Wierd problem while filling up with gas

That's an odd one OP

 

I'm sure I could have gotten lucky this entire time. I'm asking why is it specifically more dangerous with the car running? I can post videos of cars starting on fire with the engine off too (looks like most/all in that video were off).

 

There is a clip in that video that explains why, and an explanation in the article I linked in post #29. It's kind of like aircraft incidents. It's rarely one failure that brings down an aircraft, it's usually a series of events aligning to cause the accident. Same theory here. A running vehicle is just one thing in the chain, but one that you can eliminate.

 

Heck fish house, ny in that area brings back memories of local hare scrambles racing where i started. Love the area.

 

As far as I can tell, the only additional hazard that you are creating is the presence of heat and spark associated with a running engine, like the hot exhaust and the potential for a short somewhere. Obviously the engine itself is nowhere near the fuel vapors at the tank, but I think it's one of those situations where there's no reason to add any risk because the consequences are so severe. So even if a vehicle is only 0.00001% more likely to go up in flames if it's running vs. not running, even that is enough of a reason to not temp fate, for you and everyone around you. Statistically I'm sure it doesn't move the bar very much, but adding the factor of a running engine to numerous other unforeseen circumstances isn't worth it. Save yourself a few cents and shut your truck off. It's more common decency than anything at this point.

 

Don't forget your wool man thong Shane. Gotta keep the giblets warm

 

All that makes no difference. The problem still occurs when I shut the truck off and then fill up. I don't recall telling anyone I always fill up w it running. People always assume stuff off of the slightest piece of info. I try to stay sucker free and avoid those people. Anyone in here actually know anything about this problem or is this just the worthless argument thread?

 

At what point in the refueling process does it do this? When you shut off the truck? when you start fueling? when your done fueling? when you start the truck back up?

Do some tests to find the exact process thats creating the situation. Park your truck, open the gas cap and put it back on, then start truck again.

 

Big deal, leave it there and go in and get a hot dog.

 

Glad you bring up aircraft. One of my favorite shows is Air Disasters. It really is cool? to see the list of events that have to happen to actually cause an accident. And it almost always comes down to human error... much like me leaving my car running.

But all it said in the video is there is extra heat with the car running. That heat is there if the car is on or not. Not saying you're wrong here just looking for something that makes sense to me.

This is kinda my point what heat is there that isn't present when the engine is off? It's not like you let the car cool down for hours before pumping. A short is short if the car is on or not. Esp for our trucks which most of negatively switched.

No need to resort to name calling. Just looking for an actual reason I can wrap my head around that its more dangerous. Do you also judge people looking at their cell phones while pumping? Or that get in and out of the car? Getting in and out is much more likely to start a fire than the car running.

Edit: Sorry OP, I'll stop derailing this. But like I've stated I leave mine running and its never caused a check engine light. Looks like you may have other issues.

 

Even worse than leaving it running. I can't stand it when people leave their car at the pump and go inside to eat lunch and drink slurpees. If plenty of pumps are open then it's no big deal, but when people are waiting on pumps it just blows my mind.

 

I do judge them, for the same reasons. But agreed, there wasn't any reason for name calling, and we've gone way off track.

 

You know what? I'm gonna start leaving my car on while I pump even harder.

Ffs, tacomaworld, we've ruled out evap testing and static electricity as valid reasons to turn off your engine. What else you got, tacomaworld? Y'all also put your phones on "Airplane mode" when the pilot asks you to?

 

It's like gambling, but instead of a 99.999% chance of losing, you are getting a 99.999% chance of not setting your car on fire. The good and bad is just swapped. That 8,765th time you fill up a vehicle could be it!

And yeah, I've witnessed a car with a faulty fuel pump catch fire after being parked for an extended period of time, but never seen a car catch fire at a gas station. So yeah, odds are in your favor, but if you don't play, you can't lose!!

 

Having the car running does not seem to introduce ignition sources back by the fuel tank that could ignite gasoline.

Gasoline is notoriously hard to ignite with a hot surface-it evaporates before it can ignite, unless it is atomized, say, out of a broken fuel injection line. If a hot exhaust were a concern, you'd be better to leave the car running since the exhaust will temporarily heat up immediately after shutting down due to lack of air movement.

There can be a static charge in the gas tank and down the filler neck as fuel is transferred, but that exists independently of whether or not the car is running. Maybe it is slightly increased by the volume of gas being pulled out by the running fuel pump. You would still need an arc. Just holding a static charge is not enough.

A short would have to occur at just the right moment and last long enough before the fuse opened the circuit. It would also have to be surrounded by vapor within the flammable limits.

I'm just not seeing any likely ignition sources being introduced by the car running. Static on a person's clothing exists regardless. Also, cigarettes don't ignite gasoline, but their associated lighters and matches do.

 

I do put my phone on airplane mode. Cause I don't want to be that idiot that has his phone ring. Kinda like forgetting to turn your phone on vibrate at a theater, lol. Possible embarrassment is enough reason for me to follow those rules. Anyhow, what good is your phone doing at 30K feet anyhow? Your battery lasts longer in airplane mode. More Sudoku!

 

It seems like the messages these trucks throw, like your trans temp warning, don't always mean what they say. It might be worth spending a couple $ on an OBD2 transmitter and an app like OBD fusion to scan for codes. Like others said, you can try to isolate the problem by noting and making small adjustments to your actions immediately before, during, and after refueling to see what might cause the condition. If you do leave it running while you fuel up, try it while shutting it off a few times, or vice versa. I keep all of my vehicles running while refueling and have never thrown a code.

How long after the fuel pump work did this start happening? Maybe they screwed something up in there.

 

Where do people live that it's so cold that a kid will freeze in the back seat in the time it takes to pump gas?

Signed: Someone who lives in one of the coldest places in the country.

 

Some people seem to break rules just to break rules. Chicks dig it. Probably.

But the OP says he doesn't leave it running. This is certainly an odd issue. There was another thread where someone mentioned a crankshaft position sensor possibly causing an AT high temp warning. That sounds weird to me, though.

 

Just to clarify things. The reason that you're REQUIRED to shut your vehicle off when fueling has NOTHING to do with the risk of fire (at least not in that sense), rather it is to avoid the chance of someone / something putting the vehicle in to motion while the nozzle is in the filler spout.

OP: agree with the others on the scan tool. You're going to need to look carefully at codes, and ideally, live data before/as it happens.