The Best of Car Talk - #2550: My Car is Afraid of Traffic

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

Kristin was heading home from work recently and had a 'near dent experience', just narrowly missing another vehicle. Ever since, her car has become timid -stalling at crucial times. Find out if Click and Clack can solve Kristin's car's confidence problem on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Get access to hundreds of episodes in the Car Talk archive when you sign up for Car Talk+ at plus.npr.org/cartalkLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This is Ira Glass with This American Life. Each week on our show, we choose a theme, tell different stories on that theme. All right, I'm just going to stop right there. You're listening to an NPR podcast. Chances are you know our show. So instead, I'm going to tell you, we've just been on a run of really good shows lately. Some big epic emotional stories, some weird funny stuff too. Download us.

This American Life. Hey, before we get to this week's show, we're working on something new for NPR Plus supporters. They're pulling me out of my balls to answer some of your car questions. So if you have a car question you'd like to ask me, I'll give you a number and you can call in a moment. And just like the old days,

our extremely lazy producers will eventually listen to the messages, pick a few callers from me, we'll set up a time to talk, and I'll screw up the answers just like the old days. NPR Plus supporters will find these occasional, and I do mean occasional, episodes in their NPR Plus Car Talk feed. So if-5478. Now here's the show. 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 Center for the Study of the Mind of the Mechanic here at Car Talk Plaza. No, it's not just the mechanic.

We have new insights, and this is actually a study that took place in Italy, but since we are both Italian Americans and auto mechanics, I feel confident in applying the results willy-nilly, whoever willy-nilly is, to auto mechanics everywhere. Now, this was published in the Italian psychology review, Risa Psicosomatica. And here's the news. You ready for this? 70% of Italian men and women interviewed confessed to telling between 5 and 10 lies every day.

With the most common of all lies being, you ready for this? Tell me if this sounds familiar. Don't worry about it, it's all been taken care of. I don't think this applies to mechanics everywhere. I have to take issue with that. Really? Yeah. I think it applies to Italians everywhere. Maybe. I mean Italians just have to lie. They don't they don't know how to tell that but seven to ten every day? Well here's

it. 27% lied to cover up errors. That makes perfect sense doesn't it? Yeah. Another 21% lied for the good of some of the person. For example, one of your guys leaves the drain plug loose on the oil pan. You're gonna lie to protect them, right? Of course. Otherwise, they'll put them up before a firing squad. Oh, your wife says, am I fat? And you're lying to protect your butt. Well, code of honor kind of stuff, you know. And 42% said they lied to avoid conflicts. That's pretty good. Yeah, like your wife says, I'm fat. You see, so we got 42%, 27% from the other thing.

21%. What's that come up to? 90. 90. What about the other 10%? I guess they just lied for practice. I love this, I love this study. Yeah, is it just Italians? Well, I mean, it happened to be done with Italians, but I suppose who else would lie? Have you lied today?

I lied today? No! I got a lot of catching up to do. I got ten to go. We got a few lies in store for you. Am I fat? Do I look fat to you? No, you're short. Short for your weight. Is that what they say?

Well, that's good. That's very comfortable. How do I look? Pretty good? Oh yeah. If you wanted to call us about your car, I have a slide you about your car. Only nine to go. The number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hello, this is Dave from Essex, Connecticut. Oh, hey, this is Hal Connecticut, yep, didn't you see 2001? I sure did. I know how well, you know, Dave is

So what's going on Dave? Well, I got a 1989 Azusa trooper with a hundred thousand miles on it, but I'm experienced a groaning noise With the braking and in particular when I'm going at real slow speed and turning the wheel But I don't experience any grinding Feeling or anything like that. So there you are. You're driving along You're gonna take a right turn or something and you step on the brake and as you're taking the turn you hear turn or something and you step on the brake and as you're taking the turn you hear RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I don't think it's the brakes. Well brakes mostly don't groan. The only time that brakes groan is if you're parked on a steep hill, if you're stopped on a steep hill

for example waiting for a light and you very very lightly start to take your foot off the brake but you don't otherwise you roll then the brakes will groan. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Not on brakes on girls. He's giving us all the your car doesn't have brakes does it not really? I think it's rather a suspension kind of noise Maybe a dry bushing or something like that. Yeah, that's my guess. That's what I would guess too Yeah, and it has to do with the combination of for for example, if you're making a right-hand turn, the groan, I'm gonna guess, is gonna come from the left front.

