I've been having trouble with my hatch release for a little while now. When I pop the hatch, the motor will start and go up, but I can't make it to the back of the car quick enough to lift the hatch. If I have somebody standing behind the car, they can lift the hatch right when I press the switch. Other than that, the motor goes up and down properly.

I don't think this is a hatch strut problem, because I have another Trans Am with totally shot struts that still can open properly. Any info would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Replace the struts and it will work, does your other T/A have the motor in the back for the hatch release?

 

Yep, other TA has hatch motor as well. Totally shot struts, but when you pop the hatch it releases normally. The struts on this car aren't totally shot, they are right at the point that when the hatch is lifted all the way up, it either barely holds or just lets go of the hatch. That is why I don't think it's struts...

 

It is the hatch struts. Let me 'splain what is happening. You pop the hatch release solenoid. If the striker-sensing switch (that small black switch adjacent to the latch) senses even momentarily that the hatch hook is no longer present it will start the cycle to raise the hatch pull-down unit. Once the up-cycle has begun it will not stop (even if you press the contact of the striker-sensing switch again) until the reversing switch is tripped.

In the case of the car you're having trouble with, the hatch struts are marginal. If they still had strong pressure to them, they will raise the hatch immediately either part way or fully. In your case the hatch struts are lifting the hatch just enough so the hatch hook breaks contact briefly with the striker-sensing switch. The hatch pull-down unit begins its up-cycle then re-latches the hatch hook as it travels up. Once it gets to the top of the cycle the reversing switch is tripped and the striker-sensing switch once again senses the hatch hook and sends it right back down again.

You have two ways to fix it. Replace the marginal struts with bad struts so the hatch hook doesn't break contact with the striker-sensing switch until you lift the hatch off of it. Or replace them with new struts that will lift the hatch hook far enough up so the latch won't be able to grab the hatch hook on the way up. Does this make sense now?

Lon

 

It's funny that you should reply to this today, as this afternoon my dad and I went out to figure it out, and came to the exact same conclusion. At first I thought if the other car had wasted struts and it worked, it can't be them. But after opening the hatch on the other car with bad struts, I noticed that the hatch popped, but the motor did not start coming up, because there was too much weight holding it down.

But on my car, the struts were just bad enough that the motor would start coming up when the hatch hadn't released fully. After getting my dad to stand behind the car and very gently give the hatch an extra bit of lift on the way up, it would release properly. They are just over the edge of not working with how much strength they have left.

Any idea how much hatch struts will cost? Thanks again,

-Dustin

 

http://www.top-downsolutions.com/pro...products_id=85

As a temporary fix, you could just disconnect one strut and it would work just as well as your other car does with the bad struts. You'll develope nice biceps too from lifting and holding up the hatch. Of course the downside is that you risk damaging the hatch pull-down unit, which is why I began offering them for sale on my web site in the frist place.

Lon