The Best of Car Talk - #2636: In Praise of Cleveland

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

Marian’s Ford pickup is bouncing all over Cleveland, so she had a local shop replace her shocks and… it’s still bouncing around Cleveland. Click and Clack figure it out in about 10 seconds and proceed to work on the bigger problem: ‘Why Cleveland?’ on 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 to Tappert Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the reality ain't all it's cracked up to be department here at Car Talk Plaza. Well, I mean, we saw all these other networks that have huge hits with the so-called what they say reality shows. Yeah. So we decided NPR needs a reality show too. I mean, you may be familiar with the one that PBS came up, but it's called 1900 House. The idea is that an English family moves into an authentic 1900 Victorian house, built in 1900.

Right, right. And it's got nothing, no dishwasher, no microwave, no email, no... Not like the houses they have now, right? The cameras roll and they capture these poor schleps trying to cope with reality as it was in 1900. Yeah, yeah. Well, we have a concept here for a similar show, and it's called not 1900 House, but 1952 car. We wanted to see... Well, what would happen if a typical American family tried to live life the way they did in 1910?

In an authentic 1952 practice. Just what happens? The family's yours. Which we happen to have. We happen to have a 1952 MGTD, right? Mm-hmm. So here's a brief synopsis of the first season. Episode one.

While the family watches, Chief mechanic Vinnie Gumbats prepares the MG by going through it and stripping it of any modern conveniences and finds... There are none. Right. Episode two. To prepare for authentic... 1952 life, the entire family watches reruns of father knows best.

Yeah. Tommy realizes that fathers went to work in the 50s, and he tries to back out of the whole deal. The kids realize that kids listen to their fathers in the 50s, they try to back out of the whole deal. The little woman, as she was known in 1952, realizes that since men always drove in the 50s, she'll have to let Tom drive every place they go, and she wants out also. Episode 3, good news and bad news episode. Good news, NPR's publicity department is thrilled that 1952 car leads all three network newscasts.

Bad news. It's because M.G's top speed of 28 miles an hour creates a 1,500 mile traffic snarl during evening rush hour. Children and little woman, again, trying to back out in one case begging Dan Rather to put them on the Survivor Island. Episode 4, the father's son born the episode. Ah, yes, my favorite. Tommy teaches his son how to repair a 1952 engine. Tommy ends up learning how to chase the son down, bind him with a sturdy rope, drag him back to the radio show set, kicking and screaming,

and the little woman tries to back out again. Episode 5, a marital spat breaks out at the drive-in when little woman comments during perfect storm that life on a capsized fishing boat doesn't look half bad. Episode six, a surprise hailstorm turns a Sunday outing into a desperate battle for survival. Oh, the pathos. As the thin canvas convertible roof fails, and Tommy suffers frostbite on half his butt,

the rest of the family survives by huddling over an impromptu campfire in the back seat, of which there ain't none. That's why it was impromptu. It was very... Episode seven, the kids get caught sending SOS emails from their palm pilots. The little woman gets caught ordering fleece earmuffs on eBay.

NPR finally cancels the show after family tosses Tom and audio equipment overboard and car is found abandoned in Ritzkowton parking garage. This is going to be a hit, man. Oh, I can see it. Well, if you're up with reality or if you have a problem with your car or anything else, the number is 888-8-2-27-82-52-50. A lawyer on Car Talk. Is Mitch, and I'm calling from Brooklyn.

Mitch from Brooklyn. What's up? All right, here's the deal. I have a 92 Ford escort. Yeah? With about 55,000 miles. Yeah. My son and I have noticed the car has a worrying noise,

kind of a... Like when you used to put a baseball card in a... In the spokes of your bike, yeah. Right. Now, it only occurs, though, at 1,400 RPM. At 13, it stops. When you go beyond the 14, it stops. Now, that worrying noise, though,

and this is where we might need some MIT grads. Yeah. Because that might be an acoustic quirk, because when we notice that when you start the car in the garage when the wall is much closer, the sound instead of being a brrm is more of an air. You all right? More of a metallic sound than that pleasing sound

of the Roman Mihia's car going through the Schwinn. Right, right, right, right. So when the engine is cold and you're in a confined spot, there's a different dynamic at work than when the engine is warmed up and you're out in the road. So it's not the acoustics of the wall being closer? No, no, I don't think so. Sure, that has something to do with it. But I think the overriding thing is that the engine is cold and you're in a confined space.

