Live from the Car Care Studios, it's the CNC Auto Show with your personal on-air and online automotive service advisors, Aaron Clements and John Ryan Mooney. So climb in, buckle up, and enjoy the ride on the CNC Auto Show. And we do welcome you to the CNC Auto Show. And if you're looking for information on ways to make your car safe, dependable, and long-lasting, then you want to have and you want to have fun doing it, then do not move because you are in the right place. I'm your host, Aaron Clements, and Carol Proctor of A.C. Proctor of Peyton Body is also riding with us.
There's a great show planned just for you. Your automotive, mechanical, and body shop questions will be answered. You will hear some great tips and you will have the opportunity to be a Tech Tip Quiz winner. And along with all that, we will be asking you, now this is kind of huge, I like this, we will be asking you to call in and share a car story that involves a father or someone that you're close to. And if your story is picked as the best story by our official judges, that's Jim and John Pate, then you will win a $25 gift card from O'Reilly Auto Parts. And there will be one winner per hour, plus this show will be sprinkled with some great gift ideas just for you.
Whew, that's a lot of stuff, yeah, going on. And all you have to do to join in is dial 800-224-9090 or 706-863-5800 or on any Saturday morning, that's on any Saturday morning, 805 to 10 Eastern. And I want to remind you that you can also watch this show live on Facebook at ccautoshow.com or on Facebook.
And so hop in, buckle up, it's time to ride with the CNC Auto Show. And we will go ahead and lay a Tech Tip Quiz out on the table before we go to those wonderful phone calls that will be coming in. And this is someone's chance to go down in history as a Tech Tip Quiz winner, and they will receive a prize package, which includes a coffee mug.
I might as well say you will receive the coffee mug, and you'll be an official Tech Tip Quiz winner. And here is the question that we have. Susan lives two hours away from her dad. Last year, she bought her dad a gift to use in his 2003 Acura. He recently went to visit her, but because he was cutting tomatoes, and because of the gift she had given him last year, he was not able to go home for a week.
Why? If you know the answer, you give us a call, and we will go over to Ted. Hey, Ted, we want to welcome you to the CNC Auto Show. What can we help with?
Yeah, good morning, guys. Just a general question with regard to a traditional cooling system that has a radiator cap, and the overflow is not pressurized. So say, for example, that overflow tank has one gallon of coolant in it. The question is, how often does that coolant get cycled through, or does it just kind of stagnate there?
No, it does not stagnate. It cycles pretty often, because the way that system works is it's under pressure now. You're under usually between 12 and 14 psi pressure. If you remember old cars, a lot of people wouldn't remember this part, but I do. Old cars, the hose just used to run beside the radiator, and underneath the cap when the coolant expanded, it would go out on the ground. And then when the coolant contracted, it would suck air up in there, so your radiator always stayed a little bit low on there. Well, they found that the oxygen that was in the air was helping to build corrosion, and that was causing water pumps and a lot of other issues. And the other big thing, the reason they did it is, of course, if they didn't put it under pressure, the water would boil at 212.
Now they were able to bring the water temperature on up to 225, 230 or more before it boiled, because they're increasing the pressure in the system, just like a pressure cooker would do. So what happens is the coolant is completely full, it's right at the top, no air in the system at all, and then when the engine starts running and building up temperature, that water or coolant expands and it goes into that coolant jug and it stays there. And then as the engine starts cooling back down, it sucks that back in. Now you brought up a fantastic point, because a lot of people think they can look at that coolant jug, and if it's full, then their system is completely full and they're good, they don't have to worry about it, even if they've got some kind of running hot issue or something not right. But what can happen, let's say you've got a leak in a hose somewhere, and the coolant has gone out through that hose. Water expands, goes out through the hole, well, instead of sucking it back out of the reservoir, it's going to suck it where that hole is, and then the coolant level is going to go down, get air in the system and cause problems.
So you bringing that up is a great point, but that's how the system works. Well, a follow-up then, so the pressure increases, the radiator cap spring will give way and allow overflow into the reservoir, and then you shut the vehicle off when you're done. That radiator cap is still hot, open, and then as it cools, it pulls that fluid back in, but it looks to me like there's only maybe 10% of volume of the reservoir that's being exchanged.
So is it every trip, every cycle, cold, hot, you're only getting 10% or 5%? Well, if you'll notice that hose, in many cases, that hose goes down lower into the reservoir. And so when the coolant is pushed out, then the hose that picks it back up is a little bit lower in the reservoir and picks it back up, and then it goes back in the system. So in effect, it's mixing together, and of course, when that coolant is pressurized and going out into the coolant tank, it's mixing in with whatever other coolant is in there, any that's been in there any length of time, and then it cools and then it pulls coolant back in. So in effect, it is exchanging to a degree. Yeah, so maybe it would take, if it's a one gallon and you're getting 10%, so you have to do 10 errands, let it cool down to get the full exchange. Well, you can get a rough idea of how much it's going to cycle because you have a cold mark on your coolant jug and then you got a hot mark. And that's usually a couple inches apart, and the reason they do that is they don't want people pouring coolant in there if the engine is cold and the coolant is down.
They don't want to fill it up to the full mark up there because they know it's going to expand. So there's a cold and a hot fill. And even if it doesn't pull it all out, they're still mixing together, so over a period of time, it's exchanging almost the whole thing.
It is. Yeah, so saying that, it's not bad to clean the coolant jug every now and then and get it all out of there, but that is the way it works though. Yeah, but on one errand, say you drive around town for 45 minutes, you're not going to get a full exchange. No, no, you'll get a certain amount that will go out and then a certain amount pull back in.
No, I don't think you would get a complete exchange. Yeah, okay. All right, that answers my question right to the T. I sure appreciate it.
Well, you know, I love that question. That was really a great opportunity to be able to mention how that system works. So when people are checking their coolant, they'll be able to have an idea of what's going on with it being low in the cold mark one time and the hot mark the other. And that keeps also, I'm going to mention this real quick, because this happens every summer I hear about it, everybody please don't pull the radiator off while the engine is hot. Because I always squeeze the radiator hose, even if it's cold, I'll squeeze the radiator hose and make sure there's no pressure on the system.
Because even a cold bath with coolant is not good, but a hot one is terrible. I know, yeah. Have a good day.
Thank you very much. Okay, let's pull over right here. I need to run inside for a moment. But when I return, Carol Proctor and me will be ready to answer your automotive and mechanical questions. All you have to do is dial 800-224-9090 or 706-863-5800. We'll be right back. Let's head back down to the car care studio with Airman Clements and John Ryan Mooney. Carol Proctor is here with me to help answer body shop questions and other automotive questions. Give us a call, 800-224-9090, 706-863-5800.
That's Saturday mornings, 805 to 10. Carol, I think that we will have, at least that's what's on the display here, is we will have our first car story. Are you ready?
I am ready. All right, here we go. Jim Pate, welcome to the CNC Auto Show. And I want to say thank you for being one of our judges that will be on the show, that will be helping to judge any of the car stories that we get. And you mentioned that you may have a car story.
Yes. Good morning to both of you. There was, we have a neighbor who, husband and wife, lives near us right around the corner. And I discovered about a year ago a Model T going backwards past my house.
And I looked out and I realized it was up on a trailer. We've talked about it over the last couple of months here and he let me know that that was a car that his wife inherited from her father. And had brought it back here from the farm that the family had in Minnesota here to Aiken. And it hadn't been run in 20 years.
And then he said a little more recently that they'd love to have a running for Father's Day since it was from her father. Well, that perked my ears up and we had some really challenging learning curves with some of the earlier technology. But we stuck to the basics, the automotive engine basics, which that car has just pretty much basics with some differences in how things were done back then.
He's a very technical guy, smart guy, very methodical. And I just enjoy cars. So between his technical background and my experience in somewhat automobiles, we got that car running. And the three of us, he, his wife and I went for a ride in it a little over a week ago just in time for Father's Day. So that not only brings her joy to have her father's car running on Father's Day, which she can now do. But it gave the two of us a chance to become even better friends and hone whatever skills we have towards making her Father's Day a little special. So that was a lot of fun and a really great outcome.
We had a great time. And Jim, tell us what kind of car it was. It's a Model T. It's a 1921 or so Model T, which is predominantly a wooden car as far as the body goes, wrapped in, I guess, 10 maybe. Maybe that's why they're called 10 Lizzies. I don't know all the detailed history of them, but it's a remarkable car. If anybody's ever had a chance to see how they work, it's just neat.
They really are. I had a 29 and messed up and sold it. I don't know why I sold that thing.
I didn't have a good place to park it, but I wish I would have kept that thing now because it would have been good. Hey, Jim, if you ever, if y'all are looking for any resources on parts and things on those cars, there's a place in McPherson, Kansas. McPherson Community College, they have a, they offer a degree in automobile restoration and they do a lot of those Model T's, Model A's and stuff. They have a woodworking shop, a diecast shop, and a body shop where they can form and make almost every part for that car. I got to tour that facility about 25 or 30 years ago.
Wow. You say it's the state of Kansas? It's in McPherson, Kansas. It's the McPherson, I think it's McPherson Community College. They actually offer a degree in automobile restoration.
I think it's the only place in the world you can get a degree in automobile restoration. But I've seen a few people out there from looking for parts and stuff and those people are a good resource for it. Well, he's actually got to do some woodwork on it. He's a woodworker. Someone slammed the door before he got here and broke a part of the driver's door. He's going to probably make that himself. And then he's got some, he calls him the parts guy. I haven't been there with him, but there's someone around here, again, here is Aiken, South Carolina, where he gets parts and belts and things like that.
So I'm sort of hoping someday I get to go see where that is. But certainly I've just written down what you said, Carol. I give it to him because he could easily run into some need that your recommendation will become useful for him. Alrighty. Well, Jim, thank you. And I do appreciate you and John doing the official judging for today. So hopefully we'll get some good stories from you to pick from. And you'll be calling in near the end of the show of each hour to name a winner.
And we appreciate that. Got my pad out, ready to write them down. Thank you. Sounds great. Thank you. Great story.
Okay. I'm going to mention one of the gift ideas that we have. A great gift idea is a battery jump box and he can keep it in the garage or he can keep it in the trunk and continue to help people that are stranded.
And he can do it without jumping cars off with his own car, which I do not especially like that much with the modern type cars because you could cause voltage spikes in the system and cause problems. So they have a great selection of jump boxes over there to O'Reilly Auto Parts. You might decide to check in and see what's available.
There's all sorts of every price range that you can get ready to go to the phone scale. Yes, sir. All right. We're going to do it.
Let's go. Oh, let me look right here. I want to be fair about this. This show is not a all edited up show to where people call in early.
This is all completely live in automotive repair shop. We're going to go to Ronnie. Ronnie, we got a minute. I was going to see if you could mention your concern and then we may have to take a quick break and then come right back.
What can we help with? OK. I was driving. I bought a car yesterday, a used car, 2006 Pontiac Grand Am.
And I test drove it and it drove perfect. Brakes worked and all. I was on my way home and the I got to a place where I needed to slow down and stop. And when I hit the brake pedal, it went all the way to four and I had no brakes whatsoever. I had to use the emergency brake. I mean, you know, the hand that little gear lever you pull up for your emergency brake. I had to use it to stop.
I checked the fluid and it was just a little bit low, not much at all. Ronnie, we're going to be, I'm going to put you on hold just a second and we're going to be right back. Wait right here. I use JB well at home and work at work for certain automotive repairs and at home for DIY projects, plumbing, marine and more for projects big and small at home or in the garage. I love my JB well, in fact, JB well products can be used on practically anything.
Metal, wood, plastics, glass, ceramics, and more JB well available at jbwell.com Lowe's advanced auto parts, Napa, O'Reilly, Michael's and more JB well world's strongest bond. The CNC auto show is brought to you in part by Dorman products and their OE fix keyless entry remotes and programmers featuring lock, unlock and panic functions. Dorman's replace that keyless entry remote and programmer matches the form and function of the original FOB to restore full remote access. Learn more at Dorman products.com. It's time for more good stuff with Aaron Clements and John Ryan Mooney. I'm back with you along with Carol Proctor, ready to answer your body shop questions or any automotive question that you might have just dial 800-224-9090 or 706-863-5800 that's on Saturday mornings, 805 to 10.
And you can also watch us on Facebook. Let's go back to Ronnie. Ronnie, you had the really wild experience of driving your Pontiac that you had recently bought Pontiac Grand Dam and you hit the brake pedal and you say the pedal just went to the floor.
Yeah. Well, Ronnie, what was your first thought that went through your head when the pedal went to the floor? It scared me to death. I was wondering how was I going to stop this thing. I was on Bel Air Road and, of course, there was a lot of traffic and all.
But I did. I used the hand emergency brake and I got it slowed down and luckily I pulled in at the Circle K and it was right there where I was at. And I just pulled into the parking lot and stopped it with the emergency hand brake. I got out and I checked the brake fluid and it was a little bit low, not much at all.
But I did go in the store and I bought some brake fluid and I filled it up completely to the top. And then I got back in the car and I could pump the brakes real hard and I could build up a little bit of pressure and I noticed that I put it in gear and started to pull off. And I hit the brakes and it would slow it down, you know, and I don't know what in the world went wrong. I mean, this was so quick. I had brakes, you know, one minute and the next minute I hit the brake pedal and it was completely gone. Nothing.
Wow. That's a really unusual experience to feel and I know where to make the adrenaline flow. I can mention to you that on older cars before anti-lock brakes, there was really, assuming there was brake fluid in the system, there was really only two things that could cause that. One was if the master cylinder itself was bad and the second thing is if you were using the brakes a lot like going down a hill in the mountains or pulling something and the brake fluid overheated and it was starting to boil, that would let it happen. That, of course, wasn't going to be the case on yours because you were in town and there was very little way for the brake fluid to overheat.
So now there's two. Since anti-lock brakes are there, there's another way that the brake pedal could go down and that's with the valve brake assembly. That's a block where all the lines go into and it's what actually activates the anti-lock brakes. So what I have done on those type systems, it is very difficult to tell many times between the anti-lock brake assembly and the master cylinder. So what the master cylinder is much less money and regardless if the anti-lock brake assembly needs to be replaced or not, I always do the master cylinder anyway. So what I have started doing is we will put a new master cylinder on the car.
If it don't solve all the problems or if you have any issues, then you would need a valve assembly which is more expensive. But without question, the very first thing I would do on that car is replace the master cylinder. I always like a new master cylinder. I never use a remanufactured master cylinder even though they're less money.
Always get a new one and they're not that much more to get a new one but very important. Bleed the system and drive it and just be very cautious that you could have a brake assembly problem. Now the reason I say master cylinder, the master cylinder can let the pedal go all the way to the floor and hit the floor and it can do it intermittently. I've had them where they'll do it one time and not do it again for a month. But usually on a valve brake assembly, you get more of a pedal fade.
You'll stop but then as you're sitting there at a light or something, you'll feel the pedal go down. So more than likely, you're going to have a bad master cylinder and I wouldn't beat around the bush. I'd go ahead and replace that no matter what because that's an important part as you found out.
Yeah, I know what I wanted. I want to get it fixed but I want to know that it is fixed. I don't ever want it to happen again. It would be very unlikely if the valve assembly caused you to experience what you experienced.
It's possible but very unlikely. Oh and also have the brake fluid flushed when you do that. There's a piece of equipment that's hooked to the vehicle and the brake fluid goes in through the top of the new master cylinder. And then little pipes go to each bleed valve and then the system puts under pressure, new fluid goes in the system and it pushes all the old fluid out.
And that'll get any debris that might be in the system out of there and make almost all the components last longer. Okay, well I sure do appreciate this information and I would have to get the car hauled in. I wouldn't dare drive it again.
Yeah, that's an experience. I've had that experience a few times in test driving cars and it's not an easy one. Yeah, well do y'all pick up cars like that? Yes sir, we do have a tow truck and we sure can. All you have to do is give us a call on Monday and as a matter of fact we've got a new tow truck. You do have a tow truck? It's a beautiful tow truck. We recently got it and we got a very, very experienced tow truck driver.
He is very good at what he does. His name's Terry and we would be very happy to do that. Aaron even drives a tow truck some when Terry's off. They will not let me drive the tow truck.
The new one? You used to drive the old one. It's on Monday morning to get this done. Okay buddy, well I sure do appreciate it.
They've got me up there in y'all's catalog or whatever you got there. I've had several vehicles serviced and worked on there. I've been very satisfied with the results. So I'll give you a call Monday and see if we can't get this thing fixed. Sounds great and we do appreciate that. Okay bud, thank you and you have a blessed day.
And you do the same. Okay, the number to call is 706-863-5800 and we have Carol Proctor here with us and you can watch us live and watch past shows on Facebook. Don't hold that car question inside. We'll be back shortly but before we go, I'm going to mention, it's time to mention another gift idea. Carol, what do you think a great gift idea for a father might be or someone close that's helped with the cars and all that? You know, you already mentioned a battery. If they work in the car in the driveway lot, maybe a really nice creeper.
Creeper's good. You know something that I think would be a great gift idea and that would be sunglasses. Dads always wear sunglasses and the good thing is if he already has a pair, another pair would not be that bad. I mean because you can also keep a pair in your car and you can keep a pair at home and that way if for some reason you forget the ones at home, they're already a pair in the car.
And I just love a good pair of sunglasses and of course you can get sunglasses all type price ranges that you can think of. Another one that would be good to get, another gift idea would be a car wash kit. They make now, well you can get these at O'Reilly Auto Parts also but they make a kit that's got the hand, the car soap which is important to use when you're washing a car. Soap that is meant for car washes and we may talk about that a little later in the show, how important it is for the paint. But also all the mitts to use for it and the wax. So these car wash kits are a great idea.
We'll be right back after these messages. The CNC Auto Show is brought to you in part by J.B. Weld, world's strongest bond. J.B. Weld products can be used on practically anything, metal, wood, plastics, glass, ceramics and more. Learn more at jbweld.com 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. Welcome back to more of the CNC Auto Show with Aaron Clements and John Ryan Mooney. Carol Proctor's here with me. Watch us live or watch past shows on Facebook.
Don't hold that car question inside. Give us a call. The number is 706-8635-800 Saturday mornings 805 to 10. We are ready to go to the next caller and we will go over to, I want to do this the right way here. We're going to go over to Albert and Albert, welcome to the CNC Auto Show. They mentioned that you may have a key issue. Is that right?
Yes, thank you. Have a 2007 Toyota Sienna minivan. It is often very difficult to remove the key when turning it off. And this is occurring more and more frequently. Oh, I got a good one for you, Albert. And that just might, this works many times. And that is to, well, one or two things, make sure the key is not worn out, which you can look at it and tell if it looks all thin and all. But if the key looks okay, and whether the key looks good or looks bad, I would take a little PB blaster and hold it in that little cylinder hole that the key would stick into and push the straw in there just a little bit. They got a nice little small straw that will fit right in there and give it a couple of squirts and then stick the key in again, take it out again, stick it in and cut it on and off and on and off. And then if it pulls out easy, then I have found many times that that takes care of that issue. And if the key is worn out, then I recommend going and having the key replaced.
Okay. Now, would you repeat the name of that product? Oh, that is PB Blaster and it's made by the Blaster Corporation, but you can get that at most any automotive parts store. You can get it from even places like Lowe's and Home Depot.
All of those are places. It's a very, very popular product and works very well for things like that. That might give me a chance to mention something else that this helps with that a lot of people would find very beneficial. If you ever tried to open your hood and you pull the hood release and the hood don't move and you have to go outside and kind of tap on the hood to make it come open. You can go out, you can put a little PB Blaster on that hood latch. And I always like to spray all my door hinges to to keep them from squeaking and to make the hinges last longer. But spray that little latch under the hood and you pull that thing and boom, the hood will pop right up then. And it's a quick fix for that. So that stuff, it really works wonders on a lot of issues like your experience. What happens to little tumblers get a little dry and the tumblers don't move as well inside the cylinder lock?
Oh, and scoot a little bit in your, if you've got locks on the outside of the car, you can scoot a little bit in there too. Works great. Okay, I certainly thank you for the suggestion and I'll follow through on it.
Great question and thank you very much. Okay, the number to call 706-863-5800 and we will go straight over to Ron. Ron, welcome. Well, I didn't do it right. Hold on. Ron, welcome to the CNC Auto Show and what can we help you with today? Good morning, fellas.
Aaron, I've got my 96 Ford F-250. All of a sudden, the alarm starts going off randomly. Oh.
What calls something like that? Does it do it in the middle of the night or sometime later at night, Ron? Thank God, it don't.
It doesn't clock in the last couple of days. It's been around 10 in the morning. Okay, 10 in the morning. Okay. And I know that that sounds like a weird question, but it does make a difference on how I would answer that question.
I have had them to where... Right, and any other interference of people using... Well, temperature. Temperature, there's things that can go wrong with the alarm system that temperature can affect. So, but with yours, I'm more prone to think that you have a door latch assembly. It used to be the computer could care less whether your doors are open or closed.
It didn't matter. But now the computer wants to know if your doors are open and closed, and it does that for different reasons. One, to activate alarms and also to activate seat belt or door, a jar, lights, and just all sorts of other things. But what...
It's 96 now. Mm-hmm, yeah. But what can happen... Yeah, but you do have that. But what can happen is the doors sensors can be bad and... Or they used to be called door jam switches because they were just real simple buttons that when you close the door it pushed a button. Now they're made into the latch assembly on each door, and when they go bad, they can make the computer think that a door was opened. I got you. So what you can try to do first is, and I'm bringing this up twice, I know, but the little latch assemblies that wrap around the striker on the door, spray a little PB blaster on those latches inside the door, and then every now and then that'll free them up and they'll start working. If that does not do the trick, then the next step is to have someone run diagnostics on the car, which include hooking a computer up, and then finding out if there's any trouble codes in the system having to do with door jar switches, or they would open and close the doors and kind of move them around and find out if the computer is sensing that a door is coming open somewhere. Okay.
But I would start... If, say like, I wanted to, you know, just do away with the system, is there any way I can disarm something? Take a relay out the ear or a fuse out there? What can I do to disarm it? Because if anybody wants to steal the vehicle, I'm cool with that.
I got it insured. Well, Ron, you should just go ahead and give your address out, too, since you're going to disconnect the alarm and let them know where you're going to put the key. Got to shake the key around when you... There you go.
There you go. Yeah, go somewhere and kind of shake the key around a little bit as you lay them on the seat. But, Ron, I don't think there would be a way to do that. I would start with that PB blaster and just see what that does first.
And I'm sure there is a way, but I think you would go through more agony trying to disconnect it than when you would just to find out what's wrong with the system. And there are cases to where that PB blaster or just lubricating the switches can help. But if it don't, the problem can be found. Oh, I'm going to mention one other thing is park the car, set the alarm, and then let the car sit for about 15 minutes so it can activate. And then just go around and bump each door, lightly bump a door. And if the alarm goes off just lightly bumping it, you'll know that that would be the one also. All right.
All right. And look, I'm going to encourage all your listeners, you know, to talk to a congressman and we need another ACA act passed up in Congress. And instead of being an Affordable Care Act, we need an Affordable Car Act. They have, you know, when I was a kid, my father bought a new truck, a Ford 100, I think it was. I think it wasn't much over $1,500. Now a new Ford truck is going to run you 40 to 50,000. Well, I tell you what, Ron, if you quickly we got about 30 sec. Well, we got about 30 seconds and just name what type truck. But I'm going I'm going to go ahead and since we only have about 30 seconds, I'm going to go ahead and mention that you mentioned that your father bought a Ford truck for how much now?
I want to say it was like it was less than two grand. All right. Well, Ron, you know that that will make you the winner of the of the prize of the $25 gift card from O'Reilly Auto Parts because you told a story that involved your father and a car and that makes you the winner. So congratulations. That's great.
Yeah, it is. And look, y'all have a safe weekend and God take be careful out there on the road. Thank you. Okay, we'll return more on the next hour of the CNC auto show. expansion device and condenser. There's no need to sweat it. Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today and talk to our professional parts people or visit OReillyAuto.com
