The Best of Car Talk - #2651: Baddabing! Baddabang!

Episode Date: June 27, 2026

Livinia hears explosions every time her Dodge minivan hits a pothole. In an effort to zero in on the source, Click and Clack have to suss out the possibilities: one of which, it seems, has to do with an Italian-American neighborhood somewhere. Join us 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 Cartalk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tabit Brothers, broadcasting this week from America's Most Wanted Division here at Cartag Plaza. What is that all about? Well, this came from... Notice we reversed roles there.

We did? Yes. Wow. You usually say that. I do. Yeah. And then I have to come up with something interesting or funny. Now it's your turn to do the work.

The Most Wanted Division here at Cardo. Here's an article in the Washington Post. Oh. Crackdown in the Washington Post. DC train stations lands young snackers in handcuffs. Oh. The mother of a 12-year-old girl who was handcuffed booked and fingerprinted for eating French fries in a subway station says, police went too far.

I can't believe there isn't a better way to teach kids a lesson, said Tracy Hedgepeth, whose daughter Anche was arrested. The police treated her like a criminal. But Metro Police Chief Barry McDivitt is unapologetic about Anche's arrest last month and others like it. We really do believe in zero tolerance, he said. Yes. Computer complains about unlawful eating in metro cars and stations led McDivitt to mount an undercover crackdown.

Oh! Violators. A dozen plainclothes officers cited or arrested 35 people, 13 of them, juveniles. Only one adult was arrested, and he escaped. Oh. You all know the story. Could that be? If you don't, our esteemed producer, Douglas Bongo,

boy, Berman, was almost arrested some time ago in the metro in Washington, D.C. And he escaped. For eating a bagel and drinking a coffee. Is that really a muffin? Oh, it's just a coffee now. He's toned it down. Yeah. Before it was a club sandwich.

It was a turkey club. With extra mail. And that sees a salad on the platform. And of course, a deft move allowed him to escape. Well, I think the police chief is right there. a zero tolerance policy of us is correct. Well, here's what I propose. I mean, evidently they have this young gal, this 12-year-old, Anche, in custody.

I propose we swap her for Berman. You want to spring her. We'll turn in Berman. We'll meet them at the Brandenburg Gate. Exactly. At midnight tonight. Midnight tonight. And we'll have Berman blindfolding.

We'll hand them over to the authorities. Yeah. And those East Germans in Washington, D.C., can do whatever they want with them. As long as we get it. this young lady out of their custody. Let's do it. Okay, if you're interested, what's his name?

What's the guy's named of Chief of Police there? Whoever you are. Barry McDevitt. All right, Barry. We'll meet you there tonight. What time? Make it early. I've got to get to bed.

All right, 10 o'clock. Well, if you think that Dougie should turn himself in or we should turn him in so he can get his rightful punishment, or if you think working for us is punishment enough, or if you have an actual question about your car, give us a call at 888 Car Talk. that's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Hi, my name is Tom from Kansas City, Missouri. Hi, Tom from Kansas City. Hey, how are you? Howdy. I have a 91 Jeep Cherokee. When I have my car in first gear, even with the clutch pedal depressed, my car still wants to drag forward. So I have to really jam down on the clutch pedal all the way to the floor and the break. Otherwise, it continues to pull me forward.

Really? And the only way to get it out of gear and to get it back into neutral is to let the clutch pedal out, let it jerk forward, push the clutch pedal back in, and then I can get it back into neutral. Oh, man. Did you do your Christmas shopping already? Well, I'm afraid you're going to tell me I need a new clutch. I think you need a new clutch, yeah. Well, if you're really lucky, it's the clutch master cylinder. This thing has a hydraulic clutch.

I mean, why did you jump right to he needs a new clutch? Because what usually leaks on these is the slave cylinder, and if I'm not mistaken, the slave cylinder on this vehicle is part of the release bearing. So you have to take the transmission out. Isn't that a clever design? Yeah, brilliant. Oh, man, that's really brilliant. Well, Saab does the same thing, too. Have you checked the fluid that's in the reservoir for the clutch?

No. You didn't even know you had any. No, I don't know how to have any. If you look under the hood, you will find a little bottle that looks like the brake master cylinder reservoir. It's a little plastic thing. It's right on the firewall. Okay. And that little... I'll bet you the thing's going to be empty of fluid.

Right. It might be empty, but you may not know why unless you look under the dashboard because the mechanism for that clutch master cylinder comes through the firewall and attaches the rod attaches to your clutch pedal. and if that clutch master cylinder is leaking, then you may see evidence of fluid dripping out of it. Or on your shoes. You should be so lucky. That's the thing to pray for. Wait, it's a lot easier to replace the slave cylinder?

Oh, man. No, the master cylinder is very easy to replace. The slave cylinder requires that you take out the entire transmission and transfer case. Ooh. And move the Empire State Building over three inches. On the other hand, if it's leaking very, very slowly and you're thinking of selling this vehicle, you could just install a 55-gallon drum on the roof

with a little hose down to that reservoir and just keep filling the thing up. Okay. Yeah, I mean, you couldn't sell it like this. That would be dishonorable. No, no, no. He would tell people what's wrong. Oh, and while you had the 55-gallon drum welded to the roof?

So what is that 55-gallon drum up there? You say what, 55? No, but if you find that it's empty, try filling it up and see how long it takes for the symptom to recur. That'll give you some clue as to how much it's leaking. And if you don't see anything inside the passenger compartment, it's the slave cylinder and you're done for. Okay, great. Yeah, and it's been nice knowing you. You guys wouldn't want a Jeep, would you?

No. No. Unless you put the drum on the roof. See you, Tom. Thanks a lot. Good luck. Bye. 1-8-88-car talk, that's 888-227-8-255.

Hello, you're on car talk. Hello, this is Joan. Hi, Joan. Hi. Where are you from? I am calling from Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville. Why does it sound like you're in your bathtub?

Uh-oh. Does it really sound that bad? Yeah, you want some kind of cheap telephone? I'm on an office telephone. Oh, you're calling from work. Oh, you're in the closet. No. Hiding in the closet.

What's up, Joan? Well, I'm calling because I have a 1992 to Camry. And I recently had a timing chain go out on it. It's got about 170-something miles on it. I put a lot of miles on in the last four years that I've owned it because I'm a salesperson. But I had it towed to Mani Moe and Jack. Mani Moe and Jack. Mani Moe and Jack. Actually, you don't have a timing chain. You have a timing belt. Oh, okay. Timing belt. And they fixed it. They did a great job, and it ran, and it was wonderful. And then all of a sudden my brakes started squeaking a lot. So I took off and went to... Mani and Moe-Moh and Jack. Moly and Curley this time.

Oh, Larry and Curley this time, that's right. So then, after I had the brakes done, I left thinking everything's fine. And the first rainy day, I went up from, I was leaving the gym where I worked out, and I was leaving the gym, and all of a sudden I applied my brakes, and it sounded like I was a truck about to hit another semi. I mean, the sound from these brakes was so loud. It was incredible. People's heads were turning. Like a screeching sounds? Yeah, it was like an o'-ha! I mean, it was the hugest noise that you could possibly hear out of a car.

You got the Banshee option on the pads. Well, when I took it back, they said, well, the reason your brakes are squeaking is because we cannot use asbestos in breaks anymore. and that means that there is more metal, and that means that they will squeak more. And I said, you haven't heard this sound. And he's trying to make you believe it in the last eight years. Yes. All the other pads that you've had put on this car,

which I've been probably many, had as best as in them. Exactly. Bull feathers. Well, that's what I thought. Yeah. I mean, everybody isn't driving around and, you know, squealing as they come to a stop.

Well, I am when I'm driving with my brother because he scares the hell out of me. I'm going to die! We're going to die! Let me on, let me on. It's very good at you and your brother. It's still so close. Yeah, well, we actually broadcast a show from different states.

Oh, where were we? Where were we? Oh, the brakes, the brakes, asbestos. How much did they charge you? This wasn't Manny Moe and Jack. This was Chico Hoppo and Zepo. No, this was Mani Moin Jack. Oh, it was.

Okay. When they did the brakes on this car, how much did they charge you? How many hundreds? Two something. Two, something. Two, something. Yeah. Okay.

So I'm going to guess that they may be replaced or machined the front discs. But what does that have to do with the sound I'm hearing? Well, sometimes if the discs are machined and these brake pads are installed, which are, in fact, non-azbestos. Okay. And they do have metal in them. They have bits of brass and bronze and steel wool and God knows what else. And gold.

Animal crackers. Gold, silver, platinum. And when those two surfaces are in the process of mating, if the machine work on the discs was not perfectly done, it takes a long time for those two surfaces to mate. And you can get some horrendous noises. Ah. We've also discovered. Maybe if they wore a little perfume or something, they'd made a little faster.

And is this particularly when there are wet conditions on the road or rain? It could be. It could be. They're more grabby when the things are wet. And it could also be that they use the pad that's just noisy. And some pads are we found on Camry's and a lot of other cars, for that matter, that we have to use the factory pads to ensure that there's no noise after a break job. What did they do to appease you?

when you complain. Did they just say, well, that's the way it is, and see you later, Joan, don't come back? You've got it. That's exactly what they said. And you've been driving it since and has the noise returned? The noise has been there, and it is come and goes. I mean, it's not always there. Well, wear earplugs for a couple of weeks, and it'll go away.

You think so? No, not a couple of weeks, more. I wouldn't be too worried. I'm sure the brakes are safe. The noise will undoubtedly go away at some point, but next time you ask them to use factory pads. Okay. And it's not affecting the braking power. I mean, the car will stop.

It's just affecting your sanity. Well, yeah, because, I mean, everybody I know, I'm leaving my customers, and they hear me break, and it's like heads turn. And I'm so embarrassed by this noise. Okay, good luck, Joan. Thank you. You can go out of the closet now and go back to work. See you later. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. All right, look, it's time to dig deep into that strange contraption that you call a brain. Contraption. Do you remember anything about last week's puzzler? Did it have to do with like a seemingly endless journey and inability to communicate lots of time in the frozen tundra? Well, no, that was your first marriage. Actually, you're close. The puzzler was about our old mechanic Krusty and his plane trip over the pole.

Yeah, he's a tundra pole. 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. This was one from the Krusty file. and, of course, we had nothing to do with cars. A lot of them did. I don't remember it. Anyway, everyone...

I know Mrs. Krusty was involved. Yes, indeed. Yes, she played a prominent role. Yeah. Of course, everyone remembers our loyal, old mechanic Krusty. And some years ago, we decided that he deserved a vacation. So he gave him four days off and booked a flight for him and the Mrs. Henceforth referred to as Signora Krusty to Kohltslavania.

The first leg of their journey lands them in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. where they have to change planes for the flight over the pole to Coleslavenia. Are you with me so far? You're paying attention? I'm beginning to remember it. That's to do with speaking Coleslavian. So Coleslaw Air wields out its latest plane at DC3. And Krusty recognizes it from that first Indiana Jones movie.

He says to his wife, oh my God, this is unbelievable. This plane must be 25 years old. His wife says, oh, no, it's like 60. Anyway, they enter the plane, and he's very nervous, as is his wife. And they both look into the cockpit to make sure there's really a problem. pilot and a co-pilot in there. And there are, and they look at each other and exchange smiles and nods. And they finally take their seats. The plane takes off without incident. And they're on their way to their marvelous vacation in Coleslavenia. While they're in flight, they realize that

none of the passengers speaks English. And of course, they speak no Coleslavenian. They walk up and down the aisles, you know, using the bathroom as a pretense and try to engage people in conversation. They say, hi, how are you? I'm American. Nobody responds. So they're resigned that just sitting there and waiting for the flight to end, very long flight. You still with me? I am. When the plane finally touches down in Cold Slovenia, they're relieved that they made it, and they're waiting for their welcoming parties to take them on their little tour,

which we arrange with our contacts in Costavania, a guy named Orr. Remember Or? Or. stand them and they resign themselves to sleeping at the airport. Finally, Mrs. Krusty sees a woman walking toward them that she recognizes from the plane. She says, thank God we'll be able to get to our hotel tonight. And of course, she's right. How does she know that this woman speaks English?

