#2640: Flunking Physics Again
Annotations will appear as you listen
0:00
35:10
Term
air-fuel mixture
Your engine needs the right mix of air and fuel to run smoothly. If the mix is wrong, the car can feel rough or act weird, including sudden changes in RPM.
Term
RPM
RPM means how fast the engine is spinning. If something changes in how the engine is running, the RPM can jump or drop, and mechanics use that as a clue.
Term
lean out
“Lean out” means the engine is getting less fuel than it should compared to the air. That can make the car run poorly and can show up in the O2 sensor readings.
Term
O2 sensor
The O2 sensor checks the oxygen level in your car’s exhaust. Your engine uses that info to adjust how much fuel it mixes in, so the engine runs right and the emissions stay in check.
Term
scan
Here, “scan” means plugging in a computer to read error codes from the car. Those codes help identify what sensor or system is acting up.
Car
Nissan Silvia
The Nissan Silvia is a sports car made by Nissan. It’s a smaller, two-door car meant to feel fun to drive, not like a big family car. People talk about it a lot because it’s been around for many years and has a reputation with car enthusiasts.
Car
Honda Crx
The Honda CRX is a small Honda that people like because it’s light and drives in a sporty way. Here, they’re talking about a 1986 Honda CRX that the government is storing while the owner is away.
Car
Volvo 240DL
The Volvo 240DL is an older Volvo sedan from the 240 series. People like it because it’s simple and tough, and the “DL” usually means it’s a nicer-equipped version of the same basic car.
Term
compression
Here “compression” means how well each engine cylinder is sealing and building pressure. If compression is low, the engine can misfire or run rough; if compression is good, the problem is more likely elsewhere.
Term
CIS, Continuous Injection System
CIS is a type of fuel injection system that delivers gasoline to the engine in a controlled way. If one injector gets clogged, that cylinder may not get the right fuel, and the engine can shake or run poorly.
Term
individual injectors
With individual injectors, each cylinder gets its own fuel sprayer. If one sprayer is clogged, that cylinder may not get enough fuel and the engine can shake.
Term
injectors is plugged up with rust
If rust clogs a fuel injector, that cylinder doesn’t get the right amount of fuel. The result can be rough running and shaking, even if the engine’s compression is fine.
Term
fuel injector
A fuel injector is a small part that sprays fuel into the engine. If one injector is clogged or not working, that cylinder won’t get fuel and the engine can run badly. They’re checking it by starting the engine briefly and looking to see if each injector sprays.
Term
crank the engine over
“Crank the engine over” means turning the engine over with the starter. It spins the engine so you can test parts without fully starting it. Here, they do it to see whether the injectors spray.
Term
fuel system
The fuel system is everything that gets fuel from the tank to the engine. If it’s rusty or dirty, it can clog the injectors again and again. That’s why replacing one injector might not be enough if the rest of the system is contaminated.
LIVE
On Consider This, NPR's afternoon news podcast, we cover everything from politics to the economy
to the world, but every story starts with a question.
In NPR, we stand for your right to be curious, to make sense of the biggest story of the
day and what it means for you.
Follow Consider This wherever you get your podcasts.
Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio.
With us, click and clack the tap with brothers and we're broadcasting this week from Campaign
Headquarters here at Car Talk Plaza.
As you know, my brother and I are running for president under the slogan, two zeros
in 00
And after several weeks on the campaign trail, we have finally hit upon the one issue that
we believe will propel us all the way to the lawn, to the White House and beyond, into
the parking lot.
But I mean, as some of our listeners may know, we are every week attempting to present one
of our, as we call them in the political business, initiatives.
And this week, we'd like to tell you about our Slack Off America initiative.
Well this is like the central thrust of our campaign.
This is.
I mean, this has been a guiding principle in our lives, in fact.
We do have an environmental initiative, Department of Defense initiative.
We do have, you know.
And all of those things are somewhat understandable, but this one is.
Well, maybe it is.
I mean, here it is.
Everyone is stressed.
What ever happened to leisure time?
We don't know how to do leisure time.
In fact, I will quote from my brother.
He gave me this quote recently.
You have a brother, another brother?
Many Americans think they need more money than they really need.
And they have thus tragically miscalculated the work to play ratio.
Remember him?
What a brilliant mind.
My brother said that.
Wow.
There's a mind.
And for that.
His must be stopped.
Here's what we're going to do.
We are promoting a Slack Off America attitude.
We're all working too hard.
And here's what happens.
We know that you can't help yourself.
So we are going to assign a case worker to every single person in the country who works.
Yeah, that'll get the ball rolling, so to speak.
Because half of us will have to be case workers.
First of all, you think the unemployment rate is low.
Now we're going to have to be importing case workers by the caseload.
By the caseload.
And they will meet with you once a week, if they feel like it to make sure.
They may not show up because they may be slacking.
They may be slacking to make sure that you're slacking off.
To make sure you're slacking off.
They will meet with you every week and they will make sure that you are not talking on
the cell phone, answering your email at two o'clock in the morning, trying to make more
money, more money, more money.
No, no, no, we've got it all wrong here.
I mean, as many bad things as we've said about the French, they know how to sit down and have
a cup of coffee four or five times a day in the middle of the day.
Yeah.
And they know how to go on strike.
They should do.
Work ain't one of the ethics that they have.
No.
And that's what we've got to get rid of.
This Protestant worth ethic is killing us.
And we're done with it.
So if you would like to read the entire white paper, by the way, go to the
cartalksectionofcars.com and go look under our presidential initiatives.
And you'll see the white paper on.
Unless of course the person in charge of putting it up was slacking off.
In which case it won't be there, but eventually you'll find it maybe.
And don't rush to go look at it.
No, because it's probably not there anyway.
And really doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
Well, anyway, if you're not too busy and you want to slack off, you can call us and
ask us a question about your car.
We're not doing anything.
No, our number is 888 car talk.
That's 888-227-8255.
Hello, you're on car talk.
This Fidel over here in New Mexico.
Fidel.
Yeah.
You live in the entire state of New Mexico.
Well, actually I live in California, but I'm driving a truck and I happen to be in
New Mexico right now.
Hey, excellent.
Okay.
Go.
What's the question?
And do you guys take a little something in the morning to help along your happiness?
Yes.
In fact, we're taking it as we speak.
We'll have to talk about that later.
Anyway, my deal is I have a 94 Chevy pickup and it's got 22,000 miles on.
It's got the 350, uh, 5.7 liter.
How many miles?
22,000.
Oh, you're always driving your big truck.
So you don't drive this thing.
Yeah, exactly.
I put 140 a year on my big truck, so that doesn't leave much time for my pickup.
Not much.
And when I come to a stoplight or a stop sign, it will periodically shutter, but I
mean, it doesn't, it's not like a shutter.
It's almost like turning ignition off and you turn it back on.
And I mean, you could see it.
It fluctuates about like about 50 RPM on the tack.
And I mean, it's hard and it seems to do it twice, but it runs smooth.
I mean, when you take off, there's no hesitation or anything like that.
Uh, it just does it when you come to a stop sign and you know, or a stoplight.
You're right.
Right.
Right.
But otherwise when you're driving at high speed, it's never a problem.
Oh yeah.
Once you once you step on the gas, it's it's gone.
Have you ever noticed that if you sit idling for a long time, that you will
get the shuttering to reoccur or perhaps get noxious fumes from the tailpipe?
Have you noticed that?
You know, when you start it, it has a smell.
But once it warms up, once it runs for a couple of minutes, it goes away.
But you never leave it idling for extended periods of time.
No, no, I don't, I don't do that.
Okay.
We're struggling here.
Well, yeah, we're, we're, we're, we're dying here for, to help us.
Well, I mean, his, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll let you into our thought process.
Here's how it goes.
He let us into the thought process.
That's with Eenie Meenie, Mighty Moe.
No, I mean, the first question we're asking ourselves, I think is, is it
fuel related or is it electrical?
I don't think it's either.
You don't.
No.
Well, I mean, it's fuel related, it's one of them.
Uh, it's always one of those two.
What I think it is, is a bad oxygen sensor.
You do.
I do.
I do.
I don't think the oxygen sensor is sending the right data stream to the computer.
