Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada, Vancouver's best auto service experience, and we're talking cars. How you doing Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: So today's guest is a 2017 Ram 1500 Eco, EcoDiesel. What was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: So this vehicle came in for a water pump replacement. We had previously diagnosed this a while ago at a previous service, wasn't a severe leak, so the customer decided to leave it. But now, he decided to bring it in and get it done and keep the vehicle in good shape.
Mark: Sort of a not common problem on these vehicles or is this semi-regular?
Bernie: We haven't done a lot of water pumps. On any vehicle, a water pump will fail over time. It's a definite failure item on any engine. It's just like how soon they fail is the question.
Mark: Sure. And what kind of kilometreage did this vehicle have?
Bernie: 178,000. So it's up there.
Mark: Yeah. That's a lot of good use.
Bernie: Like eight, nine years old at this point in time for the vehicle and 180,000 k, it's not unacceptable.
Mark: Let's take a look at some pictures.
Bernie: Yeah.
Mark: There's our guest.
Bernie: There's our guest welcome Dodge. I keep calling 'em Dodges. I can't. It's really a Ram, but I just keep wanting to call it a Dodge Ram for some reason.
Mark: Well that's what we grew up with.
Bernie: I guess, good thing I don't call it a Fargo.
Mark: Yeah. So EcoDiesel, the culprit. Let's jump right to that.
Bernie: Yeah, so there's the old water pump removed from the vehicle. I'm holding the pulley with my thumb. And you can see some reddish marks, if you wanna point them out. There's some orangey, reddish marks that's antifreeze that's leaked outta the water pump.
So there's a couple leaks in that area. There's also a number of seals and o-rings and gaskets associated with this pump that we replaced. And they were, there was a possibility they were leaking as well.
Mark: So those would be around these kind of hole areas that we're seeing.
Bernie: Exactly those where all the gaskets and seals go.
There's also another pipe, which you'll see in a next picture. That's the new water pump installed. The thermostat sits where you're moved your little pointer. And we replaced the thermostat. There's a temperature sensor in that area as well.
And there's a pipe to the right that's facing forward under the black pipe, that pipe comes off when you do the water pump. And there's a couple of o-ring seals on that, that we replaced as well. So everything's resealed in the front of the engine, so nothing there to leak of any sort.
Mark: So this is for the, this is air.
Bernie: That's the air intake.
Mark: And this is for?
Bernie: Yeah, that's the throttle right there. Yeah, that's coolant down there.
Mark: So pretty straightforward.
Bernie: Pretty straightforward. This interestingly enough, I should have taken a picture of it reassembled, but there's all sorts of plastic covers that they put over the front of this area, and you have to remove them to get at the water pump. And I'm not really sure what the rationale is behind it. When you pop the hood, you can't see the water pump because it's covered up with a big black plastic cover, which I guess it's more aesthetically pleasing or something.
Mark: They're copying Ferrari from the fifties, or sixties. A lot of stuff to get out of the way to get to the water pump. How complicated a repair was this?
Bernie: It's really not as bad as some engines and some diesels. It's a few hours worth of work but it's not as bad. Remove the plastic covers, everything's accessible. There's air intake ducts and things, but it's really, not as bad as some cars for sure.
Mark: So 9-year-old diesel vehicle, getting up there, not, regular, I guess usage. Is it worth having invested in this? How much longer life does this vehicle have?
Bernie: I’d say quite a lot. We work in a lot of these three litre diesel ram trucks and I would say, they're not the best engines. They have a lot of problems. We've seen somewhere the bottom ends fail at a very low mileage, which is surprising for a diesel. Cause usually that's the kind of thing that, diesels are known to last a long time. There's carbon buildup issues. That's got all the emission stuff that creates problems.
We run into a few customers, so we don't remove the emission equipment, but we know have customers who, yeah, I pulled that off and truck runs a lot better. It actually works way better without the stuff, it's just not good for the air. And it actually causes less problems having the emission equipment because it doesn't carbon everything up.
But not recommending that. Just saying that it does work. But we're starting to see a lot of these trucks with higher mileage, and most of 'em are surviving pretty well. They just have a few issues to repair, and we've done quite a few podcasts on 'em, so you can get an idea what repairs are needed.
Mark: So in your estimation, I know the investment of a vehicle is expensive at the start. To keep it running is a good investment over time.
Bernie: Oh yeah.
Mark: Rather than buying a new one every two years?
Bernie: Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. It costs a lot of money to do that in depreciation, especially with some cars. The other thing about diesels is they tend to, you've owned diesels. They tend to actually work better after a while for the most part. After they get broken in. Sometimes, when the mileage gets higher they start working even better. So yeah not a bad thing for sure.
Mark: So there you go. If you're looking to keep your diesel vehicle running for longer, the experts to see are at Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. You can reach them online at pawlikautomotive.com. You can book your appointment right there, or you can call them at (604) 327-7112. They'll answer the phone, they'll talk to you. They'll find out what's going on. They'll get ready for your appointment. You have to book ahead with Pawlik. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you, Mark. Thanks for watching.
