S4 Gas tank lid: Stuck and/or broken cable.

[Alfalfa_mo]

After a long brazenly (shameless) solo afternoon drive, decided to add gasoline to the beast' gas tank, I did and closed the tank lid with no problems, upon arrival and for some reason decided to open the tank lid again and it didn't open . Then the wireless phone rang and decided against performing further troubleshooting at that juncture.

I am hoping that the cable clip needs adjustment or perhaps lubrication, it can't be the fact that I added "extra" finger pressure when closing the tank lid at the petro station.

Your ideas to attack the sticky-issue are welcome.

Regards.
Alfa_mo

[Toptick]

The easiest diagnostic that I can think of is to open the trunk & lift up the carpet covering the back of the gas filler area.

Look, See, Fix.

[Joe Papa Sr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toptick The easiest diagnostic that I can think of is to open the trunk & lift up the carpet covering the back of the gas filler area. Look, See, Fix.

[paulbinct]

Pull up the side carpeting in the trunk and you will see the end of the cable where it works to pull the release mechanism for the lid. There is a fitting with a screw that secures the outside of the cable so the inside wire can slide without the outside moving. You can remove that fitting and readjust it so it securely holds on to the outside sheath of the cable; you can bend it a little so that when the screw is in the sheath is held tight.

[Alfalfa_mo]

Spent some time last nite attempting to determine why the lid does not open in a consistent fashion; can confirm now that cable and related mechanism are operational, the issue: the gas-door-lid is sticking to the rubber that surrounds the lid orifice, the circular-in-shape plastic piece protrudes enough to grab the lip of the lid as it attempts to latch, with enough pressure it does but then it won't slip out as easily as it should.

If I move the lid (left/right motion) door enough - the lid will spring-out as it should.
So this weekend will see what I can do to eliminate the obstruction to allow for a free operation, shaving the plastic comes to mind, not sure that the door-lid allows for repositioning, but will do the easy part first.
Thanks to all for the helpful suggestions.

Alfa_mo.

[Tifosi]

If you can't shuffle the door, and realisitcally that might not be a good plan from the body/trim alignment angle, chances are high that the latch thingy has a bit of float room. (dunno for sure as mine is a 'manual opening' version so you might want to be waiting for someone that has that setup to confirm)