The Best of Car Talk - #2566: Sparks-a-Flying

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

When Peter applies the brakes on his Honda while driving at night sparks shoot out from under the dash and the car loses power. And we always thought Hondas were kind of boring! Hear the sparks fly on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right. Learn more at RWJF.org. Hello and welcome to Carat Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Center for Aphoristic Studies here. Aphoristic. You made up that word.

Not such word as aphoristic. Aphorismatic? Aphorismatic. Aphorismatic, that's it. Well, aphorisms, maxims, adages, proverbs, whatever you call them. They're kind of weird things, aren't you? I mean, how many people do you know who have ever counted chickens? I never did.

I know Doug Mayer counts sheep. No, we won't discuss that. Anyway, a few weeks ago, a fourth grade teacher wrote to Anne Landers. Everyone knows who Ann Landers is. Yeah, she writes an automotive column. Yeah, the one that gives the right answers. Any, maybe you saw this. She gave her students the first part of a proverb

and asked them to complete it logically. Right. Every year, she says, I give my fourth grade class the beginnings of well-known proverbs and ask them to complete the sayings. I thought your readers might enjoy it. Mrs. Leslie Vic from Westlake Village, California. So here's what she, here's the beginning that she gave them, and here's what they answered. It is always darkest, and the kid wrote, before you flunk a test.

If at first you don't succeed, live with it. I like this one. Better late, and the kid writes, than absent. That was always my philosophy. A bird in the hand. Now this is a kid with... This is a fourth grader. Fourth grader.

This is a kid of the imagination. A bird in the hand, and the kid writes, is better than a woodpecker on your head. Haste makes sweat. There you go. The fourth grader. We should try this ourselves. Well, I would like our listeners.

You never come up with something better than a bird in the hand is better than a woodpecker on your head. Maybe. But maybe our listeners can improve upon existing aphorisms, Like, for example, don't count your boat payment until the customer's check is clear. If you can, we'd love to see them. We'll post them on our website. Just write to us at Department of Aphorismatic Studies.

Aphorism... Yeah, whatever. We'll figure out. Aphorismatic Studies, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City. Matt 02238. Or you can email us your suggestions from the Car Talk section of Cars.com. Now, if you want to talk to us about your car right now, call 1-888-8-8-8-8-2-7-8-25-5.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. I'm Angela from Oak Park. Angela. Illinois. Yeah, we know where Oak Park is. Hi, Angela. We hang out in Illinois, you know, we're not doing anything else. Oh, yeah?

Yeah. It's a good place to hang out. Oh, yeah. So what's up, Angela? Well, let me tell you. I have a 94 Honda Accord. I purchased it new. I only, there were only like 248 miles on it when I got the car.

And I took it in for its 52,000 mile checkup the other week. And I got a bill for a thousand bucks. Well, I get estimates for $1,000. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. Okay. They didn't do it. They didn't do it.

They said, this is what it needs. Exactly. They say I need front brakes, which I can agree with because I've never had the breaks they did they use that little nautical stationary when they said you the no it was this really ugly like blue paper oh yeah so front brakes i get that i don't believe that i'm with it um i need new tires okay believe that too yeah then they said i need cv boots and oh winter's coming you gotta get ready for the boots

i had like they had to explain to me what they were and they did They did. I trust. And they did. Okay. And that was a biggie. That was like over, you know, $500 to get done. Shouldn't be. $500 for boots? Well, it was like the estimate was like $450 or something. Maybe CV joints. Yeah, that's it. C.C. Joint. Ah, all right. Okay. That's it. That's better.

But here's the thing. My car sounds really loud. It's almost like my muffler is. Well, it probably is. When you're in motion, it sounds loud? Yeah, when I'm in motion and when I'm resting. How about if you're sitting at a traffic light? When I'm sitting at traffic, I can hear it. I can hear the engine. Well, they missed it then.

You probably do need a muffler. But I got it. I had a muffler like a year and a half ago, and then I had a bee pipe replaced. That was expensive. Yeah. So I'm like, why does my car sound so loud and why am I getting me to spend $1,000,

and my car still going to be loud? It sounds like you're beating this car right into the ground, I mean, at 52,000 miles, this car shouldn't need anything, except... It should need the brakes, and it should need the tires. Right. It shouldn't need the CV joints. That's bogus. Oh.

Do you hear any noises when you make turns? You hear cracking kinds of noises when you make turns? No, I don't hear any cracking noises. Then don't do the CV joints. So scratch that. You're down to 500 bucks. Okay, well, that's good. And the 500 bucks, you really need brakes and tires.

I mean, after all. Right, no, I agree with that. 52,000 miles is about right. If the engine sounds loud, you may have another exhaust leak. It may be that the A pipe is leaking. Oh, there's an A pipe? Oh, yeah. There's a C pipe.

Oh. And there's a gas pipe. You're taking the pipe. The A pipe is the one that's closest to the engine. Oh. Okay, and that has a flexible joint in it, and that's expensive. If you thought the B pipe is expensive, you ain't seen nothing yet. So the A pipe is even more expensive, and it could be that that's leaking, although it's early for that to leak.

Usually that pipe lasts 90,000 miles. miles. Wow. So it's unusual for that to be leaking. I think rather you need a valve adjustment. A valve adjustment. If you can hear the engine running at idle, it sounds like a little sewing machine running maybe. Yeah. Then I think you need a valve adjustment. Oh. And it's time for that. Okay. So by the tires, have them fix the brakes. Right. And tell them you'd like them to look at the valves to see if they're misadjusted. Okay. And check the rest of the exhaust system too. Oh, okay. All right? All right. See, Angela.

Thanks. Bye, bye. Bye, bye. Thanks for calling. Thanks. Bye. 1-888-car talk or 1-88-227-8-255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Hi, guys. My name is Doug from New York. How you doing, Doug? Okay, good. I got a 94 land cruiser. Good. Okay, on top of the rocker arm assembly, the valve covers, there's a plate. There are two screws on each end of that plate.

They're aluminum. And I try to take one off the other day. because I do the work on my car myself, and the head started a strip. Yeah. So I got a bigger Philip screwdriver, and that started a strip, and I figured, uh-oh,

before I do anything, let me call car talk, I see what's going on. How can you guys give me some suggestions? Let's see. Do you have duct tape? Do I have duct tape? Can you get duct tape?

Well, it may be too late now. Yeah, that's always the problem. If you go too far, but it maybe isn't. Okay. There is a very clever tool called an impact screwdriver. Okay. And what it is, it's a very hefty screwdriver that has a mechanism inside that allows you to

change a hammer blow into rotation of the blade. Okay. So you get the thing, you put this thing on the screw just as if you were going to unscrew it. But instead of turning the handle, you hold it and you whack the end with a hand. hammer, and it imparts a very sharp impulse, which, as you know, multiplies the force many times. Right, right, right. And we'll sometimes crack loose that screw or strip the head right off.

So it would just do faster. Would it took you a half an hour to do? Do it in seconds. Maybe even less than a second. I tried that with a distributor one time. I cracked my whole distributor. Yeah, you have to be a little judicious with the blow, and it does take a lot of experience to know how hard to hit something.

Right, right, right. And also penetrating oil helps considerably. Uh-huh, yeah. What's wrong is that that screw is a steel screw screwed into aluminum. Mm-hmm. And whenever you have that situation, if the screw is not coated, then you always get that peculiar corrosion that prevents the removal of it. Right.

It kind of locks in there. Right. At this point, now that you've destroyed, you can try one of these impact drivers. Okay. And that may work, even though the Phillipsness of it is all screwed up. Yeah, right, right. But you try penetrating oil, try the impact driver, and if that does, if neither one of those things work, then you have to drill the thing out. Try them both together.

Put the penetrating oil in there first. Let it sit there for 10 or 15 minutes, then put the impact screwdriver on it. Give it a good whack and pray. Good. All right. We'll give it a shot, guys. Good luck, Dougie. Call us next week and we'll tell you what drill bits to buy.

Thanks, guys. All right, man. See you later. I love your show, guys. Thanks for calling. Goodbye. Okay, we're going to try a little word association to get you to remember last week's puzzle. You ready?

Yeah, I'm ready. Toyota Land Cruiser. Big, vitreous China. Cups. Richard Simmons. Wackle. Okay, so we have big cups, wacko. There you go.

Well, I just made those up. They don't have anything to do it last week's puzzle. It was about Fairmont's last theorem. I'll have the answer in just a minute. Hey, it's Robin Hilton from NPR Music with some big news for everyone who loves the Tiny Desk. We're giving away a trip to D.C. to see a Tiny Desk concert in person, hotel and flights included. Learn more and enter for free at NPR.org slash Tiny Desk giveaway. No purchase or donation required for entry must be 18 years or older to enter.

Links to the entry page and official rules can be found at npr.org slash Tiny Desk giveaway. Support for NPR and the following message. comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right. Learn more at RWJF.org. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us,

click and clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and the answer to last week's puzzler, and here it is. Almost everyone remembers from his or her days in school, the Pythagorean theorem, A square plus B squared equals C square,

where A and B are the sides of a right triangle and C is the hypotenuse or hypotenuse. And we all know there are certain numbers that work for this formula like 3, 4, and 5, 12, and 13, 1, 1,1, squared, 2, da, da, da, da.

Now, many hundreds of years ago, a French mathematician by the name of Fermat declared that this formula only works for squares. You're square? It works. If you take the integers A, B, and C, and you take them to the third, fourth, fifth power, or whatever. It doesn't work.

For example, there are no integers for which A-cube plus B-cube equals C-cube, he says. He writes this in a paper and says, by the way, I have a neat little proof, but I didn't have room to write it in the margin. But trust me. And that's why that theorem is now known as Fermat's last practical joke. Anyway, as luck would have it, a young mathematician issues a statement that Fermat is wrong, and he has the numbers to prove it. He calls a press conference.

He says, I have three numbers that prove Fermat is wrong, and I'll give you the numbers first, and then I'll give you the powers. He wants to build the drama, you know, next week. The numbers, he says, are 91 is A, B is 56, and C is 121. And he's claiming that at some power, A to the end plus B to the end

is going to equal C to the end. There you go. Got it. Okay. Yeah. It just so happens that at this press conference, there are some science reporters, and one of the reporters has his 10-year-old kid with him. And the kid very sheepishly raises his hand and stands up and says, I hate to disagree with you, sir. But you are wrong.

The question is, how did the kid know that this mathematician couldn't dispute Fermat with these three numbers? Well, the numbers were 91, 56, and 121. Well, you know, as I was driving home last week, yes, the answer came to me in a flash, in a flash. Are you 10? And I'm more than 10. I'm 10 to a power. Yes, you are.

I'm 10 to the end. Well, yeah, I was almost everyone's 10 to some power. Well, I mean, what occurred to me was C is 121, no matter what you do to that, any power. Right, yeah? And then a 1. There you go. And no matter what you do to...

And there's nothing you do to the other ones, you can't make them come out to add up to one. There you go. You can't do it. And that's exactly what the kid saw. He said, 91 to the nth power is going to end in one. That's going to end in a one also. 56th to the nth power is going to end in six.

Sure. And six plus one is going to equal seven. Not one. The one's digit is going to be a seven. So the one's digit of the 121 to the end. power has got to be seven and it can't be. It can't be. Who's our word of this week? The winner

is Mrs. Donna Marie Markey. Wow, she gave us a whole name like that. Donna Marie Markey from Albany, New York and for having her correct answer chosen at random this week, Donna Marie, Donna Marie, Donna Marie, Donna Marie Markey from Albany, New York. Gets a new

washer and dryer. Almost. She will get one hundredth of a washer dryer. She will get a $25 gift certificate to the Car Talk, Shameless Commerce Division, with which she can procure. Now, you're ready for this? You could get our brand new video called Faces Made for Radio starring Famous Brothers, the Smothers Brothers, the Karamatoff brothers, Dr. Joyce Brothers, and people like that. Or you can get our brand new book of puzzles called A Haircut in Horsetown and other great

car talk puzzlers. That's under $25. And Donna Marie, think of it this way. You order the video of the book, you look it over, and if you really hate it, you give it to you. your husband for Christmas and you're rid of it. You don't have to tell them you've got it for nothing. What a way to do your Christmas shopping. Just call the shameless commerce division at 888 car junk. Or you can visit it at the Car Talk section

of Cars.com and pick whatever you want, Donna Marie. Whoopi! We'll have another new puzzle coming up later in today's show. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-888-car talk. That's 888-227-8-25. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, I'm Dana. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas. Hi, Dana, Fort Worth.

What's up? Well, my car is an 83 Ford Crown Victoria. Yeah. When I started up, everything's fine, pull out of the driveway, can ride for about 10 minutes. And then at every stop sign or stoplight after that, every slowdown, you know, turn, it'll just die on me. And I've had several diagnostics run at several different places, and nobody can tell me what's wrong with it. They say it's fine. It dies, but it starts right back up again.

Yeah, starts right back up again. And I have to give it a lot of gas, or it'll just die again. And it's fine on the freeway, as long as I'm going over 40 miles an hour. And this only happens after the first 10 or so minutes of driving. Yeah, when I first started up and I'm driving it, it's just fine. There's another question. If you were to take it on a long ride, for example, an hour at high speed, where you've already told us it wouldn't conk out, at the end of that trip when you slow it down to city speeds, does it then begin to stall every time? Oh, yes, most definitely.

It sounds like a classic choke problem. No, to me it sounds like you have a vacuum leak. That's what I've heard. Who you think so? Yes, I do. Yeah, I can go along with that. I think your intake manifold is leaking. Okay.

When the engine is cold and the choke, this has a carburetor, this thing. Yeah. When the engine is cold and the choke is on, you are masking the vacuum leak because you are choking off air and you are in some sense compensating for this vacuum leak. And then when the thing finally warms up and the choke is open, it stalls every time you take your foot off the gas because you have this leak. And it should be pretty easy to find. We usually find vacuum leaks by using a little,

we have a little probe that we attach to a propane tank. And with the engine running, you start to work this propane stream around all the places where there could be a gasket leak around the intake manifold. where the manifold bolts of the cylinder heads. And being a vacuum leak, it's sucking in whatever happens to be near it. Uh-huh. So as soon as you find the vacuum leak with the stream of propane,

the engine will speed up and it'll continue running as long as you keep feeding that stream of propane. Because they're replacing the air that it would be sucking in with fuel. Yeah, actually, you're mixing the air, it's sucking in with propane, so you're kind of correcting the stoichiometry. Well, and they have another clue. Oh. Every time before it dies, there's a little trapdoor underneath the dash that swings either open or shut.

I hear it. Excellent. Oh, it's vacuum. Then it's vacuum. For sure. And the vacuum leak may even be under the dash. That may be the leak. Okay.

You tell the next mechanic you go to about the noise under the dash, and if he doesn't say, ha, then drive right out again, if the car will start. It'll start. It always has up until now. But when you fix this thing, it'll be like a new lease on life. You'll have your old car back again. It'll be wonderful. Okay. See you, Deda.

Okay, well, thank you very much. All right, good luck. Good luck. Thank you. Bye-bye. Hey, do you know what it's time for? Time to acquaint ourselves with Daimler, Chrysler's lawyers? No.

It's time to play stuff the chumps! Every few weeks, we find out whether the advice we have given out was any good by inviting back one of our past callers. By the way, for you, ambulance chasing lawyers out there, that's past P-A-S-T, not P-A-S-S-E-D. That's correct. So who's this week's contestant, Tommy? Farmer Ben from Minnesota. Ben is back to tell us whether or not we correctly diagnosed the cause of the bucking and missing on his 84 Ford pickup. Listen to this.

