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2008 Equinox Sport Rear Lift gate won't open/unlock.

36K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  Brittneyp 
#1 ·
I went to open the rear lift gate today and it won't unlock. It worked fine yesterday, and all the rest of the doors work fine with the key fob and the door switch. Is there any way to access the lock mechanism from the inside, so I can at least get it open to find out what's wrong?

Thanx!
 
#2 ·
jagged said:
I went to open the rear lift gate today and it won't unlock. It worked fine yesterday, and all the rest of the doors work fine with the key fob and the door switch. Is there any way to access the lock mechanism from the inside, so I can at least get it open to find out what's wrong?

Thanx!
Not sure about on the '08s, but on the 10s and newer, there is an access port that can be reached from the inside. It is a round plug in the middle of the door, and not far up. Not sure what do do once you pull off the plug, but there are instructions on this forum. May be worth a look-see, maybe they did it on the Gen 1s also.
 
#4 ·
Yes there is a plastic plug. You remove it and push on a little lever on the side of the actuator and the lift gate will open. I didn't realize that it was all electric. When you pull on the release above the licence plate, all it does is close a switch and energize the activator to open the gate. Now I'm going to have to find a wiring diagram to trace the problem.
 
#8 ·
Problem solved. It was the switch. After ripping everything apart, I was able to unclip the wires from the switch and using a jumper, the latch opens. I was able to remove the switch and take it apart, but I couldn't see anything obviously wrong except one terminal seemed to give me an intermittent resistance reading. I was just going to cut the terminal block off the top of the switch to mount a temporary micro switch to use until I get a replacement, when I discovered the terminal was corroded off inside the plastic, I'm enclosing a picture so you can see it.
 

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#9 ·
jagged said:
Problem solved. It was the switch. After ripping everything apart, I was able to unclip the wires from the switch and using a jumper, the latch opens. I was able to remove the switch and take it apart, but I couldn't see anything obviously wrong except one terminal seemed to give me an intermittent resistance reading. I was just going to cut the terminal block off the top of the switch to mount a temporary micro switch to use until I get a replacement, when I discovered the terminal was corroded off inside the plastic, I'm enclosing a picture so you can see it.
Glad you found the problem Is the switch corroded or the connector to it?
 
#10 ·
In the picture, you are looking at the connector that was part of the switch. I broke it off so I could use it to connect the temporary micro switch. If you look at the arrow, it points to the corroded area that was hidden underneath the plastic and was revealed after I broke it apart. I was able to cut away enough plastic around the corroded area to get down to good copper to solder a wire to it. There was about 1/8" of green corrosion.
 
#11 ·
jagged said:
In the picture, you are looking at the connector that was part of the switch. I broke it off so I could use it to connect the temporary micro switch. If you look at the arrow, it points to the corroded area that was hidden underneath the plastic and was revealed after I broke it apart. I was able to cut away enough plastic around the corroded area to get down to good copper to solder a wire to it. There was about 1/8" of green corrosion.
wonder how the moisture got in there to corrode it? . Again, glad you got an inexpensive fix
 
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