what am i missing here?
#11
07-12-2011, 12:10 AM
So without a response, I dove into my car and pulled off the rear interior bottom panel and fixed my problem.
1) The rear interior panel came off fairly easily. There were two screws and a bunch of plastic pins holding the thing in place. To get to the pins inside the storage compartment, I remembered that at one point I had overstuffed it and the outside plastic piece came out of the well, so I just put my fist inside the storage compartment and banged outward on the panel and it easily detached (it is secure by outward facing clips). I next took off the hinge pins from the top and used a childs plastic sand rake to pull out the pins securing the panel to the door. I am sure there is a specialty piece I could have picked up for $50 from snap on tools to do this same job, but this plastic sand rake did just fine, I was lucky to have it sitting in the back of the rover staring up at me when I needed it. I remember thinking to myself "What could I use to slide under these pins and pull then out?", I looked down and by providence or serendipity, there it was staring at me screaming "use me, use me." I almost fell over having a Handy Manny talking tool moment. Once the pins were out of the bottom panel, I was able to slide out the bottom panel by detaching the lower pins holding the top interior panel in place. It did however stick at the back and I noticed inside the vent cover I pulled (yanked) off that there was a very short pin with a very large circular top holding the panel against the rear brake light. I pullled this hidden pin out and the bottom interior panel came off.
2) Once inside I was really upset as I could not see the fuel door lock piston mechanism or anything that looked like it operated a piston. I then realized there was an interior metal wall that was bolted into the exterior panel, definately at the factory before the car was painted (since the bolt heads were partially painted) and I thought to myself, "there is no way I am taking that thing off as I will never get it back on the right way." I had visions of rattling in the car that would never go away. Then I saw black plastic piece, about 6x4 recessed into the interior wall located directly below some bronze colored styrofoam and it pulled right out. It turned out to be a one-way vent for when someone shuts a door.
3) THis vent provided an access point to the 1 inch space between the exterior of the car and the interior/middle bolted on metal panel. I stuck my hand inside and felt around and felt a metal rod (I would suggest enlisting the help of your wife or kids, but I have a fat wife with fat hands, and my kids are lazy so I had to use my meathooks). I noticed the rod pivoted up and down... and had the it was obiviously this that was attached to the piston that goes kachuck-kachuck when you hit the fuel door release button. It took me awhile but I was able to get a hold of it enough to push it back into the the direction of the piston mechanism and then swang the metal rod up so that the end once again portruded through the hole in the rear of the gas tank filler compartment. I could neither see or feel the hole so it was somewhat overwhelming when I realized had I had successfully done this. Then I was able to locate the little rubber washer that encirlces it and keeps it centered in said hole and put it back on.
4) I then called my wife, who responded in that "I have much better things to do than help you" way that she has about her, and had her push the fuel door release button while I watched. It went kachuck-kachuck a few times, didn't ppop out of the hole again, and I was satisfied it would not pop out again, so...
5) Off to the Landrover dealer where $11 later ($12 and change after tax) and I had the little plastic piece pictured above that I didn't remember being there until I saw it. This piece looks enormous on the photo above as there is no perspective, but it has the diameter of a nickle and is about a quarter inch wide it that. The dealership part guy warned me they often break when being put on and suggested I ask the service manager how to put it on, but I refused for the same reason I refuse to stop and ask for directions.
6) It took me awhile, and I could see how the direct approach would cause the arm to break off before the **** could snap in place. I was overcome by a thought that I wonder whose job it is to slide these in place all day. Was it their only job, how does one become a fuel door latch piece inserter? Are there special tests? How much is one paid? IS there someone in England who gets 8 weeks of paid holiday and a Union pension for doing this job alone? But I digress... I seemed to remember someone writing to slide and turn, and I figured it out. I slid the arm through the square hole, pushing it upwards, then once the arm was on, I turned it 90 degrees to the right and pushed the knobby part through the circular hole. Boom back in business.
I can't tell you how much of a difference $11 can make. I had been using blue tack (that stuff you have to use in college to hang posters bc they won't let you put nails in walls) to keep the tank shut and the hotter it gets the less it was keeping the fuel door shut, and the more my wife felt like this car was a taget for gas theives (unlike the other 2 million cars in this town that do not have locking fuel door mechanisms). I think someone on this board suggsted velcro. Get the $11 part. It makes a big quality of life difference and like someone else said, I don't think there is another part for the car you can get for under $15 from the dealership. It was worth the extra $3 to have instant gratification.
The whole project took about an hour (to take the panel off, angle to metal door latch rod upwards and back through the hole, to refit the plastic latch and then reattach the interior panel). I just remembered right now that I think I forgot to reattach the seatbelt panel I unscrewed... better get out there before the kids find it.
Good luck to anyone else having a similar problem. If your piston that locks the fuel door disappears, and you can still hear the kachunk-kachunk sound, then hopefully your rod is still attached you can simply angle it back in place.
Oh one more thing, I did make a run to Pep Boys and they had an entry for the fuel door latch on their inventory system, but it said none of these parts were available. My guess is they are available at the dealership only.
