I took out the auto and also am not using the stock starter wires because they didn't work right after the swap. (always hot)
So really the only wires I have running to the old shift selector that I don't know what they do are an orange with black stripe and a black with white stripe.

I know the stupid hatch switch shares a power or ground with this whole shifter switch.
I figured If I powered one side of the hatch switch it would work. (either the tan with white stripe or brown) Of course not.
I saw some diagram which I never understand. It had a yellow wire running to the hatch solenoid. WTF there's no yellow wire in the shifter area.

Anyway how do I wire this hatch switch up.
Something simple like connect a power wire to X wire would be nice.

 

Remove the screws and open up your console. (not the glove compartment, but underneath it.) Inside there is a plug marked automatic and manual. You need to switch the plug from the automatic side to the manual side. That will make the hatch work when the parking brake is on.

 

Kevin is right, you need to wire the hatch release switch to the parking brake now, that's how manual cars were wired up from factory.

You used to have a green wire on the hatch switch that went to the automatic shifter switch. Scratch that. Replace it with a tan/white wire (or whatever color close to it you can find) and run it to the parking brake switch right there in the center console.
(diagram here: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/mkport...wn_release.jpg)

Now the hatch will open only with the parking brake applied.

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

On my Auto trans...

Key On, Trans in Park, Emergency Brake off, the hatch won't pop

My hatch only pops with the key off, or if the key is On, Trans in Park, Parking Brake pulled

Shouldn't it pop with the trans in Park? Regardless of key On/Off?

 

Not really, since there is no green wire I used to have other then the reverse lights which have nothing to do with this.

Also I assume wiring something to the ebrake handle allows it to ground when pulled and let it work? If that was true shouldn't I be able to ground on of the wires coming off the switch now and have it work? Because it doesn't.

 

So when you look at the diagram and in the center console, your hatch pop switch doesn't have a brown wire and green wire? What colors does it have? It's possible that they didn't use the green for some reason .... or maybe somebody already modified it.

You can just pull the brown wire off the switch and put it on a screw or something - the hatch should pop. That'll verify that your hatch popper works.
Then take the OTHER wire off the switch (whatever it may be - green or anything else) and connect it to the wires coming out of the parking brake switch. That'll do the trick.

Stephen, we already established some time ago that your car is a weird hybrid. But don't worry, you're not the only one. I've heard of other automatic 3rdgens that won't release the hatch unless the parking brake is up. GM probably combined the transmission switch with the parking brake switch for more safety.

Lou

 

Wires on the switch are the tan with white stripe and brown as I originally said.
I've both grounded each of these wires and applied power to each of these wires and neither poped the hatch.


EDIT looking at the diagram it says the tan wht wire was for manual non tbi cars.
Yet here I have a tan wht and an auto TBI car so that tells me the diagram doesn't know what it's talking about.

 

[in Morpheus' voice] "Welcome to the world of GM."



Before the swap, did the hatch pop with the key on or off? By the diagram (yeah, I know ), it should be always powered and pop with the key off.

If you ground the brown wire and it doesn't pop, check the ACC fuse.

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

87 is probably the wierdest year to own anyways....

Half metric/half standard bolts. Just to take my gauge cluster out, I needed 2 metrics & 2 standard sockets. Sometimes on the same piece!

One of these days, I wanna fix my "broken" hatch popper.

 

Here's a pic, maybe this helps. You can see the brown and tan/wht wire sticking up to the switch (no green to be found and it's a tbi/auto car)
Other tan/wht wire goes to the ebrake I guess in case it was a stick.
Then there's a big black box under there with the yellow connector and yellow wires going to it? What is this?
Anyway through dumb luck I think I got something. The big thick tan/white ignition wire that used to go to the shifter position switch. If I ground that my hatch switch works! Yay! But what's even more messed up is the starter relay that that big tan/white wire go to and the thick purple wire go to. Yeah that relay is totally gone so those wires aren't even getting a through connection that direction. Anyway it makes no sense to me but at least it's working.

 

The big black box with the yellow wires is part of the airbag deployment system.