QuestionI have a 1997 Hyundai Sonata and the boot won't open. At first the remote lever in the driver's door could still open it (while the key wouldn't work in the boot lock), but then about a week later the remote latch started failing too, and took about 10-20 tries to open it up. Now (another week later) it doesn't work at all.
Our local mechanics said that they thought it was two separate problems, but wouldn't look further without payment. They want to charge for replacing the lock and replacing/rewiring the door switch. To me, it seems really unlikely that both problems would happen so close together without a common cause.
Can I get an opinion on possible other causes? And if I wanted to take a look myself, how would I get the boot open from the inside, and how would I undo the screws that cover the latch assembly on the boot itself? I tried them about halfway through this, but they just turned freely without undoing.
AnswerHI Pete,
sorry i do not know this but can only give you some opinions. I signed up on this website as an auto paint expert. This is out of my experience other than as everybody including you are saying it is taking some troubleshooting and that is time consuming, something mechanics charge by the hour for...so don't be surprised if someone wants to get paid for doing your service. Best recommendation is to find a hyundai bodyshop where someone specifically repaired these boots from a wreck, therefore already having past troubleshooting experience but i do not know where there are any hyundai bodyshops in existence. So that leaves us with a dealership service manager. How many hyundai dealers in your area? Try to interview each one, and see if a light bulb of recognition of the problem clicks on their face or they just get kinda perturbed that you are even asking. That should narrow it down as to which mechanics you want to hire, as in "pay money to for services". It is possible that one problem unfixed could create another problem...but i do not know that much about the engineering of your particualar design to say that for sure. Again, trouble shooting is a lot like hiring a private detective to figure out the mystery and afterwards can answer all your questions as to how and why, but he is not going to do that as a hobbyist or slave. It's all about the jack, Pete...grow up, if you want toys to work right, be prepared to pay the toymaker to repair what is called planned obsolescence, designed for job security of the industry. I hate that too: it is why all those cars for all those years had paint peeling off them...and those car manufacturers got away with it, no senate investigations etc...just dirty paid off congressmen letting it go on. Or you can attempt to play private mechanic detective yourself and just have at it with a tool kit and a weekend and of course down time during the week while the hyundai dealer orders the broken parts that need replacing for you.
Joe Painter
PS: where your mechanic's experienced hyundai mechanics or other brand of car mechanics that are oblivious to many unique hyundai perplexities?
