When i press the button to open the tailgate on the outside, I can hear a motor working but the tailgate does not open. Does anyone know of any common fixes for this or how to open it any other way?

 

I had the same issue in my old 08 odyssey, I presume Honda used a similar mechanism to the RDX back then.

The unlocking latch is a motorized unit, on the inside of the hatch there was a panel cover to this unit, and after you removed the cover panel there was a metallic mechanism with an engraved "release" and an arrow to either a screw or lever (I forgot). If you flip that screw/lever it forces the latch to release and you can open the tailgate.

The entire mechanism is sold as one piece, I recall the mechanic telling me it was a ridiculous part cost back then, so probably more ridiculous now. You can type your vin into dreamshop.acura.com to figure out the part number and google for prices.


I presume your issue was the unlatching part, not the motorized lift motor. You can manually lift the gate even if the lift motor is broken, so if you can't lift it then it's probably the unlatching mechanism that broke.