Upper Trunk Won’t Open

[Johnnycakes]

Hi

I know this has been discussed a few times but I can’t seem to find the answer to my specific question.

2016 LR4 HSE, 37k miles

Rear upper trunk will not open. I hear the mechanism trying to open, but the trunk does not pop open.

I have an extended warranty, if I take it to the dealer I do not pay a deductible, however the dealer does not know of the warranty will cover the problem if it’s just a broken cable.

If it’s not covered, I’ll have to pay the ridiculous dealer charges.

I am calling the warranty company (Land Rover - Assurant) to see if it’s covered.

Is it an easy and cheap fix for me to do myself?

Thanks!

 

[AdventureTim]

I'd be very surprised if Assurant didn't cover it -- however, it does require the dealer to want to get the most out of Assurant. Here in WA, the two closest dealers to me are not interested in dealing with Assurant and constantly want to cross-sell me to their own warranty. The times I've taken it to them, conveniently there have been a number of things that the warranty allegedly won't cover. When I go to my preferred dealer that's out of the way, who are happy to work with Assurant, everything has been covered without issue.

 

[Johnnycakes]

My deductible is $100 if I go to the LR dealer…$250 if I go to the Independent shop.

 

[jlglr4]

If you can get your hatch open and the tailgate down, the fix is pretty simple - took me longer to drive to the dealer to get the part than it did to do the actual replacement. There are plenty of write-ups and even videos I think. Part costs about $75 as I recall.

If you’re hatch is stuck closed (so you can’t get your tailgate down), it’s more complex because you need to crawl in through the back door and cut an access hole, at least that’s my understanding of the process.

Quick tip if it’s on the verge of opening (sounds like maybe it is): let it set a while, then start your engine and then hit that button and lift up on the hatch. When mine went, the solenoid was getting weaker with each press of the button (you could hear it move less and less with each press). So, I let it set for a little while then got a little extra juice by running the motor, and I was able to get to open.

Good luck with it.

 

[Johnnycakes]

Thanks!

Are there 2 actuators? One for the top and one for the bottom?

If I can somehow get the top to open, should I prep the tailgate so that I can open it easier when I get the parts?

 

[cperez]

Thanks!

Are there 2 actuators? One for the top and one for the bottom?

If I can somehow get the top to open, should I prep the tailgate so that I can open it easier when I get the parts?

Yes, there are two actuators. The one for the upper hatch is the one on the right/passenger/starboard side. Easy to access IF you can get your hatch to open once you have the part. Re parts, don't bother getting the kit that comes with both the actuator and the latch. Most likely you just have a failing actuator and your latch is perfectly fine and correctly adjusted. Just get the actuator. I think it's about $75 from Atlantic British but others have found a generic version for about $40 on ebay.

@jlglr4 had some good advice on how to squeeze another opening cycle out of it. You really want to try everything possible before getting back there and removing that panel from the inside. It is not an easy or elegant process. In my case, I found that I could clear the fault code with my IID tool. Immediately after that I stood at the rear with my fingers cupped under the rubber switch but did not press it. I used my keyfob button to release the hatch, then immediately pressed the rubber button with my other hand that was in position. In my experience this timing worked on a failing actuator. May have been dumb luck or maybe the Land Rover gods smiled on my pathetic mortal faith and cut me some slack. To prep the tailgate you can just remove the carpeted panel and the rubberized water shedder membrane (order a new one with the actuator). This should give you access to the actuator so you can manually release it if necessary. I just ordered the kit and prayed that it would open for me one more time and got lucky.

If you DIY it, I recommend that you remove the black plastic cover on the new actuator, then use a zip tie to secure the cable end to the actuator assembly. It will make sense when you look at it. Removing the black cover will make repair a lot easier if, in the future, you do need to come in through the panel. The zip tie will give you some redundancy if the cable connector fails in the future.

The main thing is getting it to open that one last time when you have the parts you need assembled. There's an excellent video on this on youtube. It's actually for the replacement of the other actuator, but the disassembly process is identical for both sides. Good luck.

 

[jlglr4]

The actuators for both the upper and lower tailgate are located in the lower tailgate. So its the lower tailgate you need to get apart.

If you can get the upper hatch to open, just block it somehow to keep it from latching again - maybe some tape over the latch or something like that.

 

[Johnnycakes]

Thanks to everyone’s help, I managed to pop it open!

Where can I throw some tape so that it does not get stuck until I can get my hands on some parts?

 

[Michael Conley]

I think you'll prolly need to zip tie the latch on the lower tailgate in the open position. Atlantic British sells the whole kit but you really just need the actuator for the latch. Honestly its worth the money to just get the whole thing (actuator, latch, water shredder) and sleep well at night.

 

[jlach993]

So i just dealt with this issue as well couple months ago. Crawl in the back and get a flat tool such as a bread knife. You'll need to wedge a couple (2) knives in there at the same time and press down on both to get that carpet trim down so it can clear the black hard plastic trim. It takes a lot of force to do this. You will tear up your carpet, but not much and the torn carpet doesn't show when you install it back up under the black trim. Once you do that.....there's some padding and a gray Styrofoam water sealer thats covering the actuator. All i did was take the knife and cut at it and pushed it out of the way. Keep in mind that the carpet trim will only be open like 6 inches or so. You'll need to painfully wedge that hand up in there and curse a bit, but anyways that exposes the actuator cable. It's just a black cable attached to a spring. I could barely see it but when i stuck my hand fist deep in there i felt around for it. Fingle with it a bit and you'll understand how it works. You need to grab the cable and pull towards the passenger* side of the Rover. Pulling on it from the side towards the passenger side pulls on a spring. You should hear the sound the trunk makes when it opens normally. Once you pull it with enough force the cable with unlock the Upper tailgate. Since you said it works, but faintly...pulling it just a bit will help it out and it should unlock. This entire process took me 30 mins and i suffered scratches and many cuts lol. After that the rest is all over this forum and youtube. Took me 5 mins to change out the actuator and another 15 mins close everything up. My issue however was that my actuator was slowly dying like yours but it was able to open once you cycle the ignition a few times. My tricks stopped one day however and it was dead silent and wouldn't budge open. After i did the above and installed the new actuator it still didn't work. The dying actuator sent a code to the BCM. The code sent the actuator into a protection mode and it would not send power to the new actuator. Most never have this issue and it works fine after installing the new one, but if for some reason it doesn't work after then you need clear the BCM code and drive the car for a few days and it'll start working just like that. PM me if you need any additional info. I went nuts changing both actuators, the lock sensor for the upper tailgate, the relays, the fuses, and the exterior liftgate rubber handle....so i have experience with this issue lol