Gas Door Falls Off at Carwash!!

7162 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by wyd_trkr, Aug 9, 2009

wyd_trkr

Discussion Starter · Mar 20, 2009 (Edited)

Like the title states, today I was driving through the carwash and to my dismay I heard a banging clanging sound just after the air dryer went over the top of my car and was drying it off. Well, I drove out of the automatic car washing area and got out of the car and walked around it, when I noticed the Gas Door Cover (Metal) had fallen off the "Plastic" Support Arm Hinge that is fastened to the car. I walked back into the automatic wash area and I picked up my Metal Gas Door Cover and then I tried to re-attach it to the hinge, when it dawned on my that the weight of the Metal Gas Door and the Flimsy Hinge was not only a Bad Design Flaw, but if I tried to reinstall it, it would happen again.

Well, I then decided to drive over to the Pontiac Dealership where I purchased the car and then walked inside and talked to the Sales Manager and asked him if this had happened to anyone else else and his reply was, this is the first I had heard of this happening and none of his other G8 customers have reported a problem like mine. Then we decided to walk to the back of the dealership lot and I saw a Silver G8 GT just like mine and went over to it and opened the Gas Door and Whalla.....I removed the Gas Door with ease, as it is not secured as well as it is supposed to be.

Well, because of mine being all knicked and scrathched up, they would have to order a new one in for my 4 week old G8 GT, So, the Sales Manager took the one off his brand new G8 GT and put it onto mine ( His Demo is same color as my G8 GT) and he is going to get a new one for his car in the next few days and have it painted for his Demo G8 GT.

Sorry to be so over whelmed here in explaining my dilema, but after I got home from the Dealership, I have now came up with a fix for my Gas Door to "NEVER" fall off again. Check out the picture attached, as I took a small drill bit and drilled a small hole into the so-called tab that is supposed to lock the Gas Door into place and then I put a small 3/16" long sheet metal screw into the Tab to hold the Gas Door on "Permanently" .

Hope this helps, as I sincerely hate to be the Bearer of Bad News to you G8 & G8 GT Owners, but sooner or later all of these G8 Gas Doors will fall off, in either a automatic carwash, or from just opening and closing the Gas Door when you fill up your car with gas. So, for about 5 minutes of work and a small 3/16" sheet metal screw, you can make sure your Gas Door does not fall off your G8.

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gh0stdnb

· #2 · Aug 9, 2009

I had the same problem too when I first got my G8. Gas door flew off during the air dry and put a small chip in the paint. The problem comes when you pull into the car wash and put the car in park, it automatically unlocks the doors (including the gas door).
So all you need to do is after you put it in park, simply lock the doors again.

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wyd_trkr

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 9, 2009

gh0stdnb said:
I had the same problem too when I first got my G8. Gas door flew off during the air dry and put a small chip in the paint. The problem comes when you pull into the car wash and put the car in park, it automatically unlocks the doors (including the gas door).
So all you need to do is after you put it in park, simply lock the doors again.

FWIW, now when I go through an Automatic Carwash with a Air Blower, I pull into the area for the wash and put the Shifter into Neutral and put the Parking Brake on! This eliminates any chance of Carwash Air Blowers from opening the Gas Door!

However, for safety reasons, I would still recommend drilling a hole into the ABS Plastic Hinge and installing a little sheet metal screw 1/8" diameter and 1/4" long like I did to prevent the Gas Door from coming off and falling on the ground and chipping the paint off of it! Hope the helps!

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