#25102: Happy Camper
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Car
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small car that many people like because it's easy to drive and has a lot of room inside. The 1986 version is one of the earlier models and is known for its unique shape.
Part
fuel pump
The fuel pump is a part of the car that helps move gasoline from the tank to the engine. If it doesn't work, the car might not start or could have problems running.
Company
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a car company from Germany that makes many popular cars. They are known for models like the Beetle and the Golf.
Part
Bosch pumps
Bosch pumps are fuel pumps made by a well-known company. They help deliver fuel to the engine so the car can run properly.
Term
fuel system crudification
Crudification is when dirt, rust, and other junk build up in the fuel system, which can block parts and cause problems for the engine.
Car
Chevrolet Tracker
The Chevrolet Tracker is a small SUV that is great for people who need a car that can fit a few passengers and some luggage. It's known for being easy to drive and having a lot of useful features, making it a good option for everyday use. Many people like it because it combines comfort with a reasonable price.
Car
Toyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla is a small car that many people buy because it's dependable and gets good gas mileage. The 1989 version is one of the older models that many drivers still appreciate.
Part
valve cover gasket
The valve cover gasket helps keep oil in the engine. If it gets old or damaged, oil can leak out, which is not good for the engine.
Part
valve seals
Valve seals help keep oil from getting into the engine's combustion area. If they wear out, you might see smoke from the exhaust or use more oil.
Part
carburetor
The carburetor helps mix air and fuel so the engine can run. It's more common in older cars, as newer ones usually use fuel injection instead.
Part
spark plugs
Spark plugs are small parts in an engine that create a spark to help start the engine. They are important for making sure the engine runs smoothly.
Car
Toyota Tercel
The Toyota Tercel is a small, affordable car that was made by Toyota. It was popular because it was easy on gas and not too expensive to buy.
Brand
Ford
Ford is a well-known car company from the United States. They make many types of vehicles, including trucks and cars, and are famous for their popular models.
Car
Chevy pickup truck
A Chevy pickup truck is a type of vehicle made by Chevrolet that is designed to carry heavy loads and is often used for work or transportation.
Term
vacuum leak
A vacuum leak is when extra air gets into the engine where it shouldn't, which can cause the engine to run poorly or not at all.
Term
combustion chamber
The combustion chamber is the part of the engine where fuel and air come together and burn to create energy to make the car move.
Term
throttle body
The throttle body is a part of the engine that helps control how much air goes into it, which is important for making the engine work properly.
Part
hose
A hose is a tube that carries air or fluids in the engine. If it breaks, it can cause problems like leaks or the engine not working properly.
Term
propane
Propane is a gas that can be used to find leaks in an engine. If you spray it near a leak, the engine will react, helping you find the problem.
Part
spark plug wires
Spark plug wires help send electricity from the engine's ignition system to the spark plugs, which are important for starting the engine and keeping it running smoothly.
Term
camp stove fuel
Camp stove fuel is a fuel used for cooking while camping. It's not the same as gasoline and shouldn't be used in cars because it's designed for stoves, not engines.
Term
diesel fuel
Diesel fuel is a special kind of fuel used in certain cars and trucks. It's different from regular gasoline and is usually more efficient, meaning it can go further on less fuel.
Term
octane rating
Octane rating tells you how well a fuel can handle pressure before it explodes in the engine. Higher numbers mean it's better for powerful cars that need more performance.
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Hello and welcome to CarTalk from National Public Radio. With us, click and collect the tap of brothers. And we're broadcasting this week from the career development center here at CarTalk Plaza. Now, we always figured that someday in PR is going to wise up and throw us off the air. I mean, it's got to happen, right? I mean, they were in Washington, so I take them out of the 30 years, but eventually they'll catch on to us and tell us to get lost. And when that happens, I guess it happens. I mean, we're not worried really about ourselves.
We're old guys. We can always go back to the garage or our jobs at the 7-11. You haven't given up your job. Oh, I still keep a hand in, so to speak, in the register. They caught me twice. That's something that closed the drawer. But we have been concerned about Duggy because... What is he going to do? What is Duggy going to do? I mean, if he lost his job with us, he'd be a bum. We would hire him. But there comes across the wire.
As luck would have. It's a little article that gives us hope. A glimmer. A glimmer of hope for Berman.
Monroe, Michigan. Mike Pixley can work up a sweat just by sitting down on the job. You might say he's the lazy boy of the lazy boy chair company.
A senior studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan, Pixley is paid $6 an hour to test a variety of lazy boy chairs.
Some buck more an hour than Berman's making. In other words, he comes to work, sits down, leans back, and then relaxes forward all day.
Really? That's what he does. His quote, I think a lot of people think this is a lot easier than it actually is.
Sure we do. We do. Yes, Mike, we do. Finding the right slacker for the job wasn't easy.
He said the test lab supervisor, Judy, say, whose ideal hire weighs 180 to 200 pounds and stands at least six feet tall.
I want someone who's self-motivated who won't get bored and sets his own personal goals. No, he's out. Self-motivated? No.
Six feet tall. Two hundred and two hundred and I have to park out. He can park out. Yeah, he's been doing that.
Oh, well, okay, forget it. Sounds like yeah, we made a mistake. Alright, so he's still an employer.
But we'll keep looking if anyone has any ideas about how Dougie could become employable. He can't change. I mean, he is what he is.
So we're just looking for the right job. We're not trying to change him into something. He isn't.
And what he is is unemployed. But if you think there's hope for Dougie, if you have a position for him, preferably horizontal.
The number is 1-888 mattress tester. 1-888 car talk that's 888-227-8255 futons. I can see it now. Futons is good. Hello, you're on car talk.
This is Christo Jackson and Buford. This is Tom and Ray. Yeah, yeah. Christo. Yes, sir. In Buford. What? South Carolina.
Oh, South Carolina. Christo. So what's going on? I've got an 86 VW golf that I've had for about five years.
It's only got 32,000 miles on it. And after I'd headed for two years, it started to not start in the morning.
And then I had a mechanic look at it and he put a new fuel pump. Right. And he kept on putting in fuel pumps.
And each time he put one in, it would work well for about four or five months. And then it would start to not stop.
And it would commence to not start. And what I would have to do is to get underneath the car with a hammer, hit the fuel pump, which as you probably know is right next to the gas tank.
Yeah. Two or three times run back, jump in the driver's seat and crank it and it would start right up. That's great.
But what happens now is that that doesn't work. What I have to do is I have to get somebody else to sit in the driver's seat.
Oh, so while you're cranking. Well, he's cranking. You're hitting. Oh, see, you get it wrong. You should be cranking.
No, no, it's his car. No stranger was going to lie on his back to do this.
At quarter of seven in the morning, when I leave for work, if the car doesn't start and I have to inflict myself on some poor passerby, I can't ask him to get onto the car.
I have him crank it while I hit the fuel pump and it works perfectly. But this is not the way I want to run my life. And it's enough to make the good human man angry.
Well, you've come to expect too much, crystal.
Which is true of all of us. I mean, we complain about everything. If the TV. I noticed the other. We have cable TV in the time where I live.
And it has this wonderful feature. You turn on the TV and you press the information button. And at the bottom of the screen, you get a little typing typed up thing that sells you.
What's on? If it's a movie, it tells you who's in it. It tells you it starts at seven and it ends at nine.
It goes by so quickly that you can't really. So you have to press the info by four or five times, right?
In any event, it seems as though whoever produces these little subtitles and information dialogue doesn't want to work on the weekends.
So that starting Friday, it doesn't work anymore. I'm sitting there on my sofa with this little device in my hand.
And I'm pressing little buttons and I'm changing stations and I'm changing volume and I'm doing all kinds of stuff.
And I'm bent out of shape because one of the little features that they offered me doesn't work.
Whereas I used to get only one station and I had to get up from the seat and go over and turn a dial to get it.
Now I've got all this wonderful luxury and I don't appreciate it because I have come to expect it and more.
And you the same way. I mean, so what? You get underneath. What if it was a horse?
So what you're saying is that unrealistic expectations are premeditated resentments.
You got it, man. Are you a psycho? What do I do? How do you fix it?
There's no VW dealer in Buford and I've now put in four of these things and the mechanics been very nice.
Is he replacing them with original equipment pumps, Bosch pumps?
He's replacing it with things that are certified as being approved by VW.
Okay, well, I don't mean the connections match up.
Well, it comes to mind that he's putting in inferior pumps.
There are many companies that make a fuel pump for this car, which isn't up to snuff.
And it may take exactly that amount of time, whatever it is, a hundred days or whatever, the thing to begin to fail.
The other possibility, the more likely one, is that you have a severe case of fuel system,
crudification, crudification, crudification, CRUDD, crudification,
and what's happening is that rust and other contaminants mostly rust in the gas tank are ultimately finding their way to the pump.
And clogging up the pump and that's why it requires that you bang on it, perhaps, that it's just plugged up with debris.
Maybe if they cleaned out the gas tank.
Exactly.
Okay.
So that might be the next step to take out the gas tank and either clean it or replace it.
Boy, that's a great suggestion.
And I think the way to find this out, too, is to take a sample of the gasoline
and see how many rocks and screwdrivers and fish hooks or whatever you find at the bottom of the bush.
And fish!
Okay, that's a great suggestion, Tom and Ray.
I thank you very, very much.
All right, Crystal.
I really enjoy your show.
Thanks.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
He was very thankful.
He was until he tried it.
It doesn't work.
They are.
It's amazing how adoration can turn to hate with one piece of bad advice.
But hey, it's the chance you take.
See, but we're using the very reverse of the very incident that I just described here.
People don't expect much when they turn into the shop.
No, in any little morsel they get.
Any little morsel they are eternally grateful.
Yeah, because...
We've come to expect too much because the automobile manufacturers, especially GM, have given us too much.
They have.
Absolutely.
That's right.
And we've had too much time to come back to Earth.
Time to come back to Earth.
All right, you remember last week's puzzler?
All right, just give me a hint.
Remember, in the old days, you used to give me hints to help me remember?
All right, here it is.
It had to do with a double inch OV pepperoni pizza.
And I'll have the interesting answer in just a minute.
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All relatives of T-shirt wear is we just got a veritable shipload.
That's shipload with a P of new Car Talk T-shirts at the Shameless Commerce Division.
The folks there made a great series of T-shirts out of their favorite Car Talk quotes.
So in addition to the classics, you know, don't drive like my brother.
Do we treatment how you can now get Car Talk T-shirts that say for instance,
if money can fix it, it's not a problem.
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Hi, we're back.
You're listening to Car Talk with us, click and collect the Tapper Brothers.
And we hit a talk about cars, car repair, and other answers to last week's puzzler.
And here it is.
I'm sure my brother will remember it in a minute.
I do remember it now.
The other night I had a gastrointestinal attack in the middle of the night.
They always come in the middle of the night.
It may have had something to do with the double inch OV pepperoni pizza.
I had it 11 o'clock.
I think the pineapple is important.
Anyway, in the middle of the night, I wake up morning and groaning, clutching my stomach
and I find myself at the medicine chest in the bathroom looking for relief.
And I find the tummy ache medicine that I recognize by the shape and color of the bottle.
But lo and behold, I can't read the little, little print on the back of the bottle.
So clutching my stomach, I make my way back to the bedroom
to find my glasses on the dresser.
On the way there, I stub my toe.
I yell and pay.
My web tells me to shut up.
She's trying to sleep.
I limp back to the bathroom.
But even with my glasses, I still can't read the dosage information.
Oh, it's written in one point type.
That's why.
Right. And I don't know whether these things you're supposed to take two of these tablets
or if they're suppository.
So you're going to, it's important that you're going to, you're going to, you're going to know.
Now I'm ready to die.
My toe is throbbing it to add insult to injury.
I bend over to touch my stomach and my glasses fall off my head, hit the tile floor
and they break in half.
I think, geez, I'm going to have a good day.
Die here in the bathroom floor.
And yet a minute later, I was tucked in bed having taken exactly the proper dosage.
And it wasn't administered by my wife or any of my kids.
How did I do it?
Well, I think I mentioned when I broke the glasses that they broke in half.
So that I had two, how would they break in half?
Two monocles.
Exactly.
So I had one lens on one diabolar.
One lens of the stick attached to another lens of the stick attached to it.
Yeah.
And lo and behold, if you gang the lenses, that is put one in front of the other,
you, I think essentially double the magnification.
So there I was unable to read the dosage in with these two pieces in my hand.
These two lenses back to back, so to speak.
Yeah.
I was able to read the bottle and it said, take two of these and stick them down your throat.
And next thing I know, I'm in bed.
Wow.
And all's right with the world.
Yeah.
Now, there is another answer to this, which I'm not going to delve into right now.
No, I think you should mention it at least because we don't understand any of this.
Let's face it.
Someone's a part of 801.
Was it not optics?
No, not when I, no.
They didn't have optics.
They didn't have.
No, optics was, optics was brand new when you were there.
Benjamin Franklin, that just invented the bifocal.
Well, here's the other answer that I happen to like better.
Let's assume I didn't break my glasses, but in fact I had small print that I couldn't read.
Now, when you try to read something that's too small, when your eyesight is good,
what do you do?
You bring it closer to your eye.
Do you not?
Yeah.
But then it goes out of focus and even people with good eyesight can bring something so close
that they can no longer read it.
Except that if it's small, I mean, die.
You don't need a genius to tell you that if it's small, you ain't going to move it farther
away from you because you've got less of a chance of seeing it.
So if you were trying to look at the legs of a flea, you would try to bring that flea
as close to your eye as possible.
But in doing so, you would put it out of focus.
Yeah.
Well, I'm with you.
So if you take your index finger, I'm wearing my glasses now, but I'm steering it to bottle,
I'm able to look at the print.
Yeah.
I'm able to read the print because it's blurred.
I'm doing this right now.
But it's close enough so that I can see it.
Take your index finger and curl it so that you have fingernail now touches the point
where you have thumb.
Join your hand and then doing so.
Is that an app description?
Yeah, you make a little teeny hole with your index finger.
You're going to make a little teeny hole and you could accomplish the same thing by taking
a piece of paper and punching a hole in it.
Oh man, this works like a dream.
If you then look through that hole, you are, in fact, unfuzzying the image.
It is like you are bringing it into focus because the hole acts to, acts to, was the word.
I don't know.
I have no idea how this works.
Maybe it does magnify, but maybe it doesn't magnify.
But if nothing else, it brings it into focus.
It does.
But something that was close enough so that you could read it if you had good eyes is not readable
because you have, you have fixed the image by unfuzzying it.
Wow.
So that is one other solution to this problem.
And I don't know exactly why it works.
I don't remember.
It would be nice to know who cares.
If it works, it works.
I don't really care how it works.
Well, I like to know what happens is all the light that was going all over the place.
Now it has to go through that little pinhole which you've made with your finger.
And so that would say, all of that theory is correct.
That would say that you could produce the same effect with more light.
And I don't think that's true.
Oh yeah, it is.
If you put this right up here so you can't read it right in front of your face.
And brighter light.
If I put a thousand watts points of light, thanks to George Bush on that.
Yeah, you'll be able to clear it up.
Yeah.
Impossible.
Well, the third solution was I turned on the bathroom light.
And that's...
Anyway, do we have a winner?
Yeah.
We have winners.
Winners.
Winners this week.
Pete and Barbara Van Curin, I believe it is, from Concha Huckin, Pennsylvania.
Love it.
Concha Huckin, Pennsylvania.
And for having their answer selected at random, from among all the correct answers, Pete and Barbara
will share.
They're not going to give them each but they will share.
Oh no.
A $25 gift certificate to the Car Talks, Shameless Commerce Division, with which they can get our
wonderful new puzzle book, all one of our best of CDs.
All they can have my brother as their personal slave for a month.
That's less than $25, right?
Anyway, we will have a new automotive puzzler.
Really?
Equally challenging, coming up in the third half of today's show.
So stay tuned for that.
We did receive some emails stating that we couldn't pause.
We have three halves to our show.
I saved it because I didn't believe that the person was serious.
Well, no.
I mean, jeez.
I mean, someone wrote and said, gee, you guys are really stupid.
Don't you know that there can't be three halves?
Well, no, we didn't know.
No, they can't be three halves.
Anyway, you can call us and ask us questions if you'd like.
The number is 1-888 Car Talk, that's 888-227-8255, a lawyer on Car Talk.
Hi, this is Jody.
I'm calling from Minneapolis.
Hi, Jody.
Will I or why?
With a why?
Oh, thank you for asking.
Indianapolis.
Yeah, I know Indianapolis.
It's beautiful here.
We've got fall color.
Do you?
Yes, we do.
The fall color is always beautiful.
But it's always a bit of a bittersweet kind of thing, you know.
Because you know what's coming next, don't you, Jody?
Yes, we do.
Yeah, no color.
Dark winter.
Dark.
No leaves in the trees.
No grass.
No flowers.
No sky.
No sun.
No happiness.
No joy.
No laughter.
No life.
But other than that, it's great.
So what's happening?
I'm hoping for winter.
It gets a lot slower around here in the world.
Oh, you know what happens?
Yeah.
Ice fishing happens there.
I have to take up.
I have to take up.
I have to take up ice fishing.
Ice fishing.
Yeah, not for the fish.
I think the cigar smoking part of it, I'm going to eat it.
Yeah, that's a deal there.
Yeah.
All right.
So what can we do for you today?
Well, I need help.
I have this 1989 Toyota Corolla, and this is my very first car that I bought brand new.
Yeah.
And it's not wanting to start very well.
And it's been doing this for two years, and I've taken it into the shop four times.
How many miles on it?
It has under 120,000.
Okay.
And when it doesn't start, what does it do?
Exactly.
You sound just like my car.
Or does it do this?
No, no, the first one.
The first one.
Oh.
And when it ultimately starts, what?
It's pitiful.
It's pitiful.
It's just a little...
Oh, it just barely gets going.
And then this huge kind of fart.
A black hole.
Comes pouring out the tailpipe.
Yeah.
Really?
Really?
It's kind of blue black.
Yeah.
So what have...
You've been in there four times with this problem, and what have they done?
They did the valve cover gasket.
They said it was leaking, and they replaced it.
Yeah, would have nothing to do with the starting.
What else did they do?
And then they said, suspect the valve seals are getting hard and leaking.
Yeah.
I mean, you described the problem as you described it to us.
The car doesn't start, it goes, and they replaced the valve cover gasket.
Yeah.
And they cleaned out the carburetor.
You have a carburetor?
I don't know.
That's what they said.
Oh, you may have the last of the carburetors.
The last one in captivity.
Oh, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Is it a collector's life?
It would be.
Yeah, it would be.
This is my big bowl bowl.
Oh, no.
We might have to send in Baba to continue the species.
Oh, no, I'm really worried.
Oh, you should be.
Oh, well, that's good.
That's good news.
Good news.
Well, now, what they do is in visit tree.
So we told it in this spring, and then they put a new battery in it.
These guys are beginning to worry me.
It was beginning to worry me too, but I thought they know this car.
They've taken care of it since birth.
Well, they may have, but it may be time to move from the pediatrician on to a more adult doctor.
Oh, that's an idea.
Okay.
And I think you may have to...
Wait, wait, wait, wait, we have one more visit.
We have number four.
Oh, okay, I'm sorry.
Okay, visit number four.
Visit number four.
They removed the carburetor top, and then they cleaned it out and blow out jets.
And they renew solid spark plugs.
Ooh.
Yeah.
Very interesting.
Well, if this indeed does have a carburetor, which they've alluded to twice now and repair...
It must actually be there.
There's an odds on chance that it does have a carburetor.
It has a problem.
It has what's called a variable Venturi carburetor, which is a very strange thing.
The only ones I've ever seen are on this car...
Mm-hmm.
...and in the Smithsonian.
...and on some...
On some...
On some Turcells.
And on Ford cars of like 1985, Ford used, I think, an 84 or 85 for a year.
Before they decided that there was a stupid idea, and they needed to actually make the plunge into fuel injection.
Mm-hmm.
And you need probably to have the carburetor replaced.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Because it's running way too rich and it's flooding the thing, that's why it won't start.
That's why it's blowing that huge fart of black smoke out the back.
And that's why you're fouling the spark plugs.
Well, this one's really expensive.
It is.
Yeah, it will be.
It is expensive, but that's why...
I would say at the very least you ought to take this to a Toyota dealer.
Okay.
Because there may be some adjustments they can do if you can still find somebody living who knows how to work on these.
Oh, no.
So what you need to do, I think, is you have to call around to the various Toyota dealers and say,
does anyone there know bubble?
Is anyone there, variable, venturi carburetor literate?
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm writing this down.
Yeah.
But if they tell you you need a new one, be prepared to bite the bullet for a thousand bucks.
Oh, my gosh.
Well, good luck, boy.
What an awful thing.
Wow.
Bummer.
Well, I feel for you.
Anyway.
Well, thank you for helping to save my little car here.
Good luck, Jody.
Thank you.
See you.
Bye-bye.
Hey, stick around for more calls and the new puzzler coming right up.
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Do it while you're young.
You may never have a chance to do anything this stupid again.
Reality often astonishes theory or happiness equals reality minus expectation.
How about this one?
Lousy car advice since 1977 and many, many more.
If you'd like one or want one to ship to a friend or relative,
you don't really like just head over to shamelesscomers.com.
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How are we back?
You listening to Car Talk with us? Click and collect the tap or brothers.
And we here to discuss cars, car repair and the new puzzler.
Now I thought being this early in the puzzler season that I ought to use an automotive puzzler of one kind or another.
Ah!
Because I haven't had one yet.
I hadn't even noticed that.
I didn't think you would have.
And here it is if I can remember it.
Yes.
A few months or weeks ago one of my guys was under the hood of an old...
I don't remember what it was.
It was an old Chevy pickup truck trying to find a vacuum leak.
Now what a vacuum leak is is it's a leak which allows air to get into the engine
when it shouldn't be getting into that spot.
And specifically into the combustion chamber.
All the air that enters an engine should come either through the carburetor if the car has one
or through the throttle body.
And any air that comes into any other source is called a vacuum leak.
And it affects the way the thing runs.
If the leak is sufficiently large, the thing won't run at all.
Or it certainly won't run at idle.
And it'll stall out every time you take your foot off the gas.
And that's exactly the problem that this thing had.
So there he is.
And the way you find vacuum leaks is you either get lucky.
And you hear the hissing and you say,
oh, there it is.
And you put your finger on a hose that's broken or a pipe that's gotten disconnected.
Or we use a little wand that shoots propane.
And you go around with this thing attached away,
the other end of which is attached to a propane tank.
And you squirt this propane all over the place.
And when the vacuum leak and the propane meet,
you'll suck the propane in and the engine will begin to run smoothly.
And in fact it will leave an idle.
Because now you're making the fuel air mixture correct.
As soon as you take the propane wand away,
all of a sudden you got far more air compared to the fuel than you're supposed to have.
And it runs lousy again.
Exactly.
So there he is with the wand.
And he's having lousy luck.
He's underneath the vehicle?
No, he's under the hood.
Under the hood.
Under the hood.
And the engine is running.
But the leak is so big.
The leak is so pervasive.
And yet so evasive that he can't seem to find it.
So in plus the fact that I'm a pickup truck,
you'd feed a dangling in the air.
You know, stuff is falling out of your pockets.
It's a pain.
So in desperation he throws the stuff down
and he shuts off the engine.
And a few minutes later I walk by
and I see him doing something very interesting.
He's pulling off the spark plug wires.
And he's putting the back on,
but on the wrong plugs.
Ooh.
I say.
What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do?
What am I supposed to do?
Why should I care?
Maybe it'll work better.
And I walk away.
Yeah.
Two minutes later I hear him on the phone
ordering the part that he needs to correct the vacuum leak.
How did he do it?
Now if you think you know the answer,
write it on the back of a $20 bill or a piece of fresh fruit.
And send it to Puzzler Tower,
Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500,
Harvard Square, Cambridge,
Our Fair City, Matt 02238
or of course you can email your answer
from the Car Talk section of cars.com,
1-888 Car Talk,
that's 888-227-8255,
hello you're on Car Talk.
Hi.
This is Katie from South Deerfield, Massachusetts.
South Deerfield.
And I knew that too.
Yeah.
Because I've heard of Deerfield.
And that's like way out west like near Texas.
Not going that far.
No, no, it's near Tennessee.
