The Best of Car Talk - #2488: True Master Mechanics

Episode Date: November 2, 2024

A true 'Master' mechanic is intimately familiar with the intricate workings of innumerable makes and models of cars, right? Yeah, but can they help Emma from Montana figure out which 'thingie' to put the blue liquid into? Let's all 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

Who's claiming power this election? What's happening in battleground states? And why do we still have the electoral college? All this month, the Throughline Podcast is asking big questions about our democracy and going back in time to answer them. Listen now to the Throughline Podcast from NPR. Hello and welcome to Chara Talk from National Public Radio with us clicking clack the tab at brothers and we're broadcasting this week from the Center for What Women Want here at Car Talk Plaza. Now, last year we were on Cadillac's case, if you remember, because they concluded after a great deal of study that the way to increase their share of the women's car buying market was to train their

salespeople to quote, demonstrate a sincere concern for women's needs. Notice, they didn't train them to actually have a sincere concern for women's needs. Just demonstrate. Just fake it, that's all. And I think at the time- In typical salesman fashion, of course, let's not forget that.

That's right. At the time, we suggested that a good start would have been to change the traditional Cadillac dealership greeting to something other than, hey Toots, where's your husband? Anyway, today we're here to show you just how far we've come since Cadillac pioneered this field last year. I want to present here exhibit A. Mazda has teamed up with New Woman magazine to design a concept car that they think accurately reflects what women want

in a car. Really? And here it is. The Mazda New Woman concept protege. So they took a standard protege. Mazda has teamed up, we have here a photograph of the car and a little description. Mazda has teamed up with New Woman magazine to design a concept car that reflects the woman's perspective on the automobile.

Special features, now get this, special features on the car include more personalized touches, such as, and the first one they list, leopard print carpeting. Sonja, I mean, Tara Lipinski's tutu. No woman that I know, we can survey the women in our audience here. Yeah, women. Karen and Catherine. Leopard print, you see a nice bazaar? Thumbs down, four thumbs down.

Woohoo. I certainly don't understand it, but I'm sure that they did a lot of research and they concluded that the new woman wants this. Ah, that's a mistake. And these old women here don't obviously... That's a mistake. This is new woman. Yes. We don't know. We obviously don't have our finger on the pulse of the new woman.

Well, we'll find out. We'll find out. We could do a little survey, I suppose. We're going to ask every woman who calls today. There's no new woman that would let you put your finger on any part of her body No, we will ask every woman who calls today whether they like leopard print. What's it called leopard print carpeting? Okay, I'll remember there's no actual picture of the leopard. No, they didn't give us the car is rather nice-looking I might add yeah, well. Leopard print carpeting. I'm gonna write that down so I don't forget it. So I will ask. Anyway if you want to call us about your car or your leopard print carpeting you can call us 1-800-332-9287. Hello you're

on Car Talk. This is Bob from Earlton, New York. Earlton. Like E-A-R-L? P-O-N you got it. Earlton, New York. Would your wife like leopard print carpeting in her car? Ha ha ha ha. I don't think so. I think that went out with the leopard skin pillbox hat. Does she wear any leopard print clothing? No, she really doesn't. Would you like her to? Ha ha ha ha. Okay. Alright, that's trouble for Bob. Let's get off that subject. Yeah,

so Bob, what's on your mind? Okay, I got a question about brakes. I got a car with many miles on it and I've redone, returned the brake disc many, many times and replaced them when they got too thin to turn them anymore. If I've got a break and i have one right now uh... that seems to be chattering because uh... uh... the rotor is uh... is a little bit warped uh... since i do the work myself i tend to put it off and not replace it until it gets a lot worse and i was wondering if driving around with the one that's dead

could cause the other ones to go bad by uh... association that's bad could cause the other ones to go bad by association proximity what I was thinking is when you step on the brake and you can feel it in the brake pedal yeah the hydraulic fluid I'm wondering if if there's a change in the pressure of the fluid this is good Bob I can see that you have thought this through this is no frivolous question like we thought a minute ago. Well, you know, I'm wondering, you know, if I can feel it in the brake pedal, is it squeezing the... Can the other brakes feel it?

Can the other brakes feel it? Is it going to prematurely start to get them going down the same slippery slope? For the uninitiated, what Bob is referring to is pulsing in the brake pedal. And you get pulsing in the pedal when you have a warped disc or a drum It's more noticeable with a disc right because as the disc goes around and the warp this pushes against the pads That pushes against the caliper the piston in the caliper which pushes against the fluid which pushes against your foot So that force gets telegraphed back to your foot via the hydraulic fluid that's in the brake lines And of course as Bob so astutely observed absolutely it also gets telegraphed to a certain extent to the other wheels so the other wheels are

getting pulsed but not unlike they would if you had anti-lock brakes okay so I don't think it's a problem for the other wheels and nor is it going to cause the pulse or the warp in this one to get any worse either no I would, I mean my quick answer to your question before I realized how much you had thought of it was don't worry about it. Well, he tells everybody that. My more considered answer is don't worry about it. Well, that's good. On the other hand, whenever you have a pulsing brake, you do have diminished braking power.

Yeah. Because you're not getting complete contact between the disc and the pads. So you are getting diminished braking effort. Can it also affect, like, is that gonna make my tie rod ends wear out more quickly if there's a vibration there? No, I don't think so.

Okay. I don't think so. I wouldn't worry about that, but it might cause you to crash. The biggest concern is that you don't have that much braking in that wheel, and so you're more likely to skid, to go flying off in a different direction. Or to have a longer stopping distance. And yeah, it hits something. But that's the biggest concern.

Okay, very good. Good luck, Bob. Okay, thanks much. Thanks for your call. Okay. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi. Hi. My name's Deborah Bunkley from Ann Harbor, Michigan. Deborah? Yeah. With an A-H? Yes. Yes, that is. Gee, there aren't many people who spell it that way. Well, it's named after a Hebrew judge. What, Deborah? Yes. Oh, I thought it was Ann Harbor. No. All right, what's your I thought it was the Ann Arbor no All right, what's your position this that was the wrong? That was the wrong word to use on the other judge No, what is your position on leopard print car Mazda has just is coming out with a car specifically designed for

Are you ready for this the new woman? And one of the features that this car has is leopard print carpeting What's what how do you where do you stand on leopard print carpeting? Would you think that that was good only if I could get a leopard print outfit to match it? Don't worry we can do that So what's in your mind Deborah, I have a 1982 Toyota Corolla.

Yeah, wow, an oldie. Yes, and I got a good deal on it and it's paid for. And I just put a clutch on it and an exhaust system on it, but every time I drive down the road, it doesn't matter if I'm doing 25 miles an hour or 75 on the highway, it starts shaking. Oh, that's not good. That's not it starts shaking. Oh! Oh, that's not good.

That's not good? No. Oh. Well, it's been doing this ever since you had the clutch done? Yes. Well, you may be a victim of FOL. Yeah. Which is fell off lift.

Oh. Yeah. My brother has been the perpetrator of this himself. How do you, I mean, how do you, how do you explain when the customer shows up at five o'clock and says, you don't let them show up, you call them, is my car ready? And you during the day have made the, I mean everyone's allowed a little mistake here and there during the day. My brother made the little mistake of dropping a car off the lift. The car goes up and it comes down the hard way.

It went down a lot faster than it went up. It was only one. It was only one. And you know what happened afterwards? I got giddy. I began to laugh uncontrollably at my good fortune for not having been under the car when it decided. and that was the car that decided it.

Oh, the car. You had nothing to do with it. Oh, I had everything to do with it, but the car decided to slide off one of those pads, push the arm out, tilt to the right front. All in slow motion. All in slow motion for the first 90% of it. And then in a blink of an eye, it came crashing down on its side.

Ooh! And I didn't wait for the customer to come in. I called him. You called him. I said, you're never gonna believe this. You said I got a little bad news. Well, anyway. In any event.

I'm gonna let you in on a little trade secret. No, she didn't have any F.O.L. No, I don't think so. I was just making fun. Don't worry, Deborah. I was hoping. He was making that up. Well, not the part about my dropping a car off the lift.

I really did do that. Oh. And I wanted to see how long it took. But anyway, if you go back to them and ask them to check it, it's unlikely they did anything wrong when they did the clutch, although they could have left the drive shaft loose. Oh. Or they could have, it's possible they could have dropped some of the needles out,

because they have to take the drive shaft out to do the clutch. So they could have left the drive shaft loose, they could have damaged the drive shaft somehow, and that would explain why the vibration is there all the time. Is the vibration in the steering wheel, or you feel the whole car shaking?

The whole car shaking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's classic drive shaft shimmy. It's the drive shaft. Oh. And they may have done something wrong to it or they may have forgotten to tighten the U-joints up or whatever. Who knows what they did.

But I would go back soon. But if this is what, how long ago did you have the clutch done? Like a month and a half, maybe two months ago. Is it getting worse, the Chimine? Yes. It's getting worse, in which case I would be really, really careful about driving it. Oh. Yeah, because it's possible for the driveshaft to fall out as you're driving.

That would... that could be... could be catastrophic. Oh. Because, I mean, if the driveshaft falls out, just to give you the worst case scenario. You ever watch the Olympics? Yes. You ever watch the pole vault? Yes.

Yeah, here it is. The driveshaft runs in this car from the front to the back. Uh-huh. Right? It's connected at each end. Worst case scenario, it disconnects from the front end. So now you're traveling at 70 miles an hour and you got this pole that digs itself into the ground. The car flips up

over the driveshaft, spins around seven or eight times, does the Mitzi gainer and You're inside and you're gonzo. Oh. Okay. Yeah, so you sure don't want to drive very fast while you have it. And it might still, even at 15 miles an hour, fall out. But if it does happen, let us know if the East German judge gave you a good

rating. They don't have an East German judge anymore. They always used to be tough, those East German judges. Yeah. Would I be alive to talk to him? No, probably not. You probably wouldn't. Okay.

Good luck, Deborah. Thanks for scaring me to death. Yes, oh, quite... That's what we're here for. Oh, okay. Drive slowly. Everyone at NPR has the same feeling. See you later.

Bye. Bye. We'll be right back with the answer to the puzzler after these messages. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. If you're a regular listener to the Best of Car Talk podcast, then you probably enjoy some of NPR's really good podcasts, too.

Well, with NPR+, you get perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, and more for over 20 different NPR podcasts. So start supporting what you love and stop hearing promos like this one by heading over to plus.npr.org. We finally made it, election week. It's what this whole never-ending election cycle has been building up to. And what happens now will dictate the future of the country.

Keep up with election news when it matters most. With NPR's Consider This podcast. All this week, we are taking major stories from the election to help you make sense of them and what they mean for you in under 15 minutes. Listen now to the Consider This podcast from NPR. I'm Rachel Martin, host of NPR's Wild Card podcast. I've spent my entire career learning what kinds of questions prompt the most honest answers.

What's the biggest sacrifice you've ever made? What's a belief you had to let go of? What's a goal you're glad you gave up on? Now I'm putting those soul-searching questions to guests like Jenny Slate, Bowen Yang, and Chris Pine. Follow Wildcard wherever you get your podcasts only from NPR. Alright, lookit, why don't you ask me what last week's puzzler was? Oh, it's time for that, huh? Yeah, man, you said pretend- So, do me what last week's puzzler was. Oh, it's time for that, huh? Yeah, you said pretend it's all um do you remember last week's puzzler?

I'll give you some hints it had to do with uh things have Things on the related to the countenance related to the countenance? Related to the countenance, yeah. I remember it now. Yeah. Go, man. Here it is. It was multiple guess. MG.

Yeah. If you have, this is the question, if you have a large mental protuberance. Did you see that, guys? I said it with him. Mental protuberance. So if you have a large mental protuberance you have A. An inordinately humongous head. Good choice right? Are you worried about his head?

B. An ugly growth on your head. I mean, uglier than your head. That would be good. That would be something. Not only are you ugly, but your growth is even uglier than yours. Three, a large chin. And D. An annoying friend. Where the hell did you get that one? I was thinking the other day as I was... Ruminating?

No, as I was conjuring up... Musing. Trivia questions. The answers are much more fun than the questions because you have to make up for phony answers of course and No, he's so far out in the field that most people would say Well, you know what Actually when I first read this I got the answer you did yes

Only because I knew that the word for chin in Italian. Was la menta. No, that's mint. Oh. It's il mento. I think mento with an O. Il mente is the noodle. Yeah.

So mente is mind, mento is chin, and I said, well, I guess it could be a humongous head, but I'm going to go with a large chin, J. Leno type. No kidding. And that's the answer. Yeah, I mean, I have to say that I didn't believe this at all, and I actually went and looked it up in my Funk and Waggles, and mental says, of are relating to the chin. Right.

Who the heck knew that? So if you had a mental case, it'd be a case for your chin. Do we have a winner? He's a real mental case. His chin. Yeah, the winner is Joe Brullotti from White River Junction from Monty.

That's so up in the wind up male. I think it would be Joe Brullott. Oh yeah, see I was trying to make it Italian. He's probably French, isn't he? Of course. Then he's not gonna win. Pick a new winner, this guy's French. On the other hand, we're gonna send him one of our CDs, he deserves it. We'll send him two.

The winner's Joe Bruelot from White River Junction, Vermont, and for having his correct answer chosen at random from all the correct answers that we got this week, Joe's gonna get a copy of the second best of car talk which according to Dougie makes an excellent dog frisbee so you use the case once yeah you use the case for the for the rocky table that you have that's it and if the CD itself dog goes out grabs it breaks it in half and everyone's happy anyway we have a new puzzle coming up there in the second half of Car Talk. An automotive puzzler.

Good. Good? We need one. You didn't like this week's puzzler? No, no, it was good. I loved an annoying friend. In the meantime, if you'd like to call us, the number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Hi, guys. Hi, who's this? Mark from Malone, New York. Mark. Malone. From Mal guys. Hi, who's this? Mark from Malone, New York. Malone? From Malone. Where the heck is that? About 75 miles from Montreal, Quebec.

If it's 75 miles from any place, then it is nowhere. That constitutes nowhere. Yeah. 75 miles from where? Montreal. What's up, Mark? Okay, let me say, you guys are really great. I serve subpoenas for a living and while I'm Mark? Okay let me say you guys are really great I serve subpoenas for a living and while I'm out looking for these people you guys are a great diversion.

Well so are you. Matter of fact I got a couple for you two. Oh no is that why you called? To find out where you are. You could serve them over the phone. Yeah now listen guys what I got I got an 89 Chevy Cavalier with five thousand miles on it well and while you're driving down the road it acts uh... like the fuel filters dirty that's not getting gas and we're pinching the gas supply off whatever it'll chug uh... and that'll run fine for seven or eight miles maybe even more and then it'll do it again

and i recently think that the parameter cable broke and I noticed after a few days that the car ran perfect. When they hooked the speedometer cable back up, it went back to doing this thing. Impossible. What's going on there? Impossible! Well, that's what's happening. So the speedometer, whoa.

Oh, wait a minute, I'm working on this. Ah, the speedometer was disconnected. Correct. When the speedometer was disconnected. Correct. When the speedometer was disconnected, the speed is no longer being input to the computer. Now, what can we do with that piece of information? Hold on here. Don't worry, Mark. We're going to get this.

I mean, first of all, let's validate this thing. I mean you, how long was it disconnected? Oh, at least a couple of months. Couple of months? And normally prior to that how often would your car exhibit these strange symptoms of the blah blah blah blah blah? All the time. All the time? You guys are my last hope.

Oh, that's too bad did the did the check engine light come on in when the when the cable was broken no no she's no more see it's not that the speedometer is disconnected well no speedometer is also the speed sensor well this be out the speedometer cable I if on this car I built now I'm guessing because I don't see many of these cars in the shop, they're so reliable. Ha! But I have a feeling that while this happened,

when the cable broke, your vehicle speed sensor stopped getting an input from the cable, which should have turned on the check engine light. But that's probably broken too. And it may be that you have a faulty VSS. Okay. But that is the only thing that I can come up with. So what?

Why would that make it run bad? Well if it's sending a bogus signal to the computer, it's going to change the fuel air mixture and the timing and all that if in fact it's sending a bad signal to the computer Ah and when it when the thing is out of the loop it goes back to basic settings right and it assumes that the thing is Broken or disconnected and it goes back to some I'm sure it didn't run great But you might not have any way of knowing that but it ran a lot better With the thing disconnected right and that in that component out of the out of the circuit so to speak So it could be it could be the vehicle speed sensor is worth replacing with the thing disconnected. Right. And that component's out of the circuit, so to speak.

So it could be, it could be the vehicle speed sensor is faulty. It's worth replacing. It's worth replacing. Okay, guys. Okay, now do you need any IRS advice? No, I do great in that area. You do? That means you don't pay them or they think you're dead.

Well, of course. Do you deduct your mileage? Yes, yes. Well, how were you able to do that in the three months that the cable was broken? You didn't like fake it, did you? No mileage? Yes. Well how were you able to do that in the three months that the cable was broken? You didn't like fake it, did you? No, I estimated. What's your social security number, Mark?

I couldn't possibly give that out. See you, Mark. Thank you very much. All right. Bye-bye. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi there. Hi. How you doing? Good. Who who's this it's Michelle of course

you sounded like well it's Michelle that you recognize my voice you all the time so we should recognize your voice only one me that's true where you from I'm calling from San Francisco. San Francisco? That's out west of here, isn't it? Yeah, that little town on the coast. Yeah, yeah, where they have the cable cars. Anyway, Michelle, what's on your mind? Well, I have this old Volvo that I just love and I, you know, it's like a bad relationship. I can't get rid of it. How old? 242. 79 Volvo. Geez, 79. Yeah.

Cool. Okay. When it starts to rain, at some point the windshield wipers will spontaneously go on when the car is on, but I haven't turned them on. And then after that, eventually the battery dies and the charging system goes down, the alternator and the regulator goes down. And I've had people look at it and they can't find what's happening. Well, it's convenient that they go on when it's raining. Only when it's raining. Only when it's raining. Because that's the only time that water is coming through the windshield.

To quote Amos and Andy. Oh do it. No Do it no Don't these these wipers will then run when you're in the house? No when I turn the car off they go off Yeah So there's no reason that for the battery to go dead if you then tried to start the car it would start right up Obviously, right? Yeah, it takes a while But the next day the kind of battery goes dead within the next week or so a couple weeks usually Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I just imagine like some kind of short. That's like draining my car

I don't know rather vexing little problem you vexed Vexed to me, man. Well, I mean, I'm not sure that, I think Michelle has somehow. You're right into this, something more than you think. Yeah, I mean, you're telling us that these things are happening. I'm not sure I believe that they're related to each other.

Okay. I don't think so either. I think that you have an underactive charging system. Having an underactive thyroid. You need Synthroid. You have a charging system that's barely working because you you may have a bad voltage regulator or you may have a bad alternator but no matter what you're barely producing enough current to run the car. The other problem with the wipers going on,

I think water is getting into the wiper relay. I think you're right. And short-circuiting it, and it only happens when it rains because that's the only time the windshield leaks. So how do I fix that charge, so it charges better? You either need a battery or an alternator or a belt. Or a regulator, I think this is seven. Or a regulator. This may have a separate regulator. separate everything but the belt this may have had a separate

regulator but they the new ones they sell may be all in the room okay get a new relay for your wipers okay see you Michelle sounds great thanks for your call bye more calls and a new puzzler coming right up after these messages. when there was a disagreement or a conflict. How to be brave in our relationships. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. As we're all navigating a divisive election, no matter what happens, the question remains, how the heck are we gonna move forward together? So in this season of the StoryCorps podcast from NPR,

stories from people who made a choice to confront the conflicts in their own lives head on, And in sharing stories from the bravest among us, maybe we can take their lead and find some hope for the rest of us. Get the StoryCorps podcast wherever you listen. For a while now, you've probably been hearing about book bands, how they're gaining momentum everywhere in Texas, in Missouri, Florida, and Pennsylvania. On the Code Switch podcast, we're taking a look at why. Why are so many books suddenly considered so dangerous to kids? Listen to our new series on the Code Switch Podcast from NPR.

This message comes from Wondery and T-Boy. The Best Idea Yet is a new podcast about the untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the people who made them go viral. Listen to The Best Idea Yet wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers. And of course, we had to discuss cars, car repair, leopard print carpeting, and the meaning

of life. It almost is the meaning of life. I mean, it isn't really? Well, it's a note from a guy named Rick Up, and I don't know where he's from, because you can't tell when people send you email where they're from. Wait, guess. I was excited to find out this week that it's going to cost a fortune to have my car engine rebuilt.

Notice that I was excited to find out this week. That's because I know that the words too expensive actually mean you have to do it yourself. I'm not after some altruistic feeling of accomplishment, nor do I look forward to the pride I'll feel for having saved a thousand dollars on a major car repair by doing it myself. No, none of those things. I'm after the tools. Right, there you go. If I rebuild a motor, I'll be able to, no,'ll have to, buy a bunch of really cool tools.

Like most guys I suffer from the following major guide tendency number three, I fixate on a single tool, the perfect tool, as though owning that one item will fulfill all my needs. However I have learned that some people, whom we shall refer to as my wife, cannot appreciate the innate beauty of the perfect tool. So before I can buy the perfect tool, I usually need an excuse. Rebuilding the engine in the car would provide justification for about a dozen perfect tools, tools that might get used this once and never again,

but who cares? They are cool tools. And that's it. See, if you have a big project, you can buy anything. My brother-in-law is like that. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's carried it to an extreme. I mean, I convinced my wife wanted me to make her a step stool so she could reach the stuff on the top shelf in the cupboards. And I had to go out and buy a table saw, jointed planer, radio alarm saw, lathe, drill Drill press well I was thinking of Eugene Eugene on the other gene my brother-in-law

He somehow hit me Here his wife always wants to hold Eugene well. Why do we actually need that you know? I mean like how about if we had like a Bathroom wouldn't that be nice to have too? Instead of a back hole. I mean any man that can own a back hole. He convinced his wife that they needed a back hole more than they did in a bathroom. Moreover, convinced her that they should park it on the front lawn.

I mean. Now there's a man after me own heart. What a genius, a true genius. The guy's a genius. Yeah, I mean Steinmetz didn't have anything on Eugene. All right, look, it's time for the puzzler. And I know I, well you killed like a half an hour. Is the show over already?

The show's over, yeah. Here it is. Okay. I'll do it quickly. Automotive puzzler. Automotive. The other day a customer pulls into the garage. It was our only customer of the week.

Don't laugh. And Manny and Ralph are standing in the air next to each other. Well, actually they're leaning on each other. Holding each other up. And this guy pulls in and the car sounds like this. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So obviously he got exhaust system problems. And he says, he gets out of the car and he says,

I think I need a new muffler. And Ralph says, sounds like that to me. And Manny says, no, I don't think so. Ooh, it's not the muffler. It's the front pipe. And the guy says, no, no, no. He says, I've been listening to it for a week. Believe me, it's the muffler.

And Ralph says, I'd have to agree. It certainly sounds like the muffler to me. And Manny says, well, yes, it does sound like the muffler, but I know that it's not. What did he perceive? Whistling Now, he didn't see the pipe hanging down when the guy came in.

But what did he notice that these other two guys didn't notice that allowed him to figure out that it wasn't, in fact, the muffler, but it was the front pipe? Now, if you think you know the answer to that interesting automotive query, send it to us at Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, All-Fair City, MAP 02238 or you can email us your answer from CarTalk.com by clicking on

the Talk to Car Talk section and don't forget if you email us you're gonna include your real address. We don't forget, if you email us, you gotta include your real address. We don't want your email address because we can't send the prize to your email address. And if you hold it, you're gonna win. Well, second thought, who cares? I mean, we don't send out the prizes anyway. Oh, that's right, yeah.

No. Anyway, if you'd like to call us, 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. Hi, my name is Emma. Hi. Hi, I'm from Bozeman, Montana. What's up? Well, my problem is it may sound kind of silly but I can't, I cannot for the life of me figure out where to put my

windshield wiper fluid. And I realized that the other day that I had been trying to put Windex in my brake fluid reservoir. Oh's not good. I know but it's right up there. See I have a 1985 Toyota van so it's really tricky because the engine is underneath the seat and it's tough to find everything. It's the box. It's a van yeah. Oh that funny little thing. Yeah. Wow I mean I don't have any idea where the wash is and where what goes she don't you have an owner's manual I can't find it. It's lost in all the crap. I have thrown in back of it Well, first of all two warnings number one You shouldn't be using Windex because Windex freezes. Oh, yeah under no circumstances

Do you want to add that stuff to the brake fluid reservoir? Okay? Yeah, because then you'll have no brakes. Tell us the truth, Emma. Did you do it already? Yeah. You did? Yeah. You put it, you actually put it in there? Yeah. How much? A little bit. Well, how much is a little bit? Maybe like, I think maybe like a tablespoon or two got in there. Oh, jeez. Oh, no. You've got to get rid of it. No. Oh yeah. You have to have the entire system flushed out. I mean it's not going to cost you a thousand dollars to do this, but you don't want that stuff floating around. Because brakes are somewhat important to the operation of the vehicle. Well, you know, I've noticed that the brakes have been okay. I've kind of been waiting for a disaster, you know.

