The Best of Car Talk - #2502: Stick Ma with the Bill

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Tim got a free used car from his mother but the ac doesn't work and Click and Clack told him to send Ma the repair bill. And boy is Tim's mom not happy about that. A particularly fraught 'Stump the Chumps' on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.Get access to hundreds of episodes in the Car Talk archive when you sign up for Car Talk+ at plus.npr.org/cartalkLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us clicking clack the tappet brothers and we're broadcasting this week from the listener incentives division here at Car talk Plaza. Now I'm trying to get listener incentive. Okay. I understand what that means. Sentive is listener incentives. We all know that car makers have been increasing their sales for years by offering potential

car buyers questionable discounts on new cars in various forms such as rebates and or our personal favorite factory to dealer incentives. What are factory to dealer incentives? You don't sell the car I break your legs. Yes, I think that's what it is. Some of the factories go, hey, sell some damn cars. It's a pretty good incentive, isn't it? Anyway, it occurred to us that if car buyers could be lured in with ploys like these, then

why not make the same kind of offer to car talk listeners? Both of you. No kidding. Yeah. We can do that? Yeah, I think so. All right, here's what we're going to do. If you act immediately, you must act immediately because I'm going to have to talk to the manager

if you don't. Let me time off. I'm going to talk to the manager. If you become a regular car talk listener, we will refund 15% of any time that you waste listening to this show As soon as we figure out how to do example I mean if you listen to the entire show 60 minutes an hour, we'll give you nine minutes back Yeah, isn't that a deal? We're gonna go and you can have it any time you want really anytime you're hanging by your thumbs You want the nine minutes then we'll give it to you then.

Cool. It's the end of your life, you're lying on your deathbed. Nine minutes. Nine minutes. But what if you listen every week? Every week it adds up. But it adds up. You could be in trouble.

Anyway, if you want to call us about your car or your rebate, our number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Raina from Texas. Raina! Raina. Raina. R-A-Y? R-A-I-N-A. You know, you're the only second Raina I've ever heard of in the entire world.

Well, as I get older, the more I meet. So I know about four now, five. Really? Mm-hmm. What is the origin of that name? Well, for me, I was named after my cousin E. E Raina which I think my aunt saw in an old movie Raina Yeah, yeah, it could be snow. I could be Hanna is cool. I Maybe a weatherman was it whether weatherman in your family

Maybe a weatherman. Was there a weatherman in your family? No, not at all. Slita. So where are you from in Texas? Well, I'm from a little bitty town on the coast called Sabine Pass. It's right on the Louisiana border. Yeah, that's where the Sabine River is? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. That's it. So, Rayna, what's up? Okay, well, I have a 1989 Mazda 626. Yeah. Okay, so now it's making this noise. It seems to be coming from the back of the car. It almost sounds like it's coming from the gas tank. And it's like this low moaning, grumbling noise.

Well, that's good. That's good? Well, it's good that it's coming from the back because there ain't nothing expensive in the back. Well, that's great. There is one thing. Don't tell me. There is one expensive thing.

And the noise only occurs when the engine is running. There is one thing. Don't tell me. There is one expensive thing. And the noise only occurs when the engine is running. And is the noise something like this? Like, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I used to only do it when I first started the car, but now it's doing it all the time And I'm scared to drive it because I don't know what it is But it'll do it even if the car is not moving is that right exactly mm-hmm. That's bad all right It's been a great. That's not anywhere near as expensive as some of the stuff in the front No all the really expensive stuff is in the front this happens to be a bad fuel pump fuel pump injector No fuel pump pump Pump inside the gas tank that pumps the gasoline from the tank to the engine which is in the front.

Right. The injectors are in the front and the fuel pump is merely supplying gasoline under high pressure to the injectors and then the computer opens up the injectors and sprays the gasoline into the cylinders. But the pump is conking out. Yeah. But you've got like seven million miles in this car, right? Pretty close. Yeah. So you need a new pump. I don't know what it costs, but I'm sure it's several hundred dollars. Okay. Well, let me ask you another question, and maybe you can solve an argument me and my husband have.

He claims that if you leave the tailgate of your truck down, you get better gas mileage. He's 100% right. He is right. Yeah. Now, why did you think he was wrong because he's my husband that's what I thought if a man says something in the forest where there is no one to hear him is he still wrong is he wrong about everything else no no no no no but I mean it is sort of counterintuitive that that little tailgate should cause such

a difference, but I mean, you may have seen lots of trucks with that webbing in the back. And the purpose of that webbing is to cut down on the wind resistance, which somehow the wind goes up over the top and it all gets stuck in the bed of the pickup truck. Oh, I thought the reason for the webbing is so that your mother-in-law didn't slide out when you had a tailgate down. No, what happens is the air comes into the truck, gets stopped by that tailgate and piles up. Oh yeah. So you get like even though you can't see it. You get an air traffic, an air jam. You get air traffic control, you get an air jam, you end up with like a ton of air in the bed of the pickup truck which you're now dragging along with you and you're lucky to get a mile a gallon okay

yeah you may want to give that theory to your husband he'll pass it along to the boys down at the bowling league haha see you reyna thanks a lot reyna bye bye one eight hundred three three two nine two eight seven hello you're on car talk hello this is pete from Chico, California. Pete! Chico!

Is there a Harpo in Chico? Actually his name was not Chico. No it was not. It was Paul. No, his name was Chico. Oh, that's right. It was Groucho, Harpo, and Chico. Did you know that, Pete? I am not familiar with that but i'd take you guys

at the gospel truth on that well we don't know either but he was a he was given the name chico because he was always after the chicks all my god all babes just not politically correct to raise his good basis fine yeah so what's on your mind today p well it's been arresting volkswagen question uh... i have a nineteen seventy nine volkswagen ban and uh... about two months ago in acute clunking sound developed in the left

front area acute clunking not a cute i think you know i can't acute and acute it left front-leaf here are going and it would happen when i would go over certain types of bumps that uh... according to the mechanic that looked at it when the suspension goes full travel and also i could sometimes feel it when i break and i could actually feel the sound and hear it coming kind of through the breaking pedal and i was very worried yeah brought

it to the mechanic who in the past had done a great job for me and he said ball joints so $500 later. That's what Sal did like to me. That's my answer too. I had already written it down. Yeah. Ball joints. Absolutely. $500 later, sound is still there. Well, that is not to say that you didn't need ball joints. That's what he keeps telling me. Yeah. So I won't ask for the 500 back. I mean...

Right, right, of course. Yeah, you can't get the 500 back. The ball joints is a pretty straightforward test and it's very, very clear that if you need ball joints, it's obvious that you need them. So if he really checked it and did ball joints without just guessing ball joints like we did, without having seen the thing, Then you probably did need a ball joint. I'll be crossing ball joints off the list now. Now the next thing.

Yes. So what's other theory? Backup theory. I got the backup theory. Well let's hear what Pete's mechanic came up with. Offer control on bushings. Well afterwards he said he looked at everything in the front end and he writes this down on this thing. He said, we disconnected the shocks and the tie rods and the sound still happened.

We removed both control arms. We checked the brake hardware. None of these were responsible for the sound. We cannot diagnose this sound and we'll charge $52 an hour to diagnose. Let's see. This has a torsion bar type suspension in it. Yes. And it could be, what's happening?

The torsion bar is gone, gonezo. You could be bottoming out. Boom. Bottoming out or bottoming up. In other words, if you were to lift the bumper and lift the car off the ground by having the wheel, for example, go into a chuck hole, then you would get the same kind of noise. So when the suspension is full out or full in, you're getting the noise.

