Dear Pahtoe,

I just checked my van and I don't have one of those flaps. To my knowledge there was never one there.

 

MV:

Thanks for the response. So your filler neck has an open hole in it, like this?

Aren't those flappers required to keep gas from sloshing out when cornering/in an accident? Is it just somewhere else on the Ody's filler neck? I guess maybe I'm just so used to seeing it there on other cars that I just assumed it was here too? I would've thought I'd notice before now.

Feeling better, but still sorta confused -

--> Andy

 

Mine does not have one either. Most likely there is something else with-in the tank to take it's place.

 

Ok, so I *have* lost my mind...

... but the van is ok. :stupid:

Thanks guys!

 

Have I just lost my freaking mind?

Shouldn't this have been a poll?

 

Not when I already know your answer.

 

No flapper here either. I was filling up the other day with my uncle's '02 Ody and there wasn't one either.

 

Huh. maybe it's a Honda thing?

 

There seems to be a flap or something, a little further down the filler neck. I needed a few ounces of gas for a cultivator and tried to siphon it and could feel the hose I was using hitting something. I had just filled the tank in the van and the end of the hose didn't get wet. I don't know if this is a safeguard against what I was trying to do or if it was some sort of check-valve.

 

There is a Tasmanian Devil who resides in the lower part of the filler neck to ward off attempts to siphon fuel with what my friend (a self proclaimed Okie) calls an "Okie Credit Card", i.e. a length of hose. The Devil is kept in the tank at all times and not allowed anywhere else in the system, since he would likely eat some of the hamsters which provide the motive force for the van. He does seem quite competent and we have never experienced a fuel theft from our Odyssey.

Jerry O.

 

Aren't those flappers required to keep gas from sloshing out when cornering/in an accident?

Wouldn't the gas cap keep gas from sloshing out when cornering?

 

Caps are easily lost/broken/screwed on improperly.

Some of them are also vented.

I think it's also a firestop thing, like if for some reason the fumes around the nozzle caught fire (which I've seen happen before, there's a video floating around of some poor woman who took off a sweater and caught the nozzle on fire soon after) when you pull the nozzle out there'd be nothing to stop the vapors down the tube catching fire to the tank unless there's some mechanism to stop it along the way.

 

Have I just lost my freaking mind? --> Andy

That is a requirement of my job.

 

I'm not quite that old, so I can't say for sure, but I don't think that doohickey gizmo existed until the unleaded fuel switch. I can recall my father punching these things in because the leaded gas nozzle was a larger diameter and wouldn't fit in that small opening. Nowadays, you can't buy leaded gas so maybe this thing is completely useless.

Now the flapper thing could be an evaporative fallback, for when the cap is missing, but most caps are tethered, and the Odyssey will display a check engine light is not installed correctly. I've also been told that the power slider won't open when the gas door is open, so I'd have to be pretty braindead to be driving around town, gas sloshing out on wild right-hand turns. I'd probably spill those last 3 gallons I've never been able to squeeze in.....

Don't lose sleep over it, it's insignificant,
Roger

 

I've also been told that the power slider won't open when the gas door is open, so I'd have to be pretty braindead to be driving around town, gas sloshing out on wild right-hand turns.

The power slider won't open when the filler door is open, not when the gas cap is not replaced.

 

I just love the name of this thread "Have I just lost my freaking mind?"
It's a normal state of mind for me. hehehe
werd

 

The power slider won't open when the filler door is open, not when the gas cap is not replaced.

I'd probably remember (or forget) to do both. Is the cap tethered? My Ody has only been filled three times, and only once by me personally......

 

Jerry O,
Regarding that Tasmanian Devil in the fuel tank . . . . . . Maybe the one that Wild Willy has in his tank is really thirsty and causing his poor fuel mileage. :dunno:

My '03 Accord has the little metal flap inside the fuel fill pipe.

 

I'm not quite that old, so I can't say for sure, but I don't think that doohickey gizmo existed until the unleaded fuel switch. I can recall my father punching these things in because the leaded gas nozzle was a larger diameter and wouldn't fit in that small opening. Nowadays, you can't buy leaded gas so maybe this thing is completely useless.

The "flapper" is not airtight (or gasoline-tight), it's history goes back to the first cars with catalytic converters and the Fed's mandated narrow diameter of the unleaded pump nozzle. Leaded gasoline will soon clog a catalytic converter. Octane-rating for octane-rating, leaded gasoline was significantly cheaper than unleaded, which is why this was a problem. Some would simply hold the leaded gasoline pump nozzle right at the opening and pump. The "flapper" function was that if you tried this you would spill most of the gasoline, thereby losing any potential cost savings from the cheaper leaded gasoline. You might think that people wouldn't want to clog their catalytic converters, but some people trade cars every couple years and car rental companies required that you fill the car up before returning even back then.

The "flapper" was nothing that couldn't be defeated by a chisel and a few blows from a hammer, but that was the idea.

It's now like an appendix, completely useless.....