The Best of Car Talk - #2640: Flunking Physics Again

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

Kim from Florida has a physics quiz coming up and she decided to reach out to Click and Clack for some help. Kim has either never listened to the show before, or her working theory is to become familiar with all of the possible wrong answers first. She’s certain to get at least that 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 the Tapper Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from campaign headquarters here at Car Talk Plaza. As you know, my brother and I are running for president under the slogan Two Zero's in Zero Zero. And after several weeks on the campaign trail, we have finally hit upon the one issue that we believe will propel us all the way to the lawn to the White House and be able. Go on. Into the parking lot. I mean, as some of our listeners may know, we are every week attempting to present one of our, as we call them, in the political business initiatives. Yes.

And this week, we'd like to tell you about our slack off America initiative. Well, this is like the central thrust of our campaign. This is. I mean, this has been a guiding principle in our lives, in fact. Yeah. We do have an environmental initiative, Department of Defense initiative. We do have, you know... And all those things are somewhat understandable, but this one is...

Well, maybe it is. I mean, here it is. Everyone is stressed. Whatever happened to leisure time? We don't know how to do leisure time. In fact, I will quote from my brother. He gave me this quote recently. You have a brother?

Another brother? Many Americans think they need more money than they really need. And they have thus tragically miscalculated the work to play ratio. Remember him? What a brilliant mind. My brother said that. Wow.

There's a mind. And for that. He must be stopped. Here's what we're going to do. We are promoting a slack off America attitude. We're all working too hard, and here's what happens. We know that you can't help yourself. So we are going to assign a caseworker to every single person in the country who works.

Yeah. That'll get the... ball rolling, so to speak. Because half of us will have to be caseworkers. First of all, you think the unemployment rate is low now. We're going to have to be importing

caseworkers. By the caseload. By the caseload. And they will meet with you once a week if they feel like it. To make sure. They may not show up because... Because they may be slacking off. They may be slacking off. But to make sure that you're slacking off. To make sure you're slacking off, they will meet with you every week and they

will make sure that you are not talking on the cell phone, answering your email or two o'clock in the morning, trying to make more money, more money, more money. No, no, no, we've got it all wrong here. I mean, as many bad things as we've said about the French, they know how to sit down and have a cup of coffee four or five times a day in the middle of the day. Yeah.

And they know how to go on strike. They sure do. Work ain't one of the ethics that they have. No. And that's what we've got to get rid of. This Protestant work ethic is killing us. And we're done with it. That's it.

So if you would like to read the entire white paper, by the way, go to the car talk section of cars.com and go look under our presidential initiatives and you'll see the white paper on. Unless, of course, the person in charge of putting it up was slacking off. In which case it won't be there. But eventually you'll find it maybe. And don't rush to go look at it.

No. Because it's probably not there anyway. And it really doesn't matter too much. And it doesn't matter. Well, anyway, if you're not too busy, and you want to slack off. You can call us and ask us a question about your car. We're not doing anything.

No. Our number is 8888-8-8-8-2-27-8-8-255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Fidel. Over here in New Mexico. Fidel! Yeah. You live in the entire state of New Mexico.

Well, actually, I live in California, but I'm driving a truck, and I happen to be in New Mexico right now. Hey! Excellent. Okay, go. What's the question? Do you guys take a little? or something in the morning to help along your happiness? Yes, in fact, we're taking it as we speak.

Oh, okay. We'll have to talk about that later, maybe you'll help you out. Anyways, hey, my deal is I have a 94 Chevy pickup, and it's got 22,000 miles on. It's got the 350 5.7 liter. How many miles? 22,000. Oh, you're always driving your big truck, so you don't drive this thing.

Yeah, exactly. I put 140 a year on my big truck, so that doesn't leave much time for my pickup. Not much. And when I come to a stoplight or a stop sign, it will periodically shudder. But, I mean, it's not like a shutter. It's almost like turn the ignition off and you turn it back on. And, I mean, you can see it. It fluctuates about, like, about 50 RPM on the tack.

And I mean, it's hard, and it seems to do it twice. But it runs smooth. I mean, when you take off, there's no hesitation or anything like that. It just does it when you come to a stop sign or a stoplight. Right, right, right. Right. But otherwise, when you're driving at high speed, it's never a problem. Oh, yeah. Once you step on the gas, it's fine. Right.

Have you ever noticed that if you sit idling for a long time, that you will get the shuttering to reoccur or perhaps get noxious fumes from the tailpipe? Have you noticed that? You know, when you start it, it has a smell, but once it warms up, once it runs for a couple of minutes, it goes away. But you'd never leave it idling for extended periods of time. No, no, I don't do that. Mm. Mm. Okay, we're struggling here.

Well, yeah. We're dying here, Fidel. Help us, man. Well, I mean, here's, we'll let you into our thought process. Here's how it goes. I don't think you want to do that. He'll let us into the thought process. That's with einy, me, mighty mo.

Here we go. No, I mean, the first question we're asking ourselves, I think, is, is it fuel-related or is it electrical? I don't think it's either. You don't. Well, I mean, it's fuel-related in a sense. It's one of them. It's always one of those two. What I think it is, is a bad oxygen sensor.

You do. I do. I do. I don't think the oxygen sensor is sending the right data stream to the computer, and it's particularly apt to misbehave when the thing has been driven and then stopped. And then what it's doing is it's sending a signal that's telling, for example, the computer that the mixture is way too rich. And what does the computer do when it gets that signal?

It leans out the mixture tremendously and causes the RPM to drop suddenly. And you'll get that shutter. So that's what I think is wrong with it. So you need to take it to your Chevrolet dealer, or whomever you take it to, and ask them to test the O2C7. sensor. Okay. They can scan it if they want.

They can put the machine on it. And my guess is the machine will tell them nothing. But it may say, especially if they do it right after it's been driven, it may say O2 sensor out of range. Mm. I don't know what that means, but someone's taking it out of the oven, I think. It's like chickens. Free range. Free range.

Free range O2 sensor. So you need to replace the O2 sensor. That's our guess. Okay. Good luck, man. All right, thanks, man. And keep that pedal to the metal. Always.

See? Bye bye. One 8888. What is that, car talk? That's 888227. No, don't forget, only if you're not too busy. Exactly. And if you've got anything else to do, don't do that either.

In fact, calling us will be slacking off. So maybe they should. You could consider it that way. We want everyone to call. We want everyone to call. 880. 2.7. Because we're slacking off too.

8255. A lawyer on car talk. Hi, this is Kim from. How are you, Kim? I'm doing okay. I'm actually having problems with physics, and since you guys, you know, are experts in everything, I thought I did a call. Man, physics was always my best course. And you're going to see just how bad the other courses were.

I liked it so much, I just kept taking it over and over again. Go ahead, Kim. Shoot. All right, so this is the question. Finding her car stuck in the mud, a bright graduate of good physics course ties a a strong rope to the back bumper of the car, and the other end to a tree. Wait, wait, are you reading out of a physics book?

Yeah, I've got to figure out this problem. I have a quiz next Wednesday. Oh, this really... Well, in high school, I hope? No, this is college. Oh, we got no shit. Damn. We have no, all right.

Get a Rico Fermi on the phone. Okay, so she ties a rope to the bumper. Yeah, all right, go ahead. Okay, she ties her up to the bumper, and the other one to a tree. Got it. All right, she finds the rope. the midpoint of the rope and pushes with her maximum effort, which she estimates to be a force

of about 300 Newton. The car just begins to budge with the rope at about a 5-degree angle. With what force is the rope pulling on the car? Oh, it's a simple vector problem. Oh, simple. It's a simple vector problem. The 5 degrees is the key. All you have to do is look up the sign.

The sign of 5 degrees, multiply up by 300, and that's the answer. answer, man. Say it again? No, no, that's you get one shot at it. Wait, is it the sign? Let me just tell you. Let me see if that's true or not. No.

It's not the sign. It's the cosine. All right, so I take the cosine of five degrees times 300 newtons, and that's the answer. What about the tree? Forget about the tree. Well, when did we forget about the tree? It's the same thing on the tree.

So the tree is going to move. The tree will move the same to the same. and says the car. Well, then she's going to be stuck in the mud all day. No, I mean, is it multiple choice? No, well, some of them are, but some of them you have to show your work, so you never know. The answer is in the back of the book? No, the answer to this one isn't in the back of the book. Why do you think I'm calling you?

Yeah, well, I mean, we prefaced all of this by telling you that we flunk this course. Well, no, we didn't flunk it. We ultimately. We did. Oh, you? I don't know about you, but we did. The editorial we. I did. I think, I may have.

I'm not sure, but I may have gotten an A in this course. Really? Then you answer the damn question. No, I'm sticking with your answer because I don't remember any of it. Well, my... But I like the cosine. I like the cosine of five degrees. All right.

I do, too. Yeah, and the tree, I don't know, the tree bothers me. I'm bothered by the tree. You are? Yeah. Is it a maple tree? You know, it doesn't tell us what... Oh, it must be a mangrove.

But wait a... What if it's a bamboo? Boo, that's not a tree, that's grass. That's grass, yeah. What if it's a mangrove? Sounds like you've been smoking grass. What I want to know is who is this woman? And why doesn't she have a cell phone?

And how can she push with all that force that she's going to pull a car? First of all, it would be unfair of us to help you. Exam or no exam. Oh, that's right. No, we can't help you. We can't help you. And if we did, you'd kill us. when you found out that it was wrong.

Wait, isn't there a website that you can go and get some advice from that's called My Tudor or something like that? I believe so. I would definitely get on the web right away. All right. And see if you get the same answer that we gave you. And if ours is right, I will be the most surprised person in the world. Second most. See you, Kim.

I won't put much confidence in your answer, though. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. Well, thanks so much for your album. Good luck. Bye, bye, bye. See, but I mean, I could have told her that this was absolutely the right answer. I have no idea.

No, I'm thinking about this. Your answer is so wrong. I don't think you can imagine how wrong it is. Well, I drew a little picture, and then unincumbent by the thought process. That'll do it every time. Yeah. Okay, Tommy, it's September. Yeah.

A new school year has just begun. True. There's a reinvigorating nip in the air. Do you remember last week's puzzler? Did it have to do with Cuban cigars, industrial strength cleaning solvents, and a cheating scandal? No, that was last week's poker game. You're close. It did have to do with poker.

Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us. Wait a minute. Speak for yourself. You may be back. We're clicking and clack the Tappers brothers. And we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and the answer to last week's puzzler. There was a puzzler last week?

Yeah. This is on the poker collection. Oh, the poker puzzler. Now I re... Why don't you remind me? I couldn't remember it myself until just now. You were playing poker with your wife. We were sitting at the kitchen table.

That was it. She says, I'd like to learn how to play poker. Can you teach me? So I explained to her the ranking of the hands. You know, the highest hand being a royal flush, Ace, King, Queen, Jack 10 of one suit. And the lowest hand being... Nothing.

Okay. So anyway, I've got all the cards face up on the table. And she says, let's play a game with the cards. this. You pick five of the cards and I'll pick five of the cards and we'll see who has the best hand. And you said, no, I said, well, that seems pretty silly. We can see all the cards, so I'm going to pick a royal flush and you're going to pick a royal flush and we're going to be tied every time. And she says, well, after you pick your cards, you can draw cards. You can throw away up to as many as five cards. You can throw them all away or you can throw none of them away.

So I said, well, I'm not going to throw anyway. I'm going to pick a royal flush and you're going to pick a royal flush, nobody's ever going to win. And she says, well, let me pick first. I said, well, go ahead. Yeah. She does. She wins. Really?

Yeah. What hand does she pick? I have to say that I did ponder this during the week, but I immediately escaped everything, and I forgot about it. Well, I think the only hand that guarantees her a winner is to pick four-tenths. Four tens. Huh?

She picks four tens. No matter what I pick, she will always wind up with a better hand because she can get a 10-high straight flush, and the best I can do is a 9-high straight flush.

A straight-flush beating four of a kind. So if she picks 4-10s, and I pick four aces, four aces, loses to 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 of, say, hearts, yeah, for example. And it's not possible

for you knowing that that's what she's going to do. Well, she does it first. To prevent her from getting... So she picks the four tens. And you see her do that, right? So I can go ahead and pick the nine of clubs, the eight of spades,

on which case, if I do that... If you do that, then she cannot get a ten-high flush, straight flush. Yeah, but neither can you. Neither can you. Yeah, so she wins. I think that's the... I may be wrong, but I think that...

Where do you get this puzzle? Do you make it up? I don't know. I don't know. You don't remember my foot. You stole it. You know you did. It's very good, though.

So do we have a winner? Yeah. The winner is Lee Arhulgar from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And for having his or her answer, selected at random from among the thousands of two correct answers that we got, you, Lee, will get a $25 gift certificate to the Car Talk, shameless commerce division on our website. And with that $25 gift certificate, you can get five-eighths of a car talk.

jacket, pick any 5-8s you want, I think I would go with the sleeveless version. Yeah, which is the car talk vest. Myself. By the way, if you ever want information about the car talk stuff you hear about on the show, you can visit the store at the car talk section of cars.com, or you can call 888 car junk. Yeah, and will we have another puzzle after all of this? Yes, we're going to have a quasi-automotive. I want you to hear of that.

Quasi Automotive Puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show. So stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can call us and ask us questions about your car at 888 Car Talk. That's 888-227-8-255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Kristen, calling again from Bethesda, Maryland. Hey, we talked to you last week. That's right.

You were going to get the car stored someplace you were going off to some crazy, well, Kosovo. Kosovo, the jewel of the ball. Jewel of the Ball. So last week, Kirsten called us, said she was going off for an indeterminate amount of time in Kosovo. Right. To do some, you were doing some spy works, CIA stuff. We're not sure what it is. And she was mostly going to have coffee with Sylvia Pajol.

But the government has offered to put your car into storage, your 86. Honda, CRX. You remember that? You got it. Jewel of denial. 86 CRX. That's right. And you were so worried about this that you were concerned.

that our government wasn't going to do a good enough job taking care of your 86 civic. Right. So we asked you to find out what they're going to do to it, to store it. All right. Before you tell us, my guess was, this is not stumped to chunks, but my guess was they were going to park it and hang the key up in a little box. And when you came back, they'd hand you the key back. That was my guess.

Yeah. How close was I? Well, it's the exact opposite, actually. Oh, really? The government? They're really going to take care of it. Tell us. They're going to do everything we suggested, right? They're going to do nothing you suggested.

They're really doing the exact opposite of what you guys said. Really? What are they going to do? Well, they keep it in an indoor, climate-controlled, humidity-controlled facility. That's good. Really? They start it once a month, and they get it up to its optimum operating... Temperature. Temperature, exactly.

Yeah. Flesh out the condensation in the engine or something. Yeah. Yeah. They said they don't put it up on blocks because that would stretch the stretch the stretch suspension. Whew. They keep all the fluids in and they do periodic maintenance on it.

I talked to the guy at the storage facility myself. You mean like they changed the oil? Well, they told me to get the oil changed just before I bring it to them. Right. And they'll go ahead and change it every 3,000 miles thereafter. Well, obviously. They do move it within the facility, so it's not sitting on the same spot on the tires for the two years. And the guy who works there is a classic car collector.

It's a father and son operation, and he sounds legit. I can say only one thing. What's that? What a country! But I tell you to find out, I really got the runaround. I called the guy at the Agency for International Development, where I work. who does our travel coordination. He gave me the number of a guy at the State Department

who handles transportation and storage of things. The guy at the State Department gave me a number in Baltimore where they do all the government contracting for transportation and privately owned vehicles, as they call them. So I talked to people in Baltimore. I got four people in that office, and the fourth person referred me back to the guy at the State Department. That figures.

So, you know, it's no better when you work for the government. But persistence pays off. You finally got through. I did. And this is a private operation that the government pays for? I guess the government contracts with these guys, yeah. Well, and you know what? The fact that it's in a temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled environment means that the brakes aren't going to rust.

Cylenders aren't going to rust. Yeah, the emergency brake cables aren't going to freeze up. So it's a wonderful thing to do. And I think that, you know, the average person can't do this. So that's why we recommend doing other things like sealing the tailpipe and all that and sealing the intake, which won't have to be done to this because it's in the right environment. Yeah. Hey, can you answer a question for me?

No, we already answered one. No, it's a debate between my intended and myself. Yeah, is he coming with you, by the way? Sorry? Is he coming with you? He's actually the main reason I'm going. Oh, he's there already? He's there already, yeah.

Oh, is he a Kosovian? No. He's an Iowan. An Iowan. An Iowan in Kosovo. I think I saw that. Wasn't Gene Kelly in that? That great 30 slapstick comedy.

Yeah, so what's the question for him? Here's the question. It's about this CRX. Is the CRX a sports car or not? Because, oh, you're going to side with him, aren't you? A sports car? It's a two-seater. It's red.

It's low to the ground. It's a sports. car, right? Sure. Sure. Whatever you say. I think it's a sports car. Yeah, okay. It's a sports car, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Okay.

As soon as I hang up, you're going to make fun of me, aren't you? No. No, we already did. We do it right to your face. We don't have any compunction. Hey, Kristen, I wish you the very best. Thank you. And if you come back for Christmas, drop us a line. Thank you, guys. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. It's time for us to take a break. How long a break? Well, long enough for us to review everything we know about cars. So we'll be back at like a minute. Right. We're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers.

And we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and of the new quasi-onimot. Yes, master. Quasi on the motor. Yes, master. I received this short letter the other day, dated May 11th, 98. You're right up to date on reading, huh? That's good. It was from Carrie Brown, who's the curator of the exhibition pedal power at some museum in Vermont.

Petal Power. The American Precision Museum in Windsor, Vermont. Closed two years ago, but she had been, and she's been exiled now to Elba. Elba's good. And she had a suggestion for a puzzler, and I'm going to use it. And you're going to use it. I think it's good. And remember, it's quasi-automotive, as well as being historic and folkloric.

It's good. Challenging, demanding, inviting, exciting, something for everyone. Go ahead, man. I can hardly wait. In the 1800s, the high-wheeled bicycle. You remember these from your youth. I certainly don't. I even know what it's called.

It was called the Ordinary. That bike was called the Ordinary. It was almost exclusively a toy for wealthy, young. men. I thought it was called the penny farthing. Maybe. That's what we used to call. Anyway, it was expensive. It cost like half a year's wages, and it was dangerous, to say the least, the most common accident being known as the header when the rider would fly over the handlebars. You remember these bikes? The wheel was like, what, 10 feet in diameter or some such thing. Yeah. Yeah, and you were sitting way up high there.

And, of course, the thing was difficult to mount, difficult to ride, but it had certain advantages. How did you get up to the seat there? You'd jump out of the second floor window and hope that someone hadn't removed the seat. Yeah. Anyway, in an attempt to make cycling more universally accessible, bicycle engineers and manufacturers eventually developed what was called the safety bicycle, which had two wheels of the same size, a chain drive. and gearing, not unlike bikes that we have today.

For various reasons, however, the safety bike did not catch on immediately. It was considered ugly, in elegant, inefficient, and uncomfortable. Yeah. Then, in 1889, a veterinary surgeon in Belfast, Ireland, patented an accessory which revolutionized the bicycle. And then, of course, from that point on, safeties began winning races, and they became very popular. Of course, the ordinary, stupid thing that it was went quickly out of fashion. So the question is, what was the name of this veterinary surgeon? Or what did he patent?

Must be something with his name. And if I gave you his name, you'd know the answer. Now, if you think you know the answer, right? You're not... Dougie says, the 10 speed. Last day. Jimmy 10 speed. If you think you know the answer...

That's why he's the producer and we're nothing. Dude, that's right. We're shop deliverer. If you think you know the answer, write it on a postcard or plaster it across a 66 Dudley station bus and drive by, Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City. Matt, 022, 3.4. or you can email your answer from the car talk section of cars.com.

And by the way, this is traditionally the time of year where our listeners send in puzzler's suggestions. I don't want to sound desperate or anything, but you'll see in the ensuing weeks how pathetic the puzzler is going to get. So if I've noticed you've had a, you've had a furrowed brow. Oh, very furrowed. Oh, man, you got thoroughing there. Oh, I'm completely furrowed. So if you have a puzzler that you think I might be able to use, even if you think it's lousy, don't worry, my standards are very low.

Send that puzzle to the same address. Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City. Matt, 2238, Attention, Puzzle Editor, Eugene T. Maleska. And if you'd like to call us, the number is 888-Car-Tock. That's 888-227-825-5. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, my name is Sheba, and I was calling about my car.

It's a Volvo. Are you a queen of? Of course. Queen of Sheba. Where are you from? From New York. City? I'm the queen in my apartment.

New York City. New York City. Manhattan. New York, New York. Which end of Manhattan? Which part of Manhattan? Up or down? Uptown, like close to Washington Heights.

Cool. Left or right? Left. What do you want? What did you just give her the address? Well, you're going to get an orientation. You're going to know who the people are. All right.

Well, get to know the contestants, as they say. Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah. And you have a car? I have a car. It's a Volvo 240 DL. Mm-hmm.

It's a 1980. 1980. Wow. Wow. It is. It's just the right car they have. I like it. Because nobody will mess with that thing.

You probably don't have a lot of miles on it, right? Well, yeah, it did have, it had, when I bought it, was, what, I think, 152,000 miles. But it's two problems I got with it. One, when I turn it on, or at any point when I'm just sitting idle, it shakes. The engine shakes. I don't know what that's from my mechanic's changed, the spark plugs. He's tried everything you can think of, and the engine just shakes. Parkinson's.

You know, just like that. And the other thing is, when it's cold, it takes it a while to get into gear. So, like, when I'm trying to come out of a parking spot in the morning, it takes forever for it to go. go into reverse. Like you'll hear it revving up and then it jerks into reverse. You hear it revving up and it jerks into drive. Or if I go directly onto the highway, it takes a while for getting to the overdrive, you know, for it to pick up speed.

But once now, if I've been driving it all day and it's in the, the transmission's warm, then it'll move gears fine. But when it's cold, it's ridiculous. And I've changed transmission fluid and, I mean, all that kind of stuff. Oh, you have done that? Yeah. I don't know what the problem is. Briely, you have a call on 101.

Hey, you have a call on 101. No. I think I have a call on. How that works? Maybe it's us. Is that for me? Yeah. I think you said, Tom, you have a call on 101.

Well, I'm going to give you the good news first. Okay. What's the good news? I'm working on it. Geez, good news. I think the good news is. Christmas is coming. No, I would have.

I have to say that the good news is that I wouldn't do anything to the transmission. Okay. I would just pray. Yeah, if you've already had the fluid change and you're sure the fluid is full, then the symptom that it has is a clear indication that it's on its way out. Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah.

But it doesn't mean it's on the way out tomorrow. Yeah, my brother's on the way out too, but we haven't started digging the hole for him yet. Oh, no? Well, how come you guys always have shovels when we go for a ride? Five of us and four shovels. What about the shaking, though? Well, the shaking could be something awful. It could be that you have bad compression.

