A few maxims, misinterpreted.
Lily Reilly , Arizona - 1995 Ford Taurus
Lily’s air conditioner seems to stop working when she accelerates going uphill. She also hears a sucking sound coming from behind the dash when this happens. She’s hoping this is a really bad problem, so she can convince her husband to buy her a new Mustang. It’s not serious--probaly just a vacuum leak, but if she really wants a Mustang, she should go for it.
Martin O'Flynn Fort Worth, Texas - 1989 Ford Mustang
Martin inherited this car--he only drives it occasionally. When he starts it after it’s been sitting for a few days, bluish smoke comes out of the passenger side exhaust, but not the driver’s side. Tom and Ray say he’s burning oil--if he’s lucky, it's just bad valve guide seals, but could be the valve guides themselves that are leaking.
Rebecca Hunt Tulsa, Oklahoma - 1993 Honda Accord
Rebecca just inherited this car from her dad, and drove it from Chicago. When the weather started getting hot, she began having trouble shifting into reverse. She had to force it. Then the shift point started getting weird--sometimes when the pedal is all the way to the floor, sometimes when it’s halfway. Ray’s first thought is a bad master cylinder, but he changes his mind to anti-chatter springs falling off, getting stuck between the clutch cover or flywheel and the disc.
Amanda Ford Kirkland, Washington - 1993 Toyota Corolla
Amanda’s getting married on Friday. She and her soon-to-be husband have too many vehicles, and she wants to convince him to get rid of one. Amanda has a ‘93 Corolla. Her fiance has a Ford Ranger, a company van and a 1964 Mustang he inherited that needs to be fixed. Tom and Ray say to let fiance keep his cars--get him to fix the Mustang so she can drive it instead of the Corolla.
Peter Neugebauer Yellow Knife, British Columbia, - 1985 Dodge Ram 1500
Up in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Peter has an engine question. Do super-powerful magnets on the bottom of the outside of the oil pan actually help in removing metal from the oil ? The idea is that it pulls out all the metallic junk in the oil. Tom and Ray thought that it doesn’t hurt, and it’s possible that it might help.
Alecko and Cindy Michael Mankata, Minnesota - 1997 Plymouth Breeze
The car belongs to Alecko’s girlfriend. When she drives thorugh a deep puddle, the car dies--sometimes she can re-start it while it’s still rolling, but usually she has to wait 10-20 minutes to get it to re-start. Most likely cause is her crank angle sensor is getting wet, so it’s not sending a signal. And it’s probably getting wet because the splash guard fell off.
John Van Clev Golden, Colorado - 1994 Honda Civic
A suspension/CV joint question. He tried to replace it with his dad, didn’t know how to remove the joint from the half axle. He and his dad cut joint off piece by piece with a grinder. Is there a proper way to remove joints? Or is this how mechanics do it? Answer: there’s a hidden clip that needs to be removed, then the CV joint Is very easy to replace. But, it’s cheaper and easier to just buy a whole re-built axle.