Log 2015032901

Today, I moved several items to my relatives house and finally got my 3T jack over to my brothers.  My 2008 Chevy HHR LS is only 1.55T, but the 2T jacks don't always lift it high enough for certain projects.  My other 3T jack has an attachment with adjustable arms and pads that can lift two wheels off of the ground at once.  When the tires need to be rotated on the HHR, they go back to front and front to back.  And the only way to change them safely (that I know of) is either with a garage lift, or a jack with this attachment. The Chevy has limited places to lift it and the "T" attachment barely does the job.

The Cramper's shell, expandable floor and twin size memory foam mattress is also at a relatives house and need to be moved.  But I discovered that the garage bay that I've been doing my recent automotive work is unoccupied.  After I had my alignment and balances done on the wheels, I discovered that the HHR is still pulling to the left.  Today, I discovered that isn't always true, which leads me to believe that the problem isn't the tension on the front brakes, but that one of the brake disc pads has come unseated and may need some replacement hardware.

That will give me some space and time to perform an electrical diagnostic on the rear tailgate release system.  I have a theory on where it's problems might be.  When I took out the backseats, there were several conduits running the top of the underside buckets.  I may not have taken into account that the heavy gear that I load on top of it all might damage the wiring.  And since the tailgate release motor isn't throwing fuses when activated, my guess is that I have a partially severed wire that is not making contact with any metal.  And since electricity would be flowing along a diminished channel, it could turn the motor on, but not give it enough power to totally pop the tailgate.

To test that, what needs to be done first is an inline fuse of the right amperage would need to be crimped into wire of a similar gauge.  One end would be attached directly to the battery's positive terminal, where the other would crimp into the electronic hand release pad.  Then a temporary ground wire of similar gauge would have to be attached to the body and then to the release pad's negative wire.  This is because you always power things up + then -.  And the existing ground probably leads to the body (and not to the battery), it needs to be by-passed as well.

If the tailgate latch pops with the vigor that it should, then there is no doubt that I have a wiring problem elsewhere.  If the tailgate release does not pop with such vigor, then wiring is bad between the release pad and the motor.  I'm certain that it is not the motor or the pad because I had them both replaced with new units and the symptoms still persisted.

- My 1/2" socket driver is missing