The Best of Car Talk - #2539: Cindy's Maalox Moment

Episode Date: May 17, 2025

Cindy is a painter and a nervous one at that. One night, while taking a break from painting to add oil to her BMW she mixed up her containers and accidentally poured a few glugs of maalox into her engine. Cindy's Bimmer no longer has acid reflux, but is it otherwise ruined? Find out 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

Conductor Robert Franz says a good melody captures our attention. And then it moves you through time. Music is architecture in time. If you engage in the moment with what you're listening to, you do lose a sense of the time around you. How we experience time. 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 Tapper Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Snubbed again division here at car talk Plaza. I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore Some of you may remember last year just about this time Our alma mater. Yeah, MIT the Massachusetts Institute of Transmissions

Passed us over when selecting a commencement speaker. Yeah, who'd they get that? It was a, what's his name? It was a snob, especially because they chose this, nobody had ever heard of this guy. I remember when we heard who he was, I said, who? Of course, now everyone knows his name because he, uh, heard it World War III, or they picked Kofi Annan to be the speaker.

Oh, that's his name. And so we, we, what? We complained. We received a letter from the speaker. Oh, that's his name. And so we, we, what? We complained. We received a letter from the president of MIT, Charles Vest. Yeah, we did. He seems like a nice guy. Well, he did, yeah, explaining to us why we had been passed over, and he really gave us one good reason.

Yeah. I remember, I remember, you have the letter hanging in the shop. Yeah, I do, indeed, and to my embarrassment. And he said the reason we didn't get chosen was that Kofi Annan has a flag, and we don't. That's right. And so that when he went to give the commencement speech, they could have the MIT flag on one side of the stage

and the United Nations flag on the other, and the United States of America across the top. There you go. He also did mention, parenthetically, that we were an embarrassment to him. But that was a minor consideration. It was the flag thing that had him bent. So what do we do?

We hire Betsy Ross to make us a flag. And she works on the flag all year. She's sewing there in the basement. What do you know? And we're paying her money. We're paying her big bucks. Betsy, we says to her, Betsy, make us a flag the mother of all flags we wanted. So she does and we present it to the powers that be at our alma mater and they

pass us by again. They snub us again from some little-known politician. Backwater! Backwater politician! From some small southern state. Yeah. What's his name? Clank Clank Clackton? Clinton! Eric Clapton!

Oh, Clinton! Clint, I, geez, I don't know. What a bummer. Yeah, they're never gonna ask us. No. And I'm getting to the point now. If they ask us, we're gonna refuse. We're gonna turn them down.

We're gonna say, Mr. Vest, we're sorry, we can't make it. You can take your flag. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha have to do? We're gonna have to go to a different school. We're gonna have to get another degree. Oh no! I don't have seven years to waste! Like I did the last time! Oh well. Oh well. Anyway, if you'd like to talk to us and console us. Go ahead. Where's the cosine of 79.11590889189 degrees times 10 billion. It's 888-227-8255. You can console us by calling that number, which is also, of course, 1888. Car Talk, as everyone by now knows, because why? Sick of all this stuff, numerical anagrams.

Come on. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hello, this is Nathan from Huntington, West Virginia. Nathan? That's right, originally from Perth, Western Australia. Yeah, well we knew that, didn't we? Now, I was watching a movie the other day, an Australian movie, with Anthony La Paglia, who's an Australian.

You know that, don't you? No. You never heard of him? No. Alright, forget it then. Alright, what do you want? I thought you were going to say the ten deadliest nikes. And you wanna know why Anthony La Paglia doesn't speak like Nathan?

Well in the movie, he had, he sounded just like Nathan. Oh, he did! Except in every other movie in which he's appeared. He sounds like Robert De Niro. He sounds like a New York hoodlum. What do you mean? I don't know nothing. Because he's an actor

that's what actors do fake it well nathan could spread nathan do your best at faking it you're an american i have a problem with my play over land cruiser hang on and i think you could do it uh... how old is the land cruiser

uh... ninety six how old is the land cruiser? 96. gotcha. okay it was relatively new at the time and we were towing a real heavy boat on level ground and to keep the car going around 60 miles an hour it was either driven in fifth gear with the foot to the floor running at 2,000 revs or in fourth gear at 3000 revs. Yeah. And so the problem we were having, it was either way I was using a whole lot of fuel or gasoline. Well that's what happens when you pull heavy stuff. Yeah. What is, firstly, what's more fuel efficient and what's going to wear out the car less?

Hey! What an excellent question! Thank you. It is an excellent question. Excellent question. How much did the boat weigh? We were camping on the beach for a week So we had all fuel and and everything so we're talking a ton of boat at least a ton or more More than a ton of how many people? That's a ton of people Oh

Yeah, yeah, it's very good. See. With long range fuel tanks. Oh, yeah. Very good. See, here's the deal. Here's my answer. Go ahead. My answer is you're much better off second gear. Fifth gear, you don't get much power from fifth gear, obviously, and the

purpose of fifth gear is to be used when you don't need much power. And when do you not need much power. Yep. And when do you not need much power? As strange as it may seem. When you're not pulling a bike. Driving 65 miles an hour is when you don't need much power, usually. Because it doesn't take much.

You may remember those old days of all the times I took physics and flunked it. I mean, one of the few things I remember is that starting friction is greater than rolling friction. Which means that once you're moving it's easy to keep moving unless you're carrying a boat on your back. So you would have been much better off in fourth gear than in fifth because you were probably lugging the engine. And the test that I always use is if you're driving along in fifth gear and you're doing some speed, 65, and you step on the gas to accelerate, if it responds immediately, then you're probably okay in that gear. But if there is a lag of several seconds while it's trying to get up to sixty

or hours off our office well it's trying to get up from sixty five to sixty seven miles an hour then you're probably into higher gear welling in fifty of the foot was on the floor just to keep it going at fifty five yet on the floor is bad that's no good yet so i would have to be with my brother the fourth gear would have been a better choice but now that you melted the engine probably public doesn't matter point did you bring this over here

no i know it uh... it was a rental car uh... well there's another reason uh... reason number eleven that you should never buy a rental car nathan cheerio lad hey thanks very much. It's a pleasure talking to you. I love you.

Catch you later fellas. See you later. Bye bye. Have you ever met an Australian who wasn't happy? Of course the sun is always out. Must be the water. No, it's the beer. There you go. Well that'll do it too. It's the Vegemite that they have for breakfast. 1888 Car Talk, that's 888-227-8255.

Ah, yeah. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, guys. This is Jennifer in Seattle. How you doing? Jennifer. Now, you're not Jenny or Jen. You said Jennifer.

Jennifer. She said that and she meant it. I'm a grownup. You're a grownup. Last I checked, yeah. Good for you. There are so few of you. But heretofore, you had been a Jen. Well, I was a grown-up. You're a grown-up. Last I checked, yeah. Good for you. There are so few of you. But heretofore you had been a Jen?

Well, I was a Jenny. She was a Jenny in college, or at least in high school. Well, I'm still a Jenny to my grandma, but you know. Oh, that's different, yeah. Yeah. But I'm a Jen for now. It's hard for grandma to say all those consonants without her teeth. Well, yeah.

Jenny. So, what's up, Jen? I actually have a problem with my husband's car, which is a 96 Miata. But the problem actually is not with the car, it's with the Miata club. Oh, yeah. It's the sports car club events that absolutely drive me crazy. So I think what I need here is some relationship slash social advice. Yeah.

How to extricate yourself from the geeks exactly exactly thank you if there's nothing worse than geeks what do you do you get involved in these little club meetings i got a lot of course i go well you know i'm trying to be nice but i think that uh... yeah well you know i'm married to it but i figure i have to be nice to him how long have you been married to him almost two years. Oh, yeah long enough Well, I grew out of that attitude eventually then. Oh, absolutely

As my wife has pointed out to me on many many occasions see I'm Italian you may have noticed that yeah Italians like to hang out together, you know Everything has to be a mob scene. Everyone's gotta be involved in everything. And it's loud. And it's gotta be loud. Yeah. And my wife says,

We are not loud! Let's put that right to rest. And my wife, who is not Italian, continually points out to me, you don't have to do everything together all the time. It's possible to go off on your own and do something by yourself. Well, she is right. It's no fun, but it's... It's no fun, but it is possible.

Well, maybe he could just do something with me instead of the mobs of people from the car shop. Yeah, well, of course. I think you should put a stop to this right away. What do they do at these meetings? Give us an example. Okay, you'll laugh. So we go, we often go on weekend trips. Yeah.

Well, I've worked all week, and I don't want to spend my whole weekend driving around in a car, but... No. So I get in the car, and we drive several hours to wherever it is we're going. Oh my god. And of course, they have to drive very fast. Yeah, and they go in a caravan so to speak yeah Yeah, God and there's somebody at the front somebody at the back They have like a CB so they can tell when the police are there and stuff so

Civil disobedience So then we get to the place and we have dinner And then we come back. And to me that just seems like a big nothing. How many times have you done this? Four or five? Oh that's plenty. That's plenty. Yeah you need to be abducted. The real question is do you confront him and make an issue out of this or do you use the back way approach and just keep coming up with excuses? You know the thing is happening a week from Saturday,

so starting now you say, that big meeting is coming up at the office, and I think we're doing the retreat. The very week. Or I have to go in to have a sister in the room. I mean, you gotta make up some excuses. Start making up stuff. That's one approach, and the other one is, say, Frank, you can take your Miana and

you can stuff it. I'm not going anymore to any of these things because I'm bored to tears and I don't see any reason why I should have to put up with this. Well, you don't think that that's gonna hurt his feelings? Who cares? Men don't have any feelings. Oh, what a relief! That's a burden off my shoulders. You thought men had feelings? No women had feelings. Jennifer what were

you thinking? Oh I'm so naive. What if, would you object to his going away by himself on these things? Oh no not at all. How about his secretary? The people that he goes with are a friend or a couple that's a friend of ours and I know they'd keep an eye on him. Oh good, then let him go off by himself and I'll tell you you will start a movement. Pretty soon your friends or his friend's wife won't want to go either. Yeah, if Jennifer's not going, I don't want to go. Yeah, and they'll get sick of that and they'll stop and they'll realize it's stupid. So I will have started a whole social revolution in the art community. I could live with that.

You can live with that. Good for you. Let us know how you make out. Thank you gentlemen. Bye. Now before we give the answer to last week's puzzler, we have to pause briefly for station identification. Station identification? What does that mean? That's radio code for an ounce of acid is the best. This message comes from Wwise, the app for doing things and other currencies.

With Wwise, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wyze.com. T's and C's apply. I'm Tonya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air. At a time of sound bites and short attention spans, our show is all about the deep dive. We do long-form interviews with people behind the best in film, books, TV, music, and journalism. Here our guests open up about their process and their lives in ways you've never heard before. Listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY. Tariffs, recessions, how Colombian drug cartels gave us blueberries all year long.

That's the kind of thing the Planet Money podcast explains. I'm Sarah Gonzalez and on Planet Money, we help you understand the economy and how things all around you came to be the way they are. Para que sepas. So you know. Listen to the Planet Money podcast from NPR. Politics is a lot these days. I'm Sarah McCammon, a co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast,

and I'll be the first to tell you what happens in Washington definitely demands some decoding. That's why our show makes politics as easy as possible to wrap your head around. Join us as we make politics make sense on the NPR Politics Podcast available wherever you get your podcasts Hi, we're back we're front tool But we happen to be back and you're listening to car talk with us click and clack the tappert brothers And here is the answer to last week's puzzle now, which I remember by the way. Well, so did I and I remembered something? unusual about this puzzler that

You don't have the answer. No, that I used it. About an hour after the show was over last week, there I am, sitting at my desk. You have a desk? Not really, I was in the bathroom. But I have a desk in the bathroom. The hamper.

Yeah. And it came to me, did I use this puzzler once before? You did. Yeah, and I have to apologize, but maybe nobody remembers. No one listens to the show twice I've told you this and a hundred times Anyway, here it is. The puzzler is about Henry Ford He was falsely credited with inventing the automobile and it was also falsely credited with inventing mass production Yeah, I think Colt invented mass production, the guy with the Colt 45.

Don't get me started on that. And the malt liquor. But he did do one thing that we know of. He created the famous Model T, of course. He also was said to be responsible for telling his customers the following. You can get the Model T in any color you want as long as it's black.

Now, before people start emailing me, I did mention this. You did mention that it did. And I don't want emails. You know that black is not a color. I don't want emails about having used it before and about the fact that black isn't the color. We get enough mail that we don't need that kind of hate mail.

We got enough hate mail. The question very simply was, why did Henry Ford choose black? Why not a nice lavender? His brother-in-law was in the business. Did I give this answer already? Yeah, I think so. Ford choose black, why not a nice lavender? His brother-in-law was in the business. Did I give this answer already? Yeah, I think so. No, he chose black, not because it was the cheapest paint, rather, because

it was the fastest drying paint. He wanted to make sure that the paint job didn't stay wet long enough to collect dust and whatever. And he could zip them off the assembly line. Don't forget at this time, the roller had not yet been invented. So they were using nylon brushes to paint these things. Not nylon, horse hair.

Nylon hadn't been invented yet either, of course. It didn't come into World War II. That's right. Who's our winner this week? Okay, the winner is Eric Schulz from Albuquerque, New Mexico and for having his correct answer chosen at random from among the millions or thousands or several answers, right answers that we got this week, Eric is going to get one of our unencumbered coffee mugs.

Now I was reading the same thing that you just read and I came up with he gets one of our uncucumbered coffee mugs. I like that better actually. Well you look at something closely you know. Uncucumbered. Uncucumbered. It's fine. Why not? Alright, we're going to get one of our uncucumbered coffee mugs. On one side it says unencumbered by the thought process. There you go. And since it's a mug and we had to make it look fancy, we drew this fancy crest seal kind of thing. And in it's a mug and we had to make it look fancy we drew this fancy crests seal kind of thing Yes, and in it it says in Latin of course the same thing

No, impede the ratty own a cog a Tati onus which I came up with with the help of about 15 Latin scholars Yeah, no two of whom agreed no I had that's why Latin such an interesting I had to finally execute I had to use my my my powers of executive freedom and just say this is it and Amazingly, we have no mail from anyone saying this is completely wrong. Well, it could be that nobody really cares We have a real that would be we have a brand new not recycled puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show So don't touch that dial in the meantime will take your calls at one eight eight eight car talk that's eight double eight double two seven

eighty two double five hello you're on car talk uh... my name's rob landau thing high-ramp no last names please uh... i'm calling about my car i'm going to be a free rob i'm from uh... washington dc uh... i'm calling about my car i think we're from rob i'm from uh... washington dc uh... your lawyer uh... no i'm not although i don't know if i'm blocking today popular

politician critical teacher school god look at the uh... at the people are politicians what do you what do you teach what level i can take all high school i teach uh... chemistry the physical science yeah you sounded like a scientific item you know why because your voice is precise

you know your side to say in whatever all like it's like uh... you know what i mean uh... like every one of them however is it looks like you know uh... expectation for the rest of the call well i will let you get right to the cut right to the chase out of speed so what's up the call that that that that don't like that noise. You don't like that noise, don't you? That little tube sticks down toward the ground?

Kind of sideways, actually. Sorry, is there a valve attached to this little tube? There was not, but I have put one on. And it keeps getting blown out? Yes. Okay. Alright. Okay.

Is the cherry blossom season over? Unfortunately, yes. Oh, yeah Is this the thing gonna like Close to a hundred thousand miles on it. The engine is rebuilt Oh, it is I guess it's this engine is that about right about a hundred the car total has about 200 But yeah, so since the rebuild since the rebuild we got a hundred is at about, right about 100. The car total has about 200, but. Yeah. So since the rebuild. Since the rebuild.

Since the rebuild we got 100. Yeah. About 100. Now, because you got 100 out of the original engine, or somebody did. Yeah. And then 100 out of the rebuilt, you can probably extrapolate. Yeah.

And figure out that it's time for another rebuild. Yeah. No, you have, you have is terminal blow-by. Okay. And the only remedy for that is to do a ring jaw, but I'm afraid you're going to have to bore out the cylinders and put oversized pistons in. Right. That's my fear.

If it's already rebuilt. Yeah. And the reason that the valve you put on there got blown out is because all the pressure, much of the pressure from the compression and the explosion in the cylinders is going right down into the crankcase and boom! That's a lot of pressure down there. Yeah, sure. Did you rebuild this engine yourself? No, I did not.

Oh, I think it would be a wonderful project. First of all, in a few weeks the school year will be over. Right. You'll have nothing to do but languish all summer. What better project? Are you married? Uh, going to be soon. Oh, your wife will love this.

Oh yeah, you could set this baby right on that new dining room table that you're gonna get for a wedding present. Yeah, make sure you get one of those low tables because you don't want to be working up high with these heavy parts. It's unfortunate that it happened now though. I mean, this is the season. It's really too bad. That's why John Newton, remember John Newton? Yeah. John Newton who used to have drive like 300,000 miles a month in his BMW, he

had two engines. One of them was in the car and the other one was in his living room. He would just alternate. He would just alternate. He was always rebuilding the one that wasn't in the car and he would just plunk it in and off he was. These engines are around. You should just buy another one. And swap the. And rebuild that one and then on one weekend

you can do the whole swap over. Just drop it in. That's my recommendation. Good idea Tommy. Good luck Rob. Thank you. See you man. Bye bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK that's 888-CAR-TALK. Get tired of the other number. Hello you're on Car Talk. Hi this is Marguerite from Blooming Grove. I'm gonna try to spell that. M-A-R-G-U-E-R-I-T-E. Yeah, of course.

Wow! I grow those in my backyard! Yeah, you guys really got that. That's incredible. Where are you from? I'm from Blooming Grove, New York. Blooming Grove? Blooming Grove is near West Point.

Where? West Point. The military place? Yeah, the military place. You got a car problem? Oh, do I have a car problem? That's why you called us, remember? What sign are you? Yeah, the military place you got a car problem What's fine are you one of the other things I do is I'm an astrologer my brother's sign is bar and grill I

Am a crab we know that I'm a cancer uh... yeah what you're better i'm in the areas really amid dog jerry hahaha so anyway now that i think it out

but i think you're back to the uh... dependent diagnosis right i have a ninety two hundred accord yeah at that time i think that my apartment and my car has this god-awful high-pitched screech in the morning when I started it sounds like Yeah, because you recently went and had your timing belt replaced That was so good for a second

My hopes would dash oh you're so right, but you're so wrong like it of hearing out went back had timing that the still there and it's worse. Here's what it's likely to be. No, this is what it might, could be if you're lucky, but

not likely to be this. Snowball shit. I have no idea. It could be that the one belt that's more likely to make noise is the alternator belt. Because upon immediately starting the engine, you're asking the alternator to produce electricity, and if the belt is loose or glazed, that belt will squeal. Loose or glazed? Yes, sometimes the belts get a glazing on them, and they just can't grip the pulleys anymore. So it's important there's enough friction between the belt and the pulley,

otherwise the thing slips and you hear the screeching. So you can certainly address this by replacing that belt. The alternator belt. The alternator belt and it's not the power steering. The power steering belt, even if it were falling off, wouldn't make noise unless you turn the wheel. Okay so it's more likely to be the alternator belt. Now if they tell you they've replaced it already, it could be something else. Mmm. It could be the alternator, for example. Well, I was going to tell you about a little...

Little known... Little mishap. Oh, the incident. No, we had a late model of court. I don't remember if it was in 92. It may have been newer. And this fellow came in with noisy noisy belts and we went ahead and put new belts on and it was all right for a few weeks and the noise got worse and he came back. And of course we kept saying, huh, huh. And, and we again went to replace the belts until we realized what had happened

was the crankshaft pulley around which the, which the that alternate belt rides had actually started to come apart. It's actually made in two concentric pieces and it had come apart and that was what was causing the belt to squeal because in fact the thing was slipping. So it could be that your harmonic balancer is disintegrating and your car is the right age for that to happen. Yeah the right number of miles. Yeah So ask them to double check the alternator belt and replace it if it hasn't been replaced But if the noise is still there suspect the harmonic balancer

Whatever that is Well, that's the door the astrology doesn't it? Sound harmonically balanced to me Marguerite. Yeah. Yeah. I mean you must be in harmonic balance Otherwise your karma and your trucker Hey marguerite, thanks so much for calling. You guys are just adorable. Thank you so much. See you later. Bye.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye. OK, now before we get to the new puzzler, we have to take a short break. More coffee? You already had three cups of coffee. That's exactly why I need a break. We'll be back in a minute.

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. Hi, we're back. You listened to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tapit Brothers, and we're back. You listened to Car Talk with us, click and clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new puzzler.

We got a lot of hate mail. Oh, that goes without saying. A lot of submissions about this puzzler, and I'm going to use one one sent by Steve Miller from we don't know where Steve is from. Neither does anyone else for that matter. Because his is succinct. Of course I'll take care of that in short order. And he stole this I believe from Marilyn Vaux Savant but I'm not sure. And she stole it from Martin Gardner. Undoubtedly. Of course. All puzzlers ultimately come from Martin Gardner undoubtedly of course if all puzzlers Ultimately come from Martin Gardner right and he can't sue anyone because he's dead. That's that's that's the best way

Here it is if a mother has two kids and the older one is a boy What are the chances the younger is a boy? Okay, whoa well, that's only half the puzzle. I know this puzzle. This is a killer. And the answer is 50 50. Okay. You got that? Yeah. So I'll give you that part. Yeah. So she's got a boy kid. Who's the older? Right. The mother has two kids. The older one is a boy. What are the chances the younger one is a boy? 50 50. Got it? I'm with you on that. You're paying attention now? Yeah. Now suppose that same mother, no, suppose a different mother has two kids and one of them is a boy. Yeah. What are the chances that the other one is a

boy? Well, it's gotta be 50-50, right? You would think. Wrong. Of course. So what are those chances? Now if you think- And why? We want all the calculations, man. Yeah, I got them all right here, man. I get it. Of course, Steve didn't send the answer, but of course-

We don't need answers. We don't need no, yeah we do. If you send the puzzler, send the stick and answer. Yeah, this is very good, very good. If you think you know the answer, things happen to be slow at work or the boss happens answer. Yeah, this is very good, very good. If you think you know the answer, or things happen to be slow at work, or the boss happens to be away, send your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City.

MA 02238, or you can email us your answer from our website, cartalk.msn.com. Just click on the Talk to Cartalk section. And if we choose your correct answer, the da-da-da-da-da, random, from all the ones we get, with Dougie in there with the raccoons and all that, you'll receive one of our un-cucumbered by the thought process coffee mugs. In the meantime, if you'd like to call us, the number is 1-888-CARTALK. That's 8-888-CAR-TALK that's 888-CAR-TALK. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

This is Cindy in San Diego. Hi Cindy in San Diego. Cindy San Diego. It's actually Cynthia, but that just seems a little bit much. Cynthia is actually a beautiful name. You think so? Yes. What does Cynthia mean? Does it have a meaning?

It actually means moon goddess. Well, I thought Celine was the moon goddess. No, no, Celine was that waitress that you showed over at that restaurant we went to. Oh, yeah. I shouldn't have brought that up. No. Yeah, you said she was a goddess. I did, I know. But Cynthia is so much prettier than Cindy.

Okay, I'm changing it. There you go. Yes, Cynthia. This is Cynthia from San Diego. Hi, Cynthia. Hello. What a snob you must be. I'm sorry.

So Cynthia, what's up? Okay, well, I'm an artist and a graphic designer. I work very late at night usually when I'm painting and I was up late night working one evening and suddenly the light bulb went off in my head that said oh that's right I have to put oil in my car. I have a 535i, an 835i. Oh art's been very very good to Cynthia. And I love the car. Yeah, I bet. It's a great car. So the light bulb goes off, it's the middle of the night, you're painting away and you say, I gotta put oil in the Bimmer.

Right, so I had gone earlier to the store and purchased my monthly supply of maylocks And a quart of Castrol 2050 sure yeah, I don't tell me you put the maylocks I had poured about a quarter of it in there, and I looked at the thing and I went oh my god It's maylocks And I looked at the thing and I went oh my god. It's a maylock She now this has interesting possible consequences. I'm thinking that I have created The miracle cure for engines you may have and this could last I mean this engine can just go on forever. Well you may have discovered the secret ingredient in STP.

Exactly. How would we know? Exactly. Just tell me, you didn't also go upstairs and take a swig of the castrol? No. No. I then add the quarter of mortar oil. Oh, you shouldn't have done that.

