Car Talk #2529: Slappin' Wipers, Cracked Radiators, and Steep Driveways

Winter Driving and Wiper Woes

• ❄️ A caller from Incline Village, Nevada, describes commuting over an 8,900 ft pass in heavy snow and the daily ritual of slapping ice off windshield wipers.
• 🚗 He has a system for choosing which of his four cars to drive based on snowfall, but all experience windshield icing.
• 💡 He asks for a way to make his wipers stop in a consistent position rather than in the middle of the windshield when turned off.
• 🛠️ The hosts suggest interrupting the ground circuit with a toggle switch or, less practically, finding and removing a capacitor from the wiper motor.

Engine De-carbonization and Ditch Dives

• 🚗 A caller from Tampa, Florida, accidentally submerged his 1993 Blazer's engine compartment in a ditch during a rainstorm.
• 💧 After draining eight gallons of water, the engine ran smoother, leading to a discussion about water injection for engine de-carbonization.
• ⚙️ This method is known to help break up carbon deposits, especially in diesel engines, though not typically with such large volumes of water.
• 💥 The caller's alternator imploded later, but the engine itself was running well until then.

Cracked Radiators and JB Weld Fixes

• 🚗 A caller from Texas shares her 1989 Honda Civic's overheating issues, which were eventually traced to a cracked radiator.
• 🩹 After a cheap oil change place cracked the radiator, her husband used JB Weld to repair it, and the car has driven 6,000 miles since.
• 🤔 She questions if this is a "death trap" and asks for warning signs of radiator failure.
• ✅ The hosts reassure her that the worst-case scenario is the weld failing, leading to the original leak and overheating, requiring a new radiator, but it won't cause a catastrophic failure.

Vehicle Debates and Steep Driveways

• 🚗 The Texas caller and her husband are debating their next vehicle: he wants a V8 4x4 with a flatbed, while she prefers a small, fuel-efficient foreign car.
• 🤝 They are considering a Toyota T100 as a compromise.
• 🏡 Another caller from Huntsville, Alabama, has a 1995 Toyota Avalon that scrapes its exhaust system on a steep driveway in Riverside, California.
• 🔧 The hosts suggest a temporary fix of caving in the muffler body with a hammer or, for a more permanent solution, sending in a picture of the driveway and car for a detailed drawing on how to fix it.