Storing Gasoline in Your Trunk?

[MedicMark]

Thinking about getting a 5 gallon jerrycan and storing it in the trunk. Curious as to your opinions of how safe it is and also am not really sure how long it lasts. Maybe this is stupid, but I don't reckon it'd be anymore dangerous than having a full fuel tank, correct?

My plan, if I kept it in the vehicle, would be to simply rotate it out monthly when I stop at the gas station.

[The_Exorcist]

Don't.

Car-makers have had 100 years to figure out the safest and most secure way to store fuel in a vehicle.
How long have you had?

[Ikesiked]

I am glad you started this thread.

My gas gauge is messed up and reads wrong by about a 1/4 tank. I am not spending over $1,000 getting it fixed and I am tired of miscalculating and running out of gas. Will it hurt to keep a 1 gallon plastic gas can strapped down in the back of my pickup truck if it is well sealed?

[Tenfeathers]

Originally Posted by MedicMark

Thinking about getting a 5 gallon jerrycan and storing it in the trunk. Curious as to your opinions of how safe it is and also am not really sure how long it lasts. Maybe this is stupid, but I don't reckon it'd be anymore dangerous than having a full fuel tank, correct?

My plan, if I kept it in the vehicle, would be to simply rotate it out monthly when I stop at the gas station.

Never unless you have a death wish

[oldparanoia]

The trunk can get way too hot since it's enclosed and the sun rays are hitting it most of the time, so it would be dangerous. There is a reason why the tank is located where the sun is not baking it.

[George Newbill]

Do you remember the exploding Pintos?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto

The reason was that the gas was stored inside the passenger compartment of the pinto, all cars now sling the fuel tank underneath. Your trunk is part of the passenger compartment! Yes you can store an empty (and well vented) can in the trunk, not a full one.

[M4justincase]

I keep a 2 gal can in my trunk. Never had any problems.

[George Newbill]

M4 look up "Pinto" on the net.

[alisium]

Then there are the fumes you'd have to deal with. No matter what you do your vehicle is going to reak of gasoline and that's not healthy.

Unless it's a short term trip, like to the station to get gas for the lawn mower or for you to store at home, I wouldn't.

Think more about a cache or two along your bug out route or your most travled route, e.g. home to work.

[TxHills]

Originally Posted by George Newbill

Do you remember the exploding Pintos?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto

The reason was that the gas was stored inside the passenger compartment of the pinto, all cars now sling the fuel tank underneath. Your trunk is part of the passenger compartment! Yes you can store an empty (and well vented) can in the trunk, not a full one.

Pintos did not have fuel tanks inside the passenger compartment. They were under the car. The problem was the fuel tank being crushed between the rear bumper and the rear end, and a shock bracket. The gas filler necks also broke off. My FIL had one, and my wife drove it in high school. Later on, I had a wagon that got a 302 dumped in it back in the day.

Gas stored in a trunk with vent to the inside of the car. If you've had a gas can with gas...in it for two years, lucky dawg. If you're in ANY kind of accident with gas back there, you're asking for trouble. Keep knocking on deaths door, and someday somebody's gonna answer it.

[BadgeBunny]

Ai, yi, yi ... I don't have any experience with Pintos but that just does NOT seem like a good idea to me.**




**Please note I live in Oklahoma where it regularly gets to 1943845903485 degrees F in the shade now.

[SLICK75]

Originally Posted by MedicMark

Thinking about getting a 5 gallon jerrycan and storing it in the trunk. Curious as to your opinions of how safe it is and also am not really sure how long it lasts. Maybe this is stupid, but I don't reckon it'd be anymore dangerous than having a full fuel tank, correct?

My plan, if I kept it in the vehicle, would be to simply rotate it out monthly when I stop at the gas station.

Its not a good idea as others have said. Summertime is especially bad because the fumes will spread faster in the heat.
I wouldnt worry as much about the trunk exploding from the sun, but one misplaced cigarette butt in a parking lot could end ugly for your car.

Besides that, the fumes will actually spread into the passenger compartment, and much like alcohol, its effects may not be noticable to you but you could wind up driving impaired. Gas fumes will kill brain cells.

Originally Posted by Ikesiked

I am glad you started this thread.

My gas gauge is messed up and reads wrong by about a 1/4 tank. I am not spending over $1,000 getting it fixed and I am tired of miscalculating and running out of gas. Will it hurt to keep a 1 gallon plastic gas can strapped down in the back of my pickup truck if it is well sealed?

In the back of your truck isnt an issue as far as fumes are concerned, natural ventilation takes care of that. However, a 'loose can' in the truck may grow legs and walk off while youre away from the truck. They are expensive, but the metal tanks sold at truck stores are a better option, plus they have electric pumps that make getting gas from the bed tank to the gas tank much and with no spill instead of trying to pour cans into the tank.
Ive lost as much as a gallon to the ground trying to pour gas from a gas can into my tank.

[arleigh]

First ,
Plastic fuel tanks are best , if there is a fire they do not explode like a steel gas can .
Water in the gas will not effect the plastc tank and it willl most certianly effect a steel can . Ethenol is loaded with water.
I have been using plastic tanks for over 20 years and would rather have them and steel any day.
They seal up best so the pressures of heating do not let gas escape .
Many of my plastic tanks have their own spout and I NEVER waste fuel due to the correct use of the spout.I cared for many boats in rental fleets as well as private boats ,
Plastic tanks are best.
I have kept plastic tanks in my cars and motorcycles all the time and wouldn't have it any other way.
I have sold or destroyed all the steel gas tanks I have ever had , they are simply too much trouble . Especially sence ethenol was introduced .

[templar223]

The state police here in IL keep an empty 2 or 5 gallon can in the back of their squads for stranded idiots. Then again, they keep a lot of crap in their trunks too (kinda like me).

It's a LOT easier and safer to just keep your tank topped off than to carry a potential firebomb in your trunk.

Sure, transporting gas from the service station nearby to my home while rotating is one thing. Carrying a 5gallon can of napalm in my trunk permanently is quite another.

If there's a serious accident, that can's top will come off and gas will spray all over the place - assuming the jug itself doesn't fail. One little spark is all it will take and your car will be a funeral pyre in your honor.



I much prefer to carry a 5-pound fire extinguisher in my trunk instead. You should probably as well.

John

[OKGlocker]

Originally Posted by BadgeBunny

**Please note I live in Oklahoma where it regularly gets to 1943845903485 degrees F in the shade now.

Yes, and at least TWICE that in the sunshine LOL

Karl

[bert the turtle]

Might do it with a Diesel tank, but no way in hell with gasoline. Of course, 5 gallons of Diesel isn't going to do you much good in a gasoline powered car.

In your situation, I'd just keep the tank topped up very frequently.

[Mountain]

I try to keep all gasoline external to where I am going to be in a rig. I am not real worried about an explosion, though there is that possibillity, I just mainly don't want gas fumes in the same confined area as myself.

I would build a mounting bracket and carry it outside of the skin of the car if I had to carry one.

[TomChemEngineer]

Yes, I know that it has problems, but I carry a full 5 gal gas can (plastic) in my rental car trunk when I go on long business trips. I know the risks, and I do what I can to mitigate them. I make sure it is sealed and secured to the bulkhead (such as it is). I take it out of the trunk when I get back home and don't carry one in my normal everyday vehicle, but I do rotate the stock. No smoking in my vehicles anyway. I know, I know... not smart, but I do what I do.

[MedicMark]

Thanks for the replies guys. I found it to be helpful. I bought a 1 gallon can instead and will keep it empty. It'll make it easier to hitchhike with.

[Slovak]

I keep a 1 gallon and sometimes a 2.5 gallon plastic gas container in my passenger car's trunk. Never had any problems with it. When it's new, it might leak out fumes, but those go away after a while.

I'd much rather have the spare gas during a long trek into the boonies than worry about an exploding trunk.