When my wife tried to fill my 2002 Cooper S (about 40,000 km, 25,000 m) with gas yesterday, the gas cap cover wouldn’t open. Had this happen once before when I had forgotten doors were locked.

This time all doors unlock, including hatch, but not gas cover.

We had snow and freezing rain last few days, so could be something has frozen up and is not releasing, but dowsing area with windshield washer fluid didn’t thaw it out.

HOWEVER, I think it’s probably an electrical fault. After fiddling around a while I noticed the following:

1. Air bag light had come on again. Last time this happened Dealer spent about an hour to tell me there was an electrical fault they couldn’t identify, but they had reset the light. “Come back if it happens again. That’ll be $84.00.”
2. The rear hatch light was also on. Re-shutting door wouldn’t put it out. (Come to think of it I forgot to check that the hood was properly closed which will trigger the same light – but I rather doubt that’s the problem.)
3. My key suddenly seemed to be acting very intermittently to lock and unlock doors.

I am not certain these three things were acting up when I first got to the car. I’m pretty sure the key and interior lock toggle worked fine at first. Also I didn’t notice the airbag light or rear hatch lights right away, and I think I would have if they had been on. I do know that they were on about half an hour later.

My immediate problems are:

1. The low fuel light had come on. (Which was why she stopped in the first place.) It was heavy rush hour and after 6:00 pm on Friday, so no dealer until Monday. To avoid running out of gas in a traffic jam we left car on friend’s driveway (about 10 km (6m) away. Anyone know how far you can go after warning light comes on?
2. I can’t see how the release works. The cover hides everything. Can anyone post a picture of an open cover showing the inside of the cover and the gas cap area? I suspect that the piece that I think moves (from the little I can see) doesn’t and that something I can’t see at all has to release. If I can get at it maybe I can force it?

Up to now the car’s been very reliable.

Jeremy

 

I found this in a search of the forums - hope it helps.

 

I'm about to go to bring car home (less traffic now). Will try that.

Thanks.

Jeremy

 

Hi,
No panic, good for 50 miles more driving,
so you will be fine.
Good luck,
Al.

 

How do the gas cap locks work on the hardtops? On my convertible, there's a fuel filler door that's flush with the body panel and hides the gas cap. There's a little pin that pokes out from the body of the car and engages a hole on the fuel door, but nothing on the actual cap itself.

 

Same thing on the hardtops basically. I imagine that minicoops was just using "gas cap" in place of "filler door".

 

Thanks! For some reason, I thought all the hardtop MINIs had an exposed chrome flip-up gas cap cover like this:


I know at least *some* of them do - is it an MC/MCS difference, or did it change with a particular model year?

If the OP's fuel door lock is like mine, I think it might be vacuum-operated, and it doesn't have a lot of force to it when it extends and retracts, so it might be binding in the hole in the fuel door. Have you tried gently pressing in on the door or pulling out on it while unlocking the car?

 

MC = Flush door in body color
MCS = Chrome exposed

 

Alright, I think I'm clear now - then how does the cap lock work on the hardtop 'S' models? (Since my 'S' is a cabrio, I have the body-coloured fuel door like the Cooper.

 

+1 I get about 40-60mi from when it first kicks on


to get to the handle is a bit of a pain, esp. if you've got larger hands.

Go into your boot,pull off the panel into the cubbie on the drivers side,if you reach straight in and up a little you'll feel the handle and just need to give it a pull toward the rear, it should be glow in the dark so if you can't feel it sticka flash light in there and it pops right out.

Also while you're back there check the battery connections and charge, sounds likeit's lacking with all the electrical issues, areyou stillonthe cars original battery?

 

There is a little piece of metal the comes off the cap on the side opposite the hinge. That piece of metal has a little hole in it that the lock goes through. I'd imagine it's similar on your Cabrio.

 

Here's how it looks on the cabrio (I have the green locking pin in the extended (locked) position for clarity.



I don't see how this setup would work with the chrome flip-up gas cap covers, since it seems to me that the pin would be exposed to tampering in the locked position, since there seems to be a gap all the way around the chrome cover between it and the body.

I guess I'll have to sneak a peek at the next hardtop 'S' I see parked.

 

Function is just the same only it's got a rubber cover I'll go get a photo.

 

I managed to solve some of the problems.

Today I had some real lock de-icer and one squirt released the gas cap cover.

The rear hatch light turned out to be caused by the hood, which hadn't quite closed on the passenger side. Probably ice.

I removed the ground cable from the battery for 10 seconds to try resetting things.

The result is my car now has gas and the airbag light is permanently on. My key is also still acting up. Sometimes it locks things right away, but then it may take 10 tries to get it to work.

Unfortunately my 4 year warranty expired a year ago so I expect an expensive trip to the dealer.

Thanks for the suggestions.
For those interested, the chrome cover on my S is similar to the chrome one someone posted, but I don't think it's identical. It seems to have been modelled on the sports/racing caps of the 50's and earlier. The mechanism is the same as the one shown for the flush cover which someone posted. I'll try to put a photo on, once it's daylight.

Jeremy
from the frozen north!!!!!!!