New genuine fuel filler cap is different.

Hi Guys.

As I had previously stripped the imperfect lacquer off my fuel filler cap and found out how hard it is to keep on top of polishing it to keep it looking good, i.e. more often than I actually drive the car! I was thrilled to find that there is an ebay seller with new genuine fuel filler caps for the bargain price of just £59.99 free p&p - Item 273142234879. So I bought this a few months back and I finally got around to fitting it the other day. However I found that the hole that takes the lock barrel has a slightly different design. This means that instead of the key turning 180 degrees allowing it to be removed, it can only turn 90 degrees and that means the key cannot be removed when the lock is unlocked, and that means the keys resting on the paint when refueling and the lock MUST be locked at all other times, which I don't normally do. I'm going to find a way around it, but I can only think there was a change of design sometime (my car was built 1999, 1st reg 2000).

Does your car allow you to leave your cap unlocked if you want to?

Thanks

Andrew

The lock on the cap on my 1996 16VT allows me to leave it unlocked.

About 10 years ago I removed the lacquer on mine and polished it on a "cloth wheel" on the end of a bench grinder. I now give it a monthly polish with "polish impregnated" cotton wool (and the chrome exhaust tip). My Coupe is always garaged when not being used.

I noticed this difference between my 1996 Porto 20vt and 2000 White Plus, so as you say, the design must have changed, presumably to ensure that when closed it is always locked?

But on the later design, IIRC once unlocked, I then open it slightly, lock it, remove the key, and then open fully to refill. Then when finished, IIRC I just push it shut and it locks without having to use the key?

I was mistaken in what I said. When I said the key now only turns 90 deg to unlock it but the key is not removable, actually, when you turn the key 90 deg from locked it remains locked. There is no way to unlock it at all. I will either have to grind the new latch so it is the same as the old, or grind down the locking plate so that the cap can never be locked at all.

If my car was in the garage all the time it would be fine as polished, but it lives in a car shelter (which you can see on the project thread I have).

What is IIRC?

If I Remember Correctly...

So on your '96, did the key only turn a quarter turn to unlock?

No, 180° or half a turn IIRC (sorry) I will try to confirm later.

On my 96 20vt it's a half-turn, but on my mate's W VIS it's a quarter...

Hi All,

After an episode where I simply could NOT unlock my coupes fuel cap when she was orange warning level low with fuel (and having to take her back to base and go on the journey in another car) I've never left the fuel cap locked.

You just need to ensure that the clip to the lid has a good spring in it (they rust to nothing) so that it can "click" shut and remain air tight to allow the tank to vacuum seal for the pump to fuel the car properly.

Regards

MM

@MM, I had a similar problem when I bought my (very) used Coupe. I could not open the fuel filler cap, and I suspected that the cap was changed at some point and used different key. I went to the locksmith and he charged me to reconfigure the lock for my key, but the lock was not working good 100% of the time.

What it turned out at the end, is that if your key is very worn and used, it will go through the lock further than it should, and will cause problems. The remedy was to pull it out just a bit, and then the lock turned as intended.

Quick calculation: 285,000 miles, fill up every 300 miles or so, that's under a thousand uses of the lock on my filler. Still seems to be working

Well that's odd... A '96 has a half turn and so does my '00, but another W reg (not sure what VIS refers to though, but assume you mean a 'W' reg). So why would there be a different version and when would it have changed.

Stranger than that, the unit I was supplied does not look as if it ever could be unlocked without a half turn of the key (unless the barrel was different). Anyway, as I may have said above, I cut the tab that the latch bumps into locking the cap so that it can now never be locked. If we could only work out how Fiat managed to lacquer the caps then I wouldn't have had to replace it at all. I did try with 2K lacquer, but it just peeled off.



WOW, seriously impressed, on the way back from the Moon then!

Variable Intake System (non-turbo)

..."drive by wire" basically, where the engine is electronically driven as opposed to having a fixed cable to the throttle.

Fixed that for you Simon.

... and to add to the OP, I've found fuel caps manufactured 1995-1997 have a 1/4 turn lock barrel, 1997 onwards were a half turn allowing you to remove the key leaving it unlocked.

Funny, couldn't quite think of a way to explain it

There you go Skiday, and much obliged Mr K

Typo: 185k miles, so only six hundred uses!

I think we have our answer then. I wonder if Fiat neglected to change the part number for the differing caps as the part seller checked my reg and VIN and said I had the right part for the car. I can't find it on ePER and a lot of pages give me "Opps! an error has occurred". I think that there must have been a slight difference in the barrel as well as the cap latch. Have you ever tried fitting a pre '97 cap onto a post '97 using the latter's barrel?

Hey Joe... how about that rear left side window... any chance?

Thanks for the info on the VIS. Always learning