The Lucid Air is a car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It’s a sedan, meaning it has a traditional four-door layout. The podcast likely brings it up because it’s a modern EV with a focus on comfort and technology.
A parasitic draw is when something in the car keeps using electricity even after you turn the car off. Over time, that can drain your battery. The fix is to figure out what system is “staying on” and shut it down or repair it.
Basic maintenance is routine service aimed at keeping common wear items working correctly and preventing small problems from becoming bigger failures. The host lists examples like brakes, fluids, filters, and front-end suspension, which are typical categories of maintenance work.
This is a Jeep Wrangler from the TJ generation (a specific model generation from the 1990s). The host is talking about saving one from a junkyard and getting it back into driving condition.
The control arm is part of the suspension that helps hold the wheel in the right position. If it’s bent or damaged, the car won’t handle correctly, so it often needs repair or replacement.
The front axle is the part that connects the front wheels to the rest of the drivetrain and suspension. If a mounting point on it is bent, you may need welding/fabrication to get everything aligned again.
A fab shop is a place that makes or repairs metal parts using tools like welding and cutting. Here, they’re going to weld on a new bracket because the original mounting area is damaged.
An exhaust system routes engine gases out of the vehicle and can be tuned for sound and flow characteristics. When the host says “easy peasy custom exhaust,” it indicates they’re planning an aftermarket exhaust work item after the suspension/axle repair is done.
A warranty is like a repair promise from the car maker for a limited time or miles. After that period ends, you usually have to pay for repairs yourself.
Ethanol is a type of alcohol mixed into many gasolines. Some small engines and older fuel systems don’t handle it as well, so people often try to avoid it for equipment like lawn tools.
A vehicle’s fuel system is the set of components that store, deliver, and meter fuel to the engine. When the wrong fuel (or fuel that degrades) interacts with parts like hoses, seals, and the fuel delivery components, it can cause drivability problems.
Small engines are the motors in things like lawn mowers and yard tools. Because they’re often stored and used seasonally, fuel quality matters a lot for how well they run.
An internal combustion engine is the kind of engine that burns fuel inside the engine to make power. The host is saying ethanol doesn’t behave well for some engine setups.
Octane is a fuel rating related to how resistant gasoline is to knocking (premature combustion). “High octane” fuel is typically used when an engine is designed to take advantage of it, and the speaker uses it as a general “boost” phrase.
The “service light” is a warning on your dashboard. It means the car’s computer noticed a problem or something that needs service, even if the car still feels normal.
Your car has a computer that constantly tries to keep everything running correctly. Sometimes it can cover up a problem for a while, but eventually it can’t, and then the warning light comes back or gets worse.
Diagnostics is how a mechanic figures out the real reason a warning light is on. Instead of guessing, they use tools and the car’s information to find the actual problem.
Diagnostic work is figuring out the real reason the warning light is on, not just guessing. It means using the car’s data and tests to confirm what’s causing the problem before buying parts.
An intermittent issue is a problem that doesn’t happen every time. That makes it tougher to diagnose because the warning light or symptoms may disappear before the mechanic can catch it.
A handheld scan tool plugs into the car and reads the error codes stored in the computer. Those codes can point you in the right direction, but you shouldn’t assume they automatically mean “replace this part.”
Diagnostic trouble codes are the “error messages” the car stores when it notices something wrong. They help you narrow down the cause, but they don’t always mean one specific part is guaranteed to be bad.
An oxygen sensor checks the exhaust to help the car run at the right fuel/air mixture. If it’s not working correctly, it can turn on warning lights and store error codes.
An “OTC” scan tool is a regular consumer scan tool you can buy. It can still show useful information, but you may need more testing beyond just reading codes.
Pinpoint testing is a step-by-step way to prove what’s causing the problem. Instead of swapping parts randomly, you run targeted checks to confirm the real cause.
Live data means the car is showing real-time numbers from its sensors while it’s running. Looking at those readings can help find what’s actually wrong, not just what code got stored.
The host uses a 2009 Hyundai Accent as an example. They connect a scan tool, look at what the car is reporting in real time, and figure out what part is most likely triggering the warning light.
Fault codes are the “computer messages” the car stores when it detects a problem. Clearing them can turn the light off temporarily, but the warning often comes back if the real issue is still there.
Input/output signals are the signals the car uses to sense what’s happening and to control components. Checking them helps a technician see whether the car’s sensors and commands line up correctly.
A preliminary scan is the first computer check a mechanic does. It reads the car’s stored warning information so they can figure out where to look next.
It means the shop charges you for time spent figuring out what’s wrong, not for the repair itself. You authorize a certain number of hours so they can test the car and figure out the real problem.
The host is using a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser as the example car. He thinks something is draining the battery while it’s parked, and he wants to show how to find the cause.
This just means the battery loses its charge and the car won’t start. It can happen because the car isn’t charging properly, or because something is draining the battery while parked.
They’re saying the most important thing is whether the car’s body and frame are still solid. If it’s rusted through, fixing it can get very costly and risky.
Concept
vehicle foundation (structure + fluids + drivability)
They’re describing a quick way to judge whether a car is fundamentally healthy. It’s about whether it’s solid, not leaking fluids, and driving normally—not just how old it is.
It’s basically the idea that if you keep delaying car service, problems don’t go away—they usually get worse. Eventually the car can fail at the worst time, like when you need it most.
Mileage is how many miles the car has been driven. The point here is that a well-maintained car can be in better shape than a higher-mileage car that wasn’t serviced.
The Jeep Cherokee is an SUV made by Jeep. The podcast mentions a Cherokee from an older time period, which suggests people are talking about older versions of the car. It’s a vehicle that’s often discussed because it’s been around for many years and there are different generations to choose from.
The Nissan Rogue is a small SUV meant for regular daily driving. The podcast mentions the 2008 model and refers to doing checks around spring. That usually means looking for things like wear items and making sure the car is safe and running well.
The Nissan 200 SX is a smaller car that was made to feel sporty to drive. The podcast mentions it alongside other cars, likely as part of a discussion about specific models. It’s often talked about by people who like cars with a performance-focused character.
A maintenance plan is a scheduled approach to servicing a vehicle based on time and mileage intervals. The host argues that cars don’t “self-heal,” so following the plan helps prevent problems from becoming expensive repairs.
The Honda Civic DX is a basic, everyday version of the Civic. The host uses it to make the point that high mileage doesn’t automatically mean the car will fail if you keep up with maintenance.
Air conditioning repairs can be costly because the system relies on properly sealed components and clean refrigerant. The host’s point is that preventive service can reduce the chance of expensive failures.
Complete evacuation means removing the refrigerant from the air conditioning system so it can be serviced without leaving old, contaminated refrigerant behind. In practice, it’s typically done with proper recovery equipment and then the system is recharged after the service.
An orifice tube is a small metering device in many automotive A/C systems that controls refrigerant flow. The host describes it as a filter screen that can trap debris when the system is emptied, and replacing it helps keep the system clean.
A micron is a unit of length equal to one-millionth of a meter, often used to describe how fine a filter can capture particles. The host uses it to emphasize that the A/C orifice tube screen can trap extremely small debris.
The condenser is the A/C part up front that helps dump heat outside. If it gets clogged or damaged by road debris, the A/C can start working poorly and eventually break.
Flushing the A/C system means cleaning out the lines so leftover debris doesn’t keep causing problems. It’s often required after a major failure so the fix can actually hold.
Your car’s air conditioning is what cools the inside of the car. It also helps pull moisture out of the air, so you don’t feel sticky and gross in humid weather.
A/C pressures are readings from the A/C system that tell a technician how the refrigerant is moving. If the pressures are off, the A/C may not cool correctly.
Refrigerant is the “cooling liquid” inside your car’s A/C. If the system is serviced, the old refrigerant is removed and replaced so the A/C can cool correctly again.
Humidity is how much moisture is in the air. Your A/C helps remove some of that moisture, so the cabin feels less sticky.
LIVE
Good morning Niagara, you're tuned into Car Connection where the coffee's hot, the tools
are ready and the talk is always tuned up.
I'm your host, Niall Motormouth Jenkins, coming to you straight from the Car Connection Workshop,
where we mix a little humor, a little know-how and a whole lot of horsepower.
Here it's not just about fixing cars, it's about keeping you rolling, saving you money
and giving you the confidence to understand what's under that hood.
From the classics to the commuters, the weird noises and to the what the heck moments,
we've got you covered, so grab your coffee, sit back, join the crew because this is Car Connection.
Your Saturday morning pit stop for story, smarts and a few good laughs and I'm Motormouth Jenkins
and we're going to shift into drive right here on the Saturday Motormouth Morning Drive Q&A.
It's Q&A, so thank you to all those who sent their emails in Friday before noon.
It's now Saturday morning and the sun is already shining.
It looks like it's going to be an absolutely outstanding day, we hope, possibly think.
Could things change?
Well, we're going to have that for you.
We're going to have Car Connection weekend weather coming up in just a few moments.
We'll have our morning swiggy.
If you're just joining us for the first time, here's how it happens here on Saturdays.
It gets a little crazy, but we got it under control.
We have whatever your favorite morning beverage is.
If you're just spinning through the drive-through, it is weekend.
It is officially kickoff to summer or first official summer long weekend.
Check your order.
Double-flub-dipple quadruple check-it before you leave the drive-through and lock that
beverage down so you don't pull away and it spills over.
If you have a co-pilot, you're going to need 16 pack of Crayola crayons.
Get those out of the armrest in your car and hand those over.
Get the leaf bag you got tucked down between the seat.
Let's say you're busy.
I didn't think so.
You're going to take some notes this morning.
So if you can't take notes because you're driving on your own, you can listen and re-listen
anytime on the homepage or website.
That's where everything that we talk about lives on our homepage or website.
It is the biggest drawer we have in our toolbox.
So if you haven't visited our YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, maybe your first time to
iHeartRadio, we are on all the podcast platforms wherever you're pulling down live streaming from.
Just type in the car connection workshop and you will find us.
We're on Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Podbean, and the like.
So you'll find us there.
All our podcasts, as soon as they're produced, scheduled, and they light them up.
On our RSS feed over to iHeart, they also land in our YouTube channel, which is Nile
Monodamal Jenkins.
But there's a link.
All those links are on the homepage or website.
So it's point click.
You're there just like that.
But if you want to look us up, you can find us very, very easily on YouTube.
We have almost 400 pieces of information there for you to dive into.
So whether you know a little bit about cars or absolutely nothing,
or you want to keep that older vehicle running longer,
keep that motor and transmission hauling you down the road for a million miles,
you hit the right channel because I know exactly how to get that done.
I'm halfway myself with our 07 Toyota FJ Cruiser.
If you haven't been watching the series on that,
a mini series that started along with a spring evaluation.
So we've had all the vehicles in that we use round the clock, all year long.
The FJ Cruiser is the last one in.
The 99 Honda Civic DX hatchback.
Two door, five speed with air as cold as penguins coming out of the dash.
That just has some cosmetic work to do.
But the spring evaluations done.
And you can see that as well on our YouTube channel.
And the YouTube channel is all about five things.
That's what I focus on.
Every video is focused on teaching you what the component is,
where it is, how it works, and how it breaks,
and how you could learn some stuff.
No excuses, size, mileage, color, width, height, foot size.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
Because the basics never change from one automobile to another.
What changes is the technology.
But the concept of each component never changes.
It's always the same.
