@^&*#$% oil cap issue

**irish1371** · 03-09-2010, 20:31

ok 98 tj
my oil cap on the valve cover is one of those wonderful click when tight designs. who ever came up with this should be lite on fire so I have a reason to piss on him.

my cap now just click when trying to take it off. anyone have a way to get them off without dropping parts into the valve train. I'm asking before I just get my channel locks and go to work on it. don't feel like having to pull the valve cover to make sure nothing went for a ride

Thanks for any ideas

**91YEEPER** · 03-09-2010, 20:33

channel locks.

**Jeffb_79** · 03-09-2010, 20:38

Is the engine cool?
If my engine's warm, which it is after driving to the hobby shop to change the oil, I usually need a good 30-45 minutes with the hood open before it will be cool enough to let me open it. If you try to force it off while it's hot, you'll just destroy the cap.
Put a small bag of ice on it for a little while... that should work also.

**irish1371** · 03-09-2010, 20:47

hum, ok ill give it a shot. it was warm at the time but never been an issue before

**Jeffb_79** · 03-09-2010, 20:51

Yeah, I thought I was screwed after draining my oil on this jeep for the 1st time... searched around and found a ton of threads on it.
Best bet is to pull it off and replace it with a generic cap.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/oil-cap-stuck-307242/

**HillBillE** · 03-09-2010, 21:08

Get one of those fancy "710" caps! They work great, and never get stuck!

**sincitycj** · 03-09-2010, 21:55

When that happens with fuel caps we used to break off the outside handle piece, inside you would see the teeth and then use a screwdriver and a hammer to tap it off putting the screwdriver against the teeth and then tap gently until it was loose enough to take off by hand.

**trailsnail** · 03-10-2010, 00:31

Forget the cap and just remove the valve cover when you need to add oil.

**LeafspringMARINE** · 03-10-2010, 17:13

At least your gets tight. The one on my 89 is the equivalent of laying a post-it note over the hole. Thing leaks like crazy. I stopped buying new ones because they are all pieces of crap.