Does it really mess up the engine?
In: Engineering
The worst thing that could really happen is that you’d clog up the fuel filter and the engine would run poorly from insufficient fuel.
Edit: Here’s a video where he tested what happens if sugar actually gets in the engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DgzhVkAIuc
He showed it has a fuel filter, but I don’t imagine a lawnmower filter is as good as a car filter, plus with a car, there’s less chance of the sugar even making it to the filter due to the sugar settling to the bottom of the gas and the filter being higher up. With a lawnmower, the gas tank is actually sitting up higher.
tl;dr damage and residue, but no destruction (or not run long enough for destruction)
No, it doesn’t really mess up an engine. The sugar doesn’t dissolve in gasoline. You also have a fuel filter before gasoline gets to the engine.
[removed]
Engines work by basically turning your gasoline into a fine mist of fuel and air in the engine. Then it’s ignited and exploded.
As you can imagine, putting grains of sugar in a finely controlled mixture of fuel-and-air isn’t exactly going to make the engine perform well. The sugar would also just react with the oxygen in the air at high temperature causing carbon build up (bits of burned sugar). That’s the best case scenario
Realistically it doesn’t work like that because your car has a filter to stop things like that getting into the engine in the first place. So all that’ll happen is you clog up the fuel filter and will have to change it
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t it depend on the volume of gasoline you have in the tank? If you are almost full, the sugar will cause minor issues, but not catastrophic ones. If you’re running on 20mi to empty, the equation shifts considerably.
War movies show it as a sabotage method.
Did it work on oldtimey cars without filters or is that Hollywood being Hollywood?
[deleted]
What would happen if I filled a car’s fuel tank with 50:50 gasoline and water?
First time hearing this … is this a thing ?!?
If it’s a diesel – nothing unless amount of sugar is enough to block the fuel filter. For pure gasoline – same. However a lot of fuels are now Eco and contain some percentage of ethanol (between 10 and 85%). Sugar dissolves in ethanol, but how it can affect the engine – no one checked as far as I know.
Latest Answers