Rear hatch light switch (1 Viewer)

[cclemow]

Okay guys this is a petty one but honestly driving me crazy that I haven’t sorted it. My rear hatch is not turning on rear roof light on my 1997. The back doors will..at least my passenger ...side so I know the bulb and switch on actual light works.
How the heck does the back hatch work? Mercury switch? Contact? Where is the darn thing?

 

[mingles]

Okay guys this is a petty one but honestly driving me crazy that I haven’t sorted it. My rear hatch is not turning on rear roof light on my 1997. The back doors will..at least my passenger ...side so I know the bulb and switch on actual light works.
How the heck does the back hatch work? Mercury switch? Contact? Where is the darn thing?

What triggers the light when you open the hatch is a ground circuit that completes in the latch mechanism itself (center bottom of the hatch).

Mine worked intermittently as the mechanism was gummed up with years worth of old grease. I removed the latch mechanism, soaked the whole thing in electrical contact cleaner while working the latch repeatedly, and it has been fine for a few years. IIRC, you may need to remove the interior trim panel around the inside hatch pull to disconnect the wiring.

 

[fjbj40]

Mine was also intermittent, it ended up being the harness. The wires work hardened where they go through the door to body rubber boot. There was also corrosion in the door harness plug.

 

[cclemow]

Awesome guys. Thanks. I’ll take off all of that and see if I can sort it. I’ve got a drivers rear contact switch that won’t activate it either. Bet it’s another bad ground somewhere.

 

[Tedward]

The switch is inside that metal box thing. Its 2 halves are riveted together. I drilled the rivets out and tack welded the halves back together after replacing the switch. I'm not saying that is the best move but that's what I did. Fixed the problem though.