Pop and Lock PL8521 Power Tailgate Install (2012 Tacoma)

I just realized I have this exact same problem. My spring won't even hold the bar up anymore. I thought I was SOL because I bought it from Amazon and the warranty from Pop & Lock directly says they cannot warrant coverage from purchases on online auction sites such as "ebay, amazon, etc." But, thankfully as you stated Amazon is shipping me a replacment unit. I installed this lock in March, so its been just about 2 months before becoming defective. Hopefully the new unit will hold up.

 

I got the replacement Amazon shipped and I just replaced the actuator. It's been a week now and it's still locking. I hope it holds.

 

Mine has been working flawlessly for 3 years now. I have no idea why anyone would get the manual tailgate lock over the powered version. You can't even tell it's there and works with the push of a button every time.



(I am sure it will break as soon as I post this)

 

After lurking this thread, I pulled the trigger and ordered it on Amazon. It comes Tuesday So I can't really see from the pics earlier in this thread but when you put the Pop n Lock wire through the split wire cover for the back up camera, do you run it through the entire length of the truck? Or do you split it once your underneath the bed with a bunch of electric tape and use the cover that Pop n Lock gave you?

 

I didn't end up doing that....looked like a major PIA. I just zip tied the pop-n-lock wires and housing to the camera housing through the tailgate and under-truck holes then split off to the passenger side and ran it along the top of the frame.

 

The wiring is going to come in two sections - a shorter length for inside the tailgate and a longer length to run towards the front of the truck to connect to the door locks. You can use both exactly as they come, following the instructions included with the Pop & Lock.

However, if you leave the one inside the tailgate inside it's split wire sleeve, you'll have to figure out how to fit that through the tailgate to run under the truck. Many cut the plastic plug used by the camera's wiring to do that. However, an alternative is to just insert the Pop & Lock's wiring inside the existing split plastic sleeve for the camera's wiring. That split plastic sleeve already fits through the plugs in the tailgate (neater, no cutting, no drilling, etc).

Anyway, once you get the wiring from the tailgate under the truck and plugged into the longer section running towards the front of the truck, you can once again follow the instructions included with the Pop & Lock. However, yet another alternative is to run that wiring to the passenger side instead of the driver's side. Read the comments in this thread for why and how.

 

Just did this install today on my '11 prerunner.

Installing the actuator and running the wire was very easy.

Finding the blue/pink and blue/black in my wiring bundles was a major PITA. The only place I could remotely tap into them (or even find one) was buried in a large wire bundle tucked up behind the fuse panel near the wheel.

Some minor fortune fell upon me though as I came across two blue/pink wires and apparently the one I tapped into leads to the passenger side, because it only unlocks on two clicks (which i thought would be impossible after being unable to locate the wires i needed on the passenger side).

All in all, I'm not the brightest with wiring, so this may have only been difficult for me.

 

Unless the 2011 is different, they're super easy to find under the passenger side front kick panel like the write up says. Mine were in right in front of me once I pulled the panel off.

 

I installed the Pop N Lock Yesterday and although it could've been easier if I skipped a few steps, it was not too bad of an install. Thanks Stewartx for the alternatives, I went with putting the wires inside the split sleeve of the back-up camera which was a PITA because there was an inner split sleeve inside and fitting the two wires inside was a mission. However, It was definitely worth it because it looks cleaner and I didn't have to drill anything. I left the remaining wire inside the cab under the passenger seat since there was so much of it.

 

Great post, was going to get the regular pop up tailgate lock but this is much nicer.

 

Glad it went well. It's a one-time install (hopefully), so, like you, I decided to take my time and get it right. I'm satisfied with the results and at least my work shouldn't give me any problems later.

By the way, there was plenty of wire with my kit too. I decided to cut off the extra, leaving plenty in case I want to adjust it later (next mod perhaps), and threw the rest away.

 

Thank you OP and everyone who has contributed to this thread. The install is not that difficult but having all these pictures and references makes it really easy.

One thing I wanted to point out... the instructions state to look for blue/red and blue/black wires for 2010 and up. I have a 2012 and could only find a blue/pink wire in the kick panel area on the passenger side so that is what I used.


As you can see above I used the wire taps that came with the package. IMO they are fine. I taped everything up when I was done to keep everything nice and tight.

As for the routing of the cable I made another hole on the plastic plug where the backup camera cables route through using a hot exacto knife on both plastic plugs, the one on the frame and the one on the tailgate.



Here is a pic of everything wired up in the tailgate... because we don't have enough of these already

 

Well for one, click the remote to open doors (and tailgate), dont open doors (as many of us do, we just want to get stuff out of the bed) and everything relocks after 30 seconds.

 

Excellent write up! Made this mod doable within an hour. Thank you OP.

 

Yeah, and the tailgate still shuts after the door is automatically relocked. Remember the Pop & Lock only prevents the handle itself from moving, which doesn't move anyway when the tailgate is closed or shut. So what your example amounts to is an extra press of the remote button. Not exactly a big deal. And, of course, to somewhat offset that, if you decide to just walk away without unlocking the door after putting something into the bed, that tailgate just closed is now locked as well.

 

Would the same wires still work if i had best buy install a viper alarm that has a remote start and keyless entry? I have a 2013 thought

 

^ That's a good question. I would imagine so since those are the actual wires controlling the door locks, so surely any keyless entry system would have to use the same wires. However, anything's possible, so hopefully someone with direct experience with the Viper alarm can answer your question more authoritatively. Of course, you could always be the guinea pig by trying it and then telling us.

 

hopefully they are the right ones for my 2013. I ordered it but didnt think of the alarm until later. I will let you guys know if it works.

 

^ Are you talking about the wires? If so, several members of this forum have said they are unchanged in the 2013 models.

 

yea i was, but my question was referring towards to see if anything had changed since i installed a viper alarm