I seem to be having the opposite than a lot of people with the electric latch pulldown - The latch won't go UP but the motor continuously runs, stuck in the down position. I've just pulled the fuse and have been closing the latch by slamming it shut, but I like the feature and actually wouldn't mind getting in there to adjust it if I can make it a little tighter; I get quite a lot of noise and wiggle on the assembly when I'm driving the car. Is there a way to fix this other than replacing the whole mechanism? Thanks!

 

Yes.

 

Welp. Insight is always appreciated.

 

it depends, there is more than one thing that could be wrong. There are plenty of threads here to decribe what all that part entailaks. Like the plastics internally that break (you can get replacesments) or the switches that go out., or if you are past the reversing switch so it cant switch it to the up position. You need to familiarize yourself on it so you can figure it out or ask a more direct question so we can help, thats all. There's some giid videos too on yourube.

 

ive had this happen twice. Both times it was the housing that cracked causing the gears to lose contact. I just had my buddy weld the hatch motor in place. I'm sick of replacing them.

 

If the motor just keeps spinning the gear nut probably has some teeth broken off from closing the the hatch to hard or the plastic just gets brittle, as already stated the motor housing which from the factory is made out of the same material as the gear nut is more than likely cracked in multiple places allowing the gear nut to lose contact with the worn gear of the motor. Good news sound like you’ve got a good motor, bad news is the whole hatch pull down assembly needs to be disassembled to troubleshoot what’s broken and you might as well at bare minimum replace the motor housing and gear nut.
I just recently completely rebuilt mine with all new parts, I was lucky to find a motor and housing for under $60, usually their $75 - $125

 

Doctor Stoopid, what year car do you have as the late model year 91’s and the 92’s have a different motor assembly than the 86 - early model year 91’s

 

9 month old thread, probably repaired long ago. But for others, I guess...

Motor is apparently fine, so it's probably just the plastic gear nut. Its teeth might still look fine at a glance, but upon closer inspection you'll see that they've worn down and gotten "shorter" and can't mesh anymore. Here's a link to two pages of various hatch pull-down parts that TDS offers. Also, the clear plastic housing is prone to cracking. That doesn't mean it has or ever will, but one of the parts you'll find from TDS is a metal-reinforced housing. Since you'll have to take it all apart anyway to replace the gear nut, the reinforced housing would be a worthwhile addition. And if you discover that any of your small parts aren't reusable, then you're likely to see all of those available from TDS too. Any questions, and Lon at TDS(member/moderator lonsal here on TGO), is the man when it comes to hatch pull-down parts.
hatch_pull-down_items (top-downsolutions.com)