New Puzzler: Larry's VW

Ray: The other day I was on a test drive and I ran into my buddy Larry. I didn't hit him that hard actually, but they called an ambulance anyway. I never thought I would be able to help you with a puzzler, but I have one that's a heck of lot better than the toilet sweat puzzler from the summer. Here it is: "When I was in college I had a Volkswagon Beetle. I was mechanically dis-inclined."

Tom: Mechanically challenged.

Ray: He was a clutz.

Tom: A clutz.

Ray: He was encouraged by the John Muir book, you know the VW book for the complete idiot. He said, "I was amazed at how much I was able to do -- repairs and maintenance things over the years. I was even able to replace the clutch. I drove this car very happily for several years with this book by my side. One summer, while home from vacation, I did a repair that involves something as simple as loosening a couple of nuts and bolts and tightening them up. It was that simple. There were 3 bolts that I loosened and 3 bolts that I tightened. I did the repair and everything was fine for weeks. The car ran just great. I returned to school in the fall and couple of buddies and I decided to go out one night to the movies..." Actually, I changed this, it wasn't the movies, ..."we were going out to scoop some babes and have some brews.

Tom: Yeah. In a VW Beetle. Lots a luck!

Ray: So four of them pile into the car and they're driving off to their favorite watering hole, when all of a sudden, the car bursts into flames. The question is: What repair did he do that enabled the car to run perfectly OK for the six weeks after he did the repair and then burst into flames when he got back to college?

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]