How do I get the rear lid open on my 1994 Audi cs100 wagon? I have tried to unlock the door many times and it still doesn't open

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garageman answered 11 months ago

you may have to try and get the inside trim panel off from the lid there is a link on the trunk lock that will either break or come apart.I do not envy you this task it's not a fun job.there should be a couple of cutout to acsess the bulbs in the lid,start there and try to get it loosened up enough to get inside and trip the latch,once the lid is en you can see exactly what is going on with it.there is also the possibility of the solenoid that trips the latch being. Inoperative,either the solenoid failed or a wiring issue at the hinge joint,good luck

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Terran answered 11 months ago

Thanks garageman. I took the panel off the interior of the lid, which was a big task: someone had done some work there previously and used about 15 screws to reattach the panel to the frame of the door/lid. I wasn't aware of these screws beforehand so I pryed the panel off, which ripped the panel interior where the screws had been installed-ouch! I had to remove a bracket and the wiper blade assembly. I tried the interior handle out a few times with no movement. Then I tried the exterior handle and was able to see that a fairly big cylinder-like pin was out off place, not allowing it to open. There was also a smaller pin that was part of the exterior handle assembly that was almost all the way out that was making it almost impossible to function. It took awhile to get the smaller pin alligned and in place (it had to go through four parts). After that was in place the bigger (cylinder-like) pin was fairly easy to put in place with a little prying. I found out the interior handle didn't work because the child safety feature was engaged. The problem with the child lock is that you can only engage/disengage it if the door is open, because it is on the bottom of the door frame which is only accessible when the door is open (but I guess that is what makes it child safe. It just happened to compound my problem). The second most difficult thing was getting the panels back on with all the screws and damaged panel. All together this project took me about 6 hours which could have been about 2-3 if the back panels were not already altered with screws. Thanks for the advice garageman.