The Best of Car Talk - #2562: This is BAD!.. REAL BAD!

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

Poor Tommy! It’s tough enough trying to properly diagnose car problems over the phone without suddenly finding yourself sitting at the wrong end of a long limb that your brother is in the process of sawing through. Lookout below 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/cartalk Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This summer on Planet Money Summer School, we're learning about political economy. We're getting into the nitty gritty of what government does with things like trade, taxes, immigration, and healthcare. So politics and economics, which are taught separately, they shouldn't be separated at all. I think you have to understand one to really appreciate the other. So what is the right amount of government in our lives? Tune into Planet Money Summer School from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to Card Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tap It brothers and we're broadcasting this week from the Media Studies Department here

at Car Talk Plaza. And we have come to some startling conclusions. Scary. I mean, I think Paul Murky was involved in this research. No. He was not. No. Oh.

No. Marge Inovera? No. No. Well. Matt McColt. Actually, the report here is signed by someone named Murray Alex And he curiously he sent it to us by email So I guess he doesn't work in the office. No or in the lab, but here it is things you would never know if There weren't movies

Now this is interesting. I'm ready For example for example some of them are quite obvious I mean you would never know this the ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place no one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building and nobody will hear you i think i didn't know that from uh... sneakers sneakers and uh... was the other more recent movie mission impossible you're very likely to survive any battle in any war, unless you make the crucial mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.

There you go. You do that, kiss of death. Boom! Bullet right through your head. Next minute. Ha ha ha ha ha. Now here's one. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris. Ha ha ha ha. Did you know that? Anywhere you are in Paris, you can see the Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris. Did you know that?

Anywhere you are in Paris, you can see the Eiffel Tower. Well, you know why? Because it's not stationary. It moves. Let's see what else here. I like this one. If you're being chased through town, you can always take cover in a passing St. Patrick's Day parade any time of the year. And my personal favorite, should you wish to pass yourself

off as a German officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German accent will I will tell you what this is. I mean how many Frank Sinatra did that? As Lee Marvin so aptly demonstrated in the Dirty Dozen. See, I didn't know that. I thought you actually had to speak the language. No, no. They can recognize your German accent, huh? Right, you need to utter a few German phrases like, Das lief von der Örde, or stuff like that. If you know that that then you're all set. You throw that out and then you're all set. If you'd like to call us about your car the number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Chris. I live in the boonies of Northern Arizona. Chris. So it must be just CHRIS. Yeah Northern Arizona northern. Yeah, is that like right near the Canadian border? How north is it? You're right on the Utah border? No, it's about 50 miles from Flagstaff Flagstaff. Oh Yeah, good. So what's up Chris?? Oh, well, I have an 83 Chevy S10. Uh-huh. Yeah. When I accelerate hard, goes pop, pop, pop, pop, pop inside the engine. Yeah. Kind of like a backfire in the engine.

And it surges and it loses power, but when I push the pedal as hard as I can of the floor, it goes, and it starts going and it stops popping. Yeah. And this only happens when the engine is warmed up. Good. So if you accelerate, so you say medium hard, it does the pop pop pop. Yeah. And if you really floor it. If you really floor it. It doesn't do the pop pop pop or they do it for a second or two and then. And then it's gone. Yeah. Uh--huh. It's terrible on hills for acceleration. Yeah. You know, I've tried cleaning the carburetor out, put some fuel treatment in there.

But when it's cold, it does none of these things, it just goes perfectly. Yeah. And you can stomp on it when it's cold and it takes off. Right. Good. Oh, you could almost use one of your patented hands. No. It would be wrong. It would be wrong, but you could you could make a case for it

What's wrong with this this thing? It's a choke pull off. I have this thing has a two-barrel carburetor And when you step on the pedal in a normal fashion There's you try to accelerate without stomping the pedal to the floor fashion, that is, you try to accelerate without stomping the pedal to the floor. One of the barrels is primarily providing the gasoline. Okay. Except that it can't provide enough, and that's why you get the boom, boom, boom, the backfires through the carburetor. Okay.

When you've stomped on the pedal, you are kicking open the other barrel, and you are compensating for the inadequacy of barrel number one. Okay. So, the fact that you've tried cleaning the carburetor tells me you're on the right track, but it may need professional help. Oh, no. Yeah. It well may.

