The Best of Car Talk - #2489: The Burper

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

Calls about smells, burping and an incident at a topless bar on this all-too-typical edition 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 Car Talk from National Public Radio with us clicking clack the tapper brothers and we're broadcasting this week from the Center for strategic internationally supposed to open your soda before

The show starts during the intro to the show you noticed that at least I didn't do it right in front of the microphone I did like you usually do I turn around but I'm sure all of America heard it I didn't turn around. But I'm sure all of America heard it. Anyway, we're broadcasting this week from the Center for Strategic International Marketing here at Car Talk Plaza. Well, here's what it is. Go ahead, fill me in. As you know, China has like a billion and a half people in it.

Something like that. They're coming into the West a little bit. So General Motors is planning to build and sell cars in China. Sure as I'm sure Ford and Chrysler are everybody wants to do it but General Motors there was an announcement the other day and I think it was automotive news. What car? I mean if you're gonna build a car, you're General Motors. Oh I'm gonna put myself in the place of. General Motors makes more different kinds of vehicles than any company on the planet. Yeah. Right? So they're going to China. Right. And they're going to build for the Chinese market what car I know what I'd pick Buick

that's it you got the GM mentality they're making Buick's of course these are the same people that are making decisions about ABS and airbags and at first at first blush you would think that that's that really that's a screwball decision that they should be making saturns or something little right maybe bring back the shabat these are people who are riding around on bicycles from bicycles to buicks i could that's i that's it it rhymed well not not chinese it doesn't on the other hand buicks are are big. And Chinese families are what? By definition, big.

What? No, they're not big. You can only have one kid in China and it better be a boy or he's done for, she's done for. Legally. So the Chinese families are three people by definition. The nuclear family may be three, but the extended family is large. They should be building vans.

Buses! but the extended family is large. They should be building vans. So they're going to go from bicycles to Buicks. I can see it now. I see the advertisement. That's what the marketing department probably did. Well, you know, it's like beating swords into plowshares from bicycles to Buicks. From bicycles to Buicks. I like it. It's a good slogan. They'll use it. You know they will. They're nuts. If you want to cause about your car, your bicycle, your idea of General Motors selling cars in China, you can call us at 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

This is Jeff. Hi Jeff. I'm calling you from Youngstown, Ohio. Where are you? On a phone booth? Yeah, no, I'm on my car phone. Car phone? Yep, it's time for you to yell at me, Tom. Come on. Come on. Are you Yeah. No, I'm on my car phone car phone. Yep. It's time to help me Tom. Come on Come on. Are you driving? Yes, I am. Well pull over you knucklehead

Okay Here's the second thing you're gonna help me about okay. I'm driving he's playing a video game I'm driving cuz I'm going to a hearing because I'm a lawyer You're really way up there on our fecal rusting. So what's up, Joe? All right, I have a 1988 Chevrolet Corsica. It's a six-cylinder. Back in November, I sold this car to my future father-in-law okay for the sole purpose of him giving it to my fiance and we would get married this august the car's gonna come back to me i've had it for almost nine years it was just

done for like tax purposes of the one with the purpose of this conveyance i think i would take the fifth amendment alright and we won't ask uh... it three weeks ago in the lawyers you know i think i'm saying i think that that that that that it's not the bridal shop and look at the traffic for the bridesmaids

she called me about seven o'clock it says that the car what what that's been very wet that night and and this car being that they try and a couple different parts drove the meter at the bridal shop uh... we tried a couple test and i noticed arcing underneath the cap of the engine good okay

don't think it is a you know spark plug situation my father-in-law night which the spark plug and change the spark plug wires okay for a couple weeks the car runs fine then i would take two weeks later she returns to the bridal shop calls me that the car won't run again completely dry day. Oh Okay, it's hard. Look she parked in the same place both times. It's at a downward angle I have a fuel idea this time and say well, maybe it is the fuel filter

So my father-in-law replaces the fuel filter Well now it has been in a pattern where if it sits for 15 minutes to 45 minutes It will not run if it sits for less than fifteen or more than forty five that's right up it perfect like it was brand new i'm driving it today as a matter of fact it is run like it did when it came off the showroom you didn't shut it off when you pulled over did you know it's a running what are you set up your ticket that's not a little test it right now this this car does not have a distributor this This has direct fire ignition, is that correct?

That is correct. And it has, because it's a six cylinder, it has three individual coils. That is correct as well. And I suspect that one or more of those coils is bad. Okay. Or the module is bad. The module is the thing that the coils are all attached to. Okay.

And the problem is heat. Temperature dependent. Okay. And the problem is heat. Temperature dependent. Okay. And what's happening is if you shut it off after 15 minutes is a long enough time for the engine to get hot and less than 15 minutes isn't. You have what's called a hot soak condition. Exactly. Oh wow. And 45 minutes is enough for it to cool off. Right. Right. But in between that what happens is when you shut it off the engine gets hotter and hotter for about 15 or 20 minutes. Okay. Because you don't have the cooling system running anymore.

Is this something he's gonna be able to do himself? Him being my father? Absolutely. I've replaced the module and the entire coil pack it'll cost him several hundred dollars. Easy to test though. I mean next time this happens which we we can make it happen. Right now. We can make it happen right now we can do it right now right now you would need a helper so someone's gonna go crank and someone's gonna get out there and see which one of the spark plugs is not firing okay yeah and you'll find out that none of them is firing and it's your father-in-law's car let him deal with it yeah that's a great way to start the marriage. I think so.

Well, that was the whole idea for selling it to him in the first place, wasn't it? Something like that. So he could put in the new engine. But when he does this test, he'll find out that, more likely than not, that all the cylinders are getting spark, but it is very weak. Okay. And he may not be able to judge a weak spark from a strong spark, but he might have to take it someplace and have someone test the output of the coils. On the other hand you can just

go ahead and replace the parts on our word because we know that we're right. And if we're not, Sue us! Sue us Jeff! You're gonna go oh you're gonna replace all three coils? Is that what you want to do? Sure. And the module. What the hell it's not your money. It's not my money. And's not my money. Absolutely not. Jeff's loaded. He's a lawyer Say it Jeff. All right. Thanks guys. Bye. Bye. Good luck. You think he really would sue us if we were wrong He sounds he sounds like such a nice guy, but no I wouldn't They'll be calling he'll be calling 1-800-332-9287. Hello. You're on Car Talk. Hello, this is Robin. I'm in Spokane, Washington. Hi, Robin.

How are you? Well, I'm fine. I'm just hoping that spring might be on the way. Your name conjures up spring, of course. Oh, yes. It does. I was thinking what a sweet name that is. Robin.

Yes. A nest of Robins. And it's spelled just like the bird. Yes, we know. Yeah, well, fortunately. Well, we know. Yeah, fortunately what so anyway What was the nature of your call? Well, I've got a 83 Toyota Tercel and Recently it started smelling like gasoline inside it Yeah, and my husband does most of the basic work on the car

And so the last couple of times he was in and I said it smells like gas. Can you smell that? No, I don't smell anything. No, really. It smells like it's no no no said it's not like asking you know that now i don't know anything that really it's not like it now no no no and i think you know maybe that's because when he's in his sixty five but he comes out of it smelling like owed to gasoline after well maybe he's been proven in the laboratory that women have a farm more enhanced sense of smell than men do well i wouldn't be proud much much more sensitive

uh... that's why can always tell when their husbands have been smoking cigars in the basement. That's right. Someone else's basement, no less. Yeah. So I thought I'd call you because he respects you guys. He listens when you're going through the stuff and he says, oh, I can see the lights gone in his head. So I'm looking to you for authority here. There's no reason why he would want to get rid of the car or you. Well, you know, I think our, now that you mentioned, I think our life insurance is up to date. Yeah, he might be anxious to, eager, not anxious, but eager to have it fixed, but not necessarily to fix it himself. Right, oh, okay. Fortunately for him, the fix for this is under the hood.

Yeah. Oh great. These cars have a tendency to have leaky fuel pumps and the fuel pump on this engine is located at the back of the engine right near the firewall. Okay he probably knows where that is. He can find it it's the thing that's leaking gas. All he has to do is follow his nose so to speak. Right. Or follow my nose. He'll find the fuel pump because it's a kind of a bronzy looking thing with the fuel lines connected to it. It has three little lines connected to it. And he can, with the engine off, and having sat for several minutes,

the thing will begin to ooze gasoline. He can simply wipe the bottom of the thing with his hand and then smell the gasoline on it. He'll know that he needs to replace the fuel pump. So it'll come out when I'm not, it's not because I drive like a banshee? Well no. That's why you need a clutch. I was thinking it doesn't seem to smell when he drives it but he doesn't get it from first to fourth quite as quickly. It wouldn't make any difference how you drove it. But that's

what it is I bet my brothers dodge dart on this. Okay. So does he need to replace the pump? He needs to replace the whole pump. You can't rebuild it. Okay. Is your husband fairly competent with the tools? Oh yeah. He rebuilt the engine in his bug and now he's working on a 47 Chevy. Should be a 15 minute job. And he smells like odour gasoline again. 15 minute job. Should be 15, but he can milk it and make a whole Saturday out of it

Yeah, okay And tell him not to smoke the cigar while he's doing you celebrate afterwards Okay, see you Robin. Thanks very much. All righty Hey, we've got more calls in the puzzler answer coming up right after this after this. This message comes from Wyse, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the Wyse app today or visit Wyse.com, T's and C's apply. Okay. So does this sound like you, you love NPR's podcasts, you wish you could get more of all your favorite shows, and you

want to support NPR's mission to create a more informed public. If all that sounds appealing, then it is time to sign up for the NPR Plus bundle. Learn more at plus.npr.org. From poll numbers to talking points to all the drama, we get it. Election season can be a lot. That's why here at NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, we're in the business of providing a little release from the squeeze of the political season. Try out any of our shows on the latest in TV, movies, and music to keep you grounded and bring you back to Earth.

New episodes every week on Pop Culture Happy Hour, only from NPR. Well, all right, why don't you just tell us how you've been managing to remember the puzzler from week to week? I've been taking memory tablets. Yeah, really? Yeah. I've gone to… What's the name of them? I've gone Yeah. What's the name of them?

What's the name of these memory tablets? I can't divulge that because... Oh, you couldn't remember. I'm part of a test to see if memory tablets work. For example, I know you're going to ask me about the puzzler, the one about the car that drove into the garage, and everyone said it was the muffler. And Manny thought it was the front pipe I

mean you're probably gonna ask me about that no I wasn't really I asked you about that I was just asking how you managed to remember yeah well what was your secret I'm telling you I'm taking these memory tablets and I've taken once in a while I missed like a couple weeks ago when you asked me I didn't know I forgot to take my pill that day. Also, it's a daily thing. It's a daily thing, yeah. And it's not cumulative. You take the pill, you remember.

You don't take the pill, you're done for. You forget everything. Forget everything. Is that why you had to sleep in the office last week? You forgot your pill that day? Couldn't get home. Didn't know where to go. All right, here it is.

Yeah. A customer drives into the shop last week. I remembered him because he was the only customer that came into the shop last week. And Manny and Ralph are standing there. I think I said they were leaning on each other. And this guy pulls in and his car sounds like it has a serious exhaust problem. Exactly. He gets out of the car and he says, yelling. Right? He's yelling now because why?

The exhaust is loud. He says, I think I need a new muffler. Ralph says Me too sounds like to me man. He says no, I don't think so. It's not the muffler. It's the front pipe The guy says nah, I've been listening to it for a week. It's definitely the muffler Ralph says I'd have to agree Sounds exactly like the muffler to me and man. He says well, I will agree that it does sound like the muffler, but I know that it's not. And what did he sense? What did he perceive? What did he notice that allowed him to figure out

that it wasn't the muffler, but in fact, the front pipe? I think it was that he remembered that he had been in that guy's driveway the night before and had punched a hole right through the front pipe. Loosen the bolts. No. No, what he noticed. Sparks. the night before and had punched a hole right through the front pipe. Loosen the bolts. No. No, what he noticed. Sparks. No. Fire. No. He noticed that the exhaust smelled bad. Oh! Because the exhaust was not going through the catalytic converter. Oh, really? And had

the muffler had a hole in it, the exhaust would have been loud indeed. It already had been through. And it would have been catalyzed already and wouldn't have smelled bad, but he knew that because the front pipe was broken and that's why he got the smell. He knew that the front pipe... Man, he is some guy. He's definitely managerial material. Excellent. Excellent. It turned out to be actually the muffler. It made for a good puzzle. No, it was, he was exactly right. It was the front pipe and the nose nude.

The nose nude. And the winner is? The winner, yes. Virginia Pippolini. No, Virginia from Virginia? Virginia Green. Yeah, Virginia Green from Charlottesville, Virginia is the winner and for having her correct answer chosen at random from among the hundreds or

thousands or two correct answers that we got, Virginia from Virginia gets a copy of the second Best of Car Talk CD. Whoop-de-doo. Which now according to the warehouse guy is truly a million seller. He says we got a million of them in the cell Yeah, so please enter early and often Congratulations, Virginia Congratulations, we have a new automotive puzzler coming up during the second half

I mean not the kind you'd call a real automotive nuts and bolts type puzzler Yeah, not a wrench turner not a wrench turner. It's automotive related. Where is Milt the wrench by the way? Have you seen him lately? He's around. I knew he would be. Anyway, that puzzle will be coming up in the second half of Car Talk. In the meantime, if you would like to call us the number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Barbara in Memphis. Hi. Hi. What's up? Well, it's another marital problem and my husband and I are gonna have to start driving in separate cars

every place we go. Is it gas? Gas! How did you know? Is it in the car or him? Well, it's him. He's using a lot of oxygen trying to explain my faulty reasoning to me. Oh, okay. Oh, all right. We thought it was something else. No, no. We won't get into that. No, no. He and I have this continuing discussion slash argument about the fuel tank, and he is of the Tupperware theory that you have to burp the car. Oh, another burper. Have you heard of this?

We heard of it, yes. Whenever we go someplace, he's nice enough to fill the tank up, but he starts bouncing the car up and down. Yeah, I guess, I mean, we have had, first of all, several calls on this item. Letters, emails, you name it. Email, letters, we've even responded to it in our newspaper column at least once, maybe twice, and yet, it persists. And hasn't he been clued in by the fact that he's the only one that he's ever seen do this? Well, evidently not, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten all this correspondence about it. No, he's never seen anyone else do it. And when you go to the gas station, there may be three or four other cars filling up.

Isn't he the only one that's doing the burping? Yes, definitely. Yes, but there's a certain kind of arcania to this, you know. If you're the only one doing it, you have the feeling that you're special. You're special. You know, everyone wants to know something that nobody else knows about. See, he's saying, little do they know about burping, but I'm doing it because ha ha ha ha. And I'm sure he's rather closed-mouthed about it. If someone were to ask him, he'd say, oh, I couldn't tell you. Yeah. Right.

He's getting sneakier about it. I think he just bounces it quickly now. He doesn't really want me to notice. Yeah. What does he claim is the benefit of it? I think he believes. This man's really bright. He's smart.

He's a PhD person, but somehow he thinks that this is going to get the air bubbles out and he can get more gasoline in the tank. And the car won't be colicky at night. My car isn't colicky anyway. What does his PhD in? Art history? Oh no, psychology. He's a real wacko, professional wacko. Right, there you go.

