My Landy seems to have developed this damn annoying fault!
obviously I'm going to attempt the DIY as described above rather then getting ripped off at the stealers, but should that fail I will be replacing the switch. does anyone know the part number for this particular switch, or where I can get one other than from the stealers?
any help is much appreciated as always!
Cheers in advance.

A friend had the dealer do his while servicing the car. £70 parts and labour, At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

that's alot of money for a 30 minute fix, buy the part and DIY,,

just cleaned ours out but it still seems to not be quite right

worth mentioning for cleaning the flappy bit that if you slide it to one side you can take it out completely and give it a good clean.

thanks for the write up..

AD15, check out the online auctions, you can get them for £12.60 deliverd thats cheaper than the dealer.

PART NUMBER - LR020997

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Land-Rover-Freelande...27b800d13a p****d off with a Digital Keyboard Warrior

cheers ad..

Just cleaned my tailgate switch and drained the water out!! There was a decent amount of water in there!! All very easy to do, just make sure you check it works before putting it back together!!! But cheers for the pictures, they were a great help!!

Just a little question.

Once the screws are removed from the hand-holes - how are the clips released?

Is it a "just pull hard" type of technique needed? 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

Thanks for the info, fitted new part (old one severly corroded),£20 delivered from landyparts on ebay, 30 mins job done, Ta!

SWMBO noticed that the tailgate on our HSE was sometimes opening when the car was unlocked, I though she was imagining it but after reading the forum I realised that it had this fault so I had to apologise

I followed this guide and sure enough the inside of the switch housing looked worse than our kettle ! Cleaned and reassembled now works perfectly

Thank you for supplying the guide. Andrew

Just done mine. The usual thing of only being able to open the tailgate with the remote.

The guide and pics were very useful and saved me a lot of time...thanks!

Having removed the two screws in the handle it is just a matter of "pulling" the door card down but you have to be careful in case you break some of the plastic clips on the lower part of the door card. This can happen if it is cold or the clips are a few years old.....they get brittle. However, they are the same clips as the ones that hold the upper tailgate trim in place (the bit you have to take out to change the high level brake light bulb) and are part No. LLR003015. I have resolved to keep some in stock as they are only 68p each. The upper door card clips are metal so not a problem. John
07 HSE Narvick Black
Land Rover Series One
Triumph Rocket 111 (sadly gone!)

Finally got round to sorting my handle switch too.

When I pulled the rubber outer from the switch housing a load of white liquid and white bits flooded out - wonder why it had stopped working

Anyhow - as others have done - cleaned it out - applied some grease around the rubber seal and once the switch housing was pushed back in the handle unit I also greased up the joint inside the handle - in an attempt to stop water and washer fluid from reaching the switch unit from above.




Next time it stops working - I'm just going to buy a new switch unit - but for now it works again.... thanks 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

Ah well - thought it was too good to be true - just tried the tailgate switch again and it is refusing to function

Guess it's off to buy a new switch unit - at least it isn't too expensive and will just be another 30 minutes

 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 changed mine using the instructions posted by ajunipur. 45 mins all done. Thank you. Disappointed by the paint damage under the grey plastic a**e where it has spent the last 5 years vibrating on the tailgate. A 10cm line of small rust bubbles along the top at either end. Surprised there is no perimeter gasket. 2007 TD4 SE Manual Santrini Black

I too was surprised there wasn't a gasket of sorts around the handle

I did, however, put a layer of grease around the join of rubber to plastic on the new switch unit before I fitted it into the tailgate handle - hopefully it will make it a bit more water proof  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 got my 2008 Freelander 2 GS and it has this problem. Went down the clean up route, drained away the white coloured water and cleaned out the crud (think this may come from bi-metallic corrossion between the spring and the flap just like on Defender bodies). It's better but not quite right still, think the micro switch is shorting out after water ingress, so will replace with new switch asap. Thanks for the walkthrough, very clear Ta

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