My fuel door latch no longer works. I believe the pin that holds the door closed is broken by someone trying to force it when the pin may have been retracted. My question is does the entire cable have to be replaced, and how difficult is it to do so. Could someone tell me what procedure to follow. Thanks, Jim

 

Check the metal spring tab first. A lot of times what's happening is that the lever mechanism and cable are working right but the door is not springing open upon the pin releasing.

 

Yeah, I just changed mine this weekend. Either it's the kickout spring not pushing on it (have someone hold the lever down and open the door by hand), or the pin/latch has broken or become misaligned.

If the problem is with the pin, it's about a $75 cable assembly that requires removing a lot of interior parts to change. If the problem is the kicker spring, the latch is $25 from Malloy and takes 5 min.

Dave

 

You don't have to replace the whole cable assembly if just the ping part is broken or snapped off because the gas door was pryed open. Just take out the left side trunk plastics or just loosen them so you can swing the plastic piece out. Then unhook abs sensor, take off the bolt that is inside the gas door (that the pin goes through) and fish out the cable where the abs sensor used to be. You can then replace the broken pin with the new one you get. The pin comes out easy once you take the spring and washer off it. I just did it this weekend, took about 30 minutes.

 

if you are by yourself you can stick a credit card between the gas cap and the car (pry it in at an angle) and push on the lever inside the car, it will open everytim, that is the way i fill up my car!

 

your a weirdo simon..

 

I've done the credit card thing too.. works fine.

 

I can not see any pin that holds the fuel door closed. I figure that someone when I had it for repair probably could not get it latched when the pin was stuck in the latched position and they forced the door closed, breaking the pin. Does this sound correct to any of you. Also where can I get the pin if it possible to replace it. I looked and thought I would have to go through the inner panels in the trunk to reach the cable. Thanks for the help.
Jim

 

I had the same prolbem. The little pin that pushes the door open would not retract, causing the door to always stay open. I sprayed some WD40 on the pin and now it slides in and out, good as new.

 

See i'm not the only one!!!!

 

Don't rule out that the pin is stuck in there. Hit it with some WD-40 and see if there is a pin in there that needs to be loosened up.

Dave

 

Thanks Dave I will try.
Jim

 

Jimbo: it's a black 4-6 mm wide stubby looking pin.

 

Hope this helps:

 

That's the one. Right underneath it is the black spring tab that usually has to be rebent back *out* to make the gas door spring out when the tab is pulled back by the cable.

 

Thanks guys, seeing the size of the pin, I don't think it is broken off. It is just probably stuck inside. I cannot get a hold of it with any longnose pliers. Appreciate the photo, it sure helps.
Jimbo