I think we have here a case of a sympathetic vibration. Is that all that is? I feel a certain connection with your vibration, too. This is a simple 801 issue. Oh, is it? 801. is this freshman physics course at MIT. Ah.

And my brother knows because he took it four times. That's right. And we might have some forced, undamped, harmonic motion. Yeah, you have a loose piece of sheet metal. That's vibrating. That's vibrating. And this piece of sheet metal is located in the vicinity of the exhaust system. Uh-huh.

And usually these things are called heat shields. Right. Not be confused with what they had on the space shuttle. The space shuttle, right. Uh-huh. So, and you need to go to a shop and have them check it out. And you can reproduce this without driving the car. If they put it on the lift and you bring the revs up.

Well, he does it in the garage. You don't get it to do it every time. But this is the kind of thing that would only happen at certain RPM. Oh, sure. Sure. That's how it all works, man. As soon as that vibration of the engine reaches a certain point, it makes other things vibrate at the same rate.

And the things won't vibrate unless you get to that rate. Ah, yeah, man. It induces what's called a sympathy. aesthetic vibration. So this is not going to kill me, though, if I don't bring it in within the next week or so. No, of course not. It's been doing it for six months anyway, right? Actually, only for the past few weeks or else we just blotted out the noise, pretended it wasn't there.

And then we had a spoke. We had a baseball card in the tires. That probably was what we thought it was. Okay, guys. Same. Thanks, Mitch. Okay. Bye-bye.

One 888-Cart talk. That's 888-2255. A lawyer on car talk. Hi, my name's Marion. and I'm from Cleveland, Ohio. Marion with an A or an O? A. Marion.

Yes. M-A-R-I-O-N. A-N. A-N. I just asked you, with an O or an A. Well, the A was in the front. Marion. No, that would have been Morion, like moron. It's across the bear.

It really is. Where are you from, Marion? Cleveland, Ohio. Now, tell us the truth about it. Everyone makes fun of Cleveland. What's the story? I mean, all we know is that the river caught fire, But that happened 20 years ago, right?

And Cleveland might be a magnificent, beautiful place now, and no one knows about it, but you. Well, you're asking the wrong person, because I just moved here from Los Angeles two years ago. And I thought it was coming to a nice city, but, you know. Oh, you don't have any great things to say. Boy, I got a raft of nasty mail. Remember the couple of weeks ago I was reporting, simply reporting. I was not offering my opinion on the matter. I reported that someone when I was standing in...

Yeah, but it's the Amends that do it after the report. No, I was standing in the Newark train station waiting for Amtrak's three-hour-late train to show up. And a guy who was born and grew up in Newark was complaining to me how he had moved out 10 years ago because he was mugged every night for five days. And he was running out of wallets. And I just mentioned it. and I got a raft a nasty mail from citizens of Newark saying Newark is a wonderful place. I never said that it wasn't a wonderful place.

And if you don't retract your statement, I've got to come here and lay a beating on you and steal your wallet. I'll attract my statement about Cleveland. It is a pretty nice place. It is a pretty nice. It's quiet and it's really different from Los Angeles. It's boring, huh? There ain't much happening, huh? But that's my problem is Cleveland. And so, like, I have a 93 Ford Ranger.

Yeah. And I moved here to... two years ago. And now my ranger feels every bump in the road. I mean, it's like, this is, it's like the worst drive you ever had in a car. Yeah. So I saw a commercial on TV, get your shocks replaced, and you'll have a smooth ride, and I got my back shocks replaced, and nothing's changed. Well, understandably, the roads in Cleveland are worse than those in L.A. because of the snow that Cleveland gets. When I hit a bump, sometimes, and it is a pickup, and it doesn't have the back end, full, right? Sometimes it'll jump over. Well, sure. No, all pickups will do that, especially if...

You have too much air in the tires. Exactly. That's your problem. And these guys at the shock shop, maybe replaced your sharks, even though you didn't need them. You know, did they offer to check them? Well, you just went in and said, I need new sharks. Yeah. You did that, huh? Yeah, I did that. That's pretty dumb, huh? Yeah. Well, not as bad as moving to Cleveland. You're two strikes now. I mean, you're on the hairy edge here, Mary.

Yeah. And I'm coming to Boston. Is that a good thing? Yeah, that's... I mean, is the thing okay on the highway? Yeah, it is. Yeah, no, I would guess you have way too much air in your rear tires or maybe even your front tires, too.

So I would check that because it's dangerous. If there's way too much air, a tire could explode, And at the very least, if there's just a little bit too much air, it can make the thing bounce all over the place and make you think that you need shocks. Go someplace and go to a gas station and check it out. And don't rely on the thing at the gas station that you crank up, you know, the thing that goes ding, ding, ding.

You need to have someone check it with a bona fide tire pressure gauge. See if you can find a gas station that doesn't just sell burritos. That has actually like a mechanic in it that will come out with his own. We sell all kinds of gas. and have someone check it it would be nice and if the guy's got five minutes and he could check out your front end

and your suspension in general that would be nice too oh well great well thanks a lot see you Mary bye bye bye she wasn't exactly a proponent of Cleveland she wasn't on the chamber no she won't be on the brochure right

one Marion moved here for LA she thinks it's boring her truck is given Well, you're going to admit, I mean, after living in L.A., almost any place would be boring. Wouldn't it? I mean, L.A. is like hopping. Sunshine.

Sunshine. Sunshine. Earthquakes. I mean, all the things that's going for. It floods, you know, mudslides, you know, wildfires. I mean, there's stuff going on there, man. There's stuff going on. Looting, riots.

I mean, you name, L.A.'s got it. Up to Cleveland. It's like, you know. Yeah. Too predictable. So that's what she misses. You know what she needs? She needs her truck stolen.

Okay, look, Tommy, think hard. Do you remember last week's puzzler? I don't remember no stinking puzzler. That's right. There was no puzzling last week. The puzzler is on summer hiatus. It's out on the Hamptons getting a laser face peel. How are we going to kill all that time in the second half of the show?

Stay tuned and I'll show you how a real pro does it. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us. Click and Collect the Tappert Brothers. And we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and the ultimate boat payment. Well, I see. A little news item? You've been doing something wrong. You don't have it right. Here's a note from Lois Wade from Hacklestown, New Jersey. It says, talk about your boat payments. This guy must have an ocean liner. And here's a little news item from her newspaper.

A 72-year-old retired Sussex County Auto Mechanic has been charged with bilking a 94-year-old woman out of several hundred thousand dollars during the past eight years in a scheme to continuously fix her car but never finished the job. Elwood Baldwin of Newton had been fraudulently collecting

$963 a week. from the victim who's a resident of Andover Township for supposedly, get this, supposedly fixing her 1973 Plymouth Valiant. Well, they do need a lot of repairs. Evidently, the woman had an automobile accident in 1992 and she brings it to this guy and for eight years, he sends her a bill

for $963 and says it's not quite ready yet and she pays him. Well, she may be on the easy payment plan. Isn't that... That's $50,000 bucks a year. How did he get caught?

You want to know? Well, of course. Do I want to know? The woman lives... It says the woman lives alone and the scheme was uncovered when a distant relative Those damn distant relatives.

Contacted the police with a problem regarding what he thought were car payments. He thought she was making car payments. And he finds out she's got a 1973 bullet. She's paying $4,000. She could have been driving a Maserati for $960.

The thing only cost $4,000 in 1773. Oh, boy. So if you could find one customer like that, man, you'd be on easy street. Or in jail. I love it. I think it's great. He got greedy.

