What's a Safe Weight For Trailer Towing?

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Here's the show.

This is Under the Hood.

Welcome to the Under the Hood Show.

We are glad to have you with us.

Russ Evans is here to answer your automotive questions.

Hi, Chris.

Welcome to the show.

Shannon Nordstrom is here to do the same.

Welcome, hoodies.

Thanks for tuning in so we can help you tune up.

Hi, Russ.

Hi, Shannon.

Hi, Chris.

Hi, everybody.

That's never happened before.

Hi, Chris.

Doctor.

That's never happened before.

We've got just, I'm Chris Carter, by the way,

here to answer your calls at 866-594-41, 5-0.

Doctor.

A lot of calls coming in, so let's get right to them.

It feels like we should get back on track.

I think that calls are the best way to do that.

I think so, yeah.

Let's go there.

Let's start with James.

You're on the Under the Hood Show.

James, what can we do for you?

It got a 13 Cadillac XTX luxury, about 125,000 miles on it.

Didn't have any ride problem in it.

First of all, I guess you'll notice

there was a little bit of a right clunk,

or right front clunk, like in the shock area.

I think the strut is bad.

But what it does is it pumps the airbags up

to full extent and will not adjust the ride height.

Is it just the rear airbags that pump up to the super high height?

Yeah, the rear airbags pump up.

When this happens, is it immediately upon startup?

And you say it was a Cadillac XTX or S?

S is in SAM, correct?

S is in SAM, yep.

OK, so it's the big sedan Cadillac.

And it happens, yes.

Well, I don't know.

They're the small Cadillacs.

Yeah, I know how it, yeah, exactly.

Compared to the beast they used to have.

Right, exactly, yep.

All right, so right on startup, every time.

As soon as you hit the key and it starts doing what would be

maybe some normal leveling, it just keeps on going

and doesn't stop until what?

On all four corners or just one corner?

Two back.

And after you fired up, it'll sit there.

I don't know what it's a sense in doing this thing.

And then all of a sudden, the air pump will kick on.

And it just starts climbing and climbing and climbing.

It goes until there's, it's fully maxed out.

And then finally, the pump will shut off.

All right, and tell me what you were saying you did

with a scanner.

I just want to make sure to repeat that.

The scanner we got in there and checked,

popped all the ride height sensor levers off of them,

ran them up and down.

And on the computer, the diagnostic screen,

we could see the values were changing.

And then once they were all hooked back up,

they were similar in values, two point something or whatever.

And then we would tell it to dump the air going into the,

I don't know, suspension control module, I'm guessing,

then tell it to dump the air.

And it would dump the air and flatten the bags.

But then as soon as it gathered back up again,

it would pump them all away, clear to the top,

try to do a hard reset through the scanner.

And I guess it didn't take or there's still some stuff.

You might try unplugging that module.

Just take the module out.

Just unplug it for 10, 20 minutes.

Just make sure it's completely dead.

And then hook it back up, see if it does it.

I've had some cars do that when you change the battery out.

And they just get weird and you reset them

and they go with a scan tool.

It hasn't done any good.

You got to just unplug it, let it completely die out.

Russ, do you think there's any correlation to what potentially

could be a problem strut in the front of the car?

It shouldn't matter because it's independent.

That rear uses ride height sensors to see that.

Those ride height sensors should move and it should know.

It should say, hey, we moved this far.

Even if it doesn't have a calibration for ride,

there should be a button in there in the scanner,

depending on which scanner you have to set that.

Here's my normal ride height.

This is where we want it.

It's only adjustable a little bit,

like about an inch either direction.

It's not like you could set it permanently

for six inches higher because they know

that's not what they want.

So I was going to say, is there like a 72 Nova setting?

Yeah, he's already got that.

Yeah, he's got the rake from a Nova.

You just get some bigger tires for the back

and you'd be good to go.

Because that's what your advice would be, maybe.

I'd pull it, unplug it.

And then if that doesn't work,

that module itself could have just decided

it doesn't want to be good anymore

or is there something else in that system that?

It could very well have a problem in that module

because the compressor, if the compressor is still running,

if it's not running and it gets up that high,

it could have a bad dump valve in it.

But if it's continuing to run,

it's thinking that it's still low.

So it just says, I need to put more air in this thing.

Read the data as it's going up.

If you're reading the data and it's like,

oh, look, the height right sensors keep going up,

up, up, up, up, up, the module's lying to itself.

It says, oh, no, we still need to go.

Then why are you counting up?

Why are we still counting up?

We've counted up four inches already.

That's too much.

That's the module.

That's actually a good point.

