ok, maybe that's a bit harsh... I had damn near a full tank of premium in the pontiac, sitting in full view of my surrounding neighbors houses. At some point in the past three weeks, someone managed to sneak into the driveway, and siphon out all but enough gas to get me to the end of the block...damn..shouda fixed that gas guage. Anyway, many things have been suggested to me to remedy this in the future. 1. The razor blades on the gas cap thing I tried that a few years ago and forgot they were there, not a pretty scene at the gas pump. 2. The boobytrap I have been told of all sorts of things from electorcution devices to explosives, none of which seem the thing to do especially near a fuel tank... 3. Auxillary tank The filler for the fuel tank is moved to the inside of the trunk, in the normal fashion, with a vent exiting through the bottom, the filler neck located in the normal location now goes to an auxillary tank of smaller size, filled with, not gasoline, but some other substance. It was suggested I put strychnine in it, but chances are, it's some punk kid that is a lot like some of us used to be, so I would only fill it to with urine.... This idea sounds like the one I am going to go with. Now, granted, I could simply shave the gas lid and do away with someone finding where to siphon my fuel, but revenge is on my mind at the moment. anyone else got any ideas?
Hey, man, it can be fun. But, before you go off the deep end, have you thought about the $4.98 solution?
All thieves should have their hands chopped off!...But what about the thieves that you give your money to for that gas?
In Boating magazine about 10-12 years ago, there was an article about somebody trying to syphon gas out of a guy's cabin cruiser boat, parked on it's trailer in front of the guys house. The guy came out to the boat in the morning to find a hose still hanging out of the boat, and a trail of vomit next to the boat. The thief apparently didn't read the label on the cap and attempted to syphon out the holding tank. True story. Locking gas cap would work just fine to keep the gas thieves at bay. No one's going to go through the work of breaking open a tank with a locked cap on it when there's lots of other unprotected tanks out there.
Handy tip for someone that messes with YOU - go put a locking gas cap on THEIR car. Not that I have ever done or would condone such bad behavior, but I did hear about it and it is pretty ingenious...
I say hide the real filler in the trunk, then hook up the electrocution device to the (now) fake fender outlet. That way you'll get the real gas thief AND the 15-year old punk weeing down the filler. Urine is a conducter, after all.
yeah, I have one of the locking gas caps on my van...thing is, someone screwed with it trying to break it open anyway, so bad that the key wouldnt fit anymore, so now I have a gas cap that requires a screwdriver to open... Good idea, and probably what I should do, but I just want whoever is doing this to get a moutful of something they dont expect
Man, I LOVE this idea...give them a mouthfull of something totally UNEXEPECTED!!! Might give them something to think about before stealing gas next time! Except, I'd use something more atrocious (and lasting) than human urine...maybe cow piss, hog piss? R-
You think 15 gallons of gas is expensive how about someone pumping 300 gallons of fuel from your tractor trailer while your in the truckstop takeing a shit!!!! now that gets expensive. I've never had it happen to me but I know lots of guy who have. These guys have special pumps built into their trucks and can do this in record time.
A little O/T but not really........ Around here.......ALL of the service stations have gone to prepay ONLY. and it is terrible..... If you want to fill up.......go inside....leave a BIG deposit....go fill up, go back inside and get the change...... OR use the credit card........and I hate buying gas on the card.......and they have had a good number of instances of credit card number theft traced to these gas stations. Minimum wage workers.........using the numbers to go buy expensive items..on your card. ALL because of gas thiefs.....driving off and not paying....
yeah its real fun when you run out of gas at a gas station and you dont have the key to your dads gas cap
As a part timer at Advance Auto, I can tell you modern lock caps are junk. Most of them if you push down as you turn, (kinda like a kid proof medicine cap) and they'll screw right off. Might be better to try and put a lock or cable realease on the filler door if it has one.
I had the same deal happen as hillbilly with a locking gas cap. I had a car with the license plate fold down to get at the tank fill tube. I installed a little spring switch like used on door jambs for the interior lights. I hooked the wire to the horn relay on the car. Fold down the license plate... the horn honked. I installed a little switch in the wire between the plate and relay , so I could fill the car with gasoline I heard the horn honk twice in the next week, never had gasoline stolen again
If you could get enough of it ... cat piss. You think it smells bad?! You can never get that taste out of your mouth. Don't ask me how I know. Think of it after about a week in the heat. Just make sure your lid fits TIGHT. HAHAHAHA!! I also like Crosley's idea of a pin switch activating the horn. That's a great way to scare the shit out of 'em ugh cat piss... I'm gonna go throw up.
I do: buy a motion sensor & reciever - cheap at Radio Shack. Next time they come to steal your gas meet them in the driveway with a shotgun - their choice die or go to jail. A friend of mie caught two theives this way. I now have a camera system with motion sensors & recorder that records for 30 seconds when a sensor picks up something, swapping from camera to camera if more than one sensor reads motion. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Why do they call it reckless driving if it causes wrecks?
