hey guys thr trunk on my 02 vert releases when button is pressed but will not pop up. where or what should i look for? maybe new gas shocks? thanks

 

I sprayed a little lube on mine (99 vert)and it worked better. It only opened enough to get my fingers on the side and lift. I also need new struts as I am sure they are shot, and that will probably fix my issue. Probably the same for you.

 

Happened to me too on my '03. Would pop up just bearly enough to get my big fingers in and pull up on it. Lubed up the air shocks and worked them up and down, only help slightly. Thought of getting a Trunk or Lid popper. Instead took a little WD-40 and sprayed it again on the shocks and also into the latch . Problem solved.

I pulled the shocks off, but they seemed to have good firm push when moved, so I think the lube in the latch itself helped alot. Good luck

 

thanks guys. just bought the car for my wife as everyday driver and this was an issue with the car. i will lube everything and post what the outcome is.

 

Here's a fix I saved from another member but have not tried it yet:

Take off the rear center carpeted section that covers the lock mechanism. Next to and slightly in front of the latch there will be a spring with about 1 1/2" extended out with a slight bend. This is the piece that pushes the lid up. With closing and age that piece of spring that sticks out begins to bend downward.

Put pliers to it and bend it back up so it extends above the latch mouth. The amount you bend it is the amount the trunk lid will raise. When you bend the spring up remember to keep it centered or bent towards the latch mouth or it will miss the lid lock. I held mine with a pair of needle nose next to the top retention plate so I wouldn't put pressure on it along with a pair of channel locks to bend it with. I just tried it on mine with needle nose pliers. Couldn't really get a good twist on it so I got a small end wrench and slipped it over the spring and it pulled up on the spring while holding downward pressure on the little plate.

 

Or the alternative:

Trunk Popper for a Vert or Z06

This is an easy mod but for those of you who prefer to buy the ready made item it sells for a very reasonable price of $15.95 from one of the Forum vendors. Unfortunately the vendor doesn’t ship overseas so I needed a DIY version:

http://www.c5trunkpopper.com/

If you want to try yourself, pick up a 7/8” compression spring from Home Depot. They retail at $3.98 for a pack of 4 springs, 2 large and 2 small. You’ll also need an end cap of the same diameter. I used a 7/8” rubber stopper ($1.76). The advantage is that it acts as a soft buffer and can be trimmed to fit.




Cut the large spring to a length of 2”. The springs are quite strong so it takes a bit of elbow grease to cut it. Tighten the radius at the cut end of the spring to give a hole to fasten the screw through.

Undo the T30 torx screw on the right hand side of the closure plate. Insert the torx screw down the barrel of the spring and retighten it in place.

Slot the bung in place. You can trim the bung to get whatever fit you prefer. With it as shown it takes a good push to close the trunk. Trimming the bung will make it easier to close..




It took 10 minutes and all the lubrication and fiddling with the lock are a thing of the past.

 

works great

 

^^ this

 

Here you go, this is free..........

Pop the trunk opener, then make sure the windows are all the way in the up position, when you get out of the car, shut the door securely and the trunk should pop up more for your fingers to fit............GL

I do this on my '99 FRC all the time.

 

I open and close my drivers door and it pops right away.

 

LOL Glad to know I'm not the only idiot doing this.

 

I drive a '99 Hardtop I've owned since new and my trunk lid stopped popping up when released after a couple of years. I'm fortunate to have small fingertips and can just grab the corner of the lid with my pinky so was never that motivated to fix it. Reading the description above sounded reasonably straightforward so I decided to finally try to get it working again.

It turns out that the spring had slipped away from a metal tab on the bracket allowing it to migrate about 1/2" to the right, away from the latch. When the trunk latch was actually latched only the very end of the spring tip was making contact with the trunk lid. (I discovered the very tip of the spring was worn flat and polished from wear.)

I removed the latch assembly from the car after scribing a couple of places so I could get it back in the same location. Then I removed the pin holding the spring in place. I then bent the tab on the bracket further to make it longer so the spring would have a more difficult time slipping past it. After replacing everything the trunk works like it did when the car was brand new! It took about an hour but now that I know how to do it I could probably do it in under 30 minutes.

I suspect this is the problem with most of these latches. The restraining tab was only bent at a 45 degree angle allowing the spring to easily slip past it. My spring wasn't bent or deformed in any way.

 

I do the same thing.

 

fat crack your idea worked great! but will have to still find and fix the problem because in the summer that will become an issue again with the top down. thanks to all you for the help.

 

Well, I guess I'm not the only one either haha. It works everytime. It has to do with air lock and compression inside the car.

 

...and I thought I was the only one doing that and wondering why this issue was such a big deal

 

 

I can tell by looking at DeeGee's trunk latch photo that his car's return spring has slipped away from the latch mechanism by the way the paint is scratched. Notice the shiny metal that's only exposed on half the catch toward the bottom of the catch? That's where the end of the return spring is hitting. With that spring loose like that it could get caught on the inside of the catch forcing you to destroy the latch getting the trunk open.

Better to fix it right.

 

I must have adjusted that mechanism 20 times

BTW the spring has been in place since 2005 so I guess it'll be OK

 

i wiped everything down good with wd40 and now its working like it should. thanks for the info.