Chrysler Repair: rear lift gate will not power open., grand caravan, engine controller


Question
The rear power lift gate on our Grand Caravan ('01ES, 3.8L w/ AWD) has stopped working.  Using the remote, interior console switch, or exterior handle all cause the power open cycle to initiate (remote & console switch cause lights flash and beeper peeps)  and the power latch releases the door a small amount,  but the power lift fails to open it further.  If I place my ear on the van's exterior next to the power lift motor, I can feel and hear some activity (like a solenoid engaging). The power close feature does not work at all, only the lights flash when the remote is used to prompt it to close.  The vehicle is accident free, the lift gate moves freely by hand and the gas struts easily hold it up open,  and no obvious signs of issue with gunked-up power lift gears when I look through the slot in the rubber cover when the hatch is open.  There are also no error codes when I cycle ignition switch...shows DONE.

Answer
Hi Joe,
At my request to him, Kevin passed your question on to me. As I suspected, the ignition key readout was for the engine controller fault codes only, thus the donE shows that no problem has been found for the engine. As I suggested, if you can get a readout done with a fully capable code reader that can access the body computer (and thus indirectly the liftgate module) then a code that will tell us what might be the cause of the problem will be available. Let me know it you get such a code and I can look that up in the body computer manual for the '04 model that I have on CD, and we can go from there.
Roland
PS Please 'rate' my answer. Thank you