# Do cars ever really backfire? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 3, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292 "2013-10-03T20:09:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/1 "2013-10-03T20:09:41Z")
I always hear gunshots described this way, but cannot recall ever experiencing this, or hearing it. Anyone? šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/2 "2013-10-03T20:20:02Z")
Modern fuel-injected cars donā€™t. Older, carbureted cars with choke or tuning problems do. And yes, it can sound like a gunshot; more often, though, itā€™s a softer, more extended ā€œkuh-BOOMā€ than the sharp crack of a gun. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/3 "2013-10-03T20:23:40Z")
My bike does if I run cheap gas in it, and yes, your immediate thought would be gunfire. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/4 "2013-10-03T20:26:59Z")
A friendā€™s run-down pickup used to backfire. This was mid 1970ā€™s. It used to startle the hell out of me, no matter how many times it happened. It sounded exactly like a gunshot, although not nearly as loud. But plenty loud enough to make me do a sitting position buttocks-jump over and over and overā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/5 "2013-10-03T21:37:05Z")
Iā€™ve had a _ **golf cart** _ backfire on me. Surprised the hell out of both of us that were in the cart at the time. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/6 "2013-10-03T22:04:10Z")
I think it sounds like what people think a gunshot sounds like. There used to be a car that drove by where I lived a couple of times a week which was backfiring, and during that period of time there were a few mentions in the newspaper of people ā€œhearing gunfire.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/7 "2013-10-03T22:13:41Z")
My riding mower backfires whenever I turn it off. I think itā€™s kinda cute. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/8 "2013-10-03T22:35:11Z")
I remember hearing cars backfire from time to time during my 80s childhood. My dad is quite good at distinguishing gunshots from backfires, and I think maybe I could tell them apart if I heard them close together. Oh, and mark us down as another household with a ride-on lawn mower that backfires when you turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/9 "2013-10-03T22:50:35Z")
I think as people say its rare with modern cars. And re it sounding like a gunshot, although I canā€™t find the specific incident on a google search on at least one occassion a man was shot and killed by British soldiers in Northern Ireland during the Troubles when his car backfired as he drove past their post and they thought they were under attack. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/10 "2013-10-03T22:54:42Z")
[Hereā€™s a little story from Click and Clack.](http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2008-02-24/news/36803235_1_rental-cars-corrosion-battery) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/11 "2013-10-03T23:11:43Z")
Just go to a classic car rally that features vehicles from the early 1970ā€™s, where the manufacturers were trying to match ancient carburetor designs to modern antipollution equipment. Youā€™ll think you were in a shootout. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/12 "2013-10-03T23:23:06Z")
One of my motherā€™s friends had a giant white station wagon in the early 80ā€™s that would backfire on demand. You just had to get up to decent speed and suddenly floor the accelerator so that it went up to high revā€™s. She used to let me borrow it for joy rides sometimes before I even got my license. I had a great time cruising through neighborhoods and kicking off backfires at certain peopleā€™s houses. They are loud and sound close enough to gun shots for a good approximation (I know perfectly well what real gunshots sound like). It makes you wonder if all of those old neighborhoods where the streets were supposedly filled with the sound of random gunfire just had some really crappy cars driving through all the time. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/13 "2013-10-04T00:08:13Z")
Wait until you hear a nitrous backfire. Thatā€™s the loud one! ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/14 "2013-10-04T00:34:57Z")
Of course they do! Though, come to think of it, less often these days. I think cars are likeliest to backfire after cresting a sharp little hill. You give it plenty of gas to get up the hill and come over the top, and suddenly let off the gas, but going downhill keeps the engine spinning fast. Thatā€™s a great time to backfire. My backpack leaf blower always backfires after I stop it. I try to anticipate the moment and emphatically annunciate a ā€œPā€ sound right at that instant, as if I am the one backfiring. I am pleased with the opportunity this thread gives me to share the mundane and pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/15 "2013-10-04T02:43:14Z")
I had a 1977 Sportster (possibly the shittiest motorcycle ever made) years ago that would backfire regularly. It had an aftermarket carb (S&S Super B) and other mods (it was like that when I got it), and I donā€™t know if that contributed to the problem, or if it was worse before the mods. God, that bike was a piece of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/16 "2013-10-04T03:48:51Z")
I canā€™t tune for shit (and with twin Weber DCOE, donā€™t think I can afford to!) and get a nice backfire on downhill, off-throttle situations. But Iā€™m not ā€œoff-throttleā€ too often. šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/17 "2013-10-04T05:18:56Z")
[nit pick] A: 99% of what is being described is an ā€˜after fire.ā€™ One out the exhauast. B: A ā€˜backfireā€™ is one that comes back through the intake & out the carburetor. 99% of the time. [/nit pick] :smack: ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/18 "2013-10-04T06:06:54Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > [nit pick] > > A: 99% of what is being described is an ā€˜after fire.ā€™ One out the exhauast. > > B: A ā€˜backfireā€™ is one that comes back through the intake & out the carburetor. 99% of the time. > > [/nit pick] :smack: And when it comes back through the intake with nitrous, itā€™s real fun! ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/19 "2013-10-04T07:27:01Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > And when it comes back through the intake with nitrous, itā€™s real fun! Says the guy with no eyebrows! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292/20 "2013-10-04T19:31:48Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I canā€™t tune for shit (and with twin Weber DCOE, donā€™t think I can afford to!) and get a nice backfire on downhill, off-throttle situations. When I was 18 or 19 I had a lot of fun idling my car and turning the screws on a Weber DCOE, it was on my 1978 MGB. I donā€™t remember any backfiring but when driving up and down hills/mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway it would lay out a smokescreen on the downhill sections! Only backfires I hear lately are from older pickup trucks, usually ones with the stake beds that carry wood. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cars-ever-really-backfire/670292.md?page=2)