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0:59

Hello

1:09

and

1:10

welcome to Car Talk on National Public

1:12

Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tapit Brothers, and

1:14

we're broadcasting this week from the Julius

1:16

Caesar Memorial parking garage here at Car

1:18

Talk Plaza. Hark! What is that I hear? Is it

1:20

the Idols of March? That was bad.

1:22

Is it the Idols of March? It

1:25

is. But it isn't the Idols of March you hear. It's

1:27

a rod knock. I think it must be your dart.

1:30

It doesn't knock when it's idling.

1:32

No? You give it a little gas. So

1:36

what's happening, man? I mean, I

1:38

saw you had important mail and then it disappeared.

1:41

I put it down in this little pile of junk. Interesting

1:43

note from Joyce Erickson from where?

1:46

Melissa's hometown, Seattle, Washington.

1:48

Is that where Melissa's from? Yes, I believe so. Anyway,

1:51

here's what Joyce has to say. Ever since Boutros

1:53

Boutros Ghali, as we know he's now a member

1:55

of our staff, C.V. Boutros Boutros

1:57

Ghali. That's his brother, C.V.

1:59

Secretary General of the United Nations, I've wondered

2:02

why he has two names. Butras

2:05

Butras Galley. For instance, was there

2:07

a power play between his parents when he was born,

2:09

or did they just really like the name Butras

2:12

so much they wanted to hear it as often as possible? Extensive

2:15

research on this question has not yet yielded

2:17

an answer, but I haven't covered many

2:19

other interesting facts about Butras Butras

2:22

Galley. For

2:24

example, I've learned that Butras Butras Galley's

2:27

favorite snack is a whole

2:29

hole. His favorite African

2:31

bishop is Desmond Tutu.

2:35

His favorite extinct bird is

2:37

the dole dole. His favorite

2:39

cellist,

2:41

Yomai. And

2:43

when he's around at home, he likes to

2:46

wear a moo

2:47

moo. And of course the

2:49

boots he wears are gogol boots,

2:51

his favorite prison, sing

2:54

sing. And what kind of jokes does he like? Knock

2:57

knock. Now,

3:00

it's a spoiler list. I have these

3:02

questions. Where does Butras

3:05

Butras Galley live and work? Don't

3:07

answer. We want to ask everyone who calls. Where

3:10

does he live and- If I know the answer anyway, right?

3:12

What is Butras Butras Galley's favorite

3:15

European health spa? Don't

3:17

answer. And what does Butras

3:20

Butras Galley call his Swedish grandfather?

3:23

I hope you all listeners can answer these pressing questions.

3:26

And in case you can't, he answers a pretty low

3:28

and very small type. Joyce, excellent.

3:32

Just the kind of stuff that we long

3:35

for. Insignificant

3:37

nonsensical garbage. I would

3:39

say that that's about as nonsensical and

3:41

insignificant a letter as we've gotten in a long time.

3:44

I love it. I know you do. You

3:46

gravitated right through that one. I jumped right on it. If

3:48

you'd like to call us, our number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello,

3:52

you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Una.

3:55

Is it

3:57

Una Pomerajian? No. Una

4:00

or Uma?

4:01

Una with an N. With an N? Yeah,

4:03

U-N-A. So who was Charlie Chaplin's wife? Una!

4:07

Oh no, her name was spelled O-O-N-A, was it not?

4:09

Well that's exactly how my name is spelled. Oh, oh

4:11

it is! Oh! Oh

4:13

I spelled it U-N-A. Well that's because I thought it

4:15

was Uma and I wrote U-M-A.

4:17

So Una. Yeah, like Charlie Chaplin's

4:19

wife. Which no one would know, except unless

4:22

you did the New York Times crossword puzzle

4:24

once in a while.

4:25

Well you know, because of all those vowels, they're so

4:27

excited. They

4:27

are. Oh yeah. When you get four vowels,

4:30

three vowels and a four letter word, boy. Boy,

4:32

you're doing well. That makes every puzzle

4:34

editor happy. Where are you from? Uma? Una?

4:36

I'm from Baltimore. Baltimore, Baltimore.

4:39

Okay. Yeah. What's up? Well,

4:41

I'm calling about my very cute

4:44

Honda Civic who I'm dearly attached to. Mm-hmm.

4:47

Um, and she's a 91 and

4:50

her clutch is, it's sort of, it's

4:52

like the clutch point is moving around.

4:54

Oh, probably not moving around as

4:56

much as it's moving up.

4:58

Well, no, actually sometimes it moves down too, because sometimes

5:00

I fall out.

5:02

Oh yeah? Yeah.

5:03

Yeah? Well, because you're letting the clutch

5:05

off

5:06

too fast because you're expecting it to engage

5:08

higher and it engages lower and bigger. Right, because

5:10

I've driven her now for a very long time and I know her very

5:12

well. And so-

5:13

Yes, you do.

5:14

So what happens is when I'm like coming

5:17

off the clutch, I know exactly where she's

5:19

supposed to engage. So you know, I'm waiting for her to

5:21

do her little thing where she gets all excited and happy

5:23

like she's going to catch.

5:24

And sometimes she does and sometimes

5:26

she don't. But

5:27

sometimes it's much higher

5:29

or sometimes it's much lower. And so both of

5:31

those make me very nervous.

5:32

I don't blame you.

5:33

This could be very expensive.

5:34

Mm-hmm.

5:36

This will be, let me see, I'll

5:38

give you a number on this.

5:39

Uh, 329. Well,

5:42

no.

5:43

Would you like to put a degree of

5:45

uncertainty on that?

5:46

Yeah, I'll put a hundred percent-

5:48

Would that be $400 of uncertainty? No,

5:52

no, no. I'm going to put 300- We're working on different

5:54

premises here. No, I think I'm working on the right

5:56

premise. I do. Well, I have to ask

5:58

a few questions, Your Honor. you when

6:00

you do you know i don't know that i'm in the right

6:02

ballpark if you will forget a little bit with the term

6:05

they use a little uh... latitude

6:07

yeah little attitude around i'll give you

6:09

some latitude and some longitude your honor

6:11

oh my goodness that order yet you have

6:13

an excess of seventy thousand miles

6:16

in this vehicle no

6:17

no i don't know if you didn't

6:19

want that answer did you

6:22

i don't know i have a i think i'll

6:24

go you were looking for that it's not where you

6:26

know but i have a backup position she

6:28

doesn't even believe you know that i don't know if

6:30

you don't know how to get well you have

6:32

fifty thousand you do you know

6:34

here forty nine seven hundred

6:36

i mean i i i just felt

6:38

a one this will you do it i don't know

6:40

how to do it i don't want

6:42

to have a feeling of what it is what it's bad

6:45

yeah you're in a lot of trouble with a

6:47

perfect you all city driving primarily

6:51

and overwhelming majority amount

6:53

of and if you get his weather because i heard

6:55

her collection i think how

6:57

might that have to take a drive on the car don't

7:00

know how to make it you know

7:03

i live in the baltimore which is

7:05

you know that quickly thinking of living

7:08

right on the new jersey turnpike or something but

7:11

i you know she i sort of have

7:13

to learn how to tell park everything

7:15

all your first car with a very

7:17

guilty conscious you know i'm worried guilty

7:19

calling your voice you know

7:22

you've got this clutch but you're hoping that

7:25

we come up with a ten dollar and exactly

7:26

all you know what i'll be so excited

7:29

well i'll think you could get from

7:30

moving a little help you know when i heard that lot

7:32

what about how much of the engagement point

7:35

very from from which best to its worst

7:37

well i've never really measured it

7:38

for example are there any times

7:40

when you move that pedal uh... an

7:43

eighth of an inch off the floor in the car begins to move

7:46

that's good quarter of an inch

7:48

uh... half i

7:50

think that's really a cheap thought out which is really

7:52

the private rate she never shake she doesn't shake

7:54

or anything so i don't know she could do it i think

7:56

early she thought that they'd be like a inch and a half off the

7:59

bottom of the floor

7:59

in case you're expecting it to engage like three

8:02