So he did already look at the data on the sensors

with them unplugged, but to watch the data as it moves.

Start with it all the way on the bottom,

write down the number, watch the number,

and watch the numbers.

If they all keep going up, watch all four.

If they all keep going up the whole way up to the top,

it should have stopped somewhere in between.

The computer knows better than to keep it going.

And in that system, the computer stops it,

not like the old days where someone had a pressure sensor

that would stop them.

All computer.

James, thanks very much for the call.

Good luck.

At least something to start with

and then figure out from there.

You hope that's it, because then if that is it,

if it, then he's good to go.

Just reset, he puts back in, it resets,

and hopefully it'll-

At least till the next time, right?

Do you think a module like that, Russ,

that he could use a used module out of another car

if it was bad?

Is there that one that's locked in with a VIN

that you still have to initialize it?

You still have to program it,

but it's another module.

Because there's modules like that,

you could get into a situation

that they're extremely expensive.

I mean, there's some that you call the dealer

and they're like, oh no, that's $79 cost or whatever.

You're like, oh, that's not so bad.

But then you'll call on the next one

and they'll say, well, that module is $647 list price.

And you're like, oh, it sounds like

something I don't want to just try.

Right, right, right.

But then you could look for, you know,

car dash part and find one under,

you just look under computer modules

and choose that particular module.

Let's talk to David.

You're on the end of the hood show.

David, what can we do for you?

Yes, sir.

I have a 2024 RAM, 2500 and 22,000 miles

with a 64 engine.

The question I have is oil change.

This engine has the, I don't know what you call it,

but anyway, under light load it knocks out four cylinders

for fuel economy.

Yeah, I don't want to dodge his name for it,

but displacement on demand or something like that.

Yeah, RAM says I should change oil

when my change light comes on.

My dealership said I should change it at 5,000 miles,

but somewhere I heard might've been on your show,

they said to keep that thing operating properly,

I should change it like 3,000 miles.

Is this something or am I dreaming?

How do you use the truck?

What's your daily use of this truck?

Just running around like short trips.

Okay, you're like around town

and occasionally a little further out of town?

Yeah.

Okay, so if you're looking at that kind of trips with it,

I definitely would bring that oil change interval down

and for 100% without even looking at rust,

I'm looking at rust in the eye,

you do not follow the light on this truck

based on your driving habits for sure.

If you're gonna get on the open road every day

and this thing was going down the interstate

50 miles every day,

I think you can get closer to using the light,

but if you're gonna be running around town with it,

the oil quality that they're recommending

is gonna be a very good oil

and it's made for some time in there

with the chemical package that they have,

the type of lubricity it has,

but we're still gonna want you to pull down closer

to that 3,500 to 5,000 range with that truck.

Use short trips, 3,000, that's it.

Yeah, rust is gonna go lower than that, yes.

If he was at our shop, we recommend lower than that.

And when you say short trips,

are you putting 5,000 miles on it in a whole year?

Probably about that.

I bought the dumb thing because my wife

used my spare department retirement fund

and bought a different camper,

which my old pickup had a little hard time navigating with,

so I end up getting this three quarter ton.

Okay, then a couple times a year.

Yeah, that's a good way to look at it.

Twice a year, 5,000 miles a year, twice a year,

change it in the, like the old days.

Yeah, change it in the spring,

change it in the fall, whatever, I think you'd be fine.

And you bought a really nice truck.

I mean, that's a good choice for pulling that camper

because when you need the power,

you'll have it, you have the suspension that you need,

you have the brakes that you need,

but you don't have all the expensive upkeep

as if you would have bought

a Cummins diesel version of that truck.

So I think you made a good choice for the way you,

with the way you use that truck,

you made a very good choice.

David, thanks very much for the call.

866-594-4150, that's the number to reach us here

at the Under the Hood Show.

What has caught your attention in the automotive world?

So I had a couple shop customers come in yesterday

and they changed my channel.

Usually it's Ron Barrett Jackson, people see him.

They changed the channel to the price is right.

And I went out and looked and I said,

well they're watching the price is right.

Where's Drew Carey?

Hi everyone, I'm Bob Barker.

I went, Bob Barker's got black hair.

Let's choose your showcase.

It's a new car.

You'll be driving a 1977 Chevy Corvette

with air conditioning and automatic transmission.

You'll cruise down the road.

Eversently I was like a 77 Chevette.

Nice, Corvette or Chevette?

Chevette, not Corvette.

Did I say Corvette?

Yeah, but that's okay.

The story's going to be good either way.

It's even better.

No, it's a 77 Chevette.

And I was like, oh boy.

And I think the retail price was 38.

