This episode of Drive Radio tackles a wide range of automotive questions from our dedicated listeners. Our hosts take the time to recommend solutions for blinking hill descent lights, troubleshoot dim headlight issues, and discuss how turbo engines might affect your car’s mileage. We also dive into automotive security with advice on the best anti-theft devices to keep your vehicle safe. As always, Drive Radio is here to offer informed, accurate, and practical solutions to your car problems. Join us for an informative session designed to keep you informed about your car, from the best maintenance practices to the
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s a mighty fancy automobile. Oh, she’s a real road king, all right. Zero to 60 in 7.5. She’ll do a quarter of a mile, 13.40. 390 horsepower, 500 foot-pounds of torque. Whatever that is. Performance and image, that’s what it’s all about.
SPEAKER 16 :
There’s no such thing as a stupid question. This is Drive Radio. All of your automotive questions are just one phone call away. 303-477-5600. Drive Radio is made possible by the member shops of Colorado Select Auto Care Centers. To find one near you, go to drive-radio.com. Now, Drive Radio on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 20 :
And we are back, third hour. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Lines are open, 303-477-5600. Dan in Boulder, you are next.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hi, John. Thanks for taking my call. You’re welcome. I’ve got a Hill Descent blinking, a light blinking. And I don’t know why it’s blinking, and I don’t know how to get rid of it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Is it on what kind of vehicle, Dan?
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s a 2015 Nissan Rogue. Okay.
SPEAKER 20 :
And do you have a hill descent button that you can engage and disengage down on the console area?
SPEAKER 09 :
Not that I see. All I have is the all-wheel drive lock, and I’ve also got a sport button I can push.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 09 :
The manual says it’s not supposed to be in effect unless you push the all-wheel drive lock button, and I haven’t done that yet. Okay.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay. Either something has gone awry or there’s still a button pushed. Okay, so on your vehicle, on the left side of the steering wheel, you’ve got your traction control, the sport mode, the rear hatch can go up and down, and then the buttons below that is where you’ve got your all-wheel drive lock, and hill descent is the far right button on the bottom. Is that pushed? Yes.
SPEAKER 09 :
No.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay. Have you cycled it to see if it changes anything?
SPEAKER 09 :
I’ve turned it on and off a couple times.
SPEAKER 20 :
And then on the upper left where it’s got the traction control, have you cycled it?
SPEAKER 09 :
No. I haven’t recycled that.
SPEAKER 20 :
In fact, what I would do, Dan, is I would cycle that one, the sport button, probably even the all-wheel drive, you know, lock, on, off. I’d cycle all of those and see what happens.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, see if it turns off.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, just to make sure we don’t have something stuck on for some weird reason. If all of that fails, then we’ve got something probably in the body control module or something along those lines that’s gone awry.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right. I took it out after the last snowstorm, and it was snowy, and I was driving through the snow, and I thought maybe the all-wheel drive kicked in when I was on the snow.
SPEAKER 20 :
Could have been.
SPEAKER 09 :
Because it kicked in automatically on some rough roads and slippery roads. Otherwise, I haven’t pushed it. I thought about pushing the lock button, but I… haven’t needed it, and it says don’t use it unless you actually need it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 09 :
Because you don’t want to drive it on dry roads.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yep, you’re right. You’re right. No, I would cycle through all of those. And the way the hill descent activates is all-wheel drive lock button is on first. Then the hill descent control button must be on. And then to deactivate it, it says push the – He’ll descend back to the off position. But, again, I would cycle through all of those, Dan, and see what it does.
SPEAKER 09 :
Now, do I have to do that when it’s in gear?
SPEAKER 20 :
It shouldn’t matter, but I would.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, put it in drive.
SPEAKER 20 :
I would.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, because it says I activate the auto drive lock.
SPEAKER 20 :
I would do all that while it’s in gear. Sitting still, but in gear.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yes, I would.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 20 :
Try that and see what happens, Dan. Let me know.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, sir.
SPEAKER 20 :
Thank you very much. No, I appreciate that. And, again, guys, I’m not in the vehicle. If some of you have other ideas and own one of those, please let me know. But reading about it and looking at it and even remembering driving some of those as test cars back in the day, that’s what I would do on that. Wayne, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, I’ve got a 2005 Chevy Astro. It’s got roughly 250,000 miles on it. Okay. And my headlight system is very dim. I put new LED lights in, but I can’t seem to increase the output. Is there a problem with grounding that I should look at?
SPEAKER 20 :
When you say dim, I mean, is it like noticeably dim? In other words, you can just tell it just isn’t as bright as it should be?
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s noticeably dim. And I’ve been driving now for the last two and a half days, especially at night. And when I get some moisture reflected off the road, so headlights coming at me, I actually start to lose, I get a blind spot.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, gotcha. Okay, yeah. It’s definitely then, yes, I would say, Wayne, first thing to check is do you have a bad ground?
SPEAKER 06 :
Do I have what, sir?
SPEAKER 20 :
Do you have a bad ground? That would be the first thing to look at are the grounds.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay. I don’t know. I’ll have to check the ground.
SPEAKER 20 :
Normally, dim lights mean bad ground. Especially if they’re both doing it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, they seem to be both doing it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay. Yep, that would be, Wayne, the first thing I would look at.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. As a side note, I’m a little bit older than maybe some of your audience, listening audience, but I remember some of the shade-free mechanics way back when to get more cooler air into the intake would actually… put the airflow through a can of ice.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yes. Yeah, yeah, we called them cool cans back in the day. You could do that with the air, or you could do that even with the gas, with the fuel. A lot of race car guys, Wayne, did cool cans back in the day. Yeah, absolutely. I remember that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, right, right. Yep, absolutely. Enjoy yourself.
SPEAKER 20 :
Thank you, Wayne. I appreciate that. And, yes, anytime you’ve got a dim light, just for all of you listening, especially on vehicles like that where you can still do some things yourself. It’s a little bit different on a modern vehicle where you’ve got body control modules controlling things and so on. But dim lights, typically. Not always, but typically a dim light means bad ground, especially if everything else is working properly. You’ve got the right voltages going everywhere and so on, typically speaking. Now, it could be a low voltage issue as well, although in this particular case on that vehicle, and I used to own one of those, the first thing I would be looking at on it would be a bad ground. All right, got a question on the text line, by the way, which thank you guys all the time, by the way, for the text questions that come in, and I do appreciate it. Somebody asked a moment ago, do turbos, because we talked a lot about that in the last hour, do turbos make the life of the engine less? In other words, can you still get 200,000 to 300,000 miles out of a turbo engine? And my response was, good question. Yes, they do in a lot of cases, and let me explain why. Typically speaking… When we force air into the engine to, in the case of that EcoBoost engine, to add power, which is what they’re doing, it can and typically does affect longevity of the engine. Now, I’m sure there’s people out there listening that have driven well over 200,000 miles plus with their EcoBoost and probably are thinking, well, I haven’t had that issue. And again, I’m not making a blanket statement for every vehicle, but in general, yes, when we add air and we do things like supercharging and turbocharging and so on, In general, we will reduce the longevity of the engine. Now, in some cases, if we take care of things very well and we keep our carbon down and we do the things necessary along those lines, we could easily get good, solid longevity out of it. But yes, in general terms. those items will reduce engine life because as we increase power to said engine, we are typically reducing engine life as well, and that’s the biggest reason why. Now, again, is it a blanket across the board? Every vehicle that is either supercharged or turbocharged, are we going to reduce engine life? I don’t want to make a blanket statement, but in general, In theory and typically speaking, the answer is yes. All right, we’ve got calls coming in. We’ll answer those here in just one minute. We’ve got lines open as well, 303-477-5600. This is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for joining us today. Lines are open, 303-477-5600. John and Aurora, you’re next.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you for taking my call. I really appreciate it. I’ve listened to your radio station for quite a few months now, and I appreciate it. Thank you. I have a vehicle that I’ve had a problem with, and boy, have I a problem with it. Okay. I bought it about two years ago, and it’s a 1996 Ford F-250. Okay. It had 400 motor in it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
And what happened was I’d taken it back. I took it to one shop and, boy, that vehicle spent more time there than it did at our home. I finally noticed in time that the owner that I bought it from had it sitting a lot. But the question is that when I brought it home from the shop that did the work on it, because they weren’t too happy to work on it, and behind the water pump, the fan, between the block and the water pump, there was a leak coming. I mean, I’m not kidding. I’ve never seen that as long as I had the vehicle, never seen that. And I didn’t know if it was done by the shop because they weren’t happy I was working on it. And that’s the problem I got. And, you know, it’s hard to get a shop that you can say, hey, I trust you.
SPEAKER 20 :
That’s the biggest problem. Well, in the area that you’re talking about, that’s the timing cover that would be leaking. So the question I’ve got, John, is what kind of work did the shop do and would they have had the timing cover off? In other words, what kind of work did they do? And I’ll tell you whether they would have had it off or not.
SPEAKER 07 :
Fuel tank.
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh, so they just did some fuel. So they did a fuel tank and all of that. So they didn’t do any engine work at all?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, they exchanged from one tank to another instead of actually doing what they should have done.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, so they changed out the fuel tank. Okay, so here’s another question. Was the vehicle running when you took it in, or was this something where you bought it and then they had to do the fuel tank to get it running? What’s the scoop there?
SPEAKER 07 :
No, it was running when I took it in there. That’s why I can get it, because I wasn’t getting the exchange from one tank to another.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
And then finally, when they went, they, well, like a long story short, that’s one lesson that you put behind you. I got to keep going. But, you know, financially, with these vehicles running, the cost to get them done is not easy.
SPEAKER 20 :
Right. Okay. So how bad is the leak coming out of the timing cover? In other words, you know, is it like pouring out or does it just seep out, you know, run down onto the driveway? Explain that. Okay, so it’s coming out pretty good.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER 20 :
And do you know, John, by chance, again, it’s a 96, I mean, is the mileage on the vehicle accurate, and is that the mileage on the engine, or has it had stuff done to it prior? Okay. Okay. Bottom line, somebody’s going to have to take that timing cover off, reseal it, and this is where I was going with miles and so on. While they’re at it, if they’ve got the timing cover off, you might as well look at timing chain gears and the things that are behind that, and if… Any of that needs changed, which if it’s got any kind of miles on it at all, and I mean on that type of engine, if it’s got over 60,000, 70,000 miles on that engine, I would go ahead and put a new timing chain and gears in it while you’re at it because the labor’s already there. You’re not really spending any money other than parts. So I would have somebody do that job, and basically that cover gets resealed. They do need to check that cover to make sure there’s no cracks or anything along those lines on it, but that’s not a complicated job.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, I really appreciate that because, like I said, I haven’t moved the vehicle because I’m not going to afford it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Makes sense. I got you. That makes total sense.
SPEAKER 07 :
Take it into the shop, bring it home, and take it back and forth. And then all of a sudden, they fix what they thought they fixed. And then to make a long story short, Oh, wow.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, that’s not fun.
SPEAKER 07 :
I thought I’d call somebody with experience in the background that, hey, I can trust.
SPEAKER 20 :
No, I appreciate that. No, John, thank you. And again, that’s not a huge job. It takes some time, and somebody needs to understand some of the older vehicles and how that works and so on. But there are shops around that can do that. And again, if it’s got any kind of miles on it at all, just put a timing chain and gears in it. Okay. You’re going to be there doing it anyways. Might as well. You guys got no background as far as just a shop? You know, on that one, that one actually might be something, you know, Ken Rackley at Toontech might do. A lot of our shops, you know, they will do some older vehicle work depending upon the work. That’s one we’ll call Ken on Monday and just ask him. Okay. Okay. And he’s at Colfax and 225 roughly across from the Chevy dealer. Okay, you guys wouldn’t have a number on it, would you? I may. Give me one second here. I can probably get you that really quick here. Let me grab it for you. It’s on our website. 303-364-3391. I got 364-3391. You got it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you, sir. Thank you, John.
SPEAKER 20 :
Appreciate that very much. All right. Got another text message in that I said I would talk about, and we’ve got a break in the action right now where I can. And again, if you want to call in, please do 303-477-5600. And this is from one of our listeners up in Billings, Montana. Thank you, by the way, for listening to us all the way up there. I do appreciate that. And this is a question. And by the way, I got a similar question. earlier in the week from somebody else. So this is evidently a hot topic or I wouldn’t be getting this many text messages on it. And that was what type of security anti theft device is worth putting on your vehicle and I had somebody that had been down to the stock show and several vehicles around them had been stolen and so on and so forth. And so, again, I get this question periodically. And there are some defeat devices on the market. And the question that I got from this particular listener is, should I use the R-A-V-E-L-C-O product, Revelco? or there’s another product out there that is similar. And some people think that one is better than the other. Now, here’s what I’m going to say. I don’t think it really matters what type of device you’re using. As long as the way the device works is somewhat hidden, and what I mean by that is a lot of these are driven off of like a key fob type button magnet kind of a thing, et cetera, where you place that on the device on the dash, and then that makes the connection, and off we go. And they’re all kind of similar in how they work that way. What I would say is if I were going to do this, I would make sure I put wherever the control for the anti-theft device is, I would somewhat hide that where it’s not super noticeable. In other words, I don’t want to give a thief any reason to try to disassemble something and do a workaround and so on. If they get in, they somehow get the ignition to where it turns and it doesn’t fire up. Typically speaking, they’re going to move on. Now, there are some theories that if they see the anti-theft device, they may not even try to start it and just move on. That’s probably a crapshoot. 50-50. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. You know, frankly, a club… It can also work for that. If they see a club on the wheel, it may be enough to just deter them and have them move to the next vehicle. In some cases, they may try to cut the club off or take the club lock off, drill the lock out, things like that. It just depends on who the thief is and how sophisticated they are. Now, one thing I’ve always said is if they want your vehicle bad enough, they’re taking it. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done defeat-wise. They’ll take it. In fact, some of these rings will have rollback trucks where they may not even try to start it, period. They’ll just scoot it up onto the rollback and off they go. Or they’ll wheel it with a tow truck or whatever the case. So if they want it bad enough, they’re taking it. So all we’re doing with any of these anti-theft devices is literally deterring and or slowing them down and moving to the next vehicle, hopefully. So I’m one where I don’t know if it’s so much the device as to you’re just putting a deterrent there in the first place. Now, I will say this, and I hate to apologize on the front side, but some of these devices are put in only by stereo shops, which I’m sorry, I just hate. And I guess because of being a auto shop owner for a long time, three decades, and working in that industry forever and still being around it to a very, very large extent, I will just tell you that typically speaking, your stereo shop installers are not auto technicians. And in a lot of cases, depending upon how long they’ve been trained, are not even very clean with how they wire and do things. So I’m sorry. If you’re a stereo shop guy and maybe you’re really, really good at what you do and you’re one of the unique individuals out there, great. Thank you. Unfortunately, most of your industry isn’t known for that. It’s kind of the opposite. And anybody in my world, in the auto technician world, knows what I’m talking about when they look underneath a dash and they can see that somebody put an alarm system or something along those lines and you can tell it was done by a radio shop because it’s a twisted mess underneath the dash. And I’m not exaggerating. It’s junk. Even some of the blow-and-go devices, you know, the DUI devices that get put in, depending upon who the shop is that installed it, another one of those where it’s just junk underneath there, literally. It’s like a two-year-old did it, and I’m not exaggerating. Some guys do really, really well at that, and some it’s absolute garbage. So I am one where if you’re not going to install an anti-theft device yourself, at least go to somebody that you know does a lot of the anti-theft devices. Everything that I’ve read and a lot of you that are listening have sent me really solid reviews on the Revelco product. And I believe that is a product you can put in yourself or there are certain shops, not stereo shops, but shops that also install that. The biggest issue that I have with anti-theft devices in general, and again, this is just my old technician side coming out. I hate having wires cut off. that go to any of the start mechanisms in a vehicle. Because down the road, if there’s ever a problem where things don’t start, it’s typically right there that it happens. So I’m not a fan of anti-theft devices in that end of things, period, because of what I just said. Now, I also know that there are certain vehicles that are prone to be stolen. And you’re doing everything you can to keep that vehicle from being stolen. So I get that you’re trying to do something to keep that person, persons, gang, whatever it is, from stealing your vehicle. I fully get it. I understand that. And car alarms, by the way, aren’t worth the powder to blow them up with. Because there’s so many that go off at different times, nobody even pays attention anymore. Literally, no one pays attention. You hear horns honking in parking lots constantly. Anymore, nobody even looks. That day has gone by. Literally, that one has flown by. Nobody anymore pays any attention to what’s going on in a parking lot when a horn’s honking. Now, if it’s honking differently than an alarm, they might look, because then they might know that there’s somebody in distress. But if you get the regular alarm car honking sound… And the whoop-whoop that sometimes goes with it out of a speaker that somebody puts on, no one knows. No one pays attention. No one cares. Now, maybe out in front of your house, things start going off and, you know, loud horns and things like that. That might be different. But in congregated parking lots, places like the Stock Show and so on, sorry, no one notices. No one cares. They walk right by. And how do I know? I’ve seen it. I’ve done it. You walk by, car’s going off, you don’t know whether somebody hit their panic button or whatever on their key fob by accident when they put it in their pocket or their purse or whatever. And so nobody pays any attention and off they go. Now, when it comes to anti-theft devices, there are other ways to do anti-theft devices. And I’ll give you all some hints on that. Let me do this. Let me take a break and I’ll give you some hints on this to where some of these can be done fairly inexpensively. depending upon the vehicle and the age and so on. So let me give you a few ideas when I come back, and some of these may work for some of you, and some of you may want to go ahead and go this route I was just talking about a moment ago. But hang tight. We’ll be right back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
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SPEAKER 20 :
All right, a couple of segments left of Drive Radio. If you have a question for us, by all means, give us a call, 303-477-5600. So we were talking a moment ago before I went to break about anti-theft devices. And, yes, there are some very nice units. The one I was mentioning earlier is one of those devices that’s not installed by radio shops, the Revelco unit. It is installed by actual automotive shops. In fact, the one that does it locally is actually a Napa Auto Care unit. And everything I’ve heard about them is everybody raves about them. Now, that comes with a cost. And those of you that have had it would have to tell me if I’m correct on this, but you’re probably in the $700 to $1,000 range, depending upon the vehicle, time it takes to put it in, and so on. So for some of you that are handy, by the way, there are other ways to make an anti-theft device. And this is where you have to get a little bit out of the box and think about your particular vehicle, its particular situation, and what you’re trying to do. So let me explain. Depending upon the age of your vehicle and what you’re trying to do, there are lots of ways to even turn the battery itself completely off. In other words, like a lot of race cars that have a master switch for battery power, hide a master switch someplace. Turn all power off. Now, the downside to that is if you’ve got fancy radio equipment and so on, depending upon that particular unit, it may or may not store your station memory and so on in that clock and so on, and that might be a factor for you. Some of you, maybe you could care less about that. What I just explained, by the way, is a very inexpensive way to put an anti-theft defeat device in. Now, this would typically be for older vehicles where some of you that even have called in today that have some of the vehicles back in the 80s and 90s and so on. And by the way, some of those are very – how should I say this? They’re very known for being stolen, especially if they’re nice. So what I just said is an easy, easy way to put an anti-theft device in for not a lot of money, and especially if you’re somewhat handy and you can do the wiring yourself, very easy to do. You just hide the switch someplace that only you know where it is. So that’s one way. The other way is if you’ve got a little bit more modern vehicle that, for example, has a fuel pump relay that has to run before the vehicle starts, hide a toggle switch someplace that has to be on before that circuit engages. And when you’re parked, turn it off. Hide that switch someplace. Again, another easy way to do a defeat system without spending a lot of money. So a lot of you just need to think out of the box a little bit on what’s the best way to do this. Now, for those of you that have very modern vehicles to where some of what I just mentioned might even throw codes and do some things computer-wise that you wouldn’t want to have happen, you’re going to have to do some of these other devices that we’re talking about and spend the additional money. And as I said a little bit ago, too, one thing that, you know, don’t forget the good old club, which is still made. And I know it’s a pain because every time you put it on, you physically put it on, physically take it off. I get it. It’s kind of a pain to do. But studies have shown when a thief looks right in and sees the club, they’re liable to just move to the next vehicle, not even break the window out. or jimmy the door open or do whatever it is they do to get in. Why? Because they already know that that device is there. It’s more time they have to take to deal with stealing the vehicle that they wouldn’t do otherwise. So that is one of those devices that still works because it’s very visible. Now, some of these other anti-theft devices are visible as well. And again, I’m not knocking any of them. And all I’m saying is with whatever you decide to use, Just make sure that whatever is done is done professional. It’s installed correctly because we don’t want to create future problems. I cannot tell you how many times in my career I have gone in and fixed no start problems and it all had to do with a vehicle alarm. And by the way, not being installed correctly. why I’m not a fan of stereo shops, because the majority of the ones I’m talking about fixing over the years, that’s where they had come from. So, again, first things first, determine, you know, what am I trying to protect? Which vehicle? How do I want to do that? How involved do I want to get in this particular system? How much money do I want to spend? And then, of course, last but not least, by all means, if you have a vehicle that’s prone for being stolen, insure it, please, for the right amount. Talk to my good friend Paul Leuenberger. Get a policy in effect that is stated value on the front side, not a value once it’s stolen, but you want to know on the front side, this is what I’m insuring it for. So I have X vehicle that I know, according to the used car market, most people say it’s worth 10, but no, to me it’s worth 20. Okay, fine. Go get it insured for stated value. You can do that. And that’s how I would handle that if I’ve got that type of a vehicle that I’m trying to protect and I’m worried about it being stolen. So, again, this is a topic that I got a text message on today. I had one a couple of days ago. So this is a hot topic. Vehicle theft is at an all-time high, especially here in Colorado. Now, with what has happened this week… after a new president and some of what he’s doing in regards to gang violence and immigration and so on, you may see some of this change, and I hope it does. Even with all of that, though, do you still want to protect that particular vehicle that you know is prone for being stolen vehicle? Yes, I would. Even with everything that’s gone on this week, there’s still some things you’re going to want to do to keep that vehicle protected. And I understand there are certain vehicles that the reality is it’s hard to even go park it anywhere, grocery store, and wonder if it’s going to be there when you’re done shopping. I understand that. There are certain vehicles like that. I own one of those. So I understand trying to protect that vehicle and making sure that nobody can steal it. And some of the ideas I just gave you may be some ways in doing that. Again, you as an owner of the vehicle have to think through that and determine what works best for you. And do I want to go ahead and get one of these professionally installed devices, or do you want to try to figure out something on your own that you know would work better? As well, just not spending all the same money. That, again, comes down to you and your budget and what you want to try to do and so on. All right, let’s take our last break. We’ll come back, take a few calls. 303-477-5600. This is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio KLZ 560. Kent from Novus Auto Glass up in Sterling said, hey, we use the club when we go to the airport. Works well. I had another text message in on some more of the mechanical type things where even if you’re trying to protect your trailer, put a wheel lock clamp on it. So, again, don’t forget some of the mechanical devices that you can be used for anti-theft because they work very well also. And, by the way, cost in a lot of cases a lot less money. Mario, you’re next.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, sir. How are you, John?
SPEAKER 20 :
Good. How are you?
SPEAKER 11 :
Good, thanks. I was the one who called you a few months ago about the Nissan dealership gouging up my wheels.
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 11 :
And so I’d spoken with the service advisor. I think I spoke with him once on the phone. One or two emails. Never heard anything back. Never heard anything. You know, sent him the pictures, et cetera, et cetera. Never heard anything back. And then comes to find out that dealership is part of a large corporation, as many dealerships are, of course. And so… They closed down all of their Nissan dealerships. I’m thinking the person I eventually spoke with, I’m guessing he met all across the board. But of course, this is the last time I spoke with a guy in the corporate headquarters about a week or so ago, and he promises they’re going to make good on the issue, etc., etc. The service advisor now works for another one of their dealerships, not a Nissan dealership. So hopefully we get the issue taken care of sometime. He assured me that they would, which is obviously better than them doing the opposite. But, you know, the cold weather, of course, people, you know, you want to make sure you don’t leave your cars idling. You want to be very aware, very diligent about where you’re parking your car. You know, because Unfortunately, we live in a world where whether it’s a good neighborhood or a bad neighborhood, the usual stereotypes, you basically just have to always pay attention no matter what you’re doing.
SPEAKER 20 :
You’re correct. And again, I know where a lot of the folks today have been texting in about some of the security things are, yeah, in some cases folks have no choice but to park at the airport and they’ve got to go out of town and they don’t have any other way of making that happen. And I get there are times where You just are limited in what you just said a moment ago. I, like you, though, I’m at a point where there’s just some vehicles I will not drive and park in certain places, period, because if I do, it’s not going to be there when I’m done.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, no, even my one older vehicle that has 230,000 miles on it. No, I mean, you can’t, whether it’s a $500 car or a $50,000 car. That’s right. It can always be wrecked or damaged or vandalized or stolen.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, a good example of one I own, Mario, that fits this is my 04 Dodge Cummins, which is a very desirable vehicle to have now. And I will not park that thing anywhere where you’re worried about it being stolen or it will.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 20 :
That’s a great example. I mean, again, high mile, all of that doesn’t matter. If they want it, they’re going to take it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, exactly. And, uh, Yeah, it’s one of those things. It’s one more thing that you have to worry about regardless of who you are.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 11 :
And I think people are so busy and distracted. You make mistakes. You don’t always use good judgment, and I’ve been guilty of that myself. And you just always have to be paying attention. It’s not… It’s not leave it to beaver days anymore. That’s right.
SPEAKER 20 :
No, it is not. You’re 100% correct. Absolutely. And that, Mario, again, to your point, you don’t have to even mean a bad part of town. That can be anywhere. It doesn’t matter.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes. And, yeah, as far as having to deal with insurance companies and police reports and everything else, it’s better just to avoid the whole thing. Absolutely. But anyway, I thought I’d give you a quick update. No, Mario, thank you.
SPEAKER 20 :
And let me know how your wheels go. I appreciate you giving us an update. Thank you. Appreciate that very much. And I’ll let you go. Mickey, you’re next. Go ahead, Mickey.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I wanted to add a couple things. The guy with the timing chain. Yes, on the 400. While he’s there, the leaky timing chain cover.
SPEAKER 20 :
The cover, yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
Might as well throw a new water pump on there while he’s there. That’s true. They didn’t go to add all that much.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, good point.
SPEAKER 08 :
But. if he’s still listening. Two, the new trick on car theft is watching people that are gassing up that leave their car unlocked.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, don’t do that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Then they get a full tank of gas.
SPEAKER 20 :
And the car.
SPEAKER 08 :
They step in between you and your car. They got your keys.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 08 :
They got a car with a fresh tank of gas.
SPEAKER 20 :
I’ve gotten to the point anymore, Mickey, where filling up, I just, you know, I get out of the car, have my key fob, lock it, fill up, and then get back in because of what you just said.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, a lot of people are, because they’re so centered on, fueling up, they don’t pay attention to their surroundings.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yep, you’re right. You’re 100% correct, Mickey. Yep, absolutely. I appreciate that. No, you are spot on. John, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hey, good show, guys. Thanks, John. You were talking about the club. Yes. Anti-theft. I called in about a year ago about this. You know, if you go to an auto parts store, I don’t think Napa, but you go to AutoZone or some of the other ones, they’ll charge you $50 for the club. But you get a free club if you go out to the Colorado State Highway Patrol office, their headquarters. I think it’s off 6th Avenue or Kipling or wherever.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know where it is. Yep, absolutely.
SPEAKER 10 :
And you walk in there and you ask for them, they’ll give you as many as you want. I mean, I got three cars. They give me three of them. No questions asked.
SPEAKER 20 :
Great tip, John. Great tip. Yeah, because they want to reduce theft, too.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s exactly right.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah. You know what? Thank you. Fantastic tip, John. And I forgot about that. That’s a great tip. Thank you.
SPEAKER 10 :
Give them free. Thanks.
SPEAKER 20 :
No, that is a great. Thank you, John. So what he’s talking about is in the State Patrol offices, it’s down off of basically it’s the West Colfax Sixth Avenue area. So basically six and 40 is what we call it in that area. The State Patrol office there. Yeah. Like he just said, walk in, tell them you need a club for your car. You want to reduce auto theft. And there you go. Off you go. And yes, folks, that is still one of those items that I know it’s a pain. And I know if you’re going to be parked for any length of time and you’ve got to carry that thing around. And I understand all of that. And, yes, that’s a pain in the neck. But it’s still better than, as I was even talking to Mario a minute ago, better than a police report and insurance and, and, and, and, and. We can just go down the list of all the things that happen when that vehicle is stolen. And some of you that are listening, you’ve experienced some of what I’m talking about. You’ve had vehicles stolen. I have as well. Now, mine was a little different. broke into my yard. Anyways, long story. That one’s different. But it’s still a pain in the neck. Any insurance claim, as you all know, is a pain in the neck. And as I’ve talked, even, you know, Burke Payne from BP Appraisals and so on. Again, make sure you’ve got all of your stuff dialed in on the front side. Even if you’re doing all these things we just mentioned, anti-theft, club, all of that, we’re trying to do everything we possibly can. Still, at the end of the day, make sure your insurance is, A, with a great, reputable company. And stated value, especially for some of you that are driving older vehicles where it’s not the run of the mill, it’s not like the rest of those vehicles even that are on the market, make sure that you’re getting stated value out of the vehicle so that if something – if, and hopefully nothing ever does, but if something were to happen – you’ve got that much better coverage when it’s all said and done. It just makes the whole process that much easier. By the way, thank you, by the way, for all the text messages along those lines. You guys have been fabulous on that and lots of great information. Again, I am not opposed by any means to some of the fancier devices where there’s fobs and things like that that you use to actually then start the vehicle. It’s a choice. It’s whatever you feel like you want to do. And by the way, I think this is the other factor that comes in. How much do you use that vehicle? Where are you parking? And if it’s a daily thing for you and putting the club on just becomes such a cumbersome thing, yeah, then go install one of these other devices. Make it easy on yourself. whereby you’re not having to take that time and do that install and all that. Now, for some of you that maybe only drive that particular vehicle on a temporary basis, or maybe you only need it, like Kent from Novus up in Sterling, if he comes down to Denver, he needs it then, but otherwise don’t need it. Those are examples of where, sure, use a club and you’re good. You’re good to go. Point being, this comes down to each individual and what you’re doing. This is one of those situations where you cannot listen to everybody else around you. What they may be doing might work very well for them, but frankly might not be what you need, or it may be too much for what you need. And maybe you need to do something a little bit different because your situation is different. Some of you have the ability to park inside. You’ve got a nice property and all of that. And the only time you need to worry about this is when you’re out in public. And even then, you may not be in places where it’s a huge issue and that rare occasion where you need it. Okay, fine. Put a club on. By the way, though, some of you that have trailers and things like that, because they get stolen also, I see that all the time. Sometimes even stolen with all the gear in it. Some of these mechanical devices, and yes, they make low jack and things like that for those vehicles also, for trailers. But you can put mechanical devices on those to keep those from being stolen as well, and I would highly recommend that. Now, last but not least. One of the things, and I believe even some of the police agencies like the club are giving these out as well. You’d have to look into this and see. They’re not expensive even if you go buy them. I would air tag every vehicle I’ve got that you’re worried about this. And the reason I say that is at least you’ll know where it’s at. And the way an air tag works is the minute somebody gets near it with a phone, Bluetooth-wise, it’s going to pick it up, send a signal, here’s where I’m at. So a lot of police agencies are basically encouraging you to put air tags and things like that in your vehicle so if, in fact, it gets stolen, you at least know where it’s at, and that helps the police go find it. I would do that with some of you guys that have equipment trailers and things like that. I would air tag all those sorts of things. And by the way, they even make air tag things now to where you can even stick them on, and they’re very permanent. Anyways, there’s ways to make that happen, and I would look at all those different options depending upon what you’re driving and how you’re trying to protect that. All right, don’t forget our website, drive-radio.com. You can always text us during the week, by the way. I’ll answer questions at all times, 307-282-22. Guys, be safe. Have a great rest of your day and weekend. This is Drive Radio, myself and Charlie Grimes signing off. KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 16 :
Still haven’t had enough? Go to drive-radio.com, email your questions and comments, download previous programs, and find lots of useful information, including your nearest Colorado Select Auto Care Center. That’s drive-radio.com. Thanks for listening to Drive Radio, sponsored by the member shops of Colorado Select Auto Care Centers. On KLZ 560.
