Badly need some advice

[KateMid]

Hi everyone,
I hope it’s okay to post this here. I badly need advice and I don’t know where to get it except in a car forum.

I’m writing a novel in which the villain damages the hero’s car in some way so that the hero is able to drive some distance and then the car stops. Does the following excerpt sound like it could be a likely scenario:

Before I could reply, the car made a weird noise and then came to a halt. John tried to start the engine again. It made horrible choking noises, but refused to come to life.

My eye fell upon the gas gauge. “The gas gauge reads empty,” I pointed out.

“That’s impossible. I put gas in just last night.”

John got out of the car and went to the hood. He crouched down and peered under the hood.

He gave a muffled exclamation. I got out to see what was wrong.

“There’s a fuel leak,” he said. He bent and peered closer. His voice grew more wary. “It looks like someone deliberately cut the fuel line.”

“Are you sure?”

“The cut looks very clean.”

***

I know nothing about cars but someone told me:

I don’t think that would work. Late model cars have fuel pumps in the gas tanks, so there would be pressure in the line to the fuel injection rails. A cut line would spew out the gas very quickly, while there would be no pressure to the fuel injectors, and the car wouldn’t run. Wouldn’t even start. Plus, they would smell the gas. A crimped fuel line would restrict the flow of gas and cause the car to stall after running for a while. Very hard to crimp a fuel line these days, because they are no longer metal, but are hoses.

***

So, can anyone suggest what the villain could do instead to disable the car after it runs a certain distance? I suppose I could make it that the car is an older one so the above scenario works. My friend also suggested:

“the bad guy could have propped a nail against each tire tread. When they drive off, the nail goes into the tire, and a ways down the road, at least two tires would go flat, so the spare wouldn’t fix the problem.”

Thanks for any help.

[danielsatur]

It depends if you want to disable the vehicle, or cause an accident.
The fuel pump can be disable by switching out a good fuel pump fuse or relay with a bad one.

If the oxygen sensor was cut, or disconnected on the catalytic converter, the computer on your car will throw a Check Engine Light (CEL), so the car needs tobe service.
The villian technician can copy house keys, encrypted key, and reprogram The Key FOB.

[KateMid]

Thanks a lot. The villain wants to disable the vehicle so it stops and he can attack the hero himself.

So the scene I wrote out would not work?

The villain follows the hero’s car and while it is parked somewhere, takes the chance to disable it. it needs to be something that can be done fairly quickly before anyone catches him. it also has to be something that can be done by the average person. My friend also said:

“If you want to disable a car, there are lots of ways to do it, but most require access to the engine compartment. Draining coolant could possibly be done without access to the car’s interior--remember that modern cars are hard to get into and often come equipped with an alarm system. But how long the car would run before overheating is hard to say. Without any coolant, there would be problems pretty quick, and would be noticed.

Today’s cars use a serpentine belt, which drives everything. The driver would be warned if that broke or was cut.”

[danielsatur]

Think High tech, like a stung gun to disable the electronics on his auto.

[MagicRat]

Keep it really simple.

Have the villain shove a sharpened screwdriver or a short, sharp pocketknife through the sidewall of one tire. The sidewalls are much thinner than the tread and an average, reasonably-fit man or woman can do this.

The screwdriver or knife would make a hole in the tire, but they would leave it in the tire so only the handle is sticking out. The blade would essentially plug the hole, preventing any rapid air loss.

But, the screwdriver or knife would fly out of the tire after a short drive, then the tire would go flat quite quickly, maybe within one more minute.

A flat tire would make a thumping noise with some mild shaking and strange handling. Changing a flat tire can take a little while (20 to 30 minutes for a novice), leaving the occupants stranded by the road side for a while.

You can also render the spare tire flat or missing, so the occupants are stuck on the roadside for good. Note... millions of people are driving around with flat spare tires right now. Spares are used so infrequently, they rarely get checked, if ever, so a spare tire that is flat from neglect is very reasonable.

[easytech]

sugar in the gas tank easy to do and will kill the engin in about 10 mile

[fmk1983]

I like the idea with the screwdriver! On the other hand it sounds more dramatic to say the fuel line has been cut..

[danielsatur]

You can also fix it, like a police bate car.
Disable the fuel + lock him in.

[JWEEY]

If the oxygen sensor was cut, or disconnected on the catalytic converter, the computer on your car will throw a Check Engine Light (CEL), so the car needs tobe service.

[jdmccright]

A small cut in a fuel hose would not cause zero fuel line pressure. Pressure could be reduced, but there is a fuel pressure regulator that would try to compensate for it (fuel pumps put out more pressure than required, the regulator "dials it down" for the vehicle). The trick is that today's cars have almost no rubber fuel hoses except maybe from the tank sender to the fuel line. Hard to get to but a possibility.

The aforementioned sugar could do it too as it accumulates in the fuel filter it can clog it and block the flow of fuel.