Ever since i bought the camaro, it's had this rear hatch problem. Suppose i should get around to fixing it...

The rear hatch opens fine everytime, and latches everytime i close it too. But it sits up about 3/4 of an inch everytime. If i push down on it it goes down and becomes perfectly flush, but it won't do that on it's own... I have no type of motor for the hatch in the back (previous owners must have removed ) , and i think that there's supposed to be a rear hatch pulldown motor... would this be what the problem is? Any advice would really be appreciated!


BTW, the hatch doesn't leak at all, and the car is an '86 Z28

 

Sounds like the other owener riged it up.

Look at top down solutions for all the parts to fix it. (Sponsor up top)

If the motor is missing that is a problem. Order a motor from lon at tds or go to the junkyard and try to find one in good shape. Once you have that you can see if the switches work right there is a stricker switch and a stop switch. There is also a relay back there. The fuse may not be in the fuse box its not in my 89 bird its a inline fuse beside the box.

Oh yea 80's caddys used the same plastic housing, the motor may be the same also.

 

all of our cars came with a pull down motor. You need to put one in you car..
Check out www.thirdgenresource.com

I know they have the whole motor kit if you need one.. I would advise a new one because a lot of them broke on the cars.. unless you are sure that one on a donor car is excellent..

 

It sounds as if either you have a broken motor housing (the clear plastic piece that the motor is attached to) or the hatch pull-down unit has been jerry-rigged. It is common to see the latch portion welded, bolted or wired to the frame. Lots of people come up with their own creative solutions when their hatch pull-down units go awry.

Common things that go wrong are:

1) Broken gear nut (symptom: motor runs continuously without turning off).
2) Broken motor housing (test for this by grabbing hold of the latch and seeing if you get movement up/down).
3) Broken guides (test for this by grabbing the latch portion and seeing if you get movement in the front/back or side-to-side directions).
4) Bad latch-sensing switch or reversing switch (hatch pull-down unit will only power one direction and not the other).

As has already been mentioned, I stock all the parts you'll need to put yours back together better than new. Here are a couple of examples of what I mean by "better than new". The aftermarket guides I manufacture are stronger than the OEM version. I also reinforce the motor housings (both new-style and old-style) with aluminum and epoxy to make them stronger then the original.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

I have a lot of experience with these damn things. I had to figure out the absolute hard way. My motor housing was totally crushed. The previous owner must have slammed it all the time. I went to the junk yard, found a good one, cost me an arm though, and installed, but I kinked the spring wire in doing so(the wire controlled by the trunk throw latch on the center console and the hatch would come un latched while I was driving. Took me forever to figure out why. When mounting your motor, if you do get a new one, get it as low as possible or it will look missalligned, play with the heights, you have about half an inch to an inch of play depending on your model. That and you can play a little with the hatch door at the top two bolts. You have a little play in height there too, and thatll help align front to back with the bumper. Very minutely though. just my .02$

 

Thanks for the nice posts guys, those are very helpful...

lonsal: My brother was puttin' the rear lights back on while I was out getting lunch for us, and i guess he tried hooking up the motor and he said it just continually ran and wouldn't shut off at all, so he just left it unplugged. The thing is, the hatch was 3/4 inch higher even before that, so i dont think this is the cause of it. I'll probably have to repair the motor after i get it aligned though huh?

Pearlghost: You mentioned that
I think this may be it... there is a gap in between the hatch and the body of the car by about 3/4 of an inch on one side and 1/2 on the other... think this could be it?

 

Sounds like the lift nut or the housing, if its spining and not moving.

 

Yes the gear nut will cause that. Here is what has happened. The hatch pull-down unit is stuck mid-cycle. It has only retracted part of the way down. The motor continuing to run without stopping tells you that the gear nut has broken. The motor is just spinning and not turning the gear nut. It is common for the gear nut to fail by either shreadding the teeth on the outer portion of it where it makes contact with the worm drive of the motor shaft. The other failure mode of the gear nut is that it will split in half just below that portion. The gear will go round and round but the threaded inner portion of the gear nut that turns to raise or lower the lift rod has sheared off and isn't turning any longer. The motor is turned off when it completes its up or down cycle and the tab on the lift rod flips the switch on the reversing switch. Since the latch portion of yours is no longer raising or lowering the reversing switch will not be engaged to stop the motor.

While you've got it apart check the condition of the clear plastic motor housing. Since the hatch has been non-functional for a while it means someone has been slamming the hatch to latch it. That clear plastic motor housing isn't designed to handle the shock of the hatch being slammed shut. I can guarantee that plastic motor housing has cracks where the 3 screws mount it to the frame. Now is the time to replace it while you've got it apart.

Take a look at the repair instructions for the nylon guides I sell. It will describe how to repair the hatch pull-down unit.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

You know your problem just might be the motor itself. If its broken then the strength(depending on how old they are) of your hatch shocks is going to pull up on the broken motor and you'll get a big gap where it should be flush. I saw this happen when I replaced my shocks and realized the motor was broken. The gap was so bad I could see out from the inside about a half inch, and when I pressed the trunk release, the hatch would fly up as if catapulted. After replacing the motor, it got back to normal thank ***, I admit though it still needs tweaking, now my hatch sticks sometimes and have to nudge it to release( that's how low it sits).

 

Although this is probably unlikely, it is the easiest to fix.

I discovered that my hatch pull down motor was barely plugged in. The hatch would close when it wanted to. It would usually magically close within 24 hours of me latching the hatch down.

If you are lucky, the plug is just loose.

 

To check your hatch motor is as easy as popping the back interior plastic shroud off and even to get a closer look, pull off the center console throw -latch mechanism, gives you a better look at the gear and shaft. And do make sure that if you mess with the latch mechanism, that the wire doesnt get kinked, that will increase the tension and cause the latch to unlock sporadically.

 

ok, thanks for the replies guys im sure that i'll be able to figure it out now. Sounds like the gear nut though... in that case i'll have to be buying it from u soon lonsal