“High viscosity” means the oil is thicker. When it’s cold, thick oil doesn’t move around as easily, so the engine can be harder to protect until it warms up.
The Prizm is a small, simple car meant for getting around town and commuting. The podcast mentions a 1995 Prizm as a second car, likely to compare how it drives or what it’s like to own. If you hear a description about driving, it’s usually about ride comfort, noise, or how the car feels in everyday use.
Fuel injection is how newer cars deliver fuel to the engine using sensors and computers. It helps prevent the engine from getting flooded with too much fuel when you start it cold.
A choke is a cold-start helper on older carbureted engines. It adds extra fuel so the engine can run when it’s cold, but it can also make the engine rev high and burn extra gas if you don’t manage it.
A carburetor is an older way of mixing fuel and air for the engine. Older carbureted cars often need a choke to start in cold weather, and that can lead to extra fuel use if you don’t handle it correctly.
The “Beetle” is Volkswagen’s famous old design. When someone says “new Beetle,” they usually mean the newer version that looks like the classic but is a different, more modern car underneath.
The “micro bus” is Volkswagen’s classic van, the one people associate with road trips and the hippie-era look. When they say “new micro bus,” they mean a modern version of that classic style.
The tailpipe is the exhaust outlet at the rear of the vehicle. The host uses it to describe where the flames and sparks are appearing, which is a key clue that unburned fuel is igniting in the exhaust.
Backfire is when the engine doesn’t burn the fuel at the right time, and it instead burns in the exhaust. That’s why you can see flames or hear pops coming out of the tailpipe.
Ignition is what makes the spark that lights the fuel in the engine. If the ignition isn’t working correctly, the engine can misfire and cause flames in the exhaust.
Points are an old-style part in the ignition system that helps time the spark. If they wear out or burn, the engine can start misfiring and backfiring.
The condenser is an electrical part in older ignition systems that helps the spark work correctly. If it fails, the spark can be weak or inconsistent, leading to misfires and tailpipe flames.
A distributor is an older ignition part that sends spark to the right spark plug at the right time. If something inside breaks or falls in, it can cause electrical problems and the engine may not run.
The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is an older-style Volkswagen coupe, built more for looks and classic driving than for modern performance. The podcast brings it up because people recognize the name and talk about it when discussing possible new versions. It’s basically a classic two-door car that stands out because of its design.
The Isuzu Impulse is a small two-door coupe made by Isuzu. Sarah is talking about it because she’s had trouble finding replacement parts for her specific car.
“Two-seater, two-door” means the car is built for two people and has two doors. It’s basically describing how the car is laid out inside and how you get in.
Power windows are windows you move with a button or switch. If the parts inside the door freeze up, the window can get stuck even if you press the button.
White lithium grease is a slippery paste you put on moving metal parts. Here, the idea is to coat the latch so water can’t get to the parts that would freeze and stop working.
“93 Civic” means a 1993 Honda Civic. It’s a common, everyday compact car. In this segment, it’s the car where the owner hears a strange knocking noise.
The trunk is the storage space in the back of the car. It’s where you put luggage or other items. Here, the knocking sounds like it’s coming from that back storage area.
Term
loose shock theory
Shocks help control bouncing by damping the suspension’s movement. If a shock or its mounting is loose, it can make knocking or banging sounds when the suspension loads up.
A sway bar helps keep the car from leaning too much when it moves around. If someone suspects the sway bar, they think a part connected to it might be loose or worn and making noise when the suspension loads up.
Coil springs are the parts that help your car ride smoothly and keep it from bouncing. If a coil spring is broken, the suspension can move in a weird way and make loud bangs or clunks.
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The last time Antonio Mays Sr. heard from his son, it was in a note, the 16-year-old left in the
family's garage. Antonio Jr. left home to join a protest in Seattle. A week later, he was shot
and killed there. Listen to We Keep Us Safe on the Embedded Podcast from NPR.
You ready for this? From the sociology department here at Car Talk Plaza.
You could call it that. We have a new batch here of You Might Be a Redneck If. I know we've done
this before, but from what I can see, these are all new. And it looks like it's Jeff Foxworthy's
stuff. But in any event, you might be a redneck if. Go ahead, just give me your best shot.
You ever cut your grass and found a car?
Your stereo speakers used to belong to the Moonlight Drive-In Theater.
Your mother doesn't remove the mouth from her mouth before telling the state trooper to kiss her
butt. You may be a redneck if your wife has ever said, come on, move this transmission so I can
take a bath. You may be a redneck if you refer to the time you won a free case of motor oil as
the day my ship came in. And this is as far as I'm going this week, but there are hundreds of
these. You may be a redneck if your entire family has ever sat around waiting for a call from the
governor to spare a loved one. I will continue this because there's no end. There is no end.
Oh, really? Well, if you're looking, if you're one of the two or three people in America that my
brother hasn't offended yet and you have a question about your car, you can call us. The number is
888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255, a lawyer on CAR-TALK. Hi, my name is Connie and I'm from
Rome, New York. Hi, Connie. We have a 1985 automobile cut with Sierra. And my husband and I drive
into work together in this car. Lately, I've discovered that my husband and I have very
different theories about how to warm this car up in the morning. Probably have different theories
about everything. And it's causing an argument on a daily basis at this point. He thinks that it
wears the engine out to let it warm up while idling. So his routine is to clear off the snow first,
then start the car, put on a seatbelt, which takes about five seconds, and then immediately start
driving. He believes the car will heat up faster while it's moving and therefore will have less
wear and tear ultimately. I'm more of the old-school type. I'm thinking 20 degrees,
oil, high viscosity. This is a bad thing. It's better to start your car first. Let it warm up
while you clear off the snow and then take off. So he's a big car talk fan. He has all your tapes.
He listens to you guys religiously. And he'll do whatever we say. Exactly. How about you? Will
you do whatever we say? Yes. And who drives to work him? Well, he does. Yes, he does.
And it's even to the point where he has a routine and the method that he drives. We live about a
half a mile from the highway. So he'll take off going about 30 miles an hour. Then it's downhill.
So maybe it goes up to 40. So he says, I'm not straining the engine at this point. That's good.
Then there's a stop sign, but the engine still is cold. Then he'll make a right turn onto this
highway and he'll keep it pretty much between 40 and 50 miles per hour until the car kicks
into overdrive. And then he'll go faster. I have to say that your husband is sort of doing
everything pretty good, but for the most wacky reasons I've ever heard. But it doesn't really
matter, right? I mean, if it works, it works. I'd almost go along with what he said.
Almost. Okay. Except for the first part where I'd go along with you. I think I would warm it up
before I got to the windshield. Yeah. Only because it'll make it easier to get the ice off
the windshield if it's warm. Did you buy it new? No, this is an old car that my dad actually rebuilt.
He put a new engine in there and so it's used and it's 1985. So it probably has,
we think, with the new engine in it 100,000 miles. And this is his car. We have another car
at a 1995 geoprism and that's kind of like my car. But if I'm driving it, he insists that it gets
warmed up in the same routine. Well, he's actually right except in cold weather with modern cars
which are fuel injected. Now the 85 is not fuel injected, but the 95 prism is. There's really
not much harm in letting the thing warm up except that it wastes a little bit of gasoline.
Right. But in the old days when you had a choke with a carburetor, the thing would be revving at
4,000 RPM. Yeah. You'd be wasting gasoline and doing damage to the engine because you'd be putting
in an uncontrolled amount of fuel. Modern cars don't allow that. So you can warm up your prism
not only while you clean off the window, but while you clean off the kitchen table.
So you can have breakfast and then come back in and do the dishes and let the thing warm up.
You don't need to warm it up more than about a minute. Okay. Unless it's extremely cold,
extremely cold, I would put at zero or below. Okay. Yeah. And the real truth is it doesn't
really make a big difference. Really? So because this is the comfort factor too. Because I don't
have a life of the engine. Yeah. You got to trade that off. I mean, it's nice to have an engine
that will last forever, but you're not going to last forever. So why should the car and even more
important than that is that you don't argue about it. Yeah. Well, I can tell you and your husband
don't argue about this. No, they don't. But they do have words and they do have a disagreement.
And I've decided, for example, never when I get in the car with my wife, I don't drive anymore.
Really? I refuse to drive. She has to drive because I don't want to take the heat, so to speak.
Yeah. In fact, when you get in the car, nobody wants you to drive.
See you, Connie, but don't be afraid to warm it up for a minute or so and even a little longer
if it's very cold. Yeah. I think your husband's position is a little extreme. Okay. And if he
warmed it up for a minute or two, it wouldn't do any harm and it would be a little compromise with
the comfort of the passenger. Okay. Sounds good. See ya. Great. Okay. Thanks. Bye-bye.
1-888-CARTALK, that's 888-227-8255, a lawyer on Car Talk. Hey, Tom and Ray, how's it going?
Slow it down. Who's this? This is Brandon from Arcada, California. Hi, Brandon. Hi. Arcada.
Where's that? Up north somewhere. Way up north. Yeah, 90 miles south of the Oregon
border, right on the coast. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So what's going on? I have a 1973 VW Carman Gear.
Life is good in Arcada. I've been thinking about Carman Gears lately. I was wondering,
you know, Volkswagen has come out with a new Beetle. Uh-huh. They're soon to come out with a
new micro bus. Yep. And I says to myself, I says, what about the gear? Yeah. What about that? I
mind. Maybe they read your knowledge. No, that's definite. That's a definite. Yeah. I think so.
Oh, sure. Because that was a very popular little car. Yeah. They must be working on it. Well,
thanks for calling, Brandon. If there's anything we could ever do for you, call again.
So you got a 1973 Carman Gear. What about it? Yeah, it's got a real wild problem. It sputters
on acceleration. You know, if you're a stop sign and you want to go, it kind of sputters and stalls.
You know, it'll run fine once you get up to speed in a backfire at low RPM.
And I just recently found out I had some friends drive behind me from Eureka, which is like 13 miles
south. It says little flames are shooting out your tailpipe. No, black smoke. Huge flames are
shooting out the tailpipe. Yeah. And they also said that sparks are falling out of the tailpipe.
You mean there's a fire in the back? That's not why they call it a backfire. Backfire.
Yeah, they said it looked like a little tiny like blowtorch flame shooting out of the tailpipe.
Yeah, it's backfiring. Yeah, because the end, because it's missing. What's missing is the ignition
is missing in all likelihood. In other words, you're not getting a spark in every cylinder
every time. So certain times the piston comes up and compresses the mixture of gas and air.
And when there's no spark or insufficient spark to ignite that mixture, it gets pushed out as a
combustible charge into the exhaust system where it meets with all the other hot gases that work
just combusted. And guess what? It's hot enough to burn, except now the flame is in your muffler
and it comes out your tailpipes. Wow. Is that dangerous? Like is it gonna catch on fire?
No, whatever happens is gonna be behind you. What do you care? Yeah, you'll see it in your
rearview mirror. Yeah, it's dangerous. In fact, we had a call some years ago from a guy whose
pickup truck was doing a similar thing and he set the side of the road on fire, you know, that
tall grass. Wow. Yeah, you could be responsible for one of those many brush fires that California
has played with every summer. Yeah. Yeah. Mystery surrounds. You'd be on the news, man. Your picture
would be on a milk carton. Oh, no. Find this man for us. I mean, there could be all kinds of causes
for this. But the most likely is that your points are burned up. The points are burned up? I think
this thing has points of condenser 73. Oh, sure. Must. It must. Yeah, I went in to replace the points
and I replaced the plugs. But not the condenser. Not the condenser. Replace the condenser. You've
got to replace the condenser. Okay. It's a pain in the butt, but you've got to replace it. Okay.
This is the one I think where you have to push that little piece of plastic into the hole in the
bottom of the distributor. Yep. You've got to take the distributor out to do it. And then it
breaks or falls down inside. Oh, boy. Yeah. And then it shorts out. That's why nobody ever does
the car. The car will never run again. Oh, no. But that will probably fix it. All right. Say
a brand. Good luck. Thanks for talking to me. We're letting you know when they make the 2002
Carmen Gia. Oh, yeah. Actually, I looked on the Carmen website, the coach builder that built the
body. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. They've designed a new Carmen Gia, but they just don't think they can find
anyone to make it to actually produce it. And Volkswagen isn't interested. I don't know it.
Well, hey, it could come out to be the Fiat Carmen Gia. Yeah. Oh, God. How about the Hugo
Carmen Gia? Oh, boy. Anything could happen. Yeah. Hey, thanks for calling, Brendan. Thanks, guys.
See you later. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Hey, we've got more calls in the puzzler insert coming up right after
this. Of all the protests in the summer of 2020, for a moment there, it was utopia. One took a unique
turn. Somebody over there. He's ain't seen all these again. This is the story of how violence
came to occupy an anti-violence occupation in Seattle. Listen to We Keep Us Safe, a new
year after Congress eliminated federal funding for public media. NPR remains committed to informing
the public, but a free press doesn't just happen. It's something we must protect. Without federal
funding, we're relying on your support now. Please make your gift today at donate.npr.org.
On the latest NPR Politics podcast, we separate fact from fiction in President Trump's primetime
address on election security. Two things can be true at the same time. We have ignored
vulnerabilities in our voting systems for a long time, and there is no evidence the election was
rigged in 2020. The truth and the politics behind President Trump's claims about voter fraud
on the latest episode of the NPR Politics podcast. Hi, it's Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air. Hey,
take a break from the 24-hour news cycle with us and listen to long-form interviews with your
favorite authors, actors, filmmakers, comedians, and musicians, the people making the art that
nourishes us and speaks to our times. So listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and W-H-Y-Y.
Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers,
and we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and of course, the answer to last week's puzzler.
And this was an automotive puzzler, I guess. Not only do I remember the puzzler,
I even know the answer. Well, no one likes to follow a city bus. They're ugly, they're noisy,
they're smelly, they're big, they're slow. And I was like, I'll call correctly. I said,
I just described my brother. And anyway, in our fair city, they don't even have the decency to
pull over to pick up and discharge passengers. They just stop in the middle of the street,
but I discovered something interesting lately, and I don't know why I didn't discover this before.
About half the time I drive to work in the early morning, I repeat, early morning,
some of us go to work in the early morning. I berik. don't mind following the bus.
In fact, I look forward to it. The question is why? Get a nice whiff of diesel fuel.
Wakes you right up. It's like, is that it? There's caffeine in diesel fuel?
And I gave this hint, if it's snowing, I usually don't want to follow the bus. I didn't want to
mislead anyone thinking that the bus would be blazing the trail for me. Yeah, all right. You
know, and I'm following the line. So I wanted to, I wanted to put that to rest. So if it's snowing,
you don't want to follow the bus. I don't want to follow the bus. And the reason I don't want to
follow the bus is when it's snowing, the sun isn't out. Now, everyone knows that the sun rises in
the east and sets in the west. Get out. But it doesn't. It only does that a couple of times a
year. In the winter, in fact, in the dead of winter, the first day of winter, it rises
the farthest southeast that it ever rises and it sets the farthest southwest. That is, if you
live in the northern hemisphere. And when I drive to work, one leg of my long, long journey to work
is facing the rising sun southeast. And because I leave so early in the morning. It's right on
the horizon and nothing except a big fat bus will allow me to see well enough. So he gets blinded.
If you let him run the pedestrian. I mean, all you can see, of course, is the back of the bus,
which is good enough. It's better than anything else. Better than having a bright light shining
in your eyes, which is what usually happens when the police pick you up. So who's our winner? Oh,
the winner is Doug Jamel, a Gemel from Everett, Washington. And for having his answer picked
at random from among those thousands of correct answers that we got this week,
Doug is going to get a $25 gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division,
which is at the car talk section of cars.com. And with that $25 gift certificate, what's going to
happen? Well, if he throws it a few extra bucks, he might be able to get something good. He might
be able to get a haircut in a horse town and other great car talk puzzlers. Volume one.
Well, Mr. Doug Gemel from Everett, Washington, that's it. You can get anything you want. Go to
the car talk section of cars.com, go to the company store or whatever it's called the Shameless
Commerce Division and pick out anything that's 25 bucks. Yeah. And talking about puzzles, there'll
be another puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show. And I hope it's as good as all the
fine puzzlers in that volume one of our puzzler book. I got a hint. hint
that the puzzler may be another one in the Magic Hat series. Is that? Maybe. I'm not sure yet. I'm
working on it. But if you want to call us the number is 888-227-8255, which just happens to be.
You ready for this? Yeah. What are the chances? 1-888-CAR-TALK. Get out of here. Although you're
on car talk. Hello, this is Sarah from Ithaca, New York. Sarah with an H? Yes, with an H. Ithaca.
And I have a 91 Isuzu impulse. Was it an impulse purchase? Actually, no. My dad purchased it a
while ago and then I inherited it eventually. I'm a graduate student now. I don't even know what
an impulse is, I don't think. It's a car. I've had trouble finding parts for it before because
it's like a two-seater thing, right? Yes, it's a two-seater, two-door. Two doors, two seats,
two steering wheels, two wheels, everything. Got it. Okay, all right. You got the picture.
And your father gave it to you because you're a graduate student studying art history at Ithaca
State University. Nice try. I'm actually studying dirt, studying soil science. Dirt? No, dirt's
the importance of dirt. Very important. You can get a job working for Tide. So briefly stated,
my main problem with my car, and it's an old car, there are lots of little problems,
but the prohibitively annoying problem is that whenever the temperature drops below freezing,
I can't get in it. And what happens is the door's free set. Right, not the locks, but the doors.
That's a lock, but the doors themselves. And see, the weather in Ithaca rains and ices and
snows all the time. So then the biggest problem is definitely when it rains first and then it
gets colder and then it freezes. So then what I have to do is I have to climb in through the trunk
and it's a little hatchback. It's not very dignified. Not very dignified, but then the bigger
problem is that in order to drive anywhere after I've climbed in through the trunk, I either have
to shut the trunk from the inside. It doesn't work very well. Or leave it open. Or force one of the
doors open. Which you can do from inside by putting your foot up against it. But then I can't
close the door. So I'll get out and I'll walk and I'll go and set the trunk and I'll get back
in to drive away. And the latch won't even work anymore. So I have to hold it so if my arm will
I drive. Also at that point, the latch won't work after you have forced it open. Right after I
force it open, the latch won't work. Oh, you need a bungee cord that goes from one door to the other.
I was thinking about that. And it will also double as a seat belt.
You might have two problems because I think when that happens that the door itself is shut and the
block isn't stuck. It sometimes is because the little rubber seal around the door. The
weather stripping that goes all around the perimeter of the door. That gets, especially if it has been
wet and moist and rainy and then it gets cold and that thing freezes and that's what's holding the
door shut. And that's sometimes spraying it with like silicone spray. Right. We'll fix that. But
that wouldn't account for the latch not latching after you force the door open. Right. So I think
you got two problems. No, I think you have 11 I think just the latch is frozen. What's
wrong is that water is getting in there. I mean, water naturally gets in between the
window and the weather stripping on the door and that you can't avoid that. But what's happening
is that moisture is getting in there and freezing on the latch mechanism. And so what you need is
some kind of an inhibitor. So I think what you need to do is... I thought of a duct tape around
that window. No, I don't think that's gonna help. I don't think that'll be a good fix. It might help,
but then you can't open the window. Right. But I... When it's all frozen, I can't open the window
anyway. And they're power windows and... And they're frozen too. Well, this castle's like a real joy.
How is it in the summer? It's great in the summer. All right. Well, good. Yeah. Well, she needs...
That summer is so long there, Nithika. Maybe 23 weeks. Have you considered the graduate
program at the University of Arizona? Right. Well, here's what you need to do. You could
leave the windows open in the winter. You'd have the option of crawling in the window.
But I think... I'll leave just one window open. You need to have your mechanic take apart the door
and grease up with... Usually they use like a white lithium grease on all of the relay rods
and all of the latch mechanism. And what that'll do is it'll prevent the water from getting in there
and freezing the thing up. Yeah. The water will get in, but it won't get onto the parts
that have to move. It won't adhere to the metal parts and freeze on there,
because those metal parts will be covered with grease. Yeah. And the silicone spray idea I gave
you, bogus. That's not going to help. Okay. I won't do that. And I won't use duct tape. And I'll
forget the bungee cord for now. Yeah. And I would try one door and see if that works.
See if that works. Before I do the other. There you go. Okay. See ya, Sarah. Thanks. All right.
888 Car Talk. That's 888-2278-255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.
Hi, guys. This is Scott from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Hey, Scott. Yeah. What's happening? Well, I have a truly bizarre problem. You've probably never
heard of this. I have a 95 Ford Explorer. It has about 80,000 miles. And it sings.
Sings. It makes a really loud musical tone under the hood. Under the hood. Yeah. And it sounds
actually just like a French horn, I swear. It goes,
And the thing is, it only does it when it's at idle. I'm going to ask you one very profound
penetrating question. What am I sick? No, no. Does it have to do with the color?
No, it does not have to do with the color. That was my next question. That was your backup question.
Does it run perfectly smoothly at idle? Now, think before you answer.
Think of the consequences. And really think about how it ran before it made this noise
compared to how it runs now. No, it runs smooth. Son of a... The only other clue I can give you is
that it doesn't do it right when I started up. Well, the only reason I mentioned this is we had
back in 1959. We had a 59 Ford Explorer. No, we had an Explorer in the shop a few months ago that
was making... I mean, I don't know what your French horn sounds like, but I know what mine
sounds like. And we had one that was making what I could have believed was a French horn sound.
And it turned out to be a vacuum leak. You know, remember the old days when you were a kid,
you took a piece of tissue paper and a comb and you blew across that thing and you got that tissue
paper to vibrate against the comb? Those are the days when we used to carry combs. I don't carry
a comb anymore because... But you could get that noise by blowing through that tissue paper.
And if that's the kind of noise you're getting, then it could be that the... With a vacuum leak is
if it's a hose where the air is being sucked in, the crack in the hose is vibrating like that tissue
paper would. And we found that just by using a piece of hose ourselves, one end stuck in our ear
and the other end moving around until you found the source of it. And then we said,
as soon as you put your finger on it, boom, the noise stops. I mean, you might be able to do it
just by sticking your ear in there and listening. So is this something that could really cause a
problem? No. Eventually the leak will get worse and then it'll start running badly. Or it could
be something completely unrelated to this. But this is so good. What do I do if they really
is a French horn player under there? Call us immediately. See you, Scott. Thanks, guys. Bye-bye.
Bye. What a rotten gig that would be. Okay, I got a job for you. You're going to play in the
5-4 Explorer. I'll take it because this is bad. We'll be right back with more calls
after these messages.
Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
We're back. You're listening to car talk with us. Click and clack the tappet brothers.
And we here to discuss cars. We are car repair. We are. And the new puzzler. This is the high
point of the show for most people, including me. Yeah, that's pretty bad. Well, I told me I discussed
the puzzler just last night. Yes. As a matter of fact, but I decided to put that off another week.
It needs a little refining. Obfuscation? Yeah, yeah. I got an email. When was this? December
88. This came from someone named Kevin Tolman. He was a high school student at the time and
now he's now incarcerated. He's in the witness protection programs. We don't know what his name
is and we don't know where he's from because he's from the internet. He does say, however,
that he got this puzzle from a guy in India. Oh, I love it already. Yes. Are there ropes involved?
Better. Mungooses? Better. Oh, man. I made paraphrase on obfuscate as necessary. Is there a monkey?
That could be a monkey.
Go ahead. Seems there was a mango tree owned by a certain Maharaja that had very sweet fruit and
very abundant fruit and everyone would come from miles around to pick it. So he decided to protect
the tree. The owner erected a series of seven fences around the tree, concentric fences.
Like each fence had a gate with a guard. To get to the tree, a person would have to pass through
seven gates and pass seven guards, practically impossible to do. I'd say so. One day,
a man approaches the guard at the first gate and says the following, if you let me pass through,
when I come back, I'll bring some mango and I will give you half of the mangoes I have,
but you must give me one back. For example, if he brings back 10 mangoes, he'll give five to the
guard and the guard will give one back. So the guard will have four and the man will have six.
The guard lets the man in through the gate and the man proceeds to make the same deal
with the other six guards. Man, I've got it. The question is how many mangoes did the man have
to get to pass back through the seven gates, giving half to each guard and the guard giving
one back? Answer is no mango tree could produce that many mangoes. This is a very prolific tree.
And of course, I mean, it's obvious, but you can't cut any of the mangoes in half. Now,
if you think you know the answer, write it on a postcard or tape it to the back or front of a 50
inch Pioneer Plasma TV with five cinema modes and adjustable color temperature and mail it to
actually ship it in a big box. You know, Mark Fragile to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza,
Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our first city. Ma 02238. 50 inch, huh? Plasma. You know,
that's almost four feet. It is almost four feet. It's a little over. Also, you can email your
answer from the Car Talk section of cars.com. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-888-CARTALK,
that's 888-227-8255. Even if you wouldn't like to call us, that's number remains. The number
sits there and doesn't care whether anyone calls it or not. Call or not. We don't care. Hello,
A-A-Y? No, J-A-N-E. Oh, Jane. Yeah, like in Tarzan. And did you say Phoenix? Chandler,
right near Phoenix. Chandler, Arizona. Third largest growing city in the United States.
Yeah. Up to 12 people? No. 15. Every time you had a person, it's the fastest growing city.
Yeah, right. At least we're warm. Well, we're actually broadcasting from South Beach and it's 82
here. Oh, give me a break. Yeah, South Beach, right. What's up, Jane? Well, I have a crazy 93
Civic, Honda Civic. Yeah. Okay, by three weeks ago, I was taking a trip up north to Sedona
in the mountains. And just as I started up the first mountain, I hear this knock, knock. I thought
I was going up. You said, who's there? Yeah, that's what I was thinking when I was packing my car.
I had left my trunk open for a while and I thought, oh my gosh, someone's crawled in there.
So it's this loud, loud knocking noise and it kept it up louder and louder. I couldn't pull off on
the interstate. So I kept it up and I'm thinking somebody's in there and he's trying to get out.
But it's in the back, you hear it. Yes, in the back. It's a metal sounding and it sounds like it's
coming like from the trunk. Anyway, it finally stopped after I got down the last mountain into
Sedona. I come back as soon as I get in the mountain again, it starts up again. Did you have to
be climbing the mountain? That's the question. Upward down. Oh, what a rotten answer. Jane,
that is the worst. We're going to give you another moment to reconsider. When I'm going north,
I'm going north. Wait, is that your final answer, Jane? Yeah. Oh, shucks. Okay, so this keeps up.
Now it's doing it down here in the valley, but it just does it a couple of times and stopped.
I took it to one mechanic. He said, oh, it's your exhaust and your tailpipe system. That didn't help
a bit. Did he change the system? No, no, he said he tightened it, but it doesn't sound like it's
coming from out. It sounds like it's inside. I mean, does it sound like somebody has dropped
a bowling ball in the trunk? No, it sounds like you have a hammer and they're beating on the side.
And there wasn't anybody in there.
And when it happens, it's not rhythmic in any way. It's just a one-time boom. Or it might be two
or three in a row. Boom, boom. That's right. That's right. It's not rhythmic. And does it happen when
you hit bumps? Well, no, going up and down the mountain. There were no bumps. No bumps. And does
it happen more often when as you're accelerating or braking? No, I wasn't braking. No, not when
I'm braking. Would you get what the program here and give us an answer that we can work with?
Work with me, Jane. Work with me here.
You've been obstinate, defiant, and completely uncooperative.
Okay. How about the loose shock theory? I like that, don't you? No. Come on. Work with me.
It was a shock already.
Well, the fact that it happens with seeming unpredictability. How about the sway bar theory?
Well, it could be. Could we install? Could we get one installed?
It certainly could be a suspension problem. I think of all the possible suspension problems,
I think a broken coil spring. I like that. I could certainly live with that. Why would
happen going up or down hills? I don't know, but certainly things do change when you go up
and or down hills. How about when you're going level? Well, I think what happened is more of the
thing broke even more. And it's difficult to spot. And I wouldn't be surprised if the fellow who
had it on the lift and corrected your exhaust problem didn't even see this because the way
they break is at the very bottom on the last turn of the coil. Okay. That's my feeling. Either
that or there's a missing softball in the in the trunk or watermelon. You wouldn't bring any
watermelons up there. But yeah, I can just see me going in there and seems like when they go roll
in their eyes, like, oh, here comes a dumb woman again. Well, you might want to try it. Maybe
it's not that you're dumb. Maybe you're just wacko. You've got you figured out. I mean,
I get the same thing every place I go. Yeah. Well, enjoy the wonderful weather and get this
looked at because a broken spring is no laughing matter, even though we're laughing at it. Okay.
Good luck. See you, Jane. Okay, thanks for calling. Bye. Well, it's happened again,
you've wasted another perfectly good hour listening to car talk. Our esteemed producer
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Square as Huey Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking, clack,
to tap at brothers. Don't drive like my brother. Don't drive like my brother.
Don't drive like my brother. Don't drive like my brother. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye.
Car Talk is a production of Dewey, Chidam and Howe and WB UR in Boston.
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About this episode
A winter-warmup debate kicks things off, with the hosts and a caller weighing idling versus driving and how older carbureted engines behave differently than modern fuel-injected cars. Classic Volkswagen talk follows, including a 1973 Karmann Ghia–type car that sputters and backfires—likely from missing ignition spark due to burned points and a bad condenser. Cold-weather door-latch and idle “singing” problems get practical fixes, plus a vacuum-leak diagnosis method and a mango-fence logic puzzle.
Jane says that there’s somebody on the outside of her Honda banging it with a hammer or, at least that’s what it sounds like when she’s driving around. Click and Clack ask a bunch of inciteful, probing questions designed to elicit meaningful details… but Jane keeps saying, ‘Nope’. Find out if the boys can get any of the other callers to play nice on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.
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