Calmchaos

I just put new struts on the hatch and it seemed to close fine. I heard the click which made me think it was locked (silly me). And i went to drive away and when I either hit a bump or turn it opens itself. I dont have the rear wiper motor if that makes any difference.

Anyone have any helpful ideas on how I could fix this.

Thanks!
-Brett

fwb42

Brett, Mine does the same thing.What I've found ,is that it only happens in cold weather,which tells me that the cable lube is getting stiff and not allowing the latch to reposition itself after it has been opened.My fix will be to relube the cables and see if that helps.In the meantime I hold the hatch down for a few seconds and it will latch itself. Hope this helps for you. FRED

Chris_924s

Fred is correct. WD40 for the winter, a touch of White Lithium grease for the summer.

Porsche-O-Phile

Adjust the pins and the hatch pin receivers. It's not difficult, but a lot of trial-and-error. And lube the receivers as has been mentioned.

Scott at Team Harco

I need a better solution than that. Mine pops up everytime I drive on a dirt road. Guess I could always park at the end of our street and walk the rest of the way...

... or just disconnect one end of the new strut and then plug it back in when I need the hatch open.

Chris_924s

Hey Scott!!
I wore my "Team Harco" shirt again yesterday.. I swear that shirt wouldl make any guy a chick magnet.

Scott at Team Harco

You know it brother. I have to beat them off with a stick...

Calmchaos

I live on a dirt road too.... This really sucks. Would new hatch receivers help me at all?

Erzengal

a few Rolls of color matched duct tape will fix that...

bearone

no it's not difficult to make the adjustment if they aren't corroded.

i tried to make an adjustment on the old '84 and the pin sheared off when turned.

87951

PeteL

Another vote for pin adjustment.

Calmchaos

When i got home today I sprayed some penetrant onto the latch, closed the hatch and went up and down my dirt road once and it seemed just fine. So hopefully it'll be ok. If not ill have to adjust the pins. Im just scared its going to pop open when taking a corner on the highway or sumthing.

FRporscheman

On both my 944s the pins sheared off when I tried to adjust. Even used ones I bought broke too. It seems this is a common problem to all hatch pins, so don't force them too much. I don't think the pins need adjusting though if the hatch used to close OK with old struts. If the new struts are pushing too hard and opening up the hatch, I think the pin receivers aren't adjusted properly to hold the pins down correctly.

I.e. the pin lengths are probably OK, but the pin receivers don't latch on fully. I think.

Granite 944

Pin adjustment vote. Possibly more parts replacement/adjustment. Depends on YOUR ability and creativity.

cag4

Mine does the same darn thing... and I don't even live on a dirt road!
When adjusting the pins, what's the point? Are we trying to make them "just" long enough to fully clear the latch mechanism... or longer, or shorter, or what?
I also noticed that there was a rubber/plastic material in the bottom of the receiver for the pins that had gotten old/hard/brittle and crumbled out -- how critical is that old bit of plastic?
Thanks,
cag4
86 951 (I was a lot more worried about the hatch until I blew the headgasket...)