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Hi,

My Superb's fuel cap is stuck. I have had it for 60,000km with no problems. Was at the pumps and the cap got stuck and won't open. Tried locking and unlocking the car while pushing in the fuel cap with no success. Any tips?

Thanks.

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Not clear from your post if it's the cap itself or the filler door that's stuck.

If it's the door then assume this is the locking pin that is gunged up and stuck in locked position? Not familiar with Superb II but the B5 Passat and therefore Superb I had access through the jack storage panel in the wheelarch trim and you could release it manually. Failing that a well aimed squirt of WD40 on the pin with repeated locking/unlocking might free it

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Its a common fault , its usually the central locking not releasing properly , we have to cycle ours two of three times every time we fill up

You can force it without breaking it if need be , just gently lever it

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Just keep trying the lock/unlock whilst holding in slightly, eventually it will open, I've spent 5 frustrating minutes doing this before now, it's a pain that my dealer will be sorting in the New Year. I leave mine open now until it's fixed.

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Hi guys

Yes it's the door on the outside as opposed to the internal fuel cap. I slipped a coin in the door and kept locking/unlocking the car while applying pressure to the coin last night. Gently I opened the door and now it opens and closes normally. However, it is a bit stiffer so I am sure it will get stuck again some other time.

Due a service soon and will mention it to the main dealer then.

Thanks for all the replies.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My vehicle went into the dealer a week ago to fix a few bits and pieces the filler flap was one of them. All they did was lubricate the locking mechanism on the outside and it appears to be working so far, might be worth a try if anyone is struggling.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi,

 

I dismantled the flap motor today as mine was only working intermittently.

 

It is fiddly, but not too difficult. Nothing was broken inside. A small amount of rust on the ratchet spring (it's made in Italy), but not enough to cause this problem. The rust is probably from water entering down the operating post where it's not well sealed. There are nine lugs in total holding the two halves together..

 

Only two springs to lose (i.e. watch out for) as it comes apart. It's all plastic apart from a small Chinese motor that drives a 'quick thread'.

 

After cleaning and re-greasing the mechanism it now works perfectly.

 

I left it plugged in to the car loom as I didn't want to have to remove the inside boot trim. Less than an hours work.

 

Access is by removing the single Torx tx20 screw and pulling the plastic/rubber surround outwards from the l/h side (with the fuel cap off).

 

The assembly slides over the fuel neck and comes off with the painted fuel flap door and hinge and drain pipe complete, twisting through a quarter turn to allow the door hinge to clear the body as you withdraw it.. It comes off surprisingly easily once the rubbery bit is off the filler neck. Holding the flap door at the same time might stop you dropping (and scratching) it.

 

I'll update if it goes bad again.

Edited by CombatWombat
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Yes, I have plenty, but I am unable to upload them to the Briskoda site!  It just reports an upload failure.

 

 Perhaps I have exceeded my monthly upload limit in other posts??

 

Any suggestions?

 

Btw, my car is from 2009, I wonder if there is a revised part on newer cars? The posts about it on here seemed to have dried up.

Edited by CombatWombat
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The white grease is silicone grease, so if you have it to hand it is probably better to use this as a lubricant for anybody doing the same. It's a low viscosity grease used for these type of moving parts and has a degree of water repellency.

Thanks for both of you on write up and pics. :)

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I suspected that white grease was a silicone variety. It was a swine to remove all traces from my fingers when taking photos, just like the RS branded silicone grease I keep in the garage. But my RS grease is a little thicker and has no colour.

 

It seems the locking mechanism was unreliable because the motor was not powerful enough to drive the mechanism (when the lubricant was displaced/aged?).

 

Now that the mechanism has lots of good, ol' Castrol LM on it and some thick-ish oil on the actuating pillar it is obviously smoother. Will it last?

 

I understood that silicone grease was a fantastic water repellent but only an average lubricant, are the newer ones better?

 

Happy to be updated, of course.

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Out of idle curiosity, I checked the current dealer price for the whole unit. (Ebay has them from Denmark for 145 euros at the moment).

 

It is £17.88 + vat. for item part no.  3T0.810.773

 

I'm fairly certain it was well over a hundred a few years ago!

 

So just buy a new one, remove the boot trims and connect it!

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Fuel filler flap locking mechanism, once greased, is unlikely to give any further trouble, so long as it was greased while still working well. You can grease it from fuel filler flap side using silicone grease spray, or silicone+teflon grease spray, and feed the grease while holding the bolt pressed into the mechanism. Not much is required, silicone grease is good water repellent so once sprayed, the moving parts are protected fairly well.

 

It may be just my luck but compared to previous 2 new Skodas, the latest one (2012) came dry everywhere. The amount of various lubricants I had to stuff into door locks, gear level pivot, hinges etc. on collection (I.e. on a brand new car) was probably double I had used for maintenance of 2 past Skodas throughout their life. So it's worth to check your car over for other points which may not have been greased properly at factory and/or service.

Edited by dieselV6
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  • 1 month later...

Similar issue is affecting my 2009 car. Except for the fact that when gently prising the fuel filler cap, the plastic clip snapped. 

 

Will lubricate the motor in line with instructions from CombatWombat but has anyone any experience or advice or how to replace the broken outer door? Might try araldite on the clip but probably looking at replacing the outer door i suppose. 

 

Hi,

 

I dismantled the flap motor today as mine was only working intermittently.

 

It is fiddly, but not too difficult. Nothing was broken inside. A small amount of rust on the ratchet spring (it's made in Italy), but not enough to cause this problem. The rust is probably from water entering down the operating post where it's not well sealed. There are nine lugs in total holding the two halves together..

 

Only two springs to lose (i.e. watch out for) as it comes apart. It's all plastic apart from a small Chinese motor that drives a 'quick thread'.

 

After cleaning and re-greasing the mechanism it now works perfectly.

 

I left it plugged in to the car loom as I didn't want to have to remove the inside boot trim. Less than an hours work.

 

Access is by removing the single Torx tx20 screw and pulling the plastic/rubber surround outwards from the l/h side (with the fuel cap off).

 

The assembly slides over the fuel neck and comes off with the painted fuel flap door and hinge and drain pipe complete, twisting through a quarter turn to allow the door hinge to clear the body as you withdraw it.. It comes off surprisingly easily once the rubbery bit is off the filler neck. Holding the flap door at the same time might stop you dropping (and scratching) it.

 

I'll update if it goes bad again.

 

 

Paul Driscoll

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  • 2 years later...

Called at the petrol station this morning on my way home from a 12hr night shift to fill up as the car was only showing around 20 mile range and found I couldn't get the filler flap to open. Being knackered and ready for bed I just went home with a view to checking it when I got up. Found this thread when I woke up and tried the technique of holding the flap in slightly as I unlocked the car and it worked. Left it open and got in the car and went and filled the car up then closed it properly. I've tried it a few times since and it works fine every time now.

 

I have a aerosol can of white lithium grease with one of the fine/precise application straws so will try and grease the mechanism up a bit while I'm off over the next few days.

 

 

From the above posts is it a case of removing the black plastic/rubber panelling that is all around the fuel tank opening to do the said grease spraying? Or can it be done with the spray straw without removing anything?

 

Also how easy is the black plastic cover to remove and re-fit again if need be?

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I had the same issue. Once the flap was open I squirted lots of WD40 on and around the little spring loaded push button and then clicked it in and out manually with my finger several times to work the WD40 into the mechanism. Been fine ever since.

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Try to use silicone grease rather than lithium grease on this mechanism, especially since silicone grease is what's in there already. Lithium based greases, while excellent for lubricating metal parts, have a nasty habit of eating away some plastics.

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UPDATE: My locking petrol flap played up about six months later, so my opening/cleaning/greasing was only a short term fix.

Getting the motor case apart was a problem, in as much as you are trying to open many plastic retaining clips at the same time, so not enough hands (and small screwdrivers) available. But getting the plastic panel that surrounds the filler pipe off is easy, but serves no purpose unless you are stripping the motor.

I was quite thorough, and it didn't stay fixed, so I would consider a new motor as the price is no longer unreasonable.

Fitting would be extremely easy if it wasn't for the loom and connector being inside the boot.

You could overcome this by pulling some of the 'spare loom length' through its grommet, solder the new motor on to the car's existing loom (polarity check required) and push it back into the boot void through the grommet. (For a clean repair some heatshrink would need to be put onto the wires before they are soldered together).

From what I remember the only seal on the operating button is the one you can see from outside. As the rubber ages that stops being effective and water gets in.

HTH

post-45446-0-03254400-1484240207_thumb.jpg

Edited by CombatWombat
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UPDATE: My locking petrol flap played up about six months later, so my opening/cleaning/greasing was only a short term fix.

From what I remember the only seal on the operating button is the one you can see from outside. As the rubber ages that stops being effective and water gets in.

HTH

 

Quick question for you - how old do you think the seal was when it failed?

 

Just asking as it would be worth checking on cars of the same age (especially if you think it happened before the warranty was up).

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Mine was nearly five years old when it became a proper problem.

I don't think you could anticipate its failure through looking at it, but if you'd gently wobble the locking pin, the rubber seal cast into the plastic body didn't seem to continue to make a seal against the pin all around its circumference.

It did fail in stages though, first just intermittently. Then sometimes it would only open if you took some of the pressure off it by gently pressing the flap door whilst operating the remote fob. Then that got more common.

Edited by CombatWombat
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