# Missing Gas Cans



## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Over the past several years, I have noticed that some of my gas cans seem to come up missing. I have been keeping my full cans in my tool shed on a shelf that I made with a chain running through the handles to prevent pilfering. I have a lock on the door but want to make it more difficult if the pop the lock.

When I have the tiller or mowers out, I generally leave the cans sitting by the shed for convenience so someone would be able to run off with them.

I decided to fix em up, I filled a can almost full with water and put about 1/2 gallon of gas on top of it. They open the can and see/smell gas on the top, put it in their vehicle and then I have made my point.

A can disappeared yesterday from my back yard and I have been watching up and down the road to see if any disabled vehicles appear. If they do, I am wondering if I should track down the owner, call the sheriff, or write them a message on the windshield with one of my grandsons crayons. 

Any suggestions?


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## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

I would give no indication that you did it on purpose or you may find yourself a vandal as well. The law is never on your side so you are always in a losing proposition.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

Nope, dont let them know you did it on purpose, they could retaliate/escalate and you will find yourself in a p####ing match. Just let it ride, maybe repeat a time or two and they will decide your gas is 'no good' and go elsewhere.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

Don't forget to add sugar to your water...

Myself, when my cans disappear it's because I threw away the POS. Those newfangled spouts are a real PITA.


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## stayingthegame (Mar 22, 2011)

my dh and I did the same thing when our cans went missing. we just smiled when we heard about a "friends" car broke down.:sssh:


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

Putting water or sugar in the gas can, knowing that sooner or later someone is going to take it and break down is like a story someone told me.

A hispanic woman used to make burritos for her husbands lunch and one of the guys he worked with kept taking his lunch. One day she made the burritos with lots of hot peppers. The thief came back and said he would never take his lunch again.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Ha ha, weedy, that's funny about the burritos! 

Davarm, I like what you did about the gas cans. I don't care of people think it's terrible to "fix" someone for stealing from you. I think it's more terrible that someone would steal from YOU in the first place! I agree, though, not to say anything in any way or form to either the neighbor or LEO or anyone. The thief will likely figure it out when they have a car breakdown. Meanwhile, you're 'innocent' because no one can prove you were doing anything other than washing out your gas can...


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

weedygarden said:


> Putting water or sugar in the gas can, knowing that sooner or later someone is going to take it and break down is like a story someone told me.
> 
> A hispanic woman used to make burritos for her husbands lunch and one of the guys he worked with kept taking his lunch. One day she made the burritos with lots of hot peppers. The thief came back and said he would never take his lunch again.


I wonder if maybe she might have put some of those "Ghost Peppers" in the burritos, that would be enough to make a believer out of an Atheist.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I see that the consensus is to say nothing about the gas can. I'm game for that and I think that I will keep one of those doctored cans in my yard until they stop disappearing. 

I will take the advice and keep my mouth shut so that I will have a "Plausible Denyability" if I ever need it.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*If you*

If you put suggar in your own gas can and store it on your own property and some idiot steals it and winds up locking up his engine, good enough for him.

The law is not going to do anything to you. You did nothing to him , he did it to his self.

How ever he might seek some revenge so you had better be on your guard after you do this.

It kinda reminds me of the guy who told me he was taking Viagria to counteract the saltpeter his wife was putting in his cereal !


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

My mother had a problem with her car being low on gas if she left it outside of the garage at night.. so one night after being out in the yard working all day on the lawn etc.. she "accidentally" left her gas can outside with just about 4 gallons of "gas" in it. well she put diesel in that can instead. the next day the can was there but empty.. and there were two cars about a mile down the dirt road by her house on the side of the road.. She hasn't had a problem again. 
I have a "coil spring" that is mounted behind the gas cap so that you can fill but not get the gas out of my gas tanks due to us losing about a 1/4 of a tank at a time due to teenagers in the area.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I have a security monitor with 4 cameras but it doesn't have any means to record. I have cameras pointed in 4 strategic areas of my property but unless I am sitting there looking at the monitor when they sneak in, I will miss it. I have several game cameras but they do not have low light capabilities and if someone comes by at night, takes a can of gas and sees the flash, I loose the can and game cam.

Here in Texas it is completely legal to use deadly force to defend your property, shoot em and call the sheriff. I have considered setting up a target lane with a BIG bulls eye target in plain view of the road to see if that is a deterrent. I dont think that I could bring myself to pop a local teenager for stealing gas from me(at this point in time), I am related to half the county so it would probably wind up being a cousin or some other relative anyway.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Davarm said:


> I dont think that I could bring myself to pop a local teenager for stealing gas from me(at this point in time), I am related to half the county so it would probably wind up being a cousin or some other relative anyway.


not much of a cousin if you ask me... 

family membership is FORFEITED when you against the family, they can join another tribe


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## TimB (Nov 11, 2008)

I also agree on the "remain silent". It could escalate as others have said and you could come out on the worst end of it as some folks are downright mean- never mind they were in the wrong to begin with.  I do like the idea of leaving another doctored can sitting around. 

