kevin Dubois

recently i have trying to fix the rest of the little problems with my car ('87 951) to make it more fully functional. one of the problems i have is the rear hatch release motor doesn't open the hatch. The motor runs just fine (spins one complete cycle and stops) but i think the cable is out of adjustment. I have two questions pertaining to fixing this. 1. is there a plastic clip that holds the end of the cable into the cam-like crank? either mine is gone or the cable end (shaped like an "L") wont stay in the hole. the other question is 2. does the cam-like crank thing start by pointing to the center of the car (the direction that the cable comes in from)? any help, or references for help are greatly appreciated.

David Floyd

1) yes there is a plastic clip on the cable end.

2) the factory manual calls the hatch motor at top dead center when the cable is pulled to it's full length (arm pointed to the passenger side of car)and it should be in this position to adjust the cable so that the locking bars are completely open.

You can make two wire leads with a flat male on one side and a flat female on the other.

unplug the hatch motor and with the leads you just made connect brown to brown with one and the other connect to the blue wire then just touch the red wire and that will rotate the motor till you get it to top dead center, then adjust the cable.

Hope this helps

kevin Dubois

thanks that does help a lot. one last question though... once the cable tension is set, and the motor is reconnected, by pressing the button, the motor will spin activating the release mechanism. my question is, does the motor hold the release open, so that the glass can be opened? or does it just spin once, popping the glass up and out of the locked position. (by manually pulling on the cable, it didn't seem to open the hatch) or could this be a different problem, such as lack of grease at all the moving points, ext... i guess i am questioning how the release works, because when opening it with the key, i must continue to hold the key turned and pull the hatch open at the same time to open it.

thanks again in advance....

David G

Seems like there was a post previously about how Porsche intended for the hatch to pop up all the way open, (and that's what it said in early manuals) but it wouldn't-so owner's manuals were supplemented saying that it would merely unlock the hatch so you could pull it up..still a handy feature though.....

David Floyd

I don't think the motor holds the locks open, it should just move the locks open,closed,open,closed as the motor spins and the compression of the hatch gasket and the pressure from the hatch shocks is what lifts the hatch, when everthing is adjusted and lubed.
You should also check and make sure the latching blocks are centered by slightly loosening the bolts on the bottom of the locking blocks then shut the hatch, that should center everything then crawl in from the inside and tighten bolts.