DIY Power Lift gate for Tesla Model S Walkthrough Video

[L-P-G]

I did my install and here are a few hints

• To mute or dampen down the sound. If you're good a soldering you can de-solder the piezo buzzer on the board (this only applies to the Autoease version, COzero's version has a detachable buzzer)

• I don't mind the beeping so I just dampened it a bit using some electrical tape instead.

• Running the strut harness through the grommet and boot. This is the hardest part of the install due to how tight it is in there, I covered the harness from the strut in some electrical tape to give it a smooth surface and used a very light amount of WD40 to provide enough lubrication to overcome the sitcky-ness of the rubber then used a a fiberglass rod to pull it through. If you don't have one a big zip tie will also do the job just fine (it's also way cheaper than the fiberglass rod) LINK
• I also added electrical tape to prevent water from getting into the boot through the mouth.

Before

After

If someone in FL needs this installed shoot me a PM, I used to be a mechanic and this thing is cake to install (especially after OP found the power wire)

 

[Mokuzai]

Installed 2018.10.4 last night and tested the trunk controls with the COzero V2 kit. Results are less than desirable. The first cycle in this video works great but subsequent attempts show that it's off timing or something. Going to contact COzero and see if there is anything that can be done with the firmware on the control box in future releases to make this work better.

 

[Akikiki]

Interesting. Once in a while our factory liftgate controls get confused. I recommend you try 1) try a hard reboot of the car, 2) reset the height the liftgate is traveling. One of these might help.

 

[Mokuzai]

Did a full reset with the brake and 4 buttons and same behavior.

Resetting the height doesn't seem to do anything with my kit. It always returns to the same *not quite fully extended* position. When it's open there is still a bit of travel that I can push the trunk up to, and if I manually pull down to a new height it won't return to that height and goes back to it's default. At any rate moving the trunk manually didn't change the app behavior. Everything works fine with the fob, trunk buttons and MCU buttons.

Interesting side note...while looking at the service menu I noticed that I have a spoiler setting on my Model S...the last time I had it in for service for a pesky rattle that won't go away I had asked them if they could give my avatar a spoiler. Was told they couldn't cause my spoiler is aftermarket but they told me that after it was already on the work order and it got done anyway. Retractable spoilers were only on some model X's...didn't know the button could even show up on an S.

 

[Maranaz]

Hi Mokuzai,
After reading your post I am a bit lost. What app on your phone were you using to control boot (trunk) opening ?

 

[Mokuzai]

It’s the regular Tesla app. It’s a new feature with the 2018.10.4 update.

 

[Mokuzai]

Since I've gotten a couple questions on this I wanted to clarify that the video only shows the performance using the new app feature with the 2018.10.4 update. All the other ways of opening and closing the trunk work just fine. Fob to open/close, MCU to open/close, buttons on trunk all work as expected.

Doubt this would affect me much at all, other than this testing I'm struggling to find a situation where I'd use the app to open/close the frunk/trunk. I'd want to have line of sight to the car anyway and the fob has plenty of range to open the trunk before I get close enough to need it open. In the off chance I don't have my fob with me by the time I load up the app on my ancient iPhone 6+ to unlock the car I'll be close enough to use the trunk button. Nevertheless I hope COzero can find a way to address this so it has all the same features as a factory install.

 

[Maranaz]

Hi Mokuzai,
Thanks for the information. Are many people on 2018.10.4 ? I am still on 2018.6.1. Have there been any reports of problems with the app from people with a standard Tesla power liftgate ? The fact that you can still control your powerlift ok from the main screen, suggests it might be the app at fault.

 

[Mokuzai]

I haven't heard of anything...did hear a report of the autoease working with the app though. Who knows it could just be a personal problem with my kit...haven't heard of any other COzero V2 owners reporting in yet.

 

[am_dmd]

@Mokuzai You can open/close your trunk via fob? I have installed the CoZero kit but can not close via fob so can not close via new app feature. Do you have photo of exactly which wire to cut?

 

[Maranaz]

Hi,
To get the keyfob to work, you need to cut the yellow wire on the latch adapter part of the harness.
The photo below showscwhich wire.
Your wires will probably be wrapped in black insulator.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/mmexport1510326917819-jpg.259306/

 

[Discidium]

Installed 2018.10.4 last night and tested the trunk controls with the COzero V2 kit. Results are less than desirable. The first cycle in this video works great but subsequent attempts show that it's off timing or something. Going to contact COzero and see if there is anything that can be done with the firmware on the control box in future releases to make this work better.

Just checked, have the exact same behaviour, when using the app to open the trunk, no big deal so far, as I don’t really see why and when I should use the app.

 

[jayazusa]

Hi,
To get the keyfob to work, you need to cut the yellow wire on the latch adapter part of the harness.
The photo below showscwhich wire.
Your wires will probably be wrapped in black insulator.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/mmexport1510326917819-jpg.259306/

I did my install of the COzero v2 kit yesterday and didn't have to cut any wires, the install from start to finish I would say took me 2:45 the Cozero kit is really nice simple to follow the setup. One not I would pass on, if it's not working manually close the trunk then push the button of the fob ore screen and it will start to work.

