has anyone had their liftgate latch go bad? mine has been acting up for a while. the usual procedure of spraying it with oil isn't working. it is not latching all the way, and usually rattles loose during driving, requiring me to slam it shut again.
i began to take apart the rear door covering to get to it last week. are there any usual failures to look for? not much on it in haynes or chiltons that i could find...?? thanks for any info. i'll be tinkering this weekend. rick

 

Threre have been other posts with reports of rear latches requiring replacement but no details were given. Might want to look at the latch post to see if it has loosened and moved around, affecting the latch function. You could try resetting the latch post position to see if that would help matters.

Also examine the rubber door bumpers to see if the door is riding properly against them in the closed position. (You should be able to see normal signs of wear against both the rubber stop and the adjoining painted door surface.) If the door is not supported by the rubber bumpers there may be to much strain on the latch or the latch may be catching the entire weight of the door when being slammed shut and distorting the latch assembly, causing it to malfunction. (This sounds like it could be the case already and replacement would be the only option.)

 

I just had the hatch latch out a weekend or two ago to deal with a flickering interior light. But I have also had the hatch pop open when going over speed bumps, etc.

So far as I can tell, spraying oil or aerosol grease into the latch works a limited number of times. Then at some point all the dust & dirt that sticks to the lube just gums it up. You shouldn't actually have to take off the interior panel to remove the latch - just the three Torx bolts that hold the latch on. Unless, of course, you tried to push the handle back down when the latch stuck open & the rods inside the door dislodged. You would think I would have learned my lesson the first time that happened. You'd be wrong. So I usually end up taking off the interior panel.

You need to take the latch out and flush out all the dried-out lube and gunk with a toothbrush & solvent/brake cleaner, etc. Also unscrew the clamp that holds the switch for the interior light to the latch. Clean the gunk off the plunger and make sure it moves smoothly - this should stop the interior light flickering. Unless the latch is badly corroded (probably not if you sprayed lube in it regularly), you should be able to get it working again.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Eric

 

I have never done one in an Aerostar as an "unlocking/latching" problem, but, when at the Ford dealer most of the latch problems in Explorers stemed from bad clips that wore out. Ford in their wisdom would only fix the problem with a complete new latch and linkage. Go figure.

Though the lid is fairly light being fiberglass, I would look at the hinge being either worn out or screws loosen up on the hinge/shim causing an alignment problem.

 

thanks guys, i'll check those ideas out. i don't look forward to replacing it. i wonder if ford even carries the latch any more?. i have been looking at it in my spare time, but no solutions yet.... rick

 

well, i got it working again. all hindges were solid, none loose. post on the bottom was solid, and all in original positions so far as i could tell. the electric motor to lock/unlock was not working while on the door. but,after i took all the bar/levers off of it, it came to life. i checked all the levers,the one to the door handle and the one going down to the latch were not behaving. i could not get the three torx bolts off the latch to get a good look at it. only one side of the latch device was closing and opening.so i sprayed it with penetrating oil and scrubed what i could get to with an old tooth brush, seems there is a small spring on either side of the latch, both were pretty gummed up. once it was shiny it began to work. finally i could get the latch to close and open manually. then i reassembled all, lubed the latch with a synthetic grease and whaalaa!! it works!!
thanks for the support guys!! have a good one! rick

91 aerostarxl ext, "the green bean"
4.0 L 181,400 mi. and going...............