Do gas caps have life spans?

[absolutemagic]

So I was talking to my friend and she had to get a gas cap for her mom's car cause her dad forgot it at the gas station. Then I thought about it, so I looked it up on ebay to see how much they are. I read a posting that had this in its description:

"The typical life span on gas caps is 5 - 6 years. You can prevent unnecessary service costs by replacing the gas cap on modern vehicles before they go bad and the check engine light appears"

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GAS-C...Q5fAccessories

My question is, do gas caps have life spans? Do they go bad even with normal use and wear/tear? I'm thinking about changing mines.

What should I do?

[hill8570]

Eventually the gasket wears out on the cap. Usually you send up with some sort of error code indication that something's wrong with your fuel EVAP system.

5-6 years might be a bit aggressive, but OEM gas caps are cheap.

[#2!]

The one on my Grand Prix wore out after 4 years but the one on my Camry still looks good after 13 years.

[MR2Jedi]

When the gasket wears out and it stops " clicking" when tightening, it's time for a new one. They WILL throw a CEL code at this point.
My '91 MR2 and '95 Tacoma caps are both original OEM and they still work fine.

[fenixus]

recommended Toyota Camry maintenance schedule advises to replace gas cap gasket every 60k miles. other than that (if clicking) it's fine i think unless you puncture a hole in it

[Mike Gerber]

My 94 Camry has it's original cap and so does my 90 Mazda Miata. No problems with either.

Mike

[bronzemaxell]

my state inspect the vehicle anually, and one of the thing mechanic check is the pressure on the gas cap, make sure it is within range.

[JohnGD]

Never ever replaced a gas cap. Of course that's probably because the car got replaced first.

Otherwise in Calif cars get smogged every 2 years. They check the cap too, in addition to your On-Bboard Diagnostics (OBD-II) EVAP "monitor". So no worries.

Originally Posted by bronzemaxell

my state inspect the vehicle anually, and one of the thing mechanic check is the pressure on the gas cap, make sure it is within range.

[ghettosled]

unless the car is from before 1996 OBDII (did OBD I monitor this?), let the computer monitor the cap. it will tell you when it goes bad. i still have the original on my camry, but my 99 camaro and 03 jeep both had the caps go bad and the CEL came on.

in the "interesting because it didnt happen to me" category, my buddy had his gas cap go bad on his 1970 mustang and it ended up imploding the fuel tank because of the suction from the motor and the cap failed to relieve the pressure.

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by ghettosled

unless the car is from before 1996 OBDII (did OBD I monitor this?), let the computer monitor the cap. it will tell you when it goes bad. i still have the original on my camry, but my 99 camaro and 03 jeep both had the caps go bad and the CEL came on.

in the "interesting because it didnt happen to me" category, my buddy had his gas cap go bad on his 1970 mustang and it ended up imploding the fuel tank because of the suction from the motor and the cap failed to relieve the pressure.

gas tank imploded? wooooow ... amazing (and scary).

i replaced the gasket on my fuel cap a month ago when tracking down MPG getting poorer with every week. not sure what fixed MPG finally as it now came back to normal. anyways feel much safer with a tight cap

[ricamryman]

I wanted a locking gas cap. so I bought a Stant locking cap tonight.....

[Tom 2000]

My 2000 Camry failed the emissions test several years back because the gas cap gasket went bad. A new gas cap gasket from the dealer is only about $11 if I remember right.

[absolutemagic]

Yes, my gas cap still clicks when I turn it and I can hear the air pressure coming out. I'm just worried cause I know car parts usually go out after a certain amount of time even if you take care of them. My Camry is a 1996, so I was thinking my gas cap might be going out soon.

[PhatRoyale]

Mines 12 years old and is still going fine.

[aoe_mp]

i have a 94 camry. after almost 16 years that gas cap is still doing a good job.