Tim


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Davarm said:


> I have a security monitor with 4 cameras but it doesn't have any means to record.


http://www.ispyconnect.com/


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## efbjr (Oct 20, 2008)

*Who can you trust?*

One night at work at a security post, when it was quiet, I took my notebook that I used to record my gas purchases and started to figure out my gas mileage between fill-ups. (I usually filled-up each week.) One week, I was getting 18 mpg, the next, it was 8 mpg, the following week it was 12 mpg...9 mpg the following week. :dunno: Strange results. :scratch I then purchased a locking gas cap. My nephew, who had been living with us, came in the house with a disappointed look on his face.  He never admitted it, but he had been tapping uncle's gas tank as his own personal gas station! $7 for a cap at Auto Zone ruined his day!


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Davarm said:


> I see that the consensus is to say nothing about the gas can. I'm game for that and I think that I will keep one of those doctored cans in my yard until they stop disappearing.
> 
> I will take the advice and keep my mouth shut so that I will have a "Plausible Denyability" if I ever need it.


If you don't want them to have a blown motor (sugar), get one of those small 1-gallon jerry cans that most people use for lawnmowers or chain-saws and fill it with kerosene. It has been said that it will let the vehicle run, but, not very well, it will smoke and belch, it will probably foul the sensors (O2, EGR, plugs, etc) and cost them significant amount of coin to fix it without blowing the motor. Small amounts of diesel will do the same thing as kerosene ...

Whichever route you take, you have my full support ...


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Have you thought of using a trail cam or game cam to snap a picture of your thief? They're pretty cheap now. Check Amazon before you buy locally, because there are some great deals on the cams right now. Most box or sporting good stores should have them too. They do here.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Yes I do have 2 of them, no low light capability though so if they slip in at night and see the flash I will loose the gas and the camera. 

I really need the cameras, although I do live in the country, there are about 10 houses on our stretch of road and they all have multiple dogs that run free. I have always had a bad problem with neighborhood dogs digging in my garden and when I confront the owners I get the "not my dog" line. Now I just take the pics to the sheriff along with the address of the offending dog and let him do his job. I tried doing that the dog thing the easy way but my "neighbors" didn't want to do it that way, so I really dont want to get my game cams stolen by a gas thief.


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## Jezcruzen (Oct 21, 2008)

Yep, keep it to yourself. Great idea you had!

I was once assigned to a small fire station where we each had the luxury of having a kitchen cabinet to ourselves. I kept seasons and spices and a few canned goods in mine. I also kept a bottle of A1 Steak Sauce. Each time I went to use it, it was empty! Someone on one of the other shifts were helping themselves, it seems.

I took the nearly-empty A1 bottle and partially filled it with the liquid from a can of tuna, and placed it back in the cabinet. Never had a problem after that, but I never put my steak sauce back in the cabinet, either, in case of "pay back".


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

I agree too. Just revel in your satisfaction of getting them back with the fouled gas and keep it to yourself. As for me, I'd try to total the motor, not just foul the sensors. But thats just me.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

If they tried to come back on my mother for screwing up their cars all my mom was gonna say was.. well I need diesel for my genny and how was I to know two morons was gonna put it in their cars after they stole it.:dunno:


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

My everyday driver is diesel. Some years back I pulled into the station with the log truck which is gasoline. Out of habit I grabbed the diesel pump and proceeded to fill it up. I pumped about 5 gallon into a 16 gallon tank when I realized it.  I shut the pump off and feeling really stupid I finished topping it off with 94 octane. It looked like an old steam locomotive going down the road all day. At the end of the day I filled it back up( Yeah, one day. It gets 4 MPG) and the smoke began to clear up a bit. It took two more fill-ups to completely clear the diesel from the system.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Wow, UncleJoe, you REALLY got lucky on that truck motor! Easy to make that kind of mix-up when you're using both kinds of fuel on a regular basis! 

When we lived in Kentucky the kids down the holler were stealing gas out of my Cherokee for their 4-wheelers. I couldn't get a locking gas cap at the auto parts in the town near us, so I bought a small shackle and padlock from the Hardware store, and I put that on the little door that covered the gas cap. Worked great. 

Also, 30 years ago we had a converted school bus/camper, and one night we were sleeping in it in a parking lot and we heard noises underneath. We quietly crept over near the front door where the gas tank was, and peered down from the window. Two people were crouched down there feeding a hose into the gas tank. My husband quietly slipped into the drivers seat and all at once started the motor and put it in gear and went forward slowly. We rolled on the floor laughing about how they looked as they hollered cuss words and took off. They left behind the hose and gas can!


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