Auto liftgate troubles

[sheltonfilms]

LTM= is the liftgate module , RKE is remote keyless entry


Ok I got some stuff for you to do (also got you a wiring diagram).

First check fuses. The control unit (Driver side rear quarter panel area) is powered by two fuses F7 (30 Amps) in the under hood fuse box, sounds like you already checked this.

Also there is fuse F9 (10 Amps) and F25 (15 Amps) which are under the dash. You will have to look under and up to see this box.

Here is a link for a better visual (start at 6th picture.)

Here is the wiring diagram.

If you go to last page you will see the wiring for the liftmotor. The motor wires are green/orange and green/white. Polarity gets reverse when direction reverses. NOTE these wire colors are the colors of the wires on the body harness side so you will need to look at the body harness and not the cylinder pigtail.


BTW what is your location? If you are nearby I don't mind lending a hand.

 

[peterk9]

The one thing that has not yet been confirmed is if there is actually power going to the actuator connection. There is power going to the locking mechanism.

Peter

 

[getfished]

Thank you for the support. I just got the call that the shop has the muffler work finished. Going up right now to get the car and will implement your suggestions when I return.

I appreciate it.

 

[getfished]

Ok! I’m very limited in my ability to understand electrical schematics. However, here’s what I did. I unplugged the pigtail that plugs into the lift cylinder. On that harness I located the green/orange & green/white wires. With my meter hooked to one for the up/raise command, when I energize the rear switch I once again hear the latch release but my meter reads no voltage. Same thing with the other wire in the down/close mode when the switch is activated. This assumes I am getting a good ground. So at this point it seems like no power is making it back here to the actuator cylinder.

 

[sheltonfilms]

Ok! I’m very limited in my ability to understand electrical schematics. However, here’s what I did. I unplugged the pigtail that plugs into the lift cylinder. On that harness I located the green/orange & green/white wires. With my meter hooked to one for the up/raise command, when I energize the rear switch I once again hear the latch release but my meter reads no voltage. Same thing with the other wire in the down/close mode when the switch is activated. This assumes I am getting a good ground. So at this point it seems like no power is making it back here to the actuator cylinder.

Where is the connector you talked about earlier that was unplugged? Was it in the rear driver quarter area?

 

[getfished]

Yes. I’m not sure I can post a picture but the connector is 2 wire. Looks like an orange/white & a brown/purple. It comes out of the harness at the very lower left corner of the vehicle and is about 2’ long from the point it exits the harness. I will see if I can get a pic of it but don’t hold your breath.

The 30 amp fuse under the hood is good. The fuse number 9&25 are good “I think”

Reason I say that is yesterday a you man pulled them out and they didn’t appear to be blown but I didn’t have a meter to verify for certain.

I had to dive underneath there 3 times today just to locate that fuse box. What a PITA!

One other thing is while under the dash I noticed a multi wire pigtail that was white plastic that was not connected to anything. Just curious if something under there got unplugged after the wreck.

Where is the connector you talked about earlier that was unplugged? Was it in the rear driver quarter area?

 

[sheltonfilms]

Put both probes in to both wires.

Yes. I’m not sure I can post a picture but the connector is 2 wire. Looks like an orange/white & a brown/purple. It comes out of the harness at the very lower left corner of the vehicle and is about 2’ long from the point it exits the harness. I will see if I can get a pic of it but don’t hold your breath.

The 30 amp fuse under the hood is good. The fuse number 9&25 are good “I think”

Reason I say that is yesterday a you man pulled them out and they didn’t appear to be blown but I didn’t have a meter to verify for certain.

I had to dive underneath there 3 times today just to locate that fuse box. What a PITA!

One other thing is while under the dash I noticed a multi wire pigtail that was white plastic that was not connected to anything. Just curious if something under there got unplugged after the wreck.

SHould be 3 connectors that connect to the lift gate control module and I believe one is a small connector. Could be it.

That extra connector under the dash could be for a trailer brake controller. Got a “Tow” button next to the lift gate button on the dash?

 

[getfished]

Yes, that wire is in the rear driver quarter area. It is two wire, orange/white & brown/purple. It exits the wiring harness in the very lower left corner of the vehicle. From there it is about 2’long. I don’t know where it goes. I have a couple pics of it on my phone . Maybe I can get them posted here.

The fusbox in the drivers compartment is a royal pain to access. Do you have to remove something to get to it ?

I had a young guy pull those interior fuses yesterday and they didn’t appear blown. We swapped out a couple other fuses and the liftgate still didn’t work.

 

[peterk9]

On my 2011 there was no part of the lower dash to remove but in later model years there was a plastic piece along the lower dash that had to be removed.

Peter

 

[getfished]

.yes I do have a “Tow” button.

 

[getfished]

If the liftgate control module is located inside the back corner right behind the heating/AC unit then yes, that black box has 3 connectors. They are all plugged in. Looks like the small one operates a small fan.

So I still have to figure out where this other connector plugs in. Will try to post a pic of the connector.

 

[getfished]

Here’s a couple pics to give you an idea how long the wire is and what the connection looks like

I have the wire laid across the back seats to give an idea of how long it is.

 

[expoman55]

LTM= is the liftgate module , RKE is remote keyless entry


Ok I got some stuff for you to do (also got you a wiring diagram).

First check fuses. The control unit (Driver side rear quarter panel area) is powered by two fuses F7 (30 Amps) in the under hood fuse box, sounds like you already checked this.

Also there is fuse F9 (10 Amps) and F25 (15 Amps) which are under the dash. You will have to look under and up to see this box.

Here is a link for a better visual (start at 6th picture.)

Here is the wiring diagram.

If you go to last page you will see the wiring for the liftmotor. The motor wires are green/orange and green/white. Polarity gets reverse when direction reverses. NOTE these wire colors are the colors of the wires on the body harness side so you will need to look at the body harness and not the cylinder pigtail.


BTW what is your location? If you are nearby I don't mind lending a hand.

I just wanted to say I think that is terrific of SheltonFilms to be willing to help out.. that is pretty awesome..

 

[getfished]

I figured out where this mystery wire connection goes. It plugs into the trim molding that goes along the inside of the rear of the vehicle. It fits over the latch bar. The plug in is on the inside below the sthe latch bar. I don't know if it is something to do with an impact sensor or if it has something to do with the liftgat/latch or something else.

Anyway I plugged it in and then went through the reset procedure but to no avail. Liftgate still does not work automatic.

 

[sheltonfilms]

Ok here's a thought. Does the latch make a noise when you try to actuate the liftgate close or just when trying to open it?

My thought process is if the switch inside the latch is stuck/gummed up, then it maybe telling the module that it's closed the whole time. When it releases the latch hook it should indicate to the control unit that the door is good to go and time to start moving it with the motor but if the latch switch is bad and telling the computer it is still latched it won't work.

Same goes for when it's open. Could think it's closed and doing the same thing.

This could set an error code in the LTM but would only be viewable by a dealer tool or Forscan (have you heard of Forscan?, free program just need a OBD2 bluetooth adapter)

 

[peterk9]

Yes, he has mentioned the latch works. That is why I'm guessing that there is no power to the actuator/motor.

Peter

 

[getfished]

Yes the latch opens when pressing any of the controls. When manually closing if you push it down gently it latches once and then after that it pulls the gate in a bit further and automatically latches the second time for a complete latch/close. When the liftgate is raised up if you push the control button you can hear the latch make a mild humm for about 1-2 seconds and at that same instant you can see the little gear/wheels turning in the latch mechanism but you can't see/hear/ or feel anything from the lift actuator.

I think for some reason it isn't getting power to the lift cylinder actuator. Could that black box that is in the left rear corner mounted behind the rear of the AC unit have failed in some way ? That is where the car was wrecked. None of those components in that area were damaged by a visual observation but since it's an electrical component I just wonder if maybe it got damaged.

