Tailgate don't latch after battery drained

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chanwmr

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Hi all,

I did a boo boo and I should have known better. With my 07 Libby battery being drained, I opened the tailgate by hand. This caused the door and window left open until the car is back up running again.

Here is the issue... My car now starts. I was able to close the tailgate window but the tailgate door still does not latch. I already tried multiple times with the key fob cycling open and close (with the car off). I tried flipped the latch itself (which seems to be working). And, I even pulled the panel out to actuate the mechanism by hand (which also seems to be working). Door still doesn't close.

Can someone help? (I did a quick search here but could not find the answer. Sorry!)

Thanks in advance!
 
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LibertyTC

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Yeiks This does not sound like much fun.
Hopefully your battery is now fully charged and holding/ reading around 12.5V, jeep will do strange stuff if battery is not strong /up to speed.
How old is the battery? You may consider load testing the battery.
Use a volt meter what is the battery voltage reading not running?
Start jeep what is the output voltage reading?

Use your owners manual to find the fuses relating to the tailgate, make sure nothing is blown.
Possibly removing both + and - battery terminals- then taping them together for 45 minutes may re-set things..??
 

chanwmr

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Yeiks This does not sound like much fun.
Hopefully your battery is now fully charged and holding/ reading around 12.5V, jeep will do strange stuff if battery is not strong /up to speed.
How old is the battery? You may consider load testing the battery.
Use a volt meter what is the battery voltage reading not running?
Start jeep what is the output voltage reading?

Use your owners manual to find the fuses relating to the tailgate, make sure nothing is blown.
Possibly removing both + and - battery terminals- then taping them together for 45 minutes may re-set things..??

Thanks for responding. let me see if my meter still works. I could charge up the batt some more. I only did it for an hour or so this morning. The batt is roughly 3 years old.

I recall making the same mistake a few years back but I cannot remember how I was able to bring it back (on this or another Libby -- we had 3.). Maybe it was a brand new battery that fixed the issue.
 

chanwmr

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It turned out to be a broken latch. Who would have thunk just when the batt was drained. Just pulled one from a pull yard and it's all good now. Thanks for your help, LibertyTC!
 

LibertyTC

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Glad you scored a new latch from the yard. Good work ! :)
 

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