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gas cap location logic?

F

Ferocious

Diamond Member
I read that having it on the driver's side gives the maker a choice of using a cable or an electric solenoid, and they usually pick the cable. They must use an electric solenoid if the gas cap is on the passenger side of the car.

Is there an advantage of one over the other for the manufacturer and/or consumer? Cost? Reliability? One better than the other in very cold environments?

 
i dunno but it would be nice if they just standardized it so that all cars and trucks use the same side.

Then we could eliminate the stupid arrows on the dash.
 
It just depends on how the manufacturer can make everything fit into the chassis. There's nothing at all to stop them from running a cable from one side of the car to the other side; the idea that they couldn't run a cable to the passenger side is just ridiculous. As others have pointed out as well, many cars don't have a locking fuel door, so they don't need either a cable or a solenoid.

Both cables and solenoids can freeze in very cold weather, the best in those cases is a non-locking fuel door that is just manually opened. Solenoids are easier to engineer because it's easier to run electrical wiring than to route a cable, but they're also more expensive to build. Solenoids also allow more flexible placement of the fuel door release button (if only because it can be a simple push button rather than needing to be a lever so it doesn't have to take up as much physical space).

In any case, the side the fuel door is on is determined largely by space in the chassis.

ZV
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
It just depends on how the manufacturer can make everything fit into the chassis. There's nothing at all to stop them from running a cable from one side of the car to the other side; the idea that they couldn't run a cable to the passenger side is just ridiculous. As others have pointed out as well, many cars don't have a locking fuel door, so they don't need either a cable or a solenoid.

Both cables and solenoids can freeze in very cold weather, the best in those cases is a non-locking fuel door that is just manually opened. Solenoids are easier to engineer because it's easier to run electrical wiring than to route a cable, but they're also more expensive to build. Solenoids also allow more flexible placement of the fuel door release button (if only because it can be a simple push button rather than needing to be a lever so it doesn't have to take up as much physical space).

In any case, the side the fuel door is on is determined largely by space in the chassis.

ZV
Click to expand...

QFT.

The reason why my filler door is on the driver's side is because Dodge puts their engines about 3-4" to the passenger side for a couple of reasons, and that leaves more room on the driver's side for a gas tank. And since running a filler hose over a driveshaft to get to the passenger side instead of the driver's side would be borderline retarded, it's on the driver's side 🙂

Edit:
Other things that can cause one side or the other:
the antenna is one on side, the filler on the opposite
one side is as good as the other, so the designer just used personal preference
coin landed tails
there's already a gas tank on the other side (anyone who has driven a '70s GM truck with saddle tanks knows what I mean)
the coin landed on the side, so the filler is in the middle
check behind the tail light (Caddilac)
look under the hood (some modified VW bugs)
 
Mine uses a cable, but opens on the passenger side. It's funny, but I have to pop it before I pullup to the pump as I forget which side it's on between fillups 🙂
 
I liked the fuel door on my '78 Monte Carlo, right behind the license plate. No worrying about which side of the car you pull up to the pump. I guess Ralph Nader and the Pinto took care of that though.

 
Cable release on left side of driver's seat. Gas cap on pax side.

Second release pull is in the trunk if the cable system fails.

1995 Taurus.
 
I remember reading somewhere that it was a German design thing to put the gas cap on the passenger side of the car. The reason is that you won't dent the driver's door by banging it into the pump (or its barriers) becasue the passenger side will be next to the pump.

In any event, passenger side caps are a PIA. The car I usually drive has this and it seems like 80% of the other cars at the station all have driver's side ones.

But I will admit that my driver's door is undented.
 
Originally posted by: Thump553
I remember reading somewhere that it was a German design thing to put the gas cap on the passenger side of the car. The reason is that you won't dent the driver's door by banging it into the pump (or its barriers) becasue the passenger side will be next to the pump.

In any event, passenger side caps are a PIA. The car I usually drive has this and it seems like 80% of the other cars at the station all have driver's side ones.

But I will admit that my driver's door is undented.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, interesting idea... That made me go through my list of cars to think about where the fuel door was.

1988 Honda Accord: Driver's Side (cable release)
1987 Porsche 924S: Passenger Side (non-latching manual door)
1976 Porsche 914: Passenger Side (in front trunk, requires opening the hood)
1995 Lincoln Mark VIII: Passenger Side (solenoid release)
1989 Porsche 944: Passenger Side (non-latching manual door)
1986 Porsche 951: Passenger Side (non-latching manual door)
2006 Ford Mustang GT: Driver's Side (non-latching manual door)
1998 Volvo S70: Passenger Side (solenoid release)

From friends' cars and others it seems that some manufacturers have their own preferences. Porsche seems to prefer passenger side. Honda seems to prefer driver's side. Ford seems not to care.

ZV
 
Originally posted by: steppinthrax
Originally posted by: Toastedlightly
behind the license plate is the best place ever.
Click to expand...

My parens old 1980 something Buick Lesabre had that. I thought it was the gayist shit I've ever seen.
Click to expand...

such clean lines on the cars due to the lack of the door. Also, easier to prevent rust in the quarters.
 
Whenever I'm bending down from outside and press the button to release the fuel door for the Corvette it pops open and slaps me on the ass. I need to remember to push the button before getting out of the car.
 
Originally posted by: Hyperlite
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
My thought has always been that they put the filler on the opposite side of where the tail pipe exits.
Click to expand...

but what if you have dual exhaust? 😉
Click to expand...

the only option is to mount it on the roof. name ONE car with dual exhausts that doesn't have it on the roof.

name ONE.

😉
 
Originally posted by: Toastedlightly
behind the license plate is the best place ever.
Click to expand...

that was just about every GM car for 35-40 years. it's actually stupid, because gas pumps don't want to fit there, and in a rear collision the non-sealing filler neck is the first to go. THE worst was cadillac putting the gas cap behind a hinged tail light. f'ing brainless.
 
Originally posted by: thomsbrain
Originally posted by: Hyperlite
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
My thought has always been that they put the filler on the opposite side of where the tail pipe exits.
Click to expand...

but what if you have dual exhaust? 😉
Click to expand...

the only option is to mount it on the roof. name ONE car with dual exhausts that doesn't have it on the roof.

name ONE.

😉
Click to expand...

yeah, you got me. 😀
 
I always figured if the exhaust is on one side, the filler neck is on the opposite. Maybe this is just a simple way to look at it..
 
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