Trunk stuck, Help.

[tom dance]

Oh boy, this is a real problem. Just wanted to get my 71S going again but the front trunk is stuck closed. The battery is drained and I can't get to it to start the darned thing.
It's a T handle and I tried pulling hard but nothing, also tried having someone pull up on the hood while I pulled the T. Nothing. It seems welded in place and does not move at all. This really is a bitch. Any ideas out there?
Tom

[19-911-65]

Hi Tom,

OOUCH.... Hope this will help!

Good Luck!

http://www.912bbs.org/index.php?a=thread&p=127290

http://www.912bbs.org/index.php?a=thread&p=127314

[blucille]

I can think of is to push down on the trunk, while trying to pull on the handle, this will take the stress of the latch.

-Lewis

[letsrollbabe]

Tom:

I recently had this problem on a 73. I ended up pulling out the rubber seal between the hood and bumper and the 10 mm bolts holding the latch plate can be accessed to loosen the latch. You can then push it sideways to release the hood. Getting these latches adjusted so that they lock the hood down but also release it is a little tricky.

In my case, the male hood latch was hanging up on the bottom opening of the female latch mechanism below the movable catch which holds the hood in place. Good alignment and getting the correct initial setting of the wire-to-latch, plus the correct depth of the male pin are all necessary for a good working solution.

Gib Bosworth
R Gruppe #18
Early S Reg. #434

[tom dance]

Thanks for the info guys. So far no luck. I was just told that perhaps the seal, the rubber gasket in front, is sticking up too far and not letting the hood down enough. The suggestion was to try to pull or push the gasket down then push up and down on the corners of the hood, bounce it. What do you all think? I'll give it a try in the morning. I'm shot.
Tom

[rvdv]

Same thing happened to me many years ago, fortunatly the batteries were good and I could drive the car. I simply drove the car down a bumpy road while pulling on the hood release, the hood popped up in no time. I guess you charge the batteries through the cigarette lighter receptacle using one of those battery maintainers, it will take a long time though.

Rudy

[bobmagyar]

Rudy, I really like your idea....

I when I started my restoration and had the gas tank removed I closed the trunk lid and heard a clunk. Didn't think about it much until I tried to open the hood and it wouldn't unlatch. I fussed with it for some time until I crawled up through the tank opening and forced the latch open. What had happened was the back plate of the latch had fallen off and the cable would not release anything.

Porsche had designed it to open if the cable broke but not if the back plate works loose. A failure mode not considered I guess.

Had my tank not been out I am not sure how I could have got in.

[911quest]

What I did on my 914 which I believe is close to the way my 66 911 is remove the front bumper and there might be a hole in ftont of the latch you could get a long screwdriver in and release the latch

[EsGeht]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Twisting the cable counter-clockwise bought more opening in the receiver and one good rubber-mallet whap on a flat pry-bar against the plunger popped it open. I love this forum!

[37yrold911]

on my '73, the dig. lighter is off when the key is off

I guess we need to either carry a 10mm socket in the glove box (not in the tool kit in the trurk!) when traveling - or else upgrade to a 1074 or later car...