The Best of Car Talk - #2512: Click and Clack Get Schooled

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

George is a teacher calling from Berkeley, California with two problems. His Honda is acting up and so are the first graders in his classroom. Click and Clack meet their intellectual matches 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

President Trump is back in Washington, pursuing major policy changes on his own terms. We know from the past that means challenging precedent, busting norms, and pushing against the status quo. NPR is covering it all with Trump's Terms, a podcast where we curate stories about the 47th president with a focus on how he is upending the way Washington works. Listen to Trump's Term terms from NPR. 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 Government Ingenuity here at Car Talk Plaza.

Now, I thought we should congratulate the White House, the White House, on its latest technological innovation. I don't have all the details yet, and you know me. I'll just plunge right in because I don't need all the details. Sure, all right, go ahead. Apparently, someone in the White House has come up with a new design for clutches. I mean we've been using asbestos clutches for years and before that what? It was like wood or something.

And now it appears that a new type of apparently biodegradable eco-friendly clutch material has been developed right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Get out! Well I don't know, like I said, I don't know all the details, but I keep hearing all these references to it. They keep talking about the White House coffee clutches. That! Clatches!

Clatches! Coffee clatch! I just thought they were mispronouncing it! That's bad. Come on. You can do better than that. I could, but I didn't. Evidently not. Alright. See, you know, there used to be a time in the show when I would ask you if you had any great mail to...

It's a source subject, huh? You don't have any great mail? Well, I have to say that I did a little rant about the mail a week or two ago, and the quality, not the quantity, has improved somewhat. I have a couple of pieces of mail which I think are pretty interesting little tomes. Well, I did want to caution you about your rant because by reading the Andy letter, I think you discouraged or dissuaded a lot of people who wouldn't be able to write a letter of that caliber. Good. We don't want them to write a letter.

We want the people who will see it as a challenge and say, I can do better than that. How many letters you get this week? One. That's what you got. If you'd like to call us, you can book your car. It's from your wife. No, it's 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Hi, Henry Randolph calling from Bolshe City, Louisiana. Henry. Uh-huh. And what's the city? Bolshe City. It's a city that's been in the middle of the world for a long time. It's a city that's been in the middle of the world for a long time. It's a city that's been in the middle of the world for a long time. It's a city that's been in the middle of the world for a long time. It's a city that's been in the middle of the world for a long time. 2329287 hello you're on car talk. Hi Henry Randolph calling from Bossier City, Louisiana. Henry. Uh-huh.

And what's the city? Bossier City, it's Bossier, Shreveport, Bossier City, Louisiana. Bossier City? Bossier City. How would you spell Bossier? B-O-S-S-I-E-R. Yeah.

I'm surprised you guys don't know that. Bossier City. And it's near where? Right next door to Shreveport. Oh it is. Well our car talk intern happens to be a Louisiana nun nun nun nun nun. Is that right? Yeah yeah she she is and she speaks very highly of her home state. She's a former Miss Louisiana, you may know her. Well I've only been here a couple years myself, recently retired from the Air Force. Oh well you wouldn't know her then.

You wouldn't know her, she's much older than that. She was Miss Louisiana in 1915. Was that right? So what's up, Henry? I've got a 88 Ford Thunderbird, a 2.3 liter turbo coupe. The indication from my temperature gauge is that the car is overheating, but the car never seems to do it. Periodically, both the temperature gauge and the all pressure gauge will both pay it out uh... and they'll return to their normal position by themselves

now maybe in the old uh... shape three mechanic that i am i uh... thought it might be a background dirty connection i've replaced it with both is regulated by the day twice. You did? Oh, geez, Henry. That was my answer. Well, I can't seem to put my finger on what the problem is. I also replaced the ammeter since I was back there. Because when I turned my lights on without the car started, the gauge wouldn't indicate it was discharged, so I thought maybe the gauge was bad. So you replaced the air meter? I sure did. But you didn't

replace the temperature in the oil gauges? I replaced both. You replaced those two and the voltage regulator for the instrument cluster? Right, I knew the oil pressure gauge was bad. I knew that from the beginning. Yeah, okay. And I assume that you've done the normal stuff like replace the thermostat. Oh yeah, yeah, thermostat. You know, when I first, I bought the car used a couple years ago and I went through the process of replacing Everything they had to do with the cooling system the water pump the thermostat Oh guys see now you're the kind of guy the car will be good to you because you are good to it I try some people just buy it and drive it. They don't care. What's under there. They don't want to know they don't fix anything

