Hi

I have a 2015 Rogue and since I've had it the power liftgate has been troublesome. Initially it would open normally and then close correctly about half the time. Now it just opens but will never close via power operation. It's difficult to pull down manually. I had it to my local garage and although they couldn't fix it they also couldn't find a reason for it to be inoperable either. Any ideas?

Also, what actually openes and closes the liftgate, is it a motor setup similar to a power window motor, or is it the support "struts" themselves that extend and retract?

All info welcomed...

Thanks!

On a gen2 Rogue the motors are spindle types inside the struts. Planetary gears allow them to freewheel when being moved manually. The system has a computer in charge, the ABD Controller. It's on the CANbus and a very high-end scanner can read it to see what the error condition is. For now, try resetting it. Lift the hatch manually to the top, then press and hold the Close Button until you hear beeps. Then manually close the hatch. If the error in the system was transient, that will clear it and the hatch will operate normally. If that doesn't work, you probably have a bad spindle encoder or a bad pinch sensor. Both of those can cause an "only opens" condition.

So will replacing the struts fix both of those problems, the spindle encoder and pinch sensor?

No, the pinch strips are separate. But it's unlikely both are bad and replacing a spindle requires partially dropping the headliner, so you really should try to get codes out of it before throwing parts at the problem. High-end shop scanners like a Snap-On Solus can generally read the ABD, so you're not necessarily stuck with the dealer. The encoders are built into the spindles and not separate parts, so throwing parts will also be an expensive proposition.

Ok, thanks, I'll talk to my mechanic about it. What exactly are the pinch strips? I have no idea what they look like or where they are...

They run along the left/right edges of the hatch and send a signal if anything pinches between the hatch and body, so the ABD can stop the door from closing and save your fingers.