The Best of Car Talk - #2544: I Fixed the Car Again, Honey!

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

Linda's husband sensed that she was getting tired of their old Volvo. So he decided to turn it into a convertible -permanently- by chopping off the top of the car with a grinding tool. 'Fixed' isn't what Linda is thinking here. What will Click and Clack think? 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

These days, there is a lot of news. It could be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider This from NPR is a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, the backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider This Podcast 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 Rotunda here at Car Talk Plaza where my brother has a little legislative news.

Is that what you have? Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep

beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep announced that the United States House of Representatives will propose a bill which abolishes all drunken driving laws in the country. Drunk driving is simply not all it's cracked up to be, chuckled Newton Farquhar Gingrich, Speaker of the House. Those radical groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving are just another hysterical bunch of PMS-crazed women who just don't know how to have a good time, he said.

In the proposed measure, drunk driving will no longer be considered a crime in any of the 50 states, all its territories, and especially Washington, D.C. When questioned by critics about the possible influence of efforts by the beverage and restaurant industry lobbyists, Mr. Gingrich replied, Now, there's a bunch of people who really know how to have a party. The past six months has been a dream come true. Yes, it is kind of a blur, but I think it was great. Gingrich denied allegations that he was slurring his words during his presentation, but the news conference did end abruptly

when he stumbled and fell off the podium. It's right off the presses. I mean, that's it. Nice work. Boy, the internet's going to manage to get one of us in jail. Well, I mean, the Senate goes and passes a bill with a 0.08 blood alcohol level, and the House doesn't even vote on it thanks to Newton Farquhar Gingrich. Is that his name? Farquhar.

Why? I mean, they admit that they've had parties for months. The restaurant industries and the you know the beer industry the liquor has literally had parties in the Senate in their house buildings in the conference rooms where they have come in with guys who set up a bar and served hors d'oeuvres and beer and gave a presentation saying ah this is a bunch of junk and all those morons they They were like, how many are there, like 500 of them? Well, 400 and something.

They fell for it. Yeah? And boy, I mean, I thought they'd They gotta lick it up, huh? I thought the guy from the Department of Agriculture had something to be ashamed of. But do their mothers know what they're up to? No.

And it's just my opinion, but that's it. OK. That's it. That's it. Okay. That's it! That's it! And he fell down. I hope he didn't hurt himself. Well, when you're drunk and you fall down, usually you don't even know you fell down.

I mean, he said that the last six months were great. He thinks. He can't remember. Okay, if you'd like to call us, the number is 888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255 Hello, you're on car talk. Hi, this is Gary in Louisville Gary in Louisville in Garyville Gary get bossa man. Well, I've got a 92 Suzu rodeo

Yeah with about 92,000 miles on it. Mm-hmm six months ago I was living in Baltimore, and I took it in for a regular checkup, and they said they noticed a problem with it, checked it out, and said that the valve on the third cylinder was burned, and it needed a valve job. And they said it would run about $800.

And I said, well, do I have to do this right away? And they said, no, it won't hurt anything to keep driving it for a while and next month I'm planning to go on a 12 to 1300 mile trip to northern Nebraska and I'm wondering if it's okay to drive this now I called my local dealer here and explained the situation and he said get a fix as soon as possible it could spread to other cylinders oh it's like a contagion Well, he's right in a sense although he didn't use his terminology is interesting yes

He didn't use the right terminology It can't spread to other cylinders, but because you have a cylinder that isn't contributing Right the overall power of the engine it It ain't good to keep driving. You're making the other cylinders work harder. This is a V6 this is? Yes. Yeah, it's a V6. Did he say how badly it was burned?

Did he give you any compression numbers? Yeah. Give us some numbers. I don't remember the specific numbers, but it was about half what it should have been. Half? Yeah. That's not good. No. But does it seem to run roughly at idle? When I'm at a light or something it's bouncing up and down. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Nah, I wouldn't drive any 12-hour miles with it. No. Get it done. When are you planning to leave? About a month. I don't give enough time. Yeah. Okay. Is this like a vacation you're going on? Uh, yeah. It's a star party, a gathering of amateur astronomers. So you're going to drag your dobsonian out there and look at the heavens? Yeah. What's a dobsonian? None of your damn business. This man knows his telescope.

Yes, he does. He will have fun. Yeah, it should be. Good luck, Gary. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK.

That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hello bye. Bye bye. 1888 car talk that's triple eight double two seven eighty two double five. Hello. You're on car talk. Hello This is Jerry and Adrian, Michigan Jerry like GE J e Geri nope J e r e Excellent what part of California did your parents come from? None at all! Come on! I was born! J-E-R-E!

I know. Come on! What is this a shortening of? Nothing. Nothing, right? That's her name! Jerry. Yep.

Jerry. And where are you from again? Adrian, Michigan. Adrian. Okay. What's up, Jerry? We're going to go with it. Okay, well it's kind of, it actually starts

with a surgical story. My sister is a nurse in surgery and she somehow got me signed up to give a fellow nurse's husband a ride to work a couple of days a week. Got it. So they are talking, after this has been going on, they are talking, my sister and this woman over I don't know in the open appendix or

something and it turns out that this guy I give a ride to work with is not satisfied with my driving ability. Oh I love it. It doesn't come to me of course you know it has to be discussed over you know yeah the right the sister talks to her friends her friend mentions what are and by the way frank was telling me that your sister is the worst driver uh-huh well the whole crux of the situation is i have a stick shift and um when i am coming up to a stop sign or stop light, my tendency has always been to put the car into neutral, take it out of gear and coast up to the sign, put it in first gear and go.

And apparently this man feels that what I need to be doing is going through all my gears down shifting until I come to a stop. Well first of all, why isn't he driving himself to work? Oh, it's not it's an ugly situation Something he passed out at work or something. I don't know. Oh, it's a medical situation. Yeah Oh, he passed out but not enough to stop bugging you Yeah, yeah find out what made him pass out and maybe you can give him the same stuff I got it. I got it yet your sister has all of the access to eat the pizza he's off right

and i'm a new prescription that i need to just wave a little handkerchief under his nose every morning and he'll be out until you get him to work and he won't even know what hit him i can't like it it's kind of interesting that he happens to work where you work anything i actually drive about thirty miles to work. So if he actually works in the same city Oh, okay, and then he's got to make his way to wherever he's going, right? Well, I mean, let's go to the important stuff first I mean, do you enjoy traveling with this guy or is he a pain in the neck?

He's kind of a pain in the neck. Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth You know, I don't really mind giving him a ride to work so much What about looking a gift horse in the mullet? I don't really mind giving him a ride to work so much, but actually he's the one who talks pretty much non-stop from the time I get him in my car until I drive. I mean I can say about three words the whole drive. Just what you want to do early in the morning is talk to some pain in the neck. Right. Do you have a tape player in your car?

Yeah. Good. Don't you have loud heavy metal music in your car? Yeah. Good. Don't you have loud heavy metal music in your car? You need to. The next morning when you pick them up, you need to buy the loudest, most obnoxious CD you could possibly find, or tape play, tape you can possibly find, and tell them that you've just discovered this band and aren't these guys great? Great!

Yeah. I've bought ten tapes of theirs and i can't believe how great these guys are and they're only good if it's a hundred decibels i mean you can't play exactly you gotta hear it you gotta hear every sound and you faded over to the right haha i love it i love it too by the way neither one of you is right haha

why not no no you you're all righter than him I love it. I love it too. By the way, neither one of you is right. Why not? No, no, you're all righter than him. Yeah, as long as you're not coasting at 40 miles an hour. If you're coasting from 10 miles an hour down to zero, that's fine. You are perfectly right. You're fine. Yeah, but his idea of if you are in fifth,

you got to go to fourth to third to second to first, he's nuts. So the only reason you're painting a button is he's a jerk too. Exactly. Well what's the most correct way? Well it depends on how fast you're going. How fast are you going when you decide you have to stop? And what gear are you in?

Probably fourth gear going 30. And then what do you do? You shift from fourth to neutral and coast down coast down from 30. Yeah. No, I wouldn't do that I would take your foot off the gas and step on the brake while staying in fourth gear and you can slow down to 20 in fourth gear. Yeah, it might start bucking at which point you throw it in neutral and you're there Yeah, yeah, and if he doesn't like the way you're doing it. I do I'm telling you that heavy metal is gonna drive him out of his tree are doing it I do I'm telling that heavy metal is gonna drive him out of his tree yeah I can't wait see you Jerry thank you good luck Jerry bye bye what do you do a guy a favor you drive him 30 miles I know and you gotta listen to the other

the other the other the other the and then he talks about you yeah behind your back hmm he could have said gee gee you know Jerry, I think you're probably downshifting incorrectly. You know I've been driving a long time and I think this is the right way to do it. That would have been a nicer thing, you know it would have made good conversation too. Sure. And this guy wouldn't be making a jerk of himself. Yeah, I mean how many people named Jerry are there in Adrian, Michigan, so if he's listening. Oh yeah. And you know that every jerk in the world listens to our show. We didn't ask for his name.

