406 Estate fuel filler cover

The fuel filler cover on my wife's 406 estate (T reg) does not open
properly. When you lift the lever on floor adjacent to the driver's seat, it
pulls back the locking pin, but the cover fails to spring open before the
pin returns to the locking position. If you lift the lever and jam it in the
up position, it's then possible to manually open the cover by pressing the
front edge of it. Not elegant, but it works.

The dealer (Castles of Leicester) says that the whole cover assembly needs
replacing (they would say that) and that the job will include spraying a
cover to match the colour of the car. It strikes me that the problem is just
that the spring that pops the cover open needs replacing.

Does anybody know if that's possible? Can the spring be ordered as a
separate item?

Having recently replaced the broken door handle on our washing machine at a
total cost of £5.99, I feel confident that I can rise to this challenge!

Many thanks,

Raymond

 

The bit that makes the filler flap open is part of the flap. There is
no spring as such. So at the very least you DO need a new flap. But
you can avoid the spraying part. You can seperate the two parts of the
flap on both the new one and the old one and superglue the old painted
bit onto the new backing.
To get the flap off, gently push the pin up with a screwdriver and
hammer--just enough to align the indents in the pin with the hinges of
the flap. Then pull the flap off. Try it. You'll see what I mean.

 

I have experienced two problems with the fuel cover on a 406. Early it
tended to come off its axle - a small black platic flap (the top one)
which was supposed to act as a spring/ratchet acted a a fulcrum so
that when you closed the lid it came adrift. At least the fault showed
how the flap worked and how it was attached - simply pressed on. So I
was able to diagnose and fix the problem - involved removing the bad
flap and some work with a file (that was about three years ago and it
has worked fine ever since).

The second problem was that the lid would sometimes not click into
place when I closed it. The black tongue which engages it (and which
you withdraw when you raise the trigger in the cabin) fails to return.
Sometimes if you poke it or bang the side of the body nearby it comes
out. Also using some graphite lubricant seemed to help.
But the only reliable fix/preventative is, when you raise the
trigger/lever, release it at the top of its travel so that it flicks
back. If you let it back gently the tongue may not return fully.
This is also a fix when the problem occurs - open the door, raise the
lever and let it go. Never fails - so far!