Well while he may be right about burping it to get air bubbles out and filling the tank up to the tippity top, it is not recommended that you do that to modern cars because all modern cars have an evaporative emission control system that prevents vapors. That's right, that little flap thing. No, no, that's not that. No, it isn't the flap thing. There's a charcoal canister that adsorbs vapors from the gas tank

as the gasoline in the tank begins to expand and vaporize, in fact. See, in the old days, I mean, before we were so into the environment, gasoline obviously evaporates. And when it evaporated, it would simply come out through the gas tank and go into the atmosphere. There'd be a pinhole in the gas in the filler cap. You may have even seen cars of yesteryear that would actually spew a

little stream of gas had they been filled up and then parked in the sun right after that. There'd be so much gas in the tank that it would spill out from this little vent hole. But now that we're more environmentally conscious what happens is that vapor, instead of being allowed to come out through the cap, is recirculated inside the tank, from the inside of the tank up to the front of the car where there is a charcoal canister.

And so all those fumes get adsorbed into this canister, which means that if he's filling this thing all the way to the tippity-tippity top, he could easily be damaging the canister. Right, because what could happen is liquid gasoline, only vapors are supposed to flow into this canister, but if you fill it up to the tippity-top, liquid gasoline could actually make its way up this tube into the canister and damage it rendering it useless. There's research to support it. There is a body of evidence. There is a body of evidence that the Burper theory is all wet. If you'll pardon the expression. So tell him to knock it off. Well the other thing that he does he'll run it till it's on absolute fumes. Another moronic thing to do. Doesn't he read the owner's manual? Isn't that bad for the catalytic converter or something? Barbara, you're going to really have to lay it out. Let's discuss this. Because, I mean, you're going to go back to him now. You have power, the power to go back to him and whack him down on two major technological items. This may be a first. Well, I mean, it may be... It may do irreparable harm to this man.

Well, I'm a social worker, so I think probably I can finesse this a little bit. A touchy-feely person. There you go. I hate touchy-feely. Don't touch me! Well, we'll leave it up to you to figure out how to break the news to him,

but the reason you don't want to... The primary reason you don't want to figure out how to break the news to him, but the primary reason you don't want to run the gas tank down the empty, because if you do, you make the fuel pump wear out faster because the fuel that's in there serves actually as a coolant for the pump, which is immersed in the tank in most cars. He'll relate to the facts and the figures. He will. Yeah, that's good. We have it covered.

Well, tell him to knock it off. Yeah, give him a dope slap. Excellent. He'll understand him to knock it off. Yeah, give him a dope slap. Excellent. He'll understand that from a psychological perspective. I'll do that, thanks. See you Barbara. Bye.

Is the dope slap up on the website yet? Does anyone know? We are working on that. We are working on the virtual dope slap. We'll be right back with more calls and the new puzzler after these messages. On the Embedded Podcast, every Marine takes an oath to protect the Constitution. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. This is the story of a Marine in the Capitol on January 6.

Did he break his oath? And what does that mean for all of us? Listen to A Good Guy on the embedded podcast from NPR, both episodes available now. Studies have shown that elections can spike feelings of stress and anxiety. That's why NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is there to help you feel more grounded

as we talk about the buzziest TV, movies, and music. Try a show on HBO's industry or a roundtable on rom-coms to take a step back from the news of the day, at least before you plunge back in tomorrow. New episodes every week on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. Well, we finally made it. Election week. That is what this whole never-ending election cycle has been building up to. And what happens now will determine the future of our country.

