I just rebuilt the hatch motor on my 91 using the TDS motor and housing assembly kit. The hatch motor was demolished when I received the car so it was a guessing game putting it back together.
Everything is assembly and put back in the car and it works.....but it does this. Is this an alignment issue or do I need new hatch struts? They do hold the hatch up but I have to open it all the way and hold it there for a second. If its cold out, they dont work.



VIDEO

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Try replacing your rear struts,they appear to not have any lift left to them.

Yep, new struts will help.
My '91 does the same thing. Since struts are low on my mile long to do list, I just lift firm, but gentle while the motor is raising and pull the hatch up before the motor starts to retract.

Make sure to get the right ones (part number specific) as they do differ depending on the weight of the rear hatch. (Typically due to the spoiler.)

The description said "with spoiler with wiper".
I'll see what happens tomorrow night

I'd check the Spring inside the Latch Lock the next time you mess with it. When the hatch is closed the reversing switch is pushed "down" and the latch is locked. Once the Latch is unlocked the lock should force the latch to a position above the reversing switch and the reversing switch becomes active. Once it's at the top of the travel range the reversing switch should still be "up", but yours - obviously - isn't.

Here's something that might be worth knowing; When the motor is in your hand :

When the motor is UP, if the reversing switch is moved to open position ( take your finger off it ) the motor begins to move the assembly down. If the switch is held down again at any point before the assembly reaches the bottom of it's travel the motor will STOP moving. Then, when the switch is released the motor will begin to move down again. ( and can be stopped again - and again until the switch "reverse" lever is tripped.)

When the Motor is DOWN, if the reversing switch is moved to the closed position ( put finger on the switch ) the motor will move the assembly up. If the switch is let up again at any point in before the assembly reaches the top of it's travel the motor will KEEP MOVING until the reverse trigger is tripped.

This is what is happening to you. For some reason ( probably the struts, could be motor adjustment, could be a weak lock release spring, could be all of them playing a part together ! ) The Hatch mounted latch is not STAYING clear of the reversing switch ( and the motor just keeps going up ) The fact that the hatch is still locked and gets pulled back down shows that the hatch latch is not being properly freed from the motor.

I spoke to Lon at TDS last night and he said that replacing the hatch struts may help. If it doesnt then he suggest that I make some minor up/down adjustments on the entire motor assembly to see if it helps. He has been working on a solution for this and told me that I am not the only one who has this problem. The weight of the hatch with the aero spoiler combined with weak struts causes the motor to reverse itself if the latch cant get free of the switch. I will report back tonight once I get the struts installed and let you guys know if I fixed it.

Mine did this until I swapped the struts. The proper struts keep just enough weight off of it that it doesn't re-engage.

Great news guys. New struts did the trick. Now I have a perfect working hatch motor and a hatch that stays up now. Thanks to all of you that chimed in.

Good to hear!

Keep up the good work on her. I really begin to love a car or motorcycle more when I work on it for whatever reason. Call it bonding time.

Awesome!

Glad to hear the news struts solved your problem. I'll post my new product on this thread when I'm ready to release it. I had created a product for this a while back, but I had to drop it when I discovered while testing it on my personal Camaro and Firebird that it was causing the hatch surround trim panel to distort. I haven't had the time to work on the solution recently, but it is still on my "to do" list.

Lon Salgren

If I have one gripe about this repair its the hatch struts are too strong I think. The hatch comes flying up extremely fast when hitting the button or using the key. It also takes two hands to pull it down and with that much effort needed, Im worried that the hatch motor will not last long since it trying to draw the hatch down against the pressure inside the struts.
The decklid is also hitting the quarter panel slightly so Im thinking that the entire hatch needs to shift over to the right slightly. Not sure if thats as easy as just moving the motor housing over about 1/16". I don't want to cause binding in the hinges or the hatch motor assembly. I will mess with it when I get the car back from the tint shop tomorrow.

Moving the pull-down unit is easy, just mark the current location of it by tracing around the frame and mark the body with a permanent marker or scratch awl. Then you loosen the three 13mm bolts that attach the body of the pull-down unit to the car. There is a large square hole that will allow you to move the pull-down unit up/down or side-to-side.

However, before moving it I'd suggest you nearly close the hatch into the latch and see if the hatch hook is centered. If it is, then the adjustment will need to be made at the hatch hinges, not the pull-down unit. After you have aligned the hatch THEN move the pull-down unit as I described to center it on the hatch hook. Also make sure the pull-down unit is not set too low. You should not hear a loud BANG of the hatch hook releasing from the latch. You should adjust the pull-down unit up until you have the hatch sealing on the seal, but not crushing the seal and putting a lot of stress on the pull-down unit.

Lon Salgren