How has this happened in my car?!

[uspakl]

I have attached the image, has petrol burnt this?

@nomorezoflora do you not think that the lock would then be damaged though afterwards? If it’s been forced open?

Also my petrol hole has a spring-mounted metal cover in it that seals whenever there's not a petrol nozzle actively in it. Yours looks suspiciously like it should have one, but no longer does. I may be wrong, I ain't a mechanic :)

I think you're right, the actual petrol hole looks damaged as well. The whole thing really looks like physical damage.

@OneTC no it’s not damaged at all. I called the garage and they said there would be damage on the cover as it would have to be forced open to even access this bit…

Honestly @uspakl I know you've phoned them, but you really, really, really need to take it into a garage and let them see it. It could be dangerous driving around with that. Money might be an issue - but safety has no price.

Petrol can dissolve plastic as it is a solvent for it. Some plastics like PTFE it will not dissolve. Diesel poses different hazards to various plastics because of its different composition. That's why the emergency cans for diesel are black and for petrol green (not just to tell you what is in them). Petrol is a better solvent for plastics than diesel so the plastic has to be more "special" to resist being dissolved by it. There is a famous case of someone who during fuel shortages thought it would be a great idea to fill up non reccomended containers with petrol. Needless to say the petrol dissolved the plastic and the whole resultant mess resulted in a considerable fire hazard.

Petrol tanks and areas likely to come into contact with petrol in your car are all built of petrol resistant plastic. So they will not be dissolved or "melt" when they come into contact with it. That photo looks like an attempt at fuel theft to me.

Edit : I would say it is a crap attempt because from what I know about petrol tanks it would be unlikely to succeed. It may be worth checking your fuel to make sure they didn't then try to drill the tank directly.

Can’t get an appointment until Wednesday so I am stressing a bit now

Does your petrol cap lock with a key ?

@GasPanic no but it locks when I lock the car. I tried to open it when the car was locked and it would definitely cause damage to access it when locked

Can you not just drive to the nearest garage and ask someone to take a look? It will take a professional seconds to tell you if it's dangerous or not, or if someone has tried to steal the fuel.

That’s crazy. So at night, presumably, someone has come along, popped open the OPs fuel cap and drilled a hole? Wouldn’t that be noisy?

Check with your neighbours to see if it’s happened to anyone else and if they have Ring doorbells or the like and might have film of it. Perhaps ring 101 to see if anyone else has reported it.

Maybe you left it closed but open. I used to do that all the time on my old car. if the cap doesn't lock in place it is hard to see why they would drill there, just remove the cap and siphon from there instead. Mystery deepens !

I don't know why someone would chose to try and steal petrol like that.

Not an expert in petrol theft though !

if the cap doesn't lock in place it is hard to see why they would drill there, just remove the cap and siphon from there instead.

Because almost all cars have an anti-siphon device in the fuel tube now.

Ah right did not know that !

Still there are much easier and more practical ways to steal it IMO ! But probably best not to go into those...

Sent photos to the garage and they’re saying it’s definitely not theft as the whole door to the petrol cap would have to have been broken into which it isn’t?

Don't really see what other explanation there could be for it. A petrol seeking woodpecker that can unlock fuel flaps ? Or some sort of plastic boring insect that crawled in the gap between the fuel flap and the bodywork ?

I mean fuel flap locking mechanisms - we are not talking Fort Knox here. It's probably possible on many of them to shove a piece of plastic in the mechanism and pop it open without doing any damage on lots of them. Or it could just not have shut properly last time you filled up.

If it isn't a theft attempt then what are the remaining (plausible) explanations for it ? I can't think of any ? Did you leave your car in an unusual place or unattended for a long period in the time since you last filled up ?

@GasPanic no it’s never been left anywhere as I work from home so it’s mainly at home. Also, without sounding like a dick I also live in a quiet area, lots of middle aged people who keep themselves to themselves, it’s not exactly a high crime rate sort of place. It seems much less like a drill than the plastic has melted when you look at it in real life

How about the inside of the fuel flap ?

Normally there is a sign on there with the fuel types you fill up with ?

Any sign of marks or heat on that in the corresponding place ?

Has anyone else used the car and filled it up ?

Could someone have thought that that hole was the fill hole and stupidly tried to grind the end of the pump fill pipe into it by shoving it hard and turning it around before realising it wouldn't fit ?

It it did cut the plastic I would have thought sharper edges than your photo though and the pipe end would have to be pretty sharp to do it.

Could they have open the car remotely to unlock the petrol deposit cover but then they need a car key to use it? Hence the hole?

How odd OP, I noticed the exact same thing on my car the other day!

@PandaChopChop are you joking or have you really?! I’m actually at the garage now as I was worrying so much!

@Squiddlydiddle i didn’t think of a rodent. The only thing is that i definitely lock it. I am meticulous about it!

A rat caused huge dame to my car OP. Not inly the braking system (!!) but they got into the back seat (how?) and chewed clean through a seat belt!! Couldn’t make it up!

That is the normal drain hole to drain away overflow fuel and any water that gets into that area. The deformed plastic and 'drill track' is more likely due to someone being really ham-fisted with the fuel pump.

Has someone been trying to fill up with diesel by mistake? Perhaps trying to ram the larger diesel pump into your smaller petrol filler opening?

It's about where the hand guard on a petrol pump would be. Perhaps a garage pump is damaged with sharper than usual edges?