So I'm relatively new to having a Corvette and I decided on a c4. The rear hatch would not open but I figured out how to use the manual release. Then with some fiddling with the cables it worked... Until I drove it. I repeated the process and got the same result? Is there a short in the wires somewhere ? Or a bad ground? Any ideas would be gladly appreciated.

 

Could be all the above. Are you saying all three hatch release buttons are not working?

 

All three hatch?! The one in the console never works but the button on the driver door is the one that sometimes works. I wasn't aware there was a third button.

 

a year would help.....welcome to the forum.....lots of good help here....my 85 has 3....glove box, and in each door.....once in a while they don't work, a guy here told me to turn on the interior lights with the switch and then off and they would work....and it did......still happens now and then, but always get them to work again.....there are emergency "cables" by the hatch switch, difficult to get to.....probably dirty contacts or ground somewhere......there is a fuse, if you don't have one, get a GM manual..........also, we want pics.>>>>

 

My 91 also has three, one on each door and third in the center console.

 

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!!

This is a more common problem then most realize. You can buy a used one, but you may end up with the same problem you have now, and end up chasing your tail trying to find the problem somewhere else. The electric rear hatch release on my '87 would work intermittently until one day is just stopped working all together. I metered out all of my switches and found they were good, and as I was getting 12V to the solenoid I narrowed it down to a bad ground in the hatch release solenoid itself. I decided to take it apart and see if I could fix it...and found I could! The following procedure is what I did to fix mine, and assumes that you have good 12v power to the solenoid when you hit one of the hatch release switches.

Take the two nuts off and remove the hatch latching assembly. Then remove the one bolt holding the solenoid itself to the latch. Then with either a hacksaw, or a Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel, carefully cut off the crimped portion of the solenoid. Be very careful not to go too deep; try to cut just the metal itself. It's ok if you get into the plastic right below a bit, but go any deeper than that and you will do damage.

Once the cut is complete you can remove the plastic plug where the connector goes. Then you can disengage the linkage at the other end, and slide the solenoid coil out. You will see that the ground for the solenoid is nothing more than a wrap of the solenoid coil wire that touches the outer housing when the coil is in place. Do a continuity check from this ground point to the spade connector. If your solenoid coil checks good, (and it most likely will), then it probably wasn't working due to this ground not making good contact with the housing shell anymore. That was the case with mine. (It's a really poor setup for that ground.)

I drilled two holes in my housing outer shell right where that ground wire would touch, and used a small round file to create a slot out of the holes. I then soldered a wire to the solenoid coil at the exposed ground connection. I then put the solenoid coil back into the housing, leading the new wire through the slot I had created in the housing. I then soldered the wire to the housing at a convenient point. (This will take a really good hot soldering iron to do. If in doubt, just put a crimp connector on the wire and run it to the solenoid to latch mounting bolt.) Glue the plastic cap end of the housing back in place with epoxy, and maybe wrap the end with tape for good measure. Test the solenoid with a good 12 volt source and connection, and then re-assemble everything with some lube at strategic points. Done deal.

Here are reference pictures for the repair: (These always help!)





























Let us know how you make out.

 

after chasing the wires all around the car it turns out the circuit was not always being completed in the console so I took apart the wires and now it works like its brand new!! Thanks for all the input!!