So this winter I have been having trouble with my boot hatch not closing, and having to really slam it to close it. Now I wince every time I have to do this so I have been trying to figure out what is going on. I have adjusted the rubber stops I have tried greasing up the latch and I have tried staring at it for extended periods of time. New problems arouse being that it would now not open via the outside handle. First time the hatch open light was not on, after finding out how hard it is to get to the boot compartment when the shelf is in place and the seats are up. I gave it a little push, bruised up my leg trying to maneuver around and one more push. After I went outside to try again it did open. No problem for the next few openings. Again this morning I tried to open it, because the boot hatch open light was on. No luck, tried pushing from inside, no luck. So I went to the gym came home after hearing it sound like it was open while I was driving, opened just fine, but did not feel a latch release. Sure that I had damaged it further by slamming it shut I poked around the latch.
Here is the great part...I accidently pushed on the gasket near the latch. It was frozen solid. Water has gotten in to the seal must be via the vent holes, it has settled at the bottom and made a hard tube of ice right before the latch. I bashed up the ice the best I could and shut the hatch. Nice easy closing. Hopefully this is the fix, I think it was not opening the latch, because it was already open and just frozen or something. We will see if this fixes both problems.
If anyone is having this problem I hope this helps and if anyone has further suggestions let me know.
I have a feeling I am going to be messing with this ice until spring I have no place warm to defrost it.
Sorry to hear of your troubles guys. Seems like I read a similar post on NAM awhile ago; maybe someone over there has a solution. Good luck with it. It looks like it might be a while until spring...
The solution I am happy with is to smash the ice up each time it freezes. Come spring it will drain out. Next year I will know what to look for and hopefully can prevent water getting in.
