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Car
Nissan Pathfinder
The Nissan Pathfinder is an SUV, meaning it’s a larger vehicle meant for carrying people and gear. A 1989 Pathfinder is an older model, so it may need more maintenance than newer cars. People talk about them because they’re built to handle everyday driving and some rougher roads, but they can be tricky when they get old.
Term
engine warms up
When the engine is cold, oil doesn’t flow as easily as it does when everything is warmed up. That can make certain noises show up for the first few minutes after starting.
Term
oil starvation
Oil starvation is when the engine doesn’t have enough oil flowing where it needs to go. That can cause noisy sounds because parts aren’t getting proper lubrication, and it can happen more when the engine is cold or if the oil system is clogged.
Part
oil pump
The oil pump is what pushes oil through the engine to keep parts lubricated. If it’s weak, the engine may not get enough oil pressure, and you can hear unusual noises.
Part
oil screen
The oil screen is like a protective filter inside the engine’s oil system. If it gets clogged, less oil can get through, and the engine may not be lubricated properly.
Term
oil pan
The oil pan is where engine oil sits at the bottom of the engine. The oil has to be picked up from there and sent through the engine—if that pickup can’t keep up, the engine may not get enough lubrication.
Term
pickup screen
The pickup screen is like a small filter on the oil intake. If it gets clogged, oil can’t flow properly, and the engine may start making noise because parts aren’t getting enough oil.
Term
valves making noise
When the valves make noise, it usually means the engine isn’t lubricating that part well. In this story, they think the oil isn’t getting to the valves properly at speed.
Term
oil change
An oil change means replacing the old engine oil (and usually the filter) with fresh oil. The goal is to keep the engine properly lubricated so parts don’t run dry or get noisy.
Term
crankcase
The crankcase is the bottom part of the engine where oil collects. If oil doesn’t drain back there correctly, the engine can end up running with less oil than it needs.
Car
Colt Vista
They’re talking about a specific car called the Colt Vista. Their point is that if you don’t change the oil for a long time, dirty sludge can clog the oil system and cause problems.
Car
91 Accord
This is a 1991 Honda Accord. The big maintenance item mentioned is the timing belt, which is a belt that keeps the engine’s timing correct. Replacing it is more involved than most normal services.
Term
timing belt
The timing belt is a belt inside the engine that keeps the engine’s moving parts working in the correct order. If it fails, the engine can be damaged, so mechanics replace it at the recommended mileage.
Term
labor rate
Labor rate is the hourly charge a shop applies to technician time. Even when parts prices are similar, differences in labor rate can change the total cost of a job like a timing belt replacement.
Term
water pump
The water pump moves coolant through the engine so it doesn’t overheat. Mechanics sometimes replace it during a timing belt job because it’s easier to do while the engine is already partly taken apart.
Term
counterbalance shaft belt
Some engines have extra parts to reduce shaking. This “counterbalance shaft belt” is the belt that helps run that vibration-reducing system, so it may need replacement along with the main timing belt.
Term
cooling systems
The cooling system is how the car keeps the engine from overheating. A flush is when the old coolant is cleaned out and replaced so the system works properly.
Car
1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra
This is a specific older car: a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra. It’s the kind of mid-size American car from the late 1980s, so it’s useful to know because parts and repairs are usually straightforward compared with newer cars.
Term
starter engage
When you turn the key, the starter motor has to “grab” the engine so it can spin it. If it grabs and then lets go almost immediately, the engine won’t start right away.
Term
starter kicks out too early
The starter is supposed to stay connected long enough to spin the engine. If it disconnects too early, the engine doesn’t get spun up and won’t start.
Term
starter drive
Your starter has a small “engaging” mechanism that grabs the engine so it can crank. If that piece fails, the starter may not actually turn the engine reliably.
Term
Bendix drive
The Bendix drive is an older name for the starter’s “gear-engaging” mechanism. It’s what helps the starter gear connect to the engine so the engine can turn over.
Person
William Bendix
William Bendix is the person the “Bendix drive” name comes from. The hosts are basically saying the name stuck, even if most people don’t know who he was.
Term
factory reconditioned starter
A factory reconditioned starter is a starter motor that’s been rebuilt and tested by a professional remanufacturer or the original manufacturer’s reconditioning process. It’s typically sold as a replacement to reduce the chance of repeat failure compared with a poorly rebuilt unit.
Concept
abandoned at the airport
They’re talking about a car that was left sitting at an airport for a long time. When nobody is paying attention to it or making payments, it can end up being handled like an unpaid asset and sold off.
Concept
purchases the Lexus
He didn’t buy it from the person who originally left it—he bought it through the bank. That usually happens when a financed car isn’t being paid for, so the bank ends up selling it.
Term
dragon tracks
“Dragon tracks” sounds like a funny name for ugly streaks or lines on a car’s exterior. It’s usually the kind of cosmetic problem that a car detailer might be able to remove or reduce.
Car
1966 Volkswagen camper van
This is a vintage Volkswagen van from 1966 that people often convert or buy for camping. It’s known for being a classic “road trip” vehicle, and it has a simple, old-school design.
LIVE
The last time Antonio May's senior heard from his son, it was in a note, the 16-year-old left in the family's garage.
He told me he was gonna make me proud.
Antonio Jr. left home to join a protest in Seattle. A week later, he was shot and killed there.
I need some arrest made, justice for my son.
Listen to We Keep Us Safe on the Embedded Podcast from NPR.
Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio. With us, click and clack the
Tap It Brothers and we're broadcasting this week from the Department of Higher Education here at
Car Talk Plaza.
Well, specifically higher education and one of the great institutes of technology. Which one is that?
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You know how you have to fill out a course
evaluation thing they ask you for? They never asked me my opinion.
They never, you know, they never asked me either. This must be a new thing.
No, because no, I don't think it's new. No, I think they, they didn't want to know.
Some from whom they wanted no opinion. They didn't want my opinion.
Well, they asked the opinion of some people now and here are some of the choice comments
that people made about classes at MIT specifically. And you may recognize this from
whatever school you go to. Here's one. Have you ever fallen asleep in class and awoke in another
class? That's the way I felt all term. I'll just give you a few of these here. Here's one.
I would sit in class and stare out the window at the squirrels.
They got a cool nest in that tree out there.
The TA, the teaching assistant. The TA improved steadily throughout the course.
I think he started drinking and it really loosened them up.
The quality of the text. I think the text was written on very high quality paper.
And my favorite, this course was very thorough. What wasn't covered in class was covered on the
final exam. And now that's a classic. Well, you know, I do remember taking a few final exams
where I actually had to get out of my seat and check to see if you're in a room number.
Exactly. I mean, well, I was at a disadvantage for most of them. I didn't recognize anyone in the
final exam because I seldom went to class. That's right. You count on one hand how many final exams
you went to and said, that was pretty easy. On one hand? On one finger? That was true of
all the math courses, but none other. And some of the courses which you thought were going to be
easy. Oh, you wondered if you were in the right room. Brutal. Like music.
Well, you know what? I took one semester of French and I got a D and I never made a mistake on any
exam that didn't have to do with the placement of the non placement of an accent mark. Yeah. I never
got anything wrong. Every grammatical thing, 100% right. Because French is one of those languages
where if you, you would ask it, you changed the meaning from like
heaven to goat. You know, I suppose it, I suppose it was important, but I remember saying to
Professor Bautilia, but you need to tell me that I'm practically flunking this course only on the
basis of accent marks because don't forget, I said, if I was speaking to someone rather than
writing it down, you wouldn't know if I were putting the accent marks in the wrong place.
He said, you're a moron. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you've been able to put that behind you.
What was that like 45 years ago? If you'd like to send us a nasty evaluation,
get in line. But if you have a question about your car, we'll happily take your call. The number
is 888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255, although you're on car talk. Hi, this is Jamie from Alpine,
California. Jamie, where's Alpine? Alpine is in San Diego, East County. I'm about 40 miles east
of San Diego up in the hills here. Up in the hills? Well, that's an appropriate name for some place
up in the hills. Alpine? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what's going on, Jamie? I got myself a 1989 Nissan
Pathfinder. Let me give you a little backup on this. This thing has got about 224,000 miles on it.
When I drive this thing for a couple of hours on the freeway, I've been driving it like
70 miles an hour, or maybe a little above. Not that I would do that because that's illegal
and all of that. Right. But if I've been driving it like that for a while and I start to get off
the freeway and I'm sitting there at the exit ramp, I hear this really weird sound coming
underneath the hood. It's kind of this clacking sort of a sound, right? Okay. But after a while,
after I've been driving on surface street, it stops. Now, I also get this sound sometimes in
the morning when I first started up for like the first five minutes until the engine warms up.
Got it. You like that idea, huh? You're going to stick with that?
You know what I'm sticking with? I think I know what you're saying.
My brother's going to write down on a slip of paper what he thinks his idea is.
Well, I don't like it. See if he agrees with mine. Well, let's see what your idea is.
Okay. What's your say? I'm not telling. What's your say?
You didn't write yours down. How am I going to know if you're telling the truth?
Right there. What does it say? It says pick up a loaf of bread on the way home. It says starvation.
Oil starvation. Yes. Oil starvation. What did you write down? Well, I didn't like this.
I like oil starvation. He wrote down dome light. It's your dome light. I wrote down sticky valve.
Well, you were close. I don't like sticky valve.
No, you like oil starvation, huh? I don't like oil starvation.
Here's what I think is happening. Go ahead.
It's just a wild guess and I could be wrong.
Well, let's wait. Let's say that again. It's just a wild guess and I'm probably wrong.
Okay. Go ahead, man. Oil starvation.
Yeah. I mean, the reason it happens is that you have either a weak oil pump or a
plugged up oil screen. Considering it has 224,000 miles,
either one is a very good possibility. Oh, and I pretty much refuse to service this vehicle.
Yeah, we know that. And that includes changing the oil.
And it could also be that the oil ain't getting back.
Well, it could be that. So here's what happens, I think. You drive the thing along and you're
sucking oil out of the pan, which in a sufficient amount when you're going at low speed. But when
you take the thing up to 70 miles an hour, you can't suck oil out of the pan fast enough
because the screen is plugged up or the pump is weak. And you don't actually hear the noise until
you slow down because of all the other noises that this Jalop is making. When you finally slow
down to like warp one, you begin to hear the valves making noise because not enough oil is
getting to them and they're getting filled with air. Now, the remedy for this, you want a remedy?
Sure. Change the oil. Simple. Yeah. You haven't done that yet, have you?
Not for a year or so. See? See, that's good. Yeah. I think you need an oil change.
A couple of them. Maybe a couple of them. Yeah, do one Saturday and then do one Sunday.
I love this idea. It's cheap. Yeah. And don't forget the disclaimer. It's just a wild guess.
Yeah. And I'm probably wrong. So if the car blows up, I can call you again.
Exactly. Exactly. You could be on stump to chumps. Say it, Jamie.
Thanks, guys. All right. Bye-bye.
That's good. I like that. That was good. Yeah. I mean, your thought that maybe the oil isn't
draining back into the crankcase is another possibility. And if you haven't changed the
oil for a long time, although this has not happened on the Colt Vista, if you haven't changed the
oil for a long time, ugly stuff happens and plugs up all the way down. Oh, ugly stuff's
happening to the Vista, all right. Not to mention the fenders which are falling on it,
but that's another story altogether. 1-888-CAR-TALK or 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.
Hi, this is Jennifer. Hi, Jennifer. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you?
Actually, I've had a little lower back pain. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Get a new cushion for
your car seat. Yeah. Car? Is it way down in the back with my ankles?
Well, I was thinking of another part of the anatomy because you are. You are a lower back pain,
man. Is I a lower back pain already? No, Tommy is. No, no, you're all right so far, Jennifer.
Where are you from, Jennifer? I'm calling you from Lexington, Kentucky.
Alrighty. That's good. But you don't sound like a Kentuckian.
Well, I was born on the other side of the river in Ohio. Okay. Ohioan.
That's right. Alright, so what can we do for you today?
I have a 91 Accord and it's just about due for its 90,000 miles checkup.
Oh, which includes a timing belt on this car.
And which costs about $100 more here in Lexington than it does in my parents' hometown,
which is a smaller place back up in Ohio. Really? What's the difference in price?
I think it's 170 versus 270. And the difference is 100 bucks.
Well, so here's the question. I'm planning to go to Florida in a couple weeks.
Oh, fly.
There we go. You solved all my problems. Thank you.
That difference is too much because even if the labor rate were off by a lot,
the parts would be pretty much the same price. Well, I don't think...
A small portion of all of this anyway.
I don't think either one of these shops is planning to change your water pump.
And I believe this car has two belts.
Okay.
This has a timing belt and a counterbalance shaft belt. And both should be changed.
