Alfa Pages

[bw]

Does anyone have a problem with their fuel filler cap sticking? The one on my girlfriends '91 P4 stuck fast today and she had to get some guy at the garage to get the grips onto it.

I thought about putting some kind of lubricant/teflon spray onto the thread - anyone tried this and can recommend anything perhaps?

cheers

[dave]

mine was sticking on 33 ser 3 i went down breakers and got another one no problem now
dave

[zp]

hi

it could be possible that the breather circuit has become clogged, and the fuel tank is depressurized, which causes the fuel cap to stick. do you hear any sucking noise from the filler just after opening?

besides, the filler cap provided at alfa dealers won't fit your 33 well, since the design has been modified and you can't screw it in totally ; the cap can't go in through the last 4 millimeters, and stays out a little ; it's ugly. i'm currently trying to get another one from my dealer.

regards,
zp

[Admin]

Hi

I found the new filler caps poke out as well. I trimmed mine with a knife to get it to fit marginally better, but I think it would need the filler pipe trimming as well

All the best

Keith

[bw]

[zp]

hi

this has nothing to do with the oil breather (aka positive crankcase ventilation)
the fuel breather is simply a hose that lets the inside of the tank and the outside air communicate, in order to have the same pressure.
on injected 33s, the system is slightly different, to allow fuel vapours to be sucked through the intake, then burnt in the engine : to avoid polluting the air with petrol fumes, they say...
the system comprises two canisters, two valves, and an awfull lot of tubing.
it's located in the rear left and front left wings.
i didn't want to troubleshoot the whole system on my car when i discovered it was clogged, so the solution i chose was :
-remove interior rear left boot trimming
-remove the big plastic can.
-plug the rear tube to prevent the engine from sucking air through this opening
-install a small motorcycle fuel filter (cheap) on the hose that connects to the front of the can to avoid dirt getting in
-use some more hose to drain the vapours outside the car (unless you want to drive in fuel smell when it's hot)
-let the tank breathe normally

another solution would be to find the clogged pipe or sticking valve in the system, but it's not worth it. moreover, parts are very expensive for such a useless feature.
be sure to repair your car quickly because you're stressing both the tank and the fuel pump. if you got bad luck, you might even be running lean at high revs (fuel starvation) which could result in a couple of fried pistons...

regards
zp