Adding a Physical Interior Liftgate Power Switch

[markboris]

So I finally got off my duff (had it sitting in the garage for a year) and installed the button.
Works like a charm and immediately paid dividends as it went into use.

Here is my pup and her un-approving look of how long it took me to finally get to it.

I concur with others that installation is pretty straightforward and not too difficult. The only time consuming part was finding the brown (it is a grayish brown) wire, as mine was deep in the thick of the wires. And my only hiccup was I put it in pin 13 at first, but that was corrected quickly. Works awesome and actually makes sense.

Glad to hear it all went well Patrick. Such an easy fix for something Ford should have added to begin with. Cute doggie photo!

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[HuntingPudel]

I got a little anal about the install of the wire into the BCM harness, so I got some weave wiring harness wrapping tape this time. ??

Oh, and since the 2024s don't have the little privacy panel above the passenger footwell, I stole the one out of my 2021. ??

Without: ?‍?

With: ??

 

[markboris]

I got a little anal about the install of the wire into the BCM harness, so I got some weave wiring harness wrapping tape this time. ??

Oh, and since the 2024s don't have the little privacy panel above the passenger footwell, I stole the one out of my 2021. ??

Without: ?‍?

With: ??

Wiring looks great Steve and I forgot to take that insulation panel (what Ford calls it) from my previous car so ordered another one. ?

 

[HuntingPudel]

Wiring looks great Steve and I forgot to take that insulation panel (what Ford calls it) from my previous car so ordered another one. ?

Thanks Mark! ??

LOL now I just need to wait on the junkyard part I ordered for the left switch in the liftgate and wire that up. There are a few other mods I want to put back into this car (bars, dash cam, front door scuff plates), but for having it just over a week, I guess I'm not doing too bad. ?‍?

 

[markboris]

Thanks Mark! ??

LOL now I just need to wait on the junkyard part I ordered for the left switch in the liftgate and wire that up. There are a few other mods I want to put back into this car (bars, dash cam, front door scuff plates), but for having it just over a week, I guess I'm not doing too bad. ?‍?

No, you aren't doing bad at all! About on par with me and my car. Got mine on the 20th of last month (18 days ago) and you can see in my Showcase below what I've done. I'm just waiting for that insulation panel for under the dash and that should be it unless something else comes up I need to have/do. ?

 

[markboris]

Snakebitten:

In my '21 Premium I installed a momentary hard button under the console (first post in this thread). In my '21 GT I installed an OEM liftgate button in place of the Max defrost button on the headlamp switch assembly (Post 57 in this thread). In my '24 decided to use the useless Parking assist button. It is very simple to do this. I explained in the first post of this thread you need to tap into the single brown wire in the top connector of the BCM and run that wire up to the console. There is a single 4 wire connector under the hazard/park assist switch. Pull the connector and peel back the tape over the wires so you can work with it. Cut the Green/Brown wire and tape off the wire going back into the loom. Connect the wire you ran from the BCM to the Green/Brown wire going into the connector. Plug back in to the switch and you are done. That is it. One wire from the BCM to one wire going into the park assist switch.

If you want more specifics let me know.

Here are two quick photos

Console top off and location of the connector to the hazard/park assist switch.

My black wire coming from BCM connected to the Green/Brown wire going into the hazard/park assist connector before I taped it up.

 

[Snakebitten]

I'm on it!

It's the perfect use for turning that button into a button that deserves the real estate that Ford afforded it.

Thanks Mark.

 

[markboris]

I'm on it!

It's the perfect use for turning that button into a button that deserves the real estate that Ford afforded it.

Thanks Mark.

This is the fastest way to have a hard button for the liftgate. No extra buttons to install or modules to modify. The hardest part is finding the brown wire in that sea of wires going to the top BCM connector.

Pull the connector off the BCM and there is a second small, rectangle connector that is taped to that loom, pull that one too. It will give you more room to bring the connector out to work with it. carefully cut back at least 4 inches of that tape around the wiring loom so you can really be able to spread the wires apart. At first you will think there is no solid brown wire, but going through them one by one you will find it. Also the wire has a slight grayish look to it. Kind of a washed out brown. Make sure you have the correct wire by stripping back a very small section of insulation on the brown wire and take a test wire that you have grounded, touching it to the bare wire. The liftgate will open. Then touch again and the liftgate will close. Of course the connector must be plugged back into the BCM when testing this out. This entire job should not take more than 20 minutes but most likely less. Make sure you have a bright light down there when you are working otherwise it will be extremely difficult to find that washed out solid brown wire.

 

[McSquashy]

Mark, what an awesome idea! This may be a stupid question, but did you cut the green/brown wire for the new connection or did you just tap into it?

 

[HuntingPudel]

Mark, what an awesome idea! This may be a stupid question, but did you cut the green/brown wire for the new connection or did you just tap into it?

You have to cut it and use the part of the wire that goes to the switch. The remaining part that goes back to the APIM needs to be capped off with tape and not used. ??

 

[McSquashy]

You have to cut it and use the part of the wire that goes to the switch. The remaining part that goes back to the APIM needs to be capped off with tape and not used. ??

Thank you, Steve. That's what it looked like to me. So the original Parking button function (basically useless) would no longer be accessible?

Another (maybe) stupid question - if this button gets accidentally press while driving, the hatch won't open, right?

 

[Snakebitten]

You have to cut it and use the part of the wire that goes to the switch. The remaining part that goes back to the APIM needs to be capped off with tape and not used. ??

Are you sure?

(I didn't see anything regarding the APIM)
I think Mark "tapped" the BCM wire (brown) on one end of the customer supplied wire, and then on the other end of that same customer supplied wire, connected to the Park Assist Switch by cutting the Green/Brown wire and joining.

 

[markboris]

Thank you, Steve. That's what it looked like to me. So the original Parking button function (basically useless) would no longer be accessible?

Another (maybe) stupid question - if this button gets accidentally press while driving, the hatch won't open, right?

The liftgate will not open when the car is in motion or anytime the doors are locked. When the car is OFF, the liftgate will open as long as the doors are unlocked. When the car is ON, it only opens if the gear selector is in PARK and the doors are unlocked.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Are you sure?

(I didn't see anything regarding the APIM)
I think Mark "tapped" the BCM wire (brown) on one end of the customer supplied wire, and then on the other end of that same customer supplied wire, connected to the Park Assist Switch by cutting the Green/Brown wire and joining.

Yep, because otherwise every time you hit that button to open the hatch you're also bringing up the Parking app (which is what the P button brings up when I press it). I mean, you *could* just tap the wire so that it serves two functions at the same time, but the app is pretty useless. ??

So what Mark did was to tap the brown wire on the BCM harness, cut the green wire with the brown stripe at the "P" switch, and then run a jumper wire from the "P" switch to the tapped brown wire at the BCM. ??

 

[markboris]

^^^^ What Steve said above. Seems I cannot reply fast enough. Thanks Steve. ?

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