DIY: Weight reduction/Fix hatch not opening issue
 

Hey guys, this is a DIY on how to get a bit more useless weight out of your car.
It can also be used to help fix 2009 hatch popping issues

There is a weight in the hatch lid to "help close" the hatch for (I'm assuming) petit women in Japan


Tools needed:
Pry tool
10mm Socket wrench

Thanks to Sh0velMan for telling me where this weight is located! :tiphat:

Step one: Remove the screws that hold the cargo hover to the hatch by lifting the cover:
Attachment 57242

Revealing:
Attachment 57243

Step two: Remove the 10mm screw

Step three: Repeat on other side

Step four: Use panel tool to pry around the hatch cover closest to you:

Attachment 57225

There are 8, equally spaced, orange clips holding the closest edge on:

Attachment 57224

Step five: Jam your hand in, you'll see some white clips holding the back in, (you can see two in the picture), (DO NOT PRESS TOO HARD or yank down yet)

Attachment 57221

Step six: Put your other hand on the glass side of the panel and pull down. you will need to jam and pull down on both sides of the hatch lock.
There are 5 (five) tabs

Attachment 57245

Your panel will be off now and should look like:
Attachment 57217

Step seven: Remove the 4 (four) 10mm screws holding this box on the hatch:

Attachment 57218


Once off, it looks like this:
Attachment 57216
Attachment 57215
Attachment 57220

Step eight: Admire this stupid weight :shakes head: and put the panel back on the car.

Step nine: Give rep and thanks:tup: Drink a beer of your choice and think of how much faster you'll go from 0-60 :rofl2:

Awesome write up! I was not aware there is a weight in the hatchback. This should be made a sticky for easy access for others.

Great work DEpointfive0! and repped...now i'll go have that beer

Thanks! If it needs any other instructions or is missing anything give me a heads up!
I like my DIY's moron proof/picture heavy. (Which reminds me that I have to rotate some of the pics)

So how much does the weight weigh? It seems crazy they spent all the extra money on an aluminum hatch just to add a weight back on.

ya, i'm the same way...lots and lots of pics with a write up and my review or opinion of said mod...

have you weighed the weight? I'm curious as to how heavy it actually is.

I can't find my damn scale, over a pound for sure... I've had it off for quite some time and it doesn't really make closing the hatch noticeably harder, but then again I'm not the smallest of guys...

The weight is there so the hatch does not fly off at speeds of 90mph plus. Too much work for an issue that is fixable under warranty via TSB.

I bet the loss of weight is good for at least 10 more hp.

Btw...good write up to the OP.:tiphat:

LOL!!! I've gone well past 100MPH without the weight there.
And for sure going to the dealer is easier, but this is a nice two for one. Useless weight

If you have the panel tool you can take the weight out in maybe 5 min. If I were to use a credit card instead of panel tool maybe a tid bit longer

Thanks, this is my first write after looking at tens of other DIYs... First one being to change the start button, and I didn't understand it for the life of me... A local cycy89 showed me pics of his install and told me to look at his DIY with a lot of pictures and it made it infinitely better



Edit: this was my 1000th post! Lol

there are a lot of DIYers on here that would greatly appreciate this write up...trust me if I still had my z I would have been in the garage tearing it apart with some cold beers as soon as I seen this write up lol

Lol, I'm glad

I didn't even intend to do this DIY (because of school) until a member contacted me though another thread, so I went through the uninstall process again and walked him through it with pics, so throwing it up on the forum wasn't too much extra work

Unfortunately, I didn't have beer either time I went through this uninstall... :mad:

I was kidding regarding the hatch flying off. :tup:

Wonder why the weight is there in the first place?


Congrats and very good first write up of DIY. That's one more than me. :tiphat:

like metioned it just gives the hatch some weight to close easier.

Lol, I know you were joking

And the only thing I can assume is it was designed for petit women in Japan.

I close my hatch by pulling down on the hatch lock loop thing and it doesn't feel any harder to close the hatch without the weight

^ :tup:

Good comeback ..petit woman :icon18:

Still would like to know Nissan's reasoning behind the extra weight. Will do some inquiring with my resources. :tiphat:

Thanks for that. Its pops up much better now. I was wondering if they put the weight in there for balance! LOL..

Best 5 minute fix in a long time..

Cheers,..

The weight is 2 lb's 7 oz'z!! Crazy !!

Glad I could be of help, and I figure for 5 minutes, it's worth it

WOW... Thanks for getting the exact weight!

ok...I checked with my dealer and the weight is for throw weight on closing the hatch, remember there is hatch shock that has resistance and the weight is to close the hatch with some weight behind. Funny they said "also maybe for petite woman".

So there you have it...it's like a pendulum weight to assist with closing the hatch. If you guys are not noticing any additional force required to close the hatch after removing the weight...that's odd then.

One additional note and VERY IMPORTANT, the part is NOT covered after the 3 yr 36k mile warranty runs out. They have revised the part 5 times, as currently for ALL year models they are on part rev "E". And here is the kicker, they are bending us over big time for this non warranty part for a mere $37.77 per spring. Yup...can you say bend me over !

The bros Z 2009 with 42k and out of warranty was replaced under warranty. They are family with us and I applaud them. So go with the mod mentioned on this thread or the penny mod. But $37.77 per spring is outrageous.

Part # 84415-1EA2E Spring-Lift

Wellllllll... There is "more" resistance with closing the hatch, but I have found that the 2 pounds hinders the popping open more than the actual closing. And since the struts are probably wearing out, it'll seem like a brand new setup :tup:

And to make sure, you're talking about the SPRINGS not being covered past the 3/36k (Although an extended bumper to bumper SHOULD cover it)

And yes $37.77 is a :icon23: (bend over) price, but if a member has an issue with theirs NOT being covered, PM me, and we'll figure something out ;)

Yup springs are not covered after the 3yr/36k warranty runs out and MAY not be covered under the extended warranties. I have both extended warranties and they said under those warranties only mechanical and electrical parts are covered . The springs are not mechanical as in no moving part(s). They submitted the warranty claim to NNA (zero out of pocket for me) and will know when I have to have my 09 rev "b"part number replaced as it's starting to stick intermittantly. I will find out tomorrow as mine is going in for the notorious drivers side window creak.

Great DIY - clear explanation and good pics. Repped.

I am still a bit confused about the removal of the panel. This would probably be obvious if I were performing the procedure, but I'm not quite sure if you stick both arms in there, one on each side, and pop the whole thing off at once or one side at a time. Maybe I'm just being dense - everything else was explained very well.

I've broken way too many clips and other interior panel attachments to feel comfortable doing this myself, so I just sent a link to this thread with a request for estimate to my favorite body shop. I've spent over $20K there in the last year and figure they ought to do it pretty cheap. :)

LOL, thanks for the rep, if you have a panel tool, it's REALLY easy and quite hard to break a clip.
If you want a better walk through, give me a call or shoot me a text (310)893-4207

I appreciate the offer, :tiphat: but when the body shop does it so inexpensively*, why get my fumble fingers into the mix? :)


*for $50 they R&Red all the panels from the seats back so I could install sound damping. I'm guessing they'll want $25-50 (whatever their minimum is) for this job.

If they want $25-50 and you pay, I will cry... I might start slitting my wrists brother...
Get a panel tool and call me, if you break anything, I'll either swap you pieces or buy you a new one, LOL

This is soooo easy to do !

:rofl2:

If this were not interior panels, I would do it in a heartbeat. I pulled my Steering Lock fuse and taking a few pop-rivets out didn't bother me, but, due to past experience, I have a real phobia of messing up interior panels. Heck, I even paid the dealer to install a cabin air filter, which is supposed to be a very simple job, just because I didn't want to risk tearing up the glove box. If I let the body shop do it, I'll save $50 in tranquilizers. :p

How about this: if the body shop wants more than $50 or they don't have time to do it, I will contact you and let you walk me through it. Sound good? I have a panel tool; a metal one, but strategically placed paper/cardboard should prevent scratching the paint.

:shakes head: LOL, dammit... You can do it with a credit card if you want! LOL, or put some scotch tape on the metal panel tool!
But yeah, give me a heads up if you need any help

(I can almost understand the cabin air filter because it's easy to break the tabs, and I KNOW the back plastics are a bitch because I put a small crack in the rearmost lower panel pulling it off when i changed my tail lights, but these clips on the hatch are easy and very robust)

Did this in 15 mins tops yesterday. I love that my back hatch actually opens when I hit the button now. Thank you for this write up. To anyone thinking about doing this. Get a panel tool and follow directions. Its not that hard. Believe me its worth 15mins of your time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Yep it is super easy and the hatch works as good or better than before. With bolts the total is 2lbs 8oz so it is very worth while.

Sweet. I'm glad a lot more people are doing this with positive results!

Nice write up sir! I will be shedding this weight soon. It's prolly good for 8 or more mpg too..

Thumb up!

I searched on my '12 touring and didn't find any weight. :icon14:

Any one notice their hatch rattling after this?
(BOSE subwoofer replaced with 8" Memphis)

nice find, now i can fix my 2011 Z hatch issue(it doesnt pop open)

+rep

Nice find!

Maybe you broke a plastic clip?

I hope it helps brother

Less than a week ago, I had my 2011 hatch stick for the first time ever. I'm going to do this tonight :tup:

Tell me if you have any issues (310)eight nine three-4207