Land Rover Misfuel reset tool

Land Rover have included a flap in to the fuel filler pipe of many of their models to reduce the chance of accidentally putting the wrong fuel in the car.

It is activated by the wrong size nozzle from a fuel pump or sometimes from the spout of a fuel can.

The first time I filled up 'Baby', our 2011 Discovery 4, I could see the yellow flap in the pipe and it was very slow going getting any Diesel in.

I now know that is the misfuel device having been activated at some previous time.

Having looked it up in the manual, there should have been a reset tool somewhere in the car. I've looked and I cannot find it.

They are fairly low cost and I've ordered a replacement from ebay. However, looking at the photographs, I thought I could easily make one.

10 minutes in the shed, with all measurements by eye, and I have a tool that just about worked first time. 2 minutes minor adjustment and the tool works perfectly. It does not have the stop to help align the prongs but knowing what I was looking for it was easy to align by sight.

My original version is made from 1.2mm mild steel, cut to 25mm wide, about 250mm long, bent in a 'U' shape at one end with two upward facing prongs about 10mm apart just short of that end.

Having made this, I think there are plenty of other ways this could be done. It could be as simple as  15mm copper water pipe with an end crushed flat and the prongs cut to size and bent up from that. I would need to be careful not to drop that in the tank though. The version made from flat steel and then bent, is my preference.

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Improvements:

The disadvantage of the one I have made is that the tool could, just about, be accidentally dropped down the filler tube in to the tank.

If I was making it again, I would make it a few millimetres wider so it would not be able to be dropped through the fuel spout at any angle.

Diesel fuel nozzles have a diameter of 23.8mm (unverified) and the tube in the Discovery 4 tank is about 25mm diameter. The tool needs to be wider than that to avoid it being able to be dropped in to the tank but must be less than 40mm which is the width of the outer tube thread size.

Updated design

Having now received the plastic version, I would suggest using a width of 32mm for the steel strip before bending.

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