Well, I searched, but didn't find anything that really answered my question. Top Down Solutions sells a relay and a reversing switch for the 86 Electric Pulldown unit. I had a mysterious battery drain problem that is the hatch pulldown. It, for no reason, starts going up and down, down and up. When I drove this car daily I had no problems, because of course the altenator would recharge the battery everytime the car ran. However, after the car sat, it killed the battery. Now I am wondering what is wrong? The relay or the reversing switch? I'm inclined to believe it's the reversing switch, but I'm not sure. Anyone have a better idea how this all works?

 

If you want to try the reversing switch first, go ahead. It is the less expensive of the two (and still available from GM). I'd suspect the striker-sensing switch. Here's what I think is happening. Your pull-down is working fine, but when it pulls down and trips the reversing switch it SHOULD shut off the motor. Instead the unit (due to a bad striker-sensing switch) is sensing that the hatch is open, so it starts the up cycle all over. If it were the reversing switch the motor would likely stall out when it reached the bottom instead of turning off the motor. This will kill the battery too, since the motor is still under load (it will also quickly burn up the motor). Try spraying the striker-sensing switch with contact cleaner (available at Radio Shack). FYI, this is the small black switch next to the latch that is attached with a single hex-head screw. If the contact cleaner fixes the problem, then you've only bought a little time. GM discontinued the switch, but I still have a few. Also you can try pulling off the hatch surround trim panel, mark the location of the motor to the body and try un-bolting and moving it up a little, then re-tightening.

Lon

 

Well the funny thing is its not just after I close the hatch. Like the car sat at his yard for a day or so, he pulled it in the garage, put it up and started doing the clutch. A few seconds later he heard this buzzing, and found out that the hatch motor was going crazy. Thats what's baffling me. It works flawlessly whenever I go to use it. It's just in between I guess as it sits it decides to just spit itself up and down. It is baffling, but I really wanna fix it so I can keep my electric pull down. I don't want to goto a manual unit.