Today I'm busting the car repair myths that you learned from dear 'ol Dad, or Uncle Charlie, or whoever...

Hey folks, welcome back to another edition of my car guru and I hope I don't offend

any of you today because I'm going to be talking about your dad, your uncle Charlie,

your aunt Bertha, whoever it might be that taught you what you, what they thought you

needed to know about cars, especially if you are over 45 years old because a lot of

the stuff that they told you about cars, if they told you anything is just not true anymore.

It's not, it was true back then, but it's just not true now.

And what I'm talking about is car maintenance, car repair things, myths that have continued

to be passed down from generation to generation.

So if you did not have a teacher, this will be valuable information for you because you're

getting off to the right start because you're listening to this podcast slash radio program.

So let's get started.

You know, there's so many of them.

There's a lot of things that have changed and it's changed the way they're maintained.

I mean, in 19, well, let's say, when did I become a service advisor?

1975, I started working in the service department as a service advisor.

I didn't know anything about cars.

I was more or less a greeter.

I learned real quickly about certain things.

I knew that the best time to change your oil was every 2,500 miles.

That every 22,500 miles.

Don't ask me why that particular time frame mattered or that particular mileage mattered.

But that's when you're supposed to change your spark plugs.

And all cars had carburetors.

There were, well, there were some cars that were manufactured that had fuel injection.

But, you know, most of the cars that we were dealing with had carburetors.

And, you know, the cooling system, the antifreeze, all of that needed to be changed more frequently.

Brake pads lasted about the same amount of time.

Tires weren't as reliable as they are today or as durable.

So, you know, a lot of that stuff has changed.

So it's time to update you or educate you to begin with.

So let's talk about myth number one.

Myth number one is that you must change your oil every 2,500 to 3,000 miles.

You know, modern engines are made to such tight tolerances.

Oil has changed dramatically over the last 30 or 40 years.

It's gotten much better.

Most of the oil, well, just about all the oil we put in our customer vehicles is either a synthetic blend or full synthetic.

Now, when Mobile One, the full synthetic oil, first came out, they recommended that you change your oil, get this, every 15,000 miles.

Well, we certainly don't recommend that, but there are still people that think they need to change their oil every 3,000 miles.

Now, I'm an advocate that if you don't drive your car and if you're just going to put 3,000 miles a year on your car, then you should change your oil once a year.

Well, how come?

I'm not driving it.

Well, because things happen inside that enclosed environment, your engine, that over time can hurt your engine, like moisture develops, condensation.

You know, just parts sitting there without any oil on them because all of it's strained down into the oil pan.

I mean, components can actually, it's rare, but can actually rust.

And corrosion is not a good thing inside of a motor that has moving parts at very close tolerances.

So, but you don't need to change your oil every 3,000 miles.

My recommendation for the average everyday car with a synthetic blend is every 5,000 miles.

Now, many of you wait until the change of oil light comes on.

It doesn't mean that you have a problem.

It's not like the oil pressure is down or that your, you know, your oil is too low, which could trigger a light.

No, this is just a reminder to change your oil.

And a lot of people, a lot of manufacturers say you can wait until that light comes on.

And that's typically between 6,000 and 8,000 miles.

That's just something.

Now, as a car dealer, you may say, well, you're biased because you want us to come in and change our oil more often.

Well, not really because when people buy a car for me, I give them the first 3 years of oil changes for free.

So it's not that I want you to come in more often.

I just want you to come in and get it done on a consistent basis at the right miles and the right time.

So that's the recommendation there.

And, you know, that's been going on for a number of years now.

And that's just, it works well for a lot of people.

Okay.

As far as transmission, a lot of people believe that if you flush your transmission,

which means to basically drain out all of the transmission fluid and then use air pressure and a cleaner to go into your transmission

and clean everything, that that could ruin your transmission.

I don't recommend transmission flushes, but a lot of businesses do.

The reality of the situation is that if you just drain your transmission fluid, replace the filter and fill it back up with the right kind of transmission fluid.

That's really all you need to do and you need to do it at the recommended intervals because neglect ruins transmissions.

So again, proper intervals versus misinformation.

You know, if you're, if you're driving a car that has a CVT and you need to know that really, you need to know if you have a transmission that has gears in it.

You know, like first gear, second gear all the way up through 10.