inches off the floor you get a three-and-a-half long

8:04

time but you know engagement point was very consistent

8:06

it was right in the middle maybe you

8:08

know right in the middle an inch up and down

8:10

but right in the middle

8:11

mm-hmm yeah

8:13

I think your clutch is disintegrating

8:16

you do no you don't want to say that yeah all

8:18

right I don't think it's gonna well

8:21

what when you were learning to drive

8:23

a stick shift whenever that

8:25

was 1991 how how

8:29

long did it take you to learn

8:31

well I wasn't what

8:34

they'd call a

8:36

speedy

8:38

learner

8:38

in a quick study

8:40

that's right I mean

8:42

I didn't take I wasn't in the tracking

8:45

program

8:45

that took me five years

8:47

but okay but you did have a period

8:50

of months during which you

8:52

did a lot of extended trauma

8:55

extended transit did you feel at any

8:57

point that you should have been put in the remedial program

8:59

so you're still you're still butchering this

9:02

clutch well you

9:11

may not be anymore but I think

9:14

we will agree I think you have a agreement to

9:16

do my brother and me we do yeah that you

9:18

probably have wrecked it

9:19

well it is unusual for a car

9:21

with only 49,000 miles on it but I mean it's a small price

9:23

to pay

9:27

for learning how to do something which is as important

9:30

as learning is how to drive a stick shift yeah

9:32

what's happening I believe

9:34

is the times it engages very close to the floor

9:36

those unexpected

9:38

engagements yeah oh when a piece

9:40

of the clutch has come off somehow and

9:42

is weighing in between right the cover

9:44

and the end of the game there you go yeah

9:47

this is gonna cost you probably around 600

9:49

bucks

9:50

oh no what happened to 329 I kind

9:52

of what was the estimate that was the estimate we just

9:54

looked at it damn and it sounds 600 the 329 was based

9:58

on the car not having all these

10:01

miles on it, which you answered correctly, but

10:03

it didn't count the fact that you had learned

10:05

to drive that way. Of

10:08

course, you could have been like many of our callers and not divulged

10:10

that, in which case we would have fallen

10:12

into a trap and gone in for clutch adjustments

10:15

and things like that. Right, but I think

10:17

you need a clutch, Una. This is very unfortunate. Yeah,

10:19

well, you'll be a lot too bad. You'll be a better

10:21

driver.

10:22

I feel very sad. I've always liked your show.

10:24

Well,

10:28

we lose many listeners like this. Maybe

10:31

you'll change your mind in a few months. Right after I

10:33

recover from the day. Right.

10:35

I mean, if that $600

10:37

goes away, you won't notice anything

10:39

and you'll tune in again. Right. Let's

10:42

see, maybe the end of the summer will talk to

10:44

you again. Good luck. Thanks

10:46

for calling, Una. Thanks an awful lot. Bye-bye.

10:49

Okay. Hey, we've got more calls in the Puzzler answer coming up

10:51

right after this.

10:58

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13:09

Okay, we're gonna try this again because the last

13:11

couple of weeks, actually, I think last week you actually

13:13

did succeed. You did have

13:15

a modicum of success with this process.

13:18

I got all the answers wrong, as I remember. This

13:20

is the word association thingy. Word association. In an

13:22

effort to get, to lead you. To lead me into the

13:24

puzzle. Okay. Number

13:27

one, esteemed producer. Doug

13:30

Berman. Very good. Yellow,

13:33

submarine. Okay, good.

13:35

Mazda.

13:35

Miata.

13:37

Don't block the driveway. Good.

13:40

Mon.

13:41

Mon? Yeah, Mon. Mon back.

13:43

There you go. Yeah, how am I doing? Yeah,

13:46

you did pretty well. You missed. I missed them

13:48

all. No, you missed one. I just

13:50

went, which one? Yellow. That was snow. Oh.

13:53

So you got Dougie, snow, Miata,

13:56

driveway, and back. So

13:58

you got all the essential. all the essential ingredients

14:01

all that's missing is a few articles and punctuation

14:03

i happen to remember what the puddle

14:05

was last week because it was sold

14:10

yeah i thought it was well bad for remember

14:12

i was not the author of this i was there that

14:14

i have i would really be transcribe

14:16

or deliver and i recall it had something

14:18

to do with dougie not want to get out of

14:20

the old and back to the car and i was

14:23

right way you want to go ahead is what he

14:25

is what he did we had a snowstorm a few weeks ago and

14:27

that he had me out of park industry was more

14:30

than a few weeks ago source just

14:32

like but speak technically correct why

14:34

bar one-time why bother and

14:37

he's anyway decided go out put the top

14:39

up and move it off the streets of the problem that

14:41

national it like they did the last time we had

14:43

that i think snowstorm anyway he showed

14:45

the spot is driveway if he's

14:47

basically a lazy bomb he

14:49

showed the spot is barely big enough to fit the

14:52

car so you think

14:54

it's a bike living the spot now is a snow is tapering

14:56

off to be able just blast right out of the morning

14:58

get to work bright and early so

15:01

you claim the coach before rogers get there so

15:05

he backs the barrels into that spot he

15:07

shoveled out shuts the engine off and goes

15:09

inside for the night with the belief that everything will be perfect

15:12

tomorrow morning yeah lucky guy he

15:14

comes out tomorrow morning the next morning that is

15:17

just before noon showing up the car

15:19

sitting right there with a dusting of snow

15:22

on it and of course the city of cambridge

15:24

is plowed an eight-foot wall of ice

15:26

at the end of his driveway but he's not worried because

15:28

he's confident that he's gonna get in turn the key

15:30

blast right through

15:32

blast yeah that's the technique

15:34

for he gets it he turns the key a wall around my around

15:39

my mind the other one

15:41

over and over and over and

15:43

over and over and over and over and over and easy

15:45

ditches the thing he gets a toad

15:48

okay

15:49

he gets a total the shop a few hours later they

15:51

try to start it up at the shop starts

15:54

right up

15:56

he says Sonia Hennies Tutu okay

15:58

they haven't page Starbucks where he's

16:00

been sipping coffee for three and a half hours. They

16:03

tell him there was nothing wrong with it nothing

16:05

at all But there was something

16:07

wrong with what he did the night before. Yeah

16:12

Pretty good, huh? Well,

16:18

I mean it is an interesting little story

16:20

it is it is an interesting little story

16:22

and I mean what I didn't mention I guess

16:24

I should have mentioned but it's it's pretty oh and

16:27

I know one of these little what do you

16:29

call them? Something in the puzzler

16:31

which is misleading Was

16:35

there anything misleading in the night I don't think there was

16:37

actually He says the problem it

16:39

was too direct But everything you needed to

16:41

solve this was and more was here

16:44

and more much more Yeah, you

16:46

hardly needed more than a sentence. Well when

16:48

they told the car to the heated garage

16:51

The car started up readily after a few

16:54

hours because no melted the snow that was

16:56

in the tailpipe Melted what Dougie

16:58

did when he blasted in he

17:01

barely act if I mean puzzle it could have been

17:03

one line Dougie backed his car

17:05

into a snowbank and the next day it wouldn't start and

17:08

you managed to Embillish

17:11

that one sentence improve improve Billish

17:14

improve a fusquate that one sentence

17:16

into two or three paragraphs and

17:18

I think you sufficiently smarty

17:21

kids This week you do

17:23

the puzzler. Let's see. Let's see how

17:25

crummy a job you do So

17:27

he bare anyway to end this he

17:29

had backed into the driveway This the tailpipe

17:32

got packed with snow and it sat

17:34

then froze overnight the next morning when he got

17:36

out It was then tried to start it was tantamount

17:38

to having a potato in the tailpipe

17:41

And of course getting told to the garage where it was nice and

17:44

warm allowed the ice to melt and it started

17:46

right up and there was in fact nothing wrong with it per

17:48

se and Do we

17:50

have a winner 6,000 yes,

17:55

we do with a one that we picked out of the 6,000 is Mark

17:57

Goldberg

17:59

from Ridgeland, Mississippi,

18:02

and for being smarter than Dougie, which

18:04

is not such a great feat, Mark, so don't get

18:06

your head fat, you know? For

18:08

having your correct answer chosen at random

18:10

this week, you will get not only

18:13

a Car Talk Travel mug, which is worth at least a

18:15

buck and a half, but you will also get

18:17

a cassette copy of this, this very

18:19

show, the one on which we are announcing

18:22

your name, Mark Goldberg. And if you didn't

18:24

win the puzzle this week and you want a copy of the

18:26

show anyway, we'll give you the number that

18:28

you can call to get it later on. If we remember

18:31

later on. Anyway, we will have a,

18:33

I'm confident, mediocre

18:35

new puzzler coming up during the second half of the show

18:37

because my brother- How much

18:40

time do I have to come up with? Big mouth. 15 minutes

18:42

or so? Yeah, is gonna do it. In the meantime, if

18:44

you'd like to call us and ask us a question,

18:46

the number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello,

18:49

you're on Car Talk.

18:50

It's Rita here from Denver. Rita!

18:53

How you doing?

18:53

Hey, Rita. Hey. The

18:56

airport open, huh? And

18:58

wasn't it auspicious? I heard on

19:00

the radio the other day that the

19:03

very first flight that arrived, they

19:05

pulled it up to the gate

19:07

and the gateway mechanism didn't work

19:10

and they had to push everybody out

19:12

the emergency hatch. You

19:14

jump out, it's only 45 feet down to the

19:16

ground. I'm really looking forward to that. It's

19:18

gonna be great. Well, when they get all the

19:21

bugs worked out, it will be a wonderful airport

19:23

that the city of Denver will be proud to

19:25

have spent $4 billion. So,

19:27

Rita, what's up?

19:30

I have an 85 Ford tumble,

19:33

which has given me a lot of trouble,

19:34

but the recent problem is the trunk.

19:37

A couple of years ago, it wouldn't open.

19:40

So, I found that if I gently put my

19:42

Colorado boot against the lock of

19:44

the trunk and kicked it just a little,

19:46

it would pop open. And

19:49

I did that for a while and one day I went

19:51

out to the shopping mall

19:53

and got to my car. Again,

19:55

it wouldn't open. So, I gave it a gentle

19:58

kick. It didn't work. gave it

20:00

you know the keys in and I gave it another gentle

20:02

kick and I looked in the back

20:04

window and it wasn't my car.

20:06

And

20:10

the owner was coming

20:12

down fast on you. With a mad dog.

20:16

Well I found my car

20:18

and I gave it the gentle kick and it opened.

20:21

I continued to have trouble and someone said

20:23

use this W40 whatever. Did

20:25

the D40.

20:26

And it worked for a while and

20:28

then it didn't work again so I got back into

20:30

the kicking procedure.

20:31

Well the WD40 would

20:33

only be good if the key were not moving

20:35

smoothly and in some rare cases the

20:38

WD40 would act as a lubricant although it's really not a lubricant

20:40

in fact it says so right on the container.

20:43

When it wouldn't open you put the key into

20:45

the trunk lock. Did the key turn?

20:48

It would turn with difficulty. With difficulty.

20:51

Okay sure. So the WD40 would

20:53

try. Well it wouldn't work but it's actually WD40

20:56

is a water displacer. Right.

20:58

And what you have probably is rust

21:01

in that lock.

21:01

Well rust though the tumblers are jammed

21:03

up you needed probably graphite more than anything.

21:06

We did that finally a couple of weeks

21:08

ago. Did that help? It worked for a day.

21:10

Out for a day. Well when

21:12

it did work and you got the trunk open

21:14

you should have driven to the body shop and had them replace

21:17

the lock. Which you can do very

21:19

easily and relatively inexpensively.

21:21

Really? Yeah except. Only if you can

21:23

get the trunk open. Yes. Oh she

21:26

can always get it open. No you can get a boot. They'll drill

21:28

out the lock.

21:29

They'll drill it out but it has to be open when

21:31

I get there. Well it's

21:32

a lot easier. No no they'll do it. They'll

21:34

open it for you. Well they will. Yeah they'll

21:36

use a hammer. Oh because they can kick harder than I can?

21:38

They can kick harder than me. No no they have their waste.

21:40

They will actually remove the cylinder. They'll

21:43

attract it with a dent puller or who knows.

21:45

They'll drill it out

21:46

and then they will go in there and they'll open the trunk and

21:49

they'll put a new one in there. Wonderful.

21:52

With an 85 tempo. Yeah.

21:54

This is the most exciting problem

21:56

you could come up with. Oh there's lots more.

21:59

i like the story about the parking

22:02

lot and i've got some

22:04

power that i have to be you

22:06

know it three-day well it's been

22:08

thirty days and i could get the trunk

22:10

all i think if you if you call them you've had extenuating

22:13

uh... circumstances yeah i think

22:15

though

22:16

yet and send your tape copy of the

22:18

show and i'll tell them to listen to car talk

22:21

right they'll give me my money back it will work

22:23

right uh... i think

22:25

that i mean it but alright hey

22:28

stick around for more calls and the new public

22:30

coming right up

22:35

it's also maybe you're figuring

22:38

out your halloween costume or where to order

22:40

a pumpkin

22:40

spice latte and if you're figuring

22:43

out what that the movies tv shows

22:45

and music you should check out this fall we've

22:47

got you covered listen to the pop culture

22:49

happy hour podcast

22:50

from npr

22:58

the

23:10

however back to the car talk

23:12

on national public radio we

23:15

didn't attempt to discuss cars

23:17

car repair and

23:18

and i order of potentially useful

23:21

information this is this is potentially useful

23:23

or make it quick we don't want to do not funny

23:25

but i do have a couple of funny things here mariam

23:28

done bar from cordova alaska

23:31

uh... i'd like to give my words right next to exxon

23:33

valdiz i would like to give my

23:35

words of wisdom wisdom about a problem that

23:38

was on your show last fall

23:42

a woman called what's built what they are in

23:44

her cars carpeting and now that terrible

23:46

small saw a look at her car you suggest you

23:48

suggested that she cut away the carpet

23:51

since there was no way of getting rid of the smell

23:53

i really i remember that i remember that rather i

23:55

think i have another answer although it is probably

23:58

too late for the woman who calls you from the and

24:00

cut up her car, right? A five

24:02

gallon bucket of, when I first

24:04

read this, I read this twice, a five

24:06

gallon bucket of cut up halibut.

24:09

I thought she was proposing this as a solution,

24:12

but that's not true, as you'll see. Spilled

24:15

on the carpeting in the back of my Subaru.

24:18

The stench got so bad that my

24:20

children were gagging every time we took a short

24:22

ride. I tried detergents, deodorants,

24:25

air fresheners, baking soda, everything.

24:27

Oh, you can't cover up a smell like that. You

24:29

must eradicate or die. Now

24:32

here we are. Then a friend who grew

24:34

up on a farm and is now a fisherman told

24:37

me to pour a gallon

24:39

of vinegar

24:42

on the carpet. Oh, I believe that. He explained

24:44

that the halibut juice had gotten underneath,

24:47

bacteria would continue to grow

24:49

and send out a putrid odor until

24:51

the bacteria was killed. The

24:54

vinegar would do that without damaging the carpet.

24:57

I tried his remedy and it worked. My

24:59

car smelled like sauerkraut for a few days,

25:02

but that went away. My friend told me

25:04

this works for milk too, since that was

25:06

what they used it on on the farm.

25:09

I would be thrilled if you share this tidbit with

25:11

your listeners. And although we only have 50 miles

25:14

of road, the only way cars can leave is

25:16

by ferry.

25:17

I find your advice fascinating. Keep up the good

25:19

work, Miriam. Dunbar, Cordova.

25:21

So we are now recommending

25:23

this procedure. Well, I don't know. Miriam says it

25:25

works. I'm recommending that people

25:27

try it. The more important question is, who gets

25:30

sued

25:30

when it doesn't work? Miriam? Miriam. All right.

25:33

Miriam. She's from Cordova, Alaska.

25:35

So if you try it and it doesn't work, you

25:38

just write to her directly. Okay, that's all I want to

25:40

be saying to you. That's all. Okay,

25:42

that's great. Now, okay, time for your new puzzler.

25:44

Go ahead, go for it, man. Okay, I'm gonna

25:46

give you one, man. I'm gonna give you a puzzler. Here

25:49

it comes.

25:50

As you know, I'm into derivations

25:55

of words. And

25:57

as you also know, I am a Latin.

26:00

Scholar having won the Latin prize when

26:02

I was in kindergarten right

26:04

according to my mother All

26:08

right Back

26:10

in Roman times You

26:13

know I said all roads lead to Rome

26:16

Well, there were many roads which in fact did

26:18

lead to Rome and in fact

26:21

there were some so look to me for help You

26:25

are strictly on your own I just said just

26:27

help me out guys I don't want

26:29

you to help me Look at all I'm asking

26:32

You don't hinder me in any way I'm just sitting here

26:34

minding my own business but don't ask for help you never

26:36

help me when I'm going down Sure

26:43

did you help me when Rogers gave me that bogus

26:45

puzzler about the subway dodges?

26:48

Yeah that's geez, Cleveland Dodges Go

26:51

ahead I'm sorry I ate the record Now many of these

26:53

roads which lead to Rome Intersected

26:56

in fact there were many times when there would be intersections

26:59

of roads And

27:02

on some occasions there were time there

27:04

were places where not only two roads intersected

27:06

But even three roads intersected

27:09

right some were going to Rome some were going

27:12

to who knows where right?

