My hatch motor has been intermittent for some time...tonight it decided to be permanent, in the up position.

it will latch, but the motor wont pull it down. tapping the motor in the past has assisted it with pulling it back down, leading me to believe the brushes in the motor are shot. but regardless, i cant go buying a motor assembly tonight, or tomorrow as i will be driving 100+miles on the highway (reason why i need to shut this thing).

i need a way to manually close the hatch, is there a way to do that? can i remove the motor and spin it with a drill or something?

any help is very very appreciated!

 

all u have to do is slide the unit down the same thing happened to me

 

When you get access to the motor you'll see the height is adjustable.Just loosen the three bolts/nuts and pull it down till it's flush.The slots are elongated just so you can adjust it.

 

So it's been trying to warn you for a while now and you took no action? Don't you know it will fail when you need it the most? lol

Before you do move the frame down in relation to the body of the car, mark the existing location with a permanent marker or scratch awl. That way when you do fix it correctly with one of my hatch pull-down repair kits you'll know where it is supposed to be. I'm not sure if there is even enough adjustment in the square holes of the frame to get it down fully to seal the hatch. If the hatch doesn't seal properly your car will suck in exhaust fumes. Go by Home Depot or equivalent and slap a Carbon Monoxide detector in there.

Also remeber adjusting the hatch pull-down assy down is a temporary bandaid fix and you'll still need to either repair it properly (my suggestion) or Jerry-Rig it into a slam latch. Before you ask, no I do not recomment this nor do I offer suggestins as to go about doing it.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

Lon has the parts to repair it. Visit the TDS site. If your not sure what you need to fix it right, I beleive that there's a phone number on the TDS site that you can call for help. Lon will get you set up right.

 

good call, all last night i was looking into the options and just now ordered a deluxe repair kit...that seemed like the best option. (please get it to me ASAP!)

last night, in my haste, i pulled the motor assembly apart first! bad move on my part, because even if that wasnt the problem originally, it just became the problem now as the brushes inside are impossible to keep up so you can slide the motor back in. however, gaining access to this area allowed me to see the little gear inside, and spinning it with a flat head screwdriver allowed me to lower the entire assembly.

 

Question:

Are there tests I can do to the reversing switch to make sure its good? upon inspection i can see a little bit of corrision (that blue kind) inside it on the pins, im assuming i can clean it, but would like to make sure it works incase i have to order one of them as well.

 

Yes. I'll post info later today on how to test it. Gotta run to a meeting.

Lon

 

Again, I'd suggest you call Lon. Pretty sure he's on pacific time.

 

Lon thanks for getting that to me so quickly. 2 days from the other side of the country is impressive, not only for the postal service but for any business. Hopefully I can attack this sunday, the kit looks pretty f-ing complete.

Any word on testing the reverse switch?

 

Lonsal is the man for hatch pull down units. I just installed a new unit I bought from him the first of the year and it works perfectly. Pay attention to the carbon monoxide warnings and yes, TDS is pacific time.

 

Draw a big fat "L" on a sheet of paper. This represents the reversing switch turned over. raw two lines at the top of the L, label then the left line L, the right one R. Draw four lines on the right side of the fat L shape. Label them 1 through 4 top to bottom. 1 = Brn wire, 2 = Or wire, 3 = Wh wire, 4 = Blue wire. These are the colors of the wire in the connecto that plugs into the reversing switch. Now were ready to test it using a multi-meter or test light. With the switch flipped in the position it would be at the end of the "up" cycle, you'll have continuity between the R & OR wire and between the L and BL wire. Flip the switch to the position it would be at the end of the down cycle. You'll have continuity between the R & BL wire and the L & WH wire. If yours tests differently it is bad.

Lon

 

Good info on the testing, getting ready to look at mine, I have the same problem. Thanks!

Ed