Help!! ASAP! Fuel Door on a '90 240 HB

[justanotherguy]

My fuel door won't open on my '90 240SX Hatchback when I push down on the lever. I know this sounds stupid but, is there like an emergency wire to pull to open it if that lever breaks? I think it's just the cable has gone bad but, i'm sittin' on quarter of a tank and I can't really get it fixed RIGHT now. I know on the car i owned previous to this one (piece of junk '89 LeBaron), it had a lever beside the driver seat aswell, but it also had access in the trunk to be able to pull a wire to open it incase the lever didn't work. I was wondering if the case was the same here? If there isn't, any suggestions to how I can get it open? Anything is a help. -Thanks

[Justice]

I just pushed down on the lever while a friend pried at the door lightly with a screwdriver with a paper towl round it. not to hard, it poped right open. it has a latch on the inside of the door you can bend a little bit to give less tension on the release. this made mine open like normal again. pretty simple. /grin

[stillmatic]

Be careful not to break the nut holding the cable when you try to pry it open from outside. It looks to me like your fuel door release cable might've snapped because if the locking end came out of place, your fuel door would remain open the whole time. See if you can access the release cable from the right side of your trunk. I believe there's a switch that will force the door to open.

[justanotherguy]

well i think it's ok. for awhile i would have to push it down a couple times then it would pop open. what happened last night was it released, but the door didnt pop open, so i assumed it broke. and this afternoon i pryed just a little n it came open, so i shut it and it works fine now. also the lever when i lift it up, it doesnt pop my backhatch, is the cable the same for the fuel door and the back hatch? any idea's on what could be the problem? -Thanks for the help guys.

[GroundZero]

well my car is the same way, the lever will activate the latch for the rear hatch but it doesn't pop up, the hatch is too heavy for the 12 year old hatch struts, new hatch struts will fix that problem

[IneedMoney]

take the back seat out with the two pull tabs and the cable should be under there and pull it with a tool of some sort!

[justanotherguy]

i wondered if just the struts would fix it because i know they are weak. in winter they wont stay up! lol is it a pain in the *** ro replace that cable? i don't think i'm going to, i'll probably just goto a junkyard or order some new hatch struts on ebay or something.

[GroundZero]

here, advance auto has them for $25 each with a lifetime warranty:

http://www.partsamerica.com/Pa...Set=C

[justanotherguy]

thanks for all the help guys