The check engine light is a warning light on the dashboard. It usually means the car’s computer noticed an issue, but this episode explains that problems can exist even if the light never comes on.
Fault codes are like the car’s “error messages” stored in its computer. The episode’s point is that sometimes the car’s computer doesn’t save any codes, even though the car is still acting up.
The Ford Model A is an old car from the early days of automobiles. Because it’s much older than modern cars, it usually needs more hands-on maintenance and parts that match its age. The podcast may be using it to explain how repairs can be different on older vehicles.
The Ford Edge is a Ford SUV. The problem described here is that it sometimes won’t start, even though it can start normally at other times—so it’s hard to diagnose.
“Parts cannon” means throwing parts at the car—replacing things without really figuring out the root cause. The episode’s point is that this can happen a lot, and it still doesn’t guarantee the car gets fixed.
Fuel system cleaning is a service meant to clear out gunk in the fuel system. It can help some starting or running problems, but it won’t fix every cause—especially if the issue is intermittent or not fuel-related.
Pending codes are error messages the car has noticed but hasn’t fully confirmed yet. This episode says you can still have a real issue even if there are no pending codes.
Coolant temp is how hot the engine’s liquid coolant is. If the sensor lies or is wrong, the car’s computer can get confused and act weird even if no obvious error shows up.
“No fault code” means the car’s computer didn’t log an error. Sometimes the problem is intermittent or the readings are slightly off, so the computer never flags it.
Fuel pressure is how hard the fuel system is pushing gas to the engine. If it’s too low, the engine may not get enough fuel to start, especially when you crank it.
Battery voltage is how much electrical power the battery is providing. When you crank the engine, the voltage can drop—if it drops too low, the car’s electronics may not work correctly to start the engine.
Barometric pressure is the outside air pressure. The car uses it to estimate how much air is in the engine—if that info is wrong, the car may not start right.
A PID is a specific “data item” the car’s computer can report to a scan tool. Barometric pressure is one of those data items, and checking it can help find the cause of a hard start.
The root cause is the real reason the problem is happening. Instead of guessing, the diagnostic process tries to find the actual underlying issue that leads to hard starting.
Transmission fluid is the fluid that keeps the automatic transmission working smoothly. It lubricates the inside and helps the transmission shift; fresh fluid can help if the shifts feel rough.
They’re talking about changing the transmission fluid (not just engine oil). The goal is to get old, dirty fluid out and replace it with fresh fluid so the transmission shifts better.
A gasket is a seal that helps stop leaks where two parts bolt together. When the transmission pan comes off, a gasket is used so fluid doesn’t seep out afterward.
Some cars have a transmission cooler that acts like a radiator for the transmission fluid. “Transcooler” lines are the hoses that carry the fluid to that cooler and back.
A Chevy Silverado is a big pickup truck. The point here is that working on the transmission can require getting under the truck and removing parts to reach the transmission pan.
“Crown Vic” is short for the Ford Crown Victoria. The host is saying older cars like this often have a dipstick for checking transmission fluid, which makes DIY fluid changes easier.
The Chrysler 300 is a large sedan. The host is talking about changing transmission fluid and says you have to catch the fluid as it drains, then check the level using the dipstick.
A dipstick is a simple way to check how much fluid is in a system. Here, it matters because some cars let you check transmission fluid level by hand, while others don’t.
A transmission exchange machine is equipment used to perform a transmission fluid service by circulating fluid through the transmission. The host suggests it can make the process easier on vehicles where a DIY approach is complicated, but notes that not everyone has access to the machine.
The Chevy Suburban is a big family SUV. Here it’s mentioned because the mechanic needs enough space under the vehicle to do transmission-related work safely.
A trans fluid exchange means replacing the old transmission fluid with fresh fluid. Instead of just draining a little, the process aims to swap out more of the old fluid so the transmission runs with better fluid.
MALA Service Solutions makes the machine shops use to do transmission fluid changes more thoroughly. The idea is that it helps control how much old fluid is removed and how much new fluid is added.
Hygroscopic means the fluid can pull water from the air. If transmission fluid absorbs moisture and degrades, it can cause rough shifting or noise, which is why a full fluid exchange can sometimes improve things.
