Lift gate won't open and is constantly triggering alarm SOLVED!

[travish325]

Ok get ready for a wild ride....

My lift gate has been intermittent recently. Sometimes it will open sometimes not. Sometimes it will close, sometimes not. Sometimes it will open slightly and stop or close slightly and stop.... Now it's not working whatsoever and soon as I lock my car a few seconds later the alarm goes off and I get a message that the rear lift gate triggered the alarm.

At first I suspected a bad battery as the lights would randomly click on and off at times as if the key was unlocking the car, then I would get a message saying remote features have been disabled as the battery was low. I checked the battery and with the car off it was reading 11.4v. I just replaced it tonight, still no working lift gate and still getting the alarm.

Next, I disabled the lift gate in the vehicle settings, same thing with the alarm going off when I lock it. Then I disconnected the wire for the hands free foot sensor, same thing still, no lift gate with the button or key, and the alarm goes off after locking.

Next, I pulled the 30A fuse in the engine bay for the lift gate module, guess what... Same thing still. I then pulled the 5A fuse inside the cabin for the telematics/hands free lift gate as well, and then finally with both fuses pulled I can lock the car without the lift gate triggering the alarm; however, now I have no lift gate operation whatsoever, and also everything else on that 5A fuse is inop as well because apparently fuse 8 and 9 are the same circuit.

Just to test it, I put the 30A fuse for the lift gate module back in while leaving the 5A hands free fuse out just to see what would happen and immediately the lift gate goes back to triggering the alarm within seconds after locking the car.

So that's where I am at. I can only keep the alarm from going off if I completely disable the rear lift gate by having both the 30A module fuse, AND 5A hands free fuse pulled. What the hell is going on?

*Well update, after having both these fuses pulled, about 20 minutes later the alarm went off again; however, I did not get any Ford pass app message this time. So now back to square one? Even though with both fuses pulled it took longer for the alarm to go off now lol This makes absolutely zero sense.

**Second update. Re-locked it with both fuses out and the alarm has not gone off for a few hours now.

 

[23 Explorer ST]

Man that’s crazy! Could be a sensor in the hatch that’s bad causing the alarm to go off.
Also have you replaced your key FOB battery?
I wonder if the FOB itself could be the issue?


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[travish325]

Man that’s crazy! Could be a sensor in the hatch that’s bad causing the alarm to go off.
Also have you replaced your key FOB battery?
I wonder if the FOB itself could be the issue?


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Brand new battery in both FOBs actually.

 

[KNTRDR]

Wonder if the latch mechanism is bad…I would assume the latch has a built-in sensor to recognize whether it’s closed or not. Had a similar issue with the hood latch on a previous car, and I just cut the wire and permanently looped them together so that the latch thought it was permanently closed.

 

[travish325]

Changed the latch/actuator today and it made no difference. Alarm still goes off when I lock it, lift gate won't open it close.

 

[KNTRDR]

My only other guess is a faulty control module or something of that nature.

I assume this happens anywhere and not just when the car is parked in once specific location (making me think about interference)?

 

[Wholdy]

This situation happened to me around 2.5 yrs ago after a family member of mine manually closed the lift gate because they were unaware it was powered. They did this 2 separate times and for about next 3-4 weeks after each instance it triggered the alarm randomly but eventually went away. Dealer was unable to diagnose anything at that time and thought maybe manually attempting to close/open was triggering the issue for what’s it’s worth

 

[travish325]

My only other guess is a faulty control module or something of that nature.

I assume this happens anywhere and not just when the car is parked in once specific location (making me think about interference)?

I was thinking the module next as I have checked everything else. It does it anywhere yes, seems to do it every single time now rather than randomly.

 

[travish325]

This situation happened to me around 2.5 yrs ago after a family member of mine manually closed the lift gate because they were unaware it was powered. They did this 2 separate times and for about next 3-4 weeks after each instance it triggered the alarm randomly but eventually went away. Dealer was unable to diagnose anything at that time and thought maybe manually attempting to close/open was triggering the issue for what’s it’s worth

Interesting. I've only manually used it with the lift gate switch disabled in settings. Even then with it disabled and all the fuses pulled for the module and the hands free it still triggers the alarm when locked... It will also give me a random "lift gate ajar" warning even with all those fuses pulled and everything disabled. That light/warning comes and goes though.

 

[travish325]

Just swapped out the lift gate control module and no change. The lift gate unlocks but doesn't move and after closing and locking the car the alarm triggers within a minute.... So the latch and module have been swapped at this point, sensors cleaned, even the hands free antenna wire unplugged and nothing has changed. What else is there at this point? Wiring that I can see all looks fine. The only thing left in the system component wise would be the hands free sensor and lift gate sensors. My local Ford dealer service department is backed up until August right now as well, so I currently have a car that I cannot lock without a working lift gate...

 

[travish325]

Figured it out! It was the passenger side actuator/strut. Apparently it was jamming up preventing the lift gate from opening and for some reason when closed it was causing the module to think the gate was opening triggering the alarm. Swapped it today and everything works as it is supposed to

 

[23 Explorer ST]

Glad you got it figured out. What caused it to jam up?


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[travish325]

Glad you got it figured out. What caused it to jam up?


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I have no idea. After swapping the module and latch the lift gate would pop open about 6in then stop. I manually lifted and closed it a few times with only one side actuator attached at a time and noticed the right side felt a tad stiffer and almost had a sticking point, so I swapped it with a used one and everything was fixed. I am guessing it had bound up and the limit switches inside were broken and signaling the module that it was stuck in the "open" position and that's what caused the alarm to set off.

 

[KNTRDR]

Add this one to the ‘things I wouldn’t have expected to be the solution’ box. Glad it’s fixed!

 

[mdl3v8]

Adding my experience to this thread as it came up in my search. Today I opened the hatch and it opened fine. When I hit the button to close it the hatch went down six inches and then stopped. Hitting the button resulted in the chime going off like it was closing, but it didn't move. I tried to close it manually and the passenger side bound up on the way down. I was able to close it on the second try. Then I tried to open it again with the button on the hatch unlatched but didn't move aside from popping out an inch and half, there was no attempt at going up.

What fixed my issue was clearing DTCs with forscan. I had an RGTM DTC (U3003:16-88 circuit voltage below threshold) and clearing the code(s) made the liftgate/hatch start working again.

I also had a few other DTCs in other modules for whatever reason (APIM, OCS, PSCM, SCMG). I wasn't able to turn on my massage seats the other day so I imagine this fixes that issue as well.

I do have a hardwired dashcam with parking mode and I semi-regularly get a FordPass message about the vehicle going to deep sleep mode or whatever the actual message is. I guess maybe it's time for a dashcam battery...