Last week I noticed my fuel door was flopping open. It would swing open and closed at will. I looked online and found a tip in another Chevy forum, and am posting my version of the fix here.
In short, there is a slot that the spring tensioner fits in, and when it rusts away, the spring has nothing to hold onto. To solve this, pull the door off by taking out two bolts and loosening the filler assembly. Once the door is off, see if the U shaped spring is tight, or if the slot has rusted away. In my case, the slot rusted away so well that it was hard to tell it was ever there.
All I did was take a 1/16" grinder to cut a new slot in the hinge. You can get wheels for a regular grinder, or for a Dremel. The Dremel might have been easier to use in hindsight, as the regular grinder was a bit powerful and hard to hold still. At any rate, I got the new slot cut.
Now for the tough part. Getting the spring to catch on it is a trick. DO NOT TRY TO PUSH IT WITH A SCREWDRIVER - YOU WILL SCRATCH YOUR DOOR LIKE I DID. The trick is to use a flat blade screwdriver to pull the spring into place. The real trick is to use the screwdriver sideways, 90 degrees from how you would normally use it. There is a slot in the hinge that seems to be there for just this purpose. There is an art to this. You have to catch the spring at just the right part of the curve in order to get it to come far enough. Once you do, it works like a charm.
Or you could pay Chevy $100 for a new door. Not for me. I'll post some pictures that will hopefully show the story.
In short, there is a slot that the spring tensioner fits in, and when it rusts away, the spring has nothing to hold onto. To solve this, pull the door off by taking out two bolts and loosening the filler assembly. Once the door is off, see if the U shaped spring is tight, or if the slot has rusted away. In my case, the slot rusted away so well that it was hard to tell it was ever there.
All I did was take a 1/16" grinder to cut a new slot in the hinge. You can get wheels for a regular grinder, or for a Dremel. The Dremel might have been easier to use in hindsight, as the regular grinder was a bit powerful and hard to hold still. At any rate, I got the new slot cut.
Now for the tough part. Getting the spring to catch on it is a trick. DO NOT TRY TO PUSH IT WITH A SCREWDRIVER - YOU WILL SCRATCH YOUR DOOR LIKE I DID. The trick is to use a flat blade screwdriver to pull the spring into place. The real trick is to use the screwdriver sideways, 90 degrees from how you would normally use it. There is a slot in the hinge that seems to be there for just this purpose. There is an art to this. You have to catch the spring at just the right part of the curve in order to get it to come far enough. Once you do, it works like a charm.
Or you could pay Chevy $100 for a new door. Not for me. I'll post some pictures that will hopefully show the story.
