Rear Liftgate not closing completely
 

I have a 2007 GL450. Every five or so closings, the power liftgate will not close completely so the car won't lock. Has anyone else had this problem?

I've not heard this PARTICULAR problem description, but the latch adjustments are known to be very sensitive to getting it exactly right.

Yes, I had the same problem got fixed yesterday. Dealer did some adjustments on the rear door the first time. I drove my car for a few days and had the same problem. Second time, dealer ended up changing the compressor for the tailgate. Its workin so far.

When you had it fixed at the dealer, was it covered under the warranty?

We had this problem with our 09' Gl550 at delivery and had it repaired a total of 3 times. It initially was a bad wire contact, then hinge/latch adjustment and lastly, the computer software had to be updated. The last fix was the one that did it. Its been 9 months now and all solved.

Liftgate is/was a common problem point on the GL. My latch was replaced last week also due to an opening problem. All covered under warranty as long as your 4 years are not up and you have not exceeded 50K.

My wife's GL450 is now having this problem, and it's out of warranty. The motor that controls the latching doesn't seem to be running. The fuse is fine, and there is power to every on the liftgate (power close, lock, wiper, lights, etc all work) so I don't think this is a contact issue.

Anyone replace this themselves?

There are knobs either on the tail gate or the frame that allows adjustments. Just turn them and it will lock. I don't have to move them much to make the tail gate close and lock again on my truck.

The motor that engages the lock isn't turning (totally silent), so in my case, it's not an adjustment issue.

I can now tell you that it costs about $600 to replace the lock motor. It wasn't an alignment or software issue. *sigh*

Received the same ridiculous quote on my 2008 gl CDI-hatch "soft closes" but only latches about 50% of the time and it has gotten worse. Anyone know if you can just disable the motor function (remove fuse?) and slam it manually, i.e. old school?

I know this is odd, but when you close the gate are any of the doors open? There is an issue with the negative pressure. Had my mechanisim replaced on my 2011 and it works great.

I just had my liftgate fixed. My problem is the hatch wouldn't close when the weather got cold. It was a switch and motor that needed replacing. $1400, but covered on my extended warranty.

My wife's GL320 CDI had a liftgate tgat would not close. I replaced the lock mechanism in about 45 mins and it seems to work perfectly. It's not too bad of a job to do.

Lift Gate Draining Battery
 

Has anyone else had issues with their battery dying due to Lift Gate Issues? The other night the car began making a beeping sound at 3am, beeped for 8 hours in my garage before I could contact MBrace. No power, would not start, etc.. Tech arrived and jumped, car started, no issues in the past few days. However, this happened two years ago (no beeping, but car wouldn't start) and we replaced battery @ $300+. The Lift Gate motor doesn't seem to be engaging properly and therefore not completely locking the gate. Normally, I have to slam it shut in order for it to lock. Now, the handle on the outside seems to be sticking. Service at Dealership doesn't feel battery needs replacing, I am concerned due to the fact battery is out of warranty in Nov. 2014. As a side note, car is also out of warranty. Any suggestions?

Yes, absolutely!
If the latch handle above the license plate sticks in the squeezed position, I believe that it keeps power to the hatch hydraulic lift pump running and will kill the battery within a day. Seemed to stick more if it's dirty back there. Just make sure the handle is not in the squeezed position until the handle is replaced.
(I wrote about it here .)

And yes, mine doesn't close completely all the time. When it doesn't fully engage, I notice that the hatch button on the driver's door is lit, and I just tap the button, and the door motor completes the closure and turns the red light out.

Tailgate will come back open
 

My GL-450 will start to close the tailgate but midway will come back as if it bumped into something, but the way is clear. If I help it with my hand it will continue and close. Any Ideas?

I have the exact problem....do not know if it is the struts going bad or the compressor or both....thoughts?

I am having the same problem with my GLS450, please how did you get this fixed and how much did it cost? thanks.

Ojasky777: It sounds like there may be several different causes for this type of problem. I just fixed mine for free a couple of months ago. In my particular case, the rear door would lower all the way to a visually closed position but the latch would not engage so the door was basically slightly ajar. (Warning lights & bells on dash)

I read somewhere to do this test: use a screwdriver to push in the latch mechanism on the door itself to see if it "clicks" into a locked position. Then use the manual hand pull release to pull it and unlatch the lock mechanism. (I didnt even know that was there, but I pulled it and my lock unlatched)

I believe I could get the tailgate to lock one time after doing this and then it would fail every time after that,

So you might try that simple test. If your problem is like mine then you may be able to try the fix I did.

On YouTube, I found a video where they show how to take apart and service the latch mechanism.
That's what I did, and it has worked flawlessly since then. There was nothing to buy and the time took me 1-2hrs total.

I had the "occasionally gate folds down but does not latch/lock" syndrome. In my case it was the actuator which resides in the tailgate. I traced my problem to a bad electric motor in the actuator (there are two). I wrote a thread of the internals of the actuator.

Fixed it by replacing the motor. Also bought a new Chinese made actuator which I installed since the parts were not going to make it very quickly. I have been using the Chinese actuator since last winter, no problems so far. The OE actuator is a spare now, with one Chinese motor. It is a bit of a nuisance to remove the inside liftgate panel and gain spacious access to the manual release cable. Take your time and go slow. And probably have a few spare plastic trim panel retainers to replace in case you snap some. You could also try to partially unhinge the panel from the lower end to about the middle and fish the cable. The risk of breaking retainers is lower with the partial method.

Lift gate close all way
 

what was the motor part number and where did you find it? I
jave the part number but can not find it online to buy. My lift gate will close but not suck in. I replaced latch and dealership said the pump is bad. I don’t want to pay outrageous dealership price. Where can I buy it?? Thanks.

re: motor part number. Which motor are you referring to? Your liftgate had an actuator which is responsible for locking/unlocking and pulls the liftgate inwards when it closes. There are two electric motors jnside it. These are the motors I replaced. Purchased online, either via Ebay or Amazon or aliexpress. You replaced your actuator, I believe. Where did you buy yours? I purchased an actuator on Amazon for about 120-130 Canadian Dollars. Not as cheap as the $35 specimens from China, not as expensive as the MB branded ones from the dealer. It is still working, in use for about a year and 3-4 months now.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​regarding the liftgate not being sucked in, did you or anyone else make any changes to the horseshoe hook? It can be a reason why your liftgate does not retract as snug as it used to. Changing he actuator should not be a reason to relign that piece, but it is worth looking into this.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​re: pump. If your liftgate is raising up fine, your pump may not be a problem. Look at the pump and see if there are any signs of corrosion. Also check the fluid level. There are youtube videos which explain where it is and how to get to it. I have a thread in this forum which I wrote when I troubleshoot and replaced the motors in the actuator. It had the part numbers of the motors I replaced. I can try to look that up, or of you search for my started threads it should come up.

Found the thread I had made about the actuator internals. If you need the two motors inside the actuator, the part numbers are inside this thread. Look at the pics for markings on the motors. https://mbworld.org/forums/gl-class-...-s-inside.html

Hi, did you ever get an answer to this question? My trunk closes half way and goes back up, it feels like it's struggling a little on the way down.