How to fix a car part dragging behind the gas tank
Washers have sheared off or bolts have rusted and broken, causing components like the charcoal canister behind the gas tank to detach and drag on the ground while driving. This leaves the part hanging down and coming apart underneath the vehicle.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since September 2026.
- This comes up 11.0× more often in r/MechanicAdvice than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to fix a car part dragging behind the gas tank
- 1Pushing the part back up and finding replacement bolts or hardware at a junkyardDid this help you?
- 2Taking the vehicle to a mechanic for professional repairDid this help you?
- 3Using a wire coat hanger to tie up the hanging exhaust pipe temporarilyDid this help you?
- 4Using clamps, a sleeve, or a muffler gasket and new bolts for a quick fixDid this help you?
- 5Fabricating custom mounts out of old metal bed frames.Did this help you?
- 6Ordering replacement rubber mount cushions online to replace dried out or missing ones.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“It sits right behind the gas tank and is dragging when I drive”source ↗
“Bought this at auction about a month ago and before I can drive it the radiator needs to be mounted properly.”source ↗
“Anyone have good mounts that would fit this?”source ↗
“It’s an aftermarket exhaust but it hangs down kinda low in the middle and just scrapes every time I go over a speed bump, and I just need to need get it higher up.”source ↗
“All the bolts are there the washers sheared off that hold it up”source ↗
“It appears to me that that the exhaust pipe bolts on my 2006 Ford Escape have rusted and broken, leading to this coming apart and hanging down as seen in the photos.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2How to secure a horizontal evaporator coil to a furnace