The Best of Car Talk - #2528: Mister Humidity

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

Wendy's Honda fogs up every time she and her hubby are driving together. Do they need some 'alone time' in a more private space? Or is hubby a one-man-moisture-front? Meteoroligists Click and Clack make a few forecasts 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

This message comes from Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless and made it right. They offer premium wireless plans for less, and all plans include high-speed data, unlimited talk and text, and nationwide coverage. See for yourself at mintmobile.com slash switch. 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 post-Olympic Village here at Car Talk Plaza. Or the post at the Olympic Village. I don't want to complain or anything, but real talk show hosts get sent to these

places to actually do a remote. We're doing a broadcast this week from... Yeah, from Lillehammer, one of those places. Well, they did send us to Lillehammer, except the Olympics are inaginous. Well, I don't know, I think it's kind of, you know... And worse than that, we have to go after the Olympics are over. Well, you know why they don't know, I think it's kind of, you know, and worse than that, we have to go after the Olympics are over. But you know why they don't send us? Because we wouldn't know how to elicit those heartwarming little vignettes about the lives of people who have just broken their both legs, sliding down a mountain on their heads.

Well, anyway, after watching the Olympics for a few minutes the other day, I realized that now they're allowing snowboarding, which means they've given up. It's like wearing sweatpants. Like George Costanza. You've given up, haven't you? Absolutely. They have snowboarding.

They might as well allow us to come in and design events. And I happen to have a few, actually. You do? Well, if they ever ask, that I think would be just as interesting for the next Olympic Games you ready for this one sure my first one parallel parking Why not? I mean, that's a skill of ever saw one It is it takes more skill than just standing there on an icy slope and having to reach the bottom But it's any moron could do that in fact the test should be to not go to the bottom! Try that, wise guy!

Well, how about this? How about you hear the ski jump, of course? Yeah. How about the speed bump? Speed bump? Bada-boom! You know that Ford Ranger we drove a couple of weeks ago? That short-bed Ford Ranger? I'd want to drive that thing if I were in the speed bump competition. I know the one I would want. If they were going to do something like this,

the one I would want would be the downhill. It's the only one that the Dachra could do. I mean, uphill, no way. No, not really. Well, if you want to talk to us about the Olympics or anything else. Anything else. Our number is 888-CAR-TALK. That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Jean from Southwest Missouri.

Jean? Southwest Missouri? Yes. That's the name of the town, Southwest? No, Moundville. Moundville. Moundville. Oh, Moundville.

Yes. And you didn't give us the name of the town because you thought we'd make fun of it. No. No. She didn't want anyone there to know who she really was. That's it. Too late now. Yeah, I know.

And then she would be lumped in with all the Jeans who lived in southwestern Missouri. Yeah. Missouri. But you're from Moundville. Yes. Okay. What's up, Jean? I have a 1996 Toyota T100 pickup.

Yeah. It's a V6 four-wheel drive. nineteen ninety six play at a key one hundred pick up and that the pick four wheel drive and i'm a uh... role male carrier and i put a lot of hard miles on my vehicle and at fifty thousand miles i had to have the idler arm replaced man they blame it on my driving on the mail route

and the fact that this is a four wheel drive vehicle and i wondered if that's a valid excuse. Sounds bogus to me. What could you possibly be doing delivering mail except for stops and starts? Well stops and starts and dirt roads. Dirt roads? You're hitting all those bumps and that thing is bouncing up and down? Yeah. Of course you're gonna wreck an Isler. I'm you're lucky you didn't wreck everything Now everything else is holding up just fine when you say rural how rural are we talking? As real as you want to get oh yeah, yeah, well I drive about 70 miles a day on dirt roads All dirt roads most not all of it. I do 115 miles a day Oh and 70 of it is on dirt roads

Yeah, and so how many times just Here's the measure in the typical day. How many times does your head hit the ceiling of the cup the truck? No, I have good shock so I don't hit the ceiling Things are bouncing around like crazy. No, and I do avoid the worst of the potholes. Well, I mean the truth is that if in fact you drive on those kinds of roads every single day and of these 50,000 miles maybe 40,000 of them are on these roads hitting potholes all the time, your friend end is going to take it pretty heavy. Yeah. Can I ask a question? I mean, it seems obvious to me and I think maybe it hasn't occurred to a lot of people. Do you deliver to every house every day?

Yes. Why? I mean, how would they know? That's my job. How would they know? I mean, there are some days that I don't get any mail at all. How would you know that there was, yeah, exactly. And if I got mail every other day,

I'd be perfectly content with that. Oh, no, no, no, that does not work. No, no sense of humor here. Oh, really? People just, they're just not used to it. You start showing up every other day, I'm telling you. No, no sense of humor here. Oh really? People just... They're just not used to it. You start showing up every other day, I'm telling you. And you can stay home and watch Oprah the other days and nobody will be the wiser.

No, but then I wouldn't be listening to you guys on the radio. Why? That would be better too. Yeah, that would improve your life. Oh no! What's the deal? You work for the United States Postal Service, and you have to use your own vehicle? Oh, yeah, but they pay me to do that. They pay you. Yeah, they pay mileage. They pay mileage

Well, that's why you want to go out every day sure Well, how much do they pay like 35 cents a mile? Yeah around there and you have to keep a log of some kind No, you don't And you have to keep a log of some kind no you don't Like on the honor system no they know how long the route is and the route doesn't change perfect So they wouldn't know if you did it every other day Do they ever like look at your odometer? Never. No.

They know what she's supposed to drive every day. And Jean is an honest, upstanding citizen and she does it every day. That's right. But my opinion is that the dealership is correct. That it's very possible that the worn idler arm was due directly to the kind of driving that you do. Okay, even though I've never replaced an idler arm on any other vehicle that I do sell around.

And you've driven on the same route? Yeah. Well, I will say that some vehicles have more delicate front ends and steering mechanisms than others, and we have seen on some vehicles like Chevy pickup trucks and some Dodge vans that idler arms go out prematurely only because the thing is under designed and I don't know what the idler arm setup is on the T100. I

have never seen one in the shop but it's possible that they wear out early because of some flaw in the design. I bet you in subsequent models, subsequent years of this model, you will see a redesign of the idler arm. Okay. Yeah. And it'll be beefier. And you may be able to avail yourself of one of those, but maybe not. Maybe it won't fit yours. But I think it was under designed and it wore out because of the driving you do. Normal driving might not have taken its toll on it. Okay. But if you dropped out delivery days down from six to five, that extra 35 cents a mile you get will pay for all the idle arms you could possibly burn out. That's true.

Okay. See you, Gene. Okay, thanks a lot. Thanks for calling. Bye. Bye-bye. I didn't know that the post office did that. Could I, for example, get like a second job driving around in my Dart?

You can't have a second job unless you have a second job driving around in my dart you know You need a first job to qualify oh well they would think it was my first job for a second job Yeah, so but you don't have you don't have a first job do you not really? 1888 car talk that's what is that number again 1888 227 8255 Hello, you're I sense this gene was getting a little ticked off. She was yeah, because she was an honest southern lady tick off a postal worker Hello you're on car talk. Hello. Yeah, hello. Who's this? Who's this?

This is Ben. Ben, you're not a postal worker, are you? No, I'm not. Where do you live? Rochester, Minnesota. Rochester, Minnesota. Got a dairy farm out here. Do you really?

Yep. So you get up in the morning and you milk the cows and braid their tails and all that? Yeah, sort of. Sort of. No kidding. This isn't one of the better days. I've got to go fix the manure spreader. That's never a good day would you have to do is that when you know I saw in the manure spreader you want to come and do it for

me no oh my brother drives a manure spreader so anyway Ben what's shaken I got a 84 f-250 pickup yeah and it's got a just a little bit of hesitation in it when you're driving mostly on the highway but it started bothering you pickup. Yeah. And it's got just a little bit. They thought it might be the EGR valve but they didn't really want to replace that because that was like $400. Does the hesitation, it occurs when you're trying to accelerate? No, just driving down the highway. Just driving down the highway? On a steady speed.

Not all the time, it's like you took your foot off the gas just for a second. We wouldn't call that hesitation, we would call that a skip. A skip? A skip or a miss. Yeah okay yeah. Is it worse if you are trying to accelerate any time does it ever happen if you're trying to climb a hill? Does it seem more pronounced? No. No. So it just kind of does it just intermittently. All of a sudden. Yep. Is it like someone for a split second turned the key off would you would you compare it to that? Yeah and sometimes it's real you don't hardly even notice it you can just kind of sense maybe it was doing something yeah okay how long has this been going on

several months but it was never like I say it was so faint I never really paid any attention to it until it started bothering at slower speed and this is an 84 yes she's it is not the EGR valve no no this thing is electrical problem this has a carburetor it's a it's a six-cylinder engine not the EGR valve. No, no this thing is electrical problem. This has a Carburetor it's a it's a six-cylinder engine not the car. It's a V8, but it has a carburetor. Yeah, it isn't that either I don't think no. I'm just curious. No, it's not the car. I think you have a bad or a beginning to go bad electronic ignition module beginning to go bad electronic ignition module yet is it more apt to i have to ask this very important question

is it more apt to do it after you've been driving for a while i did you say that uh... i would say that mine and i knew that was going to be a few hits i knew in my heart another uncooperative yeah no it's not that either. It's got a real rough idle when you first start it up and it's cold. After it warms up and it levels out and it runs real good. Nah, that's something else.

Okay. Yeah. No, I'm still sticking with the module. You are. I am. I am, and I wouldn't do anything about it until it got much worse. Well, that's what I was wondering, yeah. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing mechanically wrong with the engine.

You're not going to blow a valve out or have a ring crack on you or any such thing like that. Right. And you'd have to wait until it got worse, but considering it's a 1984, even though it has 60 or 1,000 miles on it, I think it's very likely that that module, which is now 14 years old, Is every once in a while missing a beat. And when it does that, you will not get sparked to a few cylinders or maybe a whole bunch, maybe more than that, for a split second and then it'll just jump right back in and work again. Okay. And how much is that going to cost me?

I don't know what they cost. You might be able to buy one for between 50 and 100 bucks. That's not too bad. Yeah, I'll take the one out of the manure spreader. I gotta go clean all the stuff. Yeah, we don't need to know. That's good. Spare us the details. That's good.

Okay. Make sure you wash your hands before you have lunch. Good luck, Ben. All right. Thanks for calling. See you later. All right. Hey, it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

All right. All right. Guess what? The puzzler answer and more calls are coming up right after this. This message comes from Wise, the app for doing things in other currencies. Sending or spending money abroad, hidden fees may be taking a cut. With WISE, you can convert between up to 40 currencies at the mid-market exchange rate.

Visit wis.com, TNCs apply. This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees and free perks, Mint Mobile might be right for you with plans starting from 15 bucks a month. Shop plans today at mintmobile.com slash switch. Cells, cars, coffee. How do these goods make their way to us from overseas and what will President Trump's tariffs mean for their price tags?

Join the 1A Podcast as we explore supply chains and costs associated with some of your favorite products. It's our series, How Did This Get Here? Every Wednesday. Listen to the 1A Podcast from NPR and WAMU. You have your job, but you also have a life. And you're not just one thing. Neither is the Here and Now Anytime podcast.

Every weekday, we break down the biggest story of the day and something else, like a new trend everyone's talking about. It's Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR. Hi, we're back. NPR and WBUR. I'm sick, I have to have chicken soup, but I'm sick. It's dripping down his chin, going down his chest. That's why I wear these V-neck t-shirts. First of all, you're not supposed to eat in the studio. Oh. Well, anyway. I don't want to have to tell you this again.

Here's the answer to last week's puzzle. Do you remember last week's puzzle? It had something to do with Germany. There you go. Okay, now I gave a lot of hints. I wasn't Russia. And you didn't, no I gave a lot of hints. I wasn't Russia. And you didn't, no that was War and Peace. And you didn't participate.

I remember when I stated the puzzle, you were quite quiet. I was? Yeah, you didn't, usually you interject, you interrupt, you interfere, disrupt. Well, remind me what it was. Okay. And I'll tell you why I was like that. Here it is. Sometime in the late 1930s in Germany, and perhaps other countries as well, aeronautical

engineers, now this thing is rife with hints, this puzzler is. Aeronautical engineers were working on a device. The device, get this, took water vapor, which is one of the byproducts of gasoline engine combustion and would condense it into water and save it. And it would save it in such a way so that the amount of water saved would be exactly equivalent in weight. To the amount of fuel burned. There you go.

