Estate Tailgate Acting Up

**QSx** · 16th June 2019, 13:06

Hello everyone,

I've got Vectra C Estate /Caravan/ 2008 (Facelift) with electric tailgate.

It's been acting up lately - for example, it will cease to work when I wash the car or if it's rainy or very humid day. I'm guessing that water somehow makes that electric lock/latch/motor or something else go crazy.

Both driver door button and keyfob will activate the mechanism (signaling lights flash three times) but then nothing happens. It's the same no matter if car is locked/unlocked or with engine running or not (handbrake up - I know it won't release otherwise)

Closing button works fine too. It will pull the tailgate down just fine and then tighten it (i'm guessing the motor lock/latch does that part).

It will start working again when it dries but two lights inside boot itself never turn off (while motor is running). Car turns those off after few minutes when parked/engine off but they won't go off when car is locked (along with other lights) - as if boot was still open.

Needless to say I have a distracting lightshow from my boot, and while driving at night it can be distracting...

Dashboard light acts normally (lights up when open, turns off when closed) in all conditions.

I managed to remove the lock mechanism after removing tailgate trim. Lights will turn off when multiplug is disconnected. I've tried cleaning it up, spraying it with brakecleaner, wd40... it's still doing the same.

vectra c latch.jpg

vectra c latch 2.jpg

Is there a way to disassemble this mechanism to clean it up properly (and to locate microswitch/electricals that govern this whole mess)?

Getting a new one is a pretty expensive and I don't really have a lot of breakers here that could help me (Croatia) so I would have to order it from abroad without guarantee it would work...

Any ideas on how to proceed?