DanMac

My problem is that the pulldown motor only works occasionaly. It's not broken, it just works once out of every 6 (or so) clicks of the hatch release button. I can hear the locking mechagnism releasing, but the motor doen't kick in. Then.. just randomly on one of the clicks the motor will kick in and raise the hatch.

I'm pretty sure it's an electrical connection somewhere, but i'm unsure of where to look. Any suggestions?

DanMac

Ok, the pulldown finally stopped working. All i hear is a clicking noise, i think that's the solenoid switch? Because I still cant release the hood after hearing the "click" noise.

i'm going to check the motor fuse i saw Lon talking about in another thread...

Aviator857

Sounds like the striker switch but check with lon to be sure

DanMac

Yeah, that's the conclusion I'm leaning towards. It just bum's me out that I am going to have to destroy my rear trunk paneling to get at the thing. I'll probably pick up one of lon's "new style motor" complete pulldown kits and do the job right.

Aviator857

All the panels will come out without breaking anything. It isn't real hard to do I have rebuilt my assembly before.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

Don't you have a manual release via the key? Follow the Tech Article on repairing them that I wrote. Check for a broken motor housing. It is common for them to break where the 3 screws mount it to the metal frame of the hatch pull-down unit. You can test for a broken motor housing or bad guides without removing the rear hatch surround panels. Grab hold of the latch and try pulling it up and down. If there is movement, then the motor housing is broken. If you get movement in the front to back or side to side direction only, but not up/down then the guides are bad. Both conditions need to be repaired before you can move on to furhter diagnosing the unit.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

DanMac

Wow, what a retard I am, I actually had to look at the picture of my car from the weatherstripping thread to see the keyhole on the back. Thanks for the heads up stopping me before I did anything stupid. Sorry, band spaking new firebird owner here...

I appreciate you guys being patient with me.

DanMac

I tried my key in the trunk latch today, nothing happened, It sure didn't unlatch. Does this mean anything to anyone?

Aviator857

So you cant get the trunk open at all is this what you are saying. The key turned right just didn't unlatch. Try pulling up on the hatch while turning the key.

DanMac

Yeah, it's the weirdest thing, it just does nothing.

I tried pressing down on the hatch, as well as pulling up on it and there didn't seem to be any "unlocking" going on. The car just bounced on it's suspension.

Aviator857

So you tried turning the key and pulling up on the hatch at the same time, if the mech is to high it will just relatch when you release the key.

If this doesn't work then the cable broke or came off. Do you hear the servo engageing when you hit the release button?

If you do the screw that holds that all together may have fallen out and the cable nor the servo is moving the mechanism.

If this is true then yes you will have to break the rear panel to get at it. If you are small or have a 8 -9 year old you may be able to get the spair cover off and slide back under it and pop it with a screw driver. Go to a junkyard and look at how it works so you can do it without seeing it.

3gc

I have no idea if this will work or not but try having someone pull up on the hatch while you press the hatch release.

DanMac

I hear a clicking noise, when I hit the hatch release button up front. I thought it was the latch being drawn, but when I had my wife push it while I yanked on the hatch, nothing budged.

I do not hear the motor engage at all. Only a loud click noise that used to precede the pulldown motor engaging to raise the latch mechanism.

I'll probably just crack the rear interior body panel. Not for a while though. Need to build up some $$ reserves and get a new pulldown, weather stripping, and rear paneling

Thanks for the help.

Aviator857

NP

You shouldn't need weather striping, just take a small saw or a drimal and cut a hole in the plastic right behind the latch. If you have a pull-a-part junkyard you can pick up the parts from there, just get the plastic peices from lon. But from what you are saying you will defently have a problem getting into it, swing by a dealership or body shop and see if anyone has any suggestions.

You may even be able to pop out the light in that panel and then jimmy the latch through there without damaging the panel.

The click you here is probably the relay.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

You won't be able to do anything to release it by poking through the hatch light hole. The tang that releases the latch is covered by the solenoid release. Nor will removing the spare tire cover help. You may need to destroy the center hatch surround plastic trim piece to get to the hatch release. You can try and lift the plastic hatch surround trim by removing the 4 large plastic screws and prying from the bottom. You'll need to use a putty knife, then a screw driver to lift it. The trim piece is attached at the bottom by two hidden tangs that fit into slots. You'll have to bend or break these off. You won't be able to fully remove that plastic hatch trim piece because there are two phillips head screws at the top that you won't have access to until the hatch is open. An easier method would be to cut a window in the plastic trim piece behind the hatch pull-down unit using a Dremel tool. Whichever method you use, you need to access the 10mm screw that mounts the solenoid hatch release to the pull-down unit. Once you've removed it you'll see a rectangular opening. Insice that opening you'll see a tang that you can now pop with your finger or a screwdriver to release the latch.

An alternate method would be to destroy lock cylinder and reach in with a long small bladed standard screwdriver and turn the release mechanism from the rear side. You'll need to buy a new lock cylinder from the dealer.

Either way you use, once you get the hatch released go ahead and remove the hatch surround trim completely and evaluate the problems with the hatch pull-down unit. Fix what is broken or worn. That includes your hatch struts. Worn hatch struts put too much stress on that hatch pull-down unit due to the weight of the hatch glass.

My advice to all of you is to investigate the problem with the hatch pull-down unit and repair it when it first starts giving you trouble, rather than ignoring it or cursing and slamming the hatch repeatedly. I'm sure DanMac had lots of warning that this was going bad. At this point it requires destroying something to fix it. Much costlier in the long run than maintaining or repairing it when it first starts to be a problem.

Good luck,

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

DanMac

Well sorta, I just bought the car, and it failed on the 4th time I tried to use the hatch. Admittedly the first 3 three times were a little flakey

Thanks for the great info Lon, the origional owner said that he had just put new struts on the rear hatch, so presumably the damage was done before he put the struts on. I think i'll take the dremmel approach, seemed like a good one. That interior body panel didn't quite fit the way i wanted it to anyway.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

Sorry to hear the prior owner didn't disclose the problem he'd been having with the hatch pull-down unit.

Lon

GatotsuZeroshiki

I've got the opposite problem -- I can't seem to lock the trunk with the key. What's going on?