New twist on the ever commone rear hatch issues
 

I have a 2008 LTZ and approximately two weeks ago the auto lift/close feature stopped working properly. You could hear the motor running but the door would not lift or close. You could still operate it manually. This weekend, the issue (not sure if they are related) took a turn for the worse. The rear hatch no longer latches. The latch itself is in the open position and seems to rotate just fine but will not latch/secure itself onto the latch post.

I have read several threads on the rear hatch not opening and lift gate motors not oerating properly but I have not read anything on my specific issue. Any ideas or previous experience for a DIYer before I dig into this issue?

yea
 

sell it...

I hate my Tahoe with a serious passion. it's a constant source of disappointment, reliability issues, and general disgust.

If I could get rid of it for anything close to what I paid for it, it would have been gone long ago.

I've seen them not open properly when the support struts fail. I know you have more issues going on; but its something you can check.

Open the hatch and support it in the up position. Pry the retaining clip back on the ball stud and pull the strut off. repeat on the other end.

if you can push the strut in and out easily by hand, its failed. Check both struts.

tjkusa: Welcome to the forum.

You could also try assisting the motor by lifting the hatch as the motor tries.

If you do disconnect the struts, be sure you have a 2X4 to hold up the hatch as it weighs a ton. I doubt the motor arm will support it as you can close it manually. Probably a slip clutch involved in there somewhere.

Fixed it
 

The problem ended up being the lift gate motor. The motor operated and turned the gear that was attached to the motor but the other gears seemed to be bound, so I dissassembed the motor and found that the large black (plastic no less) gear had cracked and would not lift the rear gate. I tried to find a used lift gate motor at a junk yard and on the internet with no success so I replaced the motor and it fixed both problems. It cost me $240.00 for the part. After I replaced the motor and tested everything, I just turned off the automatic lift and now operate it manually for fear the new motor will fail the same way the old one did.

I too have had many major problems, to name just a few;

1. Two Hydraulic units (for the air ride suspension) failed at nearly $1,000 a peice. One at 60K and the other at 100K. Every time I tow my Ranger Reata for more than 4 hours it fails. It can't handle the load for an extended period of time. My third one still works (sort of-as long as I am not towing aything heavier than my snowmobiles) but not when I am not towing my boat. If I tow the boat it malfunctions because it can not handle the load. It is only a 21' boat. The Sub is rated for much more weight than I am towing. Under-engineered for sure. And to calrify, I don't tow things often. My boat gets towed maybe 5 times a year and sleds two or three times year.
2. Three door handles - made from plastic. They break under no duress.
3. Fuel pump (second one) is not holding pressure so every time I start the car it takes a few extra seconds as it builds up fuel pressure, which will eventualy lead to a starter, so I will have to replace the fuel pump soon.
4. Engine was replaced at 96K (thankfully under warranty), but it was a struggle to get Chevy to replace the entire engine, they wanted to do rings, pistons, cranks, etc...I complained of oil consumption for a few months and until I went sledding in the UP last January it was not too bad. In that 5 hour trip I burned 3 quarts of oil on the way up and 3 on the way back. The exact same thing happened to my neighbor about 2 months after it happened to me and they did his rings, pistons, etc...and now it is happening again for him. That is not a real fix.

Other than that it has been reliable (HA). This is my 6th Chevrolet truck and the first one that has been a major financial drain on my income. My last service bill was $2,900 (yes that is not a typo). Every time I take it in for an oil change lately, I have a $300 plus bill. It is beyond ridiculous at this point. I have sunk more into this truck than all of the cars & trucks I have owned combined, besides this one, 12 total and some of them were major peices of junk.

My BMW costs less to service than this truck.

Thansk for the advice.

lemon?
 

Hi tjkusa,

You may have bought a lemon. All other makes and models have all kinds of different or same problems. I do too have an 08 burb LTZ. Besides the more less regular now "Service Suspension System" message, nothing else going on. A few days ago I had the "check engine" MIL came on. By the time I've got to it, it was off. The scanner give me a P1153 HO2S Insufficient Switching Bank2 Sensor1. I've reseted it, just to see, if any time soon it will come back or not. It's the Oxygen sensor on the drivers side, before the catalytic converter. I am looking into buy a replacement one, just in case.
I do too tow a trailer, on a weekly bases. Actually a few months ago, I traded in my trailer for a 14' bi-axial one. The old trailer was too small for what I needed for, and the burb runs like a NASCAR with the new one. So, I load up my trailer pretty good, and my burb always levels out nice and rides smooth. So, I don't really worried about the "Service Suspension System" message on the DIC.
I had Ch...ler with engine "hick up" and shutdown issues for years. No dealership nor local mechanic could figure it out for years, after the transmission blew the second time, I threw it in the dumpster, because the under body was rot away.
I switched to the burb. I'm happy.
:)