[FONT="]Dealers are prone to seize on the fact that you may be a non-technical, mature
lady to try to palm you off with whatever explanation may be most convenient or profitable to them. They already sound like they’re guessing – have they found damaged or broken wires, and have they shown these to you?[/FONT]
[FONT="]When the top button stopped unlocking the boot the first time, were you still able to open the boot with the bottom button? Can you open the boot with the bottom button now?[/FONT]
[FONT="]If ‘yes’, and the problem was fixed by the dealer replacing the handle the first time it was probably the switch in the handle that failed, these appear to be a notorious weakness in the Fiat and just because it was fixed once there’s no reason think the replacement cannot also have failed – mine failed in a car that was only eight months old.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The boot is not ‘locked’ in the conventional sense, rather it is deprived of power when the doors are locked and simply can’t be opened by pushing the release in the handle. The fob boot button tells the system to bypass the switch and operate the solenoid that releases the boot latch.[/FONT] [FONT="]The solenoid is an electro-mechanical device that physically pulls the mechanical boot release lever in exactly the same way as the little lever down beside the seat of many other cars operates the boot lid or the petrol flap.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Another possibility is that the wiring, especially that running through the rubber conduit from body to boot-lid has indeed been fractured through frequent opening of the boot. This too is a common fault discussed here. In this case I’d expect a
dealer to replace that section of the loom but many people have repaired it themselves. A visit to an independent auto-electrician might save you some money. [/FONT]