fuel filler cover and solenoid.

[Benny Boy]

went to fill my car up this morning as the fuel was very low, 15 miles to go on the info panel, the lowest i've taken it. anyway, get to the petrol station and the filler cap cover won't open. i assume its frozen so the kind people at the station give me a bucket of warm water to try a thaw it out but it still didn't open. i didn't now what to do so i then had to drive home again, a very tense drive.

anyway, when at home i found the manual release behind the lower rear light panel.

The problem is it seems to close when i lock the car using the fob but wont open with the fob.

does this sound like the solenoid has had it, or just playing up in the cold weather?
anyone had similar issues with the filler cap cover?

[p fandango]

think a few solenoids went a while back, there is an emergency manual release inside the boot. Sure you have to open the bulb hatch in the trim & its just above the wheel arch, a little coat hanger style ring pull

[cameron]

Had exactly the same thing with my last T5 i had to replace the solenoid, iirc it cost about £10 from a breakers and its a really easy, if a little bit fiddly job to change it over :B_thumb:

[nick]

same thing has been happening to mine - sometimes it opens sometimes not (mainly when wanting to fill up !!)

i put a long tie-wrap around the manual release wire loop and fed the end through the gap where the cover meets the other trim piece and can now open it without having to remove the lower light cover if it happens again.

i will have the whole mechanism off sometime soon to service or replace it but for now its a good temp fix