Drive Radio returns with an informative session on automotive insights, addressing both technical queries and practical advice for vehicle owners. The episode kicks off with a fascinating discussion about ignition timing on classic cars, touching on historical aspects and the evolution of car engines. As the conversation progresses, the focus shifts to the critical process of pre-purchase inspections. Listeners are guided through what a meticulous inspection entails and the key attributes of a reliable automotive service provider. Discussions also tackle the contentious issue of tow ratings, a subject that garners much debate among listeners. The hosts candidly evaluate the
SPEAKER 17 :
Being an expert on general automotive knowledge, what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet with a 327 cubic inch engine and a four barrel carburetor?
SPEAKER 16 :
It is a trick question. Watch this. A Chevy didn’t make a 327 in 55. The 327 didn’t come out till 62. And it wasn’t offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till 64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top dead center.
SPEAKER 03 :
Get ready for another hour of Drive Radio, brought to you by Colorado’s select auto care centers. Got a question for the experts? Then give them a call, 303-477-5600. Now it’s time to pop the hood and get our hands dirty. Drive Radio on KLZ 560, The Source.
SPEAKER 21 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks so much for tuning in. Lines are open, by the way, 303-477-5600. Give us a call. We’ll get whatever questions you’ve got answered. Yes, I know it’s a snowy Saturday morning. If you’re listening to a replay of this show, it is January the 25th. Normally, I’m at the Barry Jackson Auto Auction, but we’re here instead for lots of reasons, and I talked about that in the last hour a little bit, so I won’t go back into details there. But just with everything going on, it felt like we needed to be here and are. Also got an email a moment ago from Justin at Ridgeline, by the way, that was saying that, hey, if any of you are out looking, shopping, whatever, and you need any help when it comes to buying a car, whether it’s from them or not, he’s there today. He’s more than willing to help you guys out. 303-442-4141. And by the way, he’s there all the time to help along those lines. They’ve got two locations, of course, to take care of you guys. One in Boulder, one in Fort Collins. Service-wise, they can do Boulder, Longmont, or Fort Collins as far as the car repair goes and I had a person this last week saying hey I was looking at a vehicle up in the Boulder area at a new car dealer who should I go to to get the pre-purchase done and I told them of course Legacy Automotive because that’s what they do and they’ll take great care of you so yes any of you that are in our network listening to us if you need a pre-purchase done especially up in that area go see you know the guys at Legacy But if you’re anywhere else in town, Broomfield, Arvada, the Wheat Ridge area, Littleton, Aurora, wherever, wherever you’re at, just go to our website, drive-radio.com, and all of our facilities do pre-purchase inspections. And I talked a little bit about this in the past few weeks. They’re going to do pre-purchase inspections differently than what most other shops are going to do. And I say most other shops because there’s some other shops that do it the same way that we do. But my point is to get a real solid pre-purchase inspection, you need somebody looking at the entirety of the car. Not just a quick test drive around the block and saying it’s good or bad, but literally doing an entire inspection on the car. And it takes time. to do a really good, solid pre-purchase inspection, that technician is going to spend a minimum of an hour and a half to two hours inspecting the car. And then whatever they find to actually do the write-up of that car, in other words, giving you ammunition to go back to the seller with, that takes time as well. So any good, solid pre-purchase inspection is a full three-hour process for the shop. Technician won’t spend all that time, but by the time the advisor gets involved and they put all their estimates together and so on, it’s a three-hour process. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that. And most are going to charge accordingly. You’re going to spend some money to get a good pre-purchase. That’s another telltale sign, by the way, of are they doing a full pre-purchase inspection or is it more of a trip inspection? By the way, trip inspection being you kind of look in at the wheels and you kind of look through to see where the brakes are at and you kind of give it a glance over and is there anything leaking and you might check fluids and kind of give it a once over and that’s about it and out the door it goes. A full pre-purchase, they’re looking at everything. Has this vehicle been in an accident? Has it been underwater? What’s it look like underneath the seats? Do we have any rust under there? Do we have rust up underneath the dash? all sorts of things that you look at in a pre-purchase that, frankly, you just don’t look at in a trip inspection. Because typically in a trip inspection, you already own the car. And in a lot of cases, might even have a relationship with that shop. And so it’s easier for them to go in and look at that than it is a car they’ve never seen before that you’re bringing in. And this is also something that, I don’t talk much about this, but most of the shops out there that we have in our network, outside of private party sales, they know the dealers, right? And there’s an advantage to our shops knowing the dealers because in a lot of cases, they know