If you’ve ever owned a car from a luxury or exotic carmaker before, you’ve probably experienced a bit of sticker shock the first time you got a repair bill or went shopping for parts. Something that costs $30 on a Ford or Toyota can cost triple that, or more, on a BMW or Porsche. And the difference isn’t always just because the part is more complex or of a better quality. Automakers have learned they can charge more just because their fancy badge is on a part, and people will pay it.
In some cases, though, the extra coin is justified, at least somewhat. Lamborghini’s gas caps are a great example. Sure, they function the same as any other gas cap, but Lamborghini’s is made from a fancy piece of billet aluminum and features Lamborghini script on the handle. It’s a nice touch that most people won’t see, but the owner will use often.
Because Lamborghini’s gas caps are solid aluminum and not standard plastic like most other gas caps, they are far more expensive than your average gas cap. Brand-new examples for the Aventador cost over $1,000 before shipping and taxes, while used versions cost over $900. So when the rubber seal on the cap goes bad and needs to be replaced, owners are looking at a four-figure repair bill – unless they’re smart enough to realize it can be fixed with a $15 Ford part.
An Easy 98% Discount
This discovery comes courtesy of Reddit, where user Fixitsteven figured out a cheap fix for a 2015 Lamborghini Aventador he was working on that needed a new gas cap. According to them, the car had a large evaporative leak in the fuel system, with a failed rubber seal on the gas cap as the culprit. Instead of simply ordering a new gas cap from Lamborghini, they decided to get creative. From the post:
Our cost was over $1200… I noticed the plastic portion said FoMoCo so I did some digging and found a European Ford cap with the same guts. Took both caps apart, swapped everything over, verified with the smoke test and its working great.
Lamborghini wanted $1,300 for a gas cap so I fixed it with a $40 Ford Focus cap.
by
u/Fixitsteven in
Justrolledintotheshop
It’s not the cap itself that does the sealing of the gas tank, obviously. It’s the rubber O-ring on the inside face of the cap. So as long as that rubber O-ring is the same shape and material as the original, and the plastic bit in the middle has the same mounting points, the Ford piece should screw right in.
It’s possible the Ford cap could’ve gone on without any modifications, though presumably, the owner of the Lamborghini probably preferred that the billet aluminum piece be retained. If I owned a Lamborghini, I would not be caught dead at a gas station without my aluminum gas cap. Without a metal gas cap that says “Lamborghini” on it, am I even driving a Lamborghini at all?
Though Fixitsteven doesn’t say which Ford the gas cap came from, it didn’t take long to find it myself, using his hints and the cap’s design. The Ford piece seems to be lifted straight from The Mk2 Focus—the C307 version sold in Europe, specifically, part number 6G919030AD. You can pick one up from eBay right now for just $15. While the black shell is quite different than the billet aluminum Lambo piece, the plastic stem and green rubber seal are identical.
There Are Many Such Cases
If you like weird, quirky cases of cheap parts from mass-production cars being found on hand-built, rare exotics, then you’ll know this is a common occurrence, especially on Lamborghinis. Hell, this isn’t even the first time I’ve seen Lamborghini borrow a part from a Ford Focus. The Murcielago, the Aventador’s predecessor, famously uses side marker indicators from the Mk1 Focus.
The most obvious case of parts-sharing from Lamborghini comes from an even older car, the Diablo. When Lamborghini updated that car with a facelift in 1999, it gained fixed headlights lifted from the Nissan 300ZX, of all cars. Going back to the Murcielago, it uses an alternator from a Volkswagen Eurovan, an HVAC blower motor from an Alfa Romeo 164, and an air conditioning compressor from a Renault Espace II minivan.
On its face, hearing that exotic cars like Lamborghinis are made up of a lot of pedestrian-level parts might be upsetting to those paying huge sums for these cars. But I think it’s very much a benefit, for the reasons shown above. If Lamborghini designed and produced its own gas cap seal for the Aventador, it’d be a $1,000 part no matter what. But because it was also used on a Focus, the owner saved a bunch of money and still got his car fixed. Personally, I have no trouble putting cheaper, non-brand-name parts on my car, so long as they’re designed identically. If it works, it works.
Top graphic images: Lamborghini; Ford; iOS
McLarens use Nissan coils, at least on one model.
If you have to ask that question you’re definitely not driving a Lambo. 😉