Hi!

 

I think I need to replace the hinges on the trunk lid.

 

As you can see in the pictures below:

The left side of the lid is more disaligned then the right.

I'm hoping that only the hinges are bent so I can just replace them. I have two replacement hinges.

If the car metal on  the car body itself has bent it becomes more complicated because then I'll have to bend it back somehow.

 

Has anyone here done this before ? I'm not sure if I have to remove the lid entirely?

 

I'm hoping I can just open the lid and let the gas struts do the lifting. Have a few friends stabalize the lid so it doesn't flip over and crush my head. Then start removing the left hinge and replacing it. Then try to close the lid. If it doesn't align properly I'll continue and change out the right hinge too.

 

Not sure if I should start with the one 13mm nut on the back inside the roof or the two XZN screws facing outwards. Any Ideas?

 

Or would you advice me to detach the entire lid first and change hinges on the ground, then reassemble? If I do it this way I need to find a way to detach the cable going from the boot to the boot lid (on the left side of the boot/lid).

 

 

Thanks for any advice!

 

 

I don't think it matters what order you undo the fasteners,  but definitely have some assistants to stabilise it once the hinge is removed, while you focus on fitting the new one.

How on earth did that happen? 😳

This happened to me and the hinges turned out to be ok, they had become misaligned due to the impact.

1 hour ago, TMB said:

How on earth did that happen? 😳

The gas struts did not work properly when I bought the car. The lid could fall down when the wind was blowing. So I put a hard plastic thing under the left hinge to stop the lid from falling down. I know I should have bought new gas struts instead, lesson learned.

 

Anyway I was visiting my brother and while unloading the trunk it started to rain a bit. My brother saw the open lid while I was unloading in the house and decided to help me close it. Since the plastic door stop was under the hinge the whole door got misaligned.

 

45 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

This happened to me and the hinges turned out to be ok, they had become misaligned due to the impact.

 

How did you fix it?

If you remove both hinges and compare them i'm fairly certain that you will find the hinge has not distorted, they are a massive solid section, far more rigid than the sheet metal structure of the mountings.

 

The roof line looks OK, I reckon the distortion is within the tailgate, in fact I think I can just about see it in the photo of the inside LH hinge mounting.

 

I would remove the tailgate and lay it on a mattress, I would make up an 18" long steel plate of minimum 3mm thickness x hinge width, drill the fixig holes & bolt it on, then holding the free end with a thick padded glove give the hinge end the good news with a club hammer whilst praying that the tailgate glass does not crack.

You might also be able to move it some way by using a 70mm ratchet strap over the top of the hinge plate with the other end attached somewhere in line with where the pulling force needs to be, with luck one of the rear seat belt mounting points.

 

If it moves it wont go all the way as there will be springback, you will need to once again wedge the tailgate open and pull again to get the final tweak.

 

I have a chain pullling ram for my Porta-power which would fix it.

 

Editted, forget all of the above, its the tailgate that needs pulling down relative to the hinge, i am not thinking straight & pretty soon wont be able to use Covid for an excuse

Edited 25 October, 20223 yr by J.R.

If you loosen the hinge bolts which are XZN you'll find they float like a door striker and can be moved in all directions.

 

I managed to fix it so I can shut the lid properly, there is still a small gap on the left side but nothing that you notice immediatley. Opening the lid and closing works like it should now, so I'm happy.

 

18 hours ago, J.R. said:

If you remove both hinges and compare them i'm fairly certain that you will find the hinge has not distorted, they are a massive solid section, far more rigid than the sheet metal structure of the mountings.

 

This comment made me think that perhaps I can bend the lid in place... I had a short wood plank laying in the trunk, so I grabbed it and used it for leverage, putting force on the horizontal plane. At the same time I tried to push down on the left side while prying with the wood plank on the left side rightwards if that makes sense.

 

You can see in the picture below how I placed the wood plank. As you can see in the other pics it looks a lot better! There is still a small difference between left and right and the left side should go down a bit more, but I'm considering leaving it this way, as long as the lid can be closed I'm happy! Rain hasn't been an issue even when the gap was larger... the car has stood outside in rain without problem. The water simply drips down on the inner metal piece between the edge and the rubber gasket and never finds its way inside the storage area.

 

 

18 hours ago, J.R. said:

The roof line looks OK, I reckon the distortion is within the tailgate, in fact I think I can just about see it in the photo of the inside LH hinge mounting.

 

I would remove the tailgate and lay it on a mattress, I would make up an 18" long steel plate of minimum 3mm thickness x hinge width, drill the fixig holes & bolt it on, then holding the free end with a thick padded glove give the hinge end the good news with a club hammer whilst praying that the tailgate glass does not crack.

 

 

I have one question... how would I remove the lid entirely if I was to fix the remaining small gap and wanted to lay the lid on the ground as you propose.

 

I'm thinking about the electrical wiring between the back of the car and the lid. I would have to disconnect this wire harness somehow. Does anyone know where I can do that? Is there a connection somwhere in the lid or is it in the roof of the car. What do I need to remove to get there?

You have to remove the four tailgate trim panels and disconnect all the connectors and harness clips then pull the harness & rear washer pipe out through the top of the tailgate.

 

 

Edited 27 October, 20223 yr by TMB

Here's a video of a VW Polo, which is similar....

 

 

Edited 26 October, 20223 yr by TMB

Thanks for the video!

 

And thank you all for your answers!

 

I’m always amazed how much easier it is to solve problems like this when you have access to forums like these with helpful and experienced people.

 

 Thanks again everyone! 🙏 😊