I have an 89 iroc and I just replaced the hatch hinges since my old ones were bent and wore out. I got the old ones off and you couldnt fold the hinges back and forth because the hinge pins were bent. I got the replacement ones on and got the hatch lined up pretty good. My problem is that the hatch panel and glass is lower in one area on one side while the other side is pretty much flush with the body. Plus it seems that the hatch panel sits higher on the passenger side above the tail lights than it does on the driver side. I know its not the bump stops since they're not touching the body with the hatch closed as of right now. To me, it seems like it could be a hatch seal problem being flatter on one side allowing the drop or, if its possible which i wouldnt think so is that the glass itself on the passenger side has reformed or bent causing the drop. The hatch was the same as before the hinge replacement but a little worse. Here are some pics. Hope you guys can see the differences. Any possible solutions would be a great help. The first set of pics are the driver side. The side thats lined up pretty good.

 

Here are some more of the driver side.

 

Here's some pics of the passenger side. The bad side. The hatch panel is actually lower at the glass while the panel sits almost flush at the spoiler.

 

Last set of pics for the passenger side. The third pic shows the glass sitting pretty low in the body compared to the pic of the driver side where its sits pretty flush with the body.

 

what does the area where the hinges are. It seams that the top of the hatch is to low

 

Just looked at it and it does seem that the hatch sits a little lower on the passenger side than on the driver side. I dont think its enough to cause the problems though. Here are some pics of it. Louvers are in the way a little but you can still see minor drop.

 

It is hard to see in the pics, what I would do is loosen up the hinges and try to aline the hatch before tightening them up

 

If the old ones were bent by some kind of impact, maybe the mounting surfaces were bent also?

 

for the spoiler side of the hatch there are rubber bump stops for the hight of stopping while down. but for the hinges it looks almost tweeked i would buy new ones if you cant get any movement in the direction that u need. but like they guy above said it is a little hard to make a accurate hypothosis without being there. good luck man hope thier not bent

 

Thanks for the replies. I know its not a bump stop problem. I have them adjusted all the way up so when the hatch is closed, they are not touching the body. This is only temporary untill I can get the hatch corrected some how. I was thinking about making some thin spacers to put under the hinges where they bolt on the body so that it will lift the hatch glass up to line up with the body and go from there. Anybody ever tried that? Still dont know what quite to do with the hatch panel. I was thinking about removing it off the glass and see if anything is bent or out of wack and try adjusting to line up.

 

yeah the spacer idea popped into my head but i have said things like that on here and was shunned for it. but i would do all free things before investing in anything new and the bent spoiler hatch area is a good start in my book. was this off a car in a wreck or something my hatch lined up perfect in about three nano-seconds...?

 

The hatch is the original hatch for the car. The car has never been in a wreck. I'm the second owner of the car and I've had the car for almost 16 years. I bought it when it had 44,000 miles on it. IIRC, the hatch wasnt like this when I bought it so it's happened over time.

 

I have seen a hatch alingment thread here. I need to do mine as well because the rear glass exploded so I got a whole hatch with glass and spoiler.

 

I had alignment problems with my hatch, when I pulled it down it would shift to the left hitting the body and causing the paint to peel.

I replaced the hydraulic lifts (since my trunk wouldn't hold up) a few days ago, it goes down smooth now. However, if your trunk stays up, I would leave the lifts alone.

 

A shim under the hinge that is low will help solve the alignment problem.

Lon

 

Thanks lonsal. I'll make some shims and try different thicknesses to correct the problem. I have a parts catalog and in the catalog, they have a listing and pics for shims that go under the hinge where it bolts onto the body. Probably never be able to find those.