tool stuck in gas tank

[Stephen Kormilo]

At 04:34 PM 13/12/04 -0500, you wrote:

>Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 14:52:03 -0600
>From: Ahmad Helal <helal.ahmad at gmail.com>
>Subject: tool stuck in gas tank
>To: quattro <quattro at audifans.com>, chrio0975 at umn.edu
>Message-ID: <78e7dc0604121312522cfc7753 at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
>This is the stupidest thing I have ever done....i am ashamed to even
>mention it...but I need to know the cause it will have on my car....so
>here goes the story
>
>trying to save every penny I can....I avoid getting gas at expensive
>gas stations and insist on going to the cheapest one...well one day I
>overestimated the amount of gas I had...and I ended up breaking down
>on the freeway...I called my mom to bring a gas can...well she
>happensto bring the one gas can with a broken spout...I spend 15
>minutes trying to pout in the gas but the nozzle won't reach the the
>flap in the gas tank to open it...so the gas just fills up in that
>little overflow thing and spills on the ground...I knew I had to
>somehow get the flap open...so I grab the only long skinny thing i can
>find..which happens to be a socket extension for my ratchet...so I sit
>there holding the flap open while my mother pours the gasoline into
>the car...all is well..UNTIL...my fingers got pinched in between the
>gas can and the car and the extension fell into the gas tank..my
>question is..will this cause harm? if so what can I do?

Well, depending on the length of the extension and the sharpness of the 
bends, if any, of the filler pipe/hose into the tank, there is a chance 
that the extension may not be in the tank, but stuck in the filler 
pipe/hose.  If that is the case, there is a chance that a strong magnet (or 
something similar) on a  rope might be able to retrieve the 
extension.  Just don't lose the magnet too ;-)

Good luck.


Stephen Kormilo
Winnipeg, MB
CANADA

Silver 2002 Audi A4 3.0QM
Now departed:   Silver '98.5 Audi A4 2.8QM
                            Black '85 Mazda Rx7 GSL-SE

email: stephen at kormilo.ca