Can anyone please help me? I need to open my trunk from the inside, because the lock on the outside is broken, and i need to replace it. I cant seem to figure out how to open my trunk. Any help is greatly appritiated. I have a 85 firebird. Thanks

 

Well my friend, it is easier getting in from the outside than it is getting out from the inside. If you have to replace the lock I would drill it out, use a screwdriver to open the cylinder and then replace it.

 

Don't drill out the lock.

Climb inside. Take the plastic trim panel that covers the latch out. Should be a couple of small screws on top of the trim piece on either side of the latch, and the rest should just be the big plastic screws that are easiest to remove with a really big flat screwdriver or even a quarter. You will see a black circle with a rectangle cutout in it somewhere on the latch unit itself. Using a flat screwdriver, slide it into the rectangular cutout and turn to pop the latch.

Now, see if you can diagnose the problem. My first guess would be that the cable that pops the release is broken. This will be hard to see because the cable is in a sleeve. Remove the 10mm screw on the piece on the latch that the cable runs into and see if you can pull the cable through the sleeve. If so, it is broken. The cable has stops on it that are nearly impossible to replace, but I have fixed one with 1/16 picture hanger wire and tying some strategic knots in it where the stops were. Laugh if you want (some people will probably yell "hack" here), but it has held up perfectly and only cost about $3 to fix. To replace the wire, you will have to drill out the rivets on the white plastic piece that clips to the back of the lock cylinder and take it apart, but it can be put back together with some very small screws to replace the rivets you drilled out.

If you end up needing to replace the lock cylinder itself, remove the tail light center and cut off the stock rivets on the outside portion of the lock cylinder with a hack saw, find another lock cylinder (got mine in a junk yard ... with a key!) and put it back with bolts and nuts in place of the rivets.

Good luck! Let us know what you find! Replacement parts can be gotten in a scrap yard or some bought new from Top Down Solutions.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, the hatch panels come out in steps. Have you ever tried removing the large panel with the hatch closed He didn't even state he had the pop solenoid, trying to remove all that plastic in confined quarters is a nightmare. He stated that he needed a new lock so why not just drill it out, open it, reomove the plastic, replace the lock and be done

 

True it's not easy, but it can be done. If memory serves correctly, I removed all of the big plastic screws, pulled the two side panels out (the spare tire cover and the cover with the lock box), then pulled the cover over the latch up from the bottom enough to pop the hatch, and then removed the two small screws next to the latch after it was open.

I just didn't want him to drill out the lock if it's still OK. Finding a lock cylinder w/ a key ain't such an easy thing I don't think.

I would only drill out the lock as a last option unless the lock is so fubar'd that it's not salvagable.

 

I think this should cover it.

 

Right on. You win. LOL.

I just want to make sure that means that the lock cylinder itself is broken, instead of the lock cylinder being fine but not working due to something wrong with the hatch release mechanism. I just don't want him to screw up a perfectly good lock cylinder that uses the same key as his doors.

 

Thanks everyone. I think all of yall had really good ideas.I'm gunna try to do it without drilling first, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Thanks!

 

 

I just opened up my trunk last night after it was jammed.. What i did was crawl in the back.. remove the plastic panel back there.. 4 big black plastic screws.. Pull it off.. Now the whole lock panel should be exposed.. Mine had 3 small bolts.. I removed those.. now the whole lock panel should be loose.. go outside and pull the trunk up.. It should come up with the lock panel stil attached to the trunk.. take it off by getting a flat screw driver.. stick it into the circle and twist.. It should come right off.. Take the lock cylinder off.(that is what my problem was.. it was seized up) and replace it.. bolt the lock panel back to where it was with the 3 screws and put all the panels back up.. and it should be good to go.

 

So, Blade ... you're saying that you removed the plastic trim in the back with the hatch closed? Hmmmm ... Thanks for proving my point.