PS I am quite proud of myself for not mentioning any kind of sexual inuendo throughout this whole post.
1) The rear interior panel came off fairly easily. There were two screws and a bunch of plastic pins holding the thing in place. To get to the pins inside the storage compartment, I remembered that at one point I had overstuffed it and the outside plastic piece came out of the well, so I just put my fist inside the storage compartment and banged outward on the panel and it easily detached (it is secure by outward facing clips). I next took off the hinge pins from the top and used a childs plastic sand rake to pull out the pins securing the panel to the door. I am sure there is a specialty piece I could have picked up for $50 from snap on tools to do this same job, but this plastic sand rake did just fine, I was lucky to have it sitting in the back of the rover staring up at me when I needed it. I remember thinking to myself "What could I use to slide under these pins and pull then out?", I looked down and by providence or serendipity, there it was staring at me screaming "use me, use me." I almost fell over having a Handy Manny talking tool moment. Once the pins were out of the bottom panel, I was able to slide out the bottom panel by detaching the lower pins holding the top interior panel in place. It did however stick at the back and I noticed inside the vent cover I pulled (yanked) off that there was a very short pin with a very large circular top holding the panel against the rear brake light. I pullled this hidden pin out and the bottom interior panel came off.
2) Once inside I was really upset as I could not see the fuel door lock piston mechanism or anything that looked like it operated a piston. I then realized there was an interior metal wall that was bolted into the exterior panel, definately at the factory before the car was painted (since the bolt heads were partially painted) and I thought to myself, "there is no way I am taking that thing off as I will never get it back on the right way." I had visions of rattling in the car that would never go away. Then I saw black plastic piece, about 6x4 recessed into the interior wall located directly below some bronze colored styrofoam and it pulled right out. It turned out to be a one-way vent for when someone shuts a door.
3) THis vent provided an access point to the 1 inch space between the exterior of the car and the interior/middle bolted on metal panel. I stuck my hand inside and felt around and felt a metal rod (I would suggest enlisting the help of your wife or kids, but I have a fat wife with fat hands, and my kids are lazy so I had to use my meathooks). I noticed the rod pivoted up and down... and had the it was obiviously this that was attached to the piston that goes kachuck-kachuck when you hit the fuel door release button. It took me awhile but I was able to get a hold of it enough to push it back into the the direction of the piston mechanism and then swang the metal rod up so that the end once again portruded through the hole in the rear of the gas tank filler compartment. I could neither see or feel the hole so it was somewhat overwhelming when I realized had I had successfully done this. Then I was able to locate the little rubber washer that encirlces it and keeps it centered in said hole and put it back on.
4) I then called my wife, who responded in that "I have much better things to do than help you" way that she has about her, and had her push the fuel door release button while I watched. It went kachuck-kachuck a few times, didn't ppop out of the hole again, and I was satisfied it would not pop out again, so...
5) Off to the Landrover dealer where $11 later ($12 and change after tax) and I had the little plastic piece pictured above that I didn't remember being there until I saw it. This piece looks enormous on the photo above as there is no perspective, but it has the diameter of a nickle and is about a quarter inch wide it that. The dealership part guy warned me they often break when being put on and suggested I ask the service manager how to put it on, but I refused for the same reason I refuse to stop and ask for directions.
6) It took me awhile, and I could see how the direct approach would cause the arm to break off before the **** could snap in place. I was overcome by a thought that I wonder whose job it is to slide these in place all day. Was it their only job, how does one become a fuel door latch piece inserter? Are there special tests? How much is one paid? IS there someone in England who gets 8 weeks of paid holiday and a Union pension for doing this job alone? But I digress... I seemed to remember someone writing to slide and turn, and I figured it out. I slid the arm through the square hole, pushing it upwards, then once the arm was on, I turned it 90 degrees to the right and pushed the knobby part through the circular hole. Boom back in business.
I can't tell you how much of a difference $11 can make. I had been using blue tack (that stuff you have to use in college to hang posters bc they won't let you put nails in walls) to keep the tank shut and the hotter it gets the less it was keeping the fuel door shut, and the more my wife felt like this car was a taget for gas theives (unlike the other 2 million cars in this town that do not have locking fuel door mechanisms). I think someone on this board suggsted velcro. Get the $11 part. It makes a big quality of life difference and like someone else said, I don't think there is another part for the car you can get for under $15 from the dealership. It was worth the extra $3 to have instant gratification.
The whole project took about an hour (to take the panel off, angle to metal door latch rod upwards and back through the hole, to refit the plastic latch and then reattach the interior panel). I just remembered right now that I think I forgot to reattach the seatbelt panel I unscrewed... better get out there before the kids find it.
Good luck to anyone else having a similar problem. If your piston that locks the fuel door disappears, and you can still hear the kachunk-kachunk sound, then hopefully your rod is still attached you can simply angle it back in place.
Oh one more thing, I did make a run to Pep Boys and they had an entry for the fuel door latch on their inventory system, but it said none of these parts were available. My guess is they are available at the dealership only.
PS I am quite proud of myself for not mentioning any kind of sexual inuendo throughout this whole post.
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