So i got to get gas in my car and my freakin gas tank cover wouldnt open! i had to take a knife and pry it open and now its always open even when i lock all the doors
anyone w/ a similiar problem and know of a fix?

 

sounds like the door lock actuator has taken a dive...its a warranty thing, but if you are not under warranty..i dont think they are that expensive or hard to replace...

 

Sounds like you just need to bend back whatever you pryed apart... if you only bent the tab on the door, you might just need to bend it back.

 

^ no because you know how you usually hear something unlocking by the gas tank cover when you open the doors well that sound was gone and i had to bend it out to open the door

 

It's the actuator like GeeDM said...get a new one.

You can get to it from inside the trunk, behind the lining.

 

LOL!!! I thought this was a new mod "Gas Tank Cover"... I'm thinking hmmm, I've heard of thermal coating the fuel lines - maybe this "cover" keeps the fuel in the tank cool for better performace?

Know I realize its the filler door

 

 

On my last car some gunk got in there and caused the actuator to stop working. I was able to clean it up a bit and it worked fine after that. Althoug it was stuck in the retracted position so you probably have something different going on but it would be worth a try since it would only take a minute and is free.

 

yeah its stuck in the retracted position. i will give it a try cleaning it out.
thnx gf4d

 

Mine has done the same thing a few times too. It gets dirty and won't move as easily. I had to pull my amp rack and one of my sub enclosures to get to it! Now I have a small piece of twine tied to it that I can easily access to open it from the trunk if needed.

Another option is to just un-plug it but your gas door will always be unlocked which scares me...

 

the same thing happened to me this weekend actually. i was coming home from philly and i stopped to fill up some cheap $3.70 a gallon 93 octane in jersey when the guy tried to open my door and it wouldn't open. luckily i had a lil bit more then a quarter left which was enough to get me home. the following day i got to work! I noticed i didn't hear the motor so i ripped apart the trunk lining and found the actuator. I pulled it back and the door opened. I then took the motor out and attempted to hot wire it to see if the motor was bad or if it was an electrical problem. I wired up a 9v battery to the motor and it worked just fine! i plugged it back in and it worked just fine! everything is running fine now!

 

it used to happen to me all the time, enough prying trying to get it open one time it broke, now it just doesn't lock, which i'm fine with

 

Maybe it is better if it doesn't lock. That way if someone wants to steal $50 of gas from you they won't wind up doing a bunch of damage to your car.

I know that is stupid logic but in the final analysis I would rather replace $50 in gas once in a blue moon than to ever have to replace the gas door and other associated parts. I don't plan on disabling mine but I wouldn't mind if it got stuck in the open position.

 

it's not that hard to pry open so i don't think that much damage would be done and the motor is simple to replace. It's an inconvenience to have gas stolen. i wonder if the alarm would go off?

 

happened to me before, nothign worse than trying to pump gas at 12am in a winter night and the fuel door wouldnt open.

I broke the lock motor trying to open it but the dealer replaced it for free.