Yeah. He got, he didn't know when to stop. At some point he should have said, your car's all set. Yeah, he probably sold a car. What car? What car? What car? I'm not in business with cars.

Hey, by the way, in case you haven't noticed, the puzzler is on vacation this week. But if you find yourself in desperate need of puzzlement, unlike my brother, if we're going to deal for you, just head on over to the car talk section of cars.com and you'll find the puzzler that we've selected from the archives. one of those oldy but smelly ones. And remember, even if you have seen it before, what are the chances you'll remember the answer?

I mean, we can't even remember the answer. The answer is probably wrong anyway. You can always send in a letter of rebuttal. In the meantime, you can call us and ask us questions about your car or anything else in the universe. Quarks. You know what I've been subscribing to? What do you've been reading?

Someone subscribed me to the Pons and Fleischman newsletter. That stuff is happening. Oh, man, stuff is happening. Is there a... Yeah, are there things about teleportation there? Have they asked you for money? Of course. How much are you weak?

9606. There you go. 1-888-car talk. It's 888-227-8-255. Hello, your own car talk. There's more than one sucker born every day. Hello. Hi, guys. This is Kate in Las Vegas.

Kate, Kate, with a K, of course. Kate with a K. So what's going on, Kate? Well, I have a 1995 red Accura Integra, and it's doing something really quirky. When it gets to be about 103 or higher, when I stop at red lights, the car will stop, but then my brakes start slipping. And my foot goes closer and closer and closer to hitting the floor. and I can take my foot off the break and sort of let the car lurch forward a little and then catch it, and it'll stop, but then it slips again.

And how long has it been doing this? Only since it started getting really hot, which was February, right? Yeah, unfortunately, it's been about six weeks now here. Yeah, that sounds dangerous, though. I mean, aren't you nervous about this? Yeah, because, you know, we have lots of traffic here in an awful lot of light and they're long, so I'd like to do things. Well, I mean, how come you didn't bring it somewhere? Take it.

Or take it. Take it somewhere. I did, and they tell me I'm crazy. They told you you were crazy. Pretty much. You know, they didn't say it. They gave me the look. Oh, yeah, what's the look?

You know, the look where they sort of tilt their head at you and say, well, I'm sure it happens, but we don't see anything. So you weren't sufficiently convincing. What do you do for a living? I'm a professor. Of what? Sociology. Geez, you should be able to handle this. You'd think.

I know nothing about cars. No, but you must know about Neanderthals. Yeah, I don't know about people. That's how I knew what the look meant. Yeah, you know what the look meant. That's right. Well, you have to go back and tell them that you're pretty sure. You're pretty sure.

You're almost positive. You're almost positive, and you've spoken to people who sound like they know what they're talking about. And they're almost positive, too. That you need a brake master cylinder. Oh, no. Yeah. That sounds expensive. Yeah.

No, no, no. It's a few hundred bucks. Oh, it's not so bad. Yeah, I mean, nothing. If you're in Las Vegas and you're a sociology professor, one roll of the dice. She's probably making $12, $15,000 a year. Yeah, just about that.

And the silly thing is, I, uh, you know, I, of all things, I study the sex industry. So the people that I, that I interview and research make more than me. I mean, it's really silly. You study what industry? The sex industry.

It's an industry? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we have legal baffles out here. No kidding. No kidding. Yeah. Only place in the country, so it's worth looking at, you know?

Do you get any field work, as they say? Yes, exactly. Okay, just curious. I mean, it's very, very clear that you need a brake master cylinder. Okay. And it was unconscionable of those guys to send you away because obviously it's dangerous. Uh-huh. And the description that you gave leads clearly to a master cylinder.

Isn't Lake Powell near Las Vegas? I don't know. We have Lake Mead, which is about 40 minutes away. 40 minutes. And what do people do on Lake Mead? Oh, just try and stay cool. You know, boating, swimming, all this and stuff. So it's likely that the guys to whom you took the car could even have a boat. If they had a boat, they'd have to make what? Boat payments. Boat payments.

