Volvo V70 III Fuel Tank Cap Cable

On my Volvo V70 III (Diesel) from 2009 the retention plastic cable of the fuel tank cap broke. While searching for a replacement I stumbled across the model from Adam2k . I went straigth ahead and printed it … sadly the V70 has a different diameter for the fuel cap and the STL model from Adam2k is almost unmodifyable (at least when using Freecad, just too many round edges).

I redesigned the fuel tank cap cable based on measurements from the original cable and Adam2k's design.

Changelog

2024-04-05:

I printed the R3 design for a different Volvo V70 III than my own but afterwards had to realize that this one had a different Fuel Cap type with a larger diameter.

I've now uploaded the R3 revision in two different variants, V1=66mm (red fuel cap), V2=71mm (white fuel cap). The diameter matches, 0.5 - 1mm gap, the larger section of the groove in the cap.

2024-03-24:

After using revision 1 of my design for a couple of months now I wasn't really satisfied. The R1 model using only TPU doesn't work that well. The ring around the fuel cap is just too sticky when opening/closing the fuel tank and you need two hands doing it to basically stop the ring from turning. I first tried making the ring a bit larger but increasing it by only 0.5mm caused it to sometimes fall off and it was still sticky.

So I now have a two piece design, revision 3. The ring needs to be printed from PETG and the cable needs to be printed from TPU. With this design the PETG ring spins freely on the fuel cap.

Replaced pictures of R1 with those of R3.

Printing

• Printer: Prusa Mk4
  • Nozzle: 0.4mm
  • Layer height: 0.2mm
  • Infill: 100%
  • Supports: No
• Ring
  • Filament: Prusament PETG
  • PETG chemical Diesel resistance: “Stable” from here.
• Cable
  • Filament: “Das Filament TPU V2”
  • TPU chemical Diesel resistance: “Should have little or no effect on the material at the given concentration and temperature” from here.

Assembly and Installation

• Before you start, be aware that the PETG ring can only be installed once onto the fuel cap, for uninstalling you need to cut it apart.
• Print both parts.
• Take a sidecutter and cut each of the three PullHelpers from the TPU cable at an angle so that you get fine/sharp tips.
  • Alternatively you can just cut off the three PullHelpers if printing them didn't produce them strong enough. Afterwards use something like a screw driver to push the end of the cable into the cavity of the PETG ring.
• Push the PullHelpers through the three holes in the PETG ring, see sample picture.
• Push the TPU cable end into the slot in the PETG ring and carefully pull on the PullHelpers with pliers.
• When the TPU cable is fully seated, either use the pliers to pull hard on the three PullHelpers so that they tear off or just cut them off flush with the PETG ring.
• Install the PETG ring onto the fuel cap from the handle side. Match the ring direction by the angle of the ring with the angle inside the groove of the fuel cap.