The Best of Car Talk - #24101: Unwise Comparisons

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

When you've been married as many times as Tommy has, spousal strife becomes a kind of 'lingua franca' in some helpful and some not so helpful ways. Evidence for the latter case on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.Get access to hundreds of episodes in the Car Talk archive when you sign up for Car Talk+ at plus.npr.org/cartalkLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This is Eric Glass. On This American Life, we like stories that surprise you. For instance, imagine finding a new hobby and realizing... To do this hobby right, according to the ways of the masters, there's a pretty good chance that you're going to have to bend the law to get the materials that you need. If not break it. Yeah. To break international laws.

Real life stories, really good ones. This American Life. Hi there, This American Life. joining NPR+. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, NPR plus is a sweet way to support the independent public media that you rely on from NPR. When you sign up for NPR plus, you support our mission of creating a more informed public and you get special perks from more than 25 NPR podcasts, like sponsor free listening, bonus episodes, access to the car talk archives, and even exclusive and discounted items from the NPR Shop and the NPR Wine Club. Donate right now and join us on the plus side at plus.npr.org.

And thanks. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers. And we're broadcasting this week from the center, the new center for accident creation here at Car Talk Plaza. Now, this could also be called the biting the hand that feeds you department. Well, this is a brand new division. Talk Plaza. Now this could also be called the biting the hand that feeds you. Well this is a brand new division. Because we see accident creation as a growth industry. So we thought we'd start a wholly owned subsidiary to promote

and encourage accidents. Might as well be ahead of the curve, right? I mean, what the heck? Yeah, we're gonna come out in full support of the Microsoft Corporation because I have here an article from I believe Is this the New York Times New York Times? Monday June 30th Microsoft wants information to travel the real highway Detroit June 29 Eager to take advantage of the hour a day the average American spend in a car the Microsoft Corporation has begun developing programs for

Dashboard mounted computers that would allow drivers to check electronic mail trade stocks and even surf the internet Using cellular phone telephone links now. There's an idea whose time came and went What no, I don't know I didn't don't know. We're in favor of it. We are in favor. Well, kind of, I guess. What else can we endorse in the name of accident creation? What would be some other good ideas? Well, I mean, don't they already have TVs? You can just plug in your TV. That's all right. I suppose so. How about beds? For quick naps between stoplights. Or when it just gets boring on the road. I mean a lot of times, you know, you're on the road, especially in Montana. They keep claiming that they got long long distances to go. Why be awake for all that?

No, not off, not off. Here's my favorite. Yeah. Venetian blinds. I mean why use those wimpy little visors to block out the sun? Pull the string and close off everything, man! Well, it's interesting. I mean, this is actually worth discussing at great length if you wanted to. You know me. I've always contended the reason for bad driving is there aren't enough accidents. Because think about how many times you do stupid things and you don't have an accident. I can just see your business card now.

Thomas Maliozzi, A.A.I. Automobile Accident Investigator. We need more accidents. I'm instigator. Yeah, not investigate, instigator. We need more accidents and I'm strongly in support of the Microsoft proposal. There you go. Because they're going to help us do that.

If you'd like to call us about your car or anything else. Is it hot in here? It's beautiful. Our number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Frank from Maple Valley, Washington. Hi, Frank. And where valley?

April. Maple Valley. Maple. Beautiful Maple Valley. Yeah. A lot of trees there huh? syrup that comes from new england

different kind of maple maybe right? i think so really? well you have your basic sugar maples your red maples, your maple leaves norway maples i know about norway maples i know marla maples i know about norway maples are they all marla maples

alright what's up frank i've got a problem with my eighty seven integral my accurate integrates been moaning uh... i don't know whether it's possessed or whether this is a problem with the brakes or what when i go down a hill and don't i get just about stopped the mot gets louder and it doesn't happen all the time but as I as I come to a stop it gets real loud and then you know it just stops when I stop but it seems to be coming from the back part of the car where the rear brakes are.

And it's really moaning? Yeah it's like it's a sound like no it's deeper than that it's like almost a foghorn or train or something. It's like a moo a sound like no, it's deeper than that. It's like almost a foghorn or trainers. It's like a move right from a car like Right that's kind of a monotone and it happens as you're applying the brakes and it gets worse or louder as You come to a stop, especially a hard stop like coming down a hill Is that what you write right and as a car is going real slow it gets seems to get louder Hmm sounds like you have a problem with your brakes. Well Is that what you indicated? Right, right. And as the car is going real slow, it seems to get louder. Hmm. Sounds like you have a problem with your brakes. Well, the shade-tree mechanic who put in the brake pads didn't turn the rotors, and he

was telling me he thought it was because of the glaze on there. And if this is the case, I'm wondering, does it matter? Can I just let this go, or is it something that that's gonna be a serious problem well it's a curious thing that almost all other parts of the car when they make peculiar noises they've usually are an indication that something imminently going to fall apart break fall off the car or cause a terrible accident except in the case of brakes.

Brakes can make all kinds of crazy noises and sounds and most of the time it doesn't mean that all those terrible things are going to happen. It's curious that brakes are like that. I never thought of it until this very moment. I never thought of much until... No. I don't usually think of anything until i hear myself say it

and then i say you know that's bull well my tongue gets in the way and my usual reaction is thank god i didn't say it but this actually is true is this true? i don't know if it's true i mean i would guess that the guy put this this shade tree mechanic of yours put in new pads in there. You have disc brakes on all four wheels in this car. That's correct. For those that don't know. And he put in new pads

but he did not replace or resurface the discs. I'd be willing to bet he did not put in the factory pads either. No I bought them myself at an auto supply store actually. I bought the best ones they had in their lifetime warrant but uh... with a more than nine bucks uh... well i think they're about to cut the stand by the council of the nine pucks let's take a look at that yet it may be in fact just that the poor fit of the of the break pad in the bracket

that's causing enough motion to create the morning all one other thing i didn't tell you... Yeah, I was holding information. Ten yard penalty. I got shims with the brake pads, but he didn't put the new shims in. He said the old ones were okay. Oh, he used your old shims. What you didn't also get is the little packet of grease.

I did get that, but I don't think he put that on there either. Usually that makes a high pitch noise though, doesn't it? think he put that on there either and usually that makes a high-pitched noise though doesn't it with the put in his hair looks piffy when you pick up the car he was looking good and he showered hey this stuff is pretty good i have found that it does wonders for controlling my hair which maybe you know

i have very uncontrollable hair which well one day when I was brushing it my son said to me don't touch it you're making it angry but that break grease that does wonders for the hair. It does wonders for the breaks yeah so he should have used that he probably should have used that the they had cardboard shims that came with it I think so yeah that's why he didn't use them I mean I wouldn't be too worried about it, although you might want to, if you really want to get rid of the noise, if it's driving you nuts, which it must be because you... Well, I think it's driving other people nuts more than me.

I don't really care. What the heck with them. No, I would try getting a set of factory pads with the new shims and the grease and the whole bit, and I bet you that would make the noise go away. But if I just leave it the way it is, it's just going to make noise. It's not noise. Exactly. I mean, this is one of those cases of the brakes making weird noises that is not unsafe, it's not dangerous.

It's a benign noise. It's not wearing anything out. Nothing is happening except the noise. It's sort of like my first wife. I mean, there was nothing wrong with her. It was just noise always coming out noise noise noise other than that if you don't pay attention to it it'll go away I love to see my brother dig himself a hole say something else why not right Why not? I mean, I'm in the dog house now.

See you, Frank. Okay, thanks, guys. See you later. Do you like the dry food or do you like the canned stuff? And are you into geriatric food yet? I'm into the older dog stuff. We'll be right back right after these very important messages. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange

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Okay, even as my brother probably knows, you do know, don't you? Yes, the puzzler is on vacation. Oh. I know that. You do? I did know that. Yeah. was I not supposed to know that? What did you have some clever remark you were gonna make? No, I did I'm sorry. Well, anyway, there's been a lot of speculation in the press about whether or not the puzzler is going to Jackson Hole or

Martha's vineyard this summer, huh? But I guess we'll just have to wait and see like everyone else But anyway, if you can't go a week without a car talk puzzler when you get to work on Monday, visit our website. Why would anybody want to go to Martha's Vineyard? I mean, Martha's Vineyard has to be populated by the biggest population of snobs in the entire world. Everyone says, where you go? I'm going to the vineyard. Would you want to go to a place where people say, I'm going to the vineyard? I wouldn't. Actually I people say I'm going to the vineyard? Well, I wouldn't. Actually, I would.

You're going to the vineyard? Yes, I wish I could be among those. Can I go with you? Who would say, yes, I'm going to the vineyard for the weekend? I mean, everyone who's a nobody wants to go to the vineyard to see all the people who think they're somebody. Nah. Nah. Not you.

Not me. Stay home and sweat, man. Staying home. Right. Nah. Not you. Not me. Stay home and sweat, man. Staying home. Right. Yeah. Sunny beaches? Not for Tommy.

No, no. Cappuccino? Sign me up. Anyway, if you can't go all week without a Car Talk Puzzle, here's the deal. When you go to work on Monday, visit our website, cartalk.msn.com, and try this week's puzzler from the archives. Oh. See?

I think this is a pretty good deal. If you missed the puzzler, not only can you get one at the website, but no puzzler here on the radio means more time for what? Wrong answers. So no puzzler one year. Is this the Noah's archives? Noah's archives, yes. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-800-332-9287.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Babette Gere. I'm calling from Kansas City, Missouri. Who, who, where? Babette? Uh-huh, Babette Gere. Babette Gere? Mm-hmm. Is that one name or two? That's two.

Babette. So are you like German or what? No, it's a French name. Oh, is it? But I used to live in Germany. Oh! How did I know? But are you French? No. When did you get the name Babette? How did I get the name?

Yeah. Oh gosh, I hate telling this story. My mom is a Price is Right fan, and she was pregnant with me watching the Price is Right one day, and there was a contestant named Babette, and she liked the name so much, she named me Babette. Well, that's good. That's an interesting story. Well, not really. You'd think your mother would give a little more thought to it though, wouldn't you?

She didn't even give me a middle name because, well, I guess there wasn't another cool named contestant. That bet's good. She should have watched the Let's Make a Deal. Maybe she could have gotten another name out of that. Yeah Monty, Babette Monty. Babette Monty. Monty's a, I always wanted a name like Monty. Monty's good. Yeah Monty's good. I'm gonna change my name. I already changed mine to Dante. Oh we know. Yeah. So Babette what's up? Well here's the situation I have an 84 Honda Accord and it has 170,000 miles on it Wow and

It has arthritis And I need to fix that and I don't know how and what happens is when it rains or snows or there's any Precipitation when I'm driving on the highway it it just Like I'm pressing the gas, but then it just slowly it just like I'm pressing the gas but then it just slowly decelerates. And so if I pull over and stop the engine for about five or ten minutes then it'll work fine for a while but then it keeps doing it again. Well I have a rebuilt motor in it, I have a new fuel pump, I changed spark plugs, I've got tune-ups, I've taken it to 50,000 mechanics and nobody

can figure out what's wrong with it. Bummer. Only happens in rain or snow. It has to be cold rain. It can't be warm rain. It won't happen in July if you get a thunderstorm. Is that true? That's true.

Um, I don't, I think it does. Make it true because it'll facilitate the answer. It's gonna make the answer possible. See, we can give you a wrong answer if you answer no to this question It happens more so in the end cold weather And we'd be we'd be very content to give you a wrong answer as we are with most of the other people that call We know the right answer wrong answers our special Well, I've gotten were a wrong answer, so please help me out Okay, yeah well Well, all I've gotten were wrong answers, so please help me out. Okay.

This car has a carburetor. Yes. It has a carburetor. Yes. You are suffering from a condition known as iron poor blood. Iron poor blood. Well, that's different than arthritis. It is out there.

You have carburetor icing. Carburetor icing. Yeah. And it's caused by a mixture of cool air and water vapor collecting in the throat of the carburetor and actually freezing in there and impeding the flow of air and thus gas into the engine and making the car run poorly and ultimately stall out. When the thing does stall out, within a matter of a few seconds or maybe a minute, the ice melts because of the heat of the engine that's present.

And then the thing starts up and runs fine again until it re-ices. So if that's what's happening, you drive along, the thing starts to sputter and lose power. You pull over for a few minutes when you realize you cannot go any farther. You sit there. You restart the thing, it starts up, it runs great, you get on the highway, you get up to 60 miles an hour again until it reoccurs. Is that pretty much what happens?

Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty much it. Carburetor icing. Carburetor icing. So now you want to know, well how do I fix this? The answer is you don't. Well you can actually. The air

cleaner has a snorkel with a gate in it and the gate is supposed to divert warm air from the vicinity of the exhaust manifold into the carburetor when the engine is prone to carburetor icing. Yeah and most cars, this happens mostly to old cars because the mechanism because new cars don't have carburetors and also the mechanism by which the warm air gets to the carburetor has not worn out yet and has not fallen off but it has probably on your car you say you've

been to 25 different mechanics but I'll bet you no I said 50,000 oh 50,000 I'll bet you they have all been under thirty years old i don't know you got that all the time again i keep a good guy how old is he

he's probably in his or fifty now i'll see now seen i'll call and i had a forty six a half with the forty two forty eight at forty eight that's it there's a very small window here and they get to all they get senile from... Don't forget, they're breathing in carbon monoxide their whole lives. By the time they're 48, they're done for. Right. If they're younger than 42, they don't know enough about carbureted cars, so they will not have seen this problem. So I need to get a mid-40s mechanic. Look for a mid-40s mechanic. Tell him that you are pretty convinced that your car is suffering from carburetor icing and ask him to check all the pieces that prevent carburetor icing.

If he doesn't know what those are, he's the wrong guy. Tell him to find out if the stove is still there and if the blend door works and the thermal vacuum switch works, those three things. Did you write that down? The stove, the blend door and the thermal vacuum? There you go. Okay. If he scratches his head and doesn't know what these things are, go to one of the other

49,000 guys. Okay. See you, bebet. Thank you very much. All righty, bye-bye. Good luck. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

This is Betsy from Framingham, Massachusetts. Betsy. Framingham. That's right. Now, tell me about Framingham. I mean, Framingham, I believe you're a little bit of a faggot. I mean, I'm a little bit of a faggot. I mean, I'm a little bit of a faggot. I mean, I'm a little bit of a faggot. I mean, I'm a little bit of a faggot. I mean, I'm a little bit of a faggot. I mean, I'm a little bit of a faggot. this is that the from framing and massachusetts framing ham that's right

tell me about framing him i mean framing him i'd believe is the second biggest city in the and and massachusetts not in the united states what's up it's the biggest town in the country or tell you a city all right now well it's the second biggest metropolis whatever we call it population center that's right what's there besides all malls

and shoppers world and shoppers world and framing and i'm a bit of a rammingham and i think i'm not a bad place it's a very diverse ethnic place that it's got its good parts and bad parts but hey you know data okay well i i won't bad mouthed anymore they go all right now here's my question hey you know okay well i i won't bad mouthed anymore there you go alright so here's my question this is a work related car question uh... alright i'm an attorney

and i work for a legal services office we represent poor people and i have a divorce said that just in time because i know rogers was had his finger on the button and you are going to get cut off so fast and you threw in to get cut off so fast and you truly not lost the we help poor people that's right save your but i i'm well aware so i have a divorce case and uh...

in the case the uh... husband uh... owned uh... nineteen seventy nine cadillac fleet limousine and he was supposed to sell it and turn the money over to uh... the court so that they could divide it later when they divide the marital assets really like one of the only thing that they have not and he was both the salad and he didn't do it so the court ordered me to sell it and gave me the title and so now i'm in a position of having to try to sell this

cadillac limousine and I don't have the first idea about how to go about it. Have you seen it? Yes. What kind of shape is it in? Not too bad. How much are you asking for it? Well that's one of my questions for you.

It's a 79, it's got 107,000 miles on it. 137? 107. 107. 1000, right. Yeah. seventy nine it's got a hundred and seven thousand miles on it hundred and thirty seven a hundred and seven hundred and seven thousand right and built the one small problem apparently one of the reasons that he hadn't been able to sell it is because we're not sure that it really runs at this point and something about some electrical wires and uh... the court told me that you know do what i could and get the best price that i

could but i don't know where to start to try to find somebody who might want to buy the body looks good who the inside look pretty good there's a nice oriental rags in the back uh... but you know it's old but there doesn't seem to be much russia anything like that so it hasn't been driven a long time and then driven probably and nine months as they have

the privacy glass between the drives? Yes. Does that work? I don't know if it goes up and down but I saw it there. See I have always been a proponent of limos, used limos instead of minivans for families with children because the trouble with the minivan is everyone is enclosed in the same space. So when those little rug rats in the back start, it's my side, no it's my side, no you're on my side, no you're on my side. What are you going to do?

