Odd Behavior (to me) of '00 C2 Locking System - Lesson Learned

[Y2K911]

Trying to access the trunk, I was mystified to find that the trunk latch at the door sill would not budge, while the engine latch was totally free to unlock the engine hood or bonnet for you RHD'ers.

In the garage, the car had not been used for a couple of weeks, had not been locked and the door was still not locked when I opened it to activate the trunk latch.

Not smart enough to think that the car locking system was playing tricks with me, I referred to good-ole Loren's still pertinent tutorial on subject: http://www.renntech.org/forums/tutorials/article/33-hoodtrunk-latch-release-removalinstall/ and proceeded on removing the latch to see if anything was blocking that front latch.

Hex bolt Removal Tip: You will need a short 5 mm Allen/hex key no longer than about 2 inches or so, to have enough clearance between the seat and the latch cover's 2 rearmost hex bolts. The front hex bolt is located in front of the seat, so no issue there. A bicycle hex multi-sizes tool saved my Canuckian bacon yesterday.

Once the mechanism was lifted from the door sill and exposed, I realized that a locking plate was in the way and, it finally downed on me that it was only a matter of inserting my car key into the driver's door key hole to move the locking plate from its locking position.

Felt a bit foolish, but now I know that under certain circumstances, you could have the door unlocked but the trunk still locked. I'm pretty sure that would happen only after not driving the car for at least 5 days but I'm still unsure as to why the car s/w would work that way.

Lesson well learned!

Edited February 12, 2014 by Loren
corrected spelling - left humor...