I was going to say 38.90.

That was going to be my guess.

I was like $1.

Oh my goodness.

Wasn't that crazy?

And then right after that they had a showcase with a camper.

And I...

Oh, that would have been interesting too.

It was a little camper and they had just all the old stuff.

A grandfather clock.

But car wise, this is, boy, we come a long way.

I mean, what would that be today on the showcase showdown?

Would that be like a Ford Focus or something?

Good, yeah, there's no cars.

A Kia Forte!

There's no...

Couldn't have been a Chevrolet car, could it have been?

And they still give away cars on that showdown.

Yeah, but it couldn't have been a passenger car, a sedan.

No.

No, I think the mall's got...

Oh, speaking of sedans, there's some automotive news.

Shannon, you want to tell them what's going on with the Camaro?

I do.

I haven't read in detail, but I saw the blast for me.

And I looked at the headline, I said, I don't want to read this article.

When Chris talks about cars and cars that came back differently,

the Blazer is not a Blazer, only by name.

Okay, great.

It's a decent vehicle, yes.

But it's not what we're looking for.

I have a feeling, I have a feeling.

I'm going to say something right now before we even get into this.

Russ, we're experiencing right now...

Old age.

No.

Yes, but the same thing that the Mustang folks felt,

and we just didn't feel those hard.

Now, you're a Mustang guy.

Maybe you felt it when they went with the new Mach Mustang.

I was disappointed, but then I thought, okay,

it's great to use the name to get people to look at it,

because if you called it something else,

so many people wouldn't have even purchased it.

I think people would purchase this one as what it is,

because of the name.

But it's just, it's so, it's so awkward,

because why, all my thought is,

you've got two performance cars from GM,

right, Corvette and Camaro.

I got to stop you.

We haven't said what we're talking about yet.

I know, we just, we don't want to say it out loud.

The Camaro went away when? Last year?

Last year.

They had their anniversary, their final cars last year.

So they said, hey, don't worry, it's coming back.

That's my only issue with it, is they only waited a year.

Yeah.

But they said, wait, wait too soon.

Wait too soon.

The rumor is that they're bringing it back as an EV.

Well, it's going to be one of two things.

EV or not, but it's going to be a four-door car.

It's going to be an, it's going to be an SUV.

Well, a Mach-E is what it is, but with a Camaro.

Yeah.

I don't know why they're trying to have a Mach-E competitor,

because the Mach-E's aren't flying off the shelf.

No, but if you put a gasoline engine in it,

that's what they're saying.

It could go either way.

It could go gas, or if the president of GM has it his way,

it says it'll be electric.

That's what the article in Motor Trend said.

So if that's a gas car, I think if that Mach-E,

if they threw a, if they put a EcoBoost six in there,

you might sell a lot.

But make it a hybrid or just make it completely gas?

No, just a straight EcoBoost.

I think more people would buy it.

Here's the thing.

As age groups, generations move on, they'll take it.

They'll accept it.

If you're a 16-year-old right now,

and in a few years you're driving,

and you've got a chance to go out to a lot and buy a car,

are you going to go buy a,

if you're not going to buy a minivan,

you're going to buy a charger maybe,

one of the new, maybe a Hemicharger.

You want something sporty, but you're going to get

a four-door.

Oh yeah, they're bringing out back all the V8s.

You're going to get, you pick up the Camaro,

or you're going to get an electric Mach-E.

They're probably going to be thinking,

I don't want an electric four, I'm at, I want a gas car.

So maybe the Camaro is the right choice for them,

but it just shocks us.

I mean, if they're going to bring back a name

that's been gone for a while and make it all electric

and do a complete retooling,

just bring back a Firebird and really get Shannon's goat.

In 2024, the Mustang Mach-E was the third best-selling

EV in the United States.

And how many units?

EV, low.

So I'm guessing the Mach-E.

Tesla, a Hyundai, and then a Mustang.

Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, then the Mustang.

Both Tesla's.

That was in 2024.

And the Tesla's are way higher, but that's,

so it's not, I don't think they, the Mach-E,

I think the Mach-E is slotting where they're getting.

I know, I'm being a little bit better.

It's a good look.

If it is anything like the picture that's in Motor Trend,

that's a way better looking car than the Mach-E.

And to be fair.

Or a retro look.

Yeah, it's a four door.

And to be fair, the Camaro has always just been

pretending to be a Mustang, right?

So.

Not sparking any fires there, are we?

I'm being facetious, by the way.

I mean.

Yeah, that was, but I saw that news.

I forwarded that to you guys.

I truly did not even read the article.

I just forwarded it to you.

Of course it's going to be an,

of course it's going to be an EV.

People that say, you guys just hate.

Hey, just as long as they're listening,

they can hate on the line.

Of course it's going to be a copy of the Mustang Mach-E.

I still own one and I've had others.

So don't be, don't be on me.

Let's go to Texas and talk to Wade.

You're on the under the hood show, Wade.

What can we do for you?

Last year, I retired and moved from Knoxville, Tennessee

to Waco, Texas.

Cool.

Had a, had a pristine Subaru WRX

until a giant pickup truck decided not to stop.

No one, no one was injured.

So I picked up a 2017 Subaru Crosstrek five-speed manual

and I have two questions.

I'm trying to get accustomed to Texas heat,

but I'm seeing oil temperatures at like 237,

coolant temperatures at 204.

Am I good?

Perfect.

Oh, okay.

You get that on a nice South Dakota summer day, here.

So the oil temperature, yeah, the, no, the engine's fine.

And the, you'll see that oil, that engine temp

on a good hot day, they haven't had super hot days yet,

but when you hit like 104, high humidity,

like up where the dew points up like 90,

you're going to be like, oh, and you got your air on high

and you're in stop and go traffic in downtown Waco.

You could see engine temp at 226.

You know, it'll, it'll stop when it gets about that point,

but that's, that's going to be hot.

But then you get out on the highway, you know,

that'll drop down to 205 to 207.

That's, and in the cooler.

I'm seeing, yeah, I'm seeing the 230s.

Well, of course, some of the interstates

are 80 miles an hour.

No, I'm talking about, I'm talking about your,

your engine coolant temp, not oil.

The oil temp's going to get up, yeah.

Yeah, that oil temp's going to get a little higher.

Typically at highway speeds,

they'll both even out pretty close.

So if you got 210 on the engine coolant,

you'll have 210 oil without a load behind it

or something like that.

But yeah, you get hot temps will, will do that outside.

They can only cool off so much, but they're made,

these engines are made to run so much hotter.

There's some of them that have thermostats

that run 228 degrees.

Some of the new cars, it's, it's emissions.

They, they just build them.

You know, you got to realize that.

So an engine, it's, it's more about the head gasket

than anything else.

Cause an aluminum engine, aluminum's got

a pretty high melting point.

You know, I'm pushing 1,100 degrees of exhaust temp

on my diesel.

It's aluminum pistols.

They would, you know, they'd come apart

if, if it was like a 250.

So if you've got an engine with the right head bolts

and the right gasket surfaces and get good gaskets,

they, they're designed to run a little hotter temps

than, than what we're accustomed to.

Wade, thanks very much for the call.

Have no fear is what we're saying.

Yeah, let not your heart be troubled.

He's good.

But now that he knows that,

should he keep an eye on it if it goes above that?

I think he just needs to enjoy his car.

Okay.

It's working like it's supposed to.

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Hey, it's Chris Carter with Russ Evans

and Shannon Nordstrom under the hood.

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Welcome back everybody.

It's time to get back under the hood

with our motor medics.

866-594-4150.

That's the number to reach us here

at the under the hood show.

Don't forget you can watch the show on our YouTube channel

if you subscribe there and join the hoodie fan club

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Like Collette Johnson, congratulations

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They're celebrating 50 years of collector car coverage.

Goes back to like my first cars almost.

Yeah.

And Universal Technical Institute, UTI.edu.

What was that?

Great place to go to get trained

to be an automotive technician.

Find out what the first car was they insured.

I wonder if they would even know that.

It was like for me,

if you said what was the first car

you worked on in your shop,

I couldn't tell you

because it was before my current computer system.

Yeah, those insurance companies

they're pretty big on statistics.

Keeping track.

Well, yeah, but still do you keep,

I guess if it were me for nostalgia,

I might keep that.

But on the other hand, I might say,

all right, let's keep records 20 years prior

to when their last coverage was.

We need to ask them that

because I'm just sitting here thinking about,

you know, when we tell the story about our business,

we know there was a first vehicle

for pickup that my dad fixed.

And maybe their story revolves around

a first vehicle that they insured.

I can see W.R. Berkeley possibly

when he got into the collector car end of it

may have said, a collector car,

we might be able to do.

I think we can do it.

We're gonna ask this

because I have opinions.

I can't believe I'm gonna say this,

but it was only 50 years ago.

That's nothing.

Only, yeah, you're right.

It wasn't that really wasn't that long ago.

So we were six?

Yeah.

I wasn't, but you guys were.

You were three.

Let's go to Pennsylvania and talk to Jim.

You're on the under the hood show.

Jim, what can we do for you?

Hey guys, I'm actually in Indianapolis,

but that's okay.

Hey, I've called before.

You guys have helped me out

with my Trans-Am and my F-250 diesel.

And I'm actually working at home today.

I have the YouTube feed on watching you guys.

And I thought, perfect time to call

and ask about the new Husky hauler

that I'm about to get.

We're waving at you right now.

We're trading, well, there's a little bit of a delay.

So I'll have to wait to see you.

But yeah, anyway, traded in the 2016 Rubicon

had the 3.6, 50,000 mile manual.

And I figured things were going to start

to need to be replaced.

So I have ordered and hopefully next week

it's going to be built a 25 Bronco Badlands Sasquatch.

And I'm getting the 2.3 liter

because that's what you have to get

in order to get a manual.

Guys, I'm 62 years old.

I've never owned an automatic

and I'm just too old to learn how to drive a 5-1, so.

But I understand this rascal is going to come

with auto-stop, believe it or not.

So I've already researched the auto-stop eliminator module

to install.

And I guess, guys, any, Shannon, don't you own a Bronco?

I do.

Not one of those.

Well, no, but I had different.

We started our Bronco Quest

not super early when people got the rush,

but we didn't have a mini Bronco.

No, I thought you did.

No, no.

We started it in 2020, I think,

when we had our folder started to put order.

And we waited two years

because we wanted to get just the one we wanted.

We wanted the Bronco Sasquatch Badlands.

And I remember reading about everything.

When they came out with that straight stick four-cylinder,

the enthusiasts were just excited to all get up

because they made a two-door four-cylinder bare bones

that you could pick up really affordably

and get all the off-road pros

and still have that new Bronco feel.

And the enthusiasts just loved it.

They just thought that was the greatest thing

that they did that.

And the vehicle itself, though, is a very, very good chassis.

I had the opportunity, while I waited for our Bronco,

my wife and I got the opportunity

to go out to the Bronco off-roadio.

And we went to their course just outside of Las Vegas

and spent a couple of days with the Bronco folks

and the Ford folks and other Bronco buyers.

And it was amazing how they showed us

the capabilities of those vehicles.

I think there's some videos back on our Facebook page

if you crawl back to probably 2022.

They're on the YouTube channel.

They're on the YouTube channel,

but it just, that vehicle,

not to say that a Jeep isn't capable.

I never went to a Jeep Wrangler school,

but I was just blown away about out of the box

the things they can do.

But I will tell you, I don't think

there was a single four-cylinder straight stick

at that school that they had us experience.

That would be hard for newbies.

So it was just, I don't know a lot about them,

but the vehicles themselves are super capable.

And I just know that the people that were writing about them,

all the comments about the straight sticks,

they were very excited about the way they made that feel,

the transmission shifting.

I mean, there was a lot of good reviews on that.

So I don't know what you wanna know about it,

but I just, I love the vehicle.

We've actually since then traded that in

for a Bronco Raptor that we have now.

Yeah, I think I'll show, I guess my,

I guess my main question then would be for Russ.

Russ, well, it's actually the 2.34 liter that I'm getting.

Any, anything run through your shop

that raises red flags that I should keep an eye out for,

I guess.

No, those engines have been really good.

Some of us, we've had a lot of issues

with the smaller Ford, like the escape engines,

like the Latini to any ones, but the turbo,

but this one, no, they've been a really good solid engine.

They need something a little bigger.

I say the mini Bronco, but it's really not

because I had a 66 Bronco.

And this new Bronco that you got is,

it wasn't that pretty, but it's bigger than that.

I got in line because Chris is famous

for looking up things and he says,

hey, what do you think this new Colorado,

how big do you think it is?

And it's like, it's longer and wider

than like a half ton or whatever.

Whoa.

So I looked at this thing, we had Pastor Jeff,

or, hey, his son's got one

that he purchased from here at Nordstrom.

So.

That was a Bronco Sport.

Yeah.

So I pull up, I went, I got in it.

And when I got in it, I went,

you know, this feels like I'm driving a 66,

because inside it just had the feel of it.

You'll feel like you're in an original one.

So I got the tape measure out

and I started checking some stuff out.

And I got online and I went,

this thing is actually wider and longer than the originals.

Now it wasn't as tall,

but if you recall, those older Broncos sat up very high.

So that's why they were taller.

But when you measure just from the top of the windshield

to the bottom of the rocker, the new one's bigger.

Yeah.

And then his full size Broncos

is going to be bigger yet.

Yeah.

So that's a, but all, all around,

I think they're, they're, they're pretty good.

And they might even have some performance options.