But it's near what?
Near what?
Like near Deerfield Academy.
Is it near Williamstown?
No, we're about an hour east of Williamstown.
On the other side of the mountains.
There are mountains?
Rockies.
Rockies.
Rockies.
Yeah, it's on this side of the continental divide.
So you're not like the adenver.
Well like Lincoln Nebraska.
Anyway Katie, it's been a real pleasure.
Thank you.
So what's up?
Well I'm calling with a question about a piece of information that I was given.
And I'm a little embarrassed because the person who gave me this piece of information
is actually standing outside of the door of the room that I'm in right now.
Oh really?
I haven't told him that I'm calling.
Okay, well let's not tell him.
We'll make it quick.
Okay, well here's the thing.
I'm in an outdoor leadership program.
And one of our days in school we were talking about gear and about stove.
And about different kinds of fuel you can use for stove.
And I have a camp stove that uses white gas.
Yes.
And I've had this stove and some gas for it for many years.
Like I don't know four years or something.
And I can no longer use it in the stove because it's too old.
One of my instructors told me that I was standing outside the door.
That told me that I could, I didn't want to throw the fuel away.
And he said well you can just pour it into your gas tank and of your car.
If it's not good enough for your crummy stove.
You're going to put it in your $20,000 car?
Well, you get the idea though.
Yeah, I get the idea.
That was what he told me.
Now I have to tell you, I talked to my father about this.
And he told me to make sure to tell you that he said that I could go ahead and pour into the tank of the car
as long as I had a lot of marshmallows handy.
And there we go.
When the car blew off.
Great.
But that's my question.
I don't know if I, I mean, I don't want to ruin my car.
Why, why has this gas, this fuel, which is not gasoline really?
It's, it's camp stove fuel.
Well, it comes out of the ground like, no, no.
It does.
It's a little higher up with a distillation.
There's a diesel.
There's 89 octane.
There's camp stove fuel.
But this comes in a container.
If I'm not mistaken, so is it a little, is it above whale blubber of oil?
This comes in a container sold by somebody like Coleman.
And it says camp stove fuel.
And it's also the same fuel you'd use in your Coleman lantern.
No, no.
No, Coleman lanterns, well, the ones I know, they use propane, which is like a pressurized fuel.
And this is white gas, which is unpressurized.
And it's just like a really clean burning fuel.
Well, that's what this stuff is, too.
The Coleman lantern that I have uses a liquid fuel that enforces that fuel into onto a gas mantle.
A little cloth thing.
And you accomplish that.
And the reason you have to pressurize is that the mantle is above the tank.
And it won't go up here when it goes up under pressure.
So you pump the thing.
So this thing however, works by gravity.
What is this?
Yeah, I suppose.
So it's the same.
So it's a little different kind of fuel.
Are you sure?
I'm positive.
I think it's the same stuff.
I think it's the same stuff.
I mean, they wouldn't make two different.
They wouldn't have painted them, but that would be.
We're going to pack mules carrying this stuff in for you.
This conversation bears a striking resemblance to the call we got above it.
Like head on the electric brakes.
I understand that.
But I have some.
I do have some small experience in this matter.
And camping.
Yes.
You have experience.
I can't.
Well, I have just because you walk through the mule woods once.
No, no.
I do.
I do own one of these Coleman lanterns for hurricanes and others.
Oh, of course.
And I have this container that Katie has.
Okay, with the same fuel, I believe that you would use an either your lantern or the stove.
I think it's the same stuff.
And it can also be substituted with white gas.
Okay.
That's what I have.
White gas.
The only reason I bring this up is I have had the same can of this stuff in my garage for about 25 years.
And every time there's a hurricane, you fire it up.
If you open the can, I fill up the Coleman lantern.
I replace the two little mantles.
And the thing works like a dream.
Okay.
So you're telling her that her instructor basically is got is what?
I'm trying to find a way to say this.
And the only reason I have it thrown the stuff away and replaced it is it seems to work all the time.
Number two, I wouldn't know where to throw it.
If I were going to throw it, and I certainly wouldn't throw it in my gas tank.
I think you just try it out and say, by the way, Mr. whatever your name is, Mr. Rogers or Mr. Smoky the bear.
