Oh don't worry this thread has taken a series of twists and turns.

I myself don't know for certain regarding a manual release

Most threads do when they get to more than a couple of pages, as long as the original question was answered/problem identified who cares where it goes from there? As the name of this place suggests, it's a virtual pub, wander in, sit down, ask your question then get involved in a bit of banter and conversation that may well go off on a tangent. Difference here compared with .net is that nobody gets a bollocking and their post removed for taking a thread off topic. I'm trying to take a few threads off topic to see if one of the other mods bollocks me......

Love a good mutiny.

David, I tied a stout string to the fuel cap release rod and have it tucked under the interior access panel. The only reason I've done this is the fuel door switch was the very first thing to fail on mine after taking possession of it.

Marshall8hp wrote:

Speaking of fuel flap releases (and not wanting to hijack the thread) I have seen reference to a “cable” that allows you to manually release the door. The cable located behind the RHS tail light access panel. Is this an after market thing, or after a particular MY? Asking as I don’t see anything there that would answer that description on mine.

That was helpfully only added from about '99MY onwards. Pre '99 didn't have one - and whilst you can (from memory) get to the solenoid to trigger it manually, you need to remove a load of trim to be able to access it... which is probably why they added a manual release, though I don't know what took them so long!!

Yeah, I think I needed to remove the whole RH side trim to access it.