Gas Tank Lid Won't Open... arghh.

[DaveIrwin24]

went to the gas station today to fill up, poped the lid.. no problem filled up.. tried closing the lid.... it wouldnt. then i held the lever up and my gf closed the lid. so i thought i fixed it, cpl hrs later i tried pulling the lever up and the damn lid wont open. tried doing it manually... won't open. :bang guess im gonna have to take it to mazda before i run out of gas lol

[k-existence]

I guess you'll need a new "spring" lever part. Its about $23 bucks for just that part.
I had trouble opening my door because I didnt know it needed that part (I have a aluminum finish one).. you can still get it open by "prying" it open like a lever .... but you can clip some paint off =(

[mazda lover]

this is where Mazda cheaped out on. They should have had a way to open the lid from inside the trunk, a line that you can pull to open it manually . I know the Topaz etc had one from the 1980s. FTW Mazda thanks for thinking of us who might be stranded on a weekend, or on a trip and no Mazda dealer in sight or a garage not open late Saturday or on a Sunday. This kind of engineering annoys me..maybe the button can be pushed back using a credit card, push it between the body and lid.

[Noisy Crow]

To access the the fuel-door latch from the inside: On the hatch there is an access panel in the trunk, remove that. For the sedan: remove the rear-panel from the trunk, along with a few of the fasteners for the side panel so you can bend it back a bit.

You should then be able to work the release with a pair of pliers, or maybe even a screwdriver.

[TheMAN]

this is where Mazda cheaped out on. They should have had a way to open the lid from inside the trunk, a line that you can pull to open it manually . I know the Topaz etc had one from the 1980s. FTW Mazda thanks for thinking of us who might be stranded on a weekend, or on a trip and no Mazda dealer in sight or a garage not open late Saturday or on a Sunday. This kind of engineering annoys me..maybe the button can be pushed back using a credit card, push it between the body and lid.
are you saying a honda and toyota will have them? that is where you're wrong because I own/owned them before and they don't

just like noisy crow said, removing the trim panels in the trunk will let you get to the cable for manual release.... just like any car that has a cable opened gas door!

[mazda lover]

are you saying a honda and toyota will have them? that is where you're wrong because I own/owned them before and they don't

just like noisy crow said, removing the trim panels in the trunk will let you get to the cable for manual release.... just like any car that has a cable opened gas door!


didn't say Toyota or Honda had them or I think I didn't? but why not a pull from inside to manually open the door so you won't have to remove a panel in an emergency. Removing the panel to get at the latch to repair it sounds OK.

[Noisy Crow]

didn't say Toyota or Honda had them or I think I didn't? but why not a pull from inside to manually open the door so you won't have to remove a panel in an emergency. Removing the panel to get at the latch to repair it sounds OK.

It comes down to cost. There are so few failures that they don't put a secondary release it.

BTW, this is yet another reason to not wait until the tank is near empty before filling up. Better to discover the flap won't open when you have a ¼ or ½ tank of gas in the tank rather than only having fumes in there....

[mazdabetty]

went to the gas station today to fill up, poped the lid.. no problem filled up.. tried closing the lid.... it wouldnt. then i held the lever up and my gf closed the lid. so i thought i fixed it, cpl hrs later i tried pulling the lever up and the damn lid wont open. tried doing it manually... won't open. :bang guess im gonna have to take it to mazda before i run out of gas lol

Mine does this in the winter as well. Something in there freezes and seizes up... it's a pain in the ass. The first time it happened to me was only the first week of owning the car, and I was on the highway running on empty.... hahah I was in tears with NOWHERE to go. After trying for 10 minutes, I made sure the lever was down all the way (was sticking as well), and sucked it up and carefully wedged my key in the door to open it up.. Thankfully it didn't leave any marks.

Not sure how long you tried opening it manually... did you try opening it indoors so any ice can melt? I'm not sure how cold it is in Toronto right now but where I am it's cold enough that it's already starting to freeze shut... hopefully they'll be able to fix it for you, otherwise, you're not alone with this struggle :(

[DaveIrwin24]

i live in halifax, and the past few days it been -10 .. nothing crazy.. i mean it opened fine at the gas station .. then the damn thing wouldn't close.. so maybe i shoulda left it open instead of holding the lever up and closing it. must be the spring. which i only had the car for 4 months, so maybe its still under warranty.

[mazda lover]

i live in halifax, and the past few days it been -10 .. nothing crazy.. i mean it opened fine at the gas station .. then the damn thing wouldn't close.. so maybe i shoulda left it open instead of holding the lever up and closing it. must be the spring. which i only had the car for 4 months, so maybe its still under warranty.

if its a 2010 and only 4 months old of course its still under warranty..take er in man-bro

[TheMAN]

he wouldn't know because like most people, they don't read their owner's manual