Trouble with gas cap flap or door

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FishHawk @ Jun 7 2007, 02:41 PM) [snapback]457532[/snapback]</div>

Haven't even noticed. Will try to remember to check Saturday when i buy gas.

 

If you mean, "it doesn't pop open automatically perpendicular to the car's skin when I pull the lever", that's normal. If you mean, "I can't pull it open that far using my finger", that's not normal.

 

Yes, I have this problem, it's a design flaw.

I go to buy gas, I hit the thing on the floor to open the side door for the gas cap and I look back there to see it's still flat against the car, no way to get in.

After pulling that lever and trying with my drivers license to get it to come open, I eventually get it. I had this problem this morning when I was gassing up.

Once I get it open, I bend the little springgy flappy thing near the hinge so that for the next 30 or 40 fillups I won't have this problem..... Then, about 30 or 40 fillups, I'll have this problem again.

The guy in the tahoe across the island was having a good time watching me try to break into my filler cap, I'm just glad he was kind enough to not outright laugh at me.

You'd have thought they'd design it so the pulling of the latch kicks the door out as a minimum. The springgy thing could assist, but shouldn't be the primary.

On the upside, I got 585 miles on that tank. My last pip had been blinking about 5 miles when I filled up.

 

Had the problem, once.
WD40 did the trick

 

This happened to me once also. I just figured that I did not do something right as it has not occurred again.

Kmossbro

 

Lubrication is required every few years. Releases eventually dry out from being exposed to the elements.

I second the WD-40 suggestion.

 

Tell the Tahoe guy its been so long since you bought gas, that you forgot how to open the lid.

My neighbor told me it takes $85 to fill up his Tahoe. I just smiled, and said "That's too bad."

 

My 06 Prius gas cap door was not opening. I bent the metal tab on the inside of the door and now it works fine. Thanks PriusChat!
Dave

 

My 06 seems to do this sometimes. But it opens about 5mm to 1cm. Enough for me to stick my nail in and push out. But other times it works just fine... It's just Toyota's way of saying we dont need to fill-er-up.

 

My 2004 (103K miles) recently is having a problem with the gas cap door, where the leading lower edge of the door will rub against the body as the door is opened. Some of the paint chipped off the lower corner of the door because of this, before I realized the problem existed.

I tried tugging on the door to see if I could realign it "manually", without success.

Now while opening the door, I exert some force, pulling the door away from the hinge, to minimize the door's rubbing against the body. I should remove the hatch trim on that side to see if I can access the door hinge mounting screws and realign the door within the body recess.

 

Patrick, just curious if you ever got around to doing this and how difficult a job it is. I have the exact same problem you describe, though in my case it appears that the hinge pin has become bent. I can't see any way of straightening it without removing the fuel door itself. Thanks in advance.

 

I did not. Still living with the fuel door as-is.