Hey guys,

I just went to the gas station to fill up and found that my door doesn't open. I gotta get gas very soon so I need to know how to fix this.

Is there a manual way to open it? (without prying damage)

I think it could be the wire came undone at the door end because it looks ok under the dash.

Any help would be MUCH appreciate.

Thanks again,

Warren

 

Had something similar happen to my 96 Taco. What I did was this... slip a thin blade into the gap @ the rear of the fuel door, stick the point into the plastic plunger that holds the door closed. Pry GENTLY toward the rear of the vehicle. "POP" door opens.
If you remember what the plunger I'm talking about looks like, it will help alot. If not, go to a car lot & pop the filler door open and take a good look at the plunger that holds the door shut. You'll see what I mean right away. No damage either.....

 

Thanks much! I'll give that a shot.

Anyone know how to make the re-connection?

Warren

 

I had that happen on my 96 4R. I had to remove the rear plastic panels to access the body panel from the inside. Then I just re-attached the cable to the mechanism. Its hard to explain if you've never seen it. It works just like a bicycle brake, at least on my 96 it did. There was a little ball on the end of the steel cable that when you pulled it via the lever up front, it pulled on a hinge that opened up the door. The little ball slipped out of the hinge.


Oh, and I could not pry my door open. I tried, and ended up putting a nick in the paint.

 

Just looked at my '99. There is no way to release the door from the outside...unless you wanna screw it up. Popping the panel looks like the only way for me. Good luck, it may be easier on your '90...
butnut

 

Warren, I had the same thing happen to me over a year ago, and I was running on fumes.

Todd helped me out at work.
While I released the lever in the cab, he stuck his trusty debit card in the door and was able to get it to open.

When I got home after gassing up, I spread some Amsoil grease on the catch thing inside the door, and also bent it out a bit so when you release the lever, it would make the door pop out further.

 

I had this happen not on my Runner but my old Prelude. It may be that the cable is fine but the little metal tab that causes the door to pop out when your release it is FUBARed. You may want to get a buddy to hold the release while you try and pull the door open by hand. With my old Prelude I would pry a screw driver under the door release as it was down on the floor and then go around to the other side and get the door open everytime till I finally rigged up another metal piece to make the door pop by itself..

 

Thanks guys. I fixed it.

It seems the latch was ok, there just wasn't enough 'spring' left in the clip to push the door out when the latch was pulled.

I pulled the back panel but didn't need to.

Thanks again,

Warren

 

Glad to hear you got it fixed. Sucks you had to tear it all apart for no reason.. Live and learn eh?

 

I haven't had that happen yet on my 4R, but I had it happen on my 87 Celica. Fortunately, I had a solenoid pulling the cable for me, so it was a one man operation to get it open.

I know this is off topic, but I dug up an old pic of my Celica and had it scanned for another purpose. Thought I'd share it: