How to open honda civic gas tank

Fixing the Honda Civic fuel door problem for under $3.00

This only works if your problem is caused by the broken plastic connector (which is the most common cause). This was done on a 2004 Civic Sedan LX. The process should be very similar for other models, but may vary slightly based on door jambs and other design variations.

To see the pictures, view the original post:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...ml#post4640389

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See Pic #1
- 10mm socket (if you're using a ratchet, you may need an extender, as the bolt is about 1" recessed. see pic #5)
- phillips head screwdriver
- pocket knife or other blade
- at least 2-3 feet of wire (under $3.00 at any hardware store, should be with the picture hanging supplies. I found 28 gauge to be the optimal size, but anything from 24-32 gauge should work)

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See pic #2
Open your driver door. By the Fuel Door Lever, there should be a key hole visible. Using a flathead screwdriver, a knife, or a key, pry the small plastic cover off the top. Using a phillips head screwdriver, remove the screw that was underneath it.

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See pic #3
We need to remove the plastic door jamb cover to get at the fuel door mechanism. Before we can do that, we need to move two other plastic jamb covers, starting with the one in front of it, near the Hood Release Lever. The easiest way to get it off is to start from the left (outside edge), pull it back and push it to the right, over the door jamb. Then reach inside under the dashboard, grab the back right edge, and pull back toward you a little, then pull it to the right, toward the passenger side. Don't be afraid to wiggle and apply a good deal of force, you won't break it.

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The next step is loosening the Vertical Door Jamb Cover between the front and rear door. Open the driver side rear door (this will relieve pressure on the vertical jamb cover and make your job easier). From the outside of the Driver door, pull the cover back and push toward the inside of the car. It should pop loose pretty easily. Just lift it up about 4-6 inches, then close the rear door to hold it there so it won't be in your way for the next parts.

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This one is held in place by about 5-6 snap-in buttons (3 on the outside, 2 or 3 on the inside). Just pry it off slowly, a little at a time. Once it's loose, it will lift up easily, but it may feel like it's connected in the back under the driver seat. There's another button back there that gets caught on wiring and makes it hard to lift out. Wiggle it, or go in through the rear door to get a better angle and release it in the back. Moving the driver seat forward/backward can help, too.

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See pic #5
After you have the panels off, loosen the bolt just a little, but don't remove it (10mm socket). Pull the whole Fuel/Trunk mechanism backward about half an inch, then lift it out. Turn it over, and you should see that the white plastic piece connected to the black cable has broken. If the white plastic piece is intact and still connected to the black cable, then your problem is somewhere else (good luck). If the white plastic piece is broken, pull/pry it out of the metal housing, then remove the end of the cable from the bottom of the Fuel/Trunk lever (it slides right out once the white plastic connecter is released).

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(optional See Pic #1)
To get a better angle to work on the cable, I recommend pulling it backward under the driver seat, giving you another 6 inches or so. There's a metal support under the carpet by the driver seat. Just lift the carpet, find the cable 8 inches or so back from the Fuel/Trunk Release, and pull it out from behind the support, then lift it up. It's easy to put back later. This will just give you more flexibility while working.

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For this fix to work, the #1 priority is to wrap tightly and maintain tension on the wire wrapping. To help keep everything tight, I cut two notches in the bottom-most rung of the white connector. This allows the wire to lay flat against the side, and keeps it from moving around, which will reduce flexing/stretching. Using a pocket knife or any blade, slowly and carefully carve two notches on opposite sides. I cut mine all the way down to the center body of the connector to make sure the wires would stay snug.

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(lots of text below, but it's pretty easy really) See pic #6
Starting with about 2-3 feet of wire, find the center of the wire and put it in the bottom rung of the connector, leaving equal lengths of wire on both sides. Pull the Left and Right sides around to the front and continue around to the back, so each side has wrapped around 360 degrees. Pull them VERY VERY TIGHT, and twist them once around each other, switching hands and returning the wires in the opposite direction while making sure to keep tension on the wires. This will "lock" the wire and help keep the tension. Keep the wires very tight and wrap back around to the front. At this point, you should begin twisting them around each other, sort of like a braid, keeping tension to ensure they are wrapped tightly and there is no slack. KEEP THE BRAID VERY TIGHT to keep tension and not allow any slack. The "braid" should be right over one of the two notches, and should lay down along the side of the plastic connector. Keep braiding until you're RIGHT AT, or JUST UNDER the metal piece on the black cable, where it goes from metal to black plastic. Then, pull it very very tight, and wrap each end of the wire around the black cable below the metal part. Wrap each end around once or twice. Pull very tight, and twist the wires around each other, switching hands and reversing, to "lock" the tension. Do this a few more times (wrap once or twice, twist them, then switch hands and reverse). After 3 or 4 reversals, bring both ends of wire around to the side of the empty notch (opposite of the first braid), and begin braiding back up toward the white connecter. KEEP THE BRAID VERY TIGHT to keep tension and ensure there's no slack. Keep braiding until you're RIGHT AT, or JUST UNDER the bottom rung of the white connector, then begin the same process as before. Wrap once or twice around, then twist, switch hands and reverse direction. Do this 2 or 3 times to "lock" the tension in the wire, then braid the remaining ends together half a dozen times, cut off the extra, and push the braided end into the bottom rung so it's out of the way.

You should now have something that looks like Pic #6, and hopefully is extremely tight and and the two pieces of cable are connected and don't move around much (or at all).

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Feed the cable back under the metal bar and the carpet. Attach the cable to the Fuel/Trunk lever. Put the mechanism back in place, and tighten the bolt with your 10mm socket. Test the Lever to make sure the trunk and fuel door are both opening easily.

Now just put everything back together by reversing the directions in Phase 1. The only part I found annoying was the plastic jamb cover over the Fuel/Trunk Lever. If it's not on just right, the lever will kinda get stuck on the plastic jamb cover when you try to open the trunk. So, after you reattach the Fuel/Trunk cover, but BEFORE you reattach the other two jamb covers, test the Lever to make sure the trunk and gas door open easily. If all looks good, pop the other covers back in place, make sure everything is snapped in and secure, then clean up your work place and give yourself a pat on the back.

-- NOTES:

Pic #4 was removed. Apparently there's a limit of 5 pictures on uploads.

As you can see in Pic #6, my 2nd notch isn't deep enough, and my braiding is a little loose. I took this picture after testing my "fix" a few times, and the test runs seem to have loosened the wires a little. All the more reason to keep every micron of slack out of the wire. The tighter your wrapping, the longer it's going to last. Judging by the look of mine after half a dozen Fuel Door openings, I expect that I'll need to re-wrap mine tighter if I want it to last more than a few months. We'll see, though!

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