Hey Folks

I have a 2008 Nissan Versa, not actually mine a nice little old lady that knows me, The Versa had a short a while back took a ton of crap to find it. she had mentioned the rear hatch would not open, i tested it today theres no power on either pigtail on the hatch?. no fuse listed for it, i did read somewhere that the passenger actuator controls power to the rear hatch actuator?
I am just trying to help her is all, an 80 year old woman crawling into the back to manually release the trunk doesnt work lol,

If anyone has any ideas please let me know

Thanks

Not the actuator, but the trunk switch input to the BCM grounds through either of the front door lock actuators. That way the trunk opener switch will only function if at least one front door is unlocked. So the brown wire on the opener switch should have ground whenever a front door is unlocked, the blue wire should have pullup voltage from the BCM input. Can't use a test lamp on that because it's a pullup, but a VOM should show either 5V or 12V (the documentation isn't clear). In any case it should show a voltage, and it should go to 0V when you work the switch. If the switch signal is good then you either have a wiring issue or a BCM issue, because the orange wire at the trunk actuator goes straight to the BCM via M12:B101 in the kick panel.

Hey Vstar
Didnt think i would be back in here but here i am lol, thank you for responding again. I dont have a good switch signal, i have only gone as far as to hotwire the hatch actuator, i grounded the micro switch then put hot and ground to the actuator and it functions. can i ground this back on the rear hatch and will that work or do i have to dig into both doors and clean up grounds? I also have a new hatch lock actuator i tried and it did not function either, i was only able to fins a new handle switch i have not found the micro switch, i can jumper that micro switch and then use external power and the acuator functions but not when hooked up.
Thanks again for responding.

You're welcome as always. If you ground it at the hatch then she won't be able to lock the vehicle, but assuming the switch works, it will tell you whether the problem is on the power side or the ground side. The issue might still be with the release switch and not the actuator, so you need to check that first.

I have the main switch which has two blue wires and a micro switch with 2 yellow wires. Should I just pick one and ground it? The micro switch I have to hot-wire at the actuator in order for it to work, and the switch itself has two blue wires.

Thanks again, hopefully this is an easy one, lmao

The microswitch is probably the "door ajar" detector, I'm talking about the release switch that you press to open the hatch. WD said the wires on the release switch should be blue and brown at the harness connector from the car, if you trip blue directly to ground it should trip the BCM and the actuator should try to work.

i tried tripping every wire on that actuator to ground, then i found something unusual, i have a spare battery which i was using to jumper the switch with power and ground and made the switch work, i took the dummy light tester put one end on positive side of the battery the other on the large group of ground wires on the hatch and a single ground on the other and it would not ground the circuit, the light tester would not show power when touched to the grounds on the rear hatch.

the micro switch is on the rear hatch handle, small blue eliptical button without it pressed the rear hatch wont activate, once i jumper it it will activate with external power only. so its leading me back to the front of the car as i am not getting a signal. where does all this stuff ground through? it is supposed to get signal from the BCU to operate the actuator on the rear hatch, if so do those wires run through the passenger door switch for ground? or both doors for ground? i find it unusual neither ground on the hatch lid will act as a ground
this cant be that difficult lmao, i been through so much worse with this car, this is nuts
Is there a power source i can jump off of and just ground and power the rear actuator? i know the hatch wont lock anymore but im dreading digging back into this cares wiring harness, this problem was there prior to us getting this car fixed

If nothing in the hatch lid is grounding then you may have a broken wire in the flex coupling that connects the car to the hatch. Problems in the flex couplings (on the doors, too) aren't uncommon in older vehicles. The way the system works is that when the release switch is pressed, it grounds the blue wire back to the BCM. The blue wire won't light a test lamp because its voltage comes from a pullup resistor inside the BCM, but it should always have voltage if checked with a VOM. If there's no voltage then there's a disconnect in the wiring between the switch and BCM. If the switch works, the BCM should output about a 1-1/2 second long pulse of 12V power to the actuator via the orange wire. The actuator then works if it also has ground through at least one of the front door lock assemblies. It can ground through either door, it isn't necessary for both to be unlocked. If both are locked then the actuator has no ground and won't work.

Hey Vstar

were is the grounds on the doors? is it obvious or are they built into the switch or actuator in that door then when bolted down they are grounded?
I have signal but clearly no ground anywhere in the rear hatch. just a note this was an issue prior to the recent harness problem, she said this had stopped working along time ago.

They're built into the door latches, but since either latch can ground the release, two bad latches isn't the most likely scenario. My bet would be on a busted ground wire in the flex coupling.

Here's your WD:

you mean the rubber elbow on the rear hatch? theres one on each side, the passenger side i removed and inspected during a different repair, i did not ohm all those in that rubber elbow. should i ohm those wires in that elbow? i looked them over pretty good when i unraveled the harness back there looking for a short.

Hey Vstar,
I never did find the short but i found a workaround, if someone gets stuck let me know and ill post it

C'mon, post it. Someone will need it, trust me.

Hey Vstar

Ok, this car has a BT module in back, it has constant power through fuse 27, the rear hatch gets grounded to kick or a momentary power with the switch being momentary. I spliced into the red wire, ran it all the way through the rear hatch harness to the hatch switch, ran a ground from the switch to the rear hatch, {spliced into the red wire from the BT module}, jumped the little thumbs switch and TADA, rear hatch works, may not be right but BT still works, the latch opens and i soldered all connections with heat shrink then tape.

Does the hatch lock, though? If it doesn't, you might want to jump to ignition power at the BT and not constant power. That will make the hatch work only when the key is on, but at least it will be lockable.

Hey Vstar

Great idea, she lives rear close by so i can try and hook that up, this was just very simple really and as long as it opens she is better off, she doesnt go anywhere really, ill bet she puts at most 2500 miles a year, her kids had been using it and running the hell out of it then one of her daughters got in an accident, lol, long story really,

I will give that a try

Thanks again