[Brian]

The other day I noticed the small round door to access my gas cap was ajar. When I tried pushing it shut, it popped right back. When I opened it all the way to see what the problem was, I saw that the whole latch mechanism, normally mounted on the inside of that compartment, was gone. It must have fallen inward, into the body. I don't know if it's still inside somewhere, or if fell out of the car altogether.

Now the first step I can think of to access this inner-fender area is through that little compartment itself. I can see 4 screws (apparently) holding the compartment's liner to the fender, and when I remove the gas cap, I can see 3 screws behind it (apparently) holding the gas cap socket to this compartment liner and to the pipe leading to the tank.

If I remove these screws, will I create a bigger problem for myself? I'm assuming there are nuts they screw into behind the liner. If I remove these screws, will those nuts fall into the fender interior? I will have no way of holding them from behind to remount these parts. Or are these nuts either non existant or attached to the anchor holes?

And how do I reattach the latch? What if it's completely gone? The latch itself isn't as important as getting the door to stay closed (from the inside) despite it's natural inclination to spring outward.