You can't reach far enough back to give them the dope slap. But if you had the little button on the dashboard, you just go, whoop. Oh you see now, I've solved that problem because I have my kids. And if you're lucky, they'll have a hand stuck. I have my kids drive and I sit in the back. So when they start bickering, I can administer the dope slaps because I'm in the back seat.

It's dangerous because they're driving. I know, but. Something could happen. Nah, they do all right. So I would put an ad in the paper and say, a mother's dream. Get out of that frumpy, frumpy minivan, because as we know, they're all frumpy looking vehicles.

And get yourself into a Fleetwood Cadillac, limo, and especially promote the concept of the privacy window. Privacy window, right. Now, aspiring rock bands also like to have limos you can sell this to some musicians musicians are heavy into that now what would i be asking for this would you say

what do you what do you think it's worth and you have no idea i have no idea if you looked around while i talk to my auto body guy you know that he looked in like a blue book or something he said for that car assuming it was running of course 2,000 bucks 2,000 mint condition 7 to 900 yeah less than mint right yeah Well, I would I would say it's less than mint is I would I mean I looked into this recently because I almost had my wife convinced that the limo was the way to go Oh, yeah I'm sure you did so I actually looked in the paper

and I found a couple that were like this, vintage, early 80s, and they were asking two, three thousand bucks for them. And I came so close to convincing her of this and then she thought about parking, the stupid thing, and that nixed the whole idea. Now if I didn't get it running and I wanted to sell it, what would be reasonable? Then if you don't get it running, you're down in the hundreds of dollars.

No, $1200. $1200 for a not running vehicle? Well I'd ask $1200 and I'd take $500 if they gave it to me. $1200, okay. Yeah. Or best offer. On the other hand, you could invest $100 or so, and maybe they can get it running for not a whole lot of dough. Okay.

You know, so... I mean, you should have someone look at it because, I mean, the price goes up really a lot if it runs. Absolutely. They're much more useful if they run. Well, you can... I've heard that, yeah. Right.

I got it. If it doesn't run, don't advertise it as a limo. Advertise it as a studio apartment. For musicians. And you might be able to get 50, 60 thousand bucks for it. Mobile studio apartment condo. Good luck. Yeah, I'm glad you called. Well, you know, what do I know about selling a limo, so why not?

You guys seem like the logical choice. So if you if you invest maybe 100 bucks to have someone look at it, figure out why it's not running, if you can get it running, it's it's going to make the difference between selling it for 500 bucks and selling it for 2000 bucks. OK. And I presume that your client could use the 2000 bucks. Certainly. You know who might be interested in this vehicle that right this time in a pencil

berman b e r and a m yeah yeah i'm calling he's interested in alright yet he saw he was driving now and you know just how interested he appeared to be a big step up that's the end of the event that's a lot just how interested he could be. This is a big step up. This is a step up. See you, Betsy. Thanks a lot.

Bye. Bye-bye. Right after these messages, you'll hear more calls coming right up. This message comes from Wondery. Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast is back. Listen as the Grinch's celebrity guests try to persuade him that there's more to love about the holiday season. Follow Tis the Grinch Holiday Podcast on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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You care about what's happening in the world. Let state of the world from NPR keep you informed. Each day, we transport you to a different point on the globe and introduce you to the people living world events. We don't just tell you world news, we take you there, and you can make this journey while you're doing the dishes or driving your car. State of the World podcast from NPR. Vital international stories every day. You care about what's happening in the world. Let State of the World from NPR keep you informed.

Each day we transport you to a different point on the globe and introduce you to the people living world events. We don't just tell you world news, we take you there. And you can make this journey while you're doing the dishes or driving your car. State of the World podcast from NPR. Vital international stories every day. Hi we're back you're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers and we're here to discuss cars, car repair and some right answers. Yeah they're right because they're all Steven Wright. My brother's been amusing himself for the last two hours sitting there chuckling. I don't know where this came from it's not email. No it's... Oh came from a website. Farouk's humor page. Ah! Steven Wright is a very strange guy. Here are just a few rightisms.

I'll just pick out a few here. I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of wits. Ha ha ha ha ha! I got a dog... Ha ha ha ha ha! I got a dog and I named him Stay. Now I say,

Come here, Stay! Ha ha ha ha ha! him stay. Now I say, come here, stay. One day I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now. I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before. This is pages and pages of stuff. Yeah, we know. I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. The sign said, eight Where is the... Whoa! This man is gone! Good for you, Stephen. Hope they let you out of the home soon. No, no, stay in, stay in. You may do his best work there.

Hey, look, this is normally the time when we introduce the new puzzler, but you may not be aware of this, but the puzzler is on summer vacation. You said this a hundred times, come on, you're wasting valuable time. Is it like gloating? We could be giving people valuable time, but we're not giving people valuable time. We're giving people valuable time. We're giving people valuable time. We're giving people valuable time.

We're giving people valuable time. We're giving people valuable time. We're giving people. You said this a hundred times, come on, you're wasting valuable time. Is it like gloating? We could be giving people valuable wrong answers, instead you're wasting your time talking about the puzzler, which isn't here anyway. Look, there's a purpose for all this. If you're dying for a puzzler this week, all you have to do is go to the radio section of CarTalk.msn.com, and every week during the summer we're posting a Car talk puzzler from the past so you can you know Enjoy the one of the Noah's archives from the Noah's archives. You can enjoy some of these wonderful puzzlers of yester week

Now more importantly if you have a puzzle that you think we can use in the future Here's the good reason you can either email it to us via our website Or you can send it to us right with no, you can send it to us via normal mail and the address is Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Math 02238. Now if you'd like to call us as always, our number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello you're on Car Talk. Hi guys, this is Larry from Los Gatos, California.

Oh, is that how you say that? Los Gatos. Gatos. Los Gatos. Los Gatos. The cats. The cats. The cats. So what's up?

Well, I have an 88 Acura Integra with 160,000 miles on it, and I was having the oil changed, my bi-yearly oil change and while it was up on the left the person who was changing oil pointed out to me that the cv boot was cracked damaged exposed and i said well okay what do we do about this they said well you know you have to replace the axle and i said well can't we just repack it with grease? No, because once it's open, then the grease is out. And if you just repack it, then the thing will wobble

and it'll never work and it'll freeze up and you'll go around and tie little circles. Was this one of those quickie oil change places? No. Or was it your regular mechanic? No, well, I don't really have a regular mechanic. But it was a real repair shop. Well, yeah yeah it was a tire store that also does oil changes and they also like some actions right okay yeah apparently they'll do whatever you

need done if i had needed foot surgery they probably they probably just bought a trailer load of access it wouldn't surprise me anything that they had done and so so i said well it seems to me that there's grease in there I can see it and they said well no no It's really roadkill Okay, what's it gonna cost to replace the axle and they said 300 bucks you're right exactly 240 bucks And so I'm thinking don't forget the tax and gratuity That's 300

So I'm thinking okay, well does the other side have to be done also and they said yeah If one side is open the other side is gonna crack so I'm thinking okay Good these guys are good. So anyway, I'm thinking alright 90 bucks for a CV boot 90 times CV boot on either side 180 or ninety bucks for cv boot ninety times cv put on either side a hundred eighty or two hundred forty bucks for all the parts of the site of well okay sounds like a deal go ahead and they said well we don't like to do the other side it's like now in my simple mind an axle goes from one wheel to the other now no no no no not on this guy that's on your little red wagon yes that's what i was wondering

why are you a flyer radio flyer axles don't go home when you know it to one axle on you if you have between the two axles from your radio flyer. Your radio flyer. But axles don't go one way. No, it's one axle on each wheel. What you have between the two axles, you have the transmission and the differential. Which they also want it to replace. Why not? Because if you put a brand new axle sticking out of an old transmission, it might leak. God knows what will happen. Yeah, so, woof. Boy, you are i don't like one larry well no i would have potential live or but you told to do one side i said hold on a second let me go make a call

i have to i have to call you back you're not going to call you called us and i've been on hold for two months you know i went and talked to someone who had replaced something else in the car i got a real good solid feeling from yeah and he said is it making noise when you turn the wheel and i said no right now he said no matter what happened even if that things cracked open uh... if you're not hearing noise you can just always repack it and it'll be

fine so he said come back and bring the car into me and i'll check it out and if we need to replace the cv boot we will and if you don't even actually a you won't. So I came I went back to the shop and my car is back up on the rack and some fellows taking the wheel apart and I said wait a minute whoa yeah I said well I didn't authorize you to do this she said well you left you never came back so we just figured we'd do everything. I said well undo it put it back together broken the way that it was I don't want to do this here. Yeah. And she looked so

hurt. Yeah. But taking food out of the mouth of mouths of her children. Something. Yeah. Something something but anyway they didn't do it and I did bring the car into this other fellow and he turned it around in tight circles and said no it's fine we'll just repack it 90 bucks you're out the door and and my question I guess basically is oh there was a question we just repacked it that's what he said he said look you can leave this other one alone until it cracks because it will eventually and I guess my question is should I just be preemptive about this and go ahead and have the other CV boot replaced and repacked and all that stuff and not have to go through this horror

not this horror of talking to you this is this is terrific I mean if someone is in fact getting under the car biannually to check the oil then that's plenty of interval for looking at the CV boots so when the other one does tear open. Somebody will see it. Okay. And your regular earlier guy mechanic is correct, was completely correct.

The first guys were complete, shall we say, unscrupulous. They had just taken the course in how to sell. Everything they told you was a lie. If you had looked carefully, you would have seen the semi that delivered the axle pulling away as you were pulling in. Yeah. I mean, the fact that you had to replace the axle because the boot was torn was a complete

and outright lie. The fact that you had to do both sides was a complete and outright lie. Uh-oh. Well, I'm intrigued. And the fact that they started taking it apart without your approval was absolutely unscrupulous and illegal illegal lying is not illegal yeah but i'm intrigued by the fact that they almost had you convinced i mean i think it's going to go back to that part of the fact that we have to know where

did you where did they lose you my brother's trying to learn something that is where did they lose you know it wasn't so much that they lost when anything they were saying was that my visa card had a limit of $240. And I think allowing him to make a phone call, that was a mistake. Can I make a phone call? Absolutely not. Either we do it now or that's it. Well, I told them I had to make a phone call because of a time constraint that I made believe I had to go pick someone up. I don't have time to do it. So I fooled them. What a tangled web we have. Well if you look at it from their point, in order to assist you with your time problem,

they got right on the job. They wanted to make sure that whatever problem you had, they were there to help Larry. God bless them. They were there to facilitate and to expedite and you rewarded them by saying, put my car together I don't want to... I have told a lot of people to go in there because they they have a $10 oil change on Thursdays only Yeah, yeah, they don't have those $10 oil changes for no reason No, I think what they're doing is they take the oil from the first car and put it into the second car Oh, there was no oil. Let's just say we're changing the oil in your car like like the Italian army changing their underwear

in your car. Like the Italian army changing their underwear. You heard that joke. Just me, Luigi, you guys change with each other. Good luck Larry. Thanks a lot. See you later. Bye bye. Well you've done exactly what you should be doing in the summer. You've completely wasted an hour listening to Car Talk. That's what summertime is good for, isn't it? Our esteemed producer has dug the subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion. Boy, we know that that especially the sweet boy Get a haircut. Will you? Mr. Berman our producer of course our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken babyface Rogers He needs a haircut even worse. Yes, right

In fact who stuck the thing on his back the tape thing notice back this said bozo thing on his back, the tape thing on his back that said Bozo. Our assistant producer is Catherine Cathode-Ray who doesn't need a haircut. She's just back from her vacation I might add. She went to the mother country. She did indeed. Yeah. Our engineer is Karen, I've already given, and our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor who couldn't be with us today. He's on a higher plane today. In a parallel universe. He's in a parallel buffet table.

Is John Bugsy, free lunch, milk carton, man loller. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Marge Inovera. Our director of new product repair is Warranty My Foot. Our staff butler from the Cart Talk Mumbai Division is Mahatma Kote. Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is Euripides Uppman. Our director of upward mobility in Eastern Europe is the big new Chrysler. And our Italian governess is Donna Day Evelern. Our evasive driving instructor is Vera Bruppley. Our marriage

counselor is Marion Hayst. Our head of used car purchasing is Yul B. Hoofnett. Our behavior consultant is Wyatt B. Hoogsia. The chairman of the Federal Lubrication Board is Alan Griespan. The manager of our weekly shrimp buffet is Sheldon Devane. And of course, the curator of my brother's car collection is Rex Malore. Our chief counselor from the law firm of Dewey Cheatham

and Howe is Yuluas Dewey. Known around Harvard Square as Yulului Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers and Don't Drive Like My Brother. Don't Drive Like My Brother. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. And now, here with an important announcement is Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Vinnie

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