And it could be that one of the torsion bars is... Gee, it's been so long since I've had one of these apart. I like the torsion bar theory. I think it's a bunch of plates. I mean, the torsion bar is... Think of it as a spring. But if the spring didn't work right then when you hit a bump everything in the body would fall down

boom and everything would be whacking against everything else and you'd get a big clunk yeah so not having a spring would obviously cause big clunks right and since the torsion bar is what's used instead of a spring that's my my theory. I'm not sure I like it. Well, my big recollection also is that there is a bearing where the control arm enters the frame. The torsion bar is inside a tubular frame. Yeah. And where the control arm enters, there's a bearing there. All right. And that could be worn out too. And of course, it's going to make the noise under the extremest of loads, the most extreme load, so that when you hit a big bump and you're really forcing the thing to move quickly, you could get this bang. And it doesn't surprise me that it's getting telegraphed through the brake system because

any abrupt movement, any shock wave that travels will travel right up through the brake fluid to your pedal. And that's why I said I wouldn't be concerned about the fact that you're feeling it through the brake pedal. I mean, I'm concerned about the noise, but it's almost positively not related to the brakes. Yeah. You need to go, here's what you need to do. You need to drive out to the desert and find some grizzled old hermit that has a sign that

says VW repairs done while you wait, while you wither. And you'll find some old codger with like four or five teeth. And he'll have a bunch of broken down vans parked around his so-called house. And old hippies. His gas station. Right, exactly. Yes, I gotcha. With a blind dog. You know this, I've painted the whole picture.

And you'll know in three minutes what's wrong with it. All right. And he'll slap a whole new front end in there. He'll use your control arms with the new $500 ball joint and send you happily, noiselessly along your way. Yeah, I think so too. Thank you guys. You guys are wonderful and I really appreciate you. See ya Pete. Good luck. Good luck. Bye bye. That was tough. We had to struggle there. Well, you know are wonderful and I really appreciate you. See you Pete. Good luck. Bye. That was tough. We had to struggle there. Well you know why I had to struggle? I haven't worked on one of those things in 20 years. I mean I don't remember. Well they weren't even made 20 years ago. I haven't worked on those in 10 years.

It just seems like 20 years. 20 years. We'll be right back right after these messages. 20 years. We'll be right back, right after these messages. I think. Anyway, if you're in urgent need of a puzzler, you can find one of our classic puzzlers at cartalk.msn.com. Just click on the radio button of the home page and look for this week's archive puzzler. You can even hear it if you want. Yeah, if you have that.

You can read it, you can hear it. You can smell it. If your computer has that capability, mine doesn't. Oh, well. If you'd like to like the target right now our numbers one eight hundred three three two nine two eight seven whole your own carton hi there's no one with the i don't so what's up alex well i've heard a rumor and i i think i've even read in some uh...

extensively authoritative source that you're not supposed to mix grades of oil uh... that if you've got fifteen forty in your car, you shouldn't put 40 in and I'd like to know if that's true and if it's true why and if it's not true. Why not start? What is this semi-authoritative source that you cite? Well, he can't remember. I can't remember right sure you can't Yeah, you know Let's talk about what what constitutes an authoritative or semi-authoritative source. Good photography helps.

Photography and just printing will do it. Good paper. Good paper and printing. I mean, if you write it down by hand with a ballpoint pen, zero credibility. If you type it out and print it on an inkjet printer. That's good. I'm some yeah semblance of authority Laser printer. Oh, that's it. It's like Moses like the tablets, right? It's good. That's it Gutenberg Bible So you probably read it in some sleazeball newspaper column but written by some know-it-all

Nobody, but it was printed and so you thought it was right Well, it is right and it is wrong. No, it's only wrong. No. No, I'll explain why because he asked You mix is it all right to mix? 10w30 with 40 weight and the answer is yes It is all right except that many of the single viscosity oils like 40-weight are non-detergent oils. Yes, except then it's not a question of can you mix anymore, it's a question of can you use non-detergent oil. However, if you assume that Alex's question had to do with the mix, the mix was the key

question, then it's wrong. No, you can't, right, the question is you can't, the answer is you can mix a single viscosity oil with a multi viscosity oil. Or two multi viscosity oils. Right, or two single viscosity oils. You can mix four quarts of 40 weight together. And you wind up with what? 160.

160 weight. I knew. You knew I was going to say that. Right, if it's done in the winter you wind up with 10 weight. Now if you mix two quarts of 1040 with two quarts of 1030. Oh you wind up with 20, 30, 60, 90. Will you wind up with 1035? Oh yeah, exactly.

