Fuel Door tensioner spring fix 2005 Tahoe

[robertscottcostello]

I saw a thread in another forum giving advice on how to fix gas doors on a Chevy truck. My gas door started flopping a few days ago, and I was sure that I needed a new spring. In fact, all I needed to do was to cut a new slot for the spring to fit in, as the old slot rusted out. The cost was about $1.89 for a 1/16" cutting wheel for my grinder, as opposed to buying a new $100 cap from Chevy. You'll need to undo part of the filler cap to get the door off, and grinding a new slot is easy. The challenge is getting the spring tensioner to bend into the new slot. After some time, I figured out the best way was to put a screwdriver in sideways to push. There is an art to this, as you need to push on just the right part of the spring to get it to bend just right. Once it does, you are golden. The pictures will make more sense once you get the door off. The key to this is if your spring is good, but the slot is rusted off.

Tip, don't try to push the spring with a screwdriver or you will scratch your door like I did. Use the spring like a fulcrum against itself.

 

[robertscottcostello]

added pictures

One pic shows the new cut slot
Another shows the spring sitting in the new slot
Another shows the sideways angle to push the screwdriver in
Another shows the screwdriver in place to force the spring in place