We're selling vehicles with 10 speed transmissions now versus a CVT, a continuously variable transmission.

If you're driving like a Honda CR-V, a lot of other small Hondas, a Toyota Rev 4, there's a lot of Hyundai's, there's some Nissan's, there's some Ford's, some Chevrolets.

They use CVT transmissions and the way they're designed is that they feel like a regular transmission because they shift, they seem like they're shifting gears,

but what they are, they're just changing positions on this cone that's inside the transmission.

It uses belts and I mean, I'm talking about flexible belts in many cases and chains, but the thing about CVTs is it's just so critical that you really service them more often than the factory recommends.

And it's a myth that you never have to service a transmission.

I mean, there are some automakers that say that it's sealed for life.

Well, it's not, though, because it has a drain plug.

Why don't they put a drain plug on it if you never have to do anything with it?

You ask any mechanic, they're going to say, service your transmission.

And if it's a really old transmission, don't do a power flush on it because if you haven't maintained it, you haven't kept the oil or the transmission fluid changed out.

Then, yeah, you could create problems by getting the old transmission fluid out of there and flush in it.

Matter of fact, the vehicle could start shifting poorly.

It could, you know, not downshift or upshift correctly.

So it's a myth that transmission flushes ruin transmissions.

What ruins it, like I say, is neglect in the first place.

Okay, myth number three, coolant can be replaced with water if the weather is warm.

You may have never heard that one. I've heard that before.

You know, that was okay in 1934, 1918, you know, back when, you know, the Model T and the Model A.

But no, it's not true because water destroys aluminum blocks.

It corrodes radiators. They're overheating dangers.

Coolant, coolant has a higher boiling point.

So, you know, an emergency basis.

I mean, if you don't have an alternative and you've lost coolant or, you know, and your car's overheating.

Yeah, I mean, for a short period of time, you can put water in it until you get to a service station

or a car dealership where they can actually drain all that out and put the proper antifreeze

and find out why it overheated to begin with.

And that could be caused by a number of reasons.

But no, it is a myth that you can replace antifreeze with water.

That'd be great because antifreeze is not cheap.

Okay, let's get into a few other things, especially when it comes to fuel and engine myths.

You know, a lot of people think that premium fuel cleans your engine.

Well, all fuels have detergents in them.

But the only time that you really need to use premium fuel is if your car requires it,

or if it recommends it.

Like, my wife just started driving a Nissan Armada.

It recommends premium fuel if you're towing.

You know, if you want to get, if you're driving in hot weather, there's several different circumstances

where they recommend premium fuel, but you don't have to use premium fuel.

And you're not going to clean your engine anyway.

One of the biggest problems with modern engines is, and it really is the result of the switch to direct fuel injection

as opposed to what they call throttle body injection.

Direct injection is much more precise.

It's much more efficient.

Cars that have direct fuel injection get better fuel economy.

But one of the problems with that is that on a lot of direct fuel injected engines,

carbon builds up on the top surface of the valves.

And you know, the valves open up and close.

You have intake valves that let air in to the combustion chamber.

You have exhaust valves that let exhaust out of the chamber.

What happens is you don't get a good clean burn of all the fuel if you're using the wrong fuel,

if you're using cheap fuel, or if you have, you know, old spark plugs.

If there's some type of a problem with the ignition system, you know, create,

it's not creating a hot enough spark.

And all of this can be caused, well, some of it can be caused by using the wrong fuel.

If your car, if it doesn't require premium fuel, don't put it in it,

because it could cause problems.

It could cause that buildup of carbon.

And if you are supposed to use premium fuel, same thing.

If you use regular unleaded just because it's cheaper,

then that could cause problems with your engine.

So, you know, these are things that people need to really understand.

Okay, I'm going to take my first break.

I'll be back in just a minute.

Okay, let's talk about another myth that you can ignore your check engine light,

because it's really not going to hurt anything.

I've heard a lot of people say that over the years.

A lot of, you know, not necessarily mechanics, but people who claim to have mechanical knowledge.

Ah, you don't have to worry about that.

It's probably nothing.

It's just an excuse for the dealer to charge you.

And that's just not true, especially if your check engine light is flashing.

If your check engine light is flashing on and off, you better pull over.

Call 911.

Call the record.

Now, if it's a solid, you know, light, it's not flashing,

then it's going to mean reduced efficiency, some type of an emission control problem,

and it can lead to potential damage.

Matter of fact, you could actually destroy a very expensive component on your vehicle called the catalytic converter.

You know, it's just, it's something that cleans the exhaust and has an O2 sensor in it.

It measures the amount of oxygen and unburned fuel,

and it sends signals to the computer on the vehicle to adjust the air, the fuel mixture,

to what it needs in order to be able to get a good, clean burn of fuel

and not have too much bad stuff going at the exhaust pipe.

So that's, the catalytic converter is important,

and you don't want to burn that out, and it's expensive.

And if you do, it's not going to be covered by your warranty.

It could be covered by your emission warranty up to, typically those are five years or 50,000 miles.

But beyond that, it's on you, if that thing goes bad.

So don't ignore your check engine light.

Okay, here's another myth.

Brake and tire suspension myth.

So squeaky brakes always mean you need new pads,

or, you know, you've got to replace something on your braking system.

Typically it'd either be pads which are what grabs the rotor on a vehicle that has disc brakes.

So the pads are what wears out.

But just because they're squeaky doesn't mean they're worn out.

Now, what I've found in my career, pretty long career,

is that you're always better off putting on OEM or original equipment parts for the brake pads.

Any of the braking components.

I don't believe in buying brake pads that are aftermarket.

I'm sure that a lot of them are fine, but most of the ones that I've seen will squeak and squeal.

And when I pull up to a traffic light because the light has turned red,

and I'm slowing down, I do not want my vehicle to sound like a log truck.

And, you know, that's just a personal pet peeve.

So anyway, if you have squeaky brakes, it could be because of temperature change, humidity change,

you've been through water, you know, you've got a lot of dust on your pads or on your rotors.

It's possible that your rotors might need to be turned if they weren't turned when you put on the new pads.

That's something that I always ask my service advisor if I have a vehicle that has,

you know, that needs brakes.

I'll say I want OEM pads and I want you to check the rotors and make sure that they're turnable.

If not, then put on new rotors.

Those are expensive, but that needs to be done or you're not going to be happy.

What you're going to find is that you're, if you have really skinny rotors that have been turned too many times

and you apply your brakes, you're going to get that pulsating brake or pedal.

It's just going to give you some feedback and your steering wheel will even shake.

That's what that is.

If you apply your foot to the brakes and your steering wheel is shaken and you're getting that feedback,

that pulsating feedback through your brake pedal, then more than likely the rotors need to be turned.

Now, do you have to replace the pads when you have your rotors turned?

Not necessarily.

It depends on the condition of the pads.

A good technician can look at them and determine whether they need to be replaced as well.

Sometimes you can tell if the pads have been really hot or if they're worn unevenly

and then you just pretty much don't have a choice.

But it is a myth that just because they're squeaking that you need pads.

That's just not necessarily the case.

You know, sometimes it'll just get better.

It'll go away.

Temperature changes.

The humidity changes in the air.

Okay, tire rotation.

It's optional.

Well, yeah, I guess it's optional.

I mean, if you don't rotate your tires like every 5,000 to 6,000 miles,

they're just going to wear out prematurely, especially if you're driving a vehicle which is front-wheel drive.

And most are.

You know, very few vehicles out there are rear-wheel drive.

Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, what else?

You know, any type of truck, you know, they're all rear-wheel drive vehicles.

But front-wheel drive vehicles have 60 to 65% of the weight on the front tires.

They also do all of the steering and 75% of the braking.

So there's a lot being called for from those front tires.

And that's why they tend to wear out quicker.

So if you have a front-wheel drive vehicle, or any vehicle for that matter,

you need to rotate your tires every 5,000 to 6,000 miles.

That'll last longer.

And then in the interim, at least once a month, you're checking your air pressures in your tires

because you will lose anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds of pressure every month.

So if you're waiting 6 months to get your oil change, you could lose 15 to 18 pounds of tire pressure.

Now, that's going to be unlikely if you have a vehicle that has tire pressure monitoring,

which all the modern vehicles have that.

I think it's a federal requirement.

But yeah, I mean, it's going to tell you if you don't have enough air pressure in your tires

and if you don't, you need to get it up there.

It makes a big difference.

It tells you on the, there's a little sticker on the door jam, the driver side door jam of your vehicle.

