When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
If the seal is healthy, try adjusting the latch pins to be a bit shorter.
Honestly I’m scared to do this because if you tighten them too much, you can’t get the hatch open at all. I did adjust them to the point that there is no play when I wiggle each side of the spoiler, which seems like it should be enough. I do hear a lot of squeaking from the back of the car when driving, though. I should try lubricating the latches.
the adhesive dries out and de lamination is accelerated by the pressure put on by the struts, but the struts themselves do not cause it. We have fixed, over the years, hundreds of the delaminate 924 and 944 rear hatch glasses with great success
How can you be sure the struts are accelerating the delamination though? And if they do accelerate it, why wouldn’t they have to be be part of original the cause as well?
My 1984 is showing signs of delamination, i.e. the black adhesive along the top of the glass is at least 50% separated, mostly on the left side:
Luckily, the glass has not started to detach from the frame, and I want to keep it that way. However, I also want to have hatch struts that work year round. Mine only work in warm weather, and even then they are weak. I really want the hatch to open on its own when I press the footwell button, as it was meant to do.
The common explanation among online communities has long been that when the struts are replaced with OEM ones that are much stronger, the increased pressure they put on the hatch causes the glass to separate. Many people have attested to this happening, sometimes within a week or less of replacing the struts. This really points to strong struts as the culprit.
However, there are compelling arguments for the contrary, i.e. that the struts have nothing to do with delamination/separation, and the latter is caused by not closing the hatch gently with both hands, one on each side of the spoiler. Closing with one hand causes the hatch to twist, and slamming the hatch causes vibration, both of which eventually wear down the adhesive and cause separation of the glass. Clark's Garage states this, and this post from 2016 offers the most concrete case of all, with the word coming directly from Porsche about the issue.
Having read this, I thought, perhaps what happens when people replace their struts is that the way they have been closing the hatch all along (slamming and/or with one hand) is now much more catastrophic and can cause accelerated separation. Unfortunately, the person who responded right after the above post refuted it by saying that he had always closed the hatch in the prescribed manner and yet it separated after replacing the struts. It's possible his case is an outlier, or that someone else closed the hatch improperly after the new struts, but it's impossible to know.
I can live with the hatch not staying open, but it sucks. It won't open with the button at all, which means if the car is running when I want to open it, I have to shut off the car to use the key to open it, and then have it fall on my head. I really really want to install new OEM struts (not the weak Jeep Wrangler ones that people have used, which don't pop up the hatch on their own and don't have the electrical connectors), but I really really don't want to regret doing so.
Let's try to get to the bottom of this once and for all?
After a huge amount of begging the only guy in the San Francisco East Bay area who was old enough to know how to re-seal the hatch glass in my '83, he did it the best he could. Some of the screws are missing and the trim pieces around the glass aren't well aligned. But it keeps out the water! He also replaced the struts with (really strong) OEM. I open and close it manually, avoiding torques on the glass. So far (~3 years) no problems. I've owned the car since 2005 and always garaged it. It was autocrossed and, records show, well cared for by its previous owners, but I don't know about garaging
Honestly I’m scared to do this because if you tighten them too much, you can’t get the hatch open at all. I did adjust them to the point that there is no play when I wiggle each side of the spoiler, which seems like it should be enough. I do hear a lot of squeaking from the back of the car when driving, though. I should try lubricating the latches.
From this description, there are other aspects of the hatch latching system that need attention. The rattle is likely caused by the bottom of the receivers being worn out or missing. See only944 for a clever solution. Not being able to open the hatch is likely from the latch mechanisms being dirty and sticking and the latch boxes not being well aligned with the pins. Cleaning out the old and dry grease is key here. These latches are a simple design but they have fooled many people.
the adhesive dries out and de lamination is accelerated by the pressure put on by the struts, but the struts themselves do not cause it. We have fixed, over the years, hundreds of the delaminate 924 and 944 rear hatch glasses with great success
12-09-2023, 12:48 PM
