petrol cap door won't open! argh!

gerard

gerard

Member
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!
 
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
 
Thank You Thank You!!!!

whew!

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

thanks again!

-gerard
 
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
 
yay...I beat skipton!
Though my prediction of a thorough technical evaluation was in a few hours was correct!
 
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.
 
gerard said:
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!
Click to expand...
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
 
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
 
Same problem here (Although I've put up with it for over a year :eek:)

I've actually decided to sell the car so decided to get it fixed.
However on opening the switch up I've discovered the flap opens when I put a pin on the contact.

I'm just a bit confused because I cannot see how the bit of plastic (The button bit with petrol sign on it) hits the contact - have I lost something from the inside??? The button is just an empty case and when pushed on behaves more like a cover than a button now.

I've also managed to lose the cover on the alarm bit above!

Any idea on costs for the two bits if I need to order them?

many thanks,

Olly Dearden
 
Petrol Cap not opening

Hi Paul/ Guys,

I also had the same problem as you, which I got to a petrol station on a nearly empty tank and the petrol cap switch wouldn't release the cap (no light showing).
The central locking has been not working properly for a few weeks now, so perhaps it is the convenience/ central locking controller, (The key opening the drivers door, but not the other doors. On the front passenger door all doors are released). As I don't have a key fob with a "central locking open" button, can anyone think of another work around solution, or a sequence of diagnostic tests to isolate the problem.

Thanks

Andy d
 
Hi Paul/ Guys,

Apologies this should read:

I also have the same problem as you, which first discovered this morning, when I got to a petrol station on a nearly empty tank and the petrol cap switch wouldn't release the cap (no light showing on the switch ).
Also, the central locking has been not working properly for a few weeks now, so perhaps it is the convenience/ central locking controller, (The key opening the drivers door, but not the other doors. On the front passenger door all doors are released).
As I don't have a key fob with a "central locking open" button, can anyone think of another work around solution, or a sequence of diagnostic tests to isolate the problem.

Thanks

Andy d
 
Thanks Guys,

and especially to Paul (if he is still around).

I just tried the old broken COBRA alarm fob, which came with the car and pressed the activation button while simultaneously pressing the Petrol Cap button and it flipped open first time.
So I guess this means either replacing the Convenience/ Central Locking Controller (Can this be done as a DIY job and is this part still available-how much ?),
or getting a replacement COBRA alarm fob and setting the code to match
(again is this possible as a DIY job?).

Cheers once again.

Andy





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
 
Hi Paul and Andy

I had this excact same problem of getting the fuel flap open, but when I used the key fob (open) and simulaniously pressing the fuel flap button it worked.

Another thing that was happening was the dash display and convienence unit was not seeing the door being open thus the interiour light didn't come on. For what ever reason Audi decided in there infinat wizdom to link the two systems. When the door is open, the fuel flap is permitted to be opened.

The cause of my problem turned out to be the micro switch in the door locking mechanism. I don't know if there is a way to test the microswitch with the door panel in place, but you can when its removed. Start looking there first.

Mike, would you be able to dig a price out for this part I think it could start being a comon fault :-0

I loaned out my copy of part cataloge

Regards Malcolm
 
Press in the fuel cap flap while pressing the release button

This method works intermittently for me. If you can span the reach between the flap and the button, give it a try. Doesn't always work first time so give it several goes and lock and unlock the doors.

Might help in an emergency to try this method yourself?
 
mytA2 said:
Hi Paul and Andy

I had this excact same problem of getting the fuel flap open, but when I used the key fob (open) and simulaniously pressing the fuel flap button it worked.

Another thing that was happening was the dash display and convienence unit was not seeing the door being open thus the interiour light didn't come on. For what ever reason Audi decided in there infinat wizdom to link the two systems. When the door is open, the fuel flap is permitted to be opened.

The cause of my problem turned out to be the micro switch in the door locking mechanism. I don't know if there is a way to test the microswitch with the door panel in place, but you can when its removed. Start looking there first.

Mike, would you be able to dig a price out for this part I think it could start being a comon fault :-0

I loaned out my copy of part cataloge

Regards Malcolm
Click to expand...

Super !!
Thank you internet, A2oc and Malcolm - in that order :)
I couldnt open my fuel filler door today - and I tried to measure the button, look, as close as I could, on the solenoid etc - but then, when I read this I realized that the interior lightning was not on when the drivers door where open - and if i poked around with a screwdriver I got it going, and voila - the fuel filler door button worked !

Unfortunately the micro switch seems to have given up permanently now - and it is not really an easy fix - I'll have to do that one another time :(

/K
 
I had a problem over Christmas with mine, the button would not depress! So I got some fairy liquid and cleaned the button and it worked a treat, turned out that I had some goo on the button and it was stuck. I was very happy with this as a ECU or Solenoid problem sounds difficult to fix.
 
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