Episode Transcript
You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, Weekend wrenchers and vehicle owners Alife.
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The Car Doctor is in the garage and ready to take your call.
Speaker 2For the record.
I had a really great open about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I was gonna tell you something good that happened at the shop with a customer, But because I know you never hear that from me, I'll leave you to ponder that.
Because right now we have a lot of phone calls, So let me get to the phones.
Maybe we'll squeeze that in this hour, Maybe it'll be next week.
Chad, Louisiana, nineteen Chevy Blazer.
What's going on, Chad?
How can I help?
Speaker 3Yeah?
One day when wife came came home, she lost her AC and her power assistance on it, and I showed a PO code.
I put my reader on it and it's low temperature, not reaching.
Speaker 2The minimum right right.
Speaker 3It happened again to her next week and I took it up.
I wasn't to take it to the shop, but we didn't have it covered, so I did it myself.
We took the thermostat off and it had part of the rubber that was curled up, so it was part of the problem.
But my question was would that cause the AC to turn off and the power assistance to go out?
Speaker 2Yes, because it's going to go into default if it thinks the engine is running at an incorrect temperature, it will limit operation and of other functions.
A.
They're concerned about engine survivability.
B they're trying to make you uncomfortable.
See you get it fixed?
Speaker 3Ah, gotcha?
Speaker 2All right.
There's a strategy here.
This is this is this goes back to the late nineties early two thousands, when a lot of the imports, we'll call them imports.
Now they're domestics as far as I'm concerned, but Toyota's hondas a lot of the vehicles would turn on every single dashboard light for a bad oh two cents or or fault cote in the engine.
They would limit the way safety functions would operate.
So yeah, that's that.
We call that operating strategy.
I call that an attention getter.
So is it solved?
Is it?
Is it operating properly?
Now?
Speaker 3Yeah, it's it's doing good.
I just didn't wanted to come back on some curious if it would be something.
Speaker 2Well, the other the other, the other side of that is you know, so let's let's say it comes back, right, Chad, put a thermostat in it.
I'm sure you've got a good quality thermostat whatever you got right, Okay, Right, So you got to nowa stat and let's say the problem comes back, and let's say it's not related to the rubber seal bypassing, because that's what it was doing.
It was allowing cool to leak past and run at a lower end in temperature.
What would you look at next, I'm gonna make you think.
Speaker 3Oh I would check the sensor.
Well, I was one change, but the way they have that sensor in there, I didn't have the tool to get it out right.
Speaker 2I think that's the one that's down on the head and it's under a ledge.
Yes, yeah, so nobody has that tool.
Speaker 3I was thinking of a crow's foot.
It might be getting it, but I'm not too sure.
Speaker 2Yeah, you have to get it.
What you do is you have to sacrifice a crow's fit.
Here's what you gotta do, all right, if you want to know the truth, you have to go to Harbor Freight.
You have to buy a crow's foot and an extension and weld the two pieces together, or spend three times the money.
Go to your local snap on guy.
Buy a crow's foot by the extension and weld the two pieces together, and you'll make a tool, or you're gonna cut a wrench.
There's no known tool.
I haven't.
I haven't because I know exactly where this sensor is.
I've looked at it going.
God, that's going to be horrible to change if and when it goes bad.
So, uh, you know it's it's it's gonna be one of those.
We're going to make a tool kind of a thing.
So yeah, that's but yeah, you're right.
Look, I would look at the temp censor, I would look at the dashboard readings.
I would take it out for a ride with my scam tool and monitor everything.
Speaker 3And the first time it happened to her, it was only getting up to one and when I changed the thermostatic and actually got up to above two hundred.
Speaker 2Right, it typically runs in the two oho five range, which to me is mind boggling that we run cars that hot.
But it's been that way for twenty years.
So it's that's what it is, all right, kiddo.
Speaker 3Alright, I do appreciate it, very you're right.
Speaker 2Well, now listen, that's what we're here for.
We're just trying to help you guys.
It's hey, listen, I I did it this week.
I called a gentleman in North Carolina during the day from the shop.
I thought that guy was going to fall off his chair, you know.
But I mean, I'm just trying to help people fix cars.
Brother, That's all this is about.
Speaker 3Jack.
Now, I like buying older vehicles because they're a lot easier to work on in the newer.
Speaker 2One, right, well, you know, I wonder if you're going to say that in ten years, you know, is the car is the twenty twenty five whatever Chevy Blazer today?
In ten years, will you say it's easier to work on?
My vote is yes, And the reason is because we've got ten years of experience fixing it and we know where the pattern failures are.
So but you know that's always be open to that.
That's that's probably what's going to happen.
I gotta go, kidd a pleasure, Thank you, you'd be well, yes, sir, Let's go to gar Let's go to Gary, Wisconsin.
Seventeen Explorer, I mean explored.
Did I say that P zero three hundred?
What's going on here?
Gary?
Speaker 3Well, like I.
Speaker 4Said, like you just said, I get a seventeen Explorer with a three P three hundred code and a P zero three sixteen as well according to the Ford Garage.
Okay, I can't get that on my code reader, but they picked it up right.
Speaker 2Well, because they're picking it up on they're picking it up under your make model, you may not be able to get that on OBD two and they're telling you, and they're telling you what's at fault.
Yes, no, they're they're go ahead, Gary, They're saying what's They're saying, what's at fault?
Have they diagnosed it?
Speaker 4Yes and no.
On the first visit they said, just put in spark plugs, but the spark plugs had already been replaced with with Ford Motor Company plugs and less than five thousand miles.
So on the second visit they said, what you really need is a injector service and coil boots for the spark plugs.
Speaker 2Okay, can I can I tell you stop you right there for a quick second.
This is a V six?
This is this is a V six no turbo motor right?
Or is this the four cylinder?
Speaker 4No, this is a V six okay three point five.
Speaker 2Are they charging you for this alleged diagnosis?
Speaker 4Yes they charged Yeah, they charged me about two hundred dollars so far.
Okay, it's not a lot of money.
Speaker 2I don't think they've earned their pay yet.
I'm not here, I'm not I'm not hearing.
I'm not hearing anything definitive.
Right, How does how does the car run?
Speaker 4It runs fine after the first uh one minute, I suppose a minute and a half somewhere in there.
Speaker 2Okay, Sorry, first, this is this little rough So this is a cold engine misfire.
Yeah, okay, have they verified that or is that just?
Is that just Gary telling them what he experiences?
Speaker 4Well, what the what?
No, they have been able to duplicate that.
They just they do They haven't.
Let's put it this way.
On a third visit, after looking over more closely, they decided it must be an injector leaking, okay, and therefore and therefore contaminating and I suppose in the lower Uh.
Speaker 2Uh, well it's it's it's gas washing the cylinder.
Let me let me ask you something, Gary, all right, how how confident are you these guys know what they're doing?
Speaker 4Not one hundred percent satisfied with them?
Speaker 2No, But you're you're right on the same page.
Here's here's here's how I would approach this diagnosis.
Okay, and I I try not to armchair quarterback, but man, I got to jump in on this one, all right.
Customer comes in, Hey Ron, You're you're the customer, right, Gary, Hey, Ron, my car's got a it's got a misfire.
Sure, Gary, let me take a look at it.
Gary, it's misfiring.
It's got a P zero three hundred which is random.
Multiple cylinder misfire doesn't have to be ignition, doesn't have to be fuel, could be mechanical, could be a bad harmonic balancer causing the serp belt to slip.
I mean, anything that would make the crank stutter, so to speak.
Right, So you've got a P zero three hundred and you've got a three sixteen, which means it's detecting a misfire under a thousand revolutions on startup.
Okay, hey Gary, let me go do a little deeper diagnosis.
I'm gonna get into mode six.
Mode six is the binary language of when that fault occurs.
I'm also going to look a look at freeze frame.
Freeze frame is the video snapshot of an approximation of what the engine was doing when the fault occurred.
I'm gonna see, Hey, Gary, you know this happens during warm up.
Once the engine gets to one hundred and ninety five or two hundred operating degrees, the misfire goes away.
Yeah, okay, hey Gary, I'm dealing with a cold engine misfire.
That took me.
That took me.
Uh yeah, I'll be I'll be lazy that day.
Danny interrupted me.
And I had two cups of coffee.
That took me thirty five minutes.
Where am I here?
You know what am I?
What am I looking for?
Right?
So gotta tell you what?
Sit tight?
Let me pull over real fast, take this puzz and I'll come back.
We'll finish up with you real quick.
But I want to give you some amo.
I'm ronning any and the car doctor.
I'll be back right after this.
Gary, Wisconsin, you're still there, sir, got Gary.
I'm gonna make a mechanic out of you, all right in the next seven In the next seven minutes, I'm gonna make you smarter than the guys at the Ford Garage.
You're ready, all right?
Okay, you got a pencil and paper I do, Okay, you can write good.
You're already halfway there.
So my first thirty five minutes, I've established when the fault occurs, what fault occurs, and I'm going to go look at mode six and freeze frame to verify what engine conditions were going on and which exact cylinders are act misfiring.
Some may misfire more than others.
Speaker 4I have that they did a code six and they came up with cylinder one misfired twice in ten dive cycles, and number two twice, number three, three times, number four, two times number five onths number six once.
Speaker 2Okay, so it's spread it's spread out over all all of the cylinders.
Yes, okay, and when the car warms up the problem goes away.
Speaker 4Yes, all right.
Speaker 2Next, can we do a cylinder power balance test?
Can we see if one injector is more offensive than the rest?
Speaker 5Right?
Speaker 4Silver balance?
Speaker 2Now, Ford, and it's it's really great.
A Ford Factory scan tool gives you the ability to do a cylinder power balance test right from the seat of the car.
You don't have to lift the hood or anything, nothing to do.
You plug in, you get to the test and it will show you which cylinders And can I do that test warm?
Is this truly a cold problem?
Why not?
Let's see.
That'll take me fifteen minutes.
I'm done thirty five minutes for I've now got one of my fifty minutes into the car.
Right the last ten minutes, I'm gonna hook up a fuel the last ten minutes, I'm gonna hook up a fuel pressure gauge, verify fuel pressure, and I'm gonna shut the car off.
I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee.
I'm gonna come back in twenty minutes.
Has the system held residual pressure?
It should hold residual pressure for ten to twenty minutes after I cycle the key off.
If it's zero, I'm thinking I've got an injector.
That's peeing.
It's okay, I can say peeing on radio.
That's not a bad word.
Oh, all right?
And then which cylinder misfires the most when I started?
Maybe I'm gonna go to that olander.
Do I have a mechanical leak down issue?
All right?
But you know, well, maybe you need spark plugs, maybe you need coil boots, Maybe you need injectors that doesn't work.
You know, a twenty twenty two Ford f one point fifty pickup.
You can't buy the coil boots separately.
Don't ask me how I know.
You have to buy the whole coil.
So if you think you've got bad boots on a three year old truck, it's it's one hundred and eighty two dollars a coil times eight.
We're going to spend you know, sixteen hundred dollars on a guess we better learn how to diagnose cars.
Right, yep, so, and that's my point.
So, yeah, I agree, an injector cleaning might be a wonderful thing.
It can't hurt.
But you know how many miles around this car?
Speaker 6Now?
Speaker 2I'm going to ask mileage?
Right, if you notice I haven't asked mileage yet?
How many miles are on this car?
Speaker 4One hundred and eight?
Speaker 2Okay?
So have you ever done spark plugs?
Speaker 4I did it at one hundred and five okay.
Speaker 2And the problem happened after that or the problem was going on at the time.
Speaker 4Yeah, what No, it happened after that?
Speaker 2Right?
Do we think maybe we installed a spark plug or I'm sorry, an ignition coil?
Speaker 4Wrong?
Speaker 2Is it possible we need boots because we didn't use any dielectric grease to seal them?
Let me ask right, I'm speaking, I'm speaking, you know, off the top of my head.
Have these been your guys all along?
Speaker 4Yes?
Speaker 2So let me ask you.
Let let's it's just it's just you and me, Gary.
We're sitting there, we're sitting We're sitting at a soda fountain having a coke.
Right, Okay, these guys don't seem to exude a lot of confidence from you, do they no, they don't, and they've had one hundred thousand miles to prove themselves.
Speaker 4What's that's true?
Wow, there's something maybe?
Speaker 2All right, So it was sixty thousand it was used.
If you were dating these guys, wouldn't you call this a bad date?
Isn't it time?
Speaker 4Right?
Speaker 2Isn't it time to get isn't it time to get out of the It's time for a divorce, isn't it.
Yeah, I mean this is a bad marriage, brother, and I just I just don't see it.
You know.
Listen, you come to the if I had customers this morning.
I was in the shop this weekend because we were so busy, I couldn't deliver all the cars by the end of the week on Friday, so I had to go into the shop this morning to actually get some cars out.
Right, And we're joking and kidding around, and we're talking about this and we're talking about that.
But I can do that because you know what, I know, the car's fixed.
I've got a great relationship, because the relationship is the biggest, most important part of the repair process.
You've got a bad relationship here.
These guys are just I mean either that of you're lying to me, Gary, and I don't think you are.
I think you're a straight shooter.
Speaker 4You know.
Speaker 2Yeah, people, these guys are kind of dopey.
You're just a number to them.
You know, they're like little robots.
Nobody's explaining anything, nobody's taking the time to sit down and talk to them.
So I think it's time, you know, it's time for you to go talk to your service writer and say, look, you guys have been my guys for the past sixty thousand miles X number of years.
I want you to be my mechanics.
I need a mechanic.
I don't want to go somewhere else, but I'm not getting a lot of warm fuzzies here.
Every once in a while, you got to have that cup of coffee conversation with your mechanic and say, you know, if the relationship isn't great, because it sounds like we're guessing, right.
Speaker 4Yeah, they've even said on the second visit they're guessing, and that disturbed me somewhat.
I you know, I mean, I just want to find out what's the matter.
Speaker 2Have they tried?
Have they tried?
Have they tried selling you a new car yet?
Speaker 4No?
Speaker 2No, that's coming all right?
You call me back next week.
That's coming Gary.
They're gonna say, you know what, you need a new car.
This one's eight years old.
But think about it, all right, Those are some of the things I would look at.
Those are some of the tests they need to do.
We've got an hour in this car.
Gary, We've got an hour in this car, and we already know more than them.
Go at it.
Don't be afraid.
Try to get a divorce.
Maybe good luck.
Let us know.
I'm running ay in the car doctor dating advice.
I'll be back right after this.
Somewhere somebody's going what's a four barrel car?
Let's go to Robert in Nevada.
Robert, Welcome to the car doctor, sir.
What's going on?
Speaker 7How you doing?
Speaker 2It's always a pleasure, Thank you, sir.
What's cooking?
Speaker 3I love the show?
Speaker 6You know.
I got a F three fifty.
It's a ninety six FLA.
It's got the four to sixty, the large motor.
Right about a year ago, me and a buddy changed the gas pump in the front tank and because it was going out and weak, and I changed the filter and it started pumping.
When you're on the front tank, it'll pump and pressure the back tank right at the point where besides dripping, it'll shoot gas out to take the cap off.
Speaker 4Right.
Speaker 6So about three weeks ago I replaced the back pump well, and so I had it in a shop for a few other things.
They redid all the breaks and stuff, and I asked them to fix that or do whatever.
They never fixed it.
I'd had it in there two more times they were supposed to fix it.
I gave up on them, and about three weeks ago the back tank started going out, so I replaced the pump in it, and now it pumps to the front tank.
And then the other day, two days, they're three days ago.
Speaker 4It hit me because I had one of your commercials and I was.
Speaker 6Like, man, I got to call the doctor because I've been talking to people and.
Speaker 2Here's there's the here's the deal, the seal.
All right, if we if we built a time machine, we went back to nineteen ninety eight, all right, that when that vehicle was under recoil for problems with the check valves that were built into the fuel pumps for this exact problem, all right, because there was an install issue at the factory, and they slowly developed over time.
So when you say you put a fuel pump in this.
Did you put just the pump or the whole assembly?
Speaker 6Well, I had to take it, No, I had to take it apart and then put pieces together out of the old pump.
Speaker 2Okay, because see it's hard for me to answer because I don't know if this vehicle had the recall done to it or not.
Most of them did, most of them there was a recall where the external check valve may be on the pressure line and each tank assembly.
If the check valves were installed, there may be one in the tank where the new fuel pumps being installed, and that causes it the pump to the opposite tank.
So and then again if it wasn't done, and now you put in a fuel pump with a check valve, we could be going in the wrong direction.
Speaker 3Holy crap.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's probably the word I would use or something there.
All right, man, No, this is this is this is a check valve related issue.
So the question is the question is what did these pumps originally have.
Now, in theory, if you change the front pump, just the pump and not the assembly, and I've got a feeling you changed the assembly, all right, if you just if you just put an electric pump in the front unit where you pulled out the whole module and all and just swapped out the pump.
You shouldn't have changed anything.
The fact that it changed when you put the fuel pump assembly in it tells me that you probably put an assembly with a check valve in it.
And now you've got it.
And I bet there's a check valve on the frame rail too.
Speaker 6Would that be by the filter it used to be?
Speaker 2You know where it is after forty years any anybody's guest brother.
Speaker 4But but it never had this problem.
Speaker 6So I write, put in the other pump, and it's the exact opposite.
Speaker 2But yeah, I really think that if you go back and look, you probably put a complete pump assembly in the front, and then who's pump did you use?
I would call that manufacturer, whoever it was, whoever's pump it was, and I would talk to tech support and say, here's the problem i've got.
Does your pump assembly as I purchased it, have a check valve built into the pump or not?
Speaker 6Right?
Speaker 2And get an answer from them because they'll know how they because I always wondered, I'm not surprised at this question because I always wondered since Ford did an external recall and they changed they changed the check valving on the vehicles, I always wandered.
I said, I wonder what's gonna happen when the after market gets a hold of this.
How bad could the aftermarket screw it up?
And and what sort of fuel pumps they're gonna put out?
So that's what gives Yeah, I would ask the manufacturer, listen, you know the industry hasn't gotten any smarter.
I'll tell you the ugly.
All right, I'm gonna tell you the ugly real quick.
I was going to talk about the good, the bed, and the ugly.
Here's the ugly car from this week.
I had a nineteen Fusion in the shop.
I had to do front brakes.
I bought the brake pads.
I bought the rotors, same brand, good brand, loved the brand, always working right.
And I had the same complaint that the customer had when we did them three years ago, where they would clunk once in a while, and I kept thinking about it, why do I get a break pad clunk?
And I now I'm like aware of it, I'm more dialed in.
I kept going through.
I had to order four sets of brake pads sixty sixteen fifty threes, eight twelves, eighteen fifty threes and so on, and it turns out somewhere along the way.
Long story short, because we've only got an hour radio show if left today for change the part number of the brake pad from this to that.
The new pad has a piece of double sided sticky tape so that they actually glue the caliber right to the bracket base so it doesn't shift around.
I've got a stack of brake pads in the shop that are going back on Monday.
Wow, you know, why do we Why don't we have to go through this?
Why can't we call manufacturers and have them know what the hell they're selling in plain English?
Speaker 6Well, it's all in the engineering, right, and it's.
Speaker 2All in the engineering, and it's all in the supplements, and it all does the information, you know, work its way downhill.
Speaker 6So you got time for quick question, real truck.
Speaker 2Real quick two minutes.
Speaker 6So when you hit the clutch and it doesn't want to you got to really kick it sometimes, and I believe there's an adjustment.
Speaker 4What do I got to replace or deuce.
Speaker 6Because it seems like it's just going out or one of these days, it's just not going to want to start because that clutch will what so inther words, if you.
Speaker 2Don't push it far enough, the starter.
Speaker 6Won't engage, it won't start.
Yeah.
Speaker 2Okay, So there's going to be a switch like a brake light switch on the clutch pedal.
Okay, ninety six, and he's slopping the linkage.
Is the switch?
Is the switch worn?
Is the switch sitting in the hole cock to the side that the pedals hit it so many times?
How many millions of miles are on this truck?
Watch this?
Speaker 6Well the truck's probably four hundred and twenty thousand, but it's got a new factory block motory.
Speaker 2Well yeah, but yeah, but when you change the engine block, did you change the clutch linkage under the dash?
No?
No, right, there you go.
See that's what I mean.
Here you go.
Speaker 5So so crawl under the dash, all right, and take a flashlight with you, and you'll see as you depress the pedal, there's going to be a stop that has to hit a tab that's.
Speaker 2The brake light switch.
All right.
Now, if the linkage is worn and you can't get it to contact the switch any better because some infantismally obsolete part that no longer exists on the planet isn't around, and you need to make the pedal contact the switch sooner.
Take a vacuum cap, you know, the old days, vacuum cap, carburetors, vacuum lines, that kind of thing.
Find the right size vacuum cap.
Put it on the end of that switch so it depresses the button.
But you'll probably have to trim the rubber a little bit so it can depress.
Speaker 6Down right, all right, better in duct tape, Right, that's.
Speaker 2Better than duct tape.
Yeah, I'm always better than duct tape, trust me, and see what that does.
All right, that's it.
Speaker 4That's all I got.
Speaker 2You're very welcome.
You're very welcome.
Thank you, Robert.
You'd be well out there in Nevada, Nevada.
I wonder if I'm stilling billboard eight five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Tom's like, no, I'll be back right after this, and we are rolling down the highway.
Let's go back to Frank an Illinois return call from a couple of weeks ago.
Frank, what's the status on this fifteen highlander?
What'd you find out?
Speaker 7Well?
I got the results backs the giversiel averages.
They call it sixty six hundred.
This was done at thirty three hundred miles.
The report came back stating that the wear materials are at the lower level the mats, a good sign that the wearing parts of the engine are operated in a healthy manner.
No contamination turned out for a few cool water dirt viscasi red in the zero W twenty range, low in solubles in silicone show defective oil and air filtration exit results.
Over All, the only thing I noticed on the report that might be a little high for thirty three hundred was the calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc levels for thirty three hundred.
It might have been a hair high, but it wasn't over the universal averages.
So the only thing I can assume is when it was serviced at the dealer, I don't know how they got all that gold speck and flakes and stuff in that engine that kind of cut the builders open too.
At that time, nothing was in there, so it's somewhat it was still a little mystery.
But B six is a running whisper quiet, so I guess I don't know for sure.
Speaker 2Well, you know, is it possible and we're assuming, which is a dangerous word for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 7Right.
Speaker 2You know, one of the things I did in the shop a good couple of years ago is I built a funnel rack.
You know what I mean by a funnel rack.
I took We took some we took some two inch white plumber's pipe, and we basically made an octopus and we bolted it to the wall and right, it all comes down, It all funnels down at all next down to one pipe and then it drips into a pail and that's our filter.
And we would take you know, the oil filter because that we have we probably have fourteen different oil filters for all the cars.
But the one thing I didn't like about that was and of course, how else would just store all the filters?
You're tripping over them, They fall all over the ground.
No matter what you do, is you're exposing the face or the outside of the funnel, the funnel, the atmosphere shops a dirty environment.
So we ended up research Kathy, through her due diligence and research, hence the name, she found funnel covers.
So every time we do an oil change, we take the filter down, we take the cover off, we put it in the car, bump the oil in, put it back in the rack, put the funnel cover back on the lids, so it doesn't get dirty, it doesn't get contaminated.
Maybe that material got in the engine because they're not careful with their funnels and raw material, wrong material got in the engine as a result of that.
Speaker 7That could be the only reason I could see, because, like I said, other than him serving the sip.
When I initially head bought it from them, I changed on oil and filters.
Wipe all the plastic funnels.
I put in a plastic bag, seal them, and I re wipe them when I changed the oil again.
So it had to come from them somehow before they put a lot in there.
I can tell you.
Speaker 2Either that or they had a lot of contaminant in the air.
I worry about outside contamination like that, But that's the only way I could think oil would get contaminated like that, or you know, did it come out of the dealership like that?
But I don't don't.
I don't see how.
I don't see how their oil would be that contaminated because it's coming out of a bag or a box or you know, something like that.
You would think that would be a cataclysmic failure on that stretch.
Speaker 7So yeah, well they bought it used from them, they serviced it up and then at the first dump is when all the flakes and the specs showed up, which I was shocked.
I called you and you said, well that's a good place for a Blackstone oil report, and that's how it comes back.
Speaker 2Well, let's see.
You know what time will tell if if that engine is still running in a year, and I would expect it to be Blackstone's accurate.
If not, it's all smoking mirrors.
Uh, you know you're gonna You're gonna be our guinea pig, Frank.
All right, so uh, you keep listening.
You call us in a year, you let us know how that engine's doing.
Speaker 7All right, brother, I'll let you know down the line the results.
Speaker 2You're very good, Thank you, Frank.
You'd be well.
You have a great rest of the weekend.
Eight five five, five six zero nine nine zero zero running any and the car doctor coming back right after this.
I want to finish today talking about the good and the bad.
Right, we were going to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
We had so many calls, but let me finish here, so you know the ugly.
The ugly was the Ford Fusion.
It took four sets of brake pads and more hours than I can count of research to find the right set of pads.
It's Ford Is updated them over the years, and they haven't told anybody the ugly.
And I realized the ugly comes about because people don't know.
And that's a very simple statement, but it's the truth.
People don't understand order repair.
They don't know, they don't know how to interact, they don't know to communicate and be social.
Fellow walked into the shop one afternoon this week about two o'clock.
How much to put eight fuel injectors in my suburban?
Huh?
Speaker 3You know?
Speaker 2How do we get here?
And I have the injectors.
I went to Rock Auto and I bought six of these and two of this and they look the same.
And whoa time out?
And it's also got high mileage on it.
I think it was three hundred thousand miles.
Well, who diagnosed it?
I started asking all the questions.
Who diagnosed it?
Well, a buddy of mine, he has access to a snap on scan tool.
Snap on diagnostics prove this to be the repair it's got a fuel distribution problem and so forth.
How much you know, where do you go with that?
How do you approach that?
That's like walking into a doctor's office and saying, hey, I need this knee replaced because it hurts every third Tuesday.
Can you give me a price.
I don't understand that.
I don't understand how some people think that walking in and asking for a repair without a diagnosis, without any conversation is the right way to go.
And I said to Steve, you know what, I calmed them down.
I didn't throw them out.
I was actually nice, which I always am, but you know, sometimes you just get frustrated.
I maintained my composure like I'm supposed to, and I kind of walked them through several steps.
I asked them to send me an email if you have to see it, but listen, I did my part.
That's the bad.
Don't walk into a repair shop and just assume they're there waiting for you to show up, and that you're gonna you know, you're not gonna bring your eggs to the diner and say here, cook them.
Because when they give somebody indigestion, somebody's got to be responsible.
The good, the good was Sean.
Sean's a new customer, late model Escape twenty one to fourd Escape, walked in, Hey, I need brakes on my escape, walked out, looked at it.
Yep, you sure do you know?
And I kind of walked them through pricing because pricing is very sensitive, right, Everybody has perceived values, and I wanted them to understand what we're going to do and how we're going to do it, and especially with breaks, there's no cheating on breaks.
Some repairs you can cheat at customer request.
There's some things you can cut, and you will and you'll explain it to the customer to keep them informed, because it's your obligation to keep them informed.
But breaks better stop on a dime, give you nine cents change as the saying goes, right, And it was a pleasure talking to Sean.
And Sean was probably the best customer of the week and he hasn't even given us any money yet.
And you know, it just made me think every week has it the good, the bad, and the ugly, and that's the challenge of order repair.
Anyway, I just wanted you to hear that story.
I feel better.
Thank you for the therapy.
Ah, I'm running ady in the car.
Doctor, it's been an absolute pleasure until the next time.
Good mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See you