Over the past couple of days, the central locking on the tailgate of my estate has been a bit sluggish and intermittent.
I removed the trim and found the cause to be a very stiff key lock. This is never used and had got very stiff over the years. Despite not appearing to have any function during central locking, the key lock barrel actually rotates through about 45 degrees when the lock motor operates.
A blast of WD40 followed by some lube restored normal operation. The locking motor just did not have enough oomph to overcome the lock barrel stiffness.
More to the point, although there was no obvious outward sign, the internal plastic membrane had come adrift in the tailgate and I could see evidence of past leaks. Now resealed with mastic.
Even if your tailgate is not apparantly leaking, it is well worth slipping off the trim (just a load of torx screws) and checking the membrane is still well sealed to the tailgate frame. It may just save having a wet cargo area during all the April showers (monsoons
) we're having at the moment.
