Cleaning the Gas Cap
The key on my gas cap used to return to the locked position when I pushed it closed. Sometime during the first year of ownership it stopped doing this. I decided to take it apart and see if there was a cure for this.
I managed to strip one of the screw heads holding the lock mechanism while trying to remove them. I was able to find hex head replacements at Home Depot. See last photo.
Here are the parts you’ll find after removing the lock mechanism. The round collar goes in first around the lock barrel, followed by the rubber o-ring then the washer. The ball bearing is a check valve and goes into the square hole. Most of the friction in the lock barrel was due to the o-ring. I applied oil around the lock barrel and on the o-ring. After re-assembling the cap the key rotates and returns to the locked position when closed.
The ‘T’ shaped piece slide into the slot in the lock body. There is a spring in the slot which was not removed for this picture.
The sealing collar sits on top of the 4 springs shown here.
These are the hex head screws I found at Home Depot to replace the phillips screws which are easy to strip.