Yeah, well. Well, there are a lot worse things you could have added to the brake fluid. For example, power steering fluid, or gasoline, or plutonium, or Mountain Dew. There are a lot of other things that would actually attack the rubber components. The Windex is probably pretty harmless. The only thing it does is obviously contaminates it and it will lower the boiling point of the brake fluid. And the reason you have that kind of fluid in there is that it has a very high boiling point

because your brakes get real hot. While not in Montana, you guys don't use your brakes. Oh my gosh. You don't have to use brakes in Montana. You can just go as fast as you want. Brakes optional highways. As long as in your opinion, it's okay. Well, gee, you know, I wish that my car doesn't go very fast

Yeah, I would definitely however before we get back to the windshield washer thing Yeah, I would definitely go to a garage wherever you may be you can go visit our mechanics files on the website Okay, find a good mechanic. I have a good drain out you have all the brake fluid and replace it with new brake What are you gonna do? It wouldn't hurt to do that anyway, because the stuff's been in there for 12 years. So let's get rid of it. He's gonna open all the bleeders and push out all the old fluid until the old fluid and the Windex comes out

and he starts to see a clear flow from each and every wheel of nice clean fluid. And then you'll have saved, hopefully, all the components of your brake system. Hopefully, okay. But to get back to your question, why don't you call the Toyota dealer? Yeah, that's where I'm going to take it. And they will know.

I mean, someone in the service department will know exactly where that fluid goes. I guess so. I guess they just have to, huh? Straighten me out on something. I understood from the readings that people have been sending me that the Montana legislature attempted under the motivation of the state police to pass a real speed limit law and I was told recently that the legislature turned it down. Is that true? Oh yeah.

Oh yeah. You're the one you know it's not it's not quite as unregulated unregulated as I think people think it is really yeah there's a speed limit enforced at night right and generally I mean you know if you're driving 150 miles an hour you're gonna get pulled over you know, you know, if you're driving 150 miles an hour, you're gonna get pulled over. You are, but you don't necessarily get a ticket. And that's why the state police asked the legislature, please put up some numbers, because we're losing all these cases and we're having to go to the damn courthouse every day instead of being out on the road where we should be.

Good, I'm glad they didn't pass it then. Well, they claimed that, I think what one of the cases i read about was some guy was in fact doing a hundred and twenty miles an hour and he got stopped in the gutter ticket need went to court and in court he proved that he had was alive in a word and away yeah and his car was in perfect shape and i'm going to say these and he said a hundred and twenty miles an hour was prudent at that time.

Don't you guys think that's cool though? I think it's stupid! Oh, you do? Oh, I think that's cool. That's why you live in Montana with all the other wackos. Yeah, there are a lot of them. I'm just curious, how long have you owned this vehicle? Um, a little under a year.

Oh, so you've had no occasion until now to replace the windshield wiper fluid. Well, it ran out a long time ago, but you know, it's been snowing, so I haven't really... You haven't really gotten around to it. Yeah. Sure. I mean, my windshield washer system is a bottle of Windex on the seat next to me. Yeah, that's what I'm doing now, too. Exactly. And when I have to clean my windshield, I roll down the window with a crank handle, I stick my arm out the window with the bottle, I spray it, which is tough doing it 60 miles

an hour, luckily the car won't go 60. I spray the windshield and I turn on the wipers. That's what I do too. Sure, it's fine. I have to use a pair of pliers to get my window down. You lost the crank. Yeah. Buy a pair of vice grips.

When you go to the dealer to find a way to put the fluid, buy a crank. See you Emma. Good luck. Bye. Well you've wasted another wise perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion Berman. Our associate producer and dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Cathode-Ray, our engineer is Karen Given, and our technical advisor, the fastest hand at the buffet table, is John Bugsy, free lunch lawler. Boy, does he take it heavy, huh?

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