jmiller31

I was thinking of putting this in the thread about cool things then I thought about putting it in the annoying things thread and finally realized it's somewhere in between and points more towards me being dumb sometimes.

I was washing my '10 Q5 today and went to open the fuel door to soak up all the water that collects in there (that is an annoyance, there really needs to be a drain hole). The fuel door wouldn't open, I immediately had one of those "oh great, this is a stupid malfunction" moments and was trying to remember how much gas I had left until I realized something else. I had always thought it was a dumb design to have a simple push open fuel door with no release handle inside the car. Then I started thinking like a devious designer that loves everything electronic and realized they must have built in a time lock mechanism. If the car has been off for a period of time the fuel door won't open. I started her up then turned her off and sure enough the fuel door opened on the first push.

Hence a "duh" moment, I still haven't looked in the manual to see if it's documented.

The G Man

I thought as long as the key is in the ignition, the fuel door can be open.

jmiller31

It may just need to have been in there without turning the car on, I assumed though since you need to have the car on to even have the Homelink controls work the fuel door would be the same. I do know though it must have some time mechanism after you remove the key because I never leave my key in at the gas station and obviously I can open the door.

Jusforfun

All you have to do is hit the unlock button on fob to reactivate.

brente73

i think the fuel door is part of the central locking mechanism. when the car doors are locked the fuel door is locked. when car doors are unlocked so is the fuel door.

jmiller31

Yeah I tried that and you are partially correct, if you unlock the car the fuel door unlocks. However locking the car again doesn't appear to lock the fuel door so there must be a timer mechanism.

The G Man

Alright. we need a straight answer here, can someone look in the manual and see how the gas door really works?

jmiller31

I just looked in the manual and all it says is the fuel door is unlocked and locked as part of the central locking system. However I know for a fact I've locked the car and the fuel door still is able to open for some period of time. I did discover in the manual what to do if the electronic lock ever fails though, there's a manual release in right trim compartment of the cargo area.

Coolieman1220

im my G35, my fuel door motor died. i had to remove a whole bunch of trim and i kinda fixed it then it failed again. i tied a pull string and rain it into the trunk to pull to open it up

edwyun

Q5 has pull string to open gascap in case of emergency. need to remove right side trunk cover.