We should have gotten his name. Get her back on the phone! Okay now before we give the answer to last week's puzzler, we have to pause. Why? Why can't we just do the puzzler? I mean why can't we just do that now? Because you're going to need time to remember it because this was your puzzler. We'll be back in a minute. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies.

With WISE, 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 WISE.com. T's and C's apply. The Constitution, the border, the rising costs of everything. Issues this important can't be explained in a one-way conversation. Sometimes you need to talk things out. Every day on the 1A Podcast, we bring together experts and public figures

to discuss the topics at the top of your mind so you hear more sides of a story and understand why it matters. Listen to the 1A Podcast from NPR and WAMU. the top of your mind so you hear more sides of a story and understand why it matters. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU. Hey, we're back. You're listening to Card Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tap It, brothers, and here is the answer to last week's puzzle, which came from none other than my own brother. Yeah. in my own brother. Yeah! So there I was, leafing through a book, and I saw this ad for a company, which I subsequently

found out had gone out of business. As I presented the puzzler, I said that there are many companies that go out of business because technology overtakes them. This is known as the buggy whip syndrome. It's left in the dust, so to speak. They're left in the dust. They're making buggy whips and there are no more horses. No more buggies.

And this was a company that went out of business, presumably for the same reason, and yet this company was called the Scott Muffler Company. Now you would think that with a name like that, it's a cutting edge company. I mean, it's around at the time when cars were coming into their own. That's right. It was actually 1919. 1919. 1919.

And the Scott Muffler Company had these big ads and technology put them out of business. Get out of town. Get out of town, you might say. And the question was, how come is that? What technology was it that put them out of business? I mean, cars still have mufflers. They've had mufflers from day three up until now. And the reason that the Scott Muffler Company went out of business is they didn't make mufflers

that go underneath the car. No? Because in 1919 cars... They made rooftop mufflers. They didn't have any heaters in cars. And they were selling scarves. All those kinds of mufflers. Put on your gloves and your muffler.

Put on your gloves and your muffler so you wouldn't freeze your tush while you were driving in your 1919 Ford Model T. Now I want to just show you how to be supportive of a sibling that utters a crummy puzzle. Boy, that was wonderful. That was historic, folklor Boy, that was wonderful. That was historic, folkloric, challenging, interesting. And what was the other one? I can't come up with any.

I mean, try charming and obfuscating. Just to let you know that I'm a man who likes honesty. I mentioned this puzzler. A bunch of people. To my wife the other day Yeah, and she says why did they go out of business people still wear scarves? Huh, and I said oops Well not to the same degree that they would be wearing them if cars didn't have windshields

That was the other thing sure windscreen became popular too. Yeah. At that time. And, and, and, but they shouldn't have gone out of business. No, they should. They would have mismanaged. Absolutely. What they should have been doing was they should have been stuffing those things in the tailpipes to quiet the guys. All right. So do we have a winner? Do we have a winner? Yeah. Our winner this week is William Dibu William Debouwitz from Mendham, New Jersey. And for having his correct answer chosen at random from among all the right answers, this week, William will get one of our CDs, Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford. It's a CD about couples and cars, a must for anyone looking to generate discussion with a significant other. Anyway, we'll have a brand new puzzler. Notice how I just zip, zip right through that.

Zip. We'll have a brand new puzzler. I could learn to do that. You could, I don't think so. 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 will take your calls

at 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 1-888-227-8255. I love that. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hey guys, my name's Linda Weaselquist, and I'm calling from Seattle. Linda! Linda! 8227-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825-825 Linda oh about two and a half years now you having fun You involved in the high-tech business Actually, I'm not I'm involved in the consulting business low tech Yeah, is that why you moved to Seattle like to get a different job? Well, the job market's pretty good here, you know, so I kind of figured hey, I'll move here I graduated from college and decided to have a little adventure. When did you graduate from college? Cornell. Cornell? Yeah, upstate New York.

