The Best of Car Talk - #2517: A Laser-like Focus

Episode Date: March 1, 2025

Kate was carefully recreating her $200 Honda's clutch noise when Ray confessed that he had dozed off somewhere between 'Hello You're on Car Talk" and "Hi, I'm Kate." Apparently it's siesta time 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

Here on Shortwave, we believe that science is for everyone and that every question is worth asking, no matter your age. My name is Willie and my question is, is magic real? Our podcast is for the curious at heart. Come embrace your inner child when you listen now to ShoreWave from NPR. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, click and clack the Tappet Brothers. And we're broadcasting this week from the International High Roller Division here at Car Talk Plaza.

I find this interesting. I'm sure you won't because you don't find anything interesting actually. But apparently, you ready for this? Rolls-Royce is up for sale. Yeah, I knew that. The company that owns it, a British defense firm, of course everyone knows rolls royce engines air aircraft engines yeah yeah powered all those mesh ish mitzvah well they've let it be known that they would like to unload rolls

and apparently the gray poopon it wrote in on what here's what i find interesting the companies that have have expressed interest in buying it, Automotive News, that reported this said that here are some of the companies that are interested in buying Rolls-Royce. Some of them make sense, like BMW. That would make sense, right? Sure. But Volkswagen, what are they going to say? Golf too small for you?

Move right on up to the silver shadow. I mean shadow come on Mercedes that's it makes sense Ford I mean I suppose they could make the new town car be the silver shadow sure why not yeah a little jump in price but I think GM is the best oh yeah yeah because they could just call them Buick's and that would be it they're looking for a new Buick. Yeah Then it could say wouldn't you rather have a Buick and everyone would say you bet Actually, I thought we should put in a bid for the for Rolls-Royce ourselves. Yeah, then we can finally introduce that luxury car

We've always talked about the one modeled after your dart Yeah, the Rolls-Kinnardly. Of course, this is a very famous car. We've been working on this for years. Rolls down one hill and Kinnardly make it up the other. Just like your Dart. Thanks to Phil Bertone, who invented that car for us. Anyway, if you have a question about your car, you can call us at 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Mary from Makau, Maui.

From Maui? How's everything in Maui? Is it 84 degrees? No, it's cold here. It's about 72. Bummer! What? That's what it is here in Boston.

It's 72 in Boston here. So why should I come all the way to Maui? Well, all right, so it's 32. I was lying Maui yeah, I don't have any problems in Maui I mean our impression of Maui is that there are no problems. How can they be a problem? Well my car Will fix this question. Yeah, what is it? I can't ask my husband and I can't ask my mechanic Oh, I have to ask you guys that personal yeah uh... it that we have a ford win star

it's a nineteen ninety seven we've had it about a year now and it's um... we have a really you know the yeah the adoption by uh... one morning a few weeks back i am within a hurry to get to work and i grab my kid who had to have an extra and finger i work in a medical clinic we rushed down the hill and get ready to park in a car comes in with this radio blaring and i was in a rush anyway so i think come on kid let's go and we get

got out of the car slam the door locked it and i went on into work maybe about four hours later security guard came and said uh... we have a report that your car parked on the road with uh... keeping the ignition and it's locked in the the engine's running. So my question is, how bad is that? I keep listening for every little sound to see if something's going to break.

Did you have a spare set of keys somewhere? Well, this is the thing, fortunately, or unfortunately, my husband, his workplace is like the next building great So I just sort of snuck in there and said um I Locked my keys in the car, but I didn't tell him where I left the keys inside the car If I got I got it open and everything and the dashboard felt a little warm Yeah, but uh it didn't it hasn't made any funny noise. No, it's nothing We won't mention it if you don't mention it

Oh good no it's not yes i'm going to we will mention it if you don't mention i'm going to cut the the thing is at the end of the when the leaflet that we have to decide whether to buy the car not you know this is why i'm not this will not have caused any problems because don't forget ups trucks run all day to a and police car and police i mean all those police all those police cars parked in front of the donut shop those engines are running constantly.

Oh, okay. All you did was burn up some gasoline, but you didn't hurt the engine because when the engine temperature got too high, the thermostat would open and then the cooling fan would come on and it would do that if you were stuck in... Now, if you lived in New York, you wouldn't have asked this question because typically New Yorkers drive like this every day. It's a tantamount to sitting in your car with the engine running for four hours. And you would have been car jacked.

The real question though Mary is, I mean how often have you done this? Is this the first and only time? Well, it's the only time that the engine was running when I locked the car. Because I've done this myself I have to admit it I never admitted it to anybody but and I'm coming clean right today on the show I mean I didn't have to go get another set of keys because my doors fortunately don't lock but it has no windows either oh yeah oh... i've tried everything and there were no thought of it but that nice try but i think that uh... you know that a fault for that one again

so don't worry about it mary everything's right with the world i'm going to take you see a mary by by one eight hundred three three two nine two eight seven all your own car talk hi there by the end of from minneapolis minnesota a head are you guys doing uh... i wait out well right i'm working on minneapolis right now and i and i and i and i and then

all i have a lot of yes what's up what's happening ed well you know that i was uh... on my way in it was one of those crummy days you know where it's thrown up spray yep i ran out of wiper fluid yeah hot bummer okay well and so i was pairing to a job but anyway i i put in

the gas station i haven't had my latte yet and uh... but i can't a wiper fluid and uh... put a whole gallon a wiper fluid in my reservoir tank yeah for the radiator you're right yeah how did you get? oh hence the comment about the latte yeah oh boy what I did was as soon as I got into the store

I pulled off the hose so it wouldn't suck it back in up as it cooled. Cool! Excellent! Good thinking! But, you know, I'm wondering, should I have the radiator flushed and new cooling put in? Well, I mean, it probably... What do I do? Was the engine already heated up when you got to the store? Oh, yeah, yeah. It was hot when I put the stuff in. Yeah. So none of it made its way back into the radiator?

It never got sucked in. And even if it did, it wouldn't be worth worrying about. No, because as we know, that stuff is mostly water. Water. And alcohol. It's mostly blue water and it's a little bit of alcohol and that's it. Okay. But you didn't do any harm to anything.

And you could, if you wanted to, you could flush out the cooling system, but I don't think it's necessary because the alcohol will mix in with the ethylene glycol That half a percent of alcohol that's in there Yeah, and and there's a little soap by suppose soap is the only problem because it might start frothing up So if you see bubbles coming out of anything Pipe starts blowing bubbles. I'd be concerned All I gotta do is just Somehow sex this well you can yank that bottle right out. What kind of a car is it no i was a eighty ninety three dot curing

ninety three dot either a couple of bolts and hold that in and you can take those out and take the thing in the house and watch it out and fill it up again in this time put antifreeze in it but i actually i was gonna suggest a a clever repositioning of hoses. Oh no, that's true. Just leave the stuff right where it is! See, you would do that. That's a little bit too much. Ed, don't listen to him.

Ever. No, that thing comes right out, dump it out, but don't worry about a thing, Ed. Okay. Won't do any harm. Thank you very much, guys. See you later, Ed. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.

Good luck. Guess what? The puzzler answer and more calls are coming up right after this. This message comes from Wyse, the app for doing things in other currencies. Sending or spending money abroad, hidden fees may be taking a cut. With Wyse, you can convert between up to 40 currencies at the mid-market exchange rate. Visit WISE.com. TNCs apply.

Look, it's time for my brother to tell us what the puzzle was last week. Come on. Because believe it or not, I don't remember it. You don't? No. Well, you know what? I don't either. Catherine.

I don't have any idea. Wait a minute. I have a note here. Wait, I have a little idea. I have a note from Catherine. I would say it was not on a motive. I don't have a note here wait. I have a little idea. I have a note from Katherine. I would say it was not automotive I don't have any idea. I don't either so I guess we can't go skip it all right 1-800-332 No, I have a note here from Katherine, which is jogged my memory. Yeah, actually this was a historic folkloric and pretty tricky little puzzle

I thought yeah here it is. I haven't got it yet. A few years ago I was vacationing in upstate New York. It's really on parole but I can call it vacation. And I found myself in a sleepy little town called Cold Springs. Still don't remember. And whilst I was there, I went to an antique auction where they claimed to have some rare and priceless. The sled! There you go. Antiques. Yeah. I don't know how they were going to price them. If they're priceless, how can you put a price on them? Yeah, well. Well, they put a big price. That's the challenge. That's the challenge. Anyway, they claim to have stuff that collectors would really want, and one of the items that comes

up for auction is a child's sled, a handmade sled, a wooden sled. Yeah. That the auctioneer claimed was made by none other than George Washington himself. Oh, I thought you were going to say Norm Abrams. Abram. Abram. Anyway, he turns the sled over and carved into one of the wooden slats is, ready for this, G Washington. Go ahead.

This is an interesting question. G. Washington, September 10, 1752. Now I remember from sixth grade that the square root of three is George Washington's birthday, which is 1732. Okay, so that would make him 20 years old and it all fit and all seemed right, right? It was the reason at the age of 20, not having launched his military career as of yet, he was probably sitting around, what? Making sleds. Making sleds.

When you were 20, you were driving sleds. But he was making sleds, maybe for his own kids or for, you know, maybe little John Quincy Adams or one of those guys, who knows who the sled was for. So I'm ready to bid like 20 bucks on the thing, I figure, what the heck. I figured what the heck. Yeah, shoot the moon. When someone in the crowd stands up and says,

it's a fake. Ooh. He was right. Yeah. And how did he know? I mean, I remember when you- Now you could infer that George Washington didn't have any woodworking skills,

but that information is not present in this little statement in the puzzle. No, it isn't. Everything is here. I know, everything is here. I mean, I thought of, when you stated this puzzle last week, I thought of things like his name wasn't really George. His name was like Ira. And it shouldn't have...

Oh, Gary. And it shouldn't have said G G Washington, but I dismissed that. Yeah, I mean everyone knows his name was George Washington, otherwise he wouldn't be the father of the country. Yeah, so maybe he changed it though when he was 21, you know, I thought of stupid stuff like that. Could have been, but that information was not there either. That information wasn't there. The information that was there is the date. There you go.

Okay, now 17, the only thing, I mean this doesn't make any sense. How about there was no September 10th in 1752? Exactly right. No, get out of here! Of course there was a... Everyone overslept that day and they missed the whole day. No, in fact, the period of September 3 to September 12 was omitted from the calendar in 1752. What are you talking about? By worldwide decree, they decided to skip those days to make the calendar correct. The seasons were not falling in the right time. The calendar had gotten out of sync with the...

No, that can't be... Yeah. I mean, everything had gotten out of... Who sent you this? who sent you this? Who sent you this? G. Washington. Mount Vernon. No, I mean, that would mean, I mean, even in today's world, with email and satellites,

you couldn't coordinate something like that. I mean, how did they do it in 1752? It takes six months to get the word to Europe. Well, they didn't decide this in a fortnight. I guess they did. This was the result of a conference which undoubtedly took place in Europe, probably in Trent. And it was decided, well, collaboration

among world leaders and Raymond Balanci. Care of the station. I don't want to have anything to do with it. Cause this sounds bogus. What was happening quite simply is that summer wasn't starting until August. No, I mean, at the certain points of the calendar, you know, we have the winter solstice, we have the spring equinox is supposed to

occur at a certain date and that date is determined by when the sun crosses the meridian, okay. I'll cross it rather when the sun crosses the celestial equator, that begins spring, except it wasn't happening on March 20th. Well, why didn't they change that? Well, they did by, by knocking off all these days.

They fixed it just like that. Bingo. Yeah. Who's our winner? Come on. Let's not belabor this any more than we have to I mean if I'm wrong I'm wrong I can take it all right I hope I'm not wrong the winner is I can't take the embarrassment anymore I really can't I don't blame you the winner is Allen

Stein from Kingston New York Al you're gonna win one a copy of our latest album a collection of our favorite calls about couples in their cars. It's called Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford. And by the way, don't call the office and ask for these. They're only available through your station or through the Car Talk Shameless Commerce Division, whose number we give you at the end of the show. I mean, evidently Dougie was on the phone all day

getting calls about, can we get this album? And he doesn't even know what it is. No, and he's probably interrupted his calls to his bookie. In the meantime we'll take your calls at 1-800-332-9287. Hello you're on Car Talk. Hi this is Suzy in Carlsbad, California. With a Z or an S? It's a Z.

S-U-Z-Y? Yeah that's it. Carlsbad, California. And well I'm about to go on the adventure of a lifetime. Really? Are you getting married? No. No.

I'm going to drive a Volkswagen Vanagon from the... You don't have to tell us where you're going to drive it. That's already the adventure of a lifetime. Don't talk that way. We thought you were going to fly value jets someplace. Well, from the west coast to the east coast of Mexico, I'm going to end up in Tulum. Tulum is where the Mayan ruins are. Exactly. An incredible blue water.

Yes, and the Volkswagen ruins will probably be there too in a few weeks. Yeah, you can park right next to the Mayan ruins. Maybe make a few buts in the first want to see a vanagon? hey want to see pictures of my vanagon? so you're driving from the west coast of Mexico right, which coast? Puerto Vallarta well actually I'm gonna pick up my dad in Texas and then head down to the Gulf of Mexico.

So where is he in Texas? He's in Dallas. He's in Dallas. He's serious, driving ahead of you. So you're gonna drive, you're gonna enter Mexico in like Matamoros or some place like that. Right, uh-huh, yeah, that's our plan right now. Yeah.

Yeah, excellent. Can you send me a couple of Serapis? And then you're gonna drive to the ruins. Right, but I want to take the appropriate supplies and then also know, you know, what might I have to do to my car. And so right now, I'm gonna take like a small fire extinguisher. Yeah. And, you know, an extra battery, jumper cables, pliers, cutters.

Yeah. Rope for towing, a full service tire, five to six quarts of oil, a filter, 25 gallons of water. That's for my mom. She's going to fly down and we're going to pick her up. Why does she need 25 gallons of water? She wants to float across? I want her to have water from the States.

I see. Okay. Tell me what would be a typical repair maybe i would have to do how old is this vanagon it's an eighty seven but it's been rebuilt what's been rebuilt about it the engine engine

i have uh... a german mechanic that i happen to meet before i bought this can you bring him with you and maybe he would like to adventure of a lifetime too. That would be the best thing to do. So it's an 87 Vanagon, it's got a rebuilt engine. Did you have it rebuilt? No, the people that owned it before me, but he is the one that rebuilt it. Okay. So he's checking it out right now again. And how long have you had it? What's his name? Hans. His name is Ronnie. Now how long have you been driving the thing just a few weeks just a few weeks

i mean what's the worst thing that could happen if you broke down in the thing wasn't able to be fixed right then and there janu it just that no i mean it wouldn't it would be even more of an adventure because that's what part of the adventure is. Right, right, and I anticipate maybe that'll happen. Yeah, I mean we're all, we've all been somehow sucked into this theory that you go out to

the airport, you get on the plane, and you end up at the place you're supposed to be at and there's nothing that interferes, but if you stayed on the ground a lot of things would interfere and they would be what life was all about. Right. Instead of just getting from here to there. Mm-hmm. So I I'm all for it I think you should do it and I'm struggling with how many things would I bring with me? Yeah, I have no idea what it's like. I mean is it is it desolate in the middle of the country there? Mexico City's in the middle of the country Well, I've been on driving trips

there right but nothing is this extensive so I don't know I've just been in bits and parts of jungle roads. Does AAA do this? I've spoken with AAA. What did they say? Well the guy I had he wasn't he wasn't very knowledgeable about Mexico so I need to find another person but there is an emergency road service in Mexico I think they're called the green angels or something like that green yeah yeah they are the green angels don't forget to bring your badge What badge? In case someone says, we don't need no stinking badges. You'll have your badge.

Didn't you see that movie? What? Forget the whole, forget everything. Forget all the advice and all the questions. Go out and rent. You have a Blockbuster video where you are? Yeah, right. This is it. Go and rent perhaps one of the greatest movies.

Okay. The treasure? Starring Humphrey Bogart. Oh really? Walter Houston. Uh huh. And uh. People we don't know.

I'll give you a hundred dollars if you can tell me the name of the guy that said we don't need no stinking badges. The name of the movie is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Okay. Sounds good. And it is guys who are doing exactly what you're doing. Sort of. Kind of.

Yeah, that will tell you everything. It might be just the same. Now, as it was before. How long a trip is this going to be, Suze? Well, I anticipate about 10 days getting there. And then I have about 6 weeks altogether. Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm going to make make it you guys. It's sort of

I know you're gonna make it. You're gonna have a wonderful time. This is a brilliant idea When you're gonna do this when you're leaving starting next week a week from Friday I do have to call us can you call us from the road and we can do a little Yeah, a couple of days we can report on a little disaster log That would be great. It would be fun, huh? Yes, that would be great. You could keep us posted and you could then write the definitive book on how to drive across Mexico.

Yeah, with your help. Or we'd make a tape. Sure, and whatever problems you have, we'll solve them on the air. Okay. Won't that be? And we can air mail you parts? That's a dream come true. Let's do it. I love it.

