Fuel fillter cap lock broken.

[ben g]

My fuel filler flap locking mechanism has been broken since I bought the car 3 and a half years ago :lol: completely forgot about it until my mate opened it a few days ago.

It appears the long 'stick' of plastic that locks the filler flap has broken off.

Has anyone replaced this? If so, is it easy to do? If it can be done without taking the rear wing off, that would be handy! I've had the wheel arch lining off before but didn't have a look to see if it could be seen.

Also, is this the part I need?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331690897702?redirect=mobile

Thanks.

 

[Mark555]

It's unbelievable that you've managed to get an MOT on the car for the last 3 years as this is a definite failure! Hope someone with knowledge of easy. cheap fix comes along shortly without having to resort to removing the rear wing.

 

[Smartbear]

It's unbelievable that you've managed to get an MOT on the car for the last 3 years as this is a definite failure! Hope someone with knowledge of easy. cheap fix comes along shortly without having to resort to removing the rear wing.

Wow, that's a surprise-I brought a new triumph motorbike that didn't have a locking filler cap from new so why would a car fail for this reason? I know the filler cap seal is inspected for the mot but that's a different thing :?
Regards

 

[Mark555]

If the locking cap don't lock, it's a failure. Also, if you use one of those 'get me home' temporary plastic screw in filler caps, they are an instant fail for MOT purposes. Happened to me over 10 years ago! Either the cap has to lock or the flap has to lock.

 

[fixit man]

Hi , I've changed one, took me about an hour, as far as I remember all I took of was the inner boot liner, maybe the wheel arch, definitely not the wing. It's a bit fiddly but can be done

P.S. the actuator in the link you attached looks correct, and seems to include the plastic rod, which is good, mine came without the rod !

 

[ben g]

Ah ok, seems like it shouldn't be too hard to replace then. Cheers.

Yeah some come without that green plastic bit, not sure why.

 

[fixit man]

Hi Ben,

The green plastic bit is manual override I believe !

I remember now... I also took out the plastic surround at the fuel cap , makes it easier to get the rod into position !

 

[ben g]

Oh ok, lovely, thanks for that. Should at least give me an idea how to replace it. Can't be that hard :lol: famous last words.

 

[jonrx7uk]

Did mine last year. The eBay part is the right one. Very fiddly to do as the wheel arch liner has to come completely off and you'll be working upside down in a very tight space, but doable in an hour! Take the wheel off as well. If you manage to slide the solenoid actuator back on it's fixings you should be able to swap out the broken plastic arm, saves messing with the pull cord.

 

[ben g]

Thanks for all the help guys. Managed to fix it today.

As said above, easiest thing to do is jack the car up, removed the OSR wheel and arch lining and you can see the actuator inside the arch. I removed the actuator but it works fine. It turns out it was just the plastic rod that had snapped.

I then removed the fuel cap lining and connected the new actuator and rod up, along with the green pull cord. Works perfectly now.

Took about an hour all in what I really want to know is why BMW thought it was a good idea to use a plastic rod, which is easily broken. Shoddy design, should be metal.

 

[srhutch]

Probably classed as a sacrificial component.