FromZto5

The reason for this thread:

I was showing my car to a buddy with a Subaru, and he noticed the capless gas cap, which he thought was neat. I told him I really enjoyed that feature of not having to muck around with a cap, plus not worrying about the cap scratching my paint if it starts flapping, etc.

He then noticed that to get the door open, I simply pushed on the gas door, right? He told me that I should be careful of hooligans that now had easy access to my fuel tank and could pour sugar or water or WHATEVER straight through my tank. I told him that should not be an issue because the gas door should LOCK when I lock the car. This is how my Infiniti and Nissan and Acura were. Even though you had to "push" on the gas door to open it, it would only allow it to open if the doors were unlocked.

Lo and behold, I tried it on my Pony, and despite the lock (I checked twice), the gas door STILL opened. IMO, that's a poor design by Ford. WTF. Why would they allow this design to go through? I know...I know... COST. Cheaper to not have it, I get it. It's still stupid IMO. What makes it more infuriating is that Ford sells a STOCK LOCKING GAS CAP. So they're aware it could be an issue, but yet sells a part for profit to mitigate the risk we owners have to deal with. Ugh. For the last 3 years, I was living with car that had open access to anyone and anything.

Henceforth, my OCD kicked in, and I MUST find a way to lock this. I searched, and there's a ton of them, ranging from Stantz to CJ Pony, Lethal Perf, Steeda, Partscheap, etc... I am going to go with the OEM part from Ford, for 24.99. OEM, plus guaranteed to fit, and my local dealer has it, like right now. Going to go pick it up. Cheaper than other places. Go figure.

http://accessories.ford.com/locking-fuel-plug.html

My question(s) to the mustang community is:

Do you guys worry about this?

Do you guys have a locking cap? If so, what brand?

For those of you running the OEM locking gas cap, how do you like it? Any issues?

thanks...

tom281

OCD a touch too much lol.

FromZto5

I guess so... but I really was under the impression, or should I say "assumption", over the last 3 years, that the gas door LOCKED when the car LOCKED. My fault for never checking That's why I never bothered with a locking gas cap. Had I known that the door never really locks, I would have taken care of this the day I bought the car.

JoeMidnight

I dont worry about this. I try to look at the glass being half full and not half empty. Yep, lots of people out there that can cause destruction to your car starting by messing around with adding stuff to your tank. The way I see it, they can destroy my car is so many other ways that do not involve the gas tank.

Also. ... the flap that allows the gas nozzle to go into tank for refueling, has a locking mechanism that doesn't allow foreign objects to be entered.... I have tested the theory to see if in fact it does lock.... try it for yourself, it works.

JoeMidnight

see attached.

laserred38

And I get sh*t for a dead pedal thread...

My dad made me install one on my 00, and the previous owner installed one on my 03. They're a PITA. Not worth it. You live in Iowa. Who is going to mess with your car? It's not like you live in Ferguson, MS?!

I live a stone's throw from Oakland. I'm not worried about it. If someone wants to mess with my car, the only place they'd be able to is at home, and I park right outside my bedroom. If they mess with my car, that'll be a mistake they will sorely regret.

solscooter

i have the factory one. good for a little more piece of mind. only issue i have that it is another key that has be with the car at all times and that there is no place to set it down properly. still think its worth it.

TripleBlack14

Mine's rarely left unattended. It's almost always alongside a gas pump!!!!

JoeMidnight

Keep those dirty diapers handy

silverstate777

I have the OEM locking cap. Bought one for my former 2012 mustang right after its first fill up, that’s when I discovered Fords "new" feature. Then transferred that cap over to my 2014. Still works fine and hasn’t given me any problems.

roadpilot

The chances of this happening where I work, live, or visit is slim to none. Knock on wood, I've owned cars without locking gas caps for 30 years and have never had gas stolen nor had anything poured in my gas tank.

FromZto5

Thanks for the insight Joe. I did not know that the "flap" locks and doesn't allow it to open if not for a gas pump nozzle. So that begs the question, how does it lock itself for a finger but yet open for a nozzle? Hmmmm. Magnetic? I can't imagine it being magnetically triggered because if you run out of gas, and have to pour gas in via a gas can, those nozzles are cheap plastic.

Interesting nonetheless.

Regardless, to your other point (if others wanted to mess with my car, they'd do it anyways/other ways), I understand that. But Murphy's Law always finds the unprepared. Anything I can do (for cheap) that will deter/hinder/slow down hooligans from messing with my car, I will do. I don't want to be the guy that starts his car, drives a bit, then ruins the engine and blower and everything else because some teenager thought it would be funny to pour Mountain Dew in my tank, and I decided to "save" on $24.99.

LOL. I'll STILL give you sh*t about your dead pedal thread. How does it feel to have someone else start a thread similar? hehe... you know I love you Patrick.

As for Iowa...yes, it's no Ferguson, but see my above comment about Murphy's Law. You know me enough that if a dead bug on my front bumper bothers me, an open gas tank sure as hell will.

So it works well, eh? As for the keys, no biggie. I just keep them in the arm rest storage or glove box, in the car at all times. Because I can lock the car, they won't be able to open the gas cap now, unless they break in the car. At that point, the locking gas cap or any other OEM locking door/etc, is moot.

Thanks for the info, John. Glad to see it's working well.

FromZto5

I just picked it up. Smaller than I thought!!! 25 for this. What is this world coming to

JoeMidnight

Its true, better safe than sorry!

I don't know exactly how it works. I just know that it unlocks for the gas nozzle and haven't been able to release it with other objects. (pen, finger)

FromZto5

The more important question is, why were you sticking your pen or finger or whatever and your gas tank?????

Maybe you do need to locking gas cap to protect your car from yourself and your sudden "urges"

Kidding joe

TheReaper

I've been running that same plug for 4 years with no issues.

Critical Mass

I had my Focus for 5 years. Nobody siphoned my tank, and nobody poured anything in it. It had a cap, but it wasn't locking. My wife's Nissan has a pull lever inside the car. It annoys the crap out of me because I always forget to pull it before I get out to fill up.

I bought the locking gas cap, but only because I was considering changing the fuel door out and the aftermarket fuel doors do not stop water from getting in, but I have since ditched the fuel-door idea.

Toad 185

Had one on my 05' Jeep. Maybe I just got the defective one like my right axle on my 14' Mustang....anyhow..after about 6 months the cap started acting up and not wanting to unlock. It had cheap plastic guts. So after the third time of spending 10 minutes at the pump trying to get the dang cap off I decided to go with a regular cap. Never again want to be stranded at a fuel pump.

FromZto5

...............

JoeMidnight

What will be more interesting is to see how long it takes you before this cap gets tossed due to inconvenience

and no worries, I can take a joke.

I'm a little weary about the whole thing not having a lock on the gas door, Like I've been so accustom to having (since the 90's) but.... I'm putting some faith in this technology and hope that noone fiddles with my tank.