Date:         Mon, 18 Feb 2002 07:59:06 -0800
Reply-To:     Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@UBC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@UBC.CA>
Subject:      Re: Gas in Oil fill
In-Reply-To:  <20020218132347.89434.qmail@web20009.mail.yahoo.com>
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At 5:23 AM -0800 2/18/02, scott bumpus wrote:
>I recently allowed someone to test drive my '90 gl. The guy took my
>van down to the gas station and decided to put in a couple bucks...
>Turns out he filled the oil fill with gas.

Okay, I gotta ask: how could anyone *possibly* do this?  We hear
about this happening from time to time on the list, and it blows me
away every time.  I just don't get it.

I mean, picture it: Someone is used to American cars with the
gasoline fill tube behind the license plate, so pulls back the plate
and finds a tube with a cap on it there and starts to go at it
thinking it's where the gas goes.  Okay, I can follow it to that
point.  BUT:

1) The "gas cap" is marked "oil" (although it may not be legible if
it's really dirty);
2) It's got an OIL DIP STICK right through the centre of the cap (the
one marked "oil," remember?)
3) The dip stick has to be pulled out before the cap can be unscrewed
(unless they demonstrate impressive dexterity);
4) The dip stick will have OIL on it.

COME ON!!!  Isn't a light supposed to go on inside the head of anyone
smarter than a bag of hammers when what we are observing is so
horribly at odds with our expectations?  Or what would make sense?
Is there not even an inkling that something is going right off the
rails, and fast?  Do people *really* not think critically at all
about what is going on around them?  Am I the only one scratching my
head here?  Think about it: these are the same people hurtling
several thousand pounds of metal down the highway every day.
Hilarious?  Frightening?

Maybe I should be surprised we don't hear about this sort of thing
more.  After all, we've seen that huge portions of a population can
blithely -- no enthusiastically -- follow political leaders down the
equivalent of putting gasoline in the oil filler tube...

Wow, what a world!

T.

(Hope your engine comes out of this okay, Scott)

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley        Bowen Island, BC, Canada      49deg 23'N-123deg 19'W

'82 Westfalia 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell                                   =============
'99 daughter Margaret                            /_| |_L| |__|:| clatter
                             SPEED KILLS!        {.            .| clatter!
                         Drive a Vanagon diesel   ~-()-==----()-~