Thread: Saturn Employee
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Old 06-17-2008, 01:15 AM   #70 (permalink)
saf0775
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Sticky Butt(ress)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Natalie View Post
Welcome Stephen...nice to have a fellow Puget Sounder in the house!

You are awesome to offer your expertise on here!

I have a sticky buttress...took it to the dealer (Saturn of Lynnwood) and they replaced it and guess what...still sticks!

Can you suggest a lubricant that is safe to use.
Are you sure it's the buttress thats causing the stick? The cables ends that are used to release the lock clamps are....not sufficient....IMHO. They have plastic balls on the end of steel wires. When the balls break, the wire gets pulled through the loom and your buttress is permanently locked down. As you may know, you can't gain access to the trunk through the passenger compartment, no matter how much plastic you remove. Then, it's just you and a pick tool and a prayer to the almighty you don't scratch the paint trying to pick the lock clamp through the chrome eyelet (Yes, I've done the prayer). The eyelet, at that point, becomes a total loss and needs to be replaced.

My point: have the Techs check that the release wires are taught. This means removing the deck lid liner and making sure there is no play between the plastic ball ends and the metal loop on the lock clamp. Excessive play = not enough "pull" on the clamp...hence...a sticky situation. Do not try to remove the liner yourself. Even an experienced Tech can "break" some of the plastic push pins on the liner, but we usually keep them in stock for just such instances.

Case in point: The hood release cables on the Saturn Vue (03-06) have the exact same problem. People were lubricating the clamps and adjusting the springs for the LONGEST time before GM realized it was just a simple issue of the cables stretching and not giving enough pull to release the hood latch. If the cable stretches to far...well...at that point, you have to remove the entire fascia (and doing that without having the ability of opening the hood is a trick only mastered by a few) to gain access to the lock spring.
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Stephen
Saturn Certified Technician
GM-ASEP Graduate, FCCJ class of 2003

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Last edited by saf0775 : 06-17-2008 at 01:23 AM.
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