The Best of Car Talk - #2450: Great Balls of Fire!

Episode Date: June 22, 2024

Pat from Colorado got a sizzling surprise from her Suzuki Sidekick at the Self-Service Station the other day. Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire 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

On this week's episode of Wild Card, comedian Taylor Tomlinson explains how you can use fear as a motivating force. I was afraid that I would get years down the road and go, man, I really wish I had pursued that or I wish I had developed this talent that might have taken me somewhere. I'm Rachel Martin. Join us for NPR's Wild Card Podcast, the game where cards control the conversation. Hello and welcome to Card Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers. And we're broadcasting this week again from the

Automotive Olympic Village here at Car Talk Plaza. It's fun living here in the village. Yes it is. A lot of hippies hanging around drinking cappuccino. I kind of like it. I knew you would. Several weeks ago we suggested a few Automotive Olympic events that could be added to the Atlanta roster this year Like the electric window races and stuff like that, but I have to admit that our ideas were lousy Well, we purposely oh That's right of course lousy. That's right so that our listeners would say boy. Those are crummy ideas I can do better than I do better than that of course we asked our listeners to come up with with additional event suggestions and did they ever oh?

Yeah, and since we know that all of the Olympic committee members listen to this show We thought we would unveil the best ideas right here right now on national public radio, okay? I'll give you a couple of these a couple of beauties. There are a couple of beauties these cigarette lighter time and distance. Absolutely. Time and distance. Distance. I didn't know. I didn't know there was a distance event. You push the thing in and it flies out. You see how far it goes. Then there was some really awesome ones. The 2x4 toss. Loosely styled after the javelin are the Scottish pastime of tossing the caber. In this event the participants will have to go to the local lumberyard buy one or two 2x4s and slide them through the passenger window

and let them rest on the window and the rear deck. Got it? They stick it out the window. I've done it many a time myself. They won't be too secure. Everyone has done this. Exactly. Next, they have to drive quickly to a preselected spot, but en route, they will be subjected to a surprise stop at a traffic light. After slamming on the brakes and launching the 2x4s, a referee in body armor will measure the distance.

That one's good. Here's another one. The battery stealing relay. It takes a four man team. Each contestant starts from behind a line. The first one, known as Vinny, runs out and steals the battery from a car. The second, known as the dupe, runs out and tries to start the car. The third, dressed as a policeman, runs out, looks at the car, scratches his butt.

The fourth, dressed in greasy coveralls, runs out, replaces the battery, and you have to repeat this sequence four times. That's good. I like it, I like it. I like it. And my personal favorite, the little old lady roll. The little old lady roll. This is your favorite.

My favorite. On a quarter-mile track, four identical city buses are lined up at the starting line. A frail, grey-haired, shopping cart-toting little old lady is positioned at the fare box on each bus. The seats are filled with judges. At the gun, the driver floors the accelerator, thus sending the little old lady stumbling toward the back of the bus. Before she can hit the back seat, the driver must slam on the brakes

and start her stumbling in the opposite direction, continuing this pattern until a bus crosses the finish line. Points are deducted if she falls down, lands in the seat, or is able to get her balance long enough to grab any railings or hand straps. Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! I love it. Can you see it? I know guys in Boston who would win that hands down

so to speak. Absolutely, I drive on the same streets as them every day. Hey if you have a question about your car you can reach us here by calling 1-800-332-9287. Hello you're on Car Talk. Hi this is Deb from germantown maryland deb hi i have a nineteen eighty one bmw five twenty eight by you want all the yeah now it was given to a by my father-in-law anyway i was driving it out on the highway with my husband one day and they were came to a stop

and i was going to jump out of the car to adjust my daughter's car feet and before i came to a stop and I was going to jump out of the car to adjust my daughter's car seat and before I came to a complete stop, I managed to get it into park. You heard that awful ratcheting sound. From the car and then from my husband. He sounded worse than the car and then he started to whine. The car stopped making a noise. Yeah, you lose.

