Why won't my back window lock?

I just bought a 95 Rodeo, automatic, four-wheel drive. Pretty sweet deal too...61,000 original miles, very clean inside, just a few dings outside. I traded in a Sunfire of all things for it..dealer wanted $3,900 for it, which I thought was a sweet deal in itself. I got it for $1,350 (tax, title and all) with my trade. And yes, my mechanic checked it over and told me "you'd be a fool not to buy this." Pretty sweet!

Ok, but here's my question. I've never had a vehicle like this one before so I may be back often to ask more silly questions.

Anyway, my back window isn't locking. It was when I bought it, but I opened the tailgate with my key rather than the tailgate open button, and now the window and the tailgate won't lock again.

What did I do wrong? And is there something simple I should be doing to get it to lock again that I'm not doing or do I need to have someone look at it?

Other than that, I'm perfectly happy with my new toy!

If I'm not misunderstanding your problem, you just need to put the key in the tailgate keyhole and turn it so that the key slot is horizontal. Don't push in when you're turning the key.

Should I turn it clockwise or counter clockwise?

I hope this is all...and if it is..thank you so much. I felt really silly posting my post...but I couldn't find the answer in the manual and I really didn't want to go to the dealer and act like a silly twit.

Turn the key clockwise. Hope it turns out to be that simple. You aren't the first to ask this question, BTW.

Oh, I don't want to wait until tomorrow...heading out to the garage...I'll let you know...

And really, I'm not the first to ask that? Wow, I sure do feel better now. Just wait until I'm confused over the whole folding down the back seat thing...just kidding.

Nope, didn't work. The keyhole was vertical when I went out there...and I thought, YAY! My problem is solved. But when I made the key hole horizontal, the window did not lock. And at first, I had a hard time getting it to GO horizontal. But then it did, and I went back and forth with the key...no solution.Thanks for trying, anyway.

Anyone else with ideas on this?

Maybe I still don't understand what you mean by it not locking. So, let me just describe how it works on my 1995.5 rodeo. When the keyhole on the tailgate is vertical then you're able to push in the keyhole cylinder with your thumb which opens the rear window. When you turn the keyhole to the horizontal position, the keyhole cylinder cannot be pushed in - which effectively locks the rear window and tailgate. The button on the dash will always open the rear window regardless. If, on the other hand, you close the rear window and it does not latch(you can still pull the rear window open), then you probably are not slamming it hard enough....or indeed there is a problem with the latch.

I'll try that again tomorrow..it's really cold tonight! But it really does not feel like the window is catching in the latch like it should be...

If it's not latching then I'm placing my bet that you're not slamming the window hard enough -- especially since its a new car and all :)

I guess I AM pretty timid about it...I'm coming from a little Sunfire and all. I don't want to break the window! I know, I know, don't baby the SUV. I'm still new enough to it that I got a kick today at being as high up as the McDonald's drive-through girl.

I have the same problem with my '95. Go ahead and press the tailgate button and then slam the rear window shut. It 'should' latch then. If not spray some WD40 in the latch mechanism...it may be froze from lack of use, then repeat. Good luck

I love these forums. Everyone's so helpful, even with newbies like me. I'll try that today.

Don't know about the 95's but on my 93, the latch bar attached to the window is adjustable. Mine was off a bit and I had the same problem. I loosend the screws, move the bar up/down til it latched and voila, no more problems! And that was after I soaked all the parts with WD40 figuring something was stuck. Before that I slammed the window until I thought it would break. Then got the bright idea of looking at how the mechanism worked.

The button on the dash will always open the rear window regardless.
This is true, if the gear/motor in the tailgate work right. I can latch and lock my window and tailgate manually and also release it from the dash button. But let me unlock it once from the dash, the gear doesn't reset right and I have to fiddle around to get the lock reset. Manually, it works fine (after the adjustment I mentioned above), but I'm waiting for warmer weather to figure out the auto release problem.

Well, I slammed the door and I pushed the buttons and I did the soaking with the WD40 and everything else but waving a chicken bone at it...so I'll try that latch thing tomorrow...if it's warm enough out.

On my '97 Rodeo, there's a push button on the left side of the dash by the steering wheel - it lights up if the back glass is open. Check to see if you have that same button, chances are it will be lit (red), see if it's stuck as well. Or just push it a couple of times, and then try to reclose the hatch.

