has someone put something in my gas tank?? **update - not sabotage

[AlienInv8r]

ok, here's the deal. Some of you may have read my post from last week about my car stumbling and hesitating like crazy for the past few days. It sounds like it's misfiring or just not getting fuel. Anyways, someone has been egging my house and car for the past two weeks, like 5-6 times in the past week and a half. So last weekend when I went on a trip about 4 hours away, I refilled and the car started messing all up. I'm thinking that was just a coincidence and that my gas tank was sabotaged or something. Sooo, what my question is is what can I do to find out if someone put something in my tank (ie- a tampon that floated on top for the trip down and when I ran out of gas got clogged in the fuel line...) Can I do something myself, or do I pretty much just hafta take it in to a mechanic to pull off the tank? Also, anyone know what the car would do if something was blocking the fuel lines?? I greatly appreciate the help, thanks!

[ August 03, 2003: Message edited by: AlienInv8r ]

[ August 08, 2003: Message edited by: AlienInv8r ]</p>

[camarozrule]

i would just take it to a garage to get the gas pumped out and for them to check the fuel lines and put the car on a diagnostic machine to see if theres any probs. if any little ****head did that to my baby i would find the little ***** and beat his brains out. sorry for the harsh language but this is not a joking matter.

[nino]

could it be a fuel filter needs to be replaced?

[AlienInv8r]

I was guessing the fuel filter, I bought one today to put on. I just cant get the old one off. It's rusted and I stripped the bolts trying to get it off this afternoon. Now I gotta pay a mechanic to do it for me, blah. But I just think it's too coincidental that my car starts acting all up at the same time that my house and car have been egged in the same time period, ya know?

Also, it's gonna take a lot of restraint for me not to beat the living **** out of anyone that I catch even touching my car, let alone egging and screwing with it!! However, I'd rather keep my temper and have them replace everything. I figure I'll contact the police and have the mf'ers pay for a new show quality paint job and fix my gas tank problems. if that doesnt work out though, then I will definately give them the beat down of their life, NO ONE MESSES WITH MY CAR!!
I'm just trying to get some more insight with what is wrong with the car, it's only getting worse and all these different options are popping up in my head. The car is going into the shop this upcoming week though.

[camaro_speedemon]

Have you thought about calling the cops? Atleast tell them that someone has been egging your house. Ask them for extra patrolling for a couple days. They sound pretty stupid, I sure as hell wouldn't go back more than once.

[AlienInv8r]

Yeah, now that everything has happened quite a few times we are gonna call the cops. I was actually gonna see if they could like fingerprint the eggshells (maybe??). But I'm gonna file a report later today to get it all squared away. It is really stupid to come to the house more than once, but it's been pretty random so far. I've actually slept in my car a few nights before to try and catch them in the act. It sounds like it's something small like a 4-banger, so I figured hearing my car start up suddenly would scare them crapless. But I'm going to the police today, its getting out of hand and I'm becoming more and more pissed off.

Do you guys think that my car would be burbling and hesitating/misfiring if there was something in my tank??

[ August 03, 2003: Message edited by: AlienInv8r ]</p>

[HotWheelz]

I really dont think it sounds like someone has put anything in your tank. Like you know, mines doing the same thing, and as far as I KNOW no one has anything against me lol.

Hopefully I can give you an idea of what to do here in the next four or five days, as my car will be going into the shop sometime in that span. It was supposed to go in the other day, but my mechanic was just too busy. Hopefully around Wednesday or so, I'll have it in. I'll be sure to leave a post for you letting you know what I find out.

[camaro_speedemon]

They won't print egg shells, I've had my car egged before, and they said they couldn't do anything. Good luck man, I know how pissed I get when someone screws with my car/house once, I would postal if someone did it like 4 times in one week. I would've set up a camera or stayed up and hunted them down.

[AlienInv8r]

Yeah, I didnt think the cops would print eggshells, figured it may be worth a shot though. My parents just got back from vacation, they had left their car at my aunt's house. Well apparently it got egged the night before and we couldnt see anything since it was a white car. It now has like a 1 foot circle on it's hood that the paint has been completely eaten through :( Anyways, my car is going into the shop today, it's just driving me nuts to have it run like this. I feel so sorry for my car. But I'll post an update when I'm done. Thanks for all your input so far guys, I truly appreciate the help.

[AlienInv8r]

HotWheelz, I really hope no one has put anything in my tank either. I went to the mechanic this morning and he said before he did anything he'd have to scan the computer for codes and said that would be freakin $60. I'm gonna find an Autozone in my area and have them scan it for free, then I'll bring it back to him. I figure I may as well get the codes and have them do it right, rather than me guessing at what it might be and spending a ton of cash without truly knowing what it is. I'll let you know if I find anything out soon too. I do have some good news about the egging ordeal - my mother called the insurance this morning and they said they would repaint all the egged cars, so maybe I'll at least get my appearance lookin pretty good.

[Jason McCallister]

3 words... "Locking Gas Cap"

My first mod and only $10! ;)

[StegsRide]

where would you get a locking gas cap?

[Scoob_E]

Don't know if it would work with our cars but i've seen them at K-Mart/Wal-Mart, auto-parts stores should have them too...

just my .02

[ August 05, 2003: Message edited by: Scoob_E ]</p>

[SuprSpdDB7]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Jason McCallister:
3 words... "Locking Gas Cap"

<hr></blockquote>


I WAS JUST GONNA SAY THAT EXACT THING!!

any autopart store should have it... I got mine from Discount Auto... I know AutoZone has them too

[AlienInv8r]

Hey guys, Hotwheelz I've got an update... I got my car into the mechanic this morning. He said he had to run the diagnostic because the Autozone code only gave where the problem was vs. what the actual problem is. He installed my new fuel filter (I asked him to while I had it in for the heck of it). He did the filter and diagnostic test for $105 ($35+70). Then he called me back saying that basically my 6th cylinder plug was burnt to heck. He told me that the NGK plugs dont last for crap Anyways, he's gonna slap me in 6 new Bosch's to fix everything. The total is gonna be $269 after everything (filter, diagnostic, plugs, labor). This was way more than I wanted to spend, but if it fixes the car, I'll pay whatever. That seemed a little expensive for me, but he's the only mechanic in town that has a lowered lift. I dunno, I dont really care if it fixes my car. But hopefully this will be it and my car can run as normal after this. Thanks for all the input everyone, I've appreciated all the help. Unfortunately it was just the plugs even though I was hoping it wasn't. I thought NGK's were good plugs??? Maybe I just got a bad set or something.