2005 Ford Escape Blocked Fuel Vent Shield Removal

I recently posted here about my 2005 Escaoe and difficulty filling
the tank due to a blocked vent tube.
The dealer insisted that this occurs from spiders building nests in
the tube. Sure enough, I looked at the vent tube opening and found
this to be true. I removed the crud but at the tip but I think that
the tube needs to be reamed out with a wire. There is a plastic shield
covering the filler tube and vent. The shield is fastened to the car
with some sort of screw with no apparenet way to remove it. The head
has a small hole but no slot for a screw driver. It is metal. Is this
some sort of rivet tat needs to be drilled out? I really need to
remove the shield so I can get full access to the tube.

Is there some way to pressurize the tank and blow it out?

"mike" wrote in message

>I recently posted here about my 2005 Escaoe and difficulty filling
> the tank due to a blocked vent tube.
> The dealer insisted that this occurs from spiders building nests in
> the tube. Sure enough, I looked at the vent tube opening and found
> this to be true. I removed the crud but at the tip but I think that
> the tube needs to be reamed out with a wire. There is a plastic shield
> covering the filler tube and vent. The shield is fastened to the car
> with some sort of screw with no apparenet way to remove it. The head
> has a small hole but no slot for a screw driver. It is metal. Is this
> some sort of rivet tat needs to be drilled out? I really need to
> remove the shield so I can get full access to the tube.