Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor - November 22, 2025 - Hour 2 - Veterans, Code Talkers & Cars That Won’t Quit - (855)560-9900 24/7 Hotline

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You're listening to Ron Ananian, the car doctor,

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trusted by mechanics, weekend renters,

and vehicle owners alike.

Ron brings over 40 years of hands-on experience

and deep industry insight

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Now, start your engines.

The car doctor is in the garage

and ready to take your call.

You know, November is Veterans Day month, right?

We celebrated Veterans Day this month.

And it's celebration, right?

I've checked with my veterans that you get to say

it's a celebration of sorts.

And Tom just informed me

that the last Navajo code breaker has just passed.

And I have to comment on that.

That's to step out of character just for the moment.

And they were so key and instrumental

in the war in the Pacific in the Second World War

because they were just speaking their comment

every day language and nobody could understand them.

And it was just a code that couldn't be broken.

And it was key and so helpful in so many battles

and so many campaigns.

So rest easy.

And thank you for a job well done.

I want to talk a little bit about,

I've got this, oh geez, oh look who's checking in.

Oh, Mr. Cooper's checking in.

I can't get going today.

Mr. Cooper's checking in, or Cooper's checking in.

He says, hey, Ron, I've decided,

my family and I have decided that shop rights

should bring you all their carts for a wheel alignment

because they all seem to need it.

Well, that would be a heck of a contingency.

I'd like that, that'd be like having a taxi cab fleet.

But then again, maybe if I was doing the wheel alignments,

they would magically steer themselves to the cookie aisle,

the ice cream aisle, the milk aisle, right?

It would be, think about if you could control that.

It's got a little bit of a drift.

Where does it go?

Isle 13, chocolate ship cookies,

something like that.

But thank you, Mr. Cooper,

is always a good voice to hear from.

You know what, I'll tell you the ABS story

on the Jeep later on.

Let's go right to Pete,

who's waiting there very patiently in Pennsylvania.

Wants to talk about, my God, 4,100 HT Cadillac engines?

Oh boy, here's a conversation from the past.

Pete, welcome to the car doctor, sir.

What's going on?

Hi, Ron.

I've been looking at some older model Cadillacs,

mostly from the 80s.

And what I've been finding is they all have the HT,

4,100 HT engines in them.

I've read a lot of bad things about them.

The ones I've been looking at are lower mileage

and they seem to run okay.

But I wanted to get your opinion on that.

And is there any telltale signs that it's about to fail?

Because everybody tells me that when I go to look at them,

of course it's running perfectly

and they've driven it quite a distance recently

and they haven't had any issues.

But is there any telltale signs that it's about to fail?

So let's start here.

First of all, this is an engine

at the last time that I checked

and the last time I checked was a good 10 years ago

that, A, you can't get replacement parts, pieces,

components, assembly, sub-assembly, cylinder heads,

or anything anywhere.

It just doesn't seem to exist.

General Motors hasn't made parts for that engine.

I think they stopped production back in the early 2000s

and they haven't supported that engine beyond,

unlike a small block Chevy, for example,

where everything's a dime a dozen,

you can pick it up anywhere.

Having said that, what I remember about the HT4100

is the failures went like this

and we're talking about an engine

that started out in the early 80s.

I matter of fact, I can still remember the day

I was standing at the parts counter

at Brogan Cadillac in Ridgewood, New Jersey

and they're gone 15 years.

That's how long ago this was.

And I was picking up parts for the shop.

It was my turn to get out

and a fairly new Cadillac at the time

with the HT4100 was rolling out the door

and as it approached the door,

my parts man at the time, still my parts man,

Dennis said to me, watch this,

because he knew what was coming

and you saw it slow to a crawl as it waited for the door

and it developed this knocking sound

and I looked at Dennis and he said, just wait.

And the knocking sound got louder

and louder and louder and boom.

And I said, what happened?

I said, how did you know?

And he said, because it just got a 30,000 mile service.

And I went, yeah, but that doesn't make any sense.

What did they do?

He said, well, they torqued the intake manifold.

And now I really got curious, right?

What does torquing the intake manifold

have to do with that?

I talked to a couple of techs.

I talked to the service manager.

That engine was one of General Motors' first forays

into an all aluminum design, right?

That's an all aluminum engine.

And the weight of the crank,

the reason they want the intake manifold torqued

at 30,000 miles is because the weight of the crank

would pull the center or the belly of the engine down.

So when they torque it,

you know, you're taking that bent piece of wood

and you're kind of straightening it.

The problem is the thrust bearing on a 4100,

as I remember it, is number three.

It's the middle crank journal.

So now you're pinching it in the middle

and Dennis pointed out to me, he says,

we kind of wince when we have to do these

because usually before they get out the door,

they don't get the two tents to the door and kaboom.

Oh my.

Yeah.

So my point is, if it made it this far,

you know, maybe there's hope.

You know, maybe there's hope,

but I would also eye it as if the engine did fail,

what else would you put in it?

Because the bodies are gorgeous.

I think the 80s Cadillacs have some

of the sexiest lines going.

I think there's some of the grills and everything.

They're sharp cars.

And I think they're all, you know,

I kind of prefer some of the early 80s stuff

over the 70s, the late 70s.

The cars were so bloated and overweight and massive.

You know, it's, you know, an early Fleetwood Brom

was just a gorgeous car.

But, you know, you gotta come up with a better engine

or a better power plant unless you really want

a glamor of a 4,100, you know, to each his own, you know.

But yeah, there is no real way.

I'll tell you another really neat thing,

if you do get one and you get like an 81 on up,

you can do full diagnostics on that engine

right through the heater control head.

Oh really?

Yeah, you can pull codes.

I think it's often warmer.

And then you can look at the nose switch

on the throttle body.

You can look at air conditioning fault codes.

You can move blend door position.

You can do, I mean, a ton of stuff.

It's been a long time.

I've forgotten most of it,

but I still have the shop manual somewhere.

Truth be told in the 80s,

I was renting space for the shop out the back

of a Cadillac limousine in Hearst business.

So I would work on my customer's cars by day

and then I would stay late

and work on their cars at night.

And they were all Cadillac.

They were 4,100 and it became the 4,500

and then I think the 4,900.

Right, later on?

Right, they grew in size.

Let me tell you, there's nothing like being

in a big empty repair shop in October

with the leaves rustling late in the day

and as it's getting dark

and you're working on a Hearst Cadillac.

Oh boy, good times.

You know, especially when you gotta take one out

for a ride, you know?

He he he he.

So, but those are, those are, that's what I know.

Would I take a chance?

Yeah, if I found a good running one,

what do they want for the car?

They're not, they're not, they're not a lot of dough.

Right?

No, about three grand.

Yeah.

I found one for, yeah.

Three grand's a big train set in the basement.

Right?

Yeah, that's true, yeah.

You know, it's a hobby.

And at that point, if the engine did kaboom,

I'm sure there's guys out there,

there's gotta be something else to retrofit.

And frankly, I'd put an LS,

I'd put an LS GM motor in it.

And, you know, now you got the best of both worlds.

So.

Yeah, that's an option too.

You know, there's gotta be a way to do it.

But, you know, beyond that,

I wouldn't get too hot and heavy into a 4100.

I'd run it for what it's worth.

And if something happens,

I'd be prepared to go the distance,

but I really gotta like the body and the rest of it.

So I would look more towards body and interior

to make sure that's in good shape

so that if and when you ever had to do

an engine swap, you could.

Okay.

All right, I appreciate it.

You're very welcome, sir.

You be well.

You too.

All righty.

Yeah, I'd bring home the hearse on road tests.

You know, there's nothing like pulling up

on your neighbor's slow, you know.

In a hearse on October, right around Halloween.

Just.

That reminds me of a number of years ago,

we had a funeral mass to do

at a radio station I worked at.

It was for the Archbishop in town.

And we're all there and a bunch of TV guys

and a bunch of radio guys

and we're running cables all through the cathedral.

And all of a sudden, and it's dark.

Yeah.

And the Archbishop's body's there on the altar

and there's a guy from the Knights of Columbus

standing guard over and walking back and forth.

And all of a sudden we hear who's like,

we're all looking at each other.

Turns out it was the wind through the steeple,

but I mean, talk about it.

Yeah, it's like time to go.

You know what?

We were bringing a hearse back from Connecticut,

not me, Neil, one of the drivers

for the limo and hearse company.

And he had taken his grandchildren along for the ride,

older fella.

And they were all interesting characters.

This is the 80s.

So these were all retired World War II veterans.

One guy was a waste gun around a B-17.

The other guy was a Marine from the Pacific.

I mean, interesting guys to sit and talk to, right?

But Neil had taken his grandchildren

and they were rolling around.

He'd come down to the yard.

He picked up his grandchildren who had gotten dropped off

and he was finishing driving the car up

to its final drop off.

And the kids were playing around in the back

and Neil didn't think about it twice.

And they got to a stop sign

and the two kids jumped up from behind the curtain,

out at the glass and scared the bejesus

out of the poor lady in the car behind.

She panicked so bad she slammed on the gas,

rammed into the back of this brand new Cadillac person.

I was like, oh my gosh.

So Neil was to say Ron became a body

and a paint man that day.

But yeah, I'll never forget that.

And it was like, yeah, don't go boo,

unless you really mean it.

Eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.

Lord help me.

I'll be back right after this.

Don't go anywhere.

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.

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Let's go to Alex in Florida.

Alex, welcome to the car doctor, sir.

How can I help?

Hey, Ron, thanks for taking the call.

You're welcome.

So, I am on the plane.

Thank you.

So, I'm going to hunt for a 97 Dodge Dakota clock spring.

Both my local map on AutoZone can find a clock spring,

but without the cruise control function.

When I go to Mopar,

I'm going to find a clock spring

and I'm going to find a clock spring.

When I go to Mopar,

the Mopar guy says, hey, I have one for a 2002.

Okay, send me a picture and see if it's an exact match.

Because I can't send you a photo because it's a sealed box

and I can't send it to you.

Do you know where I can get an exact OEM clock spring

for a 97 Dodge Dakota?

I'm going to tell you where I would be looking.

I would run it through all the major chains.

I would get over to an advance.

I would tell them, hey, here's what I have

and let them do the searching for me

and they've got the connections

and if advance auto parts comes back to you

and says, yes, no one has it.

What I'm thinking is they're going to go through Dormin

and they're going to go through all the rest of them

to see if anybody manufactures for that.

Then I know the aftermarket doesn't do it.

As far as an OE,

my next thought becomes if you have a part number

and you can get it in a sealed box

or get a return guarantee and I'm sure you've done this

is I would go look at eBay and just see what eBay has.

I'll be cautious though

because I've had a couple of weird experiences

on eBay in the last year,

most recently just for the record,

not to steal the conversation,

but I purchased a radio for the Ranger.

I wanted to put a factory radio back in.

It didn't work.

I sent it back and expected a refund

and the person I purchased it from

went back to me and he said,

well, the radio showed up damaged,

which I don't get how that happened

in the same way he shipped it to me.

Personally, I think he damaged it in the box

because he knew the radio was broken

and now he'd get paid by eBay for damaged radio, et cetera.

I had to argue I finally got my money back

but it was aggravation.

Where I go, be all and end all.

I always save the best for last.

You know that, Alex.

There's a company in San Antonio, Texas.

ClockSpringExpert.com

San Antonio, Texas.

I've seen their stuff.

It's spot on.

It's made really well.

We've purchased a few of them over the years

and they're really fast.

You could call them up and tell them,

hey, I've got this.

It's got cruise control.

Do you have an exact match for it?

If they do, they'll solve the problem.

Their stuff has been great.

That's the order I would normally go through

just trying to cover the bases.

It's funny, the little things that we don't think of,

there are now companies sprouting up for the older cars

in the 80s and the 90s and so forth.

I just found somebody the other day

that makes seatbelts for older cars

because I've got a couple of older cars

that I want to get the seatbelt retractors repaired on

and I never thought I'd get that.

I can't stand when you take the seatbelt off.

It falls out the door with you

and it doesn't, I want the retractor to work.

And do you think, Ron,

so I got my airbag light on

and I put my scanner code on it

and I got into two garages

and they said, hey, there's not a problem with the airbag.

So I've narrowed down more than likely.

I think it's the wires in the clock spring

that are producing the airbag light.

Well, what you could do,

and I don't know the spec off the top of my head,

but there were kits out there.

Basically, that clock spring

is just a certain result.

Basically, that clock spring

is just a certain resistance.

Let's ask the question this way.

Does the fault, if you clear the fault,

turn the key off, turn the key back on,

does the fault come back right away?

Yes.

Okay.

So airbags are monitored

for every second that key is on

and there are repair kits,

not repair kits, diagnostic kits out there

and you'll find it in service information

where you can substitute

in a specific value resistor

that will replicate the resistance value

of that airbag, all right?

And you would have to pop the clock spring

and go down to where the clock spring

goes into the main harness,

go across the two pins that come up the clock spring

and go to the airbag

and if that makes the fault go away,

you're either dealing with an airbag issue

or a clock spring issue.

I mean, that's it.

If the airbag, which isn't available,

is a thousand bucks and the clock spring is 200,

which one do you want to take the poke at?

A, window number A.

Right.

So it's to the point that on older vehicles,

you know, I've got a list of things I buy

for older vehicles, the suburban,

the Monte Carlo, although the Monte Carlo

doesn't have an airbag in it obviously,

but there's certain things I buy

that I just hold in inventory

and for my cars with clock springs

that are getting older.

As a matter of fact, I just used up the one

I had to get a clock spring for the Thunderbird

and I was actually able to buy one brand new out of Ford.

They still made it, which shocked the living heck out of me.

But yeah, clock springs are something,

because it's a shame.

You can't really drive the car without it.

You can, but it's not, you know,

I like something with all the safety features to work

if you get what I'm saying and I think you do.

And on long roads, you know,

it takes away from the pleasure of driving.

Right.

It's like 310,000 miles and I'm still going.

Right.

Just like you said.

All right, Ron.

Thank you so much and have a great Thanksgiving.

Cheaper to keeper.

You too, sir.

You enjoy the turkey.

Don't let the bird get you.

All right.

So, yeah, you know what?

Cars are cheaper to keep them.

I got to tell you, it's...

So the backside of the radio story on the Ranger,

I don't think we ever talked about this here, is

I actually went out, I threw out

that we had put in an aftermarket radio

that was giving me grief in it a couple of years

and that wasn't working.

You know, you'd have to like smack it to get it to turn on

and blah, blah, blah.

Who's got time to fix it?

Finally, I said, okay,

let's just put a factory radio in it.

We're past the days of listening to multitudes

of different things.

I finally did find one on eBay.

Not only did I find a good rebuilder

fell in the middle of Illinois,

it also...

I actually now have a 97 Ranger

with the rare option of the CD player

built into the radio,

which in 97 was pretty hard to find, right?

So the Ranger just keeps getting better and better.

Who knows?

Maybe I'll paint it one of these days.

855-5600-9900,

Ron and any of the car doctors still roll

and I'll be back right after this.

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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.

Season 2, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy,

tips off January 5th on T&T, True TV and HBO Max.

Support for the show comes from Public,

the investing platform for those who take it seriously.

On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio

of stocks, bonds, options, crypto,

and now, generated assets,

which allow you to turn any idea

into an investable index with AI.

It all starts with your prompt,

from renewable energy companies with high free cash flow

to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue

over 20% year over year.

You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work.

It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index

and lets you back test it against the S&P 500.

Then, you can invest in a few clicks.

Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities,

completely customizable and based on your thesis,

not someone else's.

Go to public.com slash podcast

and earn an uncapped 1% bonus

when you transfer your portfolio.

Go to public.com slash podcast

paid for by Public Investing, brokerage services

by Open to the Public Investing Inc.,

member FANRA SIPC, advisory services

by Public Advisors LLC, SEC registered advisor.

Generated assets is an interactive analysis tool.

Output is for informational purposes only

and is not investment recommendation or advice.

Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures.

Hi, it's Eva and I think it's about time

you discovered the world's first

luxury hospitality brand at sea,

the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection.

Imagine setting sail on an all-inclusive voyage

where every moment is entirely yours.

Explore the Amalfi Coast, the islands of Thailand

or Alaska's glacial fjords

and the lagoons of French Polynesia

or maybe just stay aboard an indulgent espadre.

Dining from Michelin-starred chefs

and kayaking directly from the exclusive Marina platform.

There are so many possibilities

and so much time to relax.

Every journey, unlike the rest,

the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection.

Learn more at RitzCarltonYachtCollection.com.

Yeah, he's a car doctor.

Car advisor.

All right.

Where are we going to go?

Let's go to Walter in Pennsylvania.

Walter, you're up.

Yeah, hi there.

Yes, sir, what's going on?

Hi.

Tell me the story.

Okay.

I bought it recently in August.

I bought a 2017 Jeep JK four-door Jeep

and when I bought it, I had the wrong tires on it.

I had 35 load range E

and it didn't coast well.

It rode rough and I determined

that the front caliper was hung up.

Long story short, I changed both calipers

and it still was hung up.

So then I did more research in the brake line.

Sorry about that.

I changed the brake line.

Then that freed up the tire

and then I got smaller tires,

load range C,

but I'm still only getting about 14 miles per gallon.

It probably improved probably two miles per gallon.

Okay, so...

But that's it.

Is that what I can expect from...

Well, let's back up and make some assumptions

which are dangerous words.

The rest of the engine,

the rest of the vehicle is pretty much stock, correct?

Well, it has a two and a half inch

pereflex lift on it.

Okay, well...

And the tires on now are 285s.

Are the tires...

So are the tires anything close to

what was stock on the vehicle?

They're close.

And how was the vehicle programmed

for what size tire?

And I guess the other part of my question is

if you were to cruise the highway

60 miles an hour on the vehicle,

just lock the cruise control at 60,

and you go between two mile markers,

does it take you a minute to get

from one mile marker to the other?

It's a hair off.

It used to be about five MPH off with the 35s,

but now it's maybe two MPH.

All right, so that's going to alter its sum.

So, you know, I don't see great mileage

out of those.

It's not like they're in the 20s.

I'll typically see 16 to 18.

Right, I would say 16 to 18.

Right, so now we're into the question.

I guess what I'd have to do is start doing the math

and what percentage am I off

and add that to my mileage calculation

because is the odometer being driven slower

than it's at?

Because you're going off of that, right?

That's your measurement for?

Correct, I'm going off to miles per gallon computer

that's on the dashboard.

Do you have a cell phone holder?

I know this is a strange question,

but it just popped into my head.

Do you have a cell phone holder?

I do.

Okay, so, and I'll do this with the hot rod

where I will put, there's an app,

and I don't ask me the name of it,

and I will just, yeah, it's not ways.

It's something else.

It's an actual digital speedometer

where, and it's accurate within a mile

because I've, well, don't ask me how I know,

but I've gone through a radar trap

and found out it was accurate within a mile.

Right.

And I got out of it because the cop was super nice,

but I told him I was doing scientific experiments.

And, you know, in that car, he gets it.

So, you know, I'd be curious

to what percentage your speedometer truly is off.

That's number one, all right?

I get why you changed from the other tires, by the way,

because if it's the tires I'm thinking of

were they big knobby, separate knobby tires?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I...

Whoever put those on...

Was out of their minds.

Yeah.

Don't range E.

Yeah.

Do not belong on a Jeep.

No, I don't get it.

They're loud.

They're knobby.

They ride terrible.

They don't get fuel economy.

They just totally destroy the whole appeal of the vehicle.

Yeah, probably.

Probably.

You know what?

Yeah, absolutely, because those tires,

and they're super expensive.

So, you know...

400 apiece.

How many miles on this vehicle, Walter?

50,000.

So, I'm going to find out where my speedometer really is.

Number one.

Number two, just for the sake of conversation,

I'm going to take out my scan tool.

I'm sure you've got a scan tool.

No, I don't.

All right.

I'd like to see you learn the value of fuel trim.

I want to know, is the engine at proper temperature?

All right.

Not by the gauge.

It seems to.

Yeah.

Because I watch that.

Yeah.

Because they have an issue with the temperature.

Right.

I don't want to go by the gauge.

I want to go by a scan tool.

I want to know what the computer's saying.

Right?

You know, if it's 195 degrees stat and the engine's running at 188 degrees all day

Yeah, that's an, you know, because we're looking for,

we're looking for, you know, a pin in the hay pile.

We're looking for a little bit.

We're not looking for a lot.

And, you know, last thing, and obviously, you know,

the calipers aren't hanging up anymore.

Last thing I want to know is I would do a fuel system cleaning,

not to be cliche.

All right.

Okay.

I'm not trying to sell you a fuel system cleaner.

You know, I just, I just think at 50,000 miles,

if it's never been done by now, it's surely do.

And I may see a change in performance and I would, you know,

get over to your local auto parts store and, you know, pick one,

you know, a bearer kid, a CRC kid, you know, whoever.

And, you know, by all means just follow procedure and see what that does for you.

Would, would sucking out the cranny fluid and put new in?

Nah, nah, that's not, that's not, that's,

if we were in the shop trying to solve this,

everything I've described to you is exactly how I would do it.

And every, and every once in a while, brother,

sometimes you just get a car that just, it is what it is.

Right?

Right.

You know, is the, is the lift, you know,

obviously the lift is making it less aerodynamic?

Oh, sure.

I mean, it's a brick.

Right.

It's a brick.

You're pushing a brick through the air.

So all of a sudden it, all of a sudden it matters.

You know, but like I said, you're, you're not going to get,

you're not going to get into the low 20s, not with one of those.

No, but I was hoping high teens.

Right.

You know, now are you, are you an around town driver?

Even mostly with that.

And to take that any on a trip would not be pleasant.

Right.

Well, right.

So the reason I ask is I'll drive the plow truck.

It's a 22, what is it?

It's a 22 Chevrolet, 2,500 HD with a 6-6.

And I'll drive, I'll drive that around town.

You know, every once in a while the driver information center raises

it's hand and said, hey, it hit 12 miles to the gallon.

I get all excited.

But for the most part it's 10, 11.

But the one time I drove with the Pittsburgh.

I actually got 16 miles to the gallon.

I was shocked.

It was, it was, it was a 50% improvement simply by doing more

highway.

So that around town stuff really destroys mileage.

There is.

Yeah.

Maybe more than I, you know, right.

There is something to be said for that.

So, but look at it this way.

All right.

I'll leave you on a positive note.

If it runs well and you go through all this and you like

the vehicle, it's an extra couple of hundred bucks a year

in fuel, but you're happy and smiling.

Right.

Yeah.

Oh, that's, that's your bottom line.

Yeah.

It's a Jeep.

Just, you know, just remember what Jeep stands for drum roll.

Oh yeah.

Drum roll please.

What does Jeep stand for?

Let's see if you're a real Jeep owner, Walter.

What does Jeep stand for?

Oh boy.

Do you know?

Just empty every pocket.

Well, there's that one.

No, it's junk each and every part.

I'm just, just expect expensive problems.

So on that note, and I like Jeeps.

I really do.

Please.

No more hate mail.

The Volkswagen.

It's a 3.6.

Yeah.

Trust me.

They're huge.

I'm sure.

And I'm.

Did the valve seat fall out?

Afraid of the valve tick.

Well, yeah.

Did the valve seat fall out of the oil?

Did the valve seat fall out of number three cylinder yet?

Oh no.

All right.

Get ready.

So not to be, not to be depressing, but keep changing the oil, do a fuel system cleaning,

maintain it, enjoy it, love it.

It's a Jeep.

So all right, sir.

All right.

Thanks.

You're very welcome.

You're very well.

Yeah.

It's, um, what happened to Jeep?

My God.

They were so.

I talked to somebody.

I love my Jeep.

Oh, I just got a brand new Jeep.

How many miles are on it?

12.

Yeah.

Wait.

8555609900.

I'll be 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.

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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.

Compa una Coca Cola en una tienda cerca de usted.

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Gee, are jeeps expensive?

Well, it seems like a good segue after that last call

to tell you about the 22 Gladiator we fixed this week.

What a smooth segue.

Charming and handsome, too.

So we had a 22 Jeep Gladiator come into the shop this week

with a right front wheel speed sensor fault code for the ABS.

Now, ABS can be a challenge.

You have to break it down and keep it simple, right?

ABS is based on wheel speed.

They have a tone ring or some sort of trigger device

mounted at each wheel if it's four wheel

and a sensor that reads and varies its signal output

to the ABS controller.

In this case, this particular Jeep

set a Charlie C0034-1D.

The subtext was 1D,

right front wheel speed sensor circuit current out of range.

It saw an incorrect signal.

The signal was either high or the signal was low.

Generally, they're low.

So in the course of diagnosis, visual examination, right?

Everything looked intact.

We were going to swap sensors side to side

as part of the diagnosis,

but to get to the sensor, to get the sensor out,

you'd have to take the wheel hub but the bearing out,

the brakes apart, it was a mess.

Now, yeah, it's easy to condemn the sensor

and go, oh, it's a bad sensor.

And then somehow that sensor will become a bad wheel bearing

and then that bad wheel bearing

will become a bad ABS controller.

And then we'll go look at the wiring,

what the problem was.

If you go underneath the Jeep, like most Jeeps,

and it'll work, you can build a jumper harness.

We didn't have to build a very big one,

but the connectors left to right

were the width of the vehicle apart.

I unplugged the left front wheel speed sensor.

After oming both sensors,

I should point that out and they owned the same.

I started to get a good feeling

that I don't have a sensor issue.

My problem is somewhere else.

I took the left front sensor signal.

I disseminated which was positive and which was negative

because there's a polarity to them, generally is.

And I sent that signal up the right front harness

to the ABS controller.

And sure enough, looking at it on a scan tool,

vehicle on the left, key on scan tool live,

vehicle live not running,

rotating the left front wheel

generated a signal on the right front sensor pit

in the scan tool.

Now having done the road test,

and during the road test,

we saw the right front sensor was dead.

I knew that...

Oh, I'm sorry, I'm saying that backwards.

We took the right front sensor

and put it up the left front channel

and we were able to produce a signal.

We took the left front sensor,

put it up the right front channel to the ABS,

and it was dead.

There was no signal output.

So I proved the sensor good.

I proved the circuit bad.

I then took a jumper lead

and went from right at the sensor

right to pins 26 and 27,

25 and 26, 26 and 27

at the ABS controller.

In short, I made my own harness

and I found that pin 26,

the green with a violet wire,

was open circuit.

Now what do you do?

Because the problem is

between the right front sensor and the ABS controller,

right side of the vehicle to left side of the vehicle.

I ran a new wire, soldered it in place,

snipped it close to the sensor,

soldered it in place,

and voila, the vehicle was fixed.

And my point is,

I know we kid about jeeps,

you know, it's a matter of logical deduction.

You have to think your way through the problem.

Something I was going to do,

and in this case, this particular vehicle didn't have it,

is sometimes you'll look at ABS sensors,

you'll look at the fault codes that set.

If you ever get a fault code that says

signal erratic

or signal open,

okay,

disconnect the sensor,

jumper across the two wires.

If the signal goes from signal open to signal shorted,

you know the harness leading up to the ABS controller is good.

Now you can focus on the sensor,

because chances are that's where your issue is.

Or the tone wheel, but

just some examples of how to approach diagnosis.

It doesn't have to be part swapping.

And you know what?

The customer even said he goes,

I knew this was a hard problem.

The fact that you did it without putting one part in the vehicle

tells me you're really diagnosed that well,

that's what you're supposed to do.

8555 619900.

Hey, it is.

I'm Ron Anie in the car doctor.

I'll be back right after this.

Season two of Unrivaled Basketball is here,

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Kelsey Plum, Brianna Stewart and more

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tips off January 5th on TNT, True TV and HBO Max.

Support for the show comes from Public,

the investing platform for those who take it seriously.

On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio

of stocks, bonds, options, crypto,

and now generated assets,

which allow you to turn any idea

into an investable index with AI.

It all starts with your prompt.

From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow

to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue

over 20% year over year,

you can literally type any prompt

and put the AI to work.

It screens thousands of stocks,

one of a kind index, and lets you back test it

against the S&P 500.

Then, you can invest in a few clicks.

Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities,

completely customizable and based on your thesis,

not someone else's.

Go to public.com slash podcast

and earn an uncapped 1% bonus

when you transfer your portfolio.

That's public.com slash podcast,

paid for by Public Investing,

brokerage services by open to the Public Investing Inc.,

member FANRA SIPC,

free services by Public Advisors LLC,

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There are two types of people around the holidays.

The main characters who are happy to host

and take charades too seriously

and the homebodies glued to the couch.

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Xfinity's Instagram and TikTok

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And it's just you and me on the road.

Hey, you know, as we wind down this hour

with a car doctor, I just want to say thank you.

I appreciate you allowing me to be here

with you. You know, there's a lot of things

you can be thankful for Thanksgiving

and this is right at the top of my list

that I get to spend each and every weekend with you guys.

I will ask you this and I don't ask it often,

but if you have someone interested

in auto repair, if you have someone

that wants to learn about their vehicle,

by all means please tell them about us.

If you're a podcaster, please turn your friends

on to us, hit that like button on our

Facebook page and follow us on YouTube

for our YouTube videos. And if you have suggestions

for what you'd like to see in the coming new year,

please by all means, you know,

I know we've been light on videos the last month or so.

We've just been so busy in the shop. We haven't had

time, but we're here for you, but

you know, we need to know what you're looking for

and you know, we need some numbers. We need

numbers to go up so we need more likes and we need

more followers so we can appreciate everything

that you might do for us.

