Why oh why- the gas cap

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Maybe this has happened to you.

You go to fill your ride, unscrew the gas cap--- it slips from your hand--it rolls dead center under the car,,,aint life great lmao , I guess there is a 50 percent chance it will do that...for me, it seems like it always rolls under the car somewhere...how about your experiences with stuff like that....
 
When I drop them they roll to a storm drain right up to a hole.
Then when I go to fetch it a bird will fly down and nudge it into the abyss.
Maddening it is.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
When I drop them they roll to a storm drain right up to a hole.
Then when I go to fetch it a bird will fly down and nudge it into the abyss.
Maddening it is.
to funny
 
I've had a car with a latching gas cap for 6 months. Not once have I remembered I have to pull the lever to open the gas door.

People think I'm nuts when I start yelling at it .
 
The gas caps on the vehicles in my signature are tethered and designed to be placed not to dangle down on the paint when removed for fueling.
Many vehicles have been designed like that for years now.
 
nope. mine has a factory leash. the worst that can happen is it flops down and rubs the paint...

now i had something similar happen with the oil fill cap on my neon once upon a time.
look under the car, not there...what the heck?? I was on vacation at the time, and frankly forgot i had "misplaced" the cap. (OH! LOOK! SOMETHING SHINY!)

a few days later, on the drive home, a couple hours into the trip I start to notice a hot plastic smell through the vents, but all the gauges looked good... meh...
at the fuel stop a little later, I noticed "it smells like oil at this gas station"...

a couple "I smell oil" stops later, I remembered dropping the cap, get out my flash light, start looking around under the hood. The Fill cap had landed squarely on a cross member just below the exhaust pipe.(and even a thousand miles later was still sitting there). that hot plastic smell was the cap melting around the exhaust.

I was changing the oil as soon as i got home anyway, so I just bought a cap when i turned in the used oil...
 
Originally Posted By: earlyre
nope. mine has a factory leash. the worst that can happen is it flops down and rubs the paint...

now i had something similar happen with the oil fill cap on my neon once upon a time.
look under the car, not there...what the heck?? I was on vacation at the time, and frankly forgot i had "misplaced" the cap. (OH! LOOK! SOMETHING SHINY!)

a few days later, on the drive home, a couple hours into the trip I start to notice a hot plastic smell through the vents, but all the gauges looked good... meh...
at the fuel stop a little later, I noticed "it smells like oil at this gas station"...

a couple "I smell oil" stops later, I remembered dropping the cap, get out my flash light, start looking around under the hood. The Fill cap had landed squarely on a cross member just below the exhaust pipe.(and even a thousand miles later was still sitting there). that hot plastic smell was the cap melting around the exhaust.

I was changing the oil as soon as i got home anyway, so I just bought a cap when i turned in the used oil...
lol,,good one
 
Believe the gas caps on all the cars I have purchased have had a tether. Can't even remember what the gas cap on my Nova was like.

I did have a great Murphy's Law experience with my wedding ring just a few months after I got married, was trying to replace a headlight on my Honda and realized the ring was getting in way. Tried to slip it off and put it on the ground with one hand while I was holding something in place with the other.
Of course, it slipped out of my hand at just the wrong time and landed on edge...I watched it roll down the entire driveway and slip down a gap in the concrete at the sidewalk that I knew had no tar in it.
I had eyeballed that gap earlier and it appeared to be bottomless, but I could see the ring a ways down there...too far down for my fingers, I think I bent up a wire coathanger to be long enough to hook it. I was worried that the ring would just keep slipping down further every time I touched it, but I saved it on the first stab.
Wouldn't have been too big a deal to replace it, it was a ~$250 plain gold band from Service Merchandise...of course, the wife got a custom carved and cast engagement ring with a diamond we selected at a gem wholesaler, I had connections with a business on Jeweler's Row in Chicago and we got a nice deal.
 
Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
Maybe this has happened to you.

You go to fill your ride, unscrew the gas cap--- it slips from your hand--it rolls dead center under the car,,,aint life great lmao , I guess there is a 50 percent chance it will do that...for me, it seems like it always rolls under the car somewhere...how about your experiences with stuff like that....

You think that's tough?

I bought my '97 Chrysler Concorde, and go for the first fill-up.
oops, no button/pull or anything to open the gas cap.
At some point a guy filling up figure out what i was looking for and show me:
The small panel door on top was just the non-locking pulling type....
 
Ive never understood the capless thing. Had a rental suburban recently that had it.

Given the dirt and grime that ends up in the fuel filler area, no thanks.

There are few things simpler to man than a threaded plug with an o ring seal, to seal a vessel from liquid and gas.

Only my oldest vehicles do not have tethers. And those vehicles (MB) have a little wire basket on the fuel door to hold the cap.

Can't get any easier.
 
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
The gas caps on the vehicles in my signature are tethered and designed to be placed not to dangle down on the paint when removed for fueling.
Many vehicles have been designed like that for years now.


Until one's Dakota throws a P0440 code and the replacement cap from NAPA is not tethered...
 
I once worked at a self-serve station. Amazing amount of people pull in, realize they're on the wrong side so the hose won't reach, then navigate a U-turn so their car is facing the opposite direction but the fill tube still is on the side opposite the pump. Upwards of 90%.
 
my honda has a tethered gas cap

B2T5xk
 
I remove tethers, found they don't work in cold weather and/or let the cap hit paint too easily.

Somehow I haven't lost one under the car. Yet. I'm sure I'll drop it next time I'm at the station.
 
Mine's not tethered, and the flap fell off, but I'm pretty sure it didn't have a fuel filler cap holder on it.

I suppose I could glue a magnet on it.
 
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