VW Passat Estate MY B5 boot wont open

[quest63]

Hi Guys and help.

I recently bought a VW passat 2000 MY estate clunker out of necessity and have problemss. Sadly the forums I have tried aren't anywhere as near as helpful or active as here has always been so I thought I would try you guys.

Basically I bought the car 2 days ago and there was no problem on the second day I cant get the boot open at all. Neither with the fob or the key in the boot lock. As I bought it for the boot this is a disaster.

The car has a squarish 2 button flip key fob with a tiny button between the two big ones (at least I think its a button?)

I don't have any user guides and cant find any pdf's online. It may simply be me being stupid and not knowing how the fobs supposed to work or I have pressed a button in the car over riding the lock or something? but here's where I am anyway.

One click opens the drivers door
A second click opens the passenger and rear doors but not the boot
I cant find a manual lever or button to open it
A key in the boot lock or other doors wont open it

I found some info which suggested the vertical / horizontal position of the boot key slot (with the key out) might matter but so far doesnt seem to?

Any help even basic instruction on fob use or button in the car use would be very much appreciated, or any user guide or manual links.

Thanks in advance guys :thumbs:

 

[tuonokid]

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/vw-passat-estate-boot-opening-problem
Hope that helps
Barry

 

[red]

Have you tried WD40 in the lock barrel assuming it's stuck?

Try this maybe? "press the central keyfob button for at least 3 seconds. The tailgate must be opened within 2 minutes, or it will lock again"

The handle for the tailgate is supposedly hidden underneath the VW badge "hidden" but I can't confirm

Also I don't know what MY this video is for but it seems to suggest there's a button in the glove compartment which can cause issues *I'm at work and have no sound
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGLQtYSdL1Y

 

[red]

If you remove the key from the ignition when the horizontal position of the cylinder lock, the trunk lid (tailgate) are no longer controlled by the central locking and remains locked for a long time.

After the reverse rotation of the lock cylinder in a vertical position locking tailgate (rear door) again included in the system of the central locking.

 

[quest63]

[post]346553[/post] http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/vw-passat-estate-boot-opening-problem
Hope that helps
Barry

Hi Barry great effort but cant seem to find anything that relates to my year and model some seems to refer to a hatchback and some to a later car. I'll deep read it again in a while Thank you

 

[quest63]

[post]346554[/post] Have you tried WD40 in the lock barrel assuming it's stuck?

Try this maybe? "press the central keyfob button for at least 3 seconds. The tailgate must be opened within 2 minutes, or it will lock again"

The handle for the tailgate is supposedly hidden underneath the VW badge "hidden" but I can't confirm

Also I don't know what MY this video is for but it seems to suggest there's a button in the glove compartment which can cause issues *I'm at work and have no sound
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGLQtYSdL1Y

Cheers Red :thumbs: The lock seems pretty eased for want of a better term as it moves pretty easily and locks and unlocks the rest of the car doors, it even sounds like the solenoid is working when using the fob. I'll give it a go anyway though just in case.

I don't have a central button as such with a boot opening icon on it like the three button fobs just this tiny little thing about the size of a match head or smaller which might not even be a button. I tried it to see if it operated the solenoid but maybe I didn't actually pull on the handle when I didn't hear anything, I'll give it a go.

The car in the video is probably 20 years newer but there's every possibility its something as simple as a switch somewhere just like that, I'll go search for one.

Thanks very much for your efforts :thumbs:

 

[tuonokid]

There seems to be lots of items on the net about door unlocking problems with Passats I just picked up on the bit about pressing the key fob for a few seconds to open the tailgate. I hope you get it sorted as I saw an item from a mechanic on about removing interior trim and taking off the tailgate to fix. :-(
Barry

 

[zinc2000]

My Passat estate (2002 model) has no end of hassles with the central locking and has been known to lock the doors as I walk away from it all by itself (we never ever leave the key init for this reason but if it helps...if I unlock the door then push button again it unlocks the other doors but not the boot, if I hold the button down then the boot unlocks (normally) sometimes it will take longer to open.
I do have a button inside the car as well, works fine, on the door by the petrol flap button. I also have a dedicated button on the remote for the boot, never has worked!!
I do have a haynes book for mine so will have a quick look see if it says anything helpful

 

[zinc2000]

Looking at the manual sadly there is nothing about central locking faults but it does say that there is a control unit under the carpet in front of the passenger seat, not sure if that helps
The only access to the lock itself seems to be through the boot behind the trim

 

[quest63]

[post]346556[/post]

If you remove the key from the ignition when the horizontal position of the cylinder lock, the trunk lid (tailgate) are no longer controlled by the central locking and remains locked for a long time.

After the reverse rotation of the lock cylinder in a vertical position locking tailgate (rear door) again included in the system of the central locking.

Hi Red just got back from wd 40 ing it to death and making sure the boot lock / tailgate lock was key vertical but no improvement as yet Many thanks for looking though :thumbs:

 

[quest63]

[post]346563[/post] My Passat estate (2002 model) has no end of hassles with the central locking and has been known to lock the doors as I walk away from it all by itself (we never ever leave the key init for this reason but if it helps...if I unlock the door then push button again it unlocks the other doors but not the boot, if I hold the button down then the boot unlocks (normally) sometimes it will take longer to open.
I do have a button inside the car as well, works fine, on the door by the petrol flap button. I also have a dedicated button on the remote for the boot, never has worked!!
I do have a haynes book for mine so will have a quick look see if it says anything helpful

Thanks very much for looking for me I think I already tried holding down the button on the second press as well as doing a third press but I'll go revisit this in light of Reds vertical key slot tip. There no button inside the car that I can find and no dedicated button on my fob sadly. Muchas gracias

 

[zinc2000]

Check inside the glove box in case you have a "valet" switch, some models do some dont, if you have one and the light is not on boot will stay locked, light on and boot should open nb: or the other way round :?

 

[quest63]

Nope no such luck I'm afraid just a courtesy light and bizarrely what seems to be a small air vent :shock:

Damn I was so hoping to just drive this and not have to do anything on it.......my fault for being stingy I guess

 

[oilburner]

Check the wiring inside the rubber boot where it passes into the tailgate.

 

[quest63]

I'm assuming you mean if I ever get it open?

Will do cheers :thumbs:

 

[zinc2000]

Looks like you are wriggling over the back seat then....remove the trim etc etc and open it that way, come to think of it theres not much wriggling is there? simply drop the back seat and step in, theres a button at one end of the load cover btw which will allow you to lift the cover off completely make it even easier, as to how you actually remove the trim with the boot shut..... :?

 

[quest63]

Yep I already removed the load cover as I intend fitting a dog guard.

Yes its swallow the bullet time and rip off the tailgate trim and see whats going on. Ive done a fair bit of googling and there's a fair chance its going to get broken but hey omelets and eggs etc.

I have to say so far Ive had a much better response here than on two VW forums

Cheers everyone

 

[quest63]

Update: The problem turned out to be wear and tear and sadly there's no adjustment I can see to fix it so a used unit will be the answer.

Picture 1 shows the correct position the mechanism should be in either by solenoid or key for the external handle to be able to open the boot. Picture 2 shows where mine actually sits after the tailgates been locked either with the key or the solenoid. Basically the cam (is that the right term?) that's sitting on the corner of the reverse L shaped hole just slips off and up the vertical hole, whereas it needs to be at the end of the horizontal hole

Anyone breaking a Passat estate?

Zinc your definitely correct the central locking does indeed have a mind of its own :thumbs:

 

[zinc2000]

Short spring like say a brake shoe spring around the cam and in a convenient hole to keep it pulled back where it should be?

 

[red]

Glad you found it, when I was looking around they did appear to be notoriously faulty.