Dec 20, 2022
This new puzzler was sent in by a very dedicated listener. We get lots of puzzlers sent in and most of them are pretty bad. Most are so bad, we just throw them out. We have standards, after all.
But this one is great. The details of this one are important, so I will try to remember everything. Here is how it goes.
It was the start of a cold and blustery day. I was seated with the owner of a towing and repair company. We were drinking the first cup of coffee of the day together. While we were sitting there, we were watching a line of cars that were lined up at the light outside.
My school newspaper was running a feature on successful businessmen of our small town, located between two ridges of mountains. The owner of the repair company was highly regarded in the town. In fact, he was so good at spotting car problems that some thought he had second sight. I asked him why he was so good at his job. And he told me he would just observe things. He said this as he continued to look out the window at the cars at the light.
"Take that car right there," he said. "The one with the out of state tags," he said interrupting my train of thought. "Notice that the people in the front seat are wiping the inside of the windshield with tissues while they're waiting for the light."
So what I thought. it's very cold out.
He watched the car pass through the intersection. "Let's go," he said.
"Where?" I asked him.
"That car will break down before they get to the top of the first mountain," he said. We followed them out of town on the main road and sure enough, there they were on the side of the road all standing around in the cold with the hood up.
What did the shop owner see as the car passed through the intersection that indicated it was going to break down?
Now, we want a complete answer to this one. A well thought out answer.
But here is a hint, to help you out. Everyone is going to guess that the heater core is leaking, right? Because they were cleaning off the inside of the window. But that is not good enough.
We need a more thorough, more detailed answer than that. Good luck.
Answer time.
How did he know? How did he know that the car going through the light was going to break down before it got to the top of the first mountain on their way out of town?
Here is the answer.
They had been trying to wipe the moisture off the windshield, when they passed. The condensation. Their heater wasn't working. The shop owner knew that their heater wasn't working, and that they were out of coolant and they were going to overheat very shortly. How did he know this?
He knew this by what was not coming out of the tailpipe of the car as it went by.
When he saw them wiping the windshield, he figured the car could be very cold and they could in fact be trying to speed up the processor, because the engine hasn't heated up yet. So there's not enough heat coming out of the heater. And that's why it's not the frosting.
But what he noticed was that there was no steam coming out of the tailpipe. No water vapor.
When you first start the car, you get carbon dioxide and water. Water goes all the way through the tailpipe in the form of steam, and it comes out the other end. But when it's cold, air condenses you see this big cloud when the engine heats up.
So when he saw that there was no water vapor coming out, he knew the engine was already hot. But he knew their heater wasn't working. He knew they were out of coolant, and he knew they were going to break down by overheating while climbing that mountain.
Pretty good one.