That's right. Yeah, I mean, they could have made a boat payment and saved your life at the same time. There you go. So this is a indeed a threatening kind of problem. Don't wait. Do it tomorrow. Got it. Thanks, guys. See you, Kate. All right, take care. How can a mechanic send away a person who complains of a brake problem?

The car won't stop. The pedal goes to the floor. It's unconscionable. Break problems require some kind of repair, even if you don't know exactly what it is. Do something. Of course. Because at least you'll be one step closer to figuring it out. And if you do nothing, you can't get any closer.

Yeah. Don't go anywhere. Stick around for more calls coming right up. Ha, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us. Click and Collect the Tapper Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and anything else you want to talk about. But first, Tommy, you've got mail, don't you?

I do. I have mail. I mean, I have all kinds of stuff. And this is just a little list of, I don't know, little sayings. Here we go. I'll just give you a few of them. Go ahead. Any participation required on my part?

No, you can fall asleep. Oh, good. You might like some. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the arc. professionals built the Titanic. Another one. Love is grand.

Divorce is a couple hundred grand. One of my favorites. Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason. I like that one too. I always wanted to be a procrastinator, but I know. never got around to it. And you'll like this one.

A day without sunshine is like night. I love it. I like love is grand. Divorces a couple hundred grand. Anyway, if you have mail for my brother, you can send it to him at Mail for Tommy. Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City. Matt 02238, or you can email him from the Car Talk section of Cars.

And by the way, the astute among you may have noticed that this is normally the part of the show where we introduced the, what, the new puzzler. Yeah, I've been waiting for it. And the non-astitute are probably just as surprises my brother to hear that. That's me. But in any case, if you're really jones and for a puzzler, you can always check out this week's arch rival. Art rival. Arch rival. We used to be the archival puzzler, but I like...

I like arch rival. Arch rival puzzler over at the website. Just head on over to the car talk section of... In the meantime, if you would like to call us, even if you would not like to call us, the number is 888 Car Talk. We're not going to change the number just because they don't want to call us. That's the number. It's the number. You want to call us or you don't want to call us.

That's the number we're sticking with. 888822-278-5-5. Hello, you're on Car Talk. I can remember it. Hello. Hi, this is Christine from Seattle. Christine with a CH, huh? That's correct.

Oh. Are you as young as you sound? Probably not. Probably not. I'm 25. Really? Then you're not as young as you sound. Yeah.

Everyone thinks I'm like 16. That's what I would have said. Everyone thinks my brother's 16, too, but not from the way he sounds. Somehow I don't believe that. So anyway, what can we do for you? Well, I have an Oldsmobile Delta 88, 1988, 1988. An 88, 88, 88. Yes.

This was Dad's car, huh? It was my father's automobile. So I recently moved to an apartment in downtown Seattle where I have to park on the street. Yeah. And one day, after I had parked it kind of on a hill, I started it up, and it kind of made a weird noise when I started up. And then when I turned the wheel, it made a terrible growling kind of noise. When you were on the hill, was the car pointing down the hill or up the hill? It was facing up the hill

My brother's got that look at his face Like, what the hell? Does that matter? You never know, you never know. For one thing, you have to be able to visualize the problem. And I actually had just driven it to my dance class And then later on in the evening I was going to my parents' house. My brother goes to dance class.

Oh, that's dance class. class. I'm sorry. Wait a minute. Was this the first time you had used the car that day? No, no, no. You had already been to dance class. Yeah.

And you came back, and it hadn't made the noise before. No. Okay, continue. Okay. So I drove to my parents' house. It made a bad noise. I took it to their mechanic who looked at it and said, oh, you need to fill it up with power steering fluid.

Right, because it was low on floor. I like that. I like that. So I took it to one of those, you know, quicky blue places, and they looked at it, and it was foamy when they looked at it. That's right. And they said, you need to flush the system. So I said, fine, flesh the system. They did, and the noise went away.

