gman6262

Suddenly last week my tailgate glass is no longer supported by the hinge springs - I can feel most of the weight of the glass now when I open / close the glass. I suspect at least one broken or disengaged spring in the hinge mechanism. I did a quick search here, didn't find any related posts. Just to let everyone know that I'll be troubleshooting this and will take some photos, let you know how this goes. If anyone has any experience with this, I would love to hear it. Seasons greetings all!

donpb

You could just have a weak strut.

kd7iwp

No struts for the glass, just springs. I guess one could be broken or something. Weird.

gman6262

Had a closer look at it yesterday. It looks like the left hinge / spring is still okay, however the right spring is loose - the tab at the end of the spring is no longer bearing on the knob which supports the glass hinge. It looks like the hinges will pull straight out towards the rear of the car without having to disassemble the headliner or any major trim removal. I'm ordering some used springs today, when they get in I'll swap out the right and let everyone know how this goes. 216,000 km on the car now.


Spring tab (just behind cable) should bear on the black plastic knob to the left, the gap indicates that the spring is broken or the tab at the other end of the spring is disengaged somehow.

Jerry1847

i just replaced my tailgate if you need help. Its a bitch of a job and you 100% need two people.

There is little play for the wiring in there and the entire liftgate will need to come out to access the springs and mounting hardware IF you need to change a spring. The springs are really heavy duty so i would be surprised if that's it. I would remove the fin with the LED bar on the glass first, that should let you see back a little better. Its help od with 4 T30 bits from the bottom and then it slides DOWN towards the glass off retaining clips to remove. Watch the wiring from the left and right sides. the left side has like 2 plugs AND the washer fluid line, the right side had a ground wire and 2 clips. Can post pics of my old tailgate hatch and springs next week if it helps. Removing all the trim will also help see exactly what is going on.

gman6262

Jerry1847 - thanks for the offer. Coincidentally I just finished the job today. Removed the glass, disconnected the tailgate and slid it rearward about 6 inches, and replaced both hinges. I had one broken spring. Took about 4 hours in total.



Busted spring - corrosion cracked



Close to max disassembly - right tailgate spring removed.

It’s quite the job, but being familiar with the wiring and the spoiler helps. I took some video of the process, may stitch that together and post it when I find some free time.