The Best of Car Talk - #2582: Dr. Kenny and Dr. Z

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

Dr. Kenny has a problem with the brakes on his Honda and Dr. Z has a beef with an answer we gave on a past show, so they decided to ring us up -while they were performing surgery! Scrub in and grab your favorite scalpel for this episode of the Best of Car Talk.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors. On our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the DART history.

Art history? The DART, DART History Department here at Carat Talk Plaza. Or maybe we should say DART is history department. The DART is history, and we evidently have gotten more email, and maybe she's snail mail on this topic than we have ever gotten on any topic ever in the history. Pretty pathetic, isn't it? I mean, everybody has an idea about what we should do with the dart, which if you haven't tuned in for a week, the dart is dead. The dart is gone. It was totaled by a snowplow,

the worst possible kind of death. In the words of your wife, ding, dong, the dart is dead. Ding dong, the ugly dart is dead. Yeah, that's what she did sing a lot. She was very happy, but that's not nice. Others have shown the proper respect. I actually helped her put it to music. Well, I mean, we've had lots of ideas, actually, about what to do with the dart. You know, like cut it up into little pieces and make paper weights out of it.

The problem is that the dot, even its soul and body and cadetown. This is sad. Missing. Because I made a deal at the insurance company. They gave me the hundred bucks that they said it was worth. And I said, that's good enough for me. And within minutes, it left the place where it had been told to and went to a junkyard. And within minutes of being in the junkyard, evidently.

They said, get it out of here. Get it out of here. It's given us a bad name, and they crushed it. And within minutes after that, it went to someplace. called pulverizing our us, and they pulverized it into, we think, which is what we've heard. They've pulverized it into, not pulver, and then not quite the right name. Shredded.

They shushed it up into little pieces. Shredded. So we're trying to track down at least the pieces. To do what? I don't know. I mean, so many people have said make paper weights out of it will pay a buck. So if they're a buck a piece, a thing weighed about 3,000 pounds. that's $3,000 bucks.

Yeah. Poetic. Speaking of poetic, want me to read a poem? Of course. The poem is really good. It's called, again, Ob J. Dart by Charlie Boyd.

It was an early day in spring, felt good to be alive. Tommy's son and friends went out for a short spring drive. They chose the dart, the old Dodge Dart, to take them on their way. And that old car was happy,

so, to be their choice that day. These days, the dart had passed its prime, torn vinyl, rusted steel. But old cars have a soul inside. They think and they can feel. The dart remembered days gone by when its top rolled down, when it gave joyrides in the spring, the envy of the town. They came upon a traffic light and stopped to rest a spell. The sun shone bright, the air was clear, and all the world seemed well. In front, a local ambulance sat waiting for the light. Behind a snowplow came up fast. Something wasn't right. The snowplow hauled. The snowplow hauled.

careened and veered. Watch out, for goodness sakes. Something had gone terribly wrong. The snowplow had no brakes. It's hard to say how cars know things. Somehow that old car knew that Tom's son's life was on the line and its choices were so few.

This is like, uh, like, twas the night before Christmas. There really wasn't any time to weigh the options now. In front, there was the ambulance, and back there was the plow. Deep within its rusted heart, Dart knew what must be done. Without seatbelts,

and no airbags, it must rescue Tommy's son. And all that sound, that awful sound of crushing steel and glass, the dart took all that snowplow's force, faithful to the last. Who knows where that old car found such strength within its rust, unless a car would have thrown the towel and crumbled into dust. Perhaps the thought its days were few helped to quell its fears. That brave old car was 36. That's 90 in human years.

Then it says, see, footnote. Well, that's re-losted. The premise that the ratio of human to automobile years is 2.5 to 1 is without any scientific merit whatsoever. It merely serves the author's purpose at this time and therefore falls within the respected category of poetic license. The universe holds mysteries we can scratch and we can comb. The only thing we really know is Tommy's son came home.

Somewhere in the Great Beyond, the sun is shining bright. The gas is plentiful. There is no rust. to fight. The pavement's always clean and dry in that land above, and cherished autos gleam and shine polished by clouds of love. Tommy's heart is broken now,

and emptiness remains, for in the spot where Dart once sat, there's naught but oil stands. But Tommy knows there is a place where old dogs and autos go, a place where cars are pampered and once dim headlights glow. And if ever a car earned winner's lap,

after its earthly race, that old dog Dott deserve to go to that eternal parking space. Charlie Boyd, Rochester, New York, 14607. Oh, man, Charlie, you have outdone yourself. We may have to replace Andy. He may write a poem like that every week. We don't know if he's outdone himself. This may be one of his poorer efforts.

Jeez, I think we have to read it every Christmas Eve. Oh, God. Please call. Call anyone. One 888 car talk. That's 888-227-825. I've called before I get sick. Hello, you're on car talk.

Hi, this is Shannon in Greenville, South Carolina. Hi, Shannon. Yeah. Have you ever heard of Furman University? Furman? Yeah, Furman University. No, I haven't. Oh, that's where I'm calling you from.

You guys need to come visit. No kidding. What's the town it's in? It's in Greenville, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Man, it sounds great. It sounds just exactly like a campus ought to sign. But, I mean, the temperature is probably just right always. Yeah, just about, just about.

Right now. That's great. And you are from South Carolina originally, so you went to college in your home state. Exactly. Cool. So why are you calling us? Well, the problem is that I smell like my car, and it's causing a problem at work. Really?

Yeah. It's a 69 Volkswagen convertible bug. Oh. And since the weather's always nice here, I can put the top down a lot. But when it's cold and I turn on the heater and drive to work, by the time I get to work, I stink. You stink of exhaust? You stink of exhaust. And a little hint of gasoline.

Oh, that's always a nice touch. We call it O to VW. O to VW. Well, unfortunately, because this is an air-cooled, engine. Yeah. They relied on the exhaust, the heat from the exhaust system to heat up, you know, the passenger compartment.

Right. And there were two heat exchanges attached to the engine. In real cars, the way you get the heat is the heat from the engine heats up water. You didn't say real cars. No, no, no, no. I didn't mean that. I didn't think you were real cars. No.

Real big cars. I mean, in a lot of cars. In a few cars. The heat of the engine heats up. water, and the water in turn goes through like a little radiator, like a little, you wouldn't know about central heating down there in South Carolina, but up north, we have

central heating, and it mostly has to do with water going through radiators, and that's how it works in some cars. Not all. There's no water in this car. Yeah, but there is no water, so they use the hot exhaust gas that passes through an aluminum heat exchanger, and then

cold air is pushed through this heat exchanger. The heat gets exchanged from the hot aluminum through which the exhaust is passing into this cold air, and some of it, very little, I'm sure you're aware. Makes its way to the passenger compartment. About 1%. But what happens after like 29 years, 29 and a half years, is that the heat exchange is wrought out,

and exhaust actually gets into the passenger compartment. So is there any way to control it? Well, see, it's no longer a heat exchanger in the usual sense. It's an exhaust exchanger. What's happening is the exhaust gas, which is supposed to stay on one side of this heat exchanger, now gets on the wrong side, which is the side that's going to you in the passenger compartment. And that's why you smell bad because you are being covered with exhaust gas, which, by the way, isn't all that good for your lungs either.

Or your brain cells, as my brother can attest. Well, actually, he can't attest anymore. He can't do much of anything anymore. So if I'm driving around small children in this car, I'm damaging their health. You're damaging, you're endangering everyone's health, including your own. See, I need to fix this because I want to drive it a lot. Well, you need to buy two new heater boxes.

Okay. Oh, don't say okay. No. They're expensive. Oh, yeah. Hmm. Yeah. But you might as well do it, and while you're at it,

have them throw a new muffler on there because they're connected to the muffler, and that's probably ready to fall off anyway. So you figure Midas will have these? They might have them in stock. Oh, no, no, no. I have a really good mechanic here. I wouldn't dare go. Well, I'm going to Nick, not Midas.

Yeah, well, whatever. Yeah. I mean, somebody hasn't. Okay. If you can't find new heater boxes, just have Nick disconnect everything. Now, the other part of this, is there a chance to have a gas leak if I'm smelling gas heat?

A chance. Yeah. It's almost a certainty. Yeah, it's very likely that your fuel pump is leaking, or the gas line is leaking, or who knows? So I could just ignite one day, like spontaneous combustion. Yeah. Also, it's a little known fact. I think the gas, I know it, I don't think.

