I have read the threads on some of the above items, but I think I have a new twist or two I need to ask about.

My battery is finally failing (08 LT). I disconnected both cables and attached my Craftsman battery maintainer (this device does bring dead batteries back to life, had a completely dead battery in my van that dated to 2003. The maintainer brought it completely back to life and I used it for 2 years before it finally failed for good).

I put the maintainer in the wheel well and went to lower the hatch door over the extension cord. It clicked once, (not quite latched) and now I can't get it open, feels like its locked. The other doors are not locked. I assume the battery have to be hooked back up in order to unlock it? But why aren't all the other doors locked? (Of course that would be disaster).

As per the typical driver's door speaker problems, it quit working a couple of months ago. I read the "how to fix" threads, but hadn't got around to fixing it. Today it all of a sudden it started working. I think this may have happened because the humidity up here in the soggy northwest has dropped to 30% with the cold northeaster we're having. Normally our humidity hangs around 90%. The connections must have been wet or corroded and the dry air maybe restored the connection somehow. Make sense? (Glad it may not be the head unit).

I've read the threads on this too, but is it possible to turn off all exterior lights when opening doors, the headlites when starting it, headlites staying on for a few seconds after shutting it down at nite, all lites on when unlocking with the clicker, and anything else I can't think of right now?????? I think the battery would have lasted longer without all this drain on it. I love my 1965 Chevy van cause no lights come on unless I turn them on including interior. How about stopping the door locks from locking when starting it or unlocking when shutting down (putting it in park)? I want to make these decisions for myself, not the stupid computer!!!!

Is there anyway to keep the low beams on when turning on the high beams? (There's probably a thread on this but guess I missed it).

This "go to the thread" thing on this forum kinda bugs me. I think its a real good thing to repeat as much as possible the solutions we all have come up with rather than sending everybody to old threads. I'm a member of the Vintage Chevy Van Club and we love to help the newbies with all their questions that are a repeat for us veterans. We have specific helper threads for them, but we enjoy helping out the new guys with these questions, it's a much more personal, welcoming response that you can't get from going to threads started in 2006, etc. Furthermore, after awhile new solutions are discovered that aren't in these threads, so you can miss this advice.

Like my questions above, there can be little twists you can't find in the cold impersonal threads. At VCVC it seems we learn things and come up with different ways to fix things when we repeat the standard questions about typical problems.

Just my 2 sents.














l

 

The rear hatch works by using battery voltage to open it there is no linkage from the button to the latch.

The speakers can be intermittent when failing. I think it has something to do with the speaker material it's made of.

You can get battery power to the rear hatch by using jumper cables to the underhood connections. There is also a Manual release on the hatch but it can be a little hard to get to.

 

Here is a how to on the hatch manual release.

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-tutorial-library-21/how-manual-liftgate-release-8540/

 

Like said above you need to provide power back to the vehicle or use the little manual thing inside the hatch area. If you are going to try the manual option I would think it might be easier to just hook your cables back up.

For the exterior lights headlights question YES you can disable all of those in the DIC options menu. How to do this is in the owners manual. I am forgetting which two buttons you have to hold down which is why I am referring you to your manual. But the jist of it is to insert your key and turn it to the on position without starting the car. Then hold down iirc the two middle buttons of the cruise/info 4 button combo on the steering wheel. The DIC should enter an options menu and you can toggle thru it to find the things you are wanting to disable. I turned off the headlights on when setting/disabling the alarm/locks. I chose to leave my headlights on after shutdown though but I do remember it being an option.

 

But he said he did not want to be directed to threads. (sarcastic remarks deleted).

 

Sorry about the rant. As an update, after a couple of weeks of real dry weather when the speaker started working again, it immediately stopped working when the rain started again. Strange

 

?, It is common for water infiltration to be the problem with the speakers. The forum is floating on threads about the issue. (pun intended). But, you would have to follow a link to find any of them.

 

Thanks don, I have read thru the threads and am aware that water can cause the outage, I just thought it was significant that it would work during dry weather (very rare around here), then immediately quit when the rain came back. At least I know that the speaker still works, I guess it's the connection. I'm waiting for more dry weather (which could be after July 4th)to take the door panel off and fix it (no garage).

 

Strange phenomenon: dry weather dries the things out; wet weather makes thing wet. Fact or Fiction stuff! (The smileys are intended to show that It's a joke, not personal.)

However, the likely result of water is corrosion in the coils. Could be intermittent on account of the varnish getting corroded off, then more water gets in to short the circuit, when it dries no short.