Needing some help, I have no power to my rear trunk pull down motor. I have seen many post about check the fuse labeled LID i don't have that. I have checked all the fuses in the box and nothing is blown. I have also read about an inline fuse but do not see that anywhere. The battery is charged and connected i am getting power to the light in the trunk but nothing to the trunk motor. Anyone have any suggestions? This is for an 86 Firebird, 305 engine, it doesn't have power door and windows.

 

The inline fuse is a spade fuse under the driver dash. Its typically somewhere around the fuse box, but its just a spade fuse on the wire.. The light and motor are on different circuits Its been a while since I rebuilt my trunk mechanism but I believe there is also a relay in the trunk area.

When you say no power is it at the relay, contact switches, or at the motor that you are testing?

 

I am actually checking at the power wire coming in. I have completely disconnected the motor and relay, I am test at red wire coming to the connection for the motor harness. I have read that this is HOT all the time but i am getting nothing on the meter.

 

If your not getting power at the back of the car,... then you will have to move to the front of the car to find out where you are losing power. As previously described, you should start here:

 

Thanks that is what i needed to know.

 

Ok, just adding these photos but i think i'm losing it, i can't seem to find any type of inline fuse anywhere. There is what i thought might be a fuse, it has the black tape with blue line but it is a resistor. By any chance would anyone have a photo of this fuse. This is on an 86 Firebird. and i have no power to the rear trunk motor, which according to the prints the red/white wire should be hot all the time and i have nothing. As you can see also by the fuse panel I don't have a "lid" fuse either

 

on a 89 Firebird

 

Appreciate the hell out of the picture, just went and checked again for the 10th one ha ha. I don’t have anything like that. I even dropped the fuse block to check behind. Any chance anyone out there has an 86 and had to change this?

 

There is the convenance center box under driver dash close to the radio pod. It's hard to get to but it has things like the flasher and if your car had it factory amp fuse and a few others. It will swing down after remove a couple screws. Check there.

If not reach out to Lon atTop down solutions he wrote the book on repairing the pull downs.

 

@lonsal is his user name here. Also read through this.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...you-hatch.html

 

May be useful, seems not all 86s had the pull down. This link has scans from service manual specific for 86.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...tion-info.html

 

Hey Guys,
Thanks for all the help. I finally found the fuse, it was very well tucked away and taped up on but it was right above the fuse box

 

Great so was it the fuse?

 

Well Yes and No, the fuse was blown, and when i put a new in it blew. So i have a grounded wire or something now. But good side is i narrowed it down the the Harness on the trunk motor, so hopefully figure that out now.

 

Sounds good I would start by disconnecting the plugs in the back. If still short to ground. Two places to look. Under the door sill and make sure the wire hasn't gotten pinched where the steering wheel mounts under dash.

 

Both places are great suggestions to look for the short (if it's still there with the pulldown mechanism unplugged , that is) , and here is one more ;

In the lockable compartment in the trunk on the left side , there is supposed to be a cardboard enclosure that's kinda similar to the glove compartment in the dash on most other cars . When that cardboard deteriorates and ends up thrown away people sometimes store tools & things in there because without the cardboard box there's a lot of room in there . All the wires that go to the back of the car run through there and at least twice over the years I've seen third gens with mystery shorts in the back of the car end up being those wires squashed/shorted by stuff stored there .

Maybe , maybe not , but worth a look if the cardboard box isn't there to see how the wires there look , condition wise ...

 

I haven't had a chance to look yet but i know i am good from the fuse all the way back to the trunk, I am now getting 12volts at the connection. So it is for sure in the wiring/plug of the motor itself. The actually motor isn't hooked up at the moment but i blow the fuse when i connect the harness to the red/white wire connection. I will let you know what i find when i get a few to get out there and look.