It could be on your door, but I think it's typically on the jam.

And that's where the door closes against the body.

You look there, it'll tell you the tire size and it'll tell you the tire pressures that are recommended for your vehicle.

You do not look at the tire pressure that's listed.

It'll say PSI on the side of the tire.

You might say PSI or 36 PSI.

That's the maximum tire pressure for that particular tire.

It's why it's so important to use the exact same tire size that came on your vehicle.

Like I said, the tire size is on the door jam.

If you bought a used car, or you're thinking about buying a used car, then open up the door, look at the sticker.

See what tire size that they recommended that it was built with and then look at the tires on the car.

If they're the wrong size, then tell them to change it.

You'll buy it, but you want the right size tires on there.

Now, these people that jack up cars and put wide tires on them and tall tires, they ignore that.

They don't really care, but you should care.

If you care the most about longevity of your tires and the hamming of your vehicle, then that's something you need to be concerned about.

Okay, I'll be back in just one minute.

Okay, a couple more myths I wanted to overcome.

Over-inflating your tires improves gas mileage?

Well, it's possible that it will improve its sum, but what you're going to do is wear out the center tread of your tires and the car won't handle right.

Again, right size tire, right amount of inflation, you're going to be happier with the overall longevity of your tires, especially if you maintain the pressures.

And once a year, get a four-wheel alignment, and you won't be buying tires very often.

I had a customer come in the other day, 90,000 miles and still have four or 30 seconds of tread depth left on the same set of tires.

I asked him, I said, how'd you manage that?

He said, rotation, tire pressure, enough said.

Okay, this is a common misconception that dealerships are always more expensive to get your car worked on, and they can be more expensive.

One of the reasons for that is that dealerships will not use aftermarket parts unless the customer specifically requests aftermarket parts.

Now, if you go to Joe Blow's engine shop or repair shop, that's all they use is aftermarket parts unless you ask for OEM parts.

So there's going to be a 15 to 50% difference in price on regular maintenance parts, things like brake pads and filters and those types of things.

But I don't know, I'm just a purist.

I'm not putting any aftermarket parts on anything unless OEM parts are no longer available.

And then I've got no choice.

Like a lot of the parts I buy for my old Mustangs and Bronco and, you know, just different vehicles that I have, I mean, I don't have any choice.

I have to get aftermarket parts because I don't make them anymore.

Okay, one other myth is that if your battery is dead or slow to start and you have to jump it off, you probably need a new battery.

It may not be the case. You could have a charging problem because what keeps your battery charged is your alternator.

And so once the car starts, the battery gets the car going, okay?

But after the car is going, the alternator takes over.

And while it's powering all the different components and different, you know, the infotainment screens and the lights and all that stuff on your vehicle,

the battery is resting and it's getting a little bit of a charge back from that alternator that keeps it just fresh.

Now, if, you know, if it goes bad, you find it's not starting as good as it used to.

It's real draggy.

Then I would check the charging system and make sure the alternator is okay and then have the battery itself tested and see what the cold cranking amps are.

Because every battery is a 12-volt battery.

Well, not every battery, but there are some that are more.

But they also have a certain amount of cold cranking amps.

That's how much power that they have to twist that starter and get things going.

So you want that to be, you know, within 90% of what it was new.

When it gets below that, then on a really, really cold morning where you go to a concert and it's late at night,

and you go out and then your car just...

And it won't start.

Then you could need a new battery, but always have the battery tested and have the alternator output tested so you can determine what the real problem is.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

Well, I wish you had time to cover more myths.

I'll finish this up on the next podcast.

But thanks for listening.

If you have any questions, you can always get in touch with me at 423-552-2020.

That's my cell phone.

You can text me or call me.

And if you do call and I don't answer, it's not because I don't care.

It's because I'm busy trying to run a new car dealership.

If you like email, send me a question or multiple questions or let's say you need an appraisal on your vehicle.

You want to know what it's worth?

You're thinking about going shopping and it sure would be nice to know what the actual cash value of your vehicle and what you can expect to get on the trade.

I can help you with that as well.

So thanks for listening to this edition and I'll see you next time.

Today I'm busting the car repair myths that you learned from dear 'ol Dad, or Uncle Charlie, or whoever...

About this episode

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from My Car Guru Podcast