Yeah, 10 and a 12 and a half 35. Alex, are you with us on this? Yes, yes. Are you writing his stuff? The reason you were warned not to do this is that frequently, like I said, the single number oils are only non-detergent and you should never mix non-detergent with detergent oil. But what if you're real careful about those API levels?

Yeah, if you're real careful about those API numbers, then you can mix anything with anything. It doesn't make any difference. And you always hear these old wives' tales about either mixing oils together are mixing gasolines together brands of oils right arm arm mixing brands of oil are mixing brands of gasoline on mixing different octanes of gas i mean what would happen if you put 87 octane in with 92 octane my god what would happen answer but nothing yeah that i can figure out sure and the same thing happens with oil

yeah okay i think actually i may have seen an oil can so it didn't mean that the point you didn't tell us that yeah i think it was printed but it was what it was printed on not that it was printed that well alex i hope we have given you an authoritative answer to your question or at least an authoritative sounding answer right answer to your question. Or at least an authoritative sounding answer. Right. Right. He's not convinced. Don't mix this up. Hey, Alex. You gave me the answer why to hear.

You sound... I mean, it's ridiculous to think that you could tell what a person does for a living by his voice. But I am going to guess. I'm gonna guess too. That Alex is a teacher of some kind. Yes, I was going to guess either a math or music teacher. How are we doing? I'm a math professor. Sonja Henny's tutor. Yes, you have that authoritative sound of your voice. I see, a laser printer voice. Well, dot matrix anyway. Hey, thanks a lot for calling. Thanks a lot guys. See you later. Bye bye. Math professor.

That was exactly what I was thinking. That this guy has a pedagogical tone in his voice. Yeah, he could have been a garbage man, but you never know. 1-800-332-9287, hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, it's Alan from Arlington, Virginia

Alan Alan as you can hear I'm originally from Arlington, Virginia. No, you're not no I'm from Australia. Ah place What a place why would you go from from where in Australia were you from from Melbourne in the south from Melbourne? Yeah, no. Yeah. Have you ever been to boston massachusetts no i haven't even if it is the blood in common with melbourne yeah we have probably have heard that already well whole of new england that i feel comfortable with you guys could be done for your are the better that's right yeah we don't and are the stupid let

totally unnecessary except at the beginning of the word so you don't say things like Robert At the beginning of a word, it's okay, but otherwise it's completely unnecessary What were they thinking at least the whole are is not necessary parts of it or I'm calling not on a technical issue, but more an economic one yes but i'm having a domestic dispute uh... i don't think you guys to resolve but you might be able to give us some ideas okay uh... it were only in the u s for a year in fact and also you're married to a

to a lovely australian girl uh... no america lovely american girl well you are yeah all springfield u s a springfield u s a Yeah. Springfield, USA. Springfield, USA? Marge Simpson? I'm their child. Okay, and you're only in the States for a year?

That's correct. Okay. Yeah. Well, but she's American. She's in the States for a long time. He's hoping for only a year. She goes off periodically to represent your country all over the world in embassies. No kidding. Really?

Yeah. Wow. Madeleine Albright? Yeah. No, Marge Simpson. So you're stuck at home. Yeah. Yeah, he's living there in the embassy

in Howlington, Virginia, having a great old time. Absolutely, except we can't resolve an issue. And that is, for this year, what kind of car do we need? She reckons we need a bomb for not more than $2,000, 10 years old, dispose of it at the end, not losing too much. I say, not being technical, we can't afford that. We need to get something not too old, quite reliable, even if it costs a lot more. Good, that can't, good.

Because you'll be doing the driving most of the time. Exactly. What are you gonna use this vehicle for? Are you working also? I work at home. Madeline's off resolving crises around the world. Yep. But why?

And he doesn't wanna, he's, he's. But he works at home, what do you need a car for? He ain't doing. Because we've got a child and we'd like to get out and see America while we're here. Just a little bit to see the environment. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Working at home is, what's that called?

That's a euphemism for... Guffanoff. How silly of me to... My brother, I must tell everyone, used to quote, work at home until they caught him at it. And now he has to steal away to his quote, office every day because they figured out that he wasn't doing anything at home. Until they catch me at that. His quote, office still being in the house, I tell you.

