J Berk

Those little thinks that resemble sphincters that grab the hatch pins....one of them has stopped moving....it's in the opened position but does not close around the hatch pin.

Anyone know a fix....or do I just replace?

mytrplseven

First off, put a towel under it and spray it with some "nut buster" or WD 40 and try it again. If that doesn't work, loosen the bolts slightly on the back of the capture mechanism (sphincter) and try again. If that doesn't work pull the unit off and see if the cable to it has separated. Then you'll know from there what you're dealing with.

944meister

+1

Spray some nut buster in the sphincter!

J Berk

So I just played with my trunk sphincters.....and found them siezed up !

Spraying some lube on the sphincters in your trunk will definately get them moving freely and restore your trunk to proper working order !

Also found out that if you twist your nuts too tight your sphincters stop working...eg: your trunk won't close !

PS - found the key to my now defunct wheel locks as well ! PO had removed one of the trunk carpet snaps and screwed a key behind it...and painted it black to match the metal in the car !

River

Spray the wd/nut buster first. Wipe.
Spray with silicone all up in that thing. Check play.
If you're still having issue, check the 'play' under it. (unhook the cap/ball and see how much it moves).

If it moves without give, just replace em' both and call it a day. They cost less than $80 to replace.

Best investment I made on the hatch war

Hollywood D

LMAO

I lube mine up once in a while with some spray lubricant. You can adjust them too at the mechanism which is just behind the lock. I don't know how to do that though.

F40LM

After I got mine working with PB blaster I took them off and with some time and patience got some anti-seize grease on them. After six months one side is starting to act up again. Think a removal and a few baths in the ultra-sonic cleaner might be in order.

michael

zerMATT951

I removed my latches, flushed them with brake cleaner, then sprayed in a good coating of white lithium grease. They work pretty well now.

They were quite finicky getting adjusted / re-centered on the pins, and it took several tries to get them adjusted correctly. What worked best for me was to leave the nuts slightly loose so they latches had free movement, then close the hatch 99%, but not enough for the sphincters to close on the pins - they were being held open, then climb inside the car and do the final tightening of the latch nuts. That kept the sphincters centered on the pins while tightening them. And don't tighten the nuts too much, that will cause the mechanism to bind and the sphincters will stick open or closed.

I probably should have just bought new ones, but they are working fine so far... 4 months later.

dillon410021

lol at this thread.
white lithium grease works nice once they are clean