DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN GET A WIRING DIAGRAM TO CHECK THE WIRING AT THE PULL DOWN MOTOR FOR POWER? Thanks

 

http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=19

 

Their is one solid orange wire that runs from the back of the hatch to the fuse pannle( it runns along the driver side of the car) wihch is your power wire.
also check the fuse for it.( if i remeber corectly its the row farthest from the drive 2nd or 3rd one in.

 

An '87 Helms factory service manual shows it as a red/white wire but had a buddy look at his '87 and his is orange, wtf?

 

i have a 87' im just letting you know what I have found after hours of trobleshooting . mabe different years are different

 

What different years? I have an 87 GM factory Camaro service manual (printed by Helms and is actually two books, one is strictly electrical, the other driveability and emissions), not a Haynes or other cheap manual. This cost $90 back in '87, ordered from my local Chevrolet dealer. The colored schematic shows a red/white wire and has written next to it "red/wht" but your '87 and my buddy's '87 both have orange wires feeding power to the hatch pull-down. I'm saying the factory service manual is wrong.

 

o ok sounds good then

 

thanks - i will check the wire tonight - i have checked the fuses and all were good - i am getting pretty tired of having to keep a 50LB bag of sand on the hatch , just to keep it down!
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can i just run a jumper wire from the battery to the orange wire to power the hatch motor back up?

 

are the fuses good ( the ones by the hatch...the big block looking one?) might wana check them out and also see if you have everythign hooked up right.......what you also can do is contact Lon at tds( top down solution) wich i think is a sponsor hes amazing with those thing.

 

I have an '87 350 IROCZ, its 21 years old. Sometimes my hatch motor does not work either but its always an issue with corrosion with the tabs & contacts.

 

with corrosion on the tabs just take a metal brush and scrape em up abit

 

What fuses by the hatch? Am I missing something?

I have a motor that turns, nothing worn out, getting power, but the pulldown isn't working as it should. I'm going to start tracing wires tomorrow.

It was in really good condition, outside of the worn brushes and crushed shell sand from the beach. I'm just hoping the controller isn't dead.

After looking into it, what I'm calling the controller is the reversing switch.

 

It's a relay, my bad here is a pic of what it looks like http://www.top-downsolutions.com/popup_image.php?pID=59 it might be gray or black

In this pic it's the lil black box one the far right side( its connected to the wire harness part.
http://www.top-downsolutions.com/popup_image.php?pID=51

 

I have a 92, and I did replace the relay back there. The only other thing I can think of is this controller thing that mounts to the unit.

edit

I took the controller thing apart, and it looks to be nothing more than a switch. I cleaned it out, but still the same. I'm thinking about replacing it for good measure, since it was rather corroded, and there's some corrosion I can't clean.

Is there any real controller, or is it just a series of switches and relays that control the pulldown? If it's just switches and relays, then man, what were they smoking? I can see that being the case when the first third gens rolled off of the assembly line, but 10 years later? They changed everything else, why couldn't they change the controller?

edit 2

Even though the brushes look fine, they aren't long enough, so I'm not getting contact at the motor's armature. That's next on my list.

edit 3

So I can't find brushes. I've pulled apart every electric motor from my Honda, not finding a brush in the correct shape. I'm hoping to find what I need soon.

edit 4

I found brushes that I think will work. After I test that they work, I'll put up the part numbers, and possibly start rebuilding the motors for resale as another solution to a burned up motor.

 

I would sugest contacting TDS , Lon will walk you though what neeeds to be done. I was on the phone with him for like 40 mins troble shooting mine and rebuilding it.. he is a good guy and has good advise

 

There's a bit of misinformation in this thraed. The hot wire for the pull-down unit for all years is a red with white stripe wire. It connects to the blue wire of the pull-down wiring harness. The orange wire your friend traced it power to the rear hatch light.

Second bit of misinformation is suggesting to clean the metal contacts on the pad to the left of the pull-down motor. Cleaning this contacts won't cause any harm, but that contact pad has absolutely nothing to do with the pull-down unit. That pad powers the HMSL (high-mount stop light).

Lon Salgren

 

I spend 8+ hours a day on the phone with people trying to get their DSL back up and running. I'd rather not spend time on the phone that I don't have to. My cell phone gets used maybe 30 minutes out of the whole month.

I'm still waiting for motor brushes. They cost me all of $4, so no big deal if they don't fit or need modifications to fit. I'll keep everyone updated and if all goes well, I'll write a tech article for the motor rebuild.

 

Brushes didn't help, and I'm suspecting my armature overheated and is shorting out. Probably should take it all back apart and bench test this thing.

With all of that being said, I'm on the lookout for a new pulldown. If I can't find one locally, I'll be getting in contact with Lon.