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'05 Focus Tailgate/boot Problem


rosey58
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My Focus Estate has the switch not working issue, but the key fob opens the tailgate.

I just took the tailgate bits apart to investigate.

Water ingress seems to be the issue, an additional tests you may want to try, disconnect the switch where it joins the wiring loom.

When you reconnect, if you hear the opening mechanism operate it suggests the switch is permanently closed.

if its similar to the mk1 when you remove the 4 screws/bolts holding the outside handle that houses the lights do you have a double sided sticky gasket? if so this is where the water gets in a new gasket will be required and the remains of the old one removed when you fit the new gasket you will notice it doesnt go all the way along in fact it leaves a gap that water gets into there are drain holes so technically that shouldnt be an issue unless it rains heavy since that handle doesnt ever really need to come off you could use a clear mastic or sealant to make sure it stays water tight or if you can some of that sticky stuff they use to put the padding behind the door card the black stuff any of these will seal it and stop the water

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if the boot is releasing when the brake pedal is pressed there is most likly a short circit in the tailgate wireing causing the tailgate solinoid the activate when the brake light circut is powered up.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

My 2005 Focus has developed a similar problem ie: the solenoid opens when the brake pedal is used. I have discovered that the solenoid operates under the following conditions. Car is stationary with the ignition turned on, Brake pedal is depressed, and the solenoid operates only when the brake pedal is released.

I thought about a wiring fault but these conditions seem to rule that out and my wiring seems in good order and ther is no water ingress.

has anyone experienced the same problem?

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hello,

i have the exact same problem with the boot opening with the brake pedel being released! the switch works on the outside. Ive pulled the boot liner off and you can disconnect the micro switch and this has no effect on the issue. there doesnt seem to eb much, if any, water ingress.

im stuck as to what to look at now as this is obviously not an isolated issue. and would like to know how to proceed. im thinking of swapping the lock mechanism out but as this appears to work (although at the wrong times) i dont want to spend 60 quid on something thats probably not the issue.

does anyone else have any thoughts? are there any common issues with the wiring loom rubbing in the boot?

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hello,

i have the exact same problem with the boot opening with the brake pedel being released! the switch works on the outside. Ive pulled the boot liner off and you can disconnect the micro switch and this has no effect on the issue. there doesnt seem to eb much, if any, water ingress.

im stuck as to what to look at now as this is obviously not an isolated issue. and would like to know how to proceed. im thinking of swapping the lock mechanism out but as this appears to work (although at the wrong times) i dont want to spend 60 quid on something thats probably not the issue.

does anyone else have any thoughts? are there any common issues with the wiring loom rubbing in the boot?

Hi Andybrad

Thanks for the feedback Nice to know mine is not an isolated incident.

I discounted a wiring loom problem as the fault occurs when the brake pedal is released., plus my loom seems in good order.

I have still not got a lot further other than I left my inside plastic tailgate liner off for a couple of days so that I could disconnect the latch assembly easily and drive without it opening, only to find that the fault has now disappeared.

this leads me to think it may well be a faulty latch assembly which is being affected by condensation after the cold weather?

Apparently there is an electronic module within the assembly which has a microswitch which plays up?

I understand electrics but not electronics, however damp and electronics dont mix.

I am going to remove the latch assembly and take off the plastic covers and see if there is any obvious damage.

As there seems to be a common problem with this latch I am also looking into ways of insulating the inside of the outer skin to the tailgate with something like thin polystyrene in the hope that this cures any condensation problems. I will post the outcome asap but sorry I am a bit busy to tackle it at present. cheers John.

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RIGHT,

i took the boot lining out on the passenger side. found a multi connector and took it appart and sprayed with a bit of 3in1 oil. went to the gym. when i got back it seemed to be sorted. happy days. I took the oppertunity to give the lock mechanism a good dousing with it as well.

seems to be sorted but i dont know if its just because its dried out a bit. either way its working

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RIGHT,

i took the boot lining out on the passenger side. found a multi connector and took it appart and sprayed with a bit of 3in1 oil. went to the gym. when i got back it seemed to be sorted. happy days. I took the oppertunity to give the lock mechanism a good dousing with it as well.

seems to be sorted but i dont know if its just because its dried out a bit. either way its working

Thanks for that.

Hav'nt tried the connector yet but sounds like a good idea. In the mean time I spoke to my local ford dealer who was suprisingly helpful. He indicated the same connector but also said that the Gen board which is located under the dash passenger side gives loads of wierd electrical problems. It to is affected by damp and green deposists can be found which causes electrical tracking this makes sense to me but I hope that is not my problem as it costs about £325 for the part and it has to be programmed back in. you have to be careful when disconnecting multi connectors on this board as for instance the green one will require the key code to the radio if disconnected.

Happy hunting.

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I have got a 56 reg focus zetec hatch.

I do not have the tail gate switch problem but i have noticed while lifting the tailgate up that there has been water ingress in the number plate lights. (some dried up brown deposit, water has been there before)

Is this the start of the tailgate switch problem?

Does anybody know where does the water enters the tailgate to damage the tailgate switch?

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  • 2 months later...

I have got a 06 focus saloon I could not open my boot, some times it would open then it would not, I took the lock apart lock was ok

if I closed the boot half way it would work if I shut boot fully it would not work also the boot light stopped working, so I started looking at the wiring

and found where the wiring goes from the boot lid to the boot through the (rubber boot) the wiring was broken and frayed

I have now sorted the wiring out and all is working fine now

Hope this helps some one out

468993000_o.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice write up Catch. Would be interesting to hear the theories on why disconnecting and subsequently reconnecting the battery causes this problem to rear it head?

As said, my next line of attack will be to clean the switch contacts as i suspect them.

Hi

I removed the rubber cover on the Tailgate On my Estate water came out of it.I had to replace the Switch (£30).Water was getting in on the Plastic Trim that holds the Reg Plate lights etc i put clear sylicon sealer around the trim before i tighned the 4 nuts up this has cured it and there is no water getting in.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi All

Seem to have solved this problem of releasing the brake pedal unlocking the tailgate and the release switch not working.

Pull back the near side rear boot liner and there will be a big black connector. Just moving the bunch of cables operated the tailgate lock. When I pulled it apart there was a little water inside. Liberal spray of WD40 on both sides of the connector and then reassembly and everything works fine.

It is a bit difficult to get the trim back into place. I had to remove the trim moulding across the rear of the inside of the boot. It is only held in by some push-in plastic clips which are a bit of a challenge.

All this recent rain must be the cause but at least it only took a couple of sprays of WD40. I'll try some extra sealer on the gromet that the tail light wires and the screw holes as that is only place the water can have come from.

I have had to do the same to the bulb holders in the rear lights and indicators in the past to get them working again.

Thanks for you help

Regards

David

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  • 4 months later...

I too have recently had the problem where the boot switch refuses to work, the boot unlatches when the break pedal is released, and the keyfob button works okay. At first I thought it must be the boot switch unit, not helped by the fact that the problem goes away a couple of days after the rain has stopped. Cleaned out the switch, no real sign of water ingress in it -- couple of days (and some more rain) later, problem reoccurred.

Have read through all the info here, and eventually homed in on the black connector block, near side, behind lots of hard to remove trim -- nothing obviously wrong with it, no sign of dampness, but touching it caused the latch to start jumping madly. Fiddled around a bit, and the latch started working normally, rear button works, no activity on break light deactivation.

Still not certain as to exactly where the problem lies -- it must be a short somewhere, there's a cable disappearing from the black connector into the reversing lights / rear fog light assembly -- this is very low down and must constantly be exposed to kick-up moisture from the road.There was significant water ingress around the center rear break light, but disconnecting this assembly made no difference. There was slight water ingress around the tail-light assembly, particularly on the near side, indicating that moisture may have made it down to the connector block, but there's no sign on the block itself.

Will have to keep monitoring the situation -- will post back if any more determinative information.

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  • 3 years later...

Found a blog on another site, tried what was suggested and it worked straight away! Here's what I did:

There is an electrical connector behind the carpet covering the side of the boot area on the passenger side (nearside) which you will need to pull back. I partially removed the plastic trim which normally supports the parcel shelf (be very careful not to break the plastic clips) then I peeled the carpet back. There is an electrical connector behind the carpet which is easily seen. I carefully separated the two halves of the connector by pushing the small tab in on the connector. I then put some Vaseline on the tip of a small screwdriver so I could smear some Vaseline on each of the connections inside the plug. For good measure I also removed the earthing screw and put some Vaseline on the eye connectors before refitting. I put everything back together and it worked fine.

Some people may need to remove corrosion or stop any water leaks as well - luckily I didn't have to.

See photos for reference.

Good luck everyone!

post-71140-0-73236400-1452430141_thumb.j

post-71140-0-51320200-1452430172_thumb.j

post-71140-0-65791800-1452430211_thumb.j

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  • 5 months later...

 

On 7/31/2010 at 4:21 PM, paramaniac said:

50202108.jpg

 

On 7/31/2010 at 4:21 PM, paramaniac said:

To get at the manual boot open switch, you need to undo these 2 screws inside the 2 recesses where you put your hands to close the boot:

70048090.jpg

The the whole piece of plastic trim inside your boot/tailgate pops out. It's held in place by plastic and metal poppers (as well as the 2 screws you've just taken out) so it needs a bit of force to get off. Now you have revealed the inner workings of your boot including the rear wiper motor, boot locking mechanism, back of the numberplate lights etc. Now you have to undo these 4 screws which hold the piece of plastic trim that houses the numberplate lights and the boot switch on the outside of the boot.

22465431.jpg

Now you can pop out the piece of trim and get at the back of the boot switch. You will have to unscrew your numberplate lights and remove those too but that's easy.

I got my switch out and you can see from the pics it's clearly had a lot of water get to it. I probably need to replace this. I'm no electrician so I didn't know how to test the switch once i'd got it out.

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50202108.jpg

Hi the boot release switch isn't working on my focus mk2 as well. I've bought a replacement switch but I'm not a very technical person and not sure where to begin...I don't see the 2 screws in the recesses you are referring to. I can see the 2 on each number plate light. The text is very helpful and i'm sure the pictures are too but they don't appear to load? Please can you someone point me in the right direction? Many thanks.      

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14 minutes ago, mabzh92 said:

I've bought a replacement switch but I'm not a very technical person and not sure where to begin...I don't see the 2 screws in the recesses you are referring to

Not sure what type of car you have. If it is the estate, then the recesses are inside the tailgate, quite near the bottom.

If it is hatchback then I think the trim is held in by some "scrivets". These are a simple plastic expanding bush, with a screw in the middle. Screw or prise the screw out, then remove the bush. Then pull down the edge of the boot lid trim panel & prise out the interior grab handle from the lid.

The post you are reading is 6 years old, and the pictures may have evaporated into the cloud at some time!

Any further problems, please post here.

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10 hours ago, Tdci-Peter said:

Not sure what type of car you have. If it is the estate, then the recesses are inside the tailgate, quite near the bottom.

If it is hatchback then I think the trim is held in by some "scrivets". These are a simple plastic expanding bush, with a screw in the middle. Screw or prise the screw out, then remove the bush. Then pull down the edge of the boot lid trim panel & prise out the interior grab handle from the lid.

The post you are reading is 6 years old, and the pictures may have evaporated into the cloud at some time!

Any further problems, please post here.

Thanks for your reply Peter, I was worried no one would reply given it's 6 years old! I have a 1.8 tdci hatchback. The remote key has packed in (tried changing the battery!) and the boot release switch stopped working a few months ago. Can't get the MOT done without the boot opening so hopefully with you're advice i'll at least be able to use the switch.   

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8 hours ago, mabzh92 said:

I have a 1.8 tdci hatchback.

Unfortunately I have the estate, so the info I gave on the hatchback came from Haynes, as opposed to real life! Not always the same, unfortunately.

I have the wiring diagram for the Mk2 Focus (132 A2 pages!). The common link between the RF receiver (for the remote control), and all the door latches is the BCM (Body Control Module, aka GEM). This is part of the passenger fuse box.

The info below is a bit technical, so if replacing the switch does not work, you may need to call on the services of a friend, or local, trustable garage. If all electrical tests fail to reveal the fault, it suggests the fault is the BCM. While I can advise on some diagnostic tests for this module, it is a complex electronic unit, and may need a specialist.

The release button should have a 2 wire connector, one goes to ground, & one to the BCM. If you have a dvm (multimeter), you can remove this connector and check the switch works ok.

The latch should have a 5 (or more) pin connector, only 3 seem to be used.  Pin 2 is ground, Pins 1 & 3 go to the BCM. Pin 1 is the motor, I would expect applying 12v to this pin (& 0v to Pin 2) would release the latch. Pin 3 is the door ajar sensor switch (with pin 2 as common ground).

If the switch & latch check out ok, then that suggests a problem with the wiring to the BCM, or with the BCM itself.

There is a connector, C58. with 17 pins, somewhere between boot lid & BCM, may be near the hinges, but I have not checked. I can not see any fuses specific to boot latch.

Whether, if urgently needed, it would be possible to disconnect the existing wiring, and "hotwire" 12v through the switch and latch motor, I would not like to say. The switch will not be rated for this duty, so it is only a last ditch resort, and may not work.

All I can think of at the moment. Please post any results or questions here.

Peter.

 

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Problems solved! 

Key - Went to Timpsons  to get a replacement key for £95 less than half price quoted by Ford. They tested my key and said there is still a signal coming out of the key so doesn't need replacing. Tried to reprogramme the key again but the car didn't even go in to learning mode. Thought there might be a problem with the GEM which from looking a another forum a potential fix was to disconnect the battery and re connect... hey presto the key starts working again! Which meant the boot would finally open went and got the MOT done with no problems :)  

Boot switch -  Now that the boot opens I could see the 2 screws in the recess that was being referred to above! Managed to replace the switch with a new one for £10 from Ebay and that fixed the switch problem as well! Pics below for anyone else who initially struggled. I think the problem was water damage in the old switch. 

Thanks for your help!

2016-07-02 12.37.06.jpg

2016-06-28 15.38.25.jpg

2016-07-02 12.30.39.jpg

2016-07-02 12.40.42.jpg

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On 02/07/2016 at 1:09 PM, mabzh92 said:

Went to Timpsons  to get a replacement key for £95 less than half price quoted by Ford. They tested my key

Sounds like Timpsons deserve a really BIG FAT mention here, for competence & honesty!

So GO TO Timpson's! if you have any key problemsbiggrin.png

Unfortunately, I think Timpsons are a franchise operation, so individual branches may vary hugely. So please don't swamp this thread with hatemail about TImpson's keys not working, they did a good job here.

I have heard the old disconnect the battery trick mentioned many, many times, and very rarely hear of any success. It did not work on my old V*****ll, all that happened was the windows lost their auto open/close facilitywacko.png. But I am glad it worked here.

Good news (for a change!)smile.png

And I like the switch change photos, that sort of stuff is always useful.

Peter.

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  • 2 years later...
On 1/25/2011 at 9:25 AM, andybrad said:

RIGHT,

i took the boot lining out on the passenger side. found a multi connector and took it appart and sprayed with a bit of 3in1 oil. went to the gym. when i got back it seemed to be sorted. happy days. I took the oppertunity to give the lock mechanism a good dousing with it as well.

seems to be sorted but i dont know if its just because its dried out a bit. either way its working

Thanks for this andybrad, it fixed the problem that has been driving me nuts.

I have a 2005 Focus 1.6 petrol hatchback (Ghia).

Had it for four years,no problems. Then a couple of weeks ago the tailgate began unlocking and unlatching by itself while I was driving. Took me a while to work out what was going on as it seemed random at first but it was not. These are the things I noticed;

  • After I started the car, the tailgate would unlock every time I released the brake pedal. Not when I pressed the pedal, when I released it. The warning light on the dashboard would then come on sometimes, with the message "luggage compartment open". I could feel the tailgate judder when I went over bumps in the road, and after stopping to check, the tailgate was always unlatched.
  • When I parked the car and locked it with the key fob the tailgate locked OK. But when I used the fob to unlock the car, I could not open the tailgate by pressing the rubber covered switch built into the tailgate itself (between the number plate lights). The tailgate would only unlock if I pressed the tailgate button on the key fob (twice).
  • When the brake pedal was actually depressed - when the brake lights were on - I found that the rubber covered switch in the tailgate did work, releasing the tailgate as it usually would (I discovered this while parked up, by jamming the brake pedal down with an umbrella and then going round to the back of the car to try the switch). This told me that the microswitch inside the rubber covered part was working properly.
  • Before reading your message I disassembled the tailgate and examined the inside of the rubber covered switch and number plate light areas. I found no water had got in, everything was pretty clean and dry.

Upon reading your message I pulled out the boot lining just as you did.

As soon as I did this, the tail gate lock began clicking. I never actually found which connection was loose (there is a big bundle there) but I generally pulled them all about a bit and made sure they were all fully connected and no wires were overly stretched. The area behind the boot lining was also clean and dry. Since putting everything back together I have had no problems at all. The tailgate now works exactly as it should.

Thanks again sir!

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  • 4 months later...
On 7/13/2012 at 1:00 AM, David-RA said:

Hi All

Seem to have solved this problem of releasing the brake pedal unlocking the tailgate and the release switch not working.

Pull back the near side rear boot liner and there will be a big black connector. Just moving the bunch of cables operated the tailgate lock. When I pulled it apart there was a little water inside. Liberal spray of WD40 on both sides of the connector and then reassembly and everything works fine. 

It is a bit difficult to get the trim back into place. I had to remove the trim moulding across the rear of the inside of the boot. It is only held in by some push-in plastic clips which are a bit of a challenge.

All this recent rain must be the cause but at least it only took a couple of sprays of WD40. I'll try some extra sealer on the gromet that the tail light wires and the screw holes as that is only place the water can have come from.

I have had to do the same to the bulb holders in the rear lights and indicators in the past to get them working again.

Thanks for you help

Regards

David

Yep, there was fault 🙂

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  • 1 month later...

2006 focus hatch with boot release not working from the handle , but works ok from the key fob , 

problem solved ,check wiring at the switch connection should be a live feed and an earth , if not check the wiring connector in the n/s/r quarter after removing trim panels

found corrosion in the multi plug and remade connection (feed wire had corroded so much it had fallen out ) looks like water leaks through wiring gromet and travels down to rear quarter connector block .

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