I know the gas line that runs from the tank, which is in the front to the engine in the back, runs inside the car. So that could be a gas leak that you have and may be completely separate from this. And don't smoke! I'm not smoking Oh yeah By the way See you Shannon Hey good luck

Thanks a lot y'all Bye bye Birmingham University I want to go there Oh God Can they take them right away 1 888 Car Talk

That's 888 2887 82 double 5 Hello you're on car talk This is Mike Mike Hi Hi Mike

Where you're calling from I'm calling from Fort Wayne Indiana Hello Fort Wayne What's shaking I have an 88

Ford Ranger that I just picked up for a thousand bucks. Good. It's got 211,000 miles on it. It runs like heck, starts in the winter, no problem, blah, blah, blah, blah, but it backfires after it's warmed up every time you shift. Oh, really? And when you downshift and just put in the clutch, boom-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b. Oh, so it doesn't just backfire once.

It's a whole series of backfires. Many, many, yes. You didn't discover this in your test drive? Well... There wasn't really a test drive. Tell the truth. No, it wasn't. He said, give me a thousand bucks.

You said, woo-hoo! And you gave a toll it off you went. Yeah. Well, it's coming... The bobo-bo-bo-bo-booms are coming out the tailpipe. I mean, it's not from under the hood, I assume. It is coming out the back. Yeah, maybe it's your neighbor shooting at you.

Well, in my neighborhood, yeah. Well, 88 Ranger probably has an air pump as part of the emission control system. Wow. And a diverter valve, which is supposed to change the flow that's cut off the flow of air to the catalytic converter under certain throttled conditions. And that probably isn't working, or it's working incorrectly at the very least. I mean, I hate to recommend you as you start taking stuff off.

Right. Especially emission-related stuff because it's unethical, immoral, illegal, et cetera, et cetera. Oh, and illegal. And illegal, yeah. Yeah, it may be illegal. I don't know. The moral part I could handle. Yeah, you knew that.

I'm a little worried about it. The ethical part, you didn't even... Right, that wasn't even an issue. No, not a lot of... So, I mean, that being said, you do it you think is best. But if you want to fix it so the noise goes away and still remain within the law, I think you may have to take it someplace and have him check your air pump system. All right.

Thanks, thanks, guys. Thanks for your call. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Don't go anywhere because we've got a lot more calls. Well, few anyway. And the puzzler answer coming up right after this. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.

When you 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. Tees and Cs apply. This message comes from Rince, who knows that greatness takes time. So does laundry. So rinse will take your laundry and hand-deliver it to your door expertly cleaned. And you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time once spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing,

now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up that Irish flute, or those calligraphy pens, or the daunting Beef Wellington recipe card, and leave the laundry to rinse. Rinse, it's time to be great. Here at Life Kit, we take advice seriously. We bring you evidence-based recommendations. And to do that, we talk with researchers and experts on all sorts of topics. Because we have the same questions you do.

Like, what's really in my shampoo? Or should I let my kid quit soccer? Or what should I do with my savings in uncertain economic times? You can listen to NPR's Life Kit in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us. Click and Clack the Tap Brothers. And we're here to talk, of course, of course, about cars, car repair.

and the answer to last week's puzzler. Yeah. And here it is. It has to do with early American history and statistics. That's what you said. Well, math, anyway. Statistics, I suppose, that bridge of mathematics. Okay.

I still have no idea what it is. Christopher from Atlanta writes, my friend Max says to me, I just read that three of the first five presidents of the United States died on the 4th of July. What do you think the odds of that happening are? I say, no idea. But I'll give you 10 to one odds that I can name at least one of the three. Of course, he takes the bet.

Now, he says, he goes on. He says, I don't know anything about the first five presidents, except that their names are what? Who's the first? George Washington. There you go. Second. No idea. Adams.

Ah, Adams. John Adams. Oh. Jefferson. Right. Tommy Jefferson was number three. Yeah. Okay.

George Jefferson. So I got George Washington. Madison. Right? Yeah, Dolly Madison. And Bill Monroe. In that order. Yeah, got it.

