My tailgate ONLY locks and unlocks manually

[wmsnyder]

I just found and watched it. How random is that!? He specifically says you will need the actual key to open the tailgate door.

I am going to take it in and have it looked at, but I am suspicious that some may be assuming theirs locks and unlocks with the fob when in actuality it does not.

I would encourage all to check this...

I have same issue, will only lock/unlock with key.
2018 JLU

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[Jeslokin]

Get PN 68282968AA . LATCH. Swing Gate. Power Lock. Its $71.00 at moparpartsoverstock dot com. Easy to replace.

 

[wmsnyder]

Get PN 68282968AA . LATCH. Swing Gate. Power Lock. Its $71.00 at moparpartsoverstock dot com. Easy to replace.

Already on order (out of stock). I think it was more than $71 though

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Already on order (out of stock). I think it was more than $71 though

You can find 68282968AA on eBAY. New and pre-owned.

 

[third coast]

I just experienced the same issue on my 2018 JLU. I could hear the latch actuator click as others have experienced but the rear gate would not lock or unlock. Other locks worked fine. Unfortunately I noticed this on a weekend immediately after I bought it used from a Jeep dealer. It would only lock or unlock with the key. I had the dealer look at it under a warranty they provided. Had to have tech diagnose before they would order the part. Results: tech confirmed the problem but part is not available for a couple of weeks. Not happy about having to take it back and wait all day for a 15 minute task to be done. They cancelled the part order since it would be more than a month before I could get back and have a new actuator installed. Later I notice a substantial clunk instead of a mild click when I used the key fob to lock all doors. Now it works!?? Several cycles of lock/unlock indicate yes, it now works fine. What is that about? I wish I knew what, if anything, the tech did.

If you have this problem and can hear the rear gate actuator click it might be worth investigating before takings it in for repair or ordering the part. Maybe it grounds through the body instead of a ground wire in the harness that connects to the actuator and loosening/retightening the latch screws improved the ground connection. Maybe it was binding and adjusting screws improved that? Here is a thought: The Aux battery was also replaced while it was there. Maybe the bad Aux battery was pulling down voltage enough without engine running such that there was not enough power at the farthest away lock actuator to actuate the latch. Maybe the weight of the spare on the gate contributes by loading that latch more than other door latches. I think the new Aux battery was the biggest factor in it working now. That is another consideration for doing an Aux battery disconnect.

 

[Jeslokin]

I just experienced the same issue on my 2018 JLU. I could hear the latch actuator click as others have experienced but the rear gate would not lock or unlock. Other locks worked fine. Unfortunately I noticed this on a weekend immediately after I bought it used from a Jeep dealer. It would only lock or unlock with the key. I had the dealer look at it under a warranty they provided. Had to have tech diagnose before they would order the part. Results: tech confirmed the problem but part is not available for a couple of weeks. Not happy about having to take it back and wait all day for a 15 minute task to be done. They cancelled the part order since it would be more than a month before I could get back and have a new actuator installed. Later I notice a substantial clunk instead of a mild click when I used the key fob to lock all doors. Now it works!?? Several cycles of lock/unlock indicate yes, it now works fine. What is that about? I wish I knew what, if anything, the tech did.

If you have this problem and can hear the rear gate actuator click it might be worth investigating before takings it in for repair or ordering the part. Maybe it grounds through the body instead of a ground wire in the harness that connects to the actuator and loosening/retightening the latch screws improved the ground connection. Maybe it was binding and adjusting screws improved that? Here is a thought: The Aux battery was also replaced while it was there. Maybe the bad Aux battery was pulling down voltage enough without engine running such that there was not enough power at the farthest away lock actuator to actuate the latch. Maybe the weight of the spare on the gate contributes by loading that latch more than other door latches. I think the new Aux battery was the biggest factor in it working now. That is another consideration for doing an Aux battery disconnect.

Carefull here... my experience is that it was intermittent. Sometimes it locked, sometimes it did not. I had to turn off the lock proximity feature so that I could manually test the latch each time I left the car. It's not a good feeling when you can't trust it. My advice is to buy the part yourself. Crack open a cold one and just get it done!

 

[rohdawg]

I just experienced the same issue on my 2018 JLU. I could hear the latch actuator click as others have experienced but the rear gate would not lock or unlock. Other locks worked fine. Unfortunately I noticed this on a weekend immediately after I bought it used from a Jeep dealer. It would only lock or unlock with the key. I had the dealer look at it under a warranty they provided. Had to have tech diagnose before they would order the part. Results: tech confirmed the problem but part is not available for a couple of weeks. Not happy about having to take it back and wait all day for a 15 minute task to be done. They cancelled the part order since it would be more than a month before I could get back and have a new actuator installed. Later I notice a substantial clunk instead of a mild click when I used the key fob to lock all doors. Now it works!?? Several cycles of lock/unlock indicate yes, it now works fine. What is that about? I wish I knew what, if anything, the tech did.

If you have this problem and can hear the rear gate actuator click it might be worth investigating before takings it in for repair or ordering the part. Maybe it grounds through the body instead of a ground wire in the harness that connects to the actuator and loosening/retightening the latch screws improved the ground connection. Maybe it was binding and adjusting screws improved that? Here is a thought: The Aux battery was also replaced while it was there. Maybe the bad Aux battery was pulling down voltage enough without engine running such that there was not enough power at the farthest away lock actuator to actuate the latch. Maybe the weight of the spare on the gate contributes by loading that latch more than other door latches. I think the new Aux battery was the biggest factor in it working now. That is another consideration for doing an Aux battery disconnect.

The actuator is bad. It’s a well known malfunction and has been happening to ‘18s since day one of the JLs. I had it and so have many others.
@Jeslokin is 100% right. It’s intermittent and stays that way until you fix it.

It’s easy enough to do and definitely not worth the dealership headache.

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