HELP - Rear hatch won't open
 

I pulled into the garage last night and heard a clicking sound from the rear, when shutting off the car. When we tried to open the boot, the hatch would not open. I tried pulling the hatch release cable to no avail. My door locks work. I have tried locking and unlocking the doors, starting the car and locking/unlocking. I looked over the fuses and don't see one for the boot latch. I think the cable should work no matter what else is wrong, but it does not. Any ideas?

this happened to a friend of mine once. his key was programmed to pop the hatch on the push and hold feature, as opposed to my open the windows and sunroof program. I wanted to see how his worked, so i pushed and held the button and heard the clicking like you mentioned, then the hatch wouldn't open. I THINK i just did the same thing again and it cleared it up. maybe this will help, maybe not. i'd give the dealer a call!

Darksky,

At about one year old I had this same problem. First I noticed that the rear hatch would not close. Took several tries but eventually I could get it to work. On slamming the lid closed I heard a rattle in the door that was distinct and first thought it was my license plate rattling as I closed the door but in other MINIs I did not hear this.

A few months later my rear door would not open with any means except if I reached under the back seat and pulled the loop on the door release which would open the back door.

I took my MINI in to service and the rear hatch mechanism was replaced and it all works fine now.

I once got caught out in a rain storm without an umbrella and could not close my rear hatch with my hands full.
:sad:

I have a july 2002 mcs and I don't have a hatch release cable (at least I don't think so) Is this something one can have added?Most of the trouble I've had with the boot concerns the two little rubber bumpers on either side starting to unscrew.Tighten them and the trouble(won't close) goes away.

where is this hatch release? i thought i couldnt get in the boot without having power so i have yet to be able to open it

On the 2004 it is under the rear seat cushion.

No boot release here either July '02 MCS. Last evening boot wouldn't close, looked here and found this post. Sure as @#$% the two rubber bumpers were loose. Gave them a good screwing...problem solved.

I do love this site:smile:

I know that some '02s and early '03s don't have the cable release. My Jan '03 build has it, I checked when taking delivery. I believe that it can be retrofitted... do a search here, on MINI2 and on motoringfile for the part numbers. Then check with your dealer. I heard early on that dealers didn't know about the cable; I even surprised mine when I checked for it because he knew nothing about it! I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of dealers still don't know about it...

My rear latch and striker have been replaced now and everthing seems to be ok.The hatch would not close unless I slamed it shut,so they replaced the latch.Having to slam it shut also cracked the lens on the third brake light,replaced.Then I noticed that the hatch was rattling when I had the windows down on the highway.So now I have a new black stricker.It would still rattle a bit in the right winds,so I screwed out the bumpers and got rid of that.Will screw them back in when windows down weather ends.
:cool:

what is a striker?

Striker, Striker, STRIKER!! (man slaps woman in background)
i just couldn't resist... :lol:

It is what the latch closes onto.U shaped metal hoop on the hatch.
:cool: