The Best of Car Talk - #2587: Daniel's (Got) Back

Episode Date: November 1, 2025

Show favorite Daniel Pinkwater returns to detail his latest automotive claim to fame as the ‘uber-butt’ by which all other posteriors and car seats are measured 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 Car Talk from National Public Radio with us Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the center. I mean, we've got groundbreaking news here today. Yeah, it could be. This is exciting stuff.

We're broadcasting from the Center for the Study of North American Sub-Torso Augmentation here at Carat Talk Plaza. Now, we always joke about the wacky things that academic study, right? But here's something they're trying to study without much success, I might add. the size of American butts. Now, back in the 50s, a Harvard University study concluded that 18-inch seats would comfortably accommodate the American rump. You go to a sports arena, and there's an 18-inch seat. I mean, for example, if you go to Fenway Park, they have 12-inch seats.

Yeah. Because the study had not been done by the world's greatest university. Exactly. But now that it has, for the last 40 years, 18 inches has been the standard by which all butts will be measured. But, but, but, that 18-inch rule is no longer applicable. Here's an article from the Washington Post about a ferry boat in Seattle. It says that 18-inch is just isn't cutting it anymore.

Greg Gagner, a ferry rider, says, my butt still fits the 18-inch rule, but so many others are so huge, they're crunching us. They're crunching us, Jerry! Yeah, because if you're sitting next to someone who's got a 30-inch butt, You're done for Or worse than that Between people 30 years

Right then you don't exist anymore I mean you can't exist I remember going to a basketball game I remember being on an airplane once A few years ago And somebody had given me tickets So I go there and there's a guy Sitting in his seat

And my seat too I mean he completely subsumed my seat And I what do you say? I said I think it's sitting In everybody's seat What But I think one of the problems is, you know, that people do lie when they fill out these questionnaires, you know. Yeah, well, they shouldn't do it by questionnaire.

I guess people are going to lie. How wide is your butt? Stupid. Well, the problem is, I think, are the units. Oh. Inches is too. I mean, you can't ask somebody. Yeah.

To say how many inches wide their butt is. We need another unit of measurement for butt size. We have to name it after someone with a huge butt. Who do you think? How about Daniel Pinkwater? He's not going to mind. No, I mean, he's proud. He's proud.

He's many times he's told us. how proud he is of his girth. Really? So he could become the standard by which all butts are measured. You're right, absolutely right, because if you say 28 inches, but if it's something that they can relate to,

you know, you can picture Daniel pink water in your mind and say, I'm half a pink water. Oh, so what is it? What would a pink water be then? A pink water would be whatever he is. We're not going to convert it into inches for you. Oh, no. No, inches is the wrong unit.

So it's a pink water. It's number of pink water. How many pink waters are you? I think I'm about 0.6. Yeah. I'm about a third of a pink water. I don't have a butt at all. And if you want to talk to us about your car or DeVold's your pink water measure,

that's 1-888-car talk. That's 8-8-2-27-8-255. Wait, wait, does it only apply to butts because Douggy's head is two pink water? Yeah, we know. That's because his head, never mind. Hello, it's hard to tell a different. Hello, you're on car talk. Hi, this is Mary from Greeley, Colorado.

Hi, Mary. Greeley? Greeley. Greely, yeah, like Varus. Yes, exactly. It is named after Horace. It's named after him. That's what he meant when he said, go west?

He did. He was in Greeley. He wanted to go west from there or west from here? No, from here. The west from there. So he ended up in Greeley, Colorado. That's right. Oh, you know, when we die.

We're going to go to a place called Maliazzi, because that's what people are telling us to go. Okay, so what's up, Mary? Well, my car is drinking coolant. And I've taken it to three mechanics, and they all say, we can't find anything, but it must be going into the block, so we recommend you buy a new engine for $2,800. Do it. Okay, next call. Well, it depends on how hard they've looked.

Well, each of them have pressurized it and said it doesn't lose any pressure. And they said for $360, they could tear it down further and tell me for sure if it's going into the block, but I should count on it. But somebody, one, the next mechanic said, if it's not blowing white smoke and your oil level isn't going up and your oil isn't milky, it's probably not going into the block. So, pray tell, where is it going? If it isn't going into the block or the oil or coming out of the tail ground. Yeah, it's not going to. Well, they can't find a leaking weed. It's not leaking endred.

