Open bag - don't take it

The Civic's fuel/trunk release lever was becoming non-compliant.  ie. It was sticking.  Usually you press the lever to open the fuel door and it'll easily go back to it's original position.  It was no longer springing back like it did.

I asked my brother if he knew what what going on and he said this had happened before, the cable gets corroded and seizes.  Then you can't open the fuel door, but you can if you remove the little plunger thing that releases the door. If you google this problem it's common on 2001-2005 civics. I've never replaced this cable on my Subaru.  This is the second time on the Civic.  He said had to pay $200+ to get it fixed.  FORGET that man!  That's highway robbery.  

The cable itself is $96CAD (incl tax) from the dealership.  I did a search and in the US, people were saying the cable costs around $40USD.  Which is what I would've expected it to be.  But since we are in the Big Smoke.  The dealerships will blow some smoke rings up your butt to burn you for more dollars.

Did you know that it's the dealer that sets the price for the part.  Not HONDA Canada.  I wondered why a window regulator was $82USD in NJ and $225CAD in Toronto.  That is wrong. Wrong. WRONG.  Just wrong.  It just sounds like collusion.

Apparently this part you can't get aftermarket.  I had called PartSource originally and they didn't have it.  So I had no choice but to go to the dealer.  First thing you'll need to replace the cable is to ensure you get a non-defective dealer part.  I had to go back and prove it wasn't my fault.  The Parts guy assumed I installed it wrong.  I did not install it wrong.  I installed it loosely to ensure there were no kinks.  Since that can prevent the cable from working properly.

Once the service guys checked it out and determined that the cable was a problem they said to me to go get a new part.  I was cleared.  The other thing was to not take a dealer part that is in an open bag.  The second part I got worked perfectly.  I told the parts guy that the first part he gave me was in an opened bag.  After that he realized that he had made the mistake.  Not MOI, my friend!

I had cut the cable farther down to see what was causing the problem.  Sure enough.  The cable had wicked up the water from the winter time and it was rusted inside.   It eventually seized today and I couldn't shut the trunk or open the fuel door.  In a way we were kinda lucky.  We just got home from the cottage.  I had sprayed WD-40 and silicone when it started to stick about a week ago, but that did nothing.

It takes probably 20mins to remove all the trim.  You need to remove all the floor trim on the driver's side from front where the hood release is all the way to the rear seat, because the cable is running under there.

And another 30mins to install the new cable and put it back.  You basically need these tools to do this.  Plus two hands and a pair of gloves because you'll probably cut your hands on the edges of the trim.
That bent screwdriver looking thing is a must.  It's a trim tool.  You can get it at Harbor Freight or Princess Auto.  It's like a $5 tool.  You use to remove all those little buttons that hold trim onto the frame.  The most important tool is the credit card to buy the frigging cable.