hey guys.....the front gas cap on my truck now refuses to "unlock" so i can take it off......
the key moves fine from locked to unlocked position, but the actual locking mechanism is not releasing.....cap top just spins.....

how do i bust this thing off without making too much of a mess??

 

Take a 50 Lbs sledge hammer and bash it off? haha all jokes aside possibly force it with a screw driver or something? make sure you have a backup one ready though.

 

Some of those cheap locking gas caps really do kinda suck. I had 2 different brands and didn't like either.

I'm not sure how to go about getting it off. The only way that I see that is going to work is to destroy it like HotShot said.

I know have these. They are the best I have seen. They are also cool, because you do no thave to lock them. They don't lock when you screw them back on. You have to lock them again. You can get a pair that is keyed alike from this Ebay seller.

Locking Gas Cap Ford Thunderbird Windstar Econoline Van: eBay Motors (item 290264351417 end time Nov-18-10 12:16:48 PST)

 

you may have to change the fill tube.
not a hard job, just undo the hose clamp holding the hose to the tube, then the hose clamp holding the tube to the body, and the 3 screws holding the filler neck to the body. then remove the filler tube from the back. this way you can clamp it down in a vice to remove thew busted cap.

and if you destroy the tube, you will already know how to remove the one in the junk yard.

 

try a big *** pair of channel lock pliers and squeeze down along the side of it as hard as u can and twist it off

 

I remember I was late for a date and I had to get some gas, pulled into the gas station and noticed I had my old set of keys without my gas cap key... I freaked... So much so I just took the filler nozzle and placed it under the cap and pried it, popped it off and filled it up.

 

Thats what I do when I have to remove those locking caps. Bust off the locking mech and the rest will screw out of the filler tube with no problems.

There was another thread about this a few months ago with pics I think...