I have a Dodge Durango 2012 Crew. My lift gate will open but falls down enough where if you push the button it won't close. You have to push the door all the way open to hit the button and then it'll close. Any suggestions?

 

Motor going bad. Linkage loose, weak struts....

 

You might be at the early stage of one or two failing liftgate gas struts, especially if the gate "falls down" as you describe versus being driven down by the motor. Inspect the struts for signs of oil leakage. If there is any sign of leakage, I'd start by replacing the struts. They are not terribly expensive (probably less than a diagnostic fee at the dealership) and pretty easy to replace without any specialized tools. There's a good chance that will fix the issue, but even if not, if they are leaking, they would soon completely fail anyway.

-Rod

 

Wow, two identical threads going on at the same time. Read before you post, guys.

If he's got a power liftgate, which he obviously does, then he has one gas strut and one "power" strut, and with that setup, the gas strut is pretty much just along for the ride and a power strut isn't cheap.

Anyway, here's my response to the other guy copied and pasted...

If you determine that nothing is obstructing the gate from closing, it may just need the "tailgate module" flashed.

My 2011 was exhibiting similar symptoms and doing all sorts of wacky things, but basically it would never pull itself closed all the way when closing by itself. The dealer flashed the tailgate module and all was well. It still surprises me to this day how a module needing an update can mimic a purely mechanical problem. Oh well. Something to consider if you do go to the dealer, ask for them to try that first.

 

I don't know that the manual strut is just along for the ride. Granted the time I encountered a bad gas strut on a power liftgate was on a Lincoln, but a seemingly comparable setup. With the obviously bad (leaking) strut on that MKT, the power liftgate would not open. The motor would try but after moving only a matter of centimeters, it would close itself unless a person helped the gate open. As soon as the person would let go of the liftgate, the door would start to fall until the motor kicked in and slowed the rate of closure. I don't recall clearly if the MKT had 1 or 2 gas struts.

Maybe tomorrow I'll try removing the gas strut on my wife's Durango and see how the liftgate functions to see if the power liftgate behaves as usual. If not, the dealer price for a new gas strut is $37.

 

I would guess that the 'power' portion of the liftgate does NOT have the ooomph to lift the gate if the strut on the other side is getting weak. There would be a larger load on the power portion, which the PCM may interpret as an obstacle in the way, so, it doesn't open the gate......

 

His problem is that the gate is not closing.

And ok, maybe the ONE gas strut on the passenger side isn't just along for the ride in a complete sense, but it's certainly not doing much work, especially when the gate is coming down. Regardless of what the PCM reads about gate position, it should still try to close the gate, and with the OP's case, it's not even trying to close the gate - which leads me to conclude that the module might just need a flash.

To the OP, is the gate opening all the way then drooping down or is it not opening completely?

If it opens all the way and then droops down, I'd agree with you guys that the gas strut may be bad. It's certainly been known to happen.

 

Did you find out the cause of this issue. I'm experiencing the same identical problem. Thank you.