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CNN Saturday Morning News
Car Care Expert Diagnoses Common Ills
Aired October 19, 2002 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATHLEEN KENNEDY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everybody. Have you ever wondered what to do when your brakes begin to squeak or it's time to change the oil? Are you completely clueless, as some of us are?
Well, I'm joined right now by Lauren Fix who I have renamed Lauren Fix It, conveniently. She's here -- she's an automotive expert -- she's going to tell us about what to do about these most common problems that people have in cars. And, how to save us some money.
LAUREN FIX, CAR CARE EXPERT: Right.
KENNEDY: At the same time. All right, let's start with the squeaky breaks. You're sitting in traffic -- you know I'm always sitting in traffic and I look around and I'm thinking was that me? What do you do?
FIX: Right -- that's a good question and that happens a lot. Sometimes you're not sure -- I guess if I have my brakes done and they are squealing or if they're worn. Let me just give you a quick Brakes 101, How Brakes Work.
When you step on the pedal, this medal disc called a rotor, which spins around with your tire, is squeezed at each side by a brake pad and this is what the two pieces look like.
And the brake pad actually sits on the rotor and squeezes down. Now the key thing is you want to make sure that if this metal piece is called a break sensor. That's the scratching on the rotor --that's the noise you're hearing when you apply your brakes.
But what you want to do is make sure if you do get your brakes replaced that you get them application engineered and what that really means, breaking it down to English, is that you get a top-quality rotor in a top-quality pad.
If you don't get that, what can happen is you're going to have the squeaks, you're going to have the vibration, you're going to have the noise, and you're actually going to lose about 30 percent of the brake pad life.
KENNEDY: How do you know what's top quality?
FIX: You want to go to a name brand that you know. So make sure when you ask -- are these application engineered -- because if they're not, you're not getting top quality, you're not getting cheesy rotors and you know not good quality pads that have to be matched.
KENNEDY: OK, so when you start hearing the squeak, how long do you have before you need to get that fixed?
FIX: You should do it right away because you're actually scratching this metal sensor against the rotor and you could damage the rotor, which would increase the cost of your brake job.
KENNEDY: OK, one thing we talked about in the brake is last year I was in traffic and all of a sudden my car started sort of pulsing like that -- and it was very loud and I had not a clue what to do. I just stopped in the middle of traffic, which can be very dangerous. What do you do when your brakes slip?
FIX: Right, and the anti-lock brakes, which means the pulsation of the brakes is between 12 and 18 times per second. It's actually a pulsation and you hear the pulsation -- that's what you heard -- it's actually not the brakes slipping, but it's actually your brakes pulsing because ABS means the ability to break while steering.
And that's something that when you purchase your car your dealer should explain that to you because actually that's a good thing. Because if your brakes lock up, you can't steer, and that's when you slide into the car in front of you.
KENNEDY: OK, let's get -- we got a lot to cover here -- let's get those pesky dashboard lights. When they go, what do we do?
FIX: If it's a red light, you want to go to the dealer and get it repaired, or your favorite mechanic. If it's a yellow check engine light and it's -- you know -- we're on a long trip and it never goes on and suddenly it goes on what do I do?
A lot of times what that is, it's an oxygen sensor and let me show you what one looks like. An oxygen sensor is just this little piece right here, and it builds up exhaust gases. And, you can actually plug it up. And you can try doing that first, and they're not that expensive, you can go to any parts store and get the replacement piece. Not a problem. If that doesn't work, then again go to your favorite mechanic the lights still on; I'm concerned about it being something expensive.
KENNEDY: All right, real quickly, oil changes. Every 3,000 miles?
FIX: 3 to 5,000 miles, depending on the oil. If it's regular crude oil, 3,000 miles. If it's synthetic oil, synthetic oil is excellent because it's good for that stop and go, it's good for the cold starts, no matter where you are in the country and also if you're doing a lot of long trips, that's what you want. Ask for synthetic because it doesn't break down.
KENNEDY: OK.
FIX: So then you can go 5,000 miles.
KENNEDY: All right, my favorite thing that they brought in today was the smart blade. FIX: Oh, these are great -- these are a blades with a brain. I cannot tell you how cool they are because how many times do we wait till it's raining so bad, especially in Atlanta, and you can't see where you're going and the wipers are moving and you can't see?
These blades start off with a black dot and you can see it -- it actually faces the driver -- and as they wear they turn yellow. And actually they last longer than normal blades. They have a little brain -- they say, hey it's time to replace me, and throw them in the garbage can and they're so easy to replace.
KENNEDY: All right -- well, unfortunately that's all the time we have.
FIX: That's OK.
KENNEDY: But, you saved us a lot of money so...
FIX: That's the idea.
KENNEDY: Lauren Fix, Automotive Expert. All right we're going to go to a break, don't speed off, lots more to come.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 19, 2002 - 07:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATHLEEN KENNEDY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everybody. Have you ever wondered what to do when your brakes begin to squeak or it's time to change the oil? Are you completely clueless, as some of us are?
Well, I'm joined right now by Lauren Fix who I have renamed Lauren Fix It, conveniently. She's here -- she's an automotive expert -- she's going to tell us about what to do about these most common problems that people have in cars. And, how to save us some money.
LAUREN FIX, CAR CARE EXPERT: Right.
KENNEDY: At the same time. All right, let's start with the squeaky breaks. You're sitting in traffic -- you know I'm always sitting in traffic and I look around and I'm thinking was that me? What do you do?
FIX: Right -- that's a good question and that happens a lot. Sometimes you're not sure -- I guess if I have my brakes done and they are squealing or if they're worn. Let me just give you a quick Brakes 101, How Brakes Work.
When you step on the pedal, this medal disc called a rotor, which spins around with your tire, is squeezed at each side by a brake pad and this is what the two pieces look like.
And the brake pad actually sits on the rotor and squeezes down. Now the key thing is you want to make sure that if this metal piece is called a break sensor. That's the scratching on the rotor --that's the noise you're hearing when you apply your brakes.
But what you want to do is make sure if you do get your brakes replaced that you get them application engineered and what that really means, breaking it down to English, is that you get a top-quality rotor in a top-quality pad.
If you don't get that, what can happen is you're going to have the squeaks, you're going to have the vibration, you're going to have the noise, and you're actually going to lose about 30 percent of the brake pad life.
KENNEDY: How do you know what's top quality?
FIX: You want to go to a name brand that you know. So make sure when you ask -- are these application engineered -- because if they're not, you're not getting top quality, you're not getting cheesy rotors and you know not good quality pads that have to be matched.
KENNEDY: OK, so when you start hearing the squeak, how long do you have before you need to get that fixed?
FIX: You should do it right away because you're actually scratching this metal sensor against the rotor and you could damage the rotor, which would increase the cost of your brake job.
KENNEDY: OK, one thing we talked about in the brake is last year I was in traffic and all of a sudden my car started sort of pulsing like that -- and it was very loud and I had not a clue what to do. I just stopped in the middle of traffic, which can be very dangerous. What do you do when your brakes slip?
FIX: Right, and the anti-lock brakes, which means the pulsation of the brakes is between 12 and 18 times per second. It's actually a pulsation and you hear the pulsation -- that's what you heard -- it's actually not the brakes slipping, but it's actually your brakes pulsing because ABS means the ability to break while steering.
And that's something that when you purchase your car your dealer should explain that to you because actually that's a good thing. Because if your brakes lock up, you can't steer, and that's when you slide into the car in front of you.
KENNEDY: OK, let's get -- we got a lot to cover here -- let's get those pesky dashboard lights. When they go, what do we do?
FIX: If it's a red light, you want to go to the dealer and get it repaired, or your favorite mechanic. If it's a yellow check engine light and it's -- you know -- we're on a long trip and it never goes on and suddenly it goes on what do I do?
A lot of times what that is, it's an oxygen sensor and let me show you what one looks like. An oxygen sensor is just this little piece right here, and it builds up exhaust gases. And, you can actually plug it up. And you can try doing that first, and they're not that expensive, you can go to any parts store and get the replacement piece. Not a problem. If that doesn't work, then again go to your favorite mechanic the lights still on; I'm concerned about it being something expensive.
KENNEDY: All right, real quickly, oil changes. Every 3,000 miles?
FIX: 3 to 5,000 miles, depending on the oil. If it's regular crude oil, 3,000 miles. If it's synthetic oil, synthetic oil is excellent because it's good for that stop and go, it's good for the cold starts, no matter where you are in the country and also if you're doing a lot of long trips, that's what you want. Ask for synthetic because it doesn't break down.
KENNEDY: OK.
FIX: So then you can go 5,000 miles.
KENNEDY: All right, my favorite thing that they brought in today was the smart blade. FIX: Oh, these are great -- these are a blades with a brain. I cannot tell you how cool they are because how many times do we wait till it's raining so bad, especially in Atlanta, and you can't see where you're going and the wipers are moving and you can't see?
These blades start off with a black dot and you can see it -- it actually faces the driver -- and as they wear they turn yellow. And actually they last longer than normal blades. They have a little brain -- they say, hey it's time to replace me, and throw them in the garbage can and they're so easy to replace.
KENNEDY: All right -- well, unfortunately that's all the time we have.
FIX: That's OK.
KENNEDY: But, you saved us a lot of money so...
FIX: That's the idea.
KENNEDY: Lauren Fix, Automotive Expert. All right we're going to go to a break, don't speed off, lots more to come.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
