The Best of Car Talk - #2479: A Catalytic Converter Repents

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Yasmina knows that she has transgressed by letting the sleazy repair shop on her street rip out her car's emissions controls, but will Click and Clack Condone this Catalytic Conversion? Find out 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

J.D. Bantz and Tim Walz are squaring off in their first and only debate on Tuesday. The MPR Politics Podcast has you covered with all the news and analysis ahead of the vice presidential debate. Listen to the MPR Politics Podcast wherever you get your podcast. 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 Tow Truck Driver's Guide to Great Literature here at Car Talk Plaza. This is a whole new department. It is indeed. I mean, those of you who like to read probably find out about Good Books the same way that

I do. I go into someone's bathroom and I start reading the book and I get interested and I say, hey, can I borrow this? This is after they've been banging on the door for a couple of hours. Come on out, man! So wait a minute, I only got four more chapters. Right. Well, to help our listeners answer the ever-present question, what should I read next, we are launching the Toe Truck Driver's Guide to Great Literature.

This is an area on our website where you can recommend a great book you've read to other Car Talk fans, or you can browse and see what other people have been reading and are recommending. Right, and if you don't want to get on the website, forget about the website. Mail it to us! Just send it in a snail mail, you know? Write down something and send it to us, just send it in a snail mail, you know? Write down something and send it to us. We just want to know what did you read and how did you like it? No, we're not trying to compete with the New York Times

review of books or anything like that. These don't have to be recent releases either. These can be books that you read, you know, like The Iliad. Iliad's good. Iliad's good, yeah. And we don't want doctoral dissertations. You know, just a few sentences here and there, but we just want you to enter the name of the book, the author, and a couple of sentences.

That's all about what it's about and why you like it so much. And what if you hated it? I mean, you're supposed to be... No, yeah, we... Don't bother if you... No, if you hate it, we don't want to know. I have a couple, actually. I'd like to recommend a couple here.

I'm going to start this off, because I happen to be reading couple here. I'm gonna start this off because I happen to be reading one book that I'm reading right now, which expresses, I think your feelings as well as mine, is called Asphalt Nation by Jane, what's her name? Jane Holtz-K, Jane Holtz-K, subtitle, How the Automobile Took Over America and how we can take it back. Now that's powerful stuff. And Jane knows what she's talking about.

I strongly recommend Asphalt Nation. And I would like, it doesn't have to be current, you said. I would also like to recommend Horton He a who by dr. Seuss because I think you read to Anna Kate a few months ago. I think everyone should read that book that's a great little book. Well I just finished reading Tony Hillerman's The Fallen Man. Oh yeah. Tony Hillerman has written a bunch of mystery stories all of which take place in and around the Navajo Nation.

And not only are they pretty good mystery stories, I read better, but one of the things I like about Hillerman's books is that they give you an insight into the Navajo way of life and the way they think. And it is very different from the way we think about a lot of things. Everything is different from the way we think. Well, of things. Everything is different from the way we think. Well, you and I, I meant the way... Alright. Okay, so if you have a book you'd like to recommend, give us the title of the author

and a little brief description of what it's about and why you loved it so much, and either mail it to us here, you know the address, it's the same address as everything, just call it Books on the Outside, or send it to us at Cartalk.com. And by the way, despite the title, this is not limited to the so-called great literature works of our lives, and after all, we already know you listen to Cartalk, right? So don't bother with the pretensions. We know that you might be a moron.

Thrillers, mysteries, romances, fiction, non-fiction, repair manuals. Yeah, anything. And it's gonna be just any book you like so much that you want to tell somebody about it. This is a way to tell thousands of people at the same time. Hey, this is like Oprah's book club. Except there are two of us and nobody cares who we think. If you want to call us, our number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

This is Susan from Asheville, North Carolina. Susan. No kidding. The heart of the Southern Blue Ridge. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Susan from Asheville, North Carolina. Susan. No kidding. The heart of the southern Blue Ridge. Well, it's interesting. We should be talking about mystery writers. Asheville is the home of one of America's foremost mystery writers.

Yes. Do you mean Fitzgerald? No. No one's heard of him. He visited here. No, he lives there. This guy lives there. Rick Boyer.

