Gas Cap Problem
 

We have an 09 Mazda 5 which we love - bought it in June and it has about 3400 miles on it. We tried getting gas last week and the gas cap would not come off. We finally broke off the black part after trying to unscrew it. We took it to the dealer who said they had problems with this on the 3 and 5 models. He fixed it without charge. Last night, again, we had been on a day trip and were about 5 miles from home when we tried getting gas again, only to find the gas cap was stuck again. We limped home on the fumes we had left and finally got the gas cap to come unscrewed. Fortunately, Mazda road side assistance came and gave us a gallon of gas to make it back to the gas station. The cap was on correctly both times, but there must be an issue with these - does anyone know of a recall? I have read other posters who have had the same issue. Could it be a vacuum problem because of low fuel in the tank? Both times our tank was very low. We are going to fill up when we hit a half tank and hopefully solve the problem that way. But it is a pain when filling up your gas tanks also costs a trip to the dealer.

This happened to me once, and I took the car (as you did) on fumes, to the mazda dealer. They managed to get the broken one off, with much difficulty, and gave us a new one (also free). This was just over a year ago, and no problems ever since.

When we put hte cap on, we also don't tighten it till it clicks - I stop now before the click, and that seems to have solved our issue... I think. It is a crazy weird problem though.

btw, ours is a 2008 model 5, GT.

yes there is a problem with the gas cap, i've been thru 2 of them already. the dealer said they are very cheap quality so every time i have an issue to go by the dealer and get a new one.

I read a review on Consumer Reports that mentioned this same issue. Owner had been back to the dealer four times.

Does this Gas Cap problem exist on the 2010 Mazda5
 

Does anyone know if this gas cap issue has been solved for the 2010 version of the Mazda5???

If it where me I would go to the local salvage yard or look on the internet and find a gas cap from a different year, or model. I have an 06 3 and never had a problem with my cap

I was thinking that since he is having trouble with his 09 model he might have better luck with a gas cap from an 08 model. Last resort see if the Mazda 3 cap might fit, you never know dealers sometimes use the same parts on different model years.

There was a thread a few months back about this issue and apparently Mazda released a new gas cap following the 2008 model year; said new cap IS on my early production 2009 Mazda3 and can be idenified by looking at the locking lugs on the cap neck. Apparently the old locking lugs were an open three sided "C" style lug, and if you happened to fit the cap so that the open end of the "C" grabbed the lug in the filler neck, it would jam. The new cap has a closed lug, a "D" style if you will, that looks more like a parallelogram.

The above said, even though I know that I have a new style cap, I make very sure that when I put the cap in the filler neck, I push it in so that the top of the filler neck and the base of the "hat" of the cap are making complete contact before I turn the cap to lock in in place. So far at least, I've gone just over a year and 22,000 miles with no stuck cap. Is it the new style cap or is it the way I put it back on that has been successful? I don't know, but I'm sure as heck not going to be experimenting to see if I can get it stuck. :)

A picture of either would be awesome!

I'll see what I can do about that tonight. ;)