Electric Tailgate, Tailgate Soft Close, Electric Sliding Door. Problems? Try this.

[williecba]

So that members searching “electric tailgate” electric tailgate soft close” or alternatively “electric sliding doors” problems can easily find this I’ve started a new post.
I have had the soft close fail on my electric tailgate many times. One time the mechanism had loads of rubble grit in it and had broken and needed replacing.
All other times I fixed it myself. The problem was sometimes caused by there being too much cargo for the tailgate to shut properly or more usually by soft things like rubble bags or removal blankets falling across the latch mechanism.

Recently I buggered the left hand sliding door when it jammed on the branch of a small yew tree after I pressed the wrong button on the fob in the dark. It stopped opening off the dash or fob button, would open if I pulled the door handle, but would not stay open and reaching the full opened position immediately shut itself at high speed and the "pinch" cutout didn't work.

First thing to try.

Locate the appropriate control module.

There are two on the left hand side on a single bracket screwed to the outside rear of the wheel arch behind the interior panelling.
Big one is the left hand sliding door. 4 Plugs.
Small one is the tailgate. 1 Plug.

I believe there is one for the right hand door behind the panelling on the right. So far I haven’t had to look for it but I’m sure I will have to one day.

Find the appropriate control module. Unplug all cables. Go away and leave it alone. Come back later. Start engine. Switch engine off. Plug control module back in. See if it works.

The side door I left disconnected for 4 days. Today I plugged it back in and it worked perfectly first time.
The last time the soft close didn't work I left the tailgate disconnected long enough to have a coffee. Job done both times.

My theory is that a jammed door or lock disturbs the control module’s position sensing. Disconnecting it and letting any “memory” in the module discharge means that after it is reconnected it automatically re-sets itself.

 

[Vanderlust]

Just some more info on potential power latching issues. I had an intermittent fault with the near side door latching when it would not engage and I had to slam the door to get it to latch shut, not good as the reason I got power latching was to avoid the side doors getting slammed. It would do it a few times and start working again. My dealer could not find the fault as it always worked at the workshop. After dark one night I locked the van with the fob and the led at the drivers door stayed on constant instead of flashing and going off. In daylight I probably wouldn’t have noticed. I checked the handbook which stated a steady red for 60 secs indicated a fault with the power locking. I went round and all the doors were locked ok. The steady led only showed in cold weather and in the toasty dealer workshop the diagnostics could not find a fault. It took 3 trips to the dealer first thing in the morning and me standing by the van and insisting they plug in the diagnostics before going into the workshop that the fault was found to be the near side sliding door module. Replaced under warranty and the power latching and locking worked fine ever since. Having had one replaced when I did the inside camper conversion I made sure I could still get access to the gubbins behind the panels next to the c pillar.
Cheers

 

[TheCoeliacCyclist]

This might help resolve you issue if your electric sliding door is not closing.

My issue occurred when I disconnected the earth to the NS sling door controller. After reconnecting the door would not close. No matter what I did it wouldn't work electrically only manually.

I finally worked out that the controller had got confused with the position of the door, it didn't know if the door was open or closed and seemed to just lock the controller.

After trying several things unsuccessfully I stumble upon this thread. Thank to @willeba you really helped to get me on the right track.
My resolution below shows you don't need to access the door controllers and don't need to disconnect or leave power off for any long period of time.

Resoultion.

STEP 1. Remove 40 amp fuse located under the front passenger seat. Mine was towards the front of the seat base as I have swivel seats. I under plugged both 40amp fuses (wasn't sure which related to which door) I then manually closed both sliding doors.

STEP 2. Started engine then stopped engine.

STEP 3. Replace both 40amp fuses

STEP 4. Start engine and press buttons on dash for each door.

Both doors were then fully working.

Hopefully this helps others resolve the following issues as it can be quite stressful when your door is stuck open.

Electric sliding door not working
Electric sliding door won't close

Other suggestions if the above doesn't work

1. Ensure you don't have child lock on (switch is on drivers door)
2. Check you haven't turned off the sliding doors (switch on dash in between the buttons to open and close the sliding doors)
3. Sliding track is clear
4. Door opening is free from obstructions. If there is something in the way the door will reverse. (this is a safety feature)

 

[williecba]

This looked a bit like a challenge to me so I thought I would give this a try.
However, I decided to check which fuse was which first.
When I looked under my passenger seat I found three 40 amp fuses together.
Logical I thought; 2 side doors and 1 tailgate.
One fuse I removed stopped the left door sliding.
One fuse I removed stopped the right door sliding.
And the third fuse I removed did nothing obvious. The tailgate still kept working.
So next time I jam a side door I know what I am going to try first.
And meantime I am going to try and find the fuse for the tailgate mechanism.
Glad I didn't deliberately block the tailgate first.

 

[williecba]

After thinking about this some more I realise that the electric tailgate is different from the side doors because although all of them can be opened from the key fob the tailgate uses the rear proximity sensors to protect people walking or standing at the rear of the vehicle unseen by the key holder. Since the proximity sensors are also all tied up with the rear camera, the screen, the buzzers and the gear selector it makes some sense for the fuse for the tailgate to be located elsewhere.

 

[Semisonic]

I had the same thing with sliding door and disconnected the battery re set itself