Ok my hatch slammed shut last summer during a windy day, almost took my damned head off. The assembly was in the up position before it shut, but after it slammed it was in the down position. The hatch didn't latch, nor did the motor enguage.

So I made the mistake of assuming that it stripped its gears or something... A short time ago I bought a 'new-rebuilt' unit from some guy on ebay who owns a third-gen parts/rebuild store in Texas. Make a long story short, I received the new assembly all cleaned up and pretty looking and got it installed. Nada, no go, still doesn't work.

He tried to help me trouble shoot the problem, but unfortunatly it seems as though he knows less about these things then I do - go figure

I did all the trouble shooting that I can think of.. tried two relays, both have 12v power on the a (blue wire) and c (brown wire) contacts (c has 5ish v when unplugged) b contact is ground - black wires. D contact, which is off to the side, has no power, two white wires. Grounds are all good, even cleaned them up to ensure they are connected well. Power seems good and steady, no loose or intermittant connections. "LID" fuse is ok, even checked it with a multimeter.

I asked Trickster to send me a wiring schematic, and he did (thank you Bob!), and everything appears to be correct.

This 'new' hatch assembly is also in the down position. I can close it with a screwdriver and use the key to open it, or pop it from the hatch release inside the car.. that part functions well, but I cannot get the assembly to go up or down. Same problem I had with the original assembly.

What am I looking over, can anybody please help? I've got two hatch assemblies here which both appear to be in good order, and I can't get either one to work, help!

 

Is that little black switch broken. Mine has a tiny black notchlooking switch sticking out where the bracket on the hatch goes and when you close it, it will push the switch. I can't see it in the pic but its rather small so I may have missed it.

 

I have no clue, I didn't even realize there was a little switch.. I'll have to investigate.

 

There is a little black switch just inside the notch where the hatch comes down. There is also a black switch that goes between two bars on the pull down rod. I don't know how far you tore the unit down but you might want to look at it. It controls power to the motor for the forward and reverse cutoff.

 

well I just had a quick look and didn't see anything.. I'm going to take a camera out and take a closer look. I'll shoot some pics and perhaps if I can't find anything, someone can point it out?

 

Ok I just had a quick look and I think I found one pair of the switches you guys are talking about. Right between the tip of the key, see image;

 

As for the other switch?? Where do I look for it? Point it out in the attached image.

Also, the original assembly didn't seem to move when the hatch slammed and I installed the new assembly in the exact location where the old one was (I marked the bolts and bracket so it was in the identical location). Is it possible that the assembly is down to far and therefore its not hitting the switch properly?

 

Okay, you have found one of the two switchs. The one that you found is the one that activates the motor when the hatch latch makes contact with it. There is a second switch down on the motor housing that is called the reverse switch. It stops the motor when the gear nut hits the top of its travel and stops the motor when the gear nut hits the bottom of its travel. Here is a picture of what I am talking about. The item circled at the top of the page is the one you have already found. The item circled at the bottom of the page is the one that I am talking about. BTW, this picture is from a 1991 service bulletin but the principle is the same.

 

Ok well I have really taken my time and I cannot find the switch you've described one either motor. I've tried looking for it on the installed assembly and on the assembly I have sitting next to me on the desk. Both motors are in the down position and perhaps it has the button depressed so I cannot see it?

Any way I can get the motor to move up, or... what else do you guys suggest?? I'm ready to start pulling out my hair over here...

 

Ok well I've discovered another problem. Since I installed the new assembly (from a '91 btw, my car is a '88 - if that matters) the battery becomes completely drained. The assembly must draining power due to incorrect wiring or perhaps the motor is still enguaged?

I can pull the lid fuse and my battery will be fine for days. Also when I plug in the fuse there is a slight spark, meaning that something is immediatly drawing power.

Looks like I'll have to tear the whole thing apart, again, and start over. Groan. Any suggestions on what I should be checking or what?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the help.

 

Okay Brisk,
To give you a general idea of where the reversing switch is located, look at the drawing I posted again. If you look closely you will see the letters "A" & "B" on the pice just above the bottom circled item. The reversing switch is number 11 in that picture and I have the number circled with a small circle. The switch in question fits between tab "A" & "B" for proper operation. If it is not in that position it won't work properly.

 

well I've searched for that other switch on both units and I cannot find it.. I even used a small mirror and a flashlight, nada.

I'm going to try and disassemble one of the units to see if I can get a better look at it.

 

Hello Brisk,
You have e-mail that may make more sense out of what I have been trying to tell you so far.

 

First off let me say a big "THANK YOU" to Trickster aka Bob.

Success!! Ok, well sort of. I took apart my assembly and inspected it closely... they're fairly simple once you get them apart, and now I can clearly see the little switch that sits between tabs A and B. I inspected it all and triggered the switch manually while it was apart. I then lubed the sliders to within an inch of its life with vasoline and reassembled everything. I did notice a few loose screws and bolts so i tightened everything up. Reinstalled the unit, test fit made sure everything was lined up and tossed in a fuse.

I triggered it a couple times and it worked 100%. I reinstalled the hatch trim and closed the lid, no problems. However now it doesn't like to open. I can hit the hatch release inside or open with a key and the lock will pop and the motor will enguage for a second then stop. For closing I have to drop down the hatch and push down a bit, then the motor will engauge and go all the way up, then all the way down (my hatch struts are completely worn, I'm holding it up with vise grips)

So I can latch the switch a 100 times with a screw driver and it will go all the way up and all the way down, but when I close the hatch it will not come all the way up. Perhaps the gear is 1 tooth off or??

Now I'm familar with the unit, I'm not scared to rip it apart or anything...

 

Boy, see what happens when I step away briefly? I'm sure my tech article on repairing the 1986-91 hatch pull-down motors would have helped.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

Lonsal, it DID help.. I found that in the tech section and downloaded it. It helped me to disassemble the unit easily without having to try and figure it out.. thanks to you too!

 

I'm glad you followed the instructions. The reversing switch is clearly shown in figure 6. If you have +12v at the red with white stripe wire and the ground is good, then either the reversing switch or striker-sensing switch are bad. If you fiddle with the striker-sensing switch and it gets it to work, then it is time to replace it. The contacts inside are shot. The striker-sensing switch includes all the wiring for the hatch pull-down unit. Just plug in a relay, plug it into the reversing switch and attach it with the 7mm hex head screw. It is important that you don't have the hatch pull-down unit installed too low. If it is too low, the hatch motor will stall out before the reversing switch has tripped and your motor will burn up shortly. Once you get it working, loosen the three 13mm bolts holding it to the body and raise it up. Alsp make sure the latch is centered on the hatch hook. Then let it go through its cycle. You want it to compress the hatch seal, but not strain the motor. Remember you must hear that loud CLICK of the reversing switch being tripped.

Lon

 

"reversing switch or striker-sensing switch"

Can these still be purchased somewhere?

 

Yes, I sell both on my web site. Click on my TDS logo above, then look under the Hatch Pull-Down Parts category.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions