This is one for the books! A "puzzlement"

[DOCTORBILL]

Haven't driven "The Phoenix" for about two weeks as we have had some snow...



Been smelling Gasoline odor out near the cars....

Finally trudged thru the snow and looked at the Metro's gas cap door and it looked oily.

So today, going against logic, I opened the gas cap and gasoline gushed out under
pressure !

Maybe half a quart.

I sucked out another half a quart with my Turkey Baster that I use for transferring
liquids and recapped the tank.

What the Hell is going on ?

I will start the engine maybe tomorrow when the pint of gasoline beside the rear
tire has evaporated away - don't want no fire to start and burn up my baby!

Why ? What could be forcing fuel out of the tank like that ?

I have NEVER had such a thing happen.

I filled the tank a couple weeks ago just before parking the car and it was cold
outside when I did it.
The temp has been cycling up and down from -3 up to 32 over the Holidays.

The only thing I can think of is the gas tank shrunk a tad and was forcing
the fuel out the cap.

Or, on the other hand, maybe I filled it at low temp and the recent 'warm up'
has expanded the gas and is pushing it out the cap.

Very odd....never happened in the 55 years I can remember.

DoctorBill

[carpenter_jai]

The temps here in December have been cycling between -30 and -7 (-22 to 19). This is normal for us, and I have never heard of your situation. In fact, I usually fill the filler tube as well as the tank. And yes, I usually get gas on my way home and park the car for a day or more.

The only thing that comes to my mind is the possibility that you have ice somewhere in your gas lines. Gas line anti freeze is an alcohol (I forget which one). When you add it to the tank, it works by preventing the water in the tank from separating and freezing. Also, methanol added to fuel is supposed to have the same effect as gas line anti freeze.

Jai

[RossT]

Same thing happened to me about 2 months ago. Filled up the metro on a cold fall night. Next day it got warmer out, I went to add an additive to the gas that I use, and gas poured out the filler tube. Lost about a quart of gas. Scared the blank out of me. I posted here in the forum, but now I can't find my post about. Several people said that the gas expanded as it warmed up. I also have a bad habit of trying to put to much gas in the car so my tank was full before it warmed up.

[GM Line Rat]

Doc, The fuel tank capacity is decreased at low ambient temperature. (decreased by about 1 gal at 14F). In other words, When the temperature drops to freezing or below, your gas tank holds approx 3/4 to a gallon less, due the the properties of the fuel. A good rule of thumb that I use is: During cold temps when i expect the temp to dip below freezing and filling the gas tank, I keep the tank "Close" to full", but not all the way up the filler neck. When the gas pump shows any signs of resistance or auto stops the 1st time, I quit filling the tank in cold weather. If your going to leave a vehicle parked for any extended amount of time (A month or more), Put some "Sta-Bil" or fuel stabilizer in the tank to keep moisture out and keep the fuel from gumming up.