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Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:44 am

I am building a 1976 vw beetle in my garage at home. I came home and started it up and there was sugar shooting out of what should be an oil cap. So when i saw that i quickly looked in the tank and there was sugar in there too???? How do I remove the sugar out of the oil without taking apart the engine? I already removed the gas tank and put gas in and swooshed it around and dumped it, but I fear there is still some in there??? Is there a right way to remove sugar from gas tank and engine oil????

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOU HELP !!!

Sat Jun 23, 2012 2:55 am

sounds like you really pissed someone off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if it was me the motor would be coming apart!!!

Sat Jun 23, 2012 3:32 am

yeah, if i had it in the oil and i cranked the engine, id wana pull it. You could drain the oil and try and flush it out with new oil, drain it and do it again. Just make sure you get everything out. Do it four times if you need to.

Sat Jun 23, 2012 4:20 am

Make sure you have a good filter in the gas line, change it as it fills. change your oil. That's it. Sugar is nearly harmless to an engine, other than it's ability to clog a filter or a jet, but no more so than sand, grit or rust particles.

It's a myth that it does anything more. It doesn't dissolve in gasoline so it won't get to the valves, the only part of the engine hot enough to do anything to the sugar.

Sat Jun 23, 2012 5:23 am

Derek Cobb wrote: Make sure you have a good filter in the gas line, change it as it fills. change your oil. That's it. Sugar is nearly harmless to an engine, other than it's ability to clog a filter or a jet, but no more so than sand, grit or rust particles.

It's a myth that it does anything more. It doesn't dissolve in gasoline so it won't get to the valves, the only part of the engine hot enough to do anything to the sugar.

I agree. If you have a fuel filter than that's as far the sugar would of got. When I first bought my '74 bus it had sugar in the tank and it clogged the fuel filter and that was it. Sugar won't dissolve in gas.

Sat Jun 23, 2012 6:25 am

far better then uncooked, linseed oil.

flush the fuel system. just like you do in all contaminated systems.
drain and flush, tank , blashfuel lines with carb cleaner. clean carb and pump.

if not wanting to take down motor.
flush a full gallon of paint thinner through (no,don't run it)
fill it , , wait 24hr and drain it. (sump)
id put in 1/2gal. wait 24h. the open the cock and then the other 1/2.

Sat Jun 23, 2012 6:58 am

Time to install a nanny cam!

Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:04 am

Why do you have sugar in it to begin with? :-k

Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:39 am

downlow68 wrote: Why do you have sugar in it to begin with? :-k someone else added thhe sugar to sabotage hes work...

Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:38 am

I thought everyone was using SPLENDA these days :D

Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:20 pm

is "sugar" supposed to mean something other than sugar..? I'm so confused! HOW?? :-&

Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:02 pm

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP. EXCEPT FOR THE GUYS WITH THE STUPID JOKES. LOL

Can I really put in paint thinner in the oil and let it sit for 12 hrs? Wont it damage anything?

Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:38 pm

It ain't gonna hurt any worse than the sugar. It'll dissolve the sugar and let it drain out with the thinner. I'd fill the block up fairly full - turn the motor over a couple of times while its in there - WITH THE COIL DISCONNECTED - you don't want to run it - just circulate the thinner. Drain and fill with oil - run a few miles and change the oil again.

Sat Jun 23, 2012 1:38 pm

Sugar is not soluble in paint thinner -- sorry candy ass
Sugar is soluble in water
--------------------------
As you cleaned your gas tank your fine,,
Just dump the oil - run it at idle for about ten minutes then dump that oil and you will be fine

Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:00 pm

THINGONER wrote: I thought everyone was using SPLENDA these days :D

splenda tasted like poo

Sun Jun 24, 2012 8:02 am

Sugar is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in a ring structure. It has chemical groups that can interact with the CH's of the lipids AND it also
has chemical groups (OH) that can interact with water molecules. It
makes contacts with the lipids and slowly starts to hide within the
lipid molecules until its so dispersed that you cannot see it in
granular form anymore. Due to these properties, sugar can dissolve in both
water and in the vegetable oil.
(http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/mar2002/1015878783.Ch.r.html)

Although I can't recommend this because I have no first hand experience I wonder if it would be wise to drain your oil, add vegetable oil, drain and replace. I'm thinking turning over the engine is only going to force the contaminated oil to parts of the engine it has not even reached yet (I guess at some point you would have to, in order to agitate the oil and sugar mixture). Just some thoughts. Make of it what you will. Maybe a couple oil veg flushes? I'm not suggesting running on the vegetable oil , I'm just saying it seems like a pretty harmless and inexpensive way to dissolve the abrasive sugar granules and give it a vehicle by which it could be drained and removed.

Sun Jun 24, 2012 8:14 am

Just how abrasive is sugar? You can crush a sugar crystal with your fingernail, so I doubt it's hard enough to do any damage to bearing surfaces.

I would do an oil change and forget about it. Silly myth.

Sun Jun 24, 2012 8:38 am

very true

Sun Jun 24, 2012 9:01 am

I did a little more reading, and I will agree sugar is a very mild abrasive. I reckon they actually add it to some skin soaps. I'm still kind of uneasy about anything crystalline swimming around in a lubricant though. I'm no expert on this subject and will shut the heck up. I work with precision equipment so I am probably a little foreign material phobic.

Sun Jun 24, 2012 1:58 pm

Derek Cobb wrote: Just how abrasive is sugar?

um, find someone who has poorly managed diabetes and ask them why they had to have their toes cut off... answer... a high concentration of blood sugar (crystals with sharp edges) will destroy the body's fine capillaries...destroyed capillaries means no O2 gets to the tissues, which means the local tissues die and require amputation.