Frozen Gas Door/Tank Cover

Attempted to fill up today and found the gas tank cover/door completely frozen. Anyone else have this issue or happen to know a way to get around this? (Don't have access to a plug to run a heater/hair dryer/similar) Attempted tapping the fuel filler door and pushing it to see if that would have done anything to no avail. Kinda want to avoid having to pull the emergency release cord but that'd mean a trip to the dealership either which way if it's still stuck/frozen in the morning.

Kinda irks me that they never designed the car to have a manual release aside from the release cord. Also pretty urgent as my car seems to be burning 15L/70 km (car is telling me otherwise with 8.2L/100km)

Reading the Owner's Manual, pulling the fuel door manual release isn't a one-time thing - taking it to the dealer appears to only be a suggestion to find out the cause for it not opening.

Ended up doing so earlier today. Apparently it's just prone to seizing up in the type of weather we have here. It has happened last winter on a few occasions but it wasn't as severe in comparison. Apparently even de-icing fluid/lubrication of the latch won't really help according to the advisor.

There is no latch. There is a locking mechanism, but the fuel door itself isn't latched when closed. You can simply lift open the door. So if it is simply frozen closed, you should be able to gently pry it open. You might try some Shin-Etsu or similar grease on the rubber seal and the popping mechanism, which may prevent water from freezing it shut.

If the locking mechanism itself is getting frozen and inoperable, that is something more serious going on.

Used "latch" for lack of a better term. But the highlighted part is the mechanism that refuses to budge. I can however hear it struggle but that's as far as it goes. There doesn't quite seem to be a way to "lift" said fuel door by the looks of how much wiggle room it actually has and doesn't seem to be enough space to slide anything behind the door to get at it. Not too sure if gently prying it will cause that to rotate though.

Sounds like its time for a DIY closed cell foam gasket of some sort. At least around the top half to keep water away from that area.

Ok, yeah that is what I call the locking mechanism. From your initial post I thought the entire door was frozen shut. If it isn't unlocking, then I certainly wouldn't try forcing the door open since that would just break something. It certainly does sound like something is wrong, as even in cold weather it shouldn't become inoperable.

Yeah, it seems really abnormal since this hasn't been mentioned before on here let alone another vehicle in the household doesn't have this issue with a similarly designed locking mechanism. The service advisors still claim that "it's normal".

curt d said:

Sounds like its time for a DIY closed cell foam gasket of some sort. At least around the top half to keep water away from that area.

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+1, buy some small D-shaped weather seal and tape it to the top half of the black area behind the fuel door (I opted to taping it to the plastic portion so I don't risk damaging the paint on the door itself if I want to remove it/replace it in future when rubber hardens). This will prevent it from freezing as well as prevent water from getting into the fuel door and freezing that too. I noticed during a rainy day that water drips from that onto the fuel door. Sealed up the top half and don't seem to have the issue now, excess water can still drain down the bottom. My weather seal was too thick to put all around the fuel door so I only did the top half. For some reason the bottom half seems like it's closer so if I taped the whole thing it props the door open...

hmm ok, that might be a plan. happen to have any images for reference? having a bit of a hard time imagining how that fits into place specially since first thing that comes to mind is that it lines the area between the gas door and in front of the plastic shell.

Astray50 said:

hmm ok, that might be a plan. happen to have any images for reference? having a bit of a hard time imagining how that fits into place specially since first thing that comes to mind is that it lines the area between the gas door and in front of the plastic shell.

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That's how I have mine. Notice the black weatherstrip along the top of the fuel cap housing. I can probably go a bit further down right side but it was sufficient to prevent water dripping on top of the fuel cap itself.

cool, i'll have a look into picking some up on my end. just... need to get the fuel door open somehow... how tough would that be to remove in the case that I screw up the placement though?

Astray50 said:

cool, i'll have a look into picking some up on my end. just... need to get the fuel door open somehow... how tough would that be to remove in the case that I screw up the placement though?

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Its not permanent, just sticky tape and its on a plastic surface so very easy to remove and as far as I can tell there is 0 chance of damage. If there's residue just rub it clean. I'm using some small d shaped weather seal from aliexpress. I found that this had a better hold than the ones on aliexpress that came with 3m adhesive. I'll link the item when I get home if I remember.

cool, thanks!

Astray50 said:

cool, thanks!

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https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5M-...dow-Door-Seal-Strip-For-Door/32739239687.html

This is the one I'm using. I ordered the Black D-type. Only a few dollars for many meters so you can screw up many times and keep trying! It's about 6mm in thickness. I would recommend that as the maximum. As mentioned, the bottom gap of my fuel is much smaller than the top so I only sealed the top half just to route the water around the side instead of into the door gap. Haven't had issues with water getting into the fuel door itself but water can still get in to the bottom but there is a drain hole for that purpose.

This thing is super cheap but coming from China it does take forever... I noticed you're in Toronto as well so expect at least a few months shipping time.... You can temporarily go to home depot and grab some foam strips like this (https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p....herstripping-closed-cell-tape.1000182818.html). Not too sure how well it would hold but you're taping it to plastic anyways so if it doesn't work just toss it.