I've seen a few other posting about sticky fuel doors and was having the same problem with the Chrome fuel door on a 2003 SE. The mechanic finally gave up trying to fix and put on a new one - the replacement has a plastic flap instead of the metal one people suggest bending as a fix. It's only been on for one day, but seems to work fine. If you're having problems with yours and the car is in warranty, you might want to ask for a new one.
Fuel Door Sticking
Feb 26, 2004
5 Replies
The new 2003 I'm buying had the same problem. They're putting a body-colored door, so I assume it won't be a problem in the future.
There's a service bulletin on this problem. I have an '02 SE with a chrome fuel door that DID get stuck once. The fix is they replace the little rubber bumpers with ones that don't stick. BTW, there's also an SB on the antenna which, if the radio is ON when the ignition is turned off, won't come up when you turn the car on next time. You actually have to TURN THE RADIO OFF, THEN ON. Not a big deal in today's world but do it 5 or 10 times a day and it begins to annoy. The fix is a new antenna unit. Anyway, I'm having both problems fixed under warranty next week, along with the damn fog light bulbs, which don't last very long. (Manual says you need to bring car to dealer to replace them. Sheesh).
-Jay '02 SE "Steely Dan"
I saw the service bulletin for the gaskets, but my '03 already had the new gaskets. They were a bit squashed so the mechanic tried replacing them again - after that it wouldn't close completely so he replaced the whole thing.
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Opua) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m18.aol.com:
Gee, maybe i'll have the mechanic keep the old ones just in case. You call them gaskets, but on my car they are 2 little rubber nubbins about the dia of a pencil eraser. Is that what yours look like?
jay
Sorry - gasket was a bad term. We are talking about the same parts and they didn't help with my car. Well, actually they did help in that the door didn't stick, but it didn't shut all of the way and if you closed the door and then pushed from behind the hinge, it would open right up.
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Opua) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m11.aol.com:
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