interior lights

[Quadzilla-EFI]

I have looked everywhere for a switch or other means of turning off the interior lights when the rear gate is in the up, or open position. It'll be a while till the drive-in theater is open again, but I'd really like to be able to park with the rear gate opened and not interfere with others viewing pleasure. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

D.

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

If you click the latch on the gate on the driver side, that has the switch for the interior lights. So just manually close that while the gate is open and it'll shut off the interior lights. Just remember to release it by using the handle again before you try and close it.

 

[gloomis]

Josh is on the money with that!

Just remember like he said, and turn the release to open the latch back up or you'll feel like an idiot when you try to close it and it goes "Clunk!" and doesn't latch - voice of experience here.

 

[boggs1227]

explain that to me once more . if you turn the latch handle to the drivers side ( that opens the glass) ...leave the glass where it almost locks ...then turn the handle to the right to open the rear hatch with the lights off (that right?)

or did i do it wrong ??

i tried every combo to get it to turn off the lights ......i opened the rear hatch then opened the glass ...nothing ...i even did that plus pushed the latch mech in the door ( the one for the glass) to the locked postion and still nothing .

 

[mikeinri]

No, we're not talking about the handle here. When you open the rear hatch, look at the outer sides of the hatch. On each side, you will see the latches which engage to lock the hatch closed. When the hatch is open, these latches are open (think of an open clam shell). When the hatch is closed, there is a pin on each side of the body frame that trips the latches closed. When you turn the handle, these latches open so you can open the door.

Anyway, as mentioned above, if you manually close the latch on the driver's side, the lights will turn off. Note, these latches are usually lubricated, so you may want to wear a glove or use a towel or something so you don't get dirty when you close the latch by hand.

If you're really ambitious, you could try to trace the wire to install a toggle switch, but to me, that would be overkill.

Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[solitary ogre]

with the inner hatch cover removed and a slot cut in the plastic you can easily access the wires for the switch on the left hand latch. i plan on putting in a low profile slide switch to shut mine off 'cause i often leave it open at work all day to make easy access to tools or for rain & snow & sun protection for me (but not for alien laser beams).

 

[boggs1227]

ahh ok so it's the hatch lock on the drivers side that has the switch and manually putting that lock into it's locked postion by hand turns off the lights ......yeah i was telling my self "this ain't working lol " also was thinking the switch in the hatch was only working half assed .

this is cool ..... i useally like to listen to a radio alot and the time i was working outside i had to go start the truck every couple of hours because i was afraid of running down the battery from the lights

 

[Bwana Bob]

I found a brown wire going to the big round connector on the firewall in the driver's side footwell. I cut this wire and inserted a switch inline with it. Unfortunately, this also disables the "lights on" alarm.

Bob