Oil filler caps - OMG!

H

hsyben

Member
So I add oil to my E85 at a garage and moronically leave the filler cap on top of the engine, and drive off. 2 miles down the road I realised what I had done when the cap fell out onto the road and broke. Now, I'm in France, and the website I look at to see whether I can drive without a filler cap puts the fear of God into me so I find an auto store thinking that I'll be able to buy a universal cap until I can get a BMW part. Apparently not!

Aren't they all the same?

So I go to a BMW garage who don't have one but can get one in three days - leaving me on a garage forecourt, sitting in a car that I am scared to drive back to the Gite. Luckily, after I failed on french Amazon, I persuaded the boss of the garage to lend me a cap until I can pick up a new one. Nice man!

So aren't these caps all engine specific? If so why not - why make life harder than it has to be?
 
If they were all the same we'd never know who was daft enough to throw theirs down the road. :poke: :D
 
Done this twice now, luckily mine fell down behind the engine and was resting on the chassis each time. But the last time it caused a misfire.
 
I did this years ago on my first car. Chucked a load of (long) pieces of gaffer tape over to seal it and drove 700 miles without issue.
 
I had thought of taping it but didn't think that tape would stick when the engine gets hot. Good to know that it does.

I'm picking up a new cap on Monday and have ordered a cheap one off eBay, to keep in the boot, incase I have another 'senior moment.'
 
I once left the oil filler cap off my first car, and Opel station wagon (estate), so I feel the pain.

I'm commenting because BMW must think we in the US are more likely to forget the oil cap: Oil caps on all three US-spec, post-2000 BMW's I've owned have been a fixed-with-a-hinge design. It twists to unseal, and then allows the cap to pivot open. While the cap can be removed entirely, that requires a more complicated maneuver, unless the cap is broken. Of course, one can still forget to close the cap - but at least it's still there when one remembers to close it ! :wink:
 
Z4Mariner said:
I once left the oil filler cap off my first car, and Opel station wagon (estate), so I feel the pain.

I'm commenting because BMW must think we in the US are more likely to forget the oil cap: Oil caps on all three US-spec, post-2000 BMW's I've owned have been a fixed-with-a-hinge design. It twists to unseal, and then allows the cap to pivot open. While the cap can be removed entirely, that requires a more complicated maneuver, unless the cap is broken. Of course, one can still forget to close the cap - but at least it's still there when one remembers to close it ! :wink:
Click to expand...
Could be wrong, but I think that is true of N52 but not M54 engines.
 
enuff_zed said:
Z4Mariner said:
I once left the oil filler cap off my first car, and Opel station wagon (estate), so I feel the pain.

I'm commenting because BMW must think we in the US are more likely to forget the oil cap: Oil caps on all three US-spec, post-2000 BMW's I've owned have been a fixed-with-a-hinge design. It twists to unseal, and then allows the cap to pivot open. While the cap can be removed entirely, that requires a more complicated maneuver, unless the cap is broken. Of course, one can still forget to close the cap - but at least it's still there when one remembers to close it ! :wink:
Click to expand...
Could be wrong, but I think that is true of N52 but not M54 engines.
Click to expand...
Typical :poke:
 
I did the same thing with a Fiat 125 back in the 70s. Luckily I hadn't gone far before I realised, so I "borrowed" the cap from my Mum's Fiat 128 and drove to a scrappy for a replacement as thankfully most Fiats of that era seemed to use the same cap.

But the installation on the N52s is a great idea. I think my M has the same, but can't be sure as in over 4 years it has never needed to be topped up! Unlike my M54 and N52s. :(
 
Mr Tidy said:
I did the same thing with a Fiat 125 back in the 70s. Luckily I hadn't gone far before I realised, so I "borrowed" the cap from my Mum's Fiat 128 and drove to a scrappy for a replacement as thankfully most Fiats of that era seemed to use the same cap.

But the installation on the N52s is a great idea. I think my M has the same, but can't be sure as in over 4 years it has never needed to be topped up! Unlike my M54 and N52s. :(
Click to expand...

The S54 has a cap that comes off. Not attached like the N52
 
j3nks79 said:
The S54 has a cap that comes off. Not attached like the N52
Click to expand...

Thanks. :thumbsup:

If I ever need to top it up I hope I remember!
 
So, part of my original post was why not have an industry standard fitting? You can buy universal petrol caps?

Does it affect performance in any way?
 
hsyben said:
Does it affect performance in any way?
Click to expand...
It will if you leave the cap off for long enough.

When I was a kid I had a Lotus Excel (yes I know). One day I topped the oil up before driving to Wales from the South East. I forgot to put the oil filler cap back on. I realised after about 2 hours when there was smoke pouring out the back of the car.
The Lotus had a flat bottom and a Vauxhall 2.2 engine cranked at about 30 degrees to get it to fit. So more oil than in a normal car was spitting out of the cap hole and was being washed along the bottom of the car by wind. Then was spitting all over the exhausts and burning.
It made a complete mess of the underside of the car, which I never managed to clean off completely. Luckily it still ran OK and the cap was still in the engine bay.

I have never done it again since!
 
Be glad you didn't leave the cap open on a M47 engine, you'd had oil like - everywhere... I just tried to open the cap on M47 once while the engine was running. I knew that I could open it on the M54 engine, but on the M47 I regretted it instantly :dizzy:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom