The Best of Car Talk - #2551: No Shift

Episode Date: June 28, 2025

Gus has an old pickup that won't shift into park, which makes leav ing it anywhere that isn't dead flat a real challenge. All the other gears work fine. Should he throw a couple of cinderblocks in the trunk to use as wheel chocks, or will Click and Clack come up with a less ridiculous solution? 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

On NPR's Wild Card podcast, Michelle Obama says she's reinventing herself. I don't know if my ambition has ever fully been able to actualize itself. I think I'm now at a stage in my life where all my choices are mine. I'm Rachel Martin. Listen to Wild Card for a conversation about balancing family and personal growth with Michelle Obama. 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 mothballs 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 you have a car question, here's the number. It's 888-522-5478. That's 888-522-5478. That's 888-522-5478. 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, the new center for accident creation

here at Car Talk Plaza. Now, we see accident creation as a growth industry. So we thought we'd start a wholly owned subsidiary to promote and encourage accidents. Might as well be ahead of the curve, right? I mean, what the heck yeah we're gonna come out in full support of the Microsoft Corporation because I have here an article from I believe is this the New York Times New York Times Microsoft wants information to travel the real highway

boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop Detroit eager to take advantage of the hour a day the average American spending a car 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 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 There's an idea whose time came and went. What? No, I don't know. We're in favor of it. We are in favor of it. Well, kind of, I guess. What else can we endorse in the name of accident creation? What would be some other good ideas? Well, don't they already have TVs?

You can just plug in your TV. That's all right. I suppose so. How about beds? Between stoplights or when it just gets boring on the road. I mean a lot of times, you know, you're on though Especially in Montana. They keep claiming that they got long long distances to go. Why be awake for all that? No, not off not off. Yeah, here's my favorite. Yeah Venetian blinds, huh? I mean why use those wimpy little visors to block out the sun? Pull the string and close off everything, man!

Well, it's interesting. I mean, this is actually worth discussing at great length if you wanted to. You know me. Well, I've always contended the reason for bad driving is there aren't enough accidents. Because think about how many times you do stupid things and you don't have an accident I can just see a business card now Thomas Malazi AAI automobile accident investigate we need more accidents and I'm strongly in support of the Microsoft proposal there you go because they're gonna help us do that if you'd like to call us about your car or anything else. Our number is 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Oh, hi, this is Fiona calling from Clarkston, Michigan. Fiona? With an F? With an F, yep, like Frank. Yeah, that's an interesting name. Well, my mom is from Scotland, and so my dad is American, but my mother's Scottish, and so they gave us one Gaelic name and one

American name and so my Gaelic name is Fiona. That's a Gaelic name Fiona. I always thought it was sort of Mediterranean Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's no no, it's a British Isles name Oh, yes indeed, like Well top of the monitor Fiona. Thank you for that interesting bit of information. Yeah. Everything's due to my brother. Anyway, Clarkston, Michigan. So what's on your mind Fiona? Well I have a 91 Probe GT and it's got 105,000 miles on it and when the car is cold it makes an exhaust noise kind of like there's a hole in the muffler

and it's not really very loud but it's loud enough to make my neighbor turn around in his driveway and wonder what I'm doing. And then it goes away when it warms up? Well it used to go away completely when it got warm but now it doesn't really go away but it kind of changes to a higher pitch noise and it's not as loud and with hard acceleration it becomes a higher pitch noise and it's not a cloud uh... and with the heart acceleration it becomes a whistle i only have been on it when i'm accelerating and not when i'm at a constant speed my husband thought that it sounded like a transmission noise

but when it makes it makes a noise whether or not i have the clutch prepped in or not so when i read the engine with a clutch prepped in it's gonna make the noise now when the car is really hot in or not. So when I rev the engine with the clutch pressed in, it still makes the noise. Not when the car is really hot. Okay, so actually you can get the noise without even moving the car. Is that true? Okay. Got it. That would pretty much eliminate lots of things. Yeah, like wheel bearings, you know, transmission

probably, you know. And why did you describe it as exhaust noise when you first mentioned it? When the car is really cold like I haven't like first thing in the morning Well, that's what it is kind of like a lower kind of yeah, I'm gonna suggest. I think that's what it is I think that's what it is too And I'm gonna tell you that it's coming from the front of the car and not the middle of the back. From the front? Yeah! That's what I said, Fiona, baby! Well, where do you think it's coming from? I, well, I don't know.

Good. She's right. Somebody said it might be... Are you susceptible to a front? Front is good. Front is good. Now, somebody told me it might be a cracked exhaust manifold. Exactly that. That's exactly what it is. Because what's happening is the crack is there when the manifold is cold and as we know, most things when they heat it up expand and the manifold is expanding and closing up that crack so that the noise changes in pitch and severity. Exactly, because the space where the hot exhaust is coming through changes shape and it's like

whistling. Oh, okay. So when the engine is cold and a lot of exhaust can escape, it sounds more like you have a hole in your muffler and then as the thing warms up it'll revert to a whistling sound. Eventually, the manifold will just split in two, and it'll sound like a cement truck all the time. Oh, it'll probably sound like a machine gun. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Now, how quickly would that happen? I'd say you got about an hour. Oh, great. Well, I mean, it sounds like you've had this problem for a long time. Well, probably like four or five months. Yeah. Oh, it's getting close. Okay, so... And you were waiting all this time to talk to us and you didn't think to have someone look at it, of course.

Yeah, that would cost money. No, see I was gonna take it to have somebody look at it. Actually I was gonna take it to the dealer and my husband said, No, don't take it to a dealer, they'll rip you off. And so I listened to him and I didn't take it. Yeah, but if they don't rip you off, how else are they gonna keep those nice waiting rooms intact? You know with coffee the donuts the air conditioning the suits They're counting on you Fiona go in there and pay your dues. Those guys are wearing thousand dollar suits

They've gotta be paid by somebody $1,000 suits. I've gotta be paid by somebody No, but it's it's several hundred. Oh, okay. Yeah, I mean I mean they could even get the part at a junkyard save you a couple of bucks But it would dealership wouldn't do that, but your local gas station might okay, so I would go there Yeah, it's not rocket science get it looked at because you probably are breathing some of this exhaust that's getting up into your ventilation system. Okay, so that would explain my imaginary friend on the way home from work. Yes, that would.

That's it. Good luck, Fiona. See you, Fiona. Thanks. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK.

That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Richard. I'm calling from Conifer, Colorado. Richard? From Conifer? Right. As in deciduous? Like the trees.

Right, like the trees. Right. Cool. Conifer. Yeah, well, fine. Alright, so who cares, Richard? I mean, what do you want? Come on, you don't have all day here. Come on, spit it out, man. I've got a problem with my truck.

I've got a Chevy S10 pickup, a 91 S10 pickup four-wheel drive. And this thing, it's starting to lose power. It started to do this, you know, several weeks ago. I noticed at first when I was driving uphill, and when I would depress the accelerator, it would be kind of like it would just kind of feel like it was just kind of... Loggy. A little slow. Tired.

Yeah. But I'd let up and the engine would still just be running fine, you know? So I took it into a guy and he said, well, maybe it's the fuel filter. So we changed the fuel filter. Good, very good. It didn't do anything. I took it in to another guy and he put it on the machine. He says well you need a new map sensor. Good, good. The thing is, is that it's still, it's actually worse than ever now. How soon after you start driving in the morning do you notice the problem ten minutes fifteen minutes when you start climbing the hills right how many miles are on this beast

uh... hundred and thirty thousand no no seventy seventy two thousand that's all that's all and it's a stick shift uh... well we wish we could help rich well i think that I think the guy with the fuel filter was maybe on the right track, he just didn't go deep enough into it. I think you could easily have a weak fuel pump. A weak fuel pump? Which would explain two things.

Okay. I don't know what they are, but it would explain two things at least. Now, one is it would explain the lack of power, and number number two it would explain why the check engine light hasn't come on. See if any of your problems... Well the check engine light has been coming on when it starts to do this. It has? Yes. Uh huh. Oh Richard, that was sneaky of you not to divulge that.

