
you know, where's the cost per mile? What did it
cost me? You know? And I know it's sat on
the lift that whole month of February that year. But
you know what a new bus is one hundred and five thousand miles and they're not any better.
Right, So it seems to me the order operation here is, let's do all new fluid. See where that takes us?
Yep.
If that doesn't seem like the other pattern failure said was two three solenoid, three four solenoid. That's all in
one module. That's like like seven hundred bucks. Give that
a try. If that doesn't do it, keep the module
around and do a trance.
You could I don't and I don't think I don't driving it. I don't, yeah, or you could keep driving
it until it breaks. Sure, uh, you know, if if
if you're okay, if you if you're short tripping it if you're within twenty mile thirty mile radies of the house.
You know, usually those solenoids will cause a fault. I
haven't seen a lot of solenoid failures where they don't cause a fault. If they do, it's it's not intermition
and it's permanent. I have seen sticking solenoids cause a
shift problem. So perhaps you know a few trips of
fluid through the unit, depending upon how dirty it is.
And for that matter, I've never done this, but you wonder if any of the oil engine oil laboratories would do an oil analysis of transfluid. I bet they would.
I never never thought of it. How crazy do you
want to get?
The other thing that they have in there is that when you change the module, that is apparently like these six little round things with screens in them, And so that's another reason to pull that module at least take a look and see if those are those are dirty or you know, of course anything.
If those are dirty and there's particulate in there, you got to ask yourself where'd the particulate come from? And
then that gives you.
A whole new So the dream plug, it shows like a little bit of black you know, black crud, but nothing nothing big, just really find stuff right well.
And that's that's sort of what you'd expect at that mileage.
But then it really kind of comes back to if it's starting to PUW could self apart, when do you want to find out? So doing oil analysis? Do a
couple of fluid changes, price out a new vehicle, price out of used vehicle. I think from the sounds of it,
I think keeping the older vehicle probably makes more sense.
You know what you got. Good luck to you, Brian.
Let us know what you decide. I'm running Dy and
the Car Doctor. We're back right after this. Hey, let's
go to Robin, Delaware.
Rob.
Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir. How can I help?
Hey?
Ron, thanks for taking my call.
You're welcome. What's going on?
Hey?
Have a two tenty eighteen f one fifty platinum three point zero diesel with the ten speed transmission.
I'm sorry, Yeah, that ten speed trans is tough, brother.
What's going on with it?
Yeah? Every now and then third gear and six gear
O shift real hard and it's intermittent. I can't reproduce
it with the gas pedal. And I've heard that it
needs to be reprogrammed. I was wondering whether.
There are numerous So anytime we deal with the ten speed GM, Ford or GM actually and and interestingly, the Ford and GM transmission both seem to come out have come out of the same group of engineers. So it
makes you wonder, but how so many people dedicated to doing something right could do something so wrong. You know,
when we deal with the ten speed Ford ten speed GM, same thing. We look at a couple of things fluid
fluid quality. You know, Originally the gms, for example, the
ten speeds, they've they have found that the fluid was breaking down. It was it was absorbing moisture through the
vent tube and it was causing shutter and hard shifts and bangs and all sorts of funny things that the trands would normally do as a results, so they've changed the fluid around. Ford has the same issue. Ford has
similar issues, So you always want to be sure you know the fluid is fresh correct and to level. That's
just basic, right, I mean, just we're back to basics.
There are numerous software calibrations, so somebody's gonna have to plug into the trans module. Look at software calibration level.
Look at pcm calibration level and verify are they both current?
Are they both the newest, latest, greatest? All right?
Right?
There are non issues with the valve body. There are
more than a few of these that have been fixed, pulling the valve body, replacing the valve body as an assembly.
Do we have a sticking do we have sticking valves in the valve body itself?
Right?
And then the really bad news is then after you exhaust all that, then you put the trans in it.
How many miles do how many miles around this? Let
me guess, don't tell me. I'm gonna say this probably
has between forty and sixty on it.
Fifty tails.
