[Ab54666]

As title, hatch pin just won't budge, tried wd40 and mole grips but still no joy. Any tips?

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[Cloud9...68]

I had the exact same problem a few weeks ago. The pin is most likely out of alignment. First, you have to crawl back into the cargo area, and pull back the carpeting. This will expose the manual release cable. If you're very lucky (I wasn't), pulling on this cable might release the pin. Then, all you have to is very carefully re-align the pin by loosening the two 10 mm nuts underneath the pin assembly.



If this doesn't work, you still need to remove the 10 mm nuts on the bottom of the pin assembly to get the cover pieces off, except you'll have to do it on your belly inside the cargo area with the hatch stuck closed. Hopefully you're a slim guy <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> . Then you just have a lot of struggling and grunting ahead of you as you try to push the pin, which you will now have some access to, up from the bottom. About 30 minutes of struggling, walking away form it several times to clear my head and re-think my strategy, finally did it for me. Hopefully yours will be easier than mine was. Best of luck.

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[Ab54666]

Thanks, the hatch opens fine just doesn't latch on one side (just installed a new rear seal). I can loosen the lock nut but the actual pin won't budge.

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[Cloud9...68]

Sorry, I misunderstood. Hmmm... As far as I recall, I can't remember that the hatch pin is supposed to move. All the adjustment is done at the latch end (the part in the body that the hatch pin goes into). This also sounds like an alignment issue. There's quite a bit of opportunity to move the latch mechanism into position to properly accept the hatch pin; you just have to loosen the same two 10 mm nuts I mentioned in my post above (MUCH easier to do with the hatch open, as opposed to stuck closed like mine was). Then carefully lower the hatch until it just barely touches the latch, and get the latch in position such that the pin drops right into the center of the opening. Be very careful here, because if you get the latch out of position, there's the risk that it will get stuck closed like mine was.

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[Cloud9...68]

Sorry, I misunderstood. Hmmm... As far as I recall, I can't remember that the hatch pin is supposed to move. All the adjustment is done at the latch end (the part in the body that the hatch pin goes into). This also sounds like an alignment issue. There's quite a bit of opportunity to move the latch mechanism into position to properly accept the hatch pin; you just have to loosen the same two 10 mm nuts I mentioned in my post above (MUCH easier to do with the hatch open, as opposed to stuck closed like mine was). Then carefully lower the hatch until it just barely touches the latch, and get the latch in position such that the pin drops right into the center of the opening. Be very careful here, because if you get the latch out of position, there's the risk that it will get stuck closed like mine was.

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[PorscheG96]

I wrote a DIY for this problem including some tricks to help loosen corroded hatch pins which you can see here: http://forums.RL.com/rennforums/968-foru...=hatch+pin

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[DaveN]

Hatch pins on my 968 are lovely but on my first 944 I had to adjust them and at first I though they were permanently fixed in place. I tried with so much force that I thought they were going to snap off. After a lot of pen oil and constant wiggling I finally moved one of them. I think it is a classic case of dissimilar metals. Good luck.

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[Ab54666]

[quote name='PorscheG96' timestamp='1296324991' post='104282']

I wrote a DIY for this problem including some tricks to help loosen corroded hatch pins which you can see here: http://forums.RL.com/rennforums/968-foru...=hatch+pin

[/quote]





Thanks, but link doesn't work?

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[Cloud9...68]

I still don't understand the point of moving the hatch pins, given that there's so much opportunity for adjustment at the latch mechanism.

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[Kim]

As the hatch seal gasket gets older the pins will end up being progressively too long (ie the hatch seal will compress more with age, pushing the head too far down into the locking mechanism in the latch pieces attached to the car). To keep the hatch from rattling you can either shorten the pins a bit or replace the seal. For me, once the new seal was installed, the pins were then too short and I had to lengthen them a bit. But do it just a bit at a time. Be sure to loosen the nut on the threaded part where it screws into the body first to allow the pin to then turn. It also helps to loosen the two bolts holding the two locking mechanisms just a bit to allow them to wiggle - if you carefully close and then open the hatch this should position the latches perfect with respect to the pins. Then tighten them down.

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[Cloud9...68]

Ah, so the OP was talking about moving the pins in and out. For some reason, I interpreted his inquiry as wanting to move them side to side.

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[apex]

I can relate - I've been working on one of my hatch pins on and off for years now. :-) I even tried to remove the mounting plate holding the pin - two socket bolts as I recall - but the plate is glued to the hatch due to a little bit of oozing hatch glass sealant from the factory. Go figure. The hatch is adjusted well - it just bothers me that I can't turn that one bolt. Sooner or later the hatch glass will get re-done and I guess that will be time time to really fix it!

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[PorscheG96]

http://forums.RL.com/rennforums/968-foru...hatch.html



RL = r ennlist

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[Ab54666]

Thanks, i'll give that a go. After a weekend of compressing the new seal in the corner I can now close the hatch but it still needs the illusive pin lengthening.



Like Apex even after removing the bolts it's stuck fast to the hatch!

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