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ed11563


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What Happens When You Put a Potato in a Tailpipe?
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What Happens When You Put a Potato in a Tailpipe? Seriously.

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Dear Car Talk

Nov 5, 2015 (Archives)

1 Comment

exhaust pipes, pranks
Dear Car Talk:

When I was a kid, many years ago (wearing my Davy Crockett coonskin cap), my friends and I wondered what would happen if we crammed a potato into the exhaust pipe of a car. We figured the exhaust would build up and eventually shoot out the potato like a cannonball from a cannon.

Fortunately, we never tried it. For one thing, we wouldn't be around to see what would happen. For another, our mothers wouldn't give us a potato. Now, all these many years later (and without the Davy Crockett cap), I'm still wondering: What would happen? Thanks!

-- Dave

It's not too late to try it, Dave. I'm sure you can find a Davy Crockett cap on eBay.

And your mother's probably pretty old by now, so you probably can slip a potato by her at this point. Then you can try to lodge the potato in your wife's car.

What'll happen -- if the engine's running, and you secure the potato in there tightly -- is that the car will stall. If you block the exhaust gases from getting out through the tailpipe, there will be no room for fresh air to get into the combustion chambers, and the engine won't be able to run.

Or, if the car is not running when you "install" the potato, the car will start up and run briefly, and then stall.

If you want the potato to shoot out of the tailpipe, you'll have to be a little more deliberate. Try one of those little, red "new potatoes." You'll have to make it fit perfectly inside the tailpipe -- not too loose, not too tight. Bring a potato peeler with you so you can make last-minute adjustments.

Then it should work like a peashooter. If you have a buddy punch the gas and rev the engine, that potato ought to come flying out pretty quickly.

So, if you try this at home, make sure you wear your Davy Crockett coonskin athletic protector. Have fun.


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ed11563


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JG • 2 hours ago

I've actually done this on a '35 Ford roadster with the flat head V8 that was popular at the time. Needless to say there was no catalytic converter and the mufflers were straight through fiberglass packed. So consider this information the fruit of a misspent youth.

First you need a tailpipe devoid of any decorative end piece. Use a potato that is about twice the diameter of the pipe. Jam the potato onto/into the tailpipe the long way so that a long cylindrical plug is cut from the potato. You may have to use a mallet to completely cut the plug away from the rest of the potato. Push the potato plug a couple of feet up the tail pipe with a stick or broom handle. The extra parts of the potato are discarded.

Start the car and immediately floor the accelerator. You must be quick in order to keep the car from stalling and to generate lots and lots of pressure in the exhaust system to eject the potato.

In my case the potato plug shot out of the tailpipe (don't let anyone stand behind it) about 20' issuing a loud bang like a firecracker. Great fun. I doubt if one experiment would cause any damage but a concert of potato reports might not be healthy for your car.

Good luck



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ed11563


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I thought this was a trick used by Repo guys (repossession, not politics).

The owner would put the key in the ignition and start the car ... which would stall.

Then the owner would go back in his house to call a tow truck, the repo guy would remove the potato and drive the car away.

 



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lilyofcourse


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In my household, dad will jerk a knot in your tail.


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ed11563


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lilyofcourse wrote:

In my household, dad will jerk a knot in your tail.

What does this mean?



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lilyofcourse


My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

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Get your butt busted, tan your hide, burn your biscuits.



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Fort Worth Mom


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I thought this might cause you to die of carbon monoxide poisoning, if you were sitting in a running car, with a blocked tail pipe.

(Don't they warn you, to keep the tail pipe clear, if you are stuck in a snow storm, and the tail pipe gets covered with snow?)confuse

I'm just wondering.

There isn't a big chance of that happening, in Texas.



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ed11563


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Fort Worth Mom wrote:

I thought this might cause you to die of carbon monoxide poisoning, if you were sitting in a running car, with a blocked tail pipe.

(Don't they warn you, to keep the tail pipe clear, if you are stuck in a snow storm, and the tail pipe gets covered with snow?)confuse

I'm just wondering.

There isn't a big chance of that happening, in Texas.

 Electronic ignition and fuel injection in today's car engines lead to much less CO production, but it's still dangerous running a car in  a closed garage.

A plugged tail pipe would stop the engine from running UNLESS  there was a leak in the exhaust. If the muffler or tail pipe were rusted, or the exhaust gas manifold gasket were leaking, the potato trick wouldn't work, and the engine would run.

If you've backed into a snow bank (or mud pile), back pressure would stall the engine ... unless there was an exhaust leak under or into the car.

 



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