Long-term report: A fuelling hiccup with the BMW 330e Touring
A quick-fix meant that Jack Evans could eventually get back to filling up the 3 Series.
Even with a plug-in hybrid like the 330e Touring, you do eventually need to fill up with fuel. In this instance, this means trotting to the local petrol station and topping up as you usually would. But on my last visit to the local station, I hit a little bit of a speed bump.
In the 330e, you have to press a button inside the driver’s door to open the filler flap. I pressed this recently, got out to open the filler flap and – nothing. The door wouldn’t open. I went back into the car, pressed again and still the filler flap wouldn’t budge. It seemed thoroughly stuck.
As with most things these days, when faced with a problem I turned immediately to YouTube. It turns out that if you press the button and don’t open the filler flap at the right time afterwards, it can get caught and simply won’t open, no matter how many times you repeat the process.
Fortunately, there’s a get-out. Inside the right-hand side of the boot, you can remove a panel and find a prominent cable. Pull this – and you need to pull it a lot harder than you think is necessary – and the release will open. Plus, you’ve reset the system from that point so the button should, in theory, work once again without issue.
