AH, but WAIT... that little tab below the hole on the hinge looks like it is in the exact position to block and prodding from below... I'd say then, make a NEW hole next to that other one, slightly aft and inboard. With luck, directly below the pin/hole.

 

I see what you mean but to me it looks like that tab doesn't protrude nearly so far out as the one that the locking pin passes through. I can't see any other reason for Jaguar to place a hole under the locking pin so hopefully that's how they intend access to be gained in the event that the solenoid fails. If I get time today I'll get my wife to press the button on the dash while I try to pull the filler door open manually first, before going to the trouble of lifting the car and removing the wheel and arch liner just in case it's something simpler than that locking pin getting stuck, given that I can hear the solenoid moving.

 

Good luck with the fix . Couldn't help notice that you have other car problems . Lucky white heather

 

Too bad they didn’t install a manual release in the trunk/boot. Other cars I’ve had, had such an emergency release for the door, I guess they figured it would fail sometime, and as the car got older and the spring weaker, I used that manual release often, especially in cold weather where it would freeze shut. The pull cable was positioned in the trunk/boot such that you could pull the cable with one hand and pry open the door with the other. Our cars don’t have such a useful thing? (I haven’t looked.)

 

OK, we're back in business. I got my wife to press the release button while I tugged at the filler door with a trim removal tool. To my surprise it popped open on the second attempt. The tether on the actual filler cap itself has never been attached to the car since I got it and it was resting under the locking pin above the hinge so I think that was somehow caught on the door arm, preventing it from opening. I'll get round to replacing the filler cap or whatever the tether attaches to the car with once the holiday season is over.

Incidentally, I think Cee Jay may be right about the hinged arm blocking that hole on the bottom. If I have spare time the next time I have that wheel off the car I'll maybe drop the arch liner and have a look, out of interest.

@kj07xk , no there's no backup manual release for the fuel door, unfortunately.

 

Sometimes simple is best...

 

Yep, was worth ruling that out before attempting surgery - thanks.

 

Excellent news and great to have your wife solve the problem with you! Maybe she’ll do the oil change next😙
Please advise if the filler cap retainer was the issue. Mine seems to be intact and routed correctly but never want to have this problem at the gas station either.
Good to have this info as a sticky for reference.

 

I did threaten to enlist her to help fix the A/C drain/duckbill pipe blockage I have just now In truth, her slender digits would probably have a better chance of fixing it than my big, clumsy Shrek hands...

So yes, I'm confident it was the filler cap tether/retainer that was the issue. As above, the far end (where it should attach to the filler bowl) has been adrift since I got the car and once I got the filler door open I could see the end of the tether sitting under where the locking pin engages so I'm pretty sure it was that. Once the door was open I had my glamorous assistant press the button several times and observed the locking pin move up every time without fail. I rotated the tether collar around the filler cap so the end of the tether was well clear of the locking parts and closed the filler door, had her press the button several more times and each time the door opened normally.

That being said, the orientation of the loose tether and the stuck door could still be coincidental so I'll keep a trim tool and a foot or so of dowel in the car in case I find myself having to repeat the same procedure solo at a petrol station, until I'm confident it's not going to happen again.

 

An unattached tether is not a tether - it's a tail.

Either replace the plastic pin through the circular hole on the end which fixes it to the filler bowl or just cut it off.

Graham

 

[QUOTE=8bit;2333210]OK, we're back in business. I got my wife to press the release button while I tugged at the filler door with a trim removal tool. To my surprise it popped open on the second attempt. The tether on the actual filler cap itself has never been attached to the car since I got it and it was resting under the locking pin above the hinge so I think that was somehow caught on the door arm, preventing it from opening. QUOTE]

I'm glad it worked. (See post #6 above🙂 ). "It is surprising" said Occam "how many times the simplest answer is the right one!"

 

A good paraphrase of Ockham's thought. He apparently never wrote that the simplest answer is best. But he did write statements such as, "It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer." The statement we know as "Occam's razor" arose out of later interpretations of phrases like this.

 

Yes, quite I did try to find an appropriate fixing for reattaching the tether a while back with no success. The fixing normally comes as part of the filler cap and tether assembly. I have considered just chopping the tether off, I may go down that route.

 

Yup...I was paraphrasing Occam (a name variously spelled); a perfect example for owners of modern vehicles like the Jaguar, suddenly faced with electronic misbehaviour: those multiple warning lights, the ill-functioning of various systems...and the inevitable conclusion that he/she has bought a mobile lemon....Occam's answer is "it's the battery, and only the battery!" And most often, Occam is correct.

 

Available separately according to JEPC:





Graham

 

Nice one, thanks for that!