Its been a while since I posted...so long in fact I lost my old tag (Tyguy355) but I thought I'd share this:

The motor on my rear deck had started dying last summer. Eventually it got so bad that I had to disconnect it because it wasn't strong enough to seal fully and turn itself off (it would keep straining and drain my battery). I figured I'd buy a new unit from a reputable junkyard (Camaro Heaven) the owner of which said "sure - I test them all, its used but it'll work fine, I guarantee it". Well, it didn't work.

What I did find was that if you remove the 3 black bolts in the plastic motor housing, you can separate the two slide mechanisms. If you're clever enough to remove the motor/slides while the motor is in the "up" position you can hit the slides and the motor shaft with a de-greaser - I found that the Chevy "blue" grease turns to a sticky putty, which does NOT help the motor. Clean everything up - grease it with a quality engine assembly lube (or even WD-40 if you have nothing else) and reassemble it.

All said, my old motor which was pretty much dead was now 3X stronger and pulls the hatch down no proballo.


Just figured I'd share the tips and save you fellas some coin.


TRP

 

Thanks for the tip. My motor is starting to struggle a bit, so I'll give it a try.

 

Hey man! No problem. Just pull the 3 bolts that go into the plastic housing, separate the two slides, and pull the washer off the motor-pin (big thick pin that holds the motor shaft to the slide) and pull it apart. Make sure to remember how everything goes and you should expect the plastic slide inserts to be bad. I just put a little grease under them to hold them in place when I reassembled it all.

GOOD LUCK!

 

Yep been there. Actually worked in a machine shop and made some of those nylon sliders that brake apart too.
Lon sells them now.

 

Thanks for the tip. I will have to try it.

 

BTW this will work for electric window motors and door lock motors also. Helps to polish the motor contacts also.
I have done this on multiple cars.
All have original motors all the way around. One has 219,000 miles on it.

I learned when I was young to INVESTIGATE these types of things after the dealer charged me $200 to replace a door lock motor on my 79 about in 83 or 84. Never again.

 

I actually went one step further and decided to get rid of the crappy nylon guides, I used roller bearings. Now I don't have to mess with guides and grease, check it out.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...ml#post3196237
(if for some reason the link doesn't work, look under the "electronics" forum, and look for the tittle " That infamous trunk hatch motor, quick question...")

 

Or you could follow the tech article I wrote that is on thirdgen.org. If you're handy, I sell all the parts you'll need to repair your hatch pull-down unit. If you're all thumbs I remanufacture them with new aftermarket guides (never available from GM), new motor with reinforced motor housing, new striker-sensing switch (discontinued by GM), new reversing switch (discontinued by GM), new gear nut, new relay. The remanufactured pull-down unit comes with a one year warantee. I only have a few of these discontinued switches left.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions