2008 Taurus Check Gas Cap Light

ostg · 03-11-2009, 04:55 PM

First my Taurus Transmission went out (11,000 miles on the car). It started slipping and downshifting by itself at the wrong speeds.

After the car was brought in to the dealer, they decided to replace the transmission. 2-1/2 weeks later I got the car back, drove it about 300 miles and everything seemed fine.

Drove the car to work, the check gas cap light came on. Checked gas cap and found it to be loose. Tightened it up. When I went to leave work that same day, the check gas cap light was still on. Fine, thought it may have to be driven a while or reset. Got about 100 feet at about 20 mph and the wheels appeared to lock up while my foot was on the gas. The tires skid.

Had the car towed to the dealer again. They said the gas cap was loose (which it was not because I tightened it) and nothing else was found to be wrong. No faulty computer codes.

I picked up the car and figured I would keep driving it to see if it did it again. I decided to try and simulate what happened before so I took the gas cap off and drove the car about 20 miles. I even drove with the gas cap door open. I figured if I got the check gas cap light to come on, then maybe I could see if it was causing the car to go into "fail-safe mode" and maybe that's why the tires skid. The check gas cap light did not come on.

1) Why wouldn't the check gas cap light come on when I am driving with the cap off?

2) Could this have caused the tires to skid or do you think it had something to do with the transmission again?

phantom_smack · 03-12-2009, 08:49 AM

The check gas cap light will only come on if the vehicle performs a test on the fuel tank integrity(ability to hold vacuum). Even if you tighten the cap the code p0457 will need to be cleared to turn off the light.The dealer ran an evap test the vehicle passed so 99% of the time the gas cap was left loose at 1 time or another so that is what you were told.

I dont believe it would have anything to do with tire skid.