Buzz
This idea is frequently seen in stories with sharp-witted detectives and rebellious kids. The plot goes that to sabotage a car’s engine, someone pours sugar into the gas tank. When the driver starts the car, it sputters and falls apart.
Could this be the definition of sweet revenge? Does it actually work? And if so, how?
The theory suggests that sugar flows through the fuel lines into the engine, creating a sticky mess that disrupts its function and leaves the car useless. However, this theory doesn’t hold up. In 1994, John Thornton, a forensic expert at the University of California, Berkeley, ran an experiment in which he tagged sucrose (sugar) with radioactive carbon atoms and mixed it with gasoline. After letting the sugar dissolve, he filtered out any remaining solid particles and measured the solution’s radioactivity, which would reveal its sugar content. Only about a teaspoon of sugar fully dissolved in a 15-gallon sample. Since sugar can’t caramelize, it doesn’t pose a real threat. Any solid sugar that might make it to the engine would likely be trapped by the filter.
Sugar could only potentially impact a car’s performance by clogging the fuel filter or injectors. While this could prevent the car from running, both the filter and injectors can be cleaned, and the gas tank too, if necessary.
In 2017, some creative minds at Project Farm ran a practical test where they added sugar to a four-stroke lawnmower's gas tank and observed the engine to see what kind of damage would occur.
If you were hoping for a dramatic explosion, you'll be let down. Most of the sugar stayed in the lawnmower's fuel tank, though some reached the piston and valves. The sugar caramelized. It didn’t stop the engine from starting, but over time, the buildup could lead to issues.
Can sugar destroy an engine? Unlikely. Could a few sugar granules slip past the filters and cause an issue? Possibly.
If sugar can’t be the agent of vehicular revenge, what else might work? Perhaps water. It separates from the gasoline and can enter the fuel line, disrupting combustion. But that wouldn’t be a particularly nice thing to do.
