The Best of Car Talk - #2578: How to Properly Lead a Witness

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

Jerry’s SUV has a pronounced wiggle in the rear end and he’s unscuccessfully tried several expensive fixes. As he ticks them off to Click and Clack they beg him to make his facts fit the only diagnosis that they can come up with. Perry Mason it isn’t, 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 Card Talk from National Public Radio with us Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Pearls of Wisdom Department here at Car Talk Plaza. My brother evidently has some pearls. Well, these pearls of wisdom are from none other than George Carlin, and I'll give you a few.

George Carlin is getting wackier and wackier. But you have to him. He's sort of like Gallagher. They point out to you the things. that are so ridiculous. Right. Prisons. Did you know it cost $40,000 a year to house each prisoner?

Hell, for $40,000 bucks a piece, I'll take a few prisoners in my house. I live in L.A. I already have bars on the windows. I don't think we should give them free room and board. I think they should have to run 12 hours a day on a treadmill and generate electricity. Award shows. Can you believe how many award shows they have now? They have awards for commercials, the Clio Awards, a whole show full of commercials. I taped it, and then I fast-forwarded through the whole thing.

Ads in builds, this is one of my favorites. Have you ever noticed that they put advertisements in with your bills now? Like builds aren't distasteful enough. They have to stuff junk mail in there with them. I get back at them, though. I put garbage in with my check when I mail it in. Coffee grinds, banana peels. I write,

Could you throw this away for me? Thanks. And here's my personal best here. Phone in polls. You know those shows where people call in and vote on different issues? Did you ever notice that there's like 18% I don't know? Why would you call? It costs 90 cents to call up and vote, and they're voting, I don't know.

Honey, I feel very strongly about it. this give me the phone I don't know if he talks into the phone I don't know hangs up looking very proud and he says sometimes you have to stand up what you believe in and what you're not sure about it's true I mean these people are paying a buck they dialed a 900 number and they say oh man well if you want to find out something that we don't know call us at 1 888 car talk that's 888 2 2 2 278255. Hello, you're on car talk. This is Dana calling from Winnom, Massachusetts.

Hi, Dana. From where? Winnham. Winnham. That's the North Shore someplace, right? Up in the North Shore. Okay, we got it. So what's up? I have a 1987 Toyota Camry, and I have a good friend who also has an 89 Toyota Camry, and both our cars make this funny noise every once in a while we're going to start them. Something like, V-V!

No, you both have automatic transmission. Both of us do. Yeah. Okay, next call. No, no, no. That's not the problem. Neither one of us really care what's wrong with the car. We just want to know, we have this theory about how to fix it to get the car to start, and there's actually three different theories about what it is. It fixes the car. Let's hear them.

Okay. Well, we can tell you in advance that they're all wrong. But we want to hear them anyway. But that's all right. I want to hear them, too. Okay, the first theory is that you take the key out, you turn it around, you put it back in, and the car will start. That's the theory of my friend who owns the 89. That's a keeper.

Okay. That's the 360 degree turn of the key. No, 180, 180. 180. Okay. The next one is my girlfriend's theory, and this really does kind of work, so I have to give her a little credit. But if you turn the key really slowly, I mean, extraordinarily slowly. You kind of sneak up on the problem.

Right, exactly. Okay, the sneak up theory. The car will start. Okay, and what's your theory? My theory is that there's just something not lining up with, like, starter and the teeth or something so what i do is i put the car in reverse i stick my foot out the door i roll it back about four feet and it starts almost every time oh okay well as my brother said earlier they're all wrong of the three i like the 180 degree turn of the key i like that that

isn't that good unfortunately uh what's wrong with your car is something that affects a lot of for whatever reason, automatic transmission camrys. And not just camrys, actually. We've seen it on a lot of other, interestingly, Japanese cars. And what's wrong is that the teeth on the flywheel, that the flywheel is the big gear, that the teeth on the starter motor engage when you turn the key. In other words, when you go to start the car,

you turn the key all the way to the crank position. You force a little gear on the starter called a pinion gear to pop out and begin turning. and when it pops out, it engages this big gear on the flywheel called the ring gear. And that gear is, that plate, that flywheel is attached to the crankshaft of the engine. And it actually gets the crankshaft turning, and the pistons going up and down, and then the fuel injectors inject air, et cetera, and the rest happens. And the engine starts.

