tailgate cable

[Guest fvesprit]

Fix recommended is to go under car vice thru any taillights.

Edited March 3, 2008 by fvesprit

[fjmuurling]

Chris are you sure your car is a G car, according your info under your avatar it is a 1990 SE which is an S car. Don't go smashing your rearlights or cut holes in the rear in order to gain access to the boot. Amuch better way is to cut the nuts from under the bootfloor. You may have to remove your exhaust. After that you won't be able to lift the boot floor completely but enough to acces the two tailgate release mechanisms. In the end you only have to replace a couple of nuts and bolts which is much cheaper and not causing permanent damage to your car. I agree it takes maybe a little bit more time but it is well worth it.

Freek

[Guest fvesprit]

Edited March 3, 2008 by fvesprit

[hilly]

You should be able to just twist the arm which connects to the cable to release the tail gate latches.

I'll take a picture of the latches on my car tonight when I get home and post them on here, should help you work out which bit to twist.

Hilly

[WayneB]

Hi Chris,

when my hatch release cable broke, I found a previous owner had cut a 4 1/2 diameter hole behind where the License tag(plate) is mounted, so I just unscrewed the license plate , put my hand and arm in and reached over to the underside top right of the trunk and by feel squeezed the release arm towards the latch releasing the hatch (on that side). The left one is pretty much the same operation . Its all a bit fiddly but didnt take long.

Since then it has broken again, so having a quick way of getting in is quite convenient , and honestly you cant tell the hole is there once the plate is re-fitted and it doesnt structurally weaken the car any.

Just be carefull when you cut the hole (if you do it that way) that the trunk carpet doesnt get ripped up by the holesaw/drill as it is clipped to the back of that panel.

You can fix the cable with bicycle parts (inner/outer cable and solderless nipples available from most cycle shops cheap)

Edited September 23, 2007 by WayneB

[hilly]

Chris

Finally got around to taking a pic of the tailgate catch on my 1981 S3

It is quite hard to get a camera in there as the support bar is in the way, but here you can see the lever which the cable attaches to.

This picture was taken with the catch in the locked position (ie how your car is at the moment) and you would just need to move the lever to the left towards the spring.

Hope this helps.

Hilly