Until it won't work anymore yeah we love them oh i agree with you that the car is not overheating well i don't agree with you ah it's not overheating i don't agree absolutely not here's what i was going to suggest because i know it's within henry's grasp you are a very good shade tree mechanic obviously i'm going to suggest you do

is you buy an additional temperature gauge. Temperature gauge. Okay. Okay, and you mount it under the dash and what you're going to have to do is put a T connector on the block or on the cylinder head. I think your temperature gauge is located on the cylinder head, the sending unit. You're going to T this thing so that you can have hot water going to the factory supply

TSU and the new one. Okay. Okay. And then you're going to send, now you're going to be sending two signals to the the factory supply t s u and the new one ok ok and then you're gonna send now you're gonna be sending two signals to the dashboard one to the dashboard gauge and went to your new gauge and when the dashboard one pegs out you're gonna see if the thing really is overheating if the other ones pegged out then you have a problem right and you probably have a blown head gasket or cracked block but i don't think you'd and they don't know relax and we are going to my brother that is wrong on this one is wrong

i don't think it's overheating at all okay smarty pants what is it don't know what's wrong with it i'm turning to you for the answer uh... from his description i conclude it is not overheating we know that the problem already made it clear that you are going to problem is a bad ground somewhere Somewhere like where? Montana?

Mont- all the ground in Montana is bad I don't know where it is. I have to say gauges have always been a mystery to me Yeah, they are devilish little things Electromagnetism is elusive isn't it? Yeah, no I think that it may. They have electromagnetism, it's elusive. Isn't it? Yeah. I think that it may not be overheating, but I want you to verify. And are you willing to do this?

Oh yeah. Sure, he'll do it, and he'll find out that in fact, one gauge says normal, the other one is bad. Well, this will give me an opportunity, Henry, an opportunity to find out that it's not overheating and give you an opportunity to research and find a better answer for Henry. Stop. Anything else malfunction?

No. Other than, like I said, when I turn on the lights, my ammeter should show that it's discharging, but it doesn't. And I've got a new ammeter. Oh, really? So you turn the lights on without the engine running? Without the engine running, right. And the ammeter doesn't move at all?

It doesn't move at all. It doesn't move at all. Right. There, huh, huh, huh? And that's a new ammeter. Yeah. I mean, if it were my car, Henry, he would tape up those gauges. I wouldn't pay any attention to this at all. I would let those gauges do.

No, no, this is gnawing away at Henry. It's driving him nuts. You know why? Because he's retired and he's got nothing better to do. Is that true, Henry? Well, I have little to do. I have a few things, but very little. One of them is working on your car, right? That's right.

But I've never had a car to stop me like this. Maybe before you go ahead and put that other gauge in, you might want to try getting a used printed circuit board I would do that. I would try that I would go to the junkyard and Ask them for that whole instrument cluster right and just plug the baby right in yeah for ten bucks or twenty bucks You can buy the whole thing right and plug that baby right in and you will not have this problem anymore I'm convinced. It's in the it's in the readings here. It may be wrong with it Maybe but if not you have a crack block I'm convinced it's in the readings here. There's nothing wrong with this. It may be. It may be.

But if not, you have a crack block. Yeah, I like this idea. Go to the junkyard, buy the whole instrument cluster. Oh, okay then. I should be able to find one. That shouldn't be a problem to test it out. Good luck, Henry. I appreciate it.

Nice talking to you. Take care, guys. Bye-bye. Hi. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, fellas. Hi, who's this?

Hi, my name's Christie. I live in Port Townsend, Washington. Christie with a K-R. No, no, no, no, no. Hi, fellas. Hi, who's this? Hi, my name's Christy. I live in Port Townsend, Washington. Christy with a K-R. No, no, no, no, no. C-R-Y. C-R. C-R-Y. C-R-Y.

S-T-I-E? Yes, very good. Very good. Well, you gave us three quarters of it. My mother wanted to name me Crystal when I was a baby and my sisters wouldn't let her. Crystal, that's the name of our assistant producer director here. Well there you go. Crystal Gayle Ray.

Anyway, what's up? Oh, I have a very humiliating problem. Oh yeah? The heartbreak of psoriasis? Does it have to do with an odor? Well, alright, here's the background. My partner's family lives on a wheat farm in eastern Washington. They have a lot of big machines and they have their own gas tank.

Is this your business or life partner? Oh, my life partner. Well, at least temporarily life partner. Until somebody dies. Oh, no. So anyway, I was over there for the harvest and I wanted to fill up my car, my tank. It's an 88 Chevyvy blazer by the way we have to act from their their pump that they have i see you know i see it now i see you know i don't have any idea i see diesel fuel no no no no no

all right it's worth the matter was that i had to really all this is the one octet uh... it's an old machine and it that the meter doesn't work very well and thought putting gas in my car and i realized that i didn't know when the car would be fall so i decided that i wanted to look into the tank so i wouldn't overflow and and you know there was dark so you let a match

well uh... you know there's a little metal flat that covers the whole of the gas tank so i couldn't see in there so i had leaned down and i picked up a nail like a three-inch long nail and i pushed aside the little flap so i could look in the tank and zoom it got sucked into the gas tank like there was a vacuum in there that went into a mechanic in seattle and i said you know there's a nail in my gas tank

is there a problem and he said no no no it'll just float in there it'll just bob unless of course it strikes metal and sparks and so now I think I'm gonna explode Aha It's a great psychological burden so I called Chevy dealer And I said you know there's a nail in my gas tank am I gonna be okay? And they didn't take me seriously And I was hoping you would and tell me if I'm gonna blow up. You were hoping that we took you seriously. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, it was a big nail.

Surely it can't belong in there. You call, let me get this straight now. You called the dealer and they didn't take you seriously and you thought we would? No, well, I thought at least you could sort of make it, so next time I thought about it in there, I wouldn't think about dying. Something wrong with this picture.

We will comfort you, my child. Really? Okay, now was this a galvanized nail or was it just a plain old? It was on the ground. It looked like a rusty nail. Three inches long. It was rusty. Oh your car's gonna get tetanus. But I didn't say it was rusty. It wasn't rusty. It wasn't rusty. How long was it? Three inches maybe. That's a big nail. Yeah it was a big nail. That's why I'm worried. I mean maybe it'll go in there and get sucked through the innards of the car and then... Yeah, that's what will happen. It'll get sucked into the fuel pump, it'll go right down the fuel lines, it'll go into one of the cylinders and it will be consumed by the engine. It'll make a hole in one of the pistons. It's not going to go anywhere. It can't go anywhere. It's too big. It's too big to go anyplace because your fuel in your vehicle 88 Blazer has a fuel injection and you have an electric fuel pump which is in the tank. Uh-huh. The fuel pump has

a screen on it which prevents very tiny particles from getting sucked into the pump. So a nail. It will prevent a nail from getting sucked into the pump. So it won't get sucked, but what about blowing up? What if it sparks against the... What's it gonna spark against? The gasoline? No, the metal in the tank. No, no, that thing is gonna sit on the bottom of the tank forever and ever.

That'll be there when the car is junk, which is like a week from now. No need to like buy it four foot long band-aid. No, when the cosmos collapses on itself, that nail will still be sitting in the bottom of that tank. Yeah. So I don't think I'd be the least bit worried. Okay. You can put this completely out of your mind, Christy.

There is nothing... You sound like you don't believe it. Well, no, I just, you know, yeah. You can trust us 100% on this. Okay, okay. And don't forget the advice that we gave a caller just a couple of weeks ago, which was, whatever you do, don't take our advice.

Oh, great. That's a lot, I trust you. You can absolutely trust us on this. Yeah, no, this is true. Okay, can't sleep now. Nothing can happen. You can forget about it. Months without sleep, okay. Do you have any lawyers in the family? Let's sell the condom. We don't want to get sued if anything happens to you.