I think you get your head up your keystone this way.
Yes.
Well, I really trust his opinion on the camping stuff though.
You may not be justified in trusting him about anything.
Let me tell you that this is how it starts.
My wife is gonna trust me on everything.
They catch you once or twice.
Yeah, and then that's it.
We happen to have in our presence, Mr. Doug Mayer who just narrowly escaped passing through the digestive system of a wolf.
After taking a long trek, where did you go from?
He walked from Boston to Canada.
Yeah, he took a long trail in Vermont.
If you're familiar with this, this goes from someplace in Vermont, which we don't really know the name of.
To someplace in Canada, which has no name.
And back.
But during this time, I mean, he's had, he's had a million times more camping experience than any of us has had.
Okay.
And he has used these stovs and his opinion is, he says, you could say stuff lasts forever.
Really?
Yeah, worst than half as he said is you have to clean the stove.
And that's not so bad.
If anything, I would certainly risk the stove and not my car.
Yeah, I kind of feel the same way.
Yeah.
And I certainly wouldn't put it in my car.
So I would say stick with the stove.
And like I said, I've had the same Canada stuff forever.
And every time I does a power failure, I fire up my Coleman lantern.
Why do I fire up my Coleman lantern?
Especially since you just bought that generator.
Well.
Well, do you use white gas in the generator?
No.
You use Sonoco.
Don't you?
Don't you?
The gas gets old, you know.
You can't leave the same gas in there all the time.
It plugs up all those jets.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, Katie.
It's been charming.
Thank you very much.
See you later.
Okay.
Oh, God.
Well, it's happened again.
You vaporized.
You don't know the hour.
Let's think to card talk.
Our steam producer is dug the subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion bourman.
Our social producer is Ken the diaper slayer Rogers.
Our system producer is Fraud Catherine Fennelosa.
Engineer.
Our engineer is dead as the men is fully.
Our senior web blackie is dug.
Make that two sheep mayor.
And our technical spiritual and menu advisor is the bugs.
They're John Bugs.
Did somebody say free lunch, lawler?
Boy, everyone's here today.
Amazing.
The entire staff.
Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Marginal
Vera.
Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzz off.
Our sales director in Iraq is Aziz.
No warranty.
Tom's personal matchmaker is Robin DeCradle.
Our sexual harassment counselor.
Back from a forced hiatus.
The long prison term is Pat McCann.
And our director of psychophantic activity is Eileen Norway.
Our golf and wine correspondent is leader Vino.
Leader Vino.
We've got to leave him.
And our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Chitwin.
How is you Louis Dewey?
No to the meter maids.
As you and Louis Dewey, thanks so much listening.
We're clicking clack the tapet brothers and don't drive like my brother.
And don't drive like my brother.
So I said, we'll be back next week.
Bye bye.
And now here is Kotalk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinny Gombats.
I thank you very much now.
If you want a copy of this year's show, which is number 41,
just pick up your phone and call this number 1-888 card junk.
And, Vinny, what if I wanted a Kratalk CD or a puzzle book?
Something like that.
Would I call that same number?
No, you called a dang quail for President campaign.
You know, he's running again in 2001.
Of course you called the same number.
You called the shameless Congress Division at 8888 card junk
or visited online at the Kratalk section of gars.com.
You got it?
Uh-huh. Thank you, Vinny.
That was quite elucidating.
Hey, elucidate this.
Car talk is a production of Dewey Cheatman Howell and WBUR in Boston.
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About this episode
A lighthearted episode featuring the Tapper brothers discussing various car-related dilemmas and humorous anecdotes. The show includes a call from a listener with a persistent VW Golf starting issue, leading to insights about fuel pumps and potential fuel system problems. Another caller seeks advice on an aging Toyota Corolla that struggles to start, prompting a discussion about carburetors and maintenance. The brothers also share amusing stories about their own experiences and expectations in life, all while engaging with their audience in a fun, conversational manner.
Original notes
Katie is a hiker and camper but she called the least ‘outdoorsy’ guys possible to find out if it’s safe to pour her old camp stove fuel into her car’s gas tank. Click and Clack the Wilderness Brothers ‘break camp’(and a few other things) on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.
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