BoostHungry

Hey guys,

I just bought a 2003 Audi A4 3.0 Quattro. I got it with the fuel cap light flashing because the dealership I had look at it told me that was cause by a bad fuel purge valve which needed replacing and that would only cost $300 to replace. I just got the fuel purge valve replaced today by my mechanic for less then the dealership was charging but it didn't turn off the flashing open fuel cap indicator on the consol.

After looking around I see that this is a fairly common problem and is generally cause by a bad sensor on the fuel tanks neck that determines if the gas cap is on or not. Now before I go and pay for this sensor to be replaced (which will probably be a little more then the purge valve was) I was wondering if having a 3rd party gas cap on there would cause the issue? I know people say only use factory gas caps, I'm guessing because the sensor reads a magnet in the factory gas cap. Anyone have pictures of what the Audi gas caps look like? I'll take a picture of my gas cap later to show you guys.

What do you think? Could it simply be a 3rd party gas cap? Or is it the sensor on the filler neck? Could it be anything else? Any other people here familar with this issue? There's no recall that would save me some money on this is there?

Thanks,
- BoostHungry

PS. Yes I know my name is BoostHungry and I bought a NA 3.0 car. I used to drive a dodge stealth twin turbo and BoostHungry has always been my name since.