I have a 89 GTA, I just got it, and it doesnt run yet, but will very soon, like next week.

but anmyways, before i bought it, i was checkin it out and everything (obviously) and i opened the trunk (with the key) and went to close it back, and it wouldnt. the battery was dead. Now i knew that these cars had the electric pull down motor, so i asked. and he said "yea it worked, thats y u had to use the key to open it", cause it was locked (pulled down) before the battery died. Which made perfect sence, so i moved on.

but now that the battery is charged up, it still wont lock, I keep tring to close it and it wont go, my dad didnt know it was an electric pull down, so he went out there and started slaming it down a bunch a times...

but anyways, any idea on what it could be? cause it obviously worked before, cause it was locked, and needed the key to open...

maybe a fuse? would that do it? does anyone know which fuse it is?

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!

 

Id take off the panel in the back that covers up the pull down unit and make sure nothing on it is cracked. Usually the clear plastic housing breaks on the pull downs. Or the gears are stripped

 

i was jsut told when i was akin my dad if he may have done anthing to it that may have made it not work... and he said, that when he went to charge the battery (with a charger not a jump) he accidently hooked them up backwards as first, and there was a lot of noise...

could that have blown the motor?

ill check that plastic thing tomorrow.

 

FIRST....CHECK THE HATCH MOTOR FUSE. It is not located on the fuse block, like your other fuses. Look all around your fuse block for a single pair of Red and Red/White wires with a 5 amp fuse attached...Thats the fuse for the hatch motor. This fuse gets pushed up under the dash or behind the fuse block...but it is back there. Make sure that fuse isn't burned out (sounds like that is your problem)

Open the hatch and do the following.

From the drivers seat, press the hatch release button. You should hear a click (the hatch releasing), then you should hear t
the motor running (raising the receiver for when you close the hatch).

If that is what happens for you, well, your hatch motor is working correctly.

If not, you'll have to start tracing wires from the fuse back to the hatch motor (a voltage tester will be handy).

 

On Firebird the pull-down motor fuse is as Slackett describes, a separate inline fuse adjacent to the fuse block. On Camaro it IS in the fuse block. It is in the #3 slot (third column from the left, top row). Here's what may have happened; assuming the hatch motor was indeed in good condition before the battery went dead, it may not have completed it's down cycle. You'll need to re-set it. This is easily done by reaching inside the hole that the latch portion loweres into. There is a small black switch just in front of the latch as you're facing the pull-down unit from the rear of the car. Press on that switch and the unit should power down the remainder of the cycle and you'll hear a CLICK. That is the sound of the reversing switch being tripped. Now release the switch and the unit should power all the way back up and be re-set. If not, then remove the hatch surround trim panel and undo the red with white stripe wire from the blue wire. Check that you have +12v at the red/white stripe wire. If not, then start check for that blown fuse. It is common for the blue wire to be unplugged from the red/white stripe wire due to the gear nut being bad, since that is the one of the ways to shut it off. Check out the tech article on this web site or download the instructions for the TDS 101170 aftermarket nylon guides from the lower right-hand side of Top-Down Solutions (aka TDS). The link to the sire is there--->

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

The black switch that Lon is discribing is what's wrong with mine. I can pop the hatch but before I close it I have to push that black button to let the latch go down then come back up, then it will latch and close. I have to do that everytime though. I want to fix it right but don't knoww which part to purchase. Lon will get my business when I figure it out.

 

The switch is available on my web site. If yours has the large white connector on the blue wire, then order TDS 206180. If it has a small black connector order TDS 207280. That is the only difference.

Lon