Drive Radio this week tackles the controversial fuel mix-up affecting Denver drivers. Hosts explore the potential damage of using diesel in gasoline engines, mitigating misinformation with insightful analysis. We segue into our seasonal question of the day – what items are essential for car safety in the winter months? With engaging discussions, expert advice, and listener calls, this episode serves as a crucial guide for automobile enthusiasts and everyday drivers alike.
SPEAKER 15 :
It’s 106 miles to Chicago. We’ve got a full tank of gas. It’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.
SPEAKER 12 :
Hit it. Our lady of plastic acceleration, don’t fail me now.
SPEAKER 18 :
It’s time for Drive Radio, presented by Colorado’s select auto care centers.
SPEAKER 03 :
Bop-a-da-bop!
SPEAKER 18 :
Whether you need help diagnosing a problem. I want to ask you a bunch of questions, and I want to have them answered immediately. Or just want to learn about all things automotive.
SPEAKER 14 :
Hey, how exactly does a positrack rear end on a Plymouth work?
SPEAKER 18 :
It just does. Then you’ve come to the right place. So start your engines, buckle up, and get ready to ride. Drive Radio starts now on KLZ 560 The Source.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it’s Drive Radio. Thank you for listening. Myself, Pat Schneid, Alltech Automotive up in Fort Collins. Good morning, Pat. Hey, good morning, John. How are you doing? I’m very well and had a good first hour, and you had a nice drive down, so I’m glad you’re here. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 16 :
Thank you. Happy to be here. Beautiful drive today. Love the snow on the Rockies.
SPEAKER 03 :
And for all of you listening, roads are dry, no issues. You’re seeing a little bit of snow on the grassy areas around the pavement and so on. Might be a few little areas where the water runs down. It’s slick at night or in the mornings early, but you won’t have any trouble getting around at this point. parking lots i will say this parking lots might be a little different situation we went to the nuggets game last night and i’ll tell you this the parking lots around everywhere were slicker than snot so for those of you that maybe you’re out and about even the evenings once it gets you know colder sun goes down things freeze back up yeah be very careful because they’re not all The attention on them, let me just say it that way, is not as great as it probably should be in some areas. So be really careful when you’re out and about. Last thing you want to do is step out of the car and take a nosedive.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, we want no twisted ankles and no fender benders either.
SPEAKER 03 :
We want nothing along those lines. Anyways, Drive Radio, KLZ 560, website drive-radio.com. Appreciate you all listening. Question of the day today. Question of the day. Items that you should keep in your car, especially in the winter months. And this varies. So for some of you listening, you know what I mean by that. You’ll carry certain things during the summer months. You’ll vary that. You’ll carry other things in the winter months. Some of us carry the same things all year long. It just really depends on what you’re doing with that particular vehicle. But that’s the question of the day. Items that you should always keep in your car, 303-477-5600. You can text us a question as well, 307-200-8222. Again, 307-200-8222. Okay, I… I said I would do this in Fix-It Radio because I had several people asking and some people affected by the fuel mix-up that happened across the front range. And what I mean by fuel mix-up is, and what I learned from a listener that just texted in that he’s got some inside knowledge, it sounds like the transport trucks themselves are There was a misload at the station, you know, at the, I can’t remember what the exact name of that is. Sorry, I’ll think of it in a second. Where the trucks get all their fuel. Right. There’s a name for that. I’ll think of it in a second. Sorry, it slipped my mind. But where they were loaded, that’s where the problem was. So for those of you that maybe don’t know, you look at a big tanker, and that tanker is actually divided up into sections. Correct. It does not have all one load of unleaded or all one load of premium or all one load of diesel. It will have typically all three sections. And some of you are saying, well, wait a minute, John, there’s four. There’s regular grade, there’s mid-grade, and there’s premium. Well, what the majority of stations, in fact, from my knowledge, all of them do is your mid-grade is a combination of the two. they actually mix that from the two tanks. So they’re not getting mid-grade delivered in most cases. And if there’s a difference there and somebody wants to correct me on that, be my guest. But from everything I’ve understood in what I’ve read and learned and talking to people that run filling stations and so on, there’s the standard grade tank. There’s a premium grade tank. They mix those two together. There’s a device that knows exactly what to do and how much to pull from each when you’re getting mid-grade fuel. And then, of course, there’s diesel. Now, On top of that, yes, there’s ethanol-free and there’s some E15. I get it. There’s other products besides those main three. But in most cases, most stations, that truck is going to come with those three compartments. And it’s going to have those three products on it. And when they go to load a station up, that’s what they’re doing.
SPEAKER 16 :
So then you’re saying multiple trucks were filled with the wrong stuff.
SPEAKER 03 :
It sounds like it to me because there’s 13 stations affected. There’s no way that was one truck because one truck can’t handle 13 stations. locations of course one truck typically is going to do a load for one station typically and then going to come back go to the rack is what i was saying that’s what that’s the name i was looking for a moment ago they go back to the rack they refill the truck and then off they go and most likely the rack is where the problem was well and this is a fairly standard process happens all the time but if it’s multiple trucks it’s probably most i mean i don’t understand the technology i’ve not driven that truck but it’s probably not the driver’s fault it’s probably not the station’s fault there was a mix-up at the rack
SPEAKER 16 :
kind of a system or a class problem.
SPEAKER 03 :
Something mixed up there, Pat, to your point. Something at the rack. Somebody made a huge mistake. I don’t know whether it was a training error or what was going on. Some of you might have some inside knowledge on to that. But something at the rack was definitely wrong. And, again, to Pat’s point, multiple trucks. There’s no way this was one truck. Multiple trucks were filled with wrong product that then went out to several different companies types of stations i believe it’s costco maverick king supers i think those are the three main stations that were affected the majority of them i think were king supers uh locations and nothing against king supers and king supers put out a statement saying that you know they’re going to do their best in the future to make sure that they’ve got their quality control sure nice nice statement You have no control over what compartment that truck has and what it’s coming from. No offense, King Soopers, that’s a great statement, but you’re not going to change anything down the road when it comes to this. Doesn’t hold any water. Yeah, that is the stupidest statement I think I’ve ever heard.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, so what happened then was diesel was put into a gasoline tank.
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 16 :
And so people who were trying to buy gasoline got diesel. Got diesel instead. Or a mixture of. Question is, is that enough to allow the car to run and are we going to do any vehicle damage?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and that’s what we’re going to get into today because I had some folks asking, you know, what does this, you know, what damage could this potentially cause? I’ve got some real world examples on my end that I’ll share with you. And here’s what I was talking about during Fix It Radio as well. I did a bunch of research on the Internet. on that particular subject just to see what it said i mean i already knew what i know from previous experience and i’ll just tell you straight up the internet is full of false information on what happens when you put diesel in a gas engine i mean full of misinformation and there’s a ton of variables along these lines as well i want to make sure i’m very clear in that what i mean by that is how much fuel did you have in your vehicle when you filled this up What was the actual mixture at that particular station of diesel to gas? Did you fill up with a half a tank? Did you fill up with an eighth of a tank? Did you top off? I mean, there’s so many variables in this that it’s not cut and dried and it’s not straight across the board for every single driver out there that may have had this happen to them.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, 100%, and I think it’s interesting to go back to the basic principles of the fuel. If it’s gasoline, it’s ignited by spark. If it’s diesel, it’s ignited by compression. So the engines are a different design, and if you have a full tank of diesel and a gasoline engine, it probably won’t run because it’s not high enough compression to cause the combustion. Right, exactly.
SPEAKER 03 :
So we’ll get into some of that. Mark, I want to give you plenty of time. Let’s take a quick break. We’ll come back. We do have one line open is all, 303-477-5600. We’ll be right back, guys. Don’t go anywhere. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
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SPEAKER 03 :
We are back. Myself, Pat Schneid, Alltech Automotive up in Fort Collins. Mark in Wiggins, you are next. Go ahead, Mark.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, good morning again, John.
SPEAKER 03 :
Good morning.
