Hi speedy,
what makes you think your $17 cap was not made in China. Last week I fitted a new cap and needle to a mower and it leaked straight up, another new cap, same needle and it was fine. This is ok for me as I have a lot of these to play with but if as speedy has, he is relying on that particular cap and if it fails he is out of pocket a lot of money and has to wait for another one to arrive.