A ten-speed transmission is an automatic gearbox with ten gear ratios. The host is talking about a situation where the transmission fluid can go bad over time and cause rough behavior, and changing the fluid completely may help.
“Chatter” is when the transmission makes a rough vibrating sound or feels shaky. The host is saying it can happen when the transmission fluid has degraded.
An eight-speed is an automatic transmission with eight gears. The host says Chrysler changed the fluid type/specification for these transmissions, which suggests the right fluid is important.
A cooler line is a tube that moves transmission fluid to a heat exchanger so the fluid doesn’t get too hot. If it leaks, the transmission can run low on fluid and overheat.
The Hyundai Palisade is a family SUV with three rows. This caller is bringing up a 2021 Palisade, likely because they want help with transmission fluid service.
It’s a formal way the dealer tracks how much oil your engine uses. They check it regularly (like every 1,000 miles) so they can compare your results to what the manufacturer says is normal.
This is a cleaning procedure meant to remove carbon that builds up inside the engine where fuel burns. The goal is to reduce problems caused by oil that’s getting into the combustion process.
If engine oil gets into the area where fuel burns, it can leave sticky carbon deposits. Over time that can clog up parts like intake valves and can even affect the exhaust system.
The catalytic converter is part of the exhaust system that helps clean up pollution. If oil gets burned and ends up in the exhaust, it can foul the catalytic converter and make it less effective.
Inside an engine, moving metal parts need a very small gap so they can spin with a thin film of oil. Bearing clearance testing measures whether that gap is correct. If it’s not, the engine can wear out faster or run poorly.
“Out of warranty” means the time period (or mileage limit) where the manufacturer pays for covered repairs has ended. After that, the owner usually has to pay the bill. The concern here is that emissions damage can happen after warranty expires.
This is a 2009 Kia Sportage, and the big issue is the brakes. The mechanic can’t get all the air out of the brake system, so the brake pedal can feel weak or go soft sometimes.
“Bleeding” the brakes means getting air out of the brake fluid lines. Air in the system makes the brake pedal feel soft and can cause weak or inconsistent braking.
Sometimes the shop uses the car’s computer (with a scan tool) to help bleed the brakes. It can open the right valves and run the right steps so air comes out more reliably than pumping by hand.
This means a brake valve inside the ABS system may be stuck in a position where it routes brake fluid the wrong way. If that happens, the brakes can’t build pressure correctly and bleeding won’t work.
The master cylinder is the main brake fluid pump that pressurizes the brake lines when you press the pedal. If its internal seals get worn or damaged, the brakes can feel wrong and bleeding may not fix it.
Block plugs are temporary caps that stop fluid from flowing into part of the brake system. They’re used to isolate where the air or blockage is coming from.
This is a troubleshooting trick where you temporarily restrict brake fluid flow to figure out which part of the brake system is causing the problem. It helps pinpoint whether the issue is in one section of the lines.
Calipers are the parts at each wheel that squeeze the brake pads to stop the car. If they aren’t working, the brakes won’t grab as they should.
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start your enginies. The Car Doctor is into garage and
ready to take your call er.
Welcome aboard Ron Any and the Car Doctor, and as always, I'm glad to have you writing along with us this weekend.
I am fired up and ready to go. It has
been a great week at the show up. We fixed
a pile of broken cars and did our thing and helped a bunch of people out and as a matter of fact we were so busy this week. I want
to start off by saying, I apologize we didn't get the Instagram or Facebook posts up this week. I think
I had one on Monday, but I got to tell you, it was every day. I went in thinking I have
to tell this story from this day and this day and this day, and I never got to it because we just had so much going on, so many cars, with so many issues. I want to start a new series,
you know, forget mail bag Monday. I want to do
counter confessions or confessions at the counter because some of the things people said to us this week. I don't know.
I can't get it out of my mind. I don't
want to close my eyes and think about it. The
little old lady who said, send Danny to give me the riote home, I'll show them a thing or two.
I was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it
just was that kind of a week. But it was
also broken cars. It was also a lot of a
lot of yea and they weren't they weren't hard to fix.
It was it was procedural stuff.
You know.
One of the biggest myths in order to repair today is that if there isn't a check engine light on it.
