Kevin B

Attention all cossie owners with the threaded screw/ratchet type oil filler cap…

Had a problem on the A14 on the way to the Central meet on Sunday when I noticed smoke coming from the underside of the car. Pulled over and pulled bonnet to reveal an engine covered in oil, and no oil filler cap. I first thought I had left of off (as this has happened once in the past) but I could specifically remember checking everything was OK before setting off. Not to mention if I had left it off from home, I would never have got as far as we did before noticing smoke, and the rest of the norfolk group that were following would have flashed etc

I had to be taken home on a low loader as I had no oil filler cap and oil all over the cambelt. After spending the rest of Sunday cleaning up the oil from the engine bay and complete underside of the car, along with removing cambelt, and last night re-assembling it all with new cambelt/poly V belt etc we found the oil cap wedged between the bulk head and exhaust down pipe.

After a closer inspection it seems that the ratchet mechanism has become weak and is no longer allowing you to tighten the oil cap enough!! I think basically as we were cruising along at a fair pace the cap had rattled/vibrated undone. Thankfully I only lost 1 litre of oil so was still on the min on the dip stick (no damage done to engine we hope) but 1 litre goes a long way when spraying out for a while at the speeds we were cruising at!

It’s a stupid little thing that you probably never think to check, because when you have done it up, you think its OK, but it ruined our day and stopped us getting to the Central meet which we were looking forward to 

Just thought it was worth mentioning so you can check yours – if its knackered like mine is I would order a new cap pretty quick (only a tenner from Frauds) or at least dismantle and glue up your existing one so you can tighten it properly.

Hope this saves someone the hastle we had…

DaveEscos

Mine did similar...

rattled loose.. noticed at central day when i popped the bonnet to be greeted by some oil.

not too much though,


but i still had to go and get a pony billet oil screw cap from one of the traders


pretty dissapointed with steve scotts attitude when I asked if they had a std one?

thought he was a right c*nt to be honest.. I know its not a 4k engine buld but still have some fucking manners

rapidcossie

mies is quite lose sometimes too...

i always kinda grab hold of the side of the cap and tighten it aswell

rapidcossie

its just cos it was you dave

Gavin E-Cos

Kev, we could see smoke and thought it was your engine, until we came past and could see the smoke coming from under the car.

Martin tried to call you incase you hadnt seen it.

I hope my cap will be ok as its new, after not putting it back on the car once! Now I always double check it!

See you at the meet tonight.

Gav

Franco

iTrader: (2)

Glad i replaced mine now then.

Kevin B

We have cleaned all the oil away best we can (not easy to get to every bit without dismantling things) but its still stinking badly, especially when things warm up... I think its because it has saturated the sound deadening stuff and although I have 'blotted' it with rag the best I can there is still a lot in there (only just got rid of the stench from the last time )

Franco

iTrader: (2)

Why what did he say?

Kevin B

Im at work at the mo and the swear filter is only letting me view as far as dave's first post, but I shall read the other replies when i get home...

By the way, for anyone that wants a new cap, the description is 'Cap Oil Filler' and the finnis code is '7003320' which costs about Ł10 of your fine english pounds (at least thats what it is to me)

Anyone wanting to replace the older 2wd cossie cap type, thats Ł15 but I dont have the finnis for that... sorry

DaveEscos

quote and a half!

Franco

iTrader: (2)

Your dead !

DaveEscos

what!?

deleted

not good sorry ot hear it ruined your day

MARCOSWORTH

iTrader: (24)

Mine did the same,i did 1 km at low revs with no cap so only oil on the camcover

Kevin B

Dave - Am now browsing this at home, should have guessed it would be you triggering the swear filter

Just thought I should bring the problem to the attention of you all so it doesnt happen to anyone else

Paul_RS

iTrader: (4)

This is quite interesting! I've found the cap on my RS 2000 to be loose a few times and this would explain it! Thought i was going mad

Turbo Zetec

iTrader: (1)

kevin - you don't drive a black sapphire do you? with anthracite MO's? saw one stopped on my way out to pod on the a14...

Smit

iTrader: (5)

Kev - Your brother told me about the mishap! lucky you noticed it before any damage was done! Noticed Doms Oil cap was very very loose and didn't tighten up very well when i was pissing around with it on Saturday afternoon. I've got a click tight one on mine and i've never had a problem. They not available from fords still?

Speedy G.

iTrader: (1)

Found this after I got home from a drive of about 100km/

Quickly replaced it with a new cap. No problems since.

marco polo

iTrader: (1)

you can't beat the old 2wd cam cover as it has different type oil cap

marco

Kevin B

MD Cos - yep that was me - you must have been amongst the lot that we saw shoot past... flint grey saph, black 3 door, several others, one with some pretty noisy anti-lag? (apologies for the weiird spacinig my spacebar skeeps double spacinig )

Kevin B

RS Nutter - didnt realiise the mk 5-6 RS 2000 had a similar cap?

Smit - I wasnt pleased to say the least, nor was Dad, as Carl no doubt told you. See my post further up for finnis code of new cap - bargain at about Ł11, certainly save a lot of potential grief.

Marco - you are right, my Dad has a 2wd and he has the 'lug' type cap which would not vibrate loose like the 4wd item.

Turbo Zetec

iTrader: (1)

didn't see your hazards on, if i had, i'd gave probably turned around and come to your rescue! my garage was only about 2 miles away and i know i've got a spare cap there



i was in a black 4x4 saff, not in convoy.

sorry bud!

Smit

iTrader: (5)

Kev - Like i've said in my first post......

Least you spotted it before something was damaged. I know you've got an engine bay full of mingin engine oil but at least you haven't got a knacked engine in need of 2K rebuild!

Kieron

That was the Suffolk N.Essex Group. Saw your car but assumed you were waiting for others. Sorry, we would have stopped if we had known.

Kevin B

Not to worry, didnt have hazards on so didnt expect anyone to stop, not that anyone could have done anything anyway. There was oil all over the cambelt so we were not going to risk driving it in case of any problems even if we had found the cap.

I had a 1.5 year old ford cambelt strip its teeth, last feb which cost me a grand in new valves and parts etc, so were not gonna risk anything happening this time - probably over cautious, but better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for all your comments anyway