Yeah. I suspect that your jets are plugged up in this thing, and that's why if you're driving around town and don't put much of a demand on the thing, it's okay. But if you drive at high speed... Here we are, we're sitting in this little radio studio in some little town here in northern Massachusetts and we have headphones on and our esteemed producer can actually talk to us. Okay. And he helps us with all these questions. He knows everything about cars and here's what he just suggested. Ah, take off the carburetor put it in the dishwasher

No, in fact you're the shop that you that you take your car to, wherever that may be, will have such a dishwasher for carburetors, perhaps. No, they'll have a parts bath. They'll disassemble the thing and soak the carburetor in this very carcinogenic stuff. I guess I've sprayed enough caustic chemicals. A couple other ones can't hurt. See, spraying the carburetor is not going to help because the dirt is in the inside of the carburetor So spraying the outside of the carburetor so to speak i.e. The parts you can see

And what happens is when you spray the stuff in it just gets sucked straight down into the engine And all the places that need to be cleaned are in the other direction Okay, so it's I think gonna help if you're my help is you might want to throw some junk into the gas tank You can go to your local auto supply store, and they have a whole shelf of these miracle cures. Uh-huh. I'd buy one of each Yeah, and it's not the end of the world because I mean this this is drivable. It's been doing this for months I'll bet but I would try the gas tank treatment first that may work Okay, and if it doesn't it doesn't't seem helping that much but I should do it again yeah oh yeah because that's the only thing that might help short of taking the carburetor apart and that's

gonna cost a lot of money yeah you're not gonna what you don't have because if you had any money you wouldn't be driving this guy yeah but Troy if one can is good put two in if it says you had one can put two okay what the hell good luck Chris thank you good luck Chris on 888 car talk That's 888 227 8255. Hello. You're on car talk. Hi guys It's Jim Davis calling up from the car talk chemical labs Jim This is professor Jim Davis from the world's greatest WGU

Well, I hear you have another question about radiator fluids. Could you bring me up to date? The world's greatest university. WGU. WGU. Not GW. Well, I hear you have another question about radiator fluids. Could you bring me up to date? Up to speed, so to speak? Yes. I wish I could remember what it was. We received a phone call from some guy who was traveling in some forsaken place in Utah, Canyonlands, around Moab, and the vehicle began to overheat, and at the

direction of his, I believe, girlfriend, he was required to relieve himself into the radiator to make up for some liquid lost for some reason we don't know. And he wanted to know what effect might this have on his cooling system which is obviously consists of cast iron aluminum and perhaps even copper and rubber hose rubber hose and ethylene glycol antifreeze and we knew Jim that you'd be up to it oh well I assume knowing you guys that you told him to flush the radiator yes well he suggested that he said don't tell me to flush the radiator so he beat us to it on that one yeah okay well anyhow uh... i guess it's better than nothing but you should be aware he should be aware that uh...

assault the water is more corrosive either than tap water or distilled water salty if this is an emergency fix on the road i guess as i say it's better than nothing but he ought to flush the radiator seriously how about and put a fresh supply of uh... of coolant uh... in their now how much salt is in there the average uh... the average uh... what you call it really releases good rights it's certainly uh... a percent or so i haven't actually figured it out it it can vary... a percent or so i haven't actually figured it out it

it can vary considerably depending on how hot it is how much he's been sweating uh... yeah in other words also i'm sure it is a pretty constant if you can't believe it was rather hot yeah which means he had been perspiring a lot and therefore uh... the stuff inside would have been concentrated here well i would also we have in there? Well, mostly sodium chloride, but there also are other salts.

And of course there's uric acid, I never thought of that. There's a certain amount of that in there. But it's really the saltiness of it that's the only real concern. That and maybe a little bit of smell too that would be a factor. And the saltiness would be a problem because it would ionized and therefore set up a little electoral you know salt water is a conductor electricity and corrosion is an electrochemical process which is

hastened by its saltiness that's why things corrode more in seawater than in the river water exactly that's why you should we should take the fleet out of the atlantic to prevent the corrosion well there's another point that occurred to me that's probably worth mentioning and that is the if uh... any of your listeners or you guys yourselves find yourself in this situation i think it's very important to uh... uh... go into our can or bottle first and then pour it into the radio yes

uh... how the line is uh... stream of salty water is an excellent conductor of electricity and should the stream accidentally be misdirected over to the battery case you could get quite a jolt from uh...! I don't need to go any further! No need to go a step further! Oh my God! I think your guy should clean the radiator out as soon as he gets the chance. Well Jim, thank you as always...

Dr. Jim, my... ...for your very capable analysis of a complex social problem. You are most welcome. What are you doing? You're not consulting to us have do we pay you enough that it doesn't matter? You certainly do I am certainly worth what you pay me. We've always felt that way Jim. Okay thanks a lot for calling. Okay bye. Okay quick what was last week's puzzler? I know I know it it was about a haircut in horse town. Right decade, but that's not it.

It was about a troublesome Cadillac in Minnesota. All right, I got no idea what you're talking about. Have we ever met before? No. There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show here and now anytime every weekday on our podcast

We talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience video games We even talk about dumpster diving on this show check out here and now anytime a daily podcast from NPR and WB you are from NPR and WBUR. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tablet Brothers and here to talk about cars, car repair, and the answer to last week's puzzler. Here it is. Yeah.

You don't remember it. I don't remember it at all. This was supplied by a listener named Shelly Payne, and I quote more or less with the necessary obfuscations, whatever. Several years ago, my father-in-law who lives in Minnesota had trouble with his late model Cadillac DeVille. His battery kept dying every

couple of days. He'd get it jump-started and it would run fine for a few days, but then die again. He took it to the dealership and they did this quick little day, your batteries are alright, your alternators are alright, they sent them away. They couldn't sell them a car. So they gave up. What do they care for no? What one morning? Last winter after there had been several inches of snow. Remember, this is Minnesota Sure was winter. No, maybe was July

He went out and sure enough the battery was dead So he jumped started the car and went into town to get a cup of coffee at the local drug store where he used to hang out. Now being that he lives in the small town, he parked right in front of the drug store. He was in a crummy mood and while drinking his cup of coffee, he complained to the pharmacist about how his car was driving him cuckoo. The pharmacist asked, is that your car right out there? Yes, it is, he said. The pharmacist said, I know why your car right out there yes it is he said the pharmacist

said I know why your car is dying what did the pharmacist see now you gotta remember all the facts just go back and go back over and revisit late model Cadillac for a few days uh-huh it was winter the dealership didn't find anything wrong because snow is the key there't find... snow is the key. There you go. The snow is the key. The snow is the key. Minnesota. Snow. Minnesota. Snow. Pharmacist. The drug is... Grouchy. Looks... ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha his rear window defogger. So close, but yet so far.

No. What the pharmacist noticed is that there was snow on the roof of the car. He had just started it and driven over there. Yeah. There was probably even snow on the hood, but there was no snow on the trunk because the trunk light was staying on

and that bulb, believe it or not, was generating enough heat to keep the snow from accu... Pfft. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. not was generating enough heat to keep the snow from a cube. She's a nice woman. Can we play the tape of last week's show when he said, wow, what a puzzler. Now what did you think it was going to be? Martians? But you know all the facts.

What did you think the answer was going to be? Give me a better answer than this one. No, actually it's not bad. It's not. It's really not that bad. It's not that bad because it would mean that the light had been on for days and that's why that trunk would have been really hot in there. Sure, I think it's fine I'll go with it it is it is rather yeah no disconcerting to get such a vote of confidence one no no I don't see I take it back I take back the Bronx cheer I think it's a great puzzler no you don't No, not really. No. Anyway. But we do have a winner. Oh yeah. The winner is Nathaniel Klum.

Klum? That's K-L-U-M-B, Nat, from Red Stick, Louisiana. You know what that is? Yeah, Baton Rouge. C-C, Oui Oui, and for having the correct- No, Oui Oui, that's what the guy did in the ring. That was the last call. And for having his correct answer chosen at random this week, Nate, we get this. Now this is

a new prize because you may recall that we made a big stink about the fact that one week someone wins a stupid little license plate thing that costs 28 cents and the next week someone wins something elaborate. So here's the deal. Like part ownership and planet Hollywood or something. Exactly. But now Nate will be the first one to receive a $25 gift certificate to the Car Talk Shameless Commerce Division. This is new. Instead of us foisting on you some lousy Car Talk gift that you didn't want in the first place, Nate can call the Shameless Commerce Division or visit it on the web and pick out 25 bucks worth of stuff that he does want.