You saved the day. Yeah, no lawyers. Good. Okay, bye. Okay, bye. Hey, hey, the puzzler answer and more calls are coming up right after this. This message comes from eBay. Picture this. You're halfway through a DIY car fix, tools scattered everywhere, and boom! You realize you're missing a part. It's okay because you know whatever it is, it's on eBay. They've got everything. Brakes, headlights, cold air intakes, whatever you need, and it's guaranteed to fit. Which means no more crossing your fingers and hoping you ordered the right thing. All the parts you need at prices you'll love, guaranteed to fit every time.

eBay. Things people love. Okay, it's now time to reveal to the entire world how memory is affected over the years by carbon monoxide exposure. Do you remember last week's puzzler, Tommy? Yes, of course. You mean the French peasants who went into the fields and trampled on all the tobacco plants?

I must have been looking over my shoulder. Of course I remember. All right, here it is. And like I said, I'm willing to take whatever it takes. I'm willing to take whatever criticism I get over this puzzle, because I've already had some criticism from the staff who doubts this. What the hell do they know? Come on.

No, I think this is beautiful. It's brilliant. I could kill you. It's so beautiful. Here it is. And I will give the rebuttal answer as well. Yeah, sure. During the 19th century, formally gruntled,

but now disgruntled, French peasants would go into the fields of their landlords and would trample the crops that they were supposed to be harvesting to show their discontent or disdain for the way they were being treated and abused. They would trample the crops with their wooden peasant shoes. Out of this behavior,

a new word was born. It has entered not only the French vocabulary, the French vocabulary, but the English vocabulary as well. And it's a very common word, a word you could hear every day. Especially if you work for the government. What is this word that was created out of this peasant behavior, uprising? Well, if you knew what the French word for wooden shoe was, you might have a clue. Of course. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people do know what the name for a wooden shoe is.

Especially if you're a crossword puzzle, it's a sabot. S-A-B-O-T. Un pair of sables. So as the French want to do, they add an A G E to make a word out of sable and age and they get like, they got, you know, like decolletage, homage. Vintage. Vintage. Vintage. If you look, if you could, a word that's often used when referring to our show, garbage.

And they came up with the word sabotage. Yeah. Now. Because those peasants had in fact sabotaged the plants. Well they hadn't until the word was invented. Yeah. They hadn't done anything. What are we going to call this?

Now there's a rumor around the office here that the satsuras wrong? That it was the Dutch workers who of course wear wooden shoes throwing them into the machinery and gumming up the works you know breaking the machines. But we have a Dutch opinion on this matter didn't what's her name what's what is her name? Elst. Elts. Didn't she tell us that the people who worked in the factories didn't wear wooden shoes? Farmers wore wooden shoes. There you go. So I'm sticking with my answer. I'm with you. No matter what. Do we have a winner? And besides, I mean, it's not a Dutch word

anyway. What have the Dutch got to do with it? They call them sabots. Sabots. No, that's when you go to church. I call them sabots. Sabots. No, that's when you go to church, on the sabot. Well yeah, we got a winner. This week's winner is John Thames from Spring, Texas. And for having his correct answer chosen at random from among the thousands and thousands of correct answers that we got on this one, John gets our newest CD, and Dr. Root should look out. This is a whole collection of calls about couples and their cars. It's called Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford, and it's guaranteed to permanently

cement any relationship you may now have or even be contemplating. They don't use that word in the Hoffa household, I bet. No, they don't use that word. Anyway, we have a brand new puzzler coming up in the second half of today's show, and it also is non-automotive. Really? Well, kind of. Wait, don't touch that dial. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Good morning. This is George Fenocchio out in San Francisco. George Fenocchio? One N, two C's. Of course. I'm talking here from my classroom. You are? My classroom over in Berkeley. Hi kids and friends!

Hi kids! Most of them got it. Anyway. Those college students sound a little funny. Call in students. I threaten them with having to push my car what what are you teaching and i what am i teaching first grade

first grade i didn't know berkeley went down that wall it we will typically start third grade of the coming pretty smart that's a great group of kids so what's up georgia uh... i have a eighty nine honda civic yeah since new and in the last year or so uh... it's not periodic this is kind of a random thing

uh... when i go to start it typically uh... if it's called but it's been sitting in the uh... the alternative on the engine light will not go out turn it one more and it'll wind and wind and wind and wind uh... but nothing happens is no ignition note that doesn't start uh... alternative back off and turn it back on the engine light will not come on it'll fire up at the time that could wait for forty five minutes and have this engine light thing keep coming on

and i won't start okay i took it to uh... the dealer. Good. And I said, you know, run around the block a few times, then stop. Because that's another time it does this. If you do short trips, they said that it did it once. And they wanted to replace two items, but they weren't sure if that's really what it needed. So I was a little suspect in that they were just throwing new parts at it, not knowing exactly what was wrong. Was one of the items, the igniter?

That had been replaced under warranty. Well, how long ago was that? A couple of years ago. Three years ago. Sure. About 90,000 when I had the major service at 90,000. It's possible that the new igniter is faulty. Possible. They said if it either works or it doesn't work and it's not a periodic thing or a sometimes work. Oh no, that's not a periodic thing or sometimes. Oh, no

That's not true. Oh, really? That's not true. It could behave in this fashion. Although it's unusual What are the two things they wanted to replace the oxygen sensor? No, that's no It could be for example a bad fuel pump could be a bad fuel pump relay You can hear the fuel pump run when you turn the key to the crank position Yeah, and if you release the key, but don't turn it off, just let it go, you'll hear the pump running. You turn it into the on position and see if I can hear the fuel pump? You have to crank it first for a few seconds and then just release it to the on position. Okay. And you'll hear the pump go, and then conk out. If you don't hear that. It means wasn't running. It wasn't running and the car won't start because

either the pump is no good or failing or the pump relay is no good. The problem is either in the ignition system or it's in the fuel system. Right, there's no spark or no gas. There you go. Or no oxygen. Okay, so do I take it back to the dealer and tell them to try it again? No, I suggest you leave it with them surgery on the phone right now sorry flight interruption

that's a good job uh... which are but you're not a duct tape yeah you know these are pretty well motivated kids well anyway i would suggest you leave it with them for a week uh... or whatever time it takes yeah and let them experience it let them stick it in a corner of the shopping update hook up the fuel pressure tester to it and they can hook up a timing light to it and see if they're getting spark when it cranks

and they'll figure it out when it does it to them. It could also be a bad computer. All right, so I just need to leave it on a little bit longer. It could be a bad computer if it's not firing off the injectors. So you could be getting fuel to the injectors, but maybe the computer isn't telling the injectors to open. It's getting more expensive, sounds like. Well we got you up to about 1,400 now. I think you ought to hang up. Yeah. George good luck but leave it with them. Okay thank you very much let me have my class say goodbye real quick guys you're

ready? FIVE IN A SINGLE DAY CLASS! Alright. Thanks George. What was that noise? Were you slapping a couple of kids around? Dope slap. No, that was my signal to them. I just patted one on the head three times. I was patted on the counter. You were patted with a brick.

That was the one that came up and interrupted. Oh, Sergio. I knew it was a little brat from the beginning. Sergio, you're famous. See you later. Okay, bye-bye. Bye. First grade, could you do it?

Could I do what? Could you go and face 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? 50,000 people? See you later! Okay, bye bye. First grade?

Could you, I mean, could you do it? Could I do what? Could you go and face 15 or 20 or 30 first graders every day of the week? Well you know you have to have the right frame of mind. That's what I'm asking. Yeah, you couldn't do it. It takes a very special... They'd have you tied up in one hour.

They would. No. Don't go anywhere. Stick around for more calls and the new puzzler coming right up. Ha! Just when you thought the hour was all over, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and a pretty good letter. Yeah! Because I ranted a little bit last week about the quality of the letter. You're not gonna read that whole thing, are you? What? It's only a half a page. I'll do some good editing. I used to do a

lot of editing with the da-da-da-da-da-da. I'll do that. This is from David Lewis from somewhere. Sincerely, David Lewis. David Lewis, Dallas, Texas. In the matter of daylight savings time, your Italian stadions have become the unwitting dupes of the daylight time conspiracy I am shocked at Tommy with all his graduate degrees cannot do the simple math to understand the DTC daylight time conspiracy if one can see his way clear to accept the premise that quote government can give people nothing which it has not already taken away from them. The rest follows as surely as cappuccino gets stuck in your mustache. Daylight savings time involves, one, taking an hour from every American in April.

