Join us on this insightful episode of Drive Radio where we dig deep into the world of automotive tools and preferences. Host John teams up with Pat Schneidt of All-Tech Automotive as they explain the importance of knowing your tools and how to choose the right ones for your skill level. From Snap-on loyalty to the practicalities of having a flexible toolkit in your car, this episode is perfect for both seasoned mechanics and novice DIYers looking for tool advice.
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SPEAKER 08 :
And it’s that time, Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for listening today. Pat Schneidt joining me today. All-Tech Automotive out of Fort Collins. Thanks for driving down. Hey, you bet. Good morning, John. 46, 47 degrees right now. We’re inching up. Going to be close to 60 degrees today. Should be an actual nice day. Tomorrow’s going to be a little cooler, so enjoy the nice day. You got some things to do around the house, the car, whatever. Questions, by the way, that’s what we’re here for. We’ll answer all those questions. 303-477-4770. As always, the text line is open. We’re going to kind of continue on with our conversation from earlier on Fix-It Radio regarding tools and things like that. So our question of the day is the most useful tool for working on vehicles, 303-477-5600. Text line, as I was going to say a moment ago, most of you know this, but 307-477-5600. Larry Younger answering phones, of course, and Charlie Grimes, our engineer. So give us a call. Lines are open. We’ll get you going here. And some of you might be traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday and might want to know different things and preparations and so on. Anything along those lines, please let us know as well. We’re here to answer questions. Absolutely. Looking forward to it. Yep. Whatever you guys have, throw it at us. All right. Most useful tools for working on cars, and partly why I wanted to do this was some of you might be looking for gift ideas and things like that for that significant other in your life. Could even be, you know, dad, mom, brother, cousin, uncle, you name it. Hard to say, but at the end of the day, you’re looking for a great gift idea. Now, I talked about this in Fix It Radio, but some of you only join us for Drive Radio, so let me reiterate. First things first, know your person you’re buying for. And what I mean by that is all of us as technicians, I guess you could say, myself included, we do have preferences, right? In fact, in my case, there are tools that I won’t own. I won’t look at. I won’t pick up. If you buy it for me, it’s going to get returned or shoved in a drawer that I’m never going to use again. And it’s not because I’m trying to be mean or rude or whatever. I’m a tool snob, I guess. I don’t know how else to say it. I mean, I’ll just admit it, Pat. I am. I have preferences, and I’ve been in the industry my whole life, and there’s just certain things that I will use and certain things that I will not use.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, and I think that’s the way most individuals are. I mean, either you wear Wranglers or you wear Levi’s. You probably don’t wear both.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. Well, let me give you a good example. Given the fact that I grew up in the industry and all of the ratchets and so on that I own are Snap-on because that’s what I grew up with. And in my opinion, they had – You did say tool Snap, didn’t you? Yeah. So Snap-on, yes. Okay. And now there are some tools today that are very similar to Snap-on. Icon on the Harbor Freight side, they make some really nice things. Very nice. Napa’s even got a full line that’s very comparable to what Snap-on has. So it’s changed a lot from what it used to be. But as an example – Back in the day, if you would have handed me one of the rounded headed, which had the quick release, which everybody thought was great back in the day, craftsman ratchet, I would have thrown it at you. You didn’t like it? No, not at all. What was wrong about it? The head was too big. You couldn’t get it into the right spaces. And the feel of the handle and everything just didn’t work for me, especially after using something from Snap-on. That ratchet was like archaic compared to Snap-on. So if you’d have given me that ratchet, I’d I would have thrown it back at you. You’re going to make the job worse by trying to use that tool.
SPEAKER 01 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 08 :
So that’s my example of know your person that you’re buying for. Now, in some cases, it doesn’t matter. And I talked about this in Fix It Radio. Some people have a technical skill level that’s a one. Some are tens. Yes. Some are fives and sixes. In fact, I would venture to guess most people probably fall in that four to six range as to what their mechanical ability is. And it’s nothing against them. They just have never been around it, never did it, never did it day to day like I did for the majority of my life. And everybody’s a little bit different there. And it’s not a criticism. It’s just where are they? And why I’m saying that is the higher the skill level is – the higher their requirement for the tool that they’re using now becomes. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that. If they are a number 10 on the level of technicians and working on whatever, whether it’s carpentry like Larry or it’s me on the mechanical side or whatever, well, when you’re a 10, you won’t use tools that a 3 or a 4 use.
SPEAKER 15 :
No, you’re exactly right. And it’s not that they can’t use that tool to do the job, but I think it comes down to efficiency, right? And so a good mechanic or a guy who’s into the project prides himself on doing it right the first time, doing it efficiently, not taking a long time. And if you’ve got the right tool, the job just goes easy. With the standard tool, you’ll get it done. It might take twice as long and you might bust a knuckle in the process.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, and even those guys that are on the 10 level, that’s what I was saying earlier in Fix It Radio, know your, I guess you could say, audience or the person that you’re buying for because some guys in that world are very brand specific, meaning if they’re a DeWalt person and you buy them a Milwaukee, they’re probably not going to be happy. If they’re a Milwaukee person, you buy them a DeWalt or a Ryobi or whatever. I mean, again, you need to know who you’re buying for, what they like, what they’re using. And that includes even, you know, the hand tool end of things. And I’m, I’m a big one on, you know, there are, well, I’m still a snap on guy on the hand tool end of things, as far as, you know, screwdrivers and wrenches and so on. And if you’ve never used one, um, That’s why you don’t understand what they are. How good they are. Once you use one, it’s like, oh, man, I drove that car. I don’t want to go back to driving what I was before sort of a thing.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right. So you’ve earned that title, Tool Stop. But I was listening to Fix-It Radio on the way down to Denver this morning. And you guys made a very good point about these multi-bit screwdrivers. It’s like, you know what, even if it’s not the best one or the most perfect one, it doesn’t mean you throw it away. That one might go in your kitchen drawer, exactly.
SPEAKER 08 :
Where you can go grab that thing handy instead of having to run out to the garage or the shop or whatever. Or it gets thrown in the glove box of the car so you’ve always got something with you. There’s all sorts of things along those lines where they work fine for that, absolutely.
SPEAKER 15 :
So this is what I have found out owning a shop for 10 years. I’ve got friends that are getting out of tools or no longer needing tools, and so they donate them. And so you look at them and it’s like, oh, would my guys use these? No, they won’t. But you can put a small, flexible tool kit together, throw it in the trunk of your car, and now you’ve got an emergency kit so you’re not stranded.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I – now, thank you, Pat, for saying that. That’s an example of where would I take that Craftsman wrench I was talking about earlier, that ratchet, by the way, and throw it into a kit like that where you may use it once in your life? Yeah. I would absolutely do something along those lines. It’d make it you home. Because I don’t want to throw a good snap on ratchet because, by the way, the price difference even back in those days was most likely 10 to 1, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that. That was the difference in the price range, and it’s not much different today as far as that goes. So do I want to take that high-priced tool and go throw it in a tool bag and keep it underneath the seat of your truck or whatever? No. No. Would I take something along those lines that you may only get out, you know, Pat, once a year, once every other year, whatever the case may be, but you’ve got it in case of an emergency? Right. Absolutely, I would use it in that particular case. So, again, know your audience or your person that you’re buying for. And I got a text message from somebody a moment ago where he just said, you know what, I just tell my family, don’t buy me tools. Now, you might be that guy. If you are, I get it because you’re going to buy what you want to buy anyways. Correct. And whoever’s buying for you is probably going to make a mistake in what they buy, so maybe they should look at buying something else. Point being, what’s your favorite or most useful tool? for working on vehicles, 303-477-5600. Text messages are already coming in, so let’s start this string going. I’ll read those off as we go through today’s program. Pat Schneid again with me from Alltech Automotive up in Fort Collins. You can find all of our sponsors, including Pat, our partners, I should say. Just go to drive-radio.com. We’ll be right back. KLZ 560.
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SPEAKER 08 :
All right, we are back. Patch Knight with me today. Alltech Automotive up in Fort Collins. Jeff in Western Montana, you’re first.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, sorry for coming back. No, you’re fine. Not a problem at all.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s what we’re here for.
SPEAKER 05 :
I wanted to give you some grace for being a tool snob.
SPEAKER 08 :
I am. Anybody that knows me will tell you that. Unfortunately, I am a tool snob.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I don’t think you are. I think that if you are in a profession… And your livelihood and maybe somebody’s life depends on you doing the job right. You want the best thing. Good point. The example that pops into my mind is a surgeon. Now, if you’re in an operating room and the surgeon asks for a scalpel and the nurse hands him a Zacto knife, I mean.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good point.
SPEAKER 05 :
Is he being a tool snob?
SPEAKER 08 :
No, good point. No, you make a great point there, Jeff. Absolutely. And for me, personally, I mean, I was telling Pat a moment ago, first set of snap-on screwdrivers I bought, and my dad almost had a cow because… He just couldn’t believe I paid that much. But I was 13 at that time. I was working, so I had some money, not a lot. I mean, back then, I think my first starting wage was $1.95 an hour, I want to say. So it took me a long time to pay for this because I had to work a lot of hours because the first set of snap-on screwdrivers I bought at that time was $80. That was in 1977. That’s a week’s pay. That was a lot of money back then. In fact, we did the inflation side of it. Jeff and I did – pat and i did jeff and today’s money that’s about 450 bucks but i looked up a new set of snap-on screwdrivers and they don’t make the exact same set i bought when i was a kid but the full 16 piece set from snap-on is now 520 so it’s relative yep yep now people listening are thinking 520 bucks for a set of screwdrivers yep jeff 520 bucks for a set of screwdrivers from snap-on lifetime warranty yep
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, but a lifetime warranty is something you probably will never need to use.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. Well, if you do, I mean, back in the day, the thing about Snap-on is if you had a shank that bent, went bad, whatever, I mean, those things get used for chisels and all sorts of things they’re not supposed to, but Snap-on, you walk on the truck, they’ll grab a new blade, they take the one out of the current handle, they put a new blade back in, hand it back to you, and off you go. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty slick.
SPEAKER 05 :
Just a funny story about surgeons, too, since I brought up that example. I was reading a book, I think it was by Tom Brown, about guiding hunters. And there was a surgeon that went out on a hunt. And when he got his big game animal, he used a scalpel to dress it up.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, my word.
SPEAKER 05 :
Because that’s what he was used to. He knew how to handle that scalpel. You had him a big knife and he’d go.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, no, that makes sense.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, well, what am I going to do? So was he a knife snob? I don’t think so. No, he just used what he knew.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good point, by the way.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep. Yep.
SPEAKER 08 :
You know, I never really, you know, you bring up a great point that I don’t know that I’ve ever really thought of. You’re right. And I see, you know, other trades where you look at the tools they use, and I’m like, oh, man, that’s like, that’s really slick. I don’t own that. I’m not in the trade that you’re in. But, man alive, I can see how that thing really works well. And I’d like to have that, by the way, because that’s a super nice tool. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good point.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep. Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thanks a lot. Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate it. Somebody texted in a moment ago a 33 by 24-inch fender cover. Yeah, if you’re not wanting to scratch the paint on your car and so on, there’s a lot of technicians now whereby because of the advent of some of the… It’s almost like clear bra, but it’s not clear bra, but it’s meant to protect fenders and so on when you’re working on the car. In a lot of cases, technicians will just lay that out initially right on the car to keep things from getting scratched and so on. Now, most homeowners don’t have that ability where a fender cover really does come in. By the way, fender covers can be used for lots of things. If you’re working under the dash and you want to be able to lay on something so you’re not laying on all of the nasties on the floor and so on, fender covers work great for that, by the way.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, here’s why I like them. If you’re under the hood and you take anything off, whether it’s a cover or a fastener, and you set it or you drop it inside the engine compartment and it doesn’t hit the ground, good luck finding it, right? So take it out of the engine compartment, set it on the fender or on a workbench or something. But if it can be right there on a fender cover and not scratch your fender, perfect.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yep, and some of you are also texting in. In this case, it’s a snubby Milwaukee 3-8 impact. Yep, I have one of those, by the way. It works fantastic. Again, folks, tell us what your favorite tool is. We’ll get it out so folks can listen. 303-477-5600. You can call in. You can also text us, 307-282-22. And just as a side note, yeah, good tools. Cost money. And it’s just that simple. Now, will a screwdriver be a screwdriver be a screwdriver? Well, not necessarily. And that’s, I think, where some of the argument comes in. Some would say, well, they’re all the same. No, actually, they’re not. In the case of Snap-on, when you look at how the handle’s made, the length of the shaft, how hardened the tip actually is, on and on we go. No, they aren’t all the same. the same and you can take a snap on screwdriver that is literally used in a daily basis and get years and years and years of life out of it and go take some generic brand and it probably won’t last a day right and i’m not exaggerating when i say that nope the girth of the handle is wrong the quality of the steel is wrong and if you use it like i definitely don’t recommend abusing tools but like you said they use big screwdrivers and chisels and if you have an inferior one it won’t make the day no And if you’re in that shop environment or for some of you that want really nice tools at home. Now, here’s a tip for some of you listening where you’re like, well, you know, snap on truck doesn’t come around my place. I’m not in that industry, but I like what they sell. There’s a lot of used ones that are sold all over the place. eBay marketplace and so on. You guys get out of the industry, as Pat was saying a moment ago. And. you know they don’t necessarily find a buyer or they’re trying to maximize the sale by just selling it to the open market there’s lots of snap-on in other brands have tools that are out there that you can pick up off of marketplace in ebay now one thing to keep in mind Just make sure you’re not buying counterfeit because there are some counterfeit tools out there. Also, be careful on Marketplace. They might be stolen. So there’s been all sorts of stories this last week on warehouses where they have found millions upon millions of dollars of products sitting in warehouses where guys have most likely walked out with these items or out the back door, per se. Probably not as much in the Snap-on world because of the control they have in that area. But when it comes to some of the other brands we’ve been talking about today, yeah, be careful on Marketplace. because what you’re buying may not actually be – I mean, it’s a legitimate product, but it probably was never purchased in the first place. It’s a stolen item.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, that’s not a good situation.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I don’t want to contribute to that industry is probably where I’m going with that, Pat.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right. Odds are you probably won’t ever get in trouble for it per se, but your conscience won’t be right.