There are any fault codes stored in the computer, then there can't be anything wrong with the car, right, Well, nothing could be further from the truth. And as a
matter of fact, this week's repair will prove exactly that a late model Ford Edge came up to the shop.
It had one complaint. It doesn't like to start. It's random,
it's intermittent, and it just won't start. Sometimes it wouldn't fire.
Sometimes it'll fire up, sometimes it won't. And of course,
you know, we got to it and it started right up.
Now the owner's frustrated, and I don't blame them, right The vehicle had been to multiple repair facilities, multiple attempts.
The parts cannon had been fired. It was you know,
shiny spots here and there under the hood. It had
been to the dealer, It had been to the independent shop, you know, sensors, a battery, tune up, items, fuel system cleaning.
One of those cars where everybody has an opinion, has an answer, And I always say it's one of those cars where when they're explaining it to you, they're waving their arms around and they're jumping up and down. They're
so passionate and excited. They know what's wrong with it,
but yet it's not fixed. And yet there were no
fault codes, there were no pending codes, there was no check engine light, nothing. Now, years ago, when I was
starting out, yeah, this would have frustrated me. And today,
you know, after five decades of fixing cars, I've learned the vehicle will talk to you long before you ever turn the key and crank it.
You know.
One of the first things I do, and I learned this from going to the doctor. When you go to
the doctors, what's the first thing they do, almost to the point of a nauseum, where they they weigh you, heart rate, blood pressure, general physical questions. They always go
through the same routine. It's almost it's almost whimsical in
a way. You'll go on Monday for a physical. Oh,
come back on Thursday, we'll finish up your tests. You
walk in Thursday. They do the same thing. I was
just here three days ago. What are we doing? Cars
are really like that, and you have to follow that right.
You know.
I didn't reach for a wrench. I didn't start by
looking at parts. I didn't even start the car. I
didn't even try to start the engine. I walked out
with a scan tool, sat in the car, turned the key on, brought the car up and started looking at pits, started looking at you know, sensors. I want to look
at basics. And the advantage here is that I am
going to see the car in its start state, meaning I go in, I can look at cool and temperature, cool and temp. I look at ambient air temp. I
look at barrel pressure. I look at a fuel pressure
pit if it's available, which it was right primary fuel pressure was available. Now the car had been sitting overnight.
We made him drop it off the night before because the complaint. When we did our pre flight welcome to
the shop and take checklists conversation, they said, yeah, it's more likely to happen after it sits for a period of time. Car said overnight. Came in. It was seventy
degrees at the shop that morning, and I'm thinking the cool and tent pig should be pretty close to seventy degrees.
You know, if the computer thinks it's one hundred and forty degrees, yeah, we've got a problem. The computer thinks
it's eighty degrees, eighty five degrees, where's that line of failure?
We've probably got a problem and it'll come back to no fault code, just just bad information. It's like you
when you go to dress in the morning, right, you always get up, You're in the bathroom, you're showering, you're shaving whatever, you're brushing your teeth. Yeah, what should I
wear today? You know? My method is I walk over
to the window. And I learned this from my wife,
because my wife is the best weather person in the world.
You know, it's hey, honey, what's the weather like outside?
She walks up, she sticks her hands against the window.
It's warm, and she's always right. You know, you can't
argue with her, So I it's warm. Okay. Well, I
went to the shop that day and I looked ambient air tempt made sense. Coolant tempt made sense. It had
fuel pressure, It had reasonable fuel pressure on the first hit of the key pump built up pressure. I looked
at battery voltage. Right, you can see that on a
scan tool. You know, standard rule of thumb anything less
than twelve point two vaults and that's even cutting it close, because when you go to crank it, and you can see that on a scan tool, where does voltage go?
Most modern computers, anything under nine and a half volts.
You've got a problem. I like to make nine point
eight to ten volts my standard, but some cars will work better under lower voltage, or it won't matter to them.
And I didn't see it. Everything looked right, and I
looked at barometric pressure, and this was the day that it was about to rain, and barrow was changing and it was close, but it didn't strike me as correct, and I realized I had forgotten. I went over to
the computer. I looked up. I looked up the barometric
pressure for Waldwick, New Jersey, and I looked at it again.
