Rear hatch wont open unless parking brake is on ?

dont know what happened now the floor lights dont work the rear dome lights only come on when the hatch is open the door switches stoped working  (THEY HAVE POWER 12V. ) and the center switch only works when the parking brake is pulled up and the brake light is lit on the center dash ?  and no I didnt hit a BIG BUMP  any Ideas cuz Im out 

possibility a relay is bad? always use the switch on the door for the rear hatch, will have to check my center switch to see if it does the same. my coutesy lights work except for the vanity lites and the shift indicator. havent had time to check my relays yet.

I believe the release button in the console will NOT work with the doors closed & key on, without the p-brake applied. This is a safety feature that keeps you from accidentally popping the hatch while driving.
Do all of the interior lights work when you twist the headlight switch all the way to the left/right?

A: You have a manual transmission car, yes? The center button only works in a manual trans car when the park brake is applied. It only works in an automatic transmission car in Park or Neutral.

B: The other maladies you cite point to the dome light timer having gone bad. The timer provides the ground for the lights and the door-mounted hatch release buttons. The rear hatch only operating the halo lights is also indicative of a timer failure.

The timer failure can be verified by turning on the domelights with the headlight switch rotated to dome-light position. With the doors closed, all the lights should be on. Open each door and try the hatch release. If the release now works, the timer has gone bad. Very common failure. This failure, and the remedies are all over the .net. I was recently told that the timer is being reproduced. $50 from Corvette Central.

Good Luck.

Edit: I see your car has a carb in place of the TPI. So mods from "original" don't bother you. Here's a quick-fix for your problem: The timer is on the passenger side, taped to the main harness with tan masking tape. It's a 2" squarish black plastic box. It has pnk/blk, wht, orn, blk, and either two lt blue or two yel wires.  Remove the box. Jumper the lt blue or yel wires (it won't have both colors. The colors change during production) to the white wire(s). The lights and buttons will now work when the doors are open, and off with them closed. No more timer function, however. Leave the other wires un-connected.


|UPDATED|5/30/2013 3:38:21 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

my hatch used to open by all 3 buttons and i rarely used the parking brake the dome light timer is my next stop thanks to everyone !

All four of my ZR-1 are sticks and both the Drivers door and consul switch will release the hatch without the parking break on. I would say both doors but the 93 does not have a passenger door pop.

every thing works with the headlight switch turned left    I have a white  a black a pink/white 2 whites on the 4th term. and a pink/black thinkin I just may order a new delay timer looks like father time caught up to it  (white chrunchys came out of it when I pulled it apart)

OK. I did the post above from memory. I had a couple of colors wrong. Sorry. I got out the 85 book, and it's pretty straight forward:

Connect the single white (pin A) to the double white (Pin D).  That will do it.

Yes he does. It's at the dome light timer. He has indicated that his timer has dust in it. The door buttons are grounded through the dome light timer when the doors are open. with a non-functioning timer, the buttons won't work.

But, the center console button should have still worked with the park brake set (manual) or in P or N (auto trans).




Only 4 ZR-1's?

ZR-1 or not, the door button(s) are not affected by the park brake. They work any time a door is open. Only the center console button is affected by the park brake being applied.  I looked at an 85, 88, 91 and 95 Helms manual just now. All 4 of those years is wired the same. Park brake has to be applied for the console button to be operative with a manual transmission, or in Park or Neutral for an automatic transmission..

I think mine work without the parking brake engaged.