Mar 04, 2023
It is time for the newest puzzler. I have a vast array of puzzlers at my disposal, and then it gets hard to decide which one to use.
This one is an actual automotive puzzler. I think it is about time for one of those. This one is somewhat challenging and very interesting, I think. This situation actually occurred with one of our customers years ago.
This happened back in the day. This fellow had a 1984 Honda Civic, so this was a long time ago... Anyway, he had a hard time keeping the car running. He would start it up and it would stall. Start and stall. Start and stall. A classic problem. We have talked about this problem a million times on the show. It is a bad sparkplug wire. So, he goes and buys a new set of sparkplug wires from the local discount store. This set says it should fit all cars. So, he gets these wires and he puts them on. And for a little while the car works fine.
Then, a few months later, the car started acting up again. Same thing. So, this fellow calls the shop and explains the situation. We tell him it is probably because he bought cheap, generic sparkplug wires. Go get some good, high quality sparkplug wires and it will be fine. So, he takes our advice. In fact, he goes to the Honda dealer and pays the full retail price for a certified set of fancy sparkplug wires right from the dealership.
So, he has his new set of high end sparkplug wires, and everything is running perfectly for three months. Three months later, the rainy season is back again, and so is the problem. Same thing. He calls us again. He asks us what is going on with his car. I tell him maybe the Honda wires were defective. He says, no way. Then he goes and gets yet another set of sparkplug wires. He puts that set in and of course, three months later, the problem is back. Again.
So, finally, instead of calling for free advice, he finally brings the car into the shop to have us look at it.
So, we take a look. Then we sell him yet another set of sparkplug wires. And we sell him something else, that costs about $2 bucks. And this 'something else' solves his problem completely.
What did we sell him with the sparkplug wires that solved his problem? Hint, it was a couple of little things, very inexpensive. What were they?
Good luck.
Answer time for this 'Little Things' puzzler. This was a good automotive puzzler. About a very old car. It was a Honda from the 1980s, I think!
This one was about sparkplug wires. Car would start and stall, start and stall. It gets worse in the rain. We would see this all the time. The owner replaced the wires with generic department store wires. And that didn't work. He ended up having to replace them a few times, and the problem kept coming back. He went to the dealership and paid top dollar to have the best wires put in, and things were fine for a few months. And then, the problem came back again.
So, he finally asked us to fix it. And when we were looking into it, we saw that it did need new sparkplug wires. But it needed another thing too. A bunch of little things, to be exact. These things cost about $2 or so, and they solved his problem completely. What did we sell him? And why did it fix the problem?
And the answer is, tiny little plastic clips. We sold him little plastic clips that hold the wires in place.
If you've ever look under the hood of a new car, the wires are all neatly arranged in line and they have these perfect little clips on them, holding them in place. But once you change those wires, some careless mechanic might not clip them back into place, and the covers come off over time.
So, what was happening is, he would change the wires, and at first, everything was fine. When the hood is open, they appear to be fine. But then when you close the hood, the wires were flush against the hood, because they didn't have their clips to keep them in place. And then, over time, the insulation on the wires was wearing away against the underside of the hood. And when it rained, the water would get into the wires and cause them to short circuit.
So we put on the clips to hold the new wires in place, and his problem was solved.
