Interior Exterior
Q:
The Elise doesn't come with a locking gas cap. I think with the raising gas prices around the country you guys might be wise to invest in one.
Just a quick heads up form an ex owner
A:
I haven't seen one available. And I'd be concerned about CEL issues. Lotus should provide one as an option or aftermarket part. I'd pay $20-$40 for one, no doubt.
A:
Just walk away
A:
Hmmm ...
http://www.batinc.net/aero.htm
I'll leave the speculation to you guys.
A:
Hmmm ...
http://www.batinc.net/aero.htm
I'll leave the speculation to you guys.
That will be nice, but I'm broke so it will have to wait.
A:
We discussed the locking gas cap issue right after the cars started arriving. Lotus engineering guy I talked to maintained a locking gas cap would trigger and engine management or emissions fault (can't remember which). I think now with gas being so high, theft just might be a concern, tho I was originally concerned more with vandalism at the time.
Chris
A:
Yes, but a locking fuel door wouldn't cause that problem. I wanted to see if someone came out with a kit that we could put a lock on our existing doors as depicted in the pictures on the middle of this post
Some example of existing ones close to ours are in this post:
Also on my reply from Kim Ogaard-Nielsen he mentions they have some ideas on what to do about that, maybe internal latch or something?
But no matter what I'll have to wait to do anything about it.
A:
Anyone siphoning gas out of an Elise is not going to get much payoff for his efforts! And little latches on lids are just going to make a real thief use a pry bar. I think if I were a thief I'd just grab a can, a tube and a big screwdriver and head for the biggest SUV or pickup truck that's nearby.
A:
Anyone siphoning gas out of an Elise is not going to get much payoff for his efforts! And little latches on lids are just going to make a real thief use a pry bar. I think if I were a thief I'd just grab a can, a tube and a big screwdriver and head for the biggest SUV or pickup truck that's nearby.
There was a report on the news here last week on gas theft. Folks are actually now puncturing holes in tanks to get gas while cars are parked in lots. Folks come out from work and find their tanks empty (and leaky...)
A:
There was a report on the news here last week on gas theft. Folks are actually now puncturing holes in tanks to get gas while cars are parked in lots. Folks come out from work and find their tanks empty (and leaky...)
Good luck finding the gas tank in the Elise!
A:
This is still a problem? I think it's marketing hype created to sell more locking gas caps? At my old job we had fitted up a ford escape with some prototype equipment and needed to run a very specific fuel that we had blended for us in it, so we had to get as much of the existing gas out of the tank. We had a special unit for syphoning that was air compressor driven and stored the fuel in a metal tank which could easily be pumped out later. Now the Escape is no high end vehicle and even it had some sort of baffles or a check valve or something that was preventing us from even being able to get the hose past it. We had to undo the hose close to the tank and then still needed to reduce the line to a miniscule 1/4" hose. With all our fancy equipment it probably took a solid 45 minutes of siphoning time to get what little gas was in the tank out.
A:
I lost my gas cap a while back (don't ask...) and the parts guy at the dealership said the Lotus parts book listed both a locking and standard gas cap. I think the locking one was ~$70 and the regular was ~$45.
I ended up going to the local auto parts place and picking up a generic one for $10! It's been working great ever since - no leaks during track days, no fault codes.
I'm a cheap SOB - I'll wait until the price of a tank of gas is greater than what Lotus charges for a locking cap before I even consider going that route...
A:
I lost my gas cap a while back (don't ask...) and the parts guy at the dealership said the Lotus parts book listed both a locking and standard gas cap. I think the locking one was ~$70 and the regular was ~$45.
I suspect that the Lotus locking gas cap is not for the US spec Elise - the US Elise has to have the door over the gas cap, everyone else can have an exposed cap so there is not clearance problems with the lid...
A:
Apparently not too cheap an SOB! You treated yourself to an Elise!
A:
Guys,
If I'm not mistaken, it looks to me like a locking gas cap *should* exist. Maybe it's only available in the UK? Take a look at this picture of an S2 Exige:
http://www.pbase.com/maartenl945/image/47633973
Notice the cap behind the driver?
A:
That's for the rover engine, they don't have one for the 111R with our gas tank/engine.
Edit: But that exige looks like it could be a toyota powered one, now i'm confused.
full picture of the car
http://www.pbase.com/maartenl945/image/47633977
A:
Notice the cap behind the driver?
That is most likely the entire cap, not a lock on the lid (i.e. it's not a covering the cap). Federal regulations require US cars to have covers over the gas caps - we get the door. There should be some type of locking gas cap that could fit in there, but it would have to fit under the door.
A:
Ah, good point, I forgot about the door. I didn't know it was a federal requirement, guess the *man* knows what's best for us, and having an exposed gas cap must be bad .... I suppose that means that motorcycles are bad since they have exposed caps on their tanks.
It's too bad we couldn't figure out how to retrofit ours like this, that way we could get rid of the little rubber bump that tends to fall off too. Probably too difficult with bodywork and emissions concerns.
A:
I didn't know it was a federal requirement, guess the *man* knows what's best for us, and having an exposed gas cap must be bad ....
In this case, the *man* does know. The regulation was based on serious car fires caused by designs where the tank filler neck was attached to the car's body. In an accident, the body panel gets crumpled and breaks the filler neck off. The door isn't really important, it's just cosmetic. What is important is the the filler neck is not connected to the body. The body panel can be ripped completely off without damaging the filler neck at all.
A:
ChrisB, thanks, that makes sense. I just figured it was another odd DOT rule. So do the European cars not have a similar risk in an accident?