Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

My infamous tailgate struts again I still have no heated rear window following fitting of non genuine struts to my tailgate.I ran a wire from each rr connector(missing out the strut connections)and the hrw works so I replaced the old connectors to the struts and they still didnt work.Iam looking for any ideas how I can get the wiring to work through the struts as original as my only other option apperars to be having these extra wires taped to the sides of the struts(messy).
Any advicve would be great thank you.

You could always run the wire further up so that it goes into the tailgate at the hinge and then tuck it in behind the trim.

I have to replace the tailgate struts on mine at some point and after hearing this I think I'll go to the OPC and see how much they want from me.

Thanks will look at this the weekend,the struts are great otherwise as they seem to be powerfull enough

Mine will stay open if the nose is pointing slightly downhill and you hold the tailgate in place for a few minutes, otherwise it just flops down. My new bonnet struts are great though

I overcame my combined heated rear window, failed wiper motor, worn strut, worn hatch pin, worn hatch latch, perished seal, delaminated glass problems in one fell swoop..... I fitted a polycarbonate rear hatch with panel catches!

I had this - I bought some new struts from ebay and whilst they kept the hatch up the alarm went mad, the rear interior light stayed on permanently and the rear demister didn't work. Swopped back when I realised the problem and all was well.
I'm sure there is a bit on Clarks about this and it outlines the problems I had in the end.
Moral is to buy the right bits sadly! They are handed and the part numbers show which is which.
ETA Sorry didn't really answer the question. I came to the conclusion that it is how the electrical bits are put together not the hydraulics of the struts. I suppose there are far more generic if you ignore the electrical connections.
If you buy other than OEM make sure that they mention the 2 separate part numbers and that you are getting one of each.

I wish I had known this before,you dont think a problem like this would occur with struts.It looks like a bypass job is the only way round it.
Good information that may help others in future though.

Ive been playing this morning and if I wire direct from the terminals(nearest to the body)to the terminals on the screen missing out the tailgate strut connections I have the hrw working fine.
However I then reset my alarm(laserline type)and the alarm sets fine and works okay,except that I have the alarm bleeping 5 times when set(before I did this wiring the alarm bleeped once).
I dont know if this will cause me problems long term or not so any advice would be appreciated before I hang myself

5 bleeps (or more than one) normally signals an error condition. I can't for the life of me think why wiring the HRW properly would do this.
Do you have any instructions for the alarm that would give any idea what 5 bleeps is for?

5 Bleeps on my instruction manual tells me that "the ignition key sensor generated an alarm condition".Ive also tried to trace wiring from the alarm unit to the rear screen and there doesnt appear to be any if this helps?

It's probably not to do with the heated rear window, it will be the boot light I guess. This is also wired via the struts. Is this working correctly with the wiring the way you have it now or is it on all the time unless manually switched off?

I removed the boot light a while ago to accomodate speakers in the boot rear quarters and have never had problems with this

It will still be the boot light trigger. The light isn't there but the switch is trying to activate it - the alarm neither knows nor cares. The switch is now telling the alarm the boot is open however.

I can't see how struts that don't have the electrical connectors can ever be made to perform the electrical functions as the genuine ones doubtless have insulators on the shaft and some sort of brushes inside to complete circuits when the strut is in the closed position. I assume the HRW is turned off when the hatch is open, otherwise it seems strange to involve the strut in the circuit and we know the boot light is switched through it.

Incidentally madrob6, yours are utterly shagged. They are not only supposed to hold the hatch up, but pop it open when you press the button to release it.

I could've told you that

There are terminals on my struts,however when I check feeds either end there is nothing.I think it may be worth fitting the boot light to see what happens and go from there maybe?