2006 honda civic trunk lock switch
 

The trunk on my civic will not close anymore. I noticed that the tension spring in the switch/latch assembly was disconnected so I removed the cover and put the spring back on. With the spring back on the lock responds to the key or trunk lever by switching open. However, when I try to close the trunk it does not engage the switch when making contact with the striker. I moved the u-bar striking up as much as I could get it and it is still not making enough contact to engage the latch. When I push up on the latch with a pencil it does engage on the pencil.

Anyone ever ran into this and find a solution? Does the whole switch need to be pulled out and replaced?