Hey guys. Been lurking for a while but finally opened an account after seeing this thread. I have a 2017 Platinum F350 dually, built March of 2017. Back in October I was pulling my 5th wheel and when I pulled into my destination I got out and noticed my tailgate was down. I know it was up when I left home, and it had to have fallen on its own on my last turn, because only the left side of my tailgate was damaged and it took out a huge chunk of the front of my fifth wheel. Thankfully it only ripped through the front storage door, but that still cost me $500 to replace, in addition to the tailgate damage. I knew I wasn't crazy that it dropped on its own. I'm glad there is a service bulletin out there now because I've been scared to death to tow my 5th wheel for fear of this happening again!

 

Exactly what mine was doing, sounded like a machine gun. Sometimes I could get it to stop by pressing the tailgate key on the fob or button on the dash. My fix was the large wire harness connector by the bumper was full of water. Packed it with dilectric grease after drying it out, no problems since.

 

Just my 2 cents, but with all the bells & whistles on these new trucks, is there really no warning indicator on the instrument panel that shows something is open (like a door, hood, or tailgate)? I know on cars they show stuff like which door is open, trunk is open, etc. I understand that you might miss seeing it with all the other indicators on the (already busy) instrument cluster display, but no indication at all? Come on Ford.

Just glad to know that there seems to be a fix (dielectric grease in/on the connector) to prevent this.

 

For some unknown reason there is no dashboard indicator that the tailgate is open. But you can see 360 degrees around the truck, massaging seats, bed lights, .......

 

easy plug to spot? mine hasn't done it in a while but its also winter up here so not much rain.

 

My tailgate dropped a few weeks back on a wet rainy ride to the airport. Was backing into a parking stall and notice the rear camera was pointing to the ground. Good thing I looked at the display because I would have back into a pole and the end of the parking stall.

I’ve got an appointment at the dealership tomorrow. I talked to the service manager and showed him the TSB. After getting the third degree from the guy he looked up the TSB and agreed to get it fixed. They will need to keep the truck for 2days while it’s worked on.

 

Absolutely crazy that there is no indication of an open tailgate considering it is an electronic latch. Mine has only dropped once but I also will be towing a fifth wheel and once is way too often. I have installed tie ups for the tailgate as mentioned earlier in this thread so have some confidence towing now. Ford needs to fix this completely!

 

Took the truck in yesterday and the service manager told me they tech needed to cause the tailgate to open. He called me and asked what happened? This after I had told him 3 times what the issue was and the cause. Also he has had the TSB for 2weeks now. 2 weeks ago I want him the order the parts because I knew they needed to be back ordered.

Anyway no parts got ordered the tech worked on the truck and could not replicate the issue until after the service manager called again and asked me what happened? Again I explained what happened and he said they needed to introduce some water into the process. Sure enough 15 mins later the tailgate dropped. They then documented the problem with Ford to get authorization to order the parts.

So he calls. me to come get the truck and bring it back when the parts arrived. I was using a rental while the truck was in the shop. So here’s the kicker. I showed up,at the dealership to pick up the truck and drove it away and discovevered the passenger front window whould not roll up. The fast blinker was on when I turned it on to make a right turn. The bliss system was having a false alarm. Turned around and went right back to the dealership. The senior technician came out and said the apparently the control module had probably been flash and it was currupted and would need to be replaced. Well the truck is worse,off,then when I took it in and now it’s back in the shop until this problem get fixed.

Ford trucks are cool. This dealership SUCKS!!!

 

I wanted to throw this in here... On my '18 the remote tailgate wouldn't open for me the other day with the engine running from the key or button. I actually had to kill the truck to get my tailgate to open. Wonder if this is a new safety trigger to keep that from happening?

 

Are you positive you had all 4 doors unlocked first?

 

Interesting. Please keep us updated. That "fix" could be a simple software upgrade...

 

Yes all 4 doors were unlocked. I'll try it a few more times and see if it was just a glitch that it wouldn't drop or if it's a new software fix of some kind

 

Pulled the connectors apart behind the bumper and both were full of water. How is it that this is still a problem on an 18MY truck? Dried and filled them with di-electric grease. We will see.

 

This is really not good for down the road ownership of these trucks. With water sitting in the tailgate and camera harness connectors, eventually the corrosion will take over and then we all know what happens. Ford can put spotlights in the mirrors and multiple sliding cup holders in the console but cannot use a proper wire harness connector with gasket on the UNDERSIDE of a Super Duty truck?! I am going on a near full season of Cleveland winter driving and washing the truck a minimum of once a week and I haven't had a problem since filling the connectors with dilectric grease.

 

I sure hope this isn't a "fix" that would drive me insane as many times as I use the tailgate during a day and with how little the truck gets turned off during use.