Scientific Headlight Experiments

Apr 23, 2022

Ready for the new puzzler. 

A fellow is driving home from work in the late afternoon. And he notices that his car is not running particularly well. We can all empathize right away.

As he continues his drive, he notices it's getting darker and decides it's time to put on his headlights. When he turns on the headlights, he notices the car is running even worse. He begins to become concerned because it's running pretty badly and realizes he might not make it home in time for dinner, which is always a concern of mine!

So now, this guy decides to experiment a bit, being a scientific fellow. He turns the headlights off and the car runs much better.

Turning the headlights off improves how the car is running slightly. It runs noticeably better with the headlights off. And if he turns the headlights back on, it reverts to running poorly.

So, that's the puzzler. What's going on here?

 

Answer: 

Answer time, so here it is.

This was the fellow that was driving along heading home from work, and it starts to get dark. His car was running perfectly okay, and he turns the headlights on and the car begins to run poorly. And it's beginning to stumble and misfire a little bit. He decides to experiment a little bit and he turns off the headlights. And it smoothed right out. He does this a few more times, off and on, and the same thing happens.

What's going on here? Other than the fact that it's getting darker and darker...

The answer is that his charging system is malfunctioning.

This was such a simple puzzle! 
His charging system was malfunctioning to the extent that it wasn't producing enough electricity so when asked to run just the ignition system, it was doing okay. But when it was asked to supply enough electricity to run the ignition system and the headlights., it deprived the ignition of sufficient voltage and created a weaker spark and the thing began to misfire like it would if it had a bad spark plug.

 

Do you love NPR? Want to support your local NPR station? Did you know you can do it with your old car? They'll pick it up for free. It's easy to donate a car to public radio. Here's how.

 


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