There you go. God, I couldn't do that better if
I try. Yeah, I tell you it. Just one of
the things I've learned about cars. Well, I've learned more
than one thing about cars in the past couple of years.
But one of the things that I just it seems to come up as a repetitive constant denominator, Robbie, is that the defects that are put into vehicles are put into them across the board, by design, by computer, at the engineering level, at the factory where they're made. They
all seem to suffer it's called pattern failure, and they all seem to suffer the same anomaly around the same time.
What deviates it is maybe operating environment, operating use, amount of maintenance, the amount of load the vehicle carries. But
I'm telling you these ten speed forwards, they start to go cranky in the forty to sixty range and it's this NonStop battle. You know, I've got more than a
few customers with it.
Now.
Ford hasn't as multiple extended campaigns, warranties recalls. The stack
of bulletins would exceed the roof of the house sometimes, I think if you stack them up.
So when I checked all that, there is nothing on the transmission at all.
On what do you mean there's nothing on this transmission?
Well, when I called four, they said there's no recalls. No,
or you can look it up online and nothing comes up on the transmission.
Okay, go look at safety recall twenty five s IS and Sam beaz In Baker Number three came out came out May twelfth of this year. It affects seventeen through
twenty one f one fifties, twenty to twenty one Explorers, twenty eighteen through twenty twenty one expeditions and so on.
And it's a safety recall twenty five SB three And they talk about harsh shifting, bad shifting, problem shifting. Now,
it may not apply light to your vehicle, But have them explain to you why if there's no recalls or notices on this vehicle, how come they didn't mention that one?
Right?
Okay, all right now, Now it's vin specific, but believe me when I tell you, kiddo, there's recalls and bulletins out there for this transmission, known failures, common issues. And
I would I would start with software fluid quality and then work my way backwards up the pile. And you know,
are you going to put a trends in this? And
is that going to do any good? I've got more
than a few customers that have been through this trends.
They're going through it right now. It's it's kind of
it's it's sad. Good luck to you.
Rob.
Let us know what happens. I'm running ny in the car. Doctor.
We're back right after this.
From the city streets to the open roads.
And now.
If you're ready his help, I will keep you only around.
He he's the car doctor jaring guys done. Hey, open
phone lines by the way at eighty five five five six ozho nine nine zero zero eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero. Good time to get in.
Let's do some emails. Ron, you were talking to me
for about expensive parts today. But I well, I had
to heat up the soldering iron once or twice to replace incandescent light bulbs and a circuit board. I guess
the manufacturers didn't think about people like us that warmed up soldering irons. And then Dodge Frum Delaware Rights and
he said, hey, Ron, you never finished telling us the story about the jeep. Maybe you could have just wired
in a replacement AC relay. You know, I could have.
We were talking about that twenty eighteen Jeep Grand Cherokee that the air conditioning didn't work on, and there were ways around it. There were what I consider Rube Goldberg's
there's always another way to you know, there's always a better mouse trap. And I gave the customer the options.
The problem is there's no easy way to fit the relay without it hanging out half under the hood. What
it hold up to weather and corrosion. Would it last?
Is a lasting repair and you have to worry about that as a professional shop. You guys, as individuals, you
can kind of get away with more. You've got artistic license,
professional mechanics. When we're standing in front of the judge
and the car burnt up gee, you run or I didn't know that the relay wouldn't do this, or that we're held to a different standard so we're looked upon differently.
But I get the point, Yes, you could do that.
By the way, there's no point in trying to unsolder the relay. I've cut a few of these power distribution
centers apart on the chryslers, and the location of that relay and the shape of it is something unique to that.
And just getting a replacement relay to solder in I don't think you're going to find one. I never have,
so it's always been changed the PDCA. This comes to
us from Carl Ron. I've got a two thousand and
one buhicle saber with a thirty eight hundred V six about ninety thousand miles. I think I have a sticky lifter.
Would you recommend an oil additive which editive. Thanks so
much for the show. Carl in Appleton, Wisconsin, Appleton, Wisconsin.
