Rear Hatch Release Catch & Locking Pins
While tidying up the back end, I looked at the boot release mechanism. The boot sticks when you open it with the button, and you always have to use the key and pull upwards on it to open it.
The old locks of the Porsche 924, 944, and 968 tailgates also often creak and rattle while driving.
The cause lies in this silicone insert:
In hardly any vehicle, the original rubber inserts in the lock are still intact so that the pins of the rear boot window can move undamped by body movements back and forth.
The formerly white material is still wholly preserved in hardly any vehicle and is usually discoloured and darkened very dark. The funnel-shaped insert is pressed from above into the locks of the boot lid. After cleaning and lubricating the pawls in the lock, you can simply squeeze the rubber inserts into the lock from above.
There is an excellent write-up on servicing the boot latches on Only 944, which helps, but it's mainly a try-and-adjust-try-again thing. NC944er also has a good video showing the adjustment process.
My 944's latches were full of mud, and the plastic funnel-shaped insert had gone soft and crumbled into small pieces.
Below is the release mech and the funnel-shaped inserts
While stripping back the unit, I found several bits that had rusted away, seized in place, or crumbled when I touched them.
From the diagram below, I replaced items 10,12,13,20,21, which was an expensive exercise as all the items have a maximum "Porsche" tax applied to them.
The most challenging part was aligning and releasing the latches. Forget aligning from the inside, as it did not work at all. I aligned them from the top and one side at a time.
The rear hatch pistons had gone a bit soft but were still capable of keeping the boot open, I decided not to replace them as a friend of mine replaced his on a 924s, and the frame started separating from the glass a few weeks later 😟