And so what I want to know is, you know, the car is fine now and I've been driving it like crazy and he's surprised the car didn't fall apart right there. And I maintain that any car that can't take one or two of these things in its lifetime doesn't deserve to be on the road. Oh, you've done it more than once then, eh? One or two? But I only do these things only when he's sitting next to me in the car. Yeah, right. It's tension. He probably makes you nervous.

He does. Well, I've threatened to make him wear a bag over his head so he couldn't see the road, you know. Those white knuckles, the sun bouncing off them really gives me... Well, I used to believe that I only went through red lights by mistake when there were other people in the car Because I'd be driving with somebody like my wife, right? Jesus what's my red light?

In you well, I realized after careful study one day. Yeah by the police. Yeah And a few arrests That it was I that was going through the red lights without any distractions He also does this when I accidentally lug love the engine in the in the truck now but of course i do that when he's around to anyway you know men have to display their superiority where wherever we can because we have so little we have so little areas in which we have superiority that whenever a situation occurs which in which we can point out to you. Aha

Here's something that I'm not a real moron at then we we are forced to do that because we know that in 99% of all situations in life women are superior. We know that And we've been after a while we begin to feel you know Small and so we need to useless i'm so yeah so i don't know how bill that sells up ourselves images bad and so every chance we get you know where you do that and you're done for

but you probably didn't do any money to do any hard had you done any harm would have been immediately obvious you would have broken the little ratchet and paul mechanism it that is what makes the thing work in park what it does is it locks the the output shaft of the transmission so that the driveshaft can't turn and when it can't turn the back wheels must turn in opposite directions and that's why the car won't roll when it's in park and had you done any well I'm sure you did some damage but had you broken it it would

have been immediately obvious because Park would cease to work. Right. You'd put it in Park and the thing would roll away. That doesn't mean- Because when it does break a year from now- That's exactly right. You'll be blamed. Yeah.

To answer your question, I would tell them not to be shook about what you did. Okay. And you only had the interest of your child at heart. Yeah, that's right. Right. Right? I mean, that was more important than a stupid parking Paul and the transmission. Tell him to lighten up. Yeah, exactly. That's my words exactly. Next time he starts giving you, he starts ranting in the raving about something like this. Say, hey hon,

lighten up! And that'll do it. Okay. See you Deb. Good luck Deb. Thanks a lot. Bye. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Andrew calling from Seattle. Hi, Andrew. How you doing? Good, i what eight hundred three three two nine two eight seven whole year on car talk hi there's a recall from seattle high and i don't know good idea that i don't know if they had not been what's up uh... i have a um... i have a eighty seven volvo wagon two forty uh... that have a hundred forty one thousand miles on it and uh... i've developed a rattling in the front end uh... uh... very low speeds on uh... uneven train of kind of felt like there's uh of sounds like I have big logs under my hood.

Big what? Logs, as in like wood. Oh, so you took this thing to don't specialize in Volvos? I guess not, they specialize in transmissions, it was one of those national chains. That's close enough. Okay. Transmission's up near the front of the car anyway. Yeah, no, you went to the wrong place. I suspect that what you have wrong with this thing is what happens to a lot of Volvos,

the control arm bushings. The front control arms, front control arms, and they're only front control arms on this thing, have a bushing on the front and the rear. The rear control arm bushing for this thing is located, if you were sitting in the driver's seat, about near where your left foot would be when it's not on the clutch. That's more or less where I feel it. And that bushing is probably bad. OK.

And when you're going over bumps, it's going blablablablablum. The bushing is pressed into a bracket, which is bolted to the floor. The bolts could have come loose. The bushing could be worn out. Or the bushing could have enlarged the hole in the bracket, which means you may have to replace

the bracket. OK. And they probably didn't notice that, because it's not that easy to notice. Okay. That's why you went to the wrong place. I would really take it to a Volvo dealer. Or to someone who has worked on Volvos

and would look for the stuff that typically makes noise. Are you starting to get uneven tire wear? No, actually everything is fine. It drives straight, it'll bring straight. Leave well enough alone. You should never ask these questions. The noise has only been there for a short time, right? Pardon? Never mind.

