LR4 Tailgate not opening

[CRYA]

I highly recommend to everyone to do this mod when addressing tailgate issues. This will give you a manual release option for the price of a recliner chair pull cable. https://forum.expeditionportal.com/...rade-prevent-rear-door-failure-for-25.159873/

Yes. And I've also got the Land Rover Passion part sitting on my future projects shelf...

 

[djkaosone]

Yes. And I've also got the Land Rover Passion part sitting on my future projects shelf...

Not to knock on LRP's version, they're nice, but it looks just like these recliner cables for $10. I'm sure the LRP version is a complete setup with mounts, brackets, etc... But for those that don't want to opt for the $100 version or didn't have the option at the time it's fairly easy to do and worth it.

 

[powershift]

I've been eyeing those latches. Installing one seems pretty involved for me. What I'm doing now to get out of the back is before I get in I latch the receiving end of the window on the tailgate and close the window with the gate up. Then in the AM I just push the window open and climb over the tailgate.

With the window closed but not latched, it rained and no water got in through the window hatch. With the latch I'd need to scoot out farther and then drop off to the ground. Not sure if that is a benefit or not.

 

[ftillier]

The recliner handle just lets you release the window (upper part), you can still climb over the tailgate. The window latch isn't accessible, so if the actuator stops working, you can't open it at all if it's latched.

 

[CRYA]

I may have stated it earlier in the thread, but something that should have been a dead giveaway to me is that when I took the wires than ran into the switch and "shorted" them together, nothing happened. At the time, I wasn't sure whether the switch just essentially made a connection between the two wires when activated, but now I'm pretty sure that's all it does.

So, if you short the wires together and it activates the latch, then the switch is probably the culprit. If nothing happens, it's probably not the switch but rather the wiring or the latch itself.

Final Update for those that find this in the future. My problem WAS brittle broken wires between the switch and the plug. It wasn’t the physical switch.

I did the short test and got nothing, so I knew I needed to check the wires closer and couldn’t just pop in a new switch.

Because I didn’t find the broken wire on first inspection, I went ahead and ordered a new switch from AB for backup. Upon tearing the rear panel down a second time, upon closer inspection by flexing the switch wires all the way up the loom, I quickly found the break and upon flexing them fully snapped the wire. It’s composed of about 8 brittle wires best I could count. Maybe 28 AWG?? You can barely make it out in the pic. Also, the break occurred at the bottom of the loom where the wires exit the bundle and seem to be under more of a bend as they route down to the switch body.

So I cut it out about mid way up the loom, used solder connectors for a quick patch, and since I had the new switch, I patched it in as well and now all is right again in Hatchland.

 

[ryanjl]

It's so strange to me that those wires can break like that when they have presumably never been moved around since Land Rover built the vehicle. Maybe there's something about getting jarred every now and then when the hatch is opened and closed.

 

[powershift]

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