Charge Port door strange latching problem

[kunzig]

Over the last several months after an overnight charge I'm unable to latch the charge port door until I start the car. I've posted this complaint on other forums but I get often rude responses telling me that it's impossible the door is all mechanical with no electrical parts.. Is it possible that early editions of the car had an electrical release that was later removed.. I've had the car over a year and this problem just started a couple months ago and I'm familiar with all the complaints associated with the door..

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[bshaw]

The charge port door is all mechanical with no electrical ability to lock (or release) the door unless you are physically pushing on it.

 

[generaltso]

I've posted this complaint on other forums but I get often rude responses telling me that it's impossible the door is all mechanical with no electrical parts.

I‘ll try not to be rude. But yes, the door latch is all mechanical with no electrical parts. This is the case even on very early builds.

 

[RedRocker]

The charge port door is pretty flimsy, I've found the open/close is much more consistent if you push exactly behind where the plunger is on the inside of the door. Never had an issue after doing that.

 

[HuntingPudel]

As previously said, the latch mechanism is a little frail and quite picky about how pressure is applied to latch the door. It’s much less picky about unlatching. Early adopters got rude surprises in the automatic car washes when their fuel doors popped open then were subsequently either ripped off or broken off. It’s one of the reasons mine will never go to an automatic car wash. ?‍?

 

[Mach-Lee]

If you continue to have issues, just have the latch replaced.

 

[Mike G]

Check to see if the pin itself is loose in the charging door inner panel. That pin needs to be turned when installed so that the pin fully engages the door panel. If it's not completely turned to the end of it's 'stop' when you install it in the door panel you'll have issues with the door popping open on it's own, or just not wanting to close, and the reason isn't obvious on the face of it.

I don't know what this type of pin and receptacle design is called, but the basic principle is like a retractable ballpoint pen that you press once it extends and locks out and press it again, and it retracts and stays in.

For that reason the pin and the receptacle have a designed alignment requirement. Well the receptacle doesn't rotate once it's installed....but the pin in the inner door panel is rotated to engage the large threads in the door panel when you put it in. If it's not completely rotated to it's fully locked position then the latching and unlatching function won't fully latch and will allow the latch to potentially pop open on it's own.

Check this link where I discussed the issues I had when my pin broke off at the carwash, and how I replaced it to provide clues on whether your pin is correctly installed (fully rotated to lock it in). You may need to take a small flat bladed screwdriver to pry the outer cover tab out a bit while you slide the outer cover off...so that you can then confirm your latch pin is full turned and seated properly using a correctly sized torx bit, and then you simply slide the outer cover back on.

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