I wish I could have seen the look on my face when I realized that all the fuel I pumped into our long-term Nissan Frontier was pouring into the puddle at my feet.
I should have been alert. The Frontier usually gets at least 300 miles on a tank, and I knew something was up when the fuel gauge hovered above "E" after just 180 miles. A slow leak somewhere is a possibility that comes to mind, but the emphasis is on slow.
That—plus a killer case of jet lag, having just returned from driving the Ioniq 5N in South Korea that morning—might be why it took me a few seconds to notice the sound of the waterfall and the smell of gasoline, and then another few seconds to notice it. registering that both came from my truck. Talk about your WTF moment!
What happened? Did I hit something that penetrated the gas tank? Surely if that was the case I would have heard or felt it. A quick crawl under the Frontier—after pulling it forward and out of a puddle of gas—showed the bottom of the tank was clean and dry. I traced the fuel filler neck and found a rubber hose between the filler pipe and the tank, with a roughly cut rectangular hole. Well, that's your problem. Someone crawled under the truck, punctured the hose, and removed what they could from the tank.
Fuel theft? Is that a problem anymore? I think plunger tanks went out of style after the oil crisis of the 1970s, as the very wide bell and strap models became more popular. (Then again, bell bottoms are back, right?)
What does someone do if their gas is stolen? Call Nissan Roadside Assistance, have your car towed to the dealer, and contact your insurance company. The good news is that such theft is likely covered by comprehensive insurance.
We have a Frontier flat-bed for Carson Nissan, who should order parts soon. The total for the new filler hose, associated hardware, and shipping costs came to $95.58—plus $556.50 for labor. Why so many? Simultaneously with evaluation and installation, the system must be evap tested.
Like almost all new cars, the Frontier has a zero-evaporation emissions system, and I'm sure there's a temptation to scoff at its impact on price improvements. (Surprisingly, the theft didn't trigger the system and turn on the idiot light.) On my old '93 Chevy pickup, replacing the hose on the fuel filler (if there was one) would likely take 20 minutes. But if you care about the environment—and I do—zero-evap is useful. I read an interesting statistic a few years ago when Nissan brought out its first car with a zero evaporative emissions fuel system, the Sentra SULEV 2000. Thanks to the sealed fuel system, Nissan claimed that if you drove the Sentra SULEV 10 miles to work and then 10 miles to the house, it would produce less pollution than a zero-evap car (like my Chevy pickup) left in the driveway. days with the engine off.
Along with the $662.08 repair bill, I paid $26.80 for the Lyft ride home from the gas station. The Frontier was at the dealer for eight days. Automakers that provide loan services generally only do so for routine maintenance, warranty repairs, or recalls, so most owners may need a rental car. In my case, Nissan's PR staff loaned me a beautiful Altima SV, painted the same shade of blue as the Frontier, for the duration. How much money will come out of the owner's pocket depends on their insurance policy. A moot point for us—Nissan technically owns our Frontier and covered the repair under its insurance—but MotorTrend has a physical damage policy on the vehicle we own that would cover the repair with a $0 deductible, although taxi rides and rental cars would cover the cost these improvements. out of the bag.
What can we do to prevent this in the future? Not many. I guess that whoever stole our gas knew that this was an exploitable weakness in the Frontier (and, I imagine, other pickup trucks). Remove the rubber on the fuel filler neck. I'm not an engineer, but I think there should be some flexibility in the connection between the fuel port on the body and the tank, otherwise a side impact could result in a fuel leak. Trucks are not like cars, where these pieces can easily be hidden under the bodywork. I guess it's just a danger that pickup truck owners face, like a stolen tailgate.
I guess I should be glad they didn't take out the catalytic converter while they were down there. There was also no ignition source nearby when I pumped two or three gallons of unleaded across the asphalt because my wife and dog were sitting in the Frontier at the time.
However, I'm comforted by the fact that thieves probably netted less than half the tank, which means a maximum of 10 gallons—and not even the good stuff, since the Frontier uses cheap 87-octane fuel. Even with soaring gas prices in Los Angeles, the cost was around $50, which doesn't seem like a profitable outcome considering all the effort involved. Let's hope the thief uses that gas to get to a real job interview!
