**Finding the Source of Car Noises**

If you're driving your vehicle and occasionally hear a knocking noise coming from the left front end, it's essential to identify the source of the sound as soon as possible. Chili Wick, a seasoned car enthusiast, recently shared his experience with a 2012 Honda Pilot all-wheel drive that exhibited this issue. The knocking noise was only audible when he turned right, leading him to suspect that it might be related to a ball joint or frame control arm bushing wear. However, after consulting three mechanics who checked the wheel bearings, none of them could pinpoint the exact cause.

That's where Chili Wick's machine comes in – an old-fashioned boom box with four sensors that broadcast noise to different parts of the vehicle. By attaching magnets or velcro to these sensors and placing them on various components, you can identify the source of the knocking sound. This innovative tool is a game-changer for diagnosing car noises, especially when traditional methods are not effective.

The key takeaway from Chili Wick's experience is that sometimes, it's essential to be patient and persistent in identifying the cause of a problem. The fact that he occasionally hears the knocking noise suggests that whatever the issue is, it's just starting to manifest itself. By taking the time to thoroughly investigate the problem, you can avoid costly repairs down the line.

**Finding a Good Mechanic**

One of the most significant challenges Chili Wick faced was finding a reliable mechanic who knew how to load and diagnose the issue correctly. In today's industry, there are many mechanics who lack the necessary expertise or experience, leading to subpar diagnoses and unnecessary repairs. As such, it's crucial to seek out a trusted front-end shop with experienced technicians.

Chili Wick's approach was to ask friends, family, and colleagues for recommendations, which led him to find a reputable mechanic in his area. He emphasized the importance of sharing positive experiences with others, as this can help create a network of reliable mechanics who know what they're doing. By spreading the word about good mechanics, you can help ensure that others avoid wasting their money on untrustworthy shops.

**Preventative Maintenance vs. Waiting for Failure**

Ryan from Minnesota recently approached Chili Wick about his concerns regarding preventative maintenance. He was considering replacing various components, such as belts, plugs, alternator, and battery, due to the age of his 2010 GMC Yukon (175,000 miles). Ryan was hesitant to take proactive steps, worrying that he might be unnecessary upgrading or wasting money on new parts.

Chili Wick offered a nuanced perspective on this issue. While it's true that belts, plugs, and batteries do wear out over time, replacing the alternator and starter is not always necessary. In fact, sometimes an older unit can last longer than a rebuilt one purchased at an auto parts store. The key factor is that when these components eventually fail, they often don't cause any damage to other systems.

Chili Wick advised Ryan to focus on maintaining the vehicle's fluids, such as transmission fluid and brake fluid, which are essential for its performance and longevity. While it's true that some repairs may be more cost-effective to do yourself, there are instances where purchasing OEM parts is the better option. In these cases, investing in high-quality components can provide peace of mind knowing that you're using genuine products that meet the manufacturer's standards.

**Conclusion**

Finding the source of car noises and identifying reliable mechanics require patience, persistence, and a willingness to take the time to thoroughly investigate problems. By utilizing innovative tools like Chili Wick's machine, sharing positive experiences with others, and focusing on preventative maintenance, you can extend the life of your vehicle and avoid costly repairs.

