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So after having the usual "broken spring" problem, I used the ingenious solution of a clothes peg spring on my fuel filler flap. Unfortunately it looks like the spring was a bit too strong, and another of the hingepin holes on the flap has snapped off, leaving only one, which is rather too little to hold the flap on securely.

So question is, what do I do? Should I bother trying to glue the hinge piece back onto the flap? Servicebox gives me a part number 1517 A4. If I can get a flap from a scrap car, how hard is it to paint it? I assume I'd need to remove the old paint, then a coat of plastic primer and several coats of colour (Regency Red - P0JZ)?

Other thing is, are the D8 and D9 flaps interchangeable? Are they exactly the same or did Pug see fit to reinforce these pieces of plastic?

My flap wont open unless someone pulls up on the release catch by the seat while i open the flap (oh err misses)
So now i open the back door and pull on the piece of rope i tied around the catch... is this the same kind of problem?

Yeah, you pull the release lever and it doesn't open. Someone invented a clever solution of inserting a clothes peg spring over the hingepin to sort this out.

Unfortunately it's caused the plastic piece on the flap to break

glue it back on,

lozz wrote:glue it back on,

Ta, I thought this might be the answer.

How do you get the hingepin out? I managed to slide it up to get the spring on. But I can't see how to push it up far enough to remove the flap?

if you glueing it back on id use Quik Steel putty, you can Mold it to any shape you want,
B&q or motorists shops sell it, very handy stuff,

jonsowman wrote:Yeah, you pull the release lever and it doesn't open. Someone invented a clever solution of inserting a clothes peg spring over the hingepin to sort this out.

Unfortunately it's caused the plastic piece on the flap to break

Sounds like i'm better off sticking to my method for now then?

the spring is simple and works and its cheap
all you need to do is slacken off the self tapping screw thats in the bottom left hand corner[as you open the flap] slide spring in behind it tighten screw.
30sec job

scotty73 wrote:

jonsowman wrote:Yeah, you pull the release lever and it doesn't open. Someone invented a clever solution of inserting a clothes peg spring over the hingepin to sort this out.

Unfortunately it's caused the plastic piece on the flap to break

Sounds like i'm better off sticking to my method for now then?

Is this how you fixed your spring?



Mine never gave any bother after I did it. Spring doesn't have to be too strong as it only needs to just nudge the flap out enough to grab & the flap is only a flimsy bit of plastic.

Yes indeed waue.

In the image below, piece 1 snapped off a long time ago. Piece 2 snapped off yesterday only leaving the top one, which doesn't really hold the flap on very firmly.

Also the reinforcing bits (circled) don't exist on my car, I assume that picture is from a D9? This seems to be some Peugeot added when they realised reinforcement was required.

jonsowman wrote:Yes indeed waue.

In the image below, piece 1 snapped off a long time ago. Piece 2 snapped off yesterday only leaving the top one, which doesn't really hold the flap on very firmly.

Also the reinforcing bits (circled) don't exist on my car, I assume that picture is from a D9?

That was from my car, so yes.

jonsowman wrote: This seems to be some Peugeot added when they realised reinforcement was required.

Really? Pity they didn't reinforce the bit that bloody broke. There does seem to be a school of thought that believes it is caused by diesel spillage as petrol models rarely suffer this problem.

waue1978 wrote:
That was from my car, so yes.

Really? Pity they didn't reinforce the bit that bloody broke. There does seem to be a school of thought that believes it is caused by diesel spillage as petrol models rarely suffer this problem.

Yes, those reinforcing struts definitely do not exist on my car. Interestingly the ServiceBox part numbers for the D8 and D9 diesel fuel flaps are the same. So who knows what's going on there.

You could be onto something with the diesel theory, although I try and be careful not to spill any, I suppose it is inevitable.

Any ideas on removing the flap completely so I can glue bits back together?

Can't help on removing the flap to swap/repair it, I'd take a guess that the whole filler tube assembly would need to come out due to the hinge pin not clearing the surrounding bodywork.
When I did both my D8's I pushed the hinge pin up an inch and hooked the clothes peg spring under the pin and pushed it back down. You do have to ease the stopper in at the top of the pin while pushing the pin up with some thin pliers but it works fine.
You get just enough tension on the spring to open the flap.

Ah i see where your going on this now bloody genius idea, Is off out the garden am sure theres an old broken peg at the end of my line.