Unfortunately, this month I've been dealing with latch issues. I've researched this a bit but want greater understanding.

So, roughly what is happening is that my ability to open the rear hatch is intermittent. The other day I went to Ace Hardware, opened the hatch and loaded items into my vehicle. When I got home, I couldn't open it. I tried the unlock function (on my fob and the driver door), rolling the window down (on my fob and in the driver's area), as well as the manual lock on the hatch itself. I couldn't get it open.

I eventually found how to manually open it via the manual latch release behind the interior panel. After getting it open, i experimented and then was able to close/open the hatch multiple times with zero issues.

The other day I was at Publix and I had issue getting the hatch open. After some shaking/pushing, I was able to get it open. Again, at this point, I was able to close/open the hatch multiple times with zero issues.

The hatch is currently in the "closed" state and I cannot open it over the course of a few days. I cannot roll the window down. I haven't manually released it as I haven't needed it that bad.

I figure there are potentially 3 different potential causes and am looking for advice on how to proceed.

Perhaps the latch itself is failing and needs replacement. Simple, straightforward replacement, but it costs $269.79 on RockAuto if I'm looking at the correct part (AC89740; Rear gate latch).

Perhaps the entire tailgate door is getting stuck in a way that the latch itself cannot disengage. The odd thing is that after initially getting it open I can seemingly repeat the process as many times as I want.

Perhaps there is a short somewhere in the wiring, likely in the hood itself and when I "fiddle enough" if makes contact but driving around will sometimes break continuity. Along these lines of thinking perhaps the latch switch itself is bad and simply not sending the unlock signal.

I figure the window not opening is a factor of it not knowing whether or not the door itself is open or closed. However, I suppose it too could be a symptom of the actual issue.

Wait, I think I found a more proper part for the latch. Is this correct?

More Information for DORMAN 931929

A few thoughts
- First, make sure that your latch fully engages. When you close it - make sure you always hear the motor to ensure it is fully closing. It can "partially" latch which makes it impossible to open. The tailgate sometimes can shift so that the latch doesnt line up. Sometimes you can spray WD 40, graphite lubricant lubricant to help loosen it

- So this will help get an idea of your latch motor/ actuator. I tried to clean it best I could and theres another video somewhere I cant find, but I ended up loosely ziptying the levers together and this helped mine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsXnrD7XEls

Mine was doing the same thing, took the plastic cover off, sprayed it down with brake clean, let dry and sprayed it with silicone, that was 5 months ago, works perfect.

Rear actuators are down to $50 on eBay right now.

It was fully engaging. That's when I could successfully open and close it multiple times. They actuator would pull it shut each time then it would correctly open when I tried to open it. More bad news below, though.

Link please? I've had a long and rather bad evening, more below.

So, this evening I did something that I feel is rather stupid. Yes, I'm the idiot in this story.

I've been keeping an eye open for a few filing cabinets locally used. Guess what, I found them today. I know I'd likely have hatch issues but my plan was to drive to pick them up, manually open the hatch from the inside, mess with it a bit and then if it seemed reliable close it with two 4 drawer filing cabinets.

However, I immediately noticed that it was not longer playing nice. I could open it as much (inside) manually that I wanted but the actuator was no longer pulling it shut. It was in the dreaded "half state". Well, I was at an estate sale and already pre-paid for the cabinets so I figured what I'd do is open the hatch and then use some twine to ti the hatch mostly shut but not completely shut.

This is where it went wrong. After my buddy and I loaded the two cabinets I accidentally ran into another buddy so we talked for a few seconds. During this conversation, out of habit I slammed the hatch closed as normal. Mid conversation I realized my mistake.

I don't know what to do. I'm home right now. The hatch is half open/half closed. The actuator won't do anything and I have two 52" tall cabinets laying down beside each other in the hatch, in other words I don't think I could realistically get to the hatch for the manual open. I've experimented some from the outside to see if maybe I can get it open, has anyone had any luck with wire or a coat hanger and unlatching the half latch?

I currently have the battery disconnected, I've supposedly read that leaving it off for a few hours may reset something enough that the actuator begins working again. What I've read, and I have no idea the truthfulness, is that after failing a certain number of times the software manually disables the actuator completely. If it can be reset, it may start working again "slightly".

Assuming that it is impossible to get inside to unlatch it, what are my options? I've came up with as a last result breaking the glass, but surely there are at least one or two other options?

At this point if I could just open the hatch, remove the cabinets, and lock it for the night I'd order the replacement part and be done with it.

1st gen sequoias have a lot of latch issues for some reason - So I would google and youtube and see if you can find sequoia groups on facebook or forums

Here is one idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW6TBVKpNYY

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...3-2009&_sop=15

Damn, not sure how your going to get at it now.
Seems like only one bolt at the strap handle on the rear cover, then the cover slides up.
If you can't get at that bolt you may have problems.

Good news, the best news really.

Firstly, I researched and researched and generally found that there was no way to get into the vehicle without opening it manually from inside. Of course, this presented a huge problem. There cabinets were each 52" H, 18" W, and 25" D. They were laying on their "back" side by side so I essentially had a 52" L x 36" W x 25" H metal object in the rear area. Fortunately, I was able to shift them about 4" to the driver side of the vehicle and then force myself into a squeeze to open the hatch. Sidenote: I am not a skinny person. I had already taken the rear panel off before loading them, if I hadn't of done that I may have been out of luck and I think they main option in that case would have been to break the glass.

However, later that evening after getting the cabinets unloaded I set myself to get the hatch closed so I could lock it and so it wouldn't leak. As stated previously, without the actuator working it was only going half shut. It was open enough to I imagine let rain in and the vehicle would not allow me to lock anything since it knew the hatch was partially opened.

For the best news of the entire story, I decided I"d see if resetting the ECU by unplugging power to it. I had already left the battery unplugged for an hour to no improvement but I thought I'd directly unplug the ECU on the hatch to see if maybe that would make a difference. To my surprised, I found the bottom right blue connector 3/4 of the way unplugged.


I plugged it up and everything has worked flawlessly ever since. This is interesting to me because it has a plastic tab that seems like it would make it impossible to vibrate loose. About 3-4 years back I had some damage on my hatch that required body shop work. It's possible that during that disassembly and reassembly that they didn't plug the clip in all they way. Even if that's the case, it astounds me it would have went that time period without issue. So for the time being, I'm relishing in the fact that this was a no cost fix.

My 2007 SE is at 49xxx miles now. Retired and I use that rear door maybe once a month. At least I drive it twice a week. Now you have me checking a few things now.
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2007 SE V6 Titanium

Got a link?

Didn't see ya, link is above 2 posts...maybe you figured that out by now.