liftgate & rear doors unlock question

[hendedo]

Hello All.

03 Z71, 5.3L 107K miles all stock.
The key fob and driver door will always lock the 4 doors and the lift gate.
The key fob and driver door will unlock the driver door and double clicking the fob will unlock the passenger door.
But, the rear doors and the liftgate are another story. They will always lock but constant pushing of the fob (for 5 minutes!) may be required for the rear doors and lift gate to open. We removed the trim panel on the lift gate and the lock mechanism works freely and shows no damage.
We hear "Change the actuator" BUT, Why JUST the rear doors and the lift gate give us problems? The two front doors work fine. Are they on a 'different' circut or do I change ALL 3 (ugh)??
I can find the rear door actuators on line for sale but not for the liftgate.

Can someone please help us with this? Thank You.

 

[z71_tahoe]

I've got a very similar problem. The liftgate will lock but not unlock from either the fob or the door lock switch. Front doors work fine.

I pulled the actuator our and was able to get it to move both directs and I also checked to see if I had signal. I couldn't get signal to unlock the liftgate. For some reason I have signal to lock, but not to unlock.

Did you ever get a solution to your problem?

 

[aSplinteredCell]

Any fixes?

Did you ever get this problem fixed? I have a 2012 Tahoe police model that is my departmental take home car. The city shop wont do much with it, but I can't get the dang hatch to open. Neither the fob or the manual release pad on the liftgate will open the door. However, the back glass will unlatch normally. The bad thing is that I can't get to most of my gear through the window (some items are too big) and I can't access it through the interior due to a prisoner cage.

My first idea was that a fuse had blown. However, all fuses checked ok.

Next, I thought it may be a battery issue with the FOB. I changed that (even though it works all other functions) and there was no change with the liftgate operation.

Third, I wondered if I had messed up the wiring from the front power hub to the rear gate. I installed an aftermarked center console (my police departments did not install center consoles, even for our lights / sirens / radios. The radio is under the dash and the lights and sirens are on a wired remote control device). It was a pain in the but to not have a center console, so I went to the local big box store and picked one up. It took 4 screws to secure it to the center floorboard. Now I am wondering if I screwed in to a wire or something!

Like I said, my city shop isn't much help, and due to the nature of my assignment I can't be without my cruiser for 2 weeks while they check wiring etc. Well, and if I am the one that goobered it up by screwing the console in I would prefer to fix it personally!

I have a fair amount of knowledge in Chevy repairs, but that has all been on the 1985 K5 that I have restored. This new fangled electrical stuff is killing me!! HELP! :help:

 

[Colesdad]

I had this problem about 2 years ago on my wife's 06 Tahoe. I had to access the lift gate by climbing my big butt over the back seat and tear into the lift gate and I was able to force the lift gate open. After examining the parts the actuator had to be replaced due to wear. I could not get the part locally at a fair price so I was able to make it so it would not lock. my wife could then use the rear lift gate for the few days until the part came in off ebay.

My memory is lacking as to exactly what I had to do to open the gate or keep it from locking but it was not that hard of an issue. It seems like it took me about 45minutes-an hour to assess the situation. Once the part came in it took about 30 minutes to complete to repair.

 

[aSplinteredCell]

Ghetto fixed it

Thanks for the reply!

I finally got the dang thing open. Using the rear window (which would open normally) I was able to access the body panels and pull them off of the cargo door. :superhack:

Then, I had to use a flat head screwdriver to manual unlatch the gate. It was a pain, considering that I couldn't climb over the back seats; my rear prisoner transport cage is quite in the way of that.

When I finally got the hatch open, I was able to put a voltmeter on the wiring going to the actuator. There was no power to the actuator, so I think there is either a wiring issue somewhere between the rear and the front power hub, or one of the control brains has gone bad.

I was able to jury rig a manual release with 550 cord, so at least now I can get in to the back cargo area to grab my gear. It is a bit ghetto, especially for an affluent suburb's patrol vehicle, but hey... improvise, adapt and overcome! eace:

The shop said they would take up to two weeks to do a full electrical system eval on the vehicle, and that is just too long to go without my truck. I will keep trying to diagnose it / narrow down the problem so I can eventually take them a precise solution. Maybe I should color it in crayon, though? :whymewhyme:

Thanks again, and be safe!

J.

 

[Scrtcell]

Liftgate&rear doors unlock

There are two little black boxes in your drivers side fuse panel when you open the door they are marked lock and unlock those are the relays that control that if you switch them your doors should unlock they will need to be replaced you should replace both and you may have water getting into that fuse box there is a number on the relays so if you check eBay someone probably has them....