The 12 Hours of Sebring is a long car race that lasts for 12 hours, where teams of drivers compete to see who can cover the most distance. It's a famous event in the world of sports car racing.
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful an engine is. If an engine has 400 horsepower, it means it can produce a lot of power, making the car go fast.
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people love for its speed and unique shape. It's been around for a long time and is known for performing well in races.
Telemetry is like a high-tech way for cars to send information about how they're performing. It helps teams understand things like speed and braking so they can make the car better.
G-force is a way to measure how heavy you feel when a car speeds up, slows down, or turns. It helps understand how the car is handling and how it affects the driver.
ABS is a system in cars that helps prevent the wheels from stopping completely when you brake hard. This way, you can still steer the car and avoid skidding.
150 miles an hour is a speed limit that was set for Brad Pitt while he was driving a race car in a movie. It means he couldn't go faster than that for safety reasons.
Sixth gear is the top gear in a car's transmission, which helps the car go faster and save fuel. Sometimes, a car can be set up to not use this gear, which means it can't go as fast as it normally could.
The Ford Falcon is a classic car that Ford made in the 1960s. The 1964 version is popular in racing events because it's fast and has a lot of fans who love it.
The Daytona 500 is a famous car race that happens every year in Daytona Beach, Florida. It's a big event in NASCAR, where many of the best drivers compete for a chance to win.
The Toyota Camry is a well-known car that many people drive because it's dependable and gets good gas mileage. The 2025 version has updated features to keep up with modern driving needs.
The throttle body helps manage how much air goes into the engine, which is important for performance. In newer cars, it's often controlled by electronics instead of a cable, which makes cleaning it a bit tricky.
Top tier fuel is a type of gasoline that has extra cleaning ingredients. These ingredients help keep your engine clean and running well, which can save you money on repairs in the long run.
Fuel injectors are parts of an engine that help deliver gasoline into the engine's combustion chamber. They make sure the engine gets the right amount of fuel to run smoothly.
87 octane is a measure of how much compression fuel can handle before it ignites. Higher numbers mean the fuel is better for high-performance cars, but 87 is standard for many regular vehicles.
Tecron is a cleaning product for your car's fuel system. It helps keep the engine running smoothly by removing dirt and buildup that can happen in the fuel injectors.
The Volkswagen Jetta GLI is a performance version of the Jetta, which is a compact car. It has a more powerful engine and sportier features compared to the regular Jetta.
The Ram 1500 is a big truck that people often use to carry heavy loads or tow trailers. It's known for being comfortable and having lots of features that make driving easier.
The Dodge Ram 1500 is a big truck that people use for work and everyday driving. The 2008 version is known for being tough and having different choices for engines and styles.
The Dodge Charger is a large car that looks sporty and can go really fast. It's popular for its powerful engine and is often seen in movies and TV shows.
The Ford Mustang is a famous sports car that many people love for its speed and cool looks. It's been around for a long time and is often seen in movies.
The BYD Seal is a new electric car that looks modern and can drive a long way on a charge. It's part of a growing trend of electric vehicles that are becoming popular.
The Chevrolet Silverado is a big truck that people use for work or to carry things. It's known for being tough and has a lot of features to make driving easier.
The Toyota Tundra is a large truck that people use for heavy work or outdoor activities. It's known for being dependable and having a lot of space inside.
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people drive because it's reliable and saves gas. The 2008 version is known for lasting a long time if you take care of it.
The Toyota Prius is a special car that uses both gas and electricity to drive, which helps it save a lot of fuel. It's popular with people who want to be more environmentally friendly.
LIVE
Welcome to another edition of the Car Doctor program on 959 WATD.
My name is John Paul, the car doctor here to help you with your car problems on this
Sunday morning.
Did something I've never done before, really, I guess.
This this past Friday, I went to Sebring International Raceway and Sebring is a
one of my neighbors from up north, actually.
And it is the oldest continuing operating racetrack in the United States.
I think the first race was run in 1950.
It's a it's a classic sports car racing track.
It is, I'm guessing it's somewhere in the neighborhood of
maybe three and a half miles long, but it's been around for a long time.
It's hosted a bunch of major events.
One of them is 12 Hours of Sebring.
They've been running that, I think, since it began.
It shares space with an airport, too, which is kind of interesting.
And the event I went to was called Pistons and Props, and it was racing.
And it was also they had vintage planes that were coming in later in the day.
I didn't stay for that.
I stayed for a lot of the a lot of the racing.
And I went on Friday, so it was time trials.
Mostly there was at least one race, maybe two.
But I knew one person who was racing, somebody I've known, somebody who's been
on this program once, a guy by the name of Steve Fitzgerald.
He used to work for UTI.
He's about my age.
He still races.
He has a BMW three series.
Pretty much is not a lot of BMW left in it.
And I shouldn't say that.
Not a lot of BMW metal in it has a lot of fiberglass and tube chassis.
It's running about a 400 horsepower engine.
Pretty amazing car.
And he did he did really well.
He raced on Saturday, but I saw him out on doing time trials.
And he did he did pretty he did pretty well in the time trials.
And he hadn't been in the car for a couple of years.
He had some health problems.
So so he decided to, you know, put the car back together, take the engine
apart, rebuild it, put it back together by, you know, a couple of sets of tires
for it and put it back on the vehicle.
Also, while I was there, he works with a guy by the name of Irish Mike.
Irish Mike owns a owned owned a big body shop.
His son runs runs the three.
I think he has three shops now, but he also races a Porsche 911.
He actually has two teams.
It was kind of funny.
We were walking around looking for the.
His truck and didn't I didn't know what I was looking for really.
So I called up Steve Fitzgerald's wife, who wasn't at the track,
which was kind of unusual.
And she said, no, no, look for a big you can't miss it.
It's a transporter truck.
You'll be able to find it.
It's not that hard to find.
So walking around, walking around, literally it's within 100 yards of where I parked.
And it was pretty hard to miss because it was green and it was a tractor trailer
with a big slide out camping cab on the front of it.
And they had a big triple size easy up set up where they could put two cars under it
so they could work on the cars.
They were working on Steve's BMW.
They were working on Mike's 911.
They were replacing the brakes in his 911.
The BMW, they were just tinkering with it a little bit.
It was didn't really need too much.
But I also got to meet some of the folks that were there.
One of them was their tech guy and the idea that these cars,
I asked them what the telemetry was like in some of these cars.
And they literally know when they, you know, when they apply the brake,
how much brake on all four wheels, how much lift on the corner,
how much not just acceleration and g-force and yaw and all of that stuff.
Plus, you know, spark and fuel and the telemetry part was fascinating
to be able to look at all the different things that we're watching,
including when the ABS kicked on.
It was a lot of stuff going on.
And if you've watched the movie F1,
which was, I think, a pretty good representation of what really happened in that movie,
the tech guy actually worked on the movie.
And his job, which was kind of funny,
his job was to keep Brad Pitt from going too fast.
Apparently in Brad Pitt's contract, when he was behind the wheel of this race car,
he was not supposed to go up more than 150 miles an hour.
So it was this other guy's job, this guy who was helping out with Fitsie
and Irish Mike, it was this guy's job to keep Brad Pitt under 150 miles an hour.
And eventually what they did, because Brad Pitt wanted to go faster than 150 miles an hour,
once he got familiar with the track they were working on and the car he was in,
he just wanted to go faster and faster.
And he couldn't because his contract said he couldn't go any faster.
So what they did electronically was lock out sixth gear in the vehicle,
which I thought was kind of an interesting way to do it.
That way he could only go so fast.
So it was a good experience because it was time trial day and only one or two races.
It was not very crowded and we had the walk of the park basically.
So through the paddock area, which I find more interesting than the racing part of it,
I like seeing all of the transport trucks, I like seeing all of the gear and equipment they use.
The cars are phenomenal.
There was everything from a 64 Falcon that was very competitive in the historic races
to things that looked like F1 cars.
You didn't know any better.
And it was a good all-day time.
It was interesting because some of the race teams, and I don't know who it was,
but there was a guy in a Ford, maybe an Expedition, and he had an open trailer
and his car was on the open trailer.
So his Expedition was pretty full with his toolboxes and spare tools and parts probably,
and his open trailer.
And then there was one team.
They had at least three tractor trailers and a full commercial kitchen set up.
And I thought it was maybe it was a retail kitchen for the drivers that got hungry
and didn't bring lunch with them or something.
No, it was just for that team.
And they literally had a full commercial kitchen set up.
The length, it was like it was a sort of a 40 foot long trailer that opened up on the sides
and it had a full kitchen set up.
Another one had just a normal like car trailer, you know, maybe a 30 foot car trailer.
And it was all set up with a full kitchen inside of it, not quite as big as the other one.
And then of course there was people that just ate track food like I did.
But it was it was a great experience.
If you ever have the opportunity to, you know, be in Southwest Florida and you're able
to get over to the Sebring Raceway, take a look around.
It is a it is a first off it's set in you drive through a few towns to get there.
It's kind of I don't want to call it out in the middle of nowhere, but it's like all race
tracks to the road in the middle of nowhere.
This one is this one's there's the facility is first rate.
It's just everything's clean and organized, you know, everything from, you know, food
vending, which is there to, you know, plenty of bathrooms and showers for the drivers
and all kinds of stuff.
I haven't been to a lot of race tracks.
I have driven on road Atlanta before in a portion on 11.
I have driven on Pocono a bunch of times in a variety of different cars.
I've driven in down in Lime Rock in sports cars and Nazareth when that track was open,
which was a little small bull ring of a track.
But in these road course tracks, pretty good.
And what do we got today?
Got the Daytona 500 and the Arca race was yesterday, I think.
I remember last year.
Somebody who I've known of for years, although we don't know each other really
anymore, but Dale quarterly, originally from Abington and then moved to the Western
part of Mass and then down to Moorsville, North Carolina.
He last year ran, he's a little bit younger than me, but he's not young by any means.
And last year, he ran the Craftsman Truck Race and then an hour later ran the Arca
race, which, you know, driving for that long on Daytona's track has to be exhausting.
I'm not quite sure how he managed to pull it off in a guy in his 60s.
So, but he managed to do it, which was pretty phenomenal.
If you'd like to join us and talk about maybe you've been to race tracks, maybe
you've driven a race car, maybe you have a question about your car.
You can give us a call at 781-837-4900.
We were supposed to talk to John Verasek from a company called Repair Surge.
And I talked with his PR person earlier in the week.
And I was pretty convinced he was going to call in.
They said he's all set and don't know what happened to him.
So maybe wherever he's located, he was either in Michigan or Ohio.
Maybe they're having weather problems out there who knows what the case is.
But, you know, he's having we don't know where he is.
But if you would like to join us, we know where you are.
You can give us a call at 781-837-4900.
If you're listening online, if you're listening in person, in person, I guess
you could be if you're listening, if you're listening on 959 either way,
give us call at 781-837-4900.
Phone lines are open if you'd like to join us and talk about whatever you have
on your mind about cars.
Love love to hear from you.
Couple of the questions that came in this week and this one, I seem to get this a lot.
And a guy by the name of Don writes in and he says,
recently brought my 2025 Camry to the dealer for a 15,000 mile service.
Well, there the service person told me it is their policy to suggest fuel
injector cleaning for $170 during this particular service.
Oddly, when I had a 2016 Camry for nine years, never had fuel injector cleaning
suggested, so I passed this time.
Was this an attempt at unnecessary upsell by the dealership?
Well, you know, the dealership might recommend it, but looking in the Toyota
owners manual, all data, Mitchell, there is no scheduled recommended
service that includes fuel injector cleaning.
There's some services, but fuel injector cleaning isn't one of them.
Unlike, for instance, Kia and Hyundai, about every 24,000 miles, I think they
actually do recommend adding a fuel injector cleaner to the fuel tank.
I assume this $170 is more, I hope, hopefully is more than adding a bottle of
stuff. What's kind of interesting too is probably as part of the service and
probably one of these BG kits where you disconnect the fuel line, attach it
to a vacuum line and let the chemical run the engine and clean it out.
But usually, as part of that, it's also listed as a throttle
body cleaning, which is kind of odd because you can't really, it's not
like a mechanical throttle body where you could open up the throttle and clean
inside there with the fuel injector cleaner, carburetor cleaner, whatever
you want to call it, and a soft toothbrush and clean all the carbon
out because it's electric, you really shouldn't force it open.
So there's really not anything you do other than just kind of clean the outside.
So not so great, really.
So that's one of the ways, you know, one of the ways we can look at
different, you know, different services.
I like to compare what people are being asked to do and what really needs to be
done. Our phone number is 718-374900.
We know where Tom is.
He's in Kingston.
Good morning, Tom.
Good morning, sir.
How are you?
I'm good.
A little disappointed in my guest.
A little disappointed in my guest, but yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you stuck with me right now.
I value, I value the regulars who listen to this program like you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So why are you on this subject before I talk to you about what I want to talk about?
So would you recommend the name brand gasoline companies that say that they
clean fuel injectors?
Do they really work?
Or we better off buy one of those bottles from a local parts store.
And does that really work?
What I would recommend is use top tier fuel.
Go to top tier, top tier gas.com.
Top tier fuel has more additives in it than non top tier fuel.
And it helps keep combustion chambers cleaner.
Typically it's brand names, but not always.
And that will help keep the fuel injectors clean cleaner and keep the combustion
chamber cleaner.
I try to use it when I can.
It has a residual cleaning effect.
So like sit go, for instance, and BP are topped here.
So isn't I think most mobile.
But it's in the, you know, 87 octane has the same amount of cleaner in is premium.
So, you know, it's not like some of the advertisements.
So like run premium because it's cleaner.
No, this will do this will do the same.
And but I still a couple of times a year throw a bottle of Tecron in my cars
because Tecron's been around since almost I have.
So I think it's a good product that works.
That's good.
OK, first thing you talked about UTI.
I know there's a medical term.
What is UTI stand for?
Oh, I'm sorry, Universal Technical Institute.
Oh, OK, good.
Yeah.
And you talk about the racetrack and he locked out the.
Sixth gear, so he wouldn't go as fast.
I thought the idea of the tractors goes fast as you can.
Yeah, but yeah, but on a on a movie set with a famous famous celebrity
like Brad Pitt, apparently in his contract and his insurance,
they said he couldn't go more than one hundred and fifty miles an hour.
Wow.
And he wanted and he and he wanted to go faster.
For sure. Yeah.
With an opportunity like that.
Yeah. Yeah, so that is great.
Did you get a chance to go to Daytona 500?
No, I've I've been to the Daytona track as a guest.
I was at some I was at some event where, you know, you got to go out
and you get to drive on the van.
You got to drive around on a van and then you get out of the van
on the high bank oval and you wonder why the van doesn't roll over on its side.
It's it's banked that much.
It's pretty amazing.
Yeah. Yeah, I was there for I was there for some triple A event.
And they said, oh, you want to go see the track?
And I'm like, yeah, I love to.
It's quite the experience going there.
Yeah. Yeah, I was there a couple times.
Yeah. Yeah, it's really nice, you know, especially here
than practicing at night, you know, ten thirty at night.
You still got them going around the track.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, probably wouldn't want to be a neighbor.
But yeah, no, no.
My relatives lived in the neighborhood and that's what they heard.
But they didn't know the noise because they got so used to it over a year.
Yeah. Yeah.
Like having a train track in your backyard.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Going by at certain times. Exactly.
Well, good. Well, thank you for the. All right.
I appreciate it. All right.
All right. Thanks, Tom. Take care. Bye. Bye.
Let's go to Ken in Topsfield. Ken, good morning.
And good morning.
I have a question for you, John.
On a car, I was talking to a friend who's getting rid of a car.
OK. Because we talked cars and it was a 16 Jetta, a GLI.
And it's got around one hundred and seven of one hundred and seventeen thousand miles.
OK. And he said he said that he's going to get rid of it or he got rid of it.
He's got another car and he's going to sell it because it needs the timing chain
because they should be replaced.
They said it has a belt. He says, no, it has a chain.
And I went, I thought chains were good for life in my head.
And he says, oh, and he says, and I looked it up.
He says, I thought of doing it, but, you know, it's complicated.
And he says, it would cost four or five thousand to have a town that's sharp.
And I went, because they got a, I don't pull the engine.
Right. It's, he changed. Do they need that?
And is that car, is that true on that?
But he was saying maybe he was going to ask five thousand for it.
So I just want to do it in general, you know, always.
No, the chain, the chain should last a long time.
Although some of the two liter engines and some of the Volkswagen's had bad chain guides
and the chains would start to rattle.
And you, but if they had normal, you know, if it didn't have a broken guide,
there's no reason to think the chain should last for a very long time.
And the indication of a broken guide is.
You would hear, you would hear, you would hear the chain rattle on this idea engine.
And if you didn't hear that, then you could go a couple of hundred thousand, maybe?
Yeah, probably.
Okay. Okay.
Thank you. And the other question.
Driving school for older people, we, we getting your skills back or helping you.
I think AAA had something you mentioned.
Yeah, AAA does, AAA has a program called a driver improvement program.
And AARP has one too.
And you can look, you can look into it and what it's all classroom based.
It's not behind the wheel, but it'll give you some tips on things to do.
All right. I think very much.
Okay. Thanks Ken.
If you'd like to join us, if you'd like to join us, our phone number is 7818374900.
Why don't we take a break, pay some bills.
And when we come back, maybe we'll be talking to you about your car and your car problems.
You'll listen to the car doctor program in 959WATD. We'll be right back.
Hi, I'm Dan Chauvin.
Step into the light and tune into Twilight Showcase Radio hosted by Sandy Stride and Keith James on
959WATD and 959WATD.com. Search for Twilight Showcase on Facebook and visit twilightshowcase.org.
8 to 10 on 959WATD.
Hello, this is Duncan Gray of Eldred's auctioneers and appraisers and host of the Eldred's antique
hour. Have you ever thought about the value of the 1960s or 1970s? Did you know that Henry Ford
had an integral part in the creation of the first charcoal briquettes? Please join us here
tomorrow morning from 10 to 11 when we continue these discussions and much more with fascinating
guests, your callings regarding antiques, arts and auctions and the historical context that
makes these items so interesting. Right here on 959WATD.
Hi, this is Michael Burns. And this is Stu Fink with Boston Country Oldies.
Or it's Sunday night at 10 o'clock on 959WATD. Where you'll hear continuous classic country.
Plus all the great crossover hits from Hank, Tex and Johnny to Waylon and Willie, Dolly,
Reba and more. So remember Boston Country Oldies every Sunday night at 10 on the South
Shore's radio station 959WATD. Make an appointment Sunday morning at 11 for John Paul the car
doctor on 959WATD. Now back to the car doctor.
And welcome back to the car doctor program on 959WATD. If you'd like to join us,
phone number 781-837-4900. Love to hear from you and see what's on your mind about cars and car
problems. Another question that came in this morning was somebody named Kenny. Kenny says,
I have a 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab. The bottom of all four doors are rusting away
also above the rear wheels. What would be the reason for this as I drive and walk around as he
most Dodge Rams of this era and body style have the same rust?
Thanks. Love listening to your radio show online and reading your newspaper column. Well thank you,
Kenny. It is really just, I don't want to say poor design. Maybe. What happens is in any car
there is literally water flowing around it all the time. If you have a car with a sunroof,
the sunroof is not a perfectly sealed opening. When it's closed, water can still get in. And in
the, in that sort of tray of the sunroof, if you open the sunroof up, you'll see little holes.
And those little holes go to drain tubes. And depending on what kind of car it is,
the drain tube might come down the pillar between the two doors. It might come down the cowl,
down the windshield where the windshield post is, come out in front of the fenders,
and that's where the water goes through. In the doors, you know, think about it. You look at,
you know, next time you're washing the windows in your car, you know, that weather strip that's
at the top of the window or at the top of the door frame is not a perfectly sealed thing. You
can see, you can see the space inside there because the window is going to go up and down.
Well, water can get in there. Well, it's going to get out. So at the bottom of the door, there's
drains. And some of them are pretty obvious. Some of them are part of the weather stripping.
But they'll get clogged up. And what we're starting to see in some vehicles now,
I read this just the other day when I was looking up service information for Mercedes,
the, it said clean body drains as part of normal routine service. I think it was like 25,000 miles.
It said, you know, clean the sunroof drains and the door drains. So kind of something you
need to do. And that's more than likely why the doors on this RAM pickup have rusted out because
over time, dirt and debris gets into the bottom of the door. And if you've ever replaced a
door motor or something like that, you'll find that at the very bottom, that's where,
you know, stuff starts to collect. And that's stuff that starts to collect clogs up the
clogs clogs up the doors. So clogs up the drains and then the car rusts away. In a couple weeks,
I think we're having the guy on from wax oil, the I was never a big preventative or rust
preventative guy. I was never a big undercoding guy. You know, all the rusty Joneses and all that
stuff that really didn't seem to me didn't seem to do a whole lot of good. But wax oil,
I like the product. I think it actually does really well. I'm very disappointed in myself
that I didn't use wax oil on the, you know, I have a little boat, little small, little tiny,
tiny boat. And I didn't take good enough care of the trailer. And even just being a few years old now,
the, the axle is rustier than I would have liked it to be. You know, the trail is galvanized,
so the trailer itself is okay. But I didn't, I should have, first time I took the boat off the
trailer, any of the metal parts that were not galvanized, I should have sprayed it, I should
have undercoated it with wax oil to lock it in and prevent it from rusting. But my mistake,
and I'll learn better next time. Our phone number 718374900, let's talk to Kevin who's calling
us from Salem, New Hampshire. Kevin, good morning. Yeah, yeah, good morning, John. First off, I want
to, I'm a recipient of multiple trivia prizes going back many years, so I want to thank you for that.
What I called about, you're talking about Brad Pitt not being able to do stuff on,
on a set, I'm sure that's through insurance. I remember reading years and years ago that Steve
McQueen in bullet, everybody I think knows that he did all his own driving, bullish, but in that
famous motorcycle jump scene over the Bob Dwyer in The Great Escape, they, the studio would not
let him do that. And the guy who actually did that jump scene is the guy that drove the charger
in bullet. Oh, okay. Which I read, like I said, this is going back years ago. Yeah. And another
thing about Steve McQueen's driving abilities, supposedly he finished third at the 12 hours of
seedling with his clutch foot in a cast. So it's been going back many, many years.
Yeah. You know, it wouldn't surprise me that that would probably be the case. So,
you know, people that are dedicated racers, you know, whatever they are, when they want to race,
they'll race. And whether it's, you know, and I talked about this guy earlier today, Dale
Quarterly. Dale Quarterly was a go-kartner when he was a kid and then he was a motorcycle racer.
And he crashed a motorcycle and it might have been Daytona racing in the superbike race.
And he literally, like, smashed up his pinky finger so it was unusable. And he went to the
hospital and they said, well, there's probably some chance we can put it back together and your
hand will be in a cast or we can amputate it. And he went with that so he could go back and
race the next day. And when he did, he came in like third or something. So, yeah.
Yeah, that's, you know, Mike Woncombe of the channel. He's a motorcycle racer.
He's got a Ducati and he's got a Suzuki. And I think he finished third down at Daytona.
And when you're getting back to Dale, Dale Quarterly having his pinky cut off,
the guitarist, Les Paul, the guy who gives the name to the whole line of guitars after him,
he had some sort of a mishap with his right arm. And the doctor said we can only set this arm
in a certain position. So, whatever you want that to be, you decide what it is now and we'll
set that arm and you're not going to be able to move much more beyond that. And so he had it set
so he could strum play the sound he could play the guitar. Again, you know, who knows how much
how true this stuff is, but that was something I read in a biography. Yeah. No, it is, you know,
I guess it's interesting to see when you hear people like, you know, when you hear celebrities
that actually do their own stunts, you know, whether it's, you know, Steve McQueen, you know,
driving the Mustang or, you know, Brad Pitt in the Formula One car or whatever the case is,
you know, those folks that actually are that dedicated to what they're doing and they enjoy
the sport at the same time. I think that's pretty good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, anyways,
I enjoy the show. I could have them listen in a few years. So keep up the good work and I like
the banter between you and, um, is it Jesse? Jesse? Yeah, we don't, we don't banter, we don't
banter as much. We don't banter as much as some, some in the past, but we'll, we'll, we'll try to
banter more. That's all right. It fills time when we need to be filled. All right. All right. Thanks,
Kevin. All right, Jesse, we got to banter more. All right, noted. You know how to banter? Well,
I don't know anything about cars, but if you ask me about anything else, we should be good to go.
Anything else? Anything else? Most things. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Patriots won the Super Bowl.
That was nice. Yeah. Yeah. I could tell you're, you're, you're a pro on that too. Oh, yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, you know, you can, uh, you can share your, uh,
views on life. I don't know. Something like that. Something like that. Uh, we do, I'll share my
views on the phone. We have, uh, John and Melrose. Well, let's talk to John and Melrose. John, good
morning. All right. Uh, this is John for Melrose. My question is, um, I hear you talk about wax
oil. Yep. Um, now what is it? Where can you get it and how do you apply it? Um, it is a
waxy based undercoating. Um, you can buy it in spray cans from like Amazon, or you can have
it professionally installed by, you know, there's, there's shops that do it. And they, and they use
something that looks like a regular automotive spray gun to put it on. Um, it is, uh, they have two
different, maybe even more than two different products. They have one that's an undercoating
spray and one that's a cavity spray. So like, you know, wherever there's a little hole that you can
sneak a long tube in, and it comes with this like three foot long plastic tube. So you can
squirt it down inside the doors, pockets and stuff like that. And the stuff that goes in the doors is
thin so it doesn't clog up the drain holes like some of the heavier undercoating will. So you
don't have to worry about that. Um, and it's, uh, what's, you don't have to do a lot of prep.
Um, you know, it's, you know, best if you could do it on a new car, but you know, as long as the car
is clean underneath, uh, I asked about what would happen if you spray it over rust. And basically,
you know, I was told by the folks that market the stuff is it walks in kind of the rust where it
was. So it shouldn't get any worse afterwards. Um, I have done, you know, I've, I've used it on
the Volkswagen that we own, and it still looks pretty good underneath. Um, what I was amazed at
is I was talking to on the program here, talking to a company that does these high end restorations
on, uh, Land Rovers. And what they'll do is they'll take an old, um, you know, 1960s looking,
you know, uh, Land Rover that you see, you know, in a jungle safari movie and they would put new
engines, they would put new engines in them. And when they took the cars apart, they would use wax
oil to rustproof all the pieces they were putting back together. Um, there was a kind of how
we kind of first learned about this product. Um, and the, uh, the, the person that's, um,
sort of the product rep for it. Um, we were at, we were at a car show and there was an old
Volkswagen van that it was probably 20 years, you know, probably even restored 20 years previous.
And, uh, and it had a little sticker in the back window, wax oil, and it's sort of like, what's that?
And the guy who owned it said, oh, when I had the car rebuilt, um, the guy was a European, uh,
restoration guy and he uses his wax oil stuff and all his restorations and looked underneath,
still look pretty much brand new under there. So, um, you know, and, and there's, there's
one of the real popular restoration products is, um,
is an oil coating product, um, that a lot of people use. And there's also another one called
Fluid Film, which a lot of people use and it's a, it's a kind of a sticky oily kind of stuff.
The difference between that is you need to come back every year and have it checked
and then reapplied where the wax oil stuff, it's a, it's a one or done, you spray it on
and you put, and you put, yeah, and you put like, you know, a 16th of an inch thick of the stuff.
I probably didn't put that much on, um, because I just had, I just got the couple of spray cans of it
and, um, I don't think you can put too much. And the other thing that's nice about it,
different than some of the other products, you don't have to worry so much about, uh,
you know, if you were spraying the front end of a vehicle, you don't have to worry about spraying
things like the ball joint boots, for instance, because it's a rubber, it's a, it's a waxy rubbery
product, so it doesn't hurt any of the rubber, it actually lubricates it. So, um, you don't have to
worry about that. The only thing you keep it away from is, um, is like the exhaust system because
it would melt. Um, I asked, I asked how you get it off and they said the way you get it off is
with the steam cleaner. You got to use really, really hot water and that will actually dissolve
it to get it off. But, but other than that, it kind of stays on there for a long time. So it's,
uh, it's, it's, uh, it's a good, it's a good product. And again, I was never, I was one of these people
that, um, in fact, I was just looking at my schedule. I'm going to be talking to Ken LaMoyne
next week about wax oil. So, and Ken, Ken is an old car guy and he's also, uh, he's the one who set
up the whole, uh, car show in Framingham, cars, cars of New England, you know, all the cars that
were built in, in the Northeast here. Uh, he set that up last year, which everybody said was a
fantastic show because it was, you know, things like, uh, you know, Pope Hartford from Hartford,
Connecticut and, you know, some of the cars that were built at the GM plant and, you know, all the
cars were built, you know, Springfield, Rolls Royces and all that stuff. And, um, you know, Ken,
Ken's a, you know, classic old car guy. He knows, knows all about all of these cars, but he's also
the manufacturer's rep for this wax oil product. And, you know, it's popular, popular with those
guys. And like I said, I was, I remember going out to, um, you know, see Rusty Jones, you know,
watch people put that on back then. I wasn't particularly impressed by that. Um, you know,
some of the other heavy wax products, you know, even that, you know, the stuff you see advertised
on TV, the flex seal, I've seen people try to undercoat with that. I remember being up in Vermont,
I was doing, I used to do these, um, mobile car care checkup events up in New Hampshire and Vermont.
And, uh, what we do is we had a van that was all rigged with the exhaust gas analyzer and battery
tester and we'd check people's air in the tires and all that stuff. And, um, and, uh, we were right
on the Vermont border and there was a car that pulled up and I opened up the hood and all this
oil ran out from under the hood and I'm like, what the hell is that? And I didn't think much of it.
And then, you know, two or three cars later, another car, all oily. And by the fourth or fifth car,
I said, what's up with all that oil on the cars? And the guy said to me, oh, there's a local guy
here. And just before wintertime, a lot of us go in and he sprays the whole underneath of the car
with waste oil, um, to keep it from rusting out because we use so much salt on the roads up in
Vermont that your car rots, rots away. So he sprays it all with waste oil. And I'm like, well, you
know, that's kind of the way they used to do it, you know, talk to any old, you know, farmer or
something. That's how they used to keep all their old equipment from rusting away because
they used to just take a garden sprayer and fill it with waste oil and spray it all over
everything. You know, environmentally, probably not such a good thing, have an oil drip it all
over the place. But, but it did keep the car, it did keep the cars from rusting out. But there's,
but this wax oil product works a little bit differently because it's a, it's a soap, I think
it's soap based waxy product. And what it does is just cleansed everything, it seals out moisture,
and it keeps the cars from rusting away. So, um, again, I was never a big fan of fluid film
or New Hampshire oil coat, I think is what they call, which has nothing to do with really oil,
but, um, the, um, or, or, or any of these other products until I saw this and I was,
and I was impressed not just because it was somebody I know when we told a good story,
but because talking to restoration shops, that's what they used. And I figured if they used it,
it's going to be pretty good. Well, it's funny, I've never heard of it. And you know, I own a
2000 Silverado and a 2013 Silverado. Yeah. Now, I think Chevy's have really inclined to rush
for around the wheel wells in the rear. Yeah. And it's mainly on one side of the car.
Yeah, it's, it's, I explained. Yeah, it's, it's kind of, you know, it's kind of amazing that
you can, if you own a certain car that rusts away, walk a parking lot, you'll see the same car
with the same rust in the same place. And you wonder, you wonder how, how does that work?
Why don't, why don't they fix that? You know, if, if you've noticed water collects in a certain
area, I was with one of AAA AAA at our, at the national office has an engineering group. It's
three or four folks, I think, maybe five, I don't know. And they do a lot of engineering studies,
things, everything from self driving cars to headlight stuff and all kinds of variety of stuff.
Uh huh. In fact, Greg Brandon, who's the head of that team,
good guy, also racer, he races a drag car. But he's, I was talking to him one time and I was
with one of his engineers at the, forget if it was the Detroit, I think it was the Detroit auto
show. And what we did for a lot of the show is we walked around and looked at, you know,
some of the displays where the cars were up in the air. And we looked around and we found that, oh,
look at where water and mud and dirt and salt are going to accumulate. And I bet we found
dozens of cars that were going to rust out because of nothing more than the way they were designed and
crevices and nooks and crannies in there, which was going to cause more rust. So, yeah, so you
kind of wonder. Yeah, you know, but the question is, I can't figure out why one side would, you know,
it's the same vehicle. Yeah. You know, it could, it could, it could just be where that tire kicks
up water more than the other side. It could just be the way that, yeah, I mean, it could,
you don't know, but, but you can always kind of count on, you know, way back to the, you know,
beginning of my time looking at cars. I always knew that, you know, a 64 Chevy, the right rear
frame rail was going to rot out because they all did, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
I like that answer about the Wax oil. I never heard about that before. Yeah. Yeah. No, you can,
like I said, you can, you can, you can buy it on Amazon. You can buy the cans on Amazon or you
can have it professionally installed. I think if you go to waxoil.com, you can find the installers.
But listen, but listen next week, we'll talk about it next week. All right, I will. All right.
All right. Take care. All right. All right. Jesse, do you have more banter?
No, yeah, I'm still working on it. Still working on the banter. Okay, then we'll talk to Paul and
Mysefield. How's that? Paul, is that you? We'll talk to Paul and Mysefield instead.
Oh yeah, he's got much better banter than I do. All right. All right. Let's talk to Paul. Paul,
Yes. All right. Go ahead. So I just wanted to say I had my tundra
undercoated by this guy, O'Hanley in Taunton. And hello. Hello. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. And they
used lanolin, which never hardened. Right. And yeah, I found I like the lanolin product too.
It tends to wear off a little bit more than some of the other ones, but way better than some of
the other stuff that I'm not a huge, huge, as much of a huge fan. But yeah. And how's it holding up?
So the reason I called was because I heard you talk about, address something about it.
It kind of surrounded the rust and stopped it from growing, spreading. And when I got this stuff,
I have a hitch, right? Yep. The receiver. Yep. That was really rusty. And in my opinion, I'm not a
scientist, but that lanolin actually displaced the rust. Yeah. Well, well, if it can, if it can
seal out the air, it's not going to rust. So yeah. They said if you dropped the brand new
lanolin to the bottom of the ocean, 2000 feet, it wouldn't rust because there's no oxygen down there.
But anyways, so what did you just ask me? Don't tell me. How's it holding up?
He only guarantees if you drive it from the showroom and they get the first chance of
of undercoding it. So the negative is the first thunder I did was before COVID and it was like
130, one outing meeting. Then they brought it back after COVID and just like everything else.
His costs went up on about that stuff. So I hate to say this, but it was like double.
Yeah. Well, I think he gave me a little bit of a break because that was obviously a previous customer.
But the gentleman that owns that place, he's personable. He gets back to you. Well,
I mean, he's on Instagram. If you want to see complete restorations of jeeps, jeeps is his favorite
thing. They do everything. They repair the frame. They give you a new frame and this and that.
I'm not a Jeep guy because there's no place to ride jeeps around here anymore.
So kids get robbed out of their innocence. But remember going and like he drives the Jeep until
you were stuck or you blew the transmission or something happened and then you learn how to
fix it, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. No. No. And I think probably the stuff you had might be
Woolwax, maybe that I'm trying to remember what that must be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think,
and I think, I think fluid film is a, is a Lanolin based product too.
I think, I think only complaint I have about it is sometimes I like to put my keys. They hang it
on that bolt that comes up from the rear shock. Yeah. It never dries. Yeah. Yeah. But you know,
this last time it seems like it had way more than the first time I had it. I don't know what this,
because I still hang my keys up under that with a shock. Well, don't tell, don't tell, don't tell
anybody we're going to come out and get it. I don't care. Take my car, take my device. I don't
I listened to this all the time. I really like your program. Well, I appreciate that. I forget what
so he says he suggests to do it every year, but I missed this year because it rained or something
or I couldn't go there. And then the next time it was already too late, there was salt down on the
road. But this is my second year after and you can't find any places where it's absent, you know?
Yeah. Like I'll definitely do it next year. But anyways, I can tell you one at a time. Thank you
for your time. All right. All right. Thanks, Paul. Take care. We need to take a break. Pay some bills.
Johnny and Plymouth, Frank and Braintree stay there. We'll be with you in just about a minute or
two. You'll listen to the CarDoc program on 959WATD. We'll be right back. Even car geeks and do-it-yourselfers
rely on AAA to give them extra peace of mind on the road. AAA offers 24 seven roadside assistance
whether you're in your own vehicle, a friend's car, or even a rental. Combine that with great
rates of insurance, hotel, gas and buying savings and discounts on 8,700 brands and you're covered on
and off the road. Get a special membership offer today at AAA.com slash join. That's AAA.com slash join.
Talk radio with a sell-through point of view. Hi, I'm Kevin Churchill.
Join me tomorrow for Monday Night Talk where the South Shore comes to talk
tomorrow night after the six o'clock news here on 959WATD.
And welcome back to the CarDoc to program on 959WATD. Let's talk to Johnny and Plymouth. Johnny,
how are you? All right, hey, you know, I travel a lot. I see a lot. And what I don't get is you see
a lot of vehicles out on the road. Why people just don't go to car washes, especially when it comes to
New England with all the salt. And the importance of doing an undercarriage wash. I just don't
understand how people can just drive around and spend their fortune on how much it costs
for a vehicle these days. And they just don't take care of them.
Well, and I, you know, I agree with you. And the other thing is, you know, from somebody who used
to work on cars, it was psychological. But when someone came in with a car that was well taken care
of, you were more, you just tended to want to do a little bit more. And, you know, a car comes in
that hasn't been washed since it was new. It still has, you know, has, you know, four years worth of
McDonald's wrappers in the car. You're like, you do your job. But, you know, it's, I don't understand
when somebody goes out and spends $30, $40, $50, $80,000 for a vehicle. And they don't take care of
it. Doesn't make any sense to me. Exactly. When I see that, I also think people just are just
driving that car, doing no regular maintenance, especially oil. One of my vehicles I have,
I have a 2008 Honda Civic. It has 360,000 miles on it. These have always done the oil changes.
Everything that is supposed to be done, I get done. And that's why it lasted so long.
And it's not, and what you just said, everything that's supposed to be done, you get done. And you
don't have to do, you know, you don't have to change the oil every 2000 miles. Just follow the
recommendation and look under the hood once in a while and check and see what the levels are.
You know, so many times I hear people that they go, well, I don't have to change the oil
till every 7,500 miles. Yeah, but that doesn't keep you from the obligation of opening up the hood
and pulling the dipstick every once in a while because in 7,500 miles, chances are it's going
to use a couple of quarts of oil. That's normal. And all of a sudden now instead of driving around
with five or six quarts of oil in the engine, you're driving around with three or four. And that's
enough where you're going to cause extra wear and tear on the engine. So take care of your car.
Exactly. Just to run back to the car wash. There's a lot of car washes wherever you're
in. If you just download an app or even go on their webpage, they, like for instance,
I'm not going to mention the name is the advertisement, but the car wash that I
go to, I bought the monthly thing when you have unlimited washes. And at the end of the day,
if you travel by that car wash at least two or three times a week, you might go buy that plan
and go through it. It's what five, 10 minutes out of your life.
Yeah. And, and, you know, I, I would prefer if I had a, if it was a perfect world,
I would prefer to be able to get under the air in bad weather with a hose
and wash it off with nice clean fresh water. And most car washes today recycle their water.
And I always worry about the ones that don't do it right. And, you know, now all of a sudden
you're washing a car with salty water, but the car, but the new modern car washes,
you can pretty much drink the water that comes out of the spray. So the old ones that might
have not been the case. So those ones I worried about a little bit more. And, you know, the idea of,
you know, high pressure water being sprayed somewhere, as long as it's clean fresh water,
it's not a problem. Or as long as it's at least filtered water, it's not a problem. So,
but you're right. Doing that undercarriage wash, you know, like I said, the best, in my opinion,
the best thing would be get under there with a hose and rinse it off with a hose, but you can't
do that when it's eight degrees outside. So you have to rely on the drive through car wash. And
like you said, you know, if you're going to, you know, whatever the car wash was, and you buy
the book of unlimited washes or the passive unlimited washes, and you drive by there a
couple of times a week. And, you know, you know, on certain days they're going to be really crowded.
On other days they're not. You drive by and you're like, Oh, there's only one person waiting
in line. I'll go get my car washed. And don't you feel better when you're in a clean car?
Oh, exactly. And to go back to your comment regarding them changing the water, you can
usually tell I haven't run into the problem where I go now. Of course, it's like a new
car wash. Yeah, corporate car wash. Yeah. But you can smell that smell, you know,
I was going to say that your nose usually tells you which ones are using the right stuff. So
exactly. And that's where I don't go back to. Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely right.
Just something I wanted to pass along and talk about. Thanks for the tip.
Understand. Hey, thank you. All right. All right. Thanks, Johnny.
Let's see if we get to Frank real quick. Frank. Is that you, Frank?
Mr. Paul, I just wanted I got a 25 2025 Toyota Corolla and I was shocked when I was reading the
owner's manual on they require zero w eight viscosity motor oil. And I've been changing
oil all my life for many years and I've always used my cars 530 1030 1040 and I was shocked
to see zero w eight viscosity. And a couple of weeks ago you mentioned Hyundai. I think it was
Kia that had engine issues with the low viscosity oil. And I think GM also and they recommend
it switch to a higher. Yeah, they went to they went to yeah, they went to a heavy grade oil
just to do that. And if you priced out the zero w eight Toyota oil, it's like it's like $15 a court.
Yeah, I went to the dealer, I bought it at the dealership late November 2024 and
and I only got like $5,000 miles on the car. I had to bring it to the dealer
back in November, just before the year up and they did the oil change for free under the
Toyota new car, your maintenance thing. And but the salesman, the sales rep was telling me
that the oil is expensive because I was telling my always that oil changes myself, you know,
but it's some special oil, they said, you know, and I should zero w eight. That seems kind of
light to me, you know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, it was first, it was first used in a Prius.
And then they started using it in some other vehicles. And I, you know, I, it's one of those
things that I'm kind of lost for words here. But it's one of those things where I think
I looked it up one time and it's zero w eight in the US. But it's like
520 in Australia or something is the same car. And it's like, well, why in Australia do they
use 5w 20 or zero w 20 and in the United States use zero w eight. And it's all has to do with
miles per gallon and emissions, I guess. Yeah, yeah. So I've always been using mobile one in my
older cars. I never had a problem. And I was just wondering, I don't expect we had to get rid of my
old Honda and I got a couple of five gallon containers of mobile one 5w 30. Can I actually
use that in the Toyota without avoiding the manufacturers warranty? I would not. I would
not. I would worry. I would worry that if something bad happened, they would say, no, we're not going
to do it. Hey, that music means we need to go. But thanks for the thanks for the question. And
be well. Thank you very much. All right. Great show every week, John. Well, thank you very much.
All right. Well, until next week, make sure you wear your seatbelt, drive safely, be good to
your car. And if you do see an emergency vehicle by the side of the road, slow down and move over.
It saves lives. Talk to y'all next week. Bye bye.
About this episode
Exploring the historic Sebring International Raceway, the episode captures the excitement of the Pistons and Props event, featuring both racing and vintage planes. John Paul shares his experience watching time trials and reconnecting with racer Steve Fitzgerald, who showcased his modified BMW. The episode highlights the advanced telemetry used in racing, amusing anecdotes about Brad Pitt's speed restrictions during filming, and the impressive setups of various racing teams. Listeners will appreciate the insights into the racing culture and the behind-the-scenes action at one of America's oldest tracks.
In this episode we were supposed to talk with Jon Vorisek CEO of https://www.repairsurge.com. Looks like a good program perhaps we can connect in the future. I got to spend some time https://www.sebringraceway.com/. What a great track and a great event Pistons and Props. Then there is my listener family which is why I do the program
