3 Signs Or Symptoms Of A Failing Fuel Filler Cap

Sequel to our post on Important Things You Need to Know About The Always Neglected Fuel Filler Cap, we bring to you this post.

This is to enable you know when your fuel filler cap is failing or has gone bad.

As we have said in the previous post, the fuel filler cap of your car is very important and should be good at all times.

If the fuel filler cap is bad or failing, there are usually few symptoms that you will notice to announce to you there is a potential problem.

Below are the symptoms:

1. Fuel filler cap doesn’t tighten properly:

This is among the first symptom of a bad or failing fuel filler cap. When you want to tighten it after filling up your tank, it doesn’t tighten as it should.
Usually, it should click once they are adequately tightened; there is a mechanism handling the clicking.
If after all effort to tighten it and it does not click, or still loose after the click, it’s a sign that the cap is damaged and need to be replaced.

2. You always perceive fuel smell:

Once the fuel cap isn’t tight as it should be, there is every tendency that fuel will evaporate out of the fuel tank. This is because proper seal is not provided by the fuel filler cap.
When you start perceiving fuel smell from your vehicle, just know that something is wrong somewhere.
There are other things that can cause fuel smell anyways.

3. Check Engine/Service Engine Indication lamp comes on:

As minor it may seem, this fuel filler cap can trigger the check engine malfunction lamp to come on. If there are issues of the fuel filler cap properly sealing the fuel tank as it should, it will just trigger the check engine light.
A leaky fuel filler cap will compromise your vehicle’s emission system.

A lot of things can trigger the check engine light, so read our post on Top 6 Reasons Your Check Engine Light May Be On And Also Blinking