Tailgate wont close

[Rstoney]

Hi all, yes, I know its my first post! and I wish it was a better one....
I have an avant which has been going remarkably well for the last four months, until now. I washed
the car today then went out for a drive parked her up and all was well and ive just gone to go and fill her up with fuel to find out that the tailgate is open and will not close on the latch. It would appear that the catch on the tailgate itself will not lock into place when trying to operate it with a screwdriver.

would it be correct in saying this isn't a fixable part and that I will need a new mech or is there a spring/clip or anything that is a common fix?
Thanks

[pete62]

Hi and FON

I don't know about tailgate locks but the door locks have a weakness in this area. I imagine the boot lid can suffer from the same problems. My passenger door lock does it all the time. It seems to be worst when it's cold or the lock gets wet. Is the lock partially latching or not at all?
If it's partially latching then spraying some lithium grease in the lock or wd40 if that's all you've got might help as does warming it up (hair dryer) .
If it's not latching at all it may be a different issue?
I intend to get mine replaced next visit to MRC
Hope you get it sorted at least you've had 4 trouble free months !

[Rstoney]

Ok, I've tied the tailgate down and left it in the garage overnight to dry out/warm up and I'll spray some grease on the mech tomorrow. It would make sense that it's frozen up. Not like the ''good ol days" of heating up the door key with a lighter to get into my old golf!

I will report back tomorrow! Thanks for your help.

[ahoooga]

It would make sense that it's frozen up. Not like the ''good ol days" of heating up the door key with a lighter to get into my old golf!

I will report back tomorrow! Thanks for your help.

Firstly FON
You never mentioned that its freezing conditions where you are ?

[RS6JJL]

my drivers door decided to do this to me with the same issue this morning, whole car frozen up big help!

just refused to shut/catch correctly, great help when the engine is on and heaters are going plus 3 passengers waiting for a lift

de-icer in the locking mechanism and finally 10mins later it decided to work again and i could close the door, i imagine it could be the same sort of thing cold weather related never had a problem before this

[JCviggen]

I've had both the drivers' door and tailgate issue. Drivers door needed a new lock and has been fine since. Once it starts doing it, it's not going to get any better. Each time it's cold (or very very wet) out the issue will return. Water gets inside and apparently freezes. Not very cheap to replace but worth it.

Tailgate issue for me wasn't the locking (actuating) mechanism but the actual metal lock that protrudes from the lid. Relatively cheap IIRC.

[Jultsu]

I just had a similar problem. Lock woudn't latch on. Problem was the electric motor inside the lid which pulls the latch release wire. It was stuck on the pull phase. Take out 4 screws which hold the door card in place and you'll find the culprit.

http://s4.photobucket.com/user/jedi-dec ... 8.jpg.html

[Rupert]

Be careful leaving it like this - if the switch is faulty there could be current going through the solenoid which will cause it to heat up.
Mine went faulty when left overnight at the Audi garage (they had left the boot open) next day the number plate surround had melted. New plate, new surround, lucky it didn't go on fire. Audi paid obviously.

[Rstoney]

All fixed. Turned out it was a faulty actuator, i released the wire going to the lock and the actuator pushed the cylinder out a bit more, so I pushed it back and reconnected it to the lock, oiled it up and it's working fine. For the time being anyway.
Thanks for the help

[Rstoney]

Turns out I'm not out of the woods yet. The DIS is now saying the boot is open even though it's shut. Does anyone know where the sensor or switch is? As I presume this has failed too?

[chunky79]

It will be part of the lock in the boot lid.
This time of year sucks for VAG doors/boots. I've got the drivers door to sort (had the parts for a year now) and now need the passenger lock (when I find the part number).