Rear hatch stuck

[ColoradoJon]

So.. I had another thread about my rear window glass saga. Now, I think unrelated, my rear hatch door just stopped working. I can hear the solenoid doing something but it won't release or open the door. Anybody ever have this issue?

I see a lot of stuff on third Gen cables going bad but not sure that is even a thing on the 4th gen. This was working fine for a few weeks after the glass incident.

I am curious if anybody has been able to open the hatch from inside? Do I need to get the plastic off, looks like a small trap door by the latch?

 

[5280tunage]

My guess is you can get the plastic panel off, it's just a bunch snap clips. Have you tried some of the obvious things like pressing hard against it as you try to open it? The latch may just need adjustment or possibly something is stuck in it. If you hear the solenoid popping it's gotta just be stuck. In CO have you left it out in the cold for a while? If the metal shrinks enough it might loosen up. This happened to me in a previous vehicle and I used a rubber mallet with some careful and carefully timed pops to get it to open, which I could then lubricate and adjust stuff. Final thought. You could have someone inside pushing on it or even trying to pry it up a little as you try to open it.

 

[JerryT]

Red Hound Auto Compatible with... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A01PC6U?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I had the exact same problem. Tail gate would not open. And the rear window would not open. I crawled back into the truck and removed the interior panel attached to the hatch. It was easy - pop off clips. You can then open the hatch from inside. I Removed the latch mechanism and replaced both cable wires (see Amazon purchase attached). The plastic stopper on each cable disintegrated and would not open the tailgate. I replaced these two cables and problem resolved. Be patient, as I had to fiddle with the cables a bit to get them removed and replaced. Good luck, it’s a DIY.

 

[JerryT]

So.. I had another thread about my rear window glass saga. Now, I think unrelated, my rear hatch door just stopped working. I can hear the solenoid doing something but it won't release or open the door. Anybody ever have this issue?

I see a lot of stuff on third Gen cables going bad but not sure that is even a thing on the 4th gen. This was working fine for a few weeks after the glass incident.

I am curious if anybody has been able to open the hatch from inside? Do I need to get the plastic off, looks like a small trap door by the latch?

See my reply below. Good luck.

 

[khammer]

Attached is the service manual "manual release"

 

[ColoradoJon]

Attached is the service manual "manual release"

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!

 

[khammer]

I am dealing with issues on my rear lift gate. intermittent symptoms will be failure to unlatch when liftgate motor cycles, will unlatch but open only a foot, not cycle from liftgate motor and not unlatch (i.e. no response from outside button, inside button, or fob), failure to latch when shut.

I pulled the following DTCs from forscan;

B1452 : 11 Tailgate/Liftgate/boot/Trunk Latch Release Actuator Circuit Short To Ground
B1453 : 29 Tailgate/Liftgate/Boot/Trunk Latch Position Switch: Signal Invalid

I am pulling the Service Manual diagnostics procedures to see if I can attempt to determine the issue.

 

[khammer]

This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!

Glad to help, I hope the pictures are legible

 

[ColoradoJon]

I am dealing with issues on my rear lift gate. intermittent symptoms will be failure to unlatch when liftgate motor cycles, will unlatch but open only a foot, not cycle from liftgate motor and not unlatch (i.e. no response from outside button, inside button, or fob), failure to latch when shut.

I pulled the following DTCs from forscan;

B1452 : 11 Tailgate/Liftgate/boot/Trunk Latch Release Actuator Circuit Short To Ground
B1453 : 29 Tailgate/Liftgate/Boot/Trunk Latch Position Switch: Signal Invalid

I am pulling the Service Manual diagnostics procedures to see if I can attempt to determine the issue.

This is what I expect with mine. Believing these are all electrical and not cable driven presents more electrical faults with more wires to each switch. I have an appt at the dealer with warranty but not sure this would be covered.

 

[ColoradoJon]

So update on my end... since Khammer said he had some DTC's, I looked to see if I had any with Forscan, couldn't find any related to the tailgate that I could tell. I phoned a friend who has a friend that has access to Ford Access, he was able to remote into my car using my Vin and find that one of my modules is corrupt and will need reprogrammed.

He asked I try a battery reset, so I started wondering if this is battery related. Mine is original and on its last legs for a while. I charged it a few months ago with a de-sulfur-ing charger and felt it was fine but noticed it was charged enough for the ASS to kick in recently and now it is at 11.7 volts. I am going to replace it today and see what that does.

My next step after that is getting it re-programed, there was a couple TSB's related to the rear hatch that found the RTMB to be needing updated. https://www.tsbsearch.com/Ford/SSM49914 It looks like you can do this with Forscan but I could be misinterpreting what is possible here. Not sure if I am ready to take this one on. https://forscan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18751&start=10. My dealer appt isn't till the 9th, I called them and they said they are 5-7 day turnaround... which feels way too long.

 

[khammer]

I just started using the Forscan program so the module update seems intimidating right now. I have the Pinpoint test and diagnostic procedures for the RGTM DTCs from the service manual that I will attempt first before I go down that road.

I have a service appointment 1/16 for a CEL for code P0021 camshaft timing. If I continue to have tailgate issues I may mention it whiles its in and see if they will check the tailgate and flash any software or TSBs.

 

[ColoradoJon]

Welp, bad latch diagnosed and replaced by dealer. It was not covered on warranty. $800 dollar repair. Looks like you can get the latch from the dealer for $150. My repair techs had a hard time removing the plastic with the door latched. They couldn't or didn't use the procedure shown above. I couldn't figure out how to make it work right either before I took it in. Not sure if you have all three places on the latch, release, and where it contacts the striker plate and bar.