From the manual. There is no action by pressing the latch button on the handle, as suggested, which locks the door in the desired open position.

 

Interesting - that note describing open and hold doesn't show up in my version of the iGUIDE. I cannot remember where I read about pulling the release lever, but obviously what was happening when I did that was that I was effectively holding the door position for a second or two, triggering the hold function. Thanks for clarifying.

 

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

 

worked for me

 

This usually works for mine, but for the times that it doesn’t I simply open the door to where I want it, then cycle the door back and forth (open /closed) about 2-3 inches. Within a few seconds you can feel the “locking mechanism” engage and hold the door steady.

 

OP here. So, turns out my gas strut was bad. The only reason I realized this was that I was at Dealer and opened tailgate on a new showroom defender and noticed that the tailgate “locked” into position as soon as it was stationary - like the manual describes. I ordered a new gas strut and it was an easy install. Problem fixed.

 

Here's the solution I came up with when parked on a hillside...

Cut a small pice of PVC pipe , slot it so that it clips onto the rod and bingo the rear door won't slam on you ever again.
When you are ready to go just give the wire loop a tug and off ya go.

 

how about using one of these with about the right size? it may need a bit of modification to "bite" firmly to the strut bar.