A mix of classic Car Talk calls and puzzler banter centers on weird, hard-to-diagnose car problems. Dale’s 1991 Nissan Centra loses power when spark plug wires pop loose under load; the fix is likely loose plugs or missing gaskets. Hope debates whether to repair a cracked exhaust manifold on her 1985 Chevy Celebrity, with health-and-safety fumes concerns. The puzzler answer explains an intermittent “brake pedal to the floor” issue caused by an unbalanced recently installed tire. Later, Amy’s 1998 Civic gets a surprise rat in the cabin—Car Talk doubts the “vent opening” explanation and suggests it was likely a prank or rare one-off.
This time, on 'Click and Clack’s Wild Kingdom’, Anna from Illinois encounters a rat in her Honda and we all lose our ever-lovin’ minds. It’s ‘Better Anna than us!’ on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.
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"This message comes from eBay. The worst part about loving cars might just be buying them. And all the parts. From Toyota's to Aston Martin's, eBay has thousands of cars"
eBay is a website where people sell things to each other. Car folks use it to find used parts and sometimes whole cars, but you have to double-check listings carefully.
eBay is an online marketplace where people buy and sell vehicles, parts, and accessories. For car enthusiasts, it’s often used to source discontinued parts, used components, and project-car deals—though quality and fitment can vary.
"And all the parts. From Toyota's to Aston Martin's, eBay has thousands of cars"
Aston Martin is a luxury/exotic car brand mentioned as an example. Parts for cars like this can be harder to find and more expensive, so online marketplaces can help.
Aston Martin is referenced as another brand with parts available on eBay. Exotic brands like Aston Martin often have fewer parts suppliers and can be more expensive, so marketplaces can be especially useful for sourcing hard-to-find components.
"And all the parts. From Toyota's to Aston Martin's, eBay has thousands of cars"
Toyota is a car brand mentioned as an example of what you can find parts for. Because Toyota is so common, parts are often easier to locate.
Toyota is referenced as one of the vehicle brands with parts available on eBay. Toyota is known for broad parts availability and strong aftermarket support, which can make repairs and upgrades easier.
"All right. I'll give you a couple of test questions here. Oh, this is a quiz for me? Yeah. Conversion units is the issue here."
They’re talking about changing measurements from one unit to another. For cars, this comes up a lot because different places report things differently (like miles vs kilometers or pounds vs kilograms).
The hosts are talking about converting between different measurement systems and units. In car contexts, this matters for things like tire sizes, weight ratings, and fuel economy figures that may be reported in different standards.
"Okay, imagine if you will, the little wire that goes down in the little hole. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I'm giving it the goose... they don't stay down in the little holes, the wires. They come flying off?"
Spark plug wires carry electricity to the spark plugs. If they don’t stay firmly connected, the engine can start misfiring, especially when you accelerate.
Spark plug wires deliver high-voltage electricity from the ignition system to the spark plugs. When the wire ends (boots/clips) wear out, they can vibrate loose—especially under load—causing misfires and rough running.
"either the spark plugs weren't tightened enough, or your friend who replaced the plugs forgot to put the little gaskets on them."
Spark plugs are what create the spark that lights the fuel in each cylinder. If they’re not installed right, the engine can run rough or not make power.
Spark plugs ignite the air-fuel mixture in the engine’s cylinders. If a spark plug isn’t tightened correctly or its sealing parts are missing, combustion can leak and the engine may misfire or lose power.
"Each plug has a little gasket that screws onto the end of the plug. That's at the bottom of it? At the bottom, yeah. So that gasket gets squashed when the plug is screwed down into the cylinder head."
That gasket is a small seal that sits between the spark plug and the engine. If it’s missing or not installed right, the engine can leak gases and run badly.
A spark plug gasket (or sealing washer) sits between the spark plug and the cylinder head to prevent combustion gases and oil from leaking. If the gasket is missing or not seated correctly, you can get poor sealing and performance issues after a plug replacement.
"I have a problem with my 85 Chevy Celebrity. I have a cracked exhaust manifold, and I'm wondering, do I really need to repair it? It's pretty loud, I bet."
The exhaust manifold is part of the engine’s exhaust system that gathers the exhaust gases. If it cracks, exhaust can leak out, making the car louder and possibly causing heat problems.
The exhaust manifold collects exhaust gases from the engine cylinders and routes them toward the rest of the exhaust system. If it cracks, it can leak hot exhaust gases, increase noise, and potentially create heat damage around nearby components.
"Hi, Tom and Ray. I have a problem with my 85 Chevy Celebrity. I have a cracked exhaust manifold, and I'm wondering, do I really need to repair it?"
This is a Chevrolet Celebrity from 1985. The caller’s car has a cracked part in the exhaust system, and they’re trying to decide whether it’s worth fixing.
The Chevrolet Celebrity is a mid-size car from the 1980s. In this call, the listener’s 1985 Celebrity has an exhaust manifold crack, which affects exhaust leaks and noise.
"A 4-cylinder, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe that car may have not a cast iron manifold, but it may have a steel manifold. Really?"
Some exhaust manifolds are made of steel. Steel can sometimes be welded, which may be a cheaper repair than replacing the whole part.
Steel exhaust manifolds are typically more weldable than cast iron, depending on the steel type and the repair method. That’s why the conversation pivots to whether the manifold can be welded instead of replaced.
"A 4-cylinder, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe that car may have not a cast iron manifold, but it may have a steel manifold."
Some exhaust manifolds are made from cast iron, which is good at handling heat. But it can still crack over time as the engine heats up and cools down.
Cast iron is a common exhaust manifold material because it handles heat well and is relatively inexpensive to produce. However, cast iron can crack with thermal cycling, and repairs like welding may be more difficult depending on the exact manifold and crack location.
"I thought you were going to give her the Vanadium-Titanium story. No, I think you can have this welded. Welded. They've welded a lot on my car."
Welding means melting and joining metal to fix the crack. For exhaust parts, it can work, but the repair has to handle very high heat.
Welding a cracked exhaust manifold is a repair strategy that can restore sealing and reduce leaks. Whether it’s a good idea depends on the manifold material, crack severity, and whether the weld can survive exhaust heat cycles.
"...but the trouble is it's all labor. Right. Mucho labor. And I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to have the car."
Labor is what you pay the mechanic for their time. Exhaust work can take longer than you’d expect, so labor can be the biggest part of the bill.
Labor is the technician’s time and shop charges for diagnosing, removing, and installing parts. In exhaust repairs, labor can dominate the total cost because access can be difficult and the work may involve multiple steps.
"...the one drawback to not fixing it is that you're inhaling fumes because of where the leak is under the hood. The exhaust gases that escape there are not going through the exhaust system and out the tailpipe."
Cars make exhaust gases when they burn fuel. Normally they go out the tailpipe, but if something leaks, the fumes can get into the area where you breathe.
“Exhaust gases” are the hot, toxic byproducts of combustion that normally travel through the exhaust system and exit at the tailpipe. If there’s a leak, those gases can escape into the engine bay instead of going out the back of the car.
"...it's going to sneak through all the little holes in the firewall and all that stuff."
The firewall is the wall that separates the engine compartment from the inside of the car. If fumes find a path through openings, they can get into the cabin.
The firewall is the barrier between the engine bay and the cabin. It has openings and passages for wiring and plumbing; the transcript suggests exhaust can sneak through those paths if it’s accumulating near the intake area.
"one day I pushed on the brake pedal and it went almost to the floor. I had owned a VW where this happened all the time so I didn't panic."
The brake pedal is the driver’s input that starts the hydraulic braking system. If it goes “almost to the floor,” it usually points to air in the system, low fluid, a failing master cylinder, or a problem with hydraulic pressure.
"But he bought was a new tire and when they installed the tire in the car, they didn't balance it correctly or didn't balance it perhaps at all."
Tire balance is the process of matching weights to the wheel/tire assembly so it spins smoothly at speed. If a tire is not balanced (or is balanced incorrectly), it can cause shaking that can excite other components, including the brake rotor and caliper behavior described here.
"...because that caliper piston is now not touching the brake pad. And then finally, when it does make contact, the second pump is okay."
Brake pads are the parts that squeeze onto the spinning disc to slow the car down. If they’re not close enough at first, the pedal can feel like it goes too far before braking happens.
Brake pads are the friction material clamped by the caliper onto the rotor. If the caliper piston is not positioned correctly (due to vibration or clearance), the pad may not contact the rotor immediately, increasing pedal travel on the first press.
"Okay. So the problem is when I put it in park, it lunges forward and it kind of rocks back and forth in a big way."
A “lunge forward” means the car jerks as you shift into Park. That usually points to the automatic transmission not locking correctly right away.
A “lunge forward” when shifting into Park suggests the drivetrain is still moving or not being held immediately by the parking mechanism. Common causes include a sticking/worn parking pawl, low hydraulic pressure, or a transmission that’s not fully engaging the Park position.
"All modern cars do it. All front wheel drive modern cars do it to some extent.
But there's something broken on your car."
Front-wheel drive means the engine’s power goes to the front wheels. Because of how the drivetrain is laid out, worn engine supports can show up as rocking or jerking more noticeably.
Front-wheel drive (FWD) places the engine and transaxle over the front axle, which changes how torque reacts through mounts and links. The speaker claims FWD cars are more prone to this “rocking” behavior when torque-control components like struts or bushings wear.
"But there's something broken on your car. Something is broken? Yeah. What's broken is the
thing called the torque strut. There is actually a thing that looks like a dog bone."
A torque strut is a support link that helps hold the engine in place. If the rubber bushing inside gets worn out, the engine can move more than it should, and the car may jerk or rock when you shift or come to a stop.
A torque strut (sometimes called an engine torque strut) is a suspension-style link that controls how the engine moves under acceleration, braking, and shifting. When its bushing wears out, the engine can rock back and forth, causing the kind of lurching the speaker describes.
"There is actually a thing that looks like a dog bone. If you open
the hood... you will see this dog bone that's right in fact, some of these cars
have actually two of these dog bone looking things..."
“Dog bone” is a nickname for a shaped engine support link. It’s called that because it looks like a dog bone, and the speaker says mechanics will recognize it by that description.
“Dog bone” is a common nickname for certain torque strut/engine mount links that have a thicker center and narrower ends. The speaker uses the nickname to help the listener communicate the issue to a mechanic or parts counter.
"And what's wrong is that the bushing part of it is all worn out.
So he'll see it move. He'll see the thing move and he'll say, hey, there's something broken here."
A bushing is the soft part inside a mount or link that cushions movement. When it wears out, the part can move too much and you’ll feel jerking or shaking.
A bushing is a rubber (or elastomer) insert that allows controlled movement while absorbing vibration. Worn bushings in a torque strut reduce damping and allow excessive movement, which can translate into noticeable rocking or clunks.
"...the car is parked in such a location that he could never hope to push it out of there. In any event, he couldn't push start it because it's an automatic transmission."
Push-starting means getting the car moving and trying to start it that way. It works much more reliably on manual cars than automatics.
Push-starting (also called bump-starting) can work on many manual-transmission cars by using the drivetrain’s momentum to spin the engine. Automatics generally aren’t set up for this, and attempting it can be ineffective or risky depending on the vehicle.
"...He's got a. And one of them is a bottle of extra virgin olive oil. He's got a gallon of very extra virgin olive oil."
Olive oil can’t start a car or fix a dead battery. This part is mainly a comedy bit about grabbing the wrong thing.
Olive oil is not a legitimate fix for a car that won’t start due to a drained battery. The joke here is that the character rummages for something in the trunk, but the “solution” is obviously unrelated to starting systems.
"He's got a pair of pliers. That's pretty good. And jumper cables. But alas, no one to jump to."
Jumper cables are thick wires you use to “borrow” battery power from another car. They help you start your car when your battery is dead.
Jumper cables are heavy-duty cables used to start a car with a dead battery by connecting it to a working battery (usually another car). They’re commonly used when the starter won’t crank due to low battery voltage.
"Don't let any of those letters bother you. They're just three letter words or NPR for that matter."
NPR is a public radio network in the U.S. Here it’s just mentioned because it’s also a set of three letters.
NPR stands for National Public Radio, a U.S. public radio network. The hosts mention it as a comparison for “three-letter words,” not as an automotive topic.
"what is that number? It's 888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on car talk."
That’s the show’s phone number. It uses letters on a phone keypad so “CAR-TALK” turns into numbers you can dial.
888-CAR-TALK is the phone number used to call the Car Talk show. It’s a mnemonic-style number where letters map to digits (CAR-TALK → 227-8255) for easier dialing.
"eight hours later, nine hours later, I was coming back to get into my car, and the car was completely closed, shut, and all the windows were up, everything."
They’re saying the windows were closed, so the rat probably didn’t just crawl in through an open window. It likely got in through some other small opening.
The speaker emphasizes that all the windows were up, meaning the rat likely entered through another route (door seals, gaps around the hood/trunk, or ventilation/cowl areas). This is a key clue for diagnosing how the animal got inside.
"And what he said was that because I had not depressed the recirculation button, there was an opening from the outside of the car into the inside of the car that any animal could crawl."
Recirculation means the car keeps using the same air inside instead of pulling in new air from outside. That can reduce how much outside air (and anything with it) gets pulled in.
Recirculation is the HVAC mode that reuses cabin air instead of drawing fresh air from outside. It reduces the amount of outside air entering the ventilation system, which can limit how much an external entry pathway is “active.”
"Well, I was going to say, why isn't it in the owner's manual? Do you have any enemies in? Tell the truth."
The owner’s manual is the book that comes with the car and explains how to use it and what to do if something goes wrong. It usually doesn’t list weird, rare events like this.
The owner’s manual is the factory guide that covers normal operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting. People often expect it to mention unusual problems, but it typically focuses on common issues and safety procedures.
"Now if you want to copy this here show, which is number 19, you can get one on the web. Just head on over to the online store at the Car Talk section at Cars.com."
Cars.com is a website where people shop for cars. Here they’re also pointing you to the site for something connected to the show.
Cars.com is an automotive marketplace where you can browse listings and also access show-related content. In this segment, it’s referenced as the place to get the show’s merch or related items.
Select text to request an explanation
This message comes from eBay. The worst part about loving cars might just be buying them.
And all the parts. From Toyota's to Aston Martin's, eBay has thousands of cars
and the largest online selection of vehicle parts and accessories. eBay. Things people love.
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 the Department
of Weights and Measures here at Car Talk Plaza. Yes, sent to us by Neil Jackson,
17th President of the United States, wasn't he? All right. I'll give you a couple of test
questions here. Oh, this is a quiz for me? Yeah. Conversion units is the issue here.
For example, 2,000 pounds of Chinese soup would be what?
One ton. Exactly. Now, it gets a little hotter. The ratio of an igloo's circumference
to its diameter. Oh, jeez. Ratio of an igloo. Well, that's going to be Eskimo pot.
Excellent. All right. Now, a millionth of a mouthwash. A millionth of a mouthwash.
One microscope. Oh, I knew you'd love it. The shortest distance between two jokes.
Straight line. Straight line. Exactly. And here are my two favorites. One is
365.25 days of drinking low-calorie beer because it's less filling.
Well, Trinus, it's a year. Yeah. A year. Low-calorie beer. Oh, a light year.
A light year. A light year. Okay. And here's the last one. The time between stepping on appeal
and smacking the pavement. I give a banana second. Isn't that good? There are many more.
Thank you, Neil. I love it. I like the microscope.
Light year was good. Light year. Yeah. Who the hell has got time to sit down and do this?
Someone who doesn't have a boss looking over his shoulder. Who would that be? I don't know. Us.
If you want to convert your problem into a wrong answer, we can do that for you.
So you can call us at 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on CAR-TALK.
Tom Ray, this is Dale from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Dale from Muskogee. Yes.
Really? Are you proud to be an oaky from Muskogee? Sure. You bet. Great place. I'm proud to be an oaky.
Well, I have that. I have that whole album. So do I. No way. Doesn't everybody? So what's going on,
Dale? So I have a 91 Nissan Centra, and it's got a four-cylinder engine in it with,
and the spark plugs are buried down these little holes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, imagine if you
will, the little wire that goes down in the little hole. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I'm giving it the goose,
like to pass somebody or friends, anytime I've really run it, they don't stay down in the little
holes, the wires. They come flying off? Two of them. One of them shot out of there one time.
Really? But mostly they just come up about half an inch, and it runs lousy.
And then you have to go push them back on again? Yeah, I push them down. Every time I get,
get ready to go somewhere, I open the hood and push them back down.
Cool. Have you tried, like, buying the wires? No. Well, you could try that.
Could you think it's a clip on the end of the wires? Well, the end of the wire does have a
spring clip that's supposed to grip the end of the spark plug. And when that does get worn out,
they can vibrate loose. However, you said that when you goose it. Yeah, when I passed a car,
going uphill, and it, like, blew, it vibrated, you know, almost came all the way out of the hole.
I love it. Yeah. I didn't love it. Have you got, like, a plexiglass hood?
No, he knows because he starts missing. It starts running lousy. Yeah. I don't believe any of it.
It's true. No, we've had a rash of bogus information fed to us here. So if we're a husband,
a lot of it. If we're a little incredulous, Dale, I hope you can understand. I need to tell you
an additional information. Yeah. Okay, I changed the spark plugs. A friend of mine did. Yeah.
About three months ago. And that's kind of when it started.
Well, it could be that the spark plugs are merely loose.
Really? And if any of the spark plugs is loose, what'll happen is under ordinary circumstances
when the cylinder combustion is small, that there's not enough force behind that explosion
to sneak past the spark plug. My brother has that look on his face.
The spark plug wire doesn't know anything about the explosion. Yeah, it does. Sure.
It gets this pressure now created in that long cylinder that houses the wire. This wire has,
like, a four-inch connector on the end. Yeah. Well, I'm going to tell you. I know I'm
familiar. And when it's pushed down, okay, listen to me here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When it's pushed
down, the very top of it makes a pretty tight seal with the valve cover. Yes. Okay, so when you
rev it, when you pry to pass and you get the biggest possible explosion in the cylinder,
whatever combustion gas, understandably, it's a very small amount, sneaks past the threads,
gets into that little cylinder, and will blow the wire off. I have never heard such
cry. I have a backup theory then. All right, here's my theory. And you're going to love it.
You're going to say, my God, he's right. How could I possibly love it? I didn't come up with it.
Well, here it is. Here it is. That going up the hill has nothing, whatever, to do with the spark
plugs popping. This wire is popping off the plugs. The fact is that the wires have already
popped off the plugs. And the only reason he notices it when he's climbing a hill or goosing
it, as he calls it, is because he no longer has power. Why? Because the wire is disconnected
and has been for a week. I hate to call you on the carpet for this, but Dale will corroborate,
I'm sure, that that hasn't happened, that he could drive around town all day, lift the hood,
and the wires will still be in place if he hasn't floored it. He hasn't even checked that. Dale.
Yes. Dale, you have an opportunity here to be on stumped at Trump's. You need to go out,
and one of the two things that happened here, either the spark plugs weren't tightened enough,
or your friend who replaced the plugs forgot to put the little gaskets on them. Each plug has a
little gasket that screws onto the end of the plug. That's at the bottom of it? At the bottom,
yeah. So that gasket gets squashed when the plug is screwed down into the cylinder head.
I will admit that that's a possibility. Dale, take out your plug socket and give each of these
plugs a half a turn. I bet you each and every one of them will tighten up. If it was your friend
doing this job on your car, he was probably afraid to tighten them too much, and as such left
them a little loose, and that's causing you a problem. Tighten those suckers right up, stick
the wires back on there, and the problem will be solved. Okay. We thank you. We shall see. Thank you
so much. Just on the being a safe side, bye instead of wires. Thanks for your call, Dale.
First call, we have to have a controversial one. We can't have an easy one. Because I mean,
I think we have to suspect everybody now, because people are feeding us the wrong information.
Oh, I suspect everyone with puzzlers now. Not just the puzzlers. After the reason to buckle.
I think people are just making up stuff and calling us. Yeah, we're the ones that are supposed to be
doing that. 1-888-CAR-TALK. Hey, we could make up answers. 2-278-255. We've already used that.
Been doing that for 20 years. Hello, you're on CAR-TALK. My name is Hope, and I'm from New York
City. Hi, Hope. Hi, Tom and Ray. I have a problem with my 85 Chevy Celebrity. I have a cracked exhaust
manifold, and I'm wondering, do I really need to repair it? I'm not sure how much longer I'm going
to have the car, so I'm wondering, do I need to go through repairing it? It's pretty loud, I bet.
Not too loud, not yet. Not very loud, I bet. No, it's not very loud. But how do you know you have
the crack? My mechanic told me. Yeah. This is a 4-cylinder or a 6-cylinder? A 4-cylinder.
A 4-cylinder, and if I'm not mistaken, I believe that car may have not a cast iron manifold,
but it may have a steel manifold. Really? Well, like hot rodders have header pipes that
are made not of cast iron, they're in fact made of tubular steel that's welded together.
Are you making this up? They all disrespect us now.
We have full-scale revolt on our hands. I thought you were going to give her the
Vanadium-Titanium story. No, I think you can have this welded. Welded. They've welded a lot
on my car. They've welded the chassis together for me. Well, they went that far. What did they
say they need to do to fix it? They want to replace the manifold? Yeah, they want to replace it.
And also, I mean, this is something that you could buy in a junkyard,
but the trouble is it's all labor. Right. Mucho labor. And I'm not sure how much longer
I'm going to have the car. I'm thinking about trading up for some kind of man magnet. Hold on,
an 87-cylinder. Man magnet, huh? Yeah. I think nothing's more magnetic than a woman with a broken
down side of the road. Charming car. But you've got to look good in the broken down car, don't you
think? Oh, yeah, well so. Well, yeah. I mean, I'm just saying. But you might look good anyway,
right? Put your mug into your looks, not the car. Yeah, but you don't want to break down by the
side of the road because you get all manner of depraved wackos. That's what she's looking for.
That's how I met my wife. Were you broken down or was she broken down? I was broken down and she
stopped. Well, listen, I would ordinarily recommend against fixing it. However, the one drawback to
not fixing it is that you're inhaling fumes because of where the leak is under the hood.
The exhaust gases that escape there are not going through the exhaust system and out the tailpipe.
They are lingering. So that the guy behind you can inhale them. Right. Well, they get dispersed
before he gets the majority of them. But because they're collecting under the hood,
many of those exhaust gases are going to be drawn into your ventilation system,
which is right at the cowl, which is that grid that's right in front of the windshield.
Yeah. And it's going to sneak through all the little holes in the firewall and all that stuff.
So for health and safety. For health and safety and preservation of brain cells.
Oh, well, that's as late for that. Yeah. I mean, unless the new car is imminent,
I mean, is it any day now? Not any day now, but two or three months.
By a gas mask. Yeah, that ought to really improve your appearance.
Two or three months. Put on a gas mask for those two or three months and just keep driving.
And the truth is with the windows open this time of year, it can't be any worse than driving in
Manhattan anyway. True. Yeah. I mean, how much worse can it be? If you're driving, if that's
what you're doing now is driving in Manhattan, then what's the difference? Whether the fumes
are coming from you or everybody else. So you're suggesting accessorizing with a gas mask and keeping
the windows open. Yes, that's it. Yeah. I can do that. And think about how many guys will stop
and say, what the heck is that? Then you can take off the gas mask and you'll be all set.
Good luck, Hope. Okay, thanks guys. Hey, the puzzler answer and more calls are coming up right after this.
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Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us. Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers
and we're here to talk about cars, car repair and the answer to last week's puzzler.
Another great answer to another great puzzle. Indeed. This was sent in by Bob Gossum and he says,
sometime ago I married a woman with a Datsun B210, the famous Honey Bee. Wasn't she Gillis's
wife from Riley? Small, noisy, reliable and fun, both the car and the wife. He says,
one day I pushed on the brake pedal and it went almost to the floor. I had owned a VW where this
happened all the time so I didn't panic. I just pumped it a little and it came back. Anyway,
I had the brakes checked out from stem to stern but there were no leaks, no problems with the
master cylinder, the calipers in the front were fine, the wheel cylinders in the rear were okay,
but still the problem persisted but only occasionally. It sounds so good, doesn't it?
After much observation, I determined it only happened when the car had been driven above
40 miles per hour for 10 minutes or more. Around town, no problem. Quick trip on the freeway?
No problem. 10 minutes on the freeway and the first time you touched the brake pedal
right to the floor. Man. After that, if I hit it again, the pedal would be okay unless I continued
to drive on the freeway in which case it would happen again at 10 minute intervals or roughly
some such thing. You got it? Yeah. Because he must have gotten a little gun shy of stepping on the
brake. Yeah. Keep you looking at your watch and while you're doing that, you crash the car.
Can't stop right now. Anyway, he says, I took it to garage after garage and they'd never find
any problem with the brakes. One day, I'm having a beer with an engineer friend of mine
and I tell him about the problem in all the gory details and just before he nodded off,
he asks me one question and then told me what was wrong and the question was, did you buy
something recently for this car? And of course, I told him, yes, I did. The question was, what did he
buy and what was wrong and it was not a pine tree air freshener. Well, I have no idea. I was going
to give an additional hint. I should have perhaps that he could have said, yes, I bought two of them.
Oh, I got it. Floor mats. I could always count on my brother thinking outside the box.
But he bought was a new tire and when they installed the tire in the car, they didn't
balance it correctly or didn't balance it perhaps at all. And as the car is going down the road
and the thing is shaking, it is setting up a sympathetic vibration in the disc rotor,
which is moving the caliper piston away from the disc so that when you step on the brake that
first time, the pedal will travel almost to the floor. We've seen this happen with cars whose
wheel bearings are loose. I actually like this answer. And when you step on it that first time,
sure, that caliper has to move much further away because that caliper piston is now not touching
the brake pad. And then finally, when it does make contact, the second pump is okay. And of course,
you drive along for 10 more minutes, the vibration occurs. And he said it was undetectable virtually
because the car had so many other vibrations and moans and groans and whatever. He never
noticed it. And the hint was that it was a Datsun B210. No, I like that answer. Well, I'm glad.
That's great. Anyway, who's our winner, Tommy? I don't know. I got to look on this little piece of
paper. Erica Coffin from Austin, Texas. And Erica, for having your answer selected at random
from the thousands of correct answers that we got, some of them on the backs of $20 bills,
Erica, unlike yours, Erica, you are going to win a $25 gift certificate to the Cartalk Store
on our website. And with this, you can buy our father's CD, why you should never listen to your
father when it comes to cars, which makes a wonderful passive aggressive Father's Day gift,
I might add. We'll have another 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 any questions you'd
like about your car, your love life, whether you should be using cream rinse or cold fusion.
Or cold fusion. My brother has a videotape all about it. The number is 888-CARTALK.
That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Cartalk. Hi. Hi. Hello. Who's this? That was quite a
hi. Hi. Very throaty. This is Amy. Very sensual, I might say. You are Amy? Yes. Hi, Amy. Where are
you from, Amy? Hello. I'm calling from Dallas. Dallas. Dallas. Okay. Okay. Yep. Are you ready?
