The Best of Car Talk - #2548: Correlation Run Amok

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Teddi and Gloria both have stumbled onto personal rituals to deal with their unreliable cars. In Teddi's case she's struggling to start her car in the driveway, but Gloria is convinced that turning her car off and back on while flying down the highway is 'the cure'. Can Click and Clack get Teddi going and stop Gloria before she crashes at high speed? 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

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[♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. [♪ music playing. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us clicking clack the tappers for this. That was a pretty... Whoa! Robust, wouldn't you say robust more than robust alert wait? Anyway, we're broadcasting this week from the Vacation Planning Center here at Car Talk Plaza now

we want you to know that there's still plenty of space available for all sessions of mechanics fantasy camp here in Car Talk Plaza It's just like those baseball fantasy camps where you pay about four grand to get tips on how to hit, catch, throw, and scratch from some retired Hall of Famer who's really in deep to the IRS. Sure, where you get old Krusty to run the fantasy camp. Is he running it now? Is he in charge?

Well, not yet. No, we haven't revived it. It's a brilliant idea. Well, at mechanics fantasy camp, my brother and I brother and I and crusty will teach you how to hit Catch throw and scratch Mechanic style yeah, like hit your knuckles as you are as you're taking off nuts and bolts. Yeah, that's one thing. Yeah Yeah, catch hell for my rate Throw your tools and disgust yeah, and scratching needs don't go further discussion. No, we could teach the ballplay

That anyway, if you'd like to sign up just you know, give us a call, you know the number send a thousand dollars payment right for the deposit to hold your spot because there are many spots to Yeah, oh yeah, there's plenty of spots don't worry. And you can come to the camp. Where is the camp going to be? Right at the garage? Oh no, oh no, we found a bucolic setting park. A bucolic setting. Yeah, I suppose you should. Fenway Park? I'm not named, to be named in the future. I like it. As yet, undetermined bucolic setting, but it will be something special, you can rest assured. Anyway, if you'd like to call us, our number is 1-888-CARTALK.

That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Teddy from Stratford, Connecticut. Teddy, T-E-D-D-I. You bought it? Where is Stratford? Stratford is at the mouth of the Housatonic River. In Connecticut?

Yeah. Same Housatonic River. In Connecticut? Yeah. Same Housatonic that's, where does that start, New Jersey? I think it starts up near Canada. Does it really? Yeah, New Hampshire. I thought the Avon River went through Stratford. I think it's a different continent or a different country. Different country.

Ah, okay. So Teddy, what's up? Well, I have an 89 Toyota Camry Mm-hmm, and maybe one out of every four or five times that I turn on the ignition switch a wretched sound You got it I was just clearing my throat. I'm ready to make the sound now Yeah, I'll tell you my daughter has an 89 camry as well, and she has the same problem. I've been jiggling the steering wheel, and that would allow the car to turn on, and then

that failed, and she said she jiggles the gear shift on the floor between the two. And that does it for her. And that well does it for me too. You know what also does it? Yes. Pulling on the left earlobe now yeah all you try that tomorrow you pull on the left earlobe and it'll start well they're not guarantee you this what you have to pull

on your daughter's left earlobe maybe it will but here's one yeah i i noticed that the uh... it's a big picture synchronized with the uh... seatbelt the automatic seatbelt on the door but i would have to raise in the other day well you know this is a good example of the driver side door in it in the car when i think if somebody would teaching

correlation coefficients right now this would be a wonderful yet this would be a good example of how scientists go bad right now. This would be a wonderful example. This would be a good example of how scientists go bad. But I mean occasionally you run across a scientist who makes it very clear that all we have here is a correlation. We don't know anything about causality but most people don't say that. They say, gee, every time I pull on my left earlobe the thing starts up and I guess I've got to figure it out.

It's as likely to start by pulling on your left earlobe as it is doing any of these other things. I'm gonna just guess, you have an automatic transmission? Yes, I do. Does your daughter also? Yes. Oh. Good guess, eh? You need, you're sitting down, Teddy.

There's a 90-10 chance that it's- Maybe I should hang up now. No. There's the 90 10 chance that it's There's a 10% chance that it's the starter which would cost you a Point seven yeah, there's a point seven percent chance that it's the starter and is a 99 point three percent chance that it's the flywheel That's what my husband said. You're an astute guy. You should always listen to your husband. Husbands are almost always right.

Here's what I would do. I would drive it until it no longer starts. Yeah, I mean it'll happen pretty soon three out of four times and then four out of four times. And if you can live with that kind of uncertainty in your life, with the knowledge that one of these times you're going to be someplace where you don't want to be late at night and you'll have a car that doesn't start, if you can accept all of those consequences. Yeah, but you've got a long way to go.

The wonderful thing about this malady is that it really does progress in a nice, predictable fashion. I mean it doesn't go from one time out of five to five times out of five overnight. It's gonna take a couple of nights. I mean I would sort of keep track and as it starts to get more and more frequent you will have less and less time to get it fixed. Yeah I do a fair amount of long-distance driving to Vermont so I'm you know I really don't want it to happen. Oh you need to fix it tomorrow put a new flywheel in and you will you will be you'll be on cloud nine. Well my real question would be then about what price range is this going to be? This is a four-cylinder Camry I take it. Yeah. Yeah it's several hundred dollars. Uh-huh. in the several flight more than one several yet three so it's

several several that your three i don't know it's not more like two several thanks a million for calling thank you god bless and i like my body one paid a date card talk

that's one eight eight eight two two seven two five five hello you're on car talk hi this is kyle from Lake Mitagoshi in North Dakota. Lake Mitagoshi. You got to spell that for me. Okay, here we go. M-E-T-I-G-O-S-H-E. Excellent! Metagoshi. Metagoshi. Yeah. Lake Mitagoshi. Cool. So what's up? Well, here's my story. Yeah. I just got married over Christmas cool and Wonderful wife beautiful person to be with but along with that is a car that has potential problems and She has a wonderful family

I have a wonderful family and when we got married my dad didn't think you know, you know She's a beautiful person wonderful person. He thought great We get another car to change the oil line over Thanksgiving vacation. Oh, one of those, huh? He loves changing oil. But here's what happened. A couple weeks ago, we had to get a new front wheel bearing. We were told we need one. Kyle, I have to interrupt for a second. We've been doing this show for close on to 20 years. And our producer has told my brother a thousand times,

if you're gonna drink a can of Coke, don't open it up during the show, in the vicinity of the microphone. Try to open it like before the show, or if you must, open it. People think you're passing wind. I'm glad you straightened that out, because a lot of people might have thought it was you.

Well that's why I interrupted Kyle's little narrative because I wanted to set the record straight but I'm sorry, go ahead Kyle. Well I just want to point out that if you hadn't shaken the can for 20 minutes. I didn't shake it. It fell down a flight of stairs. Oh man. This wouldn't have happened. It fell up a flight of stairs. If you can figure that one out.

It happens. I know it happens. Alright Kyle. Alright. So your father likes to change the oil? Your father. Your father, right. My father.

But we had to get a new wheel bearing on the front tire and that was fine. But then my father-in-law Al, he went and bought my wife four new tires on her car. But the mechanic told him that we need to get the wheel wheel bearings packed. Real wheel bearings. Yeah. On her 92 Pontiac Grand Am. So he told Betsy, my wife, and Betsy told me, then I called my dad and he said, no, you cannot pack wheel bearings on the back of a Grand Am.

You just can't do that. So here's my problem. I mean, one of them is right and one of them is wrong, and I just don't know how to deal with it. Because both of them are very good with cars or claim to be. Well I think your father, if he said that the wheel bearings cannot be repacked, is he the one that made that statement? Yeah, that's what he said.

I think he's correct. That was Kyle's father who said that. I think these are sealed for life bearings or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first. So I don't believe that these bearings are repackable. Back in the old days, wheel bearings used to come apart and they would be, it would consist of an inner bearing with a race and a seal behind that. And then an outer bearing with its race

and then a lock nut and a cotter pin and then a cap, a grease cap that fit over that whole thing. So you get the picture and you could take that cap off, pull the cotter pin, extract the bearings, clean out all the gunk that's in there put new grease in and then torque the Retaining nut to the right amount and put everything back together But I don't believe that the grand dam has that setup It has a a preloaded bearing that comes from the factory the thing is just bolted on with the hub assembly Sure, so if it's loose, it means the bearing needs to be replaced

the hub assembly. Sure. So if it's loose it means the bearing needs to be replaced. Okay. And if you want to find out for sure you can call a Pontiac dealer or call a parts store and ask them what that rear wheel bearing looks like. If the guy says oh it's all one piece then you know it doesn't get repacked. But now I'm nervous to tell my father-in-law that he was right telling me that we have to do that. I mean, is this going to crush him to find this out? No, no, it won't crush him. But I might not get anything for Christmas this year.

Ha ha ha! I would keep it all quiet. Okay. Should I just, I might just figure out myself. Just figure out what has to be done. Well, more importantly, I would take it someplace and have them check because if the bearing really is loose, then it needs to be replaced. Okay.

Yeah, and don't mess around with that because when bearing sees, it's not pretty. Okay, well thank you very much. See you, Kyle. Good luck, Kyle. Okay, bye-bye. Hey, we've got more calls coming up right after this, so don't go anywhere.

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cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at Kresge.org. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and doesn't it come as a surprise? Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop,

boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, This week in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Connecticut, Robert Jordan claims that the city of New London discriminated against him based on his intelligence and violated his constitutional rights.

Jordan, it turns out, applied for a job as a police officer in New London. Okay. Jordan says that assistant city manager Keith Harrigan who oversees hiring for the city told him we don't like to hire people that have too high an IQ to be cops in this city. Really? Why? Is this good? The guy takes the test to be a cop and they say, sorry, too smart. And that's why I say, doesn't this come as a surprise to you? Yeah. Well. The city's attorney, Ralph Monaco, declined to comment saying he has not yet seen the

lawsuit. Harrigan, a defendant in the lawsuit, also declined to comment. That's the guy who does the hiring. Jordan seeks injunctions against the city that would stop the alleged discrimination and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages well we know it's little no fact gets out we took a test before we did the show. I remember that. Yeah, they hired us. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Robert Siegel took the test too. They didn't hire him. Well, how about that Ray Suarez? All right, if you want to give us a call and test our IQ, the number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 1-888-227-8255.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi there. Hi, hi there. Hi, oh, this is Freddie Boom Boom Washington? This is Steve Brown. I'm calling from Freeport, Maine. Hi, Steve. How you doing? Good. So what's up?

Well, I have a question for you. On a recent trip, we took a long trip out to Oberlin, Ohio to help gather my daughter's things from college. Uh-huh. And somehow in the excitement, I... Now this is a 1995 Camry wagon. You'll have to pardon my brother. He has a case of the winds today. It's okay. I was opening a can of soda.

Oh, that's what that was? And if you hadn't shaken it as much as you did it What's the gulp? I didn't shake it. I you always shake it before you give it to me inadvertently dropped it And it fell down the entire flight of stairs I'm sorry Steve. Sorry Steve Okay, so you're bumming around the car up and and somehow I think I lost consciousness for a few minutes We jumped in the car put it in did gear started heading down main street of obama ohio and and somehow i i i lost the contact with reality for second i

shoved it into gear unfortunately i shoved it forward all the way to uh... picking it up uh... and it's what it's not automatic yeah and and it doesn't mean time myself but it made a terrible grinding out and i'm wondering if i've done any sort of permanent damage If you park on a hill will it roll away on you? No, I don't think so. Well, then you're all right. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean it happens I mean if you drive stick shifts and you drive automatics, there are times when you don't know where you are

I mean I have that problem most of the time that I don't know where I am. Might it not help or is it possible to design a car in such a way that that would not be possible? Oh there are cars which you cannot put into a park without pressing the little button on the side of the shifter. I probably did that. You probably did that. Yeah.

Inadvertently. I tell you what I've been doing lately. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and attempt to put it into park, I turn on the windshield wipers, which is the little little stalk that is sticking out on the right hand side where the shifter ought to be.

