TIFU when lost my gas cap for my car. I left the gas cap for my car on the roof of my car at a gas station by accident while was fueling up my car because I was in a hurry to get to school and noticed it was gone after I arrived, by finding the gas cap door wide open with no gas cap. I called the place and the number for the gas station I went to was disconnected. I will have to drive by later and see if I can find it. I called auto-zone and the replacement is 20 bucks but still if I can find the old one then problem solved. I also found out the car should be find to drive short distance and low speeds until i get a replacement or get the old cap back on. This definitely gave me a scare. Anyway TLDR I left the gas cap for my car on the roof and drove off.
TIFU by Leaving the gas cap for my car on its roof at a gas station and driving off
r/tifu
Comments
Check Rock Auto for a cheap replacement. I drove my car for 8 or 9 days including a trip to Vegas and my car was fine.
You can order a new one for like, decently cheap. There like less that $20 usually
Perfect time to buy a locking gas cap. Gas prices will go up again, and people will be stealing gas again. You won’t regret it.
Well, in the fuck ups of life this isn’t too bad. Don’t beat yourself up, just go to a Pic-A-Part junk yard and steal, I mean buy, one.
Fuck Amazon and all that, but I’m betting you can type your year, make and model + gas cap and have one in 2 days.
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It’s no big deal, on newer cars it might throw an emissions code if you run it without the cap, but the main things you need to worry about are keeping water/trash out of the gas tank until you get another cap, as both can cause you some significant headaches. You can cover the neck with duct tape, or take a plastic bag and put it over the neck, and hold it on with a rubber band. I’d avoid filling completely up until you get a new cap.
You should be able to pick up a cap at your local auto parts store. It’d probably be cheaper to find one on Amazon.
I have older cars that don’t have “leashes” on the caps, I lose them on occasion. Shit happens. I learned to keep a spare in the trunk just in case – doing that usually insures you’ll never lose another haha…
A lot of cars will light the Check Engine light if the gas cap is loose or missing. Watch out for that.
Does your fuel door not have a place to hang the cap?
Like $12-$15 dollars at AutoZone or O’Reilly’s.
The gas station probably has a whole box of them under the counter. The first one that fits is definitely the one you lost.
So you’re the reason why gas caps have to be attached to the car now lol
FYI, there should be a hanger or a spot to hang your gas cap on the inside of the filler door. If you use that it’s a lot harder to forget to put the gas cap back on.
It happens. Don’t wait long to replace. Dont want rain/ water to get in tank.
You might get a check engine light related to this, but it should clear itself within a day or two, if you don’t have the equipment to reset it.
Could have been worse – you could have forgotten to take the gas nozzle out 😆
Yesterday I lost my keys .. but why is that interesting?
This is why I love having a car without a gas cap
Fyi don’t buy a gas cap from AutoZone or any other parts store, they’re nearly all made by Motorad now and they’re junk and they leak after like a year and then you’re wasting gas that’s evaporating away. Get an OEM cap even if it’s a used one from eBay. (Fwiw, auto tech of 20+ years)