OOPS! Political comments are not allowed (so I'm told) - especially those that bash the oil giants like BUSH. There I said BUSH. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" News Flash: APATHY RUNS RAMPANT - Nobody cares.
One of the first thoughts I had was to dig up the wax bullets for my SAA colt, and sit in the carport, alone, in the dark...and wait. Dad reminded me of something that happened a long time back, He used to have this 3 ton refrigerated box truck that he used to deliver his fishbait to customers, he had a load of frozen turkey livers go bad when the Thermo-King went out one summer...he was pissed, and didn't feel like messing with it that day, so he parked the truck in the yard... about 2:30 in the morning, there was a lot of cursing followed by the sound of a headlight being smashed. He grabbed the shotgun just in time to throw the back door open and see a truck pull away....he didn't shoot because he wasnt sure just what went on, our house was right beside the roadway and people had broken down there before...when he went to see what happened, he found an empty 5 gallon gas can, a hose stuck in the fuel tank, a large chunk of the floor had fallen out of the box, rotten livers and maggots were pouring out. Someone got more than they bargained for, yeah, the headlight cost 7 bucks to replace, but he got a free gas can out of the deal, and a lot of laughs wondering what the guy thought when all that came pouring out on him...
this has been quite an interesting thread..yeah,i've been needing to get a gas cap for my car and have been considering a locking one, i just dont have spare $$ for it rite now,though..also,not wantin to hijack,but,as long as this is a semi rant post,i just wanted to bitch about my tires getting slashed! it happened a few days ago and the guys got 15 or so other cars in the area,so i didnt feel so bad about gettin hit..i was just GLAD i'd been cheap and got port-a-walls instead of cokers..BRAND NEW TIRES,NOT EVEN A MONTH OLD!the guy just stuck a knife THROUGH THE WHITEWALL and went on..so i took off the old tires,had new ones put on and slapped the port-a-walls on..saved me some $$ in more ways than one!! creepy
That reminds me- I worked for a rental place while I was in High School...we rented everything from ditch diggers to party canopies/tents & chairs. Keep in mind this was like 9 years ago...before the whole $2.35 a gallon for "regular" gas- We had 3 moving trucks for rent that you could use for small house/apartment moves. Contractors would routinely rent the 2-16 footers for contract jobs...siding, brick work, paving, garbage hauling...etc. They came back clean USUALLY, but one time one of the diesel tanks came back 30% full of diesel, and 70% full of WATER. Instead of going to a gas station and filling up the tank with diesel (as outlined in the rental agreement) the thieves filled the tanks with a garden hose; & knew the truck would run just long enough to make it back to the shop for check in, and then we would be f*cked. We had to drain 30 gallons of unuseable waste fuel and refill the tanks before the truck ran again without smoking/knocking. Locking gas caps wouldn't have prevented this particular scam. Oh, and to keep on topic, 1951 Mercs rule!
God, I hate how paranoid this makes me, if it were anyone else, I'd be laughing my ass off... BUT.... Saw one of those late 80's little cadillacs...with a missing fender, and no exhaust from the sound of it...driving slowly through the neighborhood a few minutes ago, I have seen this car in town before, the usual driver sports a mullet and rotted out teeth. Not a very good description, considering it defines about half the residents in this town... I'm waiting to see if anyone else around here is missing any gas tomorrow... meanwhile, I think im going back out to the carport.
That's one thing I learned: If you ever decide to have a contractor do work for you in Michigan, do a little checking into their background. If they rely heavily on rentals, I'd be suspicious. They don't have much of a "base"... Merc Man dont dog contarctors that rent stuff all the money I made doing hardwood floors bought cars not tools (which I regret now). Now that I'm doing alot of side jobs I have to rent all the stuff. You can ask Honkey Tonker, which I havent seen on here in a while, I do excellent work.
The motion sensor is a good idea. If you can get your car close enough to the house, garage or whatever, just put in a motion sensor hooked up to a light. When the light comes on, that should scare them off.........or let them see what they're doing?????
Run a low voltage line back from the battery or fuse block (your choice depending on set-up) to the filler door (and put a toggle switch inlinelike under the dash) In the filler door put a pressure switch that can be actuated when the filler door arm presses against it, closing the circuit (or some similar such set-up, I think you get the idea). Run the other lead off the switch, up to the horn. Toggle switch is on, and somebody opens the filler door *HONK*. Turn the toggle off, to refuel. Just an idea. Would probably cost 12 bucks with parts from Radio Shack.
the light helps them see into the car. My wifes car was broken into , they rifled through everything in the car since there was plenty of light I guess.... a big mess. All my cars are behind a gate inside a garage at night now
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