Far above Cuyahoga's water. Exactly, there's an awful smell. There's an awful smell. I don't think that's the version that they... ...that they call Cornell. Yeah, so what are you calling us for, Linda? You got nothing better to do? Well, I have a... And are you billing it to a client?

Yeah. My Swedish client. I have a Volvo problem. Yeah. Yeah. Speak to us. I have a 1970 Volvo 144S. Ah, the consulting business went good.

With the 259,000 miles on it. Excellent. Anyway, so about a week ago, my husband Charles walks in and says, I fixed the Volvo again, let's go to the garage. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again.

And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. And he says, I fixed the Volvo again. with the 259,000 miles on it. Excellent. Anyway, so about a week ago, my husband Charles walks in and says, I fixed the Volvo again, let's go for a ride. Again. Let's go get a Hot Fudge Sunday. So I walk outside and my jaw hits the ground because he's really hit the Volvo. I mean, he's really done it this time. He cut the top off of the car. I've got a chopped top Volvo. No kidding. He made it into a convertible?

Yeah. Well, it converted. More like a dump truck. Yeah, not convertible to anything. Really? Yeah. So he chopped it right off including the rear window. Yeah. Took the rear window right out. Uh huh. It's just sitting in the back yard. Cut off the B pillars. Uh huh. Excellent. Yeah, it's totally cool. This is cool. I love it. Of course I wanted to get rid of the car forever so I'm just, you know, oh man. Well this is well on your way to getting rid of it forever. This is a good start. One or two more weekends in order to be acceptable for the trash compactor. Yeah exactly, well that's my question and it's become somewhat of a marital debate here. The answer is you're right. You're absolutely right, it is not safe anymore.

Are you serious? Yeah that's exactly my question. Of course it is. Because you know, I mean they reinforce convertibles and stuff and this is not meant to be a convertible exactly right it doesn't mean it can't be made safer okay well how is we have a lot of it or something going to go back to go down to the local steel shop the bill going to the bill you know he's going to buy

four-foot bar i'd bar and weld it right behind the front seats right across the back From side to side and that'll hold the back end together Then you're gonna buy two football helmets Man I would love to see it. Can you send us a picture? Oh, totally. Yeah.

Oh, but you're absolutely right. It is unsafe and it could be made safe by welding a roll cage in. Okay. Or the I-beam is good. Okay. I think the I-beam is good. Yeah, look around for some construction sites. Maybe you can steal one. Yeah, sure. Okay.

Hey, Linda, good luck. Okay. Thanks a lot, guys. And don't drive like my brother or don't drive like anyone's brother in this thing. Don't drive with your husband, especially if you're a driver. size maybe you can steal one hey Linda good luck brother I don't drive like anyone's brother with your husband especially guys see you know I always wanted the fun involved with just laughing off the top would it be great yeah hey do you know what it's time for now? Time to be real nice to childhood Heston? No, no. It's time to play Stump the Chumps! All right, in order to comply with the federal car talk answer inspection requirement, we have created this segment Stump the Chumps, where we bring a previous caller back on the

show to see if our answer passed Mustard. And if our advice was wrong, what happens? We fail inspection? Right, and a guy from the EPA comes out into the studio, slaps a rejection sticker on your forehead. Alright, so who's today's chump stumper? It's Liz from Phoenix, Arizona. Liz called a couple of weeks ago and told us

that her 93-plemeth acclaim was leaving little puddles of gasoline all over town. Well, isn't that embarrassing? Well, from where I was going, it wasn't doing it anymore. Here's what you need. You need a jumpsuit. Exactly. I haven't worn a jumpsuit since the 60s.

Well, you're going to have to wear one. You need to buy yourself a petite jumpsuit. Something maybe in a nice pink. I wish. They have pink ones. And you need to, when you smell the gas, which you may smell, you need to jump out of the car, throw, in fact, you might want to just drive to work with the jumpsuit on. You need to jump out and stick your noggin in here.

Jumpsuit? We told her to wear a jumpsuit? How's that going to fix the gas leak? Well it's not but I always feel so professional you know when I put my big jumpsuit on. Yeah with the leotards. So I mean what did we really tell her to do? I mean I sort of remember this call. We told her, I believe, that one of the rubber seals in the fuel filter was probably leaking and that she should just replace it with a little O-ring. Yeah, and I was with you on that one. It sounds simple enough. Liz, are you there?

