Latch won't lock when closing tailgate 2004 Silverado

Once you take the whole tailgate apart, you may find the current latch mechanism is only jammed, and with some lubrication and/or bending or adjustment, it may still work.
However, it may need replacement to fix the problem.
God bless your efforts.

try spraying the latch and mechanism with wd 40, both sides and handle. the bezel where the handle is at just pops out spray the pivot points and the latch cylinders on the sides of gate

move the latch up slamming it knock it lower

check the latch and striker, it may be out of adjustment or bad. the part where trunk latch locks onto. good-day !!

Two things happen. One the latch is already latched and therefore it's closed before the gate shut, When you try to close it you might notice that the door don't close all the way. This doe'snt have to be thwe case. the other thing that happens if the lock mechanism is working, You here it click? The latch is stuck as the opener is stuck. You might get lucky and spray the latch with Blaster or other rust buster type penatrant. Theres angles though the opening of the latch . Spray on several angles and repleatly close the door trying to vibrate the Penatrant into the stuck area. Looking at the latch use a screw driver to move the latch and see if you can cycle it though it's positions to see if you can latch and unlatch it with the tool and reopen by pullung the handle ( you may need to try ther inside handle too and even the remote openner if you have one. Ussaaaly you need to push the button twice to open the rear hatch so it may take a few trys and spraying to get it to come loose.. Some vehicals stay closed a long time and stuck is the way to think.. But if the door is used often the linkage inside the door mayh have come off the the latch is closed and the linkage doesn't open the laTCH AND THE THING MANAGED TO GET CLOSED WITHT THE DOOR OPEN.

Annoying, but easy to fix: Actuate the opening handle and manually rotate the latch to the open position.

check the tailgate lock rods behind the handle. The bezel around the handle pops off, and the mechanism is behind there. The rods that go to each side of the tailgate may be stuck inward. A little wd-40 or lubricant should work them loose again

Try spraying into the lock mechanism with a spray lube like WD40. Work it right into the lock and don't be shy about how much. Work the latch a few times and spray it again.If this works it is only temporary. Get some white lithium grease and take the panel off and lube the latch up with that for the long term. Hope this helps.

latches for this are on the sides. The are connected by the handle in the middle of the gate. Latches are either stuck open (dry or frozen open) or stuck closed and you are banging on them when trying to close and "latch" gate. Get a screwdriver and while pulling up on tailgate handle make sure latches(on gate) are open to engage "striker bolt". If they are spray them liberally with WD40 or silicone SPRAY. latch and open several times to let lubricant attack rusted area on mechanism.

If latches won't open they may be stuck closed and won't open because cable going from middle handle to that side or both sides is disconnected. Does tailgate have star shaped bolts on "inside-bed-when-closed" side? If so you will need to spray these with WD40 and let set then get a star torques bit and remove them to access middle handle actuator.

take the panel off the tailgate and check ur tailgate latch and or switch. may need replacement . be sure not to slam the tailgate down too hard anything, could damage the latch