maint

Been chasing exhaust smell in the cabin and paying closer attention to the hatch than I used to. Coming to realize that the hatch unlatches on it's own, one side or other, way too often. I have put in new hatch pins last year and new seats from Only944 and have had the latches apart to clean and inspect. The latches looked good and not worn out. Recently I re-aligned the latches and made sure that they are centered on the pins and not being held by the release rods.
If I grab the hatch on the sides and move it side to side the hatch will open ??? Looking for suggestions on what I may of missed or what I should recheck. Anyone had to replace the springs inside the latches?

mrgreenjeans

Something that happened with my '84 when new after about 6 months of ownership:

and repaired under warranty by Porsche.
Was this:

Going down the road, sometimes the hatch would open after a small bump was encountered. It was traced to the wire in the switch which was pinched and shorting against metal in lower left footwell. What was first thought as a dysfunctional latching system at the locks was actually an electrical issue.
It sounds as tho you are able to make the hatch spring ajar by messing with the hatch glass, and has nothing to do with my scenario.
Just throwing this out here, to check this cause as well in those instances when an involuntary opening occurs.

maint

Got so desperate last week I unhooked the cable at the motor to simplify things to consider.

edit- after a lot of looking I found the back edges of the locks to be the problem
https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...receivers.html

Datkinsj

I have a '84, my hatch will do the same thing, on occasion will just open while driving, I did recently replace the struts, but can't see where that would warrant inadvertent opening of the hatch...

ramius665

You need to realign the pin seats. If lateral movement is sufficient to get the hatch to open, you need to slightly widen the distance between the pin seats. I had a similar problem when I installed a 968 hatch on my 944T and it was driving me crazy. I finally got in the hatch, loosened everything up and played with the pin seats until they held the hatch and opened on command.

David Ewell

Had the same issue until I replaced both latches (New ones). Fixed the problem. My latches looked good too, but they do wear and need replaced after so many years. I think I paid $50 ea for them.

mytrplseven

First off, look into the jaws of the capture mechanism to see if they are closing completely. If not, clean them with a solvent and move them until they do. Then use a light lube on them and ensure it has been worked into the jaws. If that isn't the case, then make sure the pins are both the same length from the hatch. Clean the pins and wipe some heavier grease or lithium grease on them. Then see if the hatch will lock on both sides when it is firmly closed. If only one side latches, lengthen the pins 1/2 turn at a time until they both will stay latched. Once that is done, loosen the two small bolts on the capture assembly and in a very quiet area, slowly lower the hatch (with the jaws held open) until you can't hear the pin sliding into the capture assy. Lock it down and do the other one. That should do it.