If that doesn't work, what else it could be, is your tailgate itself may not be closed all of the way either. I've had this happen when someone else got groceries out and what not, when they close the tailgate it's not quite locked.

And, it could be something as simple as lack of use - keep working and playing with it.

That's a mighty fine deal for sure on that rig!

If you haven't already, get your fluids changed though, especially that auto tranny.

I think the manual open button was the beginning of my woes...and since it worked tightly I think it was probably jammed.
When my mechanic saw the back end of my new truck, he said "this doesn't even look like they ever hauled anything in it." I wonder myself when the last time was that the tailgate was opened.
Yeah, I can't get over the great deal I got. I drove around everywhere today and it really runs well. IT's much more vehicle than I'm used to, but it's also pretty cool.

Well, I slammed the door and I pushed the buttons and I did the soaking with the WD40 and everything else but waving a chicken bone at it...so I'll try that latch thing tomorrow...if it's warm enough out.


Well, there's your problem! The chicken bone works EVERYTIME! :icon16:

Been a while since I've been on here. Was just getting the directions for cleaning the EGR and saw this thread. I was just outside fixing this problem on my 2000 passport. Maybe not the same problem, still not sure what the problem was. Mine was that the rear window wouldn't latch. What I had to do was take the panel off the door on the inside and get to the actual working part of the mechanisim. When you push the button to open the glass, the button pushes a little bar that releases the window. Mine was stuck open. (dirt roads and salt in the winter, there was a little corrosion). Just take the WD40 or Blaster your choice and get the release to move freely again. that cured my problem. Hope this helped.

Sandy, more than likely the problem with your hatch glass not locking is a small broken spring inside the lower door. Same exact thing happened to my brothers '95 Rodeo. Sometimes it would lock, but most of the time it didn't. It is very easy to replace, the spring is less than $2 (I got the part number off this board somewhere). It involves removing the inside panel, and removing the black plate covering the locking mechanism. More then likely the spring it rusted and broken. Just replace it and it will work like new. This supposedly happens to many 1st generation Rodeos.

Yippee! It's working!

Here's what I did. I combined the hint to spray it down with WD 40 with the hint to make sure that my tailgate was shut all the way, and bingo! The glass latches!

Actually, the tailgate thing was discovered by accident. I opened it today to put some stuff in while I was washing my car. I shut it hard, and then I closed my window. I went to open the window...and wow, it was latched! Cool beans!

Some guys have all the luck.

Ok,

I have had some first hand knowledge on this problem. Maybe my problem is not exactly like yours, but maybe it is. I have a 1995 rodeo, not the 95.5. I used to use the button on the dash to open the window. Then, one day I noticed that the window would not lock anymore. If I kept slamming it, the window would eventually lock. I started opening the window with the button on the tailgate and then it would close up again.

My father borrowed the rodeo one day and hit the button on the dash, window would not lock, and then I decided it was time to take the tailgate apart and find the problem. :banghead:

I took the plastic off on the inside of the tailgate and remove the mechanism that latched the door. I noticed how the electic selinoid engaged the "Open Window" latch. I also noticed that half of a little recoil spring was dangling off of the mechanism, the other half seemed to have rusted off.... I searched around in my large parts bucket and found a similar spring that I fashioned as a replacement. Put it back together and no problems since..... :grinyes:

You described my problem perfectly. I'll have to look around in there. I've already got the plastic off, just been too cold to mess with. Where exactly did the spring attach? Thanks!

I'm thinking right now that I don't trust the dash release. But so far, so good...window's going locked and coming open with the tailgate button just like it should. I'm thinking the WD 40 is having a lot to do with it as well. But I'll remember the spring thing too...I don't think whoever had my Rodeo used the tailgate area much..the back looks very new.

I'd also like to know just where that spring was supposed to go. I took mine apart for the same reason. After the plastic comes off there is a big metal plate held on with 6 or 8 10mm headed screws. Under this you'll see the cable that comes up from the solenoid. The cable pulls on a plate causing it to rotate. The plate has arms that connect to the window latch and to the key/pushbutton. It was clear to me there must have been a spring to return the plate to it's rest position when the button is released. This is what latches the window and it doesn't happen until the latch hook on the glass goes into the latch mechanism. I couldn't find any evidence of a spring or it's attachment points so I went to home depot and got a little tension spring about 1/4" in diameter. I hooked one end over the actuator rod that goes to the left tailgate latch and the other end to the point where the solenoid cable attaches. Very little tension should be required to rotate the plate when it is released by the latch mechanism. I had to lengthen my spring a little to ease the tension because the solenoid didn't have enough pull to overcome the spring at first. After that it worked every time. I saw it referred to in an earlier post as a "recoil" spring. Is it a compression spring on the cable guide?

Mike

I'd also like to know just where that spring was supposed to go. I took mine apart for the same reason. After the plastic comes off there is a big metal plate held on with 6 or 8 10mm headed screws. Under this you'll see the cable that comes up from the solenoid. The cable pulls on a plate causing it to rotate. The plate has arms that connect to the window latch and to the key/pushbutton. It was clear to me there must have been a spring to return the plate to it's rest position when the button is released. This is what latches the window and it doesn't happen until the latch hook on the glass goes into the latch mechanism. I couldn't find any evidence of a spring or it's attachment points so I went to home depot and got a little tension spring about 1/4" in diameter. I hooked one end over the actuator rod that goes to the left tailgate latch and the other end to the point where the solenoid cable attaches. Very little tension should be required to rotate the plate when it is released by the latch mechanism. I had to lengthen my spring a little to ease the tension because the solenoid didn't have enough pull to overcome the spring at first. After that it worked every time. I saw it referred to in an earlier post as a "recoil" spring. Is it a compression spring on the cable guide?

Mike

I'd also like to know just where that spring was supposed to go. I took mine apart for the same reason. After the plastic comes off there is a big metal plate held on with 6 or 8 10mm headed screws. Under this you'll see the cable that comes up from the solenoid. The cable pulls on a plate causing it to rotate. The plate has arms that connect to the window latch and to the key/pushbutton. It was clear to me there must have been a spring to return the plate to it's rest position when the button is released. This is what latches the window and it doesn't happen until the latch hook on the glass goes into the latch mechanism. I couldn't find any evidence of a spring or it's attachment points so I went to home depot and got a little tension spring about 1/4" in diameter. I hooked one end over the actuator rod that goes to the left tailgate latch and the other end to the point where the solenoid cable attaches. Very little tension should be required to rotate the plate when it is released by the latch mechanism. I had to lengthen my spring a little to ease the tension because the solenoid didn't have enough pull to overcome the spring at first. After that it worked every time. I saw it referred to in an earlier post as a "recoil" spring. Is it a compression spring on the cable guide?

Mike

Ihave no idea why that reply triple posted, sorry.

Mike

Half of my old spring was hanging off so it was easy to see where it attached. It has been quite a while since I removed it. I believe the spring went into two eyelets. The spring is only about 1 inch long and about 1/4 inch wide if that. It is a light spring (which is why it rusted) Move the selinoid and watch how the mechanism travels. Think about what will be needed to "Spring" the selenoid back, then the spring location should be apparent. Good Luck.

If you haven't already, get your fluids changed though, especially that auto tranny.

Hey Sandy, great folks here with good advice.

About the back window, I have to slam mine fairly hard to get it to latch. Even after adjusting the catch bar. Warm weather isn't so much of a problem. Less than 30 degrees F. it gets fussy.

And my '97 doesn't have the 'deluxe dashboard light' like Ramblin Fever's to tell me that the gate isn't closed all the way. Instead I have my neighbor who drives by at 10 pm and calls me on his cellphone to say 'your dome light is on'. :uhoh: The good news is that my rear dome light has a switch that I can shut off to prevent the phone from waking me up.

Enjoy your Rodeo - you have a good support team here, and great archives of previous posts. But there will be a few nuances of this model that you will have to rely on the chicken bone method for. Please post your technique - we all must find it handy for the lifter tick and lack of decent cup holders!:lol:
Tom

Oh, when I have to resort to the chicken bone technique, I find the drumstick works best...even though a wishbone has also been known to come in handy. I wave it while chanting "work, you b**tard, work, you b**tard" until whatever is broken decides to work again or I've chanted myself into being reasonable and taking the broken item to a pro, like I should have done in the first place.
Oh, and my window's still latched! Yay!
Oh, my Rodeo has this stupid console thing in the middle where these really flimsy cupholders are located. Is everyone else's like that? ANd the holders are BEHIND your arm. I just bought some of those plastic ones you stick in the door and count myself even.

I have a 97 Rodeo and I often have to really slam the back glass down to latch properly with the tailgate. It can handle it, if you can! Hope you enjoy your Rodeo as much as I enjoy mine. Welcome to the clan. Ch.