There's a great deal of debate on exactly where it is coming from. We had four people in the trooper. Everybody thought it was coming from where they were. Well, that's because they were in the trooper. You need to strap someone to the hood. Oh, we can do that. Or is it lashed?

Lash someone's hood. I know just the guy. I knew you would. You're a father-in-law, right? No, no. Yeah, I mean it might be just a spring mount, it might be a control arm bushing, and I'll bet you if you take it into the shop you can make it happen by getting a real heavy person to stand on one end of the bumper and make it compress that shock. With the vehicle not moving you might be able to compress the spring by pushing on that one corner of the car and by doing so make the control arm bushings work and the ball joints and all that stuff and you'll find the noise. And you do that with the wheels turned over?

Like you were parking in the garage? Sure. Put it over to a right turn? Yeah, exactly. Shut the engine off and just have a very heavy person push down or sit on that right front fender or the left front fender. The other person crawl underneath the car and you'll, I bet you can reproduce it.

And then you'll, being there, you'll be able to find out exactly where it is uh-huh It's your mother-in-law busy this weekend One way to do it is if you're down under the car and it's and you still can't tell where the sound is coming from start feeling things because a lot of times when you can't really locate the sound you can feel where it's coming from Okay we'll try that. And make sure that they don't push hard enough on that to crush your skull while you're under there.

That's always a danger, you know. So I just gotta pick the proper weight person. There you go. Alrighty. See you, Dave. We'll do that. Thank you. Good luck.

Good luck. All right. Bye-bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Nancy from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Hi, Nancy. Hi. What's up, Nancy? Well, I got a problem or a decision to make, and I thought maybe you guys could help me with it.

I'm about to move from Carlisle, Pennsylvania to the Cape, Cape Cod. Really? Yep. Big decision. What town are you moving to in the Cape probably well fleet but I'm not sure yet oh well fleets great yeah you've been there yes I have uh-huh and you want to live there forever get into Boston and do things there no you won't get into Boston no you'll never leave well fleets you'll never leave wellet is two hours from Boston. No, I'll take the ferry.

It's four hours from Boston. The ferry doesn't run except for three weeks out of the year. Oh, is that true? Water's frozen all the time. Well, that's alright. Labor strikes. That's why I need a car. I have an Acura Integra and I also have a very large dog my dog is about the same weight that i have i had a truck before uh... the second car and i felt that so i can't hold her around in that accurate just isn't fair no no no i have to be side what to buy and i've considered uh... a mini van i've looked at the honda are at the and i've looked at it

Subaru uh... the outback well uh... the silver was and doesn't seem big enough to me okay you got like a hundred and twenty pound dog yeah what is she uh... here i knew you'd ask that she's part timber wolf and park german shepherd timber wolf and part german shepherd he's timber wolf

let's not and that i know we won't say mad at me wonderful to the best dog i've ever out that's good though i'm never afraid to i believe my car opener but i think that there's been at the best anti-theft device in the world that she's wonderful do you have that side of your window that says, don't break into this car, all survivors

will be prosecuted? All they have to do is look. Well, I mean, I would say that the Odyssey is the bare minimum size for a vehicle. But it doesn't have four-wheel drive and that kind of, do I need four-wheel drive up there? No. In Wellfleet? Yeah. I mean, it does snow a little bit But yeah, you can live without it. You don't need it. I was just wondering if you should go to a

SUV Or as my neighbor Dick Malio calls him an urban attack vehicle otherwise known as a Sport utility vehicle they feel so clunky though. They are and I I don't like them I don't like any of them tell you the truth Well, I do a lot of driving and somehow that just doesn't sound like it's gonna be real comfortable No, they've become trendy. They have yeah, and I don't like trendy Yeah, no, I like the Odyssey for you because it is sort of a minivan

But it isn't really yeah, the Outback course, has the advantage of four-wheel drive. But it's small. It's small, but you should look and see if there's enough room for you and Nanook of the North there. Sable. Her name is Sable. Sable. Sable.

Yep. Hey, Nancy, I want to officially welcome you to Massachusetts. Thank you. And I look forward to bumping into you sort of, somewhere on the Cape. Well, I may end up bringing my car to you someday. Alright. Great. Well, thank you.

Enjoy Cape Cod. You'll be having plenty of lobsters this summer. Love them. See ya. Love them. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Hey, how about a break? What, from you? I'll take that any day. And when we come back, I want to share some news with you about Contact Sports.

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You ever feel tired of that voice in your mind that just won't be quiet? It's not just the noise in the world I'm trying to get away from, but it's the chatter in my head. Writer Pico Eier has found his antidote, and he has ideas for how to find yours. Great Escapes. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. 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 contact sports. This is very quick. Came on email, Dennis Gittinger from somewhere. Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann. Do you ever hear of him? Yes, he was a quarterback for the Washington Redskins, I believe. Okay, here's his quote. Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius would be a guy like Norman Einstein. And Joe clearly ain't that. I seen Norman Einstein Joe and you ain't no Pat summer all here's his a long time ago football commentator and former player

Pat summer all was lamenting the new rules designed to protect the quarterback He summarized his feelings thusly if you take the violence out of football The stands will be filled with no shows. Seated in the stands will be people who didn't show up. Pretty good. He must have collaborated with Yogi Berra on that one. It's good. Nobody goes to Coney Island anymore. It's too crowded. Look, if you have a question about your car or anything else else our number is 1-888-CAR-TALK That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Hello, this is Tom Elder from Bridgeport, West Virginia. Hey Tom. Yes. Bridgeport, West Virginia. Yes, it's in West Virginia. Okay. Is that where they make those big machines not that i'm aware of no they make those in bridgeport connecticut

well i do that this is a little bridgeport right mini bridgeport so what's shaking tom well my son had a friend sell him a car for a dollar and he wants to get his daughter this car to drive back and forth to school from Connecticut to South Carolina. It is a 1984 Subaru GL10 luxury model, all electric, which still works, five-speed manual transmission with 146,000 miles on it. He with a hundred and forty six thousand miles on it. He tells me that this car is not broken

until it has a hundred thousand miles on it and is good for four hundred thousand miles. Who told you this, your son? My son, yes. He's nuts! And he says the only thing wrong with it is the wheel wells are rusted out and he's got a guy that'll cut the rusted metal out and put new metal in for two hundred fifty dollars and include throwing a paint job for a total of a thousand dollars i don't think the cars worth it and i wonder if i should buy my granddaughter and failure of phone

but it's a great man was he driving south carolina i would she has to make just the one trip or she's gonna commute? Oh no, she'll be back and forth, holiday, spring break, you know? Yeah. Well, your son is clearly wacko. That's what I thought! That's what I thought! He must take after your wife, right?

Yeah, he certainly can't take after you because you seem like a very sane guy. Although that laugh is a little bit suspect. What kind of life can they get out of this car? Is it worth putting $1,000 into? Well, I mean, if I had it, I wouldn't put $1,000 into cosmetic things like rust. Uh-huh. I would put $1,000 into making sure the thing ran.

Yeah. Where is this car from originally? This happened up in Connecticut. Uh-huh. So it's likely that this thing is all rusted to beat the band. Oh probably. I mean a 13 year old car that spent its entire life in the Northeast where we salt the roads heavily is apt to have the whole undercarriage like Swiss cheese. Uh-huh. You're gonna have someone to really take a look underneath and the first thing they're gonna have to look at is whether or not the real the undercarriage is really rusted away. Yeah, cuz a dollar might have been too much to pay for the car

Maybe it's only worth like 65 cents And then you're gonna have someone like dude check it out as though you were buying it are you buying a used car? Uh-huh and see if the front end is hanging together, see if the engine is alright. I mean there are all kinds of things that a good mechanic can tell just by testing and looking. But most importantly you want to make sure that the car has reasonably good structural integrity and the reason for that is if it's all rusted away, she may not fall out, her butt may not fall out on the highway, but if she were to have an accident with it, the

car might disintegrate and not offer her much protection. So that's important. So even if you're wearing a seatbelt, if the car crumbles when you get hit, the seatbelt isn't going to help you any. So that's what you want to make sure of. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, what's your alternative? If you didn't get this car, if he didn't get this car for her, what would she do if she couldn't get this car, if he didn't get this car for her, what would she do if she couldn't get from Connecticut? Well, she would do the same thing she's been doing. Bumming a ride or flying back and forth. Either that or they'd go out and buy another car. What do you drive, Tom? I drive an 89 Toyota Camry. You're ready for a new car. I can sense that.

