rear hatch lock problem

[ez73]

I have a 73 240z put some additional gasket material arounr rear hatch..I have to put pressure on hatch to close it(did this to get rid of fumes) lock worked for a while,now can,t get hatch open. Can turn the lock to the two positions but in the unlock position (perpendicular to car) there is no resistance just like locked position. The hatch is sticking up quite a bit looks like I might be able to unscrew the lock mounting bolts or perhaps cut them off. Tried taking off license plate light cover thinking there might be a way into lock,now cant put back on ,floating mounting nuts. The lock sometimes works inthe normal manner . The lock shop says the lock appears to be alright that the problem appears to be latch mechanism. Any ideas on getting hatch open? d*** Funk

[panchovisa]

I think you will have to crawl inside and remove plastic piece that covers inside back of boot (trunk?).

A couple of screws (maybe none), and push the center pins thru plastic rivits. Panel will pull out and you should have access to latch strike. Remove two bolts and bingo your in.

Find the plastic center pins from rivits, you'll need them again to put it back together.

[TomoHawk]

Make sure that the little arm isn't loose on the lock barrel. Maybe you can pull off the retaining clip from the lock, then take it off to clean & fix. Check that the screw threads are well-fitting. Then maybe a new screw to hold the arm on, with a little thread-locker.

Then just check the alignment of everything & adjust as necessary. I replaced my lock totally with one from an MGA, which has a fingerpull on it. Looks euro-cool.

If you have to push hard to close the hatch, does that mean the rubber seal is flat? Maybe a fresh seal is in order for you.

[EScanlon]

EZ:

To get the hatch unlocked, since the lock isn't functioning properly, you will need to access the hatch mechanism that is INSIDE the hatch itself.

Remove the vinyl finisher on the inside of the hatch. This will probably involve your getting into the hatch area on your back to push the pins on the rivets, or remove the screws holding the finisher in place.

Once you've removed the finisher, you will be able to see the latch mechanism in the middle of the hatch. Look closely and you will see a lever handle that is pushed on by the lock cylinder on the sheet metal face of the hatch. Pull down on this lever and the hatch should unlock and allow you to finish the adjustment you didn't make after installing your new gasket.

If it gives you problems to release, more than likely the extra pressure you exerted on the hatch to get it to close is now acting against the latch mechanism and therefore not allowing it to disengage. You might have to have someone else push down on the hatch to relieve the pressure on the latch hook while you pull the lever down to release it.

Once you have the hatch open, to adjust how high the latch hook sits, you'll need to remove the license plate, the license plate light and the center of the tail-light surrounds. From that view point you will see the two bolts holding the "upside down U" of the latch hook to the body of the car. Loosen and push up on the base and that will raise the latch point.

Now remember something else, since you have new gasketing in place, it will tend to be spongier and therefore "taller" than older, now "collapsed" gasketing. You DO want a small amount of deformation on the gasket, as this is it's function, in order to seal the hatch to the body. The point I'm making is to NOT adjust to where you have so little deformation that you are actually not going to be sealing and also have the hatch sheet metal stick up and out from the back of the car.

2¢

Enrique

[ez73]

Thanks for all the replies. I took off the finisher and removed the clip holding the lock .then removed the lock . just like mentioned the actuateing tab on the lock barrel was loose . cleaned off lock and latch mechanism put locktite on screw and reassembled . Everything works perfect now. By the wayI put the license plate light back together,cleaned everthing and replaced bulbs. Book mentioned #89 bulbs, at Auto Zone those are listed for dome/courtesy I picked up #97 for license lights etc .Seem to be not as bright as originals any thoughts? Thanks to all for the help d*** Funk

[TomoHawk]

Could the #89 bulbs be higher wattage than the newer #97?