Fuel Filler Flap will not open!

Ha Ha ha- this is almost funny..... was at work today and one of my young staff members walks in and said to me, " I was walking past your car and saw your fuel flap was open so i tried to close it and discovered some tape was stuck in the closure and so I cleaned it out for you and now it has closed ok"......... grrrrrr nice work laddy, now I have to do the woody wood pecker trick again! 15 minutes of taping, and after it did pop open only for me to tap it shut before I could put the brakes on my damb quick taping hand, I managed to get it open a second time in the session and some how get my over zealous taping to stop just in time and not close it again. New strategy: Until I get to the end of week booking at the dealership, replace duct tape blocker to stop me closing it out of habit and place a sign on fuel flap cover to stop other well meaning people from "helping"!

Roger,


Mine does that on dusty roads. I just spray the mechanism on the car side of the latch with silicon spray every now and then when touring on dusty roads.


The first time it happened was at Docker River on the Great Central Road, at 11:55 with the 12 pm siesta about to start. I tapped like Woody Woodpecker and was just about to give up the tapping when it sprung open, just in time to fill up. Not good to wait 3 hours in that God forsaken place for the fuel station to reopen when we wanted to reach Yulara by night fall. After spraying it there and then, it was fine all the way to the Cape via every gravel road possible and then back to Perth.


It is a bit dusty again now and not opening perfectly so I will have to give it a spray soon.

i have come across this situation numerous time in my D3, all I do is lock and unlock through the key fob and then in one instance of lock press, it opens up.....it has worked every single time I have done this....

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Originally Posted by BobD

Mine does that on dusty roads. I just spray the mechanism on the car side of the latch with silicon spray every now and then when touring on dusty roads.

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Time for some PM on mine - prevention vs cure.

concur with shiva. My D3 does exactly the same. Simply go through the lock, unlock cycle and it opens.

I too have stood at a petrol station pump feverishly "locking & unlocking" the vehicle in an attempt to release to fuel filler flap :(:mad:.
I prodded and poked for 15 minutes and became so frustrated that I ended up giving in a good "thump" with the side of my closed fist :o ..... and low and behold the flap popped open :).
Since then I've had no further problem.
The lesson learned was to "maintain" the mechanism.

Surely the product to be using would be graphite powder to lubricate the mechanism??? Anything else will encourage dust to stick.
Andrew

When you're at Docker River with Uluru being the closest human habitation for several hundred km you use whatever you have available! CRC doesn't seem to make the dust stick and works OK from my experience.

Wasnt a shot at you Bob,please dont think it was.
Seen lots of people squirting CRC style products into locks,key barrels,etc etc etc.Any hydrocarbon product will attract dust.
Many dont know about a puff of graphite powder;);););).
Andrew

Why would I think you were having a shot at me? I was just stating the facts in a joking way, not taking offence! I just don't use smiley faces and things because I am too old school. Docker River is where mine went wrong the first time and CRC was all I had.


Just a question for you. The CRC seems to wash out the dust and let everything close properly, since it is all full of dust like every grease point on your grader. Does graphite do that as well? The last time I used graphite was on my electric train set about 50 years ago and I haven't even seen it since. I can't remember how it worked.


Thanks for the tip. I might see if I can get some.