I lived in Canada for 20 years and never had this happened... I went to fuel up on my first cold day in South Carolina (-5°C / 23F this morning) and damned if I cant open the flap over the gas cap! Hopefully parking it in the sun for the day will unfreeze it and I can fill up on the way home.

I figure a good dose of WD40 should clean up any water lingering in the area? Any other thoughts/suggestions?

 

The retractor may be broken. This is my thread below and you get an idea how to access the retractor as it has a finger pull that may get you open.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...r-removal.html

 

Thanks, I wasnt aware there was any "automatic gas cap lock" mentioned in the write up? I dont think Ive ever noticed that. I thought it was just a simple flap but does it somehow lock? What causes it to unlock usually?

 

Yep, on the little lock part: Check it and spray some wd 40 in there. They can stick.

 

Cheers, good to know. Hopefully its just froze and will thaw out rather than having to deal with a broken actuator.

 

Yep mine did this on my r52 and hit it once a year and its ok at almost 284K miles. https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Sit...h/51257112132/

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=41_1590

Its a little green rod that pops out of that hole.

 

It was just weather related Just need to get some WD40 now as I had forgotten the shippers wont let you bring anything like that with you when you move countries:(