Just doesn't seem like any power is being sent to the lift cylinder.

Haven't heard of Forscan but looks like maybe I need the diagnosis so I know what is going on.

I appreciate the help guys.

 

[getfished]

Ok, I did a quick google search for the OBD2 Bluetooth adapter. If I had the right results pulled up it looks like there are a wide variety of them available from $10 and up. My mobile phone is an I phone and my laptop is a PC. Any suggestions on a particular OBD2 Bluetooth adapter that would work for me ? I also have an 07 F150 and an 07 Lincoln Town Car is that matters.

If I can acquire one of these and use a free program to diagnose I'm ready to do it. Much rather fix my vehicles when it's something I am able to do.

 

[sheltonfilms]

Yes, he has mentioned the latch works. That is why I'm guessing that there is no power to the actuator/motor.

Peter

I think you are misunderstanding what I mean by switch. I mean one of the feedback switches that determine latch position. There are like 3 of them in there.

When the liftgate is raised up if you push the control button you can hear the latch make a mild humm for about 1-2 seconds and at that same instant you can see the little gear/wheels turning in the latch mechanism

This kinda goes with my theory. The latch shouldn't be doing anything with the liftgate already up. If the control unit is reading the latch position correctly (fully unlatched) it's not going to be attempting to move it. What you just said makes me feel like the latch is feeding back incorrect information. It is saying it is latched at all times, even when it physically isn't. So when you hit the button it checks the position first to find out what to do. It sees that the latch is closed, when it isn't and applies power to the latch. Latch is already physically open so nothing really happens but you still hear motor hum. Since the feedback says the latch is still latched, it aborts movement of the actuator.

Ok, I did a quick google search for the OBD2 Bluetooth adapter. If I had the right results pulled up it looks like there are a wide variety of them available from $10 and up. My mobile phone is an I phone and my laptop is a PC. Any suggestions on a particular OBD2 Bluetooth adapter that would work for me ? I also have an 07 F150 and an 07 Lincoln Town Car is that matters.

If I can acquire one of these and use a free program to diagnose I'm ready to do it. Much rather fix my vehicles when it's something I am able to do.

The OBD2 adapters really work best with an Android phone/tablet or PC that has bluetooth. iPhones limit the type of bluetooth profiles that can be used and the OBD2 adapters are one of them. The only way for these to work on an iphone is to get a wifi one, but I've heard numerous problems with them.

I use an iphone but I bought a dedicated cheap android tablet (small one) that I keep in the car just to check if something happens on the road.

When doing diagnosis at my house I use the laptop (windows version of software has more features).

The adapter I use is an OBDlink MX and the reason I like this unit is it has a built in "software switch" that can switch between HS-CAN and MS-CAN. The cheaper adapters can only connect to HS-CAN (liftgate module is on the MS CAN line) but you can modify them by adding a switch to the box (some people find this tricky). I've done this but decided later to go to the MX because of the software switch. If you are reading data from 2 control units and each one is on a different bus (HS or MS) you have to physically switch between each line using the switch. The MX can switch it automatically in milliseconds so it can read real time from both.

 

[getfished]

Thank you for this info. Possibly I might go for the OBDlink MX. I read some info about it and it sounds like a very useful tool. Quite a bit of the terminology I didn't understand but could probably learn to use it to my benefit. Not sure if we have any Android based tablets around here or not but that can be acquired.

I'm considering going to a shop to get the code read and see what comes up. I hate for this issue to drag out another week or two but it probably will. I just sent my paperwork and pics to the state to start the process of converting the title from a salvage to a rebuilt title. That will take a couple weeks at best so I guess in the meantime I will contemplate acquiring the scantool suggested. If I get a small inexpensive Android table to facilitate this will a cheap tablet work OK ? I see a few online for 50 -60 $. Will those be OK?