I often have to carry lengths of timber or materials that are too long to fit inside, not having a sunroof since my MK1 Octavia they now have to hang out of the boot like I did today for the first time with the Yeti where I discovered a big inconvenience exacerbated by my having fitted LED lights to illuminate the luggage compartment including some at high level on the rear D pillars.

 

On previous cars manually closing the boot locking hasp will tell the BCM that the boot is closed it works for the bonnet on the Yeti (for battery drain tests) but not the boot, driving back this evening I had all the interior lights on including the aforementioned LED ones which in the rear view mirror looked exactly like a car pulling out to overtake, I was able to switch off the front courtesy lights & could have done the rear ones manually but it was the interior boot lights that caused the problem, to make it worse the time-out function did not work as it would with the ignition off.

 

Finally the satnav was unusable as there was a rear door open pictogram in the middle of the screen and the maxidot was not functional as the whole dispaly showed the door open pictogram.

 

So what do I need to do next time to resolve this, I get the impression that there is both a microswitch on the lock and also a tailgate closed switch/sensor although not visible anywhere, possibly a mercury switch.

 

Also there is an opposite inconvenience, while I am digging through the essential breakdown stuff under  the variofloor after a few minutes the trunk lights go out to protect the battery, they wont come back on by manually actioning the lock I have to physically close and re-open the tailgate which if I am loading something is a real problem.

 

Whatever the solution to the first problem is will no doubt resolve the second, probably a shunt switch.

 

Any ideas?

Roofbars.......

 

And bunch of lashing straps. 

Seriously, driving with the back door open on any vehicle is never a good idea. Having done fume ingress testing on vehicles in the past, it doesn’t take long to fill an unpartitioned cabin with carbon monoxide especially on squarer vehicles. Dangerous levels of CO can be present and you won’t even know about it. Opening the front windows for more ventilation creates a vacuum and just draws more air and fumes in from the rear of the vehicle. That’s why the dash warnings for open rear doors never go away when moving.

 

As for the lighting, you are asking for a software change, or you could just overlay manually switched lamps into the load space or even get a usb rechargeable LED head torch for a tenner. They last hours on a single charge and are really good. 

Not asking for a software change, just for info on where the door closed sensing occurs so that I can shunt it either for long loads or when working from the rear of the car.

 

I have done all the changes to the rear lighting and am very happy with the results, I simply want to have manual control of it in 2 particular circumstances.

 

I dont like driving with the rear open for the reasons you mention, yesterday I went to buy a bundle of 40mm x 25mm sawn battens which I use for DIY constructions, they have always been sold in 2.4 metre lengths and even 3m I could carry inside at a pinch but yesterday I found they were now 4m long

 

Things of that length and rigidity cannot be carried on the roof bars with the fixings for them being at 80cm pitch.

 

I really miss the sunroof of the MK1 Octavia Estate.

 

I drove 25 miles with the tailgate partially open with and without the drivers window open for ventilation, no noticeable diesel exhaust smell at 50mph.

 

Red arrow removed

Edited 25 October, 20205 yr by J.R.

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

Things of that length and rigidity cannot be carried on the roof bars with the fixings for them being at 80cm pitch.

Our local farming goods supplier sells the 100x70 timber I needed earlier in the year only in 4.8m lengths, I drove home from their depot with 6 of these on the roof of my Octavia estate using my Thule Aero roofbars spaced as far apart as they would go. It was only about a mile but above 30mph they certainly got a good bounce on despite being pretty solid

These were 40 x 25 sawn battens, had I known the length I would have taken the trailer with its front support.

 

What I really need is a fold down windscreen.

 

It was either a BJ40 or a Yeti, the Yeti wins hands down for most of my journeys but cant do everything.

As a suggestion for regularly carrying super long lengths, how about using roof bars and fabricate a T topped staff off the front towing eye as a support to tame the random flapping aboutery. 

 

That’s got to be better than hacking about with the doors open, surely??

If the pieces are usually 2.4m could you not cut to length before transporting???

 

Or are they just as / or more usable the longer they are???

Let me make myself clear, I have been transporting materials for 4 decades, I dont need tips of how to carry long lengths, I have several solutions and I also carry 2 types of saw in my vehicle but sometimes the unexpected happens like this occasion.

 

What I am asking for is information on what the sensing is on later vehicles which tells the BCM to switch on the rear compartment illumination as it is not simply the lock latch microswitch on earlier cars.

 

The Octavia and Yeti estates are very suited to carrying long lengths that need supporting along their length, they can rest on the dashboard (I carry foam to cushion against braking) the reclined fromt seat, the folded rear seat and the tailgate slam panel, its not just long lengths that need the rear door to be opened, moving a fridge or furniture may be a couple of inches too long and you wont be carrying them on the roof or cutting them down.

 

My vehicle is used as a workhorse as has its predecessors for the last 15 years, I regularly carry materials and over here you have to take advantage of special offers when you stumble on them, its rare to know in advance and to have the luxury of preparation.

55 minutes ago, Tilt said:

If the pieces are usually 2.4m could you not cut to length before transporting???

 

Or are they just as / or more usable the longer they are???

 

Correct, I was only going to use 3 lengths for this project, the other 9 are now on my lumber rack.

1 hour ago, BigEjit said:

As a suggestion for regularly carrying super long lengths, how about using roof bars and fabricate a T topped staff off the front towing eye as a support to tame the random flapping aboutery. 

 

That’s got to be better than hacking about with the doors open, surely??

 

I dont need a suggestion, I have several solutions for when I know what I will be collecting, however what you suggest is 3 points of contact with 80cm between the roof rails and 2.5 meters from them to the front support, laid through the vehicle they have 4 evenly spaced points of contact over 3 meters.

Wiring diagram suggests a microswitch associated with the Rear lid central locking motor. Shown as normally open (tailgate closed, I guess), grounding the connected wire when contact closed (tailgate open?).

Wire is white emerging from the motor module, turning to brown/blue at pin 3 of a 5-way connector on left side of luggage compartment. Find that connector, measure what's going on, add extra manual switch over-ride, I guess?

 

Edited 26 October, 20205 yr by Wino

Soz.

51 minutes ago, Wino said:

Wiring diagram suggests a microswitch associated with the Rear lid central locking motor. Shown as normally open (tailgate closed, I guess), grounding the connected wire when contact closed (tailgate open?).

Wire is white emerging from the motor module, turning to brown/blue at pin 3 of a 5-way connector on left side of luggage compartment. Find that connector, measure what's going on, add extra manual switch over-ride, I guess?

 

On the previous vehicles it could simply be done by closing the locking hasp with my finger or a screwdriver etc, just as you would do with the bonnet catch in order to do a parasitic voltage test.

 

For some reason it doesn't work on this vehicle, maybe I need to put a dowel in their pretending to be the locking staple for the microswitch to be activated.

 

Simply too Clever

Problem solved, enigma resolved, a very simple answer and solution.

 

The tailgate latch has 2 positions, a half latched and a fully closed & locked position, the luggage compartment lights only go out on the second fully closed position.

 

Using my finger I had not pushed the locking hook past the first position.

 

I dont recall the previous cars having this but maybe they did, on those I had not fitted high level LED's on the D pillar to disturb my rear view mirror vision.