Wow. He can get one of our CDs, he can get our brand new book, A Haircut in Horsetown, another great car talk part was he can even get this brand new faces made for radio, the car talk video. Wow, the video made at our 10th anniversary which we did after 11 years featuring all the brothers Tappet brothers That's us the smothers brothers. That's not us the Karamatsvav brothers. They're crazy. Dr. Joyce brothers She's crazy. You can get you can get any of those things and have money left over. Does he get change? No, no change no change. No, so he buys whatever he gets if it doesn't come to exactly 25 bucks It's the rest. Oh, also i see what we're trying to

do is get to buy that other thing they don't make it twenty eight by a little send us three right now i see okay well nate you're the first suck i am a first recipient of this great price nathaniel clumb from back to lose louisiana go to the shameless commerce division and shop your little heart out buddy anyway one of the new puzzle coming up in the second or third half of car talk today I don't know if you want to call us the numbers 1 8 8 8 car talk. That's 8 8 8 8

2-7 8 2 5 5 hello you're on car talk hey guys my name is Danusha from Crestone, Colorado Danusha, Danush I know Dinesh, but I don't know Dhanush. You know Dhanush D-I-N? It's D-A-N-U-S-H. Danush! Danush! From whence does Danush come? Danush comes from, it's actually Polish for Daniel.

No kidding! Yeah, yeah. Of course, we should have known that, Danush. My dad actually grew up in a little Polish neighborhood outside of Detroit. Like Stasiu? Like Stasu, yes. Right, you're not really Polish, you just have a Polish name. I have a Polish name.

I know about three words in Polish and that's about it. One of them is Danusz. How about Nastrowia? I know that one. Nastrowia, yes. Yeah, I know that one. You use that one a lot. Okay, don't step in the Nastrowia.

My father-in-law teaches me most words like and say on the air haha uh... so where you from denouche i'm not i'm actually living in a little time in colorado right now uh... called creston chris i'm not from what's called massachusetts actually with phone keep got no kidding yeah and what brought you to crestal

well i am his whale research Construction I've been building an alternative house like passive solar and it's made out of straw bales Have you guys ever heard of that? It's been a straw bales Alternative house was like an 81 Chevy Chevy. That's the alternative house I've usually lived in. That's an alternative septic tank out here. That's interesting. Hey Bales, I mean this is like a retro house. Yes. You're going back like a couple of hundred years. Interesting. Trying to live like the pioneers did in Colorado. Good. So are you finished with your construction or you just begun it? I'm actually just about to wrap it up good for you man

yeah so that's all about don't smoke uh... uh... uh... don't cook uh... open-air romantic candlelight dinner uh... anyway what is that what did you call us what's up i call it because the car actually i do have a car problem i have a nineteen eighty four-wheel drive Subaru wagon. Yeah, and my friend's ex-girlfriend was moving out of Aspen, Colorado and

She had this car and she didn't want it anymore. So she gave me this thing So I drove it back and it seemed fine But the clutch was a little funny So my friend and I and my girlfriend the little funny so my friend and i and my girlfriend drove out to california with it and we drove to san francisco that finished what just took to fix the clutch about them breaking it in with the way

picket break out in a twenty-year-old car but we drove to san francisco and we realize on the way out there that when that when the car heated up the clutch would start slipping but if we let it cool overnight or cool for a little while the clutch would catch fine and be absolutely like brand new hmm and you made it back from San Francisco to Preston Colorado yeah I didn't have to push it that much. Does the clutch pedal feel any differently when it's beginning to slip? I much. Does the clutch pedal feel any differently when it's beginning to slip?

Aside from the fact that it- I'm working on that too, but I don't like it. I haven't noticed any difference, to tell you the truth, there might be, but I haven't noticed any difference. We're both independently working on hydraulics. Oh, not I. Oh, you're not working on hydraulics.

No, this car, I believe, has a cable clutch. Oh Oh okay. This vehicle has a cable clutch. In which case I can now say since I knew that I had no idea what's causing this that's true, I suppose how about this? Go ahead. I'm open to anything because I have what? No, no clue The cable is all frayed and chewed up and it's ready to break any minute So it's bogus. Wait a minute. Don't forget they drove it to California. I understand So it's hanging on by several threads, but it's not broken yet. However, as we know, as things heat up, what? They expand. So the cable gets longer.

Oh, this is bad. This is real bad. This is bad. The cable gets longer and it starts to sneak into the passenger compartment and wrap itself around his leg. Well I think we have to attack the original premise, which is that the clutch is slipping. How do you know it's slipping? Well because when it first goes, I put it in first gear and it starts rolling and

it's fine and it goes and then 15, 20 minutes later I put it into gear and it goes, and the car doesn't go anywhere. Well, one of the things that can keep a clutch from slipping during the first few minutes of operation is moisture on the clutch. Because it'll actually act as a, a just like your brakes grab one. Yeah Yeah, this can happen to if there's a little moisture on the clutch. So have you noticed any? Difference on wet days. There is no difference. I didn't think so Well, the only other thing that comes to mind is that the release bearing is binding on the collar

This sounds better. It does and always throw out words that the collar doesn't understand and it'll get rid of them. Binding on the collar. So that the clutch, when it heats up, is not releasing. And it's tantamount to your riding the clutch. Okay. Which would be the same as the cable wrapping around your leg.

Stretching. It would be the same. Okay. No, that cable is the same. Yeah. But I think what you need, the solution here, is to put a new clutch in. Just put a new clutch in? New clutch, yeah.

Okay. I mean, you could verify this. Because when it starts to slip, Uh-huh. if you could get someone to look at the release bearing, which might be visible. Well, you might be able to just yank up on the pedal and get it to not slip. Try that! Okay, I haven't tried that yet. Well you don't have to reach way down there just grab, reach down and grab that cable that's wrapped around your ankle and pull on it. While I'm driving or while I'm driving?

While you're driving. Tie a rope around the clutch pedal so you can yank on the thing. But the solution I believe is a new release bearing but if you're going to do that you might as well put a new clutch in because you've done all the same labor. Okay. Good luck Danouche. Thanks a lot. It's been a pleasure. Say your patients comrades. All right it's time to take another short break. And that means you're going to go back into the green room and you're going to put the finishing touches on this week's puzzle You just to make sure that it's absolutely perfect. Sure rub it in. That's all right We'll be back in a minute Ha we're back and listen to car talk with us, Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers, and

we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new puzzler. Now I have several potential new puzzlers. Oh, and you haven't actually decided yet? PNPs. You're gonna do it right here live on National Public Radio. You're gonna take out the two or three that are in contention, so to speak, and you're gonna just decide right now. And what are we supposed to do in the meantime? We're supposed to just sit here and stick our fingers in our ears? Yeah, like you usually do. Well, I tried a couple on the staff. They didn't get any of them, so I'm gonna try this one, which I didn't try in them. Because I like this one the best. This is a non-automotive puzzler.

This was sent from someplace on Alpha Centauri by Dave Ethnoyer. Oh, here it is. A farmer had a 40-pound stone, which he could use to weigh 40 pounds of feed. He would sell feed in 40-pound or bales of hay or whatever. So he had a balance scale. He put the stone on one side and he piled the other side with feed or hay when it balanced. Boom, that's it. Another one of these.

Well, this is interesting. Yeah, okay. I like it already. Don't start with the liking it. I don't want to hear you like it. I'm sick of that. I want to build up your hopes. But I do like it so far. And neighbor borrows back that it's a stone and Exactly 40 pounds. I find that it will eat the chip off Brook stone it is a Brook stone. I like a 40 pound stone Well, you buy it from book right you deliver you go into the book you pick out a stone

I just want to tick off the UPS guy can I continue? It's bad enough to you to feel to this extent did I interrupt? then you screw up the puzzle you're at the field with the very nature of it and then you have the audacity the next week I know this is serious the puzz, you're at the field with the very nature of it, and then you have the audacity the next week. I know, this is serious. The puzzler is the only serious part of the show. Okay. A neighbor borrows the stone, but he had to apologize when he returned it broken into four pieces.

Oh. The farmer who owned the stone later told the neighbor that he actually had done him a favor. Yeah. The pieces of the broken stone could now be used to weigh any item, assuming those items were in one pound increments, from one pound to forty. Forty one! How about that? That would be a puzzle!

That would be good! What were the weights of the four individual stones? Okay, so if you want to weigh one pound six pounds eleven pounds twenty two pounds thirty nine pounds How would you use the stones the thing you're weighing and the balance beam and? How would you write remember that and here's the hint. How would you weigh two pounds? That's, that's the question. I could give a further hint. Don't know. That's.

That is great. Yeah. Till next week. Next week it'll be in the dog house. If you think you know the answer, right on the back of a, I need these $20 bills Right on the back of a $20 bill and send it to puzzler tower car talk Plaza box 3500 Harvard Square Cambridge our fair city Matt zero two two three eight or you can do an electronic funds transfer and

Email us your answer on a $20 bill By visiting the car talk session.com. If you'd like to call us, our number is 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on CarTalk. Hi, this is Susan from Columbia, South Carolina. Hi, Susan, you sound desperate. I'm really desperate. I've got a relationship problem that's turning me into a terrible nag. Really?

Yeah. Really? Yeah. Maybe that's why you have a relationship problem. No, no, no. It's not my fault. I promise. Oh, okay. Okay, well let you know. I have a lazy shifter boyfriend. Lazy shifter. Oh, I know them well.

Uh-huh. And what he likes to do is he's driving my new car and first of all, he shifts pretty early and he shifts directly from third gear in the fifth gear and then he leaves it in fifth gear regardless so he'll bring it down to maybe 20 or 25 miles an hour in fifth gear and I'm afraid he's killing my car well we need to know what kind of a card is because it might not be worth fretting about. It's a 99 Miata. I'll throw the bum out!

But I don't want to do that. I mean, if you had said it was like, you know, like... Yeah, a Hyundai Accent or something. We would have said, oh... A Sportage or something. We'd say, fine, who cares? Yeah. What's the difference? I mean, he's a little bit trainable. He used to ride my clutch and I've gotten him to stop doing that.

Yes, that shiftless boyfriend of yours is in fact doing damage to your car. Is he? What's he doing? Well, he's lugging the engine, number one. When he's down to 20 miles an hour in fifth gear and he's trying to accelerate, that's bad when he's trying to accelerate from 20 to bring it back up to 40 or 50, because it overheats engine it's bad for it going into fifth at 40 or 45 miles an hour is not bad even if it's straight from third sure yeah I mean that's that's because there's nothing that says you got to follow these these gears

numerically okay so the only thing that you have to correct I think if you try to correct too much stuff mm-hmm you're apt to run into a problem that's why I say throw the bum out. Well, I would say that- No, he's been trying. He's really been trying. Because when he's thinking about it, he actually doesn't do it. But when he gets distracted, like the other day, he shifted into fifth at 25 miles an

hour. Yeah. Yeah. I would say try to break him off one bad habit at a time and make sure he doesn't bring it down to 20 miles an hour and try to accelerate. Okay, so I don't think you can just ignore it when he switches from third to fifth at 40. But then when he gets below 40, I should suggest that he downshift. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, don't forget that the danger here is trying to accelerate

in fifth gear at 20. Right. So what he should do, even if he's in fifth, he should step in the clutch and put it in, say, third and from 20 miles an hour takeoff in third gear But it sounds to me like there are lots of situations where he never should have gotten out of third in the first place He has he has some kind of compulsion that is making him think he's got to get to fifth gear Like he has accomplished something and if you're going on a trip if you don't get to fifth gear You will never get to where you're going

You're gonna explain to him that you can ride around all day in third gear in fact I happen to be driving a Miata today are you yeah as we speak and I mean I for the last couple of days I've been driving it and I many times don't get out of third gear because I'm driving around town. You can do a lot in third. Sure, I mean third is fine. So tell him not to think about fifth at all. Okay, actually you know I've gotten to the point where whenever he's shifting out of third I just move my knee out of the way because I assume he's going to put it into fifth. Well don't move your knee.

Okay. Yeah. There you go. Got it. See you Susan. Okay, thanks a lot guys. Take care of that car. I sure will, I love it. Yeah.

Well, it's happened again. You've evaporated another perfectly good 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, Two Car Garages. Our assistant producer is Catherine Imelda Ray-Marcos, and our engineer is Dennis Domeniz-Folie. Our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor, still on the fall Grand National Pro-Am free lunch tour, is Mr. John Bugsy Lawler. Car Talks poet laureate is Robert DeFrost.

Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is Euripides Uppman, who is not related to our tailor, Euripides Umenides. Or to our staff bouncer, Eipperdies. I break your face Peekaboo Street directs our intensive care unit Which is now known as the peekaboo ICU and our Leo Tolstoy biographer is Warren Peace Author of Leo Tolstoy by Warren Peace our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Cheatham and Howes you Louis Dewey Known to the dogs in Harvard Square as Huey the Hydrant. Thanks so much for listening We're click and clack the tappert brothers. Donack the Tapper Brothers. Don't drive like my brother. Don't drive like my brother.

We'll be back next week. Bye bye. And now here is Car Talk Plaza's very own self-improvement guru, Mr. Vinnie Gumbatz. Hey, now if you wanna improve and be a little less pathetic, pick up a copy of this week's Car Talk program, which is number 44. You can get one through our Shameless Commerce Division us puzzle a book, the new Car Talk video, or Car Talk gift certificates. You can also call our shameless commerce division at 1-888-CAR-JUNK or you can visit us online

at the Car Talk section of cars.com. All right, thank you Vinnie. I certainly feel improved now. Well, talk about upside. Car Talk is a production of Dewey, Cheetah, and Howe, and WBUR in Boston. And even though Neil Conan has to slug some Pepto Bismol every time he hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.