Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

What's the metal disk and foam thing that's on the underside of a Tecumseh gas cap designed to do?

Discovered on my first gas refill that the parts on mine fell into the gas tank.  Fished them out but don't see how they stay on the shaft -- perhaps a clip broke off I haven't retreived.

Will replace cap, but for now was just wondering what that stuff does......

Hey Newt,

I just reread your post and realized I missed the fact you actually purchased your snowblower from HD.  Obviously that's why your dealer was on the grumpy side.  I myself have had dealers get irate when you even mention if they can match or beat a price from HD.  That even occurred several times when looking for shrubs and asking the person behind the counter if they can match HD.  They get upset about the "little guy" not being able to make a living anymore, and rightly so.  I actually try to shop at the local businesses as much as I can.  I still think it's in their best interest to still build some type of relationship with the customer, since non-warranty repairs tend to get pricey.  Especially with these sensitive EPA carburetors on everything, I have no doubt their service departments are kept extremely busy with carburetor servicing.

What's the metal disk and foam thing that's on the underside of a Tecumseh gas cap designed to do?

Discovered on my first gas refill that the parts on mine fell into the gas tank. Fished them out but don't see how they stay on the shaft -- perhaps a clip broke off I haven't retreived.

Will replace cap, but for now was just wondering what that stuff does......
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Same thing happened to my old Craftsman mower. The salesman at Sears said that the disk is just a "splash guard" which prevents gas from leaking out of a filled tank. The new caps have been redesigned without the disk.

The disk was held in place by squishing down on the center plastic prong of the cap with a hot "soldering iron" type tool(not to be done anywhere near a filled gas tank!). :-)

Headscratcher