SPEAKER 08 :
I don’t want to contribute to what’s going on there. That’s kind of my theory on things. Correct. All right, we’re going to take a quick timeout. Lines are open. We’ve got a call coming in as we speak, 303-477-5600. Myself and Pat, we’ll be right back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
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SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
All right, today’s question of the day. Again, Drive Radio, most useful tool for working on a vehicle. Mike in Highlands Ranch, you’re next, sir.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, John, thank you very much. I thought I’d interject some irony and humor. Sure. Looking forward to it. Years ago, it’s been a long time, like in the 80s, so we’re talking 50 years. I went out and bought a very nice set of tools. uh… with uh… the cabinet the whole idea that it’s not the stuff but you see in the nappa right uh… you know what she knows or any your guys are in the boat you know it doesn’t look like that uh… credenza for crying out loud but the it’s a bit the remarkable for the tools and that they were and they were to apple then they were not inexpensive and uh… it was uh… But my point being is now I go out into my garage and I open up the hood and I go, what am I supposed to do under here?
SPEAKER 15 :
True. And you’ve got the tools.
SPEAKER 03 :
I just have to laugh. Okay, which really nice screwdriver do I use to pop open the clips on the air filter container?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, good one.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, no, I find it hilarious because, honest to God, and I’m not trying to interject anything other than some humor into the conversation, I have this magnificent box or cabinet full of tools, and I look under the hood of the modern vehicles these days. You know what you do? You take it to your nap mechanic.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. No, good point.
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s the truth. I mean, there’s a lot of plastic.
SPEAKER 03 :
Whether it’s a good point or not, I just have to chuckle. Now, I can change a light bulb socket with my tools.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s funny.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I’ve got all kinds of them to do that, but I have to laugh at when I look under the hood, I just go, all right. And then I look over at my tool cabinet and I go, well, maybe I should just dust it off.
SPEAKER 17 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Anyway, fellas, great show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, thank you for calling. Yeah, Mike, always. I appreciate you very much. Thanks so much for your call and adding that in. Brent and Littleton, you are next.
SPEAKER 16 :
Hi, guys. Again, this is Brent. I’m back with the Ford Fusion again. No problem. So I don’t remember what I’ve explained I’ve done, so I’m just going to go through it real quick. So I replaced the turbo. I replaced the whole tube with all the new sensors on it that is the pressured tube that comes out of the turbo and goes into the air intake. I explained to you guys that the… electronic wastegate, the solenoid kept opening. And I proved that by taping it up and the turbo felt way better. So then I discovered that the 1.5 turbo has a cold air intake inside the flipping engine. And so I took that out. It was clogged. I cleaned it up. I can see through it. I put it back in. It felt way better, but I’m still having the same problem of low boost. It does feel immensely better, but at some point, at the very beginning when I step on the gas, it doesn’t want to go really well, and it wags out, and then it throws the air code. And I put everything back the way it was in stock, and then I plugged and taped that solenoid back up again for the… If it detects that it’s over boosting, that it will, you know, send the pressure back into the intake tube. I plugged that up and immediately I felt like the car had way more power. It drove almost like it was normal, but it’s still even through the air cord code. I thought it would throw a high pressure code because it’s trying to release it, but it never did. It keeps saying it’s under boosting.
SPEAKER 08 :
And you put a turbo, I can’t remember, did you put a turbo on it, Brent? I don’t remember.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, I put a brand new one on.
SPEAKER 08 :
What year is it now?
SPEAKER 16 :
What year for Fusion?
SPEAKER 1 :
2014.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
And the one thing I just discovered now… And really quick, have you put a manual gauge to know exactly what the boost is at any given time?
SPEAKER 16 :
No, I was actually thinking I have a Foxwell scanner, like a pretty expensive one, like $700.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, but I want to know in reality, not what the sensors are picking up. I want to know in reality what’s it actually boosting.
SPEAKER 16 :
No. I guess I’m going to say I don’t know where I could get one or what it should do with that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, they make a vacuum slash boost gauge. They’re going to be sold everywhere. Napa will have them. Matter of finding the right vacuum port whereby it’s manifold vacuum. It’ll tell you what you’ve got in vacuum or what you have in boost. And I would want to know, mechanically speaking, what’s it doing. What’s really happening.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. Okay. So let’s say it’s actually boosting correctly. but it keeps throwing that, what would that then tell you?
SPEAKER 08 :
If it keeps, it’s boosting correctly and the code keeps throwing, we’d have to then go through that entire system, let me say it that way, the schematics to determine, okay, what’s wrong? Is the sensor not picking something up correctly? Do we have a bad sensor? That’s where you get a lab scope out and actually look at what’s it picking up on its waves, quote unquote, according to what boost is there. Is that being interpreted correctly by the computer? That’s where a technician really gets into the nitty gritty to determine what’s going on. Because if it’s mechanically boosting X, but our scan tool is only saying that it’s X and there’s a variance there. Why is there a variance? Right, right.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
And that’s where, and Pat knows this, that’s where the diagnostic sides of things, for all of you listening, that’s where things get really dicey because that’s when a technician starts pouring, in some cases, literally hours into a vehicle trying to determine, okay, why exactly do we have a difference between these two?
SPEAKER 15 :
Right, and Brent, you talked about replacing the turbo. Is the wastegate solenoid also replaced? Because you mentioned a couple times if you disable that by taping it up, the car feels better, which it will feel stronger because you’re maximizing your boost by not allowing any of it to escape through the wastegate, right?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, correct. There’s two wastegates. One is on the physical turbo. The other one is a, I’m going to call it the digital or the computer-driven turbo. electronic right and that all that mechanism is on this brand new tube so when i spent 300 for this new tube it came with all brand new sensors straight from board so all those sensors all the the the wastegate you know electronic wastegate solenoid is new all of it is new the bushings everything so technically i have a brand new whole system of turbo all the way through now. And that’s why I don’t understand what in the world could be going on because… Right, right.
SPEAKER 15 :
And you’re saying it’s still throwing a code or it just doesn’t feel right? Like it doesn’t feel like it used to feel?
SPEAKER 16 :
No, no. Well, that’s the weird thing. In a certain sense, it felt actually like, oh my gosh, this is feeling like my car used to feel. But then it threw the air again. It threw the code again. I’m like, this is crazy. But I knew it was probably going to throw up because at one point in time, it did like a a quick hesitation, so I’d step on the pedal and go, uh, oh, oh wait, I’m supposed to go, oh, ah, and then it took off like, you know, normal. And then as soon as it did that little lag out, it threw the coat.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and the reason why I say put a mechanical gauge on it is let’s determine, okay, what vacuum does the engine actually have? Do we have correct vacuum? Some of the things I don’t remember asking, have we done a full compression test to see if the engine itself is lively and so on? I mean, in other words, we could be boosting something all to heck, but if the engine itself, the foundation isn’t there, it’s going to make a bit of difference.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, actually, so that was the first thing I did, if you remember. So at first, I had oil in the right zone there, and that’s when you’re like, well, I’m not sure if I’d be able to replace the engine and stuff. Well, come to find out, the whole damn thing was out of time. I retined it, and I re-went through and did a leak down test on it, and it was actually almost all of them hold at 90 to 95. Okay, that’s good.
SPEAKER 08 :
And what’s the compression? I mean, if the leak down is good, compression should be good, but what’s the compression at?
SPEAKER 16 :
You know, I did not redo the compression on it. I just did the leak down because I figured at that point in time it’s going to, you know.
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, if there’s no leaks, it should have compression, although does it? I mean, that’s right. And because, again, timing other things can affect the compression where the leak down won’t. So, you know, what is the compression on the engine?
SPEAKER 16 :
After retiming, I do not know.
SPEAKER 08 :
And again, easy thing to check. Let’s check the mechanical things here first. Does it have compression? What vacuum is it creating? And then what boost is it actually pushing out? And then does that match with what the computer says?
SPEAKER 15 :
John, I think the reason you’re going down this path is you’ve replaced a lot of stuff, Brent, and you’ve got a lot of new equipment there. It’s not quite performing like it needs to, so now we’ve got to go back to the mechanical basics, and this is where the diagnostic side of it comes in. We’ve got to compare actual to what’s electronic and see why are we getting a difference in the correlation. It’s not an obvious one. This is a little bit deeper than many, I would say.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, you’re telling me.
SPEAKER 15 :
Have you still got your hair?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and it is a head-scratcher because, to Pat’s point, you’ve put so many things on the car, to your credit. I mean, you’ve done a good job of getting it to this point, Brent. I’m not criticizing any way, shape, or form. But what’s at the crux? of the problem and in your case you may have had more than a single problem it was out of time to begin with you also went through and did all the turbo items and all of that and that’s great but we we could still well we do have another underlying issue what is it right there’s something still going on i thought it was going to be that that cold air intake because i was like well that’s the last thing on the list
SPEAKER 16 :
And then when I saw it as clogged as it was, I was like, oh, you know what? It was probably a chain reaction, right? So the engine goes out of time. It now has too much oil going through the system. It clogs the cold air intake. The air intake is now clogged. Turbo is trying to work overtime to try to compensate. The turbo takes a crap. because all of that just went down like a cat’s drop down.
SPEAKER 08 :
And again, I’m trying to do all this from memory, so pardon me if we’ve already talked about this, but I talk to a lot of people even on messaging, texting, emailing, and so on. So if I don’t remember every detail, I apologize. Have we checked the exhaust to make sure that cat and everything is flowing as needed?
SPEAKER 16 :
No. No.
SPEAKER 08 :
We should do that as well. And the reason I say that is if it had enough oil pouring through the system, did we end up contaminating the cat doing something along those lines? And in that case, I don’t know whether you could quickly unhook. You’re going to get check engine lights if you unhook the exhaust, but at least we would know does it perform better with open exhaust or not. Right. If the catalytic converter is plugged to your point, it’s going to restrict flow.
SPEAKER 15 :
So it doesn’t matter how much we’re boosting. Bolt it at a flange or something and just… Let it run raw for a minute or two and see what happens. Right.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay. So, yeah, the only thing I can think of is right out, right basically at the end of the turbo where the turbo is supposed to be going to the exhaust or out. That’s the only place I think I could probably unbolt it from. I can see. But, no, I guess I didn’t think about that.
SPEAKER 08 :
The other thing you could do, Brent, is you could, when it’s warmed up running like it should be, you could take one of the laser, which we’re talking about tools for Christmas and so on, the laser temperature gun, you know, pointers. which, by the way, you can use for barbecuing or checking your car or any other thing around the house. They are one of the slickest things ever. They’re cheap now, Brent. Buy one of those and look at what the temps are coming in and out of the cat. That’ll also tell you whether the cat’s doing what it’s supposed to or not also.
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, okay. Yeah, I have one. I do have it. I have one.
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s a good idea just to see the thermal measurement there.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, see if it’s overheating. Yeah, which one…
SPEAKER 08 :
And by the way, I just got a text message from Josh up at Legacy. There’s a 90-second delay, so you guys all out there hear things 90 seconds after we actually talk about it. So Josh is texting that in literally as you and I are talking about that very subject. So, yeah, check the cat.
SPEAKER 16 :
You said something about the – definitely understand the turbo, but you said something about the suction. Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
Vacuum. Every engine’s a vacuum pump. There has to be a certain amount of vacuum for things to work correctly. And if we need to see… And by the way, that’ll help you tell whether you’ve got the right timing, compression, and so on. Us old timers, you could use a vacuum gauge back in the day to determine all sorts of things, including even things like timing and so on, because it was so valuable. Don’t use that as much anymore because the computer’s controlling so much and reading vacuum already, but… It’s nice to know, in this case, mechanically, what vacuum is the engine creating.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
And we have less vacuum created at our elevation than you get at low elevation. At sea level. At sea level, yes.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah. So on this side of this engine, there is a vacuum pump, which I know because I had to unplug – The relay.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I’m not talking about that. But at our elevation, for example, typically speaking, you get 15, 14, 15 pounds of vacuum if the engine is healthy, working like it’s supposed to at idle. As you open the throttle and you put more air into the engine and that throttle opens, vacuum decreases. And in your case, now it’s going to boost. On a naturally aspirated engine, there’s never any boost, but vacuum goes to zero, basically. In your case, it doesn’t go to zero. It goes up the other way because we’re adding air through the turbo. So you need to know on the full scale, are we at idle at X and under full boost, what is it? And know what those numbers are.
SPEAKER 16 :
Where do I measure the vacuum?
SPEAKER 08 :
You’ve got to find a vacuum port that’s directly related to the intake manifold itself to determine where are you at with vacuum and where are you at with boost. So on that car, I don’t know. I’d have to physically look at it to tell you that. But find a port that has manifold vacuum, and that’ll tell you what the vacuum is on the engine itself and then when it boosts also.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay, yeah, maybe I can see if I can find that online where to check that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, you should be able to, but realistically, and the reason I’m going here is because along with this also, believe it or not, the vacuum on the engine, even though you might have really good compression, if we don’t have good out through the cat, that also affects vacuum because it’s plugged.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right, right. It’s got to flow consistent all the way through. Correct. This is a not-for-profit department.
SPEAKER 08 :
Everything I’m telling you is all mechanical, has nothing to do with the electronics. Let’s figure out mechanically if everything is solid before you start worrying about the electronic sides of things. Which, by the way, as a side note for everybody listening, including some of you technicians that I know listen to me a lot, a lot of technicians miss this, Brent, even in the field, because they get so concerned about the electronic drivability end of things, they forget that the engine is still mechanical in and of itself. So is the exhaust, for that matter. And unless that’s all working right, we can do a lot of things diagnostic-wise on the computer that aren’t going to do any good at the end of the day.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right.
SPEAKER 16 :
See, I would have thought if the Cadillac converter was clogged, it would cause an overboost because now it has nowhere to go and it’s trying to overpressure it.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, because there’s no flow through. The engine can’t flow that air through. So, no, there’s nowhere for it to boost to because it’s not flowing. Because remember, the turbo is working off of the exhaust, meaning if it’s plugged, the turbo is not even spinning as fast as it should.
SPEAKER 17 :
Right.
SPEAKER 08 :
Because it’s a flow-through. That’s how a turbo works, different than a supercharger.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right. Well, that’s some good stuff. The last question I had was with this is, you know, the oil line that goes into the turbo, that’s just to keep it lubricated, right?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, lubricates the bearings in the turbo, absolutely.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay. And, oh, shoot, I just forgot. Give me one second. God, sorry. Okay. Nope, forgot it. It’s all right.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, no worries.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay, yeah, you guys gave me a lot of different… Yeah, yeah, let’s get the mechanical things looked at first, Brent. Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
I got to run to break, man. Appreciate you very much, Jeff. Hang tight. We’ll come back to you. Don’t go anywhere. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
All right, we are Backpatch Night with me today from Alltech Automotive up in Fort Collins. Jeff and Golden, you’re next. Go ahead, Jeff.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hello, guys. How you doing?
SPEAKER 08 :
I’m good. How are you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Good.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, no worries. Take your time. We’re good. All right.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, favorite tool, I think, kind of a funny one. I was kicking around with different ideas, but I’ll tell you one that I’ve been using. I do, you know what I mean? I’m cleaning cars a lot.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right, yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
I had the Tornado. Oh, yeah. I was a little skeptical at first, but, you know, when I worked at it, I actually worked for a body shop a little bit, and he really used that a bunch to detail their cars. And I was like, oh, you know, I’d use the, you know, just a regular end, you know, like a long extended, you know, air nozzle blowout tool, whatever. But for when you’re doing like your carpet and stuff like that. Yeah, great idea. Yeah. On a commercial thing, like we did, you know, drill shaving stuff, you still probably want to use a regular bit, but I’ll tell you what, on a car for, like, dog hair and stuff, you can just sit there and just lay on that thing, and it just, with a good compressor, and it’ll, you know, that thing will just blast out hair, all kinds of stuff. I mean, it’s a really good tool, and they’re cheap. You know what I’m talking about?
SPEAKER 15 :
It’s an air gun is what you’re saying, a tip for an air gun.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, they call it a turn-in. It’s just a tip. They make the one you can put the soap and stuff in. I wouldn’t even go. I don’t like putting soap in my car. I get that stuff out of there as far as what I do. But the actual plastic little tip that you just put on, I mean, they’re probably like $25. And that little thing, I’ll tell you what, I do not not use it. Like when I do a car, that’s part of my process. I go through the whole car. I vacuum it first, obviously. Then I go through the whole car with that thing in the vents. It gets all the vents. You know what I mean? And it you know, you put it on your hand and it’s, you know, it’s pressure. It’s amazing what that thing does, you know?
SPEAKER 08 :
Awesome.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s a good one.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
You guys.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, good to know. Yes. That is one item I don’t own. Yeah. And I haven’t tried one.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. Yeah. You’ll like, you’ll like it. You’ll like it. Trust me. It’s one of those tools. You’re like, I look at my old air. I have three of the different, you know, the snap on and all that. You know what I mean? And I haven’t used those guys for a couple of years now. You know what I mean? It’s,
SPEAKER 08 :
Interesting. Yeah, that’s news to me. So, yeah, thank you. No, I’ve never used one.
SPEAKER 07 :
You’ll love it. Yeah, I appreciate the tip.
SPEAKER 15 :
I guess if you could describe what it does, it has the air come in from a couple of different directions rather than just one straight direction, right? So it is like a little dust devil, like a twister action.
SPEAKER 07 :
Uh-huh. Yeah, instead of you, because you’ll do it yourself. With the regular one, you’ll be sitting there.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right, right, right. Right. Perfect.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good idea. Let the tool do it for you. And you just hold it, and it just sits there and spins. And all the mechanics on the inside, it’s so simple. It’s like a little piece of… you know, like your model airplane freaking gas light or something.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right, yeah, it’s just a little, yeah, polyurethane line and moves around and off you go.
SPEAKER 07 :
Genius.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, no, I see, and they’re 14 bucks on Amazon, so it’s not a huge amount of money by any means.
SPEAKER 07 :
Stocking stuffer there. Yeah, it really is.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, great idea. That’s great, Jeff. Thank you. Great tip. I love it. Yeah, perfect.
SPEAKER 07 :
And another, hey, remember last week I was telling you guys about getting the, I was looking for a guy to do fuel injecting, cleaning.
SPEAKER 08 :
Some programming, yeah. Yeah, and ejectors, yes. Yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Dude, I found the guy, and I found the coolest little shop. You guys would love it. I mean, there are younger guys in there crawling around doing really cool car projects. I mean, I brought my old man in there.
SPEAKER 08 :
Nice.
SPEAKER 07 :
He was having a good time. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER 08 :
Nice.
SPEAKER 07 :
They share the shop. You would have thought it was 1955 or something, and these kids were having fun at it. Oh, that’s awesome. And he’s got the tool. And I’ve seen it online, and it worked. I brought him 10 injectors. He charges like $100 for four. Or no, no, $50 for four. So $100 for like a V8 or whatever. And he puts it in. It has like a little cleaner where they soak them and stuff first. He took the, which I didn’t know, but they all have little filters inside those things. I didn’t know that my fuel injectors had filters, but he took those out. They said they were crumbling, so he replaced the filters and O-rings as needed.
SPEAKER 04 :
Nice.
SPEAKER 07 :
And then they do fire them, and he’ll time it, and it fills up like these. He’s got four little beakers almost, and it fills the solvent. And then you measure, okay, in 30 seconds of it firing. boom and then it’ll see you know and then it gives you an idea where they all relationship to each other nice i was within like a millimeter yeah so you could see like a slow one or a stuck one or something yeah make sure you’re balanced very nice yeah where is that nice and balanced and then he found one and that that he couldn’t get to operate and so i was like chuck it you know throw that away i don’t even want that right you know i don’t want that right So the dude saved me. Yeah, I’ll get you the information. Andrew, and I can get you guys the number. Cool.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, send me that so we can give that out to others as well. I had another recommendation from somebody last week, so I’ll collect these together. So do that, yes, please. Very nice, yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
I got a guy that’s going to make me, he makes headers. He’s been doing pretty good at TIG welding, and he can piece together like a little header or whatnot for you down at the shop, and then the neighbor has a rag stretcher, you know, a bolster. The neatest little deal, 59th and Sheridan area is where it is, 59th and Sheridan.
SPEAKER 08 :
Awesome. Yeah. Good. Awesome. Good stuff. Jeff, no, thank you.
SPEAKER 07 :
I appreciate that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good information. All right. No, that’s great. I appreciate it very much. Let’s see. I can get Eric started here. Might not be able to go all the way through. Eric, I got a minute, but go for it. Let’s get started.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey, so the previous caller, I’m not sure what vehicle he was talking about, but trying to check… 2014 Ford Fusion. Okay, so… There are some of these scan tools that you can buy through Amazon that are Bluetooth connected to your phone.
SPEAKER 08 :
He’s actually got a really nice scan tool because I’ve talked to him enough on that already. So he’s got a really nice upper-end, I mean, homeowner-type scan tool, but an upper-end homeowner scan tool. The problem is, Eric, the scan tool is only reading whatever the sensors are reading to the computer. The computer isn’t sending the scan tool. He still doesn’t know the mechanical end of things at all.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, because I was going to say, I know there’s some of those that will show you what, you know, the boost.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, yeah, he’s got all that. Yeah, he’s got a tool that will do that already.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
That was going to be my suggestion. Oh, good suggestion.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, Eric, with that, I’ve got to run to break. Thank you very much. I appreciate it, guys. That’s our first hour. Two more hours coming your way. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 10 :
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.
