Used gallon milk jug as gas can

I drive a 2000 Chevy S-10 pickup with a 4.3L V6. This truck once went almost 100 mi with the low fuel light on on a lonely stretch of highway in Utah. The truck is rated to drive about 380 miles on a tank of gas but I am pretty sure I could get 420 under the right conditions. Anyways, the light comes on with 1/4 of a tank remains. I believe this holds 18.3 gallons.

Anyways, I had some REALLY bad gas this one time. The truck was running real rough, had stinky exhaust, and had no power whatsoever. So, I decided to run out as much of this junk gas as possible before filling up. One factor I didn't account for was that the truck was likely burning a lot more of this low quality gas to go the same distance. So, I had gone about 40 miles with the light on and the truck died... just past the entrance ramp for an exit where a gas station was located. We were going on a long trip and had lots of gallon milk jugs filled with water along with a few of the typical skinny plastic water bottles that hold 16 oz. or so.

Anyways, we emptied out one of the water jugs and were shaking out all the residual water out as we walked back up the entrance ramp to the gas station. I made note of a sign on the gas pump stating it was illegal to use unauthorized containers for gas. I knew that both milk jugs and gas cans are made of HDPE plastic so I didn't have to worry about the gas eating the plastic. I figured the main difference was the thickness of the plastic and I was just using this for a short while anyways. So, I inserted a credit card and hoped the attendant inside wouldn't notice the person who just walked up off the street and started filling a milk jug with gasoline.

We then walked back to the car and decided that the mouth of the milk jug wouldn't fit into the gas fill tube. So, I chugged one of those skinny 16 oz. bottles of water and cut the bottom out with a pocket knife, creating a funnel for the gasoline. My friend was taking pictures of me right as the highway patrolman pulled up behind us to make sure everything was ok. I don't know if he was called or if he just found us on a routine patrol. See www.umr.edu/~cwatkin/running_out_of_gas for some pictures. Notice the semi roaring by just a few feet away off to the left side of the second picture.

The highway patrolman escorted us down to the next exit where where we had the choice of an adult bookstore and a run down gas station that didn't appear to be open. Luckily the place was open and I filled the tank to the brim. After that, I went inside to use the restroom. My friend had been in there while I was getting gas and he said, "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING INSIDE THAT RESTROOM!" Well, he wasn't kidding. I didn't even bother to close the door behind me once I was inside as the place was just covered in an old urine film. The sink was filled with disgusting water and there was a sign warning not to drink the water, like I needed to be told. The best sign (included in the pictures) stated that the restroom was free for your use and you could get cleaning supplies inside if you felt the need to complain. Anyways, the bathroom pictures just don't do the place justice. I have seen some nasty gas station restrooms but this one topped them all.

Anyways, this was quite the experience and will be one I never forget. I now carry a 2 gallon gas can when on those long trips along with my gallon milk jugs!

Vote on this story This is good This is bad Report spam Add a story about your Chevrolet S-10 Story replies January 16, 2008 by Justin Great story! Thanks for sharing it. February 6, 2008 by Does it matter? THATS A FAKE! if you used plastic jugs, then. . .the gasoline would eat away the plastic in a matter of minutes. March 21, 2008 by karstic Ever seen a plastic gas can!?! April 21, 2008 by The smart guy Um "does it matter" and "karstic"-if you two weren't so lazy u'd look at the pics his friend took-and u would clearly see the milk jug held up. And for the guy who told the story-nice. This would make a funny comedy trip. May 8, 2008 by WTF? ^^^ That's some fine commenting, there, hfaxtcoizf! May 16, 2008 by @wtf thats just random spam what normaly should be a link ;) :D May 19, 2008 by Conor I am the one who posted this and it is not a fake. Gas cans are made of High Density Polyethlyene or HDPE for short, which is the same material milk jugs are made from. Gas cans are a whole lot thicker than milk jugs and less likely to leak if scraped, etc. Anyways, many plastics WILL NOT hold up to gasoline even for seconds. I did learn that when trying to use a styrofoam bait cooler to contain a gas spill. The gas just melted it to nothing in a matter of seconds. Conor June 3, 2008 by Hurricane That is NOT Fake, I have used plastic milk/water jugs for gasoline before. BTW, that restroom is not so bad, if you travel enough you will see some that will make that one look like a surgical operating room. June 3, 2008 by Hurricane BTW, it would be MUCH easier on your fuel pump and fuel filters to drain and dispose of the fuel instead of using it when it is really bad. June 10, 2008 by Bob Our Mission Statement: To dramatically change and improve the lives of people around the world by providing individuals with an opportunity for personal and financial growth as we help improve the quality of our environment and make the world a better place for future generations to live. June 10, 2008 by Bob Our Mission Statement: To dramatically change and improve the lives of people around the world by providing individuals with an opportunity for personal and financial growth as we help improve the quality of our environment and make the world a better place for future generations to live. www.slobodandz.myffi.biz July 2, 2008 by earthquake You know all the fuss over gas milage is not nessecery. In 1972 I bought a brand new Datsun and it got 32 miles to the gallon in mixed traffic (town and x way) that's 36 years ago people if they could do it then they can do it now. I admit it wasent a fancy car but it got me to work and back it was comfortable and server me well and behind my back three kids were driveing it. The car just didn't have all the bells and whistels they do now, my advice to the auto builders is if you want to stay in buisness take the fancies off make a basic car and get back to the 32 mpg again. Had a friend with the exact car as I did , he came from California, he got 33 miles but admited drafting behind the big trucks...After years of service the motor started burning oil. I didn't know about the kids driveing while I slept. I rebuilt the engine by lifting the motor out by hand and rebuilding it on the picnic table. Now is all the fancies worth it...... July 3, 2008 by Inphoenix You really need some English grammer updating!!! Anyways???? Should be anyway... forget the s. It's such a shame the the TV/Computers/Books etc are teaching our youngsters such poor grammer. We're beginning to sound like a bunch of mountain gorillas July 4, 2008 by the spelling police It's spelled 'grammar' rather than 'grammer'. If I were being really pedantic about things, I might mention the absent period after 'gorillas'. To your credit, I'm pleased that pluralization was not carried out by whipping an apostrophe and an 's' at the end of a word. Carry on smartly. July 5, 2008 by Robbie Thanks for the chuckle! This story made my day :-) But the link to the pics is dead... Try updating it. July 13, 2008 by PETE B. He's right, the "s" in anyways is silent like the q" in potatoes. Thanx. August 28, 2008 by Matt C8 in my opinion i agree with the gentleman at the top the gas may eat at the milkjug,use a METAL can it is made of brass or steal and safer. also it wont evaporate. September 8, 2008 by Crystal Please the man is just telling a story about something that happen to him. U Dumbass's have got to make a fuss over nothing. GET A LIFE! September 9, 2008 by Myspace.com/Tribalnoize I have some gasoline that's been sitting on my porch for a month in a gallon milk container. Its doing just fine. For the folks who are talking about the containers melting, I think you may be thinking of the cardboard gallon cartons, or perhaps the sort of clear-ish plastic jugs milk occasionally comes in. To the writer of this page: Thanks for posting this; I cruised in from Google, trying to find out if it would be safe to put the gas back in my tank after it being in the gallon jug; it'd be a shame for it to go to waste. December 28, 2008 by