Hello once again third gen folks, this time I have a request of upmost importance. While working on my car's trunk pulldown motor ( and fixing it, it now works fine I think) I noticed the trunk being pushed out further and further until I woke up one morning and it was at such an extreme level that It wouldn't even go down far enough to even remotely touch the latch. I've done research but I've NEVER seen one get this bad, and it happened in a matter of days. It was nowhere near this bad a week ago. My brother and I have been trying to figure this out, and we've tried everything. We've removed the piston struts, loosened the bolts and tried to muscle the trunk inward (which was supposed to be the way it gets fixed usually) but no dice. There is little to no change every time we try. It just won't budge. We've made sure the trunk latch is in the correct position and everything, but not a thing is working, and we're starting to get fed up because working on that damn 200 pound trunk without the struts is one hell of a workout. Even looking at the gap at the top of the trunk near the bolts it looks almost fine, but it sure as hell isn't. So, please if you have any insight at all to as what might be wrong, or what I can replace, please share it in the comments. I can't drive this thing anywhere to get it fixed in it's current state because the damn trunk doesn't go down far enough to make contact with the third brake light, making it illegal to drive on the road. If you know what might be causing this or what I can replace to fix it, please tell me! Pictures are below, but If you need more, I will provide as I am able.

Cheers,

- Atomic

View from the side showing the overbite and the inability to close

one of our first thoughts was that the latch was being blocked by something and wasn't going down far enough because it was too far back. We muscled it inwards as far as we could, and now it's just resting on the actual hatch, and not moving down anymore.

front view of it not pushing down in the latch

 

How do the hinges look?

 

There's nothing visibly wrong with them that I can immediately discern, but I'm gonna go take another look. I think the problem is that it just doesn't go into the trunk pulldown motor. We moved the motor down by manually pushing the button with our fingers then put the trunk down and it rested fine, but when the motor is up it just won't click in.

 

Again, what do your hinges look like?

 

Have you tried adjusting the hatch motor? It can be moved around quite a bit. Is everything good and tight with the motor to body and the hinges etc? One last idea, are the hatch struts new?

 

Hinge bolts loose.

 

Hi all!!

I FIGURED IT OUT

The previous owner lost the key and it was in its permanent locked state so I had to bypass that manually and readjust the hatch and now everything's ship shape!

Thanks for the suggestions and help anyways!!!


- Atomic

 

Wjay do you mean "permeant locked state"?

 

Prob. means in the down/closed position now.

My 93 Cadillac has the same deal as the Can/birds as they and others use the same unit.
A PO disabled mine in the down/locked position also.

 

He means the hatch lock actuator was stuck in the closed position not allowing the striker on the deck lid to close properly.

 

Yes.............I can open or close the lid to the correct closed position.
NO more issues.

Sure glad my 84 HO dont have it !