Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor - November 22, 2025 - Hour 1 - The Most Expensive Repair Is a Broken Relationship - (855)560-9900 24/7 Hotline

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Now start your engines.

The car doctor is in the garage and ready to take your call.

Can we talk about auto repair?

Your relationship with your mechanic, if you have one

and if you don't, boy, that's a glaring hole

as far as I'm concerned.

You know, life is funny, right?

And I think you have to look at this as a bigger picture

because we have to learn to look at the bigger picture.

People are only concerned about things

when it affects them directly.

I don't know how many of us look down the road.

I run into people all week long that just they're only looking

at what's two inches in front of their nose.

They don't look beyond that.

They don't look a foot down the road to see what's coming next.

And I'm wondering, you know, is that a reflection

of how they approach life?

Is that can you see where they are or what's going on

in their lives based on how they take care of their cars?

I know it's a weird analogy, but it's just it's how I think.

Listen, it's what I observe, observational, you know,

intelligence, I call it.

I had a customer walk in.

Well, he's not a customer yet.

He's a consumer, right? What's the rule?

He's not a customer until he actually lets you fix something

and hands you money up until that time.

He's a consumer because he's not sure what he wants to be.

He's taking up time and he's not really sure what he's looking for.

And I actually told this one gentleman, I said,

you're a mechanic's worst nightmare.

And I didn't say it rudely.

I said, but you're a mechanic's worst nightmare

because you're trying to get your car fixed.

The guy that you go to, that you tell me you trust,

told you what it is, but you don't want to listen to him.

And you don't want to do what he told you

because you don't want to spend six hundred dollars on tires.

So now you're going to go around

and find another shop to give you a different answer

in the hope that it's a different result.

I've never met this gentleman.

I still don't know his name.

He gave it, but frankly, I didn't remember it

because I was so flustered and floored by the whole approach.

Do you work on older cars?

Yes, I do. What's what's older?

I have an O5 Toyota.

Well, that's not older, dude.

That's just, you know, and older is a 68 Camaro.

You know, an O5 Corolla is, you know,

it's still it's still a good running vehicle.

It's still, well, to me, it is.

It's still fairly fresh.

I know it's 20 years old,

but I've got this vibration,

whining, humming, noise driving down the road.

OK, and I always ask the question, you know, why did you pick me?

Well, I always go by the shop.

The shop looks neat and clean.

I've heard great things about you

and I wanted to give you a try.

I love it when they say I wanted to give you a try.

I almost feel like I'm on the prices right

and I get to come on down and, you know,

as long as I get within three dollars

and 98 cents of what they're looking for, I get the job.

Hey, what a bargain. Boy, that's great.

So I always ask the same questions.

I swear, you come to the shop, you're going to get the same.

And I'm not I'm not being crabby.

I'm just being real. I want to know who's been working on the car up to this point.

So and so over it, such and such. OK, I know the shop.

He's competent. He's capable.

Not the friendliest guy in the world, but he's capable.

He said it was tires. All right.

Well, why isn't he doing tires?

Well, he doesn't do tires.

Of course, that kind of made my eyes

roll around in my head. How can a repair shop today not replace tires?

But that's just, I mean, that's a big part of anybody's income base these days

because of, well, that's a different conversation.

So I said, so what is it you're trying to do?

Well, I'm trying to, you know, get it diagnosed.

Can you come out and take a look at it?

Listen, we don't go outside and look at much.

All right. We might look at it if it was a customer, not a consumer.

And we knew the car and we weren't going to waste time

because at three dollars a minute that look outside adds up quickly, right?

Because we've established that, right?

Repair shops should charge by the minute, not by the hour in terms of labor.

See, car doctor dated July. Yeah, you get it.

We've talked about this before.

So I told him, I said, look, I said, if it's tires and it doesn't solve the problem

and he tells you tires will fix it, then you've got a, you know,

a reason to go back and question them.

I said, but understand also it could be tires and a wheel bearing

because that's his other concern. Is it a wheel bearing?

I don't know. I've got to look at it.

It's an hour of shop time to really get involved in something.

We've got to go out to the highway.

We've got to put it up in the air.

We're going to listen to it. We're going to take some time.

We're going to stand at the counter and talk to you even even more detail

than what we're doing right now.

And then we're going to take some time

and we're going to come up with a reason and a conclusion

why the car does what it does.

But there's no guarantee that it's only tires or only a wheel bearing

or either of those two or not both of those two.

It's 20 years old. We've never seen the vehicle.

Show me all the service.

And for that matter, show me the service done by the guy that you trust

that you think is a good mechanic.

And that's why you've been going to him all these years.

But now all of a sudden, for some reason, you don't trust them.

I.

Where can I get a good cheeseburger?

Well, you can go down there to that place.

They serve a really good cheeseburger, but I don't eat there anymore.

Why not? Well, I'm not really sure if it's as good as I remember it.

So I'm trying to find someplace else that's maybe a little bit cheaper

because I don't like spending that kind of money on a cheeseburger.

It's sort of like a it's sort of like a bad automotive,

you know, example of who's on first.

It just it just doesn't jive.

He left.

He called me about a half hour later.

When can I look at the car?

And again, I said, and if I tell you, it's tires, are you going to let me

put tires on it? Well, I don't know.

Well, I said, if I tell you, it's tires, and that's the first step.

And then I have to go to step two for whatever step two might be.

Are you going to be OK with that?

I don't know.

I said, listen, I'm happy to take your money,

but it's not going to provide any kind of positive conclusion.

And I don't think you're going to be thrilled because I think I'm just

going to get added to the list of guys that while I let so and so look at it,

but that guy had a pay and I'm not happy about it.

So I'm going to pass until you decide what it is you want to do

and you get it clear in your head.

Auto repairs about the relationship is not about taking money.

It's about earning money.

It's about getting paid, but it's about trying to come to a positive

conclusion and help people because that's what we're here for.

That's what a mechanic is supposed to do.

You've got to learn if you don't.

And I apologize if you do, because I'm not talking just about you.

I'm talking to everybody.

You've got to learn to value your relationships in life.

And you do.

I've got a fireplace company, not a fireplace firewood, right?

Great company.

I can call them up and so, you know, hey, Brader, I need, you know, a cord.

Yeah, no problem, Ron.

I'll drop it off and they're great.

And the woods always good and it's stacked nice.

And, you know, it's it's it's no different than the relationship

I have with my with my barber and the guy at the liquor store

where I buy my holiday wines.

And, you know, it's about relationships.

I don't necessarily look at price.

I like to know maybe ahead of time, certain things, but, you know,

a couple of dollars either way, I don't care because they're meeting my need

and they're reliable and they're honest and they're ethical.

And all the all the things that I look for in relationships, they're there.

But a lot of you don't do that with mechanics.

And I don't understand that.

You think you think most of this industry is a bunch of pirates

with scabbards and one eye patches and they're wearing bandanas around their head

and they're sailing on the on the Jolly Roger.

I think there's more incompetence than dishonesty in order to repair.

But I think there's a lot of good people in this industry

and you've got to give them a chance.

You've got to listen to them.

If you don't, you're going to miss the relationships.

And that's that's important.

Scott came in yesterday.

I haven't seen Scott in, I think it was before COVID.

So that's six years, right?

And I kind of didn't recognize him at first.

He, you know, I have a battery.

Could you put a battery in my Jeep?

It was Friday. I felt bad for him.

You know, normally I don't get involved in customer parts.

But something about it said, yeah, let's just put a battery in and help this guy

because, you know, we'll just, you know, our good deed.

And I started talking to him.

I realized who it was and he's not in the system anymore

because he said, yeah, you have all my numbers and if I just call me when it's done

and I looked it up and I said, geez, God, it's not here anymore.

And he said, well, how can that be?

And I said, well, the computer takes you out of the system

if you're in longer than if you're if you don't return in five years.

It just automatically deletes your file because, you know, it just takes up space.

And he went, wow, it's been five years.

Kind of to the tune of how could it be five years?

You're the only mechanic I trust.

Yeah, but but where have you been?

Well, I keep buying new cars and the dealer keeps doing the oil changes

and doing all my service under warranty.

And, you know, this is the first thing I've ever needed that's out of warranty.

Well, what year is this car? It's a twenty twenty two.

I said, how can a twenty two Jeep that's two and a half years old

with 18000 miles on it?

How could it need a battery and be if it does need a battery?

How is the battery not under warranty?

Well, it might be, but the dealership can't get me in for 10 days.

I can't they can't look at the car until December 4th.

You know, I got to tell you, all right, like any business

and for all my independent business people out there, you guys are aware of this, right?

You've always got room for that one more.

You've always got room for that better customer, that good customer,

that person that might be in trouble, right?

Maybe the guy with the Toyota Corolla,

maybe if his approach was a little bit different.

Maybe if he just said, yeah, I just want to get it fixed.

So you're not wasting time.

You know, I said, Scott, you got to go back and yell at somebody.

I said, is this is this the first time?

I said, no, Ron, he says I bought.

I said, I counted the other day.

I bought something like 20 some odd vehicles over the past 25 years

between me and myself and my family.

He's got a big family.

You know, he's the kids are always driving Jeeps and Chrysler products.

And and I said, so you're a guy that's bought

call it 18 to 20 vehicles in a 30 year time span.

And they can't they can't find a technician to give you a half hour

to put a battery in a car.

That I said, does that seem right to you?

He said, no.

I proceeded to tell him the story about my father

and my father told my mother about and I won't use the word here.

But, you know, he talked about how he was going to go relay the carpet

that he really that he installed five years prior.

And mom said, why?

And dad said, because you only get one chance to annoy a customer

and make him an old customer.

And I told him that story and I said, you know what, Scott?

I said, you're in the verge of becoming an old customer of that

dealership because they don't value the relationship they have with you.

And he looked at me and he said, you know, I never thought of it like that.

I said, but yeah, that's what it's about.

Water repair isn't about fixing the car.

I mean, yeah, that's it is.

But it's about the relationship.

It's it's it's business to business.

Main Street, Wall Street, it doesn't matter.

It's about solving the problem that you're presenting through them

and doing it in a timely manner.

I want you to think about this real hard going forward, all of you.

It's about the relationship.

It's what you and I experience each weekend

when I'm here with you.

It's about what you experience each time you walk into your mechanic,

your doctor, your dentist, your lawyer, all of it.

It's about the relationship.

The product just helps you maintain that.

Eight five five five six nine nine zero zero fired up and ready to go.

I'm Ronan Annie in the car doctor.

I'll be back right after this.

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I'll put a horrible call.

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Raph you really not going to call that?

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Hey, let's fire up the phones.

855-560-9900, as Tom just said.

Let's go to Matthew in Michigan, 12 Chevy and Palo.

What's going on, Matthew?

I was bleeding my brakes.

I don't know how I got here in it.

OK.

So I took it down to the Goodyear dealer down here,

where I've been going for years.

I think he's a smarter service man.

He told me, he called me and told me to come and get the car

because they put a master cylinder on it and they still didn't have brakes.

So I called about five different Chevy dealers.

And I read in the Haynes that you have to do a Keck 1 brake scan,

which I never heard of.

They said, oh, 200, 209 dollars.

So I had a record to it to this Chevy dealer,

one of the biggest ones here.

They had the car for seven days, charged me $1,072

and put a new master cylinder on it.

And those two brake lines that are oval and up over the map,

he bent them down in there, wedged against each other.

And one is even rubbing on the engine, which I think is poor.

But I said to him, what did you put a master cylinder?

My master cylinder worked great.

So I took the car.

I got just about home and ABS light come on.

So I pulled over the side of the road, shut it off, started it.

It was out.

The next morning I'm going up to Elmham about 50 miles.

I started the car.

It was like a Christmas tree, stable link.

AB, every light on that dash come on.

And what I'm asking you, wasn't it the tech's responsibility

to reset the computer or take those codes out of there?

Yes, but I think there's an additional problem.

All right.

Here's what probably happened that I'm going to take.

I'm going to take a little bit of a guess here.

We know how dangerous that is.

So first of all, they put that master on probably

because they recognized your part as a new aftermarket part.

And they didn't want to trust the brand.

And I get it, all right?

You know, I understand that they should have asked permission first

and they should have said, hey, you know, Matthew, we, we, you know,

we don't recognize this brand as something we normally use, whatever.

We'd like to interrupt it.

The good year, the good he took the master cylinder back off

and put my master cylinder back on.

Oh, OK, OK, OK.

Did they ask you that did they tell you they were going to change the master?

No, no. All right.

So, you know, what what sort of what sort of authority did you allow them?

I mean, you you signed a repair estimate just out of curiosity.

No, no, I I called and I called them

and I asked for the service manager and he said, well,

why would you want to bleed your brakes?

I said, well, I've been bleeding brakes.

I'm 90 now.

I've been bleeding brakes all my life because it's a chemical

that absorbs moisture and everything else.

Then you get lures, the boiling pain and it's unsafe to have

to break for it. Absolutely spot on.

And he said, well, for two hundred and nine dollars,

they would take care of it.

And anyway, my two hundred and nine dollar break

scan came to a thousand seventy two dollars.

You know, eleven hundred.

Let's call it what it is.

One hundred dollars in the car, still not fixed.

Oh, no, no, I have the I have the car.

Oh, when I went to Alma, I went to an independent garage

that I've been going to for twenty three years.

Right. He come out with this.

I never seen one like this, a big scan tool.

And he plugged it in and he started doing things.

And he says, here, watch this.

He clipped it. He said, that's your tech one break scan.

But I said, you didn't go around and bleed the brakes.

But he doesn't say since he done that,

I don't have any lights on on the dash.

Right. And the pedals good.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

So so the tech at the Chevy dealership missed something.

Got to call it like it is, right?

You know, the whole idea of what that tech one scan does is

there is air in the ABS controller.

All right. And going back to when you bled the brakes,

somehow you induced air into the system and it got

lodged in the ABS controller and it needed an ABS bleed

in order to be dislodged.

It doesn't happen every time.

It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens.

And that's the procedure that you have to go through.

You know, did you call the Chevy dealer back and say, hey,

I had a problem and I had to take it somewhere else

and get it resolved.

Did they did they offer you anything?

Let me tell you something.

I was so I'm 90.

I was so stressed out.

I thought I was going to have a heart

attack or maybe my heart went back into AFIM.

So I called my heart doctor and they said,

he retired and take three days.

So I went to my, that's why I went to Elm and by the,

I went to my doctor and Elm and they give me EKG

and everything and said I was okay, but I just,

I couldn't face going back there cause I figured

if I did, they'd come up with something else

and charge me another thousand dollars.

Another possibility.

Matthew, I'm sorry you went through it.

I'm glad the car's working out now.

Please, please, please take it easy.

And you know, we'll see you again the next time.

I'm Ronan Annie and the car doctor.

We're back right after this.

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Here we have the LIMU-I-MU in its natural habitat,

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Uh, LIMU, is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

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They see us.

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Doug!

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Let's go over to Billy in Colorado.

Billy, we've got a new vehicle.

Hey, Ron here.

Hey, so all my neighbor's cars are running,

so I actually get to look at one of mine for a change.

OK, fun stuff, yeah.

Yeah, so it's a 2016 GMC Acadia Denali.

I bought it about six months ago from a reputable used car

dealer chain.

And one of the things they worked on under the 90-day warranty

was flaky behavior in the front doors,

particularly the passenger one, loses the lock, mirror,

and window controls all at the same time.

They replaced the switch control modules in both doors.

They replaced the body control module.

They did not replace any of the wiring harnesses.

They didn't finish it under the 90 days

because it was still really intermittent at that time.

Right.

And I didn't want them to make anything worse

by throwing good parts at it.

And also, I wanted to fix it myself once it got solid.

Well, now it's kind of solid.

OK.

And so what I'm getting is a B3205.

OK.

So realize what you've got there

is you've got a giant computer network.

You realize that.

This isn't, and for everyone else's benefit,

this isn't a bunch of switches and modules.

This is modules and motors.

And it's a computer network.

It really is.

Does it set that B3205 all by itself?

Mostly, yeah.

Occasionally, it gets a B1580 and 1590 for the driver, mirror

position sensors.

But I don't have any problems with that mirror.

Occasionally, the driver's door lock stops working.

OK.

One bulletin, you may want to go get your hands on to read

because the 3902.

I'm sorry, the 3205 can also become a 3902.

And there's a bulletin in there that talks about if the modules

were swapped, were they swapped correctly?

Do you know that they put a new BCM in it?

Did they program it?

Was it a used BCM?

Where did they source the BCM from?

I'm pretty sure it was new.

OK.

Get your hands on that bulletin or it's

a preliminary information, 4670.

And it'll talk about swapping modules around to making sure

that they're programmed because something strikes me.

Yeah, we had this module.

Let's put it in.

That's usually where I see that because GMs have global modules

and they're specific to the vehicle.

That being said, all right, once you get past that,

go look at a wiring diagram.

Go look at the two grounds for the driver's door

and the passenger door.

Both grounds are at the bottom of the B pillars.

Cars show any sign of water intrusion or rust, moisture?

Nope, but I haven't pulled up the carpet to look.

OK.

G302 is passenger side and G303 is driver's side

and they're at the bottom of the B pillar.

All right, typically the place where salt and snow

and rust and crud runs off from the boots

and it collects over time.

So just not knowing history.

I just want to make sure I've got grounds

because the rest of it's pretty straightforward.

You've got two red whites going into the passenger that's hot.

You've got the ground we talked about.

You've got a computer data lining.

You've got dark blue and a brown that powers up the motor.

Now, when this doesn't work, have you

caught this in a non-functioning mode yet?

Oh yeah, it's basically Alma.

It's like it's down 90% of the time now.

OK, so you know.

Oh, and the side note, it's down today.

But it actually, the window started working suddenly

when I hit a bump.

Right.

So we've got a connection issue somewhere

is what I'm thinking.

In the passenger door switch side,

not so much the driver's side, the passenger door switch side,

there were problems with the, I believe there's a tan white.

I'm trying to remember, but there's

a problem with one of the wires common

where the connectors got corroded.

Again, it was a moisture problem that led to that.

And then inside the door?

Inside the door at the passenger door switch module.

I keep calling it a switch, but it's not.

It's actually a computer module.

It's way more complicated.

The other question I've got is if you're catching it in the act

and it's dead, whatever it is that's working doesn't work,

then how does it report on the module?

Can you still talk to that module?

Right.

If you can talk to the module, right?

If you can talk to the module, but you can't control anything,

that tells us the module's up, but there's a problem

in the wiring after it leaves the module

to get to that component.

If you get what I'm saying.

Hey, we can talk to the passenger door switch

because it's there, but its output controls

on the data line going over to the BCM aren't clear

because that's how it's communicating to the BCM

and the BCM is doing all the heavy lifting, right?

And I should have a good answer to that question,

but every time it realizes that I'm looking at it,

it starts working again.

Yeah, there's that intermittent thing again, Billy.

But those are the things I would go attack

and take a look at, all right?

And then we can talk again next week.

All right, cool.

Thanks a lot.

I will check this out.

All right, kiddo, you be well.

I'll email you for some of those wiring diagrams.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I can send them over to you.

Not a problem.

So have a good Thanksgiving.

You're welcome, sir.

You're welcome.

Yeah, Billy, he gets himself into things.

God bless him, he's always trying.

You know, I wanted to go back to Matthew

before about the brakes.

You know, what he was proving there is,

and I've said this for years, right?

We're talking about relationships

and auto repair and stuff.

A repair shop.

I don't care what the name is on the door.

A repair shop is only as good as the people inside of it.

The guys that are inside those uniforms

that are doing the job and getting it done.

So I've said it, it's a little crude,

but you know, having a great name to hang over your shop,

a well-known national name, whatever it might be,

whatever brand it might be, you know what?

You just had enough money to go buy the franchise,

or you just went out drinking with the guy

who was handing out franchises the night before

and he decided you were drinking buddy

and they were gonna give you the gig.

Doesn't mean you're good.

It's being good in auto repair

means you're trying every day.

And there are no slack days.

There are no off days, so just point of contention.

I would go back, Matthew, if you're still listening

and say, hey, you didn't fix my problem.

Why am I paying $1,100?

So, you know, just a disappointment.

855-5600-9900, run on any of the car doctor.

We are back right after this.

Para los grandes, para los chicos,

para los bajos y los altos, los pacifistas,

los valientes, para los optimistas y los pesimistas,

los que valoran lo de adentro, para los que están lejos,

los que no vende lejos y los que no vende cerca,

para los introvertidos y los extrovertidos,

para los que piensan y los que hacen,

para los que nos mostraron el camino.

Coca-Cola, para todos.

Combra una Coca-Cola en una tienda cerca de usted.

And Doug.

Oh, what a horrible call.

Hey, ref, open your eyes!

Ref, you're really not gonna call that?

Come on!

Hey, ref, why didn't you customize your car insurance

with Liberty Mutual and save money?

I don't think you get what we're doing.

Sure I do.

We're all just giving him advice.

You guys on sports? Me? On saving money?

No, that's not it.

Only pay for what you need

at LibertyMutual.com.

Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.

Go!

Ten athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness

that will push past physical and mental breaking points.

You are the fittest of the fit.

Only one of you will leave here

with an iFit contract for $250,000.

This is when mindset comes in.

Someone will be eliminated.

The pressure is coming down.

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ちいつも休み...

Kudos to Sanford Daily Huang.

That was really great to hear.

His voice, I haven't heard it in a while.

You know, I should point out

they're not the only one who can talk to him here.

But he likes me. I'm not on the naughty list like you.

And I get to go see him soon. Yeah, I get to go see him soon.

But that's a whole other story. By the way, Tom, I'm putting in for...

I need off for Christmas. I have to go north to see Santa. I just want to wait for him.

Well, good, good. At least you're telling me ahead of time this time. So, you know,

Santa and the elves don't kidnap you out of the studio like they did last year.

Yeah, I understand that. But the magic snow they left behind was good. Really good chocolate chip cookies.

Let's go to Don in Tennessee before we go any further and see what's going on here.

Donald, how can I help you in your 13 escapes here? Welcome to the car doctor.

Don? Don going once.

There he is. I'm here. Yes, sir.

I'm sorry. That's all right, brother. It happens. So, what's going on?

How can I help you? I've got a 2013 Ford

escape and it made a poppin' noise

when it got zero weather about three years ago. It's hard to imagine now.

But I just...

It took me about two months to develop confidence in the car.

Everything worked fine after that. Even the

manual shift worked fine. Right.

But I just wanted to know if I had any long-term effects

about it. You've been driving the car three years since it happened?

Yes, I have. And it hums a little bit.

I may have always done that noise.

Is the hum from the front of the car or the back of the car?

I don't know. It seems like it's inside.

How many miles do you think you've gone in the three years since it made the noise?

It's got about 20,000. It's got 103,000 on it

altogether. Right. I think whatever it was that popped or made noise

was a consequence of something else. I don't think it was something inside the

transit. It was something in the road. There's nothing in the drivetrain

and I'm quite familiar with those cars. We've had a bunch of them in the family.

It's a very good car. Yeah, it's a great car. One thing I want to caution you on

is have you ever changed or looked at the fluid in the

transfer case or the rear differential?

No, I haven't. You may want to. That rear differential holds

a quart and the transfer case holds a pint.

Not a lot of fluid and they're both known to be

failure items and I don't wish. Well, I've got a good

mechanic. I'll let him do that next time I take you.

Let him take a sample of fluid and possibly

and frankly, I would just change the fluid in both

of them. The fluid in the differential is a little tough to get to. He's going to need a real

thin flat ratchet. We've actually made a tool in the shop

to get the fill plug out and we usually take that fluid

out and find that it's great charcoal brown.

No, not at all. Not at all, sir. No, sir. Not at all.

I've got a 64 Chevrolet truck and it's very

simple. Yeah. How could that be, right? It's hard to believe

we've ever made cars like that, right?

You know, I get it, 100%. I look at some

of my older Chevys and I say, did we ever really make these things in mass numbers?

Or were they always this complicated? Listen,

I still remember my father had a friend, Horace White,

big fella and he had an Austin Healy.

Thank you for taking my call. You're very welcome, sir. You be well.

He had an old Austin Healy for everybody else that's

still here. I guess Don had a go. And I remember as a kid

when he brought it by my father's rug store and

he bought it and knew it. It must have been like a 63 or 64

and I remember him opening up the hood and I looked inside as a little kid

and I must have been all seven years old, right? The mechanical curiosity

was born and I looked over the fender and I could see the ground.

I still remember seeing the ground because I looked at him and I said, but Mr. White,

you know, they only sold you half the car. There's a big hole here where he was sitting next to the engine

like I could see the grass that the car was parked on. I don't understand.

He goes, no, no, Ronnie. I was Ronnie then. I'm not Ronnie now.

And he said, you know, it's

open air. That's the way all cars are. I never noticed that before, but I was a 63 bug eye

sprite. You could, I'm sorry, an Austin Healy. You could

get away with that. So just the memories of things gone

by. So speaking of days gone by, somebody was asking me the other day about

carburetor cleaners and cleaning carburetors as long as we're talking about older vehicles.

Berryman, our friends over at Berryman have released their

Berryman chem dip carburetor and parts cleaner. It's

known to be effective for cleaning carburetor parts and throttle bodies. It removes gum, varnish,

fuel residue and other deposits. And it's got a fast acting formula

that in 15 to 30 minutes, it'll help clean things without heat,

aeration or agitation. And it's safe for use with most plastic and metal parts.

So, you know, we're always looking around. We want to rebuild carburetors on our older

cars. Well, Berryman's got the carburetor and parts cleaner, the chem dip as we used

to call it. But Berryman's got the stuff. And you'll

find more at Berrymanproducts.com. So just be aware of that. If you're getting ready to restore

your ride over the winter and rebuild the carburetor, you want to get your hands on some Berryman

chem dip. 855-560-9900

Run an 80 in the car doctor. We're back right after this.

And Doug.

I'll put a horrible call. Hey, Raph, open your eyes!

Raph, you're really not going to call that? Come on!

Hey, Raph, why didn't you customize your car insurance with Liberty Mutual and save money?

I don't think you get what we're doing.

Sure I do. We're all just giving him advice. You guys on sports? Me? On saving money?

Nope, that's not it.

Only pay for what you need at libertymutual.com.

Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.

Go!

Ten athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past

physical and mental breaking points.

You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an iFit contract

for $250,000. This is where mindset comes in.

Someone will be eliminated. Pressure is coming down.

Trainer Games on Prime Video January 8. Watch the trailer on trainergames.com

One for sales. Another for inventory. A separate one for accounting.

Before you know it, you are drowning in software instead of growing your business.

This is where Odoo comes in.

Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need.

It's an all-in-one, fully integrated platform that handles everything.

CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, HR, and more.

No more app overload. No more juggling logins.

