Brabusx2

HI all, so my parent's 2010 RX450h with 100k miles power liftgate struggle to open and close itself now days, it just always stop and beep when it try to close or open, is the strut going out or is the power motor itself going out?

TIA

JT4

Based on how you explained it, to me it sounds like it may be the motor starting to go..

dat dude

As the other user said, yea it looks like the motor is starting to go. If your parents do decide to get it fixed; please share some more info as I want to prepared for when my motor might go :P

vlad_a

Does it happen both with the engine on and off?

Clutchless

As a test with the vehicle off, go to the back and manually lift up the hatch. If it feels heavy and does not want to go up all the way, it is the struts.

I would replace the struts first as they are far cheaper and just as or more likely to be the cause. My 2010 only has 45,000 miles and I can already tell the hatch struts are getting weaker as they fail to lift it up all the way because I now bump my head if not careful. Get aftermarket hatch struts from Amazon as the OEM ones cost a fortune!

Brabusx2

thanks guys, i will take video and post on here and show you all before i call up the dealer, the car warranty will be over in 1000 miles, so really wanted to get everything check before then.

do you think the dealer will say its my strut going bad? because the strut holding up the gate perfectly fine, its not slamming on top of my head at all. but dealer will always try to rip me off on that first before that happen

dat dude

I doubt they will say that because they can't lie about something that is visibly functioning. They'll probably run tests on the opening and closing functions of the motor and base a conclusion from there.

Droid13

One of the struts may be binding, so holding the door up isn't necessarily an indicator of a strut in good condition. You say it struggles to both open and close. If the struts were simply worn out, closing would not be an issue, but opening would. Follow Clutchless' advice, simply test the door manually both open and close, if resistance is in the Goldilocks zone the it's the motor, if not, struts.