The Best of Car Talk - #2634: Bug Bomb

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

The Brothers suggested Bob from Texas could rid his car of horseflies by using a ‘bug bomb’ to flood the passenger compartment with insecticide. Bob returns for our in-show ’Quality Control’ program, “Stump the Chumps”, where we all get to find out if that suggestion met the standards of sound mechanical advice or, as is more likely in Bob’s case, a negligence lawsuit. Order in the Court! for this episode of the Best of Car Talk.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us Click and Clack the Tappertr Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Return to Send a department here at Car Talk Plaza. This is an interesting little story, man. One day, God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the evil that was going on, and we know all that. Oh, much of that, indeed. He decided to send an angel down to Earth to check it out. He called one of his best angels, Mario, and sent St. Mario to the Earth. for a little while. When Mario returned, she told God, yes, it is bad on Earth. 95% of it is bad,

and about 5% of it is good. Well, he thought for a moment and thought maybe he'd better send down a second angel to get another point of view. God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time. The angel went back to God and he said, yes, the Earth is in decline. 95% is bad and 5% is good. God said, this is not good. So he decides to send an email to the 5% who were good. He wanted to encourage them to give them a little something to help them keep going. Oh, yeah? And do you know what the email said?

Well, no, no. Oh, you didn't get one either, huh? That was a dirty trick. Well, if your car was one of the 95% that ain't good, give us a call at 888 Car Talk. That's 888-227-8255. We're here to help. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Nancy from Edmonds, Washington.

Hi, Nancy. Did you get an email from God? Yeah, I did. You did? Yeah, he had it, Nancy with a Y. Oh, excellent. What's going on, Nancy? I have a Azuzu Rodeo, 1994.

six-cylinder, four-wheel drive, automatic. And it's been a great car. I use it primarily for my catering business. And about in the last two months, it's been like pulling back, almost like bucking. And then every once in a while, it would just fly forward, and then I'd be pulling back, almost like I had my parking break on. How long has I been doing this? I'd say about two months.

And at first I suspected I always go to the same gas station. But I went to a different gas station. Yeah, that's good. So I thought, okay, I have that gas. The gas is always a good. This thing has like 60,000 miles? Oh, many more. More than that.

How many more? 80. Oh, I think it's more about 80. Yeah, I could sell. I could feel. I felt 80. What you describe to me is a classic clogged fuel filter. And I would be willing to bet if you could find the hill long enough.

You wouldn't make it. You wouldn't make it. The thing would begin to lose power, and it would lose more and more. more until finally, it would just choke and die by the side of the road and then roll over. Oh, and I would, of course be on the way to do a big event. Exactly. Uh-huh. Right, with a thousand salmon.

Croquettes. Okay, I'm going to ask a dangerous question here. I don't know if I can take it. How about on, what do you call them out there, freeways, highways or what? Freeways, yeah. Freeways. How about on the freeway, if you get up to like 65 or 60 miles an hour for a long time.

Yes. I drove myself to the airport the other day. Yeah, and, and, and? And it was doing it. Ah, the right answer. That was close. I had to ask it, though. I mean, it would not have been ethical to not ask that question and send Nancy off on her merry way. I do it every week.

But I think you should take it to your local filling station or wherever you get its service and ask them to change the gas filter. Is that something that one of those fast oil place that says? No, I wouldn't take it to them. No, they may change the oil filter instead. Don't you have a mechanic that you sort of go to?

No. Tell the truth. A general practitioner? An internist? Your primary care physician? No. You don't have one? I've been lucky.

My car has been great. Well, it has. Until now that the fuel filter is all plugged up, when you get that filter changed, you can drive this thing without a worry in the world. While you're at it, you may want to have them check. like the spark plugs and the air filter and those things because those could cause the same kind of symptom. Okay.

So you might need a good general tune-up. If you don't have a good primary care physician, you could go to our website, the Cart Talk section of cars.com, and you go to the Mechanics files, Mechanic X files. And you put in Edmonds, Washington, and you could even put in Rodale, Zuzu, and it will find you a bunch of mechanics

who have been recommended by Car Talk listeners. and Car Talk visitors to the website. Great, okay. Give it a shot, not that they're any good, but somebody thinks they're good. There may be their own mothers for all we know. What do we know?

See you later. Okay, thank you. Bye, bye, bye. 1-888-88-288-2-78-2-5. That's 888-2-5. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Bill from Henderson, Kentucky. Hey, Bill from Henderson, Kentucky.

What's happening? I got a 93 Nissan pickup. It sounds like it has mice under the hood. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I've got this strange squeaking noise. It's been happening for about two months now. Oh, really? Yeah.

And does it happen if you're sitting at idle? No. You have to be moving. Yes, it happens on two occasions. One, when I'm accelerating, and two, when I'm decelerating or putting on the break. Oh. So tell us a little about a little bit about Anderson, Kentucky. I knew you were ahead in that direction.

Is it a quiet little bit? Yes, it is. It is. Which end of Kentucky is it? Middle, north, south, what? Not that even knows where Kentucky is. I certainly, I can tell you all the states that border Kentucky. Go ahead.

California's on the left. Virginia's on the right. North Dakota's on top of it, and Texas must be right underneath it. Well, you're right. Did I hit any one of them? No. Virginia. Virginia.

Virginia, you hit Virginia. I did? Yeah. Yeah. Are there any sense? cities in Kentucky? Oh, Louisville is in Kentucky? Yes. Is it anywhere named Louisville? One of my favorite places.

Yes, I'm in the western part of Kentucky. And so is Louisville. Yes, it is. It is? I knew that. Near California. Well, I would have to say. Go ahead. Say something because I'm still working on it. Well,

you have to make the noise. Is it really like a mouse or is it? It's not even that. It's just a, just like that. Just a short squeak. One time? At the most, it's done it twice. And I'm thinking that it's a belt.

Here's a good way to find out if it's the belt. Turn on all the accessories, like the headlights, the defroster, and all that jazz. And see if it does it with greater intensity when you rev the engine with all that stuff on. Okay. And if it is the belt, you don't have to be in motion to get that noise. Okay. So if, in fact, you do get the noise with all the accessories on, and it's diminished in intensity with the accessories off,

then it would lend credence to the belt theory. Yeah, but the belt wouldn't just go, oh. The belt would go, it usually would make a lot. But if it's been the same for a period of time, almost two months. So you're driving along and you accelerate, and as you're accelerating,

you hear a one or two times, and then it stops, even though you're still accelerating. I think it's more likely to be a loose exhaust system component, you know, for example, where the front pipe bolts of the manifold I like that.

Converter bolts of the front pipe. If there's any movement there, and you will get that movement of the engine under load only. Uh-huh. Okay, so when you rev the engine, and you might be, this is an automatic transmission?

Yes, it is. Put the thing in drive with your foot firmly planted on the brake. Your left foot, that is. Okay, and don't point it at your house or anything. Point it like a neighbor's house in the event that something goes wrong. And you're going to give it some gas

like you were trying to drive it, but, of course, the foot brake on and the handbrake too. We'll keep the car from moving and see if you can duplicate the noise. I like this. See if you can, when revving it up. Because then you'll get the torque of the engine and you simulate what's going on when you accelerate and decelerate on the road.

See, as the crank shaft turns, as the engine crank shaft turns in one direction, usually clockwise, the engine, i.e., the whole block tries to rotate in the other direction. and when that happens, you can set up a dynamic which will cause two pieces of metal, like parts of the exhaust system, to move against one another and make this noise. And does it sound like it's coming like right from almost under you but a little forward? Yes, exactly. Oh, we're getting all the right answers here. I'm with you. I'm with you, man.

So try to duplicate it, and if you can duplicate it, you can take it someplace, and you can have somebody lie into the car. with a stethoscope and listen. Okay. Yeah, while you are in there with revving up the engine, someone's going to lie under the car. Yeah, try to find a real dumb mechanic. Try to any mechanic. I was going to my guys for doing.

Good luck, Bill. Thank you very much. See you. Thanks for calling. Thank you. All right, Tommy, did you take your ginko Rocky Balboa this morning? No, I forgot. So I guess you don't remember the puzzler.

Who are you anyway? You look, they're so familiar. We'll be back in a minute. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and the answer to last week's puzzler. And this one came from someone named Tim Sullivan, and I don't know if the facts are right, but the flavor was just so good. I had to use it.

I'm beginning to remember it. It was good. Tim writes, years ago, when the railroads used steam locomoters, and that isn't even relevant. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had a busy freight line running south from Rochester, New York. And they used a locomotive of the 282 type, also irrelevant, meaning there are two wheels in the front which don't do anything. Eight wheels behind those, which are the drivers, those are the ones that are connected to the steam engine, and then two trailing wheels. And a 282 could handle a train of 80 cars. But on this particular run, it couldn't handle a train

of 60 cars. It had to have 80. Doesn't make sense. That doesn't make sense, and the hint is there's something unusual between Rochester and wherever the train is headed. And what's unusual? Bandits. No. Bunch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Bandits would be good. Bandits would be good, but that's not the answer.

No, this route consists of a bunch of hills which are pretty closely spaced. And imagine the following scenario. Okay. The train with 60 cars is trying to climb one of these hills. hills. As it nears the top, it is pulling all 60 cars up the hill. Okay? Yeah. And the engineer says, the drivers are beginning to slip. I ain't going to make it. If only I had some help. And the help would come from an additional 20 cars attached to the back of the train. Still on the downward slope.

Of the previous hill and helping by the force of gravity to push the train up over the next hill. Sonia. What do you think of that? Love it. This is great. We have a winner. Man. All right, we do have a winner.

The winner is Ray Johnson from Titusville, Florida. Ray Johnson from Titusville, Florida, have won the Puzzler Prize. You may say, what did I win? What did I win? Well, don't get your shorts in a bunch, Ray, because all you won is a $25 gift certificate to the Car Talk, shameless commerce division on our website. Hey, you get our new T-shirt, the Car Talk T-shirt,

emblazoned with our motto, non-impediti Ratione-Ote-Ones. I had one on yesterday. I loved it. Yes, which means, of course, unencumbered by the thought process. Woo-hoo. We'll have a new non-automotive puzzler

coming up in the third half of today's show. In fact, it's algebraic. It's for the kids who are on summer vacation who brains, getting mushy, and they what, have what, squat to do? They have squat to do. So, stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can call us and ask us questions about your car even, and the numbers 1-888-88-288-2-27-8-25-5. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Yes, this is Gene, Colin, from Lubbock, Texas. Gene. As in you, Gene? Yeah, short for Eugene. Yeah. Before I tell you about my car's problem, I want to ask you about something that you said a couple of minutes ago, about something coming up in the third half, well, I always thought that things had two halves the first and second half. Well, that's because you're from Texas, Gene. We don't have third half down here.

Well, here in the East. Yeah, we're doing so much back east that we can't put it all into two halves. No, we need a show and a half to make a whole show. Yeah. And it was, we will admit, it's only recently that the third half has been discovered. Up until a few years ago, no one even knew that a third half existed.

That's nice to do. And I think thanks to the Hubble telescope, we now know that there are three halves. Right. It's made football games more interesting. That's what we need. More of that. So what's going on, Gene? Okay, I have a 1991 Mercedes 350 SDL, which is the big sedan with a turbo-charge diesel.

Yes. Yeah. There's a noise. emanating from the right rear part of the car. Whenever the engine is running, it's sort of a click-c-c-coc sound every five seconds. Whenever the engine is running, even if you're not moving. Yes, engine is running.

It doesn't matter if you're going fast or slow or standing still, but the engine has to be running. Yeah. And there's been going on for a number of months. Everything seems to work in the car. Give us the description again of what the sound is? Well, it's hard to put it to words, but I call it a click clock.

My wife says blink, blink, or something like that. Okay, I like it. I like it. I think of, in terms of a solenoid, cutting on. Exactly what I was thinking, too. And it's that regular that it has a timing to it? Yes, it's just about every five seconds. Now, recently, it's gotten more urgent.

It's gone to a single clunk louder, and about every three seconds. And it sounds seem to be emanating from behind the right rear seat, in front of the trunk. And there's nothing there that I know of, and apparently there's nothing there that the mechanic knows about either that could be making noise. Well, it's doing it. The fuel pump is there.

Yeah. Well, I don't know. Do we have to give the disclaimer? All right, Gene, we know absolutely nothing about this car. We've never even seen one. Oh. But we're going to show how brilliant we are. We're going to come up with an answer anyway.

All right, do that. We're going to figure it out because. You're going to have to give us a man. minute. Okay. Yeah. Doug, we don't get the book. Well, here's a wild guess for you.

This is a diesel engine car, and as such, has an injector pump that is run by the engine that's under the hood. Yes. Okay. But it probably has a feed pump. Of course, it would. That runs from the tank to the engine. projector pump. Could be.

How does that sound, Gene? Does that sound good? Sure. And your mechanic, is it a Mercedes dealership? Not here anymore. They closed it down a couple of years ago. Ah, okay. So you went to a...

He used to be the number one mechanic, and he set up his own shopper, so he's good at him. Oh, so he's the guy. Yeah. I suspect that noise is emanating from the fuel tank. Yeah, that's what I think, too. And especially since you describe it as a solenoid kind of noise. Yeah. Boy, I'm surprised it didn't occur to him, though.

Because if we don't know that there's another pump back there, he certainly does. Well, I'll pursue that idea. But it's something like that. It's a pump or a solenoid or something in the fuel or emission system that's making. It isn't a mechanical thing because there's nothing mechanical back there. But who knows what, you know, these Mercedes cars have all kinds of fancy little doodads. And it could be that one of the doodads has something going on back there. What would we know?

We wouldn't. And what would we care? Well, we care only because Gene is a nice guy. Yeah. He's a gentleman. And he's a very nice person, I can tell. I'm a former Yankee, Illinois. Oh, yeah?

Oh, you are? So you're retired to Texas? I'm retired, yes, I am. You retired to Lubbock? I was the office manager for the local Mack truck distributor. Oh. Hence the affinity for diesels. Yeah.

That may be it. Yeah, must have been the fumes that got me. Hey, Gene, thanks for calling. And good, if you find out, give us a call. Okay. We're always willing to learn. You have a great show, and I enjoy listening to you. Thanks a lot.

Okay, thank you. Take care. Bye, bye. Wait a minute. He just said he was a Yankee from Illinois. Well, I mean, compare, if you. Compared to Lubbock. Right.

In fact, people from Camarillo. That is. Hey, do you happen to know what time it is? Time to roll our clocks back four weeks, the summer savings time? No. It's time to play. Stump the Chumps! This is that part of the show where we revisit a previous caller

to see if our advice was jaded, faded, or underrated? So who's our lucky caller? I don't have any idea, but we have notes. The note says it's Bob from Fort Worth, Texas, and do you remember Bob's tale of wall, neither do I? Does it involve cattle trailers and beehive hairdoes? No, but you're very close, I think.

It involves flies and horses. Oh, yeah. Bob went to horse shows, and every time he got back in his truck, it would be filled with huge flies, and the poor guy, he had to drive around with a can of raid in the cup holder. Remember that? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. But someone suggested that I set off a bug bomb at night, but I'm concerned about your health. Well, no, no, no. I mean, put it in the car. I know, but I don't think you want to get into a car that's just been sprayed with deadly poison. Well, I'm concerned.

You might as well throw Agent Orange in there. I mean, come on. I'm concerned more about the bug juice getting in the electronics of the car and messing up the car. The electronics, what about your lungs, man? Oh, you're re-spoken those Arturo Fuentes, so you don't care about your lungs. I don't care about my lungs. I don't think you should worry about your lungs either. In a few years, you'd be able to buy a lung.

You were rather cavalier about that. Well, we ended up disagreeing on this, I think. Right. I think you took the environmentally incorrect position, and you said, bomb them into next Tuesday. Those little boogers. For which I might add, we got dead ewege with calls and email saying that your brother is nuts. Ah, a bunch of sissies.

I said, no way. I thought it was crazy to set off a bug mom in the car. Cover the seats in fly paper instead. So we disagreed. So it's possible that one of us is going to be right and one of us is going to be wrong. Yeah, which is better than we usually do since we're usually both wrong. Bob, are you there? I'm here.

