jwbeck17

Hi, friends. I've had some posts about tracking down the sources of my interior leaks, and one area i noticed is that the rear hatch does not close tightly. It locks correctly, doesn't need to be slammed, and when unlocked, raises a mm or 2. When I close the driver or passenger door, you can see the hatch pop up slightly from the pressure. I have the corner pad screws as tight as they can be and the mid hatch supports as low as they can be, but it still seems a touch high. I replaced the lock receiver insert a while back, so that's in good shape.

Is that rear hatch action normal with these cars?

I noticed that when I i did the paper test on the rear hatch seal, it seemed fine until the rear seal at the far back, as the paper slid pretty loosely.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

Jason89s4

Sounds like you checked this, but when I first acquired my '89 928 the rear hatch had similar symptoms...it was closed and "latched" but still had some movement, even thought the seal was new and the receiver insert was new. Turns out the the receiver assembly (the part on the car between the taillights) was actually loose. I tightened it up (which can be a bit tricky) and it was fine.
But then...after several days of driving around, I could hear a cluttering noise from the back. I searched and searched for what might be loose, and finally figured out that now the latch part on the hatch door was loose! It wasn't before, but I think that when I tightened everything up on the receiver end, the door part wasn't fully tight, so it became jealous and worked itself loose.
With both tightened up good, I haven't had any issues. However, it makes me think that both of those are something that needs to be re-checked and tightened occasionally.
Hope this helps. Please post your findings.
Jason

jwbeck17

Thanks for the suggestions. As for the female and male portions of the locking mechanism, they are both on tight. I had recently taken the top hatch lock unit out to replace the rubber gasket, so all is tight there.

jwbeck17

One thing to note though is that the vehicle had been on a collision with a track wall years ago before I got it. Parts are all replaced, but alignment may be a bit off because of it.

jwbeck17

So far I haven't found any success in finding a way to tighten the seal on the rear hatch. It's basically that the rear hatch is not closing as tightly as I need, so water can get in through the seals, and the hatch lifts slightly whenever the driver or passenger door closes. Both the tongue and receiver of the lock are tight and the remote lock switch functions the lock correctly.

Any other things I should try? It just seems that if i could get it closed a millimeter more, things would seal better. Either that, or slightly bend the metal lips that hold the seal tighter to the hatch.

jpitman2

I have read here that the nylon tongue that does the latching wears, and does not hold properly. Some fix this by fitting a couple of cable ties around the nylon to tighten it up. Do a search on this, you should find pics.
jp 83 Euro S AT 57k

jwillman

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...attle-fix.html

jwbeck17

I'll double check, but I thought i saw zip ties on the lower receiver catch which were installed by the previous owner. I thought the zip ties on the catch fix the remote unlocking of the trunk some have. My remote unlock capability works fine.

If the zip ties are in place, would it be better to replace the white tongue on hatch lock? Not sure if mine is too worn, so i took a few pics:

jwbeck17

I checked when I got home and the catch does have the zip tie fix already in place:


Only test I can think of now is putting electric tape on the white plastic tongue on the hatch door lock to see if the current tongue is decayed and needs replacement. So far I haven’t measured a difference in the closed hatch to the bumper cover by the lock.

Any other suggestions to try to get the hatch to seal better?

jwbeck17

Just a quick follow-up here to end the thread.

In the end, all I did was replace the trunk hatch seal with a new one. While the old one was very pliable and seemed in good shape, it just didn't keep leaks out, so I installed a new one and all was well.