27:13

Yeah, right

27:16

Good now

27:17

You ready for this? I've been ready for about 15

27:20

minutes. Yeah now get this

27:23

It was a it was a practice and I'm

27:25

gonna this is a big hint here. It was a practice

27:29

But because of the confluence

27:31

of these three roads people would sometimes

27:34

stop hang around have a smoke coke and a joke Talk

27:37

about things and even like

27:39

leave messages for their friends Right

27:43

tack them up on the little stone pillars there the

27:45

stellas as we used to call back there in

27:48

ancient Rome And they would tack

27:50

up little notes and items of

27:52

interest

27:53

aha okay now might

27:56

now the question the

27:58

question

27:59

I thought the question was do you understand that? An

28:05

interesting

28:06

English word

28:08

derives from this little story

28:10

that I just told you. From this little practice? From this little

28:12

story that I... embedded in the little

28:14

story I just told. Oh, I'm sorry.

28:17

There is an English word.

28:18

What is it and how come it

28:20

derives from this

28:22

little story? That's two parts,

28:24

A and two. Jesus, this

28:26

is historic. Historic? Folkloric?

28:30

Poorly crafted. Poorly crafted? Someone

28:32

interesting. Someone interesting. And almost

28:35

gonna be impossible to remember so you won't be able to repeat

28:37

it next week. I can't repeat it. But I'm

28:39

off the hook for another week because I don't even give an answer next week. It

28:42

is great. It is great. Are

28:44

there any other parts of the show that you might be able

28:46

to do without me? I could do the whole damn show

28:48

without you. Great. I've told you that

28:50

before. In fact, I do most of the show without you now. All

28:54

you do is sit on my knee and I move

28:56

the little thing behind and your mouth goes up and down. If

28:59

you think you know the answer, write that answer on the

29:02

back of anything you want. No, no, I'm supposed to say that

29:04

part. I'm sorry. We have

29:06

to have a complete role reversal here. Okay,

29:08

good. If you think you know the answer, write it on the back of

29:11

anything you want except fruit. No

29:14

fruit. And

29:16

send it to... Oh, great. This

29:19

is not part two. And send it to... The

29:21

lead more coaching. Puzzler

29:25

Tower,

29:26

Car Talk Plaza, Post Office

29:28

Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge...

29:31

Our fair city. Very good.

29:34

Massachusetts 02238. And

29:37

if your answer is correct and we choose it at random

29:39

as this week's winner, next week's winner actually,

29:42

you could win not only a cheap plastic

29:44

Car Talk travel mug, but also a cheap

29:47

plastic cassette copy of the show on

29:49

which you are announced as the winner

29:51

of the puzzler. Not so easy doing all that,

29:53

is it? Oh, boy, that's a lot. If you'd like to call

29:55

us, number 1-800-332-9287. Hello,

29:58

you're on Car Talk. i got

30:00

to pick andy from brighten massachusetts

30:03

you know i don't know where you backyard here

30:05

right now what's up man not

30:07

too far away from you guys know we can practically

30:09

each other at the window exactly what

30:12

we don't have any window uh... you know

30:14

look at a wall that uh... what's

30:16

up and they look at you guys we uh... my

30:18

wife and i have a nineteen ninety

30:21

honda accord the act uh...

30:25

in a very nice car for if we do

30:27

a lot of traveling in every weekend we leave

30:29

the city and just

30:31

recently i think within the last couple months

30:33

it's developed funny noise

30:37

and there's a little bit of uh... discussion

30:39

on my wife and my part as to when

30:42

this noise occurs i can tell you

30:44

that when we hear it

30:47

it sounds kind of like a horse braying

30:50

uh... it it goes probably

30:53

next mother of the fact that the fact that

30:56

the well-brukered

31:02

at and the discussion is uh... when

31:05

i believe that

31:07

whenever i catch the break regardless

31:09

of how lightly i touch it

31:11

this noise comes on

31:13

and then goes away and my wife feeling

31:15

is that that the noise occurs at any old

31:18

time and it could both be

31:20

right

31:21

uh... there's room here to accommodate

31:23

both positions well but i

31:25

don't know you know that the very important that you'll

31:28

be right you'd be wrong which case we don't have the answer

31:30

to make sure that that's the case i've

31:32

got a good marriage and i want to know that we are going

31:34

to know who's right doesn't matter what's just

31:36

solve the problem okay sure

31:39

if you have a million miles of this yet uh...

31:43

but eighty five ninety thousand you

31:45

must have had a great job done yeah

31:47

we did once once to this thing how

31:49

recently

31:50

uh... out a while ago now

31:52

you've had several probably not know

31:54

if only had one all actually

31:57

i can't say that we have to take the thing to the dealer

31:59

and know what they did when they had it. They

32:02

went into the big bathroom. Ah, so that was exactly my question.

32:04

The last break shot was done probably not

32:06

by the dealer. But that's correct. It

32:08

was done by an aftermarket place. But

32:11

the reality is that if it did

32:13

have this problem when we brought

32:16

it to the repair guy the second time, they did fix

32:18

it. It's only recently that this thing's been happening. Again,

32:21

the point is that my wife believes that it happened

32:23

not when she's putting the break on. So,

32:25

you know. Can you make the sound?

32:28

Yeah, he described it. I'm going to do it though. Again,

32:31

okay

32:32

it goes... Ahhhhhh!

32:34

Kind of like that. Beautiful,

32:36

isn't that good? One more time, man. Excellent!

32:39

Okay, ready?

32:40

Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhh! If

32:42

they ever revive the Western. The

32:44

radio Western, that is. Call me. There's

32:47

a spot for you. It doesn't work for you, man. Oh, I need

32:49

the money. Well, I think the problem

32:51

is one of your calipers is sticking. Yeah.

32:54

And that's why we have to deal with the break. That's why we can accommodate

32:56

both stepping on the breaks or

32:59

not stepping on the breaks because it can happen either time.

33:02

Huh. And now I don't really understand

33:04

that. Why would it...

33:06

Why does the caliper not come back? Right.

33:09

Exactly. Right. When

33:11

it's sticking, it's because it's engaging. It means it's meeting

33:13

up with the rotor which is spinning around and

33:16

it shouldn't be. But when

33:18

you step on the break, the caliper which is an hydraulic

33:21

device has pistons in it which are pushing

33:23

the pads against the disc. Right. Just

33:26

like on your bicycle except on a bicycle it's

33:28

not hydraulic. But when you squeeze

33:31

that little thing on the handlebars, you know

33:33

how those two little rubber looking things

33:35

squeeze the wheel? Yeah, those are the pads. Those are the brake

33:37

pads. Exactly what the brake pads do. Okay. Gotcha.

33:40

But if it doesn't release, you can get, as your bicycle will do, too, you can get

33:43

a noise. You can get the bike to make almost the

33:45

same noise except it's not a real horse.

33:47

It's sort of like a little pony. Donkey. Right.

33:50

More like an elephant. Right. So

33:52

if you... One of two things can happen. If it

33:54

doesn't release and you continue to drive, you'll get the

33:57

noise. Or sometimes as you begin to step

33:59

on the brake... and make the pads begin to

34:01

engage, in other words touch the disc, the

34:03

vibration of the pads can cause the noise too.

34:06

So it could be that the problem is that the caliper

34:09

is sticky or it could be there's nothing wrong

34:11

but there's something wrong with what's called the brake hardware, that

34:13

is those pieces that keep the pads

34:15

from moving around because it's those slight movements

34:18

of the pads that cause the noises, believe it or not.

34:21

So maybe if you had an aftermarket brake

34:23

job done and they didn't buy the pads from Honda,

34:25

they didn't get all the little springs and clips

34:28

and all that paraphernalia that

34:30

is designed to make these noises not be there. And

34:32

the tarot cards which allow you to put them in the

34:34

right way. So it

34:36

could be that, and I know when we buy aftermarket

34:39

brake pads which we try to avoid because we have

34:41

these kinds of problems, you don't get

34:43

all that hardware in them in the kit. Now

34:46

the big question of course is, is this dangerous? Well it

34:48

isn't dangerous per se except if there is

34:50

a sticky caliper it's going to get worse and worse

34:52

and you should get it fixed because it's eventually

34:54

going to chew up the pads and the disc can cost

34:57

you $1000. The most important thing

34:59

though Andy is that

34:59

both you and your wife are right

35:02

about this. Excellent! Very

35:04

good to be glad to hear that. Alright one more time before we

35:06

say goodbye. I'm fixing the noise because it was too good. Oh, the

35:08

horse then. Yeah,

35:11

okay. See you Andy. Thanks for coming. Bye

35:13

bye. Bye. Well

35:15

you voiced it. He did that well. He did.

35:18

He was good. I'm telling you this says well. He

35:20

did. He was good. I'm telling

35:22

you this says work there for him. You've wasted another perfectly good

35:24

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35:27

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36:49

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36:51

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36:54

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