3rd Gen Gas Door

New friend, trust me, it just happens when the hinge gets sticky and the tin foil Toyota used as mounts bends, then ultimately breaks. Hard to be clumsy and careless when just opening a gas door.

 

Moly chain lube is a good product for things like the gas door.

I use it for many other things too like door hinges, padlocks, control cables on snow blowers and mowers, steel encased handbrake cables on old cars, anywhere you need a product to stay put under harsh conditions.

A true Jack-of-all-trades product. I get this Spray On brand at a local industrial supplier, there are other good brands as well.

 

People really just flick the door closed? I’ve always moved mine into the closed position the entire time. Never flicked.

 

I think I've sprayed mine once in the 6+ years of ownership, but I don't live in a rust belt.

 

Let me preface this with, "I like @hiPSI and my new short-shorts-wearing cop buddy". I'm not trying to win any arguments... I'm just relating my own personal experience and what I've observed here and in the wild. I think it's commendable OP is giving a heads up and wants to help people.

He lubes his 3-4 times a year. I've never done mine, until today; after 7+years.
To me, it's not a matter of 'when', but 'if', and has nothing to do with lack of lube.
Does it hurt anything to lube it? Maybe, maybe not.
I'd wager most owners do not.
I've seen less than a handful of people on this site have a problem. I think my behavior is typical and the people with problems are outliers.

Mine gets a lot of silt in there from sitting on construction sites; it's why I pressure was it. In fact, I kind of wish I hadn't lubed it this evening, on the chance that it might collect silt and get sticky. What I've been doing, so far, seems to be working out for me.

 

Me too... I think it's kind of a weird metric to go by for proper operation.
I'd file flicking it or letting it fly, as careless or clumsy.

 

So then the question is. If we are greazin’ up the flickable fuel flap, are we are lubin’ the hood, doors, and tailgate?

I’ve never even thought about doing any of that. Maybe I’ll put some triflow (I don’t have any white lithium spray) on everything this weekend.

 

For the love of god, will someone please upload video of “flicking shut” their gas door? It’s the thing I didn’t know I needed to see. But here we are.

 

I park outside so I lube it monthly. Never had any issues.

 

I'll video it tonight, when the mood strikes...

 

I lube the gas door once a year on my tacoma or when it feels sticky. I'm smack in the rust belt. It was the same for my 2001 tundra, and I never had an issue with the door bending.

 

See, I think this is really the key. For those of us living in the rust belt, it may matter more than to someone who doesn't.

 

No doubt, and ultimately, you do you, it's your truck. A dry graphite would alleviate the issue of collecting gunk as having grime stick and draw in trouble is definitely a concern to have with oily lube. F'ing up your door after you try to do some PM is some real BS to have to deal with.

I'm just sharing my experience with this incredibly ridiculous phenomena that some us are forced to deal with.

For the record, I've only lubed mine twice in over 6 years. Once after it bent the mount, and one random time later. Only point I stress truly is if you open your gas door and it groans or creaks, lube it or wash it immediately as that may be the only warning you get before it flexes.

 

I buy industrial sizes of lube and just dump it in the soap dispenser reservoir on my pressure washer. Coat the whole damn truck. Works better than carnauba.

To answer your question though, no I don't lube those hinges. Fortunately they seem to be made better than the gas door hinge.

 

In Colorado they like to spray mag chloride on the roads with a occasional bit of salty goodness in certain situations. It gets in every nook and cranny and needs to be washed off regularly even in winter. I would bet this may be a concern here.

 

Yeah; I could see that...now. It didn't occur to me in my prior ramblings. I'd most likely be singing a whole different tune if I lived in the salt belt.

 

We're all just rambling. I think my hinge has some rust, I'll have to look at it later.

 

Here's mine for comparison.

 

I'll get a pic of mine once it quits raining. I don't care enough to deal with it right now lol.

 

I've seen it happen once on my buddy's 2017. We live in the rust belt. No prior warning/stickiness/creaking or rust itself on the hinge, just went to shut it one day normally after a fill up and it bent at the hinge. It was a major pain to try and get bent back correctly by the sounds of it, it bent so much the door was hitting the body and wouldn't shut all the way. I want to say he had the local Toyota dealership fix it, but he might just be living with it. It's riveted on AFAIK.

I haven't lubed mine personally (for fear of collecting more grit and creating the problem that I'm trying to avoid) and just try to be mindful of closing it gently. I've got a can of white lithium laying around so maybe I'll give it a little dab.