rear window - Tailgate switch doesn't work/dashboard switch does...?
Posting Guru
Joined: Mar 2000
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rear window - Tailgate switch doesn't work/dashboard switch does...?
can you check the ckt w/a meter?
Here is a diagram & info by rfr:
http://rfr.htmlplanet.com/bronco/jou...al_page08.html
Other diagrams are listed in my site under Technical - Tailgate
Here is a diagram & info by rfr:
http://rfr.htmlplanet.com/bronco/jou...al_page08.html
Other diagrams are listed in my site under Technical - Tailgate
Last edited by AlM; Sep 6, 2003 at 03:11 PM.
Postmaster
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,809
Likes: 3
From: Loveland, CO.
rear window - Tailgate switch doesn't work/dashboard switch does...?
It is probably your dashboard switch causing the problem. I have to fix mine about once a year, but it's easy and free.
Take it apart and look at how it works inside. It's got contacts like ignition points. After a while they get bent just a little too far in one direction. Mine got bent so that the dashboard switch does not work, but the tailgate switch does, and I have to bend them a little. You will notice this starting to happen when it seems like you have to push the dashboard switch harder and harder to get it to work, and then it stops working. All you have to do is take it apart and bend the "points" up a little bit.
HOWEVER, if you bend them up too far, then the dash switch works but the tailgate switch does not. That's because the circuit to the rear tailgate switch got opened when you bent them up to make the dash switch work. No problem. Bend them back just a little bit to close the circuit, and all works fine. I've had to do this twice since I got the Bronco a couple of years ago, but everything works fine.
This sounds complicated, but if you take the switch apart it will become a lot more clear.
This may not be your problem, but I would check it.
Take it apart and look at how it works inside. It's got contacts like ignition points. After a while they get bent just a little too far in one direction. Mine got bent so that the dashboard switch does not work, but the tailgate switch does, and I have to bend them a little. You will notice this starting to happen when it seems like you have to push the dashboard switch harder and harder to get it to work, and then it stops working. All you have to do is take it apart and bend the "points" up a little bit.
HOWEVER, if you bend them up too far, then the dash switch works but the tailgate switch does not. That's because the circuit to the rear tailgate switch got opened when you bent them up to make the dash switch work. No problem. Bend them back just a little bit to close the circuit, and all works fine. I've had to do this twice since I got the Bronco a couple of years ago, but everything works fine.
This sounds complicated, but if you take the switch apart it will become a lot more clear.
This may not be your problem, but I would check it.
Senior User
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 158
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rear window - Tailgate switch doesn't work/dashboard switch does...?
Mine quit and it was the power wire going to the tailgate it was broken were it bends back and fourth, between the gate and the body. The dash switch still worked with that wire broken. Just something else to check!
Elder User
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 813
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From: NJ
rear window - Tailgate switch doesn't work/dashboard switch does...?
i agree with the last two posts about the wire in the harness between the tailgate and driverside fender. i have fixed mine mor than once i believe it is black with a white stripe.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,019
Likes: 3
From: Bismarck, ND
rear window - Tailgate switch doesn't work/dashboard switch does...?
Just for kicks, double check the fuse. I'm not sure of how other years are wired (maybe they're all the same), but I had the same issue with my '85 when I bought it..... The dash switch worked great, but not the gate (keyed) switched. It turned out that the circuits from both the dash and the gate switch each have their own fuse in the factory fuse box. A simple replaced fuse solved the problem.