And, of course, once it starts, you return the key to the run position, that gear gets retracted, and the engine continues to run on its own. But if you have some of those teeth on that big gear, that ring gear, if they're missing or chewed up, then when you hit those. Sort of like your cousin Amy from Arkansas. See, you had to start. You had to start. Right? I had to do it.

I did. You had to. I knew it. So when I stick my foot out the door and roll it back four feet, it doesn't move that flywheel. No. No, it does not. It was a nice theory, though. It was a good idea.

And if it works for you, Dana, you do it. I think I'll just take the key out and turn it around. on 180 degrees. How many miles are on each of these two cars? The 87 only has 85,000 miles. And what about the 89? $197,000. Well, you must have lived in New York City with this thing.

Or someplace where you did little short trips all the time. At the 87. Oh, so you don't know. See, it's not a function of miles so much as it is a function of how many times have you started it. I see. So if it had been like a taxi, you'd never have this problem. Well, I have a theory about why this happens to these cars and doesn't happen, for

example, to Chevroletes. You want to know the theory? Well, you're going to like it. Of course I do. The reason this happens to Japanese cars, especially, is because the driver doesn't know that the engine has started. That could be. In other words, you turn the key to the crank position, and if you had, for example,

a Chevy Cavalier, you'd know in a second that the engine was running because it would sound like a bucket of bolts. And you would know enough to release the key. But you don't know that on a Camry. or a Nissan or a Honda, because the engines run so quietly that you don't know it's running, and hence you hold the key in the crank position too long, and that allows the teeth to get chewed up. That's my theory.

All you turn the key when the engine's already running, and that'll do it in no time. That sure will. Well, thank you very much. Dana, it's been a pleasure. So the remedy, by the way, if you want to ever fix it, or when it gets to the point where it makes more noise than anything and it won't start, is to replace the flywheel. Is that expensive?

Yeah. But, I mean, don't worry, because as long as it will start. It will start. Then just keep going. Okay. See you later, man. Thanks very much. Bye.

Bye. 1-888-8-8-8-8-2-7-8-25-5. Hello, you're on car talk. Hi, my name's Jill, and I'm in Mountain View, California. Hi, Jill. Mountain View. Mountain View. Where is Mountain View?

What part of the state? It's right. It's the next town south of Palo Alto. Yeah. Oh, charming. Nice place. Oh, yes. Oh, it's beautiful.

The heart of Silicon Valley. Sounds good. Okay. So what's up, Jill? So I probably shouldn't have admitted who I am because my problem is that my key is stuck in the ignition of my car and has been since last April. Really? And I don't lock my car or anything. So anybody could get in my car at any point.

And yet no one has stolen it. No. Bummer, huh? A great car. Which makes me wonder. I'm going to guess what it's a Dotson 510. No, no, no. No, it's a Dodge 600.

No, it's an Audi. Really? An Audi what? Audi 100. 92. Really? No one has taken it? Are you going to attempted to?

No. Hey, I live in Silicon Valley. I park next to Ferraris and boxers. Well, exactly. Yeah, that's true. That's what nobody wouldn't give a second look. My car is, yeah, at the bottom of the junkie. Plus, it's a 92.

I mean, come on. Oh, yeah. So I'm looking to sell it. I'm actually thinking to upgrade to an Audi convertible. And before I can do that, I need to get this key out of the ignition. Why? I mean, it's served you. Think of this.

You never lose the key. No. You don't have to go looking for the key. No. Where's the key to my car? In the car. It's a deal. All cars should be like that.

First of all, in this day and age, they ought to have invented something a little bit more 21st century than a key. Don't you think? I mean, they had keys for the pyramids. They had keys for King Touch Tomb. And we have, in 4,000 years, we haven't come one step closer. I'm so anti-key that I put a punch pad deadbolt on my house. Good. And your car should have the same thing.

