Esprit - rear hatch release cable snapped

[Worzel]

Evening all,

A few weeks back the rear hatch release cable snapped with the hatch still being locked. Having done a bit of searching it would appear that the Lotus recommended route in to the boot to manually release it was to remove the number plate and then drill rather large holes to get your arm in to relase the catches manually.... Didn't really fancy this as the hole(s) would have to rather large to get an arm through! After a bit of thought we went in through the wheel arch with a 2 inch hole saw aiming up towards the fuel filler neck, a bit of fishing around for the cable and a quick tug later we were done and dusted in 15 minutes. Small panel bolted and sealed on to cover it and you can easily release next time it happens!

One big word of warning though, the harness route is over the drivers side rear wheel arch so please use a hand drill rather than risk slicing up your loom!

Hope this helps someone out!

Jon

[GKP]

It's also possible to go in via the petrol filler neck (once you've undone the screws which hold the nect to the bodywork) if you've got thin wrists or coathanger wire etc.

[Worzel]

Hi,

Did try that route but one of the previous owners had used a very strong sealer between the filler cap neck and the bodywork, couldn't actually get it to move!

Jon

[Le TVR]

Depends where the cable breaks. Mine snapped right at the end on the LHS latch.
Didn't like the idea of going through behind the numberplate, so having looked at the cost of the various parts, I went through the boot floor.
Very easy job to re-glass it afterwards.

[Kylie]

Worzel said:

Evening all,

A few weeks back the rear hatch release cable snapped with the hatch still being locked. Having done a bit of searching it would appear that the Lotus recommended route in to the boot to manually release it was to remove the number plate and then drill rather large holes to get your arm in to relase the catches manually.... Didn't really fancy this as the hole(s) would have to rather large to get an arm through! After a bit of thought we went in through the wheel arch with a 2 inch hole saw aiming up towards the fuel filler neck, a bit of fishing around for the cable and a quick tug later we were done and dusted in 15 minutes. Small panel bolted and sealed on to cover it and you can easily release next time it happens!

One big word of warning though, the harness route is over the drivers side rear wheel arch so please use a hand drill rather than risk slicing up your loom!

Hope this helps someone out!

Jon

Has always been one of my worst fears esp on my old 89 Turbo I had. I went to the point of relubing and protecting all wear/rub areas. Only takes a little uneven ground surface, dry male & female parts of the hatch release points and the lid wont pop open.

[mieczkow]

Another option, having been through this experience, is to use a mini-grinder and grind off the retaining nuts which hold the boot floor down. This has been down several times by Esprit owners on the turboesprit listserv. I ultimately added a solenoid powered parallel system to unlock the hatch and have kept the cable system in place as a back-up. I've hear too many stories of having the hatch opening system fail!