I'll tell you what, Carl, I like this stuff from Hotshot Secret. Hot Shot Secret Tickfix. You'll find it on
their website. We just used it in an older Ford
this week. As a matter of fact, we had a
Ford V six, a little three liter and a tourists come in that had a little bit of a tick to it and it solved that problem. And what happens
with tick fix it's a court replacement for the oil.
So you're gonna leave a quart of oil out. If
it's a four court system, you're gonna put three quarts of oil in a quart of hot Shot Secret Tickfix.
And what it'll do is it will scrub away at the particulate and the crud and any of the varnish and it comes out in the next oil change and it keeps things loved up and working very nicely. Hotshot
Secret tick Fix, by the way, was created specifically, although it works in everything. They had the Chrysler Hevy with
the lifter tick in mind, and also for the af MGM V eights that have suffered camshaft and lifter failure as a result of poor lubrication and varnish and corrosion as well. So but get out to the Hotshotsecret dot com.
You'll find more there. And this question actually came to
us last week, and I didn't get to it last week.
In my apologies, we've had a few of you call in wright and you want to know about top tier gasoline.
I guess everybody's looking at gasoline now with the price of fuel being what it is. And you know what
makes top tier gasoline better? Well, top tier gas is
one of those things that has real technical merit. It does.
It's not about higher octaneum or more power. It's about
keeping the engine clean over the long haul. Now, Sitgo
Roger as I call him, works at one of the refineries here in New Jersey, and he's a regular customer and we have this conversation all the time. He keeps
trying to convince me that gas is gas. Matter of fact,
I have the official Citgo beanie that says gases gas.
I just don't believe it. You know. I still think
that there are better, you know, proprietary or what am I trying to say, better properties of gasoline out there available in the market, but Roger assures me they're not thatwithstanding, top tier is a different animal unto itself. Top tier
top tier gasoline, it's a standard that was developed in two thousand and four by a couple of auto manufacturers BMW, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, and they were seeing injector and intake valve deposits that created driveability problems. The fuels met
the EPA's and minimum detergent requirements, by these manufacturers and others decided that the EPA minimum wasn't enough. I mean,
this is twenty two years ago. So every gallon of
gas sold in the United States has to contain detergent additives.
The difference between top tier and regular fuel is the amount and quality of those editives, and that's what sets them apart. Top tier gasoline contains more detergent additives than
the EPA minimum. They've got better chemistry, and what that
chemistry does is it helps prevent deposits.
You know.
Fuel system cleaning is still one of the most common things that we do in the shop for maintenance on a regular basis. There's stricter limits on specific editors that
can create problems with emission components like metallic editors. There's
consistent detergent levels required in all octane grades, including regular top tier gas. You're going to get some quality of
top tier detergency in regular fuel as well, and that's something to know because it's just a better grade of gas. Listen,
you can drink generic Coca Cola or you can drink coke, the real thing, all right, And nothing against coke. I'm
just it's the best example I can think of. Or pepsi.
You can drink a generic soft drink or you can drink pepsi. Okay, there's a difference. They're both soft drinks,
they're both brown, they both have bubbles. Just you know,
the brand name, the value brand or I'm sorry, the brand name has better value to me because it actually tastes better.
You know.
As carbon deposits build up in an engine, a couple of things happen. Fuel injectors don't spray evenly, the intake
valves will become coated, and once they become coated, now they absorb fuel and instead of the fuel actually making its way into the cylinder, that carbonax as a sponge and it holds the fuel. So you'll get poor driveability.
Cold you'll get rough idle problems. You know, fuel economy
can drop. You can find in certain parts of the
country under certain conditions, cold starts become more difficult. It's
excessive cranking, it's excessive start attempts, and the bottom line, emissions increase. Right what started all this with computers on
cars and emission controls and what let us down this path?
It's all about emissions. It comes back to in the
mid sixties, and I can tell you where it started.
It started because they noticed that traveling through Cape Cod, a certain group of politicians or remain nameless, noticed that the back roads of Cape Cod in the early sixties were being marked by downdraft tubes off of vehicle engines.
Remember downdraft two is before crank case ventilation was a requirement where you had to reburn the crank case fumes.
And you would always see go look at an old old movies, Go look at the there's a there's an oil line right down to the left of center of the road, and that's from the drown draft tube on the automobile. So that's where missig controls started back in
the sixties. That's when they really kind of got onto it.
On older port fuel engines, top deer fuel was found that it kept and it did an excellent job of keeping intake valves cleaner. And then you get into direct
injection and the difference is direct injection engines the fuel is dumped directly into the combustion chamber, so it never washes over the intake valve, which is what we're trying to clean. So how do we do that? The answer
when the car doctor returns eight five to five five six oh nine nine zero zero, I'm ron an Anian.
I'll be back right after this. So you guys are
just dying to hear about top tier fuel, I can tell.
So you know port fuel injected engines where the gasoline goes through the injector and sprays directly onto the back of the intake valves. That works, right, It helps to
keep the valves cleaner. You still need to do fuel
system cleaning, but top tier fuel gives you that advantage.
Now we've got top tier fuel and a port injected engine.
And a port injected engine, the fuel injector goes directly into the cylinder, it doesn't go onto the back of the intake valve. So can you do have and find
an advantage from top tier fuel. Top tier fuel won't
help the back of the intake valve. It might keep
carbon deposits off the top of the piston, which is another story onto itself. But the fact is to keep
the intake valves clean on a port injected engine, you've got to do fuel system cleaning. There's just no way
to do it. But you've got to do a fogging,
you know, to do a fuel system cleaning through the rail that puts a detergent solution through the injector which goes directly into the cylinder. That again, I'll clean the
top of the piston. That's where it sprays. Think of
the garden hose, right, If you're spraying water on the side of your house and the windows closed, you're not going to get any water into the room. If you
open the window, you're gonna get water into the room.
It can reach it. Where a port injector is. It
can't reach the intake valve. It's shut off from it.
So you've got to figure out a way to get solution there, some sort of cleaning agent there. You're going
to do that by an intake fogging. An intake fogging
is basically taking an atomized chemical some sort of spray.
CRC makes a great kit. You'll find that they actually
make a CRC Fuel System GDI cleaning kit available at your local Advanced Autoparts. They make that as a complete
service kit. And what that will do is it will
allow and do a fogging of the intake. It will
do the injectors, it will do the intake, and it allows a chemical cleaning solution to form around the back of the intake valves and help wash away the crut. Now,
a fuel tank added on a regular basis, a fuel system cleaning on a regular base are all part of regular fuel system maintenance today. And you know, just be aware.
Is top tier worth the extra effort? Yeah, it is
if you're planning to keep the vehicle for long term.
Top tier is really an inexpensive form of preventative maintenance.
Look at it this way. If you're using top tier fuel,
you've got a cleaner engine than you would have if you didn't use top tier fuel, and therefore you'll get more benefit from the fuel system cleaning, which you're doing on a regular basis. Right hint, hint. Fuel is like
engine oil. It has to meet a minimum standard. They're
not all equal. Everybody's got a different additive package. Top
tier gas simply makes sure that there's a stronger detergent package that keeps injectors and fuel systems cleaner longer. It
won't fix a mechanical problem. It won't turn regular into premium.
You know, if you're planning to keep the car for the next one hundred and fifty to two one thousand miles, it's one of the least expensive forms of preventative maintenance you can buy. And that's a fact right now. You've
got to buy gasoline anyway, you might as well buy better gasoline if you need regular, use regular. If you
want to throw a tank of premium in, like I always say to you, every third or fourth tank full, yeah do it. You're gonna get a higher dose of
detergent additive, especially if you're using a top tier fuel.
Not using top tier fuel, And you know, if we want to start talking about how do you pick fuel, not using top tier fuel, using several different brands of fuel with the different additives, you know, I have found to affect how vehicles operate. I tend to stay with
one brand of fuel. I on a consistent basis because
you know, that's what seems to work best for me.
And I will try different brands, you know, depending on where I am and what I'm doing, and I find I pick a brand and I stay with it. So
but that's that's what top Tier Fuel is all about.
So just to answer all your questions, it's something you'll see a sticker on the side of the pump if you want to learn more about it. I believe the
website is top tier dot com or you can just google it top Tier Gasoline and you will see a library of information and requests and you know facts about what top Tier Fuel is and why it works and does what it actually does. So more to come. I'm
Ronning Ay and the Car Doctor. We'll return right after this.
So Gary from Indiana Rights and hey, Ron, aren't you over exaggerating to the replacement procedure for a glow plug on that Chevy Silverado you were talking about? It can't
be that difficult and how hard could it really be? Gary?
I remember as a kid there was this game called Operation.
Remember Operation where you would it had a it was like a cutout when a box and it was battery operated and you took some you took a pair of tweezers and you tried to pull out different organs out of a body, and if you touch the sides, the buzzer went off and lost and you had to start over again. That's probably the best description I could give
you of putting a glow plug. Taking a glow plug
out of a diesel and putting it back in. There
is no margin of error, There is no there is no whoops or almost or just close as good enough all right. If you touch the size, if you scrape
off carbon, if you break the tip of the glow plug and it stays in the engine and you're not careful, you're done. You're spending You know, what's the replacement engine?
Sixteen seventeen grand? Are you going to take a part
of three hundred thousand mile diesel engine? What else are
you going to find when you do? And how responsible
does the mechanic have to be? And that's the point
of this, because you know, the whole point of that conversation, Gary was we're trying to manage risk because that's what we have to do, and it's not our fault as mechanics for the way vehicles are designed. That you know
imagine if aircraft during the Second World War were designed as poorly as today's vehicles. I never really thought about
it until recently, but I think of Uncle Steve. Uncle
Steve used to say that, you know, they'd work on the P fifty one Mustangs in the dark of night in England, under flashlights and tarps and all kinds of weather, and they were able to put those planes back together, as Uncle Steve called them, high performance engines, right the Rolls Royce engine and a P fifty one. I never
heard stories about, well, we couldn't get the spark plugs out because they were designed so tight that if they had carbon deposits on them.
You know.
It was usually something more along the lines of if we can get the spark plug out, we took a hammer, we hit it, it fell out, We put a new one in, and we kept flying, you know. And that's the whole
point of this. We need common sense, basic design again.
We need to have the ability to repair things without worrying about are we going to make it worse and damage it. It's come down to where the price of
the average vehicle is outstripping what people can afford. And
then you get into the cost of repair. I can
tell people are having hard times because they're splitting credit cards.
You know what I mean when I say they're splitting credit cards. They've got a thousand dollars bill and put
five hundred on this one and five hundred on that one.
And the only reason I can come up with that is there. You know, this one's closer to being paid
off than this one. We're juggling the debt. Where are
we going with this? You know? Why is it that
an engine, a diesel engine that should last a million miles with proper care, is now compromised by having to change some of some of or one of its most basic components a glow plug? So am I overemphasizing it? Gary,
I don't think so. I think I look at this stuff.
You know.
One thing I am, I'm a lot of things good and bad. One thing I am is I'm passionate about
this industry. It's been good to me, and it's a
necessary part of American life. It's a necessary part of
everybody's life around the world. The automobile change things and
keeping them going is very important. And the star Spangled
banner is not going to start playing behind me. But
trust me. It's important to national security as well. We've
got to make things so that they're repairable, not just replaceable.
And to replace all these vehicles at such a cost, I'd rather fix it. It just takes a steady hand
and managing the risk. Think about it. I'm ronning Andy
and the car Doctor till the next time. Good mechanics
aren't expensive, they're priceless. See US doctor Carr advice to
ride
About this episode
A first-time caller describes a 2014 Acura RDX that flares/jumps in RPM between 2nd and 3rd gear even after regular fluid changes, while the scan tool shows little. Ron explains how Honda-style shift issues often follow repeatable “pattern failure” tied to solenoids/fluid and how to verify power/ground and module inputs/outputs. The hosts weigh repair vs replacement costs, discuss solenoid-module pricing, and broaden into other driveline patterns (including 10-speed moisture/fluid breakdown and recall angles) before shifting to fuel-system cleanliness and intake-valve deposit prevention.
