The Best of Car Talk - #2496: Do it but Do it Right, OK?

Episode Date: November 30, 2024

Therese wants to know if her kids ruined their car by sticking sidewalk chalk up into the tailpipe. Click and Clack chide the kids for not knowing how to properly plug up a car's exhaust to make it in...operable. We're nurturing the next generation of juvenile dlinquents 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

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, it's Ray before we start the show. I want to say how grateful we are for listeners like you You know NPR is public media So the best of car talk and everything you hear from NPR is only possible Thanks to your support if you are currently a member of NPR plus or donate to a 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+.
Starting point is 00:00:36 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 Card 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 Chiro Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack, the Tappan Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Center for Pump and Circumstance here at Chiro Talk Plaza. Now, we were not asked, nor will we accept... Well, for obvious reasons, we were not asked to be commencement speakers at any major universities this spring. Yeah why not? Or any minor ones for that matter. I was I was disappointed. Whoopi
Starting point is 00:01:32 Goldberg got to do it. Hillary Clinton always does it. Why not us? Well it just so happens that we had a graduation speech all prepared, had the call come because we were fully expecting a were call from somebody so we thought we'd share it with you here today i mean why should we waste a perfectly good commencement speech you know when we have an opportunity to use it and we have all you captive listeners that's right here it is all right friends parents visitors alumni and distinguished guests noticed that we've intentionally left
Starting point is 00:02:04 out graduates. Why? Well, if you've been to as many graduations as we have, we're sure you're sick of hearing yet another self-important, boring speaker urging the graduates to go forth into the world, apply the values they instill with a disfied institution, and live up to their enormous potentials
Starting point is 00:02:22 for doing well, doing good, and making large annual contributions to the alumni fund. So we thought we would instead address our remarks to you, the long-suffering, overdressed onlookers. Long-paying. And who better? I'm sorry, I lost my place there.
Starting point is 00:02:43 And who better to address you about the undergraduate experience than me and my brother, who between us have 13 years of undergraduate experience? Anyway, our address to you, honored graduation guests, will be in three parts. I guess it's painfully obvious right off that we shouldn't have been invited to give any addresses. First, we would like to speak to you about incentive. Now, we all know that your sons and daughters have plenty of incentive to sit through this long drawn-out self-congratulatory ritual.
Starting point is 00:03:10 After all, as you can see behind me, we've still got their diplomas. And you may have noticed in the program that we don't fork them over until the very last minute. So we're not worried about them keeping their butts in these cold folding metal chairs. You on the other hand need incentive. So as your graduation speakers today, we will begin by reading you the menu for the reception immediately following our remarks. Orange braised Peking duck served on warm seven grain bread with a butter chive vinaigrette puree.
Starting point is 00:03:43 Smoked salmon sauteed in a semi-sweet apple bread crumb coating served with mescaline greens, garlic-soaked olives, and Parisian walnuts in a balsamic lemon vinaigrette. And for you vegetarians, raw, unpeeled carrots. Two of them are all you can eat. Now the second part of our graduation address to you today will center on awareness of the world around you. Look around you today.
Starting point is 00:04:09 This is not a tropical island paradise, is it? And why isn't it? Because most of you are short the $100,000 it took to put these ingrates through a four-year all-expense paid fraternity party. And speaking of looking around you, are these the dorkiest looking outfits you've ever seen or what? I mean, these are supposedly college-educated people dressed up in plastic moomoos. Kind of makes you wonder what they've learned here, doesn't it? Well, I suppose making them wear these motel six bedspreads is one final chance to humiliate them for sucking up the money we could have spent on banana dikeries on
Starting point is 00:04:44 the Côte d'Azur. Finally, the third and final portion of our graduation address to those of you in the audience not graduating today has to do with brevity. It is our considered opinion that there is all too little brevity in graduations these days and to combat that we are hereby canceling the third portion of our speech so we can hand these dummies their diplomas and go eat. Thank you for your attention and God bless the fine American educational system. See now, if we had been standing at MIT's graduation, I think we would have gotten a
Starting point is 00:05:17 resounding applause from that, but they didn't invite us. This speech is timeless, you know. Oh, well maybe next year. And you'll hear it again next year about this time. was from that but they didn't buy us this speech is timeless you know molybdenum xd and you'll hear it again next year about this time about the time now if you want to call us about your car the numbers one eight hundred three three two nine two eight seven whole your own car talk my name is steve and i'm in uh... maryland
Starting point is 00:05:39 hi steve are you just maryland's act well hager's town maryland hager's town almost west virginia Just Maryland, huh? Well, it's Hagerstown, Maryland. Hagerstown? It's almost West Virginia. Is that where they make the slacks? Yeah. I don't know. No. I don't think so. But anyway, I've got a 91 Dodge Caravan and it's got about 107,000 miles on it.
Starting point is 00:05:57 Wow. And it's starting to smoke. Oh. Yeah. It's very bad. This is what I thought. It's a strange kind of smoke though. Uh, the smoke itself is a white smoke with
Starting point is 00:06:08 a bluish tint, so I'm thinking oil. And, but it doesn't do it all the time. It only does it, uh. When you're, when you're not looking. When I'm not looking. It only does it when I'm parked and there's a good looking young lady next to me or something. Anyway, um.
Starting point is 00:06:21 Is it, is it likely, more likely to do it when you first start in the morning? Does it blow a big cloud of smoke? No. Do you look? Some people don't look, you know. Does it do it when you're coming down a long hill and you step on the gas? I don't know about that.
Starting point is 00:06:37 All right, then we give up. When does it do it? It does it mostly when, you know, like stopped in traffic. And if I leave it idle at any length of time, you know like stop in traffic and uh... if i leave it idle any length of time appointed downhill at all it'll do it then really bad i mean it'll get really bad if i do that really yeah i think downhill you have a three-liter v six engine is that
Starting point is 00:06:56 correct that correct until asian they made no they they did make a ninety one they made a three point three leader they made a lawyer so they may all kinds of different edges one they made a three point three leader they made a little so they may all kinds of different edges so i want a three chance uh... you burn oil does it consume oil but not consistently i'd like it knowing that the problem i check it every time that i get gas
Starting point is 00:07:18 and sometimes you i need to put a quarter near maybe a quarter and a half and after how many miles four hundred miles four hundred yet i drive about hundred and sixty miles a day yeah you do a lot of driving well I'm gonna suggest I'm gonna suggest that you have bad valve guide seals I like it and that's why tipping the vehicle I think you only got bad bad valve guide seals on one end of the engine even no I think if you face the other way the same thing would happen if I face the other way or the car face the other way yeah you turn around you mean if you were facing uphill instead of downhill
Starting point is 00:07:52 at the same angle at the same angle okay because I think what may be happening is How do you let me do stuff like this? You just sit there! I tried to bail you out by saying one end. It's like playing hangman! I feel the noose tightening around my neck and you're not doing anything! Well, I tried to bail you out by saying one end of the engine and you turn around and say, no, no, either way! You could have bailed out bad valve guide seals at one end of the engine. That would be good, wouldn't it? Yeah, well, I suppose so, but not elegant. I mean... good with this yeah well spoke to the not elegant but i mean that
Starting point is 00:08:25 well i would explain it not doing it as much on a on a level road you you could have bad valve guy seals uh... i'd like the valve guide seal idea you can take it to the shop and they can take the valve covers off and they can look and see if you have any valve guide seals left right and it may be that you need them replaced that they're not that difficult to replace. They have to take the camshafts out. And it's gonna cost you several hundred dollars. But it may solve the problem.
Starting point is 00:08:52 And in fact, they may not be able to tell even by looking at them. I would just go ahead and do it. Spend the money, do it. If it solves the problem, you'll think we're geniuses. If it doesn't, you'll have the same opinion that everyone else has on us. Well, because if it doesn't, there's nothing else to else has all this because if it doesn't there's nothing else
Starting point is 00:09:05 To do well, so wait except the ring job. Yeah, which you don't want it wouldn't do anyway, right? You know you're not losing any coolant. I know you're losing any hair Long before about the van are you losing any sleep? Now I would do the valve guide seals. With 107K, there's a very good chance that you need a complete engine rebuild, but there's a better than 50-50 chance, I think, that the valve guide seals will solve the problem, at least most of it. And my brother, although he thought he was getting himself into deep trouble, I think
Starting point is 00:09:40 the truth is that the valve guide seals explain most of your symptoms whereas rings We had a little trouble coming up with a theory that would make you burn a quarter oil this month and not last month So I'm having trouble with I think it's gonna do it. I think so the valve guide seals will fix your problem. Yeah, wonderful. See, thank you very much. Get it fixed. I think it's going to do it. I think so too. The valve guide seals will fix your problem. Wonderful. See you later. Thanks a lot, guys.
Starting point is 00:10:09 Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Hey, we've got more calls in the Puzzler, coming up right 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 Wyze app today or visit Wyze.com, T's and C's apply. Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:37 Oh, here it is, the answer to last week's puzzler. First is the question to last week's puzzle, which you probably would like me to explain to you. Sure. Or remind you of in case you forgot it. It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that I'm unnecessary. You know the puzzlers, you know the answers. Remember the little scrap of paper. You do most of the talking. Remember the little scrap of paper. You lost it. I went nuts looking for it this morning and I couldn't find it, so I have no idea. You're at my mercy? Except I know it has something to do with baseball. No, it was the three girls who were... From the end tuck it? No. Here it is. It is a baseball puzzler. Now since baseball season is now in full swing, so to speak, I'm gonna set
Starting point is 00:11:22 the scene for you. It's the ninth inning. Yeah. There's a batter at the plate. The pitcher throws the ball, which is what usually happens while he does a bunch of scratches his butt, the batter scratches. Looks around, waves at the first baseman. There's a long fly ball hit to the right field corner. Yeah. Deep, back, back. It nears the stands. The outfielder runs and positions himself to catch the ball.
Starting point is 00:11:42 And in fact He makes the catch great. He then on purpose drops the ball The question very simply was why did he do this? He dropped it so that it wouldn't not be recorded as an out Yeah, and the answer is not because he suddenly remembered that he plays for the Boston Red Sox And the answer is not because he suddenly remembered that he plays with the Boston Red Sox. No, that was my answer. I didn't give you the whole scene, obviously.
Starting point is 00:12:10 I had to leave out some important pieces of information. Had I given you all the information. It would not be a puzzle. It would be too easy. There was a runner on third base. Right. There's one out. The fly ball that's hit to the outfield is in fact deep, but it is also a foul ball.
Starting point is 00:12:27 He makes the catch in foul territory and realizing that the guy in third base could tag up and score the winning run. Because the score was tied. You left that out too. I left that out. I had to leave it out. I had to. I had to, Jerry. And if the guy scores, if he catches the ball, the guy's gonna tag up from third, even though it's a foul ball, you can tag up on a foul ball. I didn't know that, actually. Well, that's why you didn't get the right answer.
Starting point is 00:12:51 But I asked you the right question. What was that? I said, can you tag up on a foul ball? And then I said, oh! And of course, he realizes that he has to take his chances and drop the ball, hoping that the pitcher will get like a strikeout Or some such thing yeah, and that's why he drops the ball because the umpire runs out and rules of the catch The guy scores into the game's over
Starting point is 00:13:14 Who's our winner the winner is? Interesting name Jay hips from Vallejo Isaiah pronounced that I think the Vallejo Vallejo Vallejo California and for having this correct answer chosen at random J from the thousands of correct answers. And we did get thousands. Our buddy J is going to win a free honorary copy of the second best of Car Talk CD and I think that's a really wonderful gift. It is. best of car talk cd and i think that's on are really wonderful gift
Starting point is 00:13:48 anyway we do have a new puzzler automotive who in nature coming up in the second half of car talk in the meantime will take your car questions at one eight hundred three three two nine two eight seven hello your entire talk hello this is dan from portland dan we have a lot Portland would that be? Portland, Oregon, of course. Well, there are two, you know Opposite corners of this of the country not corners opposite ends side sides Exactly. Well, I have an interesting anomaly Yeah, it's not turning into a problem yet, but I thought you guys would be the one who would now interesting normally
Starting point is 00:14:25 nominally okay i have a ninety two a honda civic ideally love it it has a hundred and five thousand miles on it uh... everything works don't have a problem but what's happening is it seems like whatever i'd drive it uh... about every week and a half i pop the hood check the oil and all the fluids.
Starting point is 00:14:45 And it seems that my overflow tank is always empty. So I fill it up, drive it again, do the same thing a week later, and it's empty again. Now it's not running hot. I check the radiator, it's always full. I look underneath, I park in the same place, both at work and at home. No leak. Did you go to sleep or are you just groaning? I'm groaning, I park in the same place, both at work and at home. No leak.
Starting point is 00:15:05 Did you go to sleep or are you just groaning? I'm groaning, I'm groaning. So I was thinking, where does it go? Well, this ain't no anomaly, buddy. Yeah, this is called a problem. Are you a religious person, Dan? Yes. I mean, do you go to church or synagogue or something like every day?
Starting point is 00:15:29 Not every day. Then you're out of luck. If you did, then this would be something like a pinhole in that plastic reservoir. So you fill it up and it just pours out somewhere. Right. So you wouldn't see it, it would just drip right on the ground and you wouldn't see it when you were parked because I don't know why you would. But you can forget about that because that isn't what you got. Now if you're lucky and you have a loose hose clamp you could still be lucky. You could still be lucky.
Starting point is 00:15:57 You could have a leaky water pump, you could still be lucky although it's unlikely that you wouldn't see some evidence of either one of those things. But do you attend church, synagogue or whatever other place of worship like three times or more a week? Then you don't have to see them. Once a week then? Maybe. Once a week?
Starting point is 00:16:16 Once or twice a week, yes. Once or twice? Oh, right on the borderline. Okay. Headgated. Because once every two weeks, cracked head. Once a month, cracked block. Yeah, it's very likely that the coolant is going out the tailpipe.
Starting point is 00:16:37 And what's happening is as it goes out the tailpipe, you need to replenish it and you're doing that by filling up the reservoir and it's sucking the stuff out of the reservoir and Deposing it in one of the cylinders and where it gets vaporized drop at a time You will eventually notice that the thing becomes hard to start or runs poorly when started Have you noticed that already? No, it runs just as normal and you haven't seen Any white smoke coming out the tailpipe? No And how long does it take for the reservoir to empty? Oh probably about a week and a half And any white smoke coming out the tailpipe? No. Uh-uh. And how long does it take for the reservoir to empty?
Starting point is 00:17:07 Oh, probably about a week and a half, I would think. Yeah. Well, I feel strongly that it could be the head gasket. You could be lucky and it could easily be something else you wouldn't necessarily see any evidence of. What that something else is, I haven't a clue, but it certainly could be a leaky hose or it could be a leaky water pump. You have to have your mechanic pressure test it for a long period of time, not a five minute
Starting point is 00:17:30 test. Okay. Ask him to park it in a nice, clean, dry spot and then put the pressure tester on it and leave it there for several hours with the engine hot. And the pressure tester is just like a radiator cap that you can pump up. Okay. So you pump it up to 15, 20 pounds of pressure, PSI. And then you'll see drops in the ground, maybe.
Starting point is 00:17:50 And then you'll follow the drops upward because drops generally fall down there. Oh, what? And you'll find out where it's leaking, if it's leaking. Okay. So pray for that. I think, Dan, you're gonna find you have a loose hose clamp. Wouldn't that be nice?
Starting point is 00:18:04 On the top radiator hose. Wouldn't that be good. That would be nice. That would be really good. Not. See you Dan, good luck. Okay, thanks. By the way when he does this test if it's inconclusive have him do the head gasket test. Okay. See you later. Great, thanks. Good luck. Bye-bye. If you'd like to call us us at numbers 1-800-332-9287, hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Mariah. Mariah, they call the wind Mariah, do they not? They do.
Starting point is 00:18:32 We'll have to call you Mariah now. Is there an H on the end of it? No. So it's Maria. It is not. M-A-R-I- Oh, you were pretty adamant about that. Oh, yes.
Starting point is 00:18:42 Well, I mean, if you lived in Ponce, Puerto Rico, you wouldn't be called mariah now if the old english spelling and pronunciation what's the spelling in a r i a yeah maria but mariah is good three other women to spell it and pronounce it like myself but all from
Starting point is 00:19:01 the south yeah i like it and it's very nice thank you know it uh... spelled in the phone it's true only really on it well that's not an old english song that he was an old englishman
Starting point is 00:19:20 all that did you say you were from the right uh... wyoming why don't have sixteen years anyway jackson hall Where'd you say you were from, Mariah? Wyoming. For the past 16 years, anyway. Wow. Jackson Hole. No kidding. Oh, a lovely spot, is it not?
Starting point is 00:19:31 Yeah, it's great. And where were you from before you moved to Wyoming? North Carolina. Wow. So, yeah. Sandy beaches. Well, I was from the center part of the state, three and a half, four hours from the Beacher Mountains either one. Now you're three and a half or four days from the beach, but that's okay.
Starting point is 00:19:49 I know, I miss the ocean, I do. There's nothing quite like it, but anyway, you're stuck there and we'll do the best we can with it. Anyway, I have a Toyota Trisel four-wheel drive station wagon. It's an 88. I've always only owned Toyotas. They're great. And it's only got about 85,000 miles on it, which is not bad for 10 years. But what it does is when I am at a complete stop, when I put it in first gear and I
Starting point is 00:20:18 start again and go to turn, I hear a thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. I hear a thump thump thump thump thump thump thump. Aha! Mm-hmm. And it sounds as if it's coming from the center of the car. It's equally loud from the passenger or the driver's side. Very good! And my husband does hear it now. Is it on both turns left and right?
Starting point is 00:20:39 Yes. Or only both? Yes. I noticed it first and most when going to the left But it definitely does it both ways now. Okay. Here's what you do Remove the hood And have your husband lie on the roof Sprawled across the windshield face down holding on to the
Starting point is 00:21:02 Do not turn on the windshield wipers during this exercise. And then you must drive. When you take that left turn, make it real sharp. Give him a challenge. See if he can hold on with his feet. Uh-huh. And he'll be able to tell exactly where it's coming. But is the noise from the front half of the car? Yes. Well, it's under the hood, right? That's the front half. Yes. Yes. Is it way up front or like underneath you almost?
Starting point is 00:21:32 Almost underneath me. I would say, you know, it seems like it's just under the console area. And down real low? Yes. And a very heavy sounding thumb Yeah, but it's regular in other words the spacing between the sound is regular and the faster you go the fat the faster They come yes. Yeah, well we haven't got a clue
Starting point is 00:21:59 No, I I think what what you have we must be a new listener because we've had many calls about this over the years. Oh, thousands, hundreds, five. I think you have a bad constant velocity joint. A what velocity? Constant. Constant. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:22:14 Otherwise known as a CV joint. Right. You have a front wheel drive vehicle primarily. They added the rear wheel drive to make it what? Four wheel drive. Four wheel drive. Right. And while there is some possibility that it is the hanger bearing on the drive shaft,
Starting point is 00:22:28 I've dismissed that. Have you? Yes, I have completely dismissed that. It is also a possibility that it is a bad transmission mount and I won't dismiss that one yet. Well, I didn't dismiss the mount. No. No.
Starting point is 00:22:41 I mean I- He had his hand raised the whole time. He had his hand to go to the bathroom. No, I mean I think that the location is wrong for the hanger bearing but the location is not wrong for the transmission mount no i think you could but you probably uh... the car is the right age to have a bad constant velocity joint and i would just wait until it gets worse it'll be easier to figure out. It's not dangerous. Nothing's gonna fall off You're not gonna die. It'll get progressively very bad Uh-huh. Yeah to the point where you'll begin to hear it when you accelerate through any kind of a turn and the in the
Starting point is 00:23:14 The tone will become more of a rapping or clacking sound instead of a boom boom boom. It'll become a crack crack crack crack Okay, but typically if it's an inboard joint they make more of a booming noise as opposed to a clacking noise So it might not change but when it gets bad enough have your mechanic replace one of the axles and try it out So I've got the constant velocity joint written down the hanger bearing question mark and the transmission mount. There you go Very good possibility possibility and motor mount. I'm not a new listener You are not a super regular listener because i can't get the darn station in my house i've listened to you in my car
Starting point is 00:23:50 and i left him at well we have to be a car running in that case that's right all right okay good luck all right one of six very important people uh... and see you later. Bye. Right after these messages, you'll hear more calls and a new puzzler coming right up. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and more on the American educational system.
Starting point is 00:24:41 Well, from David Leventhal, and God knows where he's from, he sends us, this is something that was needed, and someone has put it together, the universal grade change form. I mean, everyone who's ever been in academia knows that at the end of the semester, after you've turned in all the grades, there is this never-ending stream of students coming in trying to get their grade changed. And I can speak from personal experience the grade change form right now leaves it wide open. This is a do-it-yourself grade change form with multiple choice answers. To Professor Blank from blank, I think my grade in your course blank should be changed from a blank to a blank for the following reasons
Starting point is 00:25:30 you just check off whatever apply don't have to be in creative you don't have to be the person who copied my paper got a higher grade than i did the person whose paper i copied got a higher grade than i did i'm on a varsity sports team in my tutor couldn't find a copy of your exam. My dog cat gerbil circle one, eight wet on true up on circle one, my book notes paper circle one for this course. And then there's a place for other. So I think this is useful. This will be very useful because then the professors won't have to think about it
Starting point is 00:26:09 They'll just get it and they'll check the right number of boxes sure I mean change well as we know they all change the grade anyway because they are Intimidated by the students and because they know that the students if they find out their grades not change they will go and rescind the The evaluation they did did of the professor, and we know that everything is based on that. Now, we have a friend that used a little more creative approach to grade change, a mutual friend who actually attended MIT with me, during which time I felt maybe entirely responsible
Starting point is 00:26:41 for liberating him from the shackles of what you call that scholastic, what would be the right word? Rigor. Rigor. I took a straight A student and in one quick semester managed to get him all Fs. So he gets all Fs that term, they throw him out for a semester, he comes back, gets all A's again. And then he met your guy. And then we strike up another new friendship and he goes back to all F's.
Starting point is 00:27:12 Well, the long and the short of it is, years after he graduated, he decides that he doesn't like the blemish of all these F's on his grade report and he goes to the dean's office and explains to them that obviously the reason he got all these F's is that he wasn't attending class because it's obvious when he did attend class he got what? All A's. All A's.
Starting point is 00:27:32 So he must have been absent for those 13 weeks that he received these F's. So these grades should be expunged from his record. And not only that, he wanted his tuition back. That's when they threw him out. He managed to convince them. I mean, what a guy. What a guy. He actually managed to-
Starting point is 00:27:49 And he will remain nameless, at least for this week anyway. Convince those dunderheads at MIT to buy this. Here's the puzzler. A customer came in a few months ago, another one. Actually, we were contacted recently by the alcohol, tobacco and fire. They wanted us to release a hostage. But a customer came in and she was complaining that she had a short circuit that the fuse was blowing repeatedly. It was the fuse that ran like the tail lights, the dash lights,
Starting point is 00:28:18 the courtesy lights, and she'd put a new fuse in and sometimes five minutes later it would blow or an hour later or whatever. So I assign this task to Manny, young guy, he's got a little experience in electrical work and I tell him to hook up the short tester. And basically the short tester is a device which is nothing more than a circuit breaker that resets that you put in place of the fuse and then the other piece of it is an air meter that you go around and you try to find. I always thought a short tester was a tape measure. You're measuring up, you're short.
Starting point is 00:28:51 Four feet eleven, huh? So I go over after a few minutes, I've given him a chance to hook the thing up and I ask him how he's doing and he says, well, I know where the short is. He said, but I didn't have to use this meter thingy. I said, oh. Oh. You smelled smoke? And he says, no.
