aTOMic

I've been putting it off for one reason or another for two years. Today I fixed it using only a pry tool to get the little trim fasteners out and a pair of needle-nose pliers!
The spring is not much bigger than a pen spring. Only one trim piece has to come off!
I am HAPPY!
I took pictures, hopefully I'll have time to post them soon!

Thanks Misha!

-Tom

ohsigmachi

Please some some pics of the striker plate assembly, mine seems totally locked up but the spring is there and intact. I really would like to be able to repair instead of replace.

aTOMic

Can you hear the motor function when you shut the lid? Here are two pics; one without the spring and one with the spring in place, which holds the latch up. (in reverse order).
I'm afraid your motor may not be trying. Pretty sure the switch is in the lid part of the latch. Could be that, or the motor or fuse, of course.

mcs

With my car, the cable end came off at the motor location.

The motor still works and I have another motor coming from the USA (Aussie price is around $600 for that motor)

If the cable breaks, you have to buy a new motor with the striker plate. I have tried rebuilding mine but it only lasted about a month.

awdinut

Is that spring an Audi part or hardware store part ? And if hardware store, tell us the length, type of ends, and number of coils if tension amount is critical. Mine has no spring, which would be one reason I dont have soft close.

Could not find a fuse location in the manual for trunk soft-close, does your manual list a location ?

And as to the soft-close motor...if you have your lid open and trip the latch with a screw driver does that activate the soft close motor ? Just trying to think of a way to tell if my motor works or not.

aTOMic

My spring was lying in all the junk left of the latch about two feet from the latch. It's in a place behind the big trim piece you remove to access the latch, so look carefully, it might be there.
Definitely hardware store part. It pulls quite strongly judging from its coiled length vs its extended length. The thing it pulls moves quite freely, though.
I'll go trip the latch in a minute and report back but IIRC there is a microswitch in the lid part of the latch. Maybe that's your problem.

Does the rest of your latch look like mine, or do you think they made some without the soft-close?



(Tsk, tsk; he has a power-folding rear-seat executive package desk but has to slam his trunk like a hyundai. )


Whoops, was that out loud?

awdinut

something is not right. By looking at your pics, and looking at my mechanism, it looks like the striker rod (if thats the right term) moves up and down via a cam pulled by the cable to effect the soft close. In your pic the spring is not under tension, and the cable end is close to the striker rod and obviously slack...ne==hense the relaxed spring. On my car the spring is stretched over to the cable end which is at its farthest travel from the striker rod. Wnen I trip the lid mechanism on the open lid to make it think its closed, then 'open' with key button, I hear the soft close motor cycle. But it will not let the cable return from the open position that I found the mechaism in.

I have gotten by these 5 years (because I did not know any of this)by adjusting the whole striker unit higher so that the deck lid would latch just by falling on the striker rod.

Would I gain anything by fixing this besides a soft, quiet close as opposed to a thud ?

And what would it take to fix...new motor/latch assembly ? The lid portion was replaced about two tears ago, so I am assuming the micro switches are not the problem, but maybe...

What a can of worms !!

aTOMic

When I "trick" the lid by closing the lid latch with a screwdriver, the motor runs and the rod in the bumper part of the latch goes down about 1 cm.
Then if I activate the open switch in the lid, latch releases, the motor again runs, this time moving the rod upward.
I think someone wired your motor wrong. Sounds like it's working the opposite of the way it should! Open your trunk, keep the lid up and cycle it fooling the lid latch with a screwdriver.

awdinut

hmmmm...

My motor does not cycle when I 'close' the lid latch, but I think thats 'cause the striker latch cam/lever are in the 'closed position' and a micro switch in the motor drive is not turning on the motor. But when I 'open' the latch the motor cycles because it knows it was 'closed' before. So, since the cable does not extend out to move the rod upwards, I guess the cable might be frozen.

Prying to slacken the cable does no good. Getting a used unit to put in the car will be the only way to know, it seems to me. And I dont know really what it matters. If it was an easy fix like yours Id be done now, but its not.

Thanks for the input Atomic, it was worth a try.

Oh, by the way, as the old saying goes, 'poor folks have poor ways'...both of my tray tables are of the manual (read less expensive) type and I must open them by hand !

crm297

I think we have the same problem.

See the thread entitled 'trunk lock replacement'.

Sorry, I don't know how to add a link.