What bad things can happen if you leave your car running when u pump gas?

your girl~friend will change the radio station.

 

One word.....

ZOOLANDER!!!!!!!

It killed all the top male models.

 

This is Just an example,not the same thing -but sorta related.......
A Guy near here burned down his garage a couple years back.....
He also burned four customers cars with it.
He was an experienced mechanic too....
He was changing a fuel filter.
the car was on the lift, he was standing there and when he removed the old filter/ disconnected it, in that instant, he dropped the metal filter and when it hit the floor -it landed in the small amount of fuel that spilled when the old one was removed.
The resulting spark [of hitting the concrete]- ignited the fuel on the floor ,he panicked,and jumped back out of the flames.

Then fed by the fuel spewing from the line, the whole area erupted into flames and was out of control in a matter of seconds....
Yes...Gas can be a serious risk to us as mechanics....

 

watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvZSHeaiVKU

 

I wont prepay, You simply choose pumps that put you in view of the attendant, and when you turn the pump on you make sure the attendant sees your pretty face, that way they can describe you to the man if they have to. It works 99% of the time. I refuse to be treated like a thief.

I had a warren cop busting my chops about leaving my (modified) truck running at 7-11, I told him the truck was locked, he told me it didnt matter.

I am surprised nobody has brought up the issue of filling gas cans safely

 

in the video thats static that sets it off, didn't matter if the car was running or not
jimv

 

YEP! And it happens more often than most people think - I cringe everytime I see someone get back in their car at the pump...

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blgas-static-fires2.htm
http://www.pei.org/static/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/27/earlyshow/living/ConsumerWatch/main638947.shtml
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/12/05/gas.pump.fires/index.html

 

Look under the hood of your car at night with the eng running. alternators ,generators create sparks, but so does the coil going thru the wires. Had some friends point it out to me that my wires were leaking, one dark night in my roadster.

 

We had a old station in town that had been here since the mid thirtys,paul quinterno owned it from the start till around 1980.he told me that was a rule left over from the late twenties,that never got droped,when the gas tanks were in the cowl,like the model a.if it ran over or when you pulled the nozzle out it goes right over the distribtor

 

Wow! This is very informative! I will NEVER leave my engine running again while filling up my tank! Just imagine the scandle in the community if I were to cause some sort of incident!

The heat is on. I have GOT to exceed 800 posts on this board!

 

no it's not and no you can't.....not on obd2 stuff.
that code is still there....
it has to do with the EVAP system and i'm not gonna go into that here....
but anybody with a obd2 compatible scanner can turn it off...

 

I worked at Mobil oil in torrance ca for 13+ years. I saw storage tanks hit by lighting and not go up in flames.

 

Yanno, the post regarding cowl fuel tanks is the only one that makes practical sense.

With "modern" cars, the fuel filler is at the rear of the vehicle, the exhaust typically exits elsewhere (modifed exhaust that may end up under a fuel fill aside). Exactly HOW is it possible to self ignite?

Scenario 1. Your buddy comes rolling up next to you while your pumping gas, he leaves his vehicle running while talking to you. You select wether he has his engine or exhasut near you.

Scenario 2. A car pulls up to the pump on the other side... Leaves it running and jumps into the store.

Scenario 3. A car drives around you to get to an empty pump/car parks next to you to jump into the store.

Scenario 4. A car pulls up, or backs to your rear bumper to get to fill at the other pump in 'your' fill lane. Especially if you have a rear fill.

Each of those scenarios puts an ignition source closer to you than your own engine is, especially scenario 4. So tell me again how leaving your vehicle running is a problem? If the law is safety driven, everybody should be required to turn off their engines X feet away from the pumps and push their car into the danger zone wether its to park by the door or fuel up.

Just some things to ponder.

Alex.

 

Just turn your damn cars off! You can deal with the cold for 3 minutes.!!!

 

Don't know if this has been posted, I didn't read through all the pages. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gas+station+fire&search=Search

 

Let me guess, the little blonde's name is "Amber" and if you rub her on silk sparks will fly every time.

 

Right. All OBD II cars will code if the gas cap is opened with the ignition on. They think it's a massive evap system leak.

-bill

 

This is exactly what I was saying yesterday to a buddy when we talking about this at his place! It doesn't do YOU any good to shut YOUR car off when there's one either idling, starting up, or driving by a few feet away...or some dumbass walking by with a cigarette in his mouth or any one of a dozen other possibilities!

 

DirtyT,

Several hambers have given you some great reasons to turn off you engine, when filling up your tank. If you don't like the gas stations rules go somewhere else. Good luck finding a station that likes you to keep your engine running. Stop being a baby about the weather, spring is just around the corner.

Cruiser 49

 

I did a tow on a semi that was driven over 20 miles after the front right tire blew.
It was only after the wheel caught fire that the driver decided to pull over.
The aluminum tanks melted down to the 3/4 mark, where the deisel fuel was. The fuel never burned.
We had some great solvent tanks for the month the truck was in our yard.....

 

Hey, I do that all the time and it doesn't kill me (actually it can feel pretty good at my age)
. But my wife kicks my ass when she has to wipe down anything that is within the "kill zone" and then wash my clothes!!

 

The Fire Chief in this CBS news article seems to think differently.

pigpen

Phone Ignites Gas Station Fire

NEW PALTZ, N.Y., May 14, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(AP / CBS)


Quote

"Don't use their cell phones when they're pumping gas. Really, it's deadly."
fire chief Patrick Koch
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


(CBS/AP) Flames shot up around a 21-year-old college student whose cell phone rang while he was pumping gas.

Firefighters said Matthew Erhorn, a SUNY New Paltz student, received minor burns at a Mobil station near the New York State Thurway (Interstate 87) Thursday night.

"I'm very surprised," Erhorn said.

He shouldn't have been. There's a sign at the pumps at the New Paltz gas station warning that cell phones should be turned off for safety while pumping gas.

Firefighters believe the cell phone ignited vapors coming from the car's fuel tank as it was being filled.

It doesn't take much of a charge to ignite gasoline vapors, New Paltz fire chief Patrick Koch told WCBS-AM's Peter Haskell. "Anything, really. Women's nylon stockings when they get out of a vehicle, that can cause a spark, too."

That's why motorists are told "don't use their cell phones when they're pumping gas. Really, it's deadly," Koch said.

The fire was immediately put out by the service station's fire suppression system, using an oxygen-killing powder. That covered other cars in the gas station parking lot as well as nearby trees.

The station will remain closed until the system can be recharged.

New Paltz is about 75 miles north of New York City.

 

That quote is often cited as "proof" - it was withdrawn within days. Here's the very first link on the search, but there's more. CBS aired a withdraw as well. It's pure fiction.

http://www.esdjournal.com/static/cell/nycellfire.htm

 

Old phones used to have minute sparks in the buttons when you pressed them. Newer ones don't. Most phones these days would pass Class 1 Div 2 specs.

I always turn my car off, just habit.

 

Gas won't burn, the VAPORS do-just as was mentioned. And a spark is a LOT more likely to ignite the vapors than just heat. I've seen guys weld on gas tanks, but only if they were FULL!. (One guy, anyway)When we lived in Alaska, my dad would take a pan of gas and put it under my mom's wagon to warm up the oil. He said when it was real cold, the gas would just barely burn when he finally got it to ignite. But-watch the movie The Birds and see what happens (in the movies) to an innocent Buick when a guy smokes and fills up. It's a one in a million deal, but blowing yourself up probably sucks bad.

 

While I've never taken apart a circa 1980 "brick" or "suitcase" cell phone, none of the microprocessor phones use switches & haven't since the mid-80s - they use membrane carbon contacts that do not spark - just like your keyboard or home phone. Besides, there's not enough amperage in there to spark - you're talking sub-milliamp power...

You'd have to have a simultaneous cellphone battery explosion with fuel vapors in the right concentrations to have a remote chance of igniting it with a cellphone. Odds are the sparks would be almost wholly contained within the inital burst and contained within the cellphone body. Besides, if your cellphone battery explodes while against your ear, you've got other problems anyways - it just ain't your day.

 

Don't believe Myth Busters???? Now this thread is gettin' crazy.

 

guess what i got gas today with my truck running! ha i never learn. this post is gay as hell i regreat ever starting it i wish it would die. there should be a an abortion button.

 

There was an old cartoon with a huge lux roadster (Duesenburg, sp?) filling up. The attendant said, "Could you shut 'er off. She's gaining on me."

Anyway, potential engine fire, static, spark, backfire. The probability is low, but the consequences are high. It depends on the risk tolerance of the station owner. Those high consequences can really suck.