Both of those guys gave you a rather superficial, a sophomore, I might even say, answering. No, no, I wouldn't go that far because that might be our answer, too. In our opinion. It would help us immensely if we knew what kind of a car it was. No, it's a 91 Ford Explorer. That doesn't help us at all. No, that doesn't.

Oh, great. And how many miles are on it? 97,000. And then my other question is, well, so if it is going to the block, maybe I should just drive it until it has to have a new block. You could do that. How much, what's the rate of consumption? I'm probably putting a quarter to a third a gallon a week in it. Quarter to a third of a gallon of week.

So cost is not a factor. I mean, it's practically inconsequential. Yeah. And ethylene glycol is great for the environment anyway. Makes trees grow, makes evil people die. Keeps when we need to. Ponds from freezing in the winter. Well, I would have to agree that it's very likely to be the block.

Okay. If you had an external leak and they put the pressure tester on it and left it on long enough, they would see something on the floor of their shop. And that's why I say it depends on how well they, how much. how hard they looked because if they just put the pressure tester on left it on for 15 minutes and concluded that there's no leak then that's not enough they said they left it on at 25 pounds for an hour and a half not long enough not long enough what we do when we have vehicles like this is we tell the customer to leave the thing overnight we run the engine with with

our little device on there we have a cooling system pressure tester and we run the engine and let it build up its own pressure so as the engine runs even in the absence of this device, you would build up pressure in the cooling system somewhere around 14 pounds. And when it gets to that point, we shut the thing off. So the engine is now really warmed up, and then we pump it up usually to about 20 pounds. And we let it sit there overnight. And we pick a dry spot so that if there's anything leaking out, we'll see it the next morning. Usually one of the guys in the shop volunteers to stay overnight and lie underneath the

vehicle. Right, with a flashlight clenched in his teeth. I mean, these guys are dedicated, you know? It may take that long. If you have a leak that's that small and you're leaking a drop here, a drop there, it may be that you have an external leak, but they haven't looked for it diligently enough. Okay. But have them do that test, and I bet you may find out that the water pump is leaking or some such thing.

Okay. I'll have it tested again. You can always put a can of bars leak in the radiator or some such thing and hope that that solves the problem. And it's worth doing it in a car with 100,000 miles on. Worth it. It's mandatory. Good luck, Mary. Thanks. See you. Okay, bye-bye.

Mandatory, I think so. 1-8-88-car talk. That's 8-8-2-27-82-5. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, Bob and Ray. Yes. Hey, who's this? It's Daniel Pinkwater. Oh, Jesus.

I wish to weigh in on the Buthawk controversy. Hey, Daniel, how have you been? Well, just fine. How unfortunate you should call it? Who put you up to this? I was suddenly impelled to dial in because, you know, I attended one of those fancy driving schools. Oh. And my instructor, Sterling Mosskowitz.

Moskowitz told me. He told me, Sterling Moskowitz told me that the buttocks are one of the triad of vital elements in fancy driving. Oh, really? The hands being one. The elbow, which you rest on the windows, one, another one. Right. And the spinner knob that you attach to the steering wheel. He told me many drivers are able to operate their car entirely with their buttocks.

So you see how important. Sure. I can almost understand what you said. Yes, I think I've grasped the essence of it. Well, I think it's wonderful of you to have given your name, so to speak, to such a worthy cause. It's an important issue. As I understand it, the pink water is the maximal slant, optimal seat measurement. Well, it is the dimension for a person of virtue.

I take myself to be. Yes, of course. Oh, you think there is a direct correlation between buttocks measurement and virtue? It's well known. And it's even biblical. I won't get into telling you. It's well known by whom? Most people.

Rabbinical scholars, of course. I'm silly of me. I know. But you know, many cars have seats that are no wider than the seat of my exercise bike. And this is an insult. insult is not the word it's a pain in the butt let's face it

if you have a suitable and capacious seat and you are yourself rump challenged or deficient you can always make use of that extra space to tuck in stuff around you like your dog or a

mottasella or a salami sandwich or spring water that's true You're absolutely right. It will not go to waste. Now, I've observed, and I've mentioned before on your very program, German cars tend to have broad seats. Yes.

Now, I think this may... That's the very reason. I mean, that conversation that we had was the very impetus for making us believe that the pink water should be this national standard. You honor me. Internationals. In fact, you may have to go to Paris. Or to get measured.

Because that's where all the international standards are. No, we hate to ask an indelicate question, but we have devised this butt measurement standard as the pink water. There may be some people who really don't know what you look like. Well, actually, I look a little bit like Marlon Brando always have. Really? Yes. But if someone were to ask us, what is the conversion factor between a pink water and meters? We'll stick with the...

You know, actually, I think that I'd prefer that this be used not as a measurement in terms of length or width, but as an ideal or philosophical concept. I see. So it's like a meter and a half, then. I would say, yeah. That would suit me fine. All right. All right, Daniel.

It's been a pleasure as always. Hey, what the hell are you doing these days? Have you got a job? I am the host of a radio program. No. Much like yourself. No. Nobody listens to mine either.

Are you as little known as we are? Yes. It's called Chinwag Theater, and it is heard on several public radio stations. Really? Really? Well, send us a tape. I would love to. I'll send you a CD. Even better.

That would be great. Thanks a lot, Daniel. Thank you, gentlemen. As always, a pleasure. Indeed. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Now, he is nuts.

He can take a joke. Hey, do you remember last week's Puzzler by any chance? Do I remember last week's puzzler? Not even the foggiest, huh? No. 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. 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. We're here, of course, to talk about cars, car repair, and, of course, the answer to last week's puzzler. Which in the little interim, I actually remembered. You did? Yes. Very good. Oh, here it is.

During World War II, the common American foot soldier carried a rifle that used 30-caliber ammunition. Now, you may ask, what is a 30-caliber bullet? Well, I looked it up. I didn't really look it up. I had help. And it happens to be 7.62 millimeters. Now, when hostilities broke out between the United States and Japan, the Japanese hurriedly began to make rifles that would fire a slightly larger, that is, a 31-caliber bullet. You would expect the French to be contrary like that, but not the Japanese.

They probably had a different reason. They did have a different reason that they did, man. The puzzler question very simply is, why did they do that? Of all the calibers out there, why did they make a 31 caliber rifle? Well, one part of it I think is pretty obvious, and that is if they had to vacate a position and their ammunition were captured, it would be unusable to the immutable. Americans. What happened? Too big. Doesn't fit in the rifle. That's right. It's stick. But the other part of it isn't so obvious. If the reverse happened, that is if we, if the

Japanese captured our ammunition, the smaller caliber bullet would fit in their rifles and they'd be able to use our bullets to fire on us. But their aim would be bad, right? Because if it's flopping around there in the barrel of a rifle. Is anything's preferable than throwing rocks? Wow, now that is a great puzzler And I know that we are going to get such a raft of mail Probably It's just too simple I can take it

We're going to get mail from Hirohito himself saying 31 Cal what are you talking about? We had those first We never made That's why you guys made the 30 Calibers you jerks It may be true but at any rate For the purpose of the puzzle it was good Whether it's true or not, it made a good puzzle.

It's a great question. Right, on the basis of the information you had. Wrong or not. Right, exactly. Doesn't matter. Do we have a winner? No. I didn't think so.

We just chose no winner this week. We do. The winner is Marsh Williams from Ohio Columbus. Marsh, now is that a male or a female? We don't know. We don't know. But Marsh's answer was chosen from among all of the correct answers this week. And for that, Marsh will get a 25, I can't say he achieved.

Marsh will get a $25 gift certificate. to the car talk, shameless commerce division, with which Marsh, he or she, can get our best-selling self-help tape. Men are from GM, women are from Ford. Lawyers are from Chrysler. It's all about calls about couples, cars, and lawsuits. By the way, we are enjoying the fathers and cars pictures you've been sending in. We're looking for some good ones to use on the liner notes of our upcoming CD, why you should never listen to your father when it comes to cars. So if you have a picture and we're obviously looking for people with their fathers and around cars, you might understand that. That would help.

That would be. You can send them to us at Car Talk Plaza. So don't send us like the picture from your high school graduation yearbook. We wouldn't want that. Not unless your father is in it too. Well, he was the principal. You're trying to get the keys from him. Anyway, the address is Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge.

Our Fair City. Matt 02238, and before you do send us anything, be sure to kiss it goodbye because you'll never see it again. I mean, even if we didn't want to, we would lose it. We would. And if you write all the information about the photo, right on the back, like who's in it, what kind of car and all that stuff, that would be great. Don't write it on a little piece of paper and attach it like with a paper clip. It's as good as throwing it in the trash. Instead of mailing it, save the 33 cents, just throw it in a barrel.

That's what happened to it. Anyway, we'll have a new semi or quasi-automotive puzzler. coming up in the third half of today's show. In the meantime, you can call us at 888-88-288-28-2-2-7-8-25-50-0. You're on Car Talk. How you doing? Good. All right.

Who's this? That's Greg. From Salt Lake. Salt Lake. That's right. City. That's correct. Utah.

Yes. Well, it could be just from the lake. So I wanted. Maybe he's got a little boat, and he lives there in the middle of the lake. Yeah. I don't have a boat. All right. So you live right in the city itself.

Well, not really. He lied. In the suburbs. Suburbs of Salt Lake City. West Jordan. Okay. West Jordan. Oh.

Good. The West Bank of Jordan. Excellent. That's correct. That's correct. So, Greg. Yeah. Thanks for calling.

So what's happening? What's going on? Well, I've got a 84-toyote-up-wheel drive. Oh. And I started it up, and I drove about a half a block, and I just quit. and I cranked on it for about 15 minutes or so trying to get started again and then I found out later that my son decided to wash my truck and in the process decided to wash out my gas tank too

how old is this kid I love him already he's four what a guy that's really what a sweet kid huh did you thank him for the job he did Well, I thanked it for washing it, but I told him it's not a good idea to watch actually the inside of the gas tank because the water just kind of stays in there. And then he told you to make a hole in the bottom, which he's probably working on that himself right now. No, I told him, I told him, leave the fiction to me.

Well, you've got to be careful what you say to four-year-old kids because it could affect their lives forever. Okay. I mean, when I was four years old, my mother lied to me about something. Really? And it has affected me throughout my entire life. Right. And here's what she said to me. She told me that pigeons can't fly if it's raining out.

Now, I don't know if she did this maliciously, but I used that information in answering some doctoral dissertation questions, and I was so embarrassed. And I don't know what made her even... What was the nature of your queer? I don't even know that I asked her a question. She just volunteered this information. She just volunteered that pigeons can't fly in the rain. I don't know why she told me that.

It has haunted me throughout my life. Well, it's a little known fact that stuff that you say to your kids when they're three, four, and five years old can ruin their lives forever. Yeah, and so, I mean, if you tell him to leave the fix into you, I mean, 25 years from now, his wife is going to be beating him over the head because everything around the house is falling apart, and he's going to be looking for you to fix it. So I think you have to be careful.

So that's my advice for you. Okay. Again, thanks for calling. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so there's your truck with a gas tank full of water. That's right. So I drained it as much as I could.

Good. Okay. And then I put the treatment that you use to take away the moisture. Yeah, dry gas. So gasline antifreeze. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

And it started running again. but it never is quite the same now i uh you know especially when i got it revved up it's kind of sputters one at the high r pms really i mean how many miles you've driven it since this incident oh about uh 15 000 i guess 15 000 miles i uh i tend to uh avoid fixing things if i have to so uh so is the four-year-old kid now about 20 No, I just drive a lot Oh Gee, 15,000 miles

Yeah I would have to say that the two incidents are unrelated Oh no Oh yeah Oh no oh yeah Oh no oh yeah Oh no I don't know That water can't still be floating around anywhere

No the water isn't but the effects of the water You're carburetor This has a carburetor this 84 Yes it is This has a very complex and intricate carburetor With many small passages which are water intolerant. Oh, so you think the water has caused some fatal damage?

Yes, corrosion inside the carburetor? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Well, that's my gut feeling. I have no real basis for this conclusion. See, I don't. I don't like it.

You don't like it? I really don't. I really don't like. What's not to like? What's not to like? Because, for one thing, we have an answer. We have an answer. could be our answer for the week. Number two, we could get rid of Greg and move on to another

caller. And number three, I defy you to come up with anything better. I just did. That the two things are completely unrelated. No, no, that isn't anything better. That's different. It's different. It is different. It might be right. And I think Greg will corroborate the fact that this began right after, I mean, up until that point, the thing had run well. That's correct. And after this, the water incident, it began to run poorly immediately after the gas. gasoline mixture was drained out. So you think this corrosion took place in a... Oh, I got to ask one question, in which case I might agree with you.

