A class action lawsuit is when a lot of people with the same problem join together in one legal case. The host is mentioning it as an option if many drivers were affected.
Here, “brakes” means the system that slows and stops the car. If the brake pedal drops to the floor, it can mean the brakes aren’t working normally, so you have to figure out if the car can still stop safely.
If the brake pedal suddenly drops all the way down, it often means the brakes aren’t working right. It can be dangerous, and it usually points to a serious problem that needs checking.
If the brake fluid gets too hot, it can start boiling. Boiling creates gas bubbles, and gas compresses—so the brakes don’t work as well until the system cools back down.
Sometimes a brake can stick and keep rubbing even when you’re not pressing the pedal. That extra friction makes everything heat up and can lead to brake problems.
Your brakes use a clamp to squeeze pads onto a spinning disc. If that clamp gets stuck, the brakes can stay “on” a little even after you let off the pedal.
A brake hose carries brake fluid to the calipers. If the hose is clogged or internally deteriorated, fluid may not return properly after braking, so the brakes can stay applied and overheat.
The master cylinder is like the brake system’s pump. When it’s not working right, the brakes can behave strangely because the fluid pressure isn’t being controlled properly.
The 1990 Honda Accord is a late-1980s/early-1990s midsize sedan that’s being used as a starter car for a teenager. The host is setting up a question about buying and using an older Accord for a 16-year-old with a learner’s permit.
It means getting air out of the fuel lines so the engine can get fuel the way it should. If there’s air trapped in the system, the car may crank but not start until the fuel flow is corrected.
Fuel pump pressure is the “push” that moves gas through the fuel lines. If there isn’t enough pressure, the engine may not get fuel the way it needs to run.
Here, “energizing” just means giving power so the device can turn on. The relay provides that power to the fuel pump.
Car
1993 Mazda 626DX
This is a 1993 Mazda 626DX. The caller is describing a new “fluttering” sound coming from the engine area when driving at certain speeds, which helps narrow down what systems might be causing the noise.
A crankshaft dampener helps reduce engine vibration. If it goes bad, the engine can start making strange noises and feel rougher because the vibrations aren’t being smoothed out.
Term
hydraulic latch adjusters
These are parts in the engine that use oil pressure to keep things properly adjusted. If they don’t work right, they can make tapping or rattling sounds you can hear when you rev the engine.
An exhaust leak means the exhaust system isn’t sealed, so fumes and noise can escape early. Plugging the tailpipe is a quick way to see if the noise is coming from the exhaust system.
Plugging up the tailpipe is a diagnostic trick used to change exhaust flow and backpressure so the listener can better isolate whether a noise is coming from the exhaust system. If the noise persists or changes in a predictable way, it helps confirm or rule out an exhaust leak.
This is a 1995 Chevrolet Lumina, and the caller says it keeps “running out of gas” even when they think there’s still fuel left. They’re trying to figure out whether the fuel system is actually failing or whether something else is causing the engine to stop.
Sometimes the fuel pump makes a faint hum. If you hear it from the back of the car when things are quiet, it can point to the fuel system as part of the problem.
Inside the gas tank, there’s a tube/pickup that pulls fuel out. If the tank gets hit and that pickup gets moved, the car can’t pull the last part of the gas out, so you end up refilling sooner.
Altitude means how high you are above sea level. Higher altitude usually means thinner air, which can change how the engine burns fuel.
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Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us click and
collect the Tapper Brothers and we're broadcasting this week from U. Lewis
Dewey's office here at Dewey Cheetahman Howe and I assume there's some legal
news to report huh you figure otherwise why would we be handcuffed to the
deposition table? No you think it's bad being handcuffed to the deposition table
wait'll I tell you. Here's the story we both perhaps but maybe more I than you
have been troubled let's say by the deplorable condition on the roads the
behavior of people on the road. Yes it has to do with the potholes and mostly.
It has to do with with the way people drive and I don't know how it is in
other cities but here in Boston it's absolutely it's really unacceptable I
mean have you ever driven on route 128 during rush hour? There isn't a single
vehicle that's going under 65 and the speed limit is 55 for most of route
128. There isn't a single person in the car who is not violating the tailgating
law. I mean the other day for example I was driving down 128 and there was a
truck right on my tail I was in the slowest lane and I mean the speed limit
was 55 I was doing 60 and this guy right on my tail for miles and miles he
could have passed me if he wanted to not only was he on my tail he's blowing the
horn at me now there's a car in front of me because your car was on fire
probably trying to save your life. He's gesturing and blowing the horn at me I
mean I it was absolutely a couple of times he attempted to pass me in the
breakdown lane I mean the behavior of people is absolutely ridiculous my
question has always been why are we allowing this to continue to happen and
will it ever where's it gonna end? I got it yeah no I I know you're I
know what the rest of this is. Go ahead. Oh vigilanteism. No. No. I've given up on
vigilanteism because I figure why should we put our lives in danger we're
already paying people to put their lives in danger we don't have the authority
to do anything but we're already paying people who do have the authority we call
them the state police and it is clear to me that the state police are purposely
becoming invisible during rush hour they hide in your opinion well have you
ever seen a state police call? Oh yeah I've been pulled over a couple of times. Not during rush hour. Oh no because it's
dinner time exactly our doughnut time whatever it is hey they're gonna eat
too they do the problem is and first of all there are hardly any tickets to be
given out at rush hour because traffic is moving too slowly they know when the
time to give out tickets. No traffic is not moving slowly they don't know what
time to give out tickets at three o'clock in the morning when no one knows
they're giving out tickets. What one? It was at three o'clock. I mean you well
know that all you're gonna you can drive on 128 anytime of the day almost during
daylight hours yeah yeah and you and you can find probably a 100000
people who are violating the law but there's not a single policeman out there
here's the deal I am organizing a class action suit against the state police of
Massachusetts. God help us. And so we're trying to get several thousand people
who will sign up as part of the class action suit and of course we
unfortunately will need a lawyer to help us do it. Have you got any volunteers yet?
None. I didn't think so. No no lawyers. So if you would like to be part if you
agree with this that the police are in some part they don't have to be
primarily responsible but in some part through their negligence responsible for
your high blood pressure for the fact that you lost your driver's license for
whatever it is. Hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoidal flare-ups all of those things because you
drove on route 128 or any other of the roads around around the Boston area you
can sign up for the class action suit the car talk section of cars.com click on
wanted dead or alive. You take your pills this morning? No I'm not taking the pills
anymore doctor. The meantime we'll try to talk about some simpler things like
Volvo computers or maybe Mercedes automatic transmissions you know. Let's
do that. The numbers 1888 car talk that's 888
double 278255 hello you're on car talk. Hi this is Nancy.
Hi Nancy. Where are you from? Well I'm calling you from Irisburg Vermont but I
actually live in our fair city. Really? Yeah. Irisburg Vermont. So your vacationing
in Irisburg? Yes. Great. What's it near Irisburg? Well it's about 20 miles from
Canada. Oh it used to be iceberg Vermont. They didn't get any tourists so they changed
the name. That's why it's nice to go to. Which fair city are you from Boston?
Cambridge. Cambridge. What can we do for you Nancy? Okay well this is a story. I
have a 1990 Ford Festiva which I love. On June 30th I was driving back from
Worcester and when I got to the toll booth at on the turnpike I stepped on
the brakes and the pedal went down to the floor. And so I had about one
second to decide should I pull over and get towed or should I keep driving and
go to the garage where I had all the brakes done two years ago. You were
excuse me? You were going to continue with no brakes. Well I see when I pumped
the brakes the car actually stopped. Of course. Got it. Right. And you were
encouraged by that. It's interesting when people have a choice between possible
death or spending money or inconvenience they will choose possible death. Yeah
well I figured I wouldn't have to step on the brakes again until I was off the
highway. Yeah okay so don't keep us in suspense here. Did you make it or did you
get killed? No I made it. I had a very exciting half a mile from the exit to
where the garage is and walked into the garage and I was shaking and I said you
know this is what just happened. I don't have an appointment but you know you
guys did do my brakes two years ago and you know. You're going to hold a
responsible for what they did. Of course. That's right. Why not? Why not? Someone's got to be the boy.
So they said no problem no problem you know we can look at it in about 10
minutes. So I sat down and about 20 or 25 minutes later they called my name and
they went up and they said well you know we took it out and there's no problem
with your brakes it wasn't doing what you said it was doing. Yeah. So here are your
keys. So that was six weeks ago and it hasn't done it since. Well I've been afraid I've
only driven 200 miles since then. Okay so how did you get to iceberg Vermont? In a
different car. Of course. Good thinking. Good thinking is right. So anyway my
question is am I nuts to be driving this or and what should I do? Take it to a
different place. Gee. Okay. I heard a little voice in my earphones. Yeah. Must
have been Dougie saying answer the question. No that was your conscience. You know we've been
on vacation for a while Nancy you may have figured that out and and we're a
little rusty but I do have an answer. Yeah so do I. Okay. What happened was your
brakes overheated and when they overheated the brake fluid began to boil
and it was probably a hot day when you were driving the car and you had been
driving it on the pike for a while and whatever was stuck and caused the brakes
to overheat and thus the fluid to boil got unstuck and cooled off everything
when you got into the gas station but by the time you got or it didn't get
unstuck but everything cooled off at least. Everything cooled off enough so
that the brake fluid was no longer boiling and the brakes were restored to
their previous splendor. So you either have a stuck caliper or a stuck
emergency brake which can also cause this or a clogged brake hose. There's a
brake hose that's clogged either because the rubber has deteriorated and
inhibited the return flow of fluid after you've applied the brakes. The other
possibly of course is the master cylinder is no good I should mention that.
Right. So they should check those things and one of those things is going to come
out positive. Even though the brakes have been working now. Yeah. The reason they
were working now is you haven't driven it far enough and hard enough to have the
thing overheat. Yeah I mean if you want some excitement and you want to really
prove to yourself that we're right just go back to Worcester. Better than that.
Drive up Mount Washing. Put your affairs in order before you do it. So I mean it
will probably be okay driving around town but who knows when it's gonna do it.
But it was foolish of them to have sent you out the door especially when you
told them that the brakes had failed. What did they think was gonna happen?
And that's why I said the first thing you have to do is go someplace else. Okay.
Say it Nancy. Bye. Bye. Good luck. Tommy do you remember, put your thinking cap on
last week's puzzler. Yeah it had something to do with smoke ham, euro
dollars and scientific notation. No that was Bugsy's expense report from last
week's luncheon. It was a trick question the puzzler was on vacation last week.
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Hi we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us. Click and Clack the
Tappet Brothers and we here to talk about cars of course, car repair of course
and hot off the presses the results of our most recent car ownership survey.
Yeah. We had over 95,000 people respond to the survey and now we have results and
some of them are extraordinarily interesting. Would you like to hear some?
Are you kidding? I can't wait. Would you like to hear a couple of little teasers?
Yes. Yes. Get this. We asked people if you had it. This is a great question. If
you had it to do. Who came up with this question? I didn't. If you had it to do
all over again, would you buy the same car? Is that a good question?
Yeah. Yeah. You know which car comes out on top? The highest percentage of people
who said yes to that? I happened to know because I looked at the data. Oh, you
looked. Yeah. And I'll tell you one thing right now. It's phony. It's been
darkened up. I don't believe it. Number one was Porsche. Yeah. Isn't it Porsche?
No. Porsche. It's while the car company is Porsche. But the lady with the scales
that. But doctor. Dr. Porsche. That's how he wanted to pronounce it. Oh, that's a
massive Porsche. Porsche. And the top five in that list of a likelihood of buying
the same car again are Porsche, Honda, Lexus, Toyota and Saab. Got it. Okay. The
other question we asked is how satisfied are you with the dealer experience of
going to the dealer specifically to get your car fixed? That if the Porsche guys
were that happy with the car, they'd be happy also with the dealer. Well, you
would think that would be one component of their of their happiness. And it turns
out that Porsche came in almost dead last for satisfaction with the dealer. People
love the car. And yet they would buy the car again in spite of that. In spite of
that. Boy, it must be a spectacular car. Must be a spectacular car. Why don't you
with the dealerships? Which which dealerships are the most? Yeah, well, it
was the same in the last report. Saturn and the top five in this list are Saturn,
Lexus, infinity, Acura and Saab again. Well, Saab is a double whammy. And so is
Acura. Well, there are so is infinity. There are in fact six cars which are on
what we call the double top 10 list. People love the car and they love the
dealership. And if you want to find out if your car is on it or if your car is on
as we call it, the fecal roster, you can go to the car talk section of cars dot
com and we've got some exciting stuff there. Well, I'm impressed. Good work,
Tommy. All right. 1888 car talk. That's 88822
78255 Hello, you're on car talk. Hi, this is Ellen from
Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. Hi, Ellen from Mountain Lake, New Jersey.
Mountain Lakes. Uh huh. Mountain Lakes is a kind of upscale community. Is it not?
Um, yes, but I live on the wrong side of the track. The wrong side of the track.
Well, we'll see if we can help you out. That's good. The wrong, the wrong side
is. So what's cooking? Well, you know, if I was on the right side of the track,
I'd be calling you about the new Audi I purchased for my 16 year old who got his
learner's permit. But instead I'm calling you about the 1990 Honda Accord that I
purchased for him. 16, a 16 year old boy. Yes. Okay. So, um, my
daughter who was home from college took it on as her car for the summer. And, um,
she took it out. Oh, the first time, the second time, something like that. And
she came out of her job, went to start the car and it would not start. Okay.
Okay. So she turned the key and nothing happened. No, turn the key and it did
everything short of starting the engine. Oh, we wound up having to have the car
towed to our mechanic who took a look at it the next day. Um, I tried to get it
not to start, of course. Right. And he did successfully get the car not to start.
Good. Yeah. So that was, that made me very optimistic. And when, when, when it
was towed to him, did it start as soon as he got there? No, it didn't actually,
I'm, I'm abbreviating the story. It was actually towed to a different mechanic
first and then after a while it started. And then I finally got it to my
mechanic. Got it. Okay. Got it. We're with you, Alan. All right. And you don't know
how the first mechanic got it to start. He didn't. It just decided to start
after about a hour. Decided to. It decided to. Decided to. You know, cars
can think like that. Oh, yes. Okay. Okay. So he went in, couldn't find anything
wrong directly. So he did something that he called bleeding the fuel system.
Hmm. What, what this is, I don't know. But I'm working on it myself. Okay. I
said, gee, did you take all the gas out of the tank? He couldn't. No, no, no,
no. Not one. At any rate, the next few days, it started like a champ in all
circumstances, which was really good. But the next hot day that it was left
out, I was just going to ask you if it was a hot day. It was a hot day.
It's all fits together. Yeah. With what it was a fit. What does it fit
together with? With all the different theories that you're all the deal.
Yeah, it fits together. Alan, don't worry. Don't worry. I'm pulling all the
strings together now. Yeah. Good. So it worked fine for a while. Uh-huh. And
now it doesn't. Otherwise, why would you be calling us? Exactly. And, and you
know, it's, it's not happening as frequently as it did before. No, because
it's been raining every day for the past month and a half. You've been in the
area. It's been a great summer, isn't it? Yeah, it has been a very interesting
time. Don't get me started. My brother started. His two weeks of vacation at
the shore, so to speak, had 12 out of 14 days of rain. And he, and I slept
those two days. Not only rain, but the temperatures plummeted. And he called
me one morning from his beach side. Retreat. What's that word? Retreat.
That's the word. And he said it was 47 degrees at my house this morning. And I
can't tell you what else he said. Not on the air. I keep hearing that voice. Answer
the question. There are no fish under the ice. You want the answer? Yes, I do,
actually. All right. Well, I'll give you the answer because Dougie's hassling
us. He's yelling at us to give you the answer. Tucked up under the dashboard in
this car. And all the Hondas of recent vintage is something called the fuel
pump relay. And in hot weather, these relays fail. And it's all, everything
fits together. The fact that they couldn't figure, I don't know what this
bleeding of the fuel system was. It may go back to ancient Egyptian times when
they bore holes in people's heads to let the brain worms out. It's like the
leeches. I'll do the research and call you back. But in fact, what he
discovered was that there was no fuel pump pressure. And there was no fuel pump
pressure because the relay was not energizing the electric fuel pump, which
is inside the tank. And what he needs to do, or someone needs to do, is buy a
new relay and plug it in. It's as simple as that. The relay costs about 30
bucks or 40 bucks. I don't know what it costs, but it's relatively cheap. And
that's going to solve the problem. Okay. I'm really glad to hear this. Isn't
all right? All right. That's it. Bye.
Hey, have a wonderful time in Mountain Lakes. Thank you very much. See you.
1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.
Hello, my name is Abhijit and I'm calling from Augusta, Georgia. Abhijit? Yes,
that's correct. A-B-H-I-G-I-T. So you were obviously born in Georgia.
You have that classic Southern accent. No, I don't. I guess I have an Indian accent.
That's what it is. So what's cooking? I drive 1993 Mazda 626DX, which I had
purchased used. It has 94,000 miles on the odometer. For the past 3,000-4,000
miles, I have been noticing that what used to be a very smooth sounding engine
note has started fluttering, makes a fluttering noise when I go from 35 to
55 miles per hour. And I may have to mimic the sound for you. Oh, I'm ready.
All right. It begins as a very smooth note, but then at about 35, it starts
going...
And then after about 55, I guess these pulsations kind of come in so quickly
that it again sounds like it's one single note. And can you feel any vibration
in the car? I can notice the vibration when I'm outling. And where do you think
the noise is coming from? I have a feeling it's coming in from the engine
compartment. It's definitely not the wheels and it's... Nothing in the car is
loose so that it may shudder. Okay. It has no metallic tone to it. Is that
correct? No, it doesn't have a metallic tone. Does it sound more like air? Possibly.
Possibly. Yeah. Have you ever worked in the intelligence community?
America wants to know, I think. If he did, would he tell you, he'd have to kill you.
All right. I withdraw the question then. Why did you ask? Oh, it's a code.
It sounds to me. I mean, the reason I asked you about air, it sounds to me like
an exhaust system noise. You know, meat? In fact, what did I have written right here?
Looks like Pappuccino's phone number. Well, right under that. I have written down
exhaust leak. That's what it sounds like to me too. Someone suggested crankshaft dampener,
perhaps, or the hydraulic latch adjusters, but I'm not sure. Well, you would hear those things
if you revved up the engine without the thing being under load. In other words, without the car
moving. If you had bad latch adjusters, or if you had a bad vibration damper,
those things would manifest themselves even with the car not moving.
Well, so would an exhaust leak. So would an exhaust leak if you plug the tailpipe.
So I think you have an exhaust leak. I do too. But in the absence of that, when that fails.
And before we get off of that one, plugging up the tailpipe is a way to exacerbate the problem
so that you will more likely hear the noise. So if you had an assistant, or the mechanic that
you take it to, put the car in neutral and run it and have someone plug up the tailpipe.
And you may even have to try to rev it up a little bit. And the noise should,
if it is an exhaust leak, it will be there. But when it turns out not to be that,
the other three things I'd look at would be a bad wheel bearing, a bad tire, or a bad axle.
I see. Wheel bearing? Yeah. Really? Those are they. You think so? I'm sticking with it.
Good luck Abhijit. Thank you very much. Thanks for your call. Thanks for calling. Bye bye.
Okay Tommy, I can see that the stress of always being wrong is finally getting to you.
It's not the stress, man. It's the monotony. Well look, you're in luck. It's time for a
short break. So I can guarantee you you won't be wrong for the next 60 seconds.
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We're back. You listen to car talk with us, click and clack the Tapper Brothers,
and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the mail. Yeah, mail. That's the symbol of
MAIL. Okay, man. Here it is. I mean, we've, we have posed this question. I mean, you know,
some things are so hard for us to understand, especially us. But do you recall that we have
addressed the issue of, well, there was the 60s, and everyone knows about the 60s, and there was
the 80s and the 90s, and here we are at the year 2000, and we don't know what to do about that.
And here is the answer, and it's from Dan Hartford. Oh, I know his brother, John.
No, that was Tony Hancock. Dear click and clack, I believe it was on your show that the question
was posed as to what to call this decade. Prior decades were easy. They were the 60s,
the 70s, et cetera. But what do we call the 50s? The 50s. I would never forget the 50s.
Yeah. Forget the 20s. In fact, you owe me a couple of 20s.
But what do we call the current decade? Yes, we posed that very question because we
had the problem. And Dan has the answer. He says this decade is made up of two-digit years
starting with 00 is what? Nothing. Zero. According to my dictionary, the word not
is defined as the figure zero. I got it. So what is it? You got it. What is it? The naughties.
The naughties. Of course. Isn't it great? Frank, you're going to go down in history.
Not me, Dan Hancock. Don't mention his name. It's your idea. Come on, steal the idea.
He's from Palo Alto, California. Dan, you're a genius. You may be out of work. You may be
destitute. Your wife may have left you, but this will put you down in history.
And the dog won't play with you unless you have a pork chop pattern on your neck,
but Dan, you're all right in our book. Look, if you have something to share with my brother,
and as you can see, it doesn't take much to get him excited. You can either drop it off at the
Leavenworth Visitor Center or the Intensive Care Unit at Cambridge City Hospital because he's
going to be there pretty soon. Or mail the stuff to Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square,
Cambridge, Matt 02238. Of course, you can also email him stuff from the Car Talk section of
Cars.com. In the meantime, you can call him and me at the following number, 1-888-CAR-TALK,
that's 888-227-8255, a lawyer on Car Talk. Hello, my name is Pat McCann from North
Ottawa, New York. Pat, you're on our staff. I know. I'm your sexual harassment counselor.
Yes, you, man. Well, my younger son, Andrew, has a friend with the same name. Yeah.
So you two are vying for the same position. Yeah, he thinks he's the sexual harassment
director. And he's doing a good job of it. So what's shaking, Pat? Hey, I want to catch up with
you guys and talk about my 95 Chevy Lumina 8TV. And I'm notorious for running out of gas.
But lately, I've been running out of gas and it's just not my fault.
Three or four times in the last year, typically on a long trip and highway driving,
I'll run out of gas and there's still gas left in the tank. How do you know that?
When I fill it up, the first time it took 16 gallons and it's a 20-gallon tank. And the
second time it took about 15 gallons. So I had five gallons left. So how did you conclude
that you're out of gas? Stop running. Yes. And you know, you put your foot in the gas pedal and...
But how do you know it didn't stop running because the stars were wrong? I mean,
why do you blame it on the gas? Well, being one who has run out of gas before,
you get to know that feeling. Yeah. And once you, as long as, what do you do? You get towed or you
go with a five-gallon can somewhere and you get gas, you pour in a couple of gallons of gas and it
starts right up? Yes. And then I drive to the gas station. Or sometimes, actually, if I just sit
there long enough, after a while, it'll start right up and I can cut my way in half a mile.
Now, this is a two-part problem, the first part. So wait a minute. Pat. Pat McCann. Pat.
So would you accept that you're not really justifiable in blaming gas as the problem?
See, you could be running out of spark. You could be running out of all kinds of things.
You could be running out of steam. But if you ran, if you ran out of spark for whatever reason.
But when you add gas, it starts. I understand that.
But time always passes. So it may be time that's the problem. Sometimes I just happen to get lucky
and it does this, you know, a mile from an exit that's got a gas station and I can almost coast
there and put gas in, fill it up and get back in and just run it. And then you can drive it.
You can continue to drive for another couple of hundred miles. Another few hours. And it's
all right then. Yes. And it's okay. I mean, the first half a tank, well, the first five
eighths of a tank. Now, it's good. All right, all right. right, we give.
You're probably running out of gas dip. Thank you.
Jeez. All right, take it easy on us, will you? Give a guy a break.
And I'm wondering. Oh, and we're just out of time.
Have you asked anyone to look at this? I've looked at it.
You've looked at it. That didn't do much good. I looked at the tank. It was still there.
When was the last time, for example, that you changed your fuel filter? I had a major tune
up at about 60,000 miles. So 40,000 miles ago. Well, you could have a clogged fuel filter.
That could be. You could easily have a weak fuel pump. Have you ever noticed
if you're driving the truck at any speed, but under quiet conditions with the windows rolled up,
for example, that you can hear a humming noise coming from the back of the vehicle that's not
coincident even with its moving? In other words, with a very faint. Same tone.
No.
You know, fun. Do you ever drive on unimproved roads?
Yeah. Well, here's a guess. Yeah, it's only a guess.
Nice question, man. Nice question. Too bad the answer wasn't good, but the question's good.
It's a possibility that you have struck the gas tank with something like a boulder or a tree stump
or a raccoon or some such thing that has stove it in. Is that the right tense of the verb?
Stove it. it in. Pushed in the bottom of the tank. So that in fact,
when the tank is an eighth full, you're not really getting the gas out because the area
where the pickup is has been pushed up because of some impact. So it may be that in fact,
that's happened and that would explain everything. And then I just have to learn to live with it
and fill up at a half a tank. Well, you could live with it. But at the very least, I would have
someone look at the tank to see if this in fact is true and then you can send us the genius award.
If it isn't true, then you can choose to live with it. But before you do that,
you should change the fuel filter. Okay, with 40,000 miles, it might be dirty.
And you should ask them to check the fuel pump pressure. Okay, Pat, we wish you the very, very
best. Well, listen, guys, thanks a lot. All right, your help. Take care. Thanks for calling.
1-888-CAR-TALK that's 888-227-8255, a lawyer on CAR-TALK. Hello, my name is Alice and I'm calling
from Hastings on Hudson, New York. Hi, Alice. Hastings on Hudson. I really don't have a car
problem. I have a family squabble problem that's related to cars. The problem is that I'm very
lucky I have a daughter and her little family living on the other side of town from where we
live. And I like to go to her house on, I call it the low road because there's a big hill between
my house and her house. And my husband says it's so much longer to go that way. I should just go
up and over the hill. Well, I've clocked the distances, the distance from my house to her house
on the low road is two miles. And if I go up and over the hill, it's a mile and a half.
And, you know, every time I go my way, oh, you take it so much longer. And if I go his way,
I just feel more of a strain on the car and I use up more gas climbing up this hill. Well,
we've got the altitude on the hill. I don't know if you need all these numbers.
How long have you been retired, Alice? I'm not retired yet, but he is.
He, okay. I knew one of you had to retire. Okay, go ahead, give me the data.
The altitude, I live at 170 feet. My daughter is also at 170 feet high and the hill between us
is at 320. And I don't know which way we use more gas and I know which way you use more time
because my way, I have to go through a traffic light. Well, it's long, your way is longer,
both in distance and in time, but it's shorter in so far as you don't have to climb an unnecessary
hill. Yeah, he says, well, you go on the other side, you go down. There you go. And so whatever
you've spent going up, you regain going down. Is he an engineer? Yes, doesn't this sound like
an engineer? Of course, it's a classic engineering approach, which is entirely wrong.
And he's listening, I hope he's not listening. Well, actually he is. Because we're going to dump
all over. I'm not so sure, Alice. So theoretically, he is exactly, of course, right.
Theoretically. Okay. That the energy, I mean, if this were, you know, if this were a physics
problem when he went to school and he did a physics problem and the energy expended going
up would be regained almost except for losses from friction and going down a potential energy,
kinetic energy, all that stuff would be a great theory. That's assuming that you didn't mind
if you were going 85 miles an hour and you hit the rock bottom of the hill, which you don't.
And you do mind because that's why you have to use the brakes. It's the same as if you were
walking, which way would you walk? I would walk the long way because it's so much easier. You
walk. Would he walk up over the hill and down? Well, a better question is, would you bicycle?
Oh, you bicycle, you'd go the long way. Absolutely. Every time.
There is no formula for how much gas you use going up a hill.
Sure. I mean, we could calculate all of that. I doubt we could calculate. Somebody could
calculate it. The husband probably could calculate it. He's gonna have to do his retired.
And that's exactly what gets him into trouble because he could make all those calculations
and the answer would be, so what? See, what you can't take advantage of is you, as you pointed
out at the beginning of the call, is you can't take advantage of the potential energy that you
gain by getting to the top of the hill because you must slow down. You have to break. You have
to break. So that being the case, I think I would always opt for the roundabout way, especially
considering the fact that you're only climbing at an additional 20 feet in elevation. And it's
only costing you half a mile. Oh, wow. You came in on my side. We came in on your side completely,
but we would always come in against an engineer because they're all bozos.
And we're gonna actually, we're going to open a special website just for your
call. Because I know we're going to get like 50,000 emails. Engineers, we're going to tell us
that it's better to go up and then down. And I'll say the same thing to them that I say to you.
I hope your husband has some other redeeming characteristics. Oh, he does. He probably does.
Try to cure him of this engineering-ness that he has. I mean, he's telling me he's retired now
he can forget all that stuff because most of it is nonsense. Buy him some golf clubs, Alice.
He can plot some trajectories. Thanks, McCallan. Thank you very, very much. See you later. Bye-bye.
Well, it's happened again. You've atomized another perfectly good hour listening to car talk. Our
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Known to the bereaved shoe merchants in Harvard Square as U.E. Louis Dewey. Thanks so much for
listening. We're clicking, clack, the Tapit brothers and above all, don't drive like my brother.
And above all, above all, don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week, we hope. Bye-bye.
And now here in the studio is Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinnie Glebots. Vinnie?
Thank you very much. Now if you want a copy of this year's show, which happens to be number 35,
you can get one on the web. Just head on over to the online store at the Car Talk section at
Car.com. You know what I'm talking about? Yes, but I mean, what if I wanted something else, Vinnie?
I mean, what if I wanted, like, the best of a Car Talk CD? Would I go to the same site? No,
you dope. You go to www.Joel Lieberman'shouseparty.com. Of course, you go to the same site. What are
you, a stupor or something? You go to the Car Talk section at Car.com or your order by phone.
You just call 888 God Junk. Well, thank you so much, Vinnie. That was muy bueno. Hey, bueno this,
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About this episode
Road rage and enforcement come up first, with the hosts complaining about “the deplorable condition on the roads” and pointing to speeding and tailgating during rush hour on Route 128. A caller’s brake problem follows: a 1990 Ford Festiva’s pedal went “down to the floor,” and the hosts explain how overheating can boil brake fluid when something like a stuck caliper or clogged hose keeps brakes dragging. Later, they pivot through fuel-delivery and engine-noise diagnostics, including a “fuel pump relay” causing “no fuel pump pressure.”
It’s not often we get a call from members of the Car Talk staff during the show. And you’d expect that call to be from our chauffeur Pickov Andropov or perhaps our automotive seat tester, Mike Easter, but instead we hear from Pat McCann of our HR department. Somebody’s in trouble on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
