rear hatch light switch??

[ericdg16]

Does anyone know where the switch is located that controls the light that is supposed to come on when you open the rear hatch?

I have a hunch that it might have a short, but I looked and looked and can't locate the switch.

The light itself comes on when I flip the switch on the light, but not when I open the door.

Also I am thinking of updating the interior (radio bezel and console) to a 99. I found a new radio bezel but I am curious, if I want to update my a/c controls to the 99 style, with the knobs and not the levers, if this is a plug and play swap or if the harnesses will have to be redone.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

I know on mine the switch is a 3 position switch like the dome light up front and it's labeled Door-Off-On.

On the '99 SR5s the HVAC controls are updated but still uses one slide switch for the air circulation but in '01 they updated it again but I think that one would require more work.

 

[ericdg16]

On the '99 SR5s the HVAC controls are updated but still uses one slide switch for the air circulation

That's the one I am looking for just curious if I can just unplug mine and plug in the newer model.

I know on mine the switch is a 3 position switch like the dome light up front and it's labeled Door-Off-On.

When I put the switch on the door-off-on mode, the light does not come on when I open the door.

On the side doors there is a rubber coated button. When the door is shut the button is depressed and the light stays off, and when you open the door, taking the pressure off the button the light comes on.

I was looking for this rubber coated button in the back hatch but could not locate it. I was wondering how the T4R knows when you open the back hatch cause I am pretty sure that switch is shorted out.

 

[DewRunner]

i found it!

it is in the latching mechanism, when i closed the latch manually with a screwdriver it turns the light off, and when i opened it with the handle it turned back on

maybe cleaning it out and stuff getting it moving freely would help, i know mine wont turn on somtimes either.

 

[ericdg16]

Awesome, thanks
Definitely never would have found it on my own.
I'll check it out this weekend while I'm doing the grey wire mod.
woohoo

 

[DewRunner]

I always kind of wondered where it was myself, and never spotted it just on glancing but then i got to thinking and thought maybe its in there! and sure enough there she was. haha i always liked playing with those latch things as a kid in the car on the doors making it so woudnt close haha.

Good luck with the fix!

 

[Darkhorse1975]

Yep, the switch to turn on the light when you open your tailgate is in the latch. Mine quit working, I took the latch off but could not get to the wiring inside because the assembly is riveted together. The latch is kind of expensive to buy just to fix the door light. For another possible issue, another thread on the topic mentioned checking the wiring in the rubber loom you can see by the tailgate hinge on the left side. I found a broken black wire and another wire with splitting when I checked.

 

[Garandman]

Been looking for this info! Thanks!