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My 2011 C6 rear hatch actuator isn’t working electronically. Can open with the key, bought a new actuator and it still not working. Fuse is good. When you press the hatch button on the key fob the light flash so the car is receiving the signal. Do this have to be reprogrammed at the dealer? Is there a relay I’m missing? Six wires in the plug, 1 ground and the 3 wires at the top row with the ground show 12 volts and they fluctuate a little when hatch button is pressed. 2 on the lower row show nothing. They actuator will pull the hatch closed. Help please.
Are you saying your ground wire at the plug reads 12 volts? If so, that is your problem. It should read zero volts at all times. A reading of 12 volts at the ground wire indicates that the path to ground is incomplete. Start by locating the ground connection on the car frame for that ground wire and make sure that connection is good. Then, work back from that point towards the actuator plug to find where the break is.
You say you can open the hatch with the key, but not with the fob. Here are two more questions that will help track this down:
1. Can you open the hatch by pushing the hatch lid switch at the left side of the dash?
2. Can you open the hatch by pushing the button above the license plate? You will need to have the fob in your pocket when pushing the button.
Negative the button left of the steering wheel and the push button above the license plate and the fob will not open hatch
OK, well if the key switch will open the hatch, then the ground connection is good.
The key switch is hard wired to the BCM.
The button left of the steering wheel is hard wired to the BCM.
The fob and the button above the license plate function through the Remote Control Door Lock Receiver, but ultimately pass information to the BCM.
The only thing that I can find that is consistent with everything stated above is that they all feed through connector C1 on the BCM. There may be a bad connection on C1. If you open the passenger-side footwell door, you will see the BCM. As you look at it, you will see two large blue connectors. The blue connector on the left is C1. I suggest that you disconnect the battery, then open the C1 connector and clean it with some contact cleaner, and then re-attach it. I hope that helps.
The physical key does not depend on any electronics to open the hatch. It’s a completely mechanical operation. The whole intent is to allow you to open the hatch if the battery is dead or disconnected. Whether it opens the hatch or not has nothing to do with a ground connection, so that doesn’t rule out a bad ground.
Here is the wiring diagram for the hatch on my 2006 Z06. I would think it is very similar to your 2011, but can't say for sure. Anyway, as you can see, the key switch is not mechanical. It is an electrical switch that grounds a pin on the BCM.
Here is the wiring diagram for the hatch on my 2006 Z06. I would think it is very similar to your 2011, but can't say for sure. Anyway, as you can see, the key switch is not mechanical. It is an electrical switch that grounds a pin on the BCM.
The hatch key and lock is mechanical. The electrical component of the mechanism that grounds a pin is so that you can signal the BCM that you are attempting to put the system into FOB programming mode. As I stated above, it's supposed to be an emergency system so that you can pop the hatch if the battery is dead. If it's not mechanical, how do you explain that it opens the hatch if the battery is dead or even disconnected?
Cleaned the plug and put back together still not working. When I press the hatch button on my fob the brake lights flash so the computer is receiving the signal. Is there relay or something else between the computer and the latch?
The hatch key and lock is mechanical. The electrical component of the mechanism that grounds a pin is so that you can signal the BCM that you are attempting to put the system into FOB programming mode. As I stated above, it's supposed to be an emergency system so that you can pop the hatch if the battery is dead. If it's not mechanical, how do you explain that it opens the hatch if the battery is dead or even disconnected?
OK, if the key switch is mechanical, then the possibility of a bad ground is back in play. I asked this question before, but didn't get a reply, so I will ask again. Redgambler, What voltage to you measure on the ground wire of the actuator plug when you are trying to open the hatch? Does it read 0 volts or 12 volts?
Wouldn’t the test to perform here be to see if you have 0 ohm continuity between the ground pin on the plug and a grounding point? And one of the pins has to briefly supply 12 volts to the actuator when you press the fob button, the dash button, or the button above the licence plate so you could check for that.
Wouldn’t the test to perform here be to see if you have 0 ohm continuity between the ground pin on the plug and a grounding point? And one of the pins has to briefly supply 12 volts to the actuator when you press the fob button, the dash button, or the button above the licence plate so you could check for that.
Looking for 0 ohms between the ground pin and a grounding point will work. You have to disconnect the plug to make sure your measurement doesn't register any error due to feedback through the rest of the system. When taking a dynamic voltage reading, system feedback doesn't come into play, plus when you are performing diagnosis, you usually are measuring voltage anyway, so you can keep your meter on voltage when diagnosing the ground with this method. Once you get used to it, dynamic measurements are just better all-around because you are taking measurements on the system while it is working (or trying to work). There's nothing wrong with a static measurement here and there, though.
The ground wasn’t 0.0 it was like 4.4 ohms I run a jumper to the battery post and ohms stayed at 4.4.
3 of the six wires that were on the same row as the ground was 12 volt and the voltage would fluctuate a little when I hit the hatch button on the fob. The other 2 wires showed nothing and also showed nothing when I hit the hatch button on the fob.
Redgambler, your ground connection seems to be OK. One problem that I have is that you say your actuator connector has 6 wires, but the wiring diagram that I sent only shows 5 wires going into the actuator. This makes me think the wiring diagram may not be correct for your car. It is difficult to proceed without the correct wiring diagram. If you can find the correct diagram for your car, the next steps I would take would be to lift the trunk release relay (located in the passenger footwell) slightly from its socket so that it is still making contact, but opens some space where you can measure voltage at the pins of the relay. Then, use those voltage readings along with the correct wiring diagram to perform diagnosis while pushing the fob button. You might find that the relay or interconnecting wiring is bad.
Redgambler, your ground connection seems to be OK. One problem that I have is that you say your actuator connector has 6 wires, but the wiring diagram that I sent only shows 5 wires going into the actuator. This makes me think the wiring diagram may not be correct for your car. It is difficult to proceed without the correct wiring diagram. If you can find the correct diagram for your car, the next steps I would take would be to lift the trunk release relay (located in the passenger footwell) slightly from its socket so that it is still making contact, but opens some space where you can measure voltage at the pins of the relay. Then, use those voltage readings along with the correct wiring diagram to perform diagnosis while pushing the fob button. You might find that the relay or interconnecting wiring is bad.
Z06 has a complete different hatch actuator than the base, since base has the close assist
One possibility is that GM just employed a standard 6-wire connector, even though 5 wires only are used. I've got a diagram for a 2007, but I don't think the wiring would be any different for the actuator for any of the C6's, and it's the same as the one above for the 2006.
So, the light blue wire appears to be the only wire that would throw power to the actuator through the connector. And, I would think that the BCM would direct the relay to throw power for a short duration, so if you were testing the light blue wire at the connector, you would see 12V or so momentarily. I'd also check that against a different grounding point than the one in the connector. If you don't see 12V, then I'd suspect the relay. If there is another one in the BCM, or in the fuse box under the hood that's identical, you could try swapping it just to see if the trunk release works then.
Before you remove any relay, mark it's orientation, because I recall reading on a couple of posts that they may fit in several different directions. Or take a pic with your cell or camera.
I would imagine that the push button by the license plate the push button by the steering wheel and the fob sends a signal to the computer. Whit that being said what wire does the computer activate to open the hatch?
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Rear Hatch Actuator
