Gas Cap Missing

[camry.toyota1998]

Today when i was at gas station i saw that Gas cap was missing, Can some please suggest me nice quality cap, where i can order one online? How safe is it to drive without it for couple of days?

[adalex]

what month was your car built?

[Mister_Perkins]

Its really not good at all to drive without a gas cap because if you can get contaminents such as dirt or water in your tank.

Your fuel system is supposed to have a cetain amount of pressure too so you'll probably throw a code because its going to see no gas cap as a massive air leak.

Aside from those couple things, you really wont see any bad side-effects besides maybe a clogged fuel filter or poor fuel economy.

Just change the cap as soon as you can and you'll be fine. Any salvage yard will have what your looking for for real cheap

Also, if you get your vehicle inspected and they check your gas cap for some reason you can fail inspection because of that

[camry.toyota1998]

I don't know, how can i find it ? Is it really important. Can someone please respond on reasonable price for gas cap?

[LynchburgCSI]

Originally Posted by camry.toyota1998

I don't know, how can i find it ? Is it really important. Can someone please respond on reasonable price for gas cap?

Junk yard. $1.00. Or (if no one here has an issue with using aftermarket gas caps) go into any auto parts store and pick up a new one.

[fenixus]

gas cap from a junk yard??? you've got to be joking... it can be cracked internally and not holding vacuum, not even mentioning that rubber seal may be for decoration only (needs replacing every 60k/5yrs).

junk yard gas cap = asking for EVAP codes or vacuum trouble.

get a new one from dealer online ($14+s/h) or PM toyopartsman, I'm sure he could get it cheaper for you.

[LynchburgCSI]

There's a seal on the gas cap that needs to be replaced every 5 years? You learn something new everyday...

[71Corolla]

Gotta agree, get a part from a dealer, it's worth the money. A salvage part might work, might not who knows? It's like getting a thermostat from the wreckers, hit at miss at best.

[uibalnme]

Originally Posted by fenixus

...not even mentioning that rubber seal may be for decoration only (needs replacing every 60k/5yrs)...

Originally Posted by LynchburgCSI

There's a seal on the gas cap that needs to be replaced every 5 years? You learn something new everyday...

That's news to me too. My gas cap is still factory original, and after 165,xxx miles, it still hasn't failed during a smog check. Now I did have to replace the gas cap on my 87 Celica a few years ago. I just got a Stant brand gas cap from a local auto part store. It was less than $10, and it still works fine. The Celica has had 2 smog checks since I replaced the cap. The Car, and cap passed both times.

Save some time, and money. Just get a replacement from a local auto part store. I would suggest Stant instead of the other brands though.

[haux]

You can use a rag like Al Bundy.

There's nothing better than a Molotov cocktail on wheels.

[ghettosled]

i failed a vehicle inspection because of a bad gas cap. bought a new one from a local parts store. failed again because it was poorly made (bad mold lines on the rubber seal) and ended up spending the extra couple dollars at the dealer for a new one. its been good ever since.

[jtex2717]

I would say get a junk yard gas cap and go to the dealer and get a new gasket for it....call it done!

[Mister_Perkins]

If you do get aftermarket, those ones with the locks suck in cold temperatures. The lock freezes if the car is left outside and wont unlatch. I did that one time in 2004 and after that I swore to never buy another locking gas cap.

lol

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by LynchburgCSI

There's a seal on the gas cap that needs to be replaced every 5 years? You learn something new everyday...

yup, it's in the Hyanes manual. of coruse that's a very strict recommendation being probably very on the safe side ... but ... still, the rubber gasket can go bad in that time (doesn't have to of course).

Originally Posted by uibalnme

That's news to me too. My gas cap is still factory original, and after 165,xxx miles, it still hasn't failed during a smog check. Now I did have to replace the gas cap on my 87 Celica a few years ago. I just got a Stant brand gas cap from a local auto part store. It was less than $10, and it still works fine. The Celica has had 2 smog checks since I replaced the cap. The Car, and cap passed both times.

Save some time, and money. Just get a replacement from a local auto part store. I would suggest Stant instead of the other brands though.

I would say it's a hit and miss with auto parts store gas caps, some of them will work and some others will leak vacuum like hell.

Originally Posted by haux

You can use a rag like Al Bundy.

There's nothing better than a Molotov cocktail on wheels.

LMAO

Originally Posted by ghettosled

i failed a vehicle inspection because of a bad gas cap. bought a new one from a local parts store. failed again because it was poorly made (bad mold lines on the rubber seal) and ended up spending the extra couple dollars at the dealer for a new one. its been good ever since.

same story here (gotta love NJ emissions inspection), but I failed with 1yr old OEM gas cap from dealer thing is that I dropped it once at the gas station (rubber seal was looking brand new after 1 yr) and it failed the vacuum test.

Had to go to dealer and get a replacement locally over the counter ($25) as I wanted to get done with emissions the same day. worked and no problems.

Originally Posted by jtex2717

I would say get a junk yard gas cap and go to the dealer and get a new gasket for it....call it done!

yeah that might work if the problem is only with the rubber. but consider tha fact that if someone dropped this cap on the hard ground surface (e.g. concrete) then most likely there are minor cracks in plastics already. it would leak then even with new gasket.

[camry.toyota1998]

Thank you all for your responses, I finally got Locking Stant Gas Cap for $12, Some of you warned me it might cause issues in winter as lock might freeze, I have to wait and see on that...

Thanks