SPEAKER 05 :
So I know you’re not a person that subscribes to any type of conspiracy theory, so I’m just throwing this out there for entertainment value, but when I’m reading the news and I read something about contaminated fuel in a widespread area localized in one area, my veteran spidey senses start going off. And then I read another article in another publication discussing how a dozen oil executives are meeting the president at the exact same time a day later just leads me to think, was that an accident? Or was it someone that’s having a bad day that wants to dub their nose at you know what’s going on in washington
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, I don’t know. Great question. I mean, I think if the second were true, you’d have seen a lot more cases of what we saw happen, even in other states and other areas. I mean, could it be a particular situation here where there’s somebody that went rogue and didn’t like what was going on and wanted to prove a point? Or, Mark, is it just simply a matter of somebody that was new, not enough training, ignorant? I mean, at the end of the day, Mark, I don’t know. I guess it could be either or.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yeah, I don’t know.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right, and that’s what I like about you, John, is you’re more concreted in facts rather than, you know, unguided, you know, spin-off stories for clickbait. But, you know, it always makes me wonder, as a veteran that’s seen things, on one hand, as an active duty person that was not portrayed clearly or actively accurate while in service, It just makes me wonder.
SPEAKER 03 :
I get that. And by the way, I definitely would not try to steer you out of thinking that way at all, because I think it’s healthy to start thinking along those lines at times. Although I also know this, Mark, and this is where I guess I kind of always come back to, and not trying to be mean or rude here. So everybody listening, please don’t take this the wrong way. But Mark, the more… I travel and I look around and I look at the intelligence level of people in general. I’m sorry to say this, but as I start looking around at the general intelligence of the populace, we are getting dumber, Mark, as time goes by. Meaning, could this mistake have happened given the caliber of individuals we’re utilizing on an ongoing basis and knowing how hard it is to even find good people, period? And that company that does that at the terminal or the rack is no different than any of the rest of us that are employers. The reality is trying to find good, solid people anymore is like pulling teeth.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, I totally agree. I homeschooled because of that, and I tell my family, because of the Internet, America is getting dumber by the minute.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep, and Mark, I kind of always come back to just the human error end of things, and is that what happened here? Most likely, yes. I think this was huge human error. Because, again, it happened on multiple trucks, as Pat was saying. There’s no way this was just one truck, one delivery.
SPEAKER 16 :
this happened over and over again meaning somebody thought they were doing something the right way when in fact they were not hey i want to jump in here real quick mark because what you pointed out about john this is something that is true about uh john rush and drive radio and fix it radio and also auto repair and then maybe even political stuff as well what can you prove what test did it fail right it’s it’s good to have the critical thinking and ask those questions and see if you can connect some dots but at the end of the day What can you prove is wrong and what can you prove needs to be fixed or has been fixed? And that’s kind of where we get back to. As you said, we’re not conspiracy theorists.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, and I appreciate you saying the clickbait thing, Mark, because – and I talk about this on The Daily Show a ton – There are so many sites and so many quote unquote influencers out there where literally all they’re looking for is some sensationalism whereby somebody can watch this, get more clicks, get more shares, whatever. And most people don’t don’t know this. I mean, I do because I’ve. I’ve seen that world, and most people don’t realize that for every second that you watch a video, literally every second, and how long you watch it, how many times you watch it, did you share said video, did you bookmark or save said video, every one of those things I just mentioned, Mark, adds dollars into the pocket of said influencer because that’s how they get paid. So yeah, in their case, Mark, if they can sensationalize anything and have more people watching what they’re doing, they make more money.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and I don’t necessarily agree with all of that. I mean, I understand we’re in America, we’re here to make money, but at what point does the advertisement, and this probably goes along with your day show, advertisements become morally wrong. I have to say, and this is not dry radio, but I have to say I am highly offended by by drug company ads the way they’re pushing ads to the point where they’re begging you to talk to your doctor about this. And I hate it. I despise it.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know my feelings on that, Mark. And again, it applies to a lot of areas, including some of what we’re talking about with this diesel fuel mix-up and so on, including And I’ll get into some of this with Pat, the misinformation on what potential damage it could do to said vehicle because there’s a ton, in my opinion, a ton of misinformation along those lines as well.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and that was something that I saw immediately. And I’m not even kidding. Immediately, even shops in our area, I mean, we’re not even close to Denver, our area shops posting on Facebook, hey, if you’ve been affected, call us. We have availability to help you out. And, you know, people commenting about, oh, well, you know, just, you know, dilute it or run it or like, you know, again, you know, putting a lot of false information out there is not healthy for people if they don’t know. And then they accept that as truth. Well, then they’re all misguided.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 05 :
But I appreciate your show.
SPEAKER 03 :
Always, Mark. Well, I appreciate you listening and the input and so on. I do. I mean that sincerely. Thank you for all you do along those lines. I’ll let you go. Mike in Highlands Ranch, you’re up next. Go ahead, Mike.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, John. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. The question of the day is an interesting one depending on the weather.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 09 :
But I have – I’m not going to go down that path. I’m looking for – a friend of mine has a 2013 – Audi TTE and he lives over in Olathe Olathe and he’s looking for somebody that can work on it and I said let me see which Napa store has some Audi expertise I’m wondering about Arvada West and specifically he’s got a paddle shifter that doesn’t work And he thinks it’s probably a switch. And I’m sure that’s probably right. But he’s looking for a shop to be able to work on his Audi. And he says, I’m not thrilled with the answers I get over here.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I’m going to refer this one to Pat. He’s more in that world and knows more of the Euro sides of things than I do. Now, I do know this. When it comes to the Audi sides of the fence, in our little group here, Gino, Steve, because he’s an old Volkswagen guy and, of course, Audi, Volkswagen, all that run together. In our group, he’s probably the most apt to work on that out of anybody we’ve got, Mike. I would agree with that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, over at Geno’s.
SPEAKER 03 :
Geno’s, yes. Steve Horvath.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I know him real well. I mean, I’ve taken my vehicles there. He’s a great guy. I like him. All right, I will pass that on, and thank you very much.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re very welcome, Mike. No, you’re very welcome. Send them over there, and you’ll be just fine, and they’ll take great care of you. Eric is next. Eric, welcome.
SPEAKER 10 :
Morning. Good morning, Eric. Life is good. Life is good.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, it is.
SPEAKER 10 :
So just the other day, I was doing the veg out on fake books thing, watching things, and there was this lady that was like, hey, you know, there’s different things out there on antifreeze and whether or not you can mix types sort of thing. And, you know, of course, general rule is they’re all the same, you know, but… She mixes two, and it actually kind of gelled a little. And she says, this can cause some of the smaller channels in your radiator and stuff. Well, fast forward two days, I’m doing my diesel tractor maintenance. And I’d changed the oil, was going to go top off the antifreeze. What was in the reservoir was green. I pour the other stuff in, and it’s brown, and it’s just, ironically, those were the two colors and types that she had mixed. And I’m like, is there any validity to what she said?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, as far as, for those of you listening, mixing different types of coolant because they have a different base, a different structure chemically and so on. Yes, Eric, at the end of the day, that’s why we don’t allow, you know, in any of the shops or anything that we do, any of that mix to happen because, yes, that’s exactly what can happen. Yep.
SPEAKER 10 :
So at this point, I’m sitting there wondering if I need to do a complete coolant flush on my tractor then.
SPEAKER 03 :
If it’s been mixed together and you notice some gelling and so on internally, absolutely. Yes.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, since it was only in the reservoir and everything else was already popped off, what I might do is just go open up that reservoir and stir it, take a sample out with a dropper, you know, like a chicken baster or whatever you want to call it, and see if it is gelling then.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 10 :
before I run my tractor.
SPEAKER 16 :
Have you already run the tractor?
SPEAKER 10 :
only to drive it on into the high bay for storage before the storm. So it wasn’t running that long, maybe 20 minutes.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay, because the point would be if you could get that reservoir off and just drain it, and if it hasn’t already mixed throughout the tractor, but if it has, if it does gel, it’s going to plug up if there are any smaller orifices or smaller hoses. You may end up not only flushing the coolant system, but replacing some of those smaller pieces if you have them. I’m not sure what the design of it is, but…
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, that’s one of my concerns because it’s a Mahindra that I got from somebody and kind of hard to get Mahindra parts here.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, exactly. And I think getting back to the coolant structure, it’s not necessarily the brand of coolant, but it’s the chemistry of the coolant. So there are a couple of chemical mixes of coolant out there. Unfortunately, some of the brands don’t do a great job of describing what’s behind the label, right? And so it’s a little bit tricky for the average consumer. And we’ve seen this on a couple of pickup trucks in the shop. And it’s, man, when you have to replace and drain that whole coolant system first and potentially replace parts, it gets to be a little bit of a pricey repair and not some very happy people, but it’s… It’s definitely a path you can go down if you’re not paying attention.
SPEAKER 10 :
That was one of my concerns. That’s why I was calling in because it’s just like, okay, so I don’t know what was in there from the previous owner.
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct. Good point.
SPEAKER 10 :
Then I’m adding this other one, and I just literally just like two days before that seen that video, and I’m like, I better double-check this before I – possibly end up with a big problem.
SPEAKER 16 :
We’ve had such a nice warm winter so far. It wouldn’t be a bad idea if we have another good warm day and you could actually do a first like evacuate that reservoir and then drain and flush the cooling system and just put good stuff in there before you tuck it away for the cold coming up. That would be a good idea.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. I’m going to have to try and schedule that around my The task tomorrow is actually dropping a fuel tank on a Toyota Sienna and replacing that fuel pump. Yeah. Which is never a fun task. That’s my next one. I tried calling in on the earlier show.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’re fine.
SPEAKER 10 :
I was asking about the battery, you know, the starter battery on the generator. Our commercial units, when I was doing all the mobile satellite communications stuff, We kept a battery wizard or battery tender on the starter battery. Okay. And that way, we didn’t have to worry, you know, when the weather changed or whatever. You know, first thing that kicked in on those communications facilities wasn’t ups and that, you know, that kicked in within milliseconds or microseconds. Yeah, I mean, it was very fast on switching and keeping our satellite equipment up. And then… After so many seconds of not having commercial, it would kick the generator on. But that starter battery for the generator was always on a tender. And so we did not have to worry about it running down or being drained by a computer monitoring.
SPEAKER 03 :
Makes sense.
SPEAKER 10 :
So if he’s still listening, that’s a possibility. Just keep a battery tender on there. Some of them are designed to be that way.
SPEAKER 03 :
Great point.
SPEAKER 10 :
But anyways, just wish you all a happy new year and appreciate the information. I’ll definitely, when I get back down to Calhan, right now I’m in the Aurora house, but when I get back to Calhan, I will at least sample what’s in that reservoir and possibly pull the hose off of it and drain it and kind of, Kind of monitored. I mean, it’s a very small amount, but any gelling, I definitely don’t want to have to have an issue with the cooling system on my tractor. That’s what got me out of the major snow drift the last year.
SPEAKER 03 :
There you go. Nice. Good one.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. I had stuff over six feet deep in my barn and in my driveway last year. That’s amazing. Wow. I literally had a car buried in the driveway.
SPEAKER 16 :
I miss those days. A little bit.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, well, this is new to me. My wife and I raised our boys here in Aurora in the suburbs, even though, and that’s where I grew up. I grew up in Littleton in the suburbs. Okay. Always wanted to be out in the country, and I finally am out there and learning how to deal with the real world country life.
SPEAKER 1 :
You bet.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. All right. Y’all have a great one. You do the same, Eric.
SPEAKER 03 :
Appreciate you very much. Bob, Jeff, you guys hang tight. We’ll come right back to you. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
And we are back. Thanks for listening. Okay, let’s go to Jeff, who is next in Golden. Jeff, go ahead, sir.
SPEAKER 06 :
Good morning, Mr. Rush. How are you doing?
SPEAKER 03 :
Good morning. How are you, sir? Happy New Year.
SPEAKER 06 :
Happy New Year to you, too. You know, I was helping a buddy out. He’s got a 2017 Chevy Cruze. They’re not my favorite. My brother actually owned one, and he went through a nightmare with his daughter on one. You know what I mean? So here I’m trying to help this guy. He’s got it. The symptom is he had a, what is it, the… driver’s side headlight passenger side taillight okay those two are out he had been trying to you know he replaced the whole he had hit a deer or something so he replaced the left uh you know he’d got the whole new headlight all the plastic and everything even you know not and uh because that was broke and i think he replaced even the uh the taillight plastic with the bulb and everything so He gets it to us, and a buddy and I were trying to help, and I get the light tester out, and it appears he’s not getting even any power to his plug, you know, where the light is supposed to, you know, go. And I’m on the search for a, you know, like a headlight relay, which there is not. They don’t have one on that. It shows where they could be, but it’s not there, right? And then so you AI, they said sometimes those are controlled through a body control module. So, okay. Let’s throw a body control module at it. That’s where I probably screwed, you know what I mean? So we had him. I was like, well, just buy that, and then I’ll put it in, you know? And so we did that. We plug in the, you know, get this thing unplugged out of the little guy. And then, of course, and we were kind of worried it might not, you know what I mean? Like, we did, you know, everybody says you’ve got to have those programmed. And so at the dealer, a lot of shops don’t even, they won’t have all of that to do that. So we kind of knew that going in. Of course, we get it in. The thing wouldn’t even start. Right. So I’m like, okay, well, you got your program. Let’s tow it over to Chevy real quick, and then sell it. It should be good. He gets it over there. They tow it over there. I’m not even going to say the Chevy dealership there in Golden, but we know it’s one. But he gets it over there. They leave it overnight. They didn’t get to it, whatever. They left a window down, snow-filled his car, which kind of – Kind of pissed me off a little. I mean, he even told me to put plant, but, you know, they should have noticed that.
SPEAKER 03 :
They should have.
SPEAKER 06 :
Anyway, they… Should have been inside, actually. They should have put it inside for the night. You’re right. You know, at least underneath.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, there’s a canopy there. Yes. So, anyway, he gets it. He goes and picks it up. They finished him up. And he drives it back to my house. He left a couple things at the house. And, you know, he comes. And I look right away. I look at, you know, turn your headlights on. I want to see this thing fixed. Of course, it’s still dead. You know what I mean? Still no headlight. Go to the back. Let me look at the taillight. No taillight. So we haven’t solved anything. Where did the guy go there? They say they’re a solid site. Kind of AI’d again. Have you guys battled this?
SPEAKER 03 :
Let’s back up. I’m assuming now, after at least being at the dealership with the new module, the new body control module that’s programmed, it runs, all of that’s good to go, but we’re still back to the same issue with the lights. Yep. So basically, we did get the module program. That’s all done. So what we learned is the old module is probably just fine. The new module is now also fine. So now you’ve got a spare, but we still have a driver’s side headlamp and a passenger side tail lamp that does not work.
SPEAKER 06 :
And one more just to add. I did, when we got done with it, obviously got to have the door open for a good hour or whatever, unplugging, plugging this thing in. And his battery did go way down. And he’s got an old 12-volt battery in it, you know, a four-year-old deal that he needs to replace. At least, according to my equipment, it was like 40%. You know, it just was terrible. And so I thought he had it, but then the dealer said, no, his battery’s fine, and let him go, and then he shows up. You know, I don’t know. And I never did… Check the battery again after he had to kind of go, but that’s where I left him.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and on that car, you’re going to have to just go back. First of all, you have to get a wiring diagram, which you could get from one of the shops. You could go online and try to download that. You can go to the GM website, pay a three-day subscription, and be able to do it that way as well. But you need a good wiring diagram, and then start tracing out where would we be losing power. You’ve got to go back to the source. You know, where’s our where’s our power for those two things coming from and trace it back and determine, OK, why do we not have power? You know, have we do we got a situation where, you know, an animal is chewed through something? Do we have something that’s been shorted out? Do we have what do we have going on? And again, it could be any number of things until we start tracing that out to determine it.
SPEAKER 16 :
100%. I mean, if you just go back to some of the facts that you mentioned, okay, so Chevy Cruze, maybe not the most reliable sound platform out there. Hit a deer, don’t really know what happened there. Was there body damage? Was there grounds, wires broken? Not really sure. So you’ve got, and then let’s look at some of the things you’ve done already. So the body control module, looking for the relay, had it towed, not happy with that service. So you’ve guessed a little bit and you’ve spent a little time backing all the way up to you’re helping a friend Fantastic, right? A lot of customers listening here today don’t have that resource. So what they’re going to do is find a shop that can really get into a good electrical diagnosis, test an inspection session, pull that wiring diagram, find the break in the wire, find the relay that’s missing, and then know confidently what they’re going to fix before you throw parts at it. That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly, Pat. Good answer.
SPEAKER 06 :
And AI, the last search I did, they did say that And I don’t know if I remember that, but double-check the grounds. There’s a couple ground terminals that can be, you know, I mean, if a guy loosened up or something, make sure all the ground terminals are good and clean.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I just reminded Roy from ProTech Auto Shield, just reminded me that, you know, Dan, Brighton Auto Body, since they do, you know, collision work and mechanical work as well, Jeff, that would probably be a good source for him to go to because they can go back in and look at what did somebody do on the collision side and That also may have affected the repair side of things, the mechanical sides of things. And by the way, not all mechanical shops have that ability to do, given they’re both. They do the collision and the mechanical side. Probably a good source on this car. Right. Yep.
SPEAKER 06 :
I could use all data. I’ve done that before. You can go to the Golden Library.
SPEAKER 03 :
You can. What I will say on this, and this is nothing against Mitchell or all data, when it comes to wiring diagrams, if you want the best diagram, go get the OEM one. Correct. Period. I’m sorry to say it that way, but that’s the reality of it. Now, all that being said, for you to go through all of that versus just going to Brighton Auto Body and have them do some basic diagnosis, given the fact, again, they’re the mechanical and collision sides of things, and they might be able to look and find some things right off the bat, even without pulling the schematics down, just because they can look and see what previous work has been done. Honestly, Jeff, and thank you, Roy, for mentioning that, that’s the direction I would head, Jeff.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, no, I think so, too, because I just, I wasn’t even kind of getting involved with it. He was having somebody else, and I was just kind of the garage and the tools that I was letting him use.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know what I mean?
SPEAKER 06 :
I hear you.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I appreciate Roy saying that because, yeah, that’s a great example of where Brighton Auto Body, given the fact they do both sides of it, would be a good resource, especially for a car like this.
SPEAKER 16 :
And, Jeff, your basic understanding of the system. It is good. You’re saying, hey, look, we don’t even have power to the plug.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 16 :
So how do we get beyond that? We’ve got to go back deeper. Exactly. So you’re on the right track. It’s just it’s not a simple fix. Great point.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. It’s unbelievable. It’s annoying. Just for a headlight, you know what I mean? I hear you. I hear you. It drives you nuts. I hear you. Chevrolet, they’re having problems. What are they just – what happened? Is there – Did you hear the news on Chevrolet? They just had some kind of bad news or something. I don’t know. What was it?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, they and Toyota both just announced that they’re lowering their projected sales for 2026. Outside of that, I haven’t read anything else. Oh, wow.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, now, I guess that’s all it was. That’s all it is. Because they’re not selling as much electric.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and that’s not – well, it’s not even that. It’s just I think they’re understanding that the price of both Toyota and GM, understanding the price of new cars, the fact that people are fixing their older cars or driving them farther. I mean, economically speaking, there is a tipping point on when can people afford to replace the current car they have. And on top of that – And I know people will debate me on this, but cars are better now than they’ve ever been. You can drive a car, even a not-so-good car, you can drive 300,000 miles. Well, when you plug all those things in, yeah, you’re not going to sell as many new cars. It’s a simple fact.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Yep. Yep. Plus, they’re losing their… The little kickback, that’s why I bought my little Leaf or whatever before they… Yeah, they’re not going to sell what they used to on that.
SPEAKER 03 :
But I think overall, even Toyota, because they never even got fully into that full EV sides of things, they’re both looking at this and saying, listen, just the market conditions are such that, yeah, we’re not going to sell as many as we did.
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 06 :
You got it correct for that. And the cars are lasting forever.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s exactly right. All right, Jeff, I’ll let you roll. We’ll take a quick break. We’ll come back. Bob and Thornton, hang tight. We’ll come right back to you. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Appreciate you all listening. Bob in Thornton. You are next. Go ahead, Bob.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, John. I was just, well, not just, but a half hour ago. I was at the Costco at 162nd Washington, North Thornton, and they had all their regular switches on their pumps with a label on there that said there’s no regular right now, but we lowered the price of premium to the price of regular. I don’t know if you ever use Costco. They don’t have any mid-grade. They also don’t have diesel. Did you know Buc-ee’s doesn’t sell diesel?
SPEAKER 03 :
I think that’s correct. I believe that’s right. They don’t want the big rigs and such there, so yeah. Now, is that across the board even for standard pickups and so on? I thought they did regular pickup truck diesel. I know they don’t do over-the-road diesel stuff with the big pumps and the big canopies and all that. I did know that, but I thought they still did diesel for regular, like an F-250, F-350, and so on.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, well, they kind of advertise that it’s not a truck stop.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Yeah. It is not a truck. They don’t want it to be. That’s exactly right.
SPEAKER 08 :
But anyway, Costco, you know, they don’t have any mid grade. So they they taped off and tape. They had a nice little sign on there that said for the inconvenience, the premium is we’ve lowered the price of premium to the price regular. But anyway, I used to work at when I was a kid a long time ago, John. I worked at a Sunoco gas station. I don’t think they ever had those out here. And they had a dial. They only had two grades of gas. They had regular and premium. But they had this dial on the side, and it was marketing, I guess. And the lowest was just pure regular, and it was called 190. And then in 10 increments, it would go like 200, 210, 230, so on and so forth. And 260 was pure premium. And I think people thought it was octane. It wasn’t. It was just a proportion between the regular and the premium. The thing that I carry in the car, and it probably is better to have it in the wintertime because sometimes… You’ll do some damage to your windshield wipers. When I get a new set of windshield wipers, I never throw away the old ones. I put them in the car. And they’re better than nothing if something happens to one of your windshield wipers. You got something anyway. Good one. That’s a real good one. Yeah. So, yeah, don’t ever throw them away. Uh, I’m not saying put them on and use them just for an emergency. You know, it’s like a, having a spare tire.
SPEAKER 16 :
So you tuck them in the trunk or something, or maybe right next to the spare tire. Yeah. They don’t take up a lot of room.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. So, uh, anyway, your previous caller, uh, remind me a story about my father. Uh, he, I think he said, uh, that, uh, they had a deer. Yes. And, uh, my father was so mean. I was with my father one, one time and, uh, uh he hit a deer on the road and uh he was so mean he strapped me to the front fender and let the deer ride in the car on the way home that’s hilarious that’s awesome well he also told me that when the ice cream man came down the street and they were playing that little jingle on there that meant they didn’t have any ice cream he loved you a lot Okay, bye.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s awesome. Bob, as always, we appreciate you very much. Thanks for that. We can squeeze Don in. Don and Littleton, go ahead, sir. How are you?
SPEAKER 07 :
Hi, John. Hi, Pat. Nice to talk with you guys.
SPEAKER 03 :
Nice to talk to you, too.
SPEAKER 07 :
Happy New Year.
SPEAKER 03 :
Happy New Year.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hey, I wanted you and Pat to talk about how we fix this contaminated problem. If your car has a problem… I was listening on the TV yesterday, and there was a guy talking in a repair shop in Denver, and he said it would cost between $5,000 and $20,000 to fix a contaminated fuel situation. He’s wrong. John about that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, he’s wrong. Hey, wait a minute. I’ll fix it for three. Let me – and we can come back and talk about this at the top of the hour. We’ve got a couple of minutes here, Don. And let me couch this this way. I mean, could it be that high on certain unique situations on certain vehicles? He could – Be right. But he’s making a blanket statement that I think a lot of people are listening to, thinking that that’s the worst case scenario for every vehicle that was affected by this. And, Don, that just isn’t the case. And what he should have said is similar to what I just said a moment ago. You know, depending upon your vehicle. how much fuel you actually put in, what the conditions were. Yes, we could have some severe things we need to take care of as a repair shop, but it’s going to be a case-by-case scenario. I can’t make a blanket statement and say it’s going to be this amount of money across the board because the reality is I would be lying to you if I said that. So here’s what you need to do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That’s what he should have said. A good automotive expert would have done what I just said. Correct.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, right. Instead…
SPEAKER 03 :
You cannot make a blanket statement that it’s between $5,000 and $20,000 to fix because it’s just not. In some cases, Don, it may be $500, not even $1,000, depending upon the amount of fuel that was in the tank and so on. And again, this is me talking from personal experience owning shops, having these accidents happen over time. And the reality is in most cases, in most cases, not all, but in most cases, not that big of a deal.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Yeah. At the top of the hour, after the top of the hour, if you and Pat talk about how you fix this problem.
SPEAKER 03 :
We can do that. Be happy to. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, it’s happened before where someone will put diesel in their gas tank. You know, someone doesn’t understand what’s going on and does it by mistake. And you got to live with it and deal with it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. Yeah, these things happen. It’s not the first time it’s happened, Don. It won’t be the last time that it’s happened. Correct.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right, right, right. Well, I’ll listen, too.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’ll do that. We’ll do that when we come back here at the 11 o’clock mark. We’ll do that. John and Cheyenne, I’m going to leave you over because you’ve got a question on tires, which will fit in perfectly as well. And, yes, Pat and I will be back here at 11 o’clock here in just a couple of minutes, by the way. We’ll do a little bit of news here at the top of the hour. We’ll be back, though. Myself and Pat, this is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
