68 Colony Park tailgate switch

Hi,

I bought a '68 Colony Park. I tried to open the tailgate through the tailgate key lock. I put the square head key in and it would not turn. The round key did not fit the lock as well. The square key does work for the ignition and other door locks. I did not try turning the rear handle since the glass was up and I did not want to jam the door. Am I missing something or do I have a wrong key? Also, does anyone know where I can find an owners manual (preferable online copy). Lastly, are there alternate new window relays (on firewall) that I could install since mine is shot (hence no power windows/ tailgate).

Thanks, Wayne

 

Rear window

Wayne
I just bought a 68 Country Sedan
It has a toggle under the dash that operates the rear window.
But I cannot open the gate ?
Not sure if the window is full open,,it is up about an inch or so.
The key does not turn much on the rear handle ?
And the interior handle that opens the tail gate hatch
Starts to release but will not open ?
I'm in the same boat as you so as I figure things out ill let you know.
I need to get it open so I can get into the door to clean it up and oil
All the mechanisms.
Does yours have the electric rear window ?
Robert H

 

Robert,

I suppose the key on the back should turn one way or another to lift/ drop the glass. That is how it works on GM wagons. I do believe that the handle should not be turned until the glass is all the way down or it would jam the door. Does anything happen when you flip the dash switch? If not, try fault tracing the power from the circuit breaker on the starter relay through the switch. Check the window relay on the firewall. The center post should have constant power (from starter relay). When the key is switched on, the terminal on the right gets power from the ignition and the left terminal should be energized as a result.

Wayne

 

hmmm

The tailgate window on my 68 Colony Park was controlled by what looked like a dealer installed toggle switch on the dashboard. To the left of the steering column. OR, the keyhole on the outside of the tailgate. The tailgate had been caved in, in a supermarket parking lot incident and only went short of half way down. The tailgate didn't open because of this, too. Luckily, the back-back seat had been open, when the incident happened(it happened before I got the car)---My 86 Colony Park was the victim of an attempted break-in. After that, the window went up and down just fine, but the tailgate didn't open anymore. But, Mercury had redesigned the back-back seat, so it could be opened and closed with the tailgate closed. Learned to live with them like that, until I lost both of them to other people and their vehicles. My advice is; get a car thief who's good at it(or an old timey tow truck driver)jimmy your tailgate open for you. Then, do all that fixing and maintenance you want to do. On both the 68 and 86, the round key was for the tailgate, if it's not working, you need it re-keyed.

 

So did you just turn the key in the keyhole to bring the glass down?. When I get the window relay replaced it should work with the toggle switch. The rear keyhole simply does not work. It is keyed for a square headed key only. I tried the round one and it did not even fit the grooves. I'm not sure if the prev. owner had replaced the lock and just used another key for it. I don't want to have the prev. owner's family search for a key that may not exist in the first place. If it is definately keyed differently, then I will inquire further about missing keys. Wayne

 

Yes... On both cars, turning the key to the right made it go up(too far and it unlocks the door)turning it to the left made it go down(too far and you lock the door).

 

Gate open

OK I got my gate open yesterday.
The window was not going all the way down ( it was full of pine needles )
But to find that out I had to get it open to remove the panel
I read an older thread and found out about the locking mechanism
A steel rod on the right side on the inside of the window
It gets pushed down by the glass when it is fully opened
So I pushed it down with a flat piece is steel then opened the gate.
So to recap,,,open window as much as possible
Push small rod down with ???
Then while holding it down
Open gate, you need to hold the rod down because it keeps
Springing up.
Good Luck !!!

 

ya...that rod activates or de activates the lock depending on how you look at it
just as long a the glass will clear your side pillars you should be able to get it open.

fyi...the stupid lcok switch on the tailgate handle hardly ever works !

 

So I was able to restore power and the tailgate glass still wouldn't drop. If the gate was locked at thr back lock, would the glass not roll down? Thanks

 

I don't think so
As long as the key is on the glass should operate. You do have
Electric rear window right ?
And as long as it is down even a little bit, enough to clear the
Window casement when it opens you can pop the gate open
By pushing down the lock mechanism
The relay for the rear glass for mine is just right of the master cylinder
Under the hood, it's about 1" x 2" with 3 wires going into it
When I turn the key , I can hear it activate.
Hope that helps , and good luck..
When I finally got mine open,,It was a little celebration

 

hmmm

The window should be able to go up and down when controlled from the dashboard control switch, not matter how the tailgate lock is set. I do believe the one exception is; when the door is down like a tailgate, you're not supposed to be able to do the window. Not sure if the tailgate comes with a "kill switch" that's activated when it's open or not. Never tried to make the window go "up and down" while the tailgate was open. Wasn't ever that stupid.

 

I know my window relay is bad. My wagon does have power windows in addition to electric tailgate. I found the windows wire disconnected at the starter relay and added a circuit breaker in. I traced the wire to the relay and found the power wire good as well as the wire good when the key is switched. When I tested the other wire on the left, there was no current when key was switched on. So I bypassed the relay and powered up the affected wire (using a power probe). The power windows did not operate and the tailgate was dead. After applying direct power (power probe) to the passenger window (removed door panel), it went up smooth. So I figure I need to clean out all of my contacts. The tailgate I am just stumped on. I figure with power applied, it should have done something but nothing happened. The heater blower doesn't work but I think they are on different fuses. The radio does work so that fuse works. I don't want to pull that back panel off unless I have no choice. Are all the screws visible for the back panel or are they buried when the gate is shut? On 1968 Mercurys, if the window switch on a window is bad, would it affect operation on the master switch (or is it the other way around)? Thanks, Wayne

 

I was able to find a replacement relay and installed it. The power flows through the tailgate under dash switch and works as it should. The tailgate motor does not do anything nor make any noise. I do not have the key for the gate so I can't try that switch to see what would happen. Does anyone know for sure whether a locked gate on a 1968 ford/ mercury could kill power to the motor? I believe all wiring is routed to a junction at the tailgate switch and then fed to the motor.

I figure the power lead from the under dash switch to the tailgate is signal voltage since there is a separate main power feed that continues to the rear of the wagon.

Thanks, Wayne

 

Not sure if you checked this , but there is a relay on the firewall
drivers side next to the master cylinder, is that the one you replaced ?
if not , check that out. i think it supplies power to the back window.

 

Hi, I did replace the firewall relay since it was bad. I replaced the under dash switch (which was a replacement toggle itself). I get current transferring through the wire as it should. My next step is to check the tailgate itself and the wiring inside. I was just trying to make sure that I didn't overlook something easy. No key for the tailgate so I can't try that switch. I don't think if the tailgate was locked that it would make a difference, but just want to make sure. Wayne