#1014: We're Just Here to Steer the Ship

Apr 03, 2010
This week on Car Talk, after one especially unhelpful call, Tom voices the question that so many listeners have asked over the years, "What are we doing here, anyway?" Happily, Ray is at the ready to solve his brother's existential crisis by explaining that their proper roles have little to do with giving correct answers. Crisis dismissed, it's on to an epidemic of things flying through the hood of cars--for Mark in Connecticut it's the new spark plug he put in his fiancee's Geo Tracker, and for Ray in Utah, it could be his entire blower motor. And, can an odometer be off by a factor of 10, or is Ruth-in-Virginia's son having a little too much fun in their 1970 Dart? All this and lots more on this week's encore edition of Car Talk.

Show Open Topic

Disorder in the Court! Some of our favorite questions and answers from courtroom proceedings.

This Week's Puzzler

You have two glasses: a four-ounce one, and a nine-ounce one. How can you measure six ounces?

Last Week's Puzzler

Just how exactly did the company van fall apart?

As Read on Car Talk



6 Comments

Show Review - 1144

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Youz Knuckleheads!

On the guy who had the projectile spark plugs after replacing them.. You recommended he just torque them down. I think that he may have had the firing order mixed up. He said it was running badly before, and that was a little better after he replaced the plugs, but he didn't say it was running well. If the firing order is wrong, is it not possible that it fired at a time when the piston was blocked from moving by the cam? That would result in the conversion of the cylinder into a gun, with the spark plug as bullet.
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Steer the ship? What do cattle have to do with ships?
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But wasn't the Nissan nine years old?

Overall a great time. I would be curious about the service record and mileage on the Austin graduate Julia's gift from her folks. It sounded like the guys were giving advise as if hers was a NEW car.
Favorite Moment: 
Going into the break when Tommy goes off, "I was at the top of my game..." Good stuff. "I coulda been a contenda!"
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Synthetic oil

1. Splendid Show, Congratulations and Thanks! Brings joy to our lives, and knowledge, too. 2. After changing oil in a Delta 88 1999 (old but not original motor of unknown mileage), oil started to leak. Our mechanic proposed explanation: switching from mineral to synthetic oil. A search on the Net confirms such a possibility. So maybe this switch is not always a good thing. Regards Wladyslaw Jaxa-Rozen Canduac, Quebec
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the runaway odometer

As a prosecuting attorney, I want the case against the sixteen year old and his dodge sart with the toyota odometer. Com'un guys my nitwit brother who always got checked off on his report card "waste times and annoys others" "capable of better work" (untrue) would vote to convict. A great show
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These guys kill me

I used to hang out with guys like this, then I wound up in jail LOL
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