Is this what I have to look forward to when I'm your age? Yeah, I mean, because it's so hard to pay attention, you know? Well, listen, thank you. Good advice. I'll go put it on a hill and see if it rolls. Yeah, see if it rolls. Thanks a lot. Stay in the car while you're doing this test. Absolutely. You guys are great.

Thanks, bye bye. Thanks a lot, bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK or 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Mary in Berkeley. Hi Mary. Hey, how you doing? Maybe you guys can help me figure this out.

We're batting about 300 here today. This is a tough one. I have a Mercury Villager van and it's a 94. And after I'd had a couple of hours of driving, I got a call from a guy who was driving a car. He said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And I said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out.

And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. And he said, hey, I'm going to help you figure this out. batten about three hundred here today this is this is a tough one i have a villager mercury villager fan yeah and it's a ninety four after i have a thing a couple of years it developed this weird symptom and the dealers can't figure it out of course i figured they're probably useless but by the canic who is to is a good guy very smart he can't figure it out either and you think we're going to have you been going to a mercury dealer for this thing yes I have you might have to go to a

Nissan dealer if it's really too hard oh there's a thought yeah well we'll pawn that may be the best advice you get from us yeah except I think that the Nissan's have different brakes than the Mercuries do and is this a break question I don't think they're question all alright lay out a sound there is a break question in the world that we can't make up an answer to all good but the people trouble here but you practice if you're driving the car down the play hill and you stop sometimes not always the break will let go and the car will roll forward

Three or four feet before the brake holds on again the emergency brake. No the foot brake Whoopie whoo. This is really bad for your blood pressure Yeah, so you house I'm sorry. No, I'm sorry. No, no, no, no, no, I interrupted. I didn't really have a question Do you feel your foot sink to the floor when this happens yeah well not all the way to the not all the way but you're probably losing half the breaking yep yeah i mean it doesn't really take off but it just doesn't stop right so i told my mechanics this and he said impossible larry larry larry turns pale and says my god he said

you're gonna end up in the emergency room get that thing in here so i brought it in and he put in a new master cylinder oh that's too bad and a week later it did it again yeah I know that you know that no I know that was gonna be our answer and and you wouldn't have called if it didn't again but it's only when you're going down a hill yeah well you've got to be on the slope like let's say you're going down a garage a ramp from a parking garage Yeah, and the car in front of you stops, so you stop too obviously So there you are you don't have the handbrake on right sure have your foot on the brake And then all of a sudden without warning the pedal sinks and you know

I'm moved you of course step harder on the pedal. You bet. The car eventually stops. Yep. And then if you continue to drive it for the rest of the day, the car stops normally. Right. Boy, I mean this sounds to me like a basic design problem that only the dealer will know about. Well they didn't know. She took it to the villager dealer.

Well, not really. What they said is if it's intermittent, they can't diagnose it. First of all, you gotta go to the dealer. You've gotta make sure that they understand it so that your heirs will have some basis for getting some money out of them. Yeah.

And tell them you can't wait. I don't know if I like the way this is going. You're going to tell them you can't take the chance. You can't wait until it becomes non-intermittent because by then you'll probably be dead. Exactly. So you've got to get either the service manager or the zone manager to drive your car and you drive his. Leave the car there until they fix it and that's it.

This thing has anti-lock brakes, does it not? Yeah, ABS, right? Is that what ABS is? Yeah, and I think probably what's happening, I think one of the valves must be letting go and there's something, there's some pressure being relieved someplace, and that's why he erroneously concluded that it was the master cylinder. Somehow the accumulator isn't holding pressure. Something is causing a drop in pressure of this thing which is causing this to in pressure in this thing, which is causing this to happen, and you want them to replace everything.

Yep. And I think you want them to do it at their expense. You bet. Right, and don't take that BS about it's intermittent and we can't do anything about it. No. Bull. I mean, would you want to fly on an airline that said, ah, well we do have that intermittent problem with the wings falling off. When your wing falls off, you come and let us know about

it man and unacceptable unacceptable that great i'm gonna tell them that story good luck mary uh... fight fight thank you guys if i live all you know yeah call us uh... hospital i think that you might like that

is it time for a break yet? Yes it is. And when we come back, I have to talk about the state of education in America. State of education. Is that like near Alabama? We'll be back in a minute. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and an old puzzler.

Actually, we're not even going to discuss an old puzzler. We're just going to tell you where you can get an old puzzler. As you probably know, the puzzler is on a much needed vacation. He and Martin Gardner were last seen packing their bags. But if you're dying for a puzzler this week, all you have to do is go to our website, which is the Car Talks section of Cars.com, where we are posting every week this summer a classic puzzler from the Car Talks puzzler archives. And you can read it or listen to it.

In fact, you can listen to it again and again and again and again. So do whatever you want. So the archive puzzlers, one a week, can be found at our website, the Car Talks section of Cars.com. Now, before we take another call, I know you've been dying to shed some light on the state of education today, so go ahead. The floor and the ceiling are yours. Get this. The Missouri Assistant, or is it Missouri? Missouri Assistant Attorney General Eric Vieth got a court order to bar the International Commission for Schools for issuing any future college accreditation in the state. I don't know what this International Commission for Schools is, but evidently they issue,

they say that colleges are accredited to do certain things. For issuing any future college accreditation in the state after it granted one to a fictitious school created by the Attorney General's office. So the Attorney General's office makes up a school. Got it. Here it is. Viet's office had asked the Commission to accredite Eastern Missouri Business College, a college they described as granting doctorates through the mail in fields such as marine biology, genetic engineering, and aerospace science, even though it's called a business college. Get this though, now here's the good part,

the college faculty included Arnold Ziffel, which is the name of the pig on the Green Acres TV show, Eddie Haskell, we know Eddie Haskell, from Leavitt & Beaver, and get this, the faculty, M. Howard, Jerome Howard, and Lawrence Fine, otherwise known as... Mollerriett Curley. Mollerriett Curley. The college's seal in Latin, read, Solum pro avibus est educatio, which loosely translated is, Education is for the birds. And these guys, the International Commission for Schools, accredited them.

Well they fell for it. They fell for it. I love it. M. Howard, Jerome Howard, and Lawrence Fine. That's good to know that a lawyer, which the Attorney General might be, has a sense of humor. Well, I consider it entrapment. I complain. I think entrapment is fine. I mean, if people are supposed to be doing a job and you contrive

a way to find out if they are in fact doing their job, yes, that's entrapment. Like hidden cameras? But they're not doing their job, clearly. I mean these guys are credit, they said this is an accredited school. I think entrapment is good in all cases. I'm with you man. Always good. Alright look. And anyone who doesn't like it is a crybaby. That's what I say. I'm with you. Okay. At least until they catch you and then I'll be on the other side. Anyway, if you have a question about your car, our number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, my name is Gloria and I'm calling from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Hi, Gloria. And I have a 88 Volkswagen Jetta. Okay. Yeah. With about 133,000 miles on it. And she's been pretty good to me for the most part. I started a new job a couple months ago where I'd be traveling about an hour away. Pretty much highway, like 60 miles each way. It's very flat.

So it's 60 miles of flat, straight highway five eighty miles an hour got it got it very boring drive and so I noticed that after I've been bored for a while and my foot hasn't moved all of a sudden I like lose power like I'm hitting the gas and I'm not accelerating and in fact I'm decelerating which is very odd and can be dangerous when you have like lots of trucks around you. Yeah and they're all doing 80 miles an hour. Right. So I noticed this got really scared and there was an exit and pulled over started up again and it was fine. Okay. So and then the problem goes away. So since then this has happened

several times. Oh. And so what I started doing, I did a little experiment and started like just varying the gas all the time. So making sure to like give it gas, not give it gas, give it gas, not give it gas. And it doesn't happen when you do that. And then it doesn't do that. Yeah, that's bogus. What? That's a nice, no, I think it's a nice experiment. It was quite ingenious. It was, it was, no.

But you're saying it's not, that's not what's really going on? No, but that's okay. But let me tell you my other trick. Yeah. When it happens, okay, I can't keep pulling off the highway all the time, otherwise I'll never get to work.

