Try looking for the person that the victim ticked off, or screwed over, then you'll find the one responsible for the damage.

I'm very skeptical about this. Didn't anyone see Mythbuster's a few years back when they tested this myth about sugar in the gas tank? They couldn't get the engine not to run with sugar. What was not disolved just layed at the bottom of the tank. Pretty much said, the experiment showed that nothing happened when you put sugar in the gas tank.

$8,000 in damage - must be some really toxic sugar?

It appears that you are correct.
http://www.snopes.com/autos/grace/sugar.asp

Sugar won't cause major damage.

don't worry the cars where lemons

Not an $8000 repair at all
Simply remove and clean out tank, lines and replace filter

Wait until the insurance company makes their adjustments. It will probably be more like $800, minus the deductable.
You could pop in a brand new engine and fues system for a lot less than $8000. Somebody just wants a new car.

What kind of car would be that expensive that it would take eight grand to replace/repair? No wonder the guy is living in an apartment-he can't afford anything else but his car, lol.

Just like to point out something that might make a difference. Not sure if ethanol was in the gas used by Mythbusters but ethanol changes the properties of gasoline. More of the sugar might disolve in the gas now that it contains 10% ethanol. Might be time to write Mythbusters and ask them to try it again with today's gas formulations.

Haven't heard of this in a long time. Didn't think anyone did that anymore. Does seem like a lot in damages.

They should look into the ethanol mixture as Scubabike420 suggested in their post.

At least it did not happen in Hershey, the sweetest place on earth.

Scubabike420 is onto something. Just mixed a little sugar into some new gas, middle grade. Some cloudiness, but the vast majority remains unchanged. Most of the sugar, at least 95% by my guess, stays granular.

I'll leave them together today, and see if that changes.

Laugh everytime I see a pump that says "enriched with 10% ethanol". Didn't know they changed the meaning of enriched.

I thought Hershey moved south?

Agreed. But a potato in the tailpipe--now that can really do some damage! (Not that I have first-hand knowledge about this.)

Would hurt too! Ouch!!!

I was afraid I was going to have to qualify that statement. I mean a potato in the tailpipe of a CAR!!! (Get your minds out of the gutter!)

Very fine filter screen on the tank pickup, no solids are getting by. The little bit dissolved is going to be a problem, how?

Potato keeps the engine from running, no exhaust flow. Never heard of any damage, just inconvenience. Potato will shrink when it evaporates.

Still no more sugar dissolved than what was immediately yesterday.

Please stop giving people ideas....

Anyway, ideas are far more dangerous than the people who would use them... <sarcasm

If the sugar becomes solvent with the gas it will crystalize when it hits the injectors (high speed jet in a carb) effectively killing the "normal" operation of the vehicle by clogging the indectors.

IF it becomes solvent with the gasoline.

As for the $8,000 repair, there are vehicles out there (say a Mercedes ML55 AMG) that has a hand built engine (only 2000 of them made in the year 2000) that are very expensive and add that to the dropping of the tank and you could exceed $8,000.

Would you prefer the sugar or the potato? Or, both for good measure?

How about just stealing the gas cap? Doesn't the gas cap have to be on for modern cars with all the fuel emission stuff to function?

No, leaving the gas cap off throws a light on the dashboard. That is if the owner hasn't covered it with electrical tape already.

Didn't Mythbusters do a segment on this that gasoline does not dissolve sugar?
http://mythbustersresults.com/episode15

Bleach on the other hand didn't screw up the engine, but did rust the gas tank (bleach is an oxydizer), but assuming that it's a metal tank in a modern car is a bad assumption.

Objects in the exhaust are ejected, however, if you can jam it up really good, it will eventually stall the engine. To destroy it, you'd have to find that just right setting between totally free and totally plugged up to burn the exhaust valves. Kinda hard to do on purpose.

This guy was taken for a ride, or the police were taken for a ride.