So if you can learn some of the basic fundamentals
about how to take care of your vehicle,
you're already ahead of the next guy.
In preventing yourself from being taken advantage of
at an automotive service center.
And it happens all the time.
And to the ladies and to the fellas that don't know
a lot about their automobile.
It's very easy to be taken.
So 44 years experience.
I am a fully licensed automotive service technician
and light truck passenger vehicles as well as the big stuff.
Worked for Mack Trucks Canada, Peterville of Ontario,
and farm equipment.
So I got a lot of experience that I'm here
and been carving out this lane for a long time.
We've just come off a radio in November.
So if you're listening for the first time,
I'm just giving a quick low down.
31 years on radio with ESPN and a local buffalo network
that's 110,000 watts.
So we're reaching a lot of people.
We were there for 24 and a half years,
12 and a half years on ESPN.
We had one of the top programs on Saturdays from noon to one.
And thank you to my producer there who was amazing,
Matt, my brother from another mother.
We had a lot of fun there and it was like family.
Everybody getting along to help you to grow your your
listenership.
It was a lot of fun.
I learned a lot at that network a lot.
And thankful.
Here we are on digital, which is new to us.
But we've been working our butts off.
Skippy and I are my videographers putting down
some really good fundamentals for you.
So as I mentioned, we're almost ready to hit season three
on our podcast.
We do six podcasts a week.
The morning motormouth morning drive at 8am.
And then during the week, we're shooting videos.
We we have a number of videos now in the library.
We have a new series coming up very shortly.
You'll be able to see the wrap up on the 2007 FJ Cruiser.
How to diagnose a parasitic drop.
You don't know what that is.
You'll quickly learn that.
Even if, like I said, if you don't know any of the basics,
our YouTube channel will bring you right up to speed.
Start at the beginning and just keep watching the videos
because we don't build race cars or custom hot rods or or monster
trucks.
We're doing basic maintenance on all different types of vehicles
from brakes to fluids to filters to front end suspension.
And you name it, we get into it all.
We get into all of it.
In fact, the series that I'm going back right now and creating
those that entire series to be evergreen so it will stay on
the Internet forever was the 1997 Jeep TJ Wrangler rescue.
Rescued it from the crusher at the wrecking yard.
And it's sitting in the staging lanes right now to go up to the
custom fab shop to have a new bracket welded on the front axle
for the control arm because it's all it's so badly buckled from
whatever whoever had it hit something or put a chain around.
We don't know.
But anyways, it was I tried to straighten it couldn't straighten it
and I found them online.
So it's just as easy to just blast that off and weld a new one on.
And then we're ready for some easy peasy custom exhaust.
So those are the two things that are waiting next.
Once that's done, I'll strip out the interior.
Do the repair work on the floor and close that up tight and right.
And then it's ready to hit the road.
So that's a whole series.
We took that vehicle from nothing and turned it into something.
And at the end of the day, when the numbers come in and what it
costs to put that vehicle back out on the road, it's going to
blow your mind.
Absolutely.
In fact, it's just outside the bay door right now.
And you could hop right in it, turn the key and it fires right up.
And away you go.
But I can't go out on the road with that front suspension link.
Is not correct.
So it's hammering around a bit in there.
It's locked in position with a bolt, but it's a hunk of chunk.
If you know what I mean.
So that's the whole gist about our YouTube channel is to teach you all the basics
so that you can prevent yourself from getting ripped off out there.
Because it's happening.
It's happening North America wide.
So it's better to know something and learn some of the basics
than leave yourself wide open.
Not good.
All right.
So let's jump into our Saturday morning.
We're going to have our swiggy right away.
We're going to thank Earl Louise Grand at City Auto Sales and Leasing.
You or someone you know is in the market for a quality pre-owned automobile.
Even if it takes you two hours and two days and 30 seconds to get there,
it's worth it because that's the second largest purchase you're going to make
next to a home or property.
It's nice to know that the people that are working with you are not working you over.
They're working with you.
And that's Earl Louise Grand.
Husband and wife team, they've been doing what they're doing for almost 25 years
selling low mileage, top quality vehicles at fair prices.
Greater Toronto area's premier pre-owned auto store.
Contact Earl Louise today.
Let them know what vehicle you're looking for if you don't see it on their inventory.
So all our program partners and our recommended businesses as we continue to rebuild
our car connection business network referral businesses in and around our area.
We will be looking at some businesses out of town at some point because these podcasts
go all around the world.
Where do you live?
Who do you know?
Who can we connect with us?
That would be fantastic to have like a thousand businesses
North America wide and around the world in our car connection business network.
We're almost wherever you are there's a referral business.
That's my goal at this point is that rebuilding the car connection business network
has no boundaries anymore, none.
With radio you're stuck in these stupid circles
and whatever listenerships in there that's it.
You're in a cage but going digital we're around the world.
We're global.
Anybody can tune in from anywhere.
Let us know where you're tuning in from.
Kick us an email at motormouth.jankins at gmail.com
or put some information in the comment section on our YouTube videos.
And remember it's so important that you like share and most of all
subscribe and leave a comment on our YouTube videos.
That helps Skippy and I to grow the channel.
And we are working hard.
I'll tell you we're working about 80 hours a week
dedicated to you the car owner.
Not to the person who drives our vehicle into the ground every so many years
and then it gets pulled and dragged into the nearest wrecking yard.
We're not here for that.
We're here for you that wants to save money
and a few bloody knuckles at the same time.
We're here for you.
So if you want to keep an older vehicle you know what?
We're going to be talking about that today as a matter of fact.
Does it cost more to keep an upkeep an older vehicle versus a new one?
And when I say new I'm going to say out of warranty just.
So once you hit that three year mark it's now all you.
So guess what it is the car becomes at that point an older vehicle.
Hello it's three years 60,000 K for most manufacturers.
