Tailgate won't lock - actuator issue?

[slipd]

Hi guys,

Just tried to shut my tailgate, after successfully opening it, and it won't lock. There is also no electric sound coming from the actuator. The rest of the central locking (4 door) is fine.

The tailgate is showing as open on my dash and I have no rear wiper. Thoughts at this stage?

I'm just keen to get the tailgate locked at the moment, for security. Isn't there a manual override on the reverse of the tailgate?

2007 1.6 FSi.

Thanks in advance!

[Lewo]

Check the wires from tailgate into the car left hand side, sounds like some of them have issues.

[slipd]

Thanks mate! Will do. I recall moving the rubber wire boot last year to clean around the inside of the tailgate and thinking how clean and tidy everything looked there. I've seen on some videos, is it the earth wire that can get brittle and break? It's weird how I'm getting some sort of electrical noise from the actuator though/tailgate open warning on the dash. That's what made me think the actuator was at fault. I had to replace a couple of the door actuators the other year that had started to make weird noises and not always open/lock.

I've just tried to use the emergence lever to lock the tailgate but it's not having any one it, so as it stands, I can't actually lock the tailgate... any ideas with that? - just need a quick fix in case I can't get sorted for a for days.

A quick check for fault codes has revealed nothing.

[mjmallia]

As mentioned, it will be broken wires on the left boot hinge

[slipd]

Thanks all, happy to report it was only the actuator... £10 from eBay compared to £85 from the dealership. Twenty minutes to fit

[Lewo]

Good news 

[mjmallia]

Well done.  Not heard of the actuator failing before.......always been the wires breaking in my experience 

[OldGTI]

I did mine last year. It was high level brake light that failed on mine. Not to bad to diy just replace one wire at a time.

[slipd]

I did mine last year. It was high level brake light that failed on mine. Not to bad to diy just replace one wire at a time.

Wow! Is it possible to replace the entire loom?

Feels like I got off lightly with just the actuator

[mjmallia]

It happens to all Mk5's at some stage in its life unfortunately......due to the lack of slack in the loom.

It is a pain if you have more than one wire broken as they are white mainly,

[OldGTI]

I did mine last year. It was high level brake light that failed on mine. Not to bad to diy just replace one wire at a time.

Wow! Is it possible to replace the entire loom?

Feels like I got off lightly with just the actuator

Yes you just have to strip the boot-lid and the nearside pillar to get to the connections. I did mine after my auto electrician showed the the broken wires and cracked insulation.