Electric Tailgate, Tailgate Soft Close, Electric Sliding Door. Problems? Try this.

[williecba]

So that members searching “electric tailgate” electric tailgate soft close” or alternatively “electric sliding doors” problems can easily find this I’ve started a new post.
I have had the soft close fail on my electric tailgate many times. One time the mechanism had loads of rubble grit in it and had broken and needed replacing.
All other times I fixed it myself. The problem was sometimes caused by there being too much cargo for the tailgate to shut properly or more usually by soft things like rubble bags or removal blankets falling across the latch mechanism.

Recently I buggered the left hand sliding door when it jammed on the branch of a small yew tree after I pressed the wrong button on the fob in the dark. It stopped opening off the dash or fob button, would open if I pulled the door handle, but would not stay open and reaching the full opened position immediately shut itself at high speed and the "pinch" cutout didn't work.

First thing to try.

Locate the appropriate control module.

There are two on the left hand side on a single bracket screwed to the outside rear of the wheel arch behind the interior panelling.
Big one is the left hand sliding door. 4 Plugs.
Small one is the tailgate. 1 Plug.

I believe there is one for the right hand door behind the panelling on the right. So far I haven’t had to look for it but I’m sure I will have to one day.

Find the appropriate control module. Unplug all cables. Go away and leave it alone. Come back later. Start engine. Switch engine off. Plug control module back in. See if it works.

The side door I left disconnected for 4 days. Today I plugged it back in and it worked perfectly first time.
The last time the soft close didn't work I left the tailgate disconnected long enough to have a coffee. Job done both times.

My theory is that a jammed door or lock disturbs the control module’s position sensing. Disconnecting it and letting any “memory” in the module discharge means that after it is reconnected it automatically re-sets itself.

 

[Vanderlust]

Just some more info on potential power latching issues. I had an intermittent fault with the near side door latching when it would not engage and I had to slam the door to get it to latch shut, not good as the reason I got power latching was to avoid the side doors getting slammed. It would do it a few times and start working again. My dealer could not find the fault as it always worked at the workshop. After dark one night I locked the van with the fob and the led at the drivers door stayed on constant instead of flashing and going off. In daylight I probably wouldn’t have noticed. I checked the handbook which stated a steady red for 60 secs indicated a fault with the power locking. I went round and all the doors were locked ok. The steady led only showed in cold weather and in the toasty dealer workshop the diagnostics could not find a fault. It took 3 trips to the dealer first thing in the morning and me standing by the van and insisting they plug in the diagnostics before going into the workshop that the fault was found to be the near side sliding door module. Replaced under warranty and the power latching and locking worked fine ever since. Having had one replaced when I did the inside camper conversion I made sure I could still get access to the gubbins behind the panels next to the c pillar.
Cheers