Trunk will not latch
 

The rear hatch locking mechanism will not latch on my 951. The electric release mechanism seems to be working properly. But the trunk will not stay closed. Can anyone help with this?

If you have the Haynes manual, it tells you about it. Simply put, you have to adjust the length of the screw-type locks on your hatch so they can be fully inserted into the lock. I don't know if 951 locks are different, but that is what I did for my 84 944.
Good luck.

After using the electric release, occassionally, the mechanism will not return to the close position. Unlatch the cover and manual move the lock cylinder mechanism(top part toward the passenger side)to reset system.Lubricate all latching system pivot points.

Before you start adjusting things... did the hatch work before...

take a look where the pins from the glass go into the body. You may just have tons of old, tired grease and junk keeping the mechanisms from closing onto the pins... Pull the carpet back and take a look... spray some WD-40 into teh pin hols to loosen things up (put a few rags under the holes to catch teh run-off0... Once clean, use a white grease to lubricate...

Nope. Still no luck. I have tried spraying everything with WD-40, but is as if something is suddenly disconnected. The hatch worked fine, but now it suddenly won't latch. I tried manually pushing the latch mechanism (in the center of the car) to the return position, but this does nothing. Is there any way to get the "clamps" around the holes in the body to close so i can see if they are working at all? Or are they only supposed to clamp shut when the bolts actually go into them?

They should be closed all the time unless your unlocking the hatch. If you cant get them to close at all then you've probably got something bent or really stuck in there. Did both sides fail at the same time?? Of course if one side wasnt working you might not notice for a while.

I used to have this problem. Actually had my hatch come open during an autocross run. After i lubed mine up they work fine. You might have to remove them from the car and really clean them out.

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If you drive it, Race it
Dave
'87 944

You're supposed to turn the electric motor to top dead center, or it won't always unlatch the hatch all the way. (or latch it all the way, when hatch is shut, won't hold the hatch tightly in otherwords).

Setting the motor to top dead center can be accomplished in two ways:

1st is to run power to the motor, until the shaft (on the motor, where the cable attaches) is pointing to the passanger side of the car, away from the lock. (and this is the method I'd recommend). Basically, unplug the motor's cables, run it to positive, and ground, playing with the ground wire to briefly supply power to the motor.

2nd is to loosen the nut on top of the motor (remove the nut really), and turn the shaft is free, then turn the shaft, re-tighten. The shaft could be seized on the motor, but shouldn't be too hard to dislodge, you can use a flat blade screw driver to pry from the motor base if you need to, work around the perimeter.

Make sure you loosen the cable, if the motor wasn't at top dead center, or it'll likely break the clip/cable.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need more help.
Ahmet

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It's all the driver...

I had the same problem. Look at the screw type locks on the hatch, there is one on each side. Thet have a sort of beveled head on them like a little cone that goes into the holes on the body. These cone shaped heads get rounded off with wear. When new the edge is not rounded off. I lossened the locknut and turned the screw type lock one half turn which got a sharp edge on the side it catches on and it worked fine then.

[This message has been edited by T86951 (edited 03-20-2001).]