Mike I did the same thing with a Ford Escort. I bought an empty milk jug at a grocery store because the gas station had no gas cans for sale. The milk jug worked perfectly. It is the same plastic just thinner. February 28, 2009 by vanna i hate you February 28, 2009 by vanna ur a b... April 8, 2009 by Steven I'm not quite sure what's more comedic. The story or the comment's following this story. LOL! Nice one guys. Don't take spelling up the butt on the internet, after all ITS THE INTERNET!! People may be good spellers when they're writing on paper, but its totally different on the Internet (especially on a Comment Section). Pfft. Anal Spellers? April 13, 2009 by Frank Hey redneck, invest in a real gas container, it's not that hard. July 4, 2009 by JustMe Best use for a real gas container? Hitching a ride! Someone should market carry-bags made to look like gas cans. People who say they'd NEVER stop for a hitchhiker, will stop to rescue a 'stranded motorist' carrying a gas can. I got a ride back to my out-of-gas car by some guy in a Lincoln town car. He'd just passed my car a minute before while going the other direction though, and turned around to get me because he knew I was legit and still had a mile to go back to my car with the heavy gas can. One time I ran out of gas with that old '63 Chevy wagon and ended up driving to the next town on a gallon of denatured alcohol bought at a yard sale when someone got rid of an old mimeograph copier. The exhaust smelled funny, but it got me to the next gas station. I probably risked burning the valves some, but I figured it was the same stuff as "dry-gas" gas line anti-freeze (the alcohol would mix with water that condensed in old style vented gas tanks back then, to help it burn through the engine without causing stalling.) I no longer carry any kind of gas cans in the car. I fill up when the gauge reads 1/3 tank, and figure I have the cell phone and AAA if something else happens. Perhaps I should carry an empty one though, in case of a breakdown in a cell phone dead zone where I might need to hitch a ride? - lol! July 4, 2009 by gas & plastic Conor's right, the milk jugs will hold gasoline, but styrofoam melts away - probably how napalm is made. In another "wrong can" story, I'm reminded of a camping trip years ago with Boy Scouts when one night, someone was heard shouting "Don't light the lanterns! Don't light the lanterns!" By mistake, someone had filled the kerosene lanterns from a GAS can in the dark (idiots!) Of course, OUR lantern was already lit! And the flame from the wick was getting higher and higher and higher, licking out the vent at the top! We had already turned the wick as low as it would go, and were afraid to lower it any more for fear of dropping it into the tank, so we DID NOT PANIC, and carefully placed the lantern in our rock lined fire pit and spread a old PURE WOOL Navy blanket over it and doused the blanket with all our canteens to wet it down. The wet wool blanket smothered the fire and put it out, while keeping the water from splashing directly onto the hot glass lantern globe which would have cracked it. When it all cooled down, we were able to empty the lantern back into the gas can and refill it properly with kerosene - though we did have to clean a lot of soot from the glass lantern globe. Thankfully, nobody was hurt by the mistake and no other mis-filled lanterns had been lit. (I was the 15 year old patrol leader of our patrol who had both the idea and the wool blanket to put out the fire.) July 4, 2009 by new link While this link has nothing to do with the gas story, it is about plastic bottles and amusing enough to entertain those people who were so terribly disappointed about not seeing photos of someone filling their car from a milk jug. As of July 4th, 2009, this link was still working on YouTube. Future availability cannot be guaranteed, as I have no access to a time machine. Enjoy (and think about your next water bottle) Go to the YouTube site and after the slash, add: watch?v=gFCbQ7vZxKI July 19, 2009 by Conor The link to the old pictures has changed. You may find the same old classic pictures at www.mst.edu/~cwatkin/running_out_of_gas November 6, 2009 by REDS I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT I USED A PLASTIC CUP ONE OF THE SIX FLAGS AND IT DID MELT. BUT AS USING A PLASTIC MILK JUG IT HOLDS UP JUST WAS CURIOUS IF THE GAS WAS ABLE TO BE USED AGAIN? December 11, 2009 by The A-Hole in the classroom Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore. January 16, 2010 by Jesse Ran out of gas today. Walked to target just next by and bought fuel injector cleaner ("pour into nearly empty tank" -- doesn't seem to work with empty tank) and one gallon water bottle (also HDPE). Bought fuel injector cleaner for its spout, and the water jug incase there wasn't enough gasoline in the cleaner to start the car. Nope, not enough. So I emptied out the water jug while walking the half mile to the gas station, filled it up, and walked back. Didn't dissolve in the 20 minutes while walking. I started by pouring the gasoline from the jug into the FI cleaner bottle and then into the tank. But after doing this about 4-5 times (FI cleaner bottle is 12 oz, water bottle was 128 oz) and spilling a bit of gas on my skin, I realized that I could just pour from the gallon jug into my gas tank (honda civic). Well, aside from the few fluid oz of gas I spilled on the asphalt while pouring from the gallon jug to the 12 oz container all those times, it worked wonderfully! February 21, 2010 by moped damn it will it leak thats all that matters February 21, 2010 by dieded u peeps are a wast of gasssssssss May 5, 2010 by molly azz holes u fools r stuipd az hell gas n a jug May 5, 2010 by swag mode awl wayz well wii do use correct grammer but itz lyke wii on facebook so wii use short spellin wat a dum azz u guys iz fuka dum July 28, 2010 by andy looking for special container tank for gasoline using for toping up when the car is empty of gasoline atlest 4 gallon and with special line when left up the container tank so that no need to use something to open the fuel tank cap feeler inside. August 10, 2010 by wisconsin "anyways" is a term used a lot up here in north country. dont be so quick to criticize, unless you are perfect. 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Thank you!(Charlxtz) February 20, 2011 by ficalosEO thanks for this nice post 111213 February 23, 2011 by aicolusEO thanks for this tips February 25, 2011 by ziculiseo thanks for this tips 2218153698 February 26, 2011 by NWOSucks with the coming Gas shortages that will be as a result of middle east turmoil that will spread to all the MidEast i am storing fuel now before it goes over $4.00 a barrel because its predicted to be over 5 and maybe even 6 to 8 a gallon before 2012. i will use Milk jugs when i run out of Gas cans so glad i found this blog. people will barely be able to afford to get to work and Gas stations will be closed and the rest will have long Ass lines like in the 70's if anyone remembers that. it was over 7.00 a gallon then. if you dont believe it happened before google it. March 1, 2011 by jicalaseo thanks for this tips 2218153698 March 8, 2011 by sysmg I would not recommend keeping an empty gas container in your car. With fumes in it, and sealed tightly, it is a form of a bomb. If it's not sealed tightly it will gas you. As for storing gas in jugs (NWOSucks), how much are you going to save. Even if you stored 200 gallons. You might save $400 if gas goes up by $2/gal. It's not too safe. Once I saw a Van with a rear shelf (kind of like to store a lawnmower or a few bikes) that had various plastic bottles strapped to it filled with gas. I'd estimate they had at least 50 gallons on there. I can't imagine what would happen if someone rear ended them! What were they thinking? Darwin Award candidates for sure. As for the 1972 Datsun (earthquake), that must have been a B210. A reliable car, but boy was it slow. I remember driving one of those. When the light would turn green I would hammer the gas pedal to the floor and would pick up speed so slowly that an old lady with blue hair driving a Dodge Dart next to me pulled away like I was standing still. Maybe it could go 70mph if you gave it a couple of miles. At least todays high mileage cars are drivable. March 20, 2011 by viceloaeP thanks in the service of this kindly tips March 29, 2011 by Car Hire Maybe you'll want to get a facebook button to your blog. I just bookmarked the site, although I must complete this by hand. Just my suggestion. April 9, 2011 by Giggles 6kgoMD Kudos! What a neat way of thinking about it. April 9, 2011 by Giggles 6kgoMD Kudos! What a neat way of thinking about it. April 9, 2011 by Giggles 6kgoMD Kudos! What a neat way of thinking about it. May 25, 2011 by Black man YO NIGS THis is real you know brav? You dis respect man! I got you IP address and i is coming for you July 16, 2011 by Chaklin E. Maladerf Got to love those run-down, middle of nowhere gas stations! I've always carried some emergency gas cash in my car, and I've had to use it in a place like that - one of those "there's no way I feel comfortable using my credit card at this place" situations. This was, I believe, 2005, and the place still had the old style pumps with the mechanical dials. August 1, 2011 by William I drove to work and while on the way the low fuel light went on. I have driven the entire way on low fuel, so it wasn't a big deal to me, figured I would get it taken care of at lunch, except I forgot my wallet...just had $9 on me. I walked to a gas station, got an iced tea, drank it, went back inside, paid $2 on the pump most out of view, and proceeded to fill it up. I had gas left over, but I spent $3 - the cost for the container was $14.00 so that was out of the question. I simply took my Iced Tea bottle with the free paper nozzle and walked back to work, emptied contents and it started right up, then drove to gas station and paid remaining cash. So much for lunch...but the plastic bottle worked fine for a very brief need. 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