Help: The rear door on my MINI won't latch
 

I can not get the back door to latch this morning, the soonest the MINI dealer can see it is Thursday (plus it is over an hour away) anybody know how to fix this problem? Thanks

This can happen if you open the latch using the key (ex: holding the open button for more than 5 seconds). Try simply manually pressing the latch button in, and you should here it click. You can then close the door. It may be explained in the owners manual as well!

thanks for the reply, I tried it but it didn't work. The Latch does not seem to be responding at all. I called the dealer and they said to bungee cord shut and come in on Thursday. The problem with that (besides the obvious!) is the interior lights will not turn off because the door is not latched.

Try again - try the toggle switch - this happened to just about everyone.

Vincent

hello there,
this happened to me 2 days after i got my MCS. what i did was, lock the doors again (using the remote key) then unlocking it again. it might work for u, try to give it a couple of second after u unlock so the mechanism doesn't rush itself.
good luck & sorry to hear this.

_______
DS MCS, all the goodies in the book inc: rally lights, white back indicators, 17"R90s

Sometimes I have to give the locking mechanism a good whack with the palm of my hand. 'Seems to work for me.LTL YELO :lol:

As everyone will see, I've Searched this topic over all the way back to the 1st postings and I haven't found my solution.

I've got a pretty good idea of what comments I'm going to get but I still want to see if anyone has had a different issue from the standard (ie. wiring short)
I checked every fuse twice, I've tried the cycling trick w/ the handle and got nothing, I then pulled a handle off an 05' and plugged that in and got nothing, and I've replaced the latch and still have gotten nothing. Unless both the latch and the handle went out at the same time, I shouldn't need to try a different handle again.
With that being said, has anyone heard of, or had this happen to them?
Thanks
Tristan
PS... when I grap the handle I don't get any clicking noise that the latch is trying to cycle or work at all

Bump
has anyone experienced an electrical short somewhere in the boot?

Did you recently wash your MINI or drive through rainy muck?

I have found that if I spray too much water up into the handle area where the switch is, I can no longer open the boot. It then takes a day or so to dry...

Exact same thing happened to me after washing the car. Worked fine after drying out.
Dealer could not reproduce the problem though.

We had snow a day or 2 before it took place, but it was roughly 25 degrees out as well.
Last night I took it off and popped the License Plate Lights out and one was completely corroded. So I am starting to wonder it the switch went out b/c of moisture.
Thanks! If you have anything else please let me know.

Check these threads, if it's the same issue I had it's a pretty straightforward fix, not super involved, and moisture related... if the links don't work, do a search on "boonk". (That's the sound the hatch makes when it opens... by itself... Boonk!)

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ighlight=boonk

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ighlight=boonk

Good luck!

Thanks for the info. Actually, that is not it. A friend of mine ran some electrical tests and determined that it was neither the latch nor the handle which puts the problem in the wiring OR in the Functions Module :-(

I had the opposite problem where I could not open the boot. I lifted up the rear seats and used the manual door release it fixed the problem. Try that maybe it will solve your problem.

Check for dampness around the car body control computer (I believe under the passenger seat?). Could be a leaky sunroof track or leaving the window open in the rain (auto-open on the keyfob can let this happen, which is why I've had the remote auto-open on my fob disabled).

I had the same issue on an '04 MCS. Either the latch wouln't latch, or once it did, I had to use the emergency release to open. The gasket for the hatch release surround leaked water and shorted the switch. The car was still under warranty at that time, so the dealer replaced the entire hatch release. This took some time as the surround had to be painted.

Good morning all, had the same problem last year the hatch back would
unlock by its self.the dealer replaced the latch, hatch back handle no help
they then traced the problem down to a shorted wire from the control box
to the latch handle hope this helps :thumbsup:

This is Probably what is going on!:confused: Thanks for posting this!
Do you know what they did once they found the short? Did they replace the wire? Replace the Module?
Thanks for Posting!

Here is something that I found yesterday that is not very exciting to see. Right where the BC1 is located
Attachment 163080

Yakimini, help me out and pardon what is perhaps a silly question, but what am I looking for in that pic? Those two dimples?

They are holes that seemed to have been made by screws :-( The BC1 is directly behind it. I'm thinking that the previous owner mounted something down there:no:
Either the screws contacted wires or the BC1 or they allowed moisture behind the panel that is shorting

I'm having a similar problem. Currently, my hatch won't unlock at all. I tried doing it with the switch, with my key, and both with the car on, off, from outside, from inside, and just about every way I could think of.

Before it permanently locked as it is now, I had the hatch open and the latch locked itself. I couldn't close the hatch because of that, so I had to pull the emergency ring to unlock the latch. This worked, but now I can't unlock the latch unless I pull that ring.

It has been very wet lately, so maybe that's why? It sucks because I only bought the car (used) a week ago!

boo-urns my friends, boo-urns.

Remove the boot handle and check for moisture or an unplugged switch, and check your fuses.

BTW, the "handle" isn't a mechanical latch, but rather a switch that electronically unlocks the mechanism. Why? Maybe to save a miniscule amount of weight and money - folks want the remote unlock/open capability, and a switch was somehow preferred over a mechanism, assuming the electronic popper is going to be there either way. It's not the way I'd have done it though, since they had to put a manual release in ANYWAY! It's not more weatherproof, either. Maybe because it has that cool rubbery switch "feel"?

I'm sorry to hear that! Have you removed the interior panel so that you have access to the latch? Until I get this resolved, I'm driving around w/o that panel and the one that covers the inside of the boot.:sad:

Morning again the fix that the mechanic did was to replace the bad wire.
he found it by putting a break-out box on the wires from the control unit
to the latch handle hope this helps.