I had a deck lid that would close when I pushed the button, but the soft-close motor did not engage and pull the lid till it latched. Instead, when the lid got to the closed position it then reversed itself and returned to the open posotion.

I adjusted the bar in the trunk sill that the latch strikes and holds to a more elevated position. That adjustment allowed the lid to stay closed when the motor closed it. However, the striker being higher meant that the lid no longer fit flush with the body.

So, after looking to see how the lid is adjusted as to position it seemed to me that the key lay in the three bolts that hold the passenger side hinge to the quarter pannel. I loosened the bolts and adjusted the deck lid so that it fits flush with the quarter pannel even with the slightly raised striker position that allows the lid to close via the auto close button. Also ther is an adjustable pad at the back of the hinge...I dont know exactly how it comes into play, but I dialed it all the way down incase it would keep the hinge from getting to its lowest possible position.

The soft close function still does not engage to pull the lid snug...the lid simply closes in one motion, the same as it does by hand. I'm just happy to have the auto-close feature available once again, and I see no need to get the soft-close functioning. I hope this might be an answer for others of you who have the same symptoms i had.

 

I was not aware there was a soft close function for the trunk. It just brings it down to the point that the shocks don't support then the trunk lid drops shut. I have an 05 and that's how they work, but I had to adjust mine the same as you for the same problem.

 

Mines an 04 and has the soft close too.

 

Interestingly enough I've got a 07 S8 and no soft close either... Wonder if it's possible to retrofit it somehow... shouldn't be that hard to do...

 

Not sure exactly what it's doing but my 05 does this:
- starts to close and gets very near closed
- engages as though it was by hand, but not hard
- get's sucked down a little more by the motor

My guess is it disengages the motor at the last second to let the lid "slam" shut, then snugs it up.

 

I have soft close on my rear deck lid. It operates similar to jakematic's description.

 

Does anyone know if that was a seperate option or maybe mine isnt working correctly.

 

I beleive the 'softclose' function is actually the latch being fully engaged - it suggests to me that your lid is not fully latching even when you close it fully manually.

The softclose motor operates on mine even when closed manually.

 

Yep - that's what mine does too.

 

If your lid is "falling" into place at some point in travel, the gas shocks are most likely approaching the end of their life. My lid is controlled until it's resting about 1/2" above the fender line and then it's pulled in the rest of the way by the latch.