I suppose this is the right forum for this question.

I was putting gas in my P5 tonight, and after a few gallons had gone in, gas started gushing out of the filling area. At first I thought "no problem, just a pump goof up". Well, after that the pump kept kicking off prematurely. Again, not a biggie, I've seen worse.

Well, as I pulled the handle out, I noticed that there was no metal flap that closes the hole up. Was there ever one there? I don't remember. Every other car I've owned had one. Do our P5's. Will one of you please go look at your car and let me know? I afraid that it may have come disattached and gone into the tank. What would the result of that be? A clogged filter, occassional hesitation... ?

Am I just paranoid, or did a metal flap fall into my tank?

 

wow, that was fast. Thanks!

BTW, will it be in my tank forever or can they get it out?

 

Are you serious? Mine doesn't have one of those, and I don't remember one ever being there. I've never had any of the prolems described either though.

 

Hmmmm. I don't have one either. I noticed that yesterday when I was filling up on the way home. It didn't really look like there was supposed to be one. Maybe Mazda changed it on the '02?

 

hmm.. how does it fall in the tank? isn't it attached somehow? ive never had that problem before!

 

Um, I never really payed attention, but I don't think I have a "flap" either.

 

I was searcing around Miata.net, and a lot of people there say the same thing. Some have it, some don't. This is weird.

http://www.miataforum.com/ubb/ultima...c;f=6;t=009964

http://www.miataforum.com/ubb/ultima...c;f=6;t=009322

 

I just went and checked, i looked all the way in and didn't see the flap. I got a 02 pro sendan in CA, manuf. in 10/01. Can anyone verify with a dealer to be certain.

 

yeah . my01 es dont have one (a had the same feeling as "90&00 Protege" when i found out it was gone , i just said to my self " hope it doesnt get stuck somewhere important " and it hasnt
I THINK

 

My car has one. I think it is gold colored and its right at the top of the hole.

 

My car has one, Just checked, Dude, that is freaky!!
From now on, I will pay attention to this little detail

 

The part isn't really necessary, in fact I don't even know what it really does. Some cars have it and some don't...even among modles as we can see !

Aside from a freek incident, I wouldn't worry about it unless your car is still under warranty

I suppose, if you were white knuckle driving and pulling a crazy 9 g turn while chewing gum, singing EMINEM and the cow jumped over the moon it could put a cut in your fuel pick-up sock allowing all the sandy gremlins to surf right to your fuel filter and reside there for the rest of thier meaningless existence.

Of course I was told by the dealer that the Pros don't have a fuel filter, so that changes things dosen't it...or is the parts guy drinking too much glycol and smoking too much Mazda Factory Oil ?

 

hmm less crack...

 

Mine had one too......fell into tank too!

2002 Protege5 bought in MAY 2001.

TOLD BUY DEALER P5 does not have one (BULLSHIT) and showed me cars on the lot did not have one.

In other words told me I KNOW NOTHING about mine own F***** CAR.

And did nothing about it.

Will it hurt anything?

What can I do?

What material is it made of?

 

I've got a 2002 LX, and I noticed right away the first time I filled up that there didn't seem to be a flap.

I doubt it fell off, most likely it was never there in the first place.

That is pretty odd.