No the check engine light does come on, it only comes on, it will flash on for a few seconds and then it'll go off again. When you're having the problem? When I'm having the problem. Ohhhhhhh... But not always when I have the problem. This changes sometimes when I have the problem. I mean the check engine light could still be coming on with a bad fuel pump, because if the oxygen sensor, and I don't know what codes this guy got,

I imagine he must have gotten a code for a bad map sensor and that's why he changed it. But I would go and have the thing re-scanned. It'd be interesting to see if the map sensor comes up again. One of several things could have happened. He could have bought a bad map sensor, which happens. We've had that happen to us. So if it comes up map sensor again, he may want to go through the flow chart

and if it points to the map sensor, change it. Certainly test the fuel pump pressure, which is easy enough to do. Test the fuel pump pressure? Yeah. Okay. And the other possibility is that your, that one of the other sensors is bad, but they're going to have to, if the scanner doesn't say anything, they're going to have to check the sensors one by one.

Okay. Did we mention the oxygen sensor? No, we didn't. We didn't mention the oxygen sensor, but we should. We should. Okay, the oxygen sensor. You did mention it, I think. Well, I mean, the fact that it happens after 10 or 12 minutes of driving. Right. That's when the oxygen sensor starts to work. It's not working for the first 10 minutes. Well, it is. It's working. The only thing warms up. It's working in the first couple of minutes, but not right away. Yeah, it takes, it has to get up to temperature which is 400 degrees centigrade or is it Kelvin?

And so that's another possibility The other possibility is you have an obstruction in your exhaust system probably a catalytic converter Oh really should prevent high-speed operation. Oh, okay. Yeah Well, all these things are possible and we have no idea which one of them is the right answer. But we feel for you, Richard. We really do. Oh, thank you very much. Yeah.

That makes me feel a lot better. I know. See you, Richard. Great. Thank you. Good luck. Bye-bye. He's going to need it.

He is. There's a lot more stuff coming up right after the following messages is sent. Stick around. On NPR's Thru Line. Schoolhouses are less expensive than rebellions. We've been debating the government's role in education since the Civil War. A tenth of our national debt would have saved us the blood and treasure of the late war. How the Department of Education tried to fix a divided nation. Listen to Thru Line, wherever you get your podcasts. Hola, it's Sarah Gonzalez.

At Planet Mani, when we say we want you to understand the economy, sure we mean tariffs and global supply chains and interest rates, cosas así. But also, we shot a satellite into space. We made our own vodka, became a record label, made a comic book, all to help you make better sense of the world around you. Listen to the Planet Money podcast from NPR. Pop Culture Happy Hour, NPR's easy breezy, laid back pop culture podcast, has brought you the best in culture for the past 15 years. That means we spent the last 15 years talking about what exactly?

Bad reality TV, actually good Marvel movies. Actually awful Marvel movies. Reboots, pop music, prestige dramas, Netflix slop. That's 15 years of buzzy pop culture chit chat and here's to many more with you along for the ride. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 some right answers. Yeah, they're right because they're all Stephen right. My brother's been amusing himself for the last two hours sitting there and chuckling. I don't know where this came from it's not email. No it's... Oh it came from our website Farouk's humor page. Ah Steven Wright is a very strange guy. Here are just a few rightisms I'll just pick out a few here. I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of wits. I got a dog and I named him Stay.

Now I say, come here, Stay. One day I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now. I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. The sign said, eight items or less. So I changed my name to Less. Whoa. This man is gone. Good for you, Stephen.

Hope they let you out of the home soon. No, no, stay in, stay in. You may do his best work there. Hey look, if you have a question about your car or anything else, our number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Gus, and I'm from Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Gus? Gus!

Yes, that's me. I mean, is your real name like Augustus, or...? No, it's Gus. It's the name I chose for myself when I became a citizen. Really? Yes. What? Did you emigrate from, like, Manhattan?

I'm from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Really? You came here when you were 12. That's why I do not speak Mitra accent. Yeah, from Amsterdam. Our fair city. And you chose Gus as a name. Well, it used to be Gus with two U's and it's pronounced Houss, which most people can't say because you will have to clear your throat in a particular way when you say it. Gus with two.

