- Sep 2, 2012
- 468
Hey again oh ye wise and experienced members 
So, I'm sure it comes as no surprise to many of you that my gas filler neck has gotten pretty crusty and corroded over the years. Over time I've replaced the gas cap, the purge valve and verified that the vent valve was operating freely and made a good seal when needed. However I was getting intermittent P0402 small evap leak codes. (I've swapped out my guage cluster panel multiple times too for various reasons, and sometimes I'd actually get a DIC message saying gas cap was loose). Anyway, I decided to sand and paint the filler neck to enable the gas cap to make a better seal. I haven't had a CEL since I did it (not 100% conclusive, sometimes it takes a while)
The problem is that the solvent resistant paint isn't really holding up as well as I'd have thought, the paint has softened a bit, and the gas cap sticks to it a bit pulling off small chunks of paint and making the surface rougher again.
While on a recent trip to the local pick yard for a better set of winter steel wheels, I scoped out the various TBs, Envoys and Rainiers for a less corroded gas filler neck. I was kind of surprised to find 2 variants. One, the bare metal version prone to corrosion, and a second that has a plastic sleeve insert at the neck (pics below). The plastic insert versions clearly were superior at preventing the corrosion and subsequent poor cap seal. However none had the gas cap remaining with the vehicle, and the regular cap doesn't fit.
FYI these were on both SWB and LWB vehicles, from MYs '02 - 08, on all versions of this platform. There were enough of them there, all identical, I don't suspect it to be an aftermarket replacement.
Anybody out there familiar with this variaton? Anybody know what cap fits it? Does anybody who currently has one of the plastic insert versions have any issues with anything (filling, check valves, flappers etc etc)?
Pics:
So, I'm sure it comes as no surprise to many of you that my gas filler neck has gotten pretty crusty and corroded over the years. Over time I've replaced the gas cap, the purge valve and verified that the vent valve was operating freely and made a good seal when needed. However I was getting intermittent P0402 small evap leak codes. (I've swapped out my guage cluster panel multiple times too for various reasons, and sometimes I'd actually get a DIC message saying gas cap was loose). Anyway, I decided to sand and paint the filler neck to enable the gas cap to make a better seal. I haven't had a CEL since I did it (not 100% conclusive, sometimes it takes a while)
The problem is that the solvent resistant paint isn't really holding up as well as I'd have thought, the paint has softened a bit, and the gas cap sticks to it a bit pulling off small chunks of paint and making the surface rougher again.
While on a recent trip to the local pick yard for a better set of winter steel wheels, I scoped out the various TBs, Envoys and Rainiers for a less corroded gas filler neck. I was kind of surprised to find 2 variants. One, the bare metal version prone to corrosion, and a second that has a plastic sleeve insert at the neck (pics below). The plastic insert versions clearly were superior at preventing the corrosion and subsequent poor cap seal. However none had the gas cap remaining with the vehicle, and the regular cap doesn't fit.
FYI these were on both SWB and LWB vehicles, from MYs '02 - 08, on all versions of this platform. There were enough of them there, all identical, I don't suspect it to be an aftermarket replacement.
Anybody out there familiar with this variaton? Anybody know what cap fits it? Does anybody who currently has one of the plastic insert versions have any issues with anything (filling, check valves, flappers etc etc)?
Pics:
