Can pouring sugar in your gas tank ruin it?

My sisters ex best friend poured sugar in her gas tank I'm not really a car person but can this mess up the car at all?

Someone did that to my friends car. It damaged her engine. Your sister should call a mechanic and get their opinion on what to do. Hopefully it does not damage your sisters car too bad!

Thats really immature of your sisters old friend...

Oh yea. Someone did it to my sister's car a long time ago. It turned into syrup and clogged everything. The best thing is to drain and clean the gas tank. Then disconnect the hose from the fuel punp to the carburetor and crank the engine over to clean out the gas line. Be very careful of the fan and any moving parts under the hood, they are very dangerous. Catch the contaminated gas in a container, dont let it just run on the engine, it could start a fire. Change the gas filter, you might have to do this a couple of times as it clogs from the sugar. Once you do that see if the engine runs, if not you may have to have the carburetor cleaned, there are little grooves and channels in it that a syruppy substance can really muck up. The spark plugs may have to be changed too.

Oh yea. Someone did it to my sister's car a long time ago. It turned into syrup and clogged everything. The best thing is to drain and clean the gas tank. Then disconnect the hose from the fuel punp to the carburetor and crank the engine over to clean out the gas line. Be very careful of the fan and any moving parts under the hood, they are very dangerous. Catch the contaminated gas in a container, dont let it just run on the engine, it could start a fire. Change the gas filter, you might have to do this a couple of times as it clogs from the sugar. Once you do that see if the engine runs, if not you may have to have the carburetor cleaned, there are little grooves and channels in it that a syruppy substance can really muck up. The spark plugs may have to be changed too.

Wow... people are so immature!
I hope she takes legal action =]
Call the machanic

itl ruin the enire transmission youll need a new ones
sugar, salt, sand, anything can ruin it

yahh.
my mom hadda buy a new motor and errthing casuh that.
it's hecka bad =/

if she did not try and start the car then you have to get someone to take the gas tank out and clean it out with gas

Sue her.

it will most defenitly ruin it and she should NOT drive the car until it was fixed because this will cause further and much worse damage to the engine

This is one of the oldest wives tales about cars. Putting sugar in a gas tank DOES NOT ruin your engine. The worst that can happen is that it clogs the fuel filter or injectors. Check out Snopes page on the subject: http://www.snopes.com/autos/grace/sugar.asp

This is one of the oldest wives tales about cars. Putting sugar in a gas tank DOES NOT ruin your engine. The worst that can happen is that it clogs the fuel filter or injectors. Check out Snopes page on the subject: http://www.snopes.com/autos/grace/sugar.asp

This is one of the oldest wives tales about cars. Putting sugar in a gas tank DOES NOT ruin your engine. The worst that can happen is that it clogs the tank sock, fuel filter, or injectors. Check out Snopes page on the subject.

you think thats bad, some crazy chick smashed up my mercedes benz, two days ago, $26,000 dollars in damage, she attempted to steal the vehicle, smashed the body up, cut up my $4,000 italian leather apolstry, witnesses put her at the scene and the sheriffs say that its just a misdomeanor charge so they are not going to make an arrest.

Actually, sugar doesn't dissolve in gas. All it does is clog the sock and the fuel filter, which starves the engine for gas. Try it for yourself, pour some 87 in a cup and try stirring some sugar. it won't dissolve. I've tried it. Now if it was styrofoam and gas, it would be a different story. You would be driving with napalm in the tank.