Pop and Lock Froze

The title is a little misleading, my pop and lock works just fine, but the tailgate would not lock unless I used the key. So here is the story. If you live in a cold weather area and have a pop and lock, check to make sure it locks. Yesterday I was driving to go skiing and it got down to 0degF on the drive and was 8degF at the resort. After I locked my truck I checked the tailgate and found it to be unlocked. I tried the key fob multiple times and it would not lock so I used the key. I found that the pop and lock would unlock just not lock. Later in the day it got up to 30degF and it seem to work fine after I locked and unlocked it a few times. It also worked fine today at 18degF.

This afternoon, I took the panel off to check the pop and lock and it was secure. I did find a lot of dust inside the compartment and the grease around the locking/handle mechanism had dust in it. I cleaned it up and lubed the plastic arm that slides to set the lock and all seems fine.

It’s possible the cold caused the grease to harden enough to cause the pop and lock to not be able to actuate it.

Something to check if you use a pop and lock and live in an area that gets this cold.

 

did you try it again with the fob? Exact same thing happened to me 2 winters ago.......turns out a tiny little spring (like 2x the size you'd find in a pen) popped out and was disabling the actuator. I was lucky enough to find it in the tailgate.

Popped it back in, has worked great ever since

 

Yeah. It works fine now. I’m just speculating it was the cold.

 

Such a great product idea, but poorly executed.
I have gone back to my stock tailgate handle after being on vacation and getting locked out of my bed when the pop and lock handle broke.
There is a tiny plastic tab that breaks off making the handle inoperable. Read lots of people have had the same issue.