Puzzler Answer, Encore 8, Spark Plugs and a Vacuum

Ray: Vinny Goombotz decided to do a tuneup on his brother Vinny's car.

Tom: His other brother Vinny.

Ray: Of course. Which included changing the spark plugs. He knew he read some place that you were supposed to be careful trying to prevent dirt from falling into the spark plug holes. So he tried to vacuum the dirt away with his Click and Clack autographed-model shop vac. And it didn't suck enough. The space was so confined, he couldn't get close enough with his crevice tool to do it. So he decided to remove the plugs very carefully. And then with the plugs removed, he would get that wand in there and vacuum away the dirt so that when he went to put the new plugs back in, no dirt would fall into any of the cylinders. SO, he did this, and the results were, to say the least, disastrous.

Tom: Or, at least, exciting.

Ray: Exciting. What happened?

Tom: We should mention, however, that you should NOT try this at home. Because disastrous is really correct.

Ray: So don't try this at home. Wait to find out the right answer. We never did receive the answer to this, so we sent our producer, Doug Berman, out into the field to try this. So Doug Berman is standing out on the roof of the Car Talk Plaza garage, with the Car Talk remote unit, which consists of two tin cans and a piece of string.

Tom: Hello, Doug, are you there?

Ray: Aw, he can't hear it. It's like "Wild Kingdom" out there. The mikes are up.

Doug: OK, want to turn that on over there? Now, just put the crevice tool in where the spark plugs are?

Ray: Right in there and get all that dirty stuff.

Doug: Okey-doke. [Explosion heard in background.]

Ray: Doug, Doug, you all right?

Tom: There goes another producer.

Ray: Well, Joe Richmond is now the producer of the show.

Tom: Welcome, Joe. Joe, get in here. You are the next producer.

Ray: That was exciting.

Tom: Glad we didn't try it.

Ray: What happened...as you may have expected...there was a little explosion. Because one of the intake valves was open. And he sucked gasoline and air into the vacuum cleaner and when it got to the electric motor, with the sparks associated with the brushes as electric motors do, it blew the vacuum cleaner and poor old Dougie up.

Tom: Can I have his office?

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]