i88aGT

Have you had electric hatch pull down motor problems? Have you encountered the mysterious, black box that is the reversing switch? Have you wondered what hides inside? Behold! I have opened mine and taken pictures for all of the thirdgen community to see!

...this is the location of the Reversing Switch FYI


And this is what the switch looks like before cleaning!





This is the sled that moves inside!


The spring seen in other pic fits in the groove on this side!:


So seriously now, the backstory here...
Last year my hatch decided not to pull down anymore on my 1988 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7L.
It turned out the Reversing Switch was a little corroded inside. I cleaned it and it worked perfectly again.
...Until last month. The hatch didn't pull down. The day before a road trip. It needed to be cleaned again. I decided to take pictures this time. I didn't think it looked too bad inside but I guess it doesn't take much to not work. I removed all the old electrical grease, roughed the contacts, and applied new grease. It worked and I made my road trip.

As far as opening the switch...

Easy, cut the three mini zip ties and pull out the tiny nail with pliers. Well, for me anyway. I already had mine open last year. All of you will suffer, having to use a drill press, for example, to crack the studs/seals. One is particularly hard not to ruin.

BTW If you are having hatch pull down problems,
Since it is quite an arduous ordeal, I don't recommend opening the reversing switch until you exhaust all other possibilities. Like:
1) Check the fuse in the panel under the dash on driver's side
2) Test the power in the hatch area from the red and white wire that has a black connector
3) Test the power from the white harness that goes into the reversing switch
4) Make sure that the striker sensor (black paddle near hatch lock) is working
5) Bench test the motor

And test the power that the reversing switch puts out before opening it. Mine was never completely dead, just weak during the down cycle. With the white harness attached to the reversing switch, use a voltmeter on the reversing switch's contacts that would power the motor. When the switch is flipped up (up cycle) there should be power when the striker sensor isn't pressed. When the switch is flipped down (down cycle) there should be power when the striker sensor is pressed. (Or something like that, correct me if I'm wrong.)

I hope this post has satiated at least someone's curiosity.

rusty vango

excellent post, the hatch pull down seems to never be working on any 3rd gen that I have encountered. mine included.its good to have people trying to help the rest of us. which IMO is what this site is for.thanks for taking the time to post it

willexoIX

Good post! Though I got tired of mine not working constantly. Then the telling people not to lean on the hatch. What do they do? Of course they do! After seeing the prices on the gear housing and other parts I said screw it. Drilled 2 holes after aligning it properly, and bolted that bi*ch together. Totally hacked I know, but now its a slam hatch

i88aGT

Thanks, Vango. Just trying to give what I can back.

i88aGT

At least yours works now and is one less thing to break. I've never met anyone who knows that it's supposed to be a motorized trunk. They all ask me if I have some special option from the factory. So I tell them I do.

When I saw the prices I thought about rigging mine that way too. In the end I went stock because it was free for me! In general, however, it's been so much extra $/work for me to maintain stock so far that I'm in too deep to stray now. haha.