[Walkingchaos]

hey guys, ok so for some reason today my rear hatch decided it wasnt going to unlock anymore. I got it to unlock once and both handles worked fine (gate and glass) but once i locked it again it now wont unlock . . . what do i do ?

 

[RobtRoma]

Sounds like your actuator died. There is at least 1 post about it (CLICK HERE). If you do a search for actuator, you might be able to find more... It's a P.I.T.A. but it is fixable...

 

[LEO_Escape]

4 Choices:

1. Deal with it and rig up a wire hanger to it to lock and unlock it from the inside.

2. Go to Ford and buy the entire lock assembly (the only way to get the actuator) for +/- $120

3. Buy just the actuator from a third party for about +/- $14

4. Get a universal actuator and rig it up in place of the stock one +/- $7 (Route I chose)

There are a few posts on here relating to this.

 

[Walkingchaos]

thanks guys, does anyone have pictures or a writeup about how to get into the damn thing ?

 

[Walkingchaos]

ok bought the 3rd party actuator, 14$ . . score. Now i just need some help figuring out how to get into it to replace it . . . .

 

[RobtRoma]

THIS POST has a temporary fix and a few pictures of the locking system you can look at. It's not about rigging up the universal actuator though...

 

[RobtRoma]

HERE'S ANOTHER POST with a picture of the actuator and a link to a replacement unit....

 

[RobtRoma]

I couldn't find much else...

 

[Walkingchaos]

perfect, that will help alot! thanks!

 

[RobtRoma]

You're welcome. eace: I hope you can get it fixed quickly and with little trouble. If you want to help improve the site, take a few pictures and post them.

 

[JoeyK]

I got lucky when mine died on my wifes' '01 last summer. I was getting ready to order up a new one (I get a big discount) and wouldn't ya know we got an Escape with a bad rear hit in & ordered amongst other things; an LKQ (Recycled/ junkyard part) rear liftgate assembly. We only needed it for the gate shell itself so I got me a free latch assembly!
Swapping it over is a breeze if you get the whole assembly intact. Just mark which rod goes where.

 

[Walkingchaos]

ya once i get the actuator in ill shoot a bunch of shots and do a write up. I was planning on doing a write up on my intake install and fog light install if anyone would be interested. the old site i was on had write ups for everything down to changing your oil

 

[RobtRoma]

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Walkingchaos]

ok got the lock actuator in today and started into the repair. After I pulled the rear lanel off and manually moved the lock back and forth the old actuator started to work again. Im going to leave the panel off and see how long the old one lasts before doing the full replacement (its frikin cold out there) When I do ill post a how to on it. (btw it looks like the actuator itself screws in from the back (thanks ford) so you have to remove the whole lock mechanism to get into it )

 

[slackjaw]

subbed. Thanks for the links going to check them out now.