How long was it before you noticed that the kid did this and the time that you drained out the tank? Well, it was the same day. It was the same day. Yes. See, I have trouble believing that we could cause that much corrosion in a few hours. And if my brother is right, the solution is to replace the carburetor, which you're not going to do. anyway. Well, you might. You could go to a junkyard and find exactly the same carburetor and put it on there and this thing will run like a dream. What about rebuilding the carburetor? I don't think I'd do

that. You might want your son to help you. No, those carburetors, I mean, you can't believe how many pieces they can cram into a little carburetor. Well, I wouldn't do it. I get somebody to do it for me. No, you could have the carburetor rebuilt. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I mean, you could do that, but it might be simpler. And before you have it rebuilt by anyone, see if you can find a used one. If you can find one at a wrecking yard for 50 bucks, I recommend you throw that one on there. And if it runs great, forget about rebuilding the other one. Right. And buy the one in the junkyard anyway, because if the person rebuilding it should blink while he's doing it, you'll never get it back. The last carburetor I rebuilt, the phone rang. Right in the middle of death.

It is still in a cardboard box under my workbench. Oh, man. Good luck, Greg. Okay. See you later. See you later. Bye, bye. I remember it so well.

So well. It's so easy. But I think it's great that his son took the initiative to wash out. What a sweet kid. I remember my Louis, my older son. I had just had my car painted at one of those places like Earl Shib. Yeah. And it looked magnificent.

And a week or two or a month had gone by. I don't remember. I was in the safe period, the period where you were allowed to wax the car. Yeah, yeah. And I was in the driveway with it. waxing one side and I put the wax on the doors on one side and while that was drying I went and applied wax with the other side and my son who at the time was about four decided he would help daddy and he found I don't know how he found this a flattened tin can and he began removing

the dried wax from the first side of the car with the can with the tin can anything sure and so right back to make all we went We'll be right back with more calls and the new puzzler after these messages. Ha, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us. Click and Collect the Tappert Brothers. And we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new puzzler. I can't either way. Now, you're going to pay attention to all the details.

I'm going to. I can say with almost honesty that everything you're about to hear is relevant and pertinent. and useful. No, you can't say that. Well, the germ of this puzzle was presented by one of my customers, who also happens to be and has been for the past 30 years, a traveling salesman. He travels around from town to town,

selling whatever he sells. I think he sells nuts and bolts, etc. Yeah. Carter pins and the like. And like I said, he's been a salesman for 30 years. And when he first started out on this job, I guess he immediately fell into disqualterman. favor with the company hierarchy because they assigned him he started in the middle of winter and they

assigned him such exotic places like moose jaw main freeze your butt new hampshire places like that so he would have to travel by car from one location to another and he often found himself because he was a salesman driving from town to town in the winter looking for cheap motels in which to spend the night so you're with me so far I'm just so far. You are, huh? Yeah. Well, that's too bad.

Mostly in the Great Northeast here. Mostly, oh yeah, his route was Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, upstate, New York. Man. Terrible. He really ticked somebody off, didn't it? Well, worse than that when the weather got nice, they shipped them down to Florida, Georgia, Alabama. And then as soon as the winter came, back he goes. Back he goes.

Yeah. And he began to notice, he said, a disturbing thing. When he would stop at these motels, oftentimes the owner of the motel was. also the clerk, and then have you fill out that little card, you know, name address, home phone, in case you skip out in the middle of the night. And he said, in some of those, they had a little thing that's an occupation. And in some cases, they had nothing that asked for occupation, but it seemed to be always the case that the motel owner would ask him what he did for a living. Really? And then when he said he was a salesman, he would almost always be

assigned a room on the second floor, if they had one, or if the hotel. Well, had a second floor. Right. And then he asked me if I knew why this happened. And I said, I didn't have a clue. So he gave me a clue. He did. Well, I asked him if it hadn't anything to do with the car that he drove.

And he said, I guess you could say so. At the time, I was driving a Volkswagen. And that's all I knew. And from that, I was able to. to get the answer out of him when I got him in a headlock. If you think you know the answer, write that answer on the back of a $20 bill or a ripe melon. Send it to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Our Fair City, Matt 02238, or 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 1-888-8-2-278-8-8-8-8-2-7-8. You haven't done the double-triple thing for the whole show, you know. You're on car talk, car, car, car, talk, talk, talk. Hello, is someone there. Hi, this is Manish from Davis, California. Manish, M-A-N-I-S-H. Wow, very good. Really?

Yes. From Davis. Yep. What do you teach? Absolutely nothing. Really? Absolutely nothing. I just work as an environmental chemist.

I can't believe I told you guys that. No, you'll regret that. trouble. Yeah. Well, it happens. You know, we're so good at just eliciting this kind of information. I know. The people are trying to hide from us.

What kind of name is Manish? It's Indian. It's Indian, but you don't have the accent. I'm working on it. I can do an accent. I can do an appoo from Simpson. Oh, good. Okay, what do you want me to say?

Oh, how about thank you, Canley very much. I cannot talk the whole call like this, but I can't have a little bit. It's very good. I love it. Okay. Well, you know what? My wife already gave me a hard time for calling. She did. She said, if you're going to call, you have to be funny and charming,

and I can't believe you're going to call in with such a lame problem. No, no, we don't care. The lame or the better. Okay, well, I have a 1987 Mazda 626, and I've been changing the car oil regularly. Every single time I change car oil, oil comes out of the filter. Last time I changed oil on my Mazda, it was bone dry. Really? I'm really worried. As well, you should be.

The filter looked like it was brand new. There was no dirty stuff in it. There was no crud. It looked like when I had put it in. Oh, like the oil had never even got to it. Jeez. Wow. And your wife thought this was a lame question?

Yeah. Manish, this is the most interesting question we've had in weeks. Oh, wow. Yeah, this is something that is. so rare that it's never happened before. Oh, no. That means it's so expensive. Oh, man.

Well, there are a lot of possible... I mean, if you're really convinced that the oil isn't getting to the filter, you're going to have to do a test. That's why I'm calling. The test is simple. Very simple. Messy, possibly, but simple. Messy, yes. You should have plenty of kitty... You should have plenty of kitty litter available.

Or do it in your neighbor's driveway. Okay. At night. At night. I don't know if they're... They listen to car talk, but yeah. Well, they will. Oh, when they're on vacation. You drive them to the airport.

You have to remove the filter, and then you have to crank the engine over. No, no, no, no, no. Well, how else can we know? How else can you know? Okay. All right. No, in fact, there isn't in your engine a relief valve that is designed to prevent the engine from getting destroyed. if the filter should get plugged up due to a malfunction or a mis-manufacture

or the fact that it hasn't been changed in 50,000, 60,000 miles. Wow. And it's possible that that device, that bypass, is preventing oil from getting to your filter because it is malfunctioning. Ooh. Yeah, I mean, as bad as that sounds, it's good because it means the oil is getting to the rest of the engine. It's just not getting filtered.

Is that easy to fix? I don't know. I think I said it's so rare that we've never seen it before on a Mazda it is it is easy to fix it probably requires I'm sure it requires taking the pan off okay which is something you may not want to do or sticking a long skewer no this is an 87 this is a kind that's old enough to practice on

no no no I can't afford to do that we're going to have a baby in a month and a half oh oh you're got to fire it up. Oh. Come on. Okay. All right.

We'll be awaiting your call. Okay. See you, Manish. All right. Thank you very much. Bye. Bye. Well, it's happened again.

You've squandered another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Yes, I have. Producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion Berman. Our associate producer is Ken the Diaper Slayer Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Kiki. Kiki. Kiki. That fits her, doesn't it?

That fits her. It's her. Oh, a child. That's what Mommy and Daddy used to call. Oh, Kiki. Kiki, you did it on the floor again, you little brat. Our engineer is Dennis the Menace Foley, and our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor is, of course, John S. Lawler. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Merkey Research, assisted by statistician Marge in Overa.

Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzov. Our daylight savings time manager is Conrad. at an hour. Our director of long-range strategic planning is K-serra. He's married to Frank Sarah, and now she's known as Kaysera, Sarah. Our director of upward mobility in Eastern Europe is the big new Chrysler. Our director of Japanese cooling system technology is Emperor Overhito, and our chief counsel from the law firm of Duich and how is, of course, U. Louis-Dooey, known around the square as Ui-Louis-Dooey. Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking clack for Tappert, brothers, and don't drive like my brother. Don't ever drive

like my brother, whatever you do. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. And now here, right in the studio, is Car Talk Boss's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinny Gombats. Vinnie? Thank you very much.

Now, if you happen to find yourself in desperate need of a copy of this week's show or any week's show, for that matter, just call our shameless commerce division at 888 car junk, and this week's show is number 21. And what if someone wanted something more interesting

than just this week's show, Vinny? Then he or she should have turned off the radio like about an hour ago, don't you think? But if you want our puzzler book, I hear cut in Horse Town, which I highly recommend, and other great car talk puzzlers or other stuff, you can also call our shameless commerce division at 888 Carjunk or visit it online at the Cart Talk section at Cars.com. Thank you, Vinny. That was extraordinarily enlightening. I enlightened this, chunk.

Car Talk is a production of DoEachian House, and WBUR on Boston. And even the whole voice of London takes another look at its risk portfolio in the United States every time they hear 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.