Rear latch does not unlock after replacing trunk latch.

Asked by leftybill Aug 18, 2014 at 02:36 PM about the 2002 Toyota Sienna XLE

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I just replaced the latch handle in my 2002 Sienna Synphony. After I lock it with the power
lock, it does not open.  The only way to open it, is to remove the cable, and pull up trunk
latch.
Any suggestions where to start?  
I tried reprogramming the remote, but no change.

3 Answers

180

I had the same issue and found this solution on the Sienna Chat website which worked for me: Re: Back door lock stuck The posts on this one and others in Sienna Chat has helped me solve this issue with Rear trunk/tailgate unable to be unlocked via FOB or via driver side controls. 1. First, this came up after I replaced the trunk latch (black piece you hold on and squeeze to open the trunk door). YouTube has videos (courtesy of A1Auto.com - ) on how to replace this. 2. After replacing it, the issue came up with trunk unable to be unlocked. With the inside cover of the trunk removed (refer to youTube video above): a. Check the wire that has a ball at the end - this is right behind the trunk latch which you can see after removing the inside covers b. There is a rod that goes from a round cylindrical (solenoid) right behind the keyhole of the trunk down to the trunk bottom where the trunk actually locks (actuator). c. The wire with the ball at the end was positioned higher than usual (compared to the old trunk latch which I replaced d. Because of item (C), at the bottom of the trunk, you will see a "J" shaped metal where if the door was locked, a black plastic would be protruding on the base of the "J". If door was unlocked, the black plastic would be protruding on the top of the "J". e. In my case, in the unlocked state after pressing the FOB, the black plastic was getting stuck at the bottom of the "J" shaped metal and thus my trunk was not unlocking. The reason for the stuck position was that the wire with the ball is pulling the "J" metal to the right and blocking the black plastic from going up the "J" shaped metal. f. Solution was to try to get the wire with the ball at the end to go down a bit and by doing so, will consequently move the "J" shaped metal below to the left. This will then allow the black plastic to freely go up (unlock) and down (lock) g. to keep the wire with the ball in a lower position, I used a pair of pliers and squeezed the (1) metal holding the wire end with the ball and (2) another metal part from the trunk latch that is protruding out. This will bend the entire latch and lower the position of the metal that is holding the wire with the ball at the end. h. Test to see if that will move the "J" shaped metal a bit to the left and that the black plastic protruding on the "J" goes up and down freely. SOLVED

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