That's true. Parenthesis, the fact that this is done under cover of darkness should alert anyone with half a brain that something is amiss. And, B, giving the hour back in October. cover of darkness should alert anyone with half a brain that something is amiss. And B, giving the hour back in October to the survivors. David, this is a good letter. During the course of six months, tens of thousands of senior citizens, accident victims, and other red-blooded Americans have the misfortune

to die. If they die during the daylight savings time months, they die an hour early. Their lives tragically cut short by death, or cut an hour even shorter by DST. Where does this time go? Good question. Parallel universe. My father-in-law inspired this quest of mine. I noticed that no matter whether one sprung forward

or fell back, my wife's dad managed to lose an hour. During each of these occurrences, he was engaged in worry over his social security. This realization made all the pieces fit. Suddenly I realized that the government is stockpiling our time, borrowing an hour from each of us at zero interest, and paying back only those fortunate enough to still be alive in October. Oh, I'd never, wow.

I'm embarrassed that I had never realized this. Wow. Please use your influence with Tom and Ray. Again, Dougie, this is addressed to you. Please use your influence with Tom and Ray. Dissuade them from this madness. What will become of America if we give the government 250 million hours outright? It is not too late or too early. That's good.

That's a good letter, David. Maybe it'll shut my brother up for a few weeks. Okay, without further ado, because we're running so short of time today, we only have an hour to do this hour show this week. It's time for the puzzler. Oh, yeah, go ahead. I've wanted to use this for a long time, and I've always refrained from using it because I thought it was lousy. I'm kind of short on puzzles. So I'm going to use it.

It was a long, hot, summer, Sunday service. And this old geezer who's sitting in church with his wife. Just talking about one eye. No. Should I start all over? This old geezer sitting in church with his wife nods off during the sermon. He dreams that he is involved in the French Revolution. He's one of the leaders of the French Revolution and he is brought to the guillotine.

He is about to be executed by whoever pulls the, what do they do? They pull the rope? Robespierre! Just as he dreams that the blade is falling, his wife happens to notice that this old codger is asleep and she taps him on the back of the neck with her finger to wake him up. The shock of thinking that the blade has arrived to cut off his head. Makes him have a heart attack and he dies on the spot. Wow, what's wrong with this story? I got it already. Should I tell you?

No. If you think you know the answer, let's just have nothing to do at work and want to take a guess. I mean, there are many. Well, I'll just discuss. I got it immediately. Well, I know you do because you're paying attention. Mail your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Our Fair City, Math 02238 or of course you can email us your answer from our website car talk dot msn.com

Just click on the talk to car talk section And if we choose your correct answer at random from among all the correct answers that we receive or both You'll get your very own copy of our brand new CD called men are from GM women are from Ford the ultimate guide to tuning up Your favorite relationship that sounds kind of sappy doesn't it? You'd like to call us our number is 1-800-332-9287 hello you're on Car Talk uh... hi this is uh... Matthew from Dallas hi Matthew what's up Matt?

well i have to... I may call you Matt may I? Sure go ahead sure I have an interesting uh... confluence of of things automotive and marital relations cut it well what happened was is i guess about uh... late june uh... my uh... brother and sister-in-law were visiting and uh... we were driving someplace in and uh... my sister-in-law pointed at

a spot underneath my car yeah that that part of the spots under is my car which is uh... an accord my wife has a her uh... horizon i checked the spot underneath and i i get my car which is a an accord my wife has a her horizon so i i i checked the spot underneath and i i get my finger and feel it and it doesn't feel like um... you know water off the uh... condenser the air conditioner so i know i can't identify the smell

all right well i i i touch my fingers to my tongue and go oh this is radiator fluid both my sister-in-law and my and my wife recoil in our exactly uh... well now we've got to work and they say you'll be dead in an hour something like that

apparently you more on yes uh... i've got a look a lot of times i don't think it's the freeze swilling uh... you know you know exactly and and well what brought up the question is, is there anything that is... I mean, I know antifreeze and motor oil and lots of things in the car are toxic when ingested in significant quantities. Is there anything that's actually toxic in the quantity where if you touch it... If you just tuck your finger to it, will it just do you in just like that? Yeah, and so... No.

Not unless my mother's cooking is around somewhere. Yeah, I suppose battery acid might be the exception to that. Yeah, battery acid, I mean it wouldn't kid you, but you wouldn't want that to be touching your tongue even for that little amount and that little bit of time. This is true. The amount of antifreeze that you ingested from sampling that little spot is hardly enough to kill you.

