Trunk release saga

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

At the risk of creeping even further out on the limb, does the dashboard 
switch test as open or closed? 164 switches seem uniformly 
troublesome.  Maybe one way to test this is to leave the trunk open for 20 
minutes or so, now you have disconnected the solenoid rod. if the Alfa 
Romeo Control Unit still doesn't turn off the trunk light then there must 
be an electrical signal confusing the Control Unit. In other words, to 
confuse the Alfa Romeo Control Unit something must be telling it that the 
trunk is closed or it would automatically turn off the interior lights, 
including the trunk light.

I'm pretty sure the Control Unit picks up its signal from the same switch 
that turns the interior or trunk light on and off. In the case of the doors 
I'm sure because my left rear door sometimes won't close tight enough to 
trigger the internal door position sensor. It looks closed but isn't as far 
as the Control Unit is concerned. Result is no interior light or trunk 
light until that door is re opened and closed more firmly. The alarm and 
power locks also won't work if the door is not tightly closed! So, the 
question remains, if the trunk switch detects that the trunk is open (as it 
must if it is open) why doesn't it signal the Control Unit to turn off the 
trunk light? Something is telling the Control Unit that the trunk is not 
open. The Control Unit also prevents the trunk release from operating if 
the car has been moving until the car has been stationary for around 30 
seconds. I don't know if you can even drive with the trunk open, I've not 
tried that.

On my SAAB 9000, the hatch release solenoid is very stiff in the sense that 
it opens powerfully. There isn't really a closed function as slamming the 
hatch (or trunk) is what re sets the latch for the next open function. This 
is different from the door lock solenoids which have an open and closed 
function. For that matter the door lock solenoids are pretty darn powerful 
as they continue to operate even when the door lock buttons cannot be 
operated by hand.

Cheers

Michael

Michael Smith
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
91 Alfa 164L, White, original owner

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