Honda Accord DIY

Ok so I’ve had a problem for a while that I know some of you other folks have had as well. The situation at hand is that the right/left side of peoples’ trunk appears not to sit as snugly against the frame, making the interior taillight a little higher than the exterior right one.

I have found a remedy to this problem, so both sides of the trunk are at an even closure and flush with the outer taillights.

Tools required:
10mm socket and wrench

Parts required:
None

Time required:
5 minutes at most

Process:
1) Determine which side needs to fit more snug to the frame of the car. Open the trunk.

2) Use the ratchet to loosen the two bolts on the trunk loop pictured:

3) With the bolts loosened, press down on the loop to bring it to its lowest position, and retighten the bolts.

4) Close your trunk. Even with the loop set at the lowest position, the trunk does close, but a little force may be required. If you are okay with slamming your trunk then leave it. If you want a little less force to lock it, then adjust the loop just a little up (to personal preference), which is what I did. I don’t need to slam the trunk now, but it doesn’t close loosely upon letting go of it like it used to. I am okay with this since it fixed my problem. Just tweak around with the height of the loop until your closing preference is met.

5) You may notice that the taillights are still not exactly flush, like the problem was in my case. Now, with the trunk open, gently bend the needed side down (right side for me), while maintaining the open trunk and the opposite side in one position. There is no need to go wild, since you may warp the trunk completely and make another problem. The trunk is springy, so a few forceful bends will make it stay where you want it.

6) When you have done this, you are finished. Your trunk should now be flush. The results for me were as pictured:

7) Upon a suggestion from a fellow member, I decided to check out the rubber knobs which are attached to the trunk and found two adjustable knobs – one on each side of the trunk. I immediately adjusted them to their lowest setting. This hasn’t made a visible difference to the closure of my trunk, but it adjusts the ease with which closure occurs – mine closes upon “dropping” of the trunk freely now, like it did before, and the lights are flush. See below:

Taking some time to figure this out really helped me. I guess taillights being not flush isn’t that big of a deal, but it really bothered me and made my car look funny.