The Best of Car Talk - #2558: Ich Bin Ein Berliner

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Dana has a German friend who can't figure out how to get a big piece of history out of the trunk of his Dad's brand new BMW. Grab a jelly donut and check out 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

It's rare to find a podcast that can actually change your life. But when the show is called Life Kit, that's kind of the whole point. I'm Mariel Segarra. Three times a week on the Life Kit podcast, we guide you through a topic we could all use help with, from personal development to healthy living to managing your dinero with takeaways so you can start living what you learn right away. Escucha el Life Kit podcast from NPR. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, click and clack the Tappet Brothers.

And we're broadcasting this week from the American Association of Body Shops and Surgeons meeting here at Car Talk Plaza. Both of these groups, by the way, have strongly- Oh, these are two separate groups. Body shops and surgeons. Right, the American Association of Body Shops and the American Association of Surgeons. It's a joint meeting. Exactly.

Yes. Well, both of them have strongly endorsed this new product because of the potential business that evidently will result from it. And here it is. Go ahead. You know, Whistler makes... Radar detectors. Radar detectors, which of course we know should all be illegal.

But they're not. But Whistler, not happy to make just radar detectors, they have a whole line of wonderful products and the one that's being endorsed by the Association of Body Shops and all the surgeons in America. Get this, I mean they have a list here of stuff, this is a news release, they got a stove, a compressor, you know, battery dust stuff, all kinds of interesting stuff. Yeah, yeah. The most interesting of which is a portable blender. There you go. Whip up a quick breakfast, milkshakes or eggnog, on the go.

The Whistler blender makes excellent frozen drinks and is ideal for camping, boating and tailgate parties and driving to work in the morning. Well before you know it, someone's going to have a shower that you can plug into your cigarette. I mean, why waste time showering in the morning? They will be like... Late for work? Shower in the car.

Shower in the car. Shave in the... People shave in the car. Yeah. You might as well shower, though. I mean, it's only a matter of time before someone makes a floor drain. I mean, what are they thinking? Who knows?

But the body shops and the surgeons of America are going to love this because this is going to create many business opportunities. I'm happy for them. I think it's wonderful. It's the American business at its best. Anything for a buck. If you want to know our business, you can call us at 888 car talk That's 88888888

227-8255 hello, you're on car talk. This is Linda in Maine. You guys are cracking me up Linda from Maine That's with an eye just so you know main MA I NE Northern Maine Middle Maine or Southern Coast mid-coast Cool. Oh, you're like from near Bar Harbor. Well, about an hour south of Bar Harbor and about an hour north of Portland. Sure. So you haven't lived in Maine very long.

15 years. Where are you really from, Boston? No, I'm from the Midwest originally. Are you really? Yeah. You been there? Midwest? No. Not really. Yeah, south of Chicago. Yeah, you've been there Midwest no yeah yeah I've

been there yeah on the plane going over the below you there are wheat fields see those wheat and corn is the Midwest I've seen enough so what's going on I think I've got a real stumper for you's it's um... about my nineteen eighty seven toyota church fell four wheel drive wagon i got it okay got about a hundred sixty four thousand miles on it but here's the problem when um... it's been a really hard rainy super saturated kind of a rainy day

and it's been sitting in my driveway overnight uh... it won't start and it's not the battery so when you turn the key it goes rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr No, the distributor. The distributor, okay. The thing with the wires coming out. Yeah, right. And I've got new spark plug wires. Well, that's, oh. New plugs. It's not that. It's something about dampness. What made you think of the hairdryer thing? Well, I figured that would work. Yeah. Oh, and here's something my husband said to tell you, that when he's... Same to him too. I'm sorry. No, no. That's not what he said anyway he says that he has seen arcing

ah... yeah that's a clue did he say where he saw the arcing kind of over the top of that area over the top of that area so our suspicions may be confirmed i know where he's seeing the arcing i do too this is a common problem on these cars you've changed the wires and that didn't help it. Correct. Because what's wrong is a distributor cap has little microscopic little cracks that are starting at the center and working the electricity. The cracks go all the way down to the base of the distributor cap and providing a

conductive when wet path. Path for the electricity down to the body. So your spark is actually getting grounded out before it ever gets a chance. I mean it's cut off at the knees so to speak. Before your spark can make it to the plugs. It's getting shorted to ground and you need to replace the cap. Now. So how much is that gonna cost? $750 an hour shot. We're having a special on them though. That's $1,295.

If you come now, we'll also send you the 3CD Sleepy La Beef collection. Are you into Sleepy La Beef? He rocks, he rocks. He rocks, baby. I'm all for Sleepy. This is a simple problem. This is, and your husband's clue was very, very helpful.

Tell him to go to the parts store or maybe even the Toyota dealer. Oh boy. And buy a new distributor cap and a new rotor. A rotor. And there were three screws that hold the cap down. Yeah. You take them out, plug on the new rotor, you put the new cap on, you stick the wires. Make sure you put the wires back in exactly the same place.

Otherwise, it'll never start. Right. You'll be calling us next week. You'll be in your driveway for me. Oh, I'm sure he can do all of this. He's a pretty dandy mechanic. That's gonna fix it, Linda. All right.

Thank you so much, guys. See ya. Bye. Bye-bye. Good luck. 1-888-227-8255 Hello, you're on car talk. All right. This is Jake from pescadero What's that pescadero?

Pescadero is a little fishing town south of San Francisco about an hour. Yeah pescadero means fisherman. Yeah, the fishing place is what they claim pescadero That's it. I like it. So what's up, Jakey baby? Well, I got an 88 Pontiac 6000 that's growing hair. Hey, you could make a lot of money out of this. It's a possibility. Where's it growing the hair? On the roof and on the hood. On the hood? It grows about a quarter of an inch a week on the top and You can wash it off. It's like fuzz? Yeah like fuzz. It's sort of like an old Cheeya. It's like a Cheeya car. Yeah Really? Don't we screen the calls anymore? No. I need help. That's good. What do you mean you need help?

You need Earl Shieb. Just paint right over it. It's a deep midnight blue that's slowly going gray, sort of like me. Yeah, what color? Oh, the fuzz is gray? No, the fuzz is sort of a dishwater blonde. Really? Really? Where do you live? Pescadero. No, I mean, but do you live near anything strange, like a nuclear power plant? Near the water! That's it, near the blue pacific! Near the blue pacific? You mean you park under funny trees or anything?

No! And this fuzz grows like all over the roof or in patches? Now pretty consistently across the roof. Well, I mean, it's gotta to be a fungus of some kind. You think so? Oh, I know so. Did you ever study biology? No.

Well, not really, no. Chemistry? No. No, not really. Well, we know it's a living thing because it grows. I mean, by definition, it's going to be not by definition, not really. No. Bird droppings.

No, they don't grow She's Jake this is this is very interesting Well, I took it into the dealer and the dealer said that this is a car that had Experimental paint that Pontiac was experimenting throughout the 80s with paint. Oh really? Pontiac has been experimenting from day one. I was praying for the free repaint. Right. Had the dealer ever seen this before? Evidently. Cool. But could not give me a diagnosis. Well we'll call Pontiac and ask him what the stuff is. Obviously the only remedy here, you know the remedy, is to grind it all off and paint the car.

They want two grand. Forget it. Forget it, Jake. Let it just grow. Leave it there. Just keep washing it and maybe style a little? Yeah, I think so. Have you tried a cream rinse? I mean if you buy one of those electric shaver things you could come up with some interesting patterns up there. Oh you can carve your name in it. You could carve your name, you could send messages to the UFOs because they can see

that right down onto the roof, you could write out anything you wanted. You know like the teenage kids that have the cool haircuts with a stripe through the right or a stripe through the left. Well, their initials carved into the... those are right in the head. Those aren't in the hair. Those are carved right in the bone. Yeah. But I think that you ought to take this as an opportunity to make a statement. Yeah, get creative, man. Take it over to the high school. There you go.

That's it. They'll do it. Take it over to the auto shop. Excellent. See you, Jake. Thanks, guys. Alright, bye-bye. Bye-bye. Okay, look, it over to the auto shop. Excellent. See you, Jake. Thanks, guys. All right. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. Okay, look, it's time to take a short break. All right. When we come back, we'll have the answer to last week's preseason puzzle. You have your job, but you also have a life. And you're not just one thing. Neither is the Here and Now Anytime podcast. Every weekday, we break down the biggest story of the day

and something else, like a new trend everyone's talking about. It's Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR. These days, there's so much news. It can be hard to keep up with what it all means for you, your family, and your community. The Consider This podcast from NPR features our award-winning journalism. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a news story and provide the context and

analysis that helps you make sense of the news. We get behind the headlines. We get to the truth. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and the answer to another preseason puzzler. Here it is. You ready?

Yeah. Am I ready? Of course I'm ready. You don't remember. I don't remember what it was. No, I didn't think so Here it is. I'll do it quickly. Our producer Dougie Berman is walking home from work late one afternoon like 215 as he approaches This house he notices that there's a car parked out front with the engine running and in the driver's seat is a man Then he notices someone coming from the direction of his house carrying what looks like a huge pile of rags.

The guy opens the back door, throws the rags in the back seat, jumps into the car, and the driver puts the car into gear and they speed away. Got it? Yeah, yeah. Set the whole scene. You can just see it, right? Yeah. Dougie goes into the house, plays with the dogs, open the mail, takes a nap, and a few

days later he notices that all his clothes have been stolen. So he calls the police to make a report. The inspector comes down and Dougie's standing there in his underwear. It took how long did it take him to notice this? A couple of weeks? No, about five days, I think. Five days, during which time he wasn't at work. He couldn't go to work in his shorts.

No, he sleeps in his clothes and just goes right to work. Anyway, he explains what happened. The officer asks him if he noticed anything about the guys. And he says, no, they were average height, average weight, da da da da. And the inspector says, thanks a lot, pal, but what about the car? Dougie says, well, I happen to be a student of the automotive field and producer of NPR's Car Talk and et cetera. And I did notice that it was red, 89

Corolla, midnight blue, the engine was running. I noticed that it had mass plates and there was a dent in the trunk. The officer says, our people will get back to you. Weeks go by. Dougie, of course, doesn't come to work because he, what, now he has no clothes. He really can't come to work. The police finally call him and say they have the car and two suspects. He goes down to headquarters.

He looks at the two guys, but he doesn't recognize them because he doesn't pay attention to those kinds of things. And moreover, he was really looking at the back of their heads. But there's the car, the 89 Corolla, dent in the trunk, midnight blue. And he remembers there's one thing he forgot to tell the police about the car. He walks over to it, looks the car for just a an instant and he tells the police That's not the car These ain't the guys

Yeah, what's happening? What's going on here? What could he possibly have seen with a glance? Now you notice I stated the puzzler. He was behind the car, he saw the car pull away from him. Obviously he wouldn't have noticed the dent in the trunk. He wouldn't have noticed it had mass plates. But there was something that he did notice when the car pulled away, that he forgot to tell the police. And when he walked over to the car

to look at it at headquarters, he had to actually go and look inside the car. And when he did that, he noticed the car had a manual shift. Because what he had seen when they pulled away was the momentary flash of the reverse lights, as the shifter passed from park through reverse and neutral into drive. And with the engine running, if the guy had been sitting there in neutral, he merely would have shifted into first gear and taken off. Of course. If he were sitting there with the engine running, if the guy had been sitting there in neutral, he merely would have shifted into first gear and taken off.

Of course. If he were sitting there with the engine running in reverse, the reverse lights would have been on all the time. If the reverse lights didn't work, then he wouldn't have noticed them blinking. He could only have noticed them blinking if they were working and if the car were in park and that made, forced it to be an automatic, which it wasn't. Wow. Do we have a winner this week?

Wow, that is good. It just goes to show you how you have to be very careful before you accuse someone. Exactly right. Wow. Well, that was a moral in the story. I didn't mention that. Yes. But that was the moral of the story.

The moral is be careful. Be careful. Because those two guys laid a beaten-on dougie that he was not going to forget for such a long time. And yeah we do have a winner it's Florence De Lucia. I would say De Lucia. I would say but I think of course it's Lucia. Florence De Lucia from Campo California and for having her answer selected from among the thousands of correct answers that we got Florence will get her choice of t-shirts,

either the adult car talk t-shirt or the brand new kids car talk t-shirt. We have a kids t-shirt. Neither of which will fit her, unless she's a big mama, the adult shirt ain't gonna fit her because they only come in humongous and more humongous. And the kids shirt ain't gonna fit her

because it's for kids. All right. Just thought I'd mention that. But the kids t-shirtshirt which we have actually laid eyes on now is purple and yellow And it says car talk kid on the front and on the back It says help my parents make me listen to car talk so Florence Let us know which one you want and we will have our crack go for the fuzzy dice floor Oh By the way

We had calls from desperate parents and the Department of Child Welfare this past week. And not to worry, even if you don't win the puzzler, you can always get one of those kids' shirts through our shameless commerce division. They're only about 65 bucks, I think. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's cheap! Yeah. Yeah, I mean, instead of sending your kids to college, buy them a couple of t-shirts. We'll have a new puzzler brand new Puzzler coming up later in the today show. It's a non-automotive

Puzzler would this be a the season opener? Oh, no. No, no, this is way way too. It's still preseason preseason In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-888 car talk. That's 888 2278255. Hello. You're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Dana. I'm calling you from the country which produces your very, very favorite cars. France! England! Portugal!

Oui, bonjour! France! Where are you from in France, Dana? Oh, I'm...well, you can tell by my accent. I'm Canadian originally. Yeah, but what city are you in? Oh, here! Oh, in a town called Fontainebleau, which is just southeast of Paris. Oh, yeah, I've been there. Yeah but what city are you in? Oh here! Oh in a

town called Fontainebleau which is just southeast of Paris. Oh yeah I've been there. Oh that's in Miami Beach. The Fontainebleau Hotel! Anyway, what's up? This is one of those I'm calling for a friend who is too embarrassed to call you phone calls. You want the long sad story or the short sad story? Oh the longer the are sure that you know i'm not going to okay that was a boring stop from when he was born in all that was another child that uh... that would be a long word that uh...

that let's call him hans just to make sure that it will you know why the end of the times i shouldn't use his real name uh... he was that he's a an engineer by the way he was living in berlin when the Berlin wall came down in the fall of eighty nine and well you know that yuppie friend all went in the middle of the night and stole people of berlin wall and brought them home and put them in the front garden and acted like a germ good western than it's actually and this piece of the wall with in

his backyard until about manna two months ago and then he got accepted at the fact that the wall was in his front yard until about, I don't know, two months ago. And then he got accepted at this fancy business school in France, which will remain nameless and wanted to show off this piece of the wall here to impress people. And he borrowed his father's BMW to drive down here and they put all his stuff in it and put the piece of the wall in the trunk. And it's been there for eight weeks now because they can't figure out how to get it out of the trunk oh because it's too heavy yeah and they forklifted it in there but they can't get it out and he's been lying to his dad for about six weeks now about why he can't bring the car back let me get this right they used a forklift to get this into the trunk yes yeah and they can't well sure yeah I could understand that if you use a forklift you get this into the trunk. Yes. Yeah, and they can't... Well sure, yeah, I mean,

I could understand that if you use a forklift you're gonna get underneath the thing, but you can drop it into the trunk, but then you can't use the forklift to get it out. And this is one of those big seven series and it's new, it's like a year, not even a year old. So do we have any idea how much this thing weighs? This piece of rock? Is it igneous rock? No, no, but it's East German produced reinforced concrete. It's concrete. So it's denser than rock. And how big is it? Well, it basically fills the trunk with about, I mean you can get the trunk closed.

It's about, oh, maybe a foot and a bit thick and three foot and a bit long. Oh my. Oh,'s probably weighs a ton I Got it you I know you have it He can't get anything underneath it I mean be nice if you get a chain underneath it and then you can lift it out with an engine hoist even No, he's gonna have to remove the trunk lid right and the two rear fenders Slide it out. Just jack up the front and it will fall right out. How about that?

They're going to have to use buoyancy. They're going to have to fill the trunk. They'll float the concrete, is that it? You know what they're going to fill it with? Mercury. There you go, right? Is that it? You know what they're going to fill it with? Mercury. There you go, right? Buoyancy's good.