They actually threw me out of the house. They threw him out to work. Go to work, you bum. So now he goes to his office every day, which is a pretty good deal. He goes there and he stops for cappuccino. And then by the time he climbs the stairs to his office, it's what, time for lunch. Now, I'll tell you, I have to sympathize with you.

I don't think you want to drive around a junk box for the year that you're here. And you have a little child. That's right. I think you should buy a newer car, if not a brand new one. And indeed, there'll be some depreciation, some significant depreciation, but you'll have benefited and enjoyed driving a brand new car for a whole year.

You know, it would be wonderful if you could talk someone into a one-year lease. But then you have to put down so much. Not necessarily. No, there are leases, and you can shop around to find a lease in which there is nothing to put down, and for a couple of hundred bucks a month, you can get yourself a brand-stinking new car. Better than that. Here's the deal. You know, these rental car agencies often have these one-week specials, 99 bucks of the week. Don't return it. Just tell them you want it for the year. Ha ha ha ha!

And they pay for everything. You can do that. Well, I don't know, but you gotta try. You gotta try it, okay. I would try for the one year lease. I think you might be able to talk someone there in the DC area into a one year lease. Okay, I'll look at it. If you can't, you could go buy a car from one of the NPR people.

They're all down there in DC. And they're all getting new cars. Call Ray Suarez. He's got a Honda that he's trying to get rid of. I think it's about 15 years old. Yeah. Then she wins. Yeah.

All right. Well, thank you very much for your advice. Alan, good luck. Have a good time. Thanks. See you. Bye-bye. We'll be right back with more calls right after these messages.

Hi, we're back. Just when you were thinking that our really flew by, that damn car talk. It's only half. We're back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tabard Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair and our days are numbered. Well funny you should say just we get rid of get this this guy named Keith Clements and we don't know where he's from because we got email. Dear Tom and Ray, you guys have really been showing your

age. You often answer questions with mindless babble, laugh at your own jokes, and forget essential details. As a younger listener who as a taught was unlucky enough to have heard you in your earlier days, I vaguely remember that there was a time when your ridiculous advice actually made a slight amount of sense. Yes, those were the lucid years. As your advice declines in quality, I look forward to a time when you will step down and pass on the reins of power to a new, younger generation. So far I have heard no mention of any heirs to the throne of Kartok Plaza.

I would like to offer my services as heir apparent since you obviously need a kick in the pants on this issue. Really? Signed Keith Clements. The young punk. I look forward to a time when you will step down and pass on the reins of power. Geez. We have slipped a notch.

It's mostly you, by the way. No, no, I don't think so. I hesitate to mention. I just want to point out that the entire summer goes by and you only do half of your job. The puzzler, which takes up most of your waking hours during the rest of the year. You don't have to do that Now do I stop laughing during the summer? No, I come in here and bust my butt week after week day after day hour after hour all right all right

Anybody all right, I'll do something then he See, he's got us fighting amongst us. That's all it takes. We start fighting and the next thing you know the whole thing will disintegrate. Mindless babble. Well, lookit, this is usually the time every week when I unveil the new puzzler that I've been working on and crafting, honing, molding all week long. And obfuscating. Yes. But since the puzzler is still AWOL, you'll just have to wait until it can be hunted down, arrested, and brought back to face charges sometime in the fall. Probably. Probably.

Until then, if you must puzzle, then visit the radio section of cartalk.msn.com and try one of our archival puzzlers or archrival puzzlers. Whichever you choose. Either, yeah. Anyway, if you'd like to call us with a question about your car, the number is 1-800-332-9287. Let's get serious for a minute. I was just gonna say.

