Okay. So, I've got this '91 300TE wagon (I also have an '87 300TD and an '84 300TD). A month or so ago the rear wiper quit working.

Then last week as I was getting ready to load up for a week-long sojourn the rear hatch stayed locked. To wit, turning the hatch key raises and lowers the inside lock button, the driver side door locks and unlocks as normal raising and lowering the hatch lock button, but all to no avail and after having set for a few days, the battery was dead.

So, I replaced the battery with a new one from AutoZone and it seemed at that time that the driver's side rear door courtesy lights stayed on.

Now, after returning from said sojourn, I have another drained battery. I'll have to jump it to get it started so I can see if I can hear the self-closing mechanism is working.

Is this symptomatic of frayed and shorting out wires in the hatch hinge, or???

Thanks for any guidance and/or feedback.

THIS JUST IN...

Stand down. Mystery solved (partially)

Took another crack at opening the hatch after a battery swap at AutoZone. After a few hard bumps and a couple of foot nudges and a bit of finagling with the lock button, the hatch finally opened!

Word to the wise, don't let anything get stuck in the locking loop area as I found the corner of a tarp had gotten lodged in between the striker and the loop just enough to cause the hatch to remain stuck and also enabled the relay to light all of the courtesy lights in the back, thereby draining the battery.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read my first post. I'll try to come up with better conundrums in the future.

Now on to the rear wiper anomaly.

__________________
Power on...

McG

'84 300TDT - 300K
'87 300TDT - 175K
'91 300TE - 200K
'72 P1800ES - 127K