And we do welcome you to the CNC Auto Show.
You jump in, buckle up and hold on. I'm your host, Aaron Clements, and I'm here to answer your automotive questions, share some tips, talk about cars and have some fun. And along with answering automotive questions, I'm here to share some tips. And talk about vehicle warning lights today. We'll cover those. That's how your car communicates to you, tells you what it needs, tell you what's going wrong, tell you what's going right. And we'll talk about those. And I hope that you got some tips to share with others also, because you may have had a light come on at one time that was kind of interesting, or you wondered what it was, or it led to something. So call in, talk about that, or you may have some other tip about a car. So I want you to share your thoughts.
Share your tips also, and also love to answer those questions. Love for you to join the show. That number 800-224-9090.
That's 800-224-9090. And you can also watch or listen at ccautoshow.com. You go there and you'll see a list of different ways that you can watch or listen, either one.
And you just click on the one that you like the most and boom, it'll appear. And you'll be able to do it. Uh, one of the things that I love to do is go to the callers and let's go over to, let me see, I think we got Eddie on the phone. Eddie, welcome to the CNC auto show. And what can we help you with today?
I know that Eddie has his radio on, so we're going to put him on hold for a bit and we'll come back to Eddie shortly. Okay. Again, the number 800-224-9090. I'm going to go ahead and lay a tech tip quiz on the table here.
So, uh, be still because here it comes. And of course, this, uh, the winner of this will win the prize package, which includes, we'll go with a t-shirt, a CNC auto show t-shirt, which is, let's everyone know that you are a tech tip quiz winner. All right. Jonathan drives a 2013 BMW, a yellow light started flashing on his dash and he did not notice it. And it cost him over $300.
Why did it cost him over $300? And if you know the answer to that, you give us a call and again, 800-224-9090, uh, just give us a call. Okay. One of the lights that I'm going to mention first here has to do with a red brake light. And I'm sure that most of us have seen a bread bread brake light on their car before. And, uh, many times it's, uh, it could just be your emergency brake is on and you didn't know it because of course the same light many times is used for that. But other things that it could be, let's say you check it and emergency brake is not on and you're saying, well, what in the world is going on with my car?
Uh, there's some other things. Even minor that it could be. And one of those items is that your brake fluid could be just a little bit low. And sometimes when the brake fluid is slightly low, it can cause the light to come on. So if it gets on the borderline of low, and if it gets on the borderline, sometimes when it contracts, uh, when it cools off, contracts a little bit, then it may, uh, cut on. And then when the fluid expands, it may cut off. So, uh, brake fluid, but you have to be very careful not to, uh, overfill brake fluid.
So if you find yours, it is on that little borderline, just put what it takes to put it up to the full area only. Because if you put too much in there, uh, you can call it when that brake fluid is on. When that brake fluid does expand, it could cause the front brakes to apply and cause a little problem there.
So, uh, be sure to, uh, be sure to check that out. If a red brake light does come on, on your vehicle. And many times you, um, if the pedal feels okay, let's say to your red brake lights on, but your pedal feels good. You're not having any kind of issues there. Uh, the vehicle seems to stop good.
In most cases you can try if the brake fluid is good, you can drive it to where your, uh, repair facility is and have the vehicle check to find out what's going on with that. Uh, okay. We'll go over to the caller and let's go over to, uh, let's see here. We have, uh, yes, sir. Welcome to the CNC auto show.
And what can we help you with? Hello. And welcome to the CNC auto show. Okay. I'm going to put you back on hold and we will come back. Uh, very, yes, sir.
Welcome to the CNC auto show. Hello. Yeah. We're having some phone issues.
We'll be getting, yes, sir. Yes. Okay. I'm going to put you on hold for a little bit. Uh, let's see here. Uh, returned. Okay.
Try one more time here. We have an issues. Welcome to the CNC auto show.
Okay. We'll put you on hold. And, um, and we'll cover a little bit more on the vehicle warning lights because we're having a few little issues with the phone and, uh, most of the other lines are not, uh, working properly either.
So we won't, uh, we won't discuss that later tech tip quiz back on the table real quickly. And the, if for the tech tip quiz, what we had Jonathan drives a 2013 BMW, a yellow light started flashing on his dash, but he did not notice it until it cost him over $300. Why did it cost him over $300 for a yellow light that was flashing on the dash? And I'm going to have to throw a hint out there. It was, um, he wasn't really having a mechanical problem with the car, but there was a yellow light that was flashing on the dash.
So if you know the answer to that, give us a call and again, the number 800-224-9090, and you just give us a call on that. And one of the other items that we're talking about as we're talking about lights. Now, this one I'm very, um, passionate about, or I have a lot of respect for, and that is the very important red oil light. And the reason that I'm very passionate and respect that light so much is that I have seen good cars come into the shop. And the, in the customer say that, Hey, all I had was another block to go.
So I went ahead and drove the car. And of course, then it had to be towed in because it had cut off. And what happens is many times people, something like that, the red light will come on and people will think it's not real.
And so they drive it. And then once that engine has started making a noise on there, then there's a knocking type noise. There's nothing that can be done other than replace the engine in most cases.
So if the light comes on, assume that it's definitely real. And when it, when it does that also you want to, uh, pull over immediately if you can, or as soon as you're safe, check the engine oil. And if it does need oil in the engine, you can put some in there and see if the light goes out.
If it does not need oil, I recommend going in and having a car towed. It's not worth taking a chance. And it, because many times you, you may assume that it's a faulty reading, but it can be a real reading. So you want to be very careful, um, and go ahead and just respect that light a huge amount, uh, because engines that used to be like, uh, two, $3,000. It's not uncommon to run into engines.
Now that's more in the range of anywhere from five, six, even $10,000 or more. So don't take that chance. If you see a red light and you're not low in oil, go ahead and, uh, have the car towed in. Okay. It is time to take a real quick break. We'll be back right after these messages. Welcome back to the CNC automation show. And if you want to ask a car question, you just give us a call.
Well, I'd say 800-224-9090. We're having a little bit of phone issues, which, uh, Mason is working on now, uh, show producer and also IT person. He is working on getting that little problem resolved, which we will get it done. But in the meantime, be saving up your car questions and listening for some beautiful tips, because we are talking about vehicle warning lights that come on. And I know most everyone has had a light come on at one time. If you drive, you have had a light come on.
And I'm going to go ahead and mention those two that I've talked about before just one more time, because they're so important. Uh, and of course that's the red brake light. Um, that vehicle, there's many things that can cause that to come on, but, uh, most, there's many things that are very minor that you can still drive the car to have it tested. But that red oil light is the one that really scares me because of seeing what I've seen in the past of people, uh, ignoring a red oil light and it causing major engine damage. And it can cause the vehicle to actually start knocking and it can cause it to need an engine.
So respect that light a huge amount. When that light comes on, until you know for sure what's wrong, do not run the vehicle and do not try to drive it until you've had it checked out. Now, another light that does come on from time to time for people that would have to do with the red alternator, or sometimes it might be a battery light might come on. And more than lightly, when that light comes on many, many times, it turns out to be the alternator itself, not recharging the battery or some wiring issue causing it not to recharge the battery. So if the light comes on, you need to be very, um, you need to do a few things.
One, I would not recommend cutting the car off right away because if you do, it may not start back. So I would recommend, uh, driving the car to a good, safe place. And you've got a little bit now if it's nighttime, uh, well, anytime cut off unnecessary, uh, uh, accessories, uh, like your AC system.
Instead of having it blowing and blowing on high, go and cut the AC system off and any other radio and any other items that might be running that might use electrical current. You want to go ahead and cut those items off so that you can be, uh, have enough power to get to where you're going. As you're driving the vehicle, if you've got a very short distance to go, you'll be okay. But if you're driving very much of a distance and you've got more of a modern car, you're going to see computers or you're going to see items that'll let you know computers are shutting down. Uh, you'll go a little distance and then you might see something like the airbag light might come on. Then a little bit later, you might see the anti-lock brake system light come on. The reason it's doing that as, as your power decreases and you have less, uh, less power in the battery, these computers don't want to take a chance on something going wrong. So it cuts that system off. So you'll cut your airbag system off and it'll let you know by using a warning light, it'll cut the ABS or anti-lock brake system light on that because it don't want to take a chance on messing up.
And plus you don't want to use it. The computer is trying to protect the main computer, uh, by cutting other computers off. So when you get to that point to where all of those have been cut off, you go see these lights on the dash. And then when you get really close, the main computer is just going to go, boom, that's going to cut off. And that's when the car won't run anymore.
You want to try to already be in a good, safe place before you do that. And as you're getting to that safe place, you want to try to make it to where the vehicle will be in a spot where it can be towed. Uh, because there's a high probability that once you cut the vehicle off, that it's not going to crank back up wherever you're sitting. So I wouldn't just, uh, pull to a place and it be in a crowded parking lot to where there's going to be cars all parked all around it. Very difficult for a tow truck to get to it. Uh, I would park it further out in the lot somewhere where there's other cars not going to be parked all around it.
That way, when the tow truck comes to get it, they'll have, they'll be able to back to where they need to pull the car up on the tow truck. So, uh, the alternator is, um, and of course, if you do see that light come on and you're driving it, monitor all the other lights, especially things like the oil light and the temperature and the other things, because if it's something like a broken belt, it may cause some other issues besides just the alternator. So keep an eye on everything else until you get to a safe place. But this light is a lot like the oil light that I was talking about before. I've seen many times where something, well, uh, a, um, an alternator light would come on and somebody would say, well, I only had a few more miles to go and they drive and then boom, the vehicle cuts off in the road. So you don't want that respect the light a lot because it is a red light. And that's one thing I want to stress as we're talking about these warning lights is that some of the lights on the vehicle are red and some of them is amber. If you see a red light, that means boom, you need to act quickly.
You need to get something done. You need to either find a place to pull over where it's safe and be safe pulling over. But you do want to get over to the side of the road or get to a place.
And it's better to know what to do before these things happen. Know what to do if an oil light comes on. And of course, with that one, you want to boom, pull over as quickly as possible in a safe place. But you want to get off the road if possible, as far off so other cars won't interfere with traffic if you can. But cut the car off as quickly as you can. And with the alternator light, you can continue to monitor everything else. You can continue to drive, but you should know that you need to get to a safe place as quickly as possible.
On that, you could probably get over to an exit and check it that way, depending on the conditions that you're driving under. But knowing what to do if one of these lights come on and remember the red lights are always much, much more important. Amber lights, we'll talk about those shortly. But when the amber light comes on, you got a little bit more time. You don't have to take immediate action, but you do want to respect those lights also.
But they will allow you a little bit more time. Okay, I'd like for you to join the show. It's easy, normally easy. You dial 800-224-9090. But we've got a lot of callers on the screen, but they can't hear me when I talk. So we're going to wait and get that problem straightened out. We're working on it.
We've got a trouble light on the dash letting it snow us there. So we'll get it fixed up. Okay, we'll be right back with more of the CNC Auto Show. As we navigate the COVID-19 crisis, O'Reilly Auto Parts is dedicated to serving you. We've been deemed an essential business, so our doors will stay open.
We encourage you to buy online, then pick up curbside. Together, we're committed to getting through this. And we do welcome you back to the CNC Auto Show.
And I'm here to answer your automotive questions. You just give me a call now. It's 706-863-5800. We have some issues with the other line. That's on Saturday mornings, 805 to 10 Eastern Time.
And you can also go to ccautoshow.com and pick up your platform, pick the platform that you like and watch or listen to the show. Again, the number 706-863-5800. And we are going to go over here to Eddie. Eddie, welcome to the CNC Auto Show.
And what can we help with? Yeah, good morning, Aaron. And finally, I could get on. Yes, at last. We had some phone issues last week, and they kind of topped it off this week.
They did some really weird stuff. But we're working on that. Yeah, last week I tried for two hours and never could get in. We have had some terrible, terrible issues. But we're here now, so what can we help with? Okay, well, I've got a car question. And I also want to attempt the... Detective quiz? No, no, you can do it. You can handle that too.
Let's do both. All right, well, let's do the question. I've got an 06 Nissan Frontier 4.0.
I'm having a little trouble with the... It doesn't seem to want to idle up high enough. And when it gets low, it starts vibrating and then it'll straighten up. And I've done a little research, and it said it's probably the throttle body is carbon buildup and stuff in it.
So I pulled that off, and sure enough, it was black. And I cleaned it with the throttle bottle cleaner and all the best I could get. And it worked good for about two or three weeks, but now it's back doing it again. Do you think I'd probably need to replace it? Usually not. On that vehicle, now some do. On some vehicles, you've got a 50-50 shot of it solving certain problems when you clean a throttle body. But on that one, normally cleaning the throttle body solves that type issue. Now, you've got to figure, though, if that throttle body had that much carbon buildup inside there, where it was causing the engine to run bad, you know you're going to have carbon in other areas of the engine also.
Because you've got your throttle body, then you've got your intake manifold, then you've got the top of the valves, then you've got the top of the pistons. And of course, you've got your O2 sensor after the exhaust leaves the engine. So with that, you've got carbon in other places, and one of the things that I recommend in doing that, if you want to do something and like to work on your vehicle yourself, then there's some very good cleaners that you can go through there that would do a good job. Bob Berryman Products makes an induction service cleaner or a cleaner that can go through the engine and can help tremendously. Now, we've also got many professional shops use a system called the BG induction service. And that BG induction service, usually that's more of a professional-type system that goes in with an injector to inject the mist into the engine, and it dissolves the carbon all the way throughout the engine, and that's a good thing to do. It's not unusual to see cars when they get anywhere from 50 to 70,000 miles to have a lot of carbon buildup, and that's the best method to get it completely out of the engine. And then also, how many miles did you say were on this vehicle? 167. Yeah, and it's not due for a maintenance tune-up or anything like that, is it? No, no, I've done all that. In fact, you all just put a timing chain in it last year. Okay, sounds good.
160,000. Okay. Now, if we did a... Okay, yeah, we wouldn't have been able to see inside the intake at that. So right now, I'm leaning toward recommending that you have, if you, a professional shop's going to do it, I would recommend the BG induction service. And also, there's a chance that this vehicle, if that don't get it all out, then the next step would be to have some diagnostic tests run, and that would be for possibly a vacuum leak on the engine it may have, or it could be that it needs the idle relearn may need to be performed. It's a system that we hook a computer to it, and it pretty much sets the system back to zero as far as on fuel trim.
And then that way, the vehicle can learn how to idle again, because it's got a memory of how the system idles. So, but I would recommend that BG induction service first, if you were going to do that. Okay. All right.
Well, let me give a shot at the tech tip. Oh, great. I was hoping that you would say that.
That is awesome. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and read the question. Jonathan drives a 2013 BMW. A yellow light started flashing on his dash, but he did not notice it, and it cost him over $300.
Why did it cost him over $300? Listen to that. The trumpet come on by itself. I love that. We're making headway here. This is looking good. Okay, Eddie, all eyes are on you now.
You're on the stage, bud. It was most likely the yellow TPMS light for low air pressure on one of his tires. It flashes to start with, and then it comes on a solid color, and he probably went too long and tore up a new tire and had to buy a new one. That is an awesome answer, but the only drawback, and I probably shouldn't have gave this tip because it might have been too much of a tip, but I mentioned before that it wasn't a mechanical item that was wrong. Oh, okay.
That was the only thing I could think of with a yellow light. I had to add a little complexity to it. That's no problem. I still enjoy it. Well, I still enjoy you calling, and if you're sitting there and really just boom, that idea hits you on what it is, all you have to do is call back because we have phones now.
It's fantastic. Okay. Thank you, Aaron. I enjoy your show. Well, thank you very much, and we appreciate you calling.
Okay. The number to call is 706-863-5800. That's 706-863-5800, and we will shoot over here to Billy.
Billy, welcome to the CNC Auto Show. Good morning, guys. Yes, sir.
What can we help with? I'm going to try to text this quiz even though he gave the answer I was. I'm going to try something different. Oh, there's nothing wrong with that. I love that. Let's see if it's going to automatically come on again like it did before.
I love that. Okay. Now we've got an automatic blue that pops up there on the thing just automatically. I don't have to do anything. So I'm going to be waiting to see if it automatically does the ah button or if it automatically does the cheering crowd. Evidently it don't, so I'll have to do that, one of the two, for now.
Okay, Billy, read the question real quick. Jonathan drives the 2013 BMW, yellow light started flashing on the dash, but he did not notice it, and it cost him over 300 bucks. Why did it cost him 300 bucks? I don't know about BMWs. I know the yellow light on most cars means it's a tire, but on a BMW it could have meant that his ABS system needed to be checked out and he had a bad relay in it. That's a great answer also, Billy, because any one of those could cause a yellow light to come on, but the only thing is I gave that little hint there that it wasn't mechanical. It turned out it wasn't a mechanical item that was bad.
Alright, well, you didn't give me the oohs and aahs because I love them too. Any last tries? If it ain't mechanical, maybe, I don't know, everything on a car is mechanical except your washer fluid.
Yeah, washer fluid would do that, but that's kind of mechanical because you've got a pump that does it, but you gave it a good shot, Billy. You don't have anything to be ashamed of, man. You jumped in there and you tried. That's what we're looking for. Thank you, sir. Hey, thank you.
Have a great day. Okay, the number to call is 706-863-5800. We are looking for Tech Tip Quiz winners, and we are talking about warning lights, and also we love for people to share things about their cars. You're welcome to share a story.
You're welcome to mention a light that may have come on with you. So you give us a call, and again, 706-863-5800, and I need to pull over and grab a bottle of water real quick. So I'm going to run inside this store here, and when I get back, I hope you have already dialed the 706-863-5800 so you can answer this question for us or ask the question.
Be right back. Think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs. Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. 706-863-5800, that's any Saturday morning, 8 to 5 to 10 Eastern Time. You can go to ccautoshow.com, watch or listen on any platform that you like. You'll see a list of them.
You just pick the one that kind of makes you feel good and use it. We are going over to these wonderful callers that we have here, and let's start with Jeff. Jeff, welcome to the CNC Auto Show.
Good morning. And what can we help you with? I'd like to answer a tech tip question. Oh, wait a minute. Answer a tech tip question. All right, we're going to try to put you on stage before I can get it out of my mouth good. That is so awesome.
Okay, so you are on stage. I'm going to read the question real quick. Jonathan drives a 2013 BMW, a yellow light started flashing on his dash, but he didn't really notice it, and it cost him over 300 bucks. Why did it cost him over $300?
And Jeff, everyone's looking at you to answer our tech tip quiz today. What is it? It immobilized his vehicle because he didn't listen to it, and he had to pay a $300 record bill. Oh, wow. Now, what did it demobilize?
I mean, because he didn't, what didn't he listen to? He didn't, he didn't, well, he didn't, I don't know exactly how all that works, but it just demobilized itself. It just, it just cost. It's something serious enough that it cut the engine off. Wow. And he had to pay a $300 record bill.
You know, a $300, it wouldn't be unusual to see a $300 record bill now. I mean, with the, very much of a distance. But, but Jeff, I'm trying to stall because I really don't want to do this. I'm trying not, don't do it, Aaron.
No. I couldn't help it, man. I had to. It's my job, Jeff. I didn't do that now. I didn't mean to do that. Okay. All right, Jeff.
Thank you. I'll feed the record bills nowadays with $300. Yeah. I tell you it's with the price of fuel and all that added to it. And then the tow trucks are very expensive now. And uh, yeah, you see it sometime.
A BMW to be expensive to pick up. Yeah, it's gotta be, gotta be. And Jeff, I am so happy you called though. I really do.
And if something hits you later, you call back. Yes, sir. Hey, thank you, Jeff. Bye-bye.
Okay. The number to call is now it's 7 0 6 8 6 3 5 800. All you got to do is pick up that phone and dial, smile and dial.
And let's go over to, uh, by four seconds difference on the other caller. We're going to Steven. Steven, you are next in line. What can we help you with? I want to answer the text, Jeff.
Oh, you know what we need to do for you though? I love that. It just comes up automatically now. Time it's out of my mouth. Boom. It's there. Okay.
We'll read the question. Jonathan drives a 2013 BMW. A yellow light started flashing on his dash, but he did not notice it. And it cost him $300. And Steven, everyone's looking at you to answer today's tech tip quiz.
What is it? His light was telling him he had low fuel. He run out of gas and he had to get it towed in for $300. Whoa.
Now that's pretty good. Well, it probably had to spend another $300 on fuel after that. You're right.
And he's got a 10 gallon tank. No. You know, the only drawback, Steven, is, you know, that kind of borderlines on something mechanical.
I mean, because you run out of gas and of course the engine and then the towing. I guess what I'm getting at is, oh wow, the crowd. I had to wait for the crowd to get in the room first before I could really get them to do that.
But that's what they did. I appreciate it. Hey, Steven, thank you very much for giving a good shot.
It was awesome. Talk to you soon. Number to call is 706-863-5800. You give us a call.
You may be the winner of a tech tip quiz prize, or I would be glad to answer your automotive question. Either one's good with me. Okay, we'll go over here to, is that Myra?
Myra! All right. You know what they did? Hey. They put this little screen, and it's probably about six foot in front of me, and then they make the letters really, really small. So, then what I have to do. Oh, that's not nice.
Yeah, I can barely read. Okay, what can we help you with? Okay, I got your tech tip. Oh, you must have been going to some of those motivational seminars, because you didn't say I might have the answer. You didn't say there's a chance I got the answer. You said I've got the answer, so you're positive. You've got a completely positive attitude. Is that right? That's right. Positive attitude.
Beautiful. Well, I'm going to throw this question out again. Jonathan drives a 2013 BMW, a yellow light started flashing on his dash, and he didn't notice it, and it cost him over 300 bucks. What was wrong? Myra, all eyes are on you to answer. It did it again. It's automatic now. I don't have to do the trumpet.
I don't have to call Bluey, and he does it by himself. Okay, all eyes are on you. What is the answer? All right, so on the car, it started flashing when he was exceeding the speed limit, and he got a speeding ticket. Now, what is that again now? You know, like, on your GPS stuff, it'll tell you how fast you're going and what the speed limit is, and it started flashing because he was going too fast. Now, what else could do something a little bit like that besides a GPS unit? Well, that's the navigation system. Yeah, the navigation system. But what else would let him know if he was speeding? His speedometer. Yeah, but what if he had a little something added on to the vehicle that told him something like that? Well, they used to have, like, the Tom Tom things. I don't know what you call it. Now, would there be a chance?
And the reason I'm doing this, the reason we're walking through this a little bit kind of ties in together. Is there the possibility that it may have been something like a radar detector? Oh, yeah. All right, and what would it do if it sensed that there was radar in the area? It would flash... No, it was a...
It would flash the... Yes, and absolutely. That is absolutely right. What was that? Hold on. We've got to find this thing. Thank you very much.
Let's do all of these. Thank you very much. All right, that is absolutely right. The light was flashing, and it was the radar detector that was flashing. He was going 87 miles per hour on I-20, and he got pulled over and paid the $322 fine because he didn't look at his radar detector.
Why buy the thing if you're not going to look at it? Okay, so he got a ticket, and, Mary, you're going to get a ticket to go into the Hall of Fame of the Tech Tip Quiz winners. You are now inducted in, and thank you very much. If you're online, they'll write your information down, and we really do appreciate you calling and answering our quiz. Okay, we are just about... Well, we're past just about. We are actually out of gas. We're on E, and I need to pull over, but I will be back on the road in no time. I'm your host, Aaron Clements, and our show producer is Mason Rogers. And, Anthony Masato, we would all like to say thank you to all of you that called in, clicked in, and tuning in to the CNC Auto Show. We'll be back shortly. The CNC Auto Show is brought to you in part by Motorad, a global leader in the development of high-quality, reliable, durable thermostats, caps, and engine management solutions, helping keep millions of vehicle engines cool and operating efficiently. Learn more at Motorad.com