And I don't think anyone's going to do the timing belt and the water pump and flush the cooling
system and all that for 170 bucks. How long is it going to take them to do the work?
They want it for an entire like four or five hour afternoon.
Just an after, because I was figuring that they're shipping it to Mexico.
Where the labor rate is six bucks an hour.
Yeah. They must have a C5A waiting in the parking lot.
They fill up the whole thing.
The labor rate might also be six bucks an hour.
That's a great idea, you know?
Well, now there are two acute problems that I'm really worried about.
Yeah. Well, you can't drive to Florida before you do this, if that's one question.
The answer is no. You can't do that.
Well, what do I do about the fact that it's getting really bad gas mileage to the extent
that I wonder if I'm actually losing gas?
Well, that's that's a separate problem.
Yeah. That's a separate problem.
Yeah. Yeah.
They'll address that when you have it in.
I mean, I'm going to, first of all, you have to ascertain that
both people are giving you the same work for the money.
Well, I'm telling them, you know, it's the the checkup that's in the book.
Oh, oh, wait a minute.
Wait, oh, whoa, whoa, let's go back a step.
This is the 90,000 mile.
I always use the Freudian slip of the $90,000 checkup.
This is the 90, this 170 does not include doing anything.
This is just for the checkup.
The 270, the other guys are going to charge you is also to just look.
If you consider going to like Mexico.
Well, how about readjusting your planes instead of going to Florida?
How about Tennessee?
Tennessee's closer and you'll have enough money left to go to Tennessee.
Yeah, but the conference is in Florida and my professor is in Florida this semester.
Well, you have to bite the bullet, but you're going to spend many hundreds,
especially if you need breaks too.
Got it. Okay.
But nonetheless, I mean, it does seem as though going to Ohio is going to be worth it.
Well, there's no way that I can go to Ohio before going to Florida.
Oh man, then you can't drive there.
Or you chance it.
Yeah. And have it done somewhere like in Arkansas.
That'd be a slight detour.
A little detour going west.
You could chance it, but I wouldn't because if it breaks,
it's curtains for this engine.
You know that?
Okay.
I don't want you to break down halfway there.
Thank you.
That would be not nice.
Bye bye.
I appreciate your concern.
See you.
Thanks guys.
Okay.
I know you don't remember last week's puzzler,
but I'm going to give you two hints that I know are going to jog your memory.
All right, go ahead.
The richest man in the world, Bill Gates.
Right. Gates.
Okay. Good.
Here's the second hint.
The number of days last week that you decided to stay home and drink cappuccino
rather than go to the office.
Seven days.
There you go.
The puzzle is about seven gates and a particularly alluring mango tree.
Oh, the mango tree.
And I'll have the answer shortly.
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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 the answer to Last Week's Puzzler.
But before I do that, I've got to read a quick little email
talking about answers to Last Week's Puzzlers.
Dear Click, I think that's you.
I'm writing a response to your skepticism about the engine oil
slash vacuum cleaner trick in Last Week's Puzzler.
You may recall in one of these recent puzzlers,
it was about my brother's neighbor, Frank, who used his vacuum cleaner to keep the
engine oil in while he took out the drain plug and put a new gasket on the drain plug.
To which I said, come on.
I've been a heavy equipment mechanic for 30 years, 30 years, and I've used this technique
successfully at least 100 times to change suction hoses on hydraulic tanks as large as 500 gallons.
The seal of the tank opening doesn't have to be perfect.
It's actually helpful to be able to adjust the strength of the vacuum
to a low level to keep the vacuum from ingesting oil.
My worst experience so far was when a coworker shut the noisy vacuum cleaner off
to tell me it was break time.
I ended up wearing about 20 gallons of hydraulic oil.
Well, wow, there.
Wait, who is this guy?
This guy is John Carrick from God Knows Where.
And what institution is he in?
No, no, no, no.
I have been a heavy equipment mechanic for 30 years and have used this technique successfully
at least 100 times to change suction hoses on hydraulic tanks as large as 500 gallons.
I rest my bloody case.
Well, is that the equivalent of 100 endorsements?
One guy who says he does it 100 times?
Of course.
If you had 100 letters like this from people who said they had done it once,
well, I mean, it's possible that other people will communicate with us and tell us they've
done the same thing.
You haven't had any such communication.
I haven't had any.
You're a liar.
How come this one has your email address as a sender?
Okay, this was his last week's puzzler.
This was a mathematical puzzler from Inja.
It seems there was a mango tree owned by a certain Maharaja that had a very sweet and
very abundant fruit and everyone would come from miles around to pick the fruit.
So in order to protect the tree, the owner erected a series of seven fences around the
tree, concentric, you know, circular fences.
Each fence had a gate with a guard.
So to get to the tree, a person had to pass through seven gates guarded by seven guards,
practically impossible.
One day, a man approaches the guard at the outermost gate and says,
if you let me pass through when I come back, I will give you half the mangoes I have,
but then you must give me one back.
The guard agrees and lets the man go through the gate.
The man proceeds to make the same deal with the other six guards,
eventually reaching the mango tree where a helicopter comes down and helps them steal
150,000 mangoes.
No, no, not really.
The question is, how many mangoes did the man have to collect to pass back through the seven
gates, giving half of his stash to each guard and the guard giving one back?
Of course, you can't cut me mangoes in half.
That would be cheating.
So, I mean, so the challenge here is to find the number where, when you divide it by two,
gives you an odd number because if you give the guard half of that amount and you will wind
up with an odd number, when he gives you one back, you'll have an even number.
Then you want to divide that number by two again and wind up again with an odd number.
So, when he gives you one back, you'll have an even number because we all know that odd
numbers are not divisible by two and you can't do it unless the number is two.
Yeah.
And we struggled with this.
We started with infinity.
And we started working backwards.
Yeah.
And two.
Yeah.
The question is, what if it were only six guards?
That's next week.
That's next week.
But this was quite clever.
So, who's our winner?
The winner is T.J. Hahn from Oak Park, Illinois, and for having the answer picked at random from
along the bushels of correct answers that we got this week, T.J. is going to get a $25 gift
certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division, which is at the car talk section of cars.com.
You go to cars.com, you click on car talk, and you go to the store and you get $25 gift
certificate.
You look at all the things you can buy, you find nothing that you want, and you throw the
thing away.
That's it.
Why not?
It was succinct, if nothing else.
Anyway, we'll have a new puzzler in the third half of today's show.
This is your chance to win, folks, so stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, if you have a question about your car or anything else, the number is 888
CARTALK.
That's 888-82-27-8255, lawyer on CARTALK.
Hi, this is Richard.
I'm in Durham, Maine.
We have had towns.
Durham.
I have never.
Durham, Maine, Newton, New Jersey.
We've had calls from cities that we know the names of, but they've been in the wrong state.
Right.
I mean, Durham's supposed to be in North Carolina.
Or New Hampshire.
Or New Hampshire.
Newton's supposed to be in Massachusetts.
Trenton's supposed to be in New Jersey.
New Jersey.
Yeah.
And they were all from the wrong place.
Someone's been moving the cities around.
I think they're messing with our minds.
Hey, what's your name again?
I forgot.
Richard.
His name is still Richard.
This is still Richard.
So what's up, Richard?
Okay, we have a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra.
It has about 125,000 miles on it.
We've had it about a year and a half.
Ever since we've had it, whenever you go to start it, you can hear the starter engage
and then it immediately disengages and just makes a whirring sound.
Right.
Yeah.
You know, up until recently, on the second time you do it,
the starter engages long enough to start the engine.
But now it's getting to be that you have to do it three or four or five times
and it gets a little bit disconcerting.
And you're interested in fixing it or you just want the explanation?
Well, my son is interested in fixing it because basically his car.
Oh, he might be able to just do it himself as a matter of fact.
When it does what it does, is it accompanied by any awful noises?
It just goes, whew.
You know, it starts to engage and then disengages.
It goes, urgh.
The starter kicks out too early.
Yeah.
Kicks out too early.
Right.
In fact, if you could listen to the thing when it wasn't misbehaving,
if the engine didn't actually start and make noise that overshadowed this sound,
you would hear at the end of the cycle, you would hear the same ring noise as the starter
disengaged.
Right.
And what's happening is yours is disengaging before it has a chance to turn the engine fast
enough to start it.
Right.
So it's probably not the starter.
Yeah, it is.
Probably is the starter.
It is.
It's a part of it.
It almost certainly is the starter.
It's the part of the starter called the starter drive, or in the old days,
we used to call it the Bendix drive.
The Bendix.
Yeah.
Yeah, named after William Bendix.
Yes.
Whom nobody can remember anyway.
Yeah, this is a classic, you need a starter situation.
Yeah, you could have somebody rebuild the starter.
In the old days, we used to take the starters apart and we used to put new brushes in them
and we used to put a new starter drive on and put them back together.
And when they started failing at an alarming rate, we decided to have them done at a factory.
So we buy, in most places now, by a factory reconditioned starter.
Right.
And you bolt this thing in and your problems are over.
Okay, well, that doesn't sound too bad.
I was worried that it was some kind of linkage problem or gear problem.
No, how old is your son?
He's almost 17.
This is a perfect job for him.
You should go to the parts store.
This would be a great father-son experience.
Bonding experience.
Bonding experience.
You go to the parts store and you drive the car there.
Oh, wait, wait, wait.
The kid is 17 years old.
He doesn't want to do anything with his father.
He's going to.
No, you can't even be seen with the guy.
Are you kidding?
Come on.
This may be your last chance to do anything with your son.
I think you drive to the parts store and you say,
we need to start tomorrow.
They're going to ask you what size the engine is.
You're going to go out to the car, open the hood.
There's a decal which tells you the size of the engine.
It's probably a 3.8 liter.
They're going to ask you if it's an automatic stand.
You're going to give all this information.
They're going to give you a starter in a box.
Which is going to be the wrong one.
Right.
You're going to take it home and you're going to take the old starter out
and this one's not going to fit.
Then you're going to have to get a ride back to the parts store.
So they can match it up.
But this is all part of the automobile repair experience.
Yeah.
And I think you have some tools like sockets and the like at home.
Yep.
Do you own jack stands?
No.
Chance to buy jack stands.
Oh great.
Right.
Don't forget, every repair is an opportunity to buy new tools.
Right.
And of course you don't have a jack either.
No.
And you might need a trailer.
Oh yeah.
If you ever talk about taking up fishing.
But this starter will cost you about 900.
If you take it to a gas station it'll cost you 125 bucks.
But I think this might be your one and only chance to bond with your son at age 17.
Okay.
Well good luck Richard and don't get hurt.
Okay great.
See you later.
Thank you very much.
Bye.
Bye.
1888 car talk.
I've often thought that it would be wonderful.
I mean you would think that I would have an opportunity to have my sons.
Yeah.
Learn at my knee.
At your knee.
You'd think they'd be all over you like a cheap suit.
Dad dad show me how to do a valve job.
Yeah.
Hey dad dad.
They don't even check the oil.
Neither one of them.
Can't even get them to check the oil.
Be sure to stick around for more calls and the new puzzler coming right up.
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Hi it's Teri Gross host of Fresh Air.
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Hi we're back you're listening to Car Talk with us click and clack the tappet brothers
and we're here to discuss Cars, Car Repair and the new I'd have to call it
lack of a better term mathematical puzzler I guess.
Is it one of the string series?
Magic Hat series?
Oh I had forgotten about all of those I have to revive those.
Mathematical.
Okay go ahead I like those.
Okay anyway who sent this in?
Some guy named Norm Leiden from Franktown Colorado.
Okay yeah and you're gonna participate in this puzzle even though you don't know
you there'll be a part for you when your lines come up I'll cue you.
Okay okay.
I'm impressed that this is written on a piece of paper with a pencil.
I am too that's why I chose it.
Absolutely.
Yeah no no emails for this guy.
Of course boycotting emails.
The date on it is 1974 but I'm a little behind.
Oh did they have pencils then?
Yeah okay go ahead I'm ready to participate.
Okay and here's I'll just do it the way he did it because I like it.
Three different numbers are chosen at random and written on each of three slips of paper.
The slips are then placed face down on the table.
You got it?
The objective is to choose the slip upon which is written the largest number.
Here are the rules you can turn over any slip of paper
and you can look at the amount written on it.
If for any reason you think this is the largest you're done you keep it.
Otherwise you discard it and you can't go back and get it
and you turn over a second slip.
Again if you think this is the one with the biggest number
you keep that one and the game is over and if you don't you discard that one.
And you're stuck with the third one.
And you're stuck with the third one.
Got it.
Okay and the numbers written on the slips could be anything from
anything to anything any number at all.
And there is no way obviously to know.
So I present you with this little game and I present it also to Vinny.
And here's where your part comes in.
