Retrofitting Tailgate Handle and Switch

[Willoughby]

Hi Team

My plan is to convert my van in to a camper and I would like to add a handle to open the tailgate from the inside and a switch to lock/unlock all doors. Something like this, (Pic pinched from google)



Preference would be
Lock = Lock all doors.
Unlock = Unlock tailgate and Sliding door. (Leaving front two locked)

This is what I have lurking behind the hardboard.



Just wondered if a oem handle out there and what are my switching options.

Van is a 150ps Highline LWB

Ta in advance

Kev.

 

[mhill]

Id be interested in this too!

 

[Pauly]

It can be done, i remember a few people in the early days had vans turn up without them and took them to dealers to have them retrofitted (some under warranty)
The issue is going to be that the standard T6 internal release is an electro finger switch not a grab handle as per your first post picture (which looks T5 style) so does not have any form of locking button as standard.
Not sure how you would achieve the lock/unlock setup you mention, there is an option in VCDS to separate the locking on front and rear ie you can unlock front compartment doors on keyfob independently from the rear doors, and vice versa, but not sure if this would carry over to internal lock buttons (which you wouldnt have on the tailgate anyway !)
A bit of investigation required i think.
FWIW i have replaced the wiring loom in my tailgate a while back so i have a complete loom with wiring for switch in it so could use this to investigate how/where these wires go and what they connect to, my guess would be they connect to the large multi pin connector located in roof above rear nearside wheel arch and then in turn onto the central electrics control unit ??

 

[BiTurbo]

If you're converting to a camper why would you need to open the tailgate from the inside? Would there not be seat/ bed in the way? What I have found locking the doors at night with the remote and pressing the switch on the drivers door post. Is fine until someone wants the toilet in the middle of the night. To relock the doors the ignition needs to be turned on. So I lock the front and side doors by pressing the the button on each door down. And have fitted a small switch in the tailgate panel to turn off the outside tailgate door release switch.

 

[Willoughby]

Cheers Pauly, spot on with the pic, it is an T5, All my other campers have been Air-cooled, so talk of VCDS like voodoo to me. I have a good understanding of electronics tho, I too will get investigating

Hi Bi. So I can get out it from the inside and nope plan is to have bed up front. Ta for the heads up on the ignition needing to be on, that a bit junk.

Kev

 

[MartyMoose]

I have also looked into this for my camper conversion. The tailgate release switch is the blue plug in your picture. What you originally wanted to do would involve tapping into the central locking system and I would suggest that requires a lot of specialist knowledge. I figured the best I could do was to install two switches in the tailgate release wiring. One in series to act as an isolator, and one in parallel to replicate the door switch. The latter would need to be a momentary switch or pushbutton. The problem is that the internal release cannot be used if you have already locked the van using central locking because you'll just set the alarm off. @BiTurbo's suggestion of manually pressing the front and side door buttons down overcomes this. It's not ideal but it's what I shall be doing to mine. Let me know if you come up with something else.

 

[Pauly]

So i dug out the tailgate loom i have today and had a check of the wires but unfortunately i cant tell 100% whats what without stripping all the loom tape off
Had a scan through the wiring diagram and the int/ext switch are connected to the same cable from the central electrics so i think the answer would be to simply connect onto the cables that feed the external switch in whatever way suits your setup ie possibly interrupting the cable to deactivate the external switch as per @BiTurbo method

Standard setup with no interior switch



Standard setup with interior switch (this also includes childlock switch)

 

[superchargedpolo]

Has anyone actually carried out this modification? I just got my new van from VW and realised I can't open the tailgate from the inside, not happy. I have done a search and found the following part numbers. The switch and frame are correct but I'm not 100% sure on the connector and repair wires. Has anyone done this before and confirm if they are correct.

- Cable (2x) 000979009E
- Connector housing 1K0972704G
- Button 7E5959831
- Mounting frame 7E5959527

 

[Pat]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. I have converted my barn doors to a tailgate T5 2013. I have managed to get the electric switch to work with a delay relay. The problem I am having is that the central locking is activating when I put the keys in the ignition. It seems I am not getting a lock signal and wonder what I need to wire the lock wire to. Is it to earth or to something else? Hope you can help. Thanks

 

[Billyboyrider]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. I have converted my barn doors to a tailgate T5 2013. I have managed to get the electric switch to work with a delay relay. The problem I am having is that the central locking is activating when I put the keys in the ignition. It seems I am not getting a lock signal and wonder what I need to wire the lock wire to. Is it to earth or to something else? Hope you can help. Thanks

I've just put a tailgate on mine T5.1 2012 and having the same problem with turning the ignition on it unlocks the van. The lock/unlock switch on the drivers door will unlock the tailgate but now won't lock the van. Just locks then straight away unlocks. I'm using the 15 second delay relay wired into the tailgate loom from Vagnostics.

 

[Pat]

There is a wire on the van side of the connection behind the rear passenger light that needs grounding, it's a return signal for the status of a micros switch inside the barn doors which isn't present on the tailgate due to different lock mechanisms, if you look at the van loom and compare it against you're tailgate plug you will see there is a wire on the van side which isn't on the tailgate side, that wire requires a ground signal, that should sort out your random clicking you mentioned above. Without carrying out the grounding of that wire you'll find your van will only lock once and will not dead lock it's self when you lock it.
Hope that helps.

 

[Billyboyrider]

There is a wire on the van side of the connection behind the rear passenger light that needs grounding, it's a return signal for the status of a micros switch inside the barn doors which isn't present on the tailgate due to different lock mechanisms, if you look at the van loom and compare it against you're tailgate plug you will see there is a wire on the van side which isn't on the tailgate side, that wire requires a ground signal, that should sort out your random clicking you mentioned above. Without carrying out the grounding of that wire you'll find your van will only lock once and will not dead lock it's self when you lock it.
Hope that helps.

I haven't got the barn doors anymore to work out which wire it is can you help in anyway like a picture of the plug so i can work that out ??

 

[Ads_Essex]

@Billyboyrider how did you get on with this? I've just got hold of a tailgate for my T6 and am due to start this conversion once I've got all the ancillaries.

 

[andys]

@Ads_Essex I did this at the end of this thread if it's any help tailgate - opening from inside?

 

[Ads_Essex]

It does, cheers. Glad to see you got it sorted!

 

[Willoughby]

I went for a low tech solution. Got a Sofa Recliner Release Pull Handle from Ebay and used a connector block to attach to releases latch cost about £3 all in. Handle fitted without any fettling and works a treat.

Kev

1Pc Black Sofa Recliner Release Pull Handle Part Longer End Cable Fits Funiture | eBay

 

[Macoo]

It can be done, i remember a few people in the early days had vans turn up without them and took them to dealers to have them retrofitted (some under warranty)
The issue is going to be that the standard T6 internal release is an electro finger switch not a grab handle as per your first post picture (which looks T5 style) so does not have any form of locking button as standard.
Not sure how you would achieve the lock/unlock setup you mention, there is an option in VCDS to separate the locking on front and rear ie you can unlock front compartment doors on keyfob independently from the rear doors, and vice versa, but not sure if this would carry over to internal lock buttons (which you wouldnt have on the tailgate anyway !)
A bit of investigation required i think.
FWIW i have replaced the wiring loom in my tailgate a while back so i have a complete loom with wiring for switch in it so could use this to investigate how/where these wires go and what they connect to, my guess would be they connect to the large multi pin connector located in roof above rear nearside wheel arch and then in turn onto the central electrics control unit ??

 

[Macoo]

Hi Pauly

I have converted my van from barn doors to tailgate, fairly easy but there's quite a lot of loom that isn't present.(there's no power for the external handle for example)
Would you be interested in selling me your tailgate loom if you still have it?
I'm thinking it would be easier to splice this in to the main loom than trying to add bits to my existing one.
Any advice or suggestions would be most welcome!

 

[Pauly]

I'm afraid it's sold to another member but I would agree it's relatively straight forward to swap the loom in a tailgate and it comes with the roof plug that sits above the rear wheel arch so it's plug and play
The looms are model specific dependant on if you have rear wiper/camera etc but IIRC it was under £100 inc vat
Let me know if you need any help sourcing one

 

[Macoo]

Thanks Pauly!