Alright. I wish you the very best. Say hello to mom and dad. Okay, thanks. Talk to you next week. Rent the movie. Okay, Treasure of the... Carlos Padolla. Adios.

That's the name of the guy. Carlos Padolla? I believe. We don't need no stinkin' badges. That's the guy. They don't make better lines than that. We'll be right back with more calls and a new puzzler after these messages. Ha! Just when you thought it was safe to turn your radio back on, you've gotten us again.

You listened to Card Talk Talk from National Public Radio. We should start the show a half hour later. When you're expecting to hear some nice classical music and you gotta hear your voice. Come on. Anyway, you are listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair,

and an unsolicited testimonial, perhaps. Yeah. Sharon Holland, Cincinnati, Ohio. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Dear Clinton Clark, the beginning of this is actually very funny. After several years without a television, during which my sole staple of entertainment

was public radio, I got married. After one year of marriage, in which my sole staple of entertainment was my husband, I bought a television. That's not the point of the letter, though. We are avid fans of public television as well. And one evening while watching Full Circle with Michael Palin, is that how you pronounce his name? The guy who goes all around the world, 80 days. Yeah, something like that. It's a great show. I was surprised by an automotive choice with which you are familiar.

Palin visited Bogota, Colombia, a city with the highest murder per capita rate in the Western Hemisphere. He joined up with a reporter who travels the dark and dangerous alleys of the city investigating injustice, incurring the enmity of the drug cartels, risking his life daily and entrusting his safety to an automobile he described as unobtrusive and reliable. A dodge dart. While this intrepid reporter earned my respect by his selfless pursuit of truth and justice, I recognize that there comes a

point where bravery becomes foolhardiness. You make the call, Sharon Paulins. Unobtrusive and reliable. We do know that they have bulletproof engines if that is they sir carry anyway you touch that high I like that after a year I'm not a TV but he called out for a year not bad

not bad hey look it's time for the new puzzler and I thought thought I would, I would, uh, use an automotive puzzler. And this is a real bona fide true story. Cause it happened to none other than yours truly. No kidding. Has to do with my truck. Oh, I'll make it as, as, as brief. You know, me, I mean, I am a fan of brevity and succinctness and, and getting to the point.

I don't like to beat around the bush. I don't, I don't like to drag things out of it. I just like to get right to the point. I don't like to beat around the bush. I don't like to drag things out of it. I just like to get right to it because if you don't get right to it, you lose people's attention. And the next thing you know, they've changed the station. They're doing something else. They're raking leaves. I mean, who knows?

That's right. You've lost everybody. It's always good to just get right in there. Yeah. There you go. If you've got a puzzler to tell, man, tell it. Oh, the puzzler. My son comes to me a

few weeks ago, my older son Louie who's been driving, who drives my truck and he says, dad there's something wrong with the truck. I say what out of gas again? And he says no no. I start the thing up in the morning and I drive it and he said the radio stops working and the tape player won't work the whole thing is dead. He said and I drive it for a little bit and it comes on all by itself and it goes off. It goes, so I decide to fix it. Sure.

So I start, I take the thing into the shop one day and I notice as I'm driving to work. Tape player stops working. Stops working, but I do notice something interesting when I step on the gas, it stops working, when I take my foot off the gas and go to step on the break, it comes back. Oh, I take my foot off the break. I step on the gas and accelerate.

No kidding. It goes out. I said, huh, you know, he didn't notice that because he doesn't have the fine skills. Right. He's not tuned in. He couldn't tune in because the radio wouldn't work. So he wasn't tuned in. So I discovered this and I say, ha, it's got to be. Not tuned in. He couldn't tune in because the radio wouldn't even work. So he wasn't tuned in. So I discovered this and I say, ha!

There's got to be a loose wire under the dash and when I step on the gas pedal, somehow or another the throttle cable is moving this wire. When I take my foot off the gas. Yeah, it'll be a piece of cake to fix this baby. Piece of cake. After two hours under the dash, I have the worst headache and no solution. In fact, I determined there is no loose wire and there's current getting to the radio.

And in fact, the whole time I'm in the shop, I've got the key on and I'm moving everything around, nothing, everything works perfectly. I cannot make it not work. So I say, ha, I gave up on it that day and on driving it home, but of course did the same thing. And I noticed that when I pushed in the cigarette lighter, the radio thing. And I noticed that when I pushed in the cigarette lighter,

the radio worked. Worked! I pulled out the cigarette lighter. The radio stopped working. I pushed in the cigarette lighter and I'm holding it in. I'm holding it in Jerry. The radio was working the whole time until the cigarette lighter fuse blows. The radio stops working.

I said, Sonja, Henny's tutu. Wow. I continue driving home and I realize that I can't see. You've gone blind. I've gone blind. A non-functioning radio causes blindness and I can't see because I have no headlights. Both of my headlights are not working. What a coincidence. What a coincidence, I think, until the light goes on and I realize what's happening. Now, I could give you a lot more clues. No, I got plenty. But I think that may be enough.

I've got enough. I've got enough. It's enough for me. Well, why didn't you tell me what was wrong with it? Give me another two weeks to figure it out. Yeah, great. Great puzz out. Yeah. Great. Great, Puzzler. Well, maybe. If you think you know the answer or you just have nothing to do at work and you feel like taking a stab at this, mail your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge.

Our Fair City. MA 02238. Or, of course, you can email us your answer from our website Cartalk.msn.com. Just click on the Talk to Cartalk section. And if we choose your correct answer at random from among all the correct answers that we get, you'll get your very own copy of our brand new CD called Men Are From GM, Women Are From Florida, Some Other Gift From The Shameless Commerce Division's Holiday Boutique. Ho, ho, ho, ho! I mean ho ho ho. 1-800 is our number 3-3-2-9-2-8-7

hello you're on Car Talk. This is Debra. Hi Debra. Is that with a D? Yes it is. Where are you from Debra? I am calling from Arafair City to make a plane Boston Massachusetts. No kidding. Yeah. You know I've noticed that there are some people who have the name to make a plane boston massachusetts no kidding i've noticed that there are some people who have the name deborah uh... don't mind being called uh... and there are others like yourself absolutely hate hate is deb okay or deborah that's great that fine anyway deborah what's up

okay uh... i'd just pop my very very first car uh... it's an eighty nine hundred and it's about fifty five thousand miles on it i can't write and not great and i'm really bad at it

how i can't tell when i went to make up all over the streets of Boston. It's alright. And I'm driving the stick sh- well, people are beeping at me and the- Ah, pay no attention to them. Pay no attention to them whatsoever. Wave to them. I'm sick of everybody being in so much of a hurry. You don't even have to use the whole hand. Just one finger will be enough.

I mean, enough. So my problem is... just open the window and yell out i'm having a problem here and then maybe they'll back off well the problem is the car makes a really loud whining noise

and i'm not so worried about it that the car's going to blow up because the previous owner who's a friend of mine, told me that, you know, it's been making that noise for years, she's brought it into the shop a million times. Every time she brings it in, you know, it stops making a noise and the mechanics always say, oh, it's no problem, there's nothing wrong with it.

And under what circumstances does it make this whining noise? Wet, when it's raining or wet or snowing. Really? And actually, sometimes it, even when it's not, when it's dry. And does it do it when you're just sitting stopped? Or accelerating? Or when? When I'm going into first or second gear. When I'm just starting up. So you've put it into first gear, you're stepping on the gas,

have you let out the clutch yet? Well, you forget? You're attempting to let out the clutch. Right, right. And as you do that it goes whooo. Right, exactly. So this friend of yours, it's good, you're still speaking to this friend. Well, it depends.

So you could find out from this friend if he or she, is it she or he? She. If she, like, ever replaced the clutch. Oh, I replaced it two weeks ago when I got it. Ha! No, because you burned out the first one. You did.

Great. Well, she sold it to me for $200, and it needed a new clutch and she wasn't going to repair it so i kinda took it off her hands and repaired it i understand now and the noise was there both before and after the clutch exactly so we're going to eliminate the clutches of possibility good information is it just like a short little woo like that or is it woo

no it's long it's like a high pitched whining like woo short little like that or is it yeah and when you take your foot off the gas it stops almost immediately or it comes down it's regardless it just kind of winds down on its own she's I mean Deborah that's good I have no idea well it but I will have A belt comes to mind. I want to make a confession here. You weren't listening. I dozed off for a minute. Hahahaha!

So... Well, don't worry. I mean, we were only talking about Deborah's friend. Does it make the noise if you're not moving? No. Does it ever continue making the noise whether after you've come to a stop but the engine is still running? Yeah, if, yes. It, yeah. So you can't initiate the noise. And it will remain there until it finishes doing what it's doing. Exactly. Even if she stopped. Exactly. As though something is spinning around. Exactly. And it's got to finish spinning. Exactly.

And you know, there isn't a single piece of the car that does this and that's why we're struggling here where do you live well no it was the reason we're so insidiously on it is the car could blow up what part of Boston do you live in? Jamaica Plain. Can you get over here in half an hour? Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Gee, this is... I have a funny feeling. I have a funny feeling that it really doesn't have much to do

with the transmission or revving the engine or whatever. You don't think so? No, I have a suspicion it is a faulty timing belt tensioner, which will make... I mean, I don't know why it behaves this peculiarly, but that's the kind of noise that a timing belt tensioner would make, a faulty one. I like it. I'll go with it. And it'll stop making the noise. It's got ball bearings in it. And every once in a while

a bearing gets in the wrong place and the thing will go, woo, woo, woo, and just stop. I mean, it would be nice if you could bring it somewhere and make the noise happen when ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo by revving up the engine. Yes, I like that. And then it continues to do it even after you've slowed the engine down because it's gonna... that ball is gonna get back into place or get chewed up enough to start making the noise. Ooh, that's good. They're gonna have to take off the cover. There's a plastic cover.

So this could be bad. It could be bad because if the tensioner goes bad, the belt breaks and all the hell breaks loose. How much is it gonna cost? Oh, it's cheap. And while they're at it, they might as well throw a new timing belt in there. A new timing belt? The belt breaks and all hell breaks loose. How much is it going to cost? Oh, it's cheap. And while they're at it, they might as well throw a new timing belt in there. A new timing belt?

If this is what it is... And it is! And it is. And you don't do it. And the timing belt breaks as a result of it. It's goodbye engine, goodbye car, maybe goodbye Debra, and certainly... And hello, MBTATA and certainly goodbye friend so I would definitely have it looked at if my brother is right and I like it

only because I don't have anything else to suggest see you Deborah good luck good luck happy driving and I hope I don't drive one your only place that you are driving Well, it's I've like my brother or Deborah It's happened again. You've squandered another hour listening to car talk Our esteemed producer was dug the subway fugitive not a slave to fashion Berman our associate producer and You know the College of Autonomous Ecology is Ken babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Katherine crystal-ray She's ever been elevated to assistant producer? Since when? She's been demoted to assistant producer. Oh, demoted. That's what I meant. Our engineer is Jonathan Marston. Our technical and spiritual

advisor is Mr. John S. Lawler. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Marginne O'Vara. Our director of new product repair is Warren T. Myfoot. Our Staff Butler from the Car Talk Mumbai Division is Mahatma Kote. From the New Delhi Office, our Blues Coordinator is Mohammedan Tolmi. Our Document Security Expert from the Island of Jamaica

is Uriperdez Uppman. And our East Asian Used Car Expert is Alexander Sojanison. Our Avasive Driving Instructor is Vera Bruppley. Our Boston Traffic Director is Laura Biden. Our our director of moral support is you demand our bathroom tile installer is a lot of bullnose our chief justice is harry mental known on the benches judge mental and our leo tolstoy biographer is warren peace author of real tolstoy by warren peace our chief counselor from the law firm of dewey treatment how is you lou Louis Dewey known on the benches of Harvard Square as you were Louie Dewey

Thanks so much for listening. We're clicking clack the Tappet brothers and I got some words from our sister Yeah, doesn't want to be doesn't want to be mentioned mentioned in the same breath as us I'll say don't drive like my brother and I'll say don't drive like my brother and before we go I'd like to dedicate whatever laughs we had today to our old buddy, Richie Palmieri. Yeah, we'll be back next week. Bye bye. And now... With an important announcement, here is Card Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinnie Goombas. Vinnie?

Now, you're gonna keep your mouth shut for the rest of this announcement? Because I'd really appreciate that, you know? Sure, I can keep my mouth shut. Ah! Thank you! Now, if you just want a copy of this week car talk show, which is number 49 Yeah, here's what you gotta do. You're gonna give everybody I told you no talking the number to call is 303

8238 thousand if you wanted the new CD they would What are you dense or something about couples and cars? What would stop it? I can't take it! The one called men are from GM, women are from Ford. I gotta call my agent. This ain't working out. Look, if all of the Card Talk holiday gifts include Card Talk CDs, you call 303-823-8000, or you can peruse our shameless commerce division at cardtalk.msn.com.

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