Okay.
You say well that's pretty stupid.
Go ahead.
Well that's pretty stupid.
Your chance of getting the highest number is one in three.
The chance of getting the highest number is one in three.
Vinny on the other hand says uh-uh I don't think so.
I think I can do better than that.
Now is Tommy right or is Vinny the moron that we think he is?
Is there a strategy by which you can improve the odds
from one in three?
Now if you think you know the answer,
write that answer on a postcard or teach it to a fully trained rare Amazon parrot
and send it in an art deco cage with installed tree branch
and a six-month supply of organic birdseed to puzzle it out.
We're really going for the high-end stuff.
Puzzled tower, car talk plaza, box 3500,
Harvard Square, Cambridge, Matt 02238, attention Vinny.
Or of course 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.
Hello, you're on car talk.
Hi, this is Kim from Washington State.
Hi, how are you?
Hi.
What's the city or do you want to divulge?
Um, Tacoma.
So what's up, Kim?
Well, I've listened to you guys enough to know that you're great marriage counselors.
Yes, indeed.
And so what I need to know, this has to do with cars, trust me,
I need to know who was more stupid, me or my husband.
We don't use words like that, Kim.
Oh, you don't?
No.
How about idiot?
We'll get to that.
You go ahead and tell us the problem
and we'll tell you the proper method of communication
because we've been in therapy on this for a long time.
I knew it.
Trying to learn the lingo, you know what I mean?
And the words moron and stupid are to be eschewed.
Okay, go ahead.
Give us the story.
My husband.
That moron.
I'll put it in the parenthesis.
Right, he'll put it in the parentheticals.
So the words don't come out of your mouth.
My husband, that moron.
My husband, that blank.
He found a Lexus that was abandoned at the airport
and he decided it was there for three years.
I saw it too.
Every time we flew out, there's that Lexus.
Pretty soon it's got grass growing around it.
It has a boot on it, you know, so nobody can steal it, right?
So he decides he has to have it so he purchases the Lexus.
From whom?
From the bank.
Because the guy that abandoned it never made a payment on it
and quit paying the airport.
Okay, so it was a brand new car.
It was in 1994.
Okay, so he owed the bank $22,000 in the parking lot.
He owed him $19.45.
And they made a deal.
Right, they made a deal.
But I was concerned about the car because of what he found in the car.
What he found was bolt cutters and shoe covers.
And one of those key punch things, you know,
that you punch out the lock of a car.
And he found the dome light was disconnected
and then the lights on the doors were taped over.
So whoever was using this car was using it in some nefarious enterprise.
Wow.
I'm feeling like we need to go and witness protection.
So does he have this kind of?
Oh, God, yes, he has the car.
Did he get it running?
Of course.
It's running.
And it runs well.
It runs well.
But you're worried that it has...
I want it out of our sight.
Yeah, it has dragon tracks as the Chinese state.
It's just got bad vibes.
You ain't just...
Well, how much did he pay for it all told?
Well, see, here's where you guys are going to think that he's not so dumb.
He paid $4,000 for it.
He's a genius.
Really?
Between the bank and the parking place and the getting the boot removed?
What a deal.
That guy's a genius.
Well, you know, I got to tell you, Kim, before you go on,
that this is every guy's dream.
Oh, God.
It is.
I mean, there's nothing better.
I mean, I guess women don't respond to this like guys do.
But there's something euphoric about getting something for nothing.
I mean, he practically got the car for nothing.
And men are somehow susceptible to these...
You won't believe this.
You know, the too good to be true thing.
I mean, there were years and in which guys would show up at
kinds of auctions, government auctions, where they were expecting to get a complete jeep.
Albeit in pieces.
In a crate for $50 left over from World War Two.
And when those ran out, they were going to sell them the jeeps from World War One.
And you can't believe the millions of men who showed up for these things
because they believed this to be true.
That was the first million man march, actually.
They were all going to the...
Was it the government?
It was the post office.
Because someone had mailed a few 100000 of these jeeps in crates.
It's no surprise that your husband succumbed to the lure of this Lexus.
He couldn't help himself because in his mind, this was the jeep that he never got when he was 17.
He became quite upset.
So I hope you're going to understand it in that context.
Okay.
That doesn't mean he is not a moron.
But it's almost redundant to call him a moron because he's a guy.
I thought this was going to be easy.
Yeah, you didn't know.
But I do agree with you that there are certain dragon tracks associated with this car.
But you may be able to visit someone to get them removed.
The dragon tracks.
He had it detailed last couple of days ago.
I don't think detailers do that.
Yeah, they do your white walls with the dragon tracks.
That's different department.
I'm afraid to tell you what I did because now you're going to say I'm a complete idiot.
I haven't even told you my part.
Go ahead.
What I bought.
Oh, I know what you bought.
You bought the whole ginsu knife set.
No, no, no, no, it's not that bad.
My wife did the same thing.
He goes into the garage and he glances over at what I bought and then I have no argument.
Oh, you bought a car?
Yeah.
I got it.
Okay.
A Hummer.
No.
I bought a 1966 Volkswagen camper van.
Oh, man.
Well, look, if you dump this guy, call us.
We'll marry you.
Those are cool.
Was it in great shape?
It's in perfect shape.
Oh, man.
I have to say, I came very, very close recently to buying one.
Yeah.
And he also came very close at the same time to being divorced.
Again.
But I certainly side with you on your move.
I think you did a wise thing.
Drive it carefully because it's a dangerous vehicle.
As long as you use it judiciously.
I do.
And you wear an NFL approved football helmet when you drive it.
In knee pads, you'll be all right.
Well, an answer to my question then.
What was the question?
Was there a question?
Who was the stupidest?
Oh, he was, obviously, because he just bought a Lexus.
You bought a legend.
I love that line.
That's my needle point.
Kim, it's been a pleasure talking to you for the last 45 minutes.
Maybe we can do this again sometime.
Thank you.
See you later.
Good luck.
Well, she made my day.
Well, it's happened again.
You vaporized another perfectly good hour listening to car talk.
Our esteemed producer has dug the subway fugitive Bungo Boy.
We just can't shake that Bungo Boy image.
It's so perfect.
Bungo Boy Berman, our social producers, are Louis Cronin and Barbarian.
He's got Bugsy to thank for that.
He does indeed.
And David, I wonder if they allow double wides in Cambridge Green.
Our engineer is Tad Massaman Curry, our senior web lackey is Doug Giacoboy, mayor,
and our technical, spiritual, and menu advisor just back from his lackluster
performance at the Walla Walla Curry Lentil Lofoff is John Bugsy Walla.
Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research,
assisted by statistician Marge Inno Verap.
Our customer care representative is Haywood Jabuzov, our document security expert.
From the island of Jamaica is Euripides Upman, who is not related to our tailor,
Euripides Amenides, or to our staff mounted Euripides, I break your face,
or to the proprietor of our men's clothing shop, Euripides Uonides.
Our divorce attorneys, Carmine, not yours.
Our staff archivist is Bernadette File, our bullfighting intern currently on medical leave is
Gordon Head.
Our sexual harassment investigator is Hank Panky.
Our meteorologist from the New Delhi office is Luke Audevindo.
Our director of Pavlovian research is Isabel Ringing.
Our Shakespearean waiter is coffee and on.
Our Russian chauffeur is Picoff and drop off the banker at the car talk poker games as
I put in and our seat cushion tester is Mike Easter.
We're going to need bigger officers and the staff are just spending at a geometric rate.
Isabel Ringing!
Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Cheetahman Howe is you, Louis Dewey, known to the
snow-shoeing meter maids in Harvard Square as you and Louis Dewey.
Thanks so much for listening.
We're clicking clack to tap at brothers and 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 Cheetahman Howe and WBUR in Boston.
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On Consider This, NPR's afternoon news podcast, we cover everything from politics
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But every story starts with a question.
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About this episode
From MIT course-evaluation jokes to a deep dive on engine clacking, the show bounces between listener calls and practical diagnostics. A 1989 Nissan Pathfinder owner describes freeway driving and mileage, while the hosts trace a cold-start clack to oil starvation—possibly a weak oil pump or clogged oil screen—and recommend “Change the oil. Simple.” Later, a 1991 Honda Accord 90,000-mile checkup turns into a debate over timing belt scope and whether shops will also handle the water pump and cooling flush.
Original notes
Kim’s hubby had his eye on a 4 year old Lexus that was left abandoned at the airport by a burglar after a robbery. Kim’s worried about ‘karma’, but hubby got a great deal on the car. Do ‘the bad vibes’ negate the great price? Find out why not on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.
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