How to: Remove rubber around the gas flap
- Thread starter Stan
- Start date
When I get back to the shop, I'll check my new one against the old one.
Sehr gut! I recall a discussion here regarding those caps...... i know mine has those holes but without caps.
Looks like the plugs aren’t present.
FWIW, I don’t think they are breather holes. They are access holes for the three nuts that hold the filler door to the fender.
FWIW, I don’t think they are breather holes. They are access holes for the three nuts that hold the filler door to the fender.
The holes on the right are for the bolts that hold the hinge of the gas door to the car. In this photo I can't see two more holes that should be in the back right that allow the socket to come through and tighten the nuts that hold the rubber boot and the hinge for the door. Maybe they're there but if not you will have to make some. There is no way to tighten the nuts with the hinge in the way and the door open. The power of the springs is too much.
I think the fuel injected cars had a small hose vent attached to a plug in one of the access holes. Not sure because I don't have a FI car but did see some evidence of that in my car before I stripped it.
Right...... just without the caps the spill from filling gas crept in to the trunk, thus breathers..... maybe?
They only vent hose is attached to the filler neck, on euro coupes it vents under the trunk floor, on US coupes it routes to the plastic vapor tank then on to the charcoal canister under the battery and then to the air cleaner. There are only two large holes, Stan found a source that is quite similar to original for the plugs.
As always, thanks for the solutions.
Gary, this is timely notes ... i have the new boot arriving from W+N tomorrow, and i have a pair of the rubber plugs. glad they were mentioned here so now i remember to pull them out of the bin and put them in the trim box to take to the painter.
Someone took out the hose from the plastic vapor tank to the charcoal canister so my trunk smells like gas. How is this missing hose routed from the vapor tank up front to the charcoal canister?
A blue plastic hose enters cabin behind right rear seat, goes to passenger floor next to the sill, up firewall, turns towards center of car, enters engine bay next to brake pipes in front of driver. Not with my coupe to confirm.
just cap it at the vapor tank in the trunk
Yes, the fuel injection cars have a hose vented through the trunk floor. I remember discussing this with Peter when looking at his car in TX. I copied this when I removed the charcoal canister.
As to the spring, if you try to tighten the nuts with the hinge in the way the spring will clamp your fingers securely to the body of the car.
The Euro cars do not have the cannister etc since the setup was for emissions. Frankly, I bet it never worked anyway, just something to appease the U.S. I do believe it is very helpful wrt relieving any gas smell in the car. If I had a US version, I too would consider the Euro setup, short tube, plastic cone and vent from the trunk.
WRT the boot, I just did this. Is anyone finding the gas flap not sitting flush with the rest of the car because of the new, non compressed rubber?
WRT the boot, I just did this. Is anyone finding the gas flap not sitting flush with the rest of the car because of the new, non compressed rubber?
I was reading (learning) along, and realized how old this thread was when I saw a post from our old friend Bill Ribblett. Miss his wealth of knowledge.
Thanks HBChris, very helpful, will search for remaining sections of these hoses. I am concerned that if I just cap it at the vapor tank it will result in negative pressure in the tank.
The filler neck needs to be vented, I prefer using the original lines and tank, impact to environment is minimal but it’s an easy solution and will help cure gas fumes in cabin. Other solution as mentioned is under rear of coupe.
My filler neck has a nipple in it. I attached a hose to this and then made a hole in one of the plugs in the rubber boot of the filler neck (behind the gas filler door) and stuck the hose through the hole. Now the tank vents into the area around the filler neck. This is not completely air tight so it will still pull the fumes out there. Seems to solve the gas fume problem.
Here are more photos that might be helpful:
www.e9coupe.com
As a lesson learned, I will definitely use only one arm of the door spring when I tackle this again in the Spring. It's still plenty strong enough to keep the door closed, but much more manageable when mounting.
I will also try to get the boot started, but leave most of it free to flop while I am working on mounting the door. I still have the old boot; I plan to cut most of the thin rubber away and practice mounting with it before I put mine good one again.
Doh! I did it again... I walked into my door a second time! Now I really have to take this on again.
Lesson from this: When tanking up, no multi-tasking! If you're going to clean you windshield or do anything else, wait until you've tanked up and closed that door!
Pranged my fuel door - third time 's a charm!
I was tanking up during a drive yesterday and accidentally spun around and walked into my open fuel door. Now it's not seated nicely as it was before. I've read that this can be a pain to adjust. Can anyone offer advice on access/adjustment? Are these covered holes access points for the...
www.e9coupe.com
As a lesson learned, I will definitely use only one arm of the door spring when I tackle this again in the Spring. It's still plenty strong enough to keep the door closed, but much more manageable when mounting.
I will also try to get the boot started, but leave most of it free to flop while I am working on mounting the door. I still have the old boot; I plan to cut most of the thin rubber away and practice mounting with it before I put mine good one again.
Doh! I did it again... I walked into my door a second time! Now I really have to take this on again.
Lesson from this: When tanking up, no multi-tasking! If you're going to clean you windshield or do anything else, wait until you've tanked up and closed that door!
Hi, i have been keeping track of this topic, as i need to fit a new boot and, in a distant future, i need to fit the door as well after my car has been repainted.
Lots of people were fighting with it, so I started to look at the parts and how they are attached. Now's the time because my boot floor is out and i will never have more convenient acces then now.
Just to tease, here is a modification that will make your life so much easier:
With this bit of aluminium cut out, you will be able to install the gas flap one handed, without a need to (partly) compress the spring. You can almost throw it in.
The removal of the gas flap (gas door) is needed to replace the rubber.
And the removal of the door is difficult, because of the spring loaded hinge.
Removing the gasflap without some experience gives you a good chance to scratch your paint. Re installation after a full paint job makes this assembly job even more stressful.
Here is the inside view without the rubber, to show you how it looks like in there:
Now i do not have a solution to get your gas flap dismounted without sctaches.
But with the above modification, it will make it effortless to reinstall and deinstall it (if ever needed again). I now can do it one handed. No scratches....
The thing with the gas flap is that it is held with three (M5) nuts, which is akward, as there are only two access holes from the trunk through the rubber. Especially the middle nut ( the one towards the front of the car) is difficult to unscrew; you have to angle a socket up or down through one of the 2 acccess holes to unscrew that one.
Once the three nuts are off, then the next step is to remove the flap. I found that the best way ( actually from advice in previous posts in this thread) is to take a flat screwdriver into your trunk, and stick it between the local glued-in reinforcement on the quarter panel and the rubber. Aim for the middle bolt, that one is keeping the door from falling into your hands. With the flat screwdriver, gently pry the gas door mounting plate away from the fender. The mounting plate should move to the middle of the car, and just pop off the middle m5 stud. Now you can, with the door in the fully open position, slide the door towards the rear of the car. It will travel about 25 mm, an inch. When the hinge inside starts touching the rubber edge gently rotate the door to a half closed position. Don't operate the hinge, just rotate the assembly. Now the fueldoor can move another 15 mm to the rear, and the door is free.
The screwdriver thing above is what makes it almost impossible to get it back on without high forces involved.
Now that you have the fuel door in your hand, get something that eats aluminium/um, a dremel or air spindle works just fine.
Now chop out a good 75% of the material thickness of the mounting flange, just next to the middle hole. As such:
This extra bit of space actually allows you now to get the mounting plate to just clear the top of the middle bolt when assembling or disassembling this thing. No scratches ever again!
Here's video of me trying to show you all how easy it is afterwards; mind you it is done one handed!
In this pic you can just see how the middle bolt prevents the fuel door from sliding over the bolt. If I had enough guts, or a spare door, then I would have completely removed all material (following the blue dotted lines), allowing the mounting plate to simply slide in; even better. I am not sure however that enough rigidity remains if you create a full slotted hole.
I do not have a second door, so I can't test that ...
In the pic below, you can see just how the flap and the M5 studs line up. Notice also the reinforcement plate that holds the three bolts; it is spot welded on the edge of the door opening only, and thus it bends easily. (When you walk into and bend your gas door at the gas station , as mentioned in previous posts, I think this reinforcement gets bent)
I think this is the one part in the car where you can see that bmw also employed apprentices in their engineering teams...
Lots of people were fighting with it, so I started to look at the parts and how they are attached. Now's the time because my boot floor is out and i will never have more convenient acces then now.
Just to tease, here is a modification that will make your life so much easier:
With this bit of aluminium cut out, you will be able to install the gas flap one handed, without a need to (partly) compress the spring. You can almost throw it in.
The removal of the gas flap (gas door) is needed to replace the rubber.
And the removal of the door is difficult, because of the spring loaded hinge.
Removing the gasflap without some experience gives you a good chance to scratch your paint. Re installation after a full paint job makes this assembly job even more stressful.
Here is the inside view without the rubber, to show you how it looks like in there:
Now i do not have a solution to get your gas flap dismounted without sctaches.
But with the above modification, it will make it effortless to reinstall and deinstall it (if ever needed again). I now can do it one handed. No scratches....
The thing with the gas flap is that it is held with three (M5) nuts, which is akward, as there are only two access holes from the trunk through the rubber. Especially the middle nut ( the one towards the front of the car) is difficult to unscrew; you have to angle a socket up or down through one of the 2 acccess holes to unscrew that one.
Once the three nuts are off, then the next step is to remove the flap. I found that the best way ( actually from advice in previous posts in this thread) is to take a flat screwdriver into your trunk, and stick it between the local glued-in reinforcement on the quarter panel and the rubber. Aim for the middle bolt, that one is keeping the door from falling into your hands. With the flat screwdriver, gently pry the gas door mounting plate away from the fender. The mounting plate should move to the middle of the car, and just pop off the middle m5 stud. Now you can, with the door in the fully open position, slide the door towards the rear of the car. It will travel about 25 mm, an inch. When the hinge inside starts touching the rubber edge gently rotate the door to a half closed position. Don't operate the hinge, just rotate the assembly. Now the fueldoor can move another 15 mm to the rear, and the door is free.
The screwdriver thing above is what makes it almost impossible to get it back on without high forces involved.
Now that you have the fuel door in your hand, get something that eats aluminium/um, a dremel or air spindle works just fine.
Now chop out a good 75% of the material thickness of the mounting flange, just next to the middle hole. As such:
This extra bit of space actually allows you now to get the mounting plate to just clear the top of the middle bolt when assembling or disassembling this thing. No scratches ever again!
Here's video of me trying to show you all how easy it is afterwards; mind you it is done one handed!
In this pic you can just see how the middle bolt prevents the fuel door from sliding over the bolt. If I had enough guts, or a spare door, then I would have completely removed all material (following the blue dotted lines), allowing the mounting plate to simply slide in; even better. I am not sure however that enough rigidity remains if you create a full slotted hole.
I do not have a second door, so I can't test that ...
In the pic below, you can see just how the flap and the M5 studs line up. Notice also the reinforcement plate that holds the three bolts; it is spot welded on the edge of the door opening only, and thus it bends easily. (When you walk into and bend your gas door at the gas station , as mentioned in previous posts, I think this reinforcement gets bent)
I think this is the one part in the car where you can see that bmw also employed apprentices in their engineering teams...
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