Right, and I said, I remember saying something like that way, the weight of the plane would remain constant. You did say that. Yeah. Why would you want it to remain constant? The only thing I can think of was that it must have been a weapon of some kind and you wanted the weight to remain constant because there was some kind of a guidance system which wouldn't work properly if the weight kept changing. Buzz bombs you're thinking of, right?

Something like that. No, that's not it. Nothing like that not nothing like that has always issue might guess is the engine burned a pound of fuel a pound of water would be saved right you've that conclusion yeah and the rest would be discarded of course the question is why would you want to do this that was the question and obviously you've come up on weaponry which is not it airplanes is not an hour engineer jonathan marshland came up with

submarines well that's good huh? Oh that would be good. Except why would you want to save water, you're what? Immersed in water. Wait a minute, you said aeronautical. There you go. And submarines aren't aeronautical, John.

Well he wasn't paying attention, he's engineering the show, damn it. He's got a lot of other important things to do, but he got the gist of it. Yeah. But he was close, I said. Oh, dirigibles. Exactly. Of course! At that time,

they had switched over from hydrogen as the levitating medium, which was a little dangerous, to helium, which was much safer, but very expensive. Yeah. And needless to say, as you consume fuel and the craft becomes lighter and lighter, you gotta spew the stuff out but you can't do that because it's expensive so what you want to do is save some of the byproducts so you keep the weight of the vehicle the same I love it isn't it great Dale Margie or Margie sent that in actually he's answered for me a question I've been struggling with for low these many minutes, which was the stoichiometry involved. That assumes, the whole question, the answer assumes that you produce far more water.

It's 18 to 1. Really? 18 pounds of water. No. To every pound of, and that is the source of the greenhouse effect. Of the greenhouse effect. That is, that's the problem. We're adding water to the planet and in doing so we're slowing down, pretty soon the days

are going to be 25 hours. We're slowing down the angular velocity of the planet. We knew that because of the billboard effect too. That's 26 hours. I mean, add that to it. So there's the billboard effect and the roof snow theory and all that. Okay, well who's gonna win our fabulous prize this week, Tommy? Who am I, Ed McMahon? I just came away a lousy t-shirt.

The winner this week is Marcy Rodney from Louisville... What? Colorado. Oh, Colorado. Maybe it's Louisville, Colorado. I bet it is. And Marcy Rodney, for having your answer chosen at random from among all the right answers that we did get this week, you, Marcy Rodney, will get one of our 10th anniversary Car Talk

t-shirts with our current slogan on it, celebrating 10 years of bad car advice. And that's truth in advertising, if there ever was any. 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 1-888-CAR-TALK that's 888-227-8255. Hello you're on Car Talk. Hello my name is Susan I'm calling from Charlotte, Vermont. Charlotte?

Yes. How do you spell that? The same way as you spell Charlotte we're near the French border. Oh Charlotte oui Vermont. Charlotte? Yes. How do you spell that? The same way as you spell Charlotte. We're near the French border. Oh Charlotte, oui oui. Charlotte, oh ho ho. You're nice, you're nice for French. Vermont. How are you Susan? Well I'm actually frightened. Oh. And I'm hoping that you can save our household from some impending peril. Really? What? Well we were without power for about a week during the great ice storm. Yeah. So we had no heat, no water, no toilets to flush. Yeah. And my husband who is a

theoretical physicist and I'd like to stress the theoretical part. He wants to get something that's called an inverter that will get electric power from the car battery. Well interestingly we just received an email about this the other day on our site. Somebody wanted to know, it may have been your husband even. Oh I bet it was. It may have been, somebody from up north there wanted to know if in fact you could buy an inverter That would take the 12 volts from your battery right and invert it to 12 volts DC and change it to 110

AC and the answer is yes, there is such a vice of course Well, we're gonna get back to the theoretical part of this in a minute. Let's go to the practical part. All right. Because he just says to me, oh, you don't need to understand this. Well, first of all, your car alternator puts out about 50 amps of electricity, okay? Times 12 volts is 600 watts. So you could run six light bulbs. You cannot run your electric hot water heater, which takes about 6,000 watts. So you could run six light bulbs. You cannot run your electric hot water heater, which takes about 6,000 watts. Nor can you run your furnace or even an electric coffee pot, which I think takes like 1,200 watts. And that's before any of the losses incurred in

the transmogrification of power. Because you've got to change the DC to AC, you're going to step up the voltage from 12 to 120, and when you do all this there are losses for heat, which on a theoretical basis we know don't exist. That's right. In the frictionless world in which your husband lives, all things are possible. And while it's possible to light a few light bulbs using the 100 horsepower engine that's under your hood, you'd be much better off going to Home Depot and buying like a 6,000 watt generator.

