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plumbers1
29-01-2007, 11:30 AM
The bootlid on my 2003 Bora is very stiff. I was intitially told by local VW dealer that it is the hydraulic struts. They said they heated these up, presumably to thin the oil, and this cured the probelm temporarily. However, the stiffness is now even worse (my wife has to use both hands to close it) and the dealer is now claiming that the hinges are at fault. VW says the hinges are not covered under used car extended warranty as they are 'part of the bodywork'. Has anyone else encountered this problem?:confused:

Teutonic_Tamer
29-01-2007, 12:24 PM
The bootlid on my 2003 Bora is very stiff. I was intitially told by local VW dealer that it is the hydraulic struts. They said they heated these up, presumably to thin the oil, and this cured the probelm temporarily. However, the stiffness is now even worse (my wife has to use both hands to close it) and the dealer is now claiming that the hinges are at fault. VW says the hinges are not covered under used car extended warranty as they are 'part of the bodywork'. Has anyone else encountered this problem?

Sounds like the ******* is trying to feed you horse $hit!

When they heated the hydraulic struts, they probably $hagged the internal seals. Ask them to disconnect the hydraulic struts, while you wait and watch them, and then get them to demomstrate their diagnosis of stiff hinges!

Go have a look at this thread too http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=3182

Get back to us, I'd be interested in the outcome of this one!

Rgds

plumbers1
31-01-2007, 06:15 PM
Thanks Sean. Having looked at the other thread, I drowned the hinges in WD40 and this has eased the problem considerably. How long it will last, however, remains to be seen. What has teed me off is that VW has admitted the problem still says it's not covered under the used car warranty because hinges are classified as part of the bodywork, not components, and bodywork is excluded. They have offered to pay 70% of the cost but my principles are against this. The dealer told me this is a known problem which occurs on some cars so why won't VW own up and meet the full cost? You buy a 'premium' used car at a premium price from a main dealer and then the company hides behind interpretations of the small print. My last car was a Volvo - think I'll be going back to them!
Roger

Paul Jay
31-01-2007, 08:33 PM
It appears that this is really a more common problem than VW would admit, but my old V5 Bora had the same problem and the boot would barely close and open.

I used Plus Gas to free up the mechanism and then prevented further water ingress with some spray white grease and never had a problem afterwards.:D

It might take some time to free things up, but don't pay silly money for no reason.:aargh4: