Power tailgate sometimes not opening

[andrewleader]

My power tailgate has sometimes been failing to open… it’ll try to open (moves a centimeter), then fails and moves back and makes another sound and then gives up. I have to help force it open to get it to open. It happens about 25% of the time. I’ve had the truck for a year and 23,000 miles.

Anyone else have this issue?

I have the aftermarket rubber tailgate seal installed, I suspect that might be part of the issue, however I’ve had that seal installed for like 15,000 of the 23,000 miles, so it’s not like it’s correlated with that…

The issues started happening after off roading in the Moab area… I thought it was maybe dust related (they have a lot of fine dust there), but even after getting back to the Pacific Northwest, the issue with opening the tailgate has remained and occurs about 25% of the time.

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[TacoFreak]

I don't have a tailgate seal, but I can verify that the power tailgates are very sensitive to contacting anything when opening or closing. I am guessing that your seal combined with the Moab dust is the problem and that the dealer won't do a thing as long as the seal is there. Good luck.

 

[Datrane01]

I have a tonneau cover that touches the tailgate and it started being a problem after a few months. Now it is 100% of the time that I have to put pressure on the tail gate to help it get started opening unless I have to cover not touching the tailgate. It is really annoying. I really wish I could just manually open and close the tailgate.

 

[Appalachian Taco]

Same issue with bed stiffeners installed. Started happening the more time I spent on trails. I turned off my power tailgate and that seems to help a lot.

 

[Sagebrush]

Anyone else have this issue?

I did. Get a can of aerosol silicone spray lubricant and give the latch inside the tailgate a good squirt.

 

[Datrane01]

Same issue with bed stiffeners installed. Started happening the more time I spent on trails. I turned off my power tailgate and that seems to help a lot.

I turned off the power tailgate but it did not help the initial lock release. Now just means I have to not only work to force the tailgate to unlock, but I have to fight the servos every time.

 

[andrewleader]

Yeah turning off the power tailgate doesn’t help me either, since it’s just the initial unlatch part (which is always power-based unfortunately).

I’ve also got bed stiffeners but those don’t even contact anything (at least with my brand).

I’m gonna pick up the silicone lubricant tomorrow evening and try that… it feels like it’s dust inside the latches that probably cause it. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to pull off all of my rubber tailgate seal.

 

[Datrane01]

Yeah turning off the power tailgate doesn’t help me either, since it’s just the initial unlatch part (which is always power-based unfortunately).

I’ve also got bed stiffeners but those don’t even contact anything (at least with my brand).

I’m gonna pick up the silicone lubricant tomorrow evening and try that… it feels like it’s dust inside the latches that probably cause it. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to pull off all of my rubber tailgate seal.

Let us know how that goes. I'll probably do the same.

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