DIY Fuel Cap Tether

[davidorama]

OK, so the BIGGEST job I've done on ANY car in fitting a new fuel cap rubber tether to by 2005 Golf (not really, but here's my Saturday morning).

The tether affixes to the fuel cap in a slot anchored by two plastic pins. I lost them a few times so be careful (although I was able to save the old pins after removing them). Removing the remnants of the old tether was easy with a sharp paring knife.

The after market tether was a snug fit into the fuel cap, secured by crimping the two supplied plastic pins using pliers. So far so good. I realised my VW Golf had a little knob (and not a hole) securing the original tether, after I removed the bloody cap assembly from the car which ended up being unnecessary (OK, it was only one T20 screw, but still).

I had to drill a hole (in three stages from 4mm to 6mm so as not to make the hole too big) to fit the new tether and took the opportunity to clean the fuel cap assembly of 16 years of fuel and crud while it was out of the car.

Removing the fuel cap assembly is a bit of a pain and it was difficult to re-seat it evenly so that the fuel cap unlocking mechanism works smoothly - my advice is to not remove the fuel cap assembly unless you really need to.

My VW Golf project is complete (I won't bother with downgrading the Magny Cours wheels too Wellington wheels as the 16" types still have a year or two left in them). Now I need a blue Golf 5 manual before handing over the silver Comfortline to my L-plater daughter.

Cheers!