My pull down motor quit working properly, I can make it move when I push the button on the console, so I feathered the switch till the hatch is all the way down. I disconnected the fuse so the console switch cannot be used until this is fixed. Is there a way to just have the hatch open with out the sucker downer? I don't want to spend the money to replace it. If I can just pop it open I'll be fine.

 

 

Is the motor running without the mechanism moving? If so, it's a stripped gear most likely.
If the motor is running slow but still kind of working - I recommend taking it apart and regreasing it. The OE grease dries out and becomes more resistance than lubricant. If you keep operating it like this is may strip a gear.

 

Hard to understand how pressing on the hatch release button (which only sends power to pop the hatch release solenoid) would help to power the pull-down motor down. Lots of things can go wrong with these. I'd need a lot more info to diagnose a problem and get you on the path to a solution.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

Thank you for your response. There are two harnesses that connect to the unit. I've tried unplugging one, and leaving the other plugged in, and vise versa, but the it won't pop by using the switch. I'm not in too much of a twist about it. After all back in the day trunks, and hatches required a key. I would just like it to work without buying a new unit $$$$

 

Hope you dont mind Stevo if I jump on your thread, but my hatch pull down is not working either and I've replaced everything. The motor, stricker switch, reversing switch, relay, guides,everything. It has power coming to it but there is a black wire with a spider washer that looks like it should be a ground but it has power. The plug for the relay has two white wires coming out of it and they have power, there are also two blue wires coming out of the plug with power, two black wires that have power and a single brown wire with no power, does this sound right ? I thought the black wires would be ground

 

jprformula, I sure hope your DON'T have power at the black wire with a ring terminal on each end. There IS a black wire that has power ONLY when it is sent from the hatch release relay. That black wire plugs into the end of the hatch release solenoid. There is another short black wire that has a large ring terminal on one end and a smaller ring terminal on the other. That wire goes from the body ground location (below the hatch pull-down unit) to the 10mm screw that attaches the hatch release solenoid to the latch assy.

There is a white wire with small black connector on the end that connects to an orange with black stripe-wire for the 89-91 pull-down units and is a switched ground to turn on and off the optional hatch light. On prior years (86-88) that white wire connects to nothing, since for those years the optional hatch light has a manual switch.

There is a red with white stripe wire that is constant hot. It plugs into a blue wire that is part of the wiring for the pull-down unit. The entire wiring for the hatch pull-down it included as part of the striker-sensing switch. Also that blue wire the red-white stripe wire had a large white plug on it for 86-87. It has a small black plug for the 88-91 years.

I hope this clarifies things.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

I read both jprformula, and Ionsal, as carefully as I could. Is there a way I could cut the power to the pull down motor, and operate the hatch release with the consul switch?

 

There seems to be some confusion. The hatch pull-down motor and hatch release are two different things and powered on two different circuits.

You CAN kludge anything you want. It's your car. If you want to get the pull-down motor or hatch release functioning properly I can be of service.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

here is the wire in question, it looks like a ground to me but in has power. a little history on the car. bought it brand new, sold it in 1996, searched for it and found it in 2006.when I sold it, it was perfect, when I bought it back it was a POS. So Ive been restoring it for the past three years and i have taken many pics of the deconstruction and it looks like the wire in question was grounded to the hatch release motor as you will see in one of the pics, does this sound right or does it go somewhere else,or should it not have power?

 

Any thoughts on the black wire ? where does it go and is it supposed to be hot ?