I pride myself in knowing random automotive trivia, but recently I was hit with a question that has left me confused.
The question is: “When looking at the back of a car, how do you know which side of the car the gas filler door is on?”
The “answer” is: “The opposite side of the car as the tailpipe” (obviously this doesn’t work for cars with dual exhaust).
Now I thought the answer was all together was crazy, but after a day or so of observing random cars, I think there may be some truth to it. The cars that I own all seem to fit this “mold”. What the heck is going on here? Do car manufacturers actually plan to do this? If so why? You should never leave the car running at the gas pump, so the exhaust should have nothing to do with the gas filler door. Am I right or am I right?
Somebody Help!
Image Borrowed From eBay Item # 290425293432
I would guess it’s a question of preventing a potential gas leak onto a hot exhaust pipe. Consider: you have a leak in your gas filler hose/pipe (not out of the question with older vehicles…I owned a ’77 Ramcharger with a somewhat-jury-rigged filler pipe that leaked some), or you accidentally have an overflow that causes gas to run down the side of the vehicle. Keeping that pipe out of the way if possible would remove some of that risk.
Granted, this is just a guess, but that’s the only thing I can think of. I know, I know….”what about dual exhaust?” This is the best I can do.
Though I never noticed it until now, I agree with the fact, that the further you keep gas away from a hot tail pipe the better.
Sounds like someone has been listening to Car Talk on NPR!
Yup, I have trouble finding some…BUT there is no filler door near my header turn downs!