Help me sabotage a truck

How much time does whoever is going to do it have?
Do you want serious damage, or just nuisance?
Does it have to run again soon?
Does whoever is going to do it have access to the inside of the vehicle?

Quickest, short term, way that I can think of is to "rearrange" the plug wires where they go into the distributor, or just pull several of the wires loose, leave them barely on the cap.

If you want electrical, loosen a battery cable and slide something between the cable connection and the battery post. A nice dark strip of something non-conductive, a little wider than the post clamp, might not be immediately noticed.

Probably accomplish the same thing by pulling the cover off the air cleaner and stuffing a rag into the intake, then screwing the cover back on. But it might suck the rag into the engine. (oops)

Stuff a potato up the tailpipe.

Someone sawed through the differential.

I only say this because once, I had a differential fall off a truck (aka The Rustbucket) in the middle of a snowstorm on an exit off the lovely NJ Rte. 287.

Alas, it was not sabotage; it was rust. We duct taped it best we could until which time the heap was given a proper burial.

Yanno, every time the wheels turn, so does the differential. It makes things difficult.

bummer.

I once dropped a distributor into an Austin "180 degrees out" (picture a clock, I put the 6 where the 12 should be.) Didn't figure it out until somebody came over and went: "Hey. That ain't right."

Felt like a moron. Frickin' British cars. You shouldn't even be able to do that.

Well, it stinks when the alternator belt goes. Especially in the middle of a New England winter.

Pocono tomorrow!

Stinky Kyle will have engine failure.

Remove the air cleaner lid and stuff a rag in the carb throat. Replace lid. No air--no start.

Tri

Simple and quick is to place two nails, one in front and one in back of a tire. Place at about a 45 degree angle and as soon as the vehicle rolls, one will puncture the tire. Takes less than 2 seconds to do. If you're want to be more thorough, hit more than one tire.

If you don't want the vehicle to move, remove the value stem with a pair of needlenose pliers. Less than 10 seconds per tire. You'll only realize it when someone tries to fix the tire.

Advantage of both of these methods is you don't have to lift the hood, and even in a crowded parking lot, neither are obvious. I've seen security tape from a Wal-Mart parking lot where even when you knew who and what you were looking for you could miss it. Both tires on one side in one pass, then he came back in five minutes along the other side and did those tires.

If you do all four tires, you need a rollback truck to tow it with. But other than the towing bill, damage is very minimal so if you get caught, you're not going to have to pay much money. And you have a marginal argument it was just a joke.

Once you go under the hood, your destruction is limited by how nasty you are and what do you want to have happen.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe