How to: Manually release mk3 fuel flap

[samwakeman096]

If your petrol cap is like mine and will not open the odds are your solenoid is not operating correctly. It took me many hours of research and throwing my arm up in places to finally find how to release it, however this should only be a temporary fix and a new solenoid will probably be required (around £30-50).

The manual release is basically behind the petrol cap, but is a bugger to find. To access it you will need to open the boot and remove the driver side trim, where you will see some sort of other mechanism- this is not it, reach past the mech and then straight up behind the trim pretty much as far as you can go- somewhere up there there should be a small metal lip that you can push upwards about 30mm or so (this may take a while to find) and that is what will release the pin holding the flap shut. Your petrol flap is now open The pin will probably work for a short period of time before seizing up again so it is worth completely filling the tank while you can.
Tip:When you have found the catch it is definitely worthwhile using some tape as a guide up the trim so it can easily be located next time you need to fill up

When i replace the solenoid i will upload a new thread on how to do this, and hopefully be able to show more clearly where the manual release is. Hope this helps!

 

[glenn_adam_doble]

i had this problem on my first mk3, but i was in the petrol station, i just slid the painted fuel cap off and pushed the solenoid up with my finger real pain in the arse but sound it was easier than stripping half the boot out in a carpark some where

 

[fakeConcern]

Thank you samwakeman096 for posting this! My sister phoned me in a panic with a stuck petrol filler flap & I found this-sorted!