Simon928

My rear hatch motor has a brown/white wire coming out of it that is currently connected to nothing. I know that it is a ground wire, but I don't know where exactly it is supposed to attach. Could one of you help me out with this? I can't seem to find any relevant pics.

Simon928

Bump. Anyone with an idea of where this wire attaches?

KenRudd

Post a picture..

MBMB

Brown/white is usually a switched ground. My guess is that this one of the wires (the other is brown) for the tailgate door contact switch.

Do your interior lights come on when you open your tailgate? How about when you ground the brown/white wire?

Ed Scherer

Yeah... I think you're talking about a BR/WT wire coming from the plunger; it's a "switched ground" as has already been mentioned.

It (along with its brown neighbor) goes into a two-contact connector; the BR/WT one in question goes into terminal #1 of the connector.

Here's the schematic (taken from the '85 wiring diagrams since the '84 diagrams are such a disaster):



(The color codes in the diagram are auf Deutsch, so br=brown, ge=yellow, br/ws=brown/white, rt=red).


That connector, BTW, is the one you disconnect when you leave your hatch open for a long time and don't want it to cause your interior lights to stay on.

Also, FWIW, the reason that the brown ground wire for the hatch release motor (terminal 3 of the motor) is connected to this switched ground is so that the motor will only operate when one of the doors is open (thus closing a pin switch and causing the "switched ground" to be grounded; otherwise, it floats).

Simon928

Okay, so it's supposed to be attached to the bottom of the plunger along with the plain brown wire? Currently the brown wire is attached to the bottom but the brown/white one isn't. Do I just attach it in the same manner as the plain brown wire? The other end of the brown/white wire is plugged into the terminal you describe.

And no, my interior lights don't come on when the hatch is open, but I'm assuming (or at least hoping) that would be rectified when I connect this wire.

Thanks so much for your help!

Ed Scherer

OK, that came off the switch end.

Here's where it connects, looking in horizontally from the left side (as you're facing the hatch) under the plunger. You can see the spring for the plunger, with the "hatch open" switch under it.

Not the easiest thing to get a photo of.

You might be able to get it reconnected with some needle-nose pliers without having to remove anything. It's also hard to tell if the terminal on the end of the wire is still usable; it looks corroded and perhaps misshapen. It would be good to at least put some DeoxIT or something similar on it before reconnecting.

Actually, looking at your photo again, it's possible that the mating part actually came off the switch terminal and is now stuck in the terminal at the end of the wire. If so... well, you probably have more work to do (like replacing the switch or trying to kluge a new connection to the switch).

That might just be a standard pin switch (the same kind as is in the doors; it looks similar based on the little bit of it I can see). Perhaps somebody who has had one of these apart before can chip in with some more comments. This isn't something I've messed with before.



(large version)

Landseer

When messing back there, hatch opening apparatus can take your fingers off, so you might want to disable it before it does you.

The pin switches for doors, and glove compartment are same.
(I think the hatch one is also the same as those, just mounted in a tricky way, threads down, threaded into the holder, with a retaining nut to adjust height, see picture above.)
Mounting position is adjustable and important on the hatch switch.

As part of refresh I take them apart for cleaning with an SS wirebrush on dremel.

The small dia end of the plunger has an indentation.

The electrode that receives the brown/white wire is crimped onto the indentation.

Looks like you need a new one, at least the plastic piece.

Here's one from the door to show the parts:

Simon928

So that's why I couldn't figure out where it goes! My hatch receiver has the bolt that holds the end of the brown wire, but everything below that isn't there anymore. I snagged a hatch receiver off of a parts car and it was missing that part as well, so I never suspected that there was something missing. If the pin switch on the doors/glove compartment is in fact the same as the one on the hatch maybe I can grab one of those from my parts car and see if that works.

Thanks!

Alan

The hatch one is not the same - its a very simple easy to understand "open air" switch - unfortunately you can't see it very well normally... Its not much more than a spring and 2 terminals

Alan

Simon928

Nuts. It looks like I'll have to do even more hunting for finicky little parts then I originally thought in order to get this working. It's never as easy as you think it's going to be, is it?

Landseer

Alan, I just disassembled a door switch and a hatch switch.
You are right, the metal bodies are different.
The bodies are same outside dimensions, but the bores differ.

That is because the hatch pin has the plastic plunger piece mounted in the exact opposite direction as the door pin.

But here is the GREAT news. The plastic plunger piece and spring are identical. And that's all he needs!

(FWIW, the one I disassembled failed exactly like his, with plastic end broken but still retained in the electrode.)

So Simon, minor swap and you are good to go!



Or call Roger, he'll ship one to you.

Simon928

Great news! I'll try it out when I can get to the parts car at my in-laws place. Thanks Chris!