Guess what? If they are in fact TRUNK openers and not TAILGATE openers then they are not hydraulic, they are spring powered. I guess one of those springs could fatigue to the point that it no longer does it's job but my experience with them has always been either a broken spring or the housing breaks and the whole thing explodes in the trunk, cool huh? There may be a way to install them without the special tool but I do not know of one. The tool is not that tough to make. Simply it is a flat piece of steel that has the ends turned up 90 degrees. Compress the spring in the vice, slip the tool onto it so it holds it compressed, put the whole affair in where it goes in the trunk and then use the trunk lid to compress it further, once it compresses it the tool will fall away and the lift strut will be held captive by the trunk lid mechanism. It is kind of sketchy the first set you do but you'll get over it.


Mark