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.
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 AM