I don't know why you'd need them.

I think I'd stick with the longevity of a complete stock.

Well, if he's doing the straight stick,

if you need to get,

if you're going to go slow-mo on the off-road,

you've got a gear to choose

and transfer case settings and.

Torque engine.

Yeah. With your Sasquatch,

you've got the detachable sway bar.

You can, it's, it's really a very capable vehicle.

Jim, thanks very much for the call.

Good luck. Have fun.

Yeah.

Let us know.

Especially if he wanted a straight stick at 60 years old,

he's getting one.

And there's very few straight sticks produced anymore.

Yeah.

Get anything.

Yeah. But Ford made a point

that they wanted to have that for the enthusiast.

866-594-4150.

Let's talk to Matt.

You're on the end of the hood show.

Matt, what can we do for you?

Hey guys.

I got a 2020 Ram 1500.

Does not have the e-torque.

I was driving it all 5, 10 miles

and then stopped at a farm shop here to give a little bath.

Pressure wash the exterior,

go to start it and it'll crank until

the computer tells it to quit cranking.

I got no, no start to it.

Oh, how big a pressure washer did you use?

Did you move it at all?

Did it slide over a little?

It's got holes in the body now.

Nope.

Shot it up the exhaust.

Can't figure out what happened.

It just might be a coincidence.

No, just a normal exterior wash and I got nothing.

Yeah, nothing should have been capable

of causing that issue.

You'll just have to diagnose it

like it was a regular no start.

The lift pump in the tank may have failed

for some reason.

So you're not getting any fuel up there.

You know, I'm assuming it's got gasoline in the tank.

I've seen that happen before.

It's like, it won't start and it engages a little off.

And we've not had issues with fuel tank sending units

or fuel pumps on these, but the first step

is to find out if your fuel pumps run

and if it's got fuel, take the cap off,

listen to the filler neck there

while somebody just pushes the button.

Don't have to start it.

Just push the button twice so it powers up all the gauges

so you can hear that thing power up

and see if you can hear the fuel pump running.

I'm guessing you're probably not.

That's the most common thing for a no start on that.

How many miles you got on the RAM?

About 180,000.

All right, so it's been around a little bit.

Could have a fuel pump.

That would be the first place to start.

Now, and then after that, you might want to look

and see if on the dash you have any different lights for,

you know, they're not big, no one for security problems,

but you could look for that.

And that truck, I don't even think it would crank.

It wouldn't even crank.

And so, I think your best bets just check fuel first.

And if it's stuck where it's at,

get underneath it where the work boot on

and kick the bottom of the tank if it is that.

And maybe you'll rock it just enough

to make the fuel pump run.

Here's what I would suggest.

Use a boot with not a steel toe and use your toe

so you're gonna only kick it as hard.

No, but you don't want to kick it so hard

that you can go through it.

You can't, so you gotta.

You can't, it's a hard plastic tank

or you will not do that.

You'll break your toe before you go through that tank.

Good luck.

Thanks very much for your call.

866-594-4150.

Let's go to Michigan and talk to Raimi

here on the end of the hood show.

Raimi, what can we do for you?

Real simple, 2017 Spark with the automatic,

the bigger four cylinder.

It is my brother's car,

but I'm the mechanical one in the family.

And my brother's don't even know

what a gas tank looks like.

But besides the point, 118 rounds on it,

rode in it yesterday.

And it was kind of hot out.

When it got hot, it would start bucking or down the road,

didn't want to shift right, didn't do anything right.

On a cool day, it's just fine.

No engine lights on the dash.

It did have the upgrade in May

at the dealership of the new programming.

It has had its regular fluid changes and stuff.

I suggest to my brother,

it may need an aftermarket cooler

because on cool days like today, no issues.

Want to hear your expert

because I started listening to you guys about two months

and oh boy, am I learning stuff.

Well, that's awesome.

Thank you for just tuning in to tune up

and we'll call you a hoodie now.

I've been wrenching for 40 years

and you guys have kept me on the smart end

of this newer stuff.

And oh boy, have I learned a lot.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

And carparts.com is one of the best places

to go to get your stuff due.

Just want to give that point.

Yeah, a car dash part is very, very good partner of ours

and we put our parts on there.

Awesome, awesome.

Awesome.

If you've got a missing just when it's hot like that,

it might actually be missing.

It could be a coil pack issue.

When those things get hot,

they will, they break down with some age

and time and stuff so they'll just,

the heat opens up the pores of those things

and they'll arc to ground as you're trying to drive

so you'll get kind of a,

not a steady but a random buck mis-surge type thing

and you could pick that up on a scan tool.

