The trunk no longer opens.

I can hear the solenoid click when pressing the button inside the car or on the remote, so that's not it.

I have tried the emergency pull cable in the glove compartment, but it does not move at all.

I tried having a friend press down on the trunk (to release any pressure) and then pressing the button/pulling the cable, but that didn't work either.

The top, since it hinges the other way, works fine, no problem. So I can kinda get to the backside of the latch.

Any suggestions (other than take it to the dealer)? Anyone experienced thist?

 

When you hit the trunk open button, do you hear anything at the latch? If not, the cable may have come loose or broken at the latch. You might see if you can get your eyes on the cable there when the lid is flipped open for the top.

 

Scratch the getting the eyes on it. I just looked and it is totally covered up inside the trunk. So unless you are able to get to it with the lid flipped, just looking at it won't help.

The emergency (escape) handle is not available from the outside either. However, you could use the emergency handle from the inside while the lid is flipped but I don't know what kind of extra trouble that will bring you. Be sure to have a strong assistant if you try that method to hold on to the lid. If you do try this, the emergency handle is behind the driver's side tail light.

 

I had forgotten about the release in the trunk -- good idea. I've never had both sides unlatched at the same time. Should be interesting but may give access to the latch mechanism so that would be a good thing. Have you (or anyone) unlatched both sides at the same time? Any pro tips? That has to confuse the heck out of the ECU.

When pressing the button (key or interior), I can definitely hear the solenoid cliick at the truck latch.

 

Nope, I've never done it either. Hopefully, you will be able to re-latch it before reactivating the ECU.

Since you can hear the trunk latch clicking, I'd make a SWAG and say that the latch may have come loose inside and is not able to release the lid catch because it has turned, even though the latch itself is open. (Oh, my English teachers a really long time ago would have a field day on that sentence!)

 

Hey, JohnnyCake,

How about an update on this.

Did you ever get your trunk to open up? How did you do it?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Your trunk needs Habious to the rescue .

 

That's why he wants me to post. Besides, its always a good thing to circle back and update a thread for people searching in the future.

So to summarize, could hear the solenoid work (click sound from trunk), could feel the solenoid work (hand on trunck), but emergency cable didn't pull at all.

Habious had the bright idea that maybe things were working, but there was an alignment issue such that the release was not experiencing full travel and thus not unlatching. His solution was to press down on the trunk lid itself, thereby altering the alignment. Once he did that, things worked AOK and we got the trunk open (at first I had my wife try but apparently Habious is stronger -- who knew?)

Once we got the trunk open, we noticed the latch cover askew to the point where it basically was hanging by a thread. See photos below. The press tabs are toast so I have a new one on order.

Also, there appears to be overall problem with the trunk closing too tightly. My trunk gaps are much narrower than Habious's (which from an appearance point is fine), but when opened, my trunk barely pops up and seems "heavy" during the very initial opening process (presumably when the struts are not involved) compared to Habious's.

I recently had some rear end collision work done and they have agree to take a look at the adjustment after the part comes in.

 

Hey Johnny, help me out please. When I click my trunk release my trunk lid does not move but I can lift it. It feels a little heavy lifting the lid but it stays up with no issues.

Since you saw the other SC, would you say I need to look at new struts? Or something else...everything appears to be aligned.

Thanks in Advance!

 

I hope someone has the answer to this cuz I really don't know. My struts are relatively new, but were an eBay purchase so who knows about quality (although the brand was recommended).

I'm wondering if they come into play when the trunk is first opened, or just when fully opened?

 

I would like to know why the trunk lid on the Habious SC pops up a little when the trunk release is opened. Did you also say his trunk lid feels lighter while lifting?

Could it be the seals?

 

Bgw, mine does the same thing as yours. It doesn't pop up any and it feels a little heavy to lift but stays up no problem. I thought that they all worked like that?

 

Good to know Helo! It sounds like three of our SCs are this way which would lead me to believe this is normal.

 

I'm glad to hear that you got it working JohnnyCake and it sounds like it is a fairly easy repair to boot.

My trunk just barely budges when unlatched and there is a little extra resistance right at the start of lifting but not too bad. It seems like when I first got my struts replaced that it was a little stiffer at the bottom. Probably just needed to be broken in some.

As you mentioned Bgw, I suspect that how much the lid pops up depends on the seal and actually, not so much just the seal but where the latch actually latches at. If the latch just barely latches after the lid contacts the seal, there wouldn't be much of a bounce back. But if the seal has to be compressed more to latch the latch, then it will bounce the lid more once the latch is released. Just a thought/guess.

 

That makes total sense Harold...thanks for adding to the confirmation of what is normal operations.
I paid more attention to the trunk opening today and sure enough, it does raise about 1/4-1/2in after the switch has been pressed.