Anyone else struggle with Ford Fuel Fillers?

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Hugh Manatee

Veteran
I have had a Focus for four years and it has been really good. All apart that is, from the stupid "easy fill" filler cap. Here is an email I sent to Ford yesterday. I await a reply but I am interested whether anyone else has had problems:

Hello, I have had to give a lot of personal details just to be able to send this simple email. I value my privacy so it is an indication of how strongly I want to get this message across that I have got this far. I am about to select my next company car. It might yet be a new Mondeo. The one thing that would make me choose a Toyota instead is the "Easy Fill Fuel Filler." It might easy fill but three times now in separate garages the nozzle has become stuck. Dog knotted you might say. I tried pouring cold water over it as you might the dogs. I tried gently tugging and turning it. I even managed a full 360 rotation of the stuck nozzle. All to no avail. An almighty heave did the job with my fellow motorists becoming impatient behind me it was the only option left open to me. Those same motorists now ducked for cover as all the small parts and springs that go to make up the ridiculously over engineered answer to a problem that never existed fired out in a way a frag grenade would be envious of. I drove home with my socks jammed in the filler as I didn't want to leave a trail of diesel on the road.
Three times! I am not heavy handed and do not jam the damn thing in there. It is simply a rubbish design. I have never put the wrong fuel in 20 odd years but three times I have driven home sans socks! Please revert back to a proper filler and sack the idiot who came up with the idea. He can go and redesign the screw cap with another 10 parts or so I'm sure. The end result will be you can't get the bloody lid off to have a drink. Hopefully the fool will test the prototype in a desert somewhere.
I hope I have got my point across. I'm off now to look at fuel fillers on a T. avensis.
 
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screenman

Legendary Member
Or a Mazda 6 maybe.
 

screenman

Legendary Member
I have tried many different cars as I think the Passat needs retiring with 170,000 mile on it, it keeps coming back to another Passat or a Mazda 6. Never been keen on the Mondeo to be honest. just do not like the way they drive.
 
OP
OP
Hugh Manatee

Hugh Manatee

Veteran
I have very little choice. The company car policy is poor to say the least! I don't want a small Audi or Lexus. The more boot (estate) space, the better. The Mondeo ticks the right boxes all part from the stupid filler.

I had a Passat once. Never again! Apart from a Rover 45 (!!) it was the most unreliable car I have ever had to drive. The Mazda isn't on the list unfortunately.
 

screenman

Legendary Member
Trouble is when your living is like mine made from motor cars, you end to see them all as problems. The two I have listed seem to give me the least and fit my bill the best, I would go smaller but the amount of equipment I need to carry makes that not possible.
 
My wifes attempts to fill the Skoda amuse me. Cap spins round and round until it's 'locked' with the key, then it will untwist. She has not got her head around it yet and spends ages alternatively turning and cursing it.

Best ones I've come across are remote releases from drivers seat - Alfa and Nissan.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Miss-fuels are a big problem, particularly with hire cars.

Given the commercial value selling hire fleets against your single order, I suspect Ford will be content for you to drive something else.
 

User269

Guest
I had one of those when they first came out, much more fun than a Mondeo. :smile:
I thought the Mazda 6 was a Ford Mondeo. As is a certain model of Jaguar. I mean, put whatever clothes you like on something, but it's the same skeleton and organs underneath. Like, I'm Bradley Wiggins but with different bodywork, innit?
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
I thought the Mazda 6 was a Ford Mondeo. As is a certain model of Jaguar. I mean, put whatever clothes you like on something, but it's the same skeleton and organs underneath. Like, I'm Bradley Wiggins but with different bodywork, innit?

The X-type Jaguar was based on a Ford Mondeo floor pan, but the other mechanical and suspension bits were different, making it an entirely different driving experience.

Or as an American Ford executive said at the time: "We have engineered in a lot of Jagwar-ness into the X-type."
 

screenman

Legendary Member
My wifes attempts to fill the Skoda amuse me. Cap spins round and round until it's 'locked' with the key, then it will untwist. She has not got her head around it yet and spends ages alternatively turning and cursing it.

Best ones I've come across are remote releases from drivers seat - Alfa and Nissan.

And Passat.
 

screenman

Legendary Member
I thought the Mazda 6 was a Ford Mondeo. As is a certain model of Jaguar. I mean, put whatever clothes you like on something, but it's the same skeleton and organs underneath. Like, I'm Bradley Wiggins but with different bodywork, innit?

They drive so differently as you would not know of any connection, I do a lot of work for both a Mazda and a Ford main agent, so get to see and drive them all.
 
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