Filling with fuel

[mac1967]

OK chaps, I've asked before but I'm no better off??

Every time I go to the fuel station to fill up I can't get the dam fuel nozzle in....IT JUST WON'T GO IN!!!! Now I'm not trying to put diesel in and I know how to hold the nozzle. The collar of the fuel hose just will not fit!

This means of course I can't go past a certain number of miles awauy from the petrol station that I know will fit.

Any ideas please...Has this happened to anyone else?

Sorry for the tone...but I'm getting really P***ed off with being embarrassed trying to fill up!!!

Regards,

Mac

>> Edited by mac1967 on Wednesday 5th April 19:18

[Janitor]

Sorry to hear about this Mac - and it's pretty clear why you'd be getting so hacked off with it!

The only trouble is, no-one else seems to have suffered this problem and therefore don't even know where to start when it comes to helping you out

Sounds bleeding obvious, but have you asked a specialist to take a quick look at / test it for you?

[mac1967]

You're right...that does appear to be the problem. I seem to be the only one with this particular problem.

Unfortunately there isn't a good specialist near to me but I will need to look as I really need this issue resolving.

Regards,

Mac

[ChrisWann]

Measure the hole! is it an S1 or an S2....i'm sure someone will have their car in measuring range!.....otherwise i'll nip out and do it later on!!

Chris

[Extra 300 Driver]

How far is Daventry from you?

[TonyHetherington]

What petrol stations are you using, Mac?

I have had no trouble in my '04 S2 at Shell, Tescos, BP - you can't put the nozzle all the way in because the back pressure clicks it off but all the way in then about 2" out and not full throttle on the handle works a treat.

[iccees]

I suspect it's cuse your car is so eccominical, your trying to fill a full tank!!!!

[TheHobbit]

Is it only the nozzles that have the odd looking "sheath" down them, leaving only about 2-3 inches of normal unleaded sized nozzle sticking out? I couldn't use them when I had the T350, and so tend to avoid them. Only filled the Elise up once so far, and not at a filling station with those nozzles.

[minidiva]

I always find it really awkward getting the nozzle in the filler hole - took me a while to get used to it. I need to have the nozzle almost vertical and it kind of clunks into place. Squeezing the trigger is then really awkward for me (maybe as I'm a short-arse) and it usually hurts my wrist, probably look like a right tw4t come to think of it.
That's on an S2 Exige.

[Mac1967]

Hmmm?... Apparently a friend of mine says it looks as though my filler neck is damaged and may need replacing or at least bending back. I'll need to take it off at the weekend to have a better look. Meanwhile it would be handy if any of you guys could take your filler caps off and take a pic or two inside the filler neck (of your S2)and post them. From this at least i'll be beable to see if mine looks the same (Hmmm... strange request).

Thanks again.

Regards,

Mac

>> Edited by Mac1967 on Thursday 6th April 12:36

[minidiva]

Hope these help Mac, can't have you not being able to put fuel in your Lotus!





mini

[GTRene]

great pictures mini, specialy this one you make;

you see the valve where the nozzle? has to go through(otherwise blows back petrol) and the narrower pipe wich is welded...mabe he has a problem with a bad welded narrow pipework and thats come loose and in the way?! or a valve thats stucked?
Anyway a good picture to see how it has to be where you put the petrol in
So he have to look and see if his cars fillpipe is the same and in good condition because with a bad welded narrow makerpipe its easely to brake it when your a bit harsh with putting the petrolgun in...and then it comes in the way and you can't fill your tank! because of the high pressure on the petrolgun so the petrol blows back and the guns not working for safety...
GTRene

[mac1967]

Thankyou, thankyou mini...Perfect pics, just what I needed.

To be quite honest although mine does look the same, mine looks alot rougher than those. Certainly not as well finished. Also the angle of mine looks more actute where as the actual hole on your picture looks more direct. Goodness knows the hole isn't that big to begin with. Maybe the slight roughness of the finish on mine is stopping the nozzle going in. I've had a look in the manual and I'm striping the filler neck out first thing on staurday. If nothing else I should be able to manipulate the filler neck back to a position where I can fit a standard nozzle in... or that's what I'm hoping anyway. The other flip sde to this coin is that I totally cock it up and can't get it back together again. Anyway, here's hoping!

Thankyou again mini for the pictures...most helpful.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Regards,

Mac

ps... I was just thinking, would it matter if I took the inner collar (the part with the flap on) out of the filler neck altogether??

>> Edited by mac1967 on Thursday 6th April 23:54

[iccees]

I don't know if this will help but, have you thought of discretly using a marker pen on the pump nozzle before trying to fill up. Any scratch marks would tell you where it is catching the filler neck!

[scuffham]

[quote=mac1967]
ps... I was just thinking, would it matter if I took the inner collar (the part with the flap on) out of the filler neck altogether??[quote]

nope, it's only there to comply with EU regulations when the car is homologated (so that you can't fill it up with leaded fuel).

No reason you can't remove it (although it's not that easy to get them out!)

[Mac1967]

Good idea about that marke pen Icc!! and thanks for the info Scuff.

Regards,

Mac

[jakeD]

My car doesnt have a flap & is a bitch to fill up - have to do it really slowly or it clicks off from the petrol coming back, something has happened to it as been told the flap should be visible, looks nothing like those pics of mini's either - its an s2 racetech btw

[GTRene]

Also have heard?? that a flap/narrower did brake of when putting the nozzle to hard in and bad weldings...so they can block the fill opening...just deeper in the pipe? maybe check with a flexible item in that filler to see if you can reach the tank?? and if theres something in the way?
GTRene

>> Edited by GTRene on Friday 7th April 13:57

[mac1967]

Ahhh.....Found the prob at last!

In the end I got really fed up with the problem and decide to take the whole thing to pieces. I'm glad I did becuse when I finally took the filler neck assembly out I found that it been crushed against the upright of the roll bar which is directly behind it.

The tube itself is so crushed that the flap doesn't even shut properly (but you can't see that from the outside looking in). This means really that the angle of the hole the petrol nozzle has to get into is now too actute for it to reach on 99% of petrol pumps with out the collor of the petrol nozzle hitting the alloy ring fuel filler cap (oh geez... that sounds boring!).

I've now decided that it's too tricky to try and heat the pipe up and drift it slowly back into shape as I think the car deserves a new part rather than a "bodge".

I would like to take his opportunity to thanks you guys for you help, advice and certainly pics. I will post some pics of the offending part and the new one when it gets here.

And I would also like to appologise to anyone that I have bored the a**e off reading this thread if you are not interested...lol.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Mac

[GTRene]

Glad you've found that problem...only thing is how did that problem get there? what happened to the car? hope you get it sorted soon at least you know some more about fuel and how it gets in
GTRene