I have a 88 trans am and the pull down motor worked fine then I tried to close my hatch and it didn't pull down. The release button works, the blue wire has power, and the rear light works. I pressed the little tab on the top and it didn't go down. Help!

 

Do you hear the motor running at all when you shut it? That crappy plastic drive gear probably stripped out like they do and is just running the motor but not pulling the hatch down.

 

No the motor doesn't make any noise at all

 

Anyone

 

Sounds like a bad motor if you have power all the way up to it.

 

OR a bad switch...

 

anyway i could jump the motor without taking it apart?

 

Did the reversing switch flip when it reached the top of its travel? You can jump the motor if you trace the wires from the switches and pull off the plug with the motor wires. You just need to figure out which way round they are for the motor to run one way and the other. I can't remember the wire colors off hand.

 

Ok I'll try to jump the motor tomorrow. But how do you tell if the reversing switch flipped?

 

If the thing is operating correctly then just as it reaches the top of it's travel you should hear a distinct click as the switch flips. Same thing when it goes down. If the switch doesn't flip then the motor won't turn in the opposite direction. This can happen if the pull down is not adjusted up/down correctly. You just have to get into the thing to see what's going on. Check the ground too and the plastic guides. I took mine out and did all the testing on the bench. It was a lot easier than doing it in the car.

 

also the closing relay may need attention

 

Or you can just make it a slam down trunk latch. That's what I did and now I'll never have to worry about it again.

 

i have this same problem in my 87 t/a. it only does this when its cold (no longer my d.d. so its not a problem anymore lol) i took apart the motor, new reversing switch, traced wires. cleaned harnesses. any electrical thing i could think of and still wont work when its cold out. but the second it warms up outside then it'll close....even if i dont press the hatch back down, it'll do it on its own once it warms up enough

 

racerx520 - mine is about the same. It'll WORK cold, but its very slow, esp on opening. You kinda need to give it a hand. When its warm, its fine. I don't know if thats contacts, or just an old motor.

 

Maybe check the plastic guides and lube?

 

What parts, from what car, where, and how? I want to do this with mine. My pull down motor doesn't pull down, and I really don't want to fix it and then have to go through this again at some later date. A normal manual trunk latch is just so much more efficient and painless.

A thought occurs to me.... I wonder if the factory designed the pull down motor instead of a regular slam down latch because of the huge piece of rear window glass? So it doesn't get slammed down too hard and shatter the glass or otherwise break something?

 

disconnect the motor linkage from the sliding latch assemble to free the latch of the motor. push the trunk closed. crawl inside car. use a marker to mark where the sliding latch is on the tracks. Go to back of car again , open hatch. Line up sliding latch to your mark. Drill two holes in sliding latch (may have to clamp it down with c-clamps for this step so you don't lose your mark). Put bolts and lock washers. Never have a problem again. EVER.

Took me all of 15 minutes to get rid of that everlasting headache.

If you need pictures let me know, but I think once you start doing it, it will become pretty self explanatory.

BTW. I did this with the sliding track nylons pounded to dust, so you dont have to replace those even. It will now be a stationary latch hook.

 

oh and it don't take a who0le lotta force to close. Its not like the hood or anything. Just push her down softly and CLICK.

 

Thank you soooo much! One less thing to break. And I'm glad it won't take a lot of force to close it like the hood does, so that's good to know. I'm going to do this tomorrow so my hatch will stop leaking (it's pouring rain today, but supposed to be dry tomorrow). Bye bye pull down motor.....

Yes please, pics would be helpful. As you said, it will become self explanatory once I start, but since I can't work on it today due to heavy rainfall, some pics to study before attempting would be sweet. Thank you! :-)

 

ok.im going later tonight to my shop. ill take some pics for you and post them here. prolly around 10 pm or a little later.

 

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MAKE SURE TO CLAMP ASSEMBLY AFTER MARKS ARE MADE AND AFTER OPENING TRUNK TO MAKE DRILLING HOLES AND BOLTING IN PLACE MUCH EASIER.


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DONT KNOW WHY IT LOADED LIKE THIS, JUST BASICALLY SHOWS A VIEW FROM OVERHEAD AND HOW THE BOLTS PENETRATE THE ENTIRE ASSEMBLY WITH LOCK WASHERS TO MAKE IT PERMANENT. YOU CAN RIGHT-CLICK AND SAVE THIS IMAGE, ROTATE IT, AND ZOOM IN TO SEE IT BETTER. SORRY

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Could you convert it back to stock or the holes drilled will effect it?

 

Assuming the bolt is a tight fit in the holes you drill and you dont tighten it enough to crush the track, I don't see why not. My motor housing was cracked and broken so I just tore everything out. if I ever wanna build an all original 3rd gen show car in 20 years, ill just replace the whole assembly.

 

Awesome, thank you for the reference pics. This looks so easy to do and easy to put back to stock if anyone changes their mind later and wants a historically correct show car.

Grrrrr, weatherman lied....it's lightly raining this morning. Maybe it will stop by this afternoon, hopefully. I need to stop my leaky trunk!!

 

That is exactly why GM went to the pull down latch - to keep folks from slamming the hatch and breaking the rear glass.

Personally, I think the auto pull down is a cool feature that most other cars do not have.

 

Not really because the reversing switch prevents you from getting directly to the motor connector.

Take the hatch pull down assembly off and remove the motor from it - then remove the reversing swtich from the motor. You will see 2 electrical tabs. Apply power and ground and the motor should run one way - reverse the power and ground and the motor should spin the other direction. If not, you need a new motor.

If this works, it's probably the reversing switch or relay. I just bought a rebuilt reversing switch from Hawks - worked great.

 

The point is to not slam it down. Yeah its a cool feature but there are many other headaches on the cars that some of us may wanna tackle first.

 

Ok i just took it apart and i put power to the motor on the 2 tabs and it goes forword and reverse, so i pluged it All in And flipped the reversing switch and it spun then i pressed the tab on the top and it stopped. If you let go it starts again, if you flip the reversing switch it stops and the tab doesnt do anything. So is it the switch or??

 

I know this post is quite old but I'm having the same issue with my rear hatch pull down motor now, on my 89 GTA. In fact, exact the same. It stuck in open position and wouldn't go down, light works and wires have power, and both plastic slider guides are shredded in pieces. It would stop working in the passed but shortly functioned fine, until it stopped for good....

Now, about the though that occured to you...I dont know if this is just a coincidence or what but thats kind of what end up happening to me I tried 'lightly' slamming it, thinking it would maybe make it work...on third slam (again, LIGHT slam) the rear glass just exploded and glass was all over the place. So yes, your thought became my reality lol