Since I bought my "new" 850, a 1996 T5, the projects and small-to-medium issues have piled on little by little, and I try to take them on one by one... Today, the problem of the "door", "hatch", lid, whatever, that you open before screwing out the filler cap not locking along with the other doors.
Some of you might not have the locking mechanism at all - apparently it was an option on US cars, but all the 850s I've seen over here has this. So - how to remove and fix the lid locking mechanism:
1: Remove trim/interior panel on passenger side of trunk area. What you need to access is the area behind the wheel well, where there's a covered opening in the panel above the vent. Take off the soundproofing cover, if it's still there.
2: Remove this screw: and the clip holding the emergency opening wire. Don't worry, nothing's falling down anywhere.
3: Remove these 2 screws - they're all T15 or T20, iirc: Once all 3 screws and the clip are removed, pull out the entire locking mechanism. Remove the electrical connection.
Once you've got the whole thing out, it's much easier to see what the issue might be. It's a simple setup, so usually, it just needs some good blobs of litium grease and some WD-40 to the motor.
There are 5 screws on the assembly. Take off the 2 on the "cover" first, and then open the mechanism by removing the 3 remaining screws, which are T10s. Open the mechanism up. You'll see this: Pretty basic stuff. Grease everything if all is working, replace motor if you must, etc.
Putting everything back together is a simple reversal of the steps.
When you're putting this back in the car, connect power and check functionality before anything else. Then, fix the interior screw first, leaving some slack for movement. Then, find the two exterior screws, and line the locking mechanism up by putting the screws back in. You can aim the screws at the holes, and stuff's tight enough in there for the screws to reach in w/o the assembly disappearing.
- S






