Rear hatch won't open
 

I've done a search, and haven't quite found the answer.

My girlfriends 89 944 has a problem with the rear hatch release. The motor works, but does not stop at the open position, it continues around and around. What is happening, is that it is unlocking, locking, unlocking, locking..... I can get it open most of the time by holding the key and lifting until it opens, but she can't.

I've read a post about a 928 with a similar problem, a plastic part is broken??

Anyone know how to repair this problem, part# to replace?

Thanks

A couple of suggestions.

The motor shaft rod may have popped out of the plastic end tip by the hatch receiver.
Pull the rear carpet down and look at each side. The plastic tip/connector may be broken.

944 hatch shocks. If her shocks will not lift the hatch glass, be careful if you decide to replace the hatch shocks. Very often new hatch shocks will cause the metal frame to break away from the glass. Repair is expensive to reglue and may not hold. If her hatch has sun shield, the repair will damage the sun shield around the edge.

A difficult choice and since it is your GFs car, you may come out the looser.

GL
John

Thanks for the reply, but its neither of those. All the rods are in place, I know because I knocked one out, fiddling around, and had to replace it. The mechanism should go to the 12oclock position, holding the lock open till the lid is opened, but it cycles back to the closed position immediately. what I need to replace repair is whatever part that keeps it from completing the cycle.

I've figured out what the problem is, I'm just not sure how to fix it.

In all of the years I've worked on 944's I have never heard of a rear hatch motor that stops at the open position (180*). The cam plate on the motor goes around 360* and stops only when power is stopped (Keep pushing on the button and the motor will run around in circles until you let up. It is then up to the rear hatch shocks to push the hatch open - if they are strong enough).

The only other adjustments are:

1.) With the lock pins if they are adjusted very short and compress the seals around the hatch aggressively with the hatch closed then the key lock is hard to open the hatch - sometimes even with a new pair of shocks. Try adjusting the lock pins down by 1/32" to 1/16" to relieve some for the tightness/pressure.

Old dried stiff seals contribute to this tightness also. Some seals if they are still a little springy will lift the hatch up just past the locking jaws and allow one to open the hatch by hand then. That's when the hatch shocks do not lift the hatch fully open.

2.) The two opening rods that come off of the hatch key lock that go right and left to the lower assemblies of each of the hatch locks. On the end of each rod is an adjustment to make them longer or shorter by threading the end link up or down on the threads at the end of the rod. (Before going into these adjustments, with the hatch open look at the lower hatch lock assemblies to see if the key and the motor are actually activating the locking assemblies, you will see them move or not. Each of the opposing plates inside the locks should move back by around 3 or 4mm.

How about this?
 

After I completely rebuilt my delaminated hatch, it stuck in the closed position. To unstick the latch pins, fold the rear seats down and crawl to the back. Each hatch pin receiver has two M6-1.0 (10mm span) nuts. Loosen the nuts and manually move the receivers around until the mushroom pins release. This is particularly easy to do if the shocks are in good shape as the hatch will pop up automatically, otherwise you will have to push the hatch up with your shoulder. I also had problems after the "adjustment" as when the car was left in the Florida sun; the hatch pins would enter the receivers but would not latch.

My ultimate solution was to leave the four only nuts finger tight so that the receivers would adjust automatically every time the mushroom latching pins enter them, compensating for thermal contraction/expansion. If you really want to get fancy, replace the stock M6-1.0 nuts with nylon lock nuts and tighten them just enough that you can still move the receivers with a little difficulty by hand. The lock nuts will hold position and not loosen over time and hatch operation.

Not sure how or why but I discovered that the passenger side linkage was no longer hooked into the lock cylinder on a 924s. Hooked it back up and Bob's yer Uncle.