Fuel door won't open

danham

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Location
Cape Cod, MA
TDI
2010 JSW
Is there an emergency release? It's been working fine for 5 months and 6k miles. Today, a Sunday of course and I'm low on fuel, it will not open.

I've tried key on/off lock/unlock doors and hatch -- no joy.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

-dan
 

danham

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Location
Cape Cod, MA
TDI
2010 JSW
Call off the dogs!

But maybe we should leave this on the forum in case it happens to anyone else.

It appears that the fuel door latch can get "out of sync" with the rest of the locks. It took several cycles -- close all doors and hatch, lock, unlock, open at least one door, re-lock, repeat -- for the fuel door to pop open.

It now works fine.

Whew!

-dan
 

MuthaFunk

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Location
GTA Ontario
TDI
2010 Golf TDI Wagon
Wow. I'm glad I read this. Now if I ever get caught with this I won't get all pissed and pry it open with a screwdriver.:D

Good thread.
 

dupp

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 9, 1999
Location
Oxford, MS
Could be the vacuum control module located in the rear pass side area above the tire. This pump effects the vacuum mech for the locks and fuel door. I have a spare for $45. + shipping.
 

danham

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Location
Cape Cod, MA
TDI
2010 JSW
MuthaFunk said:
Wow. I'm glad I read this. Now if I ever get caught with this I won't get all pissed and pry it open with a screwdriver.:D

Good thread.
That thought began to edge its way into my brain, but I slammed the door on it very rapidly ;)

-dan (putting away pry bar and hoping nobody notices)
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
my sugestions you need to use it more frequently. So far I've been having to open mine once a week and it's been trouble free!

Drive more!
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
if there was, i would be stranded on the side of the road
 

tcsjr

New member
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Location
Punta Gorda, FL
TDI
2011 VW Jetta TDI
Is the 2011 TDI fuel door mechanical? Mine is a push and release type door. My TDI has less than 1000 miles on it and only two trips to the pump...... design flaw? VW will hear from me today.
 

lonniebear

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Location
san antonio
TDI
2011 Golf 6M 4dr.
Is the 2011 TDI fuel door mechanical? Mine is a push and release type door. My TDI has less than 1000 miles on it and only two trips to the pump...... design flaw? VW will hear from me today.
Your fuel door locks when your doors are locked. Try it out.
 

BillAud

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2010
Location
Cleveland, OH
TDI
2010 Golf TDI DSG
Could be the vacuum control module located in the rear pass side area above the tire. This pump effects the vacuum mech for the locks and fuel door. I have a spare for $45. + shipping.
dupp, I think VW stopped using vacuum actuators for the door locks when the MK4 (1999.5) Golf and Jetta were released. My sister had a MK3 Jetta and I remember hearing that vacuum pump whirring every time the locks cycled. The last 3 generations have all used electronic locks... this is why the computer can lock individual doors after they have been opened.
I sure hope my fuel door never gets stuck like danham's did... that's some serious frustration!
 

lethe

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Location
Hawley, Pa
TDI
2011 Golf TDI
Crap, that's ~60K/yr if you deduct vacations/holidays and add weekend travel.
yup plus added to that I've been using it for the weekend running as I'm trying to keep my wife's mileage down as she's getting something new soon.
Maybe I'll throw my mileage down in my signature as something fun to keep track of.
Think of me as the beta tester to see what goes wrong on these before you all see it. :p
 
Last edited:

1963gp

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Location
Alexandria, Virginia, USA
TDI
2012 golf TDI tech edition modified and converted to GTD, 2003TDI Jetta Smith p/u conversion, 1987 Syncro Westy TDI conversion, 1967 Westy TDI AHU. 1995 EuroCamper TDI Syncro, 2014 Cayanne Diesel TDI, 2004 V10 TDI Touareg.
this has happened to us 3x in 30k miles on our 2010 jsw dealer says lock is fine. dealer service SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
spray some lube in there, free it up.
 

geodug

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
TDI
2011 Golf Wagon TDI 6MT
My lock got sticky on me a month or so ago. Took some jiggling and recycling to get it to open again. When you are low on fuel that is a pretty uncomfortable feeling.

I wonder if there is a manual door release in the panel similar to a trunk release if you get locked in the trunk of sedans. I will have a look to see one day.
 

3516ACERT

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Location
Maryland
TDI
2010 JSW
It took me ten very frustrating minutes when my car was new, didn't realize that if the people doors were locked, so was the fuel door.

If cycling the door locks several times frees up the mechanism, I would blame the actuator, some little 12v two position plunger of some kind.
 

jetlagmech

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Location
Toledo, WA
TDI
2010 jetta
I installed a manual release in my trunk for the fuel door. very easy to get to thru the trunk once you find where it is. I am not very computer savy to post a link but I did a thread with pictures if you do a search for my threads. I saw someone say a credit card will push in the crack and release it but have not tried it myself.
 
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