Normy

Has anyone had the problem where the key does nothing to the gas cap? Neither position of the key seems to lock my cap anymore.

Curious, I took the cap apart [pulling that red cover off is a bitch; I had to use three screwdrivers, two hands, and my teeth to do this... ] and discovered that a white nylon "pawl" at the bottom of the lock mechanism has failed. This broken part no longer allows the teeth of the lock to remain retracted, so the red outer cap always engages the white inner cap. Permanently unlocked gas cap. Dammit.

Now, where to go from here. I doubt I can glue the pawl back together and have it work without breaking again. I could buy a new cap, but that's too many $ for something simple. Used cap? It looks way easy to swap out the lock from my existing cap, but then it's just going to break again. Another three-handed episode in the garage, swarmed by mosquitos.

Does anyone make these pawls, or has anyone ever fabricated one from metal?

Suggestions:

N!

jpitman2

I have made a couple of replacement pawls out of CF and epoxy....one is in use and havent heard a complaint from user. Now that I have a bit more practice with my lathe, I might try one in metal. Would you like a pic sent? Will post one tonight when I find it and the camera. The basic problem is that the original spring is too strong for the nylon, and it spends all but a few minutes a week under maximum load. Lasting 20+ years though isnt too bad, but its a poor design really. Getting the right balance in a spring that is strong enough to allow undoing, but also allows ratchetting when doing up is tricky. I tried to make a pawl such that the cam action of the tumbler end retracted the pawl so it was locked, but also held it out far enough to unlock and allow cap to be undone, with minimal spring action, but it required some filing of the tumbler body metal end, which really wasnt a good solution.
Along the way I rekeyed the cap, so I only have one key for everything now.
jp 83 Euro S AT 50k.

85fortheDrive

JP would be doing you a big favor cause those gas caps are 'spensive suckas. Good luck!

jpitman2

Tell me about the cost! I imported mine from out of country. While I had it os I bought a new cap. When I got it released from customs etc here and went to drive it home and went to add gas , some !@#$%^&* had stolen the cap key from the glove box or door pocket!! Somehow I got the cap off and was able to fill it. In the end I drilled a small hole in the red cap so I could lock inner and outer together, until I was able to dismantle it and re-key it.
jp 83 Euro S AT 50k

Alan

JP - I would be interested in a metal version of the pawl.

I have replaced mine (pawl) once and now its broken again... %$#@&!*!

The Porsche "B-team" strikes again - this is NOT a superior design or even an OK design...

Alan

ODSharkBytes

Sure that isn't the infamous "doohickey"?

AO

Are people trying to steal your gas? Peronally, I see no need to lock my cap - the only benefit I see would be to maybe keep someone from dumping a bunch sugar in my tank (a la Roy Munson!) But that's what insurance is for I guess.

jpitman2

here are a couple of pics, FWIW. If you look carefully at the metal end of the lock assy, you may notice its been filed a bit. This was a try at using the cam action only, without a spring. Locked the pawl is completely retracted flush with the body. Unlocked the pawl teeth protrude ~ 1/8" or 3mm, and unless you have done the cap up more tightly than necessary (IMHO), it has enough grip to undo it fine. The still working nylon pawl has a crack at the failure point visible on careful inspection.
A friend made me a small slab of cf/epoxy of the right section, and I cut and filed it to fit, and hardened the pawl teeth with a bit cyano glue. I have enough for a couple more, so first to pm me with an address can have a piece to try their hand on. A metal one would really be best done with a shaper, or small end mill, neither of which I have yet. If you want to source your own, you will need a brick starting at 10 x 19 x 13mm.
Cant seem to get the !@#$ images to go up???? any ideas?
jp 83 Euro S AT 50k

borland

A few years ago, asked the replacement speedo gear maker guy if he could make one. He seemed interested in the idea, but I didn't have a spare lock.

Why not ask him?

928FIXER

I just ahd the opposite happen.Drove car out to a friends for dinner and stopped on way home for fuel and cap won't come off.It kept ratchting like it was still locked.Had to drive home and use a large pair of needle nose pliers to squeeze the edge and take it off.

jpitman2

will try pic again.
Edit: pics will only upload for members via a password now apparently. Upload attempts via normal replies just get ignored by the look of it.
So HTF does a person OUTSIDE USA get to be a member? Last time I tried , NOBODY had a way to accept $ for joining, so people like me are up **** creek without a paddle.....the bottom panel says I can post attachments, and I have done in the past - I can even see them all....

Whats the go Mr Moderator please?
jp 83 Euro S AT 50k, 1400+ posts....

Steve J.

Excellent thread. I was just about to post about this problem. Been locking my gas cap for years, then discovered the other day it was never locked after all.

Joe '87 S4

Same problem with mine. I was going to get a used cap to replace mine but they're pricey and it's way down on my priority list. Interesting thread. I think we had a thread on this subject about a year ago.

jpitman2

Metal pawl in alloy done. Couple of hours with hacksaw, file, drill, dremel. Its not something I am going into production of though.
Somebody give me an email address I can send pics to so they can post them for me please.
This one is also done with no spring, and a little filing of end of lock tumbler body to do the retracting and pushing out of the pawl.
When you see a pic you will understand the difference better. The only down side of no spring is there is really no way to allow the pawl to ratchet. If you relieved the front wall (behind the teeth) some more, and put a spring behind it (lighter than original) you could bring the ratchet-ability back readily. Just need to drill a hole in the rear face for the spring, and experiment with the spring length/strength needed. The ability of the metal to take sharper edged teeth is an improvement over the cf/epoxy item, and in some ways its easier to work with than cf.
jp ....

Normy

Andrew, to answer your question:

In high school...I was, well, both loved and hated [some things never change], and among the haters was a certain female [ahem...] who was in the spring of 1984 very-strongly a "former" friend. Yes, we had issues.

And yes, I drove my first car, a '77 VW Rabbit around Michigan and Toledo, Ohio without a locking gas cap.

Well, Friday night, and another good house-party occurs. Guess who was there? Yes, Jeanette. I avoided her, but she didn't avoid my Rabbit; in fact, she felt that this car, with its' CIS injected 1600 cc engine needed about half of a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew in its' gas tank in order to run right. She was wrong-the bunny wasn't wired at all; I barely made it home that night.

I think it cost me and my parents about $500 to repair the damage when all was said and done...Since then I've always either had a locking cap OR a filler door that locks on the cars that I've owned.

That and I keep my cars well away from scorned X's!

N!