Dear JB,
  Can you help a poor cabbie?  I recently purchased a 1987 Buick Lesabre to use as a back-up unit for my taxi service, but it has an embarrassing and possibly dangerous problem.  I carry a portable walkie-talkie to communicate with the dispatcher.  It is not wired into the car in any way... BUT... when I key the mike to talk my car's engine

dies!  Even if I am within three feet of the car it will die.  I have tried everything to keep it from dying, revving it up, holding the key in the start position, you name it I've tried

it, but nothing works.  It's like somehow the radio is doing it, I just don't know how.  Any ideas?

signed,
Less Able LeSabre

Dear Les,
    What your car is experiencing is the phenomenon known as radio wave interference.  It is most likely effecting the crankshaft or camshaft sensors.  Other likely candidates for this kind of interference could be the airflow sensor or the computer itself.  Most likely, though, it is the crankshaft position sensor and I'll tell you why.  The fact that it dies immediately and there being nothing you can do to keep it running tells me that it is canceling the spark to the cylinders.  If it were merely disrupting the fuel mixture control as it would do with the mass air flow signal the car might keep running just not very well.  Have a mechanic

look at the crank sensor to see if there is a metal shield over the sensor itself.  This shield was put there by the factory engineers to eliminate the exact problem you describe.  If there isn't one there now purchase a new sensor with a shield and you'll be ripping off the public, oops, I mean collecting fares again in no time.

Dear JB,
    I have a noisy Mazda.  It is a 1997 MPV with a 3.0 liter v-6.  When I say noisy I am referring to the engine valve lifters.  Tick, tick, tick.  I've tried  oil additives with

no results.  Someone told me I need new lifters, maybe they are right.  All I know is that I am not allowed at any of my favorite drive-through restaurants anymore!

Signed,
Kentucky Fried Tickin'

Dear KFT,
    I wish I could tell you that lifters would be all you needed to fix your van.  Oh, you need lifters, alright, but your lifters are permanently sealed inside of your rocker arms. 18 of them to be exact.  And you rocker arms have worn out the rocker arm shafts.  4 of them to be further exact.  The reason the lifters are ticking is not so much due to faulty lifters as it is the worn rockers and shafts.  The cure will be to replace all 18 rocker arm assemblies and the 4 shafts.  With labor this will probably be well over a thousand dollars, but would a life without "Combo #7" be much of a life?

JB can be seen each Thursday morning on WDEF-TV News 12's Morning Show at 7:30 A.M. where he answers your car questions.  He can also be heard Saturday Mornings 7-9 on Talk Radio 102.3 FM on the Saturday Morning Garage.  He spends the rest of his time taking advantage of helpless motorists at North Shore Auto Repair in Chattanooga.  E-mail JB at jeepster1515@yahoo.com to have your car care question answered in this column.