The Best of Car Talk - #2524: Cooking with Tommy

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

Our show usually starts with some sort of car problem posed by a caller, but where it goes from there is anybody's guess. On this episode of the Best of Car Talk Tommy provides us with a nice recipe for Braciole. Buon Apetito!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

Scott Detro Following the news out of Washington, D.C. can be overwhelming. I'm Scott Detro and NPR has a podcast that can help. It's called Trump's Terms, stories about big changes the 47th president is pursuing on his own terms. Each episode is short, usually around five minutes or so. We keep it calm and factual. We help you follow what matters and we leave out what doesn't. 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 Department of Milestones here at Car Talk Plaza and my brother will be able to explain what... We did pass a very major milestone this week and it was very painful I understand. No actually it wasn't that kind of a milestone. We have to explain a little bit. We drive these test cars. We call them test cars.

What are they really? They're provided to us by the manufacturers like GM, Chrysler. Right, in the hope that we might find something good to say about them, which hardly ever happens. But once in a while we do. But we have these cars that we drive. And naturally, I have to drive it, and my brother has to drive it,

and Berman has to drive it. Why he has to drive it, we don't know. We don't know why. He's somehow in the loop, we can't get him out. He's in the loop. So at some point, we have to, like, there were three cars that we will have for a couple of weeks, or a week, or whatever it is.

So I'll drive it for a few days, and I'll give it to my brother, I'll swap with my brother, my brother swaps with Doug and we swap back and forth. And the whole plan over all these years, and we've been doing this for a dozen years or so, the whole plan is to get the, when we get the cars, they come with, of all things, a full tank of gas. So the idea is that you drive the car as much as possible so that when you swap it with the next guy, it's got no gas in it. Even if it means leaving it idling in front of your house all night.

And of course, everyone is trying to do this, and we're always trying to see who can give it to the next guy with the least amount of gas. So last week after the show, Dougie says to me, would you like to swap cars? And I say, sure Doug, what have you got? He says, I have a RAV4. Is there any gas in it? That's always the question. Any gas. And he says, of course there's gas in it. I should mention that some cars that you get will actually,

with the little computer thing they have, will tell you how many miles to go before empty. And usually, you know, it says 360 or something or stuff. And we have actually got it down to like, I remember once it was a Lincoln that Dougie gave to you and it said one. Yes, and it was flashing. It was flashing, lights were flashing, and luckily there was a gas station point eight miles away and evidently you coasted in there and that was good. Well on this given day he gives me the keys to this car I give him the keys to the Avalon that I'm driving he

runs to the car jumps in without even putting on his seatbelt with papers flying in the wind he zooms away. You know that you're in trouble when he does that. I get in the car and the gas needle doesn't move. The low fuel light is on and I'm banging the dashboard figuring it couldn't be this bad. Knowing there's a gas station just about a half a mile away, I begin my journey to the gas station. It's downhill to that gas station. For the most part, except the little ramp that leads up to where the pumps are. Yeah. I didn't make it. As I approached the ramp, I have to stop for a car coming

out of a side street. Oh, that's what they were saying. I re-engaged the clutch. It stalls. I figured, I stalled it. I could have started. It won't start. No. They don't start without gas. It's tough. I call the guys from the gas station, push me in! So this is the very first time in 12 years or so that someone has actually run out of gas. And I think it's a time to end this little game. Oh no! Oh no! Well, no, no, I mean we've reached... No, no, no, no. No, no, no.

Trust me, I'll let you know when it's about to end. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I understand. That took a tremendous amount of courage. At great personal risk. At great personal risk. He pulled this off. Well, it wasn't really a lot of risk because he just left it running in the garage. Anyway, if you'd like to talk to us, our number is 888-CAR-TALK.

That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, I'm calling from Ann Arbor, Michigan. And who are you? My name is Shanta Ness. Shanta? Yes. S-H-A-N-T-A?

That's it. What a sweet little name that is. Thanks. And from whence does the name Shanta come? It's actually a Sanskrit name from India. Sure, it's Indian, of course. Yes, it means peace. Peace.

Yeah, I've been very lucky to have such a nice name. Shanta, you know, I was just, the other day, speaking of Indians, I was bemoaning the fact that we haven't heard from Arup Gupta, who has to have had the most mellifluous name. You may not remember this guy, I don't know if you've ever listened to this show before, but a while ago we had a caller whose name was, are you ready a Rup Gupta? That's an excellent It's a mantra Rup Gupta Wow So now now Shanta and you know will be next a Rup Gupta in in in Hindi means broken down Chevy

next. A Rup Gupta in Hindi means broken down Chevy. Anyway, what can we do for you? Well, I have an 86 Honda Accord LX and it's got a hundred and sixty five thousand miles on it. It's an excellent car. However, recently the idle has been going downward. That is, when I i'm just adopted a cap like or uh... idling still it is i don't know about seven hundred fifty two thousand rpms and can't have to keep my my foot on the gas uh... keep it from falling

and it was my understanding that this is not a terribly difficult thing to fix yourself really i think that i think that maybe i really don't like that fix yourself. Really? I guess maybe I was filming correctly. Really to what? Well, I mean, that's all true. Adjusting the idle is easy or not easy? No, adjusting the idle is relatively easy. It does require taking the air filter off, which is a little bit difficult, and finding the right screw to turn and once you've done that you may temporarily solve the problem Yeah, the trouble with adjusting the idle is that it's like touching up the x-rays And there's no reason for that screw to have ever moved so the idle used to be correct, and it's now incorrect Right something else is going on something else

That's worse yeah, yeah, it's just a death boy. It's not always... That's even worse. Kiss of death. Boy, it's been really nice talking to you. I guess I'll go get a whole new car. It's a trouble to see now if it's sporadic and you increase the idle speed, then sometimes it's going to be idling too fast. And the real question is why is it doing this? If you had said that it's consistent, I might have said, well, the timing could be off and that could be a result of someone that timed it incorrectly or a stretched timing belt could cause that same problem. But if it's sporadic, it leads me to the carburetor. Okay. Don't go there. Yeah, I don't think I would go there. Don't go there.

No, and this carburetor is the right age to have a condition called low float level. Okay. Low float level. Low float level is the result of a float that becomes saturated with gasoline and as a result it sinks too low and allows too much gasoline to enter from the float chamber into the body of the carburetor and causes minor flooding. Minor flooding can cause the thing to eventually stall out on you if the flooding becomes serious enough. Right. Would there be other symptoms of the flooding, like typical flooding symptoms like gas smell? Yeah, gas smell. When it does flood... Spark plugs

that might be getting sooty and black, but that's... You wouldn't notice that. Right. And when it does begin to flood badly, It will be difficult to restart Okay, so I don't think I'd worry. I mean you got a hundred and sixty five thousand miles on it Yeah, and a new carburetor for this only cost about eight hundred bucks But you can get this you can get this one rebuilt One eight eight eight car talk or one eight eight eight two two seven eight two five five hello Thank you. Hi 1-888-CAR-TALK or 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Randy from San Diego, California. How you doing? How you doing? No brush all out here No, what no brush all no brush all what the heck kind of a place is that?

Got gotta go back to New York All for those that know is an Italian delicacy, only served on Sundays. Yeah, maybe that's the trouble. Have you been looking for it during the week? I mean, all it is is rolled up beef or something, right? Right. With stuff in the middle. You have some eggs. Bread crumbs. Bread crumbs. Garlic. Olive oil. Olive oil. Hot pepper. Olives. Olives, hot pepper. No, no, and boiled eggs. Hard-boiled eggs. Isn't that right, Randy? That's it, hard boiled eggs. Hard boiled eggs.

Then you roll the whole thing up and you tie it with a piece of string. What are you doing? You're hanging around your neck for a couple of days. And see if anyone talks to you. And you're the only one there left to eat it. And then you cook it somehow. I don't remember how you cook it. You put it in the sauce. And then you slice it up and you end up with kind of an interesting thing because you got beef rolled up. It's sort of like one of those ice cream pies except there's garlic in it. Same thing, only different. Yeah, so thanks for calling with this culinary update. He just wanted our recipe. So what's up, Randy? I got a friend that's got a

1996 Toyota RAV4, one of those little four-wheel drives. Yeah, we know it well. That's the very vehicle that my brother ran out of gas in. Oh, I know it very well. Yeah, so what about yours? When you're driving it down the highway, it's an automatic, when you're driving down the highway and you let off the gas, it has about a one second surge as though you applied the gas again and then it goes away. So you take your foot off the gas and it speeds up? Yes. Hmm. It's been to a dealer and their comment was that it was in some sort of computer or something

that controls the engine. Well, I could believe that. What's likely to cause it, and I don't really know why they couldn't design this out, is that when you decelerate it, maybe for a moment, causing a rich mixture, which is being read by the oxygen sensor, which then sends a signal to the computer, which sends a signal to the throttle control, and actually trying to make the mixture correct boost the idle speed sends a signal to the throttle control and actually trying to make the mixture correct boost the idle speed for a second.

They said they changed it in the 97 model. They may have. The one we have is a 97. But it's a stick shift. And it certainly, if they tried to tell you they all do this, this one, that's not true because ours doesn't. Well, here's an automatic and ours is a stick. I don't know how much of a difference that would make

But how annoying is it I mean it's really annoying because it catches by surprise You have to be you have to be really aware of it. It could be dangerous Yeah, I think you know I think you have to insist that they fix it and one dealer said that you know It's it's part of it one says no. I never heard of it before you know Different opinions now. They're trying the old good dealer bad dealer routine. I mean I think you have to insist that they do something about it I'm sure they don't know what to do about it but somebody does somebody knows what to do because if he was if he was savvy enough to know that it doesn't

do it in the 97s and it did it in the 96s somebody knows what they did to make that not happen anymore yeah I think you want it whatever they got you want it you have to talk to first of all other RAV4 owners and see if theirs do the same thing do you know if there's a do you know if there's maybe like a chat group or a website or anything for RAV4 owners? Well, you can go to our very website, yes, and we have a section on our website called Second Opinion where people who have the same car can discuss what they've done to it, what's happened to it. So if you drop a note there saying, I got this problem with a RAV4, does anyone else

have it on a 96? Then you'll probably get hundreds, thousands, maybe four people to answer. Yeah. Right. Anyone that's listening to us that has a RAV4, that has this problem, or doesn't have it, it'll be interesting to note which years, which ones have it and which don't. That's what I would do. I appreciate the advice, and I am going to make a posting at your website and for the other owners. Okay great. That's great advice. We'll send you a brajala to make you happy. Or a brochure one or the other. See ya Randy. Thanks again guys. Okay it's time to find out if my brother remembers last week's puzzler. It was quasi-automotive, historic, folkloric, challenging. Well, not really.

The answer is I don't remember last week's puzzler. You really don't? Give me a hint. I don't remember any of 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. This message comes from Wyze, the app for doing things and other currencies. Sending or spending money abroad, hidden fees may be taking a cut. With Wwise, you can convert between up to 40 currencies at the mid-market exchange rate.

Visit wyze.com. TNCs apply. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers. And as promised, here's the answer to last week's puzzler. What was the oh I remember it now. It was a movie puzzler. A movie puzzler I remember it now. This was a great puzzle. Well I think it was great. How much email we're gonna get on this? A lot I hope. Here's what I wanted to know in a nutshell. In what famous movie were a Ferrari and a Renault, or Renault, I'll say Renault. Renault. Both featured. Now I said, I'm not just talking about passing shots, I'm talking about being featured. Featured. Both the Ferrari and a Renault were featured

performers. Yes. In a movie that we've all heard of and most of us have perhaps seen almost everyone has seen even Katherine Petutti Ray Who was a mere child thinks that this is the one of the greatest movies ever made And she's right It is It was a wartime movie. It was it was and it took place in Africa Yes, it did and the name of the movie is and it took place in Africa. Yes it did. And the name of the movie is Casablanca.

Yes. And the Renault and the Ferrari are not in fact cars. No. They are Louis Renault who was the police captain of Casablanca. Yeah. And the owner of the blue parrot I believe, Monsieur Ferrari. Shh.

See actually, I thought when I saw the movie the other night that Peter Lorre's name in the movie was Bugatti. No, that was Bull Feathers. And I thought there were three famous cars, a Ferrari, a Renault, and a Bugatti. But it turns out that his name was not Bugatti, but U-Gardi. No, a Johnson, I think. No, Johnson, I think. R-Johnson, yeah.

Hey, who's our winner, Tommy? The winner is Kelly McCormick from Knoxville, Tennessee. And for having her correct answer chosen at random from among the thousands of other right answers that we got, Kelly is going to get one of our beautiful, magnificent 10th anniversary Car Talk T-shirts with our current slogan, celebrating 10 years of bad car advice.

Congratulations, Kel, good for you. Good work, anyway, we'll have a brand new puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show. So don't touch that dial. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 888-CAR-TALK. That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hello.

Paul from Irwin, Pennsylvania. Irwin. PA. Which end of PA are you from? Southwestern PA. We're about 25 miles east of Pittsburgh. East of Pittsburgh. East, east.

Got it. Okay. I know where you are. Got it. I don't have a problem yet, but it's only a matter of time I will make one for you. I'll bet here's some background in 1986 I bought a slightly used Buick Somerset now. It's got a five-speed manual transmission I guess I'm easy on the clutch because I have a hundred and thirty thousand miles on it now with the original clutch

Yeah, become a personal challenge to see how far i can make it go now here's my dilemma yeah recently bought a used motor home to explore the u after i retire who and i'm not yet and i want to come with the you are pressing the limits and i mean you got a hundred and thirty thousand miles out of a summer set

yet which is about double what you should have got. That's what people tell me. And now you want to hang a 10,000 pound motorhome on the back of it with a clutch that's got 130,000 miles out of it. No, I'm going to tow the Buick. I'm not going to tow the motorhome. Oh, okay, good. Oh, all right. Oh, this is not a trailer. It's a motorhome with an engine in it. Yes. Ah, I misunderstood. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. And I'm going to take the Somerset behind me to use as this is not a trailer to motor home with an engine in it i misunderstood yeah and i'm going to take the uh... summer set behind me to use as a jitney for local touring but yeah i don't want to end up stranded in the middle of nowhere because the clutch finally decided to die

so you want to know how to assess how much life the clutch has left well i took it to my mechanic to have that done ah and he told me there's no way to do that he said there's no access to the clutch for a visual inspection can this be true well well well well well i don't need to have a visual inspection he mentioned the he mentioned the laying on a handstand

and i don't think he's that good. Ah, see? Yeah, well you call the right guys. Well you can certainly tell if the clutch is already slipping. Did he try that? Is this the... The stall test? Yeah, drive up to a utility pole and try to go.

I haven't done that. But is that the only way to test that? Well, that's the only way to actually test, yes. Oh. And the test is, you try to pull the motor home with the car. Starting out in 50. For those that don't know, the stall test is simply, you pull the car's front bumper up to some immovable object.

Like a huge tree. Like your mother-in-law. Like a huge tree. Like a mother-in-law. Like a huge tree. And then you put the thing in high gear and you try to drive the thing away. You let the clutch out and you give it as much gas as you can stand and the engine should just, boom, stall right out. And if it doesn't stall right out, or if it takes a few seconds for it to stall out, then your clutch is beginning to slip.

And if it doesn't stall it out, even after many seconds, then your clutch is already slipping badly enough so that you should replace it. And you won't make it home. Uh oh. I mean, we can give you some clue. What kind of driving have you been doing for these last 12 years that you've owned this car?

Stop and go. Stop and go. Stop and go? Yeah. Well, my philosophy about things like this is this clutch should have gone out at about 80,000. Yeah. The fact that it didn't means it's probably going to last forever. Here we go with the feeling of laying with the hands again.

Are you with me, Paul? I thought what he was going to say was, it's already gone far beyond what it should have gone. That's right, and that's why. And so. And that's why. Wait a minute, that's not what I thought you were going to say. What I thought you were going to say, and therefore, it's ready to go.

It is. Therefore, why wait? That's usually what you say. Why wait? No, I've had an epiphany. You would normally say, it's going to need a new clutch, you're gonna wait until you break down some place in Arkansas? Don't you remember the guy that called us? I'm trying to remember his name. Dave from Bemidji. Dave from Bemidji, yeah. Bemidji...

Minnesota. Minnesota. And he drove like to the North Pole. And back on a car that had 200,000 miles. 300! He wasn't phased because he knew if it lasted that long, then it was going to last forever. That it was charmed. And your clutch ain't going to go either.

Well, that's good news. I think so. Do the stall test and don't forget, the fallback position is you just tow the car back with the motorhome. That's a possibility. So don't worry about it. I'm with my brother on this. I say just do it. What's more likely to happen is that the hitch will let go and that car will go fly. You'll be in Rocky Mountain National Park and you'll say, Martha, I think

the car is gone. Well, that would only happen if you were going up a long steep hill. That's when it's going to happen. That's the only time that would happen. What? Because you can see it going all the way. You can see it in the rear view mirrors. Paul have a great time. I have to go out to Camp Quarter back there to catch that one.

Have a great time and send us a postcard. I'll send you several. That'll be great. Thank you. Good luck. Bye. Bye. I'll send you several. Hey, that'll be great. Thank you. Good luck. Bye-bye. Bye.

1-888-CAR-TALK or 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Monica from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hi, Monica from Minneapolis. Hi. What's shaking? Well, I don't have a problem but have an observation that has led me to inquire. What?

Really? Last week, last week it was pretty cold up here, really cold, like the coldest it's been so far. And everybody's cars were billowing lots and lots of exhaust when it gets that cold. Sure. Right, so I was sitting on the entrance ramp to the freeway in the morning i'm with a whole bunch of their car and there with the many band sitting right up in front of me to the left and it would be a little bit dot and everyone can well like every thirty seconds

little not great would part out of the pick up a call and i think i didn't like quite believe what i thought and I'm like what is that? And I watched it again and like six or eight smoke rings, well pretty big smoke rings, would come popping out of the exhaust. I've never seen that. I've never seen it either and I was wondering how can this happen? Is this an automotive miracle that this car was spurting out smoke rings? No, this is a subliminal ad by R.J. Reynolds tobacco.

Wow, that's cool. You know when you're taught to blow smoke rings, I thought you have to move your throat or your cheeks or your tongue and Sure, it's not easy to do that. Right, what you need in order for your car to blow smoke rings is some kind of a shockwave in the system.

Ah. So instead of having a constant or relatively constant flow of exhaust coming out the tailpipe. You gotta have a puff. You need to have something that interrupts it for a second like an engine miss. Ah. Okay, so if one of the spark plugs doesn't fire once in a while, you'll get a miss which will stop the steady flow and then when it does fire, you get a buildup of pressure and it'll be just like the that guy in Times Square and the billboard that was there forever and

ever isn't it there anymore the guy smoking a camel cigarette must be still low smoke rings no I think they took it down like in 1950 anyway I think that would explain it but who knows that would explain it, but who knows? That would explain it. It's not smoke, by the way, Monica. It's actually water vapor. Right, right. Yeah, and other known carcinogens. Right. And unknown. No, no, no, no. I like that. I like that. I'm going to try it. Wait a minute, my car would do it all the time. It's missing calls to this. Sure it does. It's using cost

It's just got to be cold enough so that you can see it that maybe that's why we don't see it all the time because It's got to be like 20 below Well when it's 20 below your car puts out the greatest amount of visible smoke because the steam that's being created in the cylinders is getting Condensed back into water eventually water but in the process water vapor So that's what you're seeing coming out the tailpipe is that water vapor. And because the engines aren't completely warmed up and hence their exhaust systems aren't completely warmed up, you're more likely to see it I think because engines will miss during the warm up period. Great.

Well cool. You answered my question. Gee, thanks for calling Monica. First one today. You're welcome. See ya. Bye. Bye. Okay, now before we get to the new puzzler, we have to take a short break. What? Thanks for calling, Monica! First one today! You're welcome! See ya! Bye! Okay, now before we get to the new puzzler, we have to take a short break.

What? We have to consult with our lawyers again? No, no, they have to consult with us! No! But when we come back, you'll get the new historic folkloric, challenging, all those things, interesting... And long. Oh, long.

Yeah, very long. Puzzler. Ha! We're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, click and clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to discuss, of course, cars, car repair, and the... And the... The new puzzler.

Now, I've had to use the same mo on this puzzler that I've used Maximum obfuscation. Oh, I've used many times before you may have to help me. I'll jump right in Yeah, long long ago when he was just a lad our erstwhile producer Dougie Berman who had three girlfriends At the same time? This was before he was married, I think. No. I think it was. Oh.

He had three girlfriends, and he would juggle them, so to speak. On Monday, he would visit one, on Tuesday another, on Wednesday the third one, and then he'd repeat the process. Thursday, he'd visit number one again, and number two, et cetera, et cetera. And each time he would make one of these visits, he would drive his car, but before he could drive the car, because it was a junker, he had to go through a little ritual.

He would open the hood, and he'd have to top up the coolant because he leaked coolant. He had to top up the power steering fluid, that leaked too. He had to fill up the oil because he was burning oil like crazy. Blue smoke out of the tailpipe. Brake fluid? No, I don't think you need any brake fluid. Transmission fluid?

No. Are you helping or hindering? I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to obfuscate as much as possible. No, no, that's all right. Okay. Closest to the hood, drives to girlfriend one number one's house and he follows the same procedure every time.

He pulls into the driveway and then he drives as far into the woods as he can so the other girlfriends won't see his jalopy which is quite distinguishable. And he does this for girlfriend number one and then on Tuesday for girlfriend number two and on Wednesday girlfriend number three but when he pulls into girlfriend number three's driveway an interesting thing happens. Fire erupts under the hood. The thing bursts into flames. At which point he jumps out of the car, removes his pants, and beats out the flames. And then when the thing has finally subsided, he stashes the car, goes to her house, and tries to explain to her parents why he's coming to meet her with no pants on.

So this goes on and on. Girlfriend number one, no problem. Number two, no problem. But every time he visits girlfriend, number three, same problem. The car catches fire under the hood. He can't explain it. He takes this as an omen and dumps the other two girlfriends and keeps girlfriend number three.

Because any girl that gets set his pants on fire is going to be worth sticking around with. Yeah. Yeah. I go with it. I'm with it. So now you have all of the facts as obfuscated as they may be. What is it embedded here in this little narrative? So the question is how long is it gonna take his wife

to find out about girlfriend number three? Is that the question? So to speak. That's the question. I got it. I say she's gonna find out about 10 minutes after we leave the studio. So what is it about his visit to girlfriend number three,

knowing what you know and only what you know that causes this conflagration under the hood and ultimately in his pants? So if you think you know the answer or just have nothing better to do at work, mail your answer to Puzzlet Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square. You may notice a similarity between this and the other address that I've given previously. Yes, they are similar. Cambridge, Alla Fair City, MA 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 one of our new Car Talk t-shirts celebrating 10 years of bad car advice. One 888 Car Talk. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Kim and I'm in Charlottesville, Virginia. Who? When? 888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Hi, this is Kim, and I'm in Charlottesville, Virginia. Who, when? What village? Charlottesville, Virginia. I'm at the University of Virginia. Charlottesville. Charlottesville. Yeah.

Are you a professor, or are you still trying to graduate? Well, I'm a graduate student here. Yeah, still trying to graduate. Yeah, in art history. He? Oh, Kim. student here in art history. That's probably why I'm having difficulty with my car. Do you do any, what do you call it, OJT? On the job training there?

On the job, yeah, I teach as well. So they, oh you do? So I mean they do actually try to prepare you for the real world and getting a job and all that Right for getting a job in art history. Yeah, so, you know the important phrases like, you know, would you like a chocolate shake with? She was boy we're brutal aren't we? Yeah, you guys can give me a break here She was. Boy, we're brutal, aren't we? Yeah, you guys can give me a break here. We'll give you a right answer. What's up, Kim? I have an engine overheating problem. It's a 1988 Dodge Omni with 157,000 plus miles on it. Wow, a miracle. It had a new radiator put in. It had a new radiator valve in it had a new radiator uh... valve put in and it actually with okay for a while after the radiator with put in

and now i turned on the heat and when i started to turn on the heat i noticed the engine gauge going up and if you look at turned off the heat it went back down so i had a new thermostat put in then it happened again and there was a new cooling sensor put in and it's still doing it. Whether the heat's on or not? Whether the heat's on or not, it seems to be worse

with the heat on a little bit, but it still goes up pretty quickly. How quickly does it go up? Let's assume the gauge is at the one fourth position, the car's in the middle of warming up. You turn the heat on. If I turn that heat on full blast, it'll be less than five minutes before it's almost up to orange.

Okay. Boy, it's so counterintuitive. Really? Well, that's what people do, for example, when they're driving in the desert and their car begins to overheat, they turn the heat on, and they sit there and swelter while the engine benefits from having this heater core introduced into the loop, and the engine actually will begin to run cooler. Really? I mean, this whole thing is so bizarre

that I have to question you, and I have to question your veracity. What? How sure are you that turning on the heat really does make it heat up more? I'm positive. I've watched it. Well, it may be coincidental. Well, but don't forget, it might have been going up anyway. So the reverse, how sure are you?

But then she claimed, I believe, that when she turned off the heat... When you turned off the heat, it goes back down. It comes right back down to where it should be. Did it plummet? It plummets. Is it possible that when you turn the heat off that you also do something else? Like you stop? No!

Or you go faster? Or you get out of traffic? No, because no. Wow, then we're going to have to believe you. Yeah, and we I mean it was more important coming upon us to make sure of this Right more importantly what we're gonna have to make something up Well, I could I can only tell you this okay so far I may think of something more convincing in a minute But we had I remember some years ago, we had a similar case with another Dodge Omni or some vehicle like it.

And inexplicably his temperature gauge would go bonkies and we tried everything. We took the radiator out and had it tested. We put a new thermostat in. We changed the hoses thinking that one of the hoses was collapsing. And finally in desperation, we removed the cylinder head and checked it for cracks and in doing so, and finding none replaced what evidently

was a leaky head gasket. Wow. A leaky head gasket. And that solved the problem. Well, I don't know if it solved it. We never saw the customer again. Is that, is that the equivalent of solving the problem? I, I'd say again I'd say so yes, otherwise you'd have seen or his lawyers lawyer. Yeah Well, that might be why I smell ant antifreeze smell. I was heading in that direction

My next question was have you been losing coolant? Yes, ah You've been losing coolant. Yes. Ah! I love this. And I didn't think of that before, but yes, because I've had to refill the overfill reservoir. OK, I've got it.

You've solved it. I have got it. Go ahead. You are going to lov- I could kill you! This is going to be so good. Here's what's going on. Get it over with because you... No, even you are gonna love...

You're gonna say, how the hell did you figure that out? The longer you applaud yourself, the harder the humiliation is gonna be to accept. Get this. I'm ready. You have a leak such that it is squirting. Oh, this is the most bogus! That you have a hot coolant is squirting. Are you ready for this? On the temperature gauge!

Oh no! And it's underneath the dashboard. I mean, this came to me unencumbered by the thought process I could see. And it's underneath the dashboard. This came to me unencumbered by the thought process. I could see it in a vision, in a vision like Edgar Cayce. I'm telling you, take this to your mechanic. Tell him to look underneath the dashboard and he will find a squirting leak. Okay.

Wow. Okay. Wow. Great. Kim, if this is right. I hope this is right. I will never hear the end of it. I have to keep the card till I graduate. It'll be fine.

Okay. Start loading up on courses. And just make sure that you keep replacing the coolant by the way. Right, right, definitely. Yeah, this is it. Okay. Kim, we will have you back, I guarantee you,

on Stump the Chumps. Okay, we'll see if it works. And you are gonna be so embarrassed at the things that you've been saying to me all these years. Well, for Kim's sake, I hope so. Oh, I love you guys. Good luck, Kim. Thanks a lot.

See ya. See ya later. Bye bye. Jeez. You know how, when you know you're right, I have absolutely no fear. I know. Can we make sure that we save this? Can we archive this portion of the show? Can we get the video cameras in here? Can we get this on some kind of videotape? I could see. I could actually see the stuff squirting. Okay.

Well, it's happened again. You vaporized yet another hour listening to car talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion, Berman. Our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Stewie, as in oyster Stuey, Ray. And our engineer is Jonathan Marston. Our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor is Mr. John S. Lawler. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician

Marginal Vera. Our director of new product repair is Warren T. Myfoot, assisted by our customer care representative, Haywood Jabuzov. I'm Steph Butler from the Car Talk Mumbai division as Mahatma code and our inventory manager is Mandelit Delbarcode. Our evasive driving instructor is Vera Brutley. Our junkyard manager is Ricardo Dismantlebon. Our director of moral support is You Demand and our real Tolstoy biographer is Warren

Peace, author of Leo Tolstoy by Warren Peace. Our chief counselor from the law firm of Dewey, Cheetah, and Howe is you Louis Dewey, known among the yellow snow in Harvard Square as Dewey Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tapert Brothers and remember don't drive like my brother or my sister. Especially 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. Vincent Q. Gumbatz. Hey all right now now if you just want a copy of this week's Car Talk Show which is show number five here's what you gotta do all right. Are you going to give out the phone number? No I'm gonna join the US curling team in the Winter Olympics you dope! The number is 1-888-CAR-JUNK that's 1-888-227-5865. And if you wanted other Car Talk memorabilia shall we call it like tapes CDs t-shirts Would people call the very same number Vincent? No, you call Roto Stink and Ruta. Of course you call the same number, 1-888-CAR-JUNK.

Or you can get stuff through the online Shameless Commerce Division at cartalk.msn.com. Vinny, I'm beginning to detect some hostility here. You really have to learn to express your feelings a little bit better. Express this pal! Ha ha ha ha ha! Car Talk is a production of Dewey, Cheetah, and Howe, and WBUR in Boston. And even though the foreign desk holds a minor work stoppage, whenever they hear us say it, this really is NPR National Level Grade.

This is Tanya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air. You'll see your favorite actors, directors, and comedians on late night TV shows or YouTube, but what you get with Fresh Air is a deep dive. Spend some quality time with people like Billie Eilish, Questlove, Ariana Grande, Stephen Colbert, and so many more. We ask questions you won't hear asked anywhere else. Listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY. Support for NPR and the following message

come from the Lemelson Foundation, working to harness the power of invention and innovation to accelerate climate action and improve lives around the world. Learn more at lemilson.org. This message comes from the Kresge Foundation. Established 100 years ago, the Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity

in cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at kresge.org.