Tailgate stuck! L400 series 1

G

Greendak

New Member
Hi,

I have searched the forum but can not find the right answer. I have a series 1 early 1994 L400 and the back tailgate is jammed shut. I hear this is a common problem, so I followed advice, squirted WD40 everywhere, left it, hit is around that area with my fist, I've done this 3 times now. The handle was loose with no resistance but now it has a little, but the door is jammed.

I would take the back panel off but I can not see where to do this. The only screw is the strap to pull the door shut. There are no other screws anywhere?

Please help, as I am a bit stuck now. Also can someone tell me which way the key turns to lock the back door, as I have no idea now! I am guessing to the left? Many thanks in advance!
 
Okay, on my L400. There is the one phillips head screw for the handle. The rest of the back trim is held on by plastic clips, and tucks under the side window pieces. SO, if there is ANY part of the rear trim that is loose, you can start trying to pull from there. BUT....



Since you can't open the hatch, you can't pry underneath to pop the clips out. So, you might break the old plastic. Sorry for the bad news. After you can get a hand behind the plastic, you can start pushing the trim back out...

There are two "access" doors (small enough for a hand to get in... Maybe you can snake something in to try to release the latch from within? Or get a hand or small pry in behind the trim to push out without too much damage.

PS> I made the picture link to the part page for my L400, but yours should be similar.
 
If the handle has no resistance, wondering if the handle broke or a piece of linkage became disconnected?
 
Well, saw the reply and got curious... So, I looked at the picture for how the lock works
143_4103W3QB0T.png
The lock (part 68601 in the picture) and the door release (part 68627)are connected to the lock mechanism (part 68634) by those two metal rods, that push down( I think that's to lock on the long rod) and pull up (I think that's to unlock on the long rod, and to open the door on the short rod)

So, if you had some thing like a fiberglass fish rod (not a fishing rod) with a hook on it, could you fish it in from the right side "access" door panel in the trim to get to the lock to open it?
 
Also it looks like you have (20 access panels on the left and right side of the door on the inside? Thats what is shown in the image above (68879 R & L) I wonder if those would easily pop out and give you clear access to the latch mechanism?

Might be a bit of fiddling but should help you access the latch. It never ceases to amaze me why they don't put an access panel where the latch is. Same with every car... trunk latches, door latches. There is always a panel about 12 inches away from where you need to get to.
 
sck_nogas said:
There's a post with the inside of the door shown here... http://www.delicaclub.com/viewtopic.php?t=13506&sid=4ef2d4798a3bebc5e37b5f511f2883fb
Must be a member to view though
Click to expand...
P1010919Medium.jpg

P1010920Medium.jpg

 
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