Review on Liftgate Actuator Tailgate Suburban Traverse by Brandon Vox

My wife's 2008 Buick Enclave had problems with the tailgate not opening electrically with any of the buttons. It will make noise and unlock, but not rise and open. This is a common liftgate actuator on many GM vehicles with automatic opening liftgates such as the Enclave, Tahoe, Traverse, Suburban, Enclave, Yukon, etc. and on many years of models. The exchange lasted, at least in my '08 enclave, only 20 minutes. Necessary tools. A 30 Torx T-wrench, a 7mm socket with extension, a small flathead screwdriver to pry/open the push-tabs, and a plastic grip cover, and that's it. To replace the Buick Enclave, open the tailgate, remove the cover from the handlebars with a small flathead screwdriver, take a 7mm socket, loosen the two screws securing the handlebars and set the handlebars with the metal plate aside. . Now remove the two round push-tab mounts by prying off their center with a screwdriver, slide them out and set them aside. Then lift the lift flap cover and unclip both the center and the sides. You don't have to remove the entire back cover or worry about one of the latches breaking as you slide them in and out without risk of damage. Lift the cover down far enough and it will sag slightly, but you will need to lift it up a bit to access the (3) #30 Torx screws on the mechanism you are removing/replacing with this part will. Remove those three torx screws and set them aside. Reach down to the access hole and twist the old drive motor and slide it out of the way a bit and it pops out at the free end of the wire and easily comes through the access hole with just enough cable/wire slack to allow it to twist and turn see the outlet. To remove the fork, slide out the gray tab on the fork and tighten to slide fully/freely out of the fork. Move it to the side then you can depress the retaining clip on the fork and pull the wire harness away from the actuator motor, remove the motor and set it aside. Get this new drive motor and follow these steps in reverse order. After putting everything back in place I pushed the door switch once or twice and it clicked and made a brief noise like it was calibrating itself or sensing the position of the drive/latch motor and then the door would start to close properly and to lock. I then edited the door a couple of times with all the switches etc and that has fixed the problem so far. Much luck. Like I said, it took 20 minutes max to do it and it was easy.