Gas in tank evaporates in a month? (vehicle, fuel, best)
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Interesting.
Let's assume the gas did not evaporate. That's safe, I think.
I think your best bet it to look for a leak in the gas line. Maybe a critter of some sort chewed through the hose, and if they did then the leaking hose could drain the gas tank. The gasoline would evaporate, all right, but only because it was on the ground.
I think that's where I would start.
Year make and model of the car would help diagnose.
Old cars from the 60's and earlier have vented gas tanks and some gas does evaporate. Cars from about the late 70's on have sealed systems that *should* not lose any to evaporation. Of course that assumes the system is still tight. My old 82 Scirocco has a good tight gas tank system and you can hear the pressure release when you take the gas cap off during hot weather.
A small gas leak seems to be the most likely explanation, if you have a locking gas cap and it was not disturbed.
We left town for a month. Our car was in the carport with a tarp over it and the hood up. Maybe a quarter tank of gas.
When we got home, the tank was so empty, the car won't start.
Car and gas cap were still locked, so I don't think gas was stolen.
We're in Tucson, and it was over a 100 degrees most or all days we were gone.
Would gas normally evaporate like that, or do we have some kind of a leak?
If there is no leak whatsoever, no liquid and no vapor leak, that would be a closed system and the gas couldn't disappear. All real systems leak, even if not by design - it's just a question of at what rate. There might even be some kind of designed venting in the fuel system. If you're having real hot days, every day, for a month, and there is indeed a vapor leak, I could believe that a 1/4 tank might be able to escape as vapor across 30 days like that.
FWIW this week I just "brought to life" a car that had been sitting for 9 months.
It had the exact same "distance to empty" remaining as when I parked it. The same gas that contained "up to 10% ethanol".
Everything was as if I had parked it overnight.
Most new cars sit on the dealership lot for several months before they are purchased, and they run just fine.
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