So to close the show today, I just wanted

to do this. This is sort of a bad version of

Jeff Foxworthy's. You might be a redneck

if, you know, I like to think of it as

your car might need repair if,

alright, you get in your car and these are

things you can do yourself. If you look at

your inspection sticker and it's,

you know, it's July and this is November,

well, something's wrong.

Alright, if your vehicle

is more than five years old,

you might need repair in the way of a battery

if it's never been changed. So it's something

to check, especially with Thanksgiving and the holidays

coming up, right? We got to keep the sleigh

going and we got to keep the family safe

so basics, alright? Your

vehicle might need repair if

you're using a piece of newspaper and a bottle

of Windex to clean the windshield because

the wipers are so bad they just don't work

and those gouges in the glass from

the broken wiper blade are just really starting

to become annoying, alright?

You might need an oil change

if you can't read the sticker.

We had one in the shop

the other day. Yeah, I think I need an oil change.

I took the sticker out. There's nothing on it.

The ink had faded. It was a new customer from

another shop. The magic marker was gone.

Which I've got to tell you

is another thing. It's sort of a pet peeve.

In this day and age, if you're

a repair shop and you're not

printing oil change stickers,

if you're still handwriting oil change stickers,

can you at least get a magic

marker that comes to somewhat of a

point so you're not guessing what

the mileage is so that it's not so fat and heavy?

It just looks like a smear on the

glass. So, yeah, your vehicle

might need repair. So does your mechanic.

I'm Ronan Ani and the car doctor.

Till the next time.

Good mechanics aren't expensive.

They're priceless. See ya.

Yeah, he's a car doctor.

Car advice done right.

Season 2 of Unrivaled

Basketball is here and the talent is unreal.

Paige Beckers, Nefisa Collier,

Cassie Plumb, Brianna Steward and more

are back to redefine the game.

Unrivaled Basketball Season 2 sponsored

by Samsung Galaxy tips off January 5th

on TNT, True TV and HBO Max.

Support for the show comes from Public,

the investing platform for those who take it

seriously. On Public, you can build

a multi-asset portfolio of stocks,

bonds, options, crypto and now

generated assets which allow

you to turn any idea into an

investable index with AI. It all

starts with your prompt from renewable

companies with high free cash flow

to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue

over 20% year over year. You can

literally type any prompt and put the

AI to work. It screens thousands of

stocks, builds a one of a kind index

and lets you back test it against the

S&P 500. Then, you can invest

in a few clicks. Generated assets

are like EFTs with infinite possibilities,

completely customizable

and based on your thesis, not someone

else's. Go to public.com

slash podcast and earn an uncapped

1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio.

That's public.com

slash podcast. Paid for by Public

Investing, brokerage services by open to the

Public Investing Inc., member FANRA

SIPC, advisory services by Public

Advisors LLC, SEC Registered

Advisor. Generated assets is an interactive

analysis tool. Output is for informational

purposes only and is not investment

recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures

available at public.com slash disclosures.

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There are two types of people around the holidays.

Teen characters who are happy to host and

take charades too seriously and the

homebodies glued to the couch.

Whichever camp you fall into, Xfinity's

Instagram and TikTok bring the energy

to match. Their star-studded interviews

and red carpet coverage give extra

Virts endless tea and the celebrate

canceled plans crowd can thrive on

new movie drops and live sports updates.

Plus, iHeart playlists can match

every music mood. Follow Xfinity

on Instagram and TikTok for a feed

that fits how you holiday.

This is Sophie Cunningham from show me something.

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Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor - November 22, 2025 - Hour 2 - Veterans, Code Talkers & Cars That Won’t Quit - (855)560-9900 24/7 Hotline

About this episode

4,100 HT engine

cylinder heads

small block Chevy

HT4100

torqued

intake manifold

aluminum engine

thrust bearing

Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham

diagnostics

fault codes

Cadillac 4,100

Cadillac 4,500

Cadillac 4,900

Cadillac Hearse

LS GM motor

clock spring

Dodge Dakota

Mopar

Ford Ranger

seatbelt retractors

airbag light

Chevrolet Suburban

Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Ford Thunderbird

Jeep JK

caliper

Chevrolet 2500 HD

valve seat

Jeep Gladiator

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