I like buoyancy. I like buoyancy. Mercury. You fill that truck with mercury and you blow that suspension. That hunk of rock will jump right out of it. It will. You'll have to watch out. You might land on your toes.

Well, no, and the paint job will look just like it did before you got the car, right? Well here's the solution. This is a good problem. Yeah? The solution is they're going to have to obviously remove the trunk lid. That is just unbolted. That comes right off. Okay. And they're going to have to then drill into the block.

They're going to have to do some accurate measurement because they don't want to drill through the four of the trunk. And into the gas tank. But they're going to have to drill far enough into the rock. And screw a hook into it. And put in a piece of rebar, a U-shaped piece of rebar that they're going to epoxy in place. Sure. And then they'll lift it right out.

And then they'll get it halfway out and the rebar will break. But that's his only chance. But I like the mercury idea. Yeah, floatation is good. Floatation is good. Any construction company will be able to help him with this problem. Yeah. Right.

They can just drill a couple of holes, put the rebar in there, a posse it. First of all, Hans is a German, and secondly, he's an engineer. Yeah. He cannot lower himself to go and ask for help. That's the real problem. Then the mercury is it. I mean, I came up with two brilliant ideas. Yeah.

No, I mean, once they take off the trunk lid, they will be able to get it out. Tell them to call a piano moving company and they'll have it out in half an hour. Oh. Yeah. Either that or he's going to buy a ton moving company and they'll have it out in half an hour. Oh yeah, either that or he's gonna buy a ton of suction cups. See ya Dana! Okay this might be a good one for Stun the Chow. Indeed. We'll try the mercury first. As they say in France, bon chance. Okay, merci beaucoup. Good luck. Let us know what happens, will you? Okay. Thanks a lot. Bye.

All right, it's time to take another short break. And when we come back, my brother will have a magnificent, brand new, unexpurgated puzzle. You really enjoy setting me up for failure, don't you? I love it. We're going to be back in a minute. I'm lost. We're gonna be back in a minute. I'm lost. We're gonna be back in a minute. It doesn't matter if you're a fan or not. We have to talk about season 7 of Love Island USA.

It's a huge indication to me of this kind of generation of people who don't know how to be open and vulnerable. I'm Brittany Luce, and on this episode of It's Been A Minute, I want to show you how reality TV is getting a little too real by revealing what it's really like to date today. Listen to the It's Been A Minute podcast today. Ha! We're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, click and clack the tapper, brothers, and we're here to discuss cars car repair

And the the new puzzler now because last week's puzzler was so lengthy. I mean, I'm into balance, you know, yeah That's is good. Balance is good. You know, I thought this week's puzzler should be brief And I got this from my son Andrew who was perusing one of these books at the bookstore You got this puzzler not the idea that something balance is good. No, no, I get any ideas like that I got the puzzler from him. Yeah, and he was perusing a book Well, you're at the bookstore a few weeks ago one of these books that tells you if you're suitable to become a Mensa member Yeah And we got this we've got this puzzler out of, he got this puzzler.

I mean, out of two questions, are you really smart and are you a real jerk? I qualify. So, yeah. I'm betting 500. There you go. Here was this puzzle, which I thought was good because it was good for the school kids. I mean this is a school kid puzzler I think. It's interesting if this puzzle were not in the Mensa book you'd get it.

That's the hint. Wow. Okay, I'm going to give you a series of numbers. Yeah, shall I write them down? Write them down. Get a pencil. Get the pencil. All right. Write them down. Get a pencil. Get the pencil. Alright. Two, nine, seven, nine, twelve. That

series of numbers represents the number seven. Just put somewhere equal seven. Equal seven. I'm going to give you another group of numbers. Yeah. Three, five, zero. That group of numbers equals 2. Oh. Okay. How would you write the number 10? That's the question. Now, if you think you know the answer... Wow!

Write it on the back of a $20 bill and send it to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge... Our fair city. ...MAT 02238, or you can do an electronic funds transfer and email your answer on a $20 bill to us from the Car Talk section of cars.com. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. My name is Denise Karloff. Hi, Denise. I'm from Lorraine, Ohio. Denise Karloff, like Boris My name is Denise Karloff. Hi, Denise. I'm from Lorraine, Ohio. Denise Karloff? Like Boris? As in Boris Karloff? Well, my friends believe that.

Yeah. Really? Wow. And where are you from? Lorraine, Ohio. Lorraine? It's about 30 miles west of Cleveland. Yes.

Lucky you. Lucky me. Cool. So what's up, Denise? west of cleveland yes lucky you lucky me uh... cool it's not something nice i have a nineteen seventy one maverick the the way it is better and only got twenty two thousand original miles on it

uh... okay okay on the car was shipped to me from from Florida it was my grandmother's first vehicle first yeah we last to well so but what the problem is um when I first start my car I'm and let's say I drive it three blocks and I shut it off

and then I go to restart the car again I have to lift up the hood and take a closed pin or ink pen whatever I can find and then try and get it started again. Yeah so? Okay. Not a problem huh? And does it start when you do that? Oh right up. It does start when I do that. So what's the problem? Well. You running out of paper's the uh... and have to do that with what i did is uh... we believe by new carburetor thinking that that's what something was wrong with the car break that's what what i think i thought that okay

but it was idling really poorly but i still have this problem even with a new carburetor to where when i shut it off after just a quick little drive the car won't start back up. Well, it will start back up, but you don't know how to do it, actually. Well, I just thought you'd put the key in and turn it. Well, yeah, that's good for modern cars, but older cars, you need to learn, you need to be one with an older car.

The car does not want to be driven three blocks, because during those three blocks there's not enough time for the choke to open. How long have you been driving it, knees well i got the car in december uh... have this problem in december i've had this problem since december you had this problem from a day one i knew that uh... and i'm assuming that when we got the new carburetor that uh...

release what they have said, that it's automatically, the choke is automatically adjusted, right? Yeah. I mean, okay. It has an automatic choke, i.e. it opens automatically. It has a thermostatic control. But it doesn't open fully unless the thing, if you drive it for 10 blocks and shut it off and then come back and try to restart it. Uh-huh. Very soon after that.

It probably hasn't had enough time for the choke to fully open, and that's why you have to open it manually. Can I drive with a clothespin in the car, just leave it in there? No, because then it won't start when you first get in it in the morning. Oh.

What you need to do to try to start it is to gently press your foot all the way down to the floor. Okay. Hold it there for 30 seconds. This is before you try to, before you turn the key to start it. Okay. You know, put the visor down, fix your makeup, do whatever you do, do whatever other women do when they're in their cars. When they're driving.

And then turn the key and start it and it will start. And it will start. I believe so. I think it will start too and it may run roughly for 20 seconds or so. It runs rough pretty much in general unless I'm in park. Now if I idling and drive, it feels like it's going to stall out and sometimes it does.

Well that's a separate problem. There's undoubtedly something wrong, your carburetor may be misadjusted, the points may not be set right. The timing could be off. You haven't taken this to like a professional. I can sense that. Wait, wait, no, they are professionals.

But he's gonna be at least 50. If he ain't 50. He's never seen a carburetor or a choke before. Or points or condenser. Well. And he might not know that the choke is even adjustable. Ask your mechanic to lean it out, check the dwell and the timing. And the timing, okay.

Yeah. And adjust the carburetor. And put a new air freshener in. A new air freshener? Yeah. That'll do a lot to improve your outlook. Okay. Good luck, Denise.

Okay. Thanks a bunch. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. good luck denise okay i think that i'm by by one eight eight eight car talk that eight eight eight two two seven eight two five five hello you're on car talk this is the case d period k period date thank you you got it right both people spell it the e

c a y okay but i i i never thought of that but i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i iin-law sold me. Oh by the way speaking of mother-in-law, do you know that mother-in-law's day is coming up? Oh no. Yes it's sometime in October. Maybe I'll give her her car back. And if you can get yourself onto our website, we have a brand new mother-in-law postcard that you can email to her. Oh, there you go. These will ingratiate you. This is so perfect. If you've had a problem with your mother-in-law, you know things aren't quite right I mean, she doesn't really like you. This is a very touching little postcard that you can email to her And we strongly urge. I'll have to do that everyone to do this Great, okay. I'm sorry to interrupt. Let me tell you what the problem is. Yeah. I have a 1984 Toyota Camry that I bought off of her

Yeah, it has about a hundred 165,000 miles on it. Fuel injection. And I think it's what about 2.2 liters or something. Sure. That's close enough. Yeah. Probably 2.1 now.

Yeah. What? 2.4? That guy I think is lower than my college GPA. I don't live in Olympia, I'm at a conference, but in San Luis Obispo where I live in California little bit of a carpet but it felt that the world where i live in california we have to melt

never go north i have to go over great which is about fifteen hundred feet and i can start toward that great so that i'd start to go up the hill the thing would absolutely cut out and start all dying yep dot i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i thought that i thought that the part of the product her my mother-in-law i waited back at the top of the stuff with that that

uh... that no no but it would be like that but a lot of other road yeah it would stop literally stopped at i would count to five started up and i tried to work with the whole fight

and this is exactly the reason that your mother-in-law that's right you know what she never told me oh have you discussed it with her well actually I did but she found out because her mechanic retired he said I need a new mechanic for her new Toyota yeah and I suggested mine and so she saw me then I would see my mechanic on another related item he says oh by the way did your mother-in-law ever tell you that she had this problem with she never told you he never you should definitely send her this post well the clincher was I thought okay as long as I'm on straight ground I'm fine you know yeah and I commute to the

college where I teach and and it's pretty flat I've been okay and then I'm coming home from work and it's a windy, I've been okay. And then I'm coming home from work and it's a windy day. I mean it's really windy and I'm pushing it in fifth gear and all of a sudden it does it. Now, I've replaced the inline fuel filter. Good start. You know, good start. Excellent.

I've done that a couple of times and it'll work for a while and then it keeps doing it. So we're wondering, fuel pump? I've even pointed it toward NECA, but that doesn't help either you know But once you once it stalls, and then you restart it it always it flies up the hill Yep, like nothing's wrong like nothing's wrong right well. It certainly could have been the filter It's unlikely after seven filter changes that the problem wouldn't have been solved that would have been one of our first guesses Yeah, I would have thought that you know and it's possible Or deductions. With 165k that the pump is weak. That would have been our second. But that would be wrong too. Yeah. I think what you have is a commonly known, a common condition

known as TCS, Toyota Camry Syndrome. No, no, you're going to at this but early Camry's like yours. Yeah. This is the first year. Had this problem whereby the valves would get stuck open because of excessive valve train carbon buildup. Oh really? Yes, it's EVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV EVTCB! LSMFT. Go ahead. And this mechanic ought to know about this. Well, maybe not. So how do you fix it? Well, one of the ways you fix it is with walnut shells. When they first discovered that they had this problem, one of the procedures, and I don't know if it was recommended for Camrys,

but it was for Tercels, I know, was to take the manifold off and blast it with this high-pressure air and actually walnut shells, which were a brilliant idea. but it was for tercelles, I know, was to take the manifold off and blast it with this high-pressure air and actually walnut shells, which were abrasive enough so that they would cut through all this build-up. And yet the pieces that were left behind would get combusted and come out the tailpipe. You're talking about the exhaust manifold. The exhaust manifold, yes. And while you take off both the exhaust and the intake manifold, yes. Well, you take off both the exhaust and the intake manifold. But you can do it with a non-invasive procedure now. Laser carbon cleaning. You can do it chemically. Oh, good. Well, I'm a chemist. That'll work.

In fact, if your mechanic has a snap-on tool, sells a thing called, what do they call that thing? Flusher thing. What's it called? Yeah, it's the Fac-O-Matic or something. It's called the Motor Vac. Oh, okay, Motor Vac. And if you can find the shop that has the Motor Vac, ask them to hook your car up to it, and this thing, not only will it solve this problem,

but this thing will run like a brand new car. Oh, really? After they put the engine in it. No, it should do the trick. Well, thanks a lot, guys. That's what you need, DK. Hey, you know, you guys are in it. No, it should do the trick. Well, thanks a lot, guys. That's what you need, DK. You know, you guys are in a university town, so I have to leave you with something. Yeah.

What's the difference between a terrorist and a tenured professor? A terrorist and a tenured professor. Ready? Of course. You can negotiate with a terrorist. Have a great day guys. See you later. Thanks a lot. Bye bye.

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