Our 2010 Scout tailgate only works on the plipper, ie the microswitch under the tailgate lip doesn't work. In early stages of investigation my friendly garage took the lock/motor assembly out to get the part number for ordering in. Oddly, when they put the old motor back in place while we waited for the part to arrive the microswitch started working. A couple of days later it fritzed out again so we booked the car back in again for the new motor to be fitted. Yes I know it seems odd to be concentrating on the motor but that's what we did. The new motor didn't resolve the problem (surprise) so we came to the conclusion that it had to be the microswitch. I gather that moisture can get into these so we thought that had to be the answer but when the new switch was fitted it still didn't work. The only culprit we can now think of is a broken wire. I know some Renaults have this wire breaking problem, usually (and conveniently!) in the concertina wire protector in the corner of the tailgate. Has anybody else had a problem with their Octavia estate tailgates? As I say, it's working fine on the plipper which is presumably bypassing the microswitch. Grateful for any thoughts. Thanks Tony

Most likely a broken wire or loose connector in the button circuit.

 

A few fasteners and trim removal on tailgate/roof should allow easy enough access to check wire and connector continuity.

Thanks for the reply MicMac. We've had that tailgate panel off a few times now but no joy, I just wondered if there were less obvious 'known' places where the wire might break or where there might be any hidden connectors that might fail. 

Have you checked continuity between open tailgate switch and after the rubber wire gaiter? i.e. under interior roof/pillar trim.

Not personally but I assumed the garage would have done that. Maybe they didn't. They did say it must be a broken wire somewhere but I suspect they may not have allocated time for tracing that in my visit.

Thanks again.