#2679: Hot and Cold

The Best of Car Talk

Car Talk revisits a classic episode featuring callers dealing with extreme temperature-related car troubles and bizarre outdoor adventures. The hosts diagnose a clogged evaporator

Key takeaways

• Bridget's 1996 Jetta suffers from a clogged evaporator drain pipe, causing water to slosh onto the passenger floor and create mold; hosts recommend cleaning the drain and using Lysol on the carpet.
• Dinesh successfully completed an unplanned 180-mile solo trek across Death Valley in extreme heat after his companions dropped out due to blisters and exhaustion.

Main topics

• Automotive AC drainage and mold prevention
• Extreme endurance walking in Death Valley

Notable quotes

"You need to spray the carpet with the Lysol. Otherwise... first you have one mold, then two, and then four, then eight."

Conclusion

The episode delivers its signature mix of straightforward mechanical diagn

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:00) A free press is a critical protection for we the people. The NPR network proudly upholds your First Amendment rights with independent journalism that answers only to you. Your support keeps our reporters on the ground holding power to account and the power to decide what's next for public media is yours. Give at donate.npr.org. Speaker 4 (0:40) Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack, the Tappert Brothers. And we're broadcasting this week from the signage department here at Car Talk Plaza. Thanks Speaker 3 (0:49) to some guy named Bill Dom. I Speaker 4 (0:51) had a bad signage headache a couple of months ago. Speaker 3 (0:54) You know what you should take for that? No. Guillotine. These are signs found at various businesses. For example, on the door of a plastic surgeon's office. Hello, can we help you pick your nose? On a plumber's truck, we repair what your husband fixed. Yeah, that's my house. On another plumber's truck, don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber. At an optometrist's office, if you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place. Get it? And my favorite was this one. In a veterinarian's waiting room. Be back in five minutes. Sit. Stay. Speaker 2 (1:51) That's it. I don't Speaker 3 (1:52) have anything else. That's Speaker 2 (1:52) pretty good. Be Speaker 3 (1:54) back in five minutes. Speaker 2 (1:56) We'll be back Speaker 4 (1:57) in five minutes, too, if you have a question about it. Stay. Your car. Which is the reason we're here, by the way, in case you hadn't noticed. What is the reason? We're here to answer questions about people's cars. You can call us at 888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Speaker 1 (2:15) Hi, my name is Bridget. I'm from Boston. Speaker 4 (2:18) Bridget. Bridget. How would you spell it? With T's? T's or D's? Speaker 1 (2:22) One T. Bridge with a T on the end. Speaker 3 (2:25) Yeah, that's the German Bridget. Oh, Speaker 2 (2:28) no. As opposed to the Brigitte. Speaker 1 (2:31) Yeah, I don't have the Speaker 2 (2:32) E Speaker 1 (2:32) -T Speaker 2 (2:32) -T-E going on. It's just a tap and see, Bridget. The Brigitte, the German ID. Speaker 3 (2:37) Oh, Speaker 2 (2:37) that's Speaker 3 (2:38) the Speaker 2 (2:38) ID. That's the German. Yeah. Ah, this must be the... That was Frau Blucher's first name. This must be the Belgian. Frau Brigitte Blucher. Speaker 5 (2:51) Anyway, Speaker 4 (2:53) what's going on? Speaker 1 (2:54) Well, when I'm driving down the street using my air conditioner, I noticed that there was some vapor sort of coming out of the air conditioner, like mist and steam. Yeah. And then maybe a day or so later, I noticed this trickling water sound, like sloshing water kind of going across the car, but it only happens when I'm turning to the left. So I had to leave the car for a week. I came back, and the whole car smelled like musty, you know, gross smell. So I reach down, and I look on the passenger side floor mat. It's completely soaking wet, sopping right through. Speaker 4 (3:28) Is this like an 86 Tercel? Speaker 1 (3:30) It's a 96 Jetta. Speaker 2 (3:33) Perfect! I had a remedy for the 86 Tercel. 96 Jetta. It's Speaker 1 (3:40) a 96 Jetta. Those are pretty consistent. drip going on now, and I only hear the water sloshing every now and then. Speaker 4 (3:50) It's not consistent. Speaker 1 (3:51) It's not every day. Speaker 2 (3:52) Well, no, the more you run the air conditioner, the Speaker 1 (3:55) more you're going to Speaker 2 (3:55) hear the sloshing water. Speaker 1 (3:57) Yeah. The Speaker 2 (3:57) smell is like moldy smell? Speaker 1 (4:00) Yeah, the smell was definitely because I had the car locked up for the week. The liquid was just odorless and just, it appeared. I thought it was water. I'm assuming it's water. Speaker 4 (4:10) It was water. It was water, but now you have mold spores. Speaker 1 (4:16) Yeah. That was what prompted me to realize that this leak was somewhat considerable. Speaker 2 (4:21) Yeah. Well, it isn't a leak. It's not a big deal. Oh, Speaker 3 (4:25) good. Speaker 2 (4:25) But you need a leak. You should have a Speaker 3 (4:27) leak. Or take... No. Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber. You're Speaker 4 (4:34) missing a leak. That's what the trouble is. You see, the way the air conditioner works is that you have this device inside the car called the evaporator. Speaker 8 (4:43) Okay. The Speaker 4 (4:44) hot, humid air that's inside your car that's making you sweat Speaker 1 (4:47) gets Speaker 4 (4:48) passed through this by the fan. Speaker 1 (4:50) And it Speaker 4 (4:51) gets conditioned. in that the water is removed from it, and that water goes into this little pan that's got a little drain pipe attached to it. Speaker 3 (4:59) Remember in the old days when you first bought this car, when you parked it after running it on a hot day, you would see a little stream of water underneath it somewhere. Ever notice that? Speaker 1 (5:13) Maybe, yeah. Well, Speaker 3 (5:14) you don't Speaker 2 (5:15) notice it anymore. No. Because that water's inside your car. Because now Speaker 1 (5:18) it's inside my car. Right, it's not draining Speaker 2 (5:20) out. And when you turn a corner, Speaker 4 (5:22) there's enough in there to slosh over this little tray and spill out onto the carpet. Speaker 1 (5:27) Okay. So Speaker 4 (5:28) you need to have the evaporator drain cleaned out. Speaker 1 (5:31) Okay. And Speaker 4 (5:32) then you need to set the car on fire to get rid of the smell. No, Speaker 1 (5:37) I've got air freshener going, so the smell is manageable. Well, air Speaker 4 (5:41) freshener won't do it. Uh-oh. No, because it's mold. You need to spray the carpet with the Lysol. Speaker 1 (5:47) Okay. Because Speaker 4 (5:48) otherwise, you know, the power of two, first you have one mold, then two, and then four, then eight. Yeah, Speaker 1 (5:52) there's a whole Speaker 4 (5:52) little family Speaker 1 (5:53) going on down there, huh? And you're going to have, you Speaker 4 (5:54) probably have bajillions of them by now. Speaker 1 (5:56) Oh, no. Speaker 4 (5:57) Yeah, they'll be crawling up your leg. Speaker 1 (5:58) Oh, no. Speaker 4 (5:59) Good luck. Speaker 1 (6:00) Thanks so much for Speaker 4 (6:01) your help. See ya. All Speaker 1 (6:02) right, Speaker 4 (6:02) bye. Hey, Tommy, it's time for something completely different. Speaker 2 (6:05) Oh, Speaker 4 (6:06) we're Speaker 2 (6:06) going Speaker 4 (6:06) to discuss plunks Speaker 2 (6:07) constant? Not plunk. Speaker 3 (6:09) Plunk. Speaker 2 (6:10) Plunk. You call him Plank, I know. But we call him here in the scientific community, Plunk. No, no, it's time for Where Are They Now, Tommy? Speaker 2 (6:26) This is the part of the show where we chase down one of our more memorable callers. Yeah, memorable. That's a code word for wacko. There Speaker 3 (6:33) you Speaker 2 (6:33) go. So who is the memorable caller that we have this week? Pray tell. You ready for this? It's Dinesh from California, the wacko of Speaker 4 (6:42) all wackos. Dinesh, I think, called us back in like 1998 because he and three others, including his long-suffering, soon-to-be ex-wife. We're planning to walk 180 miles in the heat of midday sun. How well I remember. Speaker 2 (6:57) In the Speaker 4 (6:57) middle of summer through where else? Speaker 2 (6:59) Death Valley. Aptly named. Maybe he didn't Speaker 3 (7:03) understand why I was named or Speaker 4 (7:04) it was named. The plan was to park one car at the beginning of the day's trek and one at the middle and one at the end. Speaker 5 (7:15) We are in the north end of Death Valley where hardly anybody ever goes in winter, let alone in summer. Speaker 3 (7:22) Nobody's crazy enough to go there in the summer, Dinesh. And Speaker 5 (7:26) now the question is, if one of these cars, for some reason, break down, Speaker 4 (7:30) we Speaker 5 (7:31) are in big doo-doo. Speaker 2 (7:34) Not big, Speaker 4 (7:35) deep. How high could it be? 130 Speaker 2 (7:38) degrees in the sun? Speaker 4 (7:39) Yeah, it is. Speaker 2 (7:40) 125 in shade. In the shade. In the shade, so Speaker 4 (7:43) maybe 150 in the sun. Speaker 5 (7:44) Yeah. What are you, nuts? Well, you know, I want to be first at something. Speaker 3 (7:54) Yeah, that's Speaker 5 (7:55) great. Everything in the world is done. You know, somebody climbed the Everest. That's Speaker 4 (7:59) right. Speaker 5 (8:00) Discover America. There's nothing left for me. So you Speaker 4 (8:01) want to be the first Indian American whose skeletal remains Speaker 2 (8:05) are found in Death Valley. Speaker 2 (8:11) Well, I mean, he must have made it if he's going to be on the show today. I think so. Let's find out. Dinesh, are you there? Yes, I am. Wow. How the Speaker 5 (8:19) heck are you? Well, actually, it's only about 98 here, and I'm thinking about going to Death Valley, but my wife got me chained. Speaker 2 (8:27) Did you make it through Death Valley? Yes, I did. What happened? How was... Were you the only one who made it? Speaker 5 (8:35) Okay, my wife... Joy and another friend warned three of us had planned to walk the entire 180 miles. And then two other people were going to do half each. So we'd have four people at all times. Speaker 5 (8:49) Well, my wife made it 150 miles, and after that she had 17 blisters, and she could not even walk from the car to the bathroom, so she had to give up. Speaker 3 (9:00) And how many bruises did you have from the times that she hit you over the head with a stick? Speaker 5 (9:07) Believe it or not, I'm sitting right here with my arm in a cast. But that's another story. I'm sure. Anyway, the other friend, Warren, He was doing all right, or so I thought. But still, at 150 miles, he said, you know, I think I've done enough. Speaker 2 (9:23) And he and your wife ran off together. Speaker 5 (9:26) So it was left for me to just continue the journey. Alone? Well, not really. The other woman who had come, Melissa. Speaker 3 (9:34) Yeah. The Speaker 5 (9:35) second half. She was with me. Now, she's a tough woman. She had heat exhaustion. And at one point... She laid down under the car because inside the car was probably 145 degrees. She laid there like about 10 minutes. We threw some water on her and said, come on, get going. Come on,