The hatch on my T/A pops open just fine with the dash mounted switch. Problem is, by the time I get back to the hatch, the motor is already pulling it down. If I stand outside the car, hit the switch, run right back to the hatch, I sometimes get lucky enough to pull it up and open. Even with the key...once it pops, I have to pull it up to keep the motor from pulling the hatch back down right away. Is this just an indication that the release needs to be replaced?

 

No, it is an indication that the lift supports are going bad (gas struts).

 

Can't be that...they're brand new.
In any case, it seems to be fine now that I cleaned it up and sprayed it with a little CRC.
The release might not have been coming all the way up before...it always pulled the hatch back down right before it got to that point.
BTW Trickster, I want to say thanks for all the great electrical advice you give here. I've been standing in the background for weeks reading a lot of different posts while I was figuring out the wiring in my T/A. If it hadn't been for some of those diagrams you posted...I'd have burnt the car to the ground....on purpose.

Barry