Touran: Tailgate won't open from remote, also rear wiper and spray won't work

This is a 54 reg Touran Sport. The middle button on the remote opens the tailgate, but not anymore. No matter how long you keep pressing it the tailgate won't open, click pop or otherwise respond.

Also the rear wiper doesn't always work. I think it has to do with opening and closing the tailgate, some sort of contact being made, or rather not being made.

Finally the spray on the tailgate won't spray, or won't spray a lot, just drops.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance.

I have exactly the same problem with mine which is a Touran 2004 TDI DSG, the problem descripbed in slightly different words to 'otheos' is:-

- rear Wiper (and spray wash) sometime works, sometimes not..
- remote to open tailgate using middle button sometimes works sometimes doesn't..

I am wondering if its am intermittent relay (or dodgy fuse contact?) somewhere ...?

It would be great if anyone can give us a clue or two...

Many thanks

As far as I can tell, there's a micro switch in the tailgate that isn't behaving properly. The wiper (maybe the spray?) won't work if the tailgate is not closed properly. Sometimes I need to slam it to make it work.

For the remote, still no clue. It never works, no mater if the wiper does or not.

Interesting to hear that the rear wiper (and spray?) work if the tailgate is closed properly, I will have to check if same happens with mine.

As for the remote middle button for the tailgate, mine definitely sometimes works sometimes doesn't. The bottom button which opens all doors including tailgate pressed twice works every time.

I read on another Forum that someone resolved this problem by changing the tailgate locking mechanism. Apparently it costed £35 to buy from the dealer... I would be tempted maybe to dismantle it and have a closer look..

The middle button on remote just unlocks the tailgate and leaves rest of car locked, that's all it's for...Many people are under the impression that (as with some VW's) this button should physically open the boot..not the case.
As for your wiper...I had same problem and turned out motor was dead...hose for washer was also bunged up with gunk (screen wash residude). Very simple to fix...got motor from scap yard outta newer touran, £20.
Touran boot lids have always been an issue unlocking....What I've found is, that boot sometimes will not unlock if there are other doors opened in car. When I close the drivers door (or whatever door is open) and hit the remote, boot unlocks, cant think why this is but always works.

As andwat said, the middle button only unlocks, doesn't pop the tailgate open. As it turned out I was spending a lot of time with my wifes '11 Jetta and expected the Touran to pop the tailgate open when I pressed the middle button. After an embarrassing demonstration at the garage, I am now certain everything is working fine.

As for the rear wiper, andwat nailed it. The tailgate doesn't always shut properly. When not, the wiper doesn't work. Readjusted the hook at the bottom and all is well now.

Finally for the spray, I had the nozzle changed and it now works.

Hope this helps. Thank you all.

This thread is from 2011 but I've just fixed my own Touran tailgate in 2018 and am posting in case it helps anyone else (I'm a 'lurker' trying to repay my debt to other posters).
My 2006 Touran's tailgate has slowly started refusing to unlock itself... today it finally stopped unlocking altogether ... I could hear the lock/ solenoid mechanism doing something when I used the remote but it wouldn't unlock (I tried the remote many times , shutting all doors , pushing the tailgate shut with my bum, banging the area where I thought the lock was etc etc ... nothing worked)
Fixed it by folding rear seats ... crawling into the 'boot' and removing the emergency triangle (which is in a compartment in the rear door just near to the numberplate).... I then sprayed in WD40 in all directions through the various openings in the plastic inside the emergency triangle compartment.... a few minutes later the rear door opened and I then sprayed WD40 into the mechanism that actually hooks onto the metal bracket at the bumper ... after this the unlocking was perfect.

If I too may resurrect an old thread with my experience (because it comes top of google when I search ‘touran boot won’t open’ and to generally try to improve the lack of touran info on the web)…

My boot stopped opening on my 2009 Touran Facelift Mk1.

The secret lever to open the boot from inside was hard to find – not obvious behind the warning triangle hatch and not through and real opening but I found a picture of the replacement lock module latch on e bay and worked out where it was. You can actually just see little white plastic bit through the hatch.

The only screws holding the door card trim on were actually the 2 in that hatch and 2 in the interior handles so if anyone ever really can’t open the boot then it MIGHT be just about possible to get it off without opening the boot, maybe.

Anyway inside the trim I found that there was water dribbling down from the window seal. This probably doesn’t help anything. No sign of the screenwash leaking though.

But it was when I took the handle part off that I found the problem: on removal of the robber cover from the handle I found that the metal flap you squeeze inside was bent and cracked and no longer touched the microswitch like it was meant to (the fact that the handle had lost its ‘click’ should have been the giveaway). So I’ve bent it back and bodged some araldite on to strengthen it (replacements are only about 35 quid though) and now it works again. Also arranged some shelter from the water dribbles. Didn’t fancy trying the re seal the window.

Just need to get the door card back on now :/

Coinicidentally I had a similar problem with our Touran's boot last w/e and was going to post how I fixed it. May as well do that here :).

The "handle" had noticeably lost its click, so I dissasembled it to see what was going on. In the first pic it was flicking back the tabs circled in green that allowed it to come apart easily. The two at the top seemed harder to lean backwards, and there was no need in the end.
Attachment 36654

Once apart it was clear that the grease in the pockets with green / orange circles on pic 2 had gone dry and was stopping free movement. Before expending further effort I plugged it back in and made sure that clicking the purple circled microswitch still released the boot.

Attachment 36655

A good clean out, reassembly and greasing at the green circle points in pic 3 has it all working again.

Attachment 36656

Hi, just stumbled across this thread. My boot won't open on sports 2010. I opened the emergency triangle compartment and sprayed WD40 wherever I could and lo and behold the lever began to work. I gave all components a good spray once opened.
Thanks for tips.

2010Touran. 1.9diesel 196,000ml.
Thanks All for contributions which I followed but the clincher was spraying the lock mechanism with silicone spray (WD is a No No, mineral based oil causes plastic parts to swell and in time will stick)
Every Touran owner should do this while it still works. Imagine if you had a settee in the back & the lock failed!
Full Story
1. I fiddled around for ages trying to open the tailgate with the manual lever & could only see it once I used my inspection camera. Unbelievably there is a cowl over it & I had to use a bent screwdriver to release!!
2. Once open I removed the grey cover & took the microswitch mechanism out & picked out the dried grease. I replaced that with silicone grease & now the mechanism has a nicer feel.
3. I removed the lock & actuator & sawed off the cowl (noting that it was made in Italy, was it lost in translation?)
4. I checked everything electrically including putting 12V across the pins of the actuator, it worked every time so I reassembled.
IT STILL WOULDN'T OPEN!
5. Days later In frustration I clicked the microswitch dozens of times and it worked. The more I did that the less times it took, however it never worked first time.
6. Finally I tried the easiest thing & gave the mechanism a spray with silicone & now it works great 1st time every time!
I was impressed that in an 11 year old car there was not a hint of rust (except the only British bit, the numberplate screws)
Most difficult part?
Replacing the grey cover!