One owner of a 2015 Lamborghini Aventador faced unexpectedly high maintenance costs after the vehicle was diagnosed with a fuel evaporation control system problem. The story of this, with an unusual ending, was shared on Reddit these days by a mechanic who ultimately solved the problem.
A trivial but expensive problem
During the diagnosis of the failure, a detailed examination determined that the cause of the failure was a faulty rubber seal on the fuel tank cover. Although it was a seemingly trivial problem, the official offer for a replacement part shocked the owner – the original Lamborghini cover was valued at approximately $1,300.
The high price of the original part stems from the fact that the outer housing of the hood on the Aventador is made of brushed aluminum, which gives it a luxurious look in line with the brand’s prestige. However, a mechanic working on the car noticed the plastic internals marked “FoMoCo”, short for “Ford Motor Company”, suggesting the Italian supercar maker was using mass-produced components.
Fixitsteven / Reddit
Upon further research, the mechanic discovered that the internal plastic mechanism and rubber seal are completely identical to those used on the European model of the second generation Ford Focus – and achieved significant savings for the owner of the expensive car. Namely, a Ford replacement plug with an identical functional part is available at a price of only 15 to 40 dollars, depending on the source of purchase.
Saved 95%
In the end, instead of buying a new original part, the mechanic disassembled both covers and moved the inner mechanism from the Ford part to the Lamborghini aluminum case. Testing confirmed that the system seals perfectly again.
Fixitsteven / Reddit
This case shed new light on the practice of sharing components within the automotive industry, which is not uncommon even among the most expensive brands. Commentators point out that this is a clear example of the “luxury tax”, where identical engineering parts are charged many times more just because of a brand logo on the packaging. The mechanic on Reddit has therefore received a lot of praise from the community for prioritizing a wise technical solution and saving money instead of simply “slathering” an expensive replacement part on the customer.