Is anyone in the UK willing to provide their VIN? In the quest to see if the locking fuel filler door can be retrofitted to US cars, I need to see the repair/wiring diagrams for a UK spec car. Thanks in advance. Please PM me

 

I have PM'd you with a valid Aussie VIN that OzRisk donated for me to identify the right replacement part.

Thank you to OzRisk!

 

It appears that this is a lost cause. Upon reviewing the wiring diagrams for US and non US models, its a different wiring harness and all actions are controlled by the CJB which are programmed as market specific.

 

Does the fuel filler door not lock on US cars then?! Anyone can walk up and open it up?

 

Thanks for the research. That'll keep me from chasing that project down a rat hole.

 

That's right, but then again, anyone can walk up and open yours too with a butter knife or flat-blade screwdriver.

 

Heh, fair point. Another odd difference on US cars vs. others, I'm sure there's a reason somewhere...

 

Not worried about having my gas stolen, that car is never out of my sight...

 

I'd be less concerned with gas siphoning as someone adding something to the tank that could lead to engine damage. I've heard of people vandalizing other high-end vehicles in that way in the past. It is harder to do these days but I suspect it's still possible.

 

Anyone carrying around a substance to contaminate your fuel system with would likely be carrying a screwdriver or butter knife. I just don't understand all this gnashing of teeth over lack of a lockable fuel door. They provide little to no security against anyone determined to vandalize a car.

 

Probably more problems with the flap not unlocking than vandalism. My BMW has an emergency gas flap unlock in the hatch which I take as meaning they have had problems with the flap failing to unlock.

 

I rather like the arrangement my Merc had - the fuel door is locked when the car is locked and unlocked the rest of the time. In normal driving/refueling, you don't have to do anything special to open the fuel door.

 

Not really... all they would need to do is dump a can of soda pop in there or heck they could urinate in there. That doesn't require any premeditation or planning that would require a tool to open a gas cap. I suspect the sugar in the soda would be the more likely occurance, but people can be inventive.

In any case, I'm not really concerned about it. Its just something that springs to mind when I think about the gas cap cover not having a lock. Devils advocate if you will.

The likelihood of someone trying to contaminate the fuel system is relatively small... particularly if you're mindful of where you leave your car unattended and you haven't made a lot of enemies. Honestly I think someone like that would be more likely to key the car, slash the tires, or bash the car with something heavy before they would try contaminating fuel.

 

LOL . . . My wife ran out of fuel a couple of years ago, called in tears, and I went to rescue her with a 2 gallon fuel can. I couldn't get any of the fuel into the car. It was all over me and the ground. We left the car by side of the road, went to an auto parts store, purchased a very long funnel, and even then it was a pain in the ***, taking a long time to get maybe a gallon of fuel in so we could make it to the nearest station.

Soda can, urination . . . nah.

 

Clearly I'm no expert when it comes to contaminating modern fuel systems. However, I would think that you wouldn't necessarily have to fill the tank or empty a container to have an effect. There must be some amount that would accumulate in the fuel filler pipe before whatever flap seals off the pipe closes the aperture. In any case, I know it used to be a thing when I was younger.

Like I said, I'm not really worried about it myself, I am just speculating as to why it could be a problem. If I were worried, I'd have purchased a locking gas cap for my car by now.

Then again, I have also avoided putting my car in situations where vandalism should be a problem by not parking my car anywhere it would be unsupervised for too long.

 

I've seen vandalized Tesla's a few times at my body shop. I would say it's a "1%" comment, but it's more likely a "eff the world" thing. I dunno.

I live somewhere I don't worry about the fact that my car is parked outside, which is lucky for me. The unlocked tank doesn't worry me so much as just baffle me about the odd or arbitrary and arcane rules that differ from country to country. The coupe spoiler in the US not being able to be controlled is another thing. My convertible is able to, however. Go figure.