I have an 88 firebird, I am tring to change out the rear pull down motor. I swapped them and the new one didn't work. (Junk yard)So I just put my old one back in till I have time to swap the plastic peices. But my old motor now doesn't work. I have one wire hanging free. I think the color is white. Plus I don't have an owners manual for the car. Is there a fuse I might have blown? I can't find a blown fuse, but I may not be looking in the right place. Thank you for any help you can give me.

 

There's a relay back there--did you check that out?

 

Could the relay go bad just by tring out one motor and then putting back in my old one? Everytime I hit the trunk release in the dash, my brake light comes on. The car is turned off. When it is running I pull the e-brake and still nothing.

 

Anything is possible. There's some similar relyas under the hood that you could use--to check if the old one is bad.
When I bought my Formula the pwr hatch only worked w/the key in the ignition and on-also the brake light would come on too. I wired it so it would pop w/the car off--much better imo--doing it that way the brake light didn't come on anymore.
BTW--does the motor make any kind of noise? Is it getting power to it?

 

Which plastic pieces are broken? I sell the 3 most commonly needed parts to repair the 86-91 hatch pull-down units. I make new nylon replacement guides from solid nylon. They are much stronger than the OEM version. I also stock the gear nut and reinforced motor housings. I take new GMN housings and reinforce the weak points (where it mounts to the frame with 3 screws) with 4 pieces of aluminum and epoxy. E-mail me and I'll send a price list. I can also send scans from my Camaro Helms manual to help repair them. Lon

 

The hatch motor does a fuse. You should check it to see if its blown or not. I'm not 100% sure, but I think its a 15 amp fuse.

 

The hatch pull-down motor in a 88 is powered by the "LID" fuse (15 amps) in the fuse block. It is the #3 fuse, located between the 10 amp fuel injector and 20 amp cooling fan relay fuses. The relay for the pull-down unit is located just below it, mounted to the body. Lon

 

After work I will check out the fuse. I still have to get into my trunk. I am kinda stupid, I shut my hatch with out installing the peice that lets you open it with a key. The plastic is still pulled away so the job is not impossible, just very hard. The motor is doing nothing. The plastic peice that is broken is the one that bolts to the car. The other one is just minor cracked. I got a gague cluster and a hatch motor for 30 bucks. Not to bad.

 

That plastic piece is called the "Motor Housing". You can reinforce it with epoxy. I made specially formed pieces of sheet aluminum I epoxy to reinforce them. It is MUCH easier to reinforce them BEFORE they completly break away. Good luck, Lon.

 

I have a 90 Firebird, and I also need to change out the rear pull down motor for the back hatch. The mechanic wants $950 just for the part, so I'm forced to look into doing this myself. A Google search turned up this discussion. Can anyone tell me where to find this part online?

Also, is this something that a moderately handly person can do themselves?

Thanks