Tailgate latch no longer tight

[fendale2000]

I've had a T6.1 for a couple of years and the tailgate has always closed fine. A few weeks back it stated misbehaving. This is not a "soft close" or electric tailgate - just the old fashioned slam it down type!

When I close it now, it kind of bounces back slightly and doesn't close tight. When I lock the van, it does lock, although it still jiggles if you try to open it. When driving the MFD shows the tailgate as open.

I have a suspicion it could be the locking mechanism on the tailgate, but I have no other vans to compare it to.

With the tailgate open, I can push the mechanism around and it clicks once and latches, but I can still push it around further but it always springs back to the initial latched position. Its as if the locking mechanism is refusing to hold in the fully locked position and is partially locked. Does that make sense? If so, is this likely a failed locking mechanism, and if so is it easily replaced? Van is out of warranty, so I'd rather avoid giving it to VW!

As I typed this, and was playing around with it I accidentally closed it while it was in the locked position, since doing that (probably the bump I gave it), I can actually push the latch around so it clicks a second time in what looks like the fully locked position, but the mechanism seemed to be struggling to unlock it again. Then I stupidly closed it, and its now stuck closed and won't open at all. Sigh. The back of the door has a trim panel on it, so I guess I will have to try to take it off and see if it reveals some way to unlatch it from the inside.

 

[BuilderJay]

Have you carpeted your van? There are vents behind the sides of the bumper which lets air out when you close the doors??

 

[fendale2000]

The van is carpeted (not by me), but its been fine for the past couple of years since I have had it. Problem persists even with other doors open to let air out.

 

[BuilderJay]

Oh ok. You can access the rear lock once you have removed the internal panel.

 

[DXX]

There is an adjustable stop on each side of the tailgate.

 

[Pauly]

As above there are bump stops on each side of the tailgate to limit inward travel also the catch on the floor is adjustable and can be moved in/out a couple mm if the door osnt making it all the way in

I guess you could manually close the latch with the door in the open position using a screwdriver or similar to prove the mechanism is still moving through both latch positions

If the above is ok then you could try screwing the bumpstops in a little bit then with a door or window open try slamming the tailgate and see if you can get it to shut properly, if that doesnt work you could try (temporarily) removing the rubber door seal and/or moving the catch plate out a couple mm and repeat the shoving/slamming with a door or window open, theres not really much that could be going on i guess you just need to prove which part of the sequence is the problem and adjust accordingly ?

 

[fendale2000]

Main problem right now seems to be that the lock mechanism is stuck half closed, so I cannot get the tailgate open at all. Have taken out the rubber bung on the inside of the tailgate to revel the lever to open it manually, but it wont budge, and the mechanism from the handle I think has pulled off the arm, probably as it is stuck.

Any ideas on how to get this thing open from this state? I doubt I could loosen the strike plate, as the lock is mostly covering the bolts.

Even cutting it out (absolute last resort) would be difficult I think due to limited space to work in.

 

[BuilderJay]

Awww bugger! Hopefully @Pauly will be along soon as I think he will have a diagram of how bits look inside the door. Maybe he can point you in the right direction.

 

[Pauly]

No diagrams I’m afraid !
At the end of the day it’s a mechanical device (even though it’s electronically actuated) so you should be able to get the bit that the rod attaches too and give it a pull to release the door ?

 

[fendale2000]

The bit the rod attaches to won't budge. I've sprayed a lot of wd40 over it, was even able to grab the end with long nosed pliers and give it a good wiggle and nothing. I guess the mechanical part is stuck somehow. The actuator that is attached to it has pulled off too, clearly as it tried to pull it and it was stuck so it couldn't.

The rear threshold cover also makes it tricky to see what is going on. Of course it has a lip that goes between the tailgate latch and strike plate, so I cannot get it out without cutting the lip off. Its not a major thing I guess.

Hard to know how to proceed - I cannot see how it can be opened without cutting something out. You might be able to get the tailgate lock mechanism bolts out with a small ratchet, but there isn't much room, and then the assembly goes up inside the tailgate, so even getting those bolts out might not get it open

Drilling the strike plate barrel out might be an option, but I may be better off taking it to someone. Loathed to take it to VW so they can scratch their heads on it at £100+ per hour!

 

[BuilderJay]

I have a tailgate too. Maybe I can take photos of my set up at the weekend if it helps??

 

[fendale2000]

> Maybe I can take photos of my set up at the weekend if it helps

That might help, although we also have a Skoda car and the latch looks like a similar system on it. I reckon I could replace the mechanism if I could get the thing open.

The van is setup as a camper, so I'd like to get it sorted before the summer runs out!

 

[fendale2000]

I got the tailgate open at last, thanks to a handy friend and a small angle grinder. We cut through part of the disk that locks around the strike plate. Upon removing the lock mechanism, which is just two black bolts to remove, a 3rd largish bolt fell out of the lock. No idea what it is from. What we suspect, is that someone dropped a bolt once upon a time (building the van, or converting it to a camper. Somehow it got lodged in the lock mechanism, preventing the lever from moving. There was basically no change to undo the lock at all.

Anyway, one new lock mechanism required and fitting it looks doable, provided we can work out how to attach the pully system again.

Thanks for the pointers on here, and leaving the solution for anyone who may find this in the future!

 

[Oakley_vanlife]

@fendale2000 just seen this and I had exactly the same thing happen to me. Had been tinkering with the van to insulate and sound deaden panels and next time I came to open the tailgate - nothing, completely jammed shut. After LOTS of fiddling with the release catch inside (not easy with a RIB bed in the way and having to work in a confined space) I heard a tinkle of metallic sound drop down and immediately I was able to open the tailgate. Seems there had been some little screws, and drilled out metal debris left in there when it was converted (professionally I might add!) and I’d been unlucky with one of them getting trapped in the opening mechanism and stopping the release catch from moving. Was lucky that all my fiddling dislodged it or I’d have been cutting stuff I’d don’t want to as well… Needless to say I’ve now taken all carpeted panels off and cleaned out all the rubbish left by the convertir in the bottoms of panels

 

[fendale2000]

@Oakley_vanlife unbelievable isn't it. Also a RIB bed in the back of ours making access difficult. We were lucky enough to be able to cut the lock and not do any damage to anything else. Maybe it would have rattled loose eventually, but I had been working at it for hours already.