You can keep up with election news when it matters most with the NPR Politics Podcast. All this week, we're taking the latest stories from the campaign trail, swing states, and polling places to help you make sense of them and what they mean for you. Listen now to the NPR Politics Podcast. Election seasons are tough on everyone, so Pop Culture Happy Hour is there to serve you recommendations and commentary on everything in the pop cultural universe while helping you snap out of that doom scrolling mindset. It's important to stay informed, but you also need to take care of yourself. So treat yourself to a new episode about the pop culture you love on Pop Culture Happy

Hour, only from NPR. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and squat. I don't have a single piece of interesting, humorous, or otherwise male that's worthy of wasting the time of us and the six people listening right now. That bad, huh? It's that bad. Despite the new technology, email coming in at the rate of a thousand pieces a minute.

Email is by definition junk. Yeah. By definition because people just toss it off and there's no attention paid. There's no attention paid and you can't spell check it on most places. Well, even if you could spell check it, it's content check that you'd want to do. Exactly, and people are just dashing it off because they didn't want to really take the time to write your letter. But when you sit down with pen in hand. You bet. And compose a letter. Quill pen to be.

Yes. All right, look. I think you should jump right into the puzzle, and I just hope that somebody will send me some decent mail. There, I feel better. OK. All right, this came via the internet from a guy whose address I don't know.

I barely know his name, Steve Scudder. So if it's wrong, it can be all over Steve. Steve Scudder, yeah. I'll read it just as he sent it because I couldn't possibly improve it. A soldier returned to his base to find his golf clubs had been removed from the trunk of his new 1960-something Ford. After complaining around the base, he learned that this crime had been repeatedly happening with Fords, only Fords, parked in the base parking lot while the car owners were on military duty. No damage had been reported to the cars, only thefts, so our soldiers deduced that someone must have had a set of master keys to let themselves into the cars parked in the lot. Got it?

Yeah. What did he do to prevent this burglary from happening to him again? He didn't spend any money, only a few minutes with a common tool. Wow. Now if you think you know the answer, send it to us at Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Oh, wait a minute. Now, I'm going back to that puzzler. Oh, come on. Is there anything to the fact that it says 60s Ford? No. No, I mean, it should be 70s.

Could be 70s, could be 80s. I just, did I say I was reading it as he sent it? But when did he send it, 35 years ago? When he sent it, 1969. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. It was a new car then. All right, all right, our car then. Alright, alright. All of Fair City.

Puzzle and Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard, H-A-H-V-A-H-D, Square. I did that for my buddy Tom Walch. He says I never do it anymore. Cambridge. All of Fair City. Math, 02238. Or you can email us your answer from cartalk.com. No email, one year. By clicking on the talk to car talk session and don't forget if you email us you're going to include your real address, your post office address. So when you win we can send you our best of car talk CDs or whatever. And then we'll submit your name to www.jehovahwitnesses.com please come visit my home.

Slash, please come visit my home now. ACML slash. That wasn't nice. That wasn't nice. And it's a lot of weeks since we've alienated any religious group. Right, indeed. 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, guys. This is Steve from Montour Falls, New York. Steve from Niagara Falls, where? Montour Falls. Montour Falls. Montour. You want to guess where that is? M-O-N-T-O-R-T-O-U-R

Montour Montour that's right it's it's about north of Elmira and it's west of Ithaca it's way out in the boondocks though isn't it it is it is I drive to Ithaca to work that's where I am now yeah but the problem came actually when I was driving back from Ithaca one night My girlfriend and I had escaped the boonies to go to a cultured folk concert in Ithaca Yeah, and we're driving past but on the way back But out in the boonies halfway between the boonies and the cultured city of Ithaca. There's a topless bar Aha and conveniently the car breaks down

And it's amateur night Yeah, and it's late at night it's dark and I see this thing in front of me It looks like a large black round object like a bowling ball Wow, yeah, and I had no time to sort so I just ran right over it not with the tires but under the car I heard this incredible grinding noise. Oh and So I don't want to slam on the brakes that fear I might skid or something So I just gradually slow down and pull off the side of the road about a hundred yards down the road We finally stop grinding grinding all the way and we hear something go crashing off into the bushes So we get out of the car. Mm-hmm and

We hear laughter coming from in front of the topless bar like a bunch of drunken guys, you know, oh, okay. So you know, so we're not going to go looking in the bushes in the dark, but we drive back to the topless bar by the time we get back there, they've all gone inside and I don't want to go in there and say, Hey, who threw a bowling ball out in the road so we just drive on we find a bunch of big pieces of black plastic that came off the bottom of the car in the road hmm black plastic black plastic okay next day my girlfriend's going back that way she stops at that same spot goes down into the bushes and picks up a black bowling ball, of course

Guard probably an inch deep scar the whole way around it So they had actually put a bowling ball in the road and stood there to see who would hit it Not only that it was on a hillside So they couldn't have just put the bowling ball in the road at the problem actually roll it out there How did they actually get the ball to stay there in the road. They had to actually roll it out there. How did they actually get the ball to stay there in the road? Well, they bowled it and they timed it. They heard the car coming. They heard Steve coming around the mountain, so to speak. And they timed it. Maybe they had a whole truck full

of bowling balls and they were just, you know, by successive approximations. You might have been the 14th or 15th car. There is an actual automotive question that comes out of this. There is. In the morning when you go out, you put it into drive and it doesn't go anywhere, just occasionally, it doesn't go anywhere.

But you put it into reverse, it's an automatic, you put it into reverse and then it backs up and then when you put it into drive it's okay. It's not a word that I damage a transmission somehow with this bowling ball. And this this happened what a day or two after Well, it just happened sort of irregularly and I can't say exactly how much longer after but I have another theory to him Yeah, and maybe the bowling ball but I've also I

Know you're gonna laugh at this It's Steve! I've been, I used to coast down the hills, put it into neutral and coast down hills to save gas. Uh-huh. Steve. And I'm sure I've heard you guys say once that that was not a good thing to do, but I was doing it. Steve, Steve. And I don't do it anymore, but I'm worried that somebody told me that if you do that, some part doesn't get lubricated. No, it had nothing to do it anymore. I'm worried that but that That if you do that some part doesn't get lubricated. No had nothing to do with it really Yeah had nothing to do with it, and I don't think the bowling ball had anything to do with it either But it could have I mean it could have I been trying to guess what kind of a car you have my first guess was a Honda It's a Mazda 323 same number of letters ends of the vowel, same

vowel. They're both made in Japan. Same car. That's it. Good guess, Frank! You guys nailed it. He did nail it, didn't he? Off. No, I mean, it's possible that when you hit the bowling ball, the bowling ball might have done something crushing the transmission cover, maybe making a small leak, which in turn would lead to exactly the problem that you have. Right, I mean you could have... Leaking transmission fluid. Yeah. Well, you could have, the ball could have made contact with the transmission oil pan,

in which case it could have, I suppose, dented in the transmission oil pan, done damage to the valve body of the transmission, or caused a leak, or both. Sure. But I don't think that happened. Well, I haven't seen any leaks. And if this happened, if this really did happen, you're going to have to go back and beat up those bikers at the topless bar.

Yeah. You're going to have to just lift in weights and go in there some night and just... How much do you weigh, Steve? I'm going to of the bowling ball and just go in there and you drop that baby on the floor I can see the movie the morons in Hollywood working on it right now you have to go in and lock the door behind you oh so that nobody can leave exactly all right see whose fingers fit into the holes right exactly. Oh, that's gonna be interesting. Let me know when you do it Good luck Steve, thanks a lot go by on that road again. All right stay home

Bye bye Wow, I gotta make an observation Yeah, man to have been a pretty lousy topless bar guys are outside throwing bowling balls See ya. Bye bye. Wow. I gotta make an observation. Yeah. It would have been a pretty lousy topless bar if the guys are outside throwing bowling balls down the street. I mean. You're right. Maybe it was males that were topless. Maybe it was girls night.

It was on boys night. Could have been. Could have been. You never know. They got bored. You see a few guys with their shirts off. I mean you've seen them all, right? Anyway, you've wasted an otherwise perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk.

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