P38A 1997 hse boot won't open

Hi all,
The old girl has been neglected and forgotten, for which I deserve all the abuse you care to dish out, but she's now hopefully headed for a new and better home. However, I have two urgent issues: one, she's pi**ing petrol on the floor from a ruptured fuel line, second I can't enter the boot to fix the leak. When I push the button, all doors lock and unlock again, the boot lid does nothing.
Has anyone had this happen?
Is there a clever hack to open the boot when the electric latch doesn't operate?

Thank you all for any advice!

Regards,
Henrik

Don’t think any access to fuel lines in a p38 from boot floor no inspection hatch, think tank needs dropping
Where is it leaking from? Look underneath.

There’s a connection from drivers door lock to boot if I remember. Wait for a somebody to confirm that as long as you can get the front door card off you might be able to get in the boot. Or it’s the switch on the boot playing up.

Have a look in rave.

Good luck
J

I already have the improvised access hatch to the fuel pump from under the rear seat, but must access boot to get to it. What could cause the central locking to be activated by the boot button?

Ok so you did the hole cutting mod.

Surely back doors open is enough?

J

Henrik97 said:

I already have the improvised access hatch to the fuel pump from under the rear seat, but must access boot to get to it. What could cause the central locking to be activated by the boot button?

Click to expand...

A bad earth or a dodgy drivers door lock micro switch.

Ok, that sounds plausible after sitting outside for so long. Is there any way to hack into the wiring to send juice right to the boot latch, or some other emergency opening procedure?

Thanks!

Henrik97 said:

Ok, that sounds plausible after sitting outside for so long. Is there any way to hack into the wiring to send juice right to the boot latch, or some other emergency opening procedure?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

If you remove the lower tailgate trim panel, you can get at the gubbins to open the hatch.

Ok, l will give that a whirl. Trouble is, the boot is packed with tools and tyres and all sorts of rubbish which I will now have to remove through the doors...
Anyway, once I get it cleared away, that trim is removable with the hatch closed, or are we talking destructive dismantling?

Cheers

Henrik97 said:

Ok, l will give that a whirl. Trouble is, the boot is packed with tools and tyres and all sorts of rubbish which I will now have to remove through the doors...
Anyway, once I get it cleared away, that trim is removable with the hatch closed, or are we talking destructive dismantling?

Cheers

Click to expand...

It can be removed without destroying anything.

Crawl in the boot and pull the tailgate carpet off.

It's a tad difficult you have to bend the plastic flap a tad..

Once off..

You'll get access to the latch..

Slide the little white plastic lever to the right iirc and the upper tailgate will open slide it again and the bottom will fall open.

Henry_b said:

Crawl in the boot and pull the tailgate carpet off.

It's a tad difficult you have to bend the plastic flap a tad..

Once off..

You'll get access to the latch..

Slide the little white plastic lever to the right iirc and the upper tailgate will open slide it again and the bottom will fall open.

Click to expand...

I did not find it necessary to touch the boot carpet. The fixings behind the plastic flap have a slotted head and can be turned with a flat bit of metal and then backed out, the panel can then be wriggled down to free the top edge and lifted clear.

Thank you both, this is very helpful!

Check driver's lock actuator. Boot grounds through one of the 3 microswitches. Middle one, I think. Also, water tends to get in the boot switch, rot stuff and cause havoc.

Datatek said:

A bad earth or a dodgy drivers door lock micro switch.

Click to expand...

Did this on mine, was dodgy drivers door switch. Fitted new one and problem solved

Datatek said:

I did not find it necessary to touch the boot carpet. The fixings behind the plastic flap have a slotted head and can be turned with a flat bit of metal and then backed out, the panel can then be wriggled down to free the top edge and lifted clear.

Click to expand...

Doing the same job on mine right now...not easy to bend plastic flap that drops down to cover gap between boot floor and tailgate to turn the clips so removed it...white tab broken and actuator or switch not working properly either...not sure what I'm doing with car yet so putting an external pull cable on...