Fuel door won't open!

Alright, intro to the issue -----

 

Fill up with gas in Jersey this morning. As some may or may not know, you cannot pump your own in NJ, so genius pumps it. He closes the fuel door and I get my receipt and on my way. Fast forward to about 20 minutes later, my cruise starts to flash. I pulled over on the side of 80 to double check that the cap is on, as this has happened to me before (also due to guy at pump forgetting to close it).

 

Now here's the issue. I go to release the door by pulling the lever, but i'm getting a good amount of resistance, way more than normal. Since i don't want to break it, I begin to pull slowly, then a little harder, and low and behold NOTHING. It could be ironic enough that the cable is no longer working, but there were no issues before i filled up. Also, why does the cruise light flash out of the blue!? Could be a coincidence, but I'm gonna lean towards a screw up on behalf of the gas station attendant.

 

What I think happened is the fuel cap was never even tightened, let alone put back on the tank nozzle to begin with, so the cap has now become wedged in the hinge of the fuel door. I started to use a credit card to slowly pry open the door, but I think even still if i can get it to unhook itself, the sheet metal on the door will bend before i can get to the cap to get it out of the way.

 

So, any advice on what I should do? Good news is I have a full tank, but being I drive ~300 miles a week this needs to be taken care of ASAP. Is there any sort of emergency fuel door release I can try before I grab a screwdriver and start prying?

 

Lastly, what chances do i have of the gas station being responsible for whatever damage is caused? I know, 0%, but If anyone has any past experience with a similar issue, please let me know.

Is there anyway to remove the fuel door without opening it first? Can I take down the trunk lining or wheel well lining to gain access to the fuel section? I'm worried that pulling too hard on the door is just going to cause it to bend out of shape or break. I've tried using a credit card and i'm able to pull the door out a tiny bit, but i started to scratch the paint so i stopped.

The leash can get stuck in the gap, jamming it closed.

Have a friend pull on the lever by the seat while you push on the fron end of the door.

(that's what worked for me, but I was 500 miles from home, so I recruited a Starbucks employee)

Thanks for the quick response Danny. Hopefully I can recruit one of the guys downstairs after hours to lend a hand. The leash getting caught, are you talking about the leash holding onto the filler cap? I can tell based on the resistance to the fuel door release lever that there is definitely something in the way, but I have no idea whether it is the leash or the actual fuel cap. Now I'm even wondering if the cap is stuck, or if the tether is? I tried using a credit card and i was able to move the door enough that i could probably slide in a slim jim and attempt to move the filler cap or tether out of the way, but I'm going to try your method first. Thanks again!

Yes, it's the leash for the cap that get's stuck.

 

And there is a TSB for that, so just go to a dealer and they should fix it. Design flaw.

Problem solved, all that was needed was a second set of hands. The gas cap was not on, but I'm not sure if the leash or the cap was to blame. Either way thanks for the help, I didn't know about the TSB on the leash, so next time I'm around a Subaru dealer I will get it checked out.

 

On a side note, I feel pretty dumb. When I did a search on Google nothing came up for the issue, I should've used the actual site to search. Sorry for the unnecessary thread.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/recall-gas-cap-8928.html?t=8928&highlight=fuel+door+stuck

I have a 2011 outback and just developed this fuel tank lever problem this year - winter has been rough here in niagara ny - -20 today

I paid my usual mechanic to fix it and he took the whole thing apart and said it had all kinds of gunk in it - 24 hours later it would not open again so----I took your advise and had my wife push in on the filler flap while i pulled the lever and bingo---it worked----now I don't want to close the fuel door - does anyone see any problem with that?

Problem solved, all that was needed was a second set of hands. The gas cap was not on, but I'm not sure if the leash or the cap was to blame. Either way thanks for the help, I didn't know about the TSB on the leash, so next time I'm around a Subaru dealer I will get it checked out.

 

On a side note, I feel pretty dumb. When I did a search on Google nothing came up for the issue, I should've used the actual site to search. Sorry for the unnecessary thread.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/recall-gas-cap-8928.html?t=8928&highlight=fuel+door+stuck

 

for future reference, because the site search is not the best, use "site:legacygt.com (search terms here)" without the quotes in google and it will only search this site but with the power of google's search!