I'm just curious. No, no, it's not the cover. I think you have a bad, or a beginning to go bad, electronic ignition module. Yes? I think it's very likely that that module, which is now 14 years old, is every once in a while, missing a beat. And when it does that, you will not get sparked to a few cylinders, or maybe a whole bunch, maybe more than that. for a split second, and then it'll just jump right back in and work again. And how much is that going to cost me?

I don't know what they cost. You might be able to buy one for between 50 and 100 bucks. That's not too bad. Yeah, I'll take the one out of the manure spreader. I've got to go clean all the stuff. Yeah, we don't need to know. That's good. Spare us the details.

Okay. Make sure you'll wash your hands before you have lots. I bet they'd love to see Ben at the point. parts store. They got a special isolation boot fam. Ben, are you there? How's it going? Hey. Before we find out what happened with your truck, we have to Carmen Mirandize you, all right?

Yes. Is it true Benjamin? That no one at Car Talk on National Public Radio has offered you large cash prizes or discounts on utter cream in exchange for favorable testimony today on Stump to Chops. This is true. Well, so how did I do, Ben? Oh, man, you guys were so wrong.

Dirty fuel filter is the carburetor. I was all over that door spreader for one of those, but I couldn't find it. Oh. Yeah, you were way off base. Yeah. We were? It was fuel, wasn't it? Nope.

Wasn't? Nope. There was a vacuum leak behind the carburetor. Then it only bothered when it got hot. Oh. And it caused me. I spent, let me tell you, I spent $75 and put a new ignition control on there. Whoops.

And it didn't do it. Jeez. But think of the bright side. When that ignition. module does go, you'll have a spare. That's true. You won't be at the mercy of any unscrupulous tow truck drive. You'll be able to open your glove

box, pop that thing right in there. I happen to have one of those right here. That's right. So think of it, think how lucky you are to have a spare. That's true. Where was the vacuum leak? At the base of the carburetor? I guess, yeah. They said it was behind the carburetor. It cost me two bucks for some vacuum tube. And hey, the

fuel mileage went up. It ran better. The grass was greeter. My kids were better behaved. I'm trying to find. Can we play the tape back again? Geez, I don't... Yeah, well, all I can say is thanks for playing stump to chumps, Ben. And we're sorry that we cost you $75.

But all you need to do is send that bill to your local NPR station, and they will send you a check for $75. That's the kind of guys we are. Really? I'll try that. You'll get them to pony up. Okay. See you, Ben.

Thanks for playing. Bye. Wrong again, huh? I don't think we're batting the 300 that we were batten a few years of... No contract re-negotiation for us. Hey, stick around for more calls and the new puzzler coming right up. Ha, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers.

And we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new puzzler. Here it is. one about 20 years ago, and it's time to revisit it. See, I may remember this one. You may. Because my long-term memory is great. Okay. This was inspired by...

Are we related to each other? By the way... You look familiar as hell. By the way, what? By the way, we are no longer accepting email puzzler suggestions. If you have an email puzzler suggestion, we don't want it. Wow. Because they all stink.

Really? Yeah. You're making... What are we used to call? A sweeping generalization. Yeah. Well, every week, Catherine hands me 200 emails. First of all, half of them are a complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors Corporation about some bozo's ice cream melting. And I don't want that one anymore.

And then there's 500 liars and truth tell us. I used that one three weeks ago. Stop sending it. Jesus. So I'm using this one written type. Britain on a piece of paper. Wow. For 1973.

I've said over and over again that snail mail is the only way to go. Well, this was sent in about five years ago by a guy named Richard Rubach. And I like it, and I used it about 25 years ago. He's the inventor of the Rubach Cube, isn't he? Rubach's Cube. Once upon a time, there lived a king who wished to find the wisest man in the realm to be his assistant. So he summoned...

That's it. find the wisest guy in the whole world. It is well. And he's going to give him the title of assistant? First assistant. He summons the three wisest, the three known wisest men to his court. And he's about to administer the following test. He says to them, sit down, you morons. I'm going to put either a red hat or a white hat on each of your heads.

And facing them in a circle and standing behind them, he proceeds to place three red hats. on their heads, one red hat on each of their heads. He says to them, if you see, obviously they can see not themselves, but there are no mirrors in the room, they can see just the other two contestants. If you can see a red hat. I wish I hadn't said that about the mirrors. I was going to use that for the answer. If you can see another red hat.

Raise your hand. Raise your hand. They all what? Yeah. Raise the hands because they're each wearing a red hat. Sure. Then he says, if you can tell what color hat you have. have on stand up yeah time goes by nothing happens one guy looks at another guy he looks at the other guy

the other guy looks at him finally one guy stands up and he says I'm wearing a red hat wow now didn't hurt that he noticed the king holding three white hats in his hand oh he was looking in the other guy's glasses. Can you move? Can you put your head down a little bit? The question is, how do he know that he was wearing a red hat? Now, if you think you know the answer, mail it to us at Puzzler Tower, along with your puzzle of suggestion, Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge,

Our Fair City, Math, 022-38. All 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 talk to us, the numbers 1-888-8-8-8-8-2-5-5. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hello, this is Peter Daniels from Crested Butte, Colorado. Hi, Peter. From where? Crested Butte.

Crested Butte. It's a small ski town, center of central Colorado. It's better than Crested Brute. Oh, Krusted Brute! Everybody who lives here has heard that one. Where? What state? Colorado.

Oh, okay. So what's up, Peter? Okay, well, I have a car. Good. And that's the first problem. The rest of it is the mechanic, and that's me. Oh, that's the second problem. I know it, and it's a biggie.

Yeah. The problem is I could be driving along, and in the day it's not a problem, but generally when I turn on the lights, and particularly if I have the heater on, if I step on the brakes, there's often a flash or sparks, and usually accompanied with the smell of wires. Where? Where does the flash occur? That occurred directly above my left foot near the clutch.

And it's at that time that everything about the car stops. So the clock stops ticking the engine the lights. The only thing continuing is any forward momentum I might have had. What do you dodge dot is this? It's a Honda Accord. Really? Yeah. How old?

80, 81. something like that. 80, 81. Something like that. When you go back that far, they just do approximate dates. Well, I've never figured it out. Every time I need to buy a part for it,

they're the same regardless of the year, so I never bothered it. Yeah. But, okay, here's a hint. It may help you. Years ago, a bicycle that was being taken off the roof ripped the antenna off,

and I'm wondering if water could have flown down inside of that little extra space that was then made, and then gotten into the wires and then overheated. because it originally started in 92. Water could have flown? I lived in Washington State.

I thought it might have just passed tense of flow. Yeah, it is. I'm sorry. It's past participle, right. Flow, flowed, flown. Well, as long as the points conveyed. I loved it. The point was conveyed.

And the point was conveyed. I understood everything. Okay. It didn't bother me. So you think maybe water got down in a short circus. I thought that might have been a short. circuit. I don't think so. I thought that was the beginning, maybe. Well, no, you say the problem happens when you step on the brake only. Yeah. Well, have you bothered to look to see how many

wires you're crunching when you're stepping on the brake? No, I think, I don't think it's that. I think it's more along the lines of just like power draw. No. You think so? I mean, the additional power draw with the brake is depressed, it's pretty minimal. Four amps. Well, why would it be increased? Why would this problem get worse when I also have the blower fan on? And what happens again? You see sparks? Uh-huh. And I'm nearly confident that when I stand on that break, it doesn't budge a wire. And it happens every time? What if you had everything else off?

Well, without the lights off and without the fan off, it's usually a pretty good bet that I'm fine. Oh, that's why you have drawn the conclusion you've drawn. Yeah. And I'm with you now. Okay, okay. I still don't believe it. Because, I mean, it's very unlikely that power draw could cause sparks to fall. fly. Okay. You have to have positive making contact with negative. A short circuit. And that happens

when you push a wire somewhere. And I would have to bet big bucks. Okay. If you had the stomach for it and could lie down on your back. I've done it. With your head underneath that dashboard. Been there? While driving. Oh, that's tough. That's a little bit harder. Well, did you do it with the heater on, the lights on and have someone to press the foot, the brake pedal? No, I've just done it sitting there in the driveway. Oh, you've got to turn everything on and pretend that you're driving, but obviously don't. Exactly. Put your head under the air and have somebody else.

I would wear safety glasses just in case... No, seriously, just in case spots do fly. Yeah, good call. Yeah. And I think you'll just see what's happening. It's going to be... But you're still pretty sure that I'm moving a wire when I fell on it. I think you're going to do a visual on this one.

I think so. I think so. It is not an electrical problem. It is a mechanical problem. Okay. I would bet money on it. I just don't see how it's related to when the blow is on, though. It's rare that we get calls like this because most cars with these problems will catch fire.

That's another story. And I don't know how yours escaped, quite honestly. That's another story. That was a different Honda. Oh, you've burned one up already. That wasn't my fault. No, I'm telling you, you have got to be somehow moving a wire. Okay.

You've got to be, or somehow interrupting a ground circuit. You may be, for example, when stepping on the break, you may be moving the firewall enough to interrupt a ground circuit. Okay, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

You have a cracked firewall and you're interrupting a ground circuit that flows through the firewall or some such thing, and that's causing the dimming of the headlights and it's causing the sparks or whatever else you see. So tomorrow morning, just turn on the heater, turn on the lights, and crawl under there. Do it at night. Of course. With glasses? With glasses. With glasses, and you'll see those sparks fly, and you'll know exactly what it is. Okay.

But make sure there's someone around to help you, because when the thing catches fire, you need someone to grab your feet and drag you out of that front seat because you'll be buried in there. And throw sand on you. I'm writing this down. Okay, throw sand. Okay. Got it. Okay. Thanks, Peter.

Good luck. Take care. All right. Bye. Bye. Well, it's happened again. You've vaporized. You're another hour

listening to Car Talk. Really? Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion Berman. Our associate producer is Ken two-car garages. Our assistant producer is Catherine and Melder Ray. Our engineer, back for just a visit,

is John Super Highway Side Burns Marston, and our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor, who is supposed to be here is Mr. John S. Lawler. Car Talk's poet laureate is Robert DeFrost, Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzzoff. Collision repair is handled by Jesse the Body Shop Ventura, whose shop is called, all dings considered. Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica

is Euripides Upman, who is not related to our tailor. Euripides, I mended these, or to our staff bouncer, Euripides, I break your face, or are the proprietor of our men's clothing shop, Euripides, or you own a D's. Peekaboo Street directs our intensive care unit, which is known as the Peekaboo ICU. Our director of Delicate Electronics Repair is Anita Hammer,

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 Howe is you, Louis Dewey, known to the dogs in Harvard Square as you are the hydrant. Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking and clack for Tappert 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 rap master, Mr. Vincent E. Gumbartz. Hey, what's the E for, Vinnie? Hey! If you missed a couple of minutes because you came in Lake, get a copy of this week's Car Talk. to 48. You can take it from me, the public radio hunk. You can get your taste for calling

8-8-8-8-car junk. Go, Vinny, baby. I wish it, baby. If you think the man is not evolved up from the ape, then you haven't seen my brother hearing videotape. And if your heart couldn't take the kind of full-screen look to start up slow by ordering our puzzle a book. Take it from me, the stuff is pure slam dunk, and you'll get it by calling 8-88 car junk. That's 1-88 car junk. I'll visit the shameless commerce division at the car talk section of cars.com. Thank you, Vinny. Your voice sublime. Hey, lime this, will you, Pell?

Car Talk is a production of Dewey Cheathamemann Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though Kevin Close rethinks his decision to turn down the CEO job at Dairy Queen, when he hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio. Support for NPR, and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right. Learn more at RWJF.org.