View Full Version : 10 min to figure out how to open the fuel door
liquid
04-21-2004, 10:36 AM
:oops:
So I'm sitting in the driver's seat of a 300C, fiddling with the power tilt/telescope wheel and adjustable pedals, when I decide to CHECK out the fuel door. Hmmm no button on the door like a Crown Vic. No lever on the lower dash by the knees... wait a tick... console? overhead console? glove box? By now I'm getting steamed, so I go out and start pushing on the door, thinking it's similar to an entertainment center where you push the door and it clicks open. No dice. Go back in the driver's seat and look for an owner's manual. Nope. CHECK the trunk, not there either. Back to the fuel door, except this time I push on the leading edge of the door, and it pivots open. How novel!! 8) Hope the salesman tells new customers about this... :)
Haha! At the auto SHOW in NY, two reporters and myself were trying for a good half hour how to open the rear hatch on the Magnum until we found out that they had taken the relay out for the hatch lock. There is no inside release for the hatch. A tech came over and replaced the relay so we could open the hatch and take look inside the cargo area.
By the way, welcome to the site! ;)
TehKing
04-21-2004, 10:54 AM
I always feel like a jackass when things like that happen.
Welcome to the site!
Nice Panther, btw.
E8502
04-21-2004, 11:32 AM
You know Consumer Reports will be all over this one:
'The 300C is great, but we don't recommend it because of its odd and confusing controls..." :P
And yes, welcome to the site!! :)
alloyed2sea
08-04-2004, 12:49 PM
Consumer Reports - home to the penny-pinching accountants amongst us. What a pack of losers.
kentc1978
08-04-2004, 12:56 PM
I have a E430 Benz, and the first time I had to fill up...I had the same problem. No latch to release the gas door, no lip that you use to flip open, I had no idea. I stood there for 5 mins until a fellow Benz owner drove up, saw my dillema and showed me. Made me feel pretty foolish.
DucatiBoy
08-04-2004, 12:59 PM
It's cute, but the problem is that I live in NJ where it's against the law to pump your own gas. So everywhere I fill up I have to have the discussion with the guy.
Fill 'er up.
You have to open the lid.
Just push the front.
What?
The front of the lid, push it.
What?
Push in on the front of the lid.
Oh....
Sometimes it's easier to actually get out and open it for them. I would assume that after a few more get on the road they will get the hang of it.
thuffman03
08-04-2004, 01:02 PM
I had an Impala SS and I loaned it to my friend. He went to fill it up. He could not find the gas tank. They have it behind the license plate. So he just left 10 bucks on the seat and a note saying he could not find where to put in the gas.
He has never lived this one down!
IndySilverC
08-04-2004, 01:26 PM
:) Enjoyed reading these stories. Reminds me of the time I had a rental car [I forget make/model] that I tried to quickly fill up before I had to return it and catch my flight home.
Getting out of the car, I found no fuel door on that side...ok, I had pulled up on the wrong side of the car. No problem. I hopped right back in and pulled around to the other side, where I again noticed a lack of fuel door. OK, must be behind the license plate. It was, but I still wasn't close enough to fit the nozzle in, ^%$#% , so I just got back in the car and drove off without the fillup---too damn much trouble!
Not wanting to miss my flight, I ate the rental refuel-charge, and argued with the accountant back at the office. So in that case, my company paid for my foolishness. Usually it's the other way around... ;)
IndySilverC
Mike2thaC
08-04-2004, 03:52 PM
I was working for an exotic car dealership as a porter during summer breaks FROM college, and they sent me to put gas in a 1959 Cadillac or something similar, and I could not find the filler cap......and FROM working there, I knew all of the tricky places to look. The front, under the plate.....I even had the old guys FROM our regular gas station out helping me look.
Then I said jokingly.....it's probably under the tail light or something. The gas station guy then pushed a circular part of the tail light, and sure as sh*t the thing poped up and slide aside. That was the slickest place I have ever seen a gas tank filler cap.
DucatiBoy
08-04-2004, 04:05 PM
Yah, when I take my 1966 bug to the gas station people look at me weird when I pull up and pop the hood (technically the trunk since the engine is in the back). No external fuel filler, just one in the trunk. :)
Unholy
08-04-2004, 07:27 PM
hehe... I must be smarter than the average bear.... it only took me 1 1/2 minutes to figure it out... :blam:
snickle
08-04-2004, 08:19 PM
I spent a few mintues looking for a switch and then poking the cover. Opens easy once you know how, but it is still not automatic for me yet.
duglas
08-06-2004, 12:52 AM
I bought mine June 17th on the "premire night" and because I bought the only RT they had I had to leave it there so they had one to show.. So, I left with a spare key and the owners manual... So, as soon as I got home I read the manual and saw the info on the gas door. I bet I would of had the same problem
IndySilverC
08-06-2004, 08:58 AM
I bought mine June 17th on the "premire night" and because I bought the only RT they had I had to leave it there so they had one to show.. So, I left with a spare key and the owners manual... So, as soon as I got home I read the manual and saw the info on the gas door. I bet I would of had the same problem
I don't think I could have done that. Buy a sweet new car and then walk away with just a MANUAL! That would depress me; it reminds me of buying insurance, where you promise to spend all that money, shake hands, and walk away with----nothing! :evil:
IndySilverC
Hemispherical
08-06-2004, 10:37 AM
Why is it against the law?
It's cute, but the problem is that I live in NJ where it's against the law to pump your own gas. So everywhere I fill up I have to have the discussion with the guy.
brimmer
08-06-2004, 12:13 PM
NJ law prohibits self service for pumping gas. But it doesn't matter, 'cause the gas is probably cheaper here than most other places :!:
hemi dawg
08-12-2004, 01:15 AM
Dude, I almost ran out of gas before I made it home and looked it up in the manual (which was next to my toilet where all my great books get read!) The next day, I went to the dealer and bought the locking gas cap--don't want some prankster dropping **** in my sweet hemi.
BrilliantBlackHemi
08-12-2004, 06:06 AM
Dude, I almost ran out of gas before I made it home and looked it up in the manual (which was next to my toilet where all my great books get read!) The next day, I went to the dealer and bought the locking gas cap--don't want some prankster dropping **** in my sweet hemi.
For those that saw the Seinfeld episode where George took the book in the bathroom at Brentanno's Book Store.....
Now your Owner's Manual is flagged. Now get your dirty toilet book outta here. :lol:
hemi dawg
08-13-2004, 03:35 AM
"Now your Owner's Manual is flagged. Now get your dirty toilet book outta here."
Good! Then no one will borrow it.
Regarding gashole access--buy the MOPAR chastity belt for your baby.
Then you can be sure that only you penetrate her with your nozzle! :wink:
67alecto
12-20-2004, 03:01 AM
:) Enjoyed reading these stories. Reminds me of the time I had a rental car [I forget make/model] that I tried to quickly fill up before I had to return it and catch my flight home.
Getting out of the car, I found no fuel door on that side...ok, I had pulled up on the wrong side of the car. No problem. I hopped right back in and pulled around to the other side, where I again noticed a lack of fuel door. OK, must be behind the license plate. It was, but I still wasn't close enough to fit the nozzle in, ^%$#% , so I just got back in the car and drove off without the fillup---too damn much trouble!
Not wanting to miss my flight, I ate the rental refuel-charge, and argued with the accountant back at the office. So in that case, my company paid for my foolishness. Usually it's the other way around... ;)
IndySilverC
Came across this old thread while searching for the gas cap mod (don't know why they didn't put a slot on the Magnum's fuel door to hold the cap - there's even a place for it).
I had a car with a license plate gas cap that was at the mechanic's for an extended period of time. While it was there, I went to get license plates, and put them on the car (we have 30 days to title and get plates, so I had filled it up several times without a plate being there, just the bare metal door you mount it to). When I went to pick it up, I put the plates on it and saw I was on fumes. I pulled in to get gas, swiped my card, and then went to add the gas - the license plate was larger than they were back in the 70s, I guess, as it blocked the door FROM opening to access the fuel filler.
I put my plates on with bolts instead of screws, so I had to dig through the trunk for my trusty gator grip. It took awhile to find it, and by the time I had it off and was putting in gas, quite a lot of cars were waiting to get behind me. I cut it off at like $10 and took off in shame.
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