Remember to always seek out trusted shops with experienced technicians, rather than relying on chain repair shops that may not have the necessary expertise. Additionally, consider taking a proactive approach to maintaining your vehicle's components, such as its fluids and electrical systems, to ensure optimal performance and longevity.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhere we go again gm proves that they don't care about their own customers they want a lawsuit about the c7 wheels on a corvette turns out that they're cracking bending people who sued them said hey you got to give us new ones they're blaming on all kinds of other things gm won the case on a technicality they're saying that these wheel failures are due to a bad design technicality in the law now if it was materials or workmanship they would have lost but they said it wasn't because of bad materials or workmanship it was because of a bad design well let's see didn't they design it whatever it was on their car you think they could stand behind it people are paying all this money for these corvettes and they don't even stand behind it saying well it was a bad design that's not our fault well it's your car you designed it you bought it from somebody who designed it for you the buck stops here gm it doesn't stop at some legal court where you're not paying they don't even want to satisfy their own customers like hey we suckered you into buying one of these corvettes it's your problem now not ours you gotta pay for the wheels well gm all i have to say is good luck good luck selling things to people in the future you get people who are nuts about your cars buying a corvette you know you fix their wheels free after they spend all their money because you say oh well that was a design flaw so technically we're not responsible for it like scotty says vote with your dollars don't buy their products then they can whine all they want about oh well that was it was a design flaw it wasn't a manufacturing flaw well don't buy them at all they can design whatever they want you don't buy them you don't have the problem so take that gm that's all i got to say you screwed over your own customers that's just absolutely disgusting as far as i'm concerned but that's business as usual at general motors well here comes another dead car model and i say good riddance volkswagen says it's going to kill off the u.s market volkswagen passat in 2023. now they're made down the street in chattanooga tennessee and of course if you followed anything i've been talking about or reading the news volkswagen is going to be making electric cars soon in the chattanooga plant so it looks like they're going to be replacing it with probably the id.4 crossover these passats you know nobody else in the world has them the passat's only here in the united states they're kind of old-fielded cars and and from my experience the typical volkswagens after they get to be a few years old the plastic breaks they fall apart they're super expensive to maintain and repair so hey i think it's a good thing they're not going to be making them anymore maybe volkswagen will revolutionize things with electric cars like they did with the beetle who knows because this passat wasn't revolutionary at all it was archaic i mean the thing i got against these volkswagens especially the overuse of plastics they just come apart at a minor fender bender half of the front of the car come off i had a customer with one that just got nudged by a truck and the whole front of the car got ripped off i mean they're just cheaply made they don't hold up all that well over time and i mean they are zippy there's no arguing that but when you see the competition that's out there it's no wonder they're not going to be making any more for selling in the united states after 2023 i'm amazed to still continue to build them i don't see their market where they fit in obviously volkswagens like everybody else is getting out of the sedan business and they want to make suvs where all the money is and uh volkswagen is not really a truck company here in the united states like ford that dropped all their sedans except for the mustang and they're only making trucks and suvs so it makes total sense if i was folks i got i would have dropped it this year i wouldn't even take it into 2023 but then again they got so many bad cars out there volkswagen they have to drop three quarters of their line according to me the ones i've tested and i tested out new ones they didn't impress me that's a brand new car imagine when it's four or five years old and it really starts falling apart that's the reason i tell people not to buy them i've had customers buy them they had problems they just don't hold up over time the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles of japanese ones can go and the volkswagens by then would it cost you a fortune to prepare hey i say good riddance to the passat here's an interesting vehicular bit of news the new generation ambulances hey they're leaving the old ones in the dust they got things like this one that looks like something from road warrior bringing soldiers back there's a company impact northwest and they're actively building better ambulances for people in emergency situations turns out the guy went to haiti when they had all those problems from the earthquake and they couldn't rescue people fast enough they're working on drones they're working on flying go-karts go-karts going along and they got parasails on them now those things only need a 600 foot runway they don't need much of a runway so they can take off and there can be a driver or flyer whatever you want to call driver in the ground flyer in the air and a passenger people are using their imagination here the whole world the ambulance has gone wild there's even one company that it's working on one that's a million dollars now i do have to say i can't wait for the bill to come for the person that rides in one of those things my son recently in massachusetts got a ride with the volunteer fire department and it cost a thousand dollars to go a couple miles it's gotten to a point of absurdity of what they're charged you can imagine if it's a million dollar ambush what are they gonna charge you ten thousand dollars for an ambulance right but most of these things are for emergency rescue and nobody pays for it but the tax dollars so they're rescuing people it's a good thing and as you can see man they're making some interesting rescue ambulance vehicles that some of them are command centers they got kitchens bathrooms all kinds of stuff in them they're really making a whole plethora of vehicles to rescue people like kudos to those guys at their company cka park says any suggestions on the next car purchase i have an 85 volvo 244. well those things work german tanks had it for 25 years my mechanic said don't put any more money in it i'm in my 60s somebody said don't get a hybrid because i don't drive enough i don't want to spend a fortune because i don't need to use it daily what should i look for 85 volvo 240 yeah those things can run forever if it is finally wearing out you got a quarter of a million miles on it you like that type of vehicle depends on how much money you want to spend you'd probably be totally happy with either a toyota camry or lower end lexus now they're not cheap they're not giving them away since they last so long you can get a good used one and it can still go a long time look i bought my wife's lexus with sixty thousand miles or three grand might be driving it for the next 30 years you can find a good used one get a toyota or a lexus because those are what volvo used to be a long time ago they're now the top of the line longest lasting cars look around see what you like there's plenty of them out there chili wick says scotty i got a 2012 honda pilot all-wheel drive when i'm stopped and turned right i occasionally are knocking noise coming from the left front end i had three mechanics check the wheel bearings nobody can find what's causing any ideas some mechanics you're going to noise can always be pinpointed watch my video finding the source of car noises i have this machine looks like an old-fashioned boom box some small one and it's got four sensors that broadcast noise you stick them with magnets or velcro different parts of the vehicle and you can pinpoint that noise you say you occasionally hear a knocking noise when you turn it generally that is either a ball joint or a frame control arm bushings are worn and it's knocking or the strut mount can knock to find that you got to find a good mechanic those guys were clowns any fool can jack up a car and pull and say oh i can't find it i can't find it that's jacked up in here when they're really worn yeah that's great but you said occasionally that means whatever your problem is it's just starting so let's say it's a ball joint then it has to be tested loaded it'll only make the noise in the way to the cars on it so you got to put it up on a lift and then you got to load it and if these mechanics don't know how to load it they're idiots and they're not mechanics that's the problem today there's a lot of guys working in mechanics that don't know anything about what they're doing they just are in it they're trying to make money and if they're working at any kind of a chain shop they're probably making very little profit and they hire anybody off the street you got to find a good mechanic to check stuff out like that that's why for noises like that you gotta find a good front-end shop try to find one around you and when you do tell your friends if you don't no one ask your friends if they know good front-end shop those guys are worth their weight on gold they know what they're doing they're harder to find you're not going to find it at some chain repair shop but if you find a good friend of the shop stay there tell your friends about it so they can continue helping people out and they don't have to waste any money advertising i never advertised in my life fixing cars people just told people about me because they knew i knew what i was doing so find a guy like me that does front end and go to him and he'll be able to load it and tell you what it is it's a 2012 i'd be guessing ball joint but have a real front end mechanic load test the ball joints you'll probably finish either the ball joint or the strut mount on the top that's doing it ryan minnesota says preventative maintenance or waste i got 2010 gmc yukon 175 000 miles i was thinking about replacing the belt starter plugs alternator battery just because of the age i prefer to do maintenance on my cars rather than wait until bricks would you recommend the stuff before it fails i want to make it last 500 000 miles belts sure they're rubber they wear out plugs yes battery yes but alternator and starter and stuff i would just wait on that because when they go they don't do any damage to anything else and sometimes this may sound weird but sometimes the older one will be better than buying a rebuilt one at an auto parts store if you're buying a starter and alternator at most auto parts stores they're rebuilt so they're one that was broken it was fixed your still works you never know alternators theoretically can last forever the only thing that wears out eventually is the bearings and when it starts to make a noise you'll hear the bearings then you could replace it that and the starter i wouldn't do now because like i said you got an oem one on there it's lasted this long knows how long it's going to last longer you get a rebuilt one it's one that was broken and fixed maybe not fixed all that well those i wouldn't do other stuff yeah transmission fluid things like that brake fluid go right ahead do it all yourself but the other stuff unless you're gonna buy a brand new oem part which costs a whole bunch of money i would just leave those alone so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell youhere we go again gm proves that they don't care about their own customers they want a lawsuit about the c7 wheels on a corvette turns out that they're cracking bending people who sued them said hey you got to give us new ones they're blaming on all kinds of other things gm won the case on a technicality they're saying that these wheel failures are due to a bad design technicality in the law now if it was materials or workmanship they would have lost but they said it wasn't because of bad materials or workmanship it was because of a bad design well let's see didn't they design it whatever it was on their car you think they could stand behind it people are paying all this money for these corvettes and they don't even stand behind it saying well it was a bad design that's not our fault well it's your car you designed it you bought it from somebody who designed it for you the buck stops here gm it doesn't stop at some legal court where you're not paying they don't even want to satisfy their own customers like hey we suckered you into buying one of these corvettes it's your problem now not ours you gotta pay for the wheels well gm all i have to say is good luck good luck selling things to people in the future you get people who are nuts about your cars buying a corvette you know you fix their wheels free after they spend all their money because you say oh well that was a design flaw so technically we're not responsible for it like scotty says vote with your dollars don't buy their products then they can whine all they want about oh well that was it was a design flaw it wasn't a manufacturing flaw well don't buy them at all they can design whatever they want you don't buy them you don't have the problem so take that gm that's all i got to say you screwed over your own customers that's just absolutely disgusting as far as i'm concerned but that's business as usual at general motors well here comes another dead car model and i say good riddance volkswagen says it's going to kill off the u.s market volkswagen passat in 2023. now they're made down the street in chattanooga tennessee and of course if you followed anything i've been talking about or reading the news volkswagen is going to be making electric cars soon in the chattanooga plant so it looks like they're going to be replacing it with probably the id.4 crossover these passats you know nobody else in the world has them the passat's only here in the united states they're kind of old-fielded cars and and from my experience the typical volkswagens after they get to be a few years old the plastic breaks they fall apart they're super expensive to maintain and repair so hey i think it's a good thing they're not going to be making them anymore maybe volkswagen will revolutionize things with electric cars like they did with the beetle who knows because this passat wasn't revolutionary at all it was archaic i mean the thing i got against these volkswagens especially the overuse of plastics they just come apart at a minor fender bender half of the front of the car come off i had a customer with one that just got nudged by a truck and the whole front of the car got ripped off i mean they're just cheaply made they don't hold up all that well over time and i mean they are zippy there's no arguing that but when you see the competition that's out there it's no wonder they're not going to be making any more for selling in the united states after 2023 i'm amazed to still continue to build them i don't see their market where they fit in obviously volkswagens like everybody else is getting out of the sedan business and they want to make suvs where all the money is and uh volkswagen is not really a truck company here in the united states like ford that dropped all their sedans except for the mustang and they're only making trucks and suvs so it makes total sense if i was folks i got i would have dropped it this year i wouldn't even take it into 2023 but then again they got so many bad cars out there volkswagen they have to drop three quarters of their line according to me the ones i've tested and i tested out new ones they didn't impress me that's a brand new car imagine when it's four or five years old and it really starts falling apart that's the reason i tell people not to buy them i've had customers buy them they had problems they just don't hold up over time the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles of japanese ones can go and the volkswagens by then would it cost you a fortune to prepare hey i say good riddance to the passat here's an interesting vehicular bit of news the new generation ambulances hey they're leaving the old ones in the dust they got things like this one that looks like something from road warrior bringing soldiers back there's a company impact northwest and they're actively building better ambulances for people in emergency situations turns out the guy went to haiti when they had all those problems from the earthquake and they couldn't rescue people fast enough they're working on drones they're working on flying go-karts go-karts going along and they got parasails on them now those things only need a 600 foot runway they don't need much of a runway so they can take off and there can be a driver or flyer whatever you want to call driver in the ground flyer in the air and a passenger people are using their imagination here the whole world the ambulance has gone wild there's even one company that it's working on one that's a million dollars now i do have to say i can't wait for the bill to come for the person that rides in one of those things my son recently in massachusetts got a ride with the volunteer fire department and it cost a thousand dollars to go a couple miles it's gotten to a point of absurdity of what they're charged you can imagine if it's a million dollar ambush what are they gonna charge you ten thousand dollars for an ambulance right but most of these things are for emergency rescue and nobody pays for it but the tax dollars so they're rescuing people it's a good thing and as you can see man they're making some interesting rescue ambulance vehicles that some of them are command centers they got kitchens bathrooms all kinds of stuff in them they're really making a whole plethora of vehicles to rescue people like kudos to those guys at their company cka park says any suggestions on the next car purchase i have an 85 volvo 244. well those things work german tanks had it for 25 years my mechanic said don't put any more money in it i'm in my 60s somebody said don't get a hybrid because i don't drive enough i don't want to spend a fortune because i don't need to use it daily what should i look for 85 volvo 240 yeah those things can run forever if it is finally wearing out you got a quarter of a million miles on it you like that type of vehicle depends on how much money you want to spend you'd probably be totally happy with either a toyota camry or lower end lexus now they're not cheap they're not giving them away since they last so long you can get a good used one and it can still go a long time look i bought my wife's lexus with sixty thousand miles or three grand might be driving it for the next 30 years you can find a good used one get a toyota or a lexus because those are what volvo used to be a long time ago they're now the top of the line longest lasting cars look around see what you like there's plenty of them out there chili wick says scotty i got a 2012 honda pilot all-wheel drive when i'm stopped and turned right i occasionally are knocking noise coming from the left front end i had three mechanics check the wheel bearings nobody can find what's causing any ideas some mechanics you're going to noise can always be pinpointed watch my video finding the source of car noises i have this machine looks like an old-fashioned boom box some small one and it's got four sensors that broadcast noise you stick them with magnets or velcro different parts of the vehicle and you can pinpoint that noise you say you occasionally hear a knocking noise when you turn it generally that is either a ball joint or a frame control arm bushings are worn and it's knocking or the strut mount can knock to find that you got to find a good mechanic those guys were clowns any fool can jack up a car and pull and say oh i can't find it i can't find it that's jacked up in here when they're really worn yeah that's great but you said occasionally that means whatever your problem is it's just starting so let's say it's a ball joint then it has to be tested loaded it'll only make the noise in the way to the cars on it so you got to put it up on a lift and then you got to load it and if these mechanics don't know how to load it they're idiots and they're not mechanics that's the problem today there's a lot of guys working in mechanics that don't know anything about what they're doing they just are in it they're trying to make money and if they're working at any kind of a chain shop they're probably making very little profit and they hire anybody off the street you got to find a good mechanic to check stuff out like that that's why for noises like that you gotta find a good front-end shop try to find one around you and when you do tell your friends if you don't no one ask your friends if they know good front-end shop those guys are worth their weight on gold they know what they're doing they're harder to find you're not going to find it at some chain repair shop but if you find a good friend of the shop stay there tell your friends about it so they can continue helping people out and they don't have to waste any money advertising i never advertised in my life fixing cars people just told people about me because they knew i knew what i was doing so find a guy like me that does front end and go to him and he'll be able to load it and tell you what it is it's a 2012 i'd be guessing ball joint but have a real front end mechanic load test the ball joints you'll probably finish either the ball joint or the strut mount on the top that's doing it ryan minnesota says preventative maintenance or waste i got 2010 gmc yukon 175 000 miles i was thinking about replacing the belt starter plugs alternator battery just because of the age i prefer to do maintenance on my cars rather than wait until bricks would you recommend the stuff before it fails i want to make it last 500 000 miles belts sure they're rubber they wear out plugs yes battery yes but alternator and starter and stuff i would just wait on that because when they go they don't do any damage to anything else and sometimes this may sound weird but sometimes the older one will be better than buying a rebuilt one at an auto parts store if you're buying a starter and alternator at most auto parts stores they're rebuilt so they're one that was broken it was fixed your still works you never know alternators theoretically can last forever the only thing that wears out eventually is the bearings and when it starts to make a noise you'll hear the bearings then you could replace it that and the starter i wouldn't do now because like i said you got an oem one on there it's lasted this long knows how long it's going to last longer you get a rebuilt one it's one that was broken and fixed maybe not fixed all that well those i wouldn't do other stuff yeah transmission fluid things like that brake fluid go right ahead do it all yourself but the other stuff unless you're gonna buy a brand new oem part which costs a whole bunch of money i would just leave those alone so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that bell you\n"