My take on the dreaded rear latch repair (1 Viewer)

[alottolearn]

You've all seen the videos/pictures of how to pull apart the back side of the hatch so I'll spare you.

I saw a few "redneck" fixes on YouTube where they hack the back hatch apart (from the outside) with a hammer/crowbar and just pulled the cable through, bypassing the handle altogether. I have to admit the simplicity of the fix appealed to me, but I am not going to beat my vehicle up to accomplish this.

Instead, I pulled off the handle and drilled a 7/32 hole in the lower left hand side and fed the cable through. Seems to work, so I'll try this for awhile and see if its an effective long term fix.

Hopefully it helps someone who may be looking to do this and are sick of replacing handles every year.

I've also ordered some new headlights and only one has shown up so far, decided to throw it on while I was out putzing. What a difference!

 

[TheSqueekyTree]

Ivan been plagued with the same problem. I also rerouted my cable and it worked for about a week. The actuator inside the lock mechanism started to fail again and wouldnt unlock the door to allow the cable to release the door. I bypassed the system all together and installed a pull solenoid with a cable. With the lock mechanism permanently in the unlock position I installed a momentary switch above the rear hatch window. Now I simply roll the window down enough to get my finger inside, hit the switch and the door pops open.

 

[smurcles86]

Is this a 1st gen problem or are 2nd gen also known to be plauged?