I have an 87 iroc, and the hatch pulldown unit don't work right. the switch to open the hatch works right, but the hatch won't close on its own. i have push it down pretty hard for the hatch to lock. would i have to replace the whole unit, or is it just a gear or relay problem?

 

Another thing, the relay gets really warm.

 

Thats a hard one to answer. Its easy to get to though. Take a look. Use a screwdriver with the hatch open and push it down. What does it do? Main reason it wont work is the housing cracks. I have yet to find a replacement for mine at a good price or at the junk yard. That tells me they break real easy so paying a lot for another one is not a high priority. I just guide mine down every time since its just cracked. Been doing that for the last 4 years. I bet its broken and the gears are binding.

 

If the relay is getting hot it could be from either the motor or something binding causing the motor to work too hard. I don't recall if it's possible but you could try disconnecting the motor and see how freely the mechanics of the unit moves and then also check the motor by itself as well.

 

This may help too: >>>Link

 

the relay is hot because the motor is trying to run but cant because the plastic housing is cracked or broke and has it bound up. your lucky the motor hasnt burned up yet. you can buy just the plastic housing for like $14.00 and fix it correctly.

 

Where can u buy just the housing for $14?

 

either at hawks or ebay

 

ok, i took apart the unit and inspected everything. the gear looks brand new, the plastic housing looks brand new and has the blue lubrication on it. i know the unit has power cuz the trunk light comes on. so could this be a bad relay? and the little black box that the housing/motor connects has a switch on the top of it, whats that?

 

cheapest on ebay is $25 and hawks is 42; might cost for shipping on that one too.

Camaro Man. Take the motor out of the housing if u can, and see what it does. If it gets warm but does nothing then u need a new motor. You can also use a test light to see if it lights up when it should be pulling down.

 

Which component is the motor? And how do I test the motor.

 

one of them is 14.00. i bought one. its nothing but the plastic housing and you put your stuff over into it. maybe your track guides are broken and has it bound up. just suggestions. dont sound like yours is in to bad of shape. try a new relay

 

is the motor the little cylindrical thing connected to the plastic housing? and how does the unit work, cuz the plastic guides clips broke and just lay on the edge to help slide the metal housing over it. and i have the metal housing slid all the way down. also there is this little white wire with a black thing on the end of it just hanging, is that just an extra or doesnt it serve importance?

 

The white wire is just an extra wire. The white plastic 'guides' are more important then most people think. When they break they cause the motorized assembly to be forced Up and Down by thte motor in an incorrect angle and that causes the gear to get stripped much more easily. Broken guides also cause the morotized part of the assmebly to rattle like CRAZY while driving. That causes much more stress on the Pull Down unit then it was designed ot handle. If ANY or your guides are bad; be sure to replace them as well as any other parts that might be defective !

Here's a picture of the motor. It has a 2 pin connector on top in this pic. ( If your's is pulled apart than you should be able to access these PINs. ) Touch a positive wire to one PIN and Ground wire to the other pin and the motor will spin if it's good.

 

Just remenber that it is NOT ROCKET SCIENCE to repair the pull down hatch. Four main parts:
Nylon slides
gear nut
switch...rarely fails
motor & housing

More info: go to TOPDOWN SOLUTION and download there repair instructions for the pull down assemby. Also they have all the parts. Now if you can't find this site, you have no business messing with the hatch and just weld it closed.

Final advice: Main problem with the hatch is DUMB people trying to close it by SLAMMING it shut.

 

what can i use for a positive and ground wire to test it?

 

ok today i went out and tested the motor with 12v power and it didnt spin. so i tried a battery charger set at 12v and the cables sparked but the motor didnt kick on. so i guess i need a new motor. is it really worth the $60 to get this to work?

 

48 shipped

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1988-...Q5fAccessories

 

i have an 87 camaro. arent the 88-92 units different from the 85-87?

 

I wouldn’t use a battery charger as they sometimes produce a pulse signal when you need direct current. If not, sparking is also a sign of something shorting out.

