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Rear trunk won't open

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As frustrating as it is to have it fail without warning, I did have a good experience with the service center. They considered it a safety issue and fixed it the same day. $180. Show me another dealership experience where you walk out with a repair under $500.
The emergency cable didn't do anything for me either and I put force on it with some vise grips. 2015 P90D
 
As frustrating as it is to have it fail without warning, I did have a good experience with the service center. They considered it a safety issue and fixed it the same day. $180. Show me another dealership experience where you walk out with a repair under $500.
The emergency cable didn't do anything for me either and I put force on it with some vise grips. 2015 P90D
That's good to hear. I was worried it would cost thousands after seeing one post here on it. Also don't want them to scratch the plastic parts during the repair. Ranger coming next week to fix
 
Same issue here. Tesla took the car the next day to fix it. One hour job, 300€. They replaced the actuator and also the latch, which was worn out and about to fail according to the tech. Very happy… except they reconnected the speaker for the beeps. Forgot to ask them not to reconnect that annoying thing. :)
 
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Same thing happenned to me. 2017 90D 70500 miles. Temporary fix to get cruise and autosteer functions was pull the black plug (top left not bottom right) several times to release the cinch actuator, as in the video in several previous posts, and pull the 30amp fuse 210 to prevent the tailgate motor and actuator locking up again. Now trunk works manually only and no annoying beeps or loss of autosteer functions.
The fuse location and especially how to get to it for me was Interior Fuse Box Location: 2012-2019 Tesla S 2017 Tesla S 90D Electric quite an akward location to find the fuse but it stands out as the only green 30a fuse in that area.
Any other car make would have a fuse box cover plate to easily access the fuses, but Tesla clearly don't want people in there!
I can now fix or get it repaired at my leisure.
 
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I had the same problem yesterday and thanks to the advice on this forum, I managed to successfully open the jammed tailgate and fix it myself for $70! I bought the replacement cinch actuator from the Tesla service center (walk-in).

A couple of notes that might help others:
1) If, while debugging the latch, you accidentally close the latch while the trunk is open, pulling the manual release will open it (photo shows latch closed with trunk open). It doesn't feel or sound like it did anything, but it does indeed open. This was surprising given the manual release didn't work to open the trunk when the lift gate was stuck closed in the first place!

2) Manually turning the broken cinch actuator with a T35 torx socket did not seem to do anything. This made me suspect the latch had failed. But after replacing just the cinch actuator, the original latch began to function correctly again.

3) When reinstalling the main tailgate trim piece, it's much easier to do this with the trunk closed. You have to first hook it over the latch then gently manually close the trunk over it (I did this while sitting inside, holding the trim piece up). Then you just push it hard towards the rear of the car and it all clicks into place.
 
Happy Christmas y'all!

After a two failures (2017, 2018) which were repaired by a SeC (200Euro, parts warranty) it got stuck a couple of weeks ago again. While I had searched extensively at the first and second failure, this time I've searched only a bit, coming up with the same frustrating results. So I scheduled an SeC appointment.

After 2-3 weeks I was able to open by coming from behind and after twisting the left and right hand rubber stoppers into the tailgate and giving it a push after closing while at least one door is open, I managed to use it again. Then it got stuck again on the 22nd. This time I searched more intense and found newer videos and this thread and this helped a lot!

I pulled the fuse one time to see if it would help, wasn't enough. Then managed to open it after the car went into sleep by "sneaking up from behind"... since I disabled "passive entry" there was not much sneaking necessary. I left the car unlocked for >30minutes, until the door handles pulled themselves in and it went into energy saving, helps activating the option "always go into energy saving" and disable "always connected". While pushing the tailgate switch and immediately pushing with some force I could feel some resistance but was able to open anyway.

Then with the newly learned knowledge from the videos and what I've read here I pulled the "black plug" three times while hearing some sound from the actuator. The fourth time was nearly nothing to hear. Btw, my mid 2015 produced S85 has the black plug at the bottom and power lift gate fuse no 42.

While having at least one other door open the tailgate is now able to open and close automatically and the actuator keeps being silent. I guess the fully inward twisted rubber stoppers allows the tailgate to slam shut when a door is open and the cabin pressure is not in the way.

Since I live in Germany, I was able to order the actuator directly at the MB online shop for 65Euro including taxes and shipping, expected delivery 2-4 days. Looking forward to change the part by myself and add a follow up.

All in all, thanks a million to y'all for sharing! Oaito.

PS: I was wondering, instead of pulling the "black plug" several times, did anyone tried to accomplish the same with pulling/reinserting the fuse a couple of times? I am not curious enough to get the tailgate stuck on purpose only for trying. But if someone has the issue, perhaps before trying the black plug you could identify the fuse for your model and pull, count to five, insert, repeat four times and try if this unlocks the actuator?
 
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I just joined the beeping trunk won’t open club. Used the black plug trick to get it open, then dismantled trim to get to the Cinching Actuator

I took it apart to see what was inside - it’s basically a cheap ass little motor and some nylon gears. No electronics

There‘s probably a way of replacing the motor, but Tesla Vancouver had a unit in stock - $100 CAD later and I’m back in business (p/n 1003549-00-D)
 
Add me to the list. Was a few hundred miles from home for spring break and trunk stopped/won't open.

So frustrating....here are my symptoms:
- Trunk won't open
- Car shows the trunk is open, but I can't close it
- Because it thinks trunk is open, dome lights are on
- It won't allow me to lock my doors when I park it, because "one of the doors/trunk" is showing open
- No autopilot with door open warning

Service center told me 12 days- so I asked for a loaner, but none available.

Thankfully my kids were not sitting in the 3rd row at the time. That would have been a nightmare.


For reference, my car is a 2016.5(refresh) P90DL w/80k miles....under extended warranty thru Tesla.
 
I had the same thing. Ranger could not get it open to fix it. I drove it to the Santa Barbara service center, about 80 miles. They fixed it in about 3 to 4 hours. There was a part replaced. Santa Barbara Tesla has always been a well run operation.
 
Since I live in Germany, I was able to order the actuator directly at the MB online shop for 65Euro including taxes and shipping, expected delivery 2-4 days. Looking forward to change the part by myself and add a follow up.

Hi! For the last couple of months I was able to close it with a door open. Recently it stopped fully locking. Today I've disassembled and changed the actuator, assembled everything and it did not work. Disassembling again, after a close look at all the parts I've found the issue: The Bowden cable was not sitting correctly in his socket at the lock. After a bit of fumbling it was correct again and the lock made a little click. Tried it this time before assembling (which I obviously should have done the first round) and now it is working like a charm!

Was anybody also tempted to leave the "beeper" disconnected? Good luck and thanks for sharing the great tipps, tricks and advice here! Oaito.
 
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This just happened to me... Car is out of warranty (58k) and the app would not let me make an appointment (if I selected "my location" I could make an appointment, but if I put in an address it would just hang there, and not let me proceed.)

I thought of going to the Service Center (Van Nuys, CA) but they are always swamped, and I figured my chances of getting anything dealt with quickly were slim.

Then I had an idea, and called the local Tesla Authorized Body Shop. (Avio Coach Craft in Van Nuys.)
They said it's probably the actuator ($70) but it could also be the cincher ($60). They ordered both, picked them up, and had them onsite two hours later.
I stopped by today for 45 minutes, and they replaced both. I was out of the door with less than an hour labor charge, and a fully functional car again.

I appreciate I could have picked up the parts, and done everything myself, but the fact that the body shop could do everything so quickly meant the job was done, and I didn't have to wait until the weekend.

Just mentioning this in case someone else needs an alternate solution.

PS, I recommend bribing the body shop guys with doughnuts - they always remember me, and I always get taken care of.
 
As frustrating as it is to have it fail without warning, I did have a good experience with the service center. They considered it a safety issue and fixed it the same day. $180. Show me another dealership experience where you walk out with a repair under $500.
The emergency cable didn't do anything for me either and I put force on it with some vise grips. 2015 P90D

I had the same symptoms on my 2017 75D over the weekend. Luckily, I was already due to goto the SC for an MCU2 upgrade on Tuesday and they took care of it for me. They replaced the high force cinching actuator for $112 including labor. I was pretty happy. I was also pleasantly surprised that replacing the cabin air filters was $19 with labor. Good experience overall (and MCU2 is awesome!)
 
They replaced the high force cinching actuator for $112 including labor.

This price is with tax? Lucky you :)

The first and second time it failed, it was under warranty. All the tips in this forum helped me to open the trunk again without the SeC and even order the actuator for ~75USD including shipping/taxes from MB, replaced myself. In order to reduce wear of the actuator, I open the door a little when closing the trunk, thus the force of the closing itself is enough to fully close and lock without the necessity of the actuator to pull down. When all the doors/windows are closed the (compressed) air in the car is resistance enough to hinder locking and thus the necessity for the actuator to work. Hope with this the last repair will last longer then the two others before. :cool:
 
I made a service appointment three weeks ago and they gave me an estimate of $250 to replace both the liftgate latch, and the cinching actuator. The next day it started working again, so I cancelled the appointment. Two weeks later it started giving me trouble again, so I made another appointment. This time with the same labor rate of $165, and same parts prices, the estimate was $30 more at $280. When I asked why the price increased $30, they said that's what came back when they put in the repair order. Still seems like an ok price, for mobile service to come to my house, and replace both motors, but it annoys me that the price increased $30. Now they are just ignoring me when I ask them to explain the price increase. I guess I'll be cancelling again, and doing it myself.

Do I need both parts replaced? If I do it myself, should I just replace the cinching actuator? Is that the usual culprit?
 
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I made a service appointment three weeks ago and they gave me an estimate of $250 to replace both the liftgate latch, and the cinching actuator. The next day it started working again, so I cancelled the appointment. Two weeks later it started giving me trouble again, so I made another appointment. This time with the same labor rate of $165, and same parts prices, the estimate was $30 more at $280. When I asked why the price increased $30, they said that's what came back when they put in the repair order. Still seems like an ok price, for mobile service to come to my house, and replace both motors, but it annoys me that the price increased $30. Now they are just ignoring me when I ask them to explain the price increase. I guess I'll be cancelling again, and doing it myself.

Do I need both parts replaced? If I do it myself, should I just replace the cinching actuator? Is that the usual culprit?
In my case, it was just the cinching actuator. You’ll probably need some trim clips as well - they’re the same as the ones for the door panels. No matter how careful you are, you always break a couple - I even had a few missing that Tesla hadn’t replaced when the changed out the chrome trim years ago

Maybe ask if the lock itself has been modified so as to actually work manually with the emergency cable release? Not sure if yours failed in a similar way, but mine wouldn’t open at all (not even with the cable) until the cinching motor was tricked into doing its thing by unplugging and reconnecting the black plug on the module

Don’t forget to put some black sponge over the warning beeper - or leave it disconnected (that thing is far too loud)
 
Hi! For the last couple of months I was able to close it with a door open. Recently it stopped fully locking. Today I've disassembled and changed the actuator, assembled everything and it did not work. Disassembling again, after a close look at all the parts I've found the issue: The Bowden cable was not sitting correctly in his socket at the lock. After a bit of fumbling it was correct again and the lock made a little click. Tried it this time before assembling (which I obviously should have done the first round) and now it is working like a charm!

Was anybody also tempted to leave the "beeper" disconnected? Good luck and thanks for sharing the great tipps, tricks and advice here! Oaito.
so its the actuator not the cincher? mine doesnt suck in and lock the trunk at the very end...