Recently the "sugar in the tank story" came up on a festive evening. If you are over forty you probably know the idea from your favorite boy's books from your youth, the Bob Evers series for example.
When sugar is thrown into the gas tank, a car doesn't get far. The gasoline would turn into a syrupy mass. The pistons and piston rings would solidly caramelize on the cylinder walls. In short: “The bad guys do not get away and / or revenge is appropriately taken on a nasty person.
In practice: Sugar in the tank works just as effectively as sand in the tank. If enough is thrown, it can block the gas supply.
It is much more effective to pour half a liter of water into the tank. That water sinks through the gasoline and forms a puddle at the lowest point of the tank, at the gas outlet ...
Then the gas pump pumps the entire system full of water, and then the party stops anyway.
If we then let go of a feasibility analysis on the bag: What is the likelihood that a Young Hero will carry a kilo of sugar?
The solution with water is much more likely there. Because every Young Hero always has water with him. And if after his sabotage action he neatly zips his fly again, then all the evidence is gone.
But let's not put salt on all slugs. Sometimes you need a good story; don't ruin it by telling the truth. And who doesn't look at fairs and markets to see if he can't find those childhood adventure pockets from his youth?
These days, this story can no longer find reality, I guess? All fuel caps can only be opened with either the car key or only when the car is unlocked.
Unfortunately reality. Happened to me last week, and indeed whole car total loss….
True: it was the seemingly clumsy Arie who threw a few handfuls of SAND in the gas tank, not sugar. Now our 3 heroes always have everything in their pockets during their adventures, but even the fat Arie would not be stupid enough to carry sugar with him. Sometimes you don't have to ruin a good story by talking nonsense.
In the Bob Evers series, sand is thrown into the gas tank a few times. No sugar anywhere, as far as I can remember.
Incidentally, it seems to me that sand sinks down much faster than water through the gasoline, with all the unpleasant consequences that entails.