Thread: Lower tailgate manual release

Saw this in my latest LRO November mag, seems to be a permanent fix.

Discovery 3 & 4 Tailgate Latch Repair Kit

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

Saw this in my latest LRO November mag, seems to be a permanent fix.

Discovery 3 & 4 Tailgate Latch Repair Kit

Half the failures are the motor gumming up so this doesn’t help that problem.

I simply preventatively replace the unit to avoid failure.

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

Saw this in my latest LRO November mag, seems to be a permanent fix.

Discovery 3 & 4 Tailgate Latch Repair Kit

Note that the fix is for a broken cable only. If the latch is not fully opening for whatever reason then the upper tailgate will still not open. The optimal fix is to attach a cable to the latch itself. There's a guide here somewhere.
But really, these rarely fail without warning. As soon as the tailgate opening starts becoming a bit tricky, immediately replace the mechanism; it's not too expensive, about $120 or so from memory.

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Half the failures are the motor gumming up so this doesn’t help that problem.

I simply preventatively replace the unit to avoid failure.

Care to provide an indication of when you suspect preventative maintenance replacement might be a good idea? Presumably suitably reduced for any off road work!

Originally Posted by gavinwibrow

Care to provide an indication of when you suspect preventative maintenance replacement might be a good idea? Presumably suitably reduced for any off road work!

In all honesty dunno. I noted most people having issues had units around 10 years old - but that would all depend on the frequency of their back-door usage (there’s pun in there somewhere I’m sure).

I figured I’d got ten years out of mine and I felt that was a good innings so changed it out. Figured if I do it every five ish going forward. And yep, the argument of this not being tenable across everything that can go wrong applies. This however is a pain in the backside issue so I felt it was worth it, unlike the other doors.

Replaced mine with genuine assemby from Rimmers. This was about 18months ago so the car would have been about 8 years old. The telltale i found is when using the remote theres no solid "clunk" as the latch releases. The issue is the worm drive in the solenoid wears and cannot drive the actuator far enough against the spring to open the latch. Actuator is not serviceable.

LR part no and link Genuine Land Rover Actuator - Lock - Rear Door - Upper - FUG500010

I went with a Britpart. May live to regret it but so far so good.

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

I went with a Britpart. May live to regret it but so far so good.

I’m sure they come from the same supplier DJ. Mines all good and gets used each and every day. I’m not worried