So a friend and I where agruging this the other day, I belive that if you dump sugar in a gas tank it will not hurt the engine thanks to the fuel filter and will just diffuse and do nothing. He belives that if you dump sugar in the gas tank its gonna clog up the fuel filter and keep clogging them up until it all gets sucked out. If I had a spare car or something we'd try it but for lack of, whos correct?

 

The Mythbusters tv program showed that the sugar would do nothing.

 

One factor is water in the gas tank. I believe they had none in it on the show so the sugar would not mix with the fuel but it would with some water.

 

You guys have to know about solutes and solutions... Gasoline is already a solute, that is, it can't pick up anything else, sugar is also a solute, water is a solvent though. If there was water present in the gasoline, the sugar would dissolve into a solution, and the gasoline would dissolve into that solution. It most likely plug up a fuel filter very quickly, its forms a gummy varnish that will adhere to the fine metal surfaces.

 

just put diesel in the tank.

 

I know moth ***** work. I got 'balled' in the late 60's...had to take the carb apart as well as drain and flush the gas tank.

MR

 

What's a carb?

 

Ever see one of those 4th of July snakes? That is what sugar does when it burns in the cylinder. Besides gumming up the fuel system it can create huge carbon deposits.

Course like the other guys mention, things have to be right to make sure the sugar dissolves and is sucked into the engine.

Jim Henderson

 

What will diesel fuel in the tank do?

 

My "need" to know got the better of me so I poured about a fourth cup of gas in a glass jar and added about 2 heaping tablespoons of sugar to it. The sugar did not disolve as Matts stated above. I then added a teaspoon of water....still nothing that I could see with my eyes. So added all the water which was twice as much gasoline. The water sank below the gasoline and the sugar started to dislove into the water with the gas layer on top. I can see the water/sugar mixture getting into a fuel system and messing it up.
That's my cent and half's worth.

 

I know for a fact that if you dump enough sugar into a gas tank, it will cause SEVERE problems. Ive seen it, friend of mine bombed his own truck with about a pound of sugar. Engine died and the carb was clogged with huge gummy, sticky goo. He didnt even bother cleaning it, it was so bad he replaced the carb. The intake, cylinder, head, and piston was also covered in goo. If I remeber right it took about an hour of driving before the sugar killed the motor. How did the mythbusters come up with the conclusion that sugar doseant do anything, by adding a teaspoon of sugar? Youve got to put enough in to have an effect.

 

Yeah, if you dump TONS of sugar in the gas tank it'll clog it, but not with a little. Mythbusters did test it on a Caddy engine. The thing ran just fine.

However, adding bleach to a gas tank seemed to have cool effects. Bleach is an oxidizing agent and causes things to rust very quickly (go put a nail in a cup of bleach overnight if you don't believe me). Cars will still run fine with bleach in them, but when the person parks overnight, their gas tank and fuel lines will rust away.

 

i figured if you put a bunch of diesel in someones tank it wouldn't have a good effect.

 

Gas engines will run fine with up a 40% mixture on diesel. The other way around is not quite so true.

 

Yea, what he said. Sugar and Gasonline are of opposit polarity and cannot meet to from a new solution.

Better to put shellac in a gas tank...runs really rough....just ask my
dumbA%% nephew who stole 4 year old gas from my bronco just before I rebuilt it.