Hi All,
The lock for the trunk on my 98 has finally died.

I think that the latch mechanism has gotten so rusty that the spring no longer works (or broke) :pat: . When I try to close the hatch, the latch mechanism does not get out of the way, thus it hits the stricker and the hatch just bounces back.

I am wondering where I can find a used latch (cheap), to replace mine with.
(Even better , if there is someone close to Michigan that can give me a deal on the entire rear hatch, please let me know).

Thank you!!
tdk

 

hahahah i have the same problem hahaha

only way is to use you're key... to put the latch back i just don't bother with the latch.. and just lower the window whenever i need something

edit: my dad has tried everything to fix it.. lube, grease, taking it apart and putting it back together... can't get it to latch properly...

 

search "broken rear latch" or variations thereof. there are numerous threads on it

 

Thanks Bob,
I will check it out... this weekend?

tdk.

 

after reading through the threads, it sounded like i was going to need a new latch mechanism, ( mine would not latch and hold door shut).
I took it all apart to look things over, and was surprised at how well everything looked in there( close to 300K on a 2000 ltd) and in "way too much salt on the roads in wintertime MN" VERY surprised.
after kind of figuring out how it all works, I looked at the latch and started playing with it,it would move freely back and foth but woundn't stay closed, I noticed a little lever on top of the unit that was very stiff when I tried to see if it would move, after working it with some "PB" it was moving freely and would snap back into position,which it wasn't doing. so I lubed it up after working it back and forth with a ton of "PB" and now it all works perfectly P.T.L.!!!


the pics show the latch mech. you have to pull back a rubber gasket on the top to see the parts that I dealt with, the lever that was the problem is in the last pic with the end of a sharpie kind of pointing at it, sorry about the blurry pics.hope this can save someone some money like it did me.