Victim of a Stupid Prank

Reading Lingpau's post on the "gift from oil companies" just reminded me of something.

I saw my friend, Jason Loya, after finals today and we had not seen each other for a while. Anyway, we were talking about how classes had been when he asked me if I knew of anything that could be used to remove glue from metal.

Turns out some ecoterrorist or another person thought it would be funny to glue the fuel cap on his truck shut so it could not be removed. :shakehead :scowl: Obviously, he had been unable to refuel his truck for the last couple days. We managed to break the cap off but there is still a few bits of plastic and lots of dried glue stuck in the threads. For right now, he has been chipping the dried glue out with pocket knives. I haven't identified what type of glue it is; I already rulled out crazy glue (cyanoacrylate (Spelling?) because it was too thick to be that. Probably Gorilla Glue. It is some type of strong glue and it dried in a weird brownish-tan color.

Is there any solvent we could use?

I think this has been happening around our campus recently, mostly on large trucks or SUVs. We'd whoever did that but we haven't caught that person yet.

Sounds like Gorilla Glue. That is some strooong stuff.

From what I found on the net, keep scraping away. The manufacturer recommends cured glue be removed with a chisel, scraper or sandpaper. Maybe plug the opening with a rag and dremel the crap off the threads?

What school is that?

You could try lacquer thinner. That seems to dissolve quite a range of stuff but just don't get any on the vehicle's paint. I'm still dubious of the possibilities of success though since I believe gorilla glue is rubber-based. That means just about nothing will dissolve it when it's dry.

Yeah, stupid thing to do. I'm as environmentally conscious as anyone but stunts like this only hurt our cause. Fact is consumers don't have many other options to power their cars now even though many would love to not burn gasoline. I don't see exactly what a stupid stunt like this accomplishes towards moving us in that direction. Probably just an excuse to destroy property, same as graffiti.

I've pulled some pranks in my day, mostly in the Boy Scout camp that I worked at for 4 years, but we always made sure they were easily reversable, and wouldn't cause any signifigant problems. Glueing the fuel cap on your vehicle is going way too far.

Yea, I'd say that goes beyond prank...

#include <std/disclaimer.h>

Just brainstorming here, but... If this is a college and you have any friends in the chemistry/physics department you could try some liquid nitrogen. Tends to make otherwise tough, flexible stuff very brittle. Don't think it would hurt metal much. I suppose it could damage the paint due to metal contraction while the paint is brittle.

The stuff can generally be carried in a normal thermos bottle for short periods just be very sure not to seal the top and not to burn (i.e. freeze) yourself with it...

I would borrow a very large SUV with some Bush-Cheney '04, NRA, a "Nuke the Whales", and some Ted Nugent bumper stickers, and then set up some surveilance.

Then, once you catch the person or persons, give them the option of being turned over to the police with the video, or you'll let them go if you can find some interesting places to put the glue on them.

I think Liquid Nails is also light brown colored, but I don't know what would dissolve it.

I use acetone.. It works with most glues.

0tom

The liquid nitrogen trick may work with Gorilla Glue or similar substances like Liquid Nails.

At like -190 plus degrees, it probably will make it very brittle and much more easily removed.

Many of these 2nd generation SuperGlue type glues are NOT dissolvable with any of the easily found solvents.

Good Luck!! Let us know what works. If you have a few days, I can experiment a little with liquid nitrogen and see how it goes, since I have about 5 gallons of it sitting in the storage room.

Bill

I've had GorGlue release after getting wet (with water)and staying damp a little while. Might try just keeping it in contact with a wet rag for a couple of days.

A jerk is a jerk, no matter what the cause.

would a heat gun work ?

Please.... No heat guns around a fuel tank unless you have removed it from the vehicle and have addressed the gasoline fumes.

-Bill

I thought about using heat but it's right where you fuel the vehicle. I wouldn't even use a Dremel there since I'm afraid the sparks inside the motor would ignite the gasoline vapors comming from the filler neck.

( We could really smell the fumes while scraping by hand )

Look at the filler pipe from underneath. If it's clamped onto the filler opening, the easiest solution would be to buy a replacement. And a locking gas cap.

Gorilla glue is incredibly difficult to remove from oil-free metal, and all that gasoline solvent would have made sure it is clean.