Comment by defrost

1 month ago

Weird answer, but why is that a "fail" ?

Inline six cylinder engines run with a single clogged / broken spark plug.

It'd make 200 m to a garage just fine*, but who'd drive 200 m in any case?

Back in the 1970's we'd pull a spark plug and screw in a hose to use the compression phase to inflate tyres.

* Just don't make a habit of it, or reserve that knowledge for when you really need to self rescue.

> Back in the 1970's we'd pull a spark plug and screw in a hose to use the compression phase to inflate tyres.

You'd inflate your tires with a gasoline and air mix?

  • Yep .. quite a lot of them, for substantial periods of time.

    Contrary to expectations it didn't seem to affect the tubes or tyres, shorten lifespans, etc.

    FWiW I grew up in fairly remote parts of the world and we repaired pretty much everything as much as possible with what we had - aircraft, helicopters, radios, etc.

    My first thought, to be honest, was "Why not just grab a spare spark plug from the boot?"

    I'm guessing not so many people stock spares when driving so much anymore.

    You can also replace a blown out tyre with a hard wood skid if pressed, weld up broken steel with car batteries, stuff tyres with grasses, etc.

    * Bush Mechanics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6foUHyfX3Q is fun.

  • I mean... you don't breathe insides of your tires

    • No, but tyres are rubber and they heat up ...

      One might reasonably wonder if the material might degrade or the tyre explode while running hot.

      Can confirm, that doesn't happen.