No rust, this car is well maintained and garage kept always and appears new. I'm going to remove the latch and play with it a little. I have squirted kroil in lock to soaked it, but still nothing. You cannot hear the solenoid release the lock nothing there. You can release the lock with the cord in the trunk. With the trunk open I can pull release cord while working the catch hook and it releases every time.

Thanks, MLR426