Hi, I have a 2015 Suburban lt and it has the auto lift gate (not hands free) and it will auto open but not all the way and when I hit the button to close it, it closes, but won't latch automatically. I have to push it in a bit and then the motor engages to finish closing. I can lift and close freely in manual mode, but I don't think that's a good long term plan. Does the actuator need to be replaced? Is that the 2 lifting struts? I've watched a few videos, but it's not clear and no one has my specific issue, it's more about it not opening at all. Appreciate your help!

 

Sounds like an adjustment/alignment is needed for the hatch.

If the lift supports are bad, typically the hatch won't open fully, or won't keep the hatch "up" in the manual mode.

 

Checking in on your fix, as I have a similar issue with the lift gate on our 2017 Tahoe Premier not "finishing" closing. The lift gate will open and close as directed, but when it comes to the final quarter to half inch finish to completely seal the gate closed, it no longer does this.

To be clear, our situation may be different, as the Tahoe was rear ended and this is when this issue started. The repair shop has replaced all mechanical components in the lift gate and it still will not perform the final closing and leaves the gate with an air gap between the seal and body. I presume that with adjustment of the bump stops on the gate, we can get it closer, but I'm more concerned with the motor not taking the final step to suck in the lift gate and complete the seal. I tested this on a few other similar year models and none of those do it either, but ours did prior to the accident, so unsure how or why that would be the case. Is it specific to Premier models? Seems odd that this would be the case, but possibly?

I refused to accept the repairs and told the repair shop to go back and re-look at it. I'm not sure how much longer they will hold the Tahoe if they can't fix it, so I'm grasping here...

I'd love to see a video of the final close if someone has it so I can share with the repair shop.

 

I just solved this on my 2016 Yukon SLT today. Like you guys I tried everything including taking it to the dealer. My non-closing issue was intermittent so the dealer thought they fixed it but in reality the problem recurred almost immediately. I bought a new latch, adjusted the strike plate in many many different positions, and also looked at the rubber bumpers that held the liftgate off of the liftgate frame. I finally noticed that when the liftgate was up, that one corner was about an inch taller than the other side. Then I thought back to the fact that we had had an accident and had had the liftgate repaired. So rather than monkeying with adjustment on the hinge brackets I decided to do what I saw a GM body guy do years ago in the case of a door that was not ceiling properly. I propped up the low corner of the liftgate with a 2 x 4 and then I went to the high side and coerced it downward with some tough love. Sure enough I measured the corners and they were now the same, and I could even see the difference with the liftgate closed and how the door lined up against the tail lamps. It was now equal. I tried opening and closing the door about 20 times and it closed completely every time.


bottom line is that if your liftgate is not latching automatically it’s very likely to be in alignment problems with the liftgate, not pushing squarely against the frame far enough.

 

Great follow up. I never had success with a dealership attempting to fix my intermittent failure-to-close sunroof on our 2005 Yukon, eventially took out the fuse once I got it closed, and finally got a refund from the dealership, as I agreed to "a fix" but not for "guessing".

Yes, our current 2014 has a sunroof, but no issues there yet.