Car Basics For Any Driver #1
How To Fill Up Any Vehicle Like A Pro
Welcome to the first installment of our interesting car facts for any driver series. Whether you just bought a car, or are borrowing someone else's car you need to know how to fill it up safely and without looking clueless.
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As we mentioned in our St. Patrick's day post there are four types of vehicles to choose from: gas/diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric. This gives us four different categories of how to fuel a vehicle: gas, diesel, gas and electricity, and electricity. Yes yes there are also propane/LPG, biodiesel, CNG, and Hydrogen Fuel Cells but we assume if you have one of those you are the kind of person who already knows everything you need to about your very unique vehicle. So for today we are going to focus on vehicles that use diesel and gasoline…just cause, c'mon.
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Did you know that the gas gage will tell you which side of the vehicle the gas tank is on?
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In this case, both the dial and the little image of a fuel pump point to the right.
Many vehicles have gas tank cover that you can just pop open. However, some vehicles require you to press a button or pull a lever to open the gas tank. The two most common places to find this lever or button is at the base of the driver's chair, or in the driver's door.
Now, as long as you don't mix up diesel and gas you are set. You can't put diesel into the gas tank (the nozzle is too big), but you can accidentally put gas into your diesel tank, which is very expensive to fix. Read you gas cap when you pull it off, but another major sign that you have a diesel vehicle is the green gas cap.
Have you ever wondered what that little Flex Fuel badge on the back of a car was? This has to do with gas too. E85 is a gasoline mixture that is 85% ethanol. While some vehicles can't take this type of gas (which is very rare to find in Canada) a Flex Fuel vehicle can. In fact, a Flex Fuel vehicle can operate on both gas, and E85 at the same time. As of about the 2008 model year, Flex Fuel vehicles have a yellow ring, or yellow gas cap to indicate that they can operate with E85.
The yellow indicator ring is found on vehicles that have the easy fuel capless gas filler. These vehicles don't have a cap that you have to remember to screw back on. Instead, you just put the nozzle into the opening and fill up like normal. Why, you may ask, were these invented? One suggestion is because it eliminates the problem where your "check engine" light would turn on because you hadn't properly screwed on the gas cap. While you don't have to remember to screw a cap back on, you do need to be aware of one thing when you are filling up a car with a Jerry can. While the gas nozzel is hard metal, and can push through the flap that seals off the gas tank, a Jerry can hose cannot. This means you have to use the hard plastic funnel supplied with the vehicle to fill up. The two places to find this are either by the spare tire, or behind the rear passenger seat in an truck.
Most new Ford's have the capless gas cap. If you want to see how they work for yourself, or want to know where that funnel is located, we'd be more than happy to show you here at Island Ford.