who’s really solid and they know who’s not. And I can just tell you from experience doing this back in the day when I owned my shops, you knew who the good car dealers were and who weren’t. Now, that didn’t mean that you didn’t fully inspect each vehicle, even if it came from a good dealer. But what I’m getting at is if it came from one of the more unscrupulous dealers, you might have even spent some extra time checking it over one that came from the quote-unquote good dealer, if you get where I’m going here. And if Justin’s listening, I’m sure he can attest to everything I’m saying. You just learn where these folks are. and the type of cars that they typically deal in. Are most of their cars coming from the auction, or are they coming from private party? And you learn some of those things. And by the way, all of our shops know the same. So when you take that car in for a pre-purchase, first of all, tell them who the dealer is, because it helps with what I just said a moment ago. A lot of times there’s information and stickers and things on it where they’re going to know anyways, but it’s not a bad idea just to tell them where the car’s coming from. Again, all of that’s going to help you with the entire pre-purchase process because, again, that shop is going to use the information that I just talked about a few minutes ago and look at the car accordingly. So it’s always a good idea to go through that process in that way. Rand in North Glen, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
My question is, I purchased a Honda Ridgeline. It has a 5,000-pound towing capacity. They make a model right above mine, which is the same vehicle, but it has a transmission cooler, yet it’s still rated at only 5,000 pounds towing capacity. So my question is, should I try to stay as far below that 5,000 pounds as I can if I’m pulling like a lightweight travel trailer? And the reason I’m asking this is because the other vehicle, same towing capacity with the cooler versus mine without. So it kind of confuses me.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, and this is where I struggle at times, Rand, with some of these manufacturers and what they rate in their trailer towing capacities. I, for one, would never put 5,000 pounds behind a Ridgeline. I would… be hard-pressed to put 5,000 pounds behind a regular half-ton truck, even though they’re all rated for much more than it. Even a half-ton truck, some of the F-150s, for example, will tell you you can tow up to 10,000 pounds, which I would never do. A, I don’t think that the braking systems on those trucks are designed for that. Typically, the suspension’s not, even if you’re using a equalizer trailer hitch to distribute, you know, a weight-distributing hitch to where you’re distributing the weight out properly. I struggle with… manufacturers that tell you to put a trailer that is much, much heavier behind the vehicle weight-wise because when something starts to go wrong, it’s just harder to get out of that situation with a lightweight vehicle in front of a heavy trailer. So I, for one, this is my rule of thumb on especially something like a Ridgeline that’s a unibody construction vehicle, I wouldn’t tow much more than probably 3,500 to 4,000 pounds behind it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay. I agree with you.
SPEAKER 21 :
And by the way, Rand, they all overrate. They do that for the competitiveness of the marketplace and so on, and yet I still disagree with most of those manufacturers. And by the way, a lot of those manufacturers, they’re rating those things at sea level, flat, dry ground, so on and so forth. Very few of them take into consideration going over Eisenhower Pass.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay. Well, what’s the purpose of the transmission cooler if it doesn’t increase your towing capacity?
SPEAKER 21 :
If you’re going to tow, in your case, even with your current vehicle, if you’re going to tow a lot, what that cooler does, Rand, is it just keeps the transmission temps down. Because when the vehicle is towing and you’ve got that added weight, the transmission is normally going to get hotter. That fluid, because it’s a friction-based gearbox, let’s just say it that way, it’s generating heat. And because you’re towing more and there’s more weight on it, it’s going to generate more heat. So they add the additional cooler to keep that fluid temperature down. And in a lot of cases, the heavier the vehicle, the more of that they do just automatically. In your case, if you’re going to do a lot of towing and you’re going to be up around that 3,500 pound mark, I would think about adding an additional cooler.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay. All right.
SPEAKER 21 :
But that would, you know, again, that would be, you know, when I say if you’re towing a lot, I mean, I’m not talking about taking a camper out, you know, three, four times a year. I mean, if you’re going to take that thing out every weekend, yes, that would be worth looking at. If you’re going to take it out just a few times a year, I don’t know that I’d mess with it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, let me ask, what about, say, for example, I was pulling a 3,500-pound trailer, but I was going to California, so it was a long trip. Is that where?
SPEAKER 21 :
I would look at that, yes.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, all right.
SPEAKER 21 :
Again, anything we can do, Rand, to keep those transmission temperatures down, it’s going to extend the life not only of the fluid, but, of course, the transmission itself.
SPEAKER 09 :
Got it. All right. Well, thank you. Great question, by the way, Rand. No, thank you.
SPEAKER 21 :
We don’t normally on snowy days get towing questions, but that is a great question and There are times before we go to break here, I’ll just say this. There are times where literally I’m driving down the highway and I look at different things being towed. And there are times literally where I just my wife’s with me, especially I just shake my head and I just I point and I just I’m in awe. Literally, it’s like I would never do what that person’s doing. The amount of trailer that that vehicle is towing, depending upon the vehicle and the setup and so on, I just look at it and shake my head and do my very best to stay away from that situation because it is an accident waiting to happen, literally. And why manufacturers are not held to tighter standards. Some things are really held to tight standards on, and I may come back and talk about some of those things. There’s been some things that have come up of late with Donald Trump becoming president now. And I think some misconceptions, by the way, which I’ll get into. But why manufacturers are not held to a tighter standard when it comes to what the vehicle will tow? Because, again, a lot of what they will do is base that on ideal situations, flatland, no weather, no wind, et cetera, and, okay, great, here’s your weight rating. Very seldom do they take into account all the things I just mentioned. Steep inclines, steep descents, rough terrain, wind blowing, snow and ice, rain even. They don’t factor that in. My other pet peeve that I look at when I see a lot of vehicles that are towing is if I can’t, if I’m behind the vehicle, you know, not like bumper to bumper, but if I’m behind that tow vehicle in front of me and I cannot see your rearview mirrors, they’re not wide enough. meaning you can’t see me is what I’m getting at. You can’t see around your trailer. And used to be the police agency, State Patrol and so on, would write tickets for not having the right mirror set up on a tow vehicle like that. Rarely do I see that happen. Maybe if you’re in that world and you want to send me a text message and tell me I’m crazy that you still pull people over for that, fine, but I don’t see it. I see so many vehicles running down the road that don’t have the right mirrors on them where they can’t even see what’s behind them. Now, I’m also a big one on this. All of you Ram guys that feel like you need to run around without a trailer on and have your mirrors folded out, you’re just total dodo heads. Sorry, I’ll call it what it is. You’re a moron. Why do you do that? You look stupid. I don’t know what you’re trying to do or who you’re trying to impress. Fold the dang mirrors down. Make it look like it’s supposed to. And unless you’re towing something, don’t have them out. If you’re towing, fine. Have them out. That goes back to what I just got done talking about. That’s why a lot of the trucks have mirrors that extend, which is what Dodge has done for years. And now a lot of them are even automated. Chevy, Ford, and so on. But when you’re not towing something, Dodge guys, put your dang mirrors down. You look like an idiot. Sorry, I don’t know any other way to say it. You’re the other one I shake my head at. It’s like, why? Why are you doing this? Who are you impressing? Not me. I look at you and just think you’re a knucklehead. So that’s a whole other topic outside of towing trailers and having the proper mirrors and so on. But rule of thumb is, if you’re in the driver’s seat and you’ve got a trailer behind you and you can’t see the back of the trailer, you can’t see where that back bumper of the trailer is or the back end of the trailer is, depending upon what you’re towing, then your mirrors are not wide enough and you need to figure out how to extend those out or do something different. Now, typically, what I’ve also found is is if you can’t see around the trailer, the trailer’s probably too big for what you’re towing. Kind of rule of thumb. If you can’t see around the trailer with the stock mirrors on the vehicle, you’re probably towing something you shouldn’t be, and that’s another good rule of thumb. So I’ll come back, talk a little bit more about that. If you want to add to that, please let me know, 303-477-5600. This is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 19 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Jeff in Montana, go ahead.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hey, good afternoon. Or still morning, I guess. Good morning.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, almost there.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. One of my things, I’ve put it here before, is that while there may not be a dumb question, there are a lot of inquisitive idiots. And so this inquisitive idiot has a question for you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 10 :
By your towing discussion. Okay. that you were talking about weights, and it just struck me that as a general purpose, you know, when you’re talking about a vehicle towing a trailer and you look at the relative weights, I mean, a vehicle pulling a 10,000-pound trailer, if you only weigh 3,000 pounds or 4,000 pounds, there’s a two-and-a-half times difference there that – tends to, in a problem, make the trailer the driving vehicle, not the vehicle that’s pulling it.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, and some would come back and say, well, yeah, but look at what a semi-truck does and the amount of load that it… Okay, Jeff, number one, that is apples to oranges. A semi-truck and trailer combo and how things are set up with a fifth-wheel hitch and so on is not the same as your Subaru towing a 5,000-pound camper trailer.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. Not even close to the same. That’s my point. Yep, because, I mean, you may actually be using a bumper hitch or some equivalent to that. Correct. Something really ridiculous. So, yeah, I just, I guess an actual question, is there a rule of thumb for just regular residential daily driver vehicles in terms of,
SPEAKER 21 :
trailer to vehicle ratio not to exceed yeah my rule of thumb even when i was in that world you know had you know multiple locations we did lots of trailer hitch and even you know wiring and even trailer repairs and things along those lines jeff my rule of thumb for standard stuff now you get up into the crew cab dually class and so on okay that’s a different rule of thumb but for normal, regular, everyday-type vehicles, including half-ton trucks, you should never double. In other words, if you’re doubling the weight of the trailer versus the vehicle, that’s the top end. So if you’ve got a 3,500-pound vehicle, you shouldn’t exceed 5,000 or 6,000 pounds. That’s on the very, very upper end. And by the way, that is really specific on the vehicle itself. There are some vehicles, personally, I don’t think you should ever have a trailer behind them.
