Installed Physical Tailgate Release Button + Power Liftgate Close Button

[BCMatt]

I'm that person who first posted this mod in '21. Intercepting the wire from the BCM is very easy to do and takes less than 15 minutes to install your own switch (I've done this to at least 10 Mach-E's if not more) or just a bit longer to replace the MAX defrost switch as many of us had done back in '21. While the doors must be unlocked, the car does NOT have to be on.

I stand corrected, but I can attest that wiring to the RGTM doesn't require the doors to be unlocked. Wiring to the RGTM is a fair amount of extra work, so it's down to personal preference. My personal preference is to use the stock logic of the RGTM as Ford has in their other vehicles.

The person asking for a cheap and easy solution could probably snip the wire coming out of pin 10 and splice it to the brown wire coming out of pin 31 in connector C2280F from the BCM if desired.

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[markboris]

I stand corrected, but I can attest that wiring to the RGTM doesn't require the doors to be unlocked. Wiring to the RGTM is a fair amount of extra work, so it's down to personal preference. My personal preference is to use the stock logic of the RGTM as Ford has in their other vehicles.

The person asking for a cheap and easy solution could probably snip the wire coming out of pin 10 and splice it to the brown wire coming out of pin 31 in connector C2280F from the BCM if desired.

Wring to the RGTM may be the better way to go for some people. Everyone has their preference on how certain features work. However, besides myself, everyone I've discussed this with would only ever need to open the liftgate when the car is unlocked. Can't think of when I would need to open it when locked, at least for me this situation has never come up in 4+ years. My car is only locked when I am driving it and would not want to open the liftgate anyway. I use the physical button all the time. I pull into my garage, turn off the car, hit the unlock button then push the physical lfitgate button to open and my dog jumps out.

 

[mkhuffman]

Wring to the RGTM may be the better way to go for some people. Everyone has their preference on how certain features work. However, besides myself, everyone I've discussed this with would only ever need to open the liftgate when the car is unlocked. Can't think of when I would need to open it when locked, at least for me this situation has never come up in 4+ years. My car is only locked when I am driving it and would not want to open the liftgate anyway. I use the physical button all the time. I pull into my garage, turn off the car (gear shift goes into park and doors unlock automatically) I then push the physical lfitgate button to open and my dog jumps out.

100%.

The only time I can think when it would be nice to be able to open the hatch when the car is locked is when picking up a Target order. It is an extra step to press "unlock" before opening the hatch for the delivery kid. One time when I picked up an order my MME was still in drive, and I could not figure out why the hatch was not opening. LOL.

That said, it is an extra safety feature that prevent accidental opening if the hatch refuses to open when the doors are locked. I have a little PTSD from my hatch unexpectedly opening by itself less than a week after getting it home - hitting the garage door and putting a gash in the hatch of my beautiful new MME. (BTW - did almost the same thing with my less than week old Rivian, putting a gash in the edge of the hood. It is just a thing with me, I think.)

 

[FasterThanEnough]

Hello. Read and reread this as I really like the idea of having a mechanical trunk open/close button.

That said, if I don’t care about replacing the oem max defrost button and just want the lift gate functionality (or want to replace the defrost button later), can I 1) take the trim off the lift gate, 2) snip the existing wire going to slot 10 on the RGTM, slice in a WT 1002 connector to the wire, and 3) insert it into slot 19? Would this work or does the defrost switch wire trigger a different connector and I am off track here?

Thanks.

 

[markboris]

Hello. Read and reread this as I really like the idea of having a mechanical trunk open/close button.

That said, if I don’t care about replacing the oem max defrost button and just want the lift gate functionality (or want to replace the defrost button later), can I 1) take the trim off the lift gate, 2) snip the existing wire going to slot 10 on the RGTM, slice in a WT 1002 connector to the wire, and 3) insert it into slot 19? Would this work or does the defrost switch wire trigger a different connector and I am off track here?

Thanks.

It triggers a different connection.

 

[BCMatt]

Hello. Read and reread this as I really like the idea of having a mechanical trunk open/close button.

That said, if I don’t care about replacing the oem max defrost button and just want the lift gate functionality (or want to replace the defrost button later), can I 1) take the trim off the lift gate, 2) snip the existing wire going to slot 10 on the RGTM, slice in a WT 1002 connector to the wire, and 3) insert it into slot 19? Would this work or does the defrost switch wire trigger a different connector and I am off track here?

Thanks.

