Hey everyone,

Just about the time I get stuff buttoned up I get a new issue. I guess that is all in a day for a 20+ year old car.

Anyway, make a long story long, The other day *5 days ago* I lost my gas cap. Either someone stole it or (more likely) I drove off without putting it back. I drove like that for about 3 days till I noticed that it was off. Put a plastic baggie with a rubber band over the fill tube and drove maybe 40 miles till I got to the Jag dealer that had a fuel cap. Everything was fine till I put on the new fuel cap and then about 20 miles later I got the check engine light. I ran the VCM and it said fuel fail 26 on it. Looked up that code and what could be wrong and the only thing that wasn't new or pass inspection back 3 months ago was the fuel cap.

SSOOOOOOO my questions are:
1) Does the VCM check for a fuel cap issue
2) wouldn't the CE light come on if there was no cap in this situation not after I bought a new one?
3) Any other thoughts?

Car runs fine. Sputters sometimes but plenty of power, good gas mileage. Plugs, wires, etc all replaced in early summer and tested fine.

 

my fail 26 said O2 sensor. haven't got the part yet.

 

Just very weird that it happened an hour after I put on a new gas cap.

 

now that you replaced the gas cap, try resetting the system and see if it comes back.

 

Just a thoght (I sold my '89 years ago), should the cap be vented and the replacement was not? If so releasing the cap should give an audible woosh if tank is less than half full. then beware, the taknk can be damaged with fuel spills etc as a result.

 

I will check and see. The gas tank was full when I put it on.

I talked to my local tech and he said that Vin # weren't very well recorded from that era and they may have given me the wrong part. This did happen before with a badge.

 

I went outside and opened the cap. There was gas all over the bottom of it. Never saw that before. Maybe it is the wrong cap.

How do you reset the code?

 

IIRC the codes are reset each time the engine is started, if the fault is still there it will be set again. So to see codes switch ignition on but do not start. One of the vcm buttons or sometning was used for scrolling through the list. The workshop manual or even Haynes should indicate the procedure.

 

*FIXED*

Ok here is what we had. I had it at the service station for an oil change (I could do it but it was cheaper than me with a discount). The service guy who knows these cars said that the gas cap that I bought new was loose on the filler. I looked at a couple different places and all had the same part I had already bought so I just went back up to the dealer where I bought the cap.

I asked him to bring out another cap and let's see if it is just something wrong with that cap and also to check other years to see if the gas cap was different (knowing Jag is HORRIBLE at keeping VIN's straight) so he did. I looked at the new one and it was missing a clip that has something to do with a magnet. I took the new one out and it fit like a glove and no movement at all (which was the issue with the new old one)

Brought it back to my garage, undid the negative battery to reset the code and started her up. Let it run for a few minutes and viola no code.

So if you have a gas cap CODE 26 which is many other things Check to see how it is seated in the filler. That was my problem.

Thank you all for the help.