It Is NOT The Most Expensive Mistake I Have Ever Made

Several weeks ago, I told you a story that happened on the first day of this tour in August. Long story short, I left my fuel cap on the pump. In 39 years of driving and 14.5 years of driving this bus, I had never done that before.

Here is the long of the story. You can skip down if you have heard this one before.

I had planned to stop for diesel in northern Kentucky, but that did not go so well. We maneuvered through traffic, waited in line and then my fuel card would not work. 

That is not so unusual, so KJo took it inside while I retightened the 48 lug nuts on the trailer. I had the wheels off recently and this was the 50 mile checkup.

The fuel card will not scan properly so the clerk has to punch in the numbers manually. This clerk said it was company policy not to run a card that will not scan, so no diesel. We have multiple ways to pay, but I wanted to use that card.

In the process of this, I unlocked and opened the fuel door and removed the cap. While tightening the lug nuts, I closed the fuel door. After the clerk could/would not help, I made sure the fuel door was locked and left the fuel cap on top of the pump!

Stupid rookie move!

I discovered my mistake 30 miles later at the next truck stop. All went well with the fuel card, as we knew it would/should.😍

Since then, I have been using several heavy duty paper towels to cover the opening and holding them on with a wire tie.

I tried to order a cap from the national parts line for Prevost, but they could not determine which cap I need. They should be able to tell from my VIN but they were having trouble for some reason. 

There are a few different fuel tank configurations for my model year and even though I could tell them about mine and had the VIN, they could provide no joy. It must have been a glitch in the system of some kind.

I called the Prevost Fort Worth location and after some searching, some holding, some begging and pleading they came up with a part number. There was one matching part in New Jersey and I had it shipped to our next stop. After so much trouble, I was not 100% confident it would be the right one, but low and behold, it is!

It is exactly the correct cap. It even has a chain to hook inside. The chain should prevent a reoccurrence of this mishap. For future reference, the part number is 530041. I hope I never need to know the number.

The price was $42.18 plus $9.99 shipping. It is pricey enough to make me regret it, but not the most expensive mistake I have ever made.😍🤣

Well, you live and learn. At least that is the goal. It sure would be a shame to live a long life and never learn.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy