I had my fuel door lock up on me last night and I fixed it (thanks to the posts on here) but I was wondering what causes this problem? What is the purpose of the door locking?

Thanks for the help

 

^lol
It's your modual/actuator thingy going bad. Time for a new one.

 

It should lock whenever your doors are locked.

 

If the doors are locked, it is assumed you are away from the car. To secure the fuel in your gas tank when you are away from your car, the fuel door locks when your doors are locked. Unfortunately the actuator fails occasionally but can be cleaned back to service yourself.

 

it's so irratating that i found this out AFTER breaking mine open.

 

You may just need to lubricate it. Mine had a ton of dust on it.

 

people in this thread and another keep mentioning to "lubricate" it...where/what exactly do you lubricate? are you talking about the removed actuator or the fuel door itself?