Starting point is 00:29:11 There's something on her dashboard that tells me that the short is nearby. Hmm. Sure. Something sitting on her dashboard. And I said, really? and the hint is I got it too simple all right okay well I'll tell you what the hint is this was a sport utility off-road vehicle no no four No? Four-wheel drive. The hint is she was going on a camping
Starting point is 00:29:46 trip. Well, that's the same thing. The van is filled with tents and sleeping bags and coolers full of beer. Yeah, good. So if you think 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. Now if you'd like to call us with a question, our number as always is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk.
Starting point is 00:30:19 Hi there, this is Therese from Westchester, Pennsylvania. Therese. Therese. I have sort of a general car anatomy question car anatomy and yeah i have a about a week ago when the weather was really nice here my two youngest time who are four and two years old rap i think and after a couple minutes i went out to check on them and they had been staffing
Starting point is 00:30:40 jim carron sidewalk chalk up to the exhaust pipe of my Plymouth Grand Voyage. Ah, I must have listened to the show of three weeks ago. Yeah, we recommended this as a preventive measure. Right, right, right. The exhaust pipe was all different colors. They were black. And I wasn't sure what to do about this. I waited until my husband got home, turned on the car, and the chalk got blown out. But my question was, could the chalk have gotten up into the muffler and my husband said well you know if it rattles
Starting point is 00:31:10 around when you drive then we probably should get it checked out. Well tell your kids that next time they do this it has a zero chance of getting to the muffler unless they use a broomstick. So put it in the edge of the tailpipe. Or a whiffle ball bat. And if you push it in with the broomstick. Just like they used to do with old fashioned cannons you you know they throw the cannon ball in and then yeah well they're not about doing that yeah well i hope they're listening so that next time they'll know
Starting point is 00:31:33 that you know next time that you have to shove it all the way in okay and and then yes it yes it could get all the way to the muffler if if it were done properly uh and it does take some practice and that's you got to start somewhere. So I think they've done fine by even thinking of this. They haven't tried it with a squirrel yet. But if it does happen, I mean if it were to get into the muffler, the combination of the water, which is one of the exhaust products, in fact one of the primary exhaust products, and the heat would break down the chalk.
Starting point is 00:32:09 That wouldn't be a big deal anyway. Let's see. Don't stone. Calcium carbonate. Oh, you get carbonic acid. Oh, we should rock the muffler right out in the new one. Yeah. That's what you'd get.
Starting point is 00:32:21 I don't think so. And then that would turn into... Go ahead....clinine water. And then that would turn into... Kleinine water. You might have a little Evian factory. You could put Pellegrino in out of business. Maybe this is how they do it. I don't know. There's nothing to worry about. Okay, good. Okay. Thank you. See you, Terri. Okay, bye. Bye-bye. Well, you've squandered another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug Berman.
Starting point is 00:32:50 Yeah. Our associate producer and dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Yeah. Our assistant producer is Catherine Cathold-Ray. Our engineer is Kevin I've Already Given. And our technical, spiritual and menu advisor is John Bugsy, free lunch lawler, who was supposed to be here today, but is what? Having a free lunch someplace.
Starting point is 00:33:12 Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Marjah Novera. Our director of new product repair is Warranty My Foot. Our staff butler from the Car Talk Mumbai division is Mahatma Kot. Our document security expert from the Island of Jamaica is Uriperdez Uppman. Our director of upward mobility in Eastern Europe is Zibignu Chrysler. Our director of Turkish Intergestion is Mustafa Melaks. Our director of celebrity timepiece endorsements is Hibutu Sezaseko.
Starting point is 00:33:40 Our evasive driving instructor is Vera Brukli. Our marriage counselor is Marion Haste. Our head of used car purchasing is Yul B. Hoofnett. Our behavior consultant is Wyatt B. Hoofzier. 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. And our chief counselor from the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howes, Yulouis Dewey, known around Harvard Square as Yui-Louie Dewey.
Starting point is 00:34:04 Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking clack for Tappet Brothers and remember don't drive like my brother. Remember don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. And now with an important announcement, here is Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Vinnie Goebbats. If you want tapes of this year's show, which is number 23, there's two ways you can go, you know?
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