OK, how do you open the gas flap?
 

2002 c320 wagon.
stinking gas flap will not open. and I am nowhere near the car to assist. my mother is totally confused.
there has got to be a manual release lever somewhere in there.
anybody got a pic I can email to mom so she can open the gas flap and drive the car?

Most cars have an internal latch that you can access through the side panel. In my W202 it's adjacent to the gas door, inside the trunk. Pretty much every foreign car I've owned with a locking gas door has this feature. Tell her to check her manual, it's pictured in mine.

passenger side, inside trunk/cargo area, probably behind a removable panel. Make sure the doors are unlocked cause it works much like the old 123's etc.

yeah, I told her all this... she has no manual. she claims total ineptitude... no pictures of anybody's flap release?

just a WAG, but does it lock w/ the door locks? have you suggested cycling the locks repeatedly? Maybe have someone try to open it while cycling the locks?

MB roadside assistance? Maybe they could explain it better...

I was going to say, what better situation in which to make use of their roadside assistance.

If car was previously locked she does need to hit the unlock button twice to unlock ALL doors; otherwise only the drivers side is unlocked. At least thats how my 99 works.

That should be programmable IIRC. So it may or may not depending on how she has her key set-up.

In my 300SD you can reach your hand inside the right trunk panel and pull back the sliding rod (pin) which slides forward and locks the gas cap cover. It is attached to a door lock vacuum actuator and is between the actuator and the side of the car.

The gas flap unlocks with the drivers door, all others unlock on the second press.

Theres a red knob on the actuator, she will have to reach behind the panelling on the right side of the trunk to the actuator and pull it.

she traded in the car for a Nissan Pathfinder... I could not talk her out of it.
crazy.

She traded it just because the gas flap was either stuck or she couldn't figure out how to open the flap?

a pathfinder? that's a totaling different animal isn't it? crazy indeed.

some things in life just dont make sense.

I doubt the Pathfinder will lock her out of the gas door.