Here on the East Coast, we got a nice freeze this past weekend and now my gas cap is stuck with very little gas left in the tank. Can someone give me some advice on how to unthaw this thing?

Regards.

 

Just get a bucket of warm, not hot, water and pour it on. Repeat if necessary.

 

I'll give it a whirl...I'm leaving for work this morning hoping I don't have some sort of fuel line freeze from so little gas and lots o cold. Thanks for the help.

 

If you have electrical outlet in garage or outside get extension cord and hair dryer,applie heat to area of cap,that way it wont refreeze when it gets cold again.

 

But if you use the blow dryer, be careful to not put the heat on too high for too long - especially if you have an MCS, as the material surrounding the cap is painted plastic and could possibly melt or warp.

 

...oh, and there are red hot filaments inside the blow dryer.... be cautious of gas fumes as they come out.

 

Once you get it open, fill up and keep driving directly South. When you get to South Beach(Miami)--frozen gas caps will be the last thing on your mind.

 

I've used quartz element space heaters to warm up sub freezing motorcycle engines. A strong utility light will work too.

But having just picked up my '06 MCS in the middle of a PA Jan., I wanna know how to get the road salt off the car without dousing it with a car wash. That is precisely what I want to avoid....frozen doors, windows, gas caps, wipers....etc. I didn't care about the salt on my old car. It usually waited till spring. But a new car coated with salt? It makes me want to jump out of my skin. A caravan to South Beach might be in order.

 

I just broke out laughing at work - thanks !!!

Bill

 

I didnt mean to imply opening the frozen outer door(which is already frozen shut),take off the gas cap and point the heat gun at the gas fumes .All joking aside,warm air from hair dryer does the job without using water which will refreeze.If you wash by hand I blow dry car after with leaf blower it does one hell of a job of removing water in a hurry,with out any fancy handwork.That could be another thread though.

 

You just broke out laughing!!!!!!!!!!!! I just broke some blood vessels I laughted so hard

 

If you can open the rear hatch, try this:

Remove the driver side storage compartment lid (the one in the boot). Take a flashlight and look into the compartment. You should see a white plastic handle with a gasoline pump symbol on it, it's the emergency release for the fuel filler cap. Maybe it is too frozen for this to work but it is probably worth a try. Pull back on the handle with your right hand and open the filler cap with your left. Isn't MINI brilliant? Too bad the forgot to put the rear hatch emergency release cable on most of the "02 cars!

Good Luck

 

I saw a de-icer that comes in a spray bottle at Target this evening... not sure what it is, anyone ever see anything like this?