Why doesn't it? I don't know. I mean, one time, I did a similar thing. It's not that the key wouldn't come out. I broke the key off in the ignition. purpose. No, it was an accident. So half the key was in the slot, and the other half was on the key ring. But could you actually start the car? It was perfect, because all I had to do was put the half that I had in my hand against the half that was already in there, start the car

up, and yet no one knew that the key was in the ignition. Oh, so that's my solution. Isn't that great? Just break the key off. I don't think that would really improve the resale value. No. You did a locksmith. So I, just a normal locksmith? Normal locksmith, yeah. Well, no, there are locksmiths that do cars. And they will, they may end off selling you the whole lock assembly. Okay.

But with any luck, they can pull, you have an extra key? Yeah. So if they can get this key out, they may be able to, of course, discard it. Because the last time I took it to my Audi mechanic. Oh, they wanted $450. No, they didn't even offer a solution. Oh, they said it's there forever. Oh, they said they all do this.

Oh, okay. Yeah, and the keys in the car doesn't come out. A locksmith will do it. Okay. Yeah, that's what you need. Thank you so much. All right. And good luck with your new Audi convertible.

Okay. Say it, Jill. Bye. Bye. Okay. Do you remember last week's puzzler? Talking to me? It was another in my series of mathematical matchstick masterpieces.

I'll have the answer in just a minute. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from Rinse. Who knows that mastering the perfect house party table spread takes time, but so does laundry. So Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door, expertly cleaned. And you can take the time once spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing to finally pursue your real passion,

rolling delicate roses of capacola alongside meandering ribbons of Amon Serrano, transforming a humble plank of weathered barnwood into a show-stopping charcuttery spread. Rinse, it's time to be great. 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 puzzle. Now, this is the second in my series of matchstick puzzles. The matchstick series. The matchstick series. It's like matchstick cars. Matchbox. Those are matchbox cars.

No wonder I got it wrong. I asked our listeners to get out their matchsticks or their pen and paper and make the following Roman numeral. 7, which is VII, then an equal sign, then the Roman numeral, which is an equal sign is two parallel matchsticks. Then the Roman numeral one. So the equation is Roman numeral 7 equals Roman numeral 1 or VII equals I. Now, as with the other matchstick puzzler and all matchstick puzzlers, I might add, you must move one matchstick to make this a valid equation. This is unnecessary to say this because you can't move one and make the thing with an unequal sign because that's not an equation. That's an inequation.

In equation, yes. Right, is that an inequality? Yes. Now, I mentioned that there were two possible solutions, and one of them, Dougie came up with right away, and we decided that was one of the morass solutions. What did he come up with? Well, he came up with this, which is not too bad, and it's akin to the right answer. He said, take the second I of the VII and put it below and to the left, so it's one to the VII power, or one to the sixth power, equals one. What's wrong with that?

What's wrong with that is it's not on the right line. Oh, I would have given him full credit for that. No, I gave him 40% credit. And he had to clean the erases. There is no line here. It says, oh, you're right, you're right, you're right. You're right. You're right.

You're right. There is a line. Yeah. No credit. Give him nothing. If you were running one to the six power equals one, you'd write it one to six would be above. Six would be above. Yeah. Duggy, no credit.

No credit. No credit. My answer, however, I think is elegant. Oh, yeah. Isn't it? It is. I admit it is. You take that same one that Dougie...

Of the seven. So you've got VII, I, you take the last I from the VII. And you place it touching the right upper portion of the V, and you extend it in a horizontal direction across the remaining I, making a square root sign. So the square root of one equals one. Well, I think that that's pretty snazzy. And that was the answer that I was looking for. So, by the way, did we get some nasty mail? Oh, about the 22-7s.

Well, I mean, we knew this, of course. Well, we're going to get nasty mail about this, too, because the square root sign. I mean, these are just matchsticks. Yeah, I mean, what do you want? And if you didn't get the answer, it's just sour grapes. If you didn't get 22-7s and you wrote to us saying, 22-7s isn't pie It's because you didn't get it

If you got it You would be among the proud That's true The few, the proud Etcetera Who's our winner? Oh Our winner is

You ready for this? Look at this! Whoa! That's where he is He's in Phoenix, Arizona The winner Is Richard Kimble Who of course everyone knows Is Dr. Richard Kimball

The fugitive He's hiding out in Phoenix, Arizona Quick! Quick, call Lieutenant Gerard. He's got nothing better to do than send in Puzzler answers to us. Hey, the guys live in hand to mouth. I've made a $25 gift certificate.

I don't know what he could do with that. Hey, it might be a lot for him. Because, Dr. Kimball, for having your correct answer chosen among both of the correct answers that we got this week, you are going to win. You will get from us somehow a $25 gift certificate to the Car Talk, Shameless Commerce Division, with which you can pick up our new puzzler book,

a haircut in Horsetown, and maybe have enough credit left over to get a set of fuzzy dice, or at least one fuzzy dye. Good luck to you, and congratulations, Dr. Richard Kimball, from Phoenix, Arizona. All right, I'm ready. We'll have a new puzzler coming up with the third half of today's show. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-888-88-2-27-8-255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hey, this is Kerry Perkins from Somerset, Texas.

How are you guys doing today? Kerry. Kerry with a K. Terry with a K. That's right, yeah. A good old-fashioned Irish name. Somerset, Texas? Somerset, Texas.

Is that like in West Texas? That's like in South Texas out here in the brush country. Isn't the whole state brush country? I don't have much meaning to West East of this. Or clear-cut, pretty much. Is Somerset like a real city or town, or is it just... It's actually a real town, about 1100 people. It's an agricultural community.

1,100 people. Yeah, 1100, big town. Okay, shoot, we're ready. What kind of... Don't ever say shoot to Texas. Okay. What kind of a pickup truck do you have? Okay, I got a 1990 Nissan F-EV6, 4x4-by-4.

Okay. And I've got this problem with the front end. They tell me that the reason it pulls the left is because there's a torsion bar that was no longer adjustable. It needed some shims, but he couldn't adjust it anymore. So you need a new torsion bar now? Well, he told me he could fix it with a used one, and that really became a different one. What this vehicle has, instead of springs up front, is it has a torsion bar.

So when the suspension gets compressed, instead of a spring, you know, like kind of a spring that you're accustomed to, which is a coil spring, this has a bar that actually twists, and that takes up the energy of the, okay? Okay. And then the thing untwist, and it may be that the thing is worn out, just as springs can get worn out. So do torsion bars. They've got no more tors in them. Okay. How much tors can you have? Evidently, we don't have enough on this side.

So if you're just driving down a smooth road, assuming there is one somewhere near there. That's a tough one. And you let go of the steering wheel. It will head for the left ditch. I mean, it's definitely pulling, and it pulls just the same amount more so when you step on the brake. Yeah, no, braking is just magnifying. it. The problem is the thing isn't tracking correctly. I mean, I assume they've checked the brakes to make sure that there's not one of them stuck on or whatever.

Well, I had the brakes check. They seem to think everything's working okay. I think this guy may be correct. How would you check it yourself just by looking at it? Is there any way to officially? Yeah, you're going to have them do it. Oh, you think so? I think that's the way to go. Yeah. Yeah. Give it a shot. Well, I'll give it a shot. I appreciate you guys talking to me about. Great talking to you, Kerry.

In South Texas, be sure to visit us down here in Somerset, Texas. Don't worry. We'll be there tomorrow. See you later. Take care, guys. Bye, bye. Hey, do you know what it's time for? Time to launch our New York Senate bid. No, no, no.

It's time to play. Stump the Chumps! This is the part of the show. This is the part of the show where we bring back a person to whom we previously gave wrong advice. I think he gave advice. The purpose being what? To prove to the... world that we really do know something

about cars. Is there a second purpose or a second choice here? To kill a few minutes in the middle of the show. Good. Okay, who's this week's contestant? Well, according to the little notes I have here, it's Betsy, who's originally from Ferrisburg, Vermont, but drove to New Orleans and found the gas... Oh! Gasoline kept pouring out of her

88 Toyota pickup truck, and I mean pouring out. Oh, this is the mud chigger lady. That's her. From Ferris Bueller, Vermont. I remember her mechanic was trying to convince her, that she had these little things called mud chiggers obstructing her fuel line, and that was causing pressure to build up and gasoline to pour out. Mud chiggers. I like it.

Actually get gas to back up this line, which comes into the very top of the tank. And what's supposed to go through that line is gasoline vapors. Vapers, right. Right. The reason I ask if the tank could be removed, it's entirely possible that somebody has crisscrossed some of the lines. because there's also a return line. Yeah, but, I mean, she drove down from Ferris Bueller, Vermont.

Ferrisburg. Ferrisburg, Vermont. Yeah, the crisscross answer sounds about as good as a mud chicken. That would be enough. All right. All right, here's how we left it. Since her mechanic had checked practically the entire fuel system already, we told Betsy that our best guess was that it had to be a problem

inside the tank. That was safe. And that the mechanic was going to have to drop the gas tank and see if there was some kind of obstruction or misconnected tubing inside the tank. Oh, like a mud chigger colony? Betsy, are you there? Yes, guys.

I'm here. Are you doing? Now, before you tell us what happened, we must first ascertain that the testimony you're about to give us in no way influenced by our staff, the staff of National Public Radio, or the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Mud Chiggers. Is that true? True, Bess. I think I can testify truthfully to that.

Okay. And do you still have the problem? No, the problem has been cured. Oh, my God. And? How? And? It was the mud sugars. I hate to break it to you, but you were wrong.

I'm sorry. Why am I not surprised at this one? Well, so I returned to him with my notes on your advice and asked him if he would drop the tank. Pretty much he refused to do it. Good. That was good. He wouldn't do it. And I mean, there was nothing I could do to get him to do it. And in fact, I've never had this happen before, but he pretty much just admitted defeat and gave up.

Really? And. Oh, so he didn't refuse to do it because he thought we were just a couple of complete wackos. He just threw up his hands. Yeah. So I went to his next door neighbor, a guy called, believe it or not, a mechanic called duty. and a great guy with just a wonderful temperament, wonderful sense of humor, and I came in and explained the problem to him, and as I was explaining it to him,

he had his aide start typing things into his computer. He says this $20,000 computer that he never diagnoses a problem without consulting first. So I thought that was a good sign. I liked it, very high-tech. The Oracle, yeah. He saw the truck the very next day and immediately repaired it, and it is fixed. What did he repair?

The problem was a defective evapidator is a... Evaportive emissions canister. Emission control canister. Yeah, well, that was... Which I had actually had mentioned to you guys, and you said, no, that's not it. Well... And we sort of skipped right over it. Well, boy, oh, boy.

It was the canister, the charcoal canister under the hood. Yeah, yeah, I'm very funny with the charcoal. vapors. I'm very familiar with it. I hope, I sincerely hope, that the problem doesn't return. I hope it doesn't as well. Well, Betsy, thanks for playing stumped chumps and making us look like a couple of chumps. Well, duty did great.

Duty is the man. I highly recommend him. But call us back if the problem returns. Wait, wait, don't we want one of those computers? I want one of those computers. It was great. I have one. It doesn't help.

It's like the magic oracle. Wow. Oh, I love it. He was so confident, but, yeah, I have some concerns that the problem is going to return because when I open up, you know, now when I open up that gas cap, boy, is the pressure blowing out of there. I mean, really, really is making it. Well, if the problem does come back, you must call us and let us know to find out if my brother was completely wrong when he dismissed it, because he may not have been.

All right. Well, does that mean you'll look at the truck when it's back in Boston? Yes, this may be a temporary fix. Okay. See you, Betsy. Thank you guys very much for your help. Bye-bye. All right, bye.

All right, bye. Do you're going to put the finishing touches on the puzzle or something like that? Well, yeah, I'm not. You're a real pain of the butt. We'll be back in a minute. 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. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kreske Foundation with Pathbreakers, a podcast about transforming communities through innovation, from revolutionizing higher education to supporting artists who are driving change. Pathbreakers is available on podcast platforms.

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 da, the new puzzler. I can hardly wait. You can? I can. No, you can't.

Here it is. Yeah. Let's say you have two ordinary decks of playing cards, minus the Jokers. So you have a deck of 52 cards and another deck of 52 cards. Same color? Well, yeah. They're both.

Yeah, the backs of them are red. Red. Okay, and the other sides, the business sides are all the cards, Aces, deuses, queens, et cetera. Yeah. You take them and you shuffle them up, mix them all up, as best you can. Both decks together. Both decks.

You shuffle them all up. 104 cards. There you go. And then you divide them into two equal piles. Got it. Okay? So you've got a pile of 52 on one side of the table and a pile of 52 on the other side of the table. Are you with me so far?

I can tell already. This is going to be so. bogus, I can tell already that I can just tell. I have no idea what the question is, but I don't even know what the question is yet, all right? I can tell that too. I don't know what the question is.

So I've shuffled 104 cards together and I've split them back into two piles of 52 each and I got one pile here on my left and one pile to my right. Okay, so you have pile A and pile two. A and two. Got it. Okay. What are the chances that the number of red cards

in pile A equals the number of black cards in pile two. That's part one of the question. And then part two of the question, how many cards would you have to look at to be certain of your answer? Now, if you think you know the answer, write it on the back of a $20 bill and sent it to,

he still got that stupid look at his face like, huh? Write it on the back of a $20 bill and send it to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, a box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City. Ma, 2,2238. Or, of course, you can email your answer to us

from the Car Talk section of Cars.com. Our number, if you'd like to call us, even if you wouldn't like to call us, my name. What's the probability that the number of red cards in deck A equals the number of black cards in deck two? Yeah. And how many cards would you have to look at to be certain of your answer. Yeah, I like it. If you'd like to call us, our number is 1-888-8-8-28-8-2-2-7-8-25. Hello,

you're on car talk. That has possibilities, you know? Hello. Hello, this is Jerry in Idaho in a little town called Moscow. Jerry. Moscow? Yes. Is that Jerry with a J? Absolutely, Jerry with a J. Moscow spelled like the Russian capital? Exactly. Okay, cool. Moscow, Idaho. What's up, Jerry? Well, I have an Esuzu Trooper 2, a good car for a little snow to get up here. Yeah. And I bought it in 1986, at 50 miles on it, and I've been pretty much the only one driving it. It's been a very good car.

However, about six, seven months ago, it developed a problem. And nobody here had some mechanics. Nobody can figure it out. Yeah. I just love these kinds of problems that nobody else can figure out. Well, I thought maybe it'd be better not to let it. So you've taken it to like 25, 30 people. And they have all experienced everything that you've experienced,

and they couldn't figure it out. That's right. Lay it on, it's Jerry. All right. The problem is that there is a rhythmic sound coming out of the rear differential area of the car. At about, it's most noticeable around 20, 25 miles an hour. It kind of sounds like this at about 20, 25. I'll do it for you.

Vom, voom, boom, boom. No, no, much faster. Much faster. Yeah, there you go. Exactly. That's how it is. Okay. Below 25 miles an hour, you don't hear anything.

No, I do hear it, but it's slowly. You only notice it until about 10, maybe. And what does it do at 50 miles an hour? It smooths out. You hardly notice it at 50 or 60s. Of course, and I'll tell you why in a minute. Go ahead. Go ahead, Jerry.

Okay. It's not the tires. Assuming that you are a cooperative witness. Okay, it is not the tires. I have a complete set of summer and winter tires. that I rotate on and off, and I've done that a couple times, and it has nothing to do with the tires. Here's an important clue.

When you turn the car to the left, the sound goes away. Oh, geez. Oh, you like that. Well, I might, but I think you like that. I have more clues. Yeah, go ahead. The four-wheel drive makes no difference, whether I'm in two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive.

Good. Yeah. Well, we knew that. Okay. Not really. We don't know anything. Okay. Yeah.

Now, here's the work that was done. The first mechanic... Oh, this is going to hurt. This is going to kill us. This is going to be nice, Jerry. Oh, thank you very much. Good. The first mechanic said, I don't know what it is.

Okay, so I took it to a different mechanic. And the second mechanic said, I think it's the wheel bearing in the right rear wheel. So I said, fine, change it, so he changed that. Made no difference whatsoever. Went back to the first mechanic who's been taking care of the car, you know, of like 10 years. He's my basic, you know, mechanic. Yeah. And he looked out of it.

and he couldn't, we really couldn't figure out. He thought that he was coming from the rear differential unit. So I got a junkyard replacement for the gear assembly. Oh, this is going to hurt. The whole business, so that's what has been done. One final hint, which may or may not be relevant, about four months before this problem arose, I was in a minor accident where I suffered a small,

little dent in the in the rear. Left rear, left rear? Left rear. Left rear. Yeah, let's hear. Okay. So there you have it. And no one knows. Everyone says I have no idea.

Well, here's the good part about all this. I mean, this can't be bad. The good part is that of the four things that could have been wrong. Yes. You've already changed three of them.

Oh, very good. Okay. So my brother has immediately focused on the fourth, which is a great strategy on this spot. Okay. And now he's going to give you the reasons why

this fourth thing that they didn't do anything to yet is the problem, and how can he be wrong? He can't be wrong. I think what's happened to this thing is you have bent the left rear axle

flange. Yeah, I love it. If you pull off the tire on the left rear and you pull off the brake drum, what's left behind is the axle flange. That's the thing that has the six studs sticking out of it, or five, whatever the case may be, that the wheel bolts to. That the wheel bolts to. Okay. Those studs that stick out are called wheel bolts, and the nuts hold on the tire and the wheel. And that thing is the end of the axle. Okay. That's one end. The other end goes into the spider gears and the differential. That thing is bent. Okay. And that's what

you need replaced. Go to the junkyard and buy yourself a left rear axle. It'll come with a bearing and everything and slap that thing in. Uh-huh. This is a five-minute job, by the way, almost. Now, do I need the whole axle? Can I just get the flannel? No, the axle comes as part of... All one piece. It's all one piece. It's all made as one. I just need a left rear axle. A left rear axle. It'll come with the studs, the flange, the grease, everything. Okay. Okay. And it may even come with a bearing on it. If the bearing feels okay to your guy, just slap the thing in. Okay.

And you're going to say, it's all those knuckleheads. Oh, man. No, I mean, this is the coincidence is here. It's a no-brainer. The left turn business and three out of four things. Yeah. And here it is the fourth thing that's left. And the logic is impeccable.

Okay. Right. So is the luck. This is a no-brainer, and that's the kind we're good at. Yeah. I have one question to perhaps interject here. Don't spoil it now, Jerry. Why did this not appear immediately after I had this mind?

Well, it's been nice talking to you, Jerry. You know, I suspect to try to answer that, that you perhaps have changed your tasted music in the intervening months. Maybe you were a hard rock music fan, and now you've gone to the softer sound, which has enabled you to hear these noises over the din of the brink. music that you had been listening to. That could be.

That's an interesting theory. Yeah. It's probably true. Probably true. Well, good luck, Jerry. Left Axel. Okay. Go for it, man.

Thank you very, very much. It's a pleasure. You guys are great. Yeah, you won't think so in a week. See you. Bye, bye. See you. What?

He bought it. If ever we had a shot at something, yeah, that was it. I mean, it all fit together. How serendipitous that they replaced everything else. As soon as he said they replaced a Right rear axle, I said we're home free. Well, it's happened again.

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