pop those fuel doors and....
 

take a digi pic for me. please :D

for some reason my door only shuts a % of the time. on the occasions it won't shut, it will mysterious close with ease days later. i figure if i see a compitent mechanism I can figure out whats wrong.

I don't have any pics, but mine does the same thing... Especially when it's cold. For some reason the little peg that latches the door closed stays stuck inside, sometimes if I play with the release lever I can get it to pop out, other times Ihave to wait a day or so until it'll come out. Very annoying.

is the peg inside a cylindrical piece that looks like a bolt?

Yep. I've found that pulling the release lever back until right before the rear hatch pops and kinda messing with it sometimes releases the peg. Tried WD-40'ing it once and it didn't seem to have any affect, I'd guess it's something worn inside the mechanism itself.

Something to note on that thread....

I picked up my first RX7 about a month ago, and drove it through one of those high pressure car washes.. It pushed the fuel filler door open, and snapped the hinge in half. By reading this thread, I now know that there is *supposed* to be a catch in there. Mine is stuck in too.

I am still waiting for a sample of the solvent for PBT so I can fix it.

Lesson learnt. You can't take nice cars through the automatic carwash. Spend the time on it yourself, you will feel so much better knowing it's your effort that cleaned it.

Mine was binding up, too. I used WD-40 and it fixed it. It seems like it gets all gummed up and sticks. If you could get the pin out and clean it I think you would have it.

You can "adjust" the distance that the pin sticks out by removing the left interior panel under the hatch. There is a metal box with some wires running out of it that needs to be moved as well. If I remember correctly I ended up bending something a tad and its worked fine since then.

If you're looking to lubricate the plunger, do NOT use WD-40...that is petroleum based...meaning it will dissipate over a short amount of time. Especially with the turbulent air travelling over the fuel filler door.

IF you are going to use the lubrication method, at least use something silicon based, like STP Silicon Lubricant. Douse it and get it down into the housing as much as possible, it will help.

BTW, my FC fuel filler door works flawlessly, and has for the past 14 years that I have owned it.

Brett

Tron has a good point. Don't use White Lithium grease either.

I had that problem a few times last winter when it was cold. I put som Aero Car gear lube for my r/c cars ( it's a silcone base, it turns fluid when friction heats it up, back to solid when cool).on the peg, and it has worked flawlessly since.

I had the same problem when I bought my car. Sometimes it wouldn't open because the plunger would stick. So I looked like a dumbass at the gas station trying to pull the lever with one hand and open the tank door with the other. So I took it apart and sprayed some Break Free on it and it has worked well since.

wow, and here I thought I was a loner with this problem. thanks for all the input.

It's happening to me too. It's a pain in the butt whenever you have to fill up with gas...wich happens often. I'm going to try and fix it myself pretty soon.