How do I lubricate hatch 'hinges'?

Replace

 

+1, replace the struts with OEM or aftermarket. Easy to do, especially if you have someone to hold the hatch for you.

The struts are pressurized with nitrogen gas, and they lose pressure over time. That's why you are finding it more difficult to open the hatch, because the struts aren't giving you the same "assist" that they are supposed to.

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Now if you mean the actual hinges, spray some WD 40 or Liquid Wrench to clean the hinge fulcrum point. Work the lift gate up and down a few times and reapply. Really clean them, break up any rust or debris.

Then add a few drops of motor oil to the hinge.

Now the shafts of the struts should be clean and shiny; additional shaft lubing (oh my LOL) will do no good.

The only place to lube a trunk strut would be the attaching points.
I do not believe this is the issue the OP has.

The struts have lost gas pressure or are bent, my belief of the issue, so replace.

Aftermarket struts could have a 50% price discount over OEM, replacement is based on strut length.
Very easy to install at home, noting do one at a time.

Both hinge cleaning/ lubing and strut replacement would be 100% repair and hopefully the correct answer to the OP complaint.

PS Lube the truck latch mechanism (WD40 & motor oil) and weather-strip (di-electric grease) while you are "at it"

Good luck.

 

Why would you use this on a weather strip?
Silicone spray or "Reseal" for weather stripping.

OP: You could spray the metal shaft with silicone to help, and also the plastic and metal
joints where the strut connects to the lid and body of the car. But it's temporary.
It's just time to replace them.
You can try an auto parts store, ebay, or amazon for them Average price is $25 a pair.

 

Plain oil tends to thicken up when it ages and the problem might get worse.

A much better product is a silicone "dry" lube.
They also have good solvents and often work best when the first application is blown out with compressed air while still wet and then reapplying.

One should never rely on original formula WD40 as a lubricant.

 

Door and hood and hatch hinges. PB BLASTER CSP SPRAY.

No smell heavier viscosity grease stays where you spray it.

Hatch struts have failed replace them.

 

I use a spray can of garage door roller lube I happen to have. It's odorless, goes on quite liquid, then gels. Use it VERY sparingly/surgically, and very infrequently, maybe a couple of times over 11 years.

Silicon dielectric grease in a tube would be very similar to spray, maybe easier to control, no overspray, and a tube lasts a long time. Used sparingly I think it'd work out the same.

 

diELECTRIC.......
Is used on electrical connections to protect the connection from moisture....

BUTTTTT...........anyone can use anything they want to do anything......

And remember....
RESULTS MAY VARY...

 

Here we go...

 

The rear hatch is much heavier than you may think it is.
Sorta like Garage doors.....and even if you live where there is only one season a year, after 10 years the lift struts will start to wear out.

Everybody has their own lube solutions (I prefer silicone spray - about $4 a can at Wally.)
I've used WD40 in a pinch but I'm thinking that silicone will be better for the inside of the strut. Lithium grease is also OK but as stated above if you ever use this stuff, it's not "spray and pray."
I'd spray a small amount on a cloth and wipe down the rod (which SHOULD be the smooth and/or shiny part) and work the hatch up and down.

Ultimately you're going to be replacing these pretty soon.
It's not hard to DIY and they're about $20-30 at Amazon.
They pop on and off by using a small screwdriver to GENTLY back out a locking collar.
REMEMBER the part about the hatch being heavy!

Sometimes if you get them at a place like AutoZone they will replace them for you.

Good Luck!

BE DIFFERENT
Let us know how it comes out.

 

Here's an old thread: https://priuschat.com/index.php?posts/1534279

Like the OP in the link above, I replaced my failed struts with shorter than OEM ones to prevent the high opening hatch from hitting low ceilings and objects in garages (beams, pipes, conduit, etc) and getting scratches on the spoiler of the Gen 3.

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Indeed.
And it is YOUR fault for making a wild recommendation for something that is mostly inappropriate.
Anything designed to be a dielectric grease is NOT designed as a lubricant.
It is designed to be sticky and thick to stay where you put it.

 

To be fair.....the thread title says hinges, while the op described the lift assist struts.
Those are two different things, and many people use white lithium grease on hinges.
I don't....because the highly trained and magnificently managed technicians in our fleet garage spray the stuff all over the door jams.......but....grease is grease and I don't judge......

I don't personally use it on struts either, but if it was the only thing in my garage, and I couldn't get to a store, and Amazon went out of business, and civility suddenly broke out all over the internet......It would not be improper to apply this product to lift assist strut rods....if you know how to do it.
Lithium GREASE is INDEED designed to be used as a dielectric (I've used it extensively in both careers) HOWEVER.....(comma!) history teaches us that SOMETIMES....commercial products (like internet posts) can be used a little out of context.

Two examples:
A certain human hygiene product can (and HAS!) been used to stop bleeding in penetrating trauma wounds.
They also used to be good for applying shoe polish back when people did such as that.

A little known drug called Sildenafil, was originally conceived as a treatment for hypertension, angina, and other symptoms of heart disease. But Phase I clinical trials revealed that (UNLIKE White Lithium grease!) the drug wasn’t great at treating what it was supposed to treat.
HOWEVER (comma!) male test subjects were experiencing a rather unexpected side effect and the product is currently being thusly used.

...er.....I'm told.

 

For the record I just seconded the "wild" recommendation. It works for me, and easier to control than a spray can.

Another example: filters on the front of camera lens: a good lube for the threads, run a finger down the side of your nose, pick up a little skin oil. Just the ticket.

There's a caution with Sildenafil, to not consume grapefruit juice at same time. FWIW, the reason being it increases it's efficacy, improves absorption. But somewhat unpredictably. Something like that. Completely off-topic...

 

My tube of dielectric grease that I've had just about forever is "Motorcraft WA-10 SILICONE BRAKE CALIPER GREASE AND DIELECTRIC COMPOUND D7AZ-19A331-A".



Specified in Ford repair manuals both for use with their brake calipers and under their spark plug boots. I've also been using it for years for just about any random project where I'm wanting to make some miscellaneous rubber or plastic part slippery. It works great. (I do, however, use Toyota's specified rubber grease, which is a non-silicone formulation, when I'm wanting to make the rubber in Toyota brakes slippery.)

 

My next dose will be my first....BUT.
I will file that away JIC I ever want to......er......ah......lower my blood pressure......

 

Not being onsite to see for myself why the hatch is hard to open, i'd suspect the the hydraulics of the struts have discharged somewhat. Not really sure if the hydraulics can be recharge effectively in the struts.
To save money lube the struts and lube the hinges.
To save energy while opening the hatch, replace the struts or look for a youtube for how to recharge them, if there is one?

now to continue with the offtopic discussion lol
to lower er blood pressure with sildenafil the durgs.com page says the brand you are looking for is "Revatio"

I prefer other ways of lowering pressure, like a good laugh or even laughing my buttock off and rolling on the floor. opps. possible mixing of streams. looks like the rolling on the floor might be good with either brand of sildenafil. MMV

 

I’m not sure there’s any way lube the struts, the main functional part. IIRC you’re NOT supposed to put any sort of lube on the small diameter stainless steel rods that run into the shocks? Think I read that somewhere; just keep them clean? I have put a surgical zap of my garage door roller lube on the ball joints at each end.

The performance of ours fell off after 3~4 years of light use, then sorta stayed stable. They still function, just a little slow, and sometimes need a bit of a boost to get the hatch full raised. I’m ok with that, until if-and-when they deteriorate further.

 

The struts cannot be "recharged/repressurized".

The strut shafts should not be "lubed", as anything applied might deteriorate the seals, causing pressure loss.

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