RAY: Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, and we are here to talk about cars, car repair, and duh, of course the answer to last week's Puzzler.

TOM: I can hardly wait; not for the answer. Just the question.

RAY: The question. I know. This came from Kent Hartfield, somewhere in Texas, I don't remember but could be almost anywhere. He says, "I was driving my Ford Aerostar van down the road in Arlington, Texas, last June, first hint, when all of sudden; first hint; hint June; I heard a muffled bang that was immediately followed by the motor dying out." Got it? Bang. Motor quits. You with me?

TOM: I'm with you.

RAY: I don't think so. You don't have the look in your face.

TOM: I always have that.

RAY: He continues: "I pull off to the side of the road and pop the hood." The Aerostar has a little hood because it's a van and the engine is buried.

TOM: We know that.

RAY: "But I look under the hood and soon figure out what had happened. Then I said, and maybe it was—"

TOM: Was what?

RAY: "This is going to cost a lot to have fixed. I closed the hood, got back in the van, start the engine, and drive off—"

TOM: June—

RAY: Without incident.

TOM: Arlington, Texas.

RAY: He drove off.

TOM: It's hot. The question is, what happened to the car, and the hint is that it's June.

RAY: June, and the muffled bang.

TOM: This is more than a muffled pop. It's a bang.

RAY: This called into play all kinds of different pieces of knowledge.

TOM: It's June. It's hot. It's Texas.

RAY: It's June. It's hot, and he has the air conditioner on.

TOM: Of course.

RAY: And when he's driving along the high pressure hose from the air conditioner compressor blows; filling the engine compartment with what? Refrigerant.

TOM: Refrigerant. R-13

RAY: R-13A, 134A, and it blows all the oxygen out of the engine compartment. Because it comes out in such a huge volume and such high pressure, it displaces all the oxygen necessary for combustion, and of course the freon—

TOM: And the engine stalls.

RAY: — is not supportive of combustion and the engine stops running.

TOM: Wow.

RAY: As soon as he opens the hood, the stuff has a chance to dissipate. He sees the broken hose—

TOM: This is going to cost a lot to fix.

RAY: This is going to cost some serious money and of course he closes the hood and drives off.

TOM: I like it.

RAY: And he makes a hole in the ozone layer.

TOM: Kent himself, personally, is responsible for a little bigger hole in the ozone layer.

RAY: Another pin hole in the ozone layer that's making our temperature go up here in greater Boston, and I thank you Kent. You're doing—

TOM: A great job.

RAY: A great job. Who's our winner?

TOM: The winner is Donald Miller from New York, New York.

RAY: Wow.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]