The engine is the part of the car that makes it go. It uses fuel to create power. Taking care of the engine, like changing the oil, helps it work better and last longer.
The airbag light is a warning light on your car's dashboard that tells you there might be a problem with the airbag system. If it lights up, you should get it checked out to make sure your airbags will work properly in an accident.
An airbag sensor is a part of your car that tells the airbag to go off if there's a crash. If this sensor is broken, the airbag might not work when you need it most, which is dangerous.
A seat belt is the strap you wear in a car to keep you safe. It helps hold you in your seat during an accident, and some have special features that make them work even better in a crash.
A pretensioner is a part of the seat belt system that pulls the belt tight when there's a crash. This helps keep you safer by making sure you're held in place when the airbag goes off.
ABS means Anti-lock Braking System. It's a feature in cars that helps prevent the wheels from stopping completely when you brake hard, which helps you steer better.
The oil light tells you if there's a problem with your car's oil pressure. If it lights up, you should stop driving and check your oil to avoid damaging your engine.
Sagging hinges happen when the door hinges wear out and the door doesn't close properly anymore. It's a common problem in older cars and can usually be fixed by lifting the door slightly when closing it.
WD-40 is a spray that helps to loosen things that are stuck or squeaky, like a door that won't close properly. It's useful for many household and car problems.
A spring is a metal piece that helps things move back to where they should be. In a door latch, it helps the latch close properly. If it's broken, the door might not close right.
The heater core is a part of your car that helps heat the inside. If it breaks, it can leak a liquid that smells sweet and makes the inside of your car damp.
Antifreeze is a special liquid that helps keep your car's engine from getting too hot or too cold. If it leaks, it can smell sweet and make your car's inside wet.
The cooling system helps keep your car's engine from getting too hot. It uses parts like a radiator and special liquid to keep everything running smoothly.
Jumper cables are thick wires that help start a car with a dead battery by connecting it to another car's battery. They allow electricity to flow from one battery to another.
An extended warranty is like extra insurance for your car that covers repairs after the original warranty runs out. It can be helpful, but you should check if you really need it before buying.
Registration fees are the costs you pay to officially register your car with the government so you can drive it legally. You usually pay these fees once a year or every couple of years.
A power of attorney lets someone else handle important decisions for you. When buying a car, it can allow the dealer to sign documents for you if you can't be there.
A tire balancer is a tool that helps make sure your tires are balanced properly. This means the weight is evenly spread out, which helps your car drive smoothly without shaking.
A force balancer is a modern machine that spins your tires really fast to find out exactly where to put weights so they balance perfectly. This helps your car run smoothly.
Stick-on weights are small weights that stick to the inside of your car's wheels to help balance the tires. Sometimes, they can fall off if they get too hot or worn out.
Tire vibration is when your car shakes or wobbles while you're driving, usually because the tires aren't balanced right. It can make driving uncomfortable and might even hurt your car over time.
Brake rotors are round metal discs that help stop your car when you press the brake pedal. If they get damaged or worn out, they can make your car shake when you try to stop.
OEM quality rotors are brake parts made by the same company that made the original parts for your car. They usually fit better and last longer than cheaper alternatives.
A ball joint is a part of the car's steering system that helps the wheels move up and down. If it breaks, it can make it hard to steer and could be dangerous.
A lug nut is a small bolt that holds the wheel onto the car. If it's not tightened properly, the wheel can come off while you're driving, which is very dangerous.
LIVE
Hey folks, Lenny Lawson again, the new car dealer with the twist.
I tell it like it is, like for example, my wife and I have to go to Florida in January
and I was making airline reservations and there's this one airline, Allegiant, that
has an incredible deal. One way for $39. There were only three seats left, so I
jumped all over it. And then the trip back was also $39 per person. Well then
how come that they wanted to charge $789 to my credit card when the reservation
was complete? It's kind of like going to a car dealership after seeing something
on their website saying $10,000 off or payments as low as $99 a month. Yeah,
they can get them that. They can promise them, but they can't deliver just like Allegiant
couldn't deliver. I made the reservations. It was still, I don't know, I could have gone
with Delta or American and it was going to be about $50, $60 more, but they charge for,
I think they charge for breathing. If you want to breathe while you're on the airplane,
you got to pay a breathing fee. That's what I felt like. I mean, so I had to pay for my seat
assignments. There was so many dollars per seat assignment. Oh, you want to carry on a bag?
Well, if it's like a purse or something, that's going to be an extra $49 each way.
Oh, you got luggage. Oh my goodness. You know, most airlines charge for luggage,
but this was way higher. It seemed like to me $149 for each of us times two because it was a round
trip. I can't remember what else. There was a breathing fee. Let's see. I think that's about
it, but that's very disappointing. You know, when you think you're getting a deal and you're really
not in today's program, we're going to ask the question, what would you do if this happened to
you? Because all of the things that I'm going to talk about are common. They happen to people who
own vehicles and you know, your car life, as I say, is a big part of your regular life. And if you
don't know how to handle these kind of things, it could make part of your life a miserable life.
And that's your car part. So let's jump into the mechanical things first. Okay. So you took
your car in for an oil change. Now, what do I tell everybody to do after they get an oil change?
That's right. When you get home and the car has cooled off, then you open your hood.
Hopefully you know how to do that. Find your dipstick. Hopefully you know where that is.
Pull it out. Wipe it off and stick it back in. Pull it out again and check out your oil level.
It should be right at the full mark. I guess it's important to know which one's full and which one's
not full. But the one at the top closest to your hand, the little handle where you pull out the
dipstick, that is full. And I mean, right after you get an oil change, it should be full, right?
It might be a slightly below that because maybe all the oil hasn't drained all the way back into
the oil pan. But it's important to pull that dipstick out, wipe it off and then stick it back
in and then pull it out again to read it because sometimes the oil will kind of creep up the dipstick.
I don't know why it does that. It's science. But it does. And so you got to wipe it off and stick
it back in, pull it out again and look at it. But and if it's low, what do you do if that happens
to you? Well, you call the oil change place and say, I got short changed a little bit. You guys
didn't fill my vehicle up with oil. It's it's only up to the half markets. It's been sitting for an hour.
And they'll hopefully ask you to bring it back in and give you a coupon for your next oil change
for free. At least that's what you should ask for. Because you know what you could say in a nice way,
you know, if I hadn't paid attention to this and waited the normal amount of time that I normally
do to get an oil change, then this could have done damage to my engine. And if they give you any
feedback on that, it turns into a debate, then maybe you're getting your oil changed at the wrong
place. Well, you may be getting it changed at the wrong place if that happens. Has it ever happened
at my dealership? Yes, it has. And those employees were thoroughly chastised. We have we have this
equipment where you set the amount of oil on it. We don't like pour one quart in at a time. That's
the way we used to do it. And that was probably more well, definitely more accurate at times.
But now they have we have these machines that you just turn the dial to five quarts and it's
supposed to put in five quarts and the guys are supposed to the last thing that they're supposed
to do is is to pull it out and check it and make sure it's full. But but you know, they're humans.
Occasionally, they will fail to follow proper procedures. So that's why you need to check it.
So you know what to do if that happens to you. Let's say you're driving down the road
and your airbag light comes on. Is this a panic situation? Probably not. It's not a reason to
pull over. It is a reason to make an appointment at the dealership that sells the brand of car that
you are driving. So they can diagnose what the problem is because one of the sensors is bad. It
could be one of the sensors in your bumper. It could be a there's this it's almost like a pendulum.
And basically, if you stop really hard or if you had just a sudden impact and it stops you hard,
which you probably would, that triggers the airbag to go off. And maybe there's a problem in
that switch. It also could be your seat belt. I know, isn't that weird? But your seat belt has
a little explosive device in there. It's it's not like made out of TNT or nitroglycerin.
But it's similar. And what it does, it's called a pretensioner. And so what happens when your
airbags go off your seat belt, grabs a hold of you and pulls a little bit tighter. And that's
designed to hold you in place so that you don't come into the airbag with as much or the airbag
doesn't come into you with as much force as it would be if if it didn't hold you back a little
bit more. So that's a good thing. But you need to get that checked out. And another light comes on.
ABS light. What's that mean? Well, that's anti lock braking system. And that means probably one of
the sensors in your wheels has gone bad. It could be something as minor as a, you know, a little
wire, or it could be a fault in the ABS pump that's underneath your hood attached to your
braking system. What does ABS do? Well, analog brakes are were designed. I think the first
manufacturer that came out with those in the United States was was either Audi or Mercedes.
But what they do is they actually pump their brake, your brakes really fast, way faster than you
could. You know how when you're trying to stop on ice and it just won't, it won't stop. Well,
what a lot of people do, if you have any senses, is to just lightly pump your brakes and slowly
you'll stop. Well, that's what ABS does for you. So if you're going down the road, somebody pulls
out in front of you in front of you and you lock it down, your brakes won't lock because if they
do, you lose all steering control and you just slide in the direction you don't want to go.
With ABS, it, it gives brake pressure and then lets it off many times per second.
Allows you to still maintain steering control of the vehicle, but still stops it just as fast.
That's what ABS does. So if your ABS light comes on, is that important? Yes, it is.
You need to get it checked out. Again, take it to the dealership that sells the brand of vehicle
that you're driving. Okay, I'm going to take my first break and we'll keep playing the game.
Okay, what would you do if this happened to you? See, a lot of people just,
they don't know because it doesn't happen that often. It's a rare occurrence, but it's nice to
know, isn't it? It's nice to know what all those little lights mean on your car. I mean,
if you're going to take off in a Boeing 747, don't you want the pilot to know what all the gauges
mean? Can you imagine going to, going up to the pilot and meeting him and, you know, wanting a little
tour of the, of the cockpit and you point at different things and you say, well, what's that
doing? He says, you know, I never, I really don't know. Is that going to give you a great deal of
confidence? Well, your backseat passengers in your car don't have a lot of confidence if a light
comes on and you say, I don't know what it means. So it's important to know what all those lights
mean. Airbag, ABS light, check engine light, oil light. Now that's one that comes on you pull over.
Okay, because that's just important. If you don't have an oil light and you have an oil pressure
gauge and that goes down really, really low, you pull over. That's just something that you do.
I've seen a lot of people not pull over and then they end up with no engine. The engine has to come
out. Okay, what would you do if this happened to you? Your door won't close. You know, you're just
standing there and you're trying to close it and you're banging it and it keeps banging against the
latch. What's wrong? Well, if it's an older car, it could be sagging hinges. They've just, over time,
they've just, they're getting tired and the door just keeps sagging a little bit and it's just missing
the latch just barely and won't close and this happens. What you do is just pick up on the door
handle and close it and then the door will close. But also sometimes the latch plate gets stuck and
that is the little trigger. It looks like a little trigger that's in the door itself and it just gets
flipped down and it's not supposed to be in that position. You have to flip it up and you can do
that with your finger and then the door will close. Now, it's still something you need to get
addressed. You can do it when you get home. Just brace them WD-40 on the door latch and then open
and close it several times and it'll probably be okay. But it could, the spring could be faulty
as well. So it's just something you might need to get checked out if it happens all the time. So
that's happened to me many times. Usually in older cars, you know, just try to close the door and
bang, you know, the door will not, it hits really hard and makes a loud noise, but it doesn't close.
It just bounces right off the hinge. But see, I know what to do about it. So no panic situation
there unless you didn't know. Okay, what would you do if this happened to you? All of a sudden,
the interior of your windows, they keep steaming up in the morning. I'm not just talking about
condensation. I'm talking about, it's like greasy steam. And plus you notice that the carpet is
getting damp on the passenger side, not on the driver's side, just on the passenger side.
Well, I hate to tell you this, but your heater core has failed. It's dripping.
And it's releasing antifreeze into the atmosphere into your vehicle. You would probably smell it.
But some people just say, you know, somebody puts some air freshener in here. No, that's not air
freshener. That's antifreeze. That's an expensive repair, unfortunately. And it usually doesn't happen
on more, well, newer cars. But if you've got an eight or 10 year old car and you've never
flushed your cooling system, it's very possible that your heater core could fail. That's where
the heat comes from. The antifreeze or the coolant that's in your engine goes through the radiator,
cools down, goes into the engine, gets hot again. Before it heads back to the engine,
there's a, there's some of it goes through the heater core, which is mounted in your dashboard
on the passenger side. And that's where your heat comes from in your car. So it passes through it,
then heads back to the radiator to get cooled down again before it goes back through the engine.
But so you've always got hot coolant running through the heater core. And so it's, it's,
it's a big problem. It's very expensive to repair. I hate to tell you that, but that's,
that's what's causing that. Okay, what would you do if this happened to you?
It's a cold evening. You've been to a ballgame or something. You go back out to your car and it
won't start. Batteries dead. You left it, you left your lights on or something. So what do you do?
Well, of course you're going to try to find somebody that has some jumper cables. You should
have a really good set in your car, but most people don't listen to my advice when it comes to that.
So they don't, they find some nice gentleman that has a pickup truck and he drags out his
jumper cables and hooks them up correctly, but the car still won't start. What's wrong?
Well, more than likely you have to let the vehicle sit there and charge. If it's really,
really dead, then he's going to have to rev up his engine and let it run for about four or five
minutes. And then that'll, that'll send enough electrons over to your battery to give it just
enough juice to crank. Now, if it still doesn't, you really need to check those connections again,
because you could have some corrosion on your, your battery terminals or he could have some on
his. You just wiggle the clamps around a little bit until you make sure that you have a good connection.
And if that doesn't work, it may be the fact that those jumper cables that he's
using came from five below, you know, the store that everything's $5 or less.
Folks, you got to have some really thick jumper cables. When I say thick, I'm talking about the
copper wire that's in the jumper cables is really thick. I mean, if you go to a store and you buy
a set of jumper cables for $29, that's not enough. You need to spend $69 or $89 get some really good
cables with really thick wire and really good clamps. And you'll never regret it.
Maybe that's a good stocking stuffer. Okay, let's go into the sales department here. Let's say you
bought a car, you financed it. And then you got home and you decided smartly to review your paperwork
again. You're all excited and everything. And you really don't, you'd rather not do that. But
you said, let's just look at this, something's bugging you and you notice something that you
really didn't know you had. And you actually bought an extended warranty. And you didn't need it because,
you know, you planned on just keeping the car for two or three years and you'd still have the
factory warranty. I mean, why buy an extended warranty, right? But you bought it, you signed for
it, but you didn't realize it. So what happened? Well, I'm sorry to say, but your payments were
packed. That's against the law. But you know, they try to get by with it because, you know,
you weren't paying attention. You signed the paperwork, you bought it based on the monthly
payment, you thought you were just buying a car and paying taxes and registration fees and so forth.
But no, $35 a month or more of your monthly payment was this warranty. You didn't know you
were buying. What do you do? Well, if they're still open, you call the dealership and you say,
folks, I didn't know that I was buying this warranty. I realized my signatures on it,
but I didn't read it. And I want to take it off. Well, you can't do that. Well, yes, I can. And
I'm going to there. They haven't had time to submit the contract to the bank and get the deal
funded. If they tell you, well, it's already funded. Well, they're lying to you. Okay. Now,
if you wait 24 hours, especially during a weekday, then yeah, they've probably got that deal funded.
So, you know, just make sure that you look at the paperwork before you sign it. If they put
a form in front of you, say, okay, what's this for? What's this one for? Okay, why am I signing a
power of attorney? Okay, what is this document? I didn't want a warranty. Oh, I thought she said
you wanted the warranty. No, I didn't know anything about a warranty. And then they'll try to say the
warranty, which is okay. I mean, if you need one, if you're going to keep it five or six years,
I'd buy an extended warranty as expensive as it is to fix things these days. But
yeah, you need to know about it. And if you don't, let's say you buy a car on a Saturday,
and then you better be sitting on the doorstep Monday, if you couldn't get in touch with them.
But leave a message, leave a voicemail message the night of, you know, the night that you bought
the vehicle, even if they're closed, if they if you can call and leave a message, make sure there's
a recorded message on their phone system so that you can say that you called that night.
Then they won't have much of an excuse. Okay, okay, I'm gonna take my last break and I'll
be back here in just one minute. All right, this is going quickly. Let's say that you're driving
your vehicle. You've had it for a long time. You know how it drives. You know how it drives at 45
miles an hour, 55, 65, 70, but all of a sudden, at 60 miles an hour, it's just vibrating like crazy,
and you're steering wheels shaking. What's happened? Well, unless you've picked up a nail,
and your tires are going flat, you've probably thrown a wheel weight. What's that, Lenny? Well,
they use wheel weights to balance your tires, and that is a process done on a computerized
tire balancer. We used to do it manually, actually put it on a level and move the
weights around until the the bubble was right in the center. Kind of crude, but it worked.
These days, most new car dealerships or larger tire stores have what they call a force balancer,
and so it'll spin your tires really fast, and it pinpoints exactly where the weights need to go
to get the tire in balance. Well, they use stick-on weights most of the time on these modern wheels,
and they go on the inside, and the glue just gives out, and after a while, you know, the weight will
just fly off the vehicle as you're going down the road. All of a sudden, your tires vibrate,
and you think your whole front end's fallen off, but it's not. Now, if you feel it in the steering
wheel, it's one of your front weights. If the steering wheel is fine, but you feel it in your
rear end, I mean in your bottom, you know, it's the seats vibrating, then it's one of the rear wheels.
Okay, so those are the fairly benign things that can happen. There are more serious things that
can happen. So let's say that you feel a vibration when you're applying your brakes. Well, that's
because your brakes are about worn out and your rotors are warped, your brake rotors. That can be
fixed most of the time with new brake pads, and typically resurfacing the rotors without having
to buy new rotors. But if the rotors have been resurfaced several times, you're going to have
to buy new rotors. Make sure you use OEM quality rotors. Don't get Chinese made rotors. No offense
to the Chinese, but they're just not as high quality as the ones you get from. Like if you're
driving a Toyota, get Toyota OEM rotors. If you're driving a Ford, then get Motorcraft.
That's the Ford parts brand. So this is important to do this. Let's see what else could be the
let's say that all of a sudden your steering wheel is shaken violently. Now this could be a part on
your steering that has gotten loose. You know, maybe a ball joint has just completely died in
your steering. That's just one of the flexible joints in your steering. And that can be really
serious. I mean, you're going down the road really quickly. You don't want your steering to quit
working. And if you just had your tires rotated and then all of a sudden you noticed this,
man, somebody could have left the lug nut loose. That's really serious. And that could
cause you to lose your wheel altogether. I saw that happen not too long ago to a young man as I
was going out to my daughter's house. He was sitting there in the middle of the road and his left rear
wheel had flown the coupe. It was gone. And we were able to locate it, but the damage was done and
he had to be towed in. Yeah, that's that's frightening. You just gosh, you just got to be
able to trust your, you know, the people that are rotating your tires. But what do you do? I mean,
just like the oil change, I mean, if you get you get it home, you want to check your oil,
do you get out your lug wrench and make sure that all your lug nuts are on there good and tight?
You shouldn't have to. But I know a lot of people who will do that, just because they don't trust
the technicians at the dealership or at the jiffy lube or the tire store. So they they check them.
And if you've been burned a couple of times like that, I don't blame you. I don't blame you for
doing it. But hopefully you're doing business with somebody that that, you know, they check those
things and they're very diligent about it. And they have a checklist. That's why I recommend you go
to a new car dealer for new car service while it's under warranty. And even after it runs out of
warranty, I just think that's important. Well, thanks for listening to this edition of my car
Guru. I like to play. What would you do if it happens to you? We'll do more of that tomorrow,
and I'll see you next time.
About this episode
Lenny Lawson shares relatable experiences about unexpected costs in travel and car maintenance, drawing parallels between airline fees and dealership practices. He emphasizes the importance of checking your vehicle after services, like oil changes, and understanding warning lights such as the airbag and ABS indicators. Listeners learn practical advice for common car issues, from door latch problems to battery failures, and the significance of knowing what to do in various automotive situations. Lenny's engaging storytelling and practical tips make this episode a valuable resource for car owners.
