help! upper dutch door button does not open!

[Joe Mahalo]

Aloha,

I have an LS 2001 wonderful Chevy Astro. This is the second one where the rear button for the upper Dutch door has failed. It sounds like an electrical solenoid.

Last time I fixed it by drilling a hole in the side of the door putting a wire to pull it open from the exterior. It was really funky but worked. Is there a way to wire a momentary contact switch to override it or can it be replaced with aftermarket.

I was surprised not to find any posts on this since it's the second time it is happened to me.
I'm sure somebody else has dealt with this. Is it like the automatic door locks where you just give it up?
This baby is my work truck and crawling in the back to open from the inside with a screwdriver climbing over tools just isn't worth that. Can you please help?

[MI_Ghost]

The problem could be carbon fouled terminals inside the button/switch assembly. If you can get it apart without destroying it you can clean the terminals.

[WoodButcher]

First thing is to open it up and see that everything works. Is it the switch or did you lose power back there? Clean and lube all the hardware, I like WD40 to clean and a little chain lube wiped on after. If they work when you get power to them you can repair or replace the worn parts.
My '93 needs to turn the key, I don't like leaving the key in the door all day or carrying it around with me so I added a momentary switch. I drilled the inside roof of the license plate box for a tiny switch and spliced into the wire that runs to the hatch from the dashboard switch, it runs up the rear passenger pillar into the hatch.

[AstroWill]

Always check the fuse first.

[Joe Mahalo]

Thanks for the reply. Thanks for the reply.

I had to disconnect the module for the automatic door locks since they go into this thousand times a day lock unlock cycle. It is located in the. Passenger Bottom kick panel.


Then the switch starts to work intermittently before it eventually completely fails. because of the failure slowly I suspect the fuse is still okay. My Astro is newer it has no override switch for the rear gate on the dashboard.
.Any more ideas?

[AstroWill]

Get a voltmeter on there and find out what is happening.