hey, there's a t-junction at the end of my street. if i drive down there, should i turn left or turn right? can you help me make that difficult decision? or should i avoid the issue and just post indecisive inanity on usenet?
I also heard (I believe from this ng) that sugar is insoluble in gasoline. It had to be dissolved in water and then poured into the tank in order to mess things up.
The thing is that water is insoluble in gas too. My suggestion is you mix the water and sugar with alcohol or a bottle of gasoline dryer first. It's probably best to try it in your car first in case you mess up. :-)
Your call, but I don't like them exactly for your "nightmare" scenario reason. Did have one once and had no problems, but that was then. I've got an interior gas door latch on my Grand Am. Don't like that either. No problem yet, but it's a cable and locking mechanism waiting to go wrong. You know anybody who had sugar added or gas subtracted? I don't. Just do a rough calc of the odds.
Thanks to everybody for the replies. I do have a brat neighbor that I told off about his noise. He might try doing something weasely. There is always some weasel around, like "jim beam" here.
Plus, if/when the economy picks up, the price of gas will have skyrocketed in advance of that - so that's when I'd expect thefts.
Do you have enemies, hang out late night at bars, go to bad places on the bad side of town, or just plain live on the nasty side of town? Keep the key in the trunk next to the hammer that you will use to break the cap off when the key gets lost or the lock malfunctions. FYI, cars since about 1985 are almost impossible to siphon.
I like to use one of those magnetic key holder box for an extra key although I've never used it for a gas key - only for the door. If you have a really strong magnet, you could just use that to hold the key to the frame. My Hyundai won't let me lock the doors if the key is in the ignition and the engine is off. It's a pretty smart car.
Tom wrote in news:j79npr$ior$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
What year is your car?
If it's newer than (about?) 1990, you have baffles in the gas filler neck and/or the tank that prevent the insertion of a siphon-tube. The thief will get only what's in the filler-tube (maybe a pint), and that only if you've topped-up immediately before parking.
Sugar in the tank is completely harmless. Sugar is not soluble in gasoline, and the sock filter on the tank pickup will keep it from being sucked into the fuel pump anyway.
Here's an old tip to get the cap off. It wrecks the cap, but you don't want it anymore anyway: Find a flat-blade screwdriver that fits the key-slot in the cap. Also find a Vise-Grips that will clamp tightly to the screwdriver handle. Use the Vise-Grips to pound the screwdriver into the key-slot, then clamp the Vise- Grips to the screwdriver and twist it counter-clockwise. Also works on car doors and trunks. Don't tell anybody you heard it from me.
I learned my lesson the hard way. A couple of young neighborhood kids were in the process of pouring everything they could find (in my garage)into the tank of my old pickup parked in the back yard. Brake fluid, antifreeze, oil whatever they could find. Why? They didn't know me and I didn't know them, they were just up to mischief or seemed to think it was the thing to do for entertainment I suppose. I caught one of them and had him by the neck....he started yelling I didn't do it my brother did, I yelled where is he and he said in the garage (my garage).... the little bastards... Mom was a single parent blah blah blah, no money, uncollectable type, no idea of how to raise kids. I wound up having to take the gas tank off and clean it out and all the fuel filters. I've learned through the years if it's worth having it's worth keeping locked up. Locks keep honest people honest and helps to deter those with sticky fingers and ill intentions.
That happened probably 30 years ago,.... wasn't any need to call the cops, I gave them a good ass chewing like I used to get for doing such things and the kids learned some accountability, and when one of them made the mistake of riding his bike past the house about a month later he got another butt chewing and was learning more about accountability, he finally interrupted me and blurted out he was sorry.... and I think he really meant it. It was a learning process for them, and me, and I keep a locking gas cap on the vehicles that don't have a locking flapper door.
Thirty years ago children may have been more receptive to attempts to correct them. One of the reasons that American children do so poorly in school now is lack of respect and discipline. Once great American education is now rather underperforming.
I used to have one on my Dodge van too. Then one morning I had to stop and fill the tank on the way to juvenile court. The damn locking cap would not unlock, and I had to take a large pair of water pump pliars and pry the damn thing off.
I made it to court, but be damn if I would buy another of those things.
My 67 Barracuda had a nifty hinged gas cap the opened by pushing on the latch. No cap to unscrew. I guess in those days, it was important to fill the tank up in a hurry. My mom's 70 Barracuda had a hidden filler that was hard to find. :-)
'50's - and maybe some '60's - car had all kinds of "hidden" latches to get to the gas cap. Must have drove gas station attendants crazy. I had at least one where the cap was behind the license plate holder, which was hinged. My favorite was behind the right tail light lens. Think it was a '58 Olds. As I remember it the lens was 3-piece, the pieces separated by chrome. There was a reflector in the center, about the size of a quarter. That was a button, and when pressed the entire assembly swung up to reveal the gas cap.
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