mwest

All I want to do is replace the gas cap. I figure this should take about 1 minute. "WRONG" What an "F-in" PITA. There is a tiny screw holding the caps rubber tether in place. The screw head is barely visible. Of course it's not a philips head or a flat head, or a hex, I've got no clue what it is. I've tried various drivers to remove the screw--so far no luck.

So before I just cut the tether, has anyone replaced this and what type-size driver did you use to remove the screw.

Thanks.

Dale_K

Mine was kind of a plastic rivet. Sort of a push-pin that expands the plug to make it stay solid in the hole.

fivepointnine

mine was that rivet expander thing

911Jeff

That is known as a "chobert rivet".....

mwest

OK-so you guys are saying this is a plastic "chobert rivet". I should have known that. How the heck did I miss that. I'll get my "chorbert rivet: remover out of my tool box and take care of this tomorrow.
Thanks.

VGM911

I cut the tether long ago, and have enjoyed the resulting freedom from having a cap banged on the side of the car or having it "mash mounted" on the filler flap.

Of course you already know that this is an option, but I'm just throwing in my two cents about how pleasant this new arrangement has been. No muss. No fuss. Badda bing. Badda boom.

mwest

Finally figured out the gas cap tether removal procedure. This is something only a German engineer would come up with.
You need a punch/tap with a small maybe 1/16-1/8" tip. Could be round or square. Place it directly over the center of the plastic rivet type thing (that's a technical term) holding the tether in place. Tap the top of your punch/tap with a hammer or similar tool. Voila, the rivet pops up and out. Replace with your new gas cap tether, place the rivet through it, line it up with the hole it just came out of and now use the opposite end of your punch (should be flat) give it hit with your hammer and that's it.This takes less then 5 seconds.

Why this tether could not be held in place by an ordinary screw is a question that can only be answered by a German engineer.

Dan951Man

Are you kidding? They love those plastic rivets...you'll find similar plastic fasteners all over the vehicle. When removing a fenderliner expect a couple to break.
Also, I've had good luck popping the tether off both gas caps and just swap the cap.

mwest

Every time I have to repair or replace something that I mistakenly think will be a quick simple job I get whacked by the Porshe way of doing things.
But, I have to admit I am amazed by the convoluted thought process that went into engineering these normally simple routine fixes on every other vehicle not built by Porsche.

Mr. Boxster

Bought a new gas cap today.

Trying to do it my way caused ten minutes of pain. I gave up realizing that more effort would cause damage - most likely to the paint.

A quick search found this post.

Doing it your way took two minutes.

It took me longer to find a punch than it did to do the whole job.

Thanks for this.

Mr. B.

terbiumactivated

"Why this tether could not be held in place by an ordinary screw is a question that can only be answered by a German engineer".

The same reason that you just can't recycle the oil idiot light without a durametric hacked OBDII moronically expensive tool, they want everyone to get service at the Dealer.

Richard Bedgood

How hard do you have to tap it? The center piece in my plastic rivet type thing seems to just be going in deeper and deeper without popping out. I stopped tapping when it went in about a millimeter or so. I tried not to tap it too hard, but I hope that I have not caused irreversible damage.

GVA-SFO

Yes, very true. ..Btw, do you know why a German engineer takes 4 aspirin (Bayer product) when he got headache ?

Macster

The rivet is a cleaner fastener. A screw could back out and get lost. The screw can require a nut of some kind and this means two parts to design, manufacturer, stock, install, document in the factory manual.

As for the oil idiot light, that is a service indicator light which signals service is due. Porsche doesn't consider it a sufficient service to just change the oil. And there are some who would if they could clear the light without even doing that to save some money.

By making this service light require a connection to some kind of computer means there is a record of when the car is brought in to have this reset the car either did or did not receive the service due.

I'm sure the factory collects this data and will use it to deny a warranty claim if the data and type of claim justify it. It also lets Porsche know to some extent what kind of care a lease car received while in the lease phase or the extent of care a used vehicle received so at trade in time the dealer can know more about the car's servicing.

I have to point out that many used Porsche shoppers have been asking for a dealer network wide service history data base. This is a step towards that.

Westwood

Richard, I believe the pin will need to push completely through the spreader pins to allow them to get small enough for them to pop back out the hole. I am assuming the new cap comes with a new tether and rivet.

Sorry if I am wrong, but no one had answered your question yet so I thought I would chime in.