How am I justified in offering my friend 10 to one odds when guessing randomly I have only a three and five chance of guessing correctly? So that's the question. What makes me so sure I can guess at least one of them on the first try? I think I preface this by saying this was for the kids in the audience. Kids, huh? Well, I think so. Kids are supposed to know this? Well, if it hadn't been Monroe, if Monroe hadn't been one of the three,

he was the fifth guy. Yeah. That's the guy he's guessing. Oh. If he hadn't been... Why would you have to say that? Why would you say three of the first five? The thing would have said three of the first four.

Monroe must be one of them. Otherwise... Well, well. Well, no, well, nothing. Well, it could be one of them. Well, you could have said three of the first 20. Exactly. Well, that would have been pretty stupid.

Well, sure, but three of the first two... five, you could have said that just to obfuscate. I know. And it would be true. No, he says he read it someplace. And wherever he read it would have said three of the first four if Monroe weren't among them.

Yeah, you're right. Of course. Don't try to cloud the issue. Yeah. Sheet, I think... He read it somewhere. If he read it somewhere, but if I were trying to trick you... As you always are. I mean, that would be a great way to trick you.

I could have said three of the first seven. Oh, and you would have picked number seven You'd have been wrong No, maybe he died Because it was Monroe Maybe he died the fourth Is it true? I have no idea

Did you check this, Catherine? You didn't check it I don't believe it Mayor, did you check it? No, Berman, did you check it? No, no, no, no check. Dennis. It's probably completely bogus

It's all right, we'll get more mail. It doesn't matter because we have a winner anyway. Okay, the winner This week is The winner this week is April Ralph. I got confused because I thought it said Ralph in April. The winner this week is April Ralph from League City. What is this? Texas. And for having her correct answer chosen from among

the thousands of correct answers that we got this week, April will get a $25 gift certificate to the Car Talk Shameless Commerce Division, with which, as you know, she can pick up our new puzzler book, a haircut in horse town. Yes. Which contains not only all our all-time greatest car talk puzzlers, but also at no extra charge, no extra charge. The answers to those puzzles and most of the answers are right. And we're not going to tell you three out of four are right and maybe three out of five. Indeed. Anyway, we'll have a new puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-888-car talk. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on car talk. Hello, this is Kenny Rudd. I'm newly from Tulsafe.

Oklahoma. Hi, Kenny. How you doing? Where did you used to live? Connecticut. I got it. Okay. And I actually spoke with you guys once before. Really? Back when I was a Pion medical student. Really? And I am a full-fledged doctor now. I made it. So it's Dr. Kenny? Yes. Wow, that's cool. So what's going on today, Dr. Kenny? Well, a surgery is going on right now, actually. There's a little break in the action, so you decided to call us? Well, Dr. Zakoska said he would take over for me. while I stepped out a little bit. You can do that, huh? You can just, like, walk out of the operating room.

I suppose, I mean, if you were doing a tune-up on a Dodge Dart, and someone said, hey, there's a phone call. Exactly. You would just walk away. Sure. Why is a Dodge Dart not as good as a human body? Well, from the poem you read earlier, it's more. It's better.

It's better. So you're out on break. Yeah, and Dr. Z is a big fan as well. Dr. Z. And he just told me to pass on a message that I don't want to. I don't want to get in the middle of this, but... Dr. Zayas? Yeah, okay, you don't want to get in the middle.

I'm sorry to interrupt. All right. But he did say he's still upset with you guys that you wouldn't let that teenager get that BMW. Oh, he is, huh? Does he have teenagers of his own, or is he some... Do you have teenagers of your own, Dr. Z? He does.

Wait a minute, and I thought he was doing the procedure. Who the hell's operating on the guy? He is. He is. He is. Right now, he's selling. It's okay. He's all in control. Is this how medicine gets done?

Well, at least he did put the intestines back inside before he started. I don't think we need to know any more about that. So Dr. Z thinks that the woman who, he's, you're referring to the woman who called and said she was going to get her 16-year-old daughter, a Z-3. Yes, I can't say I agree with a gentleman. With more horsepower than brains, this woman had. Yes, exactly. That was the one.

Right. And Dr. Z thinks we were wrong in castigating her for being basically a moron and a fool, and we should have simply said, what a great idea I wish I was your daughter. That is what he says. Well, Dr. Z may need an operation himself. He may have had an anal cranial inversion. Luckily, he's got a doctor that can take care of that. That would be you, Dr. Kenny.

Yes, yes, I'm going to do all I can. Well, we'll see to it. Well, what does he want us to do? Change our minds? Well, we're not going to. Yeah, I wouldn't think you would, but I think he probably just wanted to get a rise of you guys. So did you call with a question, or you're just merely acting as his agent? Oh, no, I do have a question.

Oh, you do? Oh, okay. And it's actually the same car that actually had developed an attitude before and was revving, aggressively, spontaneously on its own. Now it's sort of a diametrically opposed problem. problem at the 88 Honda CRX. Then now as I'm driving down the highway, the brakes start spontaneously applying. Oh, really? On their own. How magnificent. Yeah, you're not the driving. Are you sure of this or does it simply slow down? No, I'm pretty sure of this because I've got warped rotors a little bit. Yeah, right. But when I apply the brake, the car shakes a little

bit. So you can feel it's shaking. I can feel it start to shake. Good. And then what happens if I go to step on the brake, there's like no travel distance in the brake. It's almost way up. Mm-hmm. Right. Like the brakes are already on. Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like someone adjusted it so that the brake pedal is way too high. Right. And then if you pull over and let it sit for several hours or maybe even minutes, it gets restored to its original behavior. Yeah, it does. Sure. You can verify that the brakes are stuck on easily. The next time it happens and you pull over, put the thing in neutral and try to push the car. In fact, you can try to push it earlier that day to see how it feels when the brakes aren't stuck.

And you'll notice a dramatic difference. Yeah. Then you have to find out what's causing it. I have noticed this, that at high speeds, when this happens, I'll put it into neutral. And the car does slow down much more quickly than it does. Yeah, the brakes are on. Yeah, I think we've established that the brakes are on. Okay.

All right, we're going to give you that. Yeah, we're going to give you that point. Okay, all right. So now how to fix? Do you want me to come up with that? Yeah, why don't you? Or maybe Dr. Z can help out. Well, one of two things is wrong.

Either your master cylinder is acting up or more likely the power brake booster is. And I think we've discussed this before on the show. We've had other people call with this question. Yeah. And the easiest way to figure this out is that there are two 12-millimeter nuts that hold the master cylinder to the booster. Yes.

Are you have tools? Are you willing to experiment with tools? Oh, yeah, we got the best tools. Not those kind of tools. No, like wrenches. Oh, yeah, I do have those too. Yeah. When the car is in the throes of one of these seizures, so to speak, you need to unbolt the master

cylinder from the booster. Okay. Don't take any of the hydraulic lines off. Just remove these two 12 millimeter nuts. Okay. In fact, you don't even have to take them off all the way. allow separation between the master cylinder and the booster. Okay.

It'll move out about a half an inch. And you know what both of those pieces look like. Uh-huh. The master cylinder is the thing you put the fluid in, and the booster is the black metal thing right behind it. That's between you and the master cylinder when you're driving the car. Okay. Okay.

If you do that, and in fact the brakes free up immediately, the problem is a faulty booster. Okay. And you need to replace it. Okay. If, in fact, that doesn't cure the problem, then the problem is the master cylinder. Okay.

But I think it's the booster. Okay. But you might want to practice taking those nuts off so you can do it with good speed. Don't go there either. No. Not speed on the car. Kenny, you haven't going to talk to that long. Okay.

See you later. Thanks a lot for calling. I hope I can get back in there and save that patient. Okay. I'll do it. All right. Thanks. Bye.

So that's what they do. We're not playing golf. They're on the phone. They're on the phone. All right, look, it's time to take a short break and fine-tuning the new puzzle. Define, fine-tuned. Conjure up. That's what I thought.

Keeping up with the news can feel like a 24-hour job. Luckily, it is our job. Every hour on the NPR News Now podcast, we take the latest, most important stories happening, and we package them into five-minute episodes so you can easily squeeze them in between meetings and on your way to that thing, listen to the NPR News Now podcast. Now. 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 puzzle. I can hardly play. Now, I stole this from somebody, I think. It's unnecessary. You stole all of them. No, no. Oh, no. May.

No, some of them I actually conjured up. Oh, that's true. And some were given to you. Some were given to you. Some were given. So I didn't, but I stole this from somebody that sold it from somebody else with some magazine. And I'm just going to repurpose it. Ah, okay, go ahead.

Several months ago, I was at Logan's Airport here in Boston. I go to smell the jet fuel. I don't really fly any place. And while I was there, I happened to see in the crowd an old calling, chum and I can't remember his name and as I'm struggling to find his name he disappears into the crowd wow and I like it already I'd like to I would like to get reacquainted with him and after all he was my roommate for three years and I'm sure he'd be interested in getting back to 200 bucks I owe him but I all I can remember is that

he lived in the Midwest someplace so I run to one of the monitors hanging from the ceiling and I see there are like 11 flights going to various destinations in the Midwest, you know, like Worcester, St. Louis, Muncie, Indiana, Racine, Wisconsin, etc., etc., and because I can't remember his name, it's hopeless, I think. So I have to think of a way to find him, and in a minute's time, I come up with a plan, and in two minutes, I find him. Great! How did I? How did I? I, how did I do it? I have no idea. I didn't think so.

Wow. If you think you know the answer, write it on the back of a $20 bill or any piece of ripe fruit. This is the season. There's some real good right fruit. What about fish? Fish are good too. An entire fish. And mail that thing too.

Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Boxster, Frozen Fish. You could mail a piece of fish, you know. You could. You could mail, like, salt card. Sure. Right? I mean, those guys working at 02238 are going to just love us. They do already.

Of course. Yeah. Okay, here's the address again. In case you missed it, in case you're writing on your live fish. Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City. M. 0223A.

There it is. 02238. all those happy little people. Or, of course, you can email your answer to us from the Car Talk section of Cars.com. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-88-car talk. That's 8-88 Car Talk. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Hi, Tom, Hi, Ray. This is Carspeak from New York. Oh, wait a minute. We need a spelling on this. Oh, not a spelling yet. Another shot at the pronunciation. Carthick. Oh.

Car as in car, the automobile. And tick as in tin and tick, car's thick. Car's thick. That's right. So, C-A-R-T-H-I? No, it's K-A-R-T-I-K. Oh, Kartik. I love it.

It's wonderful. Kartik. And where are you from? Well, I live part of the time in New York City and part of the time in Connecticut. Got it. What can we do for you? But what kind of a name is Kartik? It's South Indian.

South Indian. Do you know a guy named Arup Gupta? He's actually my cousin. I just thought I'd ask Sure, I mean, everyone in India must be related 900 million people Absolutely So what's up, man?

This is a problem that I have It's not a huge problem But it's mainly one of academic interest Well good, it's good to know that you know How important the problem is Yes, because it really doesn't bother me very much But I've always been curious as to why this problem is in my car Yeah.

And it's a 1993 infinity G20. And what I've noticed is when the car's been driven for, you know, upwards of 30 minutes or so, and then we come back home and park the car and we get out, I can smell this sort of chemical smell, which I guess is sort of like sulfur or even close to, you know, hydrogen sulfide. Yeah. And it's this kind of strange smell that I noticed. And I thought maybe, you know, it's just something peculiar to my car.

over here. And the funny thing is, when I was an Indian holiday, I noticed the same kind of smell coming from the car that we have back home, which is an ambassador, which is kind of... I thought you were going to say the same kind of smell from some cows. No, no, no. And I figured the common factor in these two cars is me. Yeah, well, I didn't want to mention that. And you, in fact, you could have noticed this smell from cows. But that's not the case And I was curious as to what the smell was

Yeah, I've often wondered about that too Well, I'm surprised I have to ask a question Because I don't know the answer to it The car that you drove in India Did it have a catalytic converter? I have no clue You said it was an ambassador

Who makes that? It's made by a company called Hindustan Motors And I guess it's a descendant of the English Morris Miners Oh, really? Yeah. Do they have unleaded gas in India?

No, no, they don't. I mean, they do now, but I don't think the ambassador uses unleaded gas. Okay, so the ambassador used leaded gas, and I'm surprised it gave you that smell. Equally, it could have come from the other car, which could have been parked near the ambassador, and I might have assumed it was. Ah, I like that. I like that, too. I like that, because it's very unlikely that the ambassador would have a catalytic converter.

