When you pull the lever to pop open the gas cap cover on your 1999 Toyota Camry the door doesn't pop open even though the door can be pried open when the lever is pulled up--how do you fix it?

Answer 1

The hinge on these doors tends to rust -- it's a pin inside rolled sheet metal, so capillary action pulls the water in and rusts the pin. The it breaks. If you've caught it in time, flow some penetrating oil into the hinge and wiggle the door back and forth till it's free. I use some motorcycle chain oil in the hinge once a year before snow season to keep the salt water out. What I found was that the interior lever is, in fact, retracting the pin in the fuel door compartment just fine, but the mechanism that creates the spring action to open the door when the pin is retracted is gone. I believe this action is created by a protrusion on a plastic clip on the hinge side of the door that breaks off over time. This protrusion is designed to push against a rubber pad when closed, creating enough spring action to "fling" the door open when the lever is pulled and the pin retracts. I'm going looking for a replacement plastic clip. Look here as well www.kuehncom.com