DennyBlueC6

The Worlds Best Kept Auto Secret

I have been Driving for decades. One would think I would have noticed
The little secret on my dash that was staring me right in the face the
Whole time. I didn't and I bet you probably haven't either.

Quick Question! What side of your car is your gas tank filler? If you are anything
Like me driving several different vehicles, you probably can't remember
Right away. I've stuck my head out the window to look, usually to no
Avail . . .. Especially on rental and borrowed cars.

If you look at Your gas gauge, you will see a small icon of a gas pump. The handle of The gas pump will extend out on either the left or right side of the
Pump. If your tank filler is on the left, the handle will be on the left. If
Your tank filler is on the right, the handle will be on the right.

Je zz C6

Never thought about it, but thanks for the info

Silverspeed

Any car that doesn't have the gas filler on the drivers side should be redesigned. Anybody's passenger's offer to fill their car for them?

ryshla3

I just checked mine and the light shows the handle on the right side but the fuel filler door and neck are on the left side.

0SicMSP - Daniel

some have arrows to show you

degaux

...was in St. Louis just before Christmas and had a lovely Kia Rio as a rental... the light was on the right, but the fuel door was on the left

HawaiiC6

The European cars have arrows point to which side the fuel filler door is. Something American manufacturers should be doing. But on the Vette it is easy, pop the filler door and you will now be able to see it in your mirror.

Modshack

So much for that theory.....

DennyBlueC6

4-Runner shows the the handle on the right & a arrow that points to the left (< Fuel Door)

su8pack1

Thanks.

User 020720

Actually my C6 does have a little arrow next to the fuel icon pointing to the left.

mforman42

I prefer the passenger's side. That way, my door is away from the pumps and can be opened without concern for it bumping the pumps while still being close to make the fill easy. This is especially true with a coupe (like the Vette) with large doors.

LLWS

The only rule of thumb that seems to work is American car on the left, euro-trash on the right. Generally speaking if the country the car is born from drives on the left, the fuel door is right. We drive on the right, fuel door on the left. This rule of thumb has served me well.

In a wanderin' through my driveway I noticed that My Tahoe, Corvette, Ford F350, and VW Jetta all follow the rule. See if it works for you.

shortski

Left, right it depends on what your reference point is. In boating it's starboard and port the referencing point being the bow so no matter what way you are facing port is always port and starboard is always starboard. Port being left looking froward towards the bow and right being starboard looking forward towards the bow. It matters not if you are looking towards the stern starboard and port are always the same side of the boat regardless of which way you are facing. If car manufactures would get together on an icon a steering wheel would be good, indicate which side facing steering wheel, would work on left and right hand drive and even in the middle for the experimental three wheelers.

OriginalJohnnyD

Sweet bit of information. I have been in the car business for 3 years now and have never heard about this. Thanks!

shortski

Nope, Mitsubishi Endeavor SUV, drivers side, left looking forward from drivers seat.

quickride

No, your rule doesn't work. I have four American cars and it's a split. Two vehicles have the fuel door of the driver's side and the other two vehicles have the fuel door on the passenger side. Two of my Fords have the doors on different sides, one on the right and the other on the left so the door locations are different even for the same manufacturer. In all my vehicles, there is a small arrow pointing to the side where the filler door is. I'm never confused which side the gas pump should be on.

What puzzles me is why the auto makers stopped putting the fill neck at the center rear of the car. It must be some safety regulation or something but I've never seen anything about it. In the old days, it didn't matter how you drove into the station because you could always get to the filler neck.

VettinFan

The fuel door release button is located to the left of the steering wheel. Button on the left, fuel door on the left.
Geez, how can ya forget that.

~AL~

426 Hemi

Don't know if I buy it or not but someone told me the reasoning for putting the gas door on the right side (on some cars) was so you wouldn't get hit by traffic-----while refilling your tank by the side of the road after running out.

Steve Germany

Well that is OK for some US vehicles. BMW and Merc always put the filler on the side away from the center of the road so that if you do have to refill on the side of the road you will be away from the traffic.

In many other cars the side of the instrument pannel where the gage is, is where the filler is, many others have an arrow to tell you where it is if the instrument pannel is not conventional.