Arne Klinge

Hello

Short story:
Drained battery, all black, no power. Jumped the car, drove an hour. Wanted to fill up the car, gas lid will not open. Stays in closed position and I am really low on juice.

Anybody experienced this? Know a way to force the lid open?

Long story:
Just came home from a three week long trip and found we were out of toothpaste. So I excused myself to attain this most important of cleansing substances. As I normally do, every possible excuse (also fictional) to drive my car at speed in some bends. Sorry for the elaboration I'll get to the point.

The car was dead, stone cold dead, remote not working, had to use the manual lock and there were no lights, just dead. I tried some different stuff, hooking up a charger to pop the hood, not enough wattage or whatever. So called the rescuers in yellow who opened the frunk and jump started my car. Everything worked fine and I could go get the toothpaste, took a few extra rounds and clocked in one hour of heavy foot syndrome. On a normal drive when I fill I leave the engine running, gas station is really near and I do not like to start an stop the car to much on a cold engine. But today after my ordeal the lid will not open, it stays shut. I tried the lock button on the dash several times to no avail. Also on the key, the lid stays shut.

Anybody had this experience or know of a way to open the lid? I know it is controlled by the central locking, but that does not open the lock on the lid any more

Macster

The lid should be unlocked if the car is unlocked. You have to push down on the the portion of the lid towards the front of the car to get the lid to open.

If this doesn't work carefully -- you do not want to scratch the paint -- try to pick the trailing edge of the lid up. If there is resistance it would appear the locking pin operated by a solenoid has failed to retract and left the lid locked.

To get to this I believe you will have to remove the front wheel/tire and the wheel well liner and expose the underside of the fender where the gas fill is.

Several times I have found the plastic bushing that the rod slides through loose and laying in the basin. When this happens the rod doesn't extend far enough to engage the lock hole in the lid so the lid never locks even though the rest of the car is locked. In your car's case, if the bushing has come loose with the pin extended then this might explain the fact the lid is now locked.

Ahsai

Open the right door and look around the upper door hinge. There should be a ring you can pull as an emergency lid unlock just for occasion like this.

Macster

That's better than taking the car apart.

Ahsai

Ahsai

Yes

DTMiller

Happened to me without the dead battery right before my ignition switch went south on me. Yeah, no need to disassemble the car. Pull the lever!

smorris

Wow, never knew that emergency release was there!

I had disabled the locking gas cap after having issues with it not unlocking... (removed the pin) figured I would rather run the risk of someone siphoning my gas then messing with it anymore!

If interested another worthy project: you can re-route the frunk emergency latch that is located in front of the passenger tire up to an accessible spot in the front bumper. Mine is tucked in just above the lower radiator inlet and is quite a bit easier to pop the lid! It is tucked away unseen so no one can see it or would know it is there, but you can easily pull it to get access to the battery.

Arne Klinge

Made my day

alpine003

Don't forget the secret cable release to the trap door that will let you inspect your IXX.

Macster

Just so it is clear while you can use the emergency release in well, an emergency, if the lid and its lock are not working properly that will or should be addressed.

Arne Klinge

Yes it was an emergency, I had only 20 Kms left till empty. I treated it to some premium 98 octane. After filling I tried the lid mechanism and it is working again, strange. Will keep my fingers crossed this never happens again, hopefully just got confused with the drained battery.