Tried the 'loose lid' trick on my gas cap after my car threw a check engine light in Phoenix last summer

So my old Honda started having this weird hesitation after filling up, and my buddy who works at a shop in Mesa told me to just leave the gas cap loose for a minute after pumping before tightening it. I thought he was messing with me, but it actually fixed the vapor lock issue and the light went off after two days. Anyone else run into this with older cars or am I just lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

derekgibson3d ago

Drove a Subaru Outback for years and always thought people talking about gas cap tricks were just making excuses for bad maintenance. Then last winter my truck started stumbling real bad after fill ups in the cold. Tried the loose lid thing just to prove my buddy wrong and what do you know, the next day the check engine light was gone. Still feels weird to leave it loose for a whole minute but it works. Started doing it with my wife's car too when her light popped up after she filled it in a snowstorm.

faithbarnes3d ago

I hear you man, it's such a weird fix that feels like it shouldn't work. I was the same way for years, thought people were just lazy about tightening their caps. Then my buddy's old Ford did the exact same thing, stumbling like crazy after a fill up in below freezing temps. I tried the loose cap trick half heartedly and it cleared up the next morning too. Still bugs me that something so simple can cause that much trouble with a check engine light. But it's saved me a few trips to the shop during winter, no doubt about it.