Trunk opening very slowly

[mkinsocal]

Lately, I've noticed my trunk opening slowly. Most of the time it opens. Today it stopped after it went up about 12 inches. Nothing was restricting it to make it stop. I could manually open it the remainder of the way. When I pushed the button on the trunk to close it, it closed automatically, but maybe slower than normal. I've never really paid attention to how fast it goes up and down, but all of us agree it's not as fast as it has been.

anyone else with similar issues or solutions? I was surprised to not find much on the forums. Is this powered by the 12V? The car is 60K miles and 4 years old, so I was thinking maybe the battery is getting near replacement time and it's sluggish because of that. But I have not had any warnings about the 12V. I would much rather it be that though than whatever motor(s) power this lift mechanism.

As usual, thanks in advance for your wisdom!

 

[red97tj]

The power strut is using the 12v system. If I have to guess, I would say the power strut is wearing out, not the 12v battery system. Remember the 12v is charged by that big battery pack so unless the 12v is bad, it should be charged.

 

[mkinsocal]

Thanks for the reply! "Power strut" -- glad to know the actual name of the part. I'll probably get better search responses than using "Motor thingy that opens the trunk." I kinda figured it wasn't the 12V since nothing else seems to be acting up, but I wasn't sure if a slow opening could indicate the 12V not holding a sufficient charge to open the trunk.

Of course, ever since posting, it's actually been working. Was a therapeutic post apparently. But since the kids aren't in school / activities anymore, I also haven't been opening it 600 times a day either.

Looks like only the right strut is the power one, so guessing that would be the only one I would have to replace? There's a warning on the part that says it's under tension, but I assume not so much that it'll fly across the garage, or into my eye, when / if I change it. If that's a bad assumption, please someone let me know.