Tailgate Lock Re-tumble

[daves16v 1]

Just thought I'd post this up as there didn't seem to be too many posts on this subject.

 

After removing my alarm I had to lock the doors with my key as the central locking had packed up. The key wouldn't go in the tailgate lock so I thought it must have been changed in the past and I'd have a go at re-tumbling the lock.

 

Remove the interior plastic panel to find the lock mechanism. The barrel is held in place with a roll pin, you need to remove this pin to get the barrel out. The hard part is removing the pin as there is little space to push it out, gripping it with pliers completely destroyed it which is what you have to do to pull it the rest of the way out.

 

With the pin out there is an end plate that needs to come off, be very careful as there is a small spring and detent ball bearing behind the plate and they are very small and easily lost. With these removed you can pull/push the barrel out, now I'm not entirely sure if the key needs to be in to remove the barrel, I didn't use my key because when the barrel was removed I could see why - after years of none use due to the alarm unlocking the doors, the tumblers had seized up with years of dirt hence the key wouldn’t go in.

 

I cleaned the whole thing up and lubricated it, turned out that my key did fit it without re-tumbling. To re-tumble the lock it is the same procedure used for the front door lock barrels. The problem now is finding a suitable pin to replace the roll pin, I used a nail cut to length but it does have to be of the right diameter otherwise it will drop out over time.

 

I didn’t get any photo’s as it’s pretty straight forward apart from removing the pin.

 

Hope this helps.

[pbradley98 0]

Hi,

 

Thanks for writing this up - this sounds like it's what's happened with my boot lock - due to the car not moving for three weeks, the battery had (unsurprisingly) gone flat and hence I removed it to recharge it in the house overnight, so needed to lock the car manually (as it turns out to no avail since it won't hold the charge anymore so ended up with a new battery anyway!).

 

However, when trying to lock the car manually I discovered that whilst my key would fit the boot lock, it wouldn't turn, which I'm hoping is the same scenario as yours - i.e. in the 7 years I've owned the car I can't remember manually locking / unlocking the boot once and there's no indication that the locks have ever been changed (the key for the doors / ignition is the same), so am hoping that it's just stiff with dirt / grime.

 

When you had the issue did the key go into the boot but not turn?

 

Also is there anyway to clean the tumblers without removing the barrel, as this sounds like a fairly fiddly job?!

 

Cheers

 

Phil

[daves16v 1]

If I remember correctly the key wouldn't go in as the tumblers were jammed in position. You may be able to soak the barrel with WD40 or similar, might have to do it several times tho.

[pbradley98 0]

Thanks for that - the key wouldn't go in to start with on mine either so some WD40 allowed it to go in, so will try soaking it with some more to see if it frees it up a bit more!