2007 Tahoe Tailgate - Auto Lift Not Working

[ugadawgs311]

Based on that, I would suspect that either the lift bar is disconnected from the motor or something in the lift motor is stripped out. I do not think it is your latch actuator as that should have nothing to do with the liftgate closing. Pull back the rubber around the slot for the lifting bar and you should be able to see where the lifting bar connects to the output of the motor and see if that is connected and if the gears are turning when the liftgate tries to close.

Thanks for the info. I'll try to check that out. Noob question here... where is the lift bar I should look for? I'm guessing I'll need to remove the interior cover on the gate...

 

[wjburken]

Should be able to just pull the rubber gasket back a little and see the motor and if things are turning or not.



Here is a video of a guy working on the liftgate.

 

[ugadawgs311]

Should be able to just pull the rubber gasket back a little and see the motor and if things are turning or not.

View attachment 255329


Here is a video of a guy working on the liftgate.

thanks for the video. I pulled back the rubber piece like you recommended, and I can see the arm trying to move, but it just doesn’t. It seems like the gears aren’t engaged back there...

It definitely seems like it's that gear that you pointed out. I can see the gear try to turn, but it never does, then kind of pops back to its starting position. However, when I manually close the gate, I can see the gear moving perfectly. Grr....

 

[donjetman]

I had this problem last year. Here is a thread I did: https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/remove-liftgate-panel-to-replace-latch-2008-yukon.79001/

 

[MrAguirrechu]

Have you tried replacing the lift struts? Mine did the same thing when the struts died.

 

[ugadawgs311]

Have you tried replacing the lift struts? Mine did the same thing when the struts died.

I don't think it's the struts, because the gate stays open on its own when I manually open it. It seems like it's the metal bar on the driver side (not the strut) that isn't "pushing" the gate up or down. I can hear the motor running, so I don't think it's an electrical issue. I also can here the motor running near the door latch (directly below the handle).

 

[cam3439]

I had this problem last year. Here is a thread I did: https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/remove-liftgate-panel-to-replace-latch-2008-yukon.79001/

I helped my brother diagnose this issue and the symptoms described by the OP were identical to his. If you have a tech 2 or similar scanner, the body codes may point you to the right direction. The codes for my brother’s truck pointed to the latch on the door. The latch has internal sensors, one of which had failed.

We did the relearn procedure after the replacement, and it’s been working since with no issues.

 

[ugadawgs311]

I helped my brother diagnose this issue and the symptoms described by the OP were identical to his. If you have a tech 2 or similar scanner, the body codes may point you to the right direction. The codes for my brother’s truck pointed to the latch on the door. The latch has internal sensors, one of which had failed.

We did the relearn procedure after the replacement, and it’s been working since with no issues.

What did you replace on the latch? The whole unit?

I’ve also noticed that the latch doesn’t seem to move when opening or closing. The little piece that should move when opening, stays put, and when the gate is open, I can manually move the latch myself.

 

[cam3439]

Yeah, we replaced the whole latch assembly within the rear door. It’s called different things, like door lock actuator / liftgate lock actuator/ etc., but it was an assembled unit. The sensor that failed was internal to the unit in the screenshot below, and it looked like some of the sensors were epoxied (helps with longer life) so I wasn’t about to start messing around with trying to find the single sensor.

If the latch turns out to be your issue, find the correct replacement part for yours. When we looked for our replacement, multiple units/versions came up.

 

[cam3439]

Double post.