Okay. No, I was gonna ask that very question. How long has it been making this noise? A few months? No, it's probably off and on for about a year, which is not very good from my standpoint, but whenever I would think about it, I'd bring it someplace. Okay let's go back to

square one. And you had the struts replaced you said? I had the strut cartridges replaced. Yeah the cartridges. Right. And does this noise sound like it's coming from underneath the car or under the hood? Underneath the car. No I'm sticking, this is my story and I'm sticking with it. I like it. Your control arm bushings are worn out it happens to all of these two forties that's what's wrong with it but we don't they say they're good replace them anyway

you know it's not a big deal it's not particularly dangerous although in the long term if the bushings are real bad they will cause on the unusual tire wear right and but other than that they'll cause a lot of noise right so but get a look at when and when they tell you that's what it is, you'll say, boy, that Ray is a genius. I thought he was a real jerk. See you later, Andrew.

All right, thanks, guys. Good luck. Bye. Bye. Bye. Guess what? More calls are coming up right after this. I'm Rachel Martin. After hosting Morning Edition for years, I know that the news can wear you down.

So we made a new podcast called Wild Card where a special deck of cards and a whole bunch of fascinating guests help us sort out what makes life meaningful. It's part game show, part existential deep dive, and it is seriously fun. Join me on Wildcard wherever you get your podcasts, only from NPR. Here at Shortwave Space Camp, we escape our everyday lives to explore the mysteries and quirks of the universe. We find weird, fun, interesting stories that explain how the cosmos is partying all around us. From stars to dwarf planets to black holes and beyond, we've got you. Listen now to the shortwave podcast from NPR.

Have you ever thought about the political leanings of sports fans? The most democratic leaning sports fan base was the WNBA, like by a comfortable distance. But that could change if the WNBA continues with its explosive growth, because as new fans show up, some of them are bringing old culture war battles. Listen to It's Been A Minute from NPR. Instead of scrolling mindlessly, engage mindfully with the NPR app.

With a mix of on-demand news, stories from this station, and your favorite podcast, you can relax without shutting off your brain. Download the NPR app today. Okay, this is normally the time in the show when we answer last week's puzzler. Do we? And usually this involves a lot of hemming and hawing and chin scratching on my brother's part not to come up with the right answer, just to remember the question. Yeah.

But every summer we give them a few weeks off from this public embarrassment and we send the puzzler where? On summer vacation. So if you have a rare personality disorder and you can't go a week without a Car Talk puzzler, we have made provisions for you. We're posting archival puzzlers, puzzlers from Car Talk's past, checkered past, I might add, all summer on our website, which is cartalk.com. That means if somebody wanted to just read or hear a puzzler, he or she could actually just go on the website and just do that.

And would we give the answers, too? Yeah, we'll give the answer the following week, but you ain't going to win anything. You just can do it. I mean, it's the next, you know, just kind of... Just to keep the old brain. Use it or lose it as they say. There you go. Talking about losing it, if you want to call us our number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Pat in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Pat. Manitou. Manitou. Yep, Manitou. It's like manna T with an O-O? Well, with an O-U.

In Colorado. And it's near what part of Colorado? Well, it's right next to Colorado Springs. Yes. What's on your mind, Pat? Or Patricia? I had this wild thing happen to me. I pulled into a gas station to get some gas in my 1993 Suzuki

sidekick. And I. It tipped over. i am pulled into a gas station to get some gas in my nineteen ninety three sydney keep i take and i had to get tipped over uh... but i think that the next ever i think that uh... uh... i walked on the back of the card as i was on screwing the gas cap and this huge ball of fire came out of my gas tank and engulfed my whole head in fire tells

i'm not kidding my whole head in fire. Get out! I'm not kidding. My hair caught on fire. It was really wild. Wow, what a way to get a punk hairdo, huh? I know, really. You were unscrewing the cap. All I was doing was unscrewing the cap.

Was the engine off? The engine was off. I was not smoking. This is a mystery to me. So I'm wondering if you have any theories about what can ignite. I would assume that the fumes in my gas tank, you know, somehow caught fire. Well, I don't understand much. I really don't, but I do know a couple of things.

Okay. That electricity, which can make sparks, and gasoline, which can make explosive vapors, ought not to be in the same closed vessel. Like I said, I don't know much and I'm sure greater minds than mine have thought about this and decided that gas tanks should have the fuel pump inside the tank. Yeah, I've wondered about that. I mean, the first guy who suggested this was ridiculed, of course. Okay.

But somehow it seems to have gotten by well don't all modern cars have that many most vast majority of modern cars have the pump in the tank really and have you ever heard of a weird thing like this no another I mean another possibility and I can't understand how this could happen would be if there were there are vapors Of course gasoline vapors in the gas tank and they're under pressure Uh-huh, and if there were a spark due to static electricity Well, that is something I thought of because we have such a dry climate here

Yeah, I frequently get a shock when I get out of my car Yeah, it's entirely possible that you unscrew the gas cap which was plastic. Uh-huh, right when you then Touched some nearby piece of metal and discharged the chassis, right? It's possible that you It's as as as the vapor pressure was releasing You know when you take the gas cap off you frequently get a rush of pressure coming out because the gas tank Does operate under pressure? gas cap off, you frequently get a rush of pressure coming out because the gas tank does operate under pressure.

It's possible that that is exactly what happened. Really? So am I one in a million? No, as a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this phenomenon will be more widespread as we see more and more tires on the market that give people static shocks. Oh really? Tires? There are low rolling resistance tires which have substituted a silica compound for carbon

black which was traditionally used to make tires black. Really? And it makes the tires have less resistance and therefore you get better gas mileage. On the other hand it makes them also have less conductive ability so that the tires do not discharge the static electricity that's built up to the road I was thinking that the tires should be you know somehow helping me I also had rubber-soled shoes on yeah and I had all cotton clothing on or otherwise I would have been on fire a little more than I actually was well I mean I I've never heard of this happening before but you

should and you have access to the world wide web yet if you go to our website okay you'll see under uh... car reports okay there will be a place where you can actually uh... report okay and accident to the national highway traffic safety administration i did i did that or you don't know i even heard from the net to see what their other reports were yeah there was no other report about this no no nothing like this this is a me out well i really definitely you are going to be one of

these people who no longer goes to the self-serve island that's true yeah definitely look at that with the world and say hello here's a fill it up show up on the ladies room. Behind that cinder block door over there. I'll wear my Asbestos suit. But it would be interesting if someone would have tried, not you obviously, but someone would have tried to reproduce this. Where are you?

Colorado? There must be a university close by, Manitoba Springs? Uh huh, sure there is. You need to go to the physics department. I thought about that. Absolutely. And you need someone to conduct scientific experiments to find out. Someone's doctoral dissertation. Some underclassmen. I think this is a nice doctoral dissertation for someone who doesn't really want it. What about my car? It's worth something.

Oh yeah, I mean don't miss this opportunity to find out really what's going on and that would you drive it would keep using it right off i was no first of all they figure you're a high-risk person anyway for driving a sidekick i think uh... but i think so it was only a matter of time before you kicked off uh... i mean this is not

but this is it's very very interesting glad you brought to our attention i'm i'm sure that if anyone else on any other of our listeners has that any kind of a similar experience will find out about it and that's how i feel i'm surprised that mitzah i mean it's it is the place right did you lose all your hair pat i like a lot of it and it's still falling out and it still smells disgustingly all yet there's nothing worse than burning air. Yeah, it's that smell.

Well, there are things worse. My eyebrows are melted into little puddles. Geez. I've had a couple of incidents with gasoline exploding in my face. Oh, really? Two, exactly. As a matter of fact. Yeah, so that explains.

It explains a lot. Exactly why little children run screaming. If you are going to keep this continued to drive it well which sounds likely uh... you could just make sure that you always discharge that the uh... static electricity before you go to the gas tank i even have to fight a little thing to cut while you don't you need the straps i do you know i just bought a set of straps my wife's car

and do they hang down and cut by the end of haven't put them on yet. I figured I'd let her get shocked for a few more months. Tuffing her up. No, they hang down and they drag on the ground. Ah, I like that. I would certainly do it because I think the static electricity is more likely than the fuel pump and the tank. Oh, I think so too.

