Fulvia oil canister - another time bomb defused

[stanley sweet]

In the July 2013 issue of VL Neale Shepherd wrote an article about 'the inbuilt self-destruct mechanism' in the Fulvia engine. This is the wire-wool filled oil filler canister. Although it was all a bit worrying I didn't get around to mine for a while but I'm glad I did as you will see. There are two ways of opening it. One is cutting around the centre of the filler, but not right through so cutting the centre pipe too. Afterwards you weld it up. As I have no knowledge of welding or welding equipment I chose option 2. This is peeling back the lip at the top and lifting the the top and cylinder out. So armed with a selection of wholly  innappropriate tools I set to work. A thin edged but strong screwdriver got the lip starting to lift. All went well until it reached a point where it became very difficult to bend back and I seem to remember deciding it was time for a mince pie and The Polar Express (as you've now guessed I was working over the Christmas break). The next day instead of putting the tool under the lip and pushing outwards, I got a sturdier screwdriver and levered backwards using the lid as a fulcrum. I kept the plastic top in place so as not to damage the thread. Once past this difficult spot it became easy again and it was soon done. It was then that the full horror revealed itself. There was very little left of the wire wool as you can see. A few bits on the plates and a mass gradually pouring out the bottom. When I did oil changes there was always tiny particles on the magnet which I took to be normal wear but as I discovered later must have been tiny bits of the wire wool. I cleaned it out then had a look around in the garage to find what I had degreaser-wise. I found an old bottle of 'Marine Clean' from years ago. I can't recommend this enough. I put the oil filler in an old ice cream carton and filled it with hot water and Marine Clean. The next day the water was black. They say just to rinse it in cold water. I did, fully expecting the water to bead up on a still greasy surface. But no, it was totally clean and degreased. I gave the whole thing a coat of self etch primer and then a few coats from a Hammerite spray can. Neale Shepherd said it can either be refilled with stainless steel wool or nothing at all. I took the 'nothing at all' route, not wanting to risk even stainless wool escaping. The last couple of oil changes I've done revealed nothing on the magnet. It's also a nice feeling when refilling that I'm not washing more debris down as well. I would recommend anyone who hasn't done this job yet to do it. Including cleaning and painting it really is a few hours work over a couple of days.

[DavidLaver]

That would make a good article for Viva.

[simonandjuliet]

Good job , well done Stan !

I wrote an article that was published in VL about 15 years ago - Can't remember which issue, but I will look later.

Interestingly (to me anyway) I bought a second hand one in Italy before I collected the HF because I wanted to replace the canister before I drove it back and it was an original without the stuffing ...... so maybe they learnt !

[cyborg7]

Ouch - scary. Now I'm worried after reading this especially as I'm struggling to locate one of these canisters on mine - do the early s.1 coupes 1216cc have one of these or am I missing something? Thanks

[nistri]

Early S1 Fulvias don't have them, Andrea