petrol cap door won't open! argh!

[gerard]

of course, this happens when i go to fill up the tank as i have to pick up my brother from Heathrow tomorrow morning...

i press the button to open the petrol cap door flap thingy and nothing happens...

try this several times no joy... the station attendent comes out and has a go.. he can't get it open either...

of course, the tank is down to Empty now...

is there any way i can manually release the door to fill the tank?

surely there is some kind of latch i can trigger with a screwdriver or something?

-=sigh=-

car is out of warranty for a couple months too... and i also found out that Audi was supposed to contact us about extending the warranty/Audi branded roadside assistance but they didn't....

-=sigh=-

any tricks or tips you guys can suggest?

thanks!

[chb]

you can open it from inside the boot.
There is a plastic panel in the sidewall of the bootspace. Remove this (it should just prize out).
In the cavity behind it is the mechanism for opening the petrol flap.
There is a metal rod that is solenoid activated. Move this with your pinkies instead of letting the solenoid work and the flap will open.

As for what the problem is....well I am sure someone will be along with potential faults in the next few hours. At least this gets you to the airport!

CHB

[gerard]

whew!

gonna go try that now and see if i can get back to the petrol station!

thanks again!

-gerard

[chb]

let me know if it works!

[gerard]

thanks again dude!

-gerard

[Skipton01]

Well done CHB - you got in before me on this one!

There are a number of possible reasons for the buttin not working - faulty button (the fact that it lights up doesn't mean it's working properly), faulty solenoid, faulty central convenience ECU.

These are listed in price-to-fix order from cheap to pricey (about a tenner to £200). Pointers to a faulty cc ECU are other small faults like alarms going off, lights not working as they should and central locking playing up.

There's no real way of telling unless you can get the car scanned. If you know of another A2 with a working button, you can obviosly swap them over to check this one, but swapping a solenoid is a lot trickier!

Cheers,

Mike

[chb]

yay...I beat skipton!
Though my prediction of a thorough technical evaluation was in a few hours was correct!

[ianjohnsonws14]

You can check the button by using a piece of wire across the terminals on the button - if the flap works it is the button. Be careful as there will be more than two wires to the button.

You can also check the solenoid is seeing power with a standard car bulb (I keep one with a couple of bits of wire soldered to it) Put it across the solenoid terminals and operate the button - if it lights but the solenoid does not operate the solenoid is probably faulty.

Likewise you can check the button is getting power the same way (Connect live wire to button = earth point (bodyshell) with the bulb).

You need 2 pairs of hands for some of these tests - or very long arms.

It may also be mechanical - on our first car the boot solenoid link arm (from solenoid to lock) used to fall off - Audi put it back once, I put it back once then Audi changed the solenoid under warranty.

[PAUL MURPHY]

of course, this happens when i go to fill up the tank as i have to pick up my brother from Heathrow tomorrow morning...

i press the button to open the petrol cap door flap thingy and nothing happens...

try this several times no joy... the station attendent comes out and has a go.. he can't get it open either...

of course, the tank is down to Empty now...

is there any way i can manually release the door to fill the tank?

surely there is some kind of latch i can trigger with a screwdriver or something?

-=sigh=-

car is out of warranty for a couple months too... and i also found out that Audi was supposed to contact us about extending the warranty/Audi branded roadside assistance but they didn't....

-=sigh=-

any tricks or tips you guys can suggest?

thanks!
Hi,

I also had the same problem and it was not the switch, and it was not the solenoid. It is a problem with the convenience/ central locking controller. I diagnosed this myself and am not prepared to pay £200 for a new controller especially as I have found an easy way around it.
If I operate the "central locking open" button on my keyfob at the same time as I am pressing the fuel flap release button, it opens everytime. Just keep both buttons pressed, you will hear the doors unlocking and locking but the flap should open. It is easy enough to do every time you fill up, without it being too annoying. Try it and see, good luck!

Paul

[Skipton01]

Nice one Paul - I'll add it to the old memory banks for future reference. Just keep your fingers crossed that the CC ECU doesn't go any further up the swanny!.

Cheers,

Mike