You'll get fired. And you'll get fired. You won't be able to afford to fix the car so this is what worried my husband the most when i told him i started doing this you throw it in neutral yeah and i turn it off and on while i'm on the highway what do you mean turn it off and on the engine? yeah so you're coasting

yeah i'm coasting i throw it in neutral turn off the radio this was your husband's idea wasn't it no it was my idea no i just came up with it but he's worried that a I'm gonna like blow up the car or B I'm gonna blow up, but I mean he's not worried about you. Yeah, he's worried about me How do you maintain this 80 mile an hour speed with the engine not running? You know you do it real quick, and I go to the slow lane uh-huh, but if I do it I notice if I don't do it i'll slowly just decrease in speed

couple questions am i killing my car by starting and stopping it on the highway while i'm moving no you're not but you might kid yourself that's dangerous you have to stop doing that in seventy five eighty mile an hour traffic i wouldn't want to be coasting but i don't coast really I mean it's just instantaneous oh oh I see oh I see you don't let it coast for long you just shut the engine off and turn it back on so you have some theory you've had now two theories yeah you're very good are you a researcher of some kind I am

yeah I mean you are. What do you research? I do public health research. Sure, and you're dealing, you probably have in your mind a gigantic orthogonal array, right? Yep. And you're trying all these different, as we call them, treatment combinations. Exactly. Good for you.

Thank you. They're both completely stupid. No, I have no idea about cars. I know that. I have absolutely no idea. Clueless where cars come in. That bothers me a great deal. No, but you are a scientific sort.

Oh yes, you certainly are. The off and on thing. Yeah, I like it. I don't know why I like it, but I like it. Because you have to do something. If you don't do anything, you'll learn nothing. That's right. You always have to do something.

That's how I feel. So you've given us now enough information to be able to solve the problem. Oh good. I'm glad you're doing this. I'm glad you're doing this. I'm glad you're doing this. I'm glad you're doing this. I'm glad you're doing this. I'm glad you're doing this. always have to do something that's how I feel so you've given us now enough information to be able to solve the problem oh good well you yeah you have unfortunately we

haven't solved it yet but I'm leaning toward are you leaning toward what I'm leaning toward I'm what are you leaning toward well I was trying to lean toward the wall so I can take a Well, we can ask her a Leading question when was the last time this car had like a tune-up? Oh? About eight months ago Eight months ago. Do you know if the fuel filter was changed at that time? Oh, I'm pretty sure yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure it never had a new fuel pump but the fuel pump was checked and

Why was it checked? Why was it? I had a previous incident. Yeah. Aha. Oh, I Suspect you have a bad pump. Yeah, but they just checked it like a three weeks ago. Well, what did they check? They said it was bringing up fluid fuel. Oh, so they just looked, did they do a pressure test on you? You had to put a gauge on it. Did they do that? I'm not sure. You weren't there. Because there are three ways to test a fuel pump. Okay. One is the cheap and dirty approach. Okay. You disconnect the output line, you crank the engine, and if gas comes out you say, it's fine.

Okay. Which is maybe what they did. That is maybe what they did. That is the stupid way of checking. The other way is to check the pressure. Which is the only right way for this car because it's a fuel injected car. You have to know that you have the right pressure. Right.

And you have to know that you have the right volume because it's possible for fuel to come out but not at the right pressure. Right. And you have to know that you have the right volume because it's possible for fuel to come out but not at the right pressure. It's possible for fuel to come out at the right pressure but not the proper volume. Okay. In which case, in any of those circumstances, you have a bad fuel pump and that's what I think it is too. And it's only once a month that my brother and I agree on anything. This is it.

All right. And you, Gloria from Ann Arbor! Yay! See you, Gloria. Well, thank you very much. See you. Drive safely. Bye bye. Bye bye. Well, it's happened again. You vaporized yet another hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug, not a slave to fashion, Berman. There's just no getting away from that, is there? There isn't, no. He just looks better every day. Our social producer and dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Imelda Marcos-Ray. And our engineer is Jonathan Superhighway Sideburns Marston.

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