Hatch won't open ! Tips!

[Blue hedgehog]

Staev,
My LTZ sonic hatchback has done the same thing. Just bought it 2 March 2013. Wondered if you've had a successful resolution, and just what was done to repair the problem.

Sorry it took this long for me to see your post. It turned out to be the BCM.

I will NEVER bring my car back to that dealer though. Today was the first nice day that I had time to do a full wash on my sonic. While wiping down all the door jams I found the hatch harness boot removed on both sides and one of the wires stripped back and exposed. Without the boot the copper wire is exposed to the elements just waiting to rot. Now I have to buy some liquid electrical tape and reseal the wire. Also they scratched the hell out of the hatch trying to get the inside panel off. They must be morons because I popped the panel off myself bare handed, without any trouble.

Don't know how but the picture is upside down

 

[Blue hedgehog]

Scratches

 

[Staev]

Sorry about the late reply. It turned out that the computer needed to be reset due to a tripped fuse. They kept my car for 3 days looking for what was wrong nd it was as simple as the technician resetting the computer for the new tripped fuse.

 

[Blue hedgehog]

My hatch just stopped working again. Looks like it will be going back to the dealer again (not the same dealer). Hopefully the new dealership will fix it right and in less than a week and not scratch the hell out of it.

 

[Blue hedgehog]

Got pissed because I needed stuff out of the car and couldn't get to the manual release. I checked all fuses- all good. Decided to take a look at the hatch wires on the BCM since the tech butchered everything else he touched. I found the BCM hanging from the wire harness because the tech broke all of the retaining clips. Of the wire that is exposed from the loom it looks like he didn't strip or brake any wires. I unplugged all BCM connectors and waited a min or two then plugged them back in and tried the hatch. It still did t work until I hit the unlock button on the remote. Now it's working again.
If anyone else has this problem I suggest pulling all BCM fuses under the dash and waiting a bit before reinstalling them. Then bit the unlock button and try the hatch. If that doesn't work try unplugging all the connectors on the BCM like I did. If it happens again I will try the fuses first and let you know if that's all that needs to be done.
The BCM is located above the left drivers foot rest. It's a black box with 6 connectors in different colors so you don't plug the wrong connector in the wrong socket

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

My hatch just stopped working again. Looks like it will be going back to the dealer again (not the same dealer). Hopefully the new dealership will fix it right and in less than a week and not scratch the hell out of it.

Hi Blue hedgehog,

Sorry to hear about your trunk issue. I would certainly like to set up another dealer appointment for you and stay involved throughout the process. If that is ok with you, please private message me your full name, address, phone number, Vehicle Identification number, and approximate mileage on your vehicle. I look forward to hearing from you

Sincerely,
Crystal L - GM Customer Care

 

[barch88]

Hate to bump an old thread. Having same issue, closed my hatch and it wouldn't open again. Tried pretty much everything that was said in this thread as far as trying to start car, e-brake, lock it and unlock manually (that did nothing but set my alarm off) - Nothing worked. I'm not going to take apart wires and things that are all wrapped together and I'm not going to crawl in the back to pop it open with a screw driver, that won't fix the issue of it still not being able to unlock with the button.

Stopping in dealership on Sunday on my day off and see what needs to be done. I'll keep this thread updated so people who are having the same issue can see what the solution is. The OP said it needed to be flashed again, so I'll mention some of the things said in this thread to the dealer, maybe give them an idea to where to start. I'm guessing probably a bad BCM or fuse. Either way it should be covered under my bumper to bumper so I don't really care as long as it's fixed.

-Mike

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

Hate to bump an old thread. Having same issue, closed my hatch and it wouldn't open again. Tried pretty much everything that was said in this thread as far as trying to start car, e-brake, lock it and unlock manually (that did nothing but set my alarm off) - Nothing worked. I'm not going to take apart wires and things that are all wrapped together and I'm not going to crawl in the back to pop it open with a screw driver, that won't fix the issue of it still not being able to unlock with the button.

Stopping in dealership on Sunday on my day off and see what needs to be done. I'll keep this thread updated so people who are having the same issue can see what the solution is. The OP said it needed to be flashed again, so I'll mention some of the things said in this thread to the dealer, maybe give them an idea to where to start. I'm guessing probably a bad BCM or fuse. Either way it should be covered under my bumper to bumper so I don't really care as long as it's fixed.

-Mike

Hi Mike,

Glad to see you are headed into a dealer to have it looked at. Please keep us posted on the outcome and don't hesitate to reach out to me via private message if there is anything I can help with

Kindest Regards.
Crystal L
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[lewdog444]

Did these issues ever get resolved? i tried to pull the BCM out the other day and didn't wanna pull too hard on the slack of the wires because i didn't know how much there was... i feel like i'd have to be a midget to unplug all those harnesses without more slack...

read somewhere else about TSB and i told the dealership and they said "no i didn't see one, it's just a bad actuator" so i hope i'm not going down the same road as the OP with changing the actuator then realizing it's BCM then realizing it's UPDATING bcm.... fml..

 

[Blue hedgehog]

I haven't had that happen since I unplugged the BCM and plugged it back in.

I hope I didn't just jinks myself.

 

[lewdog444]

is there a decent amount of slack that i'm just not seeing? because it feels like i can only pull the bcm out about 6 inches and the clips for each plug are on the OTHER side too lol

 

[ChrisJ]

Did these issues ever get resolved? i tried to pull the BCM out the other day and didn't wanna pull too hard on the slack of the wires because i didn't know how much there was... i feel like i'd have to be a midget to unplug all those harnesses without more slack...

read somewhere else about TSB and i told the dealership and they said "no i didn't see one, it's just a bad actuator" so i hope i'm not going down the same road as the OP with changing the actuator then realizing it's BCM then realizing it's UPDATING bcm.... fml..

But, what if it is the actuator, and not the BCM?
We can sit here and speculate all day and get absolutely no where.

 

[Blue hedgehog]

is there a decent amount of slack that i'm just not seeing? because it feels like i can only pull the bcm out about 6 inches and the clips for each plug are on the OTHER side too lol

No, no extra slack. You have to go by feel.

But, what if it is the actuator, and not the BCM?
We can sit here and speculate all day and get absolutely no where.

That is where some diagnosing comes in. If lewdog444 wants to try unplugging the BCM, its a free test/fix. Though I would just try pulling the fuses 1st.

 

[lewdog444]

u know which fuses control the bcm or should i just try unpluggin battery

 

[Blue hedgehog]

Off the top of my head, no. If I remember correctly there is a map of the fuses and a discription on the fuse box cover. Disconnecting the battery may/should also work but you will lose all radio presets.

 

[lewdog444]

that surprises me that you don't lose your presets and such when u unplug ur bcm!

 

[Blue hedgehog]

I'm sure the radio has its own power supply.

 

[lewdog444]

well I showed up with a printout of that TSB that i found written up somewhere online... the guy seemed thankful for it and after a few hours i got a call back saying that it was all done and they just had to swap the actuator... not sure why it took 3 hours then?! lol... and when i got in my car all the vehicle settings were reset so i'm guessing they ended up having to reset the bcm anyway, so who knows what actually happened... anyway, it's working now!

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

well I showed up with a printout of that TSB that i found written up somewhere online... the guy seemed thankful for it and after a few hours i got a call back saying that it was all done and they just had to swap the actuator... not sure why it took 3 hours then?! lol... and when i got in my car all the vehicle settings were reset so i'm guessing they ended up having to reset the bcm anyway, so who knows what actually happened... anyway, it's working now!

Hey lewdog444,

This is good news! I'm happy to hear that everything seems to be running well with your Sonic. Let us know if you have any further questions with anything else .

Patsy G
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[The Fish]

Alright I've had this problem before and I took it to the dealer to get it repaired last time. However this time I'd like to do it myself if I can, I tried all of the fixes so far except pulling the bcm fuses or its connectors. The hatch fuse is fine but the relay on the other hand looked to have been tampered with, which is why I don't want to send my car back in to another dealership.

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