Oh sure, why not? You didn't add very much, Maylocks. You put a couple of spoons full in, right? I put about maybe a quarter cup. A quarter of a cup? A quarter of a cup. much, Maylocks. You put a couple of spoonfuls in, right? Oh, I put about maybe a quarter cup. A quarter of a cup? A quarter of a cup. Yeah, forget it. So I put more oil in it, and then I think I put too much oil in it because the dipstick

is reading far over. Well, if it's reading far over... I was just hoping that I could drive it until it used up all that oil. Well, better than that, I think, because we don't know what the Maylocks is going to do, I think you might want to change it for two reasons. You know, it's not good to have the thing overfilled because the oil will foam, and that's potentially more detrimental than the Maylocks. But the Maylocks may also help it to foam. Yeah. Yeah. And that would be not so good. Well, when I've tracked the dipstick and, you know, like taken off the thing for the oil, I don't see any evidence of of all i consume that

maylocks it i did all yet at me locks is gone i'm not in terrible knowledge arctic got the good chalk but i got quoted on all the soul of the half-life i'd like to add this car is going to go for five hundred thousand well you know that it would be interesting obviously this thing uses some more otherwise you wouldn't have been you wouldn't have been a little tiny bit you know that the five thirty five is very sensitive and if it's like down a teaspoon full of any fluid a light comes on it yeah check warning it's got computers all over me

how often do you have to add a quarter of oil maybe every thousand miles well I just as just as a matter of safety I would have the oil and filter changed okay but it'll be interesting to see if your oil consumption changes Well, just as a matter of safety, I would have the oil and filter changed. Okay. But it'll be interesting to see if your oil consumption changes dramatically one way or the other due to this one week or so of the Maylocks treatment. And I'm telling you, you may have discovered something. I may have solved my oil consumption problem. Or you may have wrecked the engine.

Yeah, exactly. I'm going with number two. Yeah. And then I'm talking very expensive Maylocks. Yeah, no, I'd rather doubt you did any damage to the engine. Yeah, exactly. I'm going with number two. And then I'm talking very expensive. Yeah, no, I'd rather doubt you did any damage to the engine. You'd be amazed. You'd be amazed what happens to engines that nobody ever tells us. Yeah, no, it's fine. See you, Cynthia. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Well, it's happened again. You've wasted another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug Berman. Our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Rogers. Our sister producer is Catherine Imelda.

It's come to our attention that Imelda Ray Marcos here. Yes, has more than her fair share of footwear. Certainly more shoes than she has feet. Well, I hope so. She has got more shoes than anybody we know. I never noticed. Well, you don't notice things like that. That's, you know, a sensitive guy of the 90s.

Really? Well, I'll be noticing from now on. Our engineer is Jonathan Superhighway Sideburns Marston. Our technical spiritual... He doesn't have the sideburns anymore. Would you stop paying attention? Our engineer is John Marston. Our technical spiritual and menu... He's not spiritual advisor anymore. Technical? No, he never shows up. He never shows up. Menu? Maybe. Our menu advisor... But he's not here anyway. But his name is John Lawler.

We've got some other guy named John Lawler that shows up once in a while. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Marjorie Navarro. Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzoff. Our attorney general in charge of tobacco litigation is Hubert H. Humvee III. Our director of catering is Russell Upsengrub. And our singing neurologist is Eurethe Franklin. Russell Upsomgrubb and our singing neurologist is Euretha Franklin. Okie doke. Peekaboo Street directs our intensive care unit which is known as the Peekaboo ICU. Our junkyard manager is Ricardo Dismantlebon. Our director of moral support is You Demand.

Our sexual harassment counselor is Pat McCann. And our Leo Tolstoy biographer is Warren Peace, author of Leo Tolstoy by Warren Peace. Our chief counselor for Malarfe of Dewey, Cheatham & Howell is Hugh Louis Dewey, known to his friends as Huey Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers. 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. And now, with some very important and pertinent information, here is Card Talk's chief mechanic, Benny Gumbatz. Hey! Now, if you just want a copy of this week's Card Talk show, which is number 20, the number to call is 1-888-CARD-JUMP. You got that? Yeah, and if somebody wanted other Card Talk things, you know, like unencumbered mugs... Uncucumbered! Uncucumbered mugs or CDs. Would they call that very same?

No, you call the Leonardo DiCaprio Fair Club, you moron. Of course you call the same number. 888-CARD-JUMP. or you can get stuff through the online shameless commerce division at Cartalk.msn.com. Thank you very much Vincent, you've been very helpful. Help this jerk. Cartalk is a production of Dewey, Cheetah, and Howe, and WBUR in Boston. And even though Silvia Pugiolli says, Porca miseria, ma chi sono questi cavoni, when she hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.