2015 Expedition EL rear hatch not opening up all the way

First time poster, long time reader. Thanks for all the great stuff you all provide on this forum!

So here's why I'm posting today...I have a 2015 Expedition EL XLT and the automatic rear hatch has stopped opening up all the way. It stops at about the last 6" or so of height and I was wondering if any of you had experienced anything similar and knew of a relatively easy fix. I can still lift it up manually after the automatic opener stops, but I'd rather fix the issue than work around it.

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone!

Calex

I have a 2015 Expediton Limited 4x4 with the power rear hatch.

The two gas charged struts have become weak. The power rod only opens the hatch so far, then the (strong) gas charged struts cause it to open fully.

You must replace the gas struts (in pairs) for it to open fully. Are you in an area where the temperature has dropped? Usually, the struts get weaker when winter sets in.

Good luck. They are very easy to replace, but have a helper to hold the hatch up when you replace each side.

Pretty sure you can adjust where it stops so it does not hit lower garage doors. May have gotten accidentally programmed to stop early.
I don’t have such a fancy feature so I am not sure how you adjust it.

Thanks folks! I'll take a look at the struts. Yes, it did get cold here in Kansas City. Seems a bit odd they'd run out of steam after only a couple of years, but I'll look into it. I'll also do some research on the programming to see if that will change anything. I didn't even realize that was a feature.

Thank you both!! Have a great evening

Calex

Old video from before the Expedition had a power liftgate I believe. But should be a good place to start. Don’t see them neededing to change the programming sequence.

http://blog.eideford.com/2013/05/how-to-set-custom-height-on-ford-power.html?m=1#!

Calexgon said:

Thanks folks! I'll take a look at the struts. Yes, it did get cold here in Kansas City. Seems a bit odd they'd run out of steam after only a couple of years, but I'll look into it. I'll also do some research on the programming to see if that will change anything. I didn't even realize that was a feature.

Thank you both!! Have a great evening

Calex

Click to expand...

The stock struts weaken early on in my experience. Mine have been weak in cold weather since 2015, but honestly they haven't gotten noticeably worse since then so I just left them alone. They're easy to replace and fairly inexpensive if you decide to go that route though.

Calexgon said:

Thanks folks! I'll take a look at the struts. Yes, it did get cold here in Kansas City. Seems a bit odd they'd run out of steam after only a couple of years, but I'll look into it. I'll also do some research on the programming to see if that will change anything. I didn't even realize that was a feature.

Thank you both!! Have a great evening

Calex

Click to expand...

There is no feature on the 2015 Expedition with the power hatch to adjust the opening height. I can not open my hatch if I pull forward into the garage, as the hatch hits the garage door bottom.

GM has a very handy switch for their power hatch models that you can simply turn, which limits the hatch opening to about 3/4 of the way. The feature is on their low-end, base models such as the Equinox.

On the expensive Expeditons, Ford couldn’t figure out how to add this feature.

99WhiteC5Coupe said:

There is no feature on the 2015 Expedition with the power hatch to adjust the opening height. I can not open my hatch if I pull forward into the garage, as the hatch hits the garage door bottom.

GM has a very handy switch for their power hatch models that you can simply turn, which limits the hatch opening to about 3/4 of the way. The feature is on their low-end, base models such as the Equinox.

On the expensive Expeditons, Ford couldn’t figure out how to add this feature.

Click to expand...

Ford owners are generally more intelligent than GM owners, leading to Ford owners having bigger houses, and ergo, larger garages.

99WhiteC5Coupe said:

There is no feature on the 2015 Expedition with the power hatch to adjust the opening height. I can not open my hatch if I pull forward into the garage, as the hatch hits the garage door bottom.

GM has a very handy switch for their power hatch models that you can simply turn, which limits the hatch opening to about 3/4 of the way. The feature is on their low-end, base models such as the Equinox.

On the expensive Expeditons, Ford couldn’t figure out how to add this feature.

Click to expand...

Have you tried the method I posted?
I find it strange they put it on all their other SUVs but not the tallest.