Honda Jazz Tailgate Lock I went to put stuff in the car and couldn't open the hatchback door! |
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| I removed the rubber access plug from inside the tailgate but pushing the lever did not unlock it. So I brought my dremel and extension lead outside and made the hole bigger. |
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| Inside the tailgate, it seemed to me that something was missing. I scraped around and found a moulded plastic part but I couldn't figure out where it was supposed to fit. |
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| The lever at the left is supposed to unlock the door when pushed to the right but it's not attached to anything. The white plastic part below centre is kicked left for lock and right for unlock by the solenoid (top left). It has a hole at the end that looks as if it should be connected to something. Just below centre right is the metal lever attached to the bowden cable, which is pulled to the right by the door handle. |
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| I tried pushing and pulling everything in sight but the lock won't budge. |
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| I just received a reply on a Honda forum. The following video shows how the lock mechanism works and how to replace it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJMEOh4h3to This screenshot shows where the plastic part fits. |
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| I tackled the tailgate lock and managed to fit the plastic part back into place. How it ever fell out is a mystery because it has a kind of bayonet fitting that locks it into the hole in the metal lever and this end must be fitted first. Unfortunately, when the solenoid kicks it into the unlocked position, it doesn't move quite far enough. There's a spring toggle mechanism that is supposed to flip between lock and unlock but it sticks part way and doesn't quite reach the unlock position. I've oiled everything, by the way and the door handle and cable are free to move. |
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| Anyway, I can now unlock the hatch from inside by moving the lever to the right, and I think that I'll end up fitting a new mechanism. I think that each part has worn slightly and, with all the slop added together, it means that it doesn't move quite far enough. It stops about 2mm short of the correct position so that pulling the handle flips it to the locked position! |
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| UPDATE! As I was writing this, I had a sudden idea. I slapped a powerful magnet onto the metal plate. This attracts the lever and causes it to snap into the "unlock" position. Problem solved! |
| Once the lever is in its fully rightmost position, the door handle will open the tailgate. Inside the car, you can also push the cable-operated lever to open the tailgate (directly below the magnet). Note: sometimes a similar fault is caused by corrosion of the handle pivot. Spray it with oil and make sure that it flips fully forwards when you let it go. |