Matt said:
I haven't drove one lately, but I've driven one lately. I drive a Chevy
quite often as I own a K1500 pickup. And I get Chevy and Pontiac cars
often as rentals on business trips. I've never had a light come on due
to the fuel cap. It really isn't hard to put a fuel cap on correctly.
If it is cross threaded, it is pretty easy to feel that. And the new
"quarter turn" caps make it even harder to get it wrong.
A few months ago my extended warranty company rented me a Grand Am for
almost a week. The "CHANGE OIL SOON" light came on about 30 seconds
after starting the car, extremely annoying at night, and the oil had
just been changed (and was light and clear) before I picked it up.
Checked the manual, it explained how its a completely automatic sensor,
not just a mileage counter anymore. Guess its another piece of high
quality Chinese-built GM electronics.
(Now ex-)Girlfriend had a 95 Crapalier that she managed to wreck before
any of the GM dealers had even heard of Dexcool yet. They refilled with
normal green stuff... 20k miles later every 'soft' part in the cooling
system started failing repeatedly. Heater cores, water pumps, head
gaskets... Thousands of dollars pissed away in an entirely lousy
vehicle. Nobody wants to mention mixing dex-cool and regular antifreeze
makes a strong acid, they just "suggest against mixing due to
unpredictable performance". Is it any wonder why GM can't sell cars?
There are two Santa Fes in my driveway, an 01 and 03, with a total of
180k miles on the pair, and neither one has ever had the CEL lit except
for the normal flash when starting up. We've poured a lot of gas into
them over the years, so if it was anal about the gas cap I'm sure I
would have found out by now (I'm not the only one that pumps gas on
these cars...)
My 99 Dodge 1500 won't fire a CEL with a completely clogged cat and the
front oxygen sensor disconnected and sitting in the passenger seat
(absolutely clogged cat, drove 17 miles to the dealership that way, in
5th just a hair off idle it'd do about 37 mph). I've driven it >100
miles non-stop with the fuel cap off without the CEL going off... It
will throw a CEL if the fuel tank purge solenoid is disconnected, but it
doesn't throw a CEL if you disconnect the vacuum hose for the tank vent
or if the gas cap is left off. Very weird stuff...
JS
