Ok, this is kind of a strange question, but here goes:

The last time I filled up, I noticed when I unscrewed the fuel tank cap, that the little "door" or "hatch" inside was missing! Now, obviously I popped the door from inside, unscrewed the cap, and usually I would see a little black door or hatch blocking where you insert the nozzle, which easily moves aside/in to allow the nozzle to slide all the way in.

Where'd it go? Nozzle or no nozzle, it doesn't seem to be there anymore. Is this a problem? Should I have the service guys take a look?

Also, what on earth is this for anyway, is it to keep things from accidentally falling into the tank? I don't think I had one on my Corolla, but I did notice that my mom's Volvo has one.

Thanks guys, I'm counting on your expertise!

 

I believe it's to keep vapors from coming back up out of the fill tube when you don't have the nozzle inserted. My guess would be that either it's stuck up and out of the way where you can't see it, or it may have broken off completely some how and gone down the tube (something I've never heard of happening before).

If it's gone down into the fuel tank, it might cause a problem with the pump, etc. And if they tell you it will, it's probably going to be a huge pain in the a.... wallet to get out.

 

That flap should be covered under warranty, no?

 

i thought that "flap" was electronically controlled? From what i got out of the owners manual, when you open your gas door, it also opens up the vapor lock. Thats why it tells you that you have to finish fueling in 30 min from opening it or it will reshut the vapor lock. Also, thats why they have that secondary gas opening in the trunk if for some reason you can't open the primary gas tank opening.

 

The flap/"hatch" was to prevent someone fueling with leaded fuel. Now that there is virtually no leaded fuel available in the US there is no need for the fueling nozzle size restriction nor the gravity flow spring loaded "flip" door/vane.

 

The TCH doesn't have a little "flap".
It was used to keep the vapors in the tank, though it never worked well. The TCH has a vapor recovery system (the reason you sometimes have to wait to fuel up) There should be no vapors coming out when the cap is off, so there is no need for the flap.

 

 

Ah....the benefit of living in the Garden State.
Here, self service is illegal.
I've had my TCH since November and haven't ever pumped my own gas....not looking forward to it, either!
With the wonderful tank range for the car, I don't know if I ever will. I can easily round trip it to Mass. and MD (the two states I'm likely to drive to).
I don't know what the filler tube looks like.

 

Thanks for your input guys. I'll ask the service people what they think, and I'll let you know what the verdict is. So far, I haven't seen any ill effects FE or otherwise (again, this is my second tank since I noticed this thing was missing).

I sure hope this isn't a pain in the...wallet!

 

Just filled up this morning, and lo and behold, no flap! I was so used to seeing it on my old cars, I never really noticed there isn't one on this car.