Astronomer

While driving to Wyoming yesterday my gas door popped open. Now it wont close. Had to Duct tape it shut to get home!

Other than a trip to a dealer; any ideas?

(I searched both the FAC and forum BTW)

comes alive

there is a thin cable to the fuel door in the rear drivers side under rear glass it is pulled out . push it in.

FortMorganAl

-OR - The solenoid that latches it is stuck. When you push the button it should go thunk-thunk and you can easily see it move. If it doesn't, clean out what has gummed it up.

Astronomer

I see the cable. When I push the gas door opener, it even retracts the little end that holds the door shut. It just no longer extends far enough into the fuel area and the door at first latches but pops right open again with the slightest jar to the car frame.

Are you saying that I can adjust the cable?

Thanks for the replys!

patton

check that the cable is free

talon90

If you have some WD40 I'd just give the little mechanism a very small squirt and work the end of the of the button in and out. It may just be dirty. If that doesn't do it, your spring may be gone. As I recall, members have had luck replacing that with a small spring from a ball point pen.

2 GRUMPY

I had this happen just this week.I just pushed the emergency gas door cable located in the hatch area and it pushed the pin back into place,it's staying closed so far.

Astronomer

Whoohoo! Thanks everyone! I love this forum!

pTr73

Id rip it off completely! JK


I would just take it to the dealer unless your handy with tools and can find out why it wont stay shut, even still. Sounds like the clip that holds it in might need to be replaced.

johnodrake

OK! So which of the suggestions did the trick?

C6400hp

Yep, In GM's infinite cheapness they chose to use a mild steel spring instead of stainless. Eventually the spring corrodes and falls apart.

Astronomer

Went to the dealer service area. Figured I am a novice with car repair and they were the experts.

First thing the dealer said was the solenoid is gone. I pointed out that when I pushed the gas door open button, not only did the solenoid click, it retracted the cable. I suggested it may be the spring or the cable got gummed up. Then the service tech (along with the service manager)opens the rear hatch and begins yanking (HARD) on the emergency driver side door release!!! At the same time the tech started pulling the interior fabric away from the side of the Vette. By this point I realized they were CLUELESS!!

The Manager said, "you will have to leave the car with us for a few days since we will have to remove this side body panels of the car to get in there to see what is wrong".

At that point, I told em to back off from my Vette, I pushed the interior carpet back in place and left. So much for dealer maintenance. I would not take my tricycle to that dealer.

So, I still have duct tape on the side of the Vette. Sigh.

Not sure how to get in there to fix it myself.

mikejpss

pitiful dealer. good owner response. bet u left him with a mouth wide open?

Astronomer

Thanks!

Unfortunately I still don’t know how to fix this. It is embarrassing to drive the Vette with duct tape on the side.

Astronomer

Actually, I don't think he cared one way or the other. He (the service manager) was pretty nasty, not only to me, but everyone else there as well.

C6400hp

Open fuel door and you will see a nut on the pin that holds the door closed, remove the nut. jack up car, Remove driver side rear wheel, remove the tabs holdind the plastic inner fender in place and you will have full access to the cable. You can either repair your old cable with a modified spring from an ink pen or buy an entirely new cable, I would probably just buy the new cable/solennoid assuming it is cheap. If you want to repair it, the end that has the pin that holds the fuel door shut, there is a small plastic case that can be popped open, inside is probably your damaged and corroded spring, I replace mine with a modified spring from an ink pen, it took me two or three different pens to find a spring that I could modify to fit properly.

Astronomer

Aces!

Thanks!

Again to everyone - this forum rocks. I am honored to be a member here.

It'sHerVette!

Just had the same problem. After reading this thread i went out and pushed in the emergency release and voila the fuel door now latches.

This forum is awesome!

Update, that worked for a short time. i ended up having the dealer replace the latching assembly under warrantee.

cclive

Don't you feel like the tape makes it look like a real grown up race car! But seriously, put some masking tape on it instead of the duct tape. If left out in the sun, the duct tape will leave nasty adhesive that is very hard to get off. Don't ask me how I know!

shopdog

Ok, time to rehash my 5 cent repair of this problem. There are a few possible causes for the gas door not latching. As others have noted, the plunger may not be extending far enough due to a bad spring or a hung up cable. To diagnose this, see if the plunger moves in and out when you push on it with your thumb (if so the spring is fine), also watch it and see it moves in and out when you push the release button (solenoid fine). Check the emergency release cable to see if it is binding. If these things work, the solenoid, spring, and cable aren't the problem. On my car, it was none of the above. Instead, the gas door had warped ever so slightly. This caused the latch catch cast into the door to lean back far enough in warm weather to not positively engage the solenoid. When it was cool, the door still latched, but if the car had been in the sun for an hour or so, the door wouldn't latch.

After looking at a number of alternative repair scenarios, it became apparent that simply gluing a slightly reshaped nickel to the face of the latch would take up the slack and let the door reliably latch whether hot or cold. 3 years later, it is still working perfectly.