Can't open rear hatch - 99 Limited

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Hi all,

Found the forum while googling, and it seems to be fairly knowledgeable, but I can't seem to find anything specific to my case.

Just bought a '99 Limited, and when I was checking it out, I had a hard time opening up the rear hatch, it felt like the handle was sticky. I got it home, and proceeded to try and drill out the sheared off license plate bolts (in progress), and tried to open the hatch, to find there was no resistance in the handle.

I managed to tackle it tonight, and got it open. I found that when it would unlock, the "crescent moon" portion would slide out pretty far from the pivot point, and when it would lock, it wouldn't slide back in far enough, that the bar connected to the handle would be able to engage the whole mechanism, so it wouldn't pull the cable.. The whole assembly is in tact, just not working correctly. I wish I grabbed pics/video to explain, but I completely forgot.

Anytime I had the door apart, everything worked as advertised. I could lock/unlock using the remote, and they key, and it would always open. I put it all back together, and after 2-3 tries, or a key lock, it wouldn't open anymore. After disassembling, and reassembling the door 3 times, I finally called it a night, and decided to try and do more research, but it doesn't appear to be a fairly common issue.

Has anyone come across this before? Any tips? I did load up the inside of the door with white lithium grease, but it didn't seem to improve anything.

Thanks,
LDS

(It's the assembly under the black plastic in the top right of this picture)

 

[SR5Runner97]

I've had trouble opening the hatch before, googled it up and i put my foot under the license plate, pushed in slightly and then while pushing with my foot i'd pull the handle and it worked. have to do it every once in a while. would like to fix it for good sometime.

 

[Andywear]

Not saying you didn't but before lubing(grease) up a system it needs to be clean.

 

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I've tried variations of putting pressure on the door, but nothing worked. When I had it all apart, nothing was interfering with the handle itself, or the bar it moves.

As for lubing it up, I don't think it would have any a difference, as it almost moves too far. I'm going to tear into it again tonight, and I'll try to clean it all out, and re-grease it. It just frustrates me that it all works fine while it's apart, but the second I get it all together, I'm back at square one. It doesn't even look like anything is mechanically wrong with it.

 

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Fixed the issue. I pulled it apart again tonight, and I found that when you grabbed the handle, it wouldn't return all the way closed, to the unlock mechanism was being blocked. There's a spring that connects the cable release mechanism, and the door handle, to return it to it's original position, and it was a little tired.. I'll need to replace it, but I cleaned the whole thing out, and re-greased it. It seems to be working, but sometimes the locking mechanism will now catch going the other way, when it tries to lock. The servo motor doesn't try to push it too hard, but using the key is a workaround until I'm able to replace the spring.