You know Rick Boyer? I've heard the name. I've not read his books. Hey, Ashley read his books. Hey Ashley his books are pretty good. Yeah as far as mystery books go. I guess I wasn't really thinking of you as you know super literary types. I wonder why? Have you read anything interesting lately Susan? Well I'm trying to slog my way through Pride and Prejudice it's a little tough. No kidding.

It was written in 1813. The language is a little, I don't know. Yeah. I know, but for $2.95 you can buy the Cliff Notes. Cliff Note reviews are also welcome. Cliff's Notes. Cliff's Notes, right. Cliff's Notes. I have a complete set. Listen, I hope this problem won't offend anyone.

No, go ahead. This problem with my car is having my car farts. Oh It's really embarrassing Yeah, it does happen They have pills for that now Something advertised on radio the beano you know is that the stuff well, this is one of the products I think You know, is that the stuff? Well, this is one of the products, I think. Oh, that's right. Maybe you have to put them in the gas tank.

How does it produce this noise? It goes like this. When you're driving with a cold engine and shifting from first to second or from second to third, and especially when the engine is under a load, like when you're accelerating uphill, there's this little expulsion of air, like, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft,

pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft, pff four-wheel-drive GL wagon. 87. 87. So it's carbureted. Yes. Have you taken it into anyone to have them look at this? She's embarrassed. He's too embarrassed. What?

Embarrassed? It's all the more reason to get it in. It's a plain brown wrapper kind of problem. It's one of those problems that goes away when the engine is warm, but I've just been curious about it. I mean, what would be causing it? Is it something I should be worried about? Well, I mean, it's backfiring basically, I think.

Yeah. Well, no, not really. The noises are coming out the tailpipe. Yeah. The noises are coming out the tailpipe because some component in the emission system is not working correctly. If I'm not mistaken, this 87 has a lot of emissions plumbing, and 87, 87, 87, there are probably some valves that are responsible for supplying fresh air to the catalytic converter, which are not functioning correctly. They're not closing down when they should, like when you take your foot off the gas,

and that's what's causing the flatulence, so to speak. I wouldn't describe it as a full-fledged backfire. It doesn't sound like... No, no, it's definitely as a full-fledged backfire. It doesn't sound like... No, no, it's not a... It's not a... Definitely not a full-fledged backfire, but it's a... Tommy, give us a little example. It's a minor...

It's a minor backfire. Yeah, it's a little poot. It's a little... A little soft little backfire. But it's a backfire nonetheless. What do you make of the fact that it goes away when the engine warms up? Well, and a lot of things happen when the engine warms up. Yeah, I don't make anything of it yet.

I agree with my brother that it probably has to do with emission controls, but I am not familiar enough with the emission controls on an 87 Subaru. Well, the other possibility too is that if the choke isn't opening up correctly, that could cause it because you could have an extra rich mixture, and then when it finally does warm up, the choke is open all the way, the secondary throttle in the carburetor could be sticking somewhat and that could cause it too. So any of those things would cause the problem but I think the problem is in the emission system.

My sense is that the problem isn't serious and that's really why I haven't taken it in. It isn't serious and it's not going to affect anything. It's hardly going to... Except my self-esteem on the road. Sure, yeah. Yeah, no, it's not going to do wonders. It's hardly going to... Except my self-esteem on the road. Sure, yeah. Yeah, no, it's not going to do one just for your social life either. Exactly. Yeah.

You get people looking out the sides of their eyes at you and stuff, trying not to look at you, you know? Yeah, oh, I know. And you yourself have to make sure you don't make any eye contact with anybody and always look and make sure that it looks like someone else did it. Just forging ahead, driving on regardless. Driving on, walking, whatever you happen to be doing. If passengers in your car know that the car is making these noises, then it gives you

the opportunity to sneak one out unnoticed, just to get the need to the rise. That's true. So I guess, I suppose that's the positive side. It is the positive side. You always have to look for the positive side. It seems to embarrass the passengers most of all, I gotta say that. I'll let you know who your real friends are. They're not your friends. Thanks a lot. I wouldn't worry about it, Susan. Say hello to Rick when you bump

into him on the street. Bye-bye. We'll be right back with the answer to the puzzler right after these very important messages. This is Manic Heritage Month. The Code Switch Podcast invites you to listen to juice. This is Manic Heritage Month. The Code Switch podcast invites you to listen to a side of the immigration story you don't hear often. One of joy. Listen as we spend a day at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, talking to some of the people that make the park their weakened escape. Listen on the Code Switch podcast from NPR.

Wisconsin's presidential vote has often come down to less than 1% of the state's population. On NPR's Consider This podcast, we'll hear what's keeping Wisconsin voters up at night. We need someone who's gonna be dedicated to what's happening for us. Wisconsin, where just 20,000 votes could swing a state of nearly 6 million. This week on NPR's Consider This Podcast. As election day approaches, NPR's Consider This Podcast is zooming in on six states that

could determine who wins the White House. Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. We'll ask voters in these swing states what matters to them and which way they want the country to go. Follow along with new episodes this week on the Consider This Podcast from NPR. From your car radio to your smart speaker, NPR meets you where you are in a lot of different ways. Now we're in your pocket. Download the NPR app today. Okay, brother. Yeah? If you can remember last week's puzzler, I won't call you a

dummy for the rest of today's show. Okey-dokey. Uh-oh. Remember it? Wait, you want to bet 50 bucks on it? No, I just said I won't call you a dummy for the rest of the show. Okie dokie! Uh oh. Remember it? Wait, you want to bet 50 bucks on it? No, I just said I won't call you a dummy for the rest of the show. Okay, it was World War II. The Japanese had discovered... Oh, he looked. You cheated. Catherine flashed you a signal. You notice that last week when Catherine wasn't here, I didn't know what the puzzle was. I noticed that. This week, Catherine is here and bingo miraculously, I know the puzzler. She claims that she does nothing. Right. I don't know.

Telepathic messages. I don't want to. Never mind. Yeah, so that was it. Here I am last week sitting in front of my television at about two o'clock in the morning with nothing on and clicking through the stations I have a new cable box. We have about 30 new stations one of which is the History Channel I got that and don't I come across a show an entire show devoted to this very puzzler Here it is it's during World War, the Japanese discovered a secret weapon which

they had hoped to use to their military advantage. As it turns out, they did not use it. Well, they didn't use it successfully. They tried, but they were not able to turn it to their military advantage. And today, this discovery is something that is used by virtually every country in the world on a daily basis. What is it? During our war with Japan, bombs began to drop on the United States.

Wow. And the authorities knew not where they were coming from. They assumed that some Japanese, what do you call them, sympathizers, had a secret base someplace in California or someplace in the desert, and they knew that the bombs were being dropped by balloons. The question was what did the Japanese discover during World War II? What was the secret weapon that everyone uses today? I think I made that point.

And what they had discovered was the jet stream. Doing some kind of atmospheric test, they discovered the jet stream where the winds over Japan, in fact, sometimes 300 miles an hour, and they could make this trip across the ocean with these balloons in 36 hours. And the balloons were filled with helium, and they would rise up into the jet stream heated by the sun. And as they expanded and got more buoyant, there would be a valve that would release some of the pressure. And when the altitude got too low, as measured by the altimeter, they'd drop a couple of sandbags off.

Go back up into the jet stream. Go back up, come back down, and when all the sandbags had fallen off, they no longer had this... All automatically done, of course. ...prude control over this device, they'd drop the bomb. Of course, some of them didn't work, and that's what enabled them to figure it out. Don't get me wrong, I think this was a brilliant puzzler. If you could come up to these standards every week, that would be perfect. Now I'd be dead.

I should also mention before I tell you who the winner is, I should also mention that for the past three or four weeks, every puzzler that you've used has been followed by, of course, thousands of entries for the right answer, and that in turn is followed by thousands of rebuttals telling us that the answer is wrong. Now are you going to stand behind? Oh this was on TV so you got evidence that this is... I got the damn history channel behind me. If they screwed up I'm suing.

Okay this time you're on good solid ground. But the thing with the eyeballs, we had a lot of bad mail about that one. Don't get me started. All right anyway the winner. This is my puzzle and I take complete credit or discredit for it. Cool all right our winner is Gil Patrick of Milltown New Jersey and for having his correct answer chosen at random as I wanted this week our buddy Gil is gonna get our newest CarTalk t-shirt which we call the Sistine wrench oh wow this is actually the painting called creation

creation yes by of course our buddy Michelangelo Michelangelo one a lot Mickey B's Mickey B hey Mickey B you doing? This is a really great t-shirt. So Gil was going to get one of these brand new Sistine Chapel shirts painted exclusively for us by Michelangelo himself under special contract. And Gil you will get yours. You might be only the second person to get one. We congratulate you and John Bugsy, sweet cheeks, while that congratulates you. My mother congratulates you and everyone else. Wake up Bugsy so we can do the congrats.

10 minutes he's been here and he's sound asleep already. I don't know. Anyway, we have a new puzzler coming up during the second half of car talk for the children. This is this puzzler for the kiddies. Does it have to do with Horton? Here's a who?

Somewhat to keep their little brain sharp. So don't flip to the paint drying channel just yet. Is there one? 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. What's going on, fellas? This is Troy from Seattle. Troy! Troy, baby! Que pasa? Well, I have this problem and it's Satanic in a matter a matter of speaking. Oh, well, I have the Holy Spirit

So I will be able to deal with and handle this. Well, you guys are my last resort Okay, I've got an 88 VW Fox and that's almost enough said by itself. No comments, please That was not Volkswagen's finest hour no it wasn't it wasn't but it was it's one of its cheapest hours. It was a very cheap hour. Recently it started making satanic noises and I've kind of opened the hood and looked in there but the problem is is the noise doesn't make or the noise doesn't kick in until around like about a 1500 rpm problem is it doesn't stay in, it doesn't continue making noises above 3500 RPM. So this is a noise that's under the hood. It's under the hood. You can hear it with the engine running

but the car not moving. No, no, it will not make the noise in idle and it will not make it above 3500 RPM. But anywhere in between there, you will hear a high pitched whine. I'm gonna make the noise for you. What's that? Can I make the noise?

You may. That's satanic. That's definitely satanic. That's a close, yeah, real close. Real close. One other thing, I don't know if... I've heard that noise a lot in foxes. I've never figured out what it is.

No, I think I have an idea, but go ahead. It will also change pitch depending on how fast I'm going when the car is moving. Now, if you studied this noise enough, I mean you can open the hood and you can rev the engine, you realize that, you can grab a hold of the throttle. Have you done that? No, actually I haven't. Well, you could do that and you could actually make, you could put the thing in neutral, the handbrake set and the engine running and you can work the throttle from under the hood. You'll see the cable running to it from the gas pedal and if you can't figure out what it is, have someone step on the gas pedal and watch what moves and you can move that thing with your hand.

And you can make the RPMs go up to the point where you can hear the noise. At which point you can go around and listen to things and see if you can figure out what it is. The first thing that comes to mind obviously is a bad alternator or a bad water pump. Either one of those things will make noise, the noise you describe, and make it worse at higher speeds and at some point the noise might go away for whatever reason, I don't know. Sometimes it does and depending on how cold the car is it will make the noise more more frequently but it's a little embarrassing

I'm driving down the street I feel like you know I'm in the shaft or something that this my own theme music isn't going on. I am going to suggest from my vast experience with Volkswagen Foxes. Yeah. All right what do you guys suggest? I'm going to suggest that it is your timing belt tensioner. Well, I forgot to mention, this is key. I had the timing belt. It's one of those things you leave out. I had the timing belt changed and the noise started shortly thereafter.

Like I mentioned before, it's not belt noise. We don't know what belt noise is. It isn't belt noise, and I'll tell you exactly why it's making the noise. They tension the timing belt too much. Unlike a lot of, what's the term, civilized cars. Real cars. Real. Real.

That have an automatic tensioner. The Volkswagen relies on the expertise of the technician to tension the belt properly. And what there is is a tensioner that's mounted on a shaft, but it's off center. So as you rotate this thing, you can make the belt tighter and what there is is a tensioner that's mounted on a shaft but it's off-center so as you rotate this thing you can make the belt tighter and tighter and tighter but you have to know when to stop okay and if in fact you had the belt replaced and the noise appeared after that it's almost a certainty that they set the tensioner too tight and sometimes just backing off on it will make the noise go away but I would recommend changing the tensioner I think

it costs like 50 bucks or so for the part or maybe less. This isn't going to set the car on fire in the meantime. Oh yeah it will. No it won't set the car on fire but it might break the belt. Okay well that's not any good either. And if the tensioner has been set too tight and is making noise now the bearings in it are probably burned up a little bit so I would replace it. So I would go back to them because I think with almost a hundred percent certainty.

Oof! This is good. Yeah, I like it. That's an old statement, gentlemen. I like it. Good luck, Troy. Thank you very much. See you later. Take care. Bye-bye. 1-800- that's the one right answer for the month. Yeah, that's good. One is good. One is so good.

1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Rebecca calling from Memphis, Tennessee Rebecca how are you okay my car's not that Rebecca with traditional spelling with C's and not K's to these Tennessee and they don't mess around with names in Tennessee well I'm not from here actually but well where are you from I'm from New York then I moved to Massachusetts and then I just moved here but no you know I look I moved to Massachusetts and then I just moved here No, there are little cues in you know Arizona which is part of part of the questions that I have about my car really go ahead. We're interested Well, okay. I was driving to the Little Rock Airport for my vacation

uh-huh going to Arizona yeah, and my car broke down on the way to the airport and So I rented a car and drove to the airport and you know had a great vacation and decided that I really would like to move to Arizona Meanwhile meanwhile back in in Forest City, Arkansas my car gets fixed and a Radiator tube burst and they told me that the reason it burst was because my heater core was bad What kind of car is this Chevy Cavalier what year 86 it's a station wagon. It's two colors The trunk doesn't shut.

You know all sorts of stuff. Oh the heater core just sprung a leak. There were two hoses that go to the heater core. Yeah. It turns out when they fixed it they wired it so that the the hoses don't go through the heater core right now. Right. So you have no... they shunted the hoses together. So you have no heat. No. Yeah. I have no heat. No defrost. But the heater core is trivial to replace in that car really okay? Because that's not what they told me so that's why I called you no I think it's easy 86 cavalier what they want 500 bucks for it. They wanted 250 Yeah, do I actually need the heater core? No, I'm thinking of moving to Arizona, and I'm thinking I don't really need heat if I go to Arizona

No, you don't and you don't need the heater core to do much of anything except provide heat. Where in Arizona are you going? Tucson. I'm thinking about it. That's the other question I have, is whether or not I should go there. Who knows? Well, Tucson's... I've been to Tucson. It's pretty nice.

Yeah. Yeah, you liked it, right? That's one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen in my life while I was there. Really? And is that why you decided to move there? I think I'm pretty much decided. What I need to decide is if my car will make it there. You didn't meet a fella by any chance, did you? Well, I went to visit a fella. Ah,

yes. Now the truth comes out. It's one of those things. Yeah. You gave us this bull sunset story. Yeah, sunset. Come on, Rebecca. Come on. What do you think? You think we were born yesterday? You don't pick up all your stuff and drive halfway across the country for a sunset. For a sunset. Who is this guy? Now we'll get down to the real facts here. Whether or not this guy is worth moving out to. When I lived in Massachusetts, I used to live in Salem, Massachusetts.

But he lived in Connecticut and I would visit him and he would visit me. And we never actually lived in the same, same... Oh, a long distance relationship. A long standing. ever actually lived in the same same long-distance relationship along a long-standing long-distance friendship that could turn into a relationship if I move there kind of thing okay so you move from Massachusetts to Memphis and he moves from Connecticut to where Tucson so he's lured you out there yeah and you went out there and you realize that you have to be with him in the weather that's the thing that I feel bad about it's not him so much. That's the thing that I feel bad about. It's not him so much as the place.

He might be listening. Yeah, I know. I know. I need to tell him somehow because... Oh, you need to tell him that you're going to stay there. You like Tucson better than you might like him. Well, he thought that I was moving to Tucson because of him, but I really like Tucson, which is why I would move to Tucson. Not necessarily because I really liked him. So that's like a big mess

But you know if I move there he's good with cars So I could get him to work on my car. Yeah fat chance now. Oh sure get him to put your heater cord in and then dump him There you go Was he thrilled that you were moving to Tucson or did he? He offered to pay for my move He's obviously been unable to find another girlfriend out there. Pickens must be slim. Boy, Rebecca, this is a tangled web. It sure is, and it all started innocently.

