I guess this is of interest to divorcees, people with a grudge or looking to get even and it is a question we keep getting asked!
It probably got some attention when we produced the following video on how to kill a car, and it seems rather than look after a car, people are wanting to know how to deliberately sabotage a car.
Here is the how to kill a car video, or rather how not to kill a car.
After posting helpful tips to help drivers avoid damaging their cars, we had the following emails, in significant numbers.
The most common suggestions we get to ruining a car is generally by putting stuff in the gas tank, but in most cases these may cause a breakdown but will not damage the engine.
What about putting bleach in the fuel tank? Or some other corrosive nasty? Do you have any experience with this in real life or a lab setting?
Sugar in the fuel tank is a popular urban myth with people thinking it will cause no end of problems but I'm sure this could be detected if it even worked at all.
Most of the above are actually detectable and fairly obvious when stripping down an engine and inspecting the damaged components, so it's proving quite hard to achieve engine damage or sabotage without leaving evidence.
This list of nasties could equally go in with the engine coolant, and will potentially wreck havoc over time as it cycles around the engine, but would suggest this is most likely to damage the water pump before any other damage is caused.
I've known people wanting to get rid of company cars, or lease cars to put the wrong grade of oil in them, and this very quickly deteriorates the engine. Thick cheap oil in a high performance engine means it's just a matter of time before the engine dies.
It worries me that people ask this because some car sabotage methods could potentially cause some pretty serious accidents and injuries which could leave you open to very serious criminal charges.
How would you go about wrecking a car for someone without them knowing you had a hand in it? Perhaps you have a lease car you want rid of, or a company car is annoying you and it's hasty demise will mean a brand new car?
Here is an article along the line of things people often do by mistake that will kill a car on our main site...
https://www.torquecars.com/articles/killing-cars.php
It's actually scary how many of these things we do every single day to our cars eventually resulting in it's untimely demise.
It probably got some attention when we produced the following video on how to kill a car, and it seems rather than look after a car, people are wanting to know how to deliberately sabotage a car.
Here is the how to kill a car video, or rather how not to kill a car.
After posting helpful tips to help drivers avoid damaging their cars, we had the following emails, in significant numbers.
- How do you sabotage a car in a way that cannot be detected?
- How would you ruin a car without leaving any evidence?
- How can you wreck a car engine without getting detected or caught?
- How can I sabotage my exes car without her knowing?
- How can I kill a lease car without leaving evidence?
- How to ruin an engine without leaving evidence?
The most common suggestions we get to ruining a car is generally by putting stuff in the gas tank, but in most cases these may cause a breakdown but will not damage the engine.
What about putting bleach in the fuel tank? Or some other corrosive nasty? Do you have any experience with this in real life or a lab setting?
- Bleach - acid will degrade the metal surfaces but likely will just destroy the injectors before engine damage happens.
- Battery Acid - see above - fuel injectors will be damaged but not much else.
- Brake Fluid - this doesn't seem to have any effect on the engine, but seals and pipes can be damaged.
- Sugar - will not dissolve and will collect at the bottom of the tank or in the filter
- Soft Drinks - may soil the o2 sensor
- Wrong fuel - obvious and will smoke
- Bleach in the engine oil - this will degrade the internal components and will affect lubrication as well.
Sugar in the fuel tank is a popular urban myth with people thinking it will cause no end of problems but I'm sure this could be detected if it even worked at all.
Most of the above are actually detectable and fairly obvious when stripping down an engine and inspecting the damaged components, so it's proving quite hard to achieve engine damage or sabotage without leaving evidence.
This list of nasties could equally go in with the engine coolant, and will potentially wreck havoc over time as it cycles around the engine, but would suggest this is most likely to damage the water pump before any other damage is caused.
I've known people wanting to get rid of company cars, or lease cars to put the wrong grade of oil in them, and this very quickly deteriorates the engine. Thick cheap oil in a high performance engine means it's just a matter of time before the engine dies.
It worries me that people ask this because some car sabotage methods could potentially cause some pretty serious accidents and injuries which could leave you open to very serious criminal charges.
How would you go about wrecking a car for someone without them knowing you had a hand in it? Perhaps you have a lease car you want rid of, or a company car is annoying you and it's hasty demise will mean a brand new car?
Here is an article along the line of things people often do by mistake that will kill a car on our main site...
https://www.torquecars.com/articles/killing-cars.php
It's actually scary how many of these things we do every single day to our cars eventually resulting in it's untimely demise.
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Hate to cross their path on a dark night if they are upset 
