Fuel door spring

[VORTMAX_99]

2003 2 door Explorer Sport fuel door spring has snapped. Was able to get
unit apart and the spring is a small torsion spring that is located between
the bottom of the fuel door hinge and the plastic housing. Went to Ford
dealer parts department and they maintain you have to buy the whole
housing for about 68 dollars plus tax. Am hoping to find a replacement
spring locally. No luck at the hardware sections of the big box stores
or the local hardware stores. Will try NAPA later this week...but was
wondering if anyone else has successfully been able to find a replacement
spring and if so where they were able to get it.

Thanks,

Geo.

 

[fixxxer]

This is one of those times where it may be faster, cheaper and easier to go raid your local boneyard for that part.

 

[CDW6212R]

Ditto, just four tiny bolts hold it all onto the fender.

 

[alohamonte]

box O'springs

get a box of 101 random springs for $5 at home depot

 

[VORTMAX_99]

Thanks for the replies guys. What I finally ended up doing was going down
to NAPA and picking up one of their torsion springs...part # 770-2126
for $1.69. Had to put a couple of 90 degree bends in the legs of the
spring...and it worked like a charm. Sure beats the more than sixty
dollars the dealer wanted for the whole fuel door housing assembly.

Geo.

 

[rky60]

I have this same problem, 2003 Sport, broken spring. I got the part mentioned above from Napa, made the 2 90 degree bends but can't figure how it attaches.

Any help is much appreciated

 

[zeke1883]

About the broken fuel door spring

Vortmaxx, if you are still out there, I bought the spring from NAPA also, and bent it similar to the original one, but how the hell do you manage to get the spring in there around the door itself inside that little black plastic box?

I tried to remove the box, but cannot figure out how in the world it is attached, I am not seeing any bolts. I removed the 3 from the filler neck, and completely pulled that down but can't get the box off the vehicle. I am not convinced that even if you could pull it off, you could make the spring work. It appears as though you must do it with everything attached to the vehicle.

What a massive engineering genius this assembly is!!!!

 

[CDW6212R]

Generally the four bolts around the door opening, in the body, those hold it on.

 

[zeke1883]

fuel door spring for explorer sport 2002

Mine broke also, and I just now figured out how to fix the friggin thing. I bought the same spring from NAPA mentioned before, but could never figure out how to get in there to replace it. On my vehicle (explorer sport) I removed the fuel filler neck (3-7mm screws). Then I could not figure out how to get the damn plastic box out. Mine is not held in with nuts, but rather with some kind of plastic snaps. One at 12:00 on the filler as you look at it, and the other one at about 3:20. I used a large screwdriver, put a rag behind it, and pried out on the lip of the black plastic ring at about those two locations. It kind of felt like I was going to break it, but it popped loose, and then you can remove the entire box out of the front of the fender. Now you can insert the spring into the hole in the box, and the hole in the fuel door arm, the "pins" on the very end of the fuel door arm, go into two holes clear in the back corners of the black plastic box. IT ABSOLUTELY WORKS LIKE A CHARM. Now as far as getting the box back in, open the fuel door, slide the box back in through the hole, and I just pressed hard and the snaps seemed to hold. I figured if they didn't, I could always put two small screws in those approximate locations, and it would hold just as good. But I didn't have to they appeared to hold. Attach the filler neck again, and you are home free. Once you get it out, it really is not hard to get the spring back in place, but trying to figure out how to do that is really hard until you know how it is held in place. Hope this helps someone else figure out how to get that friggin thing out.

Thanks for the info on the spring .... that was the really important part

 

[RebelRanger]

I have the same problem on my 03 Sport. The previous owner had the dealer replace the whole assembly once before, but it's flopping around again. I might have to stop by napa and get one of these springs. It's really a minor thing but it drives me nuts lol.

 

[Popeye1959]

Yeah, I know this is an old thread but I Googled and of course I should've come here first. Anyhow, I bought the 770-2126 spring and it's way smaller in diameter and way too strong to use on plastic parts. It says General Purpose Spring Torsion 27. I guess I'll have to go to Ace and look through their bins.

 

[Popeye1959]

Ya know those cheep key rings that auto repair places put your keys on? I had a couple of those hanging around and with a pair of pliers, opened one up a bit so that it was about the same size as the original spring. I bent the ends up... well, one up and one down, and installed it. Once I saw how the spring worked in place I could see that the overly strong spring from NAPA would indeed work. I bent the legs on that spring and put it in place. WOW, that door snapped open and slammed shut. After three opening (and closing), it popped out of place. I realized the spring was truly too strong so I removed it. I then used a pair of slip joint pliers and squished the legs together and held the pliers closed for a moment. Once I opened the pliers, I saw that the spring no longer had a 90 degree bend, but was closer to a 75-80 degree bend. Installed it and it works perfectly. So without the help from this site and thread, I would have installed some velcro strips to hold the door shut.

 

[palavine1951]

VORTMAX you're a genius. I got the spring, bent the ends, installed it and it works great and at the price I paid I bought a spare in case this one breaks.