So today on my way to work I see the engine light come on. I stopped at the next service station and checked the gas cap, and sure enough, it was pretty loose. Yesterday I stopped for gas, and I remember seeing the gas station attendant tighten the cap but I didn't hear any clicks. (I live in NJ where you can't pump your own gas, so you have to rely on the attendant to tighten the gas cap correctly.) I remember that I was tempted to get out of the car and make sure that it was tight enough, but I didn't. I guess I will have to do that from now on. Or else I'll have to ask them to tighten it until it clicks. I just hope this doesn't do any damage to my engine.

 

It wont

 

Cool - I didn't think it would, but I've heard horror stories.

 

put a label on it that says 'tighten till it clicks, jerk' or maybe leave off the jerk

 

Haha - that sounds like a good idea. I did ask the gas attendant to tighten it some more once. I didn't hear any clicks when he tightened it the first time, so I popped the gas tank cover open again and asked him to tighten it some more. He gave me a dirty look, but he did it. After that I felt like I would be too much of an asshole if I always did that.

 

i still cant get over the fact that you guys cant pump your own gas, i am sure you are used to it, but everytime i visit ny/nj its just weird.

 

Isn't there a loose gas cap warning light in our car, separate from the check engine light? This loose gas cap warning light will go off by itself once you tighten the gas cap. I remember reading something like that in the manual.

 

Errr. i dont htink any car has that. The gas tank needs to be pressurized. That's why when you dont tighten down the cap enough the check engine light will come on because it's unable to presusrize up to the required pressure. You probably didn't do anything back to the engine, but i'll be willing to bet that the emmissions during that time aren't as clean as they could be. That's why when you do your emissions testing, they check the seal on the gascap.

 

Why can't you pump your own gas in NJ? In Texas there are only a couple Full service stations around anymore.

 

NY? Shit that isn't in NY. Only places I have seen it are NY and I think vermont...

 

yeah you are right....the other place is Oregon, i was just thinking NY cause i seem to remember there are a lot of Full Service places.

 

I believe it was some law passed to help create more jobs. force the gas stations to pump everyone's gas and you need to hire more people to do that.

Still, it is really lame, espcecially when you see the attendant drop the cap and it swings against the side of your car because they can't figure out how to use the knob to hang the gas cap

 

I would hope I'm right cause I used to live there

 

I have a funny story about one of my friends from nj that came to va. He tried pumping his gas for the first time ever, but the funny incident didnt occur until it was time to pay. See.. he tried to stick his credit card into where the receipt comes out of.. hahahaha.. he looks at me and says the card doesnt fit. LOL

 

Yeah I didn't pump my own gas until I went to Boston for undergrad. It was an interesting experience the first few times. I had no clue when I was supposed to pay and how to work the machine. If you grow up never being allowed to do it, it's very odd doing it for the first time later on in life.

 

i don't like anyone touching my car. even acura service guys. don't have much of a choice, though.

 

Just curious - do the American TSX's have writing on the gas cap stating to tighten then cap until 3 audible clicks are heard?

I know my TSX does (Canadian 2004).

And all full-serve stations in some states? BIZARRE. I think I've used full serve once in my life and the dumbass put regular instead of premium (back when I was driving a previous car, not this one). I had specified Premium clearly, he nodded, and then filled w/ Regular. Never again will I let a gas monkey touch my car.

~Eric

 

Yeah, my American TSX has that printed on the gas cap too.

The engine light went off yesterday as I was driving home - so it didn't even take a whole day for it to go off after I tightened the cap.

 

Hey, o_nate.. did you happen to fill your tank at the Hess station? The same exact thing happened to me. I live in Hoboken as well. I noticed on my way to work this morning that the check engine light was on. I was like.. WTF. Then I realized that when I got gas on tuesday or wednesday, the gas attendent did not tighten the gas cap because I did not hear the clicks. I was also thinking to myself at the time to get out and make sure it is tightened but I didn't bother. I took the cap off when I got to work and retightened the cap until it clicked at least 3 or 4 times. However, the check engine light is still on. Hopefully, that was the cause of the light to go off. I'll find out in the next day or two to see if the light goes out.

 

No, I don't think it was a Hess station. It was a generic no-name gas station on 14th St in Jersey City, just after you get out of the Holland Tunnel and before you get on the Turnpike extension. They had the cheapest prices for gas that day.

 

I looked up my 05 owner's manual and guess what? On page 62, it says if the gas cap is loose, a text message will display on the the temperature gauge and odometer. This message will go away and the temperature guage and odometer will return to their normal display once you retighten your gas cap. This text warning will come on before the MIL. I haven't seen it myself. Have anyone seen this text message?