Rear door problem

Evening all I'm hoping someone can help me with my Father in Laws Freelander, it's a 2001 3 door model and for the past while the rear door has been playing up and not closing,

Basically the door is perhaps closing 1 time in 10, the rest it just springs back at you, and it only closes if you are very gentle with the door, close it normally and it just comes back at you. I'm not sure whether the problem
lies in the internal door latch or the handle?

The window when the door closes operates perfectly

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated before we start spending money on parts

Hello, I had a similar problem, except mine failed to close one time in ten! First check is to listen to the lock / unlock motor. When you pull the door release, the lock motor should release the door latch for the door to open. About one second later you should hear the lock motor release to enable the door to close again. With the door open you should hear this cycle as you pull the door release. I suspect the lock motor is not releasing, thereby preventing the door latch from locking. With a bit of luck, it will just be stiffness in the operating mechanism (where the end of the nylon plunger of the motor hooks over a metal rod). You will need to remove the rear panel (four screws along the bottom) to gain access to the lock mechanism. The motor is a separate part of the lock mechanism and can be dismantled for cleaning / replaced as necessary if this is found to be the problem. Hope this helps. Eric.

Is when you pull the handle does it release?? We recently had this, the microswitch in the handle was on it's last legs and sticking so when you pulled the handle it would just click, and if you kept pulling it it would eventually release. Went and got a new handle from the stealers (asked nicely and got a trade discount ) put it on and it's been fine since. Got told that if the handle didn't cure it that the microswitch in the catch could be dodgy, test it by pushing the door and making the window go up when the door won't stay shutand then having it drop when you pull it again.


Ah beaten to it, got to stop watching TV whilst writing posts!!