Hi all

I wonder if anyone can help. The boot lid on my touring is jammed closed. The latch sounds like it releases, but as the piston pushed up it doesn't open. No amount of force will overcome it.
It was acting up the other day, taking two presses of the key fob button to open, so I put some grease on the latch. It's now completely jammed shut though!!

Has anyone suffered this before?!

Cheers, stu

 

Hello Stu,

I've never experienced a case of the tailgate remaining shut permanently, However I've seen a few cases of the latch mechanism moving out of sync resulting in either not opening or not closing of the tailgate. In all these cases the latch would move seemingly normal but was off by quite some time thus failing to grasp/release the fixed pin in the trunk floor.
It would not surprise me if your case is similar. In one case a new lock solved the issue, one case of reprogramming the body module and one replacing it (and obviously reprogramming as well).

Hope you'll get it sorted soon, Good luck!

 

Hi Theo

Thanks for the reply - sounds like its a garage job then!

Better warm the credit card up!

Stu

 

Hi Stuilos,

Is the latch the problem or something else? Has something broken off and jammed in the latch?

You know you can manually release the catch by hopping into the boot and opening the little plastic panel on the latch and flicking the latch lever over which will pop the latch release.

 

Hey

I think it's the latch, and not something jammed, but I'm not 100% sure! I've been in the boot and tried the manual release which has the same effect.

I opened the boot floor and hung upside down through the glass and could see the mechanism rotating, but not releasing. The blood rushing to my head made it pretty impossible to figure out exactly what I was watching!!

 

Quick update

Had my car booked into the garage this morning. Walked out the house and just for kicks I pressed the boot release button....and it opened! First time in two weeks! Called the garage and cancelled.

So, had a play with the mechanism and it seemed it was very lucky to open as it wouldn't release itself again - I was testing this with the boot open. I removed the plastic covering and then the mechanism itself. Was on my way into the house to order a new one when I heard something rattling around - gave it a shake and a piece of plastic fell out. Put everything back together and it has worked perfectly since!

I've no idea where the piece of plastic has come from - and to be honest it works perfectly so I don't care!

Saved myself a few quid and it's now ready to sell.

So if anyone wants a 520d with a working boot, please let me know!