How to open hatch?

WD40 is a poor lubricant at best. It is mostly Stoddard Solvent and will wash away other lubricants leaving behind a thin film of some 'proprietary' substance that never seems to last long. I know some threads on the issue have been posted at

Carl

few times. You might try searching/posting

Thanks, Carl. It's nice to know that you are always around to help out.

I found a post, but what it says is to pop the interior panel, just as I did before. I guess there is no shortcut. This time, however, I will not use WD40 but wheel bearing grease instead.

Ben

few times. You might try searching/posting

lol! Other than some trivia about WD40, I don't think I helped much! Not a lot of rust down here to fight. Sorry no one had any more specific experience help at USMB - lot of guys over there keeping old rusted soobs running and many of them DO have experience fighting rust.

Carl

Actually a *thin* application of white lithium grease on the moving parts of that assembly will stop rust and it wont drip or migrate with high heat. Why Subaru can't spend a few cents on that at the factory is being "Cheap" beyond imagination.

WD40 is a "Water Dispersant". It replaces water with, um, SOMETHING that replaces water...

Head over to your GM dealer and get a can of their stuff used to free stuck nuts and bolts/lubricant. It's $9`12 a can depending where you get it, but it works GREAT!!! It will actually remove the rust from rusty parts and replace it with a graphite-type lubricant.

I did the nuts and bolts on an '83 Tercel AWD I had a couple years ago, and they came out so clean it was almost like they had never rusted...

I use PB Blaster for loosening rusted bolts on my '65 MGB project. Works great.

Dan D

I've been thru this issue twice. '00 OBW

First time was PB Blaster. It freed up the mechanism, but only lasted about 6 months, then it got 'iffy' again.

Second time around, I had the panels off the hatch to install the OEM grab bar (which is a great item to have). Since everything was out of the way, I removed the mechanism to clean and lubricate it. I used the stick-type white lithium grease from NAPA. (there's also a slightly thinner version in a squeeze tube). So far, this fix has lasted a year and the latch still feels silky smooth.

Yeah, the Litium grease is the best, it's 'tenacious' and can also be used for other things.

In the "old days" it was used for the door mouldings, but now silicone spray is much better.

But the lithium grease will last for quite a while before wearing down...