Tailgate Opening Randomly
Junior User
Joined: Feb 2011
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Hmm. Never thought of that. However, if the switch is off, do you still have power to the tailgate so the button under the handle?
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Junior User
Joined: May 2020
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Originally Posted by bittondb
Hmm. Never thought of that. However, if the switch is off, do you still have power to the tailgate so the button under the handle?
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2017
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I had the recall done recently for the tailgate harness. I started the thread "phantom tailgate" in 2017 about gobbing dielectric grease in the 2 plugs by the spare tire. Once I did that "fix" in 2017 I never experienced "phantom tailgate drop" ever again. So I get the recall notice for the harness and figure since I had a few other recalls, get it done while it's there. I drove the truck in heavy rain last week and parked it in the garage, I checked tailgate operational as it should so all is good. BUT, the next day I go to fire the truck up, within 5 seconds of start up I get flashing "must be in park" then the truck would completely shut off, no lights on dash, seat would retract wheel would go up. Tried to start a couple times, same results. I thought lets hit the tailgate, turn ignition and nothing worked. I crawl under the truck, the new harness assembly has 4 small plugs vs the old 2 larger plugs. Pop the plugs apart and 3 of the 4 are full of water! I dry them out with air gob the dielectric grease on both sides of all the plugs, and everything now works. Guess the recall fix is not worth it to have done. Stick with gobbing all the plugs and go on with your life, Ford is not fixing the problem.
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2019
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No problem! I know I did the exact same thing a couple weeks ago and after a few minutes of “ARE YOU KIDDING ME PROBLEMS ALREADY!” I figured it out lol.
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Tuned
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I had the recall done recently for the tailgate harness. I started the thread "phantom tailgate" in 2017 about gobbing dielectric grease in the 2 plugs by the spare tire. Once I did that "fix" in 2017 I never experienced "phantom tailgate drop" ever again. So I get the recall notice for the harness and figure since I had a few other recalls, get it done while it's there. I drove the truck in heavy rain last week and parked it in the garage, I checked tailgate operational as it should so all is good. BUT, the next day I go to fire the truck up, within 5 seconds of start up I get flashing "must be in park" then the truck would completely shut off, no lights on dash, seat would retract wheel would go up. Tried to start a couple times, same results. I thought lets hit the tailgate, turn ignition and nothing worked. I crawl under the truck, the new harness assembly has 4 small plugs vs the old 2 larger plugs. Pop the plugs apart and 3 of the 4 are full of water! I dry them out with air gob the dielectric grease on both sides of all the plugs, and everything now works. Guess the recall fix is not worth it to have done. Stick with gobbing all the plugs and go on with your life, Ford is not fixing the problem.
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Aftrmidnite
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Feb 17, 2020 05:04 AM