I apologize for being long winded but I will explain in detail why this Corvette is driving me insane.

This car is a 1998 convertible. The power rear deck release is not working. Neither the button left to the steering wheel nor the remote will activate the actuator to open the rear deck lid. I've done some things to eleminate questions.

First I've checked the fuse for the rear hatch release. The 10amp fuse located in the fuse box on the passenger side floor, that supplies power to the switch for the rear deck, has no power going to it. Checked the fuse, the fuse is good. Even replaced it with a new one. Checked all fuses in both fuse boxes with a test light, all seem to be working fine.

The rear deck release switch left of the steering wheel serves 2 purposes. 1 it is the switch for the fog lights and 2 it is the release button for the rear deck. The electrical plug that plugs into the back of the switch has 7 wires going into it. 3 wires for the rear deck release then an empty terminal then 4 wires for the fog lights. There is power going to the switch because the the fog lights work correctly with the head lamps. The 3 wires for the release are colored as follows: an orange-main power wire, an orange wire with a black stripe and a yellow wire. The orange wire has power-checked by using a test light. The orange with a black stripe- no power. I suspect that is the wire from the fuse block. Also the trunk and the convertible top deck lid both use a micro switch to override one another. In the even trunk deck is open the micro switch will not allow you to open the convertible top hatch. If the convertible top hatch is open you cannot open the trunk. I tried all the different ways to open the rear deck and top lid, the micro switches work as designed. There are 2 wires going to the the release motor for the trunk - light blue and a black. I believe the blk is the ground and the LT blue is the power source. No power going to the LT blue wire.

Both fobs are program and work good. They lock and unlock the doors.

The other issue is when the rear deck actuator stop working so did the alarm.

Want would cause no power going to the fuse in the fuse block? I have checked all the wiring with a test light and does not appear to be any breaks. Ground wires are all intact.

Is there a module that controls the power for the alarm and the rear deck release?

I have removed the interior from this car to search this problem.

Can anyone help? Suggestions? No I don't want to burn the car.

 

Just a thought here for something to check. I had the same thing happening, I thought, turned out it wasn't. My Trunk was not opening; it was however releasing just not popping up at all so it gave the illusion that it wasn't releasing. Try releasing the trunk lid then closing the door with the top up. If it is in fact working that will cause the trunk to pop up slightly, thus you have a bad spring. There is an adjustment for that, which is fairly simple. This evolves the slight bending of the spring. Do a search, there are a couple of threads on that adjustment. …”pear”

 

hope you solved your problem, if not,

You mentioned that you checked the convertible top lid switch, it may be worth checking the lead to the switch. the two wires to the switch should form an open electrical circuit (ohm reading should be very high). If the reading is low, close to zero ohms, the car electrical will think that the convertible top lid is open and will not give power to open the trunk lid.

also, you can check if the convertible top lid switch is somehow not being activated properly by disconnecting the lead to it. With the lead disconnected, see if the trunk release will work, the release should make a noise when activated.

 

Is the mechanical release working? If you pull the release cable in the back, does the trunk open? It may be stuck. I don't know whether voltage should be on the fuse before you press the release button or not, but if the trunk opens with the cable, I guess you'll need to get a wiring diagram and trace it back to see where you're losing the voltage. I'd check the tonneau switch very closely to make sure the trunk open command doesn't think the tonneau is open. Just in case it comes into play in your troubleshooting, if the doors are locked and the top down, the trunk switch on the dash is disabled and won't do anything.

 

I'm having a similar problem, did you ever resolve yours?
I'm running a '99 hardtop and rear hatch will not open electronically with either the switch on dash or key fobs. I'm thinking I may have a bad ground somewhere.

When the hatch stopped opening I checked fuse, relay and solenoid, all seem to be ok. Actually when using a pair of channel locks to pull micro relay I was able to activate the hatch solenoid to open the hatch by squeezing the relay. Thought maybe the relay was bad so replaced it but still not functioning.

Next I used a meter on the dash switch (no fog lights) yellow has power, 12 volts, and when switch is depressed black will show current to ground about 7volts. Magically, I heard the solenoid start to buzz then functioned perfectly with the switch and Key fobs. Thinking my problem was solved off to the hand car wash I went, popped the trunk for a quick vacuum no problem.

Back home 20 minutes later and no more rear hatch function. I noticed the carpet on the passenger side was damp. I'm guessing the carwash introduced water somewhere in the electronics. Checked behind floor panel, aluminum box (BCM?) and fuse box, both dry.

After reading BC's great post on ground issues I checked the two behind the headlights and both were good. Car is garaged and driven mostly in fair weather.

Any suggestions or maybe know where I can get my hands on a schematic for the rear hatch circuit? My only other thought would be the BCM but everything else it controls is working.

Thanks

Joe

 

If that BCM is getting wet, you need to remove it, pull out the PCB, and dry it out immediately......or you be paying big $$ for a replacement.

 

Thanks for the warning, immediately checked and found the source of the water leak, bottom of the heater/a/c fan motor, must have a clogged drain somewhere allowing water in, not dripping onto electronics thankfully but to passenger floor carpet. Still no rearhatch though.