Trunk won't open. 88 w power release. Jumped the switch, won't open (Page 1/5)
Green Magic Man OCT 29, 11:06 AM
Hi all:

Attended the seminar got the T shirt (about solutions to trunk release problems).
Factory '88 Formala with power trunk release switch stock. Rebody Fiero with NO trunk lock.
I read here mostly about how to wire around the trunk locked, dead battery issue. It won't open.

Here's what I did;
unplugged the power trunk switch at the dashboard.
Applied 1.5A 12VDC power to the lower left GREY/BLACK wire which travels to the dash trunk relay. Grounded (-) to the door pin.
Relay under dash clicked but nothing else.

Then...
Applied 4A 12VDC power to the same GREY/BLACK wire. Grounded (-) wire to the cigarette lighter outer ring.
This time both the relay under dash fired and the trunk solenoid loudly clicked and vibrated.
Did this many times. Tried applying low medium high pressure to trunk. Tried to time it with the click. Tried moving the trunk lid slightly left and right.
It will not open. You can feel there is something resisting it being released under there.

This is a rebody - it was probably done by Fejer in Canada on a brand new Formula 1988 V6 A/T car.
There is no trunk lock installed. It had an aftermarket 'Excalibur' alarm installed on the car. I do not know how this was wired in.
I know the prior owner told me he uses the alarm Fob to lock and unlock the car.

The car was parked unlocked in a garage. The alarm (and anything else problematic) drained the battery to dead after months sitting.


Anyone offer advise or help!? Another thing. Coilovers - this thing has been lowered incredibly and it's not possible to get any body part under the car unless it's jacked up.
Car was driven 4 hours from being purchased to a garage for temporary storage and I don't have all my tools / jacks there. I am trying to move my car home finally (before winter / salt / snow).
Thank you!

[This message has been edited by Green Magic Man (edited 10-29-2024).]

Patrick OCT 29, 03:36 PM

quote
Originally posted by Green Magic Man:

...with NO trunk lock... There is no trunk lock installed.



So nothing to pound a slotted screwdriver into and then twisting clockwise? Sorry, I'm out of suggestions then!

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 10-29-2024).]

Green Magic Man OCT 30, 08:33 AM
No. Unfortunately that's not the case here.

The only way to attempt something like that would be to blindly drill thru my immaculate fiberglass body in the latch region and make a hole to try to screwdriver open the latch.

Is it possible that 4A of 12VDC thru a wall wart plug in AC converter is not enough juice to the trunk solenoid?

Or If I hear it clicking / thump that means it working 100% back there as it should I just have some other problem?

Could the alarm be hanging that up somehow ? (Door locks are open and unlocked - just as I stored car before the battery died).

It is possible to reach from under the car and somehow toggle the latch open (doubt it).
Is it possible to almost make a slim Jim type thin tool to insert in just the right spot of the gap in the trunk and somehow get to that latch (I know I'm stretching here). But if the lock itself is not there (unknown) would that area already be cleared out and ready to have the latch moved manually??)

Is it worth me trying to rig up or buy a cigarette charger device and try to full charge the car's battery?


Thanks!

[This message has been edited by Green Magic Man (edited 10-30-2024).]

82-T/A [At Work] OCT 30, 10:04 AM

quote
Originally posted by Green Magic Man:

No. Unfortunately that's not the case here.

The only way to attempt something like that would be to blindly drill thru my immaculate fiberglass body in the latch region and make a hole to try to screwdriver open the latch.

Is it possible that 4A of 12VDC thru a wall wart plug in AC converter is not enough juice to the trunk solenoid?

Or If I hear it clicking / thump that means it working 100% back there as it should I just have some other problem?

Could the alarm be hanging that up somehow ? (Door locks are open and unlocked - just as I stored car before the battery died).

It is possible to reach from under the car and somehow toggle the latch open (doubt it).
Is it possible to almost make a slim Jim type thin tool to insert in just the right spot of the gap in the trunk and somehow get to that latch (I know I'm stretching here). But if the lock itself is not there (unknown) would that area already be cleared out and ready to have the latch moved manually??)

Is it worth me trying to rig up or buy a cigarette charger device and try to full charge the car's battery?


Thanks!




Before doing any damage... an option could be to jack the car up, and (with a new battery), use jumper cables connected to the POSITIVE lead on the starter, and anywhere on the ground of the vehicle for negative. The big fat positive cable from the battery goes directly to the starter motor... so that's where I'd connect it.


I think honestly... if you do this, and then have someone shake the trunk up and down while trying to pop the trunk lock, it should pop open. Like you said, it could be hanging up on something... or the trunk mechanism is just really gummed up.
Vintage-Nut OCT 30, 11:03 AM

quote
Is it worth me trying to rig up or buy a cigarette charger device and try to full charge the car's battery?



A cigarette lighter charger will not charge a 'dead' battery, these units are 'trickle chargers' to maintain a health battery.
A fully drained battery needs a slow charge; I suggest ~2AMP and I believe that the cigarette lighter circuit won't handle the current for the time needed.


quote
Applied 1.5A 12VDC power to the lower left GREY/BLACK wire which travels to the dash trunk relay.


The Grey/Black wire powers the relay IF the relay coil 'sees' ground {interlock circuit} through the manual parking brake switch or the park/neutral switch on automatics.

IF the trunk release solenoid is working properly:
Remove the trunk release RELAY from the connector {located under the dash}
At the trunk release relay CONNECTOR - the Black/White wire goes to the trunk release solenoid
Using an automobile battery; supply the Black/White wire with 12V power briefly {don't hold it} with a good ground on the car
This will energize the trunk release solenoid....
If the deck lid will not open, then the wire or the solenoid isn't functioning, or "something" is resisting the release in the truck.




------------------
Original Owner of a Silver '88 GT
Under 'Production Refurbishment' @ 136k Miles

[This message has been edited by Vintage-Nut (edited 11-01-2024).]

Mike in Sydney OCT 30, 04:52 PM


You can use one of these ...

(O.K., O.K., bad joke)

[This message has been edited by Mike in Sydney (edited 10-30-2024).]

Raydar OCT 31, 10:07 AM
As a last resort, I might take a jigsaw and cut the bottom of the trunk out. It'll be cheaper to weld that back in, than to fix your fiberglass lid.
You might be able to get a bore-o-scope camera (Harbor Freight has inexpensive ones that work just fine) up into the trunk, and see what's going in. That is, if you know the trunk is empty, and they didn't mount anything in the trunk well or install a false floor.

Admittedly, this is kind of a "nuclear" option, but it's maybe a less damaging one.

Edit... If you're using a wall wart, it's probably not a "clean" DC current. It's probably only rectified (full wave or half wave?) AC. There's nothing to filter it and remove/average the peaks/pulses. (The batteries in your "device" would normally provide that filtering.) In reality, you're possibly only supplying ~8.5 "real volts". This is just an approximation - been a while since I actually had to calculate that stuff.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 10-31-2024).]

Green Magic Man NOV 01, 01:31 PM
Ok. Thank you all for the ideas!!!
At least I’ve got a glimmer of hope.

Next was thinking hooking up battery charger at 6A setting to the Grey/Black switch wire and grounded to cig lighter or door pin.

Next: try same supply at the relay Black/white wire.
next: try fully charged battery on either / both. Could I save a little time and park car close and use jumpers from the good car battery to either switch or relay?

There is a car cover in the trunk. And a few small tools and maybe brake pads in a box. So a few things that were included in purchase. Nothing would be blocking the grounding trunk plate there. About 1000% sure of that.

Not sure if cutting from below would allow me clearance to trunk mechanism with that gear there.

Worst case might be a slowly drilled hole in correct spot and fill that later - but for obvious reasons I really don’t want to do that.
Green Magic Man NOV 01, 01:34 PM
Maybe seocnd to last (penultimate) resort:

Can I try to charge dead battery from
Under the car for 1-2 days on a 2A gentler setting? Can one hook up the positive lead to the thick starter wire and ground to frame? Would that work? Maybe not? Maybe bad for car electronics?

Thanks
82-T/A [At Work] NOV 01, 01:59 PM

quote
Originally posted by Green Magic Man:

Maybe seocnd to last (penultimate) resort:

Can I try to charge dead battery from
Under the car for 1-2 days on a 2A gentler setting? Can one hook up the positive lead to the thick starter wire and ground to frame? Would that work? Maybe not? Maybe bad for car electronics?

Thanks




Haha... that's literally what I said: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/.../HTML/148126.html#p3

Yes, that will absolutely work.


Even still... like I said, you can use jumper cables on the starter wire, which will directly feed back to the C500 block and provide power to the whole car... so you don't NEED to charge it that way unless you want to.