2007 prius trunk hatch release rubber piece melted

Wonder if that extended warranty will pay for it??????

Warranty covered it. zero deductible platinum. evidently the assembly has to be replaced and the service rep called in the assembly.

BTW/service rep said he had a 2008 with 185K and has never touched the brakes, tranny fluid, and spark plugs. I was telling him to change the fluid but after he said he had 185k I said you may create more issues than you solve. Living on varnish for sure at this point!!!!!

Last student I told to change his black tranny fluid could not leave the shop as it was broke after the change circulated all those chunks through the system. The valve body had to be rebuilt.

 

That would not be a problem with the Prius transaxle. A fluid change at any time, even after 185K miles, would be better than not at all.

 

I finally broke down and ordered this part...(84905-47010) for my 2007 Prius. I have just over 140k miles on it. This switch has been bad for the last few years, and got worse since I moved to Florida. I did not check to see if Toyota would do anything....I would doubt it on a 140k 8 year old car. Anyway, shipping and all it came to $75.45
I do not think I want to use the original two screws that hold the rubber part on...one was difficult to get off and I do not want to reuse a half stripped phillips screw. Hopefully the new part comes with these two screws....if not a trip to the hardware store will be in order. At least those two screws are loose now so when the part comes in it should not be too much of a problem.
One of the issues I've had is that I sometimes need to push the rubber multiple times, (or press the smartkey unlock button) multiple times to get the hatch open. I am hoping the new switch solves that, but I am not sure, since the sound of it unlatching comes from the latch hole on the rear floor, but the hatch itself. I guess we will see.
After this repair my fingers should not be black anymore....sometimes they look like I've been fingerprinted from that yucky rubber! I've been putting black gorilla tape over the goop to help stop this "Black fingerpad issue"....

 

The new switch does not come with mounting hardware, so I recommend you bring one of the originals to the hardware store when you look for replacements in the metric section. I believe you will find the new switch will solve the issue of the latch action being intermittent.

 

Thank you Patrick! I appreciate it. Is it really necessary to disconnect the battery terminal....? I do have a trickle charger I think I used when I installed a new optimum battery years ago.....Thanks!

 

Not necessary especially if you use the battery charger to keep the battery charged while the hatch is open. Turn off the various cabin and hatch lights to reduce drain on the battery while the hatch is open. Do not close the hatch while your work is in process and the switch is removed.

If you need to take an extraordinary amount of time on the job then remove the negative battery cable where it bolts to the body so you don't have to worry about continued battery drain.

 

Thanks!!

 

It did and every penny. Only extended warranty claim so far.

 

Just got the new part in the mail today. Looks like this will be my Christmas project. Thankfully it will be 80 here for Christmas. I know that some of my lock switch screws will be difficult to remove, as the dealer a couple of years ago wanted me to buy a new plastic part for like $300. No thank you. I think one of the inside posts are also broken, so I have the JB Weld ready. The part with shipping cost me $75. I'll post of the experience after it is done. The past few years I probably spent $75 on hand soap cleaning the black goo off my fingers....

 

Well, I started this project. In a perfect world, this would be an easy part to replace, and Patrick Wong has helped a great deal to show us all how it is done. For me, it has been a bit more complex. When I got the plastic piece off I found that it appears that the dealership broke a few of the bolts. The four bolts that hold this on just fit into the plastic. The plastic was broken on three of the four bolts. I remember them telling me that when they were working on the part 2 years ago they stated that the screws were rusted on and that because of this and other reasons they would need for me to buy a new plastic part for around $300. When I declined and asked them just to put it all back they looked funny and said ok. Now I know why.

The three screws that hold the lock switch on were totally fused on the backplate. What I did not know is that behind this backplate there are three steel or aluminum sleeves that set into plastic receiving holes. The walls of these three holes are thin. They were all broken. With the help of a friend we drilled these three screws out and retapped the metal sleeves that basically fell out.

Thankfully, J-B Weld is my best friend. I J-B welded the three sleeves into the plastic holes and also J-B Welded the four bolts that hold the plastic part on. As long as I snug the four 10mm nuts and not torque them, this should work. I really do not want to buy a new plastic part.

I will let this dry/cure overnight and put everything back on tomorrow hopefully. Here are some pics....



Frank

 

Well, all fixed. After the J-B Weld set up overnight it was an easy 5 minute reassembly with no problems. The switch works well, my fingers are clean and it looks better. The latch still sticks a bit, like it is catching on something. Sometimes I still need to press the pad twice to open, but it is much better. Before because of the goopiness I would press the goopy pad once, then often have to hit the keyfob button a few times to open it. Now pressing the new pad once or twice seems to open it without too much problem. Not sure what is still causing the sticking/catching thing sometimes, perhaps slightly filing the hatch thing may help, as it is a tad worn and shiny in spots and a bit rough.

Thanks! Frank.

 

The hatchback release on my '09 had been "gooey" for a while, but not enough to stain hands.

Then, the release itself started to stick intermittently, i.e., it would loosen the hatchback but not
allow you to open it fully. You'd have to close it and then try again. This is the point at which
I decided to get it repaired.

The dealer wanted $65-ish for the part, and the parts guy said it was certainly DIY. When I looked
at the outside mounting screws, I saw that you couldn't get at them without having to buy some
sort of angled tool. That's when I gave in, and had the dealer do it. He charged me $170 for the
repair.

The new release does seem to be made of an improved type of rubber.

 

I had the same issue in my 2008, i just scraped out all the remaining bits around the edges and never replaced it. that was 2 years ago and have had no trouble out of it since. I was worried that it may allow water into the switch or something, but not so far.

 

probably was a bad supply batch. I am sure they have more than one supplier for same function part. Same but rubber may differ from one supplier than another. Just sayin'....

 

Called Toyota about this same issue (oozey, melted rubber lift gate switch cover, which also became hard and snapped in the winter) on my 2008 Prius. A customer service rep., speaking fluent legalese, told me to go fly a kite. But she said that if enough people who have this problem call them, then "upper management" might throw money down from the heavens to reimburse people who have already replaced this defective part. Sort of like Jesus and the lepers.

 

Got mine replaced under the extended warranty right before I traded it. So the extended warranty was worthless for what I paid.

 

I had a simliar issues with my 2008 that I bought very much used. The rubber had not really melted as much as it was hanging off, it was held up mainly by the edges by the screws and the rest was torn away. I looked into the replacement switch assembly for $79, but as I was looking I found a company that just sold the rubber piece and an off set screwdriver for $20. I ordered it and in about 20min...I had a brand new switch cover and was very happy. If anyone is interested in more details please reply to this thread or post

 

Please share where I can get the rubber piece + screwdriver for $20. Thanks!

 

Here you go, the link to Amazon $19.95

 

this is an old thread, but I have the same problem. I don't see that link as working, and it looks like a regular old philips screwdriver to re move the rubber. Does anyone have any advice on this before I buy the part? Also what is the process, just a simple removal of the screws and replacement? I don't want to get into replacing the switch, etc. Thanks