Liftgate Release (Hatch lock) failure trouble-shooting

[john keefe]

Thanks! Speaking of liftgates, I swapped out the liftgate pushrods for both the XR and the Scorpio with new Sachs. The XR just about jumps up with little effort... the Scorpio is still slow and heavy, which is not ideal as that's the one which gets loaded with bags, groceries, golf clubs, etc.. I thought the Sachs would be good replacements, as they're basically the original rods. What was the best upgrade?

[my8950]

What was the best upgrade?

Broom stick handle!

[john keefe]

Broom stick handle!

Cool. That will improve rear downforce, keeping the rear spoiler up into the airflow over the cabin/hood, right? Can't be good for keeping papers and loose stuff in the trunk though.

[Ed Lijewski]

Believe Russ Harness at Rapido has correct struts for Scorpios.

YMMV

[DAReese]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IB ... UTF8&psc=1

I haven't put these in my Scorpio yet, as it still isn't on the road, but the ones by the same company for the XR easily open that hatch.

[john keefe]

I know its been a while since this topic. Had a bit of time to work on a couple things, one of which was finally getting to the non-op lift-gate release switch. I still have no idea where it is located????

My EVT manual says its on the "floor console," along with the driver-controlled rear window switch, rear seat lockout, and fuel-release switch. All the rest of the available slots are filled with factory blank-offs. Took the whole console out today to do a couple repairs, and there is no extra wiring or connector for another switch. So, no switch there.

What am I missing? I've got the rear solenoid, good relay, and fuse, just no switch. Since its related (per the EVT manual) to the door-switch circuit, I was thinking maybe I've just got a real "base" Scorpio that is simply door-switch controlled? Applying 12V to the solenoid operates it, but I get no voltage at the connector to the solenoid in the lift-gate, and no tripping of the relay when unlocking the doors. Swapped relays, same result.

I'm assuming I'm not getting any voltage/resistance because no switch is being turned on/off. But where could it be?

I also have a 3-4 blank-off covers in the instrument panel, which leads me to think "base model with leather." Thanks

[Ed Lijewski]

Have you removed and checked the lift gate microswitch? If it's non-op or flaky per your Multimeter at least try spraying some electrical contact cleaner around the pushrod. Or, use an exact knife/razor blade to shorten the plastic boss at its base.

YMMV

[brokencase]

My EVT manual says its on the "floor console," along with the driver-controlled rear window switch, rear seat lockout, and fuel-release switch. All the rest of the available slots are filled with factory blank-offs. Took the whole console out today to do a couple repairs, and there is no extra wiring or connector for another switch. So, no switch there.

What am I missing?

Where in the EVTM do you see that? I don't have a liftgate release switch on the floor console.

As an aside. I installed a remote doorlock/remote start a while back. It also has a trunk release button on the fob. As I recall the remote unit had a wire that grounded when it activated so I connected it the C1166 conection point of the hatch relay. I just stuffed the wire into the proper conntact in the relay socket and re-inserted the relay. Not elegant but it was a lot easier than what I had to do for the door locks Finding and soldering to the door lock wires in the harness in the floor kick panel.

[john keefe]

Ed - no voltage, no relay "click" when operating the door switches. But, if it stops raining for a bit, I'm going to run a wire from BATT+ to see if it will trigger the solenoid independently. If it works, then I'll start with checking voltage at the relay pins in the fuse box.

Brokencase... mine shows the circuit on EVT pg. 144. Looks like publication date in 1987, though my cover pages are pretty worn. Under "Power Windows," pg. 131, it shows the wiring harness in the center floor console, with two extra connectors, one dangling free, and the other listed as "not used." My harness(es) don't have those extra connectors.

If I can't find an actual switch in my car, I was thinking along the same lines as you did, just running a piggy-back feed off the relay to an aftermarket switch of my own in the car (maybe custom fit it into one of the factory blanks). Yeah, not pretty, but good engineering is adaptation to what you're given.

Could it be that the "base" model simply had no switch, and it was less costly (or more efficient production) to install a different wiring harness rather than divert materials or assembly sequence to omit some hard components? I can picture that would avoid mix-ups like higher end models getting switches, but not hard components.

[john keefe]

So, seriously... if somebody actually has a lift-gate solenoid release switch, can you tell me where it's located? Is yours in the bank of switches in the center floor console (per the EVT), or hidden somewhere that I'm just not seeing? The latter would be nice, so I'm not cobbling together a work-around version when I already have one.
Thanks

[brokencase]

John, my EVTM is later 88-89. It don't match up to what you are saying.
I could be wrong but I don't ever remember seeing a hatch release button in the center console of any Scorpio.
But you could add one as I described. But I'm not sure I'd want to do that for fear of accidentally bumping it.

[john keefe]

Here's my diagram. Your text looks a year or two newer than mine (1987). When I read "switch," I think of an actual physical switch. I don't know what good a physical switch would be at the solenoid, as you'd have to open the liftgate to activate the switch. So, maybe yours is an upgrade which automatically "switches" to unlock the liftgate when the doors unlock, and be inoperable with the engine running (as the door locks are)?

002.jpg (1.26 MiB) Viewed 5055 times

I'd rather have that than what I apparently have:

My page reads "... and the Liftgate Release Switch is depressed..." So, evidently its a real, physical switch, apparently on the center floor console. Seems to imply that unlocking the doors doesn't unlock the liftgate (which is the symptom I'm having). You either have to use your key, or depress the button in the car. Makes little sense to have to get into the car first to pop the trunk; annoying, but quicker to just use the key.

Not as convenient as contemporary door locks, and it'd be nice to unlock the trunk with a remote, like yours. Still, if mine doesn't unlock the trunk with the doors, I'd still at least like a switch inside the car to pop the trunk open as I get out, to get important stuff like golf clubs without having to always use the ignition key That's at least more useful than having to use a key all the time. Without a remote, I don't mind so much having to use the key to get back in after the car's locked.

Maybe my missing switch is part of a mid-year thingy to (try to) get the trunk to open with the doors, but not working?

[john keefe]

Duh... I think I have a simple solution. If the ideal is to have the liftgate unlock with the doors, then why not tie that liftgate solenoid power to the door switch/power. Use the dedicate liftgate fuse and relay, but trigger the relay from the door lock.

[Ed Lijewski]

You wrote "Applying 12V to the solenoid operates it, but I get no voltage at the connector to the solenoid in the lift-gate."

(I realize I'm beating this horse...) In rereading your posts it seems you may not have yet actually inspected the micro switch (CD. Brad's photos above) mounted to the liftgate latch unit which controls current flow through that connector. With liftgate raised, no current would flow through the microswitch; manually closing the latch mechanisn with liftgate raised should enable verification of voltage at the microswitch. That's how I would test the circuit there.

YMMV

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Late to the dance on this one, but as noted in my first post....
The language in the 1988 EVTM (page 144) is very different from the 1989 version (page 123), even though the circuit is identical. The 1989 version makes more sense.

There is no directly user-operated switch, only the switch in the hatch which is secondarily triggered by the lock activation.

As noted, the later cars have a better switch so if you have an early car I'd certainly be testing that switch. Once I figured out how to test the circuit it was very obvious that the switch was the fault in the circuit.