I need help, have a 87 Camaro Iroc , I replaced the guides on the pull down motor , I brought the kit so I just replaced everything. I put it all back together thinking I did it right but when I closed the trunk it went down and now it wont release . You hear the clicking sound but it wont come back up. I have a box with speakers and its in the way for me to do anything on the inside. I know I should have removed the box. So I took out the key lock and im able to see in there. Any Idea how I get the hatch to release from that key hole . I have no clue why it wont pop up. Its locked down tight. Car only has 27,000 orig miles Id never think the trunk would have any problems. Thanks for the help

 

Did you have to file or sand down the guides to allow the unit to cycle up and down freely? Use lithium grease to lubricate the guides? Did the unit work prior to replacing the guides? If your hearing a clicking noise when it's supposed to be coming back up the unit could be in a bind. It could also be your reversing switch.

 

Do you have a trunk light? Is the box blocking the trunk light?

pics of the inside can help

 

The box is shaped the the trunk to the T. But I do have the light, I popped it out what do I do now. Thanks

 

The wiring at the cargo light also supplies power to a portion of the pull down unit, if the light doesn't work due to a bad bulb or a blown LID fuse at the fuse block the pull down unit isn't going to work as it's supposed to. While we're at fuses have you checked the LID and ACC fuses?

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91Bandiit2,

If the cargo light bulb is bad would these make the pull down unit not function? I have a 92 with low mileage and can not figure out why my mine doesn't work? I 've done all the testing and everything seems fine. Thanks for any help.

 

I could be wrong but I believe the filament in the bulb completes that circuit. Do you have 12vdc going into the bulb socket?

“EDIT” You have a 92, that pull down motor is different than previous years. Starting about mid model year in 91 GM switched the pull down motors on these cars, not sure they also switched other GM models like the Cadillac that used pull down motors that were kinda similar in operation. Short story long, I’m not familiar with that newer style of pull down motor so I don’t know how different the wiring is, I can only imagine that the wiring diagram above could be used as a loose reference. The wiring of the bulb could be identical as the previous models?

 

Yes, I have power to the bulb. I have a 88 Iroc and 92 Z both with pull down motors and noticed the difference between them. On my 92 I did most the troubleshooting according to the service manual and everything seemed to check out fine so I was thinking the motor was bad. Now I'm hoping its just the bulb. I did not bother to change it when I was troubleshooting. I'll keep you posted! Thanks again.

 

So what is the pull down motor doing and what isn't it doing? Going down and not coming up, coming up and not going down or not doing anything at all?

 

It's not doing anything at all. I went through the service manual the best I could and the fuses are good, relay, connections, etc. I would like to test the motor or jumper it to see if the problem is in the motor or limit switch but haven't figured out how to do that. The car has been very well taken care of with only 30K so I'm thinking its not the unit. I was told at the time of purchase that the previous owner would accidentally bump the switch so her grandson thinks they may have disabled it. I checked the connections under the console and fuses and they are good. Power to the unit from what I can tell.

 

I'm assuming since this is Z-28 it has the hatch release button on the dash? No nothing when pushing the release button and using the key?
The person to contact would be @lonsal He's a Moderator here and he runs Top Down Solutions which provides a lot of the parts for the pull down assemblies.

 

92 Z28 with the hatch button on the console between the window switches. I can open with the key and it releases manually but nothing else. The previous owner slammed it shut to get it to close and latch. Thanks for the referral for the parts.

 

Not just for parts, he does offer quality parts but more so to pick his brain on the issues your seeing with your unit, he’s probably the most knowledgeable how these unit’s work

 

91Bannditt,
Update.........I replaced the the whole hatch motor assembly with another I found and everything is working fine now. I still think my other unit is good. When I compared the replacement unit vs my original I noticed mine was stuck in the very bottom position or all the way bottomed out. I wasn't sure what I needed to do to try and get it back up between the the limit stops to see if it would work again. Thanks for all your help on this!

 

Glad the new to you unit is working for you. If the pull down assembly is stuck in the down position then it could be the reversing switch/T lever. For my pull down motor assembly I ended up taking the reversing switch apart to inspect and clean the contacts as I suspected that this switch was the problem with mine. I posted some pictures last year here......
hatch pulldown motor not working - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards