Broken oil fill cap
 

I was trying to add oil to my '94 Accord LX and when I finally managed to unscrew the tight filler cap I noticed that the cap was sheared off the hollow threaded part. It was strange because I was able to unscrew the threads with my bare finger. After cleaning the two halves I glued them together with Krazy Glue so I could hopefully drive with that glued oil cap to my nearby Honda dealer tomorrow morning for a new cap. It is only about 2 miles from my home.

The only problem is that I am not sure if that fixed cap will last that long, both due to the engine heat during the drive and the pressure pushing against that cap. Has anybody gone through this kind of problem before? I am not even sure what kind of pressure is in that cylinder head cover. If that is the same as the oil pressure in the engine then I don't think that Krazy Glue fix could contain it. The engine heat might be OK though for that short drive because it would be mostly on downhill and level road.

Since you're concerned about an engine compartment mess, why not ask a neighbor to drive you down for the purchase; helping someone out = a good way to meet.

Also, any auto parts store will have an oil cap that will fit and work.

One more thought... The plastic cap thermal expansion is greater than the metal valvecover. So the situation you want to avoid is overtightening it when hot. Cooling down will cause the cap to get that much tighter.

Also, maybe the rubber gasket has gotten compressed to where the plastic body of the cap is down on the metal valvecover. A newer gasket might have helped - yeah, I know it's hindsight...

I think the missing gasket was the problem why it was so hard to unscrew it. Sometime in the past when I took the car for oil change the gasket was not replaced and I didn't even know till now (after I checked the Honda illustrated part catalog) that there was supposed to be a gasket there. And yes, I also noticed that it was usually easier to unscrew that cap when the engine was cold.

And to also answer UhOh ... You're lucky if you still have neighbors you could ask for such favors. I used to have them, but the last 10-15 years "diversity" took over here and nobody talks to anybody because most of the new neighbors hardly speak english and tend to stick to their own ethnic group. That leaves taxi or Uber, but why pay $40 for a trip to get a $5 part?

OK, after some research I decided not to use the old fill cap glued together with Krazy Glue because the cyanoacrylate that makes up the glue is not heat resistant. So I just managed to bus to the nearest auto part store that had the right cap and I am using that now. That was another lesson learned for me.