Jeep Grand Cherokee Forum banner

Rear hatch liftgate open sensor repair/replacment '96-'98 ZJ

55K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  burtonridr 
#1 ·
Small issue, but this will set off your alarm in the middle of the night and cause your battery to go dead by turning on the interior lights etc.

I attched only a few pics since I don't have a host site to upload from.

The last ZJ I had I just replaced the rear liftgate glass sensor. This time I was able to repair it. Basicly, the sensor is a spring loaded switch, that over time of being pushed on constantly, can loosen itself from it's captured bracket.

In the following pics you can see that the sensor is made of plastic and sits in a metal housing. After removing the rear hatch panel and then the sensor, I was easily able to push and hold the black plastic part into it's housing and crimp it down with a set of pliers. (I actually used fencing pliers since they had a 4 point contact jaw). You can see where the pliers peeled up some metal to capture the plastic. I then applied some JB quick and reinstalled the sensor back into it's bracket.

Now this issue was the liftgate glass sensor, but the actual lift gate sensor is exactly the same, so repairs to that one would be similar. Except you have to remove the latch assembly to access the sensor.

While I was in there, I removed the electronic lock solonoid, cleaned and lubricated it as well as adjusted the door rod. This is highly recommended, since if your door is ever locked shut and cannot be opened, there will besome dissection of inner panel plastic to get it opened.
 

Attachments

See less See more
3
#2 ·
I think I had the same problem. Problems with the alarm going off randomly, draining the battery. Dome lights flashing while driving down the road. Thought it was a door switch, thought it was the tailgate. Finally figured out it was the glass.

After removing the interior molding (re-breaking just about every one of the little plastic fasteners -- should have remembered that from my wiper replacement a few years back) ... I just unplugged the stupid bracket. If I need the light when I open the glass I'll just reach in and turn it on!
 
#3 ·
Rear hatch liftgate tailgate open ajar sensor repair

The Problem: Is the sensor works it's way out of it's flimsy crimped metal housing and then does not read properly.

The Solution: Re-seat the sensor and re-crimp the metal.

Here is the sensor as it sat before fixing it, notice is is not seated all the way in.

Using channel locks I squeezed it back in.

almost in.....

There ya go.

Now let's address the crimp, it's pretty loose.

Using the same channel locks I addressed the crimp. Back in working order.
 
#4 ·
How '97 Grand Cherokee ZJ liftgate open sensor works

How it works (if you don't get it already):

As the latch swings closed it hits the little button indicated with dark red

(from the other side with the sensor removed) The button is actually a rod which pushes on the sensor.

Sensor/glass open, lights on

sensor/glass closed, lights off

The whole assembly.


Since my '97 has the flip-up glass I have two of these sensors in my tailgate. The above images detail the sensor from the glass. Below is a second sensor located inside the latch. I would assume that troubleshooting this sensor is much like above and hopefully the above details helps you get what might be going on. Good luck!

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top