And I would imagine that whoever looked at this thing has checked the compression. Okay. But if it didn't, this thing has a fuel injection called CIS, continuous injection system. And it has individual injectors for each cylinder. So let's assume he did a compression test. compression is good. The thing I'd most likely suspect is that one of the injectors is plugged up with rust. He, you know, he wants to him. My mechanics, that's the last thing he had said, is maybe there's a fuel injector problem. What he can do is he can pull out the injectors. They

pop right out. Uh-huh. And he can actually crank the engine over and watch the injectors spray, all three of them. Okay. And the fourth one is not going to spray. I would guess that one of them's plugged up. Oh. The problem, however, is... Well, it may need to be replaced, but there may be so much rust in the whole fuel system that they're all going to get plugged up eventually, even the new one. Okay. But I would, if there is one that's bad, ask me to put a new one in, and that may get it to run on all four cylinders. He is going to now, this week he's supposed to be taking it to Volvo and have them put it on the machine.

Oh, I don't think I'd do that. No? No, you may find out a lot more than you want to know. Well, he may not tell her every time. Oh, maybe. He's the intermediary. Right. So he will get the...

information and he'll decide how much of it, Shiba can handle. This is on a need-to-know basis. This whole operation here. So tell them not to tell you any more than you need to know. I don't expect to keep it that much longer, but if I could hold, I've had it like a year a little more than a year. And if I can hold on to it at least one more year, I'll be happy. Well, you should be able to.

I mean, if it is an injector, that's not going to be horribly expensive. And I wouldn't be surprised if the transmission can hold in there for a year. Okay. Even though it will continue to do what it's doing, there's nothing you can do to fix it. Well, there is one thing. There's transmission magic. You can add a can of transmetic. Transmediterranean.

Are there any auto parts stores in Manhattan? I never saw one. Oh, sure. They're all over the place. They are. Yeah. Well, take a walk into one of those places and look around for the bottles that have or cans that have something. like transmission something and the word miracle on it.

And sometimes those things actually work. It is something called transmitting? It's a transmission something, a miracle cure. I forget what it is. Really? Yeah, Grecian formula. I don't know what it is, but you go to the parts store. No, no, no, we're serious.

You tell the guy behind the counter that your transmission is slipping and ask him what they've had the most success with. And they may have four or five different products on this shelf. on the shelf, all of which purport to do the same thing. Ask them how many people came back and threw the bottle at them for the different brands and take the one with the fewest number of incidents

like that. Good luck. Thanks so much. Good luck. Bye-bye. Oh, gee. Why can we be so flip? Her car is in its death throes.

Well, it is. The engine's running on three cylinders or fewer. The transmission is slipping. What could be worse? We're laughing. What could be, I mean, those are the two. In our cars. Hey.

Well, it's happened again. You've wasted another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteemed producer is Doug the subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion, Berman. Our associate producers are Louis Cronin, the Barbarian, and David Purchase and No Sale Green. Oh, what happened? I don't know. Our engineer is Tad Curry. Our senior weblacky is Doug the old gray man.

and our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor, the only man to ever go on 37 consecutive lunch dates solely for the lunch is John Bugsy Lawler. Our public opinion poster is Paul Murky of Merkey Research, assisted by statistician Marge and Overa. Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzzoff. Our director of new product repair is warranty my foot. Our shop foreman is Luke busy. And our director of Firestone Tire recalls is Ivana Michelin.

Our pseudonym consultant is Norm Diplum. Our dermatologist for teenagers is Don Pickett. The Car Talk musical director is Dona Immobilay. Our divorce attorney is Carmine, not yours. Our exercise guru is Lies Around. Our Russian chauffeur is peek-off and drop-off. The banker at Car Talk Plaza Poker Games is Nikolai Put-in. Our hospitality director is Doris Shutt,

and our seat cushion tester is Mike Easter. Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Cheatheman How is U. Lewis Dewey, known to the ticket-happy bicycle cops in Harvard Square as Ui-Louie Dewey. much for listening. We're click and clack the Tappert Brothers. And remember, don't drive like my brother. And remember one other thing. Don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. Car Talk is a production of Dewey Cheatham and Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though Bobby Knight tosses his George Foreman grill at his radio whenever he hears us say it, this is NPR National

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