An odd thing happened to me last week, I was about to go visit my dad (he lives ~230 miles away) so I stopped to get gas before I left and I could not pop the fuel door. The lever was not pushing down (the trunk opened fine) and there was no way to pry the door open. I called my parents, none of their suggestions helped and the owners manual mentioned nothing about stuck fuel doors. I had about 2 gallons of gas left, plenty, but not enough to make it to my dads house.
I ended up needing to take my mom's CR-V instead and left my HCH at home where my mom could either try to fix it or take it to Honda to have it fixed while I was gone. My mom ended up fixing it... the panel that the lever is in was loose and tightening it fixed the problem. As my step dad thought, there is also a way to pop the fuel door from the trunk... it's under a panel and my trunk was full of luggage when I was trying to fill up so I didn't find it.

Hope this doesn't happen to you, I was at the gas station for 40 minutes trying to figure it out. But incase it does happen to you, now you'll have an idea of what to do.

 

Great post! Thanks for letting us know. I'm sure someone is going to find that very useful one day.

 

I think I should add... I finally ended up buying gas a few days ago and the door pop lever is still pretty hard to push. So maybe the problem isn't as fixed as I thought, it does open though. If I have any spare time maybe I should stop by the dealer...

 

So, upon my second fill up after this problem I was pushing the lever down hard and something popped, but it wasn't the fuel door. The lever was then easy to push, but the door wasn't opening. It was obvious something broke. I got into the trunk and opened the fuel door from there (what a pain). My dealer had to order the cable, yesterday I finally had it fixed. I hope this doesn't ever happen to anyone of you; I was at the dealer for 3 hours waiting, as the cable has to go through the whole interior of the car. Glad it's over. Oh, one good thing was it was a free repair, under warranty.

 

I'm going to have to scrounge in my trunk this evening to find that latch, because you never know when that kind of information will come in handy. Thanks for the tip, though I hope I never need it!

 

There are two screws you have to pull out, and then pull the carpet/liner back as much as you can, which is only about enough to get your hand back in there. Feel for the cable and find where it ends at the fuel door. You have to pull the cable out of the hole it goes into, you probably will have to rotate it... there are notches on the thing at the end of the cable that correspond to notches in the opening. I scratched myself digging around back there, so becareful... and patient.

 

If your car is out of warranty you can fix it yourself. Go here http://www.fueldoorfix.com for a repair kit very easy to do! I used it and worked good for me.

 

This is another great reason to NOT have a locking gas cap door. In my entire life, and that of my family and friends, none of us has ever had gas stolen or spiked. Meanwhile I have twice been left stranded by not being able to open a gas cap door. This is a classic example of engineers trying to solve a problem that barely exists, where the solution is far more problematic than the original issue.

 

Hello. We just bought a used 2004 HCH from a friend and the fuel door is stuck. I was wondering about those two screws in the trunk. I tried unscrewing them and they didn't come out. You said "pull" out in you post. Do I pull both parts out...top and bottom. And, will they go back in. I don't have enough gas to get to the dealer. Thanks for all the info.

 

I don't really remember, but I think when I tried unscrewing the screws they just kind of rotated in place and didn't seem to really unscrew at all, and didn't come out all the way like I had imagined they should. I found it you just pull on them they pop out, I think it was 2 pieces...
I'll go look I my trunk so I can be more helpful.
Ok, my screws unscrewed easily. But then I had to pull out the things they are screwed into so that I could pull the liner back. I don't know if you could pull the pieces out if they are still screwed together, but I remember doing that for some reason. I tried putting them in after I screwed the two pieces together and it didn't just slip back into place like it did without the screw in it (to answer your question they will go back in). If worse comes to worse, they are only plastic, if you have to break them I don't think they would cost much to replace if you had to pay for them, and they don't seem to be a super essential piece anyway(your trunk liner won't be flying around without them).

Hope that helped.