Are there any replacements out there that will work in place of the truck lid position switch?

was thinking about breaking it open & inspect the internal contacts, but obviously not meant to be serviced
& the two have are glued together, so good chance I break it in the process.

Now on the other hand if the halves are assembled with the same glue as the conv top is held to the frame,
I should be able to just set it on the table & wait for it to come apart on its own.......


.

 

First, what year and model are we talking about, and what is a "TRUCK LID POSITION SWITCH?"

Neither of my 2 convertibles has any such thing.....

And that kinda looks like an "old school GM brake light switch." (See picture.)

 

Maybe it was something ASC added in later years? This is in a 1989 & Its mounted to the side of the "trunk" closing mechanism.
I just assumed it was on all convertibles. My mistake if its not. Designed to prevent somebody from accidentally popping the tonneau cover while the trunk lid is up.

I would not have know it was there if it had not failed. That brake switch pic looks like it might be a good replacement option.
I will do some research in that direction & see if there are any that are normally open circuits.

 

Do you have a warning light on the dash, or some kind of "interlock" that prevents the tonneau from opening when the trunk lid is open, or the trunk lid from opening if the tonneau is up? Or something else?

It would seem to me that there would be a need for a switch on each component, unless it was strictly a warning light.....but then again, I don't really understand the practicality of it, because whether your opening or closing the convertible top, or opening or closing the trunk lid, you have to be out of the car to do so.

I have a 91 TA Vert, ASC modified convertible, and know of no such switch......
That being said, I have both the parts manuals and the repair manuals, and I'll have a look-see tonight.

Jeff

 

No lights, it just stops functioning this back switch just interrupts the power coming from the release switch (relay) to the release solenoids. That way the tonneau cover can't be popped open while the trunk is also open so the two lids
don't try to occupy the same space & damage each other.

On the trunk side, there is a large decal behind the licence plate bracket that says something like "DON'T OPEN IF THE TONNEAU COVER IS UP"

 

I'll look tonight and see if I can find anything either on my car or in the books.

 

@F-body-fan

Right now I have the 94 in my garage and the 91 about a mile down the road in a big steel building I own, where I store my toys, so I was only to look at the car briefly before coming to work this morning.
A couple of things:
1) My car does indeed have a switch. It's up around and forward of the left side trunk lid hinge, kinda hidden. It's shown in the parts manual on pages 12-80 and 12-81, Item #17, and it's called a Limit Switch, part #12331816. (See attached.)
2) There is nothing in the service manual that mentions this switch.
3) My car does indeed have the sticker you talked about....(Don't open the trunk and the tonneau at the same time, or something like that.)
4) I have attached the original ASC Drawings and Parts Supplement for the Convertibles. The Switch is not mentioned, or shown.


I will verify tonight, but I don't believe this is any kind of interlock. I think it's just the switch that turns the trunk light on and off....but having said that,it certainly could be used to not only turn on the trunk light, but also disable the tonneau actuator....but I cannot find any wiring diagram that gives it that capability.



https://www.gtanotchback.com/asc/199...lediagrams.pdf

 

Thanks for posting that info. An excellent illustration.

Thats for sure the switch that interrupts the tonneau cover release. The switch that turns the trunk light on is part of the closing mechanism & activates the motor that pulls the lid down. I tested that to just to confirm.

I have the same problem with my cars, except they are about 5 miles away

 

Activates the motor that pulls the lid down? You're talking about a coupe then....not a convertible.....nothing pulls the trunk lid down on the convertibles.

Anyway, I'm going to try to check my car out thoroughly tonight...because you've tweaked my curiosity. I know that the trunk light works....So I'm going to see if the tonneau cover release is disabled with the trunk lid open......

 

My vert has a power trunk pull down. Not sure it was an option or standard as purchased used

 

WOW!!!!
That's interesting!
First time I'm ever hearing about that.
Where's the button in the car?
Is there an RPO code you know of?

I'm really curious now, and I wonder if the switch that locked out releasing the tonneau was only provisioned if you got the convertible trunk pull down?

 

I am going on memory here so I might be slightly off. The later 91-92 verts did away with the motorized hatch pull down. They got the slam lock trunk. Which is what my 91 has. You have to get out and go to the trunk and use a key to open the trunk. If the Tanau is already up well hopefully you read the sticker. The light in the trunk is activated by a lever in the slam lock. ASC might have wired this system into the Tanau release as a safety but not sure. Mine will pop open the Tanau even if my trunk is open. The older ASC conversions if your car was equipped with the motorized pull down ASC left that in added the switch that is posted by the OP. The original hatch popped by a switch on the center console so you could have the Tanau up and hit the hatch release switch, which is now a trunk, and the trunk pop up into the Tanau.

 

Yours and mine work the same way. I have to use the key to open my 91 TA Vert's trunk. Only way.

 

There's no button in the car for the trunk, only the tonneau. You open the trunk via key behind plate. You then lower the trunk to where it engages the pull-down motor and that's it. Not as fancy as it sounds. Very 1989ish GM tech.

 

On your 89, is the switch for the Tanau on the center console in-between the window switches?

 

Yes, in between the window switches. it's a slider, not a rocker type like the window switches.

 

My 91 camaro had the power trunk pull-down and the switch . When I bought the car the tonneau would not release with the console mounted switch . I finally found the someone before my ownership had unpluged and taped up the plug, I don't know why. The switch is poorly mounted and tricky to adjust but that whole pull down is no fun to work on.

 

Yes, that center console mounted switch that activates the tanau is the same that would have worked the motorized hatch release on the non verts. ASC used the same system but installed the slide, momentary switch and then used it for the Tanau release. My 91 and that release switch was moved to the Taanu cover itself. IIRC this was done on the later 91 model year so some 91's will still use the console switch with the trunk pull down.
I have to get out of the car to open the tanau, it can't be done from inside (unless your a contortionist) so there is no accidentally hit the release switch.

 

I wonder if this is the reason for moving the switch to the Tanau and getting rid of the power pull down.

 

Kinda funny, ASC took what was the rear hatch release before the conversion & turned it into the tonneau cover release.
No more power release for the trunk. But we still have the super fancy power open & closer.........That you just have to use the key to activate.

When you want to put the top down, you have to get out of the car to manually release the top, then reach back into the car to pop the tonneau cover.

What they should have done is the same thing the corvette verts had at the time. put a tonneau release button hidden under the cover itself.
Then they could have left the center console switch for what GM originally intended. Increase the chance of lids colliding? Maybe, but if the button was just under the lid, you are basically standing next to it when it releases, so human intervention should apply in that situation.

That design could have been much better.

 

I thought about moving the tonneau release to where the defrost switch would be because my dogs kept walking over it and was worried about it popping up while driving, but it never happened and I read that it doesn't engage if not in neutral, but I haven't tested it.

 

Here's a video of the vette: I had a 1993 many years ago. I swore that button was under the lid & not on the door..... Hmmmmmm.

 

My tonneau release button is just forward of the "pull handle" that releases the latch pin that holds the back of the bottom of the top in place. I can just reach around easily with the door open. What sucks is that I have to either be sitting in the car or walk around to the other side to release the latch on the right side above the windshield.

 

Wow.... Didn't know these differed...

My 88 and 89 ASC verts both had the center console switch for the tonneau and the interlock with the rear trunk. Both had the rear warning sticker. Same with trunk pull down. Both had it

Someone had disconnected the rear safety switch so the console switch didn't work. He was just using the manual release cables all the time. When I traced down the wiring, that's how I discovered the safety.

 

Was there no electric trunk release button between the window switches then?

 

No. There is also no cut out in the console where the switch would have been located.

 

Here's my tonneau release switch, just forward of the top lock pin release cable.....
And there is no kind of interlock on my car. I can have the trunk lid open and slam the tonneau cover right into it, or vice versa, if I so choose. LOL!

 

Much better place for it imo

 

ASC moved the tonneau release switch so it is next to the handle you pull to release the pin holding the #5 bow to the tonneau some time in 91. Now you no longer had to reach inside to the center console to activate the switch.

FYI, it's easy to add the hatch release solenoid from a coupe to your convertible to release the trunk lid. I snagged the trunk release from 90's Caprice which is a yellow button labeled "trunk release". It is in the glove box on the Caprice. I put the trunk release switch in my center console under the armrest.

 

I did a similar thing, but used a switch from a vette and put it where the rear wiper/fog light switch goes. My vert had the solenoid for the hatch/trunk already on the pull down ,but no wiring.