Yeah, I mean on the other hand it's not a bad thing to have because first, I mean, inverters have been around for decades. I had one of these inverters in my old, old 53 Dodge and it worked great. I could run one light bulb off of it, which was cool because when I broke down, which was every week, I had in my trunk a 50-foot extension cord with a hundred watt bulb in it and people were amazed to see me under the hood with a real extension cord and 100 what no they weren't they'd say this Tom again So, I mean these things have been around the technologies a million years old

But the problem is exactly as my as my brother has said that you don't get very much power out of it But that doesn't mean you shouldn't have one, But it won't start the furnace the oil oil burning furnace Oh, no, you're gonna have to go for that. You have to go to the depot for that. Okay Well, you know if he did rig up a light bulb from the sailboat battery during the crisis excellent and sparks flew He's not completely worthless so out of the cable said

who's yeah make me very nervous about the father but you're definitely no i can't have a plan yeah no no that's not what we said we said this is not a bad thing to have and and it wouldn't be bad to have a couple of hundred watt bulbs if you had nothing else. But he won't be able to run the furnace with it. Right, okay.

You'll be able to run a few light bulbs, and if that can bring you comfort on a cold and bleak night in the upper reaches of Vermont, and why anyone would want to live there, we don't know, but you've chosen to live there. That's true. That's true. Well, I hope we haven't helped I hope yeah get the inverter it's not bad okay thanks very much your husband is not as wacko as we thought he would be well you haven't met him no but don't trust him he sounds dangerous I don't want to let out any

military secrets but where does he work Well actually he works at home he writes physics books. Oh that sounds awfully fishy to me he's working on the Philadelphia experiment. Just Susan sometime when he's like in a semi conscious state you know he's half between waking up and sleep just whispering his ear, Philadelphia experiment, and see if he just sits bolt upright in bed. Okay. That's all. Okay.

See what happens and report back to us. I definitely will do that. See ya, Susan. Susan, it's been a pleasure to talk to you. Bye bye. Hope you don't freeze your butt off up there. Bye bye. Bye bye. Hey, stick around for more calls and the new puzzler coming right up.

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We ask questions you won't hear asked anywhere else. Listen to the Fresh Share podcast from NPR and WHYY. Ha! Oh, don't wake me up. 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? And the... And the what? The new puzzler. Oh, you have one. I do have one. I can hardly wait. Well, I have a crusty puzzler which I will save until next week. I can hardly wait. What is it? Well, this was sent to us

from cyberspace by someone named Roy Richard. Good. Read it. He says hurry up while driving around Luxembourg on a recent trip to Europe. I caught a glimpse of a billboard that Immediately brought car talk to mind. Yeah The billboard was brightly colored with a cartoon Like a pig on the bottom, but it wasn't just a pig that brought car talk to mind across the center of the sign was written an equation. Write this down. I'm gonna write it down. Go ahead. D. D. Small or big? Yeah. D equals

V over 10 in parentheses. squared, that quantity squared, the whole thing divided by two. Okay, you got it? So the quantity, V over 10 squared, divide V by 10, square it, divide that whole thing by two. Got it? I've got it, yeah. Right?

You got it. Yeah. And this was a billboard? This was a billboard. He says says remembering a discussion on the show of several months ago I immediately knew what this was all about Wow what was it that's it that's the question no oh you gave a hint remembering a discussion on our show remember a discussion on car talk of a few months ago I

Knew immediately what this meant and all the hints are there. I mean Luxembourg. I mean you name it You name it. It's all there man Richard Roy Richard Luxembourg Europe. Yeah D D is there V is there too D and V they're both there all right now if you think you know the answer or things are slow at work and you feel like taking a guess mail your answer to puzzler tower car talk Plaza box 3500 Harvard Square Cambridge our fair city map 0 2 2 3 8 or you can email us your answer from our website car talktalk.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 featuring the slogan, celebrating 10 years of bad car advice. Our number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Paris from Newport, Massachusetts. Our number is 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Paris from Newburyport, Massachusetts. Paris? Yeah. Paris? I've been on before, I don't know if you remember me. Oh, the name is familiar. Where are you from?

Newburyport. Yeah, from Newburyport, yeah. No, I don't remember you. I do remember. I was on like two years ago from Mississippi, actually, so. Well, what did we talk about when you were on before? Oh God, I had a question that was one part automotive, one part religious. I had a car that I was trying to get from my sister's church and they wouldn't give

it to me. I remember. Because I wasn't a Christian. Yes. Ah, yes. You're a Buddhist. That's right. That's right.

You remember. Of course I remember. You guys shamed them into selling me that car after they heard the broadcast They did yeah, I want to thank you for that. Hey don't mention it man So what are you calling again for? Well, man, you gave me such good advice last time. I had to call again Um, I've got a car. It's an 87 Toyota pickup truck. It's in New Orleans. My fiance Barbara is driving it Yeah, it's got two hundred and thirty thousand miles on on it it's got a chronic overheating problem really here don't give us the conditions on the which it overheats out it

overheats your all the time yet full time without a rate without a job thermostat and uh... we have to keep the heat on and in new orleans in the summertime it's even worse and stop and go city traffic it with the heat on sometimes you gotta pull over and i did a lot of work to it. I had the radiator rotted out, replaced the hoses, thermostat, water pump, fan clutch, but it's still overheating. We're still running it with no thermostat.

Well, first of all, how come you move around so much? How come I move around so much? Yeah, I mean a couple years ago you called us from where? I called you from Jackson, Mississippi. From Jackson, Mississippi. Then you must have moved to New Orleans to meet Barbara. Yeah. Now you're back in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Yeah, it's back where I belong, you know. Yeah, okay. But you left Barbara and the truck in New Orleans. Right. Well is she planning to come up here to Newburyport? If I can ever get her pickup truck fixed, I think she's going to come up here. Newport? If I can ever get her pickup truck fixed I think she's gonna come up here. She is not gonna make it here with that pickup truck. Not the way it's running yeah. Not ever. No. No she's never, never give up. Really it's time to give up.

I would never give up. Well unless you're ready to like do a transplant. We love this thing though you know. It's obviously lived its whole life down in New Orleans it's not rusted it's not a junker. Right, exactly. Well, if you've replaced all the things that you've replaced, it's only one of two things. Either the radiator, which you say you had rotted out, is not really good enough. But I don't think that's true. Or, the engine itself, the cooling passages inside the engine are so Disgustingly messed well they would have noticed that when they took the head off and they probably did you think so sure yeah

Well, here's what I would do Yeah Yeah, go ahead Tell us about Bob Yeah I mean, why bother to solve this problem? Yeah, how serious are you? Actually, I've got some problems with her you might be able to help me with. I mean, is she really worth it? Because this is not going to be easy. Yeah, I think I may have to break down and get her a new vehicle because she's worth it.

She's worth it. All right. But I was going to suggest if you want to go at it scientifically, that you take the radiator out and have somebody flow test it. Preferably not the guys that rotted it out. Right. Another radiator shop. You may find out that in fact, it's not really clear. That would be really, really nice to find out. If the radiator were plugged up, the problem would be much worse driving at high speed.

Is that true? Actually, when we're on the highway, we don't have to use the heat as much. So it's the opposite. Better. It's in the city with the stop and go where you really need it you know okay that it didn't public the engine yeah yeah

yeah there was a well i think you ought to throw an engine in it why not whatever about a thousand bucks i mean if i want is what's wrong with the idea you know i don't know what i thought i haven't actually move the wheels Yeah, if the thing is really as nice as you say no rust everything works Then it would certainly be worth spending the three thousand dollars. It's gonna cost you. Yeah, that's what I would do Well, I sure do appreciate you guys. Here's what you do. Send us a picture of the truck. Okay and Barbara

We'll send you our written response with the week a particular dot the like that's welcome back to massachusetts out back to say that let's see it but what what he does for a living he's a style i don't know but i think that yet it borders on being illegal i don't know why you just had that feeling that you had a feeling because of the nice guy very nice but he's selling he's selling something is a telemarketer isn't it

yeah yeah what he did it hard talk that's one eight eight eight to two seven eight two five five hello you're on car talk this is wendy calling from iowa city hi when he came here i was i don't know hold out too much hope for solving this. It might be closer to being a puzzler. Oh really? I've tried everything. Oh boy, we love a challenge like that.

Okay. Go ahead. I have an 88 Honda Prelude four-wheel steering car that I love and plan to drive forever. Now that was a feature that really caught on, huh? Oh yeah. It's terrific. I love this car. Except when my husband rides in it because he fogs it up. I mean he fogs it up like mushroom soup on the inside of the windows or something. Really? Now he doesn't do this in other cars. He doesn't? No, and nobody else does this in my car. Wow. Is he over six feet tall? Oh heavens no. Wow! Is he over six feet tall? Oh, heavens no. A little guy? Oh yeah, well short. And I can't tie it to a season. I've tried with and without the air conditioner on. I've tried the inside and outside intakes. So you have it on fresh air? Yeah, I've tried both. All

combinations, all permutations. Is there a chance that he's outgassing? I can't, I haven't, I don't think it's a diet related. I don't think it's a breath related. He seems to have a pleasant breath. And he fogs up all the windows? Oh, it's a matter of minutes. Can't see a thing. You can wipe it off all day, it fogs right back up again. Doesn't happen in his car. So it makes no difference whether he's driving or riding as a passenger? You could be sitting in the back seat. Really? Yeah. I mean his head isn't wet or anything I mean it's not just out of the shower when he gets into your car I mean that would do it you know. No. No so he can get in the middle of the day. Oh sure

anytime day night. Anytime and how long does it take for the fog up to occur? Oh five minutes it starts. And then if even if you turn on the defroster? Oh, yeah. Well, that would take care of it, right? Yeah, it does with other people. Oh, it doesn't with him? No. It does not.

No. This man is emitting some serious water vapor. But only in my car? Well, I think it's happening in your car because the prelude is a relatively small vehicle. And so if he is emitting large amounts of water vapor, it wouldn't happen in a larger vehicle which had a larger passenger compartment. Okay, it doesn't happen in my son's Jetta. Jetta's a little bigger than the Prelude. I told you it was a puzzler.

Jeddah's a big, big. How about if you left the windows open? I mean, if you left a window open. Well, we've tried cracking the windows. We tried opening the skylight a little bit. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And it helps a little?

No. Only that there's no fog where there's no window. Yeah. You're gonna tell us more about him then. Here's the test. Oh gosh. Well, here's the test. I mean, I don't know what it's gonna tell you necessarily, but it's gonna tell us more about him then. Oh, here's the test. Oh gosh. Well here's the test. I don't know what it's gonna tell you necessarily, but it's gonna tell you something.

He needs a snorkel. You know the snorkels that you buy at the sporting goods store? Excellent. He needs to have it breathe out the window. Yeah, I like it because we have to determine is the source of the moisture in his lungs or is it some other part of his body. I think it's in his garments. After this phone call my problem might be solved. He might refuse to ride with me. No I mean if we eliminate, if we eliminate his breath, that will open up all new possibilities.

Then we can start talking about his clothing, his habits. Okay. Well, the next step would be he has to ride naked. But the first step is the snorkel. Do the snorkel. Okay. Call us back. Okay.

And then we'll give you the next step. All right. Call us back next week. Okay. All right. Thank you. We'll talk to you, Wendy. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. Well, it's happened again. What? You've vaporized yet another hour listening. It's an hour and a half, isn't it? It's an hour and a half. Three half hours. Listening to Car Talk.

Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion, Berman. We need some new names for him, by the way. 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 and spiritual advisor is Mr. John S. Lawler. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research assisted by Statistician Marge and O'Veara. Our director of new product repair is Warren T. Myfoot, assisted by our customer care representative Heywood Jabuzoff. Our staff butler from the Cardiff-Mumbai Division is Matt McCote. Our junkyard manager is Ricardo Dismantlebon.

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We're Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers and don't drive like my brother or my sister. Don't drive like my brother or my sister. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. my sister. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. And now, with an extraordinarily important announcement, here is Card Talk Plaza's Chief Mechanic, Mr. Vinnie Gumbaz. Alright, now if you want a copy of this week's Car Talk Show, which is number nine, the number is 1-888-CAR-JUNK.

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