Dunno what happened, first the damn thing wont go down at all, now it wont stop running (and for some unknown reason wont actually catch the truck lid either), in any case, obviously I dont want the damn thing running all night draining the battery, and taking it to a car shop this late isnt an option. So is there anyone who knows which of the fuses I need to pull, I looked and none were labeled truck latch or anything of that nature, I'll unhook the battery if I need to but I'd prefer not to.

 

fuse,also cigarette lighter,since hot all time,found this out by plugging a cell phone adapter into lighter,poppped fuse,and no hatch motor or courtesy light

 

It would be a fuse marked "LID" and if the hatch motor won't stop running it is possible that the motor housing is broken. That has happened to me, contact Lonsal at TDS for replacement parts.

 

Exact same thing just happened to me. Was told problem could be worn plastic gear in motor housing. Removed motor assembly from trunk (see tech article)

Gear was bad. But the real problem was the guides were completely shot and the sliding pull down part had Jammed.

The gear is cheap and available at dealer but bring the part number with you. My parts guy had never sold one before???? The guides are not available from the dealer.

I replaced the whole assembly with one from the wreckers.

 

Gear is part no. 20160587
housing is no. 20160581

 

Thank you guys, sorry I didn't thank you sooner, I finally gave up and left the trunk open and had it played with by a mechanic, I think I will just remove it. Put a normal one in. Makes life easier one less thing to break.

 

[QUOTE=pheonixthree;3053054]The guides are not available from the dealer.
QUOTE]

The guides were never available from the dealer. I've been manufacturing replacement aftermarket guides since 2001 that are far superior to the OEM. I'm so confident in them that I offer a 5 year replacement warranty. To-date have never been contacted by a customer requiring a replacement. The part number is 101170, $23.50.

To disable the pull-down motor until you can get a replacement gear nut, remove the rear hatch surround trim panel and either unplug the read/white stripe wire from the blue wire or unplug the four wire connector from the motor.

It's not so simple to convert to the older style slam latch. The 1982-85 slam-latch has a different mounting to the body. You'd have to cut out the existing mount and weld the old style mount from a donor car. I see plenty of cars in the Pick-a-Part yards with Jerry-Rigged pull-down assemblies. They've had their latches permanently attached to the frame by any one of several methods (bolted, screwed, welded, chewing gum and baling wire, etc).

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions