80 series Tailgate will not open.

[Bosto]

Hi All, I am a newb to this forum and recently purchased a clean 1996 80. My first car was a 1967 FJ-45 and also owned a
1972 FJ-55 wagon. I will post some pics of the 80 later.

I did do a search but I cannot find anything that pertains to my problem. I cant open the tailgate from the outside or the inside and it the handle seems like it has no resistance or its not connected to the cable or whatever it is that operates the latch.
I have also tried the key in the tailgate and that does nothing.

Has anyone had this issue?

Thanks!

Bosto

 

[96r50]

You should be able to unscrew the interior plastic handle (two #3 phillips head I think), unscrew the little black lock knob, and remove the interior panel with the trunk still shut. This will give you access to the working bits inside the tailgate and you can figure out what is/isn't working.

 

[scdunn]

Plastic Clip

Had the same problem on my 96. There is a plastic keeper clip that holds a link rod in a metal plate. Took 10 min & $2.50 to replace.

Saved the tag, try one of these Toyota part numbers; 69293-12040 or AE6605K. While your at it get an extra, is a nusance to happen in the middle of a trip.

 

[scdunn]

Afterthought

Try and salvage the pieces of the clip just in case the numbers don't work, I seem to recall it took two tries to get the right part from the dealer. Even the color of the plastic is good info, they are color coded for diff types.

 

[Beowulf]

I did do a search but I cannot find anything that pertains to my problem.

Do Advanced Search, posts only, 80-Section, Keywords=clip, handle, rod
I selected those keywords based on Adam & scdunn's replies.

You should get ~35 returned results. There are about 4 threads that relate precisely to your issue based on your description of the problem.

This thread had the best description of the repair and had pictures to help with understanding how the mechanism works.

(Sample image from the above thread)



-B-