Yes. Before we let you play Stump the Chumps, we need to make sure that the answer you're about to give is unencumbered by the bribery process. Is it true that you have not been offered cash prizes or grants of immunity by anyone at National Public Radio or the Independent Council's office in exchange for a favorable answer here on Stump the Chumps? Unfortunately, that's true. That is true.

Okay. No bribes. So how did we do, Liz? Well, you did. You know, all of America is holding its breath. You did great. Ah ha! Yay! This gets our average

almost to 500. We don't know. We don't know yet. Fill us in, tell us, let us bask in the glory. Wait, did you get the jumpsuit? Pardon? Did you get the jumpsuit? Well, my husband wouldn't wear it. Well I told you not to buy pink for him. Did you get the jumpsuit? Well, my husband wouldn't wear it. Well, I told you not to buy pink for him.

He wouldn't wear it. Yeah, so what happened? So we took it in and told them that we had expert advice that this little valve on this quick release thing I think you told me. Yes on the fuel filter yeah yeah. Yeah and sure enough they looked at that and that's what it was. Wow. Now I have a question for you. Do you know how much it cost me? Uh 22.95. No it should have cost you nothing. Well it did cost me something. All right 50 bucks. You're right. 50 bucks. Twice you're right she's we're right double we get another that was that was a does it count

well as we were glad we were able to help one caller last night i have a and then uh... the army in germany who i i i sent me an email message the other day very very uh... skeptical about clickin clack brothers helping me with my problem. He did, huh? He did so I'm gonna email him back and tell him yeah, that you did it. Who is he? We'll make sure he gets KP for a month Well Liz thanks for playing stump the Trump and thanks especially for giving us a vote of confidence Yeah, and you guys could do it.

And if you lied, thanks for lying. Yeah, thanks especially for that. Thanks especially and the check is in the mail. See ya Liz! Thanks guys. Bye bye. Bye. Alright, it's time to take another short break.

Well, is it time to like fine tune the brand new puzzle? Well, not exactly, it's time to think up the brand new puzzle. We'll be back in just about a minute. We're back, you're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new puzzler. Now, I have a plethora of putrid puzzlers. So I'm going to try to pick the least putrid of the bunch.

And you let me know if I succeed. And here it is. This was sent by a guy named Joseph Martinez from some place in the universe. I was driving on an access road going to get on the freeway. There was a convertible in front of me, top down, beautiful day. There was a couple in the car, which I assume were husband and wife. The car was a small sport type with a standard transmission. We had about three stoplights to go until they on-ramp freeway. At every stoplight the couple would turn to each other and have a conversation. When the light turned green the conversation would stop until

they stopped at the next light. In other words they would stop conversing they'd come to the next light and the conversation sounds like my fear you can't hear anybody talk. So when they stopped at the next light they conversed again and stopped the light turned green and the conversation stopped abruptly. Why did they only converse at red lights? There was no loud background noise, the car was not excessively noisy, they did not have the radio on.

That's it. Now if you think you know the answer. Just give me the answer. What? My fiat, you can't hear anybody, you can't even hear yourself thinking, my Fiat. I'll repeat. There was no loud background noise. The car was not excessively noisy, and they did not have the radio on. Yeah. One of those three things is a hint. Now, if you think you know the answer, or you're really basically bored to death, you have nothing else to do, send your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box

3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Our Fair City, MA 02238. Or if someone's standing next to the postage meter and you're afraid of getting caught, you can email us by going to the Talk to Car Talk section of CarTalk.com. Wait a minute, did you say CarTalk.com not cartalk.msn.com? Yes I did, that was very observant of you. What happened to the MSN, the Microsoft part of the address?

Are we disassociating ourselves from the guys like our buddy Bill? No, we'll discuss that next week. Ooh, very intriguing. In the meantime, you can email us at goodoldcartalk.com or you can call us at 888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Jordan from Iowa City. or you can call us at 888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Jordan from Iowa City.

Jordan, how you doing? Well, I've got a 93 Taurus wagon with 83,000 miles on it, and the better half of the family drives it to work. And it's making some bad sounds. Oneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee to do that? Well it does the noise more when in motion but does the eeeeee noise when parked. And this eeeeee noise is coming from under the hood? Yes it is. Yeah I mean I've got to think that you have a maybe something is benign as a bad belt. Have you looked into that at all? Well it's I've had it to one mechanic and two dealers. Oh. And I've gotten about ten different answers. Really? The first one, one that eeeeee, the guy says it's the alternator. Could be. And with the, the guy says well

that's a fuel pump and then the next guy says no that's the water pump. Gee, I mean you can't make that mistake. The fuel pump noise comes from the back. Oh. the fuel pump noise comes from the back No, what a nice comes from the front It's sitting in the car with the engine running and only with the engine running You can sometimes hear the fuel pump and you may have you can verify if it is the fuel pump Because it would have sounded a few months ago like this No, I haven't heard that one. You didn't hear that.

