Update: A short write-up online offered a thought on this one, but involves manually pulling the liftgate open, but there is a ton of resistance. If it's not the motor, I'm thinking that would likely do it in?

Hi everyone,
I've got a 2015 GC Limited and my liftgate is having a hissy fit. Here's the rub:

1.) It had had trouble closing a bit, but slightly rotating the plastic shrouding over the motorized support (driver side, 68231345AA) sometimes worked. No resistance when doing it and I didn't see any signs of unexpected wear (scratches from other shroud piece) or anything on it, so I thought maybe it was just getting hung up somehow there.
2.) I never FORCED it shut, but sometimes had to try alternating between fob and manual button and rotating a handful of times.
3.) Now, it's in the shut position and won't open with button or fob.
4.) It opens approximately 1", stops, then shuts and re-locks.
5.) The fuse seems fine, locking mechanism seems fine, so I'm sort of stuck.

My jump conclusion was that maybe the motor was burned out, but it seems to want to go, but it's almost like it's hitting a point of resistance, sensing that pressure and refusing to open. From it's current closed position, I thought that the latch may have been the sticking point, but it's letting go that little bit. And it was also being a bastard from the open position. Thankfully it closed, I guess.

Any thoughts from the pros? Thank you all, I appreciate it. And I apologize if this is hidden in a thread somewhere, I did a quick look but am brand new to the forum.

Thanks,
DL

 

More updates - the trunk continues to pop open an inch or so and will close and relock UNLESS I manually stop it from doing so. From there, the trunk USUALLY can be manually opened, then will close via button/fob. I'm thinking this might be the passenger side strut helper. Any brainiacs out there? It's a cheap fix so I might as well try it first.