My fuel filler door stopped locking when I lock the car. I accessed the servo that extends the plunger to lock the filler door and it's not working. There's no interference involved; if you extend the plunger manually, it will retract when you unlock the doors. I presume the ECU reverses the polarity of the voltage going to the servo to make it lock/unlock. Am I correct? I don't want to replace the servo only to find out that it's a computer problem. The car is still under warranty but I'd rather fix it myself than make a 150 mi round trip to the dealer only to find out that he doesn't have the part in stock.

 

May be worth a call to the Sandy Sansing MINI service department - they usually have parts in stock for common issues - at least that has been my experience. If not, I'm sure they will work with you. Good guys over there...

 

I bought my Mini from Sandy Sansing and the sales department was excellent. I haven't had to go back for service yet but I'm sure their service department would treat me right. If I was confident a new actuator would fix the problem, I'd just buy one (about $60) and replace it myself rather than spend a half a day going back and forth to Pensacola. If the ECU just reverses the voltage polarity to make it work in both directions, I can check for that with a voltmeter. I should have checked that while I had the trunk liner removed during my initial troubleshooting.