So at 60,001 mile or kilometer whatever comes first or three years.
It's now a three year older vehicle.
You're outside of warranty.
So now you're an older vehicle that you own every problem every challenge every issue
all the maintenance is on you.
So we're going to be covering that today because that happens to be one of the questions
I received from emails this week this past week.
So be sure to like share subscribe follow our online community ring the notification bell
so you don't miss the next rescue project maintenance tips and real world car ownership advice.
It's all there for you to grab for free.
So I'm going to speak up for all the online influencers on YouTube.
If you love their channel and you love their content they don't send you a bill right?
They don't they're giving their knowledge from their hearts and giving it away for free.
So the least we could ask for is support them by like share follow subscribe ring the notification
bell none of that costs you anything but your time.
And they're putting in the time to create the content for you to either if it's funny content
if it's learning content most of the time it's learning you're learning something.
I learned today how to very easily make your gasoline ethanol free.
I didn't know how to do it and it's so freaking simple.
Skippy and I will put together a video in the car connection workshop to show you how to do it.
It's that simple because ethanol is not a good thing to have in your vehicle's fuel system.
It is absolutely evil. We'll talk about that very shortly with summer kicking off and you've
got all your lawn and garden equipment gas powered this and that and the other thing you use around
the yard to keep it looking sharp and neat and tidy you need to know about the ethanol and small
engines they do not like it they don't like it at all so we're going to show you we will show you
in a video how to do that so that you can do it yourself and just if you're just using a gallon
at a time you can separate out the ethanol and wait till you say see how easy and simple it is
you've got the things pretty much around your home that you could do that with if if you need
something we'll put that all in the description and let you know where you can find that easy peasy
so that you can get the ethanol out of your fuel because that's important that stuff is not good
it's good for the cashcroppers growing corn but it is not good in the automotive
internal combustion engine world it is not and small engines like your lawn and garden stuff
do not like it at all and i caught a lot of firewood let me tell you my my chainsaw crew
is my baby and i look after them very very much into the tea after every day of use i tear them
down clean them service them and i sharpen on site when it runs out of gas i check the chain i clean
it out and sharpen touch up the chain and away we go because they're expensive all that stuff's
expensive weed whackers hedge trimmers those little um i call them the praying mantis rotatillers perfect
for uh someone who's older and you want to till your your flower beds those little rotatillers are
amazing they're absolutely amazing the amount of work you can get done in a short period of time so
we're gonna do a program and i'll teach you how to look after those things and you know what you
won't be replacing them all the time because you don't have to it's just like your car you don't
need to replace it all the time we're gonna teach you how to do that so let's kick off the morning
let's have our morning swiggy grab it 321 we have a swiggy and then we're gonna get into
our weekend weather report so hang in there we're gonna get rolling we got a short time to get there
and a lot of information to get through 321 oh that was so good do you mind if i
you don't do you let's let's have another 1321
that is the high octane boost right there let me tell you all right weekend weather brought to us by
our friends at Niagara block 5000 Montrose road Niagara Falls building Canada since 1931
Kathy and David and Dan Grimo they are there for you to guide you every step to get the products
that you need to get that building project going or that hardscape landscape that you want have
always always wanted to have they have contractors as well that they can refer you to if you need
a contractor just speak to Kathy Grimo she's got a list of contractors that be more than happy to
come out take a look at what you want to create put together an estimate start the work and finish
the work and do it right tight and right they have all the materials you'll need to create that
beautiful english walkway or those weed free garden beds you know putting the pebbles in there or
the angel stone whatever it is that you want to create that outdoor space whether it's living
space or a patio they have it they have pavers some might know them as patio stones i call them pavers
they have different sizes they have interlocking brick they have it all they have all the block
you can think of that you would need to create a block building or create a structure they have
all of that there including the metal that you may need as well so that is niger block 5000
montrose road niger falls all in a nutshell so connect with them and let them know that car
connection sent you so thank you dave kathy and dan grimo for making this morning's weekend weather
available to all of us here in the motor mouth morning drive saturday's low is going to be 50
degrees between 1am and 2am uh i'm i was sleeping i think i would be sleeping at that time so i'm
not going to check on that the high will be 73 degrees between 2pm and 3pm today the temperature
range will feel like 42 to 68 the wind will make it feel cooler than the actual temperature
possibility of precipitation here in the niger region in the south shores of lake gerry i'm not
sure where you are but let us know where you are shoot us an email drop us a line in the comments
on our youtube channel we got like 0.05 of an inch possibility of r a i n the wet stuff
and let's take a look and see what we have for sunday sunday coming being tomorrow we have sunday's
low will be 55 between 5am and 6am and the high will be 74 degrees between 4pm and 5pm the temperature
range will feel like 52 to 76 and it will feel warmer than the actual temperature yippie kiai i
say to that because i've been wanting to run the 30 day fuel savings challenge so if you're interested
in putting a minimum of $100 a month back in your pocket i can show you and teach you how
and be your coach all at the same time so if you have multiple vehicles in the family and you
get your heads together and go we're going to do the motor mouth 30 day fuel savings challenge
and if you step into part two which is another 30 days there's a possibility you could double that
going to get a $2400 raise this year or how about $1200 raise any anybody going to get the tap on
the shoulder and say we've noticed you are an amazing team player and because of that
we've given you a $1200 raise i don't see any hands i just hear crickets yeah okay we'll
just we'll pull over and park and leave that right there all right we got three amazing questions
to get through this morning um saturday's q and a steven writes in and he says he's our question
number one he writes in and he's got a great question listen up my service light has been on
for months
how many of you have experienced this and then usually what we see is a piece of electrical tape
hockey tape duct tape your favorite mother-in-law picture of your dead hamster from 1975
um some kind of pet a creature a business card even a stamp yeah an elvis stamp from who knows
when over the service light those are just a few of the classics we generally see so motor
mouth oh that's the question too my bifocals playing tricks on me my sir my service light has
been on for months car seems to run fine should i be concerned uh i'm going to go with yes
times yes plus yes divided by yes equals yep you guessed it yes uh because here's the deal
even though seems to be running fine the computer could be masking the problem that's
the problem with today's vehicles is the computer makes adjustments on the fly
so it can hide problems until it can't and the problem is if the light is already on
and it needs to come on again to flag something else that's going on because what we have to
remember is there's cause and then there's influence by the cause so there's this happened
and then that happened it's called cause and effect that's what
generally happens a $200 job can very quickly turn into a $5,000 repair but if the service light
is on here's the problem the computer can't turn it on again right it's already on so if you're in
a room and you turn the light on can you turn the lighter light on light and give you more light
i guess you could if it's a dimmer switch or rheostat of some kind but if the light is on
in the room can you turn it on again if it's already on you could turn on another light
but your car only has one service light so if you're in a room at home and it only has one light
can you turn it on again if it's already on no so that's where i'm going with this
is if the service light's on and there's cause and effect going on the computer's trying to hide
and mask the problem as quick as it can until it can't that's when things get worse and that's
why i say we've seen over the years many times a $200 issue turning into thousands of dollars
repair because you ignored it and the computer's now been making changes till it can't and now
there's cause and effect and we see that a lot so here's the thing let's go back
to the reason why we're covering it up because that's generally where the problem starts you're
covering it up because in your mind's eye you're saying this is going to this light is going to
cost me an arm and a leg and a second mortgage on my property not necessarily folks that is
listening to the talking heads and if you're dealing with a service tech that sucks at
diagnostics no disrespect to them but you know what if you want to learn guys how to diagnose
you're gonna have to take some extra time to learn that means getting in a classroom at night
which is what i did i spent my life in night school at moha college and with after school
programs that i paid for out of my pocket as an apprentice anytime i could get my butt in a program
before i was even licensed i would beg the teachers to get me in and then because they were licensed
tax they would sign me in under their name and the uh what do they call them the chancellor would
say hey if he wants to learn that bad and he's gonna pay uh get him in so i was blessed to
have teachers that would come to the table and get me into those classes and at that time uh some
of them that i took were like 200 and fifty dollars and that that was most of my rent
money but i would do a few jobs on the side to cover my extra class time but that's where you
become as a tech you become more of an asset to your your peeps your clients than a liability
so when that light comes on if your guy is not good at diagnostics i'd be afraid to
because if he can't diagnose it pretty much in an hour then he's going to get the parts
cannon out and start firing that parts all over your car
till you can get the light to go out and stay out because that's where the four things comes in
concern cause correction confirmation that's what was drilled into us at volkswagen school
is management and working at the service desk was we had to make sure we had the four C's on
every work order if it was warranty or not that was part of the CSI score customer satisfaction
index making sure the customers have thorough work orders service orders repair orders whatever
you want to call them the darn thing the paperwork is complete so that's where the problem starts
is the light comes on you internally panic that this thing's going to cost you thousands of dollars
because the service lights on it's only going to cost you that if like i said and i'm only
saying one more time if the service tech you're you're relying on to diagnose it doesn't diagnose
very well he very quickly gets out the parts cannon and starts spending your bank account
you know in this trade right now we can teach monkeys to change all kinds of parts but when
it comes to diagnostic work you've got to have the light switch fully on as a service tech know
how to use your equipment to get down to business to get it diagnosed for the customer the first time
sometimes you get those troubled vehicles that are a major headache with intermittent issues
but if that service lights on it's not just get your little cutesy wootie wootie 69
dollar off the jungle website handheld scan tool and dump the code because it's going to come back
pretty much and then the neighbor says you need a gas cap and an oxygen sensor
and you listen to them and then you throw some parts on yourself and go i got this
and then your other neighbor says i'll shut the service light off for you and then the next day
on the way to work it's back on don't get caught in that that uh i call that the abyss the abyss
it's not how you do it go to our youtube channel watch me show you how i diagnose an oxygen sensor
with a little uh a decent otc scan tool that gives me enough information that i can quickly jump
into something and die agate and then i will do pinpoint testing just to verify my findings
one more time so i've got two methods one i'm watching the live information on the screen of my scan
tool and i'm also then going to go to the the item that i think is the the subject or i call it
now the prospect everything points to the specific component i'm looking at on my live screen data
and go okay i need to there's an anomaly there the readings aren't correct but if you go to our
youtube channel you'll see me diagnose why the service light is on a 2009 Hyundai Accent
and how i'm determining the causal component right from my scan tool so just by
plugging in and i just saw another uh advertisement on the youtubes for a handheld scan tool
that's great that you can go in and shut off the fault codes but that's not telling you anything
and the 99.9 percent the light's coming back on sometimes when i look at the reading i might say
you know what the the uh the live data is showing not there's nothing sticking out to me
that says we need to check this component then i will record the information on my scan tool
and save it and then i'll clear the fault codes out and then i'll let you drive it for a week
and let me know when the light comes on and then i'll get you to scoot by
and then i'm going to hook up and then i'm going to do another reading and then i'm going to go
through live data and take a closer hard look at the input output signals of all the monitored
systems so don't be afraid when the light comes on please don't panic don't think the car is going
to blow up you're watching way too much netflix the car is not going to blow up it is not going
to start on fire the wheels aren't going to fall off and the doors blow off the side and the sunroof
flies off none of that's going to happen trust me i haven't seen it yet in 44 years just so you're
just so i hope i smooth that emotional stuff out because when emotions are high
the knowledge is low you can't think straight so don't let it give you anxiety service light comes
on you just got to get to your tech let them do a preliminary quick check with the scan tool
to get an eye a bird's eye view what possibly could be going on and then move we move forward get
you booked in and should be able to diagnose pretty much any service light within about an hour
so again if you haven't listened to the podcast that i did on service repair orders and diagnostics
i go into deep detail on how to make sure that you don't leave the gate open and let all the
cows out on the farm that means you're giving the service technician a wide open work order
to go four hours three hours on diagnostic time and then just about put you in cardiac arrest when
the phone's and says yeah your bill's $800 when you're expecting a couple hundred bucks you gotta
listen to that podcast so go into the podcast and find it absolutely and i i do believe i covered that
on a youtube video quite a while ago because we have uh i guess we have like almost 400
pieces of information there for you and don't miss the the description boxes on either my podcast
or the youtube channel i put a lot of nuggets in that description that are take home pieces of
information for you and the youtube channel and the podcast channel are totally separate
it's not a mirror image what i'm doing on youtube podcast what i'm doing on podcast
i'm doing on youtube no no no i don't need to waste my time doing the same thing twice
so you have lots of different ways now with car connection we now have a lot more ways for you
to watch listen and engage with us so come and join us anytime let's get in deeper with this service
light so the problem is you got to get over the emotional because that will hold you back
and if the service light is on computer can't flag the system a second time if there is cause
and effect so something else is going on with the first warning light right so it can't put the
light on several times it's on and it's staying solid so we need to go in do a preliminary
scan see what data we can collect and then work on it and verify the causal component
and then we're going to do some pinpoint testing to verify that the component we suspect to be the
problem is the problem and you know it's like some people you have to say are you the problem
are you part of the problem or are you the whole problem you know what i'm saying yeah i used to
have some friends like that i just have to say you know can you be positive any more
negative do you have anything positive to say probably not yeah all right so steven let's get
that baby scanned let's do a preliminary scan let's get that whatever you've got covering the service
light on the dash to because it's annoying you let's get that uncovered so that the vehicle
continue to communicate with you and let's get it diagnosed and i always recommend this
you give the tech and make sure it's on the work order you give him one hour of dyag time
and make sure he writes it on there customers authorizing one hour of diagnostic time with a
follow-up and then listen to what they're telling you and if it sounds like a story then you're in
the wrong place should be able to tell you exactly what's going on or at least what direction they
need a little more time to to get into so that's where i would let them have 30 minutes more
30 minutes and another follow-up this is how you prevent five and a half six hours of dyag time
in a half an hour to fix it if you leave the gate open on the farm all the cows get out
that's what i'm saying don't leave the gate open don't give them a blank check make them work for it
and they should be able to work for it so coming up this week we'll be shooting a video on how to
diagnose quickly a parasitic draw what does that mean you're gonna have to watch the video to find
out ever have a battery in a vehicle just on a regular basis you go out to the vehicle and it's
dead and you're like what what's going on like who left the fridge door open right if you ever had
that happen well i'm going to shoot a video on that on the 2007 fj cruiser because what i suspected
happened to me in the wood lot last year on the farm my friend charlie's farm yet to bring the big
jd green beast to come and boost me in the middle of the field and the car was dead
and i there were no interior lights on no door oh yeah the back door was open but
no interior lights on the battery was flatter than a pancake and uh it did that to me since it's
been in the shop here having its spring evaluation and getting a lot of updates done before they turn
into problems so the 200 dollar repair before it turns into the thousand dollar repair
and you can watch those videos so that's what i'm going to teach you is uh what do we do how do we
do it to get down to where's the problem why is the battery going dead once in a while all of a
sudden i have a dead battery we're going to show you how to diagnose that in under a half an hour
okay next what are we on next so steven way to go buddy but get that taken care of and if you need
a referral get in touch with me we can give you a referral hopefully in your area wherever you're from
and i'll get someone on that for you rachel has a great question question number two
motor mouth i heard you mentioned it's cheaper to maintain an older car please explain thank you
well that's nice i explained you something lucy i will i promise you that's a great question
because i i hear that in fact experienced that just recently is here's the thing
let's start from the top and then we're going to unpack this thing as long as you have a vehicle
that's solid that means it's not rusted out you can climb in from the outside without opening
the doors that would mean the vehicle has a lot of weight loss that's not a good foundation a firm
foundation is the vehicle aesthetically is in great shape the structure is not rotted out so in
other words we don't have a flintstone mobile with holes in the floor we don't have frame
components rotting out the vehicles in great shape underneath you have a winner right there
you've got the foundation you need the engine's not leaking more fluids than it has it's the
vehicle's shifting fine and everything seems to be working as usual you've got a great foundation
okay on the other side of the scale we're going to call that vehicle 10 years old okay
it's 10 it's 10 years old it's got some mileage i don't care how much
doesn't mean anything to me pull the odometer right out you know it's like my my mentor bill
used to say willy wooper he would say motormouth if you didn't know when you were born would you
know how old you are and i go is this a quiz will you take me out for ice cream if i get it right
okay so the answer is no you wouldn't know how old you were so if you didn't have an odometer
in your vehicle would you know how old that vehicle was mileage wise
no and who cares i don't doesn't bother me at all and why is that because if you're doing that
maintenance like i talk about all the time yeah i probably annoy you with it and it should
because if you're not following our car connection fleet maintenance schedule then
follow something follow something find something you can follow along and treat that vehicle
like it were a bulldozer and you might be laughing that's okay listen to me
if we had a bulldozer all of us i talked about this earlier this week if our vehicle was a bulldozer
and that bulldozer had to work you had to get on it and take it to the job site and work it to earn
a paycheck to eat how important would that bulldozer be to you to make sure that you take
sweet loving care of that bulldozer would you ignore it would you not service it
would you not check anything on it and just take a chance you you trailer that thing out to the job
site and you can't even get it off the trailer so now you lose the job because the contractor
goes well i'm sorry about your bulldozer but we need to get the work accomplished i've called
somebody else so how important would that bulldozer be to you you'd probably park it inside keep it
covered up take good care of it wash it service it to the dines because if you don't work it you
don't get paid you don't eat that's the way you have to look at your older automobile it's older
but who cares what mileage is on it if you're taking care of it you know there's a lot of
aircraft and i love to use this as an example there's a lot of people flying aircraft in the
skies above our heads from the fifties yeah early fifties and they're still in the sky
how is that possible should they all be buying buying brand new planes to fly
i don't i can't answer that question brand new planes probably going to be a whole
a lot of big buck holes don't you think so why do they buy refurbished like 1976
pipers or a Cessna or a Cherokee i think the Cherokees like from the fifties i saw one a
couple years back in a hangar in toronto they were refurbishing older airplanes and restoring
them bringing them back to 100 maintenance so that they go back to someone else buys that and
that's their plane so wouldn't you say like a you know a 1950 something Cherokee is an old plane
well to someone who's looking to own their own plane they got to look at the older ones
but they won't they will be serviced and comes totally aeronautically certified
so what's the difference between a 10 year old car then at least you're on the ground if something
goes wrong that's that's the first thing that i think of at least you're on the ground level
should something go wrong but as long as it's maintained it doesn't matter doesn't matter
what the mileage is on there take care of the brakes the tires the flint the fluids the belts the
hoses take care of all that stuff then mileage doesn't matter okay now let's say a three year
old vehicle here's what i know about it now you own it outright that means you got no partnership
on it it's three years old there's no warranty that's an older car now isn't it or are you still
calling that a new car because it's not it's an older car it's three years old maybe it's five
years old and you're still paying for it it's got to be maintained and who has to do that you do
the factory's not sending you a check they're not sending you a bucket of parts
nothing it's yours you got to look after it but i'll tell you this the older older vehicles
2016-17-18 that's how far i'd go back even further 0708-09 are far better made today
than the stuff they're putting out today far better made then than now more reliable from then
than now and a ton less plastic on it back then than now paying a lot of money for plastic folks
bad news that's how you lose the car game
so owning and operating an older automobile so someone recently said to me well that's easy
for you to say motormouth because you're a mechanic oh so that makes all the problems go away
so like i just who do i call just to get a bucket of parts they're just gonna send them over or
do you think i got to pay for them don't tell you what with regular maintenance and
twice a year in evaluation you can catch anything that's about to go wrong and and bring it up
to a better level so in other words fix it before it's broke friends that's what you do
and that's what you'll see if you watch the videos on the 2009 Hyundai the 1999 Honda Civic
the Rocket we call it and the 07 FJ Cruiser you'll find out and also the 2008 Nissan Rogue
they've all had a spring evaluation what's the purpose of that catch things before they break
catch things before the vehicle breaks down so if you have a three-year-old car are you exempt
from that that's my point are you exempt from the vehicle breaking down so something going wrong
no no you're not you still have to maintain it you're out of warranty now it's three years old
done over now it's called vehicle ownership so getting back to that well you're a mechanic
yeah i know how to diagnose and how to fix it but i have to put my labor in there and i have to
buy my own parts so if i take a day off of working for car connection i'm losing money while i'm
fixing my truck so when do i do it in the evenings most of the time and on mondays when
we're shooting videos i'll save a specific maintenance or repair show you how i look at it and figure
whether it's something that needs to be fixed serviced or replaced and then get into it and
show you how to do it if i'm taking hours away from being self-employed and i'm working on the
truck during the day i'm taking money away from the business to fix my vehicle so i'm i'm spending
money labor wise i'm hired myself to fix the truck instead of going to work so that's not an excuse
anymore yes i'm a tech and i can do the repair work because i know how so i guess that's a savings
there but it still doesn't exempt me or any of the vehicles we have from repairs and maintenance
i'm not exempt and they don't self heal so you've got to follow a maintenance plan
and when you do mileage don't matter folks it just doesn't matter i've said it before i'm on the
back door 400 000 kilometers on the o7 fj cruiser 319 000 on the 99 uh honda civic dx
those are the high milers but you know what they still run like just yesterday like they just came
out of the factory does that happen on its own no you've got to have a plan and then you
got to implement the plan so check out our car connection fleet maintenance system it's up on
our website you can read all about it and get a really good understanding how easy it is to use it
as simple as a grocery list and i really mean that it's i've dumbed it right down to a point where
anyone any age can use it and follow it and stay on course with your vehicle maintenance all right
we're running short on time here but we'll get this done number three maryland writes in with
question number three my air air conditioning seems to be working fine should i still have it
serviced or checked and the short answer is yes uh if you want to avoid very expensive
air conditioning repairs i highly remeck recommend every two years a complete evacuation of the ac
system that means sucking out all the old refrigerant out of there and if the vehicle has what we call
a uh orifice tube it's a filter screen that we can access when the system's empty and put a new one
in and it's filtering out debris debris down to like point 001 microns of dirt we don't
need dirt in all the arteries where the refrigerant travels through that's a not a good idea and those
screens tend to plug up and then it restricts the flow of the refrigerant and then your ac system
will get to a point where it's the orifice tube is so restricted that it's hindering the air
conditioning system and that's when stuff breaks so the i i just recently shot a video that shows you
what can happen if the condenser which is right up front so if you're somebody that's you know
into car racing and you're drafting on the highway because you're in some kind of race every day
i show you what happens to a condenser when you're riding up the butt of the transport truck
or the vehicles in front of you every single day with your car just to let you know the condenser
is the first thing out front that meets any road debris so i show that in a video just recently
on the uh fj cruiser and everything's open so you can see what i'm doing and i'm explaining it all
the way so we want there are certain services that need to be done in order to keep your vehicles
air conditioning long term running well saving you money because today years ago a cheap repair on
an air conditioning system was 500 bucks that's probably 10 to 15 years ago today just times that
by 10 yeah because every every 10 years things flubdipple ripple so you're probably looking between
two and 3000 dollars to fix an air conditioning system if it goes down if the
compressor's gone then you've got to flush the whole system out because there's shrapnel everywhere
inside all the arteries where the refrigerant travels the orifice tube's going to be plug solid
we're going to need to blow the system out with cleaner and make sure we get all the particles
metal particles and everything out of the system otherwise we can't fix it it'll be an ongoing
it's working today tomorrow it's not and then we got to tear it all apart that's when you get into
thousands and thousands of dollars in repair so here's what i do and i have for years i am a
ac tech is recommended to all my customers when i had a shop every 24 months we're going to suck
that all out change the orifice tube make sure that your cabin filter is replaced instead of guessing
it's good we're going to pull it out and put a new one in because we want full air flow in the cabin
so that you get all the cool air that you want so that you're feeling good by the time you get to work
in this hot summer heat you don't want to be showing up looking like you were dragged
through a hedge backwards if you know what i'm saying yeah ladies you understand it you want
to be comfortable you want to get to work and you don't want to be a sopping sticky gooey mess
with bad hair because the humidity just wrecked it and you had to have the windows open in the car
we don't want that to happen right ladies so we can avoid that and keep the air conditioning system
working because basically folks it's a refrigerator that's what it is how important is your refrigerator
at home very right especially in the summer if it goes down you got to get coolers out and ice
and everything in the winter you know you don't want to really putting it all outside it'll be
full frozen solid so how important is your refrigerator of utmost important well your car
has a refrigerator how important should that be if you do not like to be uncomfortable behind the wheel
get it serviced we hook up to it we check the pressures and at the same time then we're going
to do it a full evacuation and change the orifice tube if it's accessible we're going to check all
the connections belts everything and make sure that everything is as it should be before we put
the system fill it back up with fresh clean refrigerant check the pressures check the
in-caven temperature on average we want to see especially on a day like this weekend we're in
the early 70s can very easily have 38 to 42 degrees coming out the center dash and that's cold
you know that's cold enough to hang beef on us on a very hot hazy humid days say like high 80s
early into the early 90s with humidity if we can get a 50 on that the system's tight and right and
it's working well because air conditioning means what it removes moisture from the air that's all
it's doing it's taking the humidity out of the air works exactly the same in your home it's taking
the humidity out of the air in the objects that are in the room where you're standing and inside
the vehicle all the fabric and plastic and stuff sucks up heat like crazy and so we got to get it
cooled off and we'll talk about that again I think this upcoming week as temperatures are changing
a one pack another round of air conditioning repairs maintenance and how to use it properly
which is most important you need to know how to use your vehicle's air conditioning properly to make
it last a lot longer without breakdowns and I can help you do that if you're willing to listen and do
because remember the do does and the did is done so we're just about out of time but that covers
three fantastic questions another trifacta of questions well done you car connection
motor mouth morning drive car connection workshop gurus say that 10 times fast I think I'd get hurt
we'll see you Monday morning for another episode of our motor mouth morning drive come and join us
learn as much as you can that's what my mentors told me back when I was an apprentice read everything
you can get into every evening class you can get into learn as much as you can from those who are
willing to teach and you will be further ahead than the next guy that's sitting and watching
television drinking cold snacks and eating some kind of chip of some sort whatever yeah we'll
leave we'll put we'll park that right there so thank you to our certified financial planning
professionals Larry Tietro and Tony Miele with IG wealth management 50 years of experience as
fiduciaries these guys are two of the best in all of Canada grab out of their coattails
grab a one hour discovery meeting we call the hour in a coffee get your answers to your questions
from those who have the initial CFP not advisors certified financial planning professionals they
understand tax laws estate planning getting rid of debt the right way arranging a mortgage
life insurance critical illness insurance and getting your investment money working for you
hard for you not you hard for the money so check in with them get that booked get your questions
answered and watch your life change there's nothing you're going to tell them that they
haven't heard before in that discovery meeting leave your wallet and purse at home you're not
going to need it you're absolutely not going to be sold anything no sales gimmicks no condemnation
no nothing just check in let them know I said you work with either one Tony Miele or Larry Tietro
and let them help you your life will absolutely change so we'll see you
in the next one which will be our motormouth morning drive Monday morning bright and early
at 8 o'clock we'll see you there have yourselves a wonderful wonderful Victoria Day long weekend
kicking off summer 2026 be safe drive safe and watch out for the other guy all right and we'll
see you right back here we have a buy me a coffee profile page set up because Skippy told me to do
that it would be a good idea it's buy me a coffee dot com forward slash motormouth Nile if you can
throw some shekels our way we would really appreciate it whatever you could do to help to
support the channel we would be over the moon and would appreciate it so so much you can
you can put in as much as you like or as little as you like so Skippy and I could have coffee and
snacks when we're shooting videos and working 80 hours all week we say thank you to all of you
ahead of time that see the value in that so if you're getting value out of the podcast
and the youtube channel then that's would be a great way for you to say thank you and we would
be truly grateful so no pressure if you're led to do it great if you're not great we still love
you anyway we'll see you Monday bye for now
About this episode
Saturday Q&A turns into a practical warning-sign lesson: a service light can stay on for months while the computer “mask[es] the problem,” and ignoring it can turn a “$200 job” into “$5,000.” The host stresses scan-tool diagnosis, live data, and “pinpoint testing” instead of code-clearing or parts-swapping. The conversation also covers keeping older cars dependable with consistent maintenance, plus fuel and A/C prevention tips. Upcoming topics include diagnosing a parasitic draw.
👉 Like, Subscribe, and join us Monday morning for another Motormouth Morning Drive!
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