2007~2015 Power Liftgate stopped working properly, thoughts?

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2009 Mazda CX-9 GT
2009 GT.

The power liftgate has been working good for the past year, then today when I got home, press the dash button to open it, it opens about 6", beeps, then slowly drops and latches shut. I thought maybe I was to close to the garage door, so I moved, and the same thing happened. Opened manually, cycled it a few times manually, hit the tailgate button on my keyfob to close it, and it beeps.

So, will only open 6" before beeping and stopping. Won't close at all.

Thoughts? Weak struts? Bad sensor? Bad lift motor?

I am stuck in a wheelchair right now so can't get to crazy in testing.
 
I would say weak strut. You can test it by gently assisting it up. (If you are able to from the wheelchair. ) If it continues going up when assisted then the strut is likely the culprit. Don’t push too hard though to make sure not to trip the sensor into stopping. A bad strut will also be worst in cold weather. (i.e. could be non-apparent until it’s cold enough.) and will sometime look like the issue is fixed when the weather get warmer.
 
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Thanks youri. Kind of where my mindset was.

Went outside yesterday and "assisted" the tailgate, and it opened and closed. Went inside and ordered up two new gas struts (dealer only apparently), so will have those in a few days. Had to go out today, -3* outside, and I used the tailgate four times with no issues. Of course. LOL Guessing the colder weather makes for happier struts (colder/thicker fluid). Will let warm up before I swap them out, just to see if the problem comes back.
 
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Usually cold weather is worst for bad strut (cold = less internal gas pressure). It is good to use dealer struts, i had ordered aftermarket struts for my Ford edge, but they where just a tad too strong and the whole car would shake when the tailgate would hit its hard stop at full open position. I ended up buying Ford struts that where just the right strength.
 
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Parts are coming from Mazda. Being in a chair and not at work (buyer for a large auto parts company), I don't have the resources to do anything else right now. ☹️
 
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Follow up on this.....

The problem has not poked its head up, and I was hoping it would so I could confirm the struts were the issue. 3 months later and I'm tired of staring at the new struts sitting in my kitchen, so I installed them yesterday. Took all of 5 minutes.....

TGS_001.jpg


TGS_002.jpg


TGS_003.jpg
 
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