Questions and Answers

Mercury Sable Fuel Cap Indicator Lamp Q. The fuel cap light on my 2001 Mercury Sable LS Premium has illuminated indicating the cap has not been properly put into place. However, I have checked the cap several times and it is securely attached. The car starts and runs very well, despite the fuel cap light. Do you have any idea what may be causing this? I purchased the car from CarMax about two months ago.

It has 63,000 miles (primarily road miles). It has an automatic transmission with a 6 cylinder Ford Duratec engine. It has ABS and cruise control. I have scheduled the car for service, but I wanted to see if you had any insights.

Thank you,
Todd

A. Some vehicles may have a Fuel Cap Off Indicator Lamp (FCIL) in the instrument cluster which will illuminate when there is a failure in the vapor management system that may be due to the fuel filler cap not being sealed. Evaporative Emissions (EVAP) system. If the FCIL is on, and the fuel cap is on correctly you may have a bad gas cap or a vacuum leak in the EVAP system.