SPEAKER 10 :
Mm-hmm. Okay.
SPEAKER 21 :
And we would tell customers back then exactly that. And or if you’re going to tow something, say you’ve got your Subaru Outback, by the way, which I’ve seen people tow travel trailers behind. I wouldn’t put anything more than a small U-Haul behind one of those.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. Yeah. Yeah, I think in my mind I was generally thinking trucks rather than even sedans or all-wheel drive vehicles, you know, that sort of thing. Because… I personally, I don’t think I would ever tow anything with a sedan. I just don’t think they’re set up for it. I don’t either.
SPEAKER 21 :
And that’s where there’s also, I think, Jeff, some misconceptions. Because back in the day, when we had station wagons and full-frame sedans and things like that, people would tow travel trailers and things along those lines. But the car itself was completely… Completely different, weighed a ton different than what they do today, had completely different drivetrains in them and so on. And not saying that those were, you know, any more capable than today, but they were. The setup was way different then than it is now.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right, yeah. When you mentioned full frame, I think that’s the key, that when we went to unibody, you no longer had something that you could attach a hitch to.
SPEAKER 06 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 10 :
Substantial, yeah. Now you’re trying to find points that are the strongest on a body that’s formed out of sheet metal, basically.
SPEAKER 20 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 10 :
And so, you know, I know that I had an earlier caller with Ridgeline asking a question. I know that they have what they call a Y subframe in the unibody that distributes that out. to a certain degree, and that’s, I mean, it’s a good engineering thing, but it’s not the same as having a frame.
SPEAKER 21 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 10 :
And so you shouldn’t think of it as having a frame.
SPEAKER 21 :
And again, rule of thumb that we used to have, and I should have finished my sentence, used to be certain vehicles you could double. A lot of vehicles, Jeff, we would even say, okay, we need to bring that down to one and a half times. And in some cases, it was a one for one. So, you know, if it’s a 3,000-pound, you know, vehicle towing, you’re not towing any more than 3,000 pounds behind you. A lot of it for us, Jeff, came down to, A, the vehicle, what type of trailer were you towing? Because that’s the other thing that these manufacturers never, you know, never throw out. It’s like, okay, what kind of trailer? Because that’s another thing people forget is, Good trailers versus bad tow completely different from one another, and how they respond to the tow vehicle is completely different, and that’s another thing that manufacturers never consider. This is a whole other conversation in and of itself when it comes to the trailer end of things, Jeff. There is a big difference between a really well-made trailer and a crap trailer.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, 100% agree. And even in variations in styles or the purpose for the trailer, I mean, if you have a travel trailer that has really high wind resistance, so you’re loading your vehicle completely different than if you have a low dump trailer or something that you’re hauling yard waste to the dump with or something.
SPEAKER 21 :
Right, you’re correct.
SPEAKER 10 :
100%, Jeff. Yeah. Yeah, so I guess it’s just be aware of what’s going on. But I like the one or one and a half times ratio.
SPEAKER 21 :
And you get the upper end where you’ve got a full-size truck, three-quarter ton, one ton, dually, whatever. Yeah, you can go to the two and even sometimes two and a half, depending upon the setup, Jeff.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right, yeah, if you have a gooseneck and a bed.
SPEAKER 21 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 10 :
A lot of variables there. Yes, there are.
SPEAKER 21 :
Appreciate it, Jeff. Thank you very much. All right. I told you guys I was going to do another review. We did one of these on Monday that I wanted folks to hear because I was very impressed with a Ford Explorer that I drove just a couple of weeks ago. And I’ll just say straight up, you’ll hear this in the review, never have been a huge Ford Explorer fan until now. This particular vehicle changed my mind. I recently drove a 2025 Ford Explorer ST. This is a rear-wheel drive version. They do make an all-wheel drive version of the vehicle.
SPEAKER 1 :
57,100.
SPEAKER 21 :
It’s a 3-liter EcoBoost V6. This is their sport model, of course. I average about 22 miles to the gallon around town. And folks listening, Richard will attest to this. I… I think because of working in that field for so long, owning, you know, four-wheel drive off-road stores and so on, and the Explorers for the longest time just didn’t have the best reputation, Richard. And I’m just being honest, and I know Ford’s going to listen to this, you know, review, but they didn’t have the best reputation. So I will tell you, Richard, that never been one of my favorite vehicles, and I’m just going to be straight up honest. I know.
SPEAKER 05 :
until now it in what they’re you know it while the day it happened and yet you can’t get a better yet until now and both i can take well we got a lot of cars and he does not call me you we really don’t like top and we can talk about a car right you’ll be a little bit but we don’t really rave about a car and i will say that that you were very impressed and i’ll let you go into more detail about this car and again it it’s a it’s a credit support of like you think the reputation on explorers over the years have been the greatest And I think that’s changing a little bit.
SPEAKER 21 :
Oh, absolutely. And again, I don’t get excited about too many vehicles, but after being in this car for just a couple of days, we drive them for a week, but just a couple of days, thoroughly impressed. The car runs extremely well. It handles superbly. It handles more like a sports car than it does an SUV. The one I drove had four captain’s chairs plus the rear back seat, the third seat. Now, you can configure that in multiple different ways, of course. Plenty of room inside, as you can imagine. Very quiet, very comfortable. All of the agronomic things you could ever imagine. In other words, all the bells and whistles and car play, the whole nine yards. I mean, the reality, Richard, is this thing’s equipped just like anything else would be. Ford credit here. And I, again, drive a lot of different vehicles and have owned some. Chevy with the Super Cruise compared to Ford with, I believe they call it Blue Cruise. I will say this, and I’ve said it before, driving some of the F-150s. Ford’s automated system far superior to GM’s. And I’m just being straight up honest. Sorry, GM, but Ford has you beat in the way their system works. It’s not jittery. It’s smooth. It’s fluid. And their system, Richard, works extremely well.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and you commented about that, and then obviously the other biggest feature, you said you mentioned the inside, the interior, but you just said the power, right, the performance of that vehicle, and obviously it’s not a new engine for them, right, Dad?
SPEAKER 01 :
No, it’s not.
SPEAKER 05 :
They’ve been running the EcoBoost for a while now, and you were just – you were really – It’s probably one of the more overall impressive cars that you’ve driven, especially for this segment, right? And the price point— Segment and price. —this car fits is really great.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, under $60,000, and you can buy these even for less than that with some of the discounts that are around. The ST version being their high-performance version. Car works extremely well. I mean, I can see why a lot of the police forces and that have used these things for years. They’re very— I guess would be the right word for me to use, Richard. And in their segment, does this car compete well? Absolutely. And what’s interesting is that it comes in a rear-wheel drive and an all-wheel drive version. I actually drove the rear-wheel drive version, and we actually had some snow and some slick roads during that time. And I’m being straight-up honest. I put it in the snow mode because I assumed because I didn’t look at the Monroney before driving it. I just assumed it was all wheel drive. So I put it in snow mode and started driving it. Honestly, Richard, I didn’t know I wasn’t driving an all wheel drive. That’s how well the rear wheel drive version works with all of the automated systems they have for traction control and so on. Now, if I was going to be in Colorado, would I buy the all wheel drive version? Yes. But this particular model being rear wheel drive still works very well. So I’ll leave it at that. Those of you that are listening, if you want to know more about the Ford Explorer, go check one out at your local Ford dealer. By all means, make sure you tell them that John and Richard Rush, both from Rush to Reason and Drive Radio, sent you.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
All right, we are Back Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Andy, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
And I was wondering about, I’ve got a 2015 F-150 turbo, twin turbo. Yep, EcoBoost. Yeah. Yeah. I love the truck, especially going up places like Bertha Pass. I mean, it’s got a lot of power. They run very well. They really do. What I don’t know about a turbo, don’t understand about a turbo, is does that force air out?
SPEAKER 21 :
into the engine? Yes. So a turbocharger, much like, you know, if anybody understands an air pump or a supercharger. So a supercharger forces air into the engine based on how that is designed. And there’s several different designs for superchargers. Some are more like a turbo that have a belt on them, but basically it’s engine-driven, centrifugal force, pumps air into the engine. A turbo, Andy, does basically the same thing. The only difference is they use the exhaust itself, so the pressure coming out of the exhaust, the exhaust gases in that flow, is what drives the turbo to then create the compressed air that goes into the engine. So for years and years, the biggest downfall turbos had. Downfall turbos had. And we’ve overcome this since. But what they had for years as a downfall, Andy, was turbo lag. It took a little bit for that exhaust to get up enough to where the turbo would spin enough to put the compressed air in to where the engine would then come to life and off we go. They have since, with more fine engineering and just more design changes and so on, they’ve got – literally in the majority of vehicles yours included literally no turbo lag and some of that is done because they use two turbos now instead of one but for years the biggest reasons why turbos weren’t super popular is because of the lag that is now gone yeah i’ve noticed that uh that lag in mine i i don’t like that but uh and in yours it’s not there for very long i mean andy in the old days and i’m talking back when buick was really doing a lot of turbo stuff back in the you know 80s 80s even man the lag was tremendous i mean literally you’d step on the gas and it would sort of like lurch for a second and kind of then not and then all of a sudden it would take off again when the when the engine rpms came up and then off you went and
SPEAKER 06 :
literally yours if it i mean it is very very minor compared to what it used to be well i sure do love it i i was going to ask you also uh does that have a higher rpm than your engine so if you’re doing oh yes three thousand yeah that that turbo will run at 20 000 rpm or above andy Well, should I be putting in any kind of special oil?
SPEAKER 21 :
You need to run on any turbo engine especially, but your EcoBoost especially, run the weight of oil that it calls for, full synthetic, and yours needs changed about every 4,000 miles, and you should be doing the EPR. We talk about the BG EPR treatment. We talk about that on a routine basis. That is one of those engines that needs that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wait a minute.
SPEAKER 21 :
BGR? It’s BG is the manufacturer name. The product is EPR.
SPEAKER 06 :
Do that phonetically. I’m having a hard time hearing it.
SPEAKER 21 :
Edward Paul Ralph. Yeah, it stands for Engine Performance Restoration. That’s what EPR stands for. Thank you, Charlie.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay. Okay. All right. I just never understood that.
SPEAKER 21 :
And by the way, I was actually off because I looked it up because I knew it was anywhere from 20,000 on up. Depending upon the turbo, they can run from 80,000 to 200,000 revolutions a minute.
SPEAKER 06 :
I wouldn’t imagine that that would last too long.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, you know, they use special bearings, and the bearings are oiled by the engine oil and things like that, and that’s why it’s important, especially in turbocharged engines where, in your case, let’s say, Andy, you’re going up Bertha Pass, and you get to the top. The last thing you’d want to do is get to the top and just turn the engine off. You really want to get to the top, let things idle for just a minute or two, kind of get things settled down. Then you could turn the engine off because we don’t want that oil just sitting there and cooking inside of the turbo.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, okay. Okay. All right. I was telling my wife your knowledge, and she says if he knows so much, ask him what a bay leaf does in a soup.
SPEAKER 21 :
That I don’t know. I’d have to ask my wife on that one, Andy, because I have no clue.
SPEAKER 06 :
Me neither.
SPEAKER 21 :
That is beyond my pay grade, Andy. Read up on it, man. Read up on it. I’ll do that. Andy, thank you very much. That was good. I enjoy that. Thank you. I’ll ask my wife when I get home. I’m sure she’ll have the answer because I don’t have the foggiest idea. Mike, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, John, don’t you mean above your pay grade?
SPEAKER 21 :
Above and beyond.
SPEAKER 08 :
Anyway, I have an 02 Chevy truck, 5.3. Okay. I’m on the third battery in two years.
SPEAKER 21 :
That’s strange.
SPEAKER 08 :
First one was a Napa. It lasts about a year, then got the replacement, and it died again. Every time I’ve had to replace the battery, I’ve checked the alternator. And it seems to be putting out right there at 1456, something like that.
SPEAKER 21 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
I have a, shall we say, a solar trickle charger on it.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, that was my next question is how much does it sit? Not how much you drive it, but how much does it sit, Mike?
SPEAKER 08 :
Probably more than I might get two or three days a month.
SPEAKER 21 :
That it sits? Yes.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, no, that it… Oh, that it drives.
SPEAKER 21 :
So it’s sitting the majority of the month. You might drive it two or three days is all.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right.
SPEAKER 21 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
And… It went out yesterday, and I got a new battery and double-checked it. It was 14-whatever.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, I would say, Mike, number one, I’ve never been a fan of, and nor do I know exactly how they work. I actually have one solar charger on a trailer battery that I have, and honestly, it’s about as worthless as it gets. I would put an actual regular battery tender, the brand even, or Napa sells one that’s very similar to that, but I would put an actual battery tender on it that runs off of 120 volts.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 21 :
And I think if you – well, not I think. You won’t have that problem down the road if you do that. Your problem is that that battery is not being tended well enough.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. So you’re just thinking that lack of use is causing it to blow out.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, yeah, because what’s happening in your case, I believe, is you’re – and I don’t know what the solar charger is doing, but you’re – Getting it fully charged and then it sits. Then you’re getting it fully charged and then it sits. And, again, that cycle is happening over and over again. And I will just tell you from experience on just even cars that I have that aren’t much different, Mike, I have some that don’t even get driven that much. But, yet, I can get batteries to last a decade, and I’m not exaggerating, but I have tenders on all of them.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. On that same note, then, how about the – Battery tender, because I know they’re the ones that do it. Multi-lead chargers. Are those… as good as the single lead?
SPEAKER 21 :
I like, and NAPA’s got a new battery tender out that the reason I like is because it’ll do all batteries, including AGMs. It knows what battery it’s on, or you can even tell it, you know, the battery that you’re hooking it up to. So I like that particular tender, and it’s a one battery only. You’re not going to do multiples out of it.
SPEAKER 08 :
I was just thinking of the motorcycles during this, you know, Mother Nature’s reign. And so… All righty.
SPEAKER 21 :
And the reason why I think you should use a tender per battery, and there are some companies that make multiples, and keep in mind the ones that do multiples have a tender that is sensing each battery individually and then adjusting that lead accordingly because the idea between a tender is it is monitoring the voltage and then only applying a charge as needed. It is not sitting there charging all of the time
SPEAKER 08 :
so that it overcharges on the same token it doesn’t let it get below a certain level before it starts charging right that’s what the smart tenders do right i am i stuck with the lead acid just because i agree i would i don’t know that it’s worth it for something i’m not using frequently but All righty, sir. You’re the man, Mike.
SPEAKER 21 :
No, appreciate you, and I think you do that. You’ll be on the right track. All right, we’ll come right back. More questions, we’ve got answers, 303-477-5600. This is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Thank you all for listening. I appreciate it very much. And by the way, I did look up what bay leaves do for soup because I didn’t have the foggiest idea. They add a subtle herbal flavor, and they can do that with, you know, slow-cooked soups, stews, pastas, pasta sauces, I should say, braises, and so on. And, yeah, you eat around it. You don’t eat it. You eat around it. So I haven’t even learned on here how to tell if they’re fresh or not. So thank you, by the way. for that and also that was a great question by the way on you know what does a turbo do versus you know superchargers and so on and turbo technology isn’t new it’s been around for quite some time uh literally for decades upon decades It has become much more refined, as I said earlier, than what it used to be. And they have learned all sorts of things in regards to the sizing, you know, the dual turbos now on a lot of engines. That’s how, you know, I gave you the review earlier on the new replacement for the TRX, the RHO. It’s a dual turbo Huracan, you know, inline six, three liter engine. They make tremendous horsepower by using the turbos. And the other thing, and I didn’t get a chance to say this, and I’m sorry, Andy, for not mentioning this, but the other reason why a lot of manufacturers will use a turbo instead of a supercharger, while a supercharger is typically a lot more responsive because it’s belt-driven and it’s immediate, they have a drag to the engine because you’re taking horsepower out of the engine to drive the supercharger. Because if you were to spin a supercharger just sitting there, you know, no belt on it and you just turn the pulley, you would know what I mean by that because there’s a drag there that the engine has to overcome and you’re using horsepower to run the supercharger. A turbocharger, because it’s running off of the exhaust gas, has no drag, no horsepower drain on the engine whatsoever. That’s why a lot of manufacturers will go the turbo route instead of the supercharger route is because of that. And then, of course, in most cases, even on superchargers, they’re intercooling that now. So back in the old days, supercharger or even turbochargers, I should say, went directly into the engine that was hot gas going in. And we all know that the cooler the intake, the more horsepower the engine will make. And I won’t get into all of the, you know, scientifics of that, but that’s how it works. And so now what they do is they cool that hot air coming out of the turbo, because keep in mind, it’s exhaust gas driving the turbo, meaning the turbo gets hot because it’s exhaust gas driving it, plus the friction and so on that’s there. So that’s hot gas. So they’ll run that through an intercooler that’s up by the radiator. So they’re cooling that air back down before it makes its way back into the intake of the engine itself. So that’s the other thing that they’ve done in recent years. And we started intercooling things on the turbo end of things on diesels way back in the late 90s, roughly, is when we really started doing more intercooler work. Intercoolers were around before that. They were even on some of the Buicks and that back in the 80s. but became more popular on the truck side of things in the late 80s. Actually, even late 90s, not even 80s, late 90s, by the time it really became a thing where every, you know, diesel engine had an intercooler on it. And now you won’t find – I might be wrong in this, but I don’t think you’ll find – with a turbocharger and or supercharger that isn’t intercooled. A, it gets the engine to perform better. It reduces emissions and so on. So yeah, they’re doing their best to keep that air charge, quote unquote, cooled down through the use of And there’s some engines out there, Volvo is one of them, where they do both. They supercharge and turbocharge. They do both. And I’m not sure I understand all of the benefits of, I’m guessing they do the supercharger to eliminate any kind of turbo lag, but then they get additional boost. to the supercharger, from the turbocharger, and kind of doing a dual purpose, if you would, there. And Volvo has done that for a number of years. And other companies do as well, but Volvo is one of the more popular brands, units, and they’re doing that even today. So anyways, that is the biggest difference between the two, and superchargers have been around, again, for a very, very long time. In fact, I believe, don’t quote me on this, but I believe the old Detroit diesel, two-stroke diesels, were the first places for superchargers to be used. And then they made their way from there into the… Hot Rod World, which they went from the Hot Rod World into the regular daily manufacturing world and so on. And I’m not mistaken. If that’s different and somebody wants to correct me, please do. But that is my recollection. The original superchargers were on two-stroke diesels. And there may have been some other type of superchargers out for other engines and so on. But mainstream, as far as day-to-day use goes…
SPEAKER 07 :
that v6 diesel or not v6 but that detroit diesel is what i meant to say is where the supercharger really came from so uh conrad you’re next go ahead sir morning guys awesome show as always thinking about some things that i’ve been pondering now that we’ve got an awesome president again he is doing a fantastic job i’m just so thrilled with what he’s doing but that’s a whole different matter for your other yes absolutely but What I wanted to say is I’m wondering now that maybe he’s in there and who knows what’s going to come after him if we continue on with our momentum, that if Ford and GM and Chrysler might go back to building the cars like the Camaros and the Challengers that had the high-performance… Well, you’ve already heard from Stellantis, Conrad, this week, the head of, talking about the very thing that you’re talking about right now.
SPEAKER 21 :
So the answer is yes. I do believe more manufacturers will do that. Ford is going to release their GT350 Mustang, so they’re going to head that direction, kind of always have. They never really got away from it. But will GM kind of steer away from some of the EV stuff and go back to a Camaro? Good question. I mean, on the same token, Conrad, they’re going to produce a Corvette with over a thousand horsepower. So they kind of didn’t steer away from any of that on that level anyways. But I do think you’re going to see some pullback on some of the EV stuff and it’s going to become more natural. It’s going to be more of what does the market demand versus what does government want?
SPEAKER 07 :
Which is, that’s the way it should be. Exactly. Thank you. Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s what kind of cars we can drive. Absolutely. You’ve got the money to put the fuel in the thing. You can drive whatever you want.
SPEAKER 21 :
And on the same token, if you want a high-performance Tesla Plaid that’s the fastest car out there, and if that’s what you want, then same thing. Conrad, more power to you. I don’t care.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. That’s one of the reasons I’m such a Ford fan is because they have always kind of resisted this nonsense. GM, on the other hand, has that woman that was appointed by Obama in there, and she’s just done all kinds of…
SPEAKER 21 :
She’s woke, Conrad, and I’ve said that many, many times. You know, Mary is woke. There’s no doubt about it. It’ll be interesting to see how GM moves forward with this new administration we have now and how long does she survive all of that, even board of directors and so on, because, again, it’s all going to be about the profit end of things. So that’ll be interesting. I was talking to some folks this last week on that same line, Conrad, and that’s going to be interesting to see how things move forward here even over the next six months or so.
SPEAKER 07 :
So that company you mentioned, that’s the mother company for Chrysler, right? Stalantis, yes. Stalantis. Okay, that’s what I thought. Okay.
SPEAKER 21 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 07 :
Conrad, appreciate you, man. That’s a great question.
SPEAKER 21 :
No, I think, yes, I think automotive-wise I was going to talk about that today anyway. So, Conrad, thanks for calling in. Yeah, I think you’re going to see some changes in the automotive industry. You’re going to see some things backed away regulation-wise. the cafe ratings and so on you’re going to see some things change that way the ev mandate of course already has changed and all of what i just said is going to be a change for manufacturers moving forward the question is going to be how do they respond and what do they think is going to happen you know four years down the road and you know they don’t want to make a big investment and see a reversal of all of that so it It’ll be interesting to see how that end of things works. We’ll just have to watch it and see. Got another full hour coming your way. Questions or comments like comment I just had, feel free to call 303-477-5600. This is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 15 :
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.
