Exeo ST boot release mechanism

[blankton]

Hi, I have just purchased an Exeo, it was from an auction, so I know no history on it. The boot inner trim was removed and the boot wouldn't undo from the door handle.

The last MOT failed because the boot wouldn't stay shut when driving. It seems that this has been rectified by doing something to the mechanism so that now it is partially disabled. You can manually open it by flicking the white plastic lever on the lock mechanism. The car came with a handy stick in the boot for this purpose



I can't work out what they have done. I have read some threads for Audi A4's (which I believe this is heavily based upon) which suggest that there is a steel rod going from an actuator to the white plastic lever, but I cant see this. I also cant find any reference to this in the parts catalogue for the Exeo.

I don't mind buying a new lock mechanism, but I want to understand if something else is missing. Should there be an external actuator, or is it integral on this type of lock mechanism?

I have had a play with my voltmeter and there is permanent 12 v going to the lock mechanism and when I pull the door handle there is a momentary voltage down a switch wire, so it appears that the fault is with the lock assembly.

 

[GREEBO222]

Hi Blankton, are all the lights working in the boot lid? i had intermittent light problems and the lock not working and found out that 6 of the 8 wires in the "rubber pipe" on the left of the boot to the boot lid had broken and were shorting out, i didnt realize as the light switch is usually off or on auto 90% of the time
the lock actuator is built in where the 3 pin plug fits,, its a small motor and gear unit so no rods or steel wires like earlier audis
my lock is part no 4F5 827 505D its basicly the same as yours but has an extra piece of plastic on it to make it easier to move the white bit of plastic to open boot while crawling over the back seats with a stick

 

[blankton]

Hi Greebo, thanks for that. At least I know I'm not missing any parts.

I'll check the lights tomorrow when I have an assistant. If they work OK I'll order the new latch / actuator assembly.

 

[GREEBO222]

Yep, also switch the lights on after the boot is open as when i did i could hear the lock actuator working, dont forget to test the reversing lights , and give the "rubber pipe" a wiggle when lights are on too as the wires are tight in there sometimes they touch and sort, other times not, which is why i was getting intermittent light warnings on the dash ,, i was putting it down to old bulbs and dodgy bulb connections and kept putting it off until the boot lock stopped working and i had to climb through the back sests 6 times a day

 

[blankton]

Lights seem ok, so I have ordered a new mechanism.

The mechanism on my car was 5E0827505A. There are two listed in the parts catalogue for my year. The other part was 8k9 827 505A. The 8k9 part seems to be used on a lot more cars, and is therefore a lot cheaper - £18 delivered. The cheapest I could see the exact same part was about £50. I have compared the photos and both look identical, including the 4 pin connector, so I've taken a punt on the cheaper 8k9.

 

[GREEBO222]

did that fix it??

 

[blankton]

did that fix it??

Yes, the cheap part worked! I was going to post back, as I have some more questions relating to high oil consumption

 

[old codger]

Hi there,

I am a bit late coming into this posting and I hope the original poster solved his problem

For the benefit of anybody else who is experiencing electrical problems in the boot lid area I hope my experience will help.

I too had problems with the boot latch not operating. As a stop gap whilst I was trying to sort the problem I attached a piece of string to the lock catch and fed it to the back seat area. To open the boot I pulled the string and hey presto, no more climbing into the boot via the back seats.

The next thing that happened, a few days later, was a warning light telling me that my nearside reversing lamp was not working. I replaced the bulb but the warning light was still there and the lamp was not lit. i suspected therefore that there must be a wire break, but where. Being of the old school of motoring my first idea was to run a cable from the working reverse lamp to the non-working one. To my surprise neither lamp lit up! (I later discovered that these more smart motor cars have something call "CANBUS" installed. This apparently monitors the function of many of the gubbins in the car, including the light bulbs, and any reports any failures).

The next step was to find out where the break in the wire was. To do this I had to invest in a wire tracer. How this works is that you connect one clip to the end of the wire and the other clip to body of car (earth). A tone is emitted along the wire and you follow this with a probe. When the tone stops that is where the break is. This I did and the tone stopped in the flexible joint that goes between the boot lid and the body of the car. I carefully stripped of the outer covering to display the individual wires. This is what I found.



Some of the wires had broken and most of the others were bare and ready to break. I cut all the wires in the cable and crimped them back together. After I had done that the reversing lamp worked and so did the boot lock. Problem solved. I taped the individual crimps and put quite a few turns of tape around the whole joint to protect it when it bends.

The conclusion is that any problem with electrics in the boot lid will probably stem from that bending cable. However, the wire tracer was very effective and not very expensive.

Best regards to all.


Old Codger