Oh good in New Jersey, is Huss going to the movies with us? I come from a long line of Flemish painters. Oh so you. Gus with two U's, what are those Dutch people thinking? Well that's why I'm here, I don't want to be associated with them anymore. So anyway, Gus, from Scotch Plains, New Jersey. What's up, man? I have an 82 GMC pickup truck, just a standard plain vanilla pickup that I inherited from a friend. What size engine?

It's a six-cylinder engine. Six-cylinder? Here's the problem. It won't shift into park. Now, it sounds very easy, but before you give me the easy answers i've already disconnected the linkage done all the proper adjustment and we put the transmission in neutral and at the transmission does go into park if you lay underneath it and which it into place all you could also underneath but you can do it from inside the truck now i can monkey with the linkage and get it to go into park but then my only options are park reverse and neutral and since I

don't run demolition derby. That's an interesting set of options. Now here's what else I've done. I completely disassembled the steering column and I can't find anything wrong. Wow. Well this thing has a linkage that runs, it has a bar that runs from the shifter. That's right. That comes through the firewall. Exactly. And it runs down to the transmission. And somehow I've got to believe that the geometry here is wrong.

Something has moved. Either the frame on this thing is twisted or there's not enough adjustment you can put into this thing to get into park to push that. No. Could it be the motor mounts or the transmission mounts? Sure could be. Yeah. Sure could be. Ah.

Sure. It could be a bad motor mount, a broken motor mount. It could be something. It's got to be something that's bent or out of position. Ah. So I've got to look at the transmission mounts at the engine mounts. The whole thing, the whole whole the engine and transmission may have Just moved back

by some amount Yeah, now I would suggest a creative solution It's gonna be too hard to fix. I mean otherwise the thing runs. Okay, that's wonderful Okay, how about how's about this a? creeper How's about this? A creeper. You get out of the vehicle and real fast, you slide underneath and you throw it in power. Well, no, if you cut a hole in the floor in just the right spot, you're going to make

yourself, Gus, a homemade floor shift for this, which will consist of clothespins, rope, coat hangers. Actually, it's very simple to do. Yeah, actually, you could install, you could buy a kit and put a floor shifter on this thing. That's what I should do. That's what you should do. And forget about the column shift.

I mean, you should obviously look to see if the motor mounts are broken or if any of the frame is busted. You know, if you had a broken weld or something, everything could be all out of whack. With a vehicle this age, anything could be wrong with it. Of course now the other problem is I've got that whole steering column apart. I never knew there were so many springs and things. You'll be surprised at how many of those pieces are unnecessary. When I reassemble it I have enough to build another half a steering column. Just tell me, when you took took it since you took it apart. Have you blinked? Oh too many times forget The phone isn't wrong

Any interruption Forget it right you'll never get it back together in fact if you read the book it tells you to empty your bladder Work on the steering column. Because any interruption and you're done for. I have to admit when I started taking the steering column apart, that happened naturally. Yes, I wish you the very best. Check out the motor mounts if they're okay and you can't figure it out. You can have a mechanic cut a hole in the floor, and you can put a floor shift in.

Okay. And it'll be great, you'll love it. Terrific. And it'll look cool too. Yeah, you're right. See you guys. I'm gonna have to get the last pack. I can see it now.

Broom. Bye bye. Bye bye. You can actually do it with like a broom handle, and a couple of clothespins. Rope clothespins. You know, some old hangers. You could do it that way. You could actually. I mean, it's not rocket science. No, I mean it really is rocket science

1888 car talk or one eight eight eight two two seven eight two five five. Hello. You're on car talk. Hi This is Marlene from Montreal. Hi, Marlene. Wait a minute Montreal. Yeah, isn't that a foreign country? Yes it is. Well I mean I love Montreal. I've been there several times for vacations. Except that the last time it was like going to France. Nobody understood me or cared to. They understand you perfectly well. They just don't want to admit it. That's right. That's right because they are what? Yeah what yeah French and if I want to be insulted like that damn it I'll go to France actually they're nicer in France about it at least find a

bilingual in France and there's no language police no language yeah yes must be wacko well I'm sure your phone is being tapped so you might want to make this you might want to make this quick. Make this short before they triangulate on you. Right. What kind of a Peugeot do you own? I don't. I own a Celica. A Toyota Celica. We call it Celica down below the border here, but Celica's fine. Okay. I drive Boston, Montreal, Montreal, Boston about once, twice a month. Really?

