Hi All: This has been going on for a while now so I thought I'd ask. For the past few years (yes, years), when I open the front doors, the "Tailgate Ajar" light would come on. When I open the tailgate, it stays off. When I open the front doors when the radio is on, the radio will turn off until the door is closed and 5 seconds later will restart. Pressing in the cigarette lighter "resets" the radio. Recently, the radio has stopped working completely, AND the light above the tailgate has been ON even when the car is OFF/gate closed (I took the bulb out so as not to drain the battery). Tailgate has been stuck shut for past year. Complex, I know - but any idea what the issue is? It is obviously electrical, likely a short, but any insight into this? Thanks! Ryan
I should add that if I turn the radio ON, there is a buzz throughout all the speakers, but the display/clock does not light up nor does the radio/cassette deck PLAY. Thanks. RS
Holy cow! That thing's confused. Don't have an answer for you right now but I'll look at some electrical diagrams in the FSM and see if anything stands out.
Although I have owned several of these GM box wagons...I don't have a clue. But I DO remember 2 other people having similar problems. I don't know if they were ever resolved??
Could it be that the light over the cargo area is turned on? I had one a few years back and as I recall, those lights do have switches on them so the third seat passengers can turn it on and off. Crawl back there and check it; maybe someone turned it on by mistake. As far as the tailgate goes, maybe it's not 100% shut and it's in kind of a limbo state. Try giving it a good shove with your backside on both the left and rear sides and it just may open. (This worked for somebody else I suggested it to a while back.) If it's not totally closed, that might explain the tailgate ajar light business. As far as the radio/cigarette lighter issue, I don't have a clue; maybe try calling ghostbusters.
As pointed out above, first try to get the tailgate open. The dash tailgate indicator is fed power from Fuse #2 which also feeds the lighter, low oil module, instrument panel and radio memory. The tailgate switch is normally open and closes to ground when the gate is opened. The rear courtesy lamps (powered by Fuse #1) are supposed to switch on automatically when the tailgate is opened utilizing the very same switch. (There is a separate ground path for the manual operation of the rear lamps.) So, if the tailgate light is coming on when it's not supposed to and the rear courtesy lamps won't shut off, there is a rogue path to ground. Either the switch itself is stuck closed all the time or a wire has chafed or pinched and is seeking its own ground path.
Hi Ryan, Do you still have this issue? Does your radio keep its presets or does it lose them each time? Check all your fuses again. A friend had this problem on an '84 Eldo when someone dropped a penny into the cigarette lighter socket. If I recall, the problem was the combination of ckts on that fuse, and the fact that the radio relied on both switched and unswitched power. Basically, different ckts were getting a partial back current through the radio since the primary fuse was open. -Cory
