The Best of Car Talk - "What a Sled!" A Holiday Car Talk Bonus

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

Happy Holidays from the Best of Car Talk! We had our eye on a really ugly holiday sweater for you, but they didn’t have your size. Instead, we thought you might like to take a break from all the holiday hustle and bustle and revel in the merry misery of someone else’s car trouble. Ray has been taking car questions of late and Kyle and Chloe were lucky enough to catch him in the studio. These calls are usually for NPR+ supporters only, but in a very uncharacteristic moment of magnanimity, we decided to spread the schadenfreude around and let everyone listen in. If you have a car question for Ray, call 888 522 5478, and have a wonderful holiday season.Get access to occasional new calls like these and other prehistoric Car Talk gems, as well as about 1000 episodes of Car Talk, by heading over to plus.npr.orgLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hi, Ray Mal Yautze here. So early this year, we started giving our Car Talk Plus supporters a new benefit, bonus episodes. In these occasional extra episodes, I'm taking your car questions again and trying my best to answer them. And the staff is digging through our archives for some really old gems from the show. Now, these very special episodes are usually just for our very special Car Talk Plus supporters. But since it's the holidays, I figured we should be generous and let everyone listen to one. So here are a few calls that I took recently. We hope you enjoy them, and if you do, please consider signing up for Car Talk Plus,

and you'll get to hear all the fun every other Thursday. So go to plus.npr.org slash Car Talk to find out more and happy holidays. Hey, it's Ray, and welcome to another bonus feature for Car Talk Plus subscribers. If you're an NPR Plus subscriber and you want to ask me a question, you can leave a message at 888522. 5478. That's 888 522-5478. Hello. Who's this? This is Kyle. I'm from Puyallup, Washington. Kyle, what's going on, man? Oh, I've got a dozy for you if you're ready for a tail. All right. Give it a shot. All right. So I've got a 2017 F-150 and right out of the gate, right after I bought it, I bought it used. And we just had issues with it right off the bat. We had a

We had a crack in the valve cover on the driver's side. So I take it back, they fix it. And then a few months later, we had a rear pinion seal leak. So I take it in, they fix it. And then another rear pinion seal leak. I take it in, they fix it. And then they did a recall on it. And I drive it for two weeks, and then all of a sudden just, boom, caca, caca, cac, cac.

Well, it turns out the guy left the bolt down the intake. So they give me a new engine. I'm like, okay, great. We're good to go now. Well, about a year later, 11,000 miles or so, I've got oil coming out of every well. Turns out the guy didn't put the engine together right. So I got another new engine. And then their rear end goes out, and they replace that.

And then it only lasts for 10,000 miles, and then they replace it again. And then through all this whole time, there's little piddly stuff going on, like with the sunroof and all this stuff. And so the problem, the reason why I'm calling is because right now, any time, I'm towing a trailer that's kind of heavy and I'm going up a hill if I really put my foot on it I get like a vibration and it's almost like a shuddering

where if I'm going up going up a hill with a trailer and the engine's going up and it's just all of a sudden I'll just get a and I have to back off the throttle really and when does this vibration seem to be coming from the back it kind of comes from everywhere

yeah kind of comes from everywhere Okay. Yeah. And you want on a paved road or dirt road or? Completely paved, smooth road. It's only when I'm towing heavy and it's only when I'm going up a really steep hill. What the hell do you want to do that for? I'm when you say heavy.

What do you mean heavy? Like a house? Like 8,000 pounds. You're towing something that's 8,000 pounds with an F-150? Yes. Okay. And how steep is the grade? It's steep.

It's a steep hill. I end up going maybe 15 miles an hour up the hill because if I put my foot into the gas a little bit more, then it starts shaking and vibrating like that. So what are you repossessing motorhomes in the middle of the night or something that you're hauling these? And even that, they don't weigh 8,000 pounds. Well, this one does. This is my wife's trailer.

We call it the Alice Palace. Okay. So if you were to drive more slowly up this steep incline, it wouldn't do this probably. Correct. Yes. True. I hesitate to say it, but I think, it isn't the problem with the engine, I don't think. I think it's a problem with the back wheels losing traction.

Oh, interesting. Well, it might be wrong. It probably is wrong. Don't forget, I've been out of practice for quite a while here. And, you know, I don't have my brother sitting next to me asking the stupid questions that it would usually ask, like, what color is it, et cetera, et cetera. So I haven't got enough time to really think. But that's the first thing that comes to mind that. that you can take this same hill, and without the trailer, you can fly up this hill with your truck.

Yes, I can. I will say I know enough about cars to just be dangerous. So I'm not an expert in any way. I just, I'm like, oh, crap. So I put some. I feel the way myself sometimes. I put some instant shutter fix. I don't know.

I found it online in the transmission, and it seems to help a little bit because I thought it may have been a work converter issue, but if I'm not towing, if I'm not towing and I go up that hill, it flies up the hill, but if I, again, if I put my foot into it, I can still feel a little bit without towing anything. So it will do it even if you're not pulling 8,000 pounds. Yes. Okay. But it's not as bad. Has, okay, all right, all right. So is the check engine light ever come on? No. But it's possible that the transmission is causing the shutter. But, well, here's what I'd recommend. Okay.

I don't know how many miles you have in this thing. But you have $110,000. $110,000. It wouldn't hurt to change the transmission fluid. Already done. Wouldn't hurt to do it again. Maybe once a month. So when you did do it, did it improve the thing?

No, not at all. No, you remember being deep doo-doo? I know. Well, that's the philosophical question. Like, do I just, I'm so sick of this thing. And it came with a warranty. Like, all of this stuff has been always fixed under warranty. So that's the thing.

Like, I've got a lifetime power train warranty, but it is in the shop every single year or less, every six months. So you have a lifetime power train warranty? Yes. That includes the transmission because that is an integral part of the power train. I would take the thing in and tell them what it's doing and let them figure out that they ought to replace the transmission. Okay. Yeah.

Do I keep it and just like let them keep it? Oh yeah, you have to keep it, Kyle, because this is like a science experiment now. You can't give this, you can't give this thing up. You know, you'll be calling every week. So let's keep in touch. And I think you should invoke the warranty on the transmission. And I think with any luck, they're going to, Maybe it's just a converter, but maybe not.

But if this will do this with no load, then it's probably something serious. And it's going to rear its ugly head. So sooner or later, you're going to have it in there and have them replacing the transmission. Okay. Good luck, man. Hey, thank you. Appreciate it. Keep the fake.

Thank you, Kyle. We'll be back in a minute. the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's Apply.

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That's 888-522-4478. Hello. This is Chloe from Kansas. Chloe. What's going on, Chloe? Well, I have a beautiful blue 2008 Honda Civic sedan. It is my first car. It is my only car. I got it secondhand a few years ago. It's got some cosmetic damage, but that's okay. We love it anyway. And my issue, well, it's not my issue. It's my mother's issue. She thinks I need a new car. And I disagree. So I was wondering if you could help settle this argument for us. And why does she want you to get a new car? Are you deficient in your social life?

You romantically involved with somebody or not? Does she think that would help getting a new car? Just asking. Nothing, no, no, no, nothing like that. She just, she thinks my car is too old. It's got, I mean, it had, I think, 150,000 miles when I got it. It's got about 170,000 now. And she says, that's too old.

You have to get a new car. It's ridiculous that you're driving this thing around. And her new argument, because that's what she started with. And I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, help me with the car payments, and then we'll talk. But instead, now she's saying it's not safe enough. I need to get newer cars because newer cars are safer and have backup cam. Oh, yeah, they do have all that stuff. And there's a whole suite of safety features that this car doesn't have that are available on newer cars.

So your mother must have determined, on her own perhaps, that you're a lousy driver. And maybe you need all that of the safety stuff, you know, automatic braking and lane departure warning and all that, which your 2008 Civic doesn't have. I don't think I'm a lousy driver, but then again, who does, right? How many accidents you had in the last six months? Zero. Zero. No accidents ever. How many of you caused?

No, well, okay, that's a very different question, but I don't look in my rear view, so as far as I know, zero. Zero, but you don't know what you're leaving behind you. Yeah, who cares, right? It's fine. So I think you're, are you an only child? No, I've got two older brothers. So mom thinks that your skills are deficient. Obviously, your mother is the one person in the world who's going to worry about your safety more than anybody, even you.

And if she sees things in your driving or thinks the car is too old, and she is right, the car is not too old in that it's going to fall apart on you. it could easily go another 100,000 miles, but it doesn't have all the safety stuff that the newer cars have. And the newer cars are great. I see you as a Subaru driver. You hung up on me, right? No, no, no, no, no.

I would never. Well, because I did recently drive a newer car because there was somebody else bumped into my car very hard on the fender a little bit ago. Yeah, so it got a loner. and what was it, an Audi A5, something like that. That's a nice car. Yeah, yeah, my mom was really excited when I pulled up in the driveway in that one.

You said, Clod, did you buy a new car? Did you buy a new car? Oh, my gosh. She was like ready to cry when I told her I was returning it. But, you know, it had to keep you in the lane. It had the backup cam. It had like this and that. It's, you know, it's all computers now. But it's just, I mean, my dad showed me how to set my side mirrors so that I don't really have a blind spot. and I stay on the speed limit. I don't. I'm not careening all over the road.

Look, if you have blind spot monitoring, you don't even need mirrors. Really? No, no, I would seriously consider buying another car if for no other reason, well, two reasons. To shut your mother up so she stops hounding you. And number two, to benefit from all that safety stuff, which this car, this 2008 Civic, does not have.

Chloe, go look around. Good luck. Okay, okay. Your mother loves you. See you later, kid. She does. Oh, before you go, I listen to you all the time with my dad growing up. It is so great to hear you again.

It is so great to actually get to talk to you. So thanks for coming back. All righty. Thank you. Bye-bye. Look, if you're an NPR Car Talk Plus subscriber and want to ask me a question, you can leave a message at 888-2-5478. That's 888-5-2-2-5478. Until next time, don't drive like my brother.

Thank you.