Just one seamless system that makes work easier.

And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost.

It's built to grow with your business, whether you are just starting out or already scaling up.

Plus, it's easy to use, customizable, and designed to streamline every process.

So you can focus on what really matters, running your business.

Thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you?

Try Odoo for free at Odoo.com. That's Odoo.com.

Hey! This runs from my buddy Dodge down in Delaware, Ron.

It seems to me many shops have opted for Torx sticks in lieu of a Torc wrench.

I've been considering going with Torx sticks, but I read in a few articles

to always verify Torx sticks for the Torc wrench.

In that case, that would be the point of the Torx stick.

More tools, I thought I'd ask for the correct perspective.

Well, I tell you what, Dodge. I use both.

I like Torx sticks. They're quick. They're fast.

In the shop, it gives us a base point to work from.

So for everybody that may not be familiar, a Torx stick is a calibrated socket, in a sense.

And they're rated for different tightening, different amount of fastening strength.

So, for example, most GM vehicles, cars, not trucks, would be 100 foot-pounds of torque.

So it's designed to have a twisting action that will apply approximately 100 foot-pounds of torque.

The thing I don't like about Torx sticks is I was always taught, and back in the day

when they first came out, that they counted on the boom, boom, boom, boom, boom of an air-impact gun.

But in the last 10, maybe 15 years, the industry has gone to electric impact guns, cordless stuff, right?

No air hoses. So I've always questioned how accurate are the Torx sticks?

Doesn't matter. We've been using them with our cordless stuff. They work well.

But every time we do it, we still do a torque wrench.

So the Torx sticks at 100, we'll get a torque wrench.

It takes two minutes. We walk around the car, boom, boom, boom, boom.

We know it's tight. We know we didn't forget.

The thing I like about doing it that way, from a personal point of view,

is it gives me peace of mind as a shop owner and as a mechanic working on the car

that I didn't forget to tighten the wheel, because that is a mechanic's biggest nightmare.

A wheel coming off at speed, whew, let me tell you, there's probably not much worse

that shop owners and mechanics lose sleep over at night, you know, worrying

that they didn't get distracted and they did everything.

As far as are they accurate? Yeah, I find them to be fairly accurate.

I've gone back and tried to replace them over and over again,

and I'm told by both of the torque wrench manufacturers that we have the tools for.

They say, nope, stuff's calibrated for life. It never changes.

It never goes out of calibration. And I've got to say, using the torque wrench

always verifies. We set it to 100. It clicks right away.

We know that that stick is accurate and the tire is good to go.

I'm Ron Anani in the car, doctor. Time for me to go.

Good mechanics aren't expensive. They're priceless. See ya.

Everybody knows Shaq, but off camera, he's just a regular guy.

People never believe me when I say I'm just like them.

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This information is provided by Lily, a medicine company.

She'd throw things, wander, and started hoarding.

Mom's Alzheimer's was already so hard.

But then we found out she had something called agitation that may happen with dementia

due to Alzheimer's disease.

And that was a different kind of difficult.

So we asked her doctor for more help.

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I'm glad her doctor recommended Rex-Sulti.

Talk to your loved one's doctor.

Moments matter.

You are the fittest of the fit.

Only one of you will leave here with an iFit contract for $250,000.

This is when mindset comes in.

Someone will be eliminated.

Pressure is coming down.

This is an iHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.

Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor - November 22, 2025 - Hour 1 - The Most Expensive Repair Is a Broken Relationship - (855)560-9900 24/7 Hotline

About this episode

Chevrolet Camaro

Toyota Corolla

wheel bearing

battery

oil change

warranty

Chrysler

Goodyear

master cylinder

Chevy

ABS light

scan tool

ABS controller

GMC Acadia

global modules

Ford Escape

rear differential

transfer case

Chevrolet truck

Chevrolet 64 Chevrolet

Austin Healey

Austin Healey Sprite

Berryman

carburetor

Torx stick

foot-pounds of torque

torque wrench

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