1A Auto Talk Tune Episode 1

Hi, I'm Jeremy.

I'm Dan

We're here to answer your questions today. The first one is from Dan. How can I tell if my turbo on my Saab C900 is working properly? If it's not, how do I fix it?

A good way to diagnose this is getting a boost gauge. Most boost gauges also measure vacuum. If you get a $20 universal boost gauge, you can strap it to your windshield, hook it up to a vacuum line under the hood, and you'll see if your car is making any boost or not. It's basically just a measurement of pressure. Once you know if your car is making pressure or not, you'll know if your turbo is working. If it's not making pressure, your turbo is not working. From there, you can check your waste gate, check for clogged catalytic converters. It could be a million different things from there, but the first thing to know is are you making boost or not? That's where I'd start.

Yeah. That's definitely the simplest and easiest thing to start with, and then work your way back from there. Yep.

Another question we got was from Sonia. I'm not sure if I pronounced that right, but, it's kind of a long question, but I'll cut to the chase. The car is vibrating in the gas pedal between 1,200 and 1,500 RPM, and it's a Mk. 4 TDI diesel Volkswagen. I gave some thought to this, I'm not sure really sure. We're kind of stumped on this one. Yeah. We're a little bit stumped on this one. We both think that checking the motor mounts that you haven't replaced yet. I know that you had mentioned you replaced a few. Checking the motor mounts that haven't been replaced, check for any exhaust that might be rattling against the bottom of the car. I'm not sure. What else?

Yeah. This one is kind of weird because there's really not much, the gas pedal is attached to to be vibrating. It's really just mounted to the floor. If something where the gas pedal is attached to on the floor is coming to contact with something else. We were thinking engine mounts, possibly suspension, but you more likely feel that probably in the steering wheel.

Yeah. Typically if you have a vibration in the front of the car, like in your steering wheel, it's your front wheels. If you feel vibration in your seat, it's the rear wheels, but if it's in your gas pedal, it could be a whole number of things. There could be something under your hood that's rubbing against the firewall. It's kind of a trickier one to diagnose.

It could also be that the new motor mounts that you've replaced are a little stiffer than the factory ones where. You're just picking up a little bit more of that vibration from the engine that you weren't feeling before. Right. Let us know. If you get it sorted out, certainly tell us.

We got a couple more questions here. What was your first car? You want to go first? I'll let you go first. Mine is kind of a tricky one because my first car was actually a 1964 Impala convertible, which I still have. Now it's like 18 years later, and I'd only driven it for about one year, and it was last year. It's always been a project car pretty much my whole life, and the first car that I drove every day was a 1987 Dodge Ram 50. I bought it for 500 bucks, it was a total beater, I welded all kinds of new metal on it because most of it was rotted off, and I hated it at the time, but looking back, I loved it, and I've since bought two other ones and sold them and all kinds of other stuff, but it was a great vehicle overall looking back at it.

Mine's a little more average, I guess. My first car that I've ever owned and driven were the same one, and it was an '87 Ford Taurus hand-me-down. It got the job done, it was cheap, and a good first time learning experience, as well, too, because everything fell apart.

Another question. What's the oldest car you've ever driven?

You've already got me beat with your first car. I have to say the first one that the oldest car that I've ever driven was a '78 Cadillac DeVille. It was gigantic, it was like driving a floating bus. The steering was manual, so you just kind of drove this way, bumps were nonexistent, it just kind of floated down the road.

I've had a couple of experiences like that with the '70s boats. Mine, I think, was my brother's 1946 Packard that he had. It was very awesome car, I wish he still had it, but again, it was a project car that he kind of got to a point where it was mostly road legal. We drove it to a gas station and back, kind of tinkered around town a little bit, but it never really became a daily driver or any kind of show car. It was sold long before that. Either way, it was a '46 Packard Clipper 6, straight 6, flathead, you started it by pushing the gas pedal down and it had the starter attached to the gas pedal. It was a really, really cool, old car. Yeah, that was certainly the oldest one I've ever driven. All right. Let's see what the next one is.
What is the worst upgrade that you've ever done to a car?

What do you think? Probably think I could change a car to carbureted from fuel injection, and that would be better than the previous setup. It's kind of one of those old hotrodding myths that it's just easier, it's just simpler, it's just going to work, and you miss out on all the benefits of a fuel injection, of it starting when it's cold, starting when it's hot, mileage, miles per gallon was not the best at all, and then just trying to find parts.

With the aftermarket stuff, you walk into a part store saying, "I need jets," or, "I need metering blocks," or something like that, and they just kind of look at you, like what? Eyes gloss over, I've not heard of, what does that fit? That's going to be more difficult now.

Yes. My worst upgrade. I have to say I had a '94 Chevy S10 4.3-liter 5-speed at some point in life, and I went out and I bought all kinds of upgrades for it along with maintenance items. I got spark plugs, wires, all kinds of different maintenance items, fuel filter, then I got a cold air intake for it, and I was like, "This is going to be amazing. I'm going to gain 100 horsepower with this."

Are we talking the cold air or was it just the open element filter?

It was the full cold air intake for a 4.3 liter. I don't know what brand it was but it was not what I had hoped it would be. I put it on the truck and I was like, "Yeah, I got all these new parts, the maintenance is all done, the thing is going to be amazing." Hopped in the car, and it was no different whatsoever. It drove exactly the same, it didn't get me any better gas mileage, it didn't even make better sucking noises from under the hood. It was the worst upgrade. It was the worst money I ever spent on a car. It was incredible.

Instead of just upgrade, I think the worst thing to do is to do multiple upgrades at the same time. You do that, and then something goes wrong, and you have no idea what it was. I changed the injectors, I put in a new cold air, I put a new throttle body on it, and I gave it a new tune, and now it won't start. You end up tearing everything all the way back down, and doing it step by step the way you should have to begin with. Yes. I've made that mistake several times.

We'll do one more question. What is your current dream car?

For me, right now, it changes almost every day. My current dream car: right now, I think my current dream is probably just building one from scratch. Going out and buying steel and making my own frame. It would be like 1930s style body. I just want to make everything, except for the engine and transmission, of course, because nobody can make. I would want to start with flat metal, roll it out, make body panels, have it 1930s-esque. For an engine, I'd probably go with maybe a straight 8 with a turbo, fuel injection.

You're going to have a really, really long hood.

Oh yeah. Long hood, straight 8, fuel injection, turbo, manual transmission, extremely low, big brakes.

Maybe A/C, maybe not. No roof to it? You get a convertible.
Yeah, I might go convertible. Yeah, I like the idea of convertible, because then I don't need A/C, I'll just put the top down. Save some weight. Yeah, exactly. That's my current dream car but it's probably going to be different tomorrow.

I'm going to go a little simpler on that one, and I'm going to say the Holden Maloo. I really, really like the idea of the Ute. I'm going Australian here. I like the idea of a rear wheel drive little pickup that's got a huge American V8, and just lays rubber down while still being able to haul stuff back from home improvement stores - a little best of both worlds.

What engines came in those?

I believe the LS3 was the big boy for those ones, but I think there's a few companies that also do supercharger upgrades and turbo upgrades. If it's not silly horsepower enough with no weight over the rear tires for you, you can always just dump something even bigger on to it.

How about transmissions?

Can you get with a 6-speed manual, or automatic only?

You can get manual. I am manually challenged, so I would go with the automatic, but I'd also be playing with the stereo or making sure the stuff doesn't fall out of the trunk.

Exactly. Nice. All right. That wraps up this edition of our question and answer. Hopefully you enjoyed and I guess we'll see you next time. Thanks for watching.