ROG100

The issue with the plastic/nylon insert is its shape. I looked at having it molded or injected. Pretty easy to do. The problem is the tooling cost - very very high. To recover the cost of the tooling would take years if the piece part cost was kept low. If the piece part cost was high to recover the tooling cost quicker it defeats the objective because the assembly only costs $107 in the first place.

I may look at it again as the industry is hungry in these economic times.

Jadz928

Hi Roger,
Did you source tooling stateside or overseas (China)?

ROG100

Jim,
China IIRC - $3000 to $4000 IIRC.
Roger

LGL

Hi,
86 auto: Before taking off the hatch lock for painting, remote open didn't release latch but key would. Now, after reinstalling upper latch, assembly, hatch won't stay down. I drilled out and replaced the upper latch plastic but hatch still won't stay shut. Any ideas ? I have ordered a new lower latch assembly but from this thread, I don't know if I'll get one that works. Any ideas for at least getting my hatch to stay shut si i can bring it home from the paint shop ?

Bill Ball

The missing piece is merely a bumper and you have plenty left. The latching is done by black piece, below which is a movable pawl controlled by an arm from the motor that disengages the tongue, opening the latch. Wear there or to the tongue prevents latching. Try lossening the latch upper and lower parts and realigning so there is closer engagement of the tongue with that piece.
Read Alan's explanation of the hatch latch here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/4281101-post6.html

jpitman2

Check out a recent post on LandsharkOz by Nick McKenna re making a mold for the liner. Nick is in that business (plastic die making) IIRC.
jp 83 Euro S AT 51k

oz928s4

I spoke with Nick McKenna in regard to this when purchasing some bits from him and he has not progressed it any further...or at least when i spoke with him only a matter of weeks ago

Brett928S2

Hi

Ok I have read that explanation and understand it BUT....

Could someone please help me with my problem...

I have a brand new lower latch including new nylon insert etc (thanks Roger)

I also have a brand new hatch motor that attaches to it....

Interior lights all work perfectly as well.

The fuse that runs the "parking circuit" (fuse 26) is working perfectly....

BUT.....although my motor RELEASES every time without fail ....it only rarely PARKS in the correct position, so when I go to close my hatch, it just bangs on the tongue and I have to press my remote several times to get the tongue to back off.....(I wired it to work from my alarm remote rather than the pull switches)

Any ideas why the damn thing will NOT park itself ???

All the best Brett

kshipp

Thanks Bill, but none of that applies to my issue. As I stated, everything works perfectly, except the latching of the hatch. The motor works fine, the 'plunger' moves fine. The hatch closes but doesn't latch.

It's not catching on the mechanism, and something broke, but I don't know what since I cannot find a photo of what it should be. Can someone take a photo of their latching mechanism so I can see what broke?

I've read about shims, but is that really a solution for me? From what I can tell from mine (see my photo), it looks like something broke on the forward (top) side of the (female) latching mechanism. If I need a shim there, exactly what are the dimensions and placement? OR, is this just a matter of adjusting the lower latching mechanism placement?--and if so, what broke and what functionality did it serve?

Thanks for the help!

ROG100

LGL,
You did not order it from the right place - mine work 8>)

I have already told Nick that if he comes up with the fix I will order plenty from him.
Roger

ROG100

At $107 is it really worth all the work to patch up the existing receiver.
It never worked for me for any length of time.

Landseer

Kelly,
I bought a rough car for which hatch would not accept a key nor open. I had to do a lot of work on the lock mechanism. Posts by Bill and Rog helped alot.

I reassembled, but the catch wouldn't keep the hatch shut.

The nylon/rubberlike "dirty white plastic insert", like yours in the picture, had degraded somewhat. A piece was missing like yours. The white plastic plunger had worn itself into the nylon insert along the bottom edge, kind of like yours.

Somewhere here I read that the plastic insert helps locate the plunger and consequently contribute to latching.

So, I had already obliterated my nylon insert by that time. On a whim I inserted the "shim" shown. its a piece of a thin welcome mat from home depot. Latching worked! (I'll probably get 50K miles out of it).

I am suggesting, only for a test, that you slip a little piece of cardboard between your plunger and nylon/rubberlike insert. See if that makes it latch.

If so, you will need a new insert for sure and it should solve the problem.

If not, mine is easy to disassemble (rough shape, however) and we can take pictures for you. Plus do the whole engineering functionality breakdown thing. But I thought Bill's and other's old write-ups had the pics already and such descriptions.

oz928s4

Now copy that shim and sell it Landseer hehe..!!

Landseer

this is from the back door welcome mat. I think I can cut 10 more from it, before moving to the front door.

Price should come it at about $0.27 + shipping.

Seriously, supporting the round plunger reoriented it and allowed the thing to work. I need to order the new insert.

Tails

Interesting subject and a continuously reoccuring thread.

The hatch latching mechanism is pretty complicated piece of German engineering, however what man develops others can repair, however today repair is usually by replacement.

Numerous post have been written on this latching mechanism, the pull release motor and it parking mechanism, the correct electrical wiring up method, how to set it up the male and female latching pieces correctly to ensure they latch correctly, so as not to put the male latch mechanism under too much stress that causes it to fracture the, how to correctly adjust the hatch to ensure it sits correctly in the body aperture, how to set up the correct closed position to ensure the correct fit up gap, how to set up the key release mechanism, the differences between the alarm model and the non alarm model and also how to fabricate a nylon insert, if time is not your enemy, as the fabrication was done by hand.

The plastic or nylon insert has tapers within tapers especially at the after side of the insert and various different angles involve to secure the insert in the correct position in the female member of the mechanism. This is the reason why the tooling cost to make a mold is such a very high cost as Roger has indicated.

There has also been various threads on how to adjust the female plastic insert by inserting shims and also how to shim up the release cam to effectively unlatch the hatch. Unfortunately some of these fixes are not permanent and the shiming can cause the fractring of the male's side section of the mechanism.

As fabricated repair of these side fractures has has been written up with photographs and it works.

As it has been said, numerous times before the "Search" function on RL is your best friend and if a search is carried out then all the answers you seek here have already been discussed and answered.

Fortunately my latching mechanism on my car is working correctly after regular repair and maintenance, the fabrication and fitting of a new nylon insert, R & M on the unlatching motor and mechanism including the cleaning of the parking contacts and the correct adjustment of the latching mechanism, so that there is no lateral stresses placed on the male latching mechanism or the latch itself.

Total cost of repairs to latching mechanism has been to purchase a nylon cutting board for approximately $2.00. Fortunately being retired, having a pretty good workshop with plenty of tools and machinery and not counting my time in the cost, $2.00 spent in 9 years is pretty good value?

Tails 1990 928S4 Auto