Hi,
My right electric tailgate strut is failing on my Karoq 2018. The price to replace it is €800, which seems very expensive for opening a boot so I was thinking of replacing the electric strut with a gas strut. Has anyone tried this? Getting to the connector for the electric strut seems very awkward, but if I could swap it for a gas strut, it would be fairly easy,

Has anyone tried this, or know if the struts are the same dimensions?

Paul

If you feel a bit adventurous, you could give AliExpress a go, they offer the pair for £140. Looks like a simple replacement too based on the videos I looked at. 

I would definitely try this before.

While I cannot check myself right now, according to the pictures the length looks identical, so you should be fine with replacing it with a gas operated one. The other question if it's going to show any sort of faults on the dash.

There's a thread here https://www.karoqforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=958  showing a possible cause of electric strut failure involving broken wires

 

I had planned to remove the old strut by accessing the connector, but it proved to be an arduous task. In the attached photo, you can see that the cable (shown in blue) snakes in and turns down, with the connector located somewhere around the circle I've drawn. The housing is securely clipped together, and I can't seem to find any screws that are keeping it in place. It seems like I would have to remove most of the side panel to gain access to it. Has anyone ever removed these panels before? I tried prying them, but it seemed like some clips were holding them in place, and I didn't want to damage anything. Is there a screw that I might be missing?

@Paul2023 were you able to do it? I found myself in this same situation. 🤐