They do, okay. So it's one in a million. This isn't gonna happen again. Oh no, I don't know that it's one in a million. Get the straps and when you get out of the car, discharge and make sure you touch something before you go do that gas tank filler. Okay. And don't go to the self-service. Absolutely. It's a deal. Thank you. See you later. Bye guys. Bye bye. Be sure to stick around for more calls coming right up. And all the ways that different organisms are fighting to adapt to that climate future too.

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your favorite NPR podcasts like Fresh Air. Sometimes I'll actually preface the question with if it makes you too uncomfortable to talk about, it's too personal just tell me here's the question. For behind-the-scenes content bonus episodes and more sign up at plus dot NPR dot org. In the 1950s paranoia gripped the nation. Are there homosexuals in government agencies and do they pose a threat to national security? There was almost no one who stood up to object to it. On NPR's ThruLine, the Lavender Scare,

find NPR's ThruLine wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us clicking clack the Tappan Brothers and we're here to discuss cars, car repair and another metaphysical conundrum. This letter comes from Barry Goldenson of Cabot, Vermont and he addresses it the car guys, car guy plaza, car guy city, car guy zero zero zero zero zero. Dear car guys. He says, here is a letter I wrote to Volvo in 1964. It should appeal to your taste for metaphysical conundra.

Research division Volvo Auto Company, Gothenburg, Sweden. Yes, I know it well. Dear sirs, I have owned a 1953 Volvo wagon for two years, in the course of which I have replaced almost every moving part in the drivetrain, brakes and suspension. If you would be willing to underwrite the expense of replacing the few remaining parts of the car, we will have evidence for solving one of the enduring philosophical problems known as the problem of Ulysses' ship. If in the course of his voyage Ulysses replaces every board in his ship. Is it the same ship at the end? In other words,

does identity consist of continuity of essence or substance? In the research I propose, if the car remains unreliable after all of its parts have been changed, we will have hard evidence that its identity is unchanged because its essence will be unchanged. It is essentially unreliable. Looking forward to hearing from you, I remain sincerely Barry Goldensome." He evidently really wrote this letter. Within a month, I got a letter back informing me that they were not underwriting research at that time.

And they thanked me for my very, quote, spiritual letter, their refusal I attributed to philosophical cowardice. Best Barry Go- No, they couldn't take a joke. Here's the key sentence. In other words, does identity consist of continuity of essence or continuity of substance? Essence. Whew. That is deep stuff, man. Sonja Hennessyutra. Well, we'll get a little response to this little baby,

I tell you. I love questions. What was this guy's name? Just further evidence. And it is not on company letterhead. No it is not. You know why? Because he's from Vermont and they don't work in Vermont. He wrote this in the barn. Milk and the cows.

Well Barry, you've certainly stretched our perspective on things today. Absolutely. Absolutely. Talking about new things, it's time for the new puzzler. No, no, no, no. You can't fool me, boy. Well, normally this is the time where we deliver you the new puzzler, but there is no new puzzler this week.

No, there isn't. Because our dear puzzler is on summer vacation. So if you're dying for a puzzler, you can try one of our archival puzzlers on the worldwide web, which you can find at Cartalk.com. And if you have a puzzle you think we can use next puzzler season, send it to us at Puzzler Tower, Cartalk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Our Fair City! 500 Harvard Square Cambridge our first city Yeah, zero two two three eight or you can email it to us from car talk calm on the web by clicking on the talk to car talk section

Yes, indeed. He do and if we use your puzzler and your lawyer contacts our lawyer will send you a best of car talk Cassetta CD or whatever now if you'd like to call us with a question about your car the numbers 1-800-332-9287 Hello, you're on car talk. Hello this is Josh calling from Darby Montana. Josh! Darby? Darby. Dar V with a V. Darby with a B. As B as in baby? This is Delta. Just like that. Delta, Alpha, Romeo, Bravo. Bravo. Yankee. And what state did I hear you mention Montana yeah Montana how many of you Montanans are left alive we mostly import them now excellent excellent well as you may know you know when we on our I don't I don't want to keep mentioning our website, but I will.

On our website, we have a... We have had for the last three months a trivia contest. And in the first trivia contest, which ran in the month of May, the grand prize for the person who had answered the most questions right and been drawn from a random drawing... Was it a vacation to Montana? A vacation to any place in the continental United States except Montana. Oh, I'm sure our tourist bureaus will be happy. Yeah, well they should be.

Ted Kaczynski was the first prize winner. Oh good, oh good. So what's up Josh? Well, I'm down here running around the muck studying birds and I have this little play on a truck. You a grad student of some kind? I'm a grad student. I mean, are you an ornithology major? Well, I'm an ecology major, but I'm studying birds.

Okay. Birds. Indeed. Oh, I almost got hit by one. That wasn't a bird. That wasn't so much. Was it in the back of the head? That's a dope slap.

Is your mother Okay, so you got you're studying birds and you know an ecology major and you got a Toyota truck and that's all We want a little truck. It's called old paint old paint. Okay. We'll just do that for now He'll pay is a great little truck. He's a 1980 Toyota. I've had him for about three years and He's just just about a hundred thirty thousand miles breaking in the middle age and uh... he got a little teeny-tiny under equal or all

it's right underneath the people i thought i do a little road testing to try and figure out what was hitting the road or loiter something like that i have a puppy the tin close unexpectedly uh... you know it's just a picking picking the tinkles unexpectedly and i think i've been doing it right there what it is all travel on the you know montana road for all three could be a lot of people of it and uh... and look underneath

but on also you let me get this now it only makes the noise when you're in motion and you're driving along with the door open well i have to open the door to see underneath the vehicle so you're driving along with your head hanging out the vehicle it's kind of like driving through a rearview mirror you just have to reverse the direction of the wheel by looking at the grass strips and you can get along pretty well that way at low speeds yeah not that i've ever done it, but I got it.

And we were worried about the no-speed limit in Montana. We were worried about that. We were worried about guys like Josh hanging out the side of the truck? No. We didn't even think of that. No. It never occurred to us. I didn't think so.

Well, I figured I should call you guys before I have to do it at higher speeds on bigger roads. Yes. So there you are looking underneath and you can before I have to do it at higher speeds on bigger roads. Yes. So there you are looking underneath and you can't see Diddley. I can't see Diddley. Nothing's hitting the road. With your perspective down there, where do you think the noise is coming from? Is it right from the center of the truck? Yeah, and just forward of the seats. Just forward of the seats. This noise seems to be coincident with going over little bumps.

No, that's what's weird. It happens both on smooth roads and on bumpy roads. And it's continuous. And it's not actually continuous. It'll happen some of the time and sometimes it'll just start and then it'll just stop. But when it happens, increasing your speed doesn't increase the frequency of it. No, it just continues to go like that. Oh, that's fast. Well, pretty fast. It's not completely that regular. It's well here's what I think it is. I think it's something

rather simple and I suspect it's a piece of loose hardware on the exhaust system. On the exhaust system? Oh, that's good. Yeah, there are a bunch of brackets that suspend the exhaust system. Yep, and I looked at those. I went underneath the truck. Looking isn't going to tell you much. When I was stopped. Did you touch any of them? Uh-huh. Did you bang on any? Did you bang on the muffler and whatever while you were... It would come off if I did that, but...

Ah, that's a clue. I've checked all the little brackets near the front, and I can't find anything there. Well, don't assume that the noise is coming from where you think it is. Ah, okay. Because it could be coming from any place else and telegraphing through the components of the exhaust system. Got it. So what you've got to do is get under the air and start banging with your closed fist. Oh.

Do it when the engine's cold, because you'll burn yourself on the exhaust system. On the other hand, if it only happens when the engine is hot, you may have to warm the thing up. And then put a glove on and bang on it. You may be able to reproduce the sound. You can also bang on the drive shaft. You could have a bad universal joint, for example. And that's a more major thing, is it not?

Well, it's somewhat more major in that it could fail, but you could easily have a seized universal joint. A seized universal? Do you notice, for example, that at high speed, and I'm sure you have had occasion to drive at high speed in Montana, that the whole truck rumbles? Not more so than in general. Okay. Well yeah, it doesn't go that high of a speed. You don't notice a new vibration when you're doing 60? No, not a new vibration. I mean when you slow down to 60. No, no new vibration. Yeah, there's a loose clamp or something. It's going to be something simple. Yeah, it's simple. And when you slow down to 60. Nope, no new vibrations at that point. No new vibration.

Yeah, there's a loose clamp or something. It's gonna be something simple. Yeah, it's simple. And when you hit the thing hard enough, the affected piece will just fall off and the noise will go away. And the noise will go away. Then the noise will go away,

I don't wanna have it anymore. Good, that'll do it. Yeah, but don't go, maybe I shouldn't say anything. You don't think my road testing technique's very good? Nevermind. Yeah. Yeah, you might win the Darwin Award. There's a certain kind of Darwinism at work here that you really can't dispute. True.

It's been nice talking to you. We may never talk again. Indeed, it's possible. It is. See you, Josh. Good luck. Okay, take care. Bye.

Bye. Well, you've squandered another hour of your fleeting summer listening to Car Talk. See you, Josh. Good luck. Okay, take care. Bye. Bye. Well, you've squandered another hour of your fleeting summer listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion, Punk and Lips, Berman. Our associate producer and dean of the College of Autonomous Ecology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Cathode, Patootie Ray. Our engineer is Karen Given. And our technical advisor making room for the free lunch North American summer tour is John Bugsy, Sebastian, Mr. Heights, Sweet Cheeks, Free

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Our automotive medical researcher is Dr. Denton Fender. Our marriage counselor is Marion Haste. Our director of new product repair is Warren T. Mifood. Our director of gender studies is Amanda B. Reckonwith. Our director of pedestrian operations is Carlos Castaneda. Our chief of stadium seating for the Olympics is Wayne Back. Our Nutrition Consultants are eating right and living good. The Curator of Tom's Car Collection is Rex Galore. Our Staff Carburetor Expert is Leslie Stahl.

Our Director of Country Music is Stan Byerman. The Chairman of our Underemployment Study Group is Art Majors. The Chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff is John Shalai Papawili. And our Timing Director is Benjamin Nott, yet you Yahoo! And our chief counselor for Malarfeum with Dewey Cheatham and Howes, Hugh Louis Dewey, known in the public fountains of Harvard Square as Huey Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers.

And don't drive like my brother unless you have to. And don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. You can order it electronically on the World Wide Web through the Shameless Commerce Division of CarTalk.com. Or if you'd rather interact with a real human, you can call 303-823-8000. You can also order the best of CarTalk and other useless CarTalk garbage the same way. Click on the Shameless Commerce Division at CarTalk.com or call 303-823-8000. CarTalk is a production of Dewey, Cheetah, and Howe,

and WBUR in Boston. And even though intelligent and reasonable listeners feel a sudden queasiness when they hear us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio. A way, way don't tell me our celebrity interviews aren't quite like anybody else's. For example, country star Brad Paisley has multiple Grammys, but do his teenaged kids like his songs?

So we listened to it in the kitchen and it hucked my oldest said, well, they can't all be gems. I'm Peter Segel. Join us for the show that asks the questions nobody else seems to want to know the answer to. Listen to the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me podcast from NPR. New from the Embedded podcast, what happens when three Republican women challenge their own party? Maybe we need to speak out a little bit bolder.

Maybe we need to do something to get people's attention. They have a front row seat to democracy. Now you do too. Listen to Supermajority from NPR's Embedded and WPLN. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most powerful man in Indian politics. But big questions remain about how he's held onto power. India is really in danger now. All the democratic structures have been compromised. Cyber hacking, mass arrests, and what it means for India's democracy on the latest

episode of the Sunday Story from MPR's Up First podcast.