Yes. Did we sound ready? Yeah. We're ready. Then we're ready. Okay. All right. I have a 92
Buick Skylark. Really? That if you believe it or not, belong to my husband's grandmother.
And it only has 33,000 miles on it. We're with you. Life is great. We inherited it and
we did have a 79 GMC, good times van with a big eagle on the side that had been painted with
house painting, had check carpet all in the inside. So this is like a beautiful car for us.
Do you live in a trailer park? No. Just checking.
No, we're in the slow class. You know, I'm 34. We ought to be a little further ahead than we are,
but you know, we took some, some bad roads. I know. I know exactly how it is. Believe me.
Okay. So the problem is when I put it in park, it lunges forward and it kind of rocks back and
forth in a big way. When you put it in park? Yeah. Well, do you put it in park when you're doing
20 miles an hour? Do you come to a stop before you put it in park? Yes. Oh yeah. And I put it in
park. Okay. I stop, put it in park and I still have my foot on the brake, right? Yeah. You take
your foot off the brake. As slow as I try to take my foot off the brake, it still does this. Right.
It lurches? Rock, rock, rock, rock. Front to back or side to side? Front to back. Front to back.
I'm trying to get a complete picture here because it's so ridiculous. No. Baby, I'm with you.
My husband thinks that there's nothing wrong with the car, that all cars do this.
My mother says no, all cars do not do this. I don't recall any other car doing this.
I mean the van, but it weighed 3,000 pounds. No, the van weighed 6,000 pounds.
Yeah, that's a shag carpet. Had at least a ton of that.
A ton of shag carpeting in it. It had marbled mirrors and a sink and a cooler.
Marbled sink? I love it. You're my kind of woman, Amy. Well, no, all cars don't do this. No.
All cars do it. All modern cars do it. All front wheel drive modern cars do it to some extent.
But there's something broken on your car. Something is broken? Yeah. What's broken is the
thing called the torque strut. There is actually a thing that looks like a dog bone. If you open
the hood, put the prop rod up so it stays open and stand to the side and have your husband creep up
very slowly and do what you do. You step on the brake, put the thing in park, take your foot off
the brake and you will see the motor shift back and forth in the engine compartment.
And when it does that, you will see this dog bone that's right in fact, some of these cars
have actually two of these dog bone looking things that sit right on top of where the radiator is
and they extend to the engine. And what's wrong is that the bushing part of it is all worn out.
So he'll see it move. He'll see the thing move and he'll say, hey, there's something broken here.
A dog bone thing. Yeah, it's actually called a torque strut. Okay. But if you went to any gas
station and said, my dog bone is bad, they know exactly what you were talking about.
And they'd say, and you should have cooperated and very good shape people.
And if they don't know what the dog bone is, just ask them with the ruttweiler out of the back
and he'll find the dog bone to the hood. Is it hurting the car? Yeah. Because it's putting
stress on the motor mounts. Okay. And it will eventually break one of them. Oh, no. So you
should, you should replace it. It's a real cheap fix. Okay. All right. And then, and then that'll
and then the car will be perfect. And then you'll be inspired to shag carpet the car. See you Amy.
Okay, thanks. Bye. Bye. Hey, you know what time it is? Time for you to pick yesterday's coffee
cake out of your beard. No, no, I'm saving that for after lunch. I might get hungry.
It's time to play Stump the Chumps.
This is the part of the show where we take a break from this endless barrage of uncertainty
and check in on a former caller who knows for sure whether our advice was right or complete.
Ah, I think I prefer the bogus. I prefer the uncertainty. Anyway, who's our caller this week?
It's Dennis from Louisville. Dennis had a little fetish. He liked to wash his wife's
altima. Hey, not for us to ask why. We just stick to the mechanicals here, you know. But
but here's the problem. The neighbors caught him at it. No, no, not the neighbors.
The last two times I've done this over the course of the last six months,
lots of fallen off. I break the car.
I break the car. What'd you break? I mean, what do you use to wash it with?
A friend said maybe it was too much fluoride in the water. I don't know.
But here's what happens. I back it out of my garage, wash it in my driveway, crank it up,
pull it back into the garage. The next morning she goes out to go to work, car won't start.
Car won't start. That kind of breaking of the car.
And we determined that the key to his problem was the garage. When he put the car back in the
garage, he trapped all that moisture in there causing the spark plug wires, which were ready
to be replaced anyway. To get all wet. If this is wrong, man, we're gonna resign. This will be
our last show. Dennis, see you there. Hey guys, I'm here with the cleanest Altamo in Kentucky.
All right, listen, before we find out what was all wet or why we were all wet, we first have to
determine that the answer you're about to give has not been influenced by our staff, the staff of
National Public Radio or the Kentucky chapter of the Car Wash fetish support group. Is that true?
That is true. We in our latex suits, no one has influenced me.
Great. And was it the wires or not? Guys, it was the wires.
At least I washed the car and it started, you know, I was going to take that option of
don't wash the car anymore or wash the car and leave the garage door out. Those seemed good to
me. Yeah, but they wouldn't have answered any of the questions, would they? Exactly. And in the
interest of science, you invested 50 bucks and bought wires. I invested 100 bucks, guys. 100 bucks.
And you installed them yourself and you washed the car and it was okay. I washed the car and it
was fine. Oh man, I mean, it's nice to be right, but I have to say it was child's play. I mean,
this was really too simple a question. Yeah, but keep them coming like that. We like them. It does
keep our average up and we need that because we got plenty of times when the average goes down.
So now you're all set. I'm all set for this week, guys. Well, thanks for playing Stump to Chumps,
Dennis. It's been a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for having me. See you later. See you.
Anyway, I can see by the way you're leaning over to the left that you need to take a break. I was
just trying to get that twinkie out of your back pocket.
This message comes from Sony Pictures Classics with A Magnificent Life.
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Peniel must relive his colorful past by writing about his own childhood in select cities, March 27.
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I did get a call from our good friend Murray Priceler who rebuked me for that bogus
boatyard battery problem. I have not issued a retraction yet because I have not performed
the experiment in the lab. We'll forget about that. No sense harping and dwelling rather on
fast mistakes and embarrassments. But if we didn't do that, what else would we talk about?
Okay, so now what? Anyway, here's this week's mistake. Murray and I conspired on this little
puzzler. Many years ago when Crusty was a young man and still courting the girls, Crusty was our
erstwhile mechanic who was rather checkered past. Old timer, the old timer. Geyser.
And when he was courting the girls, he decides to take one of his dates out for a little ride in
the country one evening to perhaps park by the lake and do a little smooching.
And they park his car and they go off for a little walk in the little tramp in the woods.
And they come back an hour later and to his horror, he has left the headlights on and they are a
mere shadow of their former selves, their dim and weak. And he says, oh, so he runs to the car
leaving his date at the lake, turns off the headlights, tries to start the car and gets
unfortunately a roar. How often has it happened? How often has it happened? What a sound. And he
knows that if he doesn't get her home on time that the old man will be waiting there with the
shotgun. Oh, I was gonna say, honey, I guess we're gonna have to spend the night here.
So he has to come up with something quick and the car is parked in such a
location that he could never hope to push it out of there. In any event, he couldn't push
start it because it's an automatic transmission. Oh, and he says, oh, I'm done for. So he opens
the trunk to get his toolkit for whatever good that's going to be one of those. He's got five
things in the trunk. Which one is he going to use to get the car started? He's got in the trunk.
He's got a. And one of them is a bottle of extra virgin olive oil. He's got a gallon of
very extra virgin olive oil. I know it. He's got a large preparation age, family size.
He's got a pair of pliers. That's pretty good. And jumper cables. But alas, no one to jump to.
Yeah. And yet in about five minutes, he has the car running.
And the hint is that he used the pliers.
Now, if you're thinking of the answer, write it on a postcard or a 500 megahertz G4 power book
and send it to puzzler tower, car talk plaza, box 3500, Harvard square, Cambridge, our fair city,
map 02238 or of course you can email your answer from the car talk section of cars.com.
By the way, we have no problem accepting gratuities and pay all and all that because we are not bound
by all those rules that the jockeys and other radio people were bound by nothing. You can
you want to send us something that will influence our decision on who wins the puzzle?
Right. Do it. I mean, don't let anything hold you back. Right. I mean, what do we care?
Don't let those three little letters F, C, C or I, R, S. R, F, B, I, C, I, A, I, N, S.
Don't let any of those letters bother you. They're just three letter words or NPR for that matter.
So don't worry if you want to send us something. Feel free to influence us in any way possible.
If you encounter a problem in shipping, we pick up. You just call 1-800-peak-off-and-drop-off.
One of those larger items will come right to your door.
You kidding? We'll be there in a New York minute. Anyway, if you'd like to call us, the number is,
what is that number? It's 888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on car talk.
Hi, this is Anna, and I'm calling from Lake Forest, Illinois.
Lake Forest. Hi, Anna.
Hi, how are you?
Good, not bad. So what's up?
Well, I am totally grateful to get on your show today, and I have a bit of a,
what I would say, a sick and twisted mystery, and I'm really hoping that you can help me out.
Well, let my brother deal with this because, as everyone knows, he's the sick and twisted one.
Sick and twisted mystery. Is your husband involved?
No.
Oh, okay.
I have a 98 Civic Honda LX. I park in an outdoor mall, and this occurred one night,
where I had parked my car. I went to work, and eight hours later,
nine hours later, I was coming back to get into my car, and the car was completely
closed, shut, and all the windows were up, everything. And I got into the car.
It was a snake in the car.
There was a rat in the car.
That was close.
You were. And the rat was the size of, like, a leader bottle, an Evian leader bottle.
And it was white, and it was looking up at me as I got in the car, and I absolutely lost my mind.
Oh, man. So you didn't see it until you got in?
I got in the car.
Was it in the front seat?
It was on the passenger front seat on the car.
Oh, my.
So needless to say, I got out of the car. I opened up all the car doors.
I'm running around the car, screaming my head off, and the woman that I left work with
drove over, and said, what the hell is wrong with you?
You look like you've lost your mind.
You look like you've seen a rat.
And we proceeded to get the rat out of the car after various attempts.
So you know it was a rat. I mean, you got to study it long enough.
Oh, yeah. No, it was definitely a rat. It was definitely a rat.
And my question is, how did it get in my car?
And I called the Honda dealer, and the guy at the Honda dealer said that he has-
He said that happens all the time, lady.
Right. He said, he asked me if I had had the heat on, which I did,
and I didn't have the recirculation button depressed.
And what he said was that because I had not depressed the recirculation button,
there was an opening from the outside of the car into the inside of the car that any animal
could crawl.
Oh, baloney.
And it's dead serious. And so he said the only thing-
So what, you're going to find like a giraffe the next time?
Well, I was wondering how big this opening is.
Well, there is an opening, but not for a foot-long rat.
Okay. Do you have any idea?
And this absolutely freaked me out.
Oh, and you can't drive it anymore.
Are you kidding?
I would never get in the car again.
Are you kidding? I would never go near it.
Now, tell me, where had you been before you drove to work that day?
At home.
And the car was closed up in your garage or in your driveway?
Yes.
Did you canvass the neighborhood because, well, I'll tell you why.
I think, I mean, I don't know a whole lot about rats,
but I think the white rats are probably more like pets or laboratory rats.
This was not a wild rat. Had it been a wild rat,
it probably would have attacked you. Isn't that scary?
Yeah.
You're sure it was white and not gray?
No, absolutely white.
White?
Yeah.
White.
Yeah.
And those aren't the bubonic rats.
I mean, this is the really scary thing, then, if what you're saying is the way it is,
because I live 35 minutes from work, which says to me I drove for 35 minutes with a rat in my car.
In the car the whole time.
Don't forget, he may have been as scared as you.
I mean, think about it.
I doubt it.
No.
No one could be more scared than I would have been.
You have to get down on your knees right now in and thank God that he didn't rear his ugly little head.
While you were on the highway.
I would not be alive.
No, you wouldn't.
I would not be alive.
I mean, one time I almost got wiped out because I used to, I've always had convertibles
and I never put the top up.
Because the tops don't go up.
Most of the time the tops don't go up.
And I used to park under a tree and one day I get in the car one morning.
I'm going to a meeting and I had a hat that I put on to keep my quaff from getting blown.
Yeah, from scaring pedestrians.
And I put the hat on my head and I'm driving along and as I'm driving, I realize something
is crawling in my hair.
Oh my gosh.
Because there was a B in the hat when I put it on my head.
Oh my gosh.
Tonya, you talk about running off the road.
I screamed, I hauled, oh man.
It's almost as bad as dropping a cigar between your legs.
And it was only a little B.
A rat.
A rat the size of what was it?
Chicago.
What was it the size of one of those five gallon?
Five gallon jugs of gasoline.
First of all, there's no way vents open, close.
There's no way that any rat that size is getting into your ventilation system.
And if that were the case, there'd be hundreds of other things.
Well, I was going to say, why isn't it in the owner's manual?
Do you have any enemies in?
Tell the truth.
Now search your soul here.
You're not in the middle of a messy divorce.
Now my divorce is long and over.
Long?
How long?
Years.
Years.
No, I'm happily single.
Does anyone else have a key to this car?
No.
I mean, I've been divorced for 25 years and I sneak a rat in my...
Once a month just for the hell of it.
Yeah, I mean, it's great joy and pleasure.
Right.
But rest assured that there's no rat that's going to get into this car
by any of the means that anyone might suggest.
And let's assume, and this is actually a more comforting thought,
that you did in fact forget to lock the car that day.
And someone either played a practical joke on you, not very jokey, I'll admit.
Or there was a kidnapping going on or something.
I mean, someone kidnapped a rat and tried to hide it.
Something weird happened.
And the likelihood of it happening again is just about zero.
Okay.
There was definitely some skull-duggery at work here in my humble opinion.
Okay.
See you, and good luck.
Thank you so much, guys.
Wow.
Wouldn't that skin a living badudies on you?
You open the door and you jump in the car,
because you don't open the door and look.
Or look fresh, you know?
You don't look fresh.
You get in the car.
You take out the key out of the corner of your eye.
Imagine how it happens.
Out of the corner of your eye, you see a little movement or something weird.
Oh, man.
Oh, jeez.
I'm not going to be able to sleep now.
I'm never driving a car again.
Well, it's happened again.
You have squandered another perfectly good hour listening to car talk.
Our esteemed producer has dug the subway fugitive,
not a slave to fashion Berman.
Our associate producers are Frau Catherine Fenolosa
and Louis Cronin the Barbarian.
Our engineer is George Hicks.
Our senior Web Blackie is dug the old gray mayor
and our technical spiritual and menu advisor.
Out on the North American Spring Free Lunch Grand Damn Tour.
And that's a mouthful.
That's a mouthful.
Here's John Bugsy-Lawler.
Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research,
assisted by statistician Margin Overa.
Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzoff.
Our director of new product repair is Warranty Myfoot.
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From the New Delhi office, our blues coordinator is Mohammedan Tomey.
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The manager of the car talk listener rebate program is Wendy Pig's Fly.
Tax preparer is Lionel Little.
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And our seat cushion tester is Mike Easter.
Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Cheatham and Howe as you Louis Dewey.
Known to the dropouts in Harvard Square as Huey Louie Dewey.
Thanks so much for listening.
We're clicking-clack the Tapper Brothers.
Don't drive like my brother.
Don't drive like my brother.
We'll be back next week.
Bye bye.
And now we have in the studio,
Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinny Gumbaz.
Vinny?
Thank you very much.
Now if you want to copy this here show, which is number 19,
you can get one on the web.
Just head on over to the online store at the Car Talk section at Cars.com.
And what if I wanted something else, Vinny?
You know, like the father's CD.
Why you should never listen to your father when it comes to cars.
When I go to that very same website, Vinny?
No, you don't.
You go to www.carcasselbreakdancing.com, slash your throat.
Of course you go to the same site, the Car Talk section of Cars.com,
or you'll order the old-fashioned way by calling 888 Conjunct.
Thank you, Vinny.
That was very well thought out.
Hey, think out this, all right?
Car Talk is a production of Dewey Cheetahman Howe and WBUR in Boston.
And even though Sylvia Poggioli re-ups for another year of foreign war zone duty,
every time that she hears us say it, this is NPR, National Public Radio.
This message comes from Sony Pictures Classics with A Magnificent Life.
From the imaginative director of The Triplets of Belleville comes a new animated film.
Marcel Pagnol must relive his colorful past by writing about his own childhood.
Now playing in select cities.
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