Gas cap v. hard to remove, 77 Standard

[Dr. Denzel]

My wife has a Standard 77 beetle sedan. When I go to remove the metal gas cap, it is very difficult get it to start turning. Once it turns a little ways, it gets much easier, I am now using a channel lock pliers to grip the raised 'bar' on top of the cap. It's getting harder to remove as time goes on. I'm concerned that one day I won't be able to remove it.

The cap and filler neck show no evidence of damage. The rubber gasket is in place and looks good. (This car only has 1,800 miles on it, and has alway been a cared-for collector car.)

Any suggestions?

By the way, is the cap on a 77 Standard vented or non-vented? How do I tell?

Thank you.

[Glenn]

Is it the original or aftermarket cap? The threads could be wrong is aftermarket.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

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[Cusser]

How about a little stick lubricant on the gasket (assuming 77 standard has same cap as 1970 standard).
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[ashman40]

I have usually found the metal gas caps fit more snug than the plastic ones, and because some metal caps have rounded flats for twisting off it makes it harder to apply pressure. But sometimes the larger top of the plastic ones will not allow the door to close fully.
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AshMan40
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'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!}

[Tim Donahoe]

If this is a screw-on cap (like, the cap has a huge, fat male threaded end that screws into the filler pipe), then the cap’s threads can get corroded, and make it difficult to unscrew. This corrosion acts almost like Loctite, it seems. Take a rag and spray some—not a lot—of the W-D 40 on it, and wipe the interior of the filler pipe, too.

Then clean the fat threads of the cap’s male end with some W-D 40. If this doesn’t help, get a new cap from one of the better vendors, like Wolfsburg West, or Bughaus.

Tim
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Richard O'Brien

[Dr. Denzel]

Thank you to all who responded. The cap is a screw-on cap, with a fat male threaded end as described in Tim's response. I believe it to be the original one, and it does have the VW logo and part number on the bottom.

Tim wrote that the threads can get corroded, making it extremely difficult to unscrew. Tim further wrote "This corrosion acts almost like Loctite, it seems", and that sounds like my situation. The threads on my cap do appear to have some sort of a deposit on them (probably a form of corrosion).

I found that J-Bugs has the correct cap, and ordered one from them. I have used WD-40 on the filler pipe threads as Tim suggested.

Rather than cleaning and putting the old one back on, I will wait for the new one (with its clean threads) to arrive, and put it on. Will then send a follow up message on the results.

Jim Perrin

[Dr. Denzel]

The threads of the old cap did appear to have something on them. You could feel a deposit of some sort. It seemed to come clean when I used lacquer thinner and a rag to clean them.

However, I chose to use the new cap I obtained. It works just fine with it's clean new threads. I chose not to take a chance in putting the old cap back on, and to possibly once again having trouble removing it.

Thanks to Tim Donahoe and other commenters for their help on this issue.

[stevebaz]

I would guess the seal in the cap is missing or compressed with age and running the threase out too far where they may be distorted?

[Q-Dog]

I have a wire wheel chucked up in my drill press to clean up stuff like this.
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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[jarmchairpilot]

I think Tim was correct, be advised that the quality of new parts is almost never as good as the original VW no matter how much it costs or where you buy it, don't believe the hype/marketing!
That said original VW parts over 40 years old can be expected to fail from time to time even on a well maintained Bug.
Just don't throw away the old part, put it in the spares bag in the car somewhere for when the new one breaks, you will thank me then haha!