Found sugar on the ground beneath my gas tank. Opened the access door and found sugar residue. That leads me to believe that sugar has been put in my tank. I haven’t started the car, but how long will it be ok to sit there before I can get the tank taken off. And if I let it sit for a while without driving it will the sugar desolve and not harm the car?
The sugar can only go into suspension, not truly “disolve”. I would think that your only choice is to have the tank removed, along w/ the filler pipe. Whether these can be flushed adequately would be up to an expert mechanic. Your “comprehensive” coverage might pay, since it would appear to be an act of vandalism.
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This belongs in General Questions.
southern_belle1us, this forum is for questions about the weekly columns written by the members of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board.
No problem, I’ll be happy to move it for you.
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Sugar does not really disolve into gas. So nothing bad will happen as it just sits there. Depending on how much they poured in, most of the sugar is probably in the filler neck.
I would strongly suggest that you do not start the car. Starting the engine might either plug the fuel filter, or damage the fuel pump.
Have the car towed to a repair facility, have them drain the tank, remove the tank and filler neck and have them cleaned (a radiator shop can do this) reassemble with a new fuel filter, fill with gas and you are good to go.
A locking gas cap might be in order.
Perhaps the OP saw this staff report.
Snopes also has a pretty good page about sugared gas tanks. There seems to be some disagreement about how big a threat it is.
Oh, and I missed Dogster’s followup.
OK I can accept that sugar doesn’t dissolve in gas, but what about alcohol (mixed with gas in some areas) or even water at the bottom of the tank from condenstation (which can be disolved into gas by use of alcohol)?
People in MNSHO way over estimate the amount of water that will get into a fuel tank from condensation. How much do you think is there one drop or two?
As far as alcohol goes, so what? As long as you don’t start the engine, what’s gonna happen? Nothing, that’s what. Since the OP specified that they knew sugar had been added to the tank, it does not matter if the asshole that did this followed the 5lb bag of sugar with a 5-gallon water chaser. * It not like sugar dissolved in water or alcohol becomes an acid.
Drop the tank, take it to a radiator shop to have it cleaned, (don’t forget the filler neck), replace any in tank filters, and replace the external filter. Fill with gas and drive. Now while this is not a super complicated task for most cars, I do not suggest doing it your self for two reasons. You do not have the facilities to dispose of the waste gasoline, and gas vapor is dangerous. Very dangerous.
*If and only if the tank was steel, and extreme amounts of water were left in there, the inside of the tank could rust with time.
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That’ll teach me to do a search! You’d think I’d know.
southern_belle1us, my apologies if that was how you came to post in that particular forum. You were right. Next time, though, please link to the column you’re writing about so there will be no question about it.
That being said, I’ll move this back to where the OP apparently intended it.
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