Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Bogle bomb here. If you drive a
Speaker 1: late model car, chances are your gas cap is connected
Speaker 1: to your car by a little rubber tether. That's so
Speaker 1: that if you happen to forget to replace it after
Speaker 1: you fill up, an indicator on your dashboard will let
Speaker 1: you know. Or even if your car doesn't have that
Speaker 1: indicator light, at least you won't lose the gas cap.
Speaker 1: But what if your car doesn't have any of this
Speaker 1: technology and you drive down the road with a gas
Speaker 1: cap off without ever realizing your error. Losing your gas
Speaker 1: cap is a minor annoyance, sure, but you paid for
Speaker 1: that gas and you want it to stay where it
Speaker 1: belongs in the gas tank. Furthermore, ceiling off the fuel
Speaker 1: tank with the gas cap helps your fuel system maintain
Speaker 1: proper pressure, which in turn helps your car operates smoothly.
Speaker 1: So can driving without one cause damage to your car? Well?
Speaker 1: Probably not, but it can cause some minor issues. You
Speaker 1: might lose a little gas, but more likely due to
Speaker 1: evaporation than to actual spillage. Because the filler neck helps
Speaker 1: prevent slashing. Any kind of gas loss harms the environment.
Speaker 1: And costs you extra money, which is not ideal, but
Speaker 1: it's not an immediate catastrophe. You might see a drop
Speaker 1: in your fuel economy numbers, though. Also it's possible that
Speaker 1: debris or moisture could get into the gas tank, which
Speaker 1: also is not ideal, but probably will not be catastrophic
Speaker 1: either since it should be caught by the fuel filter.
Speaker 1: And finally, if you live in a state with emissions inspections,
Speaker 1: your car would not pass the inspection until you replaced
Speaker 1: the gas cap, but there's absolutely no reason you should
Speaker 1: drive without a gas cap long enough for that to
Speaker 1: become an issue. The bottom line is that the consequences
Speaker 1: of driving without a gas cap are insignificant, and the
Speaker 1: solution is simple. Gas caps are easy and inexpensive to replace.
Speaker 1: You can purchase a replacement at a local auto parts
Speaker 1: store or an online retailer, and you can determine which
Speaker 1: cap you need in your cars owners manual the parts
Speaker 1: department for your car dealership could help too, And there's
Speaker 1: another technological failsafe to help prevent too much damage from
Speaker 1: being done. Assuming that your car has a check engine light,
Speaker 1: because most cars on the road today do, you'll likely
Speaker 1: see it illuminate just a few minutes after you leave
Speaker 1: the gas station should you drive off without your fuel cap.
Speaker 1: Some modern cars even have a specific fuel cap light.
Speaker 1: If this happens, performance may temporarily be an issue. Some
Speaker 1: cars are programmed to operate in a limp mode when
Speaker 1: the check engine light is on, which allows you to
Speaker 1: continue driving at limited speed until you can stop safely
Speaker 1: to assess and correct the problem, but it should switch
Speaker 1: back into normal mode as soon as you replace your cap.
Speaker 1: In some rare cases, the light may stay on even
Speaker 1: after you replace your gas cap, but don't worry. You
Speaker 1: may need to drive for a while before your car's
Speaker 1: computer senses that everything is okay and the light resets,
Speaker 1: But if need be, your friendly neighbor head mechanic will
Speaker 1: be happy to check it out for you. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Cheri's three Witt and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For one listen lots of other curious topics, visit how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Or more podcasts in my heart Radio visit
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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.