Rear Hatch and Tailgate

[tedanderson]

I have somewhat of a strange problem.

My 2001 Aztek operates OK for the most part but whenever I open the rear hatch, it causes the dome lights to go out. If the car is on and running, the entire instrument cluster will blank out, the chime will ding a few times, and then it will come back up for a brief period of time and run all of the test lights as if the car was just started.

It will be 3-5 seconds of darkness and then 1-2 seconds of everything coming on and lighting up... and the car runs continuously without stalling.

The other issue that I have is that the tailgate does not release when I open the hatch. I guess this is some sort of safety feature to prevent a kid from opening the tailgate from the inside while the car is in motion but the release handle works intermittently.

While the hatch is open (and the engine is off), I will hear the door actuators operate to the "unlock" position every 15 to 20 seconds.. and then eventually I'll hear a small "thud" inside of the tailgate and then the handle will operate normally.

I am guessing that all of this is controlled by the BCM and if that's the case, where exactly is it located?

 

[lt1george]

Ted, I don't know about the BCM, sounds more like possible you have a ground problem somewhere. Are you the original owner ? Miles ? I see you live in Maryland. Maryland doesn't throw as much salt in the winter as Western, NY. Was Aztek always in Maryland ?

 

[tedanderson]

The truck has 148,000 miles. The issue existed since I got it as a barn find at 99K. Prior to that it sat on the original owner's driveway for several years while he went to take a job overseas.

Prior to that it was involved in a serious collision.