Hi, Another newb question. My '99 355 gas door does not release unless the engine is running. Is this normal? If the key is out of the ignition (or even on acc), and I press the button - nothing...no click, and no door open. When I start the car up and hit the button, badda-bing, the gas door lid comes flying open. Is this normal? Thanks! Larry
Yes, gas tank only opens through the button when the car is running. Another little quirk on these lovely Italiano machines.
Mine's even more difficult.... My wife has to rub the gas door while I stand in front of the car, headlights up, fliping through pages of Car & Driver. Some things just ain't right!!! Accessory position, engine need not be running. I suppose it comes down to how they wired it....which yet again goes back to which day it was built and how much they had to drink for lunch...and which issue of Car & Driver they were looking at as well.
So, would this be normal? Should it be something which I should have my mechanic take a look at? Not that I would ever let my baby run out of gas, but, it seems a bit odd that IF the car ran out of gas you could not open the gas tank to refill it! HELP!
Just bought my 355 a couple months ago. I had the same problem first time I pulled up to the Shell station for gas. It was kinda funny. There was a young guy and his girlfriend having there picture take by my car while I sat there thumbing through the owner's manual trying to figure out how to open the flap. "Ignition in on position" - "press button"
I just had this same issue on my first drive a couple of weeks ago here at a Shell Station in LA (Fairfax and La Cienega). A guy in a 50th Anniversary Corvette was watching me acting totally confused with the gas cap. Turns out the rubber flap was preventing the cap from popping up... so I was doubly confused about how open the cap to fill up the car. There I was, thumbing through the owner's manual trying to figure out why ignition on or off the cap wouldn't budge. I thought the mechanism had jammed so I tried the manual pull by the engine to get the cap open. No luck. Finally after 10 minutes I just managed to get enough leverage on the cap to get it to spring free of the rubber flap. Talk about first time fill-up station trauma!
My bad. Sold the car, so couldn't remember off the bat - but you're right, only the key needs to be turned in the ignition. The car does not have to be running. Sorry for the confusion.
I must have had the alarm on or something when I was trying it initially. When I tried it yesterday with the key in acc, the gas door pops open. Lol. Dunno!
Mine always gets stuck too. I think it's the rubber flap. Seems like 70-80% of the time I have to pop the engine cover and pull the manual lever. Now if my gas door doesn't open and the rear cover doesn't work, where's the manual release for the engine cover? -R