I think if you did it every day, you might build up an immunity to it actually. Yeah. I'm trying to think, I mean, I don't think there's anything else. I mean, we got... Break fluid's not too good to drink now. Break fluid isn't too good.

Motor oil isn't good. Well, it's not gonna kill you. Gasoline, no. The fumes from gasoline is just too good to drink. Break fluid isn't too good. Motor oil isn't good. Well, it's not going to kill you. Gasoline? No. The fumes from gasoline is just enough to kill you. But not the amount that you fit on the tip of your finger. Yeah. Well, I think you should do a week of antifreeze, a week of gasoline.

See when you get the sickest. Yeah. But tell your wife to lighten up. Something else, you'll probably hit it by a bus next week. Don't worry about drinking a little antifreeze Women are afraid of lots of things mostly men and and justifiably but you're right I think there are lots of women I shouldn't make these blanket But go right Let me

In any way shape or form you in any way, shape or form. You're trying to get me divorced aren't you? No, no, no. Again. Go ahead. No, I mean I have found that there are many women who are afraid of lots of things that men aren't afraid of or at least don't admit to being afraid of. Men have to show that they're rough. It's just a little anti-fra-little battery acid in my eye, hon.

Won't hurt me. I think it's a part of being a guy. I think we do it just to show that we're big and strong. Oh, you think it's a demonstration of machismo? Of course it is. I think it's more stupidity. Well, that's what they would have us believe. Yeah, they're probably right. Don't drink this stuff, Matt. Yeah, what are you, a nut? Come on. See you later.

Thanks for calling. Bye-bye. Bye. Well, it's happened again. You've wasted another hour listening to Car Talk. Have I? Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion Berman. Our associate producer and dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers, our assistant producer is Catherine Crystal Ray, and our

engineer is Jonathan Marston, our technical, spiritual and menu advisor is Mr. John Bugsy Lawler, who's absent. Is Bugsy in the... He's at a meeting today. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Margin O'Vara. Our director of new product repair is Warranty My Foot. Our staff butler from the Kartok Mumbai Division is Mahatma Kot from the New Delhi Office. Our blues coordinator is Mohammedan Tolmi.

Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is Uriperdis Uppman. And our Italian governess is Dona Dei Evalern. Our evasive driving instructor is Vera Bruppley. Our director of moral support is Hugh DeMann and our director of humor standards is Paul Maffinger. Paul Maffinger? Oh, Paul Maffinger. Paul Maffinger. Our director of humor standards is Paul Maffinger. Our Leo Tolstoy biographer is Warren Peace, author of Leo Tolstoy by Warren Peace. Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham and Howe is Hugh Lewis Dewey, known around Harvard Square as Huey Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're

Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers and Don't Drive Like My Brother or My Sister. Oh wait, my sister called me the other day and said I heard you were maligning my driving. I told her it was you. Don't drive like my sister. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. And now, with a very important announcement, here is Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinnie Gumbatz. All right, shut up and listen. We just want to copy this week's Car Talk Show,

which happens to be number 44. Here's what you gotta do, alright? All right, you're gonna give out the phone number now Vinnie, is that correct? No, I'm gonna discuss my mutual funds portfolio with the Pope, you moron! The number to call is 303-823-8000 And what would be the number people could call if they wanted our brand new CD about couples and cars? Which is called Men Are From GM and Women Are From Ford. You don't never shut up, do you?

No, I'm sorry. Go on, go on. For the newest Car Talk CD, Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford, and other Car Talk stuff you call 303-823-8000, or you visit our shameless commerce division at cartalk.msn.com. You got anything to add to this, Mr. Radioman? No, no, that's fine. Good. Car Talk is a production of Dewey, Cheatham & Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though Janet Reno considers launching a formal investigation every time she hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.

If you love NPR podcasts, you don't need me to tell you the value of public media in your life. To support our mission and get perks like sponsor-free podcast listening across more than 20 NPR podcasts and exclusive bonus episodes, sign up for the NPR Plus bundle at plus dot NPR dot org. Valentine's Day is on the horizon and NPR's all songs considered has you covered with a mix of lesser known love songs for that special someone in your life You don't make your wife playlist. Well, not anymore. I sealed the deal We're gonna discuss this way here new episodes of all songs considered every Tuesday wherever you get podcasts

Hey, it's Rachel Martin from wild card this Valentine's Day wherever you get podcasts.