You want me to give my car to her? Sure I want. Why not? She is your favorite granddaughter after all. Yeah. No, I mean your son's basic premise is complete hogwash. That these cars don't break in until 100,000 miles and you'll get 400,000 miles out of them.

He's nutso. So, you gotta have it completely checked out to see if the thing is really roadworthy and if it isn't Then she's gonna have to continue to bum rides or fly back right for but it's not that I would Persist lying to anybody right if he insists that that she have this car obviously get the things checked out thoroughly Get the cell phone for her and a handgun And I think you'll be all set. Good luck, Tom. Alternatively, give her the Camry and...

Yeah, the Camry would be a good car for her. Buy yourself that Lexus you've been lusting after. See you later. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Kristen and I'm calling from Watertown, Ma. Kristen. K-R-I-S-T-E-N. No, no, no, no, no. I-N. I-N, very good. Kristen.

Oh, that kind of Kristen. You're really, whoo. I'm one of them. Authentic. Watertown, Ma. Right in our backyard, right next to our fair city. Right down the street. In fact, it ab to our fair city. Right down the street. In fact, it abuts our fair city.

Yes it does. Yes it does. Cool. So what's on your mind, Kristen? Well, I have a 1992 Nissan Sentra. Yeah. A couple of weeks ago, I was on my way home from work and I go down the same hill every day. And there's a cross street at the bottom and somebody pulled out, of course, right

in front of me. Hmm. So I had to hit the brakes and I came to a skidding stop and I did not hit them which was good but it was it was a really hard stop and I had to veer off to the right to make sure I didn't hit them yeah now ever since then at low speeds when I take a right turn at an angle up or an angle down I'm with you the car dies I get out no I scared it I'm gonna go out on a limb here oh go ahead I'll get the saw Kristen is dreaming I'm with you my sister did this start happening immediately?

It started the first time it happened was the next day. The next day? Yep. Well, I'll tell you, we had in our shop not long ago, when did we go on vacation? Two months ago. We had a Ford Taurus that had an interesting problem. This guy had what we call an intense misfire. And you would drive the car, you put it in drive and take off, and as you accelerated down the street,

and the harder you accelerated, the worse it was, the engine would cut out, cut in, cut out, cut in, boom, boom, boom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whip your head back and forth. So we assumed it was a regular mess, and we did all the traditional tests, and we could find nothing.

And in fact, in the shop, the car ran great. Mechanical thing. A mechanical thing, I'll bet you. Well, it was a mechanical electrical thing. Yeah. OK. And the way we figured out what it was, was we put the car in reverse, and we drove it

with the same kind of acceleration. Woo hoo kind of acceleration. That must have been exciting. Yes I had to strap Manny to the rear bumper and he had to give me hand signals. Left, right, left, left, no more left! But we did when we drove it in reverse hard we noticed it didn't. Did not do it. Do it. Right. So we knew it was not the kind of electrical miss that as a result of a bad plug or a bad plug wire or something We noticed it did not do it do it right so we knew it was not the kind of electrical Mist that as a result of a bad plug or a bad plug wire or something like that I'm gonna go to the limb here go ahead engine mount very good, but wrong no exactly right Boy vacation Renewed your brain cell

This car had a broken motor mount and because because the motor mount was broken, when the thing was accelerated in drive, the engine would move enough to pull on a wiring harness and cause an intermittent misfire because the harness, I don't know which harness it was, but it would control the ignition system. The wires would get pulled apart. Of course, as soon as the engine would miss, what would happen? The engine would return back to its original position because it was no longer producing torque.

And spark, and spark, no spark, spark, no spark. So you could have done that same kind of damage in averting this accident. A very hard stop like that. Yeah, because I was going down a hill. It would tear loose a weak motor mount. Okay. Or maybe even not tear it loose but just move things enough so that now you've yanked on a harness. What you need your mechanic to do is open the hood and with the engine running

start yanking on all the wires. That's how we finally discovered it in this car. We started yanking on things and we got the thing to misbehave and then we finally cut away the the insulation and found the broken wires. Okay. And I told you I was with you from the beginning, even though my brother thought you were a wacko. I was with you, Kristen. I appreciate that.

I want you to remember that. No, I was coming around. I was coming around. The more I thought about it, the more I was going to come around. When the time comes to cast your ballot as to who the better brother is, I want you to remember this conversation. Okay. But have your mechanic yank on the wires and he'll find a bad connection.

Alright. Pause it then. Okay. See you, Kristin. Thank you. Thanks for calling. Bye bye. Hey, it's time for a break.

There's a lot more stuff coming up right after the following messages, so stick around. After the following messages, so stick around. Here on The Indicator from Planet Money, we fanned out across the country to ask how you are feeling about the 2025 economy. Anxious. Uncertain. Unfair. Turbulent. Crazy.

We don't just recite the headlines, we show you how the economy is affecting your life in 10 minutes or less. Each weekday, listen to the indicator from Planet Money, wherever you get your podcasts. We asked and you delivered what is the best Pixar movie of all time. Thousands of you voted and we've got the results. Where did Inside Out, Toy Story and Finding Nemo land in the top five? Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore it when big, even world-changing events are happening. That's where the Up First podcast comes in.

Every morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and pick three essential stories so you can keep up without getting stressed out. Listen now to the Up First podcast from NPR. Hey everybody, it's Ian from How to Do Everything. On our show, we attempt to answer your how-to questions. We don't know how to do anything. So we call experts. Last season, both Tom Hanks and Martha Stewart stopped by to help. Our next season is launching in just a few months. So get us your questions now by emailing howto at npr.org

or calling 1-800-424-2935. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us clicking clack the Tappert Brothers. And we're here. 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 the puzzler's vacation schedule. Yeah, I mean, what's the story? Is he back yet? Not quite.

He's apparently been, shall we say, detained. The authorities, you know. Detained? Let me see. I'm looking up the word detained. Ah, here it is. From the Latin detinere, to hold back, definition number one, to be delayed. So the puzzler has been delayed. Is that what you're trying to tell us?

No, not exactly, no. Okay, definition number two, kept in custody or confined. There you go! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha detained again we suggest you tune into this week's classic puzzler from the archives wait a minute classic puzzler from the archives defined classic used and defined archive a big pile of tapes okay so you can hear or read one of our used puzzlers from our very big pile of old car talk puzzlers by simply going to the car talk section of cars.com but in the meantime what's next well in the meantime I thought I'd share some sage advice with you. Go ahead.

This is from Bruce Peterson from Somewhere. This is good. I mean, we all need something in our lives to show us the way. Yes, food for thought. Is that what it is? Yeah. Never criticize a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you'll be a mile away his shoes that way when you do criticize him you'll be a mile away

and you'll have a shoe i like it see i mean you don't realize the deeper meaning i mean you've heard that expression you have to walk a mile in his shoes. Well I must confess, I never understood why. I never understood it either until just now. Until just now. Amazing. Amazing, he's gonna be a mile away,

he's not gonna be able to punch you in the nose like he would wanna do. And he can't chase after you. Because he's got no shoes. Because he's got no shoes. All right, well speaking of sage advice, if you want something remotely resembling that, you can call someone else.

But if you want to call us, the number is 1-888-8-CARTALK that's 888-227-8255. Hello you're on Car Talk. This is Melissa Gold from Whitefish, Montana. Hi Melissa. You have to settle an argument that we've I've been having with my husband for two years. Go ahead. Okay I have a 1990 Subaru station wagon four-wheel drive. Mm-hmm. We bought extra rims so that we could switch out the winter tires and i retired easily good we put the new ramp on the front and i car wouldn't move

interesting and uh... so my husband put washers on all the post sticking out between the wheel mechanism and the realm good thinking not really yeah and then no i'll bet it helped on the way out of the car thinking not really yeah I'll bet it helped I'll bet it helped. It worked but it was stupid!

The car moves and so but every time I go to have the wheels changed out they try to take them off the tire guys go what are those? You can't do that. I don't like it. You bought these wheels at a junkyard. Well, no. No? You buy them. We bought them second hand. Oh, you bought them second hand. They're the wrong wheels for the car. They're the wrong wheels.

They're the wrong wheels. Okay? And what's happening, and the reason the wheels won't turn, is that the brake caliper is being wedged in between the wheel and the disc. And that's why you can't turn the wheels. As the brake pads wear out and that caliper slide moves closer to the middle of the car You will create room for these wheels and you'll be able to put them on so you need to get the right wheels, Melissa Well, we know what the solution is

But the argument is that my husband says that race car drivers do this and so there's no reason why we can't do it And they die in fiery crashes Those wheels fly off? Well, here's my objection to it. By putting, how many washers are you putting behind the wheel? One or two? Just one. One?

See, you have less thread of the nut holding onto the studs Yeah. by doing this. Because you're moving everything out. It's certainly not what the manufacturer intended. No. It's not good to mess around with wheels. So I can tell him that the car guy said, don't do it. Yeah, tell good to mess around with we're trying

that the car guy said don't do it yeah tell me that I mean he paid five bucks a piece for these wheels right yeah I mean for ten bucks you're gonna risk your life now if you paid 20 bucks a week then we'd go ahead and risk your life right yeah but it isn't worth it even if you're from Montana it isn't worth it I know you risk your life every day doing but it isn't worth it. Even if you're from Montana, it isn't worth it. I know you risk your life every day doing a hundred miles an hour, but it's not worth it. Okay. Yeah, I mean don't even tell them. Don't tell them? Just go out and buy a couple of new wheels. Yeah. Good luck, Melissa. Thanks very much. Alright, bye-bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255. Hello. You're on car talk. I'm Charlotte Patterson. Hi Charlotte

Charlotte yeah from Port Angeles, Washington Port Angeles. Yeah, what does that mean one of the angels? Yeah, and it's in the state of Washington DC and Washington the state of Washington not Washington DC No, no, no, there's no there are no in washington d c there aren't that is that's it uh... car uh... i have yet a liberal education and i know nothing about geography history nothing nothing

well that'll do anyway charlotte what what's happening well my car making a weird sound and what I want to know is should I try to get it fixed or should I just ignore it? And, you know, I'm worried that it'll blow up or something or do something weird and then I'll have to spend a fortune. Sounds are difficult to put black tape over, but...

Well, headphones. When does it happen? As soon as I start the engine. Okay. So you turn the key. I turn the key. It goes, vroom, it starts up. The car starts and this noise is in my dashboard.

It goes, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom,urgle, I was gonna ask you, is it metallic or gurgling? It's gurgling. Kind of gurgling.

I'm gonna guess you have a Honda Civic. No. All right. Toyota Corolla. Same thing. Same Corolla. Same car. Close enough. Close enough, yeah.

Oh, okay. Have you had any work done on the cooling system lately? Yeah, like the radiator, the water pump. Uh-uh. See, I think it is probably harmless, but you should check just one little thing. Okay. And that is to check to make sure you have enough coolant in the cooling system. And the way you do that is to take the radiator cap off, but only when the engine is stone

cold. Uh-huh. And you may find out that the antifreeze level is low because what you're hearing is you're hearing air That's trapped in the heater core Getting mixed in with the antifreeze as it's beginning to circulate and you're hearing that gurgling Yeah And the reason for the question about have you had any work done on the cooling system is if someone had done work and then Had refilled the cooling system without bleeding it, there might be air in the system.

Or it might just be low. They may have been more concerned with bleeding you instead. Right. It might just be low on cooling. So when it's stone cold, you take off the radiator cap, you look inside, the fluid level should be right there. I mean, an eighth of an inch below the top.

Okay. And if it isn't, you have to go to your shop and have them check it for leaks, because you may have a leak from a loose hose clamp or something, or something relatively minor. Okay. You should never lose coolant. Well, can I ask you something, though? When I don't have the heater on, which I haven't for the last week or two, it doesn't make

sense. The noise went away. Right, because you... That's where the noise is. Because when the heater is off, you have shut down the heater control valve, and you're preventing the flow of coolant into the heater core. Oh wonderful, so I don't have to worry.

And you won't hear it. Well you do have to worry because you may be very low on coolant. I'll check that. Don't forget about it because you will forget about it if you don't go out and check it right now. Good luck Charlotte. Oh thank you. See you later.

See you later. Bye bye. Bye. While you've done exactly what you should be doing this summer. You've completely wasted an hour listening to Card Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion, and in desperate need of a haircut, Berman. Our associate producer and dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers.

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