Eli5: why is it bad to put sugar in the cars gas tank?

Question

Does it really mess up the engine?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

This topic is an excellent reminder for me of how easily and widely misinformation was spread and accepted before the Internet. When I was a teenager in the ’70s, it was common, accepted knowledge that sugar in the tank would fill the pistons and cylinders with gummy, partially combusted sugar and ‘seize the engine’ as we used to say, meaning cause it to seize up, cease to function. This was false, apparently, it’s now well-known that sugar won’t dissolve in a nonpolar solvent s/a gasoline, apparently. Known by most who answered this question, at least (all but one at this point).