How Concerned Should I Be About What Happened To My Car?

[THUNDER HANDS]

Yesterday as I was coming home from work I was pulling into my parking spot on the street in front of the sidewalk. There's a big pile of snow at one end from where I dug my car out. When I pulled into the spot, I threw the car in reverse to get closer to the curb.

I must have hit the snow bank doing that, because when I got up this morning to leave for work I saw that my one of my tail pipe's was frozen solid, packed with snow that had turned to ice.

Am I in any danger of carbon monoxide poisoning? One tailpipe still works, but the other is completely clogged. I drove to work with no problem (I'm still alive) but I'm curious as to whether it's dangerous to keep driving around with one pipe clogged.

Any car experts out there know was the risk is with this?

[GOPisEvil]

1. As long as the tail pipe isn't completely clogged, you'll be ok.

However, your car will not perform as well. If both pipes get plugged, think Beverly Hills Cop. You won't get far.

I'd try to clean that bad boy out; just to be safe. I don't think there's much of a CO risk, as long as your car doesn't have holes in the floorboard, etc.

[BootinUp]

2. no worries

the exhaust gases shouldn't get in to the car. Also, you wouldn't have been able to drive if it was really clogged.

[Drifter]

3. But ...

If you believe that gases are (or might) get into the car, just open a front an rear window (about an inch) while you are driving. This will provide plenty of fresh air flow to prevent a problem.

You definitely want to get that tail pipe cleared either way.

Cheers
Drifter

[MadAsHell]

4. That depends some on the car you have...

Most newer cars don't really have "dual exhaust". It usually is "dual outlet" exhaust. The difference is the dual outlet exhaust pipe comes together in a single pipe after the motor (most often so a single catalytic convertor can be used) and then splits into two pipes to give the dual exhaust look. If you have true dual exhaust where each exhaust pipe connects to a separate set of engine cylinders then plugging one of the tailpipes would make your car run very rough. True dual exhaust is very rare in new from the factory cars, really only in high performance sports cars.

In either case however the plugged pipe will increase the back pressure in the exhaust system and might cause some leaks to occur or it also can cause your car to run less efficiently. You might want to find a wand style car wash and try to thaw the pipe. Leave the car running and use the water to heat the pipe from the outside. Once the exhaust gas can get past the plug it will melt the rest out in short order.