In the past few weeks I've been having trouble getting my hatch to open. I'd say about 80-90% of the times I push a button to pop it, it doesn't open. I hear the sound of it trying to release, but nothing actually happens. This is a problem with both the button on the remote and the button on the back of the Z. Has anyone else had something like this happen? What was the fix? And if you brought it in to be fixed, how long did the labor take?

 

This is happening on a lot of Z's. Yours is the most extreme that i have heard though, have you used your hatch a lot in the past? What the problem seems to be related to are the two pistons that open the hatch. This first surfaced in the winter not last year but the year before. on cold mornings, the air in those pistons doesnt expand enough or whatever, or if its fluid it still doesnt do the same thing (forgive me i am not much of a mechanical guy) thus the hatch wouldnt pop all the way on the first release. it would take another press of the button to get it to come up. to me yours sounds as if its the extreme of this. your pistons have lost all ability to push the hatch up. there have been people to get these replaced at the dealer. if the search was functioning you could find the thread that was about 1-2 months ago where we talked about this. i want to say dealers were ordering a different type of piston to release the hatch. wish i could offer more. good luck. oh yeah, by the way my hatch is performing, i am probably only a couple of months behind you.

 

Thanks. It was weird cause it happened all of a sudden. And some days it's fine. Some days the release on the car works and not the one on the keyfob, and some days they both give me agita.

 

There is another trick

Behind a cover on a hutch there is a ballast. It's about 1.5 lbs piece of metal/plastic. I have no idea what sick mind decided to attach ballast there, but it defenetely has to go. Just open the cover and unscrew 4 bolts attaching that ballast and throw it away. It helps a little with hutch openning.

 

I have the same problem.

took it in to the dealer, they replaced the shocks and it worked again for TWO FREAKING DAYS and now it does not work anymore! POS shocks.

I think the added weight of the nismo rear spoiler does not help!

 

There's a new TSB out: NTB04-042 2003 350Z COUPE; REAR HATCH WILL NOT OPEN ON
FIRST PUSH OF RELEASE BUTTON

Give it a try.

 

Thanks for the heads up, hopefully they'll let me apply it to me 04.

 

Mine takes a few tries to close sometimes - ya gotta slam it real hard. Good air seal in these cars...

 

you wouldt happen to have a copy of this TSB would you? I tried looking on nissan's technical site to just see if i could see if it was listed. i cant print them because i dont have the membership or whatever to download them. but i could not even find it listed. any help would be appreciated. if you dont have it thats fine also. i can just reference the number when i next talk to my dealer. one other thing. for the tsb does the dealer just take a persons word for it or do you have to be able to reproduce it at the dealership. cause if thats the case i can see it not happening when i get down there, the car usually has to sit for a few hours for the trunk not to open, and i dont have that kind of time. my dealer is 30 minutes away and by the time i get there the car is all warmed up from the heater or whatever.

 

Oh man, one time was the trunk was giving me sh*t it hadn't shut all the way. I was afraid I'd never get it open again at that point.

 

Is the trunk supposed to actually pop up open when you press the button (either one)? On my car the trunk pops up maybe about half inch or so.

 

half inch or so.

but sometimes it pops but doesnt totally free itself of the latch.

like if you gently close a door it closes but isnt totally sealed, but wont open without pulling the handle. the trunk hatch does the same but during opening.

needs a bit more pressure in the struts IMO. cold weather does it to mine. now that its hot out, 0 issues.

 

What's really weird, though, is I'd swear mine's worse when the weather's warm.

 

Same problem. Dealer says nothings wrong. "Press Harder" or Hold the button and lift the hatch.
Or if using the remote, "Hold the button for at least 3 seconds"

Should I stand on my head and sing happy birthday too?

 

if holding the button for 3 sec helps, have him show you.

or pressing harder.

until he shows you these things actually fix the problem, their worthless.

as for hold and lift, yeah that works, but kinda kills the idea of a remote no?

 

exactly. you need TWO hands to get the dam thing open now and that sucks when you are carrying $hit to the car.

 

Perhaps you should say " Was it intended to work by holding the buttons and lift the hatch?" If he says no - then say FIX IT - it's under warranty yet.

 

What really bummed me out, was when I tried show the problem to teh service manager, the damn thing worked fine.

The problem seems intermittant.

I give up.

 

OK, the technical service bulletin is finally viewable at http://www.infinitihelp.com/Ownershi.../NTB04-042.htm

Mine is getting done at the dealership right now.

 

also check the springs.. jaysen had a bent one on his hatch