1996 Toyota Land Cruiser FZJ80, Need help, cant open my hatch

[taylor50613]

Hey all,

Im new to this site and new to owning a Land Cruiser. I just purchased a 1996 FZJ80. Im having an issue opening the hatch. When I turn the key, I can see that the lock is going up and down but I cannot get it to open from the outside. I was able to open it from the inside but then I had a friend over who thought that the problem was that the child safety lock was on so he hit the child safety lock and closed it to try that. Obviously that was not the problem because if the child safety lock was on then we would not have been able to open it from the inside which means that he actually turned the child safety lock on so now I'm not able to open it from the inside or the outside lol. Does anyone have any quick tricks and/or tutorials on how to fix this?

Thanks!

 

[SoTexCruiserDoc]

Making sure you’re pulling the little lever to open the hatch, not just turning a key?

 

[Kernal]

Have you opened up the access panel from the cabin side of the hatch to check the function and if the plastic clips are intact?
Carefully remove the plastic trim piece across the lower section of the hatch using a plastic trim tool to pop it off one rivet at a time, do not just yank on it. Then you'll need a #3 Phillips screwdriver or bit (a JIS bit may fit better) to remove the cover plate screws, IIRC.

Helps to learn to use the SEARCH function, top right any page, as most everything has been discussed in the past. Type in some terms like HATCH OPEN LOCK BROKEN CLIP ----


Did it for you, read through some of these links and look at the photos:

FJ80 Rear Lift Gate Won't Open

forum.ih8mud.com

Help please - rear lift & tail gate won’t unlock

forum.ih8mud.com

Please help identifying a part for the rear hatch.

Hello! So recently my FZJ80's rear hatch could not be open from the outside. Luckily, I could open it from the inside so I was able to make do until I had some time to crack the panel open and investigate. Upon further inspection, there is a joint where the exterior handle connects to the...

forum.ih8mud.com

Back door upper hatch outside handle

I broke my upper hatch door mechanism on a recent trip. By removing the inside panel and seeing what happened, it looks like there is a yellow plastic piece that sits atop the metal “plug” on the linkage rod between the handle and the door lock mechanism. You can see in the first pic that this...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[taylor50613]

Have you opened up the access panel from the cabin side of the hatch to check the function and if the plastic clips are intact?
Carefully remove the plastic trim piece across the lower section of the hatch using a plastic trim tool to pop it off one rivet at a time, do not just yank on it. Then you'll need a #3 Phillips screwdriver or bit (a JIS bit may fit better) to remove the cover plate screws, IIRC.

Helps to learn to use the SEARCH function, top right any page, as most everything has been discussed in the past. Type in some terms like HATCH OPEN LOCK BROKEN CLIP ----


Did it for you, read through some of these links and look at the photos:

FJ80 Rear Lift Gate Won't Open

forum.ih8mud.com

Help please - rear lift & tail gate won’t unlock

forum.ih8mud.com

Please help identifying a part for the rear hatch.

Hello! So recently my FZJ80's rear hatch could not be open from the outside. Luckily, I could open it from the inside so I was able to make do until I had some time to crack the panel open and investigate. Upon further inspection, there is a joint where the exterior handle connects to the...

forum.ih8mud.com

Back door upper hatch outside handle

I broke my upper hatch door mechanism on a recent trip. By removing the inside panel and seeing what happened, it looks like there is a yellow plastic piece that sits atop the metal “plug” on the linkage rod between the handle and the door lock mechanism. You can see in the first pic that this...

forum.ih8mud.com

Thanks Kernal, this is super helpful! I'll look into all of this and report back

 

[taylor50613]

Making sure you’re pulling the little lever to open the hatch, not just turning a key?

Yesir, I pulled the lever, just wasn't working for some reason

 

[taylor50613]

Thanks Kernal, this is super helpful! I'll look into all of this and report back

Got it fixed. Just unscrewed the handle from the inside and then carefully popped off that panel. The trigger had just gotten disconnected so all I had to do was pop it back in. Thanks again for your help!