The Best of Car Talk - #2513: Janet's Midlife Miata

Episode Date: February 15, 2025

Janet has a big birthday coming up and she needs to give herself something really big to help her cope. Click and Clack help Janet choose between a new face or a new car 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

Bella DiPaolo is glad if you're happily married, but she is perfectly happy being single. I would love to have someone who took care of my car or someone who cleaned up the dishes after dinner, but then I'd want them to leave. From yourself to your dog to your spouse are significant others. That's on the TED Radio Hour 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 Promises Made, Promises Kept department here at Car Talk Plaza.

We thought we would announce that it's official. Those of you who track the market already know this, but our very own Tappet Brothers Capital Depreciation Fund, which has been in existence since 1987. I realize that we haven't mentioned the Capital Depreciation fund for quite some time. People probably forgot all about it. Well is that pesky SEC investigation? What they a bunch of stuff shirts. We have already met our goal. Smart investors know that the Tabard Brothers capital depreciation fund is the only fund that absolutely guarantees a 50% return. We guarantee 50% return. You invest a hundred bucks, we guarantee you'll get back what? 50.

50% return of your money. Yeah, I mean some people were confused, they thought we were saying a 50% return on your money, but it's a 50% return of your money. So we just thought we would remind those of you who are worried about those pesky capital gains That the capital depreciation fund is here for you right for a prospectus today or better yet Just make out a personal check to me Thomas To us I mean those cash is preferable, but a check will Mean you know capital gains it means you have to fill out Returns income tax returns and now with the new friendly IRS

You won't have to be bothered with that ever again. No, it's so much to keep track of how much you've made It's better to just know you're losing. Yeah, you don't have to file even no, right. It's perfect. I don't what a fund you're losing yeah you don't have to file even no it's perfect I don't what a fund you don't file do you really do you file no I just no I just cut my nails and throw them away I'll bite yes now if you want to call us about your car or about your investment strategy our numbers 1-800-332-9287 hello you're on investment talk hello hi guys and we've got in berkeley california highly so berkeley what is that you know i i i i wrote l i s a but it can't possibly be all yeah

if you're in berk all wait a minute where did you move to berkeley from update new york and it's l i s a and you're right if you had been born there around berkeley it would have been l y e e s or something even more something like that so what's up lease

okay so i have a nineteen ninety one market three k three and it's got about sixty three thousand miles on it uh... that mechanic that that you have told me i needed a new clutch but they wanted to charge me four hundred eighty dollars for it and i have to pick it down the street who said that they would do it for three fifty i remember you guys had a while ago on a show that it's really hard to map up a

clutch so on on on i'd miss them up who said that it would have been one of the only goal getting this quoted again but i think that we've got our interpreted what you've got to get the cut job with my heart type of when it's unlikely to let them make it my break the wild got a good a good job of taking the car

i think it into the cut job and i come back for a but to pick it up at one o'clock in the afternoon i go back and i look through the little glass window and there's three mechanics under the hood of my car and it's going up and down and up and down on the rack and it's up on the top and they're running the thing and I can hear the gear grinding as they throw it in and out of gear right yeah and they finally they come into me and they say

okay you have no hydraulic pressure and I say uh-huh I thought I thought I was feeling a little lowly lately I said that's funny I used to yeah and they said well if you have a broken field builder they bring me and they show it to me they could well uh... it was defective also was the slave cylinder that was faulty okay that

thanks yet what he said i don't know anything about carter uh... i looked at that and sure it was broken they said they were going to replace it uh... call back at five i'm not a private okay that didn't do it you still have no hydraulic pressure defective clutch altogether we're gonna have to put in a

brand new one. They put in a brand new one and they say well okay so so we're not going to charge you for that sleeve cylinder and I said that's good because I wasn't planning on paying for it and And by the way, that clutch was defective, and they said, well, no, it was the wrong size. So now I've got the car back, I take the car home, and it doesn't really drive very well, frankly. I mean, you go to put it in gear, it doesn't grind, it'll go into gear, but it's very, very stiff.

So I'm wondering, did they mess this up, or is this what a new clutch is supposed to be like? It's so easy to mess up a clutch job. I mean it hardly ever happens, but when it does happen... Yeah, it's a nightmare. I mean if they started off putting in the wrong clutch, that was a sign. Yeah. Yeah, that they were dopes.

But I mean it's been done before, and we've even done it many times, put in the wrong clutch. But I think what happened in your case is when they realized they had to do the job all over again They weren't making very much money on the job to begin with because they give you a low ball price Yeah, they were putting in probably a rebuilt clutch, but that's another story We can discuss that some other time, but when they realized they had to do the job over again They were angry and they rushed through it the second time and they probably didn't bleed the thing correctly. So my guess is that the hydraulic system is air bound

and that's why you're having trouble shifting it. Yeah, and you didn't need a slave cylinder and you don't need a master cylinder. Well, they took the slave cylinder out, but they had to put your old one back in, which means that they had to bleed the system again. And my guess is they didn't do it completely. If you go someplace else for 10 bucks, they'll bleed the clutch, get all the air out of it

and it'll be fine. Wow, terrific. Because if you don't have, if you have air then you don't have the right pressure so when you're, when you step on the clutch disengaging the clutch it isn't always disengaging all the way. Uh huh. And that's why it's difficult getting into and out of gears. It's like trying to shift with your foot off the clutch which is you know ain't

easy to do or halfway down yeah right so I think my brother's right take it someplace else no you can go back to them if you like I mean if you still want speaking terms with them not exactly well not quite well you should I think it's time to to mend those bridges okay back. I mean they might be happy to see you who knows Bring them some brownies Look I yelled and screamed that was upset you guys screwed up. I got I lost my temper I want to apologize. I want to make up here some brownies I hope you with the guys enjoy them by the way by the way this piece of junk

You know what brownies mean in Berkeley, so you gotta be careful about that one. Alright, no brownies. No brownies in Berkeley. Cheesecake. Yeah, cheesecake. There you go. Frozen. Alright, well thanks a lot guys. See ya. See ya Lisa. Bye bye. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, my name's Ted. I'm from Hampshire college in emersed massachusetts head sure college that's right emersed right so what's up dead well i've got a uh... eighty six chevrolet caprice wagon uh... whatever i'm driving slow maybe five to fifteen miles an hour

uh... case when my steering wheel quits want to move and sometimes this is what I'm trying to make a turn and sometimes I just bear it bare down right on through it and sometimes it goes away but it makes a real eerie noise and and it's kind of strange so I was wondering if you guys could help

me out. It's most likely to happen when the engine is cold isn't it? Yes. Yeah. And the noise it makes is a... Yee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee Let me just check on one thing. This Caprice wagon, that has rack and pinion steering, doesn't it? No, but it has power steering and your power steering pump is, as we say in the old country, schvavodnik. No, I don't think so. You don't. Oh, nay, nay, nay. You don't. Oh, no. Really? No, I think he merely has a loose belt You think so well you may not realize this but rubber actually contracts when it heats up a rubber belt will get shorter

Really? Yes rubber is the only known to man, I don't think I Know that and I jockey shorts I just but when the engine starts and it's cold the belt is obviously right on the hairy edge of being way too loose. It is just somewhat loose. You try to turn the wheel and you're asking the power steering pump to help you, except that the belt is slipping and that's why you get the noise and you can't steer it. As you continue to drive it, the belt is slipping around this power steering pulley. And the friction heats it up. There you go, exactly right. The friction heats the thing up, the belt is slipping around this power steering pulley. And the friction heats it up. There you go, exactly right.

The friction heats the thing up, the belt gets shorter, and then everything works okay. I'm going to suggest, Ted, that all you need is a new power steering belt. If you have lived a good clean life, then my brother will be right. And if you have ever cheated on an exam there at Hampshire College. Oh, we don't have exams. So I'm lucky. You don't have any exams. So there you go. We just write papers. Do you know why the Hampshire College student crossed the road?

Why? To get course credit. Oh, yeah. Oh, you knew that, huh? Well if that's true, then my brother will be correct and all you'll need is a belt tightening. Right, and that's not bad at all. And maybe a maybe a belt and if not you might need a power steering pump but I doubt it you sound like you got worse news no no it would be the power steering pump itself oh I know he always has worse news but my brother my brother is on a see he thinks that that we've been giving out answers that cost too

much right so we're having a special. Cost cutting. And this week only, all the answers will be 30% off. So you went from 200 bucks down to 20. That's not bad. Right. That's 30%. Right. See you at least at Hampshire College.

At least at Hampshire College. See you Ted. Thank you so much guys. All right, bye bye. Okay. Hey, we've got more calls on the puzzler answer 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 time to show you how carbon monoxide affects memory. Yes, Tommy. Do you remember last week's puzzle? Yes, I do. Yes, I do I'm sitting in church and I'm thinking about the French Revolution

Wow, and I'm having a dream. So CEO has no adverse effect on none whatsoever And I'm having a dream. Very good. That was a great puzzler, by the way, but it can't be that great because I got it just like that. I mean, as you said it, I said, boom! I must have. And I knew the answer. My body language must have given way, huh?

Yeah, but it's good. Here it is. It was a long, hot summer Sunday service, and this old geezer who was sitting with his wife happens to nod off during the sermon, as old geezer who was sitting with his wife happens to nod off during the sermon as old geezers are wont to do. I mean, even me young geezers nod off. He dreams he is one of the leaders of the French Revolution and he is brought to the guillotine to be executed by probably Marie Antoinette herself who is going to pull the

lever. Just as he dreams that the blade is falling, his wife happens to notice that he's asleep. She taps him on the back of the neck with her fan. Oh, 36 inch Casablanca ceiling. So wake him up. The shock of thinking that the blade has arrived to lop off his head makes him have heart attack, and he dies on the spot. The question very simply was, what's wrong with this story?

Well, Marie Antoinette never even knew how to operate a guillotine. Okay, well that wasn't in the original statement of the puzzle. Okay. Well, I wasn't in the original statement of the puzzle right there, so that's out. Oh, it wasn't. Okay. Well, I know the answer. The answer is that if he died, how do you know what he was dreaming? Bingo. There you go.

Do we have a winner? Yeah. And who's our winner? More importantly. The winner is Jeremy Croc from Glendale, Missouri, and he sent us his answer on the back of an eight-track tape, which I have right in front of me here. The tape is called Greatest Hits of 1965. Thank you, Jeremy. I will enjoy listening to this in the dart.

I wish I had an eight-track player in the dart. And in exchange for this fine example of high fidelity that you sent us, and because your correct answer was chosen at random from among the thousands that we received, we will send you our newest CD, a whole collection of calls about couples and cars called Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford. All I can say is, Ann Landers,

wake up and smell the coffee, honey, because Click and Clack are on the case. That's it. Do you know what the biggest hit song of 1965 was? Number one hit song? Number one hit song. Well, I would say the number one hit song? Number one hit song. Well, I would say the number one hit song from 1965. Yeah. I remember driving, I shouldn't say this, skipping

school and driving to the beach in Billy Chin's 65, his parents' 65 Pontiac Tempest. Had a brand new car. Brand new Pontiac Tempest had a brand new car brand new Pontiac Tempest convertible Wow I remember driving to Craigville Beach with Billy Chin and listening to I don't get no Satisfaction that was that was the song that's that's close, but it's not that it's That was the number one hit I don't know I would have to think satisfaction was the number one hit? I don't know. I would have to think satisfaction was the number one. Could be. That had to be number one. Stop in the name of love. For more weeks.

Well, we'll get an answer to this. It was one or the other. It was either I can't get no satisfaction or it was stop in the name of love by the Supremes. Those were days when we didn't have any tape recording or playing devices in our cars and you had to constantly keep changing the radio station. Don't you remember those days?

Just sitting there and twirling the thing. Remember those days. Oh, you still do it. And turning that dial until you got a song that you liked, and as soon as it was over, oh, you had those five buttons. Yeah. You're right, I didn't have buttons, did I? I don't have buttons.

You didn't really have a radio, did you? Not really, no. I didn't think so. Anyway, we'll have a brand new puzzler coming up. Well, Jeremy Kroc, that was the most interesting submission for the puzzler we've had in a long time. Well, other than the live fishery god. That's been a while. Stop in the name of love before you break my heart.

That's good. That's good. We'll have a brand new puzzler coming up in the second half of today's show So don't touch that dial In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-800-332-9287 Hello, you're on Car Talk This is Janet in New Jersey Where are you in New Jersey?

I'm in Glenridge, scenic Glenridge When is that near? Montclair, Bloomfield, it's about 15 miles from New York City. Oh, we got a fix on you now. Oh, OK, yeah, yeah. So what's up, Janice? Well, I've got this problem, and it's partly a car question and partly a personal question. Personal of us?

No, personal of me. Oh, yeah. I'm about to reveal a lot. I've got this terrible birthday coming up. It ends in a zero One of them ends in zero. Yeah, right. Well, this is this is a big one. This is a biggie I'm does it start let me just take a shot here. Does it start with a four? No, it's bigger than that bigger than that Hillary yeah there I'm there. I never I don't know how it happened, but I got there there yeah i i know i mean i'm gonna i know i'm gonna feel that way myself

oh yeah okay when do you get there i don't know restarted counting back i think that they're about ten years maybe more i think that's in hebrew right you go back to the other side what color is the three do you want to know you're actually not far off i've been thinking about getting a month to me out i've gotta get through the crisis somehow yeah i've been thinking about it

but then my husband prided you know he came back to me with the price method g for that amount of money i could get a whole lot of plastic surgery you could yeah yeah and and what i'm wondering is which is going to help me more? The plastic surgery? Or the plastic surgery? What specifically do you need plastic surgery wise and be perfectly frank with us? Well I mean I don't frighten little children or anything but I mean I you know I just look my age. I could use a little lifting here a little. Do you have to have a pork chopper on your neck to have the dog play with you?

No, no, no, no, no. You don't have to do that. I'm within the bounds of normality. All right. So you just simply look your age. Yeah. God bless you. I look fine, but I look my age. You look fine.

And you'd look much better in a miata. Yeah, well... Absolutely. And you'd feel better. Yeah, well, you think so, huh? Well, I have to give you one. There's one warning admonition Yeah, I think is that is important And and I only know from from bitter experience Last summer I had the the pleasure of driving a z3 which is a BMW convertible

Yeah, yeah to Cape Cod. Yeah on a beautiful and sunny Friday afternoon to Cape Cod on a beautiful and sunny Friday afternoon, like about five o'clock, I leave the shop and I'm driving there with the top down, the wind blowing through my bald spot. And a car full of young girls was- That was the day that you told the guys at the shop you had a medical emergency? Yeah, I did.

Yeah, you left her. Yeah, I remember that. Take my brother to the hospital for brain transplant. So there you are, the wind is blowing through your ball spot. And I notice in my rear view mirror that there's another convertible of some old jalopy full of young ladies following, trying to see who's driving the Z-Tree. Yeah, well that's what I want to have happen to me. Well, let me just caution you that they finally did catch up and boy I never saw a 73 fury move so fast as when they saw who was driving that Z3

so they just took off well I don't have a bald spot so I think that you know I want that you know that car fully young men to drive and see who's you know well you just have to be prepared for the disappointment when they zoom away I'm thinking maybe I would have a plastic surgery. Nah, you look fine. I don't think I'd do it. No.

Send us a picture. Yeah, of the Miata. Right. No, you don't need to do any of that stuff. You are who you are, and whatever you look like is fine. Yeah, and I think us older folks have a duty to the world to look what we are Enough of this fixing everything. I mean what everybody wants perfection. Yeah, come on You listen to country music at all until the station went away. I did you ever listen to Randy Travis?

Oh, yeah, he did a song called forever and ever great song. Well, listen to it. You'll know what to do Okay. Well, you sound just like my husband, but he has to say that. Well, he wants to drive the me out of the house. That's right. That's right. You spend all that money on plastic surgery, he won't have anything to drive. That's right. Yeah, and if you decide to do a facelift, send me the doctor's name because I want to

give it to my brother. Okay, will do. It comes out well. Good luck, Janet. Well, thanks a lot, guys. Thanks for coming. Stay just the way want to give it to my brother. Okay, will do. It comes out well. Good luck, Janet. Well, thanks a lot, guys. Thanks for calling. Stay just the way you are. Listen to the song.

Okay, you've cheered me up terrifically. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Don't move because more calls and the new puzzler are coming right up. Hi, we're back and evidently so are you. And you're listening to Card Talk from National Public Radio with us, click and clack the Tappet Brothers. Hey, can you turn on the light? We're trying this new lighting here.

You want more light? This mood lighting. Sure, hold on. I found myself nodding off. Ah! That's good. That's good. That's good, a little bit dimmer.

That's too bright. Yeah, that's perfect. That's great. Just as it was before. Anyway, we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the super Balazi Brothers. Well, we got this. Ellen Rice and her two kids, Forrest, age 8, and Paxton, age 5, said we're sitting on top of a gold mine here because we've been forgetting and they did it for us.

They developed the car talk video game. And we have here the complete description of the game, which I'll just give you the highlights of. Right, give us like the salient points. The screen comes up, the Super Mario Bros. are there, you have to choose a tool and you got a whole bunch of tools and then you go to level one. Level one, there are cars to be fixed. You can choose easy, medium or hard. You choose a car, you give the answer, you give the right answers, but you go on to level two.

Level two, the mechanic now must run through a maze of a mob of angry customers. To get out of the dead end, you have to throw money. Level three, level three is a long dark tunnel to the lawyer's office. The mechanic must have two thousand dollars to exit the lawyer's office. Level four. The mechanic has a time limit of two minutes and he has to fix a motorcycle engine for a biker gangster. Failure to pay? $10,000 hospital bill. I mean you can see the, I see the possibilities here. I can see it now. I can see it now too. Yeah.

I think it's great. And one of the, is one of the tools a wallet so you can buy your way out of these problems? How did you know that? One of the tools is a wallet with a thousand dollars? Well talking about puzzles his today's new puzzler Yeah We had a car recently in the shop that was making an unusual noise But a very common noise of a spark plug wire or a bad coil or something like that discharging You hear that snapping sound so the engine would run and every once in a while, maybe every minute or two minutes, you'd hear, snap, snap.

And the driver could hear it. So sitting in the car with the radio off, you'd hear this noise. And although it was not accompanied by an engine miss, it was not accompanied by an engine miss. And we were convinced that it was something to do with, with a misfire that somehow or another a spark was jumping to ground. And in fact, I'll give you the hint that it was something to do with, with a misfire that somehow or another a spark was jumping to

ground. And in fact, I'll give you the hint that it was, except we couldn't find it. An examination of the secondary ignition system turned up nothing. We investigated the wires and all that. Then, then, then I had a brainstorm. Yeah.

It started to get cold and dark and rainy. Yeah. And realizing that we're now on standard time and it gets dark at two o'clock in the afternoon and it was getting damp and rainy. I told the guy who was working on it, stick the car outside. Yeah. In a few minutes it'll be dark and it'll be wet. And we'll see it. And it's going to exacerbate the problem because if you have, if you have a bad spark plug wire or a bad cap or a bad coil, you will see it, you will hear it, and it will happen more frequently. So we put the car outside. Let me guess.

It stops doing it. You spoil all the fun, man. We put the car outside. An hour later, my guy goes out and he starts the thing up and he says, Guess what? The noise is gone. How could this be? I ask. How can that be? He says, I think I know the answer. I say, you do?

Give me a hint. And he says, your brother's hair. Ha! What a puzzler! Yeah! Yeah! I think I've got it! If you're thinking of the answer, you just have nothing else to do. If you want to take a guess at it, mail your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MAH 02238, or of course you can email us your answer

from our website, cartalk.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, you'll get your own copy of our brand new CD called men are from GM women are from Ford guaranteed to cement any relationship you want to cement if you'd like to call us our number is 1-800-332-9287 hello you're on car talk hello hi hey hey what are you all doing not much what are you doing I'm calling to find out if you guys know the number of a good exorcist for my car. Yes, we do. My sister is in that business. Well, what time zone are you in?

We're in the Central time zone. Central. You're calling from Chicago. No, I'm calling from Texas. Texas? Texas. Yeah, what's your name? My name's Robin. Robin from Texas?

Yeah. What part? North, south? Oh, I'm on the beautiful shores of Lake Tawakene. We're kind of like northeast. There's a lake in Texas? Texas has thousands of lakes. No kidding. Why? That's why it's called the Land of Lakes.

No, that's not it. Isn't there another land? There is, but there isn't. That's the butter people you're thinking the bar that's fun yeah so you know exorcist what kind of a car is it oh man I got 89 Volkswagen Fox oh no you might you know you don't need an exorcist you needed arsonist exactly I love this car no No, you can't. That's not a car to love. You may love it. You may love it. We will stipulate that. Yeah, okay.

You love it. Alright, so what's the deal? Tell us the entire story with all the gory details. Leave nothing out. Alright. Because we've got nothing but time. Okay, great. About a month ago, right? About a month ago. And it started getting... I lost you when you said about a month ago and it's third i lost when you said about a month ago

because from there that that that the whole problem is it like it doesn't like one week interval that didn't intermittent problem in like one week interval yeah i'm ready and i love the air into the left right so i get the car and i said to my husband there's something wrong with this car go out and drive it so he comes out and drive it comes back in there's nothing wrong with the car something okay what must have just been the road or what he was pulling to the left is that one to

left it start point to left very subtly yeah so I go about a week and I was going to one of my customer accounts and all of a sudden this car starts like I mean like the wheels like jerking to the left jerking to the left yeah I pointed a fire stand and they look at it and the guy says all your strut mount is messed up so he says you need to have this left strut mount replaced so I call my mechanic and I said you know you think I can get it home and he says well he says you know just drive real slow it's about an hour and that's about the whole other thing behind it never really does this unless I've been driving for at least an hour

Mm-hmm, so get it back down to him. I tell Harold everything that's going on So he puts the thing on let me guess Yeah, doesn't fix it. No doesn't fix it about a week later. Yeah, it starts doing it again, right? Yeah, so I took it back in to my mechanic and his theory was... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The CV axle is heating up and doing something weird because there's not enough lubricant in there or I have a separated tread that doesn't really start to separate until the tire gets on. I like both of these. They switched my tires out. Excellent! Okay, front and back, and I went and had a front end alignment. Yeah, yeah.

Took it back to where I brought the tires. Let me guess! Told the guy. Does the same thing. Well, it hasn't done it yet. Oh, this is a preemptive strike then, calling us. Ah, okay. My question to you is, my mechanic said he could inject some grease into the CV boot,

but he hates to do that because then it will break the seal and therefore mess up the integrity. Yeah, it's like giving your cv joint a cortisone shot. Oh, okay. What do you guys suggest that I do? I mean, I'm just waiting for this to happen again and all my accounts are like at least an hour or two hours out. I don't like any of these theories. Well I do like the cv joint theory actually.

I like it but I don't like it anymore. Well I like it but I wouldn't have him squirt anything in there. I'd have him actually maybe even take the axle out, which doesn't take that long. OK. In a half an hour, you can have the thing out on the bench. And you can tell if either of the joints is bound up. OK.

And if either one is bound up, then it would be the equivalent. It would feel like you had the brake on on that left front wheel. That's what it feels like. But explain the hour. It takes gotta heat up, gotta expand, gotta get hot, friction, heat, friction. No. I like it. I don't like it. I like it. I mean I assume. Have you ever seen a CV joint do that? In all your thousands of years

of experience, your millions of miles of experience with CV joints, have you ever, ever heard of a CV joint that went for an hour and suddenly started dragging? Well, not really. If I wasn't here to keep you honest, what would happen? No, but this is, you know, my brother doesn't understand the science. What in a minute? You've got to understand that this is what's, this is what's called a breakthrough. I mean if it weren't for this, if it weren't for the things that happened one time in a

million, we'd be still hunting wild boar with sticks. Jeez. Here's what you do next time. You've got to have it fixed. Have you drive it around and get the thing to get at its worst. Okay. And then go to Harold. Immediately go into the guy, go to Harold.

Have him throw it up on the lift and see if one of the wheels is harder to turn than the other. Okay, well I think he's already done that. And he's a turn, and he feels that it's the axle still, the CV joint? That's his, that's his, yeah. Well, then have him throw another one in there. Put another CV axle. A whole axle.

Yeah. So you think a CV axle then? Well, a CV joint, the two joints on each end. CV joint, which is part of the axle, but they'll replace the entire axle. Yeah. So you think a CV axle then? Well, it's a CV joint, which is part of the axle, but they'll replace the entire axle. Okay. Good luck, Robin. Thank you. Good luck is right. Good luck, I'm going to need it.

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