i have a 2002 cooper, and the other day i shut my hatch and about 15 min. later i went to open it and it hasnt opened since, been about a week, i keep trying it hoping it will just start working but it doesnt. I looked underneath the rear set for the emergency release, but my car doesnt have one. Does anyone have any ideas how i can get the thing opened.

 

Is the hatch handle jammed in and won't go back to the down position?

Or is your problem like trying to open a locked door that won't unlock when you press the unlock button from inside?

A while back when I was disconnecting the wiring to the rear wiper, I accidentally disconnected the rear lock/unlock motor instead. I couldn't open my hatch either, so I had to fold down my back seats from the inside and unscrew about 6-8 screws to take the hatch panel off and reconnect the wire. It was a pain in the a$$, but worked out just fine.

Anyway, could you please specify what type of problem you are experiencing, then we can go on from there...

 

My keyless remote is programmed, but i can hit the unlock button from inside and you can hear the relay in the rear decklid clicking, and you can use the key in the drivers door and turn it left to unlock and hear the clicking in the rear deck but its not releasing, you can press the button under the chrome handle and nothing happens. , i hadnt been working on anything i had just shut it earlier, dont remember slamming it either.

 

Your car is too early production to have the emergency release handle. I do believe though that it does have the cam in the latch plate that would accept the emergency release cable. With that said, I think you could pull the bottome expanding rivets out of the panel, pull the panel up and trip that release. Other wise, if that doesn't work, you could remove the 2 torx bolts or 10mm bolts(whichever your's has) and pull the panel, latchplate, and tailgate up at the same time. You will have to break the 4 yellow clips that hold the panel at the top to the rear of the boot sheet metal.

Good luck

CHad

 

As a side note, you could retrofit your car with the emerg. release handle and cable to go with your new latch that you will need.

 

Did you ever get it fixed?

 

replace the hatch latch should fix it