I was trying to silence the rattles from the trunk area recently and found some sort of linkage had come loose and was laying inside the tailgate. From looking at other cars, it looks like the linkage that exits the bottom of the door, makes a 90 deg bend and extends about 1/2 an inch. The tailgate still lock/unlocks and opens fine from the outside. It looks like the screws just rattled out, nothing seems broken. Does anyone know what it does, or where to reinstall it? Thnaks for any input.
-Jon 83' 245DL

One of my 245s sometimes used to rattle inside the t-gate, and it turned out to be the linkage from the lock to the latch.

The thing you described sounds like the lever or "switch" to engage or disengage the child-proof latch. In one orientation, the tailgate can be opened using the inside handle. In the other position, the inside handle is disabled.
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Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)