Guys,

I have a 2001 300m and it appears I have a bad trunk latch but unsure. The interior release will not trip latch, fuse is good.
Also the strange thing is I cannot turn and unlock the latch with the key, the key will not once inserted into lock. I can release the latch by crawling through the trunk to the pull release cord.

Regards, MLR426

That's a good one.

I'd have to pop it out and play with it.

my wife's '94 concorde was like that when we bought it. it came from ny. state, so i'm guessing since you are from ill. [?] you probably have maybe the same issue[s] rusty states come up with. as to the key issue not turning the lock. after i got the trunk open, i removed the cylinder and cable connecting the cylinder to the latch. i then filled a coffee can with wd-40 and let the assembly soak for about a week. then, after running the key in and out numerous times, i was able to free up that part of the setup and was able to make the key/cylinder/cable assembly turn with the action of the key. my guess on this part was the previous owner only used the remote, so nothing was moving in this part and it ceased to function. while i was letting this soak, i looked at the latch assembly bolted to the trunk lid. the first thing i discovered was the latch retainer loop was slightly bent, causing the trunk lid to be forced slightly sideways. i adjusted this, but the latch still wasn't right. i then took the latch assembly off and discovered quite a few parts are plastic and there was dried grease, crud and grit all through the mechanism. it took some doing, but i finally got all the crap out of the latch, then made sure there were no broken parts. after checking the working action of the latched and open positions, i lubed it with some white lithium grease. put everything back together and it has been working great for 16 years now. i clean and re-lube every so often, and the only time i have had trouble was when the grocery boy slammed the lid shut after putting the purchases in the trunk. i had to re-adjust the latch catch, and it was back to the way i like it. "click,click" with very light pressure. i HATE slamming doors, hood, and trunk lids ! hope this gives you something to look into in fixing your latch.

FWIW, if you have electric release (I don't know if LH cars came with cable release) is that the electrical harness loses continuity because the copper stresses and breaks after repeated bending. Can you hear the solenoid activating with the interior button? On my 2000 LHS, I ended up buying a used decklid with the harness from a Concorde cheap. I later learned that that the two harnesses are slightly different, but my interior release and key fob still opened the trunk so all was good. I got the harness number off the old cable and bought a NOS harness from the dealer, it wasn't too bad price wise, so I'll have one if it happens again. It was a pretty straight forward job to change. Hardest part is taking the noise padding off the bottom of the decklid. Hope this helps.

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

if the lock solenoid isn't working, the first place i would look at would be the connection. if you unlatch the connection, it will be a simple task to see if you get any action [continuity, 12v, ground] at the connection. if so, next, i would jumper the release motor to a proper power source to determine if the solenoid/motor was operational. then, look to see what is causing the key mechanism to not work. that could be as simple as having the deck lid replaced because of a minor bender and not having the original key cylinder re-installed. i have seen that happen more than you can imagine. the thinking being if the fob works the release, it's good to go. not saying you will find that to be the case, just reporting what i have found [more than once] over the years. please let us know what you eventually find.