disabling the "air release button" for the gas tank/ filler??

Does anyone know how to disable the button permanently? So we don't have to keep pushing it in every time we fill up? It seems like all that pushing, everytime we fill up, will someday lead to button failure, ya know?!
Can anyone help??

My $0.02 worth Button is depressed by filler cap when it is screwed in. Since we fill up half as often as gassers if we depress every time it will be used same amount as a gassers vent. Having the option means that if it is 110F and you pass a source for Premier at $1.199 gal you can stop and fill with a truck nosle w/o fear of overflowing...

I wouldn't mess with it. But I'm sure the Bentley manual describes how to remove it.

-mickey

I agree with mickey. I won't mess with it. I don't use it unless I know I am going to drive at least 40 miles in the next hour when I fill up. Search for posting of "vent trick" It explains more.

whoooah,
Y'll see my member #, I haven't been around in awhile and haven't seem it, 1313 .. ... kinda spooky!!!
I'm not unlucky so don't let that fool ya, then again I'm not lucky either, so take it for what its worth!!
I use the "vent trick" every time I fill up! It's good for an xtra 2 gals of deez, which in turn is about 85-100 miles per tank!!! Who wouldn't want to use it regularly?
I live in VA so it's not too not 'round these parts, so I don't fear my tanks going to XPLODE or anything.

NO one knows?
J

Just position the fill nozzel so that the spring thats wraped around the outside of it holds the vent down(open) when filling.

I think the question was on how to keep it permanently pressed, which is the state the putton is in 99.999% of the time anyway. I don't think the question was on how to defeat it, but on how to not have to depress it each time we fill up.

The only time the button isn't depressed is when we have removed the cap for filling. I have considered this same question, and I have a idea for a solution. If you took an old screw on gas cap and removed the threaded piece and created a hole in the end, then if you screwed it in when filling up, it would depress the vent button. This would have to be done each fill up however and removed before replacing the cap.

I've heard people say that if you use the vent trick-you can't "let it sit" immediately-and that you have to drive 40 miles. I often fill up via vent trick-and then drive 2 miles-where the car sits all day at work and have never had a problem. Granted-we are just now getting to really hot weather (90 degrees the last few days). Has anyone had problems with filling up via vent trick-and then only driving a few miles before allowing the car to sit??? Volatility of diesel is lower than gas-so it doesn't seem that it would be a problem but???????????

I agree. I filled-up and vented before work on one of the hottest days in Seattle last year and let it sit in the sun all day. No problem. If it's really hot (90s or above) you may want to exercise caution. Otherwise, IMHO, this concern is overblown.

J,

My vent button is disabled. After a few times of using the vent trick, my button stuck in the vent position. Only the tip of the button was visible on close inspection. I think that it occured because I was pressing straight down on the button with the fuel filler nozzle while the buttin seems to go in at a 45 degree angle. I tryed to get the button to come back by prying with my ball point pen. To my suprise, the damn button disappeared into the hole, never to be seen again. I feared the worst, but have had no problems. I now get 14.5 to 15 gallons in the NB with just about a gallon of foam at the top of the tank instead of the 12 to 12.5 when the vent button was in operation. I find it much more pleasing to get 600 to 640 per tank vs. 480 to 520 in the old days. So my suggestion is to press the button beyond the hole and it will come loose and disappear in the fender somewhere.

-Tim

P.S. - A big bonus is that I can now go 100 miles before the gas hand leaves the full mark.

Is there a safety issue involved here?
I don't understand it, but I think there's a gravity vent valve that closes off fuel tank venting in the event the car is tipped over. Would a stuck button bypass this safety feature?

It is actually pretty difficult to ignite diesel that is not atomized/sprayed. If it is pooled somewhere it actully needs an open flame or a very hot surface(ie catalytic converter) to ignite

Does a gas model have the tank vent?

Since our cars are designed as gasoline burners, and Diesel engines are squeezed in, couldn't the vent be specifically designed for the possible expansion of gasoline?

If it is present on the gas models, do the gas model owners even know about the vent?

Maybe it would be best that they did not know.

Its not a safety vent. Its there to provide expansion space for gasoline. Diesel doesnt expand like gas, so if you fill up and let it sit, Youll have no problems. My volvo has no expansion space, and Ill top it off for 10 minutes, drive home and park it in the heat with no problem. Someone thinking of gasoline said it might overflow. nope. If it was there for safety, and the filler cap keeps it open when the cap is installed, hows it for safety? TDIers can safely remove their vent buttons without fear of overflowing, heat expansion, or explosion.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ltmox:
Does a gas model have the tank vent?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Gassers do not have the vent button.

I think the curent venting button has been on all VWs since the mid 80s.

Yep, it's a hassle to fill with the button, it'd be nice to just "put the diesel in go." I've filled my car up on many a hot day (how's 105 for hot?) and driven around the corner to the house and parked the car and never had a problem. The fuel cap has a printed warning about fuel spray when removing cap. I've never had that happen either. I hope it doesn't happen--because that'd be a mess, wouldn't it.

Modern gasoline cars haven't been allowed to openly vent gasoline vapors for years now. Gasoline vapors cause air pollution. The gasoline fuel systems are closed systems, hense the admonition not to fill a car past when the nozzle clicks off. There isn't any place for the gas to expand.

Obviously the diesel fuel systems on our cars are open to the air. I always filled my diesels to the brim in the past and can't remember them ever overflowing in the heat. Actually I never remember gasoline over flowing in the heat, but I do know that they will evaporate like crazy!

I suspect that the diesel doesn't evaporate much. In fact I have a small tin of fuel oil I collected when I had to bleed my furnace one day and it hasn't evaporated noticably over the last 6 months.

[ June 18, 2001: Message edited by: Turbotwo ]

What is the correct way to effectively break it?????????

If you people are talking about the fuel filler restriction so only the automobile diesel nozzle fits? I ripped mine out with needle nose plyers and I lost no parts or pieces in the tank and yes I can fit more fuel in the tank. I am a retired truck driver and only driver and always think diesel.

william---check the date of this thread

And you can search for less potentially destructive methods under the term 'ventectomy'.

i thought this was gonna be a person responding to an old post thinking they "discovered" something new! wow, was i wrong.

Search Ventactomy . Gives you about 2 more gallon capacity.

This thread number is so low!

PS, the fuel filler release button is still working after 15 years and 300,000 miles.