Trunk release not working bad internal relay.

[perro_1]

I recently purchase a 2007 Ford Edge with 135,000 miles and when bought it they guy told me that the only issue the car had was the trunk will not open. Two new axels, 2 tide rods later and the future need to replace the OSS and TSS sensors due to
"Jerky Transmission" here I am. Let me tell you NOT BEING ABLE TO OPEN THE LIFT GATE "Trunk" is a pain and although I can crawl into the back and manually release it, the prospect of doing that is maddening.

 

So without testing I purchase a new slighly used actuator motor/lock thinking that the most probable cause of this problem will be a bad actuator, Wrong, (Good thing i only paid $50 on Ebay) after finally having the time to troubleshoot I found the following: After taking the cover off for the gate I got to the cables, from observation I've deducted the following: From the cable harness that connect the actuator, brown yellow, two black cables and a green-white cable .

 

Brown Yellow = signal from the switch (Negative)

Black x2 = Ground

Green-Yellow = Release trunk actuator (Positive)

 

So to test I got my portable battery starter and cut a couple of wires one for each + and - and proceeded to do high level test, peeled the cable so they were exposed to connect the cable and with the positive to the green-yellow i was able to get the release motor to actuate the release mechanism. (By the way I had to connect the negative on the portable battery starter to ground on the vehicle, the trunk loop was good enough, to complete the circuit) Then like magic I got to press the release button on the actual door (Lift gate) and it actually works. - I am thinking the relay was stuck and now is not.

 

So I put it all back together and then I go to breakfast , it still working, i go to the market stops working.

 

So the long story short: The internal relay that sends the positive signal to the release mechanism for the actuator is faulty , not sending the signal to release. (not sure what is the interaction with the release switch) meaning after you press the switch at the lift gate is that when the signal from the switch (-) negative triggers the relay to send the positive signal to actuator via the green yellow cable?

 

So to Mickey mouse it, I have an old toy quad starting button, so on the wiring harness on the drivers kick panel - right next to fuse box , I find the green-white cable without cutting it, I connect one side of the push release button to power + on one side and the starting push release button and the other cable to the green-white cable - So now I have the ability to manually actuate the release button although my luck you have to be by the door to fully open the lift gate when you press the button, it releases but it does not open the gate, (Unlocks only) So now is down to a two person job. Beat the C* out of crawling from the back to manually release the trunk actuator.

 

From reading I have found you cannot replace the relay is part of internal working of the fuse box so I am open to suggestion if anyone has any!

 

My only idea is to purchase an Alarm and have the wiring connected so that I can press the button on the alarm FOB and be at the back of the vehicle when i do , I would be able to complete the process by opening the gate when the actuator releases.

 

How about adding a external relay, be honest I would not know how to connect it although I am sure there a plenty of smart people on this forum that can show me or tell me how...

 

Any suggestion are welcome!

 

Last how common is this problem, just curious???

Edited February 11, 2018 by perro_1