A well-known way among motorists to "layer" their enemy, to pour a good portion of sugar into the gas tank of his car. This method of revenge, as they say, is extremely effective and destructive, and only very bad people are capable of putting this option into practice, pouring a generous portion of sweet revenge into their opponent's fuel tank. And, voila, after he starts his car, after a while, figuratively speaking, his life will not be sugar. Is it so? It is unlikely that anyone seriously thought about conducting such an experiment, so we consider it a great success to show you the video we found on YouTube, which just talks about the consequences of adding ordinary table sugar to and then running the engine on this mixture.
The video example uses an internal combustion engine from a lawnmower as an experimental model. Before conducting the experiment, the video blogger made several preliminary measurements by removing the cylinder head and visually inspecting the carbon deposits and the condition of the piston, valves and cylinder walls. You can watch the process from 0.35 to 55 seconds of the video.
Further, a large spoonful of sugar was added to gasoline, in terms of volume in relation to the amount of fuel, it occupied approximately 1/10 part. An attempt to dissolve sugar in the fuel brought practically no result. Sugar is poorly soluble in gasoline.
Pay attention to the volume of gasoline in which they are trying to dissolve sugar, can you imagine how much sugar is needed to get an equivalent mixture if we are talking about a standard car gas tank?
Next, the mixture, along with sugar, was poured into, the engine was started, and the experiment began, lasting more than 100 minutes. A small amount of bluish smoke was noted at the entrance of the engine 3.45 minutes of video.
After all the fuel was used up, crystallized sugar was visible in the gas tank, a significant part of it remained inside without passing through the fuel line.
Results of the experiment with adding sugar to fuel
Compression dropped a little when cold, 65 PSI versus 68 PSI in the original version. When hot, the engine did not feel worse in terms of compression.
When removing the "head" of the engine, formations of caked sugar were found in the combustion chamber. On the cylinder head, on the piston and on the valve.
The result summed up by the video blogger is such that there is harm caused in this way, but it is minimal and can most likely be reflected in the long-term period of operation. The blogger does not give specific advice in case of suspicion or detection of sugar getting into the fuel tank, but asks his viewers a rhetorical question. What would you do if you found sugar in your gas tank:
1. Would you flush the fuel tank?
2. Have you changed the fuel filter?
3. Would you remove the cylinder head and conduct an audit?
4. Or would you use additives?
And what would you do?
Often on various automotive forums you can see such an unusual question: what happens if you pour sugar into a gas tank? The answer to it, if you figure it out (you will see this below), is not so complicated. But the quite logical indignation of most motorists will become more understandable: how can sugar even end up in a gas tank? Here they do not prepare tea or coffee, lollipops or even caramels. What can be in common with a car tank and ... sugar? Let's take a closer look.
How to understand that sugar was poured into the gas tank?
Most often, sugar gets into the tank of a car on someone's whim, because, by definition, it cannot appear there on its own. In most cases, these can be “ordinary” pranks of hooligans, but there are also moments when vehicles try to disable competitors in this way (before the start of various races, etc.). Therefore, the first thing to do in order not to encounter this problem is to put a lock on the gas tank cap, which will be the first obstacle for those who want to misbehave.
For many motorists, the concept of "sugar in the gas tank" sounds like a sentence. However, let's see, is everything really so complicated? To do this, we will conduct a small experiment, with the help of which we will try to determine whether sugar in a gas tank is really dangerous and what it has to do with the subsequent operation of the engine.
What happens when sugar enters the gas tank?
One of the most popular is the legend that sugar can greatly harm a car engine. Many of its supporters say that this sweet ingredient, getting into the combustion chamber, forms a dense deposit there after combustion, which falls on the walls of the piston and cylinder, as a result of which the power unit simply wedges. Very similar to the truth.
Indeed, sugar, from high temperatures, caramelizes and can even burn, which is well known to culinary specialists. Therefore, for this problem to arise, it will be enough for it to get to the engine from the gas tank. At first glance, it seems that there will be no problems with this either - sugar, along with the fuel liquid, will fall into. But it is at this stage that the most interesting begins.
Let's finally move on to the experiment, which, we hope, will give us answers to our questions. Just pay attention, if you want to repeat this experience, that it should be performed outdoors and a prerequisite, while complying with all safety standards - do not forget that gasoline is a flammable liquid that can harm your health.
For the experiment we need:
- sugar;
- petrol;
- glass container;
Pour gasoline into the container, and then add sugar.
After we mix everything well, we wait until our main ingredient dissolves.
And this is where the main surprise awaits us. It can take a lifetime to wait for sugar to dissolve, because, as it turns out, sugar does not dissolve in gasoline! As a result, we understand that the legends that tell us about seized engines caused by sugar added to the gas tank are fiction!? Without a doubt, adding a “sweet white ingredient” to the gas tank will not go completely without a trace for the engine - sugar, of course, will get on the fuel system filters and, no matter how you want it, will clog them.