It ain't the fuel pump. Okay. However, the water pump would make noise whether you're in motion or not. Well, and we have one further problem with it. Yeah. When the Mrs. drives to work and she gets up to 40 to 45, she says it doesn't seem to want to engage in the last gear. And then all of a sudden, boop, boom, then it's there. See, you know, it's beginning to sink in and boy, I'm starting to get nauseous.

What? The reason that they haven't found the noise yet is the noise is really coming from the transmission. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh kawai in such controversy but now that you've added this one piece that's good news because well I mean we were just dealing with the fact that you needed three different repair right a minute ago you have to fix the water you have to fix the transmission we now may be down to only one thing. So for one $1,500 repair, you can be back in traffic right when they... Everything's done. Well, no one's said transmission yet. Well, they're trying to break you in. What they're trying to do is assess your tolerance for pain. Replace everything and then that last.

See, here you are... Oh, that's an interesting tactic. Here's what you do. If you have a customer that needs six jobs done. A new strategy. Right? And there's one that's a biggie. You start all the small ones.

You don't disclose that one. Of course not. You get them to spend $900 or so. Then... $200 at a time. Exactly. What? Water pump?

Yeah, that's $175. If we can do that, bingo, you do it. Right. Alternator? Yeah, that's $210. Oh yeah, no problem. I think you should do them both at the same time You'll save a few bucks so you do that and then they drop the bomb on you and by the way Oh, by the way, did we tell you you needed a transmission?

There you go. How about how about Selection number two trade off and get new car. Well, I mean, I don't I think that might be a little drastic you think well It might be I mean this car is only a few years old and it's only got 83,000 miles on it. I think it's a little bit premature to just dump it. Yeah and besides that's the intelligent way out. Hey we're from Iowa you know. What if you spent 2k on this car? I mean as as unacceptable as that may seem right now you could warm up to the idea couldn't you? All right, I'd do it. Yeah, for two grand you can get the transmission done, the water pump, the fuel pump, and an

alternator. And whatever else all those noises might be. And they'll throw in an air freshener and a car wash too. Cool. And I think you should do that. Well, thanks for your advice, fellas. Yeah, you won't heat it, but thanks anyway, we know. We know you got the hots for a new Camry, and if you have to do it, go ahead.

I'm making Thunderbird. Thunderbird! See purpose of the here we don't care what you do jordan you do whatever you want but the call to see what you're doing and you don't care what we said not really but it's been nice talking to you anyway thank you yes we're real yeah don't call back okay bye bye jordan thank you

well it's happening it's interesting though. Don't call back. Bye. Bye Jordan, thank you. It's interesting though, we don't care what they do, and they don't care what we say. What are we doing here? What are we doing? We're wasting our time. We're wasting our time, we're wasting their time,

and we're taking up valuable satellite time, which could be going to beepers. No, if we weren't on, Scott Simon would have to do an extra hour. That would kill him. That lazy bum wouldn't do it. No, it would kill him. So is he paying us or are we paying him? I don't know exactly.

Time to go, isn't it? Well, it's happened again. You've frittered away another perfectly good hour listening to car talk. Our esteemed producer is Mr. Doug Berman, our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Mr. Ken Rogers. Our assistant producer is Ms. Catherine Ray. Our engineer is Mr. Jonathan Marston and our menu advisor is John S. Lawler. Wow, aren't you formal today.

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We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. And now here is our chief mechanic, Mr. Vinnie Gumbatz, with some highly pertinent information. Yeah, permanent this radio, man. Hey, if you just want a copy of this week's Car Talk Show, which is number 25, you call our Shameless Commerce Division. That's 1-888-CAR-JUNK here. You got that? And if someone wanted other Card Talk paraphernalia, Vinnie, would they call that same number?

No, you call Charlton Heston at the NRA, you dope. Of course you call the same number, 1-318-Cardjunk, or you can get stuff through the online Shameless Commerce Division at CardTalk.com. Thank you very much, Vincent. That was very, very helpful information. Ah, yeah, help with this will you?

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