Answer some damn questions. Do you notice that by the time we get to the second half of the show, there was a lot of mindless babble going on. By the time we get to the second half of the show, it's half over. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Amy from Cincinnati. Okayama k and let's snap it up here fact that

but i think i think that's the best great okay that's that's the only military letters we almost couldn't even spell it wrong so what the heck do you want to want to make it fast well i don't know productivity what i did regimental route and you guys are are fairly young and and i would have to disagree with with you know give a respect to keep that but i would have to be great and my car i

have an eighty six play at a camera and the second owner it had a hundred twenty five thousand miles on it here's what happened if i'm on the highway are going about like forty five miles an hour and i go to get an exit ramp and like take my foot off the accelerator before I put on the brake. My car kind of has, I hear it gear down

and it kind of makes a little grumble. Uh-huh, like, bluh, bluh. Yeah, not quite that rough though. But at high speed it's okay. At high speed it's okay, and it's okay if my foot is on the gas or on the brake. But it's when it's coasting and it makes this grumble okay we have to talk terminology here yeah the word grumble well it's like a rumble with a grr thrown in it

grrs first and then it rumbles grr grumbles but it's it's it's subtle I mean with the average person riding as a passenger realize that your car is doing this are you are you so finally tuned into your car i think it's it i think if the windows were down and the radio wasn't blaring someone else would hear it yes someone else would hear it but you never hear this unless you're decelerating you never hear it on acceleration correct

alright well i have a theory about this yeah i think you have a uh... some loose baffles in your in your muffler exactly and the reason you don't hear it on have some loose baffles in your muffler. Exactly. Okay. And the reason you don't hear it at high speed or on acceleration is it's merely being drowned out by all the other, the myriad noises that are being made by this ancient camera with 125,000 miles. Exactly the reason why I took issue with the word grumble, because the grumble sound sort of connoted some kind of mechanical noise.

That was my concern. Yeah, and I was going to try to come up with a term that would suggest exhaust noise, because that's exactly what it sounds like to me. It really does. It does sound like loose baffles on the exhaust system. I'm encouraged by the fact that it only happens on deceleration. I mean, to be on the safe side, it's probably by the fact that it only happens on deceleration. To be on the safe side, it's probably worth it to have a professional drive the car to

assess the noise. Yeah, but that never happens when the professional drives the car. So it doesn't happen all the time, which is good because it lends even more credence to the baffle theory. Okay. And I'm baffled by the whole thing myself. Well, I'll go make sure that my mechanic is baffled with my exhaust system. Cool.

Thanks for calling, Amy. Thank you. Nice talking to you. Bye. Bye-bye. Hey, you know what time it is? Time to beg Chrysler's lawyers for forgiveness again? No, no, that was last week. It's time for Stump the Chumps! Now, if you've ever listened to the show before, you may know the Stump the Chumps is that portion where we throw caution and good sense to the wind, and we invite back onto Car Talk

someone that we successfully got rid of once already, just so we can find out if our advice was wrong. What were we thinking? Anyway, who's this week's Chump Stumper? Tim Taylor from tool time in Florida. No, this is Tim Taylor Actually from Orlando, Florida. He called us a couple of months ago after he had discovered that the 89 Buick Park Avenue that his mother had given him came with a little problem. What she was still in the car Ready to move in? No, no, no It says here in the notes that there was a problem with the

air conditioning. And whenever he turned it on, the cool air came out of the defrost of vents. And sometimes it fogged up his whole windshield. Oh, poor Timmy. Jeez. Well, with that kind of a warm front cold front action in the front seat, he's lucky he didn't create a tornado right

there in his Buick. I mean, jeez, that could have been scary. Here it comes. They'll fix it. My brother is probably right. Well, I'm afraid of them saying, oh, we've got to take out everything on the dash. They're going to say that. Well, they are going to say that because that's where it's at. I can watch the meter on the hourly charge.

It's going to cost you many hundreds, but you've got the car for zip. I mean, come on, will you? Send the bill to your mother. I think so. See if she'll split it with you at least. I mean, do you have the right to send the bill to the person who gave you the defective car? I think so. You can send it. Dear Mom, have a wonderful Mother's Day. Please find enclosed the bill for six hundred six hundred sixteen dollars your path

of fixing that deadbeat that i think you said so we basically told the pocket was not on and on we suggested a couple of cheap fixes for us later on we realize that he'd probably have to have the entire dashboard ripped out then we suggested that he hit mummy with the bill So what do we think was wrong with his AC? Well actually his mechanic saved us the embarrassment of suggesting a leaky vacuum line or a bad electronic control unit by replacing that stuff

So we said it was probably the vacuum motor remember that oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you're sure right right Well, let's bring him out Tim baby. Are you there? Right, right. Right, well let's bring him out. Tim, baby! Are you there? Hello? You don't sound like Tim. Oh, I'm not Tim.

