Our liftgate closes on its own. There's a TSB out about it that says to take it to the dealer to have them reprogram the liftgate free of charge. There are literally hundreds of hits about it when you Google "reprogram Ford Freestar liftgate", however the service guy at the dealer said it's not a real recall but a service announcement. When I look for it at ford.com in their recalls section it's not there. Okay, great, I guess they won't do it for free even though all these websites say they're supposed to. Is there any way to reset it myself without taking it to the dealer because I know all the guy at the dealer is going to do is plug something into it, push a few buttons, then charge me $100. Why would they charge money for not actually replacing any parts is beyond me, but okay.

When we took it in before they didn't even say anything about the TSB. They just said the hydraulic struts or shocks or whatever you call them went bad. That doesn't seem right to me because when you open the liftgate it doesn't come crashing down right away like what you'd think would happen with bad hydraulic struts. It stays open for a few seconds while it pings, then slowly closes back down. While opening if you hold it up as soon as it gets to the top it still closes on its own, even if I keep all pressure off the hydraulic struts. This makes me think it's an electrical problem. But I'm very far from an expert so you tell me.

 

The reason Ford can do and not someone else, is most likely they have written a patch to the computer code and the TSB references a code update to be downloaded to the computer.

 

I don't know if yours is like mine but on mine the only thing holding it up is the hydraulic struts. There real easy to replace. If I remember right there is only one clip that holds it on. Just be careful if you replace them by yourself. That door is VERY heavy without them !!!

 

UPDATE:

We took the van in Friday. Saturday they went to get it and said the power liftgate motor needs replaced and the total cost will be $1100! I asked for a copy of the results because I have the actual Ford Workshop Manuals for the 2005 Freestar, Monterey. I looked up the code they said it was -- B201A. In the manual there is no B201A. All of the diagnostic troublecodes that full under the power liftgate start with a B and are followed by 4 numbers, not a B then 3 numbers and another letter like the code they gave me. Makes me wonder what is up with that. Anyway, I thought maybe it was a typo. There's only one code that starts with B201 and that is B2019 -- Cinch Time Exceeded. When you go to the pinpoint test for that code most of he rresults/actions to take say either "repair the circuit" or to replace the power liftgate module. In fact, most of the pinpoint tests related to power liftgate problems say to replace the power liftgate module, not the $1100 power liftgate motor.

Now I just have to figure out what to do next. Go to another dealer to get a second opinion (another $70), try to find a power liftgate motor on my own, or do nothing.

 

Hi
I have exactly the same issue with my Freestar. Just started a couple of days ago. Same thing opens , beeps the closes on its own. I have not taken it anywhere as yet. What was the outcome with your van??
thanks

 

Just for anyone else having the same problem as described in this post it is the struts that you have to replace. I just replaced mine,very simple, and the liftgate now works fine. I did not use the tailgate until I did fix the issue so the liftgate motor should be okay. The struts were 100 bucks for the pair.
cheers

 

The recall Ford issued is only to reprogram the liftgate module (recall 06S42 ) DO NOT TAKE it to the dealer !!! They will 'reprogram' the module and fix nothing. When they reprogrammed my module they said the module "crashed". Now the module will do NOTHING. They said the problem is the struts failed (both at the exact same time ???) and now I also need a new module because they crashed it while working on my vehicle.

 

I seen the clip but how do you get them off? Just pull ?

 

How do you get the struts off?

 

I turned my power liftgate off, after it kept closing on its own. Tried turning it back on and it wouldn't do anything. Wouldn't open up at all. I push the button on the inside of the panel, and it unlocked, but wouldn't lift up. I went to the back, lift the liftgate up by hand, and it stayed up on it's own. But when I push the button underneath the steering wheel, and in the back of the liftgate, it won't come down. It only works when I push the liftgate button, it unlock it, and only allow me to lift it up manually with my hands, and close it also. When I lift it up, it stays up. The struts , are able to hold it up.

So, what's going on with it, not lifting up when I push either buttons? Need some help.