And of course my first reaction is I think the computer is lying to me. And then I realized the
computer's right. The scan tool is wrong. It was off
by almost a point and a half. That's that's quite
a difference, right. It's because barometric pressure. It's really become
one of my favorite PIDs on the tool. It you know,
everybody scrolls past it, and you know, I always look to see when I do a diagnostic, I'm always thinking about whether I'm always thinking about because we asked the customer that, hey, you know, where was it was it? Daytime?
Was it nighttime? Was it raining? Where we're going. Was
the sun out incorrect? Barometric pressure will always send me
down the right diagnostic path. It tells me the computer
isn't seeing the world correctly, and it will generally lead me to the root cone of a hard start condition.
And there's no part starts, there's no guessing. It's just
just good basic diagnostics. Now you could argue, well, Ron,
what if it wasn't the barrel pid good? Tell me
what's good. I'll tell you what's bad. The problem is,
I think when everybody goes for diagnostics, everybody goes and looks for the bad part. What's bad? What's bad?
Oh, let me.
Test this, let me test that. How about if we
test what's good. How about if we look for you know,
we look for the vitals. We look Imagine going to
a doctor's office. Dock, I don't feel good. Well, let
me let me take out your zorch and give you a zorch ectomy and see if that fixes it. Or
let me try fixing your elbow, or let me try smacking you in the back of the head. Doctors do it.
They do it all the time. They look for what's good,
and when they figure out what's good, they narrow it down to what's bad. A scan tool isn't there to
tell you what's broken. It's there to tell you what's
good and what the computer, the engine, computer, the vehicle computer systems believe is correct. The job of the technician
is to decide whether the computer's version of reality actually matches the world that we're living in. That's diagnostics, and
that's the way it's got to be. Coming up today,
We're gonna answer all your own motive questions. We're gonna
take your phone calls, or we're gonna keep your car safe, dependable, and on the road. I'm ronin Andy and the car Doctor.
The garage door is wide open. I'll be back right
after this. Hey, I should point out now listen, let's
not tell Tom this because the last time Tom put his fingerprintsole over it. But this weekend we're giving away,
courtesy of Advance ODO Parts, their Diehard seventy three piece roadside emergency toolkit with a portable tote. And we'll do
that this hour or next hour. We'll maybe we'll leave
it up to Tom. Okay, well, Tom, turn up.
Your wid Wait wait wait wait wait, fingerprints all over it.
I was just outside working on your car with it.
Well, I understand that's why I'm hoping you clean up.
So just behave yourself. But we'll we'll talk about it
somewhere in the next two hours. We'll give that away
courtesy of Advance all the parts. Let's get to the phones.
Let's go to James and Illinois transmission procedure problem questions.
What's going on, James, ron on Inian at your servicer.
Good afternoon, listen there with you.
Thank you, what's up? That's up?
I remember the day when you could drop the torque, MdeR plug and the pan and do one hundred percent oil change in your training. So I've adapted to a
different procedure. Sergery has dropped the pan, take the filter,
take the neck off the filter, Cut the neck off the filter, adapt that to a hose like a piece of heater hose, maybe three or four inch piece of the heater hose. Put three foot of clear plastic hose
and the other end of that. Put that in the
in the vow body with a gasket on it. Put
three courts of transmission fluid in a clear plastic jug.
Start the car, suck that out of the jug into the void body and let the extra oil and just drop into a mortar pan. You've given a transmission a
complete as good as it can get. I guess oil change,
put your new field and anything else in there, and you're done with the procedure and you've got a really good I do this to all my vehicles. I've done
it for years, and I think that solves a lot of problems for a lot of people wanting a complete transmission oil change.
Why aren't you disconnecting one of the transcooler ones?
Well, I used to do that. I used to do
that on the Fords. Pump out a couple of quarts,
and add a couple of quarts, and pump out a couple of quarts until you go through eight ten quarts of oil. It just keeps contaminating the oil. This doesn't
contaminate the oil because you've pumped everything out I guess through the torque.
Well, no, if you're if you drop a cooler line and you're adding and letting it come out and go into a drain pan, aren't you working neater and cleaner?
And what are you going to do on a What are you going to do on a GM truck for example?
I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I just think
there's easier ways to do it. I think there's easier
ways to do it yourself, or can do it. You know,
show me a Chevy Silverado or a full sized GM pickup.
You're going to have to be underneath there prying down on the exhaust or lower the exhaust down to get the pan out to clear it. It's it's so, what
kind of vehicle are you? What kind of vehicles do
you own that this is working on? And that might
be part of the.
Answer, or Crown Vix okay us, sure, simply ask. I'm
getting ready to a Chrysler three hundred transmission procedure. The
only the only really messy part is you need a mortar pan something to just catch that fluid when it comes out of the transmission. And you can also use
that and measure that flood back because on a dipstick car you kind of need to know that rather than guess when you put the new oil back in.
Well, and I guess too if you had a trans exchange machine. You're talking about cars with all the dipsticks,
right that Crownvic's an older car, the tourist is an older car, the three hundreds, All those cars have dipsticks.
Wouldn't it be easier to use a machine?
Could?
Could? Of course, you don't have it. I get it.
We're talking about DIY trans fluid exchange exactly right. You
know what it works for you as in a shop.
I can't see it, and I can't see it on something newer, anything, anything made in the last twelve years.
Half the time you have to take something else apart to get the pan down. So while that works on
an older vehicle and it will continue, I don't want to disparage you and say, hey, it's not a great idea.
It's just that, you know, it's it's only going to work on a selected group of certain vehicles. Take a
look at a take a look at a Chevybourban. The
next time you can, like a twenty fifteen suburban. Okay,
it's if it's not applicable to more than just a select group of vehicles, is my point. You know, when
we've got that Chevy suburban up in the air, we're either prying on it with it, we're pulling on it with a pride bar, So you've got to have clearance of stand up six feet up. Or sometimes we have
to take the pipe down. Sometimes we get into exhaustuds,
sometimes we and brings it back to my original point.
Why aren't we just disconnecting the trans cooler lines and filling it that way?
I was, I was, I was a little lary of wanting to do that originally because I thought that the transmission pan or the transformasion lines forward would be jeopardized when you open the fitting into you know, if it was hard fitting into the radiator. So a little little
leary of wanting to break a transformation line like that.
Yeah, listen, if taking the line apart at the radiator creates or compromises it, or it's brittle, or you can't get it apart, or it's contaminator, or it's going to fail, it's probably supposed to be replaced anyway. You know, the
majority of fluid exchanges, I mean, listen, if we're not talking about trying to come up with something that a di wire can do. You're using a trans fluid exchange
machine and you know it's it's it's just that simple.
We use the MALA system H M A H L E.
MALA Service Solutions dot Com. I believe is the website
and or is it Service Solutions Mala dot Com. It's
one or the other. But the point is, you know,
their machine will calculate how much fluid in, how much fluid out, and it's it's actually as long as we're on the subject of it, because there's there's great value in fluid exchange. James absolutely late model model General Motors.
The ten speed transmission debacle, you know, is because they've discovered that the original fluid put in those vehicles in the last eight years was hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture through
the vent and because of the fluid to break down and creates chatter issues and doing a complete fluid exchange can help solve that in certain applications. Same thing with
the eight speed. They came out with different fluid for
both transmissions. Chrysler has the issue with their with their
ZF transmission fluid, so one hundred percent changing fluid completely, and I'm like you, I agree. I come from the
days of I still have in stock in the back room.
I still have a couple of those Ford self tapping plugs for the converter. When you you know, you take
it out and the threads were worn out, you had to replace the converter plug because that was the best way to change transfluid. But unfortunately, time and technology pushes
us forward. So without a doubt, you know, but I
think I wouldn't fear taking a cooler line down, especially if I've got a dipstick car. One of those cooler
lines is going to push out. I would just I
would just take that cooler line down, put a pan underneath it, fill the filled the dipstick.
Tou.
Now the argument's going to be made, well, you're not changing the filter, and I get that too, But if you're if you want to do a flu twenty thousand miles, maybe every third time through, you're going to pull the filter out of the car.
I pull a filter every time. It's me thirty thousand mile.
That good insurance, yep. The ohther thing I do is
when I use the dipstick on the on the forward especially, I will wipe the dipstick because you never know how much oils accurately on that dipstick.
Right, Yeah, absolutely absolutely so change.
Some white foot powder, some for reading when you pull it out.
Yeah, some great ideas, James. We appreciate the input. And
you know what, there's always a way to build a better mouse trap. We just got to make the mouse trap.
I guess encompass more model years. Take a look at
a Chevy suburban, a Chevy truck, and I'll tell you what you can create that that would be great. I'd
love that idea. I'm running ady in the car doctor.
I'll be back right after this from the city street to the oven Rule tonight. If you're run his head,
ronill keep you run right. Yeah, he's a car doctor,
car advistor. Hey, we are busy on the phones. Eight
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero. Let's
go over to Tom in Wisconsin. Tom. What's going on?
Hi?
Ron. We've got a twenty twenty one Hyundai Palisade that
we bought new, had all of our service done at the dealer, had about ninety five thousand miles, thankfully, was below one hundred thousand mile and we started noticing oil consumption and the first time we found it, it started running rough and we went in and there was no oil left at all. Ouch go on. Yeah, so they
filled it. They started their procedures that they call the
oil Consumption Worksheet, where every thousand miles you get it checked.
All the checks have been around a court per thousand.
We had one where we went through two and three quarter courts on one one thousand miles segment in the test.
So they they did a combu shouldn't chamber cleaning on the car and at one point they found a crack by the oil filter mount and they replaced that. But
we're still going through a court of oil every thousand miles, which from what I've been told HONDI considers acceptable.
Well, who's who's telling you that? The dealer or Hyundai Corporate?
The dealer okay, and I have called UNDID their customer service line. They've got a case opened up on it.
I have not heard back from them yet because they just called them the other day working on that, And I'm just wondering if you seen anything like this or not.
This is the V six, Tom, Yeah, so a three point eight leader.
Yeah, the V six haven't seen a lot of it. Frankly,
what I have seen with the three eight v six is it works great up until one day and then it just fails. I'm just not the ruin your day.
But that's the reality of it. That's what I've seen.
Haven't seen a ton of oil consumption like the older ones, like the four cylinders, not to say that it can't, but part of that is also probably based on the fact the car is only five years old. But here's
here's my argument. Right, you went through ninety five thousand
care free, no oil consumption miles, right, right, and all of a sudden it changed. So what's failing in the engine?
How often were you getting oil changes done? Tom?
Every four or five thousand miles?
All right, you've got every receipt yep, isn't you isn't isn't your argument? Hey, I did everything you guys told
me to do, and now as I'm just about to break the one hundred thousand mile mark, I now have to deal with oil consumption every thousand miles. Because understand
why they did the carbon cleaning is because oil going through a combustion chamber and an excessive amount will leave carbon deposits, right and in short order, coco up intake valves and tops of pistons and create internal engine issues, and then over time it's going to go out through the exhaust and it's going to coat the catalytic converter.
So you know, you're dying a slow death on a hot piece of glass. Ya right, Okay, And that's that's
the truth. I don't want to upset you, brother, but
that's the reality of it. The mere fact that you
know they haven't come out and announced it. Now it's funny.
I do know.
There are some bulletins where they've addressed and they've done some software changes, and they've got different bulletins that talk about test procedures. There's one twenty five EM double six
h S and Harry. They talk about bearing clearance testing
and it updates software and scan tools and diagnostics and how they approach it. That tells me they've got a problem.
They're just trying to I think Hyundai's trying to find the exit ramp because it's it's no secret. I'm not
giving away state secrets here that for the past fifteen years Hyundai has had engine problems. And I've said it
here on the show, and I've said it privately in the shop. I'm amazed Hundai is still in business. They've
given away so many engines, and you know, it's you know, the the sitting at the barstool having a beer together conversation, Tom, is you know what they've They built a cheap car and they're going to prove it to you, you know, just just my two cents, right, it's it's it's a it's a it's a great five year, one hundred thousand mile car. And then here we are.
Yeah, that's what we're finding out.
Yeah.
The other there's never been a drop of oil in the garage floor or any place ever, So it's using to someplace internally.