And it's particularly apt to misbehave when the thing has been driven and then
stopped.
And then what it's doing is it's, it's sending a signal that's telling, for
example, the computer that the mixture is way too rich.
And what does the computer do when it gets that signal?
It leans out the mixture tremendously and causes the RPM to drop suddenly.
And you'll get that shutter.
So that's what I think is wrong with it.
So you need to take it to your Chevrolet dealer, or whomever you take it to, and
ask them to test the O2 sensor.
Okay.
They can scan it if they want.
They can put the machine on it.
And my guess is the machine will tell them nothing, but it may say, especially
if they do it right after it's been driven, it may say O2 sensor out of range.
Hmm.
I don't know what that means, but there's so much taking it out of the oven.
I think it's like chickens, chicken, free range, chicken, range, O2 sensor.
You need to replace the O2 sensor.
That's our guess.
Okay.
Good luck, man.
And keep that pedal to the metal.
Always.
See you.
1888
What is that car talk?
That's 888227
No, don't forget, only if you're not too busy.
Exactly.
And if you've got anything else to do, don't do that either.
In fact, calling us will be slacking off.
So maybe they should, you could consider it that way.
We want everyone to call.
We want everyone to call.
And we won't answer.
227
Because we're slacking off too.
8255
Hello, you're on car talk.
Hi, this is Kim from Tallahassee.
How are you, Kim?
I'm doing okay.
I'm actually having problems with physics.
And since you guys are experts in everything.
Man, physics was always my best course.
And you're going to see just how bad the other courses were.
I liked it so much.
I just kept taking it over and over again.
Go ahead, Kim.
Shoot.
All right.
So this is the question.
Finding her car stuck in the mud.
A bright graduate of good physics course ties a strong rope to the back bumper of the car.
And the other end to a tree.
Wait, are you reading out of a physics book?
Yeah, I've got to figure out this problem.
I have a quiz next Wednesday.
Oh, this really, well, in high school, I hope.
No, this is college.
Oh, we got no shame.
We have no, all right.
Get a Rico, fear me on the phone.
Okay, so she ties a rope to the bumper.
Yeah, all right, go ahead.
Okay, she ties her up to the bumper and the other one to a tree.
Got it.
All right.
She finds the midpoint of the rope and pushes with her maximum effort, which she
estimates to be a force of about 300 Newton.
The car just begins to budge with the rope at about a five degree angle.
With what force is the rope pulling on the car?
Oh, it's a simple vector problem.
It's a simple vector problem.
The five degrees is the key.
All you have to do is look up the sign of five degrees, multiply it by
300, and that's the answer, man.
Say it again.
No, no, that's, you got one shot at it.
Wait, is it the sign?
Let me just tell you, let me see if that's true or not.
No, it's not the sign.
It's the cosine.
All right, so I take the cosine of five degrees.
The cosine of five degrees times 300 Newtons, and that's the answer.
What about the tree?
Forget about the tree.
Well, whatever you forget about the tree.
It's the same thing on the tree.
So the tree is going to move.
The tree will move the same distance as the car.
Well, she's going to be stuck in the mud all day.
No, I mean, is it multiple choice?
No, well, some of them are, but some of them you have to show your work.
So you never know.
Are the answers in the back of the book?
No, the answer to this one isn't in the back of the book.
Why do you think I'm calling you?
Yeah, well, I mean, we prefaced all of this by telling you that we flunked this course.
Well, no, we didn't flunk it.
We ultimately, we did.
Oh, you, you, but we did the editorial.
We I did.
I think I may have.
I'm not sure, but I may have gotten an A in this course.
Really?
Then you answer the damn question.
No, I'm sticking with your answer because I don't remember any of it.
Well, my I like the cosine.
I like the cosine of five degrees.
All right, I do too.
Yeah.
And the tree, I don't know that the tree bothers me.
I'm bothered by the tree.
You are.
Yeah.
Is it a maple tree?
You know, it doesn't tell us what it's all must be a mangrove.
But wait, what if it's a bamboo?
That's not a tree.
That's grass.
That's grass.
Yeah.
What if it's a mangrove?
Sounds like you've been smoking grass.
What I want to know is who is this this woman?
And why does she have a cell phone?
And how can she push with with all that force that she's going to pull a car?
First of all, it would be unfair of us to help you exam or no exam.
Oh, that's right.
No, we can't help you.
We can't help you.
And if we did, you'd kill us when you found out that it was wrong.
Wait, isn't there a website that you can go and get some advice from?
It's called my tutor or something like that.
I believe so.
I would definitely get on the web right away.
All right.
And see if you get the same answer that we gave you.
And if I was just right, I will be the most surprised person in the world.
Second most.
I won't put much confidence in your answer.
No, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't.
Well, thanks so much for your.
Good luck.
Bye bye.
Bye.
See, but I mean, I could have told her that this was absolutely the right answer.
I have no idea.
No, I'm thinking I'm thinking about this.
You ask your answer is so wrong.
I don't think you can imagine how wrong it is.
Well, I I I drew a little picture and then unencumbered by the thought process.
That's that'll do it every time.
Yeah.
Okay, Tommy, it's September.
Yeah.
A new school year has just begun.
True.
There's a reinvigorating nip in the air.
Do you remember last week's puzzler?
Uh, didn't have to do with Cuban cigars, industrial strength, cleaning solvents
and a cheating scandal.
No, that was last week's poker game.
You're close.
It did have to do with poker.
Hi, we're back.
You're listening to Car Talk with us.
Wait a minute.
Speak for yourself.
You may be back.
We're clicking, clack the tap brothers and we're here to talk about cars, car
repair and the answer to last week's puzzler.
There was a puzzle last week.
Yeah.
This is from the poker collection.
Oh, the poker puzzler.
Now I read.
Why don't you remind me?
I remember myself till just now you were playing poker with your wife.
We're sitting at the kitchen table.
That was it.
She says, I'd like to learn how to play poker.
Can you teach me?
So I explained to her the ranking of the hands, the highest hand being a royal
flush ace, king, queen, jack, 10 of one suit and the lowest hand being nothing.
So anyway, I've got all the cards face up on the table.
And she says, let's play a game with the cards like this.
You pick five of the cards and I'll pick five of the cards and we'll
see who has the best hand.
And you said, well, that seems pretty silly.
We can see all the cards.
So I'm going to pick a royal flush and you're going to pick a royal flush and
we're going to be tied every time.
And she says, well, after you pick your cards, you can draw cards.
You can throw away up to as many as five cards.
You can throw them all away or you can throw none of them away.
So I said, well, I'm not going to throw anyway.
I'm going to pick a royal flush and you're going to pick a royal flush
and nobody's ever going to win.
And she says, well, let me pick first.
I said, well, go ahead.
Yeah, she does.
She wins.
Really?
Yeah.
What, what hand does she pick?
I have to say that I, I did ponder this during the week, but I
immediately, immediately escaped everything and I, I forgot about it.
Well, I think the only hand that guarantees her a winner is to pick four
10s, four 10s.
She picks four 10s.
No matter what I pick, she will always wind up with a better hand because
she can get a 10 high straight flush and the best I can do is a nine
high straight flush, a straight flush beating four of a kind.
So if she, if she picks four 10s and I pick four aces, four aces loses to 10,
9876 of say hearts, for example.
And it's, it's not possible for you knowing that that's what she's going to do.
Well, she does it first to prevent her from getting.
So she picks the four 10s and you see her do that.
Right.
So I can go ahead and get nine of clubs, the eight of spades, on which case if I,
if I do that, if you do that, then she cannot get a 10 high flush, straight flush.
Yeah.
But neither, neither can you, neither can you.
Yeah.
So she wins.
I think that's, I may be wrong, but I think that you get this puzzle.
You make it up.
You know, you know, you did, so it's very good though.
So who do we have a winner?
Yeah.
The winner is Lee Arholger from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
And for having his or her answer selected at random from among the thousands
or two correct answers that we got, you Lee, we'll get a $25 gift certificate
to the Car Talk Shameless Commerce Division on our website.
And with that $25 gift certificate, you can get five eighths of a Car Talk jacket.
Pick any five eighths you want.
I think I would go with the sleeveless version.
In case it's the Car Talk vest.
By the way, if you ever want information about the Car Talk stuff you hear about
on the show, you can visit the store at the CarTalkSessionOfCars.com or you can
call 888-CAR-JUNK.
Yeah.
And will we have another puzzle after all of this?
Yes, we will.
The third half of the show.
Yes, we're going to have a quasi-automotive.
I won't hear you over that.
Quasi-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 questions about your car at 888-CAR-TALK.
That's 888-227-8255, a lawyer on Car Talk.
Hi, this is Kristen, calling again from Bethesda, Maryland.
Hey, we talked to you last week.
That's right.
You were going to get the car stored someplace.
You were going off to some crazy, well, Kosovo.
Kosovo, the jewel of the Balkans.
Jewel of the Balkans.
So last week, Kirsten called us, said she was going off for an indeterminate
amount of time in Kosovo to do some spy works, CIA stuff.
We're not sure what it is, but.
And she was mostly going to have coffee with Silvia Poggioli.
But the government has offered to put your car into storage, your 86.
Honda CRX.
You remember that?
You got it.
Jewel of denial.
86 CRX.
That's right.
And you were so worried about this that you were concerned that our government
wasn't going to do a good enough job taking care of your 86 Civic.
Right.
So we asked you to find out what they're going to do to it to store it.
All right.
Before you tell us.
Yes.
My guess was this is not stumped to chumps, but my guess was they were going
to park it and hang the key up in a little box.
And when you came back, they'd hand you the key back.
That was my guess.
Yeah.
And how close was I?
Well, it's the exact opposite, actually.
Oh, really?
The government?
They're really going to take care of it.
Tell us.
They're going to do everything we suggested, right?
They are going to do nothing you suggested.
They're really doing the exact opposite of what you guys said.
Really?
What are they going to do?
Well, they keep it in an indoor climate controlled, humidity controlled facility.
That's good.
They start it once a month and they get it up to its optimum operating temperature.
Temperature.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Flush out the condensation in the engine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They said they don't put it up on blocks because that would stretch the stress suspension.
They keep all the fluids in and they do periodic maintenance on it.
I talked to the guy at the storage facility myself.
You mean like they changed the oil?
Well, they told me to get the oil changed just before I bring it down.
Right.
And they'll go ahead and change it every 3,000 miles they're at.
Well, obviously.
And they do move it within the facility so it's not sitting on the same spot on the tires for the two years.
And the guy who works there is a classic car collector.
It's a father and son operation and he sounds legit.
I can say only one thing.
What's that?
What a country.
But I tell you to find out.
I really got the run around.
I called the guy at the agency for international development where I work who does our travel coordination.
He gave me the number of a guy at the State Department who handles transportation and storage of things.
Guy at the State Department gave me a number in Baltimore where they do all the government contracting for transportation and privately owned vehicles as they call them.
So I talked to people in Baltimore.
I got four people in that office and the fourth person referred me back to the guy at the State Department.
That figures.
So, you know, it's no better when you work for the government.
But persistence pays off.
You finally got through.
I did.
And this is a private operation that the government pays for?
I guess the government contracts with these guys.
Yeah.
Well, and you know what?
The fact that it's in a temperature controlled and humidity controlled environment.
Yeah.
Means that the brakes aren't going to rust.
So does not going to rust.
Yeah.
The emergency brake cables aren't going to freeze up.
So it's a wonderful thing to do.
And I think the average person can't do this.
So that's why we recommend doing other things like sealing the tailpipe and all that and sealing the intake,
which won't have to be done to this because it's in the right environment.
Yeah.
Hey, can you answer a question for me?
No, we already answered one.
No, it's a debate between my intended and myself.
Yeah.
Is he coming with you, by the way?
Sorry?
Is he coming with you?
He's actually the main reason I'm going in.
Oh, he's there already?
He's there already.
Yeah.
Oh, is he a Kosovian?
He's an Iowan.
An Iowan.
Yeah.
An Iowan in Kosovo.
I think I saw that.
Yeah.
Wasn't Gene Kelly in that?
Big Crosby.
That great 30 slapstick comedy.
Yeah.
So what's the question for him?
Here's the question.
It's about this CRX.
Is the CRX a sports car or not?
Oh, you're going to side with him, aren't you?
A sports car?
It's a two-seater.
It's red.
It's low to the ground.
It's a sports car, right?
Sure.
Sure.
Whatever you say.
I think it's a sports car.
Okay, it's a sports car.
Thank you.
Okay.
As soon as I hang up, you're going to make fun of me, aren't you?
No.
No, we already did.
We do it right to your face.
We don't have any compunction.
Hey, Kirsten, I wish you the very best.
Thank you.
And if you come back for Christmas, drop us a line.
Thank you, guys.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
It's time for us to take a break.
How long to break?
Well, long enough for us to review everything we know about cars.
So we'll be back in like a minute.
Right.
We're back.
You're listening to Car Talk with us.
Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers.
And we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new Quasionimono.
Yes, mister.
Quasionimono.
Yes, mister.
I received this short letter.
Yeah.
The other day.
Dated May 11th, 98.
You're right up to date on reading, huh?
That's good.
It was from Carrie Brown, who's the curator of the exhibition Pedal Power at some museum in Vermont.
Pedal Power.
The American Precision Museum in Windsor, Vermont.
Closed two years ago, but she had been exiled now to Elba.
Elba's good.
And she had a suggestion for a puzzler.
And then I'm going to use it.
And you're going to use it.
I think it's good.
And remember, it's quasi-automotive and as well as being historic and folkloric.
It's good.
All right.
Challenging.
Demanding.
Inviting.
Exciting.
Something for everyone.
Go ahead, man.
I can hardly wait.
In the 1800s, the high-wheeled bicycle.
Do you remember these from your youth?
I certainly don't.
And I don't even know what it's called.
It was called the ordinary.
That bike was called the ordinary.
It was almost exclusively a toy for wealthy young men.
I thought it was called the penny farthing.
Maybe.
That's what we used to call it.
Anyway, it was expensive.
It cost like half a year's wages.
And it was dangerous to say the least.
The most common accident being known as the header.
When the rider would fly over the handlebars.
You remember these bikes?
The wheel was like 10 feet in diameter or some such thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you were sitting way up high.
And of course the thing was difficult to mount,
difficult to ride.
But it had certain advantages.
How did you get up to the seat there?
You'd jump out of the second floor window.
And hope that someone hadn't removed the seat.
Yeah.
Anyway, in an attempt to make cycling more universally accessible.
Bicycle engineers and manufacturers eventually developed what was called the safety bicycle.
Which had two wheels of the same size.
A chain drive and gearing.
Not unlike bikes that we have today.
For various reasons.
However, the safety bike did not catch on immediately.
It was considered ugly.
Inelegant, inefficient and uncomfortable.
Yeah.
Then in 1889, a veterinary surgeon in Belfast Ireland patented an accessory.
Which revolutionized the bicycle.
And then of course, from that point on,
safeties began winning races.
And they became very popular.
Of course, the ordinary stupid thing that it was.
Went quickly out of fashion.
So the question is, what was the name of this veterinary surgeon?
Or what did he patent?
Must be something with his name.
And if I gave you his name.
You'd know.
You'd know the answer.
Now, if you think you know the answer.
Write it up.
Dougie says the 10 speed.
Last name.
Jimmy 10 speed.
If you think you know the answer.
That's why he's the producer and we had nothing.
Yeah, that's right.
Which shop liver.
If you think you know the answer,
write it on a postcard or plaster it across a 66 Dudley station bus.
And drive by Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge.
Our fair city.
Matt 02238.
Or you can email your answer from the Car Talk section of cars.com.
And by the way, this is traditionally the time of year where our listeners send in
puzzler suggestions.
I don't want to sound desperate or anything,
but you'll see in the ensuing weeks how pathetic the puzzler is going to get.
Yeah, I've noticed you've had a furrowed brow.
Oh, very furrowed.
Oh man, you've got furrowing.
Oh, I'm completely furrowed.
So if you have a puzzler that you think I might be able to use,
even if you think it's lousy, don't worry, my standards are very low.
Send that puzzler to the same address, Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500,
Harvard Square, Cambridge.
Our fair city.
Matt 02238.
Attention, puzzle editor, Eugene T. Moleska.
And if you'd like to call us, the number is 888 Car Talk.
That's 888-227-8255.
Hello, you're on Car Talk.
Hi, my name is Sheba, and I was talking about my cards of Volvo.
Are you a queen of?
Of course.
Where are you from?
New York.
City?
I'm the queen of my apartment.
New York City.
New York City.
Manhattan.
New York.
New York.
Which end of Manhattan?
Which part of Manhattan?
Up or down?
Uptown, close to Washington Heights.
Cool.
Left or right?
Left or right.
What do you want?
What did you just give her the address?
Well, you're going to get an orientation.
You're going to know who the people are.
All right, well.
Get to know the contestants, as they say.
Oh, I see.
Okay.
Yeah.
And you have a car?
I have a car.
It's a Volvo 240DL.
It's a 1980.
1980.
Wow.
It is.
It's just the right car I have.
I like it.
Because nobody will mess with that thing.
You probably don't have a lot of miles on it, right?
Well, yeah, I did have it when I bought it.
It was, I think, 152,000 miles.
But it's two problems I got with it.
One, when I turn it on, or at any point,
when I'm just hitting idle, it shakes.
The engine shakes.
I don't know what that's from.
My mechanics changes.
Spark plugs.
You try everything you can think of.
And the engine just shakes.
Parkinson's.
But yeah, just like that.
And the other thing is, when it's cold,
it takes it a while to get into gear.
So when I'm trying to come out of a parking spot in the morning,
it takes forever for it to go into reverse.
Like you'll hear it revving up and then it jerks into reverse.
You hear it revving up and then jerks into drive.
Or if I go directly onto the highway,
it takes a while for it to get into the overdrive
for it to pick up speed.
But once now, if I've been driving it all day,
and it's in the transmission's warmth,
then it'll move gears fine.
When it's cold, it's ridiculous.
And I've changed transmission fluid
and I mean all that kind of stuff.
Oh, you have done that?
Yeah.
I don't know what the problem is.
Hey, you have a call on 101.
Maybe it's us.
Is that for me?
I think they said, Tom, you have a call on 101.
Well, I'm going to give you the good news first.
Okay, what's the good news?
I'm working on it.
Geez, good news.
I think the good news is...
Christmas is coming.
No, I would have to say that the good news is
that I wouldn't do anything to the transmission.
Okay.
I would just pray.
Yeah, if you've already had the fluid changed
and you're sure the fluid is full,
then the symptom that it has
is a clear indication that it's on its way out.
Yeah.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
But it doesn't mean it's on the way out tomorrow.
Yeah, my brother's on the way out too,
but we haven't started digging the hole for him yet.
Oh, no.
Oh, how come you guys always have shovels when we go for a ride?
Five of us and four shovels.
Well...
What about the shaking, though?
Well, the shaking could be something awful.
It could be that you have bad compression.
And I would imagine that whoever looked at this thing
has checked the compression.
Okay.
But if it didn't, this thing has a fuel injection called CIS,
Continuous Injection System,
and it has individual injectors for each cylinder.
So let's assume he did a compression test
and the compression is good.
The thing I'd most likely suspect
is that one of the injectors is plugged up with rust.
He, you know, he wants him.
My mechanic, that's the last thing he had said.
He said, maybe there's a fuel injector problem.
What he can do is he can pull out the injectors.
They pop right out.
And he can actually crank the engine over
and watch the injectors spray, all three of them.
Okay.
And the fourth one is not going to spray.
I would guess that one of them is plugged up.
The problem, however, is...
Is there something that can be replaced?
Well, it may need to be replaced,
but there may be so much rust in the whole fuel system
that they're all going to get plugged up eventually,
even the new one.
But I would, if there is one that's bad,
ask me to put a new one in,
and that may get it to run on all four cylinders.
He is going to now, this week,
he's supposed to be taking it to Volvo
and have them put it on the machine.
Oh, I don't think I'd do that.
No?
No, you may find out a lot more than you want to.
Well, he may not tell her everything.
Oh, maybe.
He's the intermediary.
So he will get the information,
and he'll decide...
Tell him to just tell...
How much of it Shiba can...
This is on a need-to-know basis.
This whole operation here.
So tell him not to tell you any more
that you need to know.
I don't expect to keep it that much longer,
but if I could hold...
I've had it like a year, a little more than a year,
and if I could hold on to it at least one more year,
I'll be happy.
Well, you should be able to.
I mean, if it is an injector,
that's not going to be horribly expensive.
And I wouldn't be surprised if the transmission
can hold in there for a year.
Even though it will continue to do what it's doing,
there's nothing you can do to fix it.
Well, there is.
There is one thing.
Transmission magic.
You can add a can of transmedic.
Transmediterranean.
Are there any auto parts stores in Manhattan?
I never saw one.
Oh, sure.
They're all over the place.
They are.
Yeah.
Well, take a walk into one of those places
and look around for the bottles that have
or cans that have something like transmission,
something, and the word miracle on it.
And sometimes those things actually work.
It is something called transmedic.
It's transmission, something, a miracle cure.
I forget what it is.
Really?
Yeah, Grecian formula.
I don't know what it is, but you go to the parts store.
No, no, no, we're serious.
You tell the guy behind the counter
that your transmission is slipping,
and you ask him what they've had the most success with.
And they may have four or five different products
on the shelf, all of which purport to do the same thing.
Ask him how many people came back
and threw the bottle at him for the different brands
and take the one with the fewest number of incidents like that.
Good luck.
Thanks so much.
See you for good luck.
Bye-bye.
Oh, gee.
Why could we be so flip?
Her car is in its death throes.
Well, it is.
The engine's running on three cylinders or fewer.
The transmission is slipping.
What could be worse?
We're laughing.
What could be?
I mean, those are the two.
Hey, in our cars.
Hey.
Well, it's happened again.
You've wasted another perfectly good hour listening to car talk.
Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive,
not a slave to fashion, Berman.
Our associate producers are Louis Cronin the Barbarian
and David Purchase and No Sale Green.
Oh, what happened?
I don't know.
Our engineer is Tad Curry.
Our senior Web Blackie is Doug the Old Gray Mayor
and our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor,
the only man to ever go on 37 consecutive lunch dates
solely for the lunch is John Bugsy Lawler.
Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research,
assisted by statistician Marge Inovera.
Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzoff.
Our director of new product repair is Warren T. Myfoot.
Our shop foreman is Luke Busy.
And our director of Firestone Tire Recalls is Ivana Michelin.
Our student consultant is Norm DePlume.
Our dermatologist for teenagers is Don Pickett.
The car talk musical director is Dona E. Mobile.
Our divorce attorney is Carmine, not yours.
Our exercise guru is Liza Round.
Our Russian chauffeur is Picov and Dropoff.
The bankery car talk plaza poker games is Nikolai Putin.
Hospitality director is Doris Schutt.
And our seat cushion tester is Mike Easter.
Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey,
treatment hours, Uluis Dewey.
Known to the ticket happy bicycle cops in Harvard Square
as Uwee Dewey.
Thanks so much for listening.
We're clicking, clack the tapping brothers
and remember, don't drive like my brother.
And remember one other thing, don't drive like my brother.
We'll be back next week. Bye bye.
Car Talk is a production of Dewey Cheetahman Howe
and WBUR in Boston.
And even though Bobby Knight tosses his George Fulman
grill at his radio whenever he hears us say it,
this is NPR, National Public Radio.
About this episode
A call-in begins with a 1994 Chevy pickup owner describing their 350 (5.7L) V8 and mileage, then the discussion shifts to a drivability diagnosis: the hosts suspect “a bad oxygen sensor” that could mislead the computer into thinking the mixture is “way too rich.” They also walk through how dealers can test the O2 sensor and what codes might appear. Later, a physics-themed segment turns into a rope-and-angle calculation for getting a car moving, before the show returns to real-world storage and repair talk.
Original notes
Kim from Florida has a physics quiz coming up and she decided to reach out to Click and Clack for some help. Kim has either never listened to the show before, or her working theory is to become familiar with all of the possible wrong answers first. She’s certain to get at least that 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.
NPR Privacy Policy
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
0:00
35:10