For quite a long time, there have been rumors that if sugar is poured into the gas tank, the car will fail. That is, sugar, according to many, should react with gasoline and thus clog the gas tank and disable other parts associated with it, that is, completely immobilize the car.
offend the offender
Naturally, at first glance, this method seems ideal, but is it really valid? Perhaps yes, if you continue to listen to these legends. But! In fact, this is just a legend that has nothing to do with reality!
Sugar dissolves in water, but not in gasoline. Yes, of course, you can pour sugar (or sand) into the gas tank of your offender, but ... you should not expect a “positive” result on your part. Both sand and sugar do not dissolve in gasoline. The maximum that they can do is, but the car will still move. All the car owner needs to do is change the filter and voila, the car is like new again!
In simple terms, wanting revenge, putting sugar in the gas tank will not help you in any way.
How to understand that sugar was poured into the gas tank
Naturally, sugar "by itself" cannot get into the tank of a car. For this, someone has to try. As a rule, this is done by hooligans or competitors (before the start of races or other actions when it will be necessary to use the vehicle).
If you have enemies or you see an envious and ill-wisher in someone, it is better to initially save yourself from the possibility of getting this trouble -. Most of the "villains" will stop such actions!
It is worth noting that most car owners, when they hear the phrase “sugar got into the gas tank”, immediately put a car sentence. But is it really so? We conducted our own experiment, the consequences of which allowed us to draw certain conclusions ... And which ones, we will now share with you.
What happens if sugar gets into the gas tank
There is a legend that says that sugar that gets into it can greatly harm it. They believe that sugar, after sugar enters the gas tank, forms carbon deposits there, which will lead to a complete exit from the engine.
In fact, this sweet ingredient begins to caramelize or even burn when exposed to high temperatures (this is known not only to professional chefs, but also to housewives). For such a problem to arise, sugar must penetrate from the gas tank to the very heart of the vehicle - its engine. But from this moment the most interesting begins.
Experiment: sugar in a car tank
Well, let's go directly to the experiment, which will finally put all the dots and give answers to all questions. At the same time, we recommend that you pay attention, that is, you should not forget that gasoline is a highly flammable substance. That is, your actions should be as careful as possible in order not to harm your health.
What will be required
So let's start the experiment. To do this, you will need the following products:
- glass container;
- petrol;
- sugar.
Why does the container have to be glass? In order to be able to monitor the amount of material used.
So, pour gasoline into the container and add sugar. We are waiting for the sweet element to dissolve (to make this operation faster, you can stir sugar in gasoline).
And at this stage, the main surprise will await you - no matter how much you stir the sugar or wait for it to dissolve - nothing will happen, no chemistry. Sugar does not dissolve in gasoline!
Result
It's all just legend! In no case will sugar getting into the gas tank stop your vehicle. Naturally, it will get on the fuel system filters and clog them, but other negative effects from it should not be expected.
Since childhood, we remember that a pack of sugar poured into a gas tank can poison the existence of the owner of the car for a long time. In the famous Franco-Italian film comedy "Razinya" of 1965 with Bourville and de Funes in the lead roles, this technique worked perfectly. And everyone was funny.
It is difficult to say how many gas tanks have been subjected to such abuse since then: there are many good people in the world. The algorithms for eliminating such "jokes" were drawn quite creepy: what is the cost of replacing fuel lines clogged with a sticky sweet substance. But really, what to do to someone who, as they say, "fell under the distribution"?
We set up a simple experiment. They took a glass jar with 95-m gasoline, slammed into it three pieces of Chaikofsky sugar (as it is written on the box - through F!), Made in the city of Valuiki, and began to wait for the sugar to begin to behave as if it fell into a teacup.
And-and-and ... did not wait. Even after six hours, all three pieces retained their original shape, without even trying to create a new brand of gasoline with a higher calorie content. It is clear that when driving, they will all sooner or later fall apart from shaking, but they definitely will not increase the desire to dissolve in the 95th.
Of course, such experiments have been repeatedly set before us. The verdict has always been unequivocal: there is no harm from sugar and cannot be. However…
However, not everything is so simple. Yes, sugar does not dissolve in gasoline ... But it is in excellent contact with water! And if there is in the gas tank, and she is a frequent guest there, then the situation changes a little. A layer of liquid with a higher density than gasoline appears at the bottom of the gas tank. In this case, the fuel pump will definitely begin to suck it up.
Will it start? This is easy to check - instead of a cocktail tube, we take a fine fuel filter (for example, from Lada Granta) and boldly immerse it in a jar of potion ... Alas: the sweet little water calmly "sucked" out! And if so, then there are no barriers to sugar, in general, no matter how many filters stand in its way.Thus, all publications of a revealing nature, including the show from the MythBusters, turn out to be, let's say, not quite correct. Of course, water in gasoline is an unwanted guest, but in some cases it is she who can keep company with another uninvited guest - sugar.
How to remove water from gasoline is a separate issue. We already . Of course, writing about sugar is more fun, but water in fuel can cause a lot of trouble. However, in the near future we want to return to this topic, only a little bit “from the other side”.
Everyone who has his own opinion on the "sugar" issue, we invite you to speak. The main question is the same: is it possible to harm the nutrition system from sugar or not?