If you're reading it on the scan tool,

the misfires you'd see, the misfires occur

and on what cylinders does that happen

would not surprise me.

I've seen this on other ones that do this

and they just do it when it's hot,

not when it's cool.

And it's an issue with ambient temperature

under the hood, not so much engine temperature.

So an auxiliary cooler isn't gonna,

if that is what's going on,

which most likely is an auxiliary cooler

would not help that any.

It might help it some if you move some,

yeah, if you move some more air under the hood,

it potentially could change it some,

but the fact is that there,

you've got components that are failing with age

is most likely what's going on.

And the heat is making them fail.

Yeah, the coils, I would agree 110% with that.

I've seen that but with the training issues

on these cars, I was leaning the other way.

I, so we just don't see it here.

I mean, it gets pretty hot,

but we really don't have a lot of issues

with the transmissions doing that.

We have them just stop.

They like, they work or they slip so bad,

they won't go anywhere.

I haven't had a lot of them.

Yeah, and usually it'll start with a,

maybe a light chatter or a light shutter

before it would turn into a,

I gotta make sure I say this carefully,

bucking went hot.

Gotcha.

I had to add a word in the middle there.

So quick listeners didn't think something else.

Yeah.

Does that help you out there, Raimi?

What's that you said?

Hey guys, I'm gonna put the scanner on it today

and check the coils.

And I will give you guys a call and follow up

and I'll bet you're right.

We'd love to hear it if that's the case.

Yeah.

If we'd like to hear it either way,

even if we're not right.

For sure.

Thanks very much for the call, Raimi.

866-594-4150.

Let's go to Pennsylvania and talk to Don.

You're on the end of the hood show.

Don, what can we do for you?

Hey, I'm a 73 challenger

and I can only get it out once a while.

And lately when I get it out,

I have an issue when I get maybe a mile down the road.

See, it just shuts off.

And it happened to me before.

So someone said put an extra ground on it.

It must be a ground issue.

So I ran a ground wire over the ignition box

and behind it and grounded it out more.

And it worked for a while, but now it did it again.

And I don't understand what's going on.

But if I keep the key forward,

not in the start position, it'll stay running.

But if I let go of the key, it shuts right down.

So do you think that's in the column somewhere

or do you think it's still in the ignition box?

I think the problem's in the ignition box.

It's not likely the key.

It's easy to check the key.

You could just get yourself a voltmeter, even a test light

and stick into the ignition terminal on the switch.

I think that one's yellow.

I can't remember, but check the ignition on the switch,

turn it to run and it should have power there.

If it only has power when you turn it a little further

forward towards the start, but not into start,

then the switch is definitely bad.

But if you've got power there all the time

in the run position and in the crank position,

it should always have power on that ignition wire.

He'd have to be checking it when it's died.

Right.

But check that and then,

or you could even get yourself a voltmeter,

lay it on the floor, plug the two, put one on the ground.

Yeah, remember the orange boxes that Chrysler came out with?

Yeah.

I had one of these, I threw it right in the garbage.

Yep.

They were only rated at five minutes, five miles.

Yeah, that box is only rated at 5,000 RPM.

So I got these new boxes that are blue

and are rated 8,000, but I'm not 100% positive.

I don't know how much testing they did on these boxes.

Well, so yeah, just get your voltmeter,

lay it on the console or the floor

and stick one to ground and stick the other one

in the ignition wire on the column, start the car, drive it.

And when it dies, if you've still got power there,

it's not the switch, it has nothing to do with the column.

It'll be in your ignition box,

but those ignition boxes, they need to be grounded well,

but they also need to be,

the body needs to be grounded to the battery.

The battery is normally grounded to the engine

if you don't have a good ground to the body,

you're gonna have a problem.

And I made sure that I've got a ground runner over

towards the ignition box,

and I got a ground runner up to the firewall as well.

So it's all grounded well.

I've got to ask a follow-up question here, Don.

You mentioned that you put in the blue box

for 8,000 RPMs.

What are we doing with this engine?

What do we got going on here?

Well, you're gonna hit six.

Yeah, I know, but I'm just,

is there more behind the scenes here on this engine

or is a big dog or is factory?

No, it's a big dog.

I actually got it from a guy who was king of the hill

in Long Island with this engine.

And he got, this was in 2011, he lost the race.

He was a new challenger.

2011 challenger, somebody chipped out, he lost the race.

So I got the engine from him.

He put a 572 Hemian back in his car.

So I got this engine, 13 to one compression,

but they lifted, they detuned it,

lifted the head, shimmed them out up

to get suppression to 11 to five to one.

So it still has dome pistons in it.

Take that distributor, then take the distributor

that's in it out in that ignition box,

throw them in the garbage

and go get yourself an MSD distributor,

drop in there, self-contained, problem fixed.

You looked like the cat who swallowed the canary there

when you asked that question, then he took off.

I just, when you let people talk,

it's amazing what they'll tell you.

All right, Don, don't.

That's a fun, we got a little more about this car.

Stay right there.

Let this rest.

I don't have you on air right now, Don.

You're gonna be on in a second.

Don't say any words.

We have to guess what color it is.

My challenger, my 73 challenger only ran 1430,

so it's not this car.

What color do you think it is, Shannon?

Well, he just got the motor out of the other one.

So he bought a hot motor and put it in a different car.

We'll say what was the original color.

Let's hope he knows what it was.

Or whatever you want.

Well, no, his car is original, I bet.

He just put a hot motor in it.

I think it's an original car and it is gold

and it might even have a black vinyl top.

Okay, I'm gonna go lime green.

Russ?

Mine was light blue with a white vinyl top.

I'm saying it was light blue.

Okay.

Like a powder blue.

Don, what color is the challenger?

The challenger's nickname is Frankenstein.

It is, nope, 2011, mango tango toxic corn.

Oh, and do you know what color it was originally?

Panther pink.

Oh, wow.

Oh, jeez.

I think that's the hardest miss we've ever had.

Across the board miss.

He said Frankenstein, I thought green would get there to me,

but yeah.

That's the hardest miss we've ever had.

Well, this sounds like an awesome fun car.

So what does it do in the quarter mile

when it's looking great?

I can't get traction on it yet.

So I have to do some modification

because all it does is smoke the tires off.

It's got 391 gears in it

and it's got the fattest tire I could fit back in there.

12 inch.

I don't know.

12 inch.

Yeah, they're really wide.

And I actually bought chip boost rims for this thing.

So the offset was a 5.5, I think,

on the offset of these tires.

My fender wells had to be port of power.

They had to push them out, get these rims under it.

Yeah, and you could push them inwards too.

That's fun.

Well, Berkeley classics,

they're one of our partners.

They won't ensure a race car.

Yeah, if it's racing all the time,

but if he's just not having fun

and he just likes to tell stories,

then you've got a chance.

No, they'll tell you, you could give them a call.

But we'll get you a hoodie.

Stay on the line.

That's awesome.

And they listen, so you're probably out.

Don, hold on, I'm gonna put you on hold.

You're gonna get a hoodie there.

866-594-4150.

Let's real quick, let's see if we can get this done

in a minute and a half.

Jeff in California, you're on the end of the hood show.

Go ahead.

Love your show.

I have a 2017 Silverado

and I'm getting ready to pull an RV with it.

A bumper pull RV, 24 footer.

And I've been doing a lot of research on the trucks

with transmission failures

and mostly related to torque converters.

What are your guys' opinion on that?

I put a thermal bypass kit on it already

to keep it cooler.

Good, that's the big problem.

Put the first thing we do when anybody buys one of those

and comes to our shop, we put the thermal bypass in,

we flush the cooler out completely with new fluid.

And if they haven't already failed,

that usually prevents that issue.

So that's the big thing you can do for towing on that

because it's the heat and the fluid.

Use the tow haul mode, trust it.

How far are you going?

Are you within your weight capacity?

That's the things you need to check.

And make sure that it's set up for the right truck

because some of those campers,

if they're in that six, 7,000 pound range, you're okay.

Be within that 80% rule

because you're going to put some stuff in there.

But just really be careful

because you can over-camper a truck really quick

and then it doesn't matter

how many thermal bypasses you put on it.

Yeah, Jeff, thanks very much for the call.

Good luck.

That'll do it for this hour of the Under the Hood show.

And don't forget, you can go to our YouTube channel

and watch the show live while we're doing it

and anytime you want on YouTube.

With Russ Evans, this is Shannon Nordstrom thanking you

for tuning into the Nordstroms Under the Hood show.

Have a great day and remember, PTLA.

The opinions heard on this program,

based on the many years of experience of Russ and Shannon,

are offered for entertainment value only

and as a guide to your repair needs.

No claim to repair or cause is given or implied.

Always consult with your own certified technician

and follow all safety procedures

before attempting any repair.

To be a part of the show, call 866-594-4150.

Find out more by visiting undertheshowshow.com.

Under the Hood is produced by Prairie House Productions.

All content is the property

of Nordstroms Automotive Incorporated

and may not be used without our permission.

Copyright Nordstroms Automotive, Inc.

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