Rear hatch glass will not pop open

[Mike65]

My wife & I bought a 99 Explorer Sport a couple weeks ago & I have started to do some maintenance & repairs to it before my wife starts driving it as her DD. I went to open the rear hatch glass (making sure it was unlocked first) I pressed the button & had to pull real hard on the glass for it to open. IIRC on the last 99 Sport we had when you press the button the glass is supposed to pop open. I need some assistance on how to adjust the latch for the glass to make it easier to open the glass. I did a search here first & did not find an answer, so I figured someone else with a Sport can help me out. I pulled the rear hatch trim panel off but could not find any clear way to make an adjustment to make the rear glass easier to open.
TIA, Mike.

 

[rkh58]

Had a similar problem on my nephews '01 Sport. Latch and upper hinges were a little rusty and very dry (lack of use?). After some cleaning up, some WD-40 and working open/close a few times it worked as it should.

 

[Mike65]

Anyone have a exploded view of the inside of the rear hatch, or what to adjust to make it easier to open?. I did a search & all I could find were questions of hatch glass hard to close, my problem is I have to pull very hard to open the glass while pushing in the button.

 

[Mesozoic]

I have the same problem, hatch won't open anymore. I believe it started occurring after I went offroad (dirt roads) for a while. No idea how to fix it yet.

 

[J_C]

Spray it good with PB Blaster, work the mechanism back and forth a bit, wait a few minutes, then spray it with grease and work that in, opening and closing the hatch repeatedly while the spray grease is still thin, before propellant or solvent evaporation.

 

[Mesozoic]

Sorry, I wasn't specific enough... it's the hatch glass that won't open, the lift gate itself is fine.

 

[J_C]

I meant the glass. Unless there's a loose fastener, it's probably about rust or lack of lubrication. However, I dismiss the idea that it's important to open the glass separate and would rather it didn't. I don't mean to trivialize the feature but unless I had a dog that I kept in there and wanted to limit its freedom while still giving it air, I would have no other use for it.

 

[Mesozoic]

I have a bike rack 3 mountain bikes deep jutting out from the rear bumper. The liftgate cannot be opened while the bikes are in place. The glass would be ideal.

 

[gatzdon]

Going off memory here, but when I last had the problem, it was a combination of three things.

1. Original source of the problem was dried up lubricant and parts starting to rust. I removed the interior trim piece on the door and sprayed/lubricated every moving part inside.

2. The parts that move are long, have poor leverage, and result in great force being exerted. Usually you want great leverage for great force, not poor leverage. As a result, I could see where two of the 'bars' were bending slightly rather than transferring the full movement to release the latches.

3. The 'bars' are interconnected with plastic pieces. A couple of mine were cracked and I had to go to the junkyard and grab a couple of them from a junked vehicle. The cracked pieces would give instead of moving the 'bars' the full distance.

You need to open her up and look in there with a flashlight while someone tries to open the door/glass. While an exploded diagram might help, it was too busy for me to make heads/tails out of it. Looking inside the door itself gave me the clearest picture and I quickly saw where the problem points were (helps that they were broken )

 

[Mike65]

I got our rear glass opening now, I ended up pulling the rear hatch interior trim panel & adjusting the rods from the release button to the latch for the glass.

 

[Mesozoic]

Sounds like what I need to do.

 

[jfrracing1]

has anyone had a problem with the push button housing on the inside of the gate broke ? i tried to epoxy it back together but due to constant spring preasure on from the return spring inside it won't hold. need to replace the push button part. 01 sport

 

[angstrom08]

has anyone had a problem with the push button housing on the inside of the gate broke ? i tried to epoxy it back together but due to constant spring preasure on from the return spring inside it won't hold. need to replace the push button part. 01 sport

I have the same problem and, worse, haven't been able to find the exact part number. I'm afraid I'll be scouring craigslist and junk yards to find a replacement. '01 2wd xls.

oh, and my rear wiper motor bracket is, literally, cracked on one of the three legs.. so I want to replace that as well, but finding a used one without worn out rubber spacers is difficult.

 

[Big Z]

has anyone had a problem with the push button housing on the inside of the gate broke ? i tried to epoxy it back together but due to constant spring preasure on from the return spring inside it won't hold. need to replace the push button part. 01 sport

My button on my '01 sport had a big crack in it & wouldn't work right. After taking it out, I used a couple big sockets on each end of it and a large C-clamp to hold it together. I actually didn't have luck with epoxy either (I tried using quick-set stuff..must've gotten an old package of it--it wouldn't cure). However, melting it together with a soldering iron & a little extra filler plastic I cut from a milk jug worked great. A bit of lube on re-assembly and it's smoother than new. Unfortunately I messed something else up in the process & now "lock" makes the button unlock & vice versa

 

[jfrracing1]

I have the same problem and, worse, haven't been able to find the exact part number. I'm afraid I'll be scouring craigslist and junk yards to find a replacement. '01 2wd xls.

oh, and my rear wiper motor bracket is, literally, cracked on one of the three legs.. so I want to replace that as well, but finding a used one without worn out rubber spacers is difficult.

it almost sounds like we are talking about the same truck...lol i guess i'll be doing the samething. i have some u pull it yards near me. im gonna try melting it back together and see if i have the same luck u had.

 

[Tedybear]

The part can be removed (It is a tight fit....) 10mm and the nuts are at the top and bottom. It's a plastic assembly with a meta insert for the lock cylinder. I just changed ours out yesterday. I found the replacement at the pick and pull yard. Under $10 bucks. Nice thing about pulling parts off a junker: You can learn how to remove it without worry about breaking YOUR parts.

The plastic snaps and when you press the button down, all you get is flexing and no torque to operate the glass opener---Or in my case: The crack was binding up the lock bar and it would take 5-8 hits with the keyfob for the release to function. Our rear gate came off a newer Explorer and I had to learn the 98's design when installing onto a '95. Very different, but doable.

Hint: Remove the wiper motor/bracket for better access.

S-

 

[jfrracing1]

The part can be removed (It is a tight fit....) 10mm and the nuts are at the top and bottom. It's a plastic assembly with a meta insert for the lock cylinder. I just changed ours out yesterday. I found the replacement at the pick and pull yard. Under $10 bucks. Nice thing about pulling parts off a junker: You can learn how to remove it without worry about breaking YOUR parts.

The plastic snaps and when you press the button down, all you get is flexing and no torque to operate the glass opener---Or in my case: The crack was binding up the lock bar and it would take 5-8 hits with the keyfob for the release to function. Our rear gate came off a newer Explorer and I had to learn the 98's design when installing onto a '95. Very different, but doable.

Hint: Remove the wiper motor/bracket for better access.

S-

i already had it apart and epoxyed it back together where it broke and it didn't hold so im gonna try what big z did. the closest junk yard to me is about 1 1/2 away.

 

[Tedybear]

No worries here. But they do make a repair kit on eBay. Runs about $60 bucks. "Patching" can also work. But I can't stand smelling burnt plastic.

S-

 

[jfrracing1]

My button on my '01 sport had a big crack in it & wouldn't work right. After taking it out, I used a couple big sockets on each end of it and a large C-clamp to hold it together. I actually didn't have luck with epoxy either (I tried using quick-set stuff..must've gotten an old package of it--it wouldn't cure). However, melting it together with a soldering iron & a little extra filler plastic I cut from a milk jug worked great. A bit of lube on re-assembly and it's smoother than new. Unfortunately I messed something else up in the process & now "lock" makes the button unlock & vice versa

Hi, u explained how u fixed ur rear hatch glass broken button and i wanted to let u know i did the same thing and it worked perfect. i took it one step further and i bent up a piece of flat metal to put over it and mounts under the same mounting nuts so that way if it broke loose the metal bracket would still hold it together. i figured that way i'll never have to worry about it again. the best free fix. i just wanted to thanku for ur help.