RAY: Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair and the new Puzzler. Who sent this? Kent Hartfield from Texas; somewhere in Texas. You're gonna like this. I think you're gonna like it.

TOM: OK.

RAY: He says, "I was driving my Ford Aerostar down the road in Arlington, Texas, last June, when all of a sudden I heard a muffled BANG that was immediately followed by the motor dying." You get this? He's driving along...Ford Aerostar...all these things are important.

TOM: Everything's important.

RAY: Pay attention!

TOM: You don't have to tell me that, man. I know that every word you speak is a pearl.

RAY: Driving along...BOOM! Muffled boom. The motor dies. "I pulled off to the side of the road and popped the hood. This has a little hood because the engine is kind of buried. And looked to see what had happened. Once I saw what had happened, I thought, Gee, this is gonna cost a lot to have fixed. I closed the hood, got back in the van, started the engine and drove off."

TOM: Wow.

RAY: What happened?

TOM: He didn't say where the boom-bang came from. But since he opened the hood, we can assume that it came from the front of the vehicle?

RAY: Well, I'll give you that. The muffled bang came from under the hood.

TOM: OK.

RAY: From the engine compartment.

TOM: Engine compartment.

RAY: And the motor stopped running.

TOM: Stopped running? And he said, "This is gonna be expensive to fix." Yet it started right up again. This is puzzling.

RAY: This is. If you think you know the answer, write that answer on the back of a $20 bill or a dried porcini mushroom. Actually, the portabellos are better.

TOM: Portabellos—you can put a whole dissertation on that.

RAY: There's room for a stamp too! And send your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza...

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]