Boot release wont work on ve ss-v sportwagon

[skiers5]

sportwagon hatch blues

so much for the billion dollar baby, paint is poor, l/h front hub clunks like a worn cv joint after you reverse hard left then go forward, 6 stacker cd player gear system died, ac cut out 7 times on a run from brisbane to canberra in november, just lovely!. Now I to have the touch pad issue with the tail gate. Seen our Canberrra South side holden dealer ship, hopless no idea about follow up service or pride i service, I too will have to go northside i think from now on. My first new holden at 39 yrs old and bitterly dissapointed after being raised on a diet of FX, FJ, EK, EH, and my favourite HRs, and HQ SS. I'm shattered will never buy another holden again think it's time to try boxing a Japanese made item, far better quality of finish.
:boxing:

 

[mmcdonald]

I can't be certain but I suspect the chrome strip across the back. From memory I didn't spray under near the touchpad but certainly along and around that chrome strip area. If you pull out the two number plate lights (a two second job) and feel around with your finger, both sides of the touchpad are enclosed but not the top which would certainly trap water, although I haven't had the tailgate trim off to check for sure. It may be that a little silastic would prevent any further problems so I'll check it out one day. I've washed the vehicle since being mindful of where the water was going around that area and there hasn't been a problem.

The touchpad should feel fairly firm if that makes sense and not overly soft. It certainly changed the feel of it after drying it out with the hairdryer which should be first angle of attack if anyone else comes across the same thing. Other than that the machine has been running sweetly. Gone from Melbourne-Canberra- -Gosford-Sunshine Coast and averaged 9.4 l/100 although I'm a nanna driver. Reset the trip from the Sunshine coast to Gold Coast on freeway where its in its element and averaged 8.4 l/100. Its certainly loosened up with 9000 k's on the clock and will be interesting to see what it does on the trip home!

I actually prised out the switch and it was clearly water logged. It appears that it's not too water proof as it should be. I think a dealler visit is the only solution but drying it out with a hairdryer is a very good short term fix.

 

[flatheadv8s]

VE Sportwagon liftgate opening

I tried the hairdryer and it seemed to work. I couldn't open the gate and then tried the hairdryer trick and now it is opening and touch wood that was the problem. I'm also unsure if there is a contact between the latch on the gate and the latch keep on the body. Anyhow i gave them both a clean as well so maybe its a combination of both. It is slack of GMH not providing emergency keyed access into the liftgate like the keyed access on the doors.

 

[kwaka738]

its an auto!


and silly holden have no other way to open it besides crawling in there through theback seats, removing a big rubber plug, and showiving a rather large flathead screwdriver in the recess and turning to release the bootlock

I've just got this problem two days ago on my MY09 Berlina Sportwagon. I'm not sure if it is related but I did drive through rain for a couple of hours prior to it happening. However there has been something loose in the tailgate for quite a while so I don't know if that is related. Also the release pad on the tailgate feels fine (ie it doesn't feel soft as mentioned in another post).

When I hit the unlock on my remote I can't hear the tailgate do anything (ie I don't hear the unlock clunk like all the car doors make) so I'm not sure if it is still 'locked' and therefore pressing on the touchpad on tailgate is not going to do anything anyhow as the tailgate may still be locked???

I will give the hairdryer trick ago as suggested in the other posts.

Anyway in the interim I was wanting to give the screwdriver release a go.

Q. Is the rubber bung the round disc (about the size of a 20 cent piece) on the inside of the tailgate just above the floor level in the back?


Thanks


UPDATE:
Got the bung out and have released the tailgate with the screwdriver. Love the information you get on these forums.
Now to find out why the damn thing won't open properly the normal way!

Cheers.

 

[stubec16]

There is an issue with the early Sportswagons prior to about mid 2010 (i think) and water gets into the switch. Over time it will corrode and fail. Later models were upraded, but I'm not sure if Holden will still honour it on a 2009. Worth a try or bite the bullet and put the updated seal in.

 

[kwaka738]

Bit more of an update on my issue.

I haven't had time to do a thorough investigation but I can clearly see there is water in the touchpad. With the tailgate elevated I can get a real good look at it I can clearly see the water in the pad.

I have popped both the rear licence plate lights out and given the hair dryer a go and it is now temporarily working. When I have time I will need to investigate further as I've got to get to the root cause of the problem. Hopefully what stubec16 is true and if I need to get another part it will be an upgraded part from a slightly later model that will not leak.

Thanks guys for the information in this thread. It made fault finding pretty easy with the input of others. It's good to have a hair dryer in the toolkit to perform emergency short term maintenance to get me out of a bind!!!

 

[holomatrix]

I had the release replaced on my sportswagon TWICE for the same issue. Under Warranty. Seems that there were a batch around 2008/2009 that had issues with water leaking into the chrome bar across the back. They replaced it and a few days later it got wet in there again and the replacement had to be replaced. You can dry it out by popping out the reverse lights with a flat blade screwdriver and blowing air from a hair dryer through the chrome bar... but eventually it just wont work again.

 

[bernieh]

hi all

having dramas with the touchpad boot release for the tailgate on my ve ssv sportwagon!
has worked intermittently over the past few days, and have checked any fuses and relays i could under bonnet and front passenger foot well regarding 'rear end release', and all is good!

anyone else has similar dramas, and or know how to fix? have a booking on wednesday at holden to have a look.. its good fun getting into the back via rear seats in the mean time... NOT!

Cheers!

Had the same problem with my SV6 wagon especially when it got wet washing rain etc was told you have to buy whole section chrome strip etc at huge cost so decided to fix myself armed with $7.50 push button switch hole saw and luck I drilled straight thru the touch panel mounted the switch in wired it up and hey presto no more problems can,t tell the difference in appearance

 

[kwaka738]

Had the same problem with my SV6 wagon especially when it got wet washing rain etc was told you have to buy whole section chrome strip etc at huge cost so decided to fix myself armed with $7.50 push button switch hole saw and luck I drilled straight thru the touch panel mounted the switch in wired it up and hey presto no more problems can,t tell the difference in appearance

bernieh

Can you post a photo of what your '$7.50 push button' fix looks like.


BTW Just got off the phone with Holden spare parts. The cost of the part is $176. It consists of the touch pad switch, rear number plate lights and wiring harness and it is a superseded part. Spare parts said they sell quite a lot of these parts!!

Speaking to Holden service they say the external chrome strip has to be removed when doing this job and there is a possibility of damaging this strip when undoing the nuts on the inside of the tail gate. It is possible to shear the studs (which connect to the chrome strip) off when undoing them so be careful when undoing them. To do the job Holden will charge about an hour's labour and they tell you about the chance of damaging the chrome strip and if they break it you pay for it. The cost of the chrome strip is $153. Labour is about $132 per hour. So getting it replaced by Holden could cost $308 and if the chrome strip breaks it could be $461. ($7.50 is sounding pretty good!)

For the moment my tail gate is still opening so I might wait it out for the time being.

Thanks

 

[kwaka738]

Well I bit the bullet today and had a go at replacing the touchpad switch on my Sportwagon tailgate. I could still get the tailgate up with the touchpad switch but it was getting more difficult and I had the feeling it was not going to last too much longer.

So I thought I'd give an update with a description of how to do it as this information may save you the cost of buying the chrome strip at the cost of about $125 (the best price I found from ringing spare parts at a few dealers). BTW the cost of the switch pad, licence plate lights and wiring loom was $179.

You have to remove the inner panel of the tailgate. I took mine off about 6 months ago and have forgotten the detail but it was fairly easy.

Now for the hard bit, removing the chrome strip. You need to be careful not to damage this cheap bit of crap as you may as well keep the $125 in your wallet instead of giving it to your local Holden dealer. The chrome strip is held in by six nuts and two ‘snap in clips’.

The two ‘snap in clips’ are at the outer ends and can but pushed out by compressing the clip with a pair of long nose pliers and then pushing up and they will release through the hole (in the tailgate). When you see them it will be extremely obvious. I strongly suggest leaving them to last after you have undone the 6 nuts.

The 2 nuts adjacent the snap in clips are the ones that need the most care as if you just undo them you will most likely stuff up the chrome strip. If you just undo them what will most likely happen is you will turn the nut and screw together. The square head of the screw is held in chrome strip in just a plastic groove. It can't give enough support to hold the screw head and as you turn the nut you will damage the groove holding it and the chrome strip will be damaged.

So the best way of getting this undone without buggering things (and I wish I had known this) is to clamp the end of the screw thread with a pair of vice grips (a decent pair of electricians pliers might do). Clamp it tight enough so you can hold it firm so when you undo the nut with an open ended 10mm spanner the screw won't turn and destroy the groove in the chrome strip. It may take about 3-5 minutes to undo this nut but it is time well spent. It is also relatively easy to clamp onto the end of the screw as the thread (of the screw) doesn't go all the way to the end so you aren't destroying anything. It might even be easier if you had a friend help you as it's a bit tedious doing it by yourself. Just to make life harder mine had a bit of thread lock on the screw so as it wouldn't come undone over time. (Then do the other one of the other side with the same amount of care.)

So when you have removed these two nuts the other four (inner ones in the centre area of the tailgate) should be okay to just remove with a 10mm socket. The support for the 4 inner screws is much more substantial than the other two in the previous paragraph.

Disconnect the wiring (it's a plug socket and very obvious).

Now that you have successfully removed the 6 nuts, unclip the snap in clips at either end of the chrome strip with your long nose pliers and the chrome strip will come away from the tailgate. However you will need to push through the rubber grommet on the wiring loom and you can now completely remove the chrome strip which includes the (stuffed) release switch, the rear number plate lights and the wiring loom.

When you get your new switch, which is obviously better than the one you had in the first place, you will need to remove the 2 Torx screws that hold the switch and bracket in and put in the new part. The new switch pad comes with wiring loom and number plate lights. Again all obvious when you see it.

The installation process is just the reverse of the removal process. I also got new rubber washers from Clark Rubber. (Hang the expense!).

Good luck and hopefully you won't bugger up your chrome strip!!