Afternoon all,

Decided to check the plunger switch on my swing gate today since my dome light never activates when I open it. After taking out the little screw and pulling out the plunger, water starts pouring out of the jacket surrounding the little wires! I don't think that's normal and probly has something to do with the problem, agreed? Before I can even address this, I need to know how to get the plunger out. Anybody replaced one of these before? Second question, how in the hell is there any water in there?

 

"After taking out the little screw and pulling out the plunger, water starts "


so you pulled out the ,? plunger


if you pulled the screw and switch you pretty much have it apart.
as you see , its not an old fashioned "plunger" type of sw.
water may leak around from the outside. is the tail light assm secure? a possibility? I never had one off.


amazing that you have unfrozen water outside!. its been months since I saw that.

 

The only ice down here in sofla comes from the freezer!

Yep, I pulled the plunger out and water started pouring out of the wire jacket. Tail lamps were secure, because I pulled the assembly off thinking I could get to the connection for the plunger wires, but no dice. Looks like I would need to pull off the wall panel in the cargo area to get to it, but I would need somebody to confirm.

 

that switch hanging there may be your problem. just short the wires and see if the lights come on.


oh, tie a string to the wire!!

 

I would like to get to the back of those wires, ideally. I'm more concerned about the water flowing out of the jacket than I am about the switch being defective. Anybody know how I can get in there?

 

one guess would be that the water leaked past that switch and into the tubing at the end you see there. how much water?

 

Na, it definitely got in there from somewhere else. Wasn't a ton of liquid maybe 2-3 ounces, but more than enough to cause an electrical problem.

 

meantime, back to the original problem. did you jump the switch to see if your lights come on?
if the water did anything it caused corrosion in the sw so it don't close the contact. just short the wires together to see if the lights come on.
water don't conduct much so it wouldn't turn them on. only mess up the sw contacts.

 

No, I'll spend the $8 for a new jamb switch before I snip my wires. If the new jamb doesn't work, I know it's a bigger problem.

I really just wanted to know how to get up in there and check for a leak. That's a bigger concern to me than the dome light.

 

yeah, dont cut the wires, just do what the gm tech would. remove the sw and plug in a jumper wire, like a paper clip.


i give up.
bye