You would take the wire coming from pin 10 of the headlight switch as the trigger if you are keeping the max defrost button. If you switch to the correct button in the future, you would need to add a WT1002 pin to spot 12 on the headlight switch connector and use that. The different buttons trigger different pins. If you are sniping the max defrost wire, make sure to tape up the snipped unused end of the wire so it doesn't ground itself causing the defrost to trigger.

Whichever method you choose, you can either wire your trigger wire all the way back to the RGTM where it would connect to pin 19 of the grey connector, or you can wire it to the brown wire coming from pin 31 of the BCM. As stated above, I prefer going to the RGTM because the function is exactly as Ford designed, other users prefer the BCM because it is closer and functions nearly the same way.

PS, before snipping anything, confirm with a multimeter that when you press the max defrost it is grounding pin 10 of the headlight switch. I haven't read of anybody keeping the max defrost button in any of the threads I've read. No reason it shouldn't work but you would be the first documented case.

 

[mkhuffman]

Hello. Read and reread this as I really like the idea of having a mechanical trunk open/close button.

That said, if I don’t care about replacing the oem max defrost button and just want the lift gate functionality (or want to replace the defrost button later), can I 1) take the trim off the lift gate, 2) snip the existing wire going to slot 10 on the RGTM, slice in a WT 1002 connector to the wire, and 3) insert it into slot 19? Would this work or does the defrost switch wire trigger a different connector and I am off track here?

Thanks.

This is harder and more complicated than just attaching a batch button and running the wire. IMO. And you can always revert it back to stock if you want, by putting the defrost button back on. No wires cut, easy to reverse.

 

[markboris]

PS, before snipping anything, confirm with a multimeter that when you press the max defrost it is grounding pin 10 of the headlight switch. I haven't read of anybody keeping the max defrost button in any of the threads I've read. No reason it shouldn't work but you would be the first documented case.

The Max Defrost button does not ground pin 10 of the headlight switch. That is why I said in the post above it triggers a different connection. I tried this first back in '21 to see if I could just use that switch instead of replacing it with an actual liftgate switch. You have to use a liftgate switch if you want it to ground to pin 10.

 

[BCMatt]

The Max Defrost button does not ground pin 10 of the headlight switch. That is why I said in the post above it triggers a different connection. I tried this first back in '21 to see if I could just use that switch instead of replacing it with an actual liftgate switch. You have to use a liftgate switch if you want it to ground to pin 10.

The liftgate switch grounds pin 12, not pin 10.
According to the Mach E wiring diagram, Max Defrost grounds pin 10.

 

[markboris]

The liftgate switch grounds pin 12, not pin 10.
According to the Mach E wiring diagram, Max Defrost grounds pin 10.

Yes sorry, it has been 4+ years since I did this. I just remember for whatever reason, I could not use the Max Defrost switch.

 

[BCMatt]

Alright, I hooked up the spare bronco headlight switch to a multimeter with my old max defrost button installed to see what happens when you push the button. I confirm it grounds pin 10. Pics for reference.

 

[markboris]

Alright, I hooked up the spare bronco headlight switch to a multimeter with my old max defrost button installed to see what happens when you push the button. I confirm it grounds pin 10. Pics for reference.

Nice. I might do this as right now I am using the Park assist switch because I wanted a fast, easy way to do this with my '24. But in my '21's I used the park assist switch to activate the cameras and I really got used to that so will be changing it over to that and will use Max defrost for now. I have a liftgate switch around here somewhere, just need to find it. ?

 

[FasterThanEnough]

Thank you BCMatt and markboris so much for all the detailed responses and discussion and the pics/diagrams which help me. I do prefer the functionality of going to the RGTM vs the BCM better.

This said, regardless of using the Max Defrost or a Bronco button, because the current trigger connection currently goes to the BCM and HVAC modules, I would have to run a physical wire from the Headlamp module to the lift gate RGTM module regardless of either switch I use; correct? I was trying to see if running a wire could be avoided.

Thank you

 

[HuntingPudel]

Thank you BCMatt and markboris so much for all the detailed responses and discussion and the pics/diagrams which help me. I do prefer the functionality of going to the RGTM vs the BCM better.

This said, regardless of using the Max Defrost or a Bronco button, because the current trigger connection currently goes to the BCM and HVAC modules, I would have to run a physical wire from the Headlamp module to the lift gate RGTM module regardless of either switch I use; correct? I was trying to see if running a wire could be avoided.

Thank you

There is no way that you can avoid running a wire, regardless of whether you use a generic momentary push-button switch, the Park Assist switch, or a switch in the headlight cluster. ??

 

[Blue PonyE]

My key fob has a button to open the hatch. Have to press it twice, but quicker than installing a physical button.

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