NEED HELP! Gas cap door wont open.

[ABlazeski]

So I went to go pour gas the other day and my gas cap door wouldnt open. I tried everything I could. I have tried maybe a million times to unlock and lock the car and repeat but nothing works. There is an emergency red plastic string to pull on but it didnt work for me. I pulled on the plastic red string and eventually it just ended up ripping on me. I now have almost no gas in my car and have no way of opening the gas cap. I made an appointment with audi but there is no way my car can make it to the dealership with no gas. I dont know what to do please help.


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[mintytoo]

Yep, so your gas fill door is stuck. Happened to me last year when it got cold. Had to stick a credit card in to get some leverage to get my fingers to pry it and then kept hitting the lock and then unlock button on the key fob. The underlying problem is the mechanism that rotates 90 degrees to unlock is not activating. Once you have it pried open, spray wd40 onto the shaft of that mechanism and manually push it in and out to get the oil in it. The problem hasn't recurred for me after the oiling (knock on wood). Worse case scenario, get your car towed to nearest dealer

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[DocTJ]

No joke: grab a flathead screw driver, and wrap it in a towel so you dont scratch the door, and pry it open. (Approach from bottom left corner of gas cap door) (even the trunk release wont work)
It happened on my A7 and they replaced it, and then happened on my S7 as well (both 2016)
Id keep a screwdriver and a towel in my trunk for this reason whenever it came to get gas, id pop it open in a second.

[ThewhippetsS5]

Isn't there an emergency cable release where the trunk fuse box is? I had this happen to me in my S5 and there was a red/orange cable that I could pull to release the filler door.

[Elwydd]

I youtube'd a trunk release trick, but really after hitting mine in a full panic for about 5 minutes it eventually opened for me. Has only happened the once, Thank God!

[gimpgutter]

Whoever designs Audi and VW's fuel door needs to be fired. I've seen this same issue across models from as early as 2009 until now. I experienced it on my car a couple months after I got it, my coworker in her Tiguan and my friend just had it happen last week in his B9 RS5.

Seriously, how can the same issue plague these cars for a decade with no resolution? If I were an engineer with that track record, I'd be fired years ago.

[mintytoo]

Isn't there an emergency cable release where the trunk fuse box is? I had this happen to me in my S5 and there was a red/orange cable that I could pull to release the filler door.

I youtube'd a trunk release trick, but really after hitting mine in a full panic for about 5 minutes it eventually opened for me. Has only happened the once, Thank God!

In the OP, he already found, and pulled the release cable, and it broke.

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[Frenetic]

Agree. While it hasn’t happened to me yet *knocks on wood*, I hate the design.

Some engineer tried to be too clever or too cheap (or both) without realizing the consternation and massive inconvenience a failure would cause. That 1% failure rate they deemed acceptable is not acceptable for such a cheap device that can you leave you outright stranded.

They need to put back in a simple and tried and true door-release lever.

Whoever designs Audi and VW's fuel door needs to be fired. I've seen this same issue across models from as early as 2009 until now. I experienced it on my car a couple months after I got it, my coworker in her Tiguan and my friend just had it happen last week in his B9 RS5.

Seriously, how can the same issue plague these cars for a decade with no resolution? If I were an engineer with that track record, I'd be fired years ago.

[RAF_S7]

Unfortunately this is quite a common occurrence on the 6 & 7 platforms, however it almost never fails instantaneously, there are always warning signs, which due to human nature are usually ignored - until it’s too late.

The WD40 type solution is only a short term fix, it’s the solenoid that’s failing. Replacement is relatively straight forward, done from outside the car. Of course you need to have the fuel door open in order to repair.

This YT clip is the only one on the internet that I’m aware of, and gives you a good outline of how to replace the locking mechanism.

[ItsLarryG]

I had the same issue, $200 or whatever it was at the dealer for new fuel door actuator, worked fine after that.

[ThewhippetsS5]

In the OP, he already found, and pulled the release cable, and it broke.

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Apparently I suck at reading. Sorry!

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[srt8s6]

Happen to mine as well a few months back...16 s6...I pried/broke it open with a flat head ...took it to the dealership few days later and was replaced under warranty...

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[ArmaniDiamonds]

I youtube'd a trunk release trick, but really after hitting mine in a full panic for about 5 minutes it eventually opened for me. Has only happened the once, Thank God!

That would suck, I like to drive every travel for the experience. Imagine getting stuck in feaking Missouri.

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[ABlazeski]

Thanks for all the advice managed to get it open by just prying it up and managed to pour some gas in. Going to the Audi service on Tuesday to get it fixed.


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[q_ube]

I park my car outdoors and it happened to me when the weather got really cold. Seems like the grease used in the actuator might harden due to the weather causing issues for the actuator for rotating. I parked the car under the sun and it opened up. I wonder if the Audi's in colder climate have this similar issue, or they use a different type of actuator?

[prestige.phantom]

I had the same issue, $200 or whatever it was at the dealer for new fuel door actuator, worked fine after that.

Same thing happened to me, and I had this same part replaced.


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[Turboman85]

So i also had the same issue, i pulled on the emergency release in the trunk and it did nothing. Along the outside edge of the fuel filler section, there are 4 clips that you can use to release the whole gas door which has the actuator connected to it. I removed the whole assembly by reaching through the access port in the truck and releasing the clips. Once removed, i broke off the tabs on the actuator. I will never have to deal with this again. I say this because i replaced the actuator and the same thing happened again while on E.

[esemes]

i found that just unlocking the car via remote didnt trigger the fuel door release. I had to physically open the doors which unlocked the fuel door as well.

whew. for now.

[QuattroNewb]

Wow... I just went through this same exact problem last night! After giving up on prying the door and countless pulls on the red release cable, I took it to the dealer this morning. They had a tough time getting open as well. Once they did, they saw that the entire actuator was broken and needed to be replaced. Apparently, this is a known issue. Fortunately, my car is still under warranty, so they're going to replace it for free.