#1114: The Volvo Valhalla

Apr 02, 2011
This week on Car Talk, Spring is here, and non-working Volvos are in full bloom in Jilinda's back yard. Her husband is collecting them as parts' cars, but Jilinda would just as soon part with them. Meanwhile, George accidentally poured windshield washer fluid into his brake fluid reservoir, and is now worried that stepping on the brakes will give him a clean windshield, but won't stop the car. Also, a cell phone does a disappearing act in a Dakota's vents; and, on Stump the Chumps, did Tom and Ray save Mary Gordon from her one-note nightmare? All this, plus a new Puzzler from the Last Gasp of the Fiat series, and lots more, this week on Car Talk.

Show Open Topic

What would you call those icy heaps of slush that get stuck in your wheel well during winter? Tom and Ray share their favorite suggestions.

This Week's Puzzler

A leaky Fiat comes to a stop with an empty tank. Can you figure out how many gallons-per-hour it was losing its gas?

Last Week's Puzzler

The creepy case of the haunted car! The battery of a 60-year old car was disconnected. Yet the headlights were still on. Why? Find out.

As Read on Car Talk



1 Comments

Wood Pellet dilemma

I experienced a very similar problem to the wood pellet Tacoma. I was hauling a load of laminate flooring accross town for my son's house remodel. When I arrived after about 30 minutes of highway driving, I too smelled a rubber burining odor coming from the back of my Subaru Outback. In my case, the load had exceeded my shocks capacity and the tires had rubbed on the inside top of the rear wheel wells. Looking at the tires, I realized that I had erased about 5,000 miles of rubber from both tires (the fronts weren't affected). Because of the symetrical all wheel drive, I had to replace all four tires at once. DOH!
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