When I'm driving down, if I stop, the car won't start again. First they said there's a small crack in your distributor cap so they replaced that then they told me the next time all well maybe it's your starter they replaced that maybe it's the alternator it never happens unless i'm driving straight through yeah and what happens when you try to restart it is it no sound whatsoever or does it make a sound

nothing nothing it's just dead. It doesn't go, er, er, er, er, er. No, nothing. The only thing that gets it started is I put it into second and I'm lucky. Get some of the push. I get some guys to push me and it starts again. This is good.

It is good. It's very good. It's very good. In fact, it's so good, it's unsolvable. But I don't know what they've done except to replace the cap. But everything, I can tell you, of all the things you mentioned, There was only one it could have possibly been, and the others were complete, complete nonsense. Like the alternator? Come on!

It wasn't a distributor cap? No. If they thought that those things were gonna fix this problem. You gotta go somewhere else That's the first point because these guys don't understand how things work Okay, how long do you have to have been driving for this to happen? Well one hour do it just over an hour. Yeah Just over an hour. Well, here's what's happening. We don't know my brother's gonna tell you an hour. Well here's what's happening. We don't know, my brother's gonna tell you what it is. My brother will lay the groundwork. I'll lay the groundwork because I don't have a clue. As you drive, everything is getting hot. Oh yeah. And the heat is causing something to expand, such that when you go to turn on the starter there's a connection that is not

being made. Well that thing is the solenoid. The solenoid is failing when it heats up. You think so? Oh absolutely. This is a classic symptom for this car. Oh it is? Yeah and you need to what you need to do is to drive it slow down yes that's another reason. This has a separate solenoid? No the solenoid is on the starter you need to drive this thing replace the stuff They didn't replace the starter they replace the starter yes, they did As I said neither my brother I has the faintest idea That's what, that would have been the reason that we would have given. But see, I was awake when you said they replaced the starter and my brother was dozing.

He's exhausted. Wait a minute, I give you a chance to regroup here. So obviously it starts with a push. So obviously the starter is not getting energized. It's entirely possible that they did one of two things, either installed a faulty starter or merely spray painted your old one. Yeah, I mean, if you had called without telling us that you would replace the starter,

we would have said, you gotta replace the starter. But since they've already done that, you've thrown a wrinkle into this and we don't know the answer. Well here's what you've got to do Marlene. It's very simple. Take the car out for a long drive. But when you're halfway through this long drive, turn around and come back home to your mechanic.

And drive directly into the shop. Right. And then, and tell them you're doing this. Call them up and say I'm on my way, I'll be there in half an hour or an hour. And have the test light ready because we need to find out if the solenoid is getting energized when I turn the key. And when he finds out that the solenoid is getting energized, he'll know that he installed a faulty starter. If it isn't energized, he's going to have to look someplace else. It's possible it's a faulty ignition switch or it's the clutch interlock switch, which

is preventing it from starting. Or it's a faulty ignition switch, or it's the clutch interlock switch, which is preventing it from starting. Okay. Or it's a bad connection someplace, but he ought to be able to figure it out in two minutes when you pull in. We'll try it again. But not this guy that you went to before, because he's replacing distributor caps, so he's obviously, what? A moron. He's a wacko. French-Canadian. A friend, eh?

Well, a bientôt, my lane. Okay, au revoir. Au revoir. Au revoir. Au revoir. We have to take a short break. What is this? You already had a break. Yeah, but I hold on to coffee like you hold on to puzzles.

Ah, it goes right through you, huh? On NPR's Thru Line, school teachers are going to be the ones that rebuild our society in a way that is more cohesive. Basically, where soldiers set down their arms, school teachers need to pick up their books. How the U.S. Department of Education tried to fix a divided nation. Listen to Thru Line wherever you get your podcasts. Electric vehicles are supposed to be the future, fast, clean and everywhere. But now even automakers are pulling back. What happened?

The pace of electrification was not going to be as fast as everybody thought. On the Sunday story from Up First, hear how shifting politics and changing demand are slowing down the EV revolution. Listen now to the Sunday story on the up-first podcast from NPR. The Nintendo Switch 2 is already the fastest-selling video game console of all time. That's despite the technology behind it lagging years behind its competitors. Without saying it, Nintendo is selling a culture. On The Indicator, we unpack the unusual business strategy that transformed a tiny Japanese toy

company into a global multimedia giant. Listen to the Indicator from Planet Money wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Hey, 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 a brilliant new discovery Yes, here's a letter I got from a listener of ours. It says dear Tom and Ray I wanted to write to express my great joy in a recent discovery

I was surfing your website at work this week and found that all summer you are posting classic car talk puzzlers Boy, is this great? Not only can I now hear the puzzler whenever I want to, but you should be commended for an even more exciting innovation. Now we listeners can get our weekly dose of the puzzler without having to listen to the rest of your lousy show. Your thoughtfulness is unmatched, sincerely dead. Oh, I thought it might have been for the Menendez brothers.

Now you're going to discuss the bard with us? Right, this is good. Dennis Gittinger from the great cyber world sent us the top plays, I love this, the top plays Shakespeare chose not to publish. Here they are. Fast Times at Verona High. Christopher Marlowe You Can can kiss my Elizabethan butt. And my favorite, Hamlet II.

Where the hell is everybody? He actually wrote all these, huh? Oh, he did, yeah. He penned them all and of course. That's good. He didn't think that some of these would have a mass market appeal. No, well... Yeah, well I think today, and you know in retrospect, today maybe if we can get the manuscripts... Oh, they're out there. If they're not, someone's working on them right now.

I'm discovering them. Okay, now what? Well, it's time to try and give out some wrong answers. So if you have a question about your car, our number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Carly from Ewing, New Jersey. Carly? Carly. As in Carly Simon?

As in Carly Simon. With a Y? No. You know, I had started to do an I. Yeah. Yeah, but there's an I and you're the only person who doesn't want to put an E on it. Hmm. And you're from where?

Ewing, New Jersey. That's halfway between Princeton and Trenton. Ewing as in E-W-I-N-G? Yeah, like those guys who have that ranch down in Texas. Yeah. Like, uh, what's his name? J.R. Ewing. Anyway, what's up, Carly? I have this Vanagon. I'm deeply in love with it.

But on long trips it eats tires. Really? Yes. On the inside of the tire it will wear. Yeah. And my husband for no reason whatsoever put his hand on the inside of the tire. And he got stuck with the steel belt.

Yeah, and after we had him sewed up, no I exaggerate. Yeah. There was a huge hole. And this is the front tires? No, it's the back tire. One of the back tires? Back tires? Really? Well, it's possible. When was the accident? Last August. Very good question. Okay, it happened again. Well, what? No, you had an accident with this vehicle. Oh, maybe it wasn't a very good question. Okay, it happened again. Well, what? You had an accident with this vehicle. Oh, maybe it wasn't a very good question. No, it was a good question.

I thought so too. There was an incident. Was there an incident with this vehicle when it was struck by another vehicle? Not to my knowledge. Was driven into a curb at high speed? No. What year is this Vanagon? 87.

How long have you had it? A year and a half. Oh, there was an incident. Yeah, someone drove this thing into a curb and somebody bent something in the rear end. Those rear tires are out of alignment. Way out of alignment. Okay, I put new tires on when I got the truck.

Oh no, the tires are okay. You're gonna wreck the next set of tires you put on too because when you put the tires on the car, they're not going on there in the right place because the wheel on which they sit is cockeyed. You have three wheels that are pointing straight ahead when you're trying to go straight ahead and the wheel in question is towed in.

And what's happening is because it's, it's not towed in enough so that you could see it, but as the tire rolls, it's constantly scuffing the inner part of the tire so that it wears out peculiarly. It can wear out in just a few thousand miles. You need to take this thing to an alignment shop and have the rear end aligned or have them tell you that it's so far out that they can't realign it.

Well, they can't tell me that. Yeah, no, they'll fix it. They'll fix it. No, it can be fixed. Okay. But the alignment shop may not be able to fix it. You may have to go to a body or frame shop. Okay. Where they're going to whack this thing and back, they're going to pull it back into position.

