Was out in the Mountains this weekend and on the way home I spoke to my wife to find out that she and my oldest son had conspired to bend one of the hinges on the boot hatch! using the Garage door to hyper extend the hinge!

I'm looking for some advice on gaining access to the Hinge Nut on the back side of the rear hatch hinge (the side that attaches to body/roof).... with out completely removing the whole headliner. What are the minimum pieces that would need to be removed, inorder to be able to replace one of the hatch hinges?

aggravated!

Okeeton

 

Here's a page from realoem that has the hatch/hinges shown

From the description of find number 35, it seems like the hinges (find number 2) may be held in place by some kind of captive nutplate, so you may not have to remove the headliner.

5 HEX NUT WITH PLATE M8 2 07147122215

 

Dave-

Thanks for the pointer on the part! The actual bolt going through the hinge looks like it may be spot welded/part of the hinge, as a result. I believe the only way to secure the hinge to the Body would be by tightening the nut/nutplate from the inside. As there doesn't seem to be away to tighten the bolt from the back/hatch area...

Though I was hoping someone on NAM could point me at a quick "how to"/DIY on gaining access to the nut/plate without a full disassembly of the whole interior to get the headliner out of the way... Or at least give me an idea of what I'm up against / what others experience has been.

Cheers and Thanks again

Okeeton

 

Well okeeton-

We have the same problem.. and I have been searching, searching the net for days.. I can't find any DIY info at all.

I did try using a large drift and small hammer in an attempt to drive the hinge back into the roof.. no luck at all.

Scheduled Mini repair shop for next week (5/5/10)

 

Well one of my hinges broke. Don't ask me how?

I found the hinges on e-bay, but how do you remove them? Do I have to remove the headliner? Is there a bolt there to remove?

 

to replace hinges:
U will need help to hold hatch in place
remove pistons
if you have a rear sun roof, carefully remove its liner..
this will allow you access to the nuts holding the hinges to the roof section.
the nuts should have a fairly large flange.
you will need a long enough socket extension to reach to sunroof
if no sun roof..
remove the weather seal from upper part of hatch opening.,,
remove upper inside side plastic panels.
gently drop down roof liner from hinge area.. you have enough room to get your hand in with a 1/4 drive socket

from there you should be able to reason it out

ALWAYS KEEP those hinges lubricated....

now you tell me how to remove and replace front wiper motor without major body removal ???????

 

Thanks for the great info! I just finished changing one of my hinges an hour ago! I didn't have to remove the weather seal or the upper inside plastic panels. Just moved part of the weather seal enough to get my hand in there and pull down the roof liner about 4 inches. when I was done I just ticked the roof liner back up and in. Wasn't too bad to change at all!

 

Tried getting at these hex screws today, but these two steps got me hung up. Any tips at removing those side plastic panels?