k12 boot won't open/activate. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help.

I rear boot switch won't activate so I can't open the boot. Looking online, I reckon it may be that the wiring bridging from the boot door to the bodywork has finally failed, but of course I can't get to it to fix it because the boot is closed. The read wiper has been working intermittently for a while and the car is around 2004, so it would not be unusual for this to be the problem.

There is no manual release for the boot and so I figured that I would cut the wires going to the rear lock and activate it with a 12v battery, but I'm not sure which wires do what. Has anyone got any suggestions? I have included a couple of photos.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/sC2cQ0hkGNIWWht03

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RvzhpH3h7t3SaScr1
 

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John_D

Club Member
Radio Code Guru
There is a boot release on the lock mechanism. In your first close up picture you can see a black plastic cover plate at the top of the lock. This unclips and the release is underneath it on the left hand side (a white nylon button sitting in a curved hole, which you just slide to one side to release the lock.
I had a similar problem as you and traced it eventually to a broken wire in the rubber trunking between the car body and the boot lid. I exposed it by carefully disengaging the trunking from the car body hole (do NOT cut the rubber trunking!) and easing it back towards the boot lid, exposing the wires inside. At this point I had to carefully cut the wrapping around the wires, which revealed the broken wire, fortunately only one in the bundle. I stripped a few mm's each side of the broken wire, slipped a short length of heat shrink tubing over one side, soldered the two wire together, then slid the heat shrink back over the joint and used a heat gun to shrink it. I then rewrapped the wire bundle of wires with pvc insulation tape, pulled the rubber trunking back over the repaired loom and refitted it back to the car body hole, result one repair with no sign of any damage.
 
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