Rear Hatch Liftgate Latch Not Engaging -- Fixed
 

Opened up today the liftgate and it won't reengage to close it. Of course the light stays on inside as well which will be a pain. Remote and buttons are engaging the motor....it's just need seeing that it's in a position to close it.

I've tried locking/unlocking....may d/c the battery next.

Searched rear hatch and liftgate and didn't find much.

Thanks,
Nic

Just an update....

Took rear trim apart to look to disconnect power from switch, no luck with that either

Just confirming with picture...is this the way the latch should look when it's open? Sometimes those things get stuck or clicked over.

Yeah thats the way it's supposed to look. Have you pushed a screwdriver shaft up into it to simulate closing?

yeah....nothing happens

Can you (with the screwdriver) manually force the latch closed and then see if it opens electrically.......

if I force the latch up, it just springs back down

My thoughts are that the closing sensor of the lock is dead, without pulling mine apart I wouldn't know what it looks like on an E53 but if you can remove it from the car I assume it would be a small switch..... You could short the switch and see if that causes the motor to run, then that would be your answer and wouldn't be more than a couple of dollars to buy a new switch.......

If you want to remove the lock from the hatch and post some photos I'm sure I could identify it from the photos

figuring it was a sensor....when it was disconnected the car would beep when locking.

Here are two pics

It looks like it is all pop riveted, was there only one electrical connector to the whole unit? If so could you get me a photo of that showing all the coloured wires?