Gas cap leaking

[Duffyjr]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
I would bypass the dealer and call Toro direct.


I did call Toro on Monday at 8am and told them what was going on in detail. About an hour later she called back and left a voice message saying not to use the mower in it's current condition. About 3 hours after that the dealer called me and said to bring it back down they wanted to look at it some more. So calling Toro customer service did help.

Thursday I stopped down to see if there was any progress and he said it finally started leaking at the shop for them and to give him a week to see if they can fix it. In the mean time they did give me a used Super Recycler with electric start to use until mine is fixed.

Hopefully I'll have my mower back soon.

 

[Duffyjr]

Wanted to come back and update this in case any one does a search.

Long story short after two tank/cap replacements it's still leaking only now it does it right after I start mowing, about 5 minutes in. I have had no luck with Toro support, they won't let me speak to a manager or escalate it. They keep saying I have to take it to a authorized dealer so yesterday I took it to a different dealer and am waiting to hear back. As of last night when I dropped it off he did not have an answer for me after I explained all the other things the other dealer did. He has a yard where his shop is so I started mowing and with in five minutes it was leaking. So now two dealers have witnessed it leaking.

The dealer where I purchased it and has been replacing the caps/tanks keeps telling me "I don't know what to tell you". When I reply with "you could replace it or give me my money back" he says "oh, I can't do that".

Just wanting to know if I'm out of line here but if they can't fix this issue shouldn't they at least give me a replacement. I can't believe just because they don't know what is causing the leak they refuse to make it right.

I fear my next course of action maybe to take them to small claims court.

Any comments on what others have done about warranties being denied on legit claims. Well maybe I should ask, is this a legit claim I have?

 

[Tdbo]

As my grandmother used to say, you can't get blood out of a turnip.
You could go the small claims route, I have on two separate occasions.
Only once did I ever see anything out of it, even though I won both cases.
I would recommend reading your warranty. Is there a process for arbitration?
Do your local TV outlets have a consumer investigation unit? Pitch it to them and see if you can generate any interest.
Does the Nebraska AG's office have a consumer protection office? File a complaint with them.
I would try these three avenues before I would even consider wasting the time going to small claims court.

 

[chemman]

I am not sure where in Nebraska you are, but if you are in the Omaha metro area, give Ted's Mower Sales & Service a try or at least a phone call. Ted's has been in business for over 50 years and is a family operated business. I have heard lot's of good things about Ted's (I grew up in the Omaha area).

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
As my grandmother used to say, you can't get blood out of a turnip.
You could go the small claims route, I have on two separate occasions.
Only once did I ever see anything out of it, even though I won both cases.
I would recommend reading your warranty. Is there a process for arbitration?
Do your local TV outlets have a consumer investigation unit? Pitch it to them and see if you can generate any interest.
Does the Nebraska AG's office have a consumer protection office? File a complaint with them.
I would try these three avenues before I would even consider wasting the time going to small claims court.


I'll add another: file a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

 

[wally6934]

Looks to me like the gas is leaking between the threads of the gas tank and gas cap. From the way the gas tank looks integrated into the engine cowling and is so close to the engine. I think as the engine warms and the gas gets lower the gas actually starts to evaporate so fast it is coming out of the threads and then condensing when hitting normal air temperature.

It is probably leaking faster now because the shop tried some goofy fix and damaged the gas cap.

 

[wally6934]

Here are a few solutions and i will add another based on what i read.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1514212/gas-cap-leaking

It sounds like there is a thin o-ring in the cap that should seal on the gas tank spout. Go to a good hardware store and find a thicker o-ring that will fit in the cap without falling out and give that a try.

Also there was some mention of a vent hose, try to verify it's operation.

 

[dwendt44]

This is the B & S engine I'm guessing. I know of several
Toro mowers with the Honda engine that do NOT do this.
The tank and cap come with the engine as an assembly from Briggs.

My 2¢

 

[Duffyjr]

Originally Posted By: Tdbo
I'll add another: file a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

This is a good idea and should probably be reported to them anyway.

Originally Posted By: wally6934
Looks to me like the gas is leaking between the threads of the gas tank and gas cap.

I actually made a gasket out of cork I had laying around to test it, I know it probably wouldn't be good for longevity but should of been good enough to test and it didn't work. If you look close (and I can see this when it starts leaking) at the image I posted those two rings you see are actually part of the cap. I believe it's leaking out the vent part of the cap, you can see it drip from the bottom of the wider part of the cap just above those rings.

Originally Posted By: wally6934
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1514212/gas-cap-leaking


I did run across this site and a couple other forums about the neck being out of round and uneven at the top. They have tried two replacement tanks now and each time (including original tank) I have taken a straight edge to the tanks neck, laid a flat piece of 1x4 on top and measured it for roundness and it all seems fine.

Originally Posted By: dwendt44
This is the B & S engine I'm guessing.


It's actually the Toro TXP Honda clone which now that it's been out for a few years is getting good reviews. I really like it, it has plenty of power even when the grass is wet it mulches like a champ.

Thanks guys for all your help!

 

[wally6934]

[/quote]
I actually made a gasket out of cork I had laying around to test it, I know it probably wouldn't be good for longevity but should of been good enough to test and it didn't work. If you look close (and I can see this when it starts leaking) at the image I posted those two rings you see are actually part of the cap. I believe it's leaking out the vent part of the cap, you can see it drip from the bottom of the wider part of the cap just above those rings.
[/quote]
With your description i can see the gas leaking out of the gas cap now. I think it is the close proximity of the gas tank to the motor heating up the gas and the pressure build up causes the leak. It may actually be a safety feature to relive pressure. So i would not try to epoxy the vent shut.

A piece of insulation between the gas tank and the engine may solve the problem but it could also decrease airflow around the engine and cause it to overheat. You would have to take it apart and eye ball it.

It would be interesting to monitor the temperature of the gas in the tank from start to were it starts to leak. You could possibly try a non contact IR thermometer. But drilling a hole in the tank and installing a thermometer would be best.

Another fix would be mount an external gas tank.

 

[Mike72]

Vent hole diameter for any push mower fuel tank cap gasket is .024.

 

[Duffyjr]

Just to keep this updated I took the mower to a different dealer. He noticed the blade was out of balance and the rpm's were to low, so he adjusted these two things and it didn't help, took it home it started leaking right away. He then decided to try another cap/tank so I thought what the heck at least I can say I bent over backwards trying to solve this and low and behold I've mowed three times now and it hasn't leaked a drop, hope I'm not jinxing myself here.

Makes me wonder about the first dealer, at least I know not to go back to him.

I'll post back if it starts leaking again.

 

[Duffyjr]

Final update.

After finally getting up the chain a bit with Toro support the second dealer I've been dealing with called and wanted to check the shaft and try a new blade and blade adapter. When I went to pick it up he said the shaft was 20 thousandths off and I immediately thought they are going to blame me for for hitting something but as we turned the corner to his shop I seen my mower sitting there with a new engine on it. I didn't have a chance to fire it up but I will tonight after work.



After doing a little searching this morning I can't really find any tolerances for how far the shaft can be off but it could be I don't know what I'm searching for, is it possible that is what was causing it to leak? 20 thousandths doesn't seem like a lot to me and I certainly couldn't tell just by using it.

I think they finally figured out I wasn't going away and got tired of dealing with me!