Okay. And if it doesn't have a catalytic converted, then the same reason that we're going to give you for the G20 smell can't be related to the ambassador's smell. Okay. So which one do you want the answer to? Ambassador or G20? He doesn't care about the ambassador. He's never going to drive it again.

But could they then be having both having the same smell for different reasons? And that way that would be good if I knew why the ambassador was smelling the way. No. Listen, we're going to be hard-pressed to come up with one smell and one smell. in one reason. So let's not push it here. But to find two smells and one reason, that would be just about impossible.

To find two smells and two reasons we might have a shot at that. We could. But two smells and one reason, that's beyond reason. Yeah, I mean, and they're oceans apart. Give us a break. Several oceans. Maybe all the oceans. Maybe five or six oceans apart.

Well, the smell from your G20 is coming from the catalytic converter, which is producing hydrogen sulfide gas. Okay, so it was a hydrogen sulfide smell. Yeah. I'm very pleased of that. That's why it smells like hydrogen sulfide. Okay. And cattle converters are supposed to have in them a certain nickel compound,

which is supposed to absorb this hydrogen sulfide that's being created. And then when the car restarts, it's supposed to do some chemical magic and change the stuff into sulfuric acid, which will rot your exhaust system, away and eat out the lungs and all that, but it won't make the smell. But certain catalytic converters are prone to making this smell. With certain gasolines, by the way, not all gasolines would cause it. Some gasoline have more higher sulfur content than others. This is what we've been told.

So you might try switching brands of gasoline, which we've told people before. So if you're burning the same stuff all the time, you might try switching to another brand for several tanks full. Okay. To see if it goes away. But does it do any damage? It doesn't. No.

Yeah, okay. Because now I've kind of actually grown fond of the smell. That's bad. That's bad. You know, it's one of those comfortable feelings that your car is working well. I could say something that I won't. It's a classic conditioning issue here. Isn't that great to know?

It's like your car is emitting a scent. It's like the calf going to its mother. It knows the mother's scent. Yeah. And goes there for nurturing. It just might be reminding me of my car in India. It might well be. Oh, yes.

It's a nostalgia thing. Absolutely. A homesick kind of thing. Right. Ah. And what is causing the car in India to emanate this odor? That was the question I had as well. Oh, you asked us that already, didn't you?

Yeah, we gave up on that way. Kartik, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you. Likewise, thanks very much. See, you later. Thanks a minute. Bye-bye, nah. Hi-bye. See, I like questions that don't matter.

And he said, this is purely hypothetical, academic, he said. It's not important. It's simply not important, but I wondered about it. You can't go wrong with questions like that. Absolutely not. Because you could say, we have no idea, and you'd say, I don't care. Oh, my God. While you've wasted an otherwise perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk,

our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to Fashioned Berman. Our associate producer is Ken the Diaper Slayer Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine. I'm having a bad leather day, Ray. Our engineer is Dennis DeMennis Foley, and our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor is John Bugsy Lawler. Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzov. Our mortgage loan consultant is Nora Lender B. Our staff chiropractor is Winston Payne.

Our director of Russian rust protection is Yvgeny Primerkot. Our chief negotiator is Bernadette Bridge and the manager of our donkey-based video equipment is Cameron Diaz. camera on T.S. Camera on. I know you guys. Our staff dietitian is Norma Lee Chowin and our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Chitteman Howe is U. Louis Dewey, known to the Department of Public Works as Ui Louis Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking clack to Tappert Brothers and don't drive like my brother. And don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. And now here is Car Talk Plaza's assistant chief mechanic, Joey Bag of Donuts.

All right, now, if you just want to copy this week's show, which is number 16, by the way, all you've got to do is call 888 car junk. Now, what if you want other stuff, Joey, like a puzzler book or tapes or CDs? Then you go to the IMF and you apply for a loan, you know what I mean? You moron, no, you call the same number 888 car junk, or you visit the online Shameless Commerce Division at the cart talk section of cars.com. Well, thank you, Joseph. That was instructive, as always. Instruct this week.

Car Talk is a production of Dewee Cheatham and Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though listeners all over the country rethink their recent pledges when they hear us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.