Odyssey: tailgate very hard to open/lift

Hi all

Sorry about this - I originally posted this question on alt.autos.honda but
I recognize that this newsgroup probably has a much wider readership than
a.a.h. So if anyone has any ideas for me, I sure would appreciate it.

We have a problem on our 2000 Honda Odyssey and I'm wondering if anyone here
has encountered a similar problem and may be able to render advice.

The tailgate (rear hatch door) was accidentally left half open while a
garage door against which it was leaning was opened (wife pressed the remote
door opener without noticing that tailgate was pressed against garage door).
Now we have a tailgate that is basically non-functional because it is
incredibly hard to open (door is much heavier than I imagined it was). I
looked at the tailgate shocks (I've heard them also referred to as lift
cylinders); they appear to be bolted to the frame normally. But what could
explain why the door feels like it has virtually Zero assist from the
shocks? Could we have "hyper-extended" the shocks to the point where one or
both of them do not have any compressed gas in them? How could this have
occurred? I thought these things are under thousands of pounds of pressure,
aren't they? The shocks do not appear to be damaged when I performed a
cursory visual inspection.

Any other thoughts on what could have gone wrong?

thanks much, in advance.

RG

 

How about the hinges? There is a reasonable chance that something was bent
or knocked out of alignment and now its binding when you try to open the
hatch.

Does it stay up by itself? If the lifts are failing, the hatch will fall
back down as soon as you let go of it.