Oh yeah, absolutely, Oh, it's it's it's you know, and you know, it's a funny industry. I'm in. We accept
death as a as a you know, it's it's just it's just accepted a quarter every thousand miles. Gee, whatever
happened to no burning oil? In between oil changes? Where
do we change the rules of common sense and reality and what's acceptable and not right? You know, we we
want clean air, can we agree to that?
Tom?
You and I want clean air. We want we want
an environment we can all grow up in and our kids can grow up and our grandkids can survive in. Right,
we want clean air, we want a good planet. Right then, then,
you know, catalytic converters are part of that, and a healthy functioning catalytic converter is part of that. And a
car that burns oil every court every thousand miles, wait till it hits a court every five hundred miles, Wait till you have to put a catalytic converter on it in about fifteen thousand miles. And they're going to look
at you and go, well, gee, Tom, it's out of warranty.
Well, everything they've done so far has been covered.
So I mean maybe they'll step up.
And they've said that if if it continues and we're burning more than a thousand or more than a quart per thousand, they'll replace the engine. And they should, Yeah,
they should.
They should Listen, they're not. You know, you ever have
a problem in customer service with a product and you feel grateful that they actually do the right thing. Yeah,
but isn't the reality didn't you pay good, hard earned money for that vehicle? Yes, we aren't you entitled to
get reasonable life out of it? You know, you didn't
take let me, let me, let me pump you up here, kiddo.
You didn't take shortcuts. You didn't go anywhere else but
the dealer, the factory recognized representative of who's going to take the best care of your car. That's what all
the ads say. Hey, it doesn't matter the manufacturer. The
dealer is the place to go. We know your car
better than an independent repair shop. So how come if
there's a problem they don't take care of it. That's
not acceptable to me, right.
That's why we went and got a case case signed on the through customer service.
I mean, some of this conversation is your AMMO to talk to them, no matter how they try and make sense of it. Right, Yeah, you know. I always say
the last thing, the thing that bothers me the most is somebody will walk into the shop, Oh my god, I found you. You're great. I hear all good things
about I hate that because I want to. I want
to have the conversation when something goes wrong, when a part doesn't show up, when a part fails, even at a warranty, I want to be able to take care of it. That's when you can tell me how good
I am. Let me do something first, let me show
you who I am and what I do. And that's
where Hyundai is here. They've got to show you who
they are and what they do. All right, it's it's
it's people.
We'll wait to hear from them, and.
Then you're gonna call me back and you're gonna tell me.
So we can tell everybody listening.
That sounds real good. We'll do that, all right.
You let them know that we talked. Maybe it'll mean something, Tom,
I hope so you know, And if it doesn't, you tell them what Hyundai stands for. Do you know what
Hunday stands for? No, hope, you understand nothing's drivable and inexpensive.
And you tell him, you tell him I said that, all right, kiddo, Okay, we'll do all right, Tom, keep the faith. You'd be well. I'm running in in the car. Doctor.
We're back right after this.
Look back.
Let's go to Frank and Maine. No fuss, no bother. Hey, Frank,
how are you running? Indian at yourself?
Doing great? Ron and displeasure to talk to you. Listen
to you for about an hour every Sunday when we get the show up here. Why don't you get the newspaper.
Got you what do you got.
Two thousand and nine Kia sportage. It's a been a
recurring problem. Can't get the breaks to bleed up all
the way.
So what started this was it in for break repair and you built in the system hydraulically or it loses the pedal at random.
Now, it started well about a year ago. Blew a
brake line. He replaced them, all the lines on the
one side and my gas line, and he had trouble getting him to bleed. He did it with the bleeder,
and then I pumped the brakes, and eventually he did it with the computer and it came out of it then.
And then a little while after that master cylinder went.
When he replaced that, he had the same problem. Went
through all the steps again. This time. You know, it
doesn't have a full pedal grabs about halfway right.
So when you're saying he's doing an electronic bleeding, Frank, you're talking about he's looking up a scan tool and he's doing an electronic bleed trying to activate the ABS controller. Correct, right,
That sounds familiar, all right, So.
Let me just the second time it did it. After
a few days it came out of it by itself, and now I blew one of the lines on the other side that he hadn't done last year and it won't bleed back up now.
Okay, So you know, the question is what's stuck in a hydraulic bypass position, the master, the ABS controller is it?
Do we possibly have a caliber issue somewhere down the line?
My guess is there's air in the system and something is stuck.
You know.
Part of the part, part of the issue is you've blown enough brake lines and every time that pedal goes to the floor, the master, the pistons and the master right over in a sludge and crud and tend to tear up the seals. But you've put a master in.
This, right it just within the past year. And this
last time when he bled, he bled full twelve ounce can through each line?
All right? Does he ever see air bubbles? All right?
Does he has he reversed? Has he thought about doing?
Has he thought about doing a reverse bleed? And by that,
I mean, you know, in the old days, and I think they're still available through advance autoparts, you can get a syringe. There is a break bleed syringe like kind
of like a doctor's needle, but it's it's bigger, and obviously it doesn't have a knee it but it's got rubber hose nipples that you would open up the caliber bleeder and push fluid backwards up through the master. Now,
the neat thing about doing it that way is it will go through caliper line abs controller master. If there
are any air bubbles in the system as you watch each component. As you watch you bleed each corner, you
may or may not see air bubbles, so you'll know where it comes from. It eliminates the obvious. I mean,
the only other way you can do this is bleed the master again and create block plugs to block off the master, and then start working your way down. Block
off the master. Do you have a pedal? Yes, okay,
and then work your way through.
You're going to have something that I could go through this with them. What do you mean it's an email
or something?
Well, I'll tell you what. He can In about two hours,
five o'clock Eastern time, this radio show will become a podcast.
You're about fifteen minutes to the end of this hour.
He can just pick up the podcast here and you know you can download it off of iHeart or any of the major podcast platforms. Just go search roun an
Anie in the Car Doctor and he'll be able to listen to it to his heart's content. But I would
start with A doing a reverse bleed right B bleeding the master and working my way around and C consider pinching off the hoses. Does any of those give me
a better brake pedal, because you've got air in the system somewhere. Let him do that and then we can
talk again about it next week. All right, Frank, Okay,
you're very welcome, sir. You'd be well and have a
great weekend. I'm running Anie in the Car Doctor. We're
back right after this. So next hour we're going to
be giving away the Diehard seventy three piece roadside Emergency Kit courtesy of Advance Autoparts, because Tom's too busy playing with it this hour that we couldn't get it possibly back in the case to do a giveaway, so next hour you can look for that. I want to make
one comment about this hour. If you notice there was
a trend here right, there was a pattern. I want
you to think about the movie Apollo thirteen. There's that
scene in Apollo thirteen after the module blows up in space and they're trying to figure out how to get the astronauts home, and the director of flight says, let's talk about what's working on the spacecraft, what's good. And
by figuring out what's good, they figured out how to get the ship all the way around the moon and to come back right and they made it back safely, Thank God. That's really how you have to approach broken cars.
What's good? Tell me what's good? The last caller with
the nine Kia Sportage and the low brake pad, tell me what's good. Does the master cylinder work? Do the
calipers work? Are there any leaks? Are the hoses restricted?
Is there a good flow at all? Four wheels? Tell
me what's good. I'll tell you what's bad. I'll give
you a real simple test class quandary situation. Car comes
into the shop. The left directional bulb is out in
the rear. How do you know it's a bulb? We
always change the bulb. How come it can't be wiring?
How come it can't be a socket? Why does it
always have to be a bulb? Sure we be checking
for voltage. Depends on how hard it is to get
to that bulb. But the bottom line is tell me
what's good, I'll tell you what's bad. Just like Apollo thirteen.
I'm running ay in the car Doctor. The mechanics aren't expensive,
they're priceless. See if Doctor Carr advice, don't ride
About this episode
Ron Ananian opens by apologizing for missed Instagram/Facebook posts and says the shop was “so busy this week,” fixing “a pile of broken cars.” The episode then dives into diagnostics: a late-model Ford Edge no-start case shows that “if there isn't a check engine light” (or fault codes) doesn’t mean there’s no problem, and live scan-tool data can reveal “bad information.” Later, transmission fluid exchange and oil-consumption/emissions concerns come up, followed by ABS-related brake-bleeding troubleshooting and a rear-light diagnostic approach.
