The Best of Car Talk - #2495: Drive Thru Auto Repair

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Is there anything more depressing than the customer waiting room at your local repair shop? Well, Sarah has found a repair place that will fix her Nissan while she waits -in her car! The view from the top of the auto lift 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

It's almost Thanksgiving, and if you're hosting this year, how well do you know how to cook the main event? A turkey in the grand scheme of things, not actually that hard. There's just a couple little things you have to keep in mind. It requires a little bit of planning ahead. On a new episode of Life Kit, we talk turkey. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Ray. Before we start the show, I want to say how grateful we are for listeners podcast. or donate to your local station, your generosity fuels one of the most trusted news sources in America today. If you haven't made the leap to contributing yet, Giving Tuesday is almost here, and now

is the perfect time to support what you love. Sign up right now and get perks across more than 25 podcasts with NPR+. It's a tax-deductible donation that helps make the world a more curious place. That's right, enjoy sponsor-free listening and access to the best of Car Talk archives. Join us at plus.npr.org or you can always make a gift at donate.npr.org and thanks. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Center for Judging a Book by Its Cover here at Car Talk Plaza. There's nothing wrong with that. No, I didn't say there was.

Oh, I just wanted to make it clear that it's my opinion. We read a letter a few weeks ago that offered visual cues to identify potentially dangerous drivers. And I think the cues mentioned were large, teased hair. Yeah, that's probably true. And a red-colored car. Mm-hmm. And a few other things, I'm sure. There are others. We-hmm And a few other things we have more yes

I have what turns out that many people have opinions concerning what to watch out for in the road and here are some of them Here are some any car with I'll just dash these off because there are thousands of them there are any car with personalized License plates which are cute self congratulatory are drafted in private code plates which are cute, self-congratulatory or drafted in private code. These are statistically shown to lead to inattention deficit driving on the part of others on the road who are either overcome with nausea or attempting to decode the plates. What? Four, two, one? What?

Any commercial, oh yeah, any commercial vehicle with one of those how am I driving stickers on it because this is a company that has liability problems and they're trying to deal with that's true I worry about them let's see oh rental trucks now this is all inside that cab there is a driver who has never operated anything bigger than a Honda Civic and we're saying whoa what's that for oh that's good. Oh, that's true. I mean, stay away from those rider trucks. And the last one I have here is nuns. I mean, any nun driving is a threat.

Really? At least according to Chris Austin. I'm sorry to give out your name, Chris, but you asked for it. You'll be hearing from your parish priest in the morning. Well, all of these letters are posted in the mailbag section of our website, cartalk.msn.com. If you want to read them in their entirety, you can go there and visit that part of the site. By the way, you can still write to us at Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge

Mass 02238. Write to us. I mean, I'm sick of reading email with all the typos. I want somebody to sit down at a typewriter and type me a letter. Right, use Whiteout. Use Whiteout. I mean, Ken Rogers uses it on the screen of his computer. Yeah. Got a moron. In the meantime, if you'd like to call us about anything our number is

1-800-332-9287. Hello you're on Car Talk. This is Celia. Hi Celia. How are you? I'm very well, how are you? I am doing great. It's a lovely day in the bluegrass. In the bluegrass. You must be calling from Kentucky, eh? I'm calling from the capital of Kentucky, Frankfurt. frank for it i do that yes i do that frank for it one of the few capital cities that i know it's a little every seventh grader in this country

but not many adults know that so what's up cilia i have an eighty six board ranger pick up it's a two point three leader engine it's got about a hundred and sixty eight thousand miles on it very good com it's a five-speed it's a two point three liter engine it's got about a hundred and sixty eight thousand miles on it very good on the five-speed it's got the overdrive but I would say right now I'm in underdrive okay we have a lot of hills here in Frankfurt in fact some of them I would say are close to 40 to 45 degree angle hills really yeah and I used to have to shift down into third when i get up to the top of one of these hills to get home i am now having to shift down into

second and wondering i'm even going to make it up the hill you want me to tell you the things that i've done to it or the things that i had done to it no uh... the things that I had done to it. No! We don't want to be influenced! Well, I mean, just judging from the mileage, is one of the things

a valve job? On your list? No, it's not on the list. It did have a tune-up, and the distributor cap had cracked, and they said we think it might be your rear main feel uh... leaking and and they did an r and r i think that is that

removing replace yeah that's it ahead gaskett arrest and rehabilitation depending on because the mood of the mechanic what i think my track is taking right now uh... and they did a compression check I have those numbers if you'd like them. Ah, yes, that's the next question. Alright. What are those numbers? 150, 120, 95, and 180. The 95 is bad. I know. Now, do you have any of these seals replaced? You said they did a compression test, but they didn't replace the front or rear main seal they they replace the head gasket

on the front main seal no they replaced the they didn't replace the head gasket they replaced the front main seal all right yeah they did all right well several things come to mind the low compression in and of itself is enough to have this to create the symptom you have 95 pounds compression in one cylinder is bad they should all be like about 175 or so all right so that's that's one potential problem okay I'm writing this you could also have a slipping clutch and I suppose they tested for that and that would require you to downshift to I'm sorry hills that's one possibility another

possibility is that in doing the front seal, they put the timing belt on one notch off. Okay. And that could cause a huge loss of power or your ignition timing could be off. All right. Or I suppose it's possible but not likely that your catalytic converter is plugged up. So you've got five possibilities. Did you write them down?

You have to buy the tape. Good. You have to buy a copy of the tape. Twenty-five bucks. You're going to have to bite the bullet. I think my brother mentioned to you maybe about an hour ago that you needed a valve job. I mean, he was just a wild guess on his part, unencumbered by the thought process.

I just use my feelings on these things. I just have a feeling. I could see that 86 red Ranger. I'm sorry, It's white white I'm afraid I'm afraid he's right so have you guys do another compression test have him do a wet test also and Determine if you really need a valve job and when he says you do Do it all right. See you Celia. Thank you so much guys.

A pleasure to talk to you. Bye. Bye bye. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hey guys, it's Tim Taylor calling from Orlando. Tim Taylor the tool man. Tim Taylor the tool man.

I wish I made the money he made, but I had the name first, but I don't get any royalties. No, you poor guy. Where are you from, Orlando? Orlando, Florida. Home of Mickey Mouse and very hot weather. That may be the only Orlando in the country. You know there is only one Orlando in the country. the name first but i don't get the royalty now you poor guy we have or lando lando florida home of mickey mouse and uh... very hot weather that may be the only orlando in the cut you know there is only one city named orlando in the entire country i don't think it's in florida i believe it i

don't think so unlike springfield which we know there's is everyone in every single state including two in alaska and four in hawaii what's up Tim? Well I believe that. Well I hope you guys can help me. I have an 89 Buick Park Avenue and it's a great car.

The way I got it was kind of interesting. I'll let you know that and then I have a specific problem that no one can seem to solve. About a year ago my mom gave me a call. I was at work. She lived in Memphis, Tennessee. She gave me a call and she was crying on the other end of the phone and I said, Mom, what's wrong? And she said, i just bought a new car and i thought what's so bad about that

you get gout or something and she said no i don't want to give up my old car my father passed away a few years ago and gave it a car and and she had a very much sentimental attachment sure very emotional fundamental attachment so i think tomorrow that anything to do to help you just let me know and i'd asked her previously if i could buy the car from her one day but you know what the rate of by it so she said you can have it if you just come get it

you can you get to have it what a deal so i was on the next plane to mexico i've got two brothers one of the lawyer and i wanted to get him back now that's slimy no godly suing your mother right now because i think that they have well i don't want to remember all the terrible things i did in high school and if i'm not to give it to me before i got there so i think that you got there quickly before she could change your mind the problem i have is the heat down here is notorious as you know uh... one thing you cannot live without in florida in orlando especially is a

working good air conditioner in the car and this is what happened when i turn the air on when i get in the car uh... it blows out of the defrost vent instead of the front end and uh... every once in a while be driving along it'll just change to come out the other one but look at my mechanic and he he said well if they took a cum hose that's what adjust the things and uh... he's right he checked all the vacuum hoses he said

no that's that's not a problem i think he may have replaced one and he told that no he said that should do it and so i thought okay so i took the car out blue out of the defrosting again just could it would not be any different one day i was sitting in a parking lot uh... sitting perfectly still didn't step on the gas or anything didn't touch any buttons

and often on its own it just changed to blow out the front and then about five minutes later it changed blow out the defrost again very strange i took it back to him he says well the only thing i can think of now that it's the uh... electronic unit you know we actually punch on and that set the temperature and all that he replaced the whole unit gotta be a he turned it on

blows out of the car i think he's on the right track he just hasn't has a replace enough pieces yet exactly what are the other people this is a this is a problem all though as you know the way this happens is there are little doors that opening closed the direct the flow of air right and the wrong doors are opening and slash or closing right right so he was on the right track when he checked all the hoses down there but he may not have checked all the doors I mean there might be a door that's stuck all right well is this guy a Buick dealer no no he's an it he's just works at a station he does his very good prices has been very reliable done a lot of work for me but he's not a Buick dealer see I as much

as I hate to say it you might have to stop by a Buick dealership. Mm-hmm Because this is not rocket science and They should be able to do it in no time and your mother didn't have this problem in Tennessee No, she did. She had the problem. She told me about it She said every once in a while when she hit a bump, a pothole or something, it would change. Yeah. Yeah, I believe that. I believe that.

But I also believe the fall. You have two brothers? Two brothers, yes. I think both of them had first dibs and second dibs in this car and refused it. And they said, we don't want this beast. I think Timmy will take it though. He's not that smart. Tim didn't hear what I said.

Well, that could be very likely. And mom was crying that day because she felt bad. She said, I hate to do this to Tim. He's always been such a good little boy. Except for all those things he did in high school. You know that sleazy lawyer brother of yours, he definitely had first crack at it and he refused it because he knew it was going to be a disaster. And you're stuck with it.

Take it to the Buick dealer and they'll have it fixed in an hour. No, they won't have it fixed in an hour, but they'll fix it. My brother is probably right. This is the second time today he's said that. Well... Watch yourself! Well, I'm afraid of them saying, oh, we've got to take out everything on the dash. They are going to say that. Well, they are going to say that because that's where it's at.

I can watch the meter on the hourly charge. It's going to cost you many hundreds, but you've to say that. Because that's where it's at. I can watch the meter on the hourly charges. Yeah, no, it's going to cost you many hundreds. But you got the car for Zip. I mean, come on, will you? Well, I know. I did tell my wife, you know, even if it costs a little bit, I did get the car for nothing. And send the bill to your mother. I think so.

See if she'll split it with you, at least. Good luck, Tim. All right. Thank you much. Bye-bye. I mean, do you have the right to send the bill to the person who gave you the defective car? I think so. Good luck, Tim. All right. Thank you much. Bye-bye. Bye. I mean, do you have the right to send the bill to the person who gave you the defective car?

I think so. You can send it. You know the lawyer's son would have done that. Dear Mom, have a wonderful Mother's Day. Please find and close the bill for $616, your half of fixing that deadbeat car that you sent. Hey, we've got more calls on the Puzzler answer coming up right after this. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies.

Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com, T's and C's apply. Take a moment to unwind and give thanks this week with NPR's All Songs Considered as listeners share their favorite songs of gratitude. This song speaks to me and the basic thing is everybody turns turns and lands in the place that they need to be. Download new episodes of all songs considered every Tuesday wherever you get podcasts. Thanksgiving was a national holiday created

in the middle of the Civil War to unify a country that was split in two. Learn about the origins of Thanksgiving and how the unity and division that we see at our Thanksgiving tables was there from the very beginning. Listen to the Throughline podcast from NPR. Holiday travel is stressful, especially if you're dealing with family baggage on top of your actual baggage.

I'm going home. I'm going to revert back to old family roles that are stressful. And so this traffic jam is the straw that's breaking the camel's back. But don't worry, we're here to bring you some relief. Listen to the Life Kit podcast. We'll help you out this holiday season. Well, look, it's time for the puzzler answer. And I forgot what the puzzler was. Well, just to show that that that Catherine I wanted to get Catherine off the hook because everyone's been accusing poor innocent little Catherine. Oh she's hardly innocent. Of feeding me the

answers and I happened to bump into Catherine and Doug and Ken as we came into the building today and I said guys just so you know I haven't had a moment to speak to Catherine, and I'm going to tell you already what the puzzler is. And Dougie said, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I said, my fair city. And that was it. So it's still a mystery.

It's still a mystery. And now Catherine is off the hook. Karen, on the other hand. Aha. Aha. All right, here it is. I've been asked over the years to explain where the term our fair city came from and his or it came from. A well-dressed gentleman enters a bank, approaches a teller and begins to tell his tale of woe.

This is a great story. He says, pardon me, madam, I hope you can help me. You see, I'm an English professor at Northwestern University, and I'm a visitor to your fair city. And I find myself in need of help. I'm here with my wife and my two daughters, and my wife has gone shopping with my oldest daughter, and of course, taken my wallet, which contained my cash, and my credit cards, and my identification, and all that. And I'm alone with my other daughter, credit cards and my identification and all that.

And I'm alone with my other daughter who has taken ill in our hotel room. I must buy her some medication immediately, but I have no money. Obviously, they've taken my wallet and my credit cards. But I do have in my jacket pocket a check. But I, of course course have no identification either and if you would be kind enough to cash this check from me for $50 I would be most appreciative. The teller looks him up and down. He's well dressed, distinguished looking, obviously quite articulate with a hint of a British accent. It always makes you sound good, right?

Just like my buddy. An English professor from Northwestern. Yeah. And a fraud. And a fraud. She says, no, I won't be able to help you, sir, because you are a fraud and a liar. At which point she calls for security and they throw his butt out in the street. Excellent! And she was absolutely right. Yes, she was. What gave it away? And I, as I've always mentioned, all the clues are right here.

You look carefully, you will find them. And the clue is in the phrase. My wife has gone shopping with my oldest daughter. You see, he has only two daughters and an English professor would hardly make this mistake of saying oldest. You'd have to have three or more. Having only two, she would be the older daughter. And of course this teller knew that he could not have been an English professor from Northwestern or from any place. So she said, get the heck out of here.

Get out you bum. And our winner this week is... Susan Edwards from Helena, Montana Montana? Yes. We picked a winner from Montana? No we didn't. It's random. Just to prove that it's random. We sneaked this in just to make it look to give the appearance

of randomness. And Susan, because your correct answer was chosen at random from among the thousands of correct answers Which we received to this you are going to win a free copy of the second best of car talk And you would have won a 99 1997 Lexus, but we decided to just take that one ourselves Sorry enter again this week, and maybe you'll win the Lexus next week In the meantime enjoy enjoy the tape. Yes, indeed. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-800-332-9287. By the way,

we have a brand new puzzler coming up in the second half. Brand new. Yes. Brand new. And you'll be hearing that puzzler from my youngest brother. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Patty from Nashville, New Hampshire. Hi, Patty. Patty, is that with an I? With a Y. brother hello you're on carton and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and with the white and although the one i a m

what's up well i have an eighty seven honda cord which is uh... third interstate because i got it from my mother's mechanic who had sort of picked it up i get that had been in a few accidents and now it's beautiful but the problem i have now is with the break and this is something that my father had told me not to get looked at uh... so not great yeah i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i rated. Well, when I break the car shakes a lot and the brakes, there's nothing, I mean the brakes work. So like if I were to apply the brakes really hard it definitely would

stop. Yeah. But when like if I'm just braking normally like a stop sign or something the car wobbles a lot and the steering wheel shakes too. And your father says don't worry about it. Yeah right. And actually he has, well, my sister has it now, I think a 90 Civic that does the same thing. And therefore, it's OK. Right. I think he's trying to bump the two of you off. He's trying to get rid of you.