All right, Bob, before we find out whether the flies are history, or you are, we need to make sure that the answer you're about to give has not been influenced by our staff, the staff of National Public Radio, or the Better Living Through Pesticides Foundation. Is that correct? Well, it's correct, but hope springs eternal and I run to the mailbox every day looking for the bride. You didn't get one. All right, whose advice did you follow? Was I right about the bomb and do you still have any hair?

Well, let me tell you what happened. My wife went to the grocery store and I asked her to bring back a bug bomb. When she brought it back, it scared me to death. All the warning labels, all the chemicals. all the chemicals, and I never had a product in my hand that had so many pictures of skulls and crossbones. I said, this is not going to work. So I thought about it and thought about it, and I realized that when the weather gets cold here, which is not often and not for long, we don't have flies.

So I have a friend who is in the ice business, the commercial ice business. So I took my car and drove it to his warehouse. He manufactures these ice cubes that they put in the 10-pound bags that you buy. convenience storage. Yeah. And he just drove right into the freezer. I put it into the freezing storage facility, not the freezing where the machinery is. Yeah, yeah.

But where they store the ice, I rolled the windows down, left it there for three days. Goodbye flies, no more problems. That's it. Wow. Boy. What a brilliant man you are. We should have called you. Man, and it's not safer than the bug bomb.

So now what are you going to do with the bomb now that you have it? I'm just curious. I don't like my next door neighbor. someone who's going to do you can go. Hey Bob, you're a good sport. Thanks for playing stump the jumps. Thanks, guys. See you later. Bye. Bye. Bye. Okay, Tommy, it's time to take a short bracer that stations can identify themselves. And simultaneously deny any knowledge of how we manage to sneak onto their airwaves. Go to it, guys. We'll be back in a minute. 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 last puzzler.

of this current... Puzzler season. I can hardly wait. Recently, after we finished one of our Car Talk shows, we and the rest of the Car Talk staff decided to go out for a few drinks and some buffalo wings. So the gang of us goes to a local eatery, and we sit down and we have a drink and some snacks.

And just before the bill comes, my brother and I each go to the bathroom, and climb out the window. It was a coincidence. Fancy meeting you here. Yeah. The restaurant was on the third floor. That's why I always carry a rope.

We were in the hospital for months. The bill comes and it's $63. Bugsie says, oh, those guys stiffed us. But look, if everyone throws in an extra two bucks will cover the bill. So the question is, how many people were in the original group that we... That sounds simple enough. Sounds simple enough. Prove your answer. Prove it. Prove that there's only one answer. Now, if you think you know the answer, right at... These are the hardest kinds. I'm proving, yeah, that's always... Pardon the pronunciation, but I call him Fermat.

And everyone else calls him Fermat. But that's basically what his problem was. Prove that this is the only thing. Yeah, it's easy to hypothesize. Sure. It's easy to generalize. It's easy to stereotype. And it's not easy to climb out the bathroom window. Especially with my brother on my back. Now, if you think you know the answer, write it on a postcard or etch it into the shell of a diamond and ruby encrusted Faberjeet. And send it to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City. 238, or you can email your answer from the Car Talk section of Cars.com. If you'd like to call us the number is 1-888-8-8-8-8-8-8-2-5-a-law.

A lawyer on Car Talk. Hey, guys, this is Michael. I'm calling from New Orleans. How you doing? Michael, we're doing great. How you doing? I'm doing fantastic. Listen, I got a couple problems.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, slow it down, will you, Michael? You must be from New York. Where are you really from? Seriously, from New Orleans. We talk just like we're from Boston. No kidding. Yeah, really. Like, everybody, that's the great thing.

People could come down from Boston to New Orleans or go from New Orleans up to Boston, and there's no difference. There's no difference. So we should move down there, huh? Absolutely. You'd be welcome to here. I love it. We were there once.

They showed us to the airport. Exactly. Exactly. So what's up? What's going on? Well, like I said, I got a couple of problems. This one's the interesting one. Yeah.

My wife and I are one car family, and I told her we were going to, I was going to buy a new car. We replaced our old Audi. And she said that's fantastic, and I told her I'd handle everything. And she went out of town. and I decided to buy a car that I liked. It was fun. I bought a 1999 Jetta GL standard. That's the kicker.

