Locking gas caps

[ishmael]

Drove this Tacoma that has come my way via Bill's estate to the filler-up this morning thinking I'd start rehabilitating the gasoline situation. No soap. A locking gas cap and no key.

Do I need to find a locksmith or is there some cheaper way to remove it short of blasting cap or sawzall? ;)

[Norman Bernstein]

Drove this Tacoma that has come my way via Bill's estate to the filler-up this morning thinking I'd start rehabilitating the gasoline situation. No soap. A locking gas cap and no key.

Do I need to find a locksmith or is there some cheaper way to remove it short of blasting cap or sawzall? ;)

The ignition key doesn't open it? I'd be very surprised if it doesn't... that's the way many of them operate... unless the OEM gas cap was replaced with something from the aftermarket.

[Gary E]

Now your going to tell us you drove that alllll the way home from Mich on ONE tank of gas???
How far is that????

[ishmael]

Gary,

I posted here that I had it shipped, but no worries, I don't follow many of the threads here either.

Norm,

This is aftermarket. Believe me, I tried the ignition key. It's weird, because a year ago I'd filled it up and put fuel stabilizer in it. I must have had another key but I haven't a clue where it is now. Ann and Mike may have it. I'll give them a call.

I'm leaning toward keeping it and selling the Corolla. Man, what a beast! It's supposed to be a small pick up but all I can say is that the definition has changed since since I had my Mazda pick-em-up on the road. ROAD WARRIOR! LOL.

It makes sense to keep it. It's only got 2400 miles on it, is 4WD and it's handy to have a truck. It will make towing the boat a cinch.

[Norman Bernstein]

A decent locksmith will be able to pick the lock fairly quickly... and since you can drive to the locksmith, it should be cheap... a lot cheaper than taking a Sawzall to it and then having to rebuild the gas filler neck!

[ishmael]

SAWZALL! The modern solution to any thing that needs separating! You guys did catch the winky, right?

Locksmith it is. Unless I can find the damn key.

[paladin]

A little primacord will do it neatly.....

[huisjen]

This message is hidden because ishmael is on your ignore list.

That said, cheap locks are made of pot metal. This would be one of them. If I was too cheap to hire a locksmith I'd drill the core out with a 3/8" bit, fish the remains out, and expect to be able to remove the rest of the gas cap, unlocking it with a simple turn of a screwdriver.

But go ahead and use the cutting torch.

Dan

[oldsub86]

If you can get ahold of it with a set of channel lock pliers you may be able to just twist it off. I gave up buying locking gas caps for my old Chevy pickup because whoever was stealing my gas just twisted them off. Part of the broken cap would fall into the tank and rattle around too. I finally pulled the tank and removed the junk. A lot of the locking gas caps are not very stongly built.

Randy

[redbopeep]

I had this sort of thing happen to me when I was in high school...1979...my the years go by quickly...

In my case the hose that connected to the gas fill could be reached from within the car trunk (yea, I know, you have a truck, so probably can't get to it...) and disconnected. I did so and took apart the fill aparatus so I could replace the cap.

Of course, when I figured it all out, I was almost outta gas and ended up taking the thing apart in the gas station parking lot so I could put gas in (via the hose in the trunk...) and get home. I won't forget it, cold, dark, rainy, and no gas in the car and in a bad part of Indianapolis.

youth :o