On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 20:18:57 -0800, "Roger Shoaf"
wrote:

Avoid having to buy a gas can in California. Our state bureaucrats have
decided that too many fumes were leaking when a standard gas can was used,
so they designed a nozzle system that spills more gas outside the vehicle
than gets into the tank and it takes forever to empty the can.

I believe if you read the fine print, it is forbidden to use the new
spouts to fuel on-road vehicles. They are for fueling small, off-road
devices only. (I guess you just aren't supposed to ever run your car
out of gas...)

I have one of the new CARB-legal spouts. The sliding part that is
suposed to snap closed when you lift it from your filler neck worked
for about a week, but is now almost impossible to move. I suspect the
mandated MTBE in our gas has caused the plastic to swell up and stick.

So, you point the spout straight down into the opening, force it open,
the fuel sprays out all around the end in a circle, and you have to
try to lift it up and out and tip it down to stop the flow when the
automatic valve fails - what a mess!

And they made it impossible to buy replacement rubber gaskets for
existing "Jerry" cans in California. For want of a $0.99 gasket we are
supposed to trash a perfectly good $30 metal can? (You can still order
gaskets from out-of-state, but shipping and handling swamps the actual
price.)

Finally, everyone sells the new plastic replacement "CARB" spouts, but
the simple adapter from old 2" pipe thread to new plastic spout is
unobtainium (except with a new steel can). If the new shutoff spout
worked, I wouldn't mind converting mine, but you just can't buy the
simple one-piece adapter.

/rant (Sorry!)

Loren