All jokes aside, I was replacing the pistons/struts on my rear trunk (boot) today. If you have tried to do this, it isn't as easy as the front hood. Thankfully, you just need to pull the struts off and the new ones are rather easy to push on.

The problem is that you need an arm that's about 45 inches long to comfortably do the repair from outside the vehicle. My arms are tragically not that long as I don't have any Great Apes in my immediate family tree.

So I did something admittedly idiotic: I wore a head-mounted flashlight and got into the trunk to do the right-side piston. Once inside and on my side, I found it much easier to position my arm and grab-hold of the piston. I wasn't too concerned about the trunk lid because it was wide open and my foot was resting on the exterior surface of the trunk opening on the left side of the vehicle (so it would prevent the trunk lid from closing completely).

At this point, I had successfully pulled away the piston end that is toward the rear of the vehicle--but the front side (behind the back seat) was still attached. That front side is deep in the vehicle and has almost no room around it because it's next to the back seat and inches away from the gas tank. I had to wedge a steel tool (the handle to a socket wrench) between the piston and the anchor point and was working to pull it away from the anchor point and, in doing so, I was so focused on the task at hand that I had apparently shifted my body so that I was on my back with my feet fully INSIDE the trunk and my legs nearly stretched out. Then the piston came off--and at the same instant, the trunk was supported by only the left piston so it fell hard (duh!, but I did not expect that) and came within a few inches from latching. It was my bent leg and knee that "caught" the trunk lid and stopped it. I reacted instantly, as if something had actually fallen on top of me, and pushed open the trunk as quickly as my reflexes would allow and got out. Spooked as well.

Then I realized that I had put myself in a potentially life-threatening situation, and mild panic set in. (1) I had no cell phone on me at the time, (2) I did not have the remote key with me--just the physical key to the car around my neck and (3) my family were out for several hours.

Of course everyone could tell me what a dumb-a** I am and I would simply agree. But--the obvious aside--what could I have done if the trunk actually had latched? I have had minor frights over the past hours since just thinking about what could have happened--such as if my family hadn't returned because of an accident or something like that. I quite possibly wouldn't have been "discovered" until late this week when a lawn care crew visits--and they use mowers and loud equipment and possibly wouldn't ever hear me if I tried screaming... I work from home, so no one would miss me at the office...

This model sedan doesn't have a quick-release pull cord, and from what I see, the latch mechanism is not exposed to the inside in any way. The only thing is that I did have battery power so I suppose I could have (?) removed the upper insulation/padding from the trunk and possibly found the trunk-release harness and connected its wires together, effectively releasing the trunk latch.

Whether you think you would never let the trunk close even if you're in the trunk or partially in the truck for a minute, ALWAYS BLOCK THE LATCH with a rag or something so that it cannot possibly latch, especially if you find that you need to get inside briefly to replace the pistons.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

By the way, the vehicle in question is a 2000 XJR.

 

Not dumb at all - it just needs a set of unfortunate circumstances (and sod's law) to turn many a mundane car job into something serious.
Good advice on blocking the latch.

Andrew

 

WOW! Glad you said XJR because I was envisioning my XK8 trunk so I figured with your legs stretched out that you must be shorter that my 3 year old grandson...HAHAHAHAHA!

 

I am 5'6" and about 140 pounds and I swim almost every day. That XJR trunk was surprisingly roomy but thankfully not roomy enough.

 

Yes, you always hear "safety first" and I finally get that. It's easy to get so involved with a task that you just say to yourself "I don't need to worry about that" and, before you know it--it's "uh oh"...

I suppose I figured that the lid was supported when I release the rear end of the right-side piston. For some reason, the lid didn't fall until I release the other end of the piston. Clearly, once one end was removed, the piston already was no longer aiding to keep the lid up, so I didn't expect that the lid would fall when the other end came off. In straining to remove it, I must have jostled the lid, causing it to lose its precarious vertical state.

It's also amazing how heavy the lid is without those hydraulic pistons in place!

Thanks for acknowledging the blocking of the latch.

I have to say that when you're in the trunk and you look around, it almost seems that it was intentionally designed not to permit any possibility of opening it from the inside! Obviously, such a thing became enough of a problem that all (I believe *all*) modern cars (at least in the U.S.) have glow-in-the-dark manual releases inside the trunk. I haven't done any research, but I suspect more than one youngster has gotten locked inside the trunk just horsing around...

Anyway, I'll go back later today (with latch blocked and a family member next to me) to inspect the inside of the trunk again just to see if there would have been any escape. I realize this is an older model vehicle, so this thread probably has a very limited audience. But if I discover anything especially helpful, I'll post it here.

 

Jaguar installed the 'glow-in-the-dark' release handles sometime in the early 2000s.
You could find a salvage 2002 or later to get the parts necessary for the handle install.

You could just put a small braided wire or cord with a loop to the latch and cut a slot in the lid liner.

bob gauff

 

Allan,

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience. Glad you're ok and just chock it up as a life lesson learning experience. There are some days that I feel like this when working on these cars, especially XJS V12's! Albeit, I'm the one laying on the ground and the car is swinging the stick at me!

 

Will do, and thank you...