 

[Maranaz]

Hi Jayazusa,
Glad you had a successful install. If you can close the liftgate with the keyfob without cutting a yellow wire, then you must have one of the latest harnesses from Cozero with the offending wire removed.

 

[sakimano]

I read the thread, but have a few questions:

1. is COzero the place to go now, not Autoease kit?
2. on COzero site, the price shows up as $523+12 shipping...then shows up as $654 (I'm in Canada...is the $654 the CAD price converted from USD?)
3. there's talk of the 'soft close' version etc. above, however there's only one version on their site
4. are COzero people having any problems the way the other one seemed to (random closing, random reversing direction, closing too hard, closing too soft and not latching, working only half the time...etc?)

Just trying to gather information before making this purchase. Would like to be sure I want to do it.

Thanks

 

[Mokuzai]

I read the thread, but have a few questions:

1. is COzero the place to go now, not Autoease kit?

Off the top of my head based on what I've read about the Autoease kit (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong on any point):

• Autoease closes to a certain point and then releases the trunk letting gravity do the actual closing whereas COzero has a motor that pulls it closed at the end (soft close)
• Autoease has a soldered buzzer and COzero is a plug in buzzer letting you more easily choose if you want the buzzer
• If you buy a factory Tesla button, the Autoease will light up the button and COzero will not. This is visual only and doesn't affect functionality
• Autoease seems to work fine with the new app feature released with the 2018.10.4 update where the COzero seems to have the odd behavior in my video

2. on COzero site, the price shows up as $523+12 shipping...then shows up as $654 (I'm in Canada...is the $654 the CAD price converted from USD?)

I'm not sure on this, best to send a support request directly to them, I've found them to be quite responsive to inquiries.

3. there's talk of the 'soft close' version etc. above, however there's only one version on their site

I think COzero only sells the V2 kit with the soft close now. My belief is they used to just re-sell the Autoease kit and the V2 represents COzero going out on their own to develop and release their own kit.

4. are COzero people having any problems the way the other one seemed to (random closing, random reversing direction, closing too hard, closing too soft and not latching, working only half the time...etc?)

If you're describing my video, this is only a behavior with the phone app feature that was made available in the software release of 2018.10.4. So far myself and @Discidium have reported this behavior. I haven't heard back from COzero yet if they are going to try and address this with their kit. Not sure how much weight you'd put on this feature...personally don't think I'd ever find a need to use the phone to open and close the trunk even if they did fix it.

Hope that helps, please let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[sakimano]

Off the top of my head based on what I've read about the Autoease kit (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong on any point):

• Autoease closes to a certain point and then releases the trunk letting gravity do the actual closing whereas COzero has a motor that pulls it closed at the end (soft close)
• Autoease has a soldered buzzer and COzero is a plug in buzzer letting you more easily choose if you want the buzzer
• If you buy a factory Tesla button, the Autoease will light up the button and COzero will not. This is visual only and doesn't affect functionality
• Autoease seems to work fine with the new app feature released with the 2018.10.4 update where the COzero seems to have the odd behavior in my video

I'm not sure on this, best to send a support request directly to them, I've found them to be quite responsive to inquiries.



I think COzero only sells the V2 kit with the soft close now. My belief is they used to just re-sell the Autoease kit and the V2 represents COzero going out on their own to develop and release their own kit.



If you're describing my video, this is only a behavior with the phone app feature that was made available in the software release of 2018.10.4. So far myself and @Discidium have reported this behavior. I haven't heard back from COzero yet if they are going to try and address this with their kit. Not sure how much weight you'd put on this feature...personally don't think I'd ever find a need to use the phone to open and close the trunk even if they did fix it.

Hope that helps, please let me know if you have any other questions.

wish you were closer I'd buy you many beers

thanks for the reply. I agree, the phone app trunk feature is nice to have but I can't think of why I'd want it. Sounds like an accidental trunk open waiting to happen, resulting in a smashed boot lid in a low parking garage.

 

[Mokuzai]

wish you were closer I'd buy you many beers

Damn now I wish I were closer too!

 

[Mokuzai]

Got the new update tonight...wasn't expecting any change but tried the phone app controls on 2018.12 anyway and no difference with the COzero V2 kit. This will likely have to be addressed in the control module firmware in the kit itself.

 

[Mokuzai]

So just got done installing the COzero kit for @BlackHammer so I got to see the changes to the kit. The version he had still didn't have the wire cut for the fob close (wish I woulda checked that before putting everything together but was able to get at the wire to cut it without taking everything apart again).

So ya there still needs to be a bit extra wire to one of the poles. I'd say about 4 ft. extra. Other than that it looked like everything was able to reach where it needed to go. Going to contact them to make that suggestion.

Also, I hadn't known this but I had always been a bit disappointed at the max open height of the kit. At the suggestion of @BlackHammer we were able to set the height by manually pushing the trunk to the max position and hold down the button until the buzzer beeped (if you left off the buzzer like I did just hold it to a count of 15 or so and you'll be good). No more bumping my head on the trunk!