Technical Please help!! My boot won't latch!

[kelpopp]

Hello, We just bought an 03 Multipla and we're really pleased with it but we went to Tescos the other day, loaded our shopping into the boot, closed it and ...nothing. Just adull thud as the boot door fell into place. We lifted it up and tried again and it just fell there again. The 'latch' on the door isn't moving across to hook round the 'ring' part on the car so the boot is only being held shut but the weight of the door.

I've trawled this site and come up with things to check and so far we've squirted WD40 in the key hole, removed the door lining to see if there anything obvious there but it all looked OK to me (I've never looked inside a boot lining before but there wasn't anything scary or obviously broken looking there)

The only things we have noticed are:

1) the key only turns a tiny bit in the boot lock - I mean less that a 1/4 turn so it hardly moves the metal rod that goes from the key hole to the actual lock. we've sprayed it a few times with WD40 but it's not helped.

2) the rubber button part (above the number plate - the bit you press to lift up the boot lid) gets stuck 'in' We've coaxed it out and tried again but it just gets stuck again and pressing it doesn't seem to make any of the lock mechanism move anyway

3) The 'hook' part of the lock (the bit attached to the actual boot lid) needs to be pushed in so far before it locks that we don't think the 'loop' part of the lock would be able to engage it - I wonder if the 'hook' has been slightly pushed inside the housing - maybe from years of the boot being slammed? (this is a really hard thing to describe - sorry if I'm not making sense) Should we but a new lock for the door?

4) when I pull the little boot opener button down by the drivers door I can hear a tiny 'click-click' noise coming from under the steering wheel. I believe this is where the fuses live, could that noise be indicative of a problem with the fuses?

Sorry for such a long and rambling post. It's hard to describe what we can see but hopefully we're not the first people with a non-locking boot and someon will be able to help. I'm starting to envy the people with unopenable boots!

Thanks very much, Kelly

 

[jwmultipla]

hi, on the 03 the boot lock mechanism is an electrical affair the pulls a cable to release the boot latch. it sounds like your mechanism has partially siezed up. if you remove the inner tailgate trim cover, (easy to do just a few screws) you should be able to see how it all works. It might just need a good spray od wd40 or similar to get it going again. In the winter the washer pipe for the rear can come off and when it thaws and you use the rear washer it just fills the tailgate with water, this could have led to your machanism sticking if something has corroded.

 

[kelpopp]

Hi JW,
Thanks for replying. We took your advice and got back out there with the WD40 – this time we were much more liberal with it and now we are able to turn the key. Turning the key, however, has no effect on the lock itself – the hook part still doesn’t move, even after we flooded it with WD40.

Standing with my ear against the lock there is a definite clicking noise when the boot release button (the one by the handbrake) is pressed. Also the piece of wire that goes from the keyhole to the lock mechanism moves when the key is turned – I assume this is supposed to move the hook part of the lock to open the boot.

So even though we’ve still got to bungee the boot shut we’re pretty sure our problem is with the actual lock itself and not the key mechanism or the boot release button next to the handbrake.

I’m trying to persuade Jon that we should have a go at repairing the lock ourselves but he’s not keen so I think we’re going to make a trip to the local Fiat garage tomorrow to buy/order one. Unless anyone knows of anywhere cheaper to buy a replacement lock?

Thanks again, Kelly

 

[jwmultipla]

Hi Kelly,

The locks usually sieze up cos most people use the button next to the handbrake or the 'switch' where you lift the tailgate. It does sound like the latch/lock has failed. What have you got to loose by taking it out and having a look? I would look on ebay for a second hand one cos the dealers are usually expensive.

justin