This is not Tim. Oh, this sounds like Tim's mother. I'm Peggy Taylor. Oh! Oh, you are! Hi Peggy. Are you Tim's mother? Tim is my son.

Tim is your son. Yes. I have a little bone to pick with you today. This was the dirty trick on somebody's part. I received a bill in the mail for $256. How much was it? $256 to repair an air conditioner and this is the car that I gave him. I didn't sell it to him, I gave it to him. You gave him the car and that can't i don't know if i can't get into the car and that in great set you the bill

and but he also said i had any questions to call tom or a i mean i mean we have a lot of people we were only be facetious i mean we have a big guy after all i mean you did give him the car we would never have suggested that i was was so shocked when I got the bill Did you pay it? No I'm not going to pay it either. Did he send you the entire bill? The entire bill for a car He was given and and uh my husband put four new tires on it

So this is just an insult. Some kids they just take take take. I think you need to teach him a lesson Peggy. I think you need to repo the car. I mean I think it's unconscionable for him to have sent you the whole toll bill. We only suggested he send you a bill for half of it. Oh well I think I better just call and tell him to bring the car home. I can still use the car. Yeah, sure. And I would use the word ingrate as much as possible when you talk to him. He's a very nice guy, by the way. He was a nice guy.

Is Tim available? Can we talk to Tim? Is he around? Are you kidding? Come on, this could get very ugly. Who cares? Let's get him on the line. All right, Peggy.

Do we have his number? Yeah, Peggy, stand by. We're gonna call Tim right now. That's right. We'll have that no good lion son of yours on the phone. Okay, we're dialing him now. Hello? Hello guys, this is Tim. Ah! Hey.

Who are you calling a liar, huh? Now, wait a minute. Uh oh. I had this show on tape. I've listened to it many times. And you said, send the bill to your mother. Oh my. But for technical reasons here, was it the vacuum motor?

Actually what it was, the thing, he called it a programmer. There's a little, it had one tube coming in and it had all the other vacuum tubes coming out So in terms of stumping the chumps you did stomp the well, and we'll big losers on no I mean it was not vacuum getting to the vacuum motor. I mean that's that's what the programmer That's what the programmer does it sends the vacuum so we're gonna stretch a point here I think we're gonna call it. We're gonna call it a wash You said they hadn't replaced enough pieces it yet so this is one of the pieces that i

think that it worked i guess we'll get you guys a break it was not great now look i mean as i remember tim we suggested you send your mother half the bill you sent of the entire bill but it was only two hundred fifty you said it would be about six hundred so i think you can come back that much voice he was a little fired up when she got on the phone with us. Peggy are you still there Peggy? I'm still here. I love you mom. I think we've been caught in the middle. That was a nice gift. Leather seats and everything.

You're not kidding that is a nice gift. Yeah it was your last gift by the way. Oh yeah. Well you know you guys might be getting something from mail You're not kidding. That is a nice gift. Yeah, it was your last gift by the way Well, you know you guys might be getting something from mail in the mail for my sleazy lawyer brother Oh They're ganging up on us I really set up I think this whole thing was a setup the whole family All right, we we're short of time here. It's been very nice talking to you.

We really have to go now. They're throwing us out of the studio. Peggy, thanks for being a good sport. I enjoyed it. Don't give that sleazy son of yours anything else. Thank you, Tim. Both my sons are great guys. Well, we understand. That's good. I wish my mother could say the same.

I wish you could too. See ya Peggy. See ya Tim. See ya. Well it's happened again you've wasted two more hours listening to Carlton. It's not two hours, it just seems like two. The scene's like. Our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion Berman. Our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Cathode-Ray. Our engineer is Karen I've Already Given. And our technical, spiritual and menu advisor

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