Help - charge port won’t open

[jericho]

23 GT - today’s weird 12F weather made it hard to close the charge port this morning, but it worked after a few attempts. However now that I need to recharge again, I can’t get it open!!!! Any tips on how to open it? Weather is still 15F and the car is not garaged, any suggestion? I need to charge the car… help!

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[Teslaeata]

Sounds like a frozen catch. Could you heat up something in a bag and hold it over the rear of the charge port door, or direct a hair dryer onto that area, the heat should radiate through the door and thaw the catch.

 

[helium89]

We had that happen last winter. The dealership had to order a new charge port door assembly because the little plunger was broken. If thawing the door doesn’t work, you can remove the painted charge port door cover panel (the dealership did this part, so you’ll need to look up how) and then disconnect the plunger from the door with a hex or torx wrench. I think it just takes a quarter turn to free it. The plunger will stay attached next to the charge port, and the door should swing free. When you’re done charging, shut the door and reattach the plunger. Leave the cover off until you get the assembly replaced. I think there’s a BMW part number that corresponds to an identical plunger, so you can order a spare if you’re concerned about it happening again. Ford only sells the whole assembly as a single unit.

 

[MellowJohnny]

We had that happen last winter. The dealership had to order a new charge port door assembly because the little plunger was broken. If thawing the door doesn’t work, you can remove the painted charge port door cover panel (the dealership did this part, so you’ll need to look up how) and then disconnect the plunger from the door with a hex or torx wrench. I think it just takes a quarter turn to free it. The plunger will stay attached next to the charge port, and the door should swing free. When you’re done charging, shut the door and reattach the plunger. Leave the cover off until you get the assembly replaced. I think there’s a BMW part number that corresponds to an identical plunger, so you can order a spare if you’re concerned about it happening again. Ford only sells the whole assembly as a single unit.

This is the link to the part others posted last year:

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-531116-lock-pin/

I have not needed to order one but took note just in case...

 

[jericho]

Thanks all, I got it unstuck yesterday by holding a ziplock bag of hot water against the back of the painted cover like @Teslaeata suggested, then giving it a hard wack. Was able to charge but when the charger went in, the vents on the front had a really hard time opening and had scraping sounds…. Now I’m wondering if the charge door can close in the morning and if the vents would be frozen open I’m sure that the engineers designed the car to survive I such cold weather (still a dry 11F outside), but it hasn’t been confidence building so far… any tips for preventing future issues short of changing the plunger?

 

[Teslaeata]

Thanks all, I got it unstuck yesterday by holding a ziplock bag of hot water against the back of the painted cover like @Teslaeata suggested, then giving it a hard wack. Was able to charge but when the charger went in, the vents on the front had a really hard time opening and had scraping sounds…. Now I’m wondering if the charge door can close in the morning and if the vents would be frozen open I’m sure that the engineers designed the car to survive I such cold weather (still a dry 11F outside), but it hasn’t been confidence building so far… any tips for preventing future issues short of changing the plunger?

Another thought, with charge door open, you could warm up the catch again and spray in some water dispersement so any moisture in there before can’t freeze again, then some PTFE spray for longer term lubrication.

Could do same around the vent flap hinge-points.

 

[mattalbrecht]

This happened to me twice. Last year, I either couldn't get it open or get it closed. It was below freezing, but over 10 degrees F (Western Washington). It happened again this year, but nothing I did (heat gun, even) could get it to open. So I used a suction cup and broke the damn thing off.

My wife's Telluride has this stupid push-plunger on her gas cover, and it's been fine. I don't know why the Mach-E has to be such a pain in the ass. I'm fully expecting Ford to charge me 4 grand to replace the charge port because the plastic is broken inside the female end of the plunger. But I don't know. And unless the female end is malfunctioning, this will surely happen again.

I'm driving around now with masking tape holding the charge door closed and a roll of it in my car. Classy.

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