hatch repair...?

[ropadope]

hey hey-

the hatch on my 87 1/2 sr5 4wd is broken. not sure exactly what i mean either --i took the car to a locksmith who told me that the lock/tumbler is fine, but that some part of the release mechanism is broken. the hatch is closed and locked -- any ideas on how to take it apart from the inside (the third brake light looks like it's a part of the process also)? thanks for any help.

ps -- i just drove the little gem (now with a mere 120K miles on it) from Kansas to California, over mountains and through scorching deserts...not a single problem, other than the stinkin' hatch.

[neonsport]

There's a push pin fastener on each side of the third brake light. Use something like a ball point pen to push in the pin in the center of each, then pull the fasteners out. The cover for the brake light will then just lift off.

Once you've done that, there are a series of plastic fasteners with a phillips head in the center holding the inner hatch panel. Use a light touch with a phillips screwdriver; if you push in while you unscrew, they won't come out. You might have to hold the outside of each fastener to keep it from turning while you unscrew. When you have it out far enough that you can grab the phillips center with your fingers, pull it straight out. Then pop out the rest of the fastener if it didn't come out with the center. There are some blind snap fasteners behind the panel that will pop out easily as you pull the panel off.

Once you have the panel out, opening the hatch is easy.

[ropadope]

sweet man, thanks! but any idea what i might have to replace to make it functional again? i sort of a mechanical idiot.

[neonsport]

It's really going to depend on what you find once you get in there. The latching system is simple, so you should be able to find a problem fairly easily. Get it apart, then come back on the board with what you find.

[ropadope]

well, the pins holding in the third brake light are identical to all of the ones holding the rest of the inner hatch cover, except that they're not counter-sunk, and i don't see any place to poke in a ballpoint to release them. how do you remove those things? i ripped one out with a pair of pliars, and yeah, they're plastic and threaded, but they won't 'unscrew'. i tried spinning off the other ones around the brake light, no luck. they appear to be single little units, not caps to remove and reveal a philips head i could unscrew.

then it occurred to me that even if i ripped all of the three pins (is that what they are called?) from the brake light, i still wouldn't be able to get at the ones in the part cover the hatch interior, because those are counter-sunk. help?

forgive the idiocy,

jroper

[brianp]

for the screw type pins, I use a flat screwdriver to get between the outside ring and the screw, just enough to give it enough tension so I can then unscrew it. Then you just pull the outside ring out.

[ARCHINSTL]

Another option on the screw-type pins is to use the blade (only) from a utility kife and lift up gently whilst carefully (no pressure) turning the screw - the idea is to just put some pressure against the "base" of the screw.

The push-in types on the third light are to be just destructively pulled out and replaced. Any AZ or ADV or NAPA carries these in various sizes (albeit black only). They are one-shot pins.

Have fun removing the panel from a closed hatch - there are some "internal" pins which are really gonna be hard to disengage whilst on your belly.
Tom M.