Freelander 1: interior lights flicker whilst driving. Rear door issue.

Hello all.

The internal.lights came in whilst I was driving. Now they are on most of the time I'm driving a flicker a fair bit too. I have traced the issue down to the rear door (back door, tailgate). If I slam it shut the lights go out.... until I hit a bump in the road when they come back on again. I've checked the rear door. It's doing all it should do, nothing is loose, the window goes up and the handle and mechanism seems pretty solid (handle springs back nicely indicating the springs are likely to be OK).

My guess is that there is some sort of electrical micro switch that is only just making contact and when I hit a bump it loses contact.

Any idea what I can do? I'm slightly worried I need to change the handle mechanism (£26), an easy enough job but I'd prefer to be able to adjust the micro switch if that possible.

Thanks for any help.

There have been a few threads of late regarding the rear door opening solenoid / latch.

IIRC the door open sensor is in there.

You could check by downloading the Rave Workshop Manual...


It will have a description of how this operates, but it also has circuit diagrams. There will be a connector number for the door open sensor and there are pictures of all the connectors so that you can identify where it is.

Thanks. Have tried to locate threads but drawn a blank. I'm not able to download the manual either as I'm on the road now and in the very north of Scotland with only a mobile phone for internet access. On the upside I've fiddle around with the door and sprayed silicon grease into the door latch mechanism which has alleviated the problem a bit. Will continue to search for those threads.

Late edit: Ahah!