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The grease cap on my car keeps comming off. I hear it rattle and then it ends up getting stuck inside the wheel cover. It seems tight when I put it back on, but it comes loose in a couple of miles. I have 3 ideas:
1. Buy a replacement from the usual suspects, but $25 seems like a lot of money.

2. Can I find a replacement from NAPA or other local auto parts store?

3. A Packard friend suggested that I cut across the diameter, making 2 slits in the outer rim. Then slightly bend the cuts outward to make it fit tighter.

Any comments from the experts out in Packard Land?

I would try putting it in a vise, and giving it a little squeeze to set it slightly out of round. Just a tiny bit, enough to give it some interference.

Good luck!

Drive a socket in it. U'll moswt likely need a tapered socket something like an older SK socket.

I've used a center punch and punched a couple of dimples on the inside of the part that enters the hub. That was enough to secure the cap.

Randy's method is a machine shop classic. It's called "stipling" and is a method of expanding or reducing a circumference, for example stipling the inside of a brake drum hub so a bearing race fits more snugly. It's akin to knurling a piston skirt to expand the diameter.

Dear Paul:

If the cap is falling off then it will also leak.

Go to the auto store and buy some Permatex #1 hard setting gasket sealer. Glue the thing on with that. Or you can use epoxy given meticulous cleaning.

If you take the thing to a good parts store they may be able to rustle you up a similar unit as well. Those are getting hard to find because alot of these franchise joints are staffed by people who are hired because they are amicably dumb.

If you use epoxy and clean it well it will bond so well you will have to destroy something to get it off. I suggest instead using a small bead of RTV to prevent leaks, or better yet just buying a cap that fits.

Nothing to lose by "stipling" as recommended by Randy and Owen. It has worked for me in other situations. Then, run a small bead of silicon to prevent leakage as recommended by Fred.

(o[]o)

No problem with epoxy. Just heat the cap carefully with propane and the epoxy gives up the ghost.

Stipling seems like a great idea. I was going to suggest using an exhaust pipe expander to give it a little stretch. You can get them as a loaner from most part stores.