Devilish problem ruining my day (stuck hatch)

[Negafen]

So, my hatch latch is sticky, so I take it out, clean it up, polish it up, give it a quick coat to stop it form rusting reinstall it done. Easy.

 

Too bad my hatch won't open now. I think I screwed it back in backwards... argh

 

So I'm on my back in my hatch trying to get my fingers in a little hole to release something.

 

How in gods name am I gonna release it? Please tell me there's a secret. Some time has gone by since I first closed it (I didn't check right away) and I can't remember how it's laid out.

[barichardson5727]

Are you sure it didn't get locked somehow. When I was removing the purple tint from my hatch window I closed the hatch and was unable to get it back opened again. I must have been working at getting the hatch opened for 15 minutes before I realized it had locked and I was turning the key the wrong way. Its probably a longshot since you actually removed and reinstalled your hatch but I just wanted to throw some ideas out there.

[mark]

Remove the interior trim piece on the lower part of the hatch. You can reach in there and release the latch mechanism with your finger.

[Negafen]

I tried both suggestions.

 

I couldn't for the life of me get my hands or a tool in there to release it, even with the trim off.

 

I tried the lock thing. No good.

 

 

 

I ended up solving it by taking a 10mm wrench sticking it in the gap, and unscrewing the latch from the outer back, tedious, but effective and didn't break anything.

 

 

That said, once I had it apart, I reassembled, turns out I had it the right way but poorly aligned.

 

I could probably have released the latch by pressing the button really really hard.

 

So, quick tips, press the button really hard if you're stuck, then shove the latch more towards the interior edge of where it can mount and screw it down again.