2007 GT Coupe , factory power open and close bootlid ( trunk for my overseas friends)

i have had the car 10 weeks tomorrow, so still learning and finding things, some minor , some not so minor, this is a 'middling' one, lol

firstly , the PO as i said before didn't invest in the car too much , so i have inherited 'niggles' , one niggle was a non working ( or very intermittent ) power open and close issue of the boot lid, lots of tinkering, understanding, lubricating and cleaning of switch contacts resulted in a fully working power open and close system , from the remote fob , the in car switch and the boot mounted outside and inside switch , so very happy ,

however, this is when i noticed a panel fit issue that wasn't there when ' manual closing ' was used , the right side top of the boot lid was always high when power closed, but not manually closed.........eventually i diagnosed the issue shown below , a very worn hinge pin pivot point,







there is a noticeable movement of around 4mm ( 1/8") to the pin/bracket relationship resulting in the boot lid being around 5mm high when power closed ,


the boot lid can easily be pushed down in the closed position to make the panel fit perfect ,







now the issue, where is the wear ? is it the pin holding the brackets together, fairly easy to replace, or is there wear in the brakes , or is there wear in both the pin and the brackets,
only removal and destruction will tell, so i bought a new hinge on ebay , not ' cheap ' but cheaper than direct from B , at about half the price at £200 all in , it needs painting, but will be fitted and tested first , then reference marks taken and then removed and painted ,


i do have a short vid of the issue clearly showing the pin/bracket movement on the pivot point, but cant seem to upload it ,

so , time to get on with some work now

BB

 

Excellent!

C

 

I’ve got a similar problem on my 2010 GT Speed, I thought it might just need lubricating

 

i changed out the old hinge on Friday evening, on removal the original hinge was extremely loose on all pivots, and very worn on the one shown , a good indication of how much ' slop ' there is can be seen by removing the gas strut on that side which seems to keep it forced open and seem tighter than it really is, be careful to support it in another way when removing the gas struts ,

the new hinge is a revelation , each point is tight with no slop (as you would expect being brand new) , installation is a little tricky as i wasn't expecting the motor behind to become unfixed on removal of the two body mount fixings,

when all fitted together i gently hand lowered the lid to check for clearance and panel fit alignment , all edges on the body and the lid were protected with tape for the whole swap out process , good fitment though a little low, so some minor adjustment was needed

now im very happy with a smooth operating boot lid that now sits level with the surrounding panels on every close, some light oil was applied to the pivots on the hinges in an attempt to prolong the lifespan of the new one

i will take a pic or two of ' as fitted ' now im happy , not a lot to show during the process to be honest

BB

 

Interesting, I’ve had a quick look to see how the motor raises the boot but can’t work it out yet, where did you get the hinge from, is it only the one motor on that side, if so the wear is possibly something to do with the motor

 

there is just the one motor, mounted on the right side,

if you study the pic of the new hinge in my first post, you will see the toothed gear sticking out ( this fits into the motor in the bodywork ), this in turn is solidly fixed to the arm that goes out to the right with the curve in it and to the pivot point on the end, this is where the stress is when the motor is opening and closing the boot ,

with the boot open , hold the lid and rock it up and down at the pivot point, there should be zero 'wiggle ' just rotational at the pivot, if anything other than smooth pivoting the hinge is worn at that point,

new hinges can be bought from the usual suppliers , but come in at around £350 , i got this on ebay for 200 ,

i had to paint it as well to match my body colour ,
you will need some 12 point torx bits , not the normal torx , they will not fit the star bolts ,

other issues can occur, such as worn teeth on the motor gear fitting, or in the motor its self, and there is a technical bulletin to ensure the boot lid body seal is fitted correctly as this can make the lid not fit correctly when closed

BB

 

I made the mistake of using a silicone lubricant on the hinge and over time the bolts loosened causing the trunk and top to malfunction. Cost $300 to trouble shoot, diagnose, clean and torq the bolts.