A-130: DIY to fix "Tighten Fuel Cap" message
 

There’s a lot on azine about this already and it's fairly straightforward but I thought I’d put together a formal step by step DIY because I was a bit confused when it first started happening!

Symptom: The “tighten fuel cap” message displays on your MID repeatedly. You are sure your fuel cap is tight to 3 clicks (or whatever is says) but the message still pops up intermittently then goes away randomly. This happens periodically (and for me the frequency it happened increased with time)

Fix: In the 07-08 models this is a known problem. Here is the official release from Acura. Essentially, a sensor that talks to your car’s computer is faulty. The sensor is part of the EVAP canister purge valve. To fix it you need to replace the EVAP canister purge valve.

Attachment 47187

What you need:

1. EVAP canister purge valve (P/N 36162-RDV-J01)
2. ½ hour of your time
3. Flat head screw driver
4. 10mm socket
5. Pliers to pinch and move the hose clips.

Step 1: Make sure you didn’t just get out of your car 3 min ago and your engine is still hot. Wait a bit for your engine to cool down!

Step 2: Remove your engine cover. There are 4 contact points for your engine cover to the car. There are 2 clips you need a flat head screw driver to get at (circled in red) and the back two just pop off when you pull on the engine cover.

Attachment 47188

Step 3: Once you locate the EVAP canister purge valve you need to remove 2 nuts (and washers) with a 10mm socket. The bottom nut is tad bit harder to remove because it is in a tight spot so be patient. Take your time so the nuts and washer don’t fall into the engine bay accidentally!

Attachment 47189

Attachment 47190

Step 4: Remove the sensor and the hoses one at a time. I put the hoses directly on new part so I didn't mix them up.

Attachment 47191

Step 5: Put everything back together and give your car a couple miles to reset itself and the “tighten fuel cap” message should go off and hopefully never come back again!

Good DIY .. Also applies to the 06 model too.

thanks for putting this up! i've been getting this message a lot more recently.

so my question...is the part itself (design flaw) fixed with this part number, or is this the same exact part that is faulty and it will just be a matter of time before it is faulty again?
in other words, will i have to do this again in a few years?

edit: just looked this up. this part is 90 bucks, so i may just leave it and delete the message whenever it comes up. it goes away after time anyway

it'll only come back more often as time passes by

I literally came here to search this and it was on the front page. Thanks!

So thats why it keeps coming on. I was thinking the cap was going bad and needs replacing. gonna call my dealer and get me one asap.

Good write up. I did mine a couple months ago. Light would come on several times a week. PCV fixed it.

Perfect timing. My vehicle is currently at the shop getting some work done & this is on my list. I did email my service advisor the Service Bulletin. Will find out tomorrow if they covered it under "good will".

I just did my last month, it does get annoying lol. I asked dealer ship how much for the fix and the quote I got was $275 plus tax. I laugh and walked away.

That's a good question whether you'll have to replace it again. I mean you can safelysay you'll be good for at least another 5 year very minimum. It'll just getmore and more annoying if you leave it :)

I need to get mine fixed, so annoying. .

Great writeup, but $90 part to fix a dummy light. Ouch. Kinda like having to buy TPMS sensor for aftermarket rims just to get rid of the warning. I wish there was an easier way. A good example of how sometimes more technology is less helpful.

Newer cars are able to disable a lot of annoying things at the dealer. Then again the dealer will charge you 1/2hr. labor, lol.

I was going to look up a fix for this last week, but completely forgot to. I just happened to hop on here and BAM!!!! here it was, right on the first page. Welp, time to go get the part and finally get this done. Thanks for putting this up!

You could try putting in the oven @ 385* for 8-9 minutes.

:tomato:

Garage worthy?

^^^Yea! :)

Thanks for posting. I was having this problem as well. Part was $113 with tax and shipping and took 5 min to replace.

Tighten Fuel Cap message
 

Thanks for posting https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...essage-915682/. I've gone through 4 fuel caps before I found this. Ordered purge valve today.

Thanks for this I have this message come up for the past month or so.

Even simpler than I thought. Great directions and advice!

Thanks

Bookmarked.

Has anyone looked into this valve and see if it can somehow be cleaned or fixed instead of just replaced? I've had this issue since I bought the car and yeah it's annoying but is it worth $90 bucks to fix? My only concern is the light will come on during my smog test and I'll fail because of a stupid light. (Also stupid California emission laws..) CEL = insta-fail regardless of what it relates to..

there is NO CEL related to this issue.

Okay PERFECT, then I'll just ignore it until it really bugs me to fix.. Thanks for the confirmation! I assumed if it came up on the NAV that it would also have a CEL associated with it too.

My CEL was on until I replaced valve.

it's must be something else for you then, look at the TSB for symptom "WITHOUT SETTING ANY PENDING OR CONFIRM DTCs". Mime at the point its so bad that stay on for couple of days and yet no CEL.

Nice post! I bought mine a week ago and will replace this Friday. Was going to do my first ever DIY and post it on here but you beat me to it :)

Thanks guys just ordered mine from a Honda dealer online, part number same for our TL. It was $85.01 plus shipping, cheapest I could find. PM me if you want details, they aren't a sponsoring dealer on the forum so I believe the rules are I can't post info. Dealer was 30 miles from me, had it shipped anyways since they didn't have it in stock. The false message coming up finally is constant enough to warrant the $100 fix, annoying! Car has 90k miles and little things starting to act up I guess to be expected, machinery doesn't last forever with daily usage, overall still been the best purchased new car I have ever had.

I got the part today and installed. Little tricky with my bubba hands but I got in only dropping the tiny nut once, lol. Hoses were pretty well seated but took a deep breath and kept working them until they broke loose. Took for a test drive and no more tighten gas cap message popping up. Like mentioned above I was shipped a Denso part but the one on the car was made in Mexico, the new one sent was made in Japan. Hopefully never has to be changed again as long as I own the car. Thanks for the great post with all the directions, quick easy fix and probably save $100 doing it myself versus the dealer.

I just bought my tl a few weeks ago and it's already told me a few times to tighten my cap. Good to know it's fairly inexpensive and I can fix it easily. Thanks for the write up

Nice write up, thanks.

Bookmarked for future fix if necessary.

question
 

I have a 2006 TL, with codes p0457 and p0497, do you think this would resolve both items, seems like they are tied to the same issue?

No. The symptom above does not trigger cel.

Thanks for the write-up!

has anyone had the fuel cap message come up again after replacing the part?

Have an 06 and it just showed the P0443 CEL, replacing the EVAP sensor also fixed this problem. I cleared the light with a code scanner.

Put a new EVAP Purge Control Valve on, no tighten gas cap for 350 miles

I had a cel.

It's been almost 3 years since part was replaced no warning massage or cel.

I replaced the EVAP canister purge valve 3 days ago and the message still hasn't gone away. Only shows on the MID, no CEL. I have a hard time believing its the gas cap but I'll try replacing that next. Anyone know if it will pass a OBD emissions test with this message?

I replaced mine about late last year and until now I don't see the message at all.

I needed this, wondered if it was actually my cap.

It depends on the volume of fuel in your tank. Computer runs test only when it is between 3/4 and 1/4 of the fuel in the tank. Computer doesn't run test on full tank and on empty.

Shit was a little bit harder than it looked. Photos don't show there's a bunch of stuff in the way. It's scary for a newbie. I couldn't take the bottom nut off, unless I unhooked a hose to whatever was right there in the way. A bit of blue liquid started leaking, but, since it only dripped like 15 times I'm praying that it is just a few drops of something there is a whole tank of somewhere?

Anyway lost the bottom flat round metal plate that goes between the bolt and the nut, but I didn't lose the upper one. So I hope it's not going to cause problems... should I go to the hardware store and try to find one?

Thanks 100000x to op, I would have had to put up with the message the rest of my life because I just couldn't justify $300 for an annoyance, considering already have to put up with Japanese bullshit like the beeping noise at start up of the engine (Japanese are impervious to noises that weren't caused by other humans, while they freak out if a human causes a super tiny noise that annoys them, just as an example in the electronics store Yamada Denki they have an advertisement play on loop LOUD over and over the whole HOUR you might be in the store and no one freaks out. -- So in case you wondered why your car makes beeping that is so annoying and almost feels like punishment, and WOULD be considered punishment by a UI/UX design expert (they don't even have the discipline in Japan, worst UI/UX in the world across the board))

Ditto. Update since your post?

Same issue. The replacement was easy, still getting message. Advice?

Did you unplug battery to reset it?

I didn't have the cojones or time to do this myself, so I bought the unit and had my mechanic swap it out. I only had a few "Loose gas cap" messages over the winter (I'm in Chicago) but I haven't had any since it was replaced.

I agree, 10,000x thanks to the OP and others who came up with this fix.

You're welcome :) No issues to date since I changed my mine in August 2014!

Thanks, RxWorld for the good write up and pics.

I ordered part from Amazon and installed this weekend.

Very easy and the write up was handy to have.

Thank you.
 

Thanks for the clear write up and the pics with the red "look here" circles. Part arrives tomorrow. You've saved me a lot of time and money.

Thanks for this write up! I just purchased an 07 TL type s and I'm having this exact problem. Its kinda funny how this problem didn't show up when i was taking it out for a test drive.....:beetroot

What's the best place to purchase this part? Acura Parts | OEM Acura Parts | Factory Acura Parts

:yes: there is good.

Just wanted to say that I, too, had this error. I followed the service bulletin- and it hasn't come back since. If you're still wondering whether or not it works- it does.