Fuel Door Issue - Won't Open
 

My wife drives a 2010 Maxima

Her fuel door was stuck earlier today

It was not totally flush as normal when locked there was some very slight play but not able to be opened

I tried locking / unlocking several times, moved the car, no luck

After making an appointment with the dealer I went outside to try one last time and when I hit open on the FOB, the fuel door opened on it own without me touching it at all

I have tried opening and closing it several times and it seems ok now, but I'm worried it will become and intermittent problem and I don't want her stuck with no gas

She had forgotten to tell me, but apparently this happened to her a few fill ups ago but again corrected itself

Any ides on what might cause this?

TIA

E

If you have not changed the battery in the fob in the past year, or longer, I would try that first.

Why would that have anything to do with the fuel door?


Sounds like the latch mechanism is binding/sticking.

You are right the key fob has nothing to do with it.

It could be that the actuator that unlocks the fuel door is having a problem.

The fuel-filler door automatically unlocks whenever the driver’s door is unlocked. Next time there is a problem you can also try locking and unlocking the drivers door and see if that helps..

Might be as simple as a quick shot of silicone lube directly into the mechanism...

Well it happened again, and the dealer attributes it to an bad actuator

Going to run me $320 with install

Any thoughts?

On a side note I learned the hard way that the fuel door will not open with the car running.

FWIW, that's pretty expensive to me. If you can buy the part you should be able to put it in yourself. All you'd have to do is take the panels apart in the trunk and the rest should be self explanatory. That's what I'd do, you may be able to find a wrecked car at your local pick and pull and save yourself even more money.

edit: I did a google search for Maxima fuel door actuator and they ranged in price from $84.74 to $94.49. At $95 for the most expensive actuator you'd be looking at $225 dollars for labor. From my personal experience replacing my 2010's tail lights this job would take me about 2 to 3 hrs on a bad day. I say DITY.

Good chance the fuel door actuator is not accessible from the trunk.
You would need to take off the wheel, pull out the fender liner, then you can look up and see the fuel filler neck and actuator beside it.

My 2010 did the same thing several times. After getting stuck at the gas pump a few times, I just unplugged the actuator. You can access it thru the trunk, it is under the liner on the drivers side. Just unplug it and press the plunger back into the unlock position and done. Free....

I didn't find a video but a google search turned up instructions on how to remove the actuator. It is accessible from inside the trunk, in fact the article I read said that you could disconnect it until you could have the repairs made.

I know this is an old thread....hopefully someone can help

My fuel door will not open. I went through the trunk and the actuator is working....when i try to push the door in for it to open it doesn't have any tension..like the spring or whatever makes it spring open is broken.

Any ideas?

link for the part http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...uator&_sacat=0

huh. I just broke the small piece that was holding it. and now it opens and closes, and latches. My gas tank was showing "--- miles" so I was pretty upset when it wouldn't open.

I see that this is an old thread, but same thing just happened to me. I have been checking to see if I can open the fuel door every time that I drive somewhere. It looks like 60% of the time it opens, other times I have to start and turn off the car several times, lock the doors and unlock them several times and then it might open (sometimes). So I am thinking the actuator will permanently die soon...

Do you have the instructions that you referenced in your post? That would be helpful. Thanks.

Mine is a 2011 Maxima

people are breaking them once they won't open but there is an emergency pull built into them in case they fail in all maxima's.

If you click on this ebay link look at the first picture. In the upper right of the part . to the right of the yellow sticker you see the piece of plastic jutting out . If that is pulled from inside the trunk it will pop open the door. Until you get it fixed.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18258509925...84.m1555.l2649

These can be taken out in less than 2 minutes very easy. see the ring in same said pictures. that twists off . then from inside the trunk lining ,you reach in carefully first and unplug the wire. then untwist second that ring from behind the fuel lid. then it will pull out from the area where you unpluged the wires. and be careful not to yank or pull anything

This is great to know. Thanks for posting. Funnily enough, when I bought my car last year (2014 SV), the actuator was not working and I didn't find this out until, during the test drive I noticed the car was literally on fumes (said 19 miles until empty), so I said something to the salesman who was riding with me, "Uh, I'm going to pull into the next gas station and put some gas in.", and he said, "Well...heh...we noticed in the pre-sale inspection that the fuel door actuator isn't working, so...there is no way to put any gas in...we'd better head back to the showroom...NOW."
Delayed delivery by two weeks whilst they got the part and installed it.