Tailgate sometimes will not open

Zanardi

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Last night I got home from golf. Went to pop the tailgate to get my clubs out. Pulled the latch handle and it wouldn't open. Gave the gate a good tug on the top edge in case the gate was just binding. Wouldn't budge. I cycled the locks several times from my key fob - wouldn't budge. Cycled the locks from the interior armrest switch as well as tried the key in the manual tailgate lock. No luck. Seems to suggest it's not the lock. Tried several more times and could not get the tailgate to open.

I thought I was hosed because I have a soft cover. To open the cover I need to have the tailgate open. Just before I headed into the house I tried the latch one more time and the tailgate opened easy as ever. Got my stuff out and tried opening and closing several times. No problems at all.

The exact same thing happened about two weeks ago. No problem in between. At that time it also finally just opened without my finding a cause or doing anything.

Any ideas? I was thinking maybe stretched cable(s) or similar? It would seem however once stretched they wouldn't "unstretch" and work fine for a couple weeks in between problems. Also today I barely have to pull the latch handle and the gate pops open. It's not like I have to pull it to the limit as I would anticipate doing if a cable was stretched out of tolerance. Maybe the latches on each side of the gate need a good flushing and some fresh grease?
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IdahoRanger

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Does the Ranger have a rod tailgate plastic clip? Maybe one of the clips is not attached correctly.
 

P. A. Schilke

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Last night I got home from golf. Went to pop the tailgate to get my clubs out. Pulled the latch handle and it wouldn't open. Gave the gate a good tug on the top edge in case the gate was just binding. Wouldn't budge. I cycled the locks several times from my key fob - wouldn't budge. Cycled the locks from the interior armrest switch as well as tried the key in the manual tailgate lock. No luck. Seems to suggest it's not the lock. Tried several more times and could not get the tailgate to open.

I thought I was hosed because I have a soft cover. To open the cover I need to have the tailgate open. Just before I headed into the house I tried the latch one more time and the tailgate opened easy as ever. Got my stuff out and tried opening and closing several times. No problems at all.

The exact same thing happened about two weeks ago. No problem in between. At that time it also finally just opened without my finding a cause or doing anything.

Any ideas? I was thinking maybe stretched cable(s) or similar? It would seem however once stretched they wouldn't "unstretch" and work fine for a couple weeks in between problems. Also today I barely have to pull the latch handle and the gate pops open. It's not like I have to pull it to the limit as I would anticipate doing if a cable was stretched out of tolerance. Maybe the latches on each side of the gate need a good flushing and some fresh grease?
Hi Mike,

Does not sound like a systemic problem..first I recall hearing of such an issue. My gut feeling is that the unlock mechanism needs attention. Recommend a visit to the dealer to investigate, and hopefully easily identified and fixed. Intermittent items like this are frustrating and in your case, you become apprehensive to use the pickup box. Keep us in the loop on this one and good luck!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 
OP
OP

Zanardi

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Will do Phil. I'm on the list to take it in anyway for the blower motor recall. Might as well have them check out the tailgate at the same time. To IdahoRanger's question I don't know how the latch/lock mechanism is designed on the Ranger. I'm hoping to find a parts schematic or such online to get a bit of an education for future reference. It is a fear that it will happen again at some very inconvenient time or location.
 

puckdodger

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I am having a similar issue with the same symptoms as you @Zanardi except it hasn't mysteriously unlocked itself yet. Did you get your problem figured out?
 


steig

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Mine has the same issue. Almost like tailgate is locked even though it's not.
 

Muscleford

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This presents a fine problem with a tonneau cover. Have to cut expensive tonneau to get access to fix the tailgate, painful. On my last truck (2011 Ranger) I had an Extang tonneau and I rigged two pull wires to unlatch the tonneau if I ever could not get the tailgate open, Guess I will have to do that again with this tonneau. If this happened under the bumper to bumper warranty I would pressure Ford to replace the tonneau.
 

WhiteRangerDanger

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Last night I got home from golf. Went to pop the tailgate to get my clubs out. Pulled the latch handle and it wouldn't open. Gave the gate a good tug on the top edge in case the gate was just binding. Wouldn't budge. I cycled the locks several times from my key fob - wouldn't budge. Cycled the locks from the interior armrest switch as well as tried the key in the manual tailgate lock. No luck. Seems to suggest it's not the lock. Tried several more times and could not get the tailgate to open.

I thought I was hosed because I have a soft cover. To open the cover I need to have the tailgate open. Just before I headed into the house I tried the latch one more time and the tailgate opened easy as ever. Got my stuff out and tried opening and closing several times. No problems at all.

The exact same thing happened about two weeks ago. No problem in between. At that time it also finally just opened without my finding a cause or doing anything.

Any ideas? I was thinking maybe stretched cable(s) or similar? It would seem however once stretched they wouldn't "unstretch" and work fine for a couple weeks in between problems. Also today I barely have to pull the latch handle and the gate pops open. It's not like I have to pull it to the limit as I would anticipate doing if a cable was stretched out of tolerance. Maybe the latches on each side of the gate need a good flushing and some fresh grease?
Bump... my tailgate won't open. Same symptoms as OP prior to today but today it just will not open... Any ideas from the members?
 

canyonslicker

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Have you tried the key? Probably did. Push hard like you’re shutting then pull open latch handle and release suddenly. It happened to me once and took a few tries but it hasn’t happened since because I started shutting it more solidly.

Good luck
 

P. A. Schilke

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Hi Mike,

I had similar problem after my first post. I tracked it down to the left cable getting trapped by the Dee Zee tailgate damper. So my fix was to make the cable fat with sticky velcro at the tailgate damper and have not had the problem since...

Best,
Phil
 

WhiteRangerDanger

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Have you tried the key? Probably did. Push hard like you’re shutting then pull open latch handle and release suddenly. It happened to me once and took a few tries but it hasn’t happened since because I started shutting it more solidly.

Good luck
Yes I did... luck, I need it I will have to cut through the torno
 

canyonslicker

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See if you can release tonneau cover first, I hate you’d have to do that. Some sneaky way. Try a few different approach methods…frustrating as hell I get it. If you must cut then it would really suck.
 
 



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