And you didn't tell her. Exactly. She comes back in town. She looks at the car. She loves it. She gets in and she turns to me, she said, you bought a standard? And she called around, and she found out that you can get it transferred between a standard to an automatic. I can't believe, number one, that it can be done.

And if it is done, doesn't it kind of screw up the works? Oh, yeah, this would be the biggest, the second biggest mistake. Third biggest mistake. Hold on a second. Hold on. That's my wife you're talking about. You got it. No, I think it would be a mistake to do this.

Why? No, I mean, it is certainly doable. Right. And first of all, if you're going to have it done, you must have it done at the dealership. Right. It's going to cost you a few thousand bucks. Okay. Well, that's more than they said.

They said, well, we could do it for $600. It's not a problem. Oh, 600? Yeah. When you went to buy the car. car, how much more was it with an automatic transmission? Oh, it was thousand bucks?

Several thousand dollars more. And they were doing it at the factory. Correct. So the only thing I can imagine is that they're going to sell, they have a ready, willing, and able buyer for your standard transmission. I got you. They're going to charge him to $3,000. Right.

But it should cost you $3,000. But there are just so many things that will go wrong, not to mention the fact that I think you may even have to change things like the computer. Oh, wow. I didn't even consider that. Can she tough it out? She's going to have to tough it out.

Or I'm going to have a separate car. Well, I mean, did you buy the car new? Oh, brand new. Yeah. Yeah. How long ago? Three months. So I don't have to bite the bullet and buy her a separate car.

Well, I think so. You have to buy her own car. Yeah. And she will, when she has to drive this car, but for the most part, she'll be driving her own car with an automatic. Yeah. See, the trouble is now, geez. I mean, I was going to suggest.

You just swap it. Go back to the dealer and say, I want an automatic. Well, you could do that, too. You'd take a serious hit. But, I mean, you can get a used 99 with automatic transmission and sell this one. And I don't think it's going to be all that expensive to do that. I'd have to look at the... Yeah, I'd recommend that as opposed to having them put an automatic in yours.

I think... Because don't forget, your wife is not going to forgive you. Yeah. And the sooner you can get the... memory of this out of her head. She's already in the counseling. We're already in the counseling over this issue. Trust me. She will say, sure, hon,

I'll tough it out. Yeah, right. If you could only read her mind at that very moment, you know that there's no amount of money too high to prevent you from doing this because it's in your best interest. Trust me.

I think I'm with you on this, but guys. I know. I think you are. I appreciate it. See you, Mike. Good work, Mike. Good luck. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. 1-8-88-court-taught. That's 888-227-8-255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Louise in Habbertown, Pennsylvania. Where town?

Habertown, Pennsylvania. Harbor Town? H-A-V-E-R. That's right. Like Havertown. Well, you guys would say Havertown. Why wouldn't you? Well, I don't know. Because she lives there and she knows it's pronounced Haver. Habertown.

Right? We're right outside of Philadelphia. I thought that was Philadelphia. Phylaedophia? I don't know. What's up, Louise? But anyway, I have an 89 old cutlass here, okay? Yeah. And, well, we want to hold on to a little more,

but every time we put the break on, we hear a loud clunk. Oh. Now, I have had it to three different mechanics, and they all assure me that nothing is wrong with it. when we put the break on, the clunk is in the, comes through on the door side of the passenger. And sometimes I can even feel something moving under there. But everyone tells me there's nothing wrong with it.

Well, first of all, I'm sorry, go ahead. I mean, of course something's wrong with it. Well, that's how I feel. Well, you're absolutely right. And the next guy that says to you, there's nothing wrong with it, tell him he's a moron. They say they can hear it. They agree it's fair. Yeah.

And the only thing that I, you know, we had to have a fender, a new fender put on, not long, this has been going on for almost a year. Really? And the last fella, it was like a month ago, he said that every one of the boats to the fender, they were all loose, that they have to come off. So he fixed those. You know, I keep thinking, well, maybe they left something in there and there's something, you know, clunking. Did this noise begin after they did the fender? Yes. How serious was the evening?

accident. I mean, they had to replace the fender. Did they replace other stuff? No, a fellow was gone by. I was parked, and he did a job on the fender. He had one of those high trucks and he wasn't looking where he was going. And are the guys who are telling you that there's nothing wrong, the same

guys who did the fender? No. No, I went to a break shop. Ah, that's your mistake. Ah, Louise, Louise. Good God, Louise. You went to a break shop? By one. What right? Did you go to a break shop? Who the hell are you to go to a break shop?

Why, put my foot on the brake? Yeah, but see, you diagnosed the problem already in advance. That's why you're in so much trouble here. I see. And I'm here to help you, Louise. I'll be going out for coffee. No, see, when you, I realize that it happened when you step on the break. But you then concluded that the noise had to do with the break. You went to a break guy. it's like you got a pain in your stomach. You go to a stomach guy.

Right. And the stomach guy doesn't know what's wrong because actually it's a back problem that's causing your stomach to hurt. And the stomach guy says, there's nothing wrong with your stomach because it's your back. Right, right.

Yeah, so you've got to go to a general practitioner first to find out what kind of specialist you have to go to. Uh-huh. Yeah, I suspect you have a bad control arm bushing. someplace. Out of the tens of thousands of pieces of a car, you went right to a control arm bushel. I mean, I knew it wasn't like the spenometer or the volume knob and the radio. I knew it wasn't either of those.

Limited those right away. Yeah, I knocked those right out of the picture. And my vast experience suggests that it's something akin to that. But it's probably something in the front suspension. Okay. That's causing the noise. But I wouldn't go to a suspension specialist. It's like Tommy says, you want to go to someone who covers all the disciplines.

Someone who doesn't have preconceived notions. And someone whose scope isn't limited. Yeah. Okay. And someone who's open-minded and say, look, I have a noise. And it occurs when I step on the break, but I don't think it's the break. Don't even say that. Just say, I have no idea about nothing.

You tell me where the noise is coming from. And it always helps to say, I want to fix it no matter what it costs. The few customers that we have, still, who take that position are treated very well. The other question is, the steaming wheel was very loose. Would that give you any? Oh, see, Louise, you know more than you think. Yeah, you could have a loose rack and pinion mount. You could have a bad tie rod end?

Yeah. Take it, you know, I'm going to suggest you take it to the dealer. And I bet you they're going to have. figure it out in 10 minutes. Oh, well, that would be great. But get it fixed because it has the potential to be dangerous. It does have the potential to be dangerous. And all joking aside, I wouldn't mess around. Take it tomorrow. All right. And certainly between now and then, don't drive fast. Oh, we're supposed to leave for New York City tonight. Don't. Don't. I would not take the car. Take the train. Really? I know your husband's going to convince you. Tell him you'll meet him there.

Take the train. Yeah. And buy the insurance policy. policy on him. See you, Louise. Thank you so much. Bye. Thank you. Bye. While it's happened again,

you frittered away another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our steam producer is Doug I had some fritters for breakfast the other day. Doug the subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion.

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and our seat cushion tester is Mike Easter. And of course, our Russian chauffeur is Picoff and Dropo. Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Chewyman Hall is U. Louis Dewey, known to the heat stroke summer school students in Harvard Square as Ui Louie Dewee. Thanks so much for listening. We're click and clack to Tappard Brothers. and remember, above all, don't drive like my brother.

And, by the way, don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. And now it is our great pleasure to have in the studio, Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinny Gumbats. Thank you very much. Now, if you want a copy of this here show, which is number 28, you can get one on the web,

just head on over to the online store at the Car Talk section at cars.com. You know what I mean? That's very good. But what if I wanted something else? I mean, what if I wanted to buy that new CD, why you should never listen to your father when it comes to cars? Would I go to the same site, Vincent? No, you dope.

You go to www.l.l.orgzafunky brother.com. Of course, you go to the same site, the card talk section of cars.com. Or you'll order by phone. You by calling 888 car junk. And yes, that really is the number 888 car junk. Thank you, Vinny. That was truly innovative.

Yeah, I got your innovation right here, pal. Car Talk is a production of Dewey Cheatham and Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though Nina Totenberg tries to vote us off the island, whatever she hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.