That TikTok hack about putting vodka in your gas tank to 'clean injectors' nearly blew up my neighbor's Honda Civic last Thursday

Was just watching the news and saw a segment where a mechanic showed the aftermath of someone doing this on a 2018 Accord while I'd been seriously considering trying it myself after seeing it pop up for months.

2 comments

2 Comments

gibson.seth6d agoMost Upvoted

Oh jeez, I actually read a breakdown from an automotive engineering blog that explained why this is such a bad idea. The ethanol in vodka is way too diluted and has too much water content mixed in, so it can't burn properly and just leaves a sticky residue in the combustion chamber. I remember they showed dyno tests where a car lost like 15 horsepower after just one tank of vodka mix. The worst part is that water doesn't compress like fuel does, so it can bend your connecting rods if enough gets in there. Your neighbor got really lucky if it only blew up instead of destroying the whole engine block. Take this with a grain of salt, but I'd stick to name-brand fuel system cleaner from any auto parts store.

patricia426d ago

Sticky residue in the combustion chamber" is exactly what happened to my buddy Dave who tried running his old pickup on moonshine once. He swore by it for a few weeks until the engine started knocking so bad you could hear it down the block. @gibson.seth is absolutely right about that water too, I watched a guy hydro-lock his Subaru at a rally event and it bent two rods so bad they came through the oil pan. Just buy the name brand stuff and save yourself the headache.