‘Does anybody know?’: Man’s car starts making a sound like a machine gun, so he takes it to Honda and gets news he didn’t want to hear

A Honda Civic owner shared a video of his car making a loud, rapid-fire noise that sounds like a machine gun. TikTok mechanics quickly identified the problem as a faulty fuel door actuator. This is a common issue that affects many Honda vehicles, even newer models.

According to Motor1, Wendal, a content creator, posted the video of his 2016 Honda Civic Coupe making the strange sound on TikTok. He wanted to figure out what was wrong before taking it to a Honda service center. He asked car experts online to help him understand the problem.

The noise starts right after Wendal closes his door and walks away from the car. The car’s sensors detect that the key fob is moving away, so it tries to auto-lock. Instead of a normal clicking sound, the car makes a loud chattering noise that sounds like a machine gun firing rapidly. “Do you know the problem?” he asked in the text overlay of the video. 

The fuel door actuator causes this common problem

People who saw the video immediately recognized the sound. “fuel door actuator. press the lock button on the remote and it’ll keep doing it. you’ll hear it at the fuel door,” one person commented. 

The fuel door actuator is a small motorized part that locks the fuel door when you lock your car. When this part gets stuck or breaks, it tries to lock repeatedly but keeps failing. This creates the rapid, loud noise that sounds like a machine gun.

This problem is more than just annoying. When the actuator fails, you might not be able to open your fuel door at gas stations. Honda owners have dealt with expensive dealer repair bills for simple fixes before, so many are cautious about service costs.

Honda owners on online forums have reported this issue happening frequently. Some describe grinding sounds before the part completely fails. Others hear loud buzzing noises. This problem affects newer cars too, not just older ones.

One owner said their actuator broke at 40,000 miles, got replaced under warranty, and then broke again at 47,000 miles just a year later. Cold weather can make it worse. Another owner said their actuator would stop working whenever temperatures dropped below 20°F, which was embarrassing at gas stations. Many drivers are skeptical of unnecessary service recommendations from dealers after experiences like these.

The good news is that replacing the fuel door actuator costs between $130 and $170 at a shop. If you want to fix it yourself, you can buy the part for about $40 and install it in roughly 10 minutes.