# Golf ball in the exhaust pipe **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** x5, bmw\ **Created:** [May 4, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791 "2018-05-04T22:54:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChristineC1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3da27b/32.png) [@ChristineC1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ChristineC1)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/1 "2018-05-04T22:54:44Z")
I have a BMW X5 and my 2yr old just dropped a golf ball into the driver’s side exhaust pipe. How do I get it out? ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/2 "2018-05-05T00:50:14Z")
Muffler shop . ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/3 "2018-05-05T01:22:48Z")
Rev it up with the pipe pointed away from the kids or breakable stuff. You might blow the ball right out. Otherwise, muffler shop. ---
**Author:** ![Yosemite](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/yosemite/32/643_2.png) [@Yosemite](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Yosemite)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/4 "2018-05-08T03:16:28Z")
How about driving the car up a very steep hill. I’m not talking about on the road, but maybe in your yard or someone else’s that has a steep area that the ball would just roll right out. This is a SUV afterall. I can’t imagine the exhaust being that downhill from the opening to the muffler. Yosemite ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/5 "2018-05-08T03:34:00Z")
How certain are you he even “dropped” (how does that happen?) the ball into the exhaust pipe. It should roll out or blow out when you start the engine assuming the ball is still in there. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 3:40am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/6 "2018-05-08T03:40:03Z")
This might be a reason to buy one those cool inspection camera gizmos. > **[Digital Inspection Camera](https://www.harborfreight.com/digital-inspection-camera-61839.html)** > > This handy inspection camera allows you to get a clear view inside cylinder heads, behind wallboards and other hard to reach areas normally hidden from sight. With an oil and scratch resistant tempered glass lens and color LCD display with crystal... ---
**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/7 "2018-05-08T03:45:59Z")
The ball probably rolled out of the tail pipe the first time it was driven, check along the curb in front of your house for a golf ball. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/8 "2018-05-08T04:51:39Z")
Yeah I dunno, on mine there is a short tail pipe and then the muffler, so it depends if it went into the muffler or is in the pipe yet. Maybe feed a length of surgical tubing or something duct taped to a shop vac or something. Maybe it’ll just get hot enough to melt. I bought one of those inspection devices a couple years ago. They were on sale at Rockler for about $100. They look so useful. I’ve tried it 5 or 10 times in walls, etc. trying to take a look see but it has never been of any good use. A real disappointment. Now in a combustion chamber or something might be different. I’m sure I’ll find a use for it sometime but right now its on my list of least useful tools. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/9 "2018-05-08T23:22:51Z")
Take it out on the highway. If it hasn’t become anemic and you don’t smell burning rubber (most golfball cores are tightly would rubber bands) than you have no problem. If you initially have anemic performance and it suddenly improves, the golf ball is somewhere on the side of the highway. ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/10 "2018-05-09T01:34:56Z")
The rubber band technology for golf balls went away decades ago I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Yosemite](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/yosemite/32/643_2.png) [@Yosemite](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Yosemite)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/11 "2018-05-09T01:42:40Z")
I got my inspection camera as a gift and it has been a real help at times. I’ve done about 5 “Time serts” and it was great to see that I had no debris in the cylinder .I’ve also used it to see hidden fasteners, and find things that I dropped in tight areas. Yosemite ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/12 "2018-05-09T01:46:45Z")
> [@Barkydog](#): > > The rubber band technology for golf balls went away decades ago I believe. Not really. “Three stage” golf balls with rubber wound around a core is still common in higher-end balls. The core can also be a fluid-filled small rubber sphere. Solid molded rubber innards with no windings but a cover molded over them are more common in lower-cost balls. Some low-cost balls, like those used in mini golf courses, are one solid molded piece. ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/13 "2018-05-09T02:28:50Z")
How do we get from someone dropped a golf ball in a tail pipe, to how golf balls are made? Digression? Tester ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/14 "2018-05-09T13:20:44Z")
Yup, we digressed. It was due to my comment that if the OP didn’t have anemic performance or smell burning rubber on the highway he/she was fine. I explained that the burning rubber smell would be from the elastic material in the golf ball. Barky then questioned whether that “rubber band” construction was obsolete. Did you not read the thread? ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/15 "2018-05-09T13:29:59Z")
If you hear a put putt putt noise in the exhaust pipe, the golf ball is still in there,i ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/golf-ball-in-the-exhaust-pipe/116791/16 "2018-05-09T13:44:35Z")
> [@Triedaq](#): > > If you hear a put putt putt noise in the exhaust pipe, the golf ball is still in there,i LOL, as opposed to a drive drive drive or a chip chip chip noise? Sorry. Couldn’t resist. 😄