Yes. Then about a week later, again, I was parked on a hill, and I think I was pointing up again, but I'm not sure about that. When I turned on the car. Well, if you're not sure about it, we can't go on. Oh, it's pointing up, definitely. All right, we'll accept that.

So I started making the noise again, and I drove it around for about a week before I did anything about it, and I took it to a mechanic who looked at it and said that the power steering rack was leaking. Oh, that's why you've lost the fluid, and that's why it was foamy, because when they filled it up, they didn't bleed the air out, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. So you need a rack and pinion. And is it safe to drive?

As long as you keep putting fluid in it. And it's not leaking out faster than you put it in. Then you could drive this car for decades. A few weeks ago on the show, we made some disparaging remarks about all the companies that make all these miracle additives. Yeah. And it's time for you to buy one. We got angry letters from all of them.

And claiming, of course, that they all work. And it's time for you to try one. Okay. There was this stuff called power steering conditioner. Many companies make it. Okay. I would buy a can of this stuff, leave it on the front seat, and at the first hint of it needing fluid, i.e. the noise,

fill it up with this juice instead. Yeah. And at some point, it'll start leaking out faster than you can put it in, and then you dump the car. Okay. It's not worth fixing. It's an Oswald bill. Oh.

See you, Christine. No, the Delta 88 was not a memorable car. Well, not memorable, but it's sentimental value. It's daddy's car. She hates it. I have 170,000 miles. That's not bad. That's a great. Those are great cars.

And that 170,000 miles is pretty darn good, no matter what kind of car is. They're indestructible, those 88s. Dare it, do you? See you. It's been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

Bye. 1-888-8-8-8-8-2-7-8-25. Hello, you're on car talk. Hello, this is Rob Romans from Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Rob. Yeah, I'm a captain out here in the Army. Fort Sill?

Yeah. Where's Fort Sill? Well, you know where Lotton is? No. Lotton, Oklahoma. Yeah. Of course. Lotton, Fort Sill.

It's actually one town now. Loughton got smart and annexed Fort Sill because they figured there was about 20,000 soldiers they could add to their roles and start getting some decent restaurants out here. What's up? Well, let me tell you, I've got a 1989, Chevrolet Suburban. And... The reason I'm calling is that my wife's family is coming out here to do the grand tour of the West during the hottest time of year with the highest gas prices. They want to leave from Lawton and drive to the Grand Canyon and go into Colorado and go to Santa Fe and then go down to some caves down to New Mexico, Carl's Bad, and then back into Lawton.

That's a 5,000 mile round trip. Is her mother going? Here's the deal. You hit the nail on the head. Two years ago, when I was stationed in Germany, I had a 1989 Chevy Suburban, not the same one, but same mile would make a year. Yeah, yeah.

And we took a big trip through Austria, France, and down into Italy and Switzerland. And my mother-in-law, bless her heart, never been out on any major trip, started out the trip by saying, Rob, you're driving to Faye. I blew the headgaskets down in Italy. Guys, can you imagine how hard it is to fix a truck in Italy

when all you speak is a little spanglish? Spanglish. Oh, you must have been there for a month, and I'm amazed that the Italians actually fixed it. Actually, they didn't. They put it on a flat-big truck and drove it back to Germany. That was smart. They knew their limitations.

So I cannot afford to have something bad happen on this trip with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, their two kids, my brother-in-law, my wife and my two kids, plus myself. How did you get yourself into this, man? I have no say in any matter. I am the bus driver on this trip. Rob, you're an officer, man! Take charge!

Yes, in the Army. That don't count for much once I get home. If they went on their own without you, that would be good, wouldn't it? That would be a wonderful thing. And if I could get you guys to say something to that effect... He might have to shoot yourself in the foot. Do we still do that in the Army? It was a court-martial offense last time I checked.

Why not just fake a shot in the foot? Do you know any doctors who would bandage you up? Actually, there's an Army doctor that lives on our street, and I really wouldn't have to fake it, actually, because they're Army doctors. I would avoid the trip at all costs. I mean, if they're going to take it, have them take the suburban at their own peril. Well, that's the problem. It's that own peril part.

the suburban that I've got now has an odd problem, and I can't get a straight answer from the dealership or from any of the independents about what's causing it. Ah, okay, so we're going to get to the technical part of this call now. The truck hesitates. It kind of, I'll be driving highway speeds, 55 to 65, and it hesitates for absolutely no reason, kind of like a hiccup. You know, you'll feel when you're driving, you'll feel yourself lunge against your seatbelt. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, it comes and goes.

comes and goes. That's when I'm in overdrive, just regular OD. If I drop it down to its next gear, that problem seems to go away. The folks at the Chevy dealership told me, oh, it's probably just your fuel filter or your transmission filter. Now, those things are easy to fix. I changed those both out a while ago, and the problem never went away. What do you all think? I think you have a sensor problem someplace. I would ask them to put the scanner on this thing. I think you could have a bad crank angle sensor. Crank angle sensor, okay. You could have a bad ignition module.

All right. But to start guessing at this stuff could be costly. You need someone to actually scan these things or begin to test the individual components to see if they measure up. Now, could it be something as silly as I've just got a bad spark plug? It could, but it would more likely do it climbing a steep hill. Yeah, and I don't have too many of those out in Oklahoma. Well, you may have to wait.

Or on hard acceleration. Yeah, on heart acceleration. But you're going to have to take it to a shop because this is not something you're going to figure out at the hobby shop. And you may even have to take it to a dealer. All right. Yeah, and maybe they can keep it for like two months. Now, you're not, in other words,

this vehicle could put my family in mortal jeopardy. I need to sell it and buy a you go. Hey, Cap, I wish you the very best, and thank God it's you and not me. some novenas for me. You bet we will. See you later. Thanks a lot.

Bye. Thanks for calling. Bye, bye. Bye. Well, it's happened again. You've totaled another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion. Cute, cute, cute, Berman.

Our associate producers are Frau Catherine Pickle Fenalosa, who we had to fire today after discovering that she was stealing petty cash to support her shoe habit. And we'll miss her. but hey, what can you do? Louis Cronan the Barbarian, and David, we don't have a nickname for him yet, Green. Our engineer is George Hicks. Our senior web lackey is Doug the Old Grey Mayor, and our technical, spiritual and menu advisor.

Just back from the first annual Jerry Lewis free lunch-a-thon is John Bugsy Lawler. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Merkey Research, assisted by statistician Margin Overa. Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzzoff. Our director of new product repair is warranty my foot. Our staff acupuncerist is, oh, how it hurts. And our shop former is Luke Busy. Our student and consultant is Norm De Plum.

Our dermatologist for teenagers is Don Pickett. Our emergency room physician is Henrietta Bad Clam. The Car Talk musical director is Donna E. Mobilee. Our divorce attorney is Carmine, not yours. Our coordinator of summer visits to the in-laws is Don Juan Go. Our Russian chauffeur is peak-off and drop-off. and our seat cushion tester is Mike Easter. Our Chief Counsel from the Law Room of Dewey Chie-Nhow

is U. Lewis Dewey, known to the Tracy Chapman wannabees in Harvard Square as Ui-Louis. Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking clack the Tappert Brothers. Remember, don't drive like my brother. Remember, don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye.

And now here is Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinny Gumbats. Vinnie? Thank you very much. Now, if you want a copy of this year's show, which is number 30. Doiddy. 30.

Dirty. Doid. Indeed, you can get one on the web, just head on over to the online store at the card talk section at Cars.com. Yeah, but what if somebody wanted something else, like a best of car talk CD? I mean, would they go to that same site then? No, you dope. You go to www.

Boris Yeltson Cook's Cajun.com. Of course, you go to the same side. What are you? Some kind of a moron. You'll go to the Card Talk section at Cars.com, or you'll order the old-fashioned way. You know, by phone, call 8-8-8 car junk. Thank you, Vinny. totally over the top, the whole thing.

Hey, put your top over this, will you? Car Talk is a production of Dewey Cheaterman Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though Venus Williams wax one into the stands every time she hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.