While it could be not particularly dangerous in that it could be a warp disk, it could be. It could be. And it's likely to be. And he's likely to be right. There is the chance on this car, and because of its age and because of what I know about these things that you could easily have a very badly worn ball joint which could cause the same thing. Steering wheel shaking and be ready to cause the well you could have a very badly worn tie rod end. Again the cars the right age so that any of you have two ball joints in each wheel and two tie rod ends. the car is the right age so that any of you have two ball joints at each wheel and two tie rod ends so you have one two three four eight pieces that could be

responsible for a wheel falling off. Oh okay. Any one of them breaking could cause the wheel to fall off or start not fall off in the traditional sense but fall underneath the car and start going sideways instead of front to back. Oh right dragging underneath creating sparks and igniting the you know gas tank and all that. Generally not good. Yeah well the car also actually it pulls to the right a little bit. Separate problem. Okay yeah it probably has a seized caliper too. Yeah that's that's separate. Did he give you this car? Yes he did. Well he's wrong. He's afraid you're gonna ask him to pony up the dough He's afraid you can ask him to help fix it. Well, we just asked that very question if someone gives you a car

Can you send that person the bill fall whatever is wrong with it? Oh, no, no, but well, it depends how much the bill is Yeah, no I he's not right to tell you to not worry about it because I would certainly be worried about it If it were my daughter who was driving that car because it could be something as my brother says quite dangerous You could be driving a death trap. Yeah, I mean you could hit a bump and bingo all of a sudden The car is going sideways at 65 miles an hour Yeah, just take it to the closest gas station Yeah, and ask them them to check the front end.

You can describe the symptom but tell them to make sure you want all the ball joints checked and all the tie rod ends. So I might need a new ball joint? This car even has ball joints in the back. You might as well check those too because those come off and wheels fall off from the back too. They wanted to make sure that they were equal opportunity, uh, disaster, disaster, right. Yeah. Yeah. No, yes, you, you might need a, uh, new ball joint or two or four or eight.

Six, actually. Yeah. I think it has just uppers in the back, but you should get them all checked because it could be serious. Oh, okay. All right. All right. Well, thank you very much. it could be serious. Oh, okay. All right? All right. Well, thank you very much.

See you, Patty. Thanks, Patty. Bye-bye. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Yeah, hi guys. How y'all doing? This is Rick from Dallas.

Rick, Rick. What's happening, man? Rick, Dallas. Yeah. Well, I've got a problem. Yeah. And this is ironic that I'm talking to you today because I went and checked it out this morning and I got a weird answer.

Oh. I drive a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee that has a little bit of a warranty left on it and I took it in. I've got about 30,000 miles on it and I took it in for, I broke my horn, oddly enough, and I took it in to have the horn checked out and they said that I needed to do the 30,000 mile warranty checkup or whatever that meant that I had to change the spark plugs, drain the transmission fluid and put new transmission fluid in it, drain the steering fluid and fix that and they also said that I only had about 10% of my brakes left and I just got back from Midas

this morning where they said that my brakes are fine and I've got another 10 to 15,000 miles on my brakes and they even showed it to me. So I was a little bit concerned. But what I'm wondering is, can I change the spark plugs, and can I do this kind of stuff in my own driveway, or am I going to wind up having to buy a new car at the end of this? Well generally, we recommend that people don't screw up their own cars until they have at least 50 or 60,000 miles on them. I was actually going to go back to the original thing of why is it that the dealership has told you you need new brakes?

Well, that's what bothered me and when I took it in this morning and talked to him about it The guy just said they were trying to get money out of me Who said they were trying to get money out of you the guy at my the guy at Midas also you went to the dealership First that's right, and they wanted to charge me 250 for the brakes just alone $250 worth of brake work on a vehicle that has 30,000 miles on it? Well, that's what seemed a little bit ridiculous to me, and I just finished school last spring and I have no money. Yeah, and also now you're smarter than you were before because you finished school.

Well, I don't know about that. That's still up for debate. I was just trying that on for size. See if you went for it. I mean, first of all, I guess I'd like to know what the 250 bucks is needed for in a vehicle that's practically brand new. Well, that's what I'd like to know. What kind of driving have you done over the last year and a half, two years with this thing? Quite a bit of highway driving. Quite a bit of highway driving.

Well, I mean, I would feel quite confident in saying that it's unlikely that you need any kind of brakes because if you did the guys at Midas would have gotten you. That's right. I mean why would they let you slip through the cracks? That's right. That's what surprised me. Yeah they would never let you slip through the cracks and it's clear or it certainly appears to be clear that the guys at the dealership, you can name them if you want, if they have sleazeballs like this, to this extent, you might just want to let everyone else in Dallas know about it, because it sounds to me like they're trying to take you for 250 bucks. Well, that's what I thought.

Yeah, because if you have done mostly highway driving and 30,000 miles, you don't need even brake pads, never mind 250 bucks worth of brake work. That's right. It's unconscionable. Well, maybe next time I should walk in there with my diploma in my hand. Maybe that's why they caught you. That's right. That's right. Ah, diploma. Yeah, that art history diploma they give you away every time. That's funny. Well, I would certainly not do anything with the brakes, especially if you've been reassured by Midas that they're okay. And a lot of the stuff you can do yourself, when you can go back to the dealership and tell them I didn't do this I didn't do that I didn't do this other thing and I want you to do these

things give me an estimate for what it will cost to drain and refill my transmission to flush the power steering fluid etc etc and hopefully it'll be a lot less than 500 bucks but you can change your own plugs and and your own I wouldn't go there at all I would I would simply go there to find out what they wanted the 250 bucks for for the brakes job I would confront them with the fact that you have had the brakes looked at by someone else who says there is not there is Absolutely nothing wrong with the brakes And I would tell them that you're on your way from there directly to the Attorney General's office

And you wouldn't have them change your oil if you were on your deathbed to the Attorney General's office and you wouldn't have them change your oil if you were on your deathbed. I would go someplace else and have it done. Why give business to a bunch of sleazeballs, whoever they are. Okay. Yeah and tell them you're sick and tired of this nonsense. I think I will. Tell them all. We're sick of it. See ya Rick. Y'all take care. Don't go back. I won't. Sleazeballs. Thanks, y'all have a great day. Bye bye. We'll be right back with more calls and the new puzzler after these messages. The marketing for the movie Wicked has been inescapable.

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Please give today at donate.npr.org. And thank you. Hello, we're back to listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio. You woke me up, will you keep the noise down? With us, Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers, and we're here to car talk on national public With us clicking clack the tapper brothers and we're here to discuss cars Car repair and this overrated thing called employment. Well, I don't want to embarrass anybody, but this is from Dave I know last names, please. Dear Tom and Ray. I would like your advice on a personal matter My brother who was 50 years old, just

received a pink slip from his employer after about 20 years at his job. Is there something about his brother we don't know? Oh, never mind. He doesn't tell us everything. He is a very talented worker. If they give you a pink slip, they're going to be saying something, right? They might be. He is a very talented worker and apparently this move was quite a surprise. He is really discouraged and in the dumps about this and it is very hard to convince him that this is just a brief setback. I know that Tommy has had many different jobs and I thought that both of you might be able

to offer some perspective on this. Thank you for your thoughts. Dave. Well, Dave's brother should talk to my son, Louis. My son, Louis, graduated from college last year. I thought it was 10 years ago. My son, Louis, graduated from college 10 years ago.

It was. Time flies. And he's trying to find himself. So he's just hanging around the house. He has been, he's ready to open his own website. You know that? He's going to have a homepage. Oh yes. Yep.

What's it going to be called? columboreeruns.com. He is now the world's foremost authority. Cause A&E shows the Colombo reruns every day on TV. Yeah, and he knows them all. He knows them all and he's starting into Banachick now. Oh, they have Banachick? So I was going to suggest to Dave's brother that, you know, take a lesson from Louie and

you two can have your own website. And it might be that Dave's brother needs the time. To regroup. Because if he's 50, see in the old days when you graduated from college you weren't looking for a job right away But now as Louie has done what you do now when you graduate from college is you go looking for yourself? That's right. All right, exactly. You try to instead of finding always find himself in front of the TV But instead of finding a job, people want now to find themselves. I'll bet you Dave's brother never found himself.

And he may, he should take this opportunity. This will be the year that he didn't take off when he graduated. Well, Dave may not have ever found himself, even so busy working. That's right. I think both Dave and his brother. I have never found myself, I realize. Maybe they should find each other. I am. I've come to the realization recently that I am a vacationer trapped in a worker's body.

So what is your advice to Dave's brother then? Well, stay unemployed as long as you can. Don't worry about it. I mean, my advice is you'd be amazed at how little it takes to live in terms of money. And don't iron the pink slip because you may burn it. Yeah. All right, look, here it is. So here's the new puzzler. And it's because we were in the throws No pun intended of the baseball season front one throws phr When you have to explain I didn't get it

Mostly because I wasn't paying attention Well, how do you ever hope to remember this next week if you don't pay attention You know you don't you wish you knew the baseball season is now in full swing so to speak full swing All right, I'm gonna set the stage yeah, it's the ninth inning okay Batter at the plate the pitcher throws the ball. There's a long fly ball Hit into the right field corner. Yeah, that's good. The outfielder runs to the proper position, gets positioned to catch the ball, and in fact he catches it but at the last second he

drops it on purpose. Why does he do this? Now if you think you know the answer, send it to us at... and I gave you all the information that you need, I believe. You always do. Except for the few pieces I may have left out, which you will be able to deduce that I left out. Of course, yeah. If you know the answer, send it to us at Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge.

Our Fair City. Math 02238, or you can email us your answer from cartalk.msn.com by clicking on the Talk to Car Talk section, and if you get the right answer, you too may strike it rich by winning a CD of the second best of Car Talk, you all right? Yeah, I'm fine. If you'd like to call us with a question about your car or anything else the numbers 1-800-332-9287 Hello your own car talk. Hi, this is Sarah from Bozeman, Montana. How are you?

Sarah from Bozeman, huh? Believe it, huh? Is this Sarah with an H? Without an H. But I'm originally from Cape Cod. Really? And you went from Cape Cod, home of the retiree, to Bozeman, Montana, home of the wacko. Yeah.

Ah, you must be a very interesting person. You must be a retired wacko. That's a very good way of putting it. Well, I do have a question for you. Yes. OK, well, this is kind of a story, but you can tell me what you think about it. I went to the store in my car Which is a 1989 Nissan stanza with

150,000 miles which I'm getting rid of this week and the person that's buying is probably listening to this and you'll never solve it I'm not gonna buy it unless we figure out what's wrong with it Well, I went to go get into my car and it wouldn't start It was dead when I was when I walked out of the store So I had to get a toad and then my friend who is in the physics department here at the university... Always dangerous to have a scientist figure out what's wrong with your car. But go ahead. Very dangerous. And he thinks he knows what he's doing or he thought he knew. So he took my car and he put it up on the, what is it called? You know, the lift?

The lift, yes. The lift. Oh, they have one in the physics department? I was in the lift with the dog and he wouldn't let me out. My dog and I were in the lift like 10 feet above the ground and he's taking pieces out of my car. He's taking my gas tank out. My gas, everything is on the ground and I'm up above the ground and can't get out. Wait, this guy is in the physics department? Yeah, he's a little weird.

Where did he get the lift? It's at the university, they have like an auto shop. Oh. Yeah, it's at the university they have like an auto shop ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uh... it's a nice feature of this university okay so you're in the car with the dog and he's on down below taking pieces out and throwing them in places and so like 10 hours later he gets everything back together and still in the car with the dog all you must have to pee something wicked and You wouldn't even know. And I have a very small bladder. I had to pee very badly. He finally puts the car down and it turns out it was the gas pump. And you know they're expensive parts if they need to be, like if you need to get a whole new one. Yes, that pump is big money. Yeah, so I didn't want to have to do that. So he's like welding stuff together and putting wires. I don't know what he's doing, but whatever he did, he said it was fixed. So you know, I thank him and that's that well, I'm driving down the street and they decided oh and it worked actually Yeah, it worked it started but I need to put gas in my car But now I can't get gas in my car without spending two hours to pump it to fill the whole thing up

It clicks off every like after I put maybe two cents of gas in it clicks off and it says that it's full But it's not full. Well, which of the physics courses did this guy flunk I think he flunked most of them because now it's not working yeah I think he I think he flunked the one on Boyle's law he must have taken the tank out to replace the pump he did because you know in this car you have to take the tank out and I think what he did was he somehow created a restriction in the filler neck because if the gas can't get in you just that's what that's how the the nozzle knows that your you know that your your tank is full right because it sends pulses back which shut the gas off. Well it's shutting it off. It's shutting

it off because it thinks the tank is full because it's running into an obstruction. So you think he just crimped the filler net? Well, I don't know what he did. Sure. Sure, he could have done a number of things or he could have plugged up the vent line or something, could have crimped the vent line. He could have done any number of things, but he's got to take the tank out again, I'm afraid.

Ah, forget it. I'll just drive my horse. Is this a boyfriend or just a boy-friend? Just a friend, just a boy-friend. Not boyfriend, a boy-friend. A. Is this a boyfriend or just a boy friend? Just a friend. Just a boyfriend. Not boyfriend. A male friend. A male friend. Just a friend.

Yeah. Does he have aspirations? Does he have higher aspirations for your relationship? I don't know. He's been in grad school for eight years now. He thinks it's time to get out. I think he wants to be a mechanic. Well, he's got the beginnings of it.

He screwed up. I'm going to park it. Forget it. Well, no. If you want to fix it, forget it. Well, no, I mean, if you want to fix it, he's going to have to take the tank out, but he may be able to, he may be able to figure out where the, where the, he screwed up by looking at the filler neck. The filler is the thing that runs from

the gas cap to the tank. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, and somewhere along there he's created an obstruction or he's crimped something or pinched something, and it's preventing the tank from filling up And that's why the nozzle shuts off right away. Yeah, what a pain, you know, I mean you is a pain Yeah, unless you really do have gas and the gas gauge just isn't working. Is that possible? No, you know, yeah the gas gauge says it's full all the time as well, but it's not I'm telling you

How do you know? Well, I don't know but I should run it out until it runs out of gas It could it could be full but I doubt it up. My guess is that what I mentioned your liars would happened All right. Well, I'll have to deal with that. You haven't take the tank. I know it's not full because he Lifted it out of the car. Yeah, but then they put more gas in it. I don't know what happened I'll have to run it till it runs I think so and when it and just tow your horse around when it runs out you're right You know, it's always good to live in Montana because you have that extra horse in case you know, you don't have your car Yeah, that's good

See you Sarah. Thank you Well, you've wasted an otherwise 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 Autonomous Ecology is Ken babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Katherine Cathode-Ray, who no longer is in the espionage business, from what I understand. Our engineer is Karen Given, who evidently is in the espionage business, might be. And our technical, spiritual and menu advisor, who has graced us with his very presence today, is Mr. John Bugsy Lawler, free lunch, Lawler. Our public opinion pollster

is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Marge Inovera. Our director of new product repair is Warren T. Myfoot. Our staff butler from the Car Talk Mumbai Division is Mahatma Kot. Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is Euripides Uppman. Our director of Upward Mobility in Eastern Europe is Zibignu Kreisler. Our Director of Turkish Indigestion is Mustafa Maylocks. Our Evasive Driving Instructor is Vera Brukli. Our Marriage Counselor is Marion Haste. Our Head of Used Car Purchasing is Yulbi Hufnet. Our Behavior Consultant is Wyatt Behouzia. The Chairman of the Federal Lubrication Board is Alan Griespan.

The Manager of our Weekly Shrimp Buffet is Sheldon Devane. The Curator of Tom's Car Collection is Rex Galore. Our Chief Counsel from the Law Firm of Dewey Children Howell is U. Louis Dewey. Known around the square as U.E. Louis Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack with Tappin Brothers. And don't drive like my brother. Drive like my brother.

We'll be back next week. Thanks for listening. Bye bye. And now here with an important announcement is Car Talk Plaza's Chief Mechanic Vinny Gumbatz. Hey, now if you just want tapes of this here show, which is number 22, you can get one by clicking on the shameless commerce division of CarTalk.msn.com or by calling 303-823-8000. Now you can get the best of Car Talk and other Car Talk junk the same way to cartalk.msn.com all by calling 303-823-8000. Any little problem with that? Car Talk is a production of Dewey, Cheetah, and Howe and WBUR in Boston.

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