matt55

Has anyone had to adjust the soft close mech on a07 gl450? I notice that I have to pull up on rear hatch to activate the soft close after the gate has finished going all the way down.Is it possible to resync the hatch similar to the way you can resync the sunroof?

lwain56

Try depressing the red tailgate open button and continue holding down right after you engage the rear outside handle. I believe it will open to the full extent it is programmed. The detent switch was activated inadvertantly to prevent the door from fully opening. ie. if the red button is depressed anywhere in the cycle of the hatch door opening it will stop there. Check the owners manual for full explanation

matt55

Iwain56,what Im trying to explain is when the gate has finished closing and it is pulled tight the last few mm by a soft close switch.My gate is going up and down fine it just is not being latched tightly at the end of the close

lkchris

Needs to be fixed by dealer.

blittle

Yup.....

oinick

I had the exact problem on my 07 GL 320. Turned out to be a multiday fix at the dealer but now it's perfect.

lwain56

I agree with the consensus, this calls for a trip to the dealer. I have already had my outside hatch door's handle replaced due to the fact it wouldn't open the door. They had to order the part and had the car all day.

mbslk350

Oinick: What did the dealer fix/replace? Mine is starting to do the same thing.

oinick

Sometimes my tailgate does this too. When it does, I pull the switch on the driver's door that makes it open. It will then latch itself on the second try and I don't have to get back out of the car.

Incidentally, the power open and close feature on the rear deck lid is the only thing the dealer has had to work on in 12500 miles. It required two days to fix and a new pump.

GL Troll

Mine does the same occasionally. I had the dealer look at it when it was in for 1-3k mi check. They couldn’t duplicate the problem and found nothing wrong. I’ll print this thread to show mechanic and make them fix it next time. This is the only problem in 3800 miles.

The funny thing is, I had misgivings about getting this option in the first place, especially because of the chime noise during operation. But, I had no choice with P1.

matt55

funny thing is this switch must need back pressure to complete the close. I fixed mine by simply placing a 1'' by 1/2" 3m paint protecting tape inside the weather strip directly in front of the inside latch. This makes a slight bulge that puts back pressure on the switch and mine has worked ever since. Pull the weather stipping off in front of switch put the tape on the metal lip reapply the stripping This makes about 3/8" bulge and it works for me

DANIELA BIRCH

2008 GL450 just had hatch lock fixed. 2 days. wasn't closing (locking down tightly) and I had to push on it till I heard the "click".

mbslk350

I've noticed that the power gate begins to experience closing problems in the colder weather. It worked about 70% of the time in the spring/summer/fall, but it's down to about 20% reliability with temps in the 20's and 30's.

It's going back today for the 20K service and the air compressor service campaign. I'll have them look at the power gate again. And I'm now getting the famous low-oil warning when driving on the highway even though the oil level is full. Hope to take care of all the glitches in one visit.

occarfan

The dealer tried to fix my liftgate 3X to no avail.
I just learned to live with it.

JimBarnhart

I agree, I've noticed the same sensitivity to cold weather. In the past couple of weeks I've noticed the problem re-occuring and haven't had a problem since last winter. I am able to close it using the switch up front, sometimes it will close automagically when I start moving forward.

mbslk350

Well (fingers crossed) the rear liftgate appears to be OK now. They adjusted the latch to increase the backpressure. As we've seen, higher backpressure makes the liftgate close all the way. So far so good.

They also replaced the air compressor and the relay per the service campaign. And flashed in new software for the low oil message. When I asked why not replace the sensor, the SA told me MB wants them to reflash first and then only replace the sensor if the problem persists. SA claims the software fixes the problem 90+ percent of the time. We'll see.

Regarding oil change, I always tell them to use the MB-approved 229.51 oil for 2007+ MY diesels. Upon picking up the GL, I checked the oil and found it to be on the low end of the dipstick range. I asked for a bottle of the 229.51 oil to bring home for future top-offs. Which started a whole big discussion of how it's OK to use any Mobil 1 synthetic oil and me stressing that NO it's NOT ok. And by the way, I sure hope you didn't put the regular stuff into my car. Long story short, I escalated to Service Manager and MB HQ. Service manager claims they know the difference, the SA misspoke, and I can be assured that they put the 229.51 Mobil 1 ESP Formula M into the car.

Word from MB HQ says any oil that is 229.51 approved is OK. Not just Mobil 1 ESP Formula M. But it MUST be 229.51.

So I guess it worked out fine but I'm not convinced anybody knows what type of oil they put in there.

cablvr

How timely! Tuesday night, with temps getting below 35F, the tailgate began to wimp out when trying to close. I had to give the tailgate a push to secure it. Tried again yesterday during the day when temp got a bit warmer, but same problem. Will have to bring it in to dealer soon for a look.

jprescott

We have only had the car for a few weeks but I also notice that it closes the rest of the way when the car starts moving forward.