Hi guys, I haven't been on here for a while. I've got the '01 put up for the winter, but last fall something went wrong with the trunk latch. The motor would whirr but it wouldn't unlock. The shop got it to unlock but said it needed a new latch. They weren't clean about what part of the latch it needed. Any pointers?

 

My only experience is from adding 'power trunk release' on my 96. There were 2 pieces involved - the latch itself and the power actuator that bolted over it (on the inside obviously) that I added.

You'll probably have to take a closer look at the two pieces to see which one broke. I know you mentioned hearing whirring and they say its the latch itself, but the actuator seems like the much more likely failure point. Do you have a trunk key / does it work?

It looks like the actuator is 16640848 and the latch is 10304039. Edited to fix PN - looks like they switched for 01+, the 00 used the ubiquitous GM part.

 

Trunk key doesn't work, it was frozen when I got it and I was never able to get it to work.
Funny story -- it had been working fine and then I went to the fair to deliver a large painted pumpkin, which was, of course, in the trunk. Trunk went 'whirr, whirr', and nothing happened. So I had to pull everything out of the back seat, fold it down, and crawl through the hole enough to drag the pumpkin out.... which just barely fit. Such a tight fit that it scraped some of the paint off the scene painted on the pumpkin. I didn't have any paint with me, but I did find a permanent black marker in the car that I used to touch up the scrapes. Got a blue ribbon.

But it's a good thing the pumpkin wasn't just a little bit bigger!

 

Hey guys, here's the update!

It was the actuator. 1 A Auto had a video on how to replace it, looked pretty easy -- just needed the new actuator and an 8 mm socket wrench (a small one, it has to fit in quite a small space, if you have on that rachets, all the better). Oh, and a flashlight, so when you crawl through the folded-down section of seat you can see the emergency trunk release. (Of course, if your key works, you can skip that step.) After you pull the release, worm your way back out of the trunk, take off the old actuator, disconnect the wiry bit, and attach the new one the same way. Be sure to reattach the wiry bit. Check with your remote before closing lid. So easy!
I ordered the part from 1 A Auto. They have videos showing these little fixes. (Nice to see the Montes on there.) lI think it was about $87? Also I ordered and installed a new headlight. The reflector piece had fallen out on mine and I couldn't figure how to put it back in.

It was so easy that I feel stupid for not having fixed it sooner!