My rear hatch keyhole lock was messed up when I bought this car,i'm confused as to whether it is suposed to be a power pull down or mecanical lock.the button dosnt seam to be a functional one.just a filler.

The power trunk release was optional. You can look for A90 on the SPID. If it's just a gray block off plate the same color as the rest of the dash it's safe to assume it didn't come with the power release.

For some reason a messed up trunk lock is really common on the Pontiacs. It's not all that difficult to drill out the lock, chisel off the rivets, and replace the lock.

Mine was pretty bad, still worked, but barely. So I removed my tail light center section, drilled the 2 rivets and replaced the assembly with a new one. Only thing is now I have 2 "lock" keys, which isn't a big deal since I plan to keep the hatch key in the car. I tend to like to start the car and let it warm up while I take off the Ttops. You can't do that when the keys are in the ignition!

That's where a locksmith comes in... Take the locks to your smith and have him change the guts so they all work with matching keys. Maybe it's just because I've bought a lot of tow yard auction cars, or old junk, but it always seems like 2/3rds of the locks are always screwed. It costs under $50 to completely re-key a car with all new locks and keys.

A good idea, but for me this will work great... I am basically using a second "door" key that wouldnt be on my key ring, so it doesnt matter what the cut of the key is...

OK drilling it out and cut the rivits through the key hole or dose the trunk open after drilling

Once you drill about 1/2 way through the lock cylinder, you can usually pry the tumblers out and turn the lock with a screw driver to get the hatch open. Then you can remove the tail lights and the center panel so you can cut off the rivets and replace the lock.

Ditto

thanks guys,you have just made my day.think I can do that

i bought a 1984 trans am recently, and my hatch lock was also messed up. As I never worked on a lock before, I tried to open the lock from inside the car:
Crawling into the trunk, I was able to lift off the plastic housing from the bottom and get my arms underneath, by carefully probing for the hatch lock I found the connecting rod from the lock to the mechanism holding down the hatch. Then I used a screwdriver at some angle to apply pressure to the rod and thereby turning it, releasing the hatch.

As I want to switch to an electric lock assembly, I simply left the lock in place, removed the plastic cover for now and the little spring connecting the rod to the lock, so now I can turn the lock from inside the trunk (which is not very comfortable, but it works for now, and I didn't have to damage anything).

Hi Bobby,yes the rear hatch has a power pull down,standard on the 86 Firebirds.But as Drew said the release button on the dash remained an option.
I think I have a spare lock mechanism with the cable attached,I'll check.

Well, I revived a 4 year old thread. If he doesn't need it anymore, I would probably take it, as I'm just starting the process of fixing up the car.

because sometimes other people need it too... like me lol.

I have gone to 4 different locksmiths to have the trunk/hatch lock drilled out / replaced as well as replace the door locks. They've all told me "oh we don't do that" yet their website mentioned changing locks out on cars. So how can I get this damn lock off so I can replace it? I know I can drill it but I am concerned with hitting the power lift actuator. Or am I just being overly cautious on this?