Long time since Ive been on here.
Short story:
Had a couple hours to pack up to take the family camping, leaving early the next morning. All packed up, go to shut the rear hatch and it bounces back up towards me. Umm? Check the obvious, bounce, bounce. About 100 more bounces and cursing and I realize I'm in trouble
TLDR:
Rear hatch does not shut!
This shouldn't be happening to a 5th gen. But it did and apparently it does.
The latching mechanism rusts, gets gunked up, whatever and fails. I am very diligent in lubricating my door latches with white lithium grease by the way but this still happened.
I found a YouTube video (
Stuck open or closed rusty Tailgate Latch fix for 2003-2009 Toyota 4Runner - YouTube explained the situation with more depth. When the hook of the latch hits the striker and rotates around it, there is a tiny little lever that moves into position to lock it into place. This lever wasn't moving. I cleaned it, brake cleaner, q-tips, PB Blaster, gas overnight, etc and it still wouldn't work properly.
In the short term - I manually moved this little lever to the almost closed position and shut the door and after a few attempts it would lock shut. I then had to roll the rear window down and somewhat reinstall the door panel with the door closed so the rear window wouldn't be moving back and forth.
Im leaving out many details here but this almost cost me a camping trip with my family.
Toyota wants $400 for an oem part, can source is online for $350 CAD.
Rock Auto had a chinese version for $150 shipped CAD. Just installed that (took not even 10 minutes, fluid filmed the snot out of it and its working as it should). Time will tell and I will update if it fails.
Sorry no pictures but I can add some if others get in this same jam.
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2012 Trail Edition (No KDSS, Fox 2.5's front, OME rear, 34" KO2's and 33" STT PRO's, Camburg UCA's, Total Chaos LCA's, Custom bumpers and sliders, Baja Utility Rack)
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Overland Bound Member #2992