Stuck Gas Cap!

H

hyperpasta

Member
Went to fill my ride last night and the #&*#@$! gas cap spins like a top and won't unscrew! So I'm stuck here until I can get the car towed To the dealer!

I wouldn't mind driving down to the local parts house and picking up a locking cap, but I just can get this POS off of the filler neck! It seems to be a problem that I've read others on the boards have had, but no one mentioned the fix.

Anyone have any advice or tips short of a hammer to coax this POS off?
Should I Dremel the top off? It's soft plastic....08.5 GT
 
hyperpasta said:
Went to fill my ride last night and the #&*#@$! gas cap spins like a top and won't unscrew! So I'm stuck here until I can get the car towed To the dealer!

I wouldn't mind driving down to the local parts house and picking up a locking cap, but I just can get this POS off of the filler neck! It seems to be a problem that I've read others on the boards have had, but no one mentioned the fix.

Anyone have any advice or tips short of a hammer to coax this POS off?
Should I Dremel the top off? It's soft plastic....08.5 GT
Click to expand...

If you're already having the car towed to the dealer I would just let them worry about breaking the thing off of their and get a new one under warranty. If you go chopping it to pieces then they're not going to replace it for free.
 
Thanks Icspots...

The cost of the cap isn't an issue for me....is hooking the car up to be towed and then off loaded by some tow monkey. (shocked) Then having a dealer wrench who is playing beat the clock to remove the cap. (shocked)

All for a simple plastic gas cap.....

Since the cap is toast I was thinking of drilling a small hole part way into the outer part of the cap and then inserting a small metal rod to pin the upper and lower pieces together, to allow me to spin the cap off.

I just hate doing this stuff blind. I was hoping someone had gone through this fire drill before me.
 
ran in to this problem once. the cap cocked on the way out so i just reseated it closed and tried again. im sure you tried reseating it before you called for help though so might not be your problem
 
Hi Listers,

I did just as you mentioned and then some. I tried to push downwards on the cap while turning to get it to bite and even tried to lift the cap while twisting it.

I'm pretty sure there are some plastic dogs under the cap that have sheared.
I just turned a 1000 miles on the odo so I'm pretty sure I haven't wore the cap out! LOL

I love the car and have been getting the bug to do some mods. I have an AEM CIA sitting here next to me and am on my third week waiting for PG to ship me a BPV. I'm thinking a Mid Pipe (second cat delete) for flow and a Hallman manual boost controller to smooth things out PSI boost wise. This should make things more efficient without going over kill. I hope. Hell maybe a turbo inlet pipe... that stocker just looks so bad.....
 
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i had the same problem on my second fill-up -- sitting at the gas station looking like an idiot trying to get the cap off. I was finally able to get it off, though I'm not sure how. I filled it up and then put it back on and it twisted right off. I've read of similar problems in the Mazda5 forums. If it does it again, I'll take it to the dealer for replacement.
 
chief_wiggum said:
i had the same problem on my second fill-up -- sitting at the gas station looking like an idiot trying to get the cap off. I was finally able to get it off, though I'm not sure how. I filled it up and then put it back on and it twisted right off.
Click to expand...

haha, same thing with me when filling my first tank the other day. it was a little different than I was used to with my old mazda 3.
 
be careful if you decide to drill/dremel. there is metal under there and all it takes is one spark on that filler neck and BOOOM!! id let the dealer deal with it personally.
 
Hi All,

Thanks for your tips and advice.
I now have a new cap on my baby!

Seems the aftermarket guys have nothing available for the general public, Locking or Standard. They have part numbers but everything is NA! So before I decided to take a blow torch to the cap, I headed down to a local dealer and scored a cap. The price wasn't pretty! Although he did give me good information that I thought I share will you all.

I hit the local parts guys and found nothing available for an 07-08. While at the dealer the parts pro told me that the caps from 04-08 are all the same! So if your looking for a cheap cap hit up an older aftermarket version. My loss is your gain in knowledge.

Lastly removing the cap....

After holding the new unit in my hand I saw just how cheaply it was made. All plastic with the exception of a metal spring way down below. Matter of fact it was so weak I took a set of vice grips to the handle of the cap and yanked the top half of the cap off. That left the white plastic part in the filler neck. I then used a set of Channel locks to twist out the inner part of the cap.

Sure enough the plastic part that was supposed to hold the inner part locked during rotation was buggered.

The nice thing was nothing fell into the tank at all as I have all the pieces.

Zoom Zoom!
 
I had the same problem on my 08 MS3... I ended up ripping the damn thing apart at the pump... The top of the cap popped right off and I threw it in the trash... I now have a cute little naked white gas cap... It has a detent that you can feel when you screw it on and works just fine... Eventually I will get a new one, but I am in no hurry..
 
My 1st 2 fillups I had to break the gas cap off in order to get it off. Both times someone at the dealer had but the cap on and both times it was covered under warranty. I'm really careful when I put the cap back on now and only one time is has given me trouble but I just pushed really hard and twisted and it re-seated itself and came off.

Its a VERY poor design but the dealership claims I'm the only one that has had the problem that they know of.
 
I've been having the same problem lately. I have to really fool with the damn thing to get it off. Don't know how it finally comes off but it does.
 
had the same problem, i snapped mine off and broke it. I used the cap with out the top "clicker" cap till I got my new one. I demanded a warranty cap, which I got.
 
had this problem today as a matter of fact! at the gas station and it was stuck. i twisted the black part right off the dam thing!!the small white plastic part was stuck inside. went to the stealership and grabed a new one(had just enough gas to get there)... he also mentioned if its stuck push on it and it should re set itself...i was unaware of that when i was at the gas station. oh well. def wish there was a better aftermarket cap we could get! only have 1300 miles on my speed also!!!! guess i should make sure i have some pliers to get that white plastic piece out incase it happens again.
 
So how many Mazda 24/7 forum members does it take to unscrew a gas cap anyway? Sorry, couldn't resist...
 
Had this happen, too. It started getting tight, then (when the wife took a long trip away from home) stuck for good. AAA man came to her rescue by breaking it off so she could get gas in the car and get home. Under warranty...dealer replaced it when it was in for a new air compressor at under 11,000 miles.
 
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