The tailgate on my '07 Octy estate has started to go boinng when I open or close it. As far as I can see, the struts connect to a sort of round nipple at the bodywork end and these devices on both sides have rusted and become very loose.

I assume it may just be a case of getting the solid headlining panels down to get to the nuts behind these nipples to tighten them.

Does the central rear headline unit just unclip if I pull and then can I just pull off the two side pieces to get access to these nuts, or do I have to book it into a garage to do the work.

I'm a bit nervous about this because in the '50's and '60's when I used to do my own maintenance, if I messed with the headlining I always ended up with creases and oily finger marks. I was hoping these solid panels would make it easier!

Can it be that no-one else has had this problem? I am worried that the tailgate strut mounting will fall out and the tailgate will drop on someone's head.

It looks as though, if I'm brave enough, it should be easy to unclip the headlining panels at the rear of the car, but I really don't want to make a mess of this. I have memories of back in the 50's having to remove all the headlining from my old Ford because I tried and failed to run cables through the roof space.

OK, I'm stupid, but perhaps this will save someone else's time and embarrassment.

Took it to my local independent. He fetched a spanner and tightened the strut mountings up on each side. They appear to screw into captive nuts inside the car bodywork.

All I can say is that when I tried to tighten them, they seemed so loose that I thought the nuts could easily fall down inside the body and be lost for ever. That's why I chickened out.

I'm getting an estate so good to know. Well done for following up.

Hi Billaboard. Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post your solution. I had exactly the same problem and I too was about to start pulling out the headlining and no-doubt would have broken the clips, only to discover that I still couldn't access the nut anyway!

After reading your post it was simply a case of popping out the strut and tightening up the bolt with a spanner- easy, and saved me the embarassment you had to endure!