IRSnuff wrote:

PS I am going to seal around the new switch rubber gasket with silicone sealant to keep the rain out, have used grease in this sort of situation before but it usually melts in hot weather and leaves streaks down the paintwork.......just a thought

Good point

But I'm in the North East too so no danger of it melting - plus I used high temperature grease as it was what I had lying around  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

hi
Can't thank you enough for posting the pics for the boot release removal and replacement ,took me 17mins including getting the wiring wrong three times lol
cheers simon  57 tambora flame SE mud flaps,side strips,twin s/roofs,18"HSE wheels,courtesy lights on w/mirrors



58 saab 93 convertible vector sport 1.9 TTid 180

Can't take the credit myself - the forum is a 'collective' of FL2 owners + a few others (you know who you are!!!)

But thanks is always appreciated by all  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

As an after thought should there indeed be a rubber seal around the housing ie the bit that says LAND ROVER ? as it really does not fit flush does it, just a thought…..  57 tambora flame SE mud flaps,side strips,twin s/roofs,18"HSE wheels,courtesy lights on w/mirrors



58 saab 93 convertible vector sport 1.9 TTid 180

Very true about the gasket - it has been discussed a few times in the past.

Some have used sealant or similar but it seems to be ok without - except every 5 years when you need to replace the switch unit?? but if my high temp grease works then it will last longer than me  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Great instructions sadly my flappy bit had corroded completely at the pin and so needed replacing new switch cost £ 22 including postage.

To be honest for £20 I wouldn't bother trying to repair the switch unit - REPLACE IT!!!!

My time is worth much more to me than fiddling trying to repair a £20 switch unit - but if it was expensive or hard to get hold of that would be a different matter  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Just replaced the switch on my tailgate following the pictures and instructions in this post, very straight forward. My 'flappy bit' consisted of 3 corroded lumps plus spring! This was working up till a few days ago! The seal between the grey plastic numberplate light/switch assembly was of the furry rubber type that looked very compressed with age so used translucent silicone to seal it back to the tailgate to stop ingress of water as presume it runs down from the top as well?  Make it simple and easy to fix!

Mrs Freedieselauto just got back complaining that she had to load up her and the mother-in-law's shopping, of which there was plenty, via the back seat as the tailgate would not open. Not at all happy in the rain.She hadn't realised there was a tailgate button on the remote, which was, of course my fault.

Anyway, thanks for the detail on how to get to the catch to sort it out. I just hope there is enough of it left to fix. I may get hold of a replacement to avoid doing the job twice. It will make a change from updating my kit-car which was a bit tired after 11 years. - 2007(57) XS Auto, Rimini Red, Alpaca Leather.
- GCS Hawke - Sports, BRG, Vulcan 2.1 inj'. My toy - built it myself in 2001.

@freedieselauto

I would honestly say that for £20 from e$ay you would be wasting your valuable time trying to fix it

I tried with mine and it worked for a week then stopped again - wish I'd done the job once in the first place.

Just my advise  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Simont - Yes, they are not much so I will replace it rather than try to bodge a repair. - 2007(57) XS Auto, Rimini Red, Alpaca Leather.
- GCS Hawke - Sports, BRG, Vulcan 2.1 inj'. My toy - built it myself in 2001.

Hi guys, this is my first post on the site, although I've been enjoying reading the various threads, and learning all about my recent purchase (2008 Sumatra Black FL2 GS).

I'm no stranger to LR's having owned a 1977 Series III, a Freelander 1 and a Disco TD5 and doing my own mechanicing on them all.

I decided to replace the tailgate switch yesterday after finding that the button was beginning to need a little bit of extra force to open the tailgate.

A nice handy job to do (15 minutes!), but I have a small tip after someone earlier in the thread mentioned about the steel spring clips being hard to locate when reassembling the trim. Pop two of the plastic studs in first, to ensure alignment, and then go across the steel ones and pop them in with the palm of your hand. Simple.

Regards,

Jon.

I replaced my switch this morning and noticed that the new switch has sealant round the lip of the flexible rubber cover to prevent the ingress of water, so hopefully it will last a little longer. It also indicates that there was a design fault(yes, another one) with the original switch, which is borne out by the number of reported failures on this site.

Dan at Duckworths provided the part at the best price - lower than the bay of fleas. - 2007(57) XS Auto, Rimini Red, Alpaca Leather.
- GCS Hawke - Sports, BRG, Vulcan 2.1 inj'. My toy - built it myself in 2001.

Just replaced my switch, looking at how far back this problem goes, mine seems to have done well lasting not far short of 6 years. Must admit I paid dealer price for the switch (just over £29) but it is a very sunny morning down in the garden of England so I just wanted to get it done and dusted.
Thank you so much to whoever put the tutorial on here, made life so much easier.
Couldn't believe the amount of corrosion there was in the switch, i am surprised it hadn't packed up ages ago!

Did mine yesterday.

The switch was full of a white liquid, can't believe the switch worked as long as it did!

Cleaned up with wheel cleaner, washed and scrubed and now good as new and working great