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Retrofitting Power Tailgate – Wiring Help Needed

Pawel85
Pawel85
in Ford S-Max Club

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Hi everyone,
I have a Ford S-MAX Vignale 2.0 Bi-Turbo, nearly full spec. I say "nearly" because it came with every single option except one – the power liftgate.

I’ve decided to retrofit it and have already gathered (I believe) all the required parts: original electric struts, PLDM module, full power tailgate wiring harness, tailgate button, driver-side button, soft-close latch, and position sensors.

The issue is that my car’s cabin wiring harness does not have the connectors for the PLDM module. The tailgate harness connects to the main body harness at the roof (near the headliner), but this connector is not pre-wired for power liftgate – many pins are missing or unused.

So now I need to:

  • Identify which wires from the roof connector should be connected to which pins on the PLDM.

  • Run new wires from that roof connector down to the PLDM manually.

  • And then connect the PLDM to CAN High, CAN Low, +12V power, and ground.

I've gone too far with this retrofit to stop now and really want to finish it.
Is there anyone here who has done this retrofit before or has a factory-equipped S-MAX with power tailgate and lives somewhere near Dublin (Ireland)?
If you’d be open to letting me take a few photos of your wiring (especially wire colours), it would help me finish this project properly.

Thanks a lot in advance!

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