Yeah. Well, she knows she speaks English because the woman that she recognizes from the plane was not one of the passengers. Instead, she was the pilot. And all pilots who fly international flights must speak English. Very, very good. So who's our winner this week? The winner is Richard Barnett from Charlotte, North Carolina, and for having his answers selected at random,

from the piles of correct answers that we got. Three. Richard is going to get a $25 gift certificate to the store at the cart talk section of cars.com. And with that $25 gift certificate, by book. He can get the hardest item of the season. By a book. According to the elves at the Shameless Commerce Division, at least. It is the Don't Blame Me T-shirt.

It's our campaign shirt, two zeros and zero zero. And on the back it says, don't blame me. I voted for click and clack. I mean, those things have been flying out the door. Out the windows, though. Now, if people would only pay for them, we'd be rich, man. And by the way, if your name is not Richard Barnett, and you'd like a Don't Blame Me T-shirt,

Don't call us and whine. Stop by the store at the car talk section of Cars.com. I'll call 888 car junk. If that wasn't a shameless self-promoting plug, I don't know what was. Do you know what time it is? Time to take the leftover turkey out of the drunk? No. It's time to play.

Stump the chump! I mean, this is the part of the show where we tracked down a previous call to see if the advice we gave was sensible, comprehensible, or legally indefensible. So who's our lucky player this week? It's Ellen from New Jersey. No, I don't remember her. Okay, well, Ellen called us last summer

about a 1990 Honda Accord. She had bought for her teenage son. It occasionally wouldn't start. Of course, it always started for the mechanics that she took it to. Here's Ellen. It started like a champ in all circumstances, which was really good.

But the next hot day that it was left out... I was just going to ask you if it was a hot day. It was a hot day. Good. All fits together. Yep. What does it fit together with?

With all the different theories that you work with. Oh, oh, oh, it fits together, Alan. Don't worry. Don't worry. I'm pulling all the strings together now. Yeah. Good. And, you know, it's not happening as frequently as it did before.

No, because it's been raining every day for the past month and a half. Yes. You've been in the area. It's been a great summer, isn't it? Yeah, it has been a very interesting time. Don't get me started. Don't get my brother started. His two weeks.

vacation at the shore, so to speak, had 12 out of 14 days of race. Only my brother could get seasonal affective disorder in the summer. So how did I pull all these strings together? What did we give her for an answer? Well, the summer heat was the clue. You diagnosed it as a faulty fuel pump relay, and I agree completely. I remember that. Let's find out how we did. Alan, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Look, before we find out whether you had a defective relay or not. Or a defective idea calling us in the first. We need to verify that the answer here about to give Aaron Stump to Chumps has not been influenced by our staff, the staff of National Public Radio, or your son, who would really rather be driving Alexis.

Okay, what was it? Tell us to give us. Was it the fuel pump relay? It does appear that way. Geez, you know, it really does, it really does pay to pay these contestants off. You did get our check. No, I haven't received you. You haven't. Oh, it's in the mail.

I mean, you can be rest assured. So you went ahead and had someone put a new fuel pump relay in there? I did, and very skeptically, they went in there, and they did so. And actually, I had a hard time getting an appointment because they were busy replacing Firestone tires at the time. But finally got an appointment, and then I had to wait quite a while for the first hot day, but it started like a champ. But you had to convince them to put in the relay because they didn't believe you. Yeah, I had to tell them all about you. Yeah.

And they said, oh, I have a vague memory that my father-in-law once told me to listen to. to these guys. Well, they'll be listening from now on, won't they, Ellen? I think so. I think so. So it was very helpful, so thank you. Well, thanks for playing stumped chumps. You're welcome. Bye, bye, bye.

By the way, if anyone else hears of someone on the show that you'd like us to bring back for stumped chumps. The email us your suggestion from the Car Talk section of Cars.com. You can call right now and stump us without waiting even. The number is 8888-8-8-2-782-5. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Yes, this is Nick from Fort Stewart, Georgia. Hi, you doing, Nick.

I'm doing good. How about you guys? We're doing, bad. We're doing great. Good, good. Where is Fort Stewart, Georgia? It's near Savannah. Really?

Oh. Is that Stewart, S-T-E-W or S-T-U-A? It's S-T-E-W, as in the Revolutionary War General, not the Civil War General. Oh, right. General Stewart, I remember him. Never. Yes. Was it the R-C-O when you were at Fort Dix?

Ah, yeah, that's it. Jim Stewart, yeah. Anyway, Nick, what's going on? Well, I'm a company commander in the third infantry division here at Fort Stewart. Oh, no wonder you know about this guy. Yes. And I'm having a problem with some of the Humvees in my fleet in my company. Yes.

The problem is in the hot summer months, which we have quite a few here in Georgia, the engine will not start turnover on some of these home v that I have unless you pour cold water on the fuel injector pump. So this kind of, you know, causes for some interesting scenarios. Yeah. Because I'm a brigade headquarters company. So you can imagine the brigade commander, a full bird colonel standing on the side of a tank trail somewhere

while the driver's got a canteen out dumping it on the fuel injector pump. And so... How old are these Humvees? Probably about seven years, some up to seven years old. And do they get a lot of use? Do they have many, many, not miles, but hours on them? Sure, yes. So they're hard starting whether the engine's been running or not.

If this thing's been parked in the sun, it's hard to start. Right. Did they use these in Desert Storm? I hope not. Probably not. Probably not this fleet. Yeah, but they use Humvees. Yes.

Yeah. They didn't get any of them started, actually. But they looked, but all lined up. Just looking at them, you get scared. Now, in the Army maintenance system, pretty much, if you've got a bad part, you replace the entire part. And so we've done that with a lot of these Humvees, and for a while we were getting the same problem.

So we thought it was a bad batch of fuel injector pumps somewhere along the line. And the way we approached it, well, if we keep, ordering enough and replacing enough fuel injector pumps, we'll eventually get a good lot number from them. Yeah. So I'm hoping that we've worked through this bad lot number of fuel injector pumps so that the problem won't exist. But my big question was, why was this happening?

And when you got the new ones, you said they did the same thing, but also when you poured coal water on them, they worked? Right. Mm-hmm. Where is that? I mean, I'm sure my brother has worked on a lot of these, Humvees. Huh? Where is this fuel pump?

It's pretty much in the... You open up the hood, and it's center of the engine. Oh, it's under the hood. It's under the hood, right. Well, the real question is, will we be able to buy any of these packed in Cosmoline in a few years? 20 years from now? I really don't know what they do with all. See, I know when we were kids, there were all these stories about people buying an army surplus jeeps.

Yeah, for 25 bucks. I think 50 by the time I was a beige. And they were packed in causally, except, of course, for the tires, which were wrapped in papyrus. No, I think it was wax paper. Craft paper. She's up.

Cold water, huh? Yes. Cold water. Man. Now, the only thought that I could think of is that somewhere in there, there's some kind of electrical connection that runs the fuel injector pumping.

By pouring the water, on it, you're cooling it down and it shrinks. Yeah, boy, that sounds good to me, Nick, okay. Yeah, well, that's good. I like that. So this pump must have some kind of an electric pre-pump in it that sucks the fuel from the tank and delivers it to the injector pump. Or are there two pumps? Do you know? I couldn't even begin to tell you.

Isn't it great to talk to experts? Wait, wait, wait, what color are these vehicles? They can. Oh, I should have known that. Man, I like his theory better than anything we could come up with. Because we haven't come up with anything. We don't have. That's what I'm saying.

Okay. Man. Well, when you shut the thing off, how do these shut off? There's a fuel cutoff. And the fuel cutoff is going to be right in the injector pump. And that's what's happening. That fuel cutoff is not turning on. It's not releasing until you pull,

water on them. Oh. That's my guess, and it indeed is a guess. But try a CO2 extinguisher next time. It'll be faster. Faster than cold water. Yeah. Okay.

Good luck, Nick. I'm glad we can help you, Nick. Right. Take care. Thank. Hey, stick around for more calls and the new puzzler coming right up. 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 the new puzzler from the wonderful world of aviation. Aviation! That's a transportation. Remember we were considering making this a show called Transportation Talk? Because we had, I mean, we went from cars to trucks, to Humvee, Humvees. Trains. Trains.

And now? And now? DC3s. Almost. And we're going to work our way up to the other things. What are they? Jets. Back in the early.

days of aviation. Aircraft mechanics were often confused by the fact that the engines seemed to backfire through the carburetors with some kind of regularity, causing in some cases damage to the carburetors, but at the very least requiring more maintenance and cleaning of said carburetors. Not to mention scaring the pants off the pilot. Indeed. Well, they began investigating, figuring there was there was something wrong and after thorough investigations and recalibrating and resetting things they discovered that the cause of the backfiring was the pilot and in fact the pilot was doing it on purpose the question is why would the pilot of the plane want the engine to backfire through the carburetor thus scaring the pants off of them

himself, right? Could make for a chilly flight when it seemed to have, in the estimation of the mechanics, no useful purpose whatsoever, but in fact there was a purpose to it. If you think you know the answer, write it on a post-c...

I decided in the interest of brevity today, I mean, after a... You were going to make this into a two-hour dissertation. Is that it? Well, of course I was going to discuss those movies with Jimmy Cagney. You know, I can fly the crates they come in and all that. You know, I was going to go into a little historical little thing about, you know, my days in the Crimea.

But you didn't think we could take it when somebody would come in here and kill you. I saw the guns, yeah. So in the interest of brevity, I pared it down to a mere 17 or 18 sentences. Anyway, if you think you know the answer, write it on a postcard or take a picture of it with a Nikon, Cool Picks, 880 digital camera, the zoom lens 3.34 megapixel ccd and multi-area auto-focus and ship the whole shebang. Yeah. We'll make it work.

Next day air. It's a Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City. Matt 02238. Or you can email your answer from the Car Talk section of Cars.com. If you'd like to talk to us, the numbers 1-888-8-8-8-2-27-8-25. A lawyer on Car Talk. Hi, this is Levina from Scottsboro, Alabama.

Lavinia, as in Lavinia? Yes. And where are you from? Scottsboro, Alabama. Scottsboro, Alabama. Yes. Okay, I've got it all square away now. What's up?

Okay, I have this 1991 Dodge Caravan with 197,000 miles on it that's making a terrible, terrible sound when I go over a bump. Just one sound? Well, it sounds like an explosion, actually. It makes this explosion sound every time I go over a road where there's new construction, there's uneven pavement, and there's quite a lot around here, and also potholes. So when you hit something like a pothole, you hear one loud crashing sound like? Yes. Like a heavy, a thudding sound like boom.

Oh, no, louder. It sounds like an explosion almost, like a... It sounds as if it's coming from the front passenger side wheel. Well, tell me this. If you hit something with the left wheel, will the sound come from the right wheel also? Or you have to have the hit be on the right side? Well, you know, that's a very good question. Isn't it?

Mostly if I hit something on the right side. Yeah. And I've even slowed down to almost a crawl when they were doing construction around here. and if there's any speed at all, if I'm going maybe 20 miles an hour or more, it's just a loud-crushing sound. And if you're going faster, is the loud-crushing sound louder? Louder. It's horrible. It sounds, yes.

And yet you drive this every day. Am I right? Well. She probably commute 75 miles each way to work. No, no. I'm only about 10 miles one way to work, but still, it's a lot of. It's mostly if I'm going to another town, maybe 30 or 40 miles away. Do you have any kids?

I have two. Boys? Yes. Either one of them play football? Well, they did when they were in high school, but now they're in college, yes. Can you borrow a helmet from one of them? Just in case. I mean, it sounds as though there's got to be something loose that's crashing against something.

Could you believe it was a big piece of metal slapping against? against another big piece of metal? Would that qualify as an explosion? Yes, that sure does. That's a very good description. I like it then. I like it too. Yeah. Yeah. But the question is which piece of metal? I like, I'm working on the manifold. Manifold. Yeah, okay.

Nobody's mentioned that. I'm working on a theory. Go ahead. No one's mentioned that because what? It's stupid. I think what's wrong is you have either a broken frame. or the engine cradle has come loose or is cracked. Broken frame or engine cradle? There's a cradle which bolts to the frame of this vehicle. Yes. Which holds the engine and transmission.

Okay, and that could either be loose such that when you do have an impact, you get that slamming effect. Whoa, but, but, what? Why? Why would you get a slamming effect? Because you're causing motion that's not ordinarily part of the dynamic of it. The vehicle's supposed to be going straight ahead, and when it is going straight ahead, that slamming is... You go over little bumps, you got a blub-b-b-blum-blum. When you go over big bumps, you get b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-bbbb. But she doesn't get bab-bam-b, she gets one big explosion.

One big bomb. Because you're hitting one bump at a time. I don't like it. If you hit two bumps in a row, you'd get bab-boom, ba-boom, if they were spaced far enough... A bum-b-b-b-b-b-bang. Well, I think you have a broken. an engine cradle or a loose engine cradle. Okay.

I'm glad he thinks so. Yeah. Well, I have a quick, we're just, just, could just a regular shop check into there? Yes, anyone would know what that was. Okay. And if they didn't know what it was, then you wouldn't stay there. And ask them to look for cracks. Cracks.

Yeah. We're looking for cracks now on my brother's head and we found four so far. But here's my, here's my, here's my theory on the manifold. I'm going on the basis that what she is hearing is indeed an explosion. Oh, really? And when she hits a bump, you've got part of it right, that there's an engine mount that's bad, and it's distorting the crack in the exhaust manifold,

and one of the explosions taking point. One 888 car talk, that's 888. I want to talk to her in a month. We may have to have you and stump the chumps. Okay, well, I'll check into this, and thank you so much. All right. Bye, bye. Okay, dokey.

1-8-8-8-Cart talk. I didn't like any of those answers. I didn't like you. I didn't like mine. I guarantee you. And I didn't like yours. My answer is right. You want to have a little side bet?

Yeah. Five bucks? Yeah. Well, it's happened again. You've wasted yet another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk. Our esteem producer is Doug the subway fugitive, but not for long. No, he's not fugting very long now. He may be the prisoner.

The Brandon Berg. tonight. Bongo Boy, Berman. Our associate producers are Louis Cronin the Barbarian and David N. In By 9, home by 515, Green. Our engineer is Tad Masamon Curry. Our senior where blacky is sheep boy, Doug the old gray mayor, and our technical, spiritual and menu advisor just back from the Calgary Cattleman's beefoff. It's John Bugsy Lawler.

Where is he? He's right here. No. He's pointing at Louis. Wow. Saying, I'll get you for this. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Merkey Research, assisted by statistician margin of error.

Our director of satisfied customer relations is normally none. Normally none. Our new truck reviewer is Zibignugn'trador, the Carthock Plaza short order cook is Arkburn. Our divorce attorney is Carmine, not yours. Our director of genealogical research is Manny Cousins. Our sexual harassment investigator is Hank Panky. Our director of holiday visits to the in-laws is Don Wong-Go.

Our Russian chauffeur is Pekoff and Dropoff. The banker at Car Talk Plaza poker games is Nikolai Put-in, and our seat cushion tester, of course, is Mike Easter. Our chief counsel from the law firm is Dewey-Chie-N-Haw as you, Louis Dewey, known to the bummed-out shoppers wondering whatever happened to all those funky stores in Harvard Square as Ui-Louis-Dooey-Louis. Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking clack to Tappert Brothers. Don't drive like my brother. Don't drive like my brother.

We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. Car Talk is a production of Dewee Cheeteman Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though NPR President Kevin Close, Pearls another poison dot on our publicity photo whenever he hears us say it. This is NPR National Public Radio.