NOTE: This thread concerns the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; not internal combustion engines.
What would exactly happen if one woule pour sugar in the gas tank? Like on a chemical and mechanical level?
First time hearing about this
It’s a myth perpetuated by people who don’t know better. By all means, putting sugar in a gas tank is not advised because, well, sugar doesn’t belong in there. But it will not ruin the engine. If it even reaches the engine, you have a pretty bad fuel filter.
Does salad oil work?
bleach will do some interesting things
Bleach in the oil was the destruction method mandated by Cash for Clunkers if I remember correctly.
Man, I hate that program. Destroying tons of cool classic cars and making used cars in general needlessly expensive. Absolutely wasteful and counterproductive. I mean, sure, !fuckcars, but not like that!
If they wanted to stimulate the economy that bad they should’ve increased spending on bike/ped/transit infrastructure or something like that instead.
Honestly I am still convinced that it was a handout, though not directly, to the auto industry because Obama had campaigned on saving Detroit but the bailouts weren’t enough to keep GM and Chrysler afloat. (Ford, in a business move that I wish was more common but also because they were dying before the recession, leveraged the blue oval logo as collateral on a loan.)
It was totally a handout, pretty much explicitly:
the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS, commonly known as ‘Cash-For-Clunkers’), one of several stimulus programs whose purpose was to shift expenditures by households, businesses, and governments from future periods when the economy is likely to be stronger, to the present when the economy has an abundance of unemployed resources that can be put to work at low net economic cost.
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2010/04/05/did-cash-clunkers-work-intended
Dish soap mixed with a small amount of water would probably fuck up an engine.
Dish soap and Vinegar also makes an excellent fruit fly trap. Apple Cider is even better than Vinegar
We call table salt “salt” even though that’s a generic name for any metal bonded with a non metallic mineral (for instance potassium chloride). Sugar is the same, table sugar is just one kind of sugar. “Sugar” is the generic name for a type of carbohydrate. Ethanols found in gasoline can degrade into a sugar over time (like in a mower left out over the winter) and this will leave a fine white powder in the engine that will cause scaring when the engine is started. Thus sugar can ruin your engine, but is more likely to increase wear. This has perpetuated an urban legend that you can force this by putting table sugar in a gas tank.
See the longer response from another user, they’re correct. Just wanted to say table sugar is sucrose (a combination of fructose and glucose if I remember correctly). But you will not create sugars in the process you’re talking about.
I realize (and you mentioned) that sugar is not a well defined term, but calling degradation products of ethanol in gas “sugars” is still a bit of a stretch. Ethanol by itself usually forms some combination of acetaldehyde, acetic acid, 2-carbon peroxides, and CO2 (i.e. not sugars) upon autoxidation, though those species can react with other components of gasoline to form the precipitated “gum”. The structure of gum in the literature is pretty hand-wavy (high MW materials kinda just be like that sometimes) but tends to be much more more oxygen-deficient than conventional “sugars” (polysaccharides) even for ethanol blends and contains a wider variety of substructures. Though, I have seen some papers talking about certain microbes that can ferment the ethanol in gasoline, possibly via sugars, but I don’t think that’s the common degradarion pathway for a mower.
Nothing. Sugar is not soluble in hydrocarbons and the particles would be caught by the fuel filter. You’d have to replace the filter and clean the fuel tank, but the engine would be fine. Might as well use dirt instead of sugar to achieve the same effect.
Well then you would uh… ice ICE’s ICE.
bad dum tish!
Not really though, basically, it clogs up the fuel pump/filter.
Not likely to… immediately or quickly immobilize the vehicle… but it would increase maintenance costs, and decrease fuel efficiency and reliability.
…
If you wanna go for something uh… faster acting, more immediate and more serious:
A whole lot of water.
That’ll make the engine choke and sputter and stall if you use enough.
So… use ice to ice ICE’s ICE?
Uh… in minecraft?
…
Sand will also clog up the filter, and cause more damage inside the actual engine if any gets through the filter.
… A whole bunch of polystyrene packing peanuts would … also be ‘fun’, rofl.
The way they chemically interact with gasoline… basically gellifies the gasonline, turning it into shitty, syrupy napalm.
I am guessing a very gooopy gasoline is… not going to help a car run well, please actually do not test this rofl.
I am not a chemist, but uh chat gpt says polystyrene + gasoline is an exothermic reaction… so that… generates heat… and gasses… and that could be bad… in a tightly sealed container…
😅
Make sure there’s no small pockets of flourine gas sealed inside of packing peanuts before using them.
That would be very bad for everyone within 100’ of the vehicle.
That’s not a thing at all. Fluorine would react with the peanuts before anything else. There’s no fluorine in the peanuts themselves either. So dissolving them would also not release fluorine.
Please don’t spread incorrect information.
Oh dear god, does… is that a thing that happens with polystyrene? Fluorine gas pockets?
See, I am not a chemist, but I have enough basic chemistry knowledge to know you do not fuck around with fluorine.
Like I legitimately wasn’t kidding when I said ‘dont actually do this.’
No. It does not happen. I don’t know what they’re smoking. Not fluorine though, because they’d be dead already.
Fluorida. They smoked fluorida.
Never go full fluorida.
Oh, it just gums everything up. The fuel doesn’t combust as well, and the pistons get sticky, among other things.EDIT: I was wrong. It clogs the fuel filter, the same way sand would.
This is, at best, a myth. Sugar doesn’t dissolve in gasoline. There may be trace amounts of water in the tank too, but not enough to dissolve a meaningful amount of sugar. All it will realistically do is clog their fuel filter, the same way sand would.
Maybe that’s the idea, then. My apologies.
What about if you poured a considerable amount of syrup in there instead?
I’m assuming this syrup is a thick aqueous solution of sugar, in which case it would settle on the bottom of the fuel tank without mixing with the gasoline. If it did get into the engine, it would likely clog the injector or carburetor, but it would likely just cause the engine to stall from fuel starvation, or blow the fuel pump’s fuse.
Thinking of giving it a Vermont Hello?
I don’t know what that is, but from context it sounds like something to do with syrup and jizz.
Gasoline can be up to 10% ethanol now. Does sugar dissolve into that?
no
Law nerds: can ironical intent be proven in court?
Think the fbi has officially recognized the term “in minecraft” as possible real intent
“In Roblox” it is, then.
Serious answer: The US gov is past using courts or caring what the laws says
Idk but it reminds of that one WKYK sketch.
Which one?
1000% stealing “ironic intent” lmfao
Water balloons + black oil paint + used motor oil + a handful of course sand = absolute hell on car paint, polycarbonate panes (think security helmet visors or those see through riot shields), and anything with feet that likes to walk around.
They make sand that isn’t coarse, rough, and everywhere-getting?
They make sand that isn’t course and rough.
Arguably the finer stuff is even better at getting into everything.
Put a BB in the valve stem cap. It’s non-destructive, but will still result in a flat tire. If you super glue the BB, they might end up with several flats before they realize.
A small stone will also work.
I had a tool in highschool that took the valve out of the stem I borrowed from my dads mechanic shop that I put to good use. If there’s a hell I’m probably headed there
Valve stem remover. They are available form auto parts stores and the evil online store for about $6
Valve stem tightener, friend
The trick is not to just remove the stem. That’s noticable and will be immediately fixed. Instead, just loosen it a turns. It causes a slow leak they will keep pumping the tire and get the tire itself looked at before they realize their mistake.
The great thing about the BB is that it just lets the air out. All of the other methods are straight up destruction of property, and that’s not a fun charge to catch when that property belongs to law enforcement.
You think they care if there’s a proper charge?
A jury would.
In the CAP, you say?
Sugar in a gas tank is not nearly as damaging as just pouring water in it.
Doesn’t it just clog up the fuel filter because it won’t dissolve in gasoline?
Bingo, and it takes a lot to clog the filter. Plain water is more of a nuisance.
would sugar water do more damage? dissolve and burn with residue in the motor
I’m only an amateur mechanic and a middling chemist, but I’d estimate the amount of sugar water required for the sugar component to have any significant effect on an engine would just keep it from running. Gasoline won’t dissolve water and water is denser, so it’ll settle on the bottom of the tank. A fuel line full of water will kill combustion pretty quick.
Or diesel, in a petrol car. It’s a heck of a lot less suspicious to be pouring diesel from a fuel can than it is to be pouring a big ol bag of sugar.
Bleach.
My OSS manual recommends sugar, but more than sugar they recommend fine sand
You realize that’s why they use mostly unmarked vehicles?
Or rentals depending on the area.
Okay, won’t do that 🫡
Sugar in the gas tank will not ruin the engine, the most it will do is maybe clog the fuel filter.
Bleach on the other hand is an Oxidizer, it will cause certain metals to rust extremely fast…
This still assumes access to the fuel tank
We can work backwards and double down on this problem by making sure it remains inaccessible for as long as possible.
Ideally, you would want to weld the fuel hole shut, but that may be impractical. Depositing a cartoonish amount of very strong glue into the fuel cap cover can be a more realistic compromise.
Attempts to regain access may leave the fuel tank vulnerable where it can then be double tapped with bleach.
or just use a flathead screwdriver idk im high
What about that absorbent gel made to clean up tanker truck spills I think I’ve seen some sold to make toilet replacement easier
I’ve never considered what a shitload of silica gel would do inside a gas tank… It can’t be anything good, but I doubt it would get past the fuel filter. The vehicle probably won’t run but the fix isn’t super difficult, just a new fuel tank + pump and you’re good to go.
Pouring it into the oil intake would have much more interesting results but you aren’t getting in there unless a) you have cab access to pop the hood latch, or b) you’re willing and able to destroy so much of the vehicle to access that that whatever you do afterward starts to not even matter.
I’ve always wondered what a diy thermic lance would do to the engine of a usable vehicle
I imagine it would then present you with an unusable vehicle.
So they have a long break and taxpayer money is used to fix their car. I don’t really understand that logic.
The longer they are indisposed the longer they aren’t destroying families. It’s not difficult to understand.
So they gotta replace the fuel filter. Still gotta do maintenance
I find it interesting that these posts are dated 2019. I don’t remember this being an issue pre-covid.
Well I mean the department of homeland security was established like one minute after 9/11 happened and thats who is in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, so they’ve been fucking around in the rights of US citizens and noncitizens since then
I remember family separations was a big deal during his first term. And then there was that US citizen teen who was imprisoned by ICE in Texas…
I’m surprised I haven’t seen more calls to puncture the radiator. That would lead to the engine shutting off and being immobilized pretty quickly.
Would puncturing the bottom radiator hose not really leak until the pump starts up? Like it would be a slight drip that could be overlooked/unnoticed and a full stream once on and running. Hopefully after driving away a few miles.
Yeah that’s why I think radiator damage is the way to go. They will most likely get stuck on the freeway which is a royal fucking pain.
Why do all that? I’d just wedge some oil or gas soaked rags on top of the catalytic converter. Once the car warms up, the vehicle burns down.
I dont want to crawl under a car. Puncturing the radiator is a way to quickly immobilize a vehicle in a way that requires substantial repair. All of these “sugar in th gas tank!” “unscrew their tire stems!” ideas sound fun but they take time and thus make them fantasies. I want something quick and obvious that succeeds.
So break their fucking radiators.
It’s easier to damage radiator (which is preety soft) with a screwdriver.
Yes and it’s fast, and quiet in comparison to many other sabotage.
Why only ICE vehicles? EVs might be marginally better, but cars are still cars, and they kill hundreds of people every year, cost billions of dollars in direct infrastructure costs (in the huge subsidies that roads get), and untold amounts more in indirect infrastructure costs (because of how inefficient low-density car-centric sprawl is wrt things like sewerage and other municipal infrastructure). Over about 20 km/h the noise pollution is roughly equally bad, and the plastic pollution from tyres is just as bad if not worse on EVs.
What’s needed isn’t to push people from ICE vehicles onto EVs, it’s to encourage people to use (and more importantly, governments to support) active transport like walking and cycling first and foremost, with public transport for longer journeys.
I’m also not a big fan of that sort of indiscriminate vandalism anyway. I’m not gonna bat an eye if you’re doing it to all yank tanks, but people’s sedans and hatchbacks? That’s a bit much, IMO.
ICE as in “Immigration and Customs Enforcement” not internal combustion engine.
Oh, I see. That seems…very non-obvious, given it only refers to “ICE vehicles”, and a certain subset of ICE vehicles are a popular target for vandalism because of their association with the kind of person likely to be a fan of the ICE government department (and because of their even greater overall societal harm than regular vehicles).
I think a lot of folks assume everyone around the world keeps up with our stupid timeline and alphabet agencies here in the US.
A Schrader valve has a lot of metal in it. Cutting them isn’t easy. A valve stem remover is cheap, about $6. Unscrew the valve stems and the tire’s air pressure will push them out. Throw the valve stems far from the car. Alternatively you could use a bodkin to puncture the sidewalls of the tire. A bodkin is a little tool used to make fishing flies. Think of a tiny ice-pick. A very small hole leaks slowly and doesn’t make much noise, making it easy to get away unnoticed. If you slash a tire with a big knife, the air comes out fast and makes a loud pop. If you don’t want to be noticed, don’t slash the tires with a knife unless the air is already gone.
Alternatively you could use a bodkin to puncture the sidewalls of the tire. A bodkin is a little tool used to make fishing flies.
For a moment I thought you wanted to suggest to go medieval on their
assestires.
Am I crazy or does everyone in the comments not realize they’re talking about ICE the federal agency?
You’re as sane as I was in 2019. Looks like 196 has more gearheads than Americans.
I though we were talking about German express trains.
To me, ICE is a high-speed train. I mean, I could look it up, check what it means in US. But at this point, I am not interested enough.
I just saw this on Tumblr before seeing it here and I was also really confused for a moment.
ICE is jerks.
Well I understand. I’ve seen people say the same kind of shit talking about people’s internal combustion engine cars. There are fanatics in Fuckcars and environmental communities.
There is nothing really in the screenshot saying it’s about the agency.
Putting sugar in the gas tank does not work (unless in a movie). You can clog exhaust pipe or penetrate tire.
Bleach is corrosive and will bypass the fuel filter I’ve heard.
Is this why modern caltrops ended up on my YouTube FYP?