It started with a heater core. With a blown heater hose. Basically, yeah. God. Well, you better make it very clear right from the beginning. Yeah. And you certainly can't expect them to pay you away. Oh, God, no.

Of course not. See, that's why I'm trying to figure out if my car will make it. Oh, your car will make it absolutely without the heater core. It's to the point where things are starting to die. Well, I would investigate getting the heater core fixed by someone else because I don't think it's a $250 job. Yeah, well, I've asked around and one of my coworkers came in and said oh yeah I changed mine I could change it you know talk to me

instead. It varies from car to car it varies from a two hour hour and a half job to a day and a half job depending on which car you got. So don't be encouraged by someone else's success. Yeah yeah but I might be able to get him to help me with it. This guy in Phoenix? no no my co-worker oh him does he want to move to Tucson maybe that will turn into something interesting and then you want you'll want to stay in Memphis I don't think that would happen yeah yeah well yeah one never know not your type huh huh? No. No. Well, you can give up on him helping you, too Since he just heard that right

Well, okay. Well, I wish you good luck Rebecca with either of these boyfriends or none of them Okay, you saw in Memphis, Connecticut or Salem, Massachusetts Good luck. Whatever you may be enjoy many sunsets in Tucson. Yeah. Good luck, Rebecca. Thanks a lot. Thank you. More calls and a new puzzler coming right up after these messages. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Fresh air? Up first. NPR News Now, Planet Money, TED Radio Hour, ThruLine, the NPR Politics podcast, Code Switch, Embedded, Books We Love, Wildcard ... are just some of the podcasts you can enjoy sponsor-free with NPR+. Get all sorts

of perks across more than 20 podcasts with the bundle option. Learn more at plus.npr.org. The candidates for November are set. I know Donald Trump's tight. Between now and election day. We are not going back. A campaign season unfolding faster. Kamala Harris is not getting a promotion. Than any in recent history. Make America great again. Follow it all with new episodes every weekday on the NPR Politics podcast. On How to Do Everything from the team at Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, we try to find the answers to all your burning questions.

I'd like to know how do I get someone to tell me if I smell? That's the perfect question for us. So we went over to her house and we sniffed her. Because we care. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast from NPR. We'll sniff you too. People in Nevada are more racially diverse than a lot of swing states. About 40% of voters in Nevada are not white. Does that shape their views of issues like inflation and immigration? Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are both gambling on Las Vegas.

Hear from Nevada voters all this week on NPR's Consider This Podcast. Hi, we're back to listen to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the Holy Spirit. This is a note from Todd Dugdale, and I have no idea where he's from. Oh, he's from the internet. He's from the internet. But he was surfing on his television actually. I have a funny story that concerns you two guys. Last winter while surfing with my remote, TV I suppose, I came across the public access channel and a local guy named Sri Harold Klemp, also known to his devotees

as the Ekmaster, E-C-K Master. Ekmaster. He's the founder of an Eastern style religion called Ekenkar. Ekenkar has headquarters here and Mr. Klemp, Klemp, gives weekly addresses that are rebroadcast on TV. I was about to go on browsing when he suddenly started talking about click and clack. He explained that one of you is in contact with the Holy Spirit. Woo! He didn't divulge which one. Wait a minute! The story involved a call you took on the air about a guy who had a chronically unsound muffler on his van.

And one of you, he couldn't remember which, asked where the band practiced. I think it was you, actually. I would have asked an important question like that, I'm sure. You wouldn't. It turned out that the loud volume was the cause of his many muffled troubles since the band rehearsed in the van itself. Ah! I think it was you who asked him that question. He was extremely impressed with the insight of whichever of you figured this out and attributed it to a link with the Holy Spirit. I have never heard of divine intervention in auto mechanics except for once when I saw a guy faith heal a VW bug. Incidentally, he was quick to point out that the other brother did not have these incredible powers, but he'd still listen to

both of you anyway. Signed Todd Dugdale. What's this guy's name? Clem? Shree. Shree. Shree. How do you guy's name? Clem? Shree. Shree. How do you spell Shree? S-R-I. Shree Clem.

Shree is a term of respect, honor in India. Veneration. Yeah. Shree Harold Clem. K-L-E-M-P. I mean, you can't be a Shree if your name is Harold Clem. Oh, that's why he changed it to the Eckmaster. So one of us, we're going to have to track down that call and see who it is. Is in touch with the Holy Spirit.

I don't get Eckmaster. You get the Eckmaster channel? No. You get the new stuff. No, I get the Toastmaster channel and the Breadmaster. This is excellent, interesting stuff. Does that mean I'm gonna have to be a devotee of the Eckmaster if I have the spirit? Well, you're gonna have to. You have to, geez. All right, lookit. You may have to have Sunday meetings with them. I don't know

what. All right, now that I feel full of the Holy Spirit, I feel, yeah, a, an incredible lightness of being, and I'm ready to embark on the new puzzler. Yeah. This is for the kids. Yeah. There is a yacht tied to the dock, okay, in the harbor at dead low tide. Mm-hmm. Okay. The tide, because it's dead low, is obviously doing what? Coming in. It's coming in. Okay. And it comes in at the rate of two-thirds, right? You gotta write this down. Two-thirds of a foot per hour, a steady rate. Steady rate. Steady rate of two-thirds of a foot per hour. Right? So that if you were in the harbor, you were measuring the rate, after a half hour, it would have come in a third of a foot. Gotcha. Got it? Got it. Okay.

The porthole on the side of the yacht is nine feet above the surface of the water. You got it right in this town? I got it down. I wrote it. Okay. How many minutes will it be before that distance is reduced from nine feet to seven and a half feet? Made it hard.

I could have made it seven and a third, but I didn't want to. No. Seven and a half feet. It's good. Okay. Now, if you think you know the answer, it to us at puzzler tower car talk Plaza box 3500 Harvard Square Cambridge our fair city math zero two two three eight

All right, and I will give a hint you can't use algebra to solve this problem. No, okay By the way, you can email us your answer from car talk calm by clicking on the talk to car talk section and emailing us Whatever you want. Sure, but you can answer the puzzler. You answer the puzzler. And if we choose your correct answer at random as the winner next week and you catch us, we'll send you one of those Sistine Wrench T-shirts. Whipty-doo!

You can either wear or use it in your car to wipe off your dipstick, whatever you want. But it's a big improvement over, we shouldn't say anything about the last T-shirt, should we? No. Okay. you want but it's a big improvement over we shouldn't say anything about the last t-shirt should we no okay if you'd like to call us with a question about your car the number is 1-800-332-9287 hello you're on car talk this is Yasmina from Detroit Yasmina yes yes very good Yasmina from Detroit yes yes, and I'm calling about my car, Chrysler New Yorker 79. 79? Yes. What a beauty. Oh, can you imagine? Fully loaded. It's like a Lincoln Continental. It's like a gun. Well, my car recently not long ago had surgery. Oh really? Yes.

Elective? Oh yeah well. Or emergency? Well emergency. Yeah. Yeah emergency and the guys told me to cut the guts out. Oh really? Yeah.

The catalytic converter. Uh oh. Oh yeah. How legal was this? Oh well you guys know it's a no-no to cut the catalytic converter out Certainly is yeah, but every time I got in the car and got out I smelled like a gas station and I was afraid to stand close to anybody with a lit cigarette So somebody actually removed surgically your catalytic converter, yes they did illegally

removed surgically your catalytic converter? Yes they did. Illegally? Huh? Illegally, of course. Yes indeed. Yeah and you stood by and had this happen huh? Oh well I couldn't stand to watch so I left the car there in uncapable hands. Uncapable. The next thing I knew they had ran a straight pipe through there and a muffler. Did they tell you it was illegal? Yeah. Oh, they did? And you said go ahead and do it anyway. Well, I said, well, who's going to stop me, pull me over, look up underneath there and

say, the catalytic converter is gone. Yeah, that's true. Well, chances of getting caught. The chances of getting caught were almost nil until you called us. Oh, well, everybody in the world knows nil. We have caller ID so we know who you are. And we're getting a fix on you right now. When you hear the sirens, the feds are closing in on your house.

Isn't there an annual inspection in Michigan? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, but not for my car. No, your car is too old and it is exempt probably. Excuse me, excuse me. Well it's too mature. Too mature, yes. Vintage. Yeah, it's vintage.

And it is exempt as our cars in our state. If your car is more than 15 years old in Massachusetts, I believe, you are exempt from the emissions part of the test. But that doesn't mean that it's okay to have removed the catalytic converter. No, no, it is not okay. So that even you do have to have other things inspected. For example if someone checks to see if your exhaust system is okay then they could easily find out that your catalytic converter is missing and they could turn you in. So it won't be us that turns you in. And it's not too late to repent Yasmina, you can go and have a converter put on a new one. The reason yours was sneaking up the place is that it was probably all plugged up. Yeah that's what they said it was plugged up

the carburetor kept sticking in the winter time I had to go in there play with the butterfly to get it to start. So why didn't they give you the option of putting a new one in? No, no, this is one of those quickie jobs, you know, right down the street in the garage on the alley. Yes, indeed. I know it well.

The greasy elbow monkey kind. So how much did these guys charge you to cut out the old one? $80. $80. $80. So super. And then the car was running really good.

I got to the gas station station filled it up with some gas I was coming back and I heard this boom a loud explosion And I was expecting to see the muffler three blocks away, but the muffler is still there But it's so loud you can hear me in China How you blew the muffler out you probably blew it? Yeah, you may have something else wrong with your car. Yeah, I mean all the gas that you were smelling may not have been the catalytic converter. Yeah, that's like a funny smell. I suspect that the catalytic converter got ruined because your carburetor has been flooding.

Yeah. And that's what ruined it. So you needed to spend money to fix the carburetor as well. You may need to have the carburetor rebuilt, but I wouldn't put a new converter in until you get that fixed too because you'll ruin the new converter. Oh, goodness. But you're going to make amends. What happened is the carburetor was flooding so badly that gasoline got into the exhaust

system and ignited somewhere in the exhaust system, and that's the explosion that you heard. Oh, guys. I think so too. Oh, goodness. I think it's flooding, and that's what what ruin your converter and it would ruin a new converter So before you put that on fix the carburetor and then go back to these guys and tell me you want your 80 bucks back Oh, they're not there no more go back to them. What do you mean? She met him in the street?

Listen they tried to give me back to $80, right? The guy said I knew that that we didn't do a good job for you and that's it here taking we're going to give you back to eighty dollars you know each week we'll keep twenty till we give you back to eighty dollars at the time they would think they can read the complicated to stop and they told all of the cars out of the question of my opinion they must have told three or four hundred times from over there

but these guys did they going to jail anyway. So what do they care about another $50,000 fine? How did you find these guys? Right down the street from the house. They found you too, huh? Yeah. Well, you've got to find another shop, obviously, but try to find one that's honest and law-abiding. Okay.

And do it right. Okay. All right. Thanks. Okay. All right. Thanks a lot. All right. See you later. Hey, nice talking to you. Thanks for calling. Bye, Esmina.

Bye. Well, you have wasted another wife's perfectly good hour listening to Card Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive Berman. Our associate producer and dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Katherine Cathode-Ray. Our engineer is Karen Given, and our technical advisor is John Bugsy Milk Carton Man Lawler. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician

Margin O'Vara. Our staff butler from the Car Talk Bombay Division is Mahatma Kote. The curator of Tom's Car Collection is Rex Galore. Our director of speed bumps is Slow Me Down Belosavich. Our head of alphabetizing is Ella Menope, our director of country music is Stan Byerman, our horsepower consultant is Mr. Ed, our director of cold weather starting is Martina Never Turnover, and our manager of automotive accessories is Francis Ford Cup Holder. Our chief counselor from the law firm of Dewey Cheetahman Howe, of course is Hugh Louis Dewey,

known around the square as Huey Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers and remember don't drive like my brother. Don't drive like my bro. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. If you want a copy of this show on cassette, show number six, number six! And you can get it on the world wide web by clicking on the shameless commerce division of Cartock.com or you can call and order a copy at 303-823-8000. You can also order other Car Talk stuff like the best of Car Talk CDs, cassettes, and all that other stuff. Either click on the shameless commerce division of CarTalk.com or give them a call at 303-823-8000. Car Talk is a production of Dewey, Chidam, and Howe, and WBUR in Boston.

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