fuel door troubleshooting

[soccer_hooligan]

I would like to share my experience troubleshooting and fixing a fuel door problem that I have recently had with my 2002 Beetle.

When I pulled the switch to open the fuel door on my Beetle the fuel door didn't open. When I toggled the switch I didn't hear any noise (ie. from the servo that pulls cable that opens the door) After reading a few forum posts I decided to test the fuel door switch.

The fuel door switch and the trunk switch are the same switch, so to determine if the switch was the problem (which I suspected because when I toggled the switch I couldn't hear any noise from the servo, the servo could also be bad, but I had my fingers crossed) I disconnected the trunk switch from the trunk switch connector and connected the trunk switch to the fuel door switch circuit. After toggling the trunk switch my fuel door opened, therefore I needed a new switch.

[Volkswoman]

Hey! That's brilliant! What if neither work? SInce i bought my '99 1 1/2 years ago, neither the fuel door OR the hatch open using either the buttons inside the car or on my remote. I just open them manually. I refuse to pay the big bucks that the stealership wants to find the problem.

[Parks92]

Mine did the same thing I just bought a fuel door switch on eBay for like 20 bucks and it works perfectly now

[soccer_hooligan]

I am sorry to hear that Volkswoman, you can get one used switch on ebay for ~$20 and try to see if it will make your trunk or fuel door work.

[MyOtherRidesAVette]

Originally Posted by Volkswoman

Hey! That's brilliant! What if neither work? SInce i bought my '99 1 1/2 years ago, neither the fuel door OR the hatch open using either the buttons inside the car or on my remote. I just open them manually. I refuse to pay the big bucks that the stealership wants to find the problem.

If you can open your fuel door manually, I suspect the latch is not catching. If it were, you would not be able to open it manually, key or no key. Have the same issue with my '05. Need to open things up and see if it's not a retainer clip that's come loose on the electric latch, or a broken latch or mount.

MORAV