Does the motor turn by hand?
How easily does the large plastic gear turn the metal piece it’s attached to? This is the part that moves the hatch up and down BTW. The metal piece is the arm.

If everything else seems to move OK and the motor is shot I have one I checked out that I can to send you for $20 plus shipping.

If you’re sure the motor is shot and you’re about to buy one you might as well take the one you have apart. I will warn you though that there are delicate parts inside with springs. Nothing should fly out (with one exception described later), but you’d need to reassemble it in a certain order to avoid damaging it. There are a couple of brushes that are held against the shaft by springs. When it’s taken apart the brushes come out of their sliders. The only way that they would fly out is if the wiring has broken. There are also spring washers on the shaft that can fall out. If you take it apart slowly with the metal casing on the bottom, the washers should stay with the shaft. You’ll see the brushes hanging there and they need to be put back into their sliders and then you can hold them both in place and out of the way with small screwdrivers through a hole in the back. You would need to remove the shaft from the metal casing and reinstall it while holding the brushes back. (The shaft will want to stay in the metal case due to magnetism.) Then you can put the casing back in place, but don’t tighten it unless it fits flush. If it’s not flush take it back apart until it is. Make sure the work surface is clean so that you don’t introduce anything to the inside of the motor.

The reason for explaining this is that if the motor burned out, one of the copper wires that connects to the brushes might have broken free and become loose inside. This might cause it to spark internally or short onto the metal case and cause it to spark on the outside as you were describing. Disassembling this will give you a few options. One is finding a way to repair the wiring and seeing if you can fix this for free, another is verifying that the motor is bad so you know you need a new one, and the last is finding nothing wrong and reassembling it to see if you can get it to work.

That does look like the wrong housing mentioned above BTW.

 

ok i ordered a whole new motor with a plastic housing. my unit should work now.

 

Is the gear supposed to be screwed on tight or left loose?

 

I would leave it somewhere in the middle to give you time to cut the power in case it jams. If one of the sensors fails it won't stop when it's supposed to. I only put one back together and reassembled it without moving anything.

Edit: One I just took apart had ground the gear into powder. Don't know how ling it took obviously but I suspect one of the limiting sensors failed.

There is another thread going on that has some info on the harness and where the sensors are: >>>Link

 

ok, i got the new motor today. i put it in, and once i plugged it in, it automatically went to the up position. im thinking okay cool it works now, but i reassembled everything and it wont go down. i shut the hatch and it locks and the trunk sits up like 3 inches. i cant figure out how to get it to pull it down.i really need help ive been working on it for like 3 hours.

 

Since your original unit never really worked - It's very possible that the Reversing Switch is also bad. I'm guessing that a dead relay might also cause this same senario to occur.

 

When you reassemblied the motor with the Gear nut it was not in the correct position. It requires a correct number of turns to work correctlly. If you had TDS isnstructions it would have stated the correct number.

 

Go to the dealer, they have a new stronger motor mount for the unit, it is still plastic, but it is alot stronger.

Pull the trim off the rear of the trunk. On the motor assembly, there is a relay mounted as a part of the motor. The connections are most likely corroded and/or the relay itself is bad. I have had both happen with the sema symptom you mentioned.

 

Do yourself a favor and call Lon @ top down solutions 626-369-0040... when you re-assemble the plastic driven gear onto the pull down latch it is appx 4 turns once you start the threads, then just drop it into the housing. The reversing switch( black thing with the toggle switch on the side) could probably use a cleaning out with electronic contact cleaner available at any parts store and radio shack. squirt it thru the holes in the bottom of the switch and flip the lever back and forth a few times, repeat this 2-3 times and blow it out with compressed air or let it air dry for a while before re-connecting to power. when you have the switch off the motor, there are two contacts showing... using the car battery and some jumper wires(radio shack) put pos on one and neg on the other, then reverse the leads. this should make the motor run opposite directions depending on how the leads are connected.