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I stopped at a gas station to fill up before a storm hit, but then the pump wouldn't work and then storm was coming in fast, so I just left. I was in such a flurry that I forgot to put the gas cap back in before the roughly 5 minute journey back home through the pouring rain. After I parked, my dad went back out to get something and noticed the cap off. He said there was water pooled up inside the neck of the gas entry point, resting on top of the little flap that covers the entry to the tank. He removed the water by soaking it up with a rag and put a bottle of HEET in the tank, but he's making a big deal about water getting in there.
I called someone I know who works at an auto shop and they said there probably wasn't very much water that got in at all considering the short time and distance the cap was off, and he said HEET would be his recommended solution if a little water got in there anyway (I know we use that stuff a lot to remove water from the fuel line in the winter).
I don't know who to believe. Do you think much would have gotten in? How would I know if there's a problem? Is there anything else I can do to prevent a problem?
I doubt that any got in, much less enough to do any damage. The spring on that "little flap" is pretty tight, I serously doubt that it rained hard enough to push it open and allow enough water in to do any harm. The bottle of HEET was probably more than adequate to neutralize whatever amount might have made it in.
Truth be told, depending on what part of the country you live in you might get more moisture in your tank on a given night from condensation than from this rain.
There's always a tiny amount of water in your gas tank, any mechanic can tell you that. That is why they sell Heet or SeaFoam or other water removal and treatment products for vehicles. I use SeaFoam every 6 months and it works wonders. Better mileage cleaner engine.
You shouldn't need to worry about any small amount of rain water that may or may not have trickled into the gas tank. If you should start the engine and it goes pop pop and backfires then you have a water problem. I can almost guarantee that you wont have a problem.
Remember also a hot engine will burn off any minute water drops in the system.
Water sinks in a gas tank. If you had enough water to do anything, the vehicle wouldn't run. The bottle of HEET is a perfect solution. Just go and fill up the tank with fresh gas and drive it.
There's always some water in the gas you're getting from the pump, most likely.
Actually, NOT likely...
Water is heavier than gas. It very rapidly sinks to the bottom. Underground fuel tanks generally have 4-8" of clearance at the bottom of the tank, above where the pump pickup is. In a 10,000 gallon plus tank, it takes several hundred gallons to make it up to 4-8" in the tank. Plus, stations routinely "stick" the tanks with a substance on the end of the stick that changes color if it encounters water.
Water is heavier than gas. It very rapidly sinks to the bottom. Underground fuel tanks generally have 4-8" of clearance at the bottom of the tank, above where the pump pickup is. In a 10,000 gallon plus tank, it takes several hundred gallons to make it up to 4-8" in the tank. Plus, stations routinely "stick" the tanks with a substance on the end of the stick that changes color if it encounters water.
That's to protect against groundwater seepage. But... You still have the fill necks (for lack of a better term) in the parking lot.. Normally it seems, underwater when it's raining.. They are sealed with a cap that has to be unscrewed.. But.. Think about it.. From refinery to tanker to storage tank, probably with a few steps in between.. There's likely to be some water getting in there. Not saying it's ALOT, but.. Some.
I'd think there'd probably be some condensation in the underground tanks, but.. Perhaps not, because of the fairly steady temp being underground.
I didn't know about the pump being 4-8" higher in the tank.
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