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Hello

Some of you may have experienced that irritating and somewhat embarrassing sound when you use the remote trunk release button and your trunk makes an Errr..... or buzz or ratcheting sound.

The scope of this thread is to explain the reason why your Ford Mustang trunk will inevitably have this problem and what you can do to fix this on your own. That said, it would be great if others chime in on other ways to fix the problem as I'm sure there are better ways. My fix has worked for roughly 12 of 12 tries but who knows how long it will last.

FYI: If you ever have a window that is slow, see my other tutorial here: https://mustangforums.com/forum/2005...-slow-fix.html

Let's get started.

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Problem: Trunk makes buzz or ratchet sound when opening using the remote trunk release key fab.

Cause: The black plastic lever arm inside the latch mechanism is made of soft plastic which wears away slowly each time the trunk is closed.


Opening up the trunk latch housing:

• Drill baby drill.
• Use a drill and drill bit to drill the silver metal rod end behind the latch (See Photo)

• Use a T15 torx screwdriver to remove the torx bolt.

Pointing out the problem:

• In the photo below, the Torx screwdriver is pointing at the warn piece of soft black plastic that is a lever arm for the latch mechanism.
• You can also see the white plastic spiral / gear has flakes of black plastic caused by ripping away the black plastic piece each time it spins (trunk release button) and when the trunk is closed: black plastic lever arm pushes against white plastic spiral.

The Fix:

• So I decided to print out a new piece of plastic with my 3D printer.
• The rectangle is 10mm by 7mm by 1mm
• The right triangle is 2.5mm high by 3mm by 3mm
• The triangle may vary depending on how much plastic has been sheered off.
• I used an awesome glue called Plastic Surgery that I picked up at my local True Value hardware store.

• After letting the glue dry a bit, I used duct tape; cause who wouldn't?

Putting it back together:

• So the two plates of the housing are weaker when put back together because of the drill happy moment earlier.
• You'll want to use a dremel and create a smooth surface on the metal disc that holds the white gear / spiral in place.
• Next you'll want to drill a hole into the center silver of the silver disk (use a punch to mark the center.
• Drill and then tap (I wish I could remember the size but I can't; guessing I used a #4-40 tap). Vise grip will help hold the thing steady.

• Doesn't hurt to use thread locker if you have it.

• Put the two faces back together ensuring that the black lever arm and white spiral interface with each other correctly.
• Use (I think #4-40) bolts and washers to put the faces together. I also used a wood screw (near the Korea stamp) to add another fastening.
• Put the T15 screw back on as well.
• Reattach to the car.. done.
• Oh make sure you give the glue time to dry.

flash_xx

Wow, what timing. Mine made this sound yesterday for the first time! I have a 3D printer, thanks fo the tip!

On The Internet

If its any consolation I believe this problem is inevitable for any Mustang owner with the 2005 trunk release mechanism. I assume it's the same part / revision up to 2014, but I'll let the owners of those vehicles chime in.

For me the buzz started one day and would repeat on seldom occasions. I suspected that the latch needed more lubrication at first.
https://mustangforums.com/forum/2005...e-problem.html

I couldn't tell, but I also thought it was more likely to occur if the temperature inside the trunk was different than the outside temperature creating a pressure differential. Also thought that maybe the springs that pop up the trunk were getting old and weak.

Eventually it would buzz every time I tried to open the trunk with the remote and realized it was really a grinding sound instead of a motor struggling sound. Took the risk of breaking it open and it paid off.

At any rate, if your trunk just started doing this the corner of the lever arm may still be mostly intact. I used a 0.5mm nozzle on my 3D printer and I would say that a 3x3mm right triangle is a fairly small print area for the 3D printer to print. This size triangle might be too big for the area that has been ground down in your vehicle. You might need to grind the area down, or wait for the buzz sound to be more often, or.. you might need a different solution to add in missing lever arm area. I would say a good glue would work but then it needs to take proper shape and bind to something... Hopefully the community has some ideas.

This might be overemphasis but I would say to prolong the life of the trunk release mechanism you'll want to close your trunk lid slowly as this action has the black lever arm pushing back on the white gear, which may not turn easily because it's connected to a worm gear that requires a lot of force to rotate and may not be sliding down the shaft towards the motor easily.... might be a good idea to put lithium grease on the worm gear shaft... wish I thought about that earlier.

hotrodjohn71

Thank you. This repair worked well.
I used jb weld to make the corner.

artsvettes73

My 07 went out last year.