NG_Lupo

Success - the wire connecting the central locking system up to the lock was obviously loose. Unplugged it then plugged it back in and it now seems to be fine. Not sure for how long, but at least I know it is not fundamentally broken! Still can't get lock barrel to free up though.

Thanks for that - I'll take a look.

I have a simple but annoying problem with the tailgate lock on my Lupo (2001 1.4 TDI Sport). It is stuck in the locked position. The lock barrel seized years ago (thanks to a cracked rear washer motor which leaked all over the lock and which the previous owner failed to fix). But the boot would lock and unlock for a while on central locking only. Then it became an intermittent problem where it would get stuck either locked or unlocked. For a while I could fix this by repeatedly pressing the internal central locking buttons until it freed itself. But now it seems to be locked completely. I had a garage look at it when the problem was still intermittent and they claimed the central locking was fine (not sure if they actually checked or just did what I did and pressed the buttons a lot). But they also were unable to free the lock barrel - they tried penetrating oil and so have I but without taking the internal panel off. Is it worth me trying to take the internal panel off the boot and trying to spray penetrating oil directly into the lock? If so, how do you take the panel off? If that fails, how easy is it to buy a new lock barrel and replace the faulty one?