Does a potato in the tailpipe still work to kill a vehicle?

Folks, I hope you realize some of the comments and suggestions have been in jest. At least from my part.

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I donā€™t care what Mythbusters did. I can tell you for a fact that sugar in the tank will muck up the works. Iā€™ve personally seen a new near Porsche 911 sabotaged with sugar and a Subaru which suffered the same fate. The major difference being that the 911 cost way more to sort out than the Subaru.

Many years ago a good friend of mine had a case of the xxx against a plain clothes detective who lived a block down the street. He walked down there one night about midnight and dropped several pounds of sugar in to the unmarked Crown Vicā€™s gas tank.
The car made it about 6 blocks the next morning before dying and dying on the railroad tracks of all places.

(As for any question of my friendā€™s character I will only say that itā€™s light years ahead of the detective. Many around here wondered how that punk ever got hired onto the force while selling drugs.)

As for the spud, youā€™re supposed to cram it up in there and then crimp the pipe with a large pair of Channellocks.

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Iā€™ve seen it too. Ford Ranger 4.0, angry ex-girlfriend dumped sugar in the gas tank, verified with a police report. A day later truck started running very poorly, obvious misfire. Compression test showed no compression on one cylinder, exhaust valve seized in valve guide to the point it bent a pushrod. Full coverage insurance sent an inspector out to examine what I found on teardown, concurred the valve stem was contaminated with sugar and wrote a check on the spot for a valve job.

A few years prior I saw a similar scenario, it was an old carbureted Dodge, and the gas tank had some sticky pink slime in it.

Sugar doesnā€™t dissolve in gas. Would adding dirt to the gas tank have the same effect you saw?

I donā€™t cook much but when you heat up sugar it turns into syrup and then a gummy mess. I think thatā€™s what was being described. The sugar gumming up the valves to the point where they seized and bent. It dissolves some in water like in Kool Aid or sugar water so not sure why gas would be any different.

Why not start with a face-to-face conversation, and walk away if it devolves into a confrontation? I donā€™t see how it could hurt to try having a civilized discussion.

I wonder if Mythbusters might lave lied in order to discourage this kind of thing.

Talk to your neighbor. I donā€™t mean ā€œholler at him from a hiding place,ā€ I mean go up and talk to him and ask him nicely if he could maybe cool it with the engine revs.

Itā€™s amazing how many neighborhood complaints I see where people get mad and bottle it up and post on the internet about it and try to come up with quasi-legal to downright illegal petty revenge plots, and never just freaking talk to the guy.

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I read a lot of advice columns, and it strikes me as funny how often people seem to go straight to passive-aggressive behavior rather than just talk to someone with whom they have a problem.

Itā€™s similar to what I face at work. When someone comes to me to complain about someone else, I usually ask, ā€œHave you tried having a direct conversation with the person with whom you have the problem?ā€ The answer is usually, ā€œno,ā€ followed by some kind of excuse. I tell them Iā€™m not willing to get involved unless their attempt to settle the issue one-on-one fails to resolve the issue.

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Work is different than a random guy on the street, guy is not a neighbor, just trying to impress the daughter he is picking up for a date. I would rather risk a long range shot from a whacko than a close range shot.

I suppose itā€™s possible that Mythbusters could have lied in an attempt to discourage people from sugaring tanks but I tend to think theyā€™re just dead wrong; something that is not rare with them.

Back in the 80s a dealer I worked for took in trade a poorly running domestic (Ford or Chevy I forget which). He sent it back to service thinking it just needed a tune-up or carburetor work. When I determined it was the carb I removed the top and found the float bowl about 1/3 full of a yellowish-white substance.

Going back to the filler cap door I found traces of sugar all around the tank inlet opening. Verifiable by taste.

The boss called the people who traded the car in and advised them they needed to keep an eye on their new ride because obviously some neighbor was holding a grudge against them.

At least this car was fixed cheaply being a carbureted, mechanical fuel pump version.

If there was water in the bottom of the tank for the sugar to mix with, then it is a whole nother scenario

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Nice truck tonight, no rev and backfire. Hope it sticks.

I think it might depend on what kind of gasoline you have in your area too. Sugar wonā€™t dissolve in gasoline, itā€™ll instead just clog the fuel filter, which of course will cause the car to die. Sugar wonā€™t dissolve in gasahol either, gasoline mixed with alcohol. The difference is that ā€œrealā€ gasoline doesnā€™t absorb water, while gasahol (what most of America has to put in their fuel due to emissions mandates) does absorb water. So if you put sugar into a gas tank that has real gasoline in it, itā€™ll fall to the bottom and guess what? Water is heavier than gasoline, so guess what happens then? Yep, the sugar dissolves into the water and turns into a syrupy sludge!

Sounds like Mythbusters put gasahol in their car and there was no water to turn the sugar into sludge. So it just clogged the filter, or if it was too fine to clog the filter, got injected into the engine and burned as if it were gasoline. But the syrupy sludge would have likely had a different resultā€¦

Donā€™t bother with the potato. Pack the tailpipe with axle grease. If itā€™s attention he wants the mile wide cloud of smoke will get him plenty! and it wonā€™t permanently damage the truck.

Considering the ā€œRollinā€™ Coalā€ fad thatā€™s taken over the brodozer truck scene, the neighbor might be delighted at that.

I had no clue about ā€œrolling coalā€ until you mentioned that shadowfax. At first I was WTF? but I have to admit, I got a good chuckle out of one video of a few trucks smoking out some protesters. Hopefully, this will fade rapidly (faster than the baggy pants anyway)ā€¦

Rolling coal, fun name, behind a guy yesterday, blew smoke as often as he could, maybe all the particulate matter will help slow global warming.

Turkey on the engine block, green bean casserole next to the radiator fan and a potato in the exhaust!

Thanksgiving dinner will be ready by the time we get to grandmaā€™s house!

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Starting to make me hungry. When my BIL drove truck he would put his canned dinner, whatever was selected, on the manifold of the engine. When it was time to eat he had a nice hot meal ready.