I had an issue come up about a week ago. The tailgate would not open, and I assume it was locked. I finally opened and slammed closed the step and was able to open the tailgate. Unfortunately, it seems that the tailgate no longer locks...

Has anyone experienced this issue and what recommendations to fix it?

 

The latches getting stuck? How cold is it there? Up in the great white North it's pretty damn cold and I haven't had an issue. Make sure it's lining up, and greased, but not too heavily.

 

I've seen people say their latch wouldn't work, and had to remove the access panel to get it to open up... Wonder what gave.

 

I'm in Dallas, it's actually just getting "cold" here now (mid 40s), but when it happened, it was warm. It's really like when the tailgate is locked and you try to open it, the handle lifts, but doesn't engage to release the tailgate.

Since I closed the step while in the tailgate closed position, the handle works, but now never locks.

 

Thanks, I'll take a look in there to see. I assume that's where the lock actuator is?

 

Yup. That's where everything is. One guy was asking on here if there was a way to lock the tailgate. Turned out his electronics were unplugged. Look under the bed where the tailgate meets the bed. That's where the plug is for the tailgate electronics. If that doesn't help then I'd open the access panel and check for a loose connection. Does your backup camera work?

 

Yeah, no problems there. I'll check the connections inside the tailgate. Might be a bad solenoid.

 

Maybe so. There may be two connections under the tailgate, I'm not sure. But it's worth looking.