MythBusters Episode 15: Scuba Diver, Car Capers
Air Date: July 27, 2004
A SCUBA diver can be sucked up by a firefighting helicopter and dumped on a forest fire.
busted
The type of pumps used in firefighting helicopters cannot continue running once in the air. As soon as the pump is shut off, any caught diver would simply drop back into the water. The pumps also do not have enough suction to suck in a person in the first place.
If you plug the tailpipe of a car with objects, the engine will be destroyed.
busted
All of the objects used were shot out immediately after the engine started up.
If a bullet is shot through the fuel tank of a car, it will explode.
busted
The gas tank did not explode.
(This myth was revisited in episode 38 and it was found to be plausible if the tank is shot with a tracer round.)
A car door can protect you from bullets in a shoot out.
busted
The car door did not stop the bullets shot at it.
A car engine will be destroyed when liquid drain cleaner is put into the fuel tank.
busted
The engine still ran.
A car engine will be destroyed when bleach is put into the fuel tank.
plausible
The engine soon died out but wasn’t ruined from the experience. The following morning, the inside of the gas tank was covered in rust.
A car engine will be destroyed when sugar is put into the fuel tank.
busted
The engine ran even better than without the sugar.
Adding mothballs to the fuel tank of a car will increase its horsepower.
plausible
The engine still started, but it soon started spluttering. When Jamie pressed the accelerator, the engine sounded more powerful.
When a car radiator is bone dry, cola can be used as a substitute for coolant.
plausible
The car ran with cola in the radiator, but it may cause damage.
When there is a leak in a car radiator, cracking an egg into the radiator will plug the hole.
plausible
The engine was started after the contents of an egg were poured in, and the leak stopped.
A piece of metal can destroy a car engine when it falls in the carburetor.
busted
A penny dropped in could be heard rattling, but the engine still ran.
Adding bleach to the oil of a car can destroy the engine.
confirmed
The engine started but it soon started smoking, and very quickly overheated. The engine was so hot, that the undercarriage started burning and Adam fried an egg on the tailpipe. The engine was ultimately ruined.
Newer: Episode 16: Ancient Death Ray, Skunk Cleaning, What Is Bulletproof?
Older: Episode 14: Myths Revisited
for the tail pipe what about a truck at a boat landing if submerge the tail pipe in shut the engine off is there enough back pressure to crake the head, will it start again
June 22, 2007 at 12:38 AMEven if you welded the tail pipe closed, the main ill effect would be the engine die, or a blown exhaust gasket. In the old days, the exhaust portion of the safety test in Colorado was to plug the tail pipe. If the engine stalled (after a couple minutes) you passed, no stall was a fail. The idea being that if your car didn’t stall, it had an exhaust leak someplace.
June 23, 2007 at 1:39 AMI don’t understand what kind of firefighting helicopter rig this is. I thought the myth was about a helicopter that drops a bucket with an open bottom in the water, closes the bottom, then flies it to the fire and opens the bottom again.
June 23, 2007 at 7:47 PMMetal down the carb…I accidentally dropped a spring washer down a carb once on an old austin metro. it got past the inlet valves got squashed in between the top of the piston and the cylinder head compressing the edge of the piston and jamming the piston rings. didn’t destroy the engine as such but i didnt leave it running for long. i suppose eventually the rings would have broken up and caused irrepairable damage to the cylinder.
June 25, 2007 at 6:28 AMI had a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle engine which I attached a pair of 40mm carbs to. I was firing the newly crafted engine up for the first time without the air cleaners but neglected to notice a washer on the carb-filter stem. It vibrated up the stem and into the carb *immediately* locking the engine. I still have the washer which was squashed flat. I was able to remove it once the head was removed from one side, revealing it to be jamming the piston’s movement. While it didn’t destroy the engine, it rendered it useless until the part was removed.
June 25, 2007 at 4:00 PMNEVER NEVER NEVER COMBINE ANY CHLORINE PRODUCT ( BLEACH, HTH, ETC ) WITH A PETROLEUM PRODUCT IT WILL EXPLODE
July 3, 2007 at 6:51 PMREAD YOUR M.S.D.S. BEFORE ATTEMPTING YOUR TESTS
I thought that a piece of metal will destory a car engine i guess i was wrong.
July 19, 2007 at 4:12 PMI actually have something that did mess with the engine of my 94′ ford mustang 3.8 V6…… If liquid Laundary detergent is put into the gas tank with gasoline, it could chrystalize the injecters, crack a head, make the gas non flamable and my a car break down i would love to see it tested on Myth busters!!!!!
September 12, 2007 at 5:03 PMSorry guys, I once got a small ball bearing dropped down my intake (I think my obnoxious neighbor did it while I was working on the car) and it destroyed the head and one piston. Several hundred dollars damage.
October 9, 2007 at 8:32 PMSugar in the gas tank will damage all components related to the fuel system… IE: Fuel rails, injectors, fuel lines, and could also damage the pistons/rings…. The fuel filter will get gummed up, shutting down fuel to the motor…. VERY COSTLY!
November 9, 2007 at 4:55 PMWill a Pinto really blow up if rear-ended by another car, even at relatively low speeds?
November 24, 2007 at 11:39 PMWith regards to the comment about a tailpipe being submerged at a boat ramp and the engine being shut off, the problem is that the water cools the pipe which causes the gas in the pipe to contract, which causes more water to get sucked up in there, thereby cooling it even more, thereby causing even more water to get sucked up there. This quickly fills up the exhaust and probably the cylinders with water. I’ve seen this happen to people who were trying to drive through too deep of water. Usually, to fix it, you just get the car to a dry area, remove the plugs, and crank the engine over a few times until no water runs out of the tailpipe. Of course, this assumes that you didn’t get it in water so deep that you managed to damage other things (e.g. your car computer with newer cars).
December 4, 2007 at 5:25 PMWhat is the best way to plug a tail pipe?
December 12, 2007 at 9:10 AMPotatos work well fpr [lugging pipes, but justt one won’t do, it becomes a potato cannon. (as how i know!) a plugged exhause will cause an engine to not run. I have seen it several times. it will start and die, then start and die untill it won’t start at all. once it sits for a bit and the back pressure releases, it will start and die again.
Yes, a piece of metal CAN damage an engine, it depends on the type of intake plenum, A fragment can damage a valve or worse.
May 6, 2008 at 1:15 AMWanting to know more about the hho powered cars. Some adds claim you can run your car on water and ‘never have to fuel up again’ Any chance it could be tested?- or are there any valid results anywhere?
July 24, 2008 at 11:24 PMCheers
My son and I decided to test the hydrogen generator theory. We used as a test our Poulon riding lawnmower. We built a well producing generator. Several obstacles were overcome. First was solving a water clarity problem as the water would cloud up very fast and create a layer of scum. Next was adjusting the amps to were hydrogen was produced. We settled on 10 amps and soon discovered it was too much for the battery to handle. We are still playing with it and are not getting expected results. We do not understand how adding fuel (hydrogen) will give us increased mileage without decreasing the original fuel flow (gas). I would be very interested in seeing your crew tackling this myth. As far as we can determine MYTH BUSTED
July 30, 2008 at 9:20 PMi have seen older cars not run with a plugged ex but the newer ones some of them will release pressure from the spring bolts on the cat converters they will not run at high speeds but they will run an about the crack head at the boat ramp i back mine in all the time an it runs fine even makes some neat bubbles ramps are on an incline water dont travel up hill unless pumped
August 7, 2008 at 2:04 AMi know for a fact that when you said that putting sugar in a gas tank will destroy the engine as busted, is so not busted. 4 months ago my car engine was destroyed becuase someone put about a cup of sugar in my gas tank. It then went to my engine and I had to buy a whole new engine.
August 21, 2008 at 7:26 AMWhile at a “friend’s” house he attempted to instruct me to pour gas in his carburetor from a plastic fuel can so that he could turn the ignition. I told him “no way”, so he told me to just pour some in a plastic cup and he would turn the key. Again I told him “no way”< and told him to just “jump” the vehicle ’til it started. He snapped at me and told me he knew his truck and that would kill his battery. I told him I wasn’t doin shit and that I was leaving. He said “Fine I won’t pour any gas , just turn the key.” When I turned the key there was a flash of flames accross the windshield and I opend the door to get out there was already spots of flames on the concrete, and whne I turned to toward the front of the vehicle he had the flaming plastic cup in his hand. He dropped the plastic cup directly onto the open can of gas at his feet…eruption…like a tea potblowimg flames instead of steam, roaring flames, crackling hedge, the fuel pump was leaking fuel under the car…HE kicked the can b/c he was hemmed between the front of the vehicle and the house and it splashed gasoline on to my shoe setiing me on fire. I ran into the street dropped to the ground, ripped out the laces and kicked th shoe off. I rean back to my car grabbed an extinguisher and extinguished the flames until the FE was out… FD responded, I went to hospital for 10 days for skin graft surgery and this so-caleed friend of mine has told his insurance company that the vehicle backfired and set the fuel can on fire. He did not tell them that he took the air filter cover off, poured gas into the carb w/o my knowledge (couldn’t see b/c hood was up)or that he dropped the flaming cup and kicked the fuel can causing the gasoline too splash on me. His insurance company has taken the position that the “automobile exclusion clause” does not covrer acts resulting from activities involving vehicles… even though it was not due to the vehicle it was due to their policyholders actions… Can you guys do a show that explains the vaapor density of gasoline and how it remains low to the ground… and that a backfire from the carb would not arch laterally and down to the ground form the center of engine esp. in outdoor conditions?. gas vapors are heavier than air, and even the Int’l. Bldg. Codes require a gas ho water heater to be on a stand 18″ b/c that is an adequate distance that the fumes from a gas spill on the floor will not be ignited by a pilot light… Please let me know if you have had any shows like this in the past so that I can try to prove my point.
Thanks.
PS- Loved the pix @ Lester’s SF Auto Care, he ’s my mechanic.
January 3, 2009 at 1:27 AMRe: HHO power. I would also like to see Mythbusters test the hydrogen engine claim. I think Bob’s use of a lawn tractor has a fault since it does not have a computer to adjust air/fuel ratio.
Thanks.
January 11, 2009 at 7:13 AMi know for a fact a washer took out piston number 6 in my dodge bigblock,,,and oatmeal and pepper crushed does and well clog heater core ..thats a old 4×4 trick,to get home,and a potato in tail pipe causes a the motor to stall,,,but it starts up after its removed,,,and mthybusters do a canadian mothball mix and test for octain rating increase-tyty
January 25, 2009 at 8:50 PMSorry, but you are incorrect. Metal objects dropped inside an engine CAN destroy an engine.
February 15, 2009 at 11:26 AMI’ve been a Master Certified auto technician for many years and I’ve witnessed first hand the damage caused by small metal objects ingested by engines(both gas and diesel). The damage usually is limited to the piston or cylinder head.On occasion the cylinder wall is damaged, requiring engine replacement.
hahahahah for the idiot that said sugar would do damage and cost alot to repair is retarded… you just got jipped at the body shop… the guys just told you that so then they could rip you off and replace all the lines and gas tank in your car… what an idiot
March 5, 2009 at 5:01 PMI know about sugar in gas tanks. Even though it does not ruin an engine it can cause the fual pump and filter to clog over time and may even caramelize on fuel injectors causing for repairs.
March 16, 2009 at 8:53 AMJoJo…did you remove the gas tank and strain the fuel to get that “CUP” of sugar? That’s pretty funny, do the test at home…put one cup of sugar in a gallon of gas, over time the gas eats the sugar, one cup wouldn’t destroy anything unless you were running the car on vapors.
Everyone else is right though, it will clog fuel pump, injectors, and fuel filters but it’s not going to destroy the engine.
As far as dropping objects in the carb, MB better try that one again, I’ve seen that happen.
April 1, 2009 at 3:36 PMA SCUBA diver can be sucked up by a firefighting helicopter and dumped on a forest fire.
As I remember this myth it was done with a “Bambi Bucket” system. This is simply a bag that is scooped into a nearby lake to fill, and the bottom opened up over the fire. A surface swimmer could easily be caught in such a device.
May 17, 2009 at 10:19 AMFor the tailpipe…a large firework shot into the tailpipe of a car WILL indeed cause an explosion as this happened up my block at some girls new mercedes. An arugment arose with some young girls and one lit up a large firework and puggled it into the tailpipe and ran.. The car was in fact totalled from the amount of fire
August 17, 2009 at 11:50 AMgood thing i bought a lock in gas cap
November 8, 2009 at 4:40 AMI disagree with a unequivocal result of experiment: the fire helicopter and diver. You have considered only one type of system. And in Russia them two. Second is applied by the helicopter of model Mi26TP-1 and Mi26TP-5. The diver could there get, it is necessary scoop water. I heard this history per 1985-6 years, extinguished a taiga. Check up, it is possible so?
November 14, 2009 at 10:37 AMThanks. Ulankin Evgeniy.
The myth about sugar in a gas tank is not busted because you did not use a fuel injected motor and that is what is driven today and has been since the 1989’s
November 22, 2009 at 12:10 PMIf you are useing automotive myths you really need to use todays injected fuel systems because only the hot rods and poeple that take care of there cars use carbuated motors today!!!!
November 22, 2009 at 12:14 PMWhoever said that a tailpipe will suck up water into the engine has either a) never driven a car/ truck through water and b) doesn’t understand the basic principle of operation of a 4-stroke internal combustion engine.
January 11, 2010 at 11:52 PMIf you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t post – the whole point of Mythbusters is to put an end to myths not start new ones.
William great one!
January 17, 2010 at 3:02 AMthey did the exploding gasoline tank wrong.i watched the movie and the clip ony shows the car exploding.in the film the car wasent shot in the tank it was shot all over and it had 2 giant tanks of n2o(nitrous oxide)wich also helps to burn
January 30, 2010 at 6:27 PM