Yeah. Are they going to whack the machine and whack my wallet? They're going to whack your wallet real good, yeah. But you've got to fix it because it's dangerous. This tire could blow it any second. Just go directly to the alignment shop and tell them what the problem is. Right. In fact, I'd cut this call short right now and get in line at the alignment shop. Thanks, Collie. And thank you very much Oscar. Go have that looked at. Good. See ya. Bye bye. Bye bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK that's 888-227-825. Hello, you're on the air. Hi, this is Tim in Manassas. Manassas? Tim in Manassas? Yeah. Manassas what? Manassas, Virginia of course. Tim and Manassas? Yeah. Manassas what? Manassas, Virginia, of course.

Oh, so what's up? Well, I have this great little car, and I put it back together and it won't start. What is it? It's a little Fiat, actually. No! Is it a Fiat Spider? It's a Fiat 2000 Spider. Oh no! Come on, you've gotta be kidding me! Oh no, it's the best little 2000 spider. What year? 1980. Do you know what I bought the other day? I bought a 1979 Fiat 2000

spider. Well then you're obviously qualified to tell me how to fix it non-stop in my driveway i can't get it right it's not a good idea as i bought it haven't driven it yet uh... that all right what's the problem well i was driving along one day back when it drove and uh... may come allowed noise adequate

so being smart man that i was at a chip had it shipped to a shop to be fixed. But they wanted enough money to quadruple its value to me to fix it. And what they said had happened was that the timer pulley that holds the timing belt in destroyed itself. Oh, you bent the valves. No, I didn't.

That's the good news. You lucky stiff. I am because the thing is when I destroyed itself, the timing chain didn't actually slip off. It just slipped a few notches. We know this for a fact. How do we know this? Well, that's a really good question because he said he did a compression check

and of course it was out of time so there was no compression. But he's given me his best estimate that the valves and the pistons are still working. So he's just gonna put a new belt and a tensioner on it. Well, that's what he suggested I do or pay him a fortune to do. How much did he want? 750 bucks.

Oh! Well, like I said, he wanted to quadruple its value. I did what he told me to do and it won't start. No, his diagnosis was wrong. You need to do another compression. I mean, I'll tell you These things bend valves at the drop of a hat Okay, so it's very likely that that you bent valves. Yeah, I'm not I'm not can why did he want 750?

It's it's a trivial job. Well, that's what I thought because I did as I've mentioned, but how long did it take you to do it? How many weekends? Three? At least three. But most of that was getting the primary nut off the pulley. Picking up the beer. Sure. That means he could have done it in three hours. I think that's right.

And you're sure, you're confident that you put the, you lined up the two sprockets for the cams correctly. I'm pretty sure. And now we're saying, what two sprockets? Now why do you have no compression? Oh? I don't say I have no compression what the only thing I've gotten I mean I well you said something about well, you know then I jumped a couple of notches, so it's out of time So I have no compression well

If it were enough out of time You could have no compression because the valves would be opening at the wrong time right so it's possible when the piston is Coming up on this compression stroke one of the valves will be opening at the wrong time. So it's possible when the piston is coming up on its compression stroke, one of the valves is open up. But if it's open up too much, it's going to get bent. That's the problem. But see, if it's that far off that you really have no compression, then something is fishy. Because if it's only off a notch or two, you're going to have compression because it doesn't matter that they're closing at the wrong time they're closing more or less. Well you may have had some compression you may have had 25 pounds of cylinder. I think maybe he did say poor compression. Poor, yes. Do the compression test that's gonna tell you all. Okay. Now if the timing

belt took you three weekends you'll be driving this thing with any luck by Labor Day weekend. By Labor Day, who needs a convertible? That's right, there you go. Tim, if, God forbid, if none of this works out for the best, and believe me, I have great empathy for you, but I could use a parts car. Good luck, Tim. Tim, do the compression test and let us know what happens. Thank you much.

Good luck, man. Bye